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Hey, hello and welcome to our study of the Dhammapada.

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Continuing on with verse 179 and 180, two verses today, which read as follows.

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yasa cittang na vajiyati cittang yasa no yadiko ciloke

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Tāṁ buddham ananta-gocāraṁ apadankena padena nesatā Yasa jālini vi sattika tanhānati kuhinci netave Tāṁ buddham ananta-gocāraṁ apadankena padena nesatā

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which means it's one of these couplets that the verses are almost the same, but they change a part of it.

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So the first verse, they're referring to the Buddha, whose victory cannot be turned into defeat.

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whose conquering cannot be conquered, whose cannot be turned into defeat, whose victory

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No one in this world, Kochi Loke, can turn back, can cancel.

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That Buddha, who is Anantagochara, whose sphere, whose realm of

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Being is without end, without limit, who is limitless, who is unbound.

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With no course or track, with no direction, heading nowhere, basically.

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By what path, by what direction, by what heading will you lead him?

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The second verse.

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For whom the craving with its snares and poisons

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for whom there is none of it.

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There is no craving to lead them anywhere.

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There is none.

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Nothing.

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None that would lead him anywhere.

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This Buddha who is without limit, whose sphere of existence, of being, is limitless.

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With no path, by what path will you lead him?

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Pada.

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Again, this word, pada.

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Pada meaning here, path.

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Or a direction.

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You know, we have these, we criticize people who have no direction.

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You have no direction.

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Well, an enlightened being truly has no direction.

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We'll talk about a little bit how that's different.

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So this was told in regards to a story about, two stories really, but the story starts with Magandiya.

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Magandiya we learned about way back in the beginning with Samavati.

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Magandiya was a woman who became queen and she had a grudge against the Buddha for the reasons that we'll learn in this story.

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And as a result she ended up killing Samavati who was faithful to the Buddha because she was just an all-around rotten person.

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not Samavati, Magandiya was.

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But Magandiya had parents, of course, and this story is actually more about her parents.

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So, Magandiya was very beautiful, and her parents were very protective of her.

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Many men came and sought her hand in marriage.

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And they would offer great wealth or great gifts.

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In the time it was like buying something, you bought a wife, sort of.

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You had to pay, you had to put up.

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I think if you want to be charitable, it wasn't so much buying as it was proving your worth.

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Because none of them were worthy.

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And to be uncharitable, the worthiness was completely decided by the father.

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And that was the way instead of considering the woman's wishes.

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Of course the man came and made an offer and the father decided whether she would marry this person.

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It seems like it was like that.

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And of course it probably differed depending on the family and how their biases laid.

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But he kept saying, you're not worthy, you're not worthy.

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None of you are good enough for my daughter.

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And one day, the Buddha looked and watched this and he thought, boy, these two, this husband and wife, Magandiya's parents, they are quite well developed and they're just, they're good people.

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They have deep thoughts and they have, deep down they have the ability to

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realized the truth.

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And so he decided to play a little game with them of sorts.

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I mean, the game is not being charitable to the Buddha, but a ruse of sorts, because he knew that they were looking for a husband for their daughter.

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So we might say, wanted to teach them a lesson.

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You know, use what people are focused on.

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This was their .

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Their path was heavily involved with finding a good husband for their daughter.

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That's the path of many parents in the world for their daughters and sons, I suppose.

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So he came and put himself in the path of the Brahmin, the father.

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And the father saw him and took one look at him and immediately thought, this is the man.

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This man is worthy of my daughter.

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And he said,

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Monk.

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Did he call him monk?

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I don't think monk is a word in Pali.

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What was the word he said?

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Samana.

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Samana.

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Samana means recluse.

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It's the modern word shaman.

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Samana means like a recluse.

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So he knew this guy was someone who had left the world, someone who was off living in the forest, but he thought, he knew that many of the Brahmins went off and did this, but if they were young, they might find a good, a nice woman and get married or whatever.

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He knew that it wasn't set in stone, so he thought, well, this, I'll convince him.

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And he said, I have a single daughter.

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She is beyond compare.

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I've looked in vain for someone to be suitable for her husband, but you are suitable.

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I wish to give you my daughter to wife, for as a wife, wait right here until I fetch him.

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And the Buddha said nothing.

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Which is interesting because the Buddha usually, when he says nothing, it's a means of accepting.

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If there was some objection, the Buddha would speak up.

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So you might say it is a bit misleading.

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And I think the Buddha purposefully meant to mislead him.

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He wasn't going to lie and say, yes, I would love to marry your daughter.

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But he allowed Magandiya to believe, this father to believe,

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that, yes, he did indeed want to meet his daughter.

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And in fact, it's not false.

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He did want for it to happen because there was a lesson to be had, as we'll see.

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And the Brahmin rushed back to his home and called his daughter and said, I found the man that you're going to marry.

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And called his wife and said, I found the man who's going to marry our daughter.

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Brought them together.

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Meanwhile, the Buddha got up.

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looked down and saw the earth, and I guess he found a spot where he could make a footprint, and he stuck his foot in the earth or in the mud and made a footstep and walked away.

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Meanwhile, the Brahmin's getting ready, rushing, getting his daughter all decked out with makeup.

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And they put such makeup on back then.

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It would have been a little bit different from today's makeup.

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But she certainly was all decked out with gold and jewels and makeup and probably was quite attractive for the time.

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or in the eyes of the world, she would have been considered to be quite attractive.

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And they went back to where the Buddha had been sitting and didn't find him.

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The wife said, where is this man you're going to get to marry your daughter?

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The Brahmin said, I told him to wait here and he agreed.

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He said he would stay.

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He accepted.

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I told him to stay.

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He looks down and he sees the footprint.

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He said, there, there's his footprint.

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He must have walked away somewhere.

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And the wife, who was also a learned person, looked at the footprint and immediately knew, there's no way this guy is going to marry our daughter.

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They had this palmistry.

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They were able to read your feet.

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She looked at the footstep and she said, this is a footstep of someone who is free from all craving, has no desires whatsoever.

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Somehow they could see that.

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And he says to her, he says, look, that's not... He says, you were always seeing a crocodile in a drop of water.

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Apparently that was a saying back then.

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Now we say mountains out of molehills.

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Back then it was crocodiles in a drop of water.

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What it means is, if you see a little mud puddle, you might say, I think there's a crocodile in there, which is ridiculous.

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Right?

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something very small, you see something very big.

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And he said, I said to him, I told him, I want to give you my daughter.

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And he accepted.

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And as we saw, the Buddha didn't say no.

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The wife, the wife said, Brahmin, say what you like, but this footprint

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This is a footprint only of one who is free from lust, only one who is free from all lust and craving has such a footprint.

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And she recites a verse which talks about the different steps, which is quite interesting.

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also talks about this.

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A person with lustful character will have no insteps.

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In the Visuddhimagga, I think it says they walk on their tiptoes because they're excited, they're moving forward.

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Or they're lightly stepping because they're keen to go wherever they're going.

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They're always keen to go.

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But a person who is angry, their footprint will be heavily pressed down because they stomp around everywhere they go.

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And one who has a deluded temperament, it won't be unsteady.

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The footprint will be kind of lopsided because they're kind of meandering in their steps.

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There's the idea you can listen to someone walking and you can tell which they are if they're stomping around and you know, this is an angry temperament person.

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Even when they're not angry, they're just habitually stomping.

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And if they're very light, then that means they're a greed temperament.

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And so, I mean, we don't put too much heat in this.

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And the Visuddhimagga even acknowledges that it's not always the case.

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And certainly, once you've heard this, it's very easy to mask and to make a proper step now that you know.

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Now that you know that you can be found out by your step.

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But that's the verse she says.

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The husband pushes her off.

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He says, do not rattle on this.

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Come with me in silence.

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Be quiet.

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Ignores her.

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And they go on following the path, I guess, following the many footsteps where they go a little ways and they see the Buddha.

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And he points to him and he says, there's, there he is, there's the man.

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He says again, Samana, I will give you my daughter to wife.

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Daughter standing right there as well.

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The Buddha, instead of saying, I don't want your daughter.

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I have no need of a wife.

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He says,

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Brahman, I have something to say to you.

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Listen to me.

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The Brahman says, go ahead, say it.

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Say it, Samana.

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Speak, Samana.

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I will listen.

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And this is our first story.

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The Buddha told them, to them, he told our second story.

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So he told them a story.

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And this story goes back, this is in the Jataka, I think is where we find it, the other place we find this story.

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The introduction to the Jataka, I think.

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It's the story of Mara.

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Mara is an interesting part of Buddhism.

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Generally, and if we want the most practical understanding of Mara is that there are five Maras.

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Mara meaning evil.

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The earth isn't all bad.

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The world isn't all bad.

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In fact, it sometimes is puzzling to people why they suffer.

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It's hard to understand because you look around and everybody's so happy all the time.

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Everybody's so... Look at them.

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Everyone is doing great.

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When you see that, not everyone sees such things, but many people in the world, you just see people happy all the time.

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You look outside, there's a beautiful sunset.

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You watch the sunset maybe and you think, wow, what a magical world this is.

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You eat a good dinner and you think, what good food we have, how lucky we are, how blessed we are to be born

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to have all these wonderful things.

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You pick up your iPhone and you think, wow, what a marvel, what a marvel of technology this is and how amazing we are that we can come up with such things.

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And you get in your car and you drive and you race down the street, the highway, and you think, how wonderful this car is.

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All these good things.

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Why the heck am I suffering?

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Why am I miserable?

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Why sometimes am I very miserable?

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Sometimes when we are miserable we think like that.

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What's wrong?

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I just don't get it.

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I'm doing everything right.

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I bought all the right things.

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I got all the right friends.

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I married the right person.

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Got a good job.

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Got the right education.

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Everything right.

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I even got an iPhone.

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I don't have an iPhone, but you get an iPhone.

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You do everything.

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An iPhone is supposed to make you happy, right?

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No, something's wrong.

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That's Mara.

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Mara is what's wrong.

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Something wrong.

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Death, machumara, kandamara, the being, just your very being, like the body and so on.

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Getting old, getting sick, feelings, memories, perceptions, judgments, problems.

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Karma, karma is a problem.

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You do bad things, you get bad results.

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Maybe you've hurt other people, now you feel guilty, or maybe they think you're guilty, and they want revenge, and so on.

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Kilesa Mara, of course.

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Greed, anger, delusion, the defilements, these are evil.

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But the fifth one, the fifth type of Mara is this evil being, Devaputta Mara.

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This evil being was said to have followed the Buddha around for seven years.

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When the Bodhisatta left home, Mara immediately picked it up, picked up on it and chased after him and followed him, followed in his footsteps for seven years.

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Of course after six years he became a Buddha.

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And there was no chance.

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But during those six years, he hounded him, waiting for an opportunity, waiting for him to just get some doubt about himself or some lustful thought that he could manipulate.

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Or as this guy who whispers in your ear and goads you on when you want something, he says, go get it.

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Good for you.

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So believe this or not, I mean, many people will read this and just wonder where the heck is this coming from?

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This isn't the Buddhism.

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This isn't meditation practice.

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Where is he going with this?

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Why are we talking about strange mythical beings?

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If you believe that way, that's fine because we're not concerned with whether this really happened or not.

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The past should all be like that.

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Our concern should never be what happened in the past.

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That's a very important Buddhist teaching.

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00:21:57,530 --> 00:21:58,411
Same with the future.

229
00:21:59,532 --> 00:22:07,320
If we're concerned about what happened in the past or what can happen in the future, again, we're out of touch with reality.

230
00:22:09,582 --> 00:22:12,866
So, important here is just the lesson.

231
00:22:13,126 --> 00:22:14,527
We're going to have a lesson out of this.

232
00:22:15,709 --> 00:22:20,533
So we have this being, Mara, who's chasing after the Buddha, goading him on.

233
00:22:21,434 --> 00:22:22,796
Bodhisatta, not the Buddha yet.

234
00:22:22,916 --> 00:22:24,077
And when he became the Buddha,

235
00:22:26,993 --> 00:22:28,816
Mara got all sad and depressed.

236
00:22:31,140 --> 00:22:32,803
He realized there's no chance now.

237
00:22:33,725 --> 00:22:34,426
I don't know what to do.

238
00:22:40,938 --> 00:22:44,364
And he went and he went and sat somewhere.

239
00:22:44,384 --> 00:22:45,246
Where did he sit?

240
00:22:45,266 --> 00:22:50,014
Sat down by the highway overwhelmed with sorrow and

241
00:22:51,580 --> 00:22:56,308
I guess he's just some guy who actually has a body and some angel.

242
00:22:56,328 --> 00:23:00,675
I think the Maras are of the Yamaka realm, one of the high heavens.

243
00:23:02,539 --> 00:23:08,909
And they're of the Paranimitavasavati.

244
00:23:08,929 --> 00:23:10,232
Paranimitavasavati.

245
00:23:10,732 --> 00:23:13,437
Paranimitavasavati.

246
00:23:14,969 --> 00:23:23,503
which means they are beings who delight in the creations of others.

247
00:23:23,543 --> 00:23:28,531
The Buddha called him a Mara, but I think they thought of themselves differently.

248
00:23:28,551 --> 00:23:35,762
They were just the kind of angel who gets all caught up in the creation of things.

249
00:23:37,025 --> 00:23:46,522
Not their own creations, but they love to watch and observe and encourage and induce other beings to create.

250
00:23:48,025 --> 00:23:51,611
So Buddha thought this, called this group Maras, I think.

251
00:23:53,294 --> 00:23:57,261
Because this is the problem, the creating, the more making.

252
00:24:00,177 --> 00:24:04,183
This is the crocodiles in the drop of water.

253
00:24:05,185 --> 00:24:08,730
These guys, they're the ones who make you see crocodiles in drops of water.

254
00:24:10,953 --> 00:24:17,443
Make you want to make more out of things, want to chase after things and so on.

255
00:24:24,680 --> 00:24:26,904
And he also apparently had three daughters.

256
00:24:27,645 --> 00:24:32,674
Now this seems fairly figurative, but it's taken literally by this story.

257
00:24:32,935 --> 00:24:38,605
His three daughters were craving, discontent, and lust.

258
00:24:39,850 --> 00:24:40,611
These are the names.

259
00:24:41,432 --> 00:24:43,235
So we also have the armies of Mara.

260
00:24:43,376 --> 00:24:50,266
Mara is said to have many armies, but the armies weren't beings like ogres and demons and so on.

261
00:24:51,068 --> 00:24:53,151
They were demons as in the demons inside.

262
00:24:53,171 --> 00:25:00,983
Things like undeserved fame and so on.

263
00:25:01,083 --> 00:25:03,768
There's many armies, ten armies of Mara or something.

264
00:25:03,788 --> 00:25:05,250
There's many armies of Mara.

265
00:25:05,230 --> 00:25:26,621
that are talked about in the text, but they're states, they're aspects of one's life, things that are used by Mara, used by evil, to goad us, to instigate our cravings and our aversions and so on.

266
00:25:26,641 --> 00:25:33,651
And so they're also daughters of Mara, who have the same sort of nature of being qualities of mind,

267
00:25:35,318 --> 00:25:40,325
craving, discontent, and lust, but these are taken to be women.

268
00:25:41,767 --> 00:25:43,971
And they came and saw him, and they said, what's wrong, Father?

269
00:25:44,872 --> 00:25:54,726
Oh, someone's gotten free from us, and he's probably going to spend another many, many years helping other people get free.

270
00:25:55,748 --> 00:25:56,449
I don't know what to do.

271
00:25:58,532 --> 00:26:00,094
And they said, oh, well.

272
00:26:01,475 --> 00:26:03,579
will, will take care of him.

273
00:26:03,599 --> 00:26:10,170
These three are really good at commanding, controlling, especially men.

274
00:26:11,672 --> 00:26:13,616
Lust, craving, discontent.

275
00:26:15,038 --> 00:26:17,262
No, I suppose not just men, that's not fair to say.

276
00:26:19,666 --> 00:26:26,638
But being women, they had their ways of presenting themselves directly to him.

277
00:26:28,222 --> 00:26:30,945
He said, we'll take care of him, don't worry.

278
00:26:32,426 --> 00:26:36,891
He shook his head and he said, nobody can take care of him, nobody can control him now.

279
00:26:38,512 --> 00:26:39,113
It's not possible.

280
00:26:39,573 --> 00:26:40,514
He said, oh, come on.

281
00:26:41,715 --> 00:26:42,416
Easy peasy.

282
00:26:45,599 --> 00:26:48,162
Well, Mara didn't say anything.

283
00:26:48,182 --> 00:26:48,702
Still glum.

284
00:26:50,304 --> 00:26:52,906
So they went off to find the Buddha.

285
00:26:56,330 --> 00:26:56,490
And

286
00:26:58,259 --> 00:27:01,483
came in front of them, dressed decked out gaily and beautiful.

287
00:27:01,844 --> 00:27:03,967
These are angels, so they were very beautiful.

288
00:27:04,968 --> 00:27:11,517
And they said, oh, Samana, we would like to be your slaves, your humble slaves.

289
00:27:12,218 --> 00:27:13,520
We'll do whatever you ask.

290
00:27:14,982 --> 00:27:18,206
And of course, they're posing seductively and so on.

291
00:27:22,472 --> 00:27:23,654
Nope, nothing.

292
00:27:24,836 --> 00:27:28,080
He didn't pay any attention to them, didn't even open his eyes to look at them.

293
00:27:30,862 --> 00:27:45,882
So they changed up their appearance, some of them older, some of them younger, some of them bigger, some of them smaller, light hair, dark hair, light eyes, dark eyes, big, so on.

294
00:27:45,902 --> 00:27:47,524
Big, small, short, tall.

295
00:27:53,412 --> 00:27:56,076
And presented themselves to him.

296
00:28:00,477 --> 00:28:01,098
And he didn't.

297
00:28:01,639 --> 00:28:04,004
They said, Samana, we would be your slaves.

298
00:28:04,384 --> 00:28:06,589
We'll do whatever you ask.

299
00:28:06,609 --> 00:28:07,611
Didn't even open his eyes.

300
00:28:14,644 --> 00:28:23,160
And on and on and on they went until finally the Buddha opened his eyes and said, why are you still here?

301
00:28:25,132 --> 00:28:27,535
Go away, what are you looking for?

302
00:28:27,595 --> 00:28:30,740
That you chase thus, that you strive thus.

303
00:28:33,183 --> 00:28:34,565
And then he spoke these two passions.

304
00:28:35,847 --> 00:28:43,418
Asking them, these two verses, asking them, how could they possibly lead him on?

305
00:28:44,840 --> 00:28:47,443
How could they possibly hope to lead him anywhere?

306
00:28:49,066 --> 00:28:52,911
Someone who is free from any kind of path, any kind of direction.

307
00:28:58,460 --> 00:29:24,180
And then, this is the story he told to Magandhi, then he turns to Magandhi and he says, so having completely eradicated craving and having turned down those three who were just the absolute beautiful epitome of physical beauty, their bodies were celestial.

308
00:29:27,468 --> 00:29:28,890
And then you come and give me this.

309
00:29:29,431 --> 00:29:36,741
And then he goes a bit hyperbolic.

310
00:29:36,761 --> 00:29:39,926
I mean, he wants to impress onto this, onto Magandiya.

311
00:29:41,088 --> 00:29:55,348
He says, you want to send, you want to give me this walking cesspool, this corpse who has these 32 impure parts of the body.

312
00:29:56,965 --> 00:30:01,631
Her skin is oily and smelly if you don't wash it.

313
00:30:02,853 --> 00:30:10,743
Her fingernails turn yellow and they grow out like growths from her fingers.

314
00:30:11,905 --> 00:30:15,390
Her teeth get cracked and stained and crooked.

315
00:30:18,113 --> 00:30:26,905
And they smell bad and taste bad and get saliva all covered over them and plaque and so on.

316
00:30:29,500 --> 00:30:46,101
And her hair, her hair grows like grass out of her head, grows in the oil and blood of her scalp, and it gets oily and smelly.

317
00:30:47,884 --> 00:30:59,018
And her body hair under her armpits and other places is the same, smelly and oily and growing like weeds.

318
00:31:06,541 --> 00:31:21,919
And then he says, she's just like a brightly colored decked out chamber pot.

319
00:31:24,883 --> 00:31:33,713
A chamber pot, if you don't know, is before they had toilets, a chamber pot was a pot that you had in your bedroom to urinate and defecate in and then put outside.

320
00:31:38,873 --> 00:31:40,755
And you can decorate them very nice, right?

321
00:31:40,855 --> 00:31:43,818
A chamber pot is just like any vessel.

322
00:31:43,858 --> 00:31:45,860
If you decorate it, maybe it looks very beautiful.

323
00:31:46,240 --> 00:31:48,823
And people will say, oh, what's in this beautiful pot?

324
00:31:49,484 --> 00:31:53,208
Then they open it up, and oh, that's what's in that pot.

325
00:31:55,370 --> 00:31:56,671
Doesn't matter how you deck it out.

326
00:32:05,880 --> 00:32:08,543
He says, if my foot was covered in filth,

327
00:32:09,957 --> 00:32:11,019
excrement.

328
00:32:13,164 --> 00:32:18,637
And she were, she were to lie in the doorway to my kuti.

329
00:32:20,622 --> 00:32:26,876
I wouldn't touch her with my big toe, with the sole of my foot.

330
00:32:26,936 --> 00:32:28,540
I wouldn't even touch her with my foot.

331
00:32:29,735 --> 00:32:31,318
She's worse than excrement.

332
00:32:32,760 --> 00:32:33,682
That's basically what he says.

333
00:32:33,982 --> 00:32:35,164
That's what the Dhammapada says.

334
00:32:35,204 --> 00:32:40,974
I think this account of it might be a little hyperbolic, but his intention was to be hyperbolic.

335
00:32:42,757 --> 00:32:45,702
He wanted to impress upon

336
00:32:47,167 --> 00:32:53,315
these two Brahmins, that they were totally wrong-headed in seeking out a husband for their daughter.

337
00:32:54,317 --> 00:33:06,393
He didn't have any concern for Magandya, it seems, because she gets quite upset about this, and that's why she starts holding a grudge against the Buddha.

338
00:33:06,413 --> 00:33:12,602
But the Buddha wasn't concerned, he was more concerned with the father and mother.

339
00:33:13,623 --> 00:33:16,347
Because they both, when listening, they both became Sotapannas.

340
00:33:17,120 --> 00:33:29,532
They both, through hearing this, were able to reflect upon this concept of striving, of chasing, goals and ambitions.

341
00:33:29,733 --> 00:33:31,214
It all comes back to that.

342
00:33:31,474 --> 00:33:32,916
That's the lesson of these verses.

343
00:33:34,658 --> 00:33:41,785
Our lesson is about paths, this word bada.

344
00:33:41,805 --> 00:33:43,026
We talk to

345
00:33:44,710 --> 00:33:51,079
recently about Aasawa in our study of the Abhidhamma.

346
00:33:51,199 --> 00:33:54,624
We have a study group every Friday on Facebook.

347
00:33:54,644 --> 00:33:57,848
You can join if you want.

348
00:33:57,868 --> 00:34:00,192
I think it's called Study Group with Yuta Dhamma Bhikkhu.

349
00:34:02,335 --> 00:34:04,057
But we're talking about the Aasawa.

350
00:34:04,437 --> 00:34:07,341
This is like the Aasawa, the streams.

351
00:34:09,424 --> 00:34:14,211
And in this case, it's called Pada.

352
00:34:15,136 --> 00:34:18,099
But here, a pada is any direction you have.

353
00:34:21,042 --> 00:34:23,744
Parents tell their children, you need direction.

354
00:34:24,045 --> 00:34:26,347
Teachers will also tell you, you lack direction.

355
00:34:28,029 --> 00:34:38,559
Because we're brainwashed into thinking that building up society, doing what society dictates, is intrinsically valuable.

356
00:34:39,380 --> 00:34:41,802
Society is intrinsically valuable, we say.

357
00:34:45,646 --> 00:34:59,471
We say that humankind and humanity and so many things, money and power, station, social status, security, all these things are important.

358
00:35:02,978 --> 00:35:04,320
Health is important.

359
00:35:05,162 --> 00:35:06,224
Youth is important.

360
00:35:06,765 --> 00:35:07,907
Life is important.

361
00:35:10,435 --> 00:35:11,716
Pleasure is important.

362
00:35:11,856 --> 00:35:13,618
So many things that we chase after.

363
00:35:14,579 --> 00:35:15,299
This is craving.

364
00:35:16,020 --> 00:35:24,087
So the problem in Buddhism is that we want things, is that we have direction.

365
00:35:33,636 --> 00:35:38,620
I think this is one of the hardest things to swallow for newcomers to Buddhism.

366
00:35:39,832 --> 00:35:44,117
And they can understand how certain things are wrong.

367
00:35:45,158 --> 00:35:50,283
They might agree that it's wrong to kill, generally, they might say.

368
00:35:51,564 --> 00:35:52,585
It's wrong to steal.

369
00:35:52,986 --> 00:35:55,969
There's bad things, but craving, surely.

370
00:35:57,811 --> 00:35:59,333
Surely not all craving is wrong.

371
00:36:00,914 --> 00:36:05,259
But we can say, we can look at it and say, well, why is stealing wrong?

372
00:36:06,500 --> 00:36:09,163
Well, stealing is wrong because the other person loses something.

373
00:36:16,535 --> 00:36:17,436
Well, what's wrong with that?

374
00:36:17,517 --> 00:36:18,258
What's wrong with the other?

375
00:36:18,358 --> 00:36:19,840
Well, they don't want to lose that thing.

376
00:36:21,122 --> 00:36:23,025
They will suffer because of that.

377
00:36:24,868 --> 00:36:28,735
Ah, they will suffer because they want that thing or they like that thing.

378
00:36:28,755 --> 00:36:30,918
And you say, isn't that craving?

379
00:36:32,421 --> 00:36:33,763
Isn't that craving in that person?

380
00:36:34,223 --> 00:36:39,572
Oh, well, yes, but surely you're not saying stealing is okay and the fault is in the victim.

381
00:36:41,645 --> 00:36:45,369
No, we're saying actually stealing is wrong because it's involved with craving.

382
00:36:46,510 --> 00:36:49,754
What's really wrong with stealing is what it does to the person who steals.

383
00:36:54,139 --> 00:37:00,666
When you steal, it reinforces a very harsh and extreme form of craving.

384
00:37:02,588 --> 00:37:08,975
One that is going to lead to very coarse states of mind and great future suffering.

385
00:37:09,076 --> 00:37:10,437
It sullies your mind.

386
00:37:14,399 --> 00:37:23,869
Reasons why we kill, reasons why we steal, reasons why we sexual assault and sexual misconduct.

387
00:37:25,430 --> 00:37:28,453
Some of the horrible things people do for sexual gratification.

388
00:37:29,995 --> 00:37:38,263
Horrible meaning they hurt others and break up marriages, relationships and so on.

389
00:37:38,284 --> 00:37:38,824
Commitments.

390
00:37:40,546 --> 00:37:42,668
Why we lie, why we

391
00:37:43,407 --> 00:37:46,150
engage in all number of bad things.

392
00:37:46,751 --> 00:37:48,613
They say, well, there's a lot of craving involved there.

393
00:37:48,653 --> 00:37:50,676
There's this ambition.

394
00:37:51,877 --> 00:37:58,005
Well, yes, but putting those aside and granting that all of those are wrong, what about other kinds of ambition?

395
00:37:59,046 --> 00:38:03,792
What about wanting to be a doctor or a lawyer or an engineer?

396
00:38:06,835 --> 00:38:07,656
What's wrong with those?

397
00:38:09,178 --> 00:38:11,541
So we have to understand wrong on a different level.

398
00:38:13,411 --> 00:38:15,653
it's quite a sophisticated sort of wrong.

399
00:38:17,695 --> 00:38:26,965
It's not wrong for a person living in society to do all those things, all the various things and to crave even good food and so on.

400
00:38:27,165 --> 00:38:32,050
It's not wrong in the context of being a good upstanding citizen.

401
00:38:34,613 --> 00:38:37,055
It's wrong in a more sophisticated sense.

402
00:38:37,075 --> 00:38:41,680
It's wrong in the sense that it's incoherent.

403
00:38:43,567 --> 00:38:45,289
It doesn't compute.

404
00:38:49,393 --> 00:38:52,075
We want something, so we chase after it.

405
00:38:55,739 --> 00:39:10,553
And we want something because we have a cognition or a perception that happiness will come from it, that good, something good will come from it.

406
00:39:11,731 --> 00:39:12,492
Something good.

407
00:39:13,333 --> 00:39:14,654
Could be many different kinds of good.

408
00:39:16,156 --> 00:39:19,079
If you get a good job, good will come in the form of money.

409
00:39:20,320 --> 00:39:27,308
When you get lots of money, good will come in the form of stability, security, power, influence, pleasure.

410
00:39:31,312 --> 00:39:32,093
Ultimately pleasure.

411
00:39:33,194 --> 00:39:37,338
This is how our brains work, our minds work.

412
00:39:37,358 --> 00:39:40,742
Our minds work with our brains to stimulate.

413
00:39:41,380 --> 00:39:42,422
stimulate us.

414
00:39:45,049 --> 00:39:47,154
We get stimulated by so many different things.

415
00:39:49,599 --> 00:39:59,743
Any kind of experience that the brain gives us of energy of physical sensation.

416
00:40:02,204 --> 00:40:05,509
many different kinds, calmness, quietude of mind.

417
00:40:06,490 --> 00:40:09,775
There's many chemicals in the brain that produce all these states.

418
00:40:10,677 --> 00:40:22,334
And so we get quite good at figuring out which state, what events are going to trigger these sensations and how to excrete the right chemicals.

419
00:40:23,896 --> 00:40:27,081
It's really just one big drug, set of drug habits.

420
00:40:30,622 --> 00:40:41,759
We have all these brain drugs that stimulate our being and allow for smoother workings of the mind that we really like.

421
00:40:42,680 --> 00:40:45,004
So we cultivate liking and craving for these.

422
00:40:46,326 --> 00:40:48,529
The problem with this system is that it's

423
00:40:49,943 --> 00:40:52,613
it's engaged in the sort of diminishing returns.

424
00:40:52,894 --> 00:41:01,084
The more you use the system, the more that's required to

425
00:41:02,650 --> 00:41:04,292
to appease, to satisfy.

426
00:41:05,614 --> 00:41:07,036
And you can study this.

427
00:41:07,156 --> 00:41:15,106
If you study addiction from a physicalist point of view, you can see how the brain works and it's quite well known how the system works.

428
00:41:15,166 --> 00:41:21,213
The same amount of pleasure is not going to consistently bring results.

429
00:41:21,233 --> 00:41:22,635
You need more if you want to.

430
00:41:22,936 --> 00:41:32,067
And that's how drug addictions increase, increase until they become unsustainable because you have to always increase the dosage

431
00:41:34,308 --> 00:41:36,212
in order to be satisfied.

432
00:41:36,754 --> 00:41:46,697
So satisfaction or this illusion of satisfaction only comes from increased and increasingly high dosage

433
00:41:52,398 --> 00:42:01,889
And so, I mean, this sort of thing is the theory in Buddhism that we talk about, how it's just not worth it, and it only leads to dissatisfaction.

434
00:42:01,929 --> 00:42:08,457
Eventually you want and crave so much that you suffer terribly when you don't get, anytime you don't get what you want.

435
00:42:09,037 --> 00:42:10,799
So these are theories that should be familiar.

436
00:42:16,706 --> 00:42:20,110
What's a little more to the point, and maybe a little more interesting,

437
00:42:21,659 --> 00:42:24,363
how the process of meditation changes that.

438
00:42:26,565 --> 00:42:30,190
Because when we sit down to meditate, we'll start to see all of these things.

439
00:42:30,270 --> 00:42:34,035
We'll see our paths, our pada, the ways we're led.

440
00:42:35,477 --> 00:42:41,265
Buddha often used imagery relating to farms and farm animals.

441
00:42:41,365 --> 00:42:47,413
So it's always about cows because it was a big part of society at the time.

442
00:42:47,393 --> 00:42:50,577
And so gochara is pasture.

443
00:42:50,617 --> 00:42:52,098
The Buddha's pasture is limitless.

444
00:42:52,679 --> 00:42:55,282
And a pada is a path that you would lead the cows.

445
00:42:55,382 --> 00:43:00,167
It's a fence that you set up to head them in the right direction.

446
00:43:00,508 --> 00:43:01,809
You can't do that with a Buddha.

447
00:43:01,829 --> 00:43:03,191
You can't do that with an enlightened being.

448
00:43:04,812 --> 00:43:05,633
They have nowhere to go.

449
00:43:05,673 --> 00:43:07,656
They're infinite.

450
00:43:08,276 --> 00:43:09,738
They are unbound, let's say.

451
00:43:09,758 --> 00:43:10,819
They're unfenced.

452
00:43:13,398 --> 00:43:17,964
There's no fence by which you could say, I'll build this fence and that will direct them that way.

453
00:43:19,146 --> 00:43:27,677
There's no rope you could construct to pull them in any direction mentally, physically, but not mentally.

454
00:43:29,119 --> 00:43:33,465
There's no hook you could stick in them to drag them anywhere.

455
00:43:39,385 --> 00:43:40,366
So how we affect this?

456
00:43:40,386 --> 00:43:43,630
Through meditation we begin to see all of this.

457
00:43:44,110 --> 00:43:48,515
We see all these hooks that we have and the pulls that we have.

458
00:43:48,596 --> 00:43:55,303
We're constantly being pushed and pulled by our brains and our minds and you get so tired of it after some time.

459
00:43:57,566 --> 00:43:58,627
And you begin to change.

460
00:43:59,728 --> 00:44:09,139
If your practice is related to seeing clearly, you're going to eventually see so clearly that you just get tired of it.

461
00:44:10,418 --> 00:44:13,885
It's exhausting to always want.

462
00:44:15,528 --> 00:44:19,976
In the beginning it's, oh, this is so much suffering because I can't get what I want.

463
00:44:21,860 --> 00:44:26,288
But if you're diligent and honest with yourself, you say, no, no, this is, it will change.

464
00:44:26,308 --> 00:44:31,718
You'll start to see this is so much suffering because it's wanting.

465
00:44:35,208 --> 00:44:42,639
And you see that deeply enough and understand that clearly enough, you'll get tired of it, you'll get tired of wanting, you'll get tired of suffering.

466
00:44:49,629 --> 00:44:59,764
When one becomes bored or tired, disenchanted with what turns out to be just stress,

467
00:45:03,153 --> 00:45:04,034
Very hard to see.

468
00:45:05,315 --> 00:45:16,407
Very hard to explain this because for those who are new or who are not familiar with this, they are very hard to believe that this is true.

469
00:45:17,649 --> 00:45:19,451
So all I can say is that this is what you'll see.

470
00:45:19,511 --> 00:45:21,773
Buddha said, come and see.

471
00:45:21,833 --> 00:45:23,615
It's a challenge.

472
00:45:23,715 --> 00:45:29,802
It's a making sort of like a...

473
00:45:31,739 --> 00:45:37,406
acclaim and putting it out there.

474
00:45:40,190 --> 00:45:41,592
Putting it out there to be tested.

475
00:45:43,394 --> 00:45:45,256
Buddhism is not something that you have to believe.

476
00:45:45,296 --> 00:45:51,765
We don't say, it's true, believe it, because I'm so charismatic or because I'm so convincing.

477
00:45:52,626 --> 00:45:57,973
No, it's true and go ahead and prove me wrong.

478
00:45:59,234 --> 00:46:01,257
Go ahead and try and see for yourself.

479
00:46:02,350 --> 00:46:05,634
Come and see.

480
00:46:09,198 --> 00:46:10,680
Because when you look, this is what you'll see.

481
00:46:10,940 --> 00:46:14,704
You'll begin to see how it's not that you don't get what you want.

482
00:46:15,205 --> 00:46:15,966
That's the problem.

483
00:46:17,588 --> 00:46:19,109
Or it's not even intellectual like that.

484
00:46:19,189 --> 00:46:22,754
It's just by looking at reality, you'll start to find a different way.

485
00:46:26,057 --> 00:46:27,239
You'll start to see what's real.

486
00:46:27,579 --> 00:46:30,062
That actually this thing that I want isn't real at all.

487
00:46:32,033 --> 00:46:33,776
What's real is just experiences.

488
00:46:34,217 --> 00:46:43,813
And if I break it down to the fundamentals, seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, feeling, thinking, it's all just experience.

489
00:46:44,374 --> 00:46:56,455
And it's these pulls, it's these pada, these directions that we have that drag us here and drag us there, wanting this, wanting that, not wanting this, not wanting that, afraid of this, afraid of that.

490
00:47:00,552 --> 00:47:01,313
They're the problem.

491
00:47:01,874 --> 00:47:07,084
They're the only thing standing between us and peace, between us and freedom.

492
00:47:09,529 --> 00:47:16,722
They're what keeps us tied, bound, caught up in so much busyness.

493
00:47:19,975 --> 00:47:21,296
And so we begin to let go.

494
00:47:21,316 --> 00:47:24,960
You practice meditation enough, your mind will change.

495
00:47:26,081 --> 00:47:27,442
You'll eventually just release.

496
00:47:28,223 --> 00:47:29,144
You'll say, I get it.

497
00:47:30,605 --> 00:47:37,972
It'll be a moment of what we call realizing the Four Noble Truths, where you suddenly realize nothing is worth clinging to.

498
00:47:42,016 --> 00:47:42,697
And then you let go.

499
00:47:45,280 --> 00:47:45,780
So,

500
00:47:48,815 --> 00:47:50,236
That's the Dhammapada for tonight.

501
00:47:51,658 --> 00:47:56,442
The Buddha asked them, I tried to explain to them what it was like to be enlightened.

502
00:47:57,463 --> 00:47:59,425
Enlightened one has no craving.

503
00:48:00,506 --> 00:48:14,058
Their victory, their state, their accomplishment cannot be overturned, cannot be lost.

504
00:48:16,881 --> 00:48:18,062
They've come to see the truth.

505
00:48:20,236 --> 00:48:24,337
So, thank you all for tuning in.

506
00:48:24,357 --> 00:48:26,427
I wish you all the best.

507
00:48:26,990 --> 00:48:29,503
That's the Dhammapada for this week.