1 00:00:01,904 --> 00:00:05,608 Okay, hello and welcome back to our study of the Dhammapada. 2 00:00:05,628 --> 00:00:10,914 Today we will be continuing on with verses 44 and 45. 3 00:00:11,154 --> 00:00:14,297 It's a pair of verses which go as follows. 4 00:00:16,540 --> 00:00:21,785 Ko imang patawing vicesati, yamalokang imangsadevakang. 5 00:00:22,866 --> 00:00:28,232 Ko dhammapadang sudhesidang, kusolopupamiva pacesati. 6 00:00:31,655 --> 00:00:51,280 Which means, it's a question and answer. 7 00:00:51,340 --> 00:00:53,022 The first verse is 8 00:00:54,892 --> 00:00:58,376 Who will overcome this world? 9 00:01:00,539 --> 00:01:07,668 Who will overcome this earth? 10 00:01:09,009 --> 00:01:10,271 Who will overcome this earth? 11 00:01:10,631 --> 00:01:17,980 This world of Yama, the Lord of Death, along with the angels. 12 00:01:20,828 --> 00:01:40,871 Who will bring to perfection this path of Dhamma or this practice of Dhamma that is well taught just as a skillful person might bring to perfection a bouquet of flowers? 13 00:01:44,275 --> 00:01:49,401 And then the answer is Sekho, which means a trainee or one who is training. 14 00:01:50,748 --> 00:02:04,116 One who trains themselves will overcome this earth, this world of Yama together with the angels, together with its angels or all celestial beings. 15 00:02:08,011 --> 00:02:21,932 The trainer will bring to perfection this path of Dhamma, which is well expounded, just as a skillful person would bring to perfection a bouquet of flowers. 16 00:02:25,217 --> 00:02:31,487 So this is actually something quite profound. 17 00:02:32,598 --> 00:02:42,853 question and answer, something that we can use here to just to expound the Dhamma or as a basis for teaching the Dhamma. 18 00:02:44,416 --> 00:02:51,807 But the story, as there's a story behind all of these, first we have to say where this verse came from. 19 00:02:51,847 --> 00:02:53,830 The story is 20 00:02:53,810 --> 00:02:58,247 that there were, it's actually a two paragraph story. 21 00:02:58,287 --> 00:03:05,254 The story goes that there were a bunch of monks who were sitting around talking about the earth 22 00:03:06,753 --> 00:03:13,963 And as monks are people as well, their talk tends to wander if they're not careful. 23 00:03:15,064 --> 00:03:19,591 And so their talk had wandered into worldly subjects where they began to talk about the earth. 24 00:03:20,732 --> 00:03:36,574 And so they were talking about how the earth in this district was black, and the earth in that district was brown, and how this district had very muddy earth, and this district had gravelly and sandy earth. 25 00:03:38,697 --> 00:03:51,294 And the Buddha came in and asked them what they were talking about, and they told him, and he said, he used this verse as a reminder, as a means of instilling some sort of sense of urgency in them. 26 00:03:52,395 --> 00:04:02,629 He said, well, that's the external earth, but it really has no purpose for you to consider or to concern yourselves with. 27 00:04:04,280 --> 00:04:07,484 when compared to the inner earth, the earth that is inside of you. 28 00:04:07,824 --> 00:04:31,030 And he said the real earth is this world of death, the physical realm that is subject to change and is aging and fading away and this body that will eventually go back to the earth. 29 00:04:31,010 --> 00:04:41,446 the death that is ahead of us, or this world which is encompassed from the world of, from the lower realms all the way up to the angel realms. 30 00:04:42,187 --> 00:04:49,077 So Yama Loka is considered to mean the lower realms of the hell realms, the animal realms, the ghost realms. 31 00:04:50,419 --> 00:04:59,413 The Deva Loka, Sadevakang means the angel realms, means the human realms, the angels and the gods and so on, and so on, but those three. 32 00:05:03,089 --> 00:05:26,785 so he said this is what you should be focusing on here you have something that is much more important and you should be concerning yourself with how to understand this earth and so he gave this verse he said who can overcome this earth 33 00:05:28,317 --> 00:05:35,144 He made them think about the Dhamma in this way and said, who will do this? 34 00:05:35,364 --> 00:05:36,805 Who will be able to overcome this? 35 00:05:36,865 --> 00:05:39,628 Certainly not the people who sit around talking about useless subject. 36 00:05:41,450 --> 00:05:45,914 Who will be able to overcome this earth, whether it be the lower realms or the higher realms? 37 00:05:47,576 --> 00:05:53,802 Who will be able to put into practice and bring to perfection this path of the Dhamma, this path of truth? 38 00:05:55,317 --> 00:06:06,246 path to realize the truth, just as a skillful person would bring to perfection or make a perfect bouquet of flowers. 39 00:06:08,191 --> 00:06:11,841 The way I think this is useful is because it 40 00:06:13,829 --> 00:06:32,850 or quite profound, because it asks the question of who is it, or how can we address the issues that we're facing, how can we address the problem that we're faced with? 41 00:06:34,180 --> 00:06:40,016 this suffering that we have ahead of us, the old age, sickness, and death. 42 00:06:40,056 --> 00:06:44,729 How do we address the issue of being mortal? 43 00:06:45,310 --> 00:06:49,742 Or how do we address the issue of being subject to suffering? 44 00:06:51,038 --> 00:06:55,893 And how do we, once we understand what is the path, who is it? 45 00:06:56,094 --> 00:07:04,339 Or what do we need to do in order to perfect the practice, perfect the path to become free from suffering? 46 00:07:06,547 --> 00:07:15,284 And the Buddha makes a direct, definite statement as to what it requires, what it will require for us to do that. 47 00:07:15,344 --> 00:07:16,746 And this is the training. 48 00:07:17,347 --> 00:07:25,062 And a person who trains themselves is one who will be able to overcome the earth, who will be able to overcome old age, sickness and death. 49 00:07:28,501 --> 00:07:37,072 a person who trains their mind, who trains themselves in morality, who trains themselves in concentration, who trains themselves in wisdom. 50 00:07:37,993 --> 00:07:42,418 This is a person who will be able to overcome old age, sickness and death. 51 00:07:45,482 --> 00:07:58,238 This is a person who will be able to put into practice the Buddha's teaching, who will be able to bring to perfection the Buddha's teaching, be able to bring to perfection this path of Dhamma. 52 00:08:04,934 --> 00:08:11,195 The distinction that we have to make is between the mundane world and the ultimate reality. 53 00:08:11,636 --> 00:08:15,248 This is where the Buddha points them in the right direction. 54 00:08:16,645 --> 00:08:22,917 An ordinary person will tend to think that there is no way to overcome old age, sickness and death. 55 00:08:22,937 --> 00:08:24,280 These are part of life. 56 00:08:24,380 --> 00:08:26,825 You think, well, that's part of the bargain. 57 00:08:26,905 --> 00:08:37,405 You get to enjoy life, this life that you have, and you have to accept the fact that it's going to end in old age, sickness and death. 58 00:08:37,385 --> 00:08:42,595 And so we think in conventional sense, just as these monks were thinking about the conventional earth. 59 00:08:42,615 --> 00:08:50,852 So it's actually quite an apt story because there's a parallel in how we look at our lives as well. 60 00:08:51,252 --> 00:08:54,559 We look at life as being sort of a one-shot. 61 00:08:55,180 --> 00:08:56,102 Even people who 62 00:08:56,082 --> 00:09:18,833 claim to believe in the afterlife and so on will tend to focus all of their efforts or most of their efforts on finding pleasure and avoiding suffering in this life, trying their best to be free from sickness, trying their best to obtain sensual gratification in this life. 63 00:09:20,737 --> 00:09:31,209 without making any thought of the bigger picture, the ultimate reality, what's really going on and what's really happening. 64 00:09:33,271 --> 00:09:44,925 Realize that actually old age sickness and death is not just an inevitability of life, it's a constant reoccurrence, and it comes with a cause, or it comes because of a cause. 65 00:09:45,085 --> 00:09:46,947 The cause is birth. 66 00:09:47,838 --> 00:09:56,393 And that, no, it's not enough to put up with old age, sickness and death because that's like one wave crashing against the shore. 67 00:09:57,795 --> 00:10:08,994 If you're not able to overcome the things that lead you to be born again, then you have to put up with this again and again and again. 68 00:10:09,074 --> 00:10:13,221 So putting up with it isn't enough or accepting it isn't enough. 69 00:10:14,652 --> 00:10:22,819 we create the cause for it to occur again and again for eternity. 70 00:10:25,182 --> 00:10:43,478 With our addiction, with our attachment, with our concern for the mundane, with all of our attachments, all of our obsessions, all of our worries and our cares on a conventional level, we lose sight of the ultimate reality. 71 00:10:43,458 --> 00:10:46,642 We lose sight of what's really going on or what we're really doing. 72 00:10:46,662 --> 00:10:51,889 We lose sight of the cycle, the bigger picture that what we're creating here is actually a cycle. 73 00:10:51,949 --> 00:10:53,050 It's not a one shot. 74 00:10:53,070 --> 00:10:53,831 It's not linear. 75 00:10:54,852 --> 00:10:57,616 It's not like birth goes to death in the line and then that's it. 76 00:10:58,397 --> 00:10:59,038 It's a cycle. 77 00:10:59,078 --> 00:11:02,282 So birth goes to death which leads to birth again. 78 00:11:03,563 --> 00:11:09,010 Just like waves crashing against the shore one after another after another for forever. 79 00:11:12,331 --> 00:11:21,701 So the Buddha points out that something needs to change about the way we look at the world. 80 00:11:23,122 --> 00:11:31,151 We can't let ourselves follow after our habits and following our heart, for example. 81 00:11:33,033 --> 00:11:38,018 Something has to change about how we look at the world, how we look at our lives. 82 00:11:39,179 --> 00:11:43,184 This is what happens when someone comes to practice the Buddha's teaching. 83 00:11:43,244 --> 00:11:49,292 When we listen to the Dhamma, when we read the Buddha's teaching, we start to affect this change. 84 00:11:49,332 --> 00:11:53,178 We realize that there's much more going on than meets the eye. 85 00:11:54,139 --> 00:11:57,283 That the things that we cling to are not actually bringing us happiness. 86 00:11:57,643 --> 00:12:00,327 They're creating a habit of clinging. 87 00:12:03,496 --> 00:12:09,647 that the things that we bear with are not actually out of patience. 88 00:12:10,368 --> 00:12:16,498 It's actually with a lot of suffering and cultivating an aversion towards things. 89 00:12:16,739 --> 00:12:29,200 When we escape from pain by taking medication or by avoiding it, we actually cultivate greater and greater aversion towards the pain. 90 00:12:30,715 --> 00:12:34,520 So we start to realize that this is not the way out of suffering. 91 00:12:35,080 --> 00:12:38,965 We realize this when we begin to train ourselves, starting with morality. 92 00:12:41,268 --> 00:12:53,263 We start to realize these habits are habit-forming and become magnified the more we cultivate them. 93 00:12:54,914 --> 00:13:03,313 And so we undertake morality, we undertake to prevent ourselves, to stop ourselves from following after the habits. 94 00:13:05,879 --> 00:13:07,202 We train ourselves to 95 00:13:08,819 --> 00:13:11,984 to be patient when we would otherwise chase after something. 96 00:13:12,004 --> 00:13:18,033 When we want something, instead of chasing after it, we stop ourselves and bring ourselves back to the experience of it. 97 00:13:19,155 --> 00:13:26,847 When you want something, you're very little involved with that actual thing, and you're much more involved with the thoughts and the pleasures that arise in the mind. 98 00:13:28,550 --> 00:13:35,340 And when you're able to bring yourself back, this is the first step, is bringing the mind back to reality. 99 00:13:35,360 --> 00:13:36,362 It's called morality. 100 00:13:37,793 --> 00:13:47,995 True morality is in the mind when you bring your mind back to what's really happening, what's really going on, what's the essence of the experience. 101 00:13:48,797 --> 00:13:55,532 When you see something and you want it, you look at the seeing and you look at the feeling and you look at the wanting. 102 00:13:56,828 --> 00:14:02,376 And you see that it's really just impersonal phenomena arising and ceasing. 103 00:14:03,398 --> 00:14:10,228 You break it apart and you see that it's a cause for stress, a cause for suffering, not a cause for happiness and contentment. 104 00:14:12,171 --> 00:14:13,673 And you become content without. 105 00:14:13,693 --> 00:14:15,816 You become content with or without. 106 00:14:17,770 --> 00:14:26,084 And you create what we call morality, and as a result of the morality you begin to develop concentration, so you train yourself further. 107 00:14:26,846 --> 00:14:31,353 Once you cultivate morality, you train yourself to keep the mind. 108 00:14:31,995 --> 00:14:36,302 Once you've brought the mind back to the present, you train yourself to keep the mind focused on the present. 109 00:14:36,282 --> 00:14:39,487 When you see something, you train yourself to focus on seeing. 110 00:14:39,527 --> 00:14:40,788 When you hear something, hearing. 111 00:14:40,808 --> 00:14:41,810 When you smell, smelling. 112 00:14:42,571 --> 00:14:48,259 You train yourself to focus on the body, on the feelings, on the thoughts, on the emotions and the senses. 113 00:14:49,280 --> 00:14:53,907 You train yourself to focus on reality, so you cultivate concentration. 114 00:14:54,468 --> 00:14:58,273 As a result, not only 115 00:14:59,806 --> 00:15:07,352 not only are you pulling your mind back, but your mind begins to be disinclined to actually leave the present reality. 116 00:15:08,969 --> 00:15:16,417 So all of us sitting here now, sitting, listening to this talk, we have two things going on. 117 00:15:16,457 --> 00:15:20,641 We have the ultimate reality, which is where we think we are and where we'd like to be. 118 00:15:21,102 --> 00:15:21,963 We'd like to be here. 119 00:15:22,423 --> 00:15:28,169 And ultimate reality sounds kind of technical or special. 120 00:15:28,650 --> 00:15:31,453 It actually just means this, what we think we're in at all times. 121 00:15:32,474 --> 00:15:36,478 So the reality of seeing, the reality of hearing, smelling, tasting, feeling. 122 00:15:36,458 --> 00:15:38,521 the reality of our experience. 123 00:15:39,202 --> 00:15:55,623 But something else that's going on is all the activity in the mind, the judgments, the projections, the extrapolations, the identifications, all of the concepts that arise of people and places and things, all of the past and the future, this is all conceptual. 124 00:15:56,404 --> 00:15:58,787 It has nothing to do with the ultimate reality. 125 00:15:58,767 --> 00:16:04,684 So we begin to, the training that we're looking for is to keep ourselves with the reality. 126 00:16:05,025 --> 00:16:05,767 Keep ourselves here. 127 00:16:06,650 --> 00:16:09,037 Here we all are sitting together. 128 00:16:09,619 --> 00:16:12,507 The training is to keep ourselves here and now. 129 00:16:15,862 --> 00:16:19,548 Once we do that, this is the training in concentration. 130 00:16:20,470 --> 00:16:26,921 The third training, the training in wisdom, is that once we keep ourselves here, we begin to understand here. 131 00:16:27,402 --> 00:16:33,432 We begin to understand reality, and we begin to see the distinction between reality and illusion. 132 00:16:33,412 --> 00:16:38,201 We see how there's nothing essentially good or bad about anything. 133 00:16:38,261 --> 00:16:46,818 We see that all of the people and places and things, even our own body, is just a concept that experiences arise and cease to come and go. 134 00:16:48,080 --> 00:16:54,593 And because of wisdom, we begin to need less and less 135 00:16:54,573 --> 00:16:59,620 effort to focus ourselves and less and less effort to bring our minds back. 136 00:16:59,700 --> 00:17:10,595 Our minds are less inclined to move away and more inclined towards focusing, more inclined towards peace and calm and clarity of mind. 137 00:17:11,556 --> 00:17:22,251 Not just because we pull our minds back or try to keep our minds fixed, but because we understand the uselessness of chasing after illusion. 138 00:17:23,716 --> 00:17:25,398 This is the training in wisdom. 139 00:17:25,438 --> 00:17:42,035 We train ourselves not only to bring our minds back, not only to force our minds to stay, but to have our minds understand the benefit of staying, the benefit of being in the present moment. 140 00:17:42,595 --> 00:17:49,943 Teach ourselves how much stress is involved with running away and chasing after illusions, chasing after concept. 141 00:17:51,205 --> 00:17:52,486 So these are the three trainings. 142 00:17:52,566 --> 00:17:59,733 And this, the Buddha said, is how one both overcomes the bad things in life and cultivates the good things. 143 00:18:00,033 --> 00:18:20,571 So the first part is overcomes the world, vichyesati, overcomes the earth, overcomes all the troubles and all the difficulties and all the stresses and sufferings that are inherent in life, and how one cultivates the Dhammapada, the path of truth and the path of righteousness. 144 00:18:22,812 --> 00:18:24,015 and brings it to perfection. 145 00:18:24,296 --> 00:18:29,551 When you have all of the Buddha's teachings or all of the good things in the world, how do you bring them to perfection? 146 00:18:29,571 --> 00:18:32,359 This is the concise summary of how to do that. 147 00:18:33,242 --> 00:18:34,365 One becomes a trainee. 148 00:18:34,706 --> 00:18:35,809 One trains oneself. 149 00:18:37,544 --> 00:18:40,630 So one way of understanding Buddhism is it's a training. 150 00:18:41,592 --> 00:18:47,864 It's not something that you can wish for or hope for or something that you can be when you put on robes or so on. 151 00:18:48,585 --> 00:18:58,725 It's something that you train in, just as we train our bodies and we train our minds in a worldly sense to become proficient at this skill or that skill. 152 00:18:58,705 --> 00:19:12,698 So too we train our minds, we train our hearts in the Dhamma, in wholesomeness, and we train them out of unwholesomeness, unskillful states, states that cause stress and suffering for us and others. 153 00:19:14,483 --> 00:19:36,475 So this is the teaching in these two verses, quite a pithy sort of summary of how one brings the Buddha's teaching or brings all good states to perfection, just as a skillful person would, a skillful flower maker. 154 00:19:36,455 --> 00:19:40,625 florist would put together a bouquet of flowers. 155 00:19:40,966 --> 00:19:53,215 So all of the good things in our mind flower and we become in a sense perfect through our 156 00:19:54,646 --> 00:19:59,174 abandoning of evil, unwholesome states and through the cultivation of good states. 157 00:19:59,194 --> 00:20:04,102 So this is the teaching in this verse and that's the Dhammapada. 158 00:20:04,122 --> 00:20:08,169 So very much a practical teaching. 159 00:20:08,649 --> 00:20:11,655 This is obviously something that we have to use in our meditation. 160 00:20:11,675 --> 00:20:14,359 It's something that 161 00:20:14,339 --> 00:20:18,308 The highest training in Buddhism is here. 162 00:20:18,408 --> 00:20:33,141 It comes from the meditative practice of morality, the meditative practice of concentration, bringing the mind back, keeping the mind there, and the meditative practice or training. 163 00:20:33,121 --> 00:20:46,197 a wisdom of understanding, the understanding that keeps you out of illusion and delusion, keeps the mind from wandering, keeps the mind in tune with reality. 164 00:20:47,018 --> 00:20:50,463 So that's the teaching for today on verses 44 and 45. 165 00:20:50,783 --> 00:20:59,213 Thank you for tuning in, and I hope you're able to put this into practice and follow the path of, follow the Dhammapada on your own. 166 00:21:00,135 --> 00:21:00,495 Thank you.