1 00:00:02,765 --> 00:00:05,169 Hi and welcome back to our study of the Dhammapada. 2 00:00:06,611 --> 00:00:07,292 Full house tonight. 3 00:00:09,115 --> 00:00:14,303 Tonight we continue on with verses number 58 and 59. 4 00:00:16,026 --> 00:00:17,308 Which read as follows. 5 00:00:20,833 --> 00:00:29,667 Yatha Sankara Dhanasmingh Ujjitasmingh Mahapate 6 00:00:32,093 --> 00:00:51,150 Two verses tonight. 7 00:00:52,251 --> 00:01:01,560 The meaning of which is approximately 8 00:01:03,464 --> 00:01:28,223 yathā saṅkāra-dānasmiṁ just as in a rubbish heap discarded by the side of the highway a lotus can grow even there that is well scented and delightful 9 00:01:31,747 --> 00:01:52,742 So too, e wang so too, or just so, in the heap of beings, or the heap of becoming, no, the heap of beings, sankarabhudesu, in the heap of becomings. 10 00:01:56,097 --> 00:02:04,490 who are blind and full of defilements. 11 00:02:08,116 --> 00:02:18,813 The disciple of the perfectly enlightened Buddha shines exceedingly, or outshines, outshines them all with his or her wisdom. 12 00:02:20,415 --> 00:02:21,497 Atirochati Panyaya. 13 00:02:22,827 --> 00:02:29,979 So two verses, two verses, one saying of the Buddha and one story. 14 00:02:31,381 --> 00:02:39,395 Now, again, as with all these stories, sometimes we get complaints about the stories being too fanciful or unbelievable. 15 00:02:39,455 --> 00:02:46,827 And I think there's a confusion between the actual teaching and the history behind the teaching. 16 00:02:48,562 --> 00:02:58,504 Now, I'm among the first to say that these histories are fanciful and most likely exaggerated. 17 00:02:59,885 --> 00:03:03,350 But that should have no bearing on the teaching. 18 00:03:04,312 --> 00:03:09,419 Whether something happened or didn't happen, a little bearing on the teaching. 19 00:03:09,580 --> 00:03:17,712 Obviously if you don't believe in magic at all, then you're going to have a hard time with many aspects of the Buddha's teaching. 20 00:03:17,772 --> 00:03:23,901 And so there's some reflection on the teaching and the fact that these sorts of things could actually happen. 21 00:03:23,881 --> 00:03:45,383 And I would say probably not as extravagant as they are portrayed to have occurred, but certainly some sort of magic, or what seems to be magic, some sort of extrasensory perception appears to be quite possible and existent in the universe. 22 00:03:48,603 --> 00:03:52,288 But that isn't the core of the message of what's being taught here. 23 00:03:52,308 --> 00:03:57,375 Obviously this here teaching of the Buddha has nothing to do with anything supernatural, but the story does. 24 00:03:58,237 --> 00:03:58,918 It's a good story. 25 00:03:58,958 --> 00:03:59,719 It's a funny story. 26 00:03:59,819 --> 00:04:01,321 It's one that's quite memorable. 27 00:04:02,363 --> 00:04:03,664 And so I hope I can do it justice. 28 00:04:03,704 --> 00:04:06,388 It's quite long as well, relatively speaking. 29 00:04:08,391 --> 00:04:18,205 So there are these two, two friends and 30 00:04:20,176 --> 00:04:29,627 One of them's name is Sirigutta, and the other one's name is, if I remember correctly, Garahadina. 31 00:04:30,228 --> 00:04:32,150 Does anybody remember the name Garahadina? 32 00:04:32,871 --> 00:04:33,792 Sound familiar to anyone? 33 00:04:35,034 --> 00:04:37,617 I think it's Garahadina, I think is his name. 34 00:04:38,418 --> 00:04:39,619 Anyway, we'll give him these two names. 35 00:04:39,659 --> 00:04:40,440 If I'm wrong, I'm wrong. 36 00:04:41,762 --> 00:04:44,445 Garahadina and Sirigutta. 37 00:04:47,969 --> 00:04:49,893 and two friends living in Sawati. 38 00:04:51,175 --> 00:05:03,801 And Garhadina was a disciple of Nigantanatta Buddha, who was also known as Mahavira, the leader of the Jain religion. 39 00:05:05,097 --> 00:05:08,361 and well-known for its naked ascetics. 40 00:05:08,381 --> 00:05:11,385 In the time of the Buddha, these were the guys who walked around naked. 41 00:05:11,405 --> 00:05:14,349 And even still, apparently today, you'll see some of them. 42 00:05:15,670 --> 00:05:19,375 I never saw them when I was in India, but apparently they're still walking around naked. 43 00:05:19,395 --> 00:05:22,819 In India, this is their religious practice. 44 00:05:22,839 --> 00:05:26,284 And Sri Guta was a follower of the Buddha, a supporter of the Buddha. 45 00:05:26,304 --> 00:05:30,649 And they were both fairly well-off, so they were considered to be 46 00:05:31,861 --> 00:05:39,593 considered to be some sort of main supporter or important supporter of the two schools. 47 00:05:43,049 --> 00:06:04,888 Now Garahadhina for a long time he would, I know Garahadhina was once speaking with the Nigantanathaputtas, the naked ascetics, and they would say to him, hey why don't you tell Sirigutta to come and pay respect to us, he's got lots of money and 48 00:06:04,868 --> 00:06:07,530 What is he doing paying respect to the Buddha? 49 00:06:07,550 --> 00:06:09,552 What is he doing supporting the Buddha? 50 00:06:10,613 --> 00:06:13,316 What does he hope to gain from supporting Samana Gautama? 51 00:06:13,656 --> 00:06:22,284 Why don't you tell him that he should come and support us and give us stuff and give us offerings instead? 52 00:06:23,805 --> 00:06:32,293 Of course, you can imagine that they only had his best interests at heart, right? 53 00:06:34,096 --> 00:06:45,447 And so Garhadina, he took this to heart and he thought, wow, these guys must really, yeah, of course I should tell my friend about the great teaching that I'm getting from these naked guys. 54 00:06:46,889 --> 00:06:55,237 And so he went to, kind of funny, huh? 55 00:06:56,258 --> 00:07:00,542 Mark Twain once said, naked people have, what is it, clothes make the man. 56 00:07:01,636 --> 00:07:03,098 You know the saying, clothes make the man? 57 00:07:04,200 --> 00:07:05,021 Clothes make the man. 58 00:07:05,061 --> 00:07:07,624 Naked people have very little influence on society. 59 00:07:10,148 --> 00:07:11,369 Well, in India that's not true. 60 00:07:11,409 --> 00:07:15,535 Naked people had quite an influence because there was an idea that they'd given up everything. 61 00:07:16,476 --> 00:07:19,240 You see, you still have attachments because you're wearing clothes. 62 00:07:19,881 --> 00:07:22,324 If you weren't attached to anything, you could just go naked. 63 00:07:25,969 --> 00:07:27,812 What you got to say to that? 64 00:07:29,665 --> 00:07:38,014 So he was thinking, yeah, these ascetics, these Gautama and his followers, they don't know what they're talking about. 65 00:07:38,415 --> 00:07:42,299 Look at them, they're still wearing clothes covering up their bodies as though they've got something to hide. 66 00:07:42,319 --> 00:07:45,302 Well, the truth is there is kind of something to hide, right? 67 00:07:46,143 --> 00:07:48,606 And the body is something distracting. 68 00:07:49,267 --> 00:07:52,550 So we wear clothes as a matter of norm, not because we're attached to something. 69 00:07:53,291 --> 00:07:56,955 We wear clothes in order to keep from distracting each other. 70 00:07:56,935 --> 00:08:19,990 with our bodies that's part of the reason another part of the reason is for warmth you guys who are naked they're actually part of it is torturing themselves they want to go around in the cold so imagine walking naked in winnipeg in the winter no maybe an icicle and for heat when it's too hot and you put them on and put them over your head and keep cool 71 00:08:21,725 --> 00:08:24,609 And when there are mosquitoes, right? 72 00:08:24,629 --> 00:08:29,557 Imagine going naked with the mosquitoes and the leeches and everything. 73 00:08:30,598 --> 00:08:33,262 And thorns, not to mention thorns walking through the forest. 74 00:08:33,302 --> 00:08:35,686 Hard to walk through the forest if you're naked, let me tell you. 75 00:08:36,547 --> 00:08:40,813 Not that I've ever done it. 76 00:08:42,127 --> 00:08:47,898 Right, so he goes up to Sri Guta and he starts bugging him constantly about this. 77 00:08:48,119 --> 00:08:55,072 He says it once and Sri Guta says, hey, what are you doing paying respect and following and listening to the teachings of Samanagottama? 78 00:08:55,112 --> 00:09:00,042 Come and listen to the teachings of my teachers and give them offerings and so on. 79 00:09:01,865 --> 00:09:03,308 And Sri Guta didn't say anything. 80 00:09:03,912 --> 00:09:04,593 Because he's Buddhist. 81 00:09:04,874 --> 00:09:08,200 He was still a ,, he was still an ordinary world thing. 82 00:09:08,821 --> 00:09:09,863 But he was a follower of the Buddha. 83 00:09:09,883 --> 00:09:11,446 And so he understood, you know, you don't fight. 84 00:09:11,606 --> 00:09:13,590 Fighting and arguing and so on is not useful. 85 00:09:14,451 --> 00:09:19,120 So he just would sit still and hold his peace. 86 00:09:21,749 --> 00:09:28,859 Until again and again and again and again and constantly he was being bothered by Gara Hadina, come and pay respect to these guys. 87 00:09:29,660 --> 00:09:37,931 And he says, look, finally he gets fed up and he says, look, mister, what is so great about these guys? 88 00:09:38,071 --> 00:09:38,932 What's so wonderful? 89 00:09:39,132 --> 00:09:43,458 What is it that they know that you keep bugging me about that I should go and listen to their teaching? 90 00:09:44,419 --> 00:09:46,042 And Gara Hadina says, what do they know? 91 00:09:46,122 --> 00:09:47,824 What don't they know? 92 00:09:47,804 --> 00:09:51,528 My teachers are masters of the past, the present, the future. 93 00:09:52,469 --> 00:10:00,198 They know all about everybody's bodily actions, verbal actions, mental actions, past, present, future. 94 00:10:00,978 --> 00:10:05,403 They know, they're able to read everything about other people's minds. 95 00:10:06,464 --> 00:10:07,205 They know everything. 96 00:10:09,327 --> 00:10:10,809 So if you did something, they know it. 97 00:10:11,610 --> 00:10:12,771 There's no hiding from them. 98 00:10:12,791 --> 00:10:13,732 It's like Santa Claus. 99 00:10:13,832 --> 00:10:16,275 They know when you're naughty, they know when you're nice. 100 00:10:19,124 --> 00:10:22,671 They see you when you're sleeping, you know, that's just creepy, no? 101 00:10:28,062 --> 00:10:31,770 And Siriguta, Siriguta is a clever man. 102 00:10:33,674 --> 00:10:35,698 He looks at him, he says, really? 103 00:10:36,691 --> 00:10:39,174 Oh, shame on you for not telling me beforehand. 104 00:10:39,214 --> 00:10:42,439 Why didn't you tell me that these guys were so wonderful? 105 00:10:42,779 --> 00:10:45,463 In that case, bring them on over to my house. 106 00:10:45,583 --> 00:10:47,085 I want to pay respect to these guys. 107 00:10:47,185 --> 00:10:50,991 Bring them over and I'll feed them all and I'll worship them. 108 00:10:52,032 --> 00:10:53,194 That's just wonderful. 109 00:10:53,234 --> 00:10:53,935 You bring them over. 110 00:10:53,975 --> 00:10:58,581 I want to pay respect to these naked guys. 111 00:11:03,370 --> 00:11:07,475 And Gara Hadena is so excited, he says, yeah, I knew I could convince you. 112 00:11:08,456 --> 00:11:12,741 And so he goes back to the naked ascetics and he says to them, hey, tomorrow he's going to invite you to his house. 113 00:11:12,821 --> 00:11:13,402 Come on over. 114 00:11:14,663 --> 00:11:21,852 And he's going to offer you food and worship you and so on, pay respect to you and so on. 115 00:11:22,953 --> 00:11:23,974 And they say, did he tell you that? 116 00:11:24,014 --> 00:11:25,136 Yes, he told me himself. 117 00:11:25,376 --> 00:11:25,957 Oh, wonderful. 118 00:11:26,077 --> 00:11:27,759 So maybe not the next morning. 119 00:11:27,779 --> 00:11:28,520 It's like a week later. 120 00:11:28,560 --> 00:11:29,601 He needs some time to prepare. 121 00:11:30,863 --> 00:11:32,044 And so here's how he prepares. 122 00:11:34,353 --> 00:11:35,835 There's a spot at his home. 123 00:11:36,175 --> 00:11:38,838 He's a rich guy, you know, so he's got these two buildings. 124 00:11:39,239 --> 00:11:43,784 And in between these two buildings, he digs a, he digs a, not funny yet. 125 00:11:45,266 --> 00:11:47,428 He digs a long ditch. 126 00:11:50,532 --> 00:11:53,456 And he fills it up with cow poop. 127 00:11:57,741 --> 00:12:03,988 And then he ties two stakes, one on either end of the ditch, and puts a rope between them. 128 00:12:05,842 --> 00:12:12,037 And then he takes some seats, some wooden benches, kind of thing. 129 00:12:12,919 --> 00:12:14,021 Or maybe they're like chairs. 130 00:12:14,162 --> 00:12:16,246 Maybe he had like stools or something. 131 00:12:17,509 --> 00:12:22,922 And the front legs would be on the ground, and the back legs would be on the rope. 132 00:12:26,176 --> 00:12:35,607 It was probably some kind, they were probably touching some kind of, like in Thailand, they have these square, like about this big, and then it's got legs down, and the monks would sit on them. 133 00:12:36,969 --> 00:12:42,636 And so the legs would be probably big legs, like this big, and you just, and it's on the rope. 134 00:12:43,296 --> 00:12:48,943 And he set them up, and then he covered them up with these coverlets, red carpets or something. 135 00:12:52,130 --> 00:13:19,048 And then he took these big, he had them scrub out these pots of, these clay pots, wash them out, scrub them, and cover them up empty, and then smear the outside with food, like porridge on one and ghee on the other, put some splashes of ghee on it, and one with cake crumbs and so on, and cover them up with banana leaves or so on. 136 00:13:20,058 --> 00:13:47,112 and put them out and then Garhadina came along and he said so have you have you have you prepared oh yes yes I made lots of food and I set out the seats and Garhadina says where is it he says over there and he shows him the pots and the pots look like they're full of food and he shows him the seats and they look wonderful and really great and Garhadina goes back and he gets his naked ascetic guys 137 00:13:47,092 --> 00:13:51,870 and they come back to the house, and Gara Hadina says, so, 138 00:13:53,048 --> 00:13:55,730 You're the ones who are supposed to know everything, right? 139 00:13:56,331 --> 00:13:58,813 You know everything about the past, the present and the future. 140 00:13:59,494 --> 00:13:59,974 Well, we'll see. 141 00:14:00,294 --> 00:14:03,237 If you go in there, there's no food in there. 142 00:14:03,277 --> 00:14:11,064 If you go in there, you're going to fall into that ditch and I'm going to beat you with sticks, have you beaten with sticks and chased away. 143 00:14:11,704 --> 00:14:12,104 And he does. 144 00:14:12,585 --> 00:14:15,507 They go in and one of them is about to sit down. 145 00:14:15,527 --> 00:14:19,130 He says, wait, wait, wait, we've got a custom in this house that you have to follow when you sit. 146 00:14:19,831 --> 00:14:22,093 It's a time-honored tradition. 147 00:14:23,423 --> 00:14:47,440 everyone has to stand in front of their seats and sit down all at once and they're like okay men in rome no it's his house his rules so they stand in front of the seats and he says and when he's got his he's got his he's told his um his guys to stand behind the seats 148 00:14:48,635 --> 00:14:49,637 This, I think, was added. 149 00:14:49,657 --> 00:14:53,442 I don't think this is... It seems kind of a weird part of the story. 150 00:14:53,462 --> 00:15:01,094 But anyway, apparently he's got these guys prepared to grab onto the cloth because he doesn't want to get the cloth dirty. 151 00:15:01,755 --> 00:15:04,339 So just as they're about to sit down, he says, OK, sit down all at once. 152 00:15:04,639 --> 00:15:17,258 These guys pull the cloth out and they sit down on the benches and the benches fall into the cow dung and they're all mucked up, naked and dirty. 153 00:15:18,740 --> 00:15:25,548 And then he closes the gate of his compound and has them beaten with sticks. 154 00:15:26,809 --> 00:15:37,080 And once they're all beaten up, it's not really a Buddhist thing to do, which is why I say this guy, he's a supporter of the Buddha, but he's certainly not an enlightened being by any means. 155 00:15:38,442 --> 00:15:46,691 Anyway, we'll see that there is a difference between a Buddhist Bhutujana and a non-Buddhist Bhutujana. 156 00:15:47,412 --> 00:15:48,493 The end of the story is that 157 00:15:50,482 --> 00:15:51,283 bit of a bite to it. 158 00:15:52,044 --> 00:16:02,176 So he has them beaten and then finally when they're all beaten up he has them open the gate and chases them out and they all go running back to their monastery. 159 00:16:02,196 --> 00:16:17,974 But the last thing he's done, just to add insult to injury, he's put this whitewash, I don't know quite what that is, but he's put down something on the road to make it slippery, like rice flour or something, I don't know, or powder of clay or something. 160 00:16:17,954 --> 00:16:37,667 like mud and he's made the whole road slippery and they're slipping and sliding and getting muddy and dirty and unable they just look like fools basically he's just made total and complete fools if you want to make someone a fool of someone remember here's how you do it not that Buddhists do such things 161 00:16:40,465 --> 00:16:41,266 practical joke. 162 00:16:41,306 --> 00:16:44,070 It was like a terrible, terrible practical joke he played on them. 163 00:16:44,090 --> 00:16:52,543 But his point was, you guys are supposed to know everything and here you are suckers to, he taught them a real lesson. 164 00:16:52,763 --> 00:16:57,310 Don't claim to be omniscient when you fall for such a stupid trick as that. 165 00:16:59,872 --> 00:17:16,434 And Gara Hadina gets really, really angry and he goes to the king and he has Sri Guta brought forth before the king and he tells the king to punish him and the king asks the story and Sri Guta says, well, this guy was bugging me and telling me these guys were omniscient, so I wanted to test them out. 166 00:17:16,494 --> 00:17:17,796 They're obviously not omniscient. 167 00:17:17,896 --> 00:17:19,298 He was lying to me. 168 00:17:19,278 --> 00:17:22,446 It was a real setup to me. 169 00:17:22,486 --> 00:17:24,270 They set me up. 170 00:17:24,290 --> 00:17:25,914 And the king says, yeah, well, that's true. 171 00:17:25,954 --> 00:17:27,418 And so he punishes Garahadina. 172 00:17:27,458 --> 00:17:32,089 He has him beaten and has all the naked ascetics beaten again, apparently. 173 00:17:33,908 --> 00:17:35,831 So Gara Hadid is not a happy camper. 174 00:17:37,253 --> 00:17:54,778 And for two weeks he refuses to talk to Siriguta until finally he comes up to Siriguta one day and says, look, I know we had a disagreement, but we're friends. 175 00:17:54,818 --> 00:17:55,680 Why are we not talking? 176 00:17:55,700 --> 00:17:57,622 And Siriguta says, well, it's because you weren't talking to me. 177 00:17:57,663 --> 00:17:58,684 I was waiting for you to... 178 00:17:58,664 --> 00:18:25,566 come and talk to me and Garahadina says that's fine let's go back and be friends and after that they were friends until one day Sirigutta says to Garahadina well why don't you come and check out the teaching of the Buddha see what his teaching is like maybe you'll get something from it and Garahadina is like oh tell me what is so good about Samanagottama's teaching 179 00:18:25,546 --> 00:18:27,889 Oh, he knows everything. 180 00:18:28,089 --> 00:18:30,612 There's nothing he doesn't know about the past, the present, the future. 181 00:18:31,192 --> 00:18:33,715 He can read people's minds in 16 different ways. 182 00:18:34,436 --> 00:18:37,720 I don't know what the 16 different ways are, but that's what the story says. 183 00:18:40,082 --> 00:18:44,467 So Garay Dinda says, oh, well, then invite him to my house next week or whenever. 184 00:18:44,588 --> 00:18:49,393 I'll feed him and I'll worship him and da-da-da-da-da, listen to his teaching. 185 00:18:50,858 --> 00:18:51,919 He says, okay. 186 00:18:52,140 --> 00:18:59,008 And he goes to the Buddha and he says to the Buddha, look, I got an invitation for you, but I've got to warn you. 187 00:18:59,689 --> 00:19:06,637 This friend of mine, he's offered to invite you for food, but I kind of played a practical joke on him. 188 00:19:06,697 --> 00:19:17,710 So he might be trying to get me back for it by maybe dropping you in a ditch of cow dung or something. 189 00:19:18,837 --> 00:19:20,444 And the Buddha says, I accept. 190 00:19:21,428 --> 00:19:22,393 He thinks about it for a second. 191 00:19:22,413 --> 00:19:26,350 The Buddha thinks and sends his mind out and 192 00:19:28,051 --> 00:19:30,455 sees the future and sees what's going to happen. 193 00:19:31,697 --> 00:19:32,298 So I accept. 194 00:19:33,640 --> 00:19:46,000 And meanwhile, back at Gara Hadina's place, he gets a whole bunch of wood and digs a big trench, pit, ditch, right? 195 00:19:46,741 --> 00:19:49,165 Fills it up with wood and lights it on fire. 196 00:19:49,921 --> 00:19:56,407 And all night he has it burning and smoldering until he's got red hot coals, this pit full of red hot coals. 197 00:19:56,827 --> 00:20:05,295 And he covers it up with this, some kind of logs that are smeared so that they don't burn, but they kind of smolder. 198 00:20:05,355 --> 00:20:09,839 I don't know, some way of keeping it under wraps, but still really, really hot. 199 00:20:11,100 --> 00:20:15,524 And I guess like these are like supports or something that they're not gonna burn. 200 00:20:16,425 --> 00:20:19,928 And then on top of those, he puts these benches 201 00:20:19,908 --> 00:20:40,650 right with the rope as well I think so that they're gonna fall in no no no he doesn't put benches he put some kind of very very weak wood that's just gonna snap and break and and fall in and then covers up covers it up and goes off and 202 00:20:40,782 --> 00:20:42,285 Does the same with these pots. 203 00:20:42,325 --> 00:20:50,319 He takes these pots and smears the outside with whatever kind of food and leaves them there. 204 00:20:50,540 --> 00:20:52,723 Sri Guta comes along and says, oh, did you make food? 205 00:20:52,764 --> 00:20:57,612 And the story makes him want to be kind of gullible because I'd want to check in the pots after I did something like it. 206 00:20:57,632 --> 00:20:58,093 But he doesn't. 207 00:20:58,293 --> 00:21:01,058 He sees the pots and he says, oh, OK, great, you've got food. 208 00:21:02,160 --> 00:21:02,962 Goes and gets the Buddha. 209 00:21:02,982 --> 00:21:04,765 The Buddha comes along with all the monks. 210 00:21:06,331 --> 00:21:12,460 And Srigutta says, OK, but there's a rule in our family. 211 00:21:12,480 --> 00:21:17,928 We've got this custom where the head teacher has to go in. 212 00:21:18,009 --> 00:21:19,090 Or maybe he doesn't say it's a custom. 213 00:21:19,110 --> 00:21:22,215 He said, what I would like is for you. 214 00:21:22,235 --> 00:21:25,500 And he says to the Buddha, go in first and sit down. 215 00:21:25,560 --> 00:21:26,922 And then the monks come in. 216 00:21:26,902 --> 00:21:31,128 He did this because he didn't want the other monks to see the Buddha fall into the pit. 217 00:21:31,148 --> 00:21:33,871 He wanted to ridicule the Buddha on his own. 218 00:21:33,891 --> 00:21:37,736 He thought if the other monks were there, I don't know, they'd get in the way. 219 00:21:38,117 --> 00:21:41,461 So he decided he just wanted to make fun of the Buddha himself. 220 00:21:43,323 --> 00:21:46,868 Now here is what the story says happened. 221 00:21:47,101 --> 00:21:59,760 the Buddha walked over to the pit of fire and put his foot on to where the hot coals would have been where he would have fallen through to the hot coals and as soon as he put his foot down a lotus 222 00:21:59,842 --> 00:22:25,140 about this big burst up from the coals and lay itself out as a seat and the Buddha went up on top of it and sat down on the lotus and lotuses began to burst all along the trench and all the monks came in and sat on the lotuses that's what the story says happened 223 00:22:28,934 --> 00:22:32,298 And so suspend your disbelief, because it's a cool story anyway. 224 00:22:35,641 --> 00:22:37,784 Garhadena, how do you think he felt when that happened? 225 00:22:39,526 --> 00:22:40,427 Not a happy camper. 226 00:22:41,548 --> 00:22:43,490 He became agitated. 227 00:22:43,550 --> 00:22:50,418 And when you see such a miracle like this, he got very, very agitated and upset. 228 00:22:50,498 --> 00:22:51,519 And he came up to the Buddha. 229 00:22:51,559 --> 00:22:53,101 And he bowed down at the Buddha. 230 00:22:53,121 --> 00:22:54,022 And he held his hands up. 231 00:22:54,062 --> 00:22:56,224 And he said, please, venerable sir, be my refuge. 232 00:22:57,487 --> 00:22:59,649 And he was just totally frightened. 233 00:23:00,230 --> 00:23:01,852 And the Buddha said, why, what's wrong? 234 00:23:02,873 --> 00:23:08,840 And Garahadina says, truth is, I didn't make any food for today. 235 00:23:09,621 --> 00:23:11,563 I was just pretending to make food. 236 00:23:12,424 --> 00:23:17,490 And you were supposed to fall into a pit of hot coals, which I see has just disappeared. 237 00:23:19,072 --> 00:23:22,836 And the Buddha said, well, didn't you tell me that, or didn't you say that there were 238 00:23:22,816 --> 00:23:46,309 there were these pots of food here and here and here and he says yes but I was lying there's nothing in those pots and the Buddha says well then go back and look at them again and so Gara Hadina goes over to the pots opens up the one with rice and it's full of rice opens up the one with ghee and it's full of ghee opens up and all of the pots are full of whatever food that he said was in them before 239 00:23:47,723 --> 00:24:01,142 And the Garahadina becomes very, very excited and gains faith in the Buddha and comes back and offers the Buddha food and all the monks food and they have a wonderful time with it and everyone lives happily ever after. 240 00:24:02,523 --> 00:24:05,046 No. 241 00:24:05,627 --> 00:24:17,641 So the Buddha and the monks eat the meal, and after the meal, the Buddha takes his hand out and washes his hand, and then is going to give the anamodana, which is give a teaching in thanks. 242 00:24:18,122 --> 00:24:22,307 So the tradition is in thanks for giving a food after the meal. 243 00:24:23,288 --> 00:24:29,155 The Buddha or whatever senior monk is there will give a teaching as a sort of a thanks. 244 00:24:30,974 --> 00:24:35,983 And in thanks he taught something based on this verse. 245 00:24:36,383 --> 00:24:48,865 So he explained about how disciples of the Blessed One have great wisdom, and it's because of that great wisdom that they shine amongst ordinary people, even if they are 246 00:24:48,845 --> 00:25:11,562 born in a family or live in a town or a society that is full of evil and defilement and worldliness and blindness they are still able to shine and are still able to maintain their beauty and retain their beauty just as a lotus can grow even from a rubbish heap and still be beautiful 247 00:25:14,360 --> 00:25:21,468 So the teaching really has not much to do with the story. 248 00:25:22,249 --> 00:25:25,113 It just happens to be the teaching that he gave to these guys. 249 00:25:25,854 --> 00:25:35,565 But the connection is that there's a difference between one who is a real disciple of the Buddha and one who is not. 250 00:25:35,605 --> 00:25:42,814 There's a great power and goodness that comes from it. 251 00:25:44,026 --> 00:25:48,074 Anyway, it's accentuating the difference between the two teachings. 252 00:25:48,675 --> 00:25:53,365 Now, as a result of the teaching, both Sirigutta and Garhadina became Sotapannas. 253 00:25:54,106 --> 00:25:57,874 And many other people there were able to gain benefit from it as well. 254 00:25:58,776 --> 00:26:02,583 So then they both became true disciples of the Buddha. 255 00:26:02,603 --> 00:26:04,026 That's the story. 256 00:26:04,006 --> 00:26:10,693 The teaching, there's not much there, but it's an important teaching nonetheless. 257 00:26:10,973 --> 00:26:15,959 I think the most important part of it to me is the encouragement that it gives to us. 258 00:26:17,020 --> 00:26:26,550 This image of a lotus coming out of the garbage or coming out of dirt or even in cow dung. 259 00:26:28,132 --> 00:26:30,975 A lotus can grow even in a rubbish heap. 260 00:26:32,086 --> 00:26:33,909 It can grow in a compost heap. 261 00:26:35,251 --> 00:26:52,018 And so too, a person who is dedicated and sincere can become enlightened even amongst people who are blind and evil and mean and nasty and so on. 262 00:26:52,252 --> 00:26:53,093 even in that case. 263 00:26:53,873 --> 00:27:03,622 So that when we're in a place or in a situation where we're surrounded or when we have to interact with people of that sort, we should just think of ourselves as the lotus. 264 00:27:04,362 --> 00:27:09,687 And the Buddha said, just like a lotus doesn't get wet when it rains, the water just slides off the lotus. 265 00:27:09,767 --> 00:27:22,157 Even so, we should try to retain our purity even when defilements come at us, when other people come at us with their defilements. 266 00:27:24,787 --> 00:27:35,422 This is really a quality of the meditation practice, of insight meditation practice, where it makes you stainless. 267 00:27:35,542 --> 00:27:45,175 It makes it impossible to disturb the mind when you see something and it's just seeing. 268 00:27:45,215 --> 00:27:48,600 Then any defilements, right, the Buddha said, 269 00:27:48,580 --> 00:28:03,596 When you are na nubhayan janagahi, na nimitnagahi, na nubhayan janagahi, when you're someone who doesn't take the signs or the characteristics of the object, just takes the object as it is. 270 00:28:03,717 --> 00:28:05,218 If it's seeing, see it as seeing. 271 00:28:05,298 --> 00:28:06,660 If it's hearing, know it as hearing. 272 00:28:06,700 --> 00:28:07,761 If it's smelling, know it as smelling. 273 00:28:08,141 --> 00:28:09,162 Thinking, know it as thinking. 274 00:28:09,243 --> 00:28:10,264 Pain, know it as pain. 275 00:28:11,345 --> 00:28:15,630 Liking, disliking, know it just as liking and disliking, and so on. 276 00:28:15,650 --> 00:28:17,912 This creates an objectivity that 277 00:28:17,892 --> 00:28:32,863 That makes the mind perfectly invincible, impenetrable, imperturbable, unsusceptible to harm. 278 00:28:35,813 --> 00:29:05,196 this is the quality that we aspire to in our practice and on our path in the Buddhist teaching to become objective so that we like the lotus even surrounded by people shouting and screaming people beating and hitting and fighting and surrounded by hardship and suffering even there we can find happiness just like the lotus can grow even from the from the rubbish heap 279 00:29:05,176 --> 00:29:17,619 That's the first part of the teaching and it's really I would say the most important one, this idea of being stainless, of being imperturbable, of being unsullied by the world, by the Anda Buddha, the blindness around us. 280 00:29:18,300 --> 00:29:27,758 People who cause suffering for themselves and suffering for others simply because they don't know any better, they don't see, because they can't see the truth. 281 00:29:27,738 --> 00:29:32,291 Putujana means full of defilements. 282 00:29:32,371 --> 00:29:42,760 They have so much desire and addiction and aversion and hatred and miserliness and stinginess, meanness. 283 00:29:42,740 --> 00:29:43,822 all these evil qualities. 284 00:29:45,104 --> 00:29:59,888 So our ability to stay above that, it really is possible to stay above that, and our ability to do so comes from the meditation practice, comes from our objectivity, our ability to take when someone's screaming at you to just know it as hearing, when someone's hitting you to know it as feeling or pain. 285 00:29:59,868 --> 00:30:14,383 when we have unpleasant sounds or smells or tastes or feelings or thoughts to just know them as they are when you have racking piercing pains even such as would take your life might take your life away 286 00:30:15,106 --> 00:30:18,393 Then you know them just as pain, not as good, as bad. 287 00:30:19,215 --> 00:30:27,872 And as a result you are like the lotus that's unstained, unsullied by the dirt in which it rises. 288 00:30:28,233 --> 00:30:34,887 The second part is the emphasis on what makes a person shine and that's the wisdom. 289 00:30:36,250 --> 00:30:40,715 And that's the essential quality of the meditation practice. 290 00:30:40,735 --> 00:30:46,762 What makes us shine and what allows us to become objective is wisdom, is seeing objects clearly as they are. 291 00:30:47,823 --> 00:30:51,587 This comes first with the actual application of the meditation. 292 00:30:52,528 --> 00:30:58,295 When you're just saying to yourself, seeing, seeing, or hearing, hearing, there arises a sort of a wisdom. 293 00:30:58,355 --> 00:31:02,359 You see the object clearly as it is, that seeing, that hearing. 294 00:31:02,339 --> 00:31:05,724 And that wisdom keeps the mind stainless, but that's only temporary. 295 00:31:06,325 --> 00:31:11,814 That's a freedom from defilement that is momentary. 296 00:31:12,875 --> 00:31:15,980 As you begin to practice more and more and more, it becomes habitual. 297 00:31:16,661 --> 00:31:23,011 And then the mind starts to incline towards that state, and the mind becomes more and more objective by nature. 298 00:31:23,652 --> 00:31:29,882 This is a habitual objectivity that comes from someone who practices meditation long enough. 299 00:31:29,862 --> 00:31:46,563 And the third is through the extended application and this habitual application and inclination towards objectivity, eventually the mind breaks away from defilement. 300 00:31:46,603 --> 00:31:51,229 It gives rise to this epiphany that allows one to 301 00:31:51,209 --> 00:32:14,533 enter into nibbana means the mind doesn't go out to seeing hearing smelling tasting feeling or thinking there's no awareness whatsoever there's a complete cessation of any kind of any kind of sensual experience or non-sensual experience any kind of awareness whatsoever so the mind and the mind 302 00:32:14,513 --> 00:32:22,106 enters or stays put, the mind stops. 303 00:32:23,568 --> 00:32:25,712 And with that there is the experience of nibbana. 304 00:32:25,752 --> 00:32:35,408 Now that's what cuts off the defilements because that experience even just for a moment allows one to see what true peace is, what true happiness is. 305 00:32:35,388 --> 00:32:39,917 And so that is considered the highest form of wisdom, even though there's no thinking at the time. 306 00:32:40,318 --> 00:32:53,825 But this insight that allows us to see or that is comprised of the seeing that everything else, everything arises and ceases, that everything is susceptible to cessation. 307 00:32:53,865 --> 00:32:57,632 It's possible to enter into the cessation of all arisen things. 308 00:32:59,047 --> 00:33:24,345 this changes one's mind and shifts one's view and idea about happiness and peace and freedom from suffering because one has realized true peace happiness and freedom from suffering and that's the kind that sort of wisdom is what truly makes one shine because from then on it's natural 309 00:33:27,076 --> 00:33:40,178 and then on one is naturally and inherently or by default objective and free from clinging. 310 00:33:40,218 --> 00:33:52,358 Now in stages of course it takes repeated application and realization to fully and completely become enlightened but even just the first time causes one to 311 00:33:52,338 --> 00:33:56,283 become dedicated to a certain level of objectivity. 312 00:33:56,303 --> 00:34:01,649 Now this is different from the kind of wisdom that we would see in an ordinary person. 313 00:34:01,669 --> 00:34:09,199 So an ordinary person might claim to have wisdom, but it's completely on the side of worldly wisdom. 314 00:34:09,219 --> 00:34:12,743 So it's through 315 00:34:12,723 --> 00:34:31,356 through reading and studying and hearing so people who have wisdom they've heard from other people they have these pithy sayings and ideas and beliefs that they've heard which all of us as Buddhists also have and then also they have which comes from thinking 316 00:34:31,336 --> 00:34:35,062 And often as Buddhists, we think this is the wisdom that we're looking for as well. 317 00:34:35,102 --> 00:34:40,831 So when a thought arises, yes, this is impermanent, yes, that is suffering, yes, that is non-self. 318 00:34:40,851 --> 00:34:44,297 So we think that's wisdom when we think about it like that. 319 00:34:44,357 --> 00:34:47,782 We think about our lives as being impermanent, changing all the time. 320 00:34:48,423 --> 00:34:49,766 We think of this as a type of wisdom. 321 00:34:49,786 --> 00:34:53,452 Now, these are both good and useful if applied in the right direction. 322 00:34:54,032 --> 00:34:57,478 Of course, if applied in the wrong direction, they're harmful if you apply... 323 00:34:57,458 --> 00:35:01,523 these sorts of wisdom to building a nuclear bomb then they're quite harmful. 324 00:35:02,745 --> 00:35:09,934 But they're not true and they're not the highest wisdom and they don't lead one to shine because they're not natural. 325 00:35:10,755 --> 00:35:23,432 A person can have all the knowledge of the dangers of samsara and the problems with defilements and can even think about it and logically work it out and can still get angry. 326 00:35:23,412 --> 00:35:46,519 Still deep down have anger and greed can still become addicted to things They might be able to keep the precepts Because they've heard about keeping them But the anger is still there that might cause them to kill the greed is still there that might cause them to steal These are not done away with because it's not It's not something that you see for yourself. 327 00:35:46,559 --> 00:35:47,901 It's not experiential wisdom 328 00:35:51,188 --> 00:36:00,709 the true wisdom is that which comes from seeing for yourselves, comes from experience, comes from changing your 329 00:36:03,777 --> 00:36:06,162 your perception of the world. 330 00:36:06,823 --> 00:36:12,916 This comes from actual application and the observation and the study of reality. 331 00:36:13,177 --> 00:36:16,864 So meditation in Buddhism is really the study of reality and this is what causes one to shine. 332 00:36:17,345 --> 00:36:20,532 There's a radiance to someone who sees things clearly. 333 00:36:20,572 --> 00:36:24,300 The things they say, the things they do, the things they think. 334 00:36:24,280 --> 00:36:30,630 are pure and clear, peaceful, are beneficial, are pleasant to others. 335 00:36:31,591 --> 00:36:38,482 Their presence is something that is appreciated by other people. 336 00:36:40,224 --> 00:36:42,728 So they are in that way like a lotus 337 00:36:43,990 --> 00:36:48,135 even surrounded by people who are defiled, they don't become defiled as a result. 338 00:36:48,796 --> 00:36:53,883 They are beautiful and radiant and delightful to others. 339 00:36:54,924 --> 00:36:56,586 They are delightful to the mind. 340 00:36:58,429 --> 00:37:02,554 So that is the teaching today, verses 58 and 59. 341 00:37:02,895 --> 00:37:06,219 Thank you all for tuning in and everyone for coming out tonight. 342 00:37:07,240 --> 00:37:10,825 Now we will continue on with some meditation practice.