We are All the Same

0:00 It's nice to sit for a little while, even if it's a very, very short time. And it's nice to see, at least for me, it was nice to see that the breath, the smoothness of the breath really indicates very, very nicely what's happening in your mind. And I could see that my breath was very, very smooth at the end. Report an error in the passage at 0:00 Highlight the passage at 0:00

0:24 And the more you follow with that smooth breath, if you sit by yourself, And you just keep looking, the smoother you got, the more you pay attention to that kind of kind, beautiful, smooth path of the breath, the further it takes you in. And the further you go in, the more and more refined it becomes. And that kind of refinement, it just turns into very, very soft qualities and that takes you very, very deep into meditation. Report an error in the passage at 0:24 Highlight the passage at 0:24

0:59 And that's the path to enlightenment. It is true. Breath meditation takes you all the way to the deep meditations and that is the way to get enlightened. It's interesting. There's not much you have to do. Just follow the beauty of the breath. People sometimes we think we need to fight our defilements, do all kind of things. Report an error in the passage at 0:59 Highlight the passage at 0:59

1:32 There's not much you can do about it, actually, in mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:32 Highlight the passage at 1:32

1:39 Okay, so it's the Friday night talk and I was asked to come here. Ajahn Brahm is in Bali. He's gone to holiday. Terrible. Report an error in the passage at 1:39 Highlight the passage at 1:39

1:57 No, he's doing a retreat in Bali, but I think it's a nice place to do it. But knowing Ajahn Brahm, you know what he does every time he goes somewhere? Report an error in the passage at 1:57 Highlight the passage at 1:57

2:06 Anywhere he goes, he always, because you go to a hotel room, he always goes first to the curtains and he always closes the curtains. He never looks at anything. It's amazing. I don't know. His mind is so bright. Same with like in his office. You come to Borignana and every time you would come to his office, you don't go there that often, but once in a while I go there. Report an error in the passage at 2:06 Highlight the passage at 2:06

2:29 I used to clean it. And when you're a young monk, until you're five years as a monk, you always clean his cave and his office. And his office, he's got the shutters constantly semi-closed. There's little slits you can through. There's just a tiny bit of light coming through. And he's sitting 24-7, if it's in the monastery, he sits most of the time in his cave. Report an error in the passage at 2:29 Highlight the passage at 2:29

2:55 And his cave, if you've been there, most of you have or a lot of you have, it's completely dark. There is no windows there. There is nothing. He doesn't never take his computer there. It just closes. Every time he comes to monastery, whether he comes from Bali or somewhere in the world, you just hear him walking straight up the hill, goes in his cave, you just hear there's like whoomp. Report an error in the passage at 2:55 Highlight the passage at 2:55

3:18 He closes the first door and it's like whoomp, the second door. And it's like hermetically sealed. Can you imagine sitting yourself, like imagine for yourself for a little while. You go into completely dark space and you just sit there all day. Report an error in the passage at 3:18 Highlight the passage at 3:18

3:39 Can you do that? Can you be in day after day? What do you think it does for your mind in completely darkness? You would think that it goes into this kind of dark space, but it's opposite for somebody who can meditate well. Report an error in the passage at 3:39 Highlight the passage at 3:39

3:56 Because you're going into the mind. And I'm not making this up. Literally, I've lived with him 16 years now. I know exactly how he works. He's there all the time. Even like, you know, in the morning we do a little work period. We go, we have a little breakfast between 6.30, 7. Then 7.15 we have a little work meeting. And all the monks are like, monks are really good. We do like, oh, you do this. Report an error in the passage at 3:56 Highlight the passage at 3:56

4:25 Within five minutes, almost without exceptions, everybody has to work, and bam, off we go. And Ajahn Brahm gets together, goes back to his office, and then any time I have something, I've been a bit more in office now, I'm getting a bit more senior now, so I have to do a bit more office work, and I have some kind of questions like, oh, Ajahn Brahm is not replying to my emails. Report an error in the passage at 4:25 Highlight the passage at 4:25

4:48 No, because he's not in the office. He's in his cave. I have a few times, like, Over 16 years, there's been very few handful of times where I was like, I need to go and talk to him. And I go like, you go and knock on this office door in the morning. It's a work period. He's not there. He's in his cave. We never go and knock on his cave. Never. It's almost like it's one of these like things you just don't do. Report an error in the passage at 4:48 Highlight the passage at 4:48

5:18 I mean, usually we don't go to anybody's huts. All the monks' huts is... It's a bit of a sacred space. All the monks, we have our own hut. And there's a bit of a, like you can invite somebody. It's like, oh, you want to come to my hut for tea? Like rarely we invite each other. Some monks, they're a bit more social. I don't know the other monks too well. I personally like almost never go to anybody else's hut. Report an error in the passage at 5:18 Highlight the passage at 5:18

5:42 Like over the 16 years. I've had few friends, like I have few friends in the monastery, but very, very rarely, few times a year I've visited somebody. Last few years, I really don't remember when I've been in anybody's heart or anybody really been in my heart. Report an error in the passage at 5:42 Highlight the passage at 5:42

5:59 Sometimes I have some friends coming, they really want to see me. I said, oh, sure, come. But monks, no, we don't visit. You stay in your heart. That's really the lifestyle we have. And it's really, it's a nice lifestyle because it, It gives us this kind of separation from the world. And you become, as a monastic, you become more and more refined. Report an error in the passage at 5:59 Highlight the passage at 5:59

6:23 You think we would perhaps discuss with each other about something, things, or we don't. It's really, you have those work periods or periods of time at the day until lunchtime, and you come to the monastery at 10.30, we have the lunch. After that, there's a little bit of perhaps discussion among the monks, but I'm not one of those monks. I usually just go always back to my hut. Report an error in the passage at 6:23 Highlight the passage at 6:23

6:49 And life becomes very, very refined. It's not like you isolate. It's like, you know, like there's this kind of typical idea of hermit, where you become a bit wild. You have this kind of wild eyes, and you come out, and you don't wash yourself. Report an error in the passage at 6:49 Highlight the passage at 6:49

7:08 It's the opposite. In monastic, what happens is you become quite refined, actually, refined character, not that we're very refined in certain ways. Perhaps we don't wash our clothes enough. People complain sometimes we smell. Yes, and perhaps I'm sometimes lazy to go to the shower because it takes a... Report an error in the passage at 7:08 Highlight the passage at 7:08

7:35 You know, I have one of the only huts in the monastery where I have my own shower. But a lot of us, you always have to walk somewhere. So sometimes you just sort of, I can't be bothered. It's like, why do I need to go to the shower? I was like, ah, I showered last week already. It's good enough. Report an error in the passage at 7:35 Highlight the passage at 7:35

7:54 So if you see, sometimes I have a lot of beard because it means that I haven't taken a shower for as long as I have the beard. So it's like, that's an indication. I was like, how long I haven't showered. I think I'll... I don't know if you need to know this, but I think I washed my robe now a few weeks ago. I went to Japan, so that was interesting. Report an error in the passage at 7:54 Highlight the passage at 7:54

8:18 So I was like, oh, it's better not to be very smelly when I go to Japan. Go to airport, an airplane, and sitting next to somebody. People don't want to sit next to somebody who's reeking. So I was like... Report an error in the passage at 8:18 Highlight the passage at 8:18

8:33 Yeah, okay, I washed my robe, you know, I was like, clean, I was like, oh, travel, oh, it's a lot of work, go to Hong Kong, have to eat in this Michelin star restaurant, I was like, yeah, you know how it is, I was like, go to Hong Kong. Report an error in the passage at 8:33 Highlight the passage at 8:33

8:49 Stay there, go on another airplane, go to Japan. It's like, oh, people greet you. It's like, oh, give you flowers. Oh, yeah, you got flowers. Go into the limousine. It's like, oh, there's all these fancy buttons. I love buttons. You go to fancy cars. It's like, I go in the back seat. There's like three-hour drive towards this hotel. Report an error in the passage at 8:49 Highlight the passage at 8:49

9:09 So I start fiddling with the... You have the TV there and all these buttons, so I'm pushing all the buttons in the backseat. I'm by myself there. I like cars, so I'm like geeking out. I'm in this limo, I'm stretching my legs. I was like, oh yeah, this is the life. Whatever. I go to this, you know, in Japan, I'm there for a week. Report an error in the passage at 9:09 Highlight the passage at 9:09

9:36 You know, big conference. Fancy people, UN people, presidents, kings. Hello, yeah, king, how are you doing? How is it there? In these big halls, important people, not me, other important people. I'm just goofing around there. I remember we were going into this big meeting. I don't know how many people. 150,000 people, 140,000 people in this meeting, and they... Report an error in the passage at 9:36 Highlight the passage at 9:36

10:07 That day, every other day, we're in these limousines, like, you know, black limousines, with the flags and everything, and people waving flags at you, and you're waving them, hello, hello, hello, you know, you push down the window, well, they do it for you, you're in the limousine, so the driver does these things, you know, you're in the back of the limousine, so people are waving flags, you're like, hello, how are you doing? Report an error in the passage at 10:07 Highlight the passage at 10:07

10:33 You feel like the queen, you know, hi. Report an error in the passage at 10:33 Highlight the passage at 10:33

10:39 Hello. You see rows of people. Anyways, what was I talking about? So, like, yeah. So, we go. It's like one day. So, they put us few monks into these small buses and you go in there. It's like, oh, there's going to be 150,000 people. It's like we go into this side and there's like, oh, now, Venerables, if you would like to, you know, please go to the toilet. Report an error in the passage at 10:39 Highlight the passage at 10:39

11:01 And I was like, I don't need to go to the toilet. Do I have to? I always like to make fun of everybody and say, oh, the situation, and everybody's laughing, so it was nice. I said, okay, okay, I go. I tried to squeeze as much as I can. Report an error in the passage at 11:01 Highlight the passage at 11:01

11:18 So they thought it was funny because I was like, okay, at least somebody has a sense of humor. What's the point of these kind of things? You see these people, like I said, literally there's kings on these big halls, and you see the light is shining on them. And everybody's very serious on these big things, Buddhist things. We're supposed to be serious, right? We're religious leaders of all sorts. Report an error in the passage at 11:18 Highlight the passage at 11:18

11:45 I was representing Australia. I barely speak English. Report an error in the passage at 11:45 Highlight the passage at 11:45

11:52 Maybe you haven't noticed that I'm not Australian. Everywhere it goes, you don't sound Australian. No, I'm not. I was representing Australia. Usually it's Ajahn Brahm. So we usually send from here, Australia. Ajahn Brahm is the one we sent. Report an error in the passage at 11:52 Highlight the passage at 11:52

12:07 So this year they went down the list. It was like, oh, they called, Ajahn Suchado, can you go? And he said, ah, I'm not going. Report an error in the passage at 12:07 Highlight the passage at 12:07

12:18 Ajahn Pramali, you want to go? No, I'm in somewhere. They go down the list and it's like, Ajahn Mudito, you want to? It's like, me? Report an error in the passage at 12:18 Highlight the passage at 12:18

12:27 Yeah, we don't have anybody else we can send. Well, okay, I sacrificed myself, you know. So they sent me, so I was, I was representing you, Australian Buddhist, how do you feel? Like, I'll probably get feedback coming, like, don't send him again. Report an error in the passage at 12:27 Highlight the passage at 12:27

12:49 No, it was a good trip. Oh yeah, and so I went there, yeah, fancy food, fancy places, big events. Then I flew back. Yeah, now I've been back for a week. I still haven't washed my rope. Yeah, that's the point. So monks, we tend to smell. It's okay. You know, I come from Ajahn Brahm tradition. Look, I've been a monk now, literally, I've been in this, not this robe, but I have three other robes before this, but I've been wearing robes for 16 years now. Report an error in the passage at 12:49 Highlight the passage at 12:49

13:24 I still don't know how to wear this. I come from Ajahn Brahm tradition. It's sort of like you allow it to fall and, you know, like you come here and you see Ajahn Brahm, he's very untressed sometimes. Report an error in the passage at 13:24 Highlight the passage at 13:24

13:39 But it's nice to come from this kind of tradition and from this way of practicing. There's many different ways and it was quite interesting for me actually to see all different traditions. So like all these monks, they were monks from 51 countries. Report an error in the passage at 13:39 Highlight the passage at 13:39

13:59 And it's quite, it was, again, it's really nice reminder for me. I was one of the only forest monks. You don't actually... Realize perhaps that there's all these different traditions. Okay, sure, we have the Tibetan tradition, which is Vajrayana. There's like Zen monks. There's Mahāyāna monks. You know, all these different sects and their different traditions. As a monastic, because you study these things, and you know, because you've been around monastics, so you know how... Report an error in the passage at 13:59 Highlight the passage at 13:59

14:31 Like all these different traditions work and where they come from. And there's like, some monks are more senior and some monks are like more educated. But quite often they come from like large temples, sort of, we call them temples. Very rarely you see in this kind of conference somebody like where we come from, our tradition. Report an error in the passage at 14:31 Highlight the passage at 14:31

14:53 I don't just mean Buddhist society of Western Australia, but this kind of forest tradition which I'm representing. It is very strange for me as a forest monk, so to speak, to go from this like little hut in the forest where I don't barely have to wash myself to be sort of rubbing shoulders with UN delegates and literally like kings from different countries. Report an error in the passage at 14:53 Highlight the passage at 14:53

15:22 And you start like, oh yeah, I haven't washed myself. I'll be fine, they don't notice. But, so, But a lot of these people, they're so used to it. They're used to sort of navigating these kind of things, and there's diplomats in these kind of things, like they send these different countries, especially from the Buddhist countries, whether it's Thailand or Cambodia, and you see these diplomats. Report an error in the passage at 15:22 Highlight the passage at 15:22

15:51 And it's a different kind of breed of people. See, I come from a farm. We're potato farmers. So I'm just sort of used to that. I grew up a lot of time with my grandma used to take us. They used to dump us there, my mom and dad. They were too busy with their own things. So grandma was a widow. She was farming by herself. Report an error in the passage at 15:51 Highlight the passage at 15:51

16:15 She was farming with a horse. So in the morning, she goes and we had to shovel the dung. And then coming in the spring, there's a big heap of dung. And then you go and take it into the field. And we have an outhouse. We didn't have, you know, we didn't have a toilet inside. We had to go to an outhouse and you're always just freaking out whether you're going to drop through that big hole because you're a little kid and your bum is small and the hole was big. Report an error in the passage at 16:15 Highlight the passage at 16:15

16:42 So you're just like, try to hold yourself not to fall into that abyss. And because it was also the outhouse next to where the animal dung went, so it was quite high. So there was actually a bit of a drop. Report an error in the passage at 16:42 Highlight the passage at 16:42

16:57 So you can imagine, like, I come from that kind of background, and then you just see these people, and they feel really like different kinds of people. But I always look at this like humans are humans, right? I'm sure they had to brush their teeth in the morning. No, but somebody's going to call to this like, oh, can I brush your teeth, Mr. Report an error in the passage at 16:57 Highlight the passage at 16:57

17:15 President? They wake up in the morning. Sure, they don't probably have to do a lot of other things that us, you know, plebs have to do. But I'm sure they brush their own teeth. Maybe. I don't know. I don't spend a lot of time. If somebody knows, if you're one of these people, if somebody brushes your teeth, let me know. Interesting to know how it works. Report an error in the passage at 17:15 Highlight the passage at 17:15

17:40 I've read in history, the kings of France, they actually had people wiping their bums with scented towels. That's nice. I wonder, yeah, it might be nice. One thing in Japan, it was actually quite interesting. they have those the toilets which You know, you have another, I like buttons. Like I said, I went to the limousine, I was pushing buttons. It's like they have all these buttons when you go to the toilet and it sprays everywhere. Report an error in the passage at 17:40 Highlight the passage at 17:40

18:14 Wow. So one reason to go to Japan was those fancy toilets. But it's, yeah, so why I'm talking about this thing, I'm just thinking people, we're all the same. It's the dhamma. The Buddhist teaching is sort of like, I like that, you know, like I was drawn to this dharma and this lifestyle. People ask us all the time, like, oh, why did you become a monk? Report an error in the passage at 18:14 Highlight the passage at 18:14

18:45 And obviously it was because I was just too lazy to work and my girlfriend left me and, you know, all those other good reasons. But I'm drawn to the dharma, the Buddhist teaching, because it's reality. It's how the world works. So even though I'm looking at these people like, oh yeah, they're different kind of people, so to speak, but they're the same. The suffering is the same for all of us. Report an error in the passage at 18:45 Highlight the passage at 18:45

19:15 Whether it was suffering of what I grew up with, my grandma being a widow, young age, and having to work really hard on the farm, just taking care of the animals, and you're just... You know, I have a very small income and you're worried about a lot of things and then you have kids running around there. There's a certain kind of suffering there. Report an error in the passage at 19:15 Highlight the passage at 19:15

19:35 But then I see these big people on these podiums and I was like, same kind of suffering. It's not like I feel sorry for them or I feel like, oh, there's something special. It's just, ah, people. Like, isn't it? We're all the same. When... You're meditating. That's the interesting thing, which is, again, one of the things which I love about this lifestyle, being a monk. It's a bit tough sometimes, especially when you're a young monk. Report an error in the passage at 19:35 Highlight the passage at 19:35

20:04 Because, like I said, all the monks, we have a little hut in the forest. You're by yourself. There's not much distractions there. There's not much you can do. You're by yourself, especially when we have long retreats. I've been monk, so now it's my 15th Vassa, we call it by Vassa, and then you go by seniority. Report an error in the passage at 20:04 Highlight the passage at 20:04

20:23 So it's my 15th sort of rains retreats. We count them by how many rains you've been. So I've been, this is my 15th rains as a fully ordained monk. So if you count 15 times three months, I'm really bad at math, but I think it's something like four years. So four years I've been on silent retreat. So I spend a lot of time by myself in that forest, in these small huts. And when you spend a lot of time by yourself, you start seeing how your mind works. Report an error in the passage at 20:23 Highlight the passage at 20:23

20:57 And by seeing your own mind, you know that other people's minds are the same. There's no difference. It's interesting that sometimes we have this othering, is the fancy word. Report an error in the passage at 20:57 Highlight the passage at 20:57

21:45 a king of some sort, or UN representative, or one of these people, The names of those sufferings are very different. But I'm sure you still worry about your mom getting sick or your children are not behaving. Report an error in the passage at 21:45 Highlight the passage at 21:45

22:03 I'm sure you worry about those kind of things. I'm not just sure. It is the reality. And reality is dhamma. There's really... A lot of ways we could translate the word dhamma. Quite often we say dhamma is the Buddhist teaching, but dhamma is really reality. It is how the world works. We cannot escape suffering. We're all bound by those things. Like everything is constantly changing. Report an error in the passage at 22:03 Highlight the passage at 22:03

22:39 Everything is constantly in move. Unreliable, Ajahn Brahm likes to call it. I love that idea. It's one of the key things which really, when I started practicing 20 odd years ago, one of the first teachings, I've said it too many times, perhaps I always say when I come and give these talks here, it's one of the things which one of the early teachers told me that if Report an error in the passage at 22:39 Highlight the passage at 22:39

23:08 you look anywhere outside yourself, look at this building, do you think it's always going to stay the same? Or will it change? If you look at the Perth as the city, do you think it's always going to be the same? Or is it going to change? If you look at our Earth, the little ball, beautiful green ball, green, blue things in the space, do you think it's always going to be the same? Report an error in the passage at 23:08 Highlight the passage at 23:08

23:44 Or is it always constantly changing? Or anywhere in the universe? Report an error in the passage at 23:44 Highlight the passage at 23:44

23:53 Everything is constantly changing. It's unreliable. And if you look at yourself, in your own mind, it's the same. Everything is constantly changing. Everything is unreliable. What can you control in your life? Report an error in the passage at 23:53 Highlight the passage at 23:53

24:14 Nothing. So it's not your fault you're suffering. It's just how it is. It's just how the world is made, or everything is made. Report an error in the passage at 24:14 Highlight the passage at 24:14

24:28 It's a basic teaching of Buddha. I love it. And that's what really drew me into Buddhism. We don't have to believe in things. It has to match the reality. It's not faith in a sense. Is Buddhism a religion? Well, that's, I'm telling you, that place I went to Japan, it really has a lot of those kind of what organized religion would look like. Report an error in the passage at 24:28 Highlight the passage at 24:28

24:59 A lot of people with fancy clothing. Yeah, not me. I still haven't washed my rope. I have holes in my rope. I was trying to patch them before I went there. Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 24:59 Highlight the passage at 24:59

25:17 The nice thing about Buddhist society in West Australia, this is not organized religion. We disorganize religion. Never know what's going to happen. Especially when you come here with the big events or my talks. Out of control. But it's interesting that you look at your own mind and that's... Report an error in the passage at 25:17 Highlight the passage at 25:17

25:39 Like I said, when you spend more time meditating, it's hard to really pinpoint why just by sitting quietly, why does it affect our lives? What makes it, what changes? But yet it has a tremendous effect on us just by sitting quietly. We all know it. That's why we're here. We all know that this practice, meditation practice alone, Has tremendous effect. And that's why a lot of people watch these things online. That's why a lot of people, a lot of you, you come here. That's a fact. Report an error in the passage at 25:39 Highlight the passage at 25:39

26:17 You've been just realizing that there's a lot of suffering in the world. And you just want to sit by yourself. And some reason, something changes. Even us, teachers, we don't really know. You try to ask Ajahn Brahm, he said it's difficult to really pinpoint. But something changes. Just by sitting quietly. Meditating we call it. It is interesting. We not really try to somehow become wiser in a sense. Report an error in the passage at 26:17 Highlight the passage at 26:17

26:48 You're not going to be able to become a person who is like predicting future. Oh, I will now figure out how I avoid suffering. I become this kind of person by meditating. It's not going to work. No. You won't be able to because life always throws us the curveball. The least thing you expect. Report an error in the passage at 26:48 Highlight the passage at 26:48

27:14 Or you become this kind of person, you don't feel anything. That's really the opposite. You shouldn't become that. I don't like, really don't like that. I've seen, I've been sort of in these circles enough time. I know people, meditators, you think that you become equanimous. You become this kind of person, I don't feel anything. Not a good sign. Don't become that person. Report an error in the passage at 27:14 Highlight the passage at 27:14

27:45 Become a person who feels. You don't feel up and down, up and down. You don't become that kind of person, but compassion starts arising. Sort of like tune in to other people's suffering. You see your own mind, and because of that, you know how other people's mind works. We're all the same. We're all the same. Not exactly, but we're not similar either. Report an error in the passage at 27:45 Highlight the passage at 27:45

28:16 We're not better or worse. or different or same. Don't label yourself. That's not the point. But you can start seeing that it's sort of like, ah, mind-mind works like this. Everybody's like that. And then compassion starts arising. You have a lot of less hatred. You have a lot less greed for the world. Report an error in the passage at 28:16 Highlight the passage at 28:16

28:40 All those things, all of these are what happens naturally just by looking in your own mind. So never... Give up meditating. Never think that you have to become a religious person. Never think that you have to believe in all these kind of doctrines. Report an error in the passage at 28:40 Highlight the passage at 28:40

29:07 As long as you trust yourself, it's good enough. Report an error in the passage at 29:07 Highlight the passage at 29:07

29:13 So it's one of those things which is really nice solace for me that anywhere I go in the world, I might be... I might come from a different place than everybody else, or I might be behaving differently. But I look at people and I think, I like them. I like people. I like kings. I like, you know, these people who went to fancy schools. Report an error in the passage at 29:13 Highlight the passage at 29:13

29:45 I just want to give them a hug. How are you? How's your tummy? Do you have a toothache? How's your mom? I was like, how's your mom and dad? Oh, they're dead. Well, okay. It's nice to ask those kind of questions. I like to do those kind of things. We had these ushers there. So I was like, oh, are you married? How many kids do you have? And then you start talking to people. Report an error in the passage at 29:45 Highlight the passage at 29:45

30:14 They have children. They look very distant. But then you start talking to them. I was like, I like you. And then you smile at people. When you smile and when you're kind to somebody, You see that this shared humanity, isn't it? When somebody comes to you and just smiles and is like, how are you doing? Report an error in the passage at 30:14 Highlight the passage at 30:14

30:39 It's okay. I suffer, but it's not so bad if we suffer together. Maybe. So in that sense, it's interesting that it all starts from this kind of practice of simple sitting by yourself. Putting away that phone, putting away the... Screen for a while. Not having to do anything. You don't change yourself. You're not going to forget things from the past. Report an error in the passage at 30:39 Highlight the passage at 30:39

31:14 You're always going to have those. They're always going to follow you. Anything you've done, you cannot be able to forget it. The nice thing is all the good things as well. Those will follow you everywhere you go as well. Report an error in the passage at 31:14 Highlight the passage at 31:14

31:33 So that's the thing what we need to do. Or it happens very naturally actually. Very naturally you become a kinder person, compassionate person because you know how it feels when you were hurt. You know how you felt or how you feel when you hurt someone. That's almost worse. When somebody abused you, You can just sort of see that, oh, forgive them, I can just sort of let it go, it wasn't so bad. But when you hurt someone, you know how difficult it is to carry that with you. Report an error in the passage at 31:33 Highlight the passage at 31:33

32:19 When you bully someone, it's almost worse, or I think it's worse to be the bully than to get bullied. Both of them are bad, but you won't be ever able to forgive. yourself or let go really forgive yes but you you won't be able to really easily let it go if you were bullying someone It's interesting. A lot of bad things we think we can just let go. It's difficult. Report an error in the passage at 32:19 Highlight the passage at 32:19

32:53 Those are the things we really need to learn how to forgive ourselves. It's easy to forgive others. A big back practice is to forgive yourself. Report an error in the passage at 32:53 Highlight the passage at 32:53

33:07 But that comes all from this thing, just seeing what happens in your mind and taking care of others. Report an error in the passage at 33:07 Highlight the passage at 33:07

33:20 I think that's enough. Thank you so much. Okay, so if you have any complaints online, I'm willing to take them on now. From the audience, I just take the questions. Report an error in the passage at 33:20 Highlight the passage at 33:20

33:49 So we have a microphone here. If you want to ask a question, I'll start with the online. Thank you so much. I'll see you again if you're going. Report an error in the passage at 33:49 Highlight the passage at 33:49

34:05 Okay. Online question. Oh, it's compliant. Oh, no, it's not. Dear Ajahn, could you give advice on coping with the recent death of a very close loved one? Thank you. Report an error in the passage at 34:05 Highlight the passage at 34:05

34:22 You will remember the good things after a while. In the beginning, sure, it is difficult. You will... With the loved ones, it's interesting. I was just thinking, like, I was quite often in these talks. I'll bring the... Topic about spending a lot of time with grandma. She really took good care of us when we were kids and she loved, really loved children. Same, I mean, I'm very lucky. Report an error in the passage at 34:22 Highlight the passage at 34:22

34:51 I come from a nice family. Both of my parents are very good and my mom inherited that from my grandma. They both really liked children. So I was really well taken care of. I don't think I touched the ground until I was seven. Everything was done for me. I was like, put the socks on and everything. I got so used to being a child. It's like I just put my leg out and mom put the sock on. I could have done it myself. I don't know why. Report an error in the passage at 34:51 Highlight the passage at 34:51

35:20 So losing a loved one. So keep in mind that all of these, what remains is the beauty remains actually. We all know who have lost loved ones and will lose loved ones. that there's like the that it's the The beauty what we remember of those people who took care of us. The sadness is interesting that it's quite difficult in the beginning, but then that dissipates. Report an error in the passage at 35:20 Highlight the passage at 35:20

35:50 So just try to keep that in mind. One thing, it is interesting that in Buddhism we have this idea that we are made out of, there's no really solid sense of self. Report an error in the passage at 35:50 Highlight the passage at 35:50

36:07 Self in Buddhism, we don't really have that idea. So Buddhism, really the idea is that everything is made out of things. We call them like five, the fancy word is five khandhas. It's like aggregates. Things are made out of things. So your body is made out of things. You can think it's like, oh yeah, yeah, I can see that. But same with your mind. Your mind is made out of different things. Report an error in the passage at 36:07 Highlight the passage at 36:07

36:31 Like you perceive things, you have perceptions, and you think you own your will, there's, you know, will. And all of these things, so you are just made out of things, and they are all conditioned. So there is no really solid sense of personality there. So when a person dies, it's not just like this candace, this like aggregate, sometimes we call it in English, they just separate, they go in their own way, and there's like, it's just, it's not like, person dies it's just they they slowly like there's five aggregates just go on their own way so to speak what holds them together is the craving and in your kamma coming together it's like coming up but same thing you can see that as you are not you are like different kind of person minute ago one hour ago week ago so and so you are changing the same way when this person dies It's the changeability continues with that. Death is not like end. Nobody is alive and then death. Report an error in the passage at 36:31 Highlight the passage at 36:31

37:36 There's no like one moment where you die. It's just changing. So they're now going with that. You can just sort of like imagine, it's fine if you think about them, it's still a person. It's, you know, slightly different. Obviously they left the body behind, but there's a kind of like almost like personality. Report an error in the passage at 37:36 Highlight the passage at 37:36

37:55 personality continues that conditioning That changeability and conditioning just continues with that person. The kamma still continues. So it's almost like a stream of consciousness, slightly, but let's just be loose about this. So it's not like that person is gone. They're just experiencing something different now. So don't be so sad about it. Report an error in the passage at 37:55 Highlight the passage at 37:55

38:21 It was just... You love them, they love you at the time, the body is now gone, but the mind continues in a certain kind of way, in a conditioned way. So just dedicate merit towards them, think of them kindly, and every time you do something kind, you just always think like, oh, they conditioned me to be in this way. Report an error in the passage at 38:21 Highlight the passage at 38:21

38:49 So there's all kind of... Bring goodness out of that kind of darkness. Did you want a question or can I continue next? Bill? No? Next? No? Okay. I'll do the next. Number two. Wolfram Gabby. Question from Germany. Gabby. Dear Ajahn, when meditating, what is a good way to develop patience, make it stronger and last longer? Report an error in the passage at 38:49 Highlight the passage at 38:49

39:20 To endure pain better and carry that into life. Thank you kindly. Patience. I wish I had some. You tell me. Patience. Patience. Patience. Patience. I don't know. I answer when I learn it. How to make the patient stronger and last longer. It comes by just Report an error in the passage at 39:20 Highlight the passage at 39:20

39:52 Looking into your own mind and see that kind of, those kind of, it's that being impatient, it's actually a lot of suffering. So you just sort of like, somehow it's kind of naturally you get more, you have more patience when you just endure yourself. You just sort of learn to live with yourself and you become more patient person very naturally. Report an error in the passage at 39:52 Highlight the passage at 39:52

40:21 Endure pain, again, it comes with that. As long as you don't mean enduring pain when meditating. But enduring pain, it becomes, if you mean this kind of mental, well, physical pain which we all have to have or mental pain that is just sort of being kinder person, it's always, you know, that's the key to this thing. Report an error in the passage at 40:21 Highlight the passage at 40:21

40:45 Number three, dear Ajahn, what is the best we can do when mindfulness is weak? Please explain more about mindfulness and its function in meditation. Most of the things, most of the time what you're actually doing is mindfulness. So we have eightfold path, seventh path is right mindfulness, eighth is actually what's supposed to be deep meditation. Report an error in the passage at 40:45 Highlight the passage at 40:45

41:08 Most of the time, most people don't do the eighth path on the eightfold path, you're doing the seventh path. The seventh part of the Eightfold Path. So that is, you're doing mindfulness practice. You're actually just, you know, you're mindful of the body or you're mindful of the breath. That's how you develop mindfulness practice by just being with that, those things. Maybe too late, too little time to explain it. Report an error in the passage at 41:08 Highlight the passage at 41:08

41:37 But sometimes when mindfulness is weak, it's sort of that, again, Mindfulness is almost like we it's a little bit of like muscle or memory in a sense that you just sort of like you become better at it when you are just spending more time in quiet spending more quiet time by yourself the mindfulness grows very naturally from there it's not like you Report an error in the passage at 41:37 Highlight the passage at 41:37

42:11 You develop mindfulness by just sort of forcing it. It's just this kind of relaxed awareness. That's what mindfulness is. And from there it grows bigger. Report an error in the passage at 42:11 Highlight the passage at 42:11

42:25 It's not like you can be wise about being mindful in the sense that you just sort of learn it in a sense. Again, it comes from these quiet moments. by somehow Report an error in the passage at 42:25 Highlight the passage at 42:25

42:40 So that's its function and that's how you develop it. Maybe, I think that's good enough. Number four. Dear Ajahn, how to control the mind from wandering in the past and future and how to train the mind to be present? There's very good talks from Ajahn Brahm about that, about the two suitcases, similarly from Ajahn Brahm, where you really feel that you understand that... Report an error in the passage at 42:40 Highlight the passage at 42:40

43:04 The past is already gone. There's nothing you can do about it. And the future is uncertain. You're making the future now. So better lay down those two suitcases because they're both too heavy. You think you're going to predict the future. And this is how it's going to be. Future is never going to be the way you think about it. Report an error in the passage at 43:04 Highlight the passage at 43:04

43:28 So at least you can think it's like, well, at least I thought all of those options, well, none of them are now going to happen. So at least, well, okay, good, that's done. But you try to sort of like realize that a lot of the future, a lot of the past, it is this kind of useless ruminating. And you look in the past from the perspective of now. Report an error in the passage at 43:28 Highlight the passage at 43:28

43:53 So you think you see clearly into your childhood or your teenage years or when you're a young adult, but actually you're looking the past through the classes of now. And you're always distorting the past. And the more you look into the past, the more you're distorting those ideas. So better not to do too much. Report an error in the passage at 43:53 Highlight the passage at 43:53

44:14 Only think about future, and I said this before I got here, it's like why people like to look at the weather forecast. It's the only time you can actually, people can predict the future. It's the only time. They have a sort of pretty good idea of what the weather is going to be for the next few days, one day, two days. Report an error in the passage at 44:14 Highlight the passage at 44:14

44:37 That's, they're predicting future. So if you want to, if somebody is predicting future, at least weather gives you that. More than that, anything is illusion. So don't try to do that. See them as suffering. That really is. The best way that when you see them suffering, you're turning away from those ideas more and more. The turning away happens quite naturally when you're just like, I'm just tired of that. Report an error in the passage at 44:37 Highlight the passage at 44:37

45:04 I don't want to predict. But sometimes, honestly, what you have to do is just endure your mind. Dear Ajahn, how to deal with laziness? I don't know. Report an error in the passage at 45:04 Highlight the passage at 45:04

45:20 I don't have patience and I don't know how not to be lazy. Report an error in the passage at 45:20 Highlight the passage at 45:20

45:27 How to deal with laziness is at least, you know, don't knock your head on the wall all the time. Actually, what takes away laziness is inspiration. That really is the best, the only really way. If you're inspired, it's same like if you're in love. Oh, being in love. Report an error in the passage at 45:27 Highlight the passage at 45:27

45:50 I don't remember how it feels anymore. It's been too long. But I imagine when you're in love. Report an error in the passage at 45:50 Highlight the passage at 45:50

46:00 You can do all kind of things. Even if it's night time, you feel like I'm awake. You can drive. Even after work, you're really tired, but you're going towards love. And he's like, I'm okay going towards my love. I don't know how to explain it. But it changes your perception. It's very different. So same with laziness. When you're really inspired, Report an error in the passage at 46:00 Highlight the passage at 46:00

46:30 Laziness and that, they don't match. They cannot be in the same rooms together, so to speak. It changes everything. So the best way how to deal with laziness is to be inspired. And by being inspired is hanging out with right people, meditating more and see how good it is for your mind. Report an error in the passage at 46:30 Highlight the passage at 46:30

46:53 Reading something inspiring, hopefully it's Buddhist teaching, all these things, hopefully this inspires you, these kind of things, you've been coming here. That is really, really the best way to deal with laziness. Sure, you can try to do other things, and if you're tired at night time, sometimes chanting helps, like just saying practical things as a monk. Report an error in the passage at 46:53 Highlight the passage at 46:53

47:15 Instead of sitting meditation, do walking meditation. meditation, I don't know, you can try to pull your earlobes and, you know, rub your face. Yeah, sure, all of these things. But they are slightly, you know, these kind of small things. But when the mind is bright, the laziness disappears. You automatically go towards that. They could go towards the love. Report an error in the passage at 47:15 Highlight the passage at 47:15

47:42 Love. Okay, anything else? You're all going towards home, to your love. Eddie has a question. Report an error in the passage at 47:42 Highlight the passage at 47:42

47:56 Ajahn Mudito, you give a very deep talk tonight. As I listened to you, my mind was thinking. You're welcome. I understand what you mean. I was thinking myself. Report an error in the passage at 47:56 Highlight the passage at 47:56

48:15 You talk about meditation. You talk about stillness, the power of stillness, which Ajahn Brahm, you know. He said that too. And then you talk about Ajahn Brahm in his cave. He locked up his cave all in the darkness, like 24 hours or all these things. So as you say this thing, my mind was thinking, like the Buddha was telling us to look for our happiness, to look inwards. Report an error in the passage at 48:15 Highlight the passage at 48:15

48:46 Not outwards, you know. Yeah. You can't find happiness like going to the pub to get drink and all, get drunk and all. You can't find the happiness. You cannot, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Part of that controlling. Yes, yeah. So I also ask you the question that is, you know, bliss and emptiness, you know. Bliss and emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 48:46 Highlight the passage at 48:46

49:04 Emptiness, yeah. My understanding of this is when your mind is so pure, you know, so peaceful, bliss. bliss arises, like something in meditation too, you know, when you meditate, you're so peaceful, bliss arises, you know. So what I'm trying to say is, like, what you're doing amongst Ajahn Brahm, that is a positive thing which we don't know, you know. He's doing this for a good reason, he's enjoying it, you know what I mean. Report an error in the passage at 49:04 Highlight the passage at 49:04

49:35 Yeah. Well, it gets more and more refined, but it's an interesting thing, those, like, what... You define as bliss. It's actually quite the beginning of the meditation. It's quite interesting. It comes there and it's like, so it's interesting. It will be on Sunday class. Highly recommend to come. I will explain it. But it's one of those blisses, like joy and bliss. Report an error in the passage at 49:35 Highlight the passage at 49:35

49:58 They're very there in the beginning of meditation. So yes, they do arise, but it goes even deeper than that. Well, okay, that's pretty deep there. Yeah, yeah, sure. So it is interesting, but there's like, yes, the brightness of the mind, it's just sort of like, you know, in the middle of the night, it feels like your mind is so bright, it's like midday. Report an error in the passage at 49:58 Highlight the passage at 49:58

50:32 Yeah. Higher than that. It feels like in love. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Remember how love feels, Eddie? Have you been in love? Oh, yes. Nice. Was it nice? Report an error in the passage at 50:32 Highlight the passage at 50:32

50:49 Yeah, you have a moment to think there's also problems too, a lot of problems, you know? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Bring suffering, yeah. Suffering, all follows from love, yeah. Yeah. Mm, mm. Mm. Okay, thanks Eddie. You talk about chanting, chanting also helps. It does help. It does help, yeah. It brings... There's some kind of... Report an error in the passage at 50:49 Highlight the passage at 50:49

51:11 Joy arises when you get into the chanting and it's like, and I like to dedicate, I do chanting and it's like my mom and dad suffering a lot now, so I like to dedicate, so at the same time I'm thinking of them and I do, you know, like I dedicate my merit, I do loving kindness and I do like you, I call the refuge Buddha Dhamma Saṅgha and all those things, so it does help, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 51:11 Highlight the passage at 51:11

51:32 Yeah, it does help to calm you down too, this thing, you know. Yes, in many ways, sure, exactly, yeah. Thank you very much. You're welcome, sure. Report an error in the passage at 51:32 Highlight the passage at 51:32

51:43 Very good. Done, done, gone. Okay. Thank you so much. Sukhyo too. Okay, no need to applaud. We can do now. Pay respect to the Buddha Dhammasang. I was waiting for the applause, but yeah, okay. Report an error in the passage at 51:43 Highlight the passage at 51:43

52:05 Okay. Report an error in the passage at 52:05 Highlight the passage at 52:05

52:07 [chanting]

52:22 [chanting]