1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:05,203 Okay, tonight's talk I'm going to talk about a very basic 2 00:00:05,203 --> 00:00:08,478 subject of Buddhism, because I like these basic subjects 3 00:00:08,478 --> 00:00:11,640 myself. I'm going to talk about morality 4 00:00:11,640 --> 00:00:14,772 tonight. And I was thinking about this 5 00:00:14,772 --> 00:00:18,658 before I, a couple of days ago, what I was going to talk about 6 00:00:18,658 --> 00:00:20,856 tonight. And I was thinking about this 7 00:00:20,856 --> 00:00:22,820 subject of morality, and I felt really inspired. 8 00:00:23,340 --> 00:00:26,000 Even though it's basic, it's very fundamental. 9 00:00:26,000 --> 00:00:30,608 I felt inspired, and I think I felt inspired because I know 10 00:00:30,608 --> 00:00:34,620 this very much relates to our everyday practice, to how we 11 00:00:34,620 --> 00:00:37,657 have to, the things that we have to overcome, the things that we 12 00:00:37,657 --> 00:00:39,540 have to do every single day, basically. 13 00:00:40,240 --> 00:00:43,216 And it's true in the monastery, and it's probably even more true 14 00:00:43,216 --> 00:00:45,947 in lay life, because you have much more interaction with other 15 00:00:45,947 --> 00:00:51,484 people, and much more chances of slipping up when it comes to 16 00:00:51,484 --> 00:00:53,740 morality and doing the right thing and the good thing. 17 00:00:54,400 --> 00:00:55,980 And when I felt inspired by this, I was very inspired. 18 00:00:55,980 --> 00:00:58,393 And by those thoughts, I thought, well, maybe people here 19 00:00:58,393 --> 00:01:00,080 as well might feel inspired by this. 20 00:01:00,460 --> 00:01:02,700 So I thought it might be a good thing to talk about. 21 00:01:03,840 --> 00:01:08,160 Now, the thing about morality in Buddhism, and what I want to 22 00:01:08,160 --> 00:01:11,509 start off with when it comes to morality, I want to talk about 23 00:01:11,509 --> 00:01:15,588 some of those basic things in Buddhism that come prior to the 24 00:01:15,588 --> 00:01:18,380 rules of morality that we often hear about. 25 00:01:18,460 --> 00:01:21,697 We hear about the five precepts. We hear about the eight 26 00:01:21,697 --> 00:01:23,824 precepts. And we hear about all these kind 27 00:01:23,824 --> 00:01:25,680 of various rules that we have to keep. 28 00:01:25,980 --> 00:01:29,075 But the beautiful thing in Buddhism is that there is 29 00:01:29,075 --> 00:01:30,620 actually something prior to that. 30 00:01:30,940 --> 00:01:35,805 There is actually a rule or a way to decide how and what is 31 00:01:35,805 --> 00:01:40,004 moral in the first place. There is a way of looking at the 32 00:01:40,004 --> 00:01:43,486 world to decide on moral rules. And, of course, this is 33 00:01:43,486 --> 00:01:47,558 extremely useful, because if we don't know what to do in a 34 00:01:47,558 --> 00:01:51,496 particular situation, if we then go back to this basic moral 35 00:01:51,496 --> 00:01:55,152 rule, then we can actually find out what is moral in a 36 00:01:55,152 --> 00:01:58,160 particular context. Go back to the basic foundation, 37 00:01:58,380 --> 00:02:01,777 and you can decide for yourself what actually is moral and what 38 00:02:01,777 --> 00:02:06,128 isn't. And there are two ways that the 39 00:02:06,128 --> 00:02:11,360 Buddha talked about this. And the first way is he said 40 00:02:11,360 --> 00:02:16,100 that there is such a thing as motivation or a basis on which 41 00:02:16,100 --> 00:02:20,102 we do actions in life. And this basis can either be 42 00:02:20,102 --> 00:02:22,400 wholesome or it can be unwholesome. 43 00:02:23,260 --> 00:02:27,260 The unwholesome basis in life is, it's basically said there 44 00:02:27,260 --> 00:02:32,540 are three or four things. It is greed, hatred, and 45 00:02:32,540 --> 00:02:35,134 delusion. And sometimes he also added 46 00:02:35,134 --> 00:02:38,732 fear. So these are the four bases in 47 00:02:38,732 --> 00:02:42,800 life for unwholesome actions. On the other side, you also have 48 00:02:42,800 --> 00:02:46,044 the bases or the roots of wholesome actions, which are the 49 00:02:46,044 --> 00:02:49,274 exact opposites. So instead of greed, you have 50 00:02:49,274 --> 00:02:52,624 non-greed or generosity. Instead of hatred, you have 51 00:02:52,624 --> 00:02:54,760 loving kindness and compassion towards beings. 52 00:02:55,420 --> 00:02:55,870 Instead of hatred, you have love and kindness and compassion 53 00:02:55,870 --> 00:02:57,494 towards beings. Instead of delusion, you have 54 00:02:57,494 --> 00:03:00,060 wisdom. So this is the opposite. 55 00:03:00,280 --> 00:03:03,060 And it's often important to also talk about the opposite. 56 00:03:03,480 --> 00:03:05,969 I was reading a book recently, and somebody was complaining 57 00:03:05,969 --> 00:03:09,370 that in Buddhism, we always talk about the negative things, but 58 00:03:09,370 --> 00:03:11,620 we actually forget to talk about the positive things. 59 00:03:12,260 --> 00:03:15,268 And the thing is that the Buddha, when you read the 60 00:03:15,268 --> 00:03:18,520 suttas, when you read his discourses, you realize that he 61 00:03:18,520 --> 00:03:21,940 always talked about both sides of the coin, because it's 62 00:03:21,940 --> 00:03:25,656 basically two sides of the same coin, the positive and the 63 00:03:25,656 --> 00:03:28,100 negative. So morality has a negative 64 00:03:28,100 --> 00:03:30,389 aspect in a sense. There are things you want to 65 00:03:30,389 --> 00:03:32,180 avoid. It also has the positive 66 00:03:32,180 --> 00:03:34,060 aspects, the things that you want to do. 67 00:03:34,340 --> 00:03:37,025 The things that promote goodness, promote goodness in 68 00:03:37,025 --> 00:03:39,400 yourself, and also happiness and goodness in others. 69 00:03:41,240 --> 00:03:45,347 So this is a way, looking at this greed, hatred, and 70 00:03:45,347 --> 00:03:48,976 delusion, is a way of knowing in the present moment whether you 71 00:03:48,976 --> 00:03:51,954 are doing something good, something wholesome, or whether 72 00:03:51,954 --> 00:03:54,612 you're doing something bad. What is your mind state like 73 00:03:54,612 --> 00:03:58,700 when you do a particular act? Are you motivated by something 74 00:03:58,700 --> 00:04:02,700 good, something positive, or are you motivated by these negative 75 00:04:02,700 --> 00:04:06,096 tendencies of mind? And straight away, if you're 76 00:04:06,096 --> 00:04:10,110 feeling irritated or angry or upset at something, you know 77 00:04:10,110 --> 00:04:14,120 that whatever action is based on that is going to tend to be 78 00:04:14,120 --> 00:04:17,983 unwholesome, is going to be bad. So straight away you know, okay, 79 00:04:17,983 --> 00:04:20,079 here is a barrier. I should be careful here. 80 00:04:20,160 --> 00:04:23,548 I should be very careful what happens, because my mind is 81 00:04:23,548 --> 00:04:28,108 overcome by a negative state. Or if desire is very powerful in 82 00:04:28,108 --> 00:04:30,200 the mind, desire is the same thing again. 83 00:04:30,360 --> 00:04:33,385 You know it's very likely to lead to something unwholesome if 84 00:04:33,385 --> 00:04:36,800 desire is a very powerful force in the mind at the time. 85 00:04:38,100 --> 00:04:42,152 And you also know the opposite. If you have a sense of 86 00:04:42,152 --> 00:04:45,565 compassion and loving kindness towards people around you, you 87 00:04:45,565 --> 00:04:48,480 know that it can be at ease and you can do almost anything. 88 00:04:48,900 --> 00:04:52,288 It's almost impossible to do anything wrong when you have 89 00:04:52,288 --> 00:04:55,252 that beautiful mind state of compassion and loving kindness 90 00:04:55,252 --> 00:04:58,500 towards others. And you will feel that yourself. 91 00:04:58,640 --> 00:04:59,800 You will feel at ease with yourself. 92 00:05:00,460 --> 00:05:03,100 And whatever you do is going to be good and wholesome. 93 00:05:03,420 --> 00:05:04,780 And you will know that when you do it. 94 00:05:06,540 --> 00:05:09,934 The last one, and this is the most difficult one, and that is 95 00:05:09,934 --> 00:05:11,600 this factor of delusion in the mind. 96 00:05:12,500 --> 00:05:15,825 And delusion is something, unfortunately, we cannot see 97 00:05:15,825 --> 00:05:18,530 directly. Because delusion by its very 98 00:05:18,530 --> 00:05:23,603 nature is a force in the mind which means that we cannot see 99 00:05:23,603 --> 00:05:25,920 clearly. Because we cannot see clearly, 100 00:05:25,920 --> 00:05:28,460 you cannot know that you are deluded at the time. 101 00:05:28,720 --> 00:05:30,100 It's impossible to actually know that. 102 00:05:30,420 --> 00:05:33,420 So it makes it very hard. In fact, it makes it so 103 00:05:33,420 --> 00:05:36,285 difficult that you cannot actually know ever really fully 104 00:05:36,285 --> 00:05:39,909 until you become fully enlightened whether your action 105 00:05:39,909 --> 00:05:43,250 is fully wholesome or not. It's actually impossible to know 106 00:05:43,250 --> 00:05:45,000 that because of this delusion aspect there. 107 00:05:45,960 --> 00:05:49,300 And it's the same thing also to some extent if you are feeling 108 00:05:49,300 --> 00:05:53,052 having a lot of desire in the mind or a lot of irritation, 109 00:05:53,052 --> 00:05:56,440 anger in the mind. Because of those, those aspects 110 00:05:56,440 --> 00:05:59,600 in the mind, it tends to distort the way we look at the world. 111 00:05:59,600 --> 00:06:02,269 It tends to distort things. We see things in a different 112 00:06:02,269 --> 00:06:04,290 way. And you know what it often can 113 00:06:04,290 --> 00:06:06,540 be like if you feel upset at something. 114 00:06:06,540 --> 00:06:08,160 You feel, I really need to say this. 115 00:06:08,160 --> 00:06:10,680 I really need to do this. And you do it. 116 00:06:10,680 --> 00:06:14,310 And later on when the upset has disappeared, you think, why on 117 00:06:14,310 --> 00:06:17,420 earth did I do that? And you know the reason. 118 00:06:17,420 --> 00:06:19,680 And you know in retrospect what happened there. 119 00:06:19,680 --> 00:06:23,492 What happened was the mind was distorted because of that 120 00:06:23,492 --> 00:06:28,492 negativity in the mind. So because of this, because of 121 00:06:28,492 --> 00:06:32,557 delusion, and because of the danger of greed and also of 122 00:06:32,557 --> 00:06:36,778 anger, there is another way that the Buddha taught by which we 123 00:06:36,778 --> 00:06:39,476 can make moral decisions. And I'm sure you all know about 124 00:06:39,476 --> 00:06:41,420 this already. And this is maybe a more 125 00:06:41,420 --> 00:06:44,545 practical way of deciding whether something is moral or 126 00:06:44,545 --> 00:06:47,320 not. And this is by asking yourself 127 00:06:47,320 --> 00:06:51,615 whether a particular action of body, speech, or mind is going 128 00:06:51,615 --> 00:06:55,320 to be to your own benefit or to your own benefit. or to your own 129 00:06:55,320 --> 00:06:57,420 benefit. Or to your own disadvantage. 130 00:06:57,420 --> 00:07:01,020 Is it going to be other people's benefit or to other people's 131 00:07:01,020 --> 00:07:03,020 disadvantage? Is it going to be the benefit or 132 00:07:03,020 --> 00:07:06,420 the disadvantage of both others and yourself? 133 00:07:06,420 --> 00:07:11,545 And you know that an action is good, is wholesome, when it is 134 00:07:11,545 --> 00:07:16,331 for the benefit of both, or at least for the benefit of either 135 00:07:16,331 --> 00:07:19,170 yourself or others. And the reverse is going to be 136 00:07:19,170 --> 00:07:23,420 unwholesome if it is either for somebody else's disadvantage, 137 00:07:23,420 --> 00:07:26,420 your own disadvantage, or the disadvantage of both. 138 00:07:26,420 --> 00:07:31,170 And this is a very, very useful, in my opinion at least, way of 139 00:07:31,170 --> 00:07:35,420 finding out whether something is moral or something is immoral. 140 00:07:35,420 --> 00:07:38,278 And some of the most difficult questions in life, some of the 141 00:07:38,278 --> 00:07:41,087 most difficult moral dilemmas that we are faced with 142 00:07:41,087 --> 00:07:45,420 sometimes, things like abortion, euthanasia, stem cell research, 143 00:07:45,420 --> 00:07:49,087 and all these things, if you look, if you use this simple 144 00:07:49,087 --> 00:07:52,420 technique and ask yourself, who is it hurting? 145 00:07:52,420 --> 00:07:55,820 Is it hurting anybody? You can actually come very close 146 00:07:55,820 --> 00:08:00,192 to deciding for yourself whether this is going to be a moral act 147 00:08:00,192 --> 00:08:04,120 or an immoral act, whether it's going to be bad karma or good 148 00:08:04,120 --> 00:08:06,170 karma. There is more to it than just 149 00:08:06,170 --> 00:08:08,295 this. There are also other fundamental 150 00:08:08,295 --> 00:08:11,331 principles in Buddhism you can use to decide whether something 151 00:08:11,331 --> 00:08:14,170 is moral or immoral. But this is the most basic one 152 00:08:14,170 --> 00:08:17,087 and the most important one. So just starting from this 153 00:08:17,087 --> 00:08:21,020 point, you can actually come to a lot of conclusions about some 154 00:08:21,020 --> 00:08:23,420 of the most difficult moral dilemmas in life. 155 00:08:23,420 --> 00:08:26,420 So in this way, it's very useful. 156 00:08:26,420 --> 00:08:30,420 It's a great guide that you can use in everyday life to decide 157 00:08:30,420 --> 00:08:34,419 whether things are good, bad, or maybe neither. 158 00:08:34,419 --> 00:08:41,967 So having said that, I'm now going to actually talk about 159 00:08:41,967 --> 00:08:44,670 some specific moral questions. They're going to be very 160 00:08:44,670 --> 00:08:47,545 standard and very basic Buddhist moral questions, because I think 161 00:08:47,545 --> 00:08:51,420 these things are very important. But first of all, you might ask, 162 00:08:51,420 --> 00:08:55,651 well, why, if we think about it, if we have this basic rule that 163 00:08:55,651 --> 00:08:58,190 if you do something good for yourself and it's good for 164 00:08:58,190 --> 00:09:01,420 others, then you know it's moral, and it's immoral if it's 165 00:09:01,420 --> 00:09:04,420 bad for yourself and others, why isn't this enough? 166 00:09:04,420 --> 00:09:06,420 Why do we need these five precepts? 167 00:09:06,420 --> 00:09:09,992 What's the point of having all these rules and regulations when 168 00:09:09,992 --> 00:09:13,420 this basic idea is really sufficient? 169 00:09:13,420 --> 00:09:17,707 And basically, you can summarize the good life or the good 170 00:09:17,707 --> 00:09:21,220 Buddhist life with kindness. If you can be a kind and a good 171 00:09:21,220 --> 00:09:24,420 person, then basically, you have basically done it. 172 00:09:24,420 --> 00:09:27,420 That's it. That's what it's all about. 173 00:09:27,420 --> 00:09:31,707 But the reason why we actually need rules and why guidelines 174 00:09:31,707 --> 00:09:36,170 like the five precepts or the eight precepts or something I'm 175 00:09:36,170 --> 00:09:39,670 going to talk about afterwards which is called the ten courses 176 00:09:39,670 --> 00:09:43,420 of action, this is the most detailed description of virtue 177 00:09:43,420 --> 00:09:47,820 that the Buddha taught, the reason we need these things is 178 00:09:47,820 --> 00:09:52,420 because we get deluded and because we get overcome by 179 00:09:52,420 --> 00:09:56,866 anger, desires, which distort our perceptions and views like I 180 00:09:56,866 --> 00:09:58,420 just talked about a few minutes ago. 181 00:09:58,420 --> 00:10:02,087 Because of that, suddenly, you become so overwhelmed by 182 00:10:02,087 --> 00:10:04,420 something that you cannot see straight anymore. 183 00:10:04,420 --> 00:10:08,420 You can't see what is good, what is beneficial and what isn't. 184 00:10:08,420 --> 00:10:12,564 But then you remember, ah, the five precepts, this is what I 185 00:10:12,564 --> 00:10:15,135 should be doing. And there, when your mind is 186 00:10:15,135 --> 00:10:19,920 really not functioning normally anymore, it's gone being 187 00:10:19,920 --> 00:10:23,920 distorted and you can't see straight, then these rules come 188 00:10:23,920 --> 00:10:27,198 in very, very handy because they keep you on the straight and 189 00:10:27,198 --> 00:10:30,198 narrow, so to speak. So that is why we have rules in 190 00:10:30,198 --> 00:10:33,254 Buddhism, in my opinion. But if you are fully 191 00:10:33,254 --> 00:10:36,220 enlightened, you don't actually need these rules anymore because 192 00:10:36,220 --> 00:10:41,992 then morality comes naturally. So I'm going to talk about 193 00:10:41,992 --> 00:10:46,420 something the Buddha called the ten courses of action. 194 00:10:46,420 --> 00:10:51,420 These ten courses of action are divided into bodily action, 195 00:10:51,420 --> 00:10:56,992 verbal action and mental action. And this is a classification of 196 00:10:56,992 --> 00:11:00,620 morality that the Buddha used quite frequently, quite often in 197 00:11:00,620 --> 00:11:04,706 the suttas, in his discourses. And it's very broad because 198 00:11:04,706 --> 00:11:08,420 we're talking about ten aspects here of morality. 199 00:11:08,420 --> 00:11:12,170 And they overlap largely with the five precepts, except that 200 00:11:12,170 --> 00:11:17,754 you don't find the alcohol drinking in these ten courses of 201 00:11:17,754 --> 00:11:19,976 action. So I'm going to bring in alcohol 202 00:11:19,976 --> 00:11:25,620 as well as I go through this. The first of these, so the first 203 00:11:25,620 --> 00:11:27,420 classification here is bad bodily action. 204 00:11:27,420 --> 00:11:31,564 And the first one of bad bodily action is of course not killing 205 00:11:31,564 --> 00:11:34,420 living beings or injuring living beings. 206 00:11:34,420 --> 00:11:38,620 And the opposite, the wholesome thing of course, is to support 207 00:11:38,620 --> 00:11:42,920 living beings, to help life, to be compassionate, to have loving 208 00:11:42,920 --> 00:11:46,170 kindness, and to support beings in distress and that have 209 00:11:46,170 --> 00:11:48,420 difficulty. Support life basically. 210 00:11:48,420 --> 00:11:51,135 This is the opposite. So you always think of these 211 00:11:51,135 --> 00:11:53,420 things as two sides of the same coin. 212 00:11:53,420 --> 00:12:01,564 And this one interesting principle, which I maybe should 213 00:12:01,564 --> 00:12:04,520 mention straight away, you will see that the Buddha always 214 00:12:04,520 --> 00:12:06,976 taught this first. This comes at the very top of 215 00:12:06,976 --> 00:12:10,045 the list. And you also know for the five 216 00:12:10,045 --> 00:12:13,620 precepts, you know the first of the five precepts is always not 217 00:12:13,620 --> 00:12:16,420 to kill, not to harm living beings. 218 00:12:16,420 --> 00:12:18,420 Now why is it that this comes at the top of the list? 219 00:12:18,420 --> 00:12:21,670 Is it just random? Are the five precepts just a 220 00:12:21,670 --> 00:12:23,820 random order? Or is there a significance to 221 00:12:23,820 --> 00:12:28,045 the particular sequence here? And one of the things you will 222 00:12:28,045 --> 00:12:31,820 find when you start to know the Buddha's teachings very well is 223 00:12:31,820 --> 00:12:35,420 that the Buddha's teaching is always a gradual teaching. 224 00:12:35,420 --> 00:12:38,170 He said that one of the difficult things about giving a 225 00:12:38,170 --> 00:12:41,420 talk is always the talk should always be gradual. 226 00:12:41,420 --> 00:12:44,564 It should start at an elementary level and then it should 227 00:12:44,564 --> 00:12:47,170 actually rise up. So you will see typically in the 228 00:12:47,170 --> 00:12:50,088 sutta, as you will see, when you start to deal with the most 229 00:12:50,088 --> 00:12:54,087 basic things of virtue, all the enemies gradually move up to 230 00:12:54,087 --> 00:12:57,087 full enlightenment. So everything the Buddha says 231 00:12:57,087 --> 00:13:00,421 basically, there is a gradation there, and there is a reason for 232 00:13:00,421 --> 00:13:05,420 that particular sequence. No sequence is random. 233 00:13:05,420 --> 00:13:09,420 And the sequence that we are seeing here basically means that 234 00:13:09,420 --> 00:13:13,920 the killing of living beings is the most serious kind of bad 235 00:13:13,920 --> 00:13:18,088 bodily action that we can do. And the support of life and the 236 00:13:18,088 --> 00:13:21,087 compassion towards living beings is therefore also the most 237 00:13:21,087 --> 00:13:24,420 powerful of the good kamma and the goodness that we can do. 238 00:13:24,420 --> 00:13:30,820 This is the importance here. So how can we increase our 239 00:13:30,820 --> 00:13:34,420 compassion for living beings? How can we increase our ability 240 00:13:34,420 --> 00:13:37,420 not to destroy life and not to harm life? 241 00:13:37,420 --> 00:13:40,587 And I think for most of us, probably very few in here who 242 00:13:40,587 --> 00:13:44,045 have ever killed anybody before, any person, so I'm not going to 243 00:13:44,045 --> 00:13:47,707 talk too much about not killing human beings, but certainly when 244 00:13:47,707 --> 00:13:52,420 it comes to animals, our society is full of killing of animals, 245 00:13:52,420 --> 00:13:55,420 and it's very difficult to find anybody, even good Buddhists, 246 00:13:55,420 --> 00:13:59,422 will sometimes get so irritated with a mosquito that they go 247 00:13:59,422 --> 00:14:03,564 wham and they slam the mosquito, because this mosquito has only 248 00:14:03,564 --> 00:14:07,220 come here to trouble me, to drink my blood, and they give me 249 00:14:07,220 --> 00:14:10,420 an itch on top of that, so it's pretty bad news. 250 00:14:10,420 --> 00:14:12,992 And of course the difficulty with a mosquito and the 251 00:14:12,992 --> 00:14:15,670 difficulty with animals in general is that they are not 252 00:14:15,670 --> 00:14:18,135 able to kill. It's difficult to see the human 253 00:14:18,135 --> 00:14:22,420 qualities in these beings. The reason that it's quite easy 254 00:14:22,420 --> 00:14:26,136 to be compassionate toward other humans is because we recognize 255 00:14:26,136 --> 00:14:29,420 some of ourselves in those other humans. 256 00:14:29,420 --> 00:14:31,420 But with animals it can be very difficult. 257 00:14:31,420 --> 00:14:34,850 With some animals it's more easy, but with some animals it's 258 00:14:34,850 --> 00:14:36,976 very hard. And I think a mosquito is a 259 00:14:36,976 --> 00:14:39,706 classical case where it's difficult to really make any 260 00:14:39,706 --> 00:14:41,420 kind of connection with a mosquito. 261 00:14:41,420 --> 00:14:44,088 You can't really feel its suffering, you can't understand 262 00:14:44,088 --> 00:14:47,670 that it's getting a hard time when you actually squash it on 263 00:14:47,670 --> 00:14:51,420 your arm. So the important thing to try 264 00:14:51,420 --> 00:14:56,420 with killing is to try to, use this word, anthropomorphize 265 00:14:56,420 --> 00:15:00,920 other beings, living beings. Anthropomorphize means finding 266 00:15:00,920 --> 00:15:05,920 the human qualities in animals, even in insects, even in 267 00:15:05,920 --> 00:15:08,520 anything. And once you can see those human 268 00:15:08,520 --> 00:15:11,706 qualities in there, once you can see that there's actually much 269 00:15:11,706 --> 00:15:14,420 less distinction between us and animals, then you might think, 270 00:15:14,420 --> 00:15:18,706 then of course compassion becomes so much more natural and 271 00:15:18,706 --> 00:15:22,020 it becomes so much more difficult to kill that being 272 00:15:22,020 --> 00:15:24,420 afterwards. So the trick here is to see the 273 00:15:24,420 --> 00:15:28,220 qualities in this being, see that there is hurt, see that 274 00:15:28,220 --> 00:15:31,849 there is suffering, and then when you see that, your 275 00:15:31,849 --> 00:15:35,512 compassion will naturally by itself increase and you will be 276 00:15:35,512 --> 00:15:39,420 able to keep this kind of precept much more deeply, much 277 00:15:39,420 --> 00:15:42,420 more profoundly. So how do we do this? 278 00:15:42,420 --> 00:15:45,170 And the first thing, one of the things that we do and one thing 279 00:15:45,170 --> 00:15:48,992 which I have always looked, some things I like to look at, is 280 00:15:48,992 --> 00:15:52,420 like scientific evolution in recent years. 281 00:15:52,420 --> 00:15:55,620 And it's very fascinating to see what science has found out about 282 00:15:55,620 --> 00:15:57,420 animals over the last few decades. 283 00:15:57,420 --> 00:16:01,421 And I have recently read articles about, take for example 284 00:16:01,421 --> 00:16:03,876 the great apes. It used to be the case that we 285 00:16:03,876 --> 00:16:06,088 thought that animals can just be slaughtered, animals are 286 00:16:06,088 --> 00:16:09,420 completely distinct from humans, have nothing to do with us. 287 00:16:09,420 --> 00:16:12,148 But of course now we realize that there is a lot of animals 288 00:16:12,148 --> 00:16:13,420 who are very, very close to humans. 289 00:16:13,420 --> 00:16:17,920 I think scientists have found out that chimpanzees, for 290 00:16:17,920 --> 00:16:22,420 example, they have organized structures in social units in 291 00:16:22,420 --> 00:16:25,420 their societies. They use tools. 292 00:16:25,420 --> 00:16:29,421 It used to be thought that what made humans humans was that we 293 00:16:29,421 --> 00:16:32,420 could use tools and no other animals could use tools. 294 00:16:32,420 --> 00:16:35,420 Then it was discovered that chimpanzees could use tools. 295 00:16:35,420 --> 00:16:39,020 And of course once we start to see these things, we see that 296 00:16:39,020 --> 00:16:42,020 there is a lot in common here with human society and 297 00:16:42,020 --> 00:16:45,920 chimpanzees. And I also heard of the great 298 00:16:45,920 --> 00:16:48,420 apes who were found to be very intelligent. 299 00:16:48,420 --> 00:16:52,920 In fact so intelligent that they scored higher than some human 300 00:16:52,920 --> 00:16:55,087 beings. And this is remarkable, isn't 301 00:16:55,087 --> 00:16:57,421 it? You can certainly see here that 302 00:16:57,421 --> 00:17:00,421 actually this gorilla or whatever is actually in one 303 00:17:00,421 --> 00:17:04,147 sense more human than this other human being that we have to deal 304 00:17:04,147 --> 00:17:05,920 with. More intelligent, more bright, 305 00:17:05,920 --> 00:17:09,088 more capable of understanding what's happening around it and 306 00:17:09,088 --> 00:17:11,564 what's going on there. And certainly the barriers 307 00:17:11,564 --> 00:17:14,564 really are there. They really, really start to 308 00:17:14,564 --> 00:17:17,992 break down. And of course then you also 309 00:17:17,992 --> 00:17:22,020 understand that there are other animals who are almost as 310 00:17:22,020 --> 00:17:25,420 intelligent, almost as human as the great apes. 311 00:17:25,420 --> 00:17:31,421 You have animals like elephants and maybe even further down the 312 00:17:31,421 --> 00:17:34,960 scale maybe pigs and maybe some of the pets that we have can be 313 00:17:34,960 --> 00:17:39,058 quite intelligent. And pets is also a great way of 314 00:17:39,058 --> 00:17:42,420 seeing the humanity or seeing the emotions in animals. 315 00:17:42,420 --> 00:17:45,422 Because I'm sure that all of you who have pets will realize that 316 00:17:45,422 --> 00:17:48,420 animals have emotions very, very much like human beings. 317 00:17:48,420 --> 00:17:52,420 Not so long ago we had a cat that died in a monastery. 318 00:17:52,420 --> 00:17:55,420 We usually had three cats in a monastery. 319 00:17:55,420 --> 00:17:58,920 One of the cats died. And it was obvious that the 320 00:17:58,920 --> 00:18:01,420 other cat, one of the other cats, became very sad. 321 00:18:01,420 --> 00:18:04,420 You could see it didn't really want to eat anymore. 322 00:18:04,420 --> 00:18:06,620 It looked kind of depressed, sort of walking around with its 323 00:18:06,620 --> 00:18:10,087 head hanging a bit. There was no kind of jump in it 324 00:18:10,087 --> 00:18:11,420 anymore. And it was obviously sad. 325 00:18:11,420 --> 00:18:15,420 Obviously grieving the loss of its companion. 326 00:18:15,420 --> 00:18:17,420 And you can see there the human emotions. 327 00:18:17,420 --> 00:18:19,420 You can see it in the kangaroos in the monastery. 328 00:18:19,420 --> 00:18:23,331 I see it all the time. First of all, you can see the 329 00:18:23,331 --> 00:18:25,278 desire is in kangaroos. I usually throw out food to 330 00:18:25,278 --> 00:18:26,920 them. Whatever is left in my bowl 331 00:18:26,920 --> 00:18:29,420 after the meal, I throw it out to the kangaroos. 332 00:18:29,420 --> 00:18:33,154 And you can see the desire to come from afar to get this human 333 00:18:33,154 --> 00:18:35,058 food. When you're used to just eating 334 00:18:35,058 --> 00:18:37,755 grass, human food is, wow, there's something really nice, 335 00:18:37,755 --> 00:18:40,420 even if it's just rice. It's amazing. 336 00:18:40,420 --> 00:18:44,022 So they come from afar. You can see the desire there, 337 00:18:44,022 --> 00:18:46,420 the craving, just like we have for good food. 338 00:18:46,420 --> 00:18:50,113 You can see the ill will when they start fighting over the 339 00:18:50,113 --> 00:18:52,422 food. You can see sometimes the love 340 00:18:52,422 --> 00:18:55,564 and the empathy that, for example, the mother kangaroo has 341 00:18:55,564 --> 00:18:58,037 towards her joey. You can see how they stroke each 342 00:18:58,037 --> 00:19:01,420 other, how they lick each other, how they look after each other. 343 00:19:01,420 --> 00:19:05,087 And you can see there are beautiful emotions there and bad 344 00:19:05,087 --> 00:19:08,420 emotions, just like in human beings. 345 00:19:08,420 --> 00:19:10,806 So think about it. So thinking like this, you start 346 00:19:10,806 --> 00:19:13,620 to see that the difference between animals and humans isn't 347 00:19:13,620 --> 00:19:16,240 that great. It's a matter of degree, 348 00:19:16,240 --> 00:19:18,420 certainly not a matter of absolute. 349 00:19:18,420 --> 00:19:20,420 There isn't like an absolute barrier there. 350 00:19:20,420 --> 00:19:24,420 It's like a continuous spectrum starting from high going down. 351 00:19:24,420 --> 00:19:28,754 But when it gets more difficult is when you get to small animals 352 00:19:28,754 --> 00:19:31,420 like insects, when you get to things like fish. 353 00:19:31,420 --> 00:19:34,420 I remember myself when I was a teenager, I would fish. 354 00:19:34,420 --> 00:19:38,545 And when I think back, I was wondering sometimes, how could I 355 00:19:38,545 --> 00:19:42,170 actually fish in those days? What was it that drove me to 356 00:19:42,170 --> 00:19:43,806 fishing? And I realize now that the 357 00:19:43,806 --> 00:19:47,220 reason that I was able to fish was because I didn't have any 358 00:19:47,220 --> 00:19:50,420 connection with this fish. It was like a cold animal. 359 00:19:50,420 --> 00:19:53,920 You look it in the eye, and it's very different looking a fish in 360 00:19:53,920 --> 00:19:56,420 the eye, looking a kangaroo in the eye. 361 00:19:56,420 --> 00:19:59,622 Fish, there's not really a sense there that this being has any 362 00:19:59,622 --> 00:20:02,331 emotions or anything. And I think that was the reason 363 00:20:02,331 --> 00:20:05,135 why I could fish, because I could make absolutely no 364 00:20:05,135 --> 00:20:07,198 connection, or at least very small connection, with this 365 00:20:07,198 --> 00:20:09,420 fish. This animal. 366 00:20:09,420 --> 00:20:13,154 But of course, when I think back, if I had been a little bit 367 00:20:13,154 --> 00:20:16,806 wiser, I would have been able to see that this animal is 368 00:20:16,806 --> 00:20:19,420 obviously suffering. It is wriggling on the hook. 369 00:20:19,420 --> 00:20:23,420 It's trying to get off. Obviously, it doesn't like this. 370 00:20:23,420 --> 00:20:25,754 It's very, very clear. And it doesn't take that much 371 00:20:25,754 --> 00:20:27,920 insight to understand that you're actually causing 372 00:20:27,920 --> 00:20:31,268 suffering for this animal. And I know that also recently 373 00:20:31,268 --> 00:20:33,920 there have been animal experiments on fish which show 374 00:20:33,920 --> 00:20:36,420 that there actually is real pain suffered by this fish. 375 00:20:36,420 --> 00:20:40,420 When they get a hook hooked in their mouth. 376 00:20:40,420 --> 00:20:44,420 And then you can start again to empathize with them. 377 00:20:44,420 --> 00:20:47,565 You see that there is more similarity there than you might 378 00:20:47,565 --> 00:20:50,135 at first think. And then you come to the 379 00:20:50,135 --> 00:20:52,420 mosquito. What about the mosquito? 380 00:20:52,420 --> 00:20:56,170 What does the mosquito do? To us, it looks like there's an 381 00:20:56,170 --> 00:20:58,087 irritant. Somebody come to drink our 382 00:20:58,087 --> 00:20:59,589 blood. We'd like to have our blood for 383 00:20:59,589 --> 00:21:01,785 ourselves, thank you very much. But here comes somebody who 384 00:21:01,785 --> 00:21:03,420 actually wants to take your blood. 385 00:21:03,420 --> 00:21:08,604 But of course, for the mosquito, it's just a matter of I need 386 00:21:08,604 --> 00:21:12,420 something to propagate myself. Apparently, it's mostly female 387 00:21:12,420 --> 00:21:16,670 mosquitoes who drink blood so that they can actually have 388 00:21:16,670 --> 00:21:18,976 offspring afterwards. And for them, it's just a matter 389 00:21:18,976 --> 00:21:21,604 of nature. They don't realize that we are 390 00:21:21,604 --> 00:21:25,136 creatures who actually are hurting or at least scratching 391 00:21:25,136 --> 00:21:28,420 because of this. They just do their little thing. 392 00:21:28,420 --> 00:21:29,420 And this is just nature for them. 393 00:21:29,420 --> 00:21:31,420 And they need this blood to keep themselves going. 394 00:21:31,420 --> 00:21:36,320 For them, it's just like a meal. And of course, we also realize 395 00:21:36,320 --> 00:21:38,420 that even mosquitoes don't like to die. 396 00:21:38,420 --> 00:21:42,670 If you try to squeeze a mosquito, squeeze its leg, or 397 00:21:42,670 --> 00:21:45,420 you try to do something with it, it runs away. 398 00:21:45,420 --> 00:21:47,420 It starts to fly. It flies off. 399 00:21:47,420 --> 00:21:50,420 And there's obviously there a reaction just like us. 400 00:21:50,420 --> 00:21:53,420 Like all beings, even the mosquito actually wants to live. 401 00:21:53,420 --> 00:21:56,420 And you will see that even with the tiniest insects. 402 00:21:56,420 --> 00:22:00,135 They run for their life if you try to do something bad with 403 00:22:00,135 --> 00:22:03,754 them. So this way, we can 404 00:22:03,754 --> 00:22:06,992 anthropomorphize. We can actually make, put these 405 00:22:06,992 --> 00:22:11,420 human qualities onto the most, what we think are the most 406 00:22:11,420 --> 00:22:15,420 unpleasant creatures and make and look at them in a new light. 407 00:22:15,420 --> 00:22:18,920 And then we can actually get compassion going even for these 408 00:22:18,920 --> 00:22:21,866 creatures. And there comes a point when you 409 00:22:21,866 --> 00:22:23,420 don't want to squash the mosquito anymore. 410 00:22:23,420 --> 00:22:26,976 There comes even a point when you're quite happy to just allow 411 00:22:26,976 --> 00:22:29,088 that mosquito maybe to drink your blood and say, okay, maybe 412 00:22:29,088 --> 00:22:32,420 itch a little bit. Not such a big deal. 413 00:22:32,420 --> 00:22:37,420 There's always a few things happening in the monastery. 414 00:22:37,420 --> 00:22:39,420 We have lots of kangaroos in the monastery. 415 00:22:39,420 --> 00:22:44,320 And one thing which I remember very well to this day is one day 416 00:22:44,320 --> 00:22:46,420 I was sitting on my walking path. 417 00:22:46,420 --> 00:22:50,087 We have these nice walking paths outside our huts in the 418 00:22:50,087 --> 00:22:53,420 monastery for those of you who have been there and seen it. 419 00:22:53,420 --> 00:22:57,420 And I was sitting outside eating my daily meal. 420 00:22:57,420 --> 00:23:00,170 And as I'm sitting there, this kangaroo comes in on the other 421 00:23:00,170 --> 00:23:03,088 side of the walking path. And I said, I'm going to walk 422 00:23:03,088 --> 00:23:04,920 this way. And it sort of starts walking 423 00:23:04,920 --> 00:23:07,135 towards me. This path is about 18 meters 424 00:23:07,135 --> 00:23:08,976 long. So it comes in about 18 meters 425 00:23:08,976 --> 00:23:10,254 from me. And it starts walking towards 426 00:23:10,254 --> 00:23:12,420 me. And it seems very determined, 427 00:23:12,420 --> 00:23:16,420 like a very, very direct line towards my bowl, in fact. 428 00:23:16,420 --> 00:23:20,278 And it keeps walking and walking and walking until it's standing 429 00:23:20,278 --> 00:23:24,420 completely next to me. And then it starts looking into 430 00:23:24,420 --> 00:23:27,170 my bowl. At this point I'm getting a bit 431 00:23:27,170 --> 00:23:28,976 concerned. And then it starts to lower its 432 00:23:28,976 --> 00:23:30,976 head down. And quickly I put my arms over 433 00:23:30,976 --> 00:23:33,730 my bowl. Because I'm not yet prepared to 434 00:23:33,730 --> 00:23:36,420 actually share my lunch with a kangaroo. 435 00:23:36,420 --> 00:23:41,420 And I thought this would surely deter the kangaroo. 436 00:23:41,420 --> 00:23:44,420 When I put my arms in the way, surely this is enough. 437 00:23:44,420 --> 00:23:47,820 But it wasn't enough. At this point the kangaroo takes 438 00:23:47,820 --> 00:23:51,620 out this little forearm, these little small arms, places it on 439 00:23:51,620 --> 00:23:55,420 my hands, and tries to pull my hands apart. 440 00:23:55,420 --> 00:23:59,992 Can you believe that? At this point I was absolutely 441 00:23:59,992 --> 00:24:01,785 flabbergasted. I couldn't believe a kangaroo 442 00:24:01,785 --> 00:24:05,220 would ever do such a thing. So I decide that there's only 443 00:24:05,220 --> 00:24:08,420 one thing to do. And it is to get up. 444 00:24:08,420 --> 00:24:11,422 And I actually get up. And I literally have to push 445 00:24:11,422 --> 00:24:13,420 this kangaroo off my walking path. 446 00:24:13,420 --> 00:24:16,755 And then when it's finally off the walking path, I can sit down 447 00:24:16,755 --> 00:24:20,087 again and have my meal. So in retrospect, I sometimes 448 00:24:20,087 --> 00:24:22,088 think, maybe I should actually let the kangaroo have a meal 449 00:24:22,088 --> 00:24:23,512 with me. Maybe I should actually allow it 450 00:24:23,512 --> 00:24:26,331 to eat from my bowl. But I'm not daring enough to do 451 00:24:26,331 --> 00:24:28,820 that sort of thing. But maybe that would be a nice 452 00:24:28,820 --> 00:24:32,220 thing to do. But anyway, it shows you what 453 00:24:32,220 --> 00:24:35,420 sometimes compassion can do, and what kindness can do. 454 00:24:35,420 --> 00:24:38,420 Because in a monastery we always treat the kangaroos very nicely. 455 00:24:38,420 --> 00:24:40,420 We always give them the scraps left over from our bowls. 456 00:24:40,420 --> 00:24:42,420 There's no reason why we shouldn't. 457 00:24:42,420 --> 00:24:44,420 It's left over anyway. And we treat them well. 458 00:24:44,420 --> 00:24:47,754 And sometimes they become this friendly when you treat them 459 00:24:47,754 --> 00:24:50,170 really well. And in one sense, even though I 460 00:24:50,170 --> 00:24:53,670 was a little bit surprised that it was so greedy for the food, I 461 00:24:53,670 --> 00:24:55,420 was actually very happy that it happened. 462 00:24:55,420 --> 00:24:59,088 Because it showed a level of trust in a wild animal, which I 463 00:24:59,088 --> 00:25:02,670 had never thought of. I never thought possible in my 464 00:25:02,670 --> 00:25:05,420 entire life. So I was quite happy about this. 465 00:25:05,420 --> 00:25:10,420 And I felt a kind of sense of joy that this actually occurred. 466 00:25:10,420 --> 00:25:13,420 And I remember another story I read not so long ago. 467 00:25:13,420 --> 00:25:18,058 And this was a story from a zoo. And there was an enclosure where 468 00:25:18,058 --> 00:25:21,420 all the chimpanzees were in. And there was a pond there. 469 00:25:21,420 --> 00:25:25,920 And one of these chimpanzees, for some reason, fell into the 470 00:25:25,920 --> 00:25:27,754 pond. And there was all this human 471 00:25:27,754 --> 00:25:30,420 being standing around, looking down to the pond. 472 00:25:30,420 --> 00:25:33,420 And apparently, I don't know if it's true for all chimpanzees, 473 00:25:33,420 --> 00:25:36,420 but this particular chimpanzee could not swim. 474 00:25:36,420 --> 00:25:39,420 And this man was looking at this chimpanzee. 475 00:25:39,420 --> 00:25:41,420 And this chimpanzee was looking at the man. 476 00:25:41,420 --> 00:25:45,058 And the man said afterwards that, I could see this look in 477 00:25:45,058 --> 00:25:48,135 these eyes of the chimpanzee, but isn't anybody going to help 478 00:25:48,135 --> 00:25:49,220 me? I'm sinking. 479 00:25:49,220 --> 00:25:52,087 I'm dying here. Isn't somebody going to do 480 00:25:52,087 --> 00:25:54,220 something? And of course, the man straight 481 00:25:54,220 --> 00:25:57,920 away felt this contact with the chimpanzee, this emotional 482 00:25:57,920 --> 00:26:00,420 contact. So he dove into the pond. 483 00:26:00,420 --> 00:26:03,670 He dug into the dam, grabbed hold of the chimpanzee, and 484 00:26:03,670 --> 00:26:06,420 pulled it out of the lake, out of this little pond. 485 00:26:06,420 --> 00:26:10,420 So he rescued this animal, which he had never met before. 486 00:26:10,420 --> 00:26:12,420 It was just a stranger in this zoo. 487 00:26:12,420 --> 00:26:15,420 Pulled it out of the mud, out of certain death. 488 00:26:15,420 --> 00:26:17,420 And this, of course, is so beautiful. 489 00:26:17,420 --> 00:26:21,087 And this is the kind of action, wholesome action, wholesome 490 00:26:21,087 --> 00:26:26,420 bodily action, where we actually save animals and save life, 491 00:26:26,420 --> 00:26:33,980 rather than do the opposite. So that is really all I think I 492 00:26:33,980 --> 00:26:38,420 want to say about the first course of action here. 493 00:26:38,420 --> 00:26:44,420 So this is the action of looking after life and not destroying or 494 00:26:44,420 --> 00:26:47,421 damaging life. The second of these courses of 495 00:26:47,421 --> 00:26:50,420 action is stealing, and the opposite is generosity. 496 00:26:50,420 --> 00:26:54,136 I'm not going to talk about that today, because that's also a 497 00:26:54,136 --> 00:26:57,820 very big topic. The third one of the bodily 498 00:26:57,820 --> 00:27:01,850 actions is sexual misconduct. And this is actually an 499 00:27:01,850 --> 00:27:03,850 important one. This is actually a very 500 00:27:03,850 --> 00:27:06,604 interesting one. So I want to talk a little bit 501 00:27:06,604 --> 00:27:09,820 about this today. One of the things which is 502 00:27:09,820 --> 00:27:13,820 fascinating about this rule of abstaining from sexual 503 00:27:13,820 --> 00:27:18,087 misconduct is that it is one of those rules which is quite 504 00:27:18,087 --> 00:27:20,220 relative. It depends on what sort of 505 00:27:20,220 --> 00:27:25,420 society you live in, how this rule should be applied. 506 00:27:25,420 --> 00:27:28,420 And I will give you a very obvious example. 507 00:27:28,420 --> 00:27:31,088 At the time of the Buddha, society was quite different from 508 00:27:31,088 --> 00:27:34,420 what it is today. And particularly women had a 509 00:27:34,420 --> 00:27:36,420 very different position in society. 510 00:27:36,420 --> 00:27:40,966 And that reflects itself in this particular rule of sexual 511 00:27:40,966 --> 00:27:43,754 misconduct. When you read about this rule in 512 00:27:43,754 --> 00:27:48,295 the suttas, what the Buddha taught about this, it says that 513 00:27:48,295 --> 00:27:55,192 it is only sexual misconduct if a man has a sexual relationship 514 00:27:55,192 --> 00:28:00,420 with the wife of another man. In other words, if he has a 515 00:28:00,420 --> 00:28:02,295 relationship with another woman who is not the wife of another 516 00:28:02,295 --> 00:28:06,652 man, but he is unfaithful to his own wife, that seems to have 517 00:28:06,652 --> 00:28:09,420 been no problem at the time of the Buddha. 518 00:28:09,420 --> 00:28:12,754 And you can see why. Because in those days, you had 519 00:28:12,754 --> 00:28:18,421 polygamy, men would have many wives, and it was just a very 520 00:28:18,421 --> 00:28:20,728 different social situation. So a woman was, in a sense, used 521 00:28:20,728 --> 00:28:24,420 to the idea that a man was not supposed to be faithful. 522 00:28:24,420 --> 00:28:29,135 So in that circumstance, it was considered that there wasn't so 523 00:28:29,135 --> 00:28:33,420 much suffering to that woman, presumably. 524 00:28:33,420 --> 00:28:38,420 That was a rule laid down against adultery. 525 00:28:38,420 --> 00:28:41,920 But, of course, in today's society, things have changed 526 00:28:41,920 --> 00:28:44,545 dramatically. And today, we certainly wouldn't 527 00:28:44,545 --> 00:28:47,670 see any difference between adultery, whether it's by a man 528 00:28:47,670 --> 00:28:50,087 or a woman. It doesn't make any difference 529 00:28:50,087 --> 00:28:53,170 anymore. And today, so today, the hurt 530 00:28:53,170 --> 00:28:56,849 both ways is basically the same. So for that reason, we go back 531 00:28:56,849 --> 00:28:59,420 to the basic principle, we started off with the beginning, 532 00:28:59,420 --> 00:29:02,420 and we ask ourselves, is it going to hurt anybody? 533 00:29:02,420 --> 00:29:04,420 Is it going to hurt myself or somebody else? 534 00:29:04,420 --> 00:29:08,670 And we know straight away that because the hurt is basically 535 00:29:08,670 --> 00:29:13,420 the same, this rule applies in today's society in the same way 536 00:29:13,420 --> 00:29:17,170 for men and women. And adultery in any way comes 537 00:29:17,170 --> 00:29:23,220 under this rule. So this rule is, again, is one 538 00:29:23,220 --> 00:29:27,420 of the rules, one of the few rules, which is correct. 539 00:29:27,420 --> 00:29:31,520 It's socially conditioned, and it depends on the society that 540 00:29:31,520 --> 00:29:34,088 you are in. Another example of this, I was 541 00:29:34,088 --> 00:29:38,670 asked some time ago by somebody about, what about premarital 542 00:29:38,670 --> 00:29:41,420 sex? Is that acceptable in Buddhism? 543 00:29:41,420 --> 00:29:44,920 And I think the answer there, again, is it depends on the 544 00:29:44,920 --> 00:29:48,088 society that you live in. There are some societies when it 545 00:29:48,088 --> 00:29:51,754 is looked down upon as something terrible, something incredibly 546 00:29:51,754 --> 00:29:55,088 wrong, and your family will be really ashamed and feel terrible 547 00:29:55,088 --> 00:29:58,992 if you did such a thing. And because of the amount of 548 00:29:58,992 --> 00:30:03,754 suffering that you are inducing into your family in these 549 00:30:03,754 --> 00:30:08,170 societies, I would say yes, in these cases it is immoral, it is 550 00:30:08,170 --> 00:30:10,420 wrong to have premarital sexual relationships. 551 00:30:10,420 --> 00:30:14,754 It is not right. But in a society where it is 552 00:30:14,754 --> 00:30:18,620 generally accepted that when you reach a certain age, what 553 00:30:18,620 --> 00:30:21,420 exactly that age is, is obviously up for debate. 554 00:30:21,420 --> 00:30:24,420 But say that when you are 25 or something, generally at least, 555 00:30:24,420 --> 00:30:28,420 you are expected to be able to be your own boss. 556 00:30:28,420 --> 00:30:32,088 And you basically decide, and everybody accepts that, that you 557 00:30:32,088 --> 00:30:35,278 are their own boss. And because of that, I would say 558 00:30:35,278 --> 00:30:39,620 that in those cases, no, it is not wrong to have premarital 559 00:30:39,620 --> 00:30:43,545 sexual relationships, as long as you feel confident that you are 560 00:30:43,545 --> 00:30:47,170 not really hurting anybody else. So again, it comes back to this 561 00:30:47,170 --> 00:30:50,420 thing, who are we hurting? Are we hurting ourselves? 562 00:30:50,420 --> 00:30:55,420 Or are we hurting somebody else? And you can also apply this to, 563 00:30:55,420 --> 00:31:00,320 this rule of this basic kind of moral principle, you can apply 564 00:31:00,320 --> 00:31:02,420 it to all kinds of sexual activity. 565 00:31:02,420 --> 00:31:06,564 I mean, sometimes we hear about people who do all kinds of 566 00:31:06,564 --> 00:31:09,420 sexual activities, which most people don't. 567 00:31:09,420 --> 00:31:12,420 And sometimes people disapprove of those things. 568 00:31:12,420 --> 00:31:15,420 And the question is, are these things immoral? 569 00:31:15,420 --> 00:31:17,420 I don't think there is any point in going into details. 570 00:31:17,420 --> 00:31:23,754 But are what one might call different sexual preferences, is 571 00:31:23,754 --> 00:31:25,992 it wrong? And the answer is, again, you go 572 00:31:25,992 --> 00:31:28,420 back to the same principle. Are we hurting anybody? 573 00:31:28,420 --> 00:31:32,420 Are we hurting myself? Are we hurting somebody else? 574 00:31:32,420 --> 00:31:35,420 And that is how you decide in these cases. 575 00:31:35,420 --> 00:31:39,420 And very often you will find that nobody is hurting anybody, 576 00:31:39,420 --> 00:31:43,420 in which case it is acceptable. It is okay. 577 00:31:43,420 --> 00:31:47,420 It may not be absolutely perfect, but it's not bad enough 578 00:31:47,420 --> 00:31:52,420 to really have a clear-cut rule against it, at the very least. 579 00:31:52,420 --> 00:32:00,920 So that is a bit on this idea of sexual morality, which is the 580 00:32:00,920 --> 00:32:04,920 last of the courses of unwholesome action in the 581 00:32:04,920 --> 00:32:08,020 threefold scheme I'm talking about here, the ten courses of 582 00:32:08,020 --> 00:32:10,420 action. And before I move on to speech, 583 00:32:10,420 --> 00:32:14,420 I'm going to talk a little bit about alcohol, because alcohol 584 00:32:14,420 --> 00:32:17,420 is another interesting area, I find. 585 00:32:17,420 --> 00:32:20,820 And as I said before, these lists that the Buddha gave of 586 00:32:20,820 --> 00:32:23,420 the five precepts, they are not random. 587 00:32:23,420 --> 00:32:27,135 And because they are not random, there is a significance to the 588 00:32:27,135 --> 00:32:30,420 fact that alcohol comes at the bottom of this list. 589 00:32:30,420 --> 00:32:35,220 The significance is, of course, that alcohol in its own right is 590 00:32:35,220 --> 00:32:40,087 not that morally reprehensible compared to the other four 591 00:32:40,087 --> 00:32:43,420 precepts. That's why it comes last. 592 00:32:43,420 --> 00:32:48,421 But of course, the problem with alcohol is that when you are 593 00:32:48,421 --> 00:32:53,087 under its influence, it's very easy to do things which are 594 00:32:53,087 --> 00:32:58,920 immoral, and that's precisely why it is a part of the five 595 00:32:58,920 --> 00:33:00,920 precepts. But there is more to alcohol 596 00:33:00,920 --> 00:33:02,976 than that. And there are a few things in 597 00:33:02,976 --> 00:33:06,220 the suttas and the discourses of the Buddha that he said about 598 00:33:06,220 --> 00:33:09,120 alcohol, which I found very fascinating when I first read 599 00:33:09,120 --> 00:33:11,920 it. And one of those important 600 00:33:11,920 --> 00:33:15,670 things about alcohol, which I found, was that he said that 601 00:33:15,670 --> 00:33:18,420 alcohol is something you can never have enough of. 602 00:33:18,420 --> 00:33:21,992 There is no... There is no satiation point with 603 00:33:21,992 --> 00:33:24,420 alcohol. There is no final satisfaction. 604 00:33:24,420 --> 00:33:27,420 You always want more and more and more. 605 00:33:27,420 --> 00:33:31,170 And so you create a habit, maybe, of drinking, maybe just a 606 00:33:31,170 --> 00:33:34,190 glass of wine a day, and you think, well, what can be wrong 607 00:33:34,190 --> 00:33:35,420 with drinking a glass of wine a day? 608 00:33:35,420 --> 00:33:38,920 And indeed, it's not really going to have any effect on your 609 00:33:38,920 --> 00:33:41,420 moral conduct, or at least very, very small effect. 610 00:33:41,420 --> 00:33:45,278 But the point is, you are creating a habit, and that habit 611 00:33:45,278 --> 00:33:49,512 is going to increase, and generally speaking, will tend to 612 00:33:49,512 --> 00:33:52,420 lead to more and more drinking over time. 613 00:33:52,420 --> 00:33:55,920 And when I say over time here, of course, from a Buddhist point 614 00:33:55,920 --> 00:33:58,420 of view, it doesn't just mean this lifetime. 615 00:33:58,420 --> 00:34:00,420 We're talking about many lifetimes. 616 00:34:00,420 --> 00:34:02,420 And that is what makes it so much more powerful. 617 00:34:02,420 --> 00:34:06,087 So you can actually create a habit which goes on from one 618 00:34:06,087 --> 00:34:08,920 life. You will bring a habit that you 619 00:34:08,920 --> 00:34:11,532 create very strongly in this life, you will bring it into 620 00:34:11,532 --> 00:34:14,754 future lives as well. So this habit that you make of 621 00:34:14,754 --> 00:34:17,170 drinking alcohol, which may seem very insignificant and small 622 00:34:17,170 --> 00:34:22,420 now, you can actually become, in life after life, it can become 623 00:34:22,420 --> 00:34:26,310 worse and worse. And slowly and slowly, you can 624 00:34:26,310 --> 00:34:29,420 actually become very serious after a while. 625 00:34:29,420 --> 00:34:33,420 So habits are dangerous, because habits are precisely the things 626 00:34:33,420 --> 00:34:35,420 that we carry from one life to the next. 627 00:34:35,420 --> 00:34:38,420 And this is one reason why alcohol is dangerous. 628 00:34:38,420 --> 00:34:42,268 The lack of satisfaction, the fact that we always will tend to 629 00:34:42,268 --> 00:34:46,045 drink a little bit more the day after compared to the day 630 00:34:46,045 --> 00:34:49,420 before, and the fact that we bring the habits across with us 631 00:34:49,420 --> 00:34:54,170 from life after life. And the other thing, on top of 632 00:34:54,170 --> 00:34:58,849 this, which the Buddha said, which makes it so dangerous, is 633 00:34:58,849 --> 00:35:03,087 that the karmic effect of drinking, the Buddha said, is 634 00:35:03,087 --> 00:35:08,170 ultimately madness. It is some distortions of the 635 00:35:08,170 --> 00:35:12,088 mind, basically. And of course, this is not going 636 00:35:12,088 --> 00:35:14,820 to happen at the very early stages of drinking, but 637 00:35:14,820 --> 00:35:18,420 certainly when it begins and it becomes a very serious habit, 638 00:35:18,420 --> 00:35:22,420 that's when madness comes into its place. 639 00:35:22,420 --> 00:35:25,320 And we all know that. We all know that if somebody is 640 00:35:25,320 --> 00:35:28,420 a very, very serious drinker of alcohol, if they try to stop, 641 00:35:28,420 --> 00:35:31,278 they will have all kinds of hallucinations, all kinds of 642 00:35:31,278 --> 00:35:37,670 things happening to them, to the point where they actually go 643 00:35:37,670 --> 00:35:41,755 insane. So here, again, you see this 644 00:35:41,755 --> 00:35:45,420 danger of slowly increasing your abuse, slowly getting worse, 645 00:35:45,420 --> 00:35:48,420 until it can actually lead to something as traumatic as this. 646 00:35:48,420 --> 00:35:55,020 And I think it is a fair reason to suppose that many of those 647 00:35:55,020 --> 00:35:57,920 people who have serious mental illnesses in our society, like 648 00:35:57,920 --> 00:36:01,170 schizophrenia, or maybe even manic depression, these sort of 649 00:36:01,170 --> 00:36:05,087 things, may actually be the result of alcohol abuse or drug 650 00:36:05,087 --> 00:36:08,420 abuse, serious drug abuse, from a past life. 651 00:36:08,420 --> 00:36:13,670 Because it tends, if you get too much of it, it can lead to this 652 00:36:13,670 --> 00:36:20,420 sense of madness. Okay, so that is the five 653 00:36:20,420 --> 00:36:26,170 precepts, basically. And the bodily actions, the 654 00:36:26,170 --> 00:36:30,420 three bodily actions. And now we come on to speech. 655 00:36:30,420 --> 00:36:32,420 And speech is another fascinating area. 656 00:36:32,420 --> 00:36:34,420 I'm going to talk a bit more briefly about this. 657 00:36:34,420 --> 00:36:40,420 There is four types of speech conduct taught by the Buddha. 658 00:36:40,420 --> 00:36:44,420 These four, in brief, are lying, they are divisive, harsh speech, 659 00:36:44,420 --> 00:36:46,620 and idle gossip. These are the four areas which 660 00:36:46,620 --> 00:36:49,420 the Buddha focused on. These are the four wrong areas. 661 00:36:49,420 --> 00:36:52,420 And the opposite, of course, is the truth-telling, speech which 662 00:36:52,420 --> 00:36:56,020 creates harmony, speech which is gentle, and speech which is 663 00:36:56,020 --> 00:36:58,420 meaningful, rather than idle gossip. 664 00:36:58,420 --> 00:37:02,220 I'm going to skip lying, and I'm going to go straight on to this 665 00:37:02,220 --> 00:37:05,420 idea of divisive speech, or harmonious speech. 666 00:37:05,420 --> 00:37:08,670 And what the Buddha said here is that the Buddha said that the 667 00:37:08,670 --> 00:37:11,670 Buddha said that the Buddha said that the Buddha said that the 668 00:37:11,670 --> 00:37:17,420 Buddha said that Allah said, Thețama conversations, the 669 00:37:17,420 --> 00:37:36,960 Buddha said, thebaythingmother مما شalous jeuxใช CRA are filled 670 00:37:36,960 --> 00:37:39,940 with evil. They Tae laugh They remember the 671 00:37:39,940 --> 00:37:44,500 Buddha students we are essentially creating divisions 672 00:37:44,500 --> 00:37:47,938 we are creating negativity because we are planting a seed 673 00:37:47,938 --> 00:37:51,512 there it always has an influence on somebody when we say 674 00:37:51,512 --> 00:37:54,300 something negative about somebody people always listen to 675 00:37:54,300 --> 00:37:57,512 these things and even though they may not take you 100% 676 00:37:57,512 --> 00:38:01,756 seriously it always has some effect so there is always a 677 00:38:01,756 --> 00:38:06,022 sense of divisiveness there we divide people apart and that is 678 00:38:06,022 --> 00:38:11,585 why this is such an important principle of speech not to speak 679 00:38:11,585 --> 00:38:16,588 divisively not to talk about others' bad sides certainly not 680 00:38:16,588 --> 00:38:20,014 at the wrong time and certainly not from the wrong intentions of 681 00:38:20,014 --> 00:38:25,166 ill will or irritation or whatever it may be and the 682 00:38:25,166 --> 00:38:30,280 opposite of the divisive speech is speech which creates harmony 683 00:38:30,280 --> 00:38:34,686 when we talk about the positive qualities of somebody else when 684 00:38:34,686 --> 00:38:37,996 we go to say to somebody you know this person said something 685 00:38:37,996 --> 00:38:41,534 very nice about you and we tell them what the other person said 686 00:38:41,534 --> 00:38:44,762 about them and this creates a goodwill because these people 687 00:38:44,762 --> 00:38:48,320 will then tend to bond together because there is a sense of 688 00:38:48,320 --> 00:38:51,332 mutual appreciation there a sense of mutual that they have 689 00:38:51,332 --> 00:38:54,088 an understanding and appreciation for each other so 690 00:38:54,088 --> 00:38:59,320 whatever you say something which is positive that creates harmony 691 00:38:59,320 --> 00:39:03,778 that creates bonds between people this is good karma this 692 00:39:03,778 --> 00:39:07,188 is a good way of speaking and it is actually very highly praised 693 00:39:07,188 --> 00:39:10,920 by the Buddha again you can use this hierarchy I'm talking about 694 00:39:10,920 --> 00:39:15,404 false speech is the worst one but the second worst one of 695 00:39:15,404 --> 00:39:19,340 speech is divisive speech so it is quite a bad quite a serious 696 00:39:19,340 --> 00:39:25,620 way of speaking and of course this is how we can create bonds 697 00:39:25,620 --> 00:39:28,500 and this is how a place like the Buddhist society of course also 698 00:39:28,500 --> 00:39:32,178 becomes stronger this is how groups bond together and the 699 00:39:32,178 --> 00:39:34,916 Buddhist society being a group it is how we bond together in 700 00:39:34,916 --> 00:39:38,445 the Buddhist society when we see the positive things in each 701 00:39:38,445 --> 00:39:39,950 other and we see the positive things in each other and we talk 702 00:39:39,950 --> 00:39:43,956 about those positive things to each other then the bonds are 703 00:39:43,956 --> 00:39:51,038 created the second the third aspect of speech here is harsh 704 00:39:51,038 --> 00:39:56,340 speech and harsh speech is of course speech which is painful 705 00:39:56,340 --> 00:40:00,780 which is tough which is kind of doesn't resonate with us it's 706 00:40:00,780 --> 00:40:05,820 not nice it's not necessarily divisive but it is like speech 707 00:40:05,820 --> 00:40:08,264 we all know what harsh speech is basically and we talk about 708 00:40:08,264 --> 00:40:10,330 those positive things to each other and the opposite of harsh 709 00:40:10,330 --> 00:40:15,474 speech is speech which is gentle which is soft and it says in the 710 00:40:15,474 --> 00:40:19,554 Sutta speech which goes to the heart which is pleasing to the 711 00:40:19,554 --> 00:40:23,275 ear and which is pleasing to the ordinary people whenever an 712 00:40:23,275 --> 00:40:26,648 ordinary person hears this speech they will feel delighted 713 00:40:26,648 --> 00:40:33,750 by it they will feel happy by it and an important aspect of this 714 00:40:33,750 --> 00:40:37,620 beautiful speech called gentle speech and nice speech is that 715 00:40:37,620 --> 00:40:40,253 it leads to a sense of happiness leads to good meditation harsh 716 00:40:40,253 --> 00:40:44,372 speech it is said in the Suttas leads in the opposite way it 717 00:40:44,372 --> 00:40:48,880 leads away from Samadhi away from meditation so harsh speech 718 00:40:48,880 --> 00:40:53,840 is going to take you away if you are a keen meditator whereas a 719 00:40:53,840 --> 00:40:56,827 gentle speech is going to move you towards meditation towards 720 00:40:56,827 --> 00:41:00,766 something positive in that area so that is quite interesting I 721 00:41:00,766 --> 00:41:03,965 find because obviously if we are serious about meditation this 722 00:41:03,965 --> 00:41:08,044 sort of thing is an important piece or information to motivate 723 00:41:08,044 --> 00:41:15,871 us to keep this particular precept if you like and I also 724 00:41:15,871 --> 00:41:22,060 notice very often that the sort of person who is often popular 725 00:41:22,060 --> 00:41:25,998 the sort of person who people want to listen to in life who 726 00:41:25,998 --> 00:41:29,906 maybe sometimes even become the center of attention is not 727 00:41:29,906 --> 00:41:33,637 necessarily somebody who is interesting or who has a good 728 00:41:33,637 --> 00:41:36,829 story a good story is of course important as well but very often 729 00:41:36,829 --> 00:41:40,688 it is a person who is gentle and says things in a nice way so 730 00:41:40,688 --> 00:41:43,776 that people actually feel comfortable around them this is 731 00:41:43,776 --> 00:41:47,516 often a very attractive character trait in people and we 732 00:41:47,516 --> 00:41:51,080 can see how people flock around people who have that particular 733 00:41:51,080 --> 00:41:54,272 character trait there is actually there is an interesting 734 00:41:54,272 --> 00:41:58,095 place in the Suttas which talks about something called the 735 00:41:58,095 --> 00:42:02,627 grounds for kindness or the grounds for almost like the 736 00:42:02,627 --> 00:42:06,378 grounds for forming groups and one of those grounds for forming 737 00:42:06,378 --> 00:42:11,280 like a group a group of people a group of people around you is 738 00:42:11,280 --> 00:42:15,680 precisely kindly speech it is one of those grounds the other 739 00:42:15,680 --> 00:42:21,380 grounds for that is giving a helping hand when it is needed 740 00:42:21,380 --> 00:42:25,728 generosity and equal treatment of people these are the four 741 00:42:25,728 --> 00:42:31,228 things which are called these grounds for sympathy which 742 00:42:31,228 --> 00:42:35,318 creates groups around you which makes you a popular person 743 00:42:35,318 --> 00:42:38,680 almost if you have these grounds of sympathy yeah but anyway I am 744 00:42:38,680 --> 00:42:42,440 getting a bit sidetracked now so harsh speech if you want to 745 00:42:42,440 --> 00:42:47,715 meditate well is not advisable the last type of speech which 746 00:42:47,715 --> 00:42:52,280 was not recommended by the Buddha is idle chatter in other 747 00:42:52,280 --> 00:42:56,508 words speech which doesn't have any particular meaning where you 748 00:42:56,508 --> 00:42:59,848 are not really talking about anything useful anything which 749 00:42:59,848 --> 00:43:03,360 is going to lead to anything beneficial whether it is Dhamma 750 00:43:03,360 --> 00:43:06,654 or whether it is beneficial in a more worldly sense so the 751 00:43:06,654 --> 00:43:11,500 positive side of speech is speech which is meaningful which 752 00:43:11,500 --> 00:43:16,863 is goes to make people happy which goes to preaching of the 753 00:43:16,863 --> 00:43:20,715 Dhamma and very beautifully said in this particular sutta speech 754 00:43:20,715 --> 00:43:24,512 which is worthy of being treasured speech which you can 755 00:43:24,512 --> 00:43:29,798 heap up in your mind and store in your mind this is the sort of 756 00:43:29,798 --> 00:43:35,210 speech that we should be uttering so of course this is 757 00:43:35,210 --> 00:43:38,480 very idealistic and it is almost impossible to only talk about 758 00:43:38,480 --> 00:43:40,940 Dhamma all the time people think you are nuts if you talk about 759 00:43:40,940 --> 00:43:44,460 that all the time and particularly if you are if you 760 00:43:44,460 --> 00:43:47,386 have people who are not Buddhist and they may think you are going 761 00:43:47,386 --> 00:43:51,214 over the top so of course we shouldn't push that sort of 762 00:43:51,214 --> 00:43:53,550 issue too far and there are times when we have to be 763 00:43:53,550 --> 00:43:57,560 friendly and it is fascinating in the suttas that the Buddha 764 00:43:57,560 --> 00:44:01,310 whenever he started off for example a conversation with 765 00:44:01,310 --> 00:44:04,245 somebody particularly somebody he didn't know there was always 766 00:44:04,245 --> 00:44:08,729 like cautious and amiable talk in the beginning always like an 767 00:44:08,729 --> 00:44:11,980 exchange of kindness beforehand how are you? 768 00:44:12,080 --> 00:44:15,030 I hope you are well I hope you are not suffering how are your 769 00:44:15,030 --> 00:44:17,240 children? and how is your wife or husband? 770 00:44:17,960 --> 00:44:20,771 I hope your new job the Buddha didn't go this far but this is 771 00:44:20,771 --> 00:44:23,368 sort of things which are obviously positive I hope you 772 00:44:23,368 --> 00:44:27,550 are enjoying your new job etc and so this is important so we 773 00:44:27,550 --> 00:44:32,300 shouldn't become completely silent mute if we are not 774 00:44:32,300 --> 00:44:34,780 talking about the Dhamma there is always a place for kindness 775 00:44:34,780 --> 00:44:38,378 and friendliness there and of course a lot of things in the 776 00:44:38,378 --> 00:44:41,908 life is about practicalities when we have a job etc or even 777 00:44:41,908 --> 00:44:46,200 in the monastery we also have work you have to talk about 778 00:44:46,200 --> 00:44:48,640 practicalities and these obviously are important things 779 00:44:48,640 --> 00:44:54,113 but we also no doubt have times when we know that we are saying 780 00:44:54,113 --> 00:44:58,080 things which really are not really very useful and are just 781 00:44:58,080 --> 00:45:02,456 purely idle chatter without any kind of meaning whatsoever what 782 00:45:02,456 --> 00:45:04,660 is the problem with all this idle chatter? 783 00:45:04,900 --> 00:45:09,080 why does the Buddha say we should avoid this sort of thing? 784 00:45:09,440 --> 00:45:13,580 and the first thing is simply that the more you talk the more 785 00:45:13,580 --> 00:45:17,465 stuff comes out of your mouth the more likely you are to say 786 00:45:17,465 --> 00:45:21,754 things which are also bad in other ways say things which are 787 00:45:21,754 --> 00:45:26,720 maybe harsh which are divisive even lies can come out the more 788 00:45:26,720 --> 00:45:30,311 you talk the less mindfulness you tend to have and the more 789 00:45:30,311 --> 00:45:33,986 things come out which you wish shouldn't come out in the first 790 00:45:33,986 --> 00:45:37,400 place and this is one reason why it is good to talk about this to 791 00:45:37,400 --> 00:45:41,171 not talk too much not have too much idle chatter and the other 792 00:45:41,171 --> 00:45:45,500 reason of course is that if you talk a lot on topics which are 793 00:45:45,500 --> 00:45:49,720 not useful your mind becomes very active there is a lot of 794 00:45:49,720 --> 00:45:53,120 stuff going on in there and of course again if you are serious 795 00:45:53,120 --> 00:45:55,868 about your meditation practice this is the sort of thing you 796 00:45:55,868 --> 00:46:00,501 really want to avoid because it activates the mind so these are 797 00:46:00,501 --> 00:46:05,087 basically the reasons why idle chatter is something which has 798 00:46:05,087 --> 00:46:06,512 to be avoided if one is going to be idle chatter if one is going 799 00:46:06,512 --> 00:46:07,672 to be idle chatter if one is going to be idle chatter one 800 00:46:07,672 --> 00:46:12,594 should be very serious about right speech in Buddhism so 801 00:46:12,594 --> 00:46:16,244 these are the four aspects of right speech I talked about only 802 00:46:16,244 --> 00:46:19,534 three of them and I think they are interesting because they are 803 00:46:19,534 --> 00:46:23,372 not talked about all that often and they do actually have an 804 00:46:23,372 --> 00:46:28,600 effect on our moral practice and the way we live our moral life 805 00:46:28,600 --> 00:46:34,340 now the last factors of morality here is the morality of the mind 806 00:46:34,340 --> 00:46:38,008 and now we are coming basically to morality which really only 807 00:46:38,008 --> 00:46:41,932 affects ourselves and this is the case where we do these 808 00:46:41,932 --> 00:46:46,250 things because we want to be kind to ourselves take anger for 809 00:46:46,250 --> 00:46:49,945 example as long as you don't express that anger outwardly in 810 00:46:49,945 --> 00:46:53,387 body or speech it's basically only you who get hurt by this 811 00:46:53,387 --> 00:46:57,390 anger so in this case you shouldn't be angry because it 812 00:46:57,390 --> 00:47:01,040 hurts yourself also you shouldn't be angry of course 813 00:47:01,040 --> 00:47:04,420 because if you are angry sooner or later it will come out 814 00:47:04,420 --> 00:47:07,552 through body or speech so this is the case I'm not going to 815 00:47:07,552 --> 00:47:10,440 talk about anger today because I gave a talk a few weeks ago here 816 00:47:10,440 --> 00:47:14,909 at length about overcoming anger but the second factor here is 817 00:47:14,909 --> 00:47:20,080 greed greed is the second factor of mind which is to be avoided 818 00:47:20,080 --> 00:47:25,925 as unwholesome and the opposite here is like being contented or 819 00:47:25,925 --> 00:47:30,040 even being generous this is the opposite thing of greed here and 820 00:47:30,040 --> 00:47:34,807 we all know what greed greed actually here in the Pali is a 821 00:47:34,807 --> 00:47:38,980 word which means more like covetousness desiring things 822 00:47:38,980 --> 00:47:42,656 which you don't already have and we all know what that can be 823 00:47:42,656 --> 00:47:45,260 like you can go shopping for example you see all these things 824 00:47:45,260 --> 00:47:47,946 in the shopping window that would be really nice that would 825 00:47:47,946 --> 00:47:51,020 be incredibly nice to have now how can I get that I can't 826 00:47:51,020 --> 00:47:54,020 really afford it maybe I can get hold of it somehow and then this 827 00:47:54,020 --> 00:47:57,280 idea that we need something takes over the agenda completely 828 00:47:57,280 --> 00:48:01,676 and becomes the focus of things not only that but it tends to 829 00:48:01,676 --> 00:48:04,480 excite the mind if you're greedy if you really want something it 830 00:48:04,480 --> 00:48:07,860 excites the mind it makes the mind very sort of yeah like 831 00:48:07,860 --> 00:48:12,800 agitated in a sense and of course again it's very clear 832 00:48:12,800 --> 00:48:16,072 that this sort of agitation in the mind is something which goes 833 00:48:16,072 --> 00:48:20,220 against meditation practice this is like a very basic thing this 834 00:48:20,220 --> 00:48:22,730 thing about greed and covetousness this idea of 835 00:48:22,730 --> 00:48:26,690 craving being agitation in mind it's a very common topic in 836 00:48:26,690 --> 00:48:30,907 Buddhism of course so instead of when we see this when we 837 00:48:30,907 --> 00:48:33,940 understand that there is a danger in these things we can 838 00:48:33,940 --> 00:48:38,476 also understand the advantage of just being contented with what 839 00:48:38,476 --> 00:48:41,707 we already have and looking at our possessions and asking 840 00:48:41,707 --> 00:48:44,574 ourselves well have I actually got enough this is of course 841 00:48:44,574 --> 00:48:47,052 very difficult and there will always be times when we haven't 842 00:48:47,052 --> 00:48:49,974 got enough when we need something else but generally 843 00:48:49,974 --> 00:48:54,016 speaking if we can be contented with what we already have if we 844 00:48:54,016 --> 00:48:58,035 can be satisfied with what we have already then we don't we 845 00:48:58,035 --> 00:49:02,120 don't give rise to so much excitement when we see something 846 00:49:02,120 --> 00:49:05,080 out there in the world we don't give rise to so much greed for 847 00:49:05,080 --> 00:49:06,814 things that we don't want to have or that we don't already 848 00:49:06,814 --> 00:49:11,405 own and as we all know if you have a sense of contentment it 849 00:49:11,405 --> 00:49:15,794 makes meditation practice so so so much easier contentment is 850 00:49:15,794 --> 00:49:19,300 like one of the most important factors to make meditation 851 00:49:19,300 --> 00:49:23,370 peaceful and nice as Abraham talks about all the time and in 852 00:49:23,370 --> 00:49:27,090 my experience it is also very true that when you have a sense 853 00:49:27,090 --> 00:49:30,427 of contentment it makes the mind automatically more peaceful and 854 00:49:30,427 --> 00:49:35,400 it makes for much better meditation practice so of course 855 00:49:35,400 --> 00:49:38,750 I think this is obviously another difficult one but it's 856 00:49:38,750 --> 00:49:42,740 worth noticing what happens with your mind and how your mind is 857 00:49:42,740 --> 00:49:46,520 distorted by these things and how it takes it away from peace 858 00:49:46,520 --> 00:49:50,865 and then we can maybe increase our sense of contentment our 859 00:49:50,865 --> 00:49:55,080 sense of satisfaction with those things that we already have and 860 00:49:55,080 --> 00:50:01,865 it will be obviously to our own benefit a great deal so that is 861 00:50:01,865 --> 00:50:06,532 the second factor of mental conduct in meditation is to try 862 00:50:06,532 --> 00:50:11,272 to overcome this sense of greed and the last factor of a good 863 00:50:11,272 --> 00:50:15,100 mental conduct or bad mental conduct is right or wrong view 864 00:50:15,100 --> 00:50:19,730 right view is good mental conduct and wrong view is bad 865 00:50:19,730 --> 00:50:23,420 mental conduct I'm actually not going to talk about this at all 866 00:50:23,420 --> 00:50:25,500 I wasn't going to talk about this at all but very briefly 867 00:50:25,500 --> 00:50:29,680 obviously if you have wrong view and really really wrong view 868 00:50:29,680 --> 00:50:33,096 then what that means is that you don't really think that there is 869 00:50:33,096 --> 00:50:36,247 anything bad about being immoral for example you don't think it 870 00:50:36,247 --> 00:50:39,430 really affects anybody else and certainly you don't think it 871 00:50:39,430 --> 00:50:43,634 affects you personally so immorality is acceptable that is 872 00:50:43,634 --> 00:50:47,560 really sort of the wrong view having gone completely berserk 873 00:50:47,560 --> 00:50:51,007 and then you have been through some serious troubles according 874 00:50:51,007 --> 00:50:55,980 to Buddhism because of the laws of Kama and the results that you 875 00:50:55,980 --> 00:51:01,660 can expect from that sort of action so to maybe summarize 876 00:51:01,660 --> 00:51:05,828 very briefly what I think may be the most important thing I 877 00:51:05,828 --> 00:51:10,100 wanted to say tonight is simply that if we ever have doubts 878 00:51:10,100 --> 00:51:14,300 about whether something is moral or immoral we have this 879 00:51:14,300 --> 00:51:17,572 beautiful teaching of the Buddha look at whether it's going to 880 00:51:17,572 --> 00:51:20,820 hurt anybody is it going to hurt yourself is it going to hurt 881 00:51:20,820 --> 00:51:25,300 anybody else and from this basic premise we can make so many 882 00:51:25,300 --> 00:51:28,814 decisions in life about whether something is right or wrong but 883 00:51:28,814 --> 00:51:32,360 don't wait and make those decisions don't wait to think 884 00:51:32,360 --> 00:51:35,847 about these questions until you are actually in a position of 885 00:51:35,847 --> 00:51:39,207 particular situation because once you are in a situation you 886 00:51:39,207 --> 00:51:44,647 can often be overcome by maybe negativity or desire and these 887 00:51:44,647 --> 00:51:47,540 things will distort your perception of what is right and 888 00:51:47,540 --> 00:51:51,020 what is wrong and what hurts people and what doesn't make up 889 00:51:51,020 --> 00:51:54,124 your principles of what is right and wrong if you want to make 890 00:51:54,124 --> 00:51:58,152 them up when you feel your mind is clear and you can think 891 00:51:58,152 --> 00:52:01,360 clearly about what is actually going on here and this is the 892 00:52:01,360 --> 00:52:04,715 most important thing and also the second thing which is really 893 00:52:04,715 --> 00:52:08,215 important I feel is that morality is not something which 894 00:52:08,215 --> 00:52:11,260 is just negative it's not something that we just have to 895 00:52:11,260 --> 00:52:14,987 stop ourselves from doing but it's a positive aspect of 896 00:52:14,987 --> 00:52:19,500 morality the opposite and that is what we should actively be 897 00:52:19,500 --> 00:52:23,800 pursuing in life the opposite of the negative qualities the 898 00:52:23,800 --> 00:52:27,380 generosity the kindness the beautiful speech to other people 899 00:52:27,380 --> 00:52:31,860 and even the beautiful mental conduct that we are practicing 900 00:52:31,860 --> 00:52:35,414 all these things of course are part of the practice of being a 901 00:52:35,414 --> 00:52:38,380 good person being Buddhists or certainly at the very least 902 00:52:38,380 --> 00:52:44,172 being interested in this Buddhist path so that is all I 903 00:52:44,172 --> 00:52:47,440 really want to say tonight I don't know if people have any 904 00:52:47,440 --> 00:52:54,400 questions or comments or anything so this is a time to 905 00:52:54,400 --> 00:53:06,440 ask yes if there is injustice in the world equality in the world 906 00:53:06,440 --> 00:53:16,180 is what is the way to change that view in someone to show 907 00:53:16,180 --> 00:53:22,610 love and kindness to someone when there is inequality and 908 00:53:22,610 --> 00:53:28,860 injustice is there not a time to feel anger and righteousness I 909 00:53:28,860 --> 00:53:32,700 don't think anger is ever very useful and the reason it isn't 910 00:53:32,700 --> 00:53:35,160 useful is because as I said before it distorts your mind and 911 00:53:35,160 --> 00:53:37,400 it distorts your perception once you feel anger you are very 912 00:53:37,400 --> 00:53:40,440 likely to do things that later on you will regret so what you 913 00:53:40,440 --> 00:53:43,800 should do in those instances instead of actually getting 914 00:53:43,800 --> 00:53:46,554 angry you should ask yourself what can I do to change this is 915 00:53:46,554 --> 00:53:49,360 there anything I can do to change it then do whatever you 916 00:53:49,360 --> 00:53:52,440 can to change these things anger is not going to be helpful 917 00:53:52,440 --> 00:53:55,160 because if you get angry and your perception gets distorted 918 00:53:55,160 --> 00:53:58,617 you are actually likely to do things which are going to be 919 00:53:58,617 --> 00:54:01,535 worse than if you think clearly about the situation and do what 920 00:54:01,535 --> 00:54:05,547 is and do whatever result you come to when you think clearly 921 00:54:05,547 --> 00:54:10,500 about it so anger is never never useful but of course we should 922 00:54:10,500 --> 00:54:13,568 do things and one of the really difficult things about this sort 923 00:54:13,568 --> 00:54:16,988 of thing is that you actually have to do it with a sense of 924 00:54:16,988 --> 00:54:19,974 equanimity you have to say well ok I'm going to go into the 925 00:54:19,974 --> 00:54:23,152 situation there is some serious injustice here I want to help 926 00:54:23,152 --> 00:54:27,160 out I want to do something here but if you go into that 927 00:54:27,160 --> 00:54:30,040 situation with too much craving that you are going to succeed 928 00:54:30,040 --> 00:54:32,600 then you will get very disappointed if it doesn't work 929 00:54:32,600 --> 00:54:35,010 you will get frustrated and then you will get angry anyway so you 930 00:54:35,010 --> 00:54:38,240 have to you know what I mean so what you have to do there is 931 00:54:38,240 --> 00:54:41,214 that you actually have to try to go into that situation and say 932 00:54:41,214 --> 00:54:45,560 well I may fail and if I fail I'm just going to have to let go 933 00:54:45,560 --> 00:54:48,064 I'm just going to have to accept that there is going to be 934 00:54:48,064 --> 00:54:51,287 injustice in the world I will never be able to solve 935 00:54:51,287 --> 00:54:56,354 everything I can try to help out if I don't succeed so be it that 936 00:54:56,354 --> 00:55:00,354 is ideally the right attitude of course getting to that ideal is 937 00:55:00,354 --> 00:55:03,400 not easy but at least you have something there to measure 938 00:55:03,400 --> 00:56:06,260 yourself against so the way I talked about kama 939 00:56:06,260 --> 00:56:10,040 there are three types of kama there is white kama with white 940 00:56:10,040 --> 00:56:12,376 results and the white kama with white results is like when you 941 00:56:12,376 --> 00:56:15,780 have a completely pure mind with no hindrances like you come out 942 00:56:15,780 --> 00:56:19,950 of the most profound meditation states your mind is clean as a 943 00:56:19,950 --> 00:56:23,245 white sheet or whatever you want to call it then the kama that 944 00:56:23,245 --> 00:56:25,954 you are producing is completely white you get reborn in an 945 00:56:25,954 --> 00:56:29,388 exclusively happy realm but then there is kama which is black and 946 00:56:29,388 --> 00:56:33,000 white and reaps black and white results right and I think what 947 00:56:33,000 --> 00:56:35,720 you are talking about now is precisely one of these kamas 948 00:56:35,720 --> 00:56:38,680 which are black and white and reap black and white results 949 00:56:38,680 --> 00:56:43,000 because you can be motivated by compassion towards these people 950 00:56:43,000 --> 00:56:45,720 by really profound compassion you see so much suffering 951 00:56:45,720 --> 00:56:49,640 because of this malaria but at the same time there is something 952 00:56:49,640 --> 00:56:53,072 in you which then also wants to kill these mosquitoes so there 953 00:56:53,072 --> 00:56:58,000 is a mixture there of intentions and motivation your motivation 954 00:56:58,000 --> 00:57:01,554 is reasonably pure because you come through compassion but your 955 00:57:01,554 --> 00:57:06,220 intention is still to kill those mosquitoes and the kama results 956 00:57:06,220 --> 00:57:11,790 of that sort of action tends to be black and white and for that 957 00:57:11,790 --> 00:57:15,160 reason it is not as pure and not as wholesome as a purely white 958 00:57:15,160 --> 00:57:19,340 action so I think that if you are going to aim for the 959 00:57:19,340 --> 00:57:23,074 absolutely highest then you wouldn't actually be killing 960 00:57:23,074 --> 00:57:26,820 those mosquitoes you actually wouldn't do that you wouldn't 961 00:57:26,820 --> 00:57:29,390 actually be able to have the intention even to kill those 962 00:57:29,390 --> 00:57:32,867 mosquitoes if somebody asked you an opinion you would maybe say 963 00:57:32,867 --> 00:57:35,210 something like you know you would maybe say what I said you 964 00:57:35,210 --> 00:57:37,270 know what I said now what the Buddha said in the sutta is a 965 00:57:37,270 --> 00:57:39,660 different type of action and then they would have to decide 966 00:57:39,660 --> 00:57:42,800 from themselves what they would do from that point but if you 967 00:57:42,800 --> 00:57:45,840 really have pure action you cannot really you cannot kill 968 00:57:45,840 --> 00:57:48,210 you would never condemn of course anybody who did the 969 00:57:48,210 --> 00:57:51,970 killing you would say well this is this is your decision and if 970 00:57:51,970 --> 00:57:56,420 you feel it's right you must do it but I think the highest kind 971 00:57:56,420 --> 00:57:58,720 of morality you actually wouldn't do that it's hard to 972 00:57:58,720 --> 00:58:02,894 understand maybe but as I see it that is actually the highest 973 00:58:02,894 --> 00:58:12,467 type of morality there yeah yes Gina okay there's actually two 974 00:58:12,467 --> 00:58:15,160 more kamas actually I only said three but there's actually four 975 00:58:15,160 --> 00:58:19,072 and the fourth one is the black kama with black results but that 976 00:58:19,072 --> 00:58:22,907 is the one you really want to avoid and that is when your mind 977 00:58:22,907 --> 00:58:26,520 is completely overcome by anger or by greed or by something 978 00:58:26,520 --> 00:58:29,527 absolutely and your action is completely motivated by that and 979 00:58:29,527 --> 00:58:32,770 nothing else and that is a sort of action which leads to great 980 00:58:32,770 --> 00:58:36,000 suffering in the future the last type of kama which the Buddha 981 00:58:36,000 --> 00:58:38,240 also taught and this is even more difficult to understand 982 00:58:38,240 --> 00:58:42,214 this is the kama which is neither black and white and has 983 00:58:42,214 --> 00:58:46,270 neither black and white results and this is the kama which 984 00:58:46,270 --> 00:58:48,800 basically is only possible for somebody who is almost 985 00:58:48,800 --> 00:58:53,030 enlightened or on the way to enlightenment whereby you are no 986 00:58:53,030 --> 00:58:56,807 longer concerned at all with happiness and suffering all 987 00:58:56,807 --> 00:59:00,175 you're concerned about is getting to nibbana and that is 988 00:59:00,175 --> 00:59:03,480 the action which leads to now the black and white result 989 00:59:03,480 --> 00:59:14,280 because it leads to nibbana yeah no certainly not okay this 990 00:59:14,280 --> 00:59:18,520 neither black and white does not mean that you are beyond it so 991 00:59:18,520 --> 00:59:21,040 to speak it just means it's a different kind of kama 992 00:59:21,040 --> 00:59:25,680 altogether it's like neither black and white on top of white 993 00:59:25,680 --> 00:59:32,800 if you like yeah okay very good anybody else anything to say 994 00:59:32,800 --> 00:59:56,240 here yeah I can't see yeah please sir yes right yeah it's 995 00:59:56,240 --> 01:00:03,640 true and it is basically the if you live as a human being you're 996 01:00:03,640 --> 01:00:05,390 going to kill enormous amounts of people enormous amounts of 997 01:00:05,390 --> 01:00:08,416 beings during this lifetime it is absolutely unavoidable that 998 01:00:08,416 --> 01:00:10,596 you're going to kill enormous amounts of beings think about 999 01:00:10,596 --> 01:00:13,684 how many beings it gets killed just to feed you even if you're 1000 01:00:13,684 --> 01:00:18,800 a vegetarian how many beings get killed in those fields of you 1001 01:00:18,800 --> 01:00:21,775 know where you plant vegetables or whether you plant cereals or 1002 01:00:21,775 --> 01:00:25,087 whatever it is enormous amounts of being get killed just by 1003 01:00:25,087 --> 01:00:27,987 existing just by walking out of this hall this afternoon I'm 1004 01:00:27,987 --> 01:00:30,214 sure you're going to kill about five ants before you get to your 1005 01:00:30,214 --> 01:00:34,400 car you know what I mean it's just impossible life is just 1006 01:00:34,400 --> 01:00:37,860 full of this and that is why it is in a sense so sad this life 1007 01:00:37,860 --> 01:00:40,520 because it involves so much killing it involves so much 1008 01:00:40,520 --> 01:00:44,280 suffering even if you are perfectly pure arhat full 1009 01:00:44,280 --> 01:00:46,976 enlightened person you're still going to kill a large number of 1010 01:00:46,976 --> 01:00:51,049 beings so it is unavoidable samsara is like that and this is 1011 01:00:51,049 --> 01:00:55,040 one of the reasons why this place called samsara is so 1012 01:00:55,040 --> 01:01:00,620 unpleasant in a sense and it's so full of suffering so when I 1013 01:01:00,620 --> 01:01:04,720 when I come here tonight I realize that I'm fully aware 1014 01:01:04,720 --> 01:01:07,450 that all the things are going to be killed but I certainly don't 1015 01:01:07,450 --> 01:01:10,507 have an intention to kill these beings I don't come here with 1016 01:01:10,507 --> 01:01:14,160 the thought aha if I come here I will kill all these beings great 1017 01:01:14,160 --> 01:01:17,320 that is not my thought I come here because I have basically 1018 01:01:17,320 --> 01:01:20,904 been invited to give this talk as Ambram asked me can you go 1019 01:01:20,904 --> 01:01:24,000 and give a talk at the buddha society that's why I come here 1020 01:01:24,000 --> 01:01:27,480 so my intention is pure and as long as your intention is pure 1021 01:01:27,480 --> 01:01:30,901 as long as you're coming from a wholesome motive then there is 1022 01:01:30,901 --> 01:01:34,684 no bad action there is no bad karma and for that reason there 1023 01:01:34,684 --> 01:01:36,894 is no bad karma there is no bad result of that in the future but 1024 01:01:36,894 --> 01:01:40,620 if I were to squash an ant intentionally of course that is 1025 01:01:40,620 --> 01:01:44,430 where the bad karma comes in it is your intention which is the 1026 01:01:44,430 --> 01:01:47,532 important factor here not actually whether a being dies or 1027 01:01:47,532 --> 01:02:06,120 not yes you mean in the case of 1028 01:02:06,120 --> 01:02:12,700 unintentional killing or yeah well if you kill intentionally 1029 01:02:12,700 --> 01:02:15,800 then I would say remorse is often a good thing because 1030 01:02:15,800 --> 01:02:18,620 remorse means that you will restrain yourself in the future 1031 01:02:18,620 --> 01:02:23,700 and in fact the buddha even said he went so far as to say that if 1032 01:02:23,700 --> 01:02:27,092 you do something which is unwholesome there is a natural 1033 01:02:27,092 --> 01:02:30,640 tendency for the mind to feel remorse this is not something 1034 01:02:30,640 --> 01:02:33,266 that you really can't control it will come up by itself you don't 1035 01:02:33,266 --> 01:02:35,494 have to sort of decide I will free myself from this remorse or 1036 01:02:35,494 --> 01:02:39,630 not it will come up on its own so because of that natural 1037 01:02:39,630 --> 01:02:43,955 tendency you will find that you are destroying your chances of 1038 01:02:43,955 --> 01:02:47,334 meditation because your mind will be filled with remorse when 1039 01:02:47,334 --> 01:02:50,820 you actually want to meditate but when it comes to 1040 01:02:50,820 --> 01:02:53,785 unintentional killing there is no reason why you should try to 1041 01:02:53,785 --> 01:02:57,120 bring up remorse in your mind because you can't avoid that if 1042 01:02:57,120 --> 01:03:01,084 you sort of bring up remorse and sadness you can bring up maybe a 1043 01:03:01,084 --> 01:03:04,375 bit of sadness because it will propel you to practice more and 1044 01:03:04,375 --> 01:03:08,260 get out of some of the things called samsara but don't sort of 1045 01:03:08,260 --> 01:03:10,874 whip yourself because you are unintentionally killing a living 1046 01:03:10,874 --> 01:03:13,260 being because you are going to be keeping doing that for the 1047 01:03:13,260 --> 01:03:16,427 rest of your life and it becomes like self-torture in a sense so 1048 01:03:16,427 --> 01:03:22,550 unintentional killing don't make that a big deal of course if you 1049 01:03:22,550 --> 01:03:25,360 can avoid killing a living being and you want to be compassionate 1050 01:03:25,360 --> 01:03:29,620 great but very often we just can't avoid it in those cases 1051 01:03:29,620 --> 01:04:04,660 don't make a big deal out of it ok sorry ok back there sure yeah 1052 01:04:04,660 --> 01:04:35,680 yeah yeah 착 Silently not just sitting 1053 01:04:35,680 --> 01:05:03,560 there �� I feel bad but same for you ok if Iise from this example 1054 01:05:03,560 --> 01:05:07,380 and she said that well Or they just are habitually angry. 1055 01:05:07,520 --> 01:05:09,620 They are somebody who suffers all the time, maybe. 1056 01:05:10,580 --> 01:05:13,960 Or you can reflect that somebody who does something bad to you, 1057 01:05:14,080 --> 01:05:17,420 well, they will be caught by the laws of Kama. 1058 01:05:17,760 --> 01:05:20,360 And they will get enormous suffering as a result of 1059 01:05:20,360 --> 01:05:23,065 whatever badness they do. I'm not going to say too much 1060 01:05:23,065 --> 01:05:25,160 because I gave a long talk on anger a few weeks ago. 1061 01:05:25,660 --> 01:05:27,800 If you're interested, it's actually on the website. 1062 01:05:27,960 --> 01:05:28,980 You can just go and listen to it. 1063 01:05:29,760 --> 01:05:33,552 But there are many things, many strategies you can use to 1064 01:05:33,552 --> 01:05:35,640 overcome anger. I think there are many books in 1065 01:05:35,640 --> 01:05:38,402 the library, probably many talks that have been given on that 1066 01:05:38,402 --> 01:06:30,473 particular subject. So, I'm going to read one of 1067 01:06:30,473 --> 01:07:04,220 them. Thank you.