Meditation on Spiritual Friendship

0:00 This is what should be done by one who is skilled in goodness and who knows the path of peace. Let them be able and upright, straightforward and gentle in speech, humble and not conceited, contented and easily satisfied. Report an error in the passage at 0:00 Highlight the passage at 0:00

0:27 And not busy with duties and frugal in their ways, peaceful and calm and wise and skillful, not proud and demanding in nature, let them not do the slightest thing that the wise would later reprove. Wishing in gladness and in safety, may all beings be happy, whatever living beings there may be, whether they are weak or strong, omitting none. Report an error in the passage at 0:27 Highlight the passage at 0:27

1:12 The great or the mighty, medium, short or small, the seen and the unseen, those living near and far away, those born and to be born, may all beings be happy. Let none deceive another. Report an error in the passage at 1:12 Highlight the passage at 1:12

1:49 another even as a mother protects with her life Copyright © 2020 Mooji Media Ltd. All Rights Reserved. No part of this recording may be reproduced Outwards and unbounded, freed from hatred and ill will, whether standing or walking, seated or lying down, Copyright © 2020 Mooji Media Ltd. All Rights Reserved. No part of this recording may be reproduced without Mooji Media Ltd.'s express consent. Report an error in the passage at 1:49 Highlight the passage at 1:49

3:03 Is not born again into this world. Sadhu, sadhu, sadhu. Report an error in the passage at 3:03 Highlight the passage at 3:03

3:17 Very good. Report an error in the passage at 3:17 Highlight the passage at 3:17

3:25 Okay, everyone, so nice to see you all again. How was everyone? Are you good? Yeah, good enough? No choice, you have to be good enough, right? Either you're good enough or you just, I don't know. No choice in the matter. Anyway, so I'm going to start off by talking a little bit about meditation practice and maybe bring in some kind of general Buddhist ideas at the same time because that's kind of what happens when you talk about meditation anyway. Report an error in the passage at 3:25 Highlight the passage at 3:25

3:57 And one of the kind of simple ways that I've been talking about meditation recently. It may seem simple, and when you hear it, you may have heard it before, because I talk about this a lot. It may seem simple, and it may seem like something that is obvious in a certain way, but actually it is quite profound. Report an error in the passage at 3:57 Highlight the passage at 3:57

4:20 And this is how we should focus in our meditation practice. one of the Interesting things about meditation, when you look at the Ānāpānasati Sutta, the Sutta on mindfulness of breathing, or you look at other suttas that concern meditation practice, it doesn't actually say anywhere that you should focus on the meditation. Report an error in the passage at 4:20 Highlight the passage at 4:20

4:43 It doesn't say that you should kind of grasp the breath and you should hold on to it, or you should place your mind onto the breath and focus on it. It actually says something quite different. And what it says, it says that you establish mindfulness first of all and then once you have established mindfulness, then mindful you breathe in, just mindful you breathe out. Report an error in the passage at 4:43 Highlight the passage at 4:43

5:12 There's no word there which actually says focus. There's no word that says placing the mind on the breath or anything like that. All it says is that you are mindful and then when you are mindful, because you're breathing in and because you're breathing out, well, that will be what is in your awareness because you are mindful, you are present. Report an error in the passage at 5:12 Highlight the passage at 5:12

5:32 And that is all it says. And that is a very... Interesting thing because it actually bypasses in a sense this whole idea of using willpower in your meditation. Is that a willpower? You enjoy, you sit back, you are at ease with things. And this is really what it is saying there. And to get this idea in a kind of understandable format, the way I like to talk about meditation these days is that meditation is more like being with rather than focusing on. Report an error in the passage at 5:32 Highlight the passage at 5:32

6:05 Normally we think of meditation as a focusing on things. And when you focus on, it's always a degree of willpower. You focus on your work, you focus on what you're reading, you focus on what you're doing. There's a sense of directing the mind in a purposeful way. And we know what that can do. That can lead to tiredness of the mind because you have to employ the willpower throughout the process. Report an error in the passage at 6:05 Highlight the passage at 6:05

6:30 And so that has very clear downsides. And so the idea of being with means that actually you are just with something, enjoying the presence of something, hanging out with something, being part of a larger reality. Mindfulness has this feeling of being with. And the simile that I like to use is a simile of like going for a walk in the forest or going for a walk in nature, whatever that nature might be. Report an error in the passage at 6:30 Highlight the passage at 6:30

6:58 And when you go for a walk in the nature, in the bush here in Australia or the kind of leafy forest of Europe or whatever it might be or wherever you are in the world. It is not that you don't focus on nature. You are with nature. You enjoy the presence of nature. You feel the qualities of nature. The nature is kind of, it has a peaceful feeling to it. It has a sense of... Report an error in the passage at 6:58 Highlight the passage at 6:58

7:26 Being alive, being vibrant in a certain way, it tends to calm you down because of the peacefulness. It has all of these qualities that when you walk through it, you tend to feel at ease and you tend to enjoy it. But you don't focus on the trees. You don't stare at the trees. Maybe you do. Maybe some people do that. But normally you just walk through and you kind of just enjoy the reality of being in the forest. Report an error in the passage at 7:26 Highlight the passage at 7:26

7:52 And so we try to bring that whole idea into our meditation practice. Yeah, you are with the breath. You're just hanging out. You are mindful. You are aware of whatever is happening to you. You have a broad kind of awareness. And within that, there is the breath. And because the breath is within that, you are kind of enjoying the presence of the breath. Report an error in the passage at 7:52 Highlight the passage at 7:52

8:14 So what does it mean to enjoy the presence of the breath? Well, it means to enjoy the qualities of the breath. It means to enjoy the kind of regular rhythm of the breath. It means to enjoy the calming effect of the breath because you're not thinking. It means that you are calming down instead. It means you're enjoying kind of the coolness of the breath when you feel the feeling of the breath against your skin or whatever. Report an error in the passage at 8:14 Highlight the passage at 8:14

8:39 All of these beautiful things. It's very similar to the idea of enjoying the forest, just enjoying the breath. And the deeper... Report an error in the passage at 8:39 Highlight the passage at 8:39

9:09 You know, a possibility of enjoying the presence of the breath all the way through, just like you are enjoying the presence of nature itself. In fact, the breath is just nature. In one sense, there is no distinction between the breath or external nature. It's all just nature. It's different ways of enjoying nature. Report an error in the passage at 9:09 Highlight the passage at 9:09

9:28 That's really all it is about. that and so this is What I recommend you to do, because this is a very relaxing way of meditating, just being aware, just being present, just enjoying being here, rather than focusing on things all the time. And it kind of allows you to really relax, allows you to... Be more intuitive about your meditation. If you direct the mind too much, if you focus the mind too much, the mind is not really free. Report an error in the passage at 9:28 Highlight the passage at 9:28

10:01 The mind is not able to be intuitive. Intuition requires a sense of sitting back and just observing and just being with. If you use force in the mind, intuition is kind of blocked. And when you have that degree of intuition, it's almost like you... You can feel your way through the meditation. What do I need now? What is required? Just sitting back. And it's as if the dharma comes to you at the required times. Report an error in the passage at 10:01 Highlight the passage at 10:01

10:29 Because you're just enjoying being here. And suddenly the dharma tells you, now you need to go back to the breath again. Now you need to let go a little bit. Just relax. Now you need to... Enjoy what you're doing. See the beauty in the breath. See the beauty of what you're doing. Now you need to enjoy the good company of all of these people coming together in the Armadale group. Report an error in the passage at 10:29 Highlight the passage at 10:29

10:54 It's still called the Armadale group. We have a David Armadale here. Is that true? I just saw that now. Okay, David Armadale. Welcome, David Armadale. Maybe that is not a coincidence. I'm not sure what is going on here. So that's great. So you enjoy the good company of David Armadale and the rest of the Armadale group. And you learn that, you intuit what you have to do because when you are relaxed and at ease, it's as if the dhamma is always present to you. Report an error in the passage at 10:54 Highlight the passage at 10:54

11:27 The mind is able to allow the dhamma to arise within and guide you in the right kind of way. And this is the benefit of just sitting back, of relaxing and being with things. Now one of the important things that is always required, I'm just talking about the Armadale group now being present with other people, and this idea of... Report an error in the passage at 11:27 Highlight the passage at 11:27

11:53 Enjoying the presence of other people can be called, something in the sutta is called the Kalyanamitta Anussati. It's the recollection of your spiritual friends. Very often we talk about the recollection of the Buddha, the recollection of the Dhamma, we talk about the recollection of your virtues and your generosity and these kind of things. Report an error in the passage at 11:53 Highlight the passage at 11:53

12:15 But hidden away, far away in the suttas, in the sutta you may have never read in your entire life, there is the idea of kalyanamitta anusati, the recollection of your spiritual friends. That's kind of a beautiful idea, because the idea of... Spiritual friends is like a number of concentric circles. The number one spiritual friend is like the Buddha, and then beyond that, maybe some of the monastic saṅgha. Report an error in the passage at 12:15 Highlight the passage at 12:15

12:41 And beyond that, the broader kind of Buddhist community, like the arm relay group. It's like concentric circles. And you can focus on whatever kind of works for you within that larger group of people. So it's kind of a beautiful idea, this idea of Kalyanamitta. And sometimes we underestimate the importance of good spiritual friendship on the path. As John was just mentioning before, he was saying that I've just been teaching the Mahamangala Sutta on the BSWA retreat. Report an error in the passage at 12:41 Highlight the passage at 12:41

13:14 I think that retreat was even broadcast over the internet actually. And the Mahamangala Sutta begins with a very interesting verse. verse yeah and the The point about almost all the suttas in the Pāli Canon is that they have a certain structure to them. Nothing is really random in the suttas. Everything has a structure. Report an error in the passage at 13:14 Highlight the passage at 13:14

13:35 It begins in a certain place and it ends in a certain place. And all the things in between kind of have a certain sequence to them usually. And what the Mahamangala Sutta begins with is this idea of not associating with fools. But to associate with the wise and to honor those worthy of honor, this is the greatest good blessing. Report an error in the passage at 13:35 Highlight the passage at 13:35

14:01 Yes, beautiful idea. And it's all about the idea of kalyanamitta. Not to associate with fools, but to associate with the wise and to honor those worthy of honor. And this is the beginning. Asevana cha bala nang pandita namsa sevana. Report an error in the passage at 14:01 Highlight the passage at 14:01

14:19 of the entire spiritual path. Without that, there is no spiritual path at all. And that's why it stands at the very beginning of the Mahamangala Sutta. And then it kind of moves on, and it goes all the way to enlightenment, all the way at the bottom. And so it's a very important part of what we think about life. Report an error in the passage at 14:19 Highlight the passage at 14:19

14:39 You will notice here what is kind of... The way the Buddha speaks about it is very interesting. He says not to associate with fools. Bala, bala is the Pāli word. It basically means something like fools or people who are unwise or whatever. You may wonder, does the Buddha really call people fools? It sounds a bit like a pejorative word, putting other people down. Is that really what the Buddha does? Report an error in the passage at 14:39 Highlight the passage at 14:39

15:07 I think one of the things that we have to remember is that the Buddha, He sometimes is quite straight to the point. He doesn't really couch things in language that is too indirect or whatever. Because if you want to be honest and immediate about your spiritual practice, you have to be direct sometimes. Report an error in the passage at 15:07 Highlight the passage at 15:07

15:30 And if you're not direct, chances are things will kind of get lost on the way. And so the Buddha often uses language that you may kind of wonder, is he, wow, this is really kind of strong. Fools. And so fools is here compared to the wise people. And not only does he talk about fools and using words like this, bala, I would say in Pāli basically means the same thing as a fool. Report an error in the passage at 15:30 Highlight the passage at 15:30

15:54 But then the way he talks about fools in the suttas elsewhere is very kind of, he uses very strong language. I will give you an example. One of the things he says about fools, for example, he says that whatever Problems arise in the world, whatever perils there are in the world, whatever hazards there are in the world, all stem from fools, not from wise people. Report an error in the passage at 15:54 Highlight the passage at 15:54

16:20 All the problems in the world stem from fools, not from wise people. Does that even make any sense? How can we even say that? Are fools to be, are they to be blamed for the volcanoes in the world? Are they to be blamed for the storms that we're having? Are they to be blamed for all of these kind of things? Are they to be blamed for the next meteorite that smashes into the earth and eliminates humanity once and for all? Report an error in the passage at 16:20 Highlight the passage at 16:20

16:49 No, I'm just exaggerating, but you know what I mean? Some people say that this might happen. I'm not sure it's probably not going to happen on our watch, but maybe in a million years or something it might happen. And so how can fools be blamed for all of these things? All the hazards, all the problems in the world are to be blamed by the fools. What does the Buddha even mean by that? So let's kind of have a look at this. Report an error in the passage at 16:49 Highlight the passage at 16:49

17:14 And so one of the things, one of the hazards is that a fool suffers enormously. In their own life, their own life tends to be very miserable. Buddha has a very beautiful way of expressing this. He says that when a fool has finished their day's work, they come back home and they kind of sit down or they lie down or they sit down on the ground and they want to rest. Report an error in the passage at 17:14 Highlight the passage at 17:14

17:39 When they do that, this mountain of bad actions that they have done, they cast a shadow over them. The shadow, they get immersed, completely enveloped, engulfed in all the bad qualities that they have because a fool does a lot of bad things and all of those bad qualities then come afterwards and cast this shadow over you and you can't really get out of that shadow. Report an error in the passage at 17:39 Highlight the passage at 17:39

18:02 And he says it's like a mountain. When you have a mountain and the sun goes down behind the mountain, then all the land, the ground in front of that mountain will be kind of enveloped, engulfed in this enormous shadow, and we cannot escape from that shadow. In the same way, a fool ends up kind of bathing, being immersed in all their bad actions. And then when they sit down, they try to rest, they try to relax in the evening, they can't rest. Report an error in the passage at 18:02 Highlight the passage at 18:02

18:33 Why is that? Because there is no rest for the wicked. The Buddha said it first and then the English picked it up afterwards as an understanding of... It's always the Buddha said it first, right? And we all pick these things up afterwards. That's the way it goes. And so there is no rest for the wicked and that is what happens because you are engulfed in all those bad actions. Report an error in the passage at 18:33 Highlight the passage at 18:33

18:54 Then, of course, when we look at the world today and sometimes we see bad leadership and we see people doing stupid things, we can also have some idea that people with bad qualities, people we consider foolish, lead to very bad consequences for a lot of people. Report an error in the passage at 18:54 Highlight the passage at 18:54

19:15 You can also see it maybe more in your personal life if you have a bad friend or whatever, a friend who is immoral, a friend who likes to drink, a friend who likes to do silly things, to go to the casino or whatever. Yeah, sometimes if it is a friend, you kind of want to do the same a little bit. Yeah, because my friend is doing it. I have to do a little bit. Report an error in the passage at 19:15 Highlight the passage at 19:15

19:35 you are we are Influenced by our friends. It's very hard to say complete no to our friends. We feel antisocial if we say completely no. And so we get drawn in by the bad conduct of people around us. And especially in the long run, we tend to kind of take after each other. So unless you have a very strong character, and remember the character is conditioned, it may be strong sometimes and weak at other times, then you're going to fall into the ways of people around you who are in this way. Report an error in the passage at 19:35 Highlight the passage at 19:35

20:05 But the big picture, the really big problem is that the reason why we are here in the world right now, the reason why we have been reborn into this world is because we listened to fools in the past. Yeah, we had in the past lives going back in samsaric existence. Why we are still here is because we haven't listened enough to wise people. Report an error in the passage at 20:05 Highlight the passage at 20:05

20:28 We've been conditioned by all the people leading us down the garden path, leading us towards rebirth, leading towards this endless round of suffering. And that is basically what it means when we say that the fools are the cause of all the problems, all the hazards, all the things in the world. Ultimately, because they are responsible for rebirth, that is why they are responsible for all the problems, including the volcanoes, including all of those natural disasters. Report an error in the passage at 20:28 Highlight the passage at 20:28

20:59 Ultimately, the fools have to take the blame for all of these things. And so that is kind of really fascinating. And so then the Buddha goes on to say that we should be very careful with who we hang out with. Yeah, because these fools, they will have an effect on our life. And he says that if someone is very badly behaved, we should be disgusted by that person. Report an error in the passage at 20:59 Highlight the passage at 20:59

21:22 He uses the Pāli word jigucha, and jigucha basically means disgusted. He says that other people, for example, if someone is very... If someone has an angry temperament, then we should be equanimous towards them. Again, we shouldn't be with them because it tends to be very painful to be with angry people. Report an error in the passage at 21:22 Highlight the passage at 21:22

21:43 We should only really be with those people who are ideally superior to us. Ideally, we should always choose people who are superior or maybe on an equal standing in terms of ethical qualities and spiritual qualities and these kind of things. If you feel that someone is dragging you down, Don't hang out with those people. That's basically what it comes down to. And it's very easy to... Report an error in the passage at 21:43 Highlight the passage at 21:43

22:09 Underestimate the importance of this because we often feel that we are quite strong. We feel inside of us a certain degree of solidity and of course that sense of strength, that sense of solidity that we feel, that is precisely the illusion that we're trying to overcome. This is the illusion of a self that ultimately is the problem that causes us so much problems in life. Report an error in the passage at 22:09 Highlight the passage at 22:09

22:33 And so be very careful. If you feel strong, remember that you are not as strong as you think you are. In fact, you are much weaker and almost guaranteed that you will be influenced by the people you hang out with. And so that kind of helps you to then to move and to understand. How, who you should be with, how you should kind of dedicate your life, move a little bit away from those friends and acquaintances and even family members, yeah? Report an error in the passage at 22:33 Highlight the passage at 22:33

23:02 Don't give up on your family members, don't throw them out of your house or whatever, but know the right time and the right place, yeah? Know who to hang out with for the most part and then you can become far more influenced and conditioned by the good people in your life rather than The people who are more foolish. And so I was very surprised when I started to look into these suttas. And I saw the degree to which the Buddha actually was saying that this is so dangerous to hang out with the fools. Report an error in the passage at 23:02 Highlight the passage at 23:02

23:35 And I kind of started thinking about it. I was thinking to myself, am I making the most of this? Am I always hanging out with the right kind of people? Am I optimizing the conditioning in my own life? And sometimes, maybe I'm not. Sometimes I also need to be more careful with these things. And the great thing about reading the suttas is that, yes, you use it for teaching, but the main person you teach is always yourself. Report an error in the passage at 23:35 Highlight the passage at 23:35

23:59 This is kind of what I try to do in all of these kind of things, to make it a teaching that really works for myself as well. Otherwise, it becomes kind of problematic. And so then we have the other side of the coin. Once you start giving up the fools, you start to choose your Kalyanamittas more wisely. Report an error in the passage at 23:59 Highlight the passage at 23:59

24:18 And the Kalyanamittas, it is based on the Kalyanamittas that we practice the spiritual path. It is based on those people in the world who are wise, especially the Aryas, the noble ones, the Buddha and everyone else. That is why we practice in the right way. here. Report an error in the passage at 24:18 Highlight the passage at 24:18

24:38 In one of these suttas, and this is the sutta that you may have heard before, it's a very nice sutta, is the sutta where the Buddha, Venerable Ananda, who is the Buddha's attendant, he goes to the Buddha and he says to the Buddha that spiritual friendship is half of the spiritual life. And then the Buddha says to Ananda, don't say that, Ananda, don't say that. Yeah, you are exaggerating. It's only 10 % of the holy life. Report an error in the passage at 24:38 Highlight the passage at 24:38

25:06 No, he doesn't say that. I'm just messing around. I'm just testing you. I'm looking at your faces and see if you're reacting or not. I'm being naughty. That's what I'm doing. No, but that's what I used to think. Yeah, 50%, you must be joking. You know, you have all of these other factors. Yeah, you have like virtue, you have generosity, you have meditation. Yeah, surely it cannot be 10%. Even that is exaggerating, right? Report an error in the passage at 25:06 Highlight the passage at 25:06

25:32 5%. But of course. The Buddha doesn't say that. The Buddha says spiritual friendship is 100 % of the spiritual life and that is what is so interesting. So when the Buddha says these profound things, you start to recognize there's something going on here, there's something very interesting. And then the Buddha says the reason for that is because it is based on having me. Report an error in the passage at 25:32 Highlight the passage at 25:32

25:54 me as a spiritual friend that people practice the noble It is based on having me as a spiritual friend that people Overcome suffering that they achieve awakening in this world. Yeah, that is the foundation for doing this. Without that input from the Buddha, there is no possibility. Why? Because even that right view doesn't exist in the world without the Buddha's presence. And so once that right view arises, then awakening becomes possible. Report an error in the passage at 25:54 Highlight the passage at 25:54

26:24 Without that right view, awakening can't even be achieved. And so the Buddha is our first Kalyanamitta. The second Kalanamitta are the people who are ahead of us in the spiritual practice, those who already have achieved maybe stages of awakening or achieved deep meditation, who are very virtuous, people we can talk with. Report an error in the passage at 26:24 Highlight the passage at 26:24

26:48 People we can discuss with, people we can gain understanding from because of our discussions with them. People who are kind of our, who are a little bit superior to us, or at the very least equal with us. These are like the second and the third tier of the people who are our Kalanamitas. And once you start reflecting on this, the Buddha is my Kalanamita, we have the people in the arm of the group, we have many. Report an error in the passage at 26:48 Highlight the passage at 26:48

27:14 Some nice monastics in the world that help out. We have some really good lay teachers as well, by the way. And all of us coming together and practicing in this way together, we hold each other up, we lift each other up, and we allow each other the possibility of practicing this path and doing something positive for ourselves and the world. Report an error in the passage at 27:14 Highlight the passage at 27:14

27:37 And it only happens because of Kalyanamitta. And so remember that. Remember to... Enjoy and to embrace and to rejoice in the fact that you are part of such a thing. And then when you add that to the meditation I was talking about before, the meditation of just being with, enjoying the presence of the breath, which is a letting go kind of meditation, and then you add the enjoyment of these anusatis, the recollections that we have. Report an error in the passage at 27:37 Highlight the passage at 27:37

28:05 In this case, the Kalyanamitta Anusati, the recollection of spiritual friendship. These two things together is a very, very powerful combination. Letting go and enjoyment. Letting go and enjoyment. These are the two things that allows the meditation to work. And that is what I'm hoping we can do today. So that is a little introduction for you about meditation practice. Report an error in the passage at 28:05 Highlight the passage at 28:05

28:35 And so let us do some meditation together. Report an error in the passage at 28:35 Highlight the passage at 28:35

· · · silence, 4 minutes

32:34 Okay, everyone. Just again at the very start of the meditation, just make sure that you give yourself a lot of time to relax and to find that ease of the body and the mind. Don't go to the meditation object too soon. Allow the mindfulness, allow a degree of peace to arise first of all. It's impossible to watch the breath without having that mindfulness established first of all. Report an error in the passage at 32:34 Highlight the passage at 32:34

33:07 So just sit back. Allow the chaos of the mind to be there. Don't try to control it. And allow it just to settle by itself. You know already after doing this for a long time that if you let things be, if you don't get involved, then the mind tends to settle by itself. So just enjoy the sitting there. Enjoy the non-doing. Report an error in the passage at 33:07 Highlight the passage at 33:07

33:36 Enjoy the lack of activity that you have right now. Even that is a state of resting. Just gradually observe the mind as it gradually calms down by itself. Report an error in the passage at 33:36 Highlight the passage at 33:36

33:50 Remind yourself that what you are doing now on the spiritual path, this is what really matters. This is where you create the future. You don't create the future. in the future. You don't control it by Report an error in the passage at 33:50 Highlight the passage at 33:50

34:21 nonsense enjoy what is truly valuable get your priorities right understand what is worthwhile and what is not and that right view you have right there will help you to God. Guide the mind in the right way. Report an error in the passage at 34:21 Highlight the passage at 34:21

· · · silence, 4 minutes

38:26 And as you sit back and just enjoy whatever is happening, it's as if the Dhamma whispers to you the instructions that you require at any time. And sometimes the Dhamma may say, just let go, be at ease, enjoy. And if it does, then remind yourself of the simile of being with. with rather than focusing on. Report an error in the passage at 38:26 Highlight the passage at 38:26

38:55 Be with your breath. Enjoy the presence of good friendship. And your breath is like a good friend. Your breath has kept you alive for all of these years. The breath is reliable. The breath is always there. And the breath has a gentle, soothing, rhythmic presence. So learn just to enjoy that presence of the breath. Report an error in the passage at 38:55 Highlight the passage at 38:55

39:21 And as you enjoy it, and you can be with the breath, just like you are being with a good friend. Report an error in the passage at 39:21 Highlight the passage at 39:21

· · · silence, 4 minutes

43:57 If you need a little bit of brightening of the meditation, if you need a bit of uplift, if you like, then you can very gently remind yourself of how fortunate you are that you have so many beautiful and profound spiritual friends. Kalyana mitas. First and foremost, you have the Buddha. What an amazing thing that we have the Buddha as a teacher. Report an error in the passage at 43:57 Highlight the passage at 43:57

44:28 The Buddha is this remarkable, awakened person who understands the human condition fully. That is our teacher, the greatest spiritual master in recorded human history. Then we have the Saṅgha, all those people who practice in the right way. Who realize the same teachings. Who are still available in the world today. Still keeping the tradition alive. Report an error in the passage at 44:28 Highlight the passage at 44:28

44:57 What an amazing thing it is that such beings still exist in the world today. And we can enjoy their presence. And finally we have all our fellow Buddhists. All our people who encourage us in a positive way. leading us in the right direction. This vast network of Buddhists around the world, what an incredible blessing it is to have such a vast number of people who encourage us and who lead us. Report an error in the passage at 44:57 Highlight the passage at 44:57

45:31 Okay. right direction. It is a tremendous blessing. It is enough to feel glad. It is enough to feel uplifted. It is enough to support your meditation. Report an error in the passage at 45:31 Highlight the passage at 45:31

· · · silence, 12 minutes

57:53 Everyone, so now take a few moments just to reflect on the meditation. And the idea here is to understand first of all what happiness and suffering is, and also to understand the process of meditation, what it means to let go, what it means to develop the mind. So try to see and try to learn from what has happened. Report an error in the passage at 57:53 Highlight the passage at 57:53

· · · silence, 1 minute

59:07 Okay, okay, okay. So... There you are, a bit of meditation together. Now we can open up if you would like. I guess now is the time for some questions or comments or having a discussion. We try to avoid the arguments. The rough arguments have a kind of dispute, but we can have some good questions at least. So if you want to discuss anything or want to talk about something or you want to let us know your interpretation of something or whatever, you are now very welcome to do so. Report an error in the passage at 59:07 Highlight the passage at 59:07

59:47 And if you don't want, you are very welcome not to want. So whatever you kind of lean, the way you lean, it's good. Actually, Report an error in the passage at 59:47 Highlight the passage at 59:47

1:00:03 can I ask you a question? I want to ask you a question. Because you are so slow, Marian just got there. Was that before you or after you, Marian? I think we're about the same time. So can I ask you a question first? Is that okay? I ask everyone a question because we have been debating. It's more fun. I actually like asking questions. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:03 Highlight the passage at 1:00:03

1:00:25 This is a good opportunity. We have been debating what to call the Armadale meditation group. It hasn't got much to do with Armadale anymore except for David Armadale. He's the only kind of the remnant of Armadale. There's a few people from the old Armadale group, which is great, but not very many left. And so we have been debating to rename it because we want to have something that reflects kind of the nature of the group. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:25 Highlight the passage at 1:00:25

1:00:51 And so one of the things we have been thinking of is You know, something like the Buddhist BSWA meditation group or BSWA international meditation group or BSWA cosmic meditation group. Yeah, something humble like that. I wanted to ask you what you think. Do you have any... I already have my favorite name. I'll tell you later on, but I won't tell you now because otherwise I spoil the whole thing. But does anyone have any good ideas for what would be a good name for this meditation group? Report an error in the passage at 1:00:51 Highlight the passage at 1:00:51

1:01:30 That kind of reflects as well. Yeah, Ajahn Brahmali, I think international sounds great. It has to do something with international because I'm from Indonesia. Okay, all right. I agree with Eddie. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:30 Highlight the passage at 1:01:30

1:01:51 We could call it like the Armadale as a homage to Armadale, like Armadale International Group. I think that would be nice. Or something international. All right. Okay. All right. Good. Okay. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. I'm in Florida. Yeah. Okay. So we can't call it the Florida Meditation Group, right? That would be too kind of too dodgy. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:51 Highlight the passage at 1:01:51

1:02:19 Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Too dodgy. Yeah. Yeah. Great. Okay. International sounds great. Okay. Great. I'll let you know. Okay, so I will let you know what my favorite one is. Okay. And then you can tell me whether I'm completely misguided or whether it is kind of acceptable or whatever. So I thought having the BSWA boundless meditation group. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:19 Highlight the passage at 1:02:19

1:02:52 Yeah, it sounds good, Ajahn. Boundless. It means that everybody is well. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We still need that basic like BSWA things because it's like, yeah, it's kind of guidelines that this is best in Western Australia. Right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. My idea was just that boundless is. Both no boundaries, so it's kind of international and also boundless because the deep meditation states are called the boundless meditations. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:52 Highlight the passage at 1:02:52

1:03:23 So I thought it kind of combines two kind of ideas quite nicely. Anyway, that was just my idea. So you seem to be okay with that. I'm glad, yeah. So great. The subtitle would be the boundless group or... Yeah, okay. All right. Good. P-S-W-A. .A. International... International group with boundless results. I don't know. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:23 Highlight the passage at 1:03:23

1:03:59 Hopefully we have some boundless results. That would be very nice actually if we had some boundless results here. Anyway, I think we have said enough about that. It's not my job to ask questions even though it's good fun to ask questions. Marian, do you want to start everything here? Okay. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:59 Highlight the passage at 1:03:59

1:04:21 Hello Ajahn. Hello. I'm happy to see you. Thank you for being here and teaching. I'm taking this opportunity to ask a question on Pāli, if it's okay with you. Pāli question. All right. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. I don't know Pāli. I know only 20 words and no grammar, but I have a question on this expression. Is it the same as? Report an error in the passage at 1:04:21 Highlight the passage at 1:04:21

1:04:45 Bhavoti is the construction of Bhavohoti, Bhavo is, and what is the meaning of it? I read the sutta that explains it and I didn't understand. Thank you. Bhavo, B-H-A-V-O, and then Bhavo, Bhavoti, existence, existence is translated like that in some. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:45 Highlight the passage at 1:04:45

1:05:07 So what it means, the T is like a quotation mark. So someone says existence, existence, yeah? And then in quotes, that's what it means. Oh, it's not the contraction of bhavo hoti, like bhavo is. No, no, no. It's a quote. So someone says existence, existence, and then that's kind of what it means, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:07 Highlight the passage at 1:05:07

1:05:35 And the meaning of the sutta when he says that if there was no realm for karma to, well... Yeah. Can you say in a few words what it means? Yeah, that is the... And there will not be karma? That's the famous Bhava Sutta. It's actually the Anguttanika Numerical Discourses 3, number 75 and 76 are the two suttas that discuss the meaning of the word Bhava. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:35 Highlight the passage at 1:05:35

1:05:58 And so I think the idea there is that, you know, people say Bhavo, Bhavo. What do they mean when they say that? That's kind of the question. And then the Buddha replies. And he says that if there were no... Kama ripening in the sensual realm, this five sense realm, would there be any beings existing in the five sense realm? Report an error in the passage at 1:05:58 Highlight the passage at 1:05:58

1:06:21 And the answer is no. So in other words, you have to have the kama, and then the kama is like the water, and then the consciousness is like the seed. No, sorry. The kama is like the ground. Consciousness is the seed that gets... Planted in that ground and then craving is the moisture. So you can do the moisture, you pour the water and then the consciousness grows in that ground, in that kamma that you have created in the past. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:21 Highlight the passage at 1:06:21

1:06:52 So that's kind of the idea here. So bhava is, according to that sutta, the bhava is both the kamma that you produce in the present life and then the result of that kamma in the future life. Existence has this cross life. life, cross-life functionality to it if you like, yeah, so comma now and then the existence there in the future. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:52 Highlight the passage at 1:06:52

1:07:15 Thank you Ajahn for teaching again. I just want to come back a little bit to the basic tool. To be assured that I understand it the right way, does having a strong mindfulness mean that we can just put aside and let go of all the external situation or anything that's happening to our life right now? It can be the problem in our job, family problems, health, sickness, and anything. Then we build it and we let it go during meditation. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:15 Highlight the passage at 1:07:15

1:08:08 And what does it have to do with the success of meditation? I want to understand more about the correlation here. Yeah. So the idea of mindfulness has a number of functions. One of the important functions of mindfulness is that it... Helps you simply to be more moral. It helps you to do the right thing. If you are mindful during daily life, it means that you are aware of what you are doing. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:08 Highlight the passage at 1:08:08

1:08:36 You are aware of what you are thinking. You are aware of what you are saying. And so you can restrain yourself. You can hold back. You can say, I don't want to do that. I want to do this. I want to live in accordance with the dharma. I don't want to live in accordance with defilements or whatever. And so mindfulness allows you to guide your life in a certain way. One of the things that I have been saying to people recently is that it's important in the dhamma to learn to respond rather than to react. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:36 Highlight the passage at 1:08:36

1:09:06 Very often we are too reactive in life. Something happens and all the past conditioning inside of us comes out of us. We react immediately to what is happening around us. And so we need to slow down. We need to kind of take a breath, yeah? Don't react straight away. Allow the dhamma to arise in your mind first of all. If you take a breath and you slow down a little bit, it is as if you're allowing the dhamma a chance to inform your response. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:06 Highlight the passage at 1:09:06

1:09:35 Yeah, instead of just... Being your habits from the past responding, you allow the dhamma some input. And so when the dhamma gets some input, you can cut off and you can reduce that reactivity and then you can guide the mind in a new direction. So this is kind of part of the idea of mindfulness is that it allows the dhamma to give you more input in the way you live your life. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:35 Highlight the passage at 1:09:35

1:10:01 And so this is one of the reasons why the mindfulness is sometimes called in the Sutta, it's called sati adipateya. Adipateya means like sati becomes the... Like the governor, it governs you. It governs your conduct. It governs who you are as a person. You feel that you are in charge of your life. It is no longer the defilements or the external world that is in charge of you. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:01 Highlight the passage at 1:10:01

1:10:23 You are in charge of yourself because you feel you can react as you want to. You can respond as you want to respond rather than just being the puppet of external phenomena, always kind of being moved around by all these external things all the time. And so then when you come to your meditation, because you already have used mindfulness in a good way in your ordinary life, when you come to meditation, you already have a fairly balanced mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:23 Highlight the passage at 1:10:23

1:10:49 The mind is not full of desires and full of ill will and it's not all over the place, you know, kind of completely everywhere. It is still a bit busy and it's still a bit problematic, but it's, you know, it is not completely out of control. And so then you can sit down and you can just rest and you can allow allow the frank, you know, the the The restlessness of the mind to kind of calm down and as you allow it to calm down because you have mindfulness it is as if the things kind of don't really There's no grip in your mind. Things don't actually settle in your mind. Mindfulness sees them straight away. And because it sees the thoughts arising, it sees the sounds in your mind, it doesn't hold on to them, so it slips off the mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:49 Highlight the passage at 1:10:49

1:11:36 And you come back to mindfulness almost straight away. Ajahn Brahm used this idea many, many years ago of the Teflon mind. You know the Teflon, the thing you have in the frying pan, nothing sticks? So it's like the non-stick mind, the Teflon mind. So the thoughts arise and it just slides away, there's a non-stick. The sound arises, but you don't get upset by the sound, you don't allow yourself to be... Report an error in the passage at 1:11:36 Highlight the passage at 1:11:36

1:12:01 Controlled by all of these external things. Things just arise and then they pass away again. And when you have that degree of mindfulness, what happens is that your mind becomes calmer and calmer and calmer. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:01 Highlight the passage at 1:12:01

1:12:35 mindfulness isn't strong enough and then you need to do something to establish that mindfulness that's why we do You know, little ideas like how to give rise to joy in the mind and this kind of thing that helps you to establish mindfulness on the way. So mindfulness in ordinary life leads over into mindfulness in meditation. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:35 Highlight the passage at 1:12:35

1:12:54 That's kind of how it works. I am very much a proponent of... The idea, very often we talk about mindfulness in daily life, just be mindful of everything. But we need to remember that mindfulness is supposed to have a purpose. And the purpose of mindfulness is to keep a pure mind. So if you see some bad thoughts or something dodgy arising in the mind, then you have an opportunity to move away from that and move towards the wholesome instead. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:54 Highlight the passage at 1:12:54

1:13:21 That's kind of the purpose. Mindfulness is good, but it should also be employed in the right kind of way. Then it's really powerful. Okay, so it means that Sīla comes first. It's like the foundation. Sīla is the foundation. Use mindfulness for Sīla. Great, thanks. Nim, do you want to say something? Report an error in the passage at 1:13:21 Highlight the passage at 1:13:21

1:13:45 Thank you, Ajahn, for your meditation. I just had a question about Like fear in meditation. Sometimes I feel like maybe this is like, as you said, my mindfulness is probably not strong enough. And I, cause I suffer, like sometimes I have panic attacks. And so sometimes when I'm meditating and the breath is fine or like sometimes when I can't, like it becomes fine. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:45 Highlight the passage at 1:13:45

1:14:15 I'm like afraid that it's gonna. disappear basically i get that fear when fear comes up and i'm like oh like i don't know i think my mind gets disturbed because of that anxiety and i tell myself like it's okay like you know it's you know um just calm down but yeah i don't know how how do you deal with that like i'm being like afraid of like The uncertainty of your breath becoming slower and then becoming fine, even though you've been told it's a good thing. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:15 Highlight the passage at 1:14:15

1:14:58 Sometimes it just comes up. Yeah. Okay. So what I would recommend is that you maybe try a different meditation object. Because if you have that fear, it may be that you need to build up some more. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:58 Highlight the passage at 1:14:58

1:15:15 Positive, some more joy, some more positive qualities in the mind. And when those positive qualities become very powerful, you won't have that fear anymore. So try some mettā meditation instead. Mettā meditation has a lot of advantages. You're building up your sīla, you're building up your morality at the same time. And that will have an effect in the rest of your life. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:15 Highlight the passage at 1:15:15

1:15:37 And also if you have a really positive feeling inside, especially you feel may all beings be happy and you kind of have this sense of wishing everyone in the world happiness, it's very difficult to have fear. And so build up that... Report an error in the passage at 1:15:37 Highlight the passage at 1:15:37

1:16:07 or half an hour or whatever, and then you can come back to the breath meditation, maybe Next month or the month after or something like that. Or you can do some meditations with the breath and some meditations with mettā, like alternating a little bit. Do this in different ways, but build up a kind of a sense of safety in your mind before you go to the breath. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:07 Highlight the passage at 1:16:07

1:16:30 The advantage of mettā meditation is that you keep on usually saying a mantra. You say something like, may all beings be happy, may all beings be well. And because you keep saying that in the meditation, Maybe with a bit of gap in between, but you keep saying it, it doesn't feel dangerous in the same way. I mean, if you lose your breath, you can see why people might be a bit scared, yeah? Report an error in the passage at 1:16:30 Highlight the passage at 1:16:30

1:16:50 Because you've got to breathe. If you don't breathe, you have a problem. But when you say something, then it doesn't, hopefully it won't have the same kind of ability to, won't have the same ability to kind of distract you in that way. So try, that's what I would recommend. Try that and then see if that kind of, you know, works down the track or whatever. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:50 Highlight the passage at 1:16:50

1:17:16 Okay, Adam, you want to say something? Thank you so much for your teaching. I actually disconnected during the meditation so I ended up meditating on my own. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:16 Highlight the passage at 1:17:16

1:17:33 I've done a lot of mettā meditation and I'm trying to Okay. And I'm Report an error in the passage at 1:17:33 Highlight the passage at 1:17:33

1:17:42 to like transfer it to into compassion yeah into karuṇā and i wanted to ask you what is your opinion how should i approach that because all the resources that i found they concentrate on your method yeah I think the difference between mettā and karuṇā is not as great as you might think. I mean, in theory, the difference is that in mettā you just wish beings well, but with karuṇā you wish beings freedom from suffering. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:42 Highlight the passage at 1:17:42

1:18:17 But the difference between those two things is very small. It's more like the object is a bit different. So with mettā, usually it's focused... To a friend you tend to have mettā because actually the word mettā itself is derived from the word mitta which means friendship or friendliness. And so you want, you know, So if you're sending may you be happy, you say that to a friend, then it's mettā meditation. But if you say may you be well to an animal, because animals are not usually friends, or they can be friends actually, but say an animal that is not your pet or whatever, and we know that animals tend to suffer a lot in the world, then it's more like compassion, because you are wishing that animal freedom from suffering. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:17 Highlight the passage at 1:18:17

1:19:04 So I would say it's more in the object than actually in what you do. So when you say may you be well to a friend, then it's mettā. If you say it to an animal, then it's more like compassion probably. And so sometimes you can combine the two because the distinction isn't very absolute or very clear very often. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:04 Highlight the passage at 1:19:04

1:19:23 It's like may you be happy, may you be well. It's like a combination of mettā and karuṇā, both compassion and mettā, like in one thing. And I personally think that works quite well. You don't really have to make those differences. But if you want to, that's how I would do it. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:23 Highlight the passage at 1:19:23

1:19:45 Thank you. You are welcome. Ajahn, there was a comment in the chat section. I'll just read it to you because you might be able to clarify the comment about not spending time with food. Yeah. I'll just read it. Where is the compassion? If everyone took the stance of not spending time with fools, then what would happen to all of those people who are suffering due to their untrained mind? Report an error in the passage at 1:19:45 Highlight the passage at 1:19:45

1:20:21 The approach being promoted tonight sounds judgmental and exclusive. Surely this approach strengthens and estimates their mindset. This is what leads to war. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:21 Highlight the passage at 1:20:21

1:20:34 Okay. No lie. Judgment is required in the world. Judgment is important. We have to make distinctions. If you don't make any distinctions in the world, you won't get anywhere. You have to decide who is going to be your teacher. You have to decide whether the Buddha was right or whether someone else is right. Making distinctions is absolutely necessary. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:34 Highlight the passage at 1:20:34

1:20:55 If you don't make distinctions, then you are not going to get anywhere with anything almost. is. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:55 Highlight the passage at 1:20:55

1:21:01 And so this does not mean however that we judge people harshly. This does not mean that if someone, if you consider someone as Less spiritually developed that you kind of look down upon them. If you look down upon them, then you are at fault for looking down upon them. Yes, certainly we shouldn't be doing that. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:01 Highlight the passage at 1:21:01

1:21:20 That is certainly a big mistake. So what we have to remember, and this is one of those beautiful teachings that comes out of the Buddhist idea of non-self, is that we all have the potential for sometimes being foolish, sometimes being wise. In one lifetime, we may be a little bit wiser. In another lifetime, we may be a bit more foolish. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:20 Highlight the passage at 1:21:20

1:21:40 In one life we are born in Asia, another life we are born in Australia, in one life we are whatever, we are all of these things already. And so it doesn't mean that we look down upon the fools, quite the contrary. We just understand that they are in a different phase of development than what we are. Next time we may be the foolish one, they may be the wise one. And so looking down upon them is completely the wrong attitude. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:40 Highlight the passage at 1:21:40

1:22:07 And in fact, the suttas do make a distinction. They say that if someone is inferior to you in terms of morality or in terms of wisdom or whatever, and sometimes that is the case, then we can associate with them, but only out of sympathy, only out of compassion. That's why you socialize with them. But it doesn't mean that you hang out with someone who is a mass murderer and you kind of learn. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:07 Highlight the passage at 1:22:07

1:22:35 After a while, you start becoming a mass murderer yourself if you hang out with too many mass murderers. And so you need to kind of make that, you know, understand how you yourself are conditioned. And so you can develop yourself in a positive way. And if you don't understand that, then you also will be trapped. That's the... Report an error in the passage at 1:22:35 Highlight the passage at 1:22:35

1:22:54 The other thing is that it is very easy to overestimate our own ability to teach others. We think that, yes, we should have sympathy for others. Yes, we should be kind to others. Yes, we should do all of those things. We should be generous. And of course, that means the whole world. But when it comes to actually teaching somebody, it is actually very tricky. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:54 Highlight the passage at 1:22:54

1:23:18 Kindness in one way, kindness in the terms of how we treat others, of course, is very important. But in terms of actually teaching someone the dhamma, often it takes someone at a very high level to be able to do that properly. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:18 Highlight the passage at 1:23:18

1:23:31 Sometimes we just want to influence people in our life. We want our friends and our families or whatever to be more like us. And very often we fail in those things because actually it is our example that is much more important. So practice by example. Practice by being kind. Practice by being generous. Don't be judgmental if they may be a bit more foolish. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:31 Highlight the passage at 1:23:31

1:23:53 But still make distinctions because if you don't make any distinctions, the whole path is going to... Not going to work, basically. So that is the thing there. So it's important not to misconstrue these things. You have to kind of look at what the Buddha says with an open mind and try to understand it for what it is and not kind of over-interpret what actually is there. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:53 Highlight the passage at 1:23:53

1:24:19 So I hope that makes sense, what I'm saying. Would anyone like to come back on that? How do you feel about that? Report an error in the passage at 1:24:19 Highlight the passage at 1:24:19

1:24:32 For what it's worth, Ajahn, I think it's in your notes anyway, but on the Maha Mangalam Sutta, I think there was a comment there that, and I'll just read that bit to you. Suppose a fool is sitting in a council hall, a street or a crossroad, where people are discussing what is proper and fitting, and suppose that fool is someone who kills living creatures, steals, commits sexual misconduct. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:32 Highlight the passage at 1:24:32

1:24:57 Yeah, Report an error in the passage at 1:24:57 Highlight the passage at 1:24:57

1:25:13 yeah. wine and liquor intoxicants then that's who thinks these people are discussing what is proper and fitting so I think that that's the distinction you have to choose um you know who you you um associate with but that doesn't mean you you have any lesser sense of them and and and compassion there should be, and kindness should be in the overarching... Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:13 Highlight the passage at 1:25:13

1:25:26 Judging people is always wrong if that means judging them in a negative way as in looking down upon them. That is always wrong and never the Buddhist attitude to things. It's always by understanding the relativeness in how we... we stand in comparison to each other and how we're always changing, always moving around. So once you see that, you cannot judge people anymore. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:26 Highlight the passage at 1:25:26

1:25:50 And this is one of the points of being a noble person. The Aryans never judge anyone because they understand that everything is just conditioning here. How can you judge anyone when it's just conditioning here? Report an error in the passage at 1:25:50 Highlight the passage at 1:25:50

1:26:01 Anyway, Eva, would you like to say something here, please? Yeah, thank you Ajahn, and thanks very much for your explanations. It's definitely helpful. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:01 Highlight the passage at 1:26:01

1:26:13 Although I have to say that I am sometimes really struggling also with some of the suttas, like one, for example, by the Buddha, and I can't remember which one it was. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:13 Highlight the passage at 1:26:13

1:26:27 One king wanted him to marry his daughter, and he basically said something like he's not interested in a bag of urine, which in the end led to the daughter of the king then burning. I can't really remember all the details. Burning, you know, a group of people, you probably know exactly what I'm talking about. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:27 Highlight the passage at 1:26:27

1:26:51 But I'm just wondering why, you know, sometimes the Buddha seems to be using very, you know, you said direct wording is definitely, you know, helpful sometimes, but if it's hurting people, and people then act badly because of it, you know, I'm struggling a little bit with... Because he would know that, right? He would know that he's really, you know, maybe angering people and causing bad reactions, which you would think then kind of, you know, he would be the cause of it, right? Report an error in the passage at 1:26:51 Highlight the passage at 1:26:51

1:27:22 So I'm struggling with stuff like that, I have to say. Sure, yeah, I know that story. And one of the things about the Buddhist text is that it's quite important to distinguish between What is actually the word of the Buddha and what is kind of later legends and mythology? And that particular story, I take it to be a later legend. I don't think it is the word of the Buddha, to be honest with you. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:22 Highlight the passage at 1:27:22

1:27:45 And the only way to do that is to kind of to do a study of the language of the text. And when you study the language, you can understand what comes first and what comes after because language obviously develops over time. And so you can see a certain... There's a certain trend in the language, a certain trend in the ideas that are actually being propounded or being explained. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:45 Highlight the passage at 1:27:45

1:28:07 And so I'm aware of that story. And this is kind of the problem, is that the legends are often far less... Inspiring and interesting than actually the word of the Buddha, which often is very, to my mind, very beautiful and pure and very, very nice. But sometimes even the Buddha will challenge you, right? Report an error in the passage at 1:28:07 Highlight the passage at 1:28:07

1:28:30 And sometimes that is actually good because we need to be challenged in a certain way. Because if all our ideas were already correct, there would be no need for the spiritual path. And so we should expect some challenging things. And that is where there is an opportunity to grow, an opportunity to look at the world in a new way. So we shouldn't dismiss all that. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:30 Highlight the passage at 1:28:30

1:28:49 Yeah, Report an error in the passage at 1:28:49 Highlight the passage at 1:28:49

1:28:52 if nobody has any further questions, maybe you could give a short lesson and we could end it tonight. we should find some kind of middle way where we Report an error in the passage at 1:28:52 Highlight the passage at 1:28:52

1:29:16 Yeah, I do very much like that. What I'd like to do at the end, I'd just like to pay respect to the Buddha Dhamma Saṅgha. I think that's always a nice way to end off. So I'll just do the quick homage to the Buddha Dhamma Saṅgha and those of you who want can join. So here we go. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:16 Highlight the passage at 1:29:16

1:29:46 Svakkhato bhagavata dhammo, dhammai namasami. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:46 Highlight the passage at 1:29:46

1:29:57 [chanting]

1:30:13 Okay, bye-bye everyone. Take care. Yeah, practice well. Yeah, be kind. Bye. Aydan. Thank you, Aydan. Bye. Thank you so much. Very good. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:13 Highlight the passage at 1:30:13