1
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This might sound naive, but is there really such a thing as good or bad?

2
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Or is it just our minds that puts everything in those categories?

3
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Sorry, it's a silly question.

4
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It's not a silly question.

5
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We just discussed this though, didn't we?

6
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We didn't record it.

7
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Something is good or bad if it causes suffering or happiness.

8
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That's the Buddhist definition.

9
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We do talk about good and bad, and the Buddha talked about good and bad.

10
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But he was scientific about it.

11
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So whether you agree with him or not, good is something that brings happiness, bad is something that brings suffering.

12
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And there are, according to Buddhism, those things that do invariably bring suffering, and there are those things which do invariably bring happiness.

13
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So that's what we mean.

14
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Now, what I was saying earlier is that, agreeing with Larry, that

15
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Everything should be looked at, as you say, as objective realities.

16
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We shouldn't look at things as good or bad.

17
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That's, in fact, quite important, is that even the things that cause you suffering, you should not look at them as bad.

18
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Because that is intellectual cheating.

19
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It's begging the question, maybe.

20
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You're jumping the gun.

21
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You're coming to the conclusion before you have the premises.

22
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Meaning is you're pretending that you know that something is bad for you without actually knowing that it's bad for you.

23
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The practice to see what is good and bad for you is to look at things objectively, not as good or bad.

24
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Look at them objectively and see whether they are good or bad.

25
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And so it's actually two different definitions of good and bad because

26
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It sounds like the same thing, but in practice it's two totally different things.

27
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Thinking of things as good or bad is judging them.

28
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Seeing that things are good or bad is understanding them.

29
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And it's two very different mind states.

30
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Judging is negative.

31
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It distracts you from the truth.

32
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It prevents you from seeing the truth because you're no longer objective.

33
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But realizing that things are good or bad is liberating.

34
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It is the moment before you let go of something.

35
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Once you see that something is bad, you let go of it in the next moment.