WEBVTT

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[Three sounds of the big bell ... ]

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Now, we will breath with 
the sound of the ticking clock.

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Breathing in for 2 or 3 seconds.

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Breathing out for 4 or 5 seconds.

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Usually, the in-breath is 
shorter than the out-breath.

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So when we breath in for 3 seconds,

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we can breath out for 4, 5, 6 or 7 seconds.

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Now Thay's in-breath is 4 seconds 
and out-breath is 7 seconds.

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We can choose the length 
according to our lung's capacity.

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Breathing in for however many 
seconds as is comfortable,

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and breathing out for however many 
seconds as is most comfortable.

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We can follow this rhythm for a few minutes,

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then we can change it, depending 
on the capacity of our lungs.

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And when you count like that, 
the thinking naturally stops

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and you pay attention to your breathing.

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Before going to bed you can 
place the clock nearby

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and you breathe with the ticking of the clock..

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When you breathe with the clock, 
you stop the thinking.

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For example, breathing in 1, 2, 3, 
breathing out 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.

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1, 2, 3.
1, 2, 3, 4, 5.

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You can change the numbers with words, like:

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Buddha, dharma, sangha.

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Taking refuge in Buddha, dharma, sangha.

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Buddha, dharma, sangha. 
Taking refuge in Buddha, dharma, sangha.

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Instead of 1, 2, 3. 
1, 2, 3, 4, 5.

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When you do walking meditation

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you can count your steps.

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Breathing in you can make 3 steps,

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and breathing out you can make 5 or 6 steps.

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And sometimes when you feel really well,

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you can make up to 7 or 8 steps on an in-breath,

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and 12 steps on an out-breath.

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So it depends.

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Like when you walk uphill,

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the number of steps will naturally be less.

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When you go uphill, normally 
you make 2 steps on an in-breath

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and three steps on an out-breath.

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And if it is really steep then 
it's one step for the in-breath

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and one step for the out-breath.

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Counting your steps like that, 
you also stop the thinking.

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Stopping the thinking,

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you pay more attention to 
your steps and your breath.

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When you do sitting meditation

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you begin by becoming aware of your breath.

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The first thing is to become aware of the breath.

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And breathing in, you can say,

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"Dear Buddha, I invite you to breath with my lungs."

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And when the Buddha starts to breath,

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you see that the Buddha's back will be upright,

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because the Buddha always sits very upright.

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"Dear Buddha, I invite you to sit with my back.

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I'm not sitting with my grandmother's back. 
I'm sitting with the Buddha's back."

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So your spine becomes very straight and very relaxed.

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The Buddha is breathing with your lungs,

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and you see the Buddha using 
your lungs to breath for you.

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It's wonderful.

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While breathing like that, 
you experience dharma joy.

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There's happiness while breathing.

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There's relaxation.

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When you experience the joy of practicing,

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you know that you are breathing correctly.

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And when you don't feel the joy of practicing, 
you know that you are breathing incorrectly.

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You may be trying too hard.

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You're only breathing. It's not hard labor.

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Enjoy breathing.

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The first part of sitting meditation

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is calming the breath and the body.

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To adjust the body so that 
it is upright and relaxed,

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the head aligned with the spine.

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The head aligned with the spine,

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not like this,

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but like this. 
In line with the spine.

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And it's very soft, very relaxed.

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With the breath,

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the mind will permeate the body,

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and the body will permeate the mind.

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The embodied mind.

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The mindful body.

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When body and mind are at one and relaxed,

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you feel well,

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at ease.

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Each time you do sitting meditation

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you need to do this first.

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You relax your body, you feel at ease,

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and you enjoy those first few minutes of sitting.

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And when you breath out,

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you feel your body relax.

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When you breath in it's the same.

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Even though it's the in-breath, 
your two shoulders remain relaxed.

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Only the lungs are pumping air;

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you don't need to make any effort.

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The lungs do the pumping,

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expanding and contracting.

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Meanwhile, all the muscles 
in your body are relaxed.

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So breathing out,

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you feel your two shoulders, 
your whole body relaxed.

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When breathing in, you can also relax.

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Breathing in, simply allow your lungs to breathe,

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and the rest of your body can relax.

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The brain stem is in charge

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of the respiratory

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and heart rates.

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So allow it to do the work. 
You don't need to do anything.

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You just pay attention to 
the rhythm of the breathing.

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If you wish,

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you can make the length of the breath longer

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so that there's more dharma joy,

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so that the joy of the practice is prolonged.

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When we feel that our body is relaxing,

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relaxed,

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we know that the body's capacity for healing

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will increase.

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Our heart rate will slow down,

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and our immune system

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will be boosted.

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And so, the body begins to heal.

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The body begins to heal itself.

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The same is true when we do walking meditation.

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Each step is very relaxed.

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You walk as if you are taking a stroll.

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There's no rushing.

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With each step like that,

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healing is taking place in the body

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and in the mind as well.

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Healing for the body and the mind.

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So every breath is healing.

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Every step is healing.

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As practitioners

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we have to make good use

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of our breath and our steps to heal.

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And sitting meditation is healing.

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Sitting, walking, breathing, we can heal.

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So walking from the residence 
to the meditation hall,

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that's an opportunity.

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From the residence, or from our quarters,

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to the meditation hall or to the kitchen,

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that's an opportunity to heal.

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Every step can be as relaxing and peaceful.

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Every breath can be as relaxing and peaceful.

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Waking up in the morning

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and stepping outside—

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it's only 5 o'clock—

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you can still see the moon and stars.

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It's very beautiful.

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And you take each step relaxingly like that,

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you breathe in the fresh air—

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that

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is already the Kingdom of God, 
the Pureland of the Buddha.

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And you have to spend time

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enjoying moments like that fully.

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City people don't wake up so early.

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They also don't get to enjoy

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the fragrance of the earth at night.

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They cannot see the moon and stars as clearly.

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So they're missing out.

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And so,

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while walking to the bathroom,

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while brushing your teeth

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or while splashing cold water on your face,

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these moments can all be

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moments of relaxation and healing.

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We all have some illness or other,

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whether it's temporary or chronic.

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And we can make use of 
the sitting, the walking, the breathing

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to help the body heal.

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Healing can take place in every moment.

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When you breathe out 
and you are completely relaxed,

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the out-breath may last 5 or 7 seconds.

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Those 5 or 7 seconds of 
breathing and relaxation is healing.

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Breathing in, you can also relax.

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Breathing out, you relax again,

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and so your body has a chance to heal.

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The same is true for the body as well as the mind.

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When there is pain, anxiety or irritation,

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the breath,

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the mindful breath

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can embrace that mental formation

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and help to calm it down.

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We often speak about relaxing the body,

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but the sutras also speak 
about relaxing the feeling,

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relaxing the emotion.

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Relaxing the feeling, the emotion.

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An emotion, a feeling, is an energy.

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It may be pleasant or unpleasant.

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And when it's a strong emotion,

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we are not peaceful.

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Even if it is a joyful emotion,

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it's not peaceful.

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For some people, when they hear 
that they've won the lottery

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they faint.

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That's because they are so happy.

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So emotions, they don't offer us peace.

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So with the breathing, 
you can embrace the emotion,

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embrace the feeling.

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and you can calm the feeling,

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relax the feeling.

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That practice is called 
calming the mental formation.

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Relaxing the mental formation.

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Relaxing the feeling.

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Relaxing the emotion.

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In the Anapanasati sutra,

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there's an exercise for calming the body,

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meaning to relax the body.

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And there's an exercise for 
calming the mental formation,

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meaning to calm the emotions, the feelings.

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An tịnh tâm hành.
安 静 心 行
Calming the mental formation.

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When we are angry or sad,

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we have to know how to breathe.

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After having relaxed the body, 
we relax the mind.

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And if

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the unpleasant, painful feeling persists,

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we can look deeply into the other person,

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the person whom we believe has made us suffer,

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made us sad.

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We can see their difficulties,

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their pain.

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We can see the pain and sorrow 
they have in their hearts,

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the unhealthy habits or patterns of behavior

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that they are not able to control,

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to master,

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and they are making themselves suffer

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and making those around them suffer.

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They are a victim of their own suffering.

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When we can see

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that they are suffering,

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we

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can give rise

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to compassion

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Because we have good seeds within us.

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When we see someone suffer,

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we have compassion for them.

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When we have no compassion,

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it's because we haven't been 
able to see their suffering.

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Once we recognize their suffering, 
compassion arises naturally.

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So the habits of mind,

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the neural pathways in our brain changes.

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Often, our thinking

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goes in the direction of anger,

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resentment and the desire 
to punish the other person,

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especially when we suffer.

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We hear something, we see something 
that has triggered us.

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And our neural pathways—the pathways in our brain—

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lead us to anger.

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But when we look deeply and can see 
the suffering in the other person,

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naturally, our mind goes in another direction,

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and it can take us to a place of love.

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We have two ways of thinking,

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one way leads to anger,

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and the other leads to love.

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We come to anger because

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we haven't seen the suffering 
of the other person.

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Once we can see their suffering,

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we change course,

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and we choose another path.

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A path leading to love.

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Then we feel better,

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and we can relax the 
mental formation very quickly.

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This year, we will write these phrases 
to celebrate the Lunar New Year:

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Listen deeply to understand clearly, 
Look deeply to truly love.

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"Look deeply to truly love" means to see that

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the other person is suffering.

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The other person is suffering.

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Looking deeply, we recognize

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that we have received some kindness from them.

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Looking deeply to acknowledge 
the kind actions of the past.

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Looking deeply to recognize the 
difficulties that they are facing.

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Seeing these two things, 
suddenly we're not angry anymore.

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That's looking deeply to truly love.

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Regarder bien pour mieux aimer.

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Nhìn lại để thương. 
Looking deeply to truly love.

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They have made us suffer.

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And we're not able to be at peace.

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But thanks to looking deeply,

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we can easily calm the mind 
and be at peace again.

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The irritation, the anger transforms very quickly.

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So calming, relaxing the mental formations is possible.

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It's up to us, up to how we see things.

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In Buddhism, we speak about the criteria

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of pain and pleasure.

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"Khổ" can be translated as "pain,"

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and "lạc" can be translated as "pleasure."

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In general, everyone has the tendency

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to avoid pain and to seek pleasure.

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That is a function of 
the seventh consciousness, manas:

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To avoid pain and to seek pleasure.

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Pleasure seeking.

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Avoiding suffering.

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It's a natural tendency,

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and it's the function of manas, 
the seventh consciousness.

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The criteria of pain and pleasure is the criteria

00:27:05.459 --> 00:27:12.163
of a number of ethicists.

00:27:14.741 --> 00:27:18.139
There's a school of ethics called

00:27:19.286 --> 00:27:21.286
utilitarianism.

00:27:34.514 --> 00:27:36.514
Utilitarianism.

00:27:39.568 --> 00:27:44.301
Utilitarianism.

00:27:59.655 --> 00:28:02.736
The basic tenet of this school

00:28:03.819 --> 00:28:08.234
is that any act, any speech,

00:28:10.144 --> 00:28:14.242
any thought

00:28:14.242 --> 00:28:22.409
that reduces harm and maximizes 
happiness and well-being

00:28:22.409 --> 00:28:27.367
is considered right action, moral.

00:28:27.367 --> 00:28:31.545
Whereas anything that leads to pain

00:28:31.545 --> 00:28:33.772
or ill-being is considered amoral.

00:28:33.772 --> 00:28:37.761
That is their criteria for right and wrong.

00:30:07.850 --> 00:30:11.121
So the basic premise of this school

00:30:12.014 --> 00:30:17.573
is similar to the that of the Four Noble Truths.

00:30:19.483 --> 00:30:24.446
in that we have to envision

00:30:24.446 --> 00:30:30.000
a world where happiness is possible.

00:30:33.563 --> 00:30:38.357
For example, a world where 
there's enough food, housing,

00:30:38.357 --> 00:30:44.144
democracy, peace,

00:30:46.244 --> 00:30:48.244
well-being.

00:30:51.171 --> 00:30:55.205
It's similar to the third of the 4 Noble Truths.

00:30:58.005 --> 00:31:03.692
And once we have identified 
what it is that we want, meaning

00:31:04.902 --> 00:31:09.384
the overall well-being of society,

00:31:09.384 --> 00:31:16.564
that's utilitarianism: actions that promote happiness.

00:31:17.838 --> 00:31:20.283
"Công lợi, công ích"
both mean utilitarianism.

00:31:22.320 --> 00:31:27.371
So both can be translated as utilitarianism.

00:31:30.000 --> 00:31:37.403
So we know what we should do 
and what we should say.

00:31:38.941 --> 00:31:45.000
This is action.

00:31:45.000 --> 00:31:49.013
And that action promotes happiness.

00:31:53.275 --> 00:31:57.182
In Buddhism, action is the Noble Eightfold Path.

00:32:01.634 --> 00:32:06.113
The Noble Eightfold Path leads

00:32:07.387 --> 00:32:09.768
to the end of ill-being.

00:32:11.360 --> 00:32:13.360
The end of ill-being.

00:32:14.443 --> 00:32:20.956
These are the similarities between 
Buddhism and utilitarianism.

00:32:23.692 --> 00:32:26.709
The definition of

00:32:27.919 --> 00:32:30.364
right action

00:32:31.320 --> 00:32:36.307
(right action or right speech),

00:32:38.567 --> 00:32:43.554
and whether that action is right or wrong,

00:32:46.354 --> 00:32:48.354
right or wrong,

00:32:52.743 --> 00:32:54.934
good or evil,

00:33:00.594 --> 00:33:07.565
to know whether our action is 
right or wrong, good or bad,

00:33:07.565 --> 00:33:11.781
we must see whether that action 
leads to well-being,

00:33:11.781 --> 00:33:13.973
or whether it leads to ill-being.

00:33:13.973 --> 00:33:17.324
If it promotes happiness, it is right action;

00:33:17.324 --> 00:33:20.266
if it promotes ill-being, it is wrong, it is bad.

00:33:20.266 --> 00:33:24.766
That is the criteria of utilitarianism.

00:33:32.504 --> 00:33:35.203
So if we lie,

00:33:36.223 --> 00:33:40.337
and if lying promotes well-being, then we can lie.

00:33:40.337 --> 00:33:41.973
In this case lying is considered good.

00:33:44.137 --> 00:33:47.656
But if we speak the truth and 
it causes harm to others,

00:33:47.656 --> 00:33:51.985
that is not correct, that is wrong.

00:33:51.985 --> 00:33:57.484
Say there is a killer looking for their target,

00:33:58.504 --> 00:34:03.168
and they ask you, do you know 
where that person is hiding?

00:34:03.168 --> 00:34:04.439
You know.

00:34:04.439 --> 00:34:06.806
But you know that if you tell the truth,

00:34:06.806 --> 00:34:08.760
they will find and kill that person.

00:34:08.760 --> 00:34:11.176
So telling the truth is not correct,

00:34:11.176 --> 00:34:12.954
is not good.

00:34:12.954 --> 00:34:15.314
So you have to lie and 
say that you don't know.

00:34:17.224 --> 00:34:21.456
So whether lying is a good thing or not

00:34:21.456 --> 00:34:24.309
depends on the situation.

00:34:34.800 --> 00:34:37.245
If lying

00:34:39.027 --> 00:34:43.598
promotes well-being and safety for others,

00:34:43.598 --> 00:34:45.349
it is good.

00:34:46.239 --> 00:34:48.495
On the other hand, if speaking the truth

00:34:48.495 --> 00:34:51.226
will cause the other person to die,

00:34:52.437 --> 00:34:54.185
to be in pain,

00:34:54.185 --> 00:34:56.217
that is still wrong.

00:34:57.173 --> 00:35:05.193
So that is the premise of 
the school of utilitarianism.

00:35:05.193 --> 00:35:11.059
In other words, the important thing is the outcome.

00:35:14.558 --> 00:35:20.880
So, the end justifies the means.

00:35:23.934 --> 00:35:27.363
The end justifies the means.

00:35:27.363 --> 00:35:33.879
That is the essence of utilitarianism.

00:35:44.529 --> 00:35:47.737
August 6,

00:35:52.507 --> 00:35:54.888
August 6,

00:35:58.896 --> 00:36:01.468
1945.

00:36:12.022 --> 00:36:16.851
August 6, 1945 is the day

00:36:16.851 --> 00:36:23.080
the US dropped the first atomic bomb

00:36:24.672 --> 00:36:27.435
on the city of Hiroshima.

00:36:42.693 --> 00:36:44.693
And

00:36:46.412 --> 00:36:52.424
within a matter of minutes 
140,000 people in that city died.

00:36:52.424 --> 00:36:56.294
Just one bomb and 140,000 people died.

00:37:04.242 --> 00:37:06.621
And

00:37:06.621 --> 00:37:10.744
that bomb has raised a number of questions

00:37:10.744 --> 00:37:12.828
since 1945.

00:37:12.828 --> 00:37:19.210
Was it right or wrong 
to have dropped the atomic bomb?

00:37:20.802 --> 00:37:23.632
Some people say it was the right thing to do

00:37:23.632 --> 00:37:26.714
because even though 140,000 people died,

00:37:26.714 --> 00:37:28.713
they were able to end the war.

00:37:29.606 --> 00:37:34.085
If the war had lasted there 
would be many more casualties.

00:37:37.202 --> 00:37:39.379
And there are others who say,

00:37:39.379 --> 00:37:43.588
they could've used means 
other than dropping the bomb.

00:37:48.421 --> 00:37:56.777
Before that president Roosevelt, 
the president before Truman,

00:37:57.352 --> 00:37:59.210
had stated very clearly that

00:37:59.210 --> 00:38:04.039
in military operations

00:38:04.039 --> 00:38:10.285
they must avoid causing civilian damage.

00:38:10.987 --> 00:38:14.387
In military operations, 
the army only has the right

00:38:14.387 --> 00:38:18.771
to attack the enemy's military units,

00:38:19.282 --> 00:38:21.499
and they must avoid as much as possible

00:38:21.499 --> 00:38:24.859
causing civilian damage.

00:38:24.859 --> 00:38:29.482
President Roosevelt had given such an order,

00:38:30.001 --> 00:38:33.399
very clearly and in detail.

00:38:33.911 --> 00:38:37.994
But upon President Roosevelt's death,

00:38:37.994 --> 00:38:41.441
Truman assumed the presidency.

00:38:41.952 --> 00:38:43.658
He also said the same thing.

00:38:43.658 --> 00:38:48.863
He said that he didn't 
agree with military operations

00:38:48.863 --> 00:38:53.510
that cause civilian harm.

00:38:53.510 --> 00:38:56.503
Military operations should 
only target armed forces

00:38:56.503 --> 00:39:03.632
and should be careful not to harm civilians.

00:39:03.632 --> 00:39:05.708
So Truman also said the same thing.

00:39:06.537 --> 00:39:08.807
When Truman assumed the presidency

00:39:08.807 --> 00:39:12.414
he didn't know that they 
already had the atomic bomb.

00:39:13.307 --> 00:39:15.307
At the time,

00:39:15.628 --> 00:39:17.628
the US had already made the atomic bomb.

00:39:18.711 --> 00:39:26.432
The military leaders and advisors 
came to tell him that

00:39:27.451 --> 00:39:30.000
it was necessary to drop the atomic bomb

00:39:30.000 --> 00:39:35.557
for Japan to realize that they must surrender

00:39:35.557 --> 00:39:38.668
and not continue the war.

00:39:39.370 --> 00:39:43.922
The military advisors told Truman that

00:39:43.922 --> 00:39:46.340
although a number of people will die,

00:39:46.340 --> 00:39:49.104
maybe 100,000 people will die,

00:39:49.105 --> 00:39:51.869
but if they dropped the bomb,

00:39:51.869 --> 00:39:54.401
the other side would be forced to surrender,

00:39:54.401 --> 00:39:57.461
and this would put a swift end to the war.

00:39:57.461 --> 00:39:59.939
Otherwise the war would drag on

00:39:59.939 --> 00:40:02.091
and a lot more people would die.

00:40:02.539 --> 00:40:06.514
Whatever they said was so convincing 
that president Truman accepted.

00:40:06.514 --> 00:40:10.336
Truman knew that if they dropped the bomb

00:40:10.336 --> 00:40:16.997
at least 100,000 civilians will be killed.

00:40:19.860 --> 00:40:23.970
We don't know how long the discussions took place

00:40:23.970 --> 00:40:27.434
but Truman changed his mind

00:40:27.434 --> 00:40:33.683
and allowed the first bomb 
to be dropped on Hiroshima.

00:40:39.724 --> 00:40:47.192
Before that, the Allied forces 
had landed in Normandy, France.

00:40:47.192 --> 00:40:52.976
The fighting was so fierce and many people died.

00:40:52.976 --> 00:40:56.026
There were a lot of casualties on both sides.

00:41:03.084 --> 00:41:07.565
In the Pacific Ocean, the Allied forces

00:41:07.565 --> 00:41:12.554
were beginning to gain the upper-hand.

00:41:12.554 --> 00:41:14.682
They were winning.

00:41:15.320 --> 00:41:19.481
But nobody knew how long the war would drag on.

00:41:20.183 --> 00:41:28.605
So the US military leaders advised Truman

00:41:28.605 --> 00:41:30.925
to drop the atomic bomb

00:41:30.925 --> 00:41:34.325
so Japan would be terrorized 
into surrendering quickly.

00:41:34.325 --> 00:41:39.917
And they were so persuasive that Truman accepted.

00:41:43.543 --> 00:41:47.341
It's reported that Truman said,

00:41:47.341 --> 00:41:52.012
"After having made the decision, 
I slept like a baby."

00:41:52.012 --> 00:41:54.505
I slept like a baby.

00:41:56.351 --> 00:41:57.526
That's just incredible.

00:41:57.526 --> 00:42:00.290
You know beforehand that 
100,000 people will die, or more,

00:42:00.290 --> 00:42:02.237
and yet you can sleep like a baby.

00:42:02.237 --> 00:42:04.390
That's just incredible.

00:42:10.494 --> 00:42:11.733
Three days later.

00:42:11.733 --> 00:42:16.753
Two days later Japan still hadn't surrendered.

00:42:17.836 --> 00:42:23.588
140,000 people died immediately after.

00:42:23.588 --> 00:42:27.433
And you know, the effects of 
nuclear radiation continued to kill

00:42:27.433 --> 00:42:32.612
tens of thousands of people in the following years.

00:42:34.013 --> 00:42:43.259
I visited the museum of Hiroshima.

00:42:43.259 --> 00:42:44.341
It was horrifying.

00:42:44.341 --> 00:42:47.487
There were a lot of horrifying evidence.

00:42:50.350 --> 00:42:54.829
There were many piles of dishes from restaurants,

00:42:55.150 --> 00:43:04.078
or drawers full of metal utensils, knives and spoons.

00:43:05.098 --> 00:43:07.583
When the bomb dropped

00:43:07.583 --> 00:43:10.372
it generated an incredible amount of heat,

00:43:10.372 --> 00:43:16.569
so hot that all the tea cups melted into a clump,

00:43:17.017 --> 00:43:23.387
and all the spoons, forks and knives

00:43:23.387 --> 00:43:27.598
also melted into a clump.

00:43:28.681 --> 00:43:34.452
And it was so hot that people 
jumped into ponds and rivers,

00:43:34.452 --> 00:43:36.899
but the water was also boiling hot.

00:43:36.899 --> 00:43:44.283
And so within a matter of minutes 
140,000 people died

00:43:46.829 --> 00:43:48.829
on the island of Hiroshima.

00:43:49.785 --> 00:43:54.772
On the 9th of August,

00:43:54.772 --> 00:43:58.302
three days later,

00:43:58.302 --> 00:44:00.000
four days later,

00:44:00.000 --> 00:44:08.408
the US dropped a second atomic bomb on Nagasaki.

00:44:09.491 --> 00:44:10.964
This was a smaller city.

00:44:10.964 --> 00:44:17.085
And the second bomb immediately 
killed 70,000 civilians.

00:44:30.690 --> 00:44:32.690
So

00:44:36.761 --> 00:44:41.336
this was a very controversial.

00:44:41.336 --> 00:44:44.746
Should the US have dropped the bomb or not?

00:44:44.747 --> 00:44:48.973
One could argue that because 
the two bombs were dropped,

00:44:48.973 --> 00:44:51.356
the other side was forced into surrendering

00:44:51.356 --> 00:44:53.803
and the war came to a swift end.

00:44:53.803 --> 00:45:00.000
Still, there are others that say
they could've found other solutions,

00:45:00.000 --> 00:45:03.528
because you can't be sure that 
the other would surrender.

00:45:04.674 --> 00:45:08.485
It's possible that they may not surrender.

00:45:08.485 --> 00:45:11.313
Like after the first bomb was dropped, 
Japan had not surrendered.

00:45:11.313 --> 00:45:13.857
It was only after the second bomb 
that they surrendered.

00:45:16.148 --> 00:45:19.991
You don't know beforehand

00:45:22.282 --> 00:45:24.316
what would happen.

00:45:24.316 --> 00:45:27.460
But you bear great responsibility.

00:45:32.103 --> 00:45:38.235
And was dropping the bomb right or wrong?

00:45:38.235 --> 00:45:39.728
Good or evil?

00:45:39.728 --> 00:45:42.335
Because you don't know in advance.

00:45:49.774 --> 00:45:51.774
Ethics,

00:45:52.285 --> 00:46:00.387
the branch of ethics that 
looks into criteria, or guidelines,

00:46:00.387 --> 00:46:04.549
to know whether or not an action 
is morally right or wrong

00:46:05.187 --> 00:46:09.602
is called "normative ethics."

00:46:30.345 --> 00:46:35.080
"Tiêu" means a hook, a marker,

00:46:35.080 --> 00:46:37.684
le point de repère.

00:46:41.755 --> 00:46:44.074
Tiêu chuẩn.
Criteria.

00:46:44.074 --> 00:46:52.819
"Chuẩn" is a measuring stick. 
So it is a hook, a marker, a measure,

00:46:52.819 --> 00:46:55.171
to know whether an action

00:46:55.171 --> 00:46:57.650
is morally right or wrong, good or bad.

00:46:57.650 --> 00:47:01.171
That's normative ethics.

00:47:16.354 --> 00:47:21.513
The Noble Eightfold Path, the right eightfold path.

00:47:21.513 --> 00:47:23.884
But what is considered right?

00:47:29.035 --> 00:47:33.187
What is considered to be right thinking?

00:47:33.187 --> 00:47:38.154
What is considered to be right view?

00:47:40.064 --> 00:47:43.335
We have to ask, what does "right" mean?

00:47:44.746 --> 00:47:51.477
What would make our thinking "right thinking?"

00:47:51.477 --> 00:47:54.242
Everyone wants to have right thinking.

00:47:54.242 --> 00:47:57.170
But what is right thinking?

00:47:59.016 --> 00:48:01.760
What view is a right view?

00:48:01.760 --> 00:48:03.477
Who doesn't want to have right view,

00:48:03.477 --> 00:48:05.926
but which view is the Right View?

00:48:05.926 --> 00:48:08.262
So we need a criterium.

00:48:10.045 --> 00:48:12.878
So in Buddhist ethics,

00:48:12.878 --> 00:48:15.732
Right View is the view

00:48:17.387 --> 00:48:19.387
of interbeing.

00:48:22.059 --> 00:48:24.059
non-duality,

00:48:26.731 --> 00:48:28.731
impermanence,

00:48:29.369 --> 00:48:31.369
non-self.

00:48:33.851 --> 00:48:39.242
The view that transcends all views.

00:48:39.242 --> 00:48:42.398
Meaning it is non-dualistic,

00:48:45.515 --> 00:48:49.485
and transcends all views.

00:48:59.404 --> 00:49:02.061
This is a very distinctive Buddhist understanding:

00:49:02.061 --> 00:49:03.745
Right view

00:49:03.745 --> 00:49:06.255
is the absence of all views,

00:49:06.255 --> 00:49:09.095
the removal of all views.

00:49:10.369 --> 00:49:15.000
That is the highest definition of Right view.

00:49:15.000 --> 00:49:18.362
All other definitions are relative.

00:49:18.362 --> 00:49:23.111
When you can see interdependent co-arising,

00:49:24.894 --> 00:49:28.803
that is Right view.

00:49:28.803 --> 00:49:31.636
When you can see interbeing, 
that is Right view.

00:49:31.636 --> 00:49:36.933
When you have a non-discriminative, 
non-dualistic view,

00:49:36.933 --> 00:49:39.098
that is right view.

00:49:40.118 --> 00:49:43.453
So Buddhism

00:49:44.473 --> 00:49:48.972
is also a school of normative ethics.

00:49:48.972 --> 00:49:50.307
There are criteria,

00:49:50.307 --> 00:49:54.256
there are measures

00:49:54.256 --> 00:49:57.978
that allow us to know if something 
is right or not right.

00:49:59.379 --> 00:50:02.906
And when our thinking is full of compassion,

00:50:02.906 --> 00:50:05.937
full of understanding,

00:50:05.937 --> 00:50:08.053
that is right thinking.

00:50:08.691 --> 00:50:12.955
Thinking that is full of love and understanding

00:50:12.955 --> 00:50:16.596
is considered right thinking.

00:50:16.596 --> 00:50:21.236
Whereas thinking that is full of 
anger, ignorance, craving,

00:50:21.236 --> 00:50:23.197
is not considered right thinking.

00:50:23.197 --> 00:50:25.828
So these are the definitions, the measures,

00:50:25.828 --> 00:50:34.417
these are the kinds of criteria

00:50:34.417 --> 00:50:38.247
to determine whether something is right or wrong.

00:50:44.670 --> 00:50:49.326
So according to utilitarianism,

00:50:49.326 --> 00:50:53.026
happiness is to have peace and to end the war,

00:50:53.855 --> 00:50:57.637
and the act of dropping the bomb

00:50:57.637 --> 00:51:00.345
leads to peace and the end of war.

00:51:00.345 --> 00:51:02.822
So this is how some people have interpreted this.

00:51:02.822 --> 00:51:10.602
This is how they have applied this criteria.

00:51:14.672 --> 00:51:20.289
At the time, in the UK, there was a young woman,

00:51:20.289 --> 00:51:24.109
a student named Anscombe.

00:51:26.972 --> 00:51:34.386
Later, she went on to become a notable philosopher

00:51:34.386 --> 00:51:36.706
specializing in ethics.

00:51:36.706 --> 00:51:39.302
But at the time she was just twenty years old.

00:51:39.813 --> 00:51:46.966
She was Catholic

00:51:46.966 --> 00:51:51.822
and she believed in no killing,

00:51:51.822 --> 00:51:55.268
because God said, "Thou shalt not kill."

00:51:55.268 --> 00:52:01.134
No matter what, you cannot kill.

00:52:01.134 --> 00:52:06.436
You cannot kill even one person 
let alone 140,000 people.

00:52:06.436 --> 00:52:10.440
Under no circumstances can killing be done,

00:52:10.440 --> 00:52:15.000
because that is God's command.

00:52:17.859 --> 00:52:21.385
Thou shalt not kill.

00:52:22.976 --> 00:52:26.057
That's God's command.

00:52:27.839 --> 00:52:31.112
Even for the sake of peace or for anything else,

00:52:31.112 --> 00:52:33.208
you cannot kill.

00:52:38.677 --> 00:52:42.203
Just like the philosopher Kant from Germany,

00:52:43.604 --> 00:52:48.147
he said that moral rules

00:52:49.611 --> 00:52:51.611
should be absolute.

00:52:52.567 --> 00:52:57.139
If lying is immoral,

00:52:57.139 --> 00:53:00.000
then even if you lie to 
save people it's still immoral.

00:53:04.867 --> 00:53:14.431
He also called it the "categorical imperative."

00:53:25.176 --> 00:53:31.623
"Mệnh lệnh tuyệt đối"
"Mệnh lệnh tất yếu"
[Categorical imperative]

00:53:31.623 --> 00:53:35.757
Categorical imperative.

00:53:42.497 --> 00:53:46.658
To be truthful is a categorical imperative.

00:53:48.123 --> 00:53:49.558
If you tell the truth

00:53:49.558 --> 00:53:52.091
then you want everyone else 
to tell the truth as well.

00:53:52.091 --> 00:53:54.191
That is morally correct.

00:53:55.274 --> 00:54:00.439
Whereas if you lie, even to 
save lives or whatever,

00:54:00.439 --> 00:54:02.956
it is still immoral.

00:54:02.956 --> 00:54:07.457
So the categorical imperative is like

00:54:07.457 --> 00:54:09.669
God's commandments.

00:54:11.070 --> 00:54:15.524
But Kant doesn't speak about God.

00:54:15.524 --> 00:54:20.253
Kant appealed to man's capacity to reason.

00:54:21.972 --> 00:54:28.421
He spoke about humans as rational beings.

00:54:29.695 --> 00:54:33.654
As for Anscombe, she appealed 
to theological considerations,

00:54:33.654 --> 00:54:36.228
"This is God's commandment."

00:54:36.228 --> 00:54:38.623
The commandment of God.

00:54:46.826 --> 00:54:52.136
Utilitarian ethics is much more flexible.

00:54:52.136 --> 00:54:54.401
They say it's okay to lie, it's okay to kill,

00:54:54.401 --> 00:54:59.632
so long as it reduces suffering 
and brings about happiness.

00:55:19.768 --> 00:55:22.022
Eleven years later,

00:55:23.169 --> 00:55:25.678
Truman visited the UK

00:55:27.651 --> 00:55:33.189
and was awarded an honorary 
degree from Oxford University.

00:55:33.189 --> 00:55:34.990
An honorary doctorate.

00:55:37.599 --> 00:55:45.567
Anscombe was a professor at the university,

00:55:45.567 --> 00:55:50.022
teaching ethics.

00:55:50.022 --> 00:55:56.915
She was very faithful to the 
teachings of Christianity.

00:55:56.915 --> 00:56:02.065
She said, "some things may not be done,

00:56:02.065 --> 00:56:07.671
no matter what."

00:56:23.042 --> 00:56:31.693
"There are some things that may not be done,

00:56:31.693 --> 00:56:34.576
no matter what."

00:56:36.995 --> 00:56:40.268
"There are some things that cannot be done,

00:56:40.268 --> 00:56:42.429
no matter what."

00:56:42.429 --> 00:56:47.512
Some things may not be done, no matter what.

00:56:48.341 --> 00:56:54.903
For example, if you had to 
boil a baby to save the world,

00:56:54.903 --> 00:56:58.654
if you had to put a baby in 
boiling water to save the world,

00:56:58.654 --> 00:57:02.481
you cannot do it.

00:57:05.281 --> 00:57:11.494
Some people say Anscombe—and Kant—are too rigid.

00:57:11.494 --> 00:57:15.481
They are not flexible at all.

00:57:23.174 --> 00:57:31.982
So while Oxford held a ceremony

00:57:31.982 --> 00:57:38.014
to confer the honorary degree to Truman,

00:57:38.014 --> 00:57:43.658
Anscombe held a protest outside,

00:57:43.658 --> 00:57:46.775
kneeling in prayer

00:57:46.775 --> 00:57:55.026
to oppose Oxford awarding Truman an honorary degree.

00:58:07.831 --> 00:58:12.066
I have looked deeply into this matter many times,

00:58:12.066 --> 00:58:14.418
about the atomic bomb,

00:58:14.418 --> 00:58:17.246
and I see that dropping the atomic bomb on

00:58:17.246 --> 00:58:20.424
Hiroshima and Nagasaki

00:58:20.424 --> 00:58:24.498
was not only a matter of ending the war.

00:58:24.498 --> 00:58:28.862
I see that the US also wanted 
to test out that bomb.

00:58:29.564 --> 00:58:35.568
Even though they did test it earlier, 
it wasn't tested on a city.

00:58:36.334 --> 00:58:39.613
And maybe when that bomb exploded

00:58:39.613 --> 00:58:43.406
everyone would see that the US as number one.

00:58:43.406 --> 00:58:46.987
No other nation had that weapon.

00:58:47.435 --> 00:58:50.851
Also the prestige and power 
of the US would increase.

00:58:50.851 --> 00:58:55.951
And so, dropping the bomb was not only 
a matter of forcing Japan to surrender

00:58:55.951 --> 00:59:04.499
but to prove that the US was a superpower.

00:59:05.901 --> 00:59:09.694
A superpower.

00:59:09.694 --> 00:59:15.656
And suddenly, America's position 
became unrivaled in the world.

00:59:15.913 --> 00:59:18.322
So from a military standpoint it's one thing.

00:59:18.322 --> 00:59:20.723
But from a political standpoint it's another.

00:59:20.723 --> 00:59:25.043
So we have to look deeply 
to see the kind of thinking

00:59:25.043 --> 00:59:28.468
that lead to the decision to drop the bomb.

00:59:28.468 --> 00:59:32.202
It wasn't just to restore peace, to end the war.

00:59:32.202 --> 00:59:35.329
There were other motives involved as well.

00:59:37.112 --> 00:59:40.383
These are big ethical problems

00:59:40.767 --> 00:59:43.085
that we need to look deeply into.

00:59:49.380 --> 00:59:52.176
In Buddhism, we speak of criteria.

00:59:52.176 --> 00:59:57.325
Remember, we said that criteria means 
a hook, a marker, a measure,

00:59:57.325 --> 01:00:00.660
and the first criteria is 
pain and pleasure.

01:00:01.489 --> 01:00:07.037
What leads to pain, you don't do it.

01:00:07.037 --> 01:00:10.543
What leads to happiness, you can do it.

01:00:10.543 --> 01:00:11.864
This is the first criteria.

01:00:11.864 --> 01:00:14.549
However, this criteria is not absolute.

01:00:15.947 --> 01:00:18.712
This criteria is not absolute,

01:00:18.712 --> 01:00:23.541
and you cannot use this criteria alone.

01:00:25.006 --> 01:00:28.638
For instance, if you drink wine, 
it's very pleasurable.

01:00:28.638 --> 01:00:32.851
Eating ice-cream, one after the other,

01:00:32.851 --> 01:00:35.333
it's very pleasurable.

01:00:37.497 --> 01:00:41.386
And drowning ourselves in the five sensual desires,

01:00:41.386 --> 01:00:44.127
it's very pleasurable.

01:00:44.127 --> 01:00:47.252
But later on you have problems.

01:00:52.212 --> 01:00:54.212
Later on you suffer.

01:00:59.046 --> 01:01:02.446
So some suffering is essential

01:01:02.446 --> 01:01:04.844
for us grow as human beings.

01:01:04.844 --> 01:01:10.653
And so pain is not necessarily a bad thing,

01:01:10.653 --> 01:01:12.678
is not necessarily wrong.

01:01:19.228 --> 01:01:25.904
In the past, there was a sixteen year old student

01:01:25.904 --> 01:01:28.521
who did so well on the exams

01:01:28.521 --> 01:01:31.158
that his essay

01:01:31.158 --> 01:01:34.004
should have received the highest marks,

01:01:35.596 --> 01:01:40.011
the first laureate.

01:01:41.349 --> 01:01:43.324
But the mandarins said,

01:01:43.324 --> 01:01:44.523
"He's too young,

01:01:44.523 --> 01:01:47.811
if we let him come first place

01:01:47.811 --> 01:01:50.341
he may be too proud.

01:01:50.916 --> 01:01:56.188
And to train people

01:01:56.188 --> 01:02:00.000
we have to cultivate their virtues, 
not just their talents,

01:02:00.292 --> 01:02:03.155
so let's fail him this time,

01:02:03.155 --> 01:02:05.424
and then next time we can 
let him come in first place.

01:02:05.424 --> 01:02:10.437
This way he can lose some of his arrogance.

01:02:10.437 --> 01:02:12.526
That was the thinking of 
the ministers of the court.

01:02:13.164 --> 01:02:17.703
In theory, this would be extremely unfair,

01:02:17.703 --> 01:02:19.832
because he was the best and 
deserved to be first place,

01:02:19.832 --> 01:02:21.537
yet they failed him

01:02:21.537 --> 01:02:24.997
only to give him the grand 
prize the following year.

01:02:24.997 --> 01:02:27.432
What if he died before that?

01:02:28.261 --> 01:02:30.400
So what is the right thing to do?

01:02:30.400 --> 01:02:35.807
In Vietnam it happened that 
there was a sixteen year old

01:02:35.807 --> 01:02:40.431
who was supposed to be first laureate 
but got failed instead.

01:02:41.896 --> 01:02:44.214
That's one moral view.

01:02:44.888 --> 01:02:47.843
Because of course, a country 
needs talented people,

01:02:47.843 --> 01:02:49.293
but it also needs ethical people.

01:02:49.293 --> 01:02:51.024
And if the person is both talented and ethical,

01:02:51.024 --> 01:02:53.534
they can serve the country well.

01:02:53.534 --> 01:02:55.391
There are many ways of thinking like that.

01:02:56.920 --> 01:03:06.328
Morally as well as

01:03:06.328 --> 01:03:08.328
culturally,

01:03:09.411 --> 01:03:10.650
in terms of perception,

01:03:10.650 --> 01:03:15.000
there are many differences 
between the East and the West.

01:03:15.672 --> 01:03:19.463
For example, in the old days 
in China and Vietnam,

01:03:19.463 --> 01:03:21.857
if someone committed a serious crime,

01:03:21.857 --> 01:03:24.028
like treason,

01:03:25.112 --> 01:03:27.622
not only was that person sentenced to death,

01:03:27.622 --> 01:03:30.351
but their entire family across three generations

01:03:30.351 --> 01:03:32.547
were also sentenced to death.

01:03:32.547 --> 01:03:35.091
Even if everyone else was innocent,

01:03:35.091 --> 01:03:36.926
all three generations were sentenced to death.

01:03:36.926 --> 01:03:39.825
"Tru di tam tộc" means to kill 
everyone across all three generations.

01:03:40.654 --> 01:03:42.834
They believe that

01:03:42.834 --> 01:03:45.556
it's because the family didn't 
guide each other well,

01:03:45.556 --> 01:03:49.010
so they are all co-responsible.

01:03:51.301 --> 01:04:00.865
In light of individualism,

01:04:01.630 --> 01:04:04.292
this is unfair.

01:04:04.292 --> 01:04:07.501
One person commits a crime and the entire family

01:04:07.501 --> 01:04:09.414
has to suffer the consequences.

01:04:11.133 --> 01:04:15.000
In fact, it makes some sense.

01:04:16.060 --> 01:04:24.269
In a family, if one person is sick,

01:04:24.269 --> 01:04:29.203
or has an accident,

01:04:29.203 --> 01:04:34.746
or has committed a crime and was put in jail,

01:04:34.746 --> 01:04:41.759
even if the others aren't in jail they still suffer.

01:04:44.114 --> 01:04:46.390
They say the parents didn't teach the children,

01:04:46.390 --> 01:04:49.356
so they punish the parents too.

01:04:50.439 --> 01:04:52.265
They say the siblings didn't teach each other,

01:04:52.265 --> 01:04:54.475
so they punish the siblings too.

01:04:54.475 --> 01:04:56.978
That's why in the old days in Asia

01:04:56.978 --> 01:04:59.339
they have that penalty called "tru di tam tộc"

01:04:59.339 --> 01:05:03.271
where if one person commits a crime,

01:05:03.271 --> 01:05:05.680
the whole entire family,

01:05:05.680 --> 01:05:07.660
not only the current generation,

01:05:07.660 --> 01:05:11.508
but the previous and future 
generations are all killed.

01:05:11.956 --> 01:05:18.660
These are the ethical criteria 
that are different in each society.

01:05:20.951 --> 01:05:25.599
Once there was a tribe [the Callatians] 
that had a particular custom.

01:05:25.599 --> 01:05:29.156
When the grandfather dies,

01:05:29.156 --> 01:05:33.140
they had to immediately

01:05:33.140 --> 01:05:36.363
cut and eat the flesh of the grandfather.

01:05:40.497 --> 01:05:44.409
They believed in doing so the 
grandfather will live on in them,

01:05:44.409 --> 01:05:46.205
and so it's an act of filial piety.

01:05:46.205 --> 01:05:51.108
So when the maternal or 
paternal grandparent dies

01:05:51.108 --> 01:05:59.278
they are allowed to eat 
the flesh of the grandparent.

01:06:00.234 --> 01:06:05.327
And if they didn't eat the 
flesh of the dead grandparent,

01:06:05.327 --> 01:06:07.121
it's considered unethical,

01:06:07.121 --> 01:06:08.590
so they had to.

01:06:09.229 --> 01:06:13.835
To outsiders, it's barbaric.

01:06:15.427 --> 01:06:18.001
And if you say that in your country

01:06:18.001 --> 01:06:20.700
you burn your grandfather when he dies,

01:06:20.700 --> 01:06:22.029
these tribal people will get very angry.

01:06:22.029 --> 01:06:24.419
They will say that that's unethical. Immoral.

01:06:24.739 --> 01:06:27.464
You have to eat the flesh of 
your grandparent to be correct.

01:06:27.464 --> 01:06:29.620
If you burn your grandparent

01:06:29.620 --> 01:06:31.311
you are not a good son or daughter.

01:06:31.311 --> 01:06:38.605
So what is right or wrong, good or evil

01:06:38.605 --> 01:06:44.981
also depends on local customs and beliefs.

01:07:18.447 --> 01:07:20.447
In 2000,

01:07:20.830 --> 01:07:26.900
a family from the island of Gozo

01:07:26.900 --> 01:07:31.030
in the Mediteranean

01:07:39.550 --> 01:07:45.999
went to Manchester, UK to give birth.

01:07:51.596 --> 01:07:54.804
at St Mary's hospital.

01:07:59.637 --> 01:08:03.163
The mother

01:08:04.818 --> 01:08:07.708
was pregnant with twins.

01:08:08.388 --> 01:08:11.659
They were both girls.

01:08:12.107 --> 01:08:17.602
One named Jodie, and one named Mary.

01:08:17.602 --> 01:08:19.988
But they were conjoined twins.

01:08:23.613 --> 01:08:27.393
They were two, but with one working 
set of lungs and one heart.

01:08:28.158 --> 01:08:32.192
They were joined at the abdomen with a fused spine.

01:08:32.895 --> 01:08:39.163
The working lungs and heart were both on Jodie's side.

01:08:39.163 --> 01:08:46.007
so Jodie's breath and heart beat

01:08:46.008 --> 01:08:49.387
provided circulation to sustain Mary.

01:08:58.282 --> 01:09:00.282
So

01:09:01.492 --> 01:09:05.018
when the twins were born

01:09:09.024 --> 01:09:11.533
the doctors knew that

01:09:12.808 --> 01:09:19.194
within a matter of weeks both girls would die.

01:09:22.375 --> 01:09:25.862
But the doctors believed that

01:09:25.862 --> 01:09:31.726
if they operated they could at least save one.

01:09:35.279 --> 01:09:37.886
If they operated, they could only save one child

01:09:37.886 --> 01:09:40.596
and the other child would die.

01:09:40.596 --> 01:09:43.826
Without the operation, both would die.

01:09:44.720 --> 01:09:47.038
If they waited both would die.

01:09:48.502 --> 01:09:52.409
But the parents were devout Catholics

01:09:55.814 --> 01:09:59.532
and they were determined not to do the operation.

01:09:59.532 --> 01:10:02.169
They accepted for both to die rather than

01:10:02.169 --> 01:10:05.124
having an operation for one 
to die and the other to survive.

01:10:05.124 --> 01:10:08.111
That was how the parents saw it.

01:10:08.813 --> 01:10:11.096
But the doctors felt that it didn't make sense.

01:10:11.096 --> 01:10:14.437
If you could save one child why wouldn't you?

01:10:14.437 --> 01:10:16.550
Why would you allow both children to die?

01:10:16.550 --> 01:10:19.894
So the doctors brought the case to court

01:10:19.894 --> 01:10:25.691
to ask for the right to operate to save one child.

01:10:25.691 --> 01:10:27.657
And the court approved.

01:10:30.075 --> 01:10:32.393
A week later

01:10:32.968 --> 01:10:35.079
A few days later they operated

01:10:35.079 --> 01:10:38.591
and they were able to save Jodie.

01:10:38.848 --> 01:10:41.294
And of course Mary died,

01:10:41.294 --> 01:10:43.105
because once they were separated,

01:10:43.105 --> 01:10:45.742
Mary had no lungs, no heart.

01:10:46.254 --> 01:10:50.161
Mary didn't have her own 
lungs or heart, so she died.

01:10:54.422 --> 01:10:58.583
The doctors followed a 
different ethical criteria.

01:10:59.285 --> 01:11:02.930
They say, even though Mary died,

01:11:02.930 --> 01:11:06.306
at least they were able to save Jodie.

01:11:08.216 --> 01:11:12.083
As for the parents, 
they believed that whatever God

01:11:12.083 --> 01:11:13.935
had in His plans for them they would accept.

01:11:13.935 --> 01:11:16.649
If both children die,

01:11:16.649 --> 01:11:18.292
that's also God's will,

01:11:18.292 --> 01:11:19.691
so they have to let it be.

01:11:19.691 --> 01:11:22.644
They felt they had no right to kill 
one child in order to save the other.

01:11:27.922 --> 01:11:31.183
So there are two different ethical perspectives.

01:11:31.183 --> 01:11:37.372
One belonging to the doctors of St Mary's hospital,

01:11:37.372 --> 01:11:41.311
and one belonging to the young couple who

01:11:41.311 --> 01:11:48.101
placed everything in the hands of God.

01:12:07.993 --> 01:12:12.927
There's a similar story of baby Theresa.

01:12:12.927 --> 01:12:19.718
Baby Theresa was born in Florida in 1998.

01:12:21.946 --> 01:12:24.391
And when

01:12:25.474 --> 01:12:27.158
the doctors performed scans,

01:12:27.158 --> 01:12:31.288
they saw that Theresa didn't have a brain.

01:12:32.880 --> 01:12:34.880
There was no brain.

01:12:36.663 --> 01:12:40.379
A child born like that would die,

01:12:41.018 --> 01:12:44.575
if not in the womb then shortly after birth.

01:12:44.575 --> 01:12:47.440
And if the child didn't die at birth,

01:12:47.440 --> 01:12:50.900
it would die within a few days.

01:12:58.085 --> 01:13:01.956
This condition is called anencephaly,

01:13:01.956 --> 01:13:03.876
a disorder in which the brain is absent.

01:13:03.876 --> 01:13:10.382
But there is a brainstem.

01:13:11.148 --> 01:13:12.526
Because of the presence of the brainstem,

01:13:12.526 --> 01:13:15.945
the child can breathe and have a heart beat.

01:13:17.537 --> 01:13:19.537
But for certain

01:13:23.196 --> 01:13:27.993
the child would die after a few days.

01:13:31.047 --> 01:13:39.572
Some babies with this condition 
die before or at birth.

01:13:39.572 --> 01:13:45.625
And if not, they die within a few days.

01:13:45.625 --> 01:13:51.925
So the parents decided to

01:13:54.598 --> 01:14:03.860
donate her organs to other 
children for organ transplantation,

01:14:03.860 --> 01:14:09.511
—like her kidneys, her eyes, her heart—

01:14:09.511 --> 01:14:14.141
knowing that she will die and that other children

01:14:14.589 --> 01:14:17.225
are in desperate need of those organs.

01:14:18.435 --> 01:14:21.952
Thousands of children were in need of those organs,

01:14:21.952 --> 01:14:28.853
and if they knew that baby Theresa 
would die in five days,

01:14:28.853 --> 01:14:35.525
while her heart, lungs and kidneys, 
were still in good condition,

01:14:35.525 --> 01:14:39.671
why not donate those organs to save other children?

01:14:39.671 --> 01:14:42.813
That was what the parents wanted.

01:14:44.087 --> 01:14:47.740
And also what the doctors wanted.

01:14:48.505 --> 01:14:52.603
But the law in Florida prohibited this.

01:14:56.292 --> 01:15:01.089
The law states that organs can only 
be taken from deceased individuals.

01:15:01.664 --> 01:15:04.554
But while someone is still alive

01:15:04.554 --> 01:15:10.382
you cannot kill them to remove 
organs for transplantation.

01:15:10.382 --> 01:15:13.516
That's the law in Florida.

01:15:14.409 --> 01:15:19.778
Of course the doctors and the couple lost the case.

01:15:20.162 --> 01:15:24.842
So when baby Theresa died,

01:15:24.842 --> 01:15:29.042
her organs were damaged and 
couldn't be used anymore,

01:15:29.042 --> 01:15:31.298
so they couldn't save any other children.

01:15:31.298 --> 01:15:34.430
So that was the law in Florida.

01:15:37.928 --> 01:15:40.881
So these ethical dilemmas,

01:15:42.537 --> 01:15:45.674
depending on our way of thinking,

01:15:45.674 --> 01:15:51.152
on our judgement, on the criteria we use

01:15:51.152 --> 01:15:54.208
determine what is morally right or wrong.

01:15:54.208 --> 01:15:56.178
What is good or bad.

01:15:56.178 --> 01:16:00.301
So in Buddhism, the first criteria 
is pain and pleasure.

01:16:00.875 --> 01:16:03.193
We know that suffering and happiness inter-are.

01:16:03.768 --> 01:16:06.732
Some pains help us grow as human beings,

01:16:06.732 --> 01:16:08.501
help us become more resilient.

01:16:08.885 --> 01:16:11.111
That's why the criteria of pain and pleasure

01:16:11.111 --> 01:16:18.174
is not enough for us to determine

01:16:18.174 --> 01:16:21.691
what is right or wrong, good or bad.

01:16:40.193 --> 01:16:42.526
Following the criteria of pain and pleasure,

01:16:42.526 --> 01:16:46.007
there's the criteria of beneficial and un-beneficial.

01:16:50.332 --> 01:16:54.239
"Khổ / lạc " is pain and pleasure.

01:16:59.644 --> 01:17:02.469
Based on the criteria of pain and pleasure,

01:17:02.469 --> 01:17:08.132
whatever leads to pain is not 
allowed, is incorrect, is wrong,

01:17:08.132 --> 01:17:13.212
and whatever leads to pleasure is correct, is good.

01:17:20.271 --> 01:17:22.291
The second criteria is beneficial and un-beneficial.

01:17:22.291 --> 01:17:26.212
"Lợi" means beneficial.

01:17:31.363 --> 01:17:34.316
"Hại" means un-beneficial.

01:17:40.358 --> 01:17:45.282
In Buddhism, this is what is meant 
when we say beneficial and un-beneficial:

01:17:45.539 --> 01:17:51.611
Anything that brings about siblinghood, 
liberation, awakening,

01:17:51.611 --> 01:17:54.281
freedom

01:17:54.281 --> 01:17:56.438
is considered beneficial.

01:17:56.758 --> 01:17:59.736
And anything that brings about

01:17:59.736 --> 01:18:06.669
craving, pain and sorrow, despair,

01:18:06.669 --> 01:18:08.067
is considered un-beneficial.

01:18:08.067 --> 01:18:18.642
It obstructs our path of liberation.

01:18:18.642 --> 01:18:21.482
Beneficial and un-beneficial.

01:18:22.550 --> 01:18:26.775
And there are some things 
you need to suffer through

01:18:27.884 --> 01:18:30.521
but it's good for you.

01:18:30.521 --> 01:18:33.040
And there are things,

01:18:33.040 --> 01:18:35.224
some pains

01:18:35.703 --> 01:18:39.738
that we go through and we 
benefit from the experience.

01:18:39.738 --> 01:18:45.378
And then there are pleasures 
that can end up harming us.

01:18:45.378 --> 01:18:49.017
That's why the second criteria,

01:18:50.481 --> 01:18:53.952
beneficial and un-beneficial informs

01:18:53.952 --> 01:18:57.185
the first criteria of pain and pleasure.

01:19:05.120 --> 01:19:10.588
On September 1st in the capitol of New Delhi,

01:19:10.588 --> 01:19:16.654
I offered a talk in commemoration of Mahatma Gandhi.

01:19:22.311 --> 01:19:27.108
I mentioned a beautiful quote from Gandhi.

01:19:49.344 --> 01:19:52.621
We should take this opportunity

01:19:52.621 --> 01:19:58.082
to hear what Gandhi had to say about this.

01:19:59.292 --> 01:20:01.864
"Our ancestors

01:20:02.185 --> 01:20:15.000
set a limit to our indulgences."

01:20:15.318 --> 01:20:19.958
"Our ancestors set a limit to our indulgences."

01:20:21.804 --> 01:20:27.146
Like drinking until we're drunk, or over-eating.

01:20:27.146 --> 01:20:29.207
These are indulgences.

01:20:34.358 --> 01:20:37.758
The opposite is moderation, knowing enough.

01:20:37.758 --> 01:20:42.034
"Our ancestors set a limit to our indulgences."

01:20:42.034 --> 01:20:46.712
"They saw that happiness was 
largely a mental condition."

01:20:46.712 --> 01:20:56.889
"They saw that happiness was 
largely a mental condition."

01:20:58.798 --> 01:21:04.993
"A man is not necessarily 
happy because he is rich,"

01:21:04.993 --> 01:21:08.426
"or unhappy because he is poor."

01:21:09.954 --> 01:21:17.039
"A man is not necessarily 
happy because he is rich,"

01:21:17.039 --> 01:21:22.345
"or unhappy because he is poor."

01:21:22.345 --> 01:21:26.054
Being rich or poor doesn't 
determine our happiness,

01:21:26.054 --> 01:21:28.894
but our mental attitude.

01:21:36.207 --> 01:21:41.863
"A man is not necessarily 
happy because he is rich,"

01:21:41.863 --> 01:21:44.696
"or unhappy because he is poor."

01:21:44.696 --> 01:21:47.713
"Observing all this, our ancestors"

01:21:47.713 --> 01:21:51.872
"dissuaded us from luxuries and pleasures."

01:21:51.872 --> 01:21:56.405
"Observing all this, our ancestors"

01:21:56.405 --> 01:22:05.509
"dissuaded us from luxuries and pleasures."

01:22:07.291 --> 01:22:14.122
So this quote means that 
what you consider as pleasure

01:22:20.227 --> 01:22:25.469
may be harmful to you, now and in the future.

01:22:26.425 --> 01:22:28.997
You have consumer power.

01:22:29.699 --> 01:22:33.954
You have money, you have more power to consume,

01:22:33.954 --> 01:22:37.229
but that is not necessarily true happiness.

01:22:38.564 --> 01:22:42.217
It's not true happiness.

01:22:43.363 --> 01:22:45.789
Rather, it can lead to suffering.

01:22:45.789 --> 01:22:49.050
So making a lot of money

01:22:50.514 --> 01:22:55.183
to consume, to indulge in sensual pleasures,

01:22:55.183 --> 01:22:59.570
causes more harm than good.

01:23:00.526 --> 01:23:03.289
Meanwhile, when we practice moderation

01:23:03.736 --> 01:23:11.365
—eating less, living with more modest conditions—

01:23:11.365 --> 01:23:15.000
we feel light and at peace, joyful, happy.

01:23:15.000 --> 01:23:17.656
It helps us to be more free,

01:23:17.656 --> 01:23:20.834
and we can realize our aspiration.

01:23:20.834 --> 01:23:22.834
So it's more beneficial.

01:23:25.634 --> 01:23:28.905
Gandhi also said this wonderful line:

01:23:36.790 --> 01:23:41.245
"The mind is a restless bird."

01:23:41.245 --> 01:23:44.232
"The mind is a restless bird,"

01:23:44.232 --> 01:23:47.064
"the more it gets the more it wants"

01:23:47.064 --> 01:23:50.845
"and still remains unsatisfied."

01:23:50.845 --> 01:23:57.676
"the more it gets the more it wants"

01:23:57.676 --> 01:23:59.702
"and still remains unsatisfied."

01:24:01.993 --> 01:24:04.249
"The mind is a restless bird."

01:24:04.249 --> 01:24:07.680
"The more it gets the more it wants"

01:24:09.335 --> 01:24:13.780
"The more it gets the more it wants."

01:24:13.780 --> 01:24:16.036
"The more it gets the more it wants"

01:24:16.036 --> 01:24:20.342
and still remains unsatisfied."

01:24:20.398 --> 01:24:23.412
Craving has no limits.

01:24:24.241 --> 01:24:27.959
You're successful and you're not satisfied, 
you want to be more successful.

01:24:27.959 --> 01:24:31.643
You're more successful but you're still not satisfied, 
you want to be even more successful.

01:24:31.643 --> 01:24:34.107
You can never stop.

01:24:34.107 --> 01:24:40.034
That's why our ancestors advised us to set limits.

01:24:46.075 --> 01:24:49.156
So what is beneficial

01:24:51.637 --> 01:24:56.243
"lợi" here doesn't mean 
to take advantage of, it means

01:24:57.771 --> 01:25:01.204
being conducive to true peace,

01:25:01.204 --> 01:25:05.147
to true happiness, to liberation.

01:25:05.147 --> 01:25:07.987
Conducive to liberation.

01:25:07.987 --> 01:25:10.734
Conducive to peace.

01:25:10.734 --> 01:25:13.140
Conducive to true happiness.

01:25:13.140 --> 01:25:15.000
That's what beneficial means.

01:25:15.474 --> 01:25:20.608
So this criteria of pain and pleasure

01:25:20.608 --> 01:25:23.665
is not enough to establish moral grounds.

01:25:23.665 --> 01:25:26.112
In addition, we need the criteria 
of beneficial and un-beneficial.

01:25:26.112 --> 01:25:30.688
Will doing that thing be 
good for us in the future?

01:25:30.688 --> 01:25:35.421
Will it be conducive to peace, 
to liberation, to siblinghood?

01:25:35.421 --> 01:25:37.654
If not, it is incorrect,

01:25:37.654 --> 01:25:40.629
it is wrong.

01:25:58.549 --> 01:26:01.186
After the criteria of beneficial and un-beneficial,

01:26:01.186 --> 01:26:04.045
there's the criteria of delusion and awakening.

01:26:12.819 --> 01:26:15.328
"Mê" means

01:26:16.665 --> 01:26:18.665
delusion,

01:26:19.841 --> 01:26:24.002
and "ngộ" means awakening.

01:26:36.018 --> 01:26:38.781
When we are delusional

01:26:39.864 --> 01:26:41.864
the decisions that we make

01:26:42.502 --> 01:26:44.502
are not very clear.

01:26:46.348 --> 01:26:49.240
Only when we're no longer delusional 
that we can see clearly.

01:26:49.240 --> 01:26:51.844
But now we're still delusional,

01:26:52.419 --> 01:26:55.209
so it's hard for us to listen to other's advice.

01:26:55.209 --> 01:26:57.211
even if it's the truth.

01:26:57.211 --> 01:27:00.000
That's why you have to ask,

01:27:00.000 --> 01:27:04.589
am I being delusional or not?

01:27:05.418 --> 01:27:07.863
What is delusion?

01:27:10.281 --> 01:27:15.000
When you are not mindful, you are deluded.

01:27:15.000 --> 01:27:18.756
When you are not concentrated, you are deluded.

01:27:18.756 --> 01:27:20.440
When you are are unmindful,

01:27:20.440 --> 01:27:24.104
when you don't have insight you are deluded.

01:27:25.314 --> 01:27:30.000
With mindfulness, concentration 
and insight, you are awakened.

01:27:31.703 --> 01:27:34.275
And so decisions

01:27:35.168 --> 01:27:37.583
that you make when you are deluded

01:27:37.583 --> 01:27:42.400
may be incorrect, wrong, 
and may lead to suffering.

01:27:42.400 --> 01:27:46.309
Decisions that you make 
when you are clear-minded,

01:27:46.309 --> 01:27:48.673
they are correct.

01:27:52.299 --> 01:27:58.750
So if you sign a contract when you are drunk,

01:27:58.750 --> 01:28:00.592
that's dangerous.

01:28:02.056 --> 01:28:05.009
You can destroy your family or go bankrupt.

01:28:06.665 --> 01:28:12.352
So, if you want to draft a will for your children

01:28:12.863 --> 01:28:15.371
you have to be really alert,

01:28:15.371 --> 01:28:19.694
and the lawyer must attest that you

01:28:20.841 --> 01:28:24.771
are of sound mind, that your thinking is clear

01:28:24.771 --> 01:28:28.412
and that you are signing 
the will in front of them.

01:28:28.412 --> 01:28:33.029
But if they get you drunk and 
told you to sign something,

01:28:33.029 --> 01:28:35.403
it would not have value.

01:28:35.403 --> 01:28:41.401
So an action that is right, 
that is good, that is true

01:28:41.401 --> 01:28:51.000
must be seen in the light 
of delusion and awakening.

01:28:51.000 --> 01:28:53.510
In Buddhism, this is a way to sound the alarm.

01:29:02.157 --> 01:29:04.157
"Tính và già"
Curative and preventive.

01:29:06.194 --> 01:29:08.385
This has to do with precepts.

01:29:15.697 --> 01:29:18.841
Some precepts are curative.

01:29:29.332 --> 01:29:31.777
If you break that precept

01:29:32.733 --> 01:29:34.733
you suffer right away.

01:29:35.753 --> 01:29:38.009
you've committed an offence right away,

01:29:38.009 --> 01:29:39.596
you've done wrong right away.

01:29:42.014 --> 01:29:44.014
For instance, if you kill somebody

01:29:46.623 --> 01:29:50.709
you and the other suffer right away,

01:29:50.709 --> 01:29:53.200
so no killing is a curative [proscriptive] precept.

01:29:54.728 --> 01:29:58.126
"Già" means

01:30:01.371 --> 01:30:06.358
preventive.

01:30:22.570 --> 01:30:27.049
The aim is to prevent.

01:30:27.687 --> 01:30:30.704
Nobody will die if you break this precept,

01:30:33.821 --> 01:30:40.903
but it prevents you from

01:30:40.903 --> 01:30:45.000
violating other precepts that cause suffering.

01:30:45.000 --> 01:30:48.885
This is

01:30:48.885 --> 01:30:50.885
curative [proscriptive].

01:30:52.286 --> 01:30:54.604
This is preventive.

01:31:00.327 --> 01:31:04.933
For example, when we go out, 
we must go with a second body

01:31:05.571 --> 01:31:07.571
That is a preventive precept.

01:31:07.892 --> 01:31:11.036
Because it may be that if you go 
alone nothing will happen,

01:31:11.865 --> 01:31:15.382
but should an accident happen 
when you go by yourself

01:31:15.382 --> 01:31:17.768
the sangha suffers.

01:31:17.768 --> 01:31:20.594
That's why it's better to have 
a second body with you.

01:31:20.594 --> 01:31:24.076
So the precept of going out with a second body

01:31:24.076 --> 01:31:26.326
is a preventive precept.

01:31:26.326 --> 01:31:32.670
Meaning if you break this precept, 
you don't really suffer,

01:31:32.670 --> 01:31:35.177
but it's there as a precaution.

01:31:35.177 --> 01:31:39.195
Having a second body is bound to be safer.

01:31:41.232 --> 01:31:45.700
Like the French often say, "Un verre, ça va,

01:31:45.700 --> 01:31:51.410
trois verres, bonjour les dégâts."

01:31:51.410 --> 01:31:54.419
One glass of wine is okay.

01:31:56.392 --> 01:31:59.729
For many of you, one glass is not a problem.

01:31:59.729 --> 01:32:02.494
But usually after the first glass,

01:32:02.494 --> 01:32:05.037
you want to have a second.

01:32:05.037 --> 01:32:08.501
And the first glass won't make you drunk,

01:32:08.501 --> 01:32:13.359
but better to not drink it. 
That is a preventive action.

01:32:19.370 --> 01:32:22.918
One woman from the UK said,

01:32:22.918 --> 01:32:29.892
"For decades I've had 
a glass of wine every weekend

01:32:29.892 --> 01:32:31.784
and now you're saying 
I shouldn't even drink this.

01:32:31.784 --> 01:32:34.485
You're telling me to practice 
the fifth mindfulness training.

01:32:34.485 --> 01:32:36.688
For decades I've had a glass like that,

01:32:36.688 --> 01:32:39.444
it hasn't hurt anyone."

01:32:39.444 --> 01:32:41.202
And it's true.

01:32:42.603 --> 01:32:46.256
She had a glass every weekend 
and she never got drunk.

01:32:47.847 --> 01:32:52.106
She asked Thay if she could just practice 
4 of the 5 mindfulness trainings.

01:32:52.106 --> 01:32:55.441
She didn't want to practice 
the 5th MT on not drinking.

01:32:59.321 --> 01:33:03.927
Of course you have the right to practice 
however many trainings you wish.

01:33:04.248 --> 01:33:06.703
But I told her,

01:33:06.703 --> 01:33:12.893
"For you a glass of wine 
on the weekend is not harmful,

01:33:12.893 --> 01:33:16.262
because you drink in moderation.

01:33:16.262 --> 01:33:19.151
But what about your children?"

01:33:28.777 --> 01:33:34.273
"Khai, giá"

01:33:37.072 --> 01:33:39.390
"Khai" means to open.

01:34:02.653 --> 01:34:05.352
"Khai" means to open.

01:34:09.105 --> 01:34:11.105
There are rules

01:34:12.506 --> 01:34:16.826
that you want everyone to follow.

01:34:16.826 --> 01:34:18.996
For example, in the rains retreat

01:34:18.996 --> 01:34:22.896
no one is allowed to go out of the boundaries.

01:34:25.187 --> 01:34:28.967
But suppose there's a sister who falls ill

01:34:30.304 --> 01:34:34.847
and she requests permission

01:34:34.847 --> 01:34:37.548
and the sangha allows her 
to leave the boundaries for treatment.

01:34:37.548 --> 01:34:39.706
That is an open rule.

01:34:39.706 --> 01:34:42.133
We are not rigid about it.

01:34:42.133 --> 01:34:47.464
"Khai" means an exception.

01:34:51.153 --> 01:34:53.473
And so, a bodhisattva

01:34:53.473 --> 01:34:56.966
sometimes can lie in order to help people.

01:35:01.070 --> 01:35:03.960
If you are a police officer

01:35:07.776 --> 01:35:15.000
and you need to arrest or put someone in jail,

01:35:15.000 --> 01:35:18.675
or to handcuff someone, you can still do it.

01:35:21.347 --> 01:35:23.474
But

01:35:24.176 --> 01:35:28.083
with the condition that you do it out of love,

01:35:30.001 --> 01:35:32.001
out of compassion.

01:35:36.135 --> 01:35:39.918
In the sutras, it says that

01:35:39.918 --> 01:35:42.869
in a previous life of the Buddha

01:35:42.869 --> 01:35:48.114
he had killed one person 
to save countless people.

01:35:52.503 --> 01:35:56.219
This was killing only one person 
and not 140,000 people.

01:35:59.209 --> 01:36:04.020
And he said he had to go to hell 
because he killed one person,

01:36:04.020 --> 01:36:07.220
but he had to save so many people.

01:36:07.220 --> 01:36:13.858
Like when you see someone 
with an automatic weapon,

01:36:14.369 --> 01:36:22.153
a machine gun, who is about to 
shoot a lot of people,

01:36:23.237 --> 01:36:25.820
if you are a police officer

01:36:25.820 --> 01:36:31.343
and you want to prevent the deaths of many people, 
you can shoot that person.

01:36:31.343 --> 01:36:36.203
In the foot or hand to wound him enough

01:36:36.203 --> 01:36:43.098
so that he can't use the automatic weapon anymore.

01:36:48.758 --> 01:36:53.048
[broken audio]

01:36:53.048 --> 01:36:57.338
So what's right or good also needs 
to be based on the criteria

01:36:57.338 --> 01:37:00.453
appropriateness and in-line with the teaching.

01:37:00.453 --> 01:37:03.601
"Khế lý" means in-line with the teaching,

01:37:03.601 --> 01:37:06.077
in-line with the dharma.

01:37:14.025 --> 01:37:17.866
At the same time, it needs to be relevant

01:37:17.866 --> 01:37:20.948
to the mentality, the situation of that society.

01:37:20.948 --> 01:37:23.271
Appropriateness.
[Khế cơ]

01:37:31.346 --> 01:37:37.795
It has to meet the local and current needs.

01:37:46.125 --> 01:37:49.059
So these are a number of basic criteria

01:37:49.059 --> 01:37:55.308
that can serve as a foundation for Buddhist ethics.

01:38:03.446 --> 01:38:08.687
And underneath all of these criteria

01:38:08.687 --> 01:38:15.837
is a criteria that transcends 
all of the above criteria, called

01:38:15.837 --> 01:38:19.366
"nhất nguyên siêu tuyệt"

01:38:30.776 --> 01:38:32.776
"siêu tuyệt nhất nguyên"

01:38:34.559 --> 01:38:36.559
It's...

01:38:45.969 --> 01:38:48.350
It is beyond this world.

01:39:01.511 --> 01:39:04.973
in Sanskrit it's "lokottara."

01:39:09.679 --> 01:39:14.031
"Loka" means the mundane world.

01:39:21.470 --> 01:39:26.521
So all of these criteria are 
from the view of the relative.

01:39:27.604 --> 01:39:32.421
And when we go beyond the 
mundane into the supramundane,

01:39:32.421 --> 01:39:35.203
into the nature of nirvana, 
of the dharmakaya,

01:39:35.203 --> 01:39:38.630
these criteria can no longer apply.

01:39:39.904 --> 01:39:43.112
In reality in itself,

01:39:44.576 --> 01:39:47.196
reality in itself,

01:39:47.196 --> 01:39:51.051
there's no good and evil,

01:39:51.051 --> 01:39:53.500
no right and wrong,

01:39:53.500 --> 01:39:57.824
no this side or that side, 
no above or below.

01:39:57.824 --> 01:40:00.000
No order.

01:40:01.897 --> 01:40:11.207
That is lokottara. nirvana. dharmakaya.

01:40:12.226 --> 01:40:16.821
You cannot say that the 
dharmakaya is pure or impure.

01:40:16.821 --> 01:40:21.472
You cannot say that 
nirvana is pure or impure.

01:40:24.907 --> 01:40:28.623
You cannot say that it is right or wrong.

01:40:29.452 --> 01:40:33.105
All ideas of right and wrong

01:40:34.061 --> 01:40:39.387
of good and evil,

01:40:39.387 --> 01:40:45.468
right and wrong, good and evil 
all belong to the relative.

01:40:45.980 --> 01:40:53.001
In the supramundane, there's no more ideas

01:40:53.576 --> 01:40:58.158
of right and wrong, good and evil.

01:40:58.158 --> 01:41:00.348
So

01:41:00.856 --> 01:41:03.526
nirvana is neither

01:41:04.098 --> 01:41:05.266
right nor wrong,

01:41:05.266 --> 01:41:08.094
Nirvana is neither right or wrong, good or evil.

01:41:08.094 --> 01:41:09.620
It transcends all notions.

01:41:09.620 --> 01:41:12.284
There's no more right and wrong,

01:41:12.284 --> 01:41:14.136
good and evil.

01:41:15.220 --> 01:41:18.271
Transcending all notions, 
that is the ultimate criteria.

01:41:18.271 --> 01:41:21.669
[Technical glitch] ... meaning, God has an opposite.

01:41:24.469 --> 01:41:30.410
There's Satan as opposed to God.

01:41:31.811 --> 01:41:34.828
And this God is not yet ...

01:41:42.713 --> 01:41:48.755
This God remains in the realm of

01:41:48.755 --> 01:41:50.435
right and wrong,

01:41:50.435 --> 01:41:52.658
true and false.

01:41:57.365 --> 01:42:03.624
This God remains in the realm 
of the false and the true,

01:42:03.624 --> 01:42:06.198
the good and the evil.

01:42:06.198 --> 01:42:07.598
Opposites.

01:42:08.299 --> 01:42:14.240
But there are theologians who have been able to

01:42:15.641 --> 01:42:18.150
touch the ultimate.

01:42:19.614 --> 01:42:24.330
These theologians, including some mystics,

01:42:24.330 --> 01:42:28.479
have been able to understand God 
in light of the ultimate.

01:42:29.689 --> 01:42:39.242
And God is no longer described 
in terms of good and evil,

01:42:39.242 --> 01:42:41.594
right and wrong.

01:42:41.594 --> 01:42:46.611
They have attained something similar to 
the Buddhist concept of Nirvana,

01:42:46.611 --> 01:42:48.264
or the dharmakaya,

01:42:48.264 --> 01:42:49.598
or Suchness.

01:42:49.598 --> 01:42:52.871
They've been able to transcend 
notions of suffering and happiness,

01:42:52.871 --> 01:42:55.091
beneficial and un-beneficial, 
delusion and awakening,

01:42:55.091 --> 01:42:58.695
curative and preventive, 
in-line with the dharma and appropriateness.

01:43:07.526 --> 01:43:14.435
Your homework is to revise the first 
of the Five Mindfulness Trainings.

01:43:14.435 --> 01:43:17.471
Each person should come up with 
their version and present it to Thay.

01:43:18.237 --> 01:43:23.098
And today Thay would like everyone to divide 
into different dharma sharing groups

01:43:23.863 --> 01:43:29.170
to discuss your ideas about

01:43:29.551 --> 01:43:32.664
revising the first mindfulness training.

01:43:34.320 --> 01:43:39.625
Revising the first mindfulness training 
in the light of everything we have learned.

01:43:40.835 --> 01:43:44.297
The view that the other person is not me 
and I am not the other person.

01:43:45.001 --> 01:43:47.001
The dualistic view.

01:43:48.148 --> 01:43:50.148
Dualistic view.

01:44:01.656 --> 01:44:03.656
The view

01:44:04.994 --> 01:44:06.994
that transcends all views.

01:44:07.632 --> 01:44:10.338
The view that is still caught,

01:44:10.338 --> 01:44:13.255
caught in a separate self.

01:44:21.902 --> 01:44:23.902
The view

01:44:33.058 --> 01:44:35.058
that is grasping.

01:44:38.430 --> 01:44:44.117
[ Chấp thủ ] 
means the inability to let go of 
the views we hold on to.

01:44:47.425 --> 01:44:54.030
And please recall the first 
of the 14 Mindfulness Trainings

01:44:54.030 --> 01:44:55.873
on non-attachment to views.

01:44:55.873 --> 01:44:59.005
Not being caught,

01:44:59.323 --> 01:45:02.900
not being caught in our views.

01:45:06.081 --> 01:45:07.862
There's a friend

01:45:13.423 --> 01:45:17.077
who suggested that we include 
this line in the first training:

01:45:17.077 --> 01:45:23.926
"We are committed not to fight for, 
kill, or die for our own view,

01:45:23.926 --> 01:45:26.546
or to impose them on others."

01:45:27.058 --> 01:45:46.283
"We are committed not to fight, 
kill or die for our views,

01:45:46.827 --> 01:45:52.253
or to impose them on others."

01:45:52.253 --> 01:45:56.445
We are committed not to fight for, 
kill or die for our views,

01:45:56.445 --> 01:45:58.402
or impose them on others.

01:45:58.402 --> 01:46:01.413
This line is from the 
14 Mindfulness Trainings in English.

01:46:01.987 --> 01:46:09.581
This is very important, because so many 
wars and acts of terrorism happening now

01:46:10.473 --> 01:46:21.856
are because people hold tight to views, 
beliefs, dogmas or ideologies

01:46:21.856 --> 01:46:23.946
which they believe are true.

01:46:23.946 --> 01:46:26.476
Everyone else is in the wrong.

01:46:26.476 --> 01:46:34.089
So they're capable of killing 
to impose their views on others.

01:46:35.935 --> 01:46:38.952
And the dualistic view,

01:46:41.879 --> 01:46:53.541
being caught in our own view, 
that wrong view leads to discrimination

01:46:54.179 --> 01:46:59.465
leads to fear, hatred and greed.

01:46:59.465 --> 01:47:03.425
And these things lead to killing.

01:47:03.425 --> 01:47:06.847
And so the first mindfulness training 
needs to be written in such a way that

01:47:06.847 --> 01:47:12.769
we see clearly that it is responding 
to the current situation of the world.

01:47:15.823 --> 01:47:19.666
Because violence in the world is 
increasing at an alarming rate.

01:47:20.241 --> 01:47:21.861
We see war,

01:47:21.861 --> 01:47:27.199
we see violence,

01:47:27.199 --> 01:47:30.854
we see terrorism.

01:47:31.683 --> 01:47:35.799
And it's happening everyday.

01:47:35.799 --> 01:47:41.777
So when we rewrite the first training, 
we do it in such a way that

01:47:41.777 --> 01:47:47.985
everyone can see clearly it is 
a response to our current situation.

01:47:51.420 --> 01:47:55.518
And today if the sangha has dharma sharing

01:47:56.792 --> 01:48:02.120
please organize it so that 
everyone will have a chance

01:48:02.120 --> 01:48:07.672
to express their ideas about 
the first mindfulness training.

01:48:07.672 --> 01:48:10.701
Please

01:48:12.862 --> 01:48:19.648
arrange so that each sharing group has copies 
of the first mindfulness training,

01:48:19.648 --> 01:48:24.129
in English or Vietnamese or French.

01:48:24.129 --> 01:48:26.231
And based on the old version,

01:48:26.231 --> 01:48:33.778
you can make suggestions to add any 
lines or words you deem necessary

01:48:33.778 --> 01:48:42.807
so that this mindfulness training 
can be more appropriate to our time.