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- 0:12
see it. Like rebirth as a kind of previous lives experience to me doesn't seem terribly important because what you can actually know is how your mind works. Because this anattā or no-self, no kind of permanent... The essential soul that goes from one thing to another, then what you begin to notice is that there's this desire, this tendency to always, out of ignorance, to seek something.
- 0:53
And this is what I would call rebirth. In fact, in the Paticca Samuppada, the dependent origination, this is actually how the process takes place, that through this ignorance then the To this basic ignorance called avicca, then the desire arises to seek something or other. And whatever you attach to, you become at that moment. It's what rebirth is, isn't it?
- 1:51
And this is where with meditation you become aware of that, how that process works in your own mind. And you realize the empty mind or the mind where there is not this ignorance and this process From desire and attachment. And in that empty mind then is true wisdom, is clarity, knowing. It's the enlightened mind, the luminous mind.
- 7:50
And then there's this reaction of aversion, not wanting it. And the more you don't want it, the more you suffer. I can't stand it. Not enough. You get angry. I used to find a lot of anger in me when pain and discomfort would make me very angry. And then that oftentimes would go out to people. You know, I'd be angry with people because I had pain in my body.
- 33:34
So then, even these impressive memories, like being just ordinary me, American university student 25 years ago and Napoleon Bonaparte. One is a famous historical person and this ordinary middle class American university student but they're both memories. You see, so there's the knowing of them for what they are rather than being caught up in the dazzling qualities of them or their
Transcript
0:03 Well, Report an error in the passage at 0:03
0:08 I Report an error in the passage at 0:08
0:12 see it. Like rebirth as a kind of previous lives experience to me doesn't seem terribly important because what you can actually know is how your mind works. Because this anattā or no-self, no kind of permanent... Report an error in the passage at 0:12
0:38 The essential soul that goes from one thing to another, then what you begin to notice is that there's this desire, this tendency to always, out of ignorance, to seek something. And this is what I would call rebirth. In fact, in the Paticca Samuppada, the dependent origination, this is actually how the process takes place, that through this ignorance then the To this basic ignorance called avicca, then the desire arises to seek something or other. Report an error in the passage at 0:38
1:17 And whatever you attach to, you become at that moment. It's what rebirth is, isn't it? You're reborn in some state. We make the assumption of a soul or a person being reborn, but it's merely a desire. Report an error in the passage at 1:17
1:40 Manifesting through attachment and then that will take a form of some sort like some form of greed or hatred or delusion. Report an error in the passage at 1:40
1:51 And this is where with meditation you become aware of that, how that process works in your own mind. And you realize the empty mind or the mind where there is not this ignorance and this process From desire and attachment. And in that empty mind then is true wisdom, is clarity, knowing. It's the enlightened mind, the luminous mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:51
2:28 And that's now a personal mind. It's not your brain or it's not a man's mind or a woman's mind or anything like that. The attributes arise and cease but it has no quality that is That one can grasp in any way. That's why it's subtle. It's obvious, but because of it's so obvious, it's subtle. Report an error in the passage at 2:28
3:03 What is extreme, what is far away, oftentimes we might know more about something far away than something that we have all the time. Report an error in the passage at 3:03
3:17 How many people know more about Persian miniatures than they do about their breath? The Report an error in the passage at 3:17
3:29 Rose Garden. Report an error in the passage at 3:29
3:40 Always bring dharma to the here and now, to the way things are. This is what in dharma teaching, it's not to kind of believe in kind of abstract philosophical ideas, but if you examine the four noble truths, it has to be applied to your mind, not some kind of abstract philosophy. Report an error in the passage at 3:40
4:10 Depending on the origination, to teach a samuppada, you can use that as a brilliant tool for meditation, for reflection. And that's what they're really for. That's why, I mean, I don't want to teach it if it was just an abstraction of the mind to play with, but it actually is a very expedient means towards understanding your own mind, and not the abstract human mind in terms of it. Report an error in the passage at 4:10
4:40 You know, like, oftentimes Western psychologists will talk about the human mind as if their mind somehow wasn't that way. They Report an error in the passage at 4:40
4:58 were exempt from it. You Report an error in the passage at 4:58
5:24 say the end of suffering. You mean mental suffering. Because sometimes it's not clear. I remember I was confused thinking it was meaning all physical and mental suffering. Report an error in the passage at 5:24
5:38 Because the suffering that ends is... is the suffering you create out of ignorance. Then there's the natural way of things, such as pleasure and pain, so that the body still feels pain and all that, but you don't suffer from it. It's as it is. It's when you don't know this truth, then you create suffering around it. Report an error in the passage at 5:38
6:09 The body is sick or in pain, then you're averse to it and you... You feel frightened or angry or depressed by the sickness of the body, the pain or the inconvenience of it all. And that is the suffering, what we create. Then, because we tend to resist it, then we create the conditions for more pain. Report an error in the passage at 6:09
6:40 If you meditate on pain, if you're sitting and you're Report an error in the passage at 6:40
7:00 what it is, you're not suffering from it. suffering comes when you want to get rid of it. Report an error in the passage at 7:00
7:11 you wish it weren't there, you want to move, and like that, then that's the suffering that we produce. Report an error in the passage at 7:11
7:20 This is for you to consider in your own meditation. What is the suffering? Is having pain in my leg, is that really suffering at all? Then by going to the actual sensation and staying with that, concentrating on the sensation of that physical sensation, I realize that that is just what it is. And then there's this reaction of aversion, not wanting it. And the more you don't want it, the more you suffer. Report an error in the passage at 7:20
7:59 I can't stand it. Not enough. You get angry. I used to find a lot of anger in me when pain and discomfort would make me very angry. And then that oftentimes would go out to people. You know, I'd be angry with people because I had pain in my body. I'd lash out at somebody. And then they take it personally. They say, oh, he doesn't like me anymore. Report an error in the passage at 7:59
8:31 And then if they weren't being very mindful, then they'd go around and maybe that would upset them and then they'd go to somebody and curse them. Go around on a kind of chain reaction with the human, the ignorant human beings of what we do to each other. And then, of course, the Then the dog gets it in the end, doesn't it? Report an error in the passage at 8:31
8:55 Kick the dog. And Report an error in the passage at 8:55
9:08 then I noticed that by concentrating on the physical sensation, and to do that you have to accept it. It's not like, if I'm concentrating on it in order to get rid of it, that doesn't work. You have this aversion actually, you're deluding yourself. You think, I'll concentrate on this and it'll go away. Report an error in the passage at 9:08
9:29 But you have to accept it, even for as long, forever in fact. I'm saying, I'd have to kind of wind myself up to accept it. Forevermore I accept you. Just to get over this desire to get rid of it as quickly as possible. And then by doing that, it would be in the mind, the actual sensation, but it would be merely a sensation. Report an error in the passage at 9:29
9:55 It wouldn't... You couldn't say it was even painful. It was just as it is. You know, the sense of it really being horrible and painful was gone. And then, of course, the conditions that support and increase pain tend to diminish. When you're not... Like aversion and anger, hatred tend to create tension, which creates pain, increases pain. Report an error in the passage at 9:55
10:25 This is something you can just prove to yourself. You probably have. You can just experiment with. Report an error in the passage at 10:25
10:38 You said, well it has been said, that meditation will improve your health. Do your heart, do this. But if you start meditating with the view of improving your health, would that be a wrong attitude? Report an error in the passage at 10:38
10:57 Well, you have to use all kinds of lures. I'll start with vanity here. Meditation will make you beautiful. Then, Give you good health. Report an error in the passage at 10:57
11:16 I mean, like yoga and all that, you know, that yoga will make you live long and you'll have a beautiful figure and all this kind of thing. And that's not necessarily a lie. Those things do tend to improve your condition if it's done properly, but at least you're... You know, at least you're trying. And what I found, I think, I started meditation through yoga. Report an error in the passage at 11:16
11:52 And even though I was more interested in the spiritual side of yoga than, say, just having good health and beautiful appearance, but still, that led me on to something, you know, more into meditation, into mental training, mental cultivation. Report an error in the passage at 11:52
12:16 And then the Buddha, you see, in his teaching he says, he says, Nibbāna is the highest happiness. And he makes some kind of very alluring statement. Report an error in the passage at 12:16
12:31 And that interests us. It inspires. You have to be inspired at first. And then from there, then he points to the way things are. You see, once you're listening and you have a measure of of interest, then you can be taught. Report an error in the passage at 12:31
12:57 If it's done for financial gain or any kind of conceited intention, then it's wrong. But sometimes I will present Buddhism to make you psychologically balanced or to get rid of your anxiety, because that's not a lie. Sometimes, if I would talk about the spiritual life, some people would not find that anything they're interested in. Whereas if you present it much more as a psychology, they kind of tune into it and think, well, that's really good. Report an error in the passage at 12:57
13:33 If they think you're, because I'm a monk, they might tend to think, well, he's one of those silly religious people, you know, and we're just interested in the realities of life, psychology. psychology Report an error in the passage at 13:33
13:49 But in Buddhism you can work it from many different angles. You can teach it as psychology, as philosophy, as religion. It depends what you want to emphasize. And you're not being hypocritical or lying, but it allows quite a wide range to look at things. You can look at truth from many different angles. And this is what I really see. Report an error in the passage at 13:49
14:17 Suddenly you realize that you can actually begin to understand like just different philosophical positions rather than becoming a kind of staunch Buddhist saying, you know, we don't believe in God or a soul. Suddenly you realize that your mind is a very flexible, malleable thing and you can contemplate from a monistic view. Report an error in the passage at 14:17
14:47 Or from a theistic view. Not because you say you're denying Buddhism by doing that, but you begin to be able to use the mind and to reflect and contemplate from different positions. So then you can appreciate different religious approaches without feeling that you're betraying your Buddhist principles. Report an error in the passage at 14:47
15:14 Because what the... Buddhism is very much the approach of neither-nor. It's neither this nor that. Not this, not that approach. It's what they call non-dualistic, non-dualism. And its emphasis is merely to break through the illusion of dualism, where they think... Religion tends to be more monistic, where you have the metaphysical structure of the one God or the all is one or the whole or the one mind. Report an error in the passage at 15:14
16:04 These monistic attitudes, these metaphysical structures, monistic structures, are very inspiring to the mind. Where neither, not this, not that, isn't an inspiring approach. Report an error in the passage at 16:04
16:24 It's, you see, so that in one way you, if you want to inspire people, you talk about the one mind or the spirit or love or things that, the unity of love, the oneness, the wholeness of being. And this isn't being silly or, I mean, it's, That function has a function of inspiring, uplifting, really unarousing faith. Report an error in the passage at 16:24
16:57 And then the particular Samatabipassana or Satipaṭṭhāna approach of Theravāda Buddhism is not this, not that, which is a way of reflection, which doesn't inspire the mind, but frees the mind from delusions. Report an error in the passage at 16:57
17:17 You see, because inspiration can be deluded still. It's dukkha, isn't it? Because when the inspiration fades, then you get the sadness. That's what happens. Right. It's like eating, depending on sugar, you just get high. Report an error in the passage at 17:17
17:42 But you need a certain amount of inspiration in life, but that's not enough. Religion has to bring you to the way things are. And then it... Then you find, you don't, like some, like say the very affirmative forms of religion, like fundamentalist Christianity is becoming a continuous affirmation of doctrine, a very positive God loves us, God did this work, God did that work. Report an error in the passage at 17:42
18:21 It's a continuous affirming of these teachings. Well that, if you, If you do it over and over, it's so positive, and it does uplift you. You feel very high from that. People get very high. But the thing, when you stop doing it, then you tend to, your mind will go into doubt. And so, you can't allow doubt in it all. So if anybody says, I don't believe you, then you exclude them. You have to surround yourselves with people that all keep affirming these teachings over and over again. Report an error in the passage at 18:21
18:59 And then you, then you, Then you have this... And if you try to talk to these fundamentalists, you can't discuss anything. Because they don't listen to you. They just tell you what they think is true. And then they try to argue with you if you don't agree. Because they couldn't... No mind can't... have not dealt with doubt yet. So doubt is the devil in which... Report an error in the passage at 18:59
19:28 Which they accuse you of being satanic force sometimes. Because if you're doubting, then that's the devil. It's very dualistic. There's good and evil in very clear terms. Then the Buddhist approach is non-dualistic. So it's neither good nor evil. Things are impermanent. They're not self. It's not... Nothing... There's no absolutes. Report an error in the passage at 19:28
19:59 In any form or doctrine, because absoluteness is formless, you see, where everything is absolved, absolute, but unconditioned, absolute. But when you absolutize the relative, then of course that's delusion. You get fixed, and if something is permanently right, then you become a bigot. Hypocrite, don't you think? This is, our way is right, absolutely. Then anyone who does it a different way, it must be absolutely wrong. Report an error in the passage at 19:59
20:43 And so you get this very strong polarization of the mind. And the thing is like, in America, they had a lot of problems last year with these evangelical preachers. And they're And they're kind of corrupt ways. And it was amazing. There's one... I used to go and visit my parents in California. And they go to church on Sundays. And so I'd stay... I'd be at their home. And I'd decide I'd watch these religious programs on the television. Report an error in the passage at 20:43
21:24 And one of them was this incredible evangelist called Jimmy Swaggart. And... And he was amazing, how to show him it was. And he was, I think, in Louisiana, a very kind of powerful presence on the television. And he was always in these big arenas and auditoriums of thousands of people gathered there. And he would be shaking his fist and gesticulating and screaming and yelling and tears. Report an error in the passage at 21:24
22:00 He could just turn on the tears like this. Like a light switch. And the tears would just come pouring out of his eyes just at that moment. And he sometimes would come on the stage and he'd be full of this ebullient. And he'd say, Why am I so happy? I'm so happy. I'm so happy. And they'd say, Why are you Jimmy? Because I'm without sin. Report an error in the passage at 22:00
22:30 So then... it. Report an error in the passage at 22:30
22:32 Then last year he sinned and found out that he'd been sinning all this time. And the very thing he used to condemn were like prostitution and sexual promiscuity and sexual aberrations and all this. We're just violently against all this. It's very absolute. This is evil. And yet he's caught in these kind of... Report an error in the passage at 22:32
23:05 And you wonder, well, why? And how could someone come on strongly in an audience of thousands of people, a nationally televised program, and say, I'm without sin? And probably have, you know, not that day or before, been sinning. And you realize that in some ways there's a kind of schizophrenic cleavage in the mind. Report an error in the passage at 23:05
23:34 That on one level there was this totally affirmative view that depended on total negation. That you had to say, this was totally wrong and bad and evil, and this was totally right. But by doing that, your mind becomes more obsessed sometimes with the evil side. And when your mind becomes obsessed with evil, you find yourself inclined to those very things that you're condemning. That's why if you don't have any understanding of your mind, then the more you kind of hate promiscuity or anything like that, or drugs, you'll find yourself increasingly attracted to it. Report an error in the passage at 23:34
24:25 Because your mind is dwelling on it all. And even if you're saying it's horrible, you're still dwelling on it. Isn't that horrible? Isn't that disgusting? Work of the devil. I remember, when I first ordained, I was a novice monk in Thailand, and I was a habitual smoker. Report an error in the passage at 24:25
24:49 And I tried to stop smoking before, and I couldn't. I'd try, I'd say, you know, this is a dirty habit. It's dirty. It stains your teeth. It gives you bad breath. You get cancer. It's expensive. I'd go and just totally, you know, everything that was wrong was smoking. And then I could get it out, yes, but only about three days at the most, and I'd be back again. Report an error in the passage at 24:49
25:20 And even though I would obsess my mind with how bad it was, or that you get cancer from it, I'd still be thinking about it. So when I became a monk, as I started meditating, I just contemplated this. I thought... Well, even though I'm condemning smoking and saying how dirty it is and it gives you bad breath and it makes your clothes smell and gives you cancer, I'm still thinking about it. Report an error in the passage at 25:20
25:49 And that's the problem. That the obsession with how bad it is is still keeping it in your mind all the time. So, then I used to practice not thinking about it. Report an error in the passage at 25:49
26:05 Which was... Which was very targeted to the breath. I developed, I used a mantra called letting go. And I just say, keep letting go. Every time the mind tended to incline towards that longing, that kind of impulse to smoke and that inclination, then I'd be with that very feeling. I'd say, let go, let go, let go. And then eventually I found that I could, as a monk, I could give up smoking very easily. Report an error in the passage at 26:05
26:35 It wasn't as... Horrible as I thought it was going to be, because I imagined, you know, holding on to the seat, trying to stop myself from biting a fag. Report an error in the passage at 26:35
26:49 Then I just thought through understanding the mind, one could actually work through those habits. That gave me an insight into why people who hate something a lot usually end up doing what they hate. I love it. Report an error in the passage at 26:49
27:09 And why the advertisements here in England, where they have like these silk-cut advertisements all over London, a very elegant kind of, everybody knows it, silk-cut, even though it doesn't even say, does it? The chainsaw upholstered in purple silk. And what other name it says, this is hazardous to your health. Report an error in the passage at 27:09
27:39 Right? You think, oh, a chainsaw, a pulsing... Everyone knows that it means smoking a cigarette. And yet, even though that's quite written quite impressively on the advertisement, these cigarette companies still seem to be able to sell that which is dangerous to your health. Report an error in the passage at 27:39
28:08 It probably does have its profound effect. I think there's less... When you Report an error in the passage at 28:08
28:20 contemplate why people do the things they do like these committing crime or do the most disgusting kind of things you can see that the mind probably was trying to resist that and then through great fear and resistance the mind just swings over into doing it and that's how it works. If you don't have any ...to understand or reflect on it and to get a perspective, then you can let go of these tendencies. Report an error in the passage at 28:20
· · · silence, 1 minute
29:27 What do you mean by many lives? Report an error in the passage at 29:27
29:33 Well, that's a kind Report an error in the passage at 29:33
29:39 of coarse perception, isn't there, of a human life and then being reborn into something else. That's generally how people think of it, I assume anyway. Report an error in the passage at 29:39
29:57 But if you really... If you contemplate the Buddha's teachings, the emphasis is always here and now. Like the dhamma is here and now. It's timeless. Enlightenment is here and now. Things are as they are. It's always this direct pointing. But then the human mind tends to... Because we have perceptions, we create perceptions in our mind. Report an error in the passage at 29:57
30:30 We have... We hold on to these memories, then we tend to easily assume that we were somebody in a previous life, and we're somebody in this life, and then the next life we'll be somebody else. Report an error in the passage at 30:30
30:50 And this is our ability to perceive the function of a mind. And that ability to perceive then is coming out of ignorance, out of I mean, not that perception is wrong or bad, but it tends to, when there's not enlightenment, there's not real right understanding, then even our ability to perceive and think and create comes out of this ignorance. Report an error in the passage at 30:50
31:19 That's why even the, you know, as long as we are caught in this basic ignorance, this basic delusion, even the good views we have, Report an error in the passage at 31:19
32:04 There is many I mean, there's memory, there's... I can still remember when I was a child 20 years ago and yesterday and so forth. Meditation certainly doesn't destroy your ability to remember. But I see that what memory is, is a function of the mind. It no longer has the appearance or the feeling that it's really me or that I was somebody. Report an error in the passage at 32:04
32:38 Who did something 25 years ago? I see that now the memory, say, some memory of 25 years ago comes up, it's what it is, it's a memory. And the belief that it, all the reactions to it, of indulging or suppressing all the way, it's recognized for what it is. Well, then I assume that if I had a previous life experience, I remember being Napoleon, Report an error in the passage at 32:38
33:10 The memory, this has never happened to me, but if such a memory is, that I was Napoleon in a previous life, well then, I would recognize that that's just a memory, just like memory of going to university 25 years ago is a memory. So then, even these impressive memories, like being just ordinary me, Report an error in the passage at 33:10
33:42 American university student 25 years ago and Napoleon Bonaparte. One is a famous historical person and this ordinary middle class American university student but they're both memories. You see, so there's the knowing of them for what they are rather than being caught up in the dazzling qualities of them or their They're judging them according to their quality of them. So people say, I was Cleopatra in a previous life. Report an error in the passage at 33:42
34:28 Remember being a cat in a previous life? It's the same thing, really. Report an error in the passage at 34:28
34:37 Ticker of flea, Cleopatra of Napoleon. Just a memory. And so you're not making anything about it, but you're seeing it for what it is. You're not... You're not saying, oh, it's ridiculous, and denying it. But you're actually, what is it? It arises and ceases in your mind. You know, it's something that comes and goes. And so that knowing is what the Buddha, what we call refuge in the Buddha, taking refuge in the Buddha, is being in that mindfulness of seeing things as they are. Report an error in the passage at 34:37
35:21 And this applies for people like what you say you've done in your lives. If you've done some pretty horrible or you think you've done some horrible things. Report an error in the passage at 35:21
35:35 Or if you feel you've been treated badly by others. And you remember your father used to beat you up or your wife ran away with the milkman or whatever. It doesn't matter how bad it is or how bad you... If you really look at it as it arises now, it arises and it ceases in your mind. It's a memory. It might be an unpleasant, horrible memory. Its quality might be horrible and unpleasant. But as a condition, it is what it is. Report an error in the passage at 35:35
36:11 It arises and ceases. And by reflecting in that way, you're not being deluded by the quality of it. The quality is there. It's a horrible memory. It's horrible, yes, but it's not self anymore. It's just what it is. And it arises and ceases. And that's... Then you can cope with the memories of your life in a way that you can't if you're always reacting to them with judgments or blame or self-disparagement. Report an error in the passage at 36:11
36:48 Like, one of the big problems with the... It's interesting when... When Thanjalkun Panjananda was here last month, he's a famous Thai monk, highly respected in Thailand. He comes to England almost every year. And he's about 78 years old, and I think he's been a monk most of his life, and probably was a samanera as a boy in Thailand. Report an error in the passage at 36:48
37:21 They start very young. And one evening we had a discussion here. We all sat right there in the comfortable seat and I had all the kind of people here who just said, well, if you have any questions, please ask Tanjavakun. And there was an English speaker who was traveling with Tanjavakun who was translating. Even though Tanjavakun understands English, I think a lot of it is not all that fluent. Report an error in the passage at 37:21
37:53 So this monk was translating. And a lot of the questions from the British, Europeans, European people, were very convoluted questions. I could say it would be a very long question, and then the English monk would try to translate and say, oh, it's very difficult, and try to get it all translated. And then Thanjalkun's answer would be very brief. Yes! Report an error in the passage at 37:53
38:23 agree. Report an error in the passage at 38:23
38:28 And so we were noticing that some of these intellectuals had these very long, difficult, kind of rambling questions, and then this poor English monk was trying to get it all presented, and then Sun Tzu's answer was very succinct and brief. And so one day we were trying to explain guilt to him, because guilt is a big problem in European... Report an error in the passage at 38:28
38:59 In western civilization, it's a big thing, it's a huge problem for us. And yet, to Tenjaku and Panyamanda, he just called it a minor mental agitation. Report an error in the passage at 38:59
39:19 And I could see that for him, that's all it was. That we've made guilt into a kind of great cause to live for our lives. You know, this is because I did this in the past and... Report an error in the passage at 39:19
39:34 This and that, we can carry this sense of guilt and impose it onto our lives, wherever we happen to be. And yet, in a mind as clear and bright as this monk's, it was just a minor, it's just a mental agitation. And one could see that his mind, he had a very clear, bright mind, and therefore his answers were very direct and to the point. Report an error in the passage at 39:34
40:02 And he didn't have all this kind of convoluted, obtuse way of thinking that never quite got to the real problem. But his mind was, being brought up as a Buddhist, and then practicing and developing and living, and being 78 years old helps, I'm sure, and being a wise man. And then he just... And also... Report an error in the passage at 40:02
40:31 His culture, like in Thailand, you don't find guilt a problem really. They have a sense of shame or a moral conscience, but it isn't a fixation on oneself. You get this incredible clinging to the things one has done wrong, or the idea that we've sinned, that we're sinners. So then, it was clear, like in a Buddhist society, in a Buddhist country, the Report an error in the passage at 40:31
41:03 The kind of basic foundation for one's assumptions is very different. For example, with Buddhism, you don't think I was born in sin, like you do in Judaism and Christianity. Report an error in the passage at 41:03
41:21 The basic idea is that you were separated from God because you sinned. So there's a strong identity with being somebody who's a sinner. And yet in the Buddhist position, that the only thing that separates and deludes is ignorance. That your true nature is bright, is clear, is wise, and deathless, immortal. Report an error in the passage at 41:21
41:53 And that we create these problems through ignorance, through desire and fear. So that the defilements, Well, the obstacles are just mental agitations. And once you see that, then you stop doing that. You go to the true nature of being. Report an error in the passage at 41:53
42:16 And you're not carrying this idea of how historically in the past, Eve picked this apple off the tree, gave it to Adam, and we've had to pay for this ever since. Report an error in the passage at 42:16
42:34 That's a kind of historical... Something that was actually in history. I mean, whether you believe it or not, or whether maybe you even think that's silly yourself, but yet you realize that our culture and civilization very much has been built on those ideas. So that even our way of thinking tends to have been influenced by that pattern. Report an error in the passage at 42:34
43:04 So one night with Judaism and Christianity there was this tremendous problem with guilt and having sinned and being separated and as a historical thing where to the Buddhist it's merely a delusion of the mind in the moment. You see the grasping of a condition and being deluded by it in the moment. It's a defilement rather than a historical thing. Report an error in the passage at 43:04
43:37 So, I mean, this is just, I'm just sharing this with you as something to fundamentally, you know, why do we have these very, say, in European civilization, why do we have these tremendous kind of self-disparaging tendencies of guilt and this neurotic kind of attachments in our minds, even though we're, you know, in some ways we can see that it's not necessary, and yet it's so much A part of our whole cultural experience. Report an error in the passage at 43:37
44:13 And this is why I feel that while there's this interest now in practicing Buddhist meditation, because there's a real longing to get beyond that, to not be just caught in this convoluted patterns of thinking and guilt and fear and anxiety permeate. Modern materialism. Materialism itself is a reaction to the religious, to the religion. Report an error in the passage at 44:13
44:51 Science and materialism tend to take a stand originally, we're kind of opposed to Christianity. And there's this tendency to see one as being intelligent and rational and the other as being just mythical and and Report an error in the passage at 44:51
45:16 untrue. One is true, one isn't true. yet, just being scientific and materialistic also doesn't solve the problem, does it? We find we create more problems through that than we've had. Report an error in the passage at 45:16
45:46 If everything in this world is delusion, what is the reality? Is there any reality? The reality is to be realized each one for themselves. It's not like everything is a delusion. It's not because that's a view. But we tend to create delusions on everything. Like this thing, these flowers. That's not a delusion. It is what it is. It's the suchness of being as it is. Report an error in the passage at 45:46
46:30 But then, if I create a delusion onto this, then these are chrysanthemums, and I really like them, they're very beautiful, and I've got to see that if somebody waters it, because I'm going up to Scotland tonight, and I've got to, and these are my flowers, and a whole realm of proliferation comes out onto it. Report an error in the passage at 46:30
46:57 You see, well, there I am. I like it or don't like it. That's something on this. If it's something emotive, like somebody, say, insults me, and then I get angry, how dare you? Actually, the insult is what it is. And if the mind is open and receptive... Report an error in the passage at 46:57
47:39 anything in this world is delusion, is the reality? Is there any reality? The reality is to be realized each one for themselves. It's not like everything is a delusion. It's not because that's a view. But we tend to create delusions onto everything. Like this thing, these flowers. That's not a delusion. It is what it is. It's the suchness of being as it is. Report an error in the passage at 47:39
48:20 But then, if I create a delusion onto this, then these are chrysanthemums, and I really like them, they're very beautiful, and I've got to see that if somebody waters it, because I'm going up to Scotland tonight, and I've got to, and these are my flowers, and a whole realm of proliferation comes out onto it, you see. Report an error in the passage at 48:20
48:51 Well, whether I like it or don't like it, that's just something on there. If it's something emotive, like somebody, say, insults me, and then I get angry, how dare you? Actually, the insult is what it is. And if the mind is open and receptive, it hears and knows it for what it is, but doesn't Doesn't add anything to it. So things are as they are and therefore there's no delusion created about them. Report an error in the passage at 48:51
49:30 And this is where the Buddhist teaching is emphasis is on what is subject to rising and subject to ceasing. It's the basic pattern of the conditioned realm beginning and ending. And that doesn't mean that they're They're not delusions in themselves, but they are conditions. And they're only conventionally chrysanthemums. These flowers don't come out and say, we're chrysanthemums, do they? Report an error in the passage at 49:30
50:04 We put that onto them. I'm sure that no chrysanthemum has ever told us that it is that. It's as it is. But we put that onto it. And in Thailand they probably call it something else. Report an error in the passage at 50:04
50:21 Venus clock, we perceive this as a clock. If you contemplate, then you say just with your eyes, you're looking at it, it is what it is. There's consciousness, in other words there's visual contact and consciousness there. Then as you, as there's just a consciousness of this, Then the perception of clock arises. This is a clock. Or this is my clock. Or this is, I like this clock, I don't like this clock. Report an error in the passage at 50:21
51:03 Or the time is four o 'clock. But actually, this is only what it is. It doesn't say, I am a clock and I'm telling you it's four o 'clock. And I'm your clock, I'm somebody else's clock. Or I'm a beautiful clock. Report an error in the passage at 51:03
51:36 reality but actually they're not real they're merely conventional realities so the perception of Clark say this is a clock is a convention we can use Report an error in the passage at 51:36
51:53 then as a meditation If you're contemplating it, then you're saying it is only what it is, as is. And then we have a perspective for our language, for concepts, for all of this that we tend to give a lot more, we regard as real rather than merely conventions that we have. Report an error in the passage at 51:53
52:15 Say, for example, just in regards to male and female. These are kind of can be very For issues these days, isn't it, about women's rights and men, male chauvinism and men and women and so forth, has been a real problem. Women are like this and men are like that and these are maybe something we produce onto it, but actually these are what they are. Report an error in the passage at 52:15
52:49 We call this a man, Or a woman, that's a convention that we impose upon on a body. But the bodies are what they are. You see, so then when we come from that, that reflectiveness of mind, it's like a mirror in which things are seen as reflections in a mirror rather than Giving more reality and more importance than they need have. So, as we realize that the body is as it is, then I can reflect that this body is a male body. Report an error in the passage at 52:49
53:39 I use the convention, say, of just masculinity to contemplate the feeling and the presence of this body as it is. But I hold on to it. If I If I'm coming from vanity or from ignorance, vanity and ignorance, then I tend to take it all very quickly. I am a man and therefore I create that there's men and then there's women. It's kind of ultimate reality. Report an error in the passage at 53:39
54:15 And that I am permanently a man all the time, assuming that I'm a man all the time. And that men should be like this. And we have all these perceptions of a cultural pattern, don't we, of what men should be, what women should be. And we believe this is reality. But actually these are conventions only. And therefore, and yet this is what wars and quarrels and all that are about. Report an error in the passage at 54:15
54:43 I used to walk through the country for it here, I think. The land here, it doesn't say, I'm England, does it? We say, you're English. But this land is just what it is. And then we're willing to say, we're English and we'll fight for England. This is our land. But actually this land is only what it is. It doesn't say, I'm English land, I'm not French land, or anything like this. Report an error in the passage at 54:43
55:15 It's just as is. And yet, how many roads have been fought over the name, who owns this piece? This belongs to me, and you can't come onto. And yet that is an imposition we put onto it, isn't it? We call this England. The land itself has no name for itself. It's as it is. And saying that the body... Now, reflecting in this way gives you the insight into just the conventional realities of culture, not to dismiss them or... Report an error in the passage at 55:15
55:53 Or to do away with them, but to recognize that they're only a convention to be used, and only relatively true, and not absolutely true. And when you see that, then you don't tend to create problems. You don't feel that, you know, if somebody insults, like I get insulted, do that sometimes, because I look funny. Report an error in the passage at 55:53
56:24 So I'm going to London and somebody yells, skinhead. Now if I'm taking it personally, I think, how dare you call me, how dare you yell at me? And, you know, one can feel quite angry or averse at being viewed as. If I'm in a mood of being a person and vanity and the personal view is operating, then as dhamma, as those things are, then It's just as if somebody yells skinhead and that's all that happens. Somebody yells skinhead. Nothing to the point of making anything else his problem. Report an error in the passage at 56:24
57:10 In my mind. Report an error in the passage at 57:10
57:21 How much of the melodramas in our life are just from not realizing that basic truth and then we create all this anger and bitterness and so forth. Report an error in the passage at 57:21
57:38 Over just the conventions that are nothing more than just what they are in that moment. But you see, the human predicament is that we have this memory. Report an error in the passage at 57:38
57:52 So this means that what happens if it, say, I can remember what, say, my memory tends to work because you remember the best in the world. Like if you remember ten years ago, you don't remember what you had for lunch. On the 7th of August, unless it was poisoned, it was extraordinarily delicious. Report an error in the passage at 57:52
58:24 So delicious that you'd remember it for 10 years. But when you remember it, maybe when you failed the examination or when your husband left you or when you caught a disease or something like that, then you remember. Report an error in the passage at 58:24
58:44 Or some great success. When you were awarded a prize or some very lovely experience. So that we remember this and especially the bad things we can carry for a lifetime. Report an error in the passage at 58:44
59:00 Like how many of you do have memories of say unfortunate or horrible experiences in childhood that you still make you bitter and angry when you remember them now. Even though that was years ago. One can do that. Because of our ability to have this retentive memory. But having a memory is a great gift actually, but we tend to misuse it. Report an error in the passage at 59:00
59:30 Out of this ignorance, then we hold on to things with memory and take it personally. Like with using memory, our ability to remember as practice is a way of reminding ourselves. Our refuge in Buddha, Dhamma, Saṅgha, we remember that. Report an error in the passage at 59:30
59:53 Like in the monastery, we remember that all the time. Whenever we come in front of the Buddha images or do the morning, evening chanting, it's always this remembering. I take refuge in the Buddha, I take refuge in the Tama, I take refuge in the Saṅgha. That's the skillful use of remembering. But if I come in here and say, oh, that person did that to me when I was ten years old. Report an error in the passage at 59:53
1:00:20 And I get down, I do a perfunctory bow to the Buddha all the time, you know. I can never forgive that person for having said that to me when I was 10 years old. And then, because we won't memorize the chanting, it goes, yo, so, ba, ba, ba, ra, ha, na, na, na. The person did that to me 10 years ago. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:20
1:00:42 And so I can be going through the whole evening chanting and feeling increasingly more angry. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:42
1:00:51 And that's an unskillful use of memory, isn't it? I mean, I'm just... indulging in this memory. And if I'm remembering the refuge in Buddha Dhamma Saṅgha, then that gives you this sense of being mindful, remembered, to really observe things as they are, to open yourself up to trust in what you're doing, to contemplate the way things are, and to live a virtuous life. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:51
1:01:26 And that's a skillful use of our memory. And the rest of you can just let go. That's just a memory. When I was ten years old, he did that to me, and what arises ceases. It's just what it is. And not to make any... not to dwell on it. Or not to suppress it either. You're not saying, oh, I shouldn't think like that. And rejecting it. But you're actually... Report an error in the passage at 1:01:26
1:01:55 It's observing that this is all that it really is. When I was ten years old, this person did this to me. That's a memory now. It arises and ceases. So you're seeing it for exactly what it is. And then you're letting it go. You're not getting rid of it. And then it ceases. It's natural because it's impermanent. And it's not self. It's anattā. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:55
1:02:20 Then it ceases. It doesn't mean that you never remember it anymore, but you don't make any problems about the memory of it. It's not a deluding, it's not memory that's deluding you. Are Report an error in the passage at 1:02:20
1:02:38 you saying that unjustifiable criticism should also un-ignore it? Report an error in the passage at 1:02:38
1:02:48 I try to use those situations for practice. Because I see that life is like this, like society is this way. Like some people are going to praise you, some people are going to criticize you. And, I mean, I like praise and I don't like to be criticized as a person. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:48
1:03:13 Praise is very nice, and criticism isn't. But then, as dharma, both are of equal value. So that, you know, as you contemplate it more, like when people praise me, rather than just getting carried away, And delighting in being praised, I look at my feeling, you know, just accepting it, but not adding anything to it, recognizing it. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:13
1:03:43 So that the praise is appreciated, if it's genuine praise, but it's not, it's not, there's not nothing made of it in my mind. And the same with criticism. If somebody blames me for something unfairly, or sometimes it's like feedback people criticize you it's you can learn from it sometimes you really learn about yourself by what people say about you sometimes you can't see it's hard to to understand how you affecting others unless they tell you so then i i listen and you can tell whether it's a fair criticism or it's just um being nasty but in that way there's a wisdom Mindfulness operating. If it's just nasty, silly blame, well then, you just let it go. It's just their problem. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:43
1:04:43 They're having a problem about it. And if there's something you can do to clarify, then you do so. If there's nothing, you just have to leave it as it is. Then the criticisms, the fair criticisms, then you even welcome, because then you can learn how to be more sensitive, or you learn how to, say, Understand the people around you better by how you're affecting them and how they see you and how you're coming across. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:43
1:05:18 You can only know through their telling you. And then through that, then you can, like if you find certain ways of talking or presenting yourself, you can kind of change it if it's very unpleasant for people or Or very insensitive to them. If it's just something you can't help, then they just have to accept it. I Report an error in the passage at 1:05:18
1:05:52 mean, trying to please everyone is another problem. You know, but you can't... You learn from life. Like in a community where you're living with many people, it's... I've not found it all that easy, actually. I prefer living by myself. I like to be a hermit. Because then life is just so simple and easy as a hermit. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:52
1:06:24 All by yourself and you can have a lot of tranquility. But in a community life, there's a lot of impingement on you. Especially if you're in a position I'm in where you're always a kind of sinful figure. So that people are reacting to you a lot, and there's a lot of things that you're responsible for, and all kinds of duties, and people expecting all kinds of things from you. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:24
1:07:05 Now if you're taking it personally, as a personal thing, then it becomes burdensome. It becomes conceited, arrogant, tyrannical, And it becomes burdensome. But if it's a reflection on dharma, then you appreciate it. Because you're using it as, and that's where this saṅgha, this refuge in saṅgha is so important for us. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:05
1:07:34 Because being in saṅgha, then it takes away, it is a reflection for any kind of personal impositions one is making. Taking everything personally, making it into a personal thing, being a monk or being a senior monk or being a teacher, all this as a personal thing, you're reflecting that as saṅgha and you're seeing that you can let go of the adding the personal things onto it, to these conventions. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:34
1:08:08 So then you're much more clear about how to work within the conventions of being a teacher, being a senior monk, being a habit. Without it being a burden or taking it personally or it becoming an arrogant position or posture that one has adopted. Why do you want to teach people? Because people want to know. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:08
1:08:44 As a Buddhist monk, you see, you can't teach unless you ask. And this is one of the disciplinary rules. I couldn't go up to you and just say, you should become a Buddhist. But if you come and say, would you tell me about Buddhism? Or you say, what are you anyway? What do you believe in? Then I can tell you. When I came to England, it was on an invitation. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:44
1:09:23 So I was invited here by English Buddhists. Because I would never come here. Otherwise, if no one had invited me. And this way, then you're always, you're not a missionary, you're not proselytizing, you're not trying to convert anyone. But you're always making yourself available for those who come and ask or are interested in what you're doing. Then the idea of the bhikkhu or the Buddhist monk was to live in a way that They arouse the faith in the lay community. So they think, oh, that is an inspiring person or that is something that lay people would find attractive and interesting and inspiring for them. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:23
1:10:22 So that means you have to live in a moral way and live in a way that they're saying good people would respect. Then Then they come and ask you, what do you believe in? Why do you shave your head? Then you can tell them. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:22
1:10:43 So then it's always this asking and inquiring rather than me trying to convert you or convince you of anything. Well, who's ever interested? Bad people are interested. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:43
1:11:06 Because They're interested. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:06
1:11:08 Whoever would be, whoever, you know, comes and asks, I'm quite willing to talk to. And then a place like this is one thing I think, one thing Buddhists, say a Buddhist monk can do this. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:08
1:11:31 For example, here in Britain, where it's not a Buddhist country, and it has no real long tradition of Buddhism, And so people say, well, what good are Buddhist monks? Because oftentimes British people have the idea that we're just kind of parasites on the society or that we're just here to, you know, we go out begging and we're just loafers and we don't work. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:31
1:12:05 I get accused of things like this. And so what good are Buddhist monks? What are we doing for the peace? ...of the world and to stop the nuclear war and all of this. What good are you? And then these kind of questions come up quite often with the people because they see very much the European mind tends to think of goodness as something, you know, like going out and protesting or doing something very active. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:05
1:12:40 But then, as Buddhists know, it's because of our... The quality of our life, it's nature, it's spirit, it's more or less giving occasions to people, like this afternoon is an occasion, giving an opportunity to come here and to hear the dharma, to contemplate it. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:40
1:13:03 Right now, Fernando is teaching and started a 10-day meditation retreat, so he's giving an occasion for those people to go and practice meditation for ten days. And last week we had the family summer camp, which was giving an occasion for people. They didn't even have to be Buddhist. They could be anything. They wanted to come and bring their children to this family summer camp. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:03
1:13:34 It was a given occasion for them to meet and to do good things together and to To hear the dharma and to enjoy being with other people of similar interest. So we have these four monasteries in England and we've opened one in Switzerland recently and another one in New Zealand and one in Western Australia not to mention the ones in Thailand. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:34
1:14:07 And these are all kind of opportunities that we make available For people to come and hear the dharma, to practice and be encouraged, or to maybe just have some opportunity to talk about things that are mutually interesting to us, whether you're Buddhist or not. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:07
1:14:36 So this, I see, is in a society, the saṅgha is a very It's called a field of merit or it allows that which is noble and good to arise in people. Like with the monks and the nuns, many who I've known for years now, I see many of them had come very confused and deluded and unhappy. And through their Through their meditation of their life, their noble characters have been able to manifest. The goodness in their mind began to manifest. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:36
1:15:30 And all the guilt and fears and all that, they began to let go of. And Report an error in the passage at 1:15:30
1:15:40 without that, then of course, if there's nobody, if one is just caught in a kind of realm where there's no way out of this mass of suffering, Report an error in the passage at 1:15:40
1:15:52 Then it is a very depressing situation. But the fact is that there is the end of suffering. Can I emphasize that? Well, Report an error in the passage at 1:15:52
1:16:12 I think that we can call that a day, because I'm going up to Harlem this evening. And tomorrow they're having the opening ceremony for the new Buddhist temple in Samy Ling, a Tibetan center in Scotland. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:12
1:16:40 It's on the 8th of August, the 8th day of the 8th month, 1988. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:40
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Talk by Ajahn Sumedho. Original at Amaravati Buddhist Monastery via Internet Archive: https://archive.org/details/ajahn-sumedho-dhamma-talks. Licensed CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. Transcript generated automatically and may contain errors; the audio is the authoritative version.
Talks of Ajahn Sumedho, archived on Internet Archive. More from Amaravati