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Key passages
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- 3:15
I didn't bother to question it until I started meditating. And then I say, what is the past right now? Because in reality, there's only now. There's never a future or a past, except in terms of experience, it's always now.
- 5:53
Even that is another So the aim is to recognize the limitation of vedanā, sanya, sankara, of the feeling, the perception and mental formations that arise in the present.
- 8:20
Will it still be a Buddhist temple? might be some kind of, you know, cyber cafe or something.
- 27:19
But mettā doesn't mean you like anything. It means you're willing to accept things for what they are. It's non-critical, it's accepting, it's non-judgmental. And as we're mindful, then when we begin to trust in being mindful, that ability to be mindful accepts whatever we're feeling or experiencing, whether it's good or bad, right or wrong.
- 32:10
Because love is unitive, isn't it? It unites, it brings together. The function of love is unity. And so mettā then is like unconditioned love. It's unitive rather than divisive. When we get critical, then we divide, isn't it? The critical mind is always saying, this is right, that's wrong, this is good, this is bad.
Transcript
0:39 So this is the big night. It's already next year in Australia and Report an error in the passage at 0:39
0:51 no great harmful effects from Y2K have been noticed so far. About Report an error in the passage at 0:51
1:08 three and a half hours and then this perceptual change will take place and we'll call it the we'll be entering the third millennium. Report an error in the passage at 1:08
1:27 So it's either perceptions of time that we give importance to and time is an interesting subject to contemplate because we do believe it that it is real and we tend to assume that time is reality and so just the age of our bodies we identify with how old our bodies are Or we say Amaravati is now 15 years old, or Agneta monk, so many vasas, and then this is the beginning to be the year 2000, and yet in Buddhist terms it's 2543. Report an error in the passage at 1:27
2:32 But Report an error in the passage at 2:32
2:41 these are, this is the past, the present, the future. In terms of experience, we contemplate this in meditation so that we're not just adhering to conventions unquestioningly believing in what people say is real. We're testing it out. And I found this in terms of my own experience because naturally I would just assume time was reality. Report an error in the passage at 2:41
3:15 I didn't bother to question it until I started meditating. And then I say, what is the past right now? Because in reality, there's only now. There's never a future or a past, except in terms of experience, it's always now. So always whatever time time it is or wherever you are it's it's here and it's now and Report an error in the passage at 3:15
3:51 yet our past can be our obsession and we can feel guilt-ridden remorseful uh all kinds of resentments uh about past experiences but that is happening now and when we when we bring up when we resent anything in the past that's that that is due to remembering something Report an error in the passage at 3:51
4:16 Now, because you don't resent things all the time, it's only when you remember something in that moment is now. Or the future is the other perception that we give a lot of importance to, especially when you're young. The future is where you hope everything's going to, you're going to get all your wishes fulfilled. Report an error in the passage at 4:16
4:45 The great potential, the possibility, the unknown, the probability for both success, failure, good fortune, misfortune, whatever. Report an error in the passage at 4:45
5:02 But in terms of what is the future now, it's the unknown to the future. It's by contemplating this so that we actually notice, consciously witness to The way it is. Because we can live in a world of speculation about probabilities, what might happen, what we fear might happen, anticipation, dread, are conditions that we create in the present. Report an error in the passage at 5:02
5:40 And then we even hold to the present as some kind of reality and attach the idea of being present here and now. Even that is another Report an error in the passage at 5:40
5:56 So the aim is to recognize the limitation of vedanā, sanya, sankara, of the feeling, the perception and mental formations that arise in the present. Be able to see them and know them for what they are rather than just operate from in reactive ways to the habits that we've acquired otherwise we're just creatures of habit helplessly lost in In terms of Report an error in the passage at 5:56
6:41 convention, then we're entering the third millennium. This temple, I was contemplating, was built to last one millennium. Report an error in the passage at 6:41
6:54 And it's just really beginning. beginning, this is, have the The official opening on July the 4th, another auspicious day, 4th of July of 1999, and then the kind of historical significant moment where this temple was officially opened, and then for the third millennium. Report an error in the passage at 6:54
7:30 The thousand years is... There's another perception. To us, a thousand years is a long time because none of us can remember anything beyond our own lifetime. Report an error in the passage at 7:30
7:48 For the fun of it, when we started contemplating building a temple, we wanted it to last a thousand years at least. So the foundations are very strong here. They poured tons of concrete into the ground. Report an error in the passage at 7:48
8:08 of sturdy materials. Hopefully it will a thousand years and we like to think what wonder what it would be like a thousand years from now. Report an error in the passage at 8:08
8:20 Will it still be a Buddhist temple? Report an error in the passage at 8:20
8:26 might be some kind of, you know, cyber cafe or something. Report an error in the passage at 8:26
8:44 of all the churches that have been built and they're becoming nightclubs and warehouses. Report an error in the passage at 8:44
8:58 the interesting... Interesting, really, the liberation from suffering, liberation from delusion is what we're here for. This is the raison d 'etre, the purpose for our coming to a place like this. Report an error in the passage at 8:58
9:21 Because to be free from the limitations that we are bound to through our cultural And social conditioning. When you think of how limited we are just through the way we think or the way we emote, we acquire these habits and we think in certain ways and we see ourselves in very limited ways. And this tends to limit our experience to rather dreary patterns oftentimes. And as you get older... Report an error in the passage at 9:21
10:01 It can be even more dreary, because at least when you're younger, there's a certain vitality to your habits that become increasingly more dreary as you get into middle age and beyond. Unless you do something about it. Report an error in the passage at 10:01
10:20 So we see, listening to the news tonight about all the fantastic things that are going on in the world, and you know about the This millennium, century millennium celebration is, you know, in London now, they're probably, everybody's having a really good time. And I heard they put on a fantastic show in Paris and Sydney, absolutely knockout entertainment. Report an error in the passage at 10:20
11:02 And now you can... You can stop, they've legalized, I think extended the opening periods for the pubs in England so that now you can drink till, what, beyond the New Year anyway. Report an error in the passage at 11:02
11:26 And so they're putting on these shows and entertainments. Then we think of what we've been doing here for this past week is an interesting experiment. Report an error in the passage at 11:26
11:39 In not seeking entertainment, but in doing something for our own welfare and the welfare of all sentient beings for the next millennium. So this Peace Vigil, the purpose of it, when I thought of it, was an act of giving, of really trying to offer something to the world that we live in. Report an error in the passage at 11:39
12:09 That is very much needed, rather than making endless demands for shows and entertainment from the world, because there's so much of that already, but to put forth the effort. So many of us, many of you have been doing this for the past, since the 28th, this peace vigil, and the beautiful support, the fantastic food that is provided, and the... Report an error in the passage at 12:09
12:41 With the general atmosphere of generosity and attention and giving and keeping the moral precepts and taking care of one's mind and doing what is kind, what is benevolent, what is useful as an offering for this next century, next millennium. Because this is something that we can't do. We can question whether this has really had any significant effect on the next millennium or not. Report an error in the passage at 12:41
13:21 But that's not the point, is that we don't need to know that it's really, what we're doing is really going to pay off. Because in its own way, it's its own reward. And I find this, you know, think of the... What have I gotten out of meditation all these years? And what kind of benefits and achievements or attainments have I received from committing myself to monastic life for so long? Report an error in the passage at 13:21
13:54 And we think that the worldly mind wants to conceive of some kind of reward for having been a monk for 33 years. That doesn't seem... It's important to me to feel that I've been rewarded in some way for living this life because it's its own reward in every moment that one is mindful. So just contemplate that. It's the reward of just being mindful for one moment. Report an error in the passage at 13:54
14:35 Being mindful is the reward of being mindful because that moment is... You've not been caught up into the delusions of the society and the world that we live in. Report an error in the passage at 14:35
15:06 Its own reward does take a measure of faith because the thinking mind of course doesn't see it like that. We see ourselves in terms of time conditioned creatures that have to There's something we've got to do. We've got to get something we don't have. We've got to become something that we're not right now. Report an error in the passage at 15:06
15:35 We've got to get rid of things, emotions, thoughts, habits that we have now that we shouldn't have. If we're going to be enlightened beings in the future, we've got to get rid of our anger and greed and things like that. We've got to Become, have more mettā, more compassion. Become more patient. We've got to become something because the way we are right now is we're not good enough. Report an error in the passage at 15:35
16:07 We see ourselves in terms of there's something wrong or something not quite up to par yet, not quite made it. So, and then this whole way of If you're thinking and perceiving, if you never see through it, then even after 30, 40, 50, 60 years of intense meditation, you'll still be stuck with the same problem. Report an error in the passage at 16:07
16:38 You've never gotten through the original obstruction. Report an error in the passage at 16:38
16:48 So it's not taking the position that there's nothing wrong with me and that I'm perfectly enlightened. As I am, and it's not holding to a viewpoint about myself in any way, or denying faults that I have and weaknesses and that. It's not a matter of denying it or justifying it or convincing myself that I'm somebody who is enlightened. Report an error in the passage at 16:48
17:16 But in learning to recognize this whole melodrama that takes place for what it is. Report an error in the passage at 17:16
17:25 And so... Mindfulness is our ability to, it's tuning in, or how to best describe it. It's kind of entering a transcendent position in which you're witnessing, you're watching, you're aware, your mind is open in a state of, a natural state, not a created artificial. artificial state that we're after. Report an error in the passage at 17:25
18:12 caught up with the extremities of our habits, our emotions and thoughts. Report an error in the passage at 18:12
18:20 learning to listen, to calm down, to be patient, to listen, to pay attention, to awaken. Report an error in the passage at 18:20
18:33 And then we can see the views we have about, I've got a problem with this and I need to get rid of that in order to become, I begin to see that as a creation of my mind rather than the position I start with and I hold to. Report an error in the passage at 18:33
18:52 So when we talk about the dhamma as a direct thing, as one who practices directly, uju patipanno, Report an error in the passage at 18:52
19:05 It's so direct, we tend to miss out all the time because we're not used to something that obvious and simple and direct. It's easier, I think, for most of you probably to study Abhidharma and memorize lists of abstract words than to sit and just watch and listen and open to the present. Report an error in the passage at 19:05
19:39 It's easier to study all about Buddhism and get PhDs in Buddhist philosophy than to trust in the simple act of attention. Report an error in the passage at 19:39
19:59 Because in worldly terms, it doesn't seem like very much. It looks worthless. It doesn't show us off. We have no accolades for being mindful. We don't get Nobel Prizes or usually when you want to increase your status in the monastic saṅgha, you don't meditate. Report an error in the passage at 19:59
20:30 You go to Buddhist universities and Report an error in the passage at 20:30
20:37 learn all kinds of subjects and then get to know the right people and you get titles. and things like that. Report an error in the passage at 20:37
20:52 And it's interesting, when the Buddha established the Saṅgha, Bhikkhu Saṅgha, that was its aim. Its aim was to move out of that whole realm of titles and positions. So the Bhikkhu is like an alms mendicant. It's kind of outside the society. You're dependent on the society. You're like a beggar. Report an error in the passage at 20:52
21:21 You're giving up rights over wealth, property, and social position, political power, and all of that to live a life, let's say, based on moral precepts and meditation. Report an error in the passage at 21:21
21:38 So it's not like having a status. And even though in Buddhist countries, bhikkhus get a lot of respect, and then the people... Respect them. So that oftentimes people get the wrong impression that we're a kind of priesthood, a special elite group of priests that need to be respected. But when you consider what the Buddha was doing when he established the Bhikkhu Saṅgha, Bhikkhuni Saṅgha, was to get us out of that whole mess. Report an error in the passage at 21:38
22:22 of status, social status and position. So respect isn't demanded. It's something that people can show respect or they don't have to. It's not a demand made on anybody. And if we're worthy of respect, then the respect that people give us is fine. Report an error in the passage at 22:22
22:55 Nothing... Dangerous in that, but taking our position as some kind of special caste or special profession and seeing ourselves in terms of a priesthood, I think is very dangerous. So when I consider myself, I'm legally, in this country, legally registered as Bhikkhu Sumedho, beggar Sumedho. Report an error in the passage at 22:55
23:31 So this reminds me of, you know, the aspiration in my life to not seek position or to emphasize myself as some kind of specially privileged being, but one who is practicing meditation, living... Report an error in the passage at 23:31
23:59 In a way that is of benefit to myself and to the society I'm living in. So during this peace vigil for the millennium, all of us are doing this, aren't we? We're all here to offer something to the world that we live in, toward the planet, for the welfare of all beings for the next millennium. Report an error in the passage at 23:59
24:32 So even the pain or the discomfort or inconvenience that we experience here and all that is somehow even welcomed because we're not here to be entertained or to have an easy time, feel good and comfortable and safe, but to exert ourselves, put ourselves into a position where we learn to be a little more patient, a little more considerate. Report an error in the passage at 24:32
25:00 little less obsessed with ourselves. Report an error in the passage at 25:00
25:07 where we dedicate the result of our lives and share the blessings of our lives with all sentient beings. Mettā practice, for example, is something that is very inspiring in Buddhism because mettā is the term loving kindness which It includes all conditioned phenomena, everything, absolutely everything. There's nothing, we don't have metaphor. Report an error in the passage at 25:07
25:45 Everything, every condition, good or bad, whatever extreme on the spectrum of beautiful or ugly, useful or useless, right or wrong. Report an error in the passage at 25:45
26:02 So let's think what that really is saying in terms of our own experience. This mettā is translated into English as loving kindness, which tends to give it a kind of emotive power that sometimes can be misleading for us. Because loving kindness is almost, it's a bit of a high sentiment of the mind, of the heart. Report an error in the passage at 26:02
26:38 Where mettā, say, in a practical way, like, say, loving your enemies. In Christianity, Jesus Christ said to love your enemies. And I remember feeling, how can you love your enemies? Report an error in the passage at 26:38
26:58 If somebody wants to do you in, how can you love them? Report an error in the passage at 26:58
27:04 Because my version of love at that time was a kind of sentimental version based on really liking, you know, liking something, liking someone. Report an error in the passage at 27:04
27:19 But mettā doesn't mean you like anything. It means you're willing to accept things for what they are. It's non-critical, it's accepting, it's non-judgmental. And as we're mindful, then when we begin to trust in being mindful, that ability to be mindful accepts whatever we're feeling or experiencing, whether it's good or bad, right or wrong. Report an error in the passage at 27:19
27:58 It's not criticizing, it's not... Making any conditions, making any judgments. Report an error in the passage at 27:58
28:08 So when we spread mettā, it's to all sentient beings, born, unborn, seen, unseen, from the highest of the most beautiful angelic beings to the lowest, the most horrible, hellish ones, all gradations in between those two extremes. Report an error in the passage at 28:08
28:32 Now, in developing mettā, then what that does, If it's done in the right way, it allows us to accept the flow of life as we experience it. Because we're developed in the other way, to be critical and judgmental of everything. Report an error in the passage at 28:32
28:59 So we have a bad thought and then we criticize ourselves for having a bad thought. Somebody does something... Some evil act and then we want to punish them in some way, want to get even with them. You can see that the conditioning of the mind is one towards wanting to punish evil actions and reward good ones. Report an error in the passage at 28:59
29:29 The carrot and the stick kind of culture. They're rewarded for being good and punished for being bad. And so this, of course, we can see in our own cultural background, how even God in the Old Testament was punishing the Jews when they were naughty and rewarding them when they were good. So it's a kind of basic pattern, isn't it, that we can all relate to, those of you who have families and that. Report an error in the passage at 29:29
30:07 You punish children when they're naughty and reward them when they're good. So there's nothing even wrong with that. I'm not criticizing that. But as a position to take, as an ultimate reality, it doesn't work. Because all we end up doing, if we never get beyond that kind of mental habit, is that we do it to ourselves. Report an error in the passage at 30:07
30:33 We hate ourselves when we... when we have bad thoughts or have negative emotions and and and we we can be very judgmental very guilt-ridden very upset Report an error in the passage at 30:33
30:52 negativity. Report an error in the passage at 30:52
31:06 ...showing weaknesses, for not living up to our expectations, for not being good enough. And so living in a community, monastic community, you do this all the time. Other people's blame, judgment, because Report an error in the passage at 31:06
31:26 that's how the mind is conditioned to think. So mettā then is learning to, it's an intelligent state. It's not like a kind of stupid. The state of everything's okay is not just refusing to notice any differences or that evil is evil or trying to say everything's good. It's not that. But its function is not to criticize but to embrace. It's a total state. Report an error in the passage at 31:26
32:04 It's a non-divisive ability that we can... Because love is unitive, isn't it? It unites, it brings together. The function of love is unity. And so mettā then is like unconditioned love. It's unitive rather than divisive. When we get critical, then we divide, isn't it? The critical mind is always saying, this is right, that's wrong, this is good, this is bad. Report an error in the passage at 32:04
32:41 This is what should be and it shouldn't be like that. Report an error in the passage at 32:41
32:46 And that has a function also, I'm not despising that function, but as a way of interpreting one's life and living one's life, it can only make us suffer unbearably because we're always observing that things shouldn't be the way they are. Report an error in the passage at 32:46
33:12 That the world we live in, somehow there's something wrong with it, or something wrong with me, or with you, because we're not perfect. We're not what should be. Report an error in the passage at 33:12
33:26 Oh, the Buddha, in his great compassion, is the knower of the world, knows the way the world is. So it has all these variations, permutations, changings of birth and death. Report an error in the passage at 33:26
33:42 And right and wrong, good and bad, beautiful and ugly, true and false, they all belong. Everything belongs in this realm. There's nothing that you can conceive of that doesn't belong here. So the Y2K bug belongs. All the germs and the nasty stuff. Report an error in the passage at 33:42
34:14 Maniacs and the psychopaths, as well as all the moral majority and the good folk, everything belongs. Just contemplate this, that everything belongs here. Report an error in the passage at 34:14
34:30 So this puts us in a position of looking at the world no longer through trying to endlessly trying to control it and manipulate it. By getting rid of what shouldn't be here and trying to hang on as much as we can to what we think should be here. But we realize we can flow with life. Roll with the flow, as they say. We can be with the flow of our conscious experience because we're no longer committed to controlling it. Report an error in the passage at 34:30
35:10 To trying to get rid of the bad and hold on to the good. Report an error in the passage at 35:10
35:19 In terms of action and speech, we determine to do good and refrain from doing bad things. That's the sīla, the foundation of our life is in terms of what we do, what we act on and speak, how we use our voice, our speech and our bodies is to use them for what is good and refrain from using them for what is bad. Report an error in the passage at 35:19
35:50 But in terms of what arises in consciousness, then the good, the bad, the neutral, we know it for what it is, we know it, we know it is what it is, and we know that it is not, we don't make it into something more than what it is. Report an error in the passage at 35:50
36:15 So in this way we begin to trust in awareness, we can relax, we can flow with life, we can... ...be with the flow of our lives in whatever way that has to be. We're not making any more kind of deals or trying to get the best and praying that we'll get all the good things and none of the bad ones because we're quite willing to accept what we get. Report an error in the passage at 36:15
36:48 Our karma, as we say, each individual has their own. Karma. Report an error in the passage at 36:48
37:00 And we learn from that. We use that by paying attention to old age, sickness, death, loss of the love, the irritations, frustrations of life, the way we think and feel, the fairness, the unfairness, the injustices and the justices and the things that happen to us. Report an error in the passage at 37:00
37:29 Because we no longer... Identifying with it or being caught in the assumption that it's mine and that I've got to get hold of something I don't have yet. I've got to get rid of something I have that I shouldn't. Report an error in the passage at 37:29
37:55 So this is taking human consciousness to its ultimate perfection. Report an error in the passage at 37:55
38:06 It's not that any of us become perfect people, because people are basically our nature's imperfect. So you're never going to see a perfect monk or nun. Report an error in the passage at 38:06
38:19 We'll disappoint you in so many ways, you can count on it. Because that's not where the perfection is. It's in our willing, in our understanding. Report an error in the passage at 38:19
38:38 We can have perfect understanding. Report an error in the passage at 38:38
38:48 And then this, to me, is what the Buddha was pointing to, the value of our human state, our human condition. We can speculate about what's the point of being human. I used to think, what is the purpose of this life? And it all seemed meaningless to me. I remember when I was young. I didn't seem to have any meaning in it. I thought it was just a rather bad joke, really. Report an error in the passage at 38:48
39:29 And I used to have long-time death wishes. You have to spend a whole life with this stuff. And I couldn't see any point in having money or any of the things that were... I considered the purpose of many people's lives for position and wealth. Report an error in the passage at 39:29
39:57 But then coming across Buddhism, this kind of faith arose in my mind. A faith and a trust because this was something I really wanted to do. I wanted to find out what life is about. And I knew that you couldn't do it just by Report an error in the passage at 39:57
40:53 An individual realization. So each one realizes for themselves. And none of us can, I can't tell you, and then you'll suddenly, you're supposed to believe what I say, or you're supposed to suddenly feel the same thing I do. Report an error in the passage at 40:53
41:12 Because it's an individual thing. Report an error in the passage at 41:12
41:19 But now I realize that this opportunity we have in this, with the human form, that it is... Report an error in the passage at 41:19
41:45 being able to use this lifetime in a way that I can respect a way I feel is of benefit to others as well. Report an error in the passage at 41:45
42:00 this evening, the... We have this forgiveness, starting the millennium, the third millennium with the mind that's absolutely pure. Report an error in the passage at 42:00
42:21 Or pure anyway, you don't really have to burn any piece of paper. Report an error in the passage at 42:21
42:30 But sometimes these things help. I'm going to burn a piece of paper. I Report an error in the passage at 42:30
42:41 spent the afternoon writing out. Report an error in the passage at 42:41
42:48 Because it does, it gives a significance to this moment of really taking this opportunity, this convention of the millennium, the century millennium, the new year, and using it in a skillful way. Report an error in the passage at 42:48
43:10 One can just laugh at it and say it's a bunch of rubbish or dismiss it as not even Buddhist, it's Christian, and we can just... Push it aside as irrelevant. That's one way of looking at it. Or we can just get lost in what everybody else is doing. Report an error in the passage at 43:10
43:29 Or we can use it skillfully. This is what we're trying to do here is use this occasion for our own awakening and for our own sense of really putting things down. Say, your past, for example, the things that you carry about your things you've done or what have been done to you in the past. Report an error in the passage at 43:29
44:00 And we can carry these things through a lifetime if we make no occasion to just put them aside, to let them go. So psychologically, it can be quite effective. Report an error in the passage at 44:00
44:19 Time to just let go of everything of this millennium, of this century. Just let it all out, the things that you're holding on to, or any kind of guilt or remorse or resentment that you feel. Report an error in the passage at 44:19
44:41 You kind of admit your own faults and things that you've done. That we're unkind and dishonest to others and ask forgiveness and forgive everyone who's harmed you, hurt you, frustrated you in some way or another in your lifetime, which probably most people. We all manage to frustrate each other to a certain degree or exasperate each other. But you don't have to, you know. Report an error in the passage at 44:41
45:15 spend hours writing out lists, just something. Report an error in the passage at 45:15
45:25 conscious experience and then we'll circumambulate out in the cloister chanting is it Report an error in the passage at 45:25
45:41 Buddha absolutely pure with ocean-like compassion. We can't do better than that. Report an error in the passage at 45:41
45:50 Walk around three times and then burn these little papers. Maybe you've got tablets of them. Report an error in the passage at 45:50
46:03 And watch them go up and smoke. And then determined to just let go of all that. It's like it's finished. And starting anew. The new year, new century, new millennium. So you start... The reality is we start anew every moment when we're mindful. The more mindful you are, it's like it's always starting anew. Report an error in the passage at 46:03
46:35 This moment is all that we have. So the more we open to this moment now, then we're letting go of things, of the past. We're not carrying things from the past. and holding them and obsessing our mind in this present moment or giving a lot of uh giving our sole attention to future possibilities so Report an error in the passage at 46:35
47:05 we began to experience the states like bliss because bliss is the result of being present here and now rather than than being feeling high getting high and Report an error in the passage at 47:05
47:24 we have to remind ourselves all the time because the world is intimidating Thank you. Thank you. future is very important and the future of Amaravati and got to, you know, millennium, the century and all the population problem, the pollution. All these things are, you know, signs of, you know, very great concern not to dismiss them either. Report an error in the passage at 47:24
47:58 they're the result, you know, the These results are from ignorance, not from enlightenment. The wars, the pollution, the desecration of the environment, all that is due to ignorance, not due to enlightenment. So the more we move toward enlightenment, toward seeing things as they really are, then these... Report an error in the passage at 47:58
48:30 We will be less, we will be solvable and we will not promote that ourselves. Report an error in the passage at 48:30
48:42 We have a way of influencing consciousness that moves, say, the human population toward its fulfillment. Because to me it's much more worthy to think of the human population as Potential enlightened beings rather than a bunch of greedy consumers, selfish, vain consumers like capitalist society sees us. Report an error in the passage at 48:42
49:17 Just think of yourself as what an ugly thing to think of. Your whole purpose of life is to consume things. Like one of these big hamburgers you see advertised, Burger King. Report an error in the passage at 49:17
49:35 Piled high with things and your mouth has to stretch as wide as you can to fit it in to get a bite off this huge, enormous hamburger. The consumer. Is that the purpose? Report an error in the passage at 49:35
49:55 You can see it like that if you want, but also another way I find is much more useful to give everyone the benefit of the doubt. Report an error in the passage at 49:55
50:08 And I'm not being naive or... Report an error in the passage at 50:08
50:22 how evil thing that they've done. Report an error in the passage at 50:22
50:29 the perception of uh in a in a negative perception aversion and wanting to to seek revenge or get even with them towards recognizing their potentials. Oh, like in certain schools of Buddhism, they see everybody as a Buddha. And I find that, I quite like doing that, seeing you're all Buddhists. That gives me, my relationship to you then is much more respectful, and I think of, oh, you know, she's this way and he's that way. Report an error in the passage at 50:29
51:05 And going along with the memories or the biases that I might have. So this is a way to experiment with the mind. Buddha pointed to the malleability of conscious, how we can use conscious experience in different ways. We're not just fixed in a set pattern, even though you might think you are. The human mind is very versatile, malleable. Report an error in the passage at 51:05
51:36 And so this versatility, we can look at things in different ways. We don't have... Look at it in just this way. So it's not just trying to convince ourselves everybody's a Buddha and then in a kind of naive and foolish way. But it is a way of looking at each other that brings, say, a relationship towards respect and realizing that potential more and more rather than reinforcing each other's Report an error in the passage at 51:36
52:17 Habits or prejudices or fears. Report an error in the passage at 52:17
52:27 Then in terms of relationships and that that we have in the society, in the groups, the communities or families that we live in, we can learn from each other. That even the most difficult and seemingly impossible situations is an occasion for learning rather than Just holding to it as something that's ruining my life or ruining my peace of mind. Report an error in the passage at 52:27
53:03 So it's learning to, recognizing this gift we do have, human form, consciousness, feeling, planet Earth, in this vast, mysterious universe, and how to make the most of it. In a way that our whole life then has its significance. Like now, I feel getting elderly and feel an interest in age rather than a resentment. Report an error in the passage at 53:03
53:44 Talk to some men my age and they say, oh yeah, 66 now, getting old. I'm not really old yet. I'm 66 years young. They'll say funny things like that. They'll say, you know, they'll try to pretend that they're not that old. Or they see it as a kind of demeaning experience. Because identity of, say, with youth has never been, you know, we hold that as maybe the ultimate in human achievement is certain. Report an error in the passage at 53:44
54:39 of your life, from the way it is, the way the body changes and so forth. Report an error in the passage at 54:39
54:48 we're willing now to learn from life. learn from the conditions that we have. We have to experience, whether we're willing to learn from them or not, something else, but encouraging this willingness to learn and to understand the Dhamma. So now I'll end this talk for this evening, and we can prepare. What is the next thing is to go out, but while we're still here, we want to practice the chant. Report an error in the passage at 54:48
55:25 Will you be the... Report an error in the passage at 55:25
55:35 we'll have a break where people can go and on their... Report an error in the passage at 55:35
56:05 an hour, it'll 10 o 'clock, can... meet in the where in here in the cloister okay and there's paper and pencils out in the entrance so you want to write down these things Report an error in the passage at 56:05
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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