How the Mind Works According to the Buddha

0:00 So it's been about one year since I've sat on this cushion and I thought for this evening, I will share with you stuff that I've learned since that one year ago. Report an error in the passage at 0:00 Highlight the passage at 0:00

0:23 I've always been interested in psychology or whatever, even though I'm an engineer by training. So I wanted to know what the Buddha had to say. After all, the whole Buddhist path is learning about how the mind works. Report an error in the passage at 0:23 Highlight the passage at 0:23

0:45 So the starting point I had was this. The five khandhas, or the five aggregates, most of you who have been coming here to Nolamara will know what the five aggregates are. Form, feeling, perception, volition, and consciousness. Report an error in the passage at 0:45 Highlight the passage at 0:45

1:13 The form as in the body, together with the five senses, the eyes, the ears, the nose, the mouth, the skin, that's the body. Report an error in the passage at 1:13 Highlight the passage at 1:13

1:25 And then there are three mental processes. One is perception. Perception is when you receive a sense impingement when you see something. Perception explains to you what you see. So if I look over there, I see chairs. How did I know that? Because sometime when I was very, very young, kindergarten teacher says, chair, and that's table. Report an error in the passage at 1:25 Highlight the passage at 1:25

2:01 So since that time, I know that's a chair. This is a glass of water. We've all been conditioned in the same English-speaking world to call this a glass of water. Nobody would call this a pink elephant. Report an error in the passage at 2:01 Highlight the passage at 2:01

2:23 And that name, that recognition happens instantly. You don't get to decide what you perceive. Report an error in the passage at 2:23 Highlight the passage at 2:23

2:37 When you see that, what is this? You can't help yourself but say a glass of water. You have to very consciously try and negate yourself and say something else. Pink elephant, I don't believe it's a glass of water. It's very hard to do. It probably takes a lot of training for you to convince yourself this is a pink elephant. Then, concurrently as you identify a glass of water, you will also have an affective feeling. Report an error in the passage at 2:37 Highlight the passage at 2:37

3:13 Do I like it or do I not like it? Is this pleasant or unpleasant or neutral? Again, it's not a decision you make. It's an automatic mental process. If I were thirsty, pleasant glass of water. If I crave for sugar, just plain water. Report an error in the passage at 3:13 Highlight the passage at 3:13

3:42 And then the feeling tone is different. Again, I don't have a choice to decide like or don't like. The situation that I'm in decides it for me. My past conditioning decides it for me. Report an error in the passage at 3:42 Highlight the passage at 3:42

4:00 Actually, I should correct that. When the Buddha described these things, he specifically described them as impersonal processes. Something that happens, and it's not for me. It happened. And the third thing, the number four in the five khandhas, is volitional action, or in plain English, Ajahn Brahm prefers to call it will, your will. Report an error in the passage at 4:00 Highlight the passage at 4:00

4:31 What we sometimes call free will, as if there's an opposite to it that's unfree will. But Ajahn Brahmali, in one of his talks here, says there's no such thing as free will. Will is also another automatic process. If you seek water and you're thirsty, the will is to reach out, grab and drink, not something you get to decide. Report an error in the passage at 4:31 Highlight the passage at 4:31

5:04 And then there's consciousness, as in the person who actually knows, okay, that was water, I think I want, and remembers. Report an error in the passage at 5:04 Highlight the passage at 5:04

5:18 Apart from these five things, the Buddha says there are only these five things, there's nothing else in a being. But at the same time, in some of those suttas, he talks about views, right view, wrong view. He talks about underlying tendencies. Report an error in the passage at 5:18 Highlight the passage at 5:18

5:38 He talks about cravings and clinging, which are again all mental processes. But I don't know where it resides in these five things. But here's the interesting part. Those three automatic processes depends on something behind to decide the direction. As I was saying, if I'm thirsty, I like a glass of water. Report an error in the passage at 5:38 Highlight the passage at 5:38

6:11 If I look at Eddie over there and I say, old friend, I'll be very happy. I want to go and shake his hands. On the other hand, if I see somebody over there that looks like my old boss that I had a quarrel with, then I would feel uncomfortable sitting this way and I need to... Again, the volition, sorry, the feeling, the perception and the will to turn away and feel is not a choice. Report an error in the passage at 6:11 Highlight the passage at 6:11

6:45 It's automatic based on something behind the experience I had with him 15 years ago, maybe, let's say. Report an error in the passage at 6:45 Highlight the passage at 6:45

6:59 So that's the theoretical background of what the Buddha explained in Five Khandhas. I kind of understood this and then that's how I came to teach meditation. The way you just experienced it, which was try and tweak the underlying view. Breath is nice, breath is pleasant, breath is my friend. Then your perception, breath, yes, friend. Report an error in the passage at 6:59 Highlight the passage at 6:59

7:41 Your feelings, oh, happiness. Your will, let's hang out with friend. And again, if you can change that perception, these three things are, Automatic. You don't have to choose. You don't have to focus. It's automatic. So, okay. So here I was. I kind of taught. I mean, since I've kind of figured this out, I've been teaching that over and over and over. Report an error in the passage at 7:41 Highlight the passage at 7:41

8:17 I go to prisons, I teach that. I go to general growth, I teach that. And then early in, I don't remember January, I think it was, I was teaching that on Armadale Meditation. This is an online class on a Tuesday night. And then as I gave the instructions, before we started closing our eyes, I said, any questions, any comments, as Ajahn Brahm always does. Report an error in the passage at 8:17 Highlight the passage at 8:17

8:48 And this person raised up her hand and said, question, what if my breath don't want to be friends with me? Report an error in the passage at 8:48 Highlight the passage at 8:48

9:01 And initially I did the same thing. I also giggled and laughed and, what do you mean? But then I thought about it. Her old boss is sitting inside, which is why it's not comfortable in there. Report an error in the passage at 9:01 Highlight the passage at 9:01

9:22 So I asked her, I suggested, is there anything inside that you don't like, that you feel terrified about, that you are depressed about? That you feel inferior about, that you feel heavy, negative, anything. Anything that makes you feel uncomfortable inside. Report an error in the passage at 9:22 Highlight the passage at 9:22

9:49 Anyway, she didn't say anything, so we went on. Close your eyes, relax your abdominal area. 45 minutes later, any questions, any comments? Report an error in the passage at 9:49 Highlight the passage at 9:49

10:04 Regarding what you said earlier, I remember this. When I was very little, My father said to me, I don't want you as my daughter. I Report an error in the passage at 10:04 Highlight the passage at 10:04

10:24 thought about that for a while. That's kind of heavy. And then she said, I didn't realize that would affect my meditation. Report an error in the passage at 10:24 Highlight the passage at 10:24

10:40 And then she went on to ask the next thing, which is quite natural. What can I do about it? What should I do about it? And the textbook answer is, forgive. But as all of you know, it's a lot more difficult. difficult to do than to say. So how to forgive? So I asked her, how much do you know about your father? Report an error in the passage at 10:40 Highlight the passage at 10:40

11:14 And she started shaking her head. It sounded like she didn't know her father very well. But she could describe her childhood with her mother. Poor family, worked very hard, single parent, taking care of several children. Report an error in the passage at 11:14 Highlight the passage at 11:14

11:35 And this was somewhere in south of China, Hong Kong area. And I estimated she's probably about 30-ish. I don't know if I overestimated. Please forgive me. You know who you are. And I figured your father, if he's still alive, would be about 60, 65. Report an error in the passage at 11:35 Highlight the passage at 11:35

12:02 Which means he would have lived 1960s. Born in the 1960s, which means his grandfather, father's father, would have been born in the 1930s. Report an error in the passage at 12:02 Highlight the passage at 12:02

12:19 In South China, 1930s was a horrible place. That was when they had invasion of the Japanese. That was when the Nanjing Massacre, sometimes known as the Rape of Nanjing, happened. Report an error in the passage at 12:19 Highlight the passage at 12:19

12:37 And I had another person tell me some similar stories and then I connected the dots. Those were the times when people smoked opium and became very depressed. Report an error in the passage at 12:37 Highlight the passage at 12:37

12:48 So I suggested to her, well, I guess we don't know very much about grandfather but chances are father probably didn't have a very good childhood. Report an error in the passage at 12:48 Highlight the passage at 12:48

13:01 What father gave you, he probably got a lot more. So if you want to... Blame father, we should blame grandfather. But it's not really grandfather's fault. We should blame the soldier boys. But we can't blame soldier boys, they only follow instructions. So we should blame the commander. Report an error in the passage at 13:01 Highlight the passage at 13:01

13:30 But the commander takes orders from the emperor, so we should blame the emperor. Or maybe he had a council of advisors and... Obviously, he was brought up by his own father, so the blame goes right... Then after a while, of course, as some of you just giggled and laughed, it makes no sense to... You need to spread the blame very far and wide for what you have suffered. On the other hand, she was probably the first generation who could come home after work. Report an error in the passage at 13:30 Highlight the passage at 13:30

14:17 Sit down in the comfort of her own home, turn on a computer, and take half an hour or 45 minutes to meditate. A luxury neither of her parents had. Certainly not her grandparents. Report an error in the passage at 14:17 Highlight the passage at 14:17

14:38 And that's what saṃsāra is like. A lot. I often say this. People here in Perth, or rather the smart Buddhist people in Perth, Don't know how lucky you are because many of the people out there in the world don't hear messages like this. Report an error in the passage at 14:38 Highlight the passage at 14:38

15:04 And you're the lucky generation that gets to sit down at the end of a work week to relax, to have compassion for yourself, to have compassion for your neighbours. And Report an error in the passage at 15:04 Highlight the passage at 15:04

15:24 then sometime in May last year, I had another experience. A group of Malaysians came to Jannah Grove. Report an error in the passage at 15:24 Highlight the passage at 15:24

15:38 ostensibly on self-retreat but they went up to Ajahn Brahm and said there are newbies amongst us who don't really meditate very much would you like to come over to China Grove and teach us then Ajahn looked down the line Malaysian monk you go and teach so Report an error in the passage at 15:38 Highlight the passage at 15:38

16:04 I went and I told them One whole week, this was the week before Wesak, they made a pilgrimage, Wesak pilgrimage to Perth. Stay one week in Jana Grove and then have the celebrations. And then some of them will hang around, the others will go home. So I told them, Jana Grove, meditation paradise. Report an error in the passage at 16:04 Highlight the passage at 16:04

16:28 I don't know how many of you have seen the TV series Fantasy Island. And here was a... paradise Report an error in the passage at 16:28 Highlight the passage at 16:28

16:38 Plain load of people who arrived, 18 of them. Welcome to Fantasy Island. I'm your host. You're my guest. As you would go into any holiday destination, you want to see all the sights, eat all the nicest foods and have all the rides and see all the landmarks. So here I'm your tour guide. What's special about Perth in May? Blue skies. Report an error in the passage at 16:38 Highlight the passage at 16:38

17:08 Pleasant weather. Jana Grove, quiet, peaceful, natural surrounding. That's the thing to enjoy. That's the highlight of Jana Grove in Perth. On top of that, it turns out in May, it was meteorite season. So I told them, here's the news report. Go out at 4.30 in the morning, look in the eastern direction, sorry, western direction, eastern direction. Report an error in the passage at 17:08 Highlight the passage at 17:08

17:39 You will have one mee teow roughly every few minutes. And they did all that. And I said, unfortunately, for Malaysians, you don't hope to have the same kind of food excitement in Perth compared to Malaysia. But still, jana grow food, bodi jana food, in my mind, the best buffet south of the river. Report an error in the passage at 17:39 Highlight the passage at 17:39

18:15 And I gave meditation instruction morning, afternoon. I had my other fellow Malaysian monk, Venerable Jayako, teach the night sessions. But after about three or four days, I was looking at the crowd and I was wondering, something is wrong here. Report an error in the passage at 18:15 Highlight the passage at 18:15

18:34 These guys paid an expensive airfare, flew all the way here. We have perfect conditions. It didn't rain. Weather was just nice. Report an error in the passage at 18:34 Highlight the passage at 18:34

18:45 And still... Not many smiling faces. Report an error in the passage at 18:45 Highlight the passage at 18:45

18:53 And I pointed it out to them. You're not enjoying your holiday. What's wrong? And then I took out the sutta and read it to them. This was the simile of the cloth sutta. I'll roughly tell you what the story is. The Buddha says, if you took a piece of rag like this and you had a bowl of bright coloured dye, say purple dye or pink dye or yellow dye, You take your cloth, you dip it in, and you pull it out, will you get a nice colour? Of course not. Report an error in the passage at 18:53 Highlight the passage at 18:53

19:30 Why not? Because your piece of cloth was ugly to begin with, it's dirty, it's full of stains and snot and grease and oil, of course it won't take up a nice colour and it won't look nice. But if you took a nice bright piece of cloth, perfectly pure, and you dipped it in your dye, and you pulled it out, Would the colour be nice and even and bright? Of course, yes. Why? Because the piece of cloth was bright and even and white and clean in the first place. Report an error in the passage at 19:30 Highlight the passage at 19:30

20:06 Likewise, if your mind is bright and clean and you sit down and meditate, you'll be happy, you'll be bright and beautiful naturally. Report an error in the passage at 20:06 Highlight the passage at 20:06

20:26 But if you took a stained piece of mind and you dip it in meditation and you took it out, you still won't be able to smile. Report an error in the passage at 20:26 Highlight the passage at 20:26

20:40 As it turned out, after that piece of comment, people approached me and one particular story I'll share with you. This was a lady I imagined in her 60s and she said, I've never told this to anybody before, not even to my own husband. Not to my brothers. She was the youngest of five children, the only girl, father's favourite. Report an error in the passage at 20:40 Highlight the passage at 20:40

21:24 And her father wanted to go back to China to visit his ancestral home. But she told her father, no, no, no, now's not a good time. My kids are young, they're going to school. Mother's in a wheelchair, she needs our help and attention. I can't leave. And apparently the father Made that request several times. The father is not a depressed person, was a jovial person apparently, very sociable, goes to a coffee shop and sit down with friends. Report an error in the passage at 21:24 Highlight the passage at 21:24

22:02 But one day they discovered him in bed, bottle of pills by the side. Report an error in the passage at 22:02 Highlight the passage at 22:02

22:10 And she felt really guilty, wondering if she caused it. She's wondering, was it the cake? He wasn't suicidal. Why would this happen? Was it a case that he was trying to frighten me to get him the air ticket and accompany him? Did he accidentally succeed? That was her worry. And it turned out she had that feeling. Report an error in the passage at 22:10 Highlight the passage at 22:10

22:48 She could not discuss it with her family. Then I asked her, how are your brothers taking it? Report an error in the passage at 22:48 Highlight the passage at 22:48

23:00 She says, Two eldest ones have passed away, but the number four, the one just before her, has also become a very quiet, reserved person. Report an error in the passage at 23:00 Highlight the passage at 23:00

23:18 So I suggested to her, well, you shouldn't be carrying this kind of stuff anymore. You can't do anything about it. Okay, so stop. Go do something about it. Which is why, All the cultures in the world come up with ceremonies. Here, first week of April for the Chinese is our equivalent of an All Souls Day, Qingming Day, where we go to the graveyards and remember our dearly departed. Report an error in the passage at 23:18 Highlight the passage at 23:18

23:53 I suggested to her, the Buddhists also have ceremonies like that. Do a saṅgha dana, a lunch offering, in remembrance of that. Let Dad know in your mind that we are offering this meal to the monks in your name, hoping that if the Dad remembers and appreciates, he will forgive us for any wrongdoings or neglect, omissions, as it were. Report an error in the passage at 23:53 Highlight the passage at 23:53

24:29 So she went home. I haven't spoken to her since, but she seemed a lot more relieved after that. Report an error in the passage at 24:29 Highlight the passage at 24:29

24:41 The point that I'm trying to make is this. Sometimes, there's stuff in our memory, the views, whether it's about an old boss, whether it's about a father, whether it's about the husband, that is lodged way back in the memory that Report an error in the passage at 24:41 Highlight the passage at 24:41

25:03 we still keep hanging on to for unknown reasons, for reasons we haven't explored. And a lot of times, if you keep hanging on to that, you can't smile. Report an error in the passage at 25:03 Highlight the passage at 25:03

25:17 You can enjoy life. Report an error in the passage at 25:17 Highlight the passage at 25:17

25:22 And so Ajahn Brahm comes up, make peace, be kind, be gentle, let go. If you can now understand some of the logic and stories behind all this, yeah, let go. Report an error in the passage at 25:22 Highlight the passage at 25:22

25:41 The trouble is this. A lot of times, like for that girl in Hong Kong, for this lady whose dad had... A lot of times we don't know what happened and therefore we don't have the real explanation. Report an error in the passage at 25:41 Highlight the passage at 25:41

26:07 But by and large, we can come to conclusion that mistakes happen, there are cause and conditions, there's past karma that just keeps rolling and things will happen. Report an error in the passage at 26:07 Highlight the passage at 26:07

26:23 And when they happen, we may not understand the full story, But we don't have to carry the guilt. We don't have to carry the hurt. There are reasons for these things. We just have to roughly understand they do happen. We can let go. Okay, I'll tell you one more story before I finish. This was a big learning for me. Report an error in the passage at 26:23 Highlight the passage at 26:23

26:56 A 17-year-old boy and his parents came to the monastery. And said, we need to speak to a monk. And Ajahn Brahmali was having a terrible flu and so he's... And so I said, and say, yes, how can I help you? Report an error in the passage at 26:56 Highlight the passage at 26:56

27:16 And a young man told me, I'm seeing things, horrible things. I know they're not real, but they're in front of me. I'm hearing voices. Report an error in the passage at 27:16 Highlight the passage at 27:16

27:36 I know they're not real. There's nobody talking to me. But it's so loud and so insistent and so in my ears, very often I can't function. The night before he went out with friends, four friends sitting around a table having dinner and he couldn't participate. That's how bad it was. Report an error in the passage at 27:36 Highlight the passage at 27:36

28:03 So I told him the same story about I don't want you as my daughter. Is there anything in yourself that you don't like, that you don't approve? that you want to destroy I could see him sit there. You know how that symbol in the computer, spinning, spinning, spinning, spinning, spinning. And then he lit up. I know what it is, he told me. And then he said, but I don't want to tell you. Report an error in the passage at 28:03 Highlight the passage at 28:03

28:43 I cannot, I don't want to say. Report an error in the passage at 28:43 Highlight the passage at 28:43

28:49 I didn't push further. Report an error in the passage at 28:49 Highlight the passage at 28:49

28:55 But this was the first time for me to see that now there's a view at the back of their mind. Those three processes happened. The perception, the feeling happened. The will started... Okay, I didn't explain this earlier. The will includes our thoughts and our fantasies. Report an error in the passage at 28:55 Highlight the passage at 28:55

29:24 So if I'm sitting here with my old boss sitting there, my thoughts will run. And some of the thoughts may not be very pleasant or very kind. But those thoughts, as most of you know, I have to change my perception about this person in order for the story to change. The story itself, the thinking itself is automatic. So Report an error in the passage at 29:24 Highlight the passage at 29:24

30:01 this person is now having hallucinations which he knows is false so it's not schizophrenia. He sees things, he hears a second person voice. Report an error in the passage at 30:01 Highlight the passage at 30:01

30:19 Which in the five aggregate model is your volitional action in action. But the part that is a bit different from the Buddhist understanding is very often the perception, the feeling, the will is the creator or the source of the sense of self. I feel or I see or I want. The I sits in front of those things. Report an error in the passage at 30:19 Highlight the passage at 30:19

30:52 But in this case, his visions and his thoughts or the voices were second person. It's as if that will now wants to destroy this thing that is perceived in the first person. Very strange. But then, after that encounter, I am starting to see it more and more. I recognize it in behaviors. Anyway, so... That has been my journey this year, these learnings. Report an error in the passage at 30:52 Highlight the passage at 30:52

31:36 My explanation about the five khandhas and views and underlying tendencies, please note that it's work in progress. I am not fully convinced or fully understand all that the Buddha said, but that's my working model for now. so. Report an error in the passage at 31:36 Highlight the passage at 31:36

32:03 Anyways, I imagine this talk would trigger a lot of questions, so perhaps I stop here and allow questions. Any Report an error in the passage at 32:03 Highlight the passage at 32:03

32:24 questions? Report an error in the passage at 32:24 Highlight the passage at 32:24

32:48 Thank you, Ajahn. You referred to Ajahn Brahmali's talk on free will. Could you talk a little more about that and your view on his view about free will? Thank you. Ajahn Brahmali, says that free will doesn't exist uh yeah that we are all conditioned um okay Report an error in the passage at 32:48 Highlight the passage at 32:48

33:18 when we think of domino pieces one falling on the other um it's very straightforward one piece falls on the next piece is one to one correspondence it's just one to one to one to one to one to one and then maybe it splits into two maybe it splits into three at most and maybe it combines into Report an error in the passage at 33:18 Highlight the passage at 33:18

33:41 But the living being has got many, many dominoes. Now, as you know, there's a lot of talking on AI, artificial intelligence. And then the question is, is the AI living being? Can the AI have consciousness? Again, I haven't come to a conclusion myself, but I was intrigued when Professor Bernard Carr consciousness. Report an error in the passage at 33:41 Highlight the passage at 33:41

34:11 Came and gave a talk with Ajahn Brahm. He also spent a few days at the monastery and the question came up. Can AI have consciousness? Report an error in the passage at 34:11 Highlight the passage at 34:11

34:22 Interestingly, Ajahn Brahm said, possibly yes. And I was wondering, okay, according to dependent origination, consciousness and name and form rests on each other. What is name and form? Form, as you know, is The body or the shape of a body. Name, again, are just mental processes. Your feeling, your perception, your will, plus two or three more. Report an error in the passage at 34:22 Highlight the passage at 34:22

35:02 Attention and contact, excluding consciousness. These are, again, automatic processes. Sorry, attention and contact. Attention is when you look or pay attention to something, right? Anyway, so in my mind, when Ajahn said that, it sounds like an AI data center is the name and form which the consciousness can reside in. Report an error in the passage at 35:02 Highlight the passage at 35:02

35:37 Extension. When is a body a living being and when is it a carcass? The only difference is when there's consciousness or not. Whether the consciousness will return to it after you wake up, when you wake up. If it doesn't return to the body when you wake up, it's a carcass. Report an error in the passage at 35:37 Highlight the passage at 35:37

36:00 If it comes back, it's a living being, a living body. Report an error in the passage at 36:00 Highlight the passage at 36:00

36:08 But here's the question. Is an AI model deterministic or does it actually have free will to think? You feed it with lots of data. If I feed a second data center with the same data and ask the same question, should I get the same answer? Neither do I. I don't know either. Likewise, if you had a pair of twins grow up together and you school them the same way, will one have a volitional action different from the other if you could match their conditioning perfectly? Report an error in the passage at 36:08 Highlight the passage at 36:08

36:59 But we can't. We can't match them perfectly. And we can't match their past lives either. So in the end, a lot of these subjects, I have my view on it. But as the Buddha said, leaves in my hands, leaves out there in the forest, which one is more? This is all you need. Leave those leaves up there. You don't have to understand every leaf. When you understand these, you will understand those. Report an error in the passage at 36:59 Highlight the passage at 36:59

37:35 On a subject like Ajahn Brahmali's talk, I leave it inconclusive in my own head because I don't think the Buddha says it's necessary to conclude. Report an error in the passage at 37:35 Highlight the passage at 37:35

37:56 Eddie? Report an error in the passage at 37:56 Highlight the passage at 37:56

38:03 Ajahn, Venerable Radha, you're trying to tell us something very, very important in the Buddha's teaching. Because it's about us, the Buddha. The five aggregates, the five skandhas, it's all about us inside here, isn't it? All, the Buddha says everything lies within here, you know. You must understand here, you know. You know, understand the workings of us here, okay, to know what it's all about, you know. Report an error in the passage at 38:03 Highlight the passage at 38:03

38:36 All the suffering, everything, it's all here. So understanding the five skandhas, like consciousness, all these things, like our mind, our feelings, our minds, thoughts, the phenomena, mental formations, it's very important how it works. For example, for me, normally I'm okay. Whenever there's any disturbing feeling in me, oh, that is a suffering, you know. I would sort of quickly calm down, calm down, that I can think, calm down, okay. Report an error in the passage at 38:36 Highlight the passage at 38:36

39:11 For meditation, I can do it now, very quickly, I think, okay. Oh, this feeling, oh, it comes from my mind, you know. There's something happening, you know, not good, you know. So my mind keeps harping, oh, if this and that, all these things, or somehow the fear all happens, the thing, you know. Knowing this thing, okay, Half the battle Is for my mind It's a very Report an error in the passage at 39:11 Highlight the passage at 39:11

39:58 deep thing. It's hard to explain. Some people can get it, some people... I know what you're talking about. So it's very important to know our feeling. The bad feeling is the suffering, isn't it? So what I suggest, quite often, is that once you... Whatever your experiences are, especially the negative experiences, to look one layer deeper. Not the current feeling. Report an error in the passage at 39:58 Highlight the passage at 39:58

40:31 Not the current perception, but what is colouring it. Why do I react negatively towards this person who just said something quite innocent? Report an error in the passage at 40:31 Highlight the passage at 40:31

40:47 Because your mind keeps hopping on it. Yeah, but the conditioning that made you hold, like in the case of this person, cannot feel comfortable in her own body to meditate. Report an error in the passage at 40:47 Highlight the passage at 40:47

41:01 She could connect it back to something that happened 25 years ago. Report an error in the passage at 41:01 Highlight the passage at 41:01

41:09 Now, because she has seen that piece of thorn that is stuck to her side, and she can, makes a lot of difference. But in her daily life, every time she sat down in meditation before that, you never knew, wow, why so uncomfortable? Why so uncomfortable? Report an error in the passage at 41:09 Highlight the passage at 41:09

41:30 You know what I mean? So, yeah, if we could spend now, close our eyes and go back and say, Am I comfortable inside here? What is pushing me out of here? The mind is not settled. The mind is a foreigner of all states. The way Ajahn Brahm explains it, mind is not like a TV screen. Rather, mind is an umbrella term to explain that consciousness pops up. Report an error in the passage at 41:30 Highlight the passage at 41:30

42:11 Consciousnesses pops up. Memories pop up, observations, perceptions pop up. And then in response to those perceptions, the next perception pop up, the volitional action pop up, the unhappy feeling pops up. And it's all driven by a lot of old views and beliefs that we hold. And quite often these are negative views about ourselves. Report an error in the passage at 42:11 Highlight the passage at 42:11

42:38 If we have positive views about ourselves and positive views of our friends, Then chances are you will not treat your friend badly. You will not treat yourself badly. You notice that in many of these cases, right, because they felt unworthy inside, they felt I have done something wrong, they felt I was rejected by somebody else important to me, therefore I am not worthy and I don't treat myself kind. Report an error in the passage at 42:38 Highlight the passage at 42:38

43:13 That's the experiences I... I kind of noticed the pattern I noticed in these cases. So if you have that kind of feeling, I would invite you to go pick up that thorn, throw it away. Report an error in the passage at 43:13 Highlight the passage at 43:13

43:36 As Ajahn Brahm says, get a nice piece of soft tissue paper from a nice roll, write it down in brown ink, and then do the ceremony of flushing it down. That's the phenomena, you know, something not good happening. And it's good to, sorry, you can start practicing when you're down, isn't it? It needs practice, you know. Of course, of course. It's a very deep thing inside your body here, you know. Only you can do it yourself. Isn't it? Report an error in the passage at 43:36 Highlight the passage at 43:36

44:06 Thank you very much. Okay, let me answer the next question. Does fear and anxiety create negative karma? Is staying in the present moment, positivity and kindness the way to create good karma to counteract the bad karma from fear and anxiety? The Buddha made it very clear. Karma has two parts. One, it is your intention. Two, it is your action. Report an error in the passage at 44:06 Highlight the passage at 44:06

44:37 So it's action arising from intention that creates karma. Sometimes if you... Have an intention and you don't carry it out, it's only half a bad karma. Sometimes you have done something inadvertently without intention, but it created an accident that hurt somebody. That is not really karma. It's not negative karma anyway. But yes, anxiety and negativity and fear can give rise to Report an error in the passage at 44:37 Highlight the passage at 44:37

45:20 Bad intention can give rise to bad actions. So the Buddha, very smart, I really respect this teacher. He comes up with the Four Noble Truths that says the path to ending suffering is the Noble Eightfold Path. It's not just Jhanic meditation. Start by having right view, start by having Right intention. What is right intention? Make peace, be kind, be gentle. Report an error in the passage at 45:20 Highlight the passage at 45:20

45:59 Not have any ill will, not have any greed, not have any grudge. Let go, make peace. When that is your underlying motivation in life, whether it's with friends, towards work, towards yourself, then your speech, action and livelihood, You will be automatically guided. You will be kind. You will be compassionate. You won't harm. Report an error in the passage at 45:59 Highlight the passage at 45:59

46:35 You won't hurt. From that, when you lead your life long enough in that way, mindfulness will come because you are no longer hanging on to old thoughts. You can be inside, mindful, pleasant, and you can go into stillness. Brilliant teaching. He saw through the whole thing as a big system and he teaches it. So, yes, positivity and kindness is indeed the starting point of good karma. Report an error in the passage at 46:35 Highlight the passage at 46:35

47:14 Question from Thailand. I've been meditating since January this year and I've been doing it every evening at 8pm for 30 minutes. As a beginner, is it better to meditate in the morning or evening? Report an error in the passage at 47:14 Highlight the passage at 47:14

47:27 As a beginner or... An old hand, my suggestion, enjoy meditation. Learn to have the pleasure of closing your eyes and resting, being with a friend, and be at peace. Report an error in the passage at 47:27 Highlight the passage at 47:27

47:50 When you have that perception in the background, sorry, that view in the background, your perception, your feeling, and your volitional action becomes automatic, you will meditate. Meditate every minute that you could spare. Report an error in the passage at 47:50 Highlight the passage at 47:50

48:10 That's the way to do it. That's the way I like to do it anyway. Report an error in the passage at 48:10 Highlight the passage at 48:10

48:22 Yes, Report an error in the passage at 48:22 Highlight the passage at 48:22

48:30 indeed. Report an error in the passage at 48:30 Highlight the passage at 48:30

48:40 The meditation, as I was pointing out, is... A question from Germany. Dear Ajahn, how do I know if I'm meditating correctly and not just sitting like a chicken on a stick? Report an error in the passage at 48:40 Highlight the passage at 48:40

48:47 Noble Eightfold Path, Factor No. 8, Sama Samādhi. As I was saying, itself is not the answer, but it is part of the answer. Report an error in the passage at 48:47 Highlight the passage at 48:47

49:01 Back to Third Noble Truth. What does Third Noble Truth say? The end of craving is the end of suffering. The end of suffering, so it is the very end of the cravings that lead to the end of suffering. If your meditation leads towards reducing craving, you're meditating correctly. If you're trying to meditate and you're still chasing worldly stuff, chances are your mind will run when you sit down and close your eyes. Report an error in the passage at 49:01 Highlight the passage at 49:01

49:43 The world out there is more exciting than this boring friend called the breath. Report an error in the passage at 49:43 Highlight the passage at 49:43

49:51 So, yeah, do you have a choice about it? Well, did I have a choice about... Telling you to develop your breath as your best friend. Do I have a choice? I am being brainwashed by Ajahn Brahm all the time, so I'm passing it on. But if you, yeah, if you, eventually you come to a point, your craving will drop and you enjoy peace and you come to a point. Report an error in the passage at 49:51 Highlight the passage at 49:51

50:30 I'd rather not have cravings at all and just be in peace all the time. If you're leaning towards that, you're meditating correctly. Report an error in the passage at 50:30 Highlight the passage at 50:30

50:44 Last question. How to stop social media addiction? I waste a lot of time stalking people. Please advise how to stop this. Report an error in the passage at 50:44 Highlight the passage at 50:44

51:03 Back to the five khanda model. Stalking is you're describing your volitional action. Report an error in the passage at 51:03 Highlight the passage at 51:03

51:17 Somewhere in there, you're finding it pleasurable. It's a pleasurable experience. What is not described is your perception and your underlying views. Report an error in the passage at 51:17 Highlight the passage at 51:17

51:36 I'll make some guesses. I'm guessing stalking gives you the perception of power. of being in the upper hand we've all been trained again from childhood from school days just like Paul Simon and Simon Garfunkel said it's better to be the hammer than the nail the hammer gets to whack and Report an error in the passage at 51:36 Highlight the passage at 51:36

52:05 it's better to stalk than be the stalked victim I suppose that's the common perception but that you derive a joy out of it comes from some Report an error in the passage at 52:05 Highlight the passage at 52:05

52:25 Previously conditioned view. That has to change. Report an error in the passage at 52:25 Highlight the passage at 52:25

52:39 I don't know. It must come from, I'm guessing, a hatred for a particular class of people that you want to stalk and victimise. Report an error in the passage at 52:39 Highlight the passage at 52:39

52:55 Would that be right? Report an error in the passage at 52:55 Highlight the passage at 52:55

53:00 Yeah. If you have a negative perception, I don't like that person, I'm gonna... And if you find your favourite tool is to... stalk online, social media, then that's probably what you will do. If you recognize the harm in that, then perhaps you might say, I should have more compassion to my fellow beings. Report an error in the passage at 53:00 Highlight the passage at 53:00

53:32 In harming them, I'm harming myself. In removing their happiness, I'm removing my own happiness. Report an error in the passage at 53:32 Highlight the passage at 53:32

53:43 If you could recognize that, perhaps then your motivations will change, your will. will change, your volitional action will change. Report an error in the passage at 53:43 Highlight the passage at 53:43

53:54 Thank Report an error in the passage at 53:54 Highlight the passage at 53:54

54:00 you, Vali. Thank you for your dharma teaching. About your description of the psychology of Buddhism, I want to know for your journey of becoming a monk and the time you practiced Buddhism, what kind of perception you found is the hardest to change and which one you found To be very Report an error in the passage at 54:00 Highlight the passage at 54:00

54:34 honest, biological urges are the hardest to change. Report an error in the passage at 54:34 Highlight the passage at 54:34

54:43 And that's the one that a lot of monks struggle with also. The Report an error in the passage at 54:43 Highlight the passage at 54:43

54:56 Buddha in another sutta went on to say this. If you want to look it up, it's Samyutta Nikaya 36.6. I've recently come across it and I thought it was, again, very enlightening. Very simple sutta. It just says this. An enlightened person and a normal, what do you call it, putujana, an uninstructed person, both of us will feel pain. Report an error in the passage at 54:56 Highlight the passage at 54:56

55:29 If you had a dart, an arrow, and you stick it in there, it will be painful. And both might say, ouch. The uninstructed person will say, who's the person? And you need to, a big action, right? And it's all anger. The enlightened person will quickly understand, yes, we live in saṃsāra, these things happen. Report an error in the passage at 55:29 Highlight the passage at 55:29

56:02 There may be history, I may have did something that hurt his, and he therefore needed to. Perhaps, hopefully, it's now resolved. Report an error in the passage at 56:02 Highlight the passage at 56:02

56:17 But that same sutta went on to say, it's because we experience suffering, And we recognize it as suffering, we call it suffering, and we say negative vedanā, negative feeling, I don't like it, I need to push it away, I need to resist it, I need to stop it from ever happening again. Report an error in the passage at 56:17 Highlight the passage at 56:17

56:42 That's when your aversion develops. And then, after your aversion develops, it goes on to say, because you have aversion towards painful feeling, You will automatically look for an escape. The escape is pleasant feelings. And so you might try and do stalking on social media, or you might go and look for an ice cream, or you might anything that is pleasurable, an escape from this. Report an error in the passage at 56:42 Highlight the passage at 56:42

57:21 And in the process, you will keep pushing away the painful one and trying to grab the pleasant ones. If you're not careful, that becomes your life. Report an error in the passage at 57:21 Highlight the passage at 57:21

57:37 But Sutta goes on to say, if you understood the big picture of why we resist the unpleasant feelings, if you understood the big picture of why we then crave for the pleasant feelings, you recognize the whole process is so futile, over and over and over again. How many lifetimes have we done this before? Okay, we can't remember, but... Report an error in the passage at 57:37 Highlight the passage at 57:37

58:01 Do you believe him when he tells you you have done this millions and millions of times? You just forget. Unfortunately, the way it's programmed, we lose most of it when we are reborn. But according to him, everything else proved correct. Everything else he says proved very logical and workable and evidence for it. Report an error in the passage at 58:01 Highlight the passage at 58:01

58:28 You've been around, you've been doing this. Perhaps it's time to... See through it all, all these mechanisms that keep the world going and going and going, that keeps us hunting and hunting and hunting. So to answer your question, I didn't know all this before, before I became a monk. But as it dawns on me now, it makes more and more sense. Report an error in the passage at 58:28 Highlight the passage at 58:28

59:08 Some of you may know I was an engineer before and I used to read user manuals and repair manuals front to back and I could understand the settings inside a little, for example, auto gate. Would you know how to program your auto gate? I do. Report an error in the passage at 59:08 Highlight the passage at 59:08

59:30 And then after a while, you come across Ajahn Brahm and say, well, okay, you know about all the electronics and all the cars and all the motorbikes out there. Do you know how? This thing works. You know how to program this thing. So that's the next frontier, as it were. Report an error in the passage at 59:30 Highlight the passage at 59:30

59:52 Any Report an error in the passage at 59:52 Highlight the passage at 59:52

59:56 other questions? At the back. Report an error in the passage at 59:56 Highlight the passage at 59:56

1:00:06 So you mentioned earlier that the person you were researching, he says free will doesn't exist and that the alternate doesn't really have a good analogy. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:06 Highlight the passage at 1:00:06

1:00:20 A few things you said throughout the talk kind of made sense about the glass of water. And then something of what Buddha said, the leaves in your hands are all that matter. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:20 Highlight the passage at 1:00:20

1:00:38 And in my mind, I saw that as, wait, free will should and can exist because I can choose to drink the glass of water or not. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:38 Highlight the passage at 1:00:38

1:00:54 And that's a conscious decision. That's what makes me alive, is that choice. and then there's things that I can't choose and that it made sense what you said what Buddha said is this leaves in my hands are all that matter it's because they're in my hand I can choose them the less rest of the leaves don't matter so to me that makes me feel like free will doesn't exist because the alternate doesn't exist because free Report an error in the passage at 1:00:54 Highlight the passage at 1:00:54

1:01:31 will is in my consciousness that's what makes it free for me but I can't I can't change or will the leaves on the tree to fall, but I can will the leaves in my hand to fall. So I guess. Sorry, Report an error in the passage at 1:01:31 Highlight the passage at 1:01:31

1:01:52 I should have explained. Handful of leaves is a simile that the Buddha used in a particular teaching. I'm not sure if you're familiar with it. I'm not. that make sense? Sorry. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:52 Highlight the passage at 1:01:52

1:02:08 In the scriptures, there are stories of monks who went up to the Buddha. Does the cosmos exist for eternity? Does the life extend beyond one life? Is the mind material, brain only? Or is the mind and the brain separate? A lot of questions. And then this monk went on further to say, If you don't tell me the answer, I'm going to disrobe. I'm not going to be your disciple anymore. The monk said that, well, that's how it was recorded. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:08 Highlight the passage at 1:02:08

1:02:49 And the Buddha said, did I ever promise you that I would explain all these other things to you? My promise to you is, there is suffering, there is the cause of suffering, there is an ending to suffering, and there's this eightfold path leading to the end of suffering. That's all I'm teaching you. That's all I've offered to teach you. What the cosmos does, whether it expands, whether it's Big Bang, whether it's oscillating, whether it's the multiverse or universe or whatever, those are unnecessary teachings. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:49 Highlight the passage at 1:02:49

1:03:29 They will not lead to the end of suffering. So what the Buddha was in fact saying was, this handful of leaves in my hand, is this more or are there more leaves in the trees compared to that? Report an error in the passage at 1:03:29 Highlight the passage at 1:03:29

1:03:45 The monk said, Obviously, there are more leaves on the trees than the leaves in your hands by many, many times, many, many folds. Well, this is all I'm offering you. This is all you need to end suffering. All those other questions about free will, consciousness, this, that and the other. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:45 Highlight the passage at 1:03:45

1:04:11 I'm talking about machine consciousness. I'm not talking about human consciousness. Those things, you have free time, you can go and explore, but they will not lead to the end of your suffering. This is all I'm offering you. This is all that's necessary. That's what the Buddha said. That's what the handful of leaves means. Thank you. Coming Report an error in the passage at 1:04:11 Highlight the passage at 1:04:11

1:04:48 back to the question of freedom, you know. Yeah, I know what you mean. Those leaves are in the trees. No, you're just trying to put it aside. I do understand. Put it as a thing, you know, okay? As a Buddhist, I feel I'm free. Most of, I talk to Ajahn Brahmli, after that, he understand me, I understand him. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:48 Highlight the passage at 1:04:48

1:05:12 There are a lot of things which I feel I'm free. There are some other things, you can say freedom or whatever this is not, it's debatable. But most of the thing is freedom for me. And I can understand if you say that you don't have, freedom. I do understand that too, there's certain things to do. You Report an error in the passage at 1:05:12 Highlight the passage at 1:05:12

1:05:32 would have heard Ajahn Brahm explain this before. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:32 Highlight the passage at 1:05:32

1:06:05 What's the word? Freedom of choice. I can choose this or I can choose that. I can choose whatever. Freedom from choice. Have you heard that one before? What does that mean? My Report an error in the passage at 1:06:05 Highlight the passage at 1:06:05

1:06:27 will doesn't have to move anymore. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:27 Highlight the passage at 1:06:27

1:06:32 Why does the will happen? Why do you choose? Report an error in the passage at 1:06:32 Highlight the passage at 1:06:32

1:06:42 Ajahn Brahm's explanation, very profound. You're not contented, so you need to fix something. That's why the will. If you're contented, Report an error in the passage at 1:06:42 Highlight the passage at 1:06:42

1:06:58 the will stops. When the will stops, you're very close to enlightenment. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:58 Highlight the passage at 1:06:58

1:07:08 So this free will thing, freedom to choose, freedom to choose whatever you want, freedom to want, is not a good thing in the Buddhist understanding. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:08 Highlight the passage at 1:07:08

1:07:24 Second noble truth, Report an error in the passage at 1:07:24 Highlight the passage at 1:07:24

1:07:31 third noble truth, the end of craving, The end of suffering comes from the end of craving. The remainderless ceasing of that craving, the relinquishment, the giving up, being freed from it, being, as Ajahn Brahm translates the last word, being teflon, non-stick from craving. That is the third noble truth, the end of suffering. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:31 Highlight the passage at 1:07:31

1:08:13 The idea of will moving is suffering. The opposite is when will can stop, it means you're contented inside. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:13 Highlight the passage at 1:08:13

1:08:39 My Report an error in the passage at 1:08:39 Highlight the passage at 1:08:39

1:08:44 understanding of freedom is like, for example, the five precepts. Five precepts is I undertake to observe the precept to the best of my ability. That's to the best of my ability. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:44 Highlight the passage at 1:08:44

1:09:00 The Five Precepts is not dull shall not. If it's dull shall not, then you're not free. The reason why it's worded that way is because it is for all of us who are not yet enlightened. We are not yet contented. We are still discontent and the will will make us do things. So we want to restrain the will from doing the grossest things. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:00 Highlight the passage at 1:09:00

1:09:33 By drawing lines on the sand and say, I shall not cross these five lines. That's what the precepts are trying to do. I will try not to. Basically, it's drawing lines on the sand to say, try not to. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:33 Highlight the passage at 1:09:33

1:09:57 Yes. I, do I, do I, do I, do I, do I, do I? then you are not free. This is I undertake to the best of my ability, so I can slowly cut that down. Yes, eventually. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:57 Highlight the passage at 1:09:57

1:10:09 Eventually, I'm free. I slowly cut it down my way. It takes time. I think we are in agreement. We are just arguing semantics. Any other last questions? Shall Report an error in the passage at 1:10:09 Highlight the passage at 1:10:09

1:10:33 we pay respect to the Buddha? Report an error in the passage at 1:10:33 Highlight the passage at 1:10:33

1:11:01 SVAGATO BHAGAMATADAM namah sami. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:01 Highlight the passage at 1:11:01

1:11:12 [chanting]

1:11:21 Have Report an error in the passage at 1:11:21 Highlight the passage at 1:11:21

1:11:31 a good night. Drive safe. See you again. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:31 Highlight the passage at 1:11:31