Practice in Daily Life

0:00 Today, I have already proposed the topic and that is practice in daily life. And how did we arrive at this topic? A couple of weeks ago, somebody made a suggestion and they said, can you please talk about how to practice satipaṭṭhāna in the daily life? So I dedicated two talks in the past two weeks. going through very briefly the satipaṭṭhāna practice and according to the Buddha how it is to be practiced where it is to be practiced what kind of preparations are necessary and we have come to the conclusion that satipaṭṭhāna practice the Buddha's recommendation is to be done as a formal sitting meditation done in seclusion Report an error in the passage at 0:00 Highlight the passage at 0:00

0:55 But does that mean that we have to wait until we have time to go on retreat or have time to sit that we practice and any other time of the day we can't do anything? And the answer is no, absolutely not. Every wakeful moment in our life, we can. Dedicate to this practice, cultivation of the mind. And if we are serious in getting out of this saṃsāra, if you had enough understanding about this on and on, being born and dying, birth and death, going on and on, and feels like, yes, I need a solution for this. Report an error in the passage at 0:55 Highlight the passage at 0:55

1:40 And if you are so inspired to do something about it, then it is actually important. That we maintain a constant practice, easily said than done, but even if it is interrupted, that's all right. As many wakeful moments as possible, however much. But that is not to be called as Satipaṭṭhāna practice, but there will be other things. So the practice that we need to do in order to get enlightened is not just the seventh factor of the Noble Eightfold Path, which is Samma Sati or the Satipaṭṭhāna practice, or Samma Samādhi, which is the deep meditation. Report an error in the passage at 1:40 Highlight the passage at 1:40

2:24 That is just the factors seven and eight. So the path culminates in those. So what we are to practice during daily life or outside of formal meditation practice is the other six factors of the Noble Eightfold Path. Report an error in the passage at 2:24 Highlight the passage at 2:24

2:44 And some of you may be familiar with what are these eight factors. Some of you may be new and may not know. I will get into that later. But before I do anything, I am going to tell a story. And some of you may have heard this story before, also a few times before as well, yet, you know, it is quite an important story for myself, at least, to understand how to apply the Noble Eightfold Paths into our practice, how to do it, yeah, not just know it as a theory, but how do you do it. Report an error in the passage at 2:44 Highlight the passage at 2:44

3:25 So I feel that this is something that we don't hear enough. So even if you have heard it a couple of times, it's important to hear it again and again until it gets reinforced in your psyche, right? This is just the same thing like when you watch a movie, how many times do you see the same ad? Many times, right? And you wonder why people spend so much money. Report an error in the passage at 3:25 Highlight the passage at 3:25

3:51 To just show the same ad, once you see it once, you think you know about the product. But the commercial world, people who know the psychology, knows when you show the same ad 10 times, 1 in 10 persons buy the product. So in the same way, I too have to tell these stories and these instructions and stuff many, many times. Report an error in the passage at 3:51 Highlight the passage at 3:51

4:14 Maybe then 1 in 10 persons... in the audience might really get started on the practice This is important. So if you feel like you've heard this story before, don't be impatient, okay? It's also for the benefit of other people who may have not heard it. So this is the story from my own life when I first came to Santi Forest Monastery. So Santi Forest Monastery is situated in New South Wales, Australia, between the two big cities, Sydney and Canberra, halfway through in the Southern Highlands. Report an error in the passage at 4:14 Highlight the passage at 4:14

4:59 It's a 150 acre beautiful forest. All of you are welcome to come and visit. And with caves, waterfalls and really nice forest, very secluded next to the Moten National Park, which is a few hundred or maybe a few thousand, not a few hundred, maybe a few thousand hectares of nothingness, emptiness with just bush. Report an error in the passage at 4:59 Highlight the passage at 4:59

5:26 So it's quite a beautiful place to practice. And this is where I am currently. So I only came to this place in 2021 during COVID. Prior to that, I was in Western Australia. So when I first arrived in this new monastery, which is really beautiful, but quite a wild forest. In Damasara Monastery in Western Australia, also we live in a forest. But compared to that forest, this is much more wilder, a bit more scary. Report an error in the passage at 5:26 Highlight the passage at 5:26

5:57 At least that's what it felt to me. Also, this is the feeling when you first arrive in a new place, right? You are not... Report an error in the passage at 5:57 Highlight the passage at 5:57

6:05 I've lived for like 10-12 years before coming here, so it was home, even it is the forest, but this is a new forest. So I thought, now that I'm going to be here, it's important to familiarize myself with this new place, get to know the place, get to know the forest and its beings and everything. So one beautiful sunny morning, I thought to go for a walk by myself. Report an error in the passage at 6:05 Highlight the passage at 6:05

6:32 So usually what happens when you walk by yourself in a new place, especially a forest, an unknown forest, you don't know your way. So you walk quite mindfully, right? Quite peacefully, quite mindfully alert. I was going for a walk, enjoying looking around. It's a beautiful morning. Halfway through my walk, I found the other nun who was here with me. She too has decided to go on a walk. Report an error in the passage at 6:32 Highlight the passage at 6:32

7:02 So what happens usually when people meet together? We start talking. So once we start talking, what happens to your mindfulness? It starts to drop a bit, right? So that's what happened. So luckily, I mean, I had good luck, which is why I'm sitting here still able to give a dharma talk. And the other nun who was with me had better mindfulness than me. Report an error in the passage at 7:02 Highlight the passage at 7:02

7:32 Me. So she was walking a little ahead of me. I was behind. And we were going through a narrow path and it was headed towards a hut at Santi Forest Monastery. The nuns live in little huts throughout the forest. They're scattered around. And we were going on a path to one of the huts. Report an error in the passage at 7:32 Highlight the passage at 7:32

7:55 And when she suddenly stopped, she put her hand out to stop me. And when I... Stopped and looked just like about a foot in front of me was a big red belly black snake. It's quite big. I mean, if you know, if you are in New South Wales, you know, quite a dangerous, quite a venomous snake. I don't think we would have much life left, only a few minutes probably, if we got bitten by that snake. Report an error in the passage at 7:55 Highlight the passage at 7:55

8:26 And it was not only just there, it has already lifted itself up. ready to strike and I realized it could strike you quite high giving you not much time and by this time we were about half an hour away from the main area of the monastery so like there is like a main building with toilets office phone cars people that's like the central hub and but we were now about half an hour hours this walk away from that main area even if we screamed nobody would hear there was hardly anyone at the monastery anyway at that time so it was you know if we got bitten she were So it's quite a scary situation. So if I had a live audience, usually when I have a live audience and I tell this story, I ask the people. Report an error in the passage at 8:26 Highlight the passage at 8:26

9:26 What would you do? How would you react to this situation? If you were like me in front of this very scary, big snake, how would you respond to it? How would you react? What would be your thing? And many people say various different answers. And for me, what I wanted to do was to run. Yeah, I wanted to run because I'm scared of snakes, like most of us, we know. And so I wanted to get away from this very scary, big being. Report an error in the passage at 9:26 Highlight the passage at 9:26

10:03 But of course, some people say they would scream. Some people would say they would freeze. Some people would say... um uh Yeah, run, scream, freeze. And we know, I mean, most of my audience would never say this, but we also know, like, you know, it is also common for people to kill a snake. Yeah, especially in the farms and stuff. It's quite common practice. If you see a snake, they would kill because a snake is a threat to their livestock. Report an error in the passage at 10:03 Highlight the passage at 10:03

10:39 So killing is also a possible reaction. Report an error in the passage at 10:39 Highlight the passage at 10:39

10:45 So anyway, even though I wanted to run, my friend, the other nun, had a different plan. She held my hand quite strongly and firmly, so I couldn't run. So in my head, I was thinking, what are you doing? Let's run. But of course, I couldn't do it. But she was very calm. I could feel the calmness. So because she was calm, I too calmed down. Report an error in the passage at 10:45 Highlight the passage at 10:45

11:14 Anyway, I had no choice because she was holding me quite firmly so I couldn't run away. So we pretty much froze and we just stayed there for a little while. And I can remember clearly the glassy black eyes looking at us from the snake. Yeah, really looking. Also watching what are our movements. It's also waiting to make a decision. It's also there. Report an error in the passage at 11:14 Highlight the passage at 11:14

11:39 Probably scared of us as well. We are scared of them and they're scared of us waiting to see what's the next movement. And after we stayed there for a little while, then she decided to take a few steps back very gently, very quietly. So we had a bigger gap between the snake. And what she did after that is the most unusual thing that most of you may not guess unless you have heard this story before. Report an error in the passage at 11:39 Highlight the passage at 11:39

12:09 So what she did was she started talking to the snake in the sweetest kind of words like she's really sweet kind person very gentle as well and with this beautiful voice she was telling i can't really repeat exactly how she said it but i'll just do my very best and so she was talking the snake saying oh we didn't know you were here we were just going for a walk it's a beautiful day you must have been sunbathing enjoy your sunbathing we don't really have to go this way we are going to go back have a really really nice day. Enjoy yourself. She said something to that effect. Report an error in the passage at 12:09 Highlight the passage at 12:09

12:50 And after that, she said, let's have a good look so we can identify what kind of snake this And then we gently walked away. And I'm sure if we had wanted to pass and go forward, all we had to do... So anyway, those of you who know a little bit about snakes, you know snakes are deaf. They only feel vibrations. So did the snake understand what the nun was telling? Report an error in the passage at 12:50 Highlight the passage at 12:50

13:35 I think if you've had pets, you know, absolutely the snake understood. Maybe not all the word concepts about sunbathing and having a nice day and all those kinds of stuff. Probably not. But, you know, it would have felt just the mind to mind connection, the sixth sense, that how you feel, you know. When you see a being, another person, whether they are coming from a kind place, the love, the affection, kindness, gentleness, and respect. Report an error in the passage at 13:35 Highlight the passage at 13:35

14:06 When you meet somebody, you feel that, right? Even as human beings, we can feel that from somebody else, even if they spoke another language and we didn't understand a word of what they said. But we know it was that meeting, a respectful meeting. A kind interaction, was a gentle encounter, was there some affection? Yeah, we know this kindness, was there kindness? Report an error in the passage at 14:06 Highlight the passage at 14:06

14:34 So that we feel and I'm sure the snake felt that too. So this is really interesting, right? So this is, this gives, because this is something I never expected to happen. If any day that I meet a snake to Behaving this way, I never expected. I've never heard anybody done this kind of thing before. I don't know about you, but I haven't. Report an error in the passage at 14:34 Highlight the passage at 14:34

15:02 And I thought this is kind of really interesting, you know. And I never thought I had that choice. You know, all the time, all I thought was to either run, to scream, to freeze or to Kill or whatever. Those are the kind of things that you think when there is danger, right? When you are in front of some scary situation, something that is very difficult. Report an error in the passage at 15:02 Highlight the passage at 15:02

15:26 Those are our natural reactions for most people. You never think that you have a choice even to be gentle, to be kind, to deal with it in a respectful, wise way. And you realize, yes, there is a choice. That choice is available. Report an error in the passage at 15:26 Highlight the passage at 15:26

15:45 And at this point, when I tell this story, I ask the question, so do you meet black snakes in your life, in your daily life? Even for those of you who are in New Zealand, which is a snake-free country, do you think, do you meet black snakes? Absolutely, isn't it? You meet and you come across black snake situations. And those are those situations that trigger fear. Report an error in the passage at 15:45 Highlight the passage at 15:45

16:14 Trigger anger, trigger sadness, strong desires, worry, anxiety, you name it, all of those things, one of them or all of them in one go. We meet these situations, hopefully not every day, but from time to time. We meet these kind of situations. We meet black snakes in our life. We encounter black snake situations. Report an error in the passage at 16:14 Highlight the passage at 16:14

16:41 So how do you deal with these black snake situations? Think about it for a moment. Either you or sometimes you see in general people, you know, your family or your people at work. How do people normally react to a black snake situation, a difficult situation that triggers difficult emotions? Report an error in the passage at 16:41 Highlight the passage at 16:41

17:03 Again, people scream, right? Scream, shout, yell at each other. They'll become very loud. Or they freeze. They don't know what to do. They freeze. They become completely unable to respond. Or they run away from the situation. Not literally run away, but they find a way to run away from that situation. Or They try to kill the situation. Not literally killing the person, but kill the situation with verbal daggers. You know how people can use words and ways of communicating in a very unskillful, not a very helpful way, but kill a situation. Report an error in the passage at 17:03 Highlight the passage at 17:03

17:46 You can do that. Even kill a person to that effect. Not literally killing, but kill a person, kill the situation. So again, these are our very natural samsaric habits to save ourselves right our ego ourself our body our mind all of those things this is how we have naturally practiced for many lifetimes to to scream to go to safety run away kill all of those things but we do have another choice now this is what is so important about understanding The spiritual path. We have another choice. Every time we have a choice, even amongst all those negative kind of unskillful reactions, there's a choice. Report an error in the passage at 17:46 Highlight the passage at 17:46

18:36 Either to freeze, to scream, to run, to kill, you know, there are choices. But they are all in the not so helpful, not so skillful range. But we also have another whole set of skillful choices. And that is to interact or deal with that situation, that black snake situation. First of all, with some degree of respect, kindness, gentleness, affection, a form of trust, wisdom. Report an error in the passage at 18:36 Highlight the passage at 18:36

19:11 Yeah, some of it or all of it or most of it. So we can respond. So if you remember. This story, which is quite an unusual story, if you remember how this other nun responded to the snake, how she spoke to the snake, you will remember that when you meet your black snake, that you too have a choice. Report an error in the passage at 19:11 Highlight the passage at 19:11

19:36 Now, how does that relate to the Noble Eightfold Path? Because this talk was about practice in daily life. Already there is practice in daily life, right? Whether you know it as terms or word concepts of the Noble Eightfold Path or not, you got an idea, right? You day to day come across difficult situations, difficult people. Report an error in the passage at 19:36 Highlight the passage at 19:36

19:58 So, you know, you have a choice. Remembering that itself is incredible. Then slowly figuring out what can be done because a lot of your black snakes, they are repeated events, isn't it? They repeat again and again, the same kind of people or even the same person doing the same kind of thing that triggers these kinds of difficult emotions. Report an error in the passage at 19:58 Highlight the passage at 19:58

20:20 So you have a lot of huge data set already by remembering and recollecting the past events. From which you can gather some information and figure out, okay, next time, because you know it hasn't ended. It's going to happen. It's not the first time. It's not going to be the last time. Unfortunately, these things will happen again and again. This is life in some side. It's nothing wrong with you or wrong with the other person. Report an error in the passage at 20:20 Highlight the passage at 20:20

20:45 This is life. So then you can try and see how can I deal with this situation next time with a bit more respect for the situation. Can I build up affection for the person? Can I deal with the situation kindly, gently? What kind of wisdom can I implement? You have time. So you don't do this when you are emotionally triggered, when your mindfulness is low. Report an error in the passage at 20:45 Highlight the passage at 20:45

21:17 You do it at a time when you're peaceful. So you can find out the most venomous, most difficult black snakes. Don't deal with the most difficult one first. Try the tiny ones. Try first dealing with the baby ones, not the baby snakes. Baby snakes are even more dangerous because they don't know how much venom to put in in real life. But you know, not so poisonous snakes. Deal with the smaller ones first and build up your ability to do it. Report an error in the passage at 21:17 Highlight the passage at 21:17

21:47 And then you can deal with the more difficult ones as well. So this itself is practice in daily life and this is something you need to do and be ready for it. So this is the other thing, right? So it's well and good for me to sit here and tell all these things, but... Is it possible to do it? And sometimes you might see, yes, I know what to do, but it's really hard when I'm emotionally triggered to speak gently and kindly and respectfully. Report an error in the passage at 21:47 Highlight the passage at 21:47

22:20 It's not easy. You have no idea what kind of difficult people and situations I have to put up with. Yeah. So this might be the thought that is going in your head. Yeah. Fair enough. So you have to. Prepare yourself. This is the important part. So even before I get into the Noble Eightfold Path and to some Sutta discussions, I'm going to give some very, very practical information, practical things. Report an error in the passage at 22:20 Highlight the passage at 22:20

22:51 These are most important. They are not any sophisticated things, not really, you know. anything that normally people would think as high dhamma and really important things, but yet they are actually the most important things. They sound like primary school things. But it is which that when we don't do these things, that is when we can't apply ourselves. Report an error in the passage at 22:51 Highlight the passage at 22:51

23:17 So we know the technique. We have all the knowledge. We know everything. But this may be true for you as it is for me. Sometimes you know what to do, but it is hard to do it. We find it. It doesn't seem hard, but we can't do it. We can't apply ourselves. And the reason for that is not having enough mental energy. Report an error in the passage at 23:17 Highlight the passage at 23:17

23:38 So again and again, in pretty much almost all the dharma talks, I mentioned this. Be skillful in building up your mental energy. That is joy states, at least some peaceful states of mind throughout the day or as many times as possible. So this is where a lot of the practice is. This is so important. Otherwise, if you don't have a degree of mental energy, it is hard to apply ourselves. Report an error in the passage at 23:38 Highlight the passage at 23:38

24:09 It is hard to maintain a degree of mindfulness. Now, the last two talks was about satipaṭṭhāna or sammasati, which is right mindfulness or any kind of mindfulness. It's not possible. And mindfulness doesn't come from willpower that trying to really say, I have to be mindful and clench your teeth and say, I've got to be mindful whole day to remember to got to be mindful. Report an error in the passage at 24:09 Highlight the passage at 24:09

24:35 This is not how we become mindful. You just end up becoming very stressed and tired. If that is how you're going to establish mindfulness or develop mindfulness. Mindfulness comes when you know how to rest. How to relax and how to allow your mind to come to stillness. This is why we do these meditations. Report an error in the passage at 24:35 Highlight the passage at 24:35

24:59 This is why I start the meditation saying it's a process of relaxation. This is very true. A process of relaxation, settling in and becoming still. Report an error in the passage at 24:59 Highlight the passage at 24:59

25:11 So this is what we need to do again. How do you do this again? Joy states can come from our acts of generosity right when we do something nice so in a nutshell i'm not going to dedicate this whole talk about generosity we have spoken about it you all know what generosity is like but it is like making someone else happy yeah that gives you happiness think about generosity in that way you give something whether it's a material gift a monetary gift or act of kindness a smile a nice compliment whatever it is yeah all of those things or being able to listen give your time all of those things are generosities then acts of generosity and whenever you give you know you don't think about yourself but think about the other person and their well-being and do something good something kind that makes you happy Yeah, your mind uplifts. Even when you remember those things, your mind uplifts. Yeah, this is called that mind that is straight, which is called ujuk. Report an error in the passage at 25:11 Highlight the passage at 25:11

26:23 Ujuk, like a straight mind, a bright mind. Opposite that is a bent mind. And a bent, depressed mind is the mind in depression. So yeah, the opposite of depression in Pāli is ujuk. So you have to straighten your mind and this is how you start. Yeah, with opening your... The second one is virtue, your sīla, your good conduct, not harming yourself, not harming others when you do acts by body, speech and mind. Report an error in the passage at 26:23 Highlight the passage at 26:23

26:57 This is again in a nutshell because most of you know what sīla is, what virtue is in general. But I'm just reminding them. So being good feels good is a virtue in a nutshell. Being good really feels good, right? When you're being a good person, speak in a nice way, do acts of kindness, do in good ways, behaviors, the ways you think about things, all of that, the mental sīla, the virtue of your mind, all of those things. Report an error in the passage at 26:57 Highlight the passage at 26:57

27:25 I'm just only reminding. When you live your life like that again, slowly, slowly, your mental energy, And then when you have some mental energy, you are able to meditate, even for a little while. When you meditate, it gets even stronger. So this is how you ready yourself. Be prepared. Ready yourself for your black snake situations. Report an error in the passage at 27:25 Highlight the passage at 27:25

27:54 Because when we live life, even whether it is lay life, whether it is monastic life, any kind of life, These black snakes always roam around and you meet them. And those are the times that are very critical, right? Because when you meet a black snake situation, whatever intentional actions that you do by body or speech or even the way you think about it in mind, intentional actions are your karma, right? Report an error in the passage at 27:54 Highlight the passage at 27:54

28:31 chetana hambikave kamma. This is what the Buddha said. So intentional actions, good or bad, have consequences. That is the vipaka. This is that right view aspect of karmic consequences. So that is where we can go wrong or go right. So whatever happens outside is beyond our control. Whether we meet a black snake or not, we can't do much about it. But how we deal with it, that is where the... Report an error in the passage at 28:31 Highlight the passage at 28:31

29:03 practices that is where we apply ourselves all of the not all the six factors of the noble eightfold path pretty much can be applied i mean five is the really in every situation six factor is still there are six things that day-to-day life we can take care of so So. Report an error in the passage at 29:03 Highlight the passage at 29:03

29:27 So now maybe it's a good time to touch on the Noble Eightfold Path just for the sake of completion and for anybody who's not familiar what this Noble Eightfold Path is. This is the unique discovery of the Buddha, right? The unique discovery of the Buddha is the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path. Report an error in the passage at 29:27 Highlight the passage at 29:27

29:49 This is the path. This is the way. These are the things to be done, to be cultivated, how to apply yourself to free from all suffering, to enlightenment, to for liberation. So it's an important path. This is the only path. And I did mention this also when I was doing the first talk on the Satipaṭṭhāna. Report an error in the passage at 29:49 Highlight the passage at 29:49

30:14 Because very often there's a misunderstanding that Satipaṭṭhāna, because there is Ekayano Ayambikave Maggo Sattana Misuddhya, that is very misunderstood. That is a path directed towards one goal and one goal only. That's what it is said in there. But if you want one path that takes you to liberation, that is always the Noble Eightfold Path. Report an error in the passage at 30:14 Highlight the passage at 30:14

30:40 So all of the factors have to be practiced and so therefore let's talk about what are these eight. It starts with right view. First of all, I mentioned the eight and I'll do a brief introduction. So right view, then right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness. Report an error in the passage at 30:40 Highlight the passage at 30:40

31:09 mindfulness, and right stillness. So those are the eight things. And in many of our previous talks, we've spoken about right view being so important. And it is the number one, first thing, the foundation. So right view is a big topic. And establishing that is very helpful. So a big part of our practice is dedicated to understanding it first as a knowledge. Report an error in the passage at 31:09 Highlight the passage at 31:09

31:40 You have to learn them. So this is the whole point of reading suttas, discussing them, understanding them, listening to dharma talks on suttas. This is all to get a lot of these teachings from the Buddha and that provides the seed for right view. Then you apply it to your own life. Report an error in the passage at 31:40 Highlight the passage at 31:40

32:02 Then it starts to get established slowly. Inside of you, you start to understand. Those light bulb moments go in, right? You first hear the teaching and then you reflect and see how it applies to your life and suddenly you understand, ah, that makes sense. And then it's still not very well established. So you need much more deep meditation, the hindrances of your mind to be away. Report an error in the passage at 32:02 Highlight the passage at 32:02

32:29 And that is when they become stronger. I'll speak a bit more about it a bit later. But anyway, so building up right view is very important. But I'm not going to dedicate. This time is not going to be enough. We'll have to have like many, many sessions to go through the Noble Eightfold Path. properly so therefore this is just like an introduction just to show in a very small way how Noble Eightfold Path was applied with that snake story just to get an understanding and if you need more understanding you'll have to do your own homework or maybe in future we might do more sessions on the various aspects so when When we met the snake, for example, so when we encountered the black snake, when we see that experience, when we perceive that experience through right view, I always say right view is like glasses. Report an error in the passage at 32:29 Highlight the passage at 32:29

33:33 So you look at things or you filter things through right view or you hear things, you feel things through right view. That's helpful. So when you receive this. If right view comes in, you remember, oh, if I do something unskillful, I accumulate bad karma. And then I am the owner of my karma. Then I will have to one day reap the consequences of that bad. Report an error in the passage at 33:33 Highlight the passage at 33:33

34:09 If I do something good, then that's better for me. So remember just karma. And vipaka, just that law of karma itself, which is part of the right view, stops you from going the unskillful pattern and remembering the skillful choice. So that itself is so helpful, right? So how many times? So if you remember right view, would you ever say or do anything that is hurtful or harmful to yourself or others? Report an error in the passage at 34:09 Highlight the passage at 34:09

34:41 Even one word? One little action we want, right? We can't afford it. But this is the thing, right? Our mindfulness is sometimes low and the right view is not still well established. So this is the thing. So that's all right. We have to just work with wherever we are at. We can't be completely perfect and get it all right. But know the process, yeah? Report an error in the passage at 34:41 Highlight the passage at 34:41

35:04 Know the process and keep building it up. This is the most important thing. So as many times as possible, when you remember right view, the karmic consequences of our actions, slowly, slowly, we will be more inspired not to go in the wrong direction and go in the skillful direction. Yeah. So it will take time, but this is our job. So right view stops you and right view gets you to do the good choice. Report an error in the passage at 35:04 Highlight the passage at 35:04

35:34 So the second one, right intention. So that is not all of right view. This is just an example to show and a good one too in most of the day-to-day life. But there are more of right view that you can apply into various situations. That's your homework. Then you can actually understand much better. The right intention is intentions of renunciation, intentions of non-ill will, intentions of non-cruelty. Report an error in the passage at 35:34 Highlight the passage at 35:34

36:04 Yeah, so intentions of compassion, intentions of gentleness and intentions of letting go, in other words. So was that true? So that was in the case of the black snake, was it cruel or not a cruel way that we dealt with it? Definitely, it was good intention, right? It was non-ill will because there was a lot of affection, kindness in the way and respect. Report an error in the passage at 36:04 Highlight the passage at 36:04

36:31 Yeah, this is really important. So all of those things would fall under the right intention. So once you have right view, you have right intention. So intention is what then triggers your speech and action. So what's the speech? Good speech, kind speech, speech that goes to the heart. Again, this is not a whole dharma talk about what right speech is, but there was no lies, there was no harshness, there was no idle chatter, you know, not dividing, none of those. Report an error in the passage at 36:31 Highlight the passage at 36:31

37:06 It was very kind, beautiful, loving, full of mettā kind of speech, even in that occasion to the black snake. So see how skillful you can become with your speech in your personal. So right speech springs from this right intention. So right view gives rise to right intention and from right intention comes right speech and also right action. Report an error in the passage at 37:06 Highlight the passage at 37:06

37:35 So we didn't kill, we didn't harm the snake, we didn't do any of those things. Instead, we dealt with it in a very beautiful way. So right action was there. Report an error in the passage at 37:35 Highlight the passage at 37:35

37:49 So the fifth factor is about right livelihood. This doesn't always apply to your individual snake events, but this is something that applies to your day-to-day life practice. And that is about a good career, like a career that is non-harmful. And I won't get into that one right now, but you can read up on what right livelihood is about. But the next factor that comes in your day-to-day life practice of applying into your, as you receive the world, as you interact with things, especially black snakes, the next one is right effort. Report an error in the passage at 37:49 Highlight the passage at 37:49

38:29 So doing all of this is your right effort because right effort is stopping. Anything that is unskillful, the effort to stop unwholesome, effort to make sure a reason unwholesome also doesn't come about, effort to do the wholesome and effort to increase the wholesome that you're already doing. So in other words, stop unwholesome and doing the wholesome is part of the right effort. So the way that the nun dealt with the black snake, that is definitely Right effort. So again, see how you can apply right effort to your black snake situations, interactions in your life. Report an error in the passage at 38:29 Highlight the passage at 38:29

39:16 Even with yourself, right? The way you think. Sometimes we are our own enemies and our own difficult person and create our own difficulty. Report an error in the passage at 39:16 Highlight the passage at 39:16

39:27 See how you can be even to yourself gentle, kind, yeah? And build it up. So anyway, this is just a small way of showing how we can apply the Noble Eightfold Path factors in a very practical way. Every wakeful moment, yeah? Every wakeful moment may not be hopefully black snakes, but you know, something is happening, right? Report an error in the passage at 39:27 Highlight the passage at 39:27

39:54 We are constantly receiving the world. As long as we are awake, we are receiving the world either as sight, Sound, touch, you know, all these ways, taste, feelings, we are constantly receiving the world. So as we receive, how do we receive it? And after you receive it, you have to hold it, right? That is, you are going through that experience. How do you go through that experience? And how do you respond to it? Report an error in the passage at 39:54 Highlight the passage at 39:54

40:27 So instead of reactions, because reactions are usually our habits and instincts. There is no mindful engagement but as we practice this is where the practice is. So mindfulness kicks in and mindfully engaging and making a good choice and do a good response. This is very important. So how do you respond to that situation? So how do you receive it? How do you hold it? Report an error in the passage at 40:27 Highlight the passage at 40:27

40:59 How do you respond to it? All of those are the places where we apply the Noble Eightfold Path in a kind way, gentle way, with respect, with affection, with trust, with wisdom, with equanimity. All of those things, so many teachings, all the wholesome ones we can use. So this is just a very brief way of explaining. Report an error in the passage at 40:59 Highlight the passage at 40:59

41:27 And there's a lot. You can contemplate this, yeah? You can contemplate in your own day-to-day life. Start with few things that are repetitive in your life that you feel that you're not doing in a skillful way. How can I become more skillful and make less bad karma when I have to face this situation again and again, yeah? Report an error in the passage at 41:27 Highlight the passage at 41:27

41:50 And slowly build it up to more and more difficult situations. And in the background, also build up your joy states, build up your meditation. So slowly, they grow slowly. But doing that is your right effort. Doing that, then you are doing the practice. So it is not like you have to wait till you have time to go on a retreat or wait till your kids grow up and you retire and have time. Report an error in the passage at 41:50 Highlight the passage at 41:50

42:20 If you wait like that, you'll be dead before you get a chance to practice. But otherwise, if you understand this, practice is right here. The moment you make that determination to want to make a change, want to progress on the path to liberation, to end all suffering, end all rebirth, I want to do something about it from wherever I am, then remember at least the story about the black snake situation. Report an error in the passage at 42:20 Highlight the passage at 42:20

42:48 And see how you can. And then you don't have to feel bad. So this is about this Buddha's last words, if you remember. Don't be heedless. Be diligent and practice the path. Then you're doing it. Then you're doing it. remember, you know, Report an error in the passage at 42:48 Highlight the passage at 42:48

43:07 I also want to touch, I have mentioned these things before, but to the completion of this talk. So sometimes, so the mindful engagement is what makes the right choice. So this is where the path kicks in. So this is where you apply the noble eightfold path rather than allowing your bad habits, samsaric habits that are rooted in greed, hatred and delusion instead of those taking over the situation. Report an error in the passage at 43:07 Highlight the passage at 43:07

43:33 And end up doing unskillful things by body, speech and mind and having to reap the unskillful results. That is all that suffering and being kept in saṃsāra again and again. Instead of that, if you want to change, then that mindful engagement is important. So this is where mindfulness comes in. But mindfulness itself isn't enough. Report an error in the passage at 43:33 Highlight the passage at 43:33

44:00 Remind people, myself included, the times where we have very mindfully done things that we are not supposed to do. And this is kind of, you feel guilty sometimes or embarrassed as practitioners. I know better not to do this, yet I couldn't help myself. Yeah, either you break your precepts or you do something that is not so skillful. And this happens to all of us. And you wonder why. Report an error in the passage at 44:00 Highlight the passage at 44:00

44:28 You know very well that you shouldn't do it. It's not as if you were unmindful and you didn't know and you didn't realize you just did it. You did it mindfully, but you shouldn't be doing. And if you ever had this kind of situation come up and wondered why, what's wrong with me? The thing is, it is about that view, right view. There's a long way to go building up our right view. So this is where right view, just being a knowledge, Isn't enough. So that's why you know that you shouldn't do. That's the right view as a knowledge level. But the thing is sometimes the wrong view comes and overrides it. Report an error in the passage at 44:28 Highlight the passage at 44:28

45:13 Because a lot of our mistakes happen in the sensual world, right? In the sensual world. And the sensual world is referred to as sensual pleasures. In the past, we have mentioned and discussed how it should be actually called sensual suffering, right? A lot of it brings suffering, but there is also gratification. We can't deny that there is some gratification. So when we sort of focus on that gratification, then we see the sensual world as pleasurable and enjoyable. Report an error in the passage at 45:13 Highlight the passage at 45:13

45:45 Even though right view says, You know, sensual pleasures bring incredible suffering. There is a lot of danger in them. That is right view. But that little gratification overrides that right view and say, go for it. Yeah, this is where things go wrong. So this is because the wrong view is so ingrained in our psyche for many, many eons, even as in animal realm these are there. Report an error in the passage at 45:45 Highlight the passage at 45:45

46:17 Yeah, these are things that are there from all different births conditioning. So it takes a while. So knowledge itself isn't going to be enough. And that is why we can't just stop at just daily life practice and expect that we might get enlightened. No way, right? That is why there is also right mindfulness and right stillness. The mind becoming still, becoming powerful without hindrances. Report an error in the passage at 46:17 Highlight the passage at 46:17

46:47 That is the mind that has enough power to erase out that wrong will slowly, slowly, because we have to get out of the sensual world. First jhāna is the first time that you will be out of the sensual world. Yeah, the sensual world will disappear for some time. So that is when you experience something that is other than the sensual world that is much more pleasurable if you want to. Report an error in the passage at 46:47 Highlight the passage at 46:47

47:18 So, Report an error in the passage at 47:18 Highlight the passage at 47:18

47:30 I hope you... or higher or refined or profound whatever way you want to say when you experience that that is when you realize the whole of the sensual world or what Report an error in the passage at 47:30 Highlight the passage at 47:30

47:33 the value that we give to it comes down with that the wrong view also starts to get erased and the right view starts to come up so i hope you understand what I'm trying to say so this is how the slowly slowly the wrong view about the central world being pleasurable and enjoyable and I want to have it sort of slowly goes because the mind experienced something much more profound by entering into deep meditation and also it starts to see things for what they are properly when that sort of starts to happen Report an error in the passage at 47:33 Highlight the passage at 47:33

48:17 Then you turn away from that slowly, slowly. So that is when the right view gets really strongly established and right view properly gets established at the first stage of enlightenment called stream winning or Sotapana. Report an error in the passage at 48:17 Highlight the passage at 48:17

48:34 So that is why, so don't feel bad when sometimes we end up doing silly things. Still, it will happen. That's precisely because the view. It's still not strong enough. The right view is not strong enough. There's still a lot of wrong view overriding the right view. Report an error in the passage at 48:34 Highlight the passage at 48:34

48:55 So building up the right view and building up mindfulness, those two go together. When you do those two things together, the path takes off quite strongly. So this is why it is important. Use all of the eight factors, not just the six that we can do outside of formal meditation in day-to-day life. When you do the six in day-to-day life, in a normal practice, you are doing the right cultivation, the right foundations that is necessary for right mindfulness, for sitting practice. Report an error in the passage at 48:55 Highlight the passage at 48:55

49:34 Once you have right mindfulness, that leads to deep meditation, right samādhi. And once you have the right samādhi, when the hindrances are down, that is when vipassanā happens. Vipassanā, V means clear, passana means seeing. Your sight or seeing becomes clear when the hindrances are down. Otherwise, the hindrances are hindering what you're seeing. So once you see the world for what it is, once you see the sensual world, for example, what it is, once you see the existence for what it is, really, Then the mind turns away. It's called Nibbida. Nibbida Virajati. The central world, the existence, all of those things start to fade away. Report an error in the passage at 49:34 Highlight the passage at 49:34

50:25 Craving starts to dry up. And when the craving comes to end, the mind is liberated. Mind is free. So this is A little talk. I will leave some time for questions, comments and stuff. I had in mind to read a nice sutta. Maybe I can do that and build up and explain more of this next time. Let's see how we go. Report an error in the passage at 50:25 Highlight the passage at 50:25

50:59 So you are welcome to unmute and ask questions or you can put into the chat. from michael What do you mean by saying respect comes first before kind words, etc.? Okay, it's a very good question. Yeah, because can you speak kindly to somebody who you do not have at least a base level of respect? It might be an act, but not a true act of kindness. True words of kindness comes when you have some respect for the person and you would wonder now how can I have respect for my difficult person right so difficult persons are precisely called difficult because they probably have many not so good qualities so how can you build up respect when you see not so good qualities so this is where you need to see beyond their bad qualities So most people in our lives, I must be careful here because I have got comments from people who are saying that you have no idea what my difficult person is like. Report an error in the passage at 50:59 Highlight the passage at 50:59

52:17 They have nothing good about themselves. That is quite rare. Most of the time, people do have some good qualities. So when you see at least some of the good qualities, at least things that they don't do that are bad. Yeah, and when you see that, you can build up some degree of respect. When you have respect, that is when you can be kind, truly. Report an error in the passage at 52:17 Highlight the passage at 52:17

52:44 Otherwise, it's just a very fake act of being kind, but it is not coming from the heart. And you feel it. Yeah, you feel it. You feel when somebody is just acting and trying to be nice and sweet and kind, but it's not real. It's not coming from their heart. Whenever kind words, kind actions come from the heart, there is also respect there. They go together. And in fact, trust is another one. Report an error in the passage at 52:44 Highlight the passage at 52:44

53:10 Affection is another one. So respect, affection, and trust, they are almost, in my opinion, inseparable. They come together and they depart together. Relationships, friendships break up when these things get affected in the wrong way. And friendships and relationships become stronger and good when trust, respect and affection is strong. Report an error in the passage at 53:10 Highlight the passage at 53:10

53:35 So this is like a small thing for you to contemplate about your own life and stuff. But respect is a very important factor. Okay, so Tamha says here, what happens if the... snake doesn't give you a chance for kindness and strikes first and strikes fast can you grab a stick and wear it away without harming Good question. This happens, isn't it? So this is where you have to be smart about things. So like I said, if it is the first time you make this very vicious snake, well, that's bad luck. Report an error in the passage at 53:35 Highlight the passage at 53:35

54:17 That's your bad... Sorry, something like this because not time, right? No time, it's going to strike you. So what can you do? But like I said, a lot of the times our black snakes are repeated events. So we've been striked many times before by this one very fast. So then you have to learn. So one of the places would be to avoid, yeah? Report an error in the passage at 54:17 Highlight the passage at 54:17

54:41 Such snakes, you need to become skillful how to avoid such snakes or how to be extra. prepared so you wear all those kinds of gear long boots up to your knees and you know all those things so even if the snake starts to strike you won't get bitten and that is about building up your own because the snake can only bite you if you are vulnerable and open right otherwise the snake can't bite you like if you are in like kind of very closed up rubber gear or something that the snake can't bite through let's say Then you can't even strike to strike you. That is developing your own resilience, developing your own mind. Report an error in the passage at 54:41 Highlight the passage at 54:41

55:27 But this takes time, right? It takes time for us to practice. In the meantime, avoiding is okay because some of the asavas, as you know, in the sutta, some of these things are to be dealt with by avoiding. So precisely like these kind of situations, if you know. Then you need to figure out ways of being skillful. Yeah, so that's probably what you're proposing there, using a stick to sort of push it aside. Report an error in the passage at 55:27 Highlight the passage at 55:27

55:57 Yes, fine. Yeah, I think that's the way to go. Thank you for that question. Okay, B.E. says, is it correct to say mindfulness is developed from both samatha meditation and vipassanā meditation may the blessings of the triple gem be with you okay thank you so yes mindfulness mindfulness is there throughout the practice yeah you can't even start the practice without a degree of mindfulness so you start with a certain whatever mindfulness and awareness you have but as you apply yourself and as you become still Report an error in the passage at 55:57 Highlight the passage at 55:57

56:42 Mindfulness become stronger. And as you understand things, the right view kicks in. That is where the vipassanā is helpful. So vipassanā happens after strong mindfulness. So mindfulness have degrees to it, right? So from very weak mindfulness to superpower mindfulness. So vipassanā happens usually after superpower mindfulness and even the mindfulness gets more stronger so deep meditation or samatha what you say here as samatha also happens when the mindfulness is quite powerful and during the samatha meditation the deep states of jhāna or stillness mindfulness is extremely powerful it's of another degree unusual kind of powerful mind so um, uh, So mindfulness, is it correct to say? Yeah, it's not incorrect, but it's not the only way. Mindfulness just starts from where you're at. Report an error in the passage at 56:42 Highlight the passage at 56:42

57:44 And by doing... Mindfulness comes from Yoniso Manasikara. Sati Sampajanya. The nutriment for that is the most basic form of mindfulness. It's called mindfulness and clear comprehension. That is the level that you apply in day-to-day life. And the nutriment for that... is yoniso manasukara giving attending in the right way and this is also recollecting and remembering the teachings so many things goes into it it's a big subject i have made a promise to give a talk on sati sampajani one of these days that will happen but um yeah The sūtra that I was actually going to read out today was called Satisampajani Sūtra. Report an error in the passage at 57:44 Highlight the passage at 57:44

58:30 In fact, if you want to do some homework, in case I do it next time, it is in Numerical Discourses, Book No. 8, Sutta No. 81. 81 Korsati Sampajanya Sutta. So that is the starting. And in that Sutta, the Buddha says, starting point of the spiritual path is Sati and Sampajanya. Very interesting Sutta. So mindfulness is, you have to have a basic degree of mindfulness to even start the path, to know there's a problem, that you want to do something about it. Report an error in the passage at 58:30 Highlight the passage at 58:30

59:10 That degree of mindfulness is the starting point. And as you apply yourself, it gets stronger. As you become still, the mindfulness becomes stronger. So the mindfulness, the strong mindfulness is born from stillness. But also remembering and recollecting the suttas. All of those things are also helpful aids to build up mindfulness. Report an error in the passage at 59:10 Highlight the passage at 59:10