9653-to-Grasp-After-Attainments-is-to-Miss-The-Point

0:01 [chanting]

0:14 Satsang with Mooji Satsang with Mooji Report an error in the passage at 0:14 Highlight the passage at 0:14

0:24 Aparu jade sangamatasa tawa raya sodawan taba munjan tu satang. Report an error in the passage at 0:24 Highlight the passage at 0:24

0:34 So Report an error in the passage at 0:34 Highlight the passage at 0:34

0:52 this morning, open your mind, present moment, the body, the posture is like this, sitting, Report an error in the passage at 0:52 Highlight the passage at 0:52

1:08 sitting posture is like this, and of course, just trust in just the observing, you don't have to have a word for whether it's good or bad, right or wrong, it's just like this, breathing in is like this, breathing out. ...state Report an error in the passage at 1:08 Highlight the passage at 1:08

1:36 of mind, mentally, emotionally. Report an error in the passage at 1:36 Highlight the passage at 1:36

1:45 Now this kind of practice, you even call it practice, is a bit misleading because practice always conveys that you've got to do something. Report an error in the passage at 1:45 Highlight the passage at 1:45

1:57 You've got to develop or cultivate. I mean, there's a limitation of language. Contemplate that language is... thinking. Report an error in the passage at 1:57 Highlight the passage at 1:57

2:09 Something that grew out of ignorance out of Avijja. And it's for communication about the earth, fire, water, air elements, about qualities and quantities. Report an error in the passage at 2:09 Highlight the passage at 2:09

2:26 And then when I mentioned the intuitive awareness, it's not dependent upon thinking or language. Report an error in the passage at 2:26 Highlight the passage at 2:26

2:39 It's beyond memory. Or it's where memory arises and ceases. So it's here and now. It doesn't come and go. Your attention to it, your acknowledgement of it, may vary. You know, you have glimpses or moments, but consciousness is always operating, continuity, thinking comes and goes. Report an error in the passage at 2:39 Highlight the passage at 2:39

3:14 Your vipakakamma, the... Deeds of the past, things that have happened, you know, arise, memories and so forth arise and cease in the present. Report an error in the passage at 3:14 Highlight the passage at 3:14

3:29 It's this continuous kind of informing consciousness. Report an error in the passage at 3:29 Highlight the passage at 3:29

3:39 Not that consciousness needs informing, but just develop language and that pointing, that developing, that helping rather than just... The ego problems, the cultural conditioning, your thinking process, your memories, all the identities that we form around the body, the memories we have, the habits we have, the Report an error in the passage at 3:39 Highlight the passage at 3:39

4:18 emotions that arise and cease. Report an error in the passage at 4:18 Highlight the passage at 4:18

4:24 So that which is constant is... is recognized through mindfulness. It's not a creation. You don't create it. The problem with language is that you think you have to develop or get it when you already have it. It's not a matter of getting something you don't have but letting go of the conditions that blind you to the reality of knowing, of pure consciousness, of here and now. Report an error in the passage at 4:24 Highlight the passage at 4:24

4:55 You can't conceive that. Try to imagine timelessness. Because our whole, you know, we always, we have calendars, we have diaries, clocks, everything to reinforce the reality of time as the real world. Report an error in the passage at 4:55 Highlight the passage at 4:55

5:16 And we're living in this realm of continuous change. You know, so the feeling of change is... world. Report an error in the passage at 5:16 Highlight the passage at 5:16

5:26 is a continuous feeling, unrelenting, physically, Report an error in the passage at 5:26 Highlight the passage at 5:26

5:34 emotionally, mentally, psychically, whatever words you want to use to convey that. Report an error in the passage at 5:34 Highlight the passage at 5:34

5:56 Now, in regards to the four stages and the ten fetters, like the four stages of Sotāpanna, Sakata, Kamiyana, Kamiyarahan are... Report an error in the passage at 5:56 Highlight the passage at 5:56

6:15 you very much. How we see these, how we interpret these is very important because so many Buddhist monks I know interpret them always as attainments. Have you attained stream entry yet? Was Ajahn Chah an Arahant? Report an error in the passage at 6:15 Highlight the passage at 6:15

6:41 Was Lungthapu a real Arahant or not? are you? Report an error in the passage at 6:41 Highlight the passage at 6:41

6:46 Buddha Dasa. What's Ajahn Sumedho? Are you a stream-enterer yet? Or, you know, 48 pansas? And so, you know, this is... We want to know who's attained, you know. Who are the Arahants in Thailand? Report an error in the passage at 6:46 Highlight the passage at 6:46

7:11 And I'm subjected to listening to a lot of this stuff because... This is a problem with thinking, with language. It's all about, you know, we're conditioned, culturally conditioned for achieving and attaining. Report an error in the passage at 7:11 Highlight the passage at 7:11

7:32 Basic assumption, I'm not good enough the way I am. I have to do something to improve myself and get something I don't have yet and get rid of the obstructions, the faults, the flaws, the weaknesses. Report an error in the passage at 7:32 Highlight the passage at 7:32

7:51 The impurities that I have that I shouldn't have, that I don't want. This way of thinking is, you know, you contemplate it as sankara, changing rather than believing it, or operating from it. You're wasting your life in monasticism if you never break through that delusion. If you always think you're somebody who has to get something and get rid of something, and you operate from that. Report an error in the passage at 7:51 Highlight the passage at 7:51

8:23 Through maybe 50 years of 50 punsas, it's pathetic, you know. Well, at least it's better than, you know, becoming politician or whatever. Report an error in the passage at 8:23 Highlight the passage at 8:23

8:41 But it's kind of like sad to see such good tools, such good pointing, such clarity on a conventional level that is never really... Report an error in the passage at 8:41 Highlight the passage at 8:41

8:56 ...used properly. Report an error in the passage at 8:56 Highlight the passage at 8:56

9:04 Now the whole point, when we're coming to England and from Thailand, say, in the beginning, was to make this available, this kind of teaching and direct pointing available to people here. And, you know, there's such a strong interest in... ...teaches of the Buddha in the Western world now, which is very good, you know, I support that. Report an error in the passage at 9:04 Highlight the passage at 9:04

9:41 But the main intention always, you know, what I've always tried to put first, the priority, is to keep that attention, you know, on here, rather than always trying to build monasteries or spread Buddhism or train monks and nuns trying to, you know... Make Buddhism acceptable to the Western world. You can go into incredible idealism about it, because you realize what a fine religion it is, and how much you appreciate it in so many ways, but you're still not maybe aware of the identity you have with it, your own viewpoint, your own... Report an error in the passage at 9:41 Highlight the passage at 9:41

10:34 You can put spreading Buddhism ahead of your own development or your own understanding. Report an error in the passage at 10:34 Highlight the passage at 10:34

10:44 Becoming a teacher is so important for people now in the United States. Everybody wants to be a teacher. Becoming a teacher so it gives you status. And becoming an Ajahn, to be able to call yourself an Ajahn. And these kind of... These kind of conditions are, you know, they're usable, they're conventional, but they're not what we're here for. Report an error in the passage at 10:44 Highlight the passage at 10:44

11:21 At least, maybe, that's not what I'm here for. And to emphasize that the whole point of the Buddhist teaching is awakening, not about converting, spreading, or becoming in anything or any way. Report an error in the passage at 11:21 Highlight the passage at 11:21

11:42 And so this priority, morning. Report an error in the passage at 11:42 Highlight the passage at 11:42

11:47 You know, I encourage you to make it your priority, is this attention here and now. Because we're living in a society that believes totally in progress and achievement and attainment. You know, modern European society, Western societies are all about, you know, getting, attaining, progressing, developing, making everything better and better. Report an error in the passage at 11:47 Highlight the passage at 11:47

12:18 And getting rid of the bad things and all about power, having a lot of power, influence, popularity, fame. I mean, these are the societies that we're living in. These are the pressures of ignorant societies. And as much as we can pride ourselves on, you know, our development in science and psychology and... Report an error in the passage at 12:18 Highlight the passage at 12:18

12:47 physics and all the rest was still Avijja is still the modus operandi that the society operates from, in that it comes from Avijja. So we are quite clever developing the technology and improving on conditions. Report an error in the passage at 12:47 Highlight the passage at 12:47

13:12 But in the process of that, what has it, you know, The basis is avicca, not panya. So what I'm encouraging is to develop panya as your basis, wisdom as the basis for living in the monastic form or in the layman's form. Because this is what's lacking in why the world is as it is, why they have these endless wars. Report an error in the passage at 13:12 Highlight the passage at 13:12

13:47 And power struggles and discontentment, always complaining. In Britain, for example, nobody's ever content here. You know, there's always something wrong that could be better. I remember when I first arrived in London in 1977, I was here for about three or four days and they put me on the National Health. Report an error in the passage at 13:47 Highlight the passage at 13:47

14:17 Now, I'm an American, and I don't expect that I go to a country like this for three days and be put on their health system. That completely surprised me, and I thought, I can't really do that. You know, I'm not a citizen, or I've just arrived. Is it legal? And they said, yeah, it's legal. Report an error in the passage at 14:17 Highlight the passage at 14:17

14:39 So I became, I was registered on the National Health, and yet everybody complains about the National Health. Report an error in the passage at 14:39 Highlight the passage at 14:39

14:50 If you're from the United States, I don't think you tend to complain about it. But, you know, like if you've been born and bred and lived in this country, you take it for granted. You don't reflect on it. You just, you know, consider its flaws, its weaknesses, and complain. And so there's always something wrong on the conditioned level, you know, because you improve. Report an error in the passage at 14:50 Highlight the passage at 14:50

15:17 Endlessly improved conditions to the point where we spend our lives, wasting our lives, just trying to improve the conditioned realm when its very nature is to arise and cease. Report an error in the passage at 15:17 Highlight the passage at 15:17

15:37 Progress is another. There's this idea that Western Buddhism is going to improve the traditional forms of Buddhism. And so, because we've got this conceit, Western people, we... Report an error in the passage at 15:37 Highlight the passage at 15:37

16:17 belief in such ideals as democracy. And... You know, we carry idealism to a point of, right now, it's an absurdity, because you get so many conflicting ideas and ideals, and who's content? Who's content with anything? If you think you're content, then you're not really aware you're stupid, or you don't face the real world. Report an error in the passage at 16:17 Highlight the passage at 16:17

16:50 We can look at it like that. But the real world, what is it at this moment? The real world for all of us at this moment, where is it? It's here, isn't it? It's what you're feeling. Report an error in the passage at 16:50 Highlight the passage at 16:50

17:09 Out there, you know, whether it's in Whitehall or the White House or whatever, those are perceptions that we have here. We think of... Report an error in the passage at 17:09 Highlight the passage at 17:09

17:26 Whitehall, and I'm not denying the existence of that, but at this moment, in terms of the reality, that's a perception in consciousness. Report an error in the passage at 17:26 Highlight the passage at 17:26

17:41 And awareness of it as perception, as condition changing, is more important than to form opinions and views and take sides with regards to British politics. I mean, this is a way out of suffering. Report an error in the passage at 17:41 Highlight the passage at 17:41

18:19 we're from a tradition, this Theravadan tradition, Thai forest tradition, and then a lot of people criticize it because it's old and patriarchal and you can find all kinds of... Things that don't fit into the modern context of what's fair, what's democratic, how things should be. Because the modern society is very caught in this idealism of how things should be. Report an error in the passage at 18:19 Highlight the passage at 18:19

18:54 And not that those ideals are wrong, but they're based not on wisdom, but on avicca, not understanding dharma. We don't know reality. We operate from ideas of how we'd like things to be, how things should be. Report an error in the passage at 18:54 Highlight the passage at 18:54

19:14 You know, like, why don't human beings stop fighting? Why don't we just get along? Why can't we just learn to accept each other as we are and just get along? That's a fine idea. Report an error in the passage at 19:14 Highlight the passage at 19:14

19:35 Why don't we just get along? But we don't, because we're not wise. We're operating from an idea that we would be very nice if there were no more conflicts. But this realm is all about conflict, this conditioned realm. It's good, bad, good and evil, heaven and hell, right and wrong. Report an error in the passage at 19:35 Highlight the passage at 19:35

20:04 And these are... Perceptions that we create through language, there's no absolute right or absolute wrong, but we can be very fixed in our view of what's right and what's wrong because Report an error in the passage at 20:04 Highlight the passage at 20:04

20:22 we grasp our own view, our own perception, our own way of interpreting right, and we cling to it. And that's not from wisdom, but from avicca, ignorance. Report an error in the passage at 20:22 Highlight the passage at 20:22

20:38 Ignorance of dharma. Report an error in the passage at 20:38 Highlight the passage at 20:38

20:44 So in the fetters, the first three fetters, I've talked a lot about these fetters because the ten fetters and the four stages are really very helpful tools to use. Report an error in the passage at 20:44 Highlight the passage at 20:44

21:06 And stream entry isn't an attainment. You'll never attain stream entry. You can't attain it. And that word attain doesn't work. Report an error in the passage at 21:06 Highlight the passage at 21:06

21:19 It's not about getting it. It's about waking up. It's about realization, about reality. It's not about getting something you don't have. Because if your meditation, your monastic life is based on trying to get and attain and become, you'll be terribly disappointed because you won't get anything. You'll probably live a better life, you know. At least you're not. Report an error in the passage at 21:19 Highlight the passage at 21:19

21:52 Taking drugs and drinking alcohol and fighting in wars and whatnot. But still, you know, what I'm pointing at is that we've got this incredible possibility right in front of us to use a tool, a very old but very accurate, skillful, precision tool to break through the delusions of Avicca and see... And no, dharma in a direct way. Report an error in the passage at 21:52 Highlight the passage at 21:52

22:36 So when I came to England in 77, I did, you know, I only had 10 vasas, 10 pansas as a bhikkhu. And, you know, I never wanted to really be in such a position, you know, having to be, you know, training people and explaining everything. And so, but because of necessity, fate and the necessity of fate, then this is what happened. Report an error in the passage at 22:36 Highlight the passage at 22:36

23:17 This is what happened to me. But I did have confidence in the practice when I arrived. I didn't lose that ever in the 34 punches I spent in England. I never lost that confidence in that practice. on practice, on the path, mindfulness here and now, and of observing, being the knower of the... things that were happening inside me and my reactions to the conditions around me. Report an error in the passage at 23:17 Highlight the passage at 23:17

23:53 So, Report an error in the passage at 23:53 Highlight the passage at 23:53

23:57 Ajahn Sumedho probably remembers people were saying you know I think maybe Ajahn Sumedho you know he'll need You know, to return to Thailand every so often to recharge his batteries because batteries will wear out in England and you can only, you know, then they need recharging and they can only be recharged in Thailand. Report an error in the passage at 23:57 Highlight the passage at 23:57

24:24 And I didn't know what my batteries would be doing. But that wasn't true, you know, because this isn't about, you know, charging batteries. It's about awakening. Report an error in the passage at 24:24 Highlight the passage at 24:24

24:40 And that isn't dependent upon time or a place. You can only do that in Thailand, London, Chitthurst, any place, wherever you are. There's the body, there's the breath, and there's the jitta, there's the vipakakama operating, there's the feeling of gladness, sadness, happiness, suffering. Report an error in the passage at 24:40 Highlight the passage at 24:40

25:14 Despair, worry, anxiety, fear, they all operate. You know, whether you're on holiday in the Barbados or on a meditation retreat, a Goenka meditation retreat, or you go to India and live in a cave in the Himalayas, the world will arise and feast in you wherever you are. Report an error in the passage at 25:14 Highlight the passage at 25:14

25:42 So the direction then is this awakened attention to the present. Because, you know, we are limited in the forms we have. We have to live within the structure and form of a human, our human bodies. And they're limited, you know. And then we have, you know, it's easier to fly now and, you know, go to Bangkok now. It only takes 11 hours. Report an error in the passage at 25:42 Highlight the passage at 25:42

26:11 That's not very long. But that's not the point, is it? It's not about going to India or Thailand or places that sometimes the Western mind connects with mystical experience or wisdom, but developing it. It's here. It's the Buddha's teaching. It's a very direct point pointing at the present. The Pachubhanathamma, they talk about... Report an error in the passage at 26:11 Highlight the passage at 26:11

26:41 The here and now reality. Report an error in the passage at 26:41 Highlight the passage at 26:41

26:46 And when I say that, when I say here and now, or pachubhanatama, the Pāli word, the reality of here and now, what Report an error in the passage at 26:46 Highlight the passage at 26:46

26:59 is it? Report an error in the passage at 26:59 Highlight the passage at 26:59

27:03 And then, you know, the question itself empties the mind, doesn't it? When you're trying to figure out what is he trying to say? What is he pointing at? Actually, you stop thinking for a moment. What is the pachubhanatama? Report an error in the passage at 27:03 Highlight the passage at 27:03

27:21 If you really pay attention, you stop thinking. Report an error in the passage at 27:21 Highlight the passage at 27:21

27:28 And because you're still conscious, you don't drop dead or go into a trance. Notice that. You know, like these koans in Zen Buddhism or whatever, they're deliberately constructed so that they have no answer. But they do stop the proliferating tendencies that we have of thinking. Report an error in the passage at 27:28 Highlight the passage at 27:28

28:00 Remember... I remember using this ability to stop thinking when I, you know, I'd say, who is aware? Report an error in the passage at 28:00 Highlight the passage at 28:00

28:18 And then, you know, that's a question. And then, of course, the mind will come up with some boring old thing like, you're aware, you should be aware anyway, it goes on like that. But that's, I'm not interested in the answer, but in the gap. Before the thinking mind operates, to begin to trust that, that where the consciousness, where there's pure consciousness, but the proliferating thinking habits stop for a moment. Report an error in the passage at 28:18 Highlight the passage at 28:18

28:56 Mind the gap, as they say in the London Underground. Report an error in the passage at 28:56 Highlight the passage at 28:56

29:16 Now, talking like this is one way, but it's something to put into practice. And of course, you know, in this world, meditation world and Vipassanā and Theravāda Buddhism and Zen Buddhism, Tibetan Buddhism, you know, these are the conventions available to us. And say here in England, you know, you can find your own. Report an error in the passage at 29:16 Highlight the passage at 29:16

29:50 Preferences, Métier here, they've got, you know, innumerable variations on the theme of Buddhism. But with this tradition, you know, what I encourage is that this tradition, or Amaravati, for example, this place, Report an error in the passage at 29:50 Highlight the passage at 29:50

30:10 some people have various opinions about Amaravati, you know, is it the best, or it's not so good, or it's the only place, or... Whatever, you know, we have, is it, you know, really keeping to the pure Thai forest tradition or is it becoming a little bit heretical? We can develop all kinds of personal reactions to just the word Amaravati as we identify that word with this place. Report an error in the passage at 30:10 Highlight the passage at 30:10

30:50 But the purpose of this monastery... It's not to please everybody and to, you know, it's not a place for, you know, to try to draw crowds of people, become a popular religion. Report an error in the passage at 30:50 Highlight the passage at 30:50

31:08 The whole point of this place is to encourage this awareness. Report an error in the passage at 31:08 Highlight the passage at 31:08

31:17 And so, you know, this is what we're here for, not to attain anything, become anything, prove ourselves. Report an error in the passage at 31:17 Highlight the passage at 31:17

31:30 Or, you know, or hold to that this is the only place I can live, that any other monastery is not as good. That's still another view, an opinion. Report an error in the passage at 31:30 Highlight the passage at 31:30

31:43 Or you can only get, you know, really practice when you're alone in a cave or too many monks. None. There's too much going on at Amarvaj. You can't meditate here. That's another opinion you create. Report an error in the passage at 31:43 Highlight the passage at 31:43

32:02 And then other opinions is you don't. You don't need to be in a cave. You can develop awareness in the marketplace, in a traffic jam, in the middle of London, in a battlefield, in Report an error in the passage at 32:02 Highlight the passage at 32:02

32:19 Gaza, in Iraq. Let's go to the battlefield and see if we can be mindful. Report an error in the passage at 32:19 Highlight the passage at 32:19

32:36 One of the benefits of being in this tradition, like being a Theravadan... is that one can establish monasteries. You know, we have been given the right to use the Vinaya. We have, you know, we have trained within this structure, this form. You know, we know how to use it, how to make it available to people. Report an error in the passage at 32:36 Highlight the passage at 32:36

33:10 That's what Amaravati is about, making the tools available for For hearing dharma, for having opportunities to practice it, develop it. Report an error in the passage at 33:10 Highlight the passage at 33:10

33:26 Opportunities to be generous, like dana. Report an error in the passage at 33:26 Highlight the passage at 33:26

33:31 Opportunities just to reaffirm our commitment to sīla, the five precepts. Report an error in the passage at 33:31 Highlight the passage at 33:31

33:44 Now the three fetters then, the first one, sakya-ditti, is, you know, that's... The very first one, it means like the sense of yourself identified with the body. It's the me and mine activity. Report an error in the passage at 33:44 Highlight the passage at 33:44

34:04 It's my body, my appearance, what I think, what I like, what I want, what I believe in, what I don't believe in. It's all this conditioning that we acquire after we're born. Natural phenomena, it's artifice, it's created by human beings, the ego, and the cultural conditioning would be silabata, baramasa, that's the second fetter. Report an error in the passage at 34:04 Highlight the passage at 34:04

34:37 Third is vichikicca, doubt, uncertainty, insecurity is a result of attachment to thought, to thinking. Now if you realize that these three fetters prevent the... The knowledge of the path or the stream, you know, they're artificial fetters. They're not like, you know, these fetters have been relinquished, then you still have rāga, dhanah, and pateka, and you still have sexual desire and aversion. Report an error in the passage at 34:37 Highlight the passage at 34:37

35:22 Conversion. Report an error in the passage at 35:22 Highlight the passage at 35:22

35:25 Because they're part of the natural forms. This is the tamachat, the natural conditions of this realm. You know, the survival, procreation of the species. That's what these forms are for. Our bodies are for procreating the species, the human species. They're made for that. A sexual desire. And then aversion, anger, fear. These are... Report an error in the passage at 35:25 Highlight the passage at 35:25

35:52 Primal emotions that we have for survival. Report an error in the passage at 35:52 Highlight the passage at 35:52

36:00 But then, in terms of the first three fetters, we take all these personally. It's all about my sexual problems, my anger, my jealousy, my fears. Report an error in the passage at 36:00 Highlight the passage at 36:00

36:16 And so these become, you personalize them, you hold them as personal qualities and judge them. You know, like you shouldn't get angry if you're idealistic. You'd like to be someone who only has a feeling of loving kindness as a continuous expression in your life and never show anger or feel it. That's idealism. Report an error in the passage at 36:16 Highlight the passage at 36:16

36:41 Anger and aversion are natural conditions. They're not created by cultures. Report an error in the passage at 36:41 Highlight the passage at 36:41

36:50 They're part of the mammalian package. So that's why even after stream entry, Sakyadagami still has the sexual desires, aversion, anger, fear. Report an error in the passage at 36:50 Highlight the passage at 36:50

37:09 But then they're seen in a different way than interpreted from the Sakyaditi level. That's where... We get neurotic, why we have so much neuroses in the affluent Western world, because we don't know what is just natural phenomena and what is just our own creations, our own delusions. So we create delusions around sexuality, around anger and aversion, around fear, jealousy. And we have ideas about that we shouldn't have these. Report an error in the passage at 37:09 Highlight the passage at 37:09

37:47 Or we've got to get rid of them, we've got to control them. Report an error in the passage at 37:47 Highlight the passage at 37:47

37:55 And as long as that operates, then that's sakya-diti, isn't it? When one sees through sakya-diti, then these primal emotions are seen in terms of conditioned phenomena rising and ceasing, rather than as personal attributes, personal problems. Report an error in the passage at 37:55 Highlight the passage at 37:55

38:22 You see what I mean? It's changing from personalizing everything, which modern society does more than ever. It's all about me now, what I think, my rights. I have a right to say what I think. I have a right to be myself. Report an error in the passage at 38:22 Highlight the passage at 38:22

38:43 The expression of me, the Sakyaditi, is a really powerful... The reality of this time in countries like this, we've made our egos so ultimately important. Report an error in the passage at 38:43 Highlight the passage at 38:43

39:05 And so Sakyaditi, you know, I want to become enlightened can be Sakyaditi. That's a good desire, you know, to want to become enlightened. But if it's coming from ignorance and Sakyaditi, then you'll be terribly disappointed. Or you'll go crazy. You can have visions where the Buddha appears from the skies and tells you that you're the enlightened one. Report an error in the passage at 39:05 Highlight the passage at 39:05

39:41 I mean, I've come across several Maitreya Buddhas and messiahs here in England during these years. It would be nice to be the Maitreya Buddha, the messiah. Report an error in the passage at 39:41 Highlight the passage at 39:41

40:00 We can elevate ourselves to the top level, but that's still avicca, because Report an error in the passage at 40:00 Highlight the passage at 40:00

40:09 it's not about becoming a messiah or becoming a stream enterer or an arahant. It's about not becoming, it's about understanding becoming, observing the changing conditions that are operating now, here and now. Report an error in the passage at 40:09 Highlight the passage at 40:09

40:33 Now in the saṅgha life, like the... Report an error in the passage at 40:33 Highlight the passage at 40:33

40:39 Take refuge in Saṅgha. See this as it's not personal anymore. We're practicing in the right way. It's not about Ajahn Sumedho practices in the right way and Ajahn Sajjito practices in the right way. It's not about persons or personalities or monks or nuns or lay people. Report an error in the passage at 40:39 Highlight the passage at 40:39

41:05 It's about who sees clearly the path. Who knows Supatipanno Ujjupatipanno directly. Report an error in the passage at 41:05 Highlight the passage at 41:05

41:22 And then we can put the ego in a perspective because we still have these habit tendencies of thinking, what about me? What I think? My feelings? And, you know, am I really appreciated or not? Do people really, you know, Love me or don't they, or whatever, you go on and on endlessly worrying about oneself as a person. But the refuge in personality and in sacredity is, you know, it will drive you crazy. Report an error in the passage at 41:22 Highlight the passage at 41:22

42:03 It's the most unsafe, dangerous refuge you could... It's not a refuge. Attachment. And Silabhata Baramatha also... It's like attachment to cultural conditioning. Because a lot of the way we think and the assumptions and values that we have are from cultural conditioning. They may not be particularly like Sakyaditti problems, but we make assumptions, attitudes, that we acquire through being born in the societies that we were born into. Report an error in the passage at 42:03 Highlight the passage at 42:03

42:47 The class identities, racial identities, ethnic identities, these are all conditioned. And it's not that, you know, they said before, it's not that they're wrong, but they are conditioned phenomena. So they're empty. They're not really the important issues. They come and go. And our relationship to them then is knowing the arising seething rather than Picking and choosing, or trying to control it or get rid of it, knowing it is enough. Report an error in the passage at 42:47 Highlight the passage at 42:47

43:38 Cultural conditioning, social conditioning, nationalism, Report an error in the passage at 43:38 Highlight the passage at 43:38

43:47 the biases that we all have through identity with our particular nationality, or religious conditioning. Buddhists are better than Christians. Report an error in the passage at 43:47 Highlight the passage at 43:47

44:06 That kind of thing is another, maybe it's an attitude, maybe it's not Sakya Didi, it could be Silabhata Baramasa, just an attitude we acquire that we've never thought out. I remember when I, as a child, being brought up as a Christian, and the convention, the Silabhata Baramasa of that time was that this was the only right religion. Report an error in the passage at 44:06 Highlight the passage at 44:06

44:37 All the rest were either wrong or not as good as. Report an error in the passage at 44:37 Highlight the passage at 44:37

44:46 And then it gets even worse than that, as brought up in this high Anglican church, only one in the city of Seattle, very exclusive. And they always felt superior to the other Episcopalian churches, which were... Medium or low. Low church. Low church Episcopalians. Report an error in the passage at 44:46 Highlight the passage at 44:46

45:16 Don't even touch them. And then you get into Baptists and Presbyterians. I mean, that's how the mind works, isn't it? The snobbery, the supercilious tendencies of human individuals to identify. And that's C And maybe it's not even personal, it's cultural. It's an attitude held by the group, by the religion, by the society that you're influenced by when you're a child. Report an error in the passage at 45:16 Highlight the passage at 45:16

45:55 So this is where we know with... And the third fetter, vichikicca, translated as doubt, is... Report an error in the passage at 45:55 Highlight the passage at 45:55

46:09 You know, it's always a result of attachment to thinking, to ideas. Report an error in the passage at 46:09 Highlight the passage at 46:09

46:19 So, now these are the first three fetters that you can contemplate in yourself. They're not to be despised, but to be recognized for what they are. We're not trying to, you know, even when you call them fetters, it's like something you've got to get rid of, or you shouldn't have them. But that's not what I'm saying. Report an error in the passage at 46:19 Highlight the passage at 46:19

46:40 It's to study them, to study. The sense of yourself, feel it, the sense of me as an isolated personality, me with what I think, my view, my life, what I've achieved or what I haven't, the Report an error in the passage at 46:40 Highlight the passage at 46:40

47:02 importance of me and mine. And not to, you know, it's to understand it, and to understand it is to observe it. Feel it. What is it like to be really egotistical? To be so obsessed with yourself alone that no one else counts? To think that your life is the only important one on the planet? I mean, carry it to extremity, you know, because just to feel a sense of the isolation, the misery of being an egotist. Report an error in the passage at 47:02 Highlight the passage at 47:02

47:46 Because you can do it. You can just create the scenarios of I'm the best in the whole world, but nobody recognizes that. They're all stupid. If I look at that, that's, you know, I mean, I'm willing to think that quite intentionally in order to feel it, to really know this misery of me as a personality, as an isolated person, A physical form. And we're very vulnerable forms too, aren't we? Human forms are easily damaged, easily get sick, get old and they die. Report an error in the passage at 47:46 Highlight the passage at 47:46

48:29 They are dangerous conditions. And so we have a lot of fear because there's a lot to fear in this realm. This is a fear realm. It's about survival. Report an error in the passage at 48:29 Highlight the passage at 48:29

48:49 And, you know, when you study nature, you just see, you know, the survival of the fittest. I mean, human beings, we can make laws and moral principles about not killing, you know, so we can agree, like coming into the song, you agree not to intentionally kill, but Report an error in the passage at 48:49 Highlight the passage at 48:49

49:12 we still have the instinct to do it because that's part of the package. But it's seen in terms of, but we can agree not to do it. Report an error in the passage at 49:12 Highlight the passage at 49:12

49:23 Where the other species, they don't, you know, try to get the cat here in Amaravati to feel shame and dread when he kills a bird. Report an error in the passage at 49:23 Highlight the passage at 49:23

49:39 Can't do it. That's its nature, to kill birds. And we want them to kill rats, actually. But we're very sentimental about birds. Report an error in the passage at 49:39 Highlight the passage at 49:39

49:54 If you could train a cat, these you kill, these you don't. Report an error in the passage at 49:54 Highlight the passage at 49:54

50:01 But, you know, we can carry non-killing to the highest level, you know, basically not to kill, intentionally kill other humans, and then we can expand it into animals and birds and fish and insects and so forth. Report an error in the passage at 50:01 Highlight the passage at 50:01

50:21 What is that? It's because of this manusia dhamma, that being human beings, we can agree on behavior. And that's what the Vinaya is about. We agree on that kind of behavior, action and speech. And so it makes life easy for us because we're not, even though it can look complicated, it's not really because we're not negotiating anymore. Report an error in the passage at 50:21 Highlight the passage at 50:21

50:52 We all agree if we're going to live together in this monastery, we do it like this. Report an error in the passage at 50:52 Highlight the passage at 50:52

51:00 Or if we were spending our lives trying to negotiate our own... terms of behavior you know we wouldn't be able to live together we wouldn't be a saṅgha we'd be a group of individuals each with perpetuating their sakya ditti their egotism but Report an error in the passage at 51:00 Highlight the passage at 51:00

51:26 i've always had this interest in the like form emptiness and form because like the vinaya is form it's all about not doing things and Proper ways of relating to juniors to seniors, senior to junior, and so forth. It's all agreed, prescribed in the Vinaya. So it's a tradition that has been carried on from the time of the Buddha. So it's what we agree to. Report an error in the passage at 51:26 Highlight the passage at 51:26

52:13 Then our opportunities for reflection on our own... Emotional reactions to it, to the restraint, to tradition, to our own feelings and frustrations. Because living together in community, we're going to irritate each other personally. People have a hard time getting along with each other because we think differently or we react differently or do things differently. Report an error in the passage at 52:13 Highlight the passage at 52:13

52:48 And so it's very difficult to create a sense of harmony and oneness within a human community because we tend to split off all the time by our own views and opinions. Now, you see, the unity and the harmony of the saṅgha is not about we all agree on everything, on every issue, but we all agree on the way we behave in this traditional form. Report an error in the passage at 52:48 Highlight the passage at 52:48

53:15 That's a form. That's saṅgha form. That's not personal anymore. It's not Ajahn Sumedho's Vinaya or anything like that. People talk about Ajahn Chah's Vinaya and so forth, but that's just a way of talking. It's not that Ajahn Chah's Vinaya was different from the traditional Vinaya. Report an error in the passage at 53:15 Highlight the passage at 53:15

53:45 So these conventions then are for use. They're not for identity. Report an error in the passage at 53:45 Highlight the passage at 53:45

53:53 Sometimes we like them, sometimes we don't like them. It's not a matter of liking or disliking. It's just accepting them, learning to operate within that, within the structure of saṅgha, say, of the Vinaya. Report an error in the passage at 53:53 Highlight the passage at 53:53

54:13 And then we can. We have much more time, opportunity to observe our vipakakamma that arises, the way we relate to each other. Who we like, who we don't like, agree or disagree, who irritates us, who we consider our friend, who we don't consider our friend, and so forth. These are conditions that we can observe in terms of dharma. They arise, they cease, rather than grasp them and create, you know, I just like to live in a monastery with only the monks that I like. Report an error in the passage at 54:13 Highlight the passage at 54:13

54:53 And get along with and agree with me. I want to say where everybody agrees with me and does what I want, that's never happened. Report an error in the passage at 54:53 Highlight the passage at 54:53

55:11 But it's always impressed me how well we can live together through the form that we accept. We surrender to this form. Happened. Report an error in the passage at 55:11 Highlight the passage at 55:11

55:25 On personal issues and so forth, then we can observe. We're not fighting and believing our own loves and hates, likes and dislikes as our reality. Report an error in the passage at 55:25 Highlight the passage at 55:25

55:44 So this is for reflection and it's meant to be an encouragement because I really value This life I've had, because it's something I've never expected, that my life would move in such a fine way as what it has. Because it is, in terms of looking back over the years, 80 years now, I have a lot of memories, but I also realize what... Report an error in the passage at 55:44 Highlight the passage at 55:44

56:24 You know, an opportunity that was presented to me in this life that was outside my own cultural expectations, you know. It wasn't brought up with a Buddhist family or in a Buddhist society. It was brought up in a very kind of standard, what they call waspy society, white Anglo-Saxon Protestant type of background. Report an error in the passage at 56:24 Highlight the passage at 56:24

56:47 You know, you're kind of this white middle class. ...Christian that isn't despised. We don't have a sense of racial inferiority or anything. In fact, we are oftentimes culturally attuned to thinking of the superiority of the white race. Report an error in the passage at 56:47 Highlight the passage at 56:47

57:14 And then Buddhism, in terms of Christianity that I grew up with, was just considered, you know, that's what they do in China or those countries where they haven't met Jesus. Report an error in the passage at 57:14 Highlight the passage at 57:14

57:25 So I just asked my mother, I said, you know, what happens to all the Chinese that have never heard of Christianity? What happens to them? Because in Christianity, you only have one chance. They don't have rebirth. So she said, well, in God's house there are many mansions. They're probably, they don't have as good a mansion as high church Anglicans. Report an error in the passage at 57:25 Highlight the passage at 57:25

57:57 Which is silly, isn't it? You can't really expect anyone to believe that. And I don't know if my mother ever said that. But the attitude towards other religions was cultural. And then when I asked people, did they understand Buddhism? Did they know anything? Nobody, my mother, father, priest and that, didn't know anything about it. Report an error in the passage at 57:57 Highlight the passage at 57:57

58:22 They just easily dismiss it, you know. It's not Christianity. Don't have anything to do with it. So we dismiss so much through our own conceits, arrogance, cultural arrogance, cultural prejudices. Report an error in the passage at 58:22 Highlight the passage at 58:22

58:39 But in Saṅgha here, you know, we're from many different cultural backgrounds and ethnic backgrounds. And what unites us is not our culture, but our commitment to practice, meditation. Report an error in the passage at 58:39 Highlight the passage at 58:39

58:57 For the monastic song, commitment to the structure we're in. And then it's not about nationality or race anymore. It's about understanding, dharma, awakening to reality. So I offer this for your reflection. Report an error in the passage at 58:57 Highlight the passage at 58:57