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- 3:41
One's experience of life changes from a very just a coarse perception, a mundane perception, to a real clarity or enlightened. The nature of mind is light, and the true nature of things is light in intelligence. That is, when you're mindful, when there's this mindfulness, this intuitive mind is operating, then there is, that is the unitive, that is, say, the one, rather than the,
- 6:47
Like I find here in a monastic community here in England, where you have, say, 40 people living together in a place like this, monks, bhikkhus, you have nuns, you have novices, you have lay people. Living here every day, and we're all conditioned, most of us are Western people, so that our minds are very conditioned to think in very separate ways about ourselves, individuality, our personality, our ideas of independence. All these things are very much part of our cultural conditioning.
- 11:29
And the society I lived in didn't have any guidance for living in community. It was based on Being free and independent, that's how my mind, my American mind, that operates like that, you see. Then living in Thailand, I lived in Thai Forest Monastery for ten years, and there, there was a gradual learning to submit for the welfare of the community, and your own personal interest was no longer the important issue.
- 15:16
So you always have to feel, you know, you're intimidated into being discontented. And that's like capitalist system works very much on that principle of making you discontented with everything. Where, say, Buddhist ideas and attitudes would be to be content with little. Not as a kind of punishment or penance or asceticism, but...
- 31:29
Or someone like Mother Teresa inspires people. You know, a Catholic nun who gives her life to working in the slums, helping the most wretched people in the world. And that's very inspiring to see people actually doing those kind of Living their religious faith is most inspiring to people. What we hate, I think, what we most resent is being told to be good by someone who isn't being good.
Transcript
0:01 About today's subject? Report an error in the passage at 0:01
0:20 Silence? Report an error in the passage at 0:20
0:48 It goes Report an error in the passage at 0:48
0:57 to Report an error in the passage at 0:57
· · · silence, 3 minutes
3:36 the first question. Report an error in the passage at 3:36
3:41 One's experience of life changes from a very just a coarse perception, a mundane perception, to a real clarity or enlightened. Report an error in the passage at 3:41
3:59 The nature of mind is light, and the true nature of things is light in intelligence. That is, when you're mindful, when there's this mindfulness, this intuitive mind is operating, then there is, that is the unitive, that is, say, the one, rather than the, whereas the... Report an error in the passage at 3:59
4:32 The darkened mind is always with the conditioned, some kind of mental state that one is attached to. So the more mindful you are, the more you let go of the conditioned mental states, the more you realize non-attachment to conditioned things, then you're with the true nature of mind, the true nature of things, the dharma, which is clear and bright and intelligent, wise. Report an error in the passage at 4:32
5:03 And it's non-personal. It's not like in my mind as such. Those kind of attitudes fall away. That theming appearance of me as a separate person in a body and that interprets everything from a subjective personal view, that tends to fade out. That no longer seems real. Because you're in touch with ultimate. Report an error in the passage at 5:03
5:32 With ultimate reality rather than with the conventional forms. And then this is also the way that you can... I see dharma language... I think this is what Buddhism has to do with the world at this time. Because it does have an expression, a way of talking, a use of language that is... Report an error in the passage at 5:32
6:07 It tends to help you to look and experience and see things, rather than to... It's not to try to recondition you to believe as a Buddhist, or think like a Buddhist. Report an error in the passage at 6:07
6:24 It's not that, but it's a way of looking and investigating your own experience of life, in which you begin to have more trust and confidence in... In the pure mind and in the conditioned mind, you see, then the problems we have are all solvable. Report an error in the passage at 6:24
6:47 Like I find here in a monastic community here in England, where you have, say, 40 people living together in a place like this, monks, bhikkhus, you have nuns, you have novices, you have lay people. Report an error in the passage at 6:47
7:11 Living here every day, and we're all conditioned, most of us are Western people, so that our minds are very conditioned to think in very separate ways about ourselves, individuality, our personality, our ideas of independence. All these things are very much part of our cultural conditioning. Report an error in the passage at 7:11
7:37 And then in the community life, you're having to give up all of that, really. Your independence, your individuality are no longer the important issues because you're learning to work with a kind of incorporate, live within a community. Report an error in the passage at 7:37
7:59 And that community is based on moral foundation. So you have moral rights. We have to relate to each other on a moral plane, on a physical moral plane, and then we have our own emotional reactions to each other, because they are strong personalities. But all this is through, the more we really understand dharma, the less problems we create about you and me and what I think, what you think. Report an error in the passage at 7:59
8:38 What I want and what you want. Because these aren't really the important factors anymore. We're working at something transcending our own personal wishes and views. And then you're finding a community much more working as a cooperative whole. And I can see now the possibility that the Buddha's ideas of Saṅgha, he established the Saṅgha, Which is an old idea, ancient idea from India, 2500 years ago, and yet it was based in such, I mean it was established on principles, on universal principles, so that if you actually apply that, you know, put it into a practical situation, it actually works very well. Report an error in the passage at 8:38
9:29 And this is, but we have to see, you know, like, it didn't always seem to work, I mean we've had When you're developing a monastic community, you have problems arise and difficulties like anything else, but you also have the ability to solve those problems more and more because people are not in it for themselves anymore. Report an error in the passage at 9:29
9:55 They're much more the idea of working for the welfare of the group rather than for oneself. You're putting the community first, yourself second to that. Then you develop a lot of mutual respect and you begin to see changes, profound changes in people's behavior. Report an error in the passage at 9:55
10:24 People coming here can be very caught up in their own feelings and views or very selfish people and through living in such a way for a while all that kind of falls away. And you see a much finer, more immature and being worthy of respect. So I see, from my experience as a monk, I have more confidence in the possibilities for humanity than I did before. Report an error in the passage at 10:24
10:59 When I was an independent free agent living in California, I didn't have much hope actually. Report an error in the passage at 10:59
11:09 Because I just saw, everybody wants to do it their own way. And you just end up, you know, you can't even, you can't really, all you end up is trying to run away from everything, because it's too many conflicts, too many problems. Report an error in the passage at 11:09
11:29 And the society I lived in didn't have any guidance for living in community. It was based on Being free and independent, that's how my mind, my American mind, that operates like that, you see. Then living in Thailand, I lived in Thai Forest Monastery for ten years, and there, there was a gradual learning to submit for the welfare of the community, and your own personal interest was no longer the important issue. Report an error in the passage at 11:29
12:09 And that brought into my mind, I began to see how much suffering there was in my mind over my own views and opinions, and how my ideals were oftentimes making me suffer a lot, because I found, like living in a monastery, I learned how to live in very practical ways with other people that I never thought, I never considered in a Forest Monastery in Thailand, it's very primitive actually, it's a very simple life. You don't have very few things and it's a very basic kind of life. Report an error in the passage at 12:09
12:53 On the material plane it's very, very basic. But that side is quite alright. You realize how little you need. You don't need to have very much. And you're And then, because you don't need very much, you don't have to think about yourself all that much. If you need a lot, if you have to have a lot, then you have to think about yourself all the time. Report an error in the passage at 12:53
13:23 If you have a high standard for what you have to have to be happy, if you have to have the best and an increasing high standard of living, then you can't afford to put other people first. You've really got to See that you get the things you have to have. But if you say Buddhist monasticism bases its reflection on very low standards like rag rolls or alms food, just food that people give you. Report an error in the passage at 13:23
13:54 So this is a kind of basic allowance for survival. And because you don't need any more than that, you realize you can get by on just that. Then you don't have to think about yourself very much. And if you do, you tend to see it for what it is. You tend to let go of the kind of self-obsessions and selfish attitudes. Report an error in the passage at 13:54
14:28 But modern society is very much based on an increasing high standard and expectation from life. You see it here in Britain, how the general trend is to try to, you want more and better. The society encourages that. Everything in modern Western Europe, America, is that you shouldn't be content with last year's model. Report an error in the passage at 14:28
15:02 You should be ashamed of yourself if you're content with last year's model. If you're worth anything, you'll want this year's new model. model so So you always have to feel, you know, you're intimidated into being discontented. And that's like capitalist system works very much on that principle of making you discontented with everything. Report an error in the passage at 15:02
15:31 Where, say, Buddhist ideas and attitudes would be to be content with little. Not as a kind of punishment or penance or asceticism, but... Report an error in the passage at 15:31
15:54 time, as far as personal experience went, found that it was a kind of a luxury in a way, live like that. because was such a relief not to feel you needed to have money or you had to have... All kinds of things that you think you have to have if you're living as a layman in America. As a layman, you always think, I have to have this insurance, I have to have this and that. Report an error in the passage at 15:54
16:31 And if you think you don't have that, your mother thinks you have to have it, your father, and everyone around you is trying to buy their house and own this and get that and new fashions. And that, I think, Report an error in the passage at 16:31
17:15 is very important for modern To be able to see that, that is possible. And that is a, that is a, brings a lot of joy and happiness into one's life rather than, because oftentimes we think if we don't have all these nice things we're going to be miserable. But the fact is that we are miserable with all these things. You know, we just, we have so much and it was still, they seem to just increase our misery. Report an error in the passage at 17:15
17:43 I remember I lived in Asia for 13 years before I went back To the states to visit my parents in California. And I'd been away for 13 years and much of that time I was a monk, Buddhist monk. And going back 13 years later and California had, this was in 1976, had, I just noticed how when you went into anybody's house they had so many things, gadgets and Report an error in the passage at 17:43
18:20 In 13 years, people's expectations were much higher. Everybody had coordinated color schemes in their houses, you know, with matching drapes and upholstery and wallpaper. And they had, you know, standards of ceramic tile bathrooms were just ordinary. And swimming pools and all this were becoming just what everybody was expecting to have a normal kind of happy life. Report an error in the passage at 18:20
18:53 The standard was much, much higher than it was when I left. And yet, it seemed even more confused and miserable than ever. I found it quite repulsive in a way. Because everybody's aim was based on acquiring All these nice things. And in the end it wasn't very nice. The result wasn't nice. It was a kind of burden, a clutter, an endless kind of... Report an error in the passage at 18:53
19:23 You found the homes glutted with junk and stuff. People just getting so bored with life, they spend hours just shopping, buying new things. Report an error in the passage at 19:23
19:38 And so that's a real kind of spiritual poverty. Where, say, in... See, in simpler life, where you develop the mind and from, you know, you develop a spiritual attitude and a proper way of living, you contend with very little, with silence. Report an error in the passage at 19:38
20:06 Like I can, I remember when I first went to London 13 years ago, I remember we lived in London for two years. One night, I remember on a Friday night, Saturday night it was, it was on a kind of main street in Hampstead and there is a pub across the street from this house we lived in and that night somebody, a man came to talk to me and we sat in the living room of this house and He was telling me the most horrible story about how he'd murdered somebody and nobody knew that he did this. Report an error in the passage at 20:06
21:05 And that was a really daunting confession and I didn't know what to say about that. I didn't say anything really. And obviously he just wanted to confess it to somebody. And so then he left and I went to the window and I watched him walk across the street and I saw this lonely figure under the streetlight, you know, walking off, a kind of pathetic human being. Report an error in the passage at 21:05
21:36 I knew that his life would be horrible the rest of his life, even if nobody ever found out. He would have to live in that state of fear. Report an error in the passage at 21:36
21:50 And he'd probably go off to the pub, you know, just to drown his anguish. And then a woman came out of the pub at that time, and this kind of a middle-aged woman trying to look young, and a cigarette dangling out between her lips, and she's standing there looking up and down the street, and looked like a real kind of miserable... Report an error in the passage at 21:50
22:19 person, you know, who just, you know, doesn't know what to do. Life is meaningless, just trying to pass the time of day or night till she dies, is the impression. And then I thought, I can go back to my little room and just sit quietly in the silence. That's a real wonderful thing to be able to do, to live in such a way that you can just enjoy being alone in the dark. Report an error in the passage at 22:19
22:55 And you don't need to have the lights on, or you don't need to go off to the pub or run around. And I thought this was really, I was very grateful at that moment for the life, for this kind of life, for a very simple life. Report an error in the passage at 22:55
23:15 Before I meditated, I also had to, like Saturday night, all you want to do is go out and do something, rather. Attitude of having to do things and have entertainments and stimulating experiences and all this was so dominant. And yet you always felt bored at the end. No matter how much excitement or pleasure you could generate and experience, the result was a kind of despair at the end. Report an error in the passage at 23:15
23:50 Feeling of not being happy or content with it. Where they, as you get to know and understand the true nature more, then you feel a real sense of contentment with just being, with pure consciousness, with you don't need anything. Report an error in the passage at 23:50
24:11 This is the possibility for human beings. Not that everybody need become a Buddhist monk or a Buddhist nun, I'm not saying that, but there is this this, the human mind is such that we can do this don't have, we aren't just helpless victims caught in a system where we have no choices and just have to the best of a Report an error in the passage at 24:11
24:42 thing because can actually transmute change and This is what I regard as kind of the miracle of our lives. Because we're really quite miraculous creatures. But we forget that. We tend to see ourselves in very inadequate ways and negative attitudes and always dwelling on what's wrong with us or what's wrong with somebody. Report an error in the passage at 24:42
25:24 I've seen just in countries like this or in the United States where you're You know, you have these democratic governments and yet they're never good enough. There's always something wrong with them. I've never seen one government yet anywhere that anyone felt really positive about. You know, it's always one tends to dwell on the and yet they're, you know, we, to fight off tyranny they're not tyrannical systems and they're, but the tendency is to expect The government to provide or to, you know, somehow we can criticize the government because it hasn't given us what we think we should have. Report an error in the passage at 25:24
26:13 It's not been able to make things the way we would like it to be. But then you begin to realize that the governments can't do that. You're asking that the government is in no position to make us happy and fulfill us. And that's something we have to... developed from wisdom rather than to be given to us So then you also realize that no matter how bad the government is, in the long run it doesn't make that much difference. If you get it right in your mind, you can even put up with a horrible government. Report an error in the passage at 26:13
26:55 But we can't even put up with a good government if our mind's all confused and angry and upset. Report an error in the passage at 26:55
27:07 But also as human beings develop wisdom, then the governments will more and more have the possibility for wise people moving into governmental positions. Report an error in the passage at 27:07
27:20 But as it is now, wise people don't tend to move into governmental positions. Report an error in the passage at 27:20
· · · silence, 1 minute
27:54 the the concept of into places like you first is all this emphasis on the intellectual side of things and people love to be about... Report an error in the passage at 27:54
28:11 compassion, but we're indeed... I think in competitive systems, compassion can be easily disregarded because we tend to put efficiency in being a winner. As a kind of dominant theme in our lives. And yet Britain, there's a lot of, you know, it's the most charitable country and there's certainly a lot of compassion within this society. Report an error in the passage at 28:11
28:58 It's not a society lacking in compassion. But it tends to place the material gain and competitive kind of successes as as the more kind of important issues. And this gives it a hard edge and sometimes a hardness to it that one feels. But you can see there's a lot of concern about welfare of people, poor people or what country, I don't know of any country in the world where people are more concerned about the welfare of animals than in Britain. Report an error in the passage at 28:58
29:45 Or, you know, the Charity Commission is, there's so many charities for everything, every possibility of, you know, some kind of rare dandelion in Lancashire to, you know, preserving whatever. And the, we Report an error in the passage at 29:45
30:10 also get inspired by compassionate beings like the Dalai Lama appeals to everyone. Because he's a kind of living embodiment of compassion in the world. You know, where his country's been so brutalized and actually destroyed by the Chinese communists. And then he's always saying we should not take revenge. You know, in a sense of an actual begging his people not to Report an error in the passage at 30:10
30:52 ways and this inspires to see someone who still when you meet the Dalai Lama a who's very happy you and yet he's had to see his country destroyed and his relatives killed and all kinds of horrible things that human beings and most of us will never have to witness or experience and And yet yet, Because of his compassion and wisdom, he keeps a very positive, radiant presence. That's very inspiring to people. Report an error in the passage at 30:52
31:29 Or someone like Mother Teresa inspires people. You know, a Catholic nun who gives her life to working in the slums, helping the most wretched people in the world. And that's very inspiring to see people actually doing those kind of Living their religious faith is most inspiring to people. What we hate, I think, what we most resent is being told to be good by someone who isn't being good. Report an error in the passage at 31:29
32:06 If there's anything that makes you not want to be good is that. But when you see living examples of goodness, One wants to follow that, one feels respect and gratitude. Report an error in the passage at 32:06
32:31 I've often thought how, you know, in our society we tend to like take the kind of, like the mentally retarded or the people that we tend to put them away and out of sight. You know, you want to have, like in your schools, you want to put all the bright kids together. All the kind of dull ones together. And you want to create these systems where you kind of organize it all and you have groups of people like all these old people living off in old people's homes. Report an error in the passage at 32:31
33:18 You don't have to deal with them in your society. Or spastics and all that. Blind people. You can kind of put them off. In ways that we don't have to be concerned. We can live our lives and not have these people standing in our way, standing in our path. And yet, to me, somehow it seems more important, you know, like if you're a bright child, you don't need to be with more bright children. Report an error in the passage at 33:18
33:46 What you really need is to learn how to be kind to somebody who's very slow and maybe dull. You already, you already, you know, have that kind of, Intelligence to probably be successful on those levels, where one is most tendency to be lacking is in maybe caring about somebody who's very slow and not very bright. Report an error in the passage at 33:46
34:14 And so, you know, one thinks of possibilities of supporting and helping rather than saying, we don't want to be with them, we want to be in this class of only very sharp, bright children. Report an error in the passage at 34:14
34:36 in us, if you want to develop beautiful qualities in humanity, then it starts from childhood really, to help, willingness to participate, and somebody who's fast and very fast, it's very good to be with somebody who's very slow. Report an error in the passage at 34:36
34:59 example was we had... At Chitter's, before we came to Amavachi, the old lady Nanda used to come and stay with us, and she was getting on to 90, and she had very poor eyes, could hardly see, you could kind of see a bit. She was very deaf, and you had to yell. Every time you wanted to say anything, you had to kind of shout into her ear. She was a very small person. Report an error in the passage at 34:59
35:31 So if you were walking with her, you had to walk slowly, and when you want to talk to her, you had to raise your voice, and then she couldn't see very well, so sometimes you had to explain things that were quite obvious to the rest. So I found myself at first getting kind of annoyed with her. Because, you know, having to walk slow, raise my voice and explain obvious details, I was, you know, I have a lot to do, I've got to, this has to be done, that has to be done, we have to, you know, be efficient and I began to see her as an obstacle in the way. Report an error in the passage at 35:31
36:18 She's in, you know, she's in my way. And then, changing the attitude, I thought, no, she's my teacher. She's helping me to slow down because I'm too fast already. I'm big. I can take long strides. I have very long legs. So when I walk I can just go out the door and there's this little lady trying to run and catch up. Report an error in the passage at 36:18
36:46 So I thought that's more important for me to learn how to walk properly with somebody than expect everybody to Keep up with me. You know, there's better training because I had to surrender and learn how to be more sensitive and careful with somebody like that. Then how to explain things to somebody whose senses were failing is good for us because we take everything for granted. Report an error in the passage at 36:46
37:22 You know, you can see this. It's here. It's obvious. Why should I explain it? But then, if your vision's not very good, Then I have to tell you. And then I start having to really look and see what is around me and explain it. And that helps you to be more mindful. Report an error in the passage at 37:22
37:41 So then I began to change my attitude. Rather than being in my way, she's actually helping me to develop virtuous qualities. And so then you start changing. When you start looking at it that way, then you begin to appreciate those people rather than it's not just... Well, I must be kinder because she's an old lady. A kind of patronizing pitying of her is also an unpleasant mental state. Report an error in the passage at 37:41
38:12 But when you actually see the advantages of a situation like that, then there's real gratitude and there's real compassion operating for the benefit of both beings. Report an error in the passage at 38:12
38:29 In a society where Modern Western world is very much idealizing youth. Speed, efficiency, health, all the useful qualities are exalted. Report an error in the passage at 38:29
38:48 And the older, the unuseful qualities are despised in our modern society. So everybody, old people feel that they Report an error in the passage at 38:48
39:04 complaint you hear from old people is that they're a nuisance they feel like they're a nuisance or they're in the way they're not economically productive anymore they're a drain on the society there's all these dreadful attitudes Report an error in the passage at 39:04
39:24 people have about themselves as well as the of the society that you think in terms of utilitarian practical practicalities And who's economically productive? And once you're not, then you're, you know, you're just in the way of everything. You're useless. That is really hard-hearted. Because, like I say, the human qualities develop when we have to give ourselves to somebody else and learn how to maybe take care of somebody who's no longer economically productive. Report an error in the passage at 39:24
40:02 That is very good for us. That develops beautiful virtuous qualities in us that we don't get from people who are still economically productive. Report an error in the passage at 40:02
40:36 This is something that because in the West we do have an ideal the ideal of compassion is very beautiful to us and we do productive. Report an error in the passage at 40:36
· · · silence, 1 minute
40:56 We do practice, I mean, certainly, I've said before, it's not lacking, but it's not given enough importance. It's not really considered as important as, say, other things like efficiency and winning the prize. And in the long run, efficiency and winning the prize are not terribly important to our lives. It's not important whether we're efficient or we win anything at all. Report an error in the passage at 40:56
41:26 In the long run. But in the long run, compassion is most beneficial for our whole life. You know, from early childhood to the last moment of breathing, compassion is of great benefit to the whole of our life and everything that we do, where being clever and winning a prize and being efficient might be only beneficial to a certain short span of our life. Report an error in the passage at 41:26
41:55 period of youth and it's no longer important Report an error in the passage at 41:55
42:03 What is it for? What is its purpose? What is the potential for a human life? And what is it to be human? What do we mean by it? Oftentimes human means, in modern terms, It's an excuse for being weak, isn't it? We do something wrong and say, well, I'm only human, as a kind of excuse. But also recognize that human means also an opportunity for enlightenment, that the human realm, say in Buddhist cosmology, the human realm is considered the most fortunate one to be born into. Report an error in the passage at 42:03
42:57 Because the potential for enlightenment is at its greatest in this realm, this human realm. And so being human is no longer a justification for weakness, but we're emphasizing the possibility of a perfect realization that we have as human beings. So then you begin to Report an error in the passage at 42:57
43:28 Regard being human as something to really appreciate and to develop and to respect rather than just use it as a waste it, waste the opportunity and just use the word human only to justify laziness or weakness. Report an error in the passage at 43:28
· · · silence, 1 minute
44:56 In Buddhadharma you're not you're not absolutizing anything. It's always You're always developing this reflective capacity to understand time and place. To do what is appropriate to time and place rather than absolutize right and wrong. In the West we tend to take absolute positions like something is absolutely right or absolutely wrong. Report an error in the passage at 44:56
45:28 And it doesn't matter what time or place or the conditions affecting it. In itself, it's considered permanently bad or good. Report an error in the passage at 45:28
45:51 you very much. Report an error in the passage at 45:51
46:12 I'm going to wait. Report an error in the passage at 46:12
46:16 say goodbye to everybody. I Report an error in the passage at 46:16
46:32 noticed like with this western like puritanism or what we like what we regard as kind of Victorian morality that old kind of rigid attitudes of right and wrong as very absolute fixed positions really put off people because if you If you absolutize right and wrong then you lose you're not sensitive to any situation you just condemn something because it's because in the absolute value you've placed on it it's wrong and so you like that's how you can kill a criminal you know you can what justifies capital punishment because murder is absolutely bad and so You have the right to murder a murderer is the logic that results from that. Where the Victorian morality tended to be so rigid that it became either hypocritical or very insensitive and cruel. Report an error in the passage at 46:32
47:50 Where morality, in Buddhist morality, it's... moral precepts are encouragements to be good rather than commandments that if you don't if you aren't good you're going to be punished for not being good it's you know the beauty of say Buddhist morality very much is in the fact that you're encouraged to be good and then you begin to when you have that encouragement you want to be good And you love the good, because there's a natural intonation of a human being towards the good, the beautiful, the good, the true, we incline, we love it. Report an error in the passage at 47:50
48:37 But when we're commanded to be good, as a kind of absolute, you have to be good or else you're going to be punished for it, then it brings up, we get confused, and we find it impossible to really be good when we're commanded to be good. Because goodness is something that has to come from the heart. I can't command you to be good. If I do, I'm almost making it impossible for you to be good. Report an error in the passage at 48:37
49:12 Because in that command, it's creating conditions in which I'm not giving you... The helpful conditions towards goodness. I'm imposing, I'm oppressing you with my view of what you should be. So then we find ourselves rebelling or just feeling guilt ridden or whatever by the fact that we can't be what we think we should be. Report an error in the passage at 49:12
49:47 But in reflective thought more and more you find yourself loving the good. And you long for it and you delight in it. And therefore that's incorruptible goodness. Report an error in the passage at 49:47
50:06 Goodness that you... You're only good because you're afraid of being punished is corruptible goodness. Because as soon as you think you can get away with it, then there's no reason to be good anymore. If you think you're not going to be punished and you aren't going to get caught, then you might as well be bad. Report an error in the passage at 50:06
50:27 Because you haven't developed a love of the good yet. You haven't developed or really understood that natural love. Ajahn, Report an error in the passage at 50:27
50:40 if I'm corrupt and bad, would it be a good thing for a good person to exterminate me? Report an error in the passage at 50:40
51:04 Isn't it a question more of the motive? very specific situation me. Report an error in the passage at 51:04
51:08 I mean, one can, after all, envisage a situation where, let us say, two very good friends are in a desert, and one of them is very ill and is dying, and is suffering greatly, and he says to his friend, you know, will you put me out of my misery? Now, if he's, I mean, one can argue about whether the friend should or should not do this, but if, let us say, he does kill his friend in that situation, that is obviously totally different. Report an error in the passage at 51:08
51:36 from somebody breaking into a house and killing somebody in order to steal something. can say that the actual act of killing was the same, I mean the motive was totally different in those two situations. you can't, as I see it, you can't take the action out of the situation where one considers the motive. Report an error in the passage at 51:36
51:59 Well, that's where justice and mercy, we have to combine the two. I mean like if you just have justice without mercy then you're absolutizing right and wrong and you're saying anybody who does this act is bad and therefore there's no mercy in it. But in mercy then in compassion then you're taking into consideration the act as well as the Cause all factors in the time and the place. Then there's a mercy operating. One is not making an absolute insensitive judgment. Report an error in the passage at 51:59
52:50 You're a murderer because you murdered your best friend in the desert. Report an error in the passage at 52:50
52:58 Because that's the harshest interpretation. I remember hearing one horrendous story about In Australia, some woman was, her father made her promise that she would, when he came to a certain stage, that she would see that he died. Report an error in the passage at 52:58
53:28 And so he got to this stage, some kind of terminal ailment, probably like cancer. So the daughter, because she'd promised, saw that her father, you know, killed her father, gave him some kind of drugs that killed him. And she did it because she promised to do that. And then she went on a meditation retreat with somebody and she was feeling guilty about this, so she went to the teacher and said, you know, what is my karmic, what is the karmic result of this? Report an error in the passage at 53:28
54:03 And the teacher said, you have done the worst possible thing that anyone could ever do, kill your father. That is the Killing your mother, your father or a Buddha is the worst possible karma you can make in life. And so the woman was absolutely shattered. Report an error in the passage at 54:03
54:30 Really, really totally shattered by that. Because that was her worst suspicion. I've done possibly the worst thing any human being could do. And yet... Report an error in the passage at 54:30
54:43 If you reflected on it, you know, you could see that with mercy you have to consider the other factors because, you know, if she had just a cold-blooded kind of angry person stabbed her father in the neck and killed him, that Report an error in the passage at 54:43
55:05 would no doubt fit that description. But the fact that there were many other things involved is... Is where we need wisdom and compassion rather than just fixed, absolutized views of right and wrong. Report an error in the passage at 55:05
55:25 Are there certain ingredients that have to be completed to fulfill an offense even in Buddhism, like in the law for instance? Yeah, well intention, it's always about intention. Report an error in the passage at 55:25
55:39 That's why, you know, what your intention is. That's why morality in Buddhism is This is absolutely right and wrong under all conditions, any time, any place, because the Buddha was always emphasizing what your intention for something is. Report an error in the passage at 55:39
56:04 Like the Jains at the time of the Buddha, the Nigantas, were considered killing any creature was an evil act. Even if it was accidental, if you stepped on an ant, It was an evil act. And you had no intention to do it. It just happened. Where the Buddha said that the evilness would be in the intention rather than in the act. Report an error in the passage at 56:04
56:36 So that if you intentionally did it, but if it was an accident, then there is no offense. And so the Buddha was always always trying to encourage this sense of really looking at how the mind is, what we intend it to do, than this very fixed view of action. One of the stories of an Arahant who committed suicide. Report an error in the passage at 56:36
57:21 that Because suicide is considered a very bad thing. But the monk that committed suicide knew what he was doing and wasn't doing it out of aversion or that. And so the Buddha was considering the reason, the intention for doing it, rather than the act itself. Report an error in the passage at 57:21
57:52 Like you say, with abortion, ...problems that people have around moral dilemmas around abortion these days. It's because, like, the Catholic Church takes this very fixed view that it's totally wrong under any circumstances. So then, they've absolutized it as being wrong at any time. Report an error in the passage at 57:52
58:21 And this is why people sometimes feel very angry with them because... It's not taking into account the actual causal factors like the health of the mother or the whatever. Report an error in the passage at 58:21
58:37 It's taking just making a very absolute statement about something. Report an error in the passage at 58:37
58:53 And sometimes it's like people would rather have these like you find a lot of people are attracted to these Kind of very, you know, this is right, this is wrong, this is good, this is bad. Tell you everything. Because, you know, everything is clearly laid out. It's very simple and clear. And I think people feel, many people feel very safe with that. You know, me, kind of ex-cathedra, coming at you and saying, you do this and don't do that. Report an error in the passage at 58:53
59:34 And some people, I feel that gives them great security. But what the Buddha was doing was trying to enlighten the mind of an individual rather than condition it. Report an error in the passage at 59:34
59:53 Like telling you what's right and wrong is merely conditioning your mind. I'm saying, I'm putting these conditions in. You believe this and you believe that. And then you... It's a conditioning process that's taking place where what I hope this afternoon's talk is doing is conditioning your mind but opening your mind to reflecting on the way things are, on right and wrong and good and bad and all these things so that you begin to understand how your mind works and how to deal with situations because no two situations are ever going to be exactly alike can't what you might do in this situation might be one thing but there's never going to be an exact situation of the same thing With mindfulness, wisdom, we have the ability to bring into consciousness. Report an error in the passage at 59:53
1:01:03 The many things that are affecting us and the intuitive wisdom that can operate through us then we tend to act and speak in ways that are of benefit to and for the welfare of all beings. It's like these human forms then are transformed from just conditioned creatures to spontaneous Report an error in the passage at 1:01:03
1:01:33 channels of wisdom and compassion. One sees that the human being has a, our presence on this planet, we can be an actual blessing or we can be a pollution. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:33
1:01:48 You know, human beings, we have, we can, great blessings can pour through these forms. We can be compassionate, we can be kind, generous, cooperative in all these virtues. We have this, we can choose to do this, or we can be just very selfish, narrow-minded people that just pollute everything, that destroy and cause conflicts and wars. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:48
1:02:27 At this time, when there are so many human beings, it's so important to emphasize The good side of our humanity and the potential, the possibility for our being a blessing rather than a pollution. Because so far, looking more like we're more of a pollutant than a blessing, isn't it? When you're looking at the problems that face just the planet itself, and you might, you know, you think of the oil companies or the people that make sprays or DDT as being the pollutants, but actually the problem is with the human beings, not with the DDT. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:27
1:03:18 As Report an error in the passage at 1:03:18
1:03:42 a Buddhist monk, I would, I mean, I think, I mean, I believe in miracles. Yes. And I believe that if, that, I mean, it could be, we could destroy ourselves or we can, There's also the possibility of making a kind of leap in consciousness. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:42
1:04:15 There's that possibility. I mean, our society tends towards the pessimistic view. And I don't want to be just optimistic, either like New Age, Aquarian type of optimism, but there is that possibility also. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:15
1:04:38 And sometimes you see in the human nature sometimes we don't really change till there's a terrible crisis. Till we have to. And I think a lot of the things, the signs now is that we have to change. And it's going to get a lot worse until we really do change. Like be more you know, be more conservation these ecological Ecological issues and moral issues, we have to, I mean, we'll find ourselves that these will no longer be just maybe when we feel like it, but we actually have to do it. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:38
1:05:27 But also, Report an error in the passage at 1:05:27
1:05:32 it's for many human beings now, the possibility for using wisdom and reflection. We have mass media, The world is, everything is mixing up. You know, there's you know, the planet Earth is no longer very big and there's no real dominant culture. You can't say that, you know, that Europe dominates the rest of the world or regards itself as superior to the rest of the world anymore. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:32
1:06:13 That kind of thinking seems But there's more kind of interest in the very good things that human beings have produced, whether they're Asian or European or whatever. We're more interested and appreciative of goodness rather than of cultural qualities. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:13
1:06:39 I mean, what happened in the Soviet Union these past years, who would have ever thought that would happen? Who would? Germany would be a possibility. I mean, I remember last year asking one of the German monks, do you think Germany will ever be reunited in your lifetime? And he said, no, I never expect that. Impossible. And then a month later... So, I mean, there's, you know, what's affecting, as a human being, our perspective is like an app. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:39
1:07:46 quite open for and you're open in that way then you tend to draw That kind of, those kind of things to you. Like, say, living, my experience of being a monk in England has been quite good, because, you know, one could anticipate it as being quite difficult, but, and as the actual experience of living here, there's been a, one seems to, when you trust in what you're doing, then it seems to draw all the right, ...things to it. And then I notice as soon as I start kind of getting myself involved in things, things don't tend to go off. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:46
1:08:37 My view and when the me and mine starts influencing things, the result's not very good. So I trust much more in the actual non-self, letting go of things. And trusting in what we call the refuges, the Buddha, Dhamma, Saṅgha. And things seem to have their momentum and their own flourishing. What would be the Buddhist attitude to the internal strife, say, some of the countries, like, say, Sri Lanka, for instance, where people fight with their own... Report an error in the passage at 1:08:37
1:09:25 Right. Well, that's another... You see, that's where so many other Report an error in the passage at 1:09:25
1:09:33 factors are involved. In any country there's a lot of karma that maybe has not been dealt with. Like in Sri Lanka, one suspects that a lot of the communal attitudes were suppressed and not really dealt with through meditation. So when the conditions for ethnic violence occur, it just flares up. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:33
1:10:09 Because it's not a religious problem, is it? It's not Hindu against Buddhist. It's communal or political power. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:09
1:10:23 And then violence breeds violence. Could it be ignorance or mostly then greed? It's that, right. It's that ignorance. And then the Buddhist Saṅgha oftentimes has taken sides. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:23
1:10:44 You see, so it hasn't provided a proper leadership for the country either. From what I can tell, it tends to have taken sides against the Tamils. And so you get this, you don't have any neutral reflection for the problem. It tends to get divided into single leaves against Tamils, or then it From that it developed into different Sinhalese political parties, terrorists. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:44
1:11:27 Like as a Buddhist monk, you're supposed to remain outside the political. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:27
1:11:38 Right, Report an error in the passage at 1:11:38
1:11:47 but even then, you've got like the Dalai Lama, you've got like the there because of the desecration of the temple. lot of the temples were ravaged, if you like, when the trouble started. send you a call. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:47
1:11:54 In Tibet, the Chinese destroyed temples that were like thousands of years old and taking Buddha images and all the kind of scriptures and just burned and totally destroyed these things and killed a lot of the lamas. And this Dalai Lama has remained impeccable. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:54
1:12:23 And that is... It's very beautiful to see. Because on the human side, one thing, you know, you can't do that to me. You're going to see that you pay for it. On the kind of justified human weakness, I understand how one wants to take revenge. On the level of dharma, I wouldn't do that. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:23
1:12:55 Because in the long run, the Dalai Lama is going to win. On the short scheme of things, maybe it looks like he's losing in the long run. And Report an error in the passage at 1:12:55
1:13:13 I'm sure, you know, like someone like Minimal Anandamaitri, people most like that are very much still very proper in their, in the way they've dealt with it. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:13
1:13:29 But I've seen in, when Report an error in the passage at 1:13:29
1:13:37 religion becomes involved politically, then it's easily corrupted. think it goes to show that the... on compassion doesn't really help because is a program called Maitreya Kirtan in the morning every day. Preaching mettā or Report an error in the passage at 1:13:37
1:13:59 But it's probably going into some people's hearts. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:59
1:14:10 Probably the people that watch it. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:10
1:14:24 Oftentimes they're not the ones out fighting. A lot of the Sri Lankan people that come here, I mean, they're really in anguish, sad. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:24
1:14:40 And they're not blaming. Most of the Sri Lankan people I meet in England are not saying, or taking sides particularly, they're blaming. It's just a sense of sadness and bewilderment. They don't understand, how could this happen in Sri Lanka? Report an error in the passage at 1:14:40
1:15:22 End this discussion. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:22
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Talk by Ajahn Sumedho. Original at Amaravati Buddhist Monastery via Internet Archive: https://archive.org/details/ajahn-sumedho-dhamma-talks. Licensed CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. Transcript generated automatically and may contain errors; the audio is the authoritative version.
Talks of Ajahn Sumedho, archived on Internet Archive. More from Amaravati