WEBVTT 00:03.001 --> 00:04.363 Okay, good evening everyone. 00:07.027 --> 00:17.103 Welcome to our evening Dhamma. 00:17.123 --> 00:28.941 Today, if I got my calendar correct, today is the full moon of the month of Magha. 00:32.802 --> 00:36.987 which makes this magha puja. 00:38.629 --> 00:39.610 Magha puja. 00:43.174 --> 00:45.597 Or magha punami. 00:47.659 --> 00:50.582 Punami means the day of the full moon. 00:50.602 --> 00:54.807 Magha. 00:54.827 --> 00:59.873 But magha puja means it's a time of commemoration. 01:02.603 --> 01:07.328 So normally on this day, it's an excuse. 01:08.369 --> 01:18.459 And there are big celebrations, or special talks, and special good doings in monasteries. 01:23.904 --> 01:27.868 What we commemorate is what is called the Awadapatimokha. 01:33.822 --> 01:50.001 Now in beginning of the dispensation of the Buddha when he began to teach, there was no established set of rules. 01:51.643 --> 01:59.492 And so the tradition goes that he would preside over the 02:01.767 --> 02:12.402 meeting of the monks every two weeks on the full moon, on the empty moon, on the new moon, and would recite the Awad of Bhatimokha. 02:18.271 --> 02:22.958 How it started is on this day, apparently. 02:22.978 --> 02:24.020 I mean, this is the tradition. 02:24.040 --> 02:37.039 So we have this story commemorating this event when it's the Chaturanga Sannipata, the fourfold meeting, where a group of 02:38.302 --> 02:44.670 1,250 Arahants gathered together to listen to the Buddha's teaching. 02:44.730 --> 02:57.004 And so the conjecture is that this is actually the early on in the Buddha's ministry, for lack of a better word. 02:58.807 --> 03:08.258 When he went to Rajagaha and he stopped off on his way there, he stopped off in Gaya Sisa 03:11.832 --> 03:14.415 And he met with these three fire ascetics. 03:14.435 --> 03:19.782 So he spent some time with his first fire ascetic and these ascetics who worshiped fire. 03:21.844 --> 03:38.604 And through various means and miracles, he converted these three brothers, along with their 1,250 followers. 03:41.167 --> 03:41.788 Is that right? 03:46.561 --> 03:47.723 I can't remember exactly. 03:48.044 --> 03:48.745 Something like that. 03:50.689 --> 04:00.007 Anyway, so all of these monks were off meditating. 04:01.370 --> 04:07.422 And suddenly one of them, through his practice, achieved liberation, became Narayan. 04:09.190 --> 04:17.900 And story goes that he got up and decided he would go and pay respect to the Buddha and let the Buddha know of his attainment. 04:22.505 --> 04:29.233 So he walked to where the Buddha was seated up on the hill in the opening and the clearing. 04:29.293 --> 04:36.801 And when he got there, he sat down, paid respect to the Buddha, and then he turned just to make sure there was no 04:39.076 --> 04:50.371 He wasn't going to interrupt anything, and he saw another monk walking towards them, ostensibly to do the same thing. 04:50.591 --> 04:56.860 And so, sure enough, a second monk had become an arahant and did the same thing. 04:57.000 --> 05:00.885 So the first monk said, I'll wait for him to come. 05:02.467 --> 05:06.973 And so when the second monk got there, he did the same thing, turned around, and a third monk was walking. 05:08.860 --> 05:11.224 The idea is they all came together. 05:11.264 --> 05:19.757 And one of the marvelous things about the meeting is that it was completely uncoordinated. 05:20.017 --> 05:24.644 There was no prior engagement. 05:26.547 --> 05:32.056 And yet all 1,250 of them came together. 05:32.076 --> 05:34.800 And they were all our hunts. 05:37.413 --> 05:37.994 and so on. 05:38.495 --> 05:43.965 And so the Buddha, on that day, is said to have given the Ova to Patimokkha. 05:43.985 --> 05:51.278 And so it's just a means of really commemorating this teaching, which is a really important or a good summary. 05:51.298 --> 05:53.542 It's quite well known in the Buddhist world. 05:59.232 --> 06:01.817 It's one of those verses that 06:03.721 --> 06:09.290 is important to Buddhists, Theravada Buddhists. 06:09.310 --> 06:10.011 So how does it go? 06:10.953 --> 06:29.644 The Buddha taught the .. Patience is the highest form of asceticism. 06:31.970 --> 06:40.082 Nibbana is the highest or is the greatest, say the Buddhas. 06:44.749 --> 07:00.171 No, one is not a recluse, a renunciant. 07:01.889 --> 07:05.233 who injures others. 07:05.934 --> 07:19.812 When it's not a recluse who abuses others. 07:21.915 --> 07:23.296 The not doing of any evil. 07:24.198 --> 07:28.403 Being full of good, full of wholesomeness. 07:29.615 --> 07:35.386 Satyita pariyodapanam, together with the purifying of one's own mind. 07:36.408 --> 07:38.231 Itang buddhanasasana. 07:39.173 --> 07:40.776 This is the teaching of all the Buddhas. 07:45.746 --> 07:51.657 Anupavado anupaghato, not speaking badly of anyone or harming anyone. 07:53.763 --> 08:03.815 being restrained or guarded in regards to the patimokha, which is the ways of the community. 08:09.842 --> 08:12.845 Knowing moderation in eating. 08:19.933 --> 08:21.255 Dwelling in the secluded 08:22.771 --> 08:28.657 lodging or having a secluded lodging. 08:30.359 --> 08:47.256 And the striving or exerting oneself in regards to higher minds, higher mind states. 08:49.638 --> 08:51.360 This is the teaching of all the Buddhas. 08:56.099 --> 09:01.548 And so this was considered, or is considered, to be the essence of the Buddha's exhortation. 09:01.729 --> 09:11.205 It's a pithy exhortation, something that we recite, something that we remember. 09:11.746 --> 09:20.841 It's apparently something that all Buddhas teach as their admonishment or exhortation on the holiday. 09:24.331 --> 09:27.216 So kanti paramangtapodidika, patience. 09:27.737 --> 09:33.626 This is an important, this sentence I often remind my meditators of. 09:33.666 --> 09:35.149 Meditation can be such torture. 09:35.630 --> 09:37.272 But there's nothing wrong with the meditation. 09:37.353 --> 09:41.960 It's not that meditation is painful or stressful, not at all. 09:44.605 --> 09:50.895 It's just that we have, we lack patience. 09:52.580 --> 09:59.930 We possess those qualities of mind that require us to be patient with. 10:02.593 --> 10:07.099 Meaning we have greed, we have anger, and to counter them we need the patience. 10:09.002 --> 10:12.967 And patience is the greatest form of asceticism, austerity, torture really. 10:13.788 --> 10:16.832 Because in the time of the Buddha, tapas meant tapas. 10:17.993 --> 10:20.256 It wouldn't mean torturing yourself. 10:20.276 --> 10:22.640 Meditation can be, patience can be quite a torture. 10:23.842 --> 10:27.687 Having to sit through and not react, right? 10:27.707 --> 10:35.058 It's actually a lot easier, and this is why this is the highest, because it's much easier when you feel pleasure to just beat yourself and get rid of it, right? 10:35.159 --> 10:38.664 Self-flagellation, which is apparently a religious thing. 10:39.185 --> 10:43.812 Well, Christians used to do it, and Indian ascetics used to do it. 10:45.614 --> 10:46.836 Buddhists don't do that. 10:46.816 --> 10:49.320 We torture ourselves in other ways. 10:51.984 --> 11:00.638 We torture ourselves with nothing, by refusing to engage in aversion, addiction. 11:05.867 --> 11:11.736 By standing firm in the present moment, in reality, being patient. 11:11.757 --> 11:13.920 Patient with good things, patient with bad things. 11:17.208 --> 11:19.652 Nibbānaṁ paramangvadanti buddhā. 11:21.254 --> 11:22.456 So Nibbāna is the highest. 11:22.736 --> 11:28.344 Again, an important point, and it's fairly simple, and there's not a lot you can say about Nibbāna. 11:28.364 --> 11:28.985 It's freedom. 11:30.367 --> 11:33.612 But putting it at the top is important. 11:33.632 --> 11:34.153 That's what 11:36.040 --> 11:38.665 sort of distinguishes Buddhism from any other religion. 11:39.085 --> 11:45.036 Other religions have their own versions of similar things, but let's be clear in Buddhism, what is the goal? 11:45.096 --> 11:45.817 It's not heaven. 11:45.938 --> 11:49.704 It's not becoming one with God or one with everything or anything. 11:50.506 --> 11:51.027 It's freedom. 11:51.608 --> 11:52.790 It's the unbinding. 11:53.611 --> 11:54.313 It's release. 11:55.374 --> 11:56.817 It's the cessation of suffering. 12:00.087 --> 12:09.517 And here's actually, well, this and another section on this is really the Bhati Moka part, what you shouldn't do. 12:10.918 --> 12:28.457 And it's just a simple admonishment that whatever we do, if it falls under harming others, speaking ill of them, and acting or speaking in such a way as to cause harm and suffering to them, this isn't the way of a reckless. 12:30.428 --> 12:39.747 I remember once there was this monk who was saying something. 12:43.642 --> 12:45.504 He was calling me all sorts of awful names. 12:45.524 --> 12:47.426 He had mental problems, British man. 12:48.127 --> 12:53.953 He had been beaten as a child, abused as a child, done a lot of drugs through his life, and so on. 12:53.973 --> 12:56.456 And then he became a monk, and he was a real terror. 12:57.477 --> 13:00.119 So he called me all sorts of names, blah, blah, blah. 13:00.200 --> 13:04.925 And something came up about how I didn't treat him like a monk, and so on. 13:06.006 --> 13:07.287 And I said, you're not a monk. 13:09.275 --> 13:13.179 And he stopped, and he walked away. 13:13.340 --> 13:26.014 And then he came back about an hour later with the rule book, and he said he accused me of an offense, because I had claimed that he had committed an offense. 13:26.335 --> 13:31.841 He somehow saw that I had accused him of being no longer a monk, as though he had committed a serious offense. 13:32.421 --> 13:33.763 Anyway. 13:33.895 --> 13:35.978 I said to him, no, no, I didn't mean it that way. 13:36.559 --> 13:41.565 I said, one isn't, and I recited this verse, I said, you're not a monk if you abuse others. 13:43.928 --> 13:47.533 And he calmed down, actually, and we were able to talk again. 13:47.553 --> 13:48.414 He was kind of like that. 13:49.596 --> 13:50.878 He just sort of had a role with it. 13:50.898 --> 13:56.645 He would be threatening to beat you the one minute, and then he'd be sitting joking together the next minute. 13:58.948 --> 14:03.835 Yeah, life as a monk in Thailand, never a dull moment. 14:08.708 --> 14:11.031 But this is an important exhortation for us. 14:11.892 --> 14:14.416 Be clear in your minds. 14:14.456 --> 14:15.718 This isn't the way of the Buddha. 14:16.679 --> 14:23.108 Whether you're a monk or not a monk, you wish to be a true recluse, a true renunciant. 14:24.209 --> 14:25.731 You don't have to put on robes to do that. 14:27.113 --> 14:28.155 Be a follower of the Buddha. 14:28.195 --> 14:29.036 Follow his way. 14:29.076 --> 14:30.918 Follow his guidance. 14:33.582 --> 14:34.503 Don't abuse others. 14:34.664 --> 14:35.525 Don't harm others. 14:36.787 --> 14:37.888 Don't speak ill of them. 14:42.003 --> 14:44.707 Don't do any evil. 14:44.928 --> 14:45.769 This is the important. 14:45.829 --> 14:47.252 This part is what everyone repeats. 14:47.352 --> 14:48.353 This is the essence of it. 14:49.856 --> 14:52.080 Be full of good. 14:52.540 --> 14:53.562 Be full of wholesomeness. 14:54.403 --> 14:57.088 And purify your mind. 14:57.128 --> 15:00.173 So these three things really make the essence of Buddhism. 15:01.355 --> 15:02.336 Do not do any evil. 15:02.517 --> 15:03.358 To be full of good. 15:04.119 --> 15:05.201 And to purify your mind. 15:05.241 --> 15:06.964 Now the first two alone aren't enough. 15:06.944 --> 15:08.586 And this is important. 15:09.867 --> 15:17.176 It distinguishes Buddhism from many other types of religious, spiritual, or even good practices. 15:18.578 --> 15:29.311 Because anyone who devotes their time to doing good and avoiding evil is ignoring the crucial aspect of that which causes us to do evil and which prevents us from doing good. 15:29.971 --> 15:30.712 And that's our mind. 15:32.154 --> 15:34.757 If your mind is not pure, if your mind is not well, 15:36.897 --> 15:42.504 and very hard to avoid evil, very hard to be full of goodness. 15:45.729 --> 15:53.539 And so our main activity really is the purification of the mind, because once your mind is pure, you can't possibly do evil. 15:55.662 --> 16:01.690 You can't possibly, well, you are by nature constantly doing good. 16:03.020 --> 16:04.703 And it goes the other way. 16:04.743 --> 16:09.190 It's not to say that you should just ignore evil and good. 16:10.331 --> 16:15.720 Evil will take away from your practice, prevent you from progressing. 16:15.760 --> 16:25.334 And doing good will support your practice, support the strength of mind needed to become enlightened, to purify your mind. 16:25.354 --> 16:29.601 So these three together, etang buddhanasasana, this is the teaching of all the Buddhas. 16:32.888 --> 16:33.709 But then he repeats. 16:33.969 --> 16:36.873 He gives another list of things that are also the teaching of the Buddhas. 16:36.893 --> 16:39.157 So we think about these as well. 16:42.621 --> 16:44.384 Anupavado, anupagado. 16:44.404 --> 16:47.728 Again, not speaking ill of others, not harming others. 16:49.531 --> 16:54.237 Patimo ke jisangwaro, being restrained by discipline. 16:57.682 --> 16:58.543 So that's for monks. 16:58.663 --> 16:59.865 It's all the rules of the monks. 16:59.905 --> 17:02.288 For lay people, it's the five or the eight precepts. 17:04.023 --> 17:05.525 right livelihood, and so on. 17:07.066 --> 17:13.513 All of this is the teaching of the Buddha's matanyuta jabhatasmin, knowing moderation in eating. 17:13.553 --> 17:17.177 Now the Buddha, you see, this is something that we often neglect. 17:17.357 --> 17:17.917 Be careful. 17:18.538 --> 17:30.250 Your consumption, and we can apply this not just to food, but to everything that we consume, whether it be television, or whether it be internet, or whether it be music, or whatever. 17:30.230 --> 17:34.159 Be careful about your consumption because what you take in affects you. 17:34.901 --> 17:41.978 It changes who you are and if you're not mindful, it can lead to addiction, stress and suffering. 17:46.160 --> 17:48.583 But certainly food is an important thing. 17:50.426 --> 17:52.169 It's the one thing that we need every day. 17:52.229 --> 17:56.655 And so at the least, it acts as a good base reference. 17:58.077 --> 18:02.183 If you're addicted to food, it's a sign you have an addictive personality. 18:02.203 --> 18:06.489 You're addicted to good food, for example, or picky about your food, or that kind of thing. 18:08.071 --> 18:09.433 You obsess over food. 18:11.118 --> 18:19.305 eating too much, maybe eating not enough, mostly eating too much or eating unhealthy food because it tastes better. 18:22.272 --> 18:23.473 or moderation in eating. 18:24.935 --> 18:30.041 Another thing is that these show what a simple life it is. 18:30.901 --> 18:34.565 There's not complex rules or rituals in Buddhism. 18:35.767 --> 18:43.355 Another way of looking at this is live this way, and you've got Buddhism in a nutshell. 18:44.096 --> 18:46.879 to live in a secluded area, to have a secluded lodging. 18:48.530 --> 18:53.162 Of course, the ideal is to be in a forest or in a cave on a mountain or something. 18:53.202 --> 18:56.070 But even here in the city, we've found a way. 18:56.110 --> 19:02.286 It's quite remarkable, exceptional, and much appreciated by all. 19:03.650 --> 19:10.443 We much appreciate all the support that has made this possible. 19:11.585 --> 19:24.831 Here we have rooms that are quiet, and we have a secluded dwelling here where we don't sit around chatting all day and spend our time cultivating goodness, doing good things. 19:31.561 --> 19:50.127 and the devotion to higher mindedness or higher minds, which means going beyond the mundane states of consciousness or the ordinary states of greed, anger and delusion, to have clarity of mind and 19:53.212 --> 19:57.697 quietude of mind and to cultivate wisdom and the super mundane state. 19:58.758 --> 20:10.450 The jhanas as well and then the super mundane jhanas engaged in realization of nibbana. 20:10.510 --> 20:11.211 It's quite simple. 20:11.611 --> 20:15.395 I mean this last one is another really good way of describing it. 20:15.675 --> 20:19.880 Don't do, don't harm others or this is the morality part. 20:19.900 --> 20:20.781 Don't harm others. 20:21.862 --> 20:23.083 Don't speak ill of others. 20:25.072 --> 20:31.220 Follow the rules of the community and the discipline of a Buddhist. 20:33.983 --> 20:35.225 No moderation in eating. 20:36.366 --> 20:39.150 Besides eating, all you're doing is cultivating goodness. 20:40.872 --> 20:47.080 Just be careful of the necessities of life. 20:48.308 --> 20:49.209 Stay in seclusion. 20:50.270 --> 20:53.514 When you're in seclusion, cultivate higher mind states. 20:53.815 --> 20:59.101 Don't just sit around and think or let yourself get distracted. 21:01.664 --> 21:05.809 This is the teaching of all the Buddhas, etan, buddha, and asasana. 21:05.829 --> 21:17.843 So, we have here in the Diga Nikaya, it says, vipasi bhagavaraham samasambuddho vikusankhe evang patimokam udhisati 21:17.907 --> 21:20.990 Vipassi is a Buddha way in the past. 21:21.010 --> 21:21.912 Who knows? 21:23.233 --> 21:25.696 Maybe in some other epoch or eon or something. 21:28.719 --> 21:31.162 A long time ago, there was another Buddha. 21:31.202 --> 21:34.105 So the idea is this is apparently what all Buddhas teach. 21:35.246 --> 21:39.591 No matter what else they may teach or not teach, they always teach this. 21:39.671 --> 21:42.835 And this is what they teach to their assembly. 21:44.806 --> 21:46.930 Either way, it's what we teach to our assembly. 21:47.150 --> 21:52.399 And I think it's sort of an important milestone for us to mark. 21:52.419 --> 22:00.853 We commemorate on this day the Awada Patimokkha on the full moon of Manga. 22:00.873 --> 22:01.474 So there you go. 22:02.596 --> 22:03.738 That's the Dhamma for tonight. 22:04.299 --> 22:05.401 Thank you all for tuning in. 22:06.423 --> 22:07.725 Wish you all good practice.