On the Brink

0:05 This is what should be done by one who is skilled in goodness and who knows the path of peace. Let them be able and upright, straightforward and gentle in speech, humble and not conceited. Contented and easily satisfied, unburdened with duties, and frugal in their ways, peaceful and calm, wise and skillful, not proud and demanding in nature, let them not do the slightest thing that the wise would later reprove. Report an error in the passage at 0:05 Highlight the passage at 0:05

0:59 Wishing in gladness and in safety, may all beings be happy, whatever living beings there may be, whether they are weak or strong, permitting none, the great or the mighty, medium, short or small, the seen and the unseen. Those living near and far away, those born and to be born, may all beings be happy. Report an error in the passage at 0:59 Highlight the passage at 0:59

1:40 Let none deceive another or despise any being in any state. Let none through anger or ill wish harm upon even as a mother. Mother protects with her life her child, her only child. So with a boundless heart should one cherish all living beings, radiating kindness over the entire world, spreading upwards to the skies and downwards to the depths. Report an error in the passage at 1:40 Highlight the passage at 1:40

2:28 Outward and unbounded, freed from hatred and ill will, whether standing or walking, seated or lying down, free from drowsiness, one should sustain this recollection. This is said to be the sublime abiding by not holding to false views. The pure-hearted one, having clarity of vision, being free from all sense desires, is now born again into this world. Report an error in the passage at 2:28 Highlight the passage at 2:28

3:21 By Report an error in the passage at 3:21 Highlight the passage at 3:21

3:44 checking our posture, if you like you put your hands in Anjali, bring out the qualities of the Buddha. Buddha Minato, Dhammo Minato, Saṅgha Minato, Buddha, Buddha, Dhammo, Dhammo, Saṅgha, Saṅgha. So we can start with this faith, this trust in the Buddha and the Dharma and the Saṅgha. The Buddha like the peerless one, the one without a teacher. The Dharma, his teachings, the roll down to the present and the Saṅgha, the Arya Saṅgha, those noble beings. Report an error in the passage at 3:44 Highlight the passage at 3:44

4:27 beings who So do panas, sakalagamis, anagamis, arahat, and those practicing for those states. Let's Report an error in the passage at 4:27 Highlight the passage at 4:27

4:44 again check the posture. Upright but relaxed, trying to release any tension, any tightness in the body. So there's a sense of softness and ease. Tip Report an error in the passage at 4:44 Highlight the passage at 4:44

5:09 of the head to the toes and back up to the tip of the head. Just making sure, unwinding, relaxing. Report an error in the passage at 5:09 Highlight the passage at 5:09

5:25 Relax the toes. The feet, the soles of the feet, the top of the feet, inside the feet, the ankles, relax, relax the lower legs, the calves, the shins, the Report an error in the passage at 5:25 Highlight the passage at 5:25

5:43 bones, the knees, the oil of the joint in the knees, connecting tissue, the thighs, those big muscles from the skin to the bone, to the bone marrow, the hips. Report an error in the passage at 5:43 Highlight the passage at 5:43

6:02 The way to the body into the sitting posture. Relax. And the abdomen. Just become aware of the rise and fall of the abdomen. Rising is an inwind. Falling is an outwind. Just this motion, this feeling, this sensation. Report an error in the passage at 6:02 Highlight the passage at 6:02

6:27 Whatever we connect with. Rising and falling. Rising and falling. Report an error in the passage at 6:27 Highlight the passage at 6:27

6:43 Rounding our attention in the present. Report an error in the passage at 6:43 Highlight the passage at 6:43

6:52 That just means we can relinquish any thoughts, the past, future, the external present or imagination, and just with the rising and the falling. Report an error in the passage at 6:52 Highlight the passage at 6:52

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8:09 Relax the lower back and sides, the middle back and sides, the upper back, the shoulder blades. Just becoming aware of any tension throughout the back, from the lower to the upper, the spine. Report an error in the passage at 8:09 Highlight the passage at 8:09

8:28 The muscles, the ligaments, the energy, just relaxing, unwinding, opening, accepting. We Report an error in the passage at 8:28 Highlight the passage at 8:28

8:49 have to get the body perfect, but we don't have to react. We can just accept, relax. Report an error in the passage at 8:49 Highlight the passage at 8:49

9:07 Relax the solar plexus region. Relax the upper torso, the chest, the heart. Pumping all the blood around the body, the soft smile, softness in the heart, like a blue sky, the soft smile spreading through it. Total ease and emptiness in the heart. And the lungs. Just become aware of the lungs as they fill up and empty. Report an error in the passage at 9:07 Highlight the passage at 9:07

9:43 Filling up with an inwind, emptying with an outwind. Be aware of the motion, the sensation, the feeling, or imagining. The lungs fill up with air and empty. Just this process of movement. Rising within in-wind, falling within out-wind. Allowing Report an error in the passage at 9:43 Highlight the passage at 9:43

10:26 ourselves to breathe totally comfortably. Not restricted in any way. Report an error in the passage at 10:26 Highlight the passage at 10:26

10:48 Either a little air, a lot of air. Rough or smooth, long or short. Whatever it is, it's good enough. In-wind, we know our wind. Relax the Report an error in the passage at 10:48 Highlight the passage at 10:48

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12:01 shoulders, maybe they droop a little, so they're comfortable unwinding. Lots of tension held in the shoulders. See if we can allow all the tension just to drain out from the shoulders. Unwind, click and crack. Let it all go. Report an error in the passage at 12:01 Highlight the passage at 12:01

12:30 The upper arms, the elbows, the lower arms, the wrists, the hands, the fingertips. Report an error in the passage at 12:30 Highlight the passage at 12:30

12:38 Straining all the tension out, down through the body into the earth. Relax Report an error in the passage at 12:38 Highlight the passage at 12:38

12:49 the neck and throat, even Report an error in the passage at 12:49 Highlight the passage at 12:49

12:56 the wind moving through, the pipes in the throat, the neck. Relax the chin, the jaw, the lips, the tongue, the teeth, the gums. Relax around the nose, the nostrils, the ridge of the nose, the upper cheeks and cheekbones. Around the eyes, the temples, the bags under the eyes, the eyebrows, the forehead. Just letting all tension unwind, all stress evaporate. Report an error in the passage at 12:56 Highlight the passage at 12:56

13:47 Relax the scalp, the back of the head, the sides of the head, the ears, the inner ears. Relax the skull and the brain. Relax the eyelids. Just so this softly closing and the whole physical body is waves of tranquility and peace through the body. Peace, ease, like Report an error in the passage at 13:47 Highlight the passage at 13:47

14:23 the green, the beauty of nature. Just Report an error in the passage at 14:23 Highlight the passage at 14:23

14:29 this tranquility through the body. Relax Report an error in the passage at 14:29 Highlight the passage at 14:29

14:37 the eyes and cells free from stress and tension. Even the muscles and the optical nerve connecting the eyes. Report an error in the passage at 14:37 Highlight the passage at 14:37

14:51 We're free from tension in the eyes and totally tranquil body. We turn our attention to the mind. We give up the past, all our labels of people, things, places. Just like newspaper, we can tear up and let go. They don't help us now. And the past and the future are just like this. We just tear them up and let them go. Report an error in the passage at 14:51 Highlight the passage at 14:51

15:23 Now is not the time to get involved with stories, with labels, with all of these concoctions of the mind that can come up. We just let it all be torn up and let go of, as if the whole world was to vanish, all the people, all the things. We're just sitting here in isolation, peaceful and at ease. There's nothing to do. Report an error in the passage at 15:23 Highlight the passage at 15:23

15:57 Nowhere to go, just to be with our meditation object, content with just this much. Report an error in the passage at 15:57 Highlight the passage at 15:57

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16:54 Okay, now if we have a meditation object, we can bring it up. I'll briefly just start us with the breath. So we can use the word buddho or dhammo or saṅgha. Budd with the in-breath, dho with the out-breath in the mind. Buddho, buddho. Report an error in the passage at 16:54 Highlight the passage at 16:54

17:18 Or we can be with the feelings of the breath. As the wind comes in, the nostril or the upper lip, as the wind goes out. Or we can follow it in, the point of entry, down to the heart and into the abdomen and back out. Report an error in the passage at 17:18 Highlight the passage at 17:18

17:41 Whichever one makes us comfortable, or whatever our meditation object is, we take it up. We don't doubt it. Report an error in the passage at 17:41 Highlight the passage at 17:41

17:54 I'll give a brief meditation on the breath, so we become aware of an in-wind, sensations, become aware of an out-wind, sensations. Maybe Report an error in the passage at 17:54 Highlight the passage at 17:54

18:17 naturally to begin with, it's a long in-wind and a long out-wind. No Report an error in the passage at 18:17 Highlight the passage at 18:17

18:38 tightness, light as a feather. Maybe Report an error in the passage at 18:38 Highlight the passage at 18:38

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19:50 the breath starts to become a bit shorter or more refined, a softer feeling. We just know this with the in-wind. Report an error in the passage at 19:50 Highlight the passage at 19:50

20:03 Letting go of anything else, just having a delight, love and contentment with our meditation object, no matter the experience. The Report an error in the passage at 20:03 Highlight the passage at 20:03

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20:48 whole of the in-wind, the whole of the out-wind, the beginning, middle and end, is Report an error in the passage at 20:48 Highlight the passage at 20:48

21:01 totality. Report an error in the passage at 21:01 Highlight the passage at 21:01

21:22 Tranquilizing an in-wind, tranquilizing an out-wind, just like we tranquilize the bodily formations of the physical body. Now we tranquilize the bodily formations of an in-wind. We tranquilize the bodily formations of an out-wind. All our efforts to stilling, tranquilizing, bringing to serenity an in-wind. Report an error in the passage at 21:22 Highlight the passage at 21:22

21:50 Stilling, tranquilizing, bringing to serenity an out-wind. With Report an error in the passage at 21:50 Highlight the passage at 21:50

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23:20 this sensation of stillness, tranquility, serenity with the breath, we can develop delight and ease. Just try and unify the mind with this simple object. Content with whatever arises. Being skillful and at ease. I'll be silent for the rest of the meditation. It's Report an error in the passage at 23:20 Highlight the passage at 23:20

· · · silence, 12 minutes

36:04 always easy. Sometimes it's easy. So we learn the causes. Like Lungta Mahaboa said, we learn to be able to repeat what we have done before. And Report an error in the passage at 36:04 Highlight the passage at 36:04

36:23 the mind is like a monkey. We never expect a monkey to sit still. Like Lumpur Thon said, that we can keep training the mind, become more skilled, inclined towards peace. Report an error in the passage at 36:23 Highlight the passage at 36:23

37:03 [chanting]

37:23 utang tamak sangka namassami. The Report an error in the passage at 37:23 Highlight the passage at 37:23

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38:04 title of the talk today is On the Brink. The meaning of On the Brink is the point where a new or different situation is about to begin. Report an error in the passage at 38:04 Highlight the passage at 38:04

38:17 I think this is an important topic because sometimes in the practice It's difficult to get our minds to focus and be consistent. Sometimes Report an error in the passage at 38:17 Highlight the passage at 38:17

38:32 when we practice, some people can feel that they can't do it or they lose their inspiration or sickness or aches in the body or getting distracted or running into... All kinds of difficulties that arise just by having a human body living in the world and the mind. We can always find that things are not going the way that we feel that they should or that we are losing hope or that we become bored or upset. Report an error in the passage at 38:32 Highlight the passage at 38:32

39:16 Our minds might become slightly unbalanced or we get angry at others or we get... irritated or the mind starts chasing after sense desires or worrying. People can worry themselves sick. You've been staying up all night with worrying. And so we have to see that these are just all tendencies of the world. Report an error in the passage at 39:16 Highlight the passage at 39:16

39:45 So having this sense that we can always turn a new page. That we can always have an opportunity to be on the brink means that we can live in a way where every day we can have this love for the dharma from when we wake up in the morning through the day to at night. That we're always coming back to how can I live well? How can I develop the Eightfold Path? These teachings of Anicca Dukkha. Report an error in the passage at 39:45 Highlight the passage at 39:45

40:20 Anattā are not easy to understand. They require us to contemplate again and again and again. They require us to have purity in our heart, purity in our actions, purity in our speech, purity in our thoughts, but it doesn't happen all at once. Report an error in the passage at 40:20 Highlight the passage at 40:20

40:42 Now when have you seen a master carpenter? Just become a master carpenter in a day. It takes time to develop skills, to learn a trade, to become good at it, to become excellent at it. It's not easy. And so, learning to become the kings and queens of our own lives, kings and queens of our own actions, a better version of ourselves, so we don't lose hope, we don't feel that we can't do it, we don't worry when we're... Report an error in the passage at 40:42 Highlight the passage at 40:42

41:20 We come across sickness or we make mistakes. We know how to forgive. We know how to cover over, like with mud and grass. In the old days they used to make the mud bricks. You get the mud and you get the hay or the old cloth or whatever it is and you mix it together and you make a brick. So it's like covering over with mud and grass. So we always know. Report an error in the passage at 41:20 Highlight the passage at 41:20

41:48 How to turn over this new page, how to have a fresh heart, a good heart, a heart that has these flowers of dharma, that has all of the eight factors of the Eightfold Path. And we have to learn what they are, not just what's written in the books, but we have to contemplate after we develop peace. In our meditation sometimes we take these things up and we see what is right view. We have right view that leads to heaven and so this is attaching to goodness. Report an error in the passage at 41:48 Highlight the passage at 41:48

42:32 This is the first level of our practice. We have to see. If we do good it leads to a heavenly state. If we encourage others to do good it leads them to a heavenly state. And so this is the first level, learning what right view of the world is. And this is like the carrot stick. And then we can learn what right view of the dharma is. Report an error in the passage at 42:32 Highlight the passage at 42:32

42:56 And it's more refined, giving up of our defilements, giving up of all the things that block us from being a better person. Report an error in the passage at 42:56 Highlight the passage at 42:56

43:08 So we have right intention. There's the three types of right intention. attention. Non-hatred. So we're learning to have mettā, to have peace and equanimity rather than anger. We know how to bring the mind into a good state or a cool state so we don't have to burn with the fire of anger. We know how to hold our tongue. We know how to not react. We know how to go back. Report an error in the passage at 43:08 Highlight the passage at 43:08

43:41 To our own space, away from others when these things arise, so we never act out of a hot mind. Because hotness only brings hotness. Whatever we do when the mind is hot is just going to bring us suffering and others suffering. There's nothing good there. And then the thought of non-cruelty. And this is where we learn. Report an error in the passage at 43:41 Highlight the passage at 43:41

44:10 To appreciate all life, all realms of existence. Obviously we can see the human realm and the animal realm, so we can direct our attention here. Caring for every single being, like they're our mother or our father, our brother or our sister, our relative. Every little being, from the tiniest of ant and cockroach. Report an error in the passage at 44:10 Highlight the passage at 44:10

44:38 To the humans, the poor people, the sick people in hospitals, the people in slums, the people with all kinds of health issues, the people who are angry, the people in prisons, the leaders of the world, the neighbours, every single being, we know how to have this non-cruelty towards. Report an error in the passage at 44:38 Highlight the passage at 44:38

45:06 On the most beautiful end is compassion, that we wish, may these beings be free from suffering, and may I be free from suffering. And so we can have this beautiful thought of compassion to all beings. We see that we're all brothers and sisters in suffering. And as we learn to cultivate this, Then the evil of cruelty starts to fall away from the mind. We learn how to have this goodness to even the smallest of beings. Report an error in the passage at 45:06 Highlight the passage at 45:06

45:47 And then thoughts of renunciation, nekama. So this is very refined. This is teaching the mind that it shouldn't just chase after sense pleasures. So for lay people, delighting in generosity, delighting in helping others, delighting in not always following after sense desires, knowing how to restrain the mind and keep it within healthy limits. Report an error in the passage at 45:47 Highlight the passage at 45:47

46:17 Obviously lay people can enjoy the five strands of sense pleasures, but it's better, of course, to have our focus on a heavenly mind and heavenly actions. And so it requires a level of keeping precepts, of developing our actions so that this nekama is complete. And at the very refined level, it's like learning to become a monk or a nun in the heart. And so we can gather the mind, we can focus the mind, because without nekama, without renunciation, It's very hard for the mind to become peaceful. So on the first level there's the generosity, the precepts, the sīla, the good actions by the body, speech and mind. Report an error in the passage at 46:17 Highlight the passage at 46:17

47:12 And then there's this more refined level of nekama where we learn to be able to turn the mind inwards and not get involved with sights and sounds and smells and tastes and touch. So this is where we start to develop our stronger mindfulness directed at the four foundations of mindfulness. And then as we move from the right intentions of the mind and then we have the four kinds of right speech where we have this abstention, this abandoning, this turning away from false speech. Report an error in the passage at 47:12 Highlight the passage at 47:12

47:58 We learn not to speak speech that is not true and we hold ourselves to truth and then we abandon harsh speech so that our speech is beautiful and then we abandon our gossip, our speech which is divisive. We're dividing these people from those people and we learn to bring harmony between people. And then idle chatter, which is the most refined, where we learn to control the amount of speech and the type of speech. Report an error in the passage at 47:58 Highlight the passage at 47:58

48:40 And this is a difficult one, but this is in the process of practicing the Eightfold Path. If we want the mind to unify, if we want the mind to gather, then we need to learn to control our speech. We need to learn to bring our speech into new ways, into goodness, and not rattle on too much. And so, whichever kind of wrong speech we have, it's just something that we have to look personally into our heart. How can we develop this? Report an error in the passage at 48:40 Highlight the passage at 48:40

49:20 How can we practice this? I remember as a junior monk, I had a lot of issues. With gossip, the mind would just get upset with people and want to complain. So you have to be very careful just to see where the mind is going because if you talk, if you think about these things and then you're going to talk about these things. Report an error in the passage at 49:20 Highlight the passage at 49:20

49:42 And so the four kinds of wrong speech, if one was to do all of them, the Buddha said it's as if to pick somebody up and drop them straight in hell. Just those four kinds of rights. Report an error in the passage at 49:42 Highlight the passage at 49:42

49:56 And likewise, the four kinds of right speech. If one was just to develop those four kinds of right speech, it would be enough to pick somebody up and drop them in heaven. So we can see these are useful things. And then, right action. This is like learning not to kill, not to steal, not to have sexual misconduct. Report an error in the passage at 49:56 Highlight the passage at 49:56

50:26 So these are connected to the precepts. And also from that, when we go into livelihood, these are like, you can't trade humans, you can't trade animals for killing, you can't trade poison, you can't be an executioner. All the kinds of livelihood. Or a monk, you know, a monk, there's certain kinds of things they're not meant to do. They're not meant to do accounting or things with money and so on. Report an error in the passage at 50:26 Highlight the passage at 50:26

51:09 So depending if we're a lay person or we're ordained, there's the right kinds of livelihood, the right kinds of things that we're meant to be doing so we're not harming ourselves and others. And then we have the right effort. So the four kinds of right effort. So this is different from energy. So right effort is basically the way that we learn to overcome bad, unwholesome, unskillful and evil states in the mind and then prevent them from arising again. Report an error in the passage at 51:09 Highlight the passage at 51:09

51:49 And then the way that we learn to develop wholesome, skillful, helpful, wise states of mind. And we learn to sustain them and bring them to completion. And so the four efforts are supreme because any part of our lives we can just apply these four things to. Any action we can apply these four things to. So right there we can bring our practice and our life to the brink because we can change, we can develop. Report an error in the passage at 51:49 Highlight the passage at 51:49

52:27 We can turn a new page. We can overcome old bad habits and we can develop new good habits. And so it's very important to see these tools that the Buddha has given us. This is like learning to garden. You have to take out the weeds and all the scraggly trees and you keep the healthy trees and you remove all the weeds. Report an error in the passage at 52:27 Highlight the passage at 52:27

52:54 And you have places for the plants and so on. And you know how to fertilize and water and make sure it has enough sun, not too much, and so on. So you learn all the factors of gardening to take care of that garden, like a king's gardener, like a royal gardener. And so it is with our minds. And then once we have that, then the four foundations of mindfulness. We call it mindfulness. Report an error in the passage at 52:54 Highlight the passage at 52:54

53:24 But mindfulness refers to the very specific teaching of the four foundations of mindfulness. So as we learn to become a Buddhist, as we learn to grow in the Buddhist teachings, then no matter what we do, if we just keep our mind within the four foundations of mindfulness, and that's all we do, then we will be in the field of the wholesome. Report an error in the passage at 53:24 Highlight the passage at 53:24

53:48 Because all of those four foundations of mindfulness It's the very pillars of the Buddha's teachings that if we were practicing the four foundations of mindfulness then we would be within the Eightfold Path because the fourth foundation is the contemplation of dharma. So within that is the Eightfold Path. So this is why it's said that the four foundations of mindfulness are the one path. Report an error in the passage at 53:48 Highlight the passage at 53:48

54:20 Because it means that it's also a synonym for the Eightfold Path. And as I've said before, mindfulness of the first foundation is what we're taught to focus on. Report an error in the passage at 54:20 Highlight the passage at 54:20

54:37 And of course we can just go and look up what these teachings are, or we can go to the books or we can ask the teachers. And so this is basically, when we say sati, This is what we're doing. We're being mindful of the body, or mindful of feelings, or mindful of mind states, or mindful of the truths of the Buddha, like the five hindrances of the seven factors of awakening or the eightfold path. Report an error in the passage at 54:37 Highlight the passage at 54:37

55:06 We're keeping the mind within these fields of dharma. So it's like there's a fence around four fields. As long as we stay within those four fields, No harm will come to us. We'll be well and happy. And so then we have samādhi. So samādhi is the four jhānas. So this is where we develop the ability for the mind to sustain its attention, to keep its object. Report an error in the passage at 55:06 Highlight the passage at 55:06

55:40 And so we start to learn to unify the mind. And as the mind learns to unify, stay with its object, And then the various factors start to arise, like tranquility in the body and joy and happiness and ease in the mind. And as these states develop, bit by bit, it goes all the way to equanimity, where the mind withdraws from all objects and becomes totally calm and equanimous. Report an error in the passage at 55:40 Highlight the passage at 55:40

56:13 And so, however, we practice. We just walk one step at a time, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, up and down the eightfold path. Report an error in the passage at 56:13 Highlight the passage at 56:13

56:31 But I just wanted to say today, it's this love for the dharma, it's this living for the dharma, it's keeping our mind on the dharma and whatever difficulties we have, we know how to let go. Report an error in the passage at 56:31 Highlight the passage at 56:31

56:48 of anger, of boredom, of hate, of irritation, the stories of the mind, the things of the world, and we just come back to this timeless dharma. This is bringing the mind to the brink, developing anew. And so this is something we can all apply ourselves to. Report an error in the passage at 56:48 Highlight the passage at 56:48

· · · silence, 1 minute

57:42 let us chant the verses of sharing in aspiration through the goodness that arises from my... May my spiritual teachers and guides of great virtue, my mother, my father, and my relatives, the sun and the moon, and all virtuous leaders of the world, May the highest gods and evil forces, celestial beings, guardian spirits of the earth, and the lord of death, may those who are friendly, indifferent or hostile, may all beings receive the blessings of my life. Report an error in the passage at 57:42 Highlight the passage at 57:42

58:32 May they soon attain the three-fold bliss and realize the deathless. Through the goodness that arises from my practice and through this act of sharing, may all desires and attachments quickly cease and all harmful states of mind until I realize nirvāṇa in every kind of birth. May I have an upright mind with mindfulness and wisdom. Report an error in the passage at 58:32 Highlight the passage at 58:32

59:07 May the forces of delusion not take hold, nor weaken my resolve. The Buddha is my excellent refuge, and surpasses the protection of the Dharma. The solitary Buddha is my noble Lord. The Saṅgha is my supreme support. Through the supreme power of all these, May darkness and illusion be dispelled. We'll give the lady a blessing. Report an error in the passage at 59:07 Highlight the passage at 59:07

1:01:33 Nupawena Sada Soti Pawanjuti Pawatu Sapa Manggalang Rakantu Sapa Dewata Sapa Sangkanupawena Sada Soti Pawanjuti Shantideva. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:33 Highlight the passage at 1:01:33