WEBVTT 01:23.697 --> 01:33.671 Good evening everyone and welcome to our live broadcast. 01:33.691 --> 01:48.912 Today we're looking at Anguttara Nikaya Book of Fours, Sutta 113, Padoda Sutta. 01:59.320 --> 02:13.144 Patoda is a stick that you use to, a special stick that is used to prod, prod a horse. 02:26.506 --> 02:40.607 The stick that was designed to be used against a horse to make the horse afraid and out of fear the horse would respond. 02:42.950 --> 02:44.893 Increase its speed, most likely. 02:50.481 --> 02:55.348 It's where they get the term beating a dead horse. 02:57.775 --> 03:06.286 If you use the goad or the prod on a dead horse, it doesn't have any effect. 03:09.510 --> 03:11.032 Kind of a nasty sort of implement. 03:15.497 --> 03:22.146 So the Buddha used this as an analogy for something nasty. 03:24.749 --> 03:26.331 He said there are four kinds of horses. 03:31.036 --> 03:35.963 Five kinds of horses. 03:36.804 --> 03:37.986 When do we have the fifth kind? 03:38.006 --> 03:39.408 I think maybe this one only has four. 03:45.296 --> 03:47.459 There might be another sutta where there's actually the fifth one. 03:48.080 --> 03:53.668 Anyway, for our intents and purposes, four is enough. 03:57.918 --> 04:01.302 These four kinds of horses are called Ajjaniyya. 04:03.866 --> 04:04.547 Ajjaniyya. 04:18.325 --> 04:20.007 Just want to look up the word Ajjaniyya. 04:23.011 --> 04:24.533 Ajjaniyya. 04:31.921 --> 04:32.942 Not in the sutta. 04:32.962 --> 04:34.244 Anyway. 04:34.264 --> 04:35.946 It means like a thoroughbred horse. 04:40.151 --> 04:41.012 Badro. 04:41.753 --> 04:47.800 It's a special horse. 05:00.776 --> 05:01.337 Four kinds. 05:02.954 --> 05:06.218 What kinds of horses that you would say they're trainable? 05:06.238 --> 05:07.981 What kind of horses that you can train? 05:20.117 --> 05:29.029 The Buddha was thought it was called 05:34.240 --> 05:36.603 Purisa Dhamma Sarati. 05:36.623 --> 05:37.364 Sarati. 05:37.384 --> 05:38.465 Sarati is one. 05:39.506 --> 05:40.767 Saratai. 05:41.288 --> 05:42.549 Saratai is a cart. 05:43.310 --> 05:44.512 Saratai. 05:44.532 --> 05:45.453 With a cart. 05:45.473 --> 05:46.093 Sarati. 05:47.175 --> 05:48.116 One who has a cart. 05:48.196 --> 05:49.437 Sarati means a trainer. 05:49.477 --> 05:51.379 One who trains horses. 05:52.841 --> 05:54.423 But the Buddha was a trainer of men. 05:58.107 --> 05:59.088 Of people. 06:00.470 --> 06:02.492 The Buddha was able to train those who are 06:03.873 --> 06:05.575 who were able to be trained. 06:06.336 --> 06:10.561 Anyone who was capable of it, the Buddha was the one to train them. 06:13.165 --> 06:20.254 This kind of imagery, this kind of analogy is common, fair in the Buddha's teaching. 06:24.299 --> 06:29.205 But as for horses, the kind of horses that are trainable, there are four kinds. 06:33.151 --> 06:44.501 The first kind of horse, you lift the padodha, the goad, and it just has to see its shadow. 06:44.561 --> 06:47.423 Padodha chayang. 06:47.483 --> 06:54.569 Having seen the shadow of the goad, it gets freaked out. 06:55.510 --> 06:56.771 Well, it doesn't get freaked out. 06:56.791 --> 07:02.736 It becomes moved, stirred. 07:04.977 --> 07:21.099 agitated and knows what to do. 07:21.119 --> 07:26.166 Second kind of thoroughbred horse, well, it sees the shadow, but it's not stirred. 07:29.290 --> 07:33.516 But as soon as the goat touches the horse, just touches it, 07:35.588 --> 07:37.652 touches it to the hair on its coat. 07:38.775 --> 07:42.282 As soon as it feels the goad, it becomes agitated. 07:42.583 --> 07:44.006 It gets a sense of urgency. 07:45.208 --> 07:46.591 Urgency, . 07:48.134 --> 07:53.766 And this word is a sense of urgency. 08:07.263 --> 08:08.004 That's the second type. 08:08.044 --> 08:10.810 The third type, you can touch it with the goat. 08:10.830 --> 08:11.912 When it sees the goat, nothing. 08:11.952 --> 08:13.535 When you touch it with the goat, nothing. 08:14.757 --> 08:22.672 But if you whack it with the goat, once it feels a little bit of pain, okay, then it gets a sense of urgency. 08:22.692 --> 08:24.675 It says, oh, better do something. 08:26.158 --> 08:26.900 Better speed up. 08:27.821 --> 08:28.583 Better turn right. 08:28.643 --> 08:29.424 Better turn left. 08:29.504 --> 08:29.845 Whatever. 08:34.111 --> 08:45.982 And the fourth type, even if you hit it, it's not a very well-bred horse, but you hit it, you hit the hide, nothing. 08:46.622 --> 09:02.937 But if you whack it on the bone where it really hurts, make it really hurt, then it becomes excited, agitated, moved. 09:04.452 --> 09:05.735 These are four kinds of horses. 09:07.499 --> 09:08.982 How is this interesting to us? 09:10.866 --> 09:14.955 It's because in the same way there are four thoroughbred people in the world. 09:15.235 --> 09:16.578 Four people that you can train. 09:16.739 --> 09:19.705 Four types of people that can be trained. 09:19.845 --> 09:20.627 So listen up. 09:22.291 --> 09:24.756 Think of yourself as the sort of person who is 09:26.626 --> 09:28.368 going to respond to the goad. 09:29.489 --> 09:31.571 So you think, well, is the Buddha going to use a goad on us? 09:33.172 --> 09:35.755 Sometimes our students get afraid. 09:35.775 --> 09:40.159 I think the teacher is going to punish them. 09:40.179 --> 09:41.961 They're afraid of the teacher sometimes. 09:45.744 --> 09:47.666 But that's not what this is referring to, actually. 09:48.987 --> 09:51.129 That's not the imagery the Buddha is providing us with. 09:52.811 --> 09:55.013 The goad here is old age, sickness and death. 10:01.456 --> 10:02.417 Go to suffering. 10:05.181 --> 10:06.723 Some people see it, some people don't. 10:09.547 --> 10:10.608 Everyone is touched by it. 10:13.512 --> 10:15.815 Everyone is aware that it exists. 10:19.981 --> 10:25.168 But it takes a special type of person to respond to it. 10:30.734 --> 10:32.536 So the Buddha said there are four types of people. 10:32.776 --> 10:36.980 For some people, like the Bodhisattva is one. 10:37.260 --> 10:37.781 Many people. 10:38.661 --> 10:40.603 You first hear about death. 10:43.326 --> 10:47.690 Buddha says, in such and such a village or town, some woman or man has fallen ill and died. 10:47.750 --> 10:48.090 That's it. 10:48.571 --> 10:49.352 That's all it takes. 10:49.432 --> 10:53.716 They hear about that and they say, holy crap, that could happen to me. 10:53.756 --> 11:00.522 And so being stirred, they strive 11:08.888 --> 11:22.730 Knowing this, having heard this, once they know this, they give rise to or they become agitated. 11:24.452 --> 11:34.508 Being agitated, they strive on with wisdom, wisely, carefully. 11:38.723 --> 11:41.307 And as a result, they're able to see the truth for themselves. 11:41.768 --> 11:42.489 That's all it takes. 11:43.651 --> 11:48.119 Think of this as someone who comes to meditate because they know that death is a part of life. 11:48.579 --> 11:49.100 Why? 11:49.120 --> 11:50.522 They've heard of other people dying. 11:52.225 --> 11:55.391 Sometimes it takes a real catastrophe. 11:57.033 --> 11:59.938 You hear about... 12:04.053 --> 12:17.552 When I heard about the September 11th attack, which today is the anniversary, it's like what, the 15th, 16th anniversary, 15th anniversary? 12:19.575 --> 12:21.558 When I heard about it, I was doing walking meditation. 12:21.578 --> 12:27.647 I remember one of the other meditators came to my kutti, and one of the teachers actually came to my kutti. 12:29.264 --> 12:33.329 said, two planes just flew into the Twin Towers. 12:33.470 --> 12:36.033 And I was kind of like, wow, sounded like a movie. 12:38.256 --> 12:39.177 Didn't faze me at all. 12:39.197 --> 12:42.301 I mean, I didn't get the extent of it. 12:42.962 --> 12:45.125 But like a year or two later, I saw a book. 12:46.527 --> 12:49.050 These people falling from the towers. 12:52.134 --> 12:55.018 And stories of people being crushed and 12:56.888 --> 13:05.579 being pushed just by the throng of bodies, being pushed out windows, having ceilings collapse. 13:05.599 --> 13:09.224 3,000 people lost their lives. 13:11.868 --> 13:21.060 Just last year or this year, we went in New York to a memorial where they had these names of all the victims. 13:22.802 --> 13:23.723 We did meditation there. 13:26.335 --> 13:39.096 People think about this and they don't know anyone, they don't know any of these people, but it's a shock enough to make them think, wow, that could happen to me. 13:40.207 --> 13:42.531 Or you hear about the tsunami in Asia. 13:43.513 --> 13:48.643 Some of the stories you hear about suffering in Thailand, Sri Lanka. 13:49.605 --> 13:51.288 I was in Thailand when it happened, actually. 13:51.308 --> 13:55.476 This big tsunami in 2004 or something. 13:55.496 --> 13:55.837 I don't remember. 13:55.877 --> 13:56.518 Many years ago. 13:56.538 --> 14:02.309 2006, maybe. 14:02.329 --> 14:02.670 I don't remember. 14:12.505 --> 14:14.529 Sometimes that's all it takes. 14:14.549 --> 14:18.418 It makes you think, wow, that could come to any of us. 14:18.618 --> 14:20.221 That could come to the ones I love. 14:20.281 --> 14:21.965 That could come to me, myself. 14:23.328 --> 14:32.387 And you decide that all of this thing, all of this busyness that we... 14:33.464 --> 14:37.531 We thrive upon or we rush towards. 14:38.572 --> 14:46.365 We spend so much energy on all these things that in the end are circumscribed by death. 14:48.329 --> 14:52.215 Their meaning, their benefit. 14:54.001 --> 14:59.568 The power is subservient to the realities that we're going to get old, sick and die. 14:59.609 --> 15:04.956 They end up being somewhat meaningless and insignificant. 15:09.041 --> 15:13.507 And so this sort of person takes up the practice of something that is significant. 15:14.609 --> 15:18.574 Some way to rise above the 15:23.650 --> 15:26.514 Above the limits placed on us by death. 15:28.236 --> 15:35.104 Or at least to prepare oneself so that the death is with a sound mind, with a clear mind. 15:39.069 --> 15:39.790 That's the first type. 15:39.810 --> 15:47.840 The second type of person, that's like the horse that just sees the shadow. 15:48.201 --> 15:48.721 It doesn't hurt. 15:49.342 --> 15:50.063 It doesn't even feel it. 15:56.000 --> 16:03.393 But a second type of person has to see somebody die, or has to see suffering, see someone suffering. 16:03.413 --> 16:12.850 Not someone they know, not a family member, not someone they're especially fond of, so it doesn't hurt, but it shocks them. 16:14.352 --> 16:18.700 They see people dying, maybe someone in a battlefield or someone in a hospital. 16:22.358 --> 16:27.179 Maybe you're just walking down the street and someone gets hit by a car and you think, that could happen to me. 16:29.730 --> 16:31.879 Maybe you're on a bus and someone has a heart attack. 16:36.027 --> 16:37.008 It doesn't happen to everyone. 16:37.769 --> 16:42.456 But when it happens, well, some people respond, some people don't. 16:43.257 --> 16:46.582 Some people think, hmm, well, glad it didn't happen to me. 16:46.922 --> 16:48.665 Thank God that didn't happen to me. 16:49.626 --> 16:51.529 There but for the grace of God. 16:52.430 --> 16:53.191 Odd saying, no? 16:56.235 --> 17:00.221 Sounds almost vicious and cruel. 17:02.324 --> 17:04.026 Why didn't it happen to you, right? 17:07.094 --> 17:12.761 Some people, that's all they can think of is, oh, they feel lucky, they're glad that it happened to someone else and not to them or anyone they love. 17:14.203 --> 17:17.367 So we live in this glass or this bubble, right? 17:18.748 --> 17:21.632 This illusory palace. 17:23.955 --> 17:31.524 We hear about people being robbed and murdered and just getting sick, cancer. 17:32.405 --> 17:33.827 It doesn't come to anyone we know. 17:35.933 --> 17:41.740 Sometimes when we see it, then it hits us, oh yes, well really this could happen to me. 17:42.681 --> 17:45.484 It hits home for some people. 17:47.106 --> 17:49.289 And so they think, well I better do something about that. 17:49.709 --> 17:54.174 There's got to be something better than just running around in my hamster wheel. 17:55.937 --> 17:59.441 And so they decide to take up spiritual practice. 17:59.461 --> 18:03.966 The third type of thoroughbred human 18:07.152 --> 18:09.875 Well, they might see it happen to someone else, but that wouldn't move them. 18:09.995 --> 18:34.003 But when someone they know, someone they love, someone they care about very much, mother, father, sister, brother, husband, wife, they get sick and die, or they suffer terribly, then it hits home. 18:38.000 --> 18:45.108 At the very least, it hits home that you can lose something very precious to you in a moment. 18:47.871 --> 18:55.820 You're hit with mourning and loss and a sense that suffering isn't just something that happens to other people. 18:57.923 --> 18:59.925 You get a sense of what it means to lose something. 19:01.347 --> 19:03.349 You get a sense of how uncertain life is. 19:06.063 --> 19:09.448 And maybe it penetrates in and they think, well, that could happen to me. 19:10.309 --> 19:11.370 I could be next. 19:12.192 --> 19:12.913 What am I going to do? 19:12.993 --> 19:17.439 Watching their loved one die, how am I going to feel when I die? 19:18.541 --> 19:21.044 How am I going to react? 19:21.064 --> 19:26.632 How am I going to face my death? 19:26.652 --> 19:28.054 And so they take up spiritual practice. 19:30.008 --> 19:31.630 This is like the one that actually has to hurt. 19:31.851 --> 19:37.018 You hit the horse with a goad and it gets hurt, feels pain. 19:39.602 --> 19:42.607 And the fourth type of person, well, this is where it really hits home. 19:43.308 --> 19:45.451 You get old, you get sick and you're dying. 19:46.913 --> 19:48.736 Some people, it has to get to that point. 19:49.737 --> 19:53.262 That's to really cut to the bone, so to speak. 19:54.705 --> 19:59.712 Some people will only start to practice when they're actually sick or dying, when they experience great suffering. 20:00.772 --> 20:02.054 Sometimes it doesn't take death. 20:02.074 --> 20:03.636 Sometimes it just takes great suffering. 20:05.759 --> 20:07.581 They have to be hit with suffering. 20:07.801 --> 20:14.791 But taking their own suffering as a base, then they come and do something. 20:17.494 --> 20:21.399 The fifth type of person that's not in this sutta, but I have a feeling that it's somewhere else. 20:21.740 --> 20:22.761 This is from my memory. 20:25.224 --> 20:27.247 It's the horse that you have to beat it until it dies. 20:27.287 --> 20:29.530 And if you beat it until it dies, it still won't. 20:30.860 --> 20:43.016 get up and, well, if it's dead it won't get up, but you beat it until it dies and it'll never, before it's dead it won't ever do what you say. 20:43.837 --> 20:46.120 Like a mule perhaps, how we think of a mule. 20:47.462 --> 20:48.483 You beat it, it doesn't help. 20:49.805 --> 20:55.332 This is the sort of person, no matter how much suffering comes, they always look on the bright side of life 20:57.353 --> 21:07.223 And they're not prepared for death when it comes, and they die confused and deluded, without any spiritual clarity or enlightenment. 21:09.205 --> 21:16.413 Never thought to keep moral precepts, never thought to cultivate meditation, never thought to cultivate wisdom. 21:16.693 --> 21:23.040 They just live their lives plodding along, doing things that in the end turn out to be meaningless, pointless, useless. 21:27.830 --> 21:31.935 So, which of these types of people do we want to be? 21:31.975 --> 21:34.779 Ajahn Tong, I've heard him tell this. 21:34.799 --> 21:42.308 When I first heard it, maybe not first heard it, but many years ago, I have a recording of him talking about this sutta. 21:45.873 --> 21:50.158 He said the Buddha liked to give us similes and analogies. 22:00.955 --> 22:09.305 It's important for us to remember this, that anything could happen. 22:11.208 --> 22:19.077 Sometimes we get kind of demotivated in our meditation, thinking, oh, why am I bothered? 22:20.159 --> 22:21.320 You have to question yourself. 22:21.380 --> 22:23.062 Are you ready for anything? 22:24.464 --> 22:27.688 Are you equipped to handle vicissitudes of life? 22:29.896 --> 22:33.122 It's like you're going to war and you don't know how to shoot a gun. 22:33.824 --> 22:39.475 It's not very well prepared or anything that you have to prepare for. 22:39.535 --> 22:44.885 Are you prepared for life? 22:45.927 --> 22:47.550 Are you prepared for death? 22:51.738 --> 22:52.680 Most people are not. 22:56.575 --> 22:57.196 and we suffer. 22:57.376 --> 23:05.530 But this is the thing, until it comes to you, many people will not actually react. 23:05.550 --> 23:14.365 It's kind of embarrassing that it takes our own suffering, and we never really thought before we suffered ourselves, 23:15.543 --> 23:18.528 When we suffer ourselves, we leap sometimes. 23:19.089 --> 23:23.477 Some people, many people you hear this, they leap to spiritual practice. 23:24.419 --> 23:36.100 It's kind of embarrassing because you already knew that this was part of reality, but you were deluding yourselves and lulling yourself into a false sense of security because it hadn't happened to you or anyone you know yet. 23:37.936 --> 23:43.742 You don't want to wait until that, you don't want to wait until you're dying yourself because it's going to come to all of us. 23:43.802 --> 23:45.744 We're all going to get old, sick and die. 23:47.426 --> 23:47.966 That's true. 23:49.608 --> 23:53.953 The question is, is that what it's going to take before we actually start to prepare ourselves? 23:56.075 --> 24:04.804 Not a very good, not a very good choice. 24:06.100 --> 24:07.622 Congratulations to these guys. 24:08.764 --> 24:09.525 We're down to three. 24:10.787 --> 24:11.888 One meditator left today. 24:13.891 --> 24:15.153 Couldn't take it, I guess. 24:16.014 --> 24:17.436 He didn't tell me why he was leaving. 24:20.401 --> 24:26.910 Sometimes, some people, but it's congratulations that they came out. 24:28.156 --> 24:29.237 Much appreciation. 24:30.659 --> 24:32.462 One meditator is just finishing tonight. 24:32.482 --> 24:37.328 He actually kind of finished today, but I didn't, I didn't tell him. 24:37.348 --> 24:42.575 So he gets another day because he's doing, well, he kind of, he kind of fudged last night. 24:42.635 --> 24:46.420 So he actually got, he actually finished the course. 24:46.440 --> 24:52.848 I'm very proud of him, but he did something wrong. 24:52.868 --> 24:54.450 So I said, go and do it right. 24:55.645 --> 24:58.729 So he thinks he's still not finished. 24:58.749 --> 25:00.531 So he gets extra credit. 25:03.614 --> 25:06.157 Anyway, that's the Dhamma for tonight. 25:07.939 --> 25:16.209 On to questions. 25:18.452 --> 25:18.872 Let me see. 25:18.972 --> 25:19.693 I can hear you. 25:19.753 --> 25:21.655 They can't. 25:22.076 --> 25:23.998 And now hopefully they can. 25:25.345 --> 25:26.306 Did I start this? 25:26.326 --> 25:27.148 That started. 25:29.431 --> 25:31.253 Go ahead. 25:31.273 --> 25:34.298 Bunty, how do I get rid of attachment to material things? 25:35.279 --> 25:37.102 Thinking, thinking, thinking. 25:37.662 --> 25:40.086 Is there any other way to stop the attachment to stuff? 25:40.967 --> 25:42.089 Everything is impermanent. 25:42.209 --> 25:44.512 So how do I actually stop this type of attachment? 25:45.153 --> 25:46.214 How can I live with less? 25:46.595 --> 25:47.837 What's the insight around this? 25:48.377 --> 25:48.838 Thank you. 25:52.868 --> 25:53.690 Well, you watch. 25:54.152 --> 25:57.982 You watch your interaction with these things. 25:58.183 --> 25:59.747 That's what mindfulness is all about. 25:59.787 --> 26:03.337 You study the nature of your attachment. 26:04.119 --> 26:06.085 You ask, how do I get rid of these things? 26:06.205 --> 26:07.890 Well, why do you want to get rid of them? 26:07.870 --> 26:35.802 and that's the question you have to answer because once you've answered that question not just and see the point is we know the answer intellectually but once you've really answered that and you really know that it's better not to be attached then you won't get attached that's how the mind works it would be curious wouldn't it if we did things that we didn't want to do right we we why would you cling to something you didn't want to cling to 26:37.148 --> 26:37.930 But that's the whole thing. 26:37.950 --> 26:38.993 You think you don't want to. 26:40.095 --> 26:42.341 And intellectually you tell yourself, I don't want to cling to that. 26:42.361 --> 26:44.987 But it's not really true, is it? 26:45.589 --> 26:46.431 You want to cling to it. 26:47.734 --> 26:50.722 So the only way to be free from it is to stop wanting to cling to it. 26:50.762 --> 26:51.664 Well, how do you do that? 26:53.568 --> 26:55.031 You see that it's not worth clinging to. 26:55.071 --> 27:01.065 This is the whole theory behind the three characteristics. 27:02.529 --> 27:04.493 People wonder, well, what are these three characteristics? 27:05.395 --> 27:07.881 They're the realization that nothing is worth clinging to. 27:08.941 --> 27:14.652 Those things that we thought were stable, predictable, they're not stable, they're not predictable. 27:15.834 --> 27:18.219 Those things that we thought were satisfying are not satisfying. 27:18.259 --> 27:24.391 Those things that we thought were me, mind, controllable, possessable, are none of those things. 27:26.274 --> 27:28.198 And so when you see these three characteristics, 27:30.288 --> 27:30.790 You let go. 27:30.810 --> 27:39.880 Or more like when you see the lack of three characteristics, you see that they're not stable, they're not satisfying, they're not controllable. 27:41.545 --> 27:43.572 And you say, well, why the heck would I cling to that? 27:44.632 --> 27:45.693 And you stop clinging to it. 27:46.654 --> 27:47.655 So you just have to watch. 27:48.076 --> 27:52.821 You have to look and you have to see that these things that you cling to are not worth clinging to. 27:53.442 --> 28:01.931 You need the meditation practice as a means of focusing your mind and straightening the mind so that you're not looking at it with prejudice. 28:03.533 --> 28:05.736 You're looking at it just as it objectively is. 28:06.296 --> 28:07.478 Seeing is just seeing. 28:07.578 --> 28:08.619 Hearing is just hearing. 28:11.002 --> 28:13.204 Sensing and thinking are just what they are. 28:18.787 --> 28:22.111 The other thing I might say is that, as I've been saying, is that they're habits. 28:22.331 --> 28:24.354 So it's not something you can just turn on and off. 28:25.055 --> 28:28.359 You've cultivated the habit of liking something again and again and again. 28:28.459 --> 28:30.762 So you can't just get rid of it. 28:31.323 --> 28:33.566 You have to change the habit. 28:33.586 --> 28:43.478 So as you cultivate the habit of seeing things as they are, seeing things as not worth clinging to, unworthy of clinging to, 28:43.458 --> 28:47.983 your habit starts to change. 28:48.023 --> 28:56.733 You cling less until eventually you don't cling at all. 28:56.753 --> 29:06.343 Does giving up entertainment occur naturally as one's Vipassana practice progresses, or is it simply something one has to force himself or herself to do immediately? 29:13.850 --> 29:43.637 there's two kinds of giving up so if you give up artificially then the benefit is it's beneficial because you're not cultivating the addiction right every time you engage in addiction you're reinforcing the habit so that's bad that's a problem but the only point is that that's not actually giving it up you still might want to do it and 29:45.271 --> 29:49.441 The real problem is not whether you should or not. 29:49.461 --> 29:50.964 The question is whether you can. 29:52.287 --> 30:03.533 Because you might find that if you just give it up artificially, but you don't eventually give it up in reality, that you're just going to go back and maybe even stronger than before cling to it. 30:06.922 --> 30:10.929 So giving up is, those are two very different kinds of giving up. 30:12.011 --> 30:16.398 It's definitely obviously beneficial not to do things that encourage the clinging. 30:16.438 --> 30:18.522 The question is, can you? 30:19.424 --> 30:24.913 That's why people become monks, go and live in the forest, because it's much easier. 30:30.412 --> 30:38.982 How can I feel the effects of meditation in only two years of practice if, according to Buddhism, I've been doing everything wrong for countless eons? 30:40.663 --> 30:43.507 Well, because it's not accumulative in that sense. 30:43.547 --> 30:45.549 You can only accumulate so much. 30:45.729 --> 30:50.014 And you've also gone through a lot of suffering in all that time. 30:50.815 --> 30:55.440 And so you've tempered your enthusiasm for things. 30:56.770 --> 31:01.336 You've cultivated good and evil and you go up and down. 31:02.298 --> 31:06.243 Sometimes you've been a very good person, a very moral, ethical, noble person. 31:07.465 --> 31:09.768 Sometimes you've been a wicked, evil, mean person. 31:10.709 --> 31:13.093 So it's not like you're building and building up. 31:13.654 --> 31:14.855 It doesn't add up like that. 31:15.576 --> 31:16.337 It just changes. 31:18.120 --> 31:22.626 So in two years of practice, well, you may not get 31:23.737 --> 31:35.051 You may not become an arahant, you may, but more than likely, in two years... And then the other thing is, what are you doing in those two years? 31:35.111 --> 31:37.714 What do you mean by meditating in two years of practice? 31:38.615 --> 31:48.327 Actually, individually, you practice quite a bit every day, so you most likely will feel the effects if you're doing it properly. 31:50.230 --> 32:14.500 you're building up a new habit so the question of how strong your old habits is it's a good question and many of them are very very strong but they're not eons strong because over those eons a lot has changed you become a new person countless times you've changed your habits countless times as well 32:15.762 --> 32:18.245 So how strong a habit can become is a good question. 32:18.305 --> 32:24.012 If you do the same thing lifetime after lifetime after lifetime, it becomes very strong. 32:24.994 --> 32:32.223 There are many habits which people will, even though they meditate, will not be able to give up lifetime after lifetime. 32:32.243 --> 32:35.166 So even a Sotapanna can take up to seven lifetimes. 32:35.307 --> 32:39.071 And that's a Sotapanna, someone who has already seen Nibbana. 32:39.872 --> 32:42.235 So how long is it going to take you to actually see Nibbana? 32:42.916 --> 32:44.318 It might take many, many lifetimes. 32:49.563 --> 32:56.791 On the other hand, I mean, intensive meditation practice, it doesn't take very long at all. 32:57.572 --> 33:01.697 But to be able to do intensive meditation practice, you already have to have done a lot right. 33:02.098 --> 33:04.180 Just to be born a human being, you've done a lot right. 33:05.802 --> 33:08.385 You haven't been doing everything wrong for countless eons. 33:08.405 --> 33:18.557 You've actually done a lot right in order to be born, not as an animal or in hell or as a ghost, but actually as a human being who has mental faculties that are quite well advanced. 33:20.798 --> 33:22.821 So you've already done a lot, right? 33:24.103 --> 33:26.467 And meditation is a fairly intense habit. 33:28.029 --> 33:33.077 And so the ability to override other sort of random habits. 33:33.097 --> 33:40.970 And the other thing, I guess, is because meditation is so wholesome and because there's such clarity, it's got an exceptional power to it. 33:42.252 --> 33:43.093 You could argue that. 33:44.963 --> 33:47.527 It's all kind of theoretical in reality. 33:48.549 --> 33:58.426 You practice for a month or so and if you practice intensively for about a month, that's about the measuring stick. 34:00.189 --> 34:04.677 That's the standard of measurement. 34:05.753 --> 34:13.525 A month of intensive meditation practice is about enough for an average person to gain exceptional insight into reality. 34:14.767 --> 34:19.314 That was Mahasi Sayadaw who said this, and I think it's a very astute observation. 34:20.115 --> 34:28.768 I'm in perfect agreement with him. 34:28.788 --> 34:34.377 I had made a similar inquiry yesterday, but desired to rephrase it in order to better express my question. 34:34.913 --> 34:45.085 Included our two inquiries Would it be fine to fully replace sitting or a formal meditation with lying meditation as sitting meditation is fairly uncomfortable? 34:45.986 --> 34:49.970 Would I still receive the same benefits from the practice regardless of the posture? 34:50.491 --> 35:00.803 I stopped there one at a time Now Lying meditation is perfectly fine But 35:02.403 --> 35:05.449 Avoiding something because it's uncomfortable is not fine at all. 35:06.090 --> 35:08.414 Discomfort is very much a part of the practice. 35:09.315 --> 35:14.906 So if by fairly uncomfortable you mean excruciatingly painful to the point of insanity, then yes, okay. 35:15.587 --> 35:19.474 Maybe sitting meditation is too much for you, or maybe you should do sitting in a chair. 35:19.554 --> 35:24.563 But to avoid sitting just because it's fairly uncomfortable is really a bad idea. 35:26.011 --> 35:30.715 Because it's the opposite of what the meditation is about. 35:30.735 --> 35:40.004 It's not about coddling your partialities or your attachments. 35:40.064 --> 35:42.586 It's about taking you out of your comfort zone. 35:42.606 --> 35:44.688 It's supposed to be uncomfortable. 35:44.708 --> 35:46.790 It's supposed to be uncomfortable and disturbing. 35:46.830 --> 35:56.018 It's supposed to disturb your ordinary sense of the world as being stable, satisfying and controllable. 35:55.998 --> 36:05.513 So in that case, it sounds like sitting meditation would probably be a really good challenge for you to learn how to let go and to not cling. 36:06.695 --> 36:15.389 Instead, you do lying meditation, you're probably just coddling yourself and it's not going to have, I mean, it has, there's potential. 36:15.469 --> 36:19.896 I guess that's the other problem with lying meditation is it's quite comfortable. 36:19.876 --> 36:33.397 And so you're not likely to face great physical pain, which is a shame because it sounds like you're actually quite averse to physical discomfort and therefore are very much stuck. 36:34.599 --> 36:39.066 You'll never be able to be free from the suffering that comes from physical discomfort. 36:40.497 --> 36:52.174 On the other hand, if you were to do sitting meditation regularly, you would be able to let go and come to rise above physical discomfort so that it would no longer cause you suffering. 36:53.917 --> 36:55.620 So I certainly wouldn't do that. 36:55.680 --> 36:57.242 And I think that's a general thing. 36:57.983 --> 37:02.590 No one should ever place too much emphasis on lying meditation because it's too comfortable. 37:03.700 --> 37:14.574 The only people who might is people who are really sick or physical ailments or at times when you're just overstressed. 37:16.637 --> 37:18.880 And lying meditation might help to calm you down. 37:20.101 --> 37:21.603 But I wouldn't do it long term. 37:21.884 --> 37:23.466 I'd try my very best to do sitting. 37:25.148 --> 37:32.037 It's a much better position as far as dealing with ordinary aches and pains and stresses and suffering. 37:38.041 --> 37:43.689 Should I not worry about long breaths in lying meditation that occur naturally and still say rising, falling? 37:44.470 --> 37:49.337 Would saying rising, falling more slowly in order to correspond with the longer breaths be an issue? 37:50.018 --> 37:52.942 Does it matter how fast or slow I say rising or falling? 37:53.203 --> 37:55.466 Yeah, it should be according to the breath. 37:55.486 --> 37:58.550 You're only saying it because it's reminding you of what's happening. 37:58.651 --> 38:02.496 So rising slowly is fine. 38:10.238 --> 38:13.882 What do you think about practicing a musical instrument, violin? 38:14.603 --> 38:17.146 Would you categorize it the same as listening to music? 38:17.946 --> 38:20.870 Does it hinder the vipassana practice in the same manner? 38:24.353 --> 38:27.076 Yes. 38:27.096 --> 38:27.797 Maybe more so. 38:27.857 --> 38:28.878 I mean, it's different. 38:29.279 --> 38:33.563 When you're listening, when you're practicing, you can gain a lot of ego, right? 38:33.824 --> 38:34.344 Am I good? 38:34.384 --> 38:35.065 Am I bad? 38:36.530 --> 38:42.980 The sense of control, forcing yourself to get better at it, pushing yourself, wanting to get better. 38:43.701 --> 38:47.307 There's a lot of probably worse defilements than simply listening. 38:48.268 --> 38:51.694 Listening you just feel good about it, happy about it. 38:51.714 --> 38:53.557 But either way it depends on your state of mind. 38:54.398 --> 38:56.141 Listening you can say hearing, hearing. 38:56.982 --> 39:00.267 An arahant can listen to music and be unmoved by it. 39:00.808 --> 39:04.714 So can a meditator who's emulating the practice of an arahant. 39:05.723 --> 39:09.527 Playing the violin, less likely. 39:15.673 --> 39:18.335 But you can be mindful of playing the violin technically. 39:23.801 --> 39:34.431 If one is developing insight at the cost of tranquility, what is the best countermeasure to take within the Satipatthana online course or adjustment to practice to balance the two? 39:35.187 --> 39:37.349 Could it mean I'm doing something wrong somehow? 39:39.791 --> 39:42.234 You don't do insight at the cost of tranquility. 39:42.274 --> 39:44.976 In our practice, we do them both together. 39:45.016 --> 39:48.339 The tranquility comes from the mantra, really. 39:49.741 --> 39:57.088 When you remind yourself, seeing, seeing, or even rising, falling, you're cultivating a moment of tranquility. 39:57.108 --> 39:58.369 It's called kanika samadhi. 39:59.550 --> 40:01.752 It's what you use for insight meditation. 40:06.203 --> 40:10.647 I think people are too obsessed with this idea of tranquility all across the board. 40:10.927 --> 40:14.730 People who come here, they've never heard of this meditation type. 40:15.091 --> 40:16.632 They expect it to make them calm. 40:17.893 --> 40:20.996 They're always worried about the fact that they're not calm, obsessed about it. 40:21.036 --> 40:35.468 Meditators, even today I had a meditator who was just realizing that it's very much clinging to this calm state, liking it. 40:36.477 --> 40:39.080 He wasn't noting to himself, liking, liking. 40:44.067 --> 40:48.293 So, you're only doing something wrong if you're not meditating. 40:48.993 --> 40:57.605 You're not saying to yourself, rising, falling, or seeing, or frustrated, or agitated, or worried, or distracted. 41:01.650 --> 41:04.594 Don't put too much emphasis on the idea of tranquility. 41:05.890 --> 41:08.593 Trying to see that nothing is worth clinging to. 41:08.633 --> 41:11.076 Tranquility in many cases just makes you cling. 41:12.398 --> 41:13.580 It's just something we cling to. 41:14.741 --> 41:16.563 Why would it help you to feel calm all the time? 41:18.345 --> 41:18.866 It wouldn't really. 41:26.235 --> 41:28.678 Why do some Buddhists think Mara is a being? 41:29.139 --> 41:30.020 It makes no sense. 41:30.300 --> 41:34.986 This would imply that it is a permanent being and that we should blame some 41:35.388 --> 41:38.091 outer entity for our own defilements. 41:38.459 --> 41:46.408 Well, there's no such thing as a being, they don't exist, but in a conventional sense we talk about beings, like I am a being, you are a being, but it's just convention. 41:47.029 --> 41:51.475 Mara is an angel, it's actually a category of angel. 41:52.436 --> 41:59.244 So there's one group of angels that delight in the acts of others. 42:00.165 --> 42:07.774 So when they see the Eiffel Tower or the Twin Towers in New York, they like that, they like when other beings do things, they get excited. 42:09.155 --> 42:11.539 I don't know why, but there's one group of angels. 42:11.639 --> 42:19.031 And so they can be kind of nasty because they try to encourage people to do things, to become things. 42:20.032 --> 42:23.819 And they don't like Buddhists as a result because we're all about giving up and letting go. 42:23.919 --> 42:28.827 And if everyone was Buddhist, well, there would be much less sexual intercourse. 42:28.887 --> 42:30.389 There would be much less ambition. 42:30.449 --> 42:33.454 There would be much less greed and much less doing things. 42:34.376 --> 42:35.938 Society would probably fall apart. 42:37.268 --> 42:38.750 There would be much less activity. 42:39.271 --> 42:40.413 We wouldn't have the iPhone. 42:47.225 --> 42:52.834 And so the Buddha called them Mara. 42:52.854 --> 42:55.378 The Buddha said this kind of being is a Mara, is evil. 42:58.210 --> 43:14.780 And he kept calling this Mara, kept coming after him and trying to convince him not to teach, not to become enlightened and not to teach and just to die already because he didn't want him teaching people to let go and stop building, stop creating. 43:16.263 --> 43:18.126 And so the Buddha would always call him Mara. 43:20.553 --> 43:22.438 But there are five kinds of Mara. 43:23.020 --> 43:25.025 That's only one of the five, Devaputta Mara. 43:25.907 --> 43:31.322 The other four are, well, death is evil, karma is evil, 43:32.669 --> 43:40.498 And by evil it just means these are things that people think of as bad, that are problematic, cause suffering. 43:43.441 --> 43:45.964 Khandas, so the body is suffering. 43:45.984 --> 43:48.487 Our body and mind is Mara. 43:50.469 --> 43:59.419 And we have Machu Mara, Bisankara Mara, Khanda Mara. 44:09.338 --> 44:10.019 Kilesa Mara. 44:10.079 --> 44:11.181 The fourth one is defilement. 44:11.922 --> 44:14.967 Defilements are evil. 44:14.987 --> 44:16.990 Those are the five types of Mara altogether. 44:20.355 --> 44:23.880 Bhante, do Buddhists believe that Maras influence people? 44:24.781 --> 44:27.546 Oh, yeah. 44:27.566 --> 44:28.427 They trick people. 44:32.710 --> 44:54.887 They would come up, monks would be meditating and suddenly an ox would come up and it would threaten to knock over all their bowls that were clay bowls because it would stop them from meditating, agitate them, make them go back to the lay life ideally and start doing things, start building things, making things happen. 44:56.082 --> 44:59.546 And the Buddha said, that's Mara. 45:00.387 --> 45:02.870 See Mara amongst the story. 45:03.491 --> 45:04.552 Somewhere in the Vinaya, I think. 45:07.676 --> 45:08.477 Thank you, Bhante. 45:10.279 --> 45:14.424 In sitting meditation, I find that I have more concentration if I open my eyes. 45:15.025 --> 45:17.328 Would you say I'm not practicing correctly that way? 45:17.668 --> 45:19.431 Who cares about concentration? 45:19.451 --> 45:21.433 It's another one of those things you shouldn't worry about. 45:22.675 --> 45:25.498 We are only concerned about momentary concentration. 45:29.798 --> 45:38.970 You notice in the Satipatthana Sutta, anyone who disagrees, I mean it sounds like such a horrible non-Buddhist thing to say, of course concentration is what leads to wisdom. 45:39.771 --> 45:43.315 But if you notice in the Satipatthana Sutta, it's the one thing the Buddha didn't mention. 45:43.335 --> 45:46.900 I mean he mentioned it, but very briefly, like later at the end. 45:47.701 --> 45:52.287 But throughout the Sutta he talks about Atapi Sampajano Satima. 45:53.729 --> 45:57.814 You need effort, mindfulness and clear comprehension. 45:59.330 --> 46:00.712 Concentration is just assumed. 46:01.173 --> 46:02.114 It's not the focus. 46:02.375 --> 46:04.137 You're not sitting there trying to focus on anything. 46:04.438 --> 46:05.760 It's not trying to concentrate. 46:06.781 --> 46:07.823 So you better concentrate? 46:07.863 --> 46:08.404 Well, fine. 46:08.444 --> 46:13.692 Better for you to close your eyes and have to struggle with not being concentrated so you can learn to let go. 46:13.752 --> 46:21.043 Because if you're always finding tricks to focus your mind, to concentrate your mind, you're never going to see impermanent suffering and non-self. 46:21.484 --> 46:25.470 You're just going to see calm and tranquil and stable and satisfying and controllable. 46:26.432 --> 46:27.413 That's not what we're trying to do. 46:28.979 --> 46:30.121 So close your eyes. 46:30.141 --> 46:35.608 A good reason to close your eyes is because it makes it harder to concentrate. 46:35.749 --> 46:37.110 It's more of a challenge for you. 46:38.913 --> 46:48.767 So you can start to see how your mind isn't under your control and you can't just make yourself concentrate. 46:48.787 --> 46:54.615 In lying meditation, is it better to note the rising and falling of the abdomen or to know lying, lying? 46:55.321 --> 47:04.838 From my experience, I have felt noting lying lying to be more superficial and have found noting the rising and falling of the abdomen to offer a more in-depth mindfulness. 47:05.479 --> 47:10.107 But I'm not sure if this was the case or if there was any true advantage to noting one over the other. 47:12.179 --> 47:15.183 I mean, in-depth mindfulness is probably a red herring. 47:15.263 --> 47:19.249 It's probably even misunderstanding mindfulness. 47:19.289 --> 47:20.551 But okay, let's see. 47:20.571 --> 47:26.479 Theoretically, I can get that because the rising and falling is more real in a sense. 47:27.760 --> 47:32.126 It's a really good object because you start to see impermanent suffering and non-self quite clearly. 47:33.168 --> 47:35.291 Lying, lying is a little more abstract. 47:35.571 --> 47:38.776 But when you say that, you're being aware of the tension and the pressure. 47:38.796 --> 47:39.857 So that's also valid. 47:41.896 --> 47:44.299 I wouldn't worry too much about that, you know. 47:47.343 --> 47:52.029 I guess I would say if you're really inclined to be doing meditation, then you can do rising, falling. 47:53.010 --> 47:55.674 If that becomes too much for you, you can just do lying, lying. 47:56.295 --> 47:58.818 I guess I'd probably favor the rising and falling approach. 48:00.100 --> 48:09.692 I mean, so I probably agree with you, and there's a sense that it does somehow, to some extent, provide, as you say, more in-depth mindfulness. 48:09.672 --> 48:14.538 Just be careful that you're not confusing concentration with mindfulness. 48:14.558 --> 48:15.599 But yeah, I would. 48:17.481 --> 48:25.710 I would gravitate more towards the rising and falling than just saying lying. 48:25.730 --> 48:32.518 But regarding the doctrine of dependent origination, I see how important this is in relation to one's spiritual progress. 48:33.319 --> 48:35.882 But does this also relate to the origin of all things? 48:36.757 --> 48:46.389 In other words, does the doctrine of dependent origination relate to the origins, for lack of a better word, of the universe or multiverse? 48:47.391 --> 48:48.712 Was there a first cause? 48:49.353 --> 48:50.815 How did this first cause arise? 48:51.396 --> 48:55.521 In contemplating the cosmos, as I often do, I begin thinking about this. 48:56.202 --> 48:57.904 I thank you in advance for your reply. 49:00.095 --> 49:04.401 Yeah, I mean the Buddha was not keen to have us think about things like first cause. 49:06.444 --> 49:09.268 I'm in fact surprised with a Dhamma name like that that you don't know that. 49:10.690 --> 49:22.727 Okay, it's just one of the big things in Buddhism, in Theravada Buddhism anyway, most of Buddhism, is there's no sense of a first cause. 49:23.973 --> 49:25.377 It's a very Christian sort of thing. 49:26.380 --> 49:33.342 Buddhism and Hinduism have the sense of the universe not having a beginning or end. 49:34.469 --> 49:38.974 The Buddha more not being concerned with the beginning or end. 49:38.994 --> 49:41.177 He did say that you can't find the beginning. 49:42.198 --> 49:43.960 You can't see a beginning. 49:44.681 --> 49:56.815 And anyone who thinks like that or asks these sorts of questions, origin, beginning, the limit, and who thinks a lot about the cosmos is just going to get caught up in the thicket of views. 49:58.617 --> 50:06.546 It's like if you know the simile the Buddha gave to a monk who was asking questions like this was of an arrow, someone who was shot with a poisoned arrow. 50:08.508 --> 50:10.991 If you're shot with a poisoned arrow, what are you concerned with? 50:11.472 --> 50:14.655 Will you be concerned with the poison and how to cure it? 50:14.856 --> 50:17.018 Or will you be concerned with the arrow and who shot it? 50:20.983 --> 50:27.510 I suppose you could argue if you want to find the person who shot it because they'll be able to tell you what sort of poison they put on it. 50:29.026 --> 50:32.570 Much more important is specifically knowing what sort of poison is on it. 50:33.351 --> 50:40.338 But some sort of people, they're shot with a poison arrow and they start to ask, forget about curing it. 50:40.579 --> 50:42.641 I want to know what sort of arrow I was shot with. 50:42.721 --> 50:44.403 And what sort of person was it that shot me? 50:44.423 --> 50:45.124 What was their name? 50:45.184 --> 50:45.965 Where were they from? 50:46.005 --> 50:56.917 They said, well, you know, it's probably in your better interest to find out what sort of poison it was and figure out an antidote. 50:56.937 --> 50:58.999 So that's why the Buddha taught the Four Noble Truths. 51:01.409 --> 51:11.341 which dependent origination is really an elaboration of the Four Noble Truths. 51:11.361 --> 51:18.789 That's what the, that's what Paditya Sannabhadra used. 51:18.810 --> 51:21.853 How grief effect would killing a spider have on one's progress? 51:22.594 --> 51:27.720 I'm not sure if it is a placebo effect, but I think I hold insects by a higher standard. 51:28.342 --> 51:31.446 Will one lose fear of insects as a result of this practice? 51:39.856 --> 51:40.897 I mean, you can't measure. 51:41.037 --> 51:46.404 It's not like one of those boards with beads on them. 51:47.005 --> 51:47.746 Beam counter? 51:47.766 --> 51:47.886 No. 51:48.887 --> 51:49.608 Calculus? 51:50.129 --> 51:50.609 Abacus? 51:51.090 --> 51:51.510 Abacus. 51:51.530 --> 51:52.111 That's what it is. 51:52.271 --> 51:56.256 It's not like an abacus where you can one kill, two kill. 51:58.295 --> 52:26.023 some people do a small thing like killing a spider and go to hell for it another person will kill a thousand beings, a thousand people and not go to hell at all become enlightened you can't measure it like that karma is something that's far too complex to give you an answer to your first question all we can say is that it's bad 52:28.282 --> 52:57.917 but the karma is not the killing the karma is the intention to kill the cruel intention and it's all the fear as well the fear is also bad karma so yes absolutely you'll start to lose your fear of insects as a result of this practice it might take a while but that's very much a part as you start to say to yourself afraid afraid you'll start to teach yourself how useless it is to be afraid and you'll actually start to give it up you'll get bored of being afraid 52:59.298 --> 53:00.560 You lose the excitement. 53:08.010 --> 53:09.933 I have a question about the sitting posture. 53:10.274 --> 53:12.297 The most comfortable for me is the cross-legged. 53:12.817 --> 53:18.205 But the problem with this one, that it's not the best for the back. 53:18.225 --> 53:19.727 And I think the lotus one is better. 53:20.468 --> 53:23.833 So I try to meditate half lotus, which causes me to be off balance. 53:24.434 --> 53:28.680 So I meditate on that off balance and sour that comes with it. 53:28.846 --> 53:33.833 and it passes all right for the 15 minutes after that, I have to change back to cross-legged. 53:34.574 --> 53:38.078 Any suggestions on how to get to full lotus or for sitting in general? 53:40.241 --> 53:43.385 I don't think that simply sitting cross-legged is bad for your back. 53:45.628 --> 53:56.963 I suppose you could argue that the lotus, full lotus is, makes it, puts a little bit less tension on your back maybe. 53:58.023 --> 53:59.996 You sit full lotus. 54:00.580 --> 54:02.291 Yeah, you probably have better posture. 54:02.311 --> 54:03.358 I mean, I think the Buddha was 54:04.807 --> 54:13.596 I was keen on it, but you certainly can sit with a straight back, just sitting cross-legged. 54:14.577 --> 54:16.960 You just might feel a little more pain in the beginning. 54:18.001 --> 54:22.225 Over time, that'll go away, but it's very much a part of the practice. 54:22.446 --> 54:25.669 You just say to yourself, pain, pain. 54:26.330 --> 54:29.413 On the other hand, you can sit comfortably with a little bit of a slouch back. 54:31.385 --> 54:32.467 And the pain will still come. 54:33.809 --> 54:36.853 But you deal with the pain and you learn to let it go. 54:38.836 --> 54:43.984 Another thing is we're not practicing jhana or tranquility meditation. 54:45.466 --> 54:53.157 So your body is going to be adjusting. 54:54.385 --> 54:56.248 They will be tensing and un-tensing. 54:56.468 --> 55:02.496 So to sit full lotus is actually quite difficult beyond, say, an hour. 55:02.516 --> 55:12.149 So you can do it for one hour, but then the next hour, and then when you do walking meditation, it will be quite painful, because we never enter into samatha jhana. 55:12.289 --> 55:14.051 We never focus the mind. 55:14.071 --> 55:18.017 The mind is not fixed on a single object. 55:18.037 --> 55:20.460 So as a result, doing the full lotus is 55:22.027 --> 55:26.953 Not really tenable, not really doable in this sort of technique. 55:26.973 --> 55:38.788 I would much more recommend sitting cross-legged and learning to deal with the pain in the back. 55:38.809 --> 55:42.874 It's my understanding that a Sotapanna cannot be reborn more than seven times. 55:43.675 --> 55:47.139 How would one know if they've achieved stream entry in a prior life? 55:47.460 --> 55:49.102 And where does the number seven come from? 55:49.682 --> 55:50.143 Thank you. 55:50.191 --> 55:52.455 I don't know where the number seven comes from. 55:52.515 --> 56:02.171 But you would know because you would be clear in your mind about the right way to become enlightened. 56:02.211 --> 56:07.059 You would just naturally know something very true about the world. 56:07.159 --> 56:11.947 It's more likely you'll be born in heaven, in which case you'll remember becoming a Sotapanna. 56:11.967 --> 56:14.511 But if somehow you were born as a human being, 56:15.875 --> 56:17.117 It's not common, actually. 56:18.199 --> 56:31.304 But if you're born as a human being and didn't remember your past lives, I mean, it's arguable that you might well remember your past lives, but even assuming that you didn't, you would naturally not kill or steal or cheat or lie or take drugs and alcohol. 56:32.447 --> 56:37.917 You would have perfect, have a perfect, you know, 56:39.989 --> 56:43.494 You would have an understanding of right practice. 56:44.676 --> 56:48.302 You wouldn't ever be inclined to wrong practice. 56:54.031 --> 56:58.538 You'd have an innate sense of the right way to do things. 57:01.083 --> 57:17.168 I mean you may not remember how to meditate, certainly not, but this natural sense of things would make you look at the world very different from most people and you'd start to naturally, you'd naturally be able to see the suffering and things and you'd slowly lose interest. 57:17.148 --> 57:43.527 over lifetimes maybe but this is assuming you didn't again meet a Buddha or meet with the Buddha's teachings which I guess is more likely you'd gravitate towards the Buddha's teachings and you'd learn about them and you'd quickly be able to understand and put them into practice but assuming somehow you didn't find a Buddha or Buddha's teachings as unlikely as that probably would be you would just naturally become enlightened 57:43.507 --> 57:45.030 So you may not know. 57:45.470 --> 57:48.315 You may not ever know that you're a Sotapanna. 57:48.335 --> 57:51.200 It's not like there's a tattoo somewhere on your body. 57:54.306 --> 57:55.908 You'd be like one of those first horses. 57:59.094 --> 58:03.121 When going to bed, should I note the rising and falling of the abdomen until I fall asleep? 58:03.882 --> 58:06.387 And how does this differ from sitting meditation? 58:06.407 --> 58:08.991 As in, can it be a substitute for it? 58:09.359 --> 58:10.300 A lot about lying. 58:10.320 --> 58:11.421 I've already talked a little bit. 58:11.441 --> 58:13.183 So hopefully I've answered some of your question. 58:13.224 --> 58:14.385 But yes, absolutely. 58:14.425 --> 58:17.669 Just note rising, falling, until you fall asleep. 58:18.289 --> 58:22.514 Other than that, I think I've already gone over some sitting, some lying stuff. 58:25.618 --> 58:26.159 Hi, Bonte. 58:26.199 --> 58:31.705 Some time ago, I uploaded Spanish subtitles for the second video on how to meditate, sitting meditation. 58:32.242 --> 58:56.494 directly to youtube but they are not shown until you accept them in your channel in manage subtitles ncc when you have time can you please add them thanks guilty as charged yeah easy to get sidetracked and it's probably still in my inbox somewhere 58:58.668 --> 59:02.193 Are you like my co-workers who have 400 unopened emails at any given time? 59:02.634 --> 59:06.098 I'm scared to look at this point. 59:06.118 --> 59:08.602 Dear Bhante, what is your opinion on the Dalai Lama? 59:09.023 --> 59:10.705 Are there certain things you disagree with? 59:13.168 --> 59:17.675 I don't know enough about the Dalai Lama to have much of an opinion. 59:17.695 --> 59:22.001 Another one of those don't ask me questions. 59:22.021 --> 59:26.447 Bhante, would you have any practical suggestions for meditation during long-haul flights? 59:27.878 --> 59:32.984 Hi, so in this video... 59:33.004 --> 59:34.225 Sorry, I'm sidetracked again. 59:36.287 --> 59:40.572 Manthe, would you have any practical suggestions for meditation during long-haul flights? 59:40.972 --> 59:43.014 Yeah, well, sitting meditation mainly. 59:47.660 --> 59:52.705 Also, listening to the Dhamma can be a good sort of way of... 59:55.283 --> 59:55.884 practicing. 59:55.924 --> 59:57.266 Bring a lot of dhamma talks. 59:57.446 --> 59:58.007 It's a good thing. 01:00:01.511 --> 01:00:04.255 Just be careful with your meditation timer. 01:00:04.295 --> 01:00:12.766 There was that awful situation where someone was meditating on a flight and they had their meditation timer and someone got freaked out and thought they were a terrorist. 01:00:14.528 --> 01:00:19.775 It happened. 01:00:22.398 --> 01:00:25.122 I didn't think this question was speculative. 01:00:25.473 --> 01:00:30.724 as I'm trying to understand the context in which hatred is viewed as impure within the Buddhist teachings. 01:00:31.706 --> 01:00:36.035 How does the Buddhist view of hatred as impure relate to hatred such as homophobia? 01:00:36.075 --> 01:00:44.292 When one in Buddhism speaks as hatred as impure, do they also encompass things like homophobia in the real world? 01:00:55.460 --> 01:01:01.466 Homophobia, the word is interesting because it actually implies one is afraid of homosexuality. 01:01:02.267 --> 01:01:09.034 And that is actually how it came, how the term came about, I think, is because a lot of people are really afraid of it. 01:01:09.775 --> 01:01:14.420 They get afraid and it starts with fear in themselves that they might be homosexual. 01:01:14.780 --> 01:01:16.042 Fear of the whole idea of it. 01:01:17.243 --> 01:01:19.105 So there's a fear that... 01:01:19.085 --> 01:01:24.504 that they themselves might find that they might be a pervert. 01:01:25.548 --> 01:01:28.800 That's often what we do when someone says, hey, I like people of the same gender. 01:01:28.840 --> 01:01:30.225 We look in ourselves and think, 01:01:31.842 --> 01:01:33.304 So what's that like? 01:01:34.165 --> 01:01:37.269 That would be awful, that would be evil, that would be wicked, that would be sinful. 01:01:37.850 --> 01:01:39.012 And so it starts with fear. 01:01:39.452 --> 01:01:40.974 That's what the word homophobia means. 01:01:41.635 --> 01:01:44.699 Fear is a type of anger, but it's a specific sort of anger. 01:01:45.340 --> 01:01:48.204 It's a sort of disliking of something. 01:01:49.065 --> 01:01:53.952 It's probably mixed up with worry and anxiety. 01:01:57.239 --> 01:01:59.381 But it's all impure. 01:01:59.881 --> 01:02:02.063 Any type of anger, fear, it's all bad. 01:02:04.225 --> 01:02:13.693 So, yes. 01:02:13.713 --> 01:02:17.236 Can one use a phrase or multiple words as a mantra instead of one? 01:02:17.796 --> 01:02:24.242 For example, drinking juice, drinking juice, or drinking water, drinking water, instead of just drinking, drinking? 01:02:25.143 --> 01:02:26.684 I guess we... 01:02:26.704 --> 01:02:26.824 Sorry. 01:02:27.952 --> 01:02:31.377 I guess we can since in walking meditation we have walking right. 01:02:32.158 --> 01:02:34.081 The real question would be which one is better. 01:02:34.101 --> 01:02:38.086 I find that using multiple words helps focus more on the experience. 01:02:38.547 --> 01:02:39.729 Thank you for your teachings. 01:02:40.390 --> 01:02:41.952 No water doesn't help. 01:02:43.174 --> 01:02:44.175 Because water isn't real. 01:02:44.476 --> 01:02:46.979 You're not actually experiencing the drinking of water. 01:02:47.260 --> 01:02:49.723 You're just experiencing the feeling 01:02:51.796 --> 01:02:57.447 The only reason why you'd say drinking is because it reminds you of the act and the experience. 01:02:57.468 --> 01:02:59.452 Better would be to say gulping or swallowing. 01:03:01.456 --> 01:03:04.422 If you could, you'd say sucking when you suck the water in. 01:03:06.346 --> 01:03:07.788 The feeling of the suction. 01:03:09.131 --> 01:03:09.893 And then gulping. 01:03:12.458 --> 01:03:13.500 Swallowing is a good one. 01:03:15.742 --> 01:03:18.387 When you taste juice or something, you'd say tasting. 01:03:19.088 --> 01:03:22.875 But the reason we say stepping right or stepping left is because it reminds us which one. 01:03:24.077 --> 01:03:27.162 It reminds us where to put the, it's actually a very basic exercise. 01:03:27.243 --> 01:03:29.246 It's not recommended for advanced meditators. 01:03:29.927 --> 01:03:34.155 It's just to get the meditator to put their foot in the right foot. 01:03:35.587 --> 01:03:41.156 So stepping right, stepping left is a very basic exercise we get into further. 01:03:42.738 --> 01:03:49.409 Ultimately, we break the foot up into six steps, and they have much more to do with reality than right or left. 01:03:50.691 --> 01:03:53.676 But drinking water, drinking juice, bad idea. 01:03:53.696 --> 01:03:57.562 Because it's not part of the experience. 01:03:57.582 --> 01:03:59.245 Experience is not juice or water. 01:03:59.585 --> 01:04:00.947 It's going to be like hearing a cat. 01:04:01.068 --> 01:04:03.231 When there's no cat, it's just hearing a sound. 01:04:04.898 --> 01:04:09.543 As soon as you recognize it as water or juice, you're in the realm of concepts. 01:04:09.583 --> 01:04:15.269 Right and left are concepts, but it's not about being right because there's nothing right about the foot. 01:04:15.289 --> 01:04:17.171 It's just helps you. 01:04:17.392 --> 01:04:21.476 It's an aid to putting your foot in the right, putting your mind in the right foot. 01:04:29.044 --> 01:04:34.230 I think you've probably answered this already, but any suggestions on how to make sitting meditation more comfortable? 01:04:35.746 --> 01:04:36.126 No. 01:04:40.191 --> 01:04:44.756 Bante, would you say that Prince Sadata would have been, like, the first kind of thoroughbred horse? 01:04:45.397 --> 01:04:52.725 I imagine he would have left Ali, like, even before seeing Satara... Satara... 01:04:53.345 --> 01:04:53.806 If King... 01:04:55.588 --> 01:04:55.888 Sorry? 01:04:56.549 --> 01:04:57.490 What the heck are those? 01:04:58.311 --> 01:04:58.972 Where did it go? 01:04:59.432 --> 01:04:59.973 Oh. 01:04:59.993 --> 01:05:00.493 It went down. 01:05:00.513 --> 01:05:05.719 If King Sodadana didn't actively suppress Elnus from him 01:05:09.023 --> 01:05:11.125 Satara peranimiti. 01:05:12.286 --> 01:05:13.787 I don't know where you're getting those words from. 01:05:14.868 --> 01:05:19.092 I think satara actually comes from chatura, which is four. 01:05:20.993 --> 01:05:21.454 Pera. 01:05:22.034 --> 01:05:23.175 I don't know what pera means. 01:05:24.637 --> 01:05:25.738 Nimiti is not a word. 01:05:26.398 --> 01:05:26.899 Nimita? 01:05:28.760 --> 01:05:32.383 Yeah, you're giving me some singhala that I have no idea what it means. 01:05:33.004 --> 01:05:38.929 I think you mean the four devadutta or the four something nimita, I guess. 01:05:40.900 --> 01:05:44.130 Bhera, Bhera maybe, Bhera which means fearsome. 01:05:50.829 --> 01:05:55.062 But yes, definitely the Buddha was, Prince Siddhartha was one of the four, was the first kind, absolutely. 01:06:07.495 --> 01:06:13.524 Bhante, you said that Mahasi Sayadaw wrote a book about anecdotes of meditators that cured themselves with meditation. 01:06:14.105 --> 01:06:20.214 Do you know the title of the book? 01:06:20.234 --> 01:06:21.235 I don't remember it. 01:06:22.096 --> 01:06:23.338 We used to photocopy it. 01:06:23.418 --> 01:06:27.024 I photocopied it several times because I don't think it's on the internet. 01:06:27.044 --> 01:06:28.886 I don't think it's published. 01:06:29.828 --> 01:06:31.410 Probably you could find it in Burma. 01:06:34.732 --> 01:06:40.141 I think it's something like Satipatthana Vipassana Benefits or something. 01:06:41.904 --> 01:06:43.527 I don't remember. 01:06:43.547 --> 01:06:44.749 Was it in English, Panthe? 01:06:44.949 --> 01:06:48.615 Yeah. 01:06:48.635 --> 01:06:49.276 He didn't write it. 01:06:49.296 --> 01:06:50.338 He just collected them. 01:06:50.558 --> 01:06:53.483 He wrote an introduction to it and then... 01:06:55.167 --> 01:06:56.028 Maybe he did write it. 01:06:56.309 --> 01:07:00.536 Maybe he was writing about other people. 01:07:00.556 --> 01:07:02.179 Yeah, maybe he did write it, I think. 01:07:03.361 --> 01:07:08.630 But he was just collecting people's stories from other teachers mostly. 01:07:09.211 --> 01:07:14.100 Well, many different teachers, from his own students and from the students of others. 01:07:16.203 --> 01:07:17.125 Really interesting book. 01:07:20.648 --> 01:07:31.440 Sir, is it possible that as noting becomes easier, in other words, less number of objects to pay attention to, distraction and for hindrances take over more frequently? 01:07:32.281 --> 01:07:38.848 Meaning, could one of the counters to the hindrances be to zoom into steps of the objects of meditation? 01:07:39.589 --> 01:07:43.573 In other words, lifting, placing to lifting, holding, moving, placing? 01:07:44.314 --> 01:07:48.158 Or am I being averse to the hindrances and trying to get rid of them? 01:07:48.419 --> 01:07:48.799 You are. 01:07:50.213 --> 01:07:58.087 You're starting to get what I'm going to, how I'm going to reply to such questions. 01:07:58.107 --> 01:07:59.429 There's no way out but through. 01:08:01.112 --> 01:08:02.654 You got hindrances, deal with them. 01:08:03.656 --> 01:08:05.660 Learn to let go of them. 01:08:05.680 --> 01:08:07.342 Don't find a way to avoid them. 01:08:11.329 --> 01:08:12.491 I think there's five hindrances. 01:08:13.834 --> 01:08:14.635 There are five hindrances. 01:08:17.011 --> 01:08:18.894 You're all good about questions, one thing. 01:08:18.914 --> 01:08:19.235 Okay. 01:08:19.936 --> 01:08:30.014 I just did something to the second video on how to meditate that allows you to upload, but I think you have to upload the subtitles yourself. 01:08:32.940 --> 01:08:33.821 I don't really know. 01:08:33.841 --> 01:08:35.985 Let me know if there's a problem with uploading the subtitles. 01:08:37.347 --> 01:08:38.209 And... 01:08:38.982 --> 01:08:41.345 Yeah, I'll try to be a little more responsive to that. 01:08:41.365 --> 01:08:43.148 I think I must have been in Asia or something. 01:08:43.208 --> 01:08:50.398 I was in a weird situation when you asked, so I never actually did it. 01:08:50.418 --> 01:08:52.400 Thank you for doing that, Fernando. 01:08:53.181 --> 01:08:56.165 Yeah, great. 01:08:56.185 --> 01:08:57.247 Okay, thanks everyone. 01:08:57.267 --> 01:08:58.969 Thanks, Robin, for your help. 01:08:58.989 --> 01:08:59.790 Have a good night, everyone. 01:09:00.511 --> 01:09:01.192 Thank you, Pante. 01:09:01.292 --> 01:09:01.733 Good night.