WEBVTT 00:43.771 --> 00:44.552 Good evening, everyone. 00:45.152 --> 00:48.636 Welcome to our live broadcast. 00:55.422 --> 01:13.660 Tonight we're looking at Anguttara Nikaya, Book of Fives, Sutta 29. 01:15.698 --> 01:16.359 quite short. 01:18.943 --> 01:21.206 I don't know if you could properly call it a sutta, though. 01:23.089 --> 01:24.692 In a sense, that's what it is. 01:25.613 --> 01:36.970 It's called the Cangkama Sutta. 01:37.752 --> 01:40.035 Cangkama comes from the root 01:41.483 --> 01:43.426 Kam meaning to go. 01:43.446 --> 01:53.359 Chang, that's what the chang means, but it's going back and forth, going for a walk. 01:54.240 --> 01:58.526 Chang kama is a word we use to describe walking meditation, pacing. 01:58.566 --> 02:02.732 Maybe it's a good translation of chang kama. 02:06.678 --> 02:09.943 So there's not much to this sutta. 02:10.664 --> 02:20.559 And in fact, now that I think of it, most of you should know the content of the sutta from the booklet on how to meditate. 02:24.145 --> 02:35.622 But nonetheless, the best thing about highlighting the sutta is just to reinforce the idea that it's something the Buddha taught. 02:37.559 --> 02:38.581 walking meditation. 02:40.304 --> 02:43.028 Most people are quite familiar with sitting meditation. 02:43.128 --> 02:46.895 We have a sense that meditation is something you do sitting down. 02:46.935 --> 02:52.724 I would say walking meditation is somewhat revolutionary for people. 02:53.646 --> 02:56.010 I don't know whether it was revolutionary in the time of the Buddha. 02:56.030 --> 02:57.292 I have to suppose it wasn't. 02:58.554 --> 03:02.200 There are actually suttas that describe non-Buddhists 03:03.918 --> 03:11.409 The Tevijya Sutta, I think, in the Liganikaya, that describe non-Buddhists doing pacing. 03:13.612 --> 03:18.018 Pacing as a form of religious activity. 03:18.819 --> 03:25.268 So perhaps not meditating, but they would talk while they were walking back and forth. 03:27.830 --> 03:34.199 I guess another example comes to mind of the Dead Poets Society, if you ever saw that old movie. 03:35.621 --> 03:41.049 They go walking and talking in the yard, I think, instead of class. 03:44.594 --> 03:54.068 You could come up with lots of examples of where walking was considered to have some benefit to the mind, right? 03:55.670 --> 03:57.533 There's something about walking that is 03:58.998 --> 04:26.743 useful in a way that sitting meditation doesn't provide or doesn't bring to us in a way that sitting meditation isn't I think the biggest reason for it is that we are not rocks we are not dirt 04:28.192 --> 04:29.854 We are animals and we move. 04:30.996 --> 04:32.117 It's part of our nature. 04:34.300 --> 04:38.566 It's a part of the makeup of our bodies. 04:40.829 --> 04:46.877 And so the stimulation brought about by walking is very much a part of our nature. 04:46.897 --> 04:53.946 It's maybe somewhat similar to the benefit we gain from meditating outside or in nature. 04:56.542 --> 05:08.444 People will, especially with tranquility meditation, it's not so important with insight meditation, but meditating in nature is beneficial and I think it's because it's very much a part of us. 05:09.806 --> 05:20.085 Living in nature is not something special about nature, it's just, it's the atmosphere we're used to, we're accustomed to, our bodies are accustomed to. 05:21.112 --> 05:33.674 Being in cities or in even rooms can be somewhat jarring or lacking or alien to us. 05:33.694 --> 05:37.160 And with insight meditation we're not so concerned and that's not such a big deal. 05:37.180 --> 05:41.247 But walking I think is more integral to who we are. 05:42.880 --> 05:45.583 because our bodies are not comfortable with just sitting. 05:45.603 --> 05:54.912 There's, they've done studies that show that physically sitting around all day is not, it takes, apparently it reduces your life. 05:55.492 --> 06:04.922 But walking actually, they've actually found something it does to the cells in your body, the benefits of walking. 06:06.103 --> 06:08.365 And that some of that translates to the mind. 06:09.982 --> 06:38.571 so not to beat the horse too much but the idea is that it's a benefit to us walking is a part of who we are so the Buddha here gives us five benefits to walking meditation and I talk about them in the book so there's really not a lot to go over but we passed by this sutta and I couldn't help but stop and make a note of it 06:40.407 --> 06:42.892 So the five are adhana kamo. 06:45.096 --> 06:46.719 Adhana kamo hoti. 06:50.446 --> 06:55.195 Kamo means able to endure or patient with. 06:55.435 --> 07:02.128 One hoti, one is a person who is patient with adhana, travels. 07:05.382 --> 07:10.827 So this was important in the time of the Buddha, the ability to walk long distances. 07:10.887 --> 07:12.188 It's even important today. 07:12.228 --> 07:19.755 We're so dependent on artificial means of transportation. 07:22.737 --> 07:31.104 For a Buddhist monk in the time of the Buddha, they actually weren't allowed to ride in carts or vehicles. 07:32.205 --> 07:35.288 It's one of those rules that we tend to break today as monks. 07:36.938 --> 08:02.625 unashamedly because we just couldn't get by without vehicles but the Buddha actually had an injunction against it so we really should be walking everywhere but even in the time of the Buddha it was common everyone would walk everywhere so it was important because if you sat around all day and then needed to go somewhere you really wouldn't you literally wouldn't be able to get where you were going 08:05.997 --> 08:23.550 Perhaps you could say this one's not so important, but on the other hand, the ability to walk, the ability to travel without fatigue. 08:24.020 --> 08:28.346 even for myself walking around university all day. 08:28.386 --> 08:31.711 Walking meditation is a form of exercise. 08:31.731 --> 08:35.056 When we talk about exercise, I always think of walking meditation. 08:35.076 --> 08:37.500 I know most people would think it's not really exercise. 08:39.943 --> 08:45.051 But honestly, there is something quite energetic about it and the effort, the energy it gives you. 08:45.071 --> 08:49.597 It does give you the ability to use your body. 08:50.258 --> 08:51.580 It does preserve that 08:52.724 --> 08:56.949 quality of locomotion and ability to travel. 08:58.370 --> 09:13.407 There's a story, there's this one monk in Thailand who apparently is now confined to a wheelchair because he spent all his time sitting teaching and not moving. 09:13.427 --> 09:19.373 He would sit all day and teach people meditation apparently and he's now in a wheelchair. 09:22.103 --> 09:23.484 So, it's a benefit. 09:24.806 --> 09:30.372 It's the most important for us, especially today, but nonetheless. 09:30.472 --> 09:33.235 Number two, padhana kamo hoti. 09:33.915 --> 09:35.137 This is maybe more important. 09:35.237 --> 09:37.659 Padhana means effort or exertion. 09:38.000 --> 09:42.204 Kamo means one is able to endure or be patient with exertion. 09:44.346 --> 09:47.950 So here's a really good benefit for ordinary life. 09:49.171 --> 09:51.013 Walking meditation is 09:52.023 --> 09:52.825 repetitive. 09:54.229 --> 10:06.319 It takes some amount of effort and strength, more mental effort and mental strength, but there's a certain fortitude that's required. 10:08.408 --> 10:15.438 The fortitude to persist with something that is monotonous. 10:15.899 --> 10:23.771 It's difficult because of the monotony, monotone, unchanging nature, unexciting. 10:25.574 --> 10:29.860 There's nothing outstanding about walking. 10:32.050 --> 10:52.310 And so it's amazing, you'll find that your power, once you begin to take up meditation, and especially walking meditation, the power you have to work, to engage in menial labor, it's quite incredible what you're able to accomplish. 10:53.512 --> 10:56.995 How you're able to dispel your 10:58.156 --> 11:14.894 boredom and ennui, the inability to cope with day-to-day chores, find much easier to do the arduous tasks of everyday life. 11:18.798 --> 11:23.843 You find it much better able to deal with life and one of the great things about walking meditation is 11:24.920 --> 11:44.038 how it tests you in this way against boredom and frustration, agitation, restlessness, and how it mimics real life in a way that sitting meditation doesn't. 11:46.080 --> 11:48.983 So it teaches you how to act mindfully. 11:49.443 --> 11:53.627 Walking meditation is much more of an act than sitting meditation. 11:55.953 --> 12:02.583 And so it teaches you to bring, how to bring the meditation into your ordinary life. 12:08.973 --> 12:16.204 Makes you better able to bear with work, with work that you have to do, with everyday labor, everyday life. 12:18.528 --> 12:19.209 That's number two. 12:19.229 --> 12:24.036 Number three, appa ba, appa, appa ba doho di. 12:25.197 --> 12:27.381 Appa means little. 12:27.882 --> 12:30.166 Abhada means sickness. 12:32.229 --> 12:35.235 Yes, walking meditation is good for your body. 12:35.275 --> 12:49.720 We've covered this, but the Buddha said it actually reduces your sickness, your illness, or improves your well-being, physical well-being. 12:52.062 --> 13:12.802 So as I mentioned, they've done studies on people who sit around all day, but even more walking meditation, the circulation, the exertion involved, and just the movement involved. 13:13.883 --> 13:17.867 You might think, well, it's not helping your cardiovascular health, certainly. 13:19.366 --> 13:27.864 But if you talk to people who practice Tai Chi, for example, yoga, they'll tell you the benefits of movement. 13:28.887 --> 13:39.349 And so, well, this is not our primary goal and I wouldn't encourage anyone to think of walking meditation as similar to most types of yoga. 13:41.152 --> 13:45.978 From time to time we get meditators to turn it into yoga. 13:45.998 --> 13:49.823 One meditator, I watched one meditator, it was incredible. 13:50.504 --> 14:01.118 He would lift his legs almost horizontal and then bounce back. 14:01.317 --> 14:09.407 I was watching him do it in the hall, and this woman just burst out laughing and had to run out of the hall because she couldn't, just watching this guy do his thing. 14:09.447 --> 14:18.218 And we asked him, or someone asked him later why he was doing it, and he said, well, he was trying to combine, you know, because he wasn't getting any exercise, so he thought it would be an opportunity. 14:20.121 --> 14:20.882 This we don't want. 14:23.965 --> 14:27.109 You don't want to be too obsessed with exercise. 14:27.990 --> 14:29.232 I remember one time, 14:30.663 --> 14:34.931 We undertook walking meditation. 14:36.734 --> 14:42.044 This monk invited me to do walking meditation all night, but it turned out that it was quite quick walking. 14:43.506 --> 14:46.492 We went up to the main area in the monastery. 14:46.512 --> 14:51.000 It was a sandy area, and we'd walk about. 14:52.955 --> 14:56.419 I don't know, maybe 50 meters and then back. 14:57.080 --> 14:59.323 We'd walk quickly and we would talk. 14:59.784 --> 15:02.527 We would talk about all sorts of things. 15:04.370 --> 15:05.011 And it was great. 15:05.111 --> 15:07.193 It was really energetic. 15:07.213 --> 15:16.285 I was able to stay up until like three in the morning walking back and forth for hours before actually giving in and going to sleep. 15:17.346 --> 15:20.110 And I went to talk to Ajahn Tong about it and 15:22.553 --> 15:23.854 And he said, what do you think of that? 15:23.894 --> 15:25.696 He listened very quietly. 15:25.756 --> 15:26.637 He was very still. 15:28.219 --> 15:32.323 And then he said, that's . 15:32.463 --> 15:41.152 I think he had the feeling that it was me and a bunch of Western people, or it was maybe my idea, because he said, that's the way. 15:41.172 --> 15:46.637 is a bit of a derogatory term for, but it's the word they use for foreigners. 15:46.677 --> 15:48.679 It comes from the word French. 15:49.942 --> 15:52.548 But it means any European person. 15:53.631 --> 15:55.676 That's the Western way, basically. 15:57.520 --> 16:01.931 And he says that's the exercise way. 16:03.314 --> 16:04.457 That's not the Buddhist way. 16:06.175 --> 16:08.141 It's kind of quite derisive. 16:09.745 --> 16:13.836 He said in the Buddha's way you have to go very slowly. 16:13.857 --> 16:16.203 You have to be mindful. 16:17.487 --> 16:21.197 So we have in the Visuddhimanga breaking the step up into six parts. 16:21.177 --> 16:50.053 and being conscious of each individual part as being different because when you lift the foot it feels different from when you move the foot and when you lower the foot it feels different when you touch the floor of course it's a different sensation each piece of movement is individual so throughout the course we increase actually the complexity and so it's much less actually about walking than it is about moving 16:51.181 --> 16:56.666 Each movement becomes a meditation in itself, becomes a meditation object. 16:59.649 --> 17:03.152 So yeah, you don't want to get too caught up in the idea of it being physical exercise. 17:03.172 --> 17:04.033 That's not the idea. 17:04.934 --> 17:11.159 But there is a sense, like with Tai Chi, that it helps circulation of energy and so on. 17:12.120 --> 17:15.123 We're not too caught up in that, but it is a benefit nonetheless. 17:15.223 --> 17:18.606 And sitting around all day is recognized as being unhealthy. 17:20.459 --> 17:21.140 Number three. 17:21.200 --> 17:21.861 Number four. 17:21.921 --> 17:44.813 What is eaten, what is drank, what is chewed, what is eaten up, and what is tasted. 17:46.143 --> 17:54.159 What we eat and drink goes to be rightly digested. 17:54.179 --> 18:03.578 It's a fancy way of saying it improves our digestion. 18:05.144 --> 18:05.865 That's a big one. 18:06.486 --> 18:15.478 Any doctor will tell you, or I've had doctors tell me that the trouble with monks is that after they eat, they do sitting meditation. 18:16.780 --> 18:18.743 This is what a doctor, a Thai doctor told me. 18:18.783 --> 18:24.751 She said, you know, monks could be healthy, but the problem is monks, right after they eat, they do sitting meditation. 18:24.791 --> 18:31.160 I thought, well, you know, honestly, from what I've seen, the real problem is that after they eat, a lot of monks go to sleep. 18:31.740 --> 18:34.324 They lie down and sleep very badly. 18:37.004 --> 18:47.256 But Ajahn Thong, and in our tradition, there's a sense, there's a recognition that after you eat, the best thing is walking meditation. 18:47.296 --> 18:51.341 It makes sense, right? 18:51.361 --> 18:59.451 So it's, you know, again, something we don't want to be too obsessed with, but something we should be conscious of, especially when we do a meditation course, because it becomes your life. 19:00.798 --> 19:08.666 And if you're not somewhat conscious of your physical health, it becomes difficult to meditate. 19:09.647 --> 19:13.871 And one meditator who stopped eating, and all he would eat was fruit. 19:14.611 --> 19:16.253 And I've seen other meditators try to do this. 19:16.273 --> 19:24.000 But this meditator, near the end of the course, he came and he said he couldn't meditate anymore because he'd pulled a muscle in his leg. 19:24.821 --> 19:29.826 And I can't help but think that that had something to do with the fact that he hadn't been eating solid food for weeks. 19:33.383 --> 19:39.830 So care for your health is somewhat, on a basic level, is a part of the practice. 19:39.850 --> 19:46.016 You obviously don't want to, you don't want to be obsessed with it, worried about it, or go over everything. 19:46.056 --> 19:52.363 Like being worried about microwave food or something like that. 19:52.383 --> 19:56.768 But you do want to be concerned to the extent that you're not just sitting around all the time. 19:58.229 --> 20:02.614 Because it actually is quite a, quite a 20:04.180 --> 20:11.170 It has quite an impact on your well-being and your state of energy, right? 20:11.290 --> 20:15.536 If you eat a lot and then you sit down, it's much more likely that you're going to fall asleep. 20:18.660 --> 20:22.405 And because we're only eating in the morning, we want to be able to digest our food well. 20:22.465 --> 20:26.330 And because we eat a lot at one time, we don't want it to put us to sleep. 20:27.953 --> 20:31.217 Walking is a great thing to do after you eat, or in general. 20:34.235 --> 21:00.276 Number four, but the most important and probably the one that we're most interested in as meditators is the concentration samadhi that comes from pacing, lasts for a long time. 21:02.500 --> 21:05.785 lasts long, stays with you for a while. 21:07.567 --> 21:19.503 And the commentary makes the claim that the meditation, the concentration that you gain from sitting, from standing, sitting or lying, doesn't last. 21:20.084 --> 21:21.286 It quickly disappears. 21:21.666 --> 21:23.088 It dissipates when you switch. 21:24.570 --> 21:30.178 When you stand still and you gain concentration, it's lost when you sit. 21:31.441 --> 21:37.148 And when you sit and cultivate concentration, it's lost when you switch and say, lie down. 21:39.131 --> 21:49.584 But when you walk, it gives this claim that when you then switch to standing, sitting or lying, the concentration continues. 21:49.664 --> 21:53.989 And I'm not, I guess, convinced that that's necessarily the case, or there's necessarily that 21:55.235 --> 22:06.510 Categorical difference that there certainly is a qualitative difference that the walking meditation because it's dynamic That there's some strength involved 22:07.857 --> 22:15.445 And it's like charging you up and balancing your faculties and preparing you for sitting meditation. 22:15.465 --> 22:20.429 That's why we do it first, because it actually helps to improve our sitting meditation. 22:20.490 --> 22:33.122 Not that it doesn't have benefits of its own, and that wisdom and enlightenment don't come from walking, but 22:36.646 --> 22:43.199 It has the added benefit of preparing you for the task of sitting still, right? 22:43.259 --> 22:47.688 Because it's actually in many ways much more difficult to sit still and be alert. 22:50.934 --> 22:52.157 So it prepares you for it. 22:55.904 --> 22:56.325 And 22:57.807 --> 23:06.101 You could also say it cultivates a unique type of concentration that's dynamic and therefore applicable not just in sitting meditation but in your daily life. 23:06.802 --> 23:15.917 So once you do walking meditation, it gives you the habit of being focused when you do things, when you act, when you live. 23:20.808 --> 23:21.709 So another benefit. 23:21.729 --> 23:33.709 Now, these, as I said, will be familiar to anyone who's spent time reading my booklet, but I thought we had to stop and mention and remind ourselves of these. 23:36.032 --> 23:37.635 So that's the Dhamma for tonight. 23:42.104 --> 23:46.775 This is Michael, that guy sitting over in the corner in a very unmeditated position. 23:47.597 --> 23:49.181 I don't think he knew he was on camera. 23:49.662 --> 23:51.085 Or maybe he did, but he didn't care. 23:52.088 --> 23:56.077 Michael, you're putting me to shame by not sitting in a meditative position. 23:58.403 --> 23:59.305 Anyway, the Dhamma's over. 23:59.365 --> 23:59.826 You can go. 24:12.091 --> 24:12.872 He just got here. 24:13.653 --> 24:14.775 He's been here a couple of days. 24:18.320 --> 24:22.326 He's actually a friend of one of the people in my Latin class. 24:24.930 --> 24:28.755 Good guy. 24:28.775 --> 24:30.117 Okay, Robin. 24:32.060 --> 24:35.665 I've reduced your audio because people are saying you're too loud. 24:37.248 --> 24:37.408 Yes. 24:37.428 --> 24:38.790 No, they're saying I'm too quiet. 24:41.032 --> 24:45.196 Relatively, I'm louder than you, I think. 24:45.276 --> 24:48.520 When I say it that way, it sounds like it's your fault, and we all know whose fault it is. 24:52.464 --> 24:53.405 You ready for questions? 24:53.465 --> 24:53.865 I'm ready. 24:55.527 --> 24:59.231 I have no access to in-person Buddhism. 24:59.251 --> 25:00.813 Can I use the online sangha? 25:04.697 --> 25:04.977 Yes. 25:05.898 --> 25:08.941 I forgot to click it, sorry. 25:08.961 --> 25:09.722 Okay, go ahead. 25:18.950 --> 25:21.673 Doesn't seem to be working. 25:23.556 --> 25:24.917 Maybe we have to reload or something. 25:26.920 --> 25:28.241 This is quirky, this site. 25:29.863 --> 25:32.807 No complaints, because it's now highlighted for me. 25:34.028 --> 25:34.368 Go ahead. 25:36.311 --> 25:39.394 I have no access to in-person Buddhism. 25:39.875 --> 25:41.537 Can I use the online Sangha? 25:42.458 --> 25:43.960 Absolutely, that's what it's here for. 25:44.020 --> 25:47.404 I'm not sure if there's something behind this question, but 25:49.004 --> 25:53.013 I thought it went without saying that absolutely can use this. 25:53.333 --> 25:56.801 Maybe what you're asking is, is it enough to use this? 25:58.424 --> 26:04.718 It's certainly much better to have an in-person teacher and potentially community. 26:06.233 --> 26:17.414 But we may do with what we have and we're certainly not going to, it's not going to be useless to stay with this community. 26:17.654 --> 26:25.609 In fact, I know several of the people on here have gained quite a bit without ever having. 26:25.589 --> 26:28.271 joined in any other kind of community. 26:29.172 --> 26:31.434 I've gained quite a bit from being involved here. 26:31.454 --> 26:36.359 But the best, those would be the people who actually did an online course with me. 26:36.419 --> 26:38.220 So we'd meet once a week, one-on-one. 26:40.042 --> 26:41.163 That's what that's for here. 26:42.384 --> 26:45.787 I would recommend that as well if you're really interested in gaining benefit. 26:45.827 --> 26:54.955 If you really don't have access to a meditation center near you, you can sign up for the online course 27:02.140 --> 27:08.109 What are memories in regard to ultimate reality and jnan self? 27:08.149 --> 27:20.108 Memory is a thought that arises and ceases and it creates what is called sanya. 27:20.428 --> 27:26.117 Sanya meaning the perception that it is like something else. 27:27.099 --> 27:30.544 So a thought will arise 27:31.672 --> 27:42.570 Suppose you did something, now a thought that is similar to that or that non-technically or practically speaking reminds you of that. 27:43.852 --> 27:49.782 It might just be an image or it might be a concept, it might be an idea. 27:52.883 --> 27:56.849 And then you think, oh, I remember that thing. 27:57.950 --> 28:00.734 But technically speaking, it's something that is similar. 28:01.956 --> 28:04.139 Something of that kind arises. 28:05.541 --> 28:08.104 And then there's the recognition, hey, that's like that. 28:12.971 --> 28:20.882 I think probably what you're trying to get at is something like, how is it possible, if there's no self, no continuity, 28:23.157 --> 28:28.425 And I mean the universe is just incredibly complex. 28:28.625 --> 28:34.013 So exactly how memory works is interesting. 28:34.033 --> 28:38.440 I mean a lot of memory is aided by the brain. 28:38.861 --> 28:50.278 So now that I've worded it the way I did, the brain is able to give rise to thoughts, which are kind of like echoes. 28:51.811 --> 28:58.700 So the brain somehow keeps imprints of our experiences and feeds them back to us. 29:00.462 --> 29:04.828 And so that's why we're very easily able to remember things in this life. 29:05.869 --> 29:07.972 But it's not physical. 29:08.873 --> 29:12.317 The physical only brings something back that is similar. 29:13.529 --> 29:14.610 That's not the memory. 29:15.632 --> 29:36.617 That's not the whole picture of the memory, because we haven't yet, and material science, biology, neuroscience, we're very much against this explanation, but the Buddhist explanation is that it's the next step that is the memory, where you say, hey, this is like that other thing. 29:38.723 --> 29:40.947 I remember, I'm remembering something. 29:40.967 --> 29:44.774 You're not actually remembering, but you put it like that to yourself because of Sanya. 29:45.535 --> 29:57.998 So it's kind of a very strange state that we're able to, that arises, that is able to compare something from the past to something that you're experiencing now. 30:02.821 --> 30:16.382 And I think there would be the idea of if you actively, mentally try to recall something, that what you're doing is you're thinking, what was that like, that thing that I did? 30:16.402 --> 30:25.836 And there arises in the mind something that is like what that was, that experience in the past. 30:26.577 --> 30:30.583 And then again, there's the recognition, oh, that is like what I did, or oh, yeah. 30:31.525 --> 30:32.687 We don't say it like that. 30:32.707 --> 30:37.193 We don't perceive it, most of us, as, oh yes, this is like something I did before. 30:37.233 --> 30:41.560 We perceive it as, I'm actually experiencing what happened before, but we're not. 30:42.841 --> 30:47.048 This is how memory is explained, the process of remembering something. 30:47.929 --> 30:58.444 As to why it's possible to remember something that happened a long time ago, or even in a past life, Buddhism doesn't really engage in such... 31:00.027 --> 31:03.673 such inquiries, like how is magic possible, etc., etc. 31:03.693 --> 31:26.490 I think the general sense is that the universe is very much based on experience and based on the mind, which has implications in our ability to cultivate magical, seemingly magical powers, or metaphysical powers, I guess, and have metaphysical experiences, like remembering things 31:26.470 --> 31:55.482 remember things at all because we would say just remembering physical things requires something magical or something metaphysical like it's in the mind the brain as i said can can trick and trigger it by pulling up an image but the fact that we're at all we're even able to say hey that's something that happened to me in the past is beyond the physical so memory is something quite extraordinary or you know 31:55.462 --> 31:58.585 Simply metaphysical, meaning outside of the physical. 32:00.507 --> 32:02.889 So that helps clear it up a little bit. 32:04.371 --> 32:12.098 But those kind of questions, you have to understand, are bordering on speculative, and certainly not worth concerning about too much. 32:12.238 --> 32:22.448 Though the explanation I give, I think, is useful to help us align ourselves with the Buddhist understanding of experiential reality. 32:29.093 --> 32:38.586 Dear Panthe, what do you require from meditators who wish to stay with you at Surimangalo and learn more about the practice and daily life of being a Theravada Buddhist monk? 32:40.129 --> 32:40.629 Not much. 32:41.671 --> 32:43.413 I require that you read my booklet. 32:44.715 --> 32:45.817 That looks like quite a bit, I suppose. 32:45.837 --> 32:47.179 I require that you read my booklet. 32:47.259 --> 32:50.003 I require that you keep the eight precepts while you're here. 32:50.063 --> 32:55.591 We require that you practice our meditation technique while you're here. 32:55.611 --> 32:58.054 So... 33:00.278 --> 33:13.494 We couldn't come here and practice in a different tradition, which might not be to some people's mind with their intentions. 33:24.307 --> 33:26.590 Does an Arahant have to be a monk or a nun? 33:28.342 --> 33:30.805 Apparently either they become a monk or a nun or they die. 33:30.845 --> 33:33.889 It's an either or thing. 33:34.250 --> 33:36.112 They can't live as lay people, apparently. 33:37.674 --> 33:40.498 But they could become an Arahant while they're a lay person. 33:40.518 --> 33:41.659 They just have to ordain after. 33:44.783 --> 33:45.324 That happened. 33:45.605 --> 33:51.212 There's many cases of that. 33:51.232 --> 33:52.473 Bahia is a good example. 33:54.136 --> 33:55.117 There's another one. 33:56.739 --> 33:58.281 Kema, I think. 33:58.666 --> 34:05.055 There's a queen, Queen Kema, who became an Arahant. 34:05.155 --> 34:10.683 And then the Buddha said to the king, well, either she becomes a nun or she dies. 34:11.104 --> 34:12.005 The king was like, oh no. 34:13.267 --> 34:19.035 And he goes into Parinibbana and he said, don't speak of Parinibbana, let her become a bhikkhuni. 34:19.055 --> 34:20.537 Couldn't bear to part with her. 34:23.902 --> 34:24.943 So she became a bhikkhuni. 34:27.758 --> 34:33.545 Sometimes I wish I could go back to meditate instead of working and that hurts my working quality and motivation. 34:34.486 --> 34:35.507 That's clinging, yes? 34:36.869 --> 34:41.314 Or is it an entire different thing that I should explore about my motivation towards work? 34:42.075 --> 34:43.717 I would say it's an entirely different thing. 34:43.917 --> 34:54.610 Buddhist meditators often have to come to terms with their duties and have to learn to see the things that they were inspired to do in a different way. 34:56.362 --> 35:02.668 And the point being they often miss, they throw the baby out with the bath water. 35:03.089 --> 35:08.734 So the bath water is your appreciation of the work, your attachment and your liking of it. 35:09.495 --> 35:11.057 But the baby is your need to work. 35:11.457 --> 35:14.300 So they say, oh, I don't like to work anymore because of the meditation. 35:14.340 --> 35:16.582 Okay, I'll just stop. 35:16.602 --> 35:20.186 Which is silly because the reason you work isn't because you like to work. 35:20.546 --> 35:22.588 But once that dries up, you still have to work. 35:24.003 --> 35:28.129 And so meditators become more aware of their duties. 35:30.011 --> 35:40.927 And they often will enter into this conflict because they mistakenly give up their duties, because they've also given up their attachments. 35:40.947 --> 35:43.851 So with relationships, if you're married, 35:45.265 --> 35:55.320 Before you were very much attached to your spouse, and now you're no longer so attached, and so you think, well, I better just get a divorce. 35:56.802 --> 36:02.991 Or not get a divorce, that would be one way, but you start to neglect your spouse and your family, your children. 36:03.051 --> 36:04.193 Your children might be even better. 36:05.094 --> 36:08.018 You stop taking care of them because you no longer care about them. 36:08.639 --> 36:10.041 Sounds awful, I suppose, but... 36:11.303 --> 36:19.873 And maybe we'd want to phrase it a little bit differently, but you still could phrase it like as being, well, you still have duties to them. 36:21.115 --> 36:31.427 But putting it like that would make us glaringly aware that in many cases our duties are just being compassionate, being kind, being a good person. 36:33.710 --> 36:40.298 And so I guess working would be somehow you'd have to phrase it like that, but 36:41.273 --> 37:00.316 It's quite obvious you need to work and you shouldn't confuse these two aspects, your appreciation of something and your appreciation, your liking of something and your appreciation of the importance of it. 37:00.336 --> 37:05.222 So it's important to keep working unless you decide to, unless you can find a 37:07.514 --> 37:09.537 It's important to live, let's put it that way. 37:10.579 --> 37:12.262 There are ways to go without working. 37:12.342 --> 37:30.433 We have duties, we have requirements, and the best way is, that's important, to be able to separate that out and just keep doing it without letting it interfere with your state of mind in terms of questioning whether you want to do it or don't want to do it. 37:34.598 --> 37:38.926 And there's another part of it that actually might have been answered in the last question. 37:39.066 --> 37:44.897 Have you ever known a man who was enlightened and yet retained his job, family, and social life? 37:44.917 --> 37:49.926 Or does every enlightened person naturally become a monk or a hermit, if he can, technically? 37:49.946 --> 37:57.940 No, I mean, as you can see, as you're already realizing, the more you meditate, the less inclined you are to get involved in society. 37:59.000 --> 38:03.068 That's why I kind of hesitated because it's not that you just keep working at your same level. 38:03.108 --> 38:05.492 You do start to simplify it naturally. 38:06.895 --> 38:09.019 And it does become somewhat of a dilemma. 38:09.079 --> 38:10.561 That's quite the other question. 38:11.143 --> 38:15.651 If you ever get to the point where you're actually an arahant, you can forget about working. 38:16.412 --> 38:17.214 You just won't do it. 38:18.196 --> 38:22.223 So you find it harder and harder, yes, to force yourself to do things. 38:23.671 --> 38:27.279 It becomes more of a duty. 38:28.421 --> 38:41.730 But the point being, when you put it in that context, you become less and less concerned with aspects of maintaining aspects of your life. 38:43.313 --> 38:50.367 And so you start seeing that your duties can be reduced. 38:50.467 --> 38:52.251 You don't need to work so much. 38:52.471 --> 38:58.443 You don't need to concern yourself so much with work, as long as you can make enough to stay alive. 38:59.445 --> 39:05.136 You know the story of Gatakara, the potter who I always go back to. 39:06.449 --> 39:15.200 He just made pots from clay that he'd gathered and firewood and drift, discarded wood that he'd found in the forest. 39:15.220 --> 39:19.506 And then he sold the pots by the side of the road, but he didn't even sell them. 39:19.526 --> 39:20.267 He just put them out. 39:20.287 --> 39:28.317 And if people came by and asked him how much for that pot, he would say, oh, well, you know, leave some, leave some rice, leave some beans, whatever you think it's worth. 39:29.318 --> 39:30.600 He wouldn't even name a price. 39:33.230 --> 39:40.687 And if you read the story, it gives you quite a good impression of what, he was an Anagami, not an Arahant. 39:40.707 --> 39:44.997 And his mother was old and sick, so he couldn't become a monk. 39:46.661 --> 39:51.913 And so to look after her, he made these pots, apparently. 40:03.335 --> 40:07.322 I find walking meditation much easier than sitting meditation. 40:07.362 --> 40:12.030 It is much more easy to focus on the mantra when walking than in sitting. 40:12.551 --> 40:16.938 But also I find that once I say thinking or imagining, it shuts it off. 40:17.780 --> 40:19.342 Is that a beginner's experience? 40:19.803 --> 40:22.488 It seems like shutting up the thoughts as a background noise. 40:23.149 --> 40:25.613 Am I doing it correctly, at least as a beginner? 40:29.305 --> 40:32.095 Yeah, no, I mean, because it's a new thought. 40:32.256 --> 40:35.949 When you say to yourself, thinking, that's a whole new thought, so of course the thought disappears. 40:35.969 --> 40:36.852 That's not a problem. 40:38.232 --> 40:48.284 What you're doing is, again with the noting, what you're doing is affirming the object for what it is, so that you don't instead affirm it as being good or bad. 40:49.506 --> 40:54.752 You're cultivating a neutral reaction to the object. 40:54.772 --> 41:03.042 So when you say thinking, you're telling yourself, look that's just thinking, it's not good, it's not bad, it's not something I should obsess over or worry about. 41:03.022 --> 41:04.984 And so we do that with everything. 41:05.004 --> 41:08.108 It's not a question of whether it continues or not. 41:08.128 --> 41:09.129 That's not really important. 41:10.210 --> 41:11.812 We're just trying to see that it's just a thought. 41:11.932 --> 41:14.155 It arises, it ceases, and that's it. 41:14.175 --> 41:16.498 It's impermanent, unsatisfying, uncontrollable. 41:16.518 --> 41:18.320 It's not any of these things that we think it is. 41:20.022 --> 41:21.263 It's not satisfying. 41:21.303 --> 41:25.728 It's not sustainable. 41:25.748 --> 41:26.870 It's not controllable. 41:29.473 --> 41:29.873 That's all. 41:33.633 --> 41:42.161 If you're looking for something else, some special experience, some magic or bright lights or something, to understand that's not what this is for. 41:44.763 --> 41:50.048 Sorry, this meditation tends to turn some people off because they say, where's the fireworks? 41:50.928 --> 41:57.294 There's no fireworks. 41:57.314 --> 42:02.779 I had an experience in meditation where it felt like I went out of body and that my true identity was spirit. 42:03.282 --> 42:05.567 It was incarnated into this body. 42:06.369 --> 42:09.156 The experience was tremendously beautiful and blissful. 42:09.617 --> 42:13.686 It left me feeling like being in this body is a sort of prison. 42:14.388 --> 42:17.595 Does this sound like it may fit into any Buddhist interpretation? 42:19.094 --> 42:27.776 No, it's just, I mean, it's a common experience for meditators, but it's still delusion, the idea that there's a being, an entity, a spirit. 42:28.658 --> 42:30.864 It's the same as the feeling we have now in the body. 42:30.984 --> 42:34.453 Yes, I'm a being, an entity, a person. 42:34.433 --> 42:41.204 Whether you're in the body or out of the body, the truth is the only thing that's real is experience, and experience arises and ceases. 42:42.186 --> 42:51.160 So what happens is when you have that experience, you give rise to conception, you conceive of it as being stable, lasting. 42:51.140 --> 42:54.448 A soul, a self, a spirit, etc. 42:55.109 --> 42:58.417 But that's just a conception and the conception as well arises and ceases. 42:59.620 --> 43:07.478 It takes some dedication to insight meditation to be able to see that the mind and the body are both arising and ceasing momentarily. 43:09.550 --> 43:14.597 And the experience wasn't, unfortunately, tremendously beautiful and blissful. 43:15.418 --> 43:17.921 But your reaction to it was that this is beautiful. 43:18.682 --> 43:20.304 And perhaps blissful, maybe. 43:20.344 --> 43:23.488 Yes, there may have been some pleasant feelings about it. 43:24.309 --> 43:26.392 And you found those to be desirable. 43:26.432 --> 43:36.705 And so the Buddhist interpretation is that once you went back into your body, you suffered withdrawal from the drug that you had become addicted to. 43:36.685 --> 43:58.230 So this drug of that wonderful, blissful experience, the experience wasn't wonderful and blissful, but your liking of it, your conception of it as being wonderful and blissful left you displeased, dissatisfied with what had previously more or less satisfied you and had not given you that discontent. 43:59.311 --> 44:03.216 And so what you're experiencing is very much what the Buddha was talking about, that 44:04.360 --> 44:07.849 Tanha is the cause, craving is the cause of suffering. 44:09.374 --> 44:13.645 It's very common for meditators who have these kind of quote-unquote special experiences. 44:14.975 --> 44:16.116 They're quite impressive. 44:16.597 --> 44:27.029 Most people, ordinary people, will never have such an experience and will believe that, be very quite skeptical as to the truth of such an experience. 44:27.049 --> 44:39.845 But nonetheless, when it does occur, it's quite common for meditators to become attached to them and thereby dissatisfied with ordinary experience. 44:40.465 --> 44:44.290 So all it is is a lesson in clinging and the results of clinging. 44:46.379 --> 44:51.067 Unfortunately, sorry, that's not the goal you're looking for. 44:51.107 --> 45:00.642 It is a good sign, a sign of good concentration, you have to say that. 45:00.702 --> 45:05.991 The person who's not meditating wouldn't give rise to it, but it's just a byproduct. 45:13.362 --> 45:14.985 I have heard of Zen Buddhism. 45:15.406 --> 45:17.590 Obviously, in Buddhism, the goal is enlightenment. 45:17.870 --> 45:20.455 But in Zen, they have their own technique called Zazen. 45:21.397 --> 45:24.583 Does this mean Vipassana is not the only path to enlightenment? 45:24.603 --> 45:25.404 I don't think I can answer. 45:25.424 --> 45:29.251 Sorry to interrupt you, but I don't think I can answer this or the other part. 45:29.271 --> 45:37.446 It's speculative about Zazen, which, again, other religious or spiritual practices unrelated to our tradition. 45:39.535 --> 45:48.490 I don't want to encourage speculating about other traditions, whether they're the same or different. 45:50.133 --> 45:59.128 There are a lot of interesting questions that we don't want to entertain here, just for sake of our cohesion. 46:01.692 --> 46:05.138 And because it's difficult to answer, it's speculative on my part. 46:10.585 --> 46:17.175 I was putting a lot of effort into my touching, making sure I felt something at the exact touching point. 46:17.977 --> 46:25.969 I've stopped putting so much effort in now and find that I can't always get the exact touching point too well and don't feel the touching so much. 46:26.690 --> 46:29.395 I'm guessing that this is showing me unsatisfying. 46:30.176 --> 46:37.808 Should I be waiting to note the touching until the mind settles on the exact correct point, not going back to the rising and falling until it does? 46:38.952 --> 46:45.045 Yeah, it should be clear that with that particular technique it's not about whether you feel something or don't. 46:45.827 --> 46:48.994 It's about putting your mind at that spot and you touch with the mind. 46:49.515 --> 46:51.439 Sometimes you feel something, sometimes you don't. 46:51.459 --> 46:54.987 As you can see it's impermanent, it's not really under your control. 46:54.967 --> 46:56.209 That's not really the point. 46:56.509 --> 47:00.235 The exercise is just kind of like a mental training. 47:00.895 --> 47:07.625 So you put your mind at the spot and you say touching and at the very least you're aware of the mind going to the spot. 47:07.685 --> 47:10.549 So it's at the very least mindfulness of the mind. 47:12.312 --> 47:19.422 You're watching how your mind works and you're able to see your mind sometimes behaves, sometimes doesn't and so on. 47:20.870 --> 47:25.636 Some people are a bit confused about this exercise and why we're actually doing it. 47:25.697 --> 47:30.002 It's just adding something extra for advanced meditators. 47:30.062 --> 47:35.109 So I wouldn't overthink it and definitely don't have to worry about whether you feel something or not. 47:37.232 --> 47:40.697 You can even imagine like a coin or something the size of a coin. 47:40.957 --> 47:43.280 Yeah, even just imagine a coin touching the spot. 47:43.400 --> 47:46.084 So it's kind of like a Samatha exercise in a sense, but 47:47.836 --> 47:52.283 It's just a means of adding something to the basic rising and falling. 47:52.323 --> 47:56.730 It's a basic feeling. 47:57.371 --> 47:59.174 In brief, don't worry about feeling. 48:05.684 --> 48:10.832 Manthe, in my experience, sitting meditation allows for deeper meditation than walking meditation. 48:11.613 --> 48:12.655 What could be causing this? 48:13.156 --> 48:14.518 An attachment to being still? 48:14.785 --> 48:17.548 Yes, we're not concerned about deeper meditation. 48:17.588 --> 48:20.571 This is Samatha or this is a different goal. 48:21.792 --> 48:27.017 Our intention is to have an ordinary state of consciousness, natural state of consciousness. 48:27.057 --> 48:28.298 You shouldn't even feel anything. 48:29.400 --> 48:40.911 You look at these guys when they get to Sankalpa Kanyana, when they get to the higher states of insight meditation, you talk to them, they just feel natural, but natural in a way like they've never felt before. 48:42.376 --> 48:47.946 It's all of ordinary people who are unnatural with their likes and dislikes. 48:50.932 --> 48:56.523 So if sitting meditation makes you feel calm or quiet, you should note that. 48:57.905 --> 48:59.528 In the end it won't even feel like that. 49:00.430 --> 49:01.532 It'll just feel natural. 49:09.089 --> 49:11.351 Hi Bruna. 49:11.411 --> 49:34.675 Good to see you. 49:35.600 --> 49:40.547 Well, I mean, maybe you should try doing walking meditation. 49:41.168 --> 49:42.630 That can be even harder. 49:43.951 --> 49:49.099 But yeah, I would recommend at the very least sitting or standing maybe is a good halfway. 49:50.721 --> 49:52.103 Do some standing meditation. 49:55.047 --> 50:00.494 You can also get up and wash your face. 50:01.496 --> 50:02.737 It's a good Buddhist thing to do. 50:03.018 --> 50:04.780 Wash your face first thing in the morning. 50:07.628 --> 50:10.851 And just get your mind active. 50:11.391 --> 50:14.174 Sometimes your mind is still stuck half asleep. 50:15.135 --> 50:16.155 Your brain, I suppose. 50:17.417 --> 50:21.360 And, no, your mind as well is kind of stuck in the trance, and so you have to kind of wake it up. 50:23.702 --> 50:24.683 Do something to wake it up. 50:24.703 --> 50:27.265 Walking meditation is good for that, but there are other things you can do. 50:27.826 --> 50:29.467 Go outside, look at the stars. 50:29.627 --> 50:32.049 Do some chanting is a good one, first thing in the morning. 50:32.970 --> 50:34.411 You might want to take up chanting. 50:34.912 --> 50:37.534 It's something we do early in the morning as a means of waking up 50:40.805 --> 50:49.661 When I used to drive, I couldn't figure out a way to stay awake driving at night. 50:49.821 --> 50:56.553 Especially as a meditator, it's very easy to enter into a state where you start to nod off, right? 50:56.573 --> 50:58.917 So I tried chanting, and it worked like a charm. 50:59.057 --> 51:01.702 And I realized, well, that's like when people sing to the radio, right? 51:03.385 --> 51:05.749 You can also chant, and it really does keep you awake. 51:14.521 --> 51:19.730 Will your meditation center be around in the next three to five years, or is this a short-term project? 51:20.732 --> 51:22.695 Is optimal health a requirement? 51:24.518 --> 51:26.161 Those are two very different questions, I think. 51:27.003 --> 51:27.844 Three different questions. 51:29.547 --> 51:33.053 I don't know if I'll be around in the next three to five years. 51:33.795 --> 51:37.241 I'm dying, you know. 51:37.261 --> 51:37.942 I could be dead. 51:37.962 --> 51:39.685 I could be dead in a couple of years. 51:43.495 --> 51:51.067 Monks have to be very careful not talking about their health, teachers anyway, because they very quickly wind up with lots of medicine. 51:51.087 --> 52:02.926 I remember when I was sick in India, as soon as I told the other monks that I was sick, suddenly I had a handful, I remember my hands were full of medicine. 52:03.727 --> 52:08.254 I was looking at them, you know, if I took all this, it would kill me, you know. 52:09.432 --> 52:22.433 But everyone on the bus, I was with Wat Rampung, this big meditation center, and there were 20-some lay people, women almost entirely, and four or five monks, and everybody had medicine. 52:23.154 --> 52:26.179 One monk, he was actually scolding me, he said, you're going to take that medicine? 52:26.840 --> 52:27.561 Really nice guy. 52:28.643 --> 52:33.651 He ended up taking some vitamin C and giving the rest back or throwing it out, I can't remember. 52:35.572 --> 52:36.594 A lot of paracetamol. 52:37.496 --> 52:38.418 Tylenol, I think. 52:39.821 --> 52:43.630 Anyway, that was a bit of a tangent, though, wasn't it? 52:44.532 --> 52:47.037 But the future's uncertain. 52:47.077 --> 52:52.770 And what I can say is... 52:55.822 --> 53:15.602 Right now we're just renting a place, so I don't think in three to five years we'll necessarily be here, but maybe someday we'll have a more stable situation where we actually have a piece of land in the name of the organization. 53:17.337 --> 53:28.637 I mean this certainly isn't, there's no sense that we're just doing this for some, for like a pastime while we, before moving on to something more important. 53:31.001 --> 53:33.325 I don't have any future plans beyond this. 53:37.151 --> 53:38.514 Is optimal health important? 53:38.534 --> 53:39.495 No, not necessarily. 53:39.535 --> 53:42.180 Sickness can be quite educational. 53:50.952 --> 54:00.202 Sir, in one of the previous questions with regard to requiring to do your duties, you said, let's put it, it's important to live. 54:00.763 --> 54:01.984 Why is it important to live? 54:03.746 --> 54:04.587 You can't meditate. 54:06.709 --> 54:08.271 Because we don't know where we're going when we die. 54:08.291 --> 54:11.835 You might die and be born an animal. 54:12.176 --> 54:13.517 You can't meditate as an animal. 54:26.778 --> 54:33.688 I was at a funeral recently and couldn't be emotional with the mourners experiencing the sadness about the death of their loved ones. 54:34.649 --> 54:38.034 I believe this is because I do not experience much emotion lately. 54:38.635 --> 54:49.331 I don't know whether this is from the meditation practice or simply my biology, but as a result of this disconnect, it was quite awkward as it was obvious I was unaffected. 54:50.052 --> 54:52.295 How does one deal with these tender situations? 54:52.716 --> 54:54.759 Am I being too apathetic? 54:54.779 --> 54:55.620 I don't think so. 54:57.575 --> 54:58.777 Funerals are kind of funny. 55:01.100 --> 55:03.744 Humorous. 55:04.505 --> 55:05.586 Sounds awful to say that. 55:05.666 --> 55:08.971 The only reason I say that is to try to shock, with a shock value. 55:11.655 --> 55:12.616 Why aren't they humorous? 55:12.796 --> 55:15.100 Why isn't it funny? 55:16.622 --> 55:18.044 I don't suppose it is all that funny. 55:19.446 --> 55:27.497 There is some sense of, you know, a funeral is a time for reflection. 55:29.198 --> 55:43.899 Certainly there is room for severity, but it's just simply a part of life. 55:44.120 --> 55:50.609 Death is part of this trap that we've got ourselves in. 55:50.629 --> 55:57.940 I don't really think you should laugh at funerals. 55:59.573 --> 56:01.957 What's most funny about funerals is how sad people get. 56:01.977 --> 56:15.318 It's somehow incredible how blind we are to our attachments to other people. 56:17.541 --> 56:18.763 Sounds cruel, I suppose. 56:19.688 --> 56:21.050 It's not just funerals. 56:21.491 --> 56:32.387 I find on the other side, too, when there's a happy celebration, like someone's having a baby or whatever, other people get so excited about it. 56:32.467 --> 56:40.540 And my progress over these last few years, I'm not outwardly really happy, excited, or sad. 56:40.940 --> 56:44.025 It's just more subtle, more subtle. 56:45.305 --> 56:46.927 Yeah, no, I mean, that's a good answer. 56:47.608 --> 56:54.479 I was just trying to think more theoretically about, philosophically about the nature of a funeral. 56:57.123 --> 56:58.565 But it's, you know, it's incredible. 56:58.905 --> 57:09.001 We'll go and give talks at funerals and try and explain to people, really, there's no benefit to being sad. 57:09.021 --> 57:11.084 It doesn't help the person who died. 57:11.104 --> 57:13.928 It's not actually of any use to you or that person. 57:16.102 --> 57:26.437 And then after giving this talk and you think, well, they kind of understood what I was saying, then the family gets up and cries, of course, because it's not intellectual. 57:26.638 --> 57:28.641 It's a really deep-seated attachment. 57:34.710 --> 57:42.922 I guess another thing is how it's... We feel sorry for people, right? 57:42.962 --> 57:45.045 You lose a loved one, I'm sorry for your loss. 57:49.582 --> 57:54.313 There's, I think, somewhat a sense of, you know, you brought this on yourself. 57:54.834 --> 57:58.583 This is, it's self-inflicted. 57:58.623 --> 58:07.945 It's like, I suppose, feeling sorry for a, it's similar to a person going through withdrawal. 58:09.224 --> 58:15.893 It's so awful to say, but it's how a Buddhist technically would look at this, going to withdraw from a drug. 58:17.075 --> 58:20.579 Do you say, oh, I'm sorry, you can no longer take the drug, right? 58:22.102 --> 58:24.485 It's awful, I suppose, but that's really it. 58:24.545 --> 58:32.696 This drug, you can no longer take this drug called your husband or your wife or your son or your daughter or your father or your mother. 58:33.858 --> 58:35.620 That drug is no longer available to you. 58:36.899 --> 58:41.106 Yes, there's more to it than that, but that's the only reason why you're sad. 58:41.146 --> 58:43.990 The more to it has nothing to do with your sadness. 58:44.952 --> 58:48.057 Your sadness, your loss, is all because of your attachment. 58:49.359 --> 59:00.477 Attachment to pleasant sensations, memories, attachments to the concept of that person, which is often not entirely who they are, because you tend to forget all the 59:00.457 --> 59:23.545 bad things and the problems you had with them right suppose you had a bad relationship with a person well when they die you forget all that and you're really sad that they're gone and that you couldn't have had a better relationship and so on but no when a person goes through withdrawal we say hey man you're better off no not better off uh 59:25.432 --> 59:31.352 We sympathize with them for what they have to go through, but it's a result of the clinging to the drug. 59:32.737 --> 59:38.496 I mean, in a sense, it's not a result of having that relationship, it's a result of attachment to them. 59:41.935 --> 59:45.120 So I think it's important to question that. 59:45.861 --> 59:48.224 And there's a lot you can say. 59:48.284 --> 59:53.351 First of all, there's nothing, yes, there's nothing to be excited about someone having a baby. 59:53.371 --> 59:56.115 It's like, oh man, another one, right? 59:58.078 --> 01:00:03.606 Another human is going to have to go through all this horrible stuff that I had to go through, puberty. 01:00:05.425 --> 01:00:11.050 education, jobs, old age, sickness, death. 01:00:12.131 --> 01:00:13.513 That's what's in store for this kid. 01:00:15.635 --> 01:00:18.277 When people get married, you're supposed to say congratulations. 01:00:21.120 --> 01:00:32.310 I admit that there is potential good to marriage, but there's also a lot of rubbish involved. 01:00:33.539 --> 01:00:34.921 Hey, you might even have kids. 01:00:35.081 --> 01:00:38.605 Wouldn't that be horrible? 01:00:38.625 --> 01:00:51.479 It's just interesting if you haven't been a monk all these years, and you've been a layperson who was so excited about marriage and babies and all these things, and then, you know, all these years later, it's like, oh. 01:00:51.639 --> 01:00:53.341 Yes, which you have. 01:00:53.882 --> 01:00:55.303 You've had all that experience, no? 01:00:57.606 --> 01:00:58.246 You've had kids. 01:00:58.306 --> 01:00:58.787 I mean... 01:01:01.754 --> 01:01:03.866 Yeah, we get very much attached to them. 01:01:05.777 --> 01:01:07.024 Very much attached to people. 01:01:07.044 --> 01:01:09.418 I mean, that's a big, it's a big 01:01:10.799 --> 01:01:14.606 It's a big draw to Buddhism when people realize this death. 01:01:15.046 --> 01:01:19.634 If you look at this, this was the Buddha's realization that drew him to leave home. 01:01:20.756 --> 01:01:22.459 He said, well, this isn't going to solve anything. 01:01:22.780 --> 01:01:28.209 Take care of my family and live my life and become successful. 01:01:28.790 --> 01:01:29.531 It's not going to help me. 01:01:29.551 --> 01:01:30.433 It's not going to help them. 01:01:30.493 --> 01:01:31.855 There's no benefit to this. 01:01:31.915 --> 01:01:33.398 This is just the path to death. 01:01:35.403 --> 01:01:42.718 He came to that through this anguish, this realization that, man, all these people I love are going to die. 01:01:42.778 --> 01:01:43.881 I'm going to die. 01:01:46.366 --> 01:01:52.920 It throws all of your hopes and dreams and ambitions out the window. 01:01:52.980 --> 01:01:54.964 It renders them void and useless. 01:01:56.733 --> 01:02:00.398 It turns everything, it makes everything purposeless. 01:02:00.418 --> 01:02:01.119 You can't keep it. 01:02:01.359 --> 01:02:06.105 If we didn't die, if we could live forever, then we could build things, right? 01:02:06.345 --> 01:02:10.310 I don't know, that's even going too far, because it's not even true. 01:02:13.054 --> 01:02:16.598 But certainly in a mundane sense, 01:02:19.430 --> 01:02:20.531 It's a wisdom. 01:02:20.692 --> 01:02:27.400 It's a mundane sort of wisdom to see that death circumscribes life and everything as a result. 01:02:29.163 --> 01:02:33.068 Which makes heroes funny, I think, because we knew it was coming. 01:02:34.229 --> 01:02:37.694 And why are we so sad? 01:02:40.097 --> 01:02:42.840 Why is this such a suffering to us? 01:02:44.002 --> 01:02:45.804 Didn't you know your family was going to die? 01:02:45.844 --> 01:02:48.728 Didn't you know these people were all going to die? 01:02:50.294 --> 01:02:51.757 We're kind of dumb that way, really. 01:02:52.960 --> 01:02:59.174 There's no reason you should sympathize with these people or commiserate with these people and say, yes, yes, that's more. 01:02:59.615 --> 01:03:00.897 What are you, blind? 01:03:01.358 --> 01:03:05.207 All these years you didn't... Well, of course they're dead. 01:03:05.688 --> 01:03:06.911 That's the end of life. 01:03:07.131 --> 01:03:08.033 That's what happens. 01:03:10.325 --> 01:03:13.808 But yeah, probably not the right thing to say at the funeral either. 01:03:13.828 --> 01:03:14.188 No. 01:03:14.709 --> 01:03:15.890 No, or anywhere. 01:03:16.410 --> 01:03:18.692 Like on the internet, for example. 01:03:19.393 --> 01:03:22.275 It's not something you'd want to spout out on the internet. 01:03:23.136 --> 01:03:23.617 For sure. 01:03:24.598 --> 01:03:25.598 Karuna meditation. 01:03:25.678 --> 01:03:27.100 Am I saying the right one? 01:03:30.122 --> 01:03:32.665 Yeah, well, karuna is sometimes overrated. 01:03:35.367 --> 01:03:38.049 But you have to get through the funeral somehow. 01:03:38.069 --> 01:03:38.830 Oh, absolutely. 01:03:40.835 --> 01:03:46.908 No, but you read the Uraga Jataka, the snake Jataka. 01:03:47.028 --> 01:03:51.618 The snake kills this guy's, bites this guy's son and none of them cry. 01:03:51.658 --> 01:03:55.507 He doesn't cry, his wife doesn't cry, his daughter doesn't cry. 01:03:55.567 --> 01:03:57.932 Servants don't get upset. 01:03:59.228 --> 01:04:02.091 And they say, this is life. 01:04:03.092 --> 01:04:04.834 We knew this was his path. 01:04:05.095 --> 01:04:08.258 He came uninvited and he goes uninvited. 01:04:09.420 --> 01:04:11.682 We knew this was the way of it. 01:04:12.143 --> 01:04:13.604 It doesn't help now to get upset. 01:04:13.645 --> 01:04:23.896 People do it because it's the accepted means of dealing with your attachment and your withdrawal. 01:04:24.477 --> 01:04:25.438 Because we don't know a better way. 01:04:28.017 --> 01:04:36.906 And because of having this as our way, it becomes, it takes on an importance, a sense that yes, it's right. 01:04:37.246 --> 01:04:47.756 And people will actually get quite angry at you if you don't, or if you disregard, as I am doing, their grief. 01:04:48.637 --> 01:04:50.879 People will get quite angry about it, quite upset. 01:04:52.341 --> 01:04:53.502 Can't you see their grieving? 01:04:54.764 --> 01:04:56.787 Well, yeah, I'd like to help them stop. 01:04:57.067 --> 01:04:58.629 It's not helping anything. 01:05:00.612 --> 01:05:03.335 It isn't, actually. 01:05:03.375 --> 01:05:04.296 It's a temporary relief. 01:05:04.396 --> 01:05:09.303 Crying apparently releases chemicals, and it's quite pleasant to cry. 01:05:09.323 --> 01:05:11.526 So it's a relief to cry. 01:05:11.946 --> 01:05:15.971 So it's a drug in and of itself, another addiction for us to add to the list. 01:05:19.516 --> 01:05:21.919 Good stuff, if you notice. 01:05:25.628 --> 01:05:26.730 Hopefully food for thought. 01:05:26.930 --> 01:05:36.764 I'm not trying to be facetious or smarmy or overly making light of an issue. 01:05:36.824 --> 01:05:42.032 The issue is more people's addiction than it is the sadness of the event. 01:05:42.132 --> 01:05:43.855 Because the event is just a part of life. 01:05:43.915 --> 01:05:45.798 It's something we all knew was coming. 01:05:45.878 --> 01:05:48.061 It shouldn't have been a surprise to any of us. 01:05:48.902 --> 01:05:50.745 It's quite sad that we are so sad. 01:05:51.186 --> 01:05:52.227 That's the real problem. 01:05:54.080 --> 01:06:00.549 So hopefully that helps, at least gives you someone on your side to say, hey, you're not wrong. 01:06:03.613 --> 01:06:22.720 But I think, yes, Robin is absolutely correct that probably the best thing to do and what, of course, any reasonable human being would do is to express some sense of sympathy for the person's sadness and for other people's sadness and to temper your own ordinary activity. 01:06:22.700 --> 01:06:31.070 Like you wouldn't want to at a funeral start talking about work or other things. 01:06:31.290 --> 01:06:32.692 You have to give a sense. 01:06:33.252 --> 01:06:40.761 And I think that's where you actually could, as a Buddhist, understand the sense of severity of the occasion, as I said. 01:06:41.502 --> 01:06:42.803 Death is a serious thing. 01:06:45.026 --> 01:06:48.690 It should help us all remember the fact that this is the end of life. 01:06:49.868 --> 01:06:56.718 Not get sad, that's not the point, but to stir you and almost make you afraid. 01:06:56.758 --> 01:07:02.466 To wake you up and say, wow, yeah, that's going to happen to me. 01:07:02.506 --> 01:07:04.068 That's absolutely what should come. 01:07:04.869 --> 01:07:08.855 Look at a dead person and say, man, they were here and now they're gone. 01:07:08.915 --> 01:07:12.400 Life is so uncertain. 01:07:13.696 --> 01:07:15.158 So you shouldn't laugh. 01:07:15.238 --> 01:07:16.920 I didn't really mean to say it's funny. 01:07:17.881 --> 01:07:23.108 It's curious, and they are kind of funny when you think about them, but it's not a time for humor. 01:07:23.128 --> 01:07:26.032 I didn't mean to suggest that. 01:07:36.485 --> 01:07:40.070 And again, you see eventually we start clicking on the buttons, and it doesn't go away. 01:07:40.150 --> 01:07:40.851 Do you notice that? 01:07:41.945 --> 01:07:44.253 Yeah, I don't know if my screen is frozen. 01:07:44.294 --> 01:07:45.197 I'm just going to reload it. 01:07:45.699 --> 01:07:50.335 The app seems to hang at some point. 01:07:50.355 --> 01:07:51.379 I don't know why it's doing that. 01:07:51.399 --> 01:07:53.828 Or maybe it's just overloaded by people or something. 01:08:11.341 --> 01:08:34.126 What is the basis for calling second insight knowledge attainer as or does that mean there's no chance for the meditator to deteriorate in the present life after attaining that knowledge, even if he doesn't meditate? 01:08:37.089 --> 01:08:37.770 That's what it means. 01:08:40.838 --> 01:08:41.520 I don't know. 01:08:41.640 --> 01:08:43.566 That's what the Visuddhimagga says. 01:08:44.568 --> 01:08:45.471 We give it some weight. 01:08:45.852 --> 01:08:53.734 We might not be entirely, I mean the Buddha never said such a thing, so we might not be entirely reliant upon it as true, but 01:08:56.397 --> 01:08:59.021 It's certainly worth giving some attention to. 01:08:59.041 --> 01:09:06.931 The point, if you want an explanation, the point is that the second stage of knowledge has to do with the understanding of karma. 01:09:07.813 --> 01:09:15.643 So the idea is that a person who's attained it has an understanding of right and wrong because they've started to see, yes, good leads to good, bad leads to bad. 01:09:17.145 --> 01:09:21.932 And that the power of that understanding is said to be enough to 01:09:21.912 --> 01:09:25.156 The point being that it's not permanent, that knowledge. 01:09:25.236 --> 01:09:28.781 So with death, one might completely lose sight of it. 01:09:28.801 --> 01:09:33.407 Well, not completely, but it'll go away to some extent. 01:09:33.507 --> 01:09:36.851 So that's why it's only for this life. 01:09:37.111 --> 01:09:43.780 But as long as in this life, it is that that knowledge sticks with you in this life. 01:09:44.000 --> 01:09:49.607 And therefore, when you die, it's strong enough to keep you from being born in hell. 01:09:53.350 --> 01:10:04.045 We actually have a director's meeting. 01:10:04.105 --> 01:10:06.028 Anthony is... Oh, okay. 01:10:06.048 --> 01:10:07.109 Well, we've got two more questions. 01:10:07.170 --> 01:10:07.931 Let's go quickly then. 01:10:07.951 --> 01:10:09.313 Okay, sure. 01:10:11.375 --> 01:10:13.198 What happens to an Arahant at death? 01:10:13.432 --> 01:10:20.926 Arahants don't exist, and death doesn't exist either, so it's not a very good question. 01:10:21.126 --> 01:10:22.429 I mean, it's a common question. 01:10:22.629 --> 01:10:34.191 It's a question that actually is asked in the Buddha's teaching, but I don't have time to go into why it is, but neither an arahant nor death actually exist, so technically speaking, it's not a thing that happens. 01:10:39.790 --> 01:10:43.736 I've been having depression for the past month due to a relationship issue. 01:10:44.357 --> 01:10:54.734 I found your video on meditation that stated medication is the cure for the body, but meditation is the cure for the mind. 01:10:54.754 --> 01:10:59.442 So I started doing meditation instead of going to the psychiatrist to get medicine. 01:11:00.083 --> 01:11:05.832 I'm now getting better through meditation and dhamma listening and found out that I got a lack 01:11:07.145 --> 01:11:10.110 I found out that I got a lack of the feeling of self-worth. 01:11:10.791 --> 01:11:14.197 Could meditation help with growing of self-worth in practice? 01:11:14.578 --> 01:11:16.902 No, we're not interested in self-worth. 01:11:17.323 --> 01:11:21.530 Don't listen to people who tell you to be proud of yourself, etc., etc. 01:11:21.590 --> 01:11:25.136 But lack of self-worth is not what you have, probably. 01:11:25.397 --> 01:11:31.347 Most people, they describe feelings of self-hatred as low self-worth. 01:11:31.327 --> 01:11:33.850 So now self-hatred is real. 01:11:34.210 --> 01:11:36.913 Lack of self-worth is not a problem. 01:11:37.573 --> 01:11:41.137 But what we do get that is a problem is self-hatred, and that's an actual state. 01:11:41.177 --> 01:11:43.579 It's positive in the sense of actually arising. 01:11:44.280 --> 01:11:45.902 It's not positive in the sense of being good. 01:11:46.802 --> 01:11:54.190 But when self-hatred arises, you have to say disliking or angry or hating or so on. 01:11:54.730 --> 01:12:01.317 Note that when you chastise yourself, when you're angry at yourself, when you abuse yourself and call yourself stupid and so on. 01:12:02.832 --> 01:12:05.156 Meditation absolutely can help you let go of that. 01:12:06.999 --> 01:12:09.864 But you don't need any sense of self-worth. 01:12:09.884 --> 01:12:10.505 You're useless. 01:12:10.745 --> 01:12:11.266 We all are. 01:12:13.330 --> 01:12:18.198 Yep. 01:12:18.218 --> 01:12:18.658 Worthless. 01:12:18.819 --> 01:12:19.660 Completely worthless. 01:12:19.760 --> 01:12:20.321 We all are. 01:12:22.845 --> 01:12:26.832 But I have to go into detail to explain that one a bit. 01:12:28.482 --> 01:12:33.551 It's important to say, to counteract this idea, you're worth something, you're valuable, you're special. 01:12:33.691 --> 01:12:34.833 No, you're not. 01:12:34.853 --> 01:12:45.010 We're all rubbish and garbage and confused and in the end you can't make, this is a sowsey or not a silk purse. 01:12:47.454 --> 01:12:49.457 In the end you just end up letting go of yourself. 01:12:49.998 --> 01:12:52.262 Then you're much happier, much more peaceful. 01:12:54.200 --> 01:12:56.466 We have to go because we have a meeting. 01:12:56.486 --> 01:12:57.889 Thank you all. 01:12:58.170 --> 01:13:00.636 It's been productive, I hope. 01:13:01.458 --> 01:13:02.460 Thanks for tuning in. 01:13:02.500 --> 01:13:03.603 Thank you for your questions. 01:13:03.683 --> 01:13:06.851 Wishing you all good practice. 01:13:06.871 --> 01:13:07.332 Have a good night.