0:00:05.283,0:00:07.509
I'll talk a little bit about

0:00:07.509,0:00:08.979
meditation practice

0:00:08.979,0:00:10.415
and then we can try to do some

0:00:10.415,0:00:12.541
afterwards together.

0:00:14.001,0:00:17.582
So, I think the most important thing

0:00:17.582,0:00:20.461
to realise about meditation practice

0:00:20.461,0:00:21.752
is that it's supposed to be

0:00:21.752,0:00:23.711
a positive experience.

0:00:23.711,0:00:24.799
Right?!

0:00:25.539,0:00:27.235
This may seem obvious,

0:00:27.235,0:00:29.153
because why else would you want to do it

0:00:29.153,0:00:30.729
if it isn't a positive experience?

0:00:30.729,0:00:31.775
It <i>may</i> seem obvious,

0:00:31.775,0:00:33.105
but as a matter of fact,

0:00:33.105,0:00:34.907
many of people don't experience

0:00:34.907,0:00:37.619
meditation as a positive experience.

0:00:38.389,0:00:40.521
When you start to read

0:00:40.521,0:00:42.202
the word of the Buddha,

0:00:42.202,0:00:44.307
and you start to see how he explains

0:00:44.307,0:00:45.106
what you might call

0:00:45.106,0:00:47.071
the psychology of meditation,

0:00:47.071,0:00:48.832
how meditation is supposed to be

0:00:48.832,0:00:50.422
experienced by yourself,

0:00:50.422,0:00:51.682
personally

0:00:51.682,0:00:52.942
you start to realize

0:00:52.942,0:00:54.728
the <i>incredible</i> emphasis

0:00:54.728,0:00:56.815
the Buddha has on this thing

0:00:56.815,0:00:59.311
which is called the positive experience.

0:00:59.311,0:01:00.343
You'll probably have a look at

0:01:00.343,0:01:02.422
one of those suttas later on.

0:01:02.422,0:01:03.643
But basically, one of those suttas

0:01:03.643,0:01:05.191
which talks about the psychology

0:01:05.191,0:01:06.192
of meditation,

0:01:06.552,0:01:07.359
when you read it,

0:01:07.359,0:01:08.349
it starts off with:

0:01:08.349,0:01:08.828
okay,

0:01:08.828,0:01:10.358
you are a virtuous person,

0:01:10.358,0:01:12.589
this is the foundation of all meditation,

0:01:12.589,0:01:13.844
is to practice virtue.

0:01:13.844,0:01:15.453
One of the things that unfortunately

0:01:15.453,0:01:17.248
is forgotten around the world,

0:01:17.248,0:01:19.105
people talk about mindfulness

0:01:19.105,0:01:21.329
and they forget about the virtue aspect.

0:01:21.329,0:01:22.709
Virtue means both being kind

0:01:22.709,0:01:24.569
and avoid doing bad things.

0:01:25.289,0:01:26.291
That is the foundation,

0:01:26.291,0:01:27.472
so once you have that

0:01:27.472,0:01:30.744
you can start your meditation practice

0:01:30.744,0:01:33.463
And then, from that virtue,

0:01:33.463,0:01:35.043
the Buddha starts to explain

0:01:35.043,0:01:36.813
from virtue you have non-regret,

0:01:36.813,0:01:37.338
right?

0:01:37.338,0:01:38.370
Non-regret is obviously

0:01:38.370,0:01:40.339
a positive experience already.

0:01:40.339,0:01:43.152
From non-regret you get gladness.

0:01:43.152,0:01:45.643
From gladness you get rapture, <i>pīti</i>.

0:01:45.643,0:01:47.267
From <i>pīti</i> you get calm,

0:01:47.267,0:01:49.359
calm of the mind and the body.

0:01:49.359,0:01:52.037
From calm comes even more happiness.

0:01:52.037,0:01:55.269
Gladness, rapture, happiness, calm,

0:01:56.039,0:01:57.038
and then from that

0:01:57.038,0:01:58.741
comes what is called <i>samādhi</i>,

0:01:58.741,0:02:00.979
which is the unification of the mind,

0:02:00.979,0:02:03.927
when the mind goes into a profound

0:02:03.927,0:02:06.317
state of meditation practice.

0:02:06.317,0:02:07.771
What you can see there,

0:02:08.241,0:02:10.747
one of the very important facts about this

0:02:10.747,0:02:14.308
is that meditation is <i>all about happiness</i>!

0:02:14.308,0:02:16.915
Almost every word the Buddha uses there

0:02:16.915,0:02:18.423
on how were supposed to experience it

0:02:18.423,0:02:21.592
is one type of happiness after the other

0:02:21.592,0:02:22.985
arising through

0:02:22.985,0:02:25.020
the right practice of meditation.

0:02:25.020,0:02:27.066
So make sure that when you are here

0:02:27.066,0:02:29.280
you don't do things which causes you

0:02:29.280,0:02:30.630
to feel ill at ease,

0:02:30.630,0:02:31.639
not relaxed

0:02:31.639,0:02:33.624
which created too much pain

0:02:33.624,0:02:35.215
and all these kind of things.

0:02:35.215,0:02:36.366
Because if you do that

0:02:36.366,0:02:37.728
there's no way you're going to be able

0:02:37.728,0:02:39.772
to access those positive states

0:02:39.772,0:02:41.465
that the Buddha is talking about.

0:02:41.885,0:02:42.964
This is so important,

0:02:42.964,0:02:44.170
and, your know,

0:02:44.170,0:02:46.880
it sort of seems obvious,

0:02:46.880,0:02:49.210
but I think human psychology

0:02:49.210,0:02:50.868
often gets in the way,

0:02:50.868,0:02:53.000
human psychology blocks you

0:02:53.000,0:02:54.414
from seeing that.

0:02:54.624,0:02:55.294
So,

0:02:55.954,0:02:57.228
for this reason

0:02:57.228,0:02:59.419
the very first thing I want to talk about

0:02:59.419,0:03:01.228
in regards to meditation practice

0:03:01.228,0:03:03.848
is what to do with the body.

0:03:03.848,0:03:06.015
The physical body is really the first thing.

0:03:06.905,0:03:08.300
What you need to know

0:03:08.300,0:03:10.083
about how to deal

0:03:10.083,0:03:11.300
with the physical body

0:03:11.300,0:03:13.151
is for the body to be comfortable,

0:03:14.001,0:03:15.902
not to sit with too much pain

0:03:15.902,0:03:17.341
and these kinds of things.

0:03:17.711,0:03:18.992
For this reason we have

0:03:18.992,0:03:20.573
all these great chairs at the back.

0:03:20.573,0:03:22.686
Don't feel shy about using the chairs.

0:03:22.686,0:03:24.159
You know this is not competing

0:03:24.159,0:03:25.496
with anyone else, right?

0:03:26.296,0:03:28.398
Do what you need to do to make

0:03:28.398,0:03:31.496
sure your own practice makes progress;

0:03:31.496,0:03:32.915
this is what it's all about.

0:03:32.915,0:03:34.114
So there's no competition here.

0:03:34.114,0:03:35.821
It doesn't matter what everyone else does,

0:03:35.821,0:03:37.315
forget about everybody else.

0:03:37.315,0:03:39.280
Do what you need to do.

0:03:39.990,0:03:41.240
It's wonderful

0:03:41.240,0:03:42.292
more and more these days

0:03:42.292,0:03:43.596
you go on meditation retreats

0:03:43.596,0:03:45.284
you see that chairs are coming out.

0:03:45.724,0:03:46.684
It's natural.

0:03:46.684,0:03:48.218
Most of us have grown up

0:03:48.218,0:03:49.841
in a society,

0:03:49.841,0:03:51.465
in a culture,

0:03:51.465,0:03:53.879
where we sit on chairs all the time.

0:03:53.879,0:03:55.072
When you've grown up

0:03:55.072,0:03:56.649
sitting on a chair all the time

0:03:56.649,0:03:57.316
and suddenly

0:03:57.316,0:03:58.664
you're told to sit on the floor

0:03:58.664,0:04:00.944
it actually can be very difficult.

0:04:00.944,0:04:02.021
So please don't be shy about

0:04:02.021,0:04:02.868
using the chairs.

0:04:02.868,0:04:04.902
Much better to be a little bit

0:04:04.902,0:04:06.322
more comfortable,

0:04:06.322,0:04:07.502
extra comfortable

0:04:07.502,0:04:09.784
than to be a little bit on the pain side

0:04:09.784,0:04:12.002
while you're sitting.

0:04:12.002,0:04:13.918
That is much better, so please

0:04:13.918,0:04:16.199
use that and please do that.

0:04:16.639,0:04:18.072
There's so many horror stories

0:04:18.072,0:04:19.773
that I've heard over the years of people

0:04:19.773,0:04:22.009
who don't get this kind of very basic thing.

0:04:22.599,0:04:24.405
One of those stories

0:04:24.405,0:04:27.002
when I was in Singapore

0:04:27.002,0:04:28.059
a few years ago...

0:04:28.059,0:04:28.764
One of the things as a monk,

0:04:28.764,0:04:29.737
you travel a lot

0:04:29.737,0:04:30.422
it may seem strange

0:04:30.422,0:04:31.353
but you actually travel a lot

0:04:31.353,0:04:32.888
because there's so much demand

0:04:32.888,0:04:34.960
for English speaking monks everywhere

0:04:34.960,0:04:35.865
English speaking monks

0:04:35.865,0:04:37.179
are very few and far between

0:04:37.179,0:04:39.169
so you get ferried around the world

0:04:39.169,0:04:40.943
by plane everywhere

0:04:40.943,0:04:42.207
to talk to people.

0:04:42.207,0:04:43.189
It's very nice,

0:04:43.189,0:04:44.517
it's a very nice thing to do to

0:04:44.517,0:04:46.185
be able to give that kind of service.

0:04:46.185,0:04:47.289
But it means that

0:04:47.289,0:04:48.548
sometimes you're in Singapore,

0:04:48.548,0:04:50.017
and when you're in Singapore,

0:04:50.017,0:04:51.038
of course, you meet Buddhist people,

0:04:51.038,0:04:51.953
just like here,

0:04:51.953,0:04:53.443
just like everywhere else.

0:04:53.443,0:04:56.566
I was staying in the apartment of this man.

0:04:56.566,0:04:59.049
He was from Kuala Lumpur originally,

0:04:59.049,0:05:00.806
but he was working in Singapore

0:05:00.806,0:05:02.958
and he was travelling back and forth

0:05:02.958,0:05:04.765
and very kindly offered me

0:05:04.765,0:05:06.109
to stay in his apartment.

0:05:06.109,0:05:08.370
Then one day while I was there

0:05:08.370,0:05:09.666
he comes to me and says

0:05:09.666,0:05:11.416
"Bhante, I have a question for you,

0:05:11.416,0:05:12.917
have you got a few minutes."

0:05:12.917,0:05:14.511
And of course I'm staying in his apartment

0:05:14.511,0:05:16.755
so of course I have a few minutes for him

0:05:16.755,0:05:18.438
and he says to me that,

0:05:18.998,0:05:20.623
"a few years ago

0:05:20.623,0:05:22.603
I was on this meditation retreat

0:05:22.603,0:05:23.344
and

0:05:23.344,0:05:25.140
it was the worst experience

0:05:25.140,0:05:27.098
of my <i>entire</i> life.

0:05:27.098,0:05:28.788
It was <i>terrible</i>!

0:05:28.788,0:05:30.816
I was in pain all the way through,

0:05:31.176,0:05:32.176
I felt so

0:05:32.776,0:05:33.701
<i>tense</i>

0:05:33.701,0:05:34.917
and so non-relaxed

0:05:34.917,0:05:36.423
and so completely ill at ease

0:05:36.423,0:05:38.055
for nine days.

0:05:38.055,0:05:40.782
Never, ever in my entire life do I ever

0:05:40.782,0:05:43.411
want to go on meditation retreat again."

0:05:43.691,0:05:44.691
I said, "ooh!

0:05:45.391,0:05:46.420
Wait a minute,

0:05:47.220,0:05:48.957
you're talking it too far.

0:05:48.957,0:05:50.868
Just because you had one bad experience

0:05:50.868,0:05:52.142
doesn't mean you should never

0:05:52.142,0:05:53.816
ever go on meditation retreat again.

0:05:53.816,0:05:55.267
Retreats are different.

0:05:55.267,0:05:57.047
There are different types of teachers

0:05:57.047,0:05:58.631
that teach in different ways.

0:05:58.631,0:06:01.271
You can't just assume

0:06:01.271,0:06:02.580
that everything is the same,

0:06:02.580,0:06:03.611
that everything is so bad."

0:06:03.611,0:06:05.097
But he insisted that, <i>no</i>,

0:06:05.097,0:06:07.537
he never ever wanted to meditate again

0:06:07.537,0:06:08.378
because the experience had been

0:06:08.378,0:06:10.285
so terrible, was the worst thing

0:06:10.285,0:06:12.316
he'd ever done in his life.

0:06:12.316,0:06:13.963
I couldn't really persuade him

0:06:13.963,0:06:15.068
so he asked me, "what should I do,"

0:06:15.068,0:06:15.991
Well, I don't know

0:06:15.991,0:06:17.953
what he should do in that case.

0:06:17.953,0:06:21.365
But, essentially he was turned off for life

0:06:21.365,0:06:23.521
in regards to meditation practice.

0:06:23.521,0:06:26.354
That is a very unfortunate thing

0:06:26.354,0:06:28.393
because the idea with meditation,

0:06:28.393,0:06:30.158
the idea with the spiritual path

0:06:30.158,0:06:31.888
is that is something

0:06:31.888,0:06:34.245
which develops over time.

0:06:34.245,0:06:35.808
When you keep practising these things,

0:06:35.808,0:06:36.975
when you keep doing things

0:06:36.975,0:06:38.598
especially in the right way,

0:06:39.858,0:06:42.114
when you understand what morality is

0:06:42.114,0:06:42.894
on the Buddhist path

0:06:42.894,0:06:44.482
you practice that in the right way

0:06:44.482,0:06:46.529
and you combine that with

0:06:46.529,0:06:49.158
making the mind peaceful and calm

0:06:49.158,0:06:50.949
then these things together are

0:06:50.949,0:06:52.302
incredibly powerful.

0:06:53.052,0:06:54.207
The longer you do it

0:06:54.207,0:06:56.387
there's a gradual transformation

0:06:56.387,0:06:58.077
of your entire character,

0:06:58.077,0:06:59.540
of your entire person

0:06:59.540,0:07:01.961
and, essentially, you are creating

0:07:01.961,0:07:03.498
a new personality for yourself

0:07:03.498,0:07:04.863
as you go through this.

0:07:04.863,0:07:06.996
But the effect really is most powerful

0:07:06.996,0:07:08.503
when you keep on doing it,

0:07:08.503,0:07:10.115
month after month,

0:07:10.115,0:07:11.587
year after year,

0:07:11.587,0:07:13.049
the results become very powerful

0:07:13.049,0:07:13.717
after a while.

0:07:13.717,0:07:15.724
So please make sure that you do this

0:07:15.724,0:07:18.054
in such a way that it encourages you

0:07:18.054,0:07:19.923
to keep on doing it also in the future

0:07:19.923,0:07:22.273
and when you feel encouraged to do it

0:07:22.273,0:07:23.162
also in the future

0:07:23.162,0:07:24.479
then the long term benefits

0:07:24.479,0:07:26.632
will be incredibly powerful for you,

0:07:26.632,0:07:28.652
and something very beneficial

0:07:28.652,0:07:30.228
will come out of this.

0:07:30.228,0:07:33.914
So don't do what this man in Singapore did.

0:07:33.914,0:07:35.861
He was maybe an extreme example,

0:07:35.861,0:07:37.692
but this is what happens sometimes

0:07:37.692,0:07:38.794
to people.

0:07:38.794,0:07:40.212
I know that there are certain types

0:07:40.212,0:07:41.431
of meditation retreat where only a very

0:07:41.431,0:07:44.036
small fraction of the people

0:07:44.036,0:07:45.992
come back to those retreats

0:07:45.992,0:07:48.928
precisely because of the amount of pain

0:07:48.928,0:07:51.212
and problems and tensions that

0:07:51.212,0:07:52.450
people experience as a

0:07:52.450,0:07:54.545
consequence of that practice.

0:07:55.959,0:07:57.110
So this is the first step,

0:07:57.110,0:07:59.128
allow the body to be relaxed.

0:07:59.778,0:08:01.621
So please use the chairs.

0:08:01.621,0:08:03.788
Another way, if you want to sit cross-legged,

0:08:03.788,0:08:05.085
it's nice to sit sometimes

0:08:05.085,0:08:06.342
against the wall.

0:08:06.342,0:08:08.352
Sit with your back against the wall.

0:08:08.352,0:08:09.769
Sometimes when you sit with your back

0:08:09.769,0:08:10.779
leaning against something,

0:08:10.779,0:08:12.210
you can relax a little bit better;

0:08:12.210,0:08:13.729
that's a nice way of doing it.

0:08:14.469,0:08:16.924
And, especially at the beginning

0:08:16.924,0:08:18.177
of any retreat.

0:08:18.177,0:08:19.509
I don't know what you

0:08:19.509,0:08:20.605
have been doing today,

0:08:20.605,0:08:21.996
some of you have probably been working,

0:08:21.996,0:08:23.796
you're probably tired.

0:08:23.796,0:08:25.467
When you're tired and have been working,

0:08:25.467,0:08:27.664
usually you need to relax first of all.

0:08:27.664,0:08:28.776
A good way to relax

0:08:28.776,0:08:30.332
is just to lean back.

0:08:30.912,0:08:33.870
Some of the best meditaters I know

0:08:33.870,0:08:35.020
they always do like that,

0:08:35.020,0:08:36.535
they lean back, they relax.

0:08:36.535,0:08:38.259
Many of you would know Ajahn Brahm,

0:08:38.259,0:08:40.783
Dr. Tan you would know Ajahn Brahm,

0:08:40.783,0:08:42.530
and Ajahn Brahm tells me that

0:08:42.530,0:08:43.945
when he starts out meditating

0:08:43.945,0:08:45.839
he always leans back.

0:08:45.839,0:08:46.669
Not always,

0:08:46.669,0:08:48.634
but when he is tired

0:08:48.634,0:08:49.897
or has been working hard

0:08:49.897,0:08:52.014
he always starts off by sitting back

0:08:52.014,0:08:53.276
and leaning again the wall.

0:08:53.276,0:08:54.943
So if Ajahn Brahm does that

0:08:54.943,0:08:55.942
you can do that.

0:08:55.942,0:08:56.508
Ajahn Brahm is just about

0:08:56.508,0:08:58.222
one of the best meditaters around

0:08:58.222,0:09:00.867
he gets into these incredibly profound

0:09:00.867,0:09:02.122
meditations, so if he can do that

0:09:02.122,0:09:03.756
anybody can do that,

0:09:03.756,0:09:05.729
because it is about relaxing.

0:09:05.729,0:09:07.350
It's about knowing what you need,

0:09:07.350,0:09:08.261
understanding that you need

0:09:08.261,0:09:09.781
to relax first of all.

0:09:09.781,0:09:11.893
So sit back, lean back against the wall

0:09:11.893,0:09:13.004
and you're okay.

0:09:13.394,0:09:14.445
Another monk I know,

0:09:14.445,0:09:15.687
is a good friend of mine,

0:09:15.687,0:09:19.247
he says that <i>every</i> time he meditates

0:09:19.247,0:09:20.425
every time he meditates

0:09:20.425,0:09:21.972
he starts off with nodding.

0:09:22.822,0:09:24.933
He nods for about 10 or 15 minutes

0:09:24.933,0:09:25.929
and then after you have nodded

0:09:25.929,0:09:27.677
for about 10 or 15 minutes

0:09:27.677,0:09:29.572
the mind clears up.

0:09:29.572,0:09:31.793
And then when the mind clears up,

0:09:31.793,0:09:33.996
then his meditation starts.

0:09:33.996,0:09:35.544
He's also a very good meditator,

0:09:35.544,0:09:38.167
but it's natural to feel tired

0:09:38.167,0:09:39.061
at the beginning

0:09:39.061,0:09:40.040
because you've been active

0:09:40.040,0:09:41.406
you've been socialising,

0:09:41.406,0:09:43.112
you've been doing all of these kind of things

0:09:43.112,0:09:44.687
which tire the mind,

0:09:44.687,0:09:45.643
so it's natural.

0:09:45.643,0:09:47.569
So allow the mind to be.

0:09:47.569,0:09:48.479
Just relax.

0:09:48.479,0:09:49.566
Allow the mind to be,

0:09:49.566,0:09:51.281
don't do anything in particular.

0:09:51.281,0:09:53.593
Wait for mindfulness to arise.

0:09:53.593,0:09:55.967
And when mindfulness arises by itself,

0:09:55.967,0:09:57.717
it becomes very powerful

0:09:57.717,0:09:59.359
and very useful.

0:09:59.869,0:10:04.398
So, what all of this is about,

0:10:04.398,0:10:06.779
and I'm going to relate it a little bit to

0:10:06.779,0:10:09.034
the teachings of the Buddha.

0:10:09.034,0:10:10.346
I'm sure you have probably heard

0:10:10.346,0:10:11.917
of the middle way.

0:10:12.747,0:10:14.176
The middle way in Buddhism

0:10:14.176,0:10:17.435
is essentially, in a way, on the one hand

0:10:17.435,0:10:19.947
not to torture the body.

0:10:19.947,0:10:21.857
In India in those days people would

0:10:21.857,0:10:23.651
torture themselves. You know, sometimes

0:10:23.651,0:10:25.690
you think that people lying on these

0:10:25.690,0:10:27.550
beds of nails, you think it's some kind of

0:10:27.550,0:10:29.786
cartoon caricature of India,

0:10:29.786,0:10:30.542
and then you open the suttas

0:10:30.542,0:10:31.476
and it says right there they were

0:10:31.476,0:10:32.993
lying on beds of nails.

0:10:32.993,0:10:34.602
It's actually the reality,

0:10:34.602,0:10:36.170
it's actually what people where doing.

0:10:36.170,0:10:39.584
So this was one of the ways that people

0:10:39.584,0:10:41.551
were practising at that time.

0:10:42.361,0:10:44.729
The Buddha says this is the wrong way.

0:10:44.729,0:10:46.058
And the other wrong way

0:10:46.058,0:10:48.298
is then to indulge the body.

0:10:50.518,0:10:52.353
Here, on a meditation retreat like this

0:10:52.353,0:10:53.844
you're not really going to be able to

0:10:53.844,0:10:55.206
indulge the very much.

0:10:55.206,0:10:57.229
Especially if you keep the eight precepts.

0:10:57.229,0:10:58.999
So forget about the indulging side.

0:10:58.999,0:11:01.386
The side to be careful about, is the side

0:11:01.386,0:11:02.967
which has to do with experiencing

0:11:02.967,0:11:05.357
too much pain, torturing yourself

0:11:05.357,0:11:07.237
thinking that: "by torture, I'm going to

0:11:07.237,0:11:09.200
make quick progress".

0:11:09.200,0:11:10.672
This is the problem,

0:11:10.672,0:11:12.977
the classical problem in meditation.

0:11:13.689,0:11:16.415
What happens when you find that middle way,

0:11:16.415,0:11:18.929
where you neither torture yourself,

0:11:18.929,0:11:21.423
nor you indulge the body

0:11:21.423,0:11:23.894
what happens is that the body becomes

0:11:23.894,0:11:25.064
irrelevant.

0:11:25.474,0:11:26.878
The reason why the body

0:11:26.878,0:11:28.024
is important to us,

0:11:28.024,0:11:29.110
is because either,

0:11:29.110,0:11:31.278
we get some pleasure through the body

0:11:31.278,0:11:33.114
when you get pleasure through the body

0:11:33.114,0:11:34.645
the body is important because

0:11:34.645,0:11:37.043
that's where you get your happiness.

0:11:37.043,0:11:38.914
Or, the body is important because

0:11:38.914,0:11:40.828
you get pain through the body.

0:11:40.828,0:11:42.178
If you get pain through the body,

0:11:42.178,0:11:44.897
there's something to be done with the body.

0:11:44.897,0:11:46.491
There is a problem there, a problem

0:11:46.491,0:11:48.180
that needs to be resolved.

0:11:48.180,0:11:50.465
The mind will always tend to go out

0:11:50.465,0:11:52.854
to the body, out into the world

0:11:52.854,0:11:54.691
rather than staying inside and watch

0:11:54.691,0:11:57.164
the breath, or whatever it is.

0:11:57.164,0:11:58.718
So this is the idea of the middle way.

0:11:58.718,0:12:01.588
The middle way, is a way where your body

0:12:01.588,0:12:02.807
is no longer important.

0:12:02.807,0:12:04.851
The body falls by the wayside.

0:12:04.851,0:12:07.135
The body becomes irrelevant.

0:12:07.135,0:12:08.384
Of course, we all know that meditation

0:12:08.384,0:12:10.151
in the end is about the mind,

0:12:10.151,0:12:11.641
and because the meditation

0:12:11.641,0:12:12.649
is about the mind

0:12:12.649,0:12:15.006
then getting rid of the body is precisely

0:12:15.006,0:12:16.849
what we want to do.

0:12:16.849,0:12:18.876
And that is what the middle way is about.

0:12:18.876,0:12:21.167
It's kind of strange, the two extremes

0:12:21.167,0:12:24.124
in a sense are quite close to each other

0:12:24.124,0:12:26.390
because the two extremes are about the body

0:12:26.390,0:12:28.150
and the middle way is where the body

0:12:28.150,0:12:30.938
falls away and the body is irrelevant.

0:12:32.128,0:12:32.818
So this is the point here,

0:12:32.818,0:12:34.250
this is what the middle way is,

0:12:34.250,0:12:35.830
the body is gone,

0:12:35.830,0:12:37.188
and when the body falls away

0:12:37.188,0:12:39.838
you feel so at ease.

0:12:39.838,0:12:41.206
So watch that.

0:12:41.206,0:12:43.586
If you <i>do</i> feel pain

0:12:43.586,0:12:45.773
in your meditation practice, please

0:12:45.773,0:12:47.043
change your posture,

0:12:47.993,0:12:48.696
don't think that

0:12:48.696,0:12:50.409
you're going to be some superhero

0:12:50.409,0:12:51.945
and just get enlightened now

0:12:51.945,0:12:53.902
on this retreat.

0:12:53.902,0:12:55.399
It's not going to work.

0:12:55.899,0:12:56.956
I know Ajahn Brahm did that.

0:12:56.956,0:12:58.171
He always said that when he was

0:12:58.171,0:12:59.681
a young man he would sit down and say:

0:12:59.681,0:13:03.280
"okay, I'm going to sit until I get enlightened"

0:13:03.280,0:13:04.611
and, of course, it didn't work.

0:13:04.611,0:13:06.228
But everybody has these ideas sometimes.

0:13:06.228,0:13:07.477
Please don't try that.

0:13:07.477,0:13:08.869
Enjoy the practice.

0:13:08.869,0:13:11.257
Sit down, if you have pain somewhere

0:13:11.777,0:13:13.747
get up, change your posture,

0:13:13.747,0:13:15.657
go out, do some walking instead,

0:13:15.657,0:13:17.481
do something else, if you find that.

0:13:17.481,0:13:19.610
These are general guidelines

0:13:19.610,0:13:21.276
for meditation practice.

0:13:21.756,0:13:23.513
Don't sit with pain, especially

0:13:23.513,0:13:25.827
when you feel the mind gets obsessed

0:13:25.827,0:13:27.662
with that pain, it goes back to it

0:13:27.662,0:13:29.420
again and again, you can't deal with it,

0:13:29.420,0:13:32.250
then the time is right to change the posture.

0:13:33.820,0:13:35.660
So this is number one,

0:13:35.660,0:13:38.520
and I am always surprised

0:13:38.520,0:13:40.841
how tenacious this idea is,

0:13:40.841,0:13:43.120
that it's okay to sit with pain,

0:13:43.120,0:13:44.354
how many people think

0:13:44.354,0:13:45.531
it is a good thing to do.

0:13:45.531,0:13:46.845
I think there is something deep

0:13:46.845,0:13:48.279
in the human psyche

0:13:48.279,0:13:49.603
that tends to think that

0:13:49.603,0:13:51.473
if you torture the body

0:13:51.473,0:13:53.207
you are freeing the spirit.

0:13:53.207,0:13:55.249
The body is like the sinful thing

0:13:55.249,0:13:56.992
that keeps you tied to the world

0:13:56.992,0:13:59.119
and if you torture that evil body a little bit,

0:13:59.119,0:14:00.875
then you can free the spirit,

0:14:00.875,0:14:02.947
then the mind gets developed

0:14:02.947,0:14:04.919
and you get spiritual practice from that.

0:14:04.919,0:14:06.827
Because it's so common in the world!

0:14:06.827,0:14:08.254
In Christianity they do that.

0:14:08.254,0:14:10.698
Christianity is famous in the Middle Ages

0:14:10.698,0:14:13.241
for having these people who torture themselves.

0:14:14.261,0:14:15.628
In Hinduism,

0:14:15.628,0:14:17.614
very, very famous for all the torturing;

0:14:17.614,0:14:19.142
you find that in the suttas.

0:14:19.142,0:14:21.314
In Islam, apparently, you find the same thing,

0:14:21.314,0:14:22.699
people torturing themselves.

0:14:22.699,0:14:24.805
And then you come to the one religion

0:14:24.805,0:14:26.006
where the emphasis is on getting away

0:14:26.006,0:14:28.064
from suffering, it's all about happiness

0:14:28.064,0:14:29.528
which is Buddhism, and then you find

0:14:29.528,0:14:31.354
people still do the same thing!

0:14:31.354,0:14:32.795
People still torture themselves

0:14:32.795,0:14:33.950
even in Buddhism.

0:14:33.950,0:14:36.077
This should be the one religion

0:14:36.077,0:14:38.277
where torture is absolutely prohibited,

0:14:38.277,0:14:40.208
and yet it still happens.

0:14:40.208,0:14:42.665
So I think there is something in the human

0:14:42.665,0:14:45.900
psyche which basically makes us feel

0:14:45.900,0:14:49.373
that this is the way to develop the mind.

0:14:49.373,0:14:50.866
If the body gets a bit tortured

0:14:50.866,0:14:51.713
that's okay

0:14:51.713,0:14:53.274
because that's just the body.

0:14:53.274,0:14:55.127
But actually, no, it's the other way round,

0:14:55.127,0:14:57.525
it's a hindrance for meditation practice

0:14:57.525,0:14:58.452
to work.

0:14:59.615,0:15:02.080
Okay, that's point number one.

0:15:02.080,0:15:04.173
I've said a lot about that and the reason

0:15:04.173,0:15:05.800
is because in my experience

0:15:05.800,0:15:07.230
people still don't get it.

0:15:07.230,0:15:09.421
Even if you talk after half an hour,

0:15:09.421,0:15:11.584
it still hasn't sunk in.

0:15:11.584,0:15:13.396
Sometimes it takes years before

0:15:13.396,0:15:15.128
the basic message sinks in.

0:15:15.128,0:15:17.314
I'm just talking from my own experience,

0:15:17.314,0:15:18.696
I know how stupid I am,

0:15:18.696,0:15:21.133
how stubborn sometimes you can be.

0:15:21.133,0:15:22.535
It takes a while for these things to

0:15:22.535,0:15:24.399
actually become clear.

0:15:26.199,0:15:28.650
So that is number one.

0:15:28.650,0:15:31.242
The second point in meditation practice

0:15:31.242,0:15:34.840
is, once your body is at ease,

0:15:34.840,0:15:37.378
the body doesn't have any pain,

0:15:37.378,0:15:41.065
the next thing to do is to relax the body.

0:15:42.535,0:15:44.231
This is one of the things you will find

0:15:44.231,0:15:47.444
as well, is that you come into your busy life

0:15:47.444,0:15:49.552
and the business of life

0:15:49.552,0:15:51.149
always is felt in the body.

0:15:51.149,0:15:52.957
You feel tensions.

0:15:52.957,0:15:54.245
You feel tensions in the stomach,

0:15:54.245,0:15:55.786
you feel tensions in the shoulders,

0:15:55.786,0:15:57.459
you feel tensions in the face.

0:15:57.459,0:15:59.638
The muscles tighten up.

0:16:00.548,0:16:01.791
So the first thing we need to do,

0:16:01.791,0:16:03.194
is to relax.

0:16:03.194,0:16:05.563
Again it's about finding the ease.

0:16:05.563,0:16:07.878
Not only do we not have any pain,

0:16:07.878,0:16:10.238
but you want to find the ease in the body,

0:16:10.238,0:16:12.380
where the body feels really nice,

0:16:12.380,0:16:14.174
and really good.

0:16:14.744,0:16:17.104
What is happening here,

0:16:17.104,0:16:18.181
the reason why

0:16:18.181,0:16:19.993
the body is tense

0:16:19.993,0:16:22.579
is because the mind is tense.

0:16:22.579,0:16:24.740
The mind is what controls the body.

0:16:24.740,0:16:26.390
So, if you get very stressed, of course,

0:16:26.390,0:16:28.358
during daily life,

0:16:28.358,0:16:30.328
stress will always reverberate,

0:16:30.328,0:16:31.648
or will make itself felt

0:16:31.648,0:16:33.360
in the body afterwards.

0:16:33.360,0:16:35.728
Mind and body are so closely connected.

0:16:35.728,0:16:38.225
This idea that these are separate things

0:16:38.225,0:16:40.259
is really a non-starter.

0:16:40.259,0:16:41.682
They are very, very closely connected

0:16:41.682,0:16:43.237
to each other.

0:16:43.237,0:16:46.264
It's a very useful way of learning

0:16:46.264,0:16:47.973
how to deal with the mind,

0:16:47.973,0:16:50.422
by working with the body,

0:16:50.422,0:16:51.269
because with the body,

0:16:51.269,0:16:53.145
it's very obvious what is going on.

0:16:53.145,0:16:54.443
You know what is happening in the body,

0:16:54.443,0:16:56.203
you can feel if there is any tension there

0:16:56.203,0:16:58.110
you can feel if there's a problem there.

0:16:58.110,0:17:00.564
With the mind, everything is a bit more

0:17:00.564,0:17:02.266
difficult to pin down.

0:17:02.916,0:17:04.750
So start by feeling the body.

0:17:04.750,0:17:06.259
What does the body feel like?

0:17:06.259,0:17:08.635
Start every meditation,

0:17:08.635,0:17:10.194
every time you do this,

0:17:10.194,0:17:11.376
go through the same process

0:17:11.376,0:17:13.696
because then you get used to a good

0:17:13.696,0:17:16.357
procedure of doing things after a while.

0:17:16.357,0:17:18.878
Start off, by just feeling the body

0:17:18.878,0:17:21.276
and then making the body at ease,

0:17:21.276,0:17:22.801
making the body relaxed,

0:17:22.801,0:17:24.433
feeling good about yourself,

0:17:24.433,0:17:27.204
feeling really, really relaxed.

0:17:29.645,0:17:33.027
There are many ways of doing this.

0:17:33.027,0:17:36.065
One way is just to take some deep breaths

0:17:36.065,0:17:37.789
and allowing yourself to relax.

0:17:37.789,0:17:39.171
Make sure you sit in a comfortable

0:17:39.171,0:17:41.621
posture, like leaning back so that you can

0:17:41.621,0:17:43.882
actually allow the body to relax.

0:17:44.562,0:17:46.902
Use a guided meditation with somebody

0:17:46.902,0:17:50.555
whose instructions you trust

0:17:50.555,0:17:52.220
and voice you like to listen to,

0:17:52.220,0:17:54.357
again that makes you feel nice and relaxed.

0:17:54.357,0:17:56.896
And the last part is the attitude you have.

0:17:56.896,0:17:57.978
The attitude is probably

0:17:57.978,0:17:59.708
the most important thing of all.

0:17:59.708,0:18:00.765
With the right attitude

0:18:00.765,0:18:01.505
you will relax,

0:18:01.505,0:18:03.241
without it, it's very, very hard.

0:18:03.801,0:18:05.457
Spend time doing this,

0:18:05.457,0:18:07.879
spend however long it takes

0:18:07.879,0:18:09.227
even if you spend the whole

0:18:09.227,0:18:11.110
meditation just relaxing

0:18:11.110,0:18:12.178
especially at the beginning

0:18:12.178,0:18:13.239
of a retreat,

0:18:13.239,0:18:14.039
that's fine.

0:18:14.039,0:18:14.934
That's good.

0:18:14.934,0:18:16.346
At least you feel at ease

0:18:16.346,0:18:18.133
and relaxed when that happens.

0:18:18.133,0:18:19.482
The idea, here,

0:18:19.482,0:18:22.151
is really to take the relaxation

0:18:22.151,0:18:24.160
deeper than what you normally

0:18:24.160,0:18:25.374
are used to.

0:18:26.254,0:18:28.720
Ordinary relaxation and ordinary life

0:18:28.720,0:18:30.418
actually often isn't all that relaxed

0:18:30.418,0:18:31.680
at all.

0:18:31.680,0:18:32.455
And you only find that out

0:18:32.455,0:18:33.731
once you start to meditate

0:18:33.731,0:18:35.121
and you get into deeper states

0:18:35.121,0:18:35.881
of relaxation.

0:18:35.881,0:18:36.712
You start to realise,

0:18:36.712,0:18:39.474
wow, this is <i>really</i> relaxed

0:18:39.474,0:18:40.603
I didn't know it was possible

0:18:40.603,0:18:41.626
to get this relaxed.

0:18:41.626,0:18:43.418
I had no idea, <i>now</i> I understand

0:18:43.418,0:18:45.531
what relaxation is all about.

0:18:45.531,0:18:47.616
The deeper your meditation goes,

0:18:47.616,0:18:48.403
the more you think,

0:18:48.403,0:18:50.822
"whoa, this is really nice!

0:18:50.822,0:18:52.764
The body feels so at ease."

0:18:52.764,0:18:54.734
The idea here is to start off

0:18:54.734,0:18:56.229
that process of relaxation

0:18:56.229,0:18:58.096
as soon as possible.

0:18:58.096,0:19:00.614
And the sooner you get that done

0:19:00.614,0:19:01.722
the more easily

0:19:01.722,0:19:04.510
the rest of the meditation flows along.

0:19:04.510,0:19:09.051
So, get that depth of relaxation

0:19:09.051,0:19:11.048
deeper than you had it before

0:19:11.048,0:19:12.576
at the very beginning,

0:19:12.576,0:19:14.161
by focusing on the body,

0:19:14.161,0:19:15.619
by sending metta to yourself,

0:19:15.619,0:19:17.005
having a sense of kindness

0:19:17.005,0:19:18.586
and compassion for yourself,

0:19:18.586,0:19:19.995
and you start to feel the body

0:19:19.995,0:19:21.435
become so easy,

0:19:21.435,0:19:23.200
so <i>light</i>.

0:19:23.200,0:19:24.248
It becomes so light.

0:19:24.248,0:19:26.814
It becomes like a tuft of cotton almost.

0:19:26.814,0:19:28.947
It's almost like it starts to disappear.

0:19:28.947,0:19:30.042
That's what I was talking about before,

0:19:30.042,0:19:31.821
disappearing of the body

0:19:31.821,0:19:34.335
which you do by not having any pain,

0:19:34.335,0:19:35.980
but it disappears even more

0:19:35.980,0:19:38.173
when you feel really at ease

0:19:38.173,0:19:39.457
about the body.

0:19:40.257,0:19:42.639
You find yourself so light,

0:19:42.639,0:19:44.049
so easy,

0:19:44.809,0:19:46.036
unless you fall asleep,

0:19:46.036,0:19:47.127
in which case you feel heavy,

0:19:47.127,0:19:48.262
that's the alternative.

0:19:48.262,0:19:49.443
That's okay.

0:19:49.443,0:19:50.463
If you fall asleep that's fine.

0:19:50.463,0:19:51.671
Please, fall asleep,

0:19:51.671,0:19:53.767
falling asleep is not a bad thing.

0:19:53.767,0:19:55.180
It is very, very common,

0:19:55.180,0:19:56.356
you've in very good company if you

0:19:56.356,0:19:58.427
fall asleep. Allow that tiredness

0:19:58.427,0:19:59.585
to wear off and then the

0:19:59.585,0:20:01.446
lightness of the mind comes afterwards.

0:20:01.906,0:20:03.461
So, either you feel very heavy

0:20:03.461,0:20:04.948
when you do this and you fall asleep,

0:20:04.948,0:20:07.735
or the mind tends to feel light.

0:20:07.735,0:20:10.074
It tends to go either one way or the other.

0:20:12.134,0:20:13.181
When this happens,

0:20:13.181,0:20:16.091
because you are feeling so much at ease,

0:20:16.091,0:20:18.148
you are feeling so good about yourself,

0:20:18.148,0:20:20.415
so good in the body, good in everything,

0:20:20.415,0:20:23.085
mindfulness starts to arise.

0:20:24.878,0:20:25.986
What is mindfulness?

0:20:25.986,0:20:27.343
Mindfulness is basically

0:20:27.343,0:20:29.376
about the ability to stay in the

0:20:29.376,0:20:31.820
present moment, to be aware

0:20:31.820,0:20:32.640
of what is happening in the

0:20:32.640,0:20:34.661
here and now, that is what mindfulness

0:20:34.661,0:20:36.570
is about. Mindfulness is not about

0:20:36.570,0:20:38.523
fantasizing. If you think about future,

0:20:38.523,0:20:39.819
or you think about the past,

0:20:39.819,0:20:41.827
or you fantasize about all kind of things,

0:20:41.827,0:20:43.232
that's not mindfulness.

0:20:43.232,0:20:44.846
Mindfulness is about the ability to

0:20:44.846,0:20:46.362
just be here and now.

0:20:46.362,0:20:47.892
Be in this present moment.

0:20:47.892,0:20:48.967
Be in this room.

0:20:48.967,0:20:50.607
Be right here in front of you,

0:20:50.607,0:20:52.296
being able to watch the breath,

0:20:52.296,0:20:54.298
that is what mindfulness is about.

0:20:54.298,0:20:58.078
And mindfulness arises especially

0:20:58.078,0:21:00.084
when you feel good.

0:21:00.084,0:21:01.072
If you don't feel good

0:21:01.072,0:21:02.770
the mind wants to escape,

0:21:02.770,0:21:04.688
but if the present moment is the

0:21:04.688,0:21:06.016
pleasant moment...

0:21:06.016,0:21:07.357
It's an easy one to remember:

0:21:07.357,0:21:09.388
present moment is the pleasant moment

0:21:09.388,0:21:11.909
then the mindfulness tends to arise

0:21:11.909,0:21:14.030
as a consequence.

0:21:14.030,0:21:16.619
So this is a very easy path.

0:21:16.619,0:21:18.219
All you have to do is relax.

0:21:18.219,0:21:21.296
All you have to do is just to feel at ease,

0:21:21.296,0:21:23.611
and when you do that in the right way,

0:21:23.611,0:21:26.833
then mindfulness comes all by itself.

0:21:26.833,0:21:28.274
This is the trick of this path,

0:21:28.274,0:21:30.304
this is the trick of this whole practice,

0:21:30.304,0:21:32.530
is that you don't actually have to do anything,

0:21:32.530,0:21:34.144
you don't have to exert yourself,

0:21:34.144,0:21:35.951
you don't have to use a lot of will power,

0:21:35.951,0:21:38.276
there's not a lot of stuff that you have to do,

0:21:38.276,0:21:39.677
because the whole doing business, actually,

0:21:39.677,0:21:41.836
is what tires you out in the first place.

0:21:41.836,0:21:44.198
All this doing makes the mind busy

0:21:44.198,0:21:45.106
it makes you active,

0:21:45.106,0:21:46.456
then when you come back home after

0:21:46.456,0:21:48.077
a long day's work, you feel

0:21:48.077,0:21:49.810
completely exhausted, that's because

0:21:49.810,0:21:52.190
of all the doing that you've been doing.

0:21:52.190,0:21:53.645
So this is the natural way

0:21:53.645,0:21:55.457
for mindfulness to arise

0:21:55.457,0:21:57.891
and when mindfulness arises naturally,

0:21:57.891,0:22:00.430
it is <i>easy</i>, it is pleasant, it is happy

0:22:00.430,0:22:03.211
and you feel so good about these things.

0:22:04.131,0:22:05.931
So this is the way.

0:22:05.931,0:22:08.578
And one of the things to avoid here...

0:22:09.408,0:22:12.620
this is almost becoming a kind of

0:22:12.620,0:22:15.871
taboo word in Buddhism, in meditation,

0:22:15.871,0:22:17.861
is the word 'concentration'.

0:22:17.861,0:22:20.088
I'm sure you have heard the word 'concentration'

0:22:20.088,0:22:20.919
being used.

0:22:20.919,0:22:22.694
People say I've got to concentrate,

0:22:22.694,0:22:24.236
concentrate on the breath,

0:22:24.236,0:22:25.905
concentrate on things,

0:22:25.905,0:22:28.975
but be very careful with words like that

0:22:28.975,0:22:31.527
because, the word 'concentration'

0:22:31.527,0:22:34.054
in the English language, very often

0:22:34.054,0:22:35.926
implies a lot of will power.

0:22:35.926,0:22:37.567
When you go to work,

0:22:38.587,0:22:40.899
or you do whatever in ordinary life,

0:22:40.899,0:22:41.852
if you go to work,

0:22:41.852,0:22:43.992
your employer expects you to read certain things

0:22:43.992,0:22:45.305
and write certain reports

0:22:45.305,0:22:46.707
and all these kinds of things,

0:22:46.707,0:22:49.194
and because your employer expects that

0:22:49.194,0:22:50.381
you have to do it because you

0:22:50.381,0:22:52.638
have to earn your salary et cetera, et cetera,

0:22:52.638,0:22:54.194
but when you're doing things

0:22:54.194,0:22:55.643
that you're not really enjoying

0:22:55.643,0:22:56.512
all that much,

0:22:56.512,0:22:58.270
maybe it's an incredibly boring report

0:22:58.270,0:22:59.694
that you have to read,

0:22:59.694,0:23:01.438
you kind of have to force yourself

0:23:01.438,0:23:03.566
through it, that is what concentration

0:23:03.566,0:23:05.656
usually means. You're forcing attention

0:23:05.656,0:23:08.699
on to something which isn't 100% natural.

0:23:09.469,0:23:11.762
That is why people who have jobs

0:23:11.762,0:23:14.090
that demand a very high degree of

0:23:14.090,0:23:17.265
alertness, and awareness and concentration

0:23:17.265,0:23:18.928
often feel incredibly tired after

0:23:18.928,0:23:20.598
a long day's work.

0:23:20.598,0:23:22.463
I think these flight controllers,

0:23:22.463,0:23:24.794
you know - what is called? The people

0:23:24.794,0:23:28.294
who sit in those tall towers at airports?

0:23:28.294,0:23:29.554
Whatever.

0:23:29.554,0:23:30.398
Anyway, they sit up there

0:23:30.398,0:23:31.820
and they have to watch the screen

0:23:31.820,0:23:33.997
to make sure none of the planes collide.

0:23:33.997,0:23:36.236
If the the planes collide in midair

0:23:36.236,0:23:37.763
you feel a bit bad about it afterwards

0:23:37.763,0:23:40.438
So, you really have to focus on this

0:23:40.438,0:23:43.629
and this is one of the biggest

0:23:43.629,0:23:45.620
stress jobs, because you have to

0:23:45.620,0:23:46.651
concentrate so much and people

0:23:46.651,0:23:48.529
feel very tired after doing

0:23:48.529,0:23:50.141
that kind of job all day.

0:23:50.156,0:23:52.379
This is how we all feel to a certain extent,

0:23:52.379,0:23:53.856
when you use force

0:23:53.856,0:23:56.960
to watch and to be in the present moment.

0:23:56.960,0:23:59.190
So there's an idea of allowing mindfulness

0:23:59.190,0:24:01.067
to arise naturally, rather than

0:24:01.067,0:24:02.889
to force mindfulness.

0:24:02.889,0:24:04.230
If you force mindfulness,

0:24:04.230,0:24:05.231
after a while

0:24:05.231,0:24:06.403
you're going to feel exhausted

0:24:06.403,0:24:08.145
in meditation practice and you're going to

0:24:08.145,0:24:09.514
sleep for the rest of the retreat

0:24:09.514,0:24:11.807
and it won't be all that interesting for you.

0:24:11.807,0:24:13.204
You still may have a good time,

0:24:13.204,0:24:15.190
but you lose out on all the good fun

0:24:15.190,0:24:16.858
that everyone else has.

0:24:16.858,0:24:19.217
So learn natural mindfulness,

0:24:19.217,0:24:20.982
<i>that</i> is where it's all at.

0:24:20.982,0:24:24.777
That is what we're trying to get to.

0:24:25.777,0:24:28.815
Again, when you have no pain in the body

0:24:28.815,0:24:31.116
- I'm just recapitulating very briefly -

0:24:31.116,0:24:31.899
no pain in the body,

0:24:31.899,0:24:34.130
and you are at ease, and you are relaxed

0:24:34.130,0:24:37.866
natural mindfulness arises as a consequence,

0:24:37.866,0:24:39.797
or rather I should say, it <i>can</i> arise.

0:24:39.797,0:24:41.688
It doesn't always arise.

0:24:41.688,0:24:44.324
The last reason why it doesn't arise

0:24:44.324,0:24:46.688
is because the attitude.

0:24:46.689,0:24:48.420
The attitude is probably

0:24:48.420,0:24:50.415
the most important thing of all

0:24:50.415,0:24:51.924
in meditation practice.

0:24:53.804,0:24:55.382
You have to look at the world,

0:24:55.382,0:24:57.578
look at the people around you,

0:24:57.578,0:25:00.174
feel the situation in the right way.

0:25:00.174,0:25:01.796
When you have the right attitude

0:25:01.796,0:25:03.217
in this way, that is when meditation

0:25:03.217,0:25:05.354
really becomes possible.

0:25:05.354,0:25:07.403
It has to be a positive attitude.

0:25:07.403,0:25:09.426
You have to have a sense of well wishing

0:25:09.426,0:25:11.318
to the people around you.

0:25:11.318,0:25:14.109
You have to have a sense of

0:25:14.109,0:25:14.839
<i>mettā</i>,

0:25:14.839,0:25:15.595
<i>karuṇā</i>,

0:25:16.435,0:25:17.545
this means loving-kindness,

0:25:17.545,0:25:18.647
compassion

0:25:18.647,0:25:20.482
all of these positive qualities,

0:25:20.482,0:25:21.993
a sense of friendliness.

0:25:21.993,0:25:23.305
When you have all of these

0:25:23.305,0:25:24.408
qualities inside of you,

0:25:24.408,0:25:25.432
that is when

0:25:25.432,0:25:27.096
meditation becomes possible.

0:25:27.096,0:25:28.216
If you feel negative,

0:25:28.216,0:25:29.914
or you are upset with somebody,

0:25:29.914,0:25:31.830
or you're angry about something,

0:25:31.830,0:25:34.155
absolutely no way that your meditation

0:25:34.155,0:25:35.872
is going to work.

0:25:35.872,0:25:37.627
So you get this out of the way first of all,

0:25:37.627,0:25:39.184
<i>and then</i> meditation

0:25:39.184,0:25:40.218
becomes possible.

0:25:40.218,0:25:41.555
If we have the chance,

0:25:41.555,0:25:42.819
I don't know if there will be much time

0:25:42.819,0:25:44.054
during this retreat,

0:25:44.054,0:25:45.943
but this is one of the most important

0:25:45.943,0:25:48.609
things in the entire Buddhist path

0:25:48.609,0:25:51.306
is learning how to use your mind

0:25:51.306,0:25:52.544
in a skilful way,

0:25:52.544,0:25:53.773
so that you can

0:25:55.343,0:25:57.172
move away from the unskilful.

0:25:57.172,0:25:58.906
It takes a lot of training,

0:25:58.906,0:26:00.167
it takes years, often, of training for

0:26:00.167,0:26:01.078
people to be able to do this.

0:26:01.078,0:26:01.818
Isn't this what they call

0:26:01.818,0:26:03.557
cognitive behavioural therapy

0:26:03.557,0:26:05.723
in psychology?

0:26:05.723,0:26:07.364
Basically, it's a similar kind of thing,

0:26:07.364,0:26:08.820
but it's more intense

0:26:08.820,0:26:10.536
and it's a life long process

0:26:10.536,0:26:13.169
to keep on doing these kind of things.

0:26:13.169,0:26:15.398
So the idea is to shift your mind,

0:26:15.398,0:26:16.933
gradually, more and more away

0:26:16.933,0:26:18.177
from the negative things towards

0:26:18.177,0:26:19.867
the positive things.

0:26:19.867,0:26:21.176
When you have a positive attitude

0:26:21.176,0:26:22.548
in meditation,

0:26:22.548,0:26:24.783
<i>then</i> it becomes very powerful.

0:26:24.783,0:26:26.637
There's a nice sutta which I always

0:26:26.637,0:26:28.010
like to quote.

0:26:30.170,0:26:32.600
A sutta is the word of the Buddha

0:26:32.600,0:26:34.522
and one sutta means one

0:26:34.522,0:26:37.423
particular instance when he was giving

0:26:37.423,0:26:38.735
a talk as one sutta,

0:26:38.735,0:26:39.754
is basically what it means.

0:26:39.754,0:26:41.156
And in this one sutta,

0:26:41.806,0:26:43.686
he talks about what happens

0:26:43.686,0:26:45.459
when you are a good person,

0:26:45.459,0:26:46.594
when you live a good life,

0:26:46.594,0:26:47.438
when you have a good heart,

0:26:47.438,0:26:49.735
and you treat people in a kind way

0:26:49.735,0:26:51.360
and all of these kind of things.

0:26:51.360,0:26:53.225
This sutta is <i>Majjhima Nikāya</i> 129,

0:26:53.225,0:26:55.337
for those of you who are into this.

0:26:55.337,0:26:58.143
It's called The Wise And Foolish People.

0:26:59.983,0:27:01.627
So if you're interested in how to be wise,

0:27:01.627,0:27:02.790
and how to avoid being a fool

0:27:02.790,0:27:04.105
it's a great place to start;

0:27:04.105,0:27:06.247
<i>Majjhima</i> 129.

0:27:06.807,0:27:07.757
What he says there,

0:27:07.757,0:27:11.844
is that the wise person, the wise person

0:27:11.844,0:27:13.356
in Buddhism means somebody who

0:27:13.356,0:27:14.936
acts well,

0:27:14.936,0:27:16.403
acts with kindness

0:27:16.403,0:27:18.669
avoids acting in the bad ways,

0:27:18.669,0:27:19.813
speaks with kindness,

0:27:19.813,0:27:21.643
avoids speaking in the bad way

0:27:21.643,0:27:22.862
and crucially,

0:27:22.862,0:27:24.242
<i>thinks</i> with kindness,

0:27:24.242,0:27:27.662
doesn't think thoughts which are

0:27:27.662,0:27:30.123
greedy, or angry, or full of hatred

0:27:30.123,0:27:31.303
and this kind of stuff,

0:27:31.303,0:27:32.606
thinks positive things as well.

0:27:32.606,0:27:34.350
In Buddhism, the idea of morality

0:27:34.350,0:27:36.387
is stretched the the absolute limit.

0:27:36.387,0:27:39.025
It includes also morality of the mind.

0:27:39.025,0:27:40.245
So in Buddhism it's about developing

0:27:40.245,0:27:41.663
your whole character.

0:27:42.333,0:27:44.659
The word <i>sīla</i>, in the Pāli language

0:27:44.659,0:27:47.109
is much broader than the word 'morality'

0:27:47.109,0:27:47.709
in English.

0:27:47.709,0:27:50.205
It basically includes your entire character.

0:27:50.205,0:27:51.671
It's development of character,

0:27:51.671,0:27:53.058
development of personality

0:27:53.058,0:27:54.831
it what it really is about.

0:27:55.301,0:27:57.774
So what this sutta, this discourse,

0:27:57.774,0:27:59.772
of the Buddha, what he says there

0:27:59.772,0:28:01.530
is that, it's like a good person.

0:28:02.240,0:28:04.056
In the evening, when they come back home

0:28:04.056,0:28:05.226
they might be tired

0:28:05.226,0:28:07.578
and they might take a while as they sit down,

0:28:07.578,0:28:09.451
or they lie down on their bed

0:28:09.451,0:28:10.957
or sit down on a chair, or whatever,

0:28:10.957,0:28:12.624
and when they do that,

0:28:12.624,0:28:14.219
and when they relax,

0:28:14.219,0:28:16.469
all the good actions they have done,

0:28:16.469,0:28:17.667
the fact that they have

0:28:17.667,0:28:19.493
avoided the bad actions

0:28:19.493,0:28:21.444
all that comes back to them.

0:28:21.444,0:28:23.105
Because it comes back to them,

0:28:23.105,0:28:25.965
they feel a natural sense of happiness,

0:28:25.965,0:28:27.533
because a sense of happiness is basically,

0:28:27.533,0:28:30.155
well, you know that you're a good person,

0:28:30.155,0:28:31.706
you know that you've done the right things.

0:28:31.706,0:28:33.333
You have nothing to regret.

0:28:33.333,0:28:34.189
You feel a sense of,

0:28:34.189,0:28:36.394
"wow, I've done good things."

0:28:36.394,0:28:38.269
You feel a sense of joy about that.

0:28:38.269,0:28:40.219
It is just a natural consequence

0:28:40.219,0:28:41.629
of living a good life.

0:28:41.629,0:28:43.863
The more you purify that good life,

0:28:43.863,0:28:47.144
the more you feel that natural joy.

0:28:47.144,0:28:49.678
The Buddha says it's like a mountain.

0:28:50.258,0:28:52.487
In the evening, when you have a mountain

0:28:52.487,0:28:55.829
and the sun goes down behind the mountain

0:28:55.829,0:29:00.819
then the shadow is cast from that mountain.

0:29:00.819,0:29:03.705
The entire earth in front of that mountain,

0:29:03.705,0:29:04.982
the ground in front of the mountain

0:29:04.982,0:29:07.413
is engulfed, is enveloped

0:29:07.413,0:29:09.498
and completely surrounded by the shadow

0:29:09.498,0:29:11.008
from the mountain,

0:29:11.008,0:29:13.304
completely engulfed in that.

0:29:13.304,0:29:14.411
In the same way,

0:29:14.411,0:29:15.288
when a good person

0:29:15.288,0:29:17.395
comes back a long day's work

0:29:17.395,0:29:18.996
you sit down, you rest,

0:29:18.996,0:29:20.348
or maybe you meditate a bit

0:29:20.348,0:29:23.456
and then the mountain of good actions

0:29:23.456,0:29:25.189
come back to you!

0:29:25.189,0:29:26.941
Then you feel satisfied,

0:29:26.941,0:29:28.891
you feel a sense of joy inside.

0:29:28.891,0:29:30.171
You feel gladness

0:29:30.171,0:29:31.896
because of that mountain

0:29:31.896,0:29:33.344
of good actions is there.

0:29:33.344,0:29:35.161
So what we have to do is

0:29:35.161,0:29:37.306
build a mountain. That's what each

0:29:37.306,0:29:38.789
one of us has to do.

0:29:38.789,0:29:40.209
When you build that mountain,

0:29:40.209,0:29:42.775
the you have that foundation

0:29:42.775,0:29:44.322
of happiness and joy

0:29:44.322,0:29:46.052
which also you can bring into your

0:29:46.052,0:29:48.194
meditation practice.

0:29:48.194,0:29:49.058
So this is what it's about,

0:29:49.058,0:29:50.828
we have to build this mountain.

0:29:50.828,0:29:53.208
This is what our ordinary life,

0:29:53.208,0:29:55.398
if you are interested in Buddhism,

0:29:55.398,0:29:57.377
or spiritual practice, or meditation,

0:29:57.377,0:29:58.326
or whatever it is,

0:29:58.326,0:30:01.123
this is what our whole life is really about.

0:30:01.123,0:30:03.071
It's about building up this mountain

0:30:03.071,0:30:04.697
of goodness inside of us.

0:30:04.697,0:30:05.489
Then you have no choice,

0:30:05.489,0:30:07.101
you have to feel happy!

0:30:07.101,0:30:08.362
Isn't that great, you have not choice

0:30:08.362,0:30:09.856
but to feel happy?

0:30:09.856,0:30:11.485
I find that such a wonderful thing.

0:30:11.485,0:30:13.127
You can sit back, and sometimes

0:30:13.127,0:30:14.283
if you're a bit grumpy you think,

0:30:14.283,0:30:15.279
"aw, I don't want to be happy",

0:30:15.279,0:30:16.001
but you have no choice,

0:30:16.001,0:30:17.604
happiness just comes to you

0:30:17.604,0:30:19.802
and you just feel good about yourself.

0:30:19.802,0:30:20.692
What a wonderful thing that is,

0:30:20.692,0:30:23.098
when you have no choice about the matter,

0:30:23.098,0:30:24.554
And it always comes your way.

0:30:24.554,0:30:26.501
Then, of course, the spiritual path

0:30:26.501,0:30:28.710
really works as a consequence.

0:30:28.710,0:30:30.158
So that is one of those

0:30:30.158,0:30:31.917
similes that I think are so powerful.

0:30:32.657,0:30:34.342
The Buddha is a master

0:30:34.342,0:30:35.841
of creating beautiful similes

0:30:35.841,0:30:37.641
that are so much to the point

0:30:37.641,0:30:41.460
and show you how these things work

0:30:41.460,0:30:44.238
in a very beautiful way.

0:30:46.130,0:30:48.641
So this is what happens

0:30:48.641,0:30:49.987
when you generally speaking

0:30:49.987,0:30:51.900
have the right attitude.

0:30:51.900,0:30:53.011
We were talking about

0:30:53.011,0:30:54.349
the precepts before

0:30:54.349,0:30:56.240
and these precepts are very much

0:30:56.240,0:30:58.463
about having right attitude.

0:30:58.463,0:31:00.106
I will perhaps very briefly

0:31:00.106,0:31:02.011
talk about them.

0:31:02.879,0:31:04.284
The first precept is about

0:31:04.284,0:31:06.180
not killing any living beings.

0:31:06.880,0:31:08.207
Okay, so we assume that you're

0:31:08.207,0:31:10.237
not killing any human beings.

0:31:10.817,0:31:12.050
If you kill human beings, I would

0:31:12.050,0:31:14.181
recommend you to stop that very quickly.

0:31:14.181,0:31:16.587
That is going to be a big obstacle.

0:31:16.587,0:31:20.043
There is another discourse in the suttas,

0:31:20.043,0:31:21.813
the word of the Buddha. Actually there

0:31:21.813,0:31:23.690
was a man who was killing all these beings.

0:31:23.690,0:31:25.559
He was a mass murderer

0:31:25.559,0:31:26.615
at the time of the Buddha.

0:31:26.615,0:31:27.372
It's a very famous sutta,

0:31:27.372,0:31:28.303
you may have heard about

0:31:28.303,0:31:29.894
<i>Aṅgulimāla Sutta</i>.

0:31:30.874,0:31:32.336
But he also stopped doing that

0:31:32.336,0:31:33.962
and as a consequence of stopping that

0:31:33.962,0:31:35.871
he actually attained very high

0:31:35.871,0:31:38.788
spiritual states as a consequence.

0:31:38.788,0:31:41.169
So even if you are killing human beings

0:31:41.169,0:31:42.979
there's still hope,

0:31:42.979,0:31:45.740
which is a very positive message.

0:31:45.740,0:31:48.500
But it's not just about avoiding killing.

0:31:49.810,0:31:51.552
So you avoid killing humans,

0:31:51.552,0:31:54.054
you avoid killing animals and even insects,

0:31:54.054,0:31:57.128
but it's about being kind as well.

0:31:57.128,0:31:59.296
This is one of the most fundamental

0:31:59.296,0:32:00.635
and important facts about

0:32:00.635,0:32:02.352
the Buddhist idea of morality.

0:32:02.352,0:32:04.375
It is not just about avoiding doing

0:32:04.375,0:32:05.754
the bad stuff.

0:32:05.754,0:32:08.412
It's actively doing the good things

0:32:08.412,0:32:09.263
as well.

0:32:09.263,0:32:10.702
Being kind.

0:32:10.702,0:32:12.048
Being helpful.

0:32:12.048,0:32:14.309
Being compassionate, to animals

0:32:14.309,0:32:16.776
and human beings wherever you can find.

0:32:16.776,0:32:18.671
This is really what gives power

0:32:18.671,0:32:19.971
to the meditation practice.

0:32:19.971,0:32:21.353
If you don't do the bad stuff, okay,

0:32:21.353,0:32:22.649
you don't feel bad about yourself,

0:32:22.649,0:32:24.265
but, if you do the good stuff you actually

0:32:24.265,0:32:26.901
actively feel good about yourself.

0:32:26.901,0:32:29.138
I have noticed in my own life,

0:32:29.138,0:32:32.092
I try to live up to these things myself.

0:32:32.092,0:32:34.054
I try not to be the ultimate hypocrite

0:32:34.054,0:32:35.175
and sit here and tell you

0:32:35.175,0:32:36.295
to do all these things and

0:32:36.295,0:32:37.321
do nothing myself,

0:32:37.321,0:32:39.022
that would be terrible wouldn't it?

0:32:39.022,0:32:39.858
Of course, you don't know me,

0:32:39.858,0:32:41.426
so maybe I am a hypocrite, but

0:32:41.426,0:32:42.955
from my own perspective

0:32:42.955,0:32:44.489
I don't think I'm a hypocrite.

0:32:45.409,0:32:47.507
I have always found that

0:32:47.507,0:32:49.633
it is very powerful sometimes.

0:32:49.633,0:32:52.364
Sometimes you are in the right mood

0:32:52.364,0:32:53.780
and you just want to be kind,

0:32:53.780,0:32:55.608
and you want to be compassionate.

0:32:55.608,0:32:57.800
Sometimes it's a very powerful force

0:32:57.800,0:32:59.225
inside of you. Other times you don't

0:32:59.225,0:33:00.602
really feel compassionate at all,

0:33:00.602,0:33:02.359
but sometimes you feel very kind.

0:33:02.359,0:33:04.436
And then, sometimes, when you do

0:33:04.436,0:33:06.915
something kind, there's an insect that

0:33:06.915,0:33:08.688
you save or something like that,

0:33:08.688,0:33:09.899
something very, very small,

0:33:09.899,0:33:12.274
but because you are in the right mood,

0:33:12.274,0:33:13.978
and because you are mindful,

0:33:13.978,0:33:15.767
and because you feel it's coming

0:33:15.767,0:33:16.986
naturally from you,

0:33:16.986,0:33:19.253
it often has a very powerful impact

0:33:19.253,0:33:20.805
on your mind.

0:33:20.805,0:33:22.434
It's like you do this little act,

0:33:22.434,0:33:23.853
you think it's nothing and still

0:33:23.853,0:33:25.683
you feel this joy connected with that,

0:33:25.683,0:33:27.983
because it is done at the right time,

0:33:27.983,0:33:29.627
at the right place.

0:33:29.627,0:33:31.104
The right time and the right place

0:33:31.104,0:33:33.235
is always usually...

0:33:33.235,0:33:34.427
you should always do these things,

0:33:34.427,0:33:36.550
of course, but the powerful times

0:33:36.550,0:33:38.482
are when it comes naturally.

0:33:38.482,0:33:41.031
So if you ever feel like being kind,

0:33:41.031,0:33:42.895
if it comes from your heart and you

0:33:42.895,0:33:44.589
want to do something kind,

0:33:44.589,0:33:45.589
do it for goodness sake!

0:33:45.589,0:33:47.124
Don't hold back.

0:33:47.124,0:33:48.662
Don't have some cynical thought,

0:33:48.662,0:33:50.191
"yeah, they don't deserve it or whatever".

0:33:50.191,0:33:52.139
Please don't think like that because

0:33:52.139,0:33:53.348
it's going to destroy

0:33:53.348,0:33:55.851
a wonderful opportunity to do what is right

0:33:55.851,0:33:56.996
and do what is kind.

0:33:56.996,0:33:58.637
Always take the opportunity.

0:33:58.637,0:33:59.912
If other people think

0:33:59.912,0:34:01.510
you are a bit strange, so be it.

0:34:01.510,0:34:03.155
It's their problem,

0:34:03.155,0:34:04.931
you just do what is right.

0:34:04.931,0:34:06.523
And then you find, that when

0:34:06.523,0:34:08.025
you do these things again and again

0:34:08.025,0:34:09.955
there are times when it becomes

0:34:09.955,0:34:11.389
very powerful.

0:34:11.389,0:34:13.138
Because you are mindful,

0:34:13.138,0:34:14.766
you are clearly aware, you're driven

0:34:14.766,0:34:17.099
by a powerful motivation of compassion

0:34:17.099,0:34:17.958
inside of you.

0:34:17.958,0:34:19.370
It makes a very powerful impact

0:34:19.370,0:34:20.362
on the mind.

0:34:20.362,0:34:21.618
You sit down to meditate

0:34:21.618,0:34:23.103
and these things come back to you,

0:34:23.103,0:34:24.155
because they have made a powerful

0:34:24.155,0:34:25.100
impact on the mind.

0:34:25.100,0:34:26.795
And then, that gives rise

0:34:26.795,0:34:28.725
to the ability to meditate because

0:34:28.725,0:34:30.170
you have the joy there.

0:34:30.717,0:34:31.620
This is how it works.

0:34:31.620,0:34:32.918
This is what <i>kamma</i> is all about.

0:34:32.918,0:34:34.868
<i>Kamma</i> is about when your intention

0:34:34.868,0:34:37.199
is pure, when mindfulness is strong,

0:34:37.199,0:34:41.009
then the impact is very great one the mind.

0:34:41.009,0:34:43.013
So when you sit down afterwards,

0:34:43.013,0:34:44.803
it comes back to you very powerfully.

0:34:44.803,0:34:46.639
That's the idea of <i>kamma</i>.

0:34:47.929,0:34:50.156
Powerful presence when you do it,

0:34:50.156,0:34:52.217
gives rise to a powerful result later on.

0:34:52.217,0:34:53.123
You can see it for yourself

0:34:53.123,0:34:54.737
happening in reality, it's very easy,

0:34:54.737,0:34:56.598
very straightforward

0:34:56.598,0:34:58.479
and you see how these things work.

0:34:58.479,0:35:00.439
So be kind.

0:35:00.439,0:35:01.606
On this retreat, if you have

0:35:01.606,0:35:02.702
an opportunity to be kind

0:35:02.702,0:35:03.598
to the people around you,

0:35:03.598,0:35:06.195
take every opportunity, never miss

0:35:06.195,0:35:08.618
an opportunity to be kind in your life,

0:35:08.618,0:35:10.951
here or anywhere else, because it is

0:35:10.951,0:35:12.759
incredibly powerful.

0:35:13.442,0:35:14.981
And then, of course, the second factor

0:35:14.981,0:35:17.293
is about not stealing.

0:35:18.182,0:35:20.644
I'm sure none of you have the intention

0:35:20.644,0:35:22.682
to steal anything on this retreat,

0:35:23.162,0:35:25.978
but the opposite is generosity, right?

0:35:25.978,0:35:28.167
Be sharing, sharing of yourself,

0:35:28.167,0:35:30.142
and being generous.

0:35:30.142,0:35:32.229
One of the incredibly important factors

0:35:32.229,0:35:34.702
on the Buddhist path is generosity.

0:35:35.752,0:35:37.575
It is something the Buddha talks about

0:35:37.575,0:35:38.748
all the time. That's one of

0:35:38.748,0:35:41.031
the foundation stones of the path.

0:35:41.031,0:35:42.001
And generosity can be done

0:35:42.001,0:35:43.781
in some many different ways.

0:35:43.781,0:35:44.974
There's very little distinction

0:35:44.974,0:35:46.425
between kindness and generosity.

0:35:46.425,0:35:48.286
They kind of flow into each other.

0:35:48.286,0:35:49.956
When we talk about generosity,

0:35:49.956,0:35:52.372
we talk usually more about material things

0:35:52.372,0:35:54.957
and kindness is more about helping out

0:35:54.957,0:35:57.027
in a general sense, but they are really

0:35:57.027,0:36:00.572
part of the same... different ends of the

0:36:00.572,0:36:02.443
same spectrum, basically.

0:36:03.113,0:36:04.764
So generosity.

0:36:04.764,0:36:06.826
The third precept is about

0:36:06.826,0:36:09.035
no sexuality on this retreat.

0:36:10.225,0:36:12.746
The idea here is to turn the mind

0:36:12.746,0:36:14.530
in a different direction.

0:36:15.150,0:36:17.645
Usually, in the world we find pleasures

0:36:17.645,0:36:19.758
through the senses, the five sense,

0:36:19.758,0:36:21.626
through the food that we eat,

0:36:21.626,0:36:23.821
through the relationships that we have,

0:36:23.821,0:36:26.313
through music, or whatever it is.

0:36:26.313,0:36:27.965
Here, the idea is instead of finding

0:36:27.965,0:36:29.466
happiness in that realm,

0:36:29.466,0:36:31.095
is to turn the mind

0:36:31.095,0:36:32.116
in a different direction,

0:36:32.116,0:36:33.325
turn it inwards instead,

0:36:33.325,0:36:35.115
and find the happiness and joy

0:36:35.115,0:36:37.060
inside of you instead.

0:36:37.060,0:36:40.527
Now, if we indulge in the five sense

0:36:40.527,0:36:42.376
it is impossible at the same time

0:36:42.376,0:36:44.462
to turn inwards because they are two

0:36:44.462,0:36:46.233
different directions.

0:36:46.733,0:36:48.738
If you find happiness in the five sense

0:36:48.738,0:36:50.776
it means your mind is going out

0:36:50.776,0:36:53.199
into the world, by it's very definition.

0:36:53.199,0:36:54.926
But mediation is precisely about

0:36:54.926,0:36:56.896
going inside. It's about watching

0:36:56.896,0:36:58.368
the breath, about being still

0:36:58.368,0:36:59.556
in the present moment.

0:36:59.556,0:37:01.793
It's about not being attached to the world.

0:37:01.793,0:37:04.029
So, if you are finding pleasure

0:37:04.029,0:37:06.100
in the five senses, it means that your are

0:37:06.100,0:37:06.992
attached to them.

0:37:06.992,0:37:08.377
Wherever you find pleasure is also

0:37:08.377,0:37:10.040
where you are attached.

0:37:10.040,0:37:11.371
Because you are attached, you can't

0:37:11.371,0:37:12.637
let go, and because you can't let go

0:37:12.637,0:37:15.187
you can't focus inside.

0:37:15.187,0:37:16.932
These are two opposite things.

0:37:16.932,0:37:19.521
It's very important to understand that.

0:37:19.521,0:37:22.178
That you cannot do both at the same time.

0:37:22.178,0:37:23.444
Sometimes people say, "yeah, you know,

0:37:23.444,0:37:25.195
I want to get really deep meditation,

0:37:25.195,0:37:26.815
I want to live a kind of ordinary life

0:37:26.815,0:37:29.291
with my partner and all these kinds

0:37:29.291,0:37:30.747
of things at the same time".

0:37:30.747,0:37:33.179
It cannot be combined at the same time.

0:37:33.179,0:37:35.733
It's impossible to have

0:37:35.733,0:37:38.081
the full benefit of meditation practice

0:37:38.081,0:37:39.144
on the one side,

0:37:39.144,0:37:41.244
and living a completely ordinary life

0:37:41.244,0:37:43.228
at the same time.

0:37:43.228,0:37:46.311
They have to be separated from each other.

0:37:46.311,0:37:49.077
That's why we do this kind of precept

0:37:49.077,0:37:51.393
on retreats like this.

0:37:51.393,0:37:54.412
The fourth one is about silence,

0:37:54.412,0:37:55.834
and silence is a wonderful thing.

0:37:55.834,0:37:57.018
You find that it's so wonderful

0:37:57.018,0:37:58.510
not to have to talk.

0:37:59.880,0:38:01.927
Our society is based on communication,

0:38:01.927,0:38:03.086
you have to talk all the time.

0:38:03.086,0:38:04.157
It's great not to have to talk,

0:38:04.157,0:38:05.450
just to be quiet.

0:38:06.970,0:38:07.651
It's like you go into

0:38:07.651,0:38:09.016
your own little bubble

0:38:09.016,0:38:10.604
and it doesn't really matter,

0:38:10.604,0:38:12.530
everybody else can do their own thing,

0:38:12.530,0:38:13.046
you don't have to

0:38:13.046,0:38:14.593
worry about that any more.

0:38:16.113,0:38:18.132
The precept is actually not to lie,

0:38:18.132,0:38:19.383
but because you are silent

0:38:19.383,0:38:20.568
that's what it becomes.

0:38:20.568,0:38:23.838
That's the positive aspect of that.

0:38:23.838,0:38:25.564
And think of it also... sometimes

0:38:25.564,0:38:27.127
people find it hard to be silent,

0:38:27.127,0:38:28.129
it should be easy enough,

0:38:28.129,0:38:31.035
it's only a day and a half this retreat, but

0:38:31.035,0:38:32.548
sometimes people find it hard

0:38:32.548,0:38:34.118
and find it oppressive.

0:38:34.118,0:38:36.417
If you do find it a little bit oppressive

0:38:36.417,0:38:39.559
think of it as an act of generosity

0:38:39.559,0:38:41.827
to the people around you.

0:38:41.827,0:38:43.492
On a retreat like this,

0:38:43.492,0:38:44.745
there's always some people who

0:38:44.745,0:38:46.287
get nice meditation, so think,

0:38:46.287,0:38:47.548
"okay, I'm going to help you,

0:38:47.548,0:38:48.797
I'm going to do this to help

0:38:48.797,0:38:51.410
everyone here, to encourage you

0:38:51.410,0:38:52.327
and to support you

0:38:52.327,0:38:53.769
in your meditation practice."

0:38:53.769,0:38:56.172
Then you have a positive attitude

0:38:56.172,0:38:57.339
about silence.

0:38:57.339,0:38:58.993
It becomes another positive thing.

0:38:58.993,0:39:00.388
It becomes a gift

0:39:00.388,0:39:01.403
to everyone around you.

0:39:01.403,0:39:02.459
So you're kind of combining

0:39:02.459,0:39:04.571
these precepts a little bit.

0:39:04.571,0:39:05.497
The fifth precept is about

0:39:05.497,0:39:07.193
not using drugs and alcohol.

0:39:07.803,0:39:10.459
Again, meditation practice is about

0:39:10.459,0:39:12.805
clarity, it's about presence of mind

0:39:12.805,0:39:14.555
and drugs and alcohol are about

0:39:14.555,0:39:16.331
the exact opposite of that.

0:39:17.571,0:39:20.271
Not using a high...

0:39:21.017,0:39:23.215
the next one is <i>vikala bhojana</i>,

0:39:23.215,0:39:25.383
I have to get my sequence right here,

0:39:25.383,0:39:26.176
which means not eating

0:39:26.176,0:39:26.880
in the afternoon.

0:39:26.880,0:39:28.425
Again, the idea is to move away

0:39:28.425,0:39:30.354
from too much sensuality.

0:39:30.354,0:39:31.585
It's not a major issue...

0:39:31.585,0:39:32.520
There's going to be some soup,

0:39:32.520,0:39:33.739
is that right, in the evening?

0:39:33.739,0:39:34.539
Okay, you get some soup,

0:39:34.539,0:39:36.009
so that's good,

0:39:36.009,0:39:38.193
that should keep you going.

0:39:39.593,0:39:41.135
Then we have the precept about

0:39:41.135,0:39:43.919
not using any entertainment,

0:39:43.919,0:39:45.741
or adornments of the body,

0:39:45.741,0:39:47.457
which is another very useful one.

0:39:47.457,0:39:49.093
Entertainment is all about going out

0:39:49.093,0:39:50.263
into the world,

0:39:50.263,0:39:52.372
it's about enjoying the senses.

0:39:52.372,0:39:53.964
That's what entertainment is about.

0:39:53.964,0:39:56.721
Again we're trying to withdraw from that.

0:39:56.721,0:39:58.255
And the last precept about

0:39:58.255,0:39:59.872
sleeping on a high or luxurious bed,

0:39:59.872,0:40:01.696
is also, of course, about the same thing.

0:40:01.696,0:40:03.295
It's about not indulging too much,

0:40:03.295,0:40:05.630
but, you know, the beds here are fine.

0:40:07.843,0:40:09.197
Back to the seventh one, again,

0:40:09.197,0:40:11.902
the seventh precept, not adorning yourself.

0:40:11.902,0:40:13.791
This is also one of the nice things

0:40:13.791,0:40:15.855
about going on a retreat,

0:40:15.855,0:40:18.559
just to have simple clothes,

0:40:18.559,0:40:19.523
no make-up,

0:40:19.523,0:40:20.223
no jewellery,

0:40:20.223,0:40:22.488
no trying to impress anybody

0:40:22.488,0:40:23.707
by the way you look,

0:40:23.707,0:40:24.947
or anything like that.

0:40:24.947,0:40:27.184
It's like you can become anonymous.

0:40:27.184,0:40:29.049
You don't have to worry about

0:40:29.049,0:40:30.273
all these things that we're always

0:40:30.273,0:40:31.738
concerned about.

0:40:31.738,0:40:33.441
It makes you self-conscious,

0:40:33.441,0:40:34.531
if you always have to worry about

0:40:34.531,0:40:36.280
what you look like, right?

0:40:36.280,0:40:37.345
And here you can let go of that

0:40:37.345,0:40:39.229
self-consciousness completely,

0:40:39.229,0:40:40.349
and you can be

0:40:40.349,0:40:41.449
nobody!

0:40:42.069,0:40:43.327
Isn't that nice to be nobody?

0:40:43.327,0:40:45.613
We always have to try to <i>be</i> somebody.

0:40:45.613,0:40:47.221
We always have to try and live up to

0:40:47.221,0:40:49.707
our own or other people's expectations.

0:40:49.707,0:40:52.239
Always trying to be a certain person.

0:40:52.239,0:40:54.516
Now, one of the things about

0:40:54.516,0:40:56.650
trying always to be somebody,

0:40:56.650,0:40:58.850
is this sense of self that we have

0:40:58.850,0:40:59.905
inside of us

0:40:59.905,0:41:02.517
always needs to be defended.

0:41:02.517,0:41:03.835
If somebody challenges us

0:41:03.835,0:41:06.940
and says, "aw, okay, you are no good.

0:41:06.940,0:41:08.117
What are you doing?

0:41:08.117,0:41:09.379
This isn't good enough".

0:41:09.379,0:41:11.287
Or somebody tells you

0:41:11.287,0:41:12.426
you're not looking your best today,

0:41:12.426,0:41:14.776
or whatever, we feel upset.

0:41:14.776,0:41:15.727
And the reason we feel upset

0:41:15.727,0:41:17.541
is because our sense of self

0:41:17.541,0:41:19.009
is challenged.

0:41:19.009,0:41:20.677
So this sense of self is something

0:41:20.677,0:41:22.698
that always needs to be bolstered,

0:41:22.698,0:41:24.374
always needs to be kept up.

0:41:24.374,0:41:26.744
We need to think, how much of the time

0:41:26.744,0:41:28.385
do we think about ourselves,

0:41:28.385,0:41:29.230
are we concerned about concerned

0:41:29.230,0:41:30.353
about ourselves.

0:41:30.353,0:41:31.916
Stupid little things, right?

0:41:31.916,0:41:33.008
But this is just life,

0:41:33.008,0:41:34.571
everybody is like that.

0:41:34.941,0:41:36.309
Now, for once, you don't have to think

0:41:36.309,0:41:38.109
about yourself any more.

0:41:38.109,0:41:39.327
You can start to let go

0:41:39.327,0:41:40.982
of that sense of who you are,

0:41:40.982,0:41:42.519
your sense of identity.

0:41:42.519,0:41:44.207
How you are, who you are

0:41:44.207,0:41:45.933
compared to other people.

0:41:45.933,0:41:48.341
When you reduce that sense of identity

0:41:48.341,0:41:49.791
what you find is that

0:41:49.791,0:41:51.375
you become more peaceful,

0:41:52.335,0:41:54.294
because you don't have to think about

0:41:54.294,0:41:56.106
all those issues

0:41:56.106,0:41:57.496
concerning yourself any more.

0:41:58.086,0:41:59.561
So reducing your sense of self

0:41:59.561,0:42:00.853
is actually one of the great ways

0:42:00.853,0:42:04.070
of starting to feel peaceful as well.

0:42:04.070,0:42:05.094
This is what you do,

0:42:05.094,0:42:06.227
this is why adornments,

0:42:06.227,0:42:08.414
just wearing ordinary clothes

0:42:08.414,0:42:10.252
and not adorning oneself,

0:42:10.252,0:42:11.877
actually is a great benefit

0:42:11.877,0:42:13.549
and a wonderful thing to do.

0:42:14.326,0:42:15.077
So,

0:42:17.957,0:42:20.717
those are the eight precepts

0:42:20.717,0:42:22.384
and they give you some idea

0:42:22.384,0:42:23.595
what right attitude means

0:42:23.595,0:42:25.399
in meditation practice.

0:42:25.399,0:42:27.441
All this is about right attitude.

0:42:27.981,0:42:29.277
So this is one of the things

0:42:29.277,0:42:31.074
we try to build up.

0:42:31.584,0:42:34.009
Some very general things about

0:42:34.009,0:42:36.290
right attitude that I can maybe add

0:42:36.290,0:42:38.241
to what I've been saying before:

0:42:38.241,0:42:41.428
one of thing things I often remind myself

0:42:41.428,0:42:43.958
when I do my meditation practice

0:42:43.958,0:42:46.767
is that when I meditate,

0:42:46.767,0:42:48.650
that is when I come closest

0:42:48.650,0:42:50.533
to the meaning of life.

0:42:50.533,0:42:51.895
That is where I'm touching

0:42:51.895,0:42:53.643
what life is all about.

0:42:54.283,0:42:56.365
This is quite radical

0:42:56.365,0:42:57.276
because most people think,

0:42:57.276,0:42:58.177
"yeah, I'm going to meditate

0:42:58.177,0:42:59.973
so I can improve my life,

0:42:59.973,0:43:00.902
so the rest of my life

0:43:00.902,0:43:02.793
can become better"

0:43:02.793,0:43:03.980
That's what most people think.

0:43:03.980,0:43:05.669
But, no! It's actually the

0:43:05.669,0:43:07.889
other way round, it's actually

0:43:08.779,0:43:10.211
when you meditate you're getting

0:43:10.211,0:43:12.131
closer to the very essence of the

0:43:12.131,0:43:14.169
purpose of life itself.

0:43:14.554,0:43:15.719
Why is that?

0:43:16.299,0:43:17.148
The reason is, is because

0:43:17.148,0:43:18.979
in meditation practice,

0:43:18.979,0:43:20.317
what you are finding is

0:43:20.317,0:43:22.354
you're finding the sort of happiness

0:43:22.354,0:43:24.586
you're finding the sort of contentment

0:43:24.586,0:43:26.765
you're finding the sort of satisfaction

0:43:26.765,0:43:28.044
that you actually,

0:43:28.044,0:43:29.223
each one of us,

0:43:29.223,0:43:31.562
always is actually searching for.

0:43:32.142,0:43:33.511
If you look inside of yourself,

0:43:33.511,0:43:34.840
look inside of your mind

0:43:34.840,0:43:35.819
you will see that we are often

0:43:35.819,0:43:38.647
run by desires, all kind of things, right?

0:43:38.647,0:43:39.707
From the moment you wake up

0:43:39.707,0:43:40.286
in the morning,

0:43:40.286,0:43:41.172
you have to choose what clothes

0:43:41.172,0:43:42.122
you're going to wear,

0:43:42.122,0:43:43.122
from breakfast...

0:43:43.622,0:43:45.152
Everything is run by

0:43:45.152,0:43:47.642
desires and cravings in our life.

0:43:47.642,0:43:48.963
Those desires and cravings,

0:43:48.963,0:43:50.590
they are pointing towards one thing:

0:43:50.590,0:43:52.864
we want to be satisfied.

0:43:52.864,0:43:54.879
That's why you want to fulfil that craving,

0:43:54.879,0:43:56.533
fulfil that desire.

0:43:56.533,0:43:57.913
Except that it never happens,

0:43:57.913,0:44:00.268
the desire always comes back to us again.

0:44:00.268,0:44:01.198
Then suddenly one day

0:44:01.198,0:44:02.595
you sit down and meditate

0:44:02.595,0:44:03.612
and you find

0:44:03.612,0:44:05.819
that satisfaction in meditation.

0:44:05.819,0:44:07.471
At least a little bit more,

0:44:07.471,0:44:08.429
than you find it by running

0:44:08.429,0:44:09.766
around in the world.

0:44:10.316,0:44:11.332
This is what I mean,

0:44:11.332,0:44:12.632
you're actually touching here

0:44:12.632,0:44:14.491
the meaning of life,

0:44:14.491,0:44:16.835
the purpose of all the running you do

0:44:16.835,0:44:18.156
in the world, you find it,

0:44:18.156,0:44:20.461
you find the result,

0:44:20.461,0:44:22.001
you find what you're searching for

0:44:22.001,0:44:23.772
in the meditation practice,

0:44:23.772,0:44:25.665
rather than by actually getting

0:44:25.665,0:44:27.453
the results in the world around you.

0:44:28.743,0:44:29.861
So <i>here</i> you are touching

0:44:29.861,0:44:30.850
the meaning of life.

0:44:31.250,0:44:32.655
This is what life is all about,

0:44:32.655,0:44:34.510
this is what you really searching for.

0:44:34.510,0:44:35.751
This is what you have.

0:44:35.751,0:44:37.255
Your innermost yearning,

0:44:37.255,0:44:38.405
actually comes...

0:44:41.485,0:44:43.411
that yearning actually gets fulfilled

0:44:43.411,0:44:44.906
finally when you are sitting down

0:44:44.906,0:44:46.467
and doing your meditation practice.

0:44:46.467,0:44:47.955
Or rather it <i>can</i> do.

0:44:47.955,0:44:49.550
Often it doesn't happen,

0:44:49.550,0:44:50.820
but it can happen.

0:44:50.820,0:44:51.648
And when it happens, you think,

0:44:51.648,0:44:54.011
"WOW! This is really it!

0:44:54.011,0:44:56.103
Now I'm coming to what everything

0:44:56.103,0:44:57.412
really is all about."

0:44:57.412,0:44:58.819
And that is very powerful,

0:44:58.819,0:45:00.559
because when you understand that,

0:45:01.769,0:45:02.725
when you understand that

0:45:02.725,0:45:05.082
instead of sitting down and meditating

0:45:05.082,0:45:06.753
and then fantasize about all the things

0:45:06.753,0:45:08.216
you're going to do in the world,

0:45:08.216,0:45:09.803
it's kind of crazy, becuase now

0:45:09.803,0:45:11.280
you've got the meaning of life

0:45:11.280,0:45:13.308
so why are you going to fantasize

0:45:13.308,0:45:14.174
about all those things that

0:45:14.174,0:45:15.030
have got nothing to do

0:45:15.030,0:45:16.365
with the meaning of life.

0:45:16.365,0:45:17.088
In fact, it should be the other

0:45:17.088,0:45:18.179
way round.

0:45:18.179,0:45:19.666
When you're running around in the world

0:45:19.666,0:45:22.006
in daily life, going doing this, doing that

0:45:22.006,0:45:23.167
you should fantasize about meditation

0:45:23.167,0:45:23.947
practice.

0:45:24.587,0:45:26.523
That's the way it should really be,

0:45:26.523,0:45:27.596
because you understand

0:45:27.596,0:45:30.530
that everything you do in your ordinary life,

0:45:30.530,0:45:32.547
that if you can think about

0:45:32.547,0:45:33.907
your meditation practice,

0:45:33.907,0:45:34.917
it will give you

0:45:34.917,0:45:37.597
a guide in your ordinary life

0:45:37.597,0:45:38.997
to how you should behave.

0:45:38.997,0:45:40.848
Is this going to lead to an improvement

0:45:40.848,0:45:43.458
in meditation, which is the purpose of life,

0:45:43.458,0:45:44.785
or is it not?

0:45:44.785,0:45:46.338
Is it going to lead me away,

0:45:46.338,0:45:47.792
or lead me in the right direction.

0:45:47.792,0:45:49.467
So please fantasize a bit

0:45:49.467,0:45:51.381
about meditation in ordinary life:

0:45:51.381,0:45:52.900
"ooh, wouldn't it be nice

0:45:52.900,0:45:54.320
if I could now go back and

0:45:54.320,0:45:55.890
be on retreat and just sit peacefully.

0:45:55.890,0:45:58.760
Wow, maybe as soon as I get a chance,

0:45:58.760,0:46:00.485
an opportunity I will do that."

0:46:00.485,0:46:03.220
And then you have this guide,

0:46:03.220,0:46:05.009
to also guide you throughout life

0:46:05.009,0:46:06.289
in a sense.

0:46:06.289,0:46:07.207
So remember that,

0:46:07.207,0:46:07.818
while you're sitting here

0:46:07.818,0:46:09.114
on this retreat.

0:46:09.114,0:46:10.091
This is it!

0:46:10.091,0:46:11.345
You are touching

0:46:11.345,0:46:12.936
the meaning of life itself.

0:46:12.936,0:46:13.395
You're not going to get

0:46:13.395,0:46:15.182
any closer than this probably,

0:46:15.182,0:46:16.752
so this is your opportunity.

0:46:16.752,0:46:19.377
Why waste that opportunity

0:46:19.377,0:46:20.570
by thinking about

0:46:20.570,0:46:22.703
all kind of other stuff instead.

0:46:27.719,0:46:30.535
This is going to be the first talk

0:46:30.535,0:46:33.861
about the theme of this retreat.

0:46:33.861,0:46:37.316
The theme is dependent origination,

0:46:37.316,0:46:41.058
known as <i>paṭiccasamuppāda</i> in the Pāli language.

0:46:43.108,0:46:45.332
What I thought of doing tonight,

0:46:45.332,0:46:48.540
is just to do a general overview.

0:46:48.540,0:46:49.318
Is it loud enough?

0:46:49.318,0:46:50.801
Can everybody hear alright?

0:46:54.111,0:46:56.216
I'll just do a general overview

0:46:56.216,0:46:58.211
of what this teaching is about

0:46:58.211,0:46:59.974
so that we have a kind of a background.

0:46:59.974,0:47:02.079
Then we can draw out the details

0:47:02.079,0:47:04.785
over the few sessions after that.

0:47:05.725,0:47:07.252
So that is going to be the main purpose

0:47:07.252,0:47:08.892
of tonight.

0:47:09.432,0:47:10.931
As I said before,

0:47:10.931,0:47:12.733
if you have any questions this

0:47:12.733,0:47:14.125
please write them down

0:47:14.125,0:47:15.741
and put them in the basket at the back.

0:47:17.051,0:47:18.081
Good.

0:47:18.081,0:47:20.147
So, one of the things about

0:47:20.147,0:47:21.829
dependent arising,

0:47:21.829,0:47:24.263
it is well known,

0:47:24.263,0:47:26.081
everybody thinks it is very profound.

0:47:26.081,0:47:26.622
Everybody says,

0:47:26.622,0:47:28.500
"ooh, this is very profound stuff."

0:47:28.500,0:47:30.734
And, of course, there is a reason for that,

0:47:30.734,0:47:32.867
and the reason for that is that,

0:47:32.867,0:47:34.017
that's what it actually says

0:47:34.017,0:47:35.442
in one of the suttas.

0:47:35.442,0:47:37.222
I don't know if any of you read

0:47:37.222,0:47:38.975
these suttas already.

0:47:38.975,0:47:42.020
If you have, then you may have come across,

0:47:42.020,0:47:44.045
or you probably would have come across,

0:47:45.385,0:47:46.690
the way things start off

0:47:46.690,0:47:49.500
in the sutta called the <i>Mahānidāna Sutta</i>,

0:47:49.500,0:47:51.852
which is <i>The Great Discourse on Causation</i>,

0:47:51.852,0:47:53.432
found in the <i>Dīgha Nikāya</i>.

0:47:54.112,0:47:56.212
In that sutta, it starts off

0:47:56.212,0:47:58.270
with Ven. Ānanda...

0:47:58.270,0:47:59.540
Ven. Ānanda, of course,

0:47:59.540,0:48:01.385
is the Buddha's right-hand man.

0:48:01.385,0:48:02.529
He's always present,

0:48:02.529,0:48:04.596
always hearing the discourses

0:48:04.596,0:48:07.166
and he's the one who eventually

0:48:07.166,0:48:09.098
makes sure those discourses are

0:48:09.098,0:48:10.349
recorded, if you like,

0:48:10.349,0:48:12.443
recorded in memory for posterity.

0:48:13.793,0:48:15.109
He says to the Buddha, he says:

0:48:15.109,0:48:18.062
"It is wonderful and marvellous, Bhante,

0:48:18.062,0:48:20.221
how this dependent arising

0:48:20.221,0:48:23.320
[or if you like, dependent origination]

0:48:23.320,0:48:25.743
is so deep and appears so deep,

0:48:25.743,0:48:27.988
yet to myself it seems

0:48:27.988,0:48:31.198
as clear as clear can be.”

0:48:31.198,0:48:32.950
And then the Buddha says:

0:48:32.950,0:48:34.798
“Do not say so, Ānanda!

0:48:34.798,0:48:36.517
Do not say so, Ānanda!

0:48:36.517,0:48:39.153
This dependent origination, Ānanda,

0:48:39.153,0:48:41.853
is deep and it appears deep.

0:48:41.853,0:48:43.598
Because of not understanding and

0:48:43.598,0:48:46.889
not penetrating this teaching, Ānanda,

0:48:46.889,0:48:48.540
this generation has become

0:48:48.540,0:48:50.533
like a tangled skein,

0:48:50.533,0:48:52.808
like a knotted ball of thread,

0:48:52.808,0:48:56.891
like matted rushes and reeds,

0:48:56.891,0:48:58.773
and this generation

0:48:58.773,0:49:01.906
does not pass beyond <i>saṃsāra</i>

0:49:01.906,0:49:03.741
with its plane of misery,

0:49:03.741,0:49:05.381
unfortunate destinations,

0:49:05.381,0:49:07.458
and its lower realms."

0:49:08.952,0:49:11.076
So this is where it comes from,

0:49:11.076,0:49:11.850
when everybody says,

0:49:11.850,0:49:14.160
"aw, this dependent origination is so deep".

0:49:14.160,0:49:15.063
This is actually the

0:49:15.063,0:49:17.202
canonical reference to that.

0:49:17.872,0:49:20.435
It's quite interesting because Ven. Ānanda,

0:49:20.435,0:49:23.441
of course, he knew almost all the suttas,

0:49:23.441,0:49:26.718
all the discourses of the Buddha by heart.

0:49:26.718,0:49:28.053
He was also well known for

0:49:28.053,0:49:30.200
having become a stream enterer.

0:49:30.200,0:49:31.801
A stream enterer is somebody who has

0:49:31.801,0:49:34.431
penetrated and understood the teaching

0:49:34.431,0:49:35.621
on their own.

0:49:35.621,0:49:38.520
He was a stream enterer fairly early on

0:49:38.520,0:49:39.575
and here is one the Buddha's

0:49:39.575,0:49:40.575
chief disciples

0:49:41.025,0:49:41.914
saying

0:49:42.434,0:49:44.784
this is really deep, but I understand it,

0:49:44.784,0:49:45.915
and the Buddha says,

0:49:45.915,0:49:47.980
be careful what you say,

0:49:47.980,0:49:49.590
don't be so quick,

0:49:49.590,0:49:51.089
because this really is profound

0:49:51.089,0:49:53.541
and it because of not understanding <i>this</i>

0:49:53.541,0:49:56.987
that people are stuck in <i>saṃsāra</i>.

0:49:57.927,0:49:59.766
That is fascinating. It makes us wonder,

0:49:59.766,0:50:00.470
"well, what is the chance

0:50:00.470,0:50:02.464
of <i>me</i> understanding this if Ven. Ānanda

0:50:02.464,0:50:04.672
couldn't understand it, what is <i>my</i> hope?!

0:50:05.882,0:50:07.351
That's a fair question actually.

0:50:07.351,0:50:08.671
It is a fair question,

0:50:08.671,0:50:10.697
but remember the idea

0:50:10.697,0:50:13.143
with a retreat like this is not to grasp

0:50:13.143,0:50:15.841
these things absolutely fully,

0:50:15.841,0:50:18.175
in their full depth and all their details.

0:50:18.175,0:50:20.858
The idea is to get enough understanding

0:50:20.858,0:50:23.759
that you are moving in the right direction.

0:50:23.759,0:50:26.299
This is the whole gist, the whole purpose

0:50:26.299,0:50:28.339
of the Dhamma, is always to move

0:50:28.339,0:50:30.130
in the right direction.

0:50:30.130,0:50:31.672
As you keep moving in the right direction,

0:50:31.672,0:50:32.974
doing some meditation,

0:50:32.974,0:50:34.599
doing some practice,

0:50:34.599,0:50:36.028
understanding what the teachings

0:50:36.028,0:50:37.082
are about,

0:50:37.082,0:50:40.359
all of these things come together,

0:50:40.359,0:50:42.484
and one day, who knows, one day

0:50:42.484,0:50:43.247
you might also,

0:50:43.247,0:50:45.027
each one of us might also

0:50:45.027,0:50:46.647
understand the full

0:50:46.647,0:50:48.619
profundity of these teachings.

0:50:48.619,0:50:50.826
The reason why they are so profound

0:50:50.826,0:50:52.757
is basically, just what it says

0:50:52.757,0:50:53.862
at the end there:

0:50:53.862,0:50:55.585
it is because of this that people

0:50:55.585,0:50:58.304
don't make an end of <i>saṃsāra</i>.

0:50:58.304,0:50:59.851
What that means is that

0:50:59.851,0:51:01.469
if you are an <i>ariya</i>,

0:51:01.469,0:51:02.908
if you are a noble person,

0:51:02.908,0:51:04.574
who has penetrated and understood

0:51:04.574,0:51:06.662
these teachings through your own insight,

0:51:06.662,0:51:08.296
through your own understanding,

0:51:08.296,0:51:09.759
<i>that</i> is when you have that

0:51:09.759,0:51:11.037
full penetration.

0:51:11.037,0:51:12.692
So Ven. Ānanda, my guess is that

0:51:12.692,0:51:15.416
at this point he hadn't yet

0:51:15.416,0:51:16.600
become a stream enterer,

0:51:16.600,0:51:18.276
maybe it was later on,

0:51:18.276,0:51:20.631
or, the alternative is that

0:51:20.631,0:51:22.209
he was a stream enterer,

0:51:22.209,0:51:25.253
but even as a stream enterer you understand

0:51:25.253,0:51:27.625
the general principle for how it works,

0:51:27.625,0:51:28.938
but you make not be clear

0:51:28.938,0:51:30.851
about all the details.

0:51:30.851,0:51:33.224
This is one of the things that is so

0:51:33.224,0:51:34.845
fascinating about this teaching,

0:51:34.845,0:51:36.479
is all the <i>details</i>,

0:51:36.479,0:51:38.078
all the things that actually

0:51:38.078,0:51:39.183
come out of it once you

0:51:39.183,0:51:40.618
start to investigate.

0:51:41.018,0:51:44.376
There are so many aspects to this teaching.

0:51:44.376,0:51:45.694
To give you some examples

0:51:45.694,0:51:47.724
of the aspects that I'm thinking of,

0:51:48.134,0:51:49.414
this teaching,

0:51:49.954,0:51:51.980
contrary to what some people say,

0:51:51.980,0:51:54.657
it includes the law of <i>kamma</i>.

0:51:54.657,0:51:56.154
The law of <i>kamma</i> is very central to

0:51:56.154,0:51:58.127
this particular teaching.

0:51:58.127,0:52:00.741
It explains <i>kamma</i> in a very beautiful

0:52:00.741,0:52:02.715
and very meaningful way.

0:52:02.715,0:52:03.430
That's one of the things

0:52:03.430,0:52:05.492
I want to draw out of this teaching,

0:52:05.492,0:52:06.746
especially if you look at

0:52:06.746,0:52:08.873
the first three factors

0:52:08.873,0:52:10.367
of the dependent arising.

0:52:10.367,0:52:12.145
The first three factors are from...

0:52:12.145,0:52:13.998
I'll go through the factors latter on,

0:52:13.998,0:52:16.175
but from ignorance,

0:52:17.805,0:52:19.451
<i>saṅkhāra</i>, like activities,

0:52:19.451,0:52:20.454
and consciousness.

0:52:20.454,0:52:23.259
That is all really about <i>kamma</i>

0:52:23.259,0:52:25.241
and how <i>kamma</i> works.

0:52:25.241,0:52:26.726
It's very interesting to understand

0:52:26.726,0:52:28.160
how <i>kamma</i> works because

0:52:28.160,0:52:30.214
it's something which is very practical,

0:52:30.214,0:52:32.680
something we can use in our own lives.

0:52:32.680,0:52:34.164
So it brings out <i>kamma</i>

0:52:34.164,0:52:36.173
in a very detailed way.

0:52:36.933,0:52:38.117
This is one of the things

0:52:38.117,0:52:40.119
that makes in so interesting.

0:52:40.119,0:52:41.336
The second thing, which of course,

0:52:41.336,0:52:42.506
makes in very interesting,

0:52:42.506,0:52:46.083
is that it shows us how this <i>saṃsāra</i>,

0:52:46.083,0:52:49.602
how the process of continuous existence,

0:52:49.602,0:52:54.048
how it is sustained without a self in it.

0:52:54.048,0:52:55.196
This is one of the key things

0:52:55.196,0:52:57.008
about dependent arising,

0:52:57.008,0:52:59.003
it shows us how this is possible

0:52:59.003,0:53:02.206
that you can go on, and go on, and go on

0:53:02.206,0:53:04.402
keep on going, but there's no self in there

0:53:04.402,0:53:05.833
there's no substance,

0:53:05.833,0:53:07.502
there's no essence to it

0:53:07.502,0:53:09.272
which is always present.

0:53:10.062,0:53:11.231
This is one of the things that

0:53:11.231,0:53:12.874
makes people stop.

0:53:13.894,0:53:16.282
One of the classic counter arguments

0:53:16.282,0:53:18.021
against the Buddha's teaching,

0:53:18.021,0:53:20.910
against rebirth, is the idea that

0:53:20.910,0:53:22.364
if there was rebirth

0:53:22.364,0:53:24.181
there must be a self in there,

0:53:24.181,0:53:24.913
"and you guys,

0:53:24.913,0:53:25.987
you say you don't believe in a self

0:53:25.987,0:53:30.077
so you're contradicting yourself."

0:53:30.077,0:53:32.914
But actually, no, the point of the Buddha

0:53:32.914,0:53:35.502
is <i>precisely</i> that such a thing as rebirth

0:53:35.502,0:53:38.334
can exist without a self.

0:53:38.334,0:53:39.735
This is one of the things that precisely

0:53:39.735,0:53:41.507
makes it so profound.

0:53:41.507,0:53:45.320
This is found in the third and the fourth

0:53:45.320,0:53:47.594
factor of dependent arising:

0:53:47.594,0:53:49.599
consciousness and

0:53:49.599,0:53:51.798
conditions, what is some times called

0:53:51.798,0:53:53.698
name-and-form. We will discuss that term

0:53:53.698,0:53:55.048
later on, what it actually means.

0:53:55.048,0:53:58.803
But that kind of nexus between those two,

0:53:58.803,0:54:01.207
because they mutually condition each other,

0:54:01.207,0:54:04.728
shows you how this thing sustains itself

0:54:04.728,0:54:06.682
without a self in there.

0:54:06.682,0:54:08.640
In fact, the whole dependent arising,

0:54:08.640,0:54:10.827
the whole chain of factors,

0:54:10.827,0:54:13.051
is also an example of that.

0:54:13.051,0:54:16.438
So these are two very important things,

0:54:16.438,0:54:18.461
crucial aspects of Buddhism which are

0:54:18.461,0:54:22.014
explained in detail in dependent arising.

0:54:22.014,0:54:23.550
But the most important thing,

0:54:23.550,0:54:25.458
and what makes dependent arising

0:54:25.458,0:54:26.851
so interesting,

0:54:26.851,0:54:29.471
is that the overall structure

0:54:29.471,0:54:30.581
shows you...

0:54:30.581,0:54:31.516
the first factor of

0:54:31.516,0:54:32.786
dependent arising as I said before

0:54:32.786,0:54:34.276
is ignorance,

0:54:34.276,0:54:37.712
the last one of the 12 factors is suffering.

0:54:39.302,0:54:40.360
What that does

0:54:40.360,0:54:41.965
- I'll talk more about that in a second -

0:54:41.965,0:54:45.344
it shows us how suffering arises

0:54:45.344,0:54:47.294
out of lack of understanding,

0:54:47.294,0:54:48.470
out of ignorance.

0:54:49.080,0:54:52.108
This is probably the main purpose

0:54:52.108,0:54:53.859
of dependent arising

0:54:53.859,0:54:55.020
and why it is so powerful

0:54:55.020,0:54:56.438
because it shows us that,

0:54:56.438,0:54:57.522
if you don't understand things

0:54:57.522,0:54:58.286
in the right way,

0:54:58.286,0:55:00.107
you're going to suffer.

0:55:00.107,0:55:02.230
So you want to try to understand things

0:55:02.230,0:55:02.967
in the right way.

0:55:02.967,0:55:06.136
If you don't you have a serious problem.

0:55:07.276,0:55:11.121
Now, before I go into more detail

0:55:11.121,0:55:12.337
about these things,

0:55:13.057,0:55:15.437
I thought that the mistakes that people

0:55:15.437,0:55:17.351
sometimes do about dependent arising,

0:55:17.351,0:55:20.190
they think it's a very profound teaching

0:55:20.190,0:55:21.804
and people sometimes ask:

0:55:21.804,0:55:25.615
what is Buddhism? Should it be considered a

0:55:25.615,0:55:26.615
philosophy?

0:55:27.045,0:55:28.462
Is it a religion?

0:55:28.802,0:55:29.567
What is it?

0:55:29.567,0:55:31.687
How do we make sense of Buddhism?

0:55:31.687,0:55:33.050
What kind of teaching is it?

0:55:34.760,0:55:36.332
Of course, you can say it's just a

0:55:36.332,0:55:37.551
wisdom teaching, but that doesn't

0:55:37.551,0:55:39.318
really say very much.

0:55:39.318,0:55:41.524
So the first question I want to ask:

0:55:41.524,0:55:42.849
well, if it is so profound,

0:55:42.849,0:55:45.127
could it then be said to be a philosophy?

0:55:45.127,0:55:47.207
Is that an appropriate way

0:55:47.207,0:55:49.043
of regarding Buddhism?

0:55:49.043,0:55:50.883
Is it a philosophy or not?

0:55:52.023,0:55:53.238
The answer to that,

0:55:53.238,0:55:54.377
is a philosophy or not,

0:55:54.377,0:55:57.552
is that the early teachings of the Buddha,

0:55:57.552,0:55:59.990
the teachings that we talking about here,

0:55:59.990,0:56:02.181
the ones that are found in the four <i>nikāyas</i>

0:56:02.181,0:56:04.045
and not the later teachings,

0:56:04.565,0:56:05.709
as far as I can see,

0:56:05.709,0:56:07.903
they are <i>not</i> a philosophy.

0:56:07.903,0:56:09.307
The philosophy of Buddhism

0:56:09.307,0:56:11.180
is something that arises later on.

0:56:11.180,0:56:13.507
That is what the <i>Abhidhamma</i> is all about,

0:56:13.507,0:56:15.213
that is really philosophy.

0:56:16.873,0:56:19.458
You may have heard about very famous

0:56:19.458,0:56:21.687
simile of the Buddha, the Buddha is

0:56:21.687,0:56:23.991
in the place called the Gosinga Wood

0:56:23.991,0:56:26.151
and he takes a handful of leaves

0:56:26.151,0:56:27.883
and he says, "these handfuls of leaves

0:56:27.883,0:56:29.360
I have in my hand, compared to

0:56:29.360,0:56:31.782
all the handfuls of leaves in the forest,

0:56:31.782,0:56:33.511
which is more?"

0:56:34.651,0:56:35.655
So the monks obviously say,

0:56:35.655,0:56:37.706
"the handful of leaves in your hand are few

0:56:37.706,0:56:40.381
and ones in the forest are great

0:56:40.381,0:56:41.809
in comparison."

0:56:41.809,0:56:42.886
And then the Buddha says,

0:56:42.886,0:56:44.992
"what I have taught you

0:56:44.992,0:56:48.242
is comparable to the leaves in my hand,

0:56:48.242,0:56:50.177
but what I know is comparable

0:56:50.177,0:56:51.619
to all the leaves in the forest."

0:56:52.329,0:56:53.824
So what is going on here?

0:56:53.824,0:56:55.144
What about the rest of the stuff?

0:56:55.144,0:56:56.138
Wouldn't you guys be interested

0:56:56.138,0:56:57.746
in hearing about the rest of the stuff?

0:56:57.746,0:56:59.053
If the Buddha has all this knowledge,

0:56:59.053,0:56:59.996
it would be interesting

0:56:59.996,0:57:01.661
to hear about all the other stuff.

0:57:01.661,0:57:02.529
Why does he only teach us

0:57:02.529,0:57:03.571
these little few things?

0:57:04.501,0:57:05.488
And the point here,

0:57:05.488,0:57:07.315
remember that the purpose of the Buddha,

0:57:07.315,0:57:10.230
he is a compassionate teacher

0:57:10.230,0:57:12.159
he has understood the one thing

0:57:12.159,0:57:14.078
everybody in the whole world

0:57:14.078,0:57:15.740
wants to know about.

0:57:15.740,0:57:16.578
He has understood about

0:57:16.578,0:57:18.260
happiness and suffering to the core.

0:57:18.860,0:57:19.877
Look in your heart,

0:57:19.877,0:57:21.023
what is it that you want?

0:57:21.023,0:57:22.966
What is it that you yearn for?

0:57:23.916,0:57:27.084
We are always trying to move towards

0:57:27.084,0:57:30.056
more contentment, more satisfaction,

0:57:30.056,0:57:32.071
more pleasure, more happiness,

0:57:32.071,0:57:34.323
less depression, less sorrow,

0:57:34.323,0:57:35.706
less pain.

0:57:35.706,0:57:37.083
Everybody wants that.

0:57:37.083,0:57:38.225
I've never met anybody who

0:57:38.225,0:57:39.413
wants more depression.

0:57:39.413,0:57:41.419
Unless they are really messed up

0:57:41.419,0:57:43.711
psychologically, possibly, but then

0:57:43.711,0:57:45.251
they have other problems.

0:57:45.251,0:57:47.199
The point is we all want to move there.

0:57:47.199,0:57:48.827
And the Buddha knows, "I have the answer."

0:57:48.827,0:57:52.740
So then he decides to teach

0:57:52.740,0:57:54.143
out of compassion,

0:57:54.143,0:57:56.554
to help people overcome their problems,

0:57:56.554,0:57:58.527
and give rise to the highest happiness.

0:57:58.527,0:58:00.524
That is what <i>nibbāna</i> is all about.

0:58:00.524,0:58:02.529
So it's pragmatic!

0:58:02.529,0:58:04.624
The teaching is <i>purely pragmatic</i>.

0:58:04.624,0:58:06.810
It has a very clear purpose, and

0:58:06.810,0:58:08.793
you don't want to distract that teaching

0:58:08.793,0:58:10.597
with things that have nothing to do

0:58:10.597,0:58:12.789
with that pragmatic goal, which is to

0:58:12.789,0:58:15.208
alleviate suffering in all beings.

0:58:15.648,0:58:18.602
This is why the Buddha doesn't philosophise.

0:58:18.602,0:58:19.565
What is philosophy?

0:58:19.565,0:58:23.099
Philosophy is about Plato,

0:58:23.099,0:58:24.569
and Aristotle,

0:58:24.569,0:58:26.301
and Socrates,

0:58:26.301,0:58:28.309
and we find people in the present day.

0:58:28.309,0:58:30.037
We find it not only in the West, of course,

0:58:30.037,0:58:31.733
you find it also everywhere.

0:58:31.733,0:58:32.713
This is what the later

0:58:32.713,0:58:34.163
<i>Abhidhamma</i> people did also.

0:58:34.163,0:58:36.456
It's philosophising, it's creating,

0:58:36.456,0:58:38.992
it's speculating about the world.

0:58:38.992,0:58:40.568
It's based a little bit on fact,

0:58:40.568,0:58:41.754
because you have a little bit

0:58:41.754,0:58:43.749
of science and put these kind of things,

0:58:43.749,0:58:45.278
but a lot of philosophy is

0:58:45.278,0:58:47.468
thinking out systems,

0:58:47.468,0:58:49.378
castles in the air

0:58:49.378,0:58:50.518
that are built up,

0:58:50.518,0:58:52.738
often with no foundations,

0:58:52.738,0:58:53.594
a little bit of foundations,

0:58:53.594,0:58:54.588
but not much.

0:58:54.588,0:58:57.251
This is what philosophy is all about.

0:58:57.251,0:58:58.671
And the Buddha, I think he knew...

0:58:58.671,0:58:59.840
I'm not saying the Buddha

0:58:59.840,0:59:01.333
would have built up anything

0:59:01.333,0:59:03.460
without foundation, on the contrary,

0:59:03.460,0:59:05.368
he probably would have good reasons

0:59:05.368,0:59:07.548
for saying what he would have said

0:59:07.548,0:59:10.079
if he had said so, but he didn't.

0:59:10.789,0:59:13.183
Even though he knew what he was talking

0:59:13.183,0:59:16.021
about, he knew that it would detract

0:59:16.021,0:59:18.173
from the actual practice,

0:59:18.173,0:59:20.438
because, once you start to present

0:59:20.438,0:59:21.903
a philosophical system

0:59:21.903,0:59:23.647
a system which explains everything

0:59:23.647,0:59:24.700
in the world,

0:59:24.700,0:59:26.203
that's very fascinating, right?

0:59:26.203,0:59:27.633
I just said before,

0:59:27.633,0:59:29.322
who of you wouldn't be interested

0:59:29.322,0:59:30.688
in hearing about all the other leaves,

0:59:30.688,0:59:31.651
Everybody went,

0:59:31.651,0:59:33.302
"yeah, that would be exciting"

0:59:33.302,0:59:34.670
I think the same,

0:59:34.670,0:59:36.083
it would be exciting for me, too.

0:59:36.083,0:59:37.423
This is the problem,

0:59:37.423,0:59:38.880
you get sidetracked.

0:59:38.880,0:59:40.269
You start to philosophise.

0:59:40.269,0:59:41.179
The Buddha would've probably

0:59:41.179,0:59:43.468
had to spend the rest of his life

0:59:43.468,0:59:46.078
answering critics, saying,

0:59:46.078,0:59:47.362
"well, you know, this doesn't make any sense",

0:59:47.362,0:59:48.581
"well, actually it does make sense"

0:59:48.581,0:59:48.978
"oh, no"

0:59:48.978,0:59:50.021
and then back and forth,

0:59:50.021,0:59:51.232
back and forth.

0:59:51.232,0:59:53.433
So you focus on the essentials.

0:59:53.433,0:59:56.118
I think this is a very important point.

0:59:56.708,0:59:58.477
This should remind us that

0:59:58.477,1:00:00.420
we should really try to be

1:00:00.420,1:00:04.121
in a similar kind of mindset,

1:00:04.121,1:00:06.643
where we don't philosophise too much.

1:00:06.643,1:00:09.376
It means that dependent arising itself,

1:00:09.376,1:00:10.736
origination itself,

1:00:10.736,1:00:12.901
is not really a philosophy.

1:00:13.361,1:00:14.459
The primary purpose of

1:00:14.459,1:00:16.850
dependent origination is pragmatic.

1:00:16.850,1:00:18.788
It is to show us that there is a problem,

1:00:18.788,1:00:20.824
that there is a solution to that problem,

1:00:20.824,1:00:23.270
and how to apply ourselves.

1:00:23.270,1:00:24.390
Of course, it also gives

1:00:24.390,1:00:25.398
a little bit more than that,

1:00:25.398,1:00:27.080
it gives a little bit of understanding

1:00:27.080,1:00:28.612
for how it all works,

1:00:28.612,1:00:30.144
which sometimes gives rise

1:00:30.144,1:00:31.560
to confidence and faith because

1:00:31.560,1:00:33.999
you feel that there is a system

1:00:33.999,1:00:35.471
which is complete.

1:00:35.471,1:00:38.228
But, essentially, it is a pragmatic thing.

1:00:38.228,1:00:40.729
It is about release from suffering

1:00:40.729,1:00:42.461
and a movement towards happiness,

1:00:42.461,1:00:44.202
and getting out of <i>saṃsāra</i>.

1:00:44.202,1:00:46.323
This is the purpose of this.

1:00:46.893,1:00:49.052
So the Buddha didn't philosophise.

1:00:49.842,1:00:52.596
This is the thing about the <i>Abhidhamma</i>,

1:00:52.596,1:00:54.181
I don't know what kind of ideas

1:00:54.181,1:00:55.801
you have about the <i>Abhidhamma</i>,

1:00:55.801,1:00:58.237
but as far as I am concerned,

1:00:58.237,1:01:00.761
and I read Pāli,

1:01:00.761,1:01:02.672
I have read parts of the <i>Abhidhamma</i>

1:01:02.672,1:01:03.352
not the whole thing

1:01:03.352,1:01:04.594
because I find it too boring,

1:01:04.594,1:01:07.221
to be perfectly honest with you,

1:01:07.221,1:01:08.616
and I've also read the suttas,

1:01:08.616,1:01:10.429
pretty much everything in Pāli, and

1:01:10.429,1:01:13.206
in English and in other languages as well,

1:01:13.206,1:01:15.674
and it is very clear to me,

1:01:15.674,1:01:17.515
that the <i>Abhidhamma</i> is later

1:01:17.515,1:01:18.314
than the suttas.

1:01:18.314,1:01:20.680
It arose over a long period of time,

1:01:20.680,1:01:22.136
because this is a very complex

1:01:22.136,1:01:24.020
type of literature.

1:01:24.020,1:01:25.031
It started arising

1:01:25.031,1:01:26.931
probably fairly soon after the Buddha

1:01:26.931,1:01:28.466
and went on being developed

1:01:28.466,1:01:29.765
for many centuries,

1:01:29.765,1:01:30.802
perhaps millennia

1:01:30.802,1:01:32.744
after the Buddha passed away.

1:01:34.724,1:01:35.989
I'm not going to go into that now,

1:01:35.989,1:01:36.616
if you are interested

1:01:36.616,1:01:37.908
you can ask in the Q&amp;A,

1:01:37.908,1:01:39.767
but there are many, many good reasons why

1:01:39.767,1:01:40.816
the <i>Abhidhamma</i> is not

1:01:40.816,1:01:42.135
the word of the Buddha.

1:01:42.135,1:01:43.675
But the <i>Abhidhamma</i> is precisely

1:01:43.675,1:01:45.489
a philosophical system.

1:01:46.349,1:01:46.855
Why?

1:01:46.855,1:01:49.321
Because it is about creating

1:01:49.321,1:01:51.637
a system which explains the world

1:01:51.637,1:01:52.595
completely.

1:01:52.935,1:01:54.089
So you have this division of

1:01:54.089,1:01:56.952
mind-moments, or mind-states

1:01:58.062,1:02:01.223
96 <i>cittas</i>, or something like that,

1:02:01.223,1:02:03.043
and then you have the various

1:02:03.043,1:02:05.231
types of mind-factors

1:02:05.231,1:02:06.590
called the <i>cetasikas</i>,

1:02:06.590,1:02:09.096
which are 70 or whatever it is,

1:02:09.096,1:02:12.014
I'm not even sure how many there are,

1:02:12.014,1:02:13.029
maybe it's only 40.

1:02:13.029,1:02:13.802
Shows you how much

1:02:13.802,1:02:15.382
I know about the <i>Abhidhamma</i>.

1:02:15.382,1:02:16.847
And then you have

1:02:16.847,1:02:19.001
the factors of materiality,

1:02:19.001,1:02:20.256
the physical world.

1:02:20.256,1:02:21.516
There's 28, or something,

1:02:21.516,1:02:23.358
or 20 something. 24 perhaps.

1:02:26.138,1:02:27.940
First of all, it's divided up

1:02:27.940,1:02:29.984
into all the elements of reality,

1:02:29.984,1:02:31.612
and then you have all these books

1:02:31.612,1:02:33.859
that show how these things fit together.

1:02:33.859,1:02:35.742
There is a book called the <i>Paṭṭhāna</i>,

1:02:35.742,1:02:38.642
which is a book, basically, translated

1:02:38.642,1:02:41.310
into English as 'conditional relations'.

1:02:41.310,1:02:42.853
What that book does,

1:02:42.853,1:02:45.217
it shows you that all of these categories

1:02:45.217,1:02:46.682
I just talked about before,

1:02:46.682,1:02:48.886
how they are related to each other

1:02:48.886,1:02:51.801
through various causes.

1:02:51.801,1:02:54.169
24 causes are enumerated

1:02:54.169,1:02:55.307
in the Pāli.

1:02:55.307,1:02:57.746
And the book, the <i>Paṭṭhāna</i>, is so long

1:02:57.746,1:02:59.587
because there are so intricacies,

1:02:59.587,1:03:00.551
so many ways these things

1:03:00.551,1:03:02.537
can relate to each other,

1:03:02.537,1:03:03.572
it is so long that if you wrote out

1:03:03.572,1:03:04.638
the whole thing

1:03:04.638,1:03:06.089
- somebody apparently calculated this -

1:03:06.089,1:03:07.633
if you wrote out the whole thing,

1:03:07.633,1:03:10.514
the book would be so long

1:03:10.514,1:03:11.403
that it would stretch

1:03:11.403,1:03:12.699
from Sydney to Melbourne,

1:03:12.699,1:03:13.724
or something like that.

1:03:13.724,1:03:14.782
That's how big it is.

1:03:15.532,1:03:17.625
So this is thought out

1:03:17.625,1:03:18.745
by the human mind.

1:03:18.745,1:03:20.720
This is what they call philosophy.

1:03:20.720,1:03:21.659
And this is what happened

1:03:21.659,1:03:22.894
later in Buddhism.

1:03:22.894,1:03:24.408
Of course, the sad thing is that

1:03:24.408,1:03:27.167
if you travel around the Buddhist world,

1:03:27.167,1:03:28.683
you find that a lot of people,

1:03:28.683,1:03:30.258
that's what their interested in.

1:03:30.828,1:03:32.741
It's exactly why the Buddha didn't teach it.

1:03:32.741,1:03:34.165
He saw the attraction in that,

1:03:34.165,1:03:35.262
the danger in that,

1:03:35.262,1:03:37.217
creating philosophical systems,

1:03:37.217,1:03:38.600
building them up,

1:03:38.600,1:03:40.142
and it's never finished.

1:03:40.142,1:03:41.375
This is the other problem,

1:03:41.375,1:03:43.708
there's always some hole in the system.

1:03:43.708,1:03:44.193
Somebody says,

1:03:44.193,1:03:45.553
"oh, what about this?

1:03:45.553,1:03:46.647
You haven't thought about

1:03:46.647,1:03:47.432
this problem over here."

1:03:47.432,1:03:48.865
And then you have to write a new

1:03:48.865,1:03:51.574
sub-commentary to fill in that little gap.

1:03:51.574,1:03:52.622
Then somebody finds a hole

1:03:52.622,1:03:54.476
in the sub-commentary and the more

1:03:54.476,1:03:55.587
literature you have,

1:03:55.587,1:03:57.270
the more holes there's going to be.

1:03:57.270,1:03:58.745
So for every book you add,

1:03:58.745,1:04:00.170
there going to be another whole.

1:04:00.850,1:04:01.980
And it keeps on going like that

1:04:01.980,1:04:02.812
and there's no end.

1:04:02.812,1:04:04.933
This is the problem with philosophy,

1:04:04.933,1:04:06.416
it never, never stops.

1:04:06.876,1:04:08.997
So the Buddha, very, very wisely,

1:04:08.997,1:04:10.705
skipped that whole area.

1:04:12.395,1:04:14.198
So dependent origination

1:04:14.198,1:04:15.740
is <i>not</i> philosophy.

1:04:15.740,1:04:17.699
It's pragmatic, it's practical,

1:04:17.699,1:04:20.281
it's to be used in a practical way.

1:04:20.281,1:04:21.746
So please keep that in mind.

1:04:21.746,1:04:23.165
It's so easy to get sidetracked

1:04:23.165,1:04:25.143
with philosophising.

1:04:26.463,1:04:27.991
So what is Buddhism?

1:04:27.991,1:04:29.578
Maybe just very briefly: what it is,

1:04:29.578,1:04:31.311
because I think it is interesting

1:04:31.311,1:04:33.829
just as a point of general interest.

1:04:33.829,1:04:35.610
Is it a religion?

1:04:37.160,1:04:37.738
Is it a religion?

1:04:37.738,1:04:38.462
People say,

1:04:38.462,1:04:39.567
"aah, yeah, maybe,

1:04:39.567,1:04:40.964
maybe not it's a religion."

1:04:40.964,1:04:42.944
I think it's a fascinating question.

1:04:42.944,1:04:44.750
Personally, I think it's fascinating,

1:04:44.750,1:04:46.327
whether it's a religion or not.

1:04:46.327,1:04:47.997
Obviously, the answer is,

1:04:47.997,1:04:48.969
it all depends on how

1:04:48.969,1:04:50.797
you define the word 'religion'.

1:04:51.667,1:04:53.158
I looked up the Oxford Dictionary,

1:04:53.158,1:04:54.099
very recently,

1:04:54.099,1:04:56.566
at how that defines 'religion',

1:04:57.056,1:04:59.613
and it says any kind of system

1:04:59.613,1:05:00.374
where there is some kind of

1:05:00.374,1:05:03.671
supernatural agency is a religion.

1:05:04.471,1:05:06.482
From that point of view,

1:05:06.482,1:05:08.366
is Buddhism a religion?

1:05:08.366,1:05:11.217
I would say no, it is not, because, certainly

1:05:11.217,1:05:13.539
from an internal point of view of Buddhism

1:05:13.539,1:05:14.982
everything is part of nature.

1:05:14.982,1:05:16.694
Nothing is supernatural,

1:05:16.694,1:05:18.811
Nothing is outside of nature.

1:05:18.811,1:05:20.278
If you go to ordinary religions,

1:05:20.278,1:05:23.066
like, Christianity or Islam, of course,

1:05:23.066,1:05:24.834
the idea is that God stands outside

1:05:24.834,1:05:25.814
of nature.

1:05:26.354,1:05:28.485
That's why he can break all the laws of nature.

1:05:28.485,1:05:29.613
He doesn't have to care about

1:05:29.613,1:05:30.869
gravity or whatever.

1:05:31.599,1:05:32.888
He can just do whatever he wants.

1:05:32.888,1:05:34.661
Quantum mechanics, no problem,

1:05:34.661,1:05:38.626
he can do what he likes with the world.

1:05:38.626,1:05:39.843
He is supernatural.

1:05:39.843,1:05:41.373
But from a Buddhist point of view,

1:05:41.373,1:05:43.252
everything is part of nature.

1:05:43.252,1:05:44.407
So in that way,

1:05:44.407,1:05:46.424
Buddhism is not, really, supernatural.

1:05:46.424,1:05:49.534
But, if you're not a Buddhist and you say,

1:05:49.534,1:05:51.056
"aww, you guys believe in all kind

1:05:51.056,1:05:53.563
of weird stuff, you believe in devas,

1:05:53.563,1:05:55.046
okay; supernatural."

1:05:55.046,1:05:57.001
So from an external point of view,

1:05:57.001,1:05:58.313
maybe Buddhism <i>is</i> a religion,

1:05:58.313,1:05:59.408
because other people might think

1:05:59.408,1:06:02.234
that we believe in supernatural stuff.

1:06:02.234,1:06:05.094
So it depends on the angle you take.

1:06:07.714,1:06:10.619
I must admit, I prefer to be very careful

1:06:10.619,1:06:12.408
when using labels like 'religion'

1:06:12.408,1:06:13.857
on Buddhism, because the word

1:06:13.857,1:06:16.437
'religion' has so much baggage,

1:06:16.437,1:06:18.527
and a lot of that baggage does not

1:06:18.527,1:06:19.962
apply to Buddhism.

1:06:19.962,1:06:22.363
So we are taking on this baggage

1:06:22.363,1:06:24.210
by calling ourself a religion;

1:06:24.210,1:06:26.256
I'm not sure that is very suitable,

1:06:26.256,1:06:27.217
or very useful.

1:06:27.217,1:06:28.440
Sometimes it's better to say,

1:06:28.440,1:06:30.102
"yeah, I'm not sure we're a religion,

1:06:30.102,1:06:31.467
maybe we're something else."

1:06:31.467,1:06:33.731
So what is that something else?

1:06:33.731,1:06:35.844
I would say that something else is that,

1:06:35.844,1:06:37.839
Buddhism is essentially...

1:06:37.839,1:06:39.059
this is maybe something I need to

1:06:39.059,1:06:40.430
reflect a bit more about, but

1:06:40.430,1:06:42.563
it's really a type of psychology.

1:06:42.563,1:06:44.269
That's what I'd call Buddhism.

1:06:44.269,1:06:45.831
All of Buddhism is about

1:06:45.831,1:06:47.517
how to use the mind well,

1:06:47.517,1:06:50.077
how to move from suffering

1:06:50.077,1:06:51.252
to more happiness,

1:06:51.252,1:06:53.713
how to eventually end all suffering.

1:06:53.713,1:06:55.650
It's all really mental stuff.

1:06:55.650,1:06:57.365
It's all about developing the mind,

1:06:57.365,1:06:58.778
doing something with the mind.

1:06:58.778,1:07:00.373
It's a kind of psychology.

1:07:00.373,1:07:02.350
Maybe not anything like

1:07:02.350,1:07:04.209
anything we have in the world

1:07:06.729,1:07:07.892
apart from Buddhism,

1:07:07.892,1:07:10.379
it's different obviously, but it really is,

1:07:10.379,1:07:11.798
I think, at the end of the day,

1:07:11.798,1:07:13.593
possibly a type of psychology.

1:07:13.593,1:07:14.603
Although, I must admit,

1:07:14.603,1:07:15.774
I haven't really

1:07:16.344,1:07:17.704
thought about that carefully enough

1:07:17.704,1:07:21.049
to really make an absolute statement

1:07:21.049,1:07:22.103
about that.

1:07:23.223,1:07:26.757
Anyway, Buddhism is a psychology,

1:07:26.757,1:07:28.320
and, of course, that includes then

1:07:28.320,1:07:29.746
dependent origination.

1:07:31.178,1:07:33.907
So where does this fit in to this picture

1:07:33.907,1:07:35.047
of psychology?

1:07:35.787,1:07:37.582
What is it all about?

1:07:39.112,1:07:41.524
Dependent arising, the first thing,

1:07:41.524,1:07:43.688
of course, to understand about it,

1:07:43.688,1:07:45.865
is that it is an important teaching

1:07:45.865,1:07:47.609
of the Buddha.

1:07:47.609,1:07:48.401
How do you know

1:07:48.401,1:07:50.350
it's an important teaching of the Buddha?

1:07:50.350,1:07:52.293
Well, usually, you know because

1:07:52.293,1:07:53.942
somebody else says so.

1:07:53.942,1:07:54.913
That's how people often know

1:07:54.913,1:07:56.209
it is an important teaching,

1:07:56.209,1:07:57.574
"this is important because they say

1:07:57.574,1:07:58.756
it's an important teaching."

1:07:58.756,1:08:00.852
But is there any objective way

1:08:00.852,1:08:02.355
of deciding this, apart from just

1:08:02.355,1:08:03.767
listening to people like me

1:08:03.767,1:08:05.160
saying it is important?

1:08:06.170,1:08:08.252
The objective way of deciding

1:08:08.252,1:08:10.201
whether a teaching is important

1:08:10.201,1:08:12.853
in Buddhism or not, is to see how often

1:08:12.853,1:08:14.981
did the Buddha talk about this.

1:08:14.981,1:08:16.636
How many different audiences?

1:08:16.636,1:08:18.167
How many different places

1:08:18.167,1:08:20.200
did he give this particular teaching?

1:08:20.200,1:08:21.702
And dependent arising is one

1:08:21.702,1:08:23.104
of those teachings that you see

1:08:23.104,1:08:24.817
<i>throughout</i> the suttas.

1:08:24.817,1:08:26.773
You see it in all the four <i>nikāyas</i>.

1:08:26.773,1:08:28.555
You see it in the <i>Majjhima Nikāya</i>.

1:08:28.555,1:08:29.932
You see it in the <i>Dīgha Nikāya</i>.

1:08:29.932,1:08:32.395
You see it in the <i>Aṅguttara</i>, in the <i>Saṃyutta</i>.

1:08:32.395,1:08:33.774
In the <i>Saṃyutta Nikāya</i>,

1:08:33.774,1:08:35.497
there is a whole section <i>just</i> about

1:08:35.497,1:08:37.304
dependent origination.

1:08:37.304,1:08:39.667
This is how you make a decision

1:08:39.667,1:08:41.779
about whether a sutta is important

1:08:41.779,1:08:42.513
or not.

1:08:43.633,1:08:45.625
This is actually a very useful tool,

1:08:45.625,1:08:46.743
because sometimes people say,

1:08:46.743,1:08:48.098
"ah, this is really important."

1:08:48.098,1:08:50.050
But why is it important?

1:08:50.050,1:08:51.859
"I don't know, it just is important."

1:08:51.859,1:08:53.281
There should be some objective

1:08:53.281,1:08:55.488
criteria for deciding these things.

1:08:55.488,1:08:56.629
So dependent arising is

1:08:56.629,1:08:58.096
one of those things.

1:08:58.920,1:09:00.572
The second question is then:

1:09:00.572,1:09:02.328
how does it fit in with

1:09:02.328,1:09:04.660
the rest of the teachings?

1:09:04.660,1:09:05.974
Because we need to sort of

1:09:05.974,1:09:08.219
tie it together with everything else.

1:09:08.219,1:09:09.680
One of the wonderful things

1:09:09.680,1:09:12.810
about the Buddhist teaching, is that

1:09:12.810,1:09:15.381
it all fits together into this one picture.

1:09:16.341,1:09:17.732
It's basically one picture,

1:09:17.732,1:09:19.162
then you take out a little piece here

1:09:19.162,1:09:19.962
a little piece there,

1:09:19.962,1:09:21.506
it's almost like a jigsaw.

1:09:21.506,1:09:22.435
It's not really like a jigsaw.

1:09:22.435,1:09:25.341
A jigsaw is a very imperfect simile,

1:09:25.341,1:09:27.638
or metaphor, because really, often,

1:09:27.638,1:09:29.319
the different pieces they overlap,

1:09:29.319,1:09:31.064
or one fits into another one

1:09:31.064,1:09:33.877
and it's not really quite like a jigsaw,

1:09:33.877,1:09:36.981
but still, it is an overall picture.

1:09:36.981,1:09:39.613
And it is the picture that you realise

1:09:39.613,1:09:41.622
when you awaken to the Dhamma.

1:09:41.622,1:09:43.466
When you, one day, become a stream enterer

1:09:43.466,1:09:45.169
and you get a flash of insight,

1:09:45.169,1:09:46.136
BANG!

1:09:46.136,1:09:47.564
What is it that you see?

1:09:47.564,1:09:48.106
What you see is:

1:09:48.106,1:09:49.041
the <i>Dīgha Nikāya</i>, the <i>Majjhima Nikāya</i>

1:09:49.041,1:09:50.662
the <i>Saṃyutta Nikāya</i>, the <i>Aṅguttara Nikāya</i>.

1:09:50.662,1:09:51.779
All in one!

1:09:51.779,1:09:53.109
That's what you see!

1:09:53.109,1:09:53.993
<i>Whoa</i>!

1:09:53.993,1:09:55.124
You're head is going to explode!

1:09:55.124,1:09:56.948
Imagine seeing all that is one moment.

1:09:56.948,1:09:58.523
But the point, of course, is that

1:09:58.523,1:10:01.116
the insight is quite simple,

1:10:01.116,1:10:03.737
but when you draw out all the implications

1:10:03.737,1:10:05.632
of that one single insight,

1:10:05.632,1:10:08.308
you end up with an enormous thing.

1:10:08.798,1:10:10.472
That is what is so amazing.

1:10:14.332,1:10:17.295
So dependent origination is part of that.

1:10:17.295,1:10:19.134
It is part of that big picture,

1:10:19.134,1:10:20.407
but it is only one little thing.

1:10:20.407,1:10:22.129
So where does it fit in?

1:10:23.109,1:10:25.295
One easy way of understanding

1:10:25.295,1:10:27.332
where it fits in is to look at

1:10:27.332,1:10:28.922
the Four Noble Truths.

1:10:29.953,1:10:30.726
Noble Truth number one,

1:10:30.726,1:10:32.095
is the truth of suffering.

1:10:33.425,1:10:35.406
Usually, most people shake their head,

1:10:35.406,1:10:37.282
"okay, I'm not a Buddhist, I don't suffer."

1:10:37.282,1:10:38.513
That is number one.

1:10:40.363,1:10:42.574
Anyway, once you get passed the first one,

1:10:42.574,1:10:44.288
you say, "okay, yeah, life is a bit

1:10:44.288,1:10:46.726
unsatisfactory sometimes, okay, fair enough."

1:10:46.726,1:10:48.883
Once you get passed the first one,

1:10:48.883,1:10:51.398
the Second Noble Truth:

1:10:51.398,1:10:53.501
the cause of suffering.

1:10:53.501,1:10:56.214
The cause of suffering is <i>taṇhā</i>, craving,

1:10:56.214,1:10:59.268
according to the Second Noble Truth.

1:10:59.268,1:11:01.217
Now, in some suttas,

1:11:03.307,1:11:04.977
that fact that

1:11:04.977,1:11:06.883
<i>taṇhā</i> leads to suffering

1:11:06.883,1:11:08.440
is expanded out,

1:11:08.440,1:11:09.507
and it is expanded out

1:11:09.507,1:11:12.095
into dependent origination.

1:11:12.095,1:11:14.182
Dependent origination is what shows you

1:11:14.182,1:11:15.544
that suffering arises.

1:11:15.544,1:11:18.005
It's an alternative way of understanding

1:11:18.005,1:11:19.882
the Second Noble Truth.

1:11:19.882,1:11:22.671
So dependent origination fits,

1:11:22.671,1:11:24.006
<i>bang</i> in there.

1:11:24.758,1:11:27.503
It is basically another way of speaking

1:11:27.503,1:11:29.724
about the Second Noble Truth,

1:11:29.724,1:11:31.312
dependent origination.

1:11:31.312,1:11:33.243
That's already quite interesting

1:11:33.243,1:11:35.333
because normally you look at

1:11:35.333,1:11:36.730
the Second Noble Truth,

1:11:36.730,1:11:39.498
craving gives rise to suffering.

1:11:39.998,1:11:41.901
Okay, fine,

1:11:41.901,1:11:43.558
first of all maybe it's a little bit

1:11:43.558,1:11:46.092
hard to understand why that is the case,

1:11:46.092,1:11:48.458
so one thing that dependent origination

1:11:48.458,1:11:51.110
does, it spells out exactly why it is

1:11:51.110,1:11:53.841
that craving gives rise to suffering.

1:11:53.841,1:11:56.317
It puts in all the little pieces in between

1:11:56.317,1:11:58.155
to show you how this conditionality

1:11:58.155,1:11:59.016
actually works.

1:11:59.876,1:12:00.598
That's the first thing that's

1:12:00.598,1:12:01.549
interesting about it.

1:12:01.549,1:12:02.800
The second thing is,

1:12:02.800,1:12:07.485
okay, if craving is the cause of suffering

1:12:07.485,1:12:08.310
the Third Noble Truth says that

1:12:08.310,1:12:10.061
when you remove that craving

1:12:10.061,1:12:11.269
suffering ends.

1:12:12.239,1:12:16.384
But, how do you get rid of craving?

1:12:16.384,1:12:17.710
If craving is the cause of suffering,

1:12:17.710,1:12:18.679
you want to get rid of craving.

1:12:18.679,1:12:20.451
It's not very obvious, right?

1:12:20.451,1:12:22.118
Everybody has desires,

1:12:22.118,1:12:23.887
everybody has cravings in their life.

1:12:23.887,1:12:25.341
How do you get rid of that?

1:12:25.341,1:12:26.699
And this is the other thing that

1:12:26.699,1:12:28.934
dependent arising, dependent origination

1:12:28.934,1:12:29.753
shows you.

1:12:29.753,1:12:31.230
It shows you all the links,

1:12:31.230,1:12:33.732
all the causes that eventually

1:12:33.732,1:12:35.235
give rise to craving.

1:12:35.235,1:12:36.625
So it shows you have craving

1:12:36.625,1:12:37.954
can be removed.

1:12:37.954,1:12:39.553
And, of course, what it does,

1:12:40.313,1:12:42.419
it takes it all back down to ignorance

1:12:42.419,1:12:43.818
I was talking about before,

1:12:43.818,1:12:45.530
which is the first factor of

1:12:45.530,1:12:47.415
dependent arising.

1:12:47.415,1:12:48.693
So if you remove ignorance,

1:12:48.693,1:12:49.893
then everything else

1:12:49.893,1:12:52.253
starts to disappear.

1:12:52.253,1:12:53.497
Craving, and then

1:12:53.497,1:12:56.824
eventually also suffering itself.

1:12:57.574,1:12:59.103
So it fills in the gaps.

1:12:59.103,1:13:00.759
It makes it clear what is going on.

1:13:00.759,1:13:02.746
This is the power of dependent origination

1:13:02.746,1:13:04.146
in this case.

1:13:04.146,1:13:05.805
The second thing that is fascinating

1:13:05.805,1:13:08.045
about this, and often you will hear

1:13:08.045,1:13:09.860
people argue about whether

1:13:09.860,1:13:12.400
dependent origination includes

1:13:12.400,1:13:14.211
things like rebirth.

1:13:14.211,1:13:15.384
Is it about rebirth?

1:13:15.384,1:13:16.730
Is it about one life?

1:13:16.730,1:13:18.956
Is it about what happens in one moment?

1:13:18.956,1:13:20.222
People have all these different theories

1:13:20.222,1:13:21.686
about dependent origination.

1:13:21.686,1:13:23.816
I don't know about you here,

1:13:23.816,1:13:25.805
I'm not sure what you think.

1:13:25.805,1:13:27.381
I'm not going to ask you.

1:13:28.431,1:13:30.538
I, personally, don't have any doubt

1:13:30.538,1:13:32.402
that it refers to rebirth.

1:13:32.402,1:13:34.899
The rebirth process is part and parcel

1:13:34.899,1:13:36.578
of dependent origination,

1:13:36.578,1:13:37.898
and you can actually see that

1:13:37.898,1:13:40.002
if you consider the Second Noble Truth,

1:13:40.002,1:13:43.049
or at least one hint is found right there

1:13:43.049,1:13:44.718
because, the Second Noble Truth says

1:13:44.718,1:13:48.079
it is the craving that leasts to rebirth,

1:13:48.079,1:13:50.369
which is the source of suffering.

1:13:50.369,1:13:52.074
It's not just any old craving,

1:13:52.074,1:13:55.200
it's specifically called <i>ponobhavika</i>

1:13:55.200,1:13:58.402
<i>Pono</i> is from <i>puna</i> which means 'again'.

1:13:58.402,1:14:00.317
<i>Bhavika</i> means existence.

1:14:00.317,1:14:02.438
So the craving that has to do with

1:14:02.438,1:14:03.984
re-existence.

1:14:04.374,1:14:06.089
So because dependent origination

1:14:06.089,1:14:08.230
is just an expansion of that

1:14:08.230,1:14:09.908
Second Noble Truth,

1:14:09.908,1:14:11.380
dependent origination, too,

1:14:11.380,1:14:13.858
has to do with rebirth

1:14:13.858,1:14:15.683
and re-existence in the future.

1:14:15.683,1:14:17.467
It becomes very clear once you whack it

1:14:17.467,1:14:20.449
into that formula and they obviously

1:14:20.449,1:14:21.797
have to equate with each other,

1:14:21.797,1:14:23.009
it's the same thing,

1:14:23.009,1:14:24.877
so it deals with rebirth.

1:14:24.877,1:14:26.973
That's one thing I've been saying before,

1:14:26.973,1:14:28.483
I talked about the various

1:14:29.563,1:14:32.498
things that dependent origination points to

1:14:32.498,1:14:33.941
such as <i>kamma</i> et cetera,

1:14:33.941,1:14:35.685
of course, rebirth and <i>kamma</i>

1:14:35.685,1:14:37.875
are here closely connected to each other.

1:14:39.605,1:14:41.794
So this is where it is then,

1:14:41.794,1:14:43.708
it is part of the Second Noble Truth,

1:14:43.708,1:14:44.987
and straight away you see some

1:14:44.987,1:14:46.401
interesting things coming out,

1:14:46.401,1:14:47.755
just by considering that.

1:14:48.401,1:14:49.672
Third Noble Truth.

1:14:49.672,1:14:50.926
The Third Noble Truth is about

1:14:50.926,1:14:53.067
the ending of suffering.

1:14:53.067,1:14:54.709
It's great that there is a Third Noble Truth.

1:14:54.709,1:14:56.438
Without that it wouldn't be so great,

1:14:56.438,1:14:58.625
just the cause of suffering and suffering.

1:14:58.625,1:14:59.537
So the third one is like,

1:14:59.537,1:15:00.808
WOW!

1:15:01.268,1:15:03.326
This is the power of the Buddha's teaching

1:15:03.326,1:15:04.704
that we have the Third Noble Truth

1:15:04.704,1:15:05.632
and the fourth on, of course,

1:15:05.632,1:15:07.147
which is the path.

1:15:07.147,1:15:08.330
Now the third one

1:15:08.850,1:15:12.389
shows us that the cessation of suffering

1:15:12.389,1:15:15.568
comes from the cessation of craving.

1:15:15.568,1:15:18.666
Again, the sequence of dependent arising,

1:15:18.666,1:15:20.090
it has a forward order

1:15:20.090,1:15:22.239
and it has a reverse order.

1:15:22.239,1:15:24.591
And here it operates in the reverse order.

1:15:24.591,1:15:25.386
It shows you that

1:15:25.386,1:15:27.346
when you eliminate <i>avijjā</i>,

1:15:27.346,1:15:29.199
ignorance, at the bottom

1:15:29.199,1:15:30.930
all the factors get eliminated

1:15:30.930,1:15:32.474
until you eliminate craving

1:15:32.474,1:15:34.088
and then it fills in the gap

1:15:34.088,1:15:36.264
between craving and <i>dukkha</i>.

1:15:36.264,1:15:37.896
All of those factors get eliminated

1:15:37.896,1:15:40.040
and eventually suffering itself

1:15:40.040,1:15:41.346
gets eliminated.

1:15:41.346,1:15:42.917
There are two ways that

1:15:42.917,1:15:44.598
dependent arising works:

1:15:44.598,1:15:45.712
in the forward order,

1:15:45.712,1:15:47.933
which shows you how suffering arises

1:15:47.933,1:15:49.244
and the reverse order,

1:15:49.244,1:15:51.054
which shows how suffering ends

1:15:51.054,1:15:52.620
as a consequence of all the other

1:15:52.620,1:15:54.228
factors ending.

1:15:55.238,1:15:58.537
Second Noble Truth and Third Noble Truth.

1:15:59.477,1:16:01.578
I hope I'm making sense to you.

1:16:01.578,1:16:03.263
I'm not sure how much you

1:16:03.263,1:16:04.256
know about these things,

1:16:04.256,1:16:05.287
or how much you don't.

1:16:05.287,1:16:06.736
I apologise if I go too fast;

1:16:06.736,1:16:08.577
just let me know later on,

1:16:08.577,1:16:10.300
write a little complaint or whatever

1:16:10.300,1:16:12.230
and I'll try to go more slowly.

1:16:12.970,1:16:14.740
Sometimes it's hard because you have

1:16:14.740,1:16:16.697
people at different stages,

1:16:16.697,1:16:18.563
different understandings.

1:16:19.390,1:16:22.645
So this is, then, where... now you can see

1:16:22.645,1:16:25.366
why it is very much a psychology.

1:16:25.366,1:16:28.255
It's all to do with craving, desires,

1:16:28.255,1:16:30.399
how that causes suffering in the end

1:16:30.399,1:16:31.948
and about how it's ignorance,

1:16:31.948,1:16:33.779
which is another mental thing,

1:16:33.779,1:16:35.560
at the very beginning

1:16:35.560,1:16:37.371
which causes this whole thing.

1:16:37.371,1:16:40.302
It all revolves around things in our minds

1:16:40.302,1:16:44.133
and the why our psyches actually work.

1:16:49.008,1:16:52.567
Very briefly, perhaps, ignorance itself

1:16:52.567,1:16:53.851
even though we have this whole chain

1:16:53.851,1:16:54.984
of things starting with

1:16:54.984,1:16:57.069
ignorance, what about ignorance itself?

1:16:57.859,1:16:59.160
Where does that come from?

1:16:59.160,1:17:01.076
Can we say anything about ignorance?

1:17:01.586,1:17:03.364
The Buddhist idea is that ignorance

1:17:03.364,1:17:04.687
has always been there.

1:17:04.687,1:17:06.853
There is not first cause of ignorance.

1:17:08.033,1:17:09.954
I'll talk more about this later on

1:17:09.954,1:17:11.069
but this is one of those things

1:17:11.069,1:17:12.879
that always has existed

1:17:14.389,1:17:16.699
You cannot find the first cause of it.

1:17:16.699,1:17:18.434
Not really always has existed,

1:17:18.434,1:17:20.258
but you cannot find the first cause.

1:17:21.808,1:17:23.453
But, that does not mean

1:17:23.453,1:17:24.381
it cannot be eliminated.

1:17:24.381,1:17:26.277
It can still be eliminated, even though

1:17:26.277,1:17:28.826
there is no first cause to it.

1:17:29.326,1:17:30.897
So that is how it fits into

1:17:30.897,1:17:33.277
this big jigsaw puzzle.

1:17:33.277,1:17:34.509
It's directly there.

1:17:34.509,1:17:35.735
Part and parcel of the

1:17:35.735,1:17:38.245
second and the third Noble Truths.

1:17:38.245,1:17:41.496
And this becomes the importance of

1:17:41.496,1:17:43.890
dependent origination.

1:17:43.890,1:17:44.890
So now,

1:17:45.640,1:17:47.937
I thought of maybe talking,

1:17:47.937,1:17:50.701
very briefly today, just about

1:17:50.701,1:17:53.198
the various links of dependent origination,

1:17:53.198,1:17:55.109
starting from the beginning and show

1:17:55.109,1:17:55.936
just very briefly

1:17:55.936,1:17:58.117
how the whole system works.

1:17:58.117,1:17:59.765
Once we have this overview,

1:17:59.765,1:18:01.694
then we can start to focus in

1:18:01.694,1:18:04.888
on the details maybe tomorrow morning.

1:18:04.888,1:18:06.722
So let's have a look at the overview

1:18:06.722,1:18:09.042
of this whole sequence.

1:18:09.042,1:18:12.429
As I said, it begins with <i>avijjā</i>,

1:18:12.429,1:18:14.253
usually translated as ignorance;

1:18:14.253,1:18:15.805
not a good translation perhaps,

1:18:15.805,1:18:17.158
- I'll talk more about that tomorrow -

1:18:17.158,1:18:19.281
and it ends up with <i>dukkha</i>.

1:18:20.131,1:18:22.017
In between, you have ten other

1:18:22.017,1:18:23.411
factors in between.

1:18:23.411,1:18:26.058
There's 12 links in dependent arising,

1:18:26.058,1:18:28.417
and they are linked,

1:18:28.417,1:18:30.458
there's like a pair-wise linkage.

1:18:31.048,1:18:32.346
Each one of these factors is linked

1:18:32.346,1:18:34.284
to the one which comes after it,

1:18:34.284,1:18:35.974
and it's a causal linkage:

1:18:35.974,1:18:37.888
one thing leading to the next one,

1:18:37.888,1:18:39.747
leading to the next one.

1:18:39.747,1:18:41.206
So the first thing to understand is

1:18:41.206,1:18:46.338
this idea of causality that actually drives

1:18:46.338,1:18:49.469
this thing called dependent origination.

1:18:50.689,1:18:53.035
We start off with <i>avijjā</i>

1:18:53.035,1:18:55.834
and the point here is that once you have <i>avijjā</i>

1:18:55.834,1:18:57.831
the second factor comes into effect

1:18:57.831,1:18:59.891
then third factor all the way to the

1:18:59.891,1:19:02.110
twelfth factor which is called <i>dukkha</i>

1:19:02.110,1:19:03.737
which is suffering.

1:19:04.687,1:19:06.356
The kind of causality you are talking

1:19:06.356,1:19:08.723
about here, and this is spoken about

1:19:08.723,1:19:12.089
in brief also in the suttas themselves,

1:19:12.089,1:19:14.488
It is a type of causality you can call

1:19:14.488,1:19:16.692
sufficient causality.

1:19:16.692,1:19:18.588
Sufficient causality means that

1:19:18.588,1:19:22.638
when the factor preceding another one exists,

1:19:22.638,1:19:24.219
the factor that comes after

1:19:24.219,1:19:26.501
must also exist as a consequence.

1:19:26.501,1:19:28.228
That's what it means to be sufficient.

1:19:28.228,1:19:30.306
In other words, ignorance is sufficient

1:19:30.306,1:19:33.069
for the next factor to exist.

1:19:34.009,1:19:36.069
And then, the next factor is sufficient for the

1:19:36.069,1:19:38.783
third factor to exist, and so on

1:19:38.783,1:19:40.802
all the way to the last factor.

1:19:40.802,1:19:43.944
Each one is sufficient for the following one,

1:19:43.944,1:19:45.685
and what that means is that

1:19:45.685,1:19:47.811
if you have ignorance,

1:19:47.811,1:19:49.329
you have no choice,

1:19:49.329,1:19:50.888
you have to suffer.

1:19:50.888,1:19:53.516
From ignorance comes suffering.

1:19:54.746,1:19:56.083
What is that stupid English saying?

1:19:56.083,1:19:57.420
Ignorance is bliss.

1:19:57.420,1:19:59.116
It's completely wrong!

1:19:59.116,1:20:00.110
It's a mistake.

1:20:00.720,1:20:02.768
It's got it completely the wrong way round,

1:20:02.768,1:20:04.395
ignorance is not bliss.

1:20:04.395,1:20:05.788
If it is bliss, it's a very kind of

1:20:05.788,1:20:07.876
shallow form of stupid, silly bliss.

1:20:07.876,1:20:11.954
The real problem is ignorance <i>must</i>

1:20:11.954,1:20:13.649
cause suffering. That's what we mean

1:20:13.649,1:20:16.136
by sufficient conditions,

1:20:16.136,1:20:18.334
one <i>must</i> lead to the next one,

1:20:18.334,1:20:19.363
one after the other.

1:20:19.363,1:20:21.986
If you have ignorance, you have to suffer.

1:20:21.986,1:20:22.805
It's interesting, right?

1:20:22.805,1:20:24.507
It means that there is only

1:20:24.507,1:20:26.248
one solution to this whole thing.

1:20:27.583,1:20:28.745
But there is the other side,

1:20:28.745,1:20:30.144
which I mentioned just before,

1:20:30.144,1:20:31.421
and that side is that

1:20:32.031,1:20:34.933
once you take away the ignorance

1:20:34.933,1:20:36.625
once you give rise to knowledge

1:20:36.625,1:20:38.428
and understanding instead,

1:20:38.428,1:20:40.966
the second factor also disappears,

1:20:40.966,1:20:43.373
also ceases as a consequence.

1:20:43.373,1:20:45.191
This is another type of conditionality.

1:20:45.191,1:20:46.638
Both types of conditionality

1:20:46.638,1:20:48.052
apply at the same time.

1:20:48.052,1:20:50.514
This is called necessary conditionality.

1:20:50.514,1:20:51.531
Sufficient conditionality

1:20:51.531,1:20:53.491
and necessary conditionality.

1:20:53.491,1:20:55.248
Necessary conditionality means that

1:20:55.248,1:20:57.874
the preceding factor is necessary

1:20:57.874,1:21:00.674
for the subsequent factor to arise.

1:21:01.334,1:21:03.251
So if you take away <i>avijjā</i>,

1:21:03.251,1:21:04.759
if you take away ignorance,

1:21:04.759,1:21:05.508
the second factor,

1:21:05.508,1:21:07.953
which is called <i>saṅkhāra</i> in Pāli,

1:21:08.853,1:21:09.988
cannot exist any more,

1:21:09.988,1:21:12.278
it must disappear as a consequence.

1:21:12.278,1:21:15.094
This is called necessary conditionality.

1:21:15.094,1:21:17.687
Take away the necessary cause,

1:21:17.687,1:21:19.565
and the subsequence effect

1:21:19.565,1:21:22.299
also has to disappear.

1:21:22.299,1:21:26.056
This is in brief what all of dependent arising

1:21:26.056,1:21:27.358
really is about.

1:21:27.358,1:21:30.107
It's about this interplay of these two causes:

1:21:30.107,1:21:31.240
sufficient causality

1:21:31.240,1:21:32.957
and necessary causality.

1:21:32.957,1:21:35.307
When you understand those two causes,

1:21:35.307,1:21:36.634
it's fairly straightforward.

1:21:36.634,1:21:38.233
When you understand what's going on

1:21:38.233,1:21:39.741
you can understand how the whole thing

1:21:39.741,1:21:41.307
comes into being and also

1:21:41.307,1:21:43.325
how the whole thing ceases

1:21:43.325,1:21:45.423
as a consequence.

1:21:47.033,1:21:48.545
So that is in brief what it is,

1:21:48.545,1:21:51.158
and it's not just dependent arising

1:21:51.158,1:21:52.572
which works like that.

1:21:52.572,1:21:53.844
There are many things in life

1:21:53.844,1:21:54.876
which work on the basis of

1:21:54.876,1:21:58.756
necessary and sufficient conditionality.

1:21:59.536,1:22:02.261
In Buddhism, as well, there are other sets.

1:22:02.261,1:22:04.915
I have included some of those other sets

1:22:04.915,1:22:06.022
in here as well.

1:22:06.022,1:22:08.229
They're not called dependent origination

1:22:08.229,1:22:10.397
because they're not the same set of 12 factors,

1:22:10.397,1:22:12.540
but the same type of causality

1:22:12.540,1:22:13.819
is sometimes relevant

1:22:13.819,1:22:15.141
for those sets as well.

1:22:15.651,1:22:16.795
Sometimes there are other types of

1:22:16.795,1:22:18.987
conditionality, which are more loose.

1:22:18.987,1:22:20.977
If you do this, then usually you get that.

1:22:20.977,1:22:22.488
Which is not as strict.

1:22:22.488,1:22:24.670
Dependent arising is a very strict kind of

1:22:24.670,1:22:25.670
conditionality.

1:22:26.350,1:22:27.243
Very, very strict.

1:22:27.243,1:22:29.114
If you have that, that must follow.

1:22:29.114,1:22:31.333
Haven't got that, that will not follow.

1:22:32.563,1:22:34.868
So that is the overview.

1:22:34.868,1:22:36.241
You get the idea of how

1:22:36.241,1:22:37.690
this process works.

1:22:38.250,1:22:41.967
Let us briefly have a look at

1:22:41.967,1:22:44.009
the various factors in this chain,

1:22:44.009,1:22:48.020
and see roughly how it works out.

1:22:49.720,1:22:53.747
The first factor is called <i>avijjā</i> in Pāli.

1:22:55.097,1:22:57.940
As I said, often translated as ignorance.

1:22:57.940,1:22:59.399
It basically means that you

1:22:59.399,1:23:02.736
don't understand reality as it actually is.

1:23:02.736,1:23:04.407
Reality is one way,

1:23:04.407,1:23:05.566
the world works in one way;

1:23:05.566,1:23:06.885
you think it's different.

1:23:07.425,1:23:09.045
Of course, what the Buddha is saying

1:23:09.045,1:23:10.573
is that we are all like that.

1:23:10.573,1:23:11.788
We all have this <i>avijjā</i>.

1:23:11.788,1:23:15.136
We all have this blockage inside ourselves,

1:23:15.136,1:23:16.855
that make us not see reality

1:23:16.855,1:23:18.662
as it actually is.

1:23:18.662,1:23:19.728
What that means is that

1:23:19.728,1:23:21.739
we are running around like blind people.

1:23:21.739,1:23:22.962
We are in the dark.

1:23:22.962,1:23:25.192
We think that we are pursuing happiness,

1:23:25.192,1:23:26.730
but actually, we're usually pursuing

1:23:26.730,1:23:28.453
suffering instead.

1:23:28.453,1:23:30.403
We have got no idea what we're doing.

1:23:30.403,1:23:32.836
This is basically what ignorance means.

1:23:32.836,1:23:34.995
Because we don't know what we're doing,

1:23:34.995,1:23:36.899
it means that we start doing

1:23:36.899,1:23:37.915
all kind of stuff which leads

1:23:37.915,1:23:39.387
in the wrong direction

1:23:39.387,1:23:42.728
this is <i>saṅkhāra</i>. <i>Saṅkhāra</i> is often

1:23:42.728,1:23:44.491
translated with this terrible translation...

1:23:44.491,1:23:45.968
this is my opinion, right,

1:23:45.968,1:23:47.533
I apologise for anybody who

1:23:47.533,1:23:49.078
likes this translation.

1:23:50.758,1:23:52.027
The usual translation is,

1:23:52.027,1:23:54.258
'volitional formations'.

1:23:54.258,1:23:56.586
At least it leaves me stone cold

1:23:56.586,1:23:57.944
when I hear 'volitional formations'.

1:23:57.944,1:23:59.719
It doesn't do anything for me at all.

1:23:59.719,1:24:01.677
I feel like I could be on Mars

1:24:01.677,1:24:03.993
when I hear that translation.

1:24:04.593,1:24:06.651
Some people maybe it means something to,

1:24:06.651,1:24:09.573
but I find it doesn't really grab you,

1:24:09.573,1:24:11.860
grab your heart when you hear that.

1:24:11.860,1:24:13.385
Basically, what it means is the

1:24:13.385,1:24:15.773
activities of body, speech and mind.

1:24:15.773,1:24:17.934
The things that we do, especially

1:24:17.934,1:24:20.604
intentional things that we do.

1:24:20.604,1:24:22.698
So <i>saṅkhāra</i> can be translated...

1:24:22.698,1:24:24.014
I'll talk about it tomorrow

1:24:24.014,1:24:25.454
what a proper translation is,

1:24:25.454,1:24:26.755
but I will leave it for now.

1:24:26.755,1:24:29.222
So because we don't understand,

1:24:29.222,1:24:31.224
we do all these kinds of things, right?

1:24:31.224,1:24:32.804
And all this doing that we do,

1:24:32.804,1:24:35.704
from not understanding, has consequences.

1:24:35.704,1:24:37.664
One of the consequences it has...

1:24:38.524,1:24:41.455
Because all the doing is based on craving,

1:24:41.455,1:24:43.634
it's about propelling us into the future.

1:24:44.964,1:24:46.435
One of the things it leads to,

1:24:46.435,1:24:47.717
is it always leads to rebirth.

1:24:47.717,1:24:48.927
Quite literally,

1:24:48.927,1:24:50.707
always propelling ourselves,

1:24:50.707,1:24:53.826
projecting ourselves into the future.

1:24:53.826,1:24:55.275
The <i>saṅkhāras</i> are always about

1:24:55.275,1:24:57.134
what we want, not about now,

1:24:57.134,1:24:58.540
it's about the future.

1:24:58.540,1:25:00.817
From this, we get the idea of <i>viññāṇa</i>.

1:25:00.817,1:25:03.002
<i>Viññāṇa</i>, which is consciousness,

1:25:03.002,1:25:06.050
then gets established as a consequence of that.

1:25:06.050,1:25:07.134
I'll take much more in detail

1:25:07.134,1:25:08.103
about this tomorrow.

1:25:08.103,1:25:11.908
This is just very kind of rudimentary.

1:25:12.988,1:25:15.811
Because <i>viññāṇa</i> is then established,

1:25:15.811,1:25:17.085
in this case we're talking about

1:25:17.085,1:25:20.100
established in a new life in particular,

1:25:20.840,1:25:22.773
in that new life,

1:25:22.773,1:25:25.438
depending on where that life is

1:25:25.438,1:25:27.344
you'll have certain experiences, right?

1:25:27.344,1:25:30.304
If you get reborn as a deva, a god,

1:25:30.304,1:25:32.390
wow, you have these wonderful experiences,

1:25:32.390,1:25:34.041
so much happiness, right?

1:25:34.041,1:25:35.778
If you get reborn as a kangaroo,

1:25:35.778,1:25:37.013
it's not so great.

1:25:37.013,1:25:38.398
Maybe you think kangaroos are cute,

1:25:38.398,1:25:39.484
but actually,

1:25:39.484,1:25:41.118
kangaroo life is pretty miserable.

1:25:41.118,1:25:43.398
I live in the middle of the bush,

1:25:43.398,1:25:44.473
I see what they are like.

1:25:44.473,1:25:46.367
They are greedy, they are angry,

1:25:46.367,1:25:47.708
they fight over food.

1:25:47.708,1:25:49.644
The reality of kangaroo life is pretty,

1:25:49.644,1:25:50.654
pretty bad.

1:25:50.654,1:25:52.733
So when you see a cute animal,

1:25:52.733,1:25:53.900
what you see on the surface

1:25:53.900,1:25:55.163
is only one thing.

1:25:55.163,1:25:56.204
But if could be worse, you could be

1:25:56.204,1:25:57.804
reborn as an insect.

1:25:57.804,1:25:58.773
Imagine that!

1:25:58.773,1:26:02.506
Whoa! You get reborn as a mosquito,

1:26:02.506,1:26:04.309
you're flying around, find this big

1:26:04.309,1:26:06.077
lump of flesh in front of you and then,

1:26:06.077,1:26:08.844
smack! You get swatted because of that.

1:26:08.844,1:26:09.951
All you're doing is trying to get

1:26:09.951,1:26:11.082
some nice food, right?

1:26:11.082,1:26:12.801
You're just doing what everybody

1:26:12.801,1:26:15.689
wants to do, and then that's it,

1:26:15.689,1:26:17.350
end of story.

1:26:17.960,1:26:19.092
So the point is that,

1:26:19.652,1:26:21.686
once you establish consciousness

1:26:21.686,1:26:24.734
in a certain place, your experience

1:26:24.734,1:26:27.362
of the world is set within certain limits.

1:26:27.932,1:26:29.371
That is what <i>nāmarūpa</i> is,

1:26:29.371,1:26:30.663
called 'name-and-form',

1:26:30.663,1:26:32.979
also called 'mentality-materiality'.

1:26:32.979,1:26:34.968
It's all our experiences, basically,

1:26:34.968,1:26:36.998
and they are set within certain limits.

1:26:37.468,1:26:40.358
Because we have name-and-form,

1:26:40.358,1:26:41.674
we have the sense basis.

1:26:41.674,1:26:43.623
You see things, you hear,

1:26:43.623,1:26:44.954
you taste, you touch things

1:26:44.954,1:26:47.235
and through that, through the sense

1:26:47.235,1:26:49.177
is how we contact the world.

1:26:50.567,1:26:51.854
All our contact through the world

1:26:51.854,1:26:53.168
is through our sense.

1:26:53.168,1:26:54.872
I see all of your, you seem me,

1:26:54.872,1:26:55.976
we see each other,

1:26:55.976,1:26:56.980
we hear the sounds,

1:26:56.980,1:26:58.326
everything is through the sense.

1:26:58.326,1:27:01.373
It's called contact in the technical term.

1:27:01.373,1:27:03.245
<i>Phassa</i> in Pāli.

1:27:04.175,1:27:06.165
The previous term I forgot to say in Pāli,

1:27:06.165,1:27:07.345
I don't know if you're interested,

1:27:07.345,1:27:10.384
it's called <i>saḷāyatana</i>, the six sense bases.

1:27:10.384,1:27:13.247
<i>Phassa</i>, contact in the world.

1:27:13.247,1:27:15.575
<i>Phassa</i> leads to <i>vedanā</i>.

1:27:15.575,1:27:17.711
<i>Vedanā</i> means the feeling tone

1:27:17.711,1:27:19.514
of experience.

1:27:19.514,1:27:20.748
Is it happy?

1:27:20.748,1:27:21.828
Is it suffering?

1:27:21.828,1:27:22.990
Is it neutral?

1:27:22.990,1:27:24.436
It leads to much more.

1:27:24.436,1:27:26.480
Contact also leads to all kind of things.

1:27:27.390,1:27:28.390
We see forms,

1:27:29.260,1:27:30.988
we have volition, will,

1:27:30.988,1:27:33.593
drives in us, will in us,

1:27:33.593,1:27:34.736
it leads to many other things as well,

1:27:34.736,1:27:36.949
but it's interesting, the Buddha here,

1:27:36.949,1:27:38.894
picks out <i>vedanā</i>,

1:27:38.894,1:27:41.790
this idea of the feeling tone of experience.

1:27:41.790,1:27:43.686
He picks that out specifically

1:27:43.686,1:27:45.295
because it is much more important

1:27:45.295,1:27:46.697
than the other ones.

1:27:46.697,1:27:47.805
Why is it so important?

1:27:47.805,1:27:49.217
Because, it is <i>vedanā</i>

1:27:49.217,1:27:50.718
which tends to drive us.

1:27:51.778,1:27:55.227
<i>Vedanā</i> decides if you like it or not.

1:27:55.227,1:27:56.118
If you don't like it,

1:27:56.118,1:27:57.569
you will want to get rid of it.

1:27:57.569,1:27:59.335
If you like it, you will crave for it.

1:28:00.565,1:28:02.577
So <i>vedanā</i> makes us act.

1:28:02.577,1:28:04.451
The feeling tone makes us act,

1:28:04.451,1:28:05.508
through craving.

1:28:05.508,1:28:07.299
So you crave and then you act

1:28:07.299,1:28:09.628
and part of that action is <i>upādāna</i>.

1:28:09.628,1:28:12.989
<i>Upādāna</i> is how we react to craving.

1:28:12.989,1:28:15.060
What do we do with craving in the world?

1:28:15.600,1:28:16.618
We do things.

1:28:16.618,1:28:17.468
We take up things.

1:28:17.468,1:28:18.552
We start things.

1:28:20.042,1:28:21.945
Almost all the things we do

1:28:21.945,1:28:23.520
are, big picture things,

1:28:23.520,1:28:25.118
come from this idea of <i>upādāna</i>.

1:28:25.118,1:28:27.551
Taking things up, almost in a

1:28:27.551,1:28:28.638
literal sense.

1:28:28.638,1:28:32.805
You take up having a job,

1:28:32.805,1:28:33.850
or you take up hobbies,

1:28:33.850,1:28:34.896
or you take up Buddhism,

1:28:34.896,1:28:36.368
you take up meditation.

1:28:36.368,1:28:37.495
You do things.

1:28:37.495,1:28:38.499
And then because we take up

1:28:38.499,1:28:40.437
all these things we live in a certain way.

1:28:40.437,1:28:42.466
It's called <i>bhava</i>, existence.

1:28:42.466,1:28:44.645
So we live in a certain way,

1:28:45.495,1:28:48.382
our mind is kind of set in a certain way.

1:28:48.382,1:28:49.480
This is very similar to what we were

1:28:49.480,1:28:51.142
talking about at the beginning

1:28:51.142,1:28:53.319
of consciousness being established.

1:28:53.319,1:28:56.118
We're established, through the way we exist,

1:28:56.118,1:28:57.610
and because of that establishment

1:28:57.610,1:29:00.916
we are reborn in accordance with that

1:29:00.916,1:29:02.843
establishment later on.

1:29:02.843,1:29:04.444
Because you are reborn,

1:29:04.444,1:29:05.643
you must die, right?

1:29:05.643,1:29:07.354
With birth comes all the problems.

1:29:07.354,1:29:09.960
With birth comes human life

1:29:09.960,1:29:11.071
and once you have human life

1:29:11.071,1:29:13.228
you have to have human experiences.

1:29:14.588,1:29:16.422
I don't know what you human experience is,

1:29:16.422,1:29:18.216
but it's a bit of everything, right?

1:29:18.216,1:29:19.693
Sometimes you are happy,

1:29:19.693,1:29:20.686
and everything is great.

1:29:20.686,1:29:22.674
Sometimes it's absolute misery.

1:29:22.674,1:29:24.263
You go through divorce,

1:29:24.263,1:29:25.645
you get fired from your job,

1:29:25.645,1:29:28.082
your closest family members

1:29:28.082,1:29:29.670
and your friends, they die,

1:29:29.670,1:29:30.806
or you get really sick yourself,

1:29:30.806,1:29:31.825
or whatever.

1:29:31.825,1:29:33.887
Life goes through all these ups and downs

1:29:33.887,1:29:34.876
all the time, there are

1:29:34.876,1:29:36.452
so many problems there.

1:29:37.462,1:29:38.990
I think it is very important

1:29:38.990,1:29:41.313
to be realistic about that.

1:29:41.313,1:29:42.593
Sometimes you hear people say,

1:29:42.593,1:29:44.232
"aww, yeah, in my life I won't have

1:29:44.232,1:29:45.397
any suffering."

1:29:45.397,1:29:48.360
It's a very shallow, to say the least,

1:29:48.360,1:29:50.555
shallow outlook.

1:29:50.555,1:29:51.168
You haven't really looked

1:29:51.168,1:29:52.617
very carefully if you think

1:29:52.617,1:29:53.826
you have no suffering.

1:29:53.826,1:29:54.736
You really haven't.

1:29:54.736,1:29:56.756
You, kind of say "aww, don't want to see,

1:29:56.756,1:29:57.285
don't want to see."

1:29:57.285,1:29:59.241
That is basically what you're saying there.

1:29:59.791,1:30:00.936
I'm a monk, you could

1:30:00.936,1:30:03.131
argue that my life is probably quite easy.

1:30:03.131,1:30:04.832
Ajahn Brahma is probably

1:30:04.832,1:30:07.210
the most happy person I can imagine.

1:30:07.210,1:30:09.495
He always is very light hearted,

1:30:09.495,1:30:12.414
he always jokes, he always messes around,

1:30:12.414,1:30:14.183
but when he talks about suffering,

1:30:14.183,1:30:15.465
he says, "life is suffering!

1:30:15.465,1:30:16.775
Life is really <i>dukkha</i>.

1:30:16.775,1:30:17.820
It's really, really bad."

1:30:17.820,1:30:19.232
He's the happiest person,

1:30:19.232,1:30:20.180
so if he says it's suffering,

1:30:20.180,1:30:22.678
okay, I'll believe it.

1:30:22.678,1:30:24.585
I can feel it myself anyway.

1:30:25.245,1:30:27.413
So no problems there.

1:30:27.413,1:30:31.494
Okay, so that is dependent arising in brief,

1:30:33.124,1:30:34.522
just to give you an overview.

1:30:34.522,1:30:37.303
Those are the 12 links.

1:30:37.303,1:30:38.823
All the terms and how they all

1:30:38.823,1:30:40.400
connect together.

1:30:40.400,1:30:41.008
And then, of course,

1:30:41.008,1:30:42.760
the cessation mode as well.

1:30:42.760,1:30:44.493
So that you have the opposite happening

1:30:44.493,1:30:46.436
when it ceases at the beginning,

1:30:46.436,1:30:49.282
each one of these links will cease,

1:30:49.282,1:30:52.247
until you get to the last one eventually.

1:30:53.747,1:30:58.609
So, I think I will probably stop there

1:30:58.609,1:31:01.774
because I don't want to go into any more

1:31:01.774,1:31:04.664
details about things at this particular point.

1:31:04.664,1:31:06.921
It's probably lots and lots of information

1:31:06.921,1:31:08.857
for you anyway, maybe way too much.

1:31:08.857,1:31:09.972
I've always been a bit worried about these

1:31:09.972,1:31:11.292
one hour talks.

1:31:12.552,1:31:14.798
You can say <i>a lot</i> in an hour,

1:31:14.798,1:31:16.351
so that's part of the problem.

1:31:16.351,1:31:18.504
Anyway, for tonight,

1:31:19.874,1:31:21.533
have a nice, good night's sleep

1:31:21.533,1:31:23.032
remember that meditation

1:31:23.032,1:31:25.144
and going on retreats is about enjoying

1:31:25.144,1:31:27.027
yourself, having a good time.

1:31:27.027,1:31:29.894
Meditate until you feel that you are tired,

1:31:29.894,1:31:32.085
have a really good night's rest,

1:31:32.085,1:31:34.109
sleep as much as you like,

1:31:34.109,1:31:35.287
you feel is necessary,

1:31:35.287,1:31:37.610
and tomorrow you'll be clear and ready

1:31:37.610,1:31:38.579
for another day.