1 00:00:03,760 --> 00:00:06,080 Hey there, welcome to Tea with Mara. 2 00:00:06,400 --> 00:00:08,840 Thanks for seeking out these recordings and listening. 3 00:00:09,360 --> 00:00:11,960 My name is George and you may know me as Keoki in the 4 00:00:11,960 --> 00:00:14,280 metaverse. These recordings are from my 5 00:00:14,280 --> 00:00:18,320 live sessions in virtual reality and in person at Two Hand Sanga. 6 00:00:19,320 --> 00:00:22,160 For the best experience of these sessions, you can join me in 7 00:00:22,160 --> 00:00:25,400 virtual reality, but when you can't, or if you want to go back 8 00:00:25,400 --> 00:00:28,400 and listen again, these audio recordings will be offered 9 00:00:28,400 --> 00:00:31,520 freely. If you have AVR headset or an 10 00:00:31,520 --> 00:00:35,720 Android or Apple smartphone, you can log into VR Chat and search 11 00:00:35,720 --> 00:00:38,680 for the group Mindfulness VR with No Spaces. 12 00:00:39,120 --> 00:00:42,800 Join that group and you can find me there at 8:00 PM Eastern Time 13 00:00:43,040 --> 00:00:46,600 on Tuesdays or 9:00 PM Eastern Time on Thursdays. 14 00:00:47,160 --> 00:00:49,800 If you wish to support my teachings and these recordings, 15 00:00:49,800 --> 00:00:52,520 the best way to do that is to leave a review and share this 16 00:00:52,520 --> 00:00:55,400 podcast with others. And if you find value in them 17 00:00:55,400 --> 00:00:58,760 and you want to, you can make a donation offering right within 18 00:00:58,760 --> 00:01:05,720 the Two Hands Sanga website at www.twohandssanga.org/donate. 19 00:01:06,240 --> 00:01:08,120 Now let's invite the bell and begin. 20 00:01:32,040 --> 00:01:34,680 All right, good evening and welcome to Two Hands Sangha. 21 00:01:34,680 --> 00:01:36,440 Thank you for being here tonight. 22 00:01:37,400 --> 00:01:41,720 As happens occasionally, I was inspired by our VR group, 23 00:01:42,160 --> 00:01:46,920 Mindfulness VR for this talk, which recently had their 24 00:01:46,920 --> 00:01:50,000 question of the day, which I was very sad to learn is ending. 25 00:01:51,600 --> 00:01:55,640 But the question of the day recently in there was do human 26 00:01:55,640 --> 00:02:00,320 beings have free will now? It was one of those questions 27 00:02:00,320 --> 00:02:03,520 that kind of sounds simple until you try to answer it and then it 28 00:02:03,520 --> 00:02:07,400 gets a little complicated. And it was very interesting to 29 00:02:07,400 --> 00:02:12,040 me not just to try and answer it myself, but to kind of watch 30 00:02:12,040 --> 00:02:16,440 other people wrestle with it. I took the approach of just 31 00:02:16,440 --> 00:02:20,280 giving a very brief, what I thought was very straightforward 32 00:02:20,280 --> 00:02:26,880 answer and, and then people sort of started posting and not, you 33 00:02:26,880 --> 00:02:28,400 can't say they were arguing, but they were. 34 00:02:28,760 --> 00:02:30,880 Everybody had their own view, I'll put it that way. 35 00:02:31,320 --> 00:02:36,400 And whenever this question gets asked, there's always some 36 00:02:36,400 --> 00:02:39,800 people that will answer it immediately and say, of course 37 00:02:39,800 --> 00:02:41,600 we have free will. I can prove it. 38 00:02:41,920 --> 00:02:45,080 And others are equally certain that we do not have free will at 39 00:02:45,080 --> 00:02:48,000 all and that everything is predetermined. 40 00:02:48,040 --> 00:02:54,640 They usually aren't Buddhists, and that's usually how these 41 00:02:54,640 --> 00:02:57,480 conversations go. And there'll be some areas in 42 00:02:57,480 --> 00:03:00,360 between and whatnot. But we tend to think that 43 00:03:00,360 --> 00:03:03,240 there's only two possible answers, yes or no. 44 00:03:03,360 --> 00:03:05,800 We have free will or we do not have free will. 45 00:03:06,320 --> 00:03:09,920 But if you've spent any amount of time studying in the Dhamma, 46 00:03:09,920 --> 00:03:14,840 you already know that the Buddha almost had this, like almost 47 00:03:14,840 --> 00:03:18,480 seemed like a supernatural ability to refuse to accept a 48 00:03:18,480 --> 00:03:25,640 yes or no answer. And in all of these sutas, it's 49 00:03:25,640 --> 00:03:31,080 documented pretty well that people would say, well, is such 50 00:03:31,080 --> 00:03:37,400 and such this or is it that? And he would almost always 51 00:03:37,520 --> 00:03:39,360 refuse to accept either of those. 52 00:03:39,360 --> 00:03:41,360 He would say, well, it's not this or that. 53 00:03:41,360 --> 00:03:44,280 And he was pretty good at not assuming that. 54 00:03:44,280 --> 00:03:46,360 Those are the only two possibilities. 55 00:03:46,720 --> 00:03:49,200 Now there's a whole other thing, and I won't get into it right 56 00:03:49,200 --> 00:03:52,360 now, but there's a whole other thing where Buddhism, the time 57 00:03:52,360 --> 00:03:57,600 that the time of the time that these things were written down, 58 00:03:58,160 --> 00:04:01,720 there was a common, I forget the name of it now, but there was a 59 00:04:01,720 --> 00:04:06,880 common way of arguing these things that would say, is it 60 00:04:06,880 --> 00:04:11,120 this, is it that? Is it neither this or that, or 61 00:04:11,120 --> 00:04:14,040 is it this and that? And it was called something like 62 00:04:14,040 --> 00:04:19,279 the fourfold, I don't know, communication or something like 63 00:04:19,279 --> 00:04:24,080 that. Anyhow, people would ask which 64 00:04:24,080 --> 00:04:27,800 extreme is true over and over. The Buddha would respond, what 65 00:04:27,800 --> 00:04:30,680 if neither extreme is true? Because of course, the middle 66 00:04:30,680 --> 00:04:34,320 path, right? And that's exactly kind of what 67 00:04:34,320 --> 00:04:36,440 what's happening with this conversation. 68 00:04:36,800 --> 00:04:41,040 Anytime I think of free will, I tend to think about our old 69 00:04:41,040 --> 00:04:44,760 Sanga mate and an old friend of mine named Eric who came here 70 00:04:44,760 --> 00:04:47,920 for a little while. And Eric was one of those people 71 00:04:47,920 --> 00:04:51,240 that you could accidentally sit down and spend 4 hours talking 72 00:04:51,240 --> 00:04:55,080 to about some really philosophical kind of thing. 73 00:04:55,520 --> 00:04:58,840 And we met for coffee on the weekends almost every weekend 74 00:04:58,840 --> 00:05:01,320 for years. And we would always sit there 75 00:05:01,320 --> 00:05:05,320 talking about just all kinds of different philosophical topics. 76 00:05:05,320 --> 00:05:11,200 And, and he was sort of rooted in that, I guess, sort of modern 77 00:05:11,200 --> 00:05:14,080 metaphysical tradition called A Course in Miracles. 78 00:05:14,640 --> 00:05:18,680 And so we had a lot of stuff that we would kind of compare 79 00:05:18,680 --> 00:05:22,200 notes on, so to speak. And when we would meet for 80 00:05:22,200 --> 00:05:25,640 coffee and talk, we would often talk about Buddhism and life and 81 00:05:25,640 --> 00:05:30,120 technology and books, meditation, music, I mean, just 82 00:05:30,120 --> 00:05:33,520 anything that came up and almost always rooted back to the Dharma 83 00:05:33,520 --> 00:05:35,640 or his thing, Course in Miracles. 84 00:05:36,080 --> 00:05:39,320 And somehow, every conversation kind of wandered into that 85 00:05:39,760 --> 00:05:42,720 territory. One day, after three or four 86 00:05:42,720 --> 00:05:46,080 hours of sitting there and having this conversation of who 87 00:05:46,080 --> 00:05:49,160 knows what, we stood up. We start walking to the parking 88 00:05:49,160 --> 00:05:51,800 lot and saying our goodbyes. We're standing on the corner of 89 00:05:51,800 --> 00:05:55,360 the sidewalk. And he was about to get into his 90 00:05:55,360 --> 00:05:58,600 truck, and he turned to me. And he goes, hey, before you go, 91 00:05:58,600 --> 00:06:00,120 I have one more question for you. 92 00:06:00,560 --> 00:06:02,200 I was like, OK. And he goes, we can talk about 93 00:06:02,200 --> 00:06:03,640 it next time. We don't have to talk about it 94 00:06:03,640 --> 00:06:07,800 tonight or today. But he said, do human beings 95 00:06:07,800 --> 00:06:10,800 have free will? And then he smiled and he got in 96 00:06:10,800 --> 00:06:14,120 his car and started and drove away and left me standing on the 97 00:06:14,120 --> 00:06:16,360 sidewalk, kind of my mouth hanging open. 98 00:06:16,360 --> 00:06:21,000 And I was like, I was standing there coming like glitched out. 99 00:06:21,040 --> 00:06:24,200 I was like, do we have free will? 100 00:06:24,440 --> 00:06:25,840 I started trying to think about it. 101 00:06:25,840 --> 00:06:30,720 I was like my initial, like everybody else. 102 00:06:30,720 --> 00:06:34,200 My initial reaction was one thing, but then I started 103 00:06:34,200 --> 00:06:37,840 thinking like from a Buddhist perspective, do we And I, I 104 00:06:37,840 --> 00:06:40,320 stood there for like 20 minutes just on the corner of the 105 00:06:40,360 --> 00:06:42,920 sidewalk trying to think of the answer. 106 00:06:42,920 --> 00:06:45,800 And then I think I came that night and gave a Dharma talk on 107 00:06:45,800 --> 00:06:48,520 it. This has been probably five 108 00:06:48,520 --> 00:06:52,600 years ago now, or maybe actually no, it would have been like 7 109 00:06:52,600 --> 00:06:56,520 years ago. But on that corner at that 110 00:06:56,520 --> 00:06:59,680 moment, I couldn't figure out what is the Buddhist answer on 111 00:06:59,680 --> 00:07:01,120 this. I didn't know because on the one 112 00:07:01,120 --> 00:07:03,960 hand, I thought, of course we have free will. 113 00:07:04,360 --> 00:07:09,240 On the other hand, I thought, but the Buddha also says that 114 00:07:09,360 --> 00:07:12,920 everything is impermanent and that we have karma to deal with. 115 00:07:12,920 --> 00:07:15,960 And there was all these things that sort of conflicted to me. 116 00:07:15,960 --> 00:07:19,280 And so I ended up spending my whole day researching. 117 00:07:19,280 --> 00:07:22,440 And on the one hand, I certainly felt like, yeah, of course we 118 00:07:22,440 --> 00:07:24,280 have free will. I can prove it right here, right 119 00:07:24,280 --> 00:07:26,160 now. I can do something by choice. 120 00:07:26,160 --> 00:07:29,040 I can choose to walk away and get in my car and drive off. 121 00:07:29,360 --> 00:07:32,200 I could choose the flip Eric, the middle finger, as he drives 122 00:07:32,280 --> 00:07:35,480 often for asking me an impossible question and then 123 00:07:35,480 --> 00:07:38,720 driving away knowing I would stand there trying to answer it. 124 00:07:40,880 --> 00:07:43,880 But that felt like a choice that I could have done. 125 00:07:44,120 --> 00:07:48,680 But then I had this other thought like if I had never 126 00:07:48,680 --> 00:07:53,520 started drinking coffee, if I had never become a Starbucks guy 127 00:07:53,520 --> 00:07:56,280 and sitting at Starbucks with my daughter every week. 128 00:07:56,280 --> 00:07:59,960 And actually before my daughter with a guy named Leo who was a 129 00:07:59,960 --> 00:08:04,400 good buddy of mine. And he and I hung out at 130 00:08:04,400 --> 00:08:06,520 Starbucks every weekend for many years. 131 00:08:06,520 --> 00:08:09,840 And then is when he moved away. That's when Eric came up and is 132 00:08:09,840 --> 00:08:13,520 like, hey, can I be the new Leo? And he sat down and we started 133 00:08:13,520 --> 00:08:18,000 hanging out. And if those things had not 134 00:08:18,000 --> 00:08:21,600 happened the way that they happened, then I couldn't have 135 00:08:21,600 --> 00:08:24,680 stood there contemplating whether or not I should flip it 136 00:08:24,680 --> 00:08:32,559 off Eric as he drove away. So my sort of momentary like 137 00:08:32,559 --> 00:08:38,080 choice or act of rebellion or whatever was resting on top of a 138 00:08:38,080 --> 00:08:40,640 mountain of previous causes and conditions. 139 00:08:40,640 --> 00:08:43,280 And that left me wondering, well, maybe we don't have free 140 00:08:43,280 --> 00:08:46,680 will. And, you know, where exactly 141 00:08:46,680 --> 00:08:48,760 does choice fit into all of this? 142 00:08:48,760 --> 00:08:52,480 If everything has causes, is free will just an illusion that 143 00:08:52,480 --> 00:08:54,640 we tell ourselves to make ourselves feel good? 144 00:08:55,240 --> 00:09:00,400 But if we really have unlimited freedom, then why can't I simply 145 00:09:00,400 --> 00:09:03,480 decide never to be angry again? Why can't I just decide to be 146 00:09:03,480 --> 00:09:06,120 enlightened? Why can't I choose never to be 147 00:09:06,120 --> 00:09:08,880 afraid of anything? Or just, like I said, wake up 148 00:09:08,880 --> 00:09:12,360 tomorrow and determine that, hey, I'm enlightened now, or I 149 00:09:12,360 --> 00:09:16,840 want to be enlightened now? And those questions were sort of 150 00:09:16,840 --> 00:09:19,440 bothering me. And so I went digging and I dug 151 00:09:19,440 --> 00:09:22,440 through the Nikias. I read the commentaries, I I 152 00:09:22,440 --> 00:09:26,040 listened to some Dharma talks, and I thought about all of this 153 00:09:26,040 --> 00:09:29,280 during my meditation. I argued with myself while 154 00:09:29,280 --> 00:09:32,640 driving, probably argued with myself while I was in the 155 00:09:32,640 --> 00:09:36,800 shower, and then came to Sanga and gave whatever Dharma talk I 156 00:09:36,800 --> 00:09:43,000 gave that night. Eventually that Dharma talk 157 00:09:43,040 --> 00:09:45,760 showed up and it was about this free will from a Buddhist 158 00:09:45,760 --> 00:09:47,560 perspective. And then a few years later, 159 00:09:48,040 --> 00:09:51,160 another situation caught my attention, and this was not too 160 00:09:51,160 --> 00:09:53,000 long ago. Some of you might remember it, 161 00:09:53,320 --> 00:09:58,720 but about a couple of years now maybe I had another Dharma talk 162 00:09:58,720 --> 00:10:00,960 that was inspired by a Taylor Swift song. 163 00:10:01,560 --> 00:10:05,160 And the title of that talk was Me and Karma Vibe Like that 164 00:10:05,800 --> 00:10:10,520 because me. But apparently the universe kind 165 00:10:10,520 --> 00:10:13,280 of just keeps pushing this topic in front of me and it comes up. 166 00:10:13,280 --> 00:10:15,800 And every time it comes up, I'm fascinated by it. 167 00:10:15,800 --> 00:10:20,400 So here we are again tonight. Now, before we get too deep into 168 00:10:20,400 --> 00:10:23,040 what the Buddha said about it, well, first of all, he didn't 169 00:10:23,040 --> 00:10:26,760 really say much about it at all. He said he kind of spoke about 170 00:10:26,760 --> 00:10:31,680 it in a different way, but people have argued about this 171 00:10:31,680 --> 00:10:34,520 for thousands of years. The last time when I gave that 172 00:10:34,520 --> 00:10:40,120 talk about that, I just mentioned the thing that got me 173 00:10:40,280 --> 00:10:43,040 interested in giving the talk that day was I saw this video 174 00:10:43,040 --> 00:10:51,640 where this guy who was a very well known, well respected, I 175 00:10:51,640 --> 00:10:53,760 don't remember what he was. He was a psychologist. 176 00:10:53,760 --> 00:11:02,800 I think he gave, he had spent, he said 20 years studying free 177 00:11:02,800 --> 00:11:05,960 will and he came to the conclusion that we have no free 178 00:11:05,960 --> 00:11:09,120 will at all. After 20 years of like peer 179 00:11:09,120 --> 00:11:13,440 reviewed studying actual, not some bozo, but like literally 180 00:11:13,440 --> 00:11:16,960 studying it and doing the thing and he determined that we are we 181 00:11:16,960 --> 00:11:20,280 do not have free will. And that blew my mind. 182 00:11:20,280 --> 00:11:23,320 How anybody could arrive at that conclusion just blew my mind. 183 00:11:23,720 --> 00:11:28,480 And then as I was researching that guy, I found another guy 184 00:11:28,480 --> 00:11:31,440 that knew him. They gave a talk the complete 185 00:11:31,440 --> 00:11:33,440 opposite. And so that was kind of like why 186 00:11:33,440 --> 00:11:35,640 I got interested in it that particular day. 187 00:11:36,320 --> 00:11:41,120 But philosophers and scientists and theologians are in fact one 188 00:11:41,120 --> 00:11:43,000 of them. One of the friends that inspired 189 00:11:43,000 --> 00:11:46,160 this week's talk is of theologian, psychologists, 190 00:11:46,400 --> 00:11:49,080 neurosciences. All these different people have 191 00:11:49,720 --> 00:11:53,400 written books about it, done peer reviewed papers on this. 192 00:11:53,920 --> 00:11:57,280 Entire schools of philosophy have formed in the time that 193 00:11:57,280 --> 00:12:00,680 people have been debating this. And some of these arguments have 194 00:12:00,680 --> 00:12:06,760 lasted for centuries. And yet tomorrow morning, every 195 00:12:06,760 --> 00:12:09,240 single one of us will have to decide whether we're going to be 196 00:12:09,240 --> 00:12:12,440 nice to the cashier in front of us or whether we're going to 197 00:12:12,440 --> 00:12:15,840 lose our temper in traffic. Whether to tell the truth in an 198 00:12:15,840 --> 00:12:19,600 uncomfortable moment, or whether or not we're going to meditate 199 00:12:19,600 --> 00:12:21,560 that day. I hope the answer is yes. 200 00:12:22,120 --> 00:12:24,840 Or whether we will pick up the phone and call somebody we love 201 00:12:24,840 --> 00:12:26,320 that we haven't talked to in a long time. 202 00:12:26,680 --> 00:12:30,080 And we'll make the choice to do those things or not. 203 00:12:30,760 --> 00:12:32,320 And we'll think that we have free will. 204 00:12:34,200 --> 00:12:38,960 So whether philosophers ever settle on an answer to this 205 00:12:38,960 --> 00:12:43,760 debate once and for all, we still have to wake up and live 206 00:12:43,760 --> 00:12:46,640 our lives every day and make these choices that we think 207 00:12:46,640 --> 00:12:49,080 we're making with free will or not. 208 00:12:49,480 --> 00:12:54,000 The Buddha almost never began with questions that could only 209 00:12:54,000 --> 00:12:57,920 be answered by sitting around and doing nothing and thinking 210 00:12:57,920 --> 00:13:01,640 really hard about a topic. He talked about everything from 211 00:13:01,640 --> 00:13:05,720 a standpoint of practicing and experiencing and then deciding 212 00:13:06,160 --> 00:13:11,360 what is true for you. So he started with experience. 213 00:13:11,360 --> 00:13:15,280 He starts with what is happening right now in my experience, and 214 00:13:15,520 --> 00:13:18,560 that's where we'll start with this too, because we could sit 215 00:13:18,560 --> 00:13:20,720 here and go over examples and examples. 216 00:13:22,400 --> 00:13:25,760 I had several examples. I cut a bunch out because I felt 217 00:13:25,760 --> 00:13:27,280 like I was just repeating myself. 218 00:13:27,600 --> 00:13:32,160 But if you take, for example, the idea of a gardener has no 219 00:13:32,160 --> 00:13:35,800 control over the weather. They don't control insect 220 00:13:35,800 --> 00:13:38,600 populations unless they're using something to do so. 221 00:13:39,040 --> 00:13:41,480 They don't control the quality of the soil that they're 222 00:13:41,480 --> 00:13:44,640 planting in. Again, unless they're using 223 00:13:44,640 --> 00:13:49,720 Monsanto or something. They can't plan or they can't 224 00:13:50,000 --> 00:13:54,560 predict always an unexpected drought or storms or whatever, 225 00:13:54,560 --> 00:13:58,120 and they can't know whether or not the neighborhood deer are 226 00:13:58,120 --> 00:14:00,360 going to always come and eat all their tomatoes. 227 00:14:00,360 --> 00:14:03,400 That's what happened in my case when I started a little garden. 228 00:14:03,760 --> 00:14:06,240 I didn't ever eat a tomato off of my garden. 229 00:14:06,240 --> 00:14:10,120 The deer ate them all, and the farmer doesn't control any of 230 00:14:10,120 --> 00:14:13,960 that, but they still water and feed and weed and fertilize 231 00:14:13,960 --> 00:14:16,720 their gardens. They prune the plants and 232 00:14:16,720 --> 00:14:20,240 protect them as best they can. They wait and they hope and they 233 00:14:20,240 --> 00:14:25,040 learn and they adjust, and then the harvest is never guaranteed, 234 00:14:25,240 --> 00:14:27,520 even in spite of all of that effort. 235 00:14:29,960 --> 00:14:33,720 The garden kind of teaches us that the gardener is not in 236 00:14:33,720 --> 00:14:36,480 command of the harvest, but they can still participate and 237 00:14:36,480 --> 00:14:43,240 influence it on their own. And that is pretty close to or 238 00:14:43,240 --> 00:14:48,040 actually that is that is karma to parts of that are karma. 239 00:14:48,440 --> 00:14:52,600 So if you're on social media at all, I mentioned this earlier, 240 00:14:52,600 --> 00:14:55,280 you might have, well, I guess since we talked about it 241 00:14:55,280 --> 00:14:57,960 earlier, nobody here has heard of it yet, but the little 242 00:14:57,960 --> 00:15:01,640 raccoon that's famous all of a sudden in Seattle named Jimothy. 243 00:15:02,160 --> 00:15:07,200 And Jimothy has a condition called short spine syndrome. 244 00:15:07,520 --> 00:15:09,560 And it's, I don't know if anybody has ever seen that dog. 245 00:15:09,560 --> 00:15:11,440 There's a dog on the Internet that has this too. 246 00:15:11,440 --> 00:15:13,840 He's a little brown dog. And it's the same thing. 247 00:15:13,840 --> 00:15:17,480 He's really short length, but he's got big, old long legs. 248 00:15:17,480 --> 00:15:20,480 And he kind of feels robbed right now because Jimothy is 249 00:15:20,480 --> 00:15:23,640 getting all the attention and he's not popular anymore. 250 00:15:24,080 --> 00:15:29,200 But Jimothy has this thing where his spine is short. 251 00:15:29,480 --> 00:15:34,440 And so he's got a little nubby tail and his body is his torso 252 00:15:34,440 --> 00:15:37,480 or whatever. His body is kind of like this 253 00:15:37,760 --> 00:15:42,760 big fuzzy raccoon ball with perfectly normal length legs. 254 00:15:43,200 --> 00:15:46,080 And it gives him a very weird appearance. 255 00:15:46,080 --> 00:15:48,400 He kind of, a lot of people thought they were seeing 256 00:15:48,400 --> 00:15:50,960 chupacabras or some other Cryptid. 257 00:15:52,240 --> 00:15:55,600 And he's really just one of the strangest, cutest little 258 00:15:55,600 --> 00:15:58,720 creatures that you'll ever see. And he's thriving. 259 00:15:58,720 --> 00:16:01,400 He's living his best life running all over Seattle, 260 00:16:01,720 --> 00:16:05,000 freaking people out, and people initially thought that they were 261 00:16:05,000 --> 00:16:09,000 looking at some sort of a strange, never before seen 262 00:16:09,440 --> 00:16:13,160 creature because they would just catch footage of him at night 263 00:16:13,160 --> 00:16:14,960 running across the street or something. 264 00:16:17,400 --> 00:16:21,120 And that was not the case at all. 265 00:16:22,040 --> 00:16:25,320 He was just a little adorable, handy, capable Jimothy. 266 00:16:25,800 --> 00:16:30,040 And before long he became kind of a local legend. 267 00:16:30,040 --> 00:16:33,520 And then now, because of the Internet, a worldwide celebrity. 268 00:16:33,800 --> 00:16:35,960 But Jimothy didn't choose to be born. 269 00:16:35,960 --> 00:16:38,400 He didn't choose to have short spine syndrome. 270 00:16:38,840 --> 00:16:42,040 He didn't choose his little fuzzy furball body. 271 00:16:42,320 --> 00:16:46,720 He did not choose all the limitations for a raccoon that 272 00:16:46,720 --> 00:16:51,560 came along with that. Those are just conditions of his 273 00:16:51,560 --> 00:16:56,360 life that he was born into, and within those conditions, he 274 00:16:56,360 --> 00:17:00,000 still chooses to climb and to feed himself and explore the 275 00:17:00,000 --> 00:17:01,880 world. He still eats and plays and 276 00:17:01,880 --> 00:17:05,599 lives the life that's available to him, and he does that pretty 277 00:17:05,599 --> 00:17:12,359 well. And he's just as cute as he can 278 00:17:12,359 --> 00:17:16,319 be. What's interesting is how we 279 00:17:16,319 --> 00:17:19,440 respond to Jimothy, too. We don't look at him and think, 280 00:17:19,440 --> 00:17:22,319 oh, what a failure of a raccoon he is. 281 00:17:22,480 --> 00:17:25,599 We don't criticize him. Everybody thinks he's like, 282 00:17:25,599 --> 00:17:28,319 everybody just adores him. Nobody's picking on him or 283 00:17:28,319 --> 00:17:29,920 wanting to get rid of him or anything. 284 00:17:30,080 --> 00:17:35,440 In fact, they're trying really hard to protect him as best they 285 00:17:35,440 --> 00:17:38,880 can. For a wild raccoon, which I know 286 00:17:38,880 --> 00:17:42,400 a thing or two about, it's not easy to to deal with raccoons, 287 00:17:45,320 --> 00:17:48,360 but everybody just kind of smiles at him and they see this 288 00:17:48,360 --> 00:17:51,480 raccoon living his life that's available to him and they, and 289 00:17:51,480 --> 00:17:54,840 he's inspiring all these humans. That's what's really cool to me 290 00:17:55,040 --> 00:17:58,200 is all these people that are seeing him are adopting him as 291 00:17:58,520 --> 00:18:00,960 their spirit animal and all this stuff. 292 00:18:02,160 --> 00:18:05,920 And that says something about humans as well. 293 00:18:05,920 --> 00:18:08,480 But that's a different talk for a different day perhaps. 294 00:18:10,200 --> 00:18:12,640 But most people aren't judging them. 295 00:18:12,640 --> 00:18:15,040 They just understand immediately that he didn't choose where he 296 00:18:15,040 --> 00:18:18,440 started. He's just now a part of this 297 00:18:18,440 --> 00:18:21,360 life. And we often forget to extend 298 00:18:21,680 --> 00:18:25,640 ourselves the same understanding that we do to Jimothy. 299 00:18:27,200 --> 00:18:32,480 And so kind of the bring that home a little bit like a little 300 00:18:32,480 --> 00:18:37,160 more personally, if you think about a time in your life where 301 00:18:37,160 --> 00:18:39,080 you lost your temper, we've all done that. 302 00:18:39,080 --> 00:18:41,600 So just think of a time where you've lost your temper and 303 00:18:41,800 --> 00:18:44,800 maybe somebody cut you off in traffic or your spouse said 304 00:18:44,800 --> 00:18:48,320 something that just landed wrong or, or whatever. 305 00:18:49,240 --> 00:18:52,760 My just today I was talking about my wife. 306 00:18:55,600 --> 00:18:58,160 I don't even remember it now, but my wife said something to me 307 00:18:58,160 --> 00:19:01,000 yesterday that I was like, what the heck, Like where did that 308 00:19:01,000 --> 00:19:03,600 come from? Just attacked me out of nowhere 309 00:19:05,400 --> 00:19:08,680 and we immediately judge that and what not but we don't. 310 00:19:09,040 --> 00:19:12,320 When somebody cuts us off, a Co worker sends us an e-mail that 311 00:19:12,320 --> 00:19:17,880 makes our blood boil or any of those kind of scenarios. 312 00:19:17,880 --> 00:19:22,480 If you ask yourself honestly, did you decide to get angry or 313 00:19:22,480 --> 00:19:26,880 not? Did you decide to do that or did 314 00:19:26,880 --> 00:19:29,520 anger just show up? Like you didn't really have to 315 00:19:29,520 --> 00:19:31,400 work too hard? Anger just popped up because 316 00:19:31,400 --> 00:19:37,960 somebody pissed you off. In a Buddhist framework, what 317 00:19:37,960 --> 00:19:41,040 happened in that moment is that contact happened. 318 00:19:41,240 --> 00:19:46,640 Your ear heard an insult or your eyes saw somebody cut you off in 319 00:19:46,640 --> 00:19:48,960 traffic. And that's the contact between 320 00:19:48,960 --> 00:19:53,320 the sense organ and the sense object. 321 00:19:53,800 --> 00:19:58,240 And then there's feeling of that pleasant, unpleasant or neutral. 322 00:19:58,480 --> 00:20:01,640 And then your jaw clenches and your heart rate changes and 323 00:20:02,120 --> 00:20:05,440 thoughts start showing up of like, they always do this to me. 324 00:20:05,440 --> 00:20:07,600 Why am I always getting cut off in traffic? 325 00:20:07,880 --> 00:20:10,680 Nobody respects me. I'm so tired of this, though. 326 00:20:10,720 --> 00:20:13,080 All the story starts coming up after that. 327 00:20:13,560 --> 00:20:17,920 And that happens with all of that happens in the like, less 328 00:20:17,920 --> 00:20:21,720 than the blink of an eye. It's an astonishingly fast 329 00:20:22,200 --> 00:20:25,560 process. And most of it was already 330 00:20:25,560 --> 00:20:28,120 underway before you even knew that you were thinking about it 331 00:20:28,120 --> 00:20:32,880 or that it was happening. And if you ask yourself another 332 00:20:32,880 --> 00:20:37,200 question, like what happened next after that, maybe some 333 00:20:37,200 --> 00:20:39,240 people yelled or some people stayed silent. 334 00:20:39,240 --> 00:20:42,280 Some wrote an angry e-mail and hit send. 335 00:20:42,280 --> 00:20:45,880 Some wisely wrote that e-mail and then deleted it before they 336 00:20:45,880 --> 00:20:48,880 hit send. I've done I do that a lot as a 337 00:20:49,160 --> 00:20:51,800 Brino's. She sees me typing all the time 338 00:20:51,800 --> 00:20:54,000 on Discord and then I never hit send. 339 00:20:54,000 --> 00:20:57,320 And some people will apologize and or some others will sit 340 00:20:57,320 --> 00:21:00,240 there and replay the event for three days or three weeks or 341 00:21:00,240 --> 00:21:03,400 three years trying to win that argument that's over. 342 00:21:04,080 --> 00:21:07,640 And some people like my wife, she lets go of things instantly. 343 00:21:07,680 --> 00:21:12,400 She'll if my wife and I have a disagreement, she's over at 5 344 00:21:12,400 --> 00:21:15,120 minutes later and I'm stewing about it two days later. 345 00:21:15,120 --> 00:21:22,200 So the real question is not whether or not we are choosing 346 00:21:22,240 --> 00:21:26,120 the thing that arises for us, but more what is it we're going 347 00:21:26,120 --> 00:21:28,960 to do with whatever arises. And I think that question is 348 00:21:28,960 --> 00:21:30,720 closer to where the Buddha was pointing. 349 00:21:30,840 --> 00:21:35,280 I think First off, what do we even mean when we say free will? 350 00:21:35,520 --> 00:21:37,280 Most people mean one of two things. 351 00:21:37,320 --> 00:21:41,720 Either I can choose absolutely anything I want to do and 352 00:21:41,720 --> 00:21:45,480 there's nothing that can stop me, or I am completely 353 00:21:45,480 --> 00:21:48,640 controlled by something like past events. 354 00:21:48,640 --> 00:21:51,440 I'm just a machine. I'm a product of biology or my 355 00:21:51,440 --> 00:21:54,600 childhood or karma or circumstances or all of the 356 00:21:54,600 --> 00:21:57,360 above. But the Buddha kind of rejected 357 00:21:57,360 --> 00:22:01,720 both of those views. He teaches neither unlimited 358 00:22:01,720 --> 00:22:11,520 freedom, which I think is known as as eternalism or he chooses. 359 00:22:11,600 --> 00:22:15,000 He also says there's no such thing as complete inevitability, 360 00:22:15,000 --> 00:22:17,360 which would be that everything is predetermined. 361 00:22:17,360 --> 00:22:22,160 So that's called determinism. And instead he talks about 362 00:22:22,160 --> 00:22:27,560 conditionality and everything has causes and everything has 363 00:22:27,560 --> 00:22:34,400 conditions, including this very moment right here in the in this 364 00:22:34,480 --> 00:22:39,160 particular suit to the Anguta Nakaya 361, he addresses this 365 00:22:39,160 --> 00:22:42,880 problem and speaks about 3 different explanations that 366 00:22:42,880 --> 00:22:45,320 people commonly give for why things happen. 367 00:22:46,440 --> 00:22:51,320 The 1st is that everything that we experience is caused entirely 368 00:22:51,320 --> 00:22:54,760 by our past karma and people, some people will say that and he 369 00:22:54,760 --> 00:22:58,080 says Nope, that's not true. And there's another group of 370 00:22:58,080 --> 00:23:01,840 people, he says that for them, everything they think is the 371 00:23:01,840 --> 00:23:04,520 will of a creator. And he says, Nope, that's not 372 00:23:04,520 --> 00:23:09,280 true either. The third thing that a lot of 373 00:23:09,280 --> 00:23:13,520 people would say in his time was that everything simply happens 374 00:23:13,520 --> 00:23:15,880 by accident. It's pure chance and there's no 375 00:23:16,280 --> 00:23:19,120 cause to any of it, which is nihilism. 376 00:23:19,440 --> 00:23:22,720 And the Buddha rejected all three of these things and had a 377 00:23:22,720 --> 00:23:26,720 SUTA about that specifically. He didn't really talk about free 378 00:23:26,720 --> 00:23:29,080 will, but he talks about how these things are not how it 379 00:23:29,080 --> 00:23:32,840 works. And he doesn't reject just one 380 00:23:32,840 --> 00:23:35,960 extreme. He rejects every explanation 381 00:23:35,960 --> 00:23:39,160 that removes responsibility from this moment. 382 00:23:39,280 --> 00:23:42,080 And that's a key thing right there because Buddhism, you hear 383 00:23:42,080 --> 00:23:45,720 me say all the time, is a path of personal responsibility. 384 00:23:46,000 --> 00:23:50,080 And so anything that takes away your responsibility, he would 385 00:23:50,080 --> 00:23:53,000 not have agreed with that. And that's because none of them 386 00:23:53,000 --> 00:23:57,000 leave room for practice or change or hope or any of that. 387 00:23:58,440 --> 00:24:01,560 Because if you can do anything at all that you want, then 388 00:24:02,120 --> 00:24:05,000 that's that gets into nihilism territory of like, what's the 389 00:24:05,000 --> 00:24:07,240 point then? If I can just do everything I 390 00:24:07,240 --> 00:24:10,080 want, then what's the point? But also if you don't have any 391 00:24:10,080 --> 00:24:12,640 control over your destiny, then also what's the point? 392 00:24:12,960 --> 00:24:17,880 Why are we even bothering? And if everything has already 393 00:24:17,880 --> 00:24:20,280 been decided by past karma, why meditate? 394 00:24:20,280 --> 00:24:23,160 Why forgive? Why do we cultivate compassion 395 00:24:23,160 --> 00:24:28,120 or struggle or become wiser? Why did the Buddha spend 45 396 00:24:28,120 --> 00:24:31,240 years teaching a path that nobody would be able to actually 397 00:24:31,240 --> 00:24:33,400 walk? Why would he do that? 398 00:24:33,880 --> 00:24:36,720 The Buddhist teaching, instead, was a lot more hopeful than 399 00:24:36,720 --> 00:24:39,560 that. He said that conditions shape 400 00:24:39,560 --> 00:24:43,960 us, but they don't imprison us. What we intend right here, right 401 00:24:43,960 --> 00:24:48,480 now becomes a part of those conditions in the future that a 402 00:24:48,480 --> 00:24:51,200 future version of us is going to have to live within. 403 00:24:51,440 --> 00:24:54,640 And those will shape tomorrow. In other words, and I love that 404 00:24:54,640 --> 00:24:57,040 because it means that tomorrow's not fixed. 405 00:24:57,840 --> 00:25:03,520 We have a lot of choices of how tomorrow can go, but we can't go 406 00:25:03,520 --> 00:25:08,240 outside of the realm of past causes and conditions. 407 00:25:10,880 --> 00:25:14,800 Because if everything is is a result of causes and conditions, 408 00:25:14,800 --> 00:25:17,920 which is what the Buddha taught, then we can't say, well, it 409 00:25:17,920 --> 00:25:19,760 doesn't apply to free will, right? 410 00:25:20,360 --> 00:25:23,720 But it's also not magic. It it, it grows out of whatever 411 00:25:23,720 --> 00:25:27,160 we choose today. I might be born into poverty and 412 00:25:27,160 --> 00:25:30,400 you might be born into wealth. Neither one of us chose that. 413 00:25:30,520 --> 00:25:33,720 But one of us may have parents who teaches U.S. financial 414 00:25:33,720 --> 00:25:37,600 literacy and the other may never even hear the words compound 415 00:25:37,600 --> 00:25:40,040 interest. Those conditions are very 416 00:25:40,040 --> 00:25:41,960 important and they matter in your future. 417 00:25:42,200 --> 00:25:47,240 I saw a video today of a dad teaching his like 7 year old son 418 00:25:47,360 --> 00:25:49,040 all this stuff about financial literacy. 419 00:25:49,040 --> 00:25:52,320 He's like, what is what are the three kinds of taxation? 420 00:25:52,320 --> 00:25:55,440 And the guy, the kid told him and the kid knew all this stuff. 421 00:25:55,440 --> 00:26:01,800 It's obviously dad's been working hard on this, but but 422 00:26:01,840 --> 00:26:04,280 that kids going to have a very different life than I did. 423 00:26:05,520 --> 00:26:06,680 That's just the way it's going to be. 424 00:26:08,880 --> 00:26:13,240 But you're pretending that we don't have any or that 425 00:26:13,240 --> 00:26:15,600 conditions and causes don't matter at all. 426 00:26:15,600 --> 00:26:17,520 That's not wisdom, that's naivete. 427 00:26:17,520 --> 00:26:20,520 And neither does the Buddha say, well, tough luck, that's your 428 00:26:20,520 --> 00:26:22,400 karma. Suck it up, buttercup. 429 00:26:22,400 --> 00:26:27,440 He doesn't tell you to do that. He says given the conditions and 430 00:26:27,440 --> 00:26:31,480 causes that have led you to this moment, so your whole life is 431 00:26:31,480 --> 00:26:34,760 this wide range of conditions and causes could be 432 00:26:35,320 --> 00:26:39,520 unfathomable, is unfathomable, but it's all of that stuff has 433 00:26:39,520 --> 00:26:42,880 led to right here, right now. This is the situation we're in. 434 00:26:43,440 --> 00:26:48,280 What can I choose within this situation to do and how can I 435 00:26:48,280 --> 00:26:51,840 cultivate a future that gives me the options I want to have? 436 00:26:52,280 --> 00:26:55,760 Maybe a wealthy person might squander all their money and end 437 00:26:55,760 --> 00:26:59,240 up destitute. A poor person might slowly build 438 00:26:59,240 --> 00:27:01,760 a beautiful life and learn financial literacy, make the 439 00:27:01,760 --> 00:27:03,400 choices that get them out of that. 440 00:27:04,720 --> 00:27:07,160 Or maybe both of them will struggle in completely different 441 00:27:07,160 --> 00:27:09,800 ways and or maybe it'll just continue the way it always has 442 00:27:09,800 --> 00:27:12,600 their the one family will always be rich and the other one will 443 00:27:12,600 --> 00:27:13,920 always be poor. You never know. 444 00:27:14,520 --> 00:27:19,320 And the point of that is not that everyone has equal 445 00:27:19,320 --> 00:27:21,800 opportunity. The point is that every human 446 00:27:21,800 --> 00:27:27,040 still participates in their own becoming Bawa, the next version 447 00:27:27,040 --> 00:27:30,440 of themselves. And that's a very hopeful 448 00:27:30,440 --> 00:27:31,960 message that the Buddha was teaching. 449 00:27:31,960 --> 00:27:36,400 And it means that no matter where we begin, we're not only, 450 00:27:36,960 --> 00:27:42,360 we are not only where we began, now here in this moment, we have 451 00:27:42,360 --> 00:27:45,320 another opportunity, another chance. 452 00:27:45,720 --> 00:27:47,760 And people will raise another objection. 453 00:27:48,200 --> 00:27:51,760 Usually within about 5 minutes of this conversation, somebody 454 00:27:51,760 --> 00:27:53,920 will say, well, OK, what about serial killers? 455 00:27:53,920 --> 00:27:56,120 That's the common thing that comes up. 456 00:27:56,120 --> 00:27:58,920 But actually, it's actually a really good question. 457 00:28:03,920 --> 00:28:10,080 If people are conditioned, then doesn't that mean if we're 458 00:28:10,080 --> 00:28:13,040 completely conditioned, then wouldn't that mean that serial 459 00:28:13,040 --> 00:28:15,800 killers are just victims of their conditioning, Right. 460 00:28:15,800 --> 00:28:17,280 We can't get mad at a serial killer. 461 00:28:17,280 --> 00:28:20,320 They're they're just a victim. Shouldn't we shrug? 462 00:28:20,320 --> 00:28:22,520 And shouldn't we say, oh, well, they couldn't help it? 463 00:28:22,920 --> 00:28:24,800 And no, Buddhism doesn't say that at all. 464 00:28:24,800 --> 00:28:27,680 It never says that. But it also, by the way, it also 465 00:28:27,680 --> 00:28:31,800 has its own serial killer that we'll get into, but it doesn't 466 00:28:31,800 --> 00:28:35,320 pretend that evil just appears out of nowhere and is out of our 467 00:28:35,320 --> 00:28:37,560 control. If you think about someone who 468 00:28:37,560 --> 00:28:41,400 commits terrible violence and then did they choose their 469 00:28:41,400 --> 00:28:43,360 genetics? No, they didn't choose their 470 00:28:43,360 --> 00:28:45,440 genetics. Did they choose their family and 471 00:28:45,440 --> 00:28:49,000 how they were raised? No, they had no impact on that 472 00:28:49,000 --> 00:28:51,680 necessarily. Did they choose the trauma that 473 00:28:51,680 --> 00:28:55,200 they took on? Because almost always they did. 474 00:28:55,560 --> 00:28:57,840 And I mean, take on trauma, not choose it. 475 00:28:58,320 --> 00:29:01,040 But no, they didn't choose that. Did they choose their culture? 476 00:29:01,040 --> 00:29:04,080 No, of course not. Did they choose the first time 477 00:29:04,080 --> 00:29:06,600 they had a violent thought that appeared in their mind? 478 00:29:06,840 --> 00:29:10,520 I was, when I walked in the door tonight, I was looking at a 479 00:29:10,520 --> 00:29:14,640 video and it scrolled up and the next video started and it was 480 00:29:14,640 --> 00:29:18,160 Jeffrey Dahmer talking about being interviewed and talking 481 00:29:18,160 --> 00:29:21,040 about why he did what he did and all this stuff. 482 00:29:21,480 --> 00:29:25,760 And he was just very calmly talking about how he, he didn't 483 00:29:25,760 --> 00:29:29,280 really even remember doing it sometimes and this and that. 484 00:29:31,920 --> 00:29:35,120 He didn't, he doesn't know when he first started thinking this 485 00:29:35,120 --> 00:29:37,440 way. It was just most of it was 486 00:29:37,640 --> 00:29:40,920 causes and conditions that put him in a position where he would 487 00:29:40,920 --> 00:29:43,840 have those thoughts and then he would choose whether or not to 488 00:29:43,840 --> 00:29:46,920 act on or some say he would not have chosen to act on him. 489 00:29:46,960 --> 00:29:50,240 That is out of his control. But these things are all 490 00:29:50,240 --> 00:29:53,160 conditions, the way he was treated by his parents, the the 491 00:29:53,160 --> 00:30:01,160 religion, the whatever it is. But any time that we indulge in 492 00:30:01,160 --> 00:30:04,840 hatred, the Buddha said that we are growing hatred. 493 00:30:05,320 --> 00:30:08,680 And every time we rehearse violence becomes easier. 494 00:30:08,800 --> 00:30:12,120 Now that's an interesting moment right there in this talk, 495 00:30:12,120 --> 00:30:15,240 because Tikna Hunt, and I wish I had known this as a younger 496 00:30:15,240 --> 00:30:20,480 person, but Tikna Hunt talked about how how people, at least 497 00:30:20,480 --> 00:30:24,320 when I grew up, people used to talk about like screaming into a 498 00:30:24,320 --> 00:30:29,840 pillow or pounding, punching a pillow to take out your anger. 499 00:30:30,320 --> 00:30:32,960 And I always thought that was a great thing because I always 500 00:30:32,960 --> 00:30:36,240 felt so good after I did it. I had I've told this story many 501 00:30:36,240 --> 00:30:37,800 times. I know Breeze heard it, but I 502 00:30:37,800 --> 00:30:41,800 had a tree stump in my backyard in one of the houses I grew up 503 00:30:41,800 --> 00:30:43,640 in. And whenever I was angry, which 504 00:30:43,640 --> 00:30:47,240 was a lot, I would go out in that backyard and I would chop 505 00:30:47,240 --> 00:30:51,240 that tree stump with an axe and just ham, just like pound on 506 00:30:51,240 --> 00:30:54,320 that tree stump with the axe and take out my frustrations on it. 507 00:30:54,320 --> 00:30:57,000 And it felt great. I really thought it helped. 508 00:30:57,600 --> 00:31:02,880 And as I got into the Dharma Tick, Nahan talked about how you 509 00:31:02,880 --> 00:31:04,320 should never do something like that. 510 00:31:04,320 --> 00:31:08,560 You should never scream at the mirror or punch the pillow or 511 00:31:08,560 --> 00:31:11,840 whatever, because every time you do that, you're rehearsing 512 00:31:11,840 --> 00:31:14,120 violence. And even though you're not being 513 00:31:14,120 --> 00:31:16,680 angry at a person, which it's punching a pillow is better than 514 00:31:16,680 --> 00:31:18,920 punching a person. But even though you're not 515 00:31:18,920 --> 00:31:23,200 punching that person, you're practicing taking your anger out 516 00:31:23,200 --> 00:31:25,840 in that way. And so it becomes easier to 517 00:31:25,840 --> 00:31:30,960 punch somebody when you're mad. So every time you ignore, 518 00:31:30,960 --> 00:31:34,840 compassion grows weaker. Every time that we do these 519 00:31:34,840 --> 00:31:36,240 things, we're conditioning ourselves. 520 00:31:36,240 --> 00:31:38,920 And that's what you hear me say all the time that like you're 521 00:31:38,920 --> 00:31:45,520 always 100% of the time, you are always practicing something. 522 00:31:46,040 --> 00:31:47,640 So what is it that you're practicing? 523 00:31:47,960 --> 00:31:52,640 Most people most of the time are practicing habitual energy, just 524 00:31:52,640 --> 00:31:56,040 letting being dragged around by whatever their mind says to do 525 00:31:56,280 --> 00:31:58,720 because they're not choosing to do something else. 526 00:31:59,000 --> 00:32:03,000 And so they get dragged around, as the Buddha said, by the wheel 527 00:32:03,000 --> 00:32:08,720 of the ox. And and very few people are 528 00:32:08,720 --> 00:32:13,560 choosing to lead instead of being LED and moment to moment, 529 00:32:13,560 --> 00:32:16,880 making choice after choice. And ironically, the person who 530 00:32:16,880 --> 00:32:21,040 insists on doing whatever they want may actually be the last 531 00:32:21,080 --> 00:32:24,960 free person in the room because they have become a servant to 532 00:32:24,960 --> 00:32:28,040 their habits and they don't even know it to their impulses and 533 00:32:28,040 --> 00:32:31,280 their cravings and their rage. And this is exactly what the 534 00:32:31,280 --> 00:32:34,160 Buddhist said. What you could never excuse was 535 00:32:34,480 --> 00:32:37,400 just not taking any responsibility for your actions 536 00:32:37,800 --> 00:32:40,840 and making all of those actions unwholesome actions. 537 00:32:42,320 --> 00:32:45,360 He also never believed that anyone was above change. 538 00:32:45,640 --> 00:32:47,640 And that brings us back to Ungulimala. 539 00:32:50,320 --> 00:32:53,000 I mentioned that Buddhism had its own serial killer and you 540 00:32:53,120 --> 00:32:56,120 you guys have heard the story, but it's one of my favorite in 541 00:32:56,120 --> 00:32:58,800 the entire Poly cannon for so many different reasons. 542 00:32:59,200 --> 00:33:03,560 But he was a man who had become a murderer, A terrifying one. 543 00:33:03,640 --> 00:33:08,520 And if anyone looked trapped by conditioning, it would have been 544 00:33:08,560 --> 00:33:13,000 on Gulimala because he was very abused in ways that you don't 545 00:33:13,000 --> 00:33:15,120 normally you wouldn't normally see as abuse. 546 00:33:15,120 --> 00:33:20,160 His his parents from the day he was born decided to try to 547 00:33:20,160 --> 00:33:23,000 control and by the way, this happened to Siddhartha as well. 548 00:33:23,360 --> 00:33:27,000 They tried to control his outcome by conditioning his 549 00:33:27,000 --> 00:33:29,240 raising. And guess what, before you get 550 00:33:29,240 --> 00:33:32,880 too judgy, any of us parents in the room, we do the same thing, 551 00:33:32,880 --> 00:33:35,320 right? I worked very hard to make my 552 00:33:35,320 --> 00:33:38,120 daughter grow up in a way that was good. 553 00:33:38,320 --> 00:33:41,440 And so but the, and they tried to do, that's all they tried to 554 00:33:41,440 --> 00:33:43,800 do with Angulimala, the parents anyways. 555 00:33:43,800 --> 00:33:48,360 They tried to make it so that he was going to grow up and be a 556 00:33:48,360 --> 00:33:52,880 good person instead of falling victim to his natural 557 00:33:52,880 --> 00:33:56,400 tendencies, quote UN quote, of becoming a bad guy. 558 00:33:57,040 --> 00:33:59,480 So they sent him to the best schools, gave him the best 559 00:33:59,480 --> 00:34:02,320 education, always treated him well and all that. 560 00:34:02,320 --> 00:34:04,680 And you hear that and you think, well, that sounds great, but 561 00:34:04,680 --> 00:34:08,840 they were doing that to control his outcome in a maybe not so 562 00:34:08,840 --> 00:34:11,520 positive way, or I guess they were in a positive way. 563 00:34:11,840 --> 00:34:15,040 But then he gets to school in the university and his teacher 564 00:34:15,360 --> 00:34:19,320 manipulated him and the students manipulated the teacher into 565 00:34:19,320 --> 00:34:24,000 manipulating Anguli Mala. And then he went off down this 566 00:34:24,000 --> 00:34:26,639 road of violence. His habits had become his 567 00:34:26,639 --> 00:34:29,960 identity. His violence had become his 568 00:34:29,960 --> 00:34:32,520 profession. And his reputation was so 569 00:34:32,520 --> 00:34:36,520 frightening that villagers refused to travel into the 570 00:34:36,520 --> 00:34:39,480 forest where he lived or even near it, and then started 571 00:34:39,480 --> 00:34:42,600 evacuating cities and not living in those cities anymore. 572 00:34:42,960 --> 00:34:45,719 And then one day he encountered the Buddha. 573 00:34:45,719 --> 00:34:47,679 And that was not an accident either. 574 00:34:47,679 --> 00:34:49,679 The Buddha chased him down, so to speak. 575 00:34:50,560 --> 00:34:56,639 And and a pretty amazing moment occurred where the Buddha, he 576 00:34:56,639 --> 00:34:59,040 didn't go up and go, hey, you're innocent. 577 00:34:59,040 --> 00:35:01,920 It's not your fault. He didn't say that, but he also 578 00:35:01,920 --> 00:35:04,240 didn't say, hey, you're doomed, you're screwed, you're going to 579 00:35:04,400 --> 00:35:06,120 burn in hell or anything like that. 580 00:35:08,520 --> 00:35:12,520 He did not tell Angulimala, hey, look, this is not your fault. 581 00:35:12,520 --> 00:35:14,280 Your past made you do it. And he didn't. 582 00:35:14,280 --> 00:35:17,520 He didn't say. He also did not say you can just 583 00:35:17,520 --> 00:35:19,960 decide to be somebody better, which is a misunderstanding. 584 00:35:19,960 --> 00:35:23,000 A lot of people think he did say that, but instead what he did is 585 00:35:23,000 --> 00:35:25,760 he offered him a path of transformation. 586 00:35:26,200 --> 00:35:28,440 You can go, you can just decide to be a good guy. 587 00:35:28,680 --> 00:35:34,240 He said you can work hard on this transformational path 588 00:35:34,240 --> 00:35:38,320 called the Noble Eightfold Path, and you can change if you work 589 00:35:38,320 --> 00:35:44,200 this system. And it was a practice. 590 00:35:44,200 --> 00:35:47,000 It was a way for him to stop feeding those habits that he had 591 00:35:47,000 --> 00:35:49,720 made, and they had made him who he was. 592 00:35:50,040 --> 00:35:53,360 Did the consequences disappear? Absolutely not. 593 00:35:53,840 --> 00:35:58,240 People still hated on Gulimala a lot and even after he was 594 00:36:00,880 --> 00:36:04,880 accepted by the Buddha as a monk people hated him even after the 595 00:36:04,880 --> 00:36:09,120 king said yes he's a good guy now even I will like him. 596 00:36:09,520 --> 00:36:12,520 People still hated him and they still feared him. 597 00:36:12,520 --> 00:36:15,600 And according to the Sutos, people even would throw rocks at 598 00:36:15,600 --> 00:36:17,160 him and beat him and stuff like that. 599 00:36:17,160 --> 00:36:20,400 And he still had to suffer the consequences of what he had 600 00:36:20,400 --> 00:36:23,840 done. So was he able to choose a 601 00:36:23,840 --> 00:36:25,520 different path? Absolutely. 602 00:36:25,840 --> 00:36:32,600 Was he able to escape the results of his karma of killing 603 00:36:32,600 --> 00:36:34,200 a bunch of people? No, he did not. 604 00:36:34,200 --> 00:36:38,240 He got his ass beat. And when he was found by the 605 00:36:38,240 --> 00:36:42,360 Buddha and said, like, I picture him like laying all jacked up on 606 00:36:42,360 --> 00:36:44,800 the ground and he's like, what do I do? 607 00:36:44,800 --> 00:36:48,640 And the Buddha said, you have to bear it, Brahman, you have to 608 00:36:48,640 --> 00:36:53,360 bear it. And that's a powerful thing. 609 00:36:53,360 --> 00:36:56,720 And that's the greatest argument I can think of for the fact that 610 00:36:56,720 --> 00:36:59,960 we can't escape the causes and conditions of our life. 611 00:37:00,320 --> 00:37:04,600 We can transform where we go from here, but we can't change 612 00:37:04,800 --> 00:37:06,440 that. We got here to this moment. 613 00:37:06,480 --> 00:37:13,280 That can't be changed. So on Gulu Malo is no longer 614 00:37:13,280 --> 00:37:15,800 becoming that same person, and that is freedom. 615 00:37:15,800 --> 00:37:19,560 That's not freedom from consequences by any means, It's 616 00:37:19,560 --> 00:37:24,520 freedom from the continuing of unwholesome, becoming of 617 00:37:24,520 --> 00:37:27,760 unwholesome bawa. And I think that it's one of the 618 00:37:27,760 --> 00:37:30,320 most helpful teachings that the Buddha ever gave. 619 00:37:30,400 --> 00:37:33,320 And that's one of the many reasons I love the Anguli Mala 620 00:37:33,560 --> 00:37:37,240 Suta, because if Anguli Mala could change after killing, 621 00:37:37,840 --> 00:37:40,960 depending on which version of the story, hundreds or thousands 622 00:37:40,960 --> 00:37:44,640 of people, if he could change, then what excuse do I have for 623 00:37:44,640 --> 00:37:46,320 saying I'm always going to be this way? 624 00:37:46,320 --> 00:37:48,680 I can't do anything about it, Tough luck. 625 00:37:49,280 --> 00:37:51,800 I've always had a temper, I've always been anxious or I've 626 00:37:51,800 --> 00:37:53,800 always been selfish and I always will be. 627 00:37:54,160 --> 00:37:55,840 The Buddha said that that's not true. 628 00:37:56,080 --> 00:37:59,360 Yes, you can't change what led you to this moment, but you 629 00:37:59,400 --> 00:38:03,040 absolutely can make choices that will lead you to a better moment 630 00:38:03,040 --> 00:38:05,680 in the future. And the Buddha looked at all of 631 00:38:05,680 --> 00:38:09,360 these things and he just says, must you continue the way that 632 00:38:09,360 --> 00:38:11,520 you are? I don't think that's true. 633 00:38:11,520 --> 00:38:15,440 And and the light bulb goes off, goes on, I should say. 634 00:38:15,960 --> 00:38:19,520 And the Buddha said, is that really who you are, or is that 635 00:38:19,520 --> 00:38:22,560 just who you've been practicing being? 636 00:38:22,960 --> 00:38:26,760 And that's the question that can change somebody's practice when 637 00:38:26,760 --> 00:38:33,040 you really realize that, yeah, I have been maybe to some extent 638 00:38:33,040 --> 00:38:38,040 forced into this moment by different things, but in this 639 00:38:38,040 --> 00:38:41,840 moment, I have the capacity to choose where I go from here. 640 00:38:43,560 --> 00:38:47,560 And that's practice every day, rehearsing, becoming someone 641 00:38:47,560 --> 00:38:50,440 new. And that leans you in that 642 00:38:50,440 --> 00:38:52,720 direction. The only question is, who is it 643 00:38:52,720 --> 00:38:56,320 that you want to become? Now, before we go any further 644 00:38:56,320 --> 00:39:00,120 too, you should notice that the Buddha, like, didn't just say, 645 00:39:00,120 --> 00:39:04,600 oh, change is possible. He explains how change happens 646 00:39:05,080 --> 00:39:07,440 and that it doesn't happen at once and that it's not through 647 00:39:07,440 --> 00:39:09,880 wishing for it. You're not praying for change. 648 00:39:09,880 --> 00:39:13,320 That's why I thoughts and prayers is such a annoyance to 649 00:39:13,320 --> 00:39:16,600 me because when people go oh, thoughts and prayers, that does 650 00:39:16,600 --> 00:39:20,760 nothing for anybody whatsoever. And I'm not picking on religion 651 00:39:20,760 --> 00:39:23,040 in that case. I'm just saying that anything 652 00:39:23,040 --> 00:39:26,520 that you say or do that you don't follow with action is 653 00:39:26,520 --> 00:39:31,160 pretty useless. We don't. 654 00:39:31,160 --> 00:39:34,760 We can't just positively think our way out of things, although 655 00:39:34,760 --> 00:39:36,560 that's very helpful if it's genuine. 656 00:39:38,120 --> 00:39:41,280 We have to do it through training and then the training 657 00:39:41,280 --> 00:39:45,000 has to result in practice and the practice has to be moving in 658 00:39:45,000 --> 00:39:48,120 the direction of the wholesome. If you think about meditation, 659 00:39:48,120 --> 00:39:52,160 people sit down for the first time sometimes expecting what 660 00:39:52,680 --> 00:39:55,240 the meditation is going to stop all their thoughts. 661 00:39:55,520 --> 00:39:58,000 And it doesn't do that. Thoughts will always appear. 662 00:39:58,000 --> 00:40:01,640 Memory still appears. Planning A shows up and judging 663 00:40:01,640 --> 00:40:03,840 appears. The song that you haven't heard 664 00:40:03,840 --> 00:40:06,800 in 15 years suddenly appears. That happens to me all the time. 665 00:40:08,240 --> 00:40:12,080 But if you're seeing what has always been happening, the 666 00:40:12,080 --> 00:40:15,400 difference is that now, once you're practicing this path. 667 00:40:15,880 --> 00:40:18,640 You are noticing it and you're able to choose. 668 00:40:18,640 --> 00:40:21,240 That gives you wisdom, that gives you wise view. 669 00:40:21,240 --> 00:40:24,080 And you're able to choose the intention that goes into the 670 00:40:24,080 --> 00:40:26,800 next moment, which is the 2nd 8 fold path step. 671 00:40:27,160 --> 00:40:30,640 And then from the wise view and intention you're able to commit 672 00:40:30,960 --> 00:40:35,240 wiser actions and speeches and livelihood. 673 00:40:35,520 --> 00:40:38,240 And out of that comes effort. And then mindfulness and 674 00:40:38,240 --> 00:40:41,320 concentration starts that cycle over again. 675 00:40:41,480 --> 00:40:45,520 And now you're spinning the wheel of the Dharma instead of 676 00:40:45,520 --> 00:40:47,720 immediately believing every feeling you have. 677 00:40:47,720 --> 00:40:51,120 And you start to recognize that those feelings are just 678 00:40:51,200 --> 00:40:54,200 feelings. How you act on those feelings is 679 00:40:54,200 --> 00:40:56,760 up to you. You do have the free will to 680 00:40:56,760 --> 00:40:59,360 choose that. And that is just a little more 681 00:40:59,360 --> 00:41:01,600 space. And that little bit of space is 682 00:41:01,600 --> 00:41:04,320 enough to take a breath. And that breath is enough to 683 00:41:04,320 --> 00:41:08,400 stop from saying something you're going to regret, or maybe 684 00:41:08,400 --> 00:41:11,680 noticing that you're angry, but then still saying the thing 685 00:41:11,680 --> 00:41:14,400 you're going to regret. Sometimes that happens, but at 686 00:41:14,400 --> 00:41:18,080 least if you notice it and you still say it, at least that's 687 00:41:18,080 --> 00:41:25,160 better than not knowing not I am angry, but just I have anger, 688 00:41:25,720 --> 00:41:27,720 right? There's anger in my experience 689 00:41:27,720 --> 00:41:29,600 right now. And that tiny little bit of 690 00:41:29,600 --> 00:41:33,880 space where our practice kind of spreads that space and gives us 691 00:41:33,880 --> 00:41:39,120 a little bit of room to breathe, We're able to start seeing that 692 00:41:39,120 --> 00:41:42,360 freedom. It is not a binary yes or no 693 00:41:42,360 --> 00:41:45,720 black and white thing. Sometimes it expands. 694 00:41:46,160 --> 00:41:48,760 And if you think about, for example, like trying to learn, 695 00:41:48,880 --> 00:41:51,080 and this is on my mind because I've been teaching my daughter 696 00:41:51,080 --> 00:41:53,200 to drive. If you think about learning to 697 00:41:53,200 --> 00:41:57,440 drive a car when you're 16 or 20 and everything feels 698 00:41:57,440 --> 00:42:01,000 overwhelming and every time you switch lanes, it's terrifying. 699 00:42:01,000 --> 00:42:05,440 Every time you merge into a lane, you your heart rate raises 700 00:42:05,440 --> 00:42:09,040 and you start sweating and every mistake you make feels like the 701 00:42:09,040 --> 00:42:11,960 worst mistake ever. And then 20 years later, you 702 00:42:11,960 --> 00:42:14,840 check in with that same person and they're Wheeling around and 703 00:42:15,360 --> 00:42:17,880 they're paying attention to traffic, avoiding potholes, 704 00:42:17,880 --> 00:42:20,680 planning dinner, listening to music, talking to somebody. 705 00:42:21,000 --> 00:42:24,280 And somehow that you arrive home, you're safe and sound, and 706 00:42:24,280 --> 00:42:27,280 everybody else is too. And you barely even remember 707 00:42:27,280 --> 00:42:29,720 that you drove home because it's second nature to you now, 708 00:42:29,960 --> 00:42:32,400 because you've been practicing for 20 years, right? 709 00:42:32,880 --> 00:42:36,120 You became skillful at that practice, and the practice 710 00:42:36,120 --> 00:42:38,240 expanded what was possible for you. 711 00:42:38,640 --> 00:42:41,560 The Buddhist says the exact same thing about our minds. 712 00:42:41,760 --> 00:42:45,360 Imagine you have two people that hear an insult. 713 00:42:45,680 --> 00:42:48,440 One person might explode immediately and raise their 714 00:42:48,440 --> 00:42:51,640 voice and say something they'll regret and then carry resentment 715 00:42:51,640 --> 00:42:54,400 for the rest of the week. And the other person feels the 716 00:42:54,400 --> 00:42:58,280 same sting, the same unpleasant feeling when they hear that 717 00:42:58,280 --> 00:43:00,880 thing, the same tightening in the chest. 718 00:43:00,920 --> 00:43:04,280 But they pause and they breathe and they smile and they respond 719 00:43:04,280 --> 00:43:07,600 with kindness. What is it that has changed? 720 00:43:07,600 --> 00:43:09,520 What's different for one versus the other? 721 00:43:09,680 --> 00:43:15,080 Is it free will? Is it what is it so that second 722 00:43:15,080 --> 00:43:18,040 person doesn't become freer because it was easier for them, 723 00:43:18,040 --> 00:43:20,000 their life was easier or anything like that? 724 00:43:20,320 --> 00:43:24,240 They become freer because practice is expanding the number 725 00:43:24,240 --> 00:43:27,120 of responses in the amount of time they have to choose those 726 00:43:27,120 --> 00:43:29,160 responses that's available to them. 727 00:43:29,160 --> 00:43:35,880 And that is freedom in a Dharma view, From a Dharma perspective, 728 00:43:39,800 --> 00:43:44,120 our prison that we all have to deal with is not outside of us. 729 00:43:44,560 --> 00:43:47,240 It's a habit. And we repeat the same actions 730 00:43:47,240 --> 00:43:49,080 and the same reactions sometimes. 731 00:43:49,440 --> 00:43:52,600 And a lot of times we repeat the same stories and fears and 732 00:43:52,600 --> 00:43:57,680 cravings. And eventually, if we're lucky, 733 00:43:57,680 --> 00:44:00,840 we'll stop saying how I always react this way and we'll start 734 00:44:00,840 --> 00:44:05,800 saying I'm going to choose to be different than this. 735 00:44:05,960 --> 00:44:10,160 The Buddha challenges those assumptions and gives us, he 736 00:44:10,160 --> 00:44:13,720 invites us to investigate it. Unfortunately, he can't give us 737 00:44:13,720 --> 00:44:16,320 anything. He invites us to investigate it. 738 00:44:18,560 --> 00:44:22,240 Is this who you are for real? And can you change that? 739 00:44:22,600 --> 00:44:28,400 And are you just a collection of deeply practiced habits or not? 740 00:44:28,720 --> 00:44:31,800 And the Buddhist said that we aren't stuck as the same person 741 00:44:31,800 --> 00:44:34,000 forever. In fact, the whole Buddhist 742 00:44:34,000 --> 00:44:37,960 practice is based on the fact that we aren't permanent and he 743 00:44:37,960 --> 00:44:41,480 offers us the 8, the Noble Eightfold Path, as a way to 744 00:44:41,760 --> 00:44:45,680 implement that change that he promises is available to all of 745 00:44:45,680 --> 00:44:47,880 us. Or it is not only available to 746 00:44:47,880 --> 00:44:50,120 all of us, but is inevitable for all of us. 747 00:44:50,120 --> 00:44:52,800 We will change. The question is which direction 748 00:44:52,800 --> 00:45:02,800 will we change in? And I guess mindfulness doesn't 749 00:45:02,960 --> 00:45:06,560 erase anger. It helps us recognize it and 750 00:45:06,680 --> 00:45:09,160 stop it before it becomes our speech. 751 00:45:09,520 --> 00:45:11,280 Wisdom doesn't eliminate our fear. 752 00:45:11,280 --> 00:45:14,960 It helps us see fear without immediately thinking we have to 753 00:45:14,960 --> 00:45:17,760 obey it. Little by little, these course 754 00:45:17,760 --> 00:45:20,680 corrections become conscious responses. 755 00:45:21,000 --> 00:45:24,320 And that's the freedom that the Buddha was offering us. 756 00:45:24,400 --> 00:45:29,840 And the reason it's also the reason that karma is a good 757 00:45:29,840 --> 00:45:32,880 thing is because the past doesn't control us. 758 00:45:32,880 --> 00:45:41,200 We can choose. Can we become the kind of person 759 00:45:41,200 --> 00:45:45,280 who refuses to let suffering be the end of our story? 760 00:45:45,400 --> 00:45:49,640 Yes, we absolutely can. And that's how the Buddha spoke 761 00:45:49,640 --> 00:45:52,560 about free will. He didn't ever really talk about 762 00:45:52,560 --> 00:45:54,920 free will a lot. He talked about these choices 763 00:45:55,240 --> 00:45:57,640 and he, instead of free will, he talked about freedom. 764 00:45:59,120 --> 00:46:03,400 And we just have to ask ourselves those questions. 765 00:46:03,400 --> 00:46:06,040 Will I speak kindly? Will I forgive or tell the truth 766 00:46:06,040 --> 00:46:08,680 or cultivate generosity or whatnot? 767 00:46:09,800 --> 00:46:12,600 Will I be a little bit wiser today than I was yesterday? 768 00:46:15,720 --> 00:46:19,080 And I think the answer is yes, within conditions, we have free 769 00:46:19,080 --> 00:46:21,480 will. So yes, we have free will within 770 00:46:21,480 --> 00:46:27,040 the framework of our causes and conditions and I actually have a 771 00:46:27,040 --> 00:46:30,320 little bit more, but we're way over on the time already. 772 00:46:30,320 --> 00:46:32,680 So I'm going to go ahead and end it there. 773 00:46:32,680 --> 00:46:36,240 But when we end this tonight, you're going to have the free 774 00:46:36,240 --> 00:46:39,960 will to choose whether you leave this room and apply this 775 00:46:39,960 --> 00:46:42,880 practice or are you going to disregard it and just keep 776 00:46:42,880 --> 00:46:46,000 living life, whatever it show up once a week and meditate for 30 777 00:46:46,000 --> 00:46:48,760 minutes or you going to go home and meditate for 5 or 10 minutes 778 00:46:48,760 --> 00:46:50,880 every day or 20 minutes every day or whatever. 779 00:46:52,160 --> 00:46:59,800 And but one thing you do not have the option for is to not be 780 00:46:59,800 --> 00:47:01,400 here right now because here you are. 781 00:47:01,400 --> 00:47:03,040 You're here. It's already too late for that. 782 00:47:03,040 --> 00:47:06,040 So that's the part that you don't have control over anymore. 783 00:47:06,160 --> 00:47:08,800 You had control over, but you don't now. 784 00:47:09,000 --> 00:47:11,200 It's too late. You're already here, and you've 785 00:47:11,200 --> 00:47:13,320 already learned. And now you have to decide 786 00:47:13,320 --> 00:47:16,200 whether you're going to apply that learning or let go of it. 787 00:47:16,520 --> 00:47:18,760 And yeah, that's all I have for tonight. 788 00:47:18,760 --> 00:47:20,520 So we'll leave it there. Thank you. 789 00:47:20,520 --> 00:47:23,680 We'll see you next week and not the week after. 790 00:48:24,660 --> 00:49:45,410 Music. You're still here. 791 00:49:46,450 --> 00:49:48,770 It's over. Go. 792 00:49:48,770 --> 00:49:51,330 Practice. Go.