Joy and Power of Peace

0:00 This is another way of relaxing to the max. That's why I always prefer the American word for toilets, which they call restrooms. Report an error in the passage at 0:00 Highlight the passage at 0:00

0:17 Not toilet, not WC, but restroom. Because it gives you the opportunity to sit there. Do you sit there for half an hour and your boss says, where have you been? I've just been following instructions. It's restroom. So I've gone for a rest. Is that a good idea? Anyway, so for the topic of the talk this evening, I don't know why, honestly, I don't make this up, that I usually just invent or choose a subject at the beginning of the meditation. Report an error in the passage at 0:17 Highlight the passage at 0:17

0:51 And it's just we're telling a couple of jokes with our ops manager just beforehand about how... To make all these beautiful suggestions to yourself and to others. May all beings be peace. Report an error in the passage at 0:51 Highlight the passage at 0:51

1:11 Have you heard that one before? May all beings be peaceful. We'll change it to make it short. May all beings be peace. Two types of food. Okay, anyway. So I thought, so Report an error in the passage at 1:11 Highlight the passage at 1:11

1:38 we'll talk about beings. And peace, because I like the idea of peace. It's just something which is the heart of all sort of spiritual paths, all religious paths which deserve to be called sort of spiritual. They lead to peace and you're able to understand what that peace really means. And so you can develop it. Report an error in the passage at 1:38 Highlight the passage at 1:38

2:09 So where do you feel peace? In this life, there's a few times in the past I used to have to go to shopping centers with one of the anagarikas to purchase like a flight ticket or to purchase something for the monastery. And it was so noisy. Sometimes you had to go to places to see like a parliamentarian. Report an error in the passage at 2:09 Highlight the passage at 2:09

2:41 In order to do a function like getting some recognition for Way Sack, that's our Buddhist birthday. And all those times I've noticed many of the places where people live in this world and where you go and spend time are usually so noisy. So it's the sort of places you don't like to go. But then now and again you manage to go to places which are peaceful. You know, some time ago, I remember years ago, I upset this Catholic priest because he was giving me a lift from one place to another and then we went along the ocean drive. Report an error in the passage at 2:41 Highlight the passage at 2:41

3:31 It was in Bunbury. And he said, what does the ocean tell you, Ajahn Brahm? How do you perceive the ocean? And I said, noisy. Report an error in the passage at 3:31 Highlight the passage at 3:31

3:45 Because the waves are noisy. And he said he thought they were peaceful. Then I started thinking deeper about what peace actually means. Report an error in the passage at 3:45 Highlight the passage at 3:45

3:57 It's just like, you know, sometimes if you go traveling overseas, just the quality of the air in Southeast Asia is very hot and smoky. And you land in Perth Airport and it's fresh, clean and quiet. Report an error in the passage at 3:57 Highlight the passage at 3:57

4:17 And then you go to, if you're lucky enough, to go outside of the city and go to a place like Serpentine, the monastery in which I live. And it's very peaceful there, even though there's many parrots squawking away. But then from the monastery, you go into my hut, and I live in a cave. So from... From the monastery, the forest, you go into a cave and it's even more peaceful. from my cave, you close your eyes, sit down and go into meditation and it gets even more peaceful. Report an error in the passage at 4:17 Highlight the passage at 4:17

4:57 It's like different stages of peacefulness. in the meditation, as I hope you experienced, go into really deep states of peace. Report an error in the passage at 4:57 Highlight the passage at 4:57

5:10 what is that peace you're going into? Report an error in the passage at 5:10 Highlight the passage at 5:10

5:15 It's less to disturb you, less disturbance. That's one of the reasons why. Because I do travel a lot, actually I don't travel at all. I just get into the aircraft, sit down, close my eyes, and then when I'm asked to open my eyes again, you're in a different country. But I don't fly. It's the plane that does the flying. I just do the sitting. So it's very comfortable. Report an error in the passage at 5:15 Highlight the passage at 5:15

5:47 And so for the peace, I notice that you can develop that peace anywhere because you see different stages of peacefulness with less and less and less disturbance. Report an error in the passage at 5:47 Highlight the passage at 5:47

6:01 What disturbs you? It's one of the reasons why I teach people how to relax to the max. Because when you relax your body, then soon nothing disturbs you in the body. Report an error in the passage at 6:01 Highlight the passage at 6:01

6:20 It's amazing, you're perfectly aware, you've still got your kindness, your awareness, there's nothing which gives you any business to be done. And when there's no business to be done, you can feel that mindfulness and that peace living together and getting even more peaceful. Report an error in the passage at 6:20 Highlight the passage at 6:20

6:43 So I know that sometimes people think, if you have so much peace, won't you fall asleep? And I did no way because the peacefulness is so delightful. When you really start to enjoy peace and to see how powerful and how fascinating that is, of course you can never lose your mindfulness. Report an error in the passage at 6:43 Highlight the passage at 6:43

7:10 Why is it that people go to places like forests and do what's called forest bathing or you go down by the ocean? There's hardly anybody there. Oh, please excuse me for this story. I don't know if I told it last week or not, but it comes up. You know that when I was a young monk here in Australia, I volunteered to go teaching in prisons. Report an error in the passage at 7:10 Highlight the passage at 7:10

7:40 And the prison which I went to teach in, teach meditation, the first one, was over in Bunbury. And the Bunbury prison only had a... A number of monks in it. It was a small prison at the time of 100, 105 or something. And the first time I taught there, most people actually came to my class. And they came to my class. I found out why when one of these guys, a really big guy, stood up, put his hand up and asked, is it okay to ask a question? Report an error in the passage at 7:40 Highlight the passage at 7:40

8:21 Now normally, not during the talk, I don't allow you to ask a question during the talk, but this man was really big. He had lots of scars and really big muscles. I was warned that he was a leader of one of the gangs inside the jail. When somebody like that asks you, can I ask a question, the answer will always be, oh yes sir, yes sir, please. Report an error in the passage at 8:21 Highlight the passage at 8:21

8:52 I'm being honest. And that's where he asked, Ajahn Brahm, is it really true that through meditation you can learn how to levitate over walls? Report an error in the passage at 8:52 Highlight the passage at 8:52

9:11 So I understood why he asked me that question and why he'd come to learn meditation, just to escape from jail. And I always have to be honest. He said, yes, possible, but it takes a lot of hard work. And only after years of years and years of really great meditation, you may be able to do that. But, so, you know, they laughed. Report an error in the passage at 9:11 Highlight the passage at 9:11

9:36 The next time I went there, instead of having a class of about a hundred people, most of the prison, the next time I went there, only three prisoners turned up. Report an error in the passage at 9:36 Highlight the passage at 9:36

9:47 I realized why they came. But anyway, I was just saying that how hard it is to be peaceful or find a place of peace. But one afternoon, when I was in, Bambri, waiting to go to the prison in the evening, that there's a very nice beach there. So I went to sit meditation on the beach. Report an error in the passage at 9:47 Highlight the passage at 9:47

10:11 And when I was sitting there on the beach, it was in November, and then I can get into really quiet meditations, being so peaceful, the outside world disappears. Report an error in the passage at 10:11 Highlight the passage at 10:11

10:25 You're inside and enjoying yourself immensely. And then when I came out of that meditation, usually those type of meditation, those days, I'd usually sit for a couple of hours, not being disturbed, just sitting with the eyes closed, all the attention inside, just enjoying yourself inside. Report an error in the passage at 10:25 Highlight the passage at 10:25

10:47 And then when I opened my eyes, I think I did tell this story somewhere in the last week or two, but when I did open my eyes, then I got scared. You know why? Report an error in the passage at 10:47 Highlight the passage at 10:47

11:00 I was sitting there alone on the beach that afternoon. When I opened my eyes, I wasn't alone anymore. I saw there was lots of school kids who were swimming in the ocean. And what really scared me at that time, I looked right next to me, there was someone sitting right next to me. And I took a look, and this was this young 17-year-old girl in a bikini with blonde hair. Report an error in the passage at 11:00 Highlight the passage at 11:00

11:32 And on my right side, there was another 17-year-old brunette in a bikini. Now imagine if someone had taken a photograph of me like that and sent it to Thailand. Report an error in the passage at 11:32 Highlight the passage at 11:32

11:49 How can you explain that? It had a good explanation. Because what had actually happened? The two girls told me about this. They said they'd just finished their year 12 exams, just pre-university entrance, and having just finished their exams for the year, basically finished school. They were off on the beach celebrating. The school was just the other side of the road along the beach. And they'd changed into their bathers, were about to go swimming and celebrating the end of the school year. Report an error in the passage at 11:49 Highlight the passage at 11:49

12:31 And in the beginning, they probably did well of university next term. Then they saw this brown-robed, bald-headed guy sitting so still, like a statue on the beach. Report an error in the passage at 12:31 Highlight the passage at 12:31

12:45 And they just wanted to know why. What was I doing? It's something they'd never seen before. And I was so peaceful, I had no idea of their sitting right next to me. Report an error in the passage at 12:45 Highlight the passage at 12:45

13:00 And, of course, when I opened my eyes... If you just come out of a nice meditation, deep meditation, you can't sort of laugh about and joke or anything. Even your speech is very soft. So I just said, what are you doing here? In a kind, polite way. And they told me what they were up to. They just wanted to find out. Report an error in the passage at 13:00 Highlight the passage at 13:00

13:24 Was this like a corpse sitting on the beach? What was it? And so I told them. I didn't need to say much because I think I've already made that impression. The impression of actually seeing something rather than just reading about it or having it explained to you in words is far more powerful. I always say that a picture speaks much louder than words, but not just a picture like a photograph, a real being there sitting so quiet and peaceful there. Report an error in the passage at 13:24 Highlight the passage at 13:24

14:00 That really meant a lot to them. And so I said, I don't really need to say too much. You're dressed in bikinis. It's not quite the best uniform to speak with a monk when you're wearing a bikini. But anyway, that was just some of the experiences you have and how you can be so peaceful and so still without having to worry about anything in the whole world. Report an error in the passage at 14:00 Highlight the passage at 14:00

14:31 Imagine that. Imagine you don't have to worry, you don't have to be concerned, and you're resting in this present moment really aware, you're at peace. Report an error in the passage at 14:31 Highlight the passage at 14:31

14:43 And sometimes, you know, there was a time when Perth Airport, you know, they wanted to get a meditation room there, like a place of peace. And when I went in there the first time, you know, what are they actually doing there? Report an error in the passage at 14:43 Highlight the passage at 14:43

15:03 If you see anything suspicious, please call this number. Please, you know, the flights and whatever is now leaving in 10 minutes time. They have all these announcements. It wasn't a place of peace at all. And so, sometimes you miss that. I often say to you, again, these stories, I say, I don't know when I last said them, but when I was still a lay person and was, you know, doing any work or any business in London, Now my place where my mother lived was a small apartment in a place called Acton, just on the edge of London. Report an error in the passage at 15:03 Highlight the passage at 15:03

15:44 Actually it was in the suburbs but just not right in the middle. But you know one thing, I don't know if you know this, that I did notice only last year that there was one person, he died recently unfortunately, it's only because he died. That's where I heard that he actually went to the same school as I did. He's about three years ahead of me. Report an error in the passage at 15:44 Highlight the passage at 15:44

16:12 And then from that school, he went to the same high school I did afterwards. And that was an actor who became very, very famous, who played Professor Snape in Harry Potter movies. Report an error in the passage at 16:12 Highlight the passage at 16:12

16:35 So I saw Harry Snape, I saw Professor Snape, Alan Rickman his name was, before any of you did in the movies. But I often say that if you see a great actor like that, to be able to play this apparently very scary professor, they say he was scary, was he scary? Do you know him? Have you seen those movies? Report an error in the passage at 16:35 Highlight the passage at 16:35

17:07 so anyway To be a scary actor, you usually imagine one of your teachers when you were young and you being able to base your character on him. So I know all the teachers of those two schools, the primary school and the high school, where Alan Rickman learned his O levels and A levels and everything else. Report an error in the passage at 17:07 Highlight the passage at 17:07

17:36 So I was trying to think, which teacher was it? And I'm pretty sure it was his teacher over in the primary school who everyone was scared of because he was a disciplinarian. Mr. Jones, his name was. And he was a very scary teacher. But I still remember one of my experiences with Mr. Jones. My father, this is very worldly, but please excuse this. My father had the afternoon off work. Report an error in the passage at 17:36 Highlight the passage at 17:36

18:12 And I went home for lunch. My father saw me in my mother's little apartment just close by. And my father said, oh, it's a shame you have to go to school this afternoon. I got these two tickets for a World Cup soccer match against Poland at Wembley Stadium. Report an error in the passage at 18:12 Highlight the passage at 18:12

18:44 And he said, it's a shame you have to go to school. You could have come with me to watch the match. Now you know what, in places like UK and even Poland, a soccer match is like. This is World Cup qualifying match. So I said, oh, you never know. You can always ask. So I had the guts to go up to Mr. Jones. Report an error in the passage at 18:44 Highlight the passage at 18:44

19:14 And I asked him, please sir, can I have the afternoon off school to watch a soccer match? Report an error in the passage at 19:14 Highlight the passage at 19:14

19:24 That's totally against the rules. But he told me, he said, well, you're doing okay. Off you go. He let me go. He let me break the school rules because I was doing well in the subject. And so sometimes, and I was also a kind, good kid. I never got into any trouble. And so because of that kindness, that lack of fear, I spent the afternoon watching a soccer match with the teacher's permission when I should have been in school. Report an error in the passage at 19:24 Highlight the passage at 19:24

20:04 So anyway, that's what happens when you have wisdom and kindness even at a young age. But anyhow, that was not peaceful. Let's go back to the subject of how to be at peace. And how to be at peace is you let go of things. You're not worried about things. In my life I've seen dangerous things happen but you've always managed to get around it. Report an error in the passage at 20:04 Highlight the passage at 20:04

20:31 You know one of the scariest things which ever happened to me? I still remember it and it was the most dangerous thing which ever happened to me. Report an error in the passage at 20:31 Highlight the passage at 20:31

20:43 I was a student at Cambridge at this time and one of the first time one of my friends I got married and so we all went to the wedding ceremony and after the wedding ceremony was finished my other friends were all well dressed in suits and very clean and we were standing around and the conversation started to turn to who's going to be next. Report an error in the passage at 20:43 Highlight the passage at 20:43

21:24 And one of the other friends said, Jeff, he was one of my friends, he became a diplomat later on, the consul at Macau. And anyway, he said, Jeff will be next. And then the other guys were standing around and said, nah, no one would marry Jeff. Report an error in the passage at 21:24 Highlight the passage at 21:24

21:50 And then they looked at me and said, he'll be next. Report an error in the passage at 21:50 Highlight the passage at 21:50

21:59 And then my other friends, including Jeff, said, no, no, no one will marry him. And I kind of was happy with that statement. What really scared me, when the lady standing next to me whispered into my ear, I would. Report an error in the passage at 21:59 Highlight the passage at 21:59

22:21 That terrified me. In my whole life I've met snakes and tigers in the jungles and all sorts of other stuff. I met some guys wanting to beat me up, but that was the most scariest thing, I'm being honest. Now one of the things I did when I was a monk through the suburb of Acton, South Acton became like a very, very rough area. Report an error in the passage at 22:21 Highlight the passage at 22:21

22:53 It's what the police would call a no-go area. And so one evening I was walking from my mother's apartment to... The Sri Lankan temple in Chiswick, about half and half, 45 minutes walk, and as I was walking there, there was a gang of hoodlums, 17, 18 year olds, you know, nothing else to do in the evening, and they were just gathering together for some friendship, or, you know, planning something, nothing else to do, and I was going to have to walk right past them. Report an error in the passage at 22:53 Highlight the passage at 22:53

23:30 And as soon as they saw me, they recognized, bald head, brown robe, I was a Buddhist monk, and they started chanting, Buddha, Buddha, Buddha, Buddha, Buddha, Buddha, Buddha, going louder and louder. And all looking at me is about a dozen of them, trying to intimidate me. One thing I know, I refuse. To be intimidated. So what I did, I could not lie, I could deceive a little bit, a little bit. Report an error in the passage at 23:30 Highlight the passage at 23:30

24:14 So I moved my hands up in Report an error in the passage at 24:14 Highlight the passage at 24:14

24:25 what I hoped they considered to be a kung fu pose. I knew absolutely nothing about kung fu. The only kung fu I knew is what I saw on TV in those days of a TV series, the kung fu. Report an error in the passage at 24:25 Highlight the passage at 24:25

24:43 Not real at all but nevertheless I watched it and I assumed a position and they go Buddha, Buddha, Buddha. I never said anything. Silently I walked right towards them. And as I walked towards them, these were hoodlums, big guys. Report an error in the passage at 24:43 Highlight the passage at 24:43

25:05 They parted and let me through. That was a close call. But anyhow, those are the times. Where I did have a peaceful mind when I was doing this, not scared. I knew how to rest in peace, to be at peace through the meditation I'd done. And that was how I used that peace in what was a very dangerous situation. And so that's one of the reasons I know what peace is. Report an error in the passage at 25:05 Highlight the passage at 25:05

25:40 I really respect it, worship it. And then nothing ever can hurt or harm you. It's a strange thing. One of the other times, even like here in Nolomar, I don't know when was the last time I told this story, we had a big opening ceremony many years ago. When we first took over the ownership of this facility, I don't know if any of you may remember, but this used to be an Anglican church and a reception area. Report an error in the passage at 25:40 Highlight the passage at 25:40

26:19 It was where the priest lived. You remember that, Dennis? And anyway, so we had a big ceremony to open it. And then we invited the governor, and that was Sir Gordon Reid. Have I got his name right? Report an error in the passage at 26:19 Highlight the passage at 26:19

26:40 But anyway, he was the governor. And I was surprised that he accepted. Really a small organization. So we had a big ceremony here. Ajahn Chakra was the abbot then and he invited me to make sure that we get some nice tents and chairs and don't matter how much we spend, make sure we make a good impression. Report an error in the passage at 26:40 Highlight the passage at 26:40

27:08 This was basically the first big Buddhist facility we had here in Australia before we even had a monastery yet, any monastery. Report an error in the passage at 27:08 Highlight the passage at 27:08

27:22 So when I ordered the chairs and the marquees and I told a higher company over in, I think, Netherlands somewhere, you know, a posh one. I said, we've got the governor of Western Australia coming in a couple of days. We need the very best. And the lady who was the owner of the company said, no trouble. Report an error in the passage at 27:22 Highlight the passage at 27:22

27:55 But when they came, the tents were filthy with lots of red dust and the chairs were filthy. But I did not mind that. We could always wash them. What was the trouble was the chairs for the VIPs, about a dozen of them. Not one of those chairs, not one had legs the same length. They all wobbled. Report an error in the passage at 27:55 Highlight the passage at 27:55

28:26 And we were having the governor. governor Western Australia coming. I got on the telephone late on a Friday afternoon or evening, and you know where all the workers had gone? They'd gone to their office, which was a local pub, starting their weekend drinking. And then I told the owner of the organization that we do need to get these chairs changed. Report an error in the passage at 28:26 Highlight the passage at 28:26

28:55 We've got the governor coming. What if he falls off his chair with his wife? That'd be great in the newspapers the following morning. And then she said, oh, it must be some big mistake. We'll get them changed. And so it's not that far away in a Friday afternoon, or Saturday afternoon. I forget which. But anyway, the truck came around the corner into Nansen Way with new chairs. And it was only halfway. Report an error in the passage at 28:55 Highlight the passage at 28:55

29:28 Down that road, still traveling, I don't know, about 20 kilometers an hour, 25, one of these guys jumped out and he had his fist clenched and he said, where's the bloke in charge? I'm looking for the bloke in charge. So what did I do? Of course, I went right up to him and said, I am the bloke in charge. Report an error in the passage at 29:28 Highlight the passage at 29:28

29:58 In charge of the tents and stuff. He put his fist right in front of my nose. And all the people who were here, not one of them helped. Not one of them. You've been in those situations before, you know, you're really in a difficult situation. They just would look. What's going to happen next? Report an error in the passage at 29:58 Highlight the passage at 29:58

30:24 But that was wonderful. Because I was at peace, still enough. That guy couldn't do anything. He had his fist in front of my nose. For about a couple of minutes. And he couldn't punch. He couldn't remove his fist away. Later on when I contemplated what had happened, I don't know if I'm using the right words, but even violence needs a kind of foreplay. Report an error in the passage at 30:24 Highlight the passage at 30:24

30:57 You know, it's usually, if it's two guys get angry at each other, say, yeah you, yeah you, you shouldn't have done it, but I wouldn't mean to do that. And then they have an argument before the actual violence starts. You can't just do violence cold. And I wasn't playing that usual foreplay. He's waiting for me to say something. Report an error in the passage at 30:57 Highlight the passage at 30:57

31:20 Yeah, you, you and who else? And who else? Because I didn't play that. Again, being honest, I remember this very clearly. I had him locked down in front of me. He couldn't move. And I was enjoying that little bit of power. Without violence, he couldn't punch, he couldn't walk backwards. And then in that two or three minutes, the lorry, the truck parked and the real boss came out and said, come on, let's unload the chairs. Report an error in the passage at 31:20 Highlight the passage at 31:20

31:59 He said, yeah, I'll help you. There's no violence at all. But that was one of the times because these guys had just been coming out of the pub. To change chairs for the Buddhists. And he was right in front of my face. That's the most alcohol I'd ever breathed in, in my whole life as a monk. You could smell it, it was so strong. Anyhow, there's wonderful ways of making sure, because of peace, that which disturbs peace cannot arise. Report an error in the passage at 31:59 Highlight the passage at 31:59

32:42 Even animals can't do any harm to you simply because you're too much at peace to actually to get any animals into a mood of defensiveness. I kind of love this power of peace. But more than the power, just the joy of it, the happiness of it. When you are at peace, again I said last Tuesday, I did my annual talk at the Solaris Cancer Support Center. I usually go there once a year. Report an error in the passage at 32:42 Highlight the passage at 32:42

33:24 And the reason I go there once a year, you were at that last Tuesday, at the back sitting against the wall, and one of the people was staying over in Bodhinyana Monastery. Report an error in the passage at 33:24 Highlight the passage at 33:24

33:43 One of the reasons why they want to hear and practice their meditation is because it works. It's weird. That peace, which you can develop in meditation, kind of stops the cancer from being aggressive. That's how I can look at it. It makes everything go peaceful. When it goes peaceful, the cancer just doesn't get worse. Report an error in the passage at 33:43 Highlight the passage at 33:43

34:15 It even disappears. I still remember the cockney gentleman who came over to Bodhinyana monastery many years ago and he spoke such thick cockney accent. The other monks at the time who were living in Bodhinyana monastery had to invite me to translate for them. Poor old George had such thick cockney. I was the only one who could understand him. Anyway, he came because he had got lung cancer because too much smoking. Report an error in the passage at 34:15 Highlight the passage at 34:15

34:59 He told me what happened just in the last part of the journey with cancer. He went to his doctor over in Armadale and the doctor told him, That on the result of the latest x-ray at that time, the lungs were inoperable. The cancer had spread too far. And the doctor had told him, we can do chemotherapy and radiation therapy, but it's only going to extend your life by about two or three months at the best. Report an error in the passage at 34:59 Highlight the passage at 34:59

35:40 We will do that for you if you want it. And George said, I'll just go home and talk to my wife. See what she says. And he came back one week later and the doctor insisted on doing another x-ray to see how the cancer had progressed. And when he went into the doctor's room, the doctor was looking at the new x-ray and the doctor was shaking his head. Report an error in the passage at 35:40 Highlight the passage at 35:40

36:09 And poor old George, he understood the shaking of the head meant it had got worse. So he asked the doctor, It's got worse, hasn't it? It's got worse. And then the doctor looked up from the x-ray and said, George, it hasn't got worse. It's disappeared. What the heck have you been doing? And George answered in his own words, meditation. Report an error in the passage at 36:09 Highlight the passage at 36:09

36:42 And the doctor said, carry on. This is just one example of many. And George would often visit Bodhinyana Monastery regularly. You don't often see him, but that was so many years ago. I haven't seen him for a long time now, so I think he has died of old age. Report an error in the passage at 36:42 Highlight the passage at 36:42

37:05 He was pretty old at the time anyway. So how come that degree of peace and kindness can assist you in such difficult situations as the cancer? How many times, even... Report an error in the passage at 37:05 Highlight the passage at 37:05

37:22 When I was teaching in Vietnam just over a couple of weeks ago, even there, honestly, many of the women there and the men, they came up to me and said, Ajahn Brahm, you saved my life. And they meant it. They had cancers and they'd gone online or listened on the books and their cancers had vanished. Report an error in the passage at 37:22 Highlight the passage at 37:22

37:50 People who were... Having a lot of difficulty, I'll never forget the time just walking through Paddington Station changing trains and this Afro-English girl came running up towards me and when she came towards me she looked at me and said, you're the YouTube monk, aren't you? She called me YouTube monk because what had happened to her, she'd been going through a really, really difficult separation. Report an error in the passage at 37:50 Highlight the passage at 37:50

38:23 And she was suicidal. And where she lived, over in UK, there was plenty of psychologists, plenty of doctors to try and help her, but nothing worked for her. And she was desperate. So she was of that age of people who go online. When she went online, you know, she was just browsing. And she came across one of my talks, you know, a YouTube talk by a Buddhist monk. Report an error in the passage at 38:23 Highlight the passage at 38:23

38:55 And it was an hour long. She had listened to all of it. She liked it that much. She saw what other talks I'd given. She binged on Ajahn Brahm YouTube talks. And she said, that got me through the depression, she said. And she said, you saved my life. When people say things like that, you can see she meant it. Report an error in the passage at 38:55 Highlight the passage at 38:55

39:28 It's beautiful to see that even recently in South Vietnam many people said that. What that means is I don't take pride in that. Instead I take what a beautiful service it is to be able to teach people how to overcome the pain of a separation. Not to look at it as a personal fault but to look at it ...and some which can be healed, mostly through stillness. How can you be still when you've gone through a terrible, terrible trauma? Report an error in the passage at 39:28 Highlight the passage at 39:28

40:10 Even like a cancer threatening your life, when even a doctor says you've only got sort of three weeks to live. Have you come across people like that? Been told they've only got three weeks to live? And this one guy said, it's only three weeks. I don't think I can pay your bills within three weeks. Okay, I'll give you five weeks. Report an error in the passage at 40:10 Highlight the passage at 40:10

40:42 No, that's only a joke. But you know how people say, okay, no more therapy. I'm just going to relax. And they're still alive afterwards, months and years later. It's one of my favorite monks, one of the ones who really inspired me. His name was Ajahn Tate. He had cancer, terminal cancer. Ajahn Brahm was in Sirirat Hospital over in Bangkok when I first went to Thailand, being looked after at the expense of the King of Thailand, and nothing was working. Report an error in the passage at 40:42 Highlight the passage at 40:42

41:21 So he decided to go back to his monastery and die there. He did die about 25 years later, before remission, as Ajahn Tate. I kind of love those stories. Report an error in the passage at 41:21 Highlight the passage at 41:21

41:38 This is another way of dealing with the problems of life. When you have really deep peace inside the mind and that spreads out to the body, relaxes the body because you have a very, very peaceful mind. And that's the best way to deal with health. So if you see even me becoming old and sick, there's another way of dealing. Report an error in the passage at 41:38 Highlight the passage at 41:38

42:10 With any sickness in the body, not just sending a car to pick me up on the arms round. There's other ways to deal with this. And that's during the peace of the meditation. And it's also so incredibly pleasant therapy. So many therapies you have are painful or they're disturbing. You have to go to a hospital and you have to sit there I must admit, when I did have my cough, many, many kind people were giving me all sorts of medicines. And I learned how to say no a long time ago. Report an error in the passage at 42:10 Highlight the passage at 42:10

42:54 Because once, I forget what sickness I had, but everybody was coming up to me and saying, Ajahn Brahm, you take this, it's really good for you, it cured me. And I say, okay. And out of kindness he went to all that problem getting this medicine or medication. Somebody else would come up and say, no, try this, this is even better. And someone else would come up and say, no, try this. Report an error in the passage at 42:54 Highlight the passage at 42:54

43:16 Somebody else would come up and say, and I agree to taking so much medication, that really made me sick. That's one of the reasons why I just let the body learn how to look after itself. That's what I always do. The best medication is stillness. Report an error in the passage at 43:16 Highlight the passage at 43:16

43:39 Be still, really still. And then you can get in touch with your own inner power. That's one time I mentioned, I think, to you that sometimes you get to know people of other religions. Because I was brought up in a Christian country, it's one of the quotes which I always remember from the Christian Bible. Report an error in the passage at 43:39 Highlight the passage at 43:39

44:12 Quote Christian Bible scripture now. Is that okay? Are you going to sort of chuck me out afterwards? And there was this beautiful phrase in the Psalms. Be still and know that thou art God. Report an error in the passage at 44:12 Highlight the passage at 44:12

44:31 It's a really amazing little saying. I don't know how that got there. You're not God, but be still and know the bliss and beauty and power inside of you. Report an error in the passage at 44:31 Highlight the passage at 44:31

44:44 That's where you understand. How other religions work and how powerful that stillness is. How you can't be harmed or hurt. And I really mean that. There's one guy, I mentioned this earlier, I think, or in another talk. There's one guy over in Sri Lanka who has very good skill in his meditation. So much so that his teacher, this... Report an error in the passage at 44:44 Highlight the passage at 44:44

45:19 He was a doctor, medical doctor, got a TV team to go and look at him while he was meditating. While he was meditating, the doctor just pulled up his shirt to reveal his arm and he said, not anesthetized it, but just make sure that no infection can happen, put on some alcohol on his arm. So to make it sterile, got out a scalpel and tried to make an incision on this guy's arm. And he really put some pressure on, he could see that, and it was filmed for TV. Report an error in the passage at 45:19 Highlight the passage at 45:19

46:07 And the scalpel would not go in. It couldn't cut him. And then, after he came out of meditation, the doctor asked him again, this is what I did, I didn't warn you, I'm sorry about that. Can I do it again? Report an error in the passage at 46:07 Highlight the passage at 46:07

46:25 And the guy said, yeah, okay. They trusted each other. So they went into a deep meditation again and the doctor just then made an incision in this guy's arm. This time the scalpel went in and a little bit of blood came out. The doctor sewed up the wound, put a bandage on it and when the guy came out of meditation, he hadn't felt a thing. Report an error in the passage at 46:25 Highlight the passage at 46:25

46:54 Afterwards he could feel his arm was a bit sore, but that's actually what happens with stillness. Nothing can harm you. I know this monk once, when he got into one of these really still meditations, the lay people who were watching him thought he was dead. Report an error in the passage at 46:54 Highlight the passage at 46:54

47:19 He wasn't dead. He came out of meditation afterwards, just going into a deep meditation, that's all. A beautiful, beautiful stillness. Report an error in the passage at 47:19 Highlight the passage at 47:19

47:30 So this is actually how the stillness works. It's lovely to call it stillness because nothing is moving. Nothing can disturb you. Nothing can take you out of that stillness until eventually the karma of that stillness fades away and then you can move again. Report an error in the passage at 47:30 Highlight the passage at 47:30

47:53 And that is blissful. That's the bliss of stillness. One of the highest happinesses. And afterwards, This is the other thing. After you come out of any degree of stillness, your mind is so powerful. If you need to pass exams, it's the easiest thing in the world. Report an error in the passage at 47:53 Highlight the passage at 47:53

48:18 It's not because you know the answers. It's because your brain does not wander. Your brain is very precise and it can answer those questions so easily. Has that ever happened to any of you? You're doing a puzzle. Report an error in the passage at 48:18 Highlight the passage at 48:18

48:36 I know what I do on a Saturday morning. On alms round somebody gives me a West Australian crossword puzzles. They have things like the cryptic crossword. And the cryptic crossword, sometimes I'm tired. I put that aside, meditate a bit, and then I answer it afterwards. Report an error in the passage at 48:36 Highlight the passage at 48:36

49:02 Last week one of those questions was... In the cryptic crossword, blooming motor race. Those three words. And the answer was, carnation. Report an error in the passage at 49:02 Highlight the passage at 49:02

49:21 It's blooming, carnation is a flower. Motor, car, race, nation. So those are the sorts of things, seeing things in a weird way. How can you do that? Because you meditate and become still. Report an error in the passage at 49:21 Highlight the passage at 49:21

49:39 The brain can see things in so many different ways, easily. That's one of the reasons why that stillness can enhance your intelligence. Report an error in the passage at 49:39 Highlight the passage at 49:39

49:51 Even actually so deeply, you get insights into what the Buddha taught. Not ordinary insights, but the deep, powerful ones, through the power of stillness. Report an error in the passage at 49:51 Highlight the passage at 49:51

50:05 Okay, thank you for listening. Report an error in the passage at 50:05 Highlight the passage at 50:05

50:15 Sometimes I always want not just to talk, but to... to be of assistance to people. So sometimes if I see someone like Eddie working or something, I always ask him if he wants a hand. Report an error in the passage at 50:15 Highlight the passage at 50:15

50:30 And I'm all willing to give him a hand. Report an error in the passage at 50:30 Highlight the passage at 50:30

50:37 Okay. So anyway, thank you all for listening. Are there any questions? Oh, that's very nice. Yana? Excellent. Very good. Thank you for doing that. Can I give you a hand? Report an error in the passage at 50:37 Highlight the passage at 50:37

50:56 you much. Report an error in the passage at 50:56 Highlight the passage at 50:56

51:02 Okay, from Sri Lanka. Dear Ajahn Brahm, if life and events are not self, are not in our control, what is the role of effort and intention on the path? Who makes effort if there's no controller? Great! When you really get into the deep parts of the path, there is no effort. Report an error in the passage at 51:02 Highlight the passage at 51:02

51:21 That's a wonderful part of it. It just happens naturally. All the effort ever does. It's actually disturbed the path. There comes a time, instead of effort, you let go. That's why in the deep parts of the path, Ajahn Chah's famous simile, he told me that his monastery was a mango orchard planted by the Buddha. Report an error in the passage at 51:21 Highlight the passage at 51:21

51:53 Totally false, but it was a simile. He said, the only way to get those mangoes is to sit perfectly still. Under the mango tree and put out your hand and the mango will fall into it. That's what he said many times. Report an error in the passage at 51:53 Highlight the passage at 51:53

52:15 Ridiculous, I thought, but so true. If you want to get a deep meditation, you want to get enlightened, just sit down very still, hold out the hand of compassion and all the fruits will fall in. Report an error in the passage at 52:15 Highlight the passage at 52:15

52:36 Second from Germany. Being severely ill, my biggest fear is that my loved one and I get separated. Can I make sure that we continue together in our next lives too? Love is strong. If your love is strong and you're a good person, you've made lots of good karma, that can sometimes work. And there's many stories of that. Report an error in the passage at 52:36 Highlight the passage at 52:36

52:58 As a Buddhist monk, you love the stories of rebirth. Just like, I remember... Where's he gone, Dennis? Report an error in the passage at 52:58 Highlight the passage at 52:58

53:10 How's that? Okay, yeah, you were there when I last spoke. Now you've vanished. But anyway, Dennis told me this story because he used to do hypnotherapy and he was very good at it. He was a very trustworthy, very kind man. And anyway, he told me another story he heard in one of the conferences on hypnotherapy. This hypnotist in Sydney had this young girl who was anorexic. Report an error in the passage at 53:10 Highlight the passage at 53:10

53:41 And she was so severely anorexic that she was getting sicker and sicker and sicker. No one was able to help. Maybe if you can find out some reason, some cause of that anorexia from a previous life, maybe that could help. But because she was so young, she had to have her mother in the room together with the hypnotist. And when the hypnotist started regressing her into a previous life, She recorded that in her previous life she was the youngest of two sisters. They both fell in love with the same guy and the elder sister was more attractive and so the guy married the elder sister and the younger sister was so depressed she committed suicide. Report an error in the passage at 53:41 Highlight the passage at 53:41

54:34 And as the younger sister under hypnosis was telling that story the mother listening Almost was going ballistic. He was really upset. So this poor hypnotist had two people in extreme mental disorder in his room. So he calmed the mother down first. Why are you crying so much? And that's when the mother confessed, I was that sister. Report an error in the passage at 54:34 Highlight the passage at 54:34

55:04 The elder sister. I never told my daughter this. That before she was born, My sister was so depressed because she also loved the guy which I married. And she was so depressed she killed herself. It's not the sort of thing you tell your other daughter. And that's why she's trying so hard to be thin. Because she thought that would make her more attractive. Report an error in the passage at 55:04 Highlight the passage at 55:04

55:40 Dennis, you can shake your head. Was that true? Good enough. That's one of my favorite words, good enough. Report an error in the passage at 55:40 Highlight the passage at 55:40

55:51 And so if you want to live together in your next life, just if you really make that determination and your wife also wants to live with you in the next life, then it's a good chance. Question from Poland. How to focus on well-being, peacemaking, kindfulness when my body gives me stress, bad thoughts, fear out of physiological issues? Report an error in the passage at 55:51 Highlight the passage at 55:51

56:14 Your body does not give you fear or bad thoughts or stress. It gives you the opportunity to have that stress and you got used to doing that. It's just how the mind reacts to the body. It doesn't have to do it that way. That's why many people come to a Buddhist center like this and they learn how even if they have bad feelings in their body, they don't follow them. Report an error in the passage at 56:14 Highlight the passage at 56:14

56:44 They can still find peace. One of the ways they don't find peace It's just when they don't know how to live in the present moment or even the past. The past, you've had a lot of pain in the past. That creates that illusion of the present will be the same. You learn the language of fear and pain. But if you totally let go of the past, then you can be free. The past is not... Report an error in the passage at 56:44 Highlight the passage at 56:44

57:22 Conditioning the present. And as for the future, there's so many things in my life, in my own life, and in the life of others which I've noticed. Report an error in the passage at 57:22 Highlight the passage at 57:22

57:34 They should be dead, but they're not. They should be in extreme pain, and they're not. They should sort of, you know, even not be here, but they are here. You see in those kind of ways all those expectations which I have about pain and health. Sometimes the wrong, the expectations are wrong. Report an error in the passage at 57:34 Highlight the passage at 57:34

57:59 Lastly from Bolivia, even though no justice satisfies ill will, how can someone use the reflection of karma in a way that is helpful for his development of mettā without increasing his ill will? That's why sometimes I use that simile. If you have ill will, please, like shit which you step into, and take it home and dig it under your mango tree, instead of throwing at other people, and you get better mangoes. Report an error in the passage at 57:59 Highlight the passage at 57:59

58:36 So you've been hurt by somebody or something. Because you've been hurt, you have the opportunity to use it to grow good qualities. So the karma is not used to develop more bad karma. They used to develop more understanding, compassion. Whoever did what which really harmed or hurt in such a terrible, terrible way, you learn from that. Report an error in the passage at 58:36 Highlight the passage at 58:36

59:06 So you never become a person who creates that to anybody else. And I learned that, as I've told you before, from my father. When I asked him about his father, my paternal grandfather, my father did not want to talk about him. He called him a bastard. I'm talking about my own grandfather. It was because he was a drunkard and he would come home from the pub, take off his belt and whip anybody for no reason whatsoever. Report an error in the passage at 59:06 Highlight the passage at 59:06

59:39 He was a violent drunkard. And he said, many times my father was on the end of that belt and he said, that didn't hurt as much as seeing his father, my grandfather. Start whipping his wife, my grandmother. He couldn't protect her. That really, really, really upset him. And then he said to me, he made a vow, if ever I survive this childhood, and if ever I get married and have kids, I will never hit them. Report an error in the passage at 59:39 Highlight the passage at 59:39

1:00:25 And he couldn't. So my brother and I, sometimes, We'd have a fight or argue, make loud noises, and he'd come into the room with a slipper, but he couldn't ever hit us. He just pulled the slipper away. Even though he never hit us, we understood him. And he was a guy who said, son, however you turn out in life, the door of my house will always be open to you. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:25 Highlight the passage at 1:00:25

1:00:55 Later on, I realized that unconditional love, the door of my heart will always be open to you. That's why I loved him so much. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:55 Highlight the passage at 1:00:55

1:01:06 He'd gone through hell, he'd learned. He was such a beautiful man afterwards. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:06 Highlight the passage at 1:01:06

1:01:15 Anyway, so that's the answer, the best I can give to that question. Sir? Ajahn Brahm, can I say? Ajahn Ramya, thanks for the really, really wonderful deep talk on peace, you know. It's very important for us of all. Ajahn Brahm, the Buddha was telling us that peace lies within, not without, you know. He's asking to look inside. See, as a human being, Ajahn Brahm, there are problems that come to us, isn't it? The problems come to us to disturb our peace, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:15 Highlight the passage at 1:01:15

1:01:52 Okay, yeah. And then, yeah. So you're saying counter this is stillness, what you're saying, stillness? Yeah. Also stillness, also the other thing is the mind, you know. Ajahn Brahm, how our mind, we train our mind how to respond to the problems, isn't it? Yeah. If you try to get your body to be perfectly still, you won't be breathing. Your heart won't move. So you can't do that. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:52 Highlight the passage at 1:01:52

1:02:21 But your mind can be still. You don't think, you stay in this moment, you don't go off into the future, you don't start thinking what's going to happen. All those times, just when walking through those band of hobos in South Acton. All those times when I had stones thrown at me, I wasn't afraid. It stayed in the present moment. It's amazing that you go into difficult situations and there's no fear. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:21 Highlight the passage at 1:02:21

1:02:55 Honestly, nothing there. You're in this moment. Fear exists in the future. It's not a theory. Try it. So apart from the stillness which you said, Ajahn Brahm, we can also use the... Tools which the Buddha gave us like the eight winds. He says do not be moved by the eight winds, you know, profit, loss, you know, praise, blame, all these things. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:55 Highlight the passage at 1:02:55

1:03:20 And also equanimity, the seven highest of factors of enlightenment, highest equanimity and highest jhāna too is equanimity too, you know, things. You can use all this, you know. Yeah. Isn't it? Until you're like a rock. You're so still. Nothing moves you. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:20 Highlight the passage at 1:03:20

1:03:41 Maybe we should have a little workshop or what? For practice, you know that. More workshop. We can have a workshop. Yeah, you have to practice. It's in this practice, you know. Really deep peace. And then I'll just leave you in here. Because it's a suffering world you live in. Yes, but it's a suffering world. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:41 Highlight the passage at 1:03:41

1:04:00 But honestly, that's why we're monks and we have nuns. You get so peaceful, you enjoy life. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:00 Highlight the passage at 1:04:00

1:04:12 Even when everything else is falling apart, you can be so still and peaceful that there's no pain. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:12 Highlight the passage at 1:04:12

1:04:25 Thank you. Okay. Any other question? Going, going. Okay, so now I'll bow to the Buddha statue. When I bow, I usually bow to three things. To virtue is the first. The third thing is kindness, compassion. And the second thing is peace. That's how much I respect it. I worship peace, value it so highly, like virtue and kindness. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:25 Highlight the passage at 1:04:25

1:05:07 Thank you all for listening. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:07 Highlight the passage at 1:05:07

1:05:24 Asambuddha, Bhagavad Report an error in the passage at 1:05:24 Highlight the passage at 1:05:24

1:05:31 time, be what they mean. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:31 Highlight the passage at 1:05:31

1:05:37 Suvākātā-bhāgavatam. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:37 Highlight the passage at 1:05:37

1:05:48 Supatipanno bhagavato savakasangho sangham namah So Report an error in the passage at 1:05:48 Highlight the passage at 1:05:48

1:06:10 they bow to you now. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:10 Highlight the passage at 1:06:10