WEBVTT 00:05.380 --> 00:12.931 Okay, welcome everyone to our morning session in Second Life. 00:14.052 --> 00:14.533 Good morning. 00:16.335 --> 00:18.158 For those of you in Europe, good evening. 00:28.052 --> 00:34.020 Today I thought I would talk about some of the 00:37.190 --> 00:53.856 criterion, criteria, by which we use to, by which we decide what is the Buddha's teaching and what is not the Buddha's teaching. 00:55.679 --> 01:01.628 I gave a talk I think last week, or not so far in the past, 01:05.101 --> 01:07.624 about all the different schools of Buddhism. 01:13.150 --> 01:22.820 In my mind, it's really going against the purpose of Buddhism to split up into different groups. 01:22.880 --> 01:32.070 And that really, when you look at all of the different types of Buddhism, what they claim to be unique about their school 01:40.876 --> 01:58.513 is actually is actually generally not unique to any one school and in fact what it seems is that 02:01.143 --> 02:12.017 Each of the schools, the one that I belong to included, tends to go to extremes in regards to their specialty. 02:13.399 --> 02:30.340 And so rather than having a balanced approach, a Buddhist approach, they have a very specialized approach towards Buddhism, which tends to really miss the point and miss the whole elephant, as I said. 02:32.733 --> 02:38.777 So, following up on that, I thought it would be of interest to people to know what exactly 02:40.546 --> 02:42.990 is a good criterion. 02:43.251 --> 02:51.906 If we accept the idea that we should all just be Buddhist, then how do we know what is true Buddhism and what is not true Buddhism? 02:51.946 --> 02:53.649 And it's really not that difficult. 02:53.669 --> 02:59.238 We actually have some guidelines as to what is the Buddhist teaching and what is not. 03:00.240 --> 03:03.786 And so today I thought I'd bring up one such list 03:03.766 --> 03:05.388 in the tradition that I follow. 03:05.408 --> 03:20.748 But I think there's nobody in any tradition who would be likely to go against the general feeling encompassed in these teachings. 03:21.789 --> 03:22.530 So it's in Pali. 03:22.630 --> 03:32.963 I thought I'd give everyone a treat and bring up some Pali so that we can have some original words of the Buddha. 03:36.065 --> 03:39.692 and sort of get a feel for the language that the Buddha spoke. 03:42.196 --> 03:46.444 So probably most of you are not going to be able to understand this, but let's just go through it. 03:48.928 --> 03:53.216 Atako maha-pacchapati-kotami ye na bhagavate nupasankami. 03:55.360 --> 03:58.866 Atako means at that time, maha-pacchapati-kotami, the 04:00.500 --> 04:07.446 the Bhikkhuni, who was a female monk named Gotami, Mahapachapati Gotami. 04:07.908 --> 04:09.835 Pachapati means... 04:12.700 --> 04:15.284 Sort of like mother. 04:16.567 --> 04:18.209 It's an ancient Indian word. 04:18.269 --> 04:26.023 And so it could either be used as her name or as an epithet to mean that she was the one who looked after the Buddha as he was growing up. 04:26.944 --> 04:28.066 Maha just means great. 04:29.068 --> 04:31.993 Gotami was her clan name or her given name. 04:32.394 --> 04:34.056 The Buddha's clan name was also Gotama. 04:34.136 --> 04:36.801 So we also always hear about Buddha Gotama. 04:40.055 --> 04:46.044 Where the blessed one was, there she went up to. 04:46.425 --> 04:49.229 It means she went to see the Buddha. 04:49.269 --> 04:52.494 It just means it's an epithet for a leader of a religion. 04:52.955 --> 05:02.670 And so in Buddhism it means the Buddha. 05:03.595 --> 05:20.052 Having approached the Buddha and abhiwadi, tua, paid respect to the Buddha, means most likely bowed down to the Buddha, ekamantangathasi, stood to one side or stood in an appropriate place. 05:21.955 --> 05:31.487 Because when you go to see the Buddha, there's always going to be people attending upon him and coming to ask him questions, coming to listen to what he says. 05:32.088 --> 05:39.537 He generally would be surrounded, just as all famous teachers generally are, would be surrounded by people. 05:39.557 --> 05:40.618 So she stood to one side. 05:43.302 --> 05:46.005 And while standing to one side, 05:48.938 --> 05:51.703 She said this. 05:51.723 --> 05:55.028 He says sadhu. 05:56.270 --> 06:04.043 Sadhu is a word that means good. 06:04.804 --> 06:06.066 Many people recognize this. 06:07.088 --> 06:12.617 We use it or it's used in India in the present day to talk about a holy man. 06:14.183 --> 06:15.826 And so it has a double meaning here. 06:15.846 --> 06:20.113 It means someone who is a good person, a sadhu. 06:20.133 --> 06:21.034 And it just means good. 06:21.074 --> 06:22.476 So sadhu here means good. 06:22.997 --> 06:28.987 She said it would be good for me, Venerable Sir, if the Blessed One could teach the Dhamma in brief. 06:29.167 --> 06:30.930 Sankhitena, in brief. 06:30.950 --> 06:32.192 Dhammang is the Dhamma. 06:35.902 --> 06:51.903 yamahaṁ bhagavato dhammaṁ suttaḥ eka vipa uvupakaṭha apamata ātāpi nīpa pahitata viharyanti Lots of words that are difficult to understand. 06:51.983 --> 07:03.698 yamahaṁ bhagavato dhammaṁ suttaḥ So, she wants a teaching by which, having heard the Dhamma from the Buddha, she would be able to 07:03.678 --> 07:08.284 Go off alone into seclusion. 07:08.725 --> 07:09.867 Eka means one. 07:10.568 --> 07:14.774 Wupakata means to go in seclusion. 07:15.414 --> 07:19.120 Apamata means to be diligent. 07:19.760 --> 07:30.175 She would be diligent and put out effort and dwell, giving up, abandoning the defilement. 07:35.268 --> 07:37.431 So basically speaking, she wants a brief teaching. 07:37.531 --> 07:43.178 And just going through this, we can understand, okay, what is she asking? 07:43.258 --> 07:47.103 She's asking for the most concise teaching that the Buddha can give her. 07:47.984 --> 07:49.606 And the Buddha gives her something very interesting. 07:52.289 --> 07:55.133 And this is the subject of the talk today. 08:14.570 --> 08:42.231 The Buddha says, He says, whatever Dhammas, whatever teachings, Gautami, you understand or you know to be, when you know of those teachings that 08:43.477 --> 08:59.106 Number one, they are for the purpose of developing lust, not for the purpose of giving up lust. 09:01.415 --> 09:10.551 They are for the purpose of becoming attached, not for the purpose of giving up attachment. 09:11.192 --> 09:19.085 Or for the purpose of bondage, not for the purpose of freedom from bondage. 09:19.105 --> 09:26.578 They are for the purpose of building up. 09:28.162 --> 09:36.050 not for the purpose of giving up. 09:36.251 --> 09:53.629 They are for the purpose of great wanting, having great desires, having many desires. 09:54.065 --> 09:59.857 not for the purpose of being of little desire, or having few desires, fewness of wishes. 10:01.801 --> 10:10.099 Asantuttya samvatantino asantuttya, therefore the purpose of discontent, not for the purpose of contentment. 10:12.155 --> 10:14.880 Sankhanikāya samvatantino pavivekāya. 10:15.642 --> 10:26.443 They're for the purpose of congregation or society, socializing, not for the purpose of seclusion. 10:28.226 --> 10:32.695 Kosacāya samvatantino vīryārambāya. 10:34.042 --> 10:40.515 For the purpose of laziness, not for the purpose of putting out effort. 10:40.535 --> 10:53.080 Therefore the purpose of being difficult to support, not for the purpose of being easy to support. 10:55.945 --> 10:56.426 What do you think? 10:56.467 --> 10:58.573 Are these things likely to be the Dhamma of the Buddha? 10:59.476 --> 10:59.717 No. 10:59.777 --> 11:01.442 The Buddha says, ekam sena. 11:03.087 --> 11:09.246 You can be sure that un... What do you say? 11:11.673 --> 11:36.634 they are totally on the side of, you can be sure completely, you can hold perfectly to be true that neso dhammo, this is not the dhamma, neso vinaya, this is not the vinaya, netang sattu sa sananti, this is not the teaching of the teacher, of our teacher. 11:41.963 --> 11:44.188 And then he goes on to say the exact opposite. 11:44.729 --> 12:03.567 He said if those teachings that are for the purpose of giving up lust and so on, and not for the purpose of having lust, of gaining lust, and so on, then you know these are the teachings of the Buddha. 12:06.179 --> 12:08.501 And this is, I think, a really good list. 12:09.182 --> 12:16.029 Something that we can always use to verify for ourselves and to not get caught up in particulars. 12:17.410 --> 12:28.481 Really, the Buddhist teaching is not something high and mighty or high and, what do you say, it's not something esoteric or hard to understand. 12:28.581 --> 12:32.585 It's not something that is philosophical or theoretical. 12:33.265 --> 12:34.186 It's something quite simple. 12:34.226 --> 12:34.887 It's just 12:34.867 --> 12:41.302 It's generally totally against the way we look at the world. 12:41.944 --> 12:43.969 It's totally against our ordinary way of life. 12:45.713 --> 12:53.010 Diametrically opposed to our approach to existence. 12:54.779 --> 13:05.520 So it's not something, it shouldn't be thought of as something that you have to read or have to study or have to spend years and years just to understand it. 13:06.883 --> 13:10.510 The years and years should be spent in practice in trying to perfect it. 13:13.662 --> 13:14.423 So what do we have here? 13:14.483 --> 13:21.210 We have altogether eight criteria by which we can tell whether something is the Buddha's teaching. 13:22.151 --> 13:29.799 The Buddha's teaching is for the purpose of giving up lust, for the purpose of giving up all desire. 13:32.322 --> 13:39.670 And a simple explanation of this is that anytime you desire something, it means that you're not happy with things as they are. 13:41.270 --> 13:59.329 It's a very simple fact that desire is basically saying to yourself that given two realities, the reality in front of us and the reality that's not yet in front of us, the latter is more preferable. 14:01.267 --> 14:03.710 So it's a basic state of discontent. 14:04.291 --> 14:17.068 At its root, it's basically a state of suffering, a state of discontent, of dissatisfaction with things as they are. 14:17.128 --> 14:26.160 And this is totally contrary to the Buddha's teaching, because the Buddha teaches us to find contentment in the here and now, 14:29.853 --> 14:57.835 to accept this reality or to find the way, the means by which reality becomes the preferred state or becomes a totally peaceful, totally blissful state where there is no need, no hopes or dreams or wishes 15:08.665 --> 15:09.826 and especially no lust. 15:16.114 --> 15:20.720 Lust is, I suppose, one of those things that is on the extreme end. 15:21.721 --> 15:22.963 It's the most basic teaching. 15:23.003 --> 15:32.034 In Indian religion, this was widely accepted, not only in Buddhism and not even something that the Buddha came up with himself. 15:32.335 --> 15:34.858 Even before the Buddha 15:34.838 --> 15:35.900 was born even. 15:36.682 --> 15:38.365 There were teachings on giving up lust. 15:38.385 --> 15:49.727 It was agreed that the passions of the sense, attachment to sights and sounds and smells and tastes and feelings were not a religious path, were not a spiritual path. 15:49.747 --> 15:52.813 They were not something that could lead one to spiritual contentment. 15:52.793 --> 16:04.246 In fact, it was agreed upon through the various practices that were in place that there was a much greater happiness and peace that could be found by giving these things up. 16:05.348 --> 16:06.950 That this was the root of addiction. 16:08.391 --> 16:15.780 It's the same as a drug addict to be addicted to sensual pleasures. 16:15.760 --> 16:26.648 In fact, it is a drug addiction because according to science, it's clearly understood in this day and age that 16:28.028 --> 16:37.919 What occurs when we receive a pleasurable stimulus at one of the senses is a chemical reaction in the brain. 16:38.120 --> 16:55.960 There's a release of certain chemicals, dopamine and whatever else is involved with the pleasure receptor system. 16:58.842 --> 17:02.046 And that leads to a pleasurable feeling. 17:02.367 --> 17:04.770 It's a drug that gives us happiness. 17:06.192 --> 17:28.663 It does that for a short time and then goes away and leaves the receptors in a less than optimal state so that the next time we receive the stimulus, there's a release of less of the chemical and the receptors are not able to 17:30.905 --> 17:33.609 not able to process as much and so on. 17:34.490 --> 17:40.379 And so the system is not able to bring as much pleasure, as much happiness as the first time, and so on and so on. 17:40.979 --> 17:43.223 So it leads to more work for less pleasure. 17:43.383 --> 17:45.446 It's a drug addiction. 17:47.268 --> 17:58.144 When we talk about sex, when we talk about even just ordinary sensual pleasures, at the very base it's a drug addiction. 18:00.250 --> 18:11.805 So this is the most coarse of the defilements, I guess you could say, the most coarse of our addictions that we have to get rid of. 18:11.845 --> 18:14.628 It's one of the most widely accepted in religious traditions. 18:14.989 --> 18:20.075 And I'd say the problem is not an agreement on giving them up. 18:20.115 --> 18:22.258 The problem is once you've given them up, how to then 18:22.238 --> 18:48.297 overcome the drug addiction because as we can see many people who for instance become celibate wind up repressing the emotions and as a result there are quite dire consequences to repression the eventual explosion of desire the release in other ways that can often be quite perverted perverse 18:51.095 --> 18:53.879 But at any rate, the Buddha's teaching is for the purpose of giving this up. 18:53.939 --> 19:04.593 It's for the purpose of seeing the negative side of this and seeing that in actual fact, lust and the happiness, the pleasure that comes from it is not sustainable. 19:05.454 --> 19:08.137 It's not really intrinsically positive in any way. 19:08.818 --> 19:11.282 It's a feeling that arises and ceases. 19:12.203 --> 19:13.845 There's nothing bad about it. 19:13.825 --> 19:20.457 And I think really the problem that comes from religious people is they start to feel guilty when they have these feelings. 19:20.497 --> 19:35.665 They hear that people like the Buddha gave these things up, and so they feel guilty when these feelings arise, rather than actually acknowledging them and coming to understand the feelings. 19:39.695 --> 19:56.042 But at any rate, we can understand that any teaching that is for the purpose of giving rise to lust, there are even some religious teachings that encourage people to give rise to passion, to give rise to states of sensual intoxication. 19:57.764 --> 19:59.688 In fact, there are quite many religions. 20:00.048 --> 20:05.517 From what I've seen visiting and taking part in other religious traditions, 20:06.543 --> 20:11.875 you can see that a lot of the ordinary service is geared towards sensual stimulus. 20:11.955 --> 20:25.125 I would say even in Buddhism there's a lot of this, in sort of cultural Buddhism, where the means of attracting people's attention is sensual stimulus. 20:29.105 --> 20:38.058 encouragement of this sort of addiction and the stimulation of the addiction system in the brain. 20:40.141 --> 20:42.465 And so this clearly is not the Buddha's teaching. 20:42.505 --> 20:52.820 It's something that we should get straight for ourselves that the practice of the Buddha's teaching has to be very clearly for the purpose of giving this up. 20:56.325 --> 20:57.627 The second one is 20:59.868 --> 21:06.807 That Buddhism is for the purpose of freedom from bondage, not for the purpose of bondage, becoming bound. 21:16.473 --> 21:26.748 So obviously in our life, in a worldly sense, this is easy to see the difference between being bound and being unbound. 21:28.591 --> 21:30.714 In our lives we become bound by so many things. 21:30.754 --> 21:35.801 We become bound by our work, bound by our debts, bound by other people. 21:38.766 --> 21:41.670 We get caught up in so many things, so much 21:45.025 --> 21:48.591 We get caught up in the world very easily. 21:50.534 --> 21:53.959 But in spirituality we also get caught up in this as well. 21:53.999 --> 21:55.982 We become bound to rites and rituals. 21:56.022 --> 22:02.573 We become bound to our duties and to our station. 22:03.895 --> 22:05.958 We can even become bound to certain practices. 22:08.702 --> 22:12.889 We get caught up in the idea of being this or being that. 22:14.810 --> 22:18.324 Sanyoga, which means to be bound. 22:21.818 --> 22:22.862 This is why 22:23.821 --> 22:31.294 I stressed last time about not identifying as this type of Buddhist or that type of Buddhist. 22:31.714 --> 22:42.332 That we follow the Buddhist teaching should really be enough and we understand that the Buddhist teaching is not to become anything, not to be bound to anything, to say that I am this. 22:42.833 --> 22:50.065 Often when talking with Buddhist meditators, there still is this... 22:50.045 --> 22:54.430 attachment to a tradition or attachment to a teacher. 22:54.490 --> 23:03.802 And there's an immediate judgment when we hear someone else practicing in a certain way. 23:03.842 --> 23:12.492 And rather than using the Buddha's principles to say why we believe this is better than that, 23:12.472 --> 23:16.397 we cling instead to our tradition. 23:17.799 --> 23:21.665 And everything is seen through the lens of that tradition. 23:23.187 --> 23:30.497 When I'm talking to Buddhist meditators, they immediately 23:30.612 --> 23:41.605 begin to repeat the things that their teacher has said, rather than actually looking at things from the point of view of the Buddha, from the point of view of the Buddha's teaching. 23:43.588 --> 23:45.610 It's very difficult to speak with such people. 23:46.631 --> 23:53.920 These sorts of people, they tend to just regurgitate whatever their teacher has said. 23:53.900 --> 24:07.352 are unwilling to accept the fact that other traditions might actually be of great benefit or actually have a viable practice for the purpose of realizing the truth. 24:10.808 --> 24:13.734 When we practice Buddhism, we're simply trying to see reality for what it is. 24:14.636 --> 24:20.728 We have right here in front of us certain phenomena that are rising and ceasing in our body and our mind. 24:21.931 --> 24:24.777 We're not interested in being anything or being attached to anything. 24:25.478 --> 24:28.885 There's no need to call yourself Buddhist. 24:28.865 --> 24:32.349 There's certainly no need to call yourself this or that type of Buddhist. 24:33.150 --> 24:38.176 Even in the tradition that I follow, there are different nikayas or groups. 24:38.656 --> 24:42.141 And these groups now don't talk with each other. 24:42.161 --> 24:49.870 I put a picture up that one of my old students sent me of her ordination. 24:49.930 --> 24:51.852 She's ordained as a female monk. 24:53.073 --> 24:54.535 I put it up on my website. 24:54.515 --> 25:03.705 And a monk from Europe sent me an email saying, he said, Bante, please don't get involved in this schism. 25:07.369 --> 25:12.996 And so I wrote back and said, well, you know, these people look quite harmonious to me. 25:13.016 --> 25:15.018 There doesn't seem to be any schism going on at all. 25:15.078 --> 25:18.061 They were happy and smiling and there were monks and nuns. 25:18.081 --> 25:19.983 There's about 20 of them in the picture. 25:21.044 --> 25:24.268 I said, you know, honestly, you sound more like a schismatic to me. 25:26.392 --> 25:27.633 We cling to this. 25:29.095 --> 25:35.883 They have this idea that this is not correct and that is not correct for really no reason, no purpose, and without really even thinking. 25:36.905 --> 25:39.908 And so without thinking, we create barriers. 25:40.649 --> 25:49.980 We cling to things and we compartmentalize reality into our way, your way, right way, wrong way. 25:51.862 --> 25:54.846 When all the Buddha was really trying to teach us is to understand reality, 26:00.074 --> 26:06.102 something that we should think about rather than clinging to principles and ideas 26:09.490 --> 26:14.316 Sure, as best we can, we should try to keep rules and the regulations of the community. 26:14.656 --> 26:30.055 There's no question about that, but it goes beyond that, and we cling to my practice, your practice, mine is right, and this idea that our teachers are perfect, and so on. 26:31.017 --> 26:32.899 Therefore, they must be right all the time. 26:33.672 --> 26:35.675 The Buddha said we're not to cling. 26:35.755 --> 26:39.119 And when you see something that leads to clinging, that's not the Buddha's teaching. 26:39.720 --> 26:43.986 The third one is for building up and not for taking down. 26:44.526 --> 26:51.175 Buddhism is not for building anything up, not for creating anything, not for becoming anything. 26:52.457 --> 26:55.561 We don't want to become this or become that. 26:55.581 --> 27:00.287 We don't want to become a Buddhist or a Buddhist teacher or even become a monk. 27:02.697 --> 27:08.643 I always looked at becoming a monk, for example, is really more about what you aren't than what you are. 27:10.725 --> 27:16.831 The Buddha called it giving up, giving up the house life, going forth, leaving behind. 27:16.871 --> 27:25.819 This is a good example because in the Buddha's teaching we don't want to become anything. 27:26.220 --> 27:28.242 We don't have any desire to become anything. 27:29.563 --> 27:31.725 We don't want to... 27:34.372 --> 27:40.317 build up in our minds identification with anything. 27:41.758 --> 28:02.877 We're not trying to build a Buddhist empire or a Buddhist, what do you call, we're not trying to spread the Buddhist teaching to everyone or so on, or turn Buddhism into this missionary religion or so on. 28:08.830 --> 28:11.953 In fact, we're trying to take down, we're trying to take down much of who we are. 28:11.973 --> 28:27.270 We're trying to give up our identifications with this and that, with who we are and with our status in life, with ideas like class, social class and gender and so on. 28:27.371 --> 28:32.256 We're trying to, in our minds, give up the attachment to self. 28:33.721 --> 28:35.143 We're not trying to build up anything. 28:36.605 --> 28:39.830 We don't have the idea that we want to become reborn again as this or that. 28:39.890 --> 28:44.236 We don't have the idea that in this life we want to become famous or rich. 28:48.582 --> 28:49.403 Even become enlightened. 28:49.443 --> 28:56.353 In meditation practice, it's very easy for people to get attached to this idea that we're going to become enlightened. 28:58.173 --> 29:03.381 As though enlightenment were this attainment, this badge that you get to wear. 29:04.423 --> 29:06.026 Oh, you've achieved something. 29:06.046 --> 29:10.753 You've become enlightened. 29:10.774 --> 29:13.538 Actually, enlightenment is all about what you aren't. 29:15.541 --> 29:18.646 An enlightened being is not greedy, is not angry, is not deluded. 29:20.710 --> 29:23.995 An enlightened being has given up, hasn't taken anything on. 29:27.485 --> 29:35.115 And so in our meditation practice, it's very important, extremely important that we give up this notion of trying to attain anything. 29:37.017 --> 29:49.172 We're not trying to reach some state where the mind is perfectly calm all the time, never thinking anything, never feeling any pain. 29:55.717 --> 30:03.976 We're trying to give up all expectations, all wants and needs, all attachments whatsoever. 30:04.678 --> 30:06.081 We don't need to become anything. 30:07.043 --> 30:09.709 It's more of a giving up. 30:11.090 --> 30:15.917 of the path and the taking on of any path, giving up of all paths. 30:17.038 --> 30:22.426 The path of the Buddha is to be here and now, to stop going, to stop coming. 30:23.327 --> 30:25.710 Buddha said in Nibbana there is no going and no coming. 30:29.576 --> 30:30.937 Nibbana isn't somewhere else. 30:30.977 --> 30:34.102 Enlightenment isn't a place that we go to. 30:36.004 --> 30:37.907 It's when we stop going and stop becoming. 30:43.372 --> 30:48.920 The fourth one, mahichataya samvatantino apichataya. 30:51.703 --> 30:57.852 Those things that are for the purpose of wanting many different things, not for the purpose of wanting little. 30:59.594 --> 31:01.737 I think this goes along with much of what I've already said. 31:01.757 --> 31:04.080 I'm not going to go into much detail here. 31:09.224 --> 31:15.788 But it's just another reminder that our wants are really the problem. 31:15.808 --> 31:18.338 I mean, we have these in our minds at every moment. 31:18.398 --> 31:20.365 We want things in our daily life. 31:22.032 --> 31:24.354 Every situation in our lives becomes a want. 31:24.975 --> 31:26.837 Wanting this, wanting that. 31:26.857 --> 31:28.659 Chasing after this, chasing after that. 31:29.760 --> 31:30.801 We can't even sit still. 31:30.881 --> 31:35.246 We can't be happy with things as they are because of our many wants. 31:35.266 --> 31:38.650 Buddhism is to be a fewness of wishes, to have few wants. 31:40.031 --> 31:41.353 To not want a lot. 31:41.953 --> 31:45.637 To be able to live without. 31:46.698 --> 31:48.360 And this is a very practical teaching. 31:52.019 --> 32:11.820 in terms of, for instance, our necessities, when we're not able to acquire the things that we would normally feel necessary, we need this and need that, to be able to live with little, to be able to live a simple life, a content life. 32:12.101 --> 32:14.023 And this is number five, so these go together. 32:14.864 --> 32:17.166 Number five is 32:18.496 --> 32:24.224 If the teaching is for discontent and not for contentment, then it's not the Buddhist teaching. 32:31.274 --> 32:40.227 Number six is rather important that I think is often missed in Buddhist practice or in spiritual practice. 32:40.888 --> 32:45.955 It's the need for solitude, the need to take time off, 32:48.044 --> 33:17.882 you hear a lot about how important it is to meditate in a group and how important it is to have to sit together in a group when you meditate and I think it's really it's actually a sign of the importance to not be in a group when we practice in a group it's obviously much easier because 33:21.203 --> 33:32.761 Your mind is constantly being reminded by the people around you, reminded to focus, to not become distracted. 33:34.944 --> 33:36.527 And so it's quite easy in that sense. 33:36.627 --> 33:45.220 But the problem with it is, and you can see this if you ever take the time to go off on your own, is that when you're in a group, your mind is constantly distracted. 33:50.600 --> 33:53.805 You're constantly going out to the people in the room around you. 33:54.646 --> 33:57.190 You're not actually as focused as you think you are. 33:57.231 --> 34:10.752 We think it's so easy to sit in a group because you constantly think of the people around you and you feel kind of embarrassed if you slouch or if your mind wanders or if you think bad thoughts and so on. 34:16.182 --> 34:20.451 But there's actually, I would say, far less focus when you're together than when you're alone. 34:20.511 --> 34:26.123 And when you're alone, you can actually see how your mind works much better because there's nothing for your mind to cling to. 34:26.143 --> 34:29.770 There's no external stimulus. 34:35.342 --> 34:36.705 I think it goes without saying that 34:38.103 --> 34:45.152 In the Buddhist teaching, it's not for the purpose of socializing, sitting around talking and meeting up with friends. 34:45.212 --> 34:58.710 And this is a very important teaching in and of itself, that when we practice the Buddhist teaching, it's very important that we can give up our need to socialize. 35:00.412 --> 35:13.120 That actually it's quite a detriment to our practice to be addicted to friendships and association and going out to parties and chatting and socializing. 35:15.665 --> 35:18.792 A Buddhist meditator should be content with solitude. 35:20.965 --> 35:26.911 There is no replacement for being alone, spending time with your own mind. 35:27.972 --> 35:36.340 Because it's really the only time that we can really be true to ourselves, where we don't have to put up a front and pretend to be something. 35:37.902 --> 35:48.572 Even when we're meditating, when we meditate in a group, so often we put on a front. 35:49.553 --> 35:50.314 We don't want 35:52.893 --> 35:55.196 other people to think that we're a bad meditator. 35:55.957 --> 35:56.938 So we sit up straight. 36:01.904 --> 36:04.287 We put on the front, even when we're meditating. 36:06.169 --> 36:18.765 But when we're alone, we give this all up and we're able to be true and completely with ourselves, not focusing on anything else. 36:21.580 --> 36:31.506 Number seven is that the Buddha's teaching is for putting out effort, not for being lazy. 36:52.428 --> 37:04.352 It's important when we meditate, we're not just meditating to feel peaceful and calm, to sit down and to get something. 37:05.254 --> 37:07.839 Meditation in a Buddhist sense is a work. 37:07.859 --> 37:09.342 The word we use is kamatana. 37:09.362 --> 37:14.352 It means to focus your mind, put your mind to work. 37:19.040 --> 37:24.947 When we practice meditation, we're not going to simply just sit there and fall asleep. 37:24.967 --> 37:26.609 It's not just a relaxation time. 37:27.009 --> 37:31.294 It's not our vacation time, our time away from life. 37:32.676 --> 37:37.821 Meditation is for the purpose of clearing the mind, for developing the mind. 37:40.645 --> 37:47.933 I think it's very easy to become lazy in our practice, where we practice maybe once a day, twice a day, 37:49.972 --> 37:56.582 I mean, not really developing our minds, but simply falling back into a state of peace and calm. 37:57.704 --> 38:16.131 It's important when we meditate that we actually examine our state of mind, that we're looking at it and trying to develop our minds to become a better person, to clear our minds, to go deeper and deeper and to understand our minds clearer and clearer, to understand reality. 38:19.992 --> 38:21.735 We have to examine ourselves when we practice. 38:21.775 --> 38:25.781 Are we just practicing to feel states of peace and calm and be content with that? 38:27.264 --> 38:28.606 Or are we actually learning something? 38:28.626 --> 38:33.033 I would say if you're practicing correctly, every time you sit down you should learn something new about yourself. 38:34.816 --> 38:37.179 This is really a test as to whether you actually meditated. 38:38.361 --> 38:41.967 Meditation is the contemplation, the examination of oneself. 38:46.925 --> 38:52.015 And number eight, to be easy to support, not difficult to support. 38:54.720 --> 38:57.666 This one, I'm taking it two-fold. 38:57.726 --> 39:01.373 First, in terms of our daily lives. 39:08.356 --> 39:11.200 I would say it's very easy to become very difficult to support. 39:11.260 --> 39:14.504 For most of us, we are quite difficult to support. 39:14.564 --> 39:15.746 We need so many things. 39:16.747 --> 39:22.816 Our minds are constantly searching out, seeking out. 39:24.137 --> 39:26.480 And so it's like looking after a little child. 39:26.701 --> 39:29.124 Looking after ourselves is like looking after a little child. 39:29.845 --> 39:33.570 Our wants and our needs and our nagging and complaining. 39:35.727 --> 39:39.893 It's very difficult for us to, for instance, find a good position for meditation. 39:40.934 --> 39:48.884 We often need the perfect position, and so rather than simply sitting on the floor, we need a cushion, and the cushion's not enough. 39:48.904 --> 39:51.788 We need a backrest, and then the backrest's not enough. 39:51.808 --> 39:56.875 We need cushions under our legs, and a pillow behind our neck, and so on. 40:08.397 --> 40:11.020 We live our lives in a state of general discontent. 40:11.761 --> 40:14.385 Not being able to stick with the here and the now. 40:14.485 --> 40:16.748 Even right now, you can examine yourself. 40:18.890 --> 40:24.578 When things arise in the mind, when things arise in the world around you, you're just sitting here listening. 40:26.140 --> 40:31.907 Maybe suddenly you start to feel pain in the legs, or it's too hot, or there's an itching sensation in the body. 40:31.947 --> 40:36.733 Maybe it's been... 40:38.013 --> 40:40.337 half an hour already and it's starting to get boring. 40:42.019 --> 40:44.964 The mind starts to wander, starts to think of other things. 40:49.991 --> 40:51.954 You can see the mind is quite difficult to take care of. 40:52.014 --> 40:53.517 It's not easily amused. 40:54.158 --> 40:55.520 It's not easily entertained. 40:56.321 --> 40:59.746 It always needs something new and exotic, something fun and interesting. 41:01.469 --> 41:04.253 It can't be content just being here, just being now. 41:05.215 --> 41:06.737 It can't be content with reality. 41:15.290 --> 41:19.314 So the Buddha said the Buddha's teaching is for the purpose of being easy to take care of. 41:21.337 --> 41:23.058 We don't need other people to take care of us. 41:23.139 --> 41:24.480 We don't need so many things. 41:24.520 --> 41:34.411 We don't need constant attention, constant gratification that we can accept reality for what it is. 41:37.674 --> 41:42.900 That we only need a certain amount of food to eat, simple clothes to wear. 41:45.732 --> 41:50.756 we're able to put up with anything that arises. 41:53.259 --> 42:02.447 So I thought I'd point this list out to everybody and let you know that there are general principles by which we can say what is the Buddhist teaching. 42:02.827 --> 42:05.510 So that was a list of those things that aren't. 42:06.150 --> 42:08.132 Just for completeness, here's the rest of it. 42:10.394 --> 42:15.098 And just to recapitulate, to recapitulate, to go over it again. 42:17.727 --> 42:20.591 Those things that are for the purpose of giving up lust. 42:21.132 --> 42:24.717 Those things that are for the purpose of giving up bondage. 42:25.678 --> 42:33.109 Those things that are for the purpose of not collecting or not building up oneself. 42:34.611 --> 42:40.039 Those things that are for the purpose of having few wants or few wishes. 42:42.010 --> 42:53.687 those things that are for the purpose of contentment, for the purpose of seclusion, for the purpose of putting out effort, and for the purpose of being easy to support. 42:57.853 --> 43:04.002 You can be sure, O Gotami, that this is the Dhamma, this is the Vinaya, this is the teaching of our teacher. 43:05.504 --> 43:07.747 Okay, so that's the Dhamma for today. 43:08.629 --> 43:09.570 Thank you all for 43:11.153 --> 43:11.998 staying the course. 43:12.783 --> 43:14.956 If anyone has any questions I'm happy to take them. 43:15.580 --> 43:17.350 Otherwise, thanks for coming.