1 00:00:01,634 --> 00:00:04,177 Hello and welcome back to our study of the Dhammapada. 2 00:00:05,118 --> 00:00:31,607 Today we continue on with verse number 111, which reads as follows, Yo cha wasa satang jiwe, dukpan yo asamahito, ekahang jivitang seyo, panyuantasa jaino, which 3 00:00:32,836 --> 00:00:51,283 means if one should live 100 years without wisdom, of little understanding, and unfocused, unconcentrated, 4 00:00:53,373 --> 00:01:10,690 Better is a life of one day for one who is wise and meditates. 5 00:01:13,387 --> 00:01:15,572 very similar to our last verse. 6 00:01:16,314 --> 00:01:20,884 As I said, we're going to have a series of these, and so we'll probably go through them quite quickly. 7 00:01:22,387 --> 00:01:25,033 The story for this one also is quite short. 8 00:01:27,106 --> 00:01:40,312 So here we have a story about Kondanya, but it's a monk named Kondanya, not Mahakondanya, the Kondanya that many Buddhists are familiar with. 9 00:01:40,332 --> 00:01:43,699 This one is Karnu Kondanya, Karnu. 10 00:01:45,062 --> 00:01:46,364 And Karnu means stump. 11 00:01:47,106 --> 00:01:49,350 So he was Kondanya of the stump. 12 00:01:53,600 --> 00:02:18,038 He was an Arahant and he was dwelling in the forest and he lived alone for much of the time and he became an Arahant while he was in the forest and he was on his way back to talk to the Buddha to let the Buddha know that he had become an Arahant 13 00:02:18,997 --> 00:02:20,663 And on his way back, he became tired. 14 00:02:20,704 --> 00:02:29,277 And so he stopped and sat down on a rock and entered into a meditative state. 15 00:02:30,742 --> 00:02:33,506 Maybe he entered into nibbana, maybe just ajana. 16 00:02:34,528 --> 00:02:39,736 Probably entered into cessation, a state of attainment of nibbana. 17 00:02:40,518 --> 00:02:41,940 We call palasamapati. 18 00:02:41,960 --> 00:02:53,779 When someone who has become a sotapana, sakadagami, anagami or narahant, they can enter into a state of reviewing nibbana, going over the path that they have attained. 19 00:02:54,360 --> 00:02:56,563 Not the path, going over the fruition that they have attained. 20 00:02:58,568 --> 00:03:06,782 And so they enter into cessation for 10 minutes, 1 hour, 10 hours, 24 hours. 21 00:03:08,946 --> 00:03:16,278 And during that time, it's complete cessation. 22 00:03:16,759 --> 00:03:20,425 So they are completely oblivious to the world around them. 23 00:03:21,738 --> 00:03:22,719 completely oblivious. 24 00:03:24,001 --> 00:03:28,807 There is no seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, feeling or thinking. 25 00:03:30,049 --> 00:03:31,811 No even sense of time passing. 26 00:03:33,193 --> 00:03:41,924 It seems as though that time is just missing, except there's a huge sense of peace that it lasts even after the person comes out of the state. 27 00:03:44,487 --> 00:03:50,395 And so during that time, he would have gone in for maybe a day, 24 hours or something, 28 00:03:52,282 --> 00:04:02,393 And during that time, a group of bandits, a large group of bandits, similar to in our last story, but these guys had plundered a whole village. 29 00:04:02,653 --> 00:04:09,761 They had destroyed and robbed an entire village and gone in with their guns. 30 00:04:10,101 --> 00:04:16,348 They didn't have guns with their bows and arrows and their swords and killed and raped and pillaged and 31 00:04:18,151 --> 00:04:22,738 or maybe just robbed, because they don't seem to have been all that evil. 32 00:04:24,521 --> 00:04:38,202 So they came up, and it was getting dark, and so they wanted to rest as well, and seeing this flat rock that the elder had sat on, they saw this rock, and they saw the elder, but it was getting dark, and so they thought he was a tree stump. 33 00:04:39,937 --> 00:05:01,101 And so the head bandit took his sack with all his valuables that he had robbed and actually placed it on the elder's head and just plopped it down on top of him, maybe on his shoulders or something, just over top of him. 34 00:05:02,093 --> 00:05:16,661 And the other robbers piled up their sacks around the original one, around the stump, sort of covering the monk completely, burying him in their sacks. 35 00:05:16,701 --> 00:05:23,173 So there were five hundred bandits, or a large number. 36 00:05:24,284 --> 00:05:32,389 probably usually you think 500 might be a bit of an exaggeration for one band of bandits, but a lot is the idea. 37 00:05:34,916 --> 00:05:37,163 And, um, and then they slept. 38 00:05:39,067 --> 00:06:07,251 and spent the night and the elder spent the night completely oblivious as to what was going on in the morning they wake up light out and they start to take the sacks off one by one and the chief picks up his sack or as they get close they see it's not a stump and he pulls his sack off and it's a monk sitting in meditation completely unmoved you know stiff and unaffected 39 00:06:10,859 --> 00:06:39,178 and they were spooked and they thought it was some kind of evil spirit and so they started to run away and at that moment the elder came out of the attainment and so he turned and looked at them and he said oh don't be afraid I'm a monk I'm not here to curse you and they were shocked and moved reasonably so 40 00:06:40,576 --> 00:06:51,110 seeing obviously an incredibly powerful meditator who spent the whole night covered in sacks full of heavy valuables. 41 00:06:51,971 --> 00:06:55,215 Again, it speaks to this, the power of the attainment. 42 00:06:55,295 --> 00:07:01,763 There's this idea of the power of true meditative attainment makes one invincible. 43 00:07:02,584 --> 00:07:07,090 You know, I mentioned there's Tibetan monks who supposedly go into trances 44 00:07:07,070 --> 00:07:16,321 And then they go and sit in snow banks and go into trances and maybe the fire element and they actually melt all the snow around them. 45 00:07:17,182 --> 00:07:19,705 And they have contests to see who can melt the most snow. 46 00:07:19,745 --> 00:07:20,887 I don't know, this is what I've heard. 47 00:07:22,088 --> 00:07:24,891 But there's lots of fun things that supposedly happen. 48 00:07:25,712 --> 00:07:31,980 And if you want to test, you can meditate for yourself and see what sort of things. 49 00:07:31,960 --> 00:07:35,665 A lot of people experience what we call astral travel. 50 00:07:36,727 --> 00:07:42,475 Some people are able to see things far away, hear things far away. 51 00:07:43,417 --> 00:07:45,359 Some people are able to remember past lives. 52 00:07:45,700 --> 00:07:47,222 Some people can see into the future. 53 00:07:47,262 --> 00:07:49,946 Very strange things can happen when you meditate. 54 00:07:50,447 --> 00:07:51,328 Of course, it's not the goal. 55 00:07:51,428 --> 00:07:52,630 It's not why we meditate. 56 00:07:54,613 --> 00:08:01,022 Anyway, here we have this idea of being somehow invincible when you enter into these states, physically invincible. 57 00:08:02,757 --> 00:08:06,904 covered in heavy, heavy things and not being disturbed. 58 00:08:06,964 --> 00:08:15,579 And so they were suitably impressed and made up their minds to become monks. 59 00:08:15,619 --> 00:08:21,850 The head bandit said, I'm going to become a monk under that. 60 00:08:21,870 --> 00:08:25,636 I'm going to become a follower of this guy because he's got the power. 61 00:08:27,039 --> 00:08:28,461 Here we thought we were powerful. 62 00:08:29,420 --> 00:08:57,385 we have this power over people making them afraid and being able to take their belongings from them but that's not real power not compared to this guy clearly he has far more power than us and so they became monks and so he made monks of them all just as Sankiccha had done and he went with them to the teacher 63 00:08:59,272 --> 00:09:06,463 And when they got to the Buddha, the Buddha noticed and said, Oh, Kondanya, you've got some students with you, have you? 64 00:09:07,725 --> 00:09:10,369 And Kondanya told them what had happened. 65 00:09:11,171 --> 00:09:16,178 And the Buddha looked at the monks and he said, Is this truly what happened? 66 00:09:18,242 --> 00:09:21,286 And the guys were like, Well, yeah. 67 00:09:21,767 --> 00:09:24,451 Is it true you're a bunch of bandits? 68 00:09:25,874 --> 00:09:26,815 Well, yeah, you know. 69 00:09:29,663 --> 00:09:51,030 And the Buddha shook his head and said, better for you to live one moment, better for you to live but a single day, meditating, being engaged in things that are truly to your benefit, that truly bring happiness to you and to your mind, that truly bring good things. 70 00:09:52,377 --> 00:10:06,302 better to live one day like that than to live a hundred years evil and committing such foolishness as you've been engaged in and so he 71 00:10:07,598 --> 00:10:10,982 made a connection, made the connection to the Dhamma. 72 00:10:11,463 --> 00:10:16,709 These stories at the end, it always says he connected it with the Dhamma. 73 00:10:17,330 --> 00:10:22,957 Whatever the situation was, he points out the Dhamma in regards to the situation. 74 00:10:23,378 --> 00:10:31,007 And as a result, having made the connection, he spoke this verse, and so on. 75 00:10:32,793 --> 00:10:36,758 So a short story this time and a verse very similar to our last one. 76 00:10:37,459 --> 00:10:38,540 There's not that much to say. 77 00:10:38,580 --> 00:10:58,345 The difference here is whereas the last one was... Last one was in regards to morality. 78 00:10:59,675 --> 00:11:24,838 dusilo this one is in regards to wisdom in fact it's interesting because the three things go together these two verses point out both sides of it so concentration is is the defining factor here but you have wisdom on the one hand and morality on the other and these three make up the three trainings of the Buddha together they 79 00:11:24,818 --> 00:11:29,004 they describe the Buddha's teaching, they describe the Eightfold Noble Path. 80 00:11:29,625 --> 00:11:32,169 So they are the path of practice. 81 00:11:33,231 --> 00:11:38,098 One way of explaining it is you start with morality and you become focused as a result of being ethical. 82 00:11:38,879 --> 00:11:45,769 Your mind becomes focused because you cease engaging in things that distract your mind or disturb the mind. 83 00:11:47,111 --> 00:11:50,697 And once your mind is focused, in focus, then you can see clearly. 84 00:11:51,979 --> 00:11:53,040 And that's wisdom. 85 00:11:53,060 --> 00:11:54,302 So these three go together. 86 00:11:55,480 --> 00:11:56,842 So it's rhetoric. 87 00:11:56,882 --> 00:11:59,246 You don't have to pick either or. 88 00:11:59,807 --> 00:12:05,997 The Buddha isn't saying either you can do concentration in wisdom or you can do concentration in morality. 89 00:12:06,017 --> 00:12:15,092 He's just talking about good things and he's addressing a group of people who 90 00:12:16,557 --> 00:12:21,344 who could best appreciate certain aspects of the teaching. 91 00:12:21,404 --> 00:12:26,232 So for some people, ethics is more important, more interesting and more applicable. 92 00:12:26,793 --> 00:12:28,656 For some people, wisdom will be more applicable. 93 00:12:29,377 --> 00:12:34,144 So these verses are tuned to their audience, usually. 94 00:12:37,246 --> 00:12:47,925 And probably in this case, after he desana vasani, at the end of his teaching, all 500 of the bhikkhus became arahants. 95 00:12:49,448 --> 00:12:52,133 Isn't that awesome? 96 00:12:54,003 --> 00:13:00,952 It would be nice if that sort of thing happened these days after teaching about the Dhamma, we all became arahants. 97 00:13:01,493 --> 00:13:10,205 But you can't blame the Dhamma, you have to blame yourself, that our minds are so clouded that it takes much more than just a simple teaching. 98 00:13:13,169 --> 00:13:18,897 But there's something to this idea that simple teachings can lead to enlightenment, because 99 00:13:19,433 --> 00:13:21,477 the truth is not hard to understand. 100 00:13:21,537 --> 00:13:30,453 It's actually quite easy and once you've understood it, it's almost as though you don't know how you can miss it. 101 00:13:31,374 --> 00:13:33,358 For the most part we are clear about 102 00:13:34,587 --> 00:13:36,369 reality. 103 00:13:36,870 --> 00:13:38,752 It's just we add on so much more. 104 00:13:40,194 --> 00:13:42,477 Or we ignore certain things. 105 00:13:43,057 --> 00:13:50,166 Like, for example, talking about free will and determinism, if it's about free will, then we add a soul into the equation. 106 00:13:50,186 --> 00:13:53,390 If we believe in determinism, then we ignore the mind. 107 00:13:53,410 --> 00:13:57,675 We ignore the choice. 108 00:14:00,828 --> 00:14:05,273 We ignore the first-person nature of reality. 109 00:14:07,174 --> 00:14:09,176 We think of it as just physical. 110 00:14:12,980 --> 00:14:20,989 When we are addicted to something, we tend to know that the addiction is causing us suffering, and yet we don't stop. 111 00:14:21,049 --> 00:14:27,375 We're like insane people. 112 00:14:28,739 --> 00:14:45,516 when we're angry when we're angry at someone we you make me so angry as though when someone makes us angry you make me so angry as though we're blaming them for our own suffering because we're suffering when we're angry we suffer blame 113 00:14:48,871 --> 00:14:50,914 And so the teaching is actually quite simple. 114 00:14:50,934 --> 00:15:05,733 If you receive these simple teachings and you become in tune with them, if you're hearing it from the Buddha, it's strong enough to jar you out of your state and really bring you in line with this truth. 115 00:15:06,534 --> 00:15:14,164 It's so forceful and so confidently delivered by someone who is so pure and so perfect that it really changes you. 116 00:15:15,586 --> 00:15:18,490 There's somehow kind of a magic in teaching in that way. 117 00:15:19,617 --> 00:15:30,496 when you're taught and when it's delivered with confidence, the confidence of the Buddha, the power of the Buddha. 118 00:15:32,460 --> 00:15:33,101 So there's that. 119 00:15:33,421 --> 00:15:42,317 We're to blame for not being born in the time of the Buddha, and having actually listened to him, and instead you have to listen to me. 120 00:15:44,457 --> 00:15:46,980 But the Dhamma remains the same and the path is still there. 121 00:15:47,380 --> 00:15:51,665 It just might be more difficult of a climb, more difficult of a path. 122 00:15:54,188 --> 00:15:57,391 If we don't walk it, then we can be sure to fail. 123 00:15:57,431 --> 00:16:01,636 If we practice, we can't be sure if and when we'll succeed. 124 00:16:01,896 --> 00:16:06,701 But if we don't practice, we can be sure that we will fail. 125 00:16:08,423 --> 00:16:09,064 So there's that. 126 00:16:11,272 --> 00:16:17,482 Anyway, that's the Dhammapada teaching for tonight, that we should be wise and meditate. 127 00:16:17,742 --> 00:16:26,777 We practice these two things together, not just meditating, not just focusing our minds, but also cultivating wisdom. 128 00:16:26,817 --> 00:16:34,950 Again, not just being concerned with wisdom without meditating and thinking that we know everything, studying and thinking and so on. 129 00:16:34,930 --> 00:16:38,138 But actually coming to see for ourselves. 130 00:16:38,218 --> 00:16:39,821 And when we meditate, this is what we see. 131 00:16:40,423 --> 00:16:41,185 This is what happens. 132 00:16:41,225 --> 00:16:44,974 We see impermanence, we see suffering, we see non-self. 133 00:16:44,994 --> 00:16:52,872 We see through our delusions of stability, satisfaction and control. 134 00:16:52,852 --> 00:17:17,796 or self and we've come to see that things are not the way we think they're not worth clinging to they have nothing no characteristic of them that is that makes them worth clinging to we start to see things as being without value without merit not not a stable we see that our own mind and everything in the world around us it's not a stable 135 00:17:19,244 --> 00:17:28,319 a dependable refuge or platform on which to base our goals and our aspirations and our desires. 136 00:17:28,860 --> 00:17:29,721 And so we give them up. 137 00:17:29,901 --> 00:17:31,504 We give up our desire for such things. 138 00:17:33,627 --> 00:17:35,070 And that's the best way to live. 139 00:17:35,130 --> 00:17:38,956 If you live your life one day like that, it's far more valuable. 140 00:17:39,998 --> 00:17:41,320 It's on a whole other league 141 00:17:43,375 --> 00:18:09,332 from living and living well you know people talk about living and living the good life carpe diem seize the day eat drink and be merry like angels in heaven who enjoy their pleasant things up in heaven and they think well that's that's what it's all about right people will say this is what it's all about i mean i know i used to be there we'd party and 142 00:18:09,312 --> 00:18:10,894 and dance and sing. 143 00:18:10,934 --> 00:18:37,024 I remember going to dances when I was younger and everyone was so excited and so much, because there's so much chemicals in the brain, adrenaline and so on, and dopamine, I don't know what kinds of chemicals, involved with dancing and enjoying yourself and partying and drinking and laughing and joking and playing music, playing musical instruments and so on. 144 00:18:39,502 --> 00:18:40,743 And then it doesn't make you happier. 145 00:18:40,783 --> 00:18:42,965 You don't actually feel happier afterwards. 146 00:18:46,008 --> 00:18:48,150 So that kind of life is actually pointless. 147 00:18:48,711 --> 00:18:52,074 In the end you finish and you die and that was it. 148 00:18:52,394 --> 00:18:53,735 You've gained nothing. 149 00:18:55,737 --> 00:19:03,805 In fact, most likely you've cultivated all sorts of addiction and attachment and aversion that's going to cause you problems in this life and in the next. 150 00:19:05,706 --> 00:19:06,387 So there's that. 151 00:19:08,746 --> 00:19:09,729 Better to be mindful. 152 00:19:09,990 --> 00:19:10,873 Better to be wise. 153 00:19:12,819 --> 00:19:13,802 Better to be focused. 154 00:19:15,267 --> 00:19:16,631 Better to see things as they are. 155 00:19:18,798 --> 00:19:20,363 So that's the Dhammapada for today. 156 00:19:20,503 --> 00:19:21,647 Thank you all for tuning in. 157 00:19:21,788 --> 00:19:22,249 Have a good night.