WEBVTT 00:03.490 --> 00:04.351 Good evening, everyone. 00:04.791 --> 00:11.097 Welcome to our live broadcast. 00:11.117 --> 00:12.999 So apparently, I have to project my voice. 00:13.559 --> 00:14.440 I'm not loud enough. 00:17.343 --> 00:17.983 I want it loud. 00:22.968 --> 00:24.349 Oh, see, it keeps turning me down. 00:24.730 --> 00:26.451 My volume should be way up there. 00:26.471 --> 00:27.052 That would be better. 00:27.412 --> 00:27.913 Is that louder? 00:29.534 --> 00:32.637 That is louder, but from my end, it sounds very staticky. 00:33.241 --> 00:34.323 Static key, now? 00:35.965 --> 00:37.167 Now I think it's okay. 00:37.587 --> 00:41.674 Maybe someone can let you know from watching it on YouTube too. 00:42.915 --> 00:44.598 You hear me as static key right now? 00:47.162 --> 00:48.844 Just a little unclear. 00:49.085 --> 00:50.667 It's louder, but a little unclear. 00:51.248 --> 00:52.870 So it was better quieter? 00:54.833 --> 00:57.277 From my perspective, but it may sound different on YouTube. 00:57.878 --> 00:58.118 Yeah. 01:00.967 --> 01:06.313 Apparently Hangouts on Air is shutting down, so we're going to have to switch over to YouTube anyway. 01:06.353 --> 01:10.938 Not that that'll change the sound of my voice. 01:13.060 --> 01:15.863 Apparently that makes the audios worse over there, apparently. 01:19.307 --> 01:20.008 Whatever. 01:20.468 --> 01:21.549 Do we know when that is, Ponte? 01:23.371 --> 01:25.033 September, I think, so soon. 01:30.700 --> 01:54.343 All right, so today we're looking at a simple teaching, something that's important to talk about and not all that complicated. 01:57.165 --> 01:59.948 It's the recognition of what the Buddha called 02:01.362 --> 02:31.217 gratification asada asada asada is a word that you don't hear often enough I don't think but it's the admission of pleasure the admission of the positive 02:33.509 --> 03:02.773 aspect of desire that when you want something well you can get it you can be gratified by by getting what you want it has to be acknowledged it's important that we don't ignore that because that's the argument that we're trying to refute that's the misunderstanding we're trying to address 03:04.778 --> 03:14.612 We don't acknowledge that that is the confusion, that the confusion is surrounding this, and that the reason why we're in trouble is because of this. 03:16.274 --> 03:33.098 And we can miss the whole point of the practice or the whole focus. 03:34.799 --> 03:35.900 the core of the problem. 03:36.381 --> 03:38.924 We never get to the root. 03:38.944 --> 03:46.454 Meeting around the bush trying to tell us no, tell ourselves no, sensual pleasures are bad, greed is bad. 03:48.377 --> 03:53.243 But there's always this small voice saying, Asada, Asada, it's enjoyable. 03:54.585 --> 03:55.186 I like it. 03:58.490 --> 03:59.451 You have to address that. 03:59.572 --> 04:02.916 You have to accept that that's 04:04.094 --> 04:04.595 It's real. 04:05.296 --> 04:06.878 There is a true gratification. 04:06.938 --> 04:09.842 The problem is, this is the thing. 04:09.882 --> 04:12.306 The Buddhists, there are three aspects. 04:13.087 --> 04:22.841 And remember, we're in the Book of Three, so we're looking, starting at Sutta 103, the third 50. 04:29.972 --> 04:33.477 Gautar Nikaya Book of Three is starting at Sutta 103. 04:35.363 --> 04:39.209 104 in the Pali. 04:41.152 --> 04:46.860 This is what he asked himself. 04:46.880 --> 04:59.700 He said, before I was enlightened, there came to me this thought. 05:01.582 --> 05:03.345 What is the gratification in the world? 05:07.628 --> 05:08.289 The first thing. 05:09.290 --> 05:13.033 The second thing, what is the problem? 05:13.074 --> 05:18.939 The problem, really. 05:20.101 --> 05:21.122 The negative aspect. 05:22.423 --> 05:22.903 The catch. 05:26.067 --> 05:27.728 And what is the escape? 05:29.931 --> 05:30.431 The release. 05:34.115 --> 05:35.256 Because there is a problem. 05:37.042 --> 05:37.783 And that's the key. 05:39.906 --> 05:46.076 You can rail all you want about how pleasant it is to get what you want, but there's a problem. 05:47.398 --> 05:48.860 You can't always get what you want. 05:53.006 --> 06:01.720 In fact, more than just not getting what you want, the things that you want are unstable. 06:04.264 --> 06:05.125 They're ephemeral. 06:06.961 --> 06:08.242 They last only a moment. 06:08.623 --> 06:09.864 They don't satisfy. 06:09.904 --> 06:13.147 They gratify, but they don't satisfy. 06:15.930 --> 06:16.711 And there's a difference. 06:17.832 --> 06:19.554 Yes, it's pleasant to get what you want. 06:19.814 --> 06:21.696 How long does the pleasant state last? 06:21.716 --> 06:25.460 How long does the enjoyment of getting what you want last? 06:26.802 --> 06:27.522 A brief moment. 06:29.444 --> 06:36.732 Buddha said it's like a bone smeared with blood 06:38.382 --> 06:40.685 When you give it to a dog, they're so happy. 06:41.086 --> 06:44.211 And they gnaw on the bone and taste the blood. 06:48.918 --> 06:50.120 But they're never satisfied. 06:50.761 --> 06:54.086 They're gratified, but they're not satisfied. 06:56.509 --> 07:04.221 They don't become satiated by the gnawing on the bone. 07:12.858 --> 07:20.129 If you're not clear, if you're not really practicing meditation, it's very difficult to see this, but you can see it in everything when you begin to meditate. 07:21.391 --> 07:23.954 You sit down to eat, and you think, oh, this delicious food. 07:23.975 --> 07:28.902 As you're mindful, you see, oh, well, hmm. 07:28.922 --> 07:33.008 Yes, it's enjoyable for a moment, and then it's gone, and then there's just the taste. 07:34.470 --> 07:41.160 Maybe enjoyable for another moment, but then my mind is off wandering, and the pleasure is gone. 07:43.486 --> 07:50.681 Meditators who come to stay with us after some time, they begin to find eating a chore. 07:50.721 --> 07:53.347 The food is still good, hopefully. 07:58.738 --> 08:03.368 But everywhere I've been, no matter what the food is like, at the end of the course, the meditators begin to 08:04.462 --> 08:06.865 And think, oh, now I've got to go eat again. 08:07.305 --> 08:13.271 If only I didn't have to go and eat, which is an odd thing to hear for most people. 08:13.932 --> 08:19.418 You think, wow, food is one of life's great pleasures, especially in Thailand. 08:19.558 --> 08:22.201 You've got all this wonderful Thai food that everyone loves. 08:22.241 --> 08:28.728 And your meditator's coming, and oh, the food is so great. 08:29.289 --> 08:31.431 Wonderful food in this meditation center. 08:34.246 --> 08:44.002 And then you start to see that wonderfulness of the food is like a bone smeared with blood. 08:44.022 --> 08:47.668 It's really kind of tainted. 08:47.688 --> 08:59.747 It just causes more stress eventually because you realize that you start to see how much stress it is to like and to want things and to crave things. 09:01.567 --> 09:05.772 And you'll be sitting in meditation, and you'll be craving, and you can't have, and you'll have a terrible stress. 09:09.095 --> 09:11.017 So the Buddha said there's a .. 09:12.319 --> 09:13.100 There's a catch. 09:13.741 --> 09:18.666 There's a problem with the nature of things. 09:21.129 --> 09:24.773 Getting what you want is not really all that it's cut out to be. 09:24.793 --> 09:27.896 It doesn't solve anything. 09:28.177 --> 09:29.498 It just makes you more thirsty. 09:31.452 --> 09:32.293 You need it more. 09:32.494 --> 09:33.275 You want it more. 09:34.697 --> 09:35.439 Chase it more. 09:41.929 --> 09:44.193 And so that's the situation we find ourselves in. 09:44.253 --> 09:46.056 This is the truth. 09:47.679 --> 09:51.405 Most people don't want to see, let alone admit. 09:53.388 --> 09:55.131 Don't want to admit, let alone see. 10:00.157 --> 10:03.601 We want to believe that there are things out there that will satisfy us. 10:05.963 --> 10:08.786 And so we chase after sensual gratification. 10:08.846 --> 10:19.237 We chase after all sorts of things, goals and ideals, ambitions. 10:23.241 --> 10:28.206 We chase and we want and we crave and we need and we get. 10:30.194 --> 10:35.147 And we're gratified by what we get, but we're never satisfied. 10:39.297 --> 10:42.465 And we fight and we kill each other for this. 10:43.441 --> 10:46.987 This is what sets families against each other. 10:47.007 --> 10:48.910 It's what sets friends against each other. 10:48.930 --> 10:53.917 It's what sets cultures and societies, nations. 10:55.099 --> 10:56.722 It's what sets the world on fire. 10:57.823 --> 10:59.606 It's why the world is on fire right now. 11:00.648 --> 11:04.254 Why the climate is degrading. 11:06.838 --> 11:11.625 I mean, whether you believe or not in climate change, it's quite clear what we're doing to most of the world. 11:14.272 --> 11:20.882 There's so much beauty in the world, things that we find pleasant and delicate and beautiful. 11:23.025 --> 11:36.145 It's funny, all that we find beautiful, by chasing after it, by trying to distill it down to its most pure essence, 11:37.745 --> 12:03.145 we crave it more right you see flowers well it's not enough to see flowers you want to have them in your home so you cut them and as you cut them they well they stop growing or it becomes more difficult because everyone wants them so you have to hoard them or you have to grow them in special and then it becomes who can afford the flowers and 12:05.268 --> 12:07.874 Who can afford the delicious food, the best food? 12:07.934 --> 12:10.720 And then people want more delicate food. 12:10.800 --> 12:12.965 And so they grow harder to grow food. 12:12.985 --> 12:15.811 And then we want it more immediately. 12:15.831 --> 12:19.800 And we wind up in the state 12:21.670 --> 12:24.496 We wind up with what we see now, what we see in modern times. 12:25.077 --> 12:27.662 The world is not nearly as beautiful as it once was. 12:28.504 --> 12:43.594 All the things that we found beautiful that we've tried to capture in our homes, all the pleasant sensations that we've tried to enhance with our comfortable beds and couches and our luxuries. 12:48.417 --> 12:51.461 We've ruined the earth as a result. 12:51.481 --> 12:53.303 We've made it less beautiful, more coarse. 12:54.745 --> 12:55.966 And this is the nature. 12:55.986 --> 12:58.950 This is the way of things. 13:00.732 --> 13:09.643 The more you chase after things, the more you destroy them, the more you sully them, the more you crave them more intensely. 13:12.586 --> 13:14.188 This is how they say pornography works. 13:15.535 --> 13:23.504 begins you enjoy seeing beautiful people, beautiful shapes, sensual shapes. 13:23.524 --> 13:27.128 And so you look at pictures, and then pictures aren't enough. 13:27.208 --> 13:31.873 And then it goes on to movies, and then those movies aren't enough. 13:31.973 --> 13:41.124 And then it goes on to more and more coarser and coarser until you drive yourself insane. 13:41.244 --> 13:42.285 You become addicted. 13:45.303 --> 13:50.788 There's a site out there on how pornography works or how pornography addiction works. 13:50.808 --> 13:54.632 I know because my video is on it, my video on pornography addiction. 13:55.492 --> 14:00.757 I did it many years ago and it's still to this date by far my most popular video. 14:04.841 --> 14:09.045 As opposed to my least popular where I talk about how terrible cats are. 14:09.065 --> 14:12.728 I had to remove that one. 14:18.445 --> 14:19.526 So what is the escape? 14:19.647 --> 14:23.692 These are the two, and then the third thing the Buddha says, the third thing you have to know is what is the escape. 14:29.400 --> 14:43.099 Let's see what the Buddha says. 14:43.119 --> 14:44.200 I mean, basically, 14:52.617 --> 14:54.159 I just want to get the Buddha's words on it. 14:54.380 --> 14:59.808 I don't think we have a... 14:59.828 --> 15:00.849 I don't see an exact... 15:00.869 --> 15:03.533 I mean, so what is the escape? 15:04.295 --> 15:07.199 Well, the escape is simply with the giving up of the gratification. 15:08.481 --> 15:10.083 It's really the seeing this. 15:11.405 --> 15:12.787 This is what we see in meditation. 15:13.989 --> 15:16.373 You see how, yes, it's gratifying. 15:16.433 --> 15:17.414 And it's important to see. 15:18.115 --> 15:19.057 It's important to accept. 15:19.077 --> 15:19.858 Yes, I want this. 15:20.038 --> 15:20.599 I like this. 15:22.402 --> 15:23.143 I crave this. 15:24.044 --> 15:24.564 Accept that. 15:24.684 --> 15:26.005 Accept that as a fact. 15:27.106 --> 15:38.677 If you don't, if you try and pretend or try and control yourself, control your mind and say, no, bad, you shouldn't want that, you'll never get to the core of the matter. 15:38.717 --> 15:40.118 You'll never come to the truth. 15:41.440 --> 15:42.060 Truth is truth. 15:42.120 --> 15:42.641 I want this. 15:42.861 --> 15:43.482 I want that. 15:44.262 --> 15:44.783 I like this. 15:44.863 --> 15:45.363 I like that. 15:46.184 --> 15:49.287 That's why the Buddha said, when you like something, don't deny it. 15:53.941 --> 15:55.002 Embrace the truth. 15:55.382 --> 15:55.963 I like this. 15:56.123 --> 15:57.504 Liking, liking. 16:01.508 --> 16:02.289 Embrace the truth. 16:02.489 --> 16:05.552 Because the truth is, there's a problem. 16:05.772 --> 16:06.372 There's a catch. 16:07.053 --> 16:22.547 And when you see that catch, when you see that problem, when you start to see the true problem with gratification, with seeking gratification, with believing that gratification somehow leads to satisfaction, 16:27.337 --> 16:28.579 When you see that, it doesn't. 16:29.580 --> 16:31.462 See, the gratification leads to stress. 16:31.602 --> 16:33.605 It's what leads to all the problems in the world. 16:37.049 --> 16:39.592 All the problems in our mind, all the craziness in the mind. 16:40.614 --> 16:42.496 Once you see that, your mind starts to let go. 16:42.516 --> 16:45.380 It starts to escape. 16:45.620 --> 16:46.641 It starts to turn away. 16:49.044 --> 16:52.428 We have this word called nibida, nibindati. 16:52.448 --> 16:54.090 Ata nibindati duke. 16:55.172 --> 16:56.213 One becomes... 16:57.442 --> 16:59.065 Disenchanted is the word. 17:00.206 --> 17:19.737 Loses the luster, the shine. 17:26.753 --> 17:33.304 I forget the rest. 17:34.165 --> 17:35.968 Anyway. 17:36.008 --> 17:37.391 Come look at this world. 17:38.432 --> 17:48.149 He looks to the mind like a beautiful royal chariot all decked out with jewels and gold and wonderful things. 17:48.930 --> 17:50.753 The world seems full of wonderful things. 17:52.994 --> 18:12.285 that fools fall into fools get caught up in it but the wise find no connection and so you start to see the cracks and you start to see the problems 18:15.337 --> 18:22.467 The mind begins to let go, not from denying that you like things, but from seeing, oh, liking things is such a terrible thing. 18:23.909 --> 18:25.351 Oh, to not like anymore. 18:25.691 --> 18:26.632 Oh, to not want. 18:27.794 --> 18:29.036 Oh, to be free from this. 18:30.077 --> 18:31.519 And you turn away and you give up. 18:33.442 --> 18:34.523 You become bored of it. 18:35.304 --> 18:36.366 You become tired of it. 18:37.648 --> 18:38.629 You see it so much. 18:38.869 --> 18:42.254 You watch your mind clinging and craving and wanting. 18:43.876 --> 18:44.517 You let it go. 18:50.318 --> 18:55.043 This comes from seeing, comes from looking, comes from seeing, comes from practicing, observing. 18:55.924 --> 18:58.047 This is what meditation is all about, not denying. 18:59.789 --> 19:01.070 I think that's an important teaching. 19:01.851 --> 19:03.133 It starts with the gratification. 19:03.153 --> 19:06.256 That's where the practice starts. 19:06.276 --> 19:15.887 See how much we love things and acknowledging that and looking deeper, looking to see what it means to love things, to want things, to crave things. 19:18.365 --> 19:24.555 Objectively, because that's the power of the truth is that it stands up to inquiry. 19:25.296 --> 19:26.858 It stands up to investigation. 19:27.299 --> 19:27.980 Belief doesn't. 19:29.022 --> 19:31.987 Belief is nothing in the face of inquiry. 19:33.429 --> 19:39.799 But truth, a truth, a claim of the truth is something that you can investigate. 19:44.048 --> 19:45.590 Well, the claim of the truth. 19:46.231 --> 19:48.574 But the truth is something you can find for yourself. 19:53.161 --> 19:55.364 Anyway, so that's the Dhamma for tonight. 19:56.726 --> 20:01.372 The gratification, the problem, and the escape. 20:04.537 --> 20:05.418 Because you have to escape. 20:07.821 --> 20:08.642 There's only one way. 20:09.243 --> 20:12.688 Either you escape or you go around in circles. 20:14.356 --> 20:15.097 And you suffer. 20:18.601 --> 20:21.083 Then you're never satisfied. 20:21.104 --> 20:25.989 No peace. 20:26.009 --> 20:26.249 All right. 20:27.110 --> 20:27.751 Any questions? 20:29.253 --> 20:30.013 Lots of questions. 20:31.855 --> 20:32.136 Yes. 20:33.157 --> 20:40.645 During meditation, is there a problem when the pace of noting is inconsistent, mostly too fast, but sometimes very slow? 20:41.386 --> 20:43.148 I answered that already last night. 20:45.035 --> 20:51.565 I tried to be very open, honest and loving with everybody, but people often seem to be wary, cautious, skeptical. 20:52.326 --> 20:53.808 It causes misunderstandings. 20:54.509 --> 20:57.314 How do I better come across as a person who means no harm? 21:01.820 --> 21:03.182 Well, you may be trying too hard. 21:04.344 --> 21:07.108 And better than being all those things is being mindful. 21:08.390 --> 21:11.515 Because the way that people react the best to you is when you're 21:12.845 --> 21:30.974 When you're yourself, when you're, it's cliche to say it's not really true, but when you're natural, you know, an enlightened being is not something, you know, they don't dazzle you or speak in deep voice or something. 21:32.076 --> 21:35.742 An enlightened being is natural. 21:36.763 --> 21:39.628 It's at peace, you know. 21:40.756 --> 21:43.499 So we resonate with each other. 21:44.300 --> 21:48.585 And sure, you're going to be surrounded by people who have all sorts of crazy defilements inside. 21:48.645 --> 21:52.049 No matter how great you are, you'll be surrounded by such people. 21:52.129 --> 21:56.374 And so if you let it get to you, then that's a strike on you. 21:56.394 --> 21:58.476 It's a stress on you. 21:59.637 --> 22:03.642 And so that's the most important is to be at peace and to be unshakable. 22:03.622 --> 22:26.372 so that you can absorb the defilements that people have but you're like a what are these things like a filter you clean the dirt from other people because you don't react so if people are critical of you or or suspicious of you or so on well that's on them 22:28.883 --> 22:33.709 So what's on you is to be at peace with yourself and to be clear-minded. 22:36.492 --> 22:40.337 So I wouldn't try so hard to be something. 22:42.179 --> 22:44.482 Not that those things are not good, but they should come naturally. 22:45.503 --> 22:46.664 And then you don't have to think about it. 22:46.684 --> 22:52.191 And then you don't have to worry about what other people think or how you come across, I suppose. 22:54.719 --> 22:57.443 Because you can't really control how you come across to others, right? 22:58.444 --> 23:03.991 But you do come across a lot better when you're just natural, just yourself. 23:04.391 --> 23:05.673 But that's not really yourself. 23:05.733 --> 23:06.414 That's just a word. 23:07.035 --> 23:07.816 You know how we say that. 23:08.737 --> 23:09.558 Just be yourself. 23:09.618 --> 23:10.619 But it's kind of like that. 23:10.780 --> 23:13.623 It's just don't put on pretenses. 23:13.764 --> 23:14.605 Don't put on airs. 23:15.165 --> 23:16.267 Don't try to be something. 23:17.508 --> 23:18.430 Don't even be yourself. 23:18.570 --> 23:19.211 Don't be anything. 23:20.312 --> 23:20.853 Be present. 23:20.993 --> 23:21.634 Be mindful. 23:22.315 --> 23:23.236 Be clear of mind. 23:23.276 --> 23:24.237 Objective. 23:29.212 --> 23:30.654 My friend just said this to me. 23:30.694 --> 23:33.679 I don't want to, this is the friend saying this, I think. 23:34.180 --> 23:36.303 I don't want a compassionate heart with everyone. 23:36.343 --> 23:38.066 I prefer my coping mechanism. 23:38.487 --> 23:39.729 I developed it for a reason. 23:40.670 --> 23:43.014 How do I penetrate this attitude to help my friend? 23:44.356 --> 23:45.739 Yeah, if you could help everyone, right? 23:46.620 --> 23:48.182 You can just poof, help people. 23:48.443 --> 23:49.465 It doesn't really work that way. 23:50.566 --> 23:52.890 I can barely help all of you and you want me to help you. 23:55.638 --> 23:59.682 I can barely help the people who come here to do meditation courses. 24:00.844 --> 24:02.025 You have to do the work yourself. 24:02.465 --> 24:04.087 The work is for you to do yourself. 24:04.427 --> 24:06.209 You're not going to fix everyone's problems. 24:07.931 --> 24:11.295 You should send loving kindness to this person and wish for them to be well. 24:12.216 --> 24:14.318 But try to be a good example and be mindful. 24:20.144 --> 24:22.607 Once you see things for yourself, you'll have the answers to them. 24:24.578 --> 24:25.459 To all questions. 24:26.921 --> 24:38.197 So when someone says something to you like, I don't want a compassionate heart, I prefer my coping mechanism, you'll understand that. 24:38.297 --> 24:42.422 And you'll say, well, sounds stressful to me. 24:43.564 --> 24:44.024 Or you won't. 24:44.185 --> 24:46.368 You won't judge them or criticize them. 24:46.408 --> 24:53.978 But you'll do things to help them see that it isn't really peaceful. 24:55.561 --> 24:58.125 The best way they can see that is when they see that you have a better way. 24:59.466 --> 25:03.892 You see that you're more together than they are. 25:05.835 --> 25:07.477 It's more peaceful the way you do things. 25:09.160 --> 25:19.594 To not have to cope, to be open and at peace, to not have to protect yourself because you're invincible, it's much better. 25:24.502 --> 25:31.648 I don't see more meaning in living as 99% of society lives, studying, working, buying, consuming. 25:32.589 --> 25:42.798 The only thing that has kept me alive and not committing suicide was the meditation, the Buddhist teachings, philosophy, and the desire to live isolated, planting my own food. 25:43.659 --> 25:48.122 But I'm losing now my desire to live isolated and the desire to study philosophy. 25:49.023 --> 25:52.026 The only thing that seems reasonable for me is living a monk's life. 25:52.887 --> 25:54.508 I don't have desire to be a monk. 25:55.012 --> 25:57.736 It is a desire but not a common desire like the others. 25:58.537 --> 26:00.420 But I feel this is the only way of living. 26:01.241 --> 26:01.842 I'm 19. 26:01.862 --> 26:04.186 I saw a video of how you became a monk. 26:04.787 --> 26:08.092 And I can relate a lot about your history since I was a child. 26:08.332 --> 26:14.582 Since I was a child, I wanted to know the meaning and why we suffer and what was a great philosopher. 26:15.163 --> 26:15.884 What should I do now? 26:16.625 --> 26:17.706 I simply don't know where to go. 26:17.726 --> 26:23.415 It's time to go to a monastery or should I push myself into the misery of studying and working for nothing? 26:23.851 --> 26:28.038 That's valid, and it's kind of what I did. 26:28.058 --> 26:32.005 I should have become a monk right away, but I didn't. 26:33.628 --> 26:45.910 I think I could have convinced my parents to let me become a monk, but I kind of let them convince me not to for two years, until finally I said, this is enough. 26:47.307 --> 26:51.271 So, yeah, I would say absolutely don't put it off. 26:51.611 --> 26:54.834 If you're at that point where you know it's the way, do it. 26:56.155 --> 26:57.396 Don't expect it to be easy. 26:57.416 --> 27:02.200 Don't expect that to be something like a door that suddenly solves all your problems. 27:03.582 --> 27:03.982 But do it. 27:05.343 --> 27:10.708 No, don't study, don't work, don't do all that stuff for nothing. 27:11.449 --> 27:12.970 If you're ready to become a monk, do it. 27:13.911 --> 27:15.272 Find the right place and do it. 27:18.104 --> 27:26.621 Another question of where to go is a different question, much more complicated. 27:26.661 --> 27:27.503 But don't put it off. 27:27.603 --> 27:34.097 Don't let society or a convention tell you what to do. 27:34.337 --> 27:39.167 Think of the Bodhisatta, how radical he was. 27:41.560 --> 27:47.752 He wasn't one of these people who just waited for things to fall in his lap or waited for the time to be right. 27:48.835 --> 27:52.823 As soon as he figured it out and said, man, I've got to get old, sick, and die. 27:52.883 --> 27:55.568 There's no way out of this. 27:55.608 --> 27:57.272 He said, I'm going to find a way out. 27:57.332 --> 27:58.995 And he just dropped everything. 28:00.764 --> 28:03.708 He left his, you know, can you imagine being the prince? 28:05.151 --> 28:09.477 Whether he was a prince of a big kingdom or something, or not. 28:11.921 --> 28:18.150 But he was a prince, or he was somehow high up in society. 28:19.232 --> 28:20.634 And suddenly he just dropped out. 28:20.674 --> 28:26.243 He just threw it all away and said, I've had enough of you guys. 28:27.845 --> 28:29.067 And he went off in the forest. 28:34.177 --> 28:46.731 So anyone who thinks they shouldn't do that, they're kind of besmirching, they're disdaining the way of the Buddha. 28:55.000 --> 28:57.383 What's the deal with the various mudras? 28:57.802 --> 29:01.235 The Buddha, the Buddha rupas have various hand gestures. 29:01.837 --> 29:06.815 Is there any value or could there be any benefit in using different mudras in formal practice? 29:09.164 --> 29:09.786 What do you think? 29:15.217 --> 29:16.641 Sorry, I had myself muted. 29:17.925 --> 29:18.767 What does he think? 29:18.807 --> 29:19.770 I want to know what he thinks. 29:20.271 --> 29:21.033 This is a test. 29:22.156 --> 29:24.222 You've come this far and you've listened to me this much. 29:25.245 --> 29:28.574 I want to ask you, what do you think of that last question? 29:28.614 --> 29:29.517 I'll answer the first one. 29:29.557 --> 29:30.981 So the Buddha, Rupa's 29:30.961 --> 29:46.700 The different mudras are just a means of reminding us of a specific time or a specific aspect of the Buddha, like a specific event in some cases or a specific aspect of the Buddha in some cases. 29:46.820 --> 29:48.762 They're just artist representations. 29:49.563 --> 29:54.469 Buddha images came to be hundreds of years after the Buddha passed away. 29:54.509 --> 29:59.415 It wasn't something the Buddha said, okay, remember this mudra or that mudra or something. 30:00.796 --> 30:06.003 But your last question, is there any value or could there be any benefit in using different mudras in formal practice? 30:06.143 --> 30:07.565 I want you to answer it for yourself. 30:08.446 --> 30:14.214 I'm not going to give you the answer there. 30:14.234 --> 30:21.824 If a person did nothing other than the basic practice, would the stages of insight happen naturally, or are they something that needs to be taught? 30:26.951 --> 30:28.373 No, they would happen naturally. 30:29.197 --> 30:35.024 I mean, they happen to anyone who goes through, who becomes a Sotapanna, becomes enlightened in any way. 30:38.288 --> 30:41.812 But we have, you know, in our technique, we have a tradition. 30:42.613 --> 30:57.550 We have a format that's designed to promote the realization of the stages of knowledge by increasing the complexity of the practice, as we've seen. 30:59.032 --> 31:18.698 So it's a means of helping you along, increasing the speed, making it easier, facilitating the realization of the knowledges and the progression through the knowledges. 31:20.160 --> 31:26.608 But absolutely, you can walk three steps and go through all the stages of knowledge in those three steps. 31:33.507 --> 31:43.877 I have a friend who has suicidal thoughts just because she's in a situation where she is verbally abused very often by a narcissistic man she thinks is her teacher or master. 31:43.897 --> 31:55.789 I don't pretend to know how karma works, but is there any way I can explain to her that she has other options other than just to endure or to purify karma, as she says? 31:56.389 --> 31:57.830 She meditates, but not our way. 31:58.271 --> 31:59.732 Why is her judgment so clouded? 32:00.333 --> 32:02.535 She can't break away from this man's influence. 32:03.545 --> 32:05.807 Yeah, teachers are dangerous. 32:06.128 --> 32:07.909 Religious people in general are dangerous. 32:07.949 --> 32:10.192 That's why a lot of people have turned away from religion. 32:14.616 --> 32:18.240 Well, why is there such a judgment so clouded? 32:18.320 --> 32:20.302 I mean, it's easy when someone is charismatic. 32:21.323 --> 32:29.451 And when your mind is fragile, it's easy to gain great and powerful faith in someone. 32:32.097 --> 32:34.783 I used to have a teacher who was very charismatic. 32:36.867 --> 32:47.490 I think, in general, he was teaching good things, but I ended up realizing that it was mostly charisma, mostly about 32:48.955 --> 32:57.692 playing mind games with the meditator to give them faith and to make them believe that the teacher knew something or had special knowledge. 32:58.694 --> 32:59.756 And I really felt that. 32:59.796 --> 33:05.126 I really was totally confident about this guy until it all fell apart. 33:05.166 --> 33:08.212 And I realized, actually, he's just full of himself. 33:08.312 --> 33:08.432 Sorry. 33:08.412 --> 33:09.033 I shouldn't say that. 33:09.053 --> 33:12.096 I mean, honestly, this is the guy who taught me some really good things. 33:12.216 --> 33:16.441 But he was the one who first taught me how to meditate in this tradition. 33:16.581 --> 33:17.863 So he's teaching this tradition. 33:17.903 --> 33:19.425 Even today, he teaches it. 33:22.288 --> 33:24.230 That's not, you know, I mean, none of us are perfect. 33:24.310 --> 33:27.934 So I probably shouldn't criticize him too much. 33:27.954 --> 33:34.582 You're supposed to have, you're supposed to appreciate the person who first taught you meditation. 33:34.942 --> 33:37.305 And John Tong's always getting on my case about that. 33:37.285 --> 33:40.228 about that whole situation. 33:41.029 --> 33:41.689 I understand it. 33:43.371 --> 33:44.532 Sorry, I digress. 33:45.934 --> 33:56.664 But I can understand how it's easy to get really caught up with someone who you might see as actually somewhat narcissistic. 33:56.704 --> 33:58.466 But charismatic is really the key. 33:58.506 --> 34:05.773 If a person is charismatic, they're very much able to manipulate their students. 34:07.188 --> 34:12.577 and to cause them to do things they wouldn't normally do. 34:15.902 --> 34:20.329 What about this idea that she has to stay with him to purify her karma? 34:21.471 --> 34:24.976 Is there anything that can be said about that? 34:27.881 --> 34:30.445 Why would they believe you more than they believe their teacher? 34:31.943 --> 34:33.351 which I mean, not to say they wouldn't. 34:33.371 --> 34:39.827 And I guess that's the thing is you have to find a way to be more persuasive than the teacher. 34:41.680 --> 34:48.388 which involves helping her to see that what this teacher is explaining. 34:48.428 --> 34:50.390 It's the same with all religious people. 34:50.470 --> 35:06.169 I'd probably recommend letting her talk about it, asking her questions about the teacher, just non-probing questions, just helping her see clearly what it is that she's involved in. 35:08.410 --> 35:10.052 being a good example for her. 35:10.153 --> 35:14.579 It often just comes back to being a good example because you can't fix other people's problems. 35:15.621 --> 35:21.309 In fact, often the more you try, the further you alienate them from you, themselves from you. 35:29.221 --> 35:34.789 You might want to give her my booklet on how to meditate and say, maybe you want to try this out. 35:37.604 --> 35:39.066 And then leave her to it, you know. 35:39.867 --> 35:46.678 If she ever comes to the point where she sees there might be another way, maybe she'll be able to give it up. 35:49.261 --> 35:51.585 You know, I mean, be there for her for the things you can. 35:51.665 --> 35:54.469 If she's got suicidal thoughts, forget about the teacher and all that. 35:55.190 --> 35:56.532 That's her choice. 35:57.894 --> 35:59.717 But help her deal with her suicidal thoughts. 36:01.540 --> 36:02.481 Be a friend to her. 36:04.520 --> 36:06.343 You can't fix other people's problems. 36:06.383 --> 36:09.208 You can't change other people's minds. 36:09.328 --> 36:22.950 But when people ask for help, when people are in dire straits, you can be there for them, give them advice, give them support. 36:30.524 --> 36:36.354 There are so many spiritual traps out in the world, and they all say about themselves that they are based on the Buddhist teaching. 36:37.135 --> 36:39.338 Why don't real Buddhists say something about them? 36:39.999 --> 36:44.707 How can people avoid falling into these deluded teachings in their search for spiritual awakening? 36:45.609 --> 36:46.710 That's a fair argument. 36:47.091 --> 36:49.495 Maybe I'm wrong to not talk about these things. 36:52.917 --> 36:56.764 I mean I do talk about Buddhist things. 36:57.085 --> 36:59.510 To me that's something that I should talk about. 36:59.911 --> 37:01.253 I get that. 37:02.395 --> 37:02.976 And I do. 37:03.017 --> 37:08.968 Not so much here because I'm trying to focus on meditation questions but 37:11.530 --> 37:13.496 It's a fair point. 37:13.877 --> 37:22.280 I mean, I've recently, not recently, but when this year, last year, I wrote an article about the Heart Sutra. 37:23.082 --> 37:26.873 And I'm frequently fairly critical about Mahayana Buddhism. 37:28.388 --> 37:31.214 or what has become Mahayana Buddhism, whatever that means. 37:31.294 --> 37:45.064 I mean, some aspects of Buddhism that call themselves the Mahayana are really critical about their teachings, because there are teachings out there that are, from my point of view, not Buddhist, not something that came from a Buddha. 37:47.255 --> 37:48.639 They claim to be, but they're not. 37:49.802 --> 37:53.691 So I'm willing to call those things out personally. 37:53.732 --> 38:03.677 But the funny thing is, some of you know that whenever someone like I, some radical person like I do, does that, 38:03.657 --> 38:28.585 like I like me does that we get pounced upon we get we get crapped on I don't I didn't mention this but like recently I was I told you I was in Toronto recently and I'm still puzzling it out but this other Theravada monk there I don't know if I should be saying these things on the air it wasn't gonna say anything but 38:28.565 --> 38:39.165 I think it had something to do with me criticizing Chinese, you know, the Chinese Buddhism, but you know what I'd said, I think at one point on YouTube, 38:40.816 --> 38:45.281 was that the sutta that day was, I don't think it was ever spoken by the Buddha. 38:46.603 --> 39:05.625 And then the next morning, I got this email from a Theravada Buddhist monk who was there just scathing, calling me a spoiled brat, and talking about how more when he looks at those monks, those Chinese monks, he sees them as so pure compared to me, and I'm like a spoiled brat. 39:05.605 --> 39:11.074 It was just a bizarre email because he ends it like, okay, respectfully, and then he signs his name. 39:12.497 --> 39:15.181 So I wrote back and I thought about it for a while and I was thankful. 39:15.241 --> 39:18.827 I said, you know, well, I thank you for your candor. 39:20.009 --> 39:22.473 I'm not sure if it was something, I have no idea. 39:22.493 --> 39:24.677 It could have just been something about him, but... 39:24.657 --> 39:31.852 I'm happy to hear that I might be spoiled and childish and immature because I'm always happy to improve. 39:32.935 --> 39:37.845 But I got the feeling that it had something to do with some sort of criticism. 39:37.885 --> 39:40.050 And it's just one example. 39:42.207 --> 39:43.708 You criticize anything, you know? 39:44.249 --> 39:45.450 People who criticize Islam. 39:45.910 --> 39:49.774 You know, I criticize Islam, but I see other people who publicly criticize Islam. 39:50.514 --> 39:51.335 What are they accused of? 39:51.515 --> 39:52.116 Racism. 39:53.197 --> 39:57.861 My little sister, I was at my dad's house and we were talking about Islam. 39:59.403 --> 40:02.605 My father said something about he didn't like it or he said something bad. 40:03.026 --> 40:06.409 And my sister said, dad, that's racist. 40:07.170 --> 40:08.271 And I said, no, it's not. 40:08.831 --> 40:09.832 Islam isn't a race. 40:09.912 --> 40:11.033 Islam is a religion. 40:11.485 --> 40:20.675 Yes, there's a lot of racism associated with stereotyping, at the very least, where people associate any Middle Eastern person. 40:20.695 --> 40:23.698 I have a friend, and we did a peace studies project. 40:24.879 --> 40:33.168 One of the members on our team was, when we did this peace symposium, one of them was a Sikh. 40:33.188 --> 40:34.670 And she said she gets this all the time. 40:34.730 --> 40:35.991 Everyone thinks she's a Muslim. 40:37.135 --> 40:43.986 Not that there's anything wrong with being a Muslim per se, but as a result, she gets a lot of negative. 40:44.808 --> 40:48.133 I mean, I think at the time it wasn't that negative, but it's getting negative. 40:49.435 --> 40:56.827 Anyone who looks like a Muslim is, it has to, you know, sort of be afraid of that. 40:57.208 --> 41:02.637 So it's like anyone who is black is thought of as a criminal or a predator or that kind of thing, you know. 41:03.848 --> 41:04.529 So there's all that. 41:04.709 --> 41:18.565 But my point was that we tend to gloss over the problems with things, especially with religion. 41:20.687 --> 41:28.236 We have this idea of, I guess it's postmodernism to some extent, this idea that whatever you believe, that's right for you. 41:29.617 --> 41:31.120 Such a dangerous idea. 41:31.620 --> 41:34.185 No, it's not right for you just because you believe it. 41:34.225 --> 41:37.410 This is something that Buddhism is definitely against. 41:37.891 --> 41:39.093 Theravada Buddhism, anyway. 41:39.314 --> 41:39.915 My Buddhism. 41:40.896 --> 41:42.619 Our Buddhism. 41:42.639 --> 41:42.880 No. 41:42.920 --> 41:47.187 Things you believe might be terribly, terribly wrong for you. 41:47.167 --> 41:48.209 I mean, we know this. 41:48.329 --> 41:48.930 Think about it. 41:49.591 --> 41:55.901 What a silly thing it is to think that a person's beliefs should be held sacred because they believe them. 41:55.921 --> 41:57.604 No, they shouldn't. 41:57.624 --> 42:00.288 Your beliefs might be awful and evil, of course. 42:01.510 --> 42:03.173 What if you believe it's good to kill people? 42:03.493 --> 42:05.677 We should respect that and believe that rape is good. 42:07.860 --> 42:10.204 Torture, you believe it's right to torture people. 42:16.310 --> 42:26.664 So how this relates to your question is, yes, I agree, things should be said, but it's not as easy as just saying it. 42:26.684 --> 42:38.841 Sometimes you get yourself in more trouble than it's worth when you... And so this is why even enlightened beings, especially enlightened beings, you don't see them that often getting involved in such... 42:40.441 --> 42:50.367 You know, going out of their way to rail against the inequities or the injustices of the world. 42:53.722 --> 42:54.643 They tend to focus. 42:54.703 --> 43:04.214 And I think that's why it's best use of our time and effort to focus on meditation, this group, questions about meditation. 43:05.656 --> 43:09.440 Yes, some people are going to get lost because they misunderstand Buddhism. 43:09.460 --> 43:12.584 But there's lots of people who find the path. 43:12.604 --> 43:14.005 And we can help all of those people. 43:14.226 --> 43:15.527 And then they can help others. 43:17.262 --> 43:28.780 So the best way is, the most important is to help those people who are meditating and who are interested in the right things and do have their head on straight to some extent. 43:35.890 --> 43:38.474 I am quite new to meditation, so I need some help. 43:39.155 --> 43:41.339 What would you recommend for a meditation habit? 43:41.659 --> 43:42.240 How long? 43:42.676 --> 44:10.607 I'll do some every day but try and do both walking and sitting hopefully you've read my meditation booklet and I've started to practice that way so otherwise you know there are other techniques and they'll have other things to say but in our tradition you do half walking and half sitting do walking first and then sitting half and half sometimes you might just want to do sitting that's fine but when you have the energy for it do both 44:12.983 --> 44:14.988 And if you're able to do walking. 44:18.157 --> 44:20.684 But even 10 minutes each is a good start. 44:22.589 --> 44:25.356 If you can do an hour or two a day, that's a great schedule. 44:28.593 --> 44:33.940 And if you have time, whenever you have time, you can do more than that or actually go and do a meditation course. 44:34.580 --> 44:35.421 That would be the greatest. 44:36.403 --> 44:52.002 And the best way to gain a meditation habit is to go and do an intensive course that really gives you a foundation and understanding of what meditation is, because then the daily practice that you do is much more powerful, much more efficient. 44:58.462 --> 45:01.005 Why are parents the first teachers or masters? 45:01.386 --> 45:03.468 How can we integrate this idea into practice? 45:04.009 --> 45:07.533 Thank you, . 45:07.553 --> 45:10.476 Well, they're your first teachers because they're the first people to teach you something. 45:12.419 --> 45:20.789 And that's important because very much of the core things that we learn about how to live come from our parents, most of us. 45:22.010 --> 45:23.372 Not all of us, but most of us. 45:25.580 --> 45:27.362 There's no integrating that into your practice. 45:27.422 --> 45:28.323 It's just a fact. 45:29.104 --> 45:30.826 And so recognizing that is important. 45:30.886 --> 45:48.246 If you deny respect or if you disrespect your parents and if you're nasty and mean to your parents and they've done these good things for you, 45:50.167 --> 45:53.672 Sometimes we think, well, I do things for them, they do things for me. 45:53.692 --> 45:54.613 We're kind of even, right? 45:54.653 --> 45:57.718 Why should I respect them more than they respect me? 45:57.798 --> 46:02.745 It's kind of foolish because they've done so much more for you than you have for them. 46:04.267 --> 46:07.051 You can't do the things for them that they've done for you. 46:08.313 --> 46:11.257 Very difficult, the Buddha said, to pay back your parents for most people. 46:12.178 --> 46:14.682 Unless your parents abandoned you and didn't do anything for you. 46:16.004 --> 46:19.549 Even then they argue, well, your mother still gave birth to you, so there's that. 46:22.145 --> 46:24.033 And you can never do that for her. 46:24.816 --> 46:25.499 Not in this life. 46:27.346 --> 46:29.033 So even that is something powerful. 46:29.093 --> 46:31.463 But more than that, when our parents do raise us, 46:33.653 --> 46:41.325 To deny that and to ignore that and to think, well, I do good things for them is just ignorance, plain and simple. 46:41.626 --> 46:42.908 And you'll feel it when you meditate. 46:43.208 --> 46:46.614 You don't have to incorporate it into your practice, but you'll feel it. 46:47.235 --> 46:50.079 You'll feel all the bad things you've done to your parents, I don't have to tell you. 46:51.361 --> 46:56.910 You'll feel so terrible because of how awful a person you were to people who did good things for you. 46:59.911 --> 47:05.358 So what you should incorporate into your practice is asking forgiveness and trying to help them. 47:06.199 --> 47:16.192 Helping your parents is just wonderful if you've got parents who are actually, you know, besides the rare case, like there was this one student, her father raped her. 47:16.212 --> 47:16.993 I mean, that happens. 47:18.394 --> 47:19.276 And I don't know what to say. 47:20.737 --> 47:24.722 Forgive him and try and make your way without him, I guess. 47:25.503 --> 47:27.886 Think of him of afar. 47:28.007 --> 47:29.108 Pity him from afar. 47:31.315 --> 47:37.461 But for most of us, helping our parents is just an awesome thing when you have the chance. 47:41.153 --> 47:44.036 So there's something, you know, find a way to find ways to help them. 47:44.877 --> 47:48.641 My father, I'm still the computer guy in the family. 47:48.701 --> 47:55.568 So my father calls me up when he has, just yesterday or the day before he called me up, he had a computer problem. 47:56.629 --> 48:01.734 So we spent about half an hour, an hour figuring out how to log him back into his computer. 48:02.314 --> 48:05.878 He's not dumb and he's really actually quite smart, but 48:07.090 --> 48:11.857 It's not that good on computers, and he's aged in his understanding. 48:12.418 --> 48:14.141 I've got an edge on him still. 48:15.323 --> 48:16.845 I'm losing my edge as I grow old. 48:18.087 --> 48:20.551 But I still know a thing or two about a thing or two. 48:21.392 --> 48:23.195 So I was able to log him back in. 48:23.415 --> 48:24.697 It was good to help my father. 48:26.560 --> 48:29.605 I think it's the right thing to do. 48:34.225 --> 48:36.808 What they do, the khandhas have a particular order. 48:36.828 --> 48:42.616 I wonder why vijnana is mentioned last instead of second. 48:42.917 --> 48:44.178 Could you say something about this? 48:46.241 --> 48:47.042 I have no idea. 48:47.743 --> 48:52.810 You know, sometimes I don't get the order of things, some things. 48:52.870 --> 48:58.798 Sometimes I don't think there is quite the order that we would, or is it quite a... 49:00.247 --> 49:01.208 specific order. 49:01.788 --> 49:14.199 I mean, sometimes, not in this case, probably, but in some cases, the Buddha would, well, maybe in this case, the order has more to do with the order in which they're taught. 49:14.379 --> 49:26.169 When you sit down and you explain all five, teaching when jnana lasts, using when he actually speaks the words, speaking when jnana lasts may be the best way to enlighten the listeners. 49:28.070 --> 49:30.152 It may be that by going through the others first, 49:31.010 --> 49:36.556 By the time you come around to vijnana, the person is ready to understand things. 49:37.457 --> 49:43.764 That's, I would say, one of the big reasons why the Buddha ordered things the way he did. 49:43.784 --> 49:44.625 That would be my guess. 49:45.506 --> 49:49.310 I don't know about the five aggregates, why they're ordered that way. 49:51.392 --> 49:56.157 I mean, vijnana, of course, what you're recognizing is it's the overarching 49:57.487 --> 50:03.995 and it's interesting how the Visuddhimagga actually does Rupa and then Vijnana, right? 50:04.355 --> 50:10.703 Maybe this is what you're realizing, is that when we're studying the Visuddhimagga, it does Rupa and then Vijnana. 50:12.125 --> 50:12.966 The Buddha didn't do that. 50:13.306 --> 50:14.988 The Buddha taught the other three first. 50:18.733 --> 50:22.077 No. 50:22.097 --> 50:23.018 Just one of those things. 50:25.100 --> 50:27.443 I wouldn't focus too much attention on it. 50:30.798 --> 50:34.062 Sometimes when I meditate, I don't have access to the meditation app. 50:34.703 --> 50:36.605 I've been recording the time when I get home. 50:37.406 --> 50:41.151 Is that lying as it's not recording the actual time I was meditating? 50:41.992 --> 50:44.075 I'm noticing a bothersome feeling in my mind. 50:44.696 --> 50:48.080 Do I understand this to be what is called an unwholesome state of mind? 50:49.662 --> 50:51.945 Yeah, I mean, worry is an unwholesome state of mind. 50:53.410 --> 50:55.794 Yeah, it's not perfect. 50:55.854 --> 50:56.315 I've done that. 50:56.335 --> 50:57.657 I did that once, I think. 50:57.677 --> 51:00.842 And it's funny, the one time I did it, I didn't do it quite like that. 51:00.862 --> 51:01.202 I didn't. 51:02.064 --> 51:02.604 What did I do? 51:03.586 --> 51:07.112 I started meditating and I thought I'd started the timer, but then I didn't. 51:07.212 --> 51:09.035 And when I finished walking, I realized I hadn't. 51:09.055 --> 51:10.236 So I started the timer then. 51:10.277 --> 51:13.782 And then by the time I came to the broadcast, my bell rang. 51:14.386 --> 51:16.309 And everyone was laughing and calling me out. 51:16.389 --> 51:19.073 And some people were thinking, oh, he doesn't actually meditate. 51:19.094 --> 51:21.778 He just sets the timer to make it look like he does. 51:21.878 --> 51:23.460 Our teacher doesn't actually meditate. 51:24.362 --> 51:25.524 One time I did this. 51:30.011 --> 51:31.573 But yeah, there is something there. 51:31.634 --> 51:36.261 We've got a problem with this system in that regard. 51:36.281 --> 51:39.105 It's not really a problem, but it might be better not to do that. 51:39.306 --> 51:40.107 I mean, there's no 51:40.930 --> 51:45.035 pressure to record your meditation on this app. 51:46.177 --> 51:51.303 But you are kind of giving us all the impression that at that moment you're meditating. 51:52.404 --> 51:58.612 And if everyone started to do that, then they start to wonder, are these people really meditating or are they not? 51:59.133 --> 52:00.935 You add suspicion, you see. 52:03.578 --> 52:06.502 It says currently meditating, and you're not currently meditating. 52:06.602 --> 52:08.845 So probably better not to do that. 52:11.255 --> 52:13.357 Bonte, what you say makes perfect sense. 52:13.457 --> 52:19.763 But also, you know, we sometimes call out people, oh, you know, you're asking a question and you haven't meditated. 52:20.203 --> 52:23.467 So I wonder if there's a way to, like, kind of put in offline meditation. 52:25.569 --> 52:31.054 You know, plug in, somehow plug in the time that you are meditating that you can't be online. 52:31.314 --> 52:38.781 Someone can open an issue to allow you to just add in hours I meditated. 52:40.820 --> 52:41.922 It's a bit complicated. 52:43.264 --> 52:53.538 Yeah, I know for myself, like if I have just a short amount of time, I'm not going to go and run and grab my phone and log in because by the time I do that, then I'll notice that I got three emails and then my 10 minutes to meditate is gone. 52:54.139 --> 52:56.463 So there's so much time that I don't bother to log in. 52:56.523 --> 53:00.128 But it's still meditation time. 53:04.495 --> 53:08.146 Yeah, I mean, I don't, it's not like I use this, I don't use this app to log my meditation. 53:08.969 --> 53:13.442 Just the one before, the one before the thing. 53:15.532 --> 53:18.596 I mean, it's more than that. 53:19.017 --> 53:24.725 The whole thing is we want people to be in a good mode. 53:24.765 --> 53:30.573 So the idea was do some meditation before this, if possible. 53:30.653 --> 53:38.063 Do some meditation before we meet, like recently before we meet, so that you're in a good state of mind when you come here. 53:39.680 --> 53:43.385 Yes, you do meditation other times, but it's not quite the point. 53:43.405 --> 53:43.925 It's fine. 53:44.005 --> 53:44.646 It's okay. 53:44.686 --> 53:51.755 But it would also be nice if you came here having just meditated so that your questions and your mind is in a good state. 53:55.920 --> 53:56.221 I don't know. 53:56.361 --> 53:57.602 I wouldn't take it too seriously. 53:58.403 --> 53:59.064 I would say not. 53:59.805 --> 54:00.446 Don't bother. 54:03.490 --> 54:06.353 But yeah, there's people who are actually using this for commitments, right? 54:06.373 --> 54:07.915 Like how many they're doing every week. 54:10.274 --> 54:14.021 And then if you don't log it on time, well, we better add that then. 54:14.121 --> 54:17.107 You better be able to add time retroactively. 54:18.530 --> 54:19.211 Because that's right. 54:19.231 --> 54:21.575 It's better not to make it look like you are meditating. 54:22.457 --> 54:24.922 You should just be able to add time. 54:24.942 --> 54:26.024 I don't care. 54:26.104 --> 54:27.427 What are people going to do, lie about it? 54:27.807 --> 54:32.957 Pad their profile hours and put it on their resume or something? 54:37.190 --> 54:38.152 So yeah, we should put that in. 54:38.192 --> 54:41.817 We should allow people to add time retroactively. 54:45.203 --> 54:49.390 Yeah, just so when we're, you know, because we're always looking at people's profiles and saying, oh, this person doesn't meditate. 54:49.470 --> 54:52.394 So maybe not going to answer the question. 54:52.455 --> 54:53.336 Don't post it. 54:55.860 --> 54:55.960 Yeah. 54:55.980 --> 55:02.691 Well, if someone can open an issue about that, hopefully our awesome IT team can get around to it. 55:06.316 --> 55:07.598 Is there a subconscious? 55:08.259 --> 55:09.060 Is that a concept? 55:09.801 --> 55:10.582 Not exactly. 55:10.903 --> 55:15.049 There's kind of a pilot light consciousness. 55:15.089 --> 55:20.838 You know how these old stoves have a pilot light, or a gas stove has a pilot light, a furnace has a pilot light? 55:21.358 --> 55:25.725 It's this little flame that keeps burning so that whenever you turn the furnace on, 55:26.262 --> 55:27.164 It can ignite it. 55:27.985 --> 55:32.193 So even when we sleep, in deep sleep, there's still a consciousness. 55:32.994 --> 55:39.065 That's why you kind of have a feeling of time having passed when you wake up, even though you weren't really conscious of it. 55:41.550 --> 55:45.958 And it seems to go very quickly, but it's not that it's just instantaneous. 55:47.423 --> 55:51.153 In between experiences, there is a consciousness, but it doesn't do anything. 55:51.193 --> 55:53.580 It doesn't have any mystical power. 55:54.843 --> 56:02.985 It's just like a placeholder consciousness waiting for something to impinge on the sense doors. 56:09.884 --> 56:15.656 If I do more than three hours of meditation a day, I usually experience a severe lack of pleasure in everything. 56:16.257 --> 56:17.239 How can I deal with this? 56:18.281 --> 56:19.724 Meditate on it. 56:19.764 --> 56:22.569 Do you want to be pleased by everything? 56:23.411 --> 56:25.235 If so, then you should say wanting, wanting. 56:25.275 --> 56:27.319 Or if you're worried about it, you should say worried, worried. 56:28.902 --> 56:29.643 You dislike it. 56:30.644 --> 56:32.466 How can you experience a lack of pleasure? 56:32.506 --> 56:36.450 It means you're not experiencing pleasure, which isn't a problem. 56:36.711 --> 56:39.093 If you're not experiencing something, it's not a problem for you. 56:39.774 --> 56:44.980 But if you find that to be a problem, if you're worried about it or upset about it, that's where your problem is. 56:49.926 --> 56:52.969 Maybe you mean displeasure, in which case you have to be mindful of that. 56:57.944 --> 57:06.567 Bhante, if one is not enlightened, isn't the purpose of metta and karuna more about subduing one's own anger and cruelty instead of trying to change others? 57:09.214 --> 57:10.738 No, it helps to change others. 57:12.895 --> 57:15.439 changes others and changes your relationship with them. 57:16.661 --> 57:23.271 I mean, subduing your own anger and cruelty is going to greatly change your relationship with them, and it's therefore going to help them. 57:24.433 --> 57:28.699 It's going to make them more positively inclined towards you. 57:30.041 --> 57:31.363 Helping yourself, you help others. 57:31.423 --> 57:32.825 Helping others, you help yourself. 57:39.556 --> 57:40.557 So I mean, 57:42.983 --> 57:46.988 You know, helping others is valid. 57:47.029 --> 57:49.532 Helping other people to become enlightened is valid. 57:49.712 --> 57:52.676 If you want to become a Buddha, that's part of your path. 57:52.696 --> 57:57.262 It's not that the only thing... And this is a good point, I suppose. 57:57.282 --> 58:00.006 It's not that the only goal in life is to enlighten yourself. 58:01.208 --> 58:03.932 Many people's goal is to enlighten others as well, and that's valid. 58:05.153 --> 58:10.881 It's not valid to... A valid goal is not to get married or to get rich. 58:12.329 --> 58:15.194 But a valid goal is to help other people become enlightened. 58:16.838 --> 58:18.521 You want to become a Buddha, that's part of your goal. 58:19.603 --> 58:21.967 Even many Arahants help many others. 58:22.809 --> 58:24.753 It's part of their path, sort of. 58:28.840 --> 58:31.265 So I wouldn't really quite separate it out like that. 58:31.285 --> 58:35.012 I mean, you could argue that 58:35.920 --> 58:41.629 Yeah, what you're saying is important because a person who's not enlightened yet, it's important that they help themselves first. 58:41.649 --> 58:42.750 And that's important to point out. 58:42.790 --> 58:45.174 But helping others, you help yourself. 58:45.314 --> 58:51.243 So the good that you give to others through your love and your compassion is a great help for you as well. 58:53.787 --> 59:01.118 I guess the only thing is you wouldn't be, you shouldn't be focusing on helping others until you're enlightened. 59:09.215 --> 59:19.487 I was reading a book by Geshe Kalsang Gyatso, and he was speaking about the six realms that we could be born into while in samsara. 59:20.388 --> 59:22.751 Do you see these realms as real or just symbolic? 59:23.292 --> 59:28.117 I'm trying to better understand Mahayana and Theravada Buddhism so I can possibly choose a path to follow. 59:32.543 --> 59:34.665 Well, they're not symbolic. 59:36.130 --> 59:39.455 But if you ask, is the human realm real? 59:41.257 --> 59:42.419 It's not symbolic. 59:42.579 --> 59:43.821 And you would say, well, of course it's real. 59:43.861 --> 59:44.862 But it's not really real. 59:44.923 --> 59:46.044 It's just a concept. 59:47.126 --> 59:49.269 It's a delineation. 59:50.010 --> 59:57.160 We call the human realm any realm that a human is born into, I guess, or the realm of experience of a human being. 59:58.540 --> 01:00:00.202 But it's not really a realm, right? 01:00:01.143 --> 01:00:02.384 Is this the human realm I'm in? 01:00:02.544 --> 01:00:03.145 Well, not really. 01:00:04.486 --> 01:00:07.209 But my universe is a human universe because I'm human. 01:00:08.310 --> 01:00:10.992 So when I see all this, human. 01:00:11.773 --> 01:00:11.953 Why? 01:00:12.034 --> 01:00:12.614 Because of me. 01:00:12.754 --> 01:00:14.616 Because the experiencer is human. 01:00:16.098 --> 01:00:26.488 So there are, I mean, the realms are just ways of, they're just different. 01:00:27.329 --> 01:00:29.712 different kinds of experience. 01:00:30.493 --> 01:00:40.325 So there are types of experiences or types of beings that are born in terrible straits and the experiences they have are full of suffering. 01:00:40.345 --> 01:00:42.428 So we call those hell beings and hell realms. 01:00:43.289 --> 01:00:47.114 All it means really is that person is having hellish experiences. 01:00:47.134 --> 01:00:48.415 It doesn't mean that they're still human. 01:00:48.435 --> 01:00:52.420 It doesn't mean that only humans exist and that we go through all the realms. 01:00:52.480 --> 01:00:52.661 No. 01:00:53.462 --> 01:00:55.624 No, there are actually beings that are not human. 01:00:56.185 --> 01:00:57.066 They don't look like this. 01:00:58.278 --> 01:01:04.504 They're in bodies that are far more coarse and unpleasant and they suffer terribly. 01:01:05.946 --> 01:01:11.611 They die again and again and they bleed and they suffer again and again. 01:01:18.778 --> 01:01:27.407 And then there are beings that are, that other experiences, there are states of being that are pure and pleasant and agreeable. 01:01:28.805 --> 01:01:33.430 And so we call those the heavenly realms and heavenly beings, but still just experience. 01:01:34.071 --> 01:01:36.935 It just means there's great experience of pleasure all the time. 01:01:36.955 --> 01:01:37.615 They're not human. 01:01:38.196 --> 01:01:38.957 They don't look like this. 01:01:41.640 --> 01:01:55.116 But the way to go is I or you or any of us can go to these places, can transform into one of these beings over time through this form dying away. 01:01:55.788 --> 01:02:01.556 And through the mind that is pure, the mind that is defiled, cultivating a new experience. 01:02:03.859 --> 01:02:07.124 It cultivates an experience based on its inclination. 01:02:07.164 --> 01:02:08.546 It's inclined towards good things. 01:02:08.626 --> 01:02:12.451 It will cultivate a heavenly realm, a heavenly existence if it cultivates. 01:02:13.592 --> 01:02:14.954 It's full of unpleasantness. 01:02:14.974 --> 01:02:19.821 It will cultivate an unpleasant realm, an unpleasant existence. 01:02:25.083 --> 01:02:31.770 Dante, is the human realm close to the animal realm, since we obviously are sharing experience with one another? 01:02:31.850 --> 01:02:32.430 It's not real. 01:02:32.450 --> 01:02:33.992 There's no such thing as the human realm. 01:02:34.873 --> 01:02:42.661 What is meant by the human realm is the sphere of rebirth. 01:02:43.581 --> 01:02:45.223 So you can be reborn as a human. 01:02:45.864 --> 01:02:47.145 It means there is a human realm. 01:02:48.947 --> 01:02:51.950 is just means the soil, really. 01:02:52.250 --> 01:02:54.212 Soil is maybe a good way to understand it. 01:02:55.627 --> 01:02:57.631 You can grow in that soil. 01:02:57.692 --> 01:03:01.139 Or basis. 01:03:02.202 --> 01:03:04.467 There's the basis for existence that is human. 01:03:05.088 --> 01:03:06.231 You can be born as a human. 01:03:07.293 --> 01:03:08.355 You can be born in hell. 01:03:10.059 --> 01:03:10.821 It's a basis. 01:03:11.162 --> 01:03:12.304 You can be born as an animal. 01:03:12.424 --> 01:03:14.108 It doesn't mean the animals have their own realms. 01:03:15.809 --> 01:03:45.782 means there is a basis of existence that is called the animal existence and of course it's subdivided into so many different types of existence by so many different types of animals that's all they mean it's just and it's really just a classifying into six or ten or twelve or thirty one there's thirty one realms in Abhidhamma tradition or not Abhidhamma but Theravada tradition I guess 01:03:47.112 --> 01:03:51.703 It's just a classification. 01:03:54.530 --> 01:04:01.307 I guess what I'm asking is because as we walk around and experience our universe, we run into animals. 01:04:01.962 --> 01:04:08.811 Whereas we may think we hear angels, but we definitely run into animals. 01:04:09.352 --> 01:04:10.193 They're all around us. 01:04:10.293 --> 01:04:12.276 So is there something? 01:04:12.336 --> 01:04:15.080 Well, it's because their nature is very similar to ours. 01:04:15.400 --> 01:04:27.497 I mean, angels are apparently all around us, but their nature is just so different from ours that we're not able to perceive them, not without intense spiritual practice. 01:04:31.240 --> 01:04:34.905 Thank you, Bhante. 01:04:36.206 --> 01:04:47.601 The recognition wherein all that is conditioned arises and ceases, the space that emits love in no direction, but is love, is space for form to arise. 01:04:48.322 --> 01:04:50.745 What can you say about an experience like this? 01:04:53.609 --> 01:04:55.471 Those sound like two very different experiences. 01:04:55.531 --> 01:04:59.897 Seeing that all that is conditioned arises and ceases is one thing. 01:05:01.666 --> 01:05:07.116 The experience of being love is another experience. 01:05:10.924 --> 01:05:13.468 And it's not just an experience, it's also an interpretation. 01:05:16.995 --> 01:05:22.746 So recognizing where in all, recognition where in all that is conditioned arises and ceases. 01:05:25.223 --> 01:05:30.011 You know, I mean, it can just be a conception. 01:05:30.071 --> 01:05:31.434 It doesn't have to be recognition. 01:05:32.415 --> 01:05:44.155 Because when you recognize that everything arises ceases, the only way you can really experience that is through Nibbana. 01:05:45.377 --> 01:05:47.080 Because Nibbana is non-arising. 01:05:48.933 --> 01:05:50.616 There's no arising in Ibana. 01:05:50.676 --> 01:05:51.377 It doesn't arise. 01:05:51.417 --> 01:05:52.659 It doesn't cease. 01:05:52.679 --> 01:05:56.786 So through that experience, that's how someone realizes that all that arises ceases. 01:05:57.708 --> 01:06:00.693 Beyond that, for most people, it's just a conception. 01:06:00.733 --> 01:06:02.896 You don't actually understand that. 01:06:04.219 --> 01:06:12.312 You see it again and again, things arising and ceasing, and you might come logically to the conclusion that all that arises or ceases, but it's not really knowing it. 01:06:13.594 --> 01:06:15.177 And that's important because 01:06:16.743 --> 01:06:20.527 Well, through the realization of Nibbana, you will see the difference. 01:06:21.568 --> 01:06:31.059 You'll be blown away by the truth that all that arises actually does cease. 01:06:31.079 --> 01:06:34.102 As for being love, that's just a conception. 01:06:34.142 --> 01:06:36.885 There's no such thing really as being love. 01:06:37.746 --> 01:06:39.227 There's an experience of love. 01:06:40.829 --> 01:06:45.214 And then there's probably a conceiving that as being love. 01:06:47.303 --> 01:06:48.645 What does it mean to be love? 01:06:49.026 --> 01:06:50.248 Love is an experience. 01:06:52.251 --> 01:06:53.934 Love is a state of mind. 01:06:57.259 --> 01:06:58.542 And it's not just love. 01:06:58.582 --> 01:07:00.204 There's pleasure as well, usually. 01:07:02.488 --> 01:07:05.854 Love is actually a very small part of what we think of as love. 01:07:05.894 --> 01:07:10.341 Most of it is just the pleasure and the liking of the state, attachment even. 01:07:19.805 --> 01:07:22.208 Because how could you call it love if it doesn't have an object? 01:07:24.110 --> 01:07:29.856 Usually it's just, well, usually it's just kind of loving a state, right? 01:07:29.876 --> 01:07:31.598 A state of pleasantness, a state of bliss. 01:07:34.662 --> 01:07:36.384 That's probably what, I mean, that's my guess. 01:07:37.205 --> 01:07:43.011 There's so many different states and we can call them many different things, but that's what it sounds like to me. 01:07:47.733 --> 01:07:49.936 Bonte, I don't always log in when I meditate. 01:07:50.137 --> 01:07:52.120 Sometimes I'm not at my computer to log in. 01:07:52.701 --> 01:07:54.063 Do I really have to use my phone? 01:07:54.363 --> 01:07:55.625 I don't carry it with me all the time. 01:07:56.346 --> 01:08:05.520 No, I mean, if you want to use this platform as a commitment, as a way of committing, then it's up to you. 01:08:05.560 --> 01:08:06.822 There's no must. 01:08:08.692 --> 01:08:12.379 The thing is, if you're going to ask questions, we'd like to know that you're actually a meditator. 01:08:12.439 --> 01:08:16.025 So I know that you're a meditator. 01:08:16.045 --> 01:08:16.766 That's fine. 01:08:16.786 --> 01:08:24.019 But some people, if I don't recognize them and they start asking weird questions, then I can click on their username and say, oh, you don't meditate with us. 01:08:24.200 --> 01:08:25.502 I'm not going to answer your question. 01:08:27.136 --> 01:08:28.118 We were getting that before. 01:08:28.158 --> 01:08:32.124 I'm not getting any of those questions now, but good questions. 01:08:33.105 --> 01:08:37.212 But we were getting speculative questions, and I started to say, yeah, these are too speculative. 01:08:38.294 --> 01:08:39.636 Look, you guys aren't meditating. 01:08:39.696 --> 01:08:40.838 I'm not answering your questions. 01:08:42.380 --> 01:08:45.966 I think we're not really going to be checking on people. 01:08:45.986 --> 01:08:48.570 I mean, this new site isn't the same setup anyway, but 01:08:50.086 --> 01:09:17.460 um you know use this site if it's useful for you come meditate with us before or whenever you know lots of people using the site so it appears to be useful hopefully it stays useful most useful is this meeting i think that we have right but um the point was to make sure that the understanding is that this meeting is for meditators it's not just for people curious or speculative 01:09:23.313 --> 01:09:26.217 Do dreams have meaning? 01:09:27.779 --> 01:09:28.179 Not really. 01:09:28.219 --> 01:09:29.381 They can. 01:09:29.441 --> 01:09:30.562 Usually they don't. 01:09:31.404 --> 01:09:32.885 And even if they do, they really don't. 01:09:34.427 --> 01:09:37.131 Because any meaning that they might have is just conventional. 01:09:38.633 --> 01:09:46.563 They might predict the future or they might be trying to teach you something, but the things they can teach you are only conventional. 01:09:47.044 --> 01:09:48.886 They can't teach you the truth of reality. 01:09:51.289 --> 01:09:52.611 So they're not really all that useful. 01:10:00.016 --> 01:10:02.645 All right, after 10, that's enough. 01:10:04.773 --> 01:10:05.355 Good night, everyone. 01:10:05.435 --> 01:10:07.121 Thank you, Robin, for being with us. 01:10:08.125 --> 01:10:08.888 Thank you, Bhante. 01:10:08.908 --> 01:10:09.891 Good night.