1 00:00:00,031 --> 00:00:03,635 Okay, hello and welcome back to our study of the Dhammapada. 2 00:00:05,858 --> 00:00:13,207 Today we continue on with verse 214, which reads as follows. 3 00:00:16,952 --> 00:00:29,127 ratiya jayati soko ratiya jayati bhayang ratiya vipamutasa nathiso ko kuto bhayang 4 00:00:32,566 --> 00:00:43,940 Which means from lust comes sorrow. 5 00:00:44,921 --> 00:00:47,664 From lust comes fear or danger. 6 00:00:49,947 --> 00:00:57,696 For one who is free from lust, there is no sorrow. 7 00:00:59,971 --> 00:01:00,792 Whence fear? 8 00:01:01,113 --> 00:01:02,535 From where could there be fear? 9 00:01:05,780 --> 00:01:06,140 Danger. 10 00:01:13,511 --> 00:01:23,987 This story was supposed to have been taught in response to an event where the Buddha was living near Vaisali. 11 00:01:24,448 --> 00:01:24,969 Vaisali. 12 00:01:26,912 --> 00:01:27,733 Vaisali. 13 00:01:32,303 --> 00:01:39,890 And Vaisali was run by a community of nobles. 14 00:01:43,214 --> 00:01:52,523 It seems that their system was set up quite differently from most of the rest of India that was run by kings or lords. 15 00:01:56,827 --> 00:02:00,510 Vaisali was run sort of as a republic. 16 00:02:01,591 --> 00:02:02,192 All the 17 00:02:05,598 --> 00:02:08,823 representatives would meet together. 18 00:02:08,863 --> 00:02:10,085 There was not one leader. 19 00:02:10,126 --> 00:02:17,999 There were representative leaders of sorts called the Lichauis. 20 00:02:25,451 --> 00:02:31,521 And so one day the Buddha was going on alms round with the monks, a group of monks. 21 00:02:34,319 --> 00:02:39,484 And they saw a group of these lichuis coming out of the city. 22 00:02:39,504 --> 00:02:47,172 They would go into the city, conduct their business, meet together in all their finery apparently. 23 00:02:47,192 --> 00:02:58,002 They would look quite grandois, all decked out in adornments and fine clothes. 24 00:02:59,644 --> 00:03:03,668 And they were coming out of the city to go to the 25 00:03:03,952 --> 00:03:28,862 the park would have been kind of a garden public garden or the royal garden I don't know and the Buddha saw them and he said to the monks he says look what I said look monks for those of you who have not seen the angels in heaven look upon these lichavi princes 26 00:03:30,698 --> 00:03:35,183 You want to get an idea of what angels are like. 27 00:03:36,745 --> 00:03:40,970 High praise, really, it seems. 28 00:03:40,990 --> 00:03:45,194 I wonder why the Buddha was pointing that out to the monks. 29 00:03:47,537 --> 00:03:47,898 Or not. 30 00:03:47,938 --> 00:03:55,566 It might seem interesting to know, to have a sense of the possibility. 31 00:03:56,527 --> 00:03:59,811 Being born an angel is quite impressive. 32 00:04:01,208 --> 00:04:11,403 You've been born in heaven, you are quite fine, quite resplendent. 33 00:04:23,500 --> 00:04:30,490 But the Buddha had something else in mind and so they went into the city for alms. 34 00:04:33,507 --> 00:04:47,048 And while they were in the city for alms, the lichowis went to the pleasure garden and there was, I guess it was a public place because there was a courtesan there. 35 00:04:49,111 --> 00:04:54,199 And I guess a courtesan is something like a prostitute. 36 00:04:56,255 --> 00:04:57,176 I'm not quite sure. 37 00:04:57,918 --> 00:04:58,498 I assume so. 38 00:04:58,539 --> 00:05:10,958 I mean, I think it was a little more elevated than a prostitute, but women who would hire themselves out for the pleasure of men, I think. 39 00:05:13,722 --> 00:05:15,805 And they all kind of fell in love with her. 40 00:05:17,287 --> 00:05:19,731 I guess she would dance and 41 00:05:21,466 --> 00:05:26,213 tell stories, and really a performer in a way, I think. 42 00:05:31,842 --> 00:05:41,297 And all the monks fell, sorry, all the lichabis fell in love with her and started vying for her affections. 43 00:05:45,243 --> 00:05:55,753 maybe showing off at first, maybe kind of insulting each other or attacking each other and eventually coming to blows. 44 00:05:59,397 --> 00:06:13,410 And indeed, in the end, causing grave harm to each other to the point where the story says they had to be carried out, bloody and battered from fighting over... 45 00:06:15,567 --> 00:06:39,904 Over their own inner lust really And probably egos as well And so they came out And they were coming out of the park Going back into the city Just as the Buddha was coming out from alms And all the monks got to see What happened to the chivis 46 00:06:42,162 --> 00:06:46,407 And they got back and they started talking about this and they said, look at those lichavis. 47 00:06:48,049 --> 00:06:50,753 They were all decked out like angels. 48 00:06:50,813 --> 00:07:08,895 And because of a single woman, not because of the woman, I don't think, because of their own lust, they are reduced to really hell in a sense, hellish beings. 49 00:07:11,204 --> 00:07:16,431 both being in hell themselves and being the wardens of each other's hell. 50 00:07:21,218 --> 00:07:34,576 And the Buddha said, oh, when soka, when baya, when sorrow and danger arise, they arise because of lust. 51 00:07:35,638 --> 00:07:36,739 And then he taught this verse. 52 00:07:38,997 --> 00:07:42,040 Now, lust is probably not the proper translation. 53 00:07:42,080 --> 00:07:43,282 I'm not convinced by it. 54 00:07:43,862 --> 00:07:48,087 I think actually love would be the best translation for rati. 55 00:07:50,829 --> 00:07:55,795 Rati means enjoying or liking maybe. 56 00:07:57,096 --> 00:07:59,118 But I think it's used generally to just mean love. 57 00:07:59,278 --> 00:08:05,545 But it's referring here and probably generally usually to romantic love, like falling in love. 58 00:08:08,377 --> 00:08:12,491 So again, this is the same verse, the Buddha's just changing one word. 59 00:08:13,615 --> 00:08:18,673 It means that he taught this verse repeatedly in different sort of inflection. 60 00:08:19,750 --> 00:08:29,410 But as a result, we're seeing how desire, greed, lobha and its basic form manifests itself in many different ways. 61 00:08:29,791 --> 00:08:41,134 We saw how it manifested for Wisaka when she was very much attached to her daughter and seen in various stories in this chapter. 62 00:08:43,308 --> 00:08:46,573 But this one deals with desire in a different way. 63 00:08:46,593 --> 00:08:50,258 This is the sexual or the sensual romantic desire. 64 00:08:52,761 --> 00:09:00,412 And again, like all the other sorts of desire, the other forms of what we might call love, it's quite often seen in a positive light. 65 00:09:01,713 --> 00:09:12,268 Romance is touted as a great thing, a great aspect of humanity, a wonderful part of life. 66 00:09:14,375 --> 00:09:19,466 Falling in love, better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all. 67 00:09:21,109 --> 00:09:23,735 And by that they mean romantic love. 68 00:09:26,501 --> 00:09:28,866 Love is blind is another thing Shakespeare said. 69 00:09:32,674 --> 00:09:33,075 Sort of. 70 00:09:40,447 --> 00:09:44,814 But many would say that romance is a great part of happiness. 71 00:09:46,296 --> 00:09:50,323 It's a great part of what makes life worth living. 72 00:09:52,887 --> 00:09:58,616 And people would even say it's an important part of what makes life possible at all, right? 73 00:09:59,076 --> 00:10:02,742 Without lust, without romance, they say. 74 00:10:03,886 --> 00:10:05,067 there would be no human race. 75 00:10:06,248 --> 00:10:19,700 Which is, this sort of idea comes up often, this sort of criticism of Buddhism or Buddhist theory comes up often and it misunderstands or it shows how we're not really on the same page when we're talking about these things. 76 00:10:20,360 --> 00:10:33,792 Buddhism is going much deeper and on a much more fundamental level is criticizing not just humanity but samsara, the system within which humanity fits, the system of rebirth. 77 00:10:34,852 --> 00:10:36,914 Humanity is really just the epitome of it. 78 00:10:37,194 --> 00:10:40,858 It's the center of it, because humans can experience great pleasure. 79 00:10:40,878 --> 00:10:44,841 They can also experience great pain, and they're not overwhelmed by either. 80 00:10:45,762 --> 00:10:51,287 So they're in a sense in a great position to observe both of these, potentially. 81 00:10:51,488 --> 00:10:54,210 They're also in a great position to fall under the power of either. 82 00:10:56,432 --> 00:11:01,517 But there's nothing, there's not a very good argument 83 00:11:02,763 --> 00:11:28,517 And to say that somehow keeping humanity going is a defense for romance Really misunderstanding the whole argument And that is that humanity is really part of the problem We're not looking to save or cherish or 84 00:11:29,847 --> 00:11:31,109 preserve anything. 85 00:11:31,209 --> 00:11:39,984 We're looking to understand and to free ourselves from the suffering that exists for all of us. 86 00:11:40,004 --> 00:11:46,354 And in regards to romance, there is a great suffering involved. 87 00:11:46,474 --> 00:11:51,923 So, like all other kinds of desire, it's mostly, most acutely 88 00:11:53,759 --> 00:12:21,117 Problematic in regards to not getting what you want Or having what you want be threatened So the most acute, obvious, glaring sort of suffering Is when you fall in love with someone and it's not returned Which is very common It's only when someone gets lucky Then they find someone else who Wishes to 89 00:12:22,362 --> 00:12:49,804 engage with them on the same level as they wish to engage Also common is falling in love with each other and then falling out of love or one person falling out of love and devastating the other person cheating on each other A much more sinister sort of suffering that comes from romance and that's relating to this story of the lichavis is what it does to you as a person 90 00:12:51,539 --> 00:13:09,075 Lust and desire, like all forms of greed, don't make you a better person You don't become more kind and generous and gentle and compassionate because of your desire You become more possessive, more clingy, more stingy 91 00:13:10,878 --> 00:13:12,000 These are the qualities. 92 00:13:12,060 --> 00:13:15,545 We're not talking about exactly a romantic engagement. 93 00:13:16,667 --> 00:13:22,336 Because of course, people can be married for many years without great amounts of lust arising. 94 00:13:23,198 --> 00:13:31,210 But lust, desire, craving is a key component in the degradation of the human mind. 95 00:13:31,431 --> 00:13:34,776 It causes great corruption. 96 00:13:36,072 --> 00:13:37,755 It's what causes us to fight. 97 00:13:38,215 --> 00:13:41,420 It's what causes us to hurt, lash out at each other. 98 00:13:42,742 --> 00:13:47,590 Why we hurt the ones we love, you see it from a very small age. 99 00:13:48,211 --> 00:13:52,498 People who say children are innocent, I think don't know very many children. 100 00:13:55,042 --> 00:14:03,615 Or don't know children very well because children, as soon as they learn what it means, they start fighting over toys. 101 00:14:06,481 --> 00:14:20,188 fighting, fighting over sensuality, crying and yelling and screaming over not getting what they want, throwing temper tantrums when they can't get what they want. 102 00:14:20,208 --> 00:14:21,370 It brings out the worst in us. 103 00:14:22,292 --> 00:14:28,624 Desire brings out the worst in us, causes us to steal and kill and harm. 104 00:14:30,106 --> 00:14:38,739 talk badly about each other, causes us to lash out and hurt those who we supposedly love, or those who we do love, who we do care for, who we do wish well for. 105 00:14:39,940 --> 00:14:43,486 We hurt them because of our blindness and craving. 106 00:14:45,088 --> 00:14:46,009 We're so caught up. 107 00:14:47,031 --> 00:14:54,021 What it does is it gets us so caught up in wanting the thing that makes us happy that we are blind. 108 00:14:54,001 --> 00:15:05,398 And in our blindness we lash out, not because of any intellectual or rational reasoning, but due to simple blindness from lust and passion. 109 00:15:16,175 --> 00:15:19,560 And so like all forms of greed, you can point this all out. 110 00:15:20,982 --> 00:15:22,945 And I think the last one is most compelling. 111 00:15:25,422 --> 00:15:34,839 But some people might still argue that for them, love has been a great thing. 112 00:15:35,961 --> 00:15:49,084 The saying, better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all, ascribes some sort of greatness to falling in love, greatness to romance. 113 00:15:51,308 --> 00:16:03,212 I think it again relates to this blindness, but it points out how complete this blindness is, that we romanticize romance. 114 00:16:05,115 --> 00:16:07,761 We even romanticize the suffering. 115 00:16:07,781 --> 00:16:13,452 Some people kill themselves when their love is unrequited, but we romanticize that. 116 00:16:14,360 --> 00:16:18,586 We don't look at that and say, wow, I'm never loving, because look at what can happen. 117 00:16:19,427 --> 00:16:22,811 We think, oh, what a terrible thing, but we kind of feel good about it. 118 00:16:23,192 --> 00:16:34,427 Yes, love is so terrible, but we kind of like that about love in a sense, which is so absurd, but it's the romanticizing of it. 119 00:16:37,546 --> 00:16:46,022 And so it goes so far as people, quite common I think, to look at their own situation and say, love has been pretty good to me. 120 00:16:47,204 --> 00:16:55,099 And so they can ignore all the horrors that it inflicts on others, or they can romanticize them, which I think is actually more common. 121 00:16:55,079 --> 00:17:08,958 You just don't deeply appreciate the suffering And even when you do suffer Even a person who suffers from love Probably doesn't say Oh, love is terrible, I should just stop loving Because that would be the solution, right? 122 00:17:10,019 --> 00:17:19,973 If a person had unrequited love All they have to do is see how terrible and horrible love can be Or love is, really And they would give it up 123 00:17:22,045 --> 00:17:27,554 Which is the difference between what we do and what such a person does. 124 00:17:28,295 --> 00:17:33,644 And what ordinary people do when something is causing them suffering. 125 00:17:33,684 --> 00:17:39,253 They try to obliterate it to the extent of even obliterating themselves. 126 00:17:41,116 --> 00:17:43,520 We don't try to obliterate lust. 127 00:17:43,540 --> 00:17:45,403 We try to understand it, to see it. 128 00:17:46,835 --> 00:17:59,494 And so for this person or people who are inclined to say that there's a greatness or a goodness or an inherent quality or benefit to lust, to romance, 129 00:18:03,659 --> 00:18:10,427 These arguments that, oh, bad things could happen to you, like all other kinds of greed, are not relevant. 130 00:18:11,428 --> 00:18:17,436 People can look at others whose relatives have passed away and say, well, bad luck for them. 131 00:18:18,017 --> 00:18:22,061 But mostly there's a greatness to attachment, to affection. 132 00:18:25,325 --> 00:18:31,573 And so again, it's a good reason why meditation is so important. 133 00:18:32,093 --> 00:18:39,933 When we talk about mindfulness, we're talking about a clearer understanding of the experience. 134 00:18:41,818 --> 00:18:44,525 So we all experience these emotions throughout our lives. 135 00:18:44,586 --> 00:18:46,290 We're born with them as we grow up. 136 00:18:46,410 --> 00:18:47,453 We have desires. 137 00:18:51,196 --> 00:19:02,412 Meditation or mindfulness is simply looking at these realities that we are born with, that we live with, looking at them more clearly than we have before. 138 00:19:03,774 --> 00:19:06,818 And the result is that we understand them in a way that we haven't. 139 00:19:06,838 --> 00:19:09,822 Not in a way, but we understand them better than we did before. 140 00:19:11,605 --> 00:19:18,975 There's a sharper, a clearer, a more perfect understanding of the 141 00:19:20,508 --> 00:19:50,228 Emotions And it's that which frees us from From their power From the suffering Which frees us from them Because we come to see not that Not that lust is A dangerous or A cause for suffering really It's that it in a sense is suffering 142 00:19:52,368 --> 00:20:16,367 in the sense of being useless, in the sense of being pointless, meaningless, being superfluous, extraneous, and in Thai they would say yung, makes you busy without any purpose. 143 00:20:19,840 --> 00:20:26,271 Because you start to see how much energy is spent getting caught up in lustful thoughts, desirous thoughts. 144 00:20:28,054 --> 00:20:39,014 And then not to speak of all of the physical and verbal activity that has to go on in order to obtain the objects of your desire, be they people or be they things. 145 00:20:41,198 --> 00:20:43,722 How much mental and physical energy goes into it. 146 00:20:45,676 --> 00:20:51,385 And you observe the feelings of pleasure that arise from getting what you want. 147 00:20:51,425 --> 00:20:56,413 You observe the desire for those feelings, the liking of those feelings. 148 00:20:59,537 --> 00:21:03,904 And observing them, you see how meaningless they are. 149 00:21:06,230 --> 00:21:11,797 You don't see any sense of attraction because attraction is actually extraneous. 150 00:21:13,539 --> 00:21:16,122 It's extrinsic to the experiences. 151 00:21:16,202 --> 00:21:18,745 It's not inbuilt into the pleasure that it should be. 152 00:21:18,765 --> 00:21:21,368 That's something that should be desired. 153 00:21:22,589 --> 00:21:24,492 You see the feelings just as feelings. 154 00:21:25,493 --> 00:21:26,614 Because that is all they are. 155 00:21:26,694 --> 00:21:27,595 And there actually is. 156 00:21:28,176 --> 00:21:28,797 We miss this. 157 00:21:28,917 --> 00:21:34,043 We miss that there actually is no inherent good feeling. 158 00:21:34,023 --> 00:22:03,658 to the experiences they're momentary they arise and cease and that's about all you can say of them and so it's not that you become repulsed by them or turned away from them you just see them as pointless arising and ceasing and so if they are in the end not helpful not pleasant not actually conducive to a greater sense of happiness or peace because they aren't people who seek out happiness the most 159 00:22:03,638 --> 00:22:32,532 are often less are actually not often but are as a result less happy for it a person who stops seeking out happiness specifically because of their peace because of their contentment they are much happier and so if those feelings that we're craving for and lusting after and even hurting other people for 160 00:22:33,963 --> 00:22:37,247 causing stress and suffering in others in order to obtain. 161 00:22:37,307 --> 00:22:45,576 If they are garbage, then why are we doing this? 162 00:22:45,596 --> 00:22:54,105 And so, of course, you have no reason to seek out, no reason to strive for, no reason to even crave for. 163 00:22:55,566 --> 00:22:58,349 So the craving becomes, withers up. 164 00:22:58,369 --> 00:23:03,615 A lot of what you feel in meditation is like the weeds in your garden are just withering up and dying. 165 00:23:05,131 --> 00:23:11,361 all of the weeds, all of the stuff in the mind that it doesn't just suddenly disappear, it feels like it's actually withering up. 166 00:23:12,403 --> 00:23:19,936 It's becoming weaker, it's becoming less vivid, less powerful. 167 00:23:23,822 --> 00:23:28,911 And you feel left with a great sense of purity and peace and contentment, happiness. 168 00:23:31,523 --> 00:23:35,150 And you're free from the sorrows that come from it. 169 00:23:35,210 --> 00:23:36,452 And you're free from the danger. 170 00:23:37,394 --> 00:23:41,863 The danger of being beat up for what you love. 171 00:23:41,883 --> 00:23:45,269 The dangers of beating other people up. 172 00:23:47,193 --> 00:23:51,962 The dangers of getting into strife and conflict. 173 00:23:54,136 --> 00:24:02,404 And if you extrapolate on this, you could point out that war has, I think, most often been fought based on greed. 174 00:24:04,346 --> 00:24:11,894 There's also delusion and, of course, anger in there, but greed has always been the main cause why countries go to war. 175 00:24:12,975 --> 00:24:18,861 Greed by the leaders, greed for power and resources. 176 00:24:21,001 --> 00:24:26,669 Money, wealth, fame, power, opulence. 177 00:24:29,313 --> 00:24:35,663 We do crazy, terrible, awful, the worst things in order to get what we want. 178 00:24:36,184 --> 00:24:37,245 That's the greatest danger. 179 00:24:37,425 --> 00:24:48,662 Not that someone else might hurt you, but that you might become an evil person, a bad person, harmful to others, mean, nasty, because of your greed. 180 00:24:51,055 --> 00:25:05,648 So this is why, this is another reason why we take up mindfulness, why we esteem it so much. 181 00:25:07,530 --> 00:25:12,054 It's another important aspect of why we practice and what our practice is meant for. 182 00:25:14,176 --> 00:25:18,700 It should be a real great encouragement when we see and when we understand 183 00:25:20,367 --> 00:25:26,255 the truth of this, that our craving is not bringing us happiness, it's keeping us from it. 184 00:25:31,783 --> 00:25:43,860 And so great appreciation for all of the people who do practice mindfulness, not just for the peace and happiness you bring to yourselves, but the harmony and peace that you bring to the world. 185 00:25:46,979 --> 00:26:07,608 When you free yourself from desire, you free others from the evil, the evil potential that would become a part of who you are if you were intent on it. 186 00:26:07,648 --> 00:26:12,114 So another important verse, an important teaching on the causes of suffering. 187 00:26:13,456 --> 00:26:15,639 That's the Dhammapada for tonight. 188 00:26:15,659 --> 00:26:16,480 Thank you for listening.