1 00:00:01,077 --> 00:00:04,021 Hello and welcome back to our study of the Dhammapada. 2 00:00:04,041 --> 00:00:08,046 Today we continue on with verse 106, which reads as follows. 3 00:00:10,409 --> 00:00:28,772 māse māse sahasena yoyajeta sataṁ samam ekañca bhāvitattānaṁ muhuttampi pūjaye sāyeva pūjanāseyo yantyevasa sataṁ hūtaṁ 4 00:00:31,351 --> 00:00:40,271 Which means one can give a thousand month after month. 5 00:00:40,291 --> 00:00:44,862 A thousand here is just slang for a thousand pieces of money. 6 00:00:45,363 --> 00:00:46,666 We would think a thousand dollars. 7 00:00:47,568 --> 00:00:48,891 A thousand pieces of money. 8 00:00:49,292 --> 00:00:50,575 A thousand gold coins. 9 00:00:53,390 --> 00:01:07,703 For a hundred years, one can sacrifice every month, month after month, a thousand every month for a hundred years. 10 00:01:10,526 --> 00:01:23,278 One time, not one time, one moment, if one should pay homage for one moment 11 00:01:24,727 --> 00:01:36,644 bhavitat tanam, to one who is self-controlled, or no, not controlled, who is a developed self, who is self-developed or cultivated. 12 00:01:40,169 --> 00:01:42,393 Sayewa pujana seyo. 13 00:01:42,473 --> 00:01:45,577 This puja is greater. 14 00:01:47,841 --> 00:01:49,663 Yanche vasasatang hutang. 15 00:01:49,904 --> 00:01:52,287 Greater than the thousands of 16 00:01:54,207 --> 00:01:55,810 Greater than the hundred years. 17 00:01:56,893 --> 00:01:58,356 The hundred years sacrifice. 18 00:01:59,057 --> 00:02:01,041 The hundred years of sacrifice. 19 00:02:08,276 --> 00:02:13,026 So this verse was spoken in regards to Sariputta's uncle. 20 00:02:14,575 --> 00:02:16,859 We're told that Sariputta had an uncle who was a Brahmin. 21 00:02:16,879 --> 00:02:19,803 Sariputta's whole family were Brahmins. 22 00:02:20,885 --> 00:02:39,013 And before Sariputta passed away, he actually went back to teach his mother, who was still of wrong view, who still had the idea that what the Buddha taught was wrong, and Sariputta had lost his way by becoming a Buddhist monk. 23 00:02:40,529 --> 00:02:42,732 And so we have that story elsewhere. 24 00:02:42,992 --> 00:02:52,525 But here we have a story of an uncle of his, who was a Brahmin, who also had wrong views. 25 00:02:53,306 --> 00:02:56,791 And so it's kind of a funny, it's a very short story, but it's kind of a funny little story. 26 00:02:58,433 --> 00:03:05,423 So Sariputta went to see his uncle and asked him straight up, do you ever do any good deeds? 27 00:03:07,748 --> 00:03:09,730 And his uncle right away said, oh yes, actually. 28 00:03:09,770 --> 00:03:20,580 Every month I give or per month I give what amounts to a thousand gold coins worth of offerings. 29 00:03:21,241 --> 00:03:24,264 I give offerings amounting to a thousand gold coins a month. 30 00:03:26,546 --> 00:03:31,331 And he says, okay, who do you give this to? 31 00:03:32,852 --> 00:03:34,754 I give it to the naked ascetics. 32 00:03:36,195 --> 00:03:36,996 These guys who 33 00:03:38,528 --> 00:03:41,265 as their religious practice take to not wearing clothes, 34 00:03:43,372 --> 00:03:45,074 Because somehow that's meaningful. 35 00:03:46,696 --> 00:03:49,539 It's considered to be more hardcore. 36 00:03:49,879 --> 00:03:52,562 It is pretty hardcore. 37 00:03:52,583 --> 00:03:55,906 If you want to go extreme, not wearing clothes is the way to go. 38 00:03:56,046 --> 00:04:02,434 Because it means in the sun, you're at the mercy of the sun and the mercy of the cold. 39 00:04:02,454 --> 00:04:05,778 You're at the mercy of the flies and the insects. 40 00:04:06,619 --> 00:04:10,543 Couldn't imagine doing that in a place where there were mosquitoes. 41 00:04:15,046 --> 00:04:21,664 And certainly makes you stand out, makes it difficult for you to fit in in society. 42 00:04:26,076 --> 00:04:29,325 But these were the people that he was paying respect to and 43 00:04:31,735 --> 00:04:36,104 So Sariputta says, well, what do you hope to get from that? 44 00:04:36,966 --> 00:04:39,411 So you give money to these naked ascetics. 45 00:04:39,431 --> 00:04:40,272 What do you hope to get from that? 46 00:04:40,773 --> 00:04:46,765 He said, oh, well, because of this, my aspiration is to go to the Brahma realms. 47 00:04:49,130 --> 00:04:52,056 And Sariputta said, 48 00:04:53,234 --> 00:04:56,277 asks, was that the way to go to the Brahma realms? 49 00:04:56,297 --> 00:04:58,679 And he says, oh yes, absolutely. 50 00:04:59,860 --> 00:05:01,782 And he said, okay, where did you hear this? 51 00:05:02,282 --> 00:05:05,205 He says, oh, my teachers, the naked ascetics told me. 52 00:05:07,026 --> 00:05:11,270 Which is kind of how you get what you get in all religions. 53 00:05:11,871 --> 00:05:16,174 The teachers will tell you, if you give to us, it is of greatest benefit. 54 00:05:18,296 --> 00:05:22,600 It's actually an interesting story and in some ways it's a bit 55 00:05:24,250 --> 00:05:26,314 Well, it's not one of my favorite stories. 56 00:05:27,858 --> 00:05:33,851 But I think we have to talk about this and sort of come to an understanding of what's meant here. 57 00:05:34,753 --> 00:05:38,861 I think one way you can look at this, and of course, this is me finessing it. 58 00:05:40,325 --> 00:05:42,850 But, okay, so the story goes... 59 00:05:44,365 --> 00:05:47,970 Sariputta shakes his head and says, Brahmin, that's not the way. 60 00:05:48,030 --> 00:05:50,354 Well, we all know that's not the way to the Brahma realms. 61 00:05:50,634 --> 00:05:56,482 And he says, you're not on the path to the Brahma realms and your teachers don't know the way to the Brahma realms. 62 00:05:56,923 --> 00:06:02,591 You don't know and neither your teachers know the way to the world of God, basically. 63 00:06:04,554 --> 00:06:08,860 And he says, the Buddha is the only one who knows. 64 00:06:08,880 --> 00:06:09,902 So come and see the Buddha. 65 00:06:09,982 --> 00:06:12,786 Come with me and I will ask him to tell you the way to Brahma. 66 00:06:16,867 --> 00:06:23,865 So the problem here is that it's still just an appeal out to authority. 67 00:06:23,925 --> 00:06:26,852 Who says the Buddha is going to know better than these guys? 68 00:06:26,952 --> 00:06:31,945 If they say X and the Buddha says Y, how do you tell which one is right and which one is wrong? 69 00:06:32,787 --> 00:06:33,930 So he goes to the Buddha. 70 00:06:35,328 --> 00:06:41,878 And I think you have to take it... We have to see exactly what's being said here. 71 00:06:42,499 --> 00:06:46,986 And of course the story, the actual words of the story may just be an abbreviation. 72 00:06:47,828 --> 00:06:53,396 But basically the Buddha says to him, giving to those guys is worthless. 73 00:06:53,497 --> 00:06:58,905 Giving to monks in my religion, that's what will lead you to... 74 00:07:00,050 --> 00:07:20,150 worth a thousand times, or it's not worth a thousandth part of simply looking at one of my disciples. 75 00:07:20,231 --> 00:07:21,433 And then he teaches this verse. 76 00:07:22,865 --> 00:07:31,088 And so you kind of get this sense, well, it's just the Buddha saying the same thing as everyone else, if you give to my disciples. 77 00:07:32,351 --> 00:07:38,308 But first of all, you would have to agree, if you follow the Buddha's teaching, if you've 78 00:07:38,288 --> 00:07:44,377 If you have some understanding of the idea of karma, then you'd have to agree. 79 00:07:44,457 --> 00:07:50,987 Well, you'd look at how the Buddhist monks practice and you'd say, well, not just the Buddhist monks, but people who follow the Buddhist teaching. 80 00:07:51,388 --> 00:07:54,913 You look at how they practice and you say, wow, yes, giving to them is a great fruit. 81 00:07:54,893 --> 00:07:57,479 But of course we believe that as Buddhists. 82 00:07:57,600 --> 00:08:05,399 The question is how do we explain it beyond just making it sound like we're promoting ourselves? 83 00:08:05,640 --> 00:08:08,327 Because it really does just sound like self-promotion. 84 00:08:08,367 --> 00:08:12,497 And as I've said before, some of these verses 85 00:08:12,477 --> 00:08:18,967 Not the verses, but more the stories tend to be self-aggrandizing or self-promoting. 86 00:08:19,889 --> 00:08:32,890 So in a sense, you kind of have to, well, maybe not necessarily be skeptical yourself, but you have to accept that people are going to look at these and say, this is just like religion always is. 87 00:08:32,950 --> 00:08:35,093 It's all about gimme, gimme, gimme. 88 00:08:36,170 --> 00:08:54,853 Because some of the verses are about giving and tend to be, or the stories tend to be instructive in regards to giving to the monks, giving to the Buddhist religion being the best way. 89 00:08:56,420 --> 00:09:05,053 But the saving grace, if it needs one, comes from the verse itself, because the verse doesn't actually say that. 90 00:09:06,094 --> 00:09:19,795 The verse makes the important distinction that we would all make as Buddhists, that it doesn't actually matter what religion a person is in, or even what teachings they follow necessarily. 91 00:09:19,775 --> 00:09:26,563 It's that they are bhavidatta, which means they are self-cultivated. 92 00:09:27,725 --> 00:09:31,189 I mean, that of course has to be qualified as well. 93 00:09:31,269 --> 00:09:32,931 What kind of cultivation do you mean? 94 00:09:32,991 --> 00:09:35,134 But it means enlightened. 95 00:09:35,214 --> 00:09:44,365 If a person has truly done something to deserve a gift, then it's of greater fruit. 96 00:09:46,032 --> 00:09:51,864 In Buddhism we recognize four aspects. 97 00:09:52,184 --> 00:10:07,855 There is the purity of the giver, the purity of the recipient, and the purity of the gift. 98 00:10:09,337 --> 00:10:20,130 So if the gift is pure, then it's considered to be of greater benefit, of greater fruit than if the gift is impure. 99 00:10:20,210 --> 00:10:28,479 So for example, if it's giving alcohol or if it's a gift of poison, then that would be a less beneficial gift. 100 00:10:28,760 --> 00:10:38,331 But if it's a gift of food or a gift of shelter or a gift of medicine or a gift of something like clothing, 101 00:10:38,733 --> 00:10:51,252 then that would be of greater benefit, then that would be of the greatest benefit. 102 00:10:51,493 --> 00:11:07,457 Or if it's a gift of Dhamma, a gift of truth, then that would be of most benefit. 103 00:11:09,496 --> 00:11:19,569 And if the person is, if the giver is pure, so if the person giving is a moral person, is an ethical person, is a developed person, then of course their intentions are going to be pure. 104 00:11:20,170 --> 00:11:22,533 And so the gift is purified in that way. 105 00:11:23,935 --> 00:11:33,647 If the recipient is pure, then it's better than if the recipient is an immoral, unwholesome, uncultivated individual. 106 00:11:35,517 --> 00:11:37,721 So that's sort of the detailed teaching here. 107 00:11:39,444 --> 00:11:46,818 Basically it's a teaching about where we should pay homage and respect, who we should respect. 108 00:11:47,539 --> 00:11:55,073 So it's not a deep teaching, it's not the kind of teaching that you would say, well, if I follow this I'm going to become enlightened. 109 00:11:55,233 --> 00:11:58,639 How does it relate to our meditation practice? 110 00:11:58,619 --> 00:12:11,340 There is a sense that our practice of charity is supportive of our meditation practice, even as Buddhist monks. 111 00:12:11,360 --> 00:12:19,513 So giving the Dhamma, teaching the Dhamma is a kind of a gift and it's a support of the practice of the person teaching. 112 00:12:20,810 --> 00:12:30,926 And for those people who have monetary resources, giving in this way is a means of support. 113 00:12:30,986 --> 00:12:32,849 And it is a question that comes up. 114 00:12:32,929 --> 00:12:33,970 What do I do with my money? 115 00:12:34,130 --> 00:12:39,679 I have this money and part of it I want to give to charity. 116 00:12:39,659 --> 00:12:47,139 In order to support my own spiritual development, I want to be kind and generous and supportive of good things. 117 00:12:47,199 --> 00:12:48,983 So what are the good things I should support? 118 00:12:49,725 --> 00:12:56,503 Should I support these guys who are going naked or should I support these guys who are cultivating insight meditation? 119 00:12:56,483 --> 00:13:04,875 And as Buddhists, we would tend to agree that going naked isn't really all that great benefit. 120 00:13:04,935 --> 00:13:11,064 And in fact, I think we're going to get fairly soon talking about people going naked and so on. 121 00:13:11,084 --> 00:13:12,887 Or I think actually we've had the verse, right? 122 00:13:12,907 --> 00:13:21,900 We've had the verse about the man who pretended to be an ascetic. 123 00:13:21,920 --> 00:13:23,622 And it's something about month after month. 124 00:13:27,668 --> 00:13:44,479 But it is important that our livelihood and the rest of our life, our activity in the worldly sphere, does conduce to meditation practice and development. 125 00:13:44,459 --> 00:13:47,545 And so this is a question that comes up. 126 00:13:47,945 --> 00:13:52,514 How do we interact with spiritual people? 127 00:13:52,574 --> 00:13:54,758 What do we do with our resources? 128 00:13:54,938 --> 00:13:57,383 Where are our resources best spent? 129 00:13:57,623 --> 00:14:00,088 And it's not just monetary resources. 130 00:14:00,068 --> 00:14:05,837 our energy, our intellect, our study. 131 00:14:06,799 --> 00:14:10,384 Where are we best to engage ourselves? 132 00:14:11,145 --> 00:14:26,970 Not just in meditation but in the rest of our life because this verse doesn't actually deal with meditation except insofar as it talks about the recipient as being really only a factor 133 00:14:28,402 --> 00:14:32,288 in regards to that person's spiritual development. 134 00:14:32,829 --> 00:14:47,231 It's not just because they are a placeholder, like someone who becomes a priest and you give them because they are in a place, or a person who becomes a monk and you give to them because they are a monk. 135 00:14:48,112 --> 00:14:50,195 This person is a monk and you give to them. 136 00:14:50,215 --> 00:14:56,485 It's not actually considered to be very great fruit just because the person is a Buddhist monk. 137 00:14:56,465 --> 00:14:57,567 There is something there. 138 00:14:57,587 --> 00:15:21,207 You think this is a representative of the Sangha, I'm giving it to the Buddhist religion, but there's none of the sense, unless they are a developed person, someone who has cultivated meditation, someone who has done something worthy, and therefore is a person whose actions and whose 139 00:15:22,705 --> 00:15:39,870 support, the energy and the power, the strength that comes from supporting such a person will go to good things for themselves and for others, will not go to hurt others or hurt themselves, will not be wasted. 140 00:15:43,462 --> 00:15:47,906 So as meditators, as Buddhists, this is the sort of thing we have to think about. 141 00:15:48,887 --> 00:15:51,730 And it's very clear and simple. 142 00:15:52,330 --> 00:15:57,135 Of course, maybe it's a little too abbreviated because actually there's more to it than that. 143 00:15:57,736 --> 00:16:02,600 You can't just give to an enlightened being and hope that it's going to bring good benefit. 144 00:16:02,740 --> 00:16:04,302 You yourself have to be mindful. 145 00:16:04,342 --> 00:16:09,807 You yourself have to be conscious of why you're giving and giving for the right reasons. 146 00:16:09,787 --> 00:16:12,831 You can't be giving to brag to others and so on. 147 00:16:12,871 --> 00:16:16,356 I mean, you can, but it's of less fruit, and you can't just give them anything. 148 00:16:20,641 --> 00:16:25,928 People often like to give money, which is what was talked about in this verse. 149 00:16:26,409 --> 00:16:38,545 Money is actually, when I was in Thailand, there's a big thing because most monks use money, and so it was a sense that, well, people want to give you, why aren't you accepting money? 150 00:16:38,525 --> 00:16:56,483 they want to give and you're preventing them from doing this good deed and I said well you know giving money is actually a fairly poor gift to give because then you're saying to the other person go and do it yourself go and get it yourself 151 00:16:56,463 --> 00:17:01,032 as opposed to bringing the person something beneficial, something that they can actually use. 152 00:17:01,152 --> 00:17:02,074 You can't eat food. 153 00:17:02,114 --> 00:17:04,459 It's very difficult to wear food. 154 00:17:04,519 --> 00:17:06,523 You can't use it as medicine. 155 00:17:06,583 --> 00:17:08,567 It's actually quite useless. 156 00:17:08,627 --> 00:17:09,409 It's just paper. 157 00:17:11,701 --> 00:17:21,031 And moreover, it's a dangerous thing because you give money and you force the person to think about, even if their mind is pure, you force them to think about doing this, doing that. 158 00:17:21,852 --> 00:17:22,592 Where am I going to go? 159 00:17:22,612 --> 00:17:23,433 What am I going to get? 160 00:17:24,434 --> 00:17:27,558 As opposed to bringing them food, thinking it out for them. 161 00:17:28,098 --> 00:17:33,063 It's a very much more powerful gift to give something that they will actually use. 162 00:17:33,183 --> 00:17:39,370 So some people have gone to the convenience of, at holidays, just giving money, right? 163 00:17:39,470 --> 00:17:41,472 Or gift certificates or something. 164 00:17:41,452 --> 00:17:50,883 but it's not the same as actually putting some thought into it and saying, well, this person could use that, or even better, asking them what they need, is there anything, and so on. 165 00:17:53,907 --> 00:17:56,990 But Thai people have this sense that you can't ask a monk what they need, and so on. 166 00:17:57,030 --> 00:18:01,175 Anyway, but it's not just about giving to monks. 167 00:18:01,235 --> 00:18:06,261 I mean, if you give to a person on the side of the road who's hungry, that's a great thing. 168 00:18:06,629 --> 00:18:17,632 You give them a meal to eat or ask them if there's anything they need or you help them go to the doctors or so on or you help them find a job. 169 00:18:17,652 --> 00:18:22,562 All great things and very powerful things that you can do. 170 00:18:22,542 --> 00:18:26,131 And if they come from your own heart, then you actually purify them. 171 00:18:26,151 --> 00:18:27,374 You actually purify the deed. 172 00:18:28,076 --> 00:18:31,464 So it's not necessary to just give to people who are cultivated. 173 00:18:31,484 --> 00:18:36,136 If you give and you yourself are cultivated, then there's the benefit of you helping the world. 174 00:18:36,416 --> 00:18:38,762 That's considered to be a pure deed as well. 175 00:18:38,742 --> 00:18:43,852 And on the other hand, if you give the Dhamma, then the Dhamma purifies it. 176 00:18:43,972 --> 00:18:54,331 Or if you give something very powerful and the gift is very powerful, then the gift itself makes it a pure deed and makes it a powerful gift. 177 00:18:54,351 --> 00:18:56,295 So anyway, not a lot to say. 178 00:18:58,317 --> 00:19:08,711 Another thing that we might say about this is it points to the error of magnitude that people sometimes fall into. 179 00:19:08,752 --> 00:19:10,614 They think of it in terms of thousands. 180 00:19:11,315 --> 00:19:12,977 And that's part of what the Buddha is saying here. 181 00:19:13,017 --> 00:19:26,316 He's saying, really, if just for a moment you think a good thought towards someone who really deserves it, you say, I pay respect to the Buddha or I pay respect to an enlightened being, 182 00:19:26,296 --> 00:19:34,374 then that one moment is actually more powerful than a hundred years of giving a thousand gold pieces a month, which is a huge sum of money. 183 00:19:34,434 --> 00:19:39,865 Because people think that it's how much you give, and it's actually certainly not. 184 00:19:42,030 --> 00:19:46,600 Rich people often brag about how much charity they give, how much money they give, 185 00:19:46,580 --> 00:20:08,908 it's meaningless because it has nothing to do with with your state of mind it says nothing about what your state of mind is like and whether the gift is is rightly given so if you give millions of dollars to fund war or if you give millions of dollars to fund wrong view for example people who put all this money into 186 00:20:08,888 --> 00:20:21,602 Maybe certain religious teachings or religious traditions that are hateful or spiteful or misguided. 187 00:20:25,987 --> 00:20:29,531 It's actually like throwing away money, or maybe even worse than throwing it away. 188 00:20:29,651 --> 00:20:33,816 If you support a cause that is harmful to people, for example. 189 00:20:36,563 --> 00:20:38,605 because it's all about the mind. 190 00:20:39,426 --> 00:20:45,473 One moment of actually just practicing meditation yourself is a much, much greater thing to do. 191 00:20:45,793 --> 00:20:56,665 But if you're going to give, and giving is good, then you should give with a pure mind yourself, you should give what is pure, and you should give to those people who are engaged in pure things. 192 00:20:57,486 --> 00:20:59,749 So, another verse about giving. 193 00:21:00,109 --> 00:21:01,651 That's the Dhammapada for tonight. 194 00:21:02,472 --> 00:21:05,575 Thank you all for tuning in, and keep practicing.