WEBVTT 02:11.926 --> 02:12.867 Good evening, everyone. 02:13.288 --> 02:15.211 Welcome to our live broadcast. 02:25.788 --> 02:27.290 Today we're looking at... 02:30.455 --> 02:31.997 I'm going to go on to the Book of Fives. 02:34.161 --> 02:40.110 I'm not reading the entire thing, but skimming through the Book of Fours... 02:43.465 --> 02:45.587 didn't find anything that struck me. 02:52.534 --> 02:56.478 That's exceptionally useful for us in an immediate meditative sense. 02:56.498 --> 03:05.748 So I'm going to skip ahead to Book of Five, Supta 14. 03:09.332 --> 03:10.553 Skip ahead to 03:12.895 --> 03:14.357 the five powers. 03:20.563 --> 03:27.490 I'm going to talk about the five powers from the point of view of the text. 03:33.376 --> 03:34.077 Let's get there. 03:34.097 --> 03:34.157 15. 03:34.177 --> 03:37.941 No, 14. 03:43.709 --> 03:46.573 So these are powers. 03:46.913 --> 03:48.956 Now, they're also referred to as faculties. 03:52.440 --> 03:53.922 And there might be a bit of a difference. 03:58.428 --> 04:05.817 These powers, well, the way they're described here, they're not actually what is necessary. 04:05.837 --> 04:11.404 And we'll see that when we talk about their definition. 04:13.325 --> 04:16.508 It's important to understand we all have these five faculties. 04:21.634 --> 04:37.290 And the descriptions here are some of the uses or some of the ways these faculties can be developed into powerful mind states, not all of which are necessary. 04:40.223 --> 04:44.673 And all of which are exactly related to the path. 04:48.902 --> 04:52.731 Mainly, but the definitions will give us a sense of what they are. 04:54.398 --> 04:57.943 I shouldn't be too stuck on these for various reasons. 04:58.404 --> 05:00.306 You should be able to see. 05:01.528 --> 05:06.375 So these five powers are faith, saddha. 05:06.816 --> 05:12.163 Sometimes we like to translate it as confidence, but here actually faith works better. 05:14.567 --> 05:19.073 Vidya bala is the power of effort. 05:21.398 --> 05:22.380 Sati bala. 05:23.401 --> 05:26.766 Sati would normally be translated as mindfulness, but we're not going to. 05:27.728 --> 05:28.629 We really never should. 05:30.111 --> 05:33.417 But here we're especially not going to because of the definition. 05:36.041 --> 05:37.923 Sati means the ability to remember. 05:39.065 --> 05:41.990 Sati means, one word would be recollection. 05:45.756 --> 05:46.697 Remembrance. 05:49.225 --> 05:51.408 We don't really have a good word for it in English. 05:55.874 --> 05:57.076 Samadhi. 05:57.096 --> 05:57.516 Number four. 05:57.576 --> 05:59.399 Samadhi bala. 05:59.419 --> 05:59.880 Focus. 06:03.785 --> 06:04.866 Or concentration. 06:07.009 --> 06:08.591 And panya bala. 06:08.611 --> 06:09.613 The power of wisdom. 06:10.334 --> 06:10.554 Pa. 06:11.996 --> 06:12.477 Thoroughly. 06:13.017 --> 06:13.638 Nyaha. 06:13.658 --> 06:14.159 Knowledge. 06:14.700 --> 06:15.521 Thorough knowledge. 06:17.964 --> 06:18.625 Deep knowledge. 06:20.123 --> 06:21.164 Real knowledge. 06:22.045 --> 06:24.628 Real knowledge beyond just intellectual knowledge. 06:26.010 --> 06:32.016 But knowing something deeply, truly, viscerally. 06:37.262 --> 06:38.544 These are the five powers. 06:40.406 --> 06:42.328 So what are these five saddhas? 06:42.348 --> 06:44.190 What does it mean to have saddha faith? 06:46.111 --> 06:49.677 The most powerful faith, what should we have faith in? 06:49.717 --> 06:52.080 Many people would say, well, have faith in yourself. 06:53.543 --> 06:53.863 Maybe. 06:53.903 --> 07:02.917 And it's important to have confidence in yourself, in your ability to succeed. 07:02.977 --> 07:05.942 If you doubt your own ability, you become discouraged. 07:07.643 --> 07:37.363 but that's not really the most important it isn't really the most important type of faith or confidence most important of course is that you have confidence in what you're doing and that includes confidence in your teacher if you don't have those then you've got a problem so the best kind of faith is faith in the Buddha often people will miss this 07:37.597 --> 07:48.811 means that you need to have faith in the system which you're undertaking. 07:48.831 --> 07:57.101 And so this includes in the Dhamma, in the teachings of the Buddha, but mostly in the Buddha himself, because if you have faith in him, well then of course you have faith in his teachings. 08:00.184 --> 08:03.148 And so often this is construed as meaning you have to 08:04.445 --> 08:05.947 Start by believing. 08:06.929 --> 08:15.163 It should be a very unfortunate truth, if it were true. 08:18.589 --> 08:21.013 Because it would mean blind faith, right? 08:22.275 --> 08:24.719 It would mean believing something for no good reason. 08:26.482 --> 08:28.024 It's really what blind faith is, right? 08:28.064 --> 08:29.727 These religions that require faith, 08:31.377 --> 08:34.482 What they're talking about is faith for no good reason. 08:37.667 --> 08:38.869 We'll make up reasons. 08:39.771 --> 08:56.718 Our reason is because we've had some profound experience and we deliberately interpret that to mean something that gives us faith. 08:56.738 --> 08:58.701 So we talk about the religious experience. 09:01.381 --> 09:14.934 Someone will have an ecstatic experience, or a feeling of love, or a feeling of oneness, and they'll say, that's God, or that's Buddha, or that's enlightenment. 09:17.397 --> 09:21.301 We interpret our experiences in ways that help us gain faith. 09:22.322 --> 09:30.730 Some meditators will look for these experiences, and when they get them, they'll say, yes, now I have faith because I had that experience, but it's kind of silly. 09:32.853 --> 09:40.082 It's an artificial affectation of faith. 09:40.203 --> 09:40.823 It's not real. 09:49.274 --> 09:52.138 None of those faiths are really the best kind of faith. 09:55.302 --> 09:57.425 So the best kind of faith is with reason. 09:58.907 --> 10:01.290 And a good reason is meeting the Buddha. 10:03.245 --> 10:08.692 If you meet the Buddha and you just say, wow, this guy clearly knows what he's talking about. 10:08.732 --> 10:11.395 You can tell by his manner, by his demeanor. 10:11.435 --> 10:26.755 You can tell by the words he uses, the way he speaks, how well he's able to cut through all the fluff and get right to the core of reality and truth. 10:28.574 --> 10:30.817 So meeting the Buddha is a good reason to have faith in him. 10:31.297 --> 10:34.421 Listening to the Buddha is a good reason to have faith in him. 10:34.441 --> 10:37.804 And so reading the Buddha's teachings is a good reason to have faith in him. 10:38.505 --> 10:49.077 When you read through the Tipitika, there are some things that I would agree many people find objectionable, but they're few and far between for the most part. 10:51.299 --> 10:58.007 You wouldn't find in here any idea or concept that the Buddha enjoined violence 11:01.582 --> 11:12.237 that he promoted unwholesomeness, that he encouraged cultivation of harm. 11:16.984 --> 11:26.998 You find probably the best and most complete set of teachings, doctrines, 11:28.835 --> 11:53.845 on good, love, compassion, humility, non-violence, morality, ethics, concentration, focus, mindfulness, wisdom. 11:54.686 --> 11:56.428 Above and beyond you find wisdom. 11:58.619 --> 12:08.330 You find a clear and parsimonious expression of the truth. 12:08.831 --> 12:12.655 Parsimonious meaning, you know, there's no fluff, there's no fat, it's quite trimmed. 12:13.817 --> 12:22.467 Sometimes brutally so, in the sense of not pulling any punches. 12:25.290 --> 12:26.331 And that gives someone faith. 12:34.597 --> 12:43.133 That being said, you could argue that that faith in the Buddha himself is not really necessary to become enlightened. 12:46.419 --> 12:49.905 Because Pacheco Buddha ostensibly has no faith in the Buddha. 12:58.913 --> 13:10.024 So the idea that you need to cultivate this and that this is a precursor or prerequisite for meditation, which I've heard from Buddhists, is dangerous. 13:10.404 --> 13:15.949 It's problematic because it encourages the cultivation of blind faith. 13:15.969 --> 13:25.258 And really the point here is that the only person who has pure, perfect faith is someone who has become enlightened. 13:26.268 --> 13:55.819 because once they become enlightened they have no doubt that a Buddha is a Buddha they might doubt whether this person or that person is a Buddha or is an Arahant or is a Sotapanna but they won't doubt that if they know that this person is a Sotapanna and this person is not that the person who is a Sotapanna is far better they have no misconception of that and so much more so for an Arahant they have no doubt about the 13:57.217 --> 14:02.623 the difference between someone who gets angry and someone who doesn't get angry, someone who is greedy and someone who's not greedy. 14:03.924 --> 14:06.327 Whereas an ordinary person wouldn't have that sense. 14:06.767 --> 14:12.294 They wouldn't know whether, given this person who gets greedy, this person who doesn't, which person should I listen to? 14:15.017 --> 14:16.538 Which person should I look up to? 14:17.159 --> 14:25.468 They might have heard that it's, oh, greed is bad, but they won't have the real deep understanding, the clear and perfect understanding 14:26.900 --> 14:32.287 Greed being a sign, a clear sign, a decisive sign that someone is not enlightened. 14:34.029 --> 14:35.010 Or anger or delusion. 14:39.335 --> 14:40.917 So that's saddha. 14:41.798 --> 14:49.128 What we really need for meditation and for meditation purposes is faith in what we're doing. 14:50.369 --> 14:52.772 You could say faith in yourself, your ability to do it. 14:56.347 --> 14:57.248 faith in our teachers. 14:57.849 --> 15:01.372 You need this. 15:01.392 --> 15:08.780 But it comes up, and this isn't to say that if you find yourself doubting these things that you should leave, you should stop. 15:09.581 --> 15:10.202 You're useless. 15:11.523 --> 15:12.765 You're unable to continue. 15:12.805 --> 15:15.387 What it means is these are hindrances. 15:16.649 --> 15:25.358 So either you decide that what you're doing is wrong, or you recognize that some doubt is just delusion. 15:26.570 --> 15:30.717 Some doubt is just wrong, because it's possible to doubt that which is not worthy of doubt. 15:31.759 --> 15:48.308 It's even possible to doubt that which you have become sure, intellectually anyway, of being good, that you've seen proof or evidence, not proof but evidence, significant and pretty much conclusive evidence of it being beneficial. 15:49.840 --> 15:59.329 Because we're quick to forget and we become overwhelmed by doubt, even about things that are not worthy of doubt. 16:00.551 --> 16:02.232 That's an important point to note. 16:02.493 --> 16:06.176 So just because you doubt something doesn't mean that thing is worthy of doubt. 16:08.058 --> 16:09.279 Our tradition is quite simple. 16:09.500 --> 16:12.342 If you doubt, you say, doubting, doubting, let it go. 16:13.223 --> 16:15.966 If you stick to that kind of mindset, 16:17.026 --> 16:20.550 Then you never fall into trouble, you never come to something that is worthy of doubting. 16:22.392 --> 16:25.336 Because, well, doubt is doubt, so what's to doubt about that, right? 16:25.956 --> 16:31.483 You say to yourself, doubting, doubting, you're saying something that's true, you're sticking to reality, to truth. 16:35.988 --> 16:42.055 So the best way to cultivate this kind of, the best kind of faith for a meditator is 16:45.798 --> 16:49.484 By reminding yourself, doubting, doubting. 16:49.504 --> 16:49.884 Let it go. 16:51.407 --> 16:51.968 You'll feel better. 16:56.174 --> 16:57.356 Number two, wiliya. 16:57.917 --> 17:00.220 You need effort. 17:00.240 --> 17:02.644 So we've talked about effort in the Book of Forests. 17:04.907 --> 17:08.393 Aku salanang damang pahanaya. 17:08.413 --> 17:11.097 Aku salanang damang upasampadaya. 17:15.481 --> 17:25.656 For the destruction of unwholesomeness and the cultivation of causing to arise wholesome dhammas. 17:31.725 --> 17:36.331 The point being here that good things don't just come to those who wait. 17:36.612 --> 17:40.898 Goodness doesn't just arise by itself. 17:42.565 --> 17:53.458 Those people who say that everything happens for a reason, that everything turns out well in the end, I don't know. 17:53.478 --> 17:54.980 It really doesn't. 17:57.022 --> 17:58.484 We're not all going to become enlightened. 17:58.544 --> 18:10.699 I think one problem we have as a modern society is that we've become somewhat complacent with our happily ever after culture. 18:12.434 --> 18:20.653 We're too accustomed to watching movies and reading books and listening to stories about everything ending well. 18:23.661 --> 18:25.104 There are notable exceptions. 18:25.184 --> 18:26.848 Shakespeare often doesn't end well. 18:36.532 --> 18:42.978 But nonetheless, to a great extent, we get lulled into this false sense of security. 18:45.381 --> 18:48.864 We might be lost in samsara. 18:48.904 --> 18:50.626 We might be destined to go to hell. 18:51.587 --> 18:54.469 We don't know what our future has in store for us. 18:57.132 --> 19:02.337 Horrible things could happen to us tomorrow, today, in this life certainly. 19:06.130 --> 19:08.815 And so effort is required if you want goodness. 19:10.097 --> 19:12.341 If you want to overcome suffering, you need effort. 19:12.381 --> 19:19.794 We cross-suffering using effort. 19:19.814 --> 19:26.546 Good things aren't going to come, bad things aren't just going to go away, unless you work for it. 19:26.566 --> 19:27.227 That's viriya. 19:29.620 --> 19:38.492 Sati here is curious, but at the very least it gives us an understanding of what it really means, not mindfulness. 19:38.512 --> 19:39.533 So I'll read you the English. 19:41.275 --> 19:43.258 Here the noble disciple is mindful. 19:43.999 --> 19:45.401 He uses the translation. 19:46.662 --> 19:50.127 I think he's just translating sattva, right? 19:53.127 --> 20:17.397 sati mahoti which just means has sati doesn't mean mindful let's read the Pali it's better sati mahoti is possessed of sati I don't know if I can translate it forget that possessing supreme sati and 20:21.072 --> 20:21.573 Wisdom. 20:22.013 --> 20:23.075 Sati nikepa. 20:24.116 --> 20:24.938 Samanagata. 20:25.218 --> 20:25.839 Parama. 20:25.899 --> 20:27.521 Paramena sati nikepena. 20:28.623 --> 20:29.745 Nepakena. 20:29.765 --> 20:32.689 Nepaka is discrimination. 20:33.971 --> 20:34.932 Nepaka is a good word. 20:34.952 --> 20:38.938 You don't often see it paired with sati. 20:38.958 --> 20:39.980 It comes from nipaka. 20:43.405 --> 20:44.406 Sati nepaka. 20:44.726 --> 20:46.489 One who has sati and nipaka. 20:48.393 --> 21:09.743 clever and careful and that it's there to help us understand what sati is the fact that they're paired together here so there's some sense of the penetrating of the experience 21:11.815 --> 21:14.699 going beyond ordinary observation. 21:15.760 --> 21:18.564 That's what nipaka, I would think, implies here. 21:18.664 --> 21:20.667 Samanagata has these things. 21:22.229 --> 21:38.110 But then, curiously enough, the Buddha says, cira-katampi, cira-bhasitampi, sarita, ano sarita, cira-kata, cira-long-kata, dhanu, 21:41.330 --> 21:54.204 One recollects, one remembers, one recollects that which was done long ago, that which was said long ago. 21:55.245 --> 22:05.717 This is called sati bala. 22:05.737 --> 22:07.759 So the important... 22:08.363 --> 22:29.646 takeaway is that sati means to remember sati has very much to do with memory the ability to remember things that happened a long time ago that's sati so it's clear that mindfulness is not a good translation just from that that at least we can get from this the question of um 22:31.162 --> 22:39.014 whether this is the best understanding of, say, the Satipatthana, you have to somehow make a connection there. 22:39.936 --> 22:41.999 Why is the Buddha talking about things long ago? 22:42.019 --> 22:53.457 I think it should be clear from this and other teachings that the Buddha doesn't recommend 22:55.259 --> 23:01.369 encourage as a general practice the dwelling on things that have passed, right? 23:02.391 --> 23:03.593 Going back to the past. 23:05.356 --> 23:16.795 He does talk about recollecting past lives, which is in a roundabout way useful for cultivating a sense of context for our practice. 23:19.964 --> 23:31.062 But all that we can get from this, and I think probably all that we should take from this, is that the ability to remember things that happened long ago and were said long ago. 23:31.903 --> 23:33.746 It's a sign that someone has a sharp mind. 23:33.987 --> 23:39.596 It's a sign that someone has this sati, this ability to remember. 23:41.118 --> 23:43.041 Sarita, one remembers. 23:43.342 --> 23:47.068 Anusarita, one remembers about something. 23:53.984 --> 24:11.960 And so how we relate this to satipatthana in English is by saying one remembers, or one is able to remember the true nature of reality, is able to remember the present moment. 24:18.346 --> 24:21.949 Remember, remember the objects of experience. 24:27.363 --> 24:28.785 To not forget, right? 24:29.526 --> 24:35.994 To be clearly aware that this is this. 24:36.495 --> 24:38.037 Things are what they are. 24:42.262 --> 24:48.730 And so hence, again, as I've already often explained, 24:51.241 --> 24:56.968 That's why we remind ourselves, why we use the word, the mantra. 24:56.988 --> 25:04.777 That's why mantra meditation is so powerful, so important, because of this word sati. 25:07.380 --> 25:15.570 It's the cultivation of the ability to remember the present moment, to remember something. 25:17.112 --> 25:21.197 In the case of samatha meditation, to remember the object, the concept, 25:22.915 --> 25:28.394 In the case of Vipassana meditation, to remember the ultimate reality. 25:29.498 --> 25:31.465 Seeing is seeing, hearing is hearing. 25:32.148 --> 25:33.432 Pain is pain, and so on. 25:38.677 --> 25:43.603 So you can see how this is related, how the word remembrance or recollection. 25:43.623 --> 25:52.333 It's a good translation of the word sati, and we should be careful about this word mindfulness, because it's somewhat vague, and it leads to vague meditation. 25:52.353 --> 25:59.321 It leads to meditation where you just sit there and watch stuff. 25:59.341 --> 26:04.988 It can be useful, generally, but somewhat vague, imprecise. 26:09.389 --> 26:12.312 Anyway, number four, samadhi. 26:12.673 --> 26:23.605 Now samadhi here of course talks about the four jhanas, these jhanas that we have such trouble with in our tradition because it appears that we're perhaps not practicing these. 26:24.707 --> 26:33.557 So granted, these are all the absorptions when you absorb into a single object. 26:33.577 --> 26:34.738 That's very powerful. 26:37.840 --> 26:41.385 But again, we can't take this as meaning that you have to go into those. 26:44.009 --> 26:49.617 Nor should we take these to be necessarily some sort of trance state. 26:49.637 --> 26:52.060 What they mean is that your mind becomes focused. 26:52.080 --> 26:59.511 And being focused, there's happiness, there's peace, there's clarity of mind, equanimity. 27:02.714 --> 27:04.998 And this can be achieved through vipassana. 27:05.018 --> 27:10.186 Mahasi Sayadaw does something somewhat clever and probably based on all the criticism. 27:11.888 --> 27:14.853 And he says that, well, we have vipassana jhanas. 27:16.015 --> 27:20.342 And he describes the four jhanas in terms of the practice of vipassana. 27:20.402 --> 27:24.288 You can find his description in his discourse on the Salekha Sutta. 27:26.031 --> 27:26.832 It's quite interesting. 27:30.271 --> 27:32.935 Nonetheless, the mind has to be focused. 27:33.716 --> 27:40.104 What you shouldn't do is try to cultivate just insight without any kind of focus. 27:42.267 --> 27:45.671 And so again, it's a good reason to use a mantra because it keeps you focused. 27:47.053 --> 27:49.056 It focuses your attention. 27:52.020 --> 27:53.001 It has a power to it. 27:56.045 --> 27:57.106 So it's concentration. 27:57.166 --> 27:58.388 And finally, wisdom. 28:00.224 --> 28:01.926 And this is a good definition of wisdom. 28:01.946 --> 28:06.390 Let's read the Pali. 28:08.572 --> 28:11.575 Here, monks. 28:13.737 --> 28:15.519 A disciple of the noble ones. 28:16.360 --> 28:17.641 His wife. 28:18.322 --> 28:19.263 Possessing of wisdom. 28:20.724 --> 28:26.350 Samanagato. 28:29.722 --> 28:33.668 which means the arising, udaya. 28:36.893 --> 28:39.317 I don't know what the second word is. 28:40.198 --> 28:42.662 Atta, I guess, being, right? 28:42.882 --> 28:43.883 Existence. 28:45.766 --> 28:47.208 And gaminiya, the going. 28:48.831 --> 28:50.453 Udayatta gaminiya. 28:50.974 --> 28:55.601 The arising, existing, well, maybe not. 28:55.621 --> 28:57.484 Maybe the atta, I'm not sure where it's from. 29:01.598 --> 29:03.441 Anyway, at least the arising and passing away. 29:03.481 --> 29:08.208 Sometimes they refer to the being, the arising, existing, and then ceasing. 29:10.752 --> 29:12.474 Panyaya. 29:12.494 --> 29:19.985 With the wisdom of the arising and ceasing, one is possessed, one is in possession of. 29:20.025 --> 29:31.302 And this is an important point to keep in mind 29:33.222 --> 29:43.632 That wisdom, from Buddha's point of view, really the only truly necessary wisdom is this, is seeing arising and ceasing. 29:43.652 --> 29:59.567 It's the beginning of vipassana, when you start to realize that reality is made up of that which arises and ceases. 29:59.587 --> 30:00.968 You start to look at 30:02.129 --> 30:07.977 Not only looking at experience, but you see that experience is simply that, stuff that arises and ceases. 30:08.078 --> 30:11.182 You stop looking at it as me, mine, good, bad. 30:12.444 --> 30:15.829 Vipassana really starts when you start to just see things as arising and ceasing. 30:15.849 --> 30:21.977 You're able to start to look at things objectively. 30:21.997 --> 30:23.800 You're able to watch them arise and cease. 30:27.273 --> 30:35.427 And so you begin to look and you see more and more and finally you come to the realization that everything, everything that arises ceases. 30:36.549 --> 30:50.614 Which is a profound realization because, not simply because of its intellectual value, but because that focus takes away from the mind the idea that 30:52.079 --> 30:57.387 There's anything that arises that could be satisfying. 30:57.407 --> 30:58.408 That could be a refuge. 30:58.869 --> 30:59.990 That could be valuable. 31:01.673 --> 31:06.320 Nothing that arises is of any value because immediately it ceases. 31:09.184 --> 31:11.667 And that's what leads one to realize Nibbana. 31:14.411 --> 31:21.141 Aryaya Nibedikaya Samadukakayagamnya 31:25.576 --> 31:35.448 One has the noble dispassion. 31:40.915 --> 31:45.120 Nibbida means penetrative. 31:45.420 --> 31:47.643 Which is noble and penetrative. 31:48.864 --> 31:53.490 And leads to the right destruction of suffering. 31:56.710 --> 31:57.391 That's wisdom. 31:58.372 --> 32:02.618 So these are the five powers. 32:02.658 --> 32:05.642 Now I've talked about them in my booklet, about how you have to balance them. 32:06.883 --> 32:08.966 If you haven't read my booklet, well, you shouldn't be here. 32:09.246 --> 32:15.775 You should be off reading my booklet, or doing something else, if you're not interested in reading my booklet. 32:15.795 --> 32:17.537 So I'm not going to go into detail in that. 32:18.580 --> 32:22.688 But I recommend reading the booklet. 32:22.708 --> 32:27.837 It talks about balancing these five and more how they relate to meditation. 32:30.462 --> 32:31.204 I'm going to stop there. 32:34.089 --> 32:35.251 So that's the Dhamma portion. 32:36.494 --> 32:38.477 Now we have the question portion. 32:38.537 --> 32:42.124 And with me to help is Robin. 32:47.251 --> 33:01.455 Bhante, I've read in an Abhidhamma book that craving can be categorized as male craving and female craving, since the difference is what determines which bhava-rupani gender element one gets at conception. 33:02.297 --> 33:08.247 Based on that, can we say that the mind has a gender, since craving does condition our habits in the mind? 33:16.715 --> 33:19.019 No, we can't say that the mind is a gender. 33:21.764 --> 33:26.092 If there's male craving, it's not male craving, it would be craving for the male form. 33:29.097 --> 33:31.401 Males don't have a different kind of craving than women. 33:33.204 --> 33:35.989 There would be craving for a type of gender. 33:37.876 --> 33:38.818 That's what that would mean. 33:39.919 --> 33:43.285 It wouldn't mean the craving of a male, it would be the craving for a male. 33:44.547 --> 33:54.484 It would be the clinging or the liking of the male form or the female form, which would indeed determine which bhava-rupa you get. 34:14.765 --> 34:18.250 The best way to deal with mosquitoes, catch them in your hand. 34:19.652 --> 34:21.975 And if you want, I sometimes shake them up a little bit. 34:21.995 --> 34:26.141 But if you just release them, they somehow get confused and they float away. 34:26.222 --> 34:31.810 It's quite interesting. 34:31.830 --> 34:37.358 The best way to get rid of bees is to put a broom out because they'll land on it and you can bring them right outside. 34:37.418 --> 34:38.619 Okay. 34:40.202 --> 34:41.143 They're like brooms. 34:42.170 --> 34:42.510 They do. 34:42.530 --> 34:45.013 They'll walk right on it and you can carry them out. 34:55.845 --> 34:56.746 Are you reading questions? 34:57.467 --> 34:57.807 Or am I? 34:59.109 --> 35:03.774 Oh, I... Dear Bhante, are you a vegetarian? 35:05.736 --> 35:05.916 No. 35:12.275 --> 35:24.209 Buddhism teaches that in this world, that this world is just an illusion, a thought within consciousness, and meaningless have become depressed because of this, seeing this world as an illusion and meaning. 35:24.770 --> 35:25.471 What should I do? 35:33.400 --> 35:36.544 Yeah, Buddhism doesn't teach really that the world is an illusion. 35:38.515 --> 35:43.382 So if you're depressed, you should read my booklet and say to yourself, depressed, depressed. 35:44.544 --> 35:45.625 That will make you feel better. 35:54.698 --> 35:57.041 I daily practice Vipassana meditation. 35:57.061 --> 36:03.671 I want to one over meditation sitting MP3. 36:03.771 --> 36:04.472 Please help me. 36:07.000 --> 36:07.501 Sorry. 36:08.823 --> 36:09.924 No idea what you're asking. 36:10.525 --> 36:13.810 Something about an MP3, which I don't have. 36:17.395 --> 36:18.697 We have some MP3s, right? 36:18.717 --> 36:22.382 But I think you have to be a little clearer. 36:28.751 --> 36:32.516 What is the effect to our minds when being able to meditate for longer periods? 36:33.157 --> 36:35.100 Is that preferable for better insight? 36:36.920 --> 36:43.151 I'm already feeling the effect of my short sessions, two per day of 30 to 40 minutes walking and sitting. 36:43.712 --> 36:44.674 So just wondering. 36:45.335 --> 36:54.312 I would say there's an optimum ratio between the length of time of each session and the number of sessions you do. 36:55.254 --> 36:56.616 So if you're doing two per day, 36:58.317 --> 37:14.503 It might not be, well, if you're doing two per day at, say, well, as you say, 30 to 40, it might be in your better interest of doing, it might be in your, it might be better in your, 37:14.483 --> 37:16.387 What am I trying to say? 37:17.249 --> 37:18.271 In your best interest. 37:18.572 --> 37:20.636 In your best interest. 37:20.776 --> 37:22.921 In your better interest, I guess is what I was trying to say. 37:22.941 --> 37:24.985 I don't even know if that works. 37:25.827 --> 37:34.365 To add another session, a third session, rather than doing two hour sessions. 37:35.965 --> 37:37.767 Or I don't know if you mean 30 to 40 each. 37:38.669 --> 37:42.974 If you mean 30, 40 together, well, then probably you'd want to increase it a little bit. 37:44.516 --> 37:56.292 But if you're doing like 30 minutes walking, 30 minutes sitting twice a day, you have to see for yourself, rather than pushing yourself really hard and then having all this time where you lose everything you gained, right? 37:57.233 --> 38:04.403 Because if you do long sessions, it's more taxing, especially on someone whose mindfulness is not very high, so... 38:04.383 --> 38:13.267 So if you increase that time, because there's so much time in between sessions, you're not actually a very good meditator in general. 38:13.348 --> 38:17.920 So that hour that you do or two hours that you do is stressful. 38:18.997 --> 38:29.732 But if you instead added another shorter session, relatively shorter session, in between, then your proficiency would increase. 38:29.792 --> 38:31.354 So then you could start to lift it up. 38:31.554 --> 38:38.524 So there's a ratio between number of sittings per day and length of... 38:38.504 --> 38:39.305 of practice. 38:39.325 --> 38:40.887 And that depends very much on the person. 38:40.907 --> 38:41.568 Don't ask me. 38:42.449 --> 38:44.131 I know everyone wants a schedule. 38:44.171 --> 38:44.872 How many hours? 38:44.932 --> 38:45.633 How many minutes? 38:46.494 --> 38:47.295 You can't really do that. 38:47.315 --> 38:50.378 I mean, we go through that in a meditation course. 38:51.440 --> 38:55.765 It's the kind of thing that we'd have to do together in consultation. 39:01.191 --> 39:01.572 Okay. 39:01.752 --> 39:05.336 I'm sorry, but Chad is going to be banned from our site. 39:05.357 --> 39:05.777 Sorry. 39:08.002 --> 39:08.783 How do we do this? 39:24.978 --> 39:29.642 We can't ban, but we can remove, so that's the best we can do. 39:29.662 --> 39:30.303 Well, that works. 39:30.623 --> 39:33.706 Well, they can always sign up, but they have to use their email to sign up, so. 39:36.529 --> 39:37.890 Anyway, that person's gone. 39:40.672 --> 39:47.318 While doing sitting meditation and feeling strain and pain on the lower back, I say strained, strained. 39:47.338 --> 39:54.785 But when it doesn't go away and getting more painful, I start panicking, saying it more times faster, like a robot saying error, error. 39:55.626 --> 39:58.648 Should I say panic to relate to the new object? 39:59.169 --> 40:00.450 What would you recommend? 40:00.470 --> 40:02.312 Well, you can't say pain, pain, pain. 40:03.413 --> 40:05.034 It doesn't work. 40:05.054 --> 40:06.155 It has to be objective. 40:07.997 --> 40:10.459 When you're panicking, you can't say panic, panic. 40:12.110 --> 40:14.775 If you start panicking, yeah, you should say panicked, right? 40:14.795 --> 40:17.820 Stressed, stressed, worried, worried, afraid, afraid. 40:19.864 --> 40:20.465 Absolutely. 40:20.766 --> 40:23.851 If you start saying it quicker, then yeah, there's something else there that you should be noting. 40:25.975 --> 40:30.844 It should be quite copacetic, copacetic. 40:40.730 --> 40:53.149 Bhante, is it fair to say that to be an arahant, faith is required since one has to follow the teachings of another, as opposed to the special case of Buddhas and Pacheco Buddhas who discover the path by themselves? 41:00.641 --> 41:01.422 You're asking... 41:04.034 --> 41:06.238 It depends how you want me to answer that. 41:08.481 --> 41:14.552 If you want me to answer that from the point of view of the Abhidhamma, then of course there are moments of saddha. 41:14.572 --> 41:22.465 Saddha has to be a part of some of the moments, but saddha in the Abhidhamma sense is... 41:22.445 --> 41:36.425 in an Abhidhamma sense, is very much the confidence of the mind state, the moment of the mind that, among many other good qualities, has no wavering, no doubt, basically. 41:36.605 --> 41:41.432 Which doesn't mean faith in any specific thing, it just means a sense of composure. 41:44.256 --> 41:50.545 So if you're going to talk about what is required, you can only talk in terms of ultimate reality. 41:52.297 --> 42:00.387 So to say that this is required, that is required, you can't really do that except in terms of Abhidhamma. 42:01.588 --> 42:05.633 So to say that yes, you must at some point in your practice have faith, right? 42:06.574 --> 42:08.917 Because again, you can't have faith 24 hours a day. 42:08.937 --> 42:11.861 You can't sit there, right? 42:12.321 --> 42:15.145 It's not that you gain faith and then you have faith. 42:16.286 --> 42:22.033 We only have faith in the moments when we think of the Buddha and have some kind of 42:22.013 --> 42:47.953 appreciation in those moments we have faith now are those moments necessary in your progress no those moments are not necessary they're useful highly useful and recommended and so on but they're not necessary but i get i get what you're getting at um but i think the answer is no i think that based on what i assume you're trying to ask 42:48.997 --> 42:49.959 The answer is no. 42:49.999 --> 42:56.652 The difference with the arahant is they need to learn from the Buddha, the Dhamma. 42:56.953 --> 43:01.582 They need to learn from the Buddha. 43:03.125 --> 43:11.241 But the faith that they have to have is not so much different from that of a Pacheco Buddha. 43:12.385 --> 43:17.733 They just have to have the collectiveness of mind that is free from doubt. 43:19.876 --> 43:21.819 And it's just a technical saddha. 43:21.839 --> 43:24.082 It's just a technical faith. 43:24.102 --> 43:27.587 It's technically those mind states have faith. 43:27.607 --> 43:33.195 But you can get that just by experimenting without any faith in what you're doing. 43:37.529 --> 43:40.214 And I suppose, to some extent, you could call it faith. 43:40.956 --> 43:45.626 Because we do talk about this faith that when someone says, you know, this leads to this. 43:46.928 --> 43:48.772 Well, just even to try it, right? 43:48.992 --> 43:50.856 You need a moment of faith. 43:53.502 --> 43:57.630 But to call it faith is a bit of a stretch because 43:59.095 --> 44:00.616 You're not accepting it. 44:00.656 --> 44:03.118 You're just giving them the benefit of the doubt. 44:03.279 --> 44:07.402 So if giving someone the benefit of the doubt is faith, yeah. 44:08.543 --> 44:09.364 But that's all you need. 44:09.404 --> 44:21.694 So it's just a bit tricky because we start to get technical and then it's a very different realm when you start to get technical. 44:23.415 --> 44:28.900 But anytime you say is X required, you kind of have to get technical. 44:36.963 --> 44:47.040 Do you think concentration or Samatha meditation can be used by some people as an escape from life in the same way an alcoholic person drinks to distract themselves from their troubles? 44:47.341 --> 44:48.944 You can be, absolutely. 44:49.064 --> 44:50.407 You can get attached to it as well. 44:51.509 --> 44:53.694 Ajahn Chah said it's based on craving. 44:54.135 --> 45:03.654 Ajahn Chah, this guy who all these people look up to, there's a bunch of Buddhists in my tradition who are fairly, well not all of them are, but some of them are. 45:04.055 --> 45:08.303 Some of them are really good and actually they appreciate our tradition. 45:08.283 --> 45:11.728 Because our tradition is big in Thailand, but their tradition is as well. 45:12.770 --> 45:15.033 But in their tradition they don't have meditation courses. 45:15.053 --> 45:23.266 So I've been told that if you go to Wat Banana Chat and you're looking for a meditation course, they'll tell you to go to one of our centers. 45:23.647 --> 45:28.975 And if you've come from one of our centers, as I understand, they'll let you practice our technique. 45:28.955 --> 45:50.423 someone recently said to me there's an Ajahn Chah center near where they live and he's been to see these people and they said it's fine if he practices our tradition I think somehow I remember I recently was talking about this or maybe I was the one who said yeah I think they would be okay because generally they are um 45:53.575 --> 46:05.712 So right, getting off track there, but Ajahn Chah is the head of this tradition and some people in that tradition have gotten really, really obsessed with the idea of having to practice Samatha as a requirement. 46:06.991 --> 46:22.958 And they say, oh no, I read a fairly critical article of one of his books where he said that you can't possibly be attached to Samatha because Samatha is the freeing yourself of attachment. 46:24.140 --> 46:29.809 And so I quoted Ajahn Chah, who was this guy's preceptor, I think, as saying... 46:31.207 --> 46:32.348 It's based on craving. 46:33.129 --> 46:37.514 Samatha is not, can't be the end all, be all end all, because it's based on craving. 46:40.618 --> 46:43.421 This is the thing, I leave the doors open and these insects come in. 46:45.283 --> 46:47.005 As long as that big raccoon doesn't come in. 46:47.926 --> 46:50.309 He might, no? 46:50.329 --> 46:53.392 That's right, one of these days the raccoon might come into our kitchen. 46:55.034 --> 46:55.915 Just find a broom. 47:01.109 --> 47:11.676 Hello, I just wanted to ask you what are some good tips for beginners meditation and what is the best time to meditate when tired or we're entered or when energetic in your opinion. 47:13.124 --> 47:18.191 Well, if you haven't read my booklet on how to meditate, that's where I would recommend you start. 47:18.211 --> 47:19.973 If you want to find it, it's on this site. 47:19.993 --> 47:21.035 There's a link to it anyway. 47:21.916 --> 47:28.384 You go to the menu button in the top left, open it up, and you'll see a word that says guide. 47:29.466 --> 47:38.558 Click on the guide and it'll take you to the page that has our guide on how to meditate. 47:40.478 --> 47:46.965 And that page also has a link to a frequently asked questions list, which has some good tips. 47:47.986 --> 47:54.232 So any of you who have read the booklet but are still looking for tips, I think that FAQ is pretty good. 47:55.454 --> 47:57.696 It's got a lot of good questions answered, I think. 47:58.116 --> 48:06.385 I mean, not to toot my, because I was the one who wrote it, but I think it's adequate, at least. 48:08.558 --> 48:12.244 Best time to meditate, whenever you have time to meditate. 48:12.645 --> 48:13.126 Meditate. 48:21.881 --> 48:28.753 Can you develop insight during walking meditation, or is walking meditation just there to increase the effectiveness of sitting meditation? 48:28.773 --> 48:29.595 Of course you can. 48:29.935 --> 48:31.478 You can become enlightened in walking. 48:33.314 --> 48:37.239 Ananda, no, not Ananda, but there was a monk, Naga, I think was his name. 48:38.561 --> 48:41.044 He didn't want to become enlightened. 48:41.825 --> 48:43.968 He wanted to wait for Maitreya, I think. 48:45.069 --> 48:50.035 But then his students found out that he was dying and he wasn't going to become enlightened. 48:50.055 --> 48:51.197 And they said, well, what are you doing? 48:51.437 --> 48:53.199 Here you've taught all of us and you're not enlightened. 48:53.219 --> 49:00.148 He said, well, I've meditated, but I've just made a vow to wait for the next Buddha because he wanted to see the next Buddha. 49:00.128 --> 49:04.212 who was going to come in perhaps a long, long time in the future. 49:08.897 --> 49:10.519 But they convinced him, and he said, okay, fine. 49:11.319 --> 49:16.304 And he said, look, I'm going to show you a new way to become enlightened, because you hear about people becoming enlightened during walking. 49:17.245 --> 49:19.888 I'll show you during sitting, so I'll show you during walking. 49:19.908 --> 49:24.593 And so he got up and walked, and he became enlightened after taking like one step or something. 49:27.676 --> 49:27.756 Hmm. 49:37.287 --> 49:38.229 Just a second. 49:39.671 --> 49:42.596 Looks like we're going to need a way to ban people. 49:44.219 --> 49:51.772 We can just keep making them sign up. 49:52.533 --> 49:53.495 Just keep deleting them. 49:54.857 --> 49:56.680 It'll be a game of cat and mouse. 50:18.007 --> 50:20.695 What is Parinirvana? 50:21.256 --> 50:23.924 Is it an experience, a void, or nothing? 50:24.406 --> 50:31.105 Can it be described? 50:33.211 --> 50:38.336 Parinirvana refers to, means like final nirvana or complete nirvana. 50:40.638 --> 50:43.420 So nirvana is a reality. 50:43.941 --> 50:45.562 It's probably the best way to talk about it. 50:46.483 --> 50:58.194 Parinirvana means complete, a complete nirvana. 51:02.057 --> 51:02.998 Which means 51:09.391 --> 51:27.383 complete end to arising as you could say complete end to suffering if you want to learn about nirvana because it's a very hard thing to talk about um 51:28.949 --> 51:33.120 You could read in the Malinda Panha, there's some really good descriptions of nirvana. 51:34.022 --> 51:36.609 They're not descriptions, but they're similes. 51:37.431 --> 51:42.364 Nirvana is like the top of a mountain, because it's far above the ordinary. 51:44.851 --> 51:45.372 That kind of thing. 51:46.938 --> 51:49.183 But no, nirvana means the end of suffering. 51:49.503 --> 51:50.665 That's all you have to know about it. 51:51.487 --> 51:56.317 Because all you have to understand about Buddhism is it leads you to less and less suffering. 51:56.437 --> 52:01.888 So the more you practice, the more you find peace, happiness, and freedom from suffering. 52:01.948 --> 52:02.970 That's all you really need to know. 52:06.517 --> 52:08.862 Nirvana just means no suffering. 52:29.918 --> 52:35.126 Sorry, I'm not sure if it's just my computer, but it looks like these are loading. 52:36.127 --> 52:37.229 Is that what you're seeing as well? 52:37.709 --> 52:44.760 Maybe we're being hit by some hackers who have gotten angered at the fact that we're deleting their user accounts. 52:44.780 --> 52:48.145 I think sometimes you have to reload the whole thing. 52:50.228 --> 52:51.710 But now I'm getting loading as well. 52:52.972 --> 52:56.477 There's 32 people on, so that might have something to do with it. 52:56.998 --> 52:57.639 It's clear now. 52:58.600 --> 52:58.660 OK. 52:59.348 --> 53:02.011 Should we avoid rhythm when noting? 53:03.493 --> 53:05.315 Or rhyme, sorry, rhyme. 53:05.335 --> 53:05.875 No rhythm. 53:05.896 --> 53:06.216 Rhythm. 53:08.539 --> 53:11.202 We don't really try to avoid things. 53:11.282 --> 53:13.985 But if it does come up, rhythm is not correct. 53:14.165 --> 53:18.250 So you should be noting it as knowing, knowing, and so on like that. 53:19.872 --> 53:22.454 Knowing would probably be the best when you realize that you're rhyming. 53:22.515 --> 53:23.656 You're not rhyming. 53:24.136 --> 53:25.558 You're giving a rhythm to it. 53:26.669 --> 53:29.353 You certainly shouldn't encourage a rhythm. 53:30.013 --> 53:35.801 And if you're gaining a rhythm, it's a sign that you're not really being mindful, because rhythm requires past and future. 53:35.821 --> 53:38.244 The present has no rhythm to it. 53:49.559 --> 53:53.164 A friend of mine has critiqued Buddhism as too passive and defeatist. 53:53.805 --> 53:56.288 I couldn't really come up with a decent response to this. 54:02.225 --> 54:05.110 sorry, just a second, is too passive. 54:05.711 --> 54:06.793 Too passive, right? 54:09.057 --> 54:09.959 Too passive. 54:12.384 --> 54:14.107 Too passive for what? 54:14.127 --> 54:14.968 This is the question. 54:15.850 --> 54:18.555 So let's think of some ways in which it might be too passive. 54:20.098 --> 54:24.165 Too passive to stop the world from falling apart, right? 54:27.622 --> 54:35.210 I mean, Buddhism doesn't make a claim to be able to solve all of the world's problems, but nothing else appears to be working. 54:37.592 --> 54:49.424 And I suppose Buddhism actually makes the claim to being able to solve, what did I say, of having the potential to solve all of the world's problems if people practiced it. 54:50.365 --> 54:53.528 If everyone practiced Buddhism, there would be no problems to solve. 54:56.242 --> 55:01.834 Buddhism is actually quite powerful in terms of solving the world's problems because it cuts right to the source. 55:03.879 --> 55:09.330 So you want us to be very active and get out there and save the world, right? 55:10.052 --> 55:13.339 Except all those people who have tried to save the world have ended up, you know, 55:15.023 --> 55:20.354 being as much a failure as they were a success at the best of times. 55:21.316 --> 55:24.202 Let's look at some of the activisms, the good ones, right? 55:24.262 --> 55:29.753 Gandhi, let's take Gandhi who was, you know, whatever controversy there is, there's some sense that he did some good things. 55:29.873 --> 55:30.214 Well, 55:33.468 --> 55:34.891 I don't want to get into it. 55:34.911 --> 55:35.753 Let's not get into it. 55:35.973 --> 55:38.037 Because there are good things that these people did. 55:38.518 --> 55:47.997 But what is good, what is best about a movement, what is best about activism is the state of mind of the person. 55:48.017 --> 55:53.468 So Gandhi was good because of the purity. 55:54.005 --> 56:00.215 whether it was real or not, but there was a sense, a belief, that there was something noble about it. 56:00.596 --> 56:04.703 And like Martin Luther King, the rightness of their cause. 56:06.586 --> 56:08.269 How do you have rightness of cause? 56:13.858 --> 56:19.708 Buddhism focuses on the rightness, focuses on making people's minds right. 56:21.157 --> 56:25.465 If your mind is in the wrong way, being active is of no use to anyone. 56:27.829 --> 56:31.336 As far as being defeatist, nothing could be more farther from the truth. 56:31.436 --> 56:37.608 Buddhism is very much active in terms of finding a solution. 56:39.050 --> 56:42.557 It says that we are all personally responsible for our universe. 56:44.208 --> 57:12.021 and it teaches us how to find the ultimate happiness the ultimate success to conquer our universe Buddhism is like a religion of conquering dominating winning the game it's very ambitious actually but you know 57:13.553 --> 57:43.307 you can just say to him dude I'm not you don't want to practice Buddhism don't practice Buddhism helps me does good things for me but if you don't it's not your thing power to you since Buddhism isn't about convincing other people a decent response might be to find other friends no I don't know that's probably too harsh 57:44.013 --> 57:44.554 It's hard. 57:44.614 --> 57:47.279 It's hard convincing other people that their views are wrong. 57:49.683 --> 57:54.732 And the best way with Buddhism, I think, is just to state facts that it's helped you. 58:04.230 --> 58:07.776 Can Buddhism help people to deal with the so-called mental illnesses? 58:08.532 --> 58:10.455 Yeah, that's what Buddhism is all about. 58:10.695 --> 58:16.043 I think you're referring to acute mental illness, like the ones that are diagnosed. 58:16.063 --> 58:24.196 But you have to remember, just because a doctor tells you that you have a mental illness, doesn't make it categorically different from the mental illnesses that we all suffer from. 58:25.958 --> 58:27.040 They're acute. 58:27.060 --> 58:29.363 They're just acute versions of the same thing. 58:29.383 --> 58:33.870 So an acute mental illness is of course more difficult, but it's not categorically different. 58:35.112 --> 58:37.155 Even psychosis, I would argue, 58:39.059 --> 58:46.233 are maybe in some way categorically different, but in some way not categorically different. 58:46.333 --> 58:50.221 Meaning that perhaps not in this life can they be cured. 58:53.447 --> 58:59.840 But the mental aspect of them, I would argue that in many cases can be cured. 58:59.880 --> 59:01.303 Like a person with schizophrenia. 59:02.583 --> 59:14.657 could, I would argue, learn to see that their hallucinations are simply hallucinations, that seeing is just seeing, hearing is just hearing, and cease with the paranoia. 59:16.820 --> 59:20.844 I would argue that meditation has the potential to help with that. 59:21.545 --> 59:22.526 It may be very difficult. 59:22.586 --> 59:27.612 It may even be impossible, but I'd say there's at least a chance. 59:38.678 --> 59:41.121 What's the difference between Buddhism and Hinduism? 59:42.383 --> 59:43.444 Yeah, I'm not going to answer that. 59:44.726 --> 59:45.788 Read an encyclopedia. 59:49.472 --> 59:57.263 Then you're all caught up on things. 59:57.283 --> 59:58.925 All right. 59:58.945 --> 59:59.326 Good enough. 01:00:00.507 --> 01:00:02.610 We'll have to talk to our IT team about 01:00:04.227 --> 01:00:13.983 Like if we could get people's IP addresses, and then we could ban people by IP address, that might be a step we have to take in the future, because we may very well get bombarded. 01:00:15.365 --> 01:00:27.225 I mean, these people who have just been acting up may very well decide that they want to do something nasty to us. 01:00:27.245 --> 01:00:29.188 So we may have to find ways to prevent that. 01:00:32.476 --> 01:00:36.902 Anyway, thanks everyone for the most part, by and large, being a good group of people. 01:00:38.143 --> 01:00:39.124 That's what we're here for. 01:00:41.367 --> 01:00:55.144 If you've been the sort of individual we might call a not-so-good person, well, I wish you all the best in becoming a better person for your own benefit, that you may find peace, happiness, and freedom from suffering. 01:00:56.706 --> 01:00:57.687 Everyone else as well. 01:00:58.148 --> 01:00:58.729 Good night, everyone. 01:00:59.109 --> 01:00:59.770 And thanks, Robin. 01:01:00.891 --> 01:01:01.712 Thank you, Bhante. 01:01:01.833 --> 01:01:02.213 Good night.