1 00:00:02,528 --> 00:00:04,750 Hi, and welcome back to our study of the Dhammapada. 2 00:00:05,531 --> 00:00:14,020 Today we go on to verse number 56, which reads as follows. 3 00:00:14,040 --> 00:00:29,717 APAMATTO AYANGANDHO YAYANGTAGRACHANDANAM YO CHA SILAVATAM GANDHO VATI DEVE SU'UTTAMO 4 00:00:32,060 --> 00:00:41,790 Which means, appamato minuscule or insignificant. 5 00:00:41,810 --> 00:00:43,692 Insignificant ayanggando. 6 00:00:43,772 --> 00:00:47,617 Insignificant is this scent. 7 00:00:47,637 --> 00:00:50,640 That of the tagara and chandana flowers. 8 00:00:52,041 --> 00:00:58,388 Yocha silawatang silawatang silawatanggando. 9 00:00:59,735 --> 00:01:13,596 But the descent of the virtuous, the one who has sila, goes all the way up to the angels, or the gods, the devas. 10 00:01:16,760 --> 00:01:25,253 So here we have another verse, if you've been keeping up, this is actually quite similar to the last couple of verses, the last few verses. 11 00:01:26,684 --> 00:01:31,415 not much change in the theme. 12 00:01:31,495 --> 00:01:40,056 The theme is the flowers and scents of flowers particularly and the kind of scent that is greater than the scent of flowers. 13 00:01:40,116 --> 00:01:42,702 So it's the use of a simile that 14 00:01:42,682 --> 00:01:55,360 The thing about the Dhammapada is the verses are arranged by topic, loosely by topic, and so you'll get various times during the Buddha's life. 15 00:01:55,401 --> 00:02:09,341 It's not that he taught these in a sequence, but actually they were put together later in the sequence, and so as a result we have similar verses, especially in this chapter, that all have to do with flowers. 16 00:02:10,262 --> 00:02:11,524 This is the flower chapter. 17 00:02:16,448 --> 00:02:20,017 And as you see, the stories are actually quite different. 18 00:02:20,037 --> 00:02:21,227 So the story here is 19 00:02:22,574 --> 00:02:48,649 that Mahakasaba after spending seven days in the experience of cessation, nirodha which means he had gone through all of the eight jhanas which is the four form jhanas and the four formless jhanas, formless attainments 20 00:02:49,945 --> 00:02:55,090 and then from there entered into cessation, entered into the experience of Nibbana. 21 00:02:58,413 --> 00:02:59,874 And he stayed in that for seven days. 22 00:03:02,337 --> 00:03:10,444 It's considered to be the longest anyone could spend in the attainment of cessation without passing away. 23 00:03:11,405 --> 00:03:14,788 So after seven days he naturally came out of it. 24 00:03:17,030 --> 00:03:17,691 The 25 00:03:20,607 --> 00:03:30,459 just a little bit of background on this, what this means if you're not familiar, the four form jhanas are stages of absorption. 26 00:03:30,900 --> 00:03:45,838 So when someone sits down to practice samatha meditation or to focus their mind and to make their mind calm and to fix the mind on a single object or a single point, 27 00:03:47,017 --> 00:04:04,013 it starts by applying the mind to the object and it's kind of like hammering at the object and driving the mind creating this absorbed state and eventually that becomes 28 00:04:05,849 --> 00:04:35,468 that becomes a constant kind of like we were studying the Visuddhimagga like a bird flying once the bird has attained flight all it has to do is beat its wings and the beating of the wings is this effort to stay with the object and that's the first jhana and the second jhana that effort is taken away and then there's it's like the bird soaring through the air and the third jhana is 29 00:04:35,448 --> 00:04:56,342 successively deeper the third jhana then there's no there's no sense of ecstasy or or rapture with the experience the mind is just fixed in a state of joy and the fourth jhana is a state of equanimity where even the joy is is done away with and there's only a state of tranquil calm so this is 30 00:04:56,322 --> 00:04:59,169 This is the basis of tranquility meditation. 31 00:04:59,229 --> 00:05:11,479 Anyone who practices some transcendental meditation might be familiar with it or creative visualizations will be familiar with this kind of experience. 32 00:05:11,459 --> 00:05:38,293 And after those four experiences then one goes on to the formless jhanas which may be much less familiar but if you study Hinduism you probably have heard of similar concepts or similar ideas where one gives up the object of contemplation and is aware just of the infinity of space and then the infinity of consciousness and then deeper than that the experience of nothingness and deeper than that 33 00:05:38,273 --> 00:05:41,598 the experience of neither perception or non-perception. 34 00:05:41,638 --> 00:05:48,549 So getting rid of, successfully getting rid of the more coarse attainment. 35 00:05:49,250 --> 00:06:05,395 So what you do is you would take, for example, if you're focusing on a circle of color, one of the things that they would do is put a disc of color up on the wall and just fix on it, fix their mind on it. 36 00:06:07,147 --> 00:06:23,386 and say to themselves, it was white, they would say to themselves, white, white, just being completely absorbed in the color white, until finally they wouldn't have to look at the disk, they could see it in their minds, and then they would expand this disk out. 37 00:06:23,947 --> 00:06:31,095 People do this, this is how you practice, according to the ancient tradition, tranquility meditation in the Buddhist 38 00:06:31,075 --> 00:06:33,361 in the Buddhist religion. 39 00:06:34,383 --> 00:06:44,989 And so you would then expand the white to cover the infinity of space and then you'd remove this color white and just be aware of the expanse of space. 40 00:06:45,089 --> 00:06:48,257 Just fix, instead of looking at the color white, 41 00:06:48,237 --> 00:07:01,644 Once it's infinite, you focus on the infinity, and that's the infinite space, absorbed in the infinite space, and then you focus on your own consciousness, the fact that you're now aware of infinity. 42 00:07:02,887 --> 00:07:05,031 And so you enter into infinite consciousness and then 43 00:07:05,011 --> 00:07:20,708 when you get rid of even that consciousness then because you've left behind all that is physical there's nothing and so there's an experience that there is nothing even though there is the consciousness you're now focused on the experience of nothingness and then even 44 00:07:20,688 --> 00:07:45,531 discarding even the experience of nothingness you enter into this sublime state called the state of neither perception or non-perception and all of these are mundane states none of these have gotten beyond samsara none of them have even the potential by themselves to free one from suffering to free one from suffering in any lasting form they're all temporary 45 00:07:45,511 --> 00:07:49,798 But they're considered to be the pinnacle of mundane meditative attainment. 46 00:07:49,898 --> 00:07:54,666 And so the pinnacle of super mundane attainment is to use all of these as a diving board. 47 00:07:55,647 --> 00:07:59,954 It's like you have this pool, an Olympic-sized swimming pool, and you could just jump in and swim. 48 00:08:00,015 --> 00:08:02,579 But this is like going all the way to the top. 49 00:08:02,599 --> 00:08:06,385 Have you ever been to these swimming pools where you look up and you see those divers way up at the top? 50 00:08:07,226 --> 00:08:09,790 It's like going all the way up to the top before you dive in. 51 00:08:10,692 --> 00:08:11,974 So it's... 52 00:08:11,954 --> 00:08:16,041 You end up in the water anyway, but this is more exalted. 53 00:08:16,061 --> 00:08:17,223 So this is what is called nirvana. 54 00:08:17,243 --> 00:08:28,883 This is what Mahakasabha is said to have gone into for seven days, which is again the pinnacle of attainment without entering into parinibbana. 55 00:08:28,863 --> 00:08:38,709 Mahakasyapa was an Arahant and he was also one of the Buddha's chief disciples, one of the 80 great disciples. 56 00:08:39,291 --> 00:08:44,003 He was said to be the Buddha's foremost disciple in regards to keeping 57 00:08:45,181 --> 00:08:48,046 was in regards to the ascetic practices, I think. 58 00:08:48,626 --> 00:08:53,514 I think it was just generally ascetic practices, because he kept three of them, always going on alms round. 59 00:08:54,295 --> 00:08:56,940 So he would never take food that was brought back to the monastery. 60 00:08:56,980 --> 00:08:58,402 In fact, he didn't live in the monastery. 61 00:08:58,442 --> 00:09:00,445 He lived up in Pipali Guha. 62 00:09:00,666 --> 00:09:02,168 Pipali was his original name. 63 00:09:02,929 --> 00:09:05,974 Up above Rajagaha, there was this cave that he lived in. 64 00:09:05,954 --> 00:09:09,264 And if you go now, they've built a little kuti of stone. 65 00:09:09,284 --> 00:09:16,605 I don't know how long it's been there, whether it was just a tourist attraction, but that's supposed to be Pipilinguha, the cave of Mahakasapa. 66 00:09:18,897 --> 00:09:42,643 Now they built cement stairs up, concrete stairs up but in Mahakasaba's time he had to walk down the hill all the way to Rajagaha for alms and then walk all the way back up and everyone would always encourage him to, you know, look you're getting old why don't you come and stay in the city and he would always refuse to, for his whole life he refused to stay in the city. 67 00:09:42,663 --> 00:09:44,044 He's also said to have 68 00:09:44,024 --> 00:09:49,937 never lied down for his whole monk life. 69 00:09:50,338 --> 00:09:51,841 He never lay down once or something. 70 00:09:51,881 --> 00:09:52,603 I'm not sure if it was him. 71 00:09:53,224 --> 00:09:58,877 But no, the three were going on alms round every day, living in the forest and wearing rag robes. 72 00:10:00,325 --> 00:10:10,781 So he's also, there's many stories, and I don't know if all of these are in the Dhammapada, I shouldn't go into all of them, but another thing is he wore the Buddha's sangati. 73 00:10:10,801 --> 00:10:14,927 He switched robes with the Buddha, that's another special thing about Mahakaspa. 74 00:10:14,967 --> 00:10:16,369 Anyway, he was one of the greats. 75 00:10:16,810 --> 00:10:23,460 Apparently, I think there's one story that says he was originally, no, maybe that's Mahakachayana, let's forget about it. 76 00:10:23,480 --> 00:10:25,523 Anyway, Mahakaspa, one of the greats. 77 00:10:25,503 --> 00:10:36,898 He's also the guy who after the Buddha passed away was the one who undertook to gather all the Arahants together to have the first council and to recite the Buddha's teachings. 78 00:10:36,918 --> 00:10:52,219 So they had Ananda refresh their memory and sort of help to organize all the suttas and Upali got together the Vinaya and together they chanted the Dhamma in the Vinaya and that was the first council. 79 00:10:53,465 --> 00:10:59,974 So he's a very special monk and as a result of that everybody wanted to give him alms. 80 00:11:00,254 --> 00:11:19,860 But what he would do, especially, and this is another thing, according to tradition, anyone who gives, the first person who gives alms to a monk who has just come out of nirodha samapati, this attainment that I was just talking about, that he was in for seven days, whatever they wish for will be fulfilled. 81 00:11:21,224 --> 00:11:24,649 This is what the tradition, it says something like that. 82 00:11:25,029 --> 00:11:26,231 So it's a very special thing. 83 00:11:26,291 --> 00:11:37,647 Once he came out of it, because it's so powerful, he looked around and he thought in his mind, who should I go to for alms? 84 00:11:38,088 --> 00:11:48,042 He was thinking of someone who could really use the great merit or the great goodness of giving alms to someone so powerful and so pure. 85 00:11:48,022 --> 00:11:52,832 I suppose it sounds kind of arrogant, but if it's the truth, he certainly wasn't arrogant. 86 00:11:52,852 --> 00:11:57,080 And if you read his biography, it's quite clear it was very much the other way around. 87 00:11:57,180 --> 00:12:03,052 But he understood the benefit of this, that it's a great thing. 88 00:12:03,092 --> 00:12:05,136 And this is really something that 89 00:12:07,327 --> 00:12:20,424 That is an important concept in Buddhism, that giving and sharing and supporting each other is not considered, taking is not considered to be a bad thing. 90 00:12:20,744 --> 00:12:22,567 If someone gives you something, making use of it. 91 00:12:22,607 --> 00:12:26,151 The point is to make use of it in the right way. 92 00:12:26,191 --> 00:12:32,980 If you are pretending to be a meditator or something and you're using 93 00:12:32,960 --> 00:12:38,034 facilities here and so on, and you're just like a spy for another religion or something, then you're a thief. 94 00:12:39,317 --> 00:12:43,869 If you're here and you're really here, but you're not practicing, then you're borrowing. 95 00:12:44,391 --> 00:12:47,138 You're a debtor. 96 00:12:48,637 --> 00:13:02,891 If you're actually practicing the meditation or practicing the Buddhist teaching and you come and use our facilities, then you are a... What do you call someone who inherits stuff? 97 00:13:02,911 --> 00:13:09,097 A... What do you call the person who inherits from someone? 98 00:13:10,659 --> 00:13:14,122 Huh? 99 00:13:14,142 --> 00:13:15,083 Successor, no? 100 00:13:16,328 --> 00:13:16,949 Successor? 101 00:13:17,229 --> 00:13:18,191 I don't know. 102 00:13:18,211 --> 00:13:22,978 The person who, the inheritor is the word for it. 103 00:13:24,561 --> 00:13:43,129 And the fourth one is if you've practiced already and have gained, become enlightened, then you're using it out of, you're using it as one who is worthy of it. 104 00:13:44,948 --> 00:13:58,228 So here, Maha Kasaba had this, he was an Arahant and he had this great distinction so he wasn't afraid to allow people who wanted to give things to him. 105 00:13:58,288 --> 00:14:00,331 But you see how careful he was. 106 00:14:00,391 --> 00:14:04,457 He wasn't going around looking for rich people or looking for good food. 107 00:14:04,517 --> 00:14:07,902 In fact, what he thought is he'd go and find someone who was very, very, very poor. 108 00:14:09,772 --> 00:14:29,783 So what happened on this day is these angel, these nymphs or female angels, let's say, I think the word is female angels, I have to specify because these ones were female, came to see Maha Kasupa and stood there by the side of the road and he said, what do you want? 109 00:14:30,364 --> 00:14:31,746 Oh, we want to give you alms. 110 00:14:32,603 --> 00:14:33,364 He said, go away. 111 00:14:34,526 --> 00:14:35,607 I said, I can't give alms. 112 00:14:35,968 --> 00:14:37,690 You don't need my alms. 113 00:14:37,870 --> 00:14:39,373 You don't need this merit. 114 00:14:40,374 --> 00:14:40,694 Go away. 115 00:14:40,735 --> 00:14:43,358 I'm going to find someone who is in need of it. 116 00:14:43,939 --> 00:14:44,720 And they wouldn't go away. 117 00:14:44,760 --> 00:14:46,122 And they cried and they begged and they pleaded. 118 00:14:46,142 --> 00:14:49,387 And I think at the end, he snapped his fingers at something. 119 00:14:49,427 --> 00:14:51,770 This is a very rude gesture in India, apparently. 120 00:14:52,711 --> 00:14:53,112 Like this. 121 00:14:53,653 --> 00:14:54,514 Yeah, we do that, no? 122 00:14:55,656 --> 00:14:56,637 Like this. 123 00:14:57,663 --> 00:15:02,309 It's a shock actually to read that Mahakaspa did this, but I guess that was the thing in India that he did. 124 00:15:03,831 --> 00:15:05,434 It was like enough kind of thing. 125 00:15:06,295 --> 00:15:12,803 He snapped his fingers and they were shocked and they ran away. 126 00:15:12,824 --> 00:15:14,426 He knew that was the only thing that would get them, I guess. 127 00:15:15,067 --> 00:15:18,511 And so he kept walking down to Rajgaha on alms. 128 00:15:19,493 --> 00:15:25,020 The angels went back to heaven and they were all disappointed and Saka, the king of the angels, 129 00:15:26,536 --> 00:15:28,038 came up to them and said, hey, what's wrong? 130 00:15:29,319 --> 00:15:32,943 They said, didn't you know Mahakasabha just came out of Nirodha Samapati? 131 00:15:34,685 --> 00:15:35,526 And he said, oh, so? 132 00:15:36,086 --> 00:15:37,628 Wow, we wanted to give him alms. 133 00:15:37,648 --> 00:15:40,171 This is the best opportunity for us to make merit. 134 00:15:40,191 --> 00:15:42,654 Up in heaven, where do we get the opportunity to do good things? 135 00:15:43,474 --> 00:15:47,138 So we were going to do a good deed and offer food to him, but he refused us. 136 00:15:47,219 --> 00:15:47,799 He wouldn't let us. 137 00:15:47,899 --> 00:15:52,704 And Sai goes, oh, so you couldn't get him to give you alms, could you? 138 00:15:52,725 --> 00:15:53,185 And he thought. 139 00:15:53,873 --> 00:16:23,239 and he called his queen and he said, come, come I've got an idea and they went down to Rajgaha and they saw Maha Kasaba going down a certain road and they went up on the road and they transformed themselves into two poor weavers and they just set up their loom by the side of the road and he was working the loom and his wife was feeding the wool to him and so on 140 00:16:23,219 --> 00:16:35,862 and they were not loom no loom maybe the spinner i don't know whatever it was doing something with wool and they were very poor poor and shabby looking uh 141 00:16:37,951 --> 00:16:40,614 I think they set up a hut or something. 142 00:16:40,634 --> 00:16:45,180 Anyway, so Maha Kasaba sees them and he says, aha, here's some people who really need it, right? 143 00:16:45,961 --> 00:16:49,326 Maha Kasaba thinks these are real poor people. 144 00:16:50,407 --> 00:16:55,374 And so he goes right to them and he thinks these are people who could really benefit from this. 145 00:16:56,415 --> 00:16:57,917 And 146 00:16:57,897 --> 00:17:01,248 They see him coming and they say, oh, we want to give you something. 147 00:17:01,268 --> 00:17:03,535 We have some food for you. 148 00:17:04,158 --> 00:17:08,773 And they bring, they come, and they come with this old bowl covered up. 149 00:17:09,575 --> 00:17:10,438 And they open it up. 150 00:17:11,718 --> 00:17:36,342 they scoop the food into his bowl and as they're scooping it into his bowl the smell just fills the whole city because of course it's angel food it's the most delicious food and most delicate and wonderful food that there possibly could be and Maha Ghaziba knows something of that and he says who are you? 151 00:17:37,047 --> 00:17:44,939 And Saka can't lie of course because he's actually Buddhist and he says, I am Saka the king of the angels. 152 00:17:47,383 --> 00:17:50,628 Mahakasyapa says, you've done a terrible thing today. 153 00:17:50,688 --> 00:17:54,494 You could have, you've taken this from someone. 154 00:17:54,835 --> 00:17:56,517 You've taken this opportunity from someone. 155 00:17:56,537 --> 00:18:01,926 There are people in the city who would very much like to offer food to me today. 156 00:18:03,869 --> 00:18:04,590 And 157 00:18:06,292 --> 00:18:08,849 And so he scolds him and he says, you've done a very terrible thing. 158 00:18:08,889 --> 00:18:11,003 And Saka is shocked and scared. 159 00:18:11,945 --> 00:18:14,768 And he says, are you saying I didn't get any merit from that? 160 00:18:14,849 --> 00:18:15,810 Any goodness? 161 00:18:16,250 --> 00:18:17,171 No goodness came from that? 162 00:18:17,191 --> 00:18:20,415 And he said, yes, goodness came from it. 163 00:18:21,116 --> 00:18:22,518 And Isaac goes, woohoo! 164 00:18:22,618 --> 00:18:27,184 And he flies off into the air and he shouts from up in the air. 165 00:18:28,045 --> 00:18:29,707 He gives some verse. 166 00:18:29,727 --> 00:18:31,309 This is a story that's in there. 167 00:18:32,590 --> 00:18:40,720 He shouts so loud, and he's an angel, of course, so that they hear him back in Rajika, in Vailuvana, or wherever the Buddha is staying. 168 00:18:42,353 --> 00:18:46,108 And the Buddha perks up his ear and says, Hey monks, do you hear that shouting? 169 00:18:46,630 --> 00:18:47,172 They say, yes. 170 00:18:47,192 --> 00:18:48,256 And he says, that's Saka. 171 00:18:49,862 --> 00:18:50,826 Why is Saka shouting? 172 00:18:51,810 --> 00:18:53,697 Oh, because he offered food to 173 00:18:54,672 --> 00:18:58,718 Mahakasapa, wow, it's that big of a deal, is it? 174 00:18:59,159 --> 00:19:02,303 And he says, oh yes. 175 00:19:03,124 --> 00:19:05,648 Even the angels know when Mahakasapa is going for alms. 176 00:19:05,668 --> 00:19:08,152 He says, this is the way of the enlightened ones. 177 00:19:08,613 --> 00:19:14,281 This is the way of those who have morality, those who are virtuous. 178 00:19:14,321 --> 00:19:16,444 And then he gave the verse. 179 00:19:16,424 --> 00:19:23,714 the scent of the virtuous, the ganda, the scent of one who is virtuous goes all the way to the angels. 180 00:19:23,754 --> 00:19:25,843 So that's the origin of this story. 181 00:19:27,697 --> 00:19:28,959 And what are we going to do with this story? 182 00:19:28,999 --> 00:19:41,854 It's very much like the other ones, but I know I haven't yet talked about, I don't think I've talked about how morality, what it means to be someone who is virtuous according to the texts. 183 00:19:41,874 --> 00:19:48,422 And I think a good, that we find a good description of what it means to be virtuous in the Visuddhimagga. 184 00:19:51,929 --> 00:20:04,868 So tonight for this verse I'd like to talk about these four aspects of morality, what it means to be moral or what it means to be virtuous because we're not talking obviously about someone who just keeps rules or someone who doesn't do things. 185 00:20:05,809 --> 00:20:10,596 There's a sense here that Maha Kasapa is someone who is perfectly virtuous 186 00:20:10,576 --> 00:20:28,045 in every way that his mind, his speech and his physical acts are completely pure so that when he walks for alms he is perfectly humble and 187 00:20:30,033 --> 00:20:33,359 cautious and careful, courteous, I'm assuming. 188 00:20:34,501 --> 00:20:41,733 It's one thing that I've been thinking about going on alms in the West because people look at me very strangely walking down the street. 189 00:20:42,435 --> 00:20:46,001 And I've debated with myself before, should I wear shoes? 190 00:20:47,123 --> 00:20:50,168 Because people, when you go walking through the city, people 191 00:20:52,696 --> 00:20:54,520 There's something wrong if you're not wearing shoes. 192 00:20:54,600 --> 00:20:58,868 It just doesn't look right walking down the city street wearing shoes. 193 00:20:58,908 --> 00:20:59,710 But I've tried it before. 194 00:20:59,870 --> 00:21:07,245 I've tried going on alms in Los Angeles wearing shoes, well, wearing sandals. 195 00:21:08,390 --> 00:21:28,558 and it feels very very wrong actually to do it that way so as opposed to feeling somehow strange to be going barefoot it feels wrong and this is exactly what I'm talking about here this feeling of being unassuming and humble because remember what you're doing when you go for alms people 196 00:21:28,538 --> 00:21:52,285 think of this as as something like an expectation or a Kind of like a an arrogance that you think you can just walk around the city and get free food and So there is something that there is a delicacy there that actually what we're doing is something akin to begging or asking or expecting something and 197 00:21:53,716 --> 00:21:59,650 or has the potential to become something akin to expectation or even arrogance. 198 00:22:01,374 --> 00:22:11,016 And so it is incredibly important and an intrinsic part of the Buddhist practice of the alms round, the collection of alms. 199 00:22:13,207 --> 00:22:28,971 that it be done in perfect humility and that the only alms that be collected be enough food to sustain oneself for that day so with alms we're not talking about money because monks cannot touch money we're talking about whatever food can be gotten 200 00:22:29,930 --> 00:22:43,517 without begging, without asking, without expecting so a monk who goes on alms can't even show their bowl the bowl has to be under the robes until you see that someone wants to offer you food 201 00:22:44,510 --> 00:22:49,076 So we're not actually going around knocking on people or asking people for food, we're just walking. 202 00:22:49,918 --> 00:23:02,816 And if it happens, in Canada it doesn't happen, but if it happens, like in India, that someone is looking to give food to religious people, because in India they didn't give money to religious people, not so much, they gave food. 203 00:23:03,256 --> 00:23:08,003 So all these people go off in the forest, they would come into the cities and people would give them food. 204 00:23:09,164 --> 00:23:09,945 to keep them alive. 205 00:23:09,965 --> 00:23:19,302 They think this is someone who is doing something good, has the potential to be a teacher, has the potential to help us, help us learn the truth and so on. 206 00:23:20,625 --> 00:23:23,089 So we will feed them to keep them alive. 207 00:23:23,440 --> 00:23:48,958 people who think this it's not unreasonable of course we're not talking about anything extravagant but on the recipient part for the monks it's very important that we be humble so I've come to see the importance of even though it might be a little bit weird it's important to maintain this complete humility 208 00:23:50,187 --> 00:23:54,392 that we are totally unassuming and 209 00:23:55,739 --> 00:24:21,105 putting ourselves at the lowest possible level so that we are not expecting or assuming anything So this is what Maha Kasba had perfected going on alms round every day He was the perfectly humble recipient of alms and of course perfectly pure and very powerful in his meditative attainments supremely powerful 210 00:24:27,582 --> 00:24:35,234 And so when we talk about virtue or sila, we have to talk about more than just the precepts. 211 00:24:35,275 --> 00:24:37,057 So we have these four types of morality. 212 00:24:37,077 --> 00:24:39,822 The first type is actually the precepts. 213 00:24:40,463 --> 00:24:47,174 So keeping to basic, or not basic, but keeping to principles of morality. 214 00:24:47,875 --> 00:24:54,045 In basic sense, not killing, not stealing, not cheating, not lying, not taking drugs and alcohol. 215 00:24:54,025 --> 00:25:16,540 But for someone who is dedicated to a perfect and a virtuous life, it means not having any sexual or romantic activity, not indulging in entertainment or beautification, only eating one meal or enough to survive for the day without eating many times during the day. 216 00:25:16,520 --> 00:25:25,989 and sleeping only to a minimum and living a life of poverty and renunciation. 217 00:25:28,752 --> 00:25:30,474 But for monks of course it means so much more. 218 00:25:30,594 --> 00:25:44,168 For a monk there are 227 rules that we have to keep and it actually becomes quite a circumscribed lifestyle. 219 00:25:44,188 --> 00:25:46,510 We aren't allowed to 220 00:25:46,490 --> 00:25:54,403 We aren't allowed to eat food unless it's given to us, so we have to only eat that which people have given to us that day. 221 00:25:54,463 --> 00:25:57,969 We aren't allowed to store food, we aren't allowed to prepare food for ourselves. 222 00:25:58,570 --> 00:26:02,096 We really are at the mercy of our karma, at the mercy of the world. 223 00:26:02,136 --> 00:26:10,590 We're only allowed to wear one set of robes and things like this as many rules that keep us in poverty and simplicity and renunciation. 224 00:26:13,203 --> 00:26:20,900 So this is the first purification of morality that we're talking about here. 225 00:26:20,921 --> 00:26:30,402 Of course, for lay people and for ordinary meditators, this means keeping basic morality of not killing and so on. 226 00:26:30,382 --> 00:26:36,931 Which is really the basis of our, or the preliminary of our meditation practice. 227 00:26:36,951 --> 00:26:52,812 If you are killing and stealing and cheating and lying and taking drugs or alcohol, it's highly unlikely that you're going to get anywhere in the meditation practice since these are antithetical to the goals of clarity of mind, purity of mind and sobriety. 228 00:26:56,588 --> 00:27:01,054 So this is the first aspect of morality and incredibly important for meditators. 229 00:27:01,134 --> 00:27:15,694 Anyone who thinks that they can get away with killing and stealing and so on and still attain meditative states of clarity and understanding of reality is sorely deluded because these, on the other hand, 230 00:27:16,619 --> 00:27:29,476 On the contrary, create many states such as anger or addiction or delusion, arrogance and conceit and distraction and worry and fear and so on. 231 00:27:30,217 --> 00:27:38,087 All sorts of states that come from the insanity that is involved with breaking these basic rules. 232 00:27:38,067 --> 00:27:58,273 And so the higher rules are just a matter of refining that as your level of clarity of mind and concentration of mind increases, you're better able to keep a higher level of morality and higher level of virtue, even just naturally. 233 00:28:00,536 --> 00:28:05,442 The second aspect of the purification of morality is 234 00:28:07,244 --> 00:28:19,106 in regards to our use of our requisites, the use of our belongings. 235 00:28:21,070 --> 00:28:24,055 And these are really as far as a preliminary practice goes. 236 00:28:24,035 --> 00:28:45,577 But this is another important aspect of how we live our lives, so our interactions with the material world in regards to our use of robes, our use of clothing, our use of food, our use of shelter and our use of medicines, and by extension our use of really everything that we have. 237 00:28:45,657 --> 00:28:51,983 So this really means contentment, not getting caught up in luxury and needing 238 00:28:51,963 --> 00:29:18,257 the next best, or the next greatest thing, the next big thing, or this or that, needing a new car, a bigger house, nice clothes, not needing entertainment, not needing things that are not a necessity for our work and for our lives and for our well-being. 239 00:29:19,688 --> 00:29:22,592 So when we use clothes, we use them only to cover our body. 240 00:29:24,594 --> 00:29:28,079 We use them only to protect our bodies and to cover our bodies. 241 00:29:29,901 --> 00:29:49,307 When we use food, we use it only to sustain our bodies and just to keep our life going, to give us energy in order to do good deeds, in order to do things that bring peace and happiness and further our goal towards enlightenment, further us on our path towards enlightenment. 242 00:29:51,835 --> 00:29:56,302 We only use shelter for protection from the elements and for privacy. 243 00:29:56,382 --> 00:30:06,637 We don't use it for luxury and comfort that we can live in indolence or laziness. 244 00:30:07,438 --> 00:30:09,321 We use the shelter for the purpose of 245 00:30:09,301 --> 00:30:20,624 having seclusion, not privacy, but seclusion, so that we're able to practice meditation and so we're able to do good things without being bothered by the weather and bothered by other people and so on. 246 00:30:21,105 --> 00:30:24,031 So having a room to ourselves is enough. 247 00:30:25,714 --> 00:30:28,580 Of course, having a tree is really enough. 248 00:30:28,720 --> 00:30:31,225 The best is to just have a tree root to live at. 249 00:30:32,403 --> 00:30:34,508 Although in the city that doesn't keep you very private. 250 00:30:34,809 --> 00:30:37,635 I think you'd probably get in trouble if you tried to sleep under a tree here. 251 00:30:38,798 --> 00:30:47,097 But in the forest that would be the best because then you don't have to take care of it and you don't have to worry about anything and you won't get lazy either. 252 00:30:47,137 --> 00:30:50,344 You just have the root of the tree to sleep at. 253 00:30:53,024 --> 00:30:55,067 But we have to just know how to use these things. 254 00:30:55,107 --> 00:30:58,131 And our medicines we only use to cure sickness. 255 00:30:58,171 --> 00:31:05,922 We don't use them to become addicted or to avoid problems or to intoxicate ourselves. 256 00:31:06,763 --> 00:31:11,249 We don't get drunk on medicine as kind of an addictive drug or so on. 257 00:31:12,311 --> 00:31:17,057 We try to use medicines that only cure illnesses. 258 00:31:17,037 --> 00:31:23,046 allow us some peace of mind to continue with our practice. 259 00:31:23,086 --> 00:31:24,788 They cure the physical ailment. 260 00:31:26,851 --> 00:31:30,817 So this is using the requisites and by extension, of course, as I said, using everything. 261 00:31:31,017 --> 00:31:40,851 So everything that we use should be used for a purpose and we should be careful not to engage in materialism, consumerism or 262 00:31:42,569 --> 00:31:48,316 greed and the craving for acquisition. 263 00:31:50,999 --> 00:31:55,505 The third aspect of the purification of morality is in regards to our livelihood. 264 00:31:55,545 --> 00:31:59,990 So everyone has to make a living, even Buddhist monks. 265 00:32:00,151 --> 00:32:08,661 Our living is to take our bowl and go through the city and see what alms or scraps of food we can cook up or we can drum up. 266 00:32:10,193 --> 00:32:19,712 So here in the city actually, in Winnipeg, I didn't mention having people like tomorrow I'm going I think to Seneca's house, no? 267 00:32:21,014 --> 00:32:29,451 So I have actually people who come and say tomorrow we'd like to give you food and this is our address and so I just go to their address. 268 00:32:29,431 --> 00:32:30,412 So that's my livelihood. 269 00:32:30,933 --> 00:32:33,476 I guess the other aspect of it is teaching the Dhamma. 270 00:32:33,496 --> 00:32:36,379 So people do this because I teach them. 271 00:32:37,080 --> 00:32:47,172 And so some of our meditators have actually taken the initiative to come and offer food, but actually we're quite well taken care of. 272 00:32:47,893 --> 00:32:52,939 And so we have people requesting to offer food all the way back to, actually all the way into next year already. 273 00:32:52,959 --> 00:32:57,565 There are some people who have sent emails saying, hey, I'd like to offer in February. 274 00:32:57,545 --> 00:32:59,788 Am I going to still be here? 275 00:33:01,830 --> 00:33:03,012 I can't think that far ahead. 276 00:33:04,694 --> 00:33:06,416 But we have that. 277 00:33:08,538 --> 00:33:21,274 But this is kind of an extreme sort of, not extreme in a bad sense, but it's a fairly, I don't want to say advanced, but it's a fairly... 278 00:33:22,469 --> 00:33:27,514 Deeply committed sort of Buddhist livelihood basic Buddhist livelihood in general. 279 00:33:27,554 --> 00:33:51,919 We're just talking about living your life According to moral principles so not selling drugs or selling alcohol obviously not selling poisons not Killing animal killing for getting involved with selling animal flesh Or selling human beings selling weapons this kind of thing Selling most traps all this is bad 280 00:33:55,949 --> 00:34:16,911 And by extension, you can try to shy away from selling things that make people negligent, like selling games or selling things that have no benefit. 281 00:34:19,372 --> 00:34:21,175 Of course prostitution would be another one. 282 00:34:21,195 --> 00:34:24,460 These kind of things are probably considered wrong livelihood. 283 00:34:25,301 --> 00:34:29,227 I once had a prostitute come and meditate with me. 284 00:34:29,247 --> 00:34:30,088 It was quite interesting. 285 00:34:31,150 --> 00:34:36,378 She came to me and I was sitting and I didn't have a man with me or something. 286 00:34:36,398 --> 00:34:36,779 Somehow. 287 00:34:38,461 --> 00:34:39,022 What happened? 288 00:34:39,042 --> 00:34:42,207 Because normally we have to have a man sitting with me so I'm not sure why I didn't but 289 00:34:42,558 --> 00:34:46,246 she ended up having a man come with her during reporting. 290 00:34:46,947 --> 00:34:50,594 Normally I have a man, so it's very strange, but she was very uncomfortable. 291 00:34:52,238 --> 00:34:55,284 And at one point we got talking and she said she had a problem. 292 00:34:55,304 --> 00:34:55,986 And I said, what's the problem? 293 00:34:56,006 --> 00:34:57,208 And she said, I'm a sobini. 294 00:34:57,931 --> 00:34:59,193 It was all in Thai. 295 00:34:59,253 --> 00:34:59,794 And I'm like, oh. 296 00:35:00,916 --> 00:35:04,421 And she got very frustrated because she's like, don't you understand? 297 00:35:04,461 --> 00:35:05,883 And I had no idea what this was. 298 00:35:05,903 --> 00:35:08,207 And I thought, it's kind of from Nepali. 299 00:35:08,227 --> 00:35:08,968 And I thought, oh. 300 00:35:10,310 --> 00:35:10,691 Oh, I know. 301 00:35:10,951 --> 00:35:15,518 And so we started talking. 302 00:35:15,498 --> 00:35:18,402 I don't know whatever happened to her, but I can't remember. 303 00:35:18,442 --> 00:35:27,816 It was an interesting story because I started asking about whether it was wrong, whether it was bad, and what was wrong with it, whether it was breaking the third precept. 304 00:35:27,876 --> 00:35:32,604 And I said, well, no, I don't think it's breaking the third precept unless you're sleeping. 305 00:35:32,644 --> 00:35:42,538 And here would be the point, is if you're knowingly sleeping with people who are in a committed relationship, like a married man comes and wants your services. 306 00:35:43,720 --> 00:35:44,982 And in fact, she was. 307 00:35:46,497 --> 00:35:49,701 And I said, okay, that's where we have to really draw the line. 308 00:35:49,821 --> 00:36:02,939 I said, the whole prostitution thing, I'll say tonight, at the time I think I said, I'm not sure because I didn't want to get her, you know, I wanted to make people feel good, feel right. 309 00:36:02,979 --> 00:36:06,784 Like Sariputta, when Sariputta went to this guy's house, he was the executioner. 310 00:36:07,525 --> 00:36:11,610 He'd been the executioner in the city for many, many years. 311 00:36:11,590 --> 00:36:38,914 and he was retired and Sariputta came to his house for alms and when Sariputta started teaching he was very agitated because he was thinking gee I'm such a what a bad person I am I've been killing people for years and Sariputta said what's wrong why aren't you listening to what I'm saying and he said I'm sorry I was just thinking about how I killed all those people and Sariputta said well Sariputta thought to himself I'm going to trick him a little bit here and he said 312 00:36:38,894 --> 00:36:39,435 What? 313 00:36:39,555 --> 00:36:42,579 Did you do it out of your own accord or did someone tell you to kill them? 314 00:36:43,461 --> 00:36:45,163 He said, no, no, the king was the one. 315 00:36:45,624 --> 00:36:47,046 The king ordered me to kill him. 316 00:36:47,106 --> 00:36:47,927 It wasn't my orders. 317 00:36:49,390 --> 00:36:51,172 And Sariputta said, well, then were you really to blame? 318 00:36:51,212 --> 00:36:54,757 And he thought to himself, oh, I guess I'm not to blame for it. 319 00:36:54,777 --> 00:36:56,400 And in fact, Sariputta never said that. 320 00:36:57,021 --> 00:36:59,785 But he was kind of pulling a fast one over him. 321 00:36:59,805 --> 00:37:01,147 Pulling a, what do you call? 322 00:37:01,568 --> 00:37:02,669 Pulling a fast one on him. 323 00:37:04,392 --> 00:37:04,632 Yeah. 324 00:37:07,936 --> 00:37:34,483 but to good use because then he settled down and he didn't think about that anymore and this is the point you can't feel guilty about bad past deeds or you'll never get anywhere you'll always be stuck in this self-hatred and this sadness and so on you have to get over that so he put it aside and just listened to what Sariputta had to say and actually became a Sotapanna he was actually through his listening to what Sariputta had to say and practicing and reflecting on it he was able to come to some realization of the truth 325 00:37:36,185 --> 00:37:44,157 This is, you know, I'm not saying I'm Sariputta, but this was the principle I was acting upon in not outright telling her that it was wrong to be a prostitute. 326 00:37:44,698 --> 00:37:46,020 But I said, that's definitely wrong. 327 00:37:46,060 --> 00:37:47,803 You have to put your foot down there. 328 00:37:47,863 --> 00:37:50,026 No sleeping with married men. 329 00:37:51,248 --> 00:37:53,010 This is breaking the third precept. 330 00:37:53,051 --> 00:37:54,373 And so we talked about that for a while. 331 00:37:54,453 --> 00:37:56,956 And it was really, I think, a delicate situation. 332 00:37:56,996 --> 00:37:58,839 She was like living with this guy or something. 333 00:37:59,080 --> 00:37:59,340 I don't know. 334 00:38:00,805 --> 00:38:03,789 But yeah, wrong livelihood, have to be careful. 335 00:38:06,031 --> 00:38:12,439 I don't think it mentions even prostitution as wrong livelihood, but I would say it's not certainly the best livelihood. 336 00:38:13,220 --> 00:38:27,657 It's one of the, I would say one of the less desirable Buddhist life, forms of livelihood for a Buddhist, to say the least. 337 00:38:29,476 --> 00:38:34,162 But there you go, finding a livelihood that is suitable, finding a livelihood that is in line with the Dhamma. 338 00:38:34,182 --> 00:38:42,492 I'm not so keen on trying to find livelihood in the Dhamma, like people who try to make money off the Dhamma. 339 00:38:42,712 --> 00:38:44,174 This is dangerous. 340 00:38:46,317 --> 00:38:49,220 You see, my livelihood doesn't depend on my teaching. 341 00:38:49,581 --> 00:38:53,205 I don't charge per head who comes here. 342 00:38:53,185 --> 00:39:03,053 And the videos we put on the Internet, there's not even any advertising revenue, even though we could advertise totally, get nothing for it, totally for free. 343 00:39:04,154 --> 00:39:12,742 So you couldn't say, well, by extension, the way I live, a lay person should be able to charge for the dhamma, because it's not working that way. 344 00:39:12,782 --> 00:39:15,664 This isn't teaching as a livelihood. 345 00:39:15,864 --> 00:39:22,450 Teaching is, I'm able to do this because I don't need to make a livelihood, because my livelihood is taken care of. 346 00:39:22,430 --> 00:39:27,337 It is different where a teacher charges money for their services. 347 00:39:28,118 --> 00:39:32,323 It's categorically different from, for example, what I or what a Buddhist monk does. 348 00:39:33,204 --> 00:39:36,729 So that kind of thing I'm not so keen on because it's mixing principles. 349 00:39:37,530 --> 00:39:39,333 You see, I'm keeping these very separate. 350 00:39:39,493 --> 00:39:45,761 My going for alms is not directly related to my providing services, for example. 351 00:39:46,302 --> 00:39:50,968 So when they become interconnected, where I'm giving the Dhamma because I'm getting paid, 352 00:39:51,995 --> 00:39:53,657 then how pure can it possibly be? 353 00:39:53,697 --> 00:39:59,965 Inevitably it becomes tainted because you're not thinking in your mind, how can I help this person? 354 00:40:00,005 --> 00:40:02,027 You're thinking, how are they going to help me? 355 00:40:02,428 --> 00:40:07,254 You're thinking per head and how to get more people interested and how to get, how to sell things. 356 00:40:07,314 --> 00:40:12,180 Like I've heard from, I have one of my students was a, or is a, 357 00:40:12,160 --> 00:40:36,598 motivational speaker in the US and he was talking about we were talking about ways that he could be more dharmic and so on and he said you know he can be laid back but he knows that if he's just laid back and just just teaches from the heart it doesn't sell subscriptions it doesn't sell people these these what these seminars so he's trying to sell seminars and he has to be 358 00:40:36,578 --> 00:40:57,473 pushy about it and someone came up to him after one of his seminars and said you know you really are pushing this and and he said you know if i've tried not pushing it if i don't push it people don't buy it and you can't make a living off of it and so it changes when it becomes a business so this is something that i think we should keep in mind separate your livelihood out from 359 00:40:57,453 --> 00:41:00,820 Like a lay person, look at the examples, business people. 360 00:41:00,920 --> 00:41:03,525 Some of the Buddha's greatest lay disciples were business people. 361 00:41:04,227 --> 00:41:10,399 Or they sold, the Buddha's greatest lay disciple was Gatakara, the potter. 362 00:41:11,628 --> 00:41:14,713 who didn't sell. 363 00:41:14,753 --> 00:41:18,959 He just went and made pots and put them by the side of the road and said, give what you want for them. 364 00:41:20,081 --> 00:41:21,103 There's no prices on them. 365 00:41:21,123 --> 00:41:21,884 People say, how much is that one? 366 00:41:21,904 --> 00:41:23,266 He said, well, leave what you think. 367 00:41:23,366 --> 00:41:25,730 Leave some beans, leave some rice, whatever you think it's worth. 368 00:41:26,932 --> 00:41:27,492 And that was it. 369 00:41:27,893 --> 00:41:29,215 He was an anagami, actually. 370 00:41:33,498 --> 00:41:37,944 So totally separate from Dharma practice. 371 00:41:38,384 --> 00:41:44,712 Our livelihood should be righteous, but you shouldn't try selling the Dhamma or trying to make a living off of the Dhamma. 372 00:41:44,752 --> 00:41:47,696 I don't think that's in the spirit of the Buddha's teaching. 373 00:41:48,357 --> 00:41:53,704 Although I'm not denouncing anyone, I'm not trying to denounce anyone here, even people who sell weapons. 374 00:41:53,804 --> 00:41:54,785 It's their choice. 375 00:41:54,805 --> 00:41:57,008 It's a shame and it's wrong, but 376 00:41:58,000 --> 00:42:25,645 up to them so just for your information for your edification number three and number four the fourth part of aspect of the purification of morality the most important for meditators is the guarding of the senses and this is really a aspect or a facet of the meditation practice it's one way of looking at the whole of our practice is the guarding of the senses or the purification of 377 00:42:27,076 --> 00:42:27,877 experience. 378 00:42:29,239 --> 00:42:32,885 So letting experience in but keeping it at the level of bare experience. 379 00:42:32,985 --> 00:42:43,580 So keeping seeing just as seeing, hearing just as hearing, smelling just as smelling, tasting just as tasting, feeling just as feeling, and thinking just as thinking. 380 00:42:44,522 --> 00:42:46,324 And this takes on several levels as well. 381 00:42:47,466 --> 00:42:53,595 There's the basic level of guarding the senses by closing your eyes, right? 382 00:42:54,156 --> 00:42:55,598 You close your eyes, you don't see anything. 383 00:42:57,637 --> 00:43:01,822 And if you close your ears, Tarindu, can you close your ears? 384 00:43:04,646 --> 00:43:05,266 Do you hear anything? 385 00:43:06,728 --> 00:43:07,409 You don't even hear me. 386 00:43:08,791 --> 00:43:10,793 Even if you put your hands over your ears, you still hear something. 387 00:43:10,813 --> 00:43:11,494 That's the problem. 388 00:43:12,896 --> 00:43:16,000 Try it. 389 00:43:20,685 --> 00:43:22,928 Do you not hear a ringing or a... or something? 390 00:43:23,849 --> 00:43:24,550 You don't hear anything? 391 00:43:24,570 --> 00:43:26,192 Not even a... sound? 392 00:43:29,429 --> 00:43:31,431 I hear a sound when I do that. 393 00:43:33,313 --> 00:43:33,533 No? 394 00:43:35,195 --> 00:43:36,216 It's very hard to close your ears. 395 00:43:36,236 --> 00:43:38,518 Someone, one monk in Bangkok, he pointed that out to me. 396 00:43:38,538 --> 00:43:46,145 He was telling me this story, this really terrible student of his, because sometimes lay people, he teaches not meditation, but study. 397 00:43:46,185 --> 00:43:52,952 And when you teach study, you get a lot of people who can be very argumentative. 398 00:43:53,012 --> 00:43:54,713 And he was saying, you know, you can't close your ears. 399 00:43:54,753 --> 00:43:56,415 And I said, what do you mean you can't close your ears? 400 00:43:56,395 --> 00:43:57,877 They were saying, just close your ears. 401 00:43:58,658 --> 00:43:59,419 And I said, try it. 402 00:44:00,261 --> 00:44:04,627 And he was so fed up with this guy because he had been giving him trouble all the time. 403 00:44:06,550 --> 00:44:07,050 I thought about it. 404 00:44:07,070 --> 00:44:08,613 I said, yeah, you can't really close your ears. 405 00:44:08,653 --> 00:44:09,194 It doesn't work. 406 00:44:09,614 --> 00:44:12,078 You can close your eyes, but actually closing your eyes doesn't even work. 407 00:44:13,099 --> 00:44:14,862 Because you still will see lights playing. 408 00:44:14,962 --> 00:44:18,066 If you focus on the back of your eyelids, you'll still see stuff. 409 00:44:19,428 --> 00:44:21,852 And as you sit in meditation, you'll see all sorts of stuff. 410 00:44:21,912 --> 00:44:25,457 People see bright lights, colors, pictures, movies, all sorts of things. 411 00:44:26,720 --> 00:44:29,445 So this isn't what we mean by guarding the senses. 412 00:44:29,525 --> 00:44:34,935 You can guard the senses by forcing your mind to behave, fixing your mind. 413 00:44:34,975 --> 00:44:40,184 You can focus on, like I said, focus on a light or a color and that keeps your mind pure. 414 00:44:41,166 --> 00:44:43,530 But obviously in the 415 00:44:43,510 --> 00:45:11,863 Tradition of the Buddha at the core of the Buddhist practice is this bare attention or mindfulness keeping them remembering Reminding ourselves keeping our bare awareness on the object deep pay deep tamatang bhavisati Making sure that what we see is just what we see Seeing is just seeing hearing is just hearing tasting smelling feeling is just tasting smelling feeling thinking is just thinking 416 00:45:13,244 --> 00:45:15,987 So this is the essence of our practice. 417 00:45:16,027 --> 00:45:19,131 This is what we're trying to accomplish. 418 00:45:20,152 --> 00:45:22,235 But it's not about suppressing anything. 419 00:45:22,495 --> 00:45:27,341 It's about maintaining an experience of reality. 420 00:45:27,822 --> 00:45:33,308 It's about stabilizing the mind because the mind gets off track, gets caught up in the jungle. 421 00:45:33,929 --> 00:45:40,737 If you say you're going down this straight path and if you're not stabilized, 422 00:45:41,594 --> 00:45:48,246 very easy to go off track and get caught up in illusion and delusion and identification and projection and judgment. 423 00:45:49,643 --> 00:45:52,627 and never get anywhere, just get lost in the jungle. 424 00:45:54,230 --> 00:45:58,336 So what we're trying to do is straighten the mind and keep the mind on track. 425 00:45:59,458 --> 00:46:05,947 This is why we have this practice of reminding ourselves when we see something, saying to ourselves, seeing, seeing, hearing, hearing. 426 00:46:06,708 --> 00:46:07,770 This is the essence of the practice. 427 00:46:07,790 --> 00:46:10,874 So altogether this is what makes a person virtuous. 428 00:46:11,555 --> 00:46:16,663 Both the... 429 00:46:20,255 --> 00:46:38,483 both the application of moral principles in terms of keeping rules, in terms of our use of requisites, in terms of our livelihood, and the application of practical 430 00:46:40,201 --> 00:47:07,170 qualities of mind, so that from within, we're moral from within, without having to keep X, Y, or Z rule, or to have this principle or that principle, to be naturally moral or naturally virtuous, due to our direct and objective experience of reality, so that we are no longer judging or identifying or projecting on the experience. 431 00:47:08,821 --> 00:47:13,567 This is what can be understood as the Dhamma and the Vinaya that they discussed at the first council. 432 00:47:13,647 --> 00:47:18,754 The Dhamma is the qualities of mind from within. 433 00:47:18,814 --> 00:47:31,470 The Vinaya is the abstention from the adherence to principles from without. 434 00:47:33,132 --> 00:47:37,798 And these two things together protect us and keep us straight and keep us 435 00:47:39,382 --> 00:47:45,751 traveling on our long and winding road to become enlightened and free from suffering. 436 00:47:46,332 --> 00:47:51,760 So that's the gist of what I can squeeze out of that verse. 437 00:47:52,020 --> 00:47:53,362 I hope that's been of some use. 438 00:47:54,164 --> 00:47:55,185 Thank you all for tuning in. 439 00:47:55,225 --> 00:47:58,550 This is another episode of our study of the Dhammapada. 440 00:47:59,672 --> 00:48:07,783 May you all, through the study and the practice of these teachings, may you all find peace, happiness, and freedom from suffering. 441 00:48:07,803 --> 00:48:08,224 Thank you.