Living Together like Cave People

0:00 OK, now it's time for me to entertain the crowds. Report an error in the passage at 0:00 Highlight the passage at 0:00

0:09 OK, I hope you had a very, very, very, very merry Christmas and happy Boxing Day today. I hope the clubs haven't come off yet with the family. Keep the clubs on. Give each other hugs instead of other things. Report an error in the passage at 0:09 Highlight the passage at 0:09

0:32 Taking care of each other is really important and I think the nice thing about this holiday season... is that there is a lot of goodwill amongst people. There really is. You see people smiling and everybody's wishing each other Merry Christmas and Happy New Year and all those things. You say sort of goodbye to your colleagues at workplace and you call your friends, even if you're Buddhist, you call your friends that it's the holiday season. Report an error in the passage at 0:32 Highlight the passage at 0:32

1:03 And same for us monastics. I know so many of us monastics, we come from this tradition where we celebrated Christmas, so we have the tendency, we have a lot of goodwill, and we call to our loved ones, our parents, and wish them a happy holiday season. So it is a wonderful season. I've been teaching here the Word of the Buddha for a while, and there's a lot of people who have been coming. Report an error in the passage at 1:03 Highlight the passage at 1:03

1:33 It's just so wonderful to see people. Coming to listen to the Buddha's teaching over the Christmas period. And I think it's important for people to come to these kind of centers. It's important what we have here, that you have a place to come. Report an error in the passage at 1:33 Highlight the passage at 1:33

1:53 Today's topic for the talk is about cave people. Cave people. Report an error in the passage at 1:53 Highlight the passage at 1:53

2:07 That's the topic I was given just when I came here. How should I weave it in with the Christmas? Do you think people in the caves celebrated Christmas? Maybe not. But I think we had all kind of festivities. We have had these kind of festivities for a long, long time, right? Even the Druids in England, perhaps, they had the Midsummer Festival. This Christmas time is the shortest time of the year in Northern Hemisphere here. Report an error in the passage at 2:07 Highlight the passage at 2:07

2:40 Is this now, I don't know, is this the longest day now, somewhere here? Yesterday, was it? A few days ago, we're at the longest day here. So we have the, our druids are here in Australia. They're celebrating the Midsummer Festival a few days ago. Report an error in the passage at 2:40 Highlight the passage at 2:40

2:57 And so there's something about us as humans that we want to come together, right? We want to feel that we are part of a tribe. We are part of a community. We want to belong. Whether it's a family, whether it's a Buddhist. Club, Buddhist society, meditation place you go to. I think there's a lot available online, but it doesn't substitute this, right? Report an error in the passage at 2:57 Highlight the passage at 2:57

3:29 You could stay home today here in Perth and watch this talk online, but it doesn't have that same feeling. There's something about coming together as humans. We need that. Even as a family, it's once in a while we need to See each other, come together. We have a lot of these things, not just perhaps festivals, but even funerals. And these days, unfortunately, we see as monks and nuns, we do funerals, we conduct the funerals. Report an error in the passage at 3:29 Highlight the passage at 3:29

4:03 And funerals, interesting enough, a lot of times we like funerals. You know why we like funerals? Because people listen to us. You come here and it's like, oh yeah, whatever, yeah, sort of. Nice, your funeral, and everybody's looking at you. Monks, we talk about very deep things. Like, this person has died. Report an error in the passage at 4:03 Highlight the passage at 4:03

4:25 What a nice person. They look at you. It's like, yes, yes. And we talk about this, like, oh, even reflect for yourself. Look, you will die. And the people imagine, they can imagine, because the father is there. And it's like, the dad is dead. And then you just tell them, like, look. Also, you will die. One day you will be in that coffin. And people are like, yes, I can see that. So it's nice to give talks during the funerals. Report an error in the passage at 4:25 Highlight the passage at 4:25

4:53 Sometimes you go some places and people are just sort of, they hear a lot of dharma talks, so they just sort of drift off, especially when the monks are talking very monotonous. Oh yes, this is the dharma, this is how it works. Report an error in the passage at 4:53 Highlight the passage at 4:53

5:10 So even as monks, we have to learn how to speak, to engage you. You're supposed to change your tone, how you used to, you know, and just be quietly sometimes. Anyways, back to the topic. So, us humans, we need all kind of things to come together. We need funerals, we need festivities, we need to be as groups. Report an error in the passage at 5:10 Highlight the passage at 5:10

5:32 And I think there's something to be said about, even with gay people, they had the same needs, needs and wants. As we talked about today, I was teaching the word of the Buddha, and I said, look, I don't have any problem, and as Buddhists, we don't have any problem per se about evolution. How long as humans have been humans, as homo sapiens? You are all homo sapiens here? No other species? Report an error in the passage at 5:32 Highlight the passage at 5:32

6:02 Not yet. Evolution, he hasn't caught up with yet. The Chachipiti people are not here yet. But look, so most of us, we are seen to be more or less very similar. There is like a little bit of difference. Some of you look, you know, quite a bit different from me, but more or less, even if you measure, there is hardly any difference between us. Report an error in the passage at 6:02 Highlight the passage at 6:02

6:26 But there is a certain kind of needs what we have as humans. There's a need for shelter, obviously. Yep, yep. But the need for care and love is really there as well. Report an error in the passage at 6:26 Highlight the passage at 6:26

6:38 And who can give us... Care and love. Our families and our loved ones can give us something. But ultimately, no matter where you are, you are by yourself. Report an error in the passage at 6:38 Highlight the passage at 6:38

6:54 What's with you when you are in the cave by yourself, meditating? What follows you? Not just you, your kamma, your previous actions, so to speak. Basic Buddhism, your kamma follows wherever you go. Those are the results of your actions, your willed actions. You choose something. All the time you're choosing. Whether you choose to eat Chinese food or Christmas food or whatever food, you choose it. Report an error in the passage at 6:54 Highlight the passage at 6:54

7:27 You choose to be you, so to speak. Choosing makes you who you are, you. It's a big part of you. So that is what you take from life to life and that is what you are when you are by yourself. You look at those results of your previous actions. A lot of times that's what you do. But we can still take care of each other in a sense. Report an error in the passage at 7:27 Highlight the passage at 7:27

7:57 There is this kind of thing where care matters. So please remind you this festival period now that this is a good reminder that it's good to spend time with others. It's good to make the phone call. Report an error in the passage at 7:57 Highlight the passage at 7:57

8:17 It's good to send Christmas cards, perhaps. It's good to do these things, even though you don't think too much about Christmas. But your kindness does matter in the world. One interesting thing that came up in this workshop was about whether your voting matters. Somebody mentioned that there is a big, wonderful country which starts with you out there. Report an error in the passage at 8:17 Highlight the passage at 8:17

8:44 And they have a wonderful president. Most magnificent president this big country which starts with you ever had perhaps. And people voted for this wonderful president. Report an error in the passage at 8:44 Highlight the passage at 8:44

9:02 Did every vote matter? Does it matter that you make a decision? It does. So every little action matters. Even if you voted for that wonderful president and he was elected because of your kind. Kindness, that you wanted to have somebody who changes the world to better. It matters. And even if you didn't vote because that was your protesting vote, it matters. Report an error in the passage at 9:02 Highlight the passage at 9:02

9:31 And the same thing with your family. Every little kind act matters. And it's the same with yourself. Kind acts matter for yourself as well. Ultimately, you need to take care of yourself. Report an error in the passage at 9:31 Highlight the passage at 9:31

9:51 There's nobody else walking this path for you. There's nobody else really who can take care of you. Until they have to. At some point you will lose the independence you have now. Perhaps. A lot of us we do. We see also a lot of old people, a lot of sick people have lost their independence. You will also lose that independence. And for me it's quite a nice reflection now. I've said it many times and it's been a good reflection for me to see my father lose that independence. Report an error in the passage at 9:51 Highlight the passage at 9:51

10:22 For me to reflect that and say, look, if I'm in that situation, how would I behave? When somebody has to do everything for you, how do you react to that? Are you going to be frustrated? Interesting thing is when you see people who have to be sort of, who government helps them a lot, these kind of people who are unfortunate that they can't get a job, they live in the streets and all that. Report an error in the passage at 10:22 Highlight the passage at 10:22

10:50 Quite often when they go to these welfare centers, They are very abusive. They are abusive towards the people who try to help them the best of their abilities. And the same thing, I think, happens for all of us, very easy. Once you become that, if you're a really hard-headed person all your life, you didn't develop enough kindness inside of you, what do you think you're going to be like when somebody is going to take care of you? Report an error in the passage at 10:50 Highlight the passage at 10:50

11:16 Do they want to be with you? Do they want to take care of you? Or are you going to be pushing them away all the time? I can do this, even though you cannot. Are you going to be that person? Or have you been coming to the Buddhist society and developing this softness, kindness, and then somebody has to change your diapers and you're like, it's all right, it's awkward, but thank you for doing that. Report an error in the passage at 11:16 Highlight the passage at 11:16

11:44 So all of these practices matter. There will come a point, well, it really matters what you've been practicing. So even if you feel... I don't have a lot of kindness. I don't have a lot of easiness in my mind. Look at it and say, this is dangerous. There will be others who need to take care of you at some point. And if you're going to be a difficult person, it's going to be difficult for them. So you're not just a troublemaker for yourself. Report an error in the passage at 11:44 Highlight the passage at 11:44

12:17 You're making trouble for others as well. So don't be a troublemaker. Be a kind person. It becomes more and more at ease in the world. And the same goes with the family. Sometimes people say, oh, I have such a difficult relationship with my mom or dad. Report an error in the passage at 12:17 Highlight the passage at 12:17

12:42 But it's not just you having a difficult relationship. It's the mom is struggling because of you. There is no one way in these relationships. It's not like you having a difficult relationship with them. They are also having a difficult relationship with you. We always have to remember that however you act in the world, the world gives you that back. Report an error in the passage at 12:42 Highlight the passage at 12:42

13:11 If you are becoming this kind of person where you're trying to be at ease with others, you're just trying the best, people give that back to you. That's how it works. And I think... I think that people, going back to the topic, cave people, I think they had a lot easier time because they had to live together all the time. Report an error in the passage at 13:11 Highlight the passage at 13:11

13:39 Not so long time ago, we all lived in the small housing where we had to sort of tolerate each other a lot more. Whereas these days, everybody has their own phone. It used to be, it started that everybody has their own TV. And before that, everybody has their own room. These days, you don't just have your own room. You have your, everybody has their, on their fingertips, you have all the entertainment you want, all the information. Report an error in the passage at 13:39 Highlight the passage at 13:39

14:08 You don't need to worry about anybody with you, right? Would you be happy to give your phone to your mom and say, here, this is what I've been looking. Would you be proud of that? Or you would sort of like, maybe not. Somebody comes to your Google browsing history and say, Can I see it? And you're like, oh, maybe not. There's a lot of things which we can do in life where we think it's interesting, but it's actually something which we're not really proud of it. Report an error in the passage at 14:08 Highlight the passage at 14:08

14:46 How much of a life you are... What are the things you are proud in your life? And one thing, we are all proud when we took care of somebody. Right? You've been kind to somebody. You gave them a smile. You gave them a hug. This is, again, this nice thing about the festival period. You just feel naturally good and you naturally want to give that kind of hello to somebody on the shop, on the workplace. Report an error in the passage at 14:46 Highlight the passage at 14:46

15:17 Those are the things which you can feel proud of. But are you proud of yourself if you gave somebody a hard time? What makes you proud of yourself? If you really think about it. Report an error in the passage at 15:17 Highlight the passage at 15:17

15:37 I'm sure you can find something. What is the proudest thing of what you think about yourself? And if you really think about it, it's care, isn't it? We care. I cared about somebody. Whether it's your house plant. Yeah, I cared about house plants. I'm happy about that. I cared about my dog. I cared about my boyfriend, girlfriend. Cared about mom and dad. Those are the things when you feel something like I'm proud of doing that. Report an error in the passage at 15:37 Highlight the passage at 15:37

16:10 Cultivate that. Think about it more. Report an error in the passage at 16:10 Highlight the passage at 16:10

16:15 I think we don't spend enough time. We're busy distracting ourselves too much with the phone, with all the entertainment, this kind of thing where we are sort of together, but you are not really together with your family. It happens very easily. It's very natural these days. So what do you have to do? Try to restrain yourself a little bit with the phone. Report an error in the passage at 16:15 Highlight the passage at 16:15

16:41 Put the phone freaking into your pocket. Keep it there when you're with your mom this holiday season. How difficult it is. Report an error in the passage at 16:41 Highlight the passage at 16:41

16:53 It sounds like it's easy thing to do, but I mean, look, it's there all the time. But try, try to do this thing where today, tomorrow, all day, I'm not looking in the screens. Have this kind of like, what do you call it, diet? There's a name for this. Like people, they take time off from the screen, take a screen time off. Report an error in the passage at 16:53 Highlight the passage at 16:53

17:16 Digital detox, digital detox. Try to do that. As a mindful practitioner, as a Buddhist practitioner, whatever you call yourself, if you think that would give you a little bit of like peace in your peace of mind, try that. Even if it's difficult, it's good to be bored for a while. Report an error in the passage at 17:16 Highlight the passage at 17:16

17:39 Boredom is good. Highly recommend it. You don't get bored enough. As a monk, I'm a professional bored person. I practice boredom every day. A little bit. Look, it is bloody boring sometimes as a monk's life. Report an error in the passage at 17:39 Highlight the passage at 17:39

18:02 But even for us, it's hard to keep your little fingers off your little tablet, what I have. But sometimes I just have to force myself. But I remember being a young monk, like you, You grow nuts of the boredom. You absolutely go crazy. I remember one weekend with a friend of mine. He was on a car guy in a monastery one time. Report an error in the passage at 18:02 Highlight the passage at 18:02

18:26 And he was like, what should we do? It's like, nothing to do the whole weekend. Let's paint the hall. So we rented the cherry picker. We go and buy all the paints. And we worked until like whole day, whole night. We painted the dhamma hall. So if you go to Borignana, that paint is... My little fingers and my friend. One weekend we were so bored we didn't have anything else to do. We painted the dhamma hall. That's how boring it can get in the monastery. Report an error in the passage at 18:26 Highlight the passage at 18:26

18:55 Or at like one point I was reading so many books in the library. I know I've read every single thing there. Like when I was a young monk I just kept sitting in the library all day just so I don't have to go to my hut. I don't want to be bored. So I just kept reading and reading and reading and reading. But these days nobody has to be bored, right? Report an error in the passage at 18:55 Highlight the passage at 18:55

19:14 You have your phone with you all the time. Everything on your fingertips. But you're still bored. It's still... You cannot escape it, right? You still have the anger, but you just choose to distract yourself. Report an error in the passage at 19:14 Highlight the passage at 19:14

19:32 It's sometimes good to just look at it. Honestly, it's good to be bored. I'm not just saying that. I think there's research for that. Try to do that. Try to be just with your family. Even though it's hard to be with mom sometimes. I know. I remember my mom came here one time. I was a young monk and we went to a shopping center of all the places. Report an error in the passage at 19:32 Highlight the passage at 19:32

20:00 Very nice place to be for a monk. What does moms want to do when you go shopping center? They want to look for clothes. How do moms look clothes? They go and touch everything. What do you think about this? Mom, I don't have any opinions. Then they go like, oh, you put it back and they look another one. Report an error in the passage at 20:00 Highlight the passage at 20:00

20:21 This is a different color. Like, who cares what color that, you know, what's the difference? And I was like, I was just getting out of my mind. And my mom was just sort of like, don't you have like compassion and like a lot of this kind of like patience as a monk? I said, mom, I'm losing it. Report an error in the passage at 20:21 Highlight the passage at 20:21

20:40 There's a point, even as a monk, how much patience you can have. And moms can test you to the limit. Especially if you're a young man. Maybe girls, you can go shopping with your mom and it's like, that's fine, yes, let's go touching little clothes. Happy days. Go with your dad, go to hardware store. That's how it feels for the girls. But, so, look, we, these days, we are moving into that direction. Report an error in the passage at 20:40 Highlight the passage at 20:40

21:10 We're very individualistic. We've come away from that place where we had to do things as tribal society. It is what it is. We cannot be outside of this history, this time in the history. This is what we live. This is what we try to make most of it, most of. And we try to practice the best of our abilities. But the practice is Eightfold Path. This is what we teach here in Buddhist Society. Report an error in the passage at 21:10 Highlight the passage at 21:10

21:37 And this, I've been teaching the whole weekend, I will be teaching that. And it's not just meditation, mindfulness. It's kindness everywhere. It's not just taking care of yourself, it's taking care of your whole family as a tribe. But it really boils down to that you have to walk the walk. There's nobody else doing this practice for you. There's not going to be some kind of heaven coming down on you, bestowing happiness for you. Report an error in the passage at 21:37 Highlight the passage at 21:37

22:11 No, it doesn't work that way. You have to create it yourself. Report an error in the passage at 22:11 Highlight the passage at 22:11

22:18 You have to create the happiness for yourself. And it can be done. And it's not going to be on your new smart device you just got for Christmas present. It's not the device itself and it's not in the device. Report an error in the passage at 22:18 Highlight the passage at 22:18

22:35 YouTube, TikTok, all of those things. It's a distraction and there's certain kind of happiness in those distractions. But ultimately it's not happiness. We know it. The happiness comes from those places of boredom. If you just allow it to come. Perhaps. Try it. And that's why I feel like people sometimes say, were people happier in olden days? Report an error in the passage at 22:35 Highlight the passage at 22:35

23:08 Perhaps they were. If you think about the people here, the Aboriginal people, who were the first people. In WA, it's the Noongar people, right? When they were just living, observing the stars, Report an error in the passage at 23:08 Highlight the passage at 23:08

23:23 Making a fire at night time, talking to each other. I think there's just something there, which is they didn't have this kind of problem we have these days. They just didn't consider those things. When you live in the nature, I'm sure the life felt a lot freer and easier. We have created a lot of problems for ourselves. We're making everything easy, so to speak. You have this washing machine. Report an error in the passage at 23:23 Highlight the passage at 23:23

24:24 Because of that. Report an error in the passage at 24:24 Highlight the passage at 24:24

24:27 Where is the happiness? Where is this bloody happiness everybody's looking for? It's in this moment of contentment. Report an error in the passage at 24:27 Highlight the passage at 24:27

24:39 Contentment is very, very deep happiness. No matter what happens in the world, everything is going crazy. Your mind is absolute nuts. You can just look at it and say, I'm all right with it. This is what it is. This is what I've been dealt with. This is the time in history we live now. Nobody can be sort of outside of a history, right? If you were born in 1919 like my grandfathers and you were born in Europe what happened when you were about 18 to 20 years old? Report an error in the passage at 24:39 Highlight the passage at 24:39

25:22 There was a big war there in Europe. You were part of the generation which got into the war. These days, if you're born in Australia a certain time, you live in a time of massive prosperity, right? There's a massive increase in wealth here in Australia. It's a very, very prosperous, happy country. Yet, we all have this nagging feeling that something is not right. Report an error in the passage at 25:22 Highlight the passage at 25:22

25:49 Not right, as they say in Australia. Not right. Do they say that? I'm not sure. Hey, mate, how are you? I'm all right. Not right. But look, there is this nagging feeling that's like, I have everything, yet I'm not really happy. I always said, like, I'm all right, mate. But not really. Look, I have a lot of bodily pains. Report an error in the passage at 25:49 Highlight the passage at 25:49

26:20 Mental pain is a massive thing. But if you look at it with honesty, just look at this mental pain you have, and you said, This is what I have. This is sort of the kamma, the result, what I've got from the past. This is the ingredient, so to speak. But this is what I have to make the cake of. These are the ingredients. There's nothing else. This is what I make the cake with. Report an error in the passage at 26:20 Highlight the passage at 26:20

26:50 And if you make the cake with kindness, this kind of good attitude, the cake becomes nice. But if you are making cake out of that miserable ingredients, when you put it in an oven and you get it back, what are you going to eat? You're going to eat misery. So whatever you have, we cannot be living outside of the history. We cannot live outside of ourselves, so to speak, outside of your own kamma. Report an error in the passage at 26:50 Highlight the passage at 26:50

27:19 These are the results you're getting now. Try to make it in a nice cake and present it to others. It's like, this is what I have. You don't have to hide so much. These are the problems, sure, those are the problems, but you present it with kindness. We're all in the same boat, so to speak, like I said. Report an error in the passage at 27:19 Highlight the passage at 27:19

27:40 Most of us are humans here, more or less. Most of us are good enough, more or less. Yet we struggle massively because we overthink about things. We don't concentrate on the good things. Report an error in the passage at 27:40 Highlight the passage at 27:40

27:58 So the nice thing is that when you come to the Buddhist society and listen to Ajahn Brahm all the time, what does he teach us all the time? Concentrate on the good things. Try to put your effort into the good parts of your mind and body. Report an error in the passage at 27:58 Highlight the passage at 27:58

28:15 And slowly, slowly you'll learn to be more at ease with the kamma you have. We have a Pāli word called upeka. We always have to throw out a few fancy words. so you feel like the teachers know something. Report an error in the passage at 28:15 Highlight the passage at 28:15

28:33 So this Pāli word Upeika means equanimity. What kind of happiness is equanimity? How do you feel it? It doesn't feel like anything. Equanimity feels like flat. What kind of happiness is that kind of flatness? No. That's why it's good to give these fancy Pāli words new meanings. Or new translations like Ajahn Brahm calls it contentment. And contentment, you can understand what it means. Contentment is the feeling like now we're living, it's a Christmas time and the school's just ended. Report an error in the passage at 28:33 Highlight the passage at 28:33

29:19 And remember that feeling when you were about seven or eight years old and you're walking away from school just before the summer holiday. All your homework was done. Report an error in the passage at 29:19 Highlight the passage at 29:19

29:35 Holiday ahead of you. Remember that feeling. No responsibilities. Remember that contentment? Can you relate to that when you're a little girl or boy? Everything is done. You don't have responsibilities. No more teachers to torment you. Report an error in the passage at 29:35 Highlight the passage at 29:35

29:58 Sorry teachers. The ex-teachers. But there is... That kind of happiness we're trying to find in the world. Imagine these kind of happinesses. And that's why this idea of upeka, when you're going further and further in this path, when you keep practicing, you practice mindfulness, you practice meditation, you come here, you listen to good teachers who come here, not so much me, but the other ones who can inspire us. Report an error in the passage at 29:58 Highlight the passage at 29:58

30:31 You're going towards those kind of happinesses, which are deeper and deeper happinesses, like upeka, equanimity, contentment, when you can feel okay with yourself. Report an error in the passage at 30:31 Highlight the passage at 30:31

30:48 This is the cards what's been told to you. This is the time of the history we live in. Concentrate on the good things. Report an error in the passage at 30:48 Highlight the passage at 30:48

31:01 Don't look so much into what... What bad has happened this year? Think about what good things have happened in this year. Think about how kind of a person you are. I feel proud of myself because I can help you. Really, it's one of the amazing things about being a monk. Pay is not so good. Report an error in the passage at 31:01 Highlight the passage at 31:01

31:25 I would say almost negligible. Maybe even less than that. Benefits are massive, being a monk. We get massive benefits. The bonuses. I don't think you get these kind of benefits as a worker. People don't come to you all the time and say, wow, you are a nice teacher. How lucky we are to be with you. Well, thank you. These are the benefits you get as a monk. People say nice things to you all the time. Report an error in the passage at 31:25 Highlight the passage at 31:25

31:59 And you get to serve others for free. It's a massive benefit. Imagine if I would get paid for this. I would probably have to give a better talks. Otherwise, I wouldn't get paid because they invite me back. But now, because I'm not getting paid, I was like, I could just talk whatever here and there, meander along the path of talking this and that. Report an error in the passage at 31:59 Highlight the passage at 31:59

32:24 And yet, I can still come here because I don't get paid. But the benefit is seeing kind people, really is. And because you see the kindness in others, you grow in it. Report an error in the passage at 32:24 Highlight the passage at 32:24

32:40 And where you also grow is that when you look at these hardships in life, these are the ingredients what makes you you, makes you more compassionate. Report an error in the passage at 32:40 Highlight the passage at 32:40

32:53 Really, when you start seeing the suffering inside of yourself, you realize that others, you have the same thing as well. Right? We all have relatives who have health problems. I'm sure all of us we have. Report an error in the passage at 32:53 Highlight the passage at 32:53

33:16 That therefore we know that others are struggling with that problem. We all have problems inside of ourselves. Anxiety, depression, health problems, physical health problems, right? Even in your body. And then you realize, oh, I have these problems. Others have the same problems as well. That's what it means. And because you have those problems, compassion arises very naturally. Report an error in the passage at 33:16 Highlight the passage at 33:16

33:49 So don't push them away. Don't get angry with your own problems. I don't want to have this. I don't want to look at it. Look at it and understand that this is wisdom. This is what Buddhism will call wisdom. Compassion is wisdom. Compassion is really where the wisdom arises. Report an error in the passage at 33:49 Highlight the passage at 33:49

34:11 You don't get, like I said, this happiness doesn't come from high heavens. They come from this kind of right understanding. Report an error in the passage at 34:11 Highlight the passage at 34:11

34:21 That if I care about others, I feel good about myself. I feel proud of myself. Report an error in the passage at 34:21 Highlight the passage at 34:21

34:31 You can use those sufferings of your own life as a fuel to come to the conclusion that I need to care. It really is sort of the fodder for compassion, for kindness. That's where it comes from. So don't underestimate you coming here and you meditate and you look inside of your mind, you slow down. You take a digital detox day and it gets really bloody boring and it gets really suffering because there is suffering inside of you. Report an error in the passage at 34:31 Highlight the passage at 34:31

35:09 But don't underestimate that. It's really important. It's really important to look inside of you once in a while. Square up with it. Like I need to do this once in a while. And that's where you learn from. So try to learn from this practice. Don't think that you can just live life. Report an error in the passage at 35:09 Highlight the passage at 35:09

35:31 And nothing matters. Don't think that there's like others don't care about anything. They care as much as you do. We all do. Even those people who like they think you think that they just abuse you. No they don't. They think about those things as much as you do. They do. And that's what you come as a practitioner you start seeing that. And therefore you dread a lot more easier. Report an error in the passage at 35:31 Highlight the passage at 35:31

36:03 You become a person who is more kind towards everybody. You dread very easily on others. You use your words a lot more gently because you know it matters. Report an error in the passage at 36:03 Highlight the passage at 36:03

36:20 And therefore, I think as humans, we don't live in caves anymore. Most of us, we don't. We live in a digital world. We live in a world where we have almost kingly... Prosperity. Even if you look at how the kings and the noble ones lived in Europe a few hundred years ago, those castles are pretty miserable places. Report an error in the passage at 36:20 Highlight the passage at 36:20

36:50 They had all kinds of sicknesses, right? I'm sure a lot of them didn't live very comfortably in our standards. Yet, we are no happier than they are. Why? Because you haven't cultivated that happiness. It is a skill to be had. You change your perception of it. You concentrate on what's important in life. Report an error in the passage at 36:50 Highlight the passage at 36:50

37:19 So care about others. And caring others means caring of yourself. It all starts from yourself. You have to walk the path. You have to create the happiness for yourself. And I think that's the talk for this Christmas Boxing Day. Thank you so much. Report an error in the passage at 37:19 Highlight the passage at 37:19

37:45 And then we go for the questions, comments, complaints. Report an error in the passage at 37:45 Highlight the passage at 37:45

37:54 Is the microphone on the audience? And the questions from online. Report an error in the passage at 37:54 Highlight the passage at 37:54

38:02 I like to give this kind of talks which are sort of very general because when I give this kind of specific topic, one of the questions which is difficult is like, you said this, but then that monk said in this way. And you're like, yeah, okay. Ajahn Pramali said this in this way. Listen Ajahn Pramali, whatever he says goes. Question from Germany. Report an error in the passage at 38:02 Highlight the passage at 38:02

38:31 How do you best follow your breath to find peace in the body if the body pulls you out of it because you are seriously ill? Thank you kindly. How do you best follow the breath? Look. With the breath meditation, you always have to remember the breath comes and it stays with you if you allow it to stay, if the mind is soft enough. Report an error in the passage at 38:31 Highlight the passage at 38:31

38:58 Breath is honestly a very, very delicate beast. It doesn't want to stay with you because you don't have the right attitude. Report an error in the passage at 38:58 Highlight the passage at 38:58

39:08 So the breath is not interesting. It really is not interesting. You all know it. It's an object which is really refined. So if you have a TV here behind me, and we have whatever, even if there's like Christmas advertisements going on the TV right next to it, you would be looking at it all the time. Because advertisements that make them, they change all the time, colors are changing, there's things which keeps pulling your attention. It's a very unrefined object. Report an error in the passage at 39:08 Highlight the passage at 39:08

39:44 But the mind wants to go for those kind of objects. Whereas breath is very, very subtle. So therefore, what it means to have breath meditation to work, you have to allow it so that it to come to you. It's not interesting until it is interesting. Breath meditation, if you look in the sequence of why the Buddha was teaching, even the Buddha was teaching, it comes quite high up in the ladder. Report an error in the passage at 39:44 Highlight the passage at 39:44

40:14 Your mind has to be, you have to do sort of a lot of things, a lot of things have to drop before that. Breath do appear there. Once in a while you can just sort of go for it, see if the objects, if the mind wants to stay in that object of breath. But then if it goes wandering, have good attitudes. That's what you have to do. You know how it's like you're sitting there and you want to move? Report an error in the passage at 40:14 Highlight the passage at 40:14

40:39 You cringe and you're like, and you move. And then you move, like still pain, then you move again. What are you developing? Kindness? No. You're developing frustration. Well done. What are you doing? You're doing frustration meditation. Thank you. Welcome to Buddhist society. We teach you how to be frustrated. Great. Report an error in the passage at 40:39 Highlight the passage at 40:39

41:10 Hopefully not when I'm meditating. I'm trying to teach you, don't be frustrated. Look at that frustration as like, okay, there's frustration. Be kind, gentle. I can move. It's okay to move. There's a hurt in my knee. It's okay to move. Attitude takes you far. So with the breath meditation, you're sick and the body just keeps pulling you back. Develop good attitude towards that. Report an error in the passage at 41:10 Highlight the passage at 41:10

41:37 And it's that kind of, Contentment. The Buddha said even if you're sick, the body is sick, your mind doesn't have to be sick. So it is, this is what the ingredients are now, here and now. I'm sick. Well, that sucks. Report an error in the passage at 41:37 Highlight the passage at 41:37

41:57 Okay, no, hang on. I can be okay with it more or less. For example, if you have fever, it really is horrible when you have fever. It's not fun. Fever is not fun. But you just sort of have, you just look at it and it's like, okay, this is what I have now. I have the fever. I can be okay with it. Look at if the breath is there for a little while. It doesn't want to stay. The body keeps pulling you out. Just look at the body and just don't sort of look at it with aggressiveness, with like hatred. Report an error in the passage at 41:57 Highlight the passage at 41:57

42:32 Don't look at that fever with hatred. And if you are developing more and more kindness towards that disease you have in the body, it's not so important. And then once in a while, maybe the breath will stay with you a bit longer. And once in a while, if you are kind towards the breath, it wants to stay with you. Report an error in the passage at 42:32 Highlight the passage at 42:32

42:55 If you are at ease with it. I don't know if it's going to work, but hey, good luck. Hello. How should I stop to feel the emotional deprivation? I can stop to think about it, but it is just an escaping the problem. Emotional deprivation. You're deprived emotionally. Look, don't think too much about escaping the problem. Report an error in the passage at 42:55 Highlight the passage at 42:55

43:29 It's one of those things which is a valid way of... If you think of like, I'm escaping the problem, therefore I'm doing something wrong, it's okay also to just allow the problem to disappear. So for me, sometimes it feels like we teach loving kindness and people are like, oh, I should be. That's a way to do it. I just always should have loving kindness. Report an error in the passage at 43:29 Highlight the passage at 43:29

43:53 You try to substitute. Substitution is one way of doing these kind of things where you're trying to reframe your problem. But quite often, you're just messing around the problem. You're just making it bigger. It's not working. What should you do? Just allow it to be. Just drop it. Don't get involved with it. Honestly, for me at least, it feels that's sometimes the best, the easiest method. Report an error in the passage at 43:53 Highlight the passage at 43:53

44:22 I'm thinking in my head. I'm going in the morning. I walk the same route all the time, from my hut to the dining hall. It's about... 15-minute walk from my hut. Every day I walk the same problem. I wake up in the morning. I get out of the bed with the wrong leg. I'm in a bad mood. I keep walking towards I'm thinking this problem. Walking, walking. Yes, yes, problem. Oh, terrible. Life is horrendous again. Report an error in the passage at 44:22 Highlight the passage at 44:22

44:48 I don't know anything yet. I should be giving talks to people. Why do they even invite me? Hang on. What am I doing? I'm just walking. Don't try to intellectualize those things. Just feel what it means to feel what it feels to walk. Just drop it. Don't think about it too much. That honestly for me works the best quite often. I'm too much in my head. I just dropped it. Report an error in the passage at 44:48 Highlight the passage at 44:48

45:23 And then for a little while I got a freedom. I got a taste of freedom. These are the little freedoms which are available for you. I just walked for a while. It tends to come back, oh, I'm terrible, I don't know what I'm doing. Oh, just walk. No, I don't know what I'm doing. I just walk. And it doesn't mean you just sort of like get rid of the problem, but you just have this feeling what it feels to be on the other side. Report an error in the passage at 45:23 Highlight the passage at 45:23

45:53 What it feels not to have this problem for a little while. And it feels really nice. And then you have these kind of skills. These are the skills of mindfulness things, mindfulness skills. And they're good skills to develop. You keep coming here and we give you different tips. That's my tip of the night. If nothing else, you get out of it. Just walk. What should I be doing? Report an error in the passage at 45:53 Highlight the passage at 45:53

46:17 Just walk. How should I be doing this? Just walk. Okay. I mean, sure, okay, you can feel what it feels underneath the feet. But, you know, what does the movement feel like when you're walking? Those kind of things. Just feel the movement. Feel it for yourself. Like, make it up yourself. Make up a practice. I'm not going to walk with you. Learn how to walk yourself. Report an error in the passage at 46:17 Highlight the passage at 46:17

46:47 Learn how to pay attention to the walking. And then you go back into the head of your problems in the world. And then drop it. And try that. It feels really nice. Again, I have no idea if I answered the question, but can I stop thinking about it? Yes, yes, you can. And there are other ways of escaping. Please escape the problem. Dear Ajahn, I love your guided meditation. Report an error in the passage at 46:47 Highlight the passage at 46:47

47:17 Thank you. Question from Germany. Is to be a more kinder person related with less ego? Thanks. Yes, it is. It is. Kindness is that you don't have a big ego. You cannot be a kind person with big ego. It doesn't work. Report an error in the passage at 47:17 Highlight the passage at 47:17

47:40 And to go to know self, you have to go from, sorry, refraining. Ajahn Brahm gave a talk here one time. He said to go from to go from Report an error in the passage at 47:40 Highlight the passage at 47:40

47:58 Low self-esteem to no self-esteem doesn't work. You have to have a good self-esteem to go to no self-esteem. Try to remember that. If you have a bad self-esteem, you're carrying it everywhere you go. To go from low self-esteem to no self-esteem doesn't work. Low self-esteem is a massive ego thing. You are massively you when you have a big, Low self-esteem. You don't think about it. You don't realize it. But that smell you're taking with you everywhere smells in your own mind. Report an error in the passage at 47:58 Highlight the passage at 47:58

48:42 Ajahn Chah had this simile. Ajahn Chah was really nice because he lived in a farm, northeast Thailand, as a Brahms teacher. And he said, people are like, people collect, some people have money and they take money everywhere. And some people are like shit collectors. They take chicken shit and they put it in a front pocket and they carry it everywhere and they go like, smells so nice. Chicken shit. Report an error in the passage at 48:42 Highlight the passage at 48:42

49:10 So are you the chicken shit person? Are you taking it everywhere you go and it's like, this is me. I'm suffering. And you make it into big thing and it smells and it's, but it's me. This is me. Don't be that person. Report an error in the passage at 49:10 Highlight the passage at 49:10

49:30 Be a fragrant person. What is good fragrance? It's kindness, you see, generosity, caring about others. That's a good ego. That is a good self-esteem. And that you can allow to disappear. You cannot... It's interesting, we think that it's like, I'm a martyr, therefore I'm a great person. No, that is a big self-esteem. Report an error in the passage at 49:30 Highlight the passage at 49:30

49:58 Don't be a martyr. No need to sacrifice yourself for anything. Stop being a martyr. That doesn't mean you're taking care of others. Report an error in the passage at 49:58 Highlight the passage at 49:58

50:08 I like this saying that loving kindness is like money in a bank. But if you don't have money in a bank, what do you think if you're giving? You're going into debt. Makes sense, doesn't it? You don't have loving kindness in your bank. What are you giving? You're not giving loving kindness. How do you put money in a bank of loving kindness? Report an error in the passage at 50:08 Highlight the passage at 50:08

50:30 Love your own ingredients. myself. If you love your own ingredients You're putting money in a bank and then you know what to give. When you have compassion arising from yourself, then you know what compassion is. Until then, you're going into debt when you're really taking care of others the wrong way. Report an error in the passage at 50:30 Highlight the passage at 50:30

51:14 You're sort of coming from a wrong place. Report an error in the passage at 51:14 Highlight the passage at 51:14

51:22 Yes, question from Bolivia. Buenos dias, tardes. If effort follows motivation, if effort... Effort follows motivation in order to fulfill an action. Why is the right effort between the right motivation? Because, okay, Report an error in the passage at 51:22 Highlight the passage at 51:22

52:01 so if effort follows motivation, In order to fulfill action, why is the right effort? Ah, okay, now I see. Okay, sure, sure, sure. Well, look, please look at the Word of the Buddha class, which are coming, and we're coming into the right effort and right motivation, right speech, action will come next few days. Report an error in the passage at 52:01 Highlight the passage at 52:01

52:23 Hopefully I can explain it in a bit more depth. But everything starts from the motivation. You have to think about it. anything... Anything you do in life, we talk about this come mind Buddhism, for example. It really starts from that where you're coming from. What is your motivation? And that's the right motivation, so to speak, in Buddhism. That is, we talk about right this and that, right meditation, right mindfulness. Report an error in the passage at 52:23 Highlight the passage at 52:23

53:00 Right motivation would be... What motivates you to do things? And when you are coming more and more place from the kindness, whatever follows from there, the act, so to speak, changes or follows from that. So whatever the motivation is, even if you're... So intention matters tremendously. So everything comes in Buddhism, everything starts with your mind. Report an error in the passage at 53:00 Highlight the passage at 53:00

53:32 So the mind is the forerunner of all things. The other religions, for example, at the time of the Buddha, they said, if I just do these right actions, if I just, you know, if I sweep everything in front of me, I don't step on any insects, therefore I'm not creating any bad kamma. Report an error in the passage at 53:32 Highlight the passage at 53:32

53:51 It doesn't work that way. World doesn't work that way. It all starts from intentions, where you're coming from. That's what the guru thing, Report an error in the passage at 53:51 Highlight the passage at 53:51

54:03 The deepest thing lies. For an example, you came here this evening with your car, you drove, you killed a lot of things, a lot of bugs at night time you drove. But you didn't drive to have intention to kill a lot of bugs. That wasn't your intention, I hope. Your intention was to come to listen to Buddha's teachings, to meditate, to learn how to be a kind person. Report an error in the passage at 54:03 Highlight the passage at 54:03

54:29 And yet, you killed many things. But if you go outside now and you see a moth on the floor and you go and it's like, yes, I'm going to stomp on it. And you put a lot of aggressive effort into it and you squish it, you're creating a bad kamma. You know what it feels like to kill even a moth with bad attitude. But if a moth dies while you're driving the car, you didn't create bad kamma because that wasn't your intention. Report an error in the passage at 54:29 Highlight the passage at 54:29

55:02 So intention is what makes the world go around, so to speak. What creates kamma, and that's what you have to experience. Good kamma and bad kamma. That makes you you. That is what you're experiencing now. So try to create good kamma by caring about others and yourself. Report an error in the passage at 55:02 Highlight the passage at 55:02

55:26 Any questions from the audience? Complaints I'm not taking. Virago is taking the complaints. Sorry. Eddie, you're so kind. No, there's somebody behind you. Let's go there first. Report an error in the passage at 55:26 Highlight the passage at 55:26

55:42 What is one thing you're saying about self-esteem, needing to have positive self-esteem? Yeah. What are some practices you can do to improve self-esteem? Self-esteem, yeah. You cannot go from low self-esteem to no self-esteem. to To look at the positive qualities, what do you have? That's really a key thing. Drop it once in a while. Once in a while, one thing is you have doubt, for example. Report an error in the passage at 55:42 Highlight the passage at 55:42

56:19 Doubt the doubt. Low self-esteem. It really comes down to if you practice kindness towards yourself and others, you're actively doing good things. Report an error in the passage at 56:19 Highlight the passage at 56:19

56:45 others it doesn't you know even if it's helping a dog or something you sort of naturally start going towards that so sometimes people one time there was one person he was quite suicidal and I said look you suicidal understand it really is Massive thing, it's in your mind all the time. I said, but don't be selfish. It's a really selfish act to do to suicide. Imagine what your family would feel like. Report an error in the passage at 56:45 Highlight the passage at 56:45

57:12 And I told him, look, the best thing now for you is to go and help others. Put a lot of effort into it. And he went, actually, he volunteered in this organization where he was spending time, I think, with elderly people. And he said, and I thought I was a bit, I actually told him, I told him off. I told him, look, you're selfish. You want to commit suicide, don't be selfish. And I told him off. And I told him, afterwards, I thought, maybe I was a bit too strong with him. Report an error in the passage at 57:12 Highlight the passage at 57:12

57:45 He's suicidal. And a year later, he came to me and he said, oh, that was a good advice you gave me. And he said, I didn't want to hear that. But he said, I just followed the advice anyways. And he got out of that because he was part of, It really, as a human, it makes a massive difference to have connections. So make connections, even if it feels difficult sometimes to have connections, but it makes a difference in your own life. Report an error in the passage at 57:45 Highlight the passage at 57:45

58:18 So volunteer here. They announced in the beginning, we have opportunities to volunteer here. You are welcome. Eddie, please. Do you want to say something? I insist. Ajahn Mudito, thanks for the wonderful deep talk tonight. You covered a lot of areas on how to make ourselves a better person. You mentioned compassion, caring, kindness, contentment, equanimity. Report an error in the passage at 58:18 Highlight the passage at 58:18

59:01 What I was going to ask you is on contentment and equanimity. Okay, we start with equanimity, you know. You see, equanimity is the highest jhāna, you know. Happiness? Yes, it is. The fourth jhāna, yes. Also, equanimity, the path towards enlightenment, the highest is equanimity, you know. And seven factors of enlightenment is bojangga. It's also a healer, isn't it? It's healing, you know. It's what? Sorry? Yeah, healers, healer. Report an error in the passage at 59:01 Highlight the passage at 59:01

59:34 It's heals. Yeah, heals, equanimity heals. With the aid to the enlightenment, you mean? No, you see, the equanimity, practicing equanimity, okay? Okay. Equanimity, same factors of enlightenment is called Bojangas. When Buddha was sick, Chunda recited, and Buddha become well. Oh, okay, okay. Yeah, and then when the monks were sick, Buddha recited, become well. So that's a healer, isn't it? Equanimity, if you have any problem, you look at, you know. Report an error in the passage at 59:34 Highlight the passage at 59:34

1:00:03 Can you frame it as a question, Eddie? Yeah, just one minute. I'll just ask you a question. And the other one is contentment. Okay. Contentment is the highest happiness. Yeah, it's considered. Yeah. Some people call it wealth, but I call it happiness. So, you know what? Practicing all these things, you know, will make us a peaceful person, isn't it? Report an error in the passage at 1:00:03 Highlight the passage at 1:00:03

1:00:23 Yeah. I ask you. If that's the question, yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You're right, Eddie. It makes you a peaceful person. No, look. They're sort of like... they... Report an error in the passage at 1:00:23 Highlight the passage at 1:00:23

1:00:33 It's also signs in a path. Like, if you've been practicing kindness, for example, there's a sign in a path that you have more equanimity. You have, if you translate it that way, that you have more consentment because you, it's a, so take it as like a hallmark. It's like you see a sign on the street and it says, I'm sick, but I'm okay with it. Wow, something has happened. I know I have doubt, But it's not so bad today. I've had depression, but I haven't seen it for a week. It's been replaced by something. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:33 Highlight the passage at 1:00:33

1:01:15 So see these as also like signs that something is happening, something positive is happening. So constantly make more of it and value those things. Those are really, sometimes people don't see that. It's like nothing is really happening in my practice. Like, for example, you know, you have 10 palaces, you still want 11, you know? Right. Not realizing that we don't live forever. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:15 Highlight the passage at 1:01:15

1:01:41 We can't take along all the things here. Yeah. And we go, we suffer, you know, in trying to getting more and more and more. Yeah. And even then, it's like, it sort of comes to that you, something happens which really would have triggered you in the past and you're like, I'm okay with it. Somebody dies, somebody gets really sick and you're just sort of like, I would have really reacted differently in the past, but now I'm okay with it. I understand that, you know, human body is just what it is. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:41 Highlight the passage at 1:01:41

1:02:11 That's what it can give us. It cannot really give us really the ultimate happiness. And it's like, I have more equanimity with it. So it is a good sign to, you know, notice these things. Also, just the last one here. Equanimity, we have to practice it. You can just jump in humility slowly, you know, then you get a feeling. It's a pathway, you know, to... Okay, the question is to repractice equanimity. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:11 Highlight the passage at 1:02:11

1:02:41 But the opaque... Honestly, it's one of those things we don't teach often to practice because it is difficult. It is difficult to practice. But you can... For me, that's where... I can see the equanimity... Opaika would be more like, almost like a sign that the path is working, if you can see that you are quite at ease with something. So we have a problem. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:41 Highlight the passage at 1:02:41

1:03:08 If we don't put in equanimity, we'll be, oh, this and that, and then you keep thinking this will happen all the time, you worry. So actually it's equanimity. If you can see equanimity, then you feel calm, more, more, you understand? It does, it does. I mean, you can tell you, like, I can be okay with it. But let's give to others a chance as well. Sorry. No, no, thank you. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:08 Highlight the passage at 1:03:08

1:03:40 Thank you, Ajahn. Could you talk a little about the recollection meditations, anusati, and recollections of generosity, virtue? Yeah, perhaps it should be a topic of a whole talk. I mean, it's a lot to be talked about and perhaps even to... to teachers because there is many of these Anusatis the reflections but we talk about it quite often in a sense that there's like certain kind of like like Ajahn Brahm says it all the time, you just don't realize, but he said make more of something, like think above. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:40 Highlight the passage at 1:03:40

1:04:19 Being a generous person, think about yourself being a kind person. That's a reflection. And it doesn't mean to be like, oh, there's a list of certain kind of Anusati's reflections that these are the only ones. You can sort of reflect on something. It uplifts my mind. What should I say? So, yeah, make more of it and keep practicing it and it naturally comes to you. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:19 Highlight the passage at 1:04:19

1:04:43 When you have done something generous, you You took care of somebody, you took your time and you took care of somebody and it naturally comes to you. So never underestimate doing good. But then the nice thing about reflections is that when you think about it and allow yourself to dwell on it, it becomes bigger. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:43 Highlight the passage at 1:04:43

1:05:11 And it's the same way when you're thinking about... sort of like not so things which are not so it doesn't take you away these kind of things are there to sort of take you away from saṃsāra it's interesting that more we cultivate positive aspects the more we the self sense of self disappears so the ego becomes less and less when you give you things like you would think that it was like oh that could be an ego thing as well perhaps there is an ego there a little bit but it's actually It's easier to allow those kind of things to fade away, to have a less sense of self. So whenever you do these kind of good acts and you think about that, you realize how light that sense of self is. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:11 Highlight the passage at 1:05:11

1:06:02 There's lightness in there. And that's why I said to go from low self-esteem to no self-esteem is really difficult if you see yourself as a martyr. You're just sort of like carrying this massive sense, idea of self everywhere. And it's really difficult to drop that. If you're a stingy person, it's a big ego thing. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:02 Highlight the passage at 1:06:02

1:06:24 So if you see yourself having a, like, look at me, look at me. How can you lessen to it? Lessen that. Concentrate on like, oh, just, it's okay. Yeah, I have that big sense of self. That's fine. Try to think about those good things you've done and see how it... It becomes sort of more open. But there's different Anussatis. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:24 Highlight the passage at 1:06:24

1:06:54 Generosity is really nice. It really is. And it's easy to do, easy to practice, easy to do. The other ones, perhaps, for example, of open, it is open. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:54 Highlight the passage at 1:06:54

1:07:03 Dhamma is nice to reflect. Dhamma nusati. It's nice to reflect the teachings, how helpful it is and how I enjoy listening to it. And I was like, I feel light because of that. So the joy arises naturally from that. But then you could have Ajahn Brahm nusati. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:03 Highlight the passage at 1:07:03

1:07:23 So you could have a contemplation of your kind teacher. And I was like, I benefited tremendously from his teachings. And you make up your own anusati. Yes, Report an error in the passage at 1:07:23 Highlight the passage at 1:07:23

1:07:39 from the back. Thank you so much for tonight's talk. It's very impressive. And you mentioned something about intention. So I thought if I could ask. I am vegan and I love animals and stuff. Yeah. And the vegan movement have the same thing, make peace, be kind, be gentle. But in Buddhism, the veganism is not really promoted. Like I sit with my friends, we have meditation, and then she just orders something, chicken or beef, and I find it hard to understand her, that she could go to length to save... Report an error in the passage at 1:07:39 Highlight the passage at 1:07:39

1:08:18 Wasp hive in her home, but when it comes to eating, she's okay with eating the dead animals. So where, what is the connection, what is the good way, the right way? Well, always remember, even as like, you cannot change the world. Like the Buddha said, there will be always people who, like, always animals will be slaughtered. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:18 Highlight the passage at 1:08:18

1:08:42 It's not, it's like, you can be pacifist, but there will be wars, right? Are you going to stop all the wars? No. You do your effort. You do your best. And with the veganism, you choose that and you put the effort into it. And the others, they eat meat. And then you just sort of like, you see that if there is, as long as you're kind vegan, it's good. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:42 Highlight the passage at 1:08:42

1:09:09 If you're aggressive vegan, then it's not good. So even with that, it really matters what is your attitude in the world. So when you see others, like how do you square that they are, like you said, that they're trying to protect life in many other ways, but then they eat meat. Well, then you could sort of like, there was this condition that where you see their conditioning, but like that's how they grew up. They don't think too much of it because it's like they grew up in that kind of household. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:09 Highlight the passage at 1:09:09

1:09:47 So you see then in that sense you just say like perhaps this person needs to have animal protein and then just seems to be keeps their digestion well and it's just convenient for them. You can like sort of look at it from different angles. Thank you so much. I appreciate it. Yeah, sure. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:47 Highlight the passage at 1:09:47

1:10:13 Good. All right. Nice. Happy Boxing Day and then I don't know what's tomorrow after match? Briefing after the boxing? Nothing? Okay, it was just tomorrow we continue with the Word of the Buddha and please join if you wish and then same on Sunday. And it's really been amazing again to be here to see so many happy faces and kind people as you all are. So let's pay respect to the Buddha Dhamma Saṅgha and we end it there. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:13 Highlight the passage at 1:10:13

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:11:30 Very good. Okay. Thank you. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:30 Highlight the passage at 1:11:30