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Good evening, everyone.

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Welcome to our live broadcast.

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I don't know what happened to our live meditators.

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I think they're not here yet.

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But we have three meditators now.

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We'll just wait a couple of minutes, see if they come up.

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We have now two Canadians, two Ontarians.

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That's new.

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We've been...

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blessed by having so many people come from faraway places.

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Here comes one of them now.

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There's our Englander.

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But today, someone came from Windsor, Ontario, which is on the border of America.

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So we're pretty much on the border here.

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We have three meditators, and I think we're expecting a fourth one sometime soon, right?

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We're going to be full up.

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Our new meditator may not come up.

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She may be getting settled in.

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So today we're looking at Anguttara Nikaya Book of Sixes, Sutta 22 Sutta 22 is a good example of the topic we'd like to talk about tonight The topic of tonight's Dhamma is Parihāniya and Apparihāniya It's a concept that the Buddha looks at

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from time to time.

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We have in the Mahaparinibbana Sutta, at the beginning, we have Ajatasattu, I think, or is it Pasenadi?

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A king sends someone to the Buddha to ask him, Hey, I want to go and invade this country.

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Am I going to succeed?

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And the Buddha asks Ananda whether this country that he wants to invade, whether they're keeping to a certain number of things.

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It's a set of Dhammas that lead to civilization not to decline.

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Anyway, it sets the stage for a long talk, several lists of things that lead to non-decline.

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That's not this list.

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It's not these Dhammas.

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But it's a

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It's a topic that the Buddha has brought up.

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It's a way of discussing the Dhamma that the Buddha employs.

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Because it's really a big part of it.

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It speaks to the concern that a person has on any path, success and failure, progress

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and whatever the opposite of progress is.

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Getting better and getting worse.

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Are we becoming a better person, right?

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Are we getting closer to the goal?

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Am I on the right path?

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Am I doing the right thing?

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Am I practicing correctly?

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Am I doing what's good for me?

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Is what I'm doing the right thing, the good thing?

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So we have this question of how we how we should know or how we should act and what we should do to keep progressing.

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How do we ensure that our

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whether it be spiritual or mundane, that it leads us in the direction of peace, happiness, of success.

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So this is one list here that we have tonight.

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There's a couple of different ones in this section.

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And this is also in the Book of Sevens.

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I think it adds another factor, but that's okay.

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These six are good enough.

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It's a good list.

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That's one that my teacher brings, used to bring up a lot.

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So that's one that piqued my interest as I skimmed through.

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I came to this one, and ah, here's one that we have to bring up for meditators, because this is a sort of a classic advice for meditators.

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practicing, doing everything right, you are engaged in the practice of insight meditation, which is praiseworthy, worthy of admiration.

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It's wonderful to see people actually dedicate their lives to hours and hours of meditation.

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It's incredible to see something that is

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very much worth our appreciation and our support.

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We support it.

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It's a wonderful thing to be able to say that we invite people to come here for free and just give them the opportunity.

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It's wonderful to be able to say that we have people who take this opportunity.

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This camera

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We've got a camera facing the room, right?

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So you can see these people, two of them anyway, right now.

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I mean, part of the reason for that is to say, see, see, there are people who are doing this to impress and to make it

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To make real the fact that people actually do take this time to provide a role model, if you will.

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To provide the inspiration.

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Part of what being a monk is, or going into society as a monk, it feels like there's some sort of inspiration there, where you offer people an interesting, novel example of a way of living one's life.

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But a meditator is so much more.

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When you see someone meditating, when you hear about people meditating, it's a wonderful inspiration.

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We have all these questions and concerns, we have problems.

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People I talk to, people you must talk to, we talk to in the world, dealing with their issues, breaking down, crying.

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How many tears every day are crying in this earth?

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How many tears are shed per day?

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We should see if we could

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calculate how many gallons how many metric tons of water are shed of tears are shed per day everywhere take a survey of any given neighborhood and the pain and suffering you'd find so when people are dealing with their issues

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and here we have we have a we have a means for overcoming the suffering so here you are come to meditate come to cultivate the path of insight the path of purification but

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With your nose to the grindstone, plodding away, walking and sitting, walking and sitting.

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Waking up early, going to sleep late.

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There comes this question, or as a teacher we have this concern to make sure that you stay on track.

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Because it can happen that while you're meditating, certain things will take you away from the practice, detract from your practice.

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There's a lot less of this here.

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It's actually quite wonderful if you can bear with it.

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Being in a place like this,

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To meditate in a place like this is actually a rare opportunity.

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It might not seem like that, and I think people will, in many cases, be turned off of coming to practice in a house in Canada, right?

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Who would want to come here when you could go to Thailand?

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That's what I would think.

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I wouldn't have come to a house in Canada to meditate.

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I just wouldn't have done it.

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Not when I could go to Thailand and get the real thing, right?

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The funny thing is you go to Thailand and well, there is something genuine about it.

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Because in Thailand meditation centers are very well established.

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You've got the problems of stagnation.

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which are that in a large, well-established meditation center, there's a lot of busyness, there's a lot of noise, there's a lot of distraction.

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There's many opportunities for getting off track, unfortunately.

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Because as with everything, as it grows, it rots.

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Not entirely, and there's good in it, power in it, but there's also a lot of rot.

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unfortunately.

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So here you don't have a lot of these problems but still if you want to optimize your practice there are certain things that you have to fine tune about your practice.

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So what are they?

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Here are the six.

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Finally we get to them.

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After all that introduction.

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The Buddha says, O bhikkhus, I will

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teach you these six Dhammas that lead you not to not to fade away not to decline not to get off track or get lost fall away from the Dhamma looking to gain something to cultivate spiritual insight clarity of mind get closer to the

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understanding of the truth of reality things that will keep you from that that will cause you to lose your way on the path so what are these six?

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the six that will cause you to lose your way and if you avoid these you will stay centered on the path so kamma ramata

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being delighted or enjoying, liking.

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Work.

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So when you're meditating you have to be careful not to work too much.

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Some people will fill up their days with work.

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There's one good story in the Dhammapada about a monk who swept all day.

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And the other monks were quite impressed.

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And they would say, wow, yeah, this guy is a real energetic person with a good work ethic.

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He's an energetic monk, not lazy.

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It's a good quality.

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The Buddha said, you need energy.

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And so they told the Buddha.

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And the Buddha said, a person who sweeps all the time isn't called a monk.

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They're called a janitor.

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I have this story.

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What happens is, of course, meditation is difficult.

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It's difficult to be patient and to be still and to stay with your experiences.

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So we find ways of mitigating that.

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And to some extent it's good to take a break, right?

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You want to have a cup of tea.

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Not because tea is important, but because it's a way of relaxing.

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It makes it easier.

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It's stepping back and saying, okay, I need to relax and try again.

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It's admitting your failing and your imperfection.

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Yes, I can.

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I should just be meditating all the time, but I just need a break.

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I'm not perfect, so I need to take some time off.

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But then you start to take longer breaks and then you do some cleaning up, right?

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You take time out of every day.

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I remember having a daily ritual of, okay, this is the time of day when I'll do my sweeping or this is when I'll do my cleaning.

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And it's good to have that kind of a ritual.

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It gives you some stability and gives you, as I said, a chance to step back.

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But in certain cases it becomes a crutch and then you find more things to do and you start looking for work.

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It's easier.

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It's easier to sweep all day than it is to meditate all day, certainly.

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And so some monks would sweep the whole monastery, sweep in the morning, sweep in the afternoon.

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There was one nun in our monastery who did this.

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And she was a little bit off.

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So she'd come around and I remember, I had no idea, she'd come around and she'd mutter things.

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And I had no idea what she was saying, but I remember sitting with a monk and found out that she was actually quite, she had quite a foul mouth.

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But for the longest time, I thought she was maybe quite an impressive person, sweeping the whole monastery every day, every day, working, working very hard, and muttering to herself.

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She was crazy.

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She was actually quite foul-mouthed in a way that I didn't understand.

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It's a simple point.

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Don't get too caught up in work.

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Don't get caught up in extracurricular activities.

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Of course, in truth, if you're sweeping, you can do it mindfully.

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And to some extent, that's a good part and a proper part of the practice.

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I mean it is necessary and even in our center I'm telling all the meditators to do cleaning, to spend some little time every day because we don't have a janitor, we don't have anyone looking after this place, this is our place to look after.

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And so mindful cleaning is an important part of your day, it should be a part of your schedule.

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But just don't get caught up because it can happen that you, hey, this is easy.

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I can vacuuming.

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I can be mindful.

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Not as mindful, but you think, well, it's more comfortable.

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So I'll do a whole bunch of other work.

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Later on in the course, you know, in a standard

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In the meditation center we would never have people cooking, even reheating their own food.

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Near the end of the course we'd actually bring the meditators food in a container.

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We'd have these stacked containers and we'd bring the food to their room and we wouldn't even let them leave their room.

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In fact, even times before my time, apparently, anyone who came to the monastery, they wouldn't even let them leave the room from day one.

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So they'd bring them food every day, and the teacher would come and see them at their room, come to the door, knock on the door, ask them about their practice, and then close the door and move on.

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So for 21 days, for 30 days, you'd just be in your room the whole time.

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Now, we don't expect meditators to be able to handle that, but it's a good example to think of.

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Don't get too caught up in extracurriculars.

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Number two, bahasa Ramata.

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So the second one is some people get caught up in talking.

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Again, here we don't have such a problem because there's not too many meditators, but we're in close con... close quarters, close confines.

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We have four rooms in the basement and there's not really a living area, but there is a tea area, so it's possible that while you're getting a cup of tea, someone else might be getting a cup of tea and then there's an inclination to chat

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And it's quite a relief to be able to talk, right?

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To take your mind off of the practice.

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Of course that means to put behind your mindfulness and to stop thinking about your reality, your universe, and to start to

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expand your mind into other people's universes and their problems and you get back into the realm of concepts and relationships you get into all sorts of potential difficulties

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At the very least, you fall back into this idle chatter of the mind.

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You find that after you've relaxed talking to someone, it's that much more difficult to get back to your meditation.

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Your mind is distracted.

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Your mind is diffused.

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You're not able to focus on your experiences because your mind is caught up in the world of concepts.

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caught up in the other person.

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I remember when we did this, our teacher was a terrible meditator when I first started.

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I had no clue what I was doing.

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But none of us did.

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It wasn't just me.

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Must have been some kind of karma because the day I arrived and like the day after there were like four of us and I'll still remember those guys.

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We just all showed up at the same period.

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It was like we were probably monks or ascetics in a past life together.

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And so me and Har...

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Harvey.

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Me and Harvey and Cosmo.

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Cosmo was another Canadian and one other really tall guy.

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I can't remember his name.

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But we were all, we sat around and talked and there was an old guy from England who later became a monk and he was a real troublemaker.

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But our teacher came up, we're sitting at the table in the morning chatting and this guy from, this old guy's telling us all sorts of crazy things like about his child abuse when he was younger and our teacher walks up and says,

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Yeah, you know, I got in trouble.

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Anyway, he starts hinting at the fact, telling us this story about how his teacher got him in trouble, or his teacher scolded him, or he had to beg with his teacher to let us out of our rooms and let us come and eat in a common area, but he had to promise that we wouldn't talk together.

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It just went completely over our heads.

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We're like, oh yeah, that's interesting.

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And we started chatting with him, and

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he's just glaring at us trying to because in Thailand they'll never tell you outright hey you guys have to be quiet and go back to your rooms they just hint at it and here we are these dumb westerners who couldn't take the hint and to a great extent it made practice that much more difficult

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I think there were only two of us who actually finished the course.

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Maybe I was the only one.

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I'm not sure about the other two.

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They had more difficulty.

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Harvey didn't finish the course.

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And I remember feeling quite bad about it because

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Near the end of the course, they have you do some fairly difficult, the practice gets fairly difficult, and I couldn't take it.

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So I went, they gave us this exercise to do, and I went to see Harvey.

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And I said to Harvey, I said, man, are you doing this?

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I don't think I can do this.

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And he said, I don't know.

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I said, yeah, I'm thinking I might leave.

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And then one of the teachers caught me talking to him and said, hey, you can't talk to him.

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Go back to your room.

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So I went back to my room and I struggled with it and I actually ended up finishing rather poorly and not satisfactorily, but I finished.

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And then I went and talked to Harvey after I finished and he said, yeah, I thought to myself, he said, I didn't finish, I thought to myself, Noah's not going to do it, I'm not going to do it.

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So I ruined his practice by talking to him.

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So my long-winded way of giving an example of how speech causes all sorts of problems, talking to other meditators can be a big danger, a big hindrance in the practice.

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Try to be careful.

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Don't share your conditions with others because you affect each other's emotions.

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We're quite vulnerable, right?

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You've dropped down all your guards and you're trying to be honest.

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In meditation, sometimes really violent emotions come up because you're allowing them to come up.

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When you're angry, you're no longer saying, okay, find some way to avoid that.

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Let's go out and pretend it's all good.

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And your anger, you're letting the anger come up.

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When you're angry, when you're greedy, whatever state your mind is, you're saying, okay, okay, let's look and work through this naturally rather than repressing it.

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So if during that time you go and connect with someone else, you can ruin each other.

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You can cause more harm to each other than you would in normal life.

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Meditation practice is a vulnerable sort of time.

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Meditators will leave here thinking they're quite more relaxed.

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They've been able to let their guard down and they feel stronger because nothing's

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Nothing's confronting them.

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They're not confronted by any challenges, so they feel much stronger, like they've gained a lot from the practice, more than they actually have in truth.

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But it's simply because living in the meditation center, there's nothing, they're not confronted by any conflicts or challenges.

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And when they leave, because they've let their guard down, it can be quite difficult.

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So just to say that

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Meditators are vulnerable and getting too involved with each other is a problem.

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So don't talk too much is the point.

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Number two.

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Number three.

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Nidaramata.

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Sleeping.

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You get caught up in sleeping.

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You like to sleep.

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This is a real challenge, but it's kind of a liberating challenge.

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Meditators tend to, I would say, tend to find this a fairly, on the whole, a fairly reasonable challenge.

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Learning to see how attached we are to sleeping, how pleasurable it is to sleep, to...

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To fade into oblivion, to put our problems behind and just let go.

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So comforting to sleep, right?

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Comforting to be able to lie down.

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So we get attached to this state of oblivion.

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Of course, what you start to notice in the practice is that when you wake up in the morning, you've lost a lot of your mindfulness.

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It's not nearly as peaceful as we think.

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It's actually all mixed up.

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If we sleep muddled, if we fall asleep with an agitated mind, we're agitated throughout the night.

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Because we don't have the mindfulness working, we wake up in a muddled state.

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And so we try to restrict our sleep to the bare minimum, what we need.

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We don't sleep more than six hours, and then we try to later cut it down to four hours.

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And you can see that if you really fine-tune your practice, four hours is actually plenty of sleep.

30:09.837 --> 30:11.380
It's quite surprising, actually.

30:11.680 --> 30:14.124
Most people wouldn't think that four hours of sleep would be enough.

30:14.324 --> 30:20.593
But when your mind is fine-tuned, you wouldn't want more.

30:21.755 --> 30:27.704
and feel like more would be actually deleterious to your state of mind.

30:31.490 --> 30:32.812
You have to be careful about sleep.

30:32.872 --> 30:37.720
Sleep is an obstacle to your practice.

30:37.740 --> 30:42.447
So Mahasi Sayadaw describes this effort by the meditator to stay awake.

30:44.131 --> 30:45.935
that you should look at sleep as your enemy.

30:47.177 --> 30:49.983
Sleep is this enemy waiting for you.

30:50.044 --> 30:50.645
It's like death.

30:51.386 --> 30:53.571
You don't want to die soon.

30:53.671 --> 30:55.595
You don't want to give in to your enemy.

30:55.656 --> 30:57.179
You want to fight to the bitter end.

30:57.199 --> 31:01.648
Some meditators should fight to the bitter end not to fall asleep.

31:01.809 --> 31:03.372
Maybe not to that extent, but

31:03.352 --> 31:07.561
And to some extent you should look at sleep as your enemy.

31:07.581 --> 31:19.167
And when you do lie down and you concede that you can no longer sit up and your head's nodding and walking isn't going to work anymore, sitting isn't going to work anymore, then you give in to sleep.

31:21.003 --> 31:21.764
But you don't give in.

31:21.904 --> 31:22.606
You lie down.

31:22.666 --> 31:26.091
You give in to your fatigue and say, I'm going to lie down.

31:26.952 --> 31:29.076
But you don't yet try to fall asleep.

31:30.217 --> 31:31.820
You don't wish for sleep to come.

31:31.880 --> 31:33.322
You don't wait for sleep to come.

31:34.204 --> 31:38.350
You try your best to be mindful, watching the stomach rising and falling.

31:40.113 --> 31:42.657
And eventually, until eventually you fall asleep.

31:43.413 --> 31:45.116
If you think like that, it's not difficult.

31:45.176 --> 31:48.542
And the Buddha said, before you fall asleep, you make a note of when you're going to rise.

31:49.463 --> 32:02.745
And what that means is that the last thought in your mind, or conscious in your mind to the very end, is the sense of the boundaries of that sleep, that you're not going to oversleep.

32:04.127 --> 32:06.291
And as a result, you wake up generally on time.

32:06.331 --> 32:09.336
It's quite interesting how the mind can

32:10.750 --> 32:13.113
can time six hours or four hours.

32:14.314 --> 32:21.644
And you find after a little bit of time, you wake up just before your alarm goes off.

32:21.664 --> 32:22.204
Every time.

32:23.746 --> 32:25.769
It's quite impressive that the mind is able to do that.

32:27.010 --> 32:28.232
I'm quite sure how that works.

32:31.096 --> 32:32.117
Nidaramata.

32:32.177 --> 32:33.458
Don't get attached to sleep.

32:34.560 --> 32:36.002
Number four.

32:36.122 --> 32:38.665
Nasanganikaramata.

32:39.995 --> 32:42.218
This is like number two where it's hand in hand.

32:42.358 --> 32:46.402
Sanghanika is community.

32:49.446 --> 32:54.071
One way of looking at this apart from speech is the need for community.

32:54.091 --> 32:57.395
A lot of meditators swear by meditation in groups.

32:58.216 --> 32:59.498
Our tradition doesn't really.

32:59.538 --> 33:04.163
And meditators here will find they do a lot more meditating on their own.

33:05.408 --> 33:07.091
But it is possible.

33:08.253 --> 33:12.620
It's one way of looking at this, is the need to be in a group.

33:12.640 --> 33:18.610
The problem with being in a group is you tend, it's better, it's easier because in a way you're performing.

33:19.071 --> 33:22.316
You know people are conscious of your presence.

33:23.398 --> 33:25.982
And so it's partially an act, right?

33:26.002 --> 33:28.767
To stay still, to stay mindful, to not look.

33:30.367 --> 33:31.628
like the dope that you are.

33:33.471 --> 33:38.857
We know when we're in our rooms we're struggling, but when we come up in the hall everyone looks like a Buddha.

33:41.120 --> 33:42.181
That's not quite real.

33:42.862 --> 33:49.810
So there is some benefit in terms of cultivating concentration, and there's a benefit to that in terms of keeping you honest.

33:49.930 --> 33:53.614
Whereas in your room you could peek, you wouldn't peek when you're in the meditation hall.

33:54.595 --> 33:55.176
Not so much.

33:56.498 --> 33:58.500
You'd be embarrassed too, and that's good.

33:59.780 --> 34:01.463
But it's also good to be on your own.

34:01.503 --> 34:11.177
And it's, I would say, in the end, better to naturally overcome these things rather than have to be artificially forced by others.

34:13.481 --> 34:19.150
Anyway, in general, all of what I said for speech applies to community.

34:20.652 --> 34:22.996
This is about you, your universe.

34:23.496 --> 34:27.222
Your universe is within your six-foot frame.

34:28.602 --> 34:30.185
That's where your mind should stay.

34:31.267 --> 34:32.650
It should have nothing to do with others.

34:33.531 --> 34:38.922
A true meditator doesn't require or doesn't take reference to the other people in the room.

34:38.962 --> 34:45.033
Their reality is the six senses and so therefore it doesn't matter where they are.

34:45.053 --> 34:47.438
And this is something liberating about the meditation.

34:49.105 --> 34:52.188
It's impressive that you're able to stay on your own for so long.

34:52.208 --> 35:00.555
I mean, just the thought for most people of staying in a room for hours on end, it's like prison, right?

35:00.575 --> 35:07.701
Prison doesn't, that aspect of prison doesn't actually sound so bad for a meditator because it can be quite peaceful.

35:11.524 --> 35:13.506
Number five, sovajasattva.

35:14.366 --> 35:17.529
Sovajasattva comes from sut.

35:17.549 --> 35:18.690
Sut and vajja.

35:22.670 --> 35:23.531
Suwacca.

35:25.573 --> 35:26.714
Su here means easy.

35:27.535 --> 35:29.277
Wacca means speech.

35:30.939 --> 35:35.764
One towards whom it is easy to speak.

35:35.784 --> 35:38.207
What this means is that you're obedient.

35:38.227 --> 35:39.108
You do what I say.

35:39.508 --> 35:43.312
I tell you to stand on your head, you stand on your head.

35:45.314 --> 35:46.496
Being easy to admonish.

35:47.316 --> 35:48.618
Not being argumentative.

35:50.600 --> 35:52.542
When I tell you to do something, to do it.

35:55.559 --> 35:57.762
to be careful to follow the teacher's advice.

35:57.842 --> 36:04.230
It's quite important because we have, I mean, in this tradition, I think it's something we can get away with saying.

36:04.250 --> 36:07.994
I mean, you wouldn't always want to follow that advice, right?

36:08.014 --> 36:13.441
Sometimes you want to question if you don't know what the teacher, you're not confident of what the teacher is teaching.

36:14.262 --> 36:16.424
But in this tradition, there's nothing to doubt about.

36:16.464 --> 36:24.334
There's no question that what we're teaching is somehow biased or

36:24.314 --> 36:51.334
perverted or something it's quite simple what we give you to do but there is a method to it if you push ahead beyond what the teacher gives you it's dangerous because you start you start to you get beyond yourself and you'll end up just concentrating or you give up what the teacher is teaching and you won't progress

36:53.238 --> 36:57.183
You start doing something different and you get totally off track and who knows where you're going to end up.

36:58.424 --> 37:14.723
We have a fairly regimented program that's tried, tested and true to keep you on track and keep you going at a patient but steady rate.

37:14.743 --> 37:17.205
And help you build up power at an appropriate rate.

37:17.486 --> 37:21.270
And so ideally the teacher, I mean this is a skill that the teacher has to learn,

37:22.820 --> 37:33.476
how to, when to push the student, when to hold them back, and this delicate balance of not pushing too hard and yet continuing to challenge the meditator.

37:33.497 --> 37:35.279
That's our job as a teacher.

37:36.822 --> 37:43.512
It's your job as a meditator to listen, to be easy to admonish, easy to teach.

37:49.297 --> 37:52.160
And number six, kalyanamitata.

37:52.180 --> 37:53.261
It means good friendship.

37:54.883 --> 37:55.604
You need a teacher.

37:56.605 --> 37:57.606
You want to progress.

37:58.427 --> 38:05.655
This would be important for someone living in a monastery, a monk living in a monastery.

38:05.675 --> 38:14.064
It would be important that they consider their friends and that they consider the teachers in the monastery, that they don't lose track of their teachers.

38:15.105 --> 38:17.768
It's important for all of you out there that you find someone

38:19.047 --> 38:23.726
who you can have a relationship with as a teacher-student.

38:25.051 --> 38:28.264
This is what we offer here through our online courses.

38:29.577 --> 38:31.499
or come to a meditation center here.

38:31.859 --> 38:37.464
We offer modest facilities, both online and here in person.

38:38.005 --> 38:50.236
Of course, we can't help everybody, but finding a place and finding a teacher, that element of good friendship that exists between a teacher and a student, the teacher is considered to be the best friend.

38:50.276 --> 38:59.365
Not because they sit with you and hold your hand, but because they give you the opportunity to practice and they give you the advice

39:00.948 --> 39:05.217
direction that you need to continue on the path.

39:06.379 --> 39:07.481
These are the six things.

39:08.383 --> 39:09.325
It's not that difficult.

39:09.466 --> 39:09.967
Keep to them.

39:10.668 --> 39:18.484
It's as good a list as any to keep you on the path, keep you from getting off the path or backsliding.

39:27.678 --> 39:31.506
Yeah, there's more, but we'll stick to these ones for tonight.

39:31.546 --> 39:32.689
That's the Dhamma for tonight.

39:35.535 --> 39:37.519
Thank you all for tuning in.

39:37.840 --> 39:38.842
Do we have questions?

39:43.292 --> 39:44.274
We have questions.

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We will now go to answering questions.

39:51.269 --> 39:56.934
A relative whose son recently got married came today to offer clothes and sweetmeats, etc.

39:57.655 --> 40:00.818
as the trigger division here.

40:01.819 --> 40:08.506
After greeting them, I guess one was also expected to engage in small talk, but that proved to be rather difficult.

40:08.526 --> 40:17.074
Seeing that they were totally consumed by the pleasure the occasion brought to them, I couldn't help but remind them and myself that instead we should

40:21.003 --> 40:30.174
Instead, we should be remembering that death can strike us at any time, and therefore we should not get carried away by emotions and always be mindful of our thoughts and actions.

40:30.194 --> 40:36.801
And this is the advice we should be giving the newlyweds, too, so that they may also reduce and ultimately get rid of suffering.

40:37.662 --> 40:44.310
I felt that the mention of death and suffering on the auspicious occasion upset them, and they left soon after without saying much.

40:47.851 --> 40:53.578
I felt bad for bursting their bubble and for being cold, but I genuinely could not see the point behind all the excitement.

40:54.119 --> 40:58.804
However, I did write them a text apologizing for hurting them because that is not what my intention was.

40:59.826 --> 41:10.078
One thing my question is, what is one to do in such worldly situations where customs and traditions demand from you that you must say and act in a certain way no matter how false and meaningless that might be?

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How does one get these worldly fears done without hurting others, yet remaining in line with the teachings of the Buddha?

41:18.337 --> 41:21.120
Thank you very much.

41:21.140 --> 41:29.029
Yes, you have entered the world of the religious people.

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Do you think with this age-old dilemma of the religious person, how to live your religion without being a total and utter jerk about it?

41:41.834 --> 41:47.020
There was this Czech monk who called it Buddhist jihad.

41:48.302 --> 41:49.383
That's maybe an awful thing.

41:49.403 --> 41:49.764
I don't know.

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Is that PC to say?

41:51.366 --> 41:52.988
I don't know, but that's what he called it.

41:55.972 --> 42:00.698
What he means is Buddhists often go on a rampage trying to convert other people.

42:01.098 --> 42:08.748
Maybe a better one would be Buddhist evangelical.

42:09.428 --> 42:10.710
Buddhist evangelical.

42:11.180 --> 42:12.721
It's like being a Buddhist wet blanket.

42:13.602 --> 42:15.524
Yeah, well, we fall into it.

42:17.566 --> 42:19.047
It's quite a simple rule of thumb.

42:19.127 --> 42:24.993
It's just a shame that it's not often taught or adhered to.

42:26.294 --> 42:28.676
Anyway, this is a chronic problem.

42:29.037 --> 42:40.107
But the general rule of thumb is if they're not your child, your student, or in certain cases, your sibling,

42:42.550 --> 42:52.577
You have no reason to, you have no right or no duty, and duty is maybe the best way of putting it, to teach anyone.

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It's not your job.

42:56.066 --> 42:58.409
I mean, it's quite different.

42:58.729 --> 43:06.218
I understand how you fall into this, and this is a common thing to fall into, but it's quite different to ask what you're asking.

43:06.278 --> 43:12.385
How do I deal with worldly things?

43:15.208 --> 43:18.312
It's quite different from, that's quite different from

43:19.895 --> 43:27.842
addressing how you should force or convince other people to act appropriately, right?

43:33.247 --> 43:47.320
So, I mean, I guess it might seem at times easier to just convince everybody else not to engage in idle chatter and small talk because otherwise you're the odd one out, right?

43:49.966 --> 43:57.469
But that really is maybe the harder way in that instance.

43:57.489 --> 44:00.297
But it is a divide you have to make.

44:01.508 --> 44:10.864
And so the way it should truly go is you yourself maintain your equanimity, your silence, your calm, to some extent.

44:11.185 --> 44:15.893
I mean, you can engage in small talk, pleasantries.

44:15.973 --> 44:17.175
There is a purpose to that.

44:17.376 --> 44:18.538
It's not idle chatter.

44:19.700 --> 44:21.703
Wishing each other well, that kind of thing.

44:23.006 --> 44:26.672
Expressing your appreciation of others.

44:26.652 --> 44:32.961
Asking people where they're from, telling people where you're from, this is all information, informative.

44:34.082 --> 44:46.019
And it takes a certain amount of mindfulness to be able to find the boundary between basic conversational etiquette and idle chatter.

44:46.179 --> 44:47.041
There's a fine line.

44:48.523 --> 44:49.504
Remember Ajahn Thong would

44:50.733 --> 44:53.457
We all, there was a group of us who were around him.

44:53.758 --> 45:00.889
When I was learning to teach, I would sit with him for hours and some of those hours were consumed by people who just wanted to talk his ear off.

45:00.909 --> 45:13.428
There was an old nun who would come and sit with him for like at least a half an hour, telling him nothing, talking to him about just her aches and her pains and her relatives and his relatives.

45:14.109 --> 45:16.453
And he would just sit there and kind of nod and smile.

45:17.783 --> 45:19.607
And he would even ask questions at times.

45:20.549 --> 45:21.892
He just has a heart of gold.

45:21.992 --> 45:25.240
There's not a bitter bone in his body.

45:25.320 --> 45:26.803
It's quite impressive.

45:26.843 --> 45:32.596
And the rest of us are kind of like looking at our clocks and wondering when it's going to be over.

45:34.581 --> 45:36.585
And he's just at peace with it.

45:38.759 --> 45:48.512
So to some extent, a truly skilled meditator can blend in quite peacefully, but most of us can't.

45:48.552 --> 45:51.876
I mean, it's understandable if that creates conflict.

45:51.896 --> 45:58.485
And that's where the conflict would come, when people start accusing you of being stiff and so on.

45:59.086 --> 46:03.231
But it should never come to the point where people feel affronted.

46:03.211 --> 46:10.601
You know you've done something wrong when people feel affronted by your speech.

46:11.543 --> 46:12.304
And that's normal.

46:12.364 --> 46:13.666
It's normal to get it wrong.

46:14.627 --> 46:22.058
But it's wrong to try to convince people to practice the Dhamma.

46:22.098 --> 46:23.059
It's not your job.

46:24.355 --> 46:27.683
And as you can see, you can see the results.

46:28.805 --> 46:30.830
Never do something that has bad results.

46:31.752 --> 46:33.196
And you can see if it has bad results.

46:35.361 --> 46:37.786
Well, that's not always the case.

46:37.826 --> 46:41.976
Sometimes you can do something for the right reason at the right time and yet...

46:43.475 --> 46:49.021
due to unforeseen circumstances, or sometimes even foreseen, the party might be upset.

46:49.481 --> 46:56.048
Sometimes you have to upset people, but I would say that's much more rare than actually doing or saying the wrong thing.

46:56.068 --> 46:57.809
You shouldn't feel bad or guilty about it.

46:57.849 --> 47:03.695
That's of course not wholesome or useful, but it should cause you to realign yourself.

47:03.936 --> 47:13.245
And over time a Buddhist meditator will become more comfortable with themselves and less eager to push their ideas on others.

47:14.643 --> 47:28.043
So what you will get, and this is much more, I think, in line with the Dhamma, is the times when people accuse you of being quiet and aloof, boring, antisocial.

47:29.505 --> 47:32.189
That should be, as I said, should be appeased over time.

47:32.209 --> 47:33.912
I remember going to my mother's wedding.

47:35.594 --> 47:37.036
I'm still a layperson.

47:38.078 --> 47:41.022
And I actually...

47:41.002 --> 47:47.268
quite eagerly took up the job of cameraman because I kind of wanted to get away from the social aspect of it.

47:47.368 --> 47:50.432
So I took up the camera and I started snapping all sorts of photographs.

47:51.673 --> 48:01.463
But then we were sitting down to eat and I just remember sitting there and everyone all around me is singing and chatting and carrying on and drinking alcohol.

48:01.623 --> 48:04.266
Weddings can be terrible things.

48:04.426 --> 48:05.427
Alcohol.

48:05.787 --> 48:09.591
And I'm just sitting there eating my food, chewing, chewing, swallowing.

48:11.191 --> 48:14.520
And if you're peaceful about it and you don't engage and you don't try to...

48:16.024 --> 48:26.331
I mean, to some extent you can pull back and not be a wet blanket.

48:29.568 --> 48:32.472
about it, but sometimes it's unavoidable.

48:32.492 --> 48:41.847
I mean, absolutely, some people who are ignorant and uncultured are always going to expect you to act in certain ways that are actually unwholesome.

48:41.927 --> 48:45.993
And you can just tell them, tell them that you're a meditator.

48:46.013 --> 48:53.685
That's where the conversation could come, should come, when people confront you about your antisocial behavior.

48:55.707 --> 48:57.454
then there's an opening for teaching.

48:57.775 --> 49:01.850
It's an appropriate opening and that's where the dialogue should take place.

49:02.111 --> 49:07.270
Not that you're trying to convert people or you have any duty to convert them, but that's where true

49:08.515 --> 49:10.017
peace comes from.

49:10.117 --> 49:20.408
Because then you have this dialogue whereby that person becomes aware of a new way of looking at the world that is not entirely boisterous and overjoyed.

49:20.448 --> 49:25.694
It's more sublime and relaxed and content.

49:26.936 --> 49:28.297
You can talk about meditation.

49:28.357 --> 49:31.441
It's a good way to relax.

49:31.461 --> 49:32.322
I'm a meditator.

49:32.442 --> 49:34.484
It's just the way I am.

49:34.524 --> 49:35.285
I'm okay.

49:35.305 --> 49:35.786
I'm happy.

49:35.866 --> 49:36.126
But

49:36.106 --> 49:39.352
I'm not really a social being.

49:39.752 --> 49:43.378
I try to stay mindful in myself.

49:43.539 --> 49:46.604
I mean, in India you can certainly get away with that sort of thing.

49:46.624 --> 49:53.235
I think as soon as you bring up the concept of religion, you can get away with walking around naked, for example.

49:53.917 --> 50:00.628
So if some guy could get away with walking around naked, I'm pretty sure you can get away with being a little bit quiet.

50:00.608 --> 50:07.560
Of course with family there's expectations, but you're definitely going to disappoint your family if you become a meditator.

50:07.860 --> 50:13.470
That's pretty much guaranteed in this day and age, unfortunately, unless your family is a bunch of meditators.

50:15.193 --> 50:23.747
For the most part they'll be disappointed in you and shaken up by the change because we expect our family members to be

50:25.499 --> 50:30.007
It's the word to be constant, unchanging.

50:30.327 --> 50:34.274
And this is why conflict arises, because family members change.

50:35.356 --> 50:39.422
They do things that are unexpected, that are undesired.

50:40.444 --> 50:44.050
When you change, it disturbs your family members, and that's inevitable.

50:46.094 --> 50:51.102
You're going to have that conflict where you meditate, they don't like you as a meditator,

50:52.229 --> 50:57.817
I don't agree with this new quiet, unentertaining you.

50:58.658 --> 51:07.010
But yeah, going the next step of trying to convert everybody around you is generally not a very good idea.

51:08.192 --> 51:10.155
And certainly it's not your duty as a Buddhist.

51:10.195 --> 51:11.757
That's an important distinction to make.

51:21.659 --> 51:23.301
I'll click on this one as well.

51:28.609 --> 51:29.790
Hello, I have two questions.

51:30.732 --> 51:35.679
One is, is there another way besides meditation to balance the five faculties?

51:36.019 --> 51:39.584
Is it effort, belief, concentration, wisdom, and mindfulness?

51:40.565 --> 51:45.392
Reason for asking, not enough time to meditate, you feel a very slow mindfulness.

51:45.412 --> 51:46.053
That's a good one.

51:46.774 --> 51:50.299
It's kind of, I don't know.

51:54.059 --> 51:58.156
I'm not able to do the thing that's going to cure me, so is there anything else I can do?

51:59.943 --> 52:01.690
It's kind of what you're asking, right?

52:04.150 --> 52:08.736
There are other ways to temporarily balance things, right?

52:08.776 --> 52:11.579
If you don't have enough effort, well, you can have a cup of coffee.

52:12.600 --> 52:17.286
You can artificially cultivate energy in different ways.

52:17.386 --> 52:19.489
You can have someone walk around with a stick.

52:19.509 --> 52:21.311
This is what they do in Zen monasteries.

52:21.331 --> 52:22.513
They whack you with a stick.

52:23.955 --> 52:26.217
And to some extent, that's a useful crutch.

52:26.698 --> 52:28.200
But that's all it is, is a crutch.

52:28.400 --> 52:29.842
It doesn't actually help you walk.

52:30.322 --> 52:33.246
It can help you when you're too weak to walk by yourself, but

52:37.293 --> 52:40.607
The only thing you can do, I mean, I can't, there's no guarantee.

52:40.627 --> 52:47.556
I think this is something that has to be made clear to all of us, and it's scary.

52:48.852 --> 52:57.323
Because I think we often fall into this sort of Hollywood illusion of the happily ever after.

52:57.363 --> 52:59.907
And we hear this a lot in spirituality.

53:00.047 --> 53:01.970
Everything works out in the end.

53:03.071 --> 53:06.095
Everything happens for a reason and it all works out in the end.

53:06.536 --> 53:08.278
It will all work out in the end.

53:08.950 --> 53:10.452
which is just a bunch of rubbish.

53:10.753 --> 53:13.577
There's no reason to believe that any of that is true.

53:14.438 --> 53:16.581
Maybe it's true, but there's no reason to believe it.

53:17.262 --> 53:19.184
We have no evidence to support that.

53:20.526 --> 53:23.030
How often does it turn out all wrong, right?

53:23.731 --> 53:26.114
How many people's lives have just turned out miserably?

53:26.134 --> 53:30.841
And we say, oh well, you know, it all happened for a reason, which is just rubbish.

53:33.485 --> 53:37.270
It's this new age, feel good,

53:40.152 --> 53:43.499
unsubstantiated religion.

53:43.619 --> 53:44.381
It's not Buddhism.

53:45.302 --> 53:47.908
There is no guarantee that things are going to turn out right.

53:47.948 --> 53:54.742
So how this applies to your question is I don't really have an answer necessarily for a lot of these questions.

53:55.383 --> 53:58.008
How do I in my present circumstance become enlightened?

53:58.048 --> 54:01.435
You just may not become enlightened, I'm sorry to say.

54:01.415 --> 54:26.349
you might fall away from the path, many of us might unless you become a Sotapanna there's no guarantee that's why these guarantees are so important and why the Buddha reiterates the guarantee when one has become a once one has seen Nibbana, that's a guarantee and why that's important to say is because that's an important goal to strive for to the point that the Buddha left his home, right?

54:26.530 --> 54:31.236
this is an important point he left home he dropped everything

54:32.870 --> 54:39.095
The Buddha said a person who isn't a sodapanna should think of themselves as a person with their head on fire.

54:40.977 --> 54:42.438
What are you going to do with your head on fire?

54:42.458 --> 54:43.900
You say, well, I'll take care of that later.

54:43.920 --> 54:44.700
I've got work to do.

54:45.241 --> 54:46.942
No.

54:46.962 --> 54:48.103
No, your head is on fire.

54:49.685 --> 54:51.226
Right?

54:51.246 --> 55:01.375
So, I mean, I know you're not, I know who this person is and he's doing a course with me and you're not negligent and you're not unaware of these issues, but

55:03.582 --> 55:07.228
It's important to realize that you have to...

55:13.138 --> 55:14.360
There's no guarantees.

55:15.121 --> 55:20.890
And so at some point, hopefully sooner rather than later, you have to put in the effort.

55:22.994 --> 55:30.366
And this person actually is putting in effort and practicing every day, so that is making progress.

55:31.561 --> 55:35.306
But doing limited practice, you're just going to have to be patient.

55:36.267 --> 55:38.491
There's no better way to balance the faculties.

55:38.551 --> 55:39.091
There's no...

55:41.975 --> 55:44.319
I mean, all those things I just talked about can be supports.

55:44.439 --> 55:45.380
Don't talk too much.

55:45.480 --> 55:46.742
Don't eat too much.

55:46.802 --> 55:49.726
Eat, I think, is in the Book of Sevens, which we'll maybe get to.

55:50.667 --> 55:51.909
It adds, don't eat too much.

55:53.451 --> 55:54.252
Don't talk too much.

55:54.332 --> 55:55.073
Don't eat too much.

55:55.153 --> 55:56.015
Don't sleep too much.

55:56.115 --> 55:57.096
Don't work too much.

55:59.455 --> 56:00.376
All of those things.

56:00.496 --> 56:01.578
Don't do too much of them.

56:02.179 --> 56:02.960
Practice a lot.

56:03.701 --> 56:05.163
Be mindful as much as you can.

56:05.203 --> 56:10.430
I mean, I guess the other thing I'd say is you always have time for mindfulness.

56:11.431 --> 56:13.033
You say you don't have enough time to meditate.

56:13.073 --> 56:13.854
You always have time.

56:13.894 --> 56:15.056
You can meditate right now.

56:15.857 --> 56:17.099
You can meditate while you're eating.

56:17.119 --> 56:19.842
Meditate while you're drinking a cup of tea.

56:25.109 --> 56:25.750
Tasting.

56:34.353 --> 56:36.316
Okay, go for it.

56:36.336 --> 56:39.381
Having balanced posture while doing sitting meditation.

56:40.042 --> 56:47.374
I am a bit tall, and when holding my hands close to the abdomen with thumbs touching, there is a great strain on the leg muscles to maintain balance.

56:48.115 --> 56:55.747
So sitting meditation becomes an object of pain and strain only after, only, especially after five to ten minutes.

56:56.528 --> 57:02.217
The only way for me to maintain it without losing balance is to place my hands on the side of my knees.

57:02.416 --> 57:03.507
Should I crunch it?

57:03.669 --> 57:06.840
Because you once mentioned it should be comfortable sitting.

57:08.086 --> 57:10.228
Well, you want to ease into it.

57:10.749 --> 57:18.476
You don't want to make it completely comfortable, but it sounds like you're in a position like I was that it's totally unbearable.

57:18.777 --> 57:26.364
So you want to find a sort of a medium, not a happy medium, but somehow a middle way that's slowly easing you into it.

57:26.384 --> 57:32.551
Because it will get better and you will become more tolerant and eventually you should be able to sit on the floor if you keep up with it.

57:33.371 --> 57:36.034
But you want to sit with your bottom a little higher.

57:36.537 --> 57:40.995
Sit with some padding under your knees, under your knees, keeping them propped up.

57:41.144 --> 57:51.214
Do that in the beginning with the goal that you should slowly reduce the padding, which means you're going to have to, to some extent, put up with the pain.

57:51.234 --> 57:53.296
I mean, there's nothing wrong with meditating on pain.

57:53.376 --> 57:56.119
It's just you don't want it to be too overwhelming.

57:56.699 --> 58:02.905
So reduce it and make it more manageable, certainly, but don't try and find a way to get rid of it.

58:02.925 --> 58:04.667
And certainly don't force your legs down.

58:04.787 --> 58:09.632
Putting your hands on your knees is probably too much forcing the issue.

58:10.338 --> 58:12.721
And when you sit, just put one hand on top of the other.

58:12.741 --> 58:16.185
You don't have to have your thumbs touching, just naturally on top of each other.

58:18.788 --> 58:20.429
So go easy on it.

58:20.510 --> 58:24.414
And if it gets too painful, you can always sit on a bench or a chair sometimes.

58:24.534 --> 58:27.357
But you should be working on getting to sit on the floor.

58:27.417 --> 58:35.907
It's a good line in the sand, or a goal to look for.

58:35.887 --> 58:41.512
It's a very physical sort of goal, but it's an accomplishment because once you're sitting on the floor, it says two things.

58:41.632 --> 58:58.107
It says that you've put up with pain, that you've successfully born with the pain, and two, that you've started to relax because to get in a proper sitting position on the floor doesn't come from stretching.

58:58.587 --> 58:59.748
It comes from relaxing.

59:00.569 --> 59:03.432
So pushing down on your knees or all that is just stretching.

59:03.472 --> 59:04.813
It's not real relaxing.

59:06.127 --> 59:07.508
You want to get there naturally.

59:07.548 --> 59:09.790
Think of it as kind of a goal.

59:10.731 --> 59:15.515
That's a good one, one we should all think about, or beginner meditators should all think about.

59:16.276 --> 59:17.237
Get to this position.

59:17.437 --> 59:22.521
And use it as a test, a sign if your knees are way up here.

59:22.621 --> 59:28.046
Okay, well, once your knees get down here, you can feel like you've accomplished two things.

59:28.406 --> 59:31.349
One, you've accomplished patience.

59:31.369 --> 59:36.133
And two, you've become more relaxed, less clinging, less stressing.

59:36.113 --> 59:41.260
Which is a big part of why the body is so tense.

59:41.901 --> 59:52.456
Bhante, I am having trouble meditating due to tinnitus, constant ringing in the ears.

59:53.297 --> 59:57.863
Despite trying to see it as hearing, I feel that it is being a hindrance to the meditation.

59:58.664 --> 01:00:04.112
I was thinking about turning a fan on when I meditate to cover up the ringing until I felt ready to go without it.

01:00:04.463 --> 01:00:06.550
But could this cause more aversion to the ringing?

01:00:06.931 --> 01:00:07.874
Do you have any advice?

01:00:08.256 --> 01:00:10.002
Thank you.

01:00:10.022 --> 01:00:13.714
Yeah, that would generally cause more aversion.

01:00:15.685 --> 01:00:17.008
There's nothing wrong with hearing.

01:00:17.048 --> 01:00:27.411
In fact, that's a very powerful, because it's so constant, it's a very powerful meditation tool, something that you can focus on.

01:00:28.233 --> 01:00:32.282
And because it's something that you don't like, all the better.

01:00:32.623 --> 01:00:34.808
It helps you learn to overcome disliking.

01:00:36.442 --> 01:00:37.944
So it's a good challenge for you.

01:00:37.964 --> 01:00:42.070
I had a meditator who had very, well, actually moderate tinnitus, I would think.

01:00:42.470 --> 01:00:45.034
I think it was not that bad, but it was fairly constant.

01:00:45.094 --> 01:00:46.857
And I had the same problem.

01:00:46.917 --> 01:00:51.984
I mean, it's not a really simple thing because it's not going to get better and then you can go back to your meditation.

01:00:52.024 --> 01:00:55.228
No, it's probably going to be there throughout your meditation.

01:00:55.529 --> 01:00:56.650
So you have to incorporate it.

01:00:57.051 --> 01:00:58.473
But you shouldn't see it as a hindrance.

01:00:59.154 --> 01:00:59.935
A hindrance to what?

01:01:01.265 --> 01:01:07.054
a hindrance to quiet, yes, but we're not concerned about physical quiet.

01:01:09.639 --> 01:01:20.036
Like right now I have this whirring sound of the laptop, and that's constant, it's always there, but it doesn't bother me.

01:01:21.899 --> 01:01:23.982
And so, you know,

01:01:25.295 --> 01:01:30.167
Some people can live their whole lives with very loud noise and it doesn't bother them.

01:01:30.347 --> 01:01:43.118
If you go to Asia it's quite impressive in some of these more highly dense populated and less technologically advanced or

01:01:43.098 --> 01:02:07.789
you know less rich affluent countries where everyone is crammed in and loud noises and just craziness you think how did these people stand it and yet no one notices no one is concerned by it because it's ordinary for them we uh in in our monastery every year they have two weeks they have this uh carnival

01:02:08.343 --> 01:02:37.472
on the monastery property and they've got these walls of sound loudspeakers blaring this electronic Thai music not electronic but like the drum loop beat thing twenty four hours a day almost twenty hours a day maybe and so I've had to do meditation courses through that it's quite quite challenging that's worse because it's got a rhythm to it right

01:02:38.617 --> 01:02:43.426
It's not that bad, but it's also got words and music and singing to it.

01:02:43.546 --> 01:02:47.513
Tinnitus is real.

01:02:47.673 --> 01:02:48.275
It's sound.

01:02:49.136 --> 01:02:50.318
Read through the Buddha's teaching.

01:02:50.378 --> 01:02:55.247
How often do you see the Buddha talking about sound, hearing?

01:02:55.888 --> 01:02:58.313
Hearing is a part of the Dhamma.

01:02:58.353 --> 01:02:59.255
It's not a hindrance.

01:02:59.655 --> 01:03:00.096
It's real.

01:03:00.397 --> 01:03:01.198
It's reality.

01:03:02.765 --> 01:03:04.509
And reality is what we're trying to understand.

01:03:04.709 --> 01:03:08.717
So that's a very useful meditation object.

01:03:09.138 --> 01:03:19.018
Try and consider yourself somehow lucky to have such an interesting meditation object to focus on, to challenge you.

01:03:20.568 --> 01:03:21.669
Certainly not a hindrance.

01:03:21.769 --> 01:03:23.432
It's not getting in the way of anything.

01:03:24.453 --> 01:03:26.275
It's like saying reality is a hindrance.

01:03:26.696 --> 01:03:29.639
That's basically what you're saying, is that you feel like reality is a hindrance.

01:03:30.280 --> 01:03:30.621
To what?

01:03:31.361 --> 01:03:32.483
Reality is what we're trying to see.

01:03:32.503 --> 01:03:35.326
So, see it.

01:03:38.751 --> 01:03:42.255
Even if it just means sitting there saying hearing for ten minutes.

01:03:44.227 --> 01:03:54.707
There will be times where your mind gets comfortable with it and then you can go back to the stomach rising and falling, but if your mind gets caught up in the hearing again, go back to it.

01:03:54.727 --> 01:04:04.986
Eventually your mind will become fairly comfortable with it and you shouldn't find it overwhelming such that other things you're not able to experience them because it's just like

01:04:04.966 --> 01:04:10.856
I mean if it's very loud it'll take maybe more time but it's just like environmental noise.

01:04:10.876 --> 01:04:19.291
Some people deal with very loud environmental noise and you can meditate with a very loud environmental noise without always having your mind focused on the sound.

01:04:21.435 --> 01:04:27.165
It just takes practice.

01:04:27.185 --> 01:04:28.628
Covering it up would not be useful.

01:04:30.127 --> 01:04:35.678
That would be saying to yourself that, reaffirming the dislike and the intolerance.

01:04:36.600 --> 01:04:44.435
Hi, Yotsudamu.

01:04:44.655 --> 01:04:46.299
I always wanted to become a monk.

01:04:46.379 --> 01:04:48.102
However, I have a student loan.

01:04:48.588 --> 01:04:50.611
I have enough funds in the bank to repay it.

01:04:50.651 --> 01:04:55.879
However, to access most of the funds, I have to stay overseas for more than a year.

01:04:56.820 --> 01:04:59.765
I need to stay as a lay meditator in the monastery for a year.

01:05:00.366 --> 01:05:03.070
This is so I can access my bank account.

01:05:03.090 --> 01:05:06.775
Do not break when they up by becoming a monk and touching money.

01:05:07.877 --> 01:05:13.445
Once I have spent a year there, I can take the money from the bank to pay off the student loan.

01:05:13.465 --> 01:05:16.570
Can I get a Thai visa for this?

01:05:21.815 --> 01:05:24.119
A year-long Thai visa is not easy to get.

01:05:24.139 --> 01:05:26.723
They've even made it more difficult.

01:05:26.763 --> 01:05:27.244
I don't really know.

01:05:27.284 --> 01:05:30.549
Maybe they made it easier now that tourism is declining.

01:05:31.831 --> 01:05:34.595
If it's still declining, I don't know.

01:05:36.198 --> 01:05:36.899
It's very difficult.

01:05:37.500 --> 01:05:38.501
There's no such visa.

01:05:38.521 --> 01:05:44.751
Until you become a monk, you can't get a religious visa.

01:05:45.946 --> 01:05:46.687
Unless you're a woman.

01:05:47.108 --> 01:05:51.495
Women can get the eight precept nun visa.

01:05:51.715 --> 01:05:53.217
You have to become a nun, shave your head.

01:05:53.338 --> 01:05:54.940
But I tried.

01:05:55.000 --> 01:06:05.136
We had one man who couldn't become a monk because he was Iranian and he wouldn't ever be able to go back to his country if he became a monk and his mother wasn't going to give him permission as well.

01:06:06.398 --> 01:06:09.342
So we worked really hard to try and get him a nun visa.

01:06:09.803 --> 01:06:14.330
I went and argued with the people at the Buddhism Affairs Office in Chiang Mai.

01:06:15.492 --> 01:06:16.774
I said, look, women can do it.

01:06:16.834 --> 01:06:18.797
Here's a guy, you know, he wants to become a nun.

01:06:18.857 --> 01:06:20.479
So can't he become a nun, we call it.

01:06:20.539 --> 01:06:27.870
And I had proof, you know, backed up by the Sri Lankan tradition of Anagarika, right?

01:06:27.890 --> 01:06:28.892
And they wouldn't go for it.

01:06:28.992 --> 01:06:33.098
They said, no, no, because he already has a,

01:06:34.495 --> 01:06:37.420
he has a path for him, he can become a monk.

01:06:38.643 --> 01:06:41.989
And because men can become a monk, we don't allow that.

01:06:42.009 --> 01:06:47.720
It was all just arbitrary garbage, but that's such is politics.

01:06:47.740 --> 01:06:48.501
I mean, that's what you find.

01:06:48.521 --> 01:06:51.286
There's a lot of arbitrary rules that don't really make much sense.

01:06:51.607 --> 01:06:54.833
I mean, most of the time to get the visa,

01:06:55.606 --> 01:06:59.630
you need a letter of support from a monastery.

01:07:00.430 --> 01:07:03.653
But no monastery is going to give you that letter until you go and stay with them.

01:07:03.773 --> 01:07:05.775
So it's like a catch-22, I think.

01:07:06.536 --> 01:07:11.620
You have to go there to get the letter, but to stay there, you need the letter.

01:07:12.721 --> 01:07:23.611
So what you have to do is go, meditate, leave, or arrange to get the letter, leave, apply for the proper visa, go back.

01:07:23.631 --> 01:07:25.613
It's a two-step process.

01:07:27.196 --> 01:07:31.141
And the first step, you can only stay there, it depends what kind of visa you get.

01:07:31.181 --> 01:07:33.363
Some places, some countries, you only get a month.

01:07:34.725 --> 01:07:37.007
In Canada, I usually am able to get three months.

01:07:37.488 --> 01:07:42.894
Two months is easy, but three months I can apply for, and I've never been denied in Canada a three-month Thai visa.

01:07:43.915 --> 01:07:47.499
But I think I have heard of some people getting denied a three-month, even in Canada.

01:07:49.702 --> 01:07:54.047
So, YMMV.

01:07:59.478 --> 01:07:59.919
I don't know.

01:08:00.439 --> 01:08:04.345
It doesn't sound like a... What would I advise you to do, I guess?

01:08:04.405 --> 01:08:05.266
Let's ask that.

01:08:06.408 --> 01:08:08.431
You need to stay in the monastery for a year.

01:08:08.451 --> 01:08:13.638
I mean, it's a little bit too worldly for me to... Hey, wait, this isn't a question I'm supposed to be asking.

01:08:13.658 --> 01:08:14.880
This is a worldly question.

01:08:16.041 --> 01:08:16.602
I'm sorry.

01:08:18.024 --> 01:08:18.925
But...

01:08:22.009 --> 01:08:24.974
I can't go into too much detail there, beyond what I already have.

01:08:25.995 --> 01:08:27.778
Does that sound reasonable?

01:08:27.798 --> 01:08:28.118
Good luck.

01:08:30.477 --> 01:08:33.261
The Asian visa system is just messed up.

01:08:34.523 --> 01:08:38.748
Asian, I guess that's a blanket statement, but I can't imagine it being any better in other countries.

01:08:38.788 --> 01:08:45.097
From what I've seen, Burma might be a little bit, but it's still some of the regulations they have are just...

01:08:45.117 --> 01:08:48.762
I mean, some of these countries are strong military presence.

01:08:48.862 --> 01:08:51.726
In Thailand, the police force runs the immigration.

01:08:53.328 --> 01:08:57.274
And it's weird because the police force is one of these political factions.

01:08:57.394 --> 01:08:58.155
It's really...

01:08:59.300 --> 01:09:05.850
And in Sri Lanka, they've got this similar bureaucratic nightmare.

01:09:06.421 --> 01:09:11.088
I remember in Sri Lanka going back and forth between the Buddhism office and the immigration.

01:09:11.128 --> 01:09:12.770
I went back and forth five times.

01:09:13.291 --> 01:09:22.544
It was funny because I'd go to one and they'd say, well, we want to help you, but the Buddhism office isn't, they're the ones who are holding, they've tied our hands.

01:09:23.064 --> 01:09:26.249
And I go to the Buddhism office and I tell them and they say, that's not true.

01:09:26.569 --> 01:09:27.470
We'll do whatever we can.

01:09:27.530 --> 01:09:30.775
We'd love to help you, but it's the immigration office that is tying our hands.

01:09:31.598 --> 01:09:32.780
And it's classic.

01:09:33.320 --> 01:09:35.683
And you get passed around.

01:09:35.784 --> 01:09:36.805
It's like hot potato.

01:09:39.549 --> 01:09:41.491
Would have been fun if it weren't for the fact that...

01:09:41.731 --> 01:09:43.414
Sorry?

01:09:44.075 --> 01:09:46.658
You're bursting all my... What?

01:09:46.678 --> 01:09:49.602
You're bursting all my bubbles of, you know, fantasy.

01:09:49.982 --> 01:09:53.087
Going to Asia would be so wonderful and so easy.

01:09:53.948 --> 01:09:55.189
Yeah, well, stick with me.

01:09:55.209 --> 01:09:56.391
I'll burst all your bubbles.

01:09:58.295 --> 01:10:02.859
I'm sorry, but Canada is much more comfortable for me.

01:10:02.879 --> 01:10:06.042
I mean, Sri Lanka is a great place, don't get me wrong.

01:10:06.062 --> 01:10:13.528
Thailand I have some issues with, but Sri Lanka was a great place to live as a monk.

01:10:13.548 --> 01:10:17.572
But it's getting that visa, the bureaucracy is not fun.

01:10:19.013 --> 01:10:20.414
It works much better if you're ordained.

01:10:20.434 --> 01:10:27.120
This is what we're going to try to do with, I forgot his name, a guy from Norway.

01:10:29.058 --> 01:10:30.460
Look at how bad I am with names.

01:10:32.363 --> 01:10:32.564
Alexander?

01:10:32.584 --> 01:10:33.565
Alexander, that's him.

01:10:35.168 --> 01:10:40.576
If he does become a monk, we'll have him become a monk here and then send him to Thailand.

01:10:41.458 --> 01:10:42.960
Or no, it's just Sri Lanka.

01:10:43.160 --> 01:10:45.184
Maybe Thailand, but more likely Sri Lanka.

01:10:46.385 --> 01:10:51.133
Try and think of a place or contact a place where he'd be able to learn how to be a good monk.

01:10:53.071 --> 01:10:55.175
in a monastery setting with lots of monks.

01:10:55.575 --> 01:11:02.808
Maybe Nisarana would be a good one because it's a meditation center and you'd learn quite well how to become a good, because there are really good monks there.

01:11:03.089 --> 01:11:05.393
It's a quite impressive place.

01:11:05.413 --> 01:11:06.214
Well organized.

01:11:08.138 --> 01:11:12.666
Maybe a little too regimented and ritualistic, but it's pretty good.

01:11:14.850 --> 01:11:16.092
And, yeah.

01:11:17.742 --> 01:11:18.763
And see, that's the thing.

01:11:18.863 --> 01:11:22.648
Once he's already a monk, they do a lot more for you.

01:11:22.908 --> 01:11:25.431
They're not so keen to help people who are not yet monks.

01:11:26.532 --> 01:11:30.596
But once you're a monk, they'll give you free visas and yearly visas and so on.

01:11:30.616 --> 01:11:32.438
They're actually quite easy once you're in the system.

01:11:33.540 --> 01:11:34.861
So again, it's quite arbitrary.

01:11:34.941 --> 01:11:47.175
The points that you get blocked at are kind of silly in that way because certain aspects of it are often very easy and certain aspects are just ridiculously hard and unreasonable.

01:11:49.079 --> 01:11:54.248
And then people just are too lazy to try and change things or not too lazy.

01:11:54.268 --> 01:11:54.909
That's unfair.

01:11:54.970 --> 01:12:03.004
But structures, you know, struggles are difficult to change, especially in a system that is somewhat conflicted.

01:12:03.124 --> 01:12:05.248
Maybe you've got conflict and

01:12:06.612 --> 01:12:08.094
Bureaucracy can be a nightmare.

01:12:08.154 --> 01:12:09.496
We know that everywhere.

01:12:09.837 --> 01:12:12.621
It's nice to see American bureaucracy, honestly.

01:12:12.701 --> 01:12:15.446
The visa system in America is much more organized.

01:12:15.826 --> 01:12:32.772
I don't know so much about Canada because I've never needed one, but when I had to get a teaching visa for America, it was a breath of fresh air, which really surprised me, but I guess it makes sense because America's got a lot more money and wealth and therefore organization.

01:12:38.287 --> 01:12:42.011
Anyway, that's all the questions, huh?

01:12:42.031 --> 01:12:42.291
That is.

01:12:42.692 --> 01:12:43.112
All right.

01:12:43.212 --> 01:12:43.933
Well, that's good to see.

01:12:43.993 --> 01:12:45.195
Thank you for your questions.

01:12:45.275 --> 01:12:46.216
Please don't be shy.

01:12:46.316 --> 01:12:51.261
And I know I can sometimes be a little bit critical of certain questions.

01:12:51.301 --> 01:12:56.747
And I apologize for any untoward behavior.

01:12:56.767 --> 01:13:03.855
I appreciate everyone coming on here and meditating together, asking questions, even just watching on YouTube.

01:13:06.569 --> 01:13:07.451
That's all for tonight.

01:13:07.491 --> 01:13:15.265
Thank you, Robin, for your constant presence and help.

01:13:15.285 --> 01:13:15.786
Anything else?

01:13:15.826 --> 01:13:16.588
Anything going on?

01:13:17.910 --> 01:13:18.672
We have a pumpkin.

01:13:18.692 --> 01:13:19.433
We got our pumpkin.

01:13:20.535 --> 01:13:22.980
And someone even sent tools to carve it.

01:13:24.884 --> 01:13:25.665
But now I'm not sure.

01:13:25.705 --> 01:13:26.827
Suddenly I hesitate.

01:13:26.947 --> 01:13:29.893
Because I was thinking about this Buddha image I saw on the pumpkin, and I thought,

01:13:30.920 --> 01:13:35.810
Is it really a good thing to put the Buddha, the image of your teacher on a pumpkin, right?

01:13:35.850 --> 01:13:42.564
The image of the Buddha on a pumpkin, it's actually not really, it's somewhat incongruous, right?

01:13:43.686 --> 01:13:46.532
Like a pumpkin is not a place for a Buddha.

01:13:47.828 --> 01:13:48.650
It's going to rise.

01:13:48.670 --> 01:13:50.714
It's going to rise.

01:13:50.734 --> 01:13:53.681
I mean, a Western cynical Buddhist would say, well, that's a great thing.

01:13:53.821 --> 01:13:54.904
It teaches you impermanence.

01:13:54.964 --> 01:13:57.028
But you don't get away with that in Asia.

01:13:57.049 --> 01:14:04.926
You want the Buddha to be as permanent and as stable as possible, knowing full well that impermanence is a part of reality.

01:14:04.906 --> 01:14:09.273
You want to preserve the Buddha as best you can.

01:14:09.333 --> 01:14:14.501
So they make the Buddha out of materials that are going to last thousands of years.

01:14:15.362 --> 01:14:18.307
A Western cynical Buddhist might say, oh yeah, well that's delusion.

01:14:20.050 --> 01:14:30.947
A real cynical Buddhist might say that making an image of the Buddha in the first place, this is sort of a me type of Buddhist, might say making images of the Buddha in the first place is problematic.

01:14:32.733 --> 01:14:34.779
It's not something the Buddha would want us to do.

01:14:35.321 --> 01:14:39.192
But certainly putting an image of the Buddha on a pumpkin is problematic.

01:14:39.212 --> 01:14:41.379
So then I thought, well, what about the Dhamma wheel?

01:14:41.640 --> 01:14:44.408
How problematic is it to put a Dhamma wheel on it?

01:14:44.769 --> 01:14:47.417
It's probably the same type of problematic.

01:14:48.443 --> 01:14:50.025
Maybe not.

01:14:50.045 --> 01:14:54.790
I mean, I think the Dhamma wheel is a little more simple and you could say it's kind of a sign.

01:14:54.810 --> 01:15:03.619
I mean, there's a real wholesomeness in it in the sense of proclaiming to the community, this house is a Buddhist house.

01:15:04.680 --> 01:15:05.901
We do a Buddhist Halloween.

01:15:07.142 --> 01:15:14.090
And it's meant to be a sign for the kids to know that they can come and we will give them fruit leather.

01:15:14.570 --> 01:15:15.451
Did we get fruit leather?

01:15:15.471 --> 01:15:15.892
I don't know.

01:15:15.912 --> 01:15:16.392
I didn't check.

01:15:19.628 --> 01:15:20.850
Yeah, we had three boxes.

01:15:20.910 --> 01:15:22.092
They just put...

01:15:22.112 --> 01:15:23.133
Boxes of raisins.

01:15:23.754 --> 01:15:30.605
Boxes of raisins and fruit leather and fruit juice and vegetable juice.

01:15:30.705 --> 01:15:30.805
Okay.

01:15:30.825 --> 01:15:31.706
Vegetable juice?

01:15:32.808 --> 01:15:39.077
Yeah, they're fruit and vegetable juice, but I think they're things like carrots that are kind of sweet.

01:15:39.097 --> 01:15:40.540
I don't think there's any asparagus.

01:15:40.860 --> 01:15:43.063
Cabbage.

01:15:43.404 --> 01:15:45.066
Yummy, mummy, I got a carrot.

01:15:45.387 --> 01:15:45.467
Yes.

01:15:48.485 --> 01:15:49.506
I don't know about that.

01:15:49.526 --> 01:15:53.151
I wouldn't have cut it when I went trick-or-treating.

01:15:53.171 --> 01:15:59.819
I think about the little boxes of raisins along with the broccoli.

01:16:00.079 --> 01:16:01.822
They can take what they like.

01:16:02.422 --> 01:16:04.004
Some kids are really happy to get those.

01:16:04.885 --> 01:16:06.327
I don't think everybody else is good.

01:16:09.551 --> 01:16:11.774
But that's not what we were talking about last year.

01:16:13.216 --> 01:16:14.537
I thought it came out really beautiful.

01:16:14.557 --> 01:16:18.222
I hope you make it to show it on air because it's really

01:16:20.800 --> 01:16:21.401
Quite simple.

01:16:22.523 --> 01:16:25.488
We have to patent it and publish the design.

01:16:25.548 --> 01:16:28.553
This tool comes with instructions.

01:16:28.573 --> 01:16:34.343
You have a piece of paper and you wet the paper and you splat it on the pumpkin and then you wrap the pumpkin in saran wrap.

01:16:35.445 --> 01:16:38.350
And I guess that helps you when you're cutting something.

01:16:38.411 --> 01:16:38.691
I don't know.

01:16:40.949 --> 01:16:44.573
Anyway, that's not, this isn't broadcast material stuff.

01:16:44.593 --> 01:16:45.013
What else?

01:16:45.814 --> 01:16:46.335
Nothing else.

01:16:46.755 --> 01:16:47.476
I think we're good.

01:16:47.496 --> 01:16:48.838
Tomorrow, Wisudimanga, right?

01:16:49.478 --> 01:16:49.879
Hopefully.

01:16:50.099 --> 01:16:50.960
I might have a meeting.

01:16:52.441 --> 01:16:53.903
I might have a meeting at 2.30.

01:16:54.203 --> 01:16:55.945
If I can get a ride, I actually might go.

01:16:55.985 --> 01:17:02.913
So I'm actually kind of thinking that someone will call me with a ride, but maybe not.

01:17:02.933 --> 01:17:06.737
I'd be more comfortable staying and doing the Wisudimanga, but

01:17:08.962 --> 01:17:15.813
We do have to, this is the Hamilton Interfaith Peace Group, so it's me putting on the Buddhist face.

01:17:17.435 --> 01:17:33.079
We also now have a interface advisory board at McMaster, and I have yet to be

01:17:33.751 --> 01:17:41.459
Yet to see whether it's actually going to be a force for any sort of Buddhist or non-Christian presence at McMaster.

01:17:42.680 --> 01:17:43.300
Here's something.

01:17:43.340 --> 01:17:48.746
I just got another email about the 10th Global Conference on Buddhism.

01:17:48.806 --> 01:17:55.132
So I have been invited to speak at the 10th Global Conference on Buddhism.

01:17:56.634 --> 01:17:59.997
It's a great privilege and honor to have you speak.

01:18:00.017 --> 01:18:03.100
Truth is, I was sort of because they couldn't find anybody else, I think.

01:18:04.430 --> 01:18:30.370
they're kind of i'm kind of on the border where they're kind of like is he what do you think toronto 10th global conference here i'll show you can i screen cut no i can't oh yeah i can't you can't see it but i can show it um whatever not gonna get into it so um you will receive a second email shortly explaining more details there's a program let's see in the program

01:18:34.518 --> 01:18:37.662
I gave them two, they asked for two topics.

01:18:38.864 --> 01:18:39.945
So let's see what we have.

01:18:40.926 --> 01:18:49.638
So Bhante Saranapala, Brahma Vangso is doing guided meditation, mindfulness meditation for 15 minutes.

01:18:52.161 --> 01:18:55.005
And then, oh, here we are, wrong mindfulness.

01:18:55.205 --> 01:18:58.129
Oh, this is not the, not the, oh.

01:18:59.408 --> 01:19:00.590
Wow, this is scary.

01:19:01.672 --> 01:19:03.516
Brahma Vangso is the first speaker.

01:19:04.017 --> 01:19:06.221
Dhammaji Vahamdaro is the second speaker.

01:19:07.563 --> 01:19:11.831
And Yutta Dhammo Bhikkhu is the third speaker.

01:19:12.212 --> 01:19:14.356
Wrong mindfulness and its consequences.

01:19:14.797 --> 01:19:16.180
That's not the topic I offered.

01:19:20.407 --> 01:19:20.708
OK.

01:19:22.240 --> 01:19:24.183
Whatever, you know, whatever they want.

01:19:25.224 --> 01:19:27.568
So Brahma Vangsu says, what is right mindfulness?

01:19:28.810 --> 01:19:33.497
Dhammaji says, teaches mindfulness methods used in Buddhist meditation.

01:19:34.178 --> 01:19:37.363
And then I have to talk about wrong mindfulness and its consequences.

01:19:38.805 --> 01:19:39.366
I can do that.

01:19:39.826 --> 01:19:40.668
It would be interesting.

01:19:43.051 --> 01:19:45.615
Right, and then sessions...

01:19:47.198 --> 01:19:48.520
Yeah, this is in Toronto.

01:19:49.041 --> 01:19:53.527
This is on June 17th of next year.

01:19:53.567 --> 01:20:01.158
The other monks, they're also Narada area monks?

01:20:01.178 --> 01:20:01.799
No.

01:20:01.819 --> 01:20:05.144
Brahmavangsa is from, he lives in Australia.

01:20:06.827 --> 01:20:07.688
And...

01:20:10.030 --> 01:20:11.652
Yeah, everyone calls him Ajahn Brahm.

01:20:12.233 --> 01:20:24.792
I mean, his real name is Brahm Longso, and he's not Maya Jahn, so... And Dhammaji... Yeah, well, I'm a bit of a stickler for tradition.

01:20:25.974 --> 01:20:28.297
I mean, he's not Maya Jahn, so I don't call him Ajahn.

01:20:29.339 --> 01:20:29.779
It's a fun...

01:20:29.859 --> 01:20:35.768
In Thailand... All right.

01:20:36.794 --> 01:20:37.642
Okay.

01:20:37.662 --> 01:20:39.175
Yeah, no, I'm not trying to correct you.

01:20:39.236 --> 01:20:41.657
I'm just not going to correct me.

01:20:42.802 --> 01:20:48.990
And Dhammaji Vahamdaro is the guy from Nisar, and I was just talking about his monastery, saying that's where I'd send people.

01:20:49.050 --> 01:20:52.014
So he practiced with Upandita, I think.

01:20:52.035 --> 01:20:58.503
He practiced that in Burma for quite a while at the Mahasi Center.

01:20:58.543 --> 01:21:08.657
So he teaches, I think, a sort of a modified version of Mahasi Sayadaw teaching, probably now using Anapanasati with the nose, because it's a big thing in Sri Lanka.

01:21:08.637 --> 01:21:13.546
But yeah, he's a Sri Lankan monk whose English is not that good.

01:21:14.649 --> 01:21:15.350
And he admits it.

01:21:16.692 --> 01:21:26.852
His talks in English are not, I heard a talk that he gave in English and he was actually kind of taken off guard because he didn't, he was given the topic at the last minute.

01:21:28.315 --> 01:21:30.038
So it wasn't a great talk.

01:21:30.929 --> 01:21:39.960
His English was okay, but apparently his Sinhalese talks are just wonderful, so I think it's much more comfortable teaching in Sinhalese.

01:21:45.528 --> 01:21:46.989
That's the morning.

01:21:48.431 --> 01:21:49.553
So it's in an hour.

01:21:49.593 --> 01:21:53.618
Three of us have to teach in an hour, so it's only 20 minutes for me, which is really not much.

01:21:53.658 --> 01:21:55.040
And then we have Q&A.

01:21:55.280 --> 01:21:57.282
Wow, it's going to be the three of us on a panel.

01:21:57.342 --> 01:21:58.364
I've got to be with these two.

01:21:59.125 --> 01:22:00.126
These are the two, like,

01:22:01.928 --> 01:22:03.730
Whatever, I'll let them do all the talking.

01:22:06.393 --> 01:22:09.337
Yeah, right, huh?

01:22:09.357 --> 01:22:10.138
Me keep quiet?

01:22:11.479 --> 01:22:18.548
We had a Muslim, a professor of Islam, come and give a talk.

01:22:19.569 --> 01:22:26.417
And he gave a talk, it was called Fundamentalist versus Fundamentalist, an Islamist critique of ISIS.

01:22:28.253 --> 01:22:39.192
So it was heavy into the nitty-gritty details of Islam and part of the one of the gists or one of the

01:22:40.387 --> 01:23:09.651
big parts of the talk was how the methods of ISIS are in fact contrary to their goals of Islam so they are shooting themselves in the foot by their violence they're actually they can argue that there may be keeping to some interpretation of Sharia law Sharia but

01:23:11.234 --> 01:23:18.504
given that the overall goal of Sharia is to bring people closer to God, they're not actually doing that.

01:23:18.824 --> 01:23:21.167
They're not creating a Muslim state.

01:23:22.549 --> 01:23:33.664
And so he's looking at other fundamental kind of radical Muslims and how they actually critique, even they critique, is basically what he's saying, even the more extreme Muslims.

01:23:33.914 --> 01:23:34.895
critique ISIS.

01:23:36.898 --> 01:23:37.840
So I asked a question.

01:23:37.860 --> 01:23:39.903
I got up, couldn't keep quiet.

01:23:40.584 --> 01:23:45.812
I asked him a question whether that made these people, because then he mentioned something interesting.

01:23:45.832 --> 01:24:00.133
He said, but they still say that some of the things these people do are, go against basic moral principles of what it means to be a man, I think is the words he used.

01:24:00.533 --> 01:24:03.077
And so I asked him, so when they call themselves

01:24:04.643 --> 01:24:22.659
pure consequentialists, these other Muslims, or whether he could sort of comment on whether there was some sense of absolute moral ethics, or was it purely, like, if ISIS was succeeding, would that make their methods proper?

01:24:25.982 --> 01:24:32.608
And he acknowledged that there was a tension and didn't really give a, he just said they didn't really discuss it.

01:24:32.740 --> 01:24:34.283
But he appreciated it.

01:24:34.303 --> 01:24:36.928
He said, you know, yes, there definitely is that attention.

01:24:38.190 --> 01:24:39.953
He called my question perceptive.

01:24:41.636 --> 01:24:44.762
Anyway, if I can't keep quiet, I'm sure I'll be talking.

01:24:44.802 --> 01:24:48.889
That's what happens when you teach.

01:24:48.929 --> 01:24:51.795
You become a talker.

01:24:52.175 --> 01:24:54.259
Okay, here's another one.

01:24:55.252 --> 01:24:56.253
Let's see what's going on here.

01:24:57.494 --> 01:24:59.216
This is going to be an interesting session.

01:25:00.077 --> 01:25:00.377
All right.

01:25:00.397 --> 01:25:01.819
So that's in the, where are we here?

01:25:01.839 --> 01:25:03.540
17th.

01:25:03.801 --> 01:25:05.342
So in the morning, that's what I said.

01:25:05.382 --> 01:25:10.968
After lunch, stuff, stuff, stuff, stuff, stuff, stuff that doesn't involve me.

01:25:11.008 --> 01:25:16.353
And then at 2 p.m., are we building a mindful or a mindless society?

01:25:16.413 --> 01:25:18.455
It's time to rethink.

01:25:18.475 --> 01:25:19.776
And then we have three teachings.

01:25:20.737 --> 01:25:24.381
Teaching Mindfulness and Compassion in Schools by Dhammaji Vahamduro.

01:25:26.099 --> 01:25:31.726
Number two, teaching mindfulness to police officers in Toronto by Bhante Saranapala.

01:25:32.266 --> 01:25:40.115
Again, see the word Bhante Saranapala, Bhante is not a word you should use to refer to someone.

01:25:40.736 --> 01:25:42.859
You shouldn't say, oh, there goes Bhante Saranapala.

01:25:43.319 --> 01:25:44.801
Bhante is evocative.

01:25:45.121 --> 01:25:48.225
It's a word you only use when you're talking to someone.

01:25:51.243 --> 01:25:52.866
That's picky of me.

01:25:53.587 --> 01:26:05.247
And number three, the use of mindfulness in society and the development of compassion amongst different cultures by a venerable Dr. Wei Shan, who I don't know.

01:26:05.267 --> 01:26:07.911
And then the moderator of the session is Yuta Damobiku.

01:26:10.336 --> 01:26:12.860
Whatever that means.

01:26:12.880 --> 01:26:13.521
Your time is up.

01:26:17.382 --> 01:26:21.927
It'll be like the presidential debates and I'm Anderson Cooper or something.

01:26:24.670 --> 01:26:26.973
Showing no compassion.

01:26:26.993 --> 01:26:29.515
I should have paid more attention to the presidential election, right?

01:26:29.936 --> 01:26:31.317
These debates that have been going on.

01:26:31.658 --> 01:26:36.603
Wasn't there another debate with Trump and Clinton?

01:26:36.623 --> 01:26:38.986
Yes, last night and this day.

01:26:39.006 --> 01:26:40.127
And they're all on YouTube.

01:26:40.608 --> 01:26:42.630
The full content is all on YouTube.

01:26:43.201 --> 01:26:46.086
That would probably be breaking a precept.

01:26:47.188 --> 01:26:50.413
We'd probably be breaking some precept.

01:26:50.433 --> 01:26:50.754
All right.

01:26:53.238 --> 01:26:54.059
And then Sunday.

01:26:54.099 --> 01:26:55.161
That was Saturday.

01:26:55.221 --> 01:26:56.002
And then Sunday.

01:26:56.563 --> 01:26:57.905
Looks like I'm not on anymore.

01:26:59.188 --> 01:26:59.628
Oh, here we are.

01:26:59.688 --> 01:27:00.149
Here's another one.

01:27:00.790 --> 01:27:06.059
Sunday at 2 p.m. Future of Buddhism in a Changing World.

01:27:07.561 --> 01:27:08.082
Hold on here.

01:27:08.122 --> 01:27:09.124
I'm giving the first talk.

01:27:10.707 --> 01:27:16.934
Enlightenment in a digital age, the challenge of practicing ancient spiritual teachings in the modern world.

01:27:16.974 --> 01:27:18.656
This is the topic I did give them.

01:27:18.676 --> 01:27:20.879
It was more because that's what they were asked.

01:27:20.899 --> 01:27:24.824
They actually suggested it, so I typed it out like this.

01:27:25.244 --> 01:27:29.549
So Yutta Damobiku is giving the talk on enlightenment in a digital age.

01:27:31.211 --> 01:27:36.057
And then the second one is Buddhism in a secular age by Dr. Tony Tonyato.

01:27:37.387 --> 01:27:43.456
And number three is Buddhism, Gender Equality, and Sexual Identity by Brahma Vangso.

01:27:44.618 --> 01:27:46.401
Oh, and the moderator is Medha Nandi.

01:27:46.661 --> 01:27:48.504
I get to finally meet Medha Nandi, maybe.

01:27:50.227 --> 01:27:53.932
Medha Nandi is this bhikkhuni who lives in Ontario.

01:27:54.753 --> 01:27:57.558
It's funny, there's a bhikkhuni in my own province, and I've never even met her.

01:27:57.598 --> 01:28:00.021
I haven't met the monks in my own province, the bhikkhus.

01:28:01.504 --> 01:28:03.006
I'd have to go meet them all some day.

01:28:05.467 --> 01:28:10.834
Are these talks open to the public, or is this just for the monastic?

01:28:10.854 --> 01:28:13.197
No, it's very much open to the public.

01:28:14.639 --> 01:28:19.926
I think you have to probably sign up and pay like a $100 fee, or it could be even more.

01:28:19.946 --> 01:28:20.827
It could be exorbitant.

01:28:21.628 --> 01:28:24.612
But you probably have to register.

01:28:26.093 --> 01:28:26.935
I'm actually not sure.

01:28:26.975 --> 01:28:32.482
You may have to be... No, there's usually two types of participants.

01:28:32.642 --> 01:28:35.085
There's the delegates...

01:28:36.618 --> 01:28:38.200
It may just be delegates, you know.

01:28:38.480 --> 01:28:39.602
You may have to be invited.

01:28:39.682 --> 01:28:40.062
I don't know.

01:28:40.322 --> 01:28:41.083
That's a good question.

01:28:42.625 --> 01:28:43.266
Good question.

01:28:44.227 --> 01:28:44.668
I'll ask.

01:28:45.308 --> 01:28:46.249
I'll find out for y'all.

01:28:47.571 --> 01:28:51.996
I'll get all of my internet community to join.

01:28:52.997 --> 01:28:54.099
We'll take them by storm.

01:29:02.048 --> 01:29:02.669
There's much more.

01:29:02.689 --> 01:29:04.070
I mean, I didn't go through the whole program.

01:29:04.090 --> 01:29:06.253
There's several sessions that I'm not involved in

01:29:09.203 --> 01:29:14.153
It takes place in June 2017.

01:29:14.173 --> 01:29:14.954
June 2017.

01:29:15.255 --> 01:29:16.137
Saturday and Sunday.

01:29:16.157 --> 01:29:16.838
It's just two days.

01:29:17.519 --> 01:29:19.083
It's nice that they're doing meditation.

01:29:19.123 --> 01:29:21.407
They've kind of caught on to that.

01:29:22.670 --> 01:29:23.411
That's great to see.

01:29:25.014 --> 01:29:29.423
Saranapala, who is this monk who has now gone global,

01:29:30.635 --> 01:29:33.118
He's pretty happy about that.

01:29:34.519 --> 01:29:36.201
His teaching of police officers.

01:29:36.221 --> 01:29:44.650
So there was this picture that went viral on the internet and then it got picked up and really it's gone around the world and it's gotten major publications.

01:29:45.952 --> 01:29:50.797
Picture of him teaching, because police officers, of course, it's a big hot topic right now.

01:29:51.678 --> 01:29:52.439
And he's done it again.

01:29:52.479 --> 01:29:55.242
Now apparently the police in Toronto want him to teach.

01:29:55.222 --> 01:30:07.941
This was the police in Peel, which is sort of Mississauga area, but now the Toronto Metro Police, who are a scary bunch of people, can be, some of them can be quite scary.

01:30:09.924 --> 01:30:14.832
It'd be nice if they learned some meditation, so apparently that's going to happen.

01:30:14.852 --> 01:30:24.486
So we're having meditation both days, looks like, in the morning, oh, and then in the afternoon, Dhammaji gives meditation.

01:30:26.879 --> 01:30:31.165
So there'll be morning meditation and afternoon meditation.

01:30:31.185 --> 01:30:31.586
That's good.

01:30:33.008 --> 01:30:37.675
Looks like a good conference, as far as Buddhist conferences go.

01:30:38.876 --> 01:30:43.082
The topic is Buddhism, neuroscience, and mental health, making a mindful connection.

01:30:43.102 --> 01:30:46.587
So they've got other sessions with actual neuroscientists talking.

01:30:55.180 --> 01:30:55.821
All right.

01:30:55.841 --> 01:30:56.802
That's enough for tonight.

01:30:58.823 --> 01:30:59.931
Thank you all for tuning in.

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Have a good night.