Recollecting Our Own Goodness - Silanussati

0:00 This is what should be done by one who is skilled in goodness, who knows the path, let Report an error in the passage at 0:00 Highlight the passage at 0:00

0:16 them be able and upright, forward and gentle and not Report an error in the passage at 0:16 Highlight the passage at 0:16

0:28 conceited, contented and easily satisfied, not busy with duties and Report an error in the passage at 0:28 Highlight the passage at 0:28

0:51 proud and demanding in nature Let them not do the slightest thing. that the wise would later... Report an error in the passage at 0:51 Highlight the passage at 0:51

1:07 Wishing in gladness and in... Report an error in the passage at 1:07 Highlight the passage at 1:07

1:18 Whatever living beings there may be. Whether they are weak or strong. Report an error in the passage at 1:18 Highlight the passage at 1:18

1:33 Medium, short or small, the seen and the unseen. Report an error in the passage at 1:33 Highlight the passage at 1:33

1:42 Venerable Report an error in the passage at 1:42 Highlight the passage at 1:42

1:56 Upekkhā. nor despise any being in Report an error in the passage at 1:56 Highlight the passage at 1:56

2:05 Let none through anger or ill will Report an error in the passage at 2:05 Highlight the passage at 2:05

2:27 one cherish all living beings? Radiating kindness Report an error in the passage at 2:27 Highlight the passage at 2:27

2:39 Spreading upwards to the sky. Report an error in the passage at 2:39 Highlight the passage at 2:39

2:51 Free from hatred and ill will Whether standing or walking. Venerable Upekkhā. one should sustain this recollection. This is said to be the sublime abode. Report an error in the passage at 2:51 Highlight the passage at 2:51

3:19 not holding to false views. The pure-hearted one. Having clarity of vision. Report an error in the passage at 3:19 Highlight the passage at 3:19

3:31 Free from all sense desires Report an error in the passage at 3:31 Highlight the passage at 3:31

3:39 So Report an error in the passage at 3:39 Highlight the passage at 3:39

· · · silence, 1 minute

4:19 today I thought I'd talk about something that's Report an error in the passage at 4:19 Highlight the passage at 4:19

4:25 just so simple. As is a lot of meditations, just so simple, but something we rarely practice. Because the Buddha actually, you know, it's we preparing our mind for meditation and preparing our, doing Report an error in the passage at 4:25 Highlight the passage at 4:25

4:46 the groundwork for the practice is most of what we need to do, most of where we are at. And so sometimes we... start to meditate and we kind of wonder why we are going nowhere and why our minds are all over the place but actually it's the groundwork that that takes years quite honestly i've been meditating for i don't know how many aeons decades anyway and uh it just takes so long because we have been so habituated to Report an error in the passage at 4:46 Highlight the passage at 4:46

5:27 Venerable Upekkhā So just to talk a little bit about the groundwork and how we can apply that in our meditation. And the Buddha actually taught many different ways of using our minds. and ways of reflecting Reflecting. And there are quite a few. So there's, for example, mettā meditation, Ānāpānasati meditation, which is the ones that we always try and practice. Report an error in the passage at 5:27 Highlight the passage at 5:27

6:20 But he also talked about the different anusatis. For example, what I wanted to talk today was sīla anusati. Anusati means... To reflect on, you could say. Yeah, to reflect on. And sīla is virtue. So sīla anusati, reflecting on your virtue. And then he talked about things like marana anusati, which is, marana is death, anusati, reflecting on one's inevitable death. Report an error in the passage at 6:20 Highlight the passage at 6:20

7:05 Marana anusati. And he talked about asuba, which doesn't have an anusati behind it. Asuba is reflecting on the foulness of your body. Because our bodies are not as beautiful as we are completely deluded to believe. And there are others like, what else? Report an error in the passage at 7:05 Highlight the passage at 7:05

7:40 Deva Anusati, reflecting on Devas. Yeah, so then there's Buddha Anusati, Dhamma Anusati, reflecting on the Buddha's qualities. So there are many, many, many different meditations, many, many, many different ways of using our mind that we rarely, we rarely practice, but yet they are powerful. In fact, they are actually, they are actually, they are actually meditations. Report an error in the passage at 7:40 Highlight the passage at 7:40

8:10 in themselves, in themselves. So, I thought I'd talk today a little bit about silanusati, reflecting on one's own virtue. Because, you know, we do, we are good people, but we spend a lot of time noticing our faults. We spend a lot of time noticing other people's faults, but we also notice our faults. But most of the time, We are good people. And so to actually reflect on that is a great source of relief and actually a great source of joy. Report an error in the passage at 8:10 Highlight the passage at 8:10

8:58 It has been for me. Because, yeah, we're hard on ourselves. And just to sit back and go, heck, I didn't kill somebody today, which is unlikely, but there are people who killed somebody today, so heck, you know. It's true. But all the precepts, just to bring to mind each of those precepts and how we could, we are in, you know, we take it for granted, but we are in a situation where we have taken it on board that these precepts are worth keeping. Report an error in the passage at 8:58 Highlight the passage at 8:58

9:42 And when we are in a situation where we could break them, To congratulate ourselves that we, you know, we have honored those precepts. Say, for example, it's so easy to speak untruths, you know, just slip in that little, you know, slide so that people think you're kind of okay, but you're not. You pretended you know, but you didn't. Report an error in the passage at 9:42 Highlight the passage at 9:42

10:20 We are very proud of ourselves when we have taken that step of not being as cool as we'd like to be, not being as together as we'd like to appear. So just to remind ourselves that we have done good today. We have not harmed somebody. Report an error in the passage at 10:20 Highlight the passage at 10:20

10:55 So silanusati is what I wanted to talk about today. Reflecting on one's own virtue, reflecting on one's own goodness. And when you do that, you genuinely feel good about us. We feel good about ourselves. Isn't it? When we kind of go like, heck, worth it, I've done good today. Sitting Report an error in the passage at 10:55 Highlight the passage at 10:55

11:24 closely with that is the other one I forgot, is chaganusati. Chaga Anusati is reflecting on one's good deeds. Chaga means generosity. And reflecting on one's acts of kindness. Reflecting on random acts of kindness that you did during the day. So, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 11:24 Highlight the passage at 11:24

11:52 Something to bring into our hearts. Something to bring into our consciousness. Rather than just kind of collapsing into bed, another day over, I made it. I didn't do this and I didn't do that, but instead, I do this actually, consciously try and do this before I go to bed, to reflect on my day, reflect on what happened from the time I woke up to the time I went to sleep, and just go through, you know, what did I do, how did I react, could I do better, and also I did good, you know, times that I did good. So I give myself a little sort of pat on my back at the end of the day. Report an error in the passage at 11:52 Highlight the passage at 11:52

12:40 I did good, you know, I meditated today or I, so many little things was of service. I did my job to the best of my ability. So giving ourselves a bit of a, you know, pat on the back for all the effort that we have put in. In our own ways to make the world a better place. Report an error in the passage at 12:40 Highlight the passage at 12:40

13:13 From Maine, USA. Okay, Report an error in the passage at 13:13 Highlight the passage at 13:13

13:19 so I've been reflecting on this and wondering what it is that makes up Report an error in the passage at 13:19 Highlight the passage at 13:19

13:33 virtue. Report an error in the passage at 13:33 Highlight the passage at 13:33

13:52 So virtue is really the Buddha broke it down to three... sealer what it is that makes up virtue Report an error in the passage at 13:52 Highlight the passage at 13:52

13:58 categories very easy the dharma is so easy to reflect on they are virtue in terms of acts of body virtue in terms of speech our speech and virtue in terms of our mind and what we think so Report an error in the passage at 13:58 Highlight the passage at 13:58

14:22 um yeah these three areas are what we should get in our lives in our day to day today and how we spend the day. How do we behave? What did the Buddha mean by bodily acts of virtue? What did he mean by virtuous speech? And what did he mean by virtuous mind state? If you were all in the room I'd make you say something but it's I guess a little bit difficult because it might be a bit chaotic. Report an error in the passage at 14:22 Highlight the passage at 14:22

15:07 So I'll answer the question for myself, for yourself, for you. So we begin with acts of body. Like it's so simple. The acts of body is just not, you know, all these things are based on harmlessness, based on not intentionally wanting to hurt another being. Report an error in the passage at 15:07 Highlight the passage at 15:07

15:37 Yes, so in our day, keeping the precepts of body means, well, very basically, not killing, not stealing, and sexual misconduct. That's the very baseline. But still, we must be proud of ourselves. There are times when we could have swatted a little creature or, you know, Report an error in the passage at 15:37 Highlight the passage at 15:37

16:13 Emptied a cup which had larvae in it. We have lots of that in the monastery, lots of pots with larvae in it. Did we take the time to think, well, that creature too, whether it was a fly, that creature too, I don't want to harm their lives. I don't want them to, you know, just like me, they want to live. Report an error in the passage at 16:13 Highlight the passage at 16:13

16:44 Congratulating ourselves if we kept that first precept of not intentionally taking the life of any other being. And perhaps we didn't have the opportunity to turn over that pot with larvae in it or walk down the streets of LA with a rubber bullet gun in your hand, which there are people at the moment doing that, shooting rubber bullets at protesters. Report an error in the passage at 16:44 Highlight the passage at 16:44

17:15 Yes, anyway, so we have not harmed anybody. To be glad that we are not in a situation and we are harmless people. We have not taken the life of anybody because there are people in this world. Report an error in the passage at 17:15 Highlight the passage at 17:15

17:33 And the second one is of not taking things that was not given. And again, in little ways, to be proud of ourselves, you know, something in the office. Maybe it was easy just to take it without telling your colleague. I don't know, nowadays you don't have paper in the printer. But bringing printer paper back home, because nobody uses printer these days, I'm not sure. But yeah, many little things where we have been honest about taking things offline and... Report an error in the passage at 17:33 Highlight the passage at 17:33

18:21 and acknowledge Acknowledging them instead of just copying and pasting and going, oh well. Not Report an error in the passage at 18:21 Highlight the passage at 18:21

18:32 taking what has not been given. Can we be truly meticulous? Can we be proud of ourselves that we have kept these precepts? Because, you know, when we don't keep these precepts, it kind of hurts us. It kind of eats away at our self-respect. Report an error in the passage at 18:32 Highlight the passage at 18:32

18:59 And we kind of don't think about it, but we carry. We carry in our hearts and we carry in our bodies, you know, the stresses, the strains. And if we can be happy that we have, you know, kept these precepts, that we're worthy good human beings, then some of that, yeah, some of that... Pain is lifted. And the third is, of course, not being true to your relationships, being honest with your relationships, being true to your partner. Report an error in the passage at 18:59 Highlight the passage at 18:59

19:46 And again, so easy to have not done, you know. So many people are, what's the word, not honest in their relationships. I forget words. Anyway. And, yeah, to be proud of ourselves. That we have kept this today, not hurt our partners in any way. So those are the three by body. And today when we do the meditation, we're going to just reflect on these and genuinely bring up that sense of self-worth that today I have not broken these. Report an error in the passage at 19:46 Highlight the passage at 19:46

20:37 I have not hurt anybody. Because you feel good, you feel good. I Report an error in the passage at 20:37 Highlight the passage at 20:37

20:50 was thinking about what it is that makes these, what is the sort of intention Report an error in the passage at 20:50 Highlight the passage at 20:50

21:06 behind keeping these krisis. And like I said, one was of harmlessness, that you have no intention to harm another person. Report an error in the passage at 21:06 Highlight the passage at 21:06

21:20 And the other one was of being honest. Report an error in the passage at 21:20 Highlight the passage at 21:20

21:31 So the fourth precept is of not speaking untruths, of not telling lies. And this just happens in the subtlest of ways. Again, trying to... Report an error in the passage at 21:31 Highlight the passage at 21:31

21:53 Make ourselves be something that we're not. But just be honest. Look, I forgot it. I messed up the mettā sutta. Report an error in the passage at 21:53 Highlight the passage at 21:53

22:02 Or, you know, I forgot something and I'm telling you I forgot it. I forgot something to bring it to work. But I'm telling you instead of trying to sort of flop it somehow. Report an error in the passage at 22:02 Highlight the passage at 22:02

22:16 Yeah. And the more we are truthful, the more we are honest. The more we are Report an error in the passage at 22:16 Highlight the passage at 22:16

22:30 honest, the more we can start to see our minds and all its little tricks. And the more we see its little tricks, the more we can let them go. The more we can see ourselves more clearly. The more we can see ultimately the truth of the dharma. Because it's there all the time. minds more clearly. Report an error in the passage at 22:30 Highlight the passage at 22:30

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22:56 time, we just Report an error in the passage at 22:56 Highlight the passage at 22:56

23:01 Our eyes aren't open to it. The fourth precept of congratulating ourselves on those times where we could have said little untruths but we were as honest as we could be. The fourth precept. And the fifth precept is of not taking any intoxicating substances. Report an error in the passage at 23:01 Highlight the passage at 23:01

23:32 Again, actually, I think there should be a sixth precept of intoxicating yourself on YouTube. But yeah, there's actually a lady I know who is an accountant. She has a little spreadsheet which she ticks off daily of all these things that she's proud of. She goes through all the five precepts and then she also has other ones like, Like not spending too much time on the internet. That's another one. So, and you can add all these things to the list. You know, things that you can go like, okay, these are my, what you call, you could say my performance criteria, whatever it is. Report an error in the passage at 23:32 Highlight the passage at 23:32

24:21 These are things that I value. And at the end of the day, yes, I didn't. I could have watched that other video on, I don't know, cute little doggies, but I didn't. Report an error in the passage at 24:21 Highlight the passage at 24:21

24:34 Yeah, so. So anyway, back to not taking alcoholic substances. Obviously, I don't take alcoholic substances, but also to keep our minds as clear as possible and not just mindlessly filling it up with things that cloud our mind. So yes, alcohol, but also the subtler ways that we cloud our mind with endless information. Report an error in the passage at 24:34 Highlight the passage at 24:34

25:05 Blindly watching the television and filling our days with social media, just endlessly scrolling and sending messages. Are we just smothering our minds instead of keeping it clear? Report an error in the passage at 25:05 Highlight the passage at 25:05

25:31 Right, so this is just the five precepts. So I just wanted to bring it up because like I said, To actually reflect on them, because there are guardians. When we don't keep these precepts, life is very painful. In small ways, you end up in prison. Sorry, in big ways, you could end up in prison. And in small ways, our relationships, people we love. Report an error in the passage at 25:31 Highlight the passage at 25:31

26:15 The way we are in the world, all of that gets harmed when we don't value these priests. Report an error in the passage at 26:15 Highlight the passage at 26:15

26:26 So to reflect on them, it's a genuine meditation, sīla nusati. It's an actual, you know, it's a bona fide meditation method, reflecting on one's goodness. This can go on. you know on it can go on to our acts of generosity as well like i said you could have a spreadsheet like my accountant friend and um and reflect on on on this little random acts of kindness that i've done during that you probably just thought is just natural to do but you took the effort to maybe you know help a colleague at work who was struggling or Be the moderator for the Armadale group when you could be just having your dinner and sitting in front of the internet. Whatever it is people do. Report an error in the passage at 26:26 Highlight the passage at 26:26

27:22 Yeah, the things that we do to be of little helps that we do for the people around us. Just to congratulate, you know, I drove somebody to work today, went out of the way to pick them up. Or I, you know, said, listen to... I talked to my colleague at work who was having a hard time and instead of going like, leave me alone, I've got stuff to do, I talked about what I was doing and listened to them instead. Report an error in the passage at 27:22 Highlight the passage at 27:22

27:54 So just reflecting and when we bring these up in our minds, it grows. And not only does it grow, we can also... Report an error in the passage at 27:54 Highlight the passage at 27:54

28:15 Notice what is beneficial and what is not beneficial. When I reflect at the end of the day, I did this, this and this, and I go, wow, it actually feels good. Then I'm likely to do it again. If I help someone at work and it felt good, well, I'll go, well, I'll do it again. It felt good. But if you didn't reflect on it, then you wouldn't kind of notice, well, that felt good and that didn't feel good. Report an error in the passage at 28:15 Highlight the passage at 28:15

28:44 So it also helps you to notice what is wholesome and what is worthy of following and what is not worth following. So does that sound good? Does that sound good? Does that sound good? It's doable, right? We can all do it because we're just trying to stay afloat in life and we've done good. We've done good. We haven't killed somebody today. We've done better than that. Report an error in the passage at 28:44 Highlight the passage at 28:44

29:14 So just bringing it up in our minds makes us feel that we are worthy, we are on this path and we're taking very small but steps forward and encouraging ourselves. Report an error in the passage at 29:14 Highlight the passage at 29:14

29:33 So we'll do some meditation now for about half an hour and we'll do Sīla Anusthi which is reflecting on your... um, virtue and also you know your little acts of kindness you could do this in simple ways you could do them one at a time or you could just take one aspect and just really delve just bring it up into your mind how it felt so just see how it goes okay so Report an error in the passage at 29:33 Highlight the passage at 29:33

30:09 hope everybody is in a nice quiet place where they can switch off Report an error in the passage at 30:09 Highlight the passage at 30:09

30:20 let themselves calm down allowing Report an error in the passage at 30:20 Highlight the passage at 30:20

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31:11 yourself to just Report an error in the passage at 31:11 Highlight the passage at 31:11

31:18 Relax yourself Report an error in the passage at 31:18 Highlight the passage at 31:18

31:25 to just turn away from the world and draw your mind inward and Report an error in the passage at 31:25 Highlight the passage at 31:25

32:02 notice your body sitting here in Report an error in the passage at 32:02 Highlight the passage at 32:02

32:10 the room, in the space that you're in, allowing Report an error in the passage at 32:10 Highlight the passage at 32:10

32:36 yourself to breathe deeply, breathing Report an error in the passage at 32:36 Highlight the passage at 32:36

32:54 in and breathing out, letting Report an error in the passage at 32:54 Highlight the passage at 32:54

33:03 go of any tension. Report an error in the passage at 33:03 Highlight the passage at 33:03

33:10 any stress in your body. Report an error in the passage at 33:10 Highlight the passage at 33:10

33:16 And breathing in, taking in fresh. Report an error in the passage at 33:16 Highlight the passage at 33:16

33:24 A new lease of life. Report an error in the passage at 33:24 Highlight the passage at 33:24

· · · silence, 1 minute

34:00 Allowing your mind to quiet and calm. Report an error in the passage at 34:00 Highlight the passage at 34:00

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35:21 keep all this. Report an error in the passage at 35:21 Highlight the passage at 35:21

35:26 Difficulties and busyness of the day aside. Report an error in the passage at 35:26 Highlight the passage at 35:26

35:39 Venerable Upekkhā. Report an error in the passage at 35:39 Highlight the passage at 35:39

35:46 Allowing yourself a break to Report an error in the passage at 35:46 Highlight the passage at 35:46

35:55 withdraw from the world. Not Report an error in the passage at 35:55 Highlight the passage at 35:55

36:21 letting your mind wander away. Just being present. Noticing Report an error in the passage at 36:21 Highlight the passage at 36:21

36:32 your body here or your breathing. Just being here right now. Your Report an error in the passage at 36:32 Highlight the passage at 36:32

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37:16 mind wanders away. Just bringing it back. Back Report an error in the passage at 37:16 Highlight the passage at 37:16

37:26 to the present moment. Report an error in the passage at 37:26 Highlight the passage at 37:26

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39:05 of those five presets. Report an error in the passage at 39:05 Highlight the passage at 39:05

39:19 Reflecting on your day or... Report an error in the passage at 39:19 Highlight the passage at 39:19

39:43 What it does to your mind. Report an error in the passage at 39:43 Highlight the passage at 39:43

39:51 as you reflect on your Report an error in the passage at 39:51 Highlight the passage at 39:51

40:00 Not to be arrogant, but to align yourself with what is virtuous. Report an error in the passage at 40:00 Highlight the passage at 40:00

40:11 Venerable Upekkhā What leads to happiness? Report an error in the passage at 40:11 Highlight the passage at 40:11

40:31 Perhaps each one in turn. Or just one precept. Bringing it to mind and noticing how you feel. Report an error in the passage at 40:31 Highlight the passage at 40:31

· · · silence, 3 minutes

43:49 Think of the good things we have. Report an error in the passage at 43:49 Highlight the passage at 43:49

44:00 Stealing. Something we have given of Report an error in the passage at 44:00 Highlight the passage at 44:00

44:07 taking a life. How we have worked to save a life. Report an error in the passage at 44:07 Highlight the passage at 44:07

44:33 Telling an untruth where we have used words that have been of benefit. brought people together. Report an error in the passage at 44:33 Highlight the passage at 44:33

· · · silence, 8 minutes

53:09 bringing whatever memory that we had. Report an error in the passage at 53:09 Highlight the passage at 53:09

53:19 helps us to keep that feeling alive. Report an error in the passage at 53:19 Highlight the passage at 53:19

53:24 That thought that helps us to keep that feeling. Venerable Report an error in the passage at 53:24 Highlight the passage at 53:24

53:42 Upekkhā your virtue that helps to keep that feeling alive. Report an error in the passage at 53:42 Highlight the passage at 53:42

53:53 Keeping your mind on the feeling. Report an error in the passage at 53:53 Highlight the passage at 53:53

· · · silence, 1 minute

55:20 We come to the end of the meditation, unfortunately. Report an error in the passage at 55:20 Highlight the passage at 55:20

55:33 Before we end. Report an error in the passage at 55:33 Highlight the passage at 55:33

55:44 Spend a bit of time. Report an error in the passage at 55:44 Highlight the passage at 55:44

55:48 Venerable Upekkhā could say a heart of goodwill Report an error in the passage at 55:48 Highlight the passage at 55:48

56:02 Touch the lives of those around us and Report an error in the passage at 56:02 Highlight the passage at 56:02

56:16 may this energy, you could say, somehow spread around the world. May it be of benefit to people we don't particularly know, people Report an error in the passage at 56:16 Highlight the passage at 56:16

56:45 in places of great pain, war, hunger, difficulty. Report an error in the passage at 56:45 Highlight the passage at 56:45

57:01 Goodness somehow touched their lives. Report an error in the passage at 57:01 Highlight the passage at 57:01

57:11 May they too find peace of mind. Report an error in the passage at 57:11 Highlight the passage at 57:11

57:36 Find the true causes. May all Report an error in the passage at 57:36 Highlight the passage at 57:36

57:57 beings be well, may all beings be happy. Report an error in the passage at 57:57 Highlight the passage at 57:57

58:23 When you're ready, you can slowly open your eyes. Report an error in the passage at 58:23 Highlight the passage at 58:23