You want a ghost story?
That was a dark and stormy afternoon
and this English girl was visiting
sorry this Australian girl was visiting England
You know that one already?
Okay here's another one then.
There was a friend of mine years ago
and he bought a nice townhouse in London
three or four stories
and he bought it very very cheaply.
Why? The agent was pretty honest with him,
he said people thought there was a ghost in the house
these old English houses there are lots of ghosts
He said "really" okay. but he doesn't believe in ghosts: "I will take it anyway"
So the very first night when he got his new house
and his furniture was coming the following morning
so he got a camp bed and slept on the ground floor
In the middle of the night he was woken up
wrap, wrap, wrap, wrap he thought what was that
He thought he just imagined it
so he turned over and tried to sleep again and he heard again
wrap wrap wrap wrap
So he got out of bed, he checked all the windows
they were all closed
the doors were closed
there were no mice, it was a very well kept house,
there was no logical explanation for anything making the noise
in that room.
So he thought, it's just imagination.
He turned around to go back to bed and he heard it much louder this time
"wrap wrap, wrap wrap" it's coming from upstairs - second storey.
So he went upstairs, turned on the light,
looked everywhere for any scientific cause for that sound.
He couldn't find anything.
He was getting a little bit concerned by this time
but you know just giving up: imagination can play tricks on you.
Then he heard it coming from the top floor really loud
"wrap wrap wrap wrap".
So he went up to the top floor, turned on the lights,
he was shaking a bit now,
Doesn't matter; people say they are not afraid but when supernatural things happen
you actually do get a bit scared.
He checked everything in that third story but couldn't find any
logical reason for anything making that noise.
He was about to go downstairs
and he heard it loud as ever "wrap wrap.." coming from the attic.
He didn't have any lights in the attic so he quickly went down to get his flashlight
and there was a little ladder that you can go to get up into the attic.
He climbed up the ladder and he shone the flashlight in the attic:
it was full of rubbish, cobwebs and dust like attics are,
and he turned around trying to find the source of this noise
and then suddenly he heard it right behind him,
loud as ever "Wrap Wrap Wrap Wrap".
He turned around and he saw it he saw with the flashlight.
It was an old piece of wrapping paper!
That's a terrible joke: wrapping paper
goes "wrap wrap" [Ajahn Laughs]
That's going online overseas, has it ?
My goodness I do apologize.
People made me do that, that's not my fault.
Okay there is another 1 or 2 minutes before we start.
I lost the monk somewhere anywhere I am sure he will find me.
Clock says it's 3 o'clock so we may actually start now.
So let's start with the Namo Thassa.
Namo tassa bhagavato arahato samma sambuddhassa
Buddham, Dhammam, Sangham namassami.
Very Good.
So as you all know by now this is the fortnightly Sutta Class
second and fourth Sundays of the month outside the Rains Retreat
one of the senior monks takes a Sutta and discusses it.
But instead of doing the Suttas most of which we have done before
and are available on the internet
I am using the opportunity to read out a re-translation of the "Word of the Buddha".
This was a document which was first printed in German.
I did some research recently; in 1906 in German,
translated into English in 1907.
So the translation does need to be updated,
updated for several reasons,
first of all some of the words, the language, is a bit outdated,
stilted, and makes it hard to understand.
Also that some of the translations we can do much better
than the first attempt at translating Pali words into English;
and thirdly, it's something which I learnt from when I learned Pali
from Professor A.K. Warder who is another Cambridge guy,
because of it he must be okay.
He taught me that you do not translate word by word,
you translate phrase by phrase or sentence by sentence
because the unit of language is a phrase, it's not a word.
So words only have meaning in the context of what goes before
and what goes after them. So we never should translate,
(but many people do) word for word:
should be sentence for sentence, or phrase by phrase,
and that's what I have attempted to do here.
So it's a different translation than you had before.
So far I have got reasonably good feedback:
that people find it much more easy to understand.
It takes away much of the repetition
which you find if you read the existing translations
and it makes it a little bit more powerful
because you are not distracted by things like repetition,
you are not sort-of distracted by words meaning is a bit weird and strange.
We try and use ordinary words which are common in 2017.
So that's the reason I am doing this.
I should mention to anyone coming for the first time
that this is based on the Buddha's teachings from the Suttas.
It's an Anthology where we take this Sutta or part of this Sutta
and part of another Sutta and we string that together along a theme
and the theme is the Four Nobles Truths.
And with the Four Nobles Truths
we also have the last of those Four Noble Truths, the Eightfold Path
and this is where we are right now.
We're just, almost, completing the first of the Eightfold Path
called Right View. And Right View is many many things
but here we get to that part of Right View
that if one really penetrates the Right View
and here is actually what they say there.
Diṭṭhipatho -- diṭṭhi means the right view 'Patho' means achieved (right view).
If you are one who has achieved right view
then that's a simile for being a Stream-Winner.
So this is no small thing, it's the view when it gets corrected
which makes the person a Sowan, a Stream-Winner.
So this is where we are at the moment.
The Sotāpanna or Stream-Winner.
This is from Majjhima Nikāya 22. I give the references so anyone can
go and check the other translations which you may find in
books by Bhikkhu Bodhi which is much more academic
or you can even better learn some Pali and look it up in the original, which is the best.
"When you contemplate in this way,"
(and what we were doing before the contemplating no-self)
"when you are contemplating in this way three fetters are abandoned in you"
And the word fetter it's what a policeman would put on you
like handcuff, balls and chains,
it means something which stops moving, which stops you being free.
"three fetters are abandoned in you:
a view of a permanent essence" (otherwise known as a soul
but to make it more accurate an essence, an essence of this body and mind
which you take to be you, which is permanent,
which goes from life to life, that's a view which is abandoned
at Stream-winning: a permanent essence.
"...skeptical doubt and belief that rites and rituals are sufficient in themselves
to reach enlightenment. Those who have abandoned three fetters are all
stream-enterers, no longer subject to rebirth in a lower realm
and headed for full enlightenment."
So the view of a permanent essence is the core of those wrong views which are overcome.
The skeptical doubt: all skeptical doubt can only be overcome with direct experience.
So this is not something you just believe that there is no self,
just like you may believe in like a Jesus or Allah or something.
This is actually a direct experience
which means all skeptical doubt, all doubt, is totally abolished.
And it has to be a strong experience,
not just a little understanding.
This is an experience which has to come
when in the Buddhist way of looking at things
five hindrances which are what stops and blocks wisdom arising,
when those five hindrances are overcome, when the five hindrances,
they call them hindrances: it's a good word.
What are they hindering: wisdom They block it.
It's like looking through a mist: you are not being able to see clearly.
So those hindrances, it's the purpose of deep meditation to overcome those, so you can see clearly.
Then of course once it's seen clearly with pre or post Jhana mind
then no skeptical doubt is left at all.
That's a very powerful experience.
And also the belief that rites and rituals are
sufficient in themselves to reach enlightenment,
it may seem why do we have that as a fetter or a wrong view
when most people in the Western World
we don't really do much of rites and rituals
but still there are many many people even alive today
who still believe that by doing chanting or by doing this ritual or that rite
that you can actually say you are a stream-winner or whatever.
And of course it's not a something to be gained by rites or rituals
like say a marriage or like... what's another rite and ritual..
marriage is the best one. This is something which is beyond
rites and rituals, it's something which comes from deep meditations.
So these are the three things which are abandoned
and the most important one of them is the view of a permanent essence: a soul.
And those who abandon these three fetters are all Stream-enterers,
no longer subject to rebirth in a lower realm
which means you are never going to be reborn as an animal, as a hungry ghost
which goes "wrap wrap" in the middle of the night,
never reborn in any hell realm.
Even though one may have bad kamma
just like in the time of the Buddha there was this gentleman called Angulimala,
a serial killer and he managed to avoid being reborn in lower realms as a result of his murdering,
and of course it really needs us to actually inquire the question why
why is like kamma which is such an important part of Buddhism,
you know if you do bad things you have to pay the consequences,
why is it for stream-winners they get out of jail free: why?
And I have mentioned this in many of the talks before,
it's because, this is not here this is Ajahn Brahm
when you have a sense of self you haven't seen non-self,
then you will always have guilt
it's very hard to forgive yourself
when you think there is a self there.
So forgiveness, it's actually based on an identity
Sorry, not forgiveness, guilt, sorry.
Guilt is based on your very deep belief that there is an identity there,
a being continuous from that time: you did that deed till now
which needs to be punished.
This is one of the wonderful things about Buddhism,
I have said this many times:
we don't have punishment because the Buddha saw non-self.
There is no need to punish yourself now
for something you did a long time ago.
There is no need but we still do it
because we haven't penetrated non-self.
Once you see this truth,
that there is no permanent essence within you
then that makes it very easy to let go of the past.
It's not your past even though someone by your name perpetrated that bad deed.
It overcomes guilt and once guilt is let go of
(in other words real true forgiveness of yourself)
then there is no reason to send yourself to any lower realm.
And for those people who say lower realms, hells and heavens,
these are the same as other old Abrahamic religions is it just a myth,
when we understand what these places are
you understand why they are not a myth at all:
you create your heavens and hells
they are not some place waiting for you like Bali or like London
you just travel there and there it is.
You create these places, these are mind-made realms
and once you understand the power of this mind
with lots of meditation you understand how these realms are created,
created to suit you however much you want to be punished.
That's how much you create the pain of that realm: you do it yourself.
Whatever you think you need to be rewarded for,
you think you have been a good person,
that's how you create your heaven accordingly.
So that's why rebirth in a lower realm
is shut out for you, you don't need that anymore.
And headed for full enlightenment.
In how many lifetimes do you have after you become a stream-winner,
Nicholas you are banned from answering this question because you know the answer,
some people say seven some people say six.
Put your hand up for seven more lifetimes.
Put your hand up for six more lifetimes.
All the ones for six more lifetimes you have listened to me before
because in Buddhism this lifetime is number one,
so six more as well as this one.
Just the same way that many of you who are Asian or know Asian friends:
I was born in 1951 in August so I am now 65 years and a half in sort-of Australia
but in Asia I am 66. This is my 66th year.
It's one of the reasons why in Asia you can retire one year earlier
drive a car one year earlier, go to the pub one year earlier - no you can't do that,
they count earlier: as soon as you are born you are one.
So this is the same here, the way of counting means
this is one life, you have six more lives after this; at most. Maximum.
Now sometimes people ask what if you are a stream-winner
you only got this life plus six more, what happens if you decide out of compassion
to actually not to have six more lives but have six hundred lives.
What if you want to be Bodhisattva?
Put off your Enlightenment from here on in so that you can teach other people.
Any comments? Yes Ananda. (comment not audible)
Exactly you can't; there is no one in there to make the choice.
This is an automatic process.
You can't delay it, you can't rush it,
you can't do anything.
It's just the same as if I am going to Canberra tomorrow morning.
If when I am going to Canberra, I usually travel Virgin Airlines
because Virgin is the appropriate airline for a monk,
So when I am travelling, suppose I ask the pilot and say:
look I always wanted to see asphalt from the air can you please
sweeping down pass the asphalt just go round a few times just for me.
Would they do that? Of course not because he has got a schedule,
he has to go to Canberra, he can't just stop just for me.
So this is the same, trying to put off your enlightenment
at that particular time, once you are a stream-winner; it's too late.
You can't put off anything anymore.
Your sense of self is gone. You can't control, it's too late.
Whether you like it or not six more lifetimes at most.
Now we have, I very rarely do this
because I want to have this as the Word of the Buddha
but Bhikkhu Bodhi did an excellent commentary
trying to bring everything together on the Noble Ones and the 10 fetters.
So I'm going to read that out now.
"On entering the irreversible path to the attainment of Nibbāna,
(That's what I said irreversible, once you are on that path that's it.
You are on the bus, it doesn't do a U-turn.)
On entering the irreversible path to the attainment of Nibbāna,
one becomes a noble person called ariyapuggala."
Ariya means a noble one; puggala means a person.
I do know that in Nazi Germany they started to take that word Ariyan
and give it meanings which it didn't really deserve.
They even took the swastika, turned it the other way around
and used that as their symbol.
So sometimes when you use the word Ariya
sometimes people say "hey what you are talking about"
But Ariya is a very old word; means a noble person
and in this particular case it refers to a person
who is stream-winner or above.
The word “noble ariya" here denoting spiritual nobility,
and just to make sure you understand why we never tell anybody,
It's against our monastic rules to tell anybody who is a stream-winner,
who is a once-returner, non-returner or Arahant.
Many times you ask me that,
I usually say no, I can't tell you.
It's kept a secret,
the reason why is because we don't want to split the Sangha
into the two classes: High class (these are the stream-winners, non returners)
and the riff raff.
And the story is, because honestly if you all know which monk
in Bodhinyana Monastery and Nuns which was an Arahant
which was the stream-winner which was this riff-raff
suppose one of the riff-raff monks was coming to give the talk:
"I am not going to listen to him, he is only riff-raff"
Not only that - my first year in Thailand - very bad food.
One morning a big ute came, a pick-up truck,
in the back was full of pots and pans - you could smell it
from the refectory; delicious food they were bringing that day.
And I could see it through the window and I thought
"Wow today I am going to get a nice meal"
We only had one meal a day, just one chance.
And the driver came out and went into the halls.
Those days, 42 years ago, maybe only 50 monks, 60 monks there, including Ajahn Chah.
(He) came in and said 'Is Ajahn Chah here today?'
He wasn't, he was in somebody's house doing a blessing.
'He is not here today?' and I said 'no'.
Then he got in the car and drove away.
He never gave us any of that food.
When you are only 23, really hungry, that hurts.
And it was just because they never thought
young monks, you don't get much merits for that food.
Ajahn Chah he gets much more merit.
They invest in places where they get greater returns.
That's actually true and that's why we never say.
There is also the old joke;
if we did say splitting up the two monks; two types of monks,
the ordinary monks and the nobility,
it would create not the Ariyastocracy not the Aristocracy, the Ariyastocracy
you know the big shots
so we don't do that, we try and keep everybody equal, everyone respected.
Also please do that with yourself as lay people.
Don't go around telling other people 'I am a stream-winner'
'Ah! that's nothing, I was a stream-winner two years ago'
'I am a once-returner'
'Once-returner; that's nothing I am a non-returner'
'That's nothing I am an Arahant'
'That's nothing, I got psychic powers' 'That's nothing'
Don't get into that spiritual pride.
So anyway, we always keep it quiet.
Tt's not an attainment your ego, your sense of self is supposed to be diminishing
not increasing: you are seeing non-self not something you are proud of.
"So on entering the irreversible path to the attainment of Nibbāna,
one becomes a noble person (ariyapuggala)"
The word “noble” (ariya) here denoting spiritual nobility.
"There are four major types of noble persons.
and each stage is divided into two phases:
the path and its fruition.
In the path phase, one is said to be practicing
for the attainment of a particular fruition,
which one is bound to realize within that same life;
in the resultant phase, one is said to be established in that fruition.
Thus the four major types of noble persons
actually comprise four pairs or eight types of noble individuals.
As enumerated these are:
One practicing for the realization of the fruit of stream-entry,
and the stream-enterer.
One practicing for the realization of the fruit of once-returning
and the once-returner.
One practicing for the realization of the fruit of non-returning,
and the non-returner.
One practicing for arahantship,
and the Arahant (fully enlightened).
The first seven persons are collectively known as sekhas
or trainees or disciples in the higher training;
only the arahant is called the asekha, the one beyond training.
The reason why we say that is because
any of you who do the standard chanting
Ithipiso Bagawa
when you get to the third quality of the Sangha
'Supatipanno Bhagavato sāvakasangho'
it goes on to 'Esa Bhagavato sāvakasangho'
What was it then: 'cattāri purisa yugāni Attha purisa puggalā':
the four people, the eight pairs
no; the four pairs the eight people
this is where that comes from: four pairs and the eight people:
Stream-winner, Once-returner Non-returner, Arahant,
then divided into pairs: the one on the path and then got to the goal.
"The four main stages themselves are defined in two ways:
by way of the defilements eradicated by the path leading
to the corresponding fruit; and by way of the destiny
after death that awaits one who has realized that particular fruit."
In other words by what's been abandoned and what's going to happen to you after you die.
So the stream-enterer abandons the first three fetters:
the view of a soul, that is, the view of a truly existent permanent essence
either as identical with the five components of existence
(that's the five Khandas) or as existing in some relation to the five Khandas.
So basically nowhere can you find a sense of a self, a permanent essence either
identical with the five Khandas or existing in some relationship to them.
Doubt about the Buddha, the Dhamma, and the Saṅgha, and the training;
and the wrong grasp of rules and observances: that's the belief that
mere external observances, particularly religious rituals
and ascetic practices, can lead to liberation.
And the example of that from the Suttas is the Buddha once met,
this is in the Dheega Nikaya, I haven't mentioned it here,
once mentioned these two ascetics in India
one was a cow ascetic and one was a dog ascetic.
And the cow ascetic went around on all fours,
ate grass, slept with cows and went 'moo'
and the dog ascetic acted like a dog
and they came up to the Buddha
they were actually quite good friends
these are human beings, if you ever been to India
and you see some of the stuff which goes on there
maybe you can actually believe that.
And they asked the Buddha
'what happens, we were told that this; a very hard thing to do,
imagine the endurance you need to do that, survive
and they said 'what would happen to us after we die'
'Are we going to be Arahants?' because we are giving up so much
And the Buddha said please don't ask me
when they pressed him, He said Well if you act like that
then after death you will be reborn as a dog and you be reborn as a cow.
He didn't like to give that answer at all.
But people actually do those rites and rituals thinking that
by such practices they are going to get somewhere.
And the ttream-enterer that's what they give up/
The destination is assured of attaining full Enlightenment
at least in a six more existences
which would take place either in the human realm or the heavenly realms.
The stream-enterer will never undergo an eighth existence
the present existence is counted as the first
and is forever freed from rebirth in the three lower realms:
the hells, the realm of afflicted with spirits (ghosts), and the animal realm.
Remember this is Bhikkhu Bodhi.
"The once-returner does not eradicate any new fetters.
He or she has eliminated the three fetters that the stream-enterer
has destroyed, and additionally weakens the
three unwholesome roots— wanting, aversion, and delusion.
So this wanting and ill-will (aversion), they have been weakened
but not fully abandoned yet, so that they do not arise often
and, when they do arise, do not become obsessive.
As the name implies, the once-returner will come back to this world
only one more time and then make an end to suffering.
The non-returner eradicates the five 'basic fetters'.
I call them basic fetters because this is the base by which we keep getting reborn.
that's, in addition to the three fetters eliminated by the stream-enterer,
the non-returner eradicates two additional fetters:
the desire for the five senses, and anything to do with the five senses,
that's wanting to do with seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting and touching
are totally abandoned. And aversion.
Because non-returners have eradicated desire for the five-sense world,
they have no ties binding them to this world.
Thus they take birth in the 'pure abodes' (suddhāvāsa) only for non-returners.
(Another mind-made realm. That's all they got left; the mind.)
They attain final Nibbāna there,
without ever returning to rebirth in the worlds of the five senses.
The non-returner, however, is still bound by the five 'higher fetters':
attachment to Jhāna, (and here I always say okay I admit that you can be
attached jhānas but it only means you can't make that last step
from non-returner to an Arahant yet. So it's one of those attachments
which is not really worth talking about at this stage.
Later on when you become a non-returner then we can talk about that.
But be attached to the jhāna till you get there first.)
"and attachment to the immaterial attainments,"
which are based on the jhānas.
And now we have the conceit.
The conceit here is a Pali word: is a conception,
it's not the same as the idea of conceit we have in English.
It's "the thought or perception ‘I am’ sometimes arises:
I am better; I am worse; I am the same."
Now we are going to later on we have an example of that
which I put in here of what this really means
but we will come on to that later.
"Restlessness and deluded thoughts or perceptions."
Your views have been straightened out.
These are thoughts of perception which are basically old habits
based on the views you had had a long time ago.
"Those who cut off the five higher fetters
have no more ties binding them to existence.
These are the Arahants, who have destroyed all defilements
and are completely liberated through final knowledge."
Now I put this one in because having said attachment to Jhāna is bad
only in one particular context, you know stops you going from that last step
from being a non-returner to full enlightenment;
but it also has its advantages.
And this is the Jhāna anāgāmī Jhānānāgāmī
This is; there is a shortcut between being a stream-winner and going to Enlightenment
and this is it. This is from the Anguttara:
“Just as, in the autumn, when the sky is clear and cloudless,
the sun, ascending in the sky,
dispels all darkness from space as it shines and beams and radiates,
so too, when the dust-free, stainless Dhamma-eye arises in you,
then, with the arising of vision, you abandon three fetters:
the view of a permanent essence, doubt, and wrong grasp of
behaviour and observances." (There the Buddha being a bit poetic)
Afterwards, when you restrain two states, wanting and aversion,
then, totally secluded from the five senses,
secluded from the five hindrances,
you enter and dwell for a while in the first jhāna,
which consists of rapture and pleasure born of freedom from the five senses,
accompanied by movements of the mind onto the bliss and holding the bliss."
That's you enter First Jhana, this is the important part.
"If you should pass away while thus in Jhāna,
there’s no fetter bound by which you might ever return to this world."
Bhikkhu Bodhi's commentary:
"This phrase normally denotes the attainment of non-returning.
The commentary, however, identifies this disciple
as a “Jhāna non-returner” a Jhānānāgāmī,
that is, a stream-enterer or once-returner who also attains Jhāna.
Though such a practitioner has not yet eliminated the two fetters
of sensual desire and aversion,
by attaining Jhāna he or she is bound to be reborn in the Jhāna realm
and attain Nibbāna there,
without taking another rebirth in the sense sphere."
So in other words if you are a stream-winner and you get into
the Jhanas there is another Sutta which says just do Jhanas often or
you die in a Jhana then you get promoted to be Anāgāmī.
In that Jhana Realm which you continue on after your death
then when that fades away so do you.
That's it. You Nibbāna from the Jhana realm.
That's is pretty cool. So it makes us once you get to see non-self
and do lots of Jhana then basically that's it.
You die ..... how many aeons in the Jhana realms blissing out
and then when it fades away you fade away too.
Nibbāna from there. The Jhānānāgāmī.
Why that happens again is because
there is nothing to come back to.
No ties, you are letting go so much
when the Jhana disappears so do you.
And now, what it feels like to be a non-returner.
They have seen there is no self
but it's said on the top here
that they still have this conceit sometimes,
'I am' based on old habitual thoughts or perceptions.
Fortunately there is a nice Sutta
of this monk called Khemaka who was an ānāgāmī, a non-returner,
and monks asked him basically what it's like to be a non-returner.
Why you got so far why can't you go the last step
to become fully-enlightened.
And this is what the simile the Buddha uses
which I did adapt but basically keeping the essence
this is called the 'scent of I am'
"The scent of I am"
So this is the monks talking to one of their friends, Venerable Khamaka:
“Friend Khemaka, when you speak of this ‘I am’ …
what is it that you speak of as ‘I am’?”
He replies: “Friends, I do not speak of form (that's rupa) as ‘I am,’
nor do I speak of ‘I am’ apart from form.
I do not speak of experience (vedanā) as ‘I am’ …
nor of perception as ‘I am’ … nor of volition as ‘I am’ …
nor of consciousnesses as ‘I am,’
nor do I speak of ‘I am’ apart from consciousnesses.
Not in the five Khandas, not outside of them
Friends, although the thought ‘I am’ has not yet vanished in me
in relation to these five components of existence,
still I do not regard anything among them as ‘This I am.’
(And he gives a simile)
“Suppose, friends, there is a scent of a lotus.
Would you be speaking rightly if you were to say,
‘the scent belongs to the petals,’ or ‘the scent belongs to the stalk,’
or ‘the scent belongs to the pistils’?”
“No.”
“And how, friends, should you answer if you were to answer rightly?”
“You should answer: ‘The scent belongs to the flower.’
“So too, friends, I do not speak of form as ‘I am,’
nor do I speak of ‘I am’ apart from form.
I do not speak of experience, perception, will or consciousnesses as "I am"
nor do I speak of ‘I am’ apart from consciousnesses.
Friends, although the thought ‘I am’ has not yet vanished in me
in relation to these five components of existence,
still I do not regard anything among them as ‘This I am.’
"Friends... (got another simile which is better but down below)
“Friends, even though a noble disciple has abandoned the five basic fetters,
still, in relation to the five components of existence, the Khandas
there lingers in them a residual thought ‘I am,’
a desire ‘I am,’ an underlying tendency ‘I am’
that has not yet been uprooted.
“Sometime later they grow contemplating dependency on causes
of the five components of existence:
‘Such is form (body), such its origin, such its passing away;
such is experience, such is perception,
such is will, such are the six consciousnesses,
such their origin, such is their passing away.
As they dwell contemplating dependency on causes of the five components of existence,
the residual thought ‘I am,’ the desire ‘I am,’
the underlying tendency ‘I am’
that had not yet been uprooted: this comes to be uprooted.
(And this is the killer simile which I adapted)
“Suppose you washed a cloth in a washing machine,
rinsed and spun it, and then put it in a drier.
Although that cloth would be clean,
still it might retain the residual smell of the soap powder.
Then you would hang it out in the sun to air,
and after a while, the residual smell of the soap powder would vanish.”
In the original simile if you read it
the washer women, take it to the river
and they bang it with lye or cow dung.
That's how they used to wash in those days,
and after washing it, it will still have the smell of the lye or the cow dung.
With a simile like that what happens is people just
the whole meaning of the simile
is overwhelmed by the weird way people used to wash clothes in those days.
This is how we are washing these days
and still keeps the essence of the simile.
You all have done that, washing something in the washing machine
and after it got the smell of the soap powder.
That's like you have washed away most of the defilements,
still got the smell of 'I am' there.
That's the non-returner.
“So too, friends, even though a noble disciple has abandoned
the five lower fetters, washed clean,
still, in relation to the five Khandas there lingers in them
a residual thought ‘I am, the desire ‘I am,’
an underlying tendency ‘I am’
that has not yet been uprooted.
But as you dwell contemplating dependency on causes
of the five components of existence,
the residual thought ‘I am, ’ the desire ‘I am,’
the underlying tendency to ‘I am’ that had not yet been uprooted
this comes to be uprooted."
So what had happened there is the habitual tendencies
The other simile which I was talking about
because I have seen this many times
people say smokers smoke cigarettes
they know it's bad for your health they got right view of the
danger of cigarettes but they can't really get rid of it yet
so it takes them a while
until the view actually starts to penetrate into their behaviour
the way they perceive and think totally
otherwise sometimes there is some lingering desire for cigarettes.
But after the view how dangerous and yucky it's to really penetrate into them
then there's no way they're going to take a cigarette any more.
They have abandoned it.
So once you get your views straight
you have understood something
(alcohol is bad for you or whatever)
it doesn't mean straight away you are going to give up sort-of the
bad habits: they linger awhile until the new view, the correct view becomes
so strong, it actually washes away
even the old sense or the smell of the old views, the old habits.
I hope that's clear because it's a very important point there.
So I am going to pause for a moment to see whether there are any questions
on what we have done so far on the stages of Enlightenment.
Yes.
Question: The stream-enterer cannot be reborn in a lower form, even if they have
murdered somebody in a past life because they have given up the view of self.
But presumably they wouldn't kill anyone again.
Ajahn: Indeed because one as a stream-winner
this was a question.... who asked me this sometime ago.. I think it was actually
Bhante G. He was trying to test me out
and he asked me; he said stream winner can they break the five precepts
and the answer was Yes.
But they know straight away what they have done
so they can't hide it.
They can't sort-of just "no no no no no no".
So they've still got bad habits from the past.
So those bad habits from the past
it's like you have seen something,
you have seen that smoking or drinking alcohol is not good for me
but it doesn't mean they have given up straight away.
It takes a time for you to train your perceptions and thoughts.
Question: So it has to be that realization that there is no self,
that kind-of drains the life out of any kind of misbehaviour.
Ajahn: It drains the life out of it but like anything
if you are draining a tank it takes a little while for
all the water to come out.
And at the very very end there is a little bit of water left.
So if we are cleaning a water tank at Bodhinyana Monastery in Serpentine
yes that's what you have to do: drain the first water:
takes those big water tanks sometimes a day to drain out.
Then you go in there with a sponge to get that last little bit of water
with the dirt in it out. So that's a nice simile. Draining it out. Good.
Question: Ajahn, with the Jhānānāgāmī is that a person doing all four Jhānās
or have to be in Arupa-Jhānā when they die
to actually go to that Jhānā realm rather than a Deva realm?
Ajahn: It has to be .. actually any Jhānā would work
but obviously the deeper the Jhānā the faster it would be,
the more letting go there is. So any Jhānā.
It's a really amazing thing
once you understand what the Jhānās are you can say
wow that's a very very good point.
Because in the Jhānās, basically in the Jhānās there is no sense of self,
you can't actually feel or see you are gone.
So one of the reasons why
I think I mentioned this to monks a few weeks ago
that in history there were two people, two Catholic monks or a monk and a nun,
when I read that it looked like they have attained the first Jhānā.
That was Theresa of Avila who used to levitate
and St. John on the Cross.
Just reading some of what they have said it's very hard
because of the translation into English,
don't know what they really meant to say but
there was an indication they may have got into the Jhānās.
But one of the reasons why they would get into First Jhānā
is because of their methodology: they believe in total surrender to their God.
And that was 100% surrender not keeping anything back for them.
They were surrendering their will, their choice, they were letting-go
because of the belief - "God take over"
That you can see that type of letting go.
I can understand how that would get a person into the First Jhānā.
But of course the view they had afterwards, Jhānā would not be enough
to break through that view.
Which they didn't have any other alternative for that
but I can see just how that degree of letting go would go into that
so when you are in that Jhānā state
no sense of an independent self.
They would experience that as a union with God.
They are gone, totally.
So you could understand in the Jhānās there is no sense of me left.
That's why you can't get into those states by doing stuff,
that's too much of an ego, too much of me, doing stuff.
They are literally stages of letting go of doing, will,
that's why they are so still.
And the me which creates all that willing.
So that's why in such a state
yes you haven't totally abandoned desire and ill-will
but you have suppressed it so much
that when you come out afterwards
basically there is nothing really to get you reborn.
That makes any sense?
Anything else?
Question: So really because doing stuff really just enhances your sense of self?
Ajahn: Correct
Question: So that's why it doesn't work.
Ajahn: Exactly, thank you.
I have been trying to bang at that point for 30 years.
Yes behind you.
Question: So if the mind punishes itself for things it has done
you get reborn in the lower realms and same for the higher realms
but what if you want to be reborn as a human?
Ajahn: As a human, yeah if you want to be reborn as a human
and you have enough kamma to be reborn as a human
that's where you end up doing.
The simile is: say you want to go to Bangladesh, Dhaka
you need to have two reasons to end up in Bangladesh
number one you want to go there, number two you got the money and the visa.
If you got those two things then you end up there.
If you don't want to go there
you may have the money and the visa but you don't want to go there
of course you don't end up there.
You want to go there but you can't afford it
you don't end up there.
So the wanting and the kammic wherewithal
those two come together and that means you get reborn there.
Okay. So you got another one, okay.
Questions: I suppose you have to delete the sense of achievement as well?
Ajahn: Exactly, these are not.. Ajahn Chah kept on saying this so many times:
we meditate to let go not to attain.
Not achieving things but to abandon things.
That's why anyone who understands this stuff never think it's an achievement:
"I am a stream-winner, look at me I am a stream-winner"
"I am much better than you riff-raff"
that's called spiritual materialism which is very gross
and know why people do that.. because they don't really understand
what's going on. These are stages of letting go, of disappearing.
Thank you Ajahn Brahmali because that book the Art of Disappearing
which is one of my favourites, some of my talks are in there,
he chose the title "The Art of Disappearing". I thought wow that's a brilliant title
because that's what meditation, that's what the path is: disappearing,
vanishing. That's why when I wrote the introduction, the preface,
I said this is about losing things, not about gaining things, not attainments.
So at the very end I said "May you all get lost!"
[Ajahn Laughs] and that was a compliment.
I thought that the people publishing it wouldn't get it but they got it straight away
they said 'yeah, this is great'. So they didn't delete it.
So that's my wish for each one of you May you all get lost.
May you all be losers. Spiritual losers, not gainers.
It's using words in a different way which makes it funny.
Okay so we go to Free from All Speculative Views.
So we are still on Right View, this is why we are on this stuff.
"Then does the Buddha hold any speculative belief at all?"
Speculative belief is stuff like there are aliens.
Have you ever seen an alien? You can speculate, "well the universe is
so big there must be some somewhere."
Maybe they are siting among us. Who knows?
So speculative beliefs are things that people love to think about
even like the origin of the Universe,
where it all began if it did begin anywhere: speculation.
"Speculative belief is something that the Buddha has put away.
For the Buddha has seen this:"
(Just basic five Khandas, just focusing on message)
"Such is form, such its origin, such its disappearance;
such is experience, its origin, its disappearance;
such is perception, its origin, its disappearance;
such is will, its origin, its disappearance;
such are the consciousnesses, such their origin, such their disappearance."
It's just talking about the five Khandas.
The fact that none of them are permanent
they arise because of other things
and when other things vanish they all vanish.
Perception, experience, consciousness every one of them
is impermanent, it arises and totally disappears for a while.
"Therefore, I say, with the destruction, fading away, cessation,
giving up, relinquishing of all conceptual proliferations"
(it's one of the great words, papañca,
conceptual proliferations
once we get an idea it just takes off
like some weeds in your garden,
just like some virus in your body
or some malware in your computer
It affects more and more it expands.
This is what is called conceptual proliferation
or maybe you should call conceptual viruses
to show how they affect, keep going and going.
That's why we are thinking. There is no end to thinking.
No end to philosophizing.
This conceptual proliferation
put that away, just seeing,
not thinking about this and working all out
but seeing the basic five components of existence
seeing there is nothing there.
So with destruction, fading away cessation, giving up and relinquishing
of all conceptual proliferation
all philosophizing all I-making, we make ourselves
make this idea of a self
mine-making, we construct the idea of possession
and the underlying tendency to assuming a permanent essence.
It's an underlying tendency,
we have been doing this for such a long time it's just a habit.
Try and make something out of nothing,
that somewhere, some place there is a me.
The Buddha is liberated through exhausting the fuel that drives rebirth.
I like that translation: The fuel that drives rebirth.
Your car has not got no more petrol in its engine anymore.
It can't move. Can't get to rebirth anymore.
And that fuel is the view that there is some person in there,
some essence, some mind which is not sort-of impermanent:
something, some soul, some ground of all beings, something
that it becomes a fuel which makes you get rebirth, reborn.
When you exhaust all that fuel
then there is no way you can make an I or a mine anymore.
That's why the Buddha
no speculative views anymore: you have seen through all of this.
The Three Characteristics of Existence
"Whether Buddhas arise or not, there persists that law,
that stable Dhamma, that fixed course of the Dhamma:
All phenomena that arise from a cause are impermanent,
suffering, and not a permanent essence.
All phenomena that arise from a cause are impermanent."
In other words: they arise from a cause
and they must be able to disappear,
and they are suffering, and not a permanent essence.
"The Buddha awakens to this and breaks through to it,
and then explains it, teaches it, proclaims it,
and establish it, discloses it, analyses it, and elucidates it."
In other words that's actually Nicca.
That's not anicca, that is niccha.
That law persists
"And what is it that the wise in the world
agree upon as not existing,
of which I too say that it does not exist?
Any form (body) that's permanent, stable, and eternal, not subject to change:
this the wise in the world agree upon as not existing,
and I too say that it does not exist.
Any experience, Perception, Volition, any type of Consciousness
that's permanent, stable, and eternal, not subject to change:
this the wise in the world agree upon as not existing
and I too say that it does not exist."
"It is impossible and inconceivable said the Buddha
that a person who is enlightened or even on the path to being enlightenment
could consider any phenomena that arises from a cause as permanent,
as pleasurable and as a soul: there is no such possibility.
But there is a possibility that an unenlightened worldling might
consider some phenomena that arise from a cause as permanent,
as pleasurable and as a soul: there is such a possibility."
This is where we make a soul an original being, a ground of all being
an essence; anything.
It's a tendency of human beings to do that,
to find an ultimate retirement home for you.
"Therefore any kind of form whatsoever
any kind of experience whatsoever any kind of perception whatsoever
any kind of will whatsoever, any kind of consciousness or Citta
or mind whatsoever (those three are synonyms):
whether past, future or present once own or others, gross or subtle,
inferior or superior, far or near all forms, all experiences,
all perceptions, all will, all mind,
should be seen as it really is with correct wisdom thus:
‘This is not mine, this I am not, this is not my permanent essence."
And now one of my favourite quotes,
This is, so sure this is not what the Buddha said,
we put it in here anyway, because it's really cool.
This is very famous from the Visuddhimagga:
"Mere suffering exists, no sufferer is found. The deed is, but no doer of the deed is there."
If you understand this, that's where you don't need to have any punishment.
The deed is but not the doer.
"Nibbāna is, but not a person who enters it."
Not a being, not a mind, not you. Nibbāna everything gone.
And last "The path is, but no traveller on it's seen."
In other words if you travel the Eightfold Path you get nowhere.
You have to disappear
and then the path becomes as wide as a 20 lane highway,
even wider, you can't miss it.
But when you are travelling that path
when you are doing the meditation
you are doing, sort-of whatever, then the path disappears.
"The path is, but no traveller on it is seen."
Nibbāna is but you don't attain it, you don't enter, you can't.
You have to disappear and vanish
and the more you vanish, the closer you get.
I love that. Anyway, any questions? Yes.
Question: If they have no self, they don't commit themselves to any punishment
for what they do. But in the case of Sotāpanna killing another person
regardless of whether they create the hell or not,
they still got that Kamma to receive Aren't they?
Ajahn: Ah..have they?
They got some Kamma there.
You know a stream-winner or a once-returner or something
kills somebody - they go to jail.
Yes you can't use it as a legal defense in Australia - that it say
in the Suttas that such stream-winners are not subject to
such punishments. That doesn't work in the jury trial or judge trial.
But no, there is some consequences there but those consequences
don't arise in a future life.
Angulimala - apparently people threw stones at him and scolded him.
So he did get some suffering as a result of what he did
but no future life suffering.
So you are not punishing yourself. Other people punish you, but not you.
Question: So could the Sotāpanna then reborn
in the first life of seven or six lives, reborn into an unsatisfactory life
for some period of time for that kamma?
Ajahn: Not at all. The reason is because no one sends you to
your next destination.
You send yourself there.
You choose literally where you are going next.
But sometimes we do make stupid choices because we are not wise.
Because people feel they deserve to be punished.
Even in this life, ask any psychologist:
people who have a strong sense of guilt
will actually deny themselves happiness or success.
Question: But doesn't the Kamma actually pull the Sotāpanna to that...
Ajahn-: No no, Kamma is very personal.
You are the owner of your kamma in many ways.
Ok... yes, go on..
Question: What exactly is meant by consciousnesses?
Ajahn: Consciousnesses, I added a plural there
because this is translating according to the definition.
Whenever the Buddha ever uses the word viññāna He says there are six types of viññāna:
Sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch and knowing - the mind, the citta.
These are the six consciousnesses.
I used that plural because it makes the word much more powerful.
This is not me changing Buddhism,
this is using a word and translating it according to its meaning.
Six different types and that changes the whole ball game.
Not consciousness because so often people think:
"that's me, that's my essence".
There are six different types of them: "which one is you?" said the Buddha.
And then you find out when there is one there, the others are gone.
They arise according to causes:
consciousness, that sixth consciousness: mind, its synonym is citta,
the mind, each one of these consciousnesses arises because of a cause.
When that cause disappears, the citta vanishes.
That's the third Satipatṭhāna:
to see the rise and the fall of the citta.
Rise and fall means, gone, disappear,
so it cannot be a permanent thing
and what I just read out here, all types of consciousnesses
which includes all types of citta
should be seen, past, future or present one's own or others', gross or subtle,
inferior or superior, far or near,
all consciousnesses which includes all mind, all citta,
should be seen as it truly is: not me, not mine, not a self.
That's just the requirement for being an Ariya, for being a stream-winner.
Without that you are not a stream-winner.
Question: Sorry Ajahn, because John was saying, doesn't Kamma cause a self,
and it just occured to me that the self, the sense of self is a bit
like a black hole exerting huge power
and it's creating everything including hell realms and
everything you can think of and without a self everything just melts away.
Isn't that an attraction?
Ajahn: Yes indeed, that's the whole point of this,
to have you melt away.
the whole point of this Sue is to get rid of you.
Get rid of Sue, the sense of self, the sense of me.
It's to lose things not to gain things.
Not to enhance yourself by being called a saint,
"just look how great I am".
Okay over there.
Question: What is being reborn? Is that some form of energy that's being
discharged into the air at the time of
Ajahn: No it's not energy, there is nothing continuing from one moment to another.
It's cause and effect. We are going to go into
that in a few moments because... I was just scrolling down,
we've got dependent origination coming soon which is how the Buddha would
answer your question.
But we would just go on a bit further here because time is running out.
Okay what do we got here?
Oh this is Yamaka Sutta Nipata 44 after the 'traveller on it's seen...'
"it is those who do not understand form as it really is …
who do not know and see its origin, its cessation,
and the way leading to its cessation
that think: ‘An Enlightened One (Arahant) exists after death,
or does not exist after death,
or both exists and does not exist after death,
or neither exists nor does not exist after death.’’
"It's those who do not see experience, as it really is
who do not know and see perception, as it really is
who do not know and see will as it really is
who do not know and see the consciousnesses
(including mind, including citta) as they really are,
and do not know and see their origin,
their cessation, and the way leading to their cessation,
these are the people who think an Arahant or an Enlightened One
exists after death, or does not exist after death
or both exists and does not exist after death,
or neither exists nor does not exist after death."
This is one of the questions: what happens to an Arahant after they die?
And this is the beginning of one of the best answers, clearest answers.
"One who knows and sees the five components of existence
the five khandas as they really are
who knows and sees where they come from, their origin according to causes
their cessation causes stop, these things vanish
and the way leading to their cessation
they do not think either of these possibilities.
They don't even think
an Enlightened One exists after death or does not exist after death
or both exists and does not exist after death,
or neither exists nor does not exist after death."
And this is a really beautiful Sutta
"What do you think.." this is in the Saṃyutta Nikāya, the Khandha Saṃyutta.
“What do you think, Yamaka”, asks Sariputta,
“Do you regard the body, experience, perception, will or consciousnesses
as an Enlightened One?”
No, Venerable.
Do you regard an Enlightened One as in the body, as in experience,
as in perception, as in will or as in consciousness,
somehow contained in these five khandas?"
"No Venerable."
"Do you regard an Enlightened One as apart from the body, something separate,
as apart from experience, as apart from perception,
as apart from will, as apart from consciousnesses?"
Like apart from the mind,
apart from the five khandas.
"Is the Enlightened One something separate from the five khandas?"
"No Venerable."
"Do you regard the body, experience, perception, will and consciousness,
all taken together, as an Enlightened One?"
"No Venerable"
"Do you take an Enlightened One as one who is without a body,
without experience, without perception, without a will, without any consciousnesses?"
"No Venerable"
"But, Yamaka, when an Enlightened One especially the Buddha, right in front of you,
when an Enlightened One is not apprehended by you
as real and actual here in this very life,
is it fitting for you to declare that an Enlightened One is annihilated and perishes
with the break-up of the body and does not exist after death?"
It's not annihilated. There is nothing here now.
Just a process, here and now.
So you can't see anything there,
any essence, any enlightened essence there,
either as any one of those five khandas
as in those five khandas, as apart from those five khandas,
as five khandas taken together.
"So, Yamaka, if they were to ask you what happens to an Enlightened One
with the break-up of their body, after death..
What happens to an Arahant when they die?"
"I would answer that the body is impermanent;
what is impermanent is suffering,
what is suffering has ceased and passed away.
That's all.
Experience is impermanent; what is impermanent is suffering,
what is suffering has ceased and passed away.
Perception is impermanent; what is impermanent is suffering,
what is suffering has ceased and passed away.
Will is impermanent; what is impermanent is suffering,
what is suffering has ceased and passed away.
Consciousnesses; each one of them like citta, like the mind, is impermanent;
what is impermanent is suffering; what is suffering has ceased and passed away."
The process has just stopped.
Nothing being enlightened, Nothing has been annihilated, sorry.
It's just a process - stopped.
"Good, Yamaka. Good!" says Sariputta.
That's one of the most powerful teachings of the fact about
when people say 'is there something outside the five khandas,
outside the five components of existence
which you can take to be your essential self.
Very clear. The answer of course is no.
So the Buddha who is very very clever, smart
to cut off all possible angles of escape.
People always like to find out a little hole where they can exist.
Fortunately the Buddha was too smart for you.
"If there is the view, ‘The soul and the body are the same,’
there is no living of the holy life"
The reason is because once you die the soul dies anyway
so what's the point of this?
"If there is the view, ‘The soul is one thing, the body is another,’
there is no living of the holy life"
Because it doesn't matter what you do
the soul is just independent of you.
"Without veering towards either of these extremes,
the Buddha teaches the Dhamma by the middle:
Dependent Origination and Dependent Cessation."
I remember once reading the Bhagavad Gita as a young student
and there I think it was Krishna talking to Arjuna
and Arjuna was not wanting to go into battle to fight
because it's going to kill people and Krishna was saying
'you are not killing anybody, just killing bodies that's all'.
No soul, the soul is totally independent, you can't stop a soul with a sword.
So you know, that actually put me off Hinduism because there is no real
'you can't really kill anybody' because the soul is indestructible
and that didn't make any sense to me.
That's not really putting down Hinduism
because that's only one tiny part of it
but I remember that as something I couldn't ever accept.
If the soul is totally independent of the body no matter what you do
you can't kill a soul or harm it or hurt it - it's independent.
So there is no holy life the Buddha is saying here.
So if the soul is one thing, the body is another;
or if the soul and the body are the same
there is no living of the holy life.
Not veering to either of those extremes, the third way,
the Buddha teaches the Dhamma by the middle,
Dependent Origination and Dependent Cessation.
And this is another definition of the right view:
"One who sees dependent origination and cessation sees the Dhamma;
the one who sees the Dhamma sees dependent origination."
So it's not just you can't say sort-of seeing non-self
but what is it that we take to be this self,
and this is where dependent origination comes in.
And this of course answers your question about how rebirth can happen.
Nothing getting reborn, not energy but Cause and Effect.
"With delusion as a cause, volition comes to be"
Especially the delusion of me.
As long as there is a me then I do stuff.
When you disappear your will goes,
because your will, the doer, volition
that is just a sign of a "me"; there is always a "me" behind it.
"with volition as cause comes the consciousnesses"
this always has to be in your future life
"with consciousness as the cause, the objects of consciousnesses come"
These are the sheaves of reeds simile:
the way that farmers in the old days would dry the reeds or the hay,
they would make a sheaf, two sheaves of hay
and lean them up against each other.
You take one away, the other one falls down.
So objects of consciousness and consciousness -they have to come together.
If there are no objects of consciousnesses consciousness vanishes.
If there are no objects of the mind citta vanishes, disappears.
That's in the Nidāna Saṃyutta.
"with name-and-form as the cause, the objects: you get the six sense bases;
with the six sense bases, sensory contact;
with sensory contact as cause, experience"
Now this is not the sense of A leads to B and a few seconds later then C.
These things always have to be there together.
"and with experience as a cause wanting,
with wanting causes the fuel, the Upādāna,
and with fuel as a cause states of existence"
which I mentioned, you create these
with some place to go to: you cause rebirth
"and with rebirth as a cause ageing and death, sorrow, crying, pain,
unhappiness, and distress come to be.
Such is the origin of this whole mass of suffering."
"No God, no Brahma can be called the maker of life;
empty phenomena roll on, dependent on conditions all."
Rolling on: cause and effect,
empty conditions,
no being, no energy, nothing there, empty conditions.
"But when a meditator has abandoned delusion
and aroused true knowledge
then with the fading away of delusion and the arising of true knowledge,
you do not generate a meritorious volition,
or a demeritorious volition, not even a neutral volition."
You don't generate anything because there is no one there to do the generation.
So the arising of true knowledge.
Sometimes I have heard that some people say
"ah dependent origination: it cuts at the gap between this and that",
that's so much ko mayan.
Remember the word ko mayan?
ko is the bull; mayan is what comes out from the back end of a bull.
Buddha never says that.
It's always delusion; when that's abandoned
that's when this causal sequence gets stopped.
"With the remainderless fading away and cessation of delusion
comes the cessation of will" Woo hoo that's powerful.
When you realise there is no one there
then actually you can stop the will.
Beforehand you suppress the will
but when you see there is no one there
three is nothing to do the willing anymore.
That's one of the reasons why a stream-winner
can't get reborn that many times. The will is gone.
"with the cessation of will, cessation of consciousnesses" (in your next life)
Nothing to get you reborn.
"with the cessation of consciousnesses, the objects of consciousness disappear..
sense bases..sensory contact..experience.. wanting..fuel..states of existence..rebirth"
The whole thing stops.
"House builder.." This is from the Thera Gatha.
Many monks, nuns use this phrase.
"House builder, you have now been seen. You shall build no houses again.
Your rafters have been broken and your gables all torn.
Thrown off course, the citta will be destroyed right here."
"without any doubt citta; you shall be destroyed."
That's the mind; the House builder.
Once you have seen that, it's not who you are,
it's just empty phenomena rolling on: your mind, the citta.
That's in the Thera Gatha.
"House builder, you have now been seen. You shall build no houses again.
Your rafters have been broken and your gables all torn.
Thrown off course, the Citta will be destroyed right here" -- Thera Gatha.
That was your house builder.
No more rebirth - phew.
Okay that actually comes to a nice stop.
That's the end with a really big bang of Right View
according to the Word of the Buddha.
Okay looks like we got some questions from overseas.
So let's deal with those before I ask any more questions from here.
Here we go.
From Malaysia: "Dear Ajahn, is there any distinction between making merit and Kamma?"
Ajahn: Kamma includes making merit and making bad kamma as well.
So kamma, you can make good merit. You can make..never heard the word "bad-merit".
Making merit's like good kamma.
So good kamma is merit and bad kamma is demerit ... ok thank you.
They have over here, you have demerits when you have long week-ends.
You get double demerits.
So basically kamma is just how merits and demerits are made.
From Santa Barbara: "Is there a way to get rid of the results of the bad kamma
with education and understanding or is suffering necessary?"
With a bit of faith you can lessen the results of bad kamma.
And I don't like to say this but
the Buddha said this so have to admit
the other way of overcoming bad kamma is
not overcoming it but diluting it.
The reason I don't like saying this is because
many monks and places use it.. as a great way to raise funds..
Sometimes monks and monasteries get too rich,
especially that one in Thailand which is being shut down now at last.
But yes the Buddha said in the simile of salt:
if you take a table full of salt and you put it in my glass of water
and you stir it up, it means you can't drink the whole glass. It's so salty.
But if you put it in a rainwater tank of thousand liters and you stir it up
then you drink that water, you can hardly taste it
because it really dilutes.
And the Buddha said it's the same with bad Kamma.
If you got a certain amount of bad kamma and you only got a little bit of good kamma
you are going to really taste that bad kamma.
But if you dilute it by making lots of good kamma
then you won't even taste it.
So unscrupulous monks they do some bad kamma.
"well I think that's like a thousand dollars to the nuns' monastery
and that will probably dilute it"
It just opens the door to really unscrupulous practices.
So that's why let's do good kamma anyway.
Not just to abandon the bad kamma.
Some people do that: they sort-of go out on a Saturday night
and they come to the temple on Sunday morning to dilute the bad kamma
they did on Saturday night.
That's really just a bit unscrupulous. But it's true.
You cannot get rid but dilute the results of bad kamma by doing a lot of good kamma.
But the best way is actually to become a Stream-winner.
And lastly from Penang: "Can a person know for sure he or she is a Sotāpanna?"
That's a wonderful question.
There is a lot of people you can know a person is not a Stream-winner
you can't know if a person is.
So you... so many people get deluded.
They want to be a Stream-winner or Once-returner or Non-returner so much
that they just delude themselves.
The desire, the craving, is one of the five hindrances.
That means they don't see things that clearly.
The monks know this story.
I went to see this great monk Ajahn Thate many years ago
and had to wait in line and as I was waiting he was taking to this other
Indonesian girl, very very wealthy,
and she was talking about her meditation.
She said, I was meditating
and you know my mind went so still, went blank, things disappeared,
that was Fourth Jhana wasn't it?
And then Ajahn Thate said, no it wasn't, you were just sleepy.
Then she said you know this is what happened first of all
and then it was.. Fourth Jhana wasn't it? she asked again.
No, no, no. And then she asked again/
She asked about four or five times.
"It was Fourth Jhana wasn't it?" "No, no, no, no"
I was listening to this. She asked again
and he said "Urhh.."
and she smiled and went out
and she told everybody afterwards "my Jhāna has been confirmed"
Ajahn Thate said "Urhh..." and that means yes, it's true.
And I saw that. This is one of the problems,
people want these things so much
they want it confirmed by somebody else
and even in this one Sutta where Ananda asked the Buddha
"All these people who come up to you, the greatest teacher
that they have faith in
and they claim to be Stream-winners Once-returners, Non-returners, Arahants.
Are all those attainment real, true?
And the Buddha said "some are, some aren't"
And I read from that even the Buddha couldn't convince a person
they are deluded.
So that's just how powerful these delusions can be.
People think they are stream-winners, once-returners,
even Arahants, and not even the Buddha could dislodge them from that.
The power of the sense of self
creates, manipulates, and just anything else
they would just push aside.
"No no no I am still a stream-winner. I am still a once-returner."
So it's very dangerous
which is one of the reasons why
that number one, you don't tell people about your attainments
because they could be wrong.
Number two - check them out
From what the Buddha said this is the only real place
you can actually get some authority.
Not from me, not from any other monk or nun
but from this.. how the Buddha taught.
Basic thing, a Stream-winner, they can't have a sense of self.
It's much easier to see if a person is an Anāgāmī or not
(a non-returner) because non-returners don't have any lust or ill-will.
You cannot make a non-returner angry
which is one of the reasons we test people.
If anybody says they are a non-returner..
Mahesha is just laughing over there,
I think I told this before Mahesha,
if you say you are an Anāgāmī
I would say "No way can a Sri Lankan Girl become a non-returner
that's impossible. Maybe in your next life when you become a boy, then you can"
You know me..I don't believe in that sort-of stuff
but I say that to try and irritate her
get her upset, find her weak point.
If she "what you misogynist, I believed in you, I thought you
regarded everybody equal, you are a modern monk"
Sorry you failed the test.
So you find peoples' weak points and try to make them angry.
If they do get angry, yes, the test is being concluded.
And I don't mind these days because you should find these things out yourself.
A stream-winner, there is a little test
it's in one of the commentaries. I had to read this because
if a monk or a Bhikkhuni say they are a Stream-winner
and they are not, it can be like a capital offence.
They have to be disrobed
if they know they are lying,
if they are just boasting it and they are not.
So sometimes we have to find out
are they or are they not.
So there is a little test, one of those tests,
two questions you have to ask for being a Stream Winner is
when and where did it happen?
When? What time of the day?
Where? What were you doing?
Because it's an event.
It's not something you just goes on.
"Yeah I have faith in non-self now
and don't know exactly when that happened,"
"yeah.. just understand it now."
It's an event: stream-winning.
That's a powerful thing to know.
Now I've blown it with you guys now
if you do want to sort-of fake stream-winning
you would say... it happened at Dhammaloka Centre
when Ajahn Brahm was doing the Sutta Class.
So there are other ways to find that out.
So yeah that's how you can know it for sure.
When did it happen? where did it happen?
And honestly check it out with the Suttas,
is there any idea that there is self which is going to..
a citta, an essence, anything,
which will survive a death of an Arahant.
Okay that actually finishes. Good.
I wanted to finish it a bit early
because it's Full-Moon Day today
and I have to go back to the monastery
for the Patimokkha ceremony and also
tomorrow morning I am going to Sydney, oh, not Sydney, to Canberra.
But coming up next is the Second Factor
which you can see on the board there
it's not Right Intention
but I am calling it Right Motivation.
And I am sticking by this as the word Saṅkappa
and it's explained or it's translated
by how it's defined, not by it's etymology.
In other words you take the word and you split it up
or see how it's used in other places
by how it's used in this particular function
as being number two in the Eightfold Path.
The Right Motivation.
And that actually opens up the Eightfold Path
in a much more interesting understanding.
But that will come in a couple of weeks or maybe in four weeks time
because I will be in Hon Kong in two week's time
but this is what's coming next.
Now finished with Right View.
So hope you enjoyed that,
it's put online so if you want to go over it afterwards
you can recall, get online and listen to it online again
and just get more into it.
Thank you for listening.
Audience: Sadhu Sadhu Sadhu
Ajahn: Okay we can now pay respects to the Buddha