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OK, so I think we can probably 
start. 

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So tonight's talk is going to be
on the concept of freedom, the 

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idea of freedom, what freedom is
all about, and specifically of 

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course about freedom in 
Buddhism, of course, and how 

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freedom in Buddhism compares to 
freedom. 

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The ideas of freedom that we 
normally use to in our society, 

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in our contemporary secular 
society, how we regard freedom 

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and how these two concepts 
compare with each other. 

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And of course, the no surprise, 
of course, the idea of freedom 

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in Buddhism, of course, is much 
more profound and much more 

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meaningful than the kind of 
ideas that we have in, in 

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ordinary society about what 
freedom is about. 

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But I think it's useful to 
compare these ideas to give, to 

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give that contrast and then get 
a deeper understanding of, of 

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what these things are perhaps. 
But of course the, the word 

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freedom or the idea of freedom 
is a very, it's a very kind of 

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positive idea, right? 
When people think freedom, they 

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think something very good or 
something very nice. 

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You know the obvious. 
You know, the first thing that 

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comes to mind when you think of 
freedom often is freedom from 

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not being in jail, right? 
When you are in jail, you are 

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definitely not free here. 
You are behind steel bars and 

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concrete and all these kind of 
things. 

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And that is kind of the opposite
of freedom, right? 

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And of course, the reason why 
it's opposite of freedom is 

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because you are hindered. 
You're obstructed from doing 

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what you want to do in life. 
You can't go here. 

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You can't go there. 
And this is one of the kind of 

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main things throughout life that
the hindrances and obstructions 

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in life are the things that kind
of stop us from feeling free 

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here. 
Whenever there's a hindrance 

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somewhere, whenever there's an 
obstruction, that is the kind 

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of, you know, thing that that 
stops us. 

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We can't do what we want, right?
We can't express ourselves 

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because of these things. 
So hindrance is an 

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obstructionist is one of those 
things. 

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And this is again, or in 
ordinary society, how we often 

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look at these things and another
thing which stops our freedom 

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perhaps in again, an ordinary 
life. 

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And whatever is the feeling of 
being oppressed, right? 

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If you feel oppressed by whether
it's by a government or by a, 

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you know, a, a group of people 
or a boss at work or, or a 

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family member or a bully or 
whatever it is that oppression 

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also is a lack of freedom. 
You can't really express 

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yourself because perhaps because
you are psychologically, you 

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know, kind of confined by that 
oppression around you. 

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So this is what is so these are 
some of the aspects of, you 

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know, why this idea of freedom 
has such positive connotation in

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our lives. 
There's no hindrances, there's 

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no oppression. 
And because of that, we are free

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to express ourselves. 
We're free to follow our 

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desires, free to do basically to
choose as we want and as we like

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in life. 
And this is what Azam Brahm 

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often talks about, rather 
freedom of choice or the freedom

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of desire here. 
This is like the highest sense 

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in which we are considered free 
often in contemporary society, 

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contemporary secular society 
here. 

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And you can see that on so many 
levels, right? 

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If you look at our society in so
many ways, Is it about that? 

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You look at the maybe perhaps 
the political systems that we 

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have. 
The political systems are often 

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built up around this idea of 
freedom from desire, sorry, 

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freedom from oppression and 
being able to express ourselves.

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And you know, one example of 
that, for example, would be 

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something like Marxism, right? 
Marxism was developed in the 

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19th century. 
And the idea there by Karl Marx 

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was to kind of free the workers 
from the oppression of society 

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or oppression of people who were
exploiting them and these kind 

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of things. 
Again, you wanted to free 

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yourself from these problems 
that society had inflicted on 

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the large number of people. 
So even our political systems, 

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everything is built up around 
these ideas of freedom. 

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And capitalism is in many ways a
similar kind of thing here, 

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capitalism, which is sort of 
perhaps the kind of the 

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background ideology behind most 
societies, certainly in the West

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these days. 
It's not maybe a perfect 

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ideology or a perfect idea of 
capitalism. 

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Anyway, the idea there is 
somehow the idea of freedom, 

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right? 
You, you give out the money or 

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sorry, you all the, all the 
means of production in society 

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are owned by private interests. 
The private interests compete 

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with each other, right? 
And the idea is that you create 

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more wealth. 
The economy grows as a 

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consequence of these things. 
And when the economy grows, the 

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pie that we can share is larger,
right? 

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And when the pie that we can 
share is larger, we can spend 

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more money, each one of us. 
When you can spend more money, 

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you can express yourself more in
so many different ways, whether 

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it's through the arts or through
just through your desires or 

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whatever it is, you can express 
itself in these ways. 

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And it's funny, I always 
sometimes I, you know, you read 

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in the newspapers about, you 
know, economic things and the 

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economy. 
It was, you know, sometimes 

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people are lamenting the economy
isn't growing as fast as it used

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to. 
Last year it was 3%. 

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This year is only 2%, right? 
And I find it so absurd. 

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Sometimes you read about these 
things in in the paper and 

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people are kind of discussing 
back and forth, how can we kind 

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of get the economy back on track
again? 

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It's only growing 2%. 
Maybe next year only one. 

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And this year, last year it was 
three. 

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What are we going to do about 
this? 

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It's terrible, right? 
And for myself, it seems so. 

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I don't know, it seems so 
strange to think like that, 

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whether the economy grows by 3% 
or 2%, whether that is something

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that really needs to be 
discussed up and down. 

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And somehow what can we do to 
get this back on track again? 

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And then we have all these 
institutions, the central bank, 

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right, tries to kind of correct 
the interest rate in the right 

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way. 
And then they do these things 

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where they kind of inject more 
money into the economy to get it

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growing again. 
And everybody's discussing how 

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we can avoid, you know, problems
and deflation. 

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The compare us to China. 
China is growing much faster. 

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We are growing more slowly. 
What's going to happen? 

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And I think to anybody who has a
little bit of spiritual 

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inclination, it feels kind of a 
little bit, maybe not complete, 

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but a little bit. 
So what, what's the big deal? 

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Whether the economy is growing 
at 2% or 3%, right? 

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It's it seems sort of OK. 
You know, of course, you know, 

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probably, maybe it's better if 
it grows a bit faster, but at 

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the end of the day, doesn't 
really matter so much. 

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And of course, the answer is the
reason why it matters too much 

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so much is because our 
expression, our understanding of

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freedom in society has to do 
with our ability to choose and 

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to spend. 
That is what freedom is in our 

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contemporary society. 
It's about the ability to go out

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there, to spend, spend more 
money than we had last year, to 

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choose things we haven't chosen 
before, to express ourselves in 

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ways that we haven't expressed 
ourselves before, whatever way 

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that might be. 
So of course, these things, they

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are narrowed down when the 
economy isn't growing so fast. 

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And that is why people are in 
such great despair when the 

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economy goes down, right? 
Because this is freedom for us, 

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for large parts of the 
population. 

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Not if you have a spiritual 
inclination, perhaps, but 

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certainly if you live in 
ordinary society. 

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So it may seem funny, it may 
seem strange when you sit and 

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you're a little Hut as a monk in
the forest, you know, and you 

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think about this, it seems 
really weird. 

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But actually it is a serious 
matter if you buy into the 

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ordinary understanding of what 
freedom is all about. 

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So this is, this is one thing 
our society is built for this, 

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right? 
It's built around this idea of 

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freedom, and because it is built
around that, it means that we 

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tend to pursue those things. 
And one way of course, that we 

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pursue those things is by making
money, right? 

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We go out into the world, we 
want to make money. 

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And of course, the more money we
can make, the more we can spend,

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the more we can express 
ourselves, the more we can 

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choose, the more we can fulfill 
everything we want in life. 

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Money is one of the key means of
enabling that freedom of choice 

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that is so hallowed in our 
society. 

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Society. 
So we go out and we try to make 

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money, right? 
And what happens when you try to

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make money? 
What happens is that often you 

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butt up against other people 
because other people are also 

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trying to make money here. 
And sometimes you compete for 

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the same contract, you compete 
for the same job, which is well 

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paying. 
We start competing with each 

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other and sometimes the 
competition is unfair, right? 

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The person who was clueless, who
didn't really know what they 

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were doing, they got the job. 
Whereas, you know, I, of course,

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I'm doing, I'm practice, I'm 
doing the right thing. 

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So, and I didn't get this job 
and I should have had it. 

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They didn't. 
And when we have competition, 

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when we have this fight over 
limited resources, because it's 

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always going to be limited 
resources, limited money to go 

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around, a limited economy, when 
we fight over this, when we 

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compete over this, there's going
to be friction, right? 

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There's going to be anger, 
there's going to be irritation. 

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Sometimes there's going to be 
violence because violence is 

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rooted in anger and the problems
that come from these kind of 

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things. 
And this is one of those basic 

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teachings, actually very 
important teaching of the Buddha

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is this, that when you have at a
search for choice, the search 

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for enjoying yourself in the 
world, search for expressing 

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yourself, for making choices, 
for accumulating things, 

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whatever it is, one of the 
consequences of that is always 

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violence. 
It's always anger, it is always 

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conflict, it is always problems.
You can't have this craving, 

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this desire, this search for, 
you know, expressing ourselves 

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in whatever way. 
You can't have that without 

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violence. 
Violence goes hand in hand with 

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that. 
So craving, desire always must 

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go hand in hand with violence. 
And that is one of the terrible 

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things about it, right? 
Straight away you can see that 

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this ideal that we have, this 
ideal of freedom of choice, 

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freedom of expressing ourselves.
Even if we do that in a way 

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where we don't hurt others 
directly, of course, that's the 

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only right way of doing it. 
Even if we don't do that, still 

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it must lead to violence. 
Still, it must lead to problems.

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So this is the first problem 
that with this idea that we have

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of freedom of expression, the 
first problem is that it is 

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00:11:12,920 --> 00:11:17,320
intertwined, interconnected. 
It cannot be separated from the 

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00:11:17,320 --> 00:11:20,040
problems of anger and violence 
in society. 

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00:11:20,440 --> 00:11:23,000
Very interesting. 
I think a very powerful insight 

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of the Buddha is explained in 
many places in the discourses. 

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And of course it gets worse 
because if you really, if you 

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00:11:30,840 --> 00:11:34,520
really want to pursue freedom of
choice and the freedom for 

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00:11:34,520 --> 00:11:37,960
ourselves to what to do. 
One of the things that people 

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00:11:37,960 --> 00:11:42,160
always want is power. 
We want to have power because 

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power is one of the things that 
enables us to express ourselves.

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00:11:47,040 --> 00:11:51,720
Once you have power, you can 
kind of, you have the ability 

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00:11:51,720 --> 00:11:55,760
and you have the ability to 
basically use that power in such

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00:11:55,760 --> 00:11:58,840
a way that you gain advantage. 
That's what power is about, 

207
00:11:58,840 --> 00:12:00,440
right? 
In subtle ways. 

208
00:12:00,440 --> 00:12:03,560
You may not do it deliberately 
to hurt others, but it tends to 

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00:12:03,560 --> 00:12:06,280
go that way here. 
Power is very dangerous. 

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00:12:06,480 --> 00:12:10,000
Power corrupts, right? 
This ancient, not ancient 

211
00:12:10,000 --> 00:12:13,960
perhaps, but this well known 
kind of psychological effect of 

212
00:12:13,960 --> 00:12:16,800
power. 
Power corrupts, and because it 

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00:12:16,800 --> 00:12:20,080
corrupts, we use that power for 
our own advantage. 

214
00:12:20,840 --> 00:12:23,560
There is a problem again, the 
problem again, it leads to 

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00:12:23,560 --> 00:12:26,800
conflict. 
It leads to my desires, my 

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00:12:26,800 --> 00:12:31,320
cravings over somebody else's. 
That is what power is all about.

217
00:12:31,320 --> 00:12:35,080
And again, it leads to conflict,
and it's natural. 

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00:12:35,560 --> 00:12:39,280
As long as there is craving, as 
long as there is a desire to 

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00:12:39,280 --> 00:12:43,120
express ourselves, the search 
for power is just behind it, 

220
00:12:43,440 --> 00:12:47,560
because power is what enables us
to take that to its highest 

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00:12:47,560 --> 00:12:52,120
possible level here. 
So again, this is the the first 

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00:12:52,120 --> 00:12:54,480
point. 
Violence and craving are two 

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00:12:54,480 --> 00:12:58,040
sides of the same coin. 
But it's much worse than this. 

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00:12:58,040 --> 00:12:59,760
That is only the kind of the 
beginning. 

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00:12:59,760 --> 00:13:02,480
Why? 
Why this kind of freedom doesn't

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00:13:02,480 --> 00:13:04,680
really work. 
I'll just bring you back to the 

227
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beginning. 
I'm talking about freedom here, 

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the idea of freedom of choice, 
right, freedom of expression, 

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etcetera. 
But this gets much worse than 

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that. 
And to give you some idea of 

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what I where, how bad it can 
get, I want to do a little 

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00:13:19,800 --> 00:13:21,280
thought experiment with you 
here. 

233
00:13:21,840 --> 00:13:25,720
And this is the experiment of 
think we now live in a society 

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where there is a fair amount of 
freedom, right? 

235
00:13:28,480 --> 00:13:33,200
We can choose a lot more in 
terms of indulgences, in terms 

236
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of material well-being, in terms
of expressing ourselves in 

237
00:13:37,240 --> 00:13:41,680
various ways, much, much more 
today than we could say 100 

238
00:13:41,680 --> 00:13:45,720
years ago, even 50 years ago, 
let alone 2 or 300 years ago, 

239
00:13:45,720 --> 00:13:47,920
right? 
We have kind of expanded our 

240
00:13:47,920 --> 00:13:49,880
horizons. 
We have much more freedom. 

241
00:13:50,040 --> 00:13:53,120
There's less interference in our
lives than there was in the old 

242
00:13:53,120 --> 00:13:55,960
days when kings and governments 
might kind of be much more 

243
00:13:55,960 --> 00:13:57,640
oppressive and all these kind of
things. 

244
00:13:58,040 --> 00:14:00,760
So we have, we're kind of moving
in that direction, which 

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probably is a good thing, right,
That that is a good thing to 

246
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have kind of freedom. 
But my thought experiment is if 

247
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we take, if we move this 
further, if we take this to the 

248
00:14:10,560 --> 00:14:15,040
extreme, where does it lead? 
So and where it leads if we take

249
00:14:15,040 --> 00:14:18,200
it to the extreme. 
So today we have, we are much 

250
00:14:18,200 --> 00:14:22,640
more able to satisfy our desires
than we were before, much more 

251
00:14:22,640 --> 00:14:24,840
quickly right than we were 
before. 

252
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So the extreme of this, if we 
keep on moving in this 

253
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direction, this is just a 
thought experiment, it's not 

254
00:14:31,000 --> 00:14:33,520
reality. 
If we take it to the extreme, 

255
00:14:33,920 --> 00:14:37,960
all our desires at the extreme 
could be fulfilled, might be 

256
00:14:37,960 --> 00:14:40,200
fulfilled instantaneously, 
right? 

257
00:14:40,480 --> 00:14:43,240
That is kind of directions 
you're moving into everything 

258
00:14:43,240 --> 00:14:47,680
you want straight away. 
It is satisfied, right? 

259
00:14:47,960 --> 00:14:50,960
This is taking this whole idea 
where we're moving to, to an 

260
00:14:50,960 --> 00:14:54,240
extreme. 
Now, what do you think about 

261
00:14:54,240 --> 00:14:56,160
that? 
Is that, would that be a nice 

262
00:14:56,160 --> 00:14:59,400
thing if as soon as you had, as 
soon as you had a craving, OK, 

263
00:14:59,520 --> 00:15:01,200
I'd like to eat this straight 
away. 

264
00:15:01,240 --> 00:15:05,480
You were satisfied, right? 
As soon as you had some kind of 

265
00:15:05,480 --> 00:15:08,440
idea, I'm going to, I'm going to
make a beautiful piece of art 

266
00:15:08,440 --> 00:15:10,440
and have this idea on your head 
and what you're going to paint 

267
00:15:10,440 --> 00:15:11,440
straight away. 
There it is. 

268
00:15:11,440 --> 00:15:14,160
It's done. 
You have this, you know this 

269
00:15:14,200 --> 00:15:16,600
person that you're very 
interested in this relationship 

270
00:15:16,600 --> 00:15:18,040
you'd like to get into straight 
away. 

271
00:15:18,120 --> 00:15:19,920
There they are. 
They are your boyfriend or 

272
00:15:19,920 --> 00:15:23,240
girlfriend, right? 
Or whatever you desire in life, 

273
00:15:23,240 --> 00:15:26,720
whatever you want straight away,
the desire is fulfilled. 

274
00:15:26,960 --> 00:15:30,600
That is kind of the optimising 
what we're doing already. 

275
00:15:30,600 --> 00:15:32,440
That's taking it to the extreme,
right? 

276
00:15:32,760 --> 00:15:35,160
This is just to get some feeling
for whether we're heading in the

277
00:15:35,160 --> 00:15:36,880
right direction or not. 
That's why I'm saying these 

278
00:15:36,880 --> 00:15:39,720
things. 
But what is that like? 

279
00:15:39,760 --> 00:15:44,840
If everything straight away is 
satisfied, what would it feel 

280
00:15:44,840 --> 00:15:47,520
like? 
And I say what it would feel 

281
00:15:47,520 --> 00:15:51,000
like, it would feel terrible. 
It sounds like some kind of 

282
00:15:51,000 --> 00:15:54,720
ideal perhaps, but I think it's 
absolute an absolute nightmare 

283
00:15:54,920 --> 00:15:57,480
if everything is straight away 
satisfied. 

284
00:15:57,960 --> 00:16:02,120
And the reason for that is 
because for the vast majority of

285
00:16:02,120 --> 00:16:07,200
people, the whole purpose of 
life is that striving is that 

286
00:16:07,200 --> 00:16:11,680
craving is that doing which 
moves you towards those goals in

287
00:16:11,680 --> 00:16:13,840
life, right? 
This is what it's about. 

288
00:16:13,960 --> 00:16:17,720
We identify with that doing. 
We are that doing. 

289
00:16:17,720 --> 00:16:20,120
We identify with the craving 
itself. 

290
00:16:20,240 --> 00:16:24,720
We are the craving. 
Take away that distance between 

291
00:16:24,720 --> 00:16:28,200
you and where you want to be and
narrow it down to nothing so 

292
00:16:28,200 --> 00:16:29,760
that you have everything 
straight away. 

293
00:16:30,240 --> 00:16:34,200
Then your sense of identity, of 
who you are or the very purpose 

294
00:16:34,200 --> 00:16:38,000
of life is kind of removed and 
taken away, and you would get 

295
00:16:38,000 --> 00:16:40,240
depressed, right? 
You would feel terrible. 

296
00:16:40,520 --> 00:16:42,520
The purpose of life is no longer
there. 

297
00:16:42,640 --> 00:16:45,160
There's nowhere to go. 
There's nothing to do because 

298
00:16:45,160 --> 00:16:47,480
everything is satisfied straight
away. 

299
00:16:48,440 --> 00:16:52,880
Buddha himself says that we 
sometimes we take craving to the

300
00:16:53,160 --> 00:16:55,600
be a self, right? 
We identify. 

301
00:16:55,600 --> 00:17:00,200
We're craving so much that this 
is actually who you see yourself

302
00:17:00,200 --> 00:17:02,440
to be. 
And the same thing with the 

303
00:17:02,440 --> 00:17:04,000
doing. 
Doing and craving are very 

304
00:17:04,000 --> 00:17:07,240
closely related to each other. 
We identify with the doing. 

305
00:17:07,400 --> 00:17:10,839
We are the doer. 
We are the person who goes out 

306
00:17:10,839 --> 00:17:13,119
into the world and does stuff, 
right? 

307
00:17:13,319 --> 00:17:15,480
So many people identify with the
doer. 

308
00:17:15,480 --> 00:17:17,760
I've seen so many people. 
And that's often why you can't 

309
00:17:17,760 --> 00:17:20,640
meditate, because as soon as you
sit still, you, you kind of 

310
00:17:20,640 --> 00:17:23,560
start to disappear, right? 
This is one of the problems. 

311
00:17:23,760 --> 00:17:28,079
We're identifying too much with 
the doing so it is really, it is

312
00:17:28,079 --> 00:17:30,600
a nightmare. 
It is I think for the majority 

313
00:17:30,600 --> 00:17:34,320
of people it would be absolutely
terrible to get to the point 

314
00:17:34,320 --> 00:17:36,400
where everything is satisfied 
straight away. 

315
00:17:36,680 --> 00:17:39,840
And yet that is in a way what 
we're striving for. 

316
00:17:40,080 --> 00:17:43,720
That in a way is where our 
society is pointing to. 

317
00:17:44,000 --> 00:17:45,640
That is what we're always trying
to do. 

318
00:17:45,840 --> 00:17:49,520
Satisfaction more quickly, 
satisfaction more complete, more

319
00:17:49,520 --> 00:17:53,480
money, larger economy, right. 
Everything more instantaneous. 

320
00:17:53,760 --> 00:17:56,520
That is, in a sense, we can 
never, probably never actually 

321
00:17:56,520 --> 00:17:59,600
get there, but at least we're 
heading in that direction. 

322
00:17:59,800 --> 00:18:03,960
We're heading towards a 
nightmare rather than real sense

323
00:18:03,960 --> 00:18:09,920
of freedom, right? 
Whoa, this is kind of weird. 

324
00:18:10,000 --> 00:18:12,280
I'm glad we have Buddhism. 
If we didn't have Buddhism, it 

325
00:18:12,280 --> 00:18:15,160
would be terrible to see that 
because you actually realize 

326
00:18:15,160 --> 00:18:18,080
that this is not working out. 
But it's even worse than that 

327
00:18:18,080 --> 00:18:23,240
because I think what you what 
happens when that craving and 

328
00:18:23,240 --> 00:18:26,680
that doing is taken away and 
suddenly everything 

329
00:18:26,680 --> 00:18:31,560
instantaneously is satisfied? 
You realize suddenly that you 

330
00:18:31,560 --> 00:18:35,680
feel very incomplete. 
You feel that there's something 

331
00:18:35,680 --> 00:18:39,120
lacking in your life, right? 
And this is the, this is the 

332
00:18:39,120 --> 00:18:42,760
problem is that we as long as we
crave, as long as we are moving 

333
00:18:42,760 --> 00:18:46,200
towards something that we feel, 
we give our satisfaction. 

334
00:18:46,400 --> 00:18:49,360
We never, never really have 
time, or at least not as much 

335
00:18:49,360 --> 00:18:52,600
time to feel that something is 
lacking inside of us. 

336
00:18:53,120 --> 00:18:57,360
But once everything is satisfied
straight away, that sense that 

337
00:18:57,400 --> 00:19:00,720
there is something missing, 
something not there becomes 

338
00:19:00,720 --> 00:19:04,960
very, very powerful. 
This is what life is, is about, 

339
00:19:04,960 --> 00:19:06,760
right? 
We're trying to always satisfy 

340
00:19:06,800 --> 00:19:10,320
ourselves, find the sense of 
completion, find the sense of 

341
00:19:10,320 --> 00:19:12,880
fulfillment by following the 
craving. 

342
00:19:12,880 --> 00:19:17,440
And then one day we take away 
the gap between the result of 

343
00:19:17,440 --> 00:19:19,960
that craving and where we want 
to go, where we want to go and 

344
00:19:19,960 --> 00:19:22,680
where we are. 
We take that away and we realize

345
00:19:22,680 --> 00:19:27,760
that that getting those external
objects 100% satisfied straight 

346
00:19:27,760 --> 00:19:32,880
away does not fill that gap, 
that hole, that emptiness inside

347
00:19:32,880 --> 00:19:36,000
of us which is always there. 
It cannot fill up that 

348
00:19:36,000 --> 00:19:39,360
emptiness, right. 
And suddenly your feeling of 

349
00:19:39,360 --> 00:19:42,840
emptiness, your feeling of lack 
of meaning becomes incredibly 

350
00:19:42,840 --> 00:19:46,400
strong and incredibly profound. 
And you understand that you're 

351
00:19:46,400 --> 00:19:51,960
never going to be able to find 
completion, find satisfaction by

352
00:19:51,960 --> 00:19:56,640
searching for it externally. 
There's no way that becomes so 

353
00:19:56,640 --> 00:19:59,880
obvious when everything is 
satisfied straight away here. 

354
00:20:00,400 --> 00:20:03,120
And this is one of the actually,
this is a great insight, right? 

355
00:20:03,440 --> 00:20:07,200
Because that makes you start to 
turn around and you start to see

356
00:20:07,200 --> 00:20:11,160
that actually to feel fulfilled,
to feel complete, to feel a 

357
00:20:11,160 --> 00:20:14,400
sense of satisfaction, I'm going
to have to do something else. 

358
00:20:14,960 --> 00:20:17,120
It's not going to happen through
external things. 

359
00:20:17,440 --> 00:20:21,160
It will only happen if I develop
myself internally. 

360
00:20:21,160 --> 00:20:24,600
And this is one of, I think one 
of the great distinctions here 

361
00:20:24,600 --> 00:20:31,680
between the freedom of the 
ordinary world and the freedom 

362
00:20:31,680 --> 00:20:33,480
in Buddhism. 
And this is the distinction. 

363
00:20:33,480 --> 00:20:36,760
And freedom in the ordinary 
world is always about external 

364
00:20:36,760 --> 00:20:41,080
things, but being able to get 
those external things as soon as

365
00:20:41,080 --> 00:20:44,080
possible and as completely as 
possible, whatever it is, 

366
00:20:44,520 --> 00:20:49,000
whether it's a relationships or 
jobs or artistic expression or 

367
00:20:49,000 --> 00:20:51,040
just sensual enjoyment in 
general. 

368
00:20:51,040 --> 00:20:54,640
And then the Buddhist way is 
actually seeing the emptiness of

369
00:20:54,640 --> 00:20:57,600
that, the whole of this, of 
that, how you can actually never

370
00:20:57,600 --> 00:21:01,320
get there, and then starting to 
look for those things in a 

371
00:21:01,320 --> 00:21:06,160
different area inside instead. 
So Buddhism is about seeking for

372
00:21:06,320 --> 00:21:11,080
that freedom inside rather than 
seeking for the freedom outside.

373
00:21:11,400 --> 00:21:15,080
And that I think, is the main 
distinction between the two. 

374
00:21:16,840 --> 00:21:19,520
But before I, I talk a little 
bit more perhaps about the 

375
00:21:19,880 --> 00:21:22,840
Buddhist idea, I want to talk 
about another aspect of this as 

376
00:21:22,840 --> 00:21:26,520
well. 
And that is the aspect that if 

377
00:21:26,520 --> 00:21:31,920
we are always searching for 
things, we are, we want to use 

378
00:21:31,920 --> 00:21:35,960
our choice to express our will. 
One of the interesting things to

379
00:21:35,960 --> 00:21:40,160
contemplate is, well, OK, so we 
want to have freedom of will, 

380
00:21:40,160 --> 00:21:43,680
right? 
Freedom of choice, but how free 

381
00:21:43,720 --> 00:21:45,880
is that choice in the first 
place? 

382
00:21:46,760 --> 00:21:50,720
Do we really have free choice or
do we have a freedom of will? 

383
00:21:50,840 --> 00:21:54,240
How free are these things? 
And if you start to contemplate 

384
00:21:54,240 --> 00:21:56,800
this, and I think this is one of
those nice things to contemplate

385
00:21:57,080 --> 00:22:00,360
if you are into meditation 
practice and you're into 

386
00:22:00,360 --> 00:22:03,000
spiritual growth, is to look at 
yourself. 

387
00:22:03,000 --> 00:22:06,160
Whenever you choose something, 
whenever you decide something in

388
00:22:06,160 --> 00:22:09,440
life, where does that decision 
come from? 

389
00:22:10,000 --> 00:22:12,800
Does it come from you? 
Is it a free choice? 

390
00:22:12,800 --> 00:22:16,720
Or is it a choice that is 
heavily conditioned by all sorts

391
00:22:16,720 --> 00:22:19,760
of things? 
And if you look at that, you 

392
00:22:19,760 --> 00:22:25,240
will discover very quickly that 
any choice you make, any use of 

393
00:22:25,240 --> 00:22:29,080
the will that you make in this 
life is so conditioned, right? 

394
00:22:29,440 --> 00:22:32,480
It is so heavily influenced by 
all these other things. 

395
00:22:32,840 --> 00:22:35,840
What you choose to have for 
breakfast in the morning or to 

396
00:22:35,840 --> 00:22:39,760
eat at any time is conditioned 
by the past, by what you thought

397
00:22:39,920 --> 00:22:42,560
was nice in the past. 
Sometimes you're not even, 

398
00:22:42,560 --> 00:22:45,200
you're not even interested in in
new stuff because you don't know

399
00:22:45,200 --> 00:22:47,360
what it is. 
So you just kind of pass it by, 

400
00:22:47,360 --> 00:22:48,840
right? 
This is what I've been learned 

401
00:22:48,840 --> 00:22:51,800
to eat, perhaps since you were a
child of eating this, right. 

402
00:22:51,800 --> 00:22:55,320
And whenever I go back to Norway
to visit my family, I get on to 

403
00:22:55,320 --> 00:22:57,560
the Norwegian food, right? 
Even though I haven't eaten 

404
00:22:57,560 --> 00:23:00,600
Norwegian food for 20 years, I'm
absolutely sure that this 

405
00:23:00,600 --> 00:23:02,680
Norwegian food is going to be 
delicious, right? 

406
00:23:03,080 --> 00:23:04,640
Nice things like pickled 
herring. 

407
00:23:04,640 --> 00:23:05,920
You know you like pickled 
herring. 

408
00:23:07,040 --> 00:23:08,960
This is the kind of stuff that I
get into when I go back to 

409
00:23:08,960 --> 00:23:10,880
Norway. 
Pickled, pickled herring sounds 

410
00:23:10,880 --> 00:23:14,040
very nasty for other people, but
to me it sounds really delicious

411
00:23:14,040 --> 00:23:18,840
and nice. 
So And this is it, right? 

412
00:23:18,840 --> 00:23:22,040
We are so conditioned and we are
so completely conditioned by the

413
00:23:22,040 --> 00:23:25,040
external environment. 
What do we do in life? 

414
00:23:25,040 --> 00:23:28,600
What do we study? 
I remember when I was 18 or 19, 

415
00:23:28,600 --> 00:23:31,280
I had to decide what I was going
to study at university. 

416
00:23:31,720 --> 00:23:33,040
I didn't know what I wanted to 
do. 

417
00:23:33,320 --> 00:23:35,400
And maybe maybe it was kind of 
in the cards. 

418
00:23:35,400 --> 00:23:37,080
I was going to become a monk 
anyway. 

419
00:23:37,400 --> 00:23:39,920
So what's the point, You know, 
choosing a particular education 

420
00:23:39,920 --> 00:23:40,840
if you're going to become a 
monk? 

421
00:23:40,840 --> 00:23:43,600
It just kind of seems all 
perhaps not so important. 

422
00:23:43,960 --> 00:23:46,880
But the reason I chose to study,
when I chose to study was 

423
00:23:46,880 --> 00:23:49,400
because my father said, oh, I 
went to this university. 

424
00:23:49,400 --> 00:23:51,720
This is a good university, why 
don't you go there? 

425
00:23:51,720 --> 00:23:54,480
I said, OK, whatever, I'll go 
there, right? 

426
00:23:54,920 --> 00:23:56,880
I mean, you can't get more 
condition than that, right? 

427
00:23:56,880 --> 00:24:00,520
This is kind of absolute 
conditioning here and and so it 

428
00:24:00,520 --> 00:24:02,520
is. 
So it goes on and on. 

429
00:24:02,640 --> 00:24:06,800
Our religion, our life, where we
live, our house, what we 

430
00:24:07,120 --> 00:24:10,960
everything almost we do. 
Your mental life, your thinking,

431
00:24:10,960 --> 00:24:12,120
right? 
Where does your thinking come 

432
00:24:12,120 --> 00:24:14,320
from? 
Start to analyze your thinking 

433
00:24:14,680 --> 00:24:16,040
and you will start to see that 
too. 

434
00:24:16,360 --> 00:24:20,400
It's just so heavily conditioned
as well from all kinds of things

435
00:24:20,400 --> 00:24:24,080
in the past. 
And one of the interesting 

436
00:24:24,080 --> 00:24:27,480
things that condition us, which 
I find very fascinating here is 

437
00:24:27,480 --> 00:24:31,080
that we're not just conditioned 
by things in this life, but we 

438
00:24:31,080 --> 00:24:35,240
are conditioned by things in the
past lives as well, right? 

439
00:24:35,560 --> 00:24:37,680
Many of the things you may not 
understand. 

440
00:24:37,680 --> 00:24:40,840
It was like for me, for example,
why did I become a, become a 

441
00:24:40,840 --> 00:24:43,040
Buddhist? 
Why did I become a Buddhist 

442
00:24:43,040 --> 00:24:44,800
monk? 
And I have, I can't really 

443
00:24:44,800 --> 00:24:46,520
explain that from the present 
life. 

444
00:24:46,520 --> 00:24:49,920
I remember when I was in my 
early 20s, I wanted to go to 

445
00:24:49,960 --> 00:24:54,480
Asia when I had a chance to go 
as an exchange student to Asia. 

446
00:24:54,880 --> 00:24:56,400
But why did I want to go to 
Asia? 

447
00:24:56,400 --> 00:24:58,560
I didn't have any Asian friends,
right? 

448
00:24:58,560 --> 00:25:01,520
I wasn't really interested in 
Buddhism at the time. 

449
00:25:02,040 --> 00:25:05,280
And of course, as soon as I went
to Asia, I went to Japan. 

450
00:25:05,280 --> 00:25:10,200
Actually at that time, this was 
in the mid 1980s, I went to 

451
00:25:10,200 --> 00:25:13,080
Japan and straight away I went 
to all the Buddhist temples, 

452
00:25:13,080 --> 00:25:14,240
right? 
And I thought, wow, this is 

453
00:25:14,240 --> 00:25:16,720
really cool. 
And then I got my first kind of 

454
00:25:16,800 --> 00:25:19,000
book about Buddhism and I read 
that right. 

455
00:25:19,520 --> 00:25:22,560
And again, found that 
interesting, fascinating. 

456
00:25:22,560 --> 00:25:26,480
And when I got back from that 
holiday overseas, one of my best

457
00:25:26,480 --> 00:25:28,760
friends, he said, well, here is 
a book you should read. 

458
00:25:29,000 --> 00:25:32,480
And it was a book about 
meditation practice, right? 

459
00:25:32,920 --> 00:25:34,800
It was called The Calm 
Technique. 

460
00:25:34,800 --> 00:25:37,240
That was the name of the book. 
And it was about breath 

461
00:25:37,240 --> 00:25:40,680
meditation, basically the same 
thing Ajam Ram teaches in the 

462
00:25:40,680 --> 00:25:42,640
present, right here and right 
now. 

463
00:25:43,440 --> 00:25:47,040
So again, and I started doing 
that and I had some nice 

464
00:25:47,040 --> 00:25:48,880
results. 
And it's gradually, gradually 

465
00:25:48,880 --> 00:25:50,960
you move in that direction. 
Eventually you become a monk. 

466
00:25:50,960 --> 00:25:53,600
Where does it come from? 
I can't explain where it comes 

467
00:25:53,600 --> 00:25:55,600
from. 
I think it's very obvious that I

468
00:25:55,600 --> 00:25:58,160
must have been a Buddhist in the
past life. 

469
00:25:58,200 --> 00:26:02,040
Otherwise I cannot explain what 
is going on in my life at all. 

470
00:26:02,200 --> 00:26:05,280
There's no explanation. 
It's just completely weird. 

471
00:26:07,200 --> 00:26:10,440
And the same thing goes for I 
think many of the other monks in

472
00:26:10,440 --> 00:26:14,480
the monastery as well. 
And this is is both interesting,

473
00:26:14,480 --> 00:26:19,400
but also it is a bit concerning.
Why is it that sometimes I get 

474
00:26:19,480 --> 00:26:22,520
angry about stupid things in 
life, right? 

475
00:26:22,520 --> 00:26:25,560
Sometimes the same kind of thing
makes me angry or upset every 

476
00:26:25,560 --> 00:26:28,120
time. 
Why is that certain desires keep

477
00:26:28,120 --> 00:26:31,440
arising all the time? 
Why is it that certain delusion,

478
00:26:31,440 --> 00:26:34,720
certain stupid thoughts keep 
popping into my mind? 

479
00:26:34,960 --> 00:26:37,160
Where does all this stuff come 
from? 

480
00:26:37,680 --> 00:26:41,920
And a lot of that stuff comes 
from the habits that we have 

481
00:26:41,920 --> 00:26:46,200
carried with us for innumerable 
lifetimes into the past, right? 

482
00:26:46,240 --> 00:26:51,680
Going back, back, back, back. 
And I understood that really for

483
00:26:51,680 --> 00:26:55,440
the first time when I spoke to 
somebody who claimed to have a 

484
00:26:55,440 --> 00:26:59,560
memory of a, of a past life and 
it seemed like a very powerful 

485
00:26:59,560 --> 00:27:01,760
memory. 
And he said that that's exactly 

486
00:27:01,760 --> 00:27:05,560
what happened to him. 
He saw how his personality had 

487
00:27:05,560 --> 00:27:08,720
carried on from the past and 
that scared him. 

488
00:27:09,000 --> 00:27:12,480
It scared him incredibly 
powerfully because it felt 

489
00:27:12,480 --> 00:27:15,840
trapped, right? 
I'm trapped by my personality. 

490
00:27:16,040 --> 00:27:18,480
I'm trapped by these habits that
I created. 

491
00:27:18,640 --> 00:27:22,320
I can't even see that I created 
these habits in the past life. 

492
00:27:22,720 --> 00:27:27,200
I'm trapped by these things. 
And when I see that and I walk 

493
00:27:27,200 --> 00:27:30,920
on my walking path in the 
monastery and I feel that 

494
00:27:30,920 --> 00:27:35,680
something arises in me, some 
kind of stupid thought which I 

495
00:27:36,320 --> 00:27:38,480
wish I didn't have. 
But you can't wish these 

496
00:27:38,480 --> 00:27:40,080
thoughts away, right? 
It just happened. 

497
00:27:40,160 --> 00:27:42,760
Even whether you want to or not,
sometimes you probably, 

498
00:27:42,760 --> 00:27:44,040
actually, I probably want to 
have them. 

499
00:27:44,040 --> 00:27:48,880
That's the scary thing. 
So the thoughts are there, they 

500
00:27:48,880 --> 00:27:54,000
arise, and they come from some 
kind of unfathomable past, some 

501
00:27:54,000 --> 00:27:56,600
program that you created many 
lifetimes ago. 

502
00:27:56,600 --> 00:28:00,720
And now, like a robot, you keep 
on repeating the same patterns 

503
00:28:00,720 --> 00:28:03,320
again and again. 
And it gives me the sense of 

504
00:28:03,320 --> 00:28:05,120
urgency I've got to get out of 
this. 

505
00:28:05,120 --> 00:28:09,200
I don't want to be a robot being
programmed from some past life, 

506
00:28:09,200 --> 00:28:11,000
right? 
And it gives me the sense of 

507
00:28:11,000 --> 00:28:14,520
aversion towards these thoughts.
And I just want to get out of 

508
00:28:14,520 --> 00:28:15,800
this. 
I don't want to think like this 

509
00:28:15,800 --> 00:28:18,280
anymore. 
I want to turn around and move 

510
00:28:18,280 --> 00:28:22,000
in a different direction. 
And this to me is a powerful 

511
00:28:22,240 --> 00:28:26,360
impulse in my practice to remind
me that I don't have control 

512
00:28:26,360 --> 00:28:29,000
over these things. 
This is stuff that comes from 

513
00:28:29,000 --> 00:28:31,480
the past, which is now 
controlling me. 

514
00:28:31,520 --> 00:28:34,000
I'm not in charge. 
These things are in charge. 

515
00:28:34,080 --> 00:28:36,360
I don't want to stand for that. 
I don't want to have anything to

516
00:28:36,360 --> 00:28:38,480
do with that. 
I want to release myself from 

517
00:28:38,480 --> 00:28:41,880
these problems. 
So this is how you can use ideas

518
00:28:41,880 --> 00:28:45,360
of past lives, right? 
Of being trapped in the past to 

519
00:28:45,440 --> 00:28:48,960
urge you on, to say I must find 
a solution to this. 

520
00:28:49,200 --> 00:28:51,480
There must be another way of 
looking at this. 

521
00:28:51,760 --> 00:28:55,040
This person I'm upset with, 
okay, what are their good 

522
00:28:55,040 --> 00:28:56,520
qualities? 
They have so many good 

523
00:28:56,520 --> 00:28:58,760
qualities. 
Why am I upset with this person?

524
00:28:59,000 --> 00:29:01,520
I'm silly. 
Forget about it. 

525
00:29:01,640 --> 00:29:05,080
And you change your focus and 
you're able to overcome those 

526
00:29:05,080 --> 00:29:08,680
problems as a consequence of 
using that kind of reflection. 

527
00:29:08,920 --> 00:29:12,240
Very powerful. 
At the same time, you realize 

528
00:29:12,240 --> 00:29:16,880
the limit in choice. 
Choice is incredibly limited 

529
00:29:17,160 --> 00:29:20,920
because you are basically 
programmed to a very large 

530
00:29:20,920 --> 00:29:26,040
extent by the past, right? 
OK, so we talk about freedom of 

531
00:29:26,040 --> 00:29:27,640
choice. 
Now, if you are programmed from 

532
00:29:27,640 --> 00:29:31,960
the past, how, you know, kind of
the whole idea of freedom of 

533
00:29:31,960 --> 00:29:34,160
choice start to become quite 
meaningless, right? 

534
00:29:34,440 --> 00:29:38,160
If you're just this robot 
wandering around doesn't feel 

535
00:29:38,160 --> 00:29:41,720
like it, but perhaps you are, 
then how, how important is that 

536
00:29:41,720 --> 00:29:43,680
freedom of choice? 
But you can take it even 

537
00:29:43,680 --> 00:29:46,600
further. 
And because I, you know, when 

538
00:29:46,600 --> 00:29:56,400
you understand the we'll just 
wait for the we're not going to 

539
00:29:56,400 --> 00:30:00,840
wait for the whole call. 
So please just great, OK, It's 

540
00:30:00,840 --> 00:30:03,440
always, it's a very hard to 
always turn off all the mobile 

541
00:30:03,440 --> 00:30:05,360
phones. 
So we have a so that's that's 

542
00:30:05,360 --> 00:30:06,520
OK. 
This is life. 

543
00:30:07,240 --> 00:30:11,880
So So what happens if you look 
at the Buddhist teachings about 

544
00:30:11,880 --> 00:30:15,320
how what we are as human beings,
what would I say? 

545
00:30:15,320 --> 00:30:17,680
It says that when you look 
inside of yourself, you don't 

546
00:30:17,680 --> 00:30:21,960
find any self, you don't find a 
core, you don't find the essence

547
00:30:21,960 --> 00:30:24,040
inside of yourself, who you 
actually are. 

548
00:30:24,240 --> 00:30:28,720
You are not this one solid 
monolithic thing which is always

549
00:30:28,800 --> 00:30:31,160
is there. 
What you are, what you are right

550
00:30:31,160 --> 00:30:34,600
here and right now. 
You are the sum of causes and 

551
00:30:34,600 --> 00:30:38,680
conditions from the past, right?
This is what you are, all this 

552
00:30:38,680 --> 00:30:42,360
cause and conditions coming 
together and making you who you 

553
00:30:42,360 --> 00:30:45,880
are right here, right now. 
Now, what that means, if that is

554
00:30:45,920 --> 00:30:49,600
all you are, this cause and 
conditions from the past, it 

555
00:30:49,600 --> 00:30:54,480
means that also your choices. 
Your choices is part of you, 

556
00:30:54,480 --> 00:30:57,080
right? 
Your will is part of you now 

557
00:30:57,080 --> 00:31:01,040
because everything what you are 
is a function of cause and 

558
00:31:01,040 --> 00:31:05,640
conditions in the past. 
It means that you will also must

559
00:31:05,640 --> 00:31:09,560
be, according to Buddhism, a 
function of cause and conditions

560
00:31:09,560 --> 00:31:12,000
in the past. 
And there is nothing but these 

561
00:31:12,000 --> 00:31:13,960
cause and conditions. 
There isn't anything else. 

562
00:31:14,120 --> 00:31:17,280
There is no independent entity 
standing outside of those things

563
00:31:17,280 --> 00:31:20,120
and saying aha, I'm watching all
this cause and conditions. 

564
00:31:20,600 --> 00:31:25,040
Those things watching are also 
just part of the this web of 

565
00:31:25,040 --> 00:31:28,520
causes and conditions. 
So what that means, Of course, 

566
00:31:28,520 --> 00:31:33,480
if the choice, the willpower, if
that can be fully explained in 

567
00:31:33,480 --> 00:31:37,040
terms of cause and conditions, 
and there's nothing apart from 

568
00:31:37,040 --> 00:31:41,520
that, it must mean that from a 
Buddhist point of view, there is

569
00:31:41,520 --> 00:31:46,040
no freedom of the will, right? 
Because it is all explained by 

570
00:31:46,040 --> 00:31:48,720
these other factors. 
There's nothing apart from these

571
00:31:48,720 --> 00:31:50,880
factors. 
There's nothing standing outside

572
00:31:50,880 --> 00:31:54,920
of that that has a perspective. 
You're fully trapped and fully 

573
00:31:55,120 --> 00:31:57,160
immersed in this cause and 
conditions. 

574
00:31:57,360 --> 00:31:59,960
There cannot be any free will 
there. 

575
00:32:01,000 --> 00:32:02,360
That's how it seems to me 
anyway. 

576
00:32:02,360 --> 00:32:04,720
Some people disagree with that. 
They say that, you know, 

577
00:32:04,720 --> 00:32:07,760
Buddhism requires a certain 
freedom of will, but I, I 

578
00:32:07,760 --> 00:32:13,240
personally cannot see that. 
And and anyway, even if even if 

579
00:32:13,240 --> 00:32:16,800
there were, you know, a degree 
of freedom of the will, what I 

580
00:32:16,800 --> 00:32:19,880
said before that we are very 
heavily influenced by causing 

581
00:32:19,880 --> 00:32:24,080
conditions is true regardless. 
But I take it a step further to 

582
00:32:24,080 --> 00:32:29,600
say that the cannot it is a it 
is kind of follows from all the 

583
00:32:29,600 --> 00:32:33,040
teachings of Buddhism that they 
cannot actually be in the end 

584
00:32:33,040 --> 00:32:36,200
and the free will. 
So again, if there is no free 

585
00:32:36,200 --> 00:32:39,960
will, what does that mean to 
this Western idea or this modern

586
00:32:39,960 --> 00:32:43,440
idea that we should go out and 
choose things in the world? 

587
00:32:43,680 --> 00:32:46,280
We should be the agent of our 
own happiness. 

588
00:32:46,480 --> 00:32:48,800
We should go out and express 
ourselves, right? 

589
00:32:48,920 --> 00:32:51,560
What are we expressing? 
We are just expressing all this 

590
00:32:51,560 --> 00:32:54,760
cause and conditions from the 
past that it pushes us in a 

591
00:32:54,760 --> 00:32:57,520
certain direction. 
That's all we are expressing 

592
00:32:57,520 --> 00:33:03,120
here. 
The reason why this idea of 

593
00:33:03,160 --> 00:33:06,880
freedom of choice or freedom of 
the will, this idea that we're 

594
00:33:06,880 --> 00:33:09,920
going to express ourselves, the 
reason why it is so important in

595
00:33:09,920 --> 00:33:14,640
the world is because we have a 
sense of self and the feeling is

596
00:33:14,640 --> 00:33:16,920
that we are expressing 
ourselves. 

597
00:33:17,400 --> 00:33:19,520
That is why it is so important, 
right? 

598
00:33:19,960 --> 00:33:23,960
Once you take away this idea of 
a self there, the whole thing 

599
00:33:23,960 --> 00:33:26,840
kind of collapses. 
You're not expressing yourself 

600
00:33:26,840 --> 00:33:29,080
anymore. 
What you are expressing is 

601
00:33:29,160 --> 00:33:31,040
conditions and causes from the 
past. 

602
00:33:31,440 --> 00:33:34,680
That is not as exciting, right? 
OK, So what it means then to 

603
00:33:34,680 --> 00:33:37,920
have freedom of choice is that 
you just allow these cause and 

604
00:33:37,920 --> 00:33:40,840
conditions to flow naturally. 
That's all it means. 

605
00:33:41,240 --> 00:33:44,480
But there's nobody there 
actually expressing themselves. 

606
00:33:45,040 --> 00:33:49,160
That is what it means. 
So again, it undermines Buddhist

607
00:33:49,160 --> 00:33:54,400
ideas, undermine this whole, you
know, this whole thing that we 

608
00:33:54,400 --> 00:33:58,720
have built up our civilization 
on this whole idea of freedom of

609
00:33:58,720 --> 00:34:02,640
choice, of expressing ourselves.
It is undermined by teaching 

610
00:34:02,640 --> 00:34:06,000
such as non self. 
So what does that mean? 

611
00:34:06,000 --> 00:34:09,719
Sometimes I, I think this is 
very fascinating and I and I 

612
00:34:09,719 --> 00:34:11,880
think, you know, what are the 
consequences of that? 

613
00:34:11,880 --> 00:34:15,840
And sometimes, you know, when I,
when I say these kind of things,

614
00:34:15,840 --> 00:34:18,639
other monks or other people say 
these kind of things, people 

615
00:34:18,639 --> 00:34:22,280
say, OK, that means I can just 
go back to bed and just lie down

616
00:34:22,280 --> 00:34:25,159
and just chill because there's 
no sense, there's no free will, 

617
00:34:25,159 --> 00:34:26,520
right? 
There's nothing to be done. 

618
00:34:26,719 --> 00:34:29,280
So we can just have a good time 
and not worry about it, because 

619
00:34:29,280 --> 00:34:31,719
things just happen according to 
Causeway and Effect. 

620
00:34:32,400 --> 00:34:34,080
That is not what it means at 
all. 

621
00:34:34,080 --> 00:34:37,440
And that is a complete 
misunderstanding what lack of 

622
00:34:37,440 --> 00:34:40,520
freedom of the will means. 
Because what they are talking 

623
00:34:40,520 --> 00:34:43,560
about is fatalism, that the 
whole world is kind of fated to 

624
00:34:43,560 --> 00:34:46,480
go in a certain way and 
regardless of what you do, it 

625
00:34:46,480 --> 00:34:49,199
will still go in the same way. 
But that's not the point. 

626
00:34:49,360 --> 00:34:52,280
The point is rather that the 
will has an effect. 

627
00:34:52,560 --> 00:34:55,560
If you do things in the world, 
there are consequences. 

628
00:34:55,560 --> 00:34:58,960
So you have to do things, you 
have to get out there, and the 

629
00:34:58,960 --> 00:35:02,320
better you practice in 
accordance with the Buddhist 

630
00:35:02,400 --> 00:35:05,640
teachings or any teaching or 
whatever, the faster, the more 

631
00:35:05,640 --> 00:35:07,840
progress you're going to make on
the path, right? 

632
00:35:08,000 --> 00:35:11,200
So these things have an effect. 
So you should certainly do your 

633
00:35:11,200 --> 00:35:15,400
very best to practice in the 
right way and do the right thing

634
00:35:15,400 --> 00:35:17,080
here. 
This is the first thing. 

635
00:35:17,080 --> 00:35:19,520
It's important to understand 
that it doesn't mean that you 

636
00:35:19,520 --> 00:35:22,000
can just kind of say, OK, 
nothing matters anymore. 

637
00:35:22,120 --> 00:35:25,040
That is a wrong understanding of
the lack of free will here, 

638
00:35:25,360 --> 00:35:28,000
because the will has an effect 
basically here. 

639
00:35:28,640 --> 00:35:31,040
But the other thing which I 
think is just as important is 

640
00:35:31,040 --> 00:35:35,040
that for all of us, even though,
you know, even though this is 

641
00:35:35,040 --> 00:35:38,480
very theoretical, right, very 
philosophical, there is no free 

642
00:35:38,480 --> 00:35:40,400
will. 
It's really just the construct 

643
00:35:40,400 --> 00:35:42,680
of the mind. 
And that is perhaps one reason I

644
00:35:42,680 --> 00:35:45,960
don't really like to talk about 
it so much because it's just a 

645
00:35:46,160 --> 00:35:49,440
figment of the imagination in in
a, in a large sense, it's it's 

646
00:35:49,440 --> 00:35:54,520
philosophy without real content.
The reality is that it feels 

647
00:35:54,520 --> 00:35:58,760
like we have free choice, right?
When you do something, it feels 

648
00:35:58,760 --> 00:36:00,720
like you are choosing free 
freely. 

649
00:36:01,000 --> 00:36:04,200
That is the reality. 
And that in a sense is what is 

650
00:36:04,200 --> 00:36:07,200
important. 
And so you, what you do, instead

651
00:36:07,200 --> 00:36:10,320
of saying I just don't do 
anything you say, I will 

652
00:36:10,320 --> 00:36:14,160
exercise that feeling inside of 
me, your freedom of choice and 

653
00:36:14,160 --> 00:36:17,720
freedom of the will to do what 
is good in the world, right to 

654
00:36:17,720 --> 00:36:22,000
do what is right. 
And I will also understand that 

655
00:36:22,000 --> 00:36:27,040
because I am so conditioned, 
because I'm so influenced by all

656
00:36:27,040 --> 00:36:32,240
these external factors, I will 
ensure that I put in as many 

657
00:36:32,240 --> 00:36:35,040
cause and conditions as I 
possibly can. 

658
00:36:35,280 --> 00:36:39,720
I will put those in place to 
increase the speed of my 

659
00:36:39,720 --> 00:36:42,920
practice, right? 
My practice, my movement on the 

660
00:36:42,920 --> 00:36:46,800
spiritual path depends on these 
cause and conditions. 

661
00:36:47,080 --> 00:36:51,520
How can I put things in place in
such a way that it increases my,

662
00:36:52,280 --> 00:36:56,480
my, the speed by which I 
progress on this path? 

663
00:36:56,680 --> 00:36:59,240
That is the right way of 
thinking, right? 

664
00:36:59,480 --> 00:37:01,800
And then when you think like 
that, then you can start to 

665
00:37:01,960 --> 00:37:06,240
become creative about how to 
improve your own spiritual 

666
00:37:06,240 --> 00:37:08,800
practice. 
And This is why this is one of 

667
00:37:08,800 --> 00:37:11,520
my favourite sayings in the 
suitors in the Discourse of the 

668
00:37:11,520 --> 00:37:13,520
Buddha. 
Well, the Buddha says, you know 

669
00:37:13,520 --> 00:37:18,200
very famously that no, the 
spiritual life, spiritual 

670
00:37:18,200 --> 00:37:21,080
friendship is not half the 
spiritual life. 

671
00:37:21,440 --> 00:37:24,040
Spiritual friendship is 
everything in the spiritual 

672
00:37:24,040 --> 00:37:26,520
life. 
And now you can understand why, 

673
00:37:26,520 --> 00:37:29,160
right? 
Because spiritual friendship is 

674
00:37:29,160 --> 00:37:31,760
the other causes. 
This is the cause and condition 

675
00:37:32,160 --> 00:37:35,760
which allows the spiritual path 
to come into practice. 

676
00:37:36,320 --> 00:37:39,040
The Buddha started all this. 
The Buddha is a supreme 

677
00:37:39,040 --> 00:37:42,200
spiritual friend. 
Other people who practice the 

678
00:37:42,200 --> 00:37:46,320
path are also spiritual friends.
And we kind of move each other 

679
00:37:46,320 --> 00:37:48,800
forward. 
And the more we hang out with 

680
00:37:48,800 --> 00:37:51,640
the right people, the more we 
are conditioned in the right 

681
00:37:51,640 --> 00:37:54,600
way, the faster this path will 
go. 

682
00:37:55,240 --> 00:37:58,880
So this is one way. 
If you understand how little 

683
00:37:58,920 --> 00:38:03,520
personal choice you have, then 
the more powerful becomes this 

684
00:38:03,520 --> 00:38:05,920
idea. 
I need to be in the right 

685
00:38:05,920 --> 00:38:08,680
environment. 
I need to do the right things. 

686
00:38:08,960 --> 00:38:11,720
I need to make sure I'm 
influenced by all the right 

687
00:38:11,720 --> 00:38:14,840
conditions, reading the word of 
the Buddha, understanding what 

688
00:38:14,840 --> 00:38:17,640
this is about so I can enhance 
my practice. 

689
00:38:17,840 --> 00:38:22,520
Never avoid an opportunity, 
never miss an opportunity to do 

690
00:38:22,520 --> 00:38:24,960
good, right? 
This is so powerful. 

691
00:38:24,960 --> 00:38:28,800
This is so fundamental to the 
Buddhist path, and yet we waste 

692
00:38:28,800 --> 00:38:30,840
so many opportunities to do what
is good. 

693
00:38:31,120 --> 00:38:33,400
There's opportunities at all 
times, right? 

694
00:38:33,400 --> 00:38:36,600
To do good things, to say 
something nice, to do something 

695
00:38:36,600 --> 00:38:38,760
good. 
But then we feel a bit upset. 

696
00:38:38,920 --> 00:38:41,680
And because we feel upset, we 
miss the opportunity here. 

697
00:38:42,160 --> 00:38:45,480
But please don't do that. 
This is so basic, so 

698
00:38:45,480 --> 00:38:48,040
fundamental. 
Every time you do something 

699
00:38:48,040 --> 00:38:51,400
good, every time you do 
something nice, you're lifting 

700
00:38:51,400 --> 00:38:55,080
yourself up and you are making 
meditation possible. 

701
00:38:55,480 --> 00:38:58,960
If your meditation wasn't very 
good this evening, it is because

702
00:38:59,200 --> 00:39:03,480
at least in part because you 
haven't taken every, every, 

703
00:39:03,880 --> 00:39:07,920
every opportunity in life to do 
what is good, to do what is 

704
00:39:07,920 --> 00:39:10,720
right, and to avoid doing bad 
things. 

705
00:39:11,400 --> 00:39:13,920
So please, this is the power of 
goodness. 

706
00:39:14,160 --> 00:39:16,720
This is the most important 
aspect of the whole spiritual 

707
00:39:16,720 --> 00:39:21,160
path, is to practice kindness, 
goodness, and to avoid the bad 

708
00:39:21,160 --> 00:39:23,200
things in life. 
And everything we do in life 

709
00:39:23,600 --> 00:39:27,120
should be turned into a path of 
kindness and avoiding the bad. 

710
00:39:27,800 --> 00:39:29,720
This is how we should think, 
right? 

711
00:39:30,040 --> 00:39:33,000
This is so important. 
And then we move forward, we 

712
00:39:33,000 --> 00:39:37,320
condition ourselves in the right
way, we put all those calls and 

713
00:39:37,320 --> 00:39:40,080
conditions into place and things
start to happen. 

714
00:39:40,800 --> 00:39:46,800
So this is how you should think 
when there is no if there is no 

715
00:39:46,800 --> 00:39:50,040
free will, which to me seems the
right way of looking at the 

716
00:39:50,040 --> 00:39:54,600
world. 
So now I have given you a number

717
00:39:54,600 --> 00:39:57,120
of things. 
Why I don't think that our 

718
00:39:57,400 --> 00:40:02,200
modern secular idea of freedom 
is all that useful at all, 

719
00:40:02,200 --> 00:40:03,760
right? 
First of all, it leads to 

720
00:40:03,760 --> 00:40:06,760
conflict. 
We go out into the world, we 

721
00:40:06,760 --> 00:40:09,080
want to enjoy the things that 
other people enjoy. 

722
00:40:09,280 --> 00:40:12,840
Conflict is inevitable, right? 
This is the first thing. 

723
00:40:13,200 --> 00:40:16,440
The second thing, if you take 
this kind of society to its 

724
00:40:16,440 --> 00:40:20,600
logical conclusion, it leads to 
despair rather than happiness. 

725
00:40:20,920 --> 00:40:22,920
Whenever. 
Everything is instantaneously 

726
00:40:22,920 --> 00:40:25,320
satisfied. 
You feel despair, you feel 

727
00:40:25,360 --> 00:40:27,440
emptiness. 
There's no purpose to life 

728
00:40:27,440 --> 00:40:29,080
anymore. 
Everything is pointless. 

729
00:40:29,440 --> 00:40:32,840
That is the second reason. 
And lastly, if there isn't any 

730
00:40:32,840 --> 00:40:36,320
free will anyway, then what's 
this big deal about going around

731
00:40:36,320 --> 00:40:39,520
and kind of expressing yourself 
and, and having all this free 

732
00:40:39,520 --> 00:40:40,600
will? 
The whole thing sort of 

733
00:40:40,600 --> 00:40:44,080
collapses. 
It is, it is somehow kind of 

734
00:40:45,120 --> 00:40:47,920
built upon the idea that there 
is a self. 

735
00:40:48,000 --> 00:40:51,400
That is what it's built upon. 
Take that idea away and the 

736
00:40:51,400 --> 00:40:53,080
whole thing starts to unravel 
here. 

737
00:40:53,680 --> 00:40:55,480
So what then about the Buddhist 
idea? 

738
00:40:55,480 --> 00:40:58,720
If the our modern idea? 
I'm not saying that the modern 

739
00:40:58,720 --> 00:41:00,520
idea is all stupid. 
It isn't. 

740
00:41:00,520 --> 00:41:02,680
Of course. 
There's a lot to be said for 

741
00:41:02,680 --> 00:41:05,400
freedom from oppression. 
There's a lot to be said for 

742
00:41:05,400 --> 00:41:09,040
being able to express oneself 
and, you know, talk and write 

743
00:41:09,040 --> 00:41:10,600
open and all these kind of 
things. 

744
00:41:10,760 --> 00:41:13,440
I'm just saying it has very 
clear limitations. 

745
00:41:13,440 --> 00:41:16,320
That's all that. 
So what about the Buddhist idea 

746
00:41:16,320 --> 00:41:18,520
then? 
And the Buddhist idea is the 

747
00:41:18,520 --> 00:41:22,120
exact opposite, right? 
It is as I was saying before, 

748
00:41:22,320 --> 00:41:26,200
that we understand that if you 
want true fulfillment, you need 

749
00:41:26,200 --> 00:41:29,520
to practice the spiritual path. 
And as you practice the 

750
00:41:29,520 --> 00:41:33,720
spiritual path, as you build up 
the happiness insider, as you 

751
00:41:33,720 --> 00:41:37,320
reduce the suffering insider, 
you build up the loving kindness

752
00:41:37,320 --> 00:41:40,880
for people around you, for the 
whole world, the compassion and 

753
00:41:40,880 --> 00:41:44,440
the peace. 
And one day you feel complete. 

754
00:41:44,760 --> 00:41:47,920
One day you feel full. 
You feel you don't need anything

755
00:41:47,920 --> 00:41:49,200
anymore. 
Why? 

756
00:41:49,200 --> 00:41:52,320
Because happiness is yours, 
right here, right now. 

757
00:41:52,800 --> 00:41:54,360
There's nothing more to search 
for. 

758
00:41:55,320 --> 00:41:58,520
If there's nothing more to 
search for, craving comes to an 

759
00:41:58,520 --> 00:42:00,120
end. 
You can't crave for anything 

760
00:42:00,120 --> 00:42:02,080
anymore because there's nothing 
more to crave. 

761
00:42:02,280 --> 00:42:06,640
You are complete as you are. 
You are fulfilled as a human 

762
00:42:06,640 --> 00:42:09,640
being. 
In fact, you understand, and 

763
00:42:09,640 --> 00:42:13,280
this is kind of the point here, 
you understand that craving is 

764
00:42:13,280 --> 00:42:17,160
actually the enemy because 
craving takes you away from the 

765
00:42:17,160 --> 00:42:20,120
state of completeness, right? 
You sit there, you feel 

766
00:42:20,120 --> 00:42:23,240
complete, and then suddenly you 
think, oh, you know, I would. 

767
00:42:23,560 --> 00:42:26,760
You start craving for something 
and then you think, no, I'm 

768
00:42:26,760 --> 00:42:30,400
actually moving away from my 
sense of completion and craving 

769
00:42:30,400 --> 00:42:34,120
is the enemy. 
Before craving was your friend, 

770
00:42:34,120 --> 00:42:37,360
craving was a thing that made 
you choose this way or that way.

771
00:42:37,680 --> 00:42:39,920
And now you come from the other 
side. 

772
00:42:39,920 --> 00:42:44,440
You realise that the very thing 
that made choice possible, the 

773
00:42:44,440 --> 00:42:48,040
very thing that made this 
freedom of expression, freedom 

774
00:42:48,040 --> 00:42:52,240
of choosing possible, this 
craving, that very thing is 

775
00:42:52,240 --> 00:42:55,800
actually the problem. 
So when we talk about freedom in

776
00:42:55,800 --> 00:42:59,400
the ordinary world, the freedom 
of choice, it is a very, very 

777
00:42:59,400 --> 00:43:02,040
shallow freedom. 
It's like being in prison, 

778
00:43:02,040 --> 00:43:04,040
right? 
You are in prison. 

779
00:43:04,040 --> 00:43:05,400
Imagine one of those old 
prisons. 

780
00:43:05,400 --> 00:43:08,400
You are kind of, you know, 
fettered to the wall, right? 

781
00:43:08,400 --> 00:43:11,800
With manacles around your, your 
hands and kind of fetters around

782
00:43:11,800 --> 00:43:14,360
your legs, right. 
And then the prison warden comes

783
00:43:14,360 --> 00:43:17,360
and says, well, you know, you 
can choose whether you're you're

784
00:43:17,560 --> 00:43:20,200
kind of fetters, whether they 
are steel or aluminum. 

785
00:43:20,240 --> 00:43:22,320
And then you say, yeah, give me 
aluminum. 

786
00:43:22,320 --> 00:43:25,800
Hooray, that is what what kind 
of the choice in the world is 

787
00:43:25,800 --> 00:43:28,080
about, right? 
You are already shackled. 

788
00:43:28,280 --> 00:43:32,240
You're already in prison, and 
you're allowed to choose kind of

789
00:43:32,240 --> 00:43:34,160
the color of the concrete in 
your cell. 

790
00:43:34,440 --> 00:43:37,520
Do you would you like green or 
would you like blue color in 

791
00:43:37,520 --> 00:43:39,360
your cell? 
Oh, yeah, Hooray, I can choose 

792
00:43:39,360 --> 00:43:41,320
my color. 
No, you are in prison, for 

793
00:43:41,320 --> 00:43:44,120
goodness sake. 
That is the real problem, right?

794
00:43:44,320 --> 00:43:47,960
Not the color of your cell. 
And this is kind of the 

795
00:43:47,960 --> 00:43:49,720
misunderstanding that's going on
here. 

796
00:43:49,960 --> 00:43:53,320
And This is why the Buddhist 
idea of freedom is so beautiful 

797
00:43:53,560 --> 00:43:57,840
and it is so high and it is so 
beyond all this kind of stuff 

798
00:43:57,840 --> 00:44:00,880
that we talk about in The World 
in Ordinary, that our whole 

799
00:44:00,880 --> 00:44:04,840
society is built around this 
idea of freedom of choice. 

800
00:44:05,200 --> 00:44:07,480
And from a Buddhist point of 
view, it's complete delusion. 

801
00:44:07,840 --> 00:44:11,600
It is just about choosing the 
colour in your cell and not 

802
00:44:11,600 --> 00:44:13,560
really getting out of your cell 
at all there. 

803
00:44:14,240 --> 00:44:17,200
So you practice the path. 
And as you practice this path, 

804
00:44:17,600 --> 00:44:20,080
you feel a sense of completion 
inside. 

805
00:44:20,280 --> 00:44:23,480
Craving becomes impossible. 
Craving is no longer 

806
00:44:23,480 --> 00:44:25,680
interesting. 
Craving is your enemy. 

807
00:44:25,960 --> 00:44:29,440
And eventually, as you go to the
end of the path, you eliminate 

808
00:44:29,440 --> 00:44:32,520
that craving completely. 
And that is why the end of 

809
00:44:32,520 --> 00:44:35,560
craving is the highest happiness
on the Buddhist path. 

810
00:44:35,600 --> 00:44:40,960
And there's a nice little story,
there's a nice little story in 

811
00:44:40,960 --> 00:44:43,320
the suit as I like this little 
story. 

812
00:44:44,040 --> 00:44:47,160
It's the, there's a monk at the 
time of the Buddha. 

813
00:44:47,160 --> 00:44:50,600
It's called Badiya. 
And Badiya, he was actually one 

814
00:44:50,600 --> 00:44:54,320
of the, he was in the, he was a 
relation of the Buddhas. 

815
00:44:54,320 --> 00:44:56,920
He was from the Saki and the 
Sakin family was the Buddha's 

816
00:44:56,920 --> 00:44:59,080
family. 
And Badiya, he was the son of 

817
00:44:59,080 --> 00:45:02,280
one of the kings, right? 
So he was very wealthy and he 

818
00:45:02,280 --> 00:45:05,360
had everything in life. 
Then he became a monk and he 

819
00:45:05,360 --> 00:45:08,200
meditated. 
And then one day after many 

820
00:45:08,200 --> 00:45:11,600
years, he was sitting in the 
forest and a tree cross legged, 

821
00:45:11,600 --> 00:45:14,880
right, with closed eyes and he 
was just sitting there and he 

822
00:45:14,880 --> 00:45:18,680
was just saying Aho sukang, Aho 
sukang. 

823
00:45:18,720 --> 00:45:22,080
Oh, what happiness, Oh, what 
happiness, right? 

824
00:45:22,080 --> 00:45:23,240
They were sitting there saying 
that. 

825
00:45:23,360 --> 00:45:26,080
Imagine coming to Budding on a 
monastery and you see a monk 

826
00:45:26,080 --> 00:45:28,560
sitting on a tree saying, oh, 
what place or what place? 

827
00:45:28,880 --> 00:45:32,640
That would be interesting, 
wouldn't it? 

828
00:45:32,640 --> 00:45:36,160
And so, and then of course, just
as he was saying that, you know,

829
00:45:36,160 --> 00:45:38,400
these monks, other monks were 
walking past and they were 

830
00:45:38,400 --> 00:45:40,320
looking at him wondering what's 
going on with this monk. 

831
00:45:40,320 --> 00:45:42,520
He's saying, you know, what 
place or place? 

832
00:45:42,800 --> 00:45:45,280
So they go off to the Buddha and
say to the Buddha, you know, we 

833
00:45:45,640 --> 00:45:49,440
we saw this monk, but yeah, he's
sitting in the forest saying, 

834
00:45:49,440 --> 00:45:52,760
oh, what place or what place? 
We are absolutely sure that what

835
00:45:52,760 --> 00:45:56,000
he is doing, he's sitting there 
and he's thinking back to the 

836
00:45:56,000 --> 00:45:59,480
time when he was a Prince in the
palace and he was thinking about

837
00:45:59,480 --> 00:46:01,320
all the pleasures of palace 
life. 

838
00:46:01,600 --> 00:46:03,480
Oh, what bliss. 
Oh, what bliss. 

839
00:46:03,480 --> 00:46:07,720
And now I have to endure this 
monastic life sitting under a 

840
00:46:07,720 --> 00:46:08,640
tree. 
Right. 

841
00:46:08,640 --> 00:46:13,680
Oh, how sad compared to the, 
compared to kind of royalty and,

842
00:46:13,680 --> 00:46:16,160
and king kingship and all these 
kind of things. 

843
00:46:16,640 --> 00:46:18,560
So the Buddha says, and of 
course the Buddha understand 

844
00:46:18,560 --> 00:46:21,120
there's something more to this. 
The Buddha says, OK, bring 

845
00:46:21,120 --> 00:46:24,320
Venable Badiya to me. 
So he asked brings when the 

846
00:46:24,320 --> 00:46:28,720
Badiya comes and he asks, 
Venabanya says, oh, Badiya, why 

847
00:46:28,720 --> 00:46:31,640
are you sitting in the forest 
saying oh, what place? 

848
00:46:31,640 --> 00:46:34,160
Oh, what place? 
And then Badiya answers. 

849
00:46:34,160 --> 00:46:38,120
Oh, I'm sitting there because I 
used to think back at all the 

850
00:46:38,120 --> 00:46:42,240
troubles of being a king, right?
All the troubles of that life of

851
00:46:42,240 --> 00:46:45,640
being a Prince, all the things 
you have to look after, all the 

852
00:46:45,640 --> 00:46:48,920
things you have to sort out, all
those worldly things. 

853
00:46:48,920 --> 00:46:51,720
And now I'm free from all that, 
right? 

854
00:46:51,720 --> 00:46:55,400
No choices, nothing to do. 
I'm freed from craving. 

855
00:46:55,400 --> 00:46:57,560
Free. 
I've attained the highest bliss,

856
00:46:57,960 --> 00:46:59,760
the highest freedom in the 
world. 

857
00:47:00,000 --> 00:47:02,600
And of course, that is the 
freedom of arahanship. 

858
00:47:02,840 --> 00:47:05,720
And that is why I'm saying aho 
sukang. 

859
00:47:05,720 --> 00:47:07,920
Aho sukang. 
Oh, what bliss. 

860
00:47:08,360 --> 00:47:11,560
Oh, what bliss. 
And that is the real bliss in 

861
00:47:11,560 --> 00:47:15,080
Buddhism, when you have the 
freedom from craving rather than

862
00:47:15,080 --> 00:47:16,880
the freedom of craving. 
Yeah. 

863
00:47:18,320 --> 00:47:19,800
OK. 
Thank you. 

864
00:47:27,510 --> 00:47:33,790
OK. 
So any, any, any questions, any 

865
00:47:33,790 --> 00:47:41,230
comments anybody here before we 
take, is there anything from 

866
00:47:41,230 --> 00:47:43,870
overseas or there is OK, is 
anybody here want to ask 

867
00:47:43,870 --> 00:47:46,310
anything before we go from take 
over here? 

868
00:47:46,310 --> 00:47:50,230
OK, Yeah. 
Thank you very much. 

869
00:47:51,630 --> 00:47:55,520
Thank you for your talk and for 
the wonderful meditation. 

870
00:47:56,040 --> 00:47:59,160
And I just happened to be 
wearing freedom on my clothing 

871
00:47:59,160 --> 00:48:05,000
tonight. 
But I feel that I really believe

872
00:48:05,080 --> 00:48:11,840
in my Buddha nature and that I 
have the freedom to respond or 

873
00:48:11,840 --> 00:48:16,480
to react when I have anger or 
someone upsets me. 

874
00:48:17,240 --> 00:48:22,560
I mean, I still get upset, but 
it's like I'm not going to react

875
00:48:22,560 --> 00:48:28,160
and bring that up, you know, 
have a an unpleasant experience.

876
00:48:29,360 --> 00:48:34,000
What I find helps me through my 
Buddhist practice is I actually 

877
00:48:34,000 --> 00:48:36,240
chant. 
I will chant. 

878
00:48:36,240 --> 00:48:42,200
I bring in loving kindness into 
that situation so that next time

879
00:48:42,200 --> 00:48:45,920
it happens, it doesn't. 
I'm not reacting. 

880
00:48:45,920 --> 00:48:48,520
I'm not. 
It's actually very different. 

881
00:48:48,640 --> 00:48:52,000
Yeah, it's, it's quite 
miraculous what chanting will 

882
00:48:52,000 --> 00:48:57,160
do, the power of chanting. 
And that helps me every day I 

883
00:48:57,760 --> 00:49:00,280
chant and that helps me 
enormously. 

884
00:49:00,280 --> 00:49:02,960
Yeah, with my life. 
So I feel I have the freedom. 

885
00:49:03,200 --> 00:49:05,480
I have the freedom to do. 
That great, great. 

886
00:49:05,480 --> 00:49:08,040
No, that's in a sense that's 
what what I meant is, is 

887
00:49:08,120 --> 00:49:11,080
basically that we use the 
freedom that we have, right? 

888
00:49:11,480 --> 00:49:14,800
And that freedom, from my point 
of view, just that the freedom 

889
00:49:14,800 --> 00:49:18,080
that we feel we have in the, in 
the deeper sense of the Dumber. 

890
00:49:19,600 --> 00:49:22,400
My only point was that to me, it
looks like an illusion, but the 

891
00:49:22,400 --> 00:49:25,320
point is that it feels like we 
have a freedom and we use that 

892
00:49:25,320 --> 00:49:28,200
freedom to the best of our 
ability to do exactly what you 

893
00:49:28,200 --> 00:49:30,600
were saying. 
And this is, you know, this idea

894
00:49:30,600 --> 00:49:33,360
of chanting is it's great. 
You know, we, we use basically 

895
00:49:33,360 --> 00:49:37,200
whatever, whatever skillful 
means work, we use those to kind

896
00:49:37,200 --> 00:49:39,880
of to, you know, and that is of 
course, 1, you know, one of the 

897
00:49:39,920 --> 00:49:42,680
great ways of overcoming 
unwholesome states or whatever. 

898
00:49:42,760 --> 00:49:44,840
Certainly. 
And that's what I recommend when

899
00:49:44,840 --> 00:49:48,800
people do chanting, do it for a 
purpose, do it for a reason. 

900
00:49:49,120 --> 00:49:53,120
Don't just do it for some kind 
because you are used to do it or

901
00:49:53,120 --> 00:49:54,400
you've been taught to do it or 
whatever. 

902
00:49:54,560 --> 00:49:58,200
Give it some real meaning. 
When you do chanting, make give 

903
00:49:58,200 --> 00:50:01,120
it a sense of pace, loving 
kindness, all the things you're 

904
00:50:01,120 --> 00:50:03,120
saying, yeah. 
Thank you. 

905
00:50:03,160 --> 00:50:16,360
Yeah. 
Could all this accumulated 

906
00:50:16,360 --> 00:50:20,640
condition in which you 
mentioned, yes, which could also

907
00:50:20,640 --> 00:50:22,440
be called the karma? 
Yeah. 

908
00:50:23,120 --> 00:50:26,600
Could that be called the self of
that person? 

909
00:50:30,560 --> 00:50:32,840
It's, it's it. 
First of all, we say it could be

910
00:50:32,840 --> 00:50:34,520
called karma, but it's not just 
karma. 

911
00:50:34,520 --> 00:50:37,400
Karma is only one type of cause 
and conditions. 

912
00:50:37,760 --> 00:50:39,920
There are all other kinds of 
cause and conditions as well, 

913
00:50:39,920 --> 00:50:41,560
right? 
So karma is one thing. 

914
00:50:41,840 --> 00:50:45,800
And karma is basically about the
kind of the ethical actions we 

915
00:50:45,800 --> 00:50:48,520
did in the past. 
They have consequences for our 

916
00:50:48,520 --> 00:50:50,920
feelings now. 
But then there are all other 

917
00:50:50,920 --> 00:50:55,400
kinds of other kinds of cause 
and conditions as well. 

918
00:50:56,040 --> 00:50:58,800
Can that be called the self? 
Well, the, the whole point here 

919
00:50:58,800 --> 00:51:02,880
is that the idea of a self, 
remember the Buddha here is 

920
00:51:03,240 --> 00:51:07,080
talking to a society in which 
they believe in a permanent core

921
00:51:07,080 --> 00:51:09,640
to the human being. 
This is the brahmanical society 

922
00:51:09,640 --> 00:51:11,400
in, in the days. 
And it's very similar to 

923
00:51:11,760 --> 00:51:15,320
Christianity in in that sense 
and Islam and all the theistic 

924
00:51:15,320 --> 00:51:18,320
religions very similar to that. 
So the Buddha is kind of 

925
00:51:18,320 --> 00:51:22,200
speaking to that society. 
And So what he's saying is that 

926
00:51:22,200 --> 00:51:24,880
this permanence that people 
believe in, that there is 

927
00:51:24,880 --> 00:51:27,640
something permanent there, 
whatever that is, that is the 

928
00:51:27,640 --> 00:51:31,360
problem, and that is what there 
is not, and that is what is 

929
00:51:31,360 --> 00:51:34,160
meant. 
So we have to define yourself 

930
00:51:34,160 --> 00:51:36,840
very clearly, first of all. 
And once you have defined in 

931
00:51:36,840 --> 00:51:41,440
that way, then there cannot be a
self in that sense, according to

932
00:51:41,440 --> 00:51:45,120
the Buddha. 
If you say that of course there,

933
00:51:45,600 --> 00:51:49,240
there is a kind of a self in a 
sense that there is a, you know,

934
00:51:49,360 --> 00:51:52,120
I am separate from you or you're
separate from me, right? 

935
00:51:52,120 --> 00:51:54,200
We are different. 
We are kind of different streams

936
00:51:54,200 --> 00:51:56,960
of consciousness with different 
comic background. 

937
00:51:57,120 --> 00:51:59,400
We don't really mingle with each
other in that sense. 

938
00:51:59,680 --> 00:52:01,280
In that sense there is 
separation. 

939
00:52:01,400 --> 00:52:04,320
So there is a sense of 
individuality that is true 

940
00:52:04,320 --> 00:52:06,760
individuality. 
There is, but you can't really 

941
00:52:06,760 --> 00:52:10,320
say that it is a self in the 
Buddhist, Buddhist sense, the 

942
00:52:12,880 --> 00:52:22,080
utter. 
Thank you. 

943
00:52:23,120 --> 00:52:28,880
Just a question in terms of what
you were talking about about no 

944
00:52:28,880 --> 00:52:32,680
satisfaction from the craving, 
you know, from reaching the 

945
00:52:32,680 --> 00:52:35,120
craving. 
And I couldn't help but think 

946
00:52:35,120 --> 00:52:39,560
that there seems to be a lot of 
people that strive to be rich 

947
00:52:39,560 --> 00:52:43,520
and wealthy and then get there 
and then miserable. 

948
00:52:43,600 --> 00:52:47,600
Yeah, yeah. 
And there seems to be a lot of a

949
00:52:47,600 --> 00:52:51,160
lot of that, yeah. 
And the other thing is, is that 

950
00:52:51,920 --> 00:52:55,360
a lot of them turn to 
volunteering and helping others,

951
00:52:56,160 --> 00:52:58,760
and then they feel more 
satisfied, which is what you 

952
00:52:58,800 --> 00:52:59,720
were talking. 
About right. 

953
00:52:59,960 --> 00:53:02,000
Exactly. 
Yeah, yeah, yeah, indeed. 

954
00:53:02,000 --> 00:53:04,240
I find it very fascinating that 
some of the greatest 

955
00:53:04,400 --> 00:53:06,480
philanthropists in the world are
people who are extremely 

956
00:53:06,480 --> 00:53:09,320
wealthy, people like Bill Gates 
and Warren Buffett, two of the 

957
00:53:09,320 --> 00:53:11,280
most wealthy people in the world
today. 

958
00:53:11,600 --> 00:53:13,520
And they are carrying other 
people with them, right. 

959
00:53:13,520 --> 00:53:16,600
And what they do they. 
They have kind of seen the limit

960
00:53:16,600 --> 00:53:18,400
of wealth. 
Obviously you can't get much 

961
00:53:18,400 --> 00:53:20,360
more wealthy than that. 
And then they turn their whole 

962
00:53:20,360 --> 00:53:22,880
life into giving. 
It's not a it's not a wonderful 

963
00:53:22,880 --> 00:53:24,000
example. 
And it. 

964
00:53:24,120 --> 00:53:27,880
And it kind of it also, I think 
that there must be some very 

965
00:53:28,000 --> 00:53:31,440
powerful condition in their life
to actually want to give. 

966
00:53:32,000 --> 00:53:34,040
And I think that probably comes 
from a past life. 

967
00:53:34,040 --> 00:53:36,000
That's why they got wealthy in 
the 1st place. 

968
00:53:36,200 --> 00:53:38,240
And then they continue giving in
this life, right? 

969
00:53:38,400 --> 00:53:40,120
You see the thing rolling on 
like that. 

970
00:53:40,880 --> 00:53:42,640
So yes. 
And I think I think that is a 

971
00:53:42,640 --> 00:53:44,560
very, that's a very important 
point. 

972
00:53:44,560 --> 00:53:48,600
And I think that many people 
also find that if you indulge a 

973
00:53:48,600 --> 00:53:51,920
lot in sensual pleasures and you
have like a really big full of 

974
00:53:51,920 --> 00:53:56,160
sensual pleasures, maybe a very 
big hire afterwards, after it 

975
00:53:56,160 --> 00:53:58,800
kind of when you've got 
everything in a sense, you feel 

976
00:53:58,800 --> 00:54:01,320
kind of empty here. 
You feel almost depressed, 

977
00:54:01,320 --> 00:54:04,240
right? 
If this is what life is about, I

978
00:54:04,240 --> 00:54:08,000
have now achieved the pinnacle. 
There's nothing really there, 

979
00:54:08,000 --> 00:54:09,720
right? 
And you feel a sense of empty. 

980
00:54:09,720 --> 00:54:12,640
And this is kind of AI think a 
known psychological phenomenon, 

981
00:54:12,640 --> 00:54:15,680
the sense of emptiness or 
depression that you can have 

982
00:54:16,120 --> 00:54:18,760
after, you know, sensual 
pleasures in that sense. 

983
00:54:19,680 --> 00:54:21,640
So yes, thank you for that. 
Thank you for the comment. 

984
00:54:29,880 --> 00:54:35,080
OK, thank you. 
So we have a few, few questions 

985
00:54:35,080 --> 00:54:39,560
from overseas. 
Oh, I can, I can just read this.

986
00:54:39,560 --> 00:54:43,160
Good. 
But this is from, oh, can you? 

987
00:54:43,280 --> 00:54:47,800
No, that's too easy here. 
This is from Bomber in the USA. 

988
00:54:48,520 --> 00:54:51,880
Can you comment on craving in 
regard to the Buddhist teaching 

989
00:54:52,120 --> 00:54:55,280
and the Buddhist path? 
How should we approach this 

990
00:54:55,280 --> 00:54:59,560
desire in our lay life? 
How should you how should you 

991
00:54:59,560 --> 00:55:03,120
approach desires in your lay 
love and what basically what 

992
00:55:03,120 --> 00:55:07,000
you're the most important thing 
right in on the Buddhist 

993
00:55:07,000 --> 00:55:11,200
teachings is to do good is to 
live a good life is to be 

994
00:55:11,200 --> 00:55:13,440
ethical, to be virtuous, to be 
moral. 

995
00:55:13,760 --> 00:55:17,120
That is what really matters. 
So what you should do in your 

996
00:55:17,120 --> 00:55:21,960
ordinary life is you should not 
allow craving nor anger nor 

997
00:55:21,960 --> 00:55:26,160
delusion to stand in the way of 
doing what is good and doing 

998
00:55:26,160 --> 00:55:28,280
what is right. 
This is the most important 

999
00:55:28,280 --> 00:55:30,840
thing. 
And so don't worry too much 

1000
00:55:30,840 --> 00:55:32,920
about the craving. 
You can't really control the 

1001
00:55:32,920 --> 00:55:35,080
craving. 
If you try to control it, 

1002
00:55:35,080 --> 00:55:37,360
usually you just you make a mess
out of it. 

1003
00:55:37,880 --> 00:55:41,640
So but instead just watch it and
be aware of it and be aware of 

1004
00:55:41,640 --> 00:55:46,160
the danger and then sidestep it 
and then practice what is good 

1005
00:55:46,160 --> 00:55:50,400
and what is right instead. 
And by doing that, what happens 

1006
00:55:50,400 --> 00:55:53,440
by if you really get into doing 
what is good in the world, 

1007
00:55:53,680 --> 00:55:56,760
really get into changing the way
you think, right? 

1008
00:55:56,920 --> 00:56:00,280
Having less anger, trying to 
understand people instead. 

1009
00:56:00,560 --> 00:56:02,440
People don't usually want to be 
bad. 

1010
00:56:02,440 --> 00:56:04,320
They're just deluded. 
They're just silly. 

1011
00:56:04,720 --> 00:56:07,160
Well, when I get angry, I think 
I'm stupid, right? 

1012
00:56:07,160 --> 00:56:08,960
And probably same thing with 
everybody else. 

1013
00:56:09,520 --> 00:56:14,400
So because of that, you, you 
change your attitude, you look 

1014
00:56:14,400 --> 00:56:16,720
at the world in a new way, you 
look at people in a different 

1015
00:56:16,720 --> 00:56:21,120
way, you become more kind. 
And as you do that, your own 

1016
00:56:21,120 --> 00:56:25,280
personal sense of satisfaction 
internally will increase and 

1017
00:56:25,280 --> 00:56:27,240
that will cause craving to 
decline. 

1018
00:56:27,520 --> 00:56:30,760
That is where the decline of 
craving really comes from. 

1019
00:56:31,000 --> 00:56:33,320
That's the most important 
decline of craving because you 

1020
00:56:33,320 --> 00:56:36,200
can't, you cannot really hold 
craving in check that much. 

1021
00:56:37,920 --> 00:56:41,280
OK, so I hope that makes sense. 
I'm going to, yeah. 

1022
00:56:41,360 --> 00:56:44,080
So second one is from Marcus in 
Germany. 

1023
00:56:44,720 --> 00:56:48,480
If there is no freedom of 
choice, why is there right 

1024
00:56:48,480 --> 00:56:50,040
effort in the noble at full 
path? 

1025
00:56:50,560 --> 00:56:53,840
Isn't it the requirement for 
changing habits and awakening 

1026
00:56:53,840 --> 00:56:55,720
here? 
The reason there is right effort

1027
00:56:55,720 --> 00:56:58,000
is because when you practice 
right effort, you're doing the 

1028
00:56:58,000 --> 00:57:00,280
right thing here. 
So there's still right effort, 

1029
00:57:00,280 --> 00:57:03,560
right? 
But the question is that why are

1030
00:57:03,560 --> 00:57:06,280
you doing that effort? 
You're not necessarily doing 

1031
00:57:06,280 --> 00:57:09,680
that effort because you are 
choosing it as such, or you are 

1032
00:57:09,680 --> 00:57:12,960
choosing it in a certain way, 
but not because that choice is 

1033
00:57:12,960 --> 00:57:15,760
entirely free. 
You're choosing it because you 

1034
00:57:15,760 --> 00:57:18,120
read the Buddha's teachings and 
the Buddha said this is what you

1035
00:57:18,120 --> 00:57:20,960
must do, and then you have 
confidence in those teachings. 

1036
00:57:20,960 --> 00:57:24,320
And because you have confidence 
and they say what you do, you 

1037
00:57:24,320 --> 00:57:27,280
choose that right? 
That is how it happens. 

1038
00:57:28,000 --> 00:57:31,640
So this idea that there is the 
freedom doesn't really come into

1039
00:57:31,640 --> 00:57:34,040
the picture here. 
What comes into the picture is 

1040
00:57:34,040 --> 00:57:37,680
that you condition yourself in a
certain way through the Buddhist

1041
00:57:37,680 --> 00:57:40,720
teachings, through otherwise 
people, through whatever it is. 

1042
00:57:40,920 --> 00:57:46,480
And in that way the right effort
comes into effect, right. 

1043
00:57:46,480 --> 00:57:50,400
So don't, don't think, as I said
before, that it means you can 

1044
00:57:50,400 --> 00:57:53,000
just sit back and chill. 
That is not how it works. 

1045
00:57:54,440 --> 00:57:57,680
OK, last question, is it from 
Singapore, Victoria? 

1046
00:57:57,680 --> 00:58:02,960
In Singapore, how can we choose 
to be kind and choose to be with

1047
00:58:02,960 --> 00:58:05,640
good people if all is 
conditioned? 

1048
00:58:06,000 --> 00:58:08,240
Do we have the free will to do 
so? 

1049
00:58:08,880 --> 00:58:10,800
You don't need the free will to 
do so. 

1050
00:58:10,800 --> 00:58:12,520
Don't worry about the free will,
right? 

1051
00:58:12,920 --> 00:58:15,600
Just know you know that is right
to choose that. 

1052
00:58:15,600 --> 00:58:18,040
So you choose that. 
Because of that, the Buddha says

1053
00:58:18,040 --> 00:58:20,560
it's good to be kind. 
The Buddha says it should do the

1054
00:58:20,560 --> 00:58:23,440
right thing. 
So then feel it feels to you 

1055
00:58:23,440 --> 00:58:26,280
like you have free will. 
Use that feeling that you have 

1056
00:58:26,280 --> 00:58:29,880
inside of you that there is free
will to choose the right thing. 

1057
00:58:30,080 --> 00:58:32,200
That is what you should do, 
right? 

1058
00:58:32,360 --> 00:58:34,960
This is the problem with talking
about things too 

1059
00:58:34,960 --> 00:58:36,800
philosophically. 
It's something that's very hard 

1060
00:58:36,800 --> 00:58:39,120
to relate to. 
I'm not sure if I can relate 

1061
00:58:39,120 --> 00:58:42,000
100% myself to the idea that 
there is no free will. 

1062
00:58:42,160 --> 00:58:44,920
It's very difficult to really 
grasp, right? 

1063
00:58:45,360 --> 00:58:50,200
So I, I, I talked about that 
more just to counter the idea 

1064
00:58:50,200 --> 00:58:53,880
that freedom of choice in our 
society is something very awe 

1065
00:58:53,880 --> 00:58:56,400
inspiring and wonderful. 
That's really why I talked about

1066
00:58:56,400 --> 00:58:59,320
that. 
But in our ordinary life, in our

1067
00:58:59,360 --> 00:59:03,520
life as Buddhists, you use the 
feeling of having freedom. 

1068
00:59:03,560 --> 00:59:05,760
You use the feeling that you can
choose. 

1069
00:59:05,760 --> 00:59:08,240
That's what you use. 
And then you make sure that you 

1070
00:59:08,240 --> 00:59:12,080
put all the calls and conditions
into place to support you on 

1071
00:59:12,080 --> 00:59:14,200
that path. 
And when you put all the calls 

1072
00:59:14,200 --> 00:59:16,800
and conditions into place to 
support you, it will happen 

1073
00:59:16,800 --> 00:59:21,560
faster because you understand 
that a large part of it is about

1074
00:59:21,720 --> 00:59:27,960
causes and conditions. 
OK, anything else? 

1075
00:59:28,760 --> 00:59:34,880
Everybody happy AD here. 
OK, Eddie Short, short one. 

1076
00:59:35,000 --> 00:59:35,720
Eddie Short. 
OK. 

1077
00:59:37,320 --> 00:59:40,480
Thanks for the wonderful talk. 
Yeah, it's very interesting. 

1078
00:59:40,480 --> 00:59:45,280
Yeah, I also see the Buddhist 
freedom from another angle. 

1079
00:59:46,080 --> 00:59:49,760
I quit it with the piece of 
Nirvana. 

1080
00:59:50,000 --> 00:59:53,760
Remember the Buddha was saying 
Nirvana is the freedom from the 

1081
00:59:53,760 --> 00:59:57,440
cycle of rebirth in the 31 pence
of existence. 

1082
00:59:57,760 --> 01:00:01,320
Yeah, yeah and sorry. 
And the Nirvana is the 

1083
01:00:01,320 --> 01:00:05,920
extinguishing of the negative 
thoughts and emotions, greed, 

1084
01:00:05,920 --> 01:00:10,560
hatred, delusion and the 
accompanying things like anger. 

1085
01:00:10,600 --> 01:00:14,960
No, you will hate you will 
jealousy. 

1086
01:00:15,400 --> 01:00:18,920
We think, I mean think, bet on, 
on people, you know, 

1087
01:00:18,920 --> 01:00:21,920
selfishness, all these things, 
elimination, you know, 

1088
01:00:22,080 --> 01:00:23,680
extinguishing of this fire. 
Yeah. 

1089
01:00:24,160 --> 01:00:26,480
And then become peaceful. 
Yeah, that's peace. 

1090
01:00:26,520 --> 01:00:27,560
Yeah, that's all. 
That's all good. 

1091
01:00:27,560 --> 01:00:30,560
And I think actually the most 
important freedom in Buddhism, 

1092
01:00:30,560 --> 01:00:32,120
which I shouldn't should have 
mentioned, which I didn't 

1093
01:00:32,120 --> 01:00:34,640
mention in the talk, is the 
freedom from suffering, right? 

1094
01:00:34,920 --> 01:00:37,120
That's what really it is about 
at the end of the day, freedom 

1095
01:00:37,120 --> 01:00:40,720
from suffering here and in in 
ordinary society, we think that 

1096
01:00:40,720 --> 01:00:43,800
freedom from suffering comes 
through freedom of freedom of 

1097
01:00:43,800 --> 01:00:46,160
choice. 
If we have freedom of choice, we

1098
01:00:46,160 --> 01:00:48,480
won't suffer so much. 
But actually the Buddha says, 

1099
01:00:48,480 --> 01:00:51,280
no, it doesn't work like that. 
It is freedom from craving. 

1100
01:00:51,440 --> 01:00:53,400
That is what gives rise to 
freedom from suffering. 

1101
01:00:53,400 --> 01:00:54,800
Yeah, Yeah. 
OK. 

1102
01:00:55,000 --> 01:00:56,200
Thank you. 
Thank you, Eddie. 

1103
01:00:56,200 --> 01:00:58,120
So let's pay respect to Buddha 
Dama Sangha.