1
00:00:01,347 --> 00:00:03,990
Hi and welcome back to our study of the Dhammapada.

2
00:00:04,331 --> 00:00:09,036
Today we continue on with verse number 83, which reads as follows.

3
00:00:10,738 --> 00:00:30,983
sabbathave sapurisa cajanti nakamakamalapayanti santo sukena vaputtha atavadukena na ucavacham panditadasayanti Which means,

4
00:00:33,697 --> 00:00:36,320
Sabhata ve sabhurisa ca janti.

5
00:00:36,440 --> 00:00:41,865
Sabhurisa, good people, are always renounced, are everywhere.

6
00:00:43,767 --> 00:00:54,058
In every instance, on every occasion, renouncing, giving up, giving up.

7
00:00:54,078 --> 00:00:56,140
Nakama kama lapayanti santo.

8
00:00:56,360 --> 00:01:00,885
They don't mutter or blather or chatter.

9
00:01:02,401 --> 00:01:20,713
as though they were enamored by sensuality, in love with love, or lusting after lustful things, desirous of the desirables.

10
00:01:21,841 --> 00:01:35,631
When touched by either happiness or suffering, they don't exhibit, the whys don't exhibit highs or lows.

11
00:01:38,497 --> 00:01:44,166
So ordinary people, when touched by sukha or dukkha, happiness or suffering, they are affected.

12
00:01:44,527 --> 00:01:45,188
They are elated.

13
00:01:45,228 --> 00:01:49,715
They rejoice about their good fortune.

14
00:01:50,737 --> 00:01:54,964
They become somehow dependent on it.

15
00:01:55,865 --> 00:02:02,496
They step into it and they come to expect it.

16
00:02:04,585 --> 00:02:09,550
And when touched by suffering, then they lament and bemoan their state.

17
00:02:14,354 --> 00:02:19,900
But asapurisa is ever cajanti, is ever renouncing, letting go.

18
00:02:21,441 --> 00:02:22,462
So that's the verse.

19
00:02:23,623 --> 00:02:32,432
It's in regards to a story about, it says 500 monks and 500 beggars.

20
00:02:35,450 --> 00:02:45,705
So in the time of the Buddha, after the Buddha was recently enlightened, he was staying in Vairanja.

21
00:02:47,187 --> 00:02:48,329
He lived there for the rains.

22
00:02:48,489 --> 00:02:50,031
He had been invited to stay in Vairanja.

23
00:02:50,051 --> 00:03:04,933
If you read the beginning of the Vinaya, tenako panasamayena buddho bhagavave ranjayam viharati

24
00:03:07,462 --> 00:03:10,924
The Buddha was dwelling in Virenja.

25
00:03:11,849 --> 00:03:16,055
And this Brahmin invited him to stay there and then forgot about him.

26
00:03:17,337 --> 00:03:22,926
And so the Buddhist and his 500 monks dwelt in great hardship.

27
00:03:24,027 --> 00:03:35,304
And they only were able to survive because of some horse traders who gave them horse food, gave them oats basically, something like oats, some kind of grain.

28
00:03:36,667 --> 00:03:38,329
And they were able to live off this grain.

29
00:03:41,330 --> 00:03:44,795
But it was great hardship, so they went on alms, but I guess didn't get much.

30
00:03:45,596 --> 00:03:51,906
And this Brahmin who invited them to this area where they weren't able to get alms totally forgot about them until the end of the rains.

31
00:03:54,550 --> 00:03:58,917
But it says here that there were a bunch of beggars living with them.

32
00:03:59,978 --> 00:04:04,485
By the kindness of the monks, 500 eaters of refuse lived within the monastery enclosure.

33
00:04:29,052 --> 00:04:43,679
or it doesn't even say that, but what it does say is that, the point is, these beggars were before, so they weren't living, I was wrong, they weren't living with the Buddha at Vairanja.

34
00:04:44,059 --> 00:04:49,930
But in Vairanja, the monks, these 500 monks, were all at least Sotapanna, maybe all Arahants.

35
00:04:49,910 --> 00:04:58,137
And they were all living with the Buddha and they were content with their poor fare.

36
00:04:58,297 --> 00:05:01,120
They were at peace, even in great hardship.

37
00:05:02,541 --> 00:05:07,466
Later on, they came to great wealth and prosperity.

38
00:05:07,686 --> 00:05:10,268
Not wealth in terms of money, but they were very well cared for.

39
00:05:11,189 --> 00:05:13,931
They moved to Savatthi and they lived there.

40
00:05:16,473 --> 00:05:17,354
But they were still the same.

41
00:05:17,374 --> 00:05:18,195
They were still at peace.

42
00:05:22,681 --> 00:05:27,590
So whether they lived in hardship or whether they lived in great comfort, they were the same.

43
00:05:28,952 --> 00:05:39,612
And then you had these 500 beggars who appeared after there was great wealth and, because of their own hardship, decided that they would hang out at the monastery.

44
00:05:39,652 --> 00:05:46,765
And so, through the kindness of the monks, these 500 beggars

45
00:05:46,745 --> 00:06:00,872
sort of lived off the leftover food because everyone was always bringing food to the monks and coming to hear the monks teach and supporting the monks in different ways and so there was lots of leftovers and so these beggars would come

46
00:06:02,202 --> 00:06:07,369
And it says they would eat the choice food left over by the monks and then lie down and sleep.

47
00:06:08,371 --> 00:06:12,857
And then when they got up from their sleep, they would be full of energy and they would go and wrestle.

48
00:06:13,098 --> 00:06:15,341
They would shout and jump and wrestle and play.

49
00:06:16,643 --> 00:06:19,387
Misbehave both within and without the monastery.

50
00:06:19,808 --> 00:06:23,473
They did nothing but misbehave.

51
00:06:23,493 --> 00:06:29,101
And so the monks were discussing this and they noted the difference.

52
00:06:30,763 --> 00:06:31,905
The difference because

53
00:06:33,775 --> 00:06:39,641
Ostensibly, a part of the problem for these beggars was the opulence.

54
00:06:41,002 --> 00:06:48,089
Once they got great food, they got strength and energy, and they just started acting rambunctious.

55
00:06:50,932 --> 00:06:59,040
Whereas the monks, whether they were in hardship or in opulence or affluence, were unchanged.

56
00:07:03,678 --> 00:07:15,540
And so the Buddha, for that reason, he told a Jataka story about horses, which is actually quite interesting because it points out that even, it's a story about some donkeys and horses.

57
00:07:16,622 --> 00:07:27,762
And these thoroughbred horses were fed, it was an accident or something, they were fed wine of some sort or some kind of alcohol.

58
00:07:27,742 --> 00:07:31,333
and were unaffected by it.

59
00:07:31,754 --> 00:07:39,878
But these donkeys who were hanging out with the thoroughbred horses drank the same wine and started braying and carrying on.

60
00:07:43,435 --> 00:07:55,432
The point being that alcohol, even alcohol, even though we rail against it as being a terrible, terrible thing, all it has the power to do is remove your inhibitions.

61
00:07:55,532 --> 00:08:01,580
So if you don't have any harmful intentions in your mind, it doesn't actually hurt you.

62
00:08:02,582 --> 00:08:08,390
Unfortunately, for most of us, that includes delusion, it includes ego, and so on.

63
00:08:08,410 --> 00:08:10,573
So if you have none of that, then you're fine, but

64
00:08:13,473 --> 00:08:20,602
Anyway, he makes the point that there's a difference between people.

65
00:08:22,104 --> 00:08:28,952
For an ordinary person, it's actually an interesting point because for ordinary people it's sometimes the other way around.

66
00:08:28,992 --> 00:08:33,458
Sometimes when things are fine, people can be quite moral and ethical.

67
00:08:33,778 --> 00:08:36,882
When you don't need to steal, when you don't need to kill,

68
00:08:37,807 --> 00:08:41,093
when there's no adversity, when there's no danger.

69
00:08:42,396 --> 00:08:51,332
But when the going gets tough, many people will abandon their ethics, abandon their goodness, their generosity.

70
00:08:57,764 --> 00:09:00,349
And for other people, it's the other way around.

71
00:09:00,409 --> 00:09:01,030
In hardships,

72
00:09:02,815 --> 00:09:06,321
they are forced to behave themselves.

73
00:09:07,242 --> 00:09:11,409
They have to act in such a way that other people respect them and so on.

74
00:09:12,231 --> 00:09:16,257
But when things are good, they get lazy.

75
00:09:16,698 --> 00:09:19,643
For monastics, this is very much the case.

76
00:09:19,623 --> 00:09:33,028
When things are rough, you're forced to be mindful because there's lots of physical pain and physical discomfort and hunger and thirst and heat and cold that you can't escape.

77
00:09:33,148 --> 00:09:38,138
But when you have the pleasure and the luxury, then it's very easy to get lazy.

78
00:09:38,178 --> 00:09:41,023
It's very easy to become indulgent and so on.

79
00:09:41,003 --> 00:09:50,727
It's actually quite an impressive thing, impressive feat that these monks, having been in such hardship, going to such opulence and not being affected by it.

80
00:09:53,204 --> 00:09:58,591
But the point still stands that it works both ways, and it seems more to me about change than anything.

81
00:09:59,472 --> 00:10:20,781
That after a while you become sort of stable in your situation, and if things don't change, you may become complacent, thinking that everything is okay, but then when things change, you see what you couldn't see because of the stability.

82
00:10:20,761 --> 00:10:27,786
Part of it points out the nature of impermanence or the importance of impermanence.

83
00:10:28,107 --> 00:10:33,285
The harm, the danger of change to one's psyche.

84
00:10:35,003 --> 00:10:39,951
And also the usefulness of impermanence for that very reason.

85
00:10:40,773 --> 00:10:46,081
When things change, you're able to better see your defilement.

86
00:10:46,102 --> 00:10:49,187
When you have the rug pulled out from under you, right?

87
00:10:49,207 --> 00:10:53,173
When everything's going stable, whether it's difficult, if it's difficult you plod along.

88
00:10:53,534 --> 00:10:56,779
If it's good, then you feel calm and at peace.

89
00:10:57,681 --> 00:10:59,003
But when things change...

90
00:10:58,983 --> 00:11:01,489
You can be quite upset.

91
00:11:01,509 --> 00:11:10,933
A person who is living in opulence, if they fall into hardship, would have a very hard time coping mentally with it.

92
00:11:14,542 --> 00:11:19,330
So it goes both ways, and this is continuing this theme in this verse.

93
00:11:19,490 --> 00:11:21,573
We've seen this recently quite a bit.

94
00:11:23,056 --> 00:11:30,929
We talk about how wise people, touched by either happiness or unhappiness, happiness or suffering, show no change.

95
00:11:32,211 --> 00:11:36,498
Na ucha wacha tasayanti.

96
00:11:37,439 --> 00:11:41,646
Ucha means a high, and awacha means a low.

97
00:11:44,191 --> 00:11:46,233
So they experience no highs or lows.

98
00:11:50,277 --> 00:11:50,918
Which is interesting.

99
00:11:50,958 --> 00:11:57,043
People often think of that as being a terribly dull and uninteresting state.

100
00:11:57,504 --> 00:11:59,166
Certainly not something to be strived for.

101
00:11:59,226 --> 00:12:01,868
The highs and the lows are the spice of life, they would say.

102
00:12:01,968 --> 00:12:08,354
It gives life meaning, I guess.

103
00:12:08,435 --> 00:12:09,996
It gives meaning to your happiness.

104
00:12:13,908 --> 00:12:15,653
But it's actually quite the opposite.

105
00:12:15,693 --> 00:12:20,866
We find people who are stuck on happiness and suffering, these are the ones who are like zombies.

106
00:12:21,187 --> 00:12:24,255
They can be very depressed and

107
00:12:25,636 --> 00:12:37,058
colorless in their constant aversion to suffering or in their constant obsession with happiness.

108
00:12:37,138 --> 00:12:42,429
A zombie is someone who is constantly seeking out pleasure.

109
00:12:43,711 --> 00:12:47,779
It's by seeking out pleasure that you become this zombie that consumes and consumes.

110
00:12:50,729 --> 00:12:58,579
Or you're a zombie working just to survive in great hardship, just to cope with suffering.

111
00:12:58,599 --> 00:13:01,943
A person who has had great loss becomes a zombie.

112
00:13:01,963 --> 00:13:20,365
A person who exhibits neither highs nor lows is actually quite at peace, has quite a calm and uplifted mind, a light mind, a mind that is flexible, a mind that is kind and compassionate, because they aren't caught up in their own emotions.

113
00:13:22,403 --> 00:13:32,033
So they're able to approach life with great zest and vigor and clarity and goodness as well.

114
00:13:32,673 --> 00:13:37,378
So their intentions to help others and that kind of thing are pronounced.

115
00:13:38,719 --> 00:13:41,562
Their happiness and their peace are much pronounced.

116
00:13:42,183 --> 00:13:44,065
So they're anything but a zombie.

117
00:13:45,106 --> 00:13:49,390
The zombie is the one who is caught up in likes and dislikes.

118
00:13:51,057 --> 00:14:09,859
They become tired and they get into this trance-like state, zombie-like state of consuming pleasure and coping with suffering.

119
00:14:22,394 --> 00:14:24,938
It's a warning for all of us not to become complacent.

120
00:14:25,038 --> 00:14:27,923
It's easy to think that you're moral and ethical.

121
00:14:28,805 --> 00:14:32,871
If you don't look closely, it's easy to think, well, I'm not a bad person, I'm living fine.

122
00:14:33,352 --> 00:14:36,057
But so much of that is often dependent on our pleasure.

123
00:14:36,097 --> 00:14:42,968
And when you start to meditate, you start to see, ah, yes, actually I'm quite intoxicated by this pleasure.

124
00:14:42,948 --> 00:14:49,958
And many of the things that I thought were harmless are actually building me up to take a fall.

125
00:14:50,499 --> 00:14:57,770
Because when I'm not able to indulge in sensual pleasures anymore, I'm going to get angry and upset and frustrated.

126
00:14:57,810 --> 00:15:06,002
It's what leads us to fight and quarrel and manipulate others, our indulgence in sensuality.

127
00:15:13,660 --> 00:15:16,515
That's really the crux of it.

128
00:15:17,710 --> 00:15:24,337
reactions to pleasant experiences and our reactions to unpleasant experiences.

129
00:15:25,278 --> 00:15:33,226
This about sums up all of the problems that we have, or the problems of the mind that we're working to overcome.

130
00:15:34,647 --> 00:15:35,228
We have these two.

131
00:15:35,248 --> 00:15:40,253
There's a third one that's not really explicitly mentioned here, and that's delusion.

132
00:15:41,394 --> 00:15:46,840
We consider these to be the three evils in the mind, the three things that lead us to suffer.

133
00:15:46,820 --> 00:15:49,865
But they're not equal.

134
00:15:50,547 --> 00:15:54,895
Happiness and unhappiness lead to greed and anger.

135
00:15:54,995 --> 00:15:57,399
Liking and disliking are reactions to these things.

136
00:15:58,201 --> 00:16:00,925
These are, you could say, the surface problem.

137
00:16:00,945 --> 00:16:04,592
But the underlying problem, the third one is the underlying problem.

138
00:16:04,572 --> 00:16:08,618
Our delusion is how we approach these things.

139
00:16:09,159 --> 00:16:26,423
The reason we get angry about unpleasant things, the reason we become attached to pleasant things, is because of our delusion, because of our ignorance, our perception that this one's going to make me happy, this one's something that I... The only way to be happy is to avoid it.

140
00:16:27,304 --> 00:16:29,167
If I chase after this one, I'll be happy.

141
00:16:29,568 --> 00:16:32,031
If I push this one away, I'll also be happy.

142
00:16:32,011 --> 00:16:36,711
Not realizing that the more we push this one away, the more unhappy we will become.

143
00:16:37,534 --> 00:16:42,595
The more we cling to this one, the more needy we will become, and so the more unhappy we will become.

144
00:16:49,409 --> 00:16:52,092
and shameful you'll become.

145
00:16:53,433 --> 00:16:55,776
If you ask yourself, who would you rather have as a friend?

146
00:16:56,637 --> 00:16:57,958
Who would you rather associate with?

147
00:16:58,058 --> 00:17:01,502
Someone who wants a lot?

148
00:17:02,623 --> 00:17:06,807
Or someone who has great wanting?

149
00:17:06,847 --> 00:17:08,069
Or someone who has little wanting?

150
00:17:09,270 --> 00:17:10,812
Who has great desires?

151
00:17:10,872 --> 00:17:12,233
Strong, strong desires?

152
00:17:12,313 --> 00:17:15,456
Or someone who has simple desires?

153
00:17:15,877 --> 00:17:16,918
Or is free from desire?

154
00:17:18,350 --> 00:17:28,668
I don't know, some people might say they like people who have great desires, but if you think about it, when people have great desires, then they end up wanting a lot from you.

155
00:17:29,970 --> 00:17:33,576
Friends who have great desires can be great burdens.

156
00:17:34,758 --> 00:17:36,080
Friends who are hard to please.

157
00:17:38,004 --> 00:17:42,231
Or people who have great aversion to suffering.

158
00:17:45,468 --> 00:18:00,490
So this is the sort of situation we have here, where part of the implication here is that these guys are acting improper, or acting in an unsuitable way.

159
00:18:00,470 --> 00:18:24,807
eaten as this food that that was meant for the monks and sort of living in close quarters with these spiritual people they're acting like well like ordinary ordinary individuals you get that a lot in monasteries when when they get big in in thailand you'd see this a lot where the workers in the monastery is not so very moral someone i uh

160
00:18:26,170 --> 00:18:37,494
I don't know, I was talking to one of the workers about cockroaches and she... I think she pulled out a can of cockroach spray and was trying to hand it to me.

161
00:18:41,021 --> 00:18:41,783
And...

162
00:18:43,535 --> 00:18:44,016
Yeah.

163
00:18:44,036 --> 00:18:47,081
I remember going, we went on this parade once.

164
00:18:48,062 --> 00:18:49,485
The monks, we were up in this boat.

165
00:18:49,525 --> 00:18:51,488
They had us up on this float with a boat.

166
00:18:51,508 --> 00:18:54,232
It was like a boat and people were putting food in the boat.

167
00:18:54,252 --> 00:19:04,108
It was a means of supporting, I don't know actually what it was, what the food was going to be for, but it was a parade with monks, which was kind of nice.

168
00:19:04,088 --> 00:19:11,578
But then the board of directors for the monastery was surrounding it and going on with us.

169
00:19:11,638 --> 00:19:24,375
And then they started pulling, they pulled out alcohol and started drinking whiskey while all around us they were holding on to the edges of the boat and riding the float.

170
00:19:28,760 --> 00:19:36,897
It's a shame, really, that sort of thing, that living so close to such goodness and

171
00:19:38,446 --> 00:19:42,814
such spiritual teachings that they don't bother to put them into practice.

172
00:19:43,696 --> 00:19:46,722
And part of it is this problem of having things too good.

173
00:19:46,962 --> 00:19:51,411
When things are good, people may tend to misbehave.

174
00:19:51,831 --> 00:19:59,526
It's part of the reason why monks are encouraged to go off into the forest and live in simple

175
00:20:00,788 --> 00:20:05,158
accommodations, to live more or less in hardship.

176
00:20:06,421 --> 00:20:08,867
Because it does, it can keep you honest.

177
00:20:09,108 --> 00:20:10,932
It forces you to be mindful.

178
00:20:13,719 --> 00:20:18,510
In terms of the monastic life, hardship is quite often important.

179
00:20:19,722 --> 00:20:26,912
for spiritual development, because it's very easy to get lazy, as we can see here.

180
00:20:27,593 --> 00:20:29,075
Anyway, so a simple teaching.

181
00:20:30,117 --> 00:20:33,201
The verse itself has some interesting points.

182
00:20:34,683 --> 00:20:42,014
The idea that what makes a good person is their practice of renunciation everywhere, whether they're happy or unhappy.

183
00:20:43,376 --> 00:20:48,683
And they never blather on lapayanti, it's an interesting word, they chatter.

184
00:20:50,215 --> 00:20:57,824
The implication is that people who are intoxicated with sensuality will blather on about it.

185
00:20:58,765 --> 00:21:05,934
Something we should catch ourselves in, talking about food or clothing or music or art or this kind of thing.

186
00:21:11,040 --> 00:21:12,021
But one who is

187
00:21:13,418 --> 00:21:19,706
wise, when touched by other happiness or by sorrow, is at peace, is content.

188
00:21:20,687 --> 00:21:24,092
Their happiness, their peace, their contentment is not dependent.

189
00:21:26,034 --> 00:21:30,080
Anamisa sukha is a happiness that is not based on an object.

190
00:21:31,882 --> 00:21:33,324
It doesn't require this or that.

191
00:21:33,344 --> 00:21:34,605
It isn't affected.

192
00:21:35,126 --> 00:21:38,110
It isn't disturbed.

193
00:21:40,486 --> 00:21:47,396
It isn't disturbed and it isn't dependent on external senses, external experiences or phenomena.

194
00:21:48,999 --> 00:21:51,142
This is why meditation is so important.

195
00:21:51,903 --> 00:22:09,970
It's important to understand change and to become familiar with change and to see that change is a part of life so that changes don't affect us, so that our happiness can be our peace of mind, can be undisturbed by change.

196
00:22:11,131 --> 00:22:14,817
Anyway, that's the teaching of this Dhammapada verse.

197
00:22:15,784 --> 00:22:16,811
That's all for now.

198
00:22:16,831 --> 00:22:17,818
Thank you for tuning in.

199
00:22:18,765 --> 00:22:19,993
Keep practicing.