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- 0:34
So this evening is the Magha Puja, one of the important observance days in Theravāda Buddhism. And I'll read to you so you'll know what it's all about. Let's see, the Magha Puja Day is the annual celebration of the Buddhists held on the full moon day of the third lunar month, February, in the Buddhist countries.
- 10:40
Seeing that all conditions are impermanent. Now that means all conditioned phenomena, all phenomena, no matter subtler growth, physical or mental, nama or rūpa, it is impermanent. And that's not something to grasp as an ideal. The thing that appealed to me about Buddha Dhamma was the fact it wasn't asking you to believe in things. There makes no demand on the level of grasping some basic concept. It's an encouragement to look and investigate reality or the here and now.
- 21:00
So this you have the insight, insight into the way it is. Now there's the unborn, uncreated. As I said, that's a statement of fact. At first when you think about it, you don't quite get it. Because it's a thought. So you think, what do you mean by the unborn, uncreated? And then you want to think about, you want me to tell you, you know, that it's this or that or, well, you know, some people say, well, it just, you know, it's the absence of the conditioned, of course, unconditioned.
- 27:28
Start out with mindfulness. It's this, it's awareness. Don't start out from me trying to get something, but being aware of that. If I feel I've got to get something, I can observe that feeling of I want to practice in order to attain. I can be aware of that. Or now you're probably going to go away.
Transcript
0:01 -murta-thabakawad-dur. Report an error in the passage at 0:01
0:09 bhagavato sammah sambhutasanam mo tasa bhagavato sammah Report an error in the passage at 0:09
0:27 APARU TADE SANGAMATASATAWARA ESOTAVANTABHAMUNJANTOSATAM So this evening is the Magha Puja, one of the important observance days in Theravāda Buddhism. Report an error in the passage at 0:27
0:49 And I'll read to you so you'll know what it's all about. Let's see, the Magha Puja Day is the annual celebration of the Buddhists held on the full moon day of the third lunar month, February, in the Buddhist countries. In Thailand, the ceremony of Magha Puja is performed to emphasize the significance of the Magha month. It was the period in which the Buddha constituted the main code of his instructions and which is universally Report an error in the passage at 0:49
1:28 Regarded as the heart of Buddhist teaching. The historical events preceding this period must be reviewed briefly. The Buddha delivered his first discourse to the five ascetics, namely Anya Kundanya, Vapa, Bhadia, Mahanama and Asaji, who when they heard the enlightened one were ordained becoming the five noble disciples. Report an error in the passage at 1:28
1:58 The Buddha then made a retreat at Isipatana in the deer park near Benares, and there he ordained Yasa, the son of an influential family who had approached the Buddha and had received instructions on the discourse concerning the fivefold principles, namely generosity, morality, happy life, renunciation, and benefit of ordination. Report an error in the passage at 1:58
2:25 He took as his refuge the Buddha, the Dhamma and the Saṅgha. Thus he entered into the monastic life. The order now increased to 60 in number. The Buddha urged the monks to journey in different directions and places to disseminate the law of the truth. Hence the first Buddhist mission began. The teaching of the awakened one was since spread to many people in many lands. Report an error in the passage at 2:25
2:55 The Buddha himself went to search at Rajagaha, went to preach at Rajagaha, the capital of Magadha state, and there three ascetics regarded as great teachers became Buddhist monks together with their disciples, and the reported number became 1,000. Report an error in the passage at 2:55
3:16 Vibhisar, the king of that state, became a Buddhist, taking the Triple Gem as his spiritual guide and supporting the Buddha. Buddha's mission. The king gave as a residence for the Buddha and his order a quiet and suitable place called the Weluwana Vihara, the bamboo grove. And this was the first Buddhist temple. Here many thousands of the citizens became Buddhists. And during the period when the Buddha was staying in Weluwana Vihara, a certain incident took place on the full moon day of the third lunar month. The bhikkhus, about 1,250 in number, who had been ordained by the Buddha himself and since then engaged in missionary activities, returned without prior notice to the great teacher to question him further about his teaching. Report an error in the passage at 3:16
4:13 Thus took place the great assembly of all the holy ones at Weluwanavihara where Buddha delivered the discourse on the main code of his teaching, which can be summarized thus, and which is the Awada Patimokkha. Patience, that is to say forbearance, is considered the supreme endeavor. All the Buddhists speak of Nibbāna as the highest goal. Report an error in the passage at 4:13
4:40 A bhikkhu who still does harm and violence to others is not a recluse at all. Do no evil. Do whatever is good, purify the mind. This is the teaching of the Buddhas. Non-abuse, harmlessness, restraint through the disciplinary code. This is the teaching of all the Buddhas. So that's called the Uvada Patimokkha. So this is a tradition. Report an error in the passage at 4:40
5:12 Theravāda Buddhism through the Pāli Canon then has been carried on from the time of the Buddha to the present. moment here and now due to this tradition that has managed to survive through 2,550 years. So we're benefiting from this at this moment because the teaching of the Buddha is still pertinent, still something that applies to the needs, problems. Report an error in the passage at 5:12
5:52 problems, of the present age. Report an error in the passage at 5:52
5:59 Forbearance or patience, if we don't have that, if we're not willing, the problems that most of us have had in meditation, in monastic life, have been through wanting to Report an error in the passage at 5:59
6:19 get rid of something we have that we don't want. And then there's a desire for sensory pleasure or sensory delight. So this is just notice and this is very clearly stated in the Four Noble Truths, the Second Noble Truths about the three kinds of desire. Report an error in the passage at 6:19
6:46 So contemplating this over the years, this will be my 42nd Vasa this year as a Bhikkhu and 43 if you count my first year as Samanera. Report an error in the passage at 6:46
7:00 That's a long period of time to forbear and to investigate these kind of desires, three desires, gamadhana, bhavadhana, vipavadhana. Report an error in the passage at 7:00
7:15 So the insight through this investigation is to let go of desire. When you see the suffering is caused through attachment to desire, then you have the insight to let go of desire, which is not... An annihilation or a destruction is merely a simple act of relinquishing, letting go, relaxing, putting down something that is causing me pain or suffering of some sort. Report an error in the passage at 7:15
7:51 So in my own experience with suffering over 42 years, this is, you know, just to, one can understand this, have insights in various stages. Report an error in the passage at 7:51
8:06 But then, of course, as one lives one's life, as you go on, then you have to deal with your karma, with what happens in the present moment. And so always using this Four Noble Truths teaching for this reflection. If I'm suffering, what am I attached to? Report an error in the passage at 8:06
8:36 What kind of desire am I attached to that makes me suffer or unhappy or discontented or dissatisfied? And so then asking myself that question, what is it that makes me discontented or angry or upset or restless or whatever? Report an error in the passage at 8:36
9:01 And then by investigating the attachment, wanting something, Maybe wanting something I don't have or not wanting things to be the way they are. Now many of us, you know, are from Western cultural conditioning. So we tend to operate from ideals, from ideas and opinions. And so just notice what it is to be attached to an ideal of how things should be. Report an error in the passage at 9:01
9:38 And then, of course, the realities of the present, we can only be discontented because life is not an ideal. Life is breathing, it's feeling, it's sitting, standing, walking, lying down, it's pleasure, pain, it's success and failure, it's happiness and suffering, old age, sickness, death, loss of the loved. Report an error in the passage at 9:38
10:09 Having to be with the unloved and all this is a reflection. This is what life is like in this sense realm that we're experiencing. It's not an ideal realm, but it is like this. And so the Buddha is pointing to the way it is. And that's called the way it is. It's the dharma, the truth of the way it is. And then the Buddha simplified everything by Seeing that all conditions are impermanent. Now that means all conditioned phenomena, all phenomena, no matter subtler growth, physical or mental, nama or rūpa, it is impermanent. Report an error in the passage at 10:09
10:55 And that's not something to grasp as an ideal. The thing that appealed to me about Buddha Dhamma was the fact it wasn't asking you to believe in things. There makes no demand on the level of grasping some basic concept. It's an encouragement to look and investigate reality or the here and now. Report an error in the passage at 10:55
11:22 So you have these conventions of five khandhas, six ayatanas, namarupa. All these are really, they're simplifications. When you get into Abhidhamma, it becomes more complicated. Or you get into just the complexities of Report an error in the passage at 11:22
12:06 is a million times more than what it is. Report an error in the passage at 12:06
12:13 This is what worldly dhammas do. They tend to, you know, just blind us with our own desires and fears and opinions and views. So then in Vipassanā meditation, instead of, you're not trying to run away from any of this, but put it in perspective. All conditions are impermanent. Well, that simplifies a lot. Report an error in the passage at 12:13
12:42 Because whether it's refined or coarse, good or bad, right or wrong, conditioned phenomena, whether it's gross or subtle, it has this one characteristic that is common to all conditions, is impermanent, or nicca. Report an error in the passage at 12:42
13:02 Well, if you really appreciate that, if you really, you know, pursue that, Investigate, not believe it, go around quoting the scripture, but actually putting it into, you know, it's just seeing your own feeling or thought or emotion, whether it's growth or subtle, good or bad, right or wrong. It's like that which is aware of impermanence. Now then we're getting to the source, awareness of impermanence. Report an error in the passage at 13:02
13:42 Can impermanent condition be aware of itself? Can impermanence be aware of impermanence? Ask yourself. So what is it that can be aware of impermanence? What is it that is aware of impermanence? That's aware of a feeling of happiness or sadness, contentment or discontentment. Report an error in the passage at 13:42
14:11 So that is why mindfulness is the only possibility. That any of us have for liberation. It's through recognizing, valuing this reality of awareness in which we see the conditioned realm for what it really is. The truth of the way it is. And of course in Buddhist terms it's the Nicha Dukanata. The very nature of conditioned phenomena is dukkha. Report an error in the passage at 14:11
14:45 It's unsatisfactory. Meaning that what arises ceases. When you want something that arises not to cease, then you create suffering. If you're just aware of what arises and ceases and you allow things to be what they are, then you don't suffer. You don't create suffering. So that which is aware of suffering, aware of conditioned phenomena, is the unconditioned. Report an error in the passage at 14:45
15:19 then there's Ati, Bikawe, Ajatang, Aputang, Akatang, Thankadang. chay thang bigaway abuwi sa ajat thang apu thang akadang asangkadang yi thang jah dasa apu dasa kadasa sangkadasa ni saranang panya yi tha. So that's the perfect perspective. Now you're probably wondering what that is. Report an error in the passage at 15:19
15:49 In the Udana, this is in the Pāli Canon. There the unborn dang, ati. Ati means there is, bhikkhus, the unborn, ajat dang. Report an error in the passage at 15:49
16:09 uncreated Report an error in the passage at 16:09
16:17 Now that's a statement of fact. That's not a metaphysical theory. Now just, you know, just contemplate. This is a The Buddha's stating a fact. He's not speculating. It's not metaphysical speculation about the ultimate meaning of life or the nature of things according to the thinking process of a human being. Report an error in the passage at 16:17
16:43 It's pointing to reality. And it's stated as a fact, isn't it? There is the unborn. So that is, therefore there is escape from the born. So the body's born, the five khandhas, they're all about what is born, six ayatanas, the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, mind, the sensory world, sensory consciousness, the emotional habits, the thought process, all Report an error in the passage at 16:43
17:24 that we see, hear, smell, taste, touch, think and feel, all sankharas are impermanent. Report an error in the passage at 17:24
17:34 That's the born, the created, the formed and the conditioned. There is an escape from the born. Now, ignorance, avicca, means we are totally identified with the born, the created, the formed, the conditioned. And that's what saṃsāra is. A total alignment with the conditioned. Identity bound and limited into the conditioned. Report an error in the passage at 17:34
18:06 So then what do we do? That's why there's suffering, why we suffer, why the world is the way it is. Why is there such unhappiness in a country like this, which has everything? Report an error in the passage at 18:06
18:23 Why can't just having lots of money and comfort and success, why are we still unhappy and discontented? What is it about the human condition that we can't be content, that we're restless and egotistical, conceited, full of ourselves? Report an error in the passage at 18:23
18:49 You contemplate this, the conceit of being human. Then you have sakya-diti. This is a Pāli word for the ego or the sense of a separate self. Report an error in the passage at 18:49
19:08 body, my identity, with my feelings and thoughts, opinions and views, memories. this is Sakyaditi. And yet I can bind myself to Sakyaditi. Report an error in the passage at 19:08
19:24 when I bind myself to my thakiridhi, I become like that. Report an error in the passage at 19:24
19:30 become that kind of person when I blindly attach to Sakyadity. So then I'm a helpless victim of my conditioning. Because my sakya-diti is such that when people praise me, I'm happy. When people criticize me, I'm angry. When I'm successful, I feel better than when I feel like a failure. Report an error in the passage at 19:30
19:59 I want to be recognized and appreciated, and I don't like being looked down on and despised. And I want to be happy. And I don't want to be miserable. So Sakyaditi is that. Report an error in the passage at 19:59
20:20 It's always wanting and complaining, grumbling, blaming, whinging. Report an error in the passage at 20:20
20:35 So we do that. We live in this realm of our own misery that we create. Report an error in the passage at 20:35
20:44 So then when you see that, investigate that. I'm not going to do that anymore. There's no point in perpetuating ignorance and suffering if you see how not to do it. Report an error in the passage at 20:44
21:00 So this you have the insight, insight into the way it is. Now there's the unborn, uncreated. As I said, that's a statement of fact. At first when you think about it, you don't quite get it. Because it's a thought. So you think, what do you mean by the unborn, uncreated? And then you want to think about, you want me to tell you, you know, that it's this or that or, well, you know, some people say, well, it just, you know, it's the absence of the conditioned, of course, unconditioned. Report an error in the passage at 21:00
21:42 So we make truisms or speculations about what is the unborn, uncreated. created Unformed, unconditioned. But carrying it beyond the thinking process, because those are just words, unborn, uncreated, just words like any other word. But there is the unborn, uncreated. What is it now? What is it at this very moment? Report an error in the passage at 21:42
22:15 Now this is like self-inquiry. Well, if I try to think about it, I just get my mind in a tangle. You know, you give up because you can't imagine it. It's beyond imagination because it has no form. It's the unformed. Images are always forms, unformed. Report an error in the passage at 22:15
22:42 And so the unformed, when I stop thinking, it's this, this unformed. There's consciousness, there's awareness, there's wisdom. You can recognize the unborn as this. This is reality. And this reality then gives you perspective on the condition, the unborn, on the born, the created, the condition and the form. Report an error in the passage at 22:42
23:14 So that's why many of you don't get anywhere in your meditation because you're always operating from the conditioned, always operating, meditating, thinking, believing in the conditioned realm. Report an error in the passage at 23:14
23:30 And then trying to work always from the conditioned realm without seeing, without insight into the ultimate reality, the unconditioned. Report an error in the passage at 23:30
23:44 And recognizing, realizing the unconditioned is a matter of just being aware in the present. If there's no form to it, I can't point it out as an object and say it's this or that. But I certainly recognize it. It's real. It's not... Some kind of subtle form of concentrated practice that I've developed over 42 years. Report an error in the passage at 23:44
24:12 It's as obvious as space, but it's because we're so bound to the thinking process, to trying to figure everything out, and know all about everything. Report an error in the passage at 24:12
24:28 Know all about dharma through what this teacher says, what the Pāli Canon says, what the... Mahāyāna scriptures say what, you know, on and on like this, about what the dictionaries say, and compare what the Christians believe with what the Buddhists do. You know, there's an endless kind of conversation going on about religion. But the Buddha is pointing to the here and now, here and now, mindfulness. Report an error in the passage at 24:28
25:05 There is the unborn, this is the unborn, uncreated, unformed, unconditioned. Now when I do that, I've been doing this for years, so the mind starts to want to think about it or will start thinking or wandering in thought. That's why I'm pointing this out, that during this retreat, just this following week, to keep, you know, to... Report an error in the passage at 25:05
25:36 There's nothing to do in this retreat. Don't try to get samādhi or peace or calm or anything. Don't try to get anything. Report an error in the passage at 25:36
25:47 Give up trying. Just trusting and being aware awake is like this. If we can look at retreats, now we've got to really strive and get our samādhi. We're full of this idea of getting samādhi and getting our samādhi. So this is, This is another delusion we hold because I, Ajahn Sumedho, want to get something that I call samādhi. Report an error in the passage at 25:47
26:20 It's ignorance compounded, isn't it? Me, as this person, don't have the samādhi that I think I should, wanting to get something I don't have, wanting everybody to be quiet so I can get my samādhi that this samādhi that I want depends on everybody shutting up. And the whole world shutting down. So that the problem arises when they're putting in the radiators in the entrances. Report an error in the passage at 26:20
26:50 We've got to get rid of the workmen because they've created too much noise. So we've got to shut everything down so I can have my samādhi. Now what is that? That's ignorance and self-view. And where are you going to get anywhere with that as your modus operandi? Report an error in the passage at 26:50
27:12 How can you expect to ever see reality through ignorance? It's impossible. So the Buddha is saying, start out with enlightenment, is what he's actually saying. Start out with mindfulness. It's this, it's awareness. Report an error in the passage at 27:12
27:36 Don't start out from me trying to get something, but being aware of that. If I feel I've got to get something, I can observe that feeling of I want to practice in order to attain. I can be aware of that. Or now you're probably going to go away. Ajahn Sumedho said, don't even try, don't practice. And then you're going to cling to that as a view. Well, cling to it, but observe it. Report an error in the passage at 27:36
28:05 Observe the viewpoint that you're clinging to, whether you've got to get something you don't have or you shouldn't do what you're doing. Whatever it is about me and mine in getting and attaining or controlling and achieving, the awareness is, this is the unborn, uncreated, aware of the born and the created. Report an error in the passage at 28:05
28:31 So that's why it's called a direct uju patipanno, direct practice. It's not about stages of attaining, you know, you've got to develop this and then get that and then get the next thing. Because we tend to cling to that view of I'm at this level and I've got to attain the next level. So it's really an invitation to wake up, puto, wake up, observe, pay attention to life. Report an error in the passage at 28:31
29:10 Now I've found over the years of this kind of practice, even though I understood it the first year, well enough, I had the insight. Report an error in the passage at 29:10
29:22 The first year when I was Samanera. But over the years, my monastic life, I've used this monastic form for this awareness because it brings up everything. Report an error in the passage at 29:22
29:39 It also puts boundaries on behavior which I needed because I was a pretty heedless and hedonistic kind of person as a lay person. Report an error in the passage at 29:39
29:54 And I remember... You know, suffering here at Amaravati, about wanting Amaravati to be something that I didn't think it was. Report an error in the passage at 29:54
30:07 Not wanting it to be the way it is. And yet, because of this confidence in this awareness, I could see this as, you know, wanting something to be something it's not, or not wanting it to be the way it is. This is bhava dana vipa dana. Report an error in the passage at 30:07
30:29 With the monks and nuns, wanting the monks and the nuns to be a certain way and not wanting them to be another way. That's me, isn't it? Wanting people to be what I think, what I would like them to be, or not wanting them to be the way they are. So this is, you know, putting into this perspective of Bhavadana Vipavadana. Report an error in the passage at 30:29
31:04 So it's like this, you know, you can see it, wanting Amaravati to be a certain way is like this. Now when I'm doing this, I'm now aware, and I have a feeling of maybe being discontented with Amaravati as I think it is. Report an error in the passage at 31:04
31:23 It's like this, this feeling of, and I make it quite conscious, I want Amaravati to be a certain way. So I quite intentionally even think the thought, you know. So that it's consciously received. And then I begin to see that by pursuing that, by wanting it to be something else, I suffer. Report an error in the passage at 31:23
31:49 I create suffering for myself. So I'm not helping me nor any of you here at Amaravati by doing that. Or apply that to yourself, wanting yourself to not be the way you are at this moment. I don't want to feel like this. Report an error in the passage at 31:49
32:22 because we can't be an You'll never be the ideal bhikkhu or siladhara or anagarika or anything like that. You know, you're never going to be perfect. You can create an image of perfection, but you can never be perfect through the images you create, no matter how perfect they might be or how beautiful they might be, because you're not an image. Report an error in the passage at 32:22
32:56 Your true nature is not born or created or formed or conditioned. So your refuge is in the unborn, uncreated, unformed, unconditioned. Report an error in the passage at 32:56
33:11 And that's here and now, awake and here and now, timeless, encouraging investigation. That's the dhamma. So even this word dhamma becomes, you know, it's very significant to me now, and I take refuge in the dhamma. In reality, taking refuge in the real, not in the false. Report an error in the passage at 33:11
33:36 There is the unborn. This is the unborn, here and now. I can't imagine it still can after 42 years. There's no image of it, but I know it. There's a knowing, an insight knowledge that comes through this kind of reflection that I can't claim as some kind of personal attainment. If I start saying I'm wise or something, then you know I've lost it. But it's not personal. So what you're... Report an error in the passage at 33:36
34:15 Through this recognition, the reality of the unborn, wisdom operates from there. That's what the Buddha recognized in his enlightenment, what he called enlightenment. Report an error in the passage at 34:15
34:32 When he was the ascetic Gotama and trying hard to get all the samādhi and everything, you know, he was successful at it. But there was still something, it was still dukkha. Report an error in the passage at 34:32
34:49 Still something unsatisfactory about it. Even the highest jhānas or the most beatific states of mind are not sustainable. They arise and they cease. Their nature is dukkha. So the reality is our only refuge in the real or the dhamma. So the dhamma now... It means to me the real, it's reality. And so dharma includes the conditions, because at this moment all the conditions, whether they're good or bad, because they have arisen, then they belong here. Report an error in the passage at 34:49
35:36 Whether you're feeling good or bad, happy or sad, whatever, it's all right, nothing. I'm not trying to tell you how you should feel, but encouraging you to awaken to feeling, to the reality. To recognize or realize this is the unborn, then you can see the born in perspective. Like seeing things on visual consciousness, seeing in perspective. Report an error in the passage at 35:36
36:08 When you don't see in perspective, then you're always operating from some position you're taking, some resentment, some view or opinion. Now, Report an error in the passage at 36:08
36:27 being aware of thinking, you're caught in a thinking process. Report an error in the passage at 36:27
· · · silence, 1 minute
36:58 What is it? I can be aware of thinking. So when I get lost in thought, say conceptual proliferation, then there's a point where I suddenly realize I'm aware of that, aware of the thinking process, aware of how I create myself as a personality. Report an error in the passage at 36:58
37:25 My identities with my memories, like this evening we saw the The slideshow on my trip to Sabah, that's all memory. That's not a permanent person. Was Bob Jackman of 1964 the same person as Ajahn Sumedho in 19, in 2008? Report an error in the passage at 37:25
37:54 You know, that's, I can remember Semphorna. And then I revived memories because I'd forgotten a lot of places and that about Saba that I, you know, had forgotten the names of certain islands and whatnot that I had to recall. Report an error in the passage at 37:54
38:12 Now that's sanya, sankara, and then it, you know, and it feels one has certain feelings or emotions aroused. Happiness, sadness, nostalgia, regret, various... And then anattā. present possibility of awareness. Report an error in the passage at 38:12
38:48 Awareness is shining the floodlight on the conditioned realm, where we see in perspective. Report an error in the passage at 38:48
38:58 we can see things as they really are. Report an error in the passage at 38:58
39:03 Is that a real person, Ajahn Sumedho or Bob Jackman? Is that a real person? Or is that only sannyasankara? It arises and ceases. Now when there's no self then, but there's still consciousness. Report an error in the passage at 39:03
39:27 So we have vijnana, and that's, you know... Vijnana is what we're using for reflection because we don't create vijnana out of ignorance. We don't, you know, we're born with it. When we're born as a baby, we operate from, you know, as a separate entity and the umbilical cord is cut and we're operating as a separate entity, conscious entity. Report an error in the passage at 39:27
40:01 So consciousness is not created. I don't create it out of my ignorance, out of sakya-ditti, sīla-bhata-bhara-masa-vijji-kecha. It's dhamma, it's reality. Consciousness is reality. So we're using consciousness now for investigation, not for identity, not for defining or trying to find consciousness as some object. Report an error in the passage at 40:01
40:32 We're recognizing it. It's like space in this room. It's here all around us, but we may not... Be aware of it. You know, if I'm in a mood, an angry mood, and I'm angry about something, and then I'm sitting here and I'm thinking about all the associated things, emotions that arise with negativity, and there's no space in it. Report an error in the passage at 40:32
41:00 I just go on. I forget all kinds of things. I forget the time I get so involved, so enraged, just by... Winding myself up with thinking or trying to stop thinking. I feel guilty. I shouldn't be angry. Monk 42 Vasas should be beyond anger. And so I'm trying to stop anger and spread loving kindness. But it's still even loving kindness is coming from Sakya Ditti. Report an error in the passage at 41:00
41:34 Me trying to be kind. Me trying to be a good monk. Me trying to... You know, be a good example. Me trying to get enlightened. It's all about me trying to get something and then feeling defeated and despairing when I don't get what I want. Report an error in the passage at 41:34
41:55 Because no matter how hard I try on the ego level to achieve enlightenment, it's impossible. The ego is never going to be enlightened. It's not its nature. It's a condition. It's dukkha. It's anattā. Report an error in the passage at 41:55
42:12 That's why, you know, as the first fetter, sakya-ditti, it's getting to know sakya-ditti. It's not that I don't have sakya-ditti anymore. I know it. There's a difference between attaching to it and being blinded by sakya-ditti and knowing sakya-ditti. So that's where this awareness, you can't... No Sakya Ditti through more Sakya Ditti. You know, when I start trying to figure out why am I like this? Who's to blame for my fears and problems and emotional limitations? Report an error in the passage at 42:12
42:55 Is it my mother? Is it my father? Is it the American society? Is it the teachers I've had? Is it George Bush? Report an error in the passage at 42:55
43:15 Who's to blame? And then, you know, we go around in circles. Who's to blame for me feeling like this? Or being aware of that is like this. Report an error in the passage at 43:15
43:31 It's like a quantum leap from being attached and caught into the vortex of saṃsāra to releasing yourself from it. It still can swirl about for a while, but you're aware of it. You're seeing it as an object rather than Being overwhelmed and lost into this vortex of conditioning. So if you keep pursuing this, you know, then you have the insight, I guarantee it. Report an error in the passage at 43:31
44:07 But if you're going to operate from Sakyadity all the time, you know, you're not going to get it. If you can't, if you're not willing to trust in your own awareness, Report an error in the passage at 44:07
44:26 of the self-view. Sakyaditti Silabattabharamasa. And Silabattabharamasa is the second fetter, and that is, you know, I don't like the translation in the scripture because it doesn't work for me, but saying it's conventional conditioning, cultural conditioning, attachment to convention. Report an error in the passage at 44:26
44:54 And then, you know, this is where I begin to realize how, you know, the... The cultural conditioning I have affects how I see the world. The American white middle-class Protestant cultural conditioning is, you know, you get it from your parents, from your social background. Report an error in the passage at 44:54
45:26 Because you're born into this family, into this society, and you get what they offer, what they think, what they feel. And it's not always consciously given, it's just picked up through growing up with your parents, with your family, society. Report an error in the passage at 45:26
45:47 So this is where this emptiness, this awareness, it's empty, it's not cultural. It's not even Buddhist. Buddhism is a convention. It's reality. This is the real. This is the unborn. Then I can be aware of biases, cultural biases, assumptions I make just from being brought up in a liberal, white liberal family, Christian family in America. Report an error in the passage at 45:47
46:31 So this awareness is not American. It's not liberal or white or Protestant or anything. It's universal. So the only way we can free ourselves from the limitation of cultural conditioning is through awareness of it. Not trying to get rid of it, but recognize it. Some of it is good, some of it isn't. So it's not that all conditions are impermanent, therefore they're all bad. Report an error in the passage at 46:31
47:08 Conditions can be good and bad, right and wrong, true and false. But all conditions are impermanent. All conditions are anicca dukkha nata. Report an error in the passage at 47:08
47:20 And so this is the awareness of the... See the simplicity of this. From the unconditioned, there's the knowing of the condition. That's whole, that's complete. You've finished the task then. You've learned what you needed to learn in this human. Report an error in the passage at 47:20
47:40 Incarnation. If you can just learn this, recognize it, then your life has been fulfilled, completed. Don't have to be reborn again to go through it all. So then on the Owada Patimokkha, it says, patient forbearance is the foremost self-discipline. Well, this takes patience, forbearance, and willingness to put up with everything. Report an error in the passage at 47:40
48:18 No matter what, to learn from it. So you learn from despair and from failure and from humiliation and from deprivation. But you don't seek any of that. But you learn from everything that happens. Nibbāna is paramount. Nibbāna is a reality. Nibbāna, this is Nibbāna. It's here and now. One who harms others is no renunciate. Report an error in the passage at 48:18
48:54 So this is going back to action and living in society. We don't harm each other. Our intention is not to exploit, cheat, lie, humiliate, insult each other. Report an error in the passage at 48:54
49:16 So then it's not a renunciant seminar. These words don't... Seminar is all right. Renunciant, I don't know about that. But the best they can do, maybe. Refraining from all evil, performing the skillful and good, purifying one's mind. This is the teaching of the Buddha. So this is very simple, isn't it? It's almost like, oh, I've heard that how many times? Report an error in the passage at 49:16
49:45 Too good, refrain from doing evil, don't tell me again. But this is given to 1,250 Arahants. They know this already. Buddha wasn't reciting something new to them. But this comes in a different level. It's not just intellectual. It's not about me trying not to be evil and me trying to be good and skillful and me trying to purify my mind. Report an error in the passage at 49:45
50:16 When I'm trying to get rid of all my evil intentions and become a skillful and good person and purify my mind, I've never succeeded from me trying to do that. I've never been good enough. And then when evil thoughts or things arise, then I feel guilty. Because that's how my personality works. I feel guilty about having bad thoughts. I feel, you know, I want to be... Report an error in the passage at 50:16
50:49 My happiness as a person depends on being accepted and liked. and praised and appreciated. I want people to love and respect me and I want people to appreciate who I am and that makes me feel good as a person. Report an error in the passage at 50:49
51:14 My personality feels safe. I feel safe as a person when everybody's smiling and saying Ajahn Sumedho we think you're the greatest teacher of all time. Report an error in the passage at 51:14
51:24 But then somebody says I think you're a bloody phony and then oh God. So, get him out of here. But personality is like that. My personality depends for happiness to be appreciated, accepted, admired, respected, and so forth. And when I'm not, then I feel very insecure, unhappy, despairing, suicidal, miserable. Report an error in the passage at 51:24
52:02 That's how my personality works. I can't trust that. So waking up to the personality was the only answer out of that situation because I couldn't make my personality into where it was only good and I could feel safe as a person even when people were criticizing and abusing me. Report an error in the passage at 52:02
52:29 I can't as a person do that. But through awareness it's possible to be aware of. Being insulted, looked down on, despised. Report an error in the passage at 52:29
52:42 So then you test this out, which is a refuge in me trying to control things so I feel safe and secure or letting go of that, of the condition to allow life to flow through me, to be with the flow of conscious reality, no matter what it brings. Report an error in the passage at 52:42
53:05 Praise or blame, happiness, suffering. Success, failure. And then the last stanza, not to disparage, not to harm, restraint in line with the code of training, moderation in food, dwelling secluded, committed to the heightened mind. This is the teaching of the Buddha. So disparagement is a critical faculty, isn't it? So to disparage something, you have to start, I don't like this, I don't like that. Report an error in the passage at 53:05
53:39 You know, you're always seeing what you don't like about yourself or somebody else or the society. I was brought up in a society where you're supposed to disparage things. You see what's wrong. So you, you know, especially like in my background, my social background, what's right and what's wrong, how things should be. Report an error in the passage at 53:39
54:11 And then feeling very indignant and upset when things aren't what they should be. About hypocrisy. Indignant about the hypocriticalness of the society I'm in. Report an error in the passage at 54:11
54:26 The disparage of the United States. The disparage of Christianity. Disparage whatever. I'm very good at it. Not to harm. Report an error in the passage at 54:26
54:44 That's... So that I really developed in Thailand, learning to live with, you know, talking about it this afternoon, living in the Thai monastery with all the ants, termites, snakes and mosquitoes, not to harm. Learning to patiently forbear the annoying, the irritating, the unwanted, not to harm. You know, so... Report an error in the passage at 54:44
55:19 I would feel like harming, you know, still want to kill mosquitoes and things like this, but I didn't do it because of the determination not to harm anything intentionally. Report an error in the passage at 55:19
55:32 Restraint in line with the code of training, learning to live within the limitations of the training rules. So you can observe, they give boundary to action and speech that help us to see Report an error in the passage at 55:32
55:52 You know, we don't feel like living within the boundaries sometimes, but we can observe that. And then at the end of the day, you feel grateful because I think of all the things over 42 years I have not done that I would have done if I hadn't been a monk. Report an error in the passage at 55:52
56:13 Oh, thank you. Report an error in the passage at 56:13
56:21 And moderation in food, that's good. We get such good food here. Report an error in the passage at 56:21
56:30 We do. And then the dwelling secluded. That doesn't mean, you know, then we think, I can't live here at Amar Bhatti because I need a separate kuti where I can live secluded. That's still Sakya Ditti, isn't it? I can't live here because I need a special place for me is Sakya Ditti. So we can be aware of that. The dwelling that is provided. Report an error in the passage at 56:30
57:03 Being grateful for that, that's a better mental state than always dwelling on the fact that you don't, maybe the place you are living in isn't what you want. Report an error in the passage at 57:03
57:15 Commitment to the heightened mind. This is commitment to this awareness. It's a heightened mind. This is a heightened awareness. It includes everything. Report an error in the passage at 57:15
57:34 Like one can be aware of an object, you know, like this glass, but to be aware like this, it includes this glass. I don't have to get rid of the glass, but my focus isn't on the glass anymore. It's this natural state of open attentiveness. Report an error in the passage at 57:34
57:56 This is the unborn. When I just focus on the glass and I get into, you know, this... Glass too small or too big, or half full or half empty, can make an endless complication around just the simplicity of this glass, which is all right sometimes. When it's time to look at some object, you know what you're doing, but you're not just lost in the limited and bound into the conditioned realm with no other option, no other reality, other than your sakya-diti, your conditioning. Report an error in the passage at 57:56
58:35 And then Vichyaklecha, the third fetter, always comes from thinking. So give up thinking. Don't believe anything you think. But be aware of thinking. So in this awareness then, thinking then is seen as an object. So then thinking, one can use thought, but no longer is one blinded by the thoughts that one has. Report an error in the passage at 58:35
59:11 Otherwise, when you don't know this, you're always blinded by your thoughts. You believe them. You believe your emotions, your thoughts, your feelings, your views and opinions. Report an error in the passage at 59:11
59:23 This is avicca, ignorance. Thoroughly committed to my delusions. But I don't believe... Thinking is not something to despise, but something to use properly. It's for... It's an asset to use but it also can be this binding ourselves to the thinking process. We're stuck there in the vortex of the saṃsāra. Report an error in the passage at 59:23
59:57 We just get whirled around with thoughts, reason and logic, views and opinions, loves and hates, likes and dislikes. So then, what is it that's aware of thinking? Report an error in the passage at 59:57
1:00:15 So then I've shared all my knowledge with you over the years that I've gained through this practice. And so pointing to this sound of silence, when there's non-attachment, then I notice this, what I call sound of silence. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:15
1:00:37 I'm not creating it. It's not mine. It's not something... I don't Report an error in the passage at 1:00:37
1:01:03 like this and I don't agree with that. Sound of silence. The thought process ceases in that silence. Then there's still maybe a resonating vibration of emotion. Like if you're in a state of... You know, aversion to something. I don't like this. And you stop the thinking process. But there can still be a remaining energy that you can... Report an error in the passage at 1:01:03
1:01:34 And this is forbear with that. Be patient, accepting of that remaining energy, emotional energy that's present. And you see it changing. It ceases. So this is... The cessation of suffering, the end of suffering. So the Buddha emphasizes, I teach only two things, suffering and the end of suffering. Now I've heard that over and over again since I've become a Buddhist monk, but now it really means, it's that simple, suffering and the end of suffering. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:34
1:02:15 What about what happens when you die and the ultimate nature of everything and God and... And, you know, we want answers to all the big questions we can ask from the thinking mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:15
1:02:35 And then we think of the conceit of being human. You know, I'm just looking out at the night sky sometimes on a clear night. You look out into all these stars, galaxies, and on and on. It's mind-blowing. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:35
1:02:58 And then modern science, astronomy and so forth, explored the space and the heavens. And it goes on and on ad infinitum. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:58
1:03:11 We can't possibly know all about that. And yet we want to make proclamations about whether God exists or not. What a conceit to go around saying there's no God. Like a termite. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:11
1:03:33 There's this cartoon I have in my kitchen of these two fleas, philosophical fleas, and they're obviously walking on a dog. You can see there's this walking on something with hair sticking out of it. And these two fleas are contemplating the nature of things. And he says, you know, sometimes... Report an error in the passage at 1:03:33
1:04:03 I can no longer believe in the reality of dog. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:03
1:04:13 That's what we're like. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:13
1:04:20 We're like fleas on the dog that get caught in our thinking process. So we say there is a God or there isn't a God. How should, you know, this is an arrogant statement. There is dharma. There's a reality of now. This is what we can know directly. There is the unborn. This is a fact. man. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:20
1:04:43 And from this unborn, we can observe the nature of the born, the created, the formed, the conditioned. And that's all the physical body, the sense realm that we're experiencing, the emotional habits, the memories that we experience in the present moments of our life. And we learn from that. We see the dhamma. We know dhamma rather than knowing all about What this great scientist said about the nature of reality or the limits of the universe or whether God exists or doesn't. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:43
1:05:27 And then the Buddha says there is suffering. I teach only two things, suffering and the end of suffering. Well, the end of suffering is trusting in this awareness. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:27
1:05:40 This you know, that if I don't create suffering out of ignorance, I still feel things. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:40
1:05:50 there's also insight to know not to create To create aversion, not to get lost in not wanting or wanting something I don't have or not wanting what I have. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:50
1:06:03 This is a sense realm we've got to bear with, forbear with the sensory karma of having been born as a human individual. So, I mean, till death of this body, we've got to experience its conditioning, its aging process. It's weaknesses, it's failing vision, it's arthritic joints, it's flabby body, it's the diminishing of energy, you know, and it's limitation. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:03
1:06:45 But this is not suffering. This is just the way it is. The nature of things, the conditions are like this. A human birth. And then the aging process, sickness and death, this is the way it is on that level. It's suffering when I don't want it to be like this. When I don't want to be old. When I don't want to have illnesses or arthritic joints or whatever. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:45
1:07:21 When I want to be young again, which I don't. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:21
1:07:30 But if I did, that would be suffering. ha, ha. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:30
1:07:34 Because knowing this, then you can learn from the aging process till it's time for the body to die. But my refuge isn't in the body, it's in the deathless. There is the unborn, the deathless. So this is recognizing, knowing reality, knowing the real. It's like not knowing anything though, because you can't describe it. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:34
1:08:08 It's beyond the thinking process, but it's realizable, recognizable. So in this retreat, just offer this as an encouragement to kind of hoping to encourage you. My main point is encouraging. I'm not trying to tell you or intimidate you, but encourage. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:08
1:08:39 Because we do, we get caught in self-doubt and we bind ourselves so much to feeling and emotion and views and opinions. And it's hard to get out of that unless we get encouragement to have that kind of, we can do it, this is it. If I say, you're not a good meditator, you've got to get this first and then you've got to... Report an error in the passage at 1:08:39
1:09:10 Go off to a nice secluded place and then you've got to get the jhānas and then you've got to develop the insight and you go along with that. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:10
1:09:21 I'm in a position of authority so you might believe me. Ajahn Sumedho said I am not ready for vipassanā yet because I'm too conceited and I've got to get rid of my self-importance and my... Report an error in the passage at 1:09:21
1:09:39 Anger. I've got to get rid of my anger. But what I'm encouraging you to do is, no matter how horrible you are in the present, be aware it's like this. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:39
1:09:51 Feeling horrible is like this. Welcoming it. Say, welcome horribleness. And open your arms wide. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:51
1:10:08 And it'll, you know, let it be what it is. It's up to you to make it, change it, or judge it. Just... Accept it, recognize it, and it goes its way. And that patient forbearance is allowing things to be what they are. Even when, you know, we don't like them or don't want them to be this way, we allow that to be what it is. And so on this retreat, the attitude of receiving, acknowledging, letting it be what it is. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:08
1:10:43 Because my refuge is in the unborn, not in trying to manipulate the born. So I offer this for your reflection. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:43
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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