How Can We Sleep While Our Beds Are Burning?

0:00 I acknowledge the Whadjuk Noongar people of this country and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people throughout this vast country, past, present and emerging, elders and custodians of the lands on which we dwell who have maintained this country since time immemorial. Report an error in the passage at 0:00 Highlight the passage at 0:00

0:21 And so then I'll be guiding this meditation in relation to the elements. We talk about six elements. elements Report an error in the passage at 0:21 Highlight the passage at 0:21

0:31 Anyway, I'll guide the meditation and we can do our best. Report an error in the passage at 0:31 Highlight the passage at 0:31

0:41 So first of all, feeling well grounded to the earth below, coming up to support. We can think that the earth is our foundation, our support for everything in life. So feeling that support coming up through the floor, through the carpet, through the chair, through the cushion, through the mat, allowing you to settle down into your... Report an error in the passage at 0:41 Highlight the passage at 0:41

1:07 preferred meditation mode be that. sitting or lying Report an error in the passage at 1:07 Highlight the passage at 1:07

1:20 feeling that you can relax into that support coming from the earth grounding you literally rooting you to the earth Report an error in the passage at 1:20 Highlight the passage at 1:20

1:50 Bringing your awareness. into the space of the body, inviting it to withdraw from the sensory input around us that we engage with throughout the day. Report an error in the passage at 1:50 Highlight the passage at 1:50

2:06 Our senses, so they can just take a rest, your eyes can just be soft in the sockets, whether you have your eyes open, closed or somewhere in between is up to you, whatever is most comfortable, but really feeling the weight of the eyes like sinking, pebbles sinking into a deep lake, into stillness, softness, simply Report an error in the passage at 2:06 Highlight the passage at 2:06

2:38 being aware of the natural rhythm of your breath in the body, wherever you experience that, not changing the breath, the body knows perfectly how to breathe doing a great job so far so just allow it to just invite the mind to settle to savor each moment of the breath in and out the stillness between breaths just as it is Report an error in the passage at 2:38 Highlight the passage at 2:38

3:21 And as you breathe out, inviting a sense of release, relax, and tension in your body melting away, softening, settling down, settling in to stillness. Comfort and ease. And Report an error in the passage at 3:21 Highlight the passage at 3:21

· · · silence, 1 minute

4:08 any time there's a sort of pleasant sensation associated with the breath, associated with settling in, settling down, with being here, just savour that moment. Don't try and go looking for it. It'll pass, but enjoy it while it's there so that more and more we associate with our meditation practice this sense of feeling of well-being, balance, quiescence. Report an error in the passage at 4:08 Highlight the passage at 4:08

4:37 Stillness. Turning Report an error in the passage at 4:37 Highlight the passage at 4:37

5:06 your awareness to the sensations, the connection of your body, maybe with your clothes, with the chair, with the floor, with the mat, cushion, and Report an error in the passage at 5:06 Highlight the passage at 5:06

5:29 all those points of contact. Feel that sense of firmness, of solidity, which Report an error in the passage at 5:29 Highlight the passage at 5:29

5:39 is the earth element. For example, relinquishing the weight of your pelvis to gravity. Or if you're lying down, the whole of your back as if the ground is coming up to support you, to envelop you, to provide a safe, stable foundation for meditation. And Report an error in the passage at 5:39 Highlight the passage at 5:39

6:15 you can think about all the other earth element qualities of the body associated with the earth element through the muscles, the bones, from the very big ones to the teeny tiny ones. The teeth, the hair, the cuticles, all Report an error in the passage at 6:15 Highlight the passage at 6:15

6:39 the hard bits of the body, the earth element, getting Report an error in the passage at 6:39 Highlight the passage at 6:39

6:50 a sense of that earthiness, that solidity, that support, protection, stability. And Report an error in the passage at 6:50 Highlight the passage at 6:50

7:08 think that the earth element in the body is not independent from the earth element externally. We walk on the ground, we lie on the ground, we eat. The food's grown in the earth. We digest those. So we take them into our body. They become all the parts of our body, the Report an error in the passage at 7:08 Highlight the passage at 7:08

7:43 flesh and bones. And then, of course, we excrete kakā. So there's this interdependence of the earth element internally and externally in this constant exchange. We could say that this body... It's in constant flux in that way, which part of the body is the earth element. There's not one part, it's constant change. Report an error in the passage at 7:43 Highlight the passage at 7:43

8:21 And Report an error in the passage at 8:21 Highlight the passage at 8:21

8:27 even if we think that the extremities of our body, the skin, the largest organ, we sort of get a sense of defining the body as ending there, but really does it. Report an error in the passage at 8:27 Highlight the passage at 8:27

8:52 Day by day, everything we brush up against and we leave all these dead cells brushing off. So there's no real definition between what is me and what is external to me. It's constantly changing. Just as like we cut our hair and nails. Try Report an error in the passage at 8:52 Highlight the passage at 8:52

9:26 and get a sense of the interdependence of the external earth element, the internal earth element. including digestion and so forth, the workings of the bowels, the Report an error in the passage at 9:26 Highlight the passage at 9:26

9:43 building of muscle, of bone, of Report an error in the passage at 9:43 Highlight the passage at 9:43

9:50 cartilage. And Report an error in the passage at 9:50 Highlight the passage at 9:50

10:08 then we can turn our attention to the water element in the body. Sometimes it says, the older we get, the percentage goes down, but 80 % then they say 70 % of the body is water. So think of the nature of fluidity in our body, in every cell, between cells. The saliva, tear ducts, the mucus in the nasal cavity, Report an error in the passage at 10:08 Highlight the passage at 10:08

10:45 cerebrospinal fluid we may not be aware of. We may not be aware of the blood pumping, but we are aware of the heartbeat, pumping the blood. And Report an error in the passage at 10:45 Highlight the passage at 10:45

11:01 of course, pee-pee. And then when we take drinks in or food that's got a lot of moisture, and we think that we can survive. Report an error in the passage at 11:01 Highlight the passage at 11:01

11:14 much longer without food than we can without water that sustains our body all the way down to the cellular level expelling Report an error in the passage at 11:14 Highlight the passage at 11:14

11:36 the water through the urine through the tears through the pores of the skin through sweat saliva Report an error in the passage at 11:36 Highlight the passage at 11:36

11:48 to Report an error in the passage at 11:48 Highlight the passage at 11:48

11:53 get a sense of that interdependence of the external water element internal water element maybe even like you know when we have a shower Report an error in the passage at 11:53 Highlight the passage at 11:53

12:04 We might either warm up or cool down, or Report an error in the passage at 12:04 Highlight the passage at 12:04

12:16 we go for a swim, feel Report an error in the passage at 12:16 Highlight the passage at 12:16

12:25 the humidity, not so much in WA, but still some, or rain on our skin. It's getting a sense of that fluidity of the water element within our body. Report an error in the passage at 12:25 Highlight the passage at 12:25

12:50 And then the fire element is a sense of warmth, particularly Report an error in the passage at 12:50 Highlight the passage at 12:50

13:01 on a cold day like today, and how that is interdependent, the warmth internally. internally, externally. Report an error in the passage at 13:01 Highlight the passage at 13:01

13:14 depending on the temperature outside. But even right now you can notice different parts of your body. Some are warmer, some are Report an error in the passage at 13:14 Highlight the passage at 13:14

13:27 Because we warm up putting on clothes, turning on a heater. Report an error in the passage at 13:27 Highlight the passage at 13:27

13:34 external sources of warmth just like the Sun with its healing energy. Report an error in the passage at 13:34 Highlight the passage at 13:34

13:45 Having a sense of regeneration. Report an error in the passage at 13:45 Highlight the passage at 13:45

13:56 And how we lose that warmth when we get quite cold. radiates out from our body or gets caught up in our digestion or the warmth of the excrement and pp and so forth so Report an error in the passage at 13:56 Highlight the passage at 13:56

14:17 again feeling this interdependence of the external warmth internal warmth just like in summertime where we have that heat radiating up off the pavement of the bitumen of buildings and Report an error in the passage at 14:17 Highlight the passage at 14:17

14:42 bringing your awareness to the air element by bringing our attention to the breath the breath of life bringing oxygen replenishing every cell every organ an internal massage and then releasing with the breath out carbon dioxide toxins and Report an error in the passage at 14:42 Highlight the passage at 14:42

15:20 think how much we share the air in this space around us my Report an error in the passage at 15:20 Highlight the passage at 15:20

15:30 breath out becomes your breath in we Report an error in the passage at 15:30 Highlight the passage at 15:30

15:52 could think that At the time of death, when the earth element dissolves and then the water element dissolves, the body dries up, it's heavy, brittle, fire elements of warmth from the body goes, and when the air element goes, we stop breathing. Then Report an error in the passage at 15:52 Highlight the passage at 15:52

16:21 we can turn our mind to the element of space, and think about the space externally in this room, the space between objects and people. Report an error in the passage at 16:21 Highlight the passage at 16:21

16:32 Reflect on the interconnection with the space inside our body, in the mouth cavity, in the abdominal cavity, the space between organs, the different spaces between like ribs and muscle parts of our body that give us space to breathe, to move, a Report an error in the passage at 16:32 Highlight the passage at 16:32

16:59 sense of internal space dependent Report an error in the passage at 16:59 Highlight the passage at 16:59

17:05 on external space. To move through space, and Report an error in the passage at 17:05 Highlight the passage at 17:05

17:16 particularly we can think of the space of the mind itself, which is not physical. It's Report an error in the passage at 17:16 Highlight the passage at 17:16

17:26 like vast, luminous space, resting your awareness in that vast luminosity of the mind in its natural clarity, luminosity, in spacious awareness, simply aware. Report an error in the passage at 17:26 Highlight the passage at 17:26

· · · silence, 2 minutes

19:47 Resting in the peaceful stillness of the silent mind. Report an error in the passage at 19:47 Highlight the passage at 19:47

· · · silence, 1 minute

21:20 Thank you, Venerable Chokyi. That was beautiful. Now I just give you all a moment for those who need to go to the bathroom or move or get more cushions. So Report an error in the passage at 21:20 Highlight the passage at 21:20

21:44 I'll introduce Venerable Chokyi properly now. Report an error in the passage at 21:44 Highlight the passage at 21:44

21:53 Now we have all the microphones working. And I'd also like to acknowledge Venerable Pika, who's joined us tonight. So Venerable Chokyi and Venerable Pika have come across from Haya Grieva Buddhist Centre, which is in Kensington. Report an error in the passage at 21:53 Highlight the passage at 21:53

22:12 Venerable Chokyi was ordained in 2006. Oh, don't say too much. Oh, okay. You're going to have to help me with the pronunciation. Report an error in the passage at 22:12 Highlight the passage at 22:12

22:24 Kyabje Lama Zopa Rinpoche. Perfect. She has held several senior posts at FPMT centres in Australia and international positions within the FPMT. Remind me, FPMT. Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahāyāna Tradition. So all those questions about the difference between Theravāda and Mahāyāna and Vajrayana from last week, Venerable Chokyi can answer them. Report an error in the passage at 22:24 Highlight the passage at 22:24

23:01 Before coming to Perth, Venerable Chokyi was spiritual program coordinator at the FPMT Centre in Sydney, Vajrayana Institute, for 10 years, and in 2018 was appointed resident Western teacher at Chenrezig Institute and FPMT Centre in Queensland. So without further ado, I'd invite Venerable Chokyi. Report an error in the passage at 23:01 Highlight the passage at 23:01

23:29 To give us a lovely dharma talk this evening. Okay. Okay. Environmental nun. Okay. I'll answer to anything. Hey, you's fine. So were there questions about from last week? Or shall I get started while you warm yourselves up to that? Report an error in the passage at 23:29 Highlight the passage at 23:29

23:50 I'll get started. Yes? Okay. I Report an error in the passage at 23:50 Highlight the passage at 23:50

23:59 want to start with just reciting some mantras. So mantra means literally protection for the mind. And this mantra Shakyamuni Buddha Mantra As I Report an error in the passage at 23:59 Highlight the passage at 23:59

· · · silence, 1 minute

25:21 said, it's generating good vibrations, healing energy within ourselves, around us. I spend a lot of time visiting prisons and mental health facilities and over north of Sydney, Morissette, I was at the forensic unit of what was actually part of Long Bay. Report an error in the passage at 25:21 Highlight the passage at 25:21

25:51 And I'd visit this group of guys and sometimes, you know, one of them would turn up and he'd say, oh, I just couldn't meditate this week. Just chant those mantras. It's soothing for the mind, which indeed it is, which itself can be a form of meditation as well. So another popular mantra... uh, mantra in In the Tibetan tradition, it's a mantra of compassion, Om Mani Padme Hum. It's the shortest mantra. It's the one you see written on all the rocks when you see pictures of Tibet. Report an error in the passage at 25:51 Highlight the passage at 25:51

26:29 I haven't been to Tibet. I've only seen the pictures. But many Tibetan Buddhist places, Om Mani Padme Hum, which is a mantra of compassion. Report an error in the passage at 26:29 Highlight the passage at 26:29

26:39 And it was Report an error in the passage at 26:39 Highlight the passage at 26:39

26:44 a solar eclipse, because we also believe that the energy of things like eclipses and so forth www.muslimcentral .com So this is called a mala, the counting beads. So I was reciting Om Mani Padme Hum. So we say, Om Mani Padme Hum, Om Mani Padme Hum, Om Mani Padme Hum, Om Mani Padme Hum. So I was reciting that mantra with a crystal mala, and I was near the fish pond, and this fish went through the mala. Report an error in the passage at 26:44 Highlight the passage at 26:44

27:53 And I'm like, could you take a photo of that? I mean, the fish was through. right So maybe we could say the fish was hooked by compassion. Maybe. It really did happen. I'm just saying it happened. And it said if you recite ten malas of that a day, then you won't be threatened by snakes. So when I moved up to Chenrezig Institute, of which there's quite a few snakes, I was just like, just chant . I can't say I never encountered a snake, but I never was threatened by a snake. Report an error in the passage at 27:53 Highlight the passage at 27:53

28:33 So I'm putting it down to . I mean, brown snakes included, right? Come out of the gompa one night, like going out the door, and underneath a planter box. And I could see the tail coming out this end. And I thought, just stick by the tail, because they can't move backwards. backwards snakes can't move backwards so I just stayed where the tail was of course then it scuttled off so I didn't have to be fearful you just have to be use your wisdom I mentioned this because the mantra itself has a lot of significance. Report an error in the passage at 28:33 Highlight the passage at 28:33

29:12 We regard the Dalai Lama as a Buddha of compassion in the world. And for the Dalai Lama's recent... On his 90th birthday, we were invited to chant, accumulate on Mani Padme Hum. When we were on that pilgrimage, me and Sandra were sitting next to each other on Mani Padme Hum, on Mani Padme Hum. And all those numbers got offered to the Dalai Lama for his birthday. So all the mantras, even someone said one mantra, they were included. Report an error in the passage at 29:12 Highlight the passage at 29:12

29:43 And there was one of our students at the Bunbury Centre, Tara Meditation Centre, who decided he was going to do 100... 100 miles a day, 100 by 108. Report an error in the passage at 29:43 Highlight the passage at 29:43

29:55 So, I mean, it takes a minute to do one mala. So he did 100 every day on Australind jetty and then he'd have his feet in the water for the fish to bless the fish. Because they say, you know, if you do even 10 of those and you go into the water or the... Report an error in the passage at 29:55 Highlight the passage at 29:55

30:27 out positive energy in the world the energy of compassion in the world right so in such a world as we have today the more the better it would seem that we need Report an error in the passage at 30:27 Highlight the passage at 30:27

30:43 And as Sandra said, I ordained in 2006, so it was a few months before my... 50th birthday, and before I ordained, my friends were planning the birthday party I wasn't going to have. So they wanted to celebrate the milestone. I was abiding in the eight precepts, not eating after midday, plus the 36 gets all vows I'd taken. So dinner was certainly out of the question. Report an error in the passage at 30:43 Highlight the passage at 30:43

31:11 Parting was out. What to do to celebrate? Report an error in the passage at 31:11 Highlight the passage at 31:11

31:17 My abbot, Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Kabje Lama Zopa Rinpoche, had... Just been to see An Inconvenient Truth. Remember that film? Inconvenient Truth. And I thought, well, if he went to see it, I can see it. Because he did ordain me, so that was okay. So I took my friends off to the happiest movie you could imagine. Not Inconvenient Truth. Report an error in the passage at 31:17 Highlight the passage at 31:17

31:40 So that was screening in Sydney at the time off we went. And I guess what I see... Across all traditions, our lamas, our teachers are very, very aware of the urgent need for messaging about climate change, global warming and the imbalance of the external elements which reflects or maybe is even a product of imbalance of the internal elements in our body. Report an error in the passage at 31:40 Highlight the passage at 31:40

32:13 So one of the things that Tibetans will say is we have lung. And that's an imbalance of the air element. And they attribute that to mental health issues, being an imbalance of the elements, yes, but particularly of that. And then, of course, I don't know if you had, like, I'm not going to talk much about Tibetan medicine again. I've only experienced having my pulse read by a Tibetan doctor. Report an error in the passage at 32:13 Highlight the passage at 32:13

32:41 They read your pulse and they tell you everything that's wrong with you. They say, oh, have you got an ache there? Oh, yes. And there, yes. I had that for years. Anyway, they give you this disgusting medicine that's big chunks of stuff. Herbal medicine. A bit like the Chinese medicine. Not to offend anybody about Chinese medicine, but when you boil those herbs up, it stinks, doesn't it? Report an error in the passage at 32:41 Highlight the passage at 32:41

33:10 And then they say, drink that. Yeah. It's good for you. Anyway, just the... That focus of the imbalance of elements, one of our lamas who passed away some years ago, at one point the Dalai Lama advised him to go to the South Pole to do these practices to help realign the planet. Report an error in the passage at 33:10 Highlight the passage at 33:10

33:39 Of course, we've got an imbalance of elements in the planet. We see the floods, the disasters, the avalanches, we see earthquakes and so forth. This imbalance of the elements. So many years ago I worked in aid agencies and I was in the Philippines and I was in a church and this Filipina woman came. She says, I don't know what God's got against us, you know. We're having landslides, we're having floods, we're having this or that. But the thing is, it's not God doing it. Report an error in the passage at 33:39 Highlight the passage at 33:39

34:13 It's humans creating, you know, or at least we're contributing vastly. To this imbalance. So in early 2020, we know what happened in early 2020, COVID came along. Report an error in the passage at 34:13 Highlight the passage at 34:13

34:33 Actually, I remember I'd been in, I wasn't yet living here, but I'd been asked to come and fill in for the teacher in January at High Agriva. And I remember thinking at the beginning of February, am I going to get back? Am I going to get out of WA? Little did I know it was going to be very hard to get back in. Report an error in the passage at 34:33 Highlight the passage at 34:33

34:55 Fortress WA. It took another 18 months to get back in, but I'm still here. But anyway, so Lama Zopa Rinpoche gave us these transmissions, we say, these prayers to say in relation to COVID and to the environment. And they were from Tantong Gyalpo. So Tantong Gyalpo was in the 13th century in Tibet. He was a great architect. Report an error in the passage at 34:55 Highlight the passage at 34:55

35:23 He was a great doctor. He was great at everything. He built many of the iron bridges, designed and built many of the iron bridges in Tibet and Bhutan and so forth. Some of the construction is still there today. Anyway, he was at this Sakya monastery, which had an epidemic. And it was only, none of the medicines were working, nothing was working. Only these prayers that he composed worked. Report an error in the passage at 35:23 Highlight the passage at 35:23

35:54 So we were given the transmission of these prayers for being liberating from disease, from famine, from war, conflict in response to the pandemic. Report an error in the passage at 35:54 Highlight the passage at 35:54

36:08 And Lama Zopa at the time predicted that on top of COVID we'll have famine, the whole world will be at war with the whole world from a personal... to a global level and the following week the WHO said made a similar prediction about global famine which was just like sort of validated by science and you're like oh wake up so in relation to that in the 1990s I was working for the Australian freedom from hunger campaign and the slogan was there's enough food in the world for people's needs needs, not for people's greed. Report an error in the passage at 36:08 Highlight the passage at 36:08

37:04 Subsequently, we merged with what's today Oxfam, where it became a bit more political. Poverty is structural and deliberate. In other words, the issue was about distribution of resources, not the amount of resources that we had to share. As part of that job, I was in Namibia in 1990. Report an error in the passage at 37:04 Highlight the passage at 37:04

37:34 It was when it was just gaining independence from South Africa and you saw the staff poverty, no running water and yet there were diamonds being mined but nobody saw the profits of that in the country and it was semi-desert and so forth. Report an error in the passage at 37:34 Highlight the passage at 37:34

37:53 And today, for example, we see that poverty along with homelessness, the hikes in groceries, people... Opting for cheaper food, going for cheaper food, a lot of it nutrition-less fast foods. So it seems it's always the poorest people who are hit the hardest. In 2020, His Holiness the Dalai Lama launched his book, Our Only Home, talking about this planet being our only home and appeal to humanity, speaking of our shared humanity, our shared... Report an error in the passage at 37:53 Highlight the passage at 37:53

38:34 responsibility to take care of this planet and all its inhabitants. And I think this is unique to us as Buddhists, isn't it? Not just the human beings, but all the inhabitants of the earth to care for each other, the sacred earth and its sacred people. And thinking that the human population is.01 % of the whole entire living beings on this planet and yet... Report an error in the passage at 38:34 Highlight the passage at 38:34

39:08 We seem to cause the most destruction. So if you look at something like, you know, I remember reading years ago the living earth, which talked about beings being found, sentient beings further down into the earth, like further, further down into the earth, miles down, more and more living beings. So particularly like as a Mahāyāna practitioner where it's like... Report an error in the passage at 39:08 Highlight the passage at 39:08

39:37 Our aspiration is to benefit all sentient beings without exception. Of course we're not aware of that, but how much am I even benefiting my own family, my own community, being kind, being wise, being compassionate, being patient, being understanding. And this is not to beat ourselves up. We should be delighting that here we are, dharma practitioners together, wanting to make a difference within ourselves, within the world we share. Report an error in the passage at 39:37 Highlight the passage at 39:37

40:06 So this is... Amazingly wonderful. Report an error in the passage at 40:06 Highlight the passage at 40:06

40:12 So the Dalai Lama again spoke recently about this world system coming to an end within a century, two centuries at a maximum, and experiencing more of this disturbance of the elements, water, fire, finally wind. Report an error in the passage at 40:12 Highlight the passage at 40:12

40:36 However, as he says, if we work on transforming our minds because we have, while we can... chant, say mantras, offer prayers and so forth. It does have an effect on the environment but is it happening? As the Dalai Lama says, even... isn't it that and this is what we do in meditation we're working on our mind we're working on transforming ourselves so that as the Dalai Lama says even If the world does come to an end, we can ourselves be living in a pure land. We can observe that destruction but not be caught up in it, but not being complacent because if you're not overwhelmed by something, you're more able to do something about it. Report an error in the passage at 40:36 Highlight the passage at 40:36

41:32 You're more able to say, take a step back and go, oh, here I can help, rather than feeling like we're drowning in the craziness of this world today. Report an error in the passage at 41:32 Highlight the passage at 41:32

41:44 I feel that a lot of the time. I don't know about you. So as human beings, we're the only ones who have the intelligence, the capacity to change this story. Report an error in the passage at 41:44 Highlight the passage at 41:44

41:57 Charles Darwin said, we are hardwired for compassion. We can't help but help. So as dharma practitioners, we have that spiritual imperative, that compassion naturally in abundance. We have a sense of social duty, social responsibility. Report an error in the passage at 41:57 Highlight the passage at 41:57

42:18 So, as I often say to myself, if not me, who? If not now, when? I think that's a really good phrase. What is it that I can do? I can't go out there, in fact, if somebody, you know, if I go to volunteer in Gaza, in Ukraine, in Central Australia, anywhere, they say, please stay away, you don't have the skills. Report an error in the passage at 42:18 Highlight the passage at 42:18

42:38 You're just going to create another problem. But what I can do is offer my support. And if that, as a nun, is offering my support through prayers, through answering people's emails, through offering solace, through being supportive in whatever way possible, that's really, really important. Our heart-to-heart connection with each other is the most important thing, isn't it? And I also wonder, in the light of global warming, how far does it have to get? Report an error in the passage at 42:38 Highlight the passage at 42:38

43:13 How much warning do we need? I was at university in the 70s in Canberra and part of the Friends of the Earth, moving to get some uranium mining and so forth. And the warning there was that in 50 years' time, which is like now, we'll experience global warming, the global warming we're having. You don't have to tell the farmers up north. They're saying, you don't have to tell us it's coming. It's here, right here on my farm right now. Maybe we have... Report an error in the passage at 43:13 Highlight the passage at 43:13

43:47 Family and friends, words like that. And I reckon if the Buddha were to return to this world today, the Buddha would certainly be campaigning to protect the environment, just like all Dalai Lama and all these other Lamas are doing. And, you know, saying from all traditions. So in Bunbury, for example, there's this... Report an error in the passage at 43:47 Highlight the passage at 43:47

44:15 Australian religious response to climate change, so it's quite active down there. And for two years now we've had this interfaith pilgrimage to each other's place of worship. It's what, a four-hour walk? The first year it was in stinking hot sun. We didn't have to be told about it. It was just like, please, can we have the crawler time of year, which it was this year. Report an error in the passage at 44:15 Highlight the passage at 44:15

44:36 So we went to each other's place. And hearing the different messages about the environment from different faith groups who were all engaged in the same... Concern, same response to what's happening in the world. In my organisation, FPMT, our organisation, it's not mine, Osalt, so he's the reincarnation of Lama Yeshe who founded FPMT. Report an error in the passage at 44:36 Highlight the passage at 44:36

45:05 So he set up a global tree initiative in 2019 and he was motivated by some deep-seated way to find for... People of all backgrounds to be able to different circumstances to participate in some meaningful project that could be then offered to the Dalai Lama as a token of appreciation for that ongoing inspiration he provides to the world through his living example and being a champion of environmental issues. Report an error in the passage at 45:05 Highlight the passage at 45:05

45:43 So it's this The Global Tree Initiative, and it's not the only one, so it's a grassroots international environmental campaign, on that notion that acting as a harmonious whole, we can achieve a greater result than we could possibly do individually. Report an error in the passage at 45:43 Highlight the passage at 45:43

46:07 And so it's simply a tree planting, global tree planting initiative. So simple to do. And there are many others. I was just thinking earlier this evening, Queen Elizabeth had established a tree planting initiative. I think King Charles is continuing that on. And others as well. What's the big deal about planting trees? Oxygen. We all need it. Report an error in the passage at 46:07 Highlight the passage at 46:07

46:36 Right? Best source of oxygen. For the planet. The planet needs to breathe. We need to breathe clean air. Report an error in the passage at 46:36 Highlight the passage at 46:36

46:47 So if we look at... The foundation of Buddhism, for example, Shakyamuni Buddha was born as his mother leant against a tree for support. He left the palace, shaved off his hair, gave away his luxurious garments and wealth to live simply. Report an error in the passage at 46:47 Highlight the passage at 46:47

47:08 He attained enlightenment seated beneath a tree. He taught under trees. He passed away as trees stood witness. Report an error in the passage at 47:08 Highlight the passage at 47:08

47:19 And he taught using environmental analogies, talking of the fields, the sprouts and the seeds, flowers, weeds in our garden being our afflictions, our toxic emotions and so forth. We still refer to all of that today. And it's a great reminder of that, our global ecological dependence. Report an error in the passage at 47:19 Highlight the passage at 47:19

47:43 In the Global Golden Light Sūtra, this is the sūtra I tend to refer to a lot these days. There's a chapter, it says the inviolable rights or responsibilities of kings, inviolable commitments of divine kings. When they say kings, they mean the leaders of the land because at the time of the Buddha, they had all these little kingdoms and princedoms, a bit like Europe these days. Report an error in the passage at 47:43 Highlight the passage at 47:43

48:14 And the Buddha predicted when the lords, kings, leaders, overlook evil acts committed in their land, And to those who are unlawful, fail to meet out befitting revenge through neglect of unlawful deeds, that which is not dharma will triumph. That's today. So even as dharma practitioners, if you think it's hard to practice dharma, it is because we're surrounded by a society that a lot of the messages are completely opposite, aren't they? Report an error in the passage at 48:14 Highlight the passage at 48:14

48:54 So, upon arrival of a foreign army, the country will utterly succumb, resources and race, till two will fall away. So we can think about Ukraine, we can think about Gaza, Middle East, you know. When a king does not perform the functions for which kingship has been bestowed, he demolishes his own realm as the elephant lord destroys a lotus pond. Report an error in the passage at 48:54 Highlight the passage at 48:54

49:23 Unfavourable winds will rise, unfavourable rains will fall. Just talk to the people over east with the flights. The sun and moon will be unfavourable and likewise planets and stars. Where a king is negligent, famine will descend upon the land. Seeds, crops, flowers and fruits will cease to grow and flourish. Report an error in the passage at 49:23 Highlight the passage at 49:23

49:49 When a king overlooks those who do wrong in his realm, unhappiness will befall. Report an error in the passage at 49:49 Highlight the passage at 49:49

50:03 When the wicked are embraced, three things, the flavour, essence and power of the sublime dharma, the strength of beings and the quality of the earth will utterly perish. Report an error in the passage at 50:03 Highlight the passage at 50:03

50:15 When the corrupt are esteemed and the sublime dishonoured, three things, famine, thunderbolts and death will occur in that place. Fruits and crops will have no taste and no potency thereafter. Beings, sickened with disease, disease, will fill those regions completely. Large sweet fruit will shrivel, become bitter and sharp, play, humour and fun the pleasures of previous times. Report an error in the passage at 50:15 Highlight the passage at 50:15

50:45 Now rife with infinite delusion, will lose the touch of joy. Quite bleak, isn't it? Quite contemporary, isn't it? Which is the sadness of all that. And for me, reading this... really brought to mind the idea of our practice of ethics and that impact of ethics on the environment. I don't think it's often talked about that connection, how one impacts the other. Report an error in the passage at 50:45 Highlight the passage at 50:45

51:20 It's not irreversible. When the plane stopped, when the pollution lifted, when the birds thronged to the beaches, Like we could see a healing beginning to happen, right? True? I mean, the only hope was that it continue after the pandemic, which didn't happen. But the earth itself that supports us can be healed. It's up to the will to do that. Report an error in the passage at 51:20 Highlight the passage at 51:20

52:02 There was one man when I was in Queensland that I read about it. When I was in Queensland, because wherever you are, you get the local news. And he'd bought an island, because you could, off the Queensland coast, and restored its natural habitat. And all the birds came back and the fish and so forth. And now it's flourishing again in its natural habitat. Report an error in the passage at 52:02 Highlight the passage at 52:02

52:30 Okay, he had enough money to buy an island. Maybe it wasn't much because it wasn't in very good shape. Report an error in the passage at 52:30 Highlight the passage at 52:30

52:38 It's very inspiring, stories like that. In our tradition, we often recite this dedication chapter from Shantideva's Bodhisattva's Way of Life. May all beings everywhere plagued by sufferings of body and mind obtain an ocean of happiness and joy by virtue of my merits. May low living creatures suffer, commit evil or ever fall ill. May no one be afraid or belittled. Report an error in the passage at 52:38 Highlight the passage at 52:38

53:10 May the mind weigh down by depression. May the naked find clothing, the hungry find food. May the thirsty find water and delicious drinks. May there be timely rains, bountiful harvests. May all medicines be effective and wholesome prayers bear fruit. May all who are sick and ill quickly be freed from their ailments. Report an error in the passage at 53:10 Highlight the passage at 53:10

53:34 Whatever diseases there are in the world, may they never occur again. May the frightened cease to be afraid and those bound be freed. May the powerless find power and make people think of benefiting each other. So this was an 8th century appeal to humanity, true humanity, which is caring for each other without the politics. Report an error in the passage at 53:34 Highlight the passage at 53:34

54:02 You think we can do it? That's our aim. So what are we doing to make this a reality 1,300 years later? Report an error in the passage at 54:02 Highlight the passage at 54:02

54:13 So as the Dalai Lama says, Prayers are good, but it's not enough. We have to take action. The Dalai Lama says, I believe every individual has a duty to help guide our global family in the right direction. This is not a guilt trip for what we are not doing. Simply, it's a question of survival because this beautiful blue planet is our only home. Report an error in the passage at 54:13 Highlight the passage at 54:13

54:43 So maybe you're already doing things in your life, thinking about how we can... live more simply so others can simply live downsizing tiny houses I don't know at the moment I'm wishing I was much better at Marie Kondo's declutter. Report an error in the passage at 54:43 Highlight the passage at 54:43

55:07 Be content with less. I mean, this is all in the Buddha's teaching, isn't it? Be content with what we have. Report an error in the passage at 55:07 Highlight the passage at 55:07

55:16 So we could say, you know, saving the environment is our collective responsibility. responsibility that For example, I mean we see so many examples with each passing day. For example, the Pacific Islands are disappearing into the sea. There's the extinction of species accelerating at alarming proportions. Report an error in the passage at 55:16 Highlight the passage at 55:16

55:41 An aggravated water shortage has affected the entire European continent. Report an error in the passage at 55:41 Highlight the passage at 55:41

55:56 You know, I was just thinking... Our teacher at Chenrezig Institute, Geshe Sultrim, he grew up in a farming community. He was a farmer in Tibet in a little village that had a running river that is now a trickling stream because of mining. And we think Tibet, rooftop of the world, is still all lush and green and thriving, but just like the rest of the world, not. Report an error in the passage at 55:56 Highlight the passage at 55:56

56:25 So, you know, there are many Buddhist thinkers, Thich Nhat Hanh, And so forth, who are joining this conversation about the environment, and not just Buddhists. We have Stephanie Kassar with Green Buddhism, Mindfully Green, and so forth. Report an error in the passage at 56:25 Highlight the passage at 56:25

56:47 And of course we see millions of young people have been protesting, saying, your generation, which is my generation, have stuffed up the planet for us, thank you very much. Report an error in the passage at 56:47 Highlight the passage at 56:47

57:01 You know... And we've got to live with that. So helping to educate the public while witnessing the destruction of ecosystems. So when I first came over here to WA and we were down in Bunbury, actually the same happened at the centre here, but down in Bunbury, and they said, could you give a talk like this? Report an error in the passage at 57:01 Highlight the passage at 57:01

57:25 That was a Friday night on environmental data, which I did. So all the environmental activists in town turned up and then they said, and so what are you doing Monday morning? And I said, oh, driving back to Perth. Well, come to the courthouse at 8.30am. And I'm like, why? Oh, we're not going to be protesting. We're going to be singing and we're going to be chanting and dancing because one of their members had been arrested protesting against the destruction of Tuarts, Tuartries. Report an error in the passage at 57:25 Highlight the passage at 57:25

58:01 As it turned out, she had filmed the whole incident and so she was in and out of the courthouse in five minutes because they decided the police weren't quite exactly telling the truth. She had no case to answer and there we were. So there's this sense of the reality of this century being one of needing to address what's happening to the planet before it is too late. Report an error in the passage at 58:01 Highlight the passage at 58:01

58:31 As a Dalai Lama, as probably many of us... I really appreciate the initiatives such as Greta Thunberg's efforts to raise awareness of need to take direct action on global warming and amongst school children raising awareness and setting up these, I don't know if it's still going, the Fridays for the Future, which is like 500 young activists from different countries to ensure climate... Report an error in the passage at 58:31 Highlight the passage at 58:31

59:02 Justice and equity for everyone. And look at the best ecology science. But really, we can't just rest on the hopes of younger people. Report an error in the passage at 59:02 Highlight the passage at 59:02

59:19 So in 2022, in the US, the Centre for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education, which is CCARE, they run some programs in Australia, they're at... Stanford University. And a lot of Buddhist influences just happened to be employed there. Worked together with a similar center in the University of Edinburgh and their global compassion initiative. Report an error in the passage at 59:19 Highlight the passage at 59:19

59:50 And co-hosted an event realizing a compassionate planet, bringing the science, compassion science, in dialogue with climate science. To catalyse compassionate action for the world. And similarly, in our organisation, there are these global planet summits. There was one last year and there's one this year. This year, which I think is next month, is actually going to be online, whereas last year it was just in the UK. Report an error in the passage at 59:50 Highlight the passage at 59:50

1:00:27 So, you know, seeing that as... Buddhist that we're finding a place and a way to be able to embrace action around the environment, messaging around that. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:27 Highlight the passage at 1:00:27

1:00:45 As the Dalai Lama says, ignorance is the number one enemy and advocating for not just talking but acting. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:45 Highlight the passage at 1:00:45

1:01:06 So those of us who have children, grandchildren, can think about how life will be. Different from them and their grandchildren looking ahead to what things might be like in the 22nd, the 23rd century and look at how climate change is actually affecting right now our poorest communities worldwide. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:06 Highlight the passage at 1:01:06

1:01:33 But really it won't be long before we all feel it. So again when I moved to Perth pretty much nearly four years ago now we ended up having the hottest summer For a very long time. So everyone told me, oh, it gets hot in December, but wait till February. It was already 45, 45, 45 in December, and I'm like, you've got to be joking. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:33 Highlight the passage at 1:01:33

1:01:59 Who on earth would want to live here? And then I heard that people like to go to Marble Bar to experience 50 plus heat. I mean, pretty soon we'll all be going, get me out of here. Because we'll all be experiencing that. And it makes you think, just how much heat can the human body... Tolerate, really. Well, it makes me think that. So I think if we look at the Buddhist teachings, it comes down to two things. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:59 Highlight the passage at 1:01:59

1:02:33 The philosophical view of dependent origination, how things actually exist, or put simply, our global interdependence from the macro to the micro level. Or as Thich Nhat Hanh calls it, we are all interbeings, globally interconnected. We do rely on each other and each and every living being for survival. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:33 Highlight the passage at 1:02:33

1:02:58 If you remember when the bushfires, was it 2021 around bushfires, when it went through Kangaroo Island and some of the insects, like the whole species were destroyed, and we don't realise how dependent. We are on that because there's these tiny little microbe beings. What's it got to do with me? But it's the ecological balance that gets destroyed. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:58 Highlight the passage at 1:02:58

1:03:24 So both that, you know, we're dependent on every living being for our survival, and ahimsa, nonviolence, do no harm, quite simply. And we extend that non-harm to the environment, you know, not just the trees, the animal habitats. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:24 Highlight the passage at 1:03:24

1:03:48 Taking into account everything that lives even down to the smallest insect, how is it that we can practice in a way that indeed does no harm to any living being? All living beings have Buddha nature, all have the right to coexist, the right to share this planet which is also their only home without fear and in safety. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:48 Highlight the passage at 1:03:48

1:04:20 So perhaps we can think about the ways in which we are already Making transformation in our lives or that we wish to make transformation in our lives. For myself, at Report an error in the passage at 1:04:20 Highlight the passage at 1:04:20

1:04:38 least in the dharma centers I'm in, maybe it's better here, I spend my time in garbage bins, sorting out what can be recycled from what can't. And this in a place where we're all intelligent people wanting to do the right thing and you spend your time going, that is recycling, that is not. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:38 Highlight the passage at 1:04:38

1:05:02 I don't know. You know, we have a retreat place in Bendigo and last time they had a long retreat. They said, just put everything in one bin because we're actually paying someone to sort it all out. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:02 Highlight the passage at 1:05:02

1:05:17 And it's just like, surely we can get that right. Surely we know what goes in the recycling and not. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:17 Highlight the passage at 1:05:17

1:05:26 Someone here? Someone that drives nuts here? Are you here? Liz, is it? Nobody's owning up to it. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:26 Highlight the passage at 1:05:26

1:05:38 Yeah, it's simple things. It's a thing, it's a practice of mindfulness really, isn't it? Not, you know, we've got to do big things, but just little things, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:38 Highlight the passage at 1:05:38

1:05:51 Last Earth, you know, when we have Earth Hour, and I was invited to this Anglican church, it was an interfaith gathering for Earth Hour, so I travelled a long way for this one hour. I might have destroyed the whole eco footprint along the way. And we sat there in silence and meditated and then there was one woman who was like a druid. She played a drum to the heartbeat. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:51 Highlight the passage at 1:05:51

1:06:20 So listening to the beat of the heart in silence, in the dark. It was very profound. Just participating in things together that bring meaning and connect us with this very planet, with this very earth, which provides us all our sustenance. and say a big well in our tradition sadhu sadhu sadhu and in Tibetan lexo lexo lexo Thank Report an error in the passage at 1:06:20 Highlight the passage at 1:06:20

1:06:57 you. We've got a little token of appreciation. Thank you very much. And just really love to thank you for coming along. And if everyone would like to finish. To finish up this beautiful evening, we can turn around and pay respects to the Buddha, Dharma, Saṅgha. And maybe we'll do... Do you have a specific chant? So if you do your chant, we'll do our chant and we will see the evening out. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:57 Highlight the passage at 1:06:57

1:08:22 Okay, Theravadan friends, we've got to make our musical. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:22 Highlight the passage at 1:08:22