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Good. 
OK, everyone, so nice to be here

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again to see you all. 
And because we just had a 

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retreat, I thought I would talk 
a little bit about meditation 

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practice, perhaps a bit about 
right view and these kind of 

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things. 
It is interesting. 

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We were just chanting the meta 
suit, Karaniya meta suit, the 

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Buddha's words on loving 
kindness. 

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And before that we chanted the 
homage to the Triple Gem. 

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Yeah, it'd be so and all of 
that. 

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And what is interesting about 
these things is that they really

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are about right view. 
It would be so. 

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Formula is how the Buddha 
recommends we recall the Buddha 

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himself. 
Yeah. 

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And then you have the Dhamma 
afterwards, how the Buddha 

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recommends we should recall the 
Dhamma and then the Sangha 

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afterwards. 
And all of these things are 

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really about right view. 
They are about how to think 

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about these things in such a way
that our mind inclines in the 

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right direction. 
And you may be surprised to hear

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that when I say that the Karenia
metasuta is also about right 

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view, maybe that sounds strange.
Maybe you think that is more 

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about sealer or morality or 
development of the mind. 

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And of course it is all of those
things. 

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But to be able to do that, to be
able to incline your mind in 

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such a way, you really need to 
have a kind of the right values.

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You know, you need to have the 
right intentions, the right 

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preferences and, and when you 
have the right values and tend 

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to give you the right 
priorities. 

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And when you have the right 
priorities, you develop the 

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right things in life. 
And the more powerful you make 

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that right view, the more clear 
and the more purposefully 

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directed are your is your mind 
going to be? 

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And so right view supports the 
whole development of the mind, 

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Yeah. 
And moving it in the right 

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direction towards meta or 
whatever. 

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So it is amazing how important 
right view is on the Buddhist 

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path. 
So what I and so it's quite nice

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little tune, isn't it a mobile 
phone Ding Ding, Ding, Ding. 

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See the positive and things I 
have to so right view. 

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Yeah. 
And one of the things I wanted 

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to mention briefly, something I 
have talked about a little bit 

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before, but it's actually it's 
very fascinating and that was 

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something that happened at 
Bodiniana during the rains 

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retreat this year as it's quite 
last year rather and it's quite 

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interesting. 
It's quite a fairly recent 

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thing. 
Yeah. 

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And usually during the rains 
retreat, Adambram will give one 

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talk a week and then I will 
often give a, some kind of suit.

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I think that's kind of become a 
famous for my, you know, for 

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suta speciality. 
And I, I love the sutas of the 

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Buddha. 
They're really powerful and 

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beautiful. 
And it gives you a very good 

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overview of the Dhamma. 
One of the difference between 

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the Buddha and if you like 
individual teachers in the world

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is that the Buddha had seemed to
have this very broad scope. 

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His job was to lay down the 
Dhamma in a complete sense, 

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whereas individual teachers tend
to have their kind of take their

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feel how they succeeded in the 
Dhamma and these things. 

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So the suitors are much more and
and for me, I always find it 

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very useful. 
And one of the reasons I found 

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it useful is because of the way 
Ajam Brahm told the Dhamma I was

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just sit back, relax, go into 
the Janas and just have a good 

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time. 
And not everyone can do that. 

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Yeah, you need some broader idea
of what is going on, otherwise 

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you can't get access to those 
deep meditations. 

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So I find it extraordinarily 
useful to read the suitors and 

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to base myself on what I would 
call the gold standard, what is 

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Buddhist practice. 
And this sort of came up during 

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the Reigns retreat last year. 
And because I was doing the 

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suitors readings. 
And then, of course, there's 

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always questions. 
And you're very welcome to ask 

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some questions at the end of 
this as well. 

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And one of the question was 
precisely about this. 

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Yeah. 
About. 

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Oh, Ajam Brahm. 
He says, you know, just, you 

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know, just sit down in your 
meditation. 

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Don't do anything and just wait.
Yeah. 

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And be very patient about 
things. 

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Don't have any expectations, 
that's for sure. 

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And as you do that, all the 
things in meditation just 

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happened to you. 
All you have to do is sit back 

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and relax. 
Yeah. 

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And just things happen. 
He doesn't teach quite like that

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anymore, but sometimes he knows 
that people need a little bit 

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more support. 
So now he teaches a bit of body 

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sweeping very often and relaxing
the body and these kind of 

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things. 
But the basic idea is just to 

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sit back and relax. 
And if you are sit long enough 

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and you are patient, then all of
these amazing things will happen

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to you. 
And then, of course, he's the 

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master of talking about these 
amazing things. 

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You have the bliss states, the 
peace, the power of the mind, 

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all of these things. 
This, this alternative reality. 

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Yeah. 
Not, not the opposite of fake 

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news. 
The real news. 

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This is the And so and so it 
sounds really, really great. 

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And then, of course, this 
person, they asked me, you know,

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but when I do this, it, it 
doesn't matter. 

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It doesn't happen. 
Yeah. 

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So why is that so? 
And this is like the almost like

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the $1,000,000 question, yeah, 
If we can understand why that is

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the case, why it is that when 
you sit back and you just relax,

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why your mind doesn't just go 
into these states which you 

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otherwise would think. 
If we can answer, answer that 

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question, then we will have a 
clarity about the path who 

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understand what is going on and 
everything will kind of open up 

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in front of us and we'll be 
heading in the right direction 

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there. 
So it's a very interesting 

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question. 
Why isn't that One person sits 

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down and relaxes, everything 
happens, another one does it, it

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doesn't happen. 
Yeah, if we can get into the 

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mind of Ajambaram, yeah and do 
it his way, then we are kind of 

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probably we're going to be in 
business as well here. 

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So But the first thing here, 
before we really get into that 

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question, is to really 
understand what Ajambaram means 

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by relaxing. 
Yeah. 

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By sitting back, by allowing 
things to be, allowing things to

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happen. 
Because even that is actually 

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quite hard to get right. 
Yeah. 

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I don't know if you've noticed, 
but when you sit back and you 

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kind of try to relax, a lot of 
the time is, yeah, Relax, yeah. 

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Let go. 
Yeah. 

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A lot of things to be. 
Yeah. 

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And we're not. 
And it doesn't really work that 

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way. 
That's not what Adam Brown means

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by letting go or by relaxing. 
Yeah. 

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And to get into the right the 
mood, if you like the right mode

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of relaxation, it's important to
let go of exactly those kind of 

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things. 
Yeah, whereby you're trying to 

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encourage yourself or you're 
trying to say what you're 

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supposed to do. 
So a very simple way of doing 

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that is that you imagine 
yourself. 

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Yeah. 
Like for example, you come, this

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is, this is a simile and all, no
simile is perfect, of course. 

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But imagine yourself coming back
from work. 

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Yeah, you're kind of tired. 
You've been working hard all 

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day. 
And when you are tired like 

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that, often you just want to sit
down. 

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I don't want to do anything more
because your mind is just needs 

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to relax a little bit. 
So then what happens if you sit 

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down in a nice chair, like a 
nice armchair or whatever, and 

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then you relax because you are 
tired. 

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What do you do at that point? 
The answer is you don't do it 

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very much at all, Right. 
That's kind of the point. 

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You don't think in a certain 
way. 

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You don't tell yourself, yeah, 
relax, relax. 

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You don't do any of that. 
Yeah. 

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You just sit down in the 
armchair and you chill. 

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That's what you do. 
You don't do anything. 

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You don't have to say, you know,
say anything to yourself. 

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And that is kind of the idea of 
meditation. 

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The only difference is that 
you're not coming back from 

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work. 
You're not really that 

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exhausted. 
But we're always a little bit 

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exhausted because life is just 
exhausting in general. 

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Even when you wake up in the 
morning, sometimes you're 

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exhausted because if you had a 
dream that kind of dragged your 

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mind around or whatever else. 
But the idea is then just to 

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kind of almost get into that 
mood where you are just 

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relaxing, you're just sitting 
back doing nothing. 

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Like you sit down in an armchair
after work. 

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And that gives us an idea what 
you're supposed to do. 

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And you may think that's crazy 
because if I do that, my mind is

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just all over the place. 
Yeah, that's kind of the idea. 

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Allow your mind to be all over 
the place because if that is 

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where your mind wants to be, 
your mind should be allowed to 

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do that. 
If you try to control it, then 

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it is going often to make 
matters worse. 

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So this is like the beginning. 
Yeah, But it's not enough. 

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And the reason it's not enough 
is precisely because if you do 

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that, you find that, yes, your 
mind settles down a little bit. 

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Yeah. 
After running around for a 

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while, it becomes more peaceful.
And you can feel that even when 

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you do, you know, come back home
after work. 

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In this way, you can feel the 
mind settling down a little bit,

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regaining a bit of energy and 
all of that. 

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Yeah. 
And things are kind of going 

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better, but it's often it 
doesn't really get any oomph. 

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It doesn't go anywhere. 
Yeah. 

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Your mind gets distracted. 
You think about this, You think 

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about that. 
You try to sort out all the 

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solutions and all your problems 
in life because that's what 

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happens. 
If you get a bit of energy in 

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your mind, you think, yeah, now 
I've got the power to resolve 

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everything. 
And of course, that destroys the

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meditation. 
It destroys the peace. 

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So we need more. 
But that is like the beginning. 

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Yeah. 
Just learning to relax in the 

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right way with the right 
attitude gives you an 

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inclination towards that. 
But we need more and this is 

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where it gets really 
interesting. 

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So we then that this during the 
rains retreat, then we started 

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to discuss, you know, why is it 
that Ajam Brahm kind of why it 

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works for him? 
But why, you know, you only go 

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so far and it doesn't go any 
deeper, whoever that is. 

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And I suggested to them that the
reason why it works is because 

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Ajam Brahm's mind is inclining 
towards peace. 

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And because the mind is already 
inclining towards peace, it is 

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directed towards that. 
It means that when you close 

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your eyes, yeah and you just 
allow the mind to go, the mind 

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actually inclines to peace. 
It goes towards peace like a a 

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very good dog. 
Yeah, it goes in the right 

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direction. 
It know where it is to hang out 

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there. 
The mind is like a bit like a 

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well trained dog if it is kind 
of has all the right qualities 

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in there. 
And of course people looked at 

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me and they thought, yeah, OK, 
maybe. 

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And then as often they decided, 
yeah, OK. 

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And actually I told them what 
you should do is of course ask 

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Azam Brahm. 
Yeah, they have interviews with 

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Azam Brahm every week. 
But people are a bit afraid of 

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asking Azam Brahms that I'm a 
kind of a proxy. 

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Yeah, They ask me instead to ask
Adam Bram. 

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He's not dangerous. 
Yeah. 

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What are you kind of. 
And. 

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And it's, it's funny how that 
works. 

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Yeah. 
And, and I can understand why 

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because. 
But I've been sitting next to 

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Adam Bram for so long. 
I'm not, I don't have that fear.

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But I can understand why people 
are a bit sort of, you know, a 

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little bit concerned or whatever
the right word is. 

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So they they went. 
They asked Adam Brahm, and they 

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asked him the same question. 
They said, yeah, this Brahmali, 

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he said this. 
We're not sure about that. 

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Yeah. 
We want the real, the real 

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answer. 
And so they went to Adam Brahm. 

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They said, well, and then they 
thought about it. 

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Yeah. 
Because sometimes it's strange 

229
00:11:27,560 --> 00:11:29,560
for Adam Brahm. 
I think these things are so 

230
00:11:29,640 --> 00:11:32,000
automatic. 
Yeah, that he needed to think 

231
00:11:32,000 --> 00:11:33,640
about what he actually does. 
Yeah. 

232
00:11:33,640 --> 00:11:36,560
Because the process for him is 
just so ingrained. 

233
00:11:36,840 --> 00:11:38,480
And he knows what he's doing so 
well. 

234
00:11:38,480 --> 00:11:40,960
It's not hard. 
And he said, well, what I do, he

235
00:11:40,960 --> 00:11:45,400
said actually after thinking 
about it is I incline the mind 

236
00:11:45,400 --> 00:11:49,640
to renunciation here. 
And that inclination to 

237
00:11:49,640 --> 00:11:52,880
renunciation means that the mind
is always moving towards 

238
00:11:52,880 --> 00:11:55,760
renunciation. 
It means that stage by stage it 

239
00:11:55,760 --> 00:11:57,520
goes deeper and deeper and 
deeper. 

240
00:11:57,520 --> 00:12:01,400
And at every stage the mind 
keeps on inclining towards 

241
00:12:01,400 --> 00:12:05,960
renunciation until everything in
the world, the world starts to 

242
00:12:05,960 --> 00:12:08,600
disappear. 
The joy comes, the stillness 

243
00:12:08,600 --> 00:12:12,360
comes, the samadhi, the janas, 
everything comes out of that. 

244
00:12:13,280 --> 00:12:17,560
So that is how it works. 
Yeah, that is kind of the trick.

245
00:12:17,640 --> 00:12:20,960
This is the the answer to the 
$1,000,000 question, really. 

246
00:12:21,320 --> 00:12:24,400
You have to kind of incline your
mind in the right way. 

247
00:12:24,400 --> 00:12:28,480
And that inclination in large 
part is an inclination towards 

248
00:12:28,720 --> 00:12:32,800
renouncing, giving things up. 
And as you do that, these things

249
00:12:32,800 --> 00:12:37,960
happen all by themselves. 
So then how do we do this? 

250
00:12:38,280 --> 00:12:40,000
Yeah. 
This may not seem obvious. 

251
00:12:40,000 --> 00:12:43,200
Sometimes people don't like the 
word renunciation because they, 

252
00:12:43,320 --> 00:12:46,040
it's just too challenging. 
What do you mean renunciation? 

253
00:12:46,040 --> 00:12:47,800
I want to keep hold on to my 
things. 

254
00:12:48,120 --> 00:12:49,680
I didn't come to Buddhism to 
renounce. 

255
00:12:49,680 --> 00:12:51,520
I came to have a better life. 
Yeah. 

256
00:12:51,520 --> 00:12:54,280
I don't want to renounce things.
I want my relationships to be 

257
00:12:54,280 --> 00:12:57,960
better, my work to be better, 
my, you know, everything to be 

258
00:12:57,960 --> 00:13:00,120
better. 
That's why I'm here, not because

259
00:13:00,120 --> 00:13:03,360
I want to renounce stuff. 
I'm, I'm just saying in general,

260
00:13:03,360 --> 00:13:05,920
I'm not saying this is how you 
think, but this is how many 

261
00:13:05,920 --> 00:13:11,120
people think. 
So one of the important tricks 

262
00:13:11,440 --> 00:13:14,080
of for making meditation work 
and for how to get this 

263
00:13:14,080 --> 00:13:18,760
renunciation happening in the 
right way is to turn things 

264
00:13:18,760 --> 00:13:23,120
upside down and to actually make
everything you do in life to be 

265
00:13:23,120 --> 00:13:25,640
a support for your meditation 
practice. 

266
00:13:26,240 --> 00:13:29,400
So instead of prioritizing your 
life, your ordinary thing is in 

267
00:13:29,400 --> 00:13:31,640
the world, and making 
meditational support for the 

268
00:13:31,640 --> 00:13:34,400
ordinary things. 
Yeah, that's what many people 

269
00:13:34,400 --> 00:13:37,040
do, meditational support for all
of these other things. 

270
00:13:37,800 --> 00:13:40,760
And what happens when you do 
that is you think about those 

271
00:13:40,760 --> 00:13:42,720
ordinary things because they are
more important. 

272
00:13:42,720 --> 00:13:45,320
Meditation is only secondary. 
It is that to support the other 

273
00:13:45,320 --> 00:13:47,240
things. 
Lo and behold, what happens, you

274
00:13:47,240 --> 00:13:49,360
sit down, you close your eyes 
and you think about those other 

275
00:13:49,360 --> 00:13:50,120
things. 
Why? 

276
00:13:50,240 --> 00:13:51,560
Because your mind is interested 
in them. 

277
00:13:51,560 --> 00:13:55,680
They are the most important. 
It's very simple, right? 

278
00:13:55,760 --> 00:13:58,360
The mind goes to those things 
that the things that are 

279
00:13:58,360 --> 00:14:01,400
important in the world. 
And if you take the ordinary 

280
00:14:01,400 --> 00:14:04,160
things in life to be the most 
important and that is where your

281
00:14:04,160 --> 00:14:06,520
mind goes. 
So if you find yourself 

282
00:14:06,520 --> 00:14:09,720
distracted by things, that is 
why this is how it's going. 

283
00:14:10,400 --> 00:14:12,640
So we need to turn things a bit 
upside down. 

284
00:14:12,800 --> 00:14:15,760
We need to ask how can we 
prioritise the spiritual path 

285
00:14:15,760 --> 00:14:19,320
and make the world secondary? 
Make the world the things, the 

286
00:14:19,320 --> 00:14:23,600
family life, work life, hobby, 
whatever it is that you we, 

287
00:14:23,600 --> 00:14:26,760
however we live our lives, that 
should be secondary here. 

288
00:14:26,880 --> 00:14:29,000
Yeah. 
That should be the support for 

289
00:14:29,000 --> 00:14:31,880
the spiritual path. 
And then the spiritual path is 

290
00:14:31,880 --> 00:14:34,080
the number one priority. 
Then when you come to your 

291
00:14:34,080 --> 00:14:36,480
meditation, you're not going to 
think about the worldly things 

292
00:14:36,760 --> 00:14:39,320
because they're secondary. 
Now you're doing what matters. 

293
00:14:39,560 --> 00:14:41,280
Now you're doing what is 
meaningful. 

294
00:14:41,840 --> 00:14:43,760
So that is what it kind of comes
down to. 

295
00:14:43,760 --> 00:14:45,880
Yeah. 
Turning things upside down and 

296
00:14:46,360 --> 00:14:49,000
then making the spiritual life 
the most important. 

297
00:14:50,280 --> 00:14:52,200
And I'm sure we can see how this
works. 

298
00:14:52,280 --> 00:14:55,160
Yeah. 
And why that will work it and 

299
00:14:56,000 --> 00:14:58,680
this will work sometimes. 
Sometimes it will not work. 

300
00:14:58,680 --> 00:15:01,200
Sometimes you will think about 
things because your mind is too 

301
00:15:01,400 --> 00:15:03,360
is too obsessed by whatever is 
going on. 

302
00:15:03,360 --> 00:15:05,800
And that's OK. 
Don't expect perfection in these

303
00:15:05,800 --> 00:15:08,280
things, but move in the right 
way here. 

304
00:15:09,000 --> 00:15:11,800
So how can we do this in a 
practical terms? 

305
00:15:12,880 --> 00:15:17,520
And one of the ways of doing 
this that I like to do is to do 

306
00:15:17,520 --> 00:15:19,720
sometimes a bit of depth 
contemplation here. 

307
00:15:20,320 --> 00:15:21,880
Yeah. 
One of the remarkable things 

308
00:15:21,880 --> 00:15:27,240
about death is that death has 
many of the same qualities as 

309
00:15:27,240 --> 00:15:30,200
meditation practice. 
Many of the same things happened

310
00:15:30,200 --> 00:15:33,240
in the dying process as happened
in meditation. 

311
00:15:33,280 --> 00:15:35,840
Yeah, it doesn't mean you're 
going to die when you meditate, 

312
00:15:35,840 --> 00:15:40,000
but it just, it just means that 
your mind is inclining in a 

313
00:15:40,000 --> 00:15:43,960
similar kind of way. 
Because when you are dying, 

314
00:15:43,960 --> 00:15:47,040
yeah, when you are leaving this 
world, you are faced with the 

315
00:15:47,040 --> 00:15:49,280
fact that you have to give up. 
Yeah. 

316
00:15:49,520 --> 00:15:52,680
It's staring you in the face. 
It's becoming bleeding obvious. 

317
00:15:52,680 --> 00:15:55,480
As I say, you have no, there's 
absolutely no choice. 

318
00:15:55,480 --> 00:15:58,440
You have to give up. 
And that is why getting yourself

319
00:15:58,440 --> 00:16:01,280
into a little bit of that mind 
state of what it's going to be 

320
00:16:01,280 --> 00:16:04,320
like when you die. 
Yeah, will help you to give up 

321
00:16:04,320 --> 00:16:07,200
in the here and now. 
And meditation also is, as I 

322
00:16:07,200 --> 00:16:09,120
just said, it's about 
renouncing, it's about giving 

323
00:16:09,120 --> 00:16:10,680
up. 
So the two are very closely 

324
00:16:10,680 --> 00:16:13,880
related to each other. 
And that is why people sometimes

325
00:16:13,880 --> 00:16:16,240
have success in meditation on 
their deathbed. 

326
00:16:16,560 --> 00:16:18,920
That is why the deathbed is 
often said to be the time when 

327
00:16:18,920 --> 00:16:22,400
you can make a breakthrough to 
real insights and things. 

328
00:16:22,400 --> 00:16:25,520
They are precisely for this 
reason, because you are face to 

329
00:16:25,520 --> 00:16:28,240
face with the fact of having to 
give up. 

330
00:16:28,920 --> 00:16:31,880
So sometimes just take yourself 
through that process of dying 

331
00:16:31,880 --> 00:16:34,000
and remembering. 
I don't know when I'm going to 

332
00:16:34,000 --> 00:16:37,000
die anyway, so now is the time 
to be ready. 

333
00:16:37,040 --> 00:16:39,600
If I'm not ready now, I probably
will never be ready. 

334
00:16:39,720 --> 00:16:41,480
Now is the only opportunity 
here. 

335
00:16:42,120 --> 00:16:44,120
So sometimes take yourself 
through that process and see 

336
00:16:44,120 --> 00:16:45,240
what it feels like. 
OK. 

337
00:16:45,400 --> 00:16:46,680
What other things I have to give
up. 

338
00:16:46,680 --> 00:16:49,000
I have to give up all my 
material possessions. 

339
00:16:49,160 --> 00:16:50,360
It's very obvious. 
Yeah. 

340
00:16:50,880 --> 00:16:53,880
But that, too can sometimes be 
difficult for people. 

341
00:16:53,880 --> 00:16:57,520
We have some things that are 
very valuable to us, dear to us.

342
00:16:57,520 --> 00:16:59,040
Yeah. 
But everything has to go. 

343
00:16:59,040 --> 00:17:00,880
Yeah. 
Your home has to go. 

344
00:17:00,880 --> 00:17:04,480
Homes often places we are most 
attached to, perhaps, you know, 

345
00:17:04,480 --> 00:17:07,640
a place where we kind of feel 
safe and where we have our 

346
00:17:07,640 --> 00:17:10,319
things and where we hang out and
and all of that. 

347
00:17:10,800 --> 00:17:14,960
And so this is obviously area of
attachment for many people. 

348
00:17:14,960 --> 00:17:17,599
But everything in your life, 
everything that you own in this 

349
00:17:17,599 --> 00:17:20,480
world has to go. 
Your home, your car, your 

350
00:17:20,480 --> 00:17:22,839
clothes, whatever it is that you
have, whatever it is that you 

351
00:17:22,839 --> 00:17:25,400
enjoy here. 
So see how what that feels like 

352
00:17:25,400 --> 00:17:28,160
to give up that, give up your 
attachment to those things. 

353
00:17:28,520 --> 00:17:31,160
Get a sense of perspective and 
distance to those things. 

354
00:17:32,360 --> 00:17:34,840
Clothes have to go. 
But even much more powerful than

355
00:17:34,840 --> 00:17:39,520
your worldly possessions is all 
the relationships that we have 

356
00:17:39,520 --> 00:17:43,600
with people in this life. 
Yeah, people is often a very, 

357
00:17:43,680 --> 00:17:48,920
very important source of, you 
know, of happiness and joy in 

358
00:17:48,920 --> 00:17:52,080
this world, but also a source of
great attachment. 

359
00:17:52,160 --> 00:17:53,840
Yeah. 
It's very difficult to lose 

360
00:17:53,840 --> 00:17:57,000
people that are close to us. 
People die, and it's very hard 

361
00:17:57,000 --> 00:18:00,000
off in there. 
So feel what it feels like to 

362
00:18:00,000 --> 00:18:02,560
give up the people in your life.
Yeah. 

363
00:18:02,920 --> 00:18:05,960
From now on, I'm going to fare 
on into my own future without 

364
00:18:05,960 --> 00:18:09,160
the people around me here. 
And that will show you a lot 

365
00:18:09,160 --> 00:18:11,120
about your spiritual maturity 
here. 

366
00:18:11,520 --> 00:18:14,520
If you're able to give up the 
people in your life not attached

367
00:18:14,520 --> 00:18:17,960
to them and just carry on on 
your own, let go of all of that.

368
00:18:18,240 --> 00:18:21,520
It shows that you have detached 
quite a lot and you have a quite

369
00:18:21,520 --> 00:18:25,280
an independent mindset with the 
ability to move forward. 

370
00:18:26,000 --> 00:18:29,200
Please remember, this does not 
mean that you become a callous, 

371
00:18:29,200 --> 00:18:33,320
hard hearted evil character. 
Yeah, just because you act like 

372
00:18:33,320 --> 00:18:34,760
this. 
In fact, it means the exact 

373
00:18:34,800 --> 00:18:38,680
opposite very often, because 
attachments are really vested 

374
00:18:38,680 --> 00:18:40,640
interest. 
If you are attached to 

375
00:18:40,640 --> 00:18:43,760
something, you are really 
concerned about yourself and not

376
00:18:43,760 --> 00:18:45,200
about the other person. 
Yeah. 

377
00:18:45,200 --> 00:18:46,680
So it actually does a negative 
thing. 

378
00:18:46,680 --> 00:18:48,800
Yeah. 
And so I don't think that this 

379
00:18:48,800 --> 00:18:52,080
makes you a bad character. 
In fact, it does the exact 

380
00:18:52,120 --> 00:18:54,520
opposite. 
Usually you're better able to 

381
00:18:54,520 --> 00:18:57,600
look after the needs of others 
if you are not attached in this 

382
00:18:57,600 --> 00:18:59,000
way. 
So, yeah. 

383
00:18:59,000 --> 00:19:02,280
So let go of that. 
Let go of the all the things you

384
00:19:02,280 --> 00:19:06,160
own in the world, then you let 
go of the people in in your 

385
00:19:06,160 --> 00:19:09,400
world. 
And then you let go over a large

386
00:19:09,400 --> 00:19:11,480
part of your identity. 
Yeah. 

387
00:19:11,600 --> 00:19:14,840
Who we are, Who are we? 
Well, we what the things we are 

388
00:19:14,840 --> 00:19:18,640
are so closely related to our 
position in this life. 

389
00:19:18,720 --> 00:19:23,360
Yeah, whether we are a parent or
a child, whether you are the 

390
00:19:23,720 --> 00:19:28,120
female or male, whether you are 
educated or uneducated, whether 

391
00:19:28,120 --> 00:19:31,600
you are from this country or 
that country, Yeah, whether you 

392
00:19:31,600 --> 00:19:36,600
are one race or another race, 
whether you are poor or wealthy,

393
00:19:37,000 --> 00:19:39,680
all of these things gives us a 
sense of identity. 

394
00:19:39,800 --> 00:19:43,640
It makes us who we are. 
But once you are dying, once you

395
00:19:43,640 --> 00:19:47,840
are giving up everything that 
connects us to this world, all 

396
00:19:47,840 --> 00:19:50,400
of that identity largely 
vanishes as well. 

397
00:19:50,960 --> 00:19:54,080
Yeah, some of that identity may 
go with us, but a lot of it has 

398
00:19:54,080 --> 00:19:56,760
to go because it is tied down to
this world. 

399
00:19:56,760 --> 00:20:00,520
And there's something very 
freeing about letting go of your

400
00:20:00,520 --> 00:20:02,320
identity. 
Your identity is something that 

401
00:20:02,320 --> 00:20:06,000
narrows us down, makes us into 
these individuals who are 

402
00:20:06,000 --> 00:20:07,840
separated from the rest of the 
world. 

403
00:20:07,840 --> 00:20:10,920
But when you get rid of your 
identity, you let go of that. 

404
00:20:10,920 --> 00:20:13,160
It's almost like you, you become
more. 

405
00:20:13,280 --> 00:20:15,120
You become more equal in a 
sense. 

406
00:20:15,120 --> 00:20:18,320
Yeah, we become more the same. 
And that is, you know, a 

407
00:20:18,320 --> 00:20:20,440
wonderful thing when that 
happens, you take away the 

408
00:20:20,440 --> 00:20:23,720
barriers and taking that where 
those barriers means that also 

409
00:20:23,720 --> 00:20:27,200
your mind expands. 
And that expansion of the mind 

410
00:20:27,200 --> 00:20:30,720
is similar to what we do when we
practice meta and those kind of 

411
00:20:30,720 --> 00:20:33,160
things. 
Yeah, you're allowing kind of 

412
00:20:33,680 --> 00:20:36,800
the barriers to fall away here. 
There's an interesting thing, I 

413
00:20:36,800 --> 00:20:40,400
don't know if I if this is 
really all that relevant, but I,

414
00:20:40,760 --> 00:20:43,160
I remember in, you know, you 
have a Finnish monkey. 

415
00:20:43,160 --> 00:20:44,240
Yeah. 
Mudita. 

416
00:20:44,240 --> 00:20:46,560
He's from Finland. 
And one, one of the things that 

417
00:20:46,560 --> 00:20:48,640
Finland is famous for is the 
saunas. 

418
00:20:48,880 --> 00:20:51,320
You know, this is sauna is 
actually a Finnish word. 

419
00:20:51,640 --> 00:20:52,920
It's the kind of sauna you all 
know. 

420
00:20:52,920 --> 00:20:54,560
It's a really hot room. 
Yeah. 

421
00:20:54,560 --> 00:20:58,280
And in Finland, the hot land, 
anywhere else, they're super 

422
00:20:58,280 --> 00:21:02,120
duper hot. 
And and so the and, and this and

423
00:21:02,120 --> 00:21:04,400
one thing they say about the 
saunas, one of the things they 

424
00:21:04,400 --> 00:21:06,520
do because in the sauna you're 
basically naked. 

425
00:21:06,560 --> 00:21:08,680
Yeah. 
So it says it makes everyone 

426
00:21:08,680 --> 00:21:09,680
equal. 
Yeah. 

427
00:21:09,920 --> 00:21:12,160
And that is kind of the one of 
the nice things when you're 

428
00:21:12,160 --> 00:21:14,280
naked. 
Then there's many of the 

429
00:21:14,280 --> 00:21:17,000
barriers and the status symbols 
you have are taken away. 

430
00:21:17,600 --> 00:21:19,400
So you go into the sauna with 
your boss. 

431
00:21:19,400 --> 00:21:20,880
Yeah. 
And certainly you are the same. 

432
00:21:21,880 --> 00:21:24,560
Yeah. 
Which is which is quite nice, 

433
00:21:24,560 --> 00:21:25,800
right. 
And then you are kind of on the 

434
00:21:25,800 --> 00:21:28,160
same level and you can have a 
different kind of conversation. 

435
00:21:28,160 --> 00:21:30,080
We can relate to each other in a
different way here. 

436
00:21:30,640 --> 00:21:32,840
That is a very worldly way of 
taking down barriers. 

437
00:21:32,840 --> 00:21:34,760
But it's kind of, it's kind of 
nice. 

438
00:21:34,760 --> 00:21:35,680
Yeah. 
This is the kind of the 

439
00:21:35,720 --> 00:21:38,080
Scandinavian, the Nordic way of 
taking down barriers. 

440
00:21:38,080 --> 00:21:40,360
So there you are. 
But the Buddhist way is just a 

441
00:21:40,400 --> 00:21:44,880
little bit deeper. 
So, yeah, so take on barriers 

442
00:21:45,040 --> 00:21:48,920
and get rid of these things that
we identify with. 

443
00:21:48,920 --> 00:21:51,080
Identification is always 
problematic. 

444
00:21:51,080 --> 00:21:52,840
Yeah, I'm a Buddhist monk or 
whatever. 

445
00:21:53,040 --> 00:21:54,840
It's problematic because it 
narrows you down. 

446
00:21:54,840 --> 00:21:57,720
It separates you from others. 
That is always a problem. 

447
00:21:58,640 --> 00:22:02,120
And then your body has to go. 
Yeah. 

448
00:22:02,120 --> 00:22:05,920
And this is also very powerful 
because the body is also a large

449
00:22:05,920 --> 00:22:10,000
part of identity, something we 
are attached to in a large to 

450
00:22:10,200 --> 00:22:12,840
great degree. 
So just letting go of the body 

451
00:22:12,840 --> 00:22:14,960
here. 
And what comes out of that, of 

452
00:22:14,960 --> 00:22:18,280
course, is that what is left 
after you do all of that is 

453
00:22:18,280 --> 00:22:21,360
really just the mind, the mind 
itself and nothing else. 

454
00:22:21,360 --> 00:22:24,720
And that is exactly the sort of 
thing we're trying to reach in 

455
00:22:24,720 --> 00:22:25,640
meditation. 
Yeah. 

456
00:22:25,640 --> 00:22:29,040
Getting go of the body, letting 
go of the senses, that's another

457
00:22:29,040 --> 00:22:33,120
thing you can do in your death 
contemplation. 

458
00:22:33,120 --> 00:22:34,800
The sense is gradually going. 
Yeah. 

459
00:22:34,960 --> 00:22:38,720
Letting go all of that and going
into the mental world instead. 

460
00:22:39,560 --> 00:22:44,600
So by going through a kind of 
simple depth contemplation in 

461
00:22:44,600 --> 00:22:49,400
that way, actually you're coming
very close to what we are trying

462
00:22:49,400 --> 00:22:52,880
to do in ordinary meditation 
practice when we watch the 

463
00:22:52,880 --> 00:22:55,320
breath. 
So giving yourself a little bit 

464
00:22:55,320 --> 00:22:57,280
of a boost in letting go of 
things. 

465
00:22:57,280 --> 00:22:59,040
Yeah. 
And this is kind of what this is

466
00:22:59,040 --> 00:23:00,760
about. 
And that helps you to have a 

467
00:23:00,760 --> 00:23:04,400
similar outlook to what Ajam 
Brahm has in his meditation. 

468
00:23:04,520 --> 00:23:06,800
This is what we mean by 
renunciation. 

469
00:23:07,440 --> 00:23:11,160
And you start to understand when
you do this that it is actually 

470
00:23:11,640 --> 00:23:15,200
extremely pleasant. 
Yeah, it is very nice to let go 

471
00:23:15,200 --> 00:23:17,320
of things. 
You realise that the vast 

472
00:23:17,320 --> 00:23:20,600
majority of things that we hold 
onto this world actually are a 

473
00:23:20,680 --> 00:23:22,640
pain. 
They are oppressive, they are 

474
00:23:22,640 --> 00:23:25,680
problematic. 
And the more you let go of, the 

475
00:23:25,680 --> 00:23:29,200
more you let go of your sense of
self, the ego, if you like, the 

476
00:23:29,200 --> 00:23:32,520
more you let go of the things 
that you think you think you own

477
00:23:32,520 --> 00:23:34,040
in the world, but you don't 
actually own them. 

478
00:23:34,160 --> 00:23:36,880
Yeah, because they get kind of 
taken away from you before you 

479
00:23:36,880 --> 00:23:39,840
know it. 
This delusion of ownership is 

480
00:23:39,840 --> 00:23:42,360
one of the great illusions in 
the on the Buddhist path. 

481
00:23:43,280 --> 00:23:46,080
The more you let go of these 
things, the better you feel. 

482
00:23:46,600 --> 00:23:48,960
This is a strange thing. 
It's a strange thing how we try.

483
00:23:48,960 --> 00:23:53,240
We try to amass things, yeah, 
grasp onto things, thinking this

484
00:23:53,240 --> 00:23:55,160
will make us happy. 
But it's actually when they give

485
00:23:55,160 --> 00:23:56,840
those things up, that's when you
become happy. 

486
00:23:57,040 --> 00:23:58,960
We've got it completely the 
wrong way around. 

487
00:23:59,640 --> 00:24:02,200
It's weird, isn't it? 
There's that beautiful saying 

488
00:24:02,200 --> 00:24:05,760
that you probably heard before, 
where the saying that what the 

489
00:24:05,760 --> 00:24:09,600
noble people in the world take 
to be, or rather what the 

490
00:24:09,600 --> 00:24:12,440
ordinary people in the world 
take to be happiness, the noble 

491
00:24:12,440 --> 00:24:14,280
ones say is suffering. 
Yeah, yeah. 

492
00:24:14,280 --> 00:24:17,000
And what the ordinary people 
think are suffering, the noble 

493
00:24:17,000 --> 00:24:21,320
ones say is happiness. 
So we get things almost 100% the

494
00:24:21,320 --> 00:24:25,240
wrong way around. 
So letting go, that is where 

495
00:24:25,240 --> 00:24:28,400
that happiness arises because 
you are freeing the mind, 

496
00:24:28,400 --> 00:24:32,120
liberating things instead of 
narrowing things down and making

497
00:24:32,120 --> 00:24:36,360
them very kind of contracted. 
So death contemplation is one 

498
00:24:36,360 --> 00:24:39,080
way of doing this. 
And that leads to this feeling 

499
00:24:39,080 --> 00:24:42,360
of letting go. 
You know of of of renunciation, 

500
00:24:42,360 --> 00:24:44,600
if you like. 
It's quite simple when you when 

501
00:24:44,600 --> 00:24:49,000
you think about it, but there is
more to it. 

502
00:24:49,920 --> 00:24:51,600
The other ways of learning to 
let go. 

503
00:24:51,600 --> 00:24:55,360
And one of the great 
opportunities now. 

504
00:24:55,360 --> 00:24:57,840
And of course, what happens is 
that even though we have that 

505
00:24:57,840 --> 00:25:01,480
great opportunity now, people 
tend to forget it so fast. 

506
00:25:02,040 --> 00:25:06,440
But right now, we still have 
this COVID-19 running around the

507
00:25:06,440 --> 00:25:07,080
world. 
Yeah. 

508
00:25:07,080 --> 00:25:09,640
And people think COVID-19 is so 
much suffering. 

509
00:25:10,320 --> 00:25:11,480
I don't know. 
Do you think it's suffering or 

510
00:25:11,480 --> 00:25:14,680
do you think it's OK or is it 
neutral or is it good, bad, who 

511
00:25:14,680 --> 00:25:16,360
knows? 
Or what do you reckon? 

512
00:25:17,080 --> 00:25:19,360
OK, you don't have to answer. 
Yeah, it's a rhetorical 

513
00:25:19,360 --> 00:25:22,520
question. 
So this is the thing. 

514
00:25:22,520 --> 00:25:26,520
A lot of people think this is 
bad, but that really depends on 

515
00:25:26,520 --> 00:25:29,120
how you deal with it, how you 
think about it. 

516
00:25:29,520 --> 00:25:31,680
In the monasteries, we think 
COVID-19 is great. 

517
00:25:31,800 --> 00:25:33,840
Yeah. 
Everything became very quiet for

518
00:25:33,840 --> 00:25:35,440
a while in a monastery in Perth.
Nobody. 

519
00:25:35,440 --> 00:25:37,600
People stopped coming to the 
monastery, just kind of dropped 

520
00:25:37,600 --> 00:25:40,040
the food off. 
And they dropped off more food 

521
00:25:40,040 --> 00:25:41,240
than usual. 
That's what's kind of the 

522
00:25:41,240 --> 00:25:43,800
amazing thing here. 
And then they dropped it off and

523
00:25:43,880 --> 00:25:47,040
drove home, like driving for one
hour or an hour and a half, 

524
00:25:47,040 --> 00:25:49,680
shopping, doing all of that, 
coming to the monastery, staying

525
00:25:49,680 --> 00:25:51,440
there for 2 minutes. 
Adam Brown gives you a quick 

526
00:25:51,440 --> 00:25:53,720
blessing. 
We know we're at a big distance.

527
00:25:53,720 --> 00:25:57,000
And then you you drive off again
and it's kind of amazing. 

528
00:25:57,080 --> 00:26:01,400
One of the things that you find 
is actually how kind sometimes 

529
00:26:01,400 --> 00:26:03,640
people become in these difficult
times. 

530
00:26:04,160 --> 00:26:05,880
Yeah. 
That was one of the beautiful 

531
00:26:05,880 --> 00:26:07,280
things. 
We could certainly see that in 

532
00:26:07,280 --> 00:26:10,120
the monastery. 
People became more generous, 

533
00:26:10,120 --> 00:26:12,360
more kind, more willing to help 
out. 

534
00:26:12,920 --> 00:26:14,760
It was. 
It was marvellous to see that. 

535
00:26:15,600 --> 00:26:17,480
But for us, it was great. 
Yeah. 

536
00:26:17,480 --> 00:26:19,680
And everyone says, oh, the 
monastery hasn't been this good 

537
00:26:19,680 --> 00:26:22,800
for for years. 
For a long time it's been, it's 

538
00:26:22,800 --> 00:26:27,040
been so quiet and so peaceful. 
But actually it is that's, 

539
00:26:27,040 --> 00:26:30,080
that's not really fair to put it
that way either, because the 

540
00:26:30,080 --> 00:26:33,520
reality is it's often a very 
nice interaction between the 

541
00:26:33,520 --> 00:26:36,280
laypeople and the monastics. 
So it's just a matter of 

542
00:26:36,280 --> 00:26:38,000
perception. 
But it was very, it was 

543
00:26:38,000 --> 00:26:40,600
unusually peaceful. 
That is still true, though. 

544
00:26:41,880 --> 00:26:44,200
So what is it? 
Is it good or bad? 

545
00:26:44,200 --> 00:26:47,320
Well, it depends on how you use 
it, how we deal with these 

546
00:26:47,320 --> 00:26:50,200
things. 
And of course, one of the really

547
00:26:50,200 --> 00:26:55,040
important points about COVID-19 
is that these things are to be 

548
00:26:55,040 --> 00:26:56,320
expected. 
Yeah. 

549
00:26:56,840 --> 00:27:00,960
I mean, we, we know that all the
world, World Health authorities 

550
00:27:00,960 --> 00:27:03,600
of the World Health 
Organization, all of these, they

551
00:27:03,600 --> 00:27:07,280
said we can expect a pandemic to
come every so many years. 

552
00:27:07,280 --> 00:27:09,080
Every few decades there will be 
a pandemic. 

553
00:27:09,080 --> 00:27:11,520
And you look at human history, 
there's always been pandemics 

554
00:27:11,520 --> 00:27:13,680
around. 
So the fault is ours. 

555
00:27:13,680 --> 00:27:15,480
We're not expecting it. 
Yeah. 

556
00:27:15,800 --> 00:27:17,760
When it comes, we say, oh, yeah,
pandemic. 

557
00:27:17,760 --> 00:27:18,840
Yeah. 
What are you on? 

558
00:27:18,840 --> 00:27:20,160
This is not a pandemic. 
What do you. 

559
00:27:20,680 --> 00:27:22,320
What do you expect? 
Yeah, That's life. 

560
00:27:22,440 --> 00:27:25,680
Life is full of pandemics. 
And if it isn't a pandemic, it's

561
00:27:25,680 --> 00:27:28,160
something else. 
COVID-19 is a metaphor for all 

562
00:27:28,160 --> 00:27:29,720
the things that go wrong in the 
world. 

563
00:27:29,720 --> 00:27:33,200
And there are a lot of things 
that always potentially could go

564
00:27:33,200 --> 00:27:36,920
wrong in the world. 
I remember just not long ago, we

565
00:27:36,920 --> 00:27:38,080
had the Cold War. 
Yeah. 

566
00:27:38,080 --> 00:27:41,000
I'm old enough to remember the 
Cold War and. 

567
00:27:43,160 --> 00:27:45,720
And that was a very difficult 
time for people. 

568
00:27:45,720 --> 00:27:47,720
Yeah. 
There's the feeling of mutual 

569
00:27:47,720 --> 00:27:50,680
annihilation being possible 
because of the atomic weapons. 

570
00:27:51,160 --> 00:27:53,800
One person presses the wrong 
button at the wrong time. 

571
00:27:53,840 --> 00:27:55,760
Yeah. 
Imagine having Donald Trump in 

572
00:27:55,760 --> 00:27:57,520
office during the Cold War. 
That would have been scared. 

573
00:27:57,520 --> 00:28:00,640
Much more scary. 
No, I shouldn't. 

574
00:28:00,960 --> 00:28:02,600
I don't really mean to be 
political. 

575
00:28:02,600 --> 00:28:08,760
I just. 
But so, yeah, so there's always 

576
00:28:08,760 --> 00:28:11,040
these problems in the world. 
And right now there's also lots 

577
00:28:11,040 --> 00:28:13,120
of problems in the world. 
But it's always been like this 

578
00:28:13,120 --> 00:28:15,080
to some extent. 
There's always been problems 

579
00:28:15,080 --> 00:28:18,480
around, always things going 
wrong and, and, and going funny.

580
00:28:19,240 --> 00:28:23,040
And so COVID-19 is just a 
reminder of that, reminder of 

581
00:28:23,040 --> 00:28:25,920
the problems in the world. 
The world is never stable. 

582
00:28:26,200 --> 00:28:28,160
The world is always out of 
control. 

583
00:28:28,640 --> 00:28:31,960
The world is always doing what 
you don't expect it to be doing 

584
00:28:31,960 --> 00:28:32,520
here. 
Yeah. 

585
00:28:32,520 --> 00:28:34,960
And sometimes it goes better. 
Sometimes it go worse. 

586
00:28:35,200 --> 00:28:37,120
But we have no idea where it's 
heading next. 

587
00:28:37,120 --> 00:28:40,760
And when you have no idea, it's 
scary because we want stability 

588
00:28:40,760 --> 00:28:43,720
in our lives. 
If World War 3 is just around 

589
00:28:43,720 --> 00:28:46,240
the corner, that's not a very 
nice thought. 

590
00:28:46,440 --> 00:28:47,840
Yeah. 
If climate change is going to 

591
00:28:47,840 --> 00:28:51,280
lead to massive problems in the 
world, it is not a nice thought.

592
00:28:51,920 --> 00:28:53,880
What exactly is going to happen?
We don't know. 

593
00:28:53,880 --> 00:28:57,280
It's just impossible to know. 
But that uncertainty itself is a

594
00:28:57,280 --> 00:29:00,080
cause for concern because it's 
unpleasant to live without 

595
00:29:00,080 --> 00:29:02,880
uncertainty, never knowing 
what's going to happen. 

596
00:29:03,560 --> 00:29:05,200
So this is the great 
opportunity. 

597
00:29:05,800 --> 00:29:08,640
Very often what happens is that 
you come out of a problem like 

598
00:29:08,640 --> 00:29:12,240
COVID-19, and you say, oh, yeah,
now life is going to go back to 

599
00:29:12,240 --> 00:29:14,440
normal. 
There is no normal. 

600
00:29:14,440 --> 00:29:16,680
Yeah, forget about normal. 
It doesn't exist. 

601
00:29:16,680 --> 00:29:19,360
Things are always changing, 
moving around, normality, 

602
00:29:19,360 --> 00:29:22,200
There's no such thing. 
It's the same reason why we 

603
00:29:22,200 --> 00:29:24,640
can't compare each other to each
other. 

604
00:29:24,960 --> 00:29:27,320
We cannot say I'm like this, you
like that. 

605
00:29:27,320 --> 00:29:30,320
Because there is no normal 
inside each one of us. 

606
00:29:30,440 --> 00:29:32,920
It's always changing, always 
moving around. 

607
00:29:32,920 --> 00:29:36,440
And when you get that, that 
there is no normal, things are 

608
00:29:36,440 --> 00:29:39,560
always so uncertain. 
You become more wary of the 

609
00:29:39,560 --> 00:29:43,960
world, and this is beautiful way
of distancing yourself from. 

610
00:29:43,960 --> 00:29:46,080
This is a beautiful way of 
renouncing a little bit. 

611
00:29:46,160 --> 00:29:48,360
Yeah. 
Of understanding the problem, 

612
00:29:48,680 --> 00:29:51,760
understanding if you want to 
find a real solution in life, 

613
00:29:52,160 --> 00:29:55,680
that solution is not found in 
the external world of the five 

614
00:29:55,680 --> 00:29:57,360
senses because that's what 
really what it is. 

615
00:29:57,640 --> 00:30:00,440
Because that world is 
inherently, inherently right, 

616
00:30:00,440 --> 00:30:03,440
deeply flawed all the way to the
core. 

617
00:30:03,680 --> 00:30:05,240
There's nothing there you can 
hold onto. 

618
00:30:05,800 --> 00:30:08,280
It's like a carpet. 
You're walking on a loose carpet

619
00:30:08,280 --> 00:30:10,600
and someone is always trying to 
pull the carpet from under your 

620
00:30:10,600 --> 00:30:11,960
feet. 
You can never stand anywhere. 

621
00:30:12,160 --> 00:30:16,320
Standing is here a metaphor for 
grasping, clinging and 

622
00:30:16,320 --> 00:30:17,880
attachment, and nothing you can 
attach to. 

623
00:30:18,200 --> 00:30:20,800
As soon as you try to stand, as 
soon as you try to get a 

624
00:30:20,800 --> 00:30:24,640
foothold, someone will come and 
pull the carpet out. 

625
00:30:24,640 --> 00:30:29,280
And that someone is nature 
itself, and nature is just 

626
00:30:29,280 --> 00:30:30,160
nature. 
There's nothing. 

627
00:30:30,160 --> 00:30:31,960
You can't control it. 
You can't change it. 

628
00:30:33,320 --> 00:30:37,760
So this is the problem and it 
leads to a change in values. 

629
00:30:38,480 --> 00:30:43,360
And I'll tell you another story,
which I, I really enjoyed when I

630
00:30:43,400 --> 00:30:45,720
read it many years ago for the 
first time. 

631
00:30:46,280 --> 00:30:49,160
And I was really, kind of, it 
really was one of the things 

632
00:30:49,160 --> 00:30:52,040
that had a kind of powerful 
influence on me in my life 

633
00:30:52,040 --> 00:30:55,480
because I thought, wow, this 
shows you a different way of 

634
00:30:55,480 --> 00:30:58,600
thinking about the world. 
And I probably told this story 

635
00:30:58,600 --> 00:31:01,320
before and I'm going to tell it 
again because that's, that's 

636
00:31:01,320 --> 00:31:03,480
what life is about, telling 
stories again and again and 

637
00:31:03,480 --> 00:31:05,840
again. 
That's what we do as monastic. 

638
00:31:05,840 --> 00:31:06,960
I've learned this from Ajam 
Brahm. 

639
00:31:06,960 --> 00:31:10,160
But he is A and and this is very
important. 

640
00:31:10,160 --> 00:31:11,400
Yeah. 
And the Buddha does the same 

641
00:31:11,400 --> 00:31:15,760
thing because stories are often 
so many levels to them and it 

642
00:31:15,760 --> 00:31:18,360
takes a while before they really
sink in properly here. 

643
00:31:19,120 --> 00:31:22,400
And so this was a story from 
back in Norway. 

644
00:31:22,400 --> 00:31:25,760
Norway was is where I was born. 
And now I'm also Australian 

645
00:31:25,760 --> 00:31:27,200
citizen. 
So I don't really know what I'm 

646
00:31:27,200 --> 00:31:28,800
now. 
I'm probably just confused, but 

647
00:31:29,040 --> 00:31:32,920
you know, so, but anyway, so 
this was back in Norway during 

648
00:31:32,920 --> 00:31:36,680
the Second World War. 
And after the Second World War, 

649
00:31:36,680 --> 00:31:39,600
there was this fellow who wrote 
a book about the war. 

650
00:31:40,040 --> 00:31:43,880
And this book was called The 
Human Being, Happiness, Human 

651
00:31:43,880 --> 00:31:45,720
Beings and Happiness or 
something like that. 

652
00:31:45,720 --> 00:31:48,520
And one of the things they 
talked about was the paradox of 

653
00:31:48,520 --> 00:31:52,840
happiness, how happiness 
sometimes emerges in situations 

654
00:31:52,840 --> 00:31:54,840
where you might not expect it, 
you know. 

655
00:31:55,640 --> 00:31:59,240
And he told the story of how 
during the Second World War, 

656
00:31:59,240 --> 00:32:02,760
which was Norway was not very 
badly affected by it. 

657
00:32:02,840 --> 00:32:05,080
Yeah. 
I mean, yes, it we were invaded.

658
00:32:05,080 --> 00:32:08,480
Norway was invaded by the 
Germans, but it wasn't any kind 

659
00:32:08,480 --> 00:32:11,680
of destruction, wholesale 
destruction of society as you 

660
00:32:11,680 --> 00:32:13,560
had in some of the other 
European countries. 

661
00:32:13,760 --> 00:32:16,360
Fairly small scale everything. 
Yeah. 

662
00:32:16,360 --> 00:32:19,880
Even though we were affected by 
the usual things, you know, the 

663
00:32:20,080 --> 00:32:22,720
Norwegian Jews sent to the 
concentration camps and that 

664
00:32:22,720 --> 00:32:24,480
kind of stuff. 
That happened in Norway as well 

665
00:32:24,480 --> 00:32:25,960
there. 
But Norway had a very small 

666
00:32:25,960 --> 00:32:29,800
Jewish population, so it wasn't 
so, so big in Norway here. 

667
00:32:31,000 --> 00:32:33,240
But So what happened during the 
Second World War? 

668
00:32:33,240 --> 00:32:34,960
Yeah. 
It was a time of great 

669
00:32:34,960 --> 00:32:38,640
difficulty for people. 
Many people had family members 

670
00:32:38,640 --> 00:32:41,440
who were interned in 
concentration camps or were 

671
00:32:41,440 --> 00:32:45,080
killed or were many would leave 
home and they would kind of 

672
00:32:45,080 --> 00:32:47,960
retract to the Norwegian Forest 
to kind of be a resistance 

673
00:32:47,960 --> 00:32:49,840
force. 
Yeah, from from afar. 

674
00:32:50,400 --> 00:32:53,880
And there was a lot of problems,
you know, so there was some 

675
00:32:53,880 --> 00:32:56,880
destruction. 
It was very hard to get ordinary

676
00:32:56,880 --> 00:33:00,360
requisites for life. 
Food was being rationed during 

677
00:33:00,360 --> 00:33:03,640
the Second World War because 
imports became very difficult. 

678
00:33:03,640 --> 00:33:06,560
Yeah, because of the war going 
on in Norway. 

679
00:33:06,560 --> 00:33:09,400
It's a very cold countries. 
It's very hard to grow all that 

680
00:33:09,400 --> 00:33:11,960
much food. 
And of course, all other 

681
00:33:11,960 --> 00:33:14,640
requisites for life, also 
difficult to combat. 

682
00:33:14,680 --> 00:33:18,680
It was a very hard and difficult
period for people in general. 

683
00:33:19,000 --> 00:33:22,520
People suffered a lot in the 
superficial way. 

684
00:33:24,400 --> 00:33:30,120
And then this fellow who wrote 
this book, he said that what was

685
00:33:30,120 --> 00:33:35,080
so strange was that despite all 
that suffering on the surface, 

686
00:33:35,680 --> 00:33:39,280
under the surface, people were 
very often more happy than they 

687
00:33:39,280 --> 00:33:43,000
had been during peacetime, just 
before the war, just before it 

688
00:33:43,000 --> 00:33:44,880
was the 1930s or whatever. 
Yeah. 

689
00:33:45,280 --> 00:33:49,400
And he compared people's life 
before the war and then during 

690
00:33:49,400 --> 00:33:52,080
the war, and he said people were
often much more happier. 

691
00:33:52,600 --> 00:33:55,040
And the question then was, why 
was that the case? 

692
00:33:55,040 --> 00:33:58,680
How could when all the external 
things, all the world was kind 

693
00:33:58,680 --> 00:34:01,480
of collapsing around you still, 
you felt more happy. 

694
00:34:01,720 --> 00:34:03,440
Maybe you felt guilty about 
being happy. 

695
00:34:03,440 --> 00:34:05,560
I'm happy. 
Gee, that's really bad. 

696
00:34:05,560 --> 00:34:07,040
Yeah. 
And that's kind of how the human

697
00:34:07,040 --> 00:34:08,880
mind sometimes works. 
We feel guilty about being 

698
00:34:08,880 --> 00:34:10,360
happy, which is really crazy. 
Yeah. 

699
00:34:10,679 --> 00:34:11,760
Which is OK. 
I'm happy. 

700
00:34:11,800 --> 00:34:14,239
And why is that? 
And they should investigate it 

701
00:34:14,239 --> 00:34:15,679
instead of feeling guilty about 
it. 

702
00:34:15,760 --> 00:34:17,719
It's OK to be happy regardless. 
Really. 

703
00:34:17,960 --> 00:34:19,960
If you go to a funeral and 
you're happy, it's OK. 

704
00:34:19,960 --> 00:34:21,600
You can be happy at the funeral 
service. 

705
00:34:21,600 --> 00:34:23,639
Yeah. 
And sometimes that happens, 

706
00:34:24,000 --> 00:34:25,560
especially if Jean Bram leaves a
funeral. 

707
00:34:25,560 --> 00:34:27,840
He will tell a joke. 
Everyone burst out laughing at 

708
00:34:27,840 --> 00:34:28,520
the funeral. 
I've. 

709
00:34:28,760 --> 00:34:30,880
I've seen this happening in a 
few times, and it's kind of 

710
00:34:30,880 --> 00:34:32,960
nice. 
It kind of breaks some of that 

711
00:34:32,960 --> 00:34:36,159
sombre atmosphere. 
And it, it points things in a 

712
00:34:36,159 --> 00:34:39,080
different direction. 
But even during war, you can't 

713
00:34:39,080 --> 00:34:41,280
be happy. 
And he said the reason he 

714
00:34:41,280 --> 00:34:45,040
thought why people were happy is
because their values changed. 

715
00:34:45,440 --> 00:34:47,760
Suddenly there was a common 
enemy. 

716
00:34:47,840 --> 00:34:51,159
Yeah, the Nazis. 
And then everyone kind of banded

717
00:34:51,159 --> 00:34:54,679
together, and everyone sort of 
felt a sense of comradeship, a 

718
00:34:55,080 --> 00:34:58,640
sense of common purpose of 
helping each other or caring for

719
00:34:58,640 --> 00:35:00,160
each other. 
Yeah, I don't know. 

720
00:35:00,160 --> 00:35:01,440
They probably didn't care for 
the Nazi. 

721
00:35:01,440 --> 00:35:04,280
There still wasn't an enemy, 
obviously, but still there was 

722
00:35:04,280 --> 00:35:08,560
some something that brought 
people together and they dealt 

723
00:35:08,560 --> 00:35:11,760
with each other with a sense of 
care that we don't normally do 

724
00:35:11,760 --> 00:35:13,880
in ordinary life. 
Because in ordinary life we're 

725
00:35:13,880 --> 00:35:17,120
too busy with the worldly things
to really care for each other 

726
00:35:17,120 --> 00:35:19,160
properly, to look after each 
other. 

727
00:35:19,800 --> 00:35:21,480
Yeah. 
Because in ordinary life, while 

728
00:35:21,480 --> 00:35:23,880
everything is going well, 
there's no, you know, we can be 

729
00:35:24,200 --> 00:35:26,760
can afford to be less, less kind
to each other. 

730
00:35:27,640 --> 00:35:31,040
So this was this amazing thing. 
Yeah. 

731
00:35:31,040 --> 00:35:32,960
That happened during the Second 
World War. 

732
00:35:32,960 --> 00:35:35,120
It actually brought people 
together. 

733
00:35:35,280 --> 00:35:38,480
They became kinder. 
And what it really did, when you

734
00:35:38,480 --> 00:35:42,360
think about it, what it did was 
it brought out spiritual 

735
00:35:42,360 --> 00:35:46,400
qualities. 
When the world is no longer 

736
00:35:46,400 --> 00:35:50,240
reliable, when the five senses 
aren't reliable, when the things

737
00:35:50,240 --> 00:35:54,400
that you normally depend on can 
no longer be depended on, you 

738
00:35:54,400 --> 00:35:56,920
have to go to a different kind 
of resource. 

739
00:35:57,200 --> 00:35:59,360
And those are the spiritual 
resources. 

740
00:35:59,680 --> 00:36:02,720
And you go inside and you ask, 
how can I live well? 

741
00:36:02,720 --> 00:36:06,080
Instead? 
That was the lesson for this 

742
00:36:06,080 --> 00:36:07,520
man. 
During the Second World War, 

743
00:36:07,520 --> 00:36:11,280
people became more spiritual. 
They became kind in a different 

744
00:36:11,280 --> 00:36:14,440
way. 
And this is exactly how we 

745
00:36:14,440 --> 00:36:16,840
should deal with the COVID 
situation. 

746
00:36:17,000 --> 00:36:19,040
This is how we should deal with 
climate change. 

747
00:36:19,360 --> 00:36:22,680
This is how we should deal with 
wars and political instability 

748
00:36:22,680 --> 00:36:24,480
or whatever it is in the world. 
That is funny. 

749
00:36:24,480 --> 00:36:26,640
Yeah. 
When we talk about the five 

750
00:36:26,640 --> 00:36:30,520
sentences, this is what we mean.
It is that world outside of us 

751
00:36:30,680 --> 00:36:34,960
in a very large scale, also in 
the small scale family life, our

752
00:36:34,960 --> 00:36:39,040
individual experience, but also 
the large scale, how the large 

753
00:36:39,040 --> 00:36:42,800
world impacts on us in this way.
That is how we deal with it. 

754
00:36:42,800 --> 00:36:44,880
We understand how problematic it
is. 

755
00:36:45,160 --> 00:36:48,560
We turn in a different direction
and we move towards the 

756
00:36:48,560 --> 00:36:51,840
spiritual life instead. 
What is that spiritual life? 

757
00:36:52,840 --> 00:36:54,560
It is whatever develops your 
mind. 

758
00:36:54,840 --> 00:36:58,280
It is the ability to be kind, 
the ability to be caring, the 

759
00:36:58,280 --> 00:37:00,600
ability to be compassionate, the
ability to be peaceful, the 

760
00:37:00,600 --> 00:37:05,280
ability to withdraw inside and 
experience deep meditation. 

761
00:37:05,320 --> 00:37:09,280
Yeah, that withdrawal inside is 
precisely a giving up of that 

762
00:37:09,280 --> 00:37:13,960
external world, and it's going 
into your real home, as Ajanshah

763
00:37:13,960 --> 00:37:17,040
famously said. 
Yeah, a place where you can be 

764
00:37:17,160 --> 00:37:21,960
safe from the external problems.
So that is the right attitude 

765
00:37:21,960 --> 00:37:25,880
towards all of this. 
And what matters now that we 

766
00:37:25,880 --> 00:37:30,680
have, you know, we have we kind 
of maybe on the tail end of 

767
00:37:30,680 --> 00:37:32,320
COVID. 
Well, hopefully eventually we 

768
00:37:32,320 --> 00:37:34,360
come to the tail end. 
It seems to be going dragging on

769
00:37:34,360 --> 00:37:36,600
and on and on. 
But when we're coming to the 

770
00:37:36,600 --> 00:37:39,920
tail end of COVID, it's 
important that we don't forget. 

771
00:37:40,320 --> 00:37:43,480
Yeah, that we're kind of back to
business as usual and back to 

772
00:37:43,480 --> 00:37:46,480
the same old things. 
That is tends to be the human 

773
00:37:48,640 --> 00:37:53,080
fault or flaw in how we forget 
every time things go badly. 

774
00:37:53,080 --> 00:37:54,560
And then we, you know, someone 
dies. 

775
00:37:54,560 --> 00:37:56,200
And after a few years, we've 
forgotten about that. 

776
00:37:56,200 --> 00:37:59,120
And we live ordinary again as if
no one is ever going to die. 

777
00:37:59,480 --> 00:38:01,880
We have a war. 
And then after the Second World 

778
00:38:01,880 --> 00:38:05,200
War, of course, in Europe, 
Europe was really devastated by 

779
00:38:05,200 --> 00:38:09,040
the Second World War. 
Something like 80 million people

780
00:38:09,040 --> 00:38:12,200
died during the Second World 
War, a lot of those in Europe. 

781
00:38:13,240 --> 00:38:17,040
And. 
But then, you know, people say 

782
00:38:17,040 --> 00:38:18,760
never again. 
We don't want to do this again. 

783
00:38:18,760 --> 00:38:20,600
This is so much, so much 
suffering. 

784
00:38:20,600 --> 00:38:24,320
Yeah, it's really, really bad. 
And then you create the European

785
00:38:24,320 --> 00:38:28,240
Union to kind of part of that is
to stop the World War, stop 

786
00:38:28,280 --> 00:38:29,600
future wars. 
Yeah. 

787
00:38:29,600 --> 00:38:30,960
There's been so many wars in 
Europe. 

788
00:38:30,960 --> 00:38:34,040
It's a small place with lots of 
different languages, lots of 

789
00:38:34,040 --> 00:38:36,520
different cultures, all kind of 
on top of each other. 

790
00:38:36,840 --> 00:38:40,200
It's a recipe for war, right? 
It's my culture is better than 

791
00:38:40,200 --> 00:38:41,880
yours. 
And you, you speak the wrong 

792
00:38:41,880 --> 00:38:43,320
language. 
I'm better than you are. 

793
00:38:43,320 --> 00:38:45,880
OK, But let's fight it out. 
And then kind of that's what 

794
00:38:45,880 --> 00:38:48,120
happens. 
This is the human kind of human 

795
00:38:48,600 --> 00:38:52,160
create madness. 
And so they create the European 

796
00:38:52,160 --> 00:38:54,480
Union. 
And then, you know, very clear, 

797
00:38:54,480 --> 00:38:56,080
we don't want this to happen 
again. 

798
00:38:56,080 --> 00:38:59,440
And then of course you, you 
forget time goes by and all 

799
00:38:59,440 --> 00:39:02,320
those lessons that were there, 
the people who were part of the 

800
00:39:02,320 --> 00:39:04,000
Second World War, they have 
died. 

801
00:39:04,360 --> 00:39:07,040
Next generation is kind of 
getting older and it kind of 

802
00:39:07,040 --> 00:39:10,400
drifts into a distance memory 
and you forget the horrors of 

803
00:39:10,400 --> 00:39:12,280
war if you get how bad it 
actually is. 

804
00:39:12,280 --> 00:39:15,240
And then you move towards 
greater antagonism again. 

805
00:39:15,240 --> 00:39:17,440
And I think this is what we are 
seeing. 

806
00:39:17,440 --> 00:39:19,840
Yeah, right now, people 
forgetting these things. 

807
00:39:20,400 --> 00:39:24,080
So one of the most important 
jobs that we can do as Buddhists

808
00:39:24,480 --> 00:39:27,040
is not to forget. 
You have to remember the 

809
00:39:27,040 --> 00:39:29,600
reality. 
This is what we mean by right 

810
00:39:29,600 --> 00:39:31,960
view. 
Right view is to remember the 

811
00:39:31,960 --> 00:39:35,480
reality of things, to remember 
the instability of the world, 

812
00:39:35,480 --> 00:39:38,960
how out of control it is, how we
cannot really have things the 

813
00:39:38,960 --> 00:39:40,720
way we want them. 
They're always going to go 

814
00:39:40,720 --> 00:39:42,840
counter to what we really 
desire. 

815
00:39:43,480 --> 00:39:46,680
And as we remember that, we 
remember that all the COVID 

816
00:39:46,680 --> 00:39:50,040
nineteens of life and there's 
just one COVID-19 after the 

817
00:39:50,040 --> 00:39:51,440
other. 
Yeah. 

818
00:39:51,440 --> 00:39:54,040
And if you remember that, then 
you will not, you won't go 

819
00:39:54,080 --> 00:39:56,960
wrong, and you will be kind of 
heading in the right direction. 

820
00:39:57,320 --> 00:39:59,400
And that is what we need to do 
now. 

821
00:39:59,720 --> 00:40:05,520
And this is how you come to this
idea of renouncing the world a 

822
00:40:05,520 --> 00:40:09,600
little bit stage by stage, 
understanding its limitations. 

823
00:40:09,920 --> 00:40:13,400
And as you do that, your mind 
becomes more. 

824
00:40:13,480 --> 00:40:15,720
More peaceful in meditation. 
Why? 

825
00:40:15,720 --> 00:40:19,000
Because all of those things that
you cling to, all of those 

826
00:40:19,000 --> 00:40:21,680
things that you hold on to the 
world, you cling a little bit 

827
00:40:21,680 --> 00:40:23,840
less, you hold on a little bit 
less. 

828
00:40:23,920 --> 00:40:27,280
It allows your mind to withdraw 
inside a little bit more. 

829
00:40:27,600 --> 00:40:30,400
There's an inverse relationship.
Yeah. 

830
00:40:30,720 --> 00:40:32,800
Inverse relationship. 
I used to be engineers, I mean, 

831
00:40:32,800 --> 00:40:35,000
to kind of this kind of 
terminology, inverse 

832
00:40:35,000 --> 00:40:39,560
relationship between you're 
holding on to the world and your

833
00:40:39,560 --> 00:40:44,320
ability to meditate. 
And this is then how it 

834
00:40:44,320 --> 00:40:47,560
gradually comes about. 
Yeah, gradually letting go of 

835
00:40:47,960 --> 00:40:53,160
letting go of these things. 
And so that is our our job. 

836
00:40:53,160 --> 00:40:55,200
And this is what we have to have
to do. 

837
00:40:55,200 --> 00:40:57,400
And this is how you gradually do
that. 

838
00:40:57,400 --> 00:41:01,200
But how do we remember? 
This is one of the things that 

839
00:41:01,200 --> 00:41:05,040
I've always been kind of one of 
those very important questions, 

840
00:41:05,040 --> 00:41:08,080
How can we remember? 
If the whole world cannot 

841
00:41:08,080 --> 00:41:09,360
remember? 
How can we remember? 

842
00:41:09,360 --> 00:41:11,160
How can we be different from the
whole world? 

843
00:41:11,840 --> 00:41:14,400
I know that there is that all 
famous saying. 

844
00:41:14,400 --> 00:41:17,720
It is saying that for those 
people who don't learn from 

845
00:41:17,720 --> 00:41:19,560
history, they are bound to 
repeat it. 

846
00:41:20,400 --> 00:41:21,200
Yeah. 
You know that saying. 

847
00:41:21,200 --> 00:41:24,120
It's kind of well known saying 
in the world, and it's invented 

848
00:41:24,120 --> 00:41:26,640
by some philosopher or something
or some decades ago. 

849
00:41:26,640 --> 00:41:28,400
And it's a nice, actually quite 
a nice saying. 

850
00:41:28,400 --> 00:41:31,040
If you don't, if you don't learn
your history, you're bound to 

851
00:41:31,040 --> 00:41:33,240
repeat it. 
The idea is precisely that we 

852
00:41:33,240 --> 00:41:36,120
kind of go back into the world, 
do the same mistakes again and 

853
00:41:36,120 --> 00:41:38,720
again and again. 
And there is something to that. 

854
00:41:38,720 --> 00:41:42,680
I think if we do learn a bit 
about history, we will help us a

855
00:41:42,680 --> 00:41:45,760
little bit. 
But what I have also noticed is 

856
00:41:45,760 --> 00:41:47,640
that we tend not to learn from 
history. 

857
00:41:47,640 --> 00:41:50,000
Yeah. 
You read the history books and 

858
00:41:50,000 --> 00:41:53,760
then you cannot really imagine 
what it is like. 

859
00:41:53,760 --> 00:41:55,600
Yeah. 
You may read about war. 

860
00:41:55,600 --> 00:41:59,240
You may read about the terrible 
times in the Middle Ages, 

861
00:41:59,240 --> 00:42:01,720
perhaps when you had the witch 
hunts and the Inquisition in 

862
00:42:01,720 --> 00:42:02,960
Europe and all that kind of 
stuff. 

863
00:42:03,440 --> 00:42:06,760
And you read about it, but it 
doesn't really sink home. 

864
00:42:06,760 --> 00:42:08,920
Yeah. 
It's as if we can't really feel 

865
00:42:08,920 --> 00:42:11,960
it properly. 
So even when you do learn about 

866
00:42:11,960 --> 00:42:14,400
this, maybe we should teach 
history in a new way. 

867
00:42:14,400 --> 00:42:16,800
I wonder why they were teaching 
history in the wrong way. 

868
00:42:17,120 --> 00:42:19,440
We should have more immersion. 
Yeah. 

869
00:42:19,440 --> 00:42:22,480
You can You get into there. 
You are part of the movie. 

870
00:42:22,920 --> 00:42:25,040
You kind of maybe you don't get 
killed. 

871
00:42:25,040 --> 00:42:29,000
That's taking taking the the 
virtual reality too far when you

872
00:42:29,000 --> 00:42:30,880
actually die. 
That we could be 

873
00:42:30,880 --> 00:42:33,320
counterproductive, but we need 
to make it more real. 

874
00:42:33,480 --> 00:42:37,320
Yeah, you know what they say? 
They're saying that the first 

875
00:42:37,320 --> 00:42:40,360
casualty of war is the truth. 
Yeah. 

876
00:42:40,360 --> 00:42:43,600
Because as soon as you have a 
war, you start showing the war. 

877
00:42:43,600 --> 00:42:45,560
You never show what actually is 
happening. 

878
00:42:45,880 --> 00:42:48,760
If you show all the mothers who 
are grieving over the children, 

879
00:42:48,960 --> 00:42:51,960
the children who become orphans 
because they lost their parents,

880
00:42:52,360 --> 00:42:55,760
the wife and the husband who 
lose their partner, if you show 

881
00:42:55,760 --> 00:43:00,960
all the horror, all the grief, 
all the terrible sadness of war,

882
00:43:00,960 --> 00:43:02,880
you won't get your population 
behind you. 

883
00:43:03,000 --> 00:43:05,040
The population are going to 
support the population is going 

884
00:43:05,040 --> 00:43:06,880
to say don't go to war. 
It's crazy. 

885
00:43:07,080 --> 00:43:10,120
So we never show the truth. 
Instead you show, yeah, we got 

886
00:43:10,120 --> 00:43:13,920
this really nice, you know, 
super duper computer system that

887
00:43:13,920 --> 00:43:16,640
guides the missiles right into 
the right place. 

888
00:43:16,640 --> 00:43:20,160
And all we do is kind of it blow
up the kind of the the 

889
00:43:20,720 --> 00:43:22,920
opposition's ammunition. 
That's all we do. 

890
00:43:22,920 --> 00:43:25,880
And people generally are OK 
don't worry too much about it. 

891
00:43:25,880 --> 00:43:27,720
Yeah. 
So the first casualty of war is 

892
00:43:27,720 --> 00:43:29,640
the truth. 
But what we shouldn't do, if we 

893
00:43:29,640 --> 00:43:32,800
really don't want to have war in
the future, we should show what 

894
00:43:32,800 --> 00:43:35,720
actually it is like, how much 
suffering it creates. 

895
00:43:35,720 --> 00:43:39,360
And this, I think, will be a far
more powerful history lesson. 

896
00:43:39,960 --> 00:43:42,880
So in schools we should be, we 
probably should teach maybe 

897
00:43:42,880 --> 00:43:45,440
history in a more in a slightly 
more realistic way here. 

898
00:43:45,840 --> 00:43:48,040
Maybe they do that now. 
Maybe it's a long time since I 

899
00:43:48,040 --> 00:43:50,960
was a school child, so I'm not 
really sure how that works. 

900
00:43:51,760 --> 00:43:58,080
But this is how you gives you an
idea of how we can remember as 

901
00:43:58,120 --> 00:43:58,960
Buddhists. 
Yeah. 

902
00:43:59,360 --> 00:44:04,520
What we have to do is we have to
renew that memory of the world 

903
00:44:04,520 --> 00:44:08,880
being problematic, being 
unreliable, being uncertain, 

904
00:44:08,880 --> 00:44:11,600
always changing, not being 
something you can hold onto. 

905
00:44:12,240 --> 00:44:14,640
And the way to do that is always
to come back to this. 

906
00:44:14,640 --> 00:44:18,080
Buddhist teachings always remind
out that I'm really happy. 

907
00:44:18,880 --> 00:44:21,920
One of the reasons I like to 
give talks is because it's also 

908
00:44:21,920 --> 00:44:24,680
a chance for me to remember the 
teachings. 

909
00:44:24,680 --> 00:44:27,080
Yeah. 
When I teach, you may think that

910
00:44:27,080 --> 00:44:29,280
I'm teaching you, but no, I'm 
actually teaching myself. 

911
00:44:29,440 --> 00:44:32,360
Yeah, I'm, I'm really happy that
you are here because if you 

912
00:44:32,360 --> 00:44:34,040
weren't here, I probably 
wouldn't be giving a talk to 

913
00:44:34,040 --> 00:44:35,680
myself. 
So it's actually helpful to have

914
00:44:35,680 --> 00:44:36,880
a few people here. 
Yeah. 

915
00:44:37,120 --> 00:44:40,280
So thank you for coming. 
But it is actually, it is true, 

916
00:44:40,280 --> 00:44:42,280
though. 
It is actually a a way for the 

917
00:44:42,280 --> 00:44:44,400
teacher. 
Often the teacher is the one who

918
00:44:44,400 --> 00:44:47,800
learns the most because I have 
to actually think about this. 

919
00:44:47,800 --> 00:44:49,560
It's more powerful for me. 
In a sense. 

920
00:44:50,040 --> 00:44:52,800
You are like the passive 
recipients, but when you have to

921
00:44:52,800 --> 00:44:55,520
teach to become more actively 
involved for obvious reasons. 

922
00:44:56,000 --> 00:44:58,200
So make sure you come back to 
these teachings. 

923
00:44:58,520 --> 00:45:00,320
Make sure you ask questions 
about them. 

924
00:45:00,600 --> 00:45:03,000
Make sure you take the 
opportunity to be the teacher. 

925
00:45:03,000 --> 00:45:05,920
Yeah, if you have the chance. 
Being a teacher is a great 

926
00:45:05,920 --> 00:45:07,120
thing. 
It's one of the best things you 

927
00:45:07,120 --> 00:45:11,040
can do is to actually teach 
others because that really makes

928
00:45:11,040 --> 00:45:12,640
you think about these things in 
a new way. 

929
00:45:13,000 --> 00:45:17,240
So if the president asks you, 
OK, would you like to teach? 

930
00:45:17,240 --> 00:45:18,880
Yeah. 
Or, or if he himself want to 

931
00:45:18,880 --> 00:45:20,400
teach, please take the 
opportunity. 

932
00:45:20,400 --> 00:45:22,560
Don't be shy. 
Don't think you can do it. 

933
00:45:22,560 --> 00:45:25,880
And if only one or two people 
show, show up, you know, to the 

934
00:45:25,880 --> 00:45:27,960
teaching, that happens. 
Sometimes only one person comes.

935
00:45:27,960 --> 00:45:30,560
You think, OK, well, still, 
let's have a conversation about 

936
00:45:30,560 --> 00:45:33,320
these things. 
So come back to these teachings,

937
00:45:33,440 --> 00:45:36,960
engage with them, reflect on 
them, try to understand what is 

938
00:45:36,960 --> 00:45:38,080
going on. 
Yeah. 

939
00:45:38,520 --> 00:45:42,920
And as you do that, gradually, 
gradually, your mind turns 

940
00:45:42,920 --> 00:45:46,720
around, looks at things in a new
way, and then your meditation 

941
00:45:46,720 --> 00:45:50,320
becomes more profound. 
The world is receding slowly. 

942
00:45:50,320 --> 00:45:53,680
It's not a shock therapy. 
It's not like you're going cold 

943
00:45:53,680 --> 00:45:55,200
Turkey. 
Yeah, this is real. 

944
00:45:55,200 --> 00:45:57,560
The real cold Turkey is when you
give up all the sensual 

945
00:45:57,720 --> 00:46:00,080
happinesses of the world, you 
don't go cold Turkey, You 

946
00:46:00,080 --> 00:46:03,280
gradually move away from it. 
That is the way, right way to do

947
00:46:03,280 --> 00:46:05,160
it. 
If you go cold Turkey, you won't

948
00:46:05,160 --> 00:46:07,760
be able to deal with it, and 
then it's not going to work out.

949
00:46:08,080 --> 00:46:11,840
So just so slowly, what feels 
comfortable, make sure it is an 

950
00:46:11,840 --> 00:46:14,800
enjoyable path. 
And letting go of the world 

951
00:46:14,840 --> 00:46:18,240
actually is very enjoyable. 
It is very peaceful. 

952
00:46:18,400 --> 00:46:20,800
It gives rise to all of these 
beautiful qualities. 

953
00:46:21,160 --> 00:46:23,360
And then you are doing it in the
right way. 

954
00:46:24,280 --> 00:46:26,160
It's so important that the 
spiritual path should be 

955
00:46:26,160 --> 00:46:28,280
enjoyable. 
Yeah, there's enough problems in

956
00:46:28,280 --> 00:46:30,600
life already. 
I don't know if you, if you 

957
00:46:30,600 --> 00:46:33,720
haven't got enough problems and 
let me know afterwards and I'll,

958
00:46:34,200 --> 00:46:41,600
I'll tell them whatever. 
So there is enough problems and 

959
00:46:41,600 --> 00:46:44,080
the spiritual path should be 
something that enhances our 

960
00:46:44,080 --> 00:46:46,600
quality of our life, not that 
detracts from it. 

961
00:46:47,160 --> 00:46:49,880
And it's funny, it's taken me a 
long time, even as a monk to 

962
00:46:49,880 --> 00:46:51,720
really see that clearly. 
Yeah. 

963
00:46:52,000 --> 00:46:55,320
And not to kind of make this, 
this teaching something 

964
00:46:55,480 --> 00:46:58,360
oppressive. 
So when we give up, when we 

965
00:46:58,360 --> 00:47:01,280
renounce, we should see the 
beauty of renunciation. 

966
00:47:01,760 --> 00:47:05,120
We should see how it is healthy,
how it leads to more stability 

967
00:47:05,120 --> 00:47:09,440
of mind, how it leads us on the 
spiritual path, how it makes us 

968
00:47:09,440 --> 00:47:12,800
better human beings, more 
caring, more kind, not more 

969
00:47:12,800 --> 00:47:17,120
callous and hard hearted, but 
more gentle and more useful for 

970
00:47:17,120 --> 00:47:19,120
ourselves and for society around
us. 

971
00:47:19,680 --> 00:47:21,840
Then you're heading in the right
direction. 

972
00:47:22,680 --> 00:47:26,880
So this is what Ajam Brahm does,
and this is what we have to do 

973
00:47:26,880 --> 00:47:30,440
to have the same kind of success
in our meditation as Ajam Brahm 

974
00:47:30,440 --> 00:47:33,320
has. 
When Ajam Brahm sits back and 

975
00:47:33,320 --> 00:47:37,200
just relaxes, he lets go of the 
world because he knows very, 

976
00:47:37,200 --> 00:47:39,880
very deeply that the world is 
problematic. 

977
00:47:40,480 --> 00:47:42,680
So we should try to approximate 
that. 

978
00:47:43,080 --> 00:47:46,040
And then when you do that, when 
you have that right view, this 

979
00:47:46,040 --> 00:47:47,800
is a very important part to 
right view. 

980
00:47:48,280 --> 00:47:50,440
When you have that part to right
view, then you too. 

981
00:47:50,880 --> 00:47:54,000
When you lean back, when you 
relax, when you enjoy yourself, 

982
00:47:54,320 --> 00:47:56,560
your mind will. 
OK, good dog. 

983
00:47:56,560 --> 00:47:59,040
Yeah. 
Would go to the right place and 

984
00:47:59,040 --> 00:48:02,320
hang out in a place where it is 
letting go rather than clinging 

985
00:48:02,320 --> 00:48:05,360
on there. 
And then stage by stage, each 

986
00:48:05,360 --> 00:48:08,240
one of us can follow that same 
path, the path of the Buddha, 

987
00:48:08,560 --> 00:48:11,880
the path of meditators like 
Ajambrahm, and the part of all 

988
00:48:11,880 --> 00:48:15,920
the great people in the world 
who have deep meditation and who

989
00:48:15,920 --> 00:48:18,080
really enjoy the spiritual 
practice. 

990
00:48:20,720 --> 00:48:25,080
OK, that's the talk for today. 
So there you are here. 

991
00:48:33,440 --> 00:48:41,040
So that is just that's it. 
And if you have any questions or

992
00:48:41,040 --> 00:48:45,240
comments or whatever, this is 
the time to ask you. 

993
00:48:45,360 --> 00:48:47,280
Yeah. 
And discuss. 

994
00:48:48,120 --> 00:48:51,240
You are allowed to disagree with
me, but please do so in a kind 

995
00:48:51,240 --> 00:48:53,160
way so you don't scare me 
because I might. 

996
00:48:55,480 --> 00:48:58,760
So, OK, anyone would like to 
start? 

997
00:48:58,760 --> 00:49:02,200
We've got, we've got 2 online 
questions. 

998
00:49:02,200 --> 00:49:04,760
So if you want to come from the 
from the, we have someone over 

999
00:49:04,760 --> 00:49:06,400
here who would like to. 
Yeah, just behind you. 

1000
00:49:06,400 --> 00:49:10,520
Yeah. 
Thank you. 

1001
00:49:10,520 --> 00:49:17,680
I'm just wondering, you 
mentioned kind of flipping our 

1002
00:49:18,000 --> 00:49:21,520
perception of spirituality on 
its head, like using our life to

1003
00:49:21,520 --> 00:49:24,520
support our spirituality. 
What are what are some of the 

1004
00:49:24,520 --> 00:49:29,200
ways that we can do that a bit 
more specifically, I suppose. 

1005
00:49:29,200 --> 00:49:33,080
So like for instance, our 
workplace, how can we use our 

1006
00:49:33,080 --> 00:49:36,360
workplace to support our 
spirituality or our 

1007
00:49:36,360 --> 00:49:39,560
relationships? 
How do we use our relationships 

1008
00:49:39,560 --> 00:49:42,120
with our spouses to support our 
spirituality? 

1009
00:49:42,120 --> 00:49:43,440
Yeah, sure. 
Great. 

1010
00:49:43,440 --> 00:49:43,840
Yeah. 
Thank you. 

1011
00:49:43,840 --> 00:49:46,040
That's a very important 
question, So thanks for that. 

1012
00:49:46,480 --> 00:49:49,200
And I yeah, I talk about this 
sometime. 

1013
00:49:49,200 --> 00:49:52,400
That's why I didn't go into 
detail now, but just briefly 

1014
00:49:53,400 --> 00:49:57,200
remember that the most important
support for meditation practice 

1015
00:49:57,200 --> 00:50:01,160
and the spiritual life is 
basically how we treat other 

1016
00:50:01,160 --> 00:50:03,320
people, You know, how we live in
society. 

1017
00:50:03,800 --> 00:50:06,640
So whether we deal with whether 
we are kind or whether we, you 

1018
00:50:06,640 --> 00:50:09,440
know, we don't, that is really 
what matters. 

1019
00:50:09,440 --> 00:50:12,400
I would, I would say I very 
often said that the spiritual 

1020
00:50:12,400 --> 00:50:15,480
life can really be reduced down 
to kindness because if you are 

1021
00:50:15,480 --> 00:50:19,720
kind in a very profound and deep
sense, then meditation and all 

1022
00:50:19,720 --> 00:50:22,120
of the other things tend to come
together from that. 

1023
00:50:22,720 --> 00:50:24,400
And that gives you the answer to
your question. 

1024
00:50:24,880 --> 00:50:28,960
So, you know, in your workplace,
ask yourself how we can think 

1025
00:50:28,960 --> 00:50:31,160
about that work situation a 
different way. 

1026
00:50:31,600 --> 00:50:36,360
And we always have customers. 
Yeah, we have Co workers, we 

1027
00:50:36,360 --> 00:50:41,240
have company owners even. 
Yeah, we have whoever is has 

1028
00:50:41,240 --> 00:50:43,640
some kind of interest in that 
company. 

1029
00:50:44,040 --> 00:50:46,600
When you do your work, when you 
do it well, when you do it in 

1030
00:50:46,600 --> 00:50:49,560
the right way, with care, the 
kindness, all of these things, 

1031
00:50:49,560 --> 00:50:51,480
all of these people are 
supported through your work. 

1032
00:50:51,480 --> 00:50:54,080
Yeah. 
So yes, you get your salary from

1033
00:50:54,080 --> 00:50:57,040
that work and of course you have
to, but you can add the 

1034
00:50:57,040 --> 00:50:59,680
spiritual component on top of 
that and making sure you do 

1035
00:50:59,680 --> 00:51:02,400
things in the right way here. 
So some of the one of the 

1036
00:51:02,400 --> 00:51:05,640
problems is that very often we 
tend to focus too much on the 

1037
00:51:05,640 --> 00:51:07,800
results. 
Yeah, we want to get the, you 

1038
00:51:07,800 --> 00:51:10,960
know, the company has a certain 
bottom line, you have to meet a 

1039
00:51:10,960 --> 00:51:12,560
certain budget or whatever it 
is. 

1040
00:51:12,560 --> 00:51:15,720
And all this kind of. 
I think it's really, it puts too

1041
00:51:15,720 --> 00:51:21,400
much pressure on people 
sometimes or, you know, you are 

1042
00:51:21,400 --> 00:51:22,880
looking at your more personal 
thing. 

1043
00:51:22,880 --> 00:51:25,480
You want a promotion, maybe you 
want a pay rise or whatever. 

1044
00:51:25,480 --> 00:51:27,320
And we focus on the results in 
life. 

1045
00:51:27,840 --> 00:51:31,080
But every time you focus on the 
results, you tend to forget the 

1046
00:51:31,080 --> 00:51:32,440
means. 
Yeah. 

1047
00:51:32,480 --> 00:51:35,080
The result becomes the important
thing and the means are 

1048
00:51:35,080 --> 00:51:37,040
subsidiary to the result. 
Yeah. 

1049
00:51:37,720 --> 00:51:40,520
And this is always very scary 
because the moment the means are

1050
00:51:40,520 --> 00:51:42,960
subsidiary to the results, the 
results become the most 

1051
00:51:42,960 --> 00:51:45,680
important. 
That is where the morality often

1052
00:51:45,680 --> 00:51:49,480
comes to a stop, Yeah, where you
start to forget about kindness 

1053
00:51:49,480 --> 00:51:51,160
because the result is what 
matters. 

1054
00:51:51,760 --> 00:51:54,080
So we really, we should turn 
things the other way down 

1055
00:51:54,120 --> 00:51:56,000
around. 
The result is irrelevant. 

1056
00:51:56,160 --> 00:51:58,800
Yeah. 
What matters is the process, how

1057
00:51:58,800 --> 00:52:02,520
we get where we want to go. 
Dude is a process imbued with 

1058
00:52:02,520 --> 00:52:05,880
kindness, is a process imbued 
with a sense of compassion, with

1059
00:52:05,880 --> 00:52:07,920
understanding the suffering of 
other people. 

1060
00:52:08,200 --> 00:52:09,840
We're all in this mess together.
Yeah. 

1061
00:52:09,840 --> 00:52:12,120
Everyone has more suffering in 
their life than they want to. 

1062
00:52:12,840 --> 00:52:16,400
And once you get that, then you 
make the process in your life 

1063
00:52:16,400 --> 00:52:20,400
what matters, not the results. 
And the company may not be so. 

1064
00:52:20,400 --> 00:52:22,480
I don't know if the company's 
going to be happy with you, but 

1065
00:52:23,160 --> 00:52:24,680
So what? 
Yeah, it's it's kind of, it's 

1066
00:52:24,680 --> 00:52:26,520
irrelevant. 
The big picture here is so 

1067
00:52:26,520 --> 00:52:30,080
important that if the company is
not 100% happy with you, it 

1068
00:52:30,080 --> 00:52:33,000
doesn't actually matter. 
But chances are the company will

1069
00:52:33,000 --> 00:52:35,840
be happy with you because 
chances are if you do things 

1070
00:52:35,840 --> 00:52:39,080
with kindness, you're creating a
good sense feeling in the 

1071
00:52:39,080 --> 00:52:39,920
company. 
Yeah. 

1072
00:52:39,920 --> 00:52:41,680
You're kind of bringing people 
together. 

1073
00:52:42,040 --> 00:52:45,360
We're working as a team rather 
than working as competitors 

1074
00:52:45,360 --> 00:52:47,440
within the same company, which 
is terrible. 

1075
00:52:47,440 --> 00:52:49,160
Yeah. 
It creates a bad atmosphere. 

1076
00:52:49,440 --> 00:52:51,920
We're working as a team. 
We're pulling in the same 

1077
00:52:51,920 --> 00:52:55,640
direction everyone. 
And very often you find that 

1078
00:52:55,640 --> 00:52:58,520
when that is happening, the 
bottom line of the company 

1079
00:52:58,520 --> 00:53:00,520
actually is better here. 
Why? 

1080
00:53:00,520 --> 00:53:02,880
Because you're working with joy,
then you have more energy. 

1081
00:53:02,880 --> 00:53:04,680
You have everything come becomes
better here. 

1082
00:53:04,960 --> 00:53:07,720
There's less backbiting, there's
less problems in the workplace 

1083
00:53:07,720 --> 00:53:11,680
and all of that and then 
everything kind of goes well. 

1084
00:53:11,680 --> 00:53:16,120
So I, in my experience, I, I 
have found that very often it is

1085
00:53:16,120 --> 00:53:19,800
the the nice people who do the 
best in corporate life. 

1086
00:53:19,800 --> 00:53:22,080
Not always. 
Sometimes the, you know, you 

1087
00:53:22,080 --> 00:53:27,000
hear about the kind of the, the 
psychopaths or whatever who do, 

1088
00:53:27,160 --> 00:53:29,160
who do well. 
And maybe there is some truth to

1089
00:53:29,160 --> 00:53:31,840
that. 
But I think that in the end, 

1090
00:53:31,840 --> 00:53:34,800
nice people often win out. 
And if you don't win out, it 

1091
00:53:34,800 --> 00:53:37,160
doesn't matter because you win 
out in a different, much more 

1092
00:53:37,160 --> 00:53:39,120
profound way. 
You win out in the spiritual 

1093
00:53:39,120 --> 00:53:40,640
way. 
That is the way that really 

1094
00:53:40,640 --> 00:53:42,000
matters at the end of the day 
here. 

1095
00:53:42,800 --> 00:53:45,520
So that is the work life and 
your family life is the same. 

1096
00:53:45,560 --> 00:53:48,360
Yeah. 
How do you treat your, I don't 

1097
00:53:48,360 --> 00:53:50,360
know if you have a wife or 
whatever you have or children 

1098
00:53:50,360 --> 00:53:52,120
maybe or whatever, or your 
parents. 

1099
00:53:52,120 --> 00:53:53,080
Yeah. 
Or whatever it is. 

1100
00:53:53,600 --> 00:53:59,240
How do we treat them in a way 
that is fits with the spiritual 

1101
00:53:59,240 --> 00:54:00,400
practice? 
How do I treat them with 

1102
00:54:00,400 --> 00:54:03,280
kindness and compassion? 
How do I make sure my temper 

1103
00:54:03,280 --> 00:54:05,640
doesn't kind of get out of 
control when my kids do 

1104
00:54:05,640 --> 00:54:07,000
something bad? 
Yeah. 

1105
00:54:07,000 --> 00:54:09,040
This is very difficult to be a 
parent sometimes. 

1106
00:54:09,040 --> 00:54:12,120
I you love your kids and still 
sometimes it's just hard to to 

1107
00:54:12,120 --> 00:54:14,160
stop yourself getting angry and 
upset with them. 

1108
00:54:14,920 --> 00:54:18,080
But you make that a real 
priority because you understand 

1109
00:54:18,080 --> 00:54:20,000
the importance of that. 
You make that a priority with 

1110
00:54:20,000 --> 00:54:21,960
your partner in life, with your 
parents. 

1111
00:54:22,040 --> 00:54:23,840
Yeah. 
And this is one of the things I 

1112
00:54:23,840 --> 00:54:27,200
tried to do as a monastic my, 
you know, looking after my 

1113
00:54:27,200 --> 00:54:31,200
parents in the right way. 
And it's tremendously powerful. 

1114
00:54:31,200 --> 00:54:34,320
There might, might be really 
turned my parents around when I 

1115
00:54:34,520 --> 00:54:37,840
first became a monk, they said, 
OK, well, we've lost our son. 

1116
00:54:37,840 --> 00:54:38,280
Yeah. 
We. 

1117
00:54:38,600 --> 00:54:40,080
Our upbringing failed. 
Yeah. 

1118
00:54:40,480 --> 00:54:41,840
Everything has gone completely 
wrong. 

1119
00:54:41,840 --> 00:54:43,400
That's how they because they 
didn't know anything about 

1120
00:54:43,400 --> 00:54:44,840
Buddhism. 
They thought it was some kind of

1121
00:54:44,960 --> 00:54:46,640
cult or something. 
I was brainwashed. 

1122
00:54:46,640 --> 00:54:50,440
I was beyond any kind of no way 
of retracting me from that, that

1123
00:54:50,440 --> 00:54:54,760
dodgy cult. 
But over time, as you live well,

1124
00:54:54,800 --> 00:54:58,840
as you treat your parents in the
right way, don't try to convert 

1125
00:54:58,840 --> 00:55:00,080
them. 
That's the last thing you should

1126
00:55:00,080 --> 00:55:03,080
do. 
They come around and towards the

1127
00:55:03,080 --> 00:55:06,520
end, my father passed away now a
couple of years ago, but towards

1128
00:55:06,520 --> 00:55:09,600
the end of his life, yeah, My 
father was a person who would 

1129
00:55:09,600 --> 00:55:12,120
say to me, let's sit down and 
meditate. 

1130
00:55:12,400 --> 00:55:14,200
Let's sit down and have a short,
Dumber talk. 

1131
00:55:14,200 --> 00:55:16,200
Yeah. 
And then he would, he was kind 

1132
00:55:16,200 --> 00:55:17,200
of this. 
So he would bring the whole 

1133
00:55:17,200 --> 00:55:18,200
family together. 
Yeah. 

1134
00:55:18,200 --> 00:55:21,040
My brother and my sister, all 
the kind of in laws and we all 

1135
00:55:21,040 --> 00:55:23,560
sit and sit them all down. 
And then we we would do Dharma 

1136
00:55:23,560 --> 00:55:25,800
discussions and have a Dharma 
talk and meditate together. 

1137
00:55:25,800 --> 00:55:26,880
It was amazing. 
Yeah. 

1138
00:55:26,960 --> 00:55:29,840
It was such a turn around. 
And this is what I think 

1139
00:55:29,920 --> 00:55:33,120
kindness does, not to everyone, 
but to a lot of people. 

1140
00:55:33,120 --> 00:55:36,520
It brings them around and it 
kind of creates that sense of 

1141
00:55:36,520 --> 00:55:39,880
harmony and a very positive 
feeling as a consequence. 

1142
00:55:40,560 --> 00:55:43,160
So everything you do in a life, 
imbue it with those qualities. 

1143
00:55:43,160 --> 00:55:44,560
Those are the spiritual 
qualities. 

1144
00:55:44,560 --> 00:55:46,800
Imbue it everything with 
kindness, with care, with 

1145
00:55:46,800 --> 00:55:49,480
compassion. 
And then you're practising 

1146
00:55:49,480 --> 00:55:52,160
bringing the spiritual life into
the daily life. 

1147
00:55:52,560 --> 00:55:56,200
It enhances both the daily life.
It also enhances your spiritual 

1148
00:55:56,200 --> 00:55:58,400
path. 
Everything benefits from that. 

1149
00:55:58,840 --> 00:56:00,440
Then I think you are on the 
right track. 

1150
00:56:00,440 --> 00:56:12,020
Yeah. 
So you have a few online 

1151
00:56:12,060 --> 00:56:15,440
questions? 
Yeah, please, is question one 

1152
00:56:15,440 --> 00:56:20,160
from Sarah Dear Ajan. 
My 44 year old brother tried to 

1153
00:56:20,160 --> 00:56:24,920
kill himself and has asked me 
not to tell mom and to lie to 

1154
00:56:24,920 --> 00:56:30,640
her until he's ready to tell her
she would like to know. 

1155
00:56:30,640 --> 00:56:34,840
So there's a couple of Yeah, 
there's a question. 

1156
00:56:34,920 --> 00:56:36,960
We try to find it. 
Yeah, yeah. 

1157
00:56:36,960 --> 00:56:40,960
She would like to know how to 
resolve this clash between right

1158
00:56:40,960 --> 00:56:45,480
action of respecting his brother
and the wrong speech of 

1159
00:56:45,760 --> 00:56:49,760
misleading mum. 
And he's all key and getting 

1160
00:56:49,760 --> 00:56:52,120
professional help already. 
Thank you. 

1161
00:56:52,440 --> 00:56:58,240
OK, So, yeah, I, you know, 
remember that it's important to 

1162
00:56:58,240 --> 00:57:02,600
remember that right speech and 
right action is very relative. 

1163
00:57:03,080 --> 00:57:05,880
It depends on your motivation, 
why you're doing things. 

1164
00:57:06,440 --> 00:57:08,960
So in a situation like this, the
first thing I would say is that 

1165
00:57:09,000 --> 00:57:11,920
try to avoid lying if you can. 
I try to say, oh, Mum, I don't 

1166
00:57:11,920 --> 00:57:15,160
want to talk about this now. 
Come back to me, you know, later

1167
00:57:15,160 --> 00:57:16,480
on. 
It's just too difficult or 

1168
00:57:16,480 --> 00:57:17,640
something. 
Say something. 

1169
00:57:17,640 --> 00:57:20,320
We don't outright lie. 
But you also don't have to say 

1170
00:57:20,320 --> 00:57:23,080
it. 
Asking for compassion or say 

1171
00:57:23,160 --> 00:57:24,840
whatever it is that you do. 
Yeah. 

1172
00:57:24,840 --> 00:57:28,360
To kind of avoid lying. 
But if you do have to lie in 

1173
00:57:28,360 --> 00:57:31,680
that kind of situation, it is 
not a very bad liar. 

1174
00:57:31,680 --> 00:57:33,680
Yeah, because you're coming from
compassion. 

1175
00:57:33,960 --> 00:57:37,280
You're trying to, I mean, 
obviously your brother Sarah, I 

1176
00:57:37,280 --> 00:57:39,920
don't know if you're hearing me 
right now online, maybe you are 

1177
00:57:40,160 --> 00:57:42,920
obviously in a very distraught 
and difficult position. 

1178
00:57:43,000 --> 00:57:45,560
It's very hard to talk about 
these kind of things. 

1179
00:57:45,720 --> 00:57:48,640
It's very personal. 
And so I think in this case, 

1180
00:57:48,640 --> 00:57:51,560
it's very, it's very important 
that your brother be allowed to 

1181
00:57:52,160 --> 00:57:55,480
come out and talk about this 
when he is ready. 

1182
00:57:55,760 --> 00:57:58,680
If you force these things, often
they can be even more traumatic 

1183
00:57:58,680 --> 00:58:01,040
and they can lead to even more 
difficulties. 

1184
00:58:01,560 --> 00:58:06,160
So we have to remember that 
these precepts are not set in 

1185
00:58:06,200 --> 00:58:08,920
concrete. 
They're not absolute standards. 

1186
00:58:09,120 --> 00:58:12,960
It depends enormously what our 
motivation and intention is when

1187
00:58:12,960 --> 00:58:16,560
we do these things. 
If your motivation is anger or 

1188
00:58:16,560 --> 00:58:19,560
I'll will or greed or something 
like that, of course it is bad. 

1189
00:58:19,960 --> 00:58:22,840
But if your motivation is 
compassion, is kindness, it's a 

1190
00:58:22,840 --> 00:58:26,120
bigger picture of understanding 
things, then it is not 

1191
00:58:26,120 --> 00:58:29,000
necessarily bad. 
In certain situations, it might 

1192
00:58:29,000 --> 00:58:31,040
even be good if you're coming 
from compassion. 

1193
00:58:31,920 --> 00:58:34,680
So don't worry if you have to be
a little bit evasive with the 

1194
00:58:34,680 --> 00:58:38,520
truth in this case, then you 
know that's OK. 

1195
00:58:38,760 --> 00:58:43,880
But even then, try if you can. 
Instead of lying, try, if you 

1196
00:58:43,880 --> 00:58:47,520
can just to kind of, you know, 
navigate it a little bit without

1197
00:58:47,960 --> 00:58:51,560
saying what your brother is 
doing here or has done. 

1198
00:58:54,240 --> 00:58:57,160
Thank you, Arjan. 
The second question is from 

1199
00:58:57,160 --> 00:59:03,040
Norma from Fort Lauderdale, US 
question, how can you control 

1200
00:59:03,480 --> 00:59:07,800
this your speech even when you 
understand right speech, but if 

1201
00:59:07,800 --> 00:59:13,960
you have tendency with so much 
energy almost spectrum autistic,

1202
00:59:15,120 --> 00:59:18,120
how can you control your 
response? 

1203
00:59:19,240 --> 00:59:19,960
Yeah. 
Thank you. 

1204
00:59:21,040 --> 00:59:22,560
How can you control the 
response? 

1205
00:59:23,640 --> 00:59:26,320
One of the ways of controlling 
it is to speak less. 

1206
00:59:26,320 --> 00:59:28,720
Yeah, this is one of the things 
that I have found very useful in

1207
00:59:28,720 --> 00:59:32,480
my my own life. 
So, and this is what the Buddha 

1208
00:59:32,480 --> 00:59:33,480
says. 
It was interesting. 

1209
00:59:33,480 --> 00:59:36,280
I was just reading recently, I 
was looking at the idea of right

1210
00:59:36,280 --> 00:59:39,600
speech because we were doing a 
workshop in in Perth on the 

1211
00:59:39,600 --> 00:59:42,200
noble at full path and one of 
those great suit, as the Buddha 

1212
00:59:42,200 --> 00:59:45,680
says, well, if you speak a lot, 
4 bad things happen. 

1213
00:59:45,680 --> 00:59:47,360
Why what? 
You lie. 

1214
00:59:47,360 --> 00:59:49,760
You speak devices speech, you 
speak harsh speech and you speak

1215
00:59:49,760 --> 00:59:52,040
idle chatter. 
Yeah, you speak a lot. 

1216
00:59:52,040 --> 00:59:54,040
These things just come out. 
Yeah. 

1217
00:59:54,040 --> 00:59:56,120
Because that's what a lot of 
speech does. 

1218
00:59:56,120 --> 00:59:58,720
It reflects our mind, and 
because our minds aren't 

1219
00:59:58,760 --> 01:00:02,520
entirely pure, bad. 
If things come out so speaking a

1220
01:00:02,520 --> 01:00:06,400
little, speaking, not speaking 
much is actually a great way of 

1221
01:00:06,400 --> 01:00:10,000
reducing bad speech. 
So this may be the first one. 

1222
01:00:10,000 --> 01:00:12,880
Speak less. 
Don't necessarily respond. 

1223
01:00:12,880 --> 01:00:17,200
Yeah, learn to just kind of 
people talk just, you know, nod 

1224
01:00:17,200 --> 01:00:19,600
and smile and say, oh, yeah, 
sure, whatever, you know, I'll 

1225
01:00:19,800 --> 01:00:21,800
talk to you later or whatever. 
I don't know why, you know, 

1226
01:00:22,120 --> 01:00:25,120
something like that is a little 
bit evasive without being rude, 

1227
01:00:25,120 --> 01:00:28,640
you know. 
And so this is how you, this is 

1228
01:00:28,640 --> 01:00:30,720
one way of dealing with speaking
less. 

1229
01:00:31,360 --> 01:00:34,720
Another very important thing, 
and this is exactly what we've 

1230
01:00:34,720 --> 01:00:37,880
been talking about now, is the 
idea of right view. 

1231
01:00:38,640 --> 01:00:42,160
Keeping that right view at the 
back of your mind at all times, 

1232
01:00:42,160 --> 01:00:45,800
remembering how important these 
things actually are. 

1233
01:00:46,280 --> 01:00:49,520
Every time you make a mistake in
your speech or your actions or 

1234
01:00:49,520 --> 01:00:51,640
even in your thoughts, you're 
taking a step backwards on the 

1235
01:00:51,640 --> 01:00:54,160
path. 
Can you afford to take a step 

1236
01:00:54,160 --> 01:00:55,640
backwards? 
The answer is no. 

1237
01:00:56,040 --> 01:00:57,560
Yeah. 
This is what life is about. 

1238
01:00:57,560 --> 01:00:59,200
It's about moving forward on the
path. 

1239
01:00:59,600 --> 01:01:02,200
Every time you make a mistake, 
you're letting yourself down and

1240
01:01:02,200 --> 01:01:04,640
you're not going forward 
anymore. 

1241
01:01:05,080 --> 01:01:08,480
And so being very clear about 
that and having that as a very 

1242
01:01:08,480 --> 01:01:11,520
kind of strong thing at the back
of your mind at all times. 

1243
01:01:11,920 --> 01:01:13,640
Yeah. 
Remembering the importance of 

1244
01:01:13,640 --> 01:01:15,880
these things. 
This is about your meaning of 

1245
01:01:15,880 --> 01:01:18,440
your entire life. 
That is what the spiritual path 

1246
01:01:18,440 --> 01:01:20,520
is about. 
And when you get the 

1247
01:01:20,520 --> 01:01:23,120
significance of these things, 
the important of these things, 

1248
01:01:23,640 --> 01:01:26,960
by listening to the Dhamma again
and again, by reflecting what is

1249
01:01:26,960 --> 01:01:30,880
going on, establishing that kind
of right view, then when you 

1250
01:01:30,880 --> 01:01:34,960
come in a situation where you, 
you, you feel the compunction, I

1251
01:01:34,960 --> 01:01:37,840
must talk. 
It can be very compelling, very 

1252
01:01:37,840 --> 01:01:39,800
strong force that you have to 
speak. 

1253
01:01:40,280 --> 01:01:42,840
Actually one day you don't speak
at that particular point. 

1254
01:01:42,920 --> 01:01:45,480
Yeah. 
Instead, you you remain quiet or

1255
01:01:45,480 --> 01:01:49,240
you say something or you lead 
the conversation in a different 

1256
01:01:49,240 --> 01:01:52,440
direction or whatever it is that
you do, but you don't actually 

1257
01:01:52,480 --> 01:01:55,560
react because you know, you know
what is going on there. 

1258
01:01:56,280 --> 01:01:59,560
So that is that is an important 
part of this. 

1259
01:01:59,560 --> 01:02:04,840
Another one is to remember that 
very often when the people talk 

1260
01:02:04,840 --> 01:02:07,600
to you and they say something 
that you don't like or something

1261
01:02:07,600 --> 01:02:11,000
that you want to react to, one 
of the thing important things to

1262
01:02:11,000 --> 01:02:15,480
remember that is not personal. 
Yeah, when people say something 

1263
01:02:15,480 --> 01:02:19,360
to you, it feels personal, but 
actually it is not personal. 

1264
01:02:19,840 --> 01:02:22,440
Why is that? 
Because the other person, they 

1265
01:02:22,440 --> 01:02:26,680
are acting, speaking out of 
their own conditioning. 

1266
01:02:27,000 --> 01:02:29,960
It's relevant whether you are 
there or some other person like 

1267
01:02:29,960 --> 01:02:31,880
you was there. 
They would be saying the same 

1268
01:02:31,880 --> 01:02:33,200
thing because they're 
conditioning. 

1269
01:02:33,200 --> 01:02:35,280
As such, they have to speak at 
that time. 

1270
01:02:35,280 --> 01:02:39,640
It's about them, not about you. 
And one is you take that 

1271
01:02:40,080 --> 01:02:43,960
personalness out of the 
equation, it's much easier not 

1272
01:02:43,960 --> 01:02:46,680
to respond. 
The reason why we respond, the 

1273
01:02:46,680 --> 01:02:50,560
reason why we get angry, the 
reason why we cannot stop us 

1274
01:02:50,560 --> 01:02:53,640
from saying something in this 
particular case is precisely 

1275
01:02:53,640 --> 01:02:55,320
because we take it personally 
here. 

1276
01:02:55,680 --> 01:02:58,520
Don't take it personally. 
The issue is largely gone. 

1277
01:02:59,160 --> 01:03:00,440
So remember, it's never 
personal. 

1278
01:03:00,440 --> 01:03:02,440
Nothing in life is ever personal
here. 

1279
01:03:02,600 --> 01:03:04,200
Everything is just conditioning 
it. 

1280
01:03:04,320 --> 01:03:07,720
People say things because of 
their own inner demons, their 

1281
01:03:07,720 --> 01:03:11,440
own inner, their own past, their
own inner programming. 

1282
01:03:11,440 --> 01:03:14,160
Their own inner robot is coming 
out. 

1283
01:03:14,160 --> 01:03:18,040
And that inner robot is often 
misprogrammed and it misfires 

1284
01:03:18,040 --> 01:03:21,600
and it says stupid things. 
But why get angry with a robot? 

1285
01:03:21,680 --> 01:03:24,720
Why respond to a robot? 
If a robot comes up to you and 

1286
01:03:24,720 --> 01:03:28,920
says you are bad, I you do bad 
things, you probably would 

1287
01:03:28,920 --> 01:03:30,120
laugh. 
Yeah, you wouldn't. 

1288
01:03:30,360 --> 01:03:33,040
You certainly wouldn't react to 
what the robot is saying. 

1289
01:03:33,480 --> 01:03:35,200
People are like that. 
People are robots. 

1290
01:03:35,200 --> 01:03:36,840
People are on programs. 
They don't know what they're 

1291
01:03:36,840 --> 01:03:37,320
doing. 
Doing. 

1292
01:03:37,320 --> 01:03:39,040
Yeah. 
There's no need to respond to a 

1293
01:03:39,040 --> 01:03:41,800
robot. 
So just yeah. 

1294
01:03:41,800 --> 01:03:44,040
So this is a very useful way 
that comes from the whole 

1295
01:03:44,040 --> 01:03:46,840
Buddhist idea of non self. 
Yeah. 

1296
01:03:46,840 --> 01:03:51,000
That we are conditioned, we are 
just the way we are. 

1297
01:03:51,000 --> 01:03:54,840
Comes from the past, this life, 
maybe previous lives or whatever

1298
01:03:54,840 --> 01:03:57,600
it is Anyway that's think about 
that. 

1299
01:03:57,600 --> 01:04:01,280
Reflect on those things. 
You may think that you may, you 

1300
01:04:01,280 --> 01:04:03,120
may, I don't know if you'd like 
what I've said or find it 

1301
01:04:03,120 --> 01:04:06,200
useful, but think about it. 
And some of these techniques are

1302
01:04:06,240 --> 01:04:09,720
actually extraordinarily useful 
and very powerful to help you 

1303
01:04:09,720 --> 01:04:12,920
overcome these issues of 
morality and things. 

1304
01:04:15,440 --> 01:04:18,000
OK, We've got two more 
questions. 

1305
01:04:18,160 --> 01:04:19,040
Yeah. 
OK. 

1306
01:04:19,080 --> 01:04:21,480
What about people who are here? 
Anyone want to ask anything? 

1307
01:04:21,480 --> 01:04:23,520
Because I want to give people 
here a chance because you're 

1308
01:04:23,560 --> 01:04:24,720
online. 
Hello again. 

1309
01:04:25,000 --> 01:04:25,920
Good to see you again. 
Yeah. 

1310
01:04:29,080 --> 01:04:32,120
How do I fit in my daily life as
a layperson? 

1311
01:04:32,120 --> 01:04:36,240
Like in terms of Dharma Cela and
Bhavana like, and also the five 

1312
01:04:36,240 --> 01:04:40,240
precept, does it count as a cela
or like that's to be minimum 

1313
01:04:40,240 --> 01:04:47,160
like 8 or 10 presets 227, 311 
for the nuns. 

1314
01:04:47,160 --> 01:04:48,920
That's I reckon that's the 
minimum. 

1315
01:04:48,920 --> 01:04:53,640
Yeah. 
But no I5 precepts is great. 

1316
01:04:53,720 --> 01:04:56,680
Please keep the five precepts. 
I would not necessarily 

1317
01:04:57,280 --> 01:05:00,600
recommend keeping the 8 precepts
as a layperson because life is 

1318
01:05:00,600 --> 01:05:03,240
so busy and if you don't eat in 
the afternoon, it may just make 

1319
01:05:03,240 --> 01:05:04,520
life really hard. 
Yeah. 

1320
01:05:05,160 --> 01:05:07,400
And so don't keep the five. 
That's good enough. 

1321
01:05:07,520 --> 01:05:11,440
And, you know, enjoying the 
sensual things of the world is 

1322
01:05:11,440 --> 01:05:13,960
not very bad according to the 
Buddha. 

1323
01:05:13,960 --> 01:05:15,680
It's not going to drag you down 
a lot. 

1324
01:05:15,680 --> 01:05:18,960
So a bit of enjoyment of 
essential things in the world is

1325
01:05:19,560 --> 01:05:21,720
almost a requirement to have an 
enjoyable life. 

1326
01:05:21,840 --> 01:05:24,520
Otherwise life might end up 
being too miserable, and then, 

1327
01:05:24,720 --> 01:05:27,000
you know, you are. 
That's not the idea either. 

1328
01:05:27,560 --> 01:05:31,200
But more important in terms of 
virtue is the idea of kindness. 

1329
01:05:31,320 --> 01:05:34,000
Yeah. 
The five precepts are not really

1330
01:05:34,080 --> 01:05:36,720
in themselves about kindness. 
They're more about avoiding 

1331
01:05:36,720 --> 01:05:39,920
doing bad things. 
But on top of avoiding doing bad

1332
01:05:39,920 --> 01:05:43,120
things, do good things. 
Yeah, That is really, I think, 

1333
01:05:43,120 --> 01:05:45,040
the most important thing to do 
in life. 

1334
01:05:45,480 --> 01:05:47,760
So always have that at the back 
of your mind. 

1335
01:05:47,800 --> 01:05:51,200
How can I be more kind? 
How can I treat people in a 

1336
01:05:51,200 --> 01:05:53,240
better way? 
How can I understand people 

1337
01:05:53,240 --> 01:05:56,000
better? 
Yeah, and a lot of that has to 

1338
01:05:56,000 --> 01:05:58,160
do with right view. 
Again, understanding people in 

1339
01:05:58,160 --> 01:06:00,720
the right way, because when you 
understand them in the right 

1340
01:06:00,720 --> 01:06:03,560
way, actually kindness comes 
almost automatically here. 

1341
01:06:04,240 --> 01:06:05,800
Yeah. 
If you remember the suffering of

1342
01:06:05,800 --> 01:06:09,200
people in the world, remember 
how out of control they are, how

1343
01:06:09,240 --> 01:06:12,440
non self they are, how they are 
like little robots going walking

1344
01:06:12,440 --> 01:06:13,080
around. 
Yeah. 

1345
01:06:13,560 --> 01:06:16,400
You start to have a sense of 
yeah, OK, I should, I should be 

1346
01:06:16,400 --> 01:06:19,520
kinder to people. 
That is really the kind of the 

1347
01:06:19,520 --> 01:06:22,800
holy, the Holy Grail almost of 
Buddhist practice. 

1348
01:06:22,800 --> 01:06:25,360
Yeah. 
That that ability to turn around

1349
01:06:25,360 --> 01:06:29,560
and be more kind when it comes 
to Bhavana, in terms of 

1350
01:06:29,560 --> 01:06:34,240
meditation practice, use that 
largely to support your kindness

1351
01:06:34,240 --> 01:06:35,000
in life. 
Yeah. 

1352
01:06:35,000 --> 01:06:37,200
So that you are more chilled, 
you're more relaxed. 

1353
01:06:37,200 --> 01:06:40,640
When you meet people, you don't 
react so quickly. 

1354
01:06:40,680 --> 01:06:42,240
Yeah. 
In their presence, very easy to 

1355
01:06:42,240 --> 01:06:44,440
be reactive. 
Sometimes you're not so reactive

1356
01:06:44,440 --> 01:06:47,840
anymore. 
And so use it mostly for that. 

1357
01:06:47,840 --> 01:06:50,520
And occasionally you may even 
have really beautiful 

1358
01:06:50,520 --> 01:06:52,280
meditations, even in ordinary 
life. 

1359
01:06:52,280 --> 01:06:53,760
Yeah, don't expect that. 
Yeah. 

1360
01:06:53,760 --> 01:06:54,920
This is one of the things we're 
talking about. 

1361
01:06:54,920 --> 01:06:58,600
Don't expect it. 
Use it only to relax and to 

1362
01:06:58,600 --> 01:07:00,280
enjoy. 
And then occasionally you have 

1363
01:07:00,280 --> 01:07:01,760
something really beautiful 
happening here. 

1364
01:07:02,400 --> 01:07:05,440
And as you do all of this, all 
of these things coming together,

1365
01:07:05,440 --> 01:07:08,040
then when you eventually you go 
on a retreat somewhere, yeah, 

1366
01:07:08,040 --> 01:07:11,480
whatever that might be, you find
that you have changed. 

1367
01:07:11,840 --> 01:07:15,720
You're more mindful, you're more
ability to watch the breath or 

1368
01:07:15,720 --> 01:07:19,000
whatever because you have done 
the right thing in ordinary 

1369
01:07:19,000 --> 01:07:21,560
life. 
And I just want to say the 

1370
01:07:21,560 --> 01:07:25,120
meditation tips that you gave 
like this morning because I felt

1371
01:07:25,120 --> 01:07:26,800
like it's personally like cater 
for me. 

1372
01:07:26,800 --> 01:07:29,520
Like there's all the questions 
that I have and like you 

1373
01:07:29,520 --> 01:07:31,160
answered all my questions. 
Thank you so much. 

1374
01:07:31,160 --> 01:07:32,720
Marvelous. 
Wow, that's really nice to hear.

1375
01:07:32,720 --> 01:07:37,320
So yeah, thank you for that. 
OK, anyone else? 

1376
01:07:38,440 --> 01:07:40,280
OK, let's go online online 
again. 

1377
01:07:41,760 --> 01:07:45,840
OK, Arjun, the third question 
from Huey, Tokyo, Japan. 

1378
01:07:46,360 --> 01:07:49,920
My friends were frustrated with 
me when I started renouncing 

1379
01:07:50,000 --> 01:07:52,360
entertainment. 
I couldn't be with them in the 

1380
01:07:52,360 --> 01:07:54,720
end. 
Was it possible for me to be 

1381
01:07:54,720 --> 01:07:58,560
around them? 
Now I only have a few friends. 

1382
01:08:03,080 --> 01:08:04,520
You don't need that many 
friends, right? 

1383
01:08:04,520 --> 01:08:08,000
I Let's face it, few friends is 
better to have few good friends 

1384
01:08:08,000 --> 01:08:09,880
than to have many scallywags as 
your friends. 

1385
01:08:09,880 --> 01:08:15,360
And I, this is a question I've 
come across quite a lot. 

1386
01:08:15,360 --> 01:08:16,120
Yeah. 
People come. 

1387
01:08:16,120 --> 01:08:17,359
Oh, yeah. 
You know, I don't really want to

1388
01:08:17,359 --> 01:08:19,840
be sociable anymore. 
And all the people I used to be 

1389
01:08:19,840 --> 01:08:22,120
sociable will. 
They just talk about things that

1390
01:08:22,120 --> 01:08:23,880
I'm not interested in talking 
about. 

1391
01:08:23,880 --> 01:08:27,120
And sometimes they drag me down 
because they talk about worldly 

1392
01:08:27,120 --> 01:08:30,720
things that are completely, 
utterly irrelevant and just 

1393
01:08:30,720 --> 01:08:33,399
depressing and, and lead your 
mind astray. 

1394
01:08:33,399 --> 01:08:37,000
So, you know, don't. 
I would say don't worry too much

1395
01:08:37,000 --> 01:08:39,520
about having, you know, losing a
few friends. 

1396
01:08:39,520 --> 01:08:42,479
I don't think it's a big deal. 
Make sure, though, that you have

1397
01:08:42,479 --> 01:08:45,040
enough friends to make life 
enjoyable. 

1398
01:08:45,040 --> 01:08:47,880
Don't make life miserable 
because that is the last thing 

1399
01:08:47,880 --> 01:08:49,920
you want to do. 
But letting go with your 

1400
01:08:49,920 --> 01:08:52,479
friends, it is often not a bad 
idea. 

1401
01:08:53,080 --> 01:08:55,600
One of the things that Buddha 
talks about is the importance of

1402
01:08:55,600 --> 01:08:56,920
Kaliana mita. 
Yeah. 

1403
01:08:56,920 --> 01:09:00,120
Good friendship or spiritual 
friendship, and also the 

1404
01:09:00,120 --> 01:09:04,040
importance of giving up the Papa
Mita, the evil friends. 

1405
01:09:04,200 --> 01:09:07,680
I'm not saying that your friends
are evil, but they may not be as

1406
01:09:07,680 --> 01:09:11,640
wholesome as you might want them
to be, and they might feel them 

1407
01:09:11,720 --> 01:09:15,720
to be distracting or whatever. 
So remember that because the 

1408
01:09:15,720 --> 01:09:19,600
Kaliana Mita are the people who 
influence, who support us to 

1409
01:09:19,880 --> 01:09:23,640
move us forward on the spiritual
path, whereas the other ones are

1410
01:09:23,640 --> 01:09:26,640
the ones who hold us back. 
So this becomes very, very 

1411
01:09:26,640 --> 01:09:29,319
important. 
So there isn't any absolute 

1412
01:09:29,319 --> 01:09:31,560
answer to this. 
I cannot really say. 

1413
01:09:31,560 --> 01:09:36,080
It depends on the circumstances.
Make sure you find a balance in 

1414
01:09:36,080 --> 01:09:38,680
your life. 
Don't take things too far or go 

1415
01:09:38,680 --> 01:09:42,800
too quickly, because if you do, 
you will suffer again, Find that

1416
01:09:42,800 --> 01:09:44,840
balance. 
But there's nothing wrong with 

1417
01:09:44,840 --> 01:09:49,359
being antisocial. 
Yeah, antisocial is great if 

1418
01:09:49,359 --> 01:09:53,080
you, if you define antisocial 
ability in the right way, you 

1419
01:09:53,080 --> 01:09:56,640
know, I don't mean antisocial as
in being a juvenile delinquent 

1420
01:09:56,640 --> 01:09:59,120
or anything like that. 
I'm what I mean is not being 

1421
01:09:59,120 --> 01:10:01,320
interested in the in the social 
life. 

1422
01:10:01,320 --> 01:10:05,200
It's perfectly fine as a, as a 
Buddhist, perfect as a serious 

1423
01:10:05,200 --> 01:10:08,120
Buddhist to be like that. 
There's nothing wrong with that.

1424
01:10:08,440 --> 01:10:12,520
In fact, I would say that a lot 
of people who I know who are the

1425
01:10:12,520 --> 01:10:16,440
best meditators are precisely 
antisocial in that way that they

1426
01:10:16,440 --> 01:10:20,560
don't really enjoy social 
interactions very much unless it

1427
01:10:20,560 --> 01:10:25,920
is really purposeful. 
So, yeah, so I would say don't 

1428
01:10:25,920 --> 01:10:29,520
worry about it, but be careful 
that you don't make your life 

1429
01:10:29,840 --> 01:10:32,360
miserable or negative or 
anything like that. 

1430
01:10:32,520 --> 01:10:35,480
Try to find a balance in these 
things, and then you'll be on 

1431
01:10:35,480 --> 01:10:36,360
the right track. 
Yeah. 

1432
01:10:36,360 --> 01:10:39,680
And eventually you will give up 
every last friend and you will 

1433
01:10:39,680 --> 01:10:40,680
be a hermit. 
Yeah. 

1434
01:10:40,920 --> 01:10:44,400
In a cutey somewhere in a nice 
monastery, wearing a nice brown 

1435
01:10:44,920 --> 01:10:47,040
robe with a shaved head 
somewhere. 

1436
01:10:47,040 --> 01:10:49,360
Maybe, maybe, maybe something 
like that. 

1437
01:10:49,360 --> 01:10:50,920
Who knows. 
Who knows what the future 

1438
01:10:50,920 --> 01:10:52,440
brings. 
Anyway, good luck. 

1439
01:10:55,480 --> 01:10:58,760
And the last question are done 
from Jack Isbister. 

1440
01:10:59,400 --> 01:11:03,680
In daily life the mind swings 
between the inner and the outer.

1441
01:11:04,600 --> 01:11:08,480
How do you stay connected to the
inner as one participates in the

1442
01:11:08,480 --> 01:11:11,360
outer? 
It seems to be challenging as 

1443
01:11:11,360 --> 01:11:14,120
one moves deeper into self 
discovery. 

1444
01:11:14,760 --> 01:11:19,320
Thank you. 
So the inner in daily life is 

1445
01:11:19,320 --> 01:11:21,840
really mindfulness. 
Yeah, that's kind of the inner 

1446
01:11:21,840 --> 01:11:24,520
in daily life because 
mindfulness gives you like a 

1447
01:11:24,520 --> 01:11:27,520
cushion between you and the 
world outside. 

1448
01:11:28,080 --> 01:11:31,760
It's like you have almost like 
the sense of like a little bit 

1449
01:11:31,760 --> 01:11:36,240
of a distance at all times. 
You never completely immersed in

1450
01:11:36,240 --> 01:11:38,400
the world. 
You have a sense of perspective 

1451
01:11:38,840 --> 01:11:41,840
and a sense of ability to 
navigate in the world outside. 

1452
01:11:42,080 --> 01:11:44,760
That's what mindfulness is. 
It gives you, it empowers you, 

1453
01:11:45,240 --> 01:11:49,000
and you feel empowered. 
When you have mindfulness, it's 

1454
01:11:49,000 --> 01:11:51,040
almost as if you feel in charge 
of your mind. 

1455
01:11:51,120 --> 01:11:53,840
You can decide whether you want 
to look this way or look that 

1456
01:11:53,840 --> 01:11:56,160
way. 
Yeah, you can avoid the 

1457
01:11:56,160 --> 01:11:58,720
definements from arising because
of that mindfulness. 

1458
01:11:59,480 --> 01:12:01,840
And it feels like you are 
centred and that is really the 

1459
01:12:01,840 --> 01:12:04,640
inner life in the ordinary 
world, that centredness. 

1460
01:12:04,640 --> 01:12:08,280
And then you have to imbue that 
mindfulness with right view. 

1461
01:12:08,280 --> 01:12:11,080
I've been talking a lot about 
right view now, and that right 

1462
01:12:11,080 --> 01:12:14,920
view allows you to look at the 
world in a beneficial way. 

1463
01:12:15,280 --> 01:12:18,720
You don't allow people to upset 
you because you look at them in 

1464
01:12:18,720 --> 01:12:20,080
the right way. 
I've just been talking about 

1465
01:12:20,080 --> 01:12:22,560
this before. 
You don't allow yourself to be 

1466
01:12:22,560 --> 01:12:26,000
too attracted to all the shiny 
things in the world. 

1467
01:12:26,000 --> 01:12:26,840
Yeah. 
Why? 

1468
01:12:26,840 --> 01:12:28,800
Because you know their 
disadvantage. 

1469
01:12:28,800 --> 01:12:31,560
You know the downside, You keep 
your precepts and all of that. 

1470
01:12:32,160 --> 01:12:35,200
So mindfulness allows you that 
kind of restraint. 

1471
01:12:35,320 --> 01:12:36,920
Yeah. 
Where you hold back from those 

1472
01:12:37,200 --> 01:12:39,960
worldly things that are going to
be detrimental to you. 

1473
01:12:40,760 --> 01:12:44,200
So that is how you navigate that
inner life in the ordinary 

1474
01:12:44,200 --> 01:12:46,920
world. 
And then you do as the previous 

1475
01:12:46,960 --> 01:12:49,720
person suggested, you can also 
cut down on your social 

1476
01:12:49,720 --> 01:12:52,360
engagements a little bit. 
Yeah, you kind of navigate, you 

1477
01:12:52,360 --> 01:12:55,360
can kind of adjust your life a 
little bit to make it more 

1478
01:12:55,560 --> 01:12:58,840
suitable for the spiritual 
practice and the spiritual path.

1479
01:12:59,720 --> 01:13:01,960
And then you. 
Yeah. 

1480
01:13:01,960 --> 01:13:04,760
So that's what I would say in 
that particular case. 

1481
01:13:09,880 --> 01:13:11,240
No more questions. 
OK, good. 

1482
01:13:11,280 --> 01:13:13,160
Yeah, I don't believe that. 
No more question. 

1483
01:13:13,160 --> 01:13:15,280
But anyway, there's always more 
questions to it. 

1484
01:13:17,200 --> 01:13:20,080
OK everyone, very nice to see 
you all again and thank you for 

1485
01:13:20,080 --> 01:13:24,400
having me here at the BSV. 
And maybe if life remains, as 

1486
01:13:24,400 --> 01:13:27,520
one of our fellow monastics used
to say, if life remains, then 

1487
01:13:27,760 --> 01:13:30,920
maybe we'll see you again 
sometime in the future here in 

1488
01:13:30,920 --> 01:13:32,880
Perth, on the Internet or 
wherever. 

1489
01:13:33,320 --> 01:13:35,680
So let's just finish off by 
paying respect to the Buddha. 

1490
01:13:35,680 --> 01:13:37,240
Damasanga. 
Is it just the Arahang? 

1491
01:13:37,680 --> 01:13:39,640
Is that what we'll do? 
Yes, we'll do that. 

1492
01:13:39,680 --> 01:14:47,520
We'll do just to finish off. 
Please do browser for last.