AN10.61 Avijja Sutta - Ignorance (part one) | Ajahm Brahmali | 13 November 2016

...this particular phrase that you see

here because this occurs a number of

places in the suttas with slightly

different phrasing;

sometimes it says, "No

first point of existence can be found,"

sometimes "No first point of ignorance."

It's phrased in slightly different ways.

But in some traditions or some lineages of

Buddhism, you find that it says, "There is

no first point of ignorance," right? So

you can see how easily you make that jump

from "No first point can be seen," to

"There is no first point." And this is

often how people read this when they

read they think, oh, there's no first point

of ignorance—but that's not actually what

it says. It says, "No first point of

ignorance can be seen." And there is a

massive difference between that and it

shows you a little bit about how Buddhism

works. The idea is not to make some...if

you say that there is no first point, how

can you know that? How can you...you know,

to be able to know that you would have to

go back in time, or something, and see

that first point. That's really probably

the only way you could do it. Maybe it's

possible to do it through inference or

deduction—I don't know—but what the Buddha

is saying here is that as far as I have

gone back in time—and the Buddha is

supposed to have recalled a long, long

time into the past—as far as I can see, I

cannot see any first point. That's a

purely empirical statement about what you

actually have seen and what you haven't

seen. And this is very different from a

lot of other philosophies or religion in

the world where the idea of showing a

starting point is like one of the

foundations of most religions, right? You

have the Genesis...chapter of Genesis in

the Old Testament,
which is all about how ....

'Genesis' means arising, right?

Coming into existence is what the word

genesis means. And the arising, coming

into existence, of the world is what it

describes in there. And the majority of

religions have that; you know, Hinduism,

exactly the same thing. There's all these

mythologies about how things come into

existence. And I think it is probably part

of our human nature; we want kind of

solutions to these things. And then the

Buddha says: actually, there is no first

point. And first of all you think, I would

like to know, what's going on?

I'd like to know the first point; it's

a bit unsettling that there is no first

point but it actually makes very good

sense. To me, it makes eminent good sense

that no first point can be found. If there

is a first point, you always have a

further question: why is that the first

point? And then they try to find

solutions, and the solutions they have to

something being the first point are always

inadequate. "A God created it." Okay, so

what about this God then? Where does this

God come from? And if the God has always

been there, why hasn't existence always

been there? What's the difference? You get

into these conundrums which are really

unexplainable. So this is one of those

fundamental things again which I think is

so, to me, very powerful about Buddhist

teachings; avoid some of these

pitfalls that, to me, appear to exist in

other teachings, other religions perhaps,

other philosophies or whatever it is. So

no first point—even science gets it wrong

according to Buddhism, right? Science says

it begins at the Big Bang but Buddhism

doesn't say that; Buddhism says it goes

beyond that as well. So again...

Okay, so no

ignorance, right? Ignorance goes back. And

of course, the interesting point here as

well is that ignorance is here really a

synonym for existence; there is no first

point for existence. So existence and

ignorance are, you know, so closely

related: if there is ignorance (avijja),

there is existence. If there is no

ignorance (no avijja), there is no

existence. So these two things go together

into the past, as far back as you possibly

can. There is a another sutta, actually,

just after this one, which is number 62 of

the tens, and that takes this one step

further back and says that what does what

does ignorance itself cause? And what is

the step beyond ignorance? And that is

craving for existence, right? So craving

for existence is caused by ignorance. As

long as you don't understand reality as it

actually is, you will crave existence; the

sense of self says, "I want to exist. I

want to go on." And then you keep on

traveling, keep on going on and on and on.

So craving for existence is
derived from this

Once ignorance is dispelled, craving

for existence stops. It's interesting,

isn't it? It's kind of almost hard to

comprehend. How can craving for existence

completely disappear? That is what it what

it basically says.

Okay, so ignorance has

always been there. And yet still, despite

that—please feel free to ask questions as

we go along. If you don't understand a

word or what I'm saying, please raise your

hand and ask it because sometimes I may

not be...I may speak too fast or say

things that you can't really grasp, so

please let me know—still ignorance is seen

to have a specific condition, so it has

always been there, right? And yet it has a

condition, which is interesting. So how

does this work out? Let's have a look at

the very first line of the next one just

to understand what is meant by this. "I

say, bhikkhus, that ignorance has a

nutriment; it is not without nutriment.

And what is that nutriment for ignorance?

It should be said: the five hindrances."

So this gives you...five hindrances are

this specific condition for ignorance,

right? Now, one of the first things to

note here, which is kind of interesting,

the first paragraph talks about specific

condition. And then here we talk

about nutriment suddenly. So how come this

change of vocabulary from going from

specific condition to nutriment because

usually the Buddha tends to be very

consistent; he uses the same terminology

throughout; he doesn't kind of jump around

using different terminology. In the Pali,

the words are also very different. And the

first one, specific condition, is usually

related to dependent origination, whereas

nutriment is often used a bit more

broadly. And I don't know, but to me, it

looks a little bit like what may have

happened here is that two things have been

kind of tacked together, right? Why this

different vocabulary? So maybe the first

part there was kind of added later on

because maybe somebody thought that it

kind of would would fit in well with the

sutta—it's just a hypotheses; I have no

idea whether that's actually the case or

not, but it's one way in which this kind

of thing can happen that you have this

kind of rather unusual change of

terminology. So anyway, so the important

point here is that ignorance has a

nutriment, avijja has a nutriment

right? Now, first of all, the idea of

nutriment itself is quite interesting

because a nutriment suggests more than

just a condition, it is a kind of a

specific type of condition. Nutriment is

something that nourishes, right,

that can make something either grow,

or if it isn't...if it's weak, it can make

something wither, depending on the

strength of that nutriment. So this is

what we are seeing here, all through this

particular sutta, we're seeing this idea

of something either being nourished or not

properly nourished. Or if you take the

nutriment entirely, then of course, that

thing would eventually die out as a

consequence. So nutriment here has a kind

of...has this nice, kind of quite specific

idea, has a specific type of

conditionality, not just any type of

conditionality. There are other types of

conditionality where simply one thing

exists, therefore something else exists,

right? There's no real nutrition going on.

But here it's nutrition, the idea of

giving strength, so by weakening one,

you're weakening the other; by

strengthening one, you're strengthening

the other, etc. And so this is how the

five hindrances are a condition for

avijja. They're not a condition in the

sense that they are absolute condition

when the five hindrances are there,

avijja is there when the five hindrances

are gone, avijja or delusion is gone.

No, it's more like this kind of support

condition there which enables it either to

grow or to diminish. And what that means

is that if you in your ordinary life, as

long as the five hindrances are

decreasing in general, right, or at least

not increasing, it means you're not

nourishing the avijja, the ignorance or

the delusion. So this is why this path of

Buddhism is often called the path of

purification. The idea is that as you

purify yourself, you reduce the

defilements, you reduce all the five

hindrances; ignorance—because we're trying

to become wise here—so ignorance or

delusion is diminishing as a consequence

of that, until, one day, the five

hindrances are completely gone, and at

that point, there is no nourishment

anymore at all for delusion or for lack of

understanding; the nourishment is gone. It

means that the avijja is very weak at that

particular point, right? So this is the

idea here: you weaken that avijja so it is

kind of ready to kind of do the final

little, you know, little thing to make it

kind of disappear altogether. And it is

good to reflect in your own life how this

works because this is actually very

practical, and it's very easy to see how

this works in your own life. And you know,

when you feel like your mind is very

clouded; you feel that you are maybe upset

about something, or you have desires about

something, or you're tired or really

feeling really slothful, or restless, or

whatever it is. And you can feel that the

mind isn't right...the mind isn't really

clear—it's very easy to know that; you can

know when your mind is clear and when it

isn't. And basically, you know when you

have that lack of clarity and your mind is

kind of full of all these hindrances or

whatever, then you know that there is a

kind of delusion there, you know; you

cannot really make good decisions; you

feel that you are kind of all over the

place. And of course, the answer... and

the reality is that you should not make

decisions at that particular point because

they're going to be bad decisions. I think

it's one of those very important and very

practical things in life that if you want

to make good decisions, wait till you feel

a sense of clarity; if you know that your

mind is kind of confused or has all kinds

of defilements, just wait, just chill, sit

back, relax, go on a retreat, do whatever,

until you gain a sense of clarity, and

then ask yourself, what should I be doing?

Sure, you can't always do that because

sometimes decisions need to be made, but

if it's like an important decision in

life, then it is always good to wait with

such decisions. And I found it myself in

my own life; sometimes when you kind of

get overwhelmed by defilements—defilements

are very compelling, right? Upset says,

act now! This person needs to be told off;

you need to do this. They're this powerful

driving forces: craving and ill will and

desires are very closely related to each

other; they compel you to act, especially

desire definitely compels you to act. Yes,

I have to have this; I must have it now; I

can't wait. So actually it's quite difficult

to wait, quite difficult to just relax,

quite difficult to sit back and wait for

these things to pass because they're such

compulsive forces. And I'm sure that this

is where habits come from, right? You

always acted on the anger in the past so

now you are in that habit of doing this.

And you need to hold yourself back and

say: wait, I don't really know what's

going on; I'm confused; I'm in a state of

delusion; I have no idea what's happening.

Please don't...this is the wrong time to

act; this is the wrong time to kind of say

something or whatever it is. And then you

start to be able to make really good

decisions in life. And of course, those

good decisions in life, they in turn

support your spiritual practice because

when you make good decisions, you make

them aligned with the Dhamma, in line with

these teachings, in line with the noble

eightfold path, right? And then things

tend to smooth...go so much more smoothly

as a consequence.

So keep that in mind. And

as you do that, you can sort of see how

your delusion, your ignorance, your avijja

is increasing or decreasing together

with...together with these five

hindrances. But if the five hindrances are

the nutriment to avijja, why is it that

when you make a complete end of those five

hindrances, right, temporarily, you get

into a nice state of samadhi, you think,

whoa... how wonderful! And the reason why

it is a wonderful is precisely because the

hindrances aren't there, right? It feels

so good to be free of these things. So if

these are the support for delusion and

avijja, why is it that you don't become

awakened? Why don't you become an arahat

at that moment when these are gone? And

the reason is that precisely what we've

been talking about before—these are

nutriment; they're not an absolute

condition. There is another condition that

is required and that other condition is

view; the view has to be right as well.

Not just that the view has to be right but

there has to be an absence of wrong

view—that's perhaps a better way of

looking at it—the absence of wrong view.

So you have like an open mind about

things, then you can investigate in the

right way, and then you can break through.

And it's interesting when you read the

suttas broadly you see, for example, in

the Satipatthana Samyutta—satipatthana all

about the four focuses of mindfulness,

right? That's how Ajahn Brahm translates

satipatthana—and what it says in there,

all the way through, is that you practice

that satipatthana based on two things, and

those two things is: sila—sila means

habit, virtue, morality, character, that is

like the five hindrances, right? You get

rid of the five hindrances and this is

like when you are really really virtuous

in a very profound sense. So sila is one

and the other one is view; you have to

have ujuga ditthi, ujuga ditthi, which

means straight view, though I think the

word uju is directly etymologically

related to right or upright in English,

upright, upright view, rectitude, right?

So these words are exactly the same. So

these are the two things, and these are

the two things that are required here as

well. Once you have those two things in

place, then it becomes possible. If not,

if you come to the end of the five

hindrances, and you think, wow, what

bliss! But you have some kind of view

which blocks you from seeing things, you

know, the typical one is, Oh, yeah, I

found God or something like that. And this

is usually what happens at this stage

because of the power of the experience you

think, if there is a God, this is it; I

have found God—then that will block you

and that will stop you from going any

further. So you have to have the right

attitude and then you can make the

breakthrough. And the rest of the

sutta...so this is now about how do we get

to this point of having that right

attitude and that freedom from these

defilements at the beginning there—

what the rest of the sutta is about. We

will go back stage by stage,

cause...condition by condition and see

where this gets us. Anybody has any

questions so far? There's often a big mix

of people in the crowd like this: some

people are really, you know, are

beginners; some have been here for...some

know almost as much as I do about these

suttas—so it's kind of a big mix. So please

don't feel shy about asking if you're

confused because sometimes you get

intimidated when you see all these other

people who know so much. Please don't feel

intimidated. Okay. So, let us have a look

at all these causes and conditions. So the

next one, of course, is: "The five

hindrances, too, I say, have a nutriment;

they are not without nutriment. And what

is the nutriment for the five hindrances?

It should be said: the three kinds of

misconduct,"—let me just read out the

whole thing and then take them stage by

stage afterwards so you have some idea

what's happening here—"The three kinds of

misconduct, too, I say, have a nutriment;

they are not without nutriment. And what

is the nutriment of the three kinds of

misconduct? It should be said:

non-restraint of the sense faculties.

Non-restraint of the sense faculties, too,

I say, have a nutriment; it is not without

nutriment. And what is that nutriment? It

should be said: lack of mindfulness and

clear comprehension. The lack of

mindfulness and clear comprehension, too,

I say, has a nutriment...And what is that?

Careless attention. Careless attention,

too, I say, has a nutriment; it is not

without nutriment. And what is that

nutriment? It is lack of faith or

confidence. And what is the nutriment for

the lack of faith? It should be said: not

hearing the good Dhamma. And what is the

nutriment for not hearing the good Dhamma?

It should be said: not associating with

good persons." Okay, so that is the basic

series, and now I will go back to the

beginning, so you can turn the page back

again if you wish. So now we'll have a

look at these things in a bit more detail.

But it's a very interesting series, right?

Not the series you are used to seeing in

the suttas. And it has all kinds of little

implications when the Buddha kind of does

things in a different way. One thing I

should say, as well, which I didn't

mention, is that this sutta also exists in

Chinese as well. And the Chinese version

is almost exactly the same as the Pali

version. The only difference with the

Chinese version, in terms of the sequence

here, is that it has kalyana mitta between

not hearing the good Dhamma and

associating with good persons. So it adds

the idea of kalayana mitta in there, and I

think that's fine; I don't think it makes

any difference whether you have it or not;

good persons and kalayana mitta are anyway

pretty synonymous. So again, it's one of

those things that to me is very powerful

when these ancient suttas that have been

separated for so long, right? 2300 years

of separation, and you compare them now

and they're almost exactly the same. It

gives you a strong confidence that we

actually have the word of the Buddha in

the present day. I find it almost

astonishing that these similarities are so

great, right? After such a long period.

It's like, How...almost how is it

possible? Human beings, we are so

incredibly fallible; we make so many

mistakes all the time; and yet, somehow,

we've been able to preserve this sutta so

well over such a long period, remarkable

achievement, and remarkable to still be in

the presence of the word of the Buddha in

this way; it's very kind of powerful,

spine-tingling feeling almost. Okay.

So what is the nutriment of the five

hindrances? It's the three kinds of

misconduct, right? So the three kinds of

misconduct in the suttas are: misconduct

by body, speech and mind, right? Body,

speech and mind. So that is what is

covered by morality, if you like, or

covered by character or habit in the

Buddha's teachings. So misconduct here is

duscharitha; charitha means literally movement

or, you know, how you move around. So

three duscharitas, right? So what the

Buddha is basically saying here is that

morality is what...lack of morality,

rather, immorality, if you want, is what

gives rise to the five hindrances. And

it's interesting because you might think,

okay, I'm being kind by body and avoiding

all the bad; I don't go around killing

people or stealing and that sort of stuff.

And I try to do kind acts by body: being

generous and all this kind of thing. It's

not entirely obvious how that translates

into the five hindrances because one is

like, more like an external thing, and

other one is an internal thing; hindrances

are internal. But it doesn't take much

reflection to understand why there is a

connection there because by keeping the

precepts you are...sometimes you have to

go against your habits; you have to go

against what you normally you would do if

you...the precept hadn't been there. So by

going against your habit, you are

essentially reconditioning yourself;

you're starting to look at the world in a

different way. So your conduct actually

does affect your mind; it does affect the

hindrances as well; there's a connection

there between the two. And also, what I

also note is if I really want to practice,

you know, morality to the highest degree

by being kind, doing the right things, I

actually need to think differently, right?

I need to think, how can I...what can I do

to be kind and every moment of the day?

What can I do to do something kind now?

And often it means that change of

attitude, a change of looking at the

people around you. It's almost like

changing your conduct forces you to think

differently about things—you have no

choice—your perspective has to change;

your perception has to change. So just by

being moral, by really trying hard at

every moment of the day to do the right

thing, you are actually changing your mind

also in a very profound way at the same

time. And the same thing with speech,

right? Speech also exactly the same thing.

If you always want to say nice things to

other people, you have to think about

people in a different way; you can't think

they deserve to be told off. If you think

that, you're not going to be able to have

a kind speech there. So your attitude

changes as well; habits change; your

mental attitude change: all of these

things go together. So I'm not going to go

into details about these things because

that's for other suttas, where they go

into great detail about right speech and

wrong speech. I would really recommend you

to read about that; it's very beautiful

the way this is described in the suttas

like in Majjhima Nikaya 27, the shorter

discourse on the simile of the elephant's

footprint, this is described in great

detail or in the Saleyyaka Sutta, Majjhima

Nikaya 41—Majjhima 27 and 41—this is

described in great detail. And it's very,

very inspiring the way the Buddha talks

about these things, and very, very nice to

actually read up on that. And then there

is the last kind of conduct, and that is

more obvious, that is the conduct of the

mind or the misconduct of the mind, right?

I think it's fairly obvious that if you

have misconduct of the mind is very

similar to the five hindrances. Mental

misconduct in the suttas is defined as ill

will, very often very strong ill will, you

know: may these beings be slaughtered—that

kind of stuff, sort of quite harsh ill

will. Or it is defined as the desire which

is the covetousness, so strong desire,

strong greed, wanting the possessions of

others, right? Just a bit like in the

Bible, the 10 commandments, right? Thou

shalt not covet thy neighbor's

property—whatever it is. I don't really

know how to say the commandments in

English, but anyway...so I've never

learned that in English; I barely learned

in Norwegian, to be honest with you.

But anyway, so something like that. So it

is a strong desires, and of course, by

reducing those desires directly in the

mind and by reducing the anger directly in

the mind, by learning how to look at

things differently, changing your

perspective, and sometimes I feel, you

know, I don't know how you guys practice

in lay life; it's difficult enough in

monastic life because in lay life, you're

always, you know...it's much more

difficult when you are surrounded by

people all the time and you have people

around, you don't have enough distance

sometimes. So it is very praiseworthy that

you're able to practice well even in lay

life. Of course, some of you, you have

partners or you have families that think

like you, which makes it much easier, but

if you haven't got that it can be...it can

be quite hard. And then you need to kind

of extract yourself sometimes, take a bit

of timeout to be able to get perspective

on how you can change your perceptions to

reduce these bad mental qualities. And

then gradually, over time, it changes.

It's one of those remarkable things that I

have noticed in my own life, after being a

monk now for 21 years or whatever it is,

the change, right? The change over a long

period of time is just astonishing. When

you look at it from moment...from, you

know, week to week, month to month, you

can't see much change but the cumulative

effect over a long period of time is

actually very powerful. Your whole

attitude, your way of looking at things

just changes completely; you feel like

like a new person; there's less

delusion in the mind, more clarity;

everything kind of coming together—it's a

wonderful thing when you see that happen.

And if it doesn't happen in your life, you

should ask yourself, why? Because there is

a reason why it doesn't happen; because

this is really what should happen if you

practice in the right way here. And then

it grows and it moves in the right

direction. And you start...the more you

see that, the more you understand this is

really what life is all about. What is the

point of, you know, dying rich or dying

with lots of possessions if your mind is

just as confused or just as deluded as it

was when you came into this world? That

feeling of actually having changed

yourself, wow, that has a sense of real

purpose, a real sense of meaning of life;

everything else kind of fades in

comparison to that. So that is the right

or wrong conduct. And of course, one

aspect... the third last aspect of the

wrong conduct of mind is the right view,

the right perspective. It is called

here—it's not called samma ditthi in this

particular place. Actually...no, I haven't

got it here—It's called I think

the...what's it called again? Something

like...I think Bhikkhu Bodhi translated it

as wrong perspective; basically, the wrong

way of looking at the world, right? And of

course, when you look at that you see this

thing is like having a sense of that...of

the idea of rebirth—or at least not

rejecting rebirth—having at the very least

an open mind about these things, right? A

sense that there are teachings...are

people in this world who have understood

and seen profound things like the Buddha.

If you haven't got that sense that there

are people who have seen something

profound, then, of course, you won't even

get started if you think that you are, you

know...I'm going to do everything by

myself and nobody else knows more than I

do, then, of course, you know, it's going

to be much more difficult for you. So that

is about right view and it creates that

basis for you to be able to then find that

solution at the end of the...when the

hindrances disappear then that right view

and this disappearance of the hindrances,

together, that is what makes it possible

for you to make the breakthrough. So

please keep your conduct, right? It clears

up the mind when you are kind, it clears

up the mind when you avoid those bad

things, right? Isn't that a wonderful

thing? It's kind of one of those things we

often don't think about; we think about

kamma as something which happens in the

future life somewhere where I will reap

the benefits of all the goodness I have

done in this life. No! You reap that

benefit right here, right now. And that is

what is so beautiful about it. Every day,

every time you're able to do an act of

kindness, every time you avoid doing

something wrong, you're lifting yourself

up quite literally, getting rid of the

darkness, bringing light into your life,

right? Isn't that...isn't that wonderful?

And it gives you a powerful incentive to

actually be kind in this world to do what

is right you take almost every

opportunity, every time you have a chance

to say something nice, do something good.

You take it because you know how powerful

these things are here kind of brings you

out of all these problems and brings you

towards a good solution gradually,

gradually. So there you are, right there,

black on white, straight out of the mouth

of the Buddha himself. Practice morality

and you are heading in the right direction

in a very good way.

(question from the audience
cannot hear well)

Yes, in the eightfold

path, usually there it talks about right

view in the more profound sense of seeing

the four noble truths. So there is that

kind of twofold idea of right view: one is

like what you might call the right view of

the ariyans, the noble ones, the people

who have seen the Dhamma, and the other

one is more like the general right view,

which isn't the full right view, it's just

this kind of general outlook which is

right. That's what is what is meant here

in terms of the three types of right

conduct, yeah. So we talked about right

conduct as a kind of lower right view,

that's true. Okay.

So that is the three

kinds of nutriment. And so the question

then is, what is the condition for these

five...three kinds of misconduct, rather?

What is the nutriment for the three kinds

of misconduct? And what does it say here:

non-restraint of the sense faculties.

Alright, so this non-restraint of the

sense faculties is an interesting thing

that this is the cause for the three kinds

of misconduct. And the idea here if you

want really want to purify your conduct in

a very high...to a very high degree, it

means that you have to have a fairly even

mind; you can't have a mind which allows

itself to be pulled around by emotions all

the time. If you get upset, right, or you

get had lots of desires, and kind of up

and down, up and down, all through the

day, no evenness, no kind of levelness of

mind, it means that you're not really you

can't be in control of that mind because

that mind is actually itself under the

influence of these defilements. You

need to have that even mind which has a

sense of mindfulness about it, a sense of

clarity about it; only then is it possible

to really have three kinds of good conduct

to the highest degree—we're here talking

about very high degree of these things,

right? We're talking about getting rid of

the five hindrances so the very high

degree of the three kinds of good conduct

or misconduct depending on which way you

turn this. So that is why the sense

restraint is so important at this point so

your mind is quite even, not being

pulled around by the world so much. So

what is this sense restraint? We talk

about this in Buddhism a lot and it is an

important part of the Buddhist path—what

does it actually mean? And I talked about

this many, many times before and I think

this is a very important point: when we

use the word restraint in English, it

sounds like a very forceful thing, right?

You have a restraining order, and so on,

on people. And...but restraint doesn't

actually necessarily mean that; it can

mean that in certain contexts, but

normally restraint here just means

whatever thing you use to make sure that

your mind is even, whatever method you use

to make sure the mind isn't being pulled

away by desires, by ill will, by

aversions of the world—that is what is

meant by restraint here. And the most

powerful way of dealing with these things

is actually wisdom. And I think Ajahn

Brahm gets it spot on when he talks about

wisdom power, rather than will power; I

think that is exactly what the Buddha says

too in the suttas. You look at the suttas,

you see where the Buddha talks about these

things in more detail: how to overcome bad

thoughts, for example, the wisdom power,

the way to deal is always at the top, and

the kind of using force always at the

bottom. So the important ones are the

wisdom power, reflect on these thoughts in

the right way, understand them in the

right way, understand that they lead to

suffering, understand that they are

problematic. And as you do that, then they

disappear all by themselves, right?

There's that old simile, which I really

like...which I think is very powerful in

this case, it's just like the hot

plate simile, right? You put your hand on

the hot plate by accident, thinking it's

cold, and then what happens? You just

withdraw it automatically. And in exactly the

same way, if you know that things really

lead to suffering and problems, you will

withdraw your hand automatically. So it's

worthwhile reflecting a bit on these

things. Why is it that ill will is bad?

Why is it problematic, right? And the more

deeply you understand that, the less

likely it is that you will get upset about

things. Same thing with desires: if desires

are problematic then of course, again, you

withdraw from that quite automatically.

I'm not going to talk too much more about

this because this is a big subject in

itself and it's one of the things I really

like to talk about, especially on retreats

And because it is

such an important part of the, I think,

any Buddhist life to learn how to think in

such a way that you overcome problems;

it's all about how we think, right? And

the reason why it is so hard to change the

way we think is because of habits, is

because we've done this for such a long

time. And as you gradually change that

freight train with this massive momentum

going in wrong direction, gradually change

direction, gradually, gradually takes a

long time. But eventually, the habit

becomes the exact opposite of what it used

to be, the freight train now heading in

the other direction instead, and you can't

avoid thinking kind thoughts, right? May

all beings be happy; I thought that again,

wow! Happens automatically by itself. And

this is kind of the idea when you get into

this habit of doing what is right,

eventually, it just happens. You just do

good and it's actually difficult to do

bad, right? For many people here, I'm

sure, that's the case already, to some

extent; what a wonderful thing that is

when that happens; you just, you know, you

can't stop yourself from doing good acts;

it just feels right at every step of the

path. Okay, so non-restraint of the sense

faculties, what is the nutriment for that?

And it says here: lack of mindfulness and

clear comprehension. And this is

satisampajanna in the Pali language. And

the main...the main thing here...the main

thing which this is about is really about

sampajanna is the main thing. Sati is

here a kind of secondary thing; sati, in

the suttas, mindfulness, usually is about

the four foundations, or the four

satipatthanas—that's basically what sati

is about. And, of course, satipatthanas,

really, they happen higher up on the path;

they don't have happen at this more basic

level. So here the main emphasis is on

sampajanna, clear comprehension, right? So

you have to have clear comprehension to

have sense restraint—what does that mean?

Why is that? What is going on there? It's

not very obvious. And what is going on is

that the idea of clear comprehension,

sampajanna—also translated as full

awareness sometimes—the basic idea is

that you have an awareness of whether what

you are doing in the moment is heading in

the right direction; you have a sense of

whether you are fulfilling the purpose of

the path, whether you're doing the

appropriate thing—that is what it's all

about, right? So when you kind of walk

here to the Dhammaloka Centre, you think, yeah,

this is sampajanna; I'm fulfilling the

path by coming here. Or when you sit down

to meditate, or when you say a kind word:

in all of those instances, often you have

a sense that yes, I'm doing the right

thing; you know; you can feel it inside of

you. And that feeling that you're doing

the right thing, that clarity about that,

that is some sampajanna. Other times you

have kind of uncomfortable feeling that

you're heading off the path; you're not

doing the right thing, right? You feel,

should I really be doing this? But you're

too confused and too deluded to really

know exactly what is going on. That is

when sampajanna has kind of faded into the

background; you don't really know what

you're doing anymore; you don't have

clarity whether you are fulfilling the

purpose of this path. So sampajanna is

this very broad category and includes

almost any decision you make in your life,

right? Whether it is conducive to the path

or whether it's not, you always have...try

to have this clarity about what you're

doing, whether it's heading in the right

direction. And of course, that is when

sense restraint becomes possible, right?

If you have clarity about everything,

about how you think and about how you act,

then that clarity will say, stop, you're heading

in the wrong direction; don't go down that

track, and then you will be able to

restrain your senses as a consequence of that.

So you need to have that sense of

clarity about what's going on before sense

restraint becomes possible; know the

purpose of every act you do; you know its

suitability; is it suitable for making

progress on the path, right? And then, you

know, it's...your're okay. There's a lot

more about sampajanna in the suttas. But

I'm gonna go through this fairly quickly

this time because this is a kind of

sutta...it's so full of important things

you could spend...you could talk about

this for hours every day for a couple of

weeks and still wouldn't exhaust a sutta

like this; it's so, you know, pregnant

with all kinds of important things in

there. So we have to do it fairly, fairly

superficially, but not very

superficially, of course, because we want

to get the essence out of this. So what

then is the condition for lack of

mindfulness and clear comphrehension...and

then it has careless attention is the next

one. So careless attention,

ayonisomanasikara, is the Pali word,

sometimes translated as unwise reflection,

the opposite of yonisomanasikara which is

wise reflection. So careless

reflection...so what does careless or wise

reflection...what does it actually mean? I

know that it's so easy to think we

understand these terms, right? Yeah, wise

reflection, it that means like being

smart, being clever about things, not

doing the wrong thing, right? That's what

it means. And of course, we are kind of on

the right track but it's not really

specific enough to really nail it down

what does it actually mean. Because once

you have a fairly clear understanding,

it's easier to practice these things once

you have an understanding about these

things. And it's in the Sabbāsava Sutta,

the second sutta of the Majjhima Nikaya,

you find that this idea of

yonisomanasikara is actually defined in a

very nice way. And there it is defined as

whenever you think, whenever you do

something, right, which leads you onwards

on the path which leads the, you know,

leads...basically the good qualities in

you to improve and the bad ones to

decline. In other words, you're heading in

the direction of the path. At that such a

time you have yonisomanasikara, you have

wise reflection. And whenever you do

something which takes you away from the

path, leads you in the wrong direction,

heads you on the 'wrongfold' eightfold

path—whatever you want to call it—the

wrong noble eightfold... or the ignoble

eightfold path, then you are...it's

ayonisomanasikara—so very simple. So you

know every time a defilement is increasing

in your mind, ayonisomanasikara, every

time you're moving towards more clarity,

yonisomanasikara—very simple definition

which makes it clear what is meant by

wisdom in the suttas. And this

yonisomanasikara is one of these things

that you have to take with you all the way

along the path; everywhere it's always

important, from the very beginning to the

very end, yonisomanasikara is required. In

the beginning, you need wise reflection or

wise attention, simply to get started,

right? A lot of people hear the word of

the Buddha and just say, ah, yeah,

you know, whatever; I'm not really

interested in that sort of stuff, or they

think it's completely wrong or whatever,

right? You don't even get started in that

case. If we assume that the word of the

Buddha is right, then they are on the

wrong track and they have a problem. So

it's necessary at the very beginning, and

you find that in the Anguttara Nikaya

ones, it says that, that one of the

foundations of the entire path, which

makes everything possible, one of those is

yonisomanasikara, wise reflection. There's

other things as well like kalyana mitta is

another one, right? Having good

friends—we'll come to that in a second;

it's another one of those. Another one is

appamada, not being heedless. Somebody who is

completely heedless, who doesn't really

care, who is not careful about how they

live their life, of course, they're not

even going to listen when you give them

the teaching because they don't care about

that sort of thing. These are some of

those absolutely foundational things that

are necessary for the path even to get

started at all, and one of those is

yonisomanasikara. And then you take that

with you all the way along the path; here

it is placed in a particular position, but

the reality is that you take it with you

all the way along the path, always asking

yourself this question, always knowing

what is right, knowing what is wrong and

then heading for those things that are

right and avoiding the bad things. And

then eventually, yonisomanasikara, when

you come to the very high ends of the

path, like, you know, you come towards the

awakening stages, there, of course, too,

yonisomanasikara is foundational, right?

You turn your mind to understand reality

as it actually is. And when you make that

turn of the mind, that itself is also

yonisomanasikara. So this part...this very

important thing that you always carry with

you on the path, so very useful to have

some clarity about what that means. So

this is the cause for sampajanna or

satisampajanna, clear comprehension, full

awareness. So as I said, full awareness is

about understanding the purpose, right?

Whether you are heading in the right

direction or not. Now, you have to think

wisely to understand the purpose; you have

to have some sense about what is right and

wrong in the world; you have to have some

sense of where you're going otherwise

clear comprehension becomes impossible.

So, again, mindfulness here is not the

important aspect, the important aspect

here is sampajanna, I think. So

yonisomanasikara leads naturally to a

sense of clarity about purpose and

suitability of what you are doing because

you understand; you have that sense of

direction in your life. So, then, we come

to the next factor, what is the

next...what is then the nutriment for

careless attention? And it says here: lack

of faith, lack of confidence, right? Lack

of faith is the nutriment for careless

attention. And, I don't know, I find that

quite interesting, because usually when we

talk about yonisomanasikara, we call it,

perhaps, wise reflection or wise

attention. And when we think about wisdom,

we think about something which is an

aspect of us, right? I am wise or you are

wise or they are wise or whatever; it's

part of your psychology, part of who you

are as a human being— either you're wise

or you're not, or you're in between or

whatever. Or maybe super wise or whatever;

maybe you're a wise guy; is that another

possibility? But, so we see this as

something inherent to us—maybe not

inherent, but something which is there;

either you have this quality or you have

it not—but here what it is saying,

contrary...completely contrary to that

idea, is that it comes from faith, right?

It is confidence in a certain teaching

that actually gives rise to that

yonisomanasikara. And this is fascinating...

and then the point, of course, here, is

that you have to start somewhere, and

where we start is that the Buddha, in the

beginning, tells us; he gives us some

hints; he gives us some ideas about where

to look, how to think about things, how to

think wisely. And it is from confidence in

what the Buddha says that we start to look

in the right place. I'm sure you know what

I mean, right? That's why you come here,

for goodness sake, right? To be given some

directions where to look, where not to

look. So the fact that you have that

confidence in these teachings in the first

place is what allows you then to have

yonisomanasikara afterwards. The Buddha

tells us: look here, don't look at that;

perceive in this way, don't perceive like

that; think like this, don't think like

that. And as you do that, you're actually

practicing yonisomanasikara based on

confidence. And then, as time goes by, and

this starts to sink in, and you start to

understand what is going on, why it works,

you start to become your own wisdom after

a while. So, but most of us are kind of in

in-between land, right? There is some

degree of our own wisdom; there's some

degree of just confidence and faith, and

both of those things go together. And as

time goes by, you might think the faith

goes up and the confidence goes down...

No, both of them rise together, both

confidence and faith. This is kind of the

nice thing about the Buddha's teachings:

that confidence or faith is a flipside of

wisdom or understanding. The more wise you

are, the more confidence you have. It is

not blind... we're not talking about blind

faith in Buddhism, we're talking about

faith that is based on understanding,

based on reality—it's a completely

different type of faith. And because of

that, they go together, and that is why

when you become a stream-entrer, when you

see the Dhamma, and you understand with

wisdom what's going on for the first time,

that's when your confidence becomes

settled; it becomes firm; it becomes

unshakable, immovable, right? Confidence

and wisdom going together—these are not

opposite sides in Buddhism; they are two

sides of the same faculty and they kind of

grow together in this way. So that's why

we here have confidence being the

nutriment for wise attention; that

confidence is what gives you the

opportunity to grow this, and perhaps a

little bit counterintuitive, and for that

reason, I think quite interesting. The

most interesting things in life are always

the counterintuitive ones, right? That

makes you think and makes you look at

things in a new way. So please, yeah?

(question from the audience--not heard)

You have a problem, right? That's why you have

a problem. Yeah, exactly. And that's the

problem. Yeah, right? So that's...no,

exactly, of course, this is what happens,

right? So if you...this is the problem

with having wrong view is that you can't,

you know...if you really have wrong view,

how are you going to persuade them to get

wrong view? Very often you can't. And so

sometimes you just have to shrug your

shoulders: okay, do your thing, you know,

if that's what you want to do, what can I

say? But very often, if you are gentle and

kind of do things in the right way, people

often get persuaded in the long run;

that's what I have experienced in my own

life; people are often persuadable; you

just have to be skillful and you have to

be kind of careful in how you do things.

That exactly is the whole point—it's a

trap, right? Delusion, ignorance, avijja,

is a trap because you don't know that you

have delusion; delusion is...this is why

it's so sticky and so hard to get out

of—you are deluded. If you believe in God

and you're absolutely sure God is, you

know, is out there, kind of looking after

you—it's very comforting, right? God is

looking after me; okay, no problems; it's

comforting, but it might be wrong. So

what if it is wrong? What are the

consequences of that? And the consequences

from a Buddhist point of view, if you hold

on to that idea firmly, you can go a long

way on this path, but you can't go all the

way to the end because you're holding on

to something which is contrary to the

path. So...yeah, that is a serious

problem. So you, you know, sometimes—and

this is one of the reasons why the Buddha

says, you know, if you are on the right

track, you have to use that opportunity

because next life you might be on the

wrong track again. We've all been there:

right, being deluded, being completely out

of it; we've probably all believed firmly

in God in some past life because we're all

pretty much the same, right? We're not any

really any better than the people out

there or people in different...we were

just kind of moving around with different

beliefs. One lifetime they are Buddhists,

another lifetime we are Buddhist, and we

are Christian, they are Christian —you

know, things just moving like that. So

it's not...this is not about kind of judging

people in a way, it's just more about just

understand that delusion is a very

powerful force and then to take the

opportunity. If you feel that in this

life, you have some clarity, use that

clarity to the max to get you out of this

problem because now you have the chance.

Yeah? So that's what I would say would be

a good way of looking at that. Are you

okay with that? Sort of? Yeah?,

(comments not the audience)

It is in some ways the same thing, you know.

But we don't, you know,

the thing is that I'm not...what I'm saying is

that we have to assume that we are right,

right? You have to assume that you're on

the right track by practicing this; if you

didn't assume that, you wouldn't be here.

So you have to have some assumption, but

be careful with that assumption; be humble

about it. Okay, you assume that you are on

the right track, but you also know at the

same time, even though you come here,

you're not free of delusion; there are

things in there which you misunderstand,

right? So how much do you actually know?

And that is where you have...it's very,

very, very useful to be humble about these

things. And as far as we're concerned,

maybe the fundamentalist Christians are

right; they could be right. Until you know

the truth in a profound sense for

yourself, you don't actually know what's

going on. And that is the beautiful thing

about this: in Buddhism, you're allowed to

say: I don't know; I'm not sure, 100% sure,

but this seems right to me so I will

follow this path, right? And I think that

is a very important attitude; I don't

think we should have, in Buddhism, the

attitude: I know it all; this is a truth;

everything else is wrong. If you have that

attitude, then you're not being honest

with yourself and what you actually know.

Okay. Yes?

(Question / comment from the
audience.. not heard)

Audience--Why is that counterintuitive? I mean, I

missed that point. I thought it was

intuitive.

Ajahn Brahmali: I think it is once you get it.

Audience: If you don't kowtow to the Buddha and then

you're missing the whole point; you missed

the big boat.

Ajahn Brahmali: Sure, I think it's just counterintuitive

because if we usually translate

yonisomanasikara as wise attention,

usually we think of wisdom as something

which comes from us, right? So, but

actually here it's is coming from the

Buddha; the Buddha is telling us. So it is

wisdom, but it is actually drawn from the

inside; its not drawn from insight of

yourself. So there's two sources of

wisdom: coming from the outside or coming

from inside of yourself.

Audience: I mean, I thought the biggest, the

biggest miracle here is the singularity,

right? That the Buddha arises...or the

past Buddha arises. That was the biggest miracle.

Ajahn Brahmali: Yeah, sure. Yes, we will see that in a

second that that is the foundation for the

whole path, right? That is where

everything comes from, precisely.

So, yeah.

Okay, so what then is the cause of this

faith or confidence? And the answer is—or

lack of faith, rather—the answer is not

hearing the good Dhamma, right? So you

have to hear the good Dhamma, then you

have...it gives rise to faith. So what is

this good dhamma? And the good Dhamma,

from a Buddhist point of view, is that

Dhamma, right? The teaching of the Buddha,

not some other kind of teaching, but the

teaching of the Buddha. So you can see

here that the word when we're talking

about faith here and confidence, it

matters that we have confidence in the

right thing; it has to be a teaching that

actually goes towards awakening; that

takes you all the way; that doesn't kind

of stop halfway. There may be other

teachings that can take you a long way,

but from a Buddhist point of view, you

have to be able to penetrate you know,

non-self and these foundational things, to

be able to go all the way. So it is

significant; it is important that we kind

of put place our faith in the right place.

It's kind of scary, right? We're fumbling

around in the dark; we are kind of

deluded; we know that; sometimes we feel

deluded. And yet, so and yet, we have to

make this choice about what path to follow

and we don't really know. And all we can

really do is to make the best possible

judgment from a variety of factors: from

the people around you, from the coherence

of the suttas, how they work. And I must

admit, as far as scriptures are concerned,

there's something about the Buddhist

scriptures that are very powerful compared

to, at least, some of the other scriptures

that I have read. And also,

often...sometimes, also the quality of the

people is also very high. So you hear the

good Dhamma; when you hear the good

Dhamma, you recognize something, right?

You recognize some truth in there; you

have the faculties to be able to recognize

the truth. And because of that, you

then...gives rise to confidence. Now

there's something very important about

this because one of the things I think is

most difficult on the Buddhist path is not

to understand the teaching, the teachings

are quite simple, really, right? Be kind,

do the right thing, practicing the right

way, get rid of the hindrances, give rise

to samadhi, right? The bliss and

unification of mind and all of these kinds

of things—to understand what's going on is

fairly simple. What is hard, the most

difficult thing, is to have the

perseverance and the commitment to

actually fulfill it day after day, week

after week, for your whole life; to

maximize the opportunity moment after

moment. This, I think, is the most

difficult thing on this path. So when we

say difficult, it's difficult in a kind of

very...not in a kind of intellectual way,

but difficult in more like a ability to

persevere with these things. And this

tells you what you need to do, right? To

persevere. Having that strong view of

confidence, the more you were able to

persevere and commit yourself, and that

confidence comes from hearing the true

Dhamma. So this is where it's at, right?

You need to kind of gradually brainwash

yourself, gradually clean out all the

stuff in there, which is no good, and put

some good stuff in there; get the Buddha's

washing powder and use that to wash out

your brain and get a good brainwashing.

And, of course, the washing powder is

reading the suttas and reflecting on them,

understanding them; understanding whatever

other good teachings there are and

applying those in your life. It's a very

powerful thing, right? Here we're coming

towards the very beginning of this whole

sequence of factors. And it tells you at

this beginning what we're really dealing

with; it's hearing the word of the Buddha

is one of the most foundational things.

And for that reason, of course, it is no

surprise that the cause for hearing the

good Dhamma is seeing the superior

people—is that the translation here? Good

persons it has here, elsewhere translated

as superior people, the sathpurisa, and the

sathpurisas, of course, are the ariyans,

the noble people who have penetrated and

understood that truth for themselves.

Right? And that, here, is the foundation

of this whole thing; that is what

leads...the lack of seeing those people is

what leads in the end to avijja, leads

to the problems. And, of course, the

opposite is seeing these people that leads

to the exact opposite; it leads to the

liberation and freedom at the end. And it

reinforces this very powerful message that

without somebody having understood these

things in the world, without somebody

having seen this, just like Wu Tong was

saying just a second ago, that this is

the...this is the thing which makes the

whole path become possible; this is the

light arising in the world which gives

eyesight to everybody else. And without

that, there is no walking down the path at

all; without that there is no sense of

confidence in the right teachings. So this

is the basis, right? And what that means

is that, again, what we have to do if we

want to make progress on this path, we

have to nurture those roots; remember,

we're talking about nutriments here; every

factor is the nutriment for the following

one. And with every factor that you...and

if we go back to the very root factor, you

need to keep watering that root factor;

you gotta keep making it grow; you need to

establish it more firmly, right? Seeing

the sathpurisas, understanding the

suttas—these other two things that go

together. If you ever feel confused, if

you ever feel uncertain, if you need a

boost in your practice, that is where you

go and that will give you that boost. And

this is very similar to this very famous

saying that the Buddha is very often

quoted as saying that to Venerable Ananda

that the seeing of the kalyana mitta is

100% of the spiritual life. Ananda says to

the Buddha, "It's 50%." The Buddha, "No,

no, no, Ananda. It's 100%." Right? And

it's a very...and I always thought this

must be some kind of exaggeration, right?

Surely, it's not 100%. There's all these

other factors: you know, you have to be

kind and generous and all these things;

you have to be compassionate to people and

all these things. The Buddha is just

exaggerating, but it's not really the

Buddha's way; he doesn't really exaggerate

when he says something like that; it has a

very specific meaning and the

specific meaning is that you need that

input at the beginning to get started.

Without that input, there is nothing; it

doesn't even get started; you don't go

anywhere. And then you keep on getting

that input again, and again and again, and

as you do that, this brainwashing happens,

right? You may think brainwashing is bad;

brainwashing is good. It depends how you're

brainwashed: you can be brainwashed—

we get brainwashed anyway—brainwashed just

means conditioning. So we go out into the

world and meet all these people of various

types—brainwashing is a reality; you can't

avoid that. You just have to make sure you

get the right soap powder, and the right

kind of washing, right? A good washing

machine, and then you put yourself in

there, close the door and take a

few...tumble around a few times and come

out the other end and then you're

enlightened. So that is...that is it. The

reality is that you are brainwashed

regardless, you have no choice about that

so you have to find the good brainwashing.

And so you have to hope that you have some

innate wisdom to be able to pick out that

good brainwashing, and if you have that,

then you are on the right track. So always

think...always remember that: these are

the core...this is the source, that kind

of root nutriment of everything else, so

keep on getting excited about the suttas.

It's such wonderful teachings, once we get

into them, and you start to understand

what's going on—wow, it is so beautiful

and so powerful! Come here and listen to

Ajahn Brahm on the Friday night talks,

right? Because simply, you know, you are

very much in the presence of the Dhamma

when you are in the presence of somebody

like Ajahn Brahm. And when you do that, it

will gradually lift you up; it will change

your view; you'll become more and more

aligned with the suttas, more and more

aligned with the Buddha's vision of the

world. And as you do that, you will make

much more progress on the path and it's

all for your own happiness, all for your

own freedom, liberation, independence,

feeling of wow! What a wonderful thing

it is this Dhamma; I feel so much better

now than I did last year, last month, ten

years ago, two lifetimes ago, whatever it

is, right? You're heading in the right way

and it feels so nice. So that is the core

of the thing; this is the kind of

foundational work we have to put in. And

it's actually quite nice, right? It's

quite nice to come here to Dhammaloka

Centre, hang out with your good friends,

right? All these virtuous people doing the

right thing, doing kind things, reading

these amazing suttas, feeling inspired. I

mean, what could be bad about that? It's

such a wonderful thing to do. You don't

really have to...often we think that about

the Buddhist path, oh, I have to strive so

hard, right? Grit my teeth and

clench...clench my fists or whatever. But

no, it's not about that: the root causes

are just coming here, hanging out with

good people, listening to good teachings,

and enjoying yourself, making it a happy

path. One of those really important things

I think in any Buddhist life is to make it

enjoyable because you're going to have to

persevere for a long, long period of time;

you have to enjoy what you're doing. And

when you enjoy what you're doing, then

perseverance will come. Make it into an

exercise in torture and self-torment,

there's no way that you're going to be

able to persevere as a consequence. That

is what to me is one of those really

uplifting messages of this sutta is that

really all you have to do is keep on

reading those suttas, and the motivation

to practice will come from that. Okay,

sometimes you have to use a little bit of

force; sometimes you have to say: okay,

get your act together; do the right thing.

Of course, it is not...nothing is

completely automatic. But a lot of the

time, it's just about getting back to

these things, getting inspired, feeling

wow, I really want to take every

opportunity in the day to do good things,

to say right words, think kind thoughts.

And when you get into that mood, you

really want to do that. Wow, it becomes

easy; it becomes nice; it becomes

pleasant; you feel good about yourself and

everything goes so smoothly as a

consequence.

Yes, John?

(Question from the audience
cannot hear)

Yes, that's also

like seeing the noble one, right? In the

one sense, you're kind of seeing...you're

in the presence of the Buddha in a way

when you see the suttas. But I agree with

you, I think that is a problem and

because, obviously, when you see a living

example, it tends to be much more powerful

than when you're just reading stuff, it's

a bit more dry. So I think it is very,

very useful to see living examples. So

what we need to do is make more noble

ones, so please practice hard, John; we

get some more noble ones, that would be

great, right? And then we become a

blessing for the rest of the world because

we also have penetrated those things. So,

yeah. Okay, so I'll read one more

paragraph and then I will, unfortunately,

I have to go because in five minutes,

because I have another appointment

afterwards. But we can continue the sutta

next time I'm here at Dhammaloka; probably

won't be that long in the future and we

can continue with it then. But this is

kind of nice because it's sort of halfway

through this thing. So let me just do one

little paragraph; it's a fairly quick one.

Maybe I was being a bit...No, actually I

think I will stop there because I realize

it's a bit more than I had maybe bargained

for. So let us stop there for today, and

because otherwise, it would be a problem.

Any last minute questions? Is anyone who

is completely, utterly, confused, have no

idea what I'm talking about and wonders

what's going on? Everybody reasonably

happy. Most of you have been around a long

time and you know a lot about Dhamma

already. Okay.

Yes, Lynne? Please.

(question from the audience)

Yeah, exactly. It's something that either

it nourishes or it de-nourishes right? And

if it nourishes, it gives strength to the

quality and if it is not present, then it

kind of weakens the other thing. Yeah,

exactly. That's the important thing here.

Yeah. Good. Okay, everybody happy? Great.

Let's pay respect to the Buddha Dhamma Sangha.

(Ajahn turning towards the Buddha Statue
and worshiping three times)