Good evening everyone.
Welcome to our live broadcast.
I'm finding myself doing many different things and running the Buddhism club at McMaster and we've got a peace club as well.
I just came from our peace walk on the International Day of Peace.
So it's been a long day, and I'm concerned that might affect my ability to answer questions and teach Dhamma, so apologies.
I'm going to try to keep up this daily broadcast, but it may not always be as fulfilling, satisfying.
as one might wish.
So tonight we're looking at Guttar Nikaya Book of Fours, Sutta 177, Rahula Sutta.
Why I stopped on this one is just so that we could take a moment to reflect on the four elements.
So what the Buddha says in this, first he defines, he's defining reality or a part of reality, the physical aspect of reality, as having four parts.
And those four parts are split into two as being internal and external.
And those four parts, of course, are the elements.
So all of physical reality is summarized under these headings.
It's either internal or external.
And it's made up of the four elements, every physical, every aspect of physical reality.
Now, it's important to remember and keep in mind the paradigm under which this functions, functions under the paradigm of experience.
So reality is defined as moments of experience, contact between the physical and the mental.
And as for the physical, it's made up of the four elements.
That's the physical aspect of experience.
It says nothing about particles, subatomic particles, quarks, strings, quantum fields, none of that.
It's only referring to what can be observed directly.
And what can be observed directly is earth, air, water, fire.
That's it.
And so when we learned about, in grade 9 science, we learned about the four elements.
And we learned that that was the primitive way of understanding matter before we actually knew what matter was.
That's funny because we don't consider it primitive at all.
We consider it real.
And we consider that physics has actually gone off script.
learning about things that are, you could argue, practically useful, in terms of building bombs and that kind of thing, splitting atoms, but not ultimately useful, in terms of relating to ultimate reality.
That's what these four elements do.
The four elements are
useful in ultimate sense because they bring us closer to the truth and clear up our misunderstandings and our useless, improper, unwholesome unproductive, problematic, dangerous reactions to
to reality once we see reality for what it is we find peace in regards to reality no longer fighting no longer chasing or chasing away the the objects of our experience and so this is important
framework to remember.
Defining matter in terms of the four elements shifts our point of view away from concepts like body and hand and foot and face and man and woman and so on and so on to experience.
We have the earth element, which is hardness.
You feel something hard.
Softness.
You feel something is soft.
The water element is cohesion.
When you have something sticky or not sticky.
The fire element, you have heat and you have cold.
And the air element, you have tension and non-tension or flaccidity.
And that's all you have.
That makes up how we experience the physical realm or physical aspect of reality.
And that's it.
That's all.
And so what the Buddha is saying in this sutta, which is of course the whole point, is to see that this should be seen correctly with right wisdom.
yathā bhūtaṁ samaḥ paññāya dhattabhaṁ dhattabhaṁ dhattabhaṁ comes from dhasana same as pasana from vipassana dhattabhaṁ should be seen samaḥ paññāya with right wisdom yathā bhūtaṁ as it is how?
taṁ that netaṁ mama is not mine
This is not myself.
Those three.
This is not mine.
This I am not.
This is not myself.
Those three are the description of the...
manifestation of the three types of clinging.
You cling through views, this is myself.
You cling through conceit, I am this.
And you cling through craving, this is mine.
So these three things are giving up views, conceit and craving.
The three causes of clinging.
And once you see this clearly, that actually, well, these are not worth clinging to, that they're not me, they're not mine, they're not myself.
When you see that clearly, evang-diswa, having seen, apodatvaya, patvidatvaya, nibindati, one becomes disenchanted.
When you see that there's no control, there's no ownership,
there's no reckoning with these things they come and go and they change in ways that are almost completely out of our hands when you see that well you start to get disenchanted you lose all this lust and desire for them because you see they're just taking you on a wild goose chase
looking for the wild goose of satisfaction, which you'll never find.
You'll end up chasing your tail.
So one becomes disenchanted, loses interest.
Meditators can often be surprised by how the things that used to interest them no longer interest them.
They just no longer
give rise to the desire for or aversion towards anything just don't see the point and it's not out of it's not because they are
ignorant or uninterested.
It's out of wisdom.
It's because those things are not actually pleasant.
Those things actually don't.
There's no resolution that can be gained from chasing them or chasing them away.
They are unsatisfying.
one becomes dispassionate the mind becomes one detaches the mind from it so the mind that is clinging one frees the mind from that clinging that obsession
Right, so that's the sutta for tonight.
That's as far as I'm going to go because I think tonight's going to be a short session.
We had a peace walk and then we went on this, we went to the peace walk and then we had a bonfire and we sat around talking about all sorts of projects that we're interested in in terms of cultivating peace.
It's a really good group.
A lot of them are interested in mental health meditation.
So hopefully going to do some things in that regard.
So without further ado, let's look at some questions.
Some questions, not all these questions.
What can I do
I just want to go to the chat.
Good.
What can I do when in meditation without a word for a concentration?
There are places and things that I cannot find now words for.
Well, try me.
You can find a word for pretty much anything.
Feeling or knowing is often a good one.
Calm, quiet is one that people stumble over or forget about quite often.
But just knowing or feeling often works as well.
In many stories we see many individuals wishing for something.
Should one practice like that?
Are these the ways of the wise?
What should be the intention while doing good deeds if the goal is to become an arahant?
If the goal is to become an arahant then you should do good deeds thinking this will help me become an arahant.
If your goal is to go to heaven, you should think this will help me get to heaven.
If your goal is to be rich, you should do things with the intention that they should make you rich.
But yeah, it's an hour hunt.
You're not so much concerned with, may I get this or that.
By the practice of meditation I intend to heal my defilements.
Good for you.
But I can't.
I can't help myself to feel a superiority in regards to people who are not aware.
Sometimes I catch myself thinking that the Arahant goal is just a pursuit based on ego.
How can I reduce?
Well, no, no, no.
You see, when you meditate, all your defilements come up.
Just like when you do anything, actually.
Meditation is no different.
So when you meditate, you're going to feel egotistical about things like your meditation.
It's not a problem.
It is a problem, but it's not unexpected.
But the fact that you see that you're egotistical is great.
I mean, that's
That's what's unique about meditation is you're in a unique position to understand these experiences and to see them for what they are and to see how disgusting and unpleasant and undesirable they are and slowly get rid of them.
Would an enlightened mind have a need to do formal meditation practice?
assuming they've perfect mindfulness.
So an enlightened mind doesn't have any need to do anything, but they do do things, like meditate, just because they keep doing things.
But having no need and no desire, much is done away with, and when they pass away, there's no more arising of anything.
What constitutes a skillful question?
I think it's relative, I suppose.
I mean, what makes something skillful?
Are you good at asking questions?
I mean, if you're just asking, what makes a good question?
Well, a good question is one that allows you to get an answer that helps you.
Helps you get closer to enlightenment.
That's a good point.
Why are you asking the question?
When someone asks a question, are they asking it because they're just curious?
Well, it's not a very skillful thing.
Are they asking it because it's something that they believe is necessary for them to know in order to become enlightened?
Well, that seems like a good question.
Even if they're wrong, maybe the answer is, no, no, you don't need to know that, but it's good that they ask.
If they sincerely believe.
But sometimes we just ask questions because we're lazy or because we're curious or because whatever.
And those are not so skillful.
When I'm doing walking practice I become unsteady.
This seems to happen when I'm being mindful in the walking practice.
Could this be my mind trying to pull away from my mindfulness?
My drifts I find when I walk steady.
Yes, in the beginning it's awkward.
You're doing something that is, you could think of it as trying to chew gum and juggle at the same time or something.
don't do two things at once so it's something that your mind is struggling with and when your mind struggles it stumbles and therefore the body also stumbles but eventually it becomes more you become more comfortable with it I wouldn't worry about it I mean I guess it can come even for an advanced meditator as well
It has to do with the brain being limited and imperfect.
It's fine.
Stumbling is an interesting experience.
On last night's broadcast there was some kind of a flying bug in the room.
I caught the bug in my hand and I put it out the window.
I don't kill.
I certainly wouldn't, well, don't kill.
It's not intentional.
That's something I can tell you for sure I don't do.
What should be the speed of walking meditation compared to regular walking?
Well, regular walking, if you start being mindful, you realize that you're actually going somewhat quickly, so it's probably a bit slower, but it shouldn't feel slow.
If it feels slow, you're going too slow.
If it feels fast, you're going too fast, I would say.
Mind you, an ordinary person, when you're just starting meditating, you're probably geared to doing things quickly, so you have to maybe spend some time
being fairly careful.
Start a bit slow and eventually get a sense of a natural, calm rhythm.
And that will of course change from time to time.
It shouldn't be fast, shouldn't be slow.
Ajahn Tong just said, not too fast, not too slow.
How long should we note standing?
Where in the body do we note standing?
So, up to you.
You can actually note standing for hours if you want.
There was one monk who did twelve hours of standing meditation.
I wouldn't recommend it.
I'd recommend going back to the rising and falling.
It's probably a better object.
When we do walking meditation, we note it three times, standing, standing, standing, and then we turn or walk.
Where in the body do you note standing?
It's just a general sense of the feelings in the body.
It doesn't really matter.
Sometimes it's different spots.
Just being aware of the feeling of standing.
Are you feeling better?
Better than what?
I've been having burping, so I guess that's some kind of suffering.
It's not that unpleasant.
I got medication today that prevents acid production in the body.
They want to test and make sure that that's all it is.
So for two weeks I get to test.
It's actually, I think, a little bit better today after taking the medicine.
Could you please give an example of experiences associated with air element and the earth element?
Right, so the air element, if you feel in the stomach, the tension when you breathe in and the release when you breathe out, that's an example of the air element.
Or when you sit up straight, the pressure you feel in your back, that's the air element, the pressure.
Earth element is when you step on a hard floor and it feels hard, that's the earth element.
When you step on a plush carpet, it feels soft, that's also the earth element.
I don't answer questions about my practice or anybody else's practice.
Sorry.
And that's all.
Thank you for going easy on me, or maybe I just sped through those questions, but that's it.
Those are the questions for tonight.
Apologies for not being 100%, you know, if I...
If I could just do one thing, but I find myself...
There's an idea to start a chaplain.
There's a new chaplain at McMaster, an ecumenical chaplain.
Seems like a nice guy.
And he wants to bring non-Christian religions to the table.
Not sure how sincere he is, but he seems nice.
nice in perhaps a Christian way.
I'm not sure yet, but we'll have to see.
If he's genuinely nice, then it will be nice.
So I just mean to say I'm involved with different things.
Peace mostly and Buddhism.
But good stuff.
Trying to get involved with the local community and sort of align myself in ways that allow for the cultivation of wholesome
interactions and groups and communities and allow me to there's some sense of experimenting from my point of view experimenting and reaching out and dialoguing with people who might be interested in what I do not even just that, it's not about that
Not even who.
Dialoguing with people in an effort to cultivate peace.
And maybe not even an effort, just dialoguing with people in ways that are peaceful.
You deal with the people you have.
I've made a decision to live here in Canada.
Doing what comes naturally, I should think, in terms of cultivating peace and working together.
We complain about society and we complain about the world, but it's all changeable.
It's all malleable.
All it takes is doing what needs to be done.
When you complain about something, it's changeable.
Everything is.
Do you have the patience?
Do you have the purity of mind to see it through?
Doing goodness is always worth it.
Don't be afraid of goodness.
Apologies for perhaps in the near future reducing some of my effort put into the online community.
And I only say that because it's actually the most important part of what I do.
So I'm not suggesting that I'm going to give it up.
But it may no longer be 100%.
Hopefully it will still be 80% or 90%.
Good night, everyone.
See you all again soon.