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- 9:46
But I also find as an experience that once you let go, ...of the causes of suffering, then you begin to relate to the beauty of life in a very joyful way, because you're open to it. You're not looking at it in a desire to own it or to change it or with a critical mind of how to improve it, but you find a joyfulness or a sense of delight with the beauty that you see.
- 12:46
But if you, once you lift, once you drop that, then... You are quite receptive. Because if there's no self, then you see the beauty around you is belonging to everything. It's not seen in the kind of divisive perceptions of me and you and all that that implies and emotional habits that come from that, from that perception. Like me and you is always, is this that sets up this huge division.
- 35:37
I could enjoy just being with the people, with the situation, with the way it is, even when it's an enjoyable scene. But as you let go of that following of desire and that whole kind of movement of restless activity, doing this to finish it in order to go on to the next thing, then even most kind of banal, mundane kind of experiences are... And then you do things much more, much better too, because you're not in that state of just trying to get something finished to get on to the next one.
- 51:41
You know, why am I a Theravadan Buddhist monk? Because I, you know, I like it, I prefer it. It is not saying in any way that it's better than anything else. It's just, this is what came along, this is what one inclined to, and this is the convention that you've learned to use. Like, you know, like playing in a musical instrument. You can't play them all, you've got to choose.
- 57:12
is also something that needs to be, you know, regarded and given a very important place in our lives so that while we do make our living it's in terms of dhamma and in terms of honesty and moral integrity. And then that kind of thing has a tremendous power to to...
Transcript
0:00 I sit here and contemplate the desire to ask a question. I think one of the most dangerous things is righteous indignation. Yes. That really is right. That's when it's really dangerous. Report an error in the passage at 0:00
0:21 Now I had a lot of that. It's so righteous in my nature. It can get very indignant. And I think, you know, he's outraged. So this would always lead to usually a worsening of a situation. Report an error in the passage at 0:21
0:44 And it's so convincing because you're, you know, you are right in a way. And this is where Lungpho Chah would have, in a Thai, in Thai language, he'd give her this reflection which translates right but not true, true but not right. And because people can say something that's right, you know, not necessarily true, or true but not necessarily right. Report an error in the passage at 0:44
1:14 And this is a good reflection because we oftentimes believe, you know, grasp hold of our sense of being right, or what we're defending the truth, but we're not aware of, you know, of our own Anger and our own, you know, the results of our anger and indignation oftentimes really harms what we're trying to protect. Report an error in the passage at 1:14
1:46 So that's why when we're mindful, then we're bringing into consciousness time, place, our own state of mind. Like if I'm angry, if I feel anger, And I start telling you something, you know, what I'm saying might be very good and true, but what you're picking up is my anger. Report an error in the passage at 1:46
2:14 So then Ajahn Sumedho is angry with me. I might be telling you really good things you should be doing, but you can't hear that because you're too affected by the anger that I'm sending toward you. So this is like right but not true, true but not right. Report an error in the passage at 2:14
· · · silence, 1 minute
3:42 That's an interesting question because creativity is something that we give a lot of importance to in the West. Like we have the creation myths and... do something different make something different. Report an error in the passage at 3:42
3:54 The idea of creation, being creative is a very important value for us. And also we can see the, like if creativity is just coming out of ignorance, you know, wanting to say, wanting to get, maybe for egotistical reasons, you know, to get what you want or get your own way or become famous or You know, that kind of thing. Then, of course, even though people might have a tremendous talent and artistic abilities, it tends to, you know, it doesn't come from an empty mind, but from a lot of desires and a lot of prejudices and biased views. Report an error in the passage at 3:54
4:52 So I was very interesting. I watched my sister change over the years. She's an artist, and she's two years older than I am. She's always, as a child, very artistic, like in painting and drawing. And she's explored the art world from many different angles, from craft to jewelry. She used to be a jewelry designer. Report an error in the passage at 4:52
5:22 And then into painting landscapes. And now she's painting icons in the Byzantine style. And I was with her just last month in America. And she's 63 years old. And now she's explaining, she's learning how she's become a third order Carmelite. And it's a lay person's Report an error in the passage at 5:22
6:02 order Carmelite. Then she goes to expressing her artistic abilities through a very kind of and conservative art form. And it's interesting towards the end of her alive and she should put Put herself in such narrow confines that she's explaining how narrow and stylized and traditional icon painting is. Report an error in the passage at 6:02
6:30 And there's no room for a kind of personal interpretation or creativity. And yet she's finding that kind of as a meditation, something very, it's bringing up all her, a lot of things that she's, you know, that have caused her a lot of pain over the years. And her faith in this, and so much she's using it as a meditation, almost like me being a monk, where you're actually containing yourself in a very traditional, very formal way. Report an error in the passage at 6:30
7:02 And then she's doing it with her art, using a very conservative and old art form. But she's also, she's not just kind of doing it as a, just to kind of make herself into an icon artist, but as a meditation, because the narrowness of the form and the stylization of it and all the rules that go along with it somehow reflect something in her, you know, the kind of wildness or her own personality. Report an error in the passage at 7:02
7:43 And she sees more and more how to relinquish, more a sense of relinquishment. Report an error in the passage at 7:43
8:03 they don't try to be different and try come up with something that would be a summary to be really attractive, to be really attractive to the world. seems especially to me that you are an aspiring artist. What have you been? Report an error in the passage at 8:03
8:25 Well, it is, you know, but it's exciting and it's a lot, and it's very, very compelling. But also, I mean, but also in that, you also, I mean, you have to maybe go through things to find out. You know, you have to, we all learn from experience. experience, Report an error in the passage at 8:25
8:50 And I mean, you can say, you know, you can give people a lot of, you know, sage advice, but I think we've all had to learn usually the hard way. I have. All the good advice I had, I still managed to have to learn through my own experience, oftentimes my own dismal failures or disappointments. But here in, I mean like I find the, also I think something that sometimes it's not mentioned very much in Buddhism, or especially in Theravāda Buddhism where the experience of suffering is emphasized so much, where you emphasize dukkha and suffering. Report an error in the passage at 8:50
9:46 But I also find as an experience that once you let go, ...of the causes of suffering, then you begin to relate to the beauty of life in a very joyful way, because you're open to it. You're not looking at it in a desire to own it or to change it or with a critical mind of how to improve it, but you find a joyfulness or a sense of delight with the beauty that you see. Report an error in the passage at 9:46
10:22 In other people or in nature. Because then your mind isn't being, it isn't cluttered with selfish desires to possess or jealousy or with envy or just insensitive experience where you can just be in the most beautiful place but not really notice it, not see it because of what's going on in your head. But as that kind of Karma is resolved. Then the pure mind is receptive. So you have this muditā, or this sense of joyfulness at the beauty. Report an error in the passage at 10:22
11:05 And I found also, just like with, say, jealousy, where I found, you know, that this is a problem that I've had to deal with, because in a competitive Report an error in the passage at 11:05
11:23 Society, when you're brought up to compete all the time with others, jealousy is such a powerful emotion because you're always comparing yourself with somebody else. And so then you see somebody else's talent or beauty or whatever in a critical way as a threat to you. And then so you can't delight or find joy in beauty of others. Report an error in the passage at 11:23
11:52 Because you're always thinking of yourself first. The sense of yourself blinds you to that. And as that self drops away, that sense of yourself, then that also is a natural experience, natural way of relating. Report an error in the passage at 11:52
12:14 Because we do live in a planet like here in England, a very beautiful country. country. So you, use in me. For much of my life here, I'm surrounded by very beautiful things, nature, and really lovely people that I live with. So I mean these are, you know, these can be not noticed if you're caught in your own kind of negative scenarios. Report an error in the passage at 12:14
12:46 But if you, once you lift, once you drop that, then... You are quite receptive. Because if there's no self, then you see the beauty around you is belonging to everything. It's not seen in the kind of divisive perceptions of me and you and all that that implies and emotional habits that come from that, from that perception. Report an error in the passage at 12:46
13:14 Like me and you is always, is this that sets up this huge division. Report an error in the passage at 13:14
· · · silence, 1 minute
13:52 if you think I need to go, that's good. Report an error in the passage at 13:52
14:01 Yes, sir. Report an error in the passage at 14:01
14:06 Yes. Well, I would certainly like to help, hear the news about Bodhisattva Bosnia. Report an error in the passage at 14:06
14:17 And it's Report an error in the passage at 14:17
14:23 so easy to get cynical. neat, isn't it? Report an error in the passage at 14:23
14:27 about human nature, because you hear so many horrible things about what people do. But also, I mean, the thing is that if that gives this whole negative tendency, you're empowering it all the time by believing it. So when we, you know, and also I see how divisive it is to take sides. I mean, like having a tendency towards righteousness, how easy it is for me to feel compassion for the victims, and the victimizers just feel outraged and want to, you know, just feel no compassion for them. Report an error in the passage at 14:27
15:19 And this is, I can see, you know, this is also a very divisive tendency. Because there's no end to it. I mean, you know, if you are just, no matter how bad somebody is to somebody else, when you really come right down to it, they're the worst ones. I mean, they're the ones that are going to suffer the most. You know, I mean, one would rather, I'd rather be a victim than, I'd rather be killed than kill. Report an error in the passage at 15:19
15:53 I'd rather be tortured than torture somebody knowing what I know because I couldn't bear the mind, the guilt and the self-hatred that would come from having to remember, having deliberately caused pain and destroyed somebody's life or maimed them. Report an error in the passage at 15:53
16:19 Even though we can think people might be getting away with these atrocities, they're not. And people pay a high, you know, they usually have to turn to drink or suicide or something because of the heavy karma of doing, like of torturing somebody or raping somebody or abusing in any way, verbally or physically, or killing. Report an error in the passage at 16:19
16:49 I do feel that the leaders, that there's, you know, I've seen just in, I've been in this country about 19 years now, so I've noticed, you know, even though it's not, you know, not majority or in terms of the population of this country, you know, it's not a high percentage, In terms of the population, but in terms of growth and interest, there's a noticeable changing of people moving toward a much more awakened, realizing that they have to awaken up within themselves. Report an error in the passage at 16:49
17:34 They just can't expect life to be laid on for them or magicians to come and change them into happy people forever or psychiatrists to solve all their problems or... Report an error in the passage at 17:34
17:47 The Tories or the Labour Party to set everything right for us, I mean, we realize, we've been through enough already to realize that it's something we have to do. And there's a much more, many more people aware of this. And then also you realize with mindfulness you're, when you're letting go of the conditioning and you're not attached, Report an error in the passage at 17:47
18:17 That pure state of awareness is universal. I mean, it's not a separative. It's not like in my head or mine as if, you know, I have it and you don't, or that somehow my mindfulness is different from yours. It's not like that. I mean, what we're mindful of is infinitely variable, but that pure awareness is universal. Report an error in the passage at 18:17
18:42 So, I mean, that's something to trust in. That that is influencing everything too. The purity of your heart. It has a powerful effect on everything. Even though on the emotional level you might feel it's not doing anything. You know, in terms of, you know, quantities and being able to see, you know, obvious results you might not notice. Report an error in the passage at 18:42
19:12 But in terms of What you're tuning into is universal wisdom that's affecting all of us whether we're aware of it or not. And so that's why it is a religious path, it is an act of faith because we trust, we become more trusting in just being in non-attachment, in just being mindful. Without expecting any kind of proofs or, you know, we're not on a personal level demanding anything from anyone, that anything be proven or that we see any noticeable results in our lifetime. Report an error in the passage at 19:12
20:02 What we know, this is what we can do that is right and for the benefit of all beings. So that's what we can do. And then... Sometimes we might be called upon to take an active part in some way in an organization or conferences or be an advisor to the prime minister or have a powerful influence on the Bosnian Serbs through some kind of... Report an error in the passage at 20:02
20:47 by now. Report an error in the passage at 20:47
20:57 to promote the negative view of life, everybody is very much... That affects so much how we see things. And that's what you're getting so much in the popular media, you know, in the newspapers, in the television. There's so much emphasis on the horridness of humanity, or the weakness, or the corruptibility of humanity. Report an error in the passage at 20:57
21:29 Because that's quite exciting and dramatic. The goodness is... It's not exciting to most people. I remember they were going to... Robert Bolt, the playwright, he wrote a film about the life of the Buddha. Report an error in the passage at 21:29
21:54 And Bertolucci made the film called The Little Buddha. But before that was made, they asked Robert Bolt to write the script. And he lives near Chithurst in Sussex. So he was telling the monks, he said, you know, it's very difficult to write a good dramatic cinema about somebody that was born good and got better. Report an error in the passage at 21:54
22:31 And that's the most difficult challenge he'd had. And they never, they didn't take it, you know. Well, Report an error in the passage at 22:31
· · · silence, 1 minute
23:21 this is where we, you know, with Report an error in the passage at 23:21
23:27 non-attachment, and that is something to, To not make it into a kind of, you know, grasping the idea of it all the time and then making your life into where you feel you're always in some very frustrating situation because on the ideal level, on the more kind of ideal level, you can't live up to the high standards that you can imagine. Report an error in the passage at 23:27
23:56 imagine, you would subscribe. Report an error in the passage at 23:56
24:27 That we have to be with, I mean, somehow we can't leave them or we have to be with these people. Then, just to always compare them to the ideal, we just feel this kind of aversion and frustration with them. So, you know, to recognize that, sometimes we're expecting too much. From our, you know, and we're demanding too much from the world, from the society, the people that we're living, and also from ourselves in terms of being able to conceive the best and not being able to sustain a life around being the very best. Report an error in the passage at 24:27
25:13 So we, then this is humbling for us. And so we think, how can we work with what we have mindfully and for the benefit? benefit Report an error in the passage at 25:13
25:25 of all of the beings concerned. And that's the challenge. I'm just going to leave this and leave it behind. I'm not going to have anything more to do with those people because they're not good enough. I can understand that. But sometimes that is just lacking in compassion. We don't care enough to try to maybe ...work in a way that we can kind of raise them up a little bit more or help them or at least have some kind of good influence on their lives that maybe not in the dramatic and miraculous ways that we'd like but in ways that would be a help to them and to the organization. Report an error in the passage at 25:25
26:21 So it's, you know, like I can see in a monastery how you can, how easy it is to feel sometimes a sense of frustration or despair with the members of the community. And you can imagine having, you know, kind of cream of the crop of monks and nuns that, you know, really fulfill all your ideals. Report an error in the passage at 26:21
26:49 These are the ones, these are the people I'm living with, the way they are, what they are, all their problems and their tendencies and their warts and I have to accept that. I work with that. These are my family and so I work with that rather than thinking that there's some possibility of setting myself up with a... Report an error in the passage at 26:49
27:16 With kind of ideal people that wouldn't have all these failings. But I've never seen where that exists. Life is like this. It's learning to put up with what you think you can't bear. Learning to respond to things that are, and how to, say, let go of just being negative and irritated. Report an error in the passage at 27:16
27:44 And exasperated by the experiences that you might have to endure. Report an error in the passage at 27:44
27:54 Does that help? Report an error in the passage at 27:54
· · · silence, 1 minute
28:33 No, I'd be, I wouldn't make a problem about it. I'd just do, be as clear as you can and see what happens. So you're not going to block the way. Report an error in the passage at 28:33
28:52 ha, ha, ha. Because you don't know also the other forces affecting a situation. You might see it in one angle but not see it, know all the other things affecting it. So sometimes it's, you know, people that have a clarity and an honesty are, you know, greatly respected. And they're very essential for any organization. The last thing you want is a bunch of sycophants. Report an error in the passage at 28:52
29:33 I mean, that's a disaster. You need people who can reflect and can tell you, can admonish, tell you what's going wrong. Not as an endless, you know, harangue of criticism, but like in monastic life you need feedback, you need to know when your actions are upsetting people or how you affect people, because oftentimes you can't see it until somebody tells you. Report an error in the passage at 29:33
30:12 And of course it is, in some ways, if you get a A community of secret sycophants, it can be, it can be quite, you can get high on it, but in the long run it doesn't work because nobody's willing to admit what, you know, it's the emperor's new clothes. Nobody's willing to say, look, look here. You realize you're not wearing anything. You Report an error in the passage at 30:12
30:42 need people like that in every sense. And where they, in the party, The part, you know, the company person that goes along, you know, they might seem like they're, you know, they're the ones that are appreciated, but that's not always, and oftentimes that's not even very healthy for the organization itself. Report an error in the passage at 30:42
· · · silence, 1 minute
31:51 think ultimately, I do, and that's what I'm about to do, you know your mind, and I think that's what I'm about think that's what I'm about to do, and I think that's what I'm about to do. Report an error in the passage at 31:51
32:14 Ajahn Report an error in the passage at 32:14
32:28 I want to be somebody and get somebody. Report an error in the passage at 32:28
32:42 Is there? it? found very often that the practical value of life is often underestimated. There's an interesting observation by George Bernard Shaw in his paper, Megan and George, remember it? When life is far and beautiful, and people don't see it, people don't see it, well, I'm only a deaf man, and I don't need to be bothered. Report an error in the passage at 32:42
33:11 So, are you good at it? And it does indicate that... and concentration, you need to concentrate on what Right. and do anything to do it well and that anything we do again is devotional and actually good and what we know know how to do it right Report an error in the passage at 33:11
33:42 It's, in fact, you know, the more mindful you are, the happier, I mean, you find joy in washing up, or things that before you thought were, you know, beneath you, or you just wanted to do in a perfunctory way, because you're not expecting anything, you're not looking forward to the next thing, you're willing to just be with and trust with it. Report an error in the passage at 33:42
34:11 moment as it is, in whatever, with whoever you happen to be with or whatever way you happen to be feeling or whatever is happening. Report an error in the passage at 34:11
34:25 Just take like one step at a time practice or and I use that as a way of reminding myself, you know, because the mind tends to be always looking on to the next thing, you know. Report an error in the passage at 34:25
34:42 Washing up, you're trying to get that over so you can go on to something else that you think is more worthy of your attention than the dishes or your, you know, I can see just how my mind is programmed to, you know, to be doing something and then already looking on to what next and a quid nunc mentality. Report an error in the passage at 34:42
35:06 What's next? And then so you never, even when you're When you're doing with something very even enjoyable, the mind will start thinking about what you're going to do after. I noticed this, that even things that I would be finding pleasant, the mind was so conditioned to think about what's next, and almost doing things in order to get them over to go on to the next thing. Report an error in the passage at 35:06
35:34 And so one never really... I could enjoy just being with the people, with the situation, with the way it is, even when it's an enjoyable scene. But as you let go of that following of desire and that whole kind of movement of restless activity, doing this to finish it in order to go on to the next thing, then even most kind of banal, mundane kind of experiences are... Report an error in the passage at 35:34
36:06 And then you do things much more, much better too, because you're not in that state of just trying to get something finished to get on to the next one. Thank Report an error in the passage at 36:06
36:53 you. Report an error in the passage at 36:53
37:07 going to put on the leather. leather is relaxed on the leather. So I'm going to put on the leather. just, you please the Lord. Report an error in the passage at 37:07
37:22 a hundred and seventy-twenty years, there'll be a hundred of you. a hundred of you know this. It'll happen anyway. That's a good one. Report an error in the passage at 37:22
37:35 don't hear don't think you can hear me now, I'm talking about this line. can bring myself back into the present moment just by looking at half of that time before. And I found that we were getting a little slow. It's a combination, I think, and we need to be able to relate that. And, you know, I'm tired of having many various decisions around me. Report an error in the passage at 37:35
38:11 And I had a letter from someone who got to here, I don't know how, during my time. And he had a wonderful letter. telling you, it's the atmosphere, the mind, and the mind, and what you think of those things. So, if you could find a much more exciting place, I something to tell you. Report an error in the passage at 38:11
38:48 Now I know there's a photograph of a Thai water buffalo with a little boy lying on the back of it. Report an error in the passage at 38:48
39:03 that those words get tense, don't they? I've heard that story. Report an error in the passage at 39:03
39:23 Well, I used to, you know, 20 years ago, Buddhists used to say, like Thai or Sri Lankan people would say to me, why are Buddhist countries always so poor? Look at the Arabs, they're rich. They've got so much money. The Muslims, they're rolling in money all the time. They've got oil. But the Buddhists, they're all poor. Report an error in the passage at 39:23
39:50 They say Buddhism, they kind of doubt Buddhism is some kind of, you know, it's a religion that just keeps you in a state where you can't make any money. Report an error in the passage at 39:50
40:06 That's what they were thinking. Report an error in the passage at 40:06
40:11 It's all, you know. ...their own countries is backward and poor. But now, the past 20 years, all these kind of Buddhist countries have become these kind of miracle economies in Asia, like South Korea and Japan and Hong Kong and Taiwan and Singapore and Malaya now. Report an error in the passage at 40:11
40:33 I was in the Peace Corps 30 years ago. I was in the Peace Corps in Malaysia. Malaysia. Malaysia then was a third world country and it looked third world and it seemed third world. But then I was there a couple of years ago in Kuala Lumpur in an incredibly modern, up-to-date, sparkling city. It's anything but third world in Singapore. I remember back in 1964 it was just a kind of fading, Report an error in the passage at 40:33
41:31 rich, that they're publishing, they're seeking. They come and they write us wanting us to send books for them to print for free distribution by the thousands. And last year they sent us a whole lorry load of the Dhammapada books, big, thick Dhammapada with illustrations and commentaries and everything included in it for free distribution. Report an error in the passage at 41:31
42:03 This book will cost about 50 pounds, I'm sure. But they're printing it to be given out to anyone. And they've got so much money that they've become very philanthropic. So I mean, whether this is due to Buddhism or greed or what, I don't know. But I definitely feel that... I mean, I've seen a lot living here in Britain where you've got a tremendous kind of religious tolerance. Report an error in the passage at 42:03
42:39 There's a, you know, and where there's so many different religions living side by side and where the kind of national religion, the C of E, is a quite tolerant group, you know, and have not been any kind of obstructive. I don't want to cause any great obstructions to, say, Buddhists, from my experience. Report an error in the passage at 42:39
43:06 And also, there is a tremendous interest in interfaith and in trying to understand, not just on the, not just on being culturally interested and nicely tolerant, but there is a much, you can see, in the mystical forms of religious experience are coming together. Report an error in the passage at 43:06
43:28 That people are seeing that the differences oftentimes on their level of convention are not the important issues. It's not that they're, I mean, they're just different. But the goal, the ultimate mystical union or the realization of truth or whatever terms you choose to put it in is what religion's aiming at. Report an error in the passage at 43:28
43:59 And that for maybe the next century, hopefully religions won't see themselves in terms of just converting and grasping people and dividing and trying to put down others to build themselves up. That whole way of thinking now seems like such a defilement and such a... You know, a kind of evilness to use something, to use a convention that's pointing towards a universal reality, but only use it to divide and separate and cause problems. Report an error in the passage at 43:59
44:44 And I think there's more awareness of this now, even on the levels of, especially through meditation. And through the more mystical forms that are being sought after now, where, say, so much of the religious kind of conventions have been petrified in doctrinal kind of, not in the mystical union or the realization of ultimate truth, but in very fixed views of doctrinal principles. Report an error in the passage at 44:44
45:29 Those, of course, are variable, change, and whether you perceive God in terms of a human form or abstract or whatever. I mean, the point is that you're aiming beyond the symbol itself. Your attention, the symbol, is there to focus on to get beyond it. Report an error in the passage at 45:29
45:58 In mindfulness, you know, like my sister's icons, or the Buddha images here, you know, when you're talking about this, my sister and I are talking about the use of a Buddha image is the same as an icon, a Catholic icon, because you're focusing on the image itself to get beyond it, because it's, you know, like the Buddha images. Report an error in the passage at 45:58
46:25 It's just, you know, it's a marble image or a wooden image or whatever, but it has, it's not meant to be worshipped as a thing in itself, but as an icon to focus, to get beyond to what's beyond the image or the conditioning, the particular conditions of or the conventions of a religion. Report an error in the passage at 46:25
46:51 And I have, in my experience with With people who are truly on a religious path, there's a more, you know, a kind of a sense of we're together, we're not just, we're not seeing each other totally in terms of the conventional conventions that we may be using. And I think that's a very good sign, because I've often felt, Report an error in the passage at 46:51
47:25 I can see just with Theravāda Buddhism how awful it can be to be so attached to just the idea of being a Theravadan Buddhist. Report an error in the passage at 47:25
47:40 Because you can see so much kind of snobbery and prejudice against other forms of Buddhism by people who don't know anything about the other forms. Report an error in the passage at 47:40
47:57 People that are attached to views about Theravāda and they really despise Mahāyāna or Mahāyāna do that. They have all kinds of biases against Theravāda that they're taught in their conventions. And so you get this, you know, and then you have like today, this morning I went to Adana at the Buddhist... Report an error in the passage at 47:57
48:24 Light International Association in London, this Mahāyāna, Chinese Mahāyāna group in London, and they sponsored this, they called it a kind of Sanghadana, where all the Buddhist monks and nuns from different schools were present in Japan and Vietnam and Sri Lanka and Thailand and so forth. And then the speeches were given to convey the sense of brother and sisterhood and fellowship. And yet, and this goes on oftentimes on the external, but then when you get into the back room, they start telling you what they really think. Report an error in the passage at 48:24
49:10 What do you think? Report an error in the passage at 49:10
49:13 I don't know about these people, but I've been in enough situations like that. And I've seen even in the Theravāda how you get this in different schools or different sects of Theravāda. And then I was brought up in the Episcopal Church in America, which is a very high church, high Anglican. And they were so divisive because they despised all the others. And so I was brought up in a very, in a family where they actually, you know, referred to Protestants as prots. Report an error in the passage at 49:13
50:01 In a sign of contempt, you know, really contemptuous way. The prots. You can say prot and it sounds pretty horrid, horrendous. And then, And that really, you know, I found that very disturbing experience to see the sectarian mind. But I'm also, I understand it. I understand how it works. But I've never wanted to promote it. Or, you know, I've always tried to. Report an error in the passage at 50:01
50:31 I mean, I could, you know, sometimes out of just heedlessness I might fall into maybe a few sectarian things. But that's not what I want to encourage or promote. Because I do see we need to, as human beings, aim at that which is universal, that which lifts us out of these conditioned views, ethnic views, cultural views, class or caste or racial or sexist or whatever, you know, whatever. Report an error in the passage at 50:31
51:11 Views that you might be holding that with mindfulness we're actually transcending those views themselves. And that's what our refuge is in, is in that rather than in Theravāda Buddhism or High Church Anglicanism or whatever. Our refuge is in what is deathless and true rather than in a particular convention we might actually prefer over another. Report an error in the passage at 51:11
51:41 You know, why am I a Theravadan Buddhist monk? Because I, you know, I like it, I prefer it. It is not saying in any way that it's better than anything else. It's just, this is what came along, this is what one inclined to, and this is the convention that you've learned to use. Report an error in the passage at 51:41
52:04 Like, you know, like playing in a musical instrument. You can't play them all, you've got to choose. It doesn't mean that pianos are ultimately better than violins. Report an error in the passage at 52:04
52:23 Yeah, you have an orchestra. Report an error in the passage at 52:23
52:34 Yes, that's what I have hopes for. Because we could make some beautiful music rather than cacophonous noises. Report an error in the passage at 52:34
53:09 Really. What is it they're going to have? And call it a component, where in previous years that area was never touched, never acknowledged. So is an gift. Report an error in the passage at 53:09
53:28 It's a good sign. But after what had happened in Chicago, it seems that somewhere along the line that I don't know how it can be done, but what you're saying is trying to offset all the definitions, to respect, without trying to... I feel it very, you know, that one doesn't want... I can't see everybody in the world adopting one religious convention. I mean, I just... Report an error in the passage at 53:28
54:18 I'm not going to wait for that to happen. Report an error in the passage at 54:18
54:27 about Buddhism and politics. I think you know about, you must know, there's a layman's ethic. It's called the sūtra. The sūtra by Buddha. that, a layman, a normal person like I feel, in normal life, supposed to money and to make a living. Report an error in the passage at 54:27
54:55 I guess we have to live in a world where we have to go for the job be productive. Mm-hmm. Report an error in the passage at 54:55
55:52 people, because I think if we are unsuccessful, we won't be able to support the Sunday, or we won't be able to have the religion, or even be spiritual. I think because the first thing is to be able to satisfy your family, your, you know, your or a diagram person, you have to go back to the family. Report an error in the passage at 55:52
56:16 So it's... I don't think that buddhism, that buddhish law is things that it had before, because it's not really buddhism. No, no, it's not, it's not, no. And of course in the time of the Buddha you were getting kings and aristocrats who were trying to, like King Ashoka was. ...converted after seeing the horrors of battle and not wanting to have to kill anymore. Report an error in the passage at 56:16
56:57 Ethics also, people are realizing also that just making money without ethics is also very disastrous and that ethical behavior is... is also something that needs to be, you know, regarded and given a very important place in our lives so that while we do make our living it's in terms of dhamma and in terms of honesty and moral integrity. Report an error in the passage at 56:57
57:33 And then that kind of thing has a tremendous power to to... Report an error in the passage at 57:33
57:41 Develop a stable society and able to, a society where we can trust and live together in a way without all the fear that comes when everyone's making up all their own rules and nobody knows, nobody agrees to even kind of moral foundation. Like now, one feels. else. Report an error in the passage at 57:41
58:10 Everybody's just making up their own rules. There's no common agreements, like in the war, like in Bosnia. It's just slaughter, you know, it's just anyone for themselves. There's no sense of, you know, the warrior or the ethics of battle. The idea of respect for the civilians or It's just rape, pillage, atrocity, murder, whatever, anything goes. Because the age is not educating us towards a sense of self-respect and personal integrity. Report an error in the passage at 58:10
58:57 It's now taking individualism, or like in the Communists, I don't know exactly what happened under the Communists. It didn't inculcate in their minds personal integrity, it seems. It seems corruption and pettiness, and that seemed to be the result of a tyrannical system. Report an error in the passage at 58:57
59:31 And this is one of the great gifts we have as human beings. We can agree on moral principles. We can decide we're not going to kill each other, even though we might feel like it sometimes, then we won't do it. Or we're not going to steal each other's things, even though we might feel the impulse to do so, we're making a determination not to do that. Report an error in the passage at 59:31
59:54 So this is, even though this seems kind of ordinary and not anything special, it is quite a marvelous thing that we can agree to do that. You know, when you really think of it, That we can agree on certain ways of living with each other that provide a sense of security and trust. And we're not just living in the jungle or in the battlefield, just having to mistrust and fear even the neighbor or the police or whoever. Report an error in the passage at 59:54
1:00:34 We have a society where there's a stable foundation of of moral agreements. And that is, and that should be, you know, we need to think of it in international terms, in terms of the different, of Islam and Christianity and Buddhism, Hindu, or atheists. We have to all agree to it, whether, you know, be a total atheist or a communist. You can still agree on the moral level. It's not something that you have to join a religion for it. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:34
1:01:09 And I think that's the beauty of our humanity, one Report an error in the passage at 1:01:09
1:01:22 of our great human gifts that is overlooked. And you feel that in all these efforts to try to solve the problems in Yugoslavia, there's no kind of moral agreement at all. There's just kind of power struggling. and manipulation and intimidation and that's why it doesn't nothing nothing really takes it's all just trying to outdo or intimidate or frighten or each other into submission in some way so it's always a continuous humiliating thing that's going on to somebody you know it's not not arousing what is noble and worthy respect in the human mind it's either you know humiliating one side or another Report an error in the passage at 1:01:22
1:02:11 By all these attempts to stop the war through just power, you know, pressure from superpowers and threats to the people. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:11
1:02:31 Humans, we recognize, even though we're easily corrupted and we can be pretty awful, we actually love the good. And when somebody good arises, we tend to... I feel a sense of relief. I think the Dalai Lama is, you know, for people now, has become a kind of figure, international figure, that everybody respects. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:31
1:03:01 And that he, because he's good, and so, you know, you feel, and you're happy to have, you love the idea of the Dalai Lama. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:01
1:03:14 You want to see a human being who's actually incorruptible and good, but not self-righteous or not divisive. He's not a divisive kind of religious figure either. He's not promoting Tibetan Buddhism or Buddhism or anything at the expense of any other religion. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:14
1:03:34 So everybody, whether they're Buddhist or not, can kind of feel respect for him. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:34
1:03:54 I feel very lucky being a Buddhist that they have such an impressive kind of, it's become quite popular and fashionable. He was in Vogue and there's a coterie of film stars and whatnot chasing after him. He gets publicity, but in himself one feels that there's no conceit. I met him many times. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:54
1:04:21 And listen to him. And I've never felt, even though in his popularity and his fame, that it has any, that he's taking it in any person's way. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:21
1:04:36 He's not in danger of being ruined by the fashion world. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:36
1:04:43 I think he's more bemused by it. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:43
1:04:57 I'm sure having to be Dalai Lama would be a headache. world. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:57
1:05:02 He's so special all the time. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:02
1:05:13 I think you're right. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:13
1:05:18 He's like the Chinese. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:18
1:05:38 That's one of the gifts you get when you're a monk. It's a koala bear. Somebody was in probably the Doogie Free shop in Sydney and thought, what can I get Ajahn Sumedho? He's Report an error in the passage at 1:05:38
1:06:02 cute though, isn't he? Report an error in the passage at 1:06:02
1:06:12 Children, they make a beeline for it. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:12
1:06:39 Well, I think this is an age-old problem. But like Report an error in the passage at 1:06:39
1:06:51 non-attachment is, like people sometimes don't realize. of teenagers and the that they cause parents and desire of parents and the that they cause teenagers. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:51
1:06:58 How profound that is. Because like many people see non-attachment as indifference or not caring. Where we suffer a lot is where we want people to be what we want them to be. And then they aren't. And then we feel, we just feel critical of them. Or like when teenagers, oftentimes they're rebelling and they're caring, more like you. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:58
1:07:27 They're trying to break away from the kind of child relationship with the parents and sometimes they've just become very obnoxious and then we feel, you know, we take it in a way that, you know, people can take it very personally and be very hurt by it because we like them to be To respect us and have the kind of bonds that were there before and then when it changes we feel devastated. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:27
1:08:05 So this is where non-attachment allows us to reflect and learn to accept and to bear with oftentimes the changing conditions which are not always going to be what we want but which we... Report an error in the passage at 1:08:05
1:08:23 We have to bear it. I mean, there's nothing we can do about it. If we hate it and resent it, then we create a lot of misery in our minds. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:23
1:08:33 But we can learn from it. And so when, like the child that loves mom and then gets to the age where he doesn't want anything more to do with you or even be seen with you on the street, I mean, still, Use that for reflection. These are stages. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:33
1:09:06 I notice when you get to about 40, then suddenly you realize, at least I did, I suddenly realized what my parents had to put up with me and my sister. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:06
1:09:26 I suddenly felt grateful to them. It took a while to really appreciate how much parents give and how much they sacrifice and how ungrateful one can be because you're with them. You don't understand until you're older the difficulties of life. I remember it. 18, 19, and I was so critical of my parents. They didn't do this right, they didn't do that right. I'm not going to do that. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:26
1:10:06 I'm going to make my life much better than theirs. The kind of conceit of youth. And then over the years, you realize, you know, what, you know, Report an error in the passage at 1:10:06
1:10:22 How difficult life is, and how much suffering you experience in it, and how much your parents must have suffered through your callousness, through my callousness, through my just not noticing how my boorish behavior was affecting them, because I was so centered on myself and my own desires. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:22
1:10:55 But, you know, I think also my parents, I think they trusted in the fact that they did give us a good foundation for life. And so, after we got to a certain age, they more or less let us go without holding on, which I've always been grateful for. That I've never had parents who were trying to, you know, blackmail me, emotionally blackmail me or hold on to me. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:55
1:11:24 But, trusted that gave the best they could and then the rest is up to me what I do with it. You know, I really saw that. They had to sacrifice. My sister and I were born in the depression in the 30s. A really hard time. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:24
1:12:07 My parents suffered a lot. They lost all their money in the 30s. They'd start all over again with two babies. Then they went on and they got through it. But also, you know, I realized that that generation just didn't like... They didn't have the options and the... Alternatives that I've had, or my sister, I mean, they just, you know, been born at the turn of the century, my parents, and they didn't have all the choices, options, opportunities for fulfilling their ambitions. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:07
1:12:49 They more or less had to take what they could get and do the best they could with it. Where, I mean, I remember... Having said, you know, I could choose, I would go to university, I had so many possibilities. And it's interesting now where you hear, it's going, that isn't so much the case anymore. The present generation doesn't have many options either. And oftentimes they can't even get work. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:49
1:13:24 Once they finish their secondary education, they can't even find employment. When I was, I couldn't find employment. I had trouble deciding which job I wanted. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:24
Related talks
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