Day 2c – DT – Mindfulness and Wisdom

0:00 Satsang with Mooji Satsang with Mooji Satsang with Mooji Report an error in the passage at 0:00 Highlight the passage at 0:00

0:30 So Report an error in the passage at 0:30 Highlight the passage at 0:30

0:47 this evening, this is the second evening of this retreat, and encouragement, we all need encouragement on this path, because Report an error in the passage at 0:47 Highlight the passage at 0:47

1:06 we do get stuck, we have obstructions and things to deal with. in our own mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:06 Highlight the passage at 1:06

1:19 we can understand oftentimes the teachings they're easy enough to comprehend. Report an error in the passage at 1:19 Highlight the passage at 1:19

1:30 the Dhamma, or the Dhamma we get from the scripture. So that's acquired knowledge. You acquire that from outside yourself. Report an error in the passage at 1:30 Highlight the passage at 1:30

1:47 We're mostly, you know, educated people who've acquired knowledge through going to schools, universities, and so forth. And that's what we think knowledge is, is something you acquire. Or wisdom. What is wisdom, anyway? We use the word, it's a common enough word in the English language. In Pāli, we call it panya. But what exactly does panya mean in terms of... Report an error in the passage at 1:47 Highlight the passage at 1:47

2:18 The reality of now. Is it wise sayings from sages of the past? Or knowledge we acquired from reading philosophy? Report an error in the passage at 2:18 Highlight the passage at 2:18

2:36 And so panya is universal wisdom. It's not personal. It's not even Buddhist. Buddhism is a convention, but wisdom... is the very nature of dhamma, of the universe that we live in. It's wisdom. Report an error in the passage at 2:36 Highlight the passage at 2:36

2:59 And it's through this wisdom, and how do we get to this wisdom? Because most of us don't feel wise. You know, when you ask yourself if you feel you're wise, it's probably overestimating your ability. Report an error in the passage at 2:59 Highlight the passage at 2:59

3:18 So it's not like the ego. It's not like a personal attainment. or property or acquisition but it is here and now and what is that which is here and now that we can recognize without going anywhere else in the position we're sitting in here in the temple and Report an error in the passage at 3:18 Highlight the passage at 3:18

3:50 so you can know right now you're experiencing consciousness like last evening's talk was about And consciousness, then, is a fact that you can verify just by, not by trying to figure out whether you're conscious or not, or think about what I mean by that, but just being aware, opening up, the escape hatch, mindfulness, in other words. Report an error in the passage at 3:50 Highlight the passage at 3:50

4:30 So sati and paññā, mindfulness, wisdom, go together. The sati is the ability to be present here and now. Because even though, obviously, that's a true fact, we're all here, and the time is now, nobody's going to refute that on a personal level. You know, I'm here, I'm sitting here, you're sitting there, and the time, you say, what time is it? Report an error in the passage at 4:30 Highlight the passage at 4:30

5:03 Five minutes past eight o 'clock, that's convention. But the reality is it's now that you're listening, you're hearing, you're feeling, you're experiencing through the body, through the senses, and it's like this. Report an error in the passage at 5:03 Highlight the passage at 5:03

5:24 So wisdom, in this sense, is not a critical function. It's not saying right or wrong, good or bad, true or false. The critical function is the thinking mind. So when you try to figure out whether you're wise or not or what is wisdom, then you get caught in the proliferating tendencies of the intellect. Report an error in the passage at 5:24 Highlight the passage at 5:24

5:53 And it leads to doubt, uncertainty, am I right, am I wrong? But mindfulness isn't about right and wrong. Report an error in the passage at 5:53 Highlight the passage at 5:53

6:06 It's here and now. And this is... And being able to recognize this. So the Buddha's teaching of the Four Noble Truths is a teaching to lead us onward to that reality, the Third Noble Truth, of here and now, in Report an error in the passage at 6:06 Highlight the passage at 6:06

6:33 a real way, recognizing it, awakening to reality. So we often... I used to try to figure out the proper English equivalent to Dhamma, and the best one I've come up with over all these years is reality. So in Singapore, a few years ago, they wanted me to make a slogan for the Buddha Dhamma Foundation, and so I gave them Awaken to Reality. Report an error in the passage at 6:33 Highlight the passage at 6:33

7:12 And then people have asked me, one time I remember somebody asked me, can you describe, Buddha's teaching in one sentence. I said I can do it with one word. Wake up. Hyphenated word. Report an error in the passage at 7:12 Highlight the passage at 7:12

7:35 So that's not, is that difficult to do, to wake up, to be here and now? You know, is that asking that you spend your life developing all kinds of special abilities and qualities in order to wake up here and now? Report an error in the passage at 7:35 Highlight the passage at 7:35

7:51 Or is it, is it just natural? A natural state of being which we've forgotten. As we grow up we become more complicated. We form views, opinions of ourselves. We get praised and blamed. We get rewarded and punished accordingly to the society's demands, parental expectations and on and on like that. The way of conditioning us into Being what is considered a normal citizen or a member of society. And so the civilizing process of education and convention we tend to identify with. Report an error in the passage at 7:51 Highlight the passage at 7:51

8:43 We don't realize it's happening when it's happening. We just absorb it. Like a child is like a sponge. They just absorb. So what is wisdom then? Or panya? Report an error in the passage at 8:43 Highlight the passage at 8:43

9:08 It's consciousness. It's the ability to discern reality from delusion. It's not even saying reality is better than delusion. It's not taking sides. It's an awakening to reality, to dhamma. Report an error in the passage at 9:08 Highlight the passage at 9:08

9:33 To the reality of pure conscious awareness that is our very nature. You don't acquire that. You don't get it by doing something and in the future you hope to get wisdom. It's learning to open, to trust, to observe, be the observer. So wisdom is the observer. Report an error in the passage at 9:33 Highlight the passage at 9:33

10:03 of delusion. Like delusion can't observe wisdom. It's impossible. So delusion, in this sense, the Pāli word avicca, and in the strict terms of Pāli Buddhism, avicca is not knowing the Four Noble Truths, there are three aspects and twelve insights. So it simplifies everything. Put it in these Report an error in the passage at 10:03 Highlight the passage at 10:03

10:38 The teachings of the Buddha, they're directives. They're not doctrines. Report an error in the passage at 10:38 Highlight the passage at 10:38

10:46 They're directional signs. Like if you want to go to London, you follow the signs. You go into Hemel Hamstead and then you see a sign pointing toward London. It says London on it. And if you follow the signs, you get to London eventually. But enlightenment is quicker than that. It takes time. Report an error in the passage at 10:46 Highlight the passage at 10:46

11:15 It takes time to get to London from Emil Amstead where it's timeless. The reality of dhamma, wisdom, consciousness is here and now. So it's not, you don't have to go anywhere but awaken. Report an error in the passage at 11:15 Highlight the passage at 11:15

11:39 Now the second noble, the first noble truth is what is aware of dukkha, of suffering? The first noble truth there is the statement there is So that is, it's not a kind of doctrine, doctrinal statement. It's not saying everything is miserable and suffering. So it's not coming from trying to be metaphysical in any way and make generalizations. Report an error in the passage at 11:39 Highlight the passage at 11:39

12:12 It's just pointing to the experience of suffering. So what do we do? We look outward and see suffering around us. We read the news and we hear all the kind of tragedies, scandals, miserable things that are happening in the world. Report an error in the passage at 12:12 Highlight the passage at 12:12

12:32 And you realize that that's suffering. But in the reality of our own life, which is we're not involved in directly directly or personally in any. We can live in a nice kuti here in Amaravati and still suffer, even when everybody is being cooperative and good to you. Report an error in the passage at 12:32 Highlight the passage at 12:32

13:05 So what is it? It's the noble truth. Report an error in the passage at 13:05 Highlight the passage at 13:05

13:15 And so to understand suffering is the insight. It should be understood. Suffering has been understood. The first three aspects are insights into reality, awakening to reality. Report an error in the passage at 13:15 Highlight the passage at 13:15

13:38 Then the second noble truth, there is a cause or an origin of suffering. It's not ultimate reality, in other words. Duke is not the ultimate truth. There is a cause. It has a cause. It has a beginning. It has an origin. Report an error in the passage at 13:38 Highlight the passage at 13:38

14:02 So suffering is something that we can observe with wisdom. Report an error in the passage at 14:02 Highlight the passage at 14:02

14:10 But we tend to be aware of suffering as a personal, something personal, something wrong with me or the world around me. There's something wrong with it. And I suffer because of the things that are wrong. We can apply it to ourselves. Because I'm this way, I get angry and jealous and frightened and I shouldn't. Or we can blame the suffering we're experiencing in the present on something else, somebody else. Report an error in the passage at 14:10 Highlight the passage at 14:10

14:46 But that's not the noble truth. That's just the reaction to suffering. The habitual blind reaction to something unpleasant, unwanted. unwanted uh Report an error in the passage at 14:46 Highlight the passage at 14:46

14:59 That we tend to identify as some personal quality. But to understand suffering is not to grasp it and identify with it, but to recognize it. It's like this. Report an error in the passage at 14:59 Highlight the passage at 14:59

15:19 Just the reality of being, the sense of being separate from everything, of feeling. Lonely or different or self-conscious or, you know, it can go into all kinds of anxieties and worries and self-criticisms or blaming others. Report an error in the passage at 15:19 Highlight the passage at 15:19

15:46 But that's not the noble truth. The noble truth is there is suffering. It should be understood. And then the third insight is the result of understanding suffering. There's a profound Knowing through wisdom, not through acquired knowledge from scripture. Through wisdom, suffering has been understood. Report an error in the passage at 15:46 Highlight the passage at 15:46

16:14 So you see, this is a reflective paradigm the Buddha gave us. The statement from the scripture, the Buddha's word, and so forth. The second aspect, what to do about it, to understand it. The third... The insight into it has been realized, has been understood. So that's pretty clear, isn't it, that there's three aspects to each noble truth, is what I call a reflective paradigm, pattern to follow. Report an error in the passage at 16:14 Highlight the passage at 16:14

16:56 So it's not critical, it's not saying anything's wrong with suffering or who's to blame for it, it's recognized, it's like this. Report an error in the passage at 16:56 Highlight the passage at 16:56

17:07 Now the origin of suffering, suffering or dukkha has an origin, it begins, and therefore anything that begins ends. Report an error in the passage at 17:07 Highlight the passage at 17:07

17:23 So the beginning or the origin of suffering is ignorance of dharma, not having insights, just operating out of the momentum of habit, conditioning, fear, desire. Report an error in the passage at 17:23 Highlight the passage at 17:23

17:41 In these kind of emotions, we tend to just be caught in reactivity to praise and blame, success and failure, the worldly dhammas. Report an error in the passage at 17:41 Highlight the passage at 17:41

17:54 We're caught in just reactivity, which is natural. Nobody wants suffering. I don't want suffering. I want happiness, security, love, acceptance, all the best. Report an error in the passage at 17:54 Highlight the passage at 17:54

18:17 What? Out of desire, out of the origin of suffering, avicca, ignorance of dhamma, then desire arises and we grasp it. You know, I want happiness, I don't want this suffering. So this is very important to reflect on the nature of desire because the Sankt Noble Truth is an investigation of desire, of dhanha. Report an error in the passage at 18:17 Highlight the passage at 18:17

18:49 The Pāli word for desire is dhanha. Report an error in the passage at 18:49 Highlight the passage at 18:49

18:59 So translated into the English word desire, and in the English context, desire always has a sense of something, kind of a pejorative quality to it. If you say somebody has a lot of desires, that's not a compliment. They might have a lot of very good desires. Some people have... Over, you know, oversupplied with very good desires. So desires can be good, they can be bad. Report an error in the passage at 18:59 Highlight the passage at 18:59

19:35 So it's not about not having desire because this realm that we're experiencing is a desire realm. The very bodies that are sitting here are desire forms. The senses, they're about desire. What we see attracts us. We desire to be attracted through sight. Pleasure of mellifluous sounds and the aversion to cacophony or to ugly things that we might see. Report an error in the passage at 19:35 Highlight the passage at 19:35

20:11 There's a reaction. It's natural. The eyes contacts the object and it's pleasing. We want it. That's natural. Or if it's unpleasing, we want to get rid of it. Report an error in the passage at 20:11 Highlight the passage at 20:11

20:28 So meditation isn't about getting rid. of desires or getting rid of the bad things. Desire to get rid of desires is a hopeless situation. You just drive yourself crazy with that one. Desire to get rid of desire and the desire to get rid of the desire to get rid of desire. That's all the further I can go. Report an error in the passage at 20:28 Highlight the passage at 20:28

21:03 Even I get twisted up when I get beyond three stages of desire. So the Buddha emphasized gama-dhanah, which is the Pāli for sensual desire, sense desires through the senses. Report an error in the passage at 21:03 Highlight the passage at 21:03

21:26 It's quite obvious what we see, hear, smell, taste, touch. Through sensory contact, impingement, desire arises. Report an error in the passage at 21:26 Highlight the passage at 21:26

21:40 Then bhavadana, this is a problem with many of us in religious orders, in religion itself, is a desire to become, to get something you don't have. Desire for nibbāna, desire for stream entry, desire for jhānas, desire for samādhi, desire for getting, what is it? To get something you don't have yet. Report an error in the passage at 21:40 Highlight the passage at 21:40

22:09 That's good, you know, like samādhi is good, jhānas are good, sodapanna, arahant, nibbāna, those are all good desires, altruistic desires. Report an error in the passage at 22:09 Highlight the passage at 22:09

22:23 But they're still desires. Report an error in the passage at 22:23 Highlight the passage at 22:23

22:28 Bhavadana is like that, wanting to get something you don't have yet. And then vipavadana, desire to get rid of the nasty bits, the unpleasant, get rid of anger. Get rid of fear, get rid of sexual obsessions, get rid of confusion and anxiety, get rid of worry. You know, we all want to get rid of those things on a personal level. Report an error in the passage at 22:28 Highlight the passage at 22:28

23:09 So this is investigation of desire. What can know desire? What can know gamadana, sensual desire? What is it that discerns it? It's not a desire, is it? Desire can't see itself or see other desires, but this sati sampacanya, mindfulness, wisdom, intuitive awareness, this ability we have that the Buddha pointed to. Report an error in the passage at 23:09 Highlight the passage at 23:09

23:49 This is the whole point of the the, the, uh, uh, For noble truth teaching. It's a directional sign. It's directing us to look. Not outward to destroy desire or get rid of things that arouse desire. But to know desire for what it is. It's the way it is. Gamma Dhanas like this. So a relationship to desire is knowing and understanding it. Report an error in the passage at 23:49 Highlight the passage at 23:49

24:26 Rather than grasping it. So the insight, the insight is to let go, let go of desire. But to let go of desire, you have to know what desire is. We should let go of our desires can be one of those righteous statements that religious people tend to often give us. You should not have any desires. You should let go of all your desires is a righteous statement. But in order to let go of desire, it's not annihilating it because this realm is a desire realm. Report an error in the passage at 24:26 Highlight the passage at 24:26

25:13 It's the way it is. Bodies desire form. The senses are desire forms. The objects around us are desire forms. The universe that we... Perceive through the senses. It's all about dhanah, desire, arising and ceasing, birth and death. Report an error in the passage at 25:13 Highlight the passage at 25:13

25:45 So the meditator then is aware of desire, knows desire as desire. It's a sankara, just another sankara. And we tend to grasp desires out of habit. Report an error in the passage at 25:45 Highlight the passage at 25:45

26:06 Because that's the way we're conditioned to grasp desires. And when we see, when we observe the suffering we create in our lives through grasping desire, it can be any of the three or all three, various times of the day and night. Report an error in the passage at 26:06 Highlight the passage at 26:06

26:30 We do it in the form of a habitual behavior, conditioned behavior. But awareness, sati, sampacanya and panya is not... It's not habit. Report an error in the passage at 26:30 Highlight the passage at 26:30

26:46 It's awakening to reality. Wake up, in other words. And I found this Second Noble Truth fascinating. When I was a Samanera, the first year I ordained, 1966, in Nong Khai in Thailand, I spent a year investigating the Four Noble Truths. I got through the first two. Report an error in the passage at 26:46 Highlight the passage at 26:46

27:19 Through reflecting on, I could see this, you know, had insights into suffering and the cause of suffering, and into letting go. But Report an error in the passage at 27:19 Highlight the passage at 27:19

27:41 to let go means you have to know what to let go of. And sometimes when we use the word letting go, it means like getting rid of. I don't like desire, I'm going to get rid of my desires. And so that's vipa vadanag, and you can't win on that by doing that. It's to understand, to recognize, to know for yourself through letting go, that you actually let go of desires, which is just releasing your blind habitual grasp on desire. Report an error in the passage at 27:41 Highlight the passage at 27:41

28:23 So vicha is the cause, dhanha, upadhana, grasping. So in the... Report an error in the passage at 28:23 Highlight the passage at 28:23

28:40 Pāli language upādāna is like grasping. You have a sensual desire, you grasp it, you're out of habit. Report an error in the passage at 28:40 Highlight the passage at 28:40

28:53 That's the way you're conditioned to do that. You see something you like, you want to get it through the sensory impingement. Report an error in the passage at 28:53 Highlight the passage at 28:53

29:05 Then bhavadana, wanting to become. out of just Report an error in the passage at 29:05 Highlight the passage at 29:05

29:09 I'm not good enough the way I am. On a personal level, when we all start with an idea, there's something I've got to get that I don't have yet. I'm not good enough the way I am, and I need to do something in order to get rid of these faults, these delusions I have about myself and the world. And so I'm going to come to Amaravati, practice meditation. Report an error in the passage at 29:09 Highlight the passage at 29:09

29:37 To get rid of these delusions, because I'm a deluded person, and I hope Buddhism will help me break through these delusions, is generally the scenarios we operate from in the beginning. Report an error in the passage at 29:37 Highlight the passage at 29:37

29:57 But is there a deluded person? I mean, you create, you know, when you believe that you are a delusion and a person, that's avicca, ignorance of dhamma. Report an error in the passage at 29:57 Highlight the passage at 29:57

30:17 And it doesn't mean I'm already enlightened, I don't need to meditate. Report an error in the passage at 30:17 Highlight the passage at 30:17

30:25 I mean, there are various views about, you know, you shouldn't put any effort in, it's just natural and just awaken to the reality of here and now and listen to the birds singing in the trees. And it's all poetic and beautiful. But, you know, we might be inspired by such teachings, but... But this second noble truth is actually giving us something practical to use, to investigate, to get to the root cause of suffering. Report an error in the passage at 30:25 Highlight the passage at 30:25

31:01 So we can see for ourselves, we're not just trying to pretend to be enlightened and be free from suffering, but observing suffering, observing desire. And what is it that knows desire but doesn't judge it? It's not about... Good or bad desires, it's bhajna. Because bhajna allows us to awaken to the nature of sankara. Report an error in the passage at 31:01 Highlight the passage at 31:01

31:31 All sankaras are impermanent. So the Report an error in the passage at 31:31 Highlight the passage at 31:31

31:50 path to wisdom is mindfulness. Sati, sampacanya, the phrase intuitive, intuition, that's an English word. What does it mean? Report an error in the passage at 31:50 Highlight the passage at 31:50

32:08 It's not about, when we say somebody's intuitive, we think that they kind of feel life more. When you're very rational, you don't feel very much. Like the thinking mind is, it doesn't feel anything. It's judgmental. You know, so it can be very brutal because it wants to punish the bad and reward the good. Report an error in the passage at 32:08 Highlight the passage at 32:08

32:37 And it's very black and white. It's very righteous about how things should be. The thinking mind doesn't feel anything. It's not about feeling at all. Report an error in the passage at 32:37 Highlight the passage at 32:37

32:58 But the sense realm that we're experiencing is all, you know, the reality of here and now is really about feeling, not about right and wrong, isn't it? At this very moment, you're feeling. They're experiencing, you know, just through your body, some sensations, pleasant, painful, or neutral. There's feeling in your mind, in your consciousness of feeling interested, bored, confused, happy or sad, whatever. Report an error in the passage at 32:58 Highlight the passage at 32:58

33:32 The state of mind, the emotional state you're experiencing at this moment is like this. The body's like this. So in this statement of it's like this, notice it's not judging anything. It's just a pointing. To say it's like this isn't pointing outside, is it? It's encouragement to look, to observe, to open sati sampatana, intuitive awareness. Report an error in the passage at 33:32 Highlight the passage at 33:32

34:05 And then wisdom can inform consciousness. All sankharas are impermanent. So, Report an error in the passage at 34:05 Highlight the passage at 34:05

34:29 recognize like vedanā and feeling, Report an error in the passage at 34:29 Highlight the passage at 34:29

34:37 pleasurable feeling, sukha vedanā, unpleasant feeling, tukha vedanā, tukha matsukha vedanā, neutral feeling, both on the physical plane and mentally, when you're inspired. Report an error in the passage at 34:37 Highlight the passage at 34:37

35:01 If somebody praises you, you win a prize. You get the OBE. You get a title from the Thai king. That kind of feeling is, Report an error in the passage at 35:01 Highlight the passage at 35:01

35:18 you know, we call that happiness or you feel glad or happy about it. It's like this. Report an error in the passage at 35:18 Highlight the passage at 35:18

35:29 So it's not trying not to feel happy about it. Being praised by the society or anything, but recognizing happiness as saṅkhāra rather than grasping it and wanting to maintain that feeling because it's very impermanent. To be praised and awarded accolades or titles and appreciation from others is like this. Report an error in the passage at 35:29 Highlight the passage at 35:29

35:59 Happiness is like this. And that's sattis. Bhanya, mindfulness wisdom operating. Report an error in the passage at 35:59 Highlight the passage at 35:59

36:15 Then when life goes the other direction, you don't win the lottery, you lose your, you can't pay the mortgage, people are criticizing you, fault finding you, and disparaging you, is like this, you know, praise and blame. Report an error in the passage at 36:15 Highlight the passage at 36:15

36:43 And wisdom is the same, isn't it? Whether you're being praised or blamed doesn't, ...isn't really that important, it's the awareness that's important, the sati sampacanya, the wisdom, to know that whatever you're feeling, physically or emotionally now, is sankara, sape, sankara, nicca, all conditions, all sankaras are impermanent. Report an error in the passage at 36:43 Highlight the passage at 36:43

37:11 So nicca is the word in the vipassanā world, you know. Explore anicca, the impermanence of conditioned phenomena, because that's the first characteristic common to all conditions. Report an error in the passage at 37:11 Highlight the passage at 37:11

37:34 And what is it that knows anicca? Report an error in the passage at 37:34 Highlight the passage at 37:34

37:41 It's satipanya, it's dhamma, it's awareness, it's non-personal. You can't claim it as a personal attainment. Or if you do, you're deluded. Report an error in the passage at 37:41 Highlight the passage at 37:41

38:12 So many, you know, in teaching meditation retreats and so on, so many people want to You know, they have come for interviews and then they, how do I get rid of my anger is a common one, or fear. I have a lot of fear and anxiety. How do I get rid of it? You know, so this is a fairly common question because we're strongly identified with feeling anxious or our bad temper or anger, angry moods or fears. Report an error in the passage at 38:12 Highlight the passage at 38:12

38:48 Because, you know, on the ideal level, on the rational level, on the unfeeling level of life, I should be brave, I shouldn't have fear, I'm a bhikkhu for 50 years now and I should be above anger, I should have mettā for all sentient beings, that's ideal. Report an error in the passage at 38:48 Highlight the passage at 38:48

39:11 But it doesn't feel anything, that's not the way things are. That's a beautiful ideal. And when we grasp ideas or ideals, we still suffer because we're never going, this is not about ideals. Report an error in the passage at 39:11 Highlight the passage at 39:11

39:29 You know, this is life as it is here and now, as you're experiencing your body here and now, your emotional mental state here and now is like this. Report an error in the passage at 39:29 Highlight the passage at 39:29

39:44 The atmosphere is like this. Report an error in the passage at 39:44 Highlight the passage at 39:44

39:54 So, you know, like from my own background, you know, from being born and raised in the United States. So it's a country, it's a civilization based on ideals. Freedom, equality, democracy, the best you can create in your mind of ideas. So ideals are, you know, the best, the top of the line, the best you can possibly think. Report an error in the passage at 39:54 Highlight the passage at 39:54

40:25 Universal love, compassion, being free from all defilements, having everybody equal and everything fair and just, no corruption, a completely democratic system that works where everybody's cooperating for the welfare of the country, for the welfare of the population. There's no selfish political interests. That's how it should be, I admit. Report an error in the passage at 40:25 Highlight the passage at 40:25

41:00 But what is that in the here and now when I talk like that? That's an ideal, isn't it? It's very high, very beautiful, not to disparage it. But awareness, sattisambhacanya, allows us to see things as they are. It's a saṅkhāra. Ideals are sankharas, which isn't taking away the beauty of the ideal, but putting it in proper perspective because we're living life, we're experiencing. Report an error in the passage at 41:00 Highlight the passage at 41:00

41:29 Reality, here and now, we're experiencing feeling and sensation and attraction and aversion and wonder and terror and so forth, here and now. Where Report an error in the passage at 41:29 Highlight the passage at 41:29

41:50 the ideal, if grasped out of ignorance, then it makes us always discontented because life isn't ideal. Life isn't fair and always just. And that it's like this. Report an error in the passage at 41:50 Highlight the passage at 41:50

42:11 And in this way, it's not cynical or negative. It's just the willingness to learn from the way life is rather than wishing it were otherwise, wishing it were perfect and everybody was enlightened. You'd have a really functioning democracy if everybody in the UK was an Arahant. Report an error in the passage at 42:11 Highlight the passage at 42:11

42:40 It'd be ideal society. But that's not the way it is. It's like this. So like the UK, the political structure, the political system, they come as like this. It's not saying it's good or right or wrong. But it is a way of accepting the here and now through discerning it as sankara rather than grasping it and grumbling because Report an error in the passage at 42:40 Highlight the passage at 42:40

43:15 It doesn't fit into the ideals that you're holding, your high-minded standards and principles that you adhere to, and you just feel angry, disappointed, cynical, because the world isn't what it should be. Report an error in the passage at 43:15 Highlight the passage at 43:15

43:36 Because the world is the way it is. It's about sankara, about birth and death, old age, sickness and death. Report an error in the passage at 43:36 Highlight the passage at 43:36

43:47 It's about change. Report an error in the passage at 43:47 Highlight the passage at 43:47

43:52 And so our refuge then is in the changeless reality of dhamma. And that can only be recognized through, realized through mindfulness, sati sampajjana. So Report an error in the passage at 43:52 Highlight the passage at 43:52

44:42 letting go of ideals isn't kind of annihilating them. Ideals are like Like guiding stars, they're high above in the sky. They give directions, you know, directional signs. So guiding star, you have to notice that. But if you stay focused on the guiding star, you don't notice the ditch in front of you. Report an error in the passage at 44:42 Highlight the passage at 44:42

45:22 The guiding star is beautiful. So that's one level. We need inspiration. We need... Beautiful. Report an error in the passage at 45:22 Highlight the passage at 45:22

45:33 Hope and guidance and things like that is a direction. Faith in this tradition is based on faith or saddha. But in Buddhadharma, faith is always balanced with wisdom. It's not a blind faith. It's through awakening that wisdom can operate. So the faith you have in the Buddha's teaching increases. The more you practice it, well, you have satta and banya, faith and wisdom. Report an error in the passage at 45:33 Highlight the passage at 45:33

46:18 So, well, there's blind faith, where you just believe in something, but there's no way to practice it. You just hold on to some belief system that appeals to you, that you have faith in, that you believe in. Report an error in the passage at 46:18 Highlight the passage at 46:18

46:38 But oftentimes, one holds on to beliefs out of fear. fear and uh And compulsion, you know, so much of religious faith is, you know, if you don't believe, you'll go to hell. That's threatening, isn't it? Report an error in the passage at 46:38 Highlight the passage at 46:38

47:02 That's how I was brought up. If you don't believe in God, you go to hell. And so, I mean, that's kind of, you must believe in God because the alternative is hell. Report an error in the passage at 47:02 Highlight the passage at 47:02

47:19 I didn't want that. Report an error in the passage at 47:19 Highlight the passage at 47:19

47:29 So I reflect on my own experience. When I was 21, I came across Zen Buddhism. I was in the U.S. Navy at the time, 1955, and I was on a cargo supply ship from San Francisco, which was the home port to the military bases in Japan and Philippines. Report an error in the passage at 47:29 Highlight the passage at 47:29

47:56 And it was in Japan. Somebody gave me these books by R.H. Blythe on haiku poetry, and they mentioned Zen Buddhism. He was, I think, British or American, but I never met him. But he translated a lot of this in translating Japanese haiku into English language. Report an error in the passage at 47:56 Highlight the passage at 47:56

48:26 And something in me kind of became interested in that. Report an error in the passage at 48:26 Highlight the passage at 48:26

48:33 So I consider that the beginning of faith. Before I knew nothing about Buddhism, I'd heard of it, you know, but when you're brought up as a Christian, you dismiss all other religions as pagan or wrong or radical, even though you know nothing about them. Report an error in the passage at 48:33 Highlight the passage at 48:33

48:53 You're just told that that's not the way. So, you know, you just believe what you're told. Until you start questioning. And the thing with Zen Buddhism is it's... My nature, personal nature, is a doubter. I'm not a faith. Faith doesn't come easily. People tell me I have to believe in something. I can't do it. Report an error in the passage at 48:53 Highlight the passage at 48:53

49:27 So this is my character, personality. My sister... She's 85 now. She's a devout Roman Catholic. She never had that problem. And she's very happy, too. Report an error in the passage at 49:27 Highlight the passage at 49:27

49:46 So what works for her didn't work for me. Report an error in the passage at 49:46 Highlight the passage at 49:46

49:54 Then one time I was in India in 1973 or 72, going on two-door and wandering in India. And I came to this ashram in Gorakhpur, a Hindu ashram. And I asked to spend the night there. So the swami, the head swami came out, a very impressive looking man in orange robes and had earlobes that came down to his shoulders and he had big beautiful jade earrings in these long earlobes. Report an error in the passage at 49:54 Highlight the passage at 49:54

50:35 Very impressive looking person. And he said, You should be a Christian. You were brought up as a Christian, weren't you? He started yelling at me, and I thought... And Report an error in the passage at 50:35 Highlight the passage at 50:35

50:54 so I thought... I said, well, I'm a Buddhist. And he said, you should stay with your own religion. You shouldn't change religion. He was kind of preaching at me. So I asked him if we could spend the night there, and he said yes. That was good enough. But didn't arouse faith in... His particular style. But Report an error in the passage at 50:54 Highlight the passage at 50:54

51:24 it did get me reflecting. Why? Because faith starts... Who's to know what it is that arouses faith in some that doesn't... that bores somebody else? Because at that time, 1955, not very many young American males were... Would have much faith in Zen Buddhism or Buddhism or anything Asian at the time. It was all very different interests at that age when you're 21. Report an error in the passage at 51:24 Highlight the passage at 51:24

52:05 So I'm kind of reflecting back. It was just an initial interest in the haiku poetry that led into Zen Buddhism. Report an error in the passage at 52:05 Highlight the passage at 52:05

52:21 And then that leads to this moment here where, you know, 60 years later. Report an error in the passage at 52:21 Highlight the passage at 52:21

52:29 You know, pursued that faith, the original faith that just started with an interest, led onward. As soon as I, you know, could find other books on Zen Buddhism, it was becoming increasingly kind of fashionable in the Bay Area in the 1950s. Report an error in the passage at 52:29 Highlight the passage at 52:29

52:54 And the more I read, the more interest I had in it, and to the point of wanting to practice, to not just... Because reading inspires and it's important in the beginning, but it's not sustainable. You can't sustain inspiration. It gets you going, but it's not sustainable. Where meditation, baddhipata, is what's necessary in order to balance faith and interest in something with wisdom. Report an error in the passage at 52:54 Highlight the passage at 52:54

53:36 And through this, Teaching of the Four Noble Truths, taking this First Noble Truth, something ordinary, I didn't have to have faith in that. It's not, you're not saying believe in suffering, because I suffered. Even at 21, I suffered a lot. Report an error in the passage at 53:36 Highlight the passage at 53:36

54:03 And over what? Over just thinking wrongly, of jealousy, of fear. Self-consciousness, anxiety about the future, and on and on. There was all kinds of neurotic habit patterns that tend to take me over when I was young. So the First Noble Truth was not a mystery, was not something I had to believe in. It's just something I started looking at in a different way and seeing it always as... Report an error in the passage at 54:03 Highlight the passage at 54:03

54:44 In a personal way. Report an error in the passage at 54:44 Highlight the passage at 54:44

54:54 So faith starts with interest, like all of you come here to Amar Bhatti for this evening's day. Many of you on the retreat this week. This is, faith has brought you here. Interest, in other words. It's not a matter of believing in Buddhism or agreeing with everything you read about Buddhism, but it's... Report an error in the passage at 54:54 Highlight the passage at 54:54

55:24 It's the beginning of the baddhi bata or the practice. It gives you clear directions on how to realize this yourself, to awaken to reality, not just believe in somebody's version of reality. Report an error in the passage at 55:24 Highlight the passage at 55:24

55:49 So the simple reality of here and now, this sense of awareness is like this. See it as relaxed attention, not just, it's not willful, it's not, Trying to get something or control its openness, receptivity, listening, non-judgmental. Report an error in the passage at 55:49 Highlight the passage at 55:49

56:21 And then this refrain of Sape Sankarani Cha is helpful guidance to reflect on all conditions are impermanent. Report an error in the passage at 56:21 Highlight the passage at 56:21

56:33 So we can apply that, you know, obviously to the physical condition. But to, you know, where, because we're so... Such a feeling species, we're so sensitive and Report an error in the passage at 56:33 Highlight the passage at 56:33

56:50 we live in a sense realm, the sense world, the natural world is all about feeling, sensitivity, birth and death. Our relationship to sensitivity is to understand it, to be aware of it, is like this. Feeling happy is like this, feeling sad is like this. Report an error in the passage at 56:50 Highlight the passage at 56:50

57:18 And what is it that notices, that is aware, that discerns happiness and sadness? It's conscious awareness. It's dharma. It's wisdom. And that you can trust as you cultivate this path and the insights. Report an error in the passage at 57:18 Highlight the passage at 57:18

57:49 You get insight into this through this kind of practice. You know, it becomes more clear, more... Report an error in the passage at 57:49 Highlight the passage at 57:49

58:01 You know, it becomes more simple. Because Buddhism can look incredibly complicated. When you think of all the Tripitaka and the Abhidharma and Mahāyāna Buddhism and Vajrayana Buddhism and there's so much written on Buddhism. And so much to read, so much to, you know, to learn Tibetan, learn Sanskrit, learn Pāli, learn Chinese. Report an error in the passage at 58:01 Highlight the passage at 58:01

58:32 He can spend our time learning to investigate scriptures or translate scriptures into other languages. But the real heart of the Buddhist teaching is very simple. Wake up, waken to reality. So that's enough for this evening. Report an error in the passage at 58:32 Highlight the passage at 58:32

59:08 Sātou, Sātou, Sātou, Anumadami. Report an error in the passage at 59:08 Highlight the passage at 59:08