Our Own Minds

0:00 Wishing, but I will post the picture when my dinner is ready. Report an error in the passage at 0:00 Highlight the passage at 0:00

0:18 just finished my night's breakfast. Report an error in the passage at 0:18 Highlight the passage at 0:18

0:26 All these conventions that you've had. Yeah, I know. Is it recording already? It's already recording. Okay, good. Thank you. MS. Sure. What did you say you had done with the guy? Report an error in the passage at 0:26 Highlight the passage at 0:26

0:38 I can follow. Is it Vietnamese too? Report an error in the passage at 0:38 Highlight the passage at 0:38

0:45 I've been with the food for 10 days, so. Report an error in the passage at 0:45 Highlight the passage at 0:45

0:53 It Report an error in the passage at 0:53 Highlight the passage at 0:53

0:58 doesn't do much. Can you hear me? Yes, it's a little bit soft. It's softer than other... Softer? Softer than the others? Yes. Maybe I'm just so soft. Who knows? I doubt it. That microphone here on this little... Everything is new here. I'm absolutely not familiar with it. They have that new system and that device they told me to press says the microphone is still blocked, but obviously if you can hear me, that's good. Report an error in the passage at 0:58 Highlight the passage at 0:58

1:37 So, welcome to the Armadale Group. Maybe, do we have the coordinator here who wants to say something first? I'm playing the coordinator role. Okay, that's Kastri. Yeah, you want to say something? Report an error in the passage at 1:37 Highlight the passage at 1:37

1:55 Well, the normal thing is just to welcome everybody, familiar faces and any new people, very big welcome. And to acknowledge that we will be counting the metas together. Then Ajahn will give us a bit of a talk, about 30 minutes, then 30-minute meditation, then time for additional talk or questions and answers, depending on how Ajahn is feeling. Report an error in the passage at 1:55 Highlight the passage at 1:55

2:24 After the meditation. So if it's okay with you, I'm sure that in the background, Gloria will do the muting of everybody because we mute everybody during the metasuta. And then Ajahn, if you can unmute yourself. Just keep an eye. I'm going to put the metasuta up on the screen for all of us to chant along. Report an error in the passage at 2:24 Highlight the passage at 2:24

2:47 But Gloria will mute us all and then you need to unmute. Does that make sense? Yes. Okay. Okay. Report an error in the passage at 2:47 Highlight the passage at 2:47

3:07 So, I hope I'm unmuted now. Yeah? Okay. Report an error in the passage at 3:07 Highlight the passage at 3:07

3:19 This is what one does, who is skilled in goodness, and who knows the path of peace. They will be able and upright, straightforward and gentle in speech, humble and not conceited, contented and easily satisfied, with few duties and frugal in their ways. Peaceful and calm and wise and skillful, not proud or demanding in nature, they will not do the slightest thing that the wise would later reprove. Report an error in the passage at 3:19 Highlight the passage at 3:19

3:56 Wishing in gladness and in safety, may all beings be at ease, whatever living beings there may be, whether they are weak or strong, omitting none. 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 at ease. Report an error in the passage at 3:56 Highlight the passage at 3:56

4:28 Let none deceive another or despise any being in any state. Let none through anger or ill will Wish harm upon another, even as a mother protects with her life her child, her only child. So with a boundless heart one cherishes all living beings, radiating kindness over the entire world, spreading upwards to the skies and downwards to the depths. Report an error in the passage at 4:28 Highlight the passage at 4:28

5:08 Outwards and unbounded, freed from hatred and ill will. Whether standing or walking, seated or lying down, free from drowsiness, one sustains this recollection. This is said to be the sublime abiding by not holding to fixed views, to wrong views. Report an error in the passage at 5:08 Highlight the passage at 5:08

5:36 The pure-hearted one, having clarity of vision, being freed from all sense desires, is not born again into this world. Okay. Report an error in the passage at 5:36 Highlight the passage at 5:36

6:02 I still have that sutta on my screen here. Ah, thanks for that. That's better. Now I have a few more faces. Good. Report an error in the passage at 6:02 Highlight the passage at 6:02

6:21 So... We just had the rains retreat for three months and I was in a very fortunate position that I hardly even went over to Borignana and so I haven't talked with many people for a long time and Report an error in the passage at 6:21 Highlight the passage at 6:21

6:44 I have no idea what's gonna come out today. today. Report an error in the passage at 6:44 Highlight the passage at 6:44

6:53 The monastery is just a little bit more intense in that respect, but I choose it voluntarily, as you know, actually, my isolation. Report an error in the passage at 6:53 Highlight the passage at 6:53

7:05 And the good news is I didn't feel lonely and I didn't need a hug. I was all right. Not that there's something wrong with needing a hug, but actually I was pretty happy by myself. So I'm happy with that result as well. I mean, the hardest thing is to be by yourself, I guess. Report an error in the passage at 7:05 Highlight the passage at 7:05

7:35 Isolation, even in the prison with a lot of unpleasant people around you, to be in isolation is one of the biggest punishments that they have even in prison. So that seems to be the hardest thing for us to just be with ourselves, with our own minds. Report an error in the passage at 7:35 Highlight the passage at 7:35

7:55 And it is, isn't it? When we go crazy, we go crazy because of our own minds, because of our thoughts. If we get angry, it's usually not the other people making us angry, it's our own mind reacting to what is happening outside. Report an error in the passage at 7:55 Highlight the passage at 7:55

8:17 So the focus during a time like that is supposed to be that we that we Reflect on how much our perception is, I will not say a self-created thing because it is conditioned our perception by our nationality, by our childhood, our upbringing, the friends we had, the encounters we had in our life, the parents we had. Report an error in the passage at 8:17 Highlight the passage at 8:17

8:51 But with that conditioning that we have already, We often forget that how we experience the world is still very much up to what is going on in our own hearts and minds. And that is especially as a practitioner living in a monastery, that should be the main focus. You come to realize there is little that you can change in the outside world. You cannot really change anybody. Report an error in the passage at 8:51 Highlight the passage at 8:51

9:26 Hardly change anybody's opinion. It's as difficult to change somebody else's opinion than changing your own opinion about something. Report an error in the passage at 9:26 Highlight the passage at 9:26

9:39 And the beauty in that is that once this creation falls away for a short while, if we manage that in the meditation, This holding on to certain thought patterns, certain things that disturb the mind. If we look closely, we also see that a lot of these thoughts don't really make us happy. The worries and the anguish we can feel about what is going on in the world, I'm not ignorant about that as well. Report an error in the passage at 9:39 Highlight the passage at 9:39

10:20 I kept myself informed even if I shouldn't. Right now I just can't resist. I have the feeling democracy is slipping away all around the world and people are getting more and more separated into some factions. Report an error in the passage at 10:20 Highlight the passage at 10:20

10:43 It's almost that reality seems to be not a common thing anymore. Every little group seems to live in their own little reality. Report an error in the passage at 10:43 Highlight the passage at 10:43

10:56 Getting harder and harder to agree on anything. And last time I gave the talk just about having the five precepts, just this basic humanity, this basic sense of right and wrong in our own minds, something to hold on to. And I mean the simplest thing in that is what you don't want anybody to do to you, you don't do to anybody else. Report an error in the passage at 10:56 Highlight the passage at 10:56

11:28 What you want other people to do to you that you do to others is such a simple concept, but so difficult to do when you have so much animosity between these different viewpoints of people these days. And I realized that relatively early in my life that there is no changing... Really this outside world there. I mean, I can still try to give a good example, try to be in my surroundings, be a positive influence as good as I can. Report an error in the passage at 11:28 Highlight the passage at 11:28

12:12 But in the end, I cannot even change a friend's mind about his political opinions, even if I see them as clearly dangerous. As a German, I'm... Very sensitive with this fascist bullshit what is going on in a lot of countries now. It really, I cannot believe in Germany 30 % of the population is voting for AFD again basically. Report an error in the passage at 12:12 Highlight the passage at 12:12

12:43 It's always going towards the right for a strange reason. Always going for the agitators, the guys who have no... No concept of kindness, no concept of fixing anything. It's only destruction and blaming a certain group of people. Like we always said, it's through all of history. And this is sickening. And then I just have to make sure I can pull myself out of that again. Report an error in the passage at 12:43 Highlight the passage at 12:43

13:16 Because at a certain point it becomes self-destructive and it becomes... Also, I'm not going to be a good influence for my surroundings if I take too much of that stuff in, because that's going to become my reality. And I will only be able to see that if I get influenced too much in that media world that is out there. Report an error in the passage at 13:16 Highlight the passage at 13:16

13:42 So being able to pull one's mind back and the meditation gives you that opportunity to become the observer. What is going on? That means they are not my thoughts anymore. They are not my feelings anymore. It comes at that point where the mind can pull back enough and the whole thing becomes a spectacle. Report an error in the passage at 13:42 Highlight the passage at 13:42

14:09 The feelings, the sensations, the thoughts coming up. Not somebody who can control that, but just watching what is going on and seeing the... How impossible it is even to control the slightest thing in your own mind. And that can enhance my understanding and my patience with other people. Sometimes when I'm too stupid myself, I only see that other people are so stupid and I can't believe it. But when I see how trapped my own mind is in my own reality, Report an error in the passage at 14:09 Highlight the passage at 14:09

14:53 Usually that understanding can come up and that compassion, that other people are as trapped in their reality than I am trapped in my own reality as well. Report an error in the passage at 14:53 Highlight the passage at 14:53

15:06 And that is, I think, what meditation is, is this stepping back, stepping back, but being able to observe what is going on. And it takes a lot of bravery because we see a lot of stuff that we don't like in our own minds. It would be beautiful if it was just like, oh, I'm a meditator now and everything is going to be happy-peppy actually, and it's great and lovely. Report an error in the passage at 15:06 Highlight the passage at 15:06

15:34 But usually we get confronted, the deeper we look, we get confronted with stuff that is really unpleasant. This underlying hatred that is there, this underlying negativity. Report an error in the passage at 15:34 Highlight the passage at 15:34

15:52 It's underlying trying to blame, finding fault. That often comes up in the meditation. And then the feelings we don't want, the thoughts we don't want. So I've tried that for years and years to set the mind up in the meditation. That is this kind interest. This judgmental mind has to go. Otherwise we can't look. Report an error in the passage at 15:52 Highlight the passage at 15:52

16:23 We're only going to look at the stuff that we already know. Or we try to manipulate that what we like already in a certain direction. But please never forget meditation. When meditation happens, it's really a feeling of you take your hands off the wheel. And that is part of the beauty. What sounds scary is exactly the beauty. Because you realize you don't have to control anything. Report an error in the passage at 16:23 Highlight the passage at 16:23

16:54 Biggest part of the problem was trying to control what is going on. And the first time the mind is really allowed in a happy state to just, whatever happens is allowed to happen. Report an error in the passage at 16:54 Highlight the passage at 16:54

17:08 That is when some real bliss comes up in the meditation. Because, you know, it's not dependent on some outside circumstances, dependent exactly on that attitude that everything that comes is welcome in that moment. Report an error in the passage at 17:08 Highlight the passage at 17:08

17:28 And I sometimes use the example from my experience, the thought that you can have the devil sitting on your leg and he's welcome, basically. That's how the mind is in that moment. There is nothing that wouldn't be welcome. But that is a very deep trust you have in your own goodness, in your own intention of goodness at least, not that you are. Report an error in the passage at 17:28 Highlight the passage at 17:28

17:58 A perfect person, but that you have Report an error in the passage at 17:58 Highlight the passage at 17:58

18:06 diminished and tried to reduce those tendencies of wishing unwell to other people. In Germany we have that beautiful word that you sometimes borrow, Schadenfreude, delighting in the misery of others. Report an error in the passage at 18:06 Highlight the passage at 18:06

18:30 And that happens a lot now. The people sometimes, it seems like, as long as the other people suffer, they think they're happy with that because they deserve it. And that is such an unwholesome mindset, such a self-destructive mindset to have that and seeing the danger in that. If the mind sees the danger in that, it doesn't go there. Report an error in the passage at 18:30 Highlight the passage at 18:30

18:57 It's not about forbidding the mind to go there. It's always seeing, oh, in that direction there is suffering. If I want more suffering, then I have to go in that direction. But the mind doesn't want to suffer. Every action, every source, every deed we do is usually because we want to reduce suffering. That is the whole job of the mind, trying to avoid suffering and trying to gain as much happiness as we can. Report an error in the passage at 18:57 Highlight the passage at 18:57

19:27 We're not... Super skillful with that often. We don't see the danger where there is real danger in that direction. Because it gives us sometimes this short sense of delight and that feels self-righteous sometimes and whatnot if somebody who we really dislike... And we believe he gets some sort of karmic retribution or something. Something happens to that person and you have seen so clearly how that is self-made stuff that you receive there. Report an error in the passage at 19:27 Highlight the passage at 19:27

20:05 So that's what you deserve. That is then what a really low mind state can delight in that. And I'm still not free of that. I have to watch my mind. If I'm not careful, that can happen to me. Same way. But usually it doesn't take me that long to see the suffering. I don't have to say, oh, Chitta, after 25 years in robes, you idiot, you stupid, you haven't learned anything. Report an error in the passage at 20:05 Highlight the passage at 20:05

20:38 The only thing I have learned is to see that a little bit faster than most people, and I see the danger in it clearly. I can still go there, actually, and sometimes I can... It doesn't happen for a long time. I mean, it can be a few minutes, but then I let it go. I don't take that for hours and days with me anymore. Report an error in the passage at 20:38 Highlight the passage at 20:38

21:01 So that is a progress. And that is not because I'm super intelligent or whatnot, or because I have punished myself enough when the mind went into the wrong direction, it got one on the fingers or whatnot. The mind itself has to see their suffering. There is nothing. Nice in that direction. And then the mind doesn't go there. And that's the beauty of the mind. That's why people can advance on that path because the nature of the mind helps once we see where really peace lies, where happiness lies, where this, I can be alone with myself. Report an error in the passage at 21:01 Highlight the passage at 21:01

21:47 And be just in, you have these moments where you're You don't need anything yourself. Report an error in the passage at 21:47 Highlight the passage at 21:47

22:21 So... from the outside that's basically in this moments the only thing there is is something to give if somebody needs anything you don't need anything yourself Report an error in the passage at 22:21 Highlight the passage at 22:21

22:22 I hope you all know in your meditation by now that we cannot control these processes that are going on. And that is not even the aim. The aim is to have your mind as kind and positive as possible. That you can really watch what is going on. Report an error in the passage at 22:22 Highlight the passage at 22:22

22:46 And then maybe... A couple of people, some people are having problems hearing. Okay. Okay, what can I do about that? I don't know anything at the technological end, but maybe I don't have to be nearer to a microphone or project a little. It's hard coming out of your race retreat to be shouting at us, but there's a possibility of greater projection maybe. Report an error in the passage at 22:46 Highlight the passage at 22:46

23:27 Is that better? Can you understand me better now? You're on mute. I'm on mute. Report an error in the passage at 23:27 Highlight the passage at 23:27

23:37 Can you understand me better now? Is that better? No? Oh dear. It's worse even, oh dear. Report an error in the passage at 23:37 Highlight the passage at 23:37

23:49 Maybe I shouldn't have touched it. It's Report an error in the passage at 23:49 Highlight the passage at 23:49

24:00 very directional, that mic, I think. Report an error in the passage at 24:00 Highlight the passage at 24:00

24:06 Okay. I'll try to speak a bit more into the mic. Yeah? Okay. Hello, hello. Report an error in the passage at 24:06 Highlight the passage at 24:06

24:17 Yeah, sorry for that. It's a new system, like I said. I have no experience with that. So thanks for mentioning. If I go too low, say something again, okay? Report an error in the passage at 24:17 Highlight the passage at 24:17

24:34 So like I said, I hope you are all long enough with us already. I mean, Ajahn Brahm teaches that as long as I can remember as well. The driverless bus and the... Report an error in the passage at 24:34 Highlight the passage at 24:34

24:54 Taking your hands off the steering wheel and whatnot. But the difficulty with that is we need to have it pleasant enough in our own mind that that is possible. Report an error in the passage at 24:54 Highlight the passage at 24:54

25:11 And we have to have enough faith in this that we're meaning well with ourselves. We don't want to punish ourselves or anybody else. The mind is stupid, yes, I agree, but it is able to learn. And it's only stupid in that way that it just blindly looks for happiness and tries to avoid suffering. That is just its nature. It cannot do anything about that. Report an error in the passage at 25:11 Highlight the passage at 25:11

25:41 That is the situation we all are in, animals, humans. Every conscious living being is in that same situation, trying to go towards happiness, trying to avoid suffering. Only the ends and means, how we do that, can be completely different. And meditation is not having some heavenly direction that tells us basically, oh, that is what you need to do and that is what you have to avoid. Report an error in the passage at 25:41 Highlight the passage at 25:41

26:17 The thing is the mind can see that itself because it can see what leads to more peace in your mind. And peace is what I mean. I mean peace is that peace that you sit down and you at least for a few minutes you don't have the feeling you need anything from the outside. Report an error in the passage at 26:17 Highlight the passage at 26:17

26:41 And I claim that everybody with really bad... Karma. People who live a really immoral life. They might have a lot of money and karma might have not caught up with them. One thing they can't do is sit for themselves for even a few minutes. If they are really confronted with their own minds, if they're bad people, it's hell for them. Report an error in the passage at 26:41 Highlight the passage at 26:41

27:20 And the beauty is with the precepts and... Beginning to understand how my own thoughts influence my perception, how my perception influences what I experience each and every day. Report an error in the passage at 27:20 Highlight the passage at 27:20

27:38 Then we see the focus has to be on what is going on in our own minds and hearts. And meditation is one step there. Maybe even taking the time, stepping back, and maybe it doesn't get totally quiet now. But I have a look and each and every time the agitator comes up in the mind that wants to hold on to something or even goes into something negative. Report an error in the passage at 27:38 Highlight the passage at 27:38

28:06 I know that from my own mind. You do the Mettā Sutta, for example. May all beings be happy. May an undeceived another despise any being in any state. And then comes the Yebat. Report an error in the passage at 28:06 Highlight the passage at 28:06

28:23 What is with the real evil ones? Is it not worth standing up to them? How far do I go? Do I let them trample all over me? Or be honest? Be honest. What is with honesty? Report an error in the passage at 28:23 Highlight the passage at 28:23

28:43 What is if I'm in a situation where honesty is going to be exploited? Report an error in the passage at 28:43 Highlight the passage at 28:43

28:51 What is with the guys in Germany who took in... The Jewish refugees. Am I going to be honest to the Gestapo and tell them that I have some Jews at home? So this sort of thoughts can come up. There's always this but. Because this Mettā Sutta is this complete opening, wishing well to everybody up and down and through the whole universe. Report an error in the passage at 28:51 Highlight the passage at 28:51

29:20 Very beautiful concept, but cannot even be nice to our neighbor. So it's a very lofty idea often that sings. If we really look where we are often in our own minds, it seems to be so far away. So in meditation, we have the opportunity to make that step, to feel ourselves into it. How is that even supposed to feel? Report an error in the passage at 29:20 Highlight the passage at 29:20

29:47 Having compassion and love and having that spread out, it's a feeling. A mental concept. These are really strong feelings. And if you have a proper mettā meditation, you just burst. Report an error in the passage at 29:47 Highlight the passage at 29:47

30:05 And the tears are just going to run down your eyes. It's just... It just blows you away, that feeling. But it's not going to last. It's all your own... Your own ego and your own... Greed, your own delusion is going to come up again and then it's going to go. But you have that memory, you know a little bit about the direction the meditation is supposed to take. Report an error in the passage at 30:05 Highlight the passage at 30:05

30:38 It's always this opening up, having to control less and less and less. Report an error in the passage at 30:38 Highlight the passage at 30:38

30:47 And then when people are struggling in the meditation, just see the struggle and then don't have to struggle, please. There's no need to struggle. What are you struggling with? What is the problem? I'm thinking too much. That's okay. That's okay, mind. If you need to think so much now, that's all right. Report an error in the passage at 30:47 Highlight the passage at 30:47

31:08 Watch what you think. And then maybe you see, oh, the mind, but maybe I don't need to go in that direction because I know already that direction, there's more suffering there. There's just more agitation there. And maybe for five minutes, for ten minutes, for half an hour. I can just be happy that I sit in a warm room. My belly is full. I don't have too much pain in my body. I'm not in a war situation right now. Report an error in the passage at 31:08 Highlight the passage at 31:08

31:36 I can feel relatively safe. And then put my attention and my gratitude and everything I have in that moment. And remember the good things. That are right there for you in that moment because that's also going to change. And then just the appreciation often of what is there can give the mind a new little twist. Report an error in the passage at 31:36 Highlight the passage at 31:36

32:05 Instead of fighting, just sort of, yeah, that's not so bad. There's a lot of thoughts, but I'm not in pain right now. That's something. Or if I'm in pain, I'm not in agonizing pain. Report an error in the passage at 32:05 Highlight the passage at 32:05

32:19 So the... The way we deal with our own minds, if we always look at that, what we haven't achieved, where we want to be, what shouldn't be there, they're all negative states. We could say, oh yeah, without aspiration, where are we supposed to go? Yeah, the aspiration is there. The aspiration is to be aware of what mindsets send the mind in darker directions where you're going to be experiencing More suffering in the present and in the future, and in which direction there is less suffering. And that is what we have to learn. We have to see what mind states the mind creates with its own thoughts, with the perceptions around us, with the people confronting us, the people we associate with, the beliefs we associate with. Report an error in the passage at 32:19 Highlight the passage at 32:19

33:17 What directions do they really have? Is there any happiness in that direction? What is the outcome? And the clearer we see that, the more the mind knows and the faster the mind knows this is a direction. It doesn't even have to tell itself then after a while. It just has a look there and you know, now I know that already, that game. There's nothing there. Report an error in the passage at 33:17 Highlight the passage at 33:17

33:40 It's just that old blah, blah, blah that makes you angry or makes you frustrated. And so it's really nice when the mind learns a little bit about itself, how it works. And one of the major points for that is bringing some value to your five precepts. Report an error in the passage at 33:40 Highlight the passage at 33:40

34:10 Meditation is everything in Buddhism. It really starts with this sīla and not just... It's nothing, it's not... Report an error in the passage at 34:10 Highlight the passage at 34:10

34:16 In the sense of being that perfect sīla person that you never do anything against that. Hopefully you don't kill anybody or whatnot, obviously. Not the slightest lie comes over your lips or whatnot. But the intention behind it. Why do you need to lie? Be at least aware in that moment why you're doing something. Is it for your own convenience? Or is it because your wife asked you if you... Report an error in the passage at 34:16 Highlight the passage at 34:16

34:46 If she looks fat in those trousers and you say, no darling, you look beautiful, and maybe you lie actually, but that is a completely different lie to when you try to gain something through a lie, trying to deceive somebody consciously. So it's not these divine rules, it's basically what do these rules, what impact do they have on the mind. Report an error in the passage at 34:46 Highlight the passage at 34:46

35:13 The first thing to be able to let go is I don't want to harm any beings. So I don't expect to be harmed by beings. It's the only chance you have to let your fingers off the steering wheel. If you're still somebody other people have to fear, you're going to fear yourself in the meditation. I guarantee you. People who say different, they just don't know their own minds. Report an error in the passage at 35:13 Highlight the passage at 35:13

35:43 You can get away for a while, but that's only through distraction, not if you are really with yourself. And so seeing the beauty in that, for me, is also a clear direction what you want to do in your life, what compromises you're willing to make in your life. Report an error in the passage at 35:43 Highlight the passage at 35:43

36:09 The jobs you're willing to take in your life, the associations you're going to have in your life. And at certain points where you feel you're compromised in your moral compass, that becomes difficult. Then you're going to have to make decisions that affect your life. Maybe you're going to lose your job, or maybe you're... Report an error in the passage at 36:09 Highlight the passage at 36:09

36:38 You're just not going to go along with a certain policy or you have to speak up. It doesn't necessarily make life easier. But the confrontation should be always, I mean, if it's just going to be another ego thing that you want to shout out the injustice that you have just experienced, that's not what I'm talking about. Report an error in the passage at 36:38 Highlight the passage at 36:38

37:07 It's being... Having a moral compass that you get confidence in. You know that you are a person that can be trusted. And then you trust yourself more and more in your meditation as well. You know that you don't really want to do anything bad to other people. Report an error in the passage at 37:07 Highlight the passage at 37:07

37:38 That is a beautiful feeling in the meditation, when the mind realizes really... Yeah, there is a lot of guylessness there. I really mean it. Sometimes I'm angry with people, but I don't really want harm for anybody. I wish they weren't that stupid, a lot of people, but I don't want them to suffer for that. That doesn't necessarily help. Report an error in the passage at 37:38 Highlight the passage at 37:38

38:02 They might just become more angry. So having that as a foundation, every Buddhist who's there for a while, Hopefully, stop seeing that as some sort of commandments or whatnot, the five precepts. This is a guidance for the mind, for the peace of mind. That is the first step in the meditation, that we gain confidence in our own godlessness. And it doesn't need to be perfect, but it needs to be directional, needs to be... Report an error in the passage at 38:02 Highlight the passage at 38:02

38:44 It has to see the benefit in it, otherwise we can't continue. If we only try to be the good Buddhists and become the victims and yes, my other cheek is there for you and go on and slapping it, it's not being a martyr. Report an error in the passage at 38:44 Highlight the passage at 38:44

39:03 What is it in English? How do you pronounce it? Martha? Martyr. Martyr, that's right. A martyr. It's about knowing you do that for yourself. You don't even do that for other people. You do that for your own mind. Report an error in the passage at 39:03 Highlight the passage at 39:03

39:27 The negativity, the aggressiveness that we send out there is not gone. It's basically resonating in our own minds and if we do some actions by speech or deed, it might even come back to us. But even in our thoughts, if we don't correct them, If we just let them run in that direction, say, yes, that's right, that's right, and they deserve it. That's how we change our perception with everything that we really agree in our own minds. Report an error in the passage at 39:27 Highlight the passage at 39:27

40:04 And every time we don't see the danger in that, that is when the mind continues to go in that direction maybe for a long time again. So the best thing is to have a little bit of peace in your meditation. Report an error in the passage at 40:04 Highlight the passage at 40:04

40:18 That you get a little bit of taste, and like I said many times before, it's even for a few minutes. And it doesn't need to be jhānas or whatnot. It doesn't need to be ultra deep. But just this sense, if you can sit there, and you don't even think anything special has happened, but if you can just sit there for five minutes and don't want to do anything else, but watching exactly what is going on right now. Report an error in the passage at 40:18 Highlight the passage at 40:18

40:47 For five minutes. That is great. That is good. Seeing when negativity comes up in the mind. Oh no, this is negativity. And then the negativity drops away because the mind sees the peace disturbed. It sees something more beautiful that is there already disturbed. So the mind lets it go without any other comments. So Report an error in the passage at 40:47 Highlight the passage at 40:47

41:20 how deep that goes. Depends pretty much on our... It's a raising up of our mind level. It's not some skill, some concentration, some trickery, some luck. It's this getting a mind that is more wholesome over the training that we do, over the practice that we do. Lifting the mind up. To a level that when it reaches a peak, the peak is higher than before, because the whole level has been raised already. And that is always to good silat, but also to enjoying your little progresses that you have there, being aware of that, reflecting on that, reflecting on why you do things. Report an error in the passage at 41:20 Highlight the passage at 41:20

42:19 Do you still believe you do things for others? I don't do a single thing for others. I do everything for myself, sitting here right now for myself, not for you. But that doesn't mean it needs to be bad for others or totally selfish. It's just that realization I cannot do anything for others. The motivation, I can tell myself whatever I want. Report an error in the passage at 42:19 Highlight the passage at 42:19

42:49 The motivation is I would feel I'm not doing my duty to the people who feed me and to Ajahn Brahm. Who let me stay here if I don't do my little share. So that would make me feel worse if I said, no, I don't want to do the Armadale group. Report an error in the passage at 42:49 Highlight the passage at 42:49

43:10 So I'm here and then I can enjoy it because I don't need to see it as a duty and I don't need to see it as a sacrifice. It's just the way it is. I'm here and now I'm doing my best here. And then I'm gone again and I might never see you again or I might see you in a few months. Or whatever. But I don't have that illusion. I'm doing that for other people anymore. And so I'm not going to be disappointed as well so much when people criticize me. Report an error in the passage at 43:10 Highlight the passage at 43:10

43:45 It's only when we put something into it where we want to see a result that we see the disappointment. And that is where we can learn. Report an error in the passage at 43:45 Highlight the passage at 43:45

43:55 As long as I feel disappointed by something. or they Report an error in the passage at 43:55 Highlight the passage at 43:55

43:58 I obviously expected something from you outside, and that I cannot do, because that world is completely unpredictable, what's going on there. The only refuge is in our own minds. If our minds become happy, and happy enough, then the less the mind wants, the less we want, and we feel that we don't need that much anymore, the more happiness comes up. Report an error in the passage at 43:58 Highlight the passage at 43:58

44:27 It becomes this feeling of independence. And as a monk, we still need four things as human beings. Clothing, a hut, medicine when you're sick, and something to eat. When you have that and you are unhappy, that is in the mind. Report an error in the passage at 44:27 Highlight the passage at 44:27

44:48 The rest is just in the mind. Donald Trump is just in the mind. Report an error in the passage at 44:48 Highlight the passage at 44:48

45:00 It seems he is going to drive you crazy, but we're driving ourselves crazy. And if we don't see that, we're going to suffer. And I don't want to suffer not even for Donald Trump. He seems to have enough power already, that guy. So it's beautiful having an idea of a refuge in your own mind. And I hope you can all see that from time to time, that a real solution is never outside. Report an error in the passage at 45:00 Highlight the passage at 45:00

45:32 When I was younger, I really wished that... go upwards and upwards and upwards with humanity. We would be, oh man, united nations. We have a worldwide agreement of the human rights. Every country agreed to it. Wow, incredible. Has never existed before in the history of the world. That nations is just this rights that cannot be changed, and nobody can take that that away away from from you you. Report an error in the passage at 45:32 Highlight the passage at 45:32

46:05 and that is It's universally accepted now. And then basically in my time now I see just the UN as this helpless body basically that if some countries have the veto right and they can basically do what they want and now other countries can invade other countries again. There's nothing wrong with that. And so it's not that it's going upwards and upwards. No, it's going down again. Democracy is going down again. Report an error in the passage at 46:05 Highlight the passage at 46:05

46:37 The fascists, the arm is going up again actually in Germany and America and everywhere else. Actually the right is on the rise. Report an error in the passage at 46:37 Highlight the passage at 46:37

46:47 We need the big Führer again who's going to tell us what to do. We're just too stupid for democracy it seems. We don't have the... That ability, it's not the nature of the mind to just go that way upwards and upwards. If you look at our own minds, it goes up and down and up and down and so is the world mind is the same. Report an error in the passage at 46:47 Highlight the passage at 46:47

47:13 It would be nice if we just become more and more intelligent and violence becomes a thing of the past on earth and we're going to feed everybody. Report an error in the passage at 47:13 Highlight the passage at 47:13

47:24 Wells is distributed, incredibly fair and whatnot, but it's not going to happen. This world is the planet of idiots. If you have a really good mind, you're not born on this earth. This is the planet of the apes. Report an error in the passage at 47:24 Highlight the passage at 47:24

47:48 Yeah, sorry, it is like that, actually. I mean, here, a lot of people don't even keep the five precepts. I mean, if... we believe that there are other realms and that even the lower heaven realms above basically they at least keep all five precepts they are the happy realms you have companions who are, you don't have to worry It seems to be an exception that people really... Report an error in the passage at 47:48 Highlight the passage at 47:48

48:21 Make that integrate something like that into their lives consciously. A lot of people are good enough by nature that they don't run around doing too much stupid stuff. But to have that as a concept for your own happiness, for your own guylessness, is not established in a lot of people. And it's a treasure having that. It's a safety net. Report an error in the passage at 48:21 Highlight the passage at 48:21

48:48 And there's a happiness in your meditation whenever you can reflect on it. And it's going to help you to open up in the meditation. So I encourage you to really reflect on the five precepts and where you can do better. And if there's something that you're not happy with, just don't reprimand yourself. Report an error in the passage at 48:48 Highlight the passage at 48:48

49:10 Just look. Look what it does. See exactly the happiness you get when you break it. And look at the happiness you have when you don't break it. Don't try to convince yourself that that is the right way. Because that's not what the five precepts are. Report an error in the passage at 49:10 Highlight the passage at 49:10

49:30 The five precepts have direct consequences on your mind. And as long as you have a look from time to time and keep meditating and try to get into a little bit of peace and stillness, you see what disturbs the mind. Report an error in the passage at 49:30 Highlight the passage at 49:30

49:47 And then you see. Where improvements can be made. Report an error in the passage at 49:47 Highlight the passage at 49:47

49:57 Okay, so in the meditation now, like I said, if it doesn't become peaceful, completely still, one little aim we can set for our minds is we catch it when it gets negative. When we see it wanting something different from what we're experiencing right now. Report an error in the passage at 49:57 Highlight the passage at 49:57

50:25 And getting negative about it. And if you're not in great physical pain and you're getting too negative, then you have to treat your mind a lot nicer. Report an error in the passage at 50:25 Highlight the passage at 50:25

50:41 It's not about putting on more pressure. It's basically saying, that's all right, mind. If you need to think that much, now think whatever you want. And you just watch what the mind thinks. Report an error in the passage at 50:41 Highlight the passage at 50:41

50:52 But if you want, mind, we have the opportunity now for half an hour. We don't have to do anything. We can just close our eyes and we can go to the breath because the breath is this thing, the body does it by itself. It just goes in and out and we might control a little bit, but if we stop controlling, the body still does the job. Report an error in the passage at 50:52 Highlight the passage at 50:52

51:21 It moves a little bit and in that movement, we're used to movement. So that's still a... A pleasantness there. And as long as we can breathe deeply, it also feels safe. Every time we're in fear, that's when the breath stops. Or when we're really angry, that's when the breathing becomes really shallow. Report an error in the passage at 51:21 Highlight the passage at 51:21

51:52 So as a bodily movement, it also basically tells the mind at the same time the body is safe. It's pleasant. It just does the job. So it gives us a chance to become calmer. And then if you want, you can try to stay with the breath if it's pleasant, but if the mind wanders, you can let it wander a little bit. Report an error in the passage at 51:52 Highlight the passage at 51:52

52:23 The breath is more... I like to see it as this anchor. When you feel it's too much, now it goes... Perception goes to my ears. I hear the sound of the air conditioning or a car coming or it goes behind my eyes and I see blackness with little flickering stuff behind my eyelids or it goes into my body, into my stomach or into my knees, into my feet or the overall feeling is a little bit cold or this and that. Report an error in the passage at 52:23 Highlight the passage at 52:23

52:57 That's all completely okay. Just taking the hands off and seeing what really happens if I don't control what is going on the whole time. Where does the perception go? And then as this cramp, as this anchor, when it's getting a little bit too much and irritating, the breath is there for you in and out, in and out, and just feel safe there. Report an error in the passage at 52:57 Highlight the passage at 52:57

53:27 And if the mind likes to stay there, Great. And if one was off again, that's also all right. And if the thoughts come up, it's just this awareness. What quality, what taste do these thoughts have? Are thoughts of kindness, of gratitude, or is this something that thoughts that they want to change something, or they're not happy with something? Report an error in the passage at 53:27 Highlight the passage at 53:27

53:59 or thoughts that go into the future planning for something that has nothing to do with that reality here right now and then just becoming aware of that okay we don't have to plan that right now that for that half an hour we just stay with what is happening right now just have a look what does it mean having a mind and a body and not Trying to do something all the time. What happens if I take the hands off the steering wheel? Where does the perception go? Report an error in the passage at 53:59 Highlight the passage at 53:59

54:39 And then if there's some interest there, this kind interest, not this, I want this and I don't want that. It's this, really, what is happening? And if there's something that looks a little bit unpleasant or feels a little bit unpleasant, instead of immediately drawing back, With kindness looking even closer, okay, how does that feel? How does that thought feel? Report an error in the passage at 54:39 Highlight the passage at 54:39

55:16 There's nothing there that is not allowed to be. That is that kindness behind it. But also the wisdom that if the mind just gets entangled again in a negative thought pattern, this is not the time for it right now. That is the little direction that we give, that we don't get completely lost in some sort of... Report an error in the passage at 55:16 Highlight the passage at 55:16

55:40 of future or past or contemplation, exercise. I invite you to sit yourself down or lie yourself down or however you're comfortable in your meditation on your special chair or whatever it is for you. I Report an error in the passage at 55:40 Highlight the passage at 55:40

56:11 hope you Feeling relatively all right, that you're not in pain. Make sure you sit in a position where you have experience, that in that position you're not going to damage the body if you sit like that. Report an error in the passage at 56:11 Highlight the passage at 56:11

56:29 That you do your very best, that is as comfortable as possible. Report an error in the passage at 56:29 Highlight the passage at 56:29

56:51 Close our eyes. Don't need any optics now. Report an error in the passage at 56:51 Highlight the passage at 56:51

57:02 See that you can breathe in, that you don't have any restrictions and you're... belly can go outwards when you take a really deep breath in you can just pump yourself up one time or two times or three times see that there is also it might change your sitting position that your spine becomes more straight and that your shoulders relax so Report an error in the passage at 57:02 Highlight the passage at 57:02

57:51 that is the first step we know i know now i don't know about you but i know i can sit in that position now for half an hour And I'm not gonna damage my body and I probably don't have to sit in any undue pain. Might not be 100 % comfortable at the end, but it's not gonna be really unpleasant and definitely not gonna do any harm to the body. Report an error in the passage at 57:51 Highlight the passage at 57:51

58:24 So that's always the first step. So I know I don't have to move much now. Report an error in the passage at 58:24 Highlight the passage at 58:24

58:34 Maybe still a little bit when the body relaxes or finds out that Especially on the chair here that is very new to me and my spine hangs a little bit through. So I might not be 100 % sure right now if that is happening for me. But once you sit in your favorite meditation position for a while, you're going to know how your body is comfortable. Report an error in the passage at 58:34 Highlight the passage at 58:34

59:05 And so it's good to remind yourself of that. For me, it's always this act of kindness. Towards the mind and the body. We don't want any extra pain. We want to give the mind a chance to even look what is going on. Report an error in the passage at 59:05 Highlight the passage at 59:05

59:23 And if it's too uncomfortable, there's going to be fighting and changing. And Report an error in the passage at 59:23 Highlight the passage at 59:23

59:37 then if we want, we can bring up a little bit of gratitude. Report an error in the passage at 59:37 Highlight the passage at 59:37

59:43 I thank you there as my fellow meditators now. And just doing a meditation together. Haven't done that for a long time. Even if it's not face to face, it's just in my mind that we're trying the same thing together. I'm interested in a calm mind, improving the mind, seeing a direction of more happiness for the mind, more independence. Report an error in the passage at 59:43 Highlight the passage at 59:43

1:00:21 So Report an error in the passage at 1:00:21 Highlight the passage at 1:00:21

1:00:28 thank you for joining me. The Report an error in the passage at 1:00:28 Highlight the passage at 1:00:28

1:00:59 breath is there as our anchor. We can just say, okay, what happens if I stop doing? Anything. It all runs completely fine without me. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:59 Highlight the passage at 1:00:59

1:01:23 Perception is just gonna go to all different places. Thoughts are gonna come up and go. It Report an error in the passage at 1:01:23 Highlight the passage at 1:01:23

1:01:35 just rolls on. And Report an error in the passage at 1:01:35 Highlight the passage at 1:01:35

1:01:42 with a bit of kindness we can just watch. If Report an error in the passage at 1:01:42 Highlight the passage at 1:01:42

1:01:49 the mind realizes, doesn't need anybody to control it, if we have faith in that, we know ourself a little bit, experimented with a bit of kindness towards ourself, Report an error in the passage at 1:01:49 Highlight the passage at 1:01:49

1:02:07 it's just gonna feel wow okay nice relaxing concept Report an error in the passage at 1:02:07 Highlight the passage at 1:02:07

1:02:19 not having to do anything just Report an error in the passage at 1:02:19 Highlight the passage at 1:02:19

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:03:34 allowing the mind not having to figure out anything and just being an observer not directly involved concepts Report an error in the passage at 1:03:34 Highlight the passage at 1:03:34

1:03:58 just experience right here now can Report an error in the passage at 1:03:58 Highlight the passage at 1:03:58

· · · silence, 23 minutes

1:27:33 you hear the bell well i Report an error in the passage at 1:27:33 Highlight the passage at 1:27:33

1:27:38 don't know well enough well enough that's good That's good enough then. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:38 Highlight the passage at 1:27:38

1:27:51 Yeah, I think that microphone is a really good microphone and very directional that you don't pick up anything else in the room. So everything has its... I'm quieter again? Okay. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:51 Highlight the passage at 1:27:51

1:28:14 Okay, I try to speak up. it got quite a bit quieter meditation. Okay. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:14 Highlight the passage at 1:28:14

1:28:20 Very close to the end of our time together. Wow, yes, amazing. I love to hear myself talking, it seems. I didn't even realize it was so late. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:20 Highlight the passage at 1:28:20

1:28:31 Is there any question that needs to be answered? Any comment? Report an error in the passage at 1:28:31 Highlight the passage at 1:28:31

1:28:44 Excellent. It was wonderful to have you so close to Reigns and bringing with you the benefit of the time in solitude away from... Bonignano And coming and sharing your wisdom with us, even if it was for your own benefit. Well, that doesn't mean it cannot be for other people's benefit. Exactly. The only thing I wanted to make sure is you understand that it is impossible to do an unselfish act. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:44 Highlight the passage at 1:28:44

1:29:19 We all have a self. There is this thing of an unselfish act is an illusion. It has to come from somewhere. Even it can be a good deed, but it's not without a self. We haven't experienced anything without a self. We don't know what that is supposed to be. The Buddha talks about non-self, but we don't have the slightest clue what that is. We experience everything through a self, and so that is nothing special. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:19 Highlight the passage at 1:29:19

1:29:51 Wisdom-wise, one thing I wanted to say at the end... Sometimes I was asked to give some sort of blessing or a wise thing at the end. Just one thing came to mind to me was, why is somebody like Nelson Mandela, for example, such an inspiring personality? Report an error in the passage at 1:29:51 Highlight the passage at 1:29:51

1:30:14 After being imprisoned for so many years in South Africa and having all this hardship, and then he became a politician afterwards? Report an error in the passage at 1:30:14 Highlight the passage at 1:30:14

1:30:28 And what did he do? Did he try to get revenge? Did he despise his enemies? I mean, what made him deserve that Nobel Peace Prize was that he tried to bring, exactly because of that experience, bring people together. And that was not because he thought he was a good Christian or good Buddhist or good anything. He said, what I have realized is what that hatred. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:28 Highlight the passage at 1:30:28

1:30:57 ...does with oneself. And he didn't want to live that. So his action and his goodness came from experience. Nothing that you have to dictate onto yourself, just seeing clearly the benefit and the inspiration and the opportunity doing something better than your supposed opponent does. Not delighting in misery, just... Report an error in the passage at 1:30:57 Highlight the passage at 1:30:57

1:31:28 Helping out where you can. How beautiful, what a beautiful example that is and that other people who are really inspiring, at least to me. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:28 Highlight the passage at 1:31:28

1:31:40 And I hope we all continue to develop that in our own minds, that wisdom. I wish you a beautiful good night, good evening, wherever you are. Thank you for listening and many, many wholesome mind states. All the best. Bye-bye. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:40 Highlight the passage at 1:31:40

1:32:02 Thank you Ajahn. Thank you for the talk and thank you for the meditation. Thank you everyone. Bye bye. you. Good night. Bye-bye. Thank you. Good night. Thank you. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:02 Highlight the passage at 1:32:02