Ignorance as the Cause of Suffering

0:03 Cold, so this is not my normal voice. Report an error in the passage at 0:03 Highlight the passage at 0:03

0:13 So Report an error in the passage at 0:13 Highlight the passage at 0:13

0:23 the title for the talk is Ignorance as the Cause of Suffering. Report an error in the passage at 0:23 Highlight the passage at 0:23

0:35 It's not particularly an inspired title, but it gives you something to start with anyway. And the word ignorance that they use in Pāli is... Of course. Report an error in the passage at 0:35 Highlight the passage at 0:35

· · · silence, 1 minute

0:52 Avitya, which just means, really, in that context, not understanding the truth of the way it is, not knowing the dhamma. Report an error in the passage at 0:52 Highlight the passage at 0:52

1:08 So it doesn't mean like, because we're quite educated and we know a lot, we like to think of ourselves as knowledgeable people, but even with all the best degrees from If we still haven't awakened to the Dhamma, then we would still be considered ignorant, avicca. And Report an error in the passage at 1:08 Highlight the passage at 1:08

1:36 so this is to reflect upon, just to begin to see what I say, how it affects you. Because the real important emphasis is to encourage you to know what you are feeling. Report an error in the passage at 1:36 Highlight the passage at 1:36

1:57 To be able to notice what is being said, or whatever the tone of voice, this hoarse voice I have, or the temperature of the room, or how the different words, concepts affect you. Report an error in the passage at 1:57 Highlight the passage at 1:57

2:22 Some you can resonate with, others you might... might be Report an error in the passage at 2:22 Highlight the passage at 2:22

2:28 If you want to get up and go or whatever, but whatever you're feeling, the awakened state, say, is to, it's like this. You're aware of these kind of emotional reactions, these kind of habits that we have. Like words are very powerful. And how we use them does affect us. And so we often take our language for granted because it becomes so habitual and we assume that it's just a normal kind of ordinary thing for us. Report an error in the passage at 2:28 Highlight the passage at 2:28

3:20 When you begin to observe how, you know, like a tone of voice, an emphasis, A word said in a sarcastic tone or in a very urgent tone of voice or the same word could be said in different ways and we would feel differently accordingly. Report an error in the passage at 3:20 Highlight the passage at 3:20

3:46 So with awareness, awareness is our ability to observe this, this sense of witnessing and paying attention. And this, Report an error in the passage at 3:46 Highlight the passage at 3:46

4:06 of course, is what we call intuitive awareness. An intuitive moment embraces rather than divides. A rational moment divides everything. When you try to analyze and rationalize and think your way through life, you're always caught in some kind of division in your mind. You always see things in terms of the subject-object and in weighing the qualities or the values of this is right or wrong, good or bad. Report an error in the passage at 4:06 Highlight the passage at 4:06

4:43 But in intuitive awareness, this is our ability to be attentive, fully conscious, fully aware. And we stop there. We're not trying to judge it. Report an error in the passage at 4:43 Highlight the passage at 4:43

5:03 So this does take certain determination and a certain act of faith or trust to be able to develop in this way because we're very much conditioned for the other way. It's like concepts of right and wrong. Report an error in the passage at 5:03 Highlight the passage at 5:03

5:30 We can get very self-righteous and very indignant because something's wrong and it shouldn't be. So we start adding something. We start getting on our high horse. We've got to do something. We've got to make this right. We can't let them get away with it. We build up a lot of steam. In our minds by dwelling on that this wrong shouldn't be. Things should be right. Or here in the UK, the ideal of fairness is very strong. Report an error in the passage at 5:30 Highlight the passage at 5:30

6:15 Everything should, people should be fair. And we want this sense of things being just and fair. And when they aren't, then we know that's not right. It's wrong. Report an error in the passage at 6:15 Highlight the passage at 6:15

6:30 Now this isn't ignoring or, you know, I'm not saying, I'm not recommending that we don't do anything if something's wrong to make it right. But what I'm encouraging is awakening to the power of these particular perceptions. Otherwise we're just caught into them. We just, you know, we get lost in them and we oftentimes act in very foolish ways. Report an error in the passage at 6:30 Highlight the passage at 6:30

6:57 And say things that increase the problem, increase the difficulties, like self-righteousness can be based on that which is right. But because of our attachment to that view, whenever we speak from a self-righteous attitude, we tend to alienate the person. Report an error in the passage at 6:57 Highlight the passage at 6:57

7:27 We tend to make things worse. All of you who are parents probably know this. You see your children doing things wrong and then you want to correct them. And then they end up deliberately doing everything wrong, rebelling. Because what you want may be right, but the demand, the kind of arrogance of that position, Report an error in the passage at 7:27 Highlight the passage at 7:27

7:57 The self-righteousness of the position is felt and it tends to, at least for me, I can understand it when somebody comes at me with that attitude. It brings up my rebellious streak. And it's, you know, because it is, well you can call it patronizing. I know what's right and you don't. And it isn't inviting anyone to open or consider, but it's more or less telling you what you should be doing. Report an error in the passage at 7:57 Highlight the passage at 7:57

8:36 And, of course, it was like saying morality and, you know, you must keep the moral precepts and you should be kind to all creatures and you should be honest and generous and you should be responsible for your own actions. And on and on like this, and these are all, say, right. That's right, that's the way it should be. But when we come from this position of righteousness, then, of course, we hear the words, but what we feel psychically is something else. Report an error in the passage at 8:36 Highlight the passage at 8:36

9:22 We're not being respected, we're not being invited, we're not being... We're just being preached at or told or ordered or commanded. So then we feel a sense of being diminished and of being not respected properly. Report an error in the passage at 9:22 Highlight the passage at 9:22

9:48 In religions, of course, we easily go into these modes. We can get very kind of, you know, because we are dealing with things like morality. Report an error in the passage at 9:48 Highlight the passage at 9:48

9:59 and goodness and virtue and these can be very inspiring, very beautiful perceptions. But then what the Buddha was pointing to as the cause of suffering is pointing very directly to ignorance and then attachment. Report an error in the passage at 9:59 Highlight the passage at 9:59

10:21 So you can be very much right on the level of we should be honest. That's right. Everybody should be honest. We shouldn't tell lies. That's right. And then, because that's right, then we attach to it out of ignorance. Meaning, we don't do it intentionally, but we attach to this view that everyone should be honest. Report an error in the passage at 10:21 Highlight the passage at 10:21

10:51 And so, then, out of ignorance, then we react when we feel somebody's not being honest. Or we can be... turn it inward on ourselves, self-critical, because maybe we can't be in that pure state of honesty as high and as pure as we would like to be, because some people feel even guilty about somebody saying, how do you like my new suit? Report an error in the passage at 10:51 Highlight the passage at 10:51

11:23 if you're honest, you say, I don't like it. Report an error in the passage at 11:23 Highlight the passage at 11:23

11:28 Ha, ha, ha. And then you realize you've hurt somebody's feelings. Report an error in the passage at 11:28 Highlight the passage at 11:28

11:36 And so that kind of honesty is based on very much an attachment to an ideal of what's right, rather than, say, trusting in a more intuitive sense of picking up the other things, the things that aren't said or the things that aren't being asked. Because intuition... Intuitive awareness includes, it gives us space and perspective to operate and not just be caught in these linear reactions. Report an error in the passage at 11:36 Highlight the passage at 11:36

12:10 So Report an error in the passage at 12:10 Highlight the passage at 12:10

12:17 like these new kind of modern high-tech, what do you call these, cyber-based type beings they create. You know, you can kind of program into... ...into right and wrong reactions. These are like a program you can create. So if you say whatever, you develop a certain emotional reaction to certain words. Report an error in the passage at 12:17 Highlight the passage at 12:17

12:52 So like I remember during the Thatcher years, I'd say, now send loving kindness to Mrs. Thatcher, and some people would freeze. Report an error in the passage at 12:52 Highlight the passage at 12:52

13:05 Because the word Thatcher was a push the button and then you get this paralyzed effect. Report an error in the passage at 13:05 Highlight the passage at 13:05

13:19 That's a conditioning, isn't it? We're conditioned to do that. So we learn to react to various impingements. Like racism is a conditioned reaction. So you kind of... the fact. Report an error in the passage at 13:19 Highlight the passage at 13:19

13:38 You know, you get these kind of racist attitudes and, you know, it's out of ignorance and then you operate accordingly. So you see somebody of a different race and you react. You don't contemplate this reaction. You're merely caught in the program that you've acquired. Or any of these things, whether it's ethnic identities or gender identities or class. Report an error in the passage at 13:38 Highlight the passage at 13:38

14:09 Here in England, a lot of identity with belonging to classes that in America we don't have. Report an error in the passage at 14:09 Highlight the passage at 14:09

14:21 The American middle class includes everybody. Report an error in the passage at 14:21 Highlight the passage at 14:21

14:28 But here in Britain, you have upper, middle, middle, middle, lower middle. Middle class has to be designated. don't know. Report an error in the passage at 14:28 Highlight the passage at 14:28

14:44 Somebody called Buddhism in Britain the upper middle way. Report an error in the passage at 14:44 Highlight the passage at 14:44

14:54 So Report an error in the passage at 14:54 Highlight the passage at 14:54

15:06 like even our identities that we take for granted are conditioned into us. So with getting outside this condition, how do we do it? How can we, what can we trust? What can we actually, how can we develop our conscious experience of life that is beyond? the conditions that we've acquired and of course this is the enlightened mind or the enlightened awareness and this is where the Buddha emphasized this word mindfulness sati sampacanya the intuitive embracing awareness in the present that is before we start thinking before we start reacting It's a natural state of conscious being that is non-personal and has not any kind of quality that we can claim in any personal way. Report an error in the passage at 15:06 Highlight the passage at 15:06

16:13 And of course this is going against the cultural conditioning where we're very much identified with the sense of our own unique sense of a self, a soul, a separateness, a separate being. Report an error in the passage at 16:13 Highlight the passage at 16:13

16:31 And this is how it seems when we think according to, in this way, through just trying to analyze and figure it out. We endlessly create these divisions. So there's always this right and wrong, good or bad, what should or what shouldn't be. Report an error in the passage at 16:31 Highlight the passage at 16:31

16:53 And what we don't, aren't encouraged, most of us in our early life, people didn't. There was not any encouragement in my... past toward awareness. The whole emphasis of the culture that I'm from was trying to improve yourself, trying to get the best, very competitive, a sense of comparing yourself with ideals. Report an error in the passage at 16:53 Highlight the passage at 16:53

17:24 The idea of Americans, we want to be the best, and you're always trying to be the biggest and the best. I've got to be the biggest. Report an error in the passage at 17:24 Highlight the passage at 17:24

17:37 I'm not here, though. Monk's bigger than I am now. But in my generation, I was always the tallest in the class. That's an accomplishment. Report an error in the passage at 17:37 Highlight the passage at 17:37

17:53 And so this sense of always having to, you know, I'm not good enough the way I am. I have to do something. There's always this sense of having to improve, make yourself better, be a credit to your family. Report an error in the passage at 17:53 Highlight the passage at 17:53

18:15 Always, you know, and you're given these values, moral values that are right, but then you're always, you're given this impression that you should always be this way and in every way possible. So even your thinking process, you judge yourself because your thoughts aren't always up to that level of kind of high level of integrity. Report an error in the passage at 18:15 Highlight the passage at 18:15

18:41 Because you can have mean and nasty thoughts, dirty thoughts, low kind of thoughts, or feel anger or jealousy or fear. And then the inner tyrant comes in and says, you shouldn't, you know, this is wrong, you shouldn't think these thoughts, you shouldn't feel this way. Report an error in the passage at 18:41 Highlight the passage at 18:41

19:03 So the endless kind of anxiety around what we're actually thinking or feeling. We can grow up to be afraid of anger, especially one's own anger, so that we develop a way of avoiding situations that make us angry. We manage to control things to a level that we can get by in the system. Report an error in the passage at 19:03 Highlight the passage at 19:03

19:40 But in the process, there's this level of anxiety that hangs around us and worry because as much as we might be in control at times, other times we lose control. And that's probably one of the most frightening experiences or possibilities for all of us when you think of it, is losing control, having a nervous breakdown, making a fool of yourself. Report an error in the passage at 19:40 Highlight the passage at 19:40

20:08 yourself. Report an error in the passage at 20:08 Highlight the passage at 20:08

20:11 You know, being caught in a situation that you're humiliated and despised, and these are, you know, on the personal level, very frightening possibilities and realities for many of us during our lifetime. Report an error in the passage at 20:11 Highlight the passage at 20:11

20:30 So we do get wounded by life, especially, you know, when you're a child. The realities of childhood aren't as kind of... Report an error in the passage at 20:30 Highlight the passage at 20:30

20:54 my niece, I know, has suffered enormously in her years because she's dyslexic. didn't really know anything about it then in California, and from a very kind of... Ajahn Sumedho is a high-attained family. Her father is a university dean of a business school in a university. So they were always kind of taking for granted that just learning to read was just a normal kind of ability. Report an error in the passage at 20:54 Highlight the passage at 20:54

21:31 And yet she could never read properly. Remember before I went overseas in 1963, She was in a terrible state, a little girl that was desperately trying to read, but the way she would see things was so different, and nobody understood what it was. And then, of course, she was persecuted in the school as being stupid, because the intelligent ones learned to read, no problem. Report an error in the passage at 21:31 Highlight the passage at 21:31

22:08 They did eventually find out, but the damage had been done by that time, you know, a sense of your inability to read like everyone else. You take very badly, and it's a program that you can hold on to for your whole life if you have no opportunities to see through it. Report an error in the passage at 22:08 Highlight the passage at 22:08

22:34 Well, that's just one example, but in other ways... You know, our sense of our self-worth is very much conditioned into us through the competitive values of modern society. Report an error in the passage at 22:34 Highlight the passage at 22:34

22:54 So then the suffering, the ignorance that is the cause of suffering, and then the desires that come out of that ignorance, and the attachment to those desires. This attachment then means more or less just the The unquestioning way that we follow these reactions, until we start examining or witnessing or observing ourselves, we tend to just be caught in the program that we've acquired, and sometimes unquestioningly. Report an error in the passage at 22:54 Highlight the passage at 22:54

23:31 And we can have a whole kind of distorted view of ourselves and the world that we live in because of that, something that is a cause of great... anguish and bewilderment to oneself and to family, friends. Report an error in the passage at 23:31 Highlight the passage at 23:31

23:53 Meditation is not a competitive engagement. engagement we were not there to to compete uh... with We're here to really encourage an awakened state and an environment where you're not put in a competitive or self-conscious situation. Report an error in the passage at 23:53 Highlight the passage at 23:53

24:33 And then through that, as you begin to relax and open and watch and trust more and more, then these You begin to have perspective and realize the conditioning of your mind is just that. It's not really you. It's not yours. Whatever you think you are or believe you are, you're not that. Report an error in the passage at 24:33 Highlight the passage at 24:33

25:09 Beliefs and thoughts are conditions that arise and cease. Report an error in the passage at 25:09 Highlight the passage at 25:09

25:16 So I remember investigating just the assumption that I entered the monastic life with years ago was that I was somebody who was very ignorant and needed to do something in order to become enlightened. Report an error in the passage at 25:16 Highlight the passage at 25:16

25:37 And that seemed to be an honest recognition of my state at that time. So, and I didn't question it. So I started, I remember, started meditating in Thailand with this basic assumption, I am somebody that has a lot of problems, emotional difficulties, so forth, and I need to practice meditation in order to become enlightened in the future. Report an error in the passage at 25:37 Highlight the passage at 25:37

26:08 And this was what I am this screwed up person that needs to... get unscrewed somehow. I hope I can do it before I die, sometime in the future. And then the fear, maybe I can't, maybe I'm one of those hopeless cases. There's always this fear that maybe other people can do it, but I can't. Report an error in the passage at 26:08 Highlight the passage at 26:08

27:08 When I started meditating, I wanted to prove to the teacher that I could meditate. One of my practices was to look good in front of the teacher. Report an error in the passage at 27:08 Highlight the passage at 27:08

27:26 That's how I was programmed, isn't it? That's my program. Because I couldn't even practice meditation without thinking of it as another thing that I have to do in order to prove myself in some way. Report an error in the passage at 27:26 Highlight the passage at 27:26

27:43 Because the basic assumption, I am this body, this person, that I was very critical of, because I didn't like myself very much. I was very self-critical and saw myself in very negative, critical ways. And so it was obvious that if I'm like this, I shouldn't be. I should be different. Be the way I am and I've got to try to change it in some way. Report an error in the passage at 27:43 Highlight the passage at 27:43

28:22 Now the word mindfulness at first baffled me because I don't remember really using that word very much before I started meditating. Report an error in the passage at 28:22 Highlight the passage at 28:22

28:35 And I would get it confused with samādhi or concentration. So these two, because they use these words together, satta, Sati and samādhi, mindfulness and concentration. And oftentimes, and the technique that I developed in the beginning was a very concentrated style. You know, you did everything very slowly. And when you walked, you had to notice each movement of your foot and everything had to be quite deliberate and you had to note your intention. Report an error in the passage at 28:35 Highlight the passage at 28:35

29:15 And so... At first the attitude was of you've got, you know, in order to be mindful you've got to do everything very slowly. But then I noticed that I could get very concentrated, but it didn't necessarily, you know, it sometimes made me very unaware of other things. I was so concentrated on my feet that I would not notice anything else. Report an error in the passage at 29:15 Highlight the passage at 29:15

29:46 I remember one time just feeling really annoyed with this monastery where all these monks were doing this slow walk and we had a meeting in the afternoon. They said at 2 p.m. we'll all meet. So I was of the state of mind where they didn't expect me to walk slowly otherwise I'd never make it on time. So I... Report an error in the passage at 29:46 Highlight the passage at 29:46

30:16 I assumed it was all right to walk normally through the meditation hall, which I did, and I arrived on time. Then we spent the next hour waiting for all the others to come. Report an error in the passage at 30:16 Highlight the passage at 30:16

30:31 And they didn't even see us sitting there waiting. They were so concentrated into their own practice that they didn't have any awareness of the time or that they were keeping people waiting for them. or that they never seem to consider this might be very annoying for somebody, you know, to keep people waiting for an hour while they do this. Report an error in the passage at 30:31 Highlight the passage at 30:31

31:00 If they wanted to do that, they should have started out an hour before. they didn't think of that, they weren't mindful enough to figure that out. I don't particularly like this. Even though it did have... certain good, you know, advantages in doing it. But in terms of mindfulness, I thought, could you, if you had to catch a bus, could you run mindfully? Report an error in the passage at 31:00 Highlight the passage at 31:00

31:49 And then I began to consider That mindfulness isn't, if it is through mindfulness that we're liberated, then it can't be something that depends on something else. It's the natural ability we have to be present, no matter what the conditions might be, whether internally or externally. Report an error in the passage at 31:49 Highlight the passage at 31:49

32:16 So then sati began to come alive for me because I began to see that was something that was a way of looking at life. When you're mindful, you're open, you're receptive to things, you're sensitive, you're allowing the world to impinge on you, whatever is present. And if you're caught in fear and reactivity towards the impingement that's coming to you, you're aware of that. You're aware of how you resist things or you feel threatened by certain things or conditions. Report an error in the passage at 32:16 Highlight the passage at 32:16

33:02 And so this awareness embraces the scene, the environment, the emotional reactions and everything that is here and now that we can... Be aware of. Report an error in the passage at 33:02 Highlight the passage at 33:02

33:23 Then when we try to think of it, then we divide it up again. You know, what should I be aware of first? And so then we, people want something, you know, clearly divided. They say, just open to the present. Some people find, how do you do that? How do you open to the present? Krishnamurti used to say, go out and just listen to the sound of the birds. Report an error in the passage at 33:23 Highlight the passage at 33:23

33:48 And these kind of poetic ways of Copyright © 2020 Mooji Media Ltd. All Rights Reserved. No part of this recording may be reproduced Report an error in the passage at 33:48 Highlight the passage at 33:48

34:22 Or, you should learn how to meditate, which is true. But what is your reaction to that? Can you be aware? Do you feel encouraged by that? Do you feel threatened by that? Just to know what you are feeling. And of course the attention then is an intention that embraces the moment, that includes. Report an error in the passage at 34:22 Highlight the passage at 34:22

34:51 You can be aware of subtle reactions that you usually don't notice if you're just caught into the reactions themselves. Report an error in the passage at 34:51 Highlight the passage at 34:51

35:08 In Thailand, for example, Luang Por Chah was very much teaching mindfulness through the monastic form. This was like a lifestyle. lifestyle, that forest Report an error in the passage at 35:08 Highlight the passage at 35:08

35:27 Forrest's monasticism. And so we have these disciplinary rules and these kind of precepts and guidelines for behavior and a lifestyle based on the ideals of the bhikkhu of mendicancy. So his whole approach seemed to be more integrated into a way of living, of kind of flowing with life as you're living it. Report an error in the passage at 35:27 Highlight the passage at 35:27

35:56 And I found that very useful because I did, before I met Ajahn Chah, I was very much committed to techniques and kind of controlled situations for practicing. You had ideals that you had, in order to practice meditation, you had to have this perfect environment. Report an error in the passage at 35:56 Highlight the passage at 35:56

36:17 And I remember when going to Wat Mapong, I was quite, at first, quite unhappy with it because we had to I came here to learn meditation and I didn't come here to sweep leaves and do these things, make robes. I didn't come to Thailand to learn how to sew. Report an error in the passage at 36:17 Highlight the passage at 36:17

36:46 I even learned how to crochet. I didn't ever learn how to crochet before. I didn't come to Thailand to learn how to crochet. before. Report an error in the passage at 36:46 Highlight the passage at 36:46

37:00 become a monk but the But Ajahn Chah's response was, you know, really, he would kind of laugh at me. And he was like a mirror, because actually he was a very mindful being. And what I mean by this was that he really is quite empty. You know, he wasn't, he seemed to be someone that... That wasn't caught in kind of obsessive thoughts or any kind of agendas or plans or plots or anything else. Report an error in the passage at 37:00 Highlight the passage at 37:00

37:40 He was what he is. He is what he is. The way he is. He's like that. And so he was to me in the early days seemed to be kind of very a sense of very at ease with himself. He seemed to be a human being that was That liked himself, that was at ease in being Ajahn Chah. And he didn't hate himself and he didn't seem to even meditate. Report an error in the passage at 37:40 Highlight the passage at 37:40

38:11 He didn't seem to be just flowing, moving. People come and talk and then he talked to them and then he seemed to be moving on a continuum rather than going from one thing to another. Report an error in the passage at 38:11 Highlight the passage at 38:11

38:29 And he wasn't into, you know, saying you have to do this and have to do that, but encouraging just the flow of life as a meditation. So I began to, after the first year there, the first year I didn't quite get it, but after that I began to increasingly appreciate it. Report an error in the passage at 38:29 Highlight the passage at 38:29

39:00 So learning to do that in... Now, in a monastic system, of course, you've got, you know, like here at Amaravati, you've got agreements that make life more simple, say, for monastics. So that we have, like, our disciplinary rules, our agreements on sīla and so forth, give us, and the simplicity of our life is such that That this is, in order to live in a monastery like this, you have to agree to live under these conditions. That's the part of the deal. Report an error in the passage at 39:00 Highlight the passage at 39:00

39:45 And so you do have a sense of supporting each other on that level, on the moral level especially. And where the problems arise in monastic life is usually on the emotional level. Because we all agree to live within the Then the restraint, limitations of the sīla. And that isn't all that difficult. The difficulties arise around emotional reactions and habits. Report an error in the passage at 39:45 Highlight the passage at 39:45

40:17 Our own personality, the personality conflicts. Because in a monastery like this you've got people who really want to be good, who are determined to be as good as they can be. Report an error in the passage at 40:17 Highlight the passage at 40:17

40:33 Who are, you know, quite eager to learn and to develop and to do all the right things. And yet, even within a community like that, there's so many personal conflicts because of just the way we attach to our own sense of, our own view of what's right or what should or shouldn't be. Report an error in the passage at 40:33 Highlight the passage at 40:33

41:00 We're very international too, so there's a lot of Report an error in the passage at 41:00 Highlight the passage at 41:00

41:29 the level of behavior and then on the level of Report an error in the passage at 41:29 Highlight the passage at 41:29

41:35 The goal for our life, the aim for our life is to awake, to be awake and aware and to learn rather than to try to control. Report an error in the passage at 41:35 Highlight the passage at 41:35

41:48 One of the problems in a structured community is one can easily become very controlling, wanting it to, kind of intimidating people, making them feel ashamed. ashamed themselves and endlessly kind of... Report an error in the passage at 41:48 Highlight the passage at 41:48

42:08 We can use moral precepts and Buddhist ideas in order to intimidate or shame people into obedience or good behavior but that's not what we praise or what we really value. It's not to try to bend everybody into the same mold, but to allow a situation where our own idiosyncratic behavior, our own unique kind of problems and personalities can be witnessed to, where we can get some perspective on the conditions, emotional, mental conditions that we have, that we're experiencing. Report an error in the passage at 42:08 Highlight the passage at 42:08

43:02 so in in them In a monastic community you've got, you know, different types of people. Some are very, you know, very positive about everything. And they are very, you know, they feel very inspired and very kind of committed and high-minded and idealistic and optimistic. And then others very negative. They've already determined they can't do it even when they start. Report an error in the passage at 43:02 Highlight the passage at 43:02

43:31 Or they see everything, they dwell on what's wrong in the monastery. They seem to look around and see what shouldn't be and dwell on that. Or they see it in themselves. Because a critical person is usually, you know, very, has a tyrannical mind. And so they see the things, the thoughts they shouldn't think, the emotions they shouldn't be feeling. Report an error in the passage at 43:31 Highlight the passage at 43:31

44:00 So in some of the reflections we have, I remember in Thailand they'd read every morning from this book where they talk about, you know, the ideal Buddhist monk. Report an error in the passage at 44:00 Highlight the passage at 44:00

44:14 And it all sounded, it was very inspiring, you know, these kind of superlative adjectives that were incredibly inspiring. But in terms of one's own experience, you know, one... One couldn't really identify with these kind of idealized bhikkhus what a good bhikkhu should be. But then the point wasn't to shame or to make us feel somehow intimidated by these high-minded ideals but to reflect on what we are feeling. Report an error in the passage at 44:14 Highlight the passage at 44:14

44:52 So this was a whole new way of looking at icons or ideals of a religious group. Report an error in the passage at 44:52 Highlight the passage at 44:52

45:06 There were always monks who were very eager to do everything. They'd learn very quickly and they'd try to perfect the style. They'd learn how to put their robes on so they looked good. They did all the right things and learned all the kind of manners and etiquette of monastic life very well. And, of course, you get a lot of praise. They say, oh, he's really a good monk. Look at him. He's only been in one year, but he can do all this and he does that. Report an error in the passage at 45:06 Highlight the passage at 45:06

45:41 Look at that other monk over there. And then they're the kind that never seem to quite catch on. And they don't seem to... Report an error in the passage at 45:41 Highlight the passage at 45:41

46:03 Because human nature is to kind of, you know, the ones that really do all the right things and look good and it gives you a sense of accomplishment, like being in the position I'm in, being abbot of a monastery. And the teacher and all that, you know, there's kind of the sense of pride in the organization when the monks all look good. The nuns, everybody looks good. Report an error in the passage at 46:03 Highlight the passage at 46:03

46:30 They say, this is, yes, this is a really good monastery. And then there are always some that don't look very good. And you can feel his annoyance going towards them. But the important thing that I'm pointing to is the awareness, not being the best. It doesn't mean that you shouldn't try to be the best, but that's not the point. Report an error in the passage at 46:30 Highlight the passage at 46:30

47:03 We're not here to re-condition ourselves into some kind of superlative monk or nun. You know, that you can hold up as a role model, an example for how everyone else should be. Report an error in the passage at 47:03 Highlight the passage at 47:03

47:23 In fact, they sometimes have these, they call them the holy fools, or the ones, the enlightened fools, that are enlightened, but they don't look like they're enlightened. Report an error in the passage at 47:23 Highlight the passage at 47:23

47:45 And sometimes these images we gravitate to and say, well, maybe I'm a holy fool. I'll settle for that. Immaculate image. Report an error in the passage at 47:45 Highlight the passage at 47:45

48:06 Living with Western monks especially, the competitiveness is very much ingrained in the psyche. Report an error in the passage at 48:06 Highlight the passage at 48:06

48:19 Like in a Thai monastery, you... You're part of a culture, so you have a lot in common on that level and assumptions and that that come from Buddhist philosophy, from Buddhism itself. Most of us had to learn through our own background, which tends to be very individualistic, very kind of Isolating, the sense of self is very strong, unique self, is a very powerful perception. Report an error in the passage at 48:19 Highlight the passage at 48:19

48:59 And I had to develop a sense of community because I didn't really have one before. Saṅgha, the sense of Saṅgha, because my conditioning was much more toward the expression of individuality and identity with this perception. Report an error in the passage at 48:59 Highlight the passage at 48:59

49:20 When we're using awareness then, this sati sampacanya, or encouraging this awakeness to life, then we can use whatever we are feeling. If we do feel like the fool or the idiot of the group or the... Report an error in the passage at 49:20 Highlight the passage at 49:20

49:48 The despised one or the stupid one, these are perceptions that we begin to awaken to. Or if we're the other way, we're very clever and very good at everything and we start looking down on others and criticizing others because they can't do it. Awaken to this, this sense of I'm better or I'm not as good as. Or then even the ideal of, We're all the same. That's a very high-minded idea. We're all the same. Report an error in the passage at 49:48 Highlight the passage at 49:48

50:27 And what we're doing then is beginning to realize consciousness before it's tainted with our reactions. Like if in this present moment you begin to just relax and open, Report an error in the passage at 50:27 Highlight the passage at 50:27

50:45 And be patient, because if you aren't used to doing that, then of course it can be a very, you know, you start, as soon as I say relax and open, how do you do that, what should I do next, am I doing it right, all these doubts will come up. But if you're just patient with your reactions, allow them, you know, don't try to control them, but just be patient with them, they start. Report an error in the passage at 50:45 Highlight the passage at 50:45

51:13 And more and more you begin to realize the dhamma, or the truth of the way it is. And it's interesting now to see with so many more people having practiced this way over the years, how many more have developed this awakened awareness. I think one of the most difficult things to get across is this sense of trusting because of our nature to doubt and to criticize. Report an error in the passage at 51:13 Highlight the passage at 51:13

52:00 It's very strong. To mistrust yourself because of the tendency to see yourself through negative perceptions. So what I encourage you to do then is to begin to Report an error in the passage at 52:00 Highlight the passage at 52:00

52:20 Just contemplate, you know, be, learn to, one thing is the word relax, trust, open, be receptive, just for its own sake, not for any reward. You know, if you're doing it in order to see the dharma, then be aware of that. Then you've got this idea, if I just relax and open. Then I'll see the dharma. Then you've got, you're still holding something, you know, that you want to attain from it. But if you're willing to even notice this, this desire to attain ultimate, ultimate truth, and let that go, let it be, it goes away. Report an error in the passage at 52:20 Highlight the passage at 52:20

53:06 More and more you begin to, to awaken to the natural state. So what the Buddha was pointing to, What is natural to us, rather than what is artificial. Like our personalities are artificial. Report an error in the passage at 53:06 Highlight the passage at 53:06

53:28 They're artifices. That's why they're deluded. If you attach to your personality, it's how you interpret experience. It's always going to distort your experience of life. And so we get depressed and we get... Report an error in the passage at 53:28 Highlight the passage at 53:28

53:49 anxious because the way we interpret experience is through these distortions so rather than these creating these endless artifices into the mind more and more you're letting go relaxing not trying to annihilate or get rid of but to allow what has arisen to to cease, the natural laws. Report an error in the passage at 53:49 Highlight the passage at 53:49

54:16 what remains? More and more you begin to recognize is consciousness, awareness and consciousness that has no personality. Report an error in the passage at 54:16 Highlight the passage at 54:16

54:32 But then when I say it doesn't have any personality, then some people are going to think, you mean I'll just be kind of a zombie or I will no longer be a very interesting person. I'll just sit there and I won't be able to relate. That's not it. It's not like the personality is, you know, we're not trying to get rid of the personality but to put it in perspective so that we're not limited by these very limited conditions that we attach to and identify with. Report an error in the passage at 54:32 Highlight the passage at 54:32

55:12 Like I am this messed up person that needs to practice in order to become... That's a perception I create. And if I attach to that as my... I am this person with these faults and I need to practice in order to become enlightened in the future. Report an error in the passage at 55:12 Highlight the passage at 55:12

55:50 if I just notice that this is assumption, I am this person. And when you begin to recognize it, you're creating this sense of I am this person. Report an error in the passage at 55:50 Highlight the passage at 55:50

56:13 That which is aware of I am this person, you Report an error in the passage at 56:13 Highlight the passage at 56:13

56:24 didn't create that. Report an error in the passage at 56:24 Highlight the passage at 56:24

56:27 That's natural, isn't it, to this moment? You don't create. You create the sense of I am this person. that Report an error in the passage at 56:27 Highlight the passage at 56:27

56:36 And so as you explore that, investigate that more and more, then you realize you don't need to create a personality or operate from these assumptions that you have about yourself. You're not limited to that view. You begin to really value and trust in just being aware of even nothing, of not having to know everything or... Report an error in the passage at 56:36 Highlight the passage at 56:36

57:07 Or figure everything out, but in just a simple, imminent act of attention and openness to our experience of life. Report an error in the passage at 57:07 Highlight the passage at 57:07

57:24 So that's enough for the tea that suddenly appeared. So I'll let you all go have your tea, and then in 20-25 minutes, those who want to, we can have further discussion. Report an error in the passage at 57:24 Highlight the passage at 57:24