Good evening everyone.
Welcome to our live broadcast.
Tonight we're looking at Guttar Nikaya, Book of Fives, Sutta 154.
In the Pattamasadamma Samosa Sutta.
Samosa.
Funny, isn't a samosa an Indian food?
I don't suppose that's where it comes from, because samosa here means, it comes from samoha.
Probably a corruption of moha, or related to the word moha, mooh.
So it means...
The corruption, perhaps, or the loss, the clouding, let's say, the clouding of the good Dhamma.
Maybe it's the loss of the good time or the lapse.
And then, so samosaya antaradhana, antaradhana, antaradhana means the disappearance.
So we're concerned about this We're concerned about what causes the Dhamma to become clouded and lost to fade away to not shine bright to not appear in all its splendor in the world We should be concerned about this for our own well-being
keeping the Dhamma clear in our own minds in our own lives we should also be concerned in general that the Dhamma remain in the world the Dhamma being that which is considered good that which keeps people from falling into corrupt evil ways and hurting and killing each other and manipulating each other
and torturing and hurting ourselves.
It's what brings light to the world.
That's what we mean by the Dhamma, the truth, righteousness, reality.
Because delusion, illusion, falsehood, unrighteousness, all of these things
They darken the world.
Some people lack love and compassion and sympathy.
They lack equanimity and objectivity and impartiality.
And they become partial and jealous and conceited and greedy.
So the Dhamma, it's of great importance that the Dhamma stay in the world.
And that we work to keep the Dhamma in the world, not just in this life, but in the next life.
It's not enough to think, well, I know the Dhamma, so I don't have to help keep the Dhamma in the world.
If we don't become enlightened in this life, we'll have to come back and
We'll still need the Dhamma in the future.
It's like why we have to worry about the environment.
I'm going to die soon and I won't have to be around to deal with the effects of climate change.
Ah, ah, ah, not so fast.
It's not about just leaving it for the next generation.
We are the next generation.
If you happen to be born as a human again next life, yeah, it's not looking so good.
not in terms of the environment anyway it's going to get hotter today was hot for an October day in Ontario anyway so we need the Dhamma the Dhamma is what keeps the world cool it's what keeps the world pure and so as we lose the Dhamma we become more coarse the world becomes more corrupt and polluted
our minds become more corrupt and polluted and the world around us as well so we have in the book of fives we have five dhammas panchime bhikkave dhamma that lead to the disappearance the confounding the loss of the dhamma
And there are several suttas.
This is the first one, but I like this one because it relates to something specific.
These five are related to learning the Dhamma.
How do we preserve the Dhamma?
We have five ways.
Five ways that we are unable to preserve the Dhamma.
Five reasons.
The first one is that we don't respectfully listen to the Dhamma.
na sakacang dhammang sunanti sakacang means respectfully with some measure of sincerity and severity we take it as a joke come on here you listen to me for some entertainment and
maybe you post some funny questions and maybe you sit and laugh about it or sit with your friends drinking beer and listening to the Dhamma smoking and listening to the Dhamma eating and listening to the Dhamma maybe eating you could make an allowance for that but
Still, not really, because when you listen to the Dhamma, well, when you cultivate this mind state of not taking it seriously, the biggest thing is you don't retain in the same way as if you were listening mindfully.
Listening and meditating is a really good way because your mind is much more receptive, much more able to get the gist of what's being said.
If you're distracted by anything, it's not a good way to listen to the Dhamma.
Exercising and listening to the Dhamma, you go for a run and you listen to a talk.
maybe maybe you're just too distracted because you're running because you're tired something to think about that when we do listen to the Dhamma especially now because we have such access to talks we can drive and listen to the Dhamma and some people say well that's great when I you know I can drive and gives me a because I drive for an hour a day or two hours a day and it gives me an opportunity to listen
There's something about it still because your mind is not fully on it.
Your mind is half on the driving and half on the dumb rides.
That would be considered not with any measure of sincerity.
Not with a full measure of care and sincerity.
Your mind isn't fully engaged.
But I think
I think that's all maybe conjecture.
Clearly what the Buddha is saying here is without respect, disrespectfully.
So if you listen without any feeling of the importance of the Dhamma, of course doing all those running, driving, you can still have a sense of appreciation of the Dhamma, respect.
It's something to consider.
It's not fully respectful.
It's not reverent in the same way as if you turn off, close all the windows, shush everyone, sit respectfully, quietly, and listen to the Dhamma.
It's much more respectful.
I think to some extent it's preferred.
I think it is definitely preferred and may actually be considered disrespectful to do
it's not like listening to music to go for a run and listen to the Dhamma I'm not convinced that because what you're saying is I can do two things at once I'm going to listen to the Dhamma but I'm also going to get in shape your intentions during it are not pure I mean not purely Dhamma not purely I want to learn the Dhamma
That's the first one.
Nasak, number two, nasakachang dhammang paryapunanti.
Paryapunanti means to memorize.
To, or to comprehend.
To master the dhamma.
Master probably just refers to memorizing.
or going over it.
So, this is actually, these are steps, right?
Listening to the Dhamma is something you have to do respectfully, but sometimes you listen and you don't have any sense of the need to remember it.
You say, okay, well that was really an interesting talk, and then you forget about it and go home.
This is called someone who keeps the Dhamma in their lap.
It's the person with lap dhamma, because if you put anything on your lap, then when you stand up, it all, like if you have some beans or rice or something on your lap, and then you stand up, it all flies all over the place.
You can't keep it.
Someone who has the dhamma on their lap, because when they stand up, they're listening to the dhamma quietly.
When they stand up, they forget it.
It scatters.
So not just listening and saying, oh that was really nice that I listened to the Dhamma.
In order to keep the Dhamma, in order to preserve the Dhamma for yourself, even just for yourself, but also just as keeping the Dhamma in the world, we have to remember it.
We have to think of these five things, these four things,
These lists we should keep in mind, try to remember.
Number three, .
I'm not really sure what means.
Let's look at the difference between these.
Reeds?
I don't know.
Valmjinti?
That's your bhikkhu bodhisattva, by the way.
Because the third one is keep, ah, okay, okay.
So the second one is memorizing it.
When you're in the process of remembering it, committing it to memory.
Number three is dharinti means to hold.
So dharinti actually comes from the word dharma.
That's where the word dharma comes from, or dhamma.
But it's a different meaning.
Here dharinti means one holds it.
So you've remembered it, you retain it in your memory.
Sometimes you remember something, it's fine, I remembered it, but then you never think about it again.
So really the meaning here is Buddhists should be keeping this stuff in mind.
Monks will recite these things, should be going over these, reading them.
Nowadays we have books, we read them again and again to keep them in mind.
Number four.
So that dhamma which has been kept in mind.
One doesn't, and again, each one is the word, the word is used, it involves careful and carefully, thoroughly, respectfully, with a sense of reverence or a sense of importance.
It's interesting, this word, sakatjang, if we're going any further, it's funny to come across this because I'm working on a research project to redefine the word religion.
In this course I'm taking on the study of religion, we have to do a research project, so I chose as my research project the study of the word religion in an attempt to redefine it.
And
I'll cut right to the chase.
My definition of religion is that which you take seriously.
And this word sakatjang sums that up quite well.
This is the essence of religion in my mind.
Religion doesn't have to do with God or faith.
That's not the meaning of religion.
Just because you believe in God doesn't mean you're religious, you see.
In the same way, just as I believe in Australia, that doesn't make me religious, because I don't care.
I believe in Australia, but it doesn't move me.
I don't place any importance on that knowledge, or I place very little importance.
So it's very unreligious, relatively speaking.
So some people are like that with God.
They believe in God as Christians or Jews.
Jews, it's a big thing.
Believe in God, but it doesn't mean anything to them.
It's like, yeah, so what?
It's not important to them.
It doesn't affect how they live their life.
But they, you know, kind of believe in God.
And then there's the people who the belief in God is very important to them and it informs their life.
They take it seriously.
So it's very religious for them.
People do that with dieting.
People diet religiously.
They exercise religiously.
It means they take it seriously.
Other people diet not so religiously.
Irreverently.
Sacrilegiously.
Unreligiously.
They don't take it seriously.
So this idea here, this one will be a really good, this word will be a really good word to use.
Talking about Buddhist.
I was just thinking, maybe I'll write a book one day called Buddhist Religion.
And the idea will be not to talk, not just another book that tells you about Buddhism, but a book that tells you about religion from the point of view of a Buddhist.
I think that would be an interesting book to read, to write.
Because then it would be a little more practical.
You'd make religion the focus and then it's all about you, the path.
It's about spirituality.
It's a universal topic.
But then you look at how a Buddhist sees that, how the Buddha saw that, right?
You look at where religion came from for the Buddha.
How did the Buddha come to religion?
And then you look at how the Buddha taught.
What was the essence of religion to the Buddha?
But you try to make it sort of universal, not saying this is something that belongs to the Buddha, but it's how the Buddha saw the religious life.
The brahmacharya is another good word, right?
He didn't use the word Buddhism.
He rarely used the word buddhasasana.
But he often used the word brahmacharya, which was a word he borrowed.
It's a word that just means the holy life.
Maybe I'll write a book called Buddhist Religion someday.
See?
Good comes of studying.
Those of you who are concerned that I'm going back to university, this was the point.
Agree or not, you can let me be able to write a book someday.
Another book.
Great, huh?
So, the word sakacang.
Sakacang means seriously or sincerely.
So those Dhammas that have been memorized, one does not sincerely or seriously undertake to upaparikanti, to examine, to study, contemplate, to investigate.
So if you learn about the four satipatthana, you don't, that sounds nice, but you don't ever think about how do you practice that?
What does this mean?
It's funny how you could read the Satipatthana Sutta and not ever get to the point where you, oh, Buddha's actually talking about doing this.
It's not just something you read and say, oh, yes, I agree with that.
It's funny how we can read these practical manuals and say, yeah, I agree with that, I'm a Buddhist.
I think that's a great thing to do.
Sometimes you get this about Buddhists about meditation.
They say, oh, yes, meditation is great.
Do you meditate?
Oh, no, no.
I don't have time, but I know it's great.
Which is not something to be laughed at exactly, but it's a shame, really.
That's the next step, actually.
But this one means we don't even investigate it.
We don't even think about what it means.
We memorize it.
I guess that's where the point is.
Up to this point, the things that we've talked about are memorizing, keeping in mind, but even a parrot can do that.
My teacher was, he was, he's good at backhand compliments.
He, on several occasions, I used, I got really good at speaking Thai.
And, uh,
Well, and I have a good memory.
So I memorized the Patimokkha.
He asked me to.
He asked me to memorize the Patimokkha.
He was asking every monk, though, so I wouldn't take that to mean anything.
Everybody, he was pushing them to learn.
The Patimokkha are the rules of the monks.
And so he pushed us to memorize.
He was pushing monks to memorize it, which I think is important.
It's one of his duties as a head monk.
But I took it seriously and I learned it.
And he was praising me about it all the time saying, oh yes, it's like he talked about these
But he used the idea of a parrot.
Anyway, he's always talking about this western person.
There's a really famous American, I think, who learned how to sing Thai songs and sound just like a Thai person.
He was very famous.
I think there's a couple, actually, maybe a man and a woman.
They were able to sing Thai songs and they became very famous in Thailand because they sound just like Thai people.
And he was saying, well...
Here we have Pranoha.
We can't teach him to sing, so we got him to learn the Bhati Moka.
I don't remember how the parrot came in, but he did manage to insert the parrot analogy in there, just like a parrot.
It doesn't really say anything yet.
The rules are fun because some monks memorize all the rules and then don't keep them all, right?
Or don't have any sense of trying to keep them.
That's unfortunate.
I was talking about the rules.
Anyway, let's not go into that so much.
I was talking about that today.
All these rules that monks have.
I won't go into that though tonight.
The point here is just memorizing but not thinking about what does this actually mean?
Not even using it as teachings, right?
Memorizing it and then even sometimes you memorize it and you can tell it to others but you've never thought about using it yourself, right?
Investigating.
thinking about.
I think foreigners, newcomers to Buddhism don't generally have this problem.
They may have the problem of not being concerned with memorizing because they don't generally have the same sense, the deep sense of religiosity, I think.
So they may not as much memorize, but that's not even true.
Sometimes newcomers are best in all things because
They don't have the sort of taking it for granted that cultural Buddhists might.
Anyway, all of us, cultural or not, to make it a religion, we have to take it seriously.
So we have to actually not just memorize, but investigate, study, think about.
That's number four, right?
So we listen to the Dhamma with respect, respectfully.
We memorize it respectfully.
We keep it memorized.
If you don't keep it up, you'll forget it.
We do that respectfully or sincerely or with care, carefully.
And then we study it or we investigate it.
We work out ways to apply it.
Let me do that carefully.
I'm sincere about that.
And number five, nasa kacang.
These are negatives.
This is how it's going to decline.
If we don't do this, it'll decline.
So number five, nasa kacang attamanyaya dhamamanyaya dhammanudhamang patipajanti which means
Understand.
Anjaya.
Is that referring to knowledge?
Manyaya.
Oh, right.
So that Dhamma which you have thought about, because the last one was one thinks about it, if one doesn't think about it, respectively.
This one, having thought about it, having thought about the Dhamma and the meaning of the Dhamma, attamanyaya dhammamanyaya,
I think that's what that means.
One doesn't practice the Dhamma respectfully.
And Dhamma, Nudhamma is an interesting compound.
It's taken to mean practicing the Dhamma, which is the mundane teachings, in order to realize the Dhamma, which is the truth, the underlying truth and reality that is taught by the Dhamma.
One doesn't practice to realize the truth.
It'll still
the Dhamma will still fade away and disappear.
So I think this is good because as you see it gives us a clear understanding of how the Dhamma is supposed to be, is meant to be approached.
Yes, learning the Dhamma is important, listening to the Dhamma is important.
Yes, memorizing the Dhamma is important.
Yes, keeping it in mind is important.
But as well, investigating the Dhamma is important and practicing it.
Practice has to be based not only on memorizing and keeping in mind, but also on proper understanding.
And that's what investigating means.
It doesn't mean you sit around thinking about the Dhamma a lot.
It means you actually go from just memorizing it as words to actually thinking about it as practice.
And that's the bridge between memorization and actual practice.
So it's a simple, I mean there's nothing terribly deep or profound here, but it's quite clear and useful.
That's what you can say about a lot of the Buddhist teachings, it's so simple.
It just cuts away all the fat, trims away all the fat and all the chaff and you're left with just the pith and substance.
So here we have five clear steps that keep the Dhamma from declining.
So here you have the Buddha's words.
If we do this,
if we listen to the Dhamma respectfully, religiously, for lack of a better word, if we memorize the Dhamma religiously, if we keep the Dhamma in mind religiously, if we think about the Dhamma religiously, or investigate or try and understand the Dhamma, and that Dhamma that we've thought about, if we put it into practice religiously, sakkha-cang,
These five Dhammas cause the Dhamma Sat Dhamma Sat Titya Asamosaya Anantra Dhanaya Samutanti They lead to the staying of the Dhamma, the fixing of the Dhamma, firmness, the non-fading away, non-disappearance.
So, there you go.
That's the Dhamma for today.
Questions?
We've got a whole bunch of questions.
I'm going to be gone for a week.
No more broadcasting, at least until Thursday, probably Friday of next week.
So get your questions in now.
Or wait.
Robin, are you with me?
I am, yes.
I'm sorry.
The page is just loading up.
Here we go.
Hello, when I am meditating and I start thinking about something, I say thinking, thinking, but then it seems that the thought stops.
So I don't feel that I'm looking at the thought as it is, but that I have stopped the thought.
What do you think about this?
Yeah, that's, of course, that's what's going to happen because you've got a new thought.
But that's not a problem.
You see, the point of the noting is to cultivate a sense of this is this, that's all it is.
What was that?
Normally we say that was bad, that was good, that was me, that was mine.
When you say thinking, you're saying that was thinking.
So yeah, it's gone, but that's all it is.
Then you can leave it because you understood that that was thinking.
The point is to stop the judgment, to stop the reaction.
And that's accomplished, so back to your practice.
What do you think about Facebook?
I started to notice that any information that comes through Facebook will come up in meditation in one way or another.
My mind is occupied with useless information, which I try to be free from, not to obtain more.
How much is too much?
Well, trying to be free from information is not proper practice.
Information is just information.
You should note it as thinking, thinking,
So in that sense, Facebook isn't a problem.
But there is a problem with too much information.
Practically speaking, it makes it more difficult to be mindful.
The big problem is that when you're not mindful and for example you're looking at Facebook you're not clear in your mind so there's a lot of delusion being built up and confusion and that's going to come back.
That's what's going on in the meditation when you think about these things.
There's a sense of
But ignorance, if nothing else, means that at the moment when you're thinking about these things again, you're not clearly aware of them just as thoughts, so you start to judge them as a result.
But it's important that you understand that in the terms of the practice, we're not trying to get rid of the thoughts.
Just see the thoughts as thoughts, no matter how much they come up.
What do I think about Facebook in general?
I think Facebook is a terrible thing.
I've never found Facebook to be in any way, on any meaningful level, meaningful.
There's just too much humdrums, maybe, Lord, I don't know.
It's too worldly for me.
So that's what I think about Facebook.
I guess that's sort of what you're finding as well.
I wouldn't use Facebook.
You know what's a much better place?
I'm not sure if I should be saying it, but if you're interested in the kinds of things that should be on Facebook, a good place is Reddit.
Reddit.com.
I think much higher of Reddit.
If you're able to sift through the garbage on Reddit, there's a real... People are very intelligent and they have good answers about things.
You'll have an article on some science or some health issue or even there's a Buddhism channel and you'll have people talking about it and giving really good answers.
Good comments.
So if we're just talking as friends about places on the internet that are of any good, I think Reddit's better.
Which I'm sure there's a lot of garbage on Reddit as well.
Hello.
Should I note disliking and aversion, or should I go back to trying to see the object as it is, as I have failed to do that?
Thank you.
You should note disliking and aversion.
Don't ignore them.
Don't go back to the object.
That's in the past.
Note what's in the present.
If there's disliking or aversion, note that.
But, you know, that'll go in a moment and then you'll be back at the object.
That's fine.
Note the object again.
Back and forth.
But yeah, once you've noted something and it goes away, try to go back to the stomach, really, if you're in meditation.
Try to ground yourself on something.
Why am I not seeing these highlighted?
I'm having more problems with my computer today.
I don't know.
It might be my internet.
I think we've got to talk about this website, what's going on with it, because this Ask tab doesn't work the way one would hope it might.
Now I'm just getting a spinning circle.
Yeah.
I think it might be the web server.
Our server has to be upgraded.
We have to get a better something.
More power.
There's a thing.
We moved away from Amazon.
And Amazon, the one thing, it's expensive.
And the funny thing is we're still paying for Amazon, right?
Yes.
We have to move away from that.
But Amazon is really powerful.
So it would never stall like this.
Okay, I got it back.
Did you even click on the... You didn't even highlight that one, I don't think.
Or it didn't work.
No, it is highlighted.
I have problem with my anger issues.
They are very severe to where my mother has threatened to kick me out of the house.
And I'm having a very hard time with memory.
Can you please help me?
All I can do is offer you to read my booklet on how to meditate and start to undertake meditation.
It's not going to be easy.
I can't guarantee that you're going to get success.
But if you want to do a meditation course with me, that would be a much better way to ensure success.
You can do it on the internet or even better, come here and do a course.
But I would start with reading the booklet, see if it's something you can get your head around, and if so, then take the next step and start to meditate, and maybe come and do a course.
The more you put into it, the more you'll get out of it.
So I can't help you, you have to help yourself.
It's not true I can help you, but it's help you help yourself, I guess.
I can note five sense doors while it's happening, but I struggle during meditation with thinking.
When I catch myself thinking, the moment I catch the thinking, it's gone.
So the main object would be knowing or remembering I was thinking.
So my question is, when to use thinking and when to use knowing?
I wouldn't overthink it.
doesn't really matter.
It was thinking, so you can say thinking.
You're knowing that you were thinking, so you can say knowing.
It's not magic.
It's just keeping you objective.
You cultivate this moment of thought where you're clear about what's going on.
That's all.
It keeps you from all this confusion and doubt and uncertainty.
Don't overthink it.
During sitting meditation, the saliva in my mouth starts to build up.
Is there a technique to prevent that?
This way I have to swallow and note it too.
It isn't bothering me, just wondered if this happens to others too.
So far it didn't come up in the questions.
We're not into preventing things, so if you swallow you have to say swallowing.
Mahasi Sayadaw actually mentions it in his book, so it can't be that uncommon.
During walking meditation, the same thoughts come and go.
I stop to note them, then they go away, but after a while they come back.
It's like a monkey mind I'm dealing with.
So when is it okay to just ignore them and go back to walking?
When walking, we tend to say you can ignore minor thoughts.
You'd only really have to stop and note them.
if they're really distracting, like if it's really something that you're curious about or interested in or distracted by.
And again, it's not, I have no magic answer for you, and the answer I give you isn't going to magically make it better.
It's about you learning about yourself, and the noting is just a means of getting your mind back on track.
So it's not magic, like if I catch every thought, I get a level up, or...
extra life or something it's not a game it's about learning about yourself so again don't overthink it too much there's some leeway
Fonte, for seeing, one needs eye faculty, light, objects, and mind.
However, many times, one sees things very clearly with eyes closed.
Needed help understanding the difference, or how is the seeing within the four faculties?
Thank you.
It's a fairly unimportant question.
Okay, it is a good question.
It's probably not one I'm keen to dwell on here.
Why?
Because seeing is seeing, so you just say seeing.
Who cares what the difference is?
It's a reasonable question, but my answer is, so I'm not discarding it as unreasonable, but my answer is, who cares?
It's just seeing.
Seeing is just seeing.
But the technical answer would be that it's called Dhamma Ramana.
It's not actually Rupa Ramana.
The object isn't light, isn't forms.
The object is Dhamma.
It's a mental object.
But practically speaking, it's still just an experience of seeing.
I think.
I'm actually not entirely sure.
But yeah, I think that's how the Abhidhamma classifies it.
Hey, didn't the socialist guy have a better question?
Where does good question go?
Oh, I don't know.
Maybe it's below now.
Did you delete his good question?
No, I didn't delete any questions.
It might have sunk below.
I only see two of them.
Are there any more?
Or did we already click on it as answered?
Because you had a better one, I thought.
These ones are not very good questions.
If we lost one of your questions, please enter it back.
Let's not answer this one because that'll show up.
Let's just delete it.
Let's answer it and then delete it.
So we're not going to enable chat for YouTube because that gets toxic.
Sorry.
Monks can marry.
No, monks can't marry.
It's not really an appropriate question for this one.
Sorry.
I didn't see another question.
Let me see if it's in chat maybe.
Maybe it didn't come up.
I read earlier this socialist guy had a...
I don't know where it went.
Maybe it's under answered.
Maybe he deleted it.
Maybe people are allowed to delete their own questions.
Or she.
All right, anyway, we're done.
So that's all for this week.
See you all in about a week's time.
Tomorrow I go to New York.
If anyone's in the New York area or that area of the world, you're welcome to stop by.
I think the event is on my Facebook page.
You can look up Buddhist Insights in New York on Facebook.
Find the event Saturday, Sunday.
I don't know if you have to RSVP or not.
There is an RSVP on it, but probably not too hard of a rule.
then I'll be going to stay with my father so I won't be doing broadcasting from there probably I'll still be doing interviews so if you have hopefully if internet holds up so if you have if you're doing a course with me you can still try and call me but be aware that there might be technical difficulties with that so that's all for today good night
Safe travels, Panthi.
Good night.