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Hello, today we will continue our study of the Dhammapada, continuing on with verses 7 and 8, which read as follows.

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Subhanupasingh viharantam indriyesu asanghutam bhojanam hi chamatanyum kusitam hi naviriyam tangve pasahati maro vato rukham vadubhalam

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So two verses, and they're parallel, so they're almost the same.

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It sounds like I said the same thing twice, but they're a little bit different.

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Number seven is translated...

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For one who dwells seeing the attractive side of things.

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Who dwells with senses unrestrained.

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Who doesn't know moderation in food.

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Who is lazy and of inferior or low effort or energy.

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Such a one is overpowered, overcome by Mara, by evil.

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Just as the wind overcomes a tree of little strength, or a weak tree.

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And number eight, asubhanupasingviharantam, for one who dwells seeing the unattractive side of things, or the unbeautiful side of things.

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Indriyesususangutam, who dwells with senses restrained.

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Bhojanamityamatanyung, who knows moderation, who does know moderation in food, in eating.

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Who has confidence and faith and has fortified or strong effort and energy.

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Mara doesn't, evil doesn't overcome such a person.

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Just as the wind cannot overcome a mountain made of rock.

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So we have a contrast here.

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One type of person is like a tree, a rotten tree, that the wind can overpower.

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And the other is a mountain, which of course the wind has a lot more difficulty overpowering.

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So these two similes were given in regards to two brothers.

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One verse for each brother.

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And these two brothers were merchants in the time of the Buddha.

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And one of them went to hear the Buddha's teaching and realized that this is...

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sort of true that we can chase after beautiful things and riches and luxury and money and it really doesn't do us any good.

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So he thought to himself there must be a better way and maybe this is the way.

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And he saw that this was true, that chasing after sensual pleasures doesn't really lead to happiness.

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So he decided that he would follow after what the Buddha taught and maybe find a better way, a way to find true peace and happiness.

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And so he went and asked permission to ordain.

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And the Buddha said, well, go ask your brother permission first.

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And he went to his brother and said, I want to become a monk.

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You can take all the wealth you want.

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You can take all of my wealth and do what you want.

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The other brother said, what, are you crazy?

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You have wives.

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You have property.

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And he tried to make all these reasons why he shouldn't ordain.

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But the older brother was convinced, was firm in his idea.

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So the younger brother thought to himself, well, the best way to stop this is if I go and become a monk with him and slowly try to convince him, try to reason with him and bring him back to the lay life.

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So the younger brother ordained as well.

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And so these two brothers ordained under quite different circumstances.

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The first one was intent upon practicing the Buddha's teaching and practicing meditation and developing wisdom and understanding and overcoming his attachments and his desires and being free from suffering.

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And the younger brother was still totally caught up in sensual pleasures and thinking about his family, his wife and his relatives and his wealth and his home and his money and so on.

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and always thinking of ways to get the other brother out.

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So they thus, as a result, lived their lives as monks quite differently.

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The older monk, Mahakala, and the other one was Chulakala, Mahakala lived his life quite seriously, as a monk quite seriously, took it quite seriously.

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So he went to the Buddha and he asked the Buddha, what are the duties in the Buddha's religion?

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And the Buddha said, there are two duties, as I've talked about before.

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The first duty is to study and teach, and the other duty is to practice and become enlightened.

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And the monk said, well, I've become a monk when I'm old.

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It's probably too late for me to learn all of the scriptures and all of the suttas and all of the teachings of the Buddha, or to teach to be able to remember all that.

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But I can practice meditation, and I would like to undertake that duty.

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So he asked the Buddha for the teaching on how to contemplate the foulness of the body and how to live in a cemetery.

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How to undertake the practice of one who lives in a cemetery and contemplating death.

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I guess because he thought he was old and this is something that was really important to him, the ability to understand death and what does it mean to die and to be able to see people who were dead and to

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reflect upon his own mortality and to be ready for death.

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So he undertook this practice.

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The other monk, the other brother, you know, saw him and he said, boy, well, that's, you know, he looked at it as some kind of, you know, troublesome.

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This is what the text says.

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This was something that, you know, his older brother was doing something that was, you know, what a bother that is.

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And so instead he spent all his time gossiping and talking and eating and, you know, sleeping and being lazy and probably breaking all sorts of rules.

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But at any rate being not a very good monk or not at all interested.

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in the Buddha's teaching.

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So as a result, what happened, the older brother, it came that the woman who was looking after the cemetery, she came to know that the monk was there and he would come late at night and leave early in the morning so no one would see him.

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But she found out about him and so she brought a beautiful woman who had died, the body of a beautiful woman.

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She brought it and laid it out and called him and invited him to come and look at it.

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And so he came and looked at this beautiful, young, attractive woman's body and he said, okay, now light it on fire and call me back when the flames have reached the body.

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And so he went back to his kurti and he started meditating.

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And so when the flames were approaching the body, she called the elder over, the monk over.

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And he looked at it and he, you know, so he watched his body burning up.

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First the skin changed color and then the skin blistering and cracking and then contorting and becoming charred and burnt in the face.

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And as he looked at it, the things that went through his mind were, they say, like the realization that this is something before this, viewing this body would have caused people to forget the truth and forget about reality.

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It would cause them to go crazy in the mind.

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All of the chemicals, of course, that start to work, you become intoxicated.

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People would look at this body and become drunk.

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on the chemical lusts.

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And he said, but now look at it.

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He said, truly, everything is impermanent.

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And then he said, he reminded to himself something that the Buddha, of course, had taught in regards to death.

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And that is, And he thought of this verse, which is in the Dhammapada, I believe.

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Anyway, it's somewhere in the... I have to remember exactly where it is.

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Quite sure it must be in the... We'll come to it, I think.

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Anicca vata sankhara, all sankhara are impermanent.

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They arise and they are of the nature to arise and cease.

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Having come, they go.

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Having arisen, they cease.

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The final stilling or being free from this incessant arising and ceasing, that is true peace, true happiness.

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And so he thought like this and he realized that actually this is how it goes.

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You're born and then you have to get old and sick and die.

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And this arising and ceasing, this coming and going, this incessant birth and death that we have to face, this is really the problem.

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And so he took this as something that woke him up and something that allowed him

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to create a kind of a paradigm shift, a different way of looking at things inside.

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And so then when he started meditating on this, all the time coming back to this, all of his attachments to the body were given up.

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And his ability to practice then vipassana meditation, to see things clearly, as he was looking at his own attachments to the body, he was able to look at them in a new light, obviously.

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And so this helped his meditation, and he was able as a result to become anarahan, enlightened.

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This is what happened to Mahakala.

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Chulakala was another story.

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Now it so happened that because of all of his antics and his way of living his monk's life, he obviously wasn't very mindful and wasn't very prepared for anything pleasant.

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And this is, you know, we're going to get to when we talk about the verses, what the difference is here and what the importance is.

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And so it happened that one day all of the monks were invited to the house of Mahakala and Chulakala.

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And so Mahakala sent Chulakala back to the house to prepare the seats and to make sure that the Buddha's seat and the chief disciple's seats and then the senior monk's seats and then the lower monk's seats, it has to go in order and make sure it was all orderly.

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And so he went, and when he got there, no one took him seriously, because these people weren't really religious anyway, but at any rate, he wasn't a very serious monk.

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So they didn't take him seriously, and they joked with him.

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They put all the seats in the wrong position.

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They put the younger monk's seats at the front, and the senior monk's seats at the back, and put the Buddha's seat in the wrong place.

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And so he was saying, no, no, no, don't do this, don't do this, don't do this.

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And they looked at him and they started making a joke of him.

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They said, who are you?

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Who do you think you are to come and tell us and to order us around?

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And they said, who gave you permission to go forth?

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And then they took his robes, they pulled his robes off, stripped him naked and put white clothes on him, surrounding him.

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There were two wives, you know, outnumbering him.

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And I guess all the servants or whatever, they all kind of ganged up on him.

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He put white clothes on him, put a wreath of flowers on his head and sent him off.

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He said, okay, now go and get the Buddha.

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Go and bring the Buddha.

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They disrobed him.

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And the text goes that he wasn't really concerned about this.

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He was like, you know, whatever.

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Okay, I'll go back in white clothes.

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Because he had no interest in being a monk anyway.

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And the text also says that this is the nature of monks who have recently gone forth.

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And I've seen this before.

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Where they don't have this sort of idea that, oh, now I'm a monk.

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Now I have to...

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kind of be a representative of the monastic order and so on.

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And so they don't see a difference.

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They go back.

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They're able to go back and forth.

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I think after you've been a monk for some time, it would be more difficult.

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And you'd have a more difficult time wearing pants and a shirt and so on.

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I would anyway.

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So anyway, then he goes back to the Buddha and he says, you know, now the time has come for the meal.

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And so everyone's like looking at him, you know, what happened to him and realizing that he had been disrobed by his wives.

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And so they came back and they ate the meal and the Buddha gave the blessing and so on.

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Finished and did all the ceremony of the giving of the food.

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and went back to the monastery.

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Now, as a result, the younger brother was no longer a monk, and he stayed at home, and he went back to his home life.

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And this got the wives of the elder brother thinking.

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In India, I guess, rich people had lots of wives, because according to the story, the younger brother had two wives.

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Their middle brother, who wasn't with them, had four wives, and the older brother had eight wives.

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This is how the story goes.

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So the eight wives of the elder brother, who was now an enlightened being, decided that, hey, this is a good idea.

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They got their husband back, these two wives, so what if we get our husband back?

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So they invited the Buddha to come again with all the monks.

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And this time they were hoping that it would be Mahakala who would come and prepare the seats.

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But unfortunately for them, another monk was instructed to come and do the seat arrangement.

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So they didn't get the chance.

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Now the Buddha came and they had the whole ceremony and at the end the Buddha said, okay, we're going to leave Mahakala, the older brother, he'll stay and give the blessing, give the desana, the talk, he'll give an instruction to the people.

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Because after they give the meal, the monk will always, as a tradition, would give some kind of teaching as a kind of a thanks or appreciation of the gift.

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And so the Buddha said, leave him alone here to give this blessing, which was like, you know, all the monks are looking at each other like, is he serious?

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Is this, you know, is this for real?

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Because, you know, the day before or recently before, the other monk had been disrobed by these two wives.

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So what was going to happen with these eight wives?

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So on the way back, they're all talking about this, and like, you know, did the Buddha realize what he was doing?

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Or, you know, is there something he knows that we don't?

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What's going to happen with this guy?

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Is he going to be disrobed, or is he not going to be disrobed?

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And I think we can all guess the outcome of the story, that there's no way for him to be disrobed.

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But apparently what happened, and this is the story, I'm not going to dispute it, I'm just going to tell it.

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The story goes that he was surrounded by his eight wives, and he's trying to give this discourse, and they're like, oh, what are you doing, talking, trying to preach to us?

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Who are you?

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Who gave you permission to ordain?

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And they tried to grab his robes and so on.

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But of course he wasn't at all the same as his younger brother and he wasn't at all interested in playing their games.

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So he entered into a meditative state and floated up into the air above their heads and actually popped the top off the roof.

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It would have been straw roof, not tile or anything.

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And flew back to where the Buddha was.

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So the Buddha was talking to the monks at the time, and he heard the monks talking about it.

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He said, what are you talking about?

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They said, well, we're kind of confused.

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The Buddha surely is aware of that.

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Chulakala was disrobed by his wife, so we're just wondering what's going to happen to Mahakala.

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I mean, isn't it dangerous to leave him alone with his wives?

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And the Buddha said, what, do you think these two are the same?

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My son and that useless man who disrobed?

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And he said, they're as far apart as a rotten tree in a mountain.

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And this is when he gave these two similes.

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He said, Subha Nupa Singh and so on.

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He said, a person who is intent upon beauty, upon the attractive nature of things, who has their senses unrestrained, who doesn't know moderation in food, who is lazy, who has little energy.

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such a one is overcome, Mara, evil overcomes such a one, overpowers such a one, just as a tree, just as the wind overpowers a weak and rotten tree.

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But on the other hand, a person who sees the unattractive side of things and who guards their senses, who is restrained in the senses,

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who knows moderation in food, who is confident and has faith, who has strong and established energy and effort.

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who, such a person is not overcome by Mara.

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Mara doesn't, evil doesn't overpower such a person.

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Just as the wind cannot overpower a mountain made of rock.

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And as he said these last words, Mahakala landed at his feet and bowed down and prostrated to the Buddha.

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And that ends the story.

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So I think this is a rather important verse.

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It gets a little closer to the core than I think we've gotten with the other verses.

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It gets closer to the practice, I think, in the sense that it gives us some fairly specific practices or aspects of our practice, guidelines for our practice, and sort of a way of establishing whether we're on the right path or on the wrong path.

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so the first one the first part I am

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Well, for the first, let's talk about Mara, I think.

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We should talk about what this means.

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The word Mara means, as I said, it means simply evil.

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But we can understand that there are five kinds of evil in Buddhism.

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And as I understand this is, if I remember correctly, this is somewhere in, I think, the Book of Fives of the Anguttara Nikaya.

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I'm going to have to check it again.

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But I have read it.

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So the five kinds of Mara, the first one is Khanda Mara, our...

201
00:19:32,692 --> 00:19:37,938
our aggregates, the physical and the mental part of our being.

202
00:19:38,299 --> 00:19:42,003
This has some evil to it, or there's an evil side to it.

203
00:19:42,183 --> 00:19:43,745
There is a danger there.

204
00:19:44,406 --> 00:19:46,008
And the danger is, of course, in clinging.

205
00:19:46,689 --> 00:19:51,475
Because old age, sickness and death are inherent in them.

206
00:19:51,495 --> 00:19:52,516
So there is an evil there.

207
00:19:52,556 --> 00:19:53,417
The evil comes

208
00:19:53,768 --> 00:19:56,572
When you get old, when you get sick, when you die.

209
00:19:56,852 --> 00:20:01,639
It comes for people who have sicknesses, people who have disabilities and so on.

210
00:20:02,180 --> 00:20:08,949
People who have something, some kind of... Or when these things change.

211
00:20:09,790 --> 00:20:12,314
And they cause us some kind of difficulty.

212
00:20:12,414 --> 00:20:13,936
When they change in a way that we don't want them.

213
00:20:13,956 --> 00:20:16,620
Because actually there's nothing wrong with old age sickness and death.

214
00:20:16,600 --> 00:20:19,064
But the truth is it's because of the change.

215
00:20:20,126 --> 00:20:27,578
We're used to being powerful and exercising and running and jumping and playing and so on and now we can't do that.

216
00:20:28,400 --> 00:20:33,428
We're used to a pleasant feeling in our body and now we don't have that.

217
00:20:33,998 --> 00:20:36,321
We're used to freedom from painful feelings.

218
00:20:36,381 --> 00:20:38,024
Now we have painful feelings and so on.

219
00:20:38,465 --> 00:20:46,697
So because things are changing, and they're changing in a way that we are partial against, we would rather things be a different way.

220
00:20:47,578 --> 00:20:49,521
We're attached to a specific way of being.

221
00:20:50,522 --> 00:20:53,466
When this arises, it becomes an evil thing for us.

222
00:20:53,527 --> 00:20:55,570
I mean, it's a real problem for so many people.

223
00:20:55,610 --> 00:20:57,272
I don't think we need to argue about that.

224
00:20:59,750 --> 00:21:01,293
So that's the first kind of mara.

225
00:21:01,333 --> 00:21:04,999
The second one is kilesa mara, the evil of defilements.

226
00:21:05,019 --> 00:21:09,486
So that in our mind we have certain things that we can understand to be evil.

227
00:21:10,288 --> 00:21:20,425
Greed is evil, anger is evil, hatred, conceit, fear is not a good thing, worry.

228
00:21:20,793 --> 00:21:25,721
distraction, doubt, these are all things which are evil in the sense that they cripple us.

229
00:21:26,302 --> 00:21:29,947
And really that's how we should understand evil to be in this sense.

230
00:21:29,967 --> 00:21:36,878
We're not talking about immoral in the sense of being outside of a code of what is proper.

231
00:21:37,212 --> 00:21:44,745
It's improper, it's immoral, as I've said before, because it cripples you, it does bad things to you, it causes suffering.

232
00:21:44,945 --> 00:21:49,533
It's a utilitarian sort of doctrine or idea.

233
00:21:49,573 --> 00:21:52,999
The concept of evil here is in a utilitarian sense.

234
00:21:53,019 --> 00:21:57,988
It means it has a function to disable and cripple us.

235
00:21:58,627 --> 00:22:01,130
So anger is something that cripples the mind.

236
00:22:01,190 --> 00:22:02,792
Greed is something that cripples the mind.

237
00:22:03,072 --> 00:22:20,333
These are things which infatuate you, which intoxicate you, which give rise to chemical reactions and addictions in the mind, whereby you're unable to separate right from wrong, where you're unable to be impartial and wise and to understand what is in your benefit.

238
00:22:20,353 --> 00:22:26,440
So you end up, you know, this is why people become addicted to drugs and so on, why people fall into many great problems.

239
00:22:27,331 --> 00:22:28,293
So this is an evil.

240
00:22:28,333 --> 00:22:33,263
The third evil is abhisankarama, which means our karma.

241
00:22:33,523 --> 00:22:35,066
Abhisankara means formation.

242
00:22:35,226 --> 00:22:38,873
But in this simple definition is our karma, our deeds.

243
00:22:40,477 --> 00:22:43,182
As our deeds can be a great evil to us.

244
00:22:43,863 --> 00:22:46,428
If you've hurt other people, it can be a great danger to you.

245
00:22:46,528 --> 00:22:46,909
If you've

246
00:22:47,176 --> 00:22:49,679
done things that get you in trouble with other people.

247
00:22:49,719 --> 00:22:51,201
It can get you in trouble with the law.

248
00:22:51,261 --> 00:22:52,402
It can come back to haunt you.

249
00:22:53,223 --> 00:22:59,471
It certainly comes back to haunt your mind and the guilt that you feel because of the bad things that you've done.

250
00:23:00,332 --> 00:23:01,613
But it can haunt you in many ways.

251
00:23:01,754 --> 00:23:11,125
It can come back at the moment of death where you remember it and where it leads to some kind of clinging or aversion or fear or anger and a bad rebirth.

252
00:23:11,780 --> 00:23:16,067
as well, so it can have many different consequences.

253
00:23:16,147 --> 00:23:24,439
Obviously if we develop bad thoughts and as a result do lots of bad deeds, it's going to come back and haunt us.

254
00:23:24,499 --> 00:23:27,144
When we've hurt other people, they're going to come back and hurt us.

255
00:23:28,025 --> 00:23:36,217
We'll feel guilty about it and when we die our mind will be impure and as a result we'll continue on in an impure way.

256
00:23:38,140 --> 00:23:39,222
So that's number three.

257
00:23:39,691 --> 00:23:41,533
Number four is machumara.

258
00:23:41,713 --> 00:23:43,135
Machumara means just death.

259
00:23:44,216 --> 00:23:49,723
So different from kandamara is in regards to the changing in the aggregates in the body and the mind.

260
00:23:50,203 --> 00:23:52,266
Machumara is the fact that we all have to die.

261
00:23:52,326 --> 00:23:55,129
And this is an evil thing.

262
00:23:56,210 --> 00:23:57,632
Again, it's not evil.

263
00:23:57,692 --> 00:24:00,615
It's only evil in the sense that it cripples you.

264
00:24:01,656 --> 00:24:03,859
For a person who is keen on

265
00:24:03,839 --> 00:24:07,644
being wealthy and rich and powerful and so on.

266
00:24:07,664 --> 00:24:14,833
I mean, this is the ultimate crippling, the ultimate end to your power, end to your devices, to your design.

267
00:24:15,494 --> 00:24:20,821
You know, your intention is this, this, this, this, this, be this, this, this, you know, then death comes.

268
00:24:21,401 --> 00:24:23,584
It can even come when your plans aren't fulfilled.

269
00:24:23,684 --> 00:24:24,645
It can come tomorrow.

270
00:24:25,366 --> 00:24:27,189
I could be gone tomorrow.

271
00:24:27,729 --> 00:24:28,751
Any of us could be gone.

272
00:24:28,811 --> 00:24:33,036
We could be dead on a moment's notice, without notice.

273
00:24:34,180 --> 00:24:37,644
So this is something that is an evil that we should keep in mind.

274
00:24:38,045 --> 00:24:45,274
Again, it's just something that can cause difficulty for people who cling, and it's only really for people who cling.

275
00:24:46,235 --> 00:24:48,978
And that's the difference between these two verses, as I'll come to.

276
00:24:49,879 --> 00:24:56,708
The fifth one is Devaputtamara, which I don't think is really... No, it does come to play, I suppose.

277
00:24:57,068 --> 00:25:04,137
Devaputtamara means an angel, like Satan, a fallen angel, much in the same way as Christian Satan.

278
00:25:04,117 --> 00:25:16,884
Mara is someone who is said to have followed the Buddha around trying to find some way to get the Buddha to fall into some kind of defilement or to do the wrong thing, to trick the Buddha in this way and that way.

279
00:25:17,505 --> 00:25:23,678
He is said to have come around to all the monks and tried to trick them and there are stories about how he tried to trick this monk or that monk.

280
00:25:23,658 --> 00:25:29,525
and how he was able to trick certain monks and how he was not able to trick those monks who had been practicing.

281
00:25:30,587 --> 00:25:32,810
So clearly it's the same issue here.

282
00:25:32,850 --> 00:25:42,842
And this one does come into play actually because many meditators talk about hearing voices, seeing visions and so on during their meditation.

283
00:25:43,463 --> 00:25:50,712
It comes into play with other religions where people say they have seen God, where God came and told them this and that or where...

284
00:25:50,692 --> 00:25:54,137
angel came and told them this, or a voice came and told them this and that.

285
00:25:56,100 --> 00:26:06,755
And it's a very important answer that has to be stated, and we should all hear and it should be clear in our minds.

286
00:26:07,235 --> 00:26:13,965
We should be aware of this fact, or at least as a question to ourselves, that

287
00:26:14,789 --> 00:26:23,545
The question is not whether you heard or saw or experienced something.

288
00:26:24,467 --> 00:26:29,476
The question is not even whether that experience came from an external source.

289
00:26:30,378 --> 00:26:32,141
Those are two questions people ask.

290
00:26:32,161 --> 00:26:34,346
Was it really God talking to me?

291
00:26:34,406 --> 00:26:36,730
Did someone really come or did I imagine it?

292
00:26:36,828 --> 00:27:00,405
and then the question of did you really experience it or are you just lying to us these two are two questions that people ask but those aren't really the question the question is whether you can trust the voice that you heard you say it was God but that's where we can't trust you because how do you know it was God how do you know it was not Satan posing as God

293
00:27:01,769 --> 00:27:04,316
And I think this is a very important question.

294
00:27:04,376 --> 00:27:09,250
It's one that many meditators in modern times, non-Buddhists and so on, wouldn't even think of.

295
00:27:09,931 --> 00:27:17,753
But as Buddhists and as open-minded people who are open to the idea that, yeah, maybe there are spirits out there and angels and gods and so on,

296
00:27:17,733 --> 00:27:24,539
It's something that we should incorporate into our understanding of these things, or our open-mindedness.

297
00:27:24,679 --> 00:27:26,020
It's another question we should ask.

298
00:27:26,601 --> 00:27:39,592
Not just, is he lying to us, or is he just imagining it, but also, is the voice he's hearing coming from a good place?

299
00:27:39,892 --> 00:27:42,134
Is it something that can be trusted?

300
00:27:44,036 --> 00:27:46,238
Because we had a monk once in Thailand,

301
00:27:46,488 --> 00:27:50,195
who tried to commit suicide on several occasions.

302
00:27:50,335 --> 00:27:50,696
And why?

303
00:27:50,776 --> 00:27:52,819
Because voices were telling him to.

304
00:27:52,839 --> 00:27:58,269
Voices said to him if he killed himself he would be something like the phoenix or something like that.

305
00:27:58,309 --> 00:28:00,794
He set himself on fire and tried to burn himself.

306
00:28:01,295 --> 00:28:04,541
He would be reborn as a bodhisattva or some ridiculous thing.

307
00:28:04,581 --> 00:28:08,648
He was a little bit... He's much better now apparently but at the time he was quite

308
00:28:09,252 --> 00:28:20,832
wound up and all because of voices that he heard in his head so the question doesn't just have to be oh he's just making it up that doesn't have to be the answer the answer can be

309
00:28:21,267 --> 00:28:29,298
Just because someone's telling you something, whether it's in your head or whether it's in your ear, it doesn't mean you should listen to them.

310
00:28:29,698 --> 00:28:31,821
And this is the story of deva-puttamara.

311
00:28:32,041 --> 00:28:36,608
The importance of it, I think, is that it can come to people.

312
00:28:37,649 --> 00:28:41,935
So you don't have to question whether it's real or not, but you have to question whether it's worth following or not.

313
00:28:42,355 --> 00:28:48,844
Because people's... Unless it's someone you can really trust and you've lived with a long time and who has led you in a good way...

314
00:28:48,824 --> 00:28:54,150
You wouldn't go listening to a stranger on the street just because they told you to do this or that.

315
00:28:54,170 --> 00:28:56,272
Why are you listening to a stranger in your head?

316
00:28:56,312 --> 00:28:58,315
What's the difference?

317
00:28:58,335 --> 00:29:00,117
Okay, so these are the five Maras.

318
00:29:01,418 --> 00:29:05,663
So Mara can overpower one type of person and not overpower another type of person.

319
00:29:06,084 --> 00:29:12,070
The type of person that Mara can overpower is a person who sees the beauty and the attractive side of things.

320
00:29:13,152 --> 00:29:16,215
And this is something that, of course, is...

321
00:29:16,567 --> 00:29:25,183
unacceptable to many people, the idea that we should give up the beautiful side of things, that we should cease our attachment to the beautiful side of things.

322
00:29:25,243 --> 00:29:26,706
And I'm not going to say anything to that.

323
00:29:26,746 --> 00:29:35,723
If you're still the type of person who likes to follow after these things, then well, just listen on and you'll get to hear our understanding of what's in store for you.

324
00:29:36,091 --> 00:29:38,774
because there are disadvantages to it.

325
00:29:38,894 --> 00:29:47,343
But to each their own, and obviously not everyone is going to follow the teachings that I teach, not going to follow the Buddha's teachings.

326
00:29:48,625 --> 00:29:51,808
There are many different paths and people go in many different directions.

327
00:29:51,848 --> 00:29:56,694
In this case we have two separate individuals, one who went one way and the other who went the other way.

328
00:29:58,295 --> 00:30:00,698
The problem with a person who goes the one way

329
00:30:01,100 --> 00:30:05,166
It's not that we're going to say bad things about them.

330
00:30:05,186 --> 00:30:07,289
It's not that we're going to look down upon this person.

331
00:30:07,690 --> 00:30:11,376
But the problem with following that way is that Mara overpowers you.

332
00:30:11,396 --> 00:30:13,739
These five evils will overpower you.

333
00:30:14,420 --> 00:30:16,544
And they will have influence over you.

334
00:30:16,724 --> 00:30:17,505
All five of them.

335
00:30:17,772 --> 00:30:18,593
And you can see this.

336
00:30:18,914 --> 00:30:20,296
There are examples I could give.

337
00:30:21,017 --> 00:30:27,065
I don't want to go on and on and on, but I think it should be quite clear, because I'll just say in brief why it occurs.

338
00:30:27,847 --> 00:30:31,512
A person who looks at the attractive side of things is then partial.

339
00:30:31,632 --> 00:30:35,478
They're developing partiality towards this experience.

340
00:30:35,498 --> 00:30:37,961
As a result, when they get old, sick, and die, they'll be upset.

341
00:30:38,422 --> 00:30:42,708
When things come that they don't want, the defilements will arise.

342
00:30:44,070 --> 00:30:46,193
The khandamara, the...

343
00:30:46,409 --> 00:30:50,735
They will do bad deeds as a result of these things.

344
00:30:51,015 --> 00:30:51,656
People fight.

345
00:30:51,976 --> 00:30:55,040
Why do people fight over dead people, their inheritance?

346
00:30:55,081 --> 00:30:56,222
People fight when they're alive.

347
00:30:56,282 --> 00:30:57,344
Husbands fight with wives.

348
00:30:59,026 --> 00:31:00,187
Children fight with parents.

349
00:31:00,287 --> 00:31:01,329
Friends fight with friends.

350
00:31:02,470 --> 00:31:05,655
This you see constantly all over the world.

351
00:31:06,195 --> 00:31:06,696
And why?

352
00:31:07,165 --> 00:31:08,967
Because people see the beautiful side of things.

353
00:31:09,067 --> 00:31:11,391
Because people are attracted to this and attracted to that.

354
00:31:11,451 --> 00:31:12,252
This is the danger.

355
00:31:12,632 --> 00:31:13,593
This is what we don't see.

356
00:31:14,615 --> 00:31:15,436
There's many dangers.

357
00:31:15,656 --> 00:31:18,600
We could go on and on.

358
00:31:18,700 --> 00:31:23,586
The reason why this is, is because the person is indriyesu asamhutam.

359
00:31:23,727 --> 00:31:28,493
A person who doesn't guard their senses, who doesn't restrain their senses.

360
00:31:28,513 --> 00:31:32,498
So when they see something, they let themselves...

361
00:31:32,478 --> 00:31:34,481
give rise to partiality.

362
00:31:34,581 --> 00:31:36,123
They look at it, oh, that's beautiful.

363
00:31:36,143 --> 00:31:37,204
They look at it, that's ugly.

364
00:31:37,945 --> 00:31:39,588
And they don't try to go deeper.

365
00:31:39,628 --> 00:31:42,431
They don't try to penetrate and see actually the truth.

366
00:31:42,451 --> 00:31:44,514
That in fact, well, that's no different from that.

367
00:31:44,534 --> 00:31:45,135
It's seeing.

368
00:31:45,175 --> 00:31:46,217
It's light touching the eye.

369
00:31:46,257 --> 00:31:47,699
The reality of it is the same.

370
00:31:49,100 --> 00:31:50,322
The reality is one thing.

371
00:31:50,362 --> 00:31:51,043
Our

372
00:31:51,496 --> 00:32:05,404
the brain functioning and however our brain has been set up and the chemicals in the brain and so on and the mind's attachment and the mind's tendencies to

373
00:32:06,042 --> 00:32:14,316
remembering how this brought pleasure and so on, are another thing, because in fact one thing is no different from another.

374
00:32:14,857 --> 00:32:26,717
The reality is actually quite impartial, and thus true experience of reality is actually quite neutral in the sense, but in the sense of being natural.

375
00:32:26,697 --> 00:32:31,163
You know, there are the ups and the downs, and there's the rain, and there's the sun, and so on.

376
00:32:31,804 --> 00:32:35,489
And there's the change, but it's natural, and there's no attachment.

377
00:32:35,529 --> 00:32:38,113
It's not like it's just always the same thing.

378
00:32:38,854 --> 00:32:43,781
When you're clearly in touch with reality, it changes, it moves, but you change with it.

379
00:32:43,861 --> 00:32:46,164
It's interacting rather than reacting.

380
00:32:46,725 --> 00:32:47,406
That's all.

381
00:32:48,500 --> 00:32:52,726
But this has to come about through guarding and through restraining the senses.

382
00:32:52,746 --> 00:32:55,610
In the sense of when you see something, there should be a filter.

383
00:32:56,871 --> 00:33:10,229
Because unless you're enlightened, unless you're already clearly aware of reality as it is, there's constantly a filter of a different sort, the filter of partiality, liking and disliking.

384
00:33:10,249 --> 00:33:13,073
When you see something, right away there's the reactions to it.

385
00:33:13,053 --> 00:33:20,708
So instead we have this kind of filter to purify it, to get rid of the partiality.

386
00:33:21,449 --> 00:33:23,654
And that's simply to see that this is seeing.

387
00:33:24,095 --> 00:33:26,319
So when you see something, you remind yourself that's seeing.

388
00:33:27,241 --> 00:33:31,028
Instead of saying, oh, that's beautiful, or oh, that's ugly, and so on.

389
00:33:31,733 --> 00:33:35,560
you come to be impartial.

390
00:33:35,700 --> 00:33:37,063
This is seeing, that's seeing.

391
00:33:37,704 --> 00:33:38,886
This is hearing, that's hearing.

392
00:33:40,028 --> 00:33:46,840
And you find that yourself... You know, people talk about this as being kind of boring or the kind of thing that makes you...

393
00:33:46,820 --> 00:33:54,087
totally a robot or inhuman or so on, and that the ups and the downs are a part of humanity, the likes and the dislikes.

394
00:33:54,127 --> 00:33:55,189
I've talked about this before.

395
00:33:55,949 --> 00:33:59,233
But in the end, the answer is, well, try for yourself.

396
00:33:59,273 --> 00:34:04,178
You know, you've tried partiality and your likes and your dislikes and they haven't made you truly happy.

397
00:34:04,598 --> 00:34:05,639
Try this for a change.

398
00:34:06,100 --> 00:34:14,228
See what happens when you just know this is seeing, this is seeing, this is hearing, this is smelling, this is tasting, this is feeling, this is thinking, this is walking, this is standing.

399
00:34:14,208 --> 00:34:15,590
And so on.

400
00:34:15,610 --> 00:34:16,351
And see what happens.

401
00:34:16,471 --> 00:34:17,933
I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.

402
00:34:18,154 --> 00:34:24,623
Many people have a sanghutang, so, guarding the senses.

403
00:34:24,643 --> 00:34:26,646
So we guard them with mindfulness, basically.

404
00:34:26,686 --> 00:34:29,390
It just means to, when you see something, it should only be seen.

405
00:34:30,411 --> 00:34:35,459
Bhojanam hi chamatan yung, a person who doesn't know moderation in eating.

406
00:34:35,479 --> 00:34:39,244
Now this is important because food is really the one thing that we need to survive.

407
00:34:39,324 --> 00:34:39,945
And it's

408
00:34:39,925 --> 00:34:43,813
It's really the biggest deal for all people.

409
00:34:44,634 --> 00:34:46,157
It's the one that is totally universal.

410
00:34:46,739 --> 00:34:48,001
You can't go without food.

411
00:34:48,502 --> 00:34:49,624
No one can go without food.

412
00:34:50,366 --> 00:34:52,570
Not easily, anyway.

413
00:34:52,590 --> 00:34:55,977
So it's something that we have to be very careful about, and it's very easy to...

414
00:34:56,345 --> 00:34:57,106
abuse it.

415
00:34:57,366 --> 00:35:01,089
If you abuse it, it leads to your physical discomfort and sickness.

416
00:35:01,129 --> 00:35:24,850
It also leads to mental defilement, where a person who engages in overeating or indulgence in sweet foods and salty food, delicacies, their likes and so on, their attachments, something which intoxicates the mind, it takes away your ability to see things clearly.

417
00:35:24,830 --> 00:35:36,083
A person who is lazy and hasn't the energy, who doesn't get up in practice, who doesn't push themselves to develop themselves.

418
00:35:36,344 --> 00:35:38,827
Because it's very easy to suffer actually.

419
00:35:39,427 --> 00:35:43,953
It's very easy to let yourself go in a way that is painful and unpleasant.

420
00:35:44,974 --> 00:35:46,035
People do it all the time, right?

421
00:35:46,075 --> 00:35:48,458
People who are depressed can stay that way for years.

422
00:35:48,438 --> 00:35:49,399
It takes effort.

423
00:35:49,439 --> 00:35:50,701
It takes work, actually.

424
00:35:51,202 --> 00:35:52,723
It's something that we should be aware of.

425
00:35:52,743 --> 00:35:57,950
It takes work for us to actually purify our minds, to be clear and to see things as they are.

426
00:35:58,691 --> 00:36:01,354
It's something that you have to work hard at, actually.

427
00:36:02,396 --> 00:36:03,577
And we should be always working on it.

428
00:36:03,617 --> 00:36:05,159
It's something that should be continuous.

429
00:36:05,279 --> 00:36:11,307
So the work here is reminding yourself again and again, now I'm meditating, now I'm seeing, now I'm hearing.

430
00:36:11,793 --> 00:36:17,685
When you're eating your food, you can be mindful of chewing, chewing and tasting and swallowing, being aware of it.

431
00:36:17,725 --> 00:36:24,118
The mindfulness should be continuous and this takes effort, it takes work to remind yourself again and again.

432
00:36:24,699 --> 00:36:28,587
When you want to go back to your old ways to pull yourself up out of the mud,

433
00:36:29,039 --> 00:36:33,464
Like you want to fall back into the mud and pull yourself up and keep pulling and pulling.

434
00:36:34,185 --> 00:36:40,192
And it's like, it's really like, you know, in the beginning you just fall back into the mud all the time.

435
00:36:40,212 --> 00:36:44,598
You're pulling, you're working hard to change your mind, to change your habits, and the habits keep coming back.

436
00:36:45,098 --> 00:36:47,621
You keep falling into the same old habits again.

437
00:36:47,661 --> 00:36:50,665
And so people get discouraged by this.

438
00:36:50,745 --> 00:36:51,506
I was talking about it.

439
00:36:51,526 --> 00:36:53,048
It's like lifting weights, right?

440
00:36:53,749 --> 00:36:55,010
Eventually you get stronger.

441
00:36:55,351 --> 00:36:56,532
You keep pulling.

442
00:36:56,512 --> 00:37:26,367
keep pulling and pulling yourself really out of the mud eventually you get stronger that doesn't move you're pulling this cart out of the mud the cart keeps going back in but eventually you get stronger and eventually you get so strong that you can actually pull it out so we should never be discouraged just because we fall back into defilement this is one great thing about the fight with Mara it's eternal you can take forever and as long as you're building up strength eventually you'll get strong enough to fight

443
00:37:26,870 --> 00:37:29,014
There's no defeat.

444
00:37:29,655 --> 00:37:31,899
Here we say Mara overpowers this person.

445
00:37:32,540 --> 00:37:36,887
But the great thing is that Mara has to work forever to keep us in samsara.

446
00:37:36,907 --> 00:37:39,772
All it takes is once to get free from the mud.

447
00:37:40,233 --> 00:37:41,415
And once you're free, you're free.

448
00:37:42,357 --> 00:37:43,679
Mara has no power over you.

449
00:37:45,402 --> 00:37:48,287
We see how this works.

450
00:37:50,005 --> 00:37:59,264
very clearly, I think, in the monastic community because there are monks who are totally corrupt and something that I think should be clearly stated.

451
00:37:59,304 --> 00:38:01,448
Not all monks are truly practicing.

452
00:38:01,508 --> 00:38:02,691
I'm not going to hide that.

453
00:38:02,711 --> 00:38:06,037
I'm not going to try to pretend that we're all holy or so on.

454
00:38:06,078 --> 00:38:06,799
I think there are

455
00:38:06,779 --> 00:38:13,290
There are incredibly terrible things happening in the monastic community, if you can call it that anymore.

456
00:38:13,390 --> 00:38:19,761
There are people who are wearing robes but acting as whatever.

457
00:38:20,683 --> 00:38:28,416
Business people are engaging in total immorality in so many different ways.

458
00:38:29,071 --> 00:38:33,780
And then there are people who are in the robes who are pure and are really practicing.

459
00:38:34,221 --> 00:38:35,443
These both you can see today.

460
00:38:35,504 --> 00:38:42,036
I would like to make it clear that you shouldn't think that just because someone is wearing a robe that it means something.

461
00:38:42,156 --> 00:38:48,389
It has a meaning for those people who give it meaning, for those people who give it meaning.

462
00:38:49,932 --> 00:38:51,214
It's like a vehicle.

463
00:38:51,481 --> 00:38:56,453
You have a car, if you just leave it parked on your lawn, it has no meaning.

464
00:38:57,034 --> 00:38:57,776
It has no purpose.

465
00:38:57,957 --> 00:38:59,320
It just looks good.

466
00:38:59,340 --> 00:39:01,806
It's something that people come and say, wow, what a powerful car.

467
00:39:02,367 --> 00:39:04,452
And you can say, yeah, yeah, powerful, but you don't know.

468
00:39:04,472 --> 00:39:05,936
The engine could be rotten inside.

469
00:39:06,517 --> 00:39:06,958
It looks good.

470
00:39:07,495 --> 00:39:16,132
But when the car is actually out driving, when you drive around and people can say that car is well tuned, that car drives fast, that car is smooth and so on.

471
00:39:16,153 --> 00:39:17,996
Then you can see how it goes.

472
00:39:18,617 --> 00:39:19,519
The monk's life is like this.

473
00:39:19,559 --> 00:39:21,523
If you don't use it, it's meaningless.

474
00:39:24,069 --> 00:39:28,778
But what we can see is the incredible importance and the danger

475
00:39:29,416 --> 00:39:32,240
in regards to these dhammas.

476
00:39:32,500 --> 00:39:50,164
That a person who cultivates bad habits, who gets caught up in entertainment, who gets caught up in indulgence, who gets caught up in laziness, sleeping and eating and worldly things, it grows on you like a creeper.

477
00:39:50,504 --> 00:39:52,667
Buddha would say it's like a vine.

478
00:39:53,408 --> 00:39:56,993
You have this great tree and

479
00:39:58,660 --> 00:40:05,269
The tree, there's a vine growing up and the tree says, ah, it's just a little vine, you know, it's just a seed, what's the deal?

480
00:40:06,090 --> 00:40:11,358
And then they say, no, no, no, you don't think of it as just a small thing.

481
00:40:11,518 --> 00:40:16,044
Eventually the vine comes up and strangles the tree and kills it.

482
00:40:17,006 --> 00:40:20,230
And the Buddha said it's like this, it creeps up on you.

483
00:40:20,210 --> 00:40:23,677
In the beginning you think, ah, just a little bit here, a little bit there.

484
00:40:24,779 --> 00:40:28,806
And before you know it, it's years and years have gone by and you've gotten yourself in a rut.

485
00:40:29,407 --> 00:40:34,116
And then Mara comes, boom, you get sick, you get old, and you're not ready for it.

486
00:40:34,237 --> 00:40:37,122
And Mara overpowers such a person.

487
00:40:37,574 --> 00:40:42,661
I've experienced, I have different experiences with this.

488
00:40:43,683 --> 00:40:46,286
So many things have happened since the time I was ordained.

489
00:40:46,807 --> 00:40:50,292
I've been threatened with physical violence.

490
00:40:51,113 --> 00:40:56,861
I've been threatened with the opposite, which is women proposing to me and so on.

491
00:40:58,103 --> 00:41:04,392
And so this really resonates with me, the importance of our state of mind, the importance of being ready.

492
00:41:04,372 --> 00:41:14,985
There's a story in the Tao Te Ching, Lao Tzu, he talks about how a master is always ready like a warrior in enemy territory.

493
00:41:15,685 --> 00:41:17,027
And you kind of have to be like that.

494
00:41:17,067 --> 00:41:22,113
You don't have to be always worried and paranoid, but you have to always be ready and you have to be strong.

495
00:41:22,734 --> 00:41:27,139
And this is really the wonderful thing about mindfulness, how it prepares you for anything.

496
00:41:27,220 --> 00:41:41,016
and how you really do become strong like a rock, so that anything that comes, nothing that comes can blow you over, just as the wind can't blow over a mountain.

497
00:41:41,917 --> 00:41:46,403
I had this woman come up and she said, can monks get married?

498
00:41:46,423 --> 00:41:46,603
No.

499
00:41:47,544 --> 00:41:51,609
And she was like, oh, are you going to be a monk for your whole life?

500
00:41:51,709 --> 00:41:53,071
And I was like, yes.

501
00:41:53,571 --> 00:41:55,033
And I walked away.

502
00:41:55,013 --> 00:41:58,778
staying strong when these things come up.

503
00:41:59,399 --> 00:42:02,743
I was threatened this monk was going to hit me with a broom once.

504
00:42:05,327 --> 00:42:06,488
These are just tests.

505
00:42:06,609 --> 00:42:13,398
Actually at the time it wasn't a big deal, but afterwards, when your mind goes over it and how it did, it can really cause you suffering.

506
00:42:14,179 --> 00:42:23,451
When you're thinking about this beautiful woman who proposed and wants me to marry her, or when you think about this monk who was an idiot and did this, how much suffering it can bring to you.

507
00:42:23,431 --> 00:42:29,777
and how dangerous it can be for your mind, how it can lead you on the wrong path.

508
00:42:29,837 --> 00:42:36,624
I know many people who have disrobed because of difficulty, because they weren't able to take it.

509
00:42:38,246 --> 00:42:41,629
This isn't, of course, totally reserved for the monkhood.

510
00:42:41,669 --> 00:42:46,795
All of these things apply to ordinary people living in the world.

511
00:42:47,635 --> 00:42:50,198
It's very easy to get on the wrong path.

512
00:42:50,178 --> 00:42:59,035
and to be taken unawares and off guard by the evils of life, by the problems of life.

513
00:42:59,215 --> 00:42:59,836
We don't see it.

514
00:43:00,518 --> 00:43:07,531
If we live our lives and everything's going well, we think, ah, yeah, no problem, let's just eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow you may die.

515
00:43:08,092 --> 00:43:10,777
But the question is, what's it going to be like when you die?

516
00:43:10,797 --> 00:43:12,861
Are you really going to be ready for it?

517
00:43:12,841 --> 00:43:15,006
What if you don't die right away but you get really sick?

518
00:43:15,447 --> 00:43:17,632
You get cancer or you get this or you get that.

519
00:43:18,534 --> 00:43:19,376
What are you going to do then?

520
00:43:19,416 --> 00:43:25,450
You're going to whine and complain and suffer because you're thinking about all the wonderful things that you're addicted to.

521
00:43:25,791 --> 00:43:29,820
It's clear it shouldn't be something that's hard to understand.

522
00:43:30,526 --> 00:43:36,016
Now a question might arise as to why then it's good to look at unpleasant things.

523
00:43:36,137 --> 00:43:42,148
Why did this monk go off and look at this horrible burning body?

524
00:43:42,990 --> 00:43:48,400
I think actually in this case it's easy to understand because the burning body is such a shock.

525
00:43:48,380 --> 00:43:51,566
And it helps you to let go, you realize this is just like wood.

526
00:43:52,227 --> 00:44:01,545
It's not me, it's not mine, it's just I'm carrying around this sack of wood that's just going to be fuel for the fire at the end of the day.

527
00:44:03,365 --> 00:44:13,721
But I guess really the point in general in looking at the repulsive side of things is just to balance the scales for some people.

528
00:44:13,801 --> 00:44:22,114
Because there are some people, many people, let's say most people, who are attached to the body, who think of it as something beautiful, something attractive.

529
00:44:22,574 --> 00:44:26,841
And so as a result, when it changes, when it's no longer beautiful and attractive,

530
00:44:27,108 --> 00:44:28,510
they become upset and worried.

531
00:44:28,550 --> 00:44:38,144
So many people, how many people out there have eating disorders or obsessions with makeup and plastic surgery and all of these things?

532
00:44:38,685 --> 00:44:44,774
How many people, an incredible number of people, have this obsession and suffering?

533
00:44:45,395 --> 00:44:53,807
How many people suffer because their teeth are in the wrong position, because their nose is too big or their ears are too big or they're too...

534
00:44:54,158 --> 00:44:56,764
fat, or they're too short, or they're too tall, or so on.

535
00:44:56,784 --> 00:44:58,268
How many people suffer from that?

536
00:44:58,850 --> 00:45:00,293
Because of the attachment to the body.

537
00:45:01,356 --> 00:45:02,819
The attachment to a beautiful body.

538
00:45:02,839 --> 00:45:05,406
You want your body to look like a movie star and so on.

539
00:45:05,446 --> 00:45:07,611
And you're so attracted to these beautiful people.

540
00:45:08,384 --> 00:45:17,658
Well, when you start to see that actually the body is full of all sorts of repulsive things, and it comes back a little bit more in perspective, and you see that actually the body is just the body.

541
00:45:17,718 --> 00:45:18,840
If it's tall, it's tall.

542
00:45:18,860 --> 00:45:19,881
If it's short, it's short.

543
00:45:19,902 --> 00:45:20,803
If it's big, it's big.

544
00:45:20,843 --> 00:45:21,885
If it's small, it's small.

545
00:45:23,227 --> 00:45:24,408
If it's this color, it's this color.

546
00:45:24,428 --> 00:45:25,530
If it's that color, it's that color.

547
00:45:25,550 --> 00:45:26,752
It's really pretty meaningless.

548
00:45:27,593 --> 00:45:37,328
Having large breasts or having a large behind or having hips or having a large belly, all of these things are just...

549
00:45:37,308 --> 00:45:42,695
just what they are, having a faceless shape or this color or so on.

550
00:45:44,478 --> 00:45:50,506
It's all just like wood, carrying around this big sack of wood.

551
00:45:50,526 --> 00:45:57,596
Or as one teacher said, he said, this portable toilet full of urine and excrement.

552
00:45:57,997 --> 00:45:58,978
This is what he said.

553
00:45:58,958 --> 00:46:00,540
You can think of it that way.

554
00:46:00,580 --> 00:46:01,742
It's something that does help.

555
00:46:01,902 --> 00:46:07,930
It's not a replacement for true insight and impartiality, but it helps to balance the scales.

556
00:46:08,371 --> 00:46:09,532
For some people it doesn't work.

557
00:46:09,613 --> 00:46:12,917
For some people it just makes them depressed and upset and angry.

558
00:46:13,298 --> 00:46:16,602
For such people they should go the other way and practice loving-kindness.

559
00:46:16,662 --> 00:46:17,764
I've talked about this before.

560
00:46:18,204 --> 00:46:20,207
These kinds of meditations

561
00:46:20,187 --> 00:46:22,229
are suitable for different individuals.

562
00:46:22,269 --> 00:46:27,494
For a person who is angry and negative by nature, they should focus on positive things like love and kindness.

563
00:46:28,395 --> 00:46:30,497
It's a different kind of meditation.

564
00:46:30,537 --> 00:46:32,640
But ultimately, in the end, we focus on insight.

565
00:46:33,120 --> 00:46:48,996
When your mind is clear with insight, when you're able to see things as they are, when your eight wives surround you and they want to strip you of your clothes, how do you deal with that?

566
00:46:49,077 --> 00:46:52,001
When you can see things as they are, nothing can harm you.

567
00:46:52,341 --> 00:47:01,272
There's a story of an Arahant who was raped by her cousin, an enlightened nun, a female monk, raped by her cousin.

568
00:47:01,933 --> 00:47:03,535
And it didn't faze her at all.

569
00:47:03,856 --> 00:47:04,657
You know what she said?

570
00:47:04,737 --> 00:47:06,759
She said, don't do this, it's bad for you.

571
00:47:08,161 --> 00:47:09,803
She said, beware to him.

572
00:47:10,998 --> 00:47:16,666
And indeed, when he left, after he'd finished, he left her kuti.

573
00:47:17,527 --> 00:47:19,249
When he put his foot on the ground, it sunk.

574
00:47:20,331 --> 00:47:22,854
The earth couldn't bear his weight because she was enlightened.

575
00:47:23,675 --> 00:47:25,978
It wasn't just rape, it was rape of an enlightened being.

576
00:47:28,622 --> 00:47:31,746
Rape is a terrible thing, but to rape an enlightened being?

577
00:47:32,467 --> 00:47:37,714
The earth couldn't carry his weight and he sunk and fell straight to hell, goes the story.

578
00:47:39,027 --> 00:47:48,460
But for a person whose mind is, for the arahant, for the person whose mind is strong, nothing can overtake them.

579
00:47:48,480 --> 00:47:56,651
And the comparison that the Buddha made is for a person who is like the rotten tree, well, evil overpowers them just like the wind.

580
00:47:57,352 --> 00:48:02,079
And for a person who is like the mountain standing strong, nothing can overpower them, no matter how strong the wind.

581
00:48:02,500 --> 00:48:06,745
Even a hurricane can't overpower the mind of an enlightened being.

582
00:48:07,306 --> 00:48:07,887
So...

583
00:48:07,867 --> 00:48:11,150
This is the teaching on verses number 7 and number 8.

584
00:48:11,653 --> 00:48:14,775
Thank you for tuning in and hope this has been of some use.

585
00:48:14,895 --> 00:48:16,003
All the best.