Morality and Spirituality (1998)

0:01 Disagree or feel confused or if you're uplifted or being said is disturbing or inspiring, that's the main thing for you to know, to really observe yourself rather than to get caught up too much in trying to decide whether what I say is absolutely right or wrong. Missing the mark or right there on the mark or whether you agree with my view or not, the willingness to observe, the state of the witness, the observer, the knower. Report an error in the passage at 0:01

0:53 It is the ability to listen, to put yourself in that state of attentive listening. Report an error in the passage at 0:53

1:06 With religion also, when it's the subject religion, brings in all kinds of doubts in our own lives about how we relate to that word, because sometimes even the word itself is coming to a Buddhist monastery, which is a religious community. These kind of words have their effect on our mind. We sometimes see religion as being in a certain way, through our own experience, our own cultural attitudes about religion. Report an error in the passage at 1:06

1:50 It's interesting in Europe, European people who take an interest in Buddhism oftentimes don't want to be called Buddhist. They either say, I'm still a Christian, Report an error in the passage at 1:50

2:07 They don't want to give that up or they say not anything. They don't want to be labeled belonging to any religious group because this is identity with a religious group can be seen in a certain way as being something that you may not like or want to be associated with being or belonging to anything like. Report an error in the passage at 2:07

2:37 Buddhism or Christianity. But just knowing that, I'm not trying to convince you that you should have any feeling whatsoever about it, but to know what you are feeling. That's the way of the awakened mind, to know how powerful words are, the impact they have, and the emotional reactions that we are experiencing through the use of various words. Report an error in the passage at 2:37

3:08 Like religion, or Christianity, or Buddhism, or morality. Morality and spirituality. Report an error in the passage at 3:08

3:23 Spirituality, I think, is a fairly safe word. Very few people would not want to, would find it offensive to say they have no spiritual longings. Report an error in the passage at 3:23

3:43 Spirituality, I think, is... It yet doesn't have anything particularly negative associated with it, unless you think of spiritualism. Some people find that, you know, spiritualists who believe in ghosts and mediums and talking to departed spirits and things like that. But spiritual, without saying spiritualist thought, This implies something that's higher and unknown, which we all have to admit is something that we kind of long for. Report an error in the passage at 3:43

4:29 We all have spiritual aspirations in our own way, because just the very, I don't know of any human beings I've ever met that are truly and perfectly contented with just materialism. Or just relationships with other people, or worldly success. They could really find satisfaction and contentment just in the conditions of the world that they have around them. Report an error in the passage at 4:29

5:05 Because the mystery of life, what we don't know, what is beyond our ability to understand immediately at this time, Report an error in the passage at 5:05

5:27 -boggling when you contemplate it. a mystery to it, there's something out there or something that this is a result of or a part of that we don't quite comprehend yet. Report an error in the passage at 5:27

5:50 Spirituality, of course, is a term that we can use to express that mystery, that longing, and to recognize something beyond just the immediate conditions that we find ourselves in. Report an error in the passage at 5:50

6:14 Morality, say, for Western civilization was oftentimes Connected to something that's very kind of narrow-minded, something that is commanded and imposed upon you, a kind of sense of something from above telling you what to do and what not to do. Report an error in the passage at 6:14

6:44 And I think we see morality sometimes in terms of the... Report an error in the passage at 6:44

7:23 modern democratic-minded individualists. Individualists, this sense of authority and commandment, sometimes we find we resist, we rebel against. We find a lot of it, like teaching, say, in the West, here in England, for example. If you're teaching, it's very different than when you're teaching monks in Thailand, because they're quite willing to accept authority. Report an error in the passage at 7:23

7:53 They're quite willing to... To have the senior monk, the Luang Por, the Ajahn, the Mahatera, tell them what's right, what's wrong, what they should and shouldn't do. Report an error in the passage at 7:53

8:08 But then in the Western world, they really, if you want to make enemies quickly and empty out the monastery, start acting like that, telling them. Report an error in the passage at 8:08

8:27 Because one feels very resistant and rebellious towards authority, towards categorical imperatives. Report an error in the passage at 8:27

8:42 Because our culture isn't, most Western Buddhists or people interested in Buddhism in the West are not come from that kind of egalitarian idealism, an attitude of who are you to tell me what to do. And even an authoritarian god, a god who commands and orders and punishes you when you don't obey, that kind of attitude tends to be despised now and rejected as something that we're not going to go along with, believe in that approach anymore. Report an error in the passage at 8:42

9:29 I think the Pope still operates from that position. Report an error in the passage at 9:29

9:37 Latest news, he's trying to kind of reaffirm that particular relationship with the flock and telling them, you know, you've got to, if you're going to be a Roman Catholic, you've got to, you know, conduct yourself in this way. Report an error in the passage at 9:37

9:57 Buddhism, because it is a, it. Report an error in the passage at 9:57

10:00 It's a different approach. It is not based on commandments but on precepts. So like the precepts are what you, are standards. They're something that, they're criteria for behavior. And when you, and a monk can't, or even the Buddha, If the Buddha were alive, were here, he wouldn't command that you keep the five precepts. Thou shalt keep the five precepts. Report an error in the passage at 10:00

10:37 Or people that don't keep the five precepts are not Buddhists. There wouldn't be too many Buddhists left. Report an error in the passage at 10:37

10:50 Because of just five precepts, two of them are very difficult for most people, like the ones on refraining from drinking. Report an error in the passage at 10:50

11:10 difficult for most of us. And yet, murder and killing of not just, you know, of humans, of humanity is quite common, isn't it? There's a lot of, I mean, just in this past century, you know, tremendous... A number of human beings have been murdered by other human beings because of a lack of moral, of a sense of morality. Report an error in the passage at 11:10

11:41 The first precept of Bana Dibata, refrained from intentionally taking the life of other creatures. For monks, it's even to respect the life of the animal kingdom and other creatures, insects and slugs in your garden. Report an error in the passage at 11:41

12:25 the local farmer, the neighboring farmer, used to be really upset because of the rabbits. Report an error in the passage at 12:25

12:43 didn't allow honoring the life of those creatures so that this Report an error in the passage at 12:43

12:51 murdering another human being i think it's quite know for most of us is something that we've certainly We might have had an occasional moment where that particular impulse has arisen in consciousness, but most of us would never want to act on it in any way, put it into some kind of active form by doing it. Report an error in the passage at 12:51

13:16 But it is a standard, isn't it? It's something that you ask for. To take the five precepts, you have to ask for them. I can't just say, command you to keep them. You have to come and say, please, Can I take the five precepts? The relationship is different, say, than from one of commanding or intimidating you into saying, you know, if you don't keep these five precepts, you will drop to a lower state or something. Report an error in the passage at 13:16

13:50 We can, you know, in Buddhist, we can make it sound like, we can intimidate actually in Buddhism. We can say, if you don't keep the five precepts, the next life you'll be... Report an error in the passage at 13:50

14:08 carry that to intimidate you with. Next slide. Report an error in the passage at 14:08

14:21 standard criteria are things that, say, Report an error in the passage at 14:21

14:28 measures to guide us in our lives so that they do reflect our emotional feelings and our habitual tendencies So in, say, morality, in terms of sexuality, it's to reflect this sexual nature we have. It's to make us more conscious of what it is, the feeling, the energy that we call the sex drive. Report an error in the passage at 14:28

15:02 Because this is very much what this realm is. This is a realm... Report an error in the passage at 15:02

15:35 behavior. It's based It's a reflection more on learning to take responsibility and to really know what you're doing and how to respect and relate to this drive that we have without either just being lost and overpowered, overwhelmed. Report an error in the passage at 15:35

16:04 over by it, or caught in the other extreme of just trying to suppress it, deny it, it, feel guilty about it, despise it. Report an error in the passage at 16:04

16:18 those are the two extremes say from the very kind of puritanical approach which sees sexuality always in terms of is it something you shouldn't do unless Unless these perfect conditions exist or put it in a level of it's low or dirty or it's animalistic, that's to put it in terms of something that makes us feel ashamed or guilty about it. Report an error in the passage at 16:18

16:57 Or to glorify the other, like in the past, since the 60s, it's been glorified into, you know, it's, you know, to really experience sexuality in every way, you know, just feel free, no holds barred with the pill and all the rest. Report an error in the passage at 16:57

17:17 Just, you know, have a good time. Eat, drink, make merry, have a good time. Enjoy. God gave us these wonderful things. Why not enjoy them? There's a certain logic there that is very attractive. You don't have to feel guilty anymore or restrain yourself. You just do whatever you're in the mood for. Whatever is happening, you're doing that. And freedom, the ideal of freedom to enjoy life. Report an error in the passage at 17:17

17:50 Buddha always pointed to these two extremes. As the attachment to these extremes is the cause of suffering, either the extreme of indulgence or suppression or denial are the two extremes, or sensual indulgence, gama sukha likhana yoga, which is the one extreme, then atta kilamatana yoga, which is the ascetic extreme of denial, of resistance. Report an error in the passage at 17:50

18:26 Repression. Report an error in the passage at 18:26

18:30 And then the path for the Buddhist or follower of the Buddhist teaching is through this awakened state of mind. So it's not in one extreme of just indulging in the sense world, just indiscriminately, impulsively getting caught up in pleasure seeking and And experience and romance, adventure, excitement and just the thrill and excitement of the senses. Or is it the path of denial, of resistance? Report an error in the passage at 18:30

19:12 But it is a path of awareness. So this is very significant for you to begin to get a feeling for what that really means in terms of one's own experience, of our own experience. Report an error in the passage at 19:12

19:32 Mindfulness, then, is the ability to be aware of what we are feeling, if we're feeling whatever impulse we have, good or bad, pleasurable or painful, whether what we feel is, say, with the first precept, refraining from intentionally taking the life of another human. Sometimes we even... Feel like that. But in terms of reflection, then we reflect that that feeling, that desire to kill somebody is something that we refrain from acting on because of this first precept. Report an error in the passage at 19:32

20:21 We've taken the first precept. Maybe we refrain from acting on it because we're afraid of being caught or afraid of being punished by the law. But also there's this other, this is not just refraining from doing it because of fear of punishment, but because of our own sense of responsibility for how we've decided to live on this planet. Report an error in the passage at 20:21

20:47 We've decided to take responsibility for our actions, for our speech, for how we live, how we relate to the planet itself, to the... The beings that live on it, to the human society that we're a part of. Report an error in the passage at 20:47

21:12 So that means it's like it's a maturity of mind, isn't it, where you rise up rather than me kind of pointing the finger and telling you what a good Buddhist teacher does is to encourage and to inform and to arouse in you that Report an error in the passage at 21:12

21:39 ability to be responsible to to live a life that is beautiful and good and worthy that's something that you have the ability to choose to do rather than do that because somebody tells you to do Report an error in the passage at 21:39

22:05 sometimes wonders though when you look at the world people awake and human beings are not all that many Report an error in the passage at 22:05

22:14 people, you know, and you see... What happens, the mobs of people, how people will be so easily influenced by charismatic leaders, by demagogues, by powerful figures, by ideas. Report an error in the passage at 22:14

22:37 When we think of this century, just the effect of somebody like Hitler on a nation of people, just somebody who could completely kind of Report an error in the passage at 22:37

22:49 a whole nation through his charisma the ability to totally convince and mesmerize or reach maybe that side of oneself that longs for to take control. Report an error in the passage at 22:49

23:13 When you're in a society or a situation that seems out of hand, out of order, then we're quite glad to have a powerful figure come in and tell us what to do just to straighten it all out. Report an error in the passage at 23:13

23:28 I remember thinking this when I was younger, thinking how I felt I was making a mess of my life and doing all kinds of things that And I used to wish, you know, I remember feeling this desire for the Messiah to come, or the Maitreya Buddha, or some, you know, ultimate figure that would come down to Earth and save us from the mess we're making of this planet. Report an error in the passage at 23:28

24:01 God should come down and say, stop this, you've really made a mess of it. I've tried to give you freedom, let you do what you want. Look at the mess, look at the pollution, look at overpopulation, look at the genocide, look at the terrible state. Report an error in the passage at 24:01

24:19 Wars endlessly, murders, criminality increases, terrible diseases, everything, because, you know, obviously you're not mature enough to take care of yourself. You know, you need daddy to come along. Save the day. Report an error in the passage at 24:19

24:43 And sometimes that would be welcome. When you hear too much of the news, it would be nice if the Messiah suddenly came and saved the day. We would kind of suddenly transform masses of people into a higher mental realm where we felt compassion for each other rather than jealousy and envy and resentment. Report an error in the passage at 24:43

25:09 resentment and and these negative states. Report an error in the passage at 25:09

25:18 have from out there come and save me, save us, save the planet, a kind of child's wish. So the Buddha's Report an error in the passage at 25:18

25:41 teaching is definitely the statement that It's pointing to the fact that we have to do it ourselves. We have to wake up. If we really want any kind of peace and joy and to develop wisdom in our lives, then it's a matter of me waking up, of you waking up, and of each one of us taking responsibilities for what we do and how we live, rather than blaming... Report an error in the passage at 25:41

26:24 know, it's very easy to just blame it on the political system or the nation of people or whatever, but that's one way of making us feel, it's not my fault, I didn't make the mess, it was you, you're the ones that made it. Report an error in the passage at 26:24

26:44 in our own way, if we just blame somebody else... What good does that do? You know, when we do that, even if it's true in a way, somebody else has made most of the mistakes and caused all the misery, and we blame them, and we point the finger, the accusing finger at them, does that solve the problem? Report an error in the passage at 26:44

27:13 Or does that just make it worse? Report an error in the passage at 27:13

27:19 You know, if you look at yourself, if you... You know, you might feel guilty. I might be able to make you feel guilty because you've made a mess. You've committed a crime. You've done something bad. And I kind of point my finger at you and say, you're naughty and you shouldn't have done those things. But then, in the long run, what good does it do? Report an error in the passage at 27:19

27:46 And maybe I can punish you. I'm in a position where I can put you in prison or you'd have to do penances or do something. Report an error in the passage at 27:46

27:56 Kind of make amends, reparations for the terrible things you've done, but you've still not awakened. You're still caught in a sense in the basic delusions and you still don't know really what you're doing. You're just still very much affected, influenced, intimidated by those in authority, those who can, who are, can speak for the For God or for the establishment or for the authorities. So the awakened state of mind is what, to me, the beauty and the importance of Buddhism at this time. Report an error in the passage at 27:56

28:48 Why is Buddhism a religion that suddenly Western civilization finds interesting when they didn't find it interesting at all? For most of its existence on this planet. We just said it's just a bunch of pagans. They bow down to graven images. Report an error in the passage at 28:48

29:12 Buddhists. You look in an old Roger's Thesaurus under Satanism. Report an error in the passage at 29:12

29:25 Buddhism is a synonym for Satanism. In the old, I don't think, I think they've changed it, but if you look in an old Rajesh thesaurus, you look up a word that conveys Satanism and evil forces, paganism, heresy, these kind of words, you'll find Buddhism listed. Report an error in the passage at 29:25

30:11 The thing is, we can justify the kind of very authoritarian approach, because it does look like most people are very kind of, Basically, unawakened. Report an error in the passage at 30:11

30:24 We can see in our own society here in Britain, you know, just, you know, the football mentality, the English footballer that embarrasses us endlessly by making everything difficult for everyone and making English look like they're just barbarians. Report an error in the passage at 30:24

30:51 They were for a while thinking of forbidding the English to go to the football games in France. Just to stop this kind of brutalizing this gang mentality because that's and so we can think that that's where humanity is at or we can see in so many countries now just like in Kosovo and Report an error in the passage at 30:51

31:22 Yugoslavia, how eager people are to murder each other, to get into some little guerrilla group, you know, and go and slaughter and destroy each other's towns and villages, families. What happened in Bosnia, and this is just within this decade. Rwanda. Report an error in the passage at 31:22

31:52 In the Congo and in places like this, we hear about it happening, genocides and attempts to destroy life, destroy other groups of human beings, and how this gets carried on by masses of people, especially, you know, and all groups of people, men and women, will support these movements of violent, violent movements, or just here in Northern Ireland. Report an error in the passage at 31:52

32:23 Right close by. It's hard to understand in one way if that's not particularly a problem for you. But it is a matter of conditioning, isn't it? The way we are conditioned to perceive ourselves in our group. Report an error in the passage at 32:23

32:44 So morality then, the five precepts, the first precept, it's like a universal precept. I don't think Christians or Muslims, Hindus would deny this. That's one thing where we could all agree, even though we can point to examples where Christians and Muslims, Hindu fundamentalism, where they do allow murdering the other side. Report an error in the passage at 32:44

33:19 But when you get down to the basics of the religion, it's definitely... certainly in tune, in harmony with the basics of every religion. Report an error in the passage at 33:19

33:36 around the intentional killing of This Report an error in the passage at 33:36

33:51 ability to reflect on this violent tendency that we have, like being male, for example, I think men especially, Have a strong, because of the nature of masculinity, the tendency towards physical violence is very strong in us. Report an error in the passage at 33:51

34:15 It's something, you know, the male form is oftentimes used as a power symbol. The bulging muscles, the symbol for power, strength. Report an error in the passage at 34:15

34:34 And so masculinity, we do have this very strong force in us, this testosterone, these hormones, and this energy that goes out. You can see with boys, with just young boys, with children, a love for fighting, for rough play. That you seldom find among girls. Physical violence, hitting and destructive tendencies. Report an error in the passage at 34:34

35:12 How little boys love to destroy things. And the excitement of destruction. Destroying things is very exciting. To really be able to just destroy something. To do something that... is going to harm or hurt. I Report an error in the passage at 35:12

35:36 was on this cargo ship that would deliver cargo to Japan, the American base in Japan. Two weeks out at sea, it took to cross from San Francisco to Yokosuka, Japan. By that time, all 250 men cooped up on a little ship together. Report an error in the passage at 35:36

36:16 When they weren't fighting with each other, they went out, and the first thing many of them did was to find some British ship to have a fight with, or Report an error in the passage at 36:16

36:30 Australian, or they couldn't find any Australian, or New Zealand, or British, or French, or something. Report an error in the passage at 36:30

36:42 themselves. There seemed to be a lot of love of this violent action. Report an error in the passage at 36:42

36:55 these are one of the forces that we have to recognize, this outgoing energy that is, if not channeled, not harnessed, not directed, then goes towards very destructive behavior. Report an error in the passage at 36:55

37:14 like when we see here in Western Europe at this time, with... What are they going to do if they aren't working? What do you expect them to do? Sit home and crochet doilies? Report an error in the passage at 37:14

37:44 Or expecting them maybe to learn cooking and something like that. Something gentle and refined. Take up watercolors. I mean, it would be a very good sign if they were willing to do it, but that's not going to happen because that energy needs something more than that kind of expression. Report an error in the passage at 37:44

38:15 And so it, you know, to say in a government, it takes responsibility for directing the energies of its youth into what is, say, moral channels or creative activities or useful activities. Because with men, if you direct them towards a noble activity, there used to be the military, where at one time military life was considered a noble profession. Report an error in the passage at 38:15

38:52 It used to be honored in respect so that you could absorb a lot of that energy into your military system. Report an error in the passage at 38:52

39:07 And in terms of religion also, where they... Learning to awaken men and women, boys and girls, males and females to take responsibility for their lives, because this gives us a sense of our own worth, where we begin to recognize the forces that affect us and learn And are given some kind of instructions and encouragement on how to develop those energies in ways that are of benefit to oneself, to one's family, to the society, to the planet, to the universe for the welfare of all sentient beings. Report an error in the passage at 39:07

39:56 Then you take it to the ultimate, isn't it? May my good actions benefit all sentient beings. Report an error in the passage at 39:56

40:14 So this is something to... To recognize in our society at this time doesn't seem to me to provide, the emphasis is on a high standard of living and material affluence, that an education is very much aimed at trying to make you feel very competitive in order to have a good profession. Report an error in the passage at 40:14

40:49 To excel, say, and to get ahead and to be a winner and to make you someone who can achieve something in the professional world or through various skills, which is certainly not to be despised or condemned. But all those that can't compete in that way, they don't have the opportunity. Report an error in the passage at 40:49

41:18 Then we've got a society where we have enormous amount of criminality. Here in Britain, the prisons are full. Chuck of luck. Because we've just got to lock up these people. You know, because we don't know what else to do with them. Report an error in the passage at 41:18

41:44 In California, for example, they told me they're building four more new prisons. Report an error in the passage at 41:44

42:12 ever ask themselves, maybe, what's wrong with our society that it produces so many criminals? Report an error in the passage at 42:12

42:21 I mean, we blame it on, what do we blame it on? You know, we just, we think, we don't think that maybe the society itself, what are we doing that encourages such behavior where people, where so many, especially the men, a majority of the criminals, will go into criminal activities. Report an error in the passage at 42:21

42:51 As a way to survive in this world. Report an error in the passage at 42:51

43:00 And of course they say, well it's the television, and Hollywood, or in America it's often times seen as very much like black people, black men, or blaming it on a group. Report an error in the passage at 43:00

43:22 But that's not it. It's... Because the society is not awakening, not educating people to their true nature. It's not providing a vehicle for expression of development of their spiritual aspirations. Report an error in the passage at 43:22

43:49 And then a society that's very much encouraging very selfish activities on vanity to make yourself Look good all the time, to be fashionable, to be sexy, to be young, to look like you've got lots of money, to have beautiful clothes, and to have big cars and new things and nice houses, bigger televisions. Report an error in the passage at 43:49

44:28 So this is a society, say materialism, free market, encourages these kind of lower desires in us. Our energies go out towards self-gratification to fulfill our vain desires and our demands on life. Report an error in the passage at 44:28

44:54 So we're not Report an error in the passage at 44:54

45:04 materialism, for one thing, is a kind of degrading state, isn't it, where we think we can all just be satisfied if we're given lots of things, if we have nice things. Report an error in the passage at 45:04

45:19 That's all we need. We need to be bribed into kind of... Manipulated into just seeking more and more and better and better things. So Report an error in the passage at 45:19

45:33 a spiritual life, say, is points beyond the material world, doesn't despise, doesn't condemn, doesn't look down on or blame the material world, but it encourages us to relate to this world, this planet, to this body. To these beings, in a way that is honorable, compassionate, being responsible, these qualities, say, then ennoble us as individuals. Report an error in the passage at 45:33

46:14 We feel ennobled by doing this. We feel a sense of our own worth. And then we want to, we feel a natural inclination to want to live our lives for the welfare of others, for not just... For myself, for my own enjoyment. When I think of just living life just for me, to me that is a hell realm. Report an error in the passage at 46:14

46:46 I can't imagine a more dreary way to have to live than just endlessly think about myself. It's depressing. Not that I particularly see myself as somebody who's so depressing to think about. Report an error in the passage at 46:46

47:07 But the sense of myself as being all that there is is depressing because it's to be obsessed and think about yourself and not have anyone else to care about. And that is depressing. No one else to live for, no purpose to your life, but to just survive and get what you can for yourself. Report an error in the passage at 47:07

47:41 Now, just judging from my own experience, that is depressing. At periods of my life where I've lived very selfishly, I have become depressed through that, and suicidal. I remember even contemplating suicide at one time, not as a monk, but as a layman, because our life was so depressing. And yet I was, I wasn't depressed. Report an error in the passage at 47:41

48:13 I had money and all the rest. It wasn't a depressing sense of being without, but it was depressing because it had no purpose. Report an error in the passage at 48:13

48:26 And I was turning into somebody I didn't really like at all. When I look at myself, I feel sickened by what I saw because I didn't like myself very much, an indulgent, self-centered person. Foolish person. So the spiritual tendency, I had this trust, this interest in Buddhism was the light at the end of the tunnel for me. Report an error in the passage at 48:26

49:01 I thought life is meaningless and purposive, but there's only one thing that still inspires my mind. It's pretty dim right now. It's like a dim light at the end of a long tunnel. That was Buddhism. Report an error in the passage at 49:01

49:21 So it wasn't completely black. There was this dim light. And so I decided to aim for that, to move toward that light. And that light, of course, was, you know, it was enlightening the mind. As you move toward it and you got closer, you began to see things for what they are. You began to... To recognize, to realize your true nature and to be able to free yourself from habits and tendencies and impulses that kept dragging me down, making me feel worthless and hate myself and feel suicidal. Report an error in the passage at 49:21

50:11 I Report an error in the passage at 50:11

50:22 feel that morality now is something that is... Beginning, people are awakening to its value, that this is something that instead of being a restricting inconvenience to our lives, it's one of the joys of our lives to know how to have some encouragement, some direction, some encouragement to awaken. Report an error in the passage at 50:22

51:03 not to be put in terms of blacking Report an error in the passage at 51:03

51:14 unpleasant is where we pass moral judgments on others to condemn people and to look down on them because they aren't acting in a moral way. Report an error in the passage at 51:14

51:30 to use the moral something for myself, something to develop. Report an error in the passage at 51:30

52:08 Through action and speech. How I relate to the planet. Problems of pollution, of environmental crises and that. Morality is the answer, isn't it? Where we learn how to respect, we take that sense of respecting nature, the natural world, the lives of other creatures, the plant life. planet. Report an error in the passage at 52:08

52:38 The oceans and the mountains and the skies and the universe that we live in, we begin to want to relate to it in a respectful and appreciative way rather than just take it for granted or exploit it, misuse it, abuse it like we tend to do. Report an error in the passage at 52:38

53:05 So this is what the awakened mind offers us. This sense of humanity awakening to life. The awakening of the human. But don't wait for humanity to awaken. You do it first. Report an error in the passage at 53:05

53:24 And don't wait for Maitreya Buddha to come. Or don't wait for the Messiah to come and save the day. Because you might never come. Report an error in the passage at 53:24

53:45 So, but you, you do it. Then it puts it into your court, isn't it? Something that you do and not even ask anyone else to do. Report an error in the passage at 53:45

53:57 I'm not even asking you to do it. I'm just encouraging this awakeness and then in my own life to endeavor to use my conscious experience, my... What remains of this life as a way of living in a fully conscious awakened state which then gives this life some beauty and some bliss. I find like in old age this awakeness of mind is the beauty of our humanity because The joys and pleasures of youth are long gone. And I'm in that category now, you know, where you're definitely that group, you know, that is pensioned off and put out to pasture. Report an error in the passage at 53:57

55:14 I've made it now. I'm here. And Report an error in the passage at 55:14

55:21 the next century, you know, By the year 2020, there'll be so many old people in this country and all expecting to, old people who have nothing to do but sit around waiting to die by watching television and playing golf, who Report an error in the passage at 55:21

55:48 are a burden on the society. They're not productive. They're not economically viable members. Young people just have to spend the rest of their lives trying to Take care of them, because you can't even, you know, euthanasia, things like that are forbidden, so you've got to keep them alive as long as you can, and they're absolutely worthless. Report an error in the passage at 55:48

56:16 Or, consider the awakened state of mind. As we get older, then this becomes even more important for us. It also... worthless. Report an error in the passage at 56:16

56:35 We have elderly people who are awake and wise. They have great benefit to the society, aren't they? They're blessing to the society. Old people can be seen as a blessing rather than a burden. Report an error in the passage at 56:35

56:54 this is what we have lost, haven't we? This sense of blessing of old people as being wise. Because even the old people oftentimes aren't very wise. They're oftentimes trying to be young and Report an error in the passage at 56:54

57:09 And just bitter about being old, you know, as if it was their fault. You know, as if they'd done something they shouldn't. And they've disgraced themselves. They feel... Rather than seeing old age for what it can be, what its potential is. Report an error in the passage at 57:09

57:34 So I offer this as a reflection for this afternoon to contemplate and to... I encourage you all, because it doesn't take any money, you don't have to pay any fees. Report an error in the passage at 57:34

57:55 Awakenedness is free. Report an error in the passage at 57:55

58:03 You don't need any special equipment. Report an error in the passage at 58:03

58:08 Except now I have a little thing I want to sell you here. There's a televangelist there. Report an error in the passage at 58:08

58:20 No, but it's just a matter of you, you know, of each one of us awakening. And it's not like a big awakening, like, you know, suddenly I'm enlightened, like I'm sitting under the tree and suddenly, wow, I'm completely enlightened. Report an error in the passage at 58:20

58:35 Alas, after all these years, it's not like that. It's in these little awakenings, isn't it? Just learning to listen and to develop from this place you're in right now. The way you are right now other than putting it off for hopefully in the future you'll be in a place that is more conducive to enlightenment. Report an error in the passage at 58:35

59:00 Don't wait for that. Don't think that you have to wait to get the perfect conditions for it because that might never happen. The conditions might never be perfect or good enough but that is not a problem to this because it's a matter of What an imminent act that's inside you is a state of attention, awakened attention here and now. Report an error in the passage at 59:00

59:30 So after this there's a reflection and as you can see the tea is ready, sitting over there waiting for you. I'll let you all have a cup of tea and then after 20 minutes or so those of you who want can come back and Report an error in the passage at 59:30

59:49 We can have further discussion. Report an error in the passage at 59:49