WEBVTT 00:02.528 --> 00:03.389 Good evening, everyone. 00:04.230 --> 00:09.155 Welcome to our live broadcast, an evening Dhamma talk. 00:16.043 --> 00:29.818 Tonight we're looking at training in Gautam Nikaya, starting at Book of Threes, Sutta 81 and onward. 00:38.877 --> 00:40.159 So another list of three. 00:40.359 --> 00:42.862 This is the list of three things that we have to do. 00:44.865 --> 00:47.087 Three tasks to be accomplished. 00:47.107 --> 01:00.885 . 01:11.783 --> 01:16.471 Three things by a samana, a shaman, a reckless. 01:16.572 --> 01:17.513 That's what we all are. 01:19.036 --> 01:25.468 We are wizards, like shamans who have left the world to seek out higher things. 01:28.994 --> 01:32.340 The things that we accomplish in meditation, most people would think of as 01:33.940 --> 01:36.944 Wizardry, if they knew what we were capable of. 01:38.045 --> 01:44.113 I'm not talking about magical powers, although there are incredible magical powers that come from meditation. 01:45.856 --> 01:50.401 But the simple ability to bear with things that most people aren't able to bear with. 01:51.903 --> 01:53.345 These are not simple things that we do. 01:53.385 --> 01:57.651 These are not easy things. 01:57.671 --> 01:59.273 These are not mundane things. 02:01.396 --> 02:06.223 A powerful spiritual achievement through the practice. 02:07.265 --> 02:08.287 The ability to let go. 02:08.307 --> 02:12.173 The ability to tame the mind. 02:15.197 --> 02:19.724 To discard all the garbage in the mind and have a pure and clear mind. 02:20.766 --> 02:21.868 It's a very profound thing. 02:24.051 --> 02:25.794 So we are all samana. 02:25.814 --> 02:27.336 We are all shamans here. 02:31.518 --> 02:35.722 What are the three things that a shaman, a samana, should accomplish? 02:38.325 --> 02:53.080 Well, in Buddhism, all that magical stuff, all the things that we normally associate with a shaman in modern times, or even in ancient times, most of it's not important in Buddhism. 02:54.861 --> 02:58.605 Buddhism sticks to the core. 03:00.880 --> 03:03.985 separates the wheat from the chaff. 03:05.867 --> 03:07.149 So much is just chaff. 03:07.530 --> 03:14.861 You might think it looks good, and you might think it's useful. 03:16.984 --> 03:23.955 But when you investigate, you find that actually there's not much to it, not much benefit to be had from it. 03:27.380 --> 03:29.503 And the end doesn't give you anything special. 03:42.190 --> 03:44.532 So what are the three things that we have to accomplish? 03:44.552 --> 03:52.880 , three things that must be done by a shaman. 03:52.900 --> 03:53.721 It's quite simple. 03:54.181 --> 03:55.863 Many of you must know what these are. 03:55.983 --> 03:58.425 . 03:58.445 --> 04:10.577 means taking upon yourself, right? 04:13.105 --> 04:14.607 Yes, to take upon. 04:14.667 --> 04:25.902 Taking upon yourself the practice of higher sila, higher morality, higher ethical behavior. 04:29.947 --> 04:34.213 Number two, adhichita sikha samadhana. 04:36.075 --> 04:41.863 Taking upon yourself the training in higher mind, higher mind state. 04:43.362 --> 04:47.269 Concentration is usually translated as, explained as. 04:49.532 --> 04:58.227 And number three, adipanya-sikha-samadhanam, the training, taking upon yourself the training in higher wisdom. 05:01.072 --> 05:08.104 Morality, concentration, and wisdom is how it's usually described. 05:11.932 --> 05:14.654 So how do we understand these things? 05:14.714 --> 05:26.685 Well, it's important to be able to distinguish between morality, concentration, and wisdom, and higher morality, higher concentration, and higher wisdom. 05:30.669 --> 05:31.690 Because it's of two kinds. 05:31.810 --> 05:35.893 There's ordinary morality, and then there's higher morality. 05:35.913 --> 05:36.814 Ordinary ethics. 05:38.055 --> 05:39.897 Ordinary ethics is keeping rules. 05:42.745 --> 05:44.828 We all love rules, no? 05:44.848 --> 05:45.549 Some of us do. 05:47.591 --> 05:49.073 Rules are easy to keep. 05:49.213 --> 05:50.495 You think it's hard to keep rules? 05:52.337 --> 05:53.259 Relatively easy. 05:54.821 --> 05:56.282 Monks can keep lots of rules. 05:59.867 --> 06:00.969 Lay people keep rules. 06:01.429 --> 06:06.215 Some people think because they keep rules, that means they're practicing Buddhism. 06:07.737 --> 06:09.900 They're practicing mundane Buddhism, sure. 06:12.428 --> 06:16.014 But it's actually not enough, unfortunately, to just keep rules. 06:16.114 --> 06:17.577 Rules are like fence posts. 06:18.599 --> 06:19.841 You can't keep the cows in. 06:22.426 --> 06:23.527 You need a fence for that. 06:24.529 --> 06:25.491 You need something real. 06:26.332 --> 06:27.374 Fence posts are useful. 06:27.414 --> 06:29.117 They keep the fence from falling down. 06:30.039 --> 06:30.920 Rules are useful. 06:30.961 --> 06:33.725 They keep your practice from falling down. 06:35.529 --> 06:36.951 But you need the fence nonetheless. 06:38.551 --> 06:39.633 And that's Adi Sila. 06:39.653 --> 06:41.417 Adi Sila is not just keeping rules. 06:41.738 --> 06:51.117 Adi Sila is cultivating a mind that is free from the inclination to break rules, to do anything immoral. 06:51.137 --> 06:53.843 It's guarding the mind, bringing your mind back. 06:55.662 --> 07:11.404 In meditation, the simplest way to understand morality or ethics is not letting your mind wander, not stopping it, but the act of bringing your mind back when you realize you've been thinking to remind yourself, thinking, thinking. 07:12.065 --> 07:17.012 The simple reminder, the initiative, 07:18.663 --> 07:28.048 to say to yourself, ah, I've been unmindful, and to bring yourself back, to cultivate a habit of focusing the mind. 07:29.530 --> 07:30.972 Because these lead one to the other. 07:31.032 --> 07:50.277 What truly leads to higher mind states, focused mind states, clear mind states, is this act of guarding your mind, catching your mind, bringing your mind back to focus on the present moment, focus on reality. 07:50.297 --> 07:54.542 When you're caught up in the conceptualization of an experience, 07:56.429 --> 08:04.502 Suppose you have a thought and it gets you lost in a world of the past or the future or imagination. 08:06.024 --> 08:09.089 To come back down to reality and to remind yourself, hey, that's a thought. 08:10.030 --> 08:11.452 That's images in my mind. 08:12.534 --> 08:13.315 It's just seeing. 08:15.258 --> 08:21.508 Or if someone's yelling at you and you start to plan how you're going to get back to them, then you remind yourself that that's just sound. 08:22.771 --> 08:24.514 And suddenly you're back in reality. 08:25.695 --> 08:31.464 That act of bringing yourself back, that's the purest, simplest way of understanding ethics. 08:32.145 --> 08:33.367 Not letting your mind wander. 08:34.689 --> 08:41.699 Not freeing your mind to let it follow after its inclinations and habits. 08:41.719 --> 08:46.627 But instead training the mind to see the facet of the experience that is real. 08:47.328 --> 08:50.753 The kernel of truth that is in every experience. 08:52.724 --> 09:00.775 what's really happening, to not get lost in what's not really happening. 09:00.795 --> 09:02.016 Adhichitta Sikha. 09:02.657 --> 09:03.659 Again, two kinds. 09:05.321 --> 09:08.665 An ordinary citta, ordinary concentration. 09:10.508 --> 09:12.511 An ordinary focusing of mind states. 09:13.232 --> 09:20.301 This is how we normally think of concentration as, where you fix your mind in some way, or where your mind is just 09:22.357 --> 09:29.034 shielded from the world somehow, shielded from unpleasantness. 09:32.342 --> 09:37.294 Your mind is fixed and focused on one thing in one way. 09:41.780 --> 09:43.082 And that can't help you either. 09:43.102 --> 09:46.366 That too is not really the way to enlightenment. 09:46.567 --> 09:52.615 There are people in other religions who fix and focus their minds on things and don't ever reach enlightenment. 09:55.720 --> 10:03.410 How many lifetimes did Bodhisattva practice focusing his mind, calming his mind, and never became enlightened? 10:07.336 --> 10:09.559 Until he was finally ready and he realized 10:11.058 --> 10:21.972 by watching, by looking at reality instead, and seeing cause and effect. 10:21.992 --> 10:24.415 To see cause and effect, you have to focus on what's real. 10:24.475 --> 10:26.157 You have to focus on things that change. 10:27.639 --> 10:32.725 You have to focus on the kernel of truth, this kernel of experience that is real. 10:34.747 --> 10:36.810 Because that's where cause and effect lives. 10:38.813 --> 10:40.795 It's the only way you can truly see 10:43.137 --> 10:45.241 Good causes good and bad causes bad. 10:45.802 --> 10:47.144 Clinging causes suffering. 10:49.268 --> 10:50.650 Ignorance causes clinging. 10:52.994 --> 10:57.221 Or you can give up ignorance because you can see this clearly and no longer cling. 11:01.028 --> 11:03.412 So this comes in meditation when you watch reality. 11:03.432 --> 11:05.095 It's not as comfortable, of course. 11:06.526 --> 11:07.727 But there's a focus to it. 11:08.828 --> 11:21.101 There's a clarity to it, to being able to move from one object to the other, stay with each object as it changes, as the object changes to keep the mind the same. 11:22.643 --> 11:35.436 This is what we're training ourselves for, to slowly be able to experience everything with the same clarity of mind, to slowly be able to see everything as it is, rather than judging it, reacting to it. 11:36.901 --> 11:41.128 We slowly give up our reactions, our judgments, our attachments, our aversions. 11:44.233 --> 11:47.939 That's adhikita. 11:47.959 --> 11:50.904 Adhipanya, that then leads to panya. 11:52.366 --> 11:55.311 This clarity of mind where you see things as they are. 11:55.331 --> 11:58.797 You see things clearly, what allows you to give rise to wisdom. 11:58.837 --> 12:01.301 Again, there are two kinds of wisdom. 12:01.321 --> 12:02.723 So ordinary wisdom is where 12:04.222 --> 12:06.607 You listen to a talk like this, and you learn something. 12:07.368 --> 12:13.200 So you learn what are the three trainings, or you learn what are the two levels of the three trainings. 12:14.743 --> 12:17.809 You can have ordinary training, or you can have higher training. 12:20.894 --> 12:23.981 But we often think that that's enough, that kind of wisdom is enough. 12:24.902 --> 12:30.635 And so our teaching has to include a reminder that true wisdom doesn't come from listening. 12:30.675 --> 12:31.877 It doesn't come from thinking. 12:32.759 --> 12:37.108 It doesn't come from intellectual thought or rationalization or logic or whatever. 12:39.533 --> 12:41.738 True wisdom comes from seeing things as they are. 12:43.827 --> 12:47.632 As you watch things arising and ceasing, this is where you see cause and effect. 12:48.373 --> 12:50.537 More importantly, you see the nature of things. 12:51.458 --> 12:53.140 That everything that arises ceases. 12:53.581 --> 12:58.107 It's really the most important thing. 12:59.369 --> 13:00.030 It sounds silly. 13:00.070 --> 13:02.313 It sounds overly simplistic. 13:02.333 --> 13:08.502 But when you finally get that truth, not intellectually, but only because you've seen it again and again, 13:08.482 --> 13:37.527 and you finally realize that the truth of reality is nothing more than everything arises and ceases everything that arises ceases because that allows you to let go of it there's no clinging to something that arises and ceases there's only clinging to things that you think are stable that you're perceiving correctly as being consistent predictable stable and secure 13:39.397 --> 13:42.425 and thereby satisfying and controllable. 13:43.427 --> 13:52.410 But if things arise and cease moment after moment incessantly, they can't be satisfying, they can't be predictable, they can't be controllable. 13:53.874 --> 13:55.077 They come and go on their own. 13:59.647 --> 14:01.370 We see so much more as the problem. 14:01.490 --> 14:04.694 Panya really is a limiting of what we see in things. 14:05.456 --> 14:08.740 Normally when we see something, we judge it immediately, right? 14:08.840 --> 14:10.142 We see so much in things. 14:10.883 --> 14:11.304 Too much. 14:12.906 --> 14:13.968 And so we react to them. 14:14.769 --> 14:17.233 This is good, this is bad, this is me, this is mine. 14:18.374 --> 14:19.576 This is right, this is wrong. 14:20.978 --> 14:22.941 We fail to see that simple reality. 14:24.163 --> 14:25.024 None of those things. 14:25.104 --> 14:26.987 It's just arising and ceasing. 14:28.368 --> 14:31.092 But when that's all you see about things, then you let go. 14:35.178 --> 14:37.121 Or when you let go, that's what you'll see about things. 14:37.761 --> 14:45.032 You start to see that all of this is wrong, all this judging and clinging and reacting, so much suffering. 14:45.052 --> 14:48.276 And you'll see it again and again and again until you finally have enough. 14:49.378 --> 14:57.750 And your mind will start to let go, loosen up, free itself from the clinging and suffering. 15:04.463 --> 15:07.728 There's some more suttas about these things, but I don't think they're that important. 15:09.250 --> 15:10.212 There's one about the donkey. 15:10.232 --> 15:16.301 If you're interested, I'd recommend reading the donkey one, but it's not really important as a meditation. 15:23.873 --> 15:25.295 The field is an interesting one. 15:27.098 --> 15:28.059 Interesting similes. 15:29.381 --> 15:31.905 A farmer, a farmer who is planting 15:33.337 --> 15:35.159 Planting a seed needs to do three things. 15:35.479 --> 15:37.481 First, they have to plow and arrow the field. 15:38.982 --> 15:41.325 Then they have to sow their seeds at the proper time. 15:41.365 --> 15:44.528 And then they have to irrigate and drain the field. 15:48.932 --> 15:50.734 So what does a monk have to do? 15:50.754 --> 15:52.396 What does a meditator have to do? 15:54.057 --> 15:55.018 Well, they have to do the same. 15:55.459 --> 15:57.921 But what does it mean to plow the field? 15:57.961 --> 16:00.103 Well, that's morality, I think. 16:01.670 --> 16:04.154 Because you can't focus the mind unless you're ethical first. 16:05.195 --> 16:08.840 And ultimately, this means practicing, means walking and sitting. 16:08.880 --> 16:17.313 And then you sow your seeds by being mindful during the time when you're walking and sitting, guarding your mind. 16:17.353 --> 16:21.619 And then the irrigation is the wisdom. 16:29.767 --> 16:33.633 Anyway, most important to remember, there's only these three trainings. 16:33.753 --> 16:42.305 Regard the mind and then focus the mind on reality and start to see things just as they are. 16:43.006 --> 16:44.368 Don't think too much about things. 16:44.428 --> 16:45.590 Don't see too much in them. 16:47.312 --> 16:49.716 See things clearly and fully as they are. 16:49.756 --> 16:53.081 See the kernel of truth. 16:53.101 --> 16:54.643 See the samadhi pannaya. 16:56.615 --> 16:59.278 This is the higher training of the Buddha. 16:59.298 --> 17:01.901 Quite simple and quite powerful. 17:04.985 --> 17:06.947 So that's the Dhamma for tonight. 17:11.212 --> 17:12.353 Let's go to questions. 17:12.373 --> 17:14.656 Robin, I don't think, is here unless she snuck in. 17:16.097 --> 17:19.281 She said she had something with her daughter. 17:29.926 --> 17:31.072 OK, questions. 17:34.128 --> 17:36.038 Would you expand on the meaning of delusion? 17:39.173 --> 17:40.915 Delusion, moha. 17:40.935 --> 17:44.960 Moha, it means to be confused in a sense, muddled. 17:45.640 --> 17:48.644 Deluded is a really good, delusion is a good translation. 17:49.865 --> 17:51.687 But moha, it's like a cloud. 17:51.748 --> 17:57.594 It's a word that means to be muddled, confused. 17:57.895 --> 18:07.746 So it encompasses a lot of different things like confusion, anything that's based simply on delusion, right? 18:08.317 --> 18:16.078 a misunderstanding of the world, a misapprehension of things, grasping things wrongly. 18:16.098 --> 18:24.199 So any kind of arrogance, anything to do with self, with ego, is all delusion. 18:25.883 --> 18:28.610 Arrogance, conceit, but also confusion and worry. 18:28.650 --> 18:30.896 These are all delusion. 18:31.257 --> 18:33.222 But these are pure delusion states. 18:33.282 --> 18:40.922 The other thing you have to understand about delusion is that it's also present in greed and anger, because greed and anger are based on delusion as well. 18:40.902 --> 18:43.326 They're based on a misapprehension of reality. 18:43.346 --> 18:44.567 So that's what delusion means. 18:45.409 --> 18:47.692 Delusion is really the root. 18:47.952 --> 18:49.054 It's the opposite of wisdom. 18:49.354 --> 18:51.458 The opposite of seeing things clearly as they are. 18:52.619 --> 18:55.784 But the pure delusion states are those that are free from greed or anger. 18:56.225 --> 19:02.754 Those moments when you're arrogant or conceited or worried or even distracted or confused. 19:03.816 --> 19:04.136 Doubt. 19:04.557 --> 19:05.719 Doubt is a big delusion. 19:06.880 --> 19:09.424 Because a person who sees clearly has no doubt. 19:16.660 --> 19:18.282 Will I ever do a TED talk? 19:18.302 --> 19:20.645 I was on my way to do a TED talk. 19:21.066 --> 19:25.872 I was a semifinalist to do a TEDx talk. 19:25.892 --> 19:28.174 TED talk, TED talk, you have to be famous for that. 19:28.996 --> 19:32.420 But this TEDx talk, and I backed out because it didn't feel right. 19:32.760 --> 19:39.749 It was not really about meditation, and I just thought, here I was reading something I had written, and it just felt kind of wrong. 19:41.431 --> 19:43.714 I like this better, teaching meditators. 19:46.158 --> 19:48.460 Sam Harris, a good source for learning meditation. 19:51.563 --> 19:52.524 Yeah, I don't know about that. 19:55.887 --> 20:00.772 I wouldn't learn meditation personally from him, but that's just me. 20:00.872 --> 20:02.513 Again, it's sort of outside of my realm. 20:02.553 --> 20:06.917 I don't like talking about other teachers, other groups, other peoples. 20:10.120 --> 20:13.043 Are lucid dreams more wholesome than non-lucid dreams? 20:15.537 --> 20:18.224 seems to me that you can manage to be mindful if you know that you're dreaming. 20:18.284 --> 20:23.157 Potentially, I would say there's probably certain qualities missing to your lucidity. 20:23.980 --> 20:26.727 Just because you know something doesn't mean you can be mindful of it. 20:27.168 --> 20:29.354 Because the word mindful is misleading. 20:29.695 --> 20:32.061 It really shouldn't be translated as mindful. 20:33.239 --> 20:41.988 But when we talk about sati, and in terms of the satipatthana, we're talking about something very specific, where you're able to remind yourself, this is this, this is that. 20:42.048 --> 20:43.250 Seeing is just seeing. 20:43.990 --> 20:46.333 I'm not sure if that's possible during lucid dreaming. 20:48.115 --> 20:50.758 I mean, it's not possible most of the time when we're awake, right? 20:54.421 --> 20:56.884 But no, but during dreaming, 20:58.720 --> 21:04.808 There's potentially something missing, because you don't really have control over the mind in the same way. 21:07.251 --> 21:11.416 Not exactly control, but sort of the ability to remind yourself. 21:13.579 --> 21:14.060 I don't know. 21:14.380 --> 21:16.763 I mean, it's all very speculative. 21:17.044 --> 21:19.326 I would stick to worrying about meditating when you're awake. 21:19.427 --> 21:23.151 And said, an enlightened person doesn't dream. 21:24.413 --> 21:25.454 So you can go by that. 21:25.514 --> 21:26.736 An arahant doesn't dream. 21:28.825 --> 21:31.648 Of course, the Buddha had dreams, but those are, I think, special dreams. 21:32.209 --> 21:33.030 Or the Bodhisatta? 21:34.352 --> 21:35.813 Is it the Buddha or the Bodhisatta? 21:36.474 --> 21:37.075 I can't remember. 21:38.056 --> 21:43.743 Maybe the Buddha didn't have dreams. 21:43.763 --> 21:47.127 Is there a way to change the email address that is linked to our account? 21:49.190 --> 21:50.251 I think there's supposed to be. 21:50.291 --> 21:56.959 I'm not sure if there is yet, but you might want to look at the issues on GitHub and go and submit an issue if there isn't one. 22:00.297 --> 22:02.000 cockroaches and insects. 22:03.041 --> 22:07.789 When I'm awake, when I flick off the light and try to sleep, I can feel them crawling all over me. 22:07.809 --> 22:08.830 Yeah, I know how that is. 22:09.892 --> 22:17.283 I remember waking up in Thailand once, and there was a cockroach on my lips, and I just went . 22:17.303 --> 22:18.665 They're very hardy, those things. 22:18.746 --> 22:20.348 You don't have to worry about hurting them. 22:24.125 --> 22:25.448 Makes sleeping difficult. 22:26.691 --> 22:27.413 Well, get a net. 22:27.673 --> 22:31.302 The best way is to get one of those mosquito nets, I would say. 22:32.043 --> 22:33.286 Sleep in a mosquito tent. 22:40.302 --> 22:41.425 Otherwise, just live with it. 22:43.244 --> 22:45.347 Good reason to sleep off the floor, I suppose. 22:46.429 --> 22:48.272 There's nothing wrong with sleeping off the floor. 22:48.292 --> 22:56.183 If you sleep on a bed, just make sure it's a, you know, if you get one of those wooden beds, it's just wood, you know, and then just a thin mat on top of that. 22:57.085 --> 22:58.567 It's not really about the height of it. 22:59.528 --> 23:02.092 It's more about the softness and the luxury of it. 23:03.915 --> 23:09.403 But there is something to sleeping on the floor that just makes you feel kind of humble, I suppose, or simple. 23:18.783 --> 23:20.605 I'm considering becoming a monk. 23:21.466 --> 23:21.926 Advice. 23:22.187 --> 23:23.788 Should I further my education? 23:25.450 --> 23:28.653 Would you suggest before continuing on to going to Sri Lanka? 23:29.594 --> 23:31.616 No, if you want to ordain as a monk, become a monk. 23:31.716 --> 23:32.577 But you've got to be ready. 23:32.737 --> 23:34.519 You've got to really want. 23:34.539 --> 23:38.363 If you say, I'm considering becoming a monk, I'd say forget about it. 23:38.383 --> 23:42.027 If that's how you phrase it, forget about it. 23:42.047 --> 23:46.832 You're not like jumping off your seat, champing at the bit to become a monk. 23:48.230 --> 23:52.495 Your chances of surviving as a monk in modern times, very slim. 23:53.737 --> 23:54.437 You got to want it. 23:55.799 --> 23:57.501 And you got to be sure that it's for you. 23:57.741 --> 23:58.222 I was sure. 23:58.242 --> 24:10.196 I don't mean to brag, but it's not really bragging because you see there's this class of monks who ordain and they're just sure that's what they want. 24:10.297 --> 24:14.001 It doesn't mean they're good monks, but it means they can stay monks. 24:15.685 --> 24:19.208 And then you see this other class who are kind of like, well, you know, maybe. 24:20.550 --> 24:22.231 And then they become a monk and they don't last. 24:23.773 --> 24:25.515 They just, they don't have it. 24:26.055 --> 24:29.178 It's not, becoming a monk is not like a decision you make. 24:29.258 --> 24:31.400 It's something you have to, it has to be a part of you. 24:31.420 --> 24:33.703 It's a very special thing. 24:34.203 --> 24:36.706 Becoming a Buddhist monk is not something to look lightly upon. 24:37.847 --> 24:40.710 If you don't, if you're not 100% ready, don't do it. 24:41.070 --> 24:43.212 Well, if you're not 100% ready, 24:44.407 --> 24:46.393 Chances are if you do do it, you won't last. 24:46.473 --> 24:47.095 That's all. 24:47.115 --> 24:47.937 Doesn't mean don't do it. 24:48.258 --> 24:48.940 You can go for it. 24:50.264 --> 24:57.004 But your chances of lasting are slim. 24:57.064 --> 24:58.348 is the donkey one. 24:59.999 --> 25:01.542 Yeah, well, you got to read it for yourself. 25:02.143 --> 25:04.747 I didn't want to bother my meditators with too much. 25:05.268 --> 25:06.470 The donkey is more about monks. 25:06.530 --> 25:09.556 You know, there are monks who pretend to be monks. 25:09.796 --> 25:11.459 There are donkeys who pretend to be horses. 25:11.800 --> 25:16.067 So suppose there was a donkey following after the horses saying, I'm a horse, I'm a horse. 25:18.022 --> 25:25.031 But his body doesn't look like a horse. 25:25.912 --> 25:28.355 His brain doesn't sound like a horse. 25:28.676 --> 25:31.920 And his hoofs don't look like, his footprints don't look like horses. 25:33.181 --> 25:35.184 And the same goes with a monk, a bhikkhu. 25:35.384 --> 25:37.587 A bhikkhu doesn't have sila-samadhi-panya. 25:37.847 --> 25:39.830 They're just a donkey following after horses. 25:41.452 --> 25:46.358 Because sila is your physical appearance. 25:47.705 --> 25:50.228 Samadhi is your sound, your voice. 25:51.649 --> 25:52.991 I mean, it's just an analogy. 25:54.372 --> 25:56.635 And wisdom is your footprint. 26:01.440 --> 26:02.121 Are you happy? 26:02.501 --> 26:04.663 That's a funny question, really, because I don't exist. 26:04.884 --> 26:07.066 Happiness is something that arises and ceases. 26:08.007 --> 26:09.709 But I don't answer questions about myself. 26:10.630 --> 26:10.910 Sorry. 26:11.411 --> 26:12.632 We have rules as well. 26:17.438 --> 26:18.759 Someone can't be happy. 26:19.100 --> 26:22.203 You know, you can't be a happy person in general. 26:22.864 --> 26:24.706 You're asking me, at that moment, was I happy? 26:26.288 --> 26:27.789 That's something I suppose I could answer. 26:27.849 --> 26:29.151 In this moment, am I happy? 26:30.332 --> 26:32.274 But moments arise and cease happiness. 26:34.657 --> 26:40.543 You know, honestly, the only true happiness, and that's really valuable, is nibbana. 26:41.992 --> 26:47.440 So you could only really say of a happy person, someone who had attained Nibbana. 26:50.565 --> 27:01.460 Either they're in Nibbana, where there's the cessation of suffering, or else they've attained it and they're there for enlightenment, or an arahant or a Buddha. 27:03.303 --> 27:06.328 Happy we are among the unhappy, the Buddha said. 27:07.369 --> 27:08.050 It's an arahant. 27:16.045 --> 27:17.764 Yeah, the Bodhisattva had dreams. 27:17.784 --> 27:18.512 Thanks, Sankar. 27:32.077 --> 27:33.679 That's all the questions for tonight. 27:33.699 --> 27:36.382 25 people on our site. 27:36.743 --> 27:37.664 We're getting up there. 27:38.625 --> 27:40.827 42 viewers on YouTube, that's average. 27:42.069 --> 27:44.251 It's great to have people watching. 27:45.493 --> 27:52.361 I was just looking at an article about virtual reality conferencing. 27:53.222 --> 27:53.843 They're getting there. 27:54.103 --> 27:58.388 They're getting where you can actually get in a room with each other and wave your arms, I think. 27:59.836 --> 28:05.484 I don't think I broadcasted this, but when I was in Thailand, I should have taken a picture. 28:06.385 --> 28:14.297 My uncle owns a partner in one of the bigger film companies in Asia. 28:14.337 --> 28:17.882 Well, in Thailand anyway, not Asia maybe. 28:17.902 --> 28:18.603 But they're big. 28:18.663 --> 28:23.650 They do a lot of Hollywood films that happen in Asia. 28:26.043 --> 28:27.425 And they got virtual reality. 28:27.445 --> 28:31.410 And they're working on this idea of virtual reality as the future. 28:31.470 --> 28:32.711 So I got to try it out. 28:33.432 --> 28:35.735 And I was meditating up on a cliff face. 28:36.596 --> 28:37.177 It's really neat. 28:37.717 --> 28:43.545 Because I was thinking, you know, couldn't you do some kind of meditation teaching where you go up on the cliff? 28:43.605 --> 28:44.926 And there's the monk. 28:45.367 --> 28:45.607 I am. 28:45.627 --> 28:47.990 But there's the teacher sitting on the cliff face. 28:48.030 --> 28:49.692 And they start to teach you meditation. 28:50.753 --> 28:53.637 I mean, for a beginner meditator, I think how attractive that would be. 28:55.304 --> 29:02.733 If you've ever used virtual reality, and it was my first virtual reality experience, it really is kind of immersive. 29:04.055 --> 29:09.741 It was funny because the air conditioning was on in the room, and it felt like there was a breeze blowing. 29:13.506 --> 29:17.551 But you know, it'd be interesting if we could have, oh, I don't know. 29:17.911 --> 29:18.672 This is good enough. 29:18.712 --> 29:20.214 Let's not get too complicated. 29:20.935 --> 29:21.836 It's kind of weird with that. 29:21.856 --> 29:23.438 You got this big thing on your head. 29:24.667 --> 29:26.209 But it was nice sitting up on a cliff. 29:26.269 --> 29:35.661 I got to sit up on this cliff and close my eyes and meditate, I guess. 29:35.681 --> 29:37.604 Anyway, this is good enough. 29:38.144 --> 29:41.969 We're all here supporting each other in our meditation. 29:42.029 --> 29:45.654 The funny thing is, you know, when you meditate, you're all alone anyway. 29:45.674 --> 29:47.296 You don't meditate actually with others. 29:47.877 --> 29:48.378 And you shouldn't. 29:49.039 --> 29:50.961 Meditation should be very much about you. 29:56.780 --> 29:58.422 I got one more question popped up. 29:58.963 --> 30:00.425 I'll answer one more, and then we're done. 30:02.248 --> 30:07.396 During meditation, is there a problem when the pace of noting is inconsistent? 30:07.416 --> 30:09.759 Mostly too fast, but sometimes very slow. 30:10.901 --> 30:13.846 If it appears too fast, it's something you should note. 30:14.066 --> 30:15.408 Knowing, knowing, or feeling. 30:15.728 --> 30:16.570 Knowing may be better. 30:18.092 --> 30:19.514 Because it shouldn't appear too fast. 30:19.594 --> 30:20.796 It shouldn't appear too slow. 30:23.105 --> 30:26.275 It shouldn't seem fast and it shouldn't seem slow. 30:26.917 --> 30:32.835 If it does, I'm going to note that and you should bring it back to something that doesn't feel like anything at all. 30:33.959 --> 30:37.249 It doesn't give you that feeling that you're going fast or you're going slow. 30:42.832 --> 30:47.278 It's not a magic trick where you can just note faster and you get there quicker. 30:47.298 --> 30:56.369 He said, I think he was talking, I think it was, I was translating for him, I think, and he's talking about us Westerners. 30:56.410 --> 31:05.001 He said, you know, I know you Westerners, or maybe it was just modern, he was saying in modern society, but I think he was talking to Westerners. 31:05.862 --> 31:09.987 He said, modern society, you think that 31:09.967 --> 31:20.039 You know you have to work hard and you have to work quickly and you have to get things done quickly and you'll get a great reward from that. 31:20.900 --> 31:22.302 So meditation is not like that. 31:22.382 --> 31:23.804 Meditation has to be slow. 31:25.786 --> 31:27.689 You practice slowly and you get a reward. 31:28.690 --> 31:29.771 But it doesn't mean really slow. 31:29.831 --> 31:33.295 It just means you have to, you can't speed it up. 31:35.358 --> 31:36.339 You have to be patient. 31:37.280 --> 31:38.742 You have to go at the speed of it. 31:40.679 --> 31:41.882 an ordinary speed. 31:51.402 --> 31:53.327 All right, call it a night there. 31:55.431 --> 31:56.774 Thanks, everyone for tuning in. 31:57.215 --> 31:58.097 See you tomorrow.