WEBVTT 00:09.278 --> 00:09.620 Hello. 00:10.303 --> 00:17.702 Today I will be talking about a comprehensive practice according to the Buddha's teaching. 00:19.420 --> 00:39.984 It's a common problem among Buddhist meditators and people who approach the Buddhist teaching that we are unable to get a clear picture of the entirety of the Buddhist teaching and the entire course of practice. 00:40.004 --> 00:46.812 And so as Buddhist meditators, as Buddhist practitioners, this leads us to 00:48.175 --> 00:57.947 have a lopsided practice or a practice that is lacking in certain qualities or that is deficient in certain ways. 00:58.327 --> 01:12.664 And as a result, our practice, though we might have a specific practice that is set to take us towards the goal of freedom from suffering, that we're unable to achieve that goal because we're missing some of the important elements that the Buddha talked about. 01:12.644 --> 01:25.905 As non-Buddhists, as people who are coming new to the Buddha's teaching, this creates a problem on a different level in the sense of not being able to understand what it was that the Buddha actually taught. 01:26.465 --> 01:33.336 When you aren't able to gain a comprehensive understanding of the practice as the Buddha taught it, 01:33.316 --> 01:43.188 you don't really understand how it's supposed to lead to its goal, or how you should set out to practice, and so you find yourself confused. 01:43.268 --> 01:55.122 And often people actually look down on the Buddha's teaching, due to their inability to see the whole of the Buddha's course of practice. 01:55.102 --> 02:00.669 So they will say the Buddha taught only meditation or he was unable to teach in certain ways. 02:00.709 --> 02:04.674 He didn't teach about this or that element. 02:05.135 --> 02:19.033 And they come to misunderstand and misrepresent the Buddha's teaching due to their own misunderstanding or inability to comprehend the whole of the Buddha's teaching. 02:19.013 --> 02:48.126 So for this reason it's important to look at some of the ways in which the Buddha declared a comprehensive teaching or a teaching that would cover all of the bases and satisfy the need for a practice which could be carried out in the long term in all situations that would protect you from all quarters. 02:48.106 --> 03:02.080 Because when we undertake to practice meditation, that's only one part of our life or one aspect of our development, the practice of coming to see clearly, coming to see things as they are. 03:03.282 --> 03:13.472 There are obviously many distractions, many diversions, many requirements in our daily life that we have to satisfy. 03:13.452 --> 03:29.841 And if we're unable to deal with these various things, various aspects of our life, then our practice, our basic practice of doing sitting meditation, doing walking meditation, of formal meditation, will not succeed, will not progress. 03:29.821 --> 03:47.256 So, the best way that, or one of the best ways that I can think of that the Buddha declared this comprehensive practice was in the discourse that is called the Sabasava Sutta, or the discourse on all of the asava. 03:47.236 --> 03:51.141 all of the taints or all of the defilements. 03:52.863 --> 03:57.309 And this sutta is great because it talks about all of the different ways. 03:57.770 --> 04:12.349 It purports to explain a comprehensive practice, declaring the way to get rid of all of the bad habits and all of the problems that exist in our mind, in our lives. 04:12.329 --> 04:22.422 to get rid of all of those channels by which suffering might arise or unwholesomeness might arise, to cover all of the bases, so to speak. 04:23.103 --> 04:32.616 And so in this discourse, which is the second sutta in the Majjhima Nikāya, a discourse that all Buddhists should read and one that I would recommend highly, 04:34.148 --> 04:50.132 The Buddha talked about seven ways or seven aspects to our practice that are intrinsically important in our mental development and in our practice of the Buddha's teaching. 04:50.112 --> 05:05.732 So for those people who think that all you have to do is sit and practice meditation, all you have to do is come to see things clearly and so on, this is an explanation or a teaching to help you to see that there's actually more to it than that. 05:05.792 --> 05:12.942 If you really want to succeed in coming to see things as they are, you need to have a comprehensive practice. 05:12.982 --> 05:17.908 You have to have the ability to deal with all aspects of your practice, as I'll explain. 05:17.888 --> 05:34.966 And for those people who are coming to the Buddha's teaching new, this is a way to help them to understand all of the Buddha's teaching, all of the practice as the Buddha recommended, as the Buddha instructed. 05:35.707 --> 05:44.436 So you'll be able to see that the Buddha taught all aspects of one's spiritual development, and it's quite comprehensive. 05:46.171 --> 06:11.875 So the point of the sutta is to talk about how to get rid of the taints, how to get rid of those things in your mind that cause you suffering, to get rid of all of those unwholesome tendencies or misunderstandings that exist in the mind that give rise to suffering for ourselves or cause suffering for other beings, causing us to feel guilty, causing us to feel afraid or stressed. 06:13.120 --> 06:17.629 upset and ultimately lead us to pain and suffering. 06:19.600 --> 06:28.591 And the point of the sutta is that it's not simply from practicing insight meditation, from coming to see clearly. 06:28.631 --> 06:39.745 There are certain unwholesome tendencies or certain parts of our life that will not be destroyed, not be done away with, simply by practicing meditation. 06:39.765 --> 06:44.270 And the reason is that it's a very complex issue. 06:45.431 --> 06:48.375 Our life as human beings is complex. 06:48.355 --> 06:52.342 We can't simply sit in meditation 24 hours a day. 06:53.463 --> 06:55.988 And so we have to deal with these aspects of our existence. 06:56.849 --> 07:02.659 But the first of the seven deals specifically with the practice of insight meditation. 07:02.819 --> 07:11.393 And this is the removal or the destruction of taints, of defilements, of bad things through seeing. 07:11.373 --> 07:30.613 And so for those people who are new to the Buddha's teaching, who don't have a deep understanding of what it was that the Buddha taught, this is perhaps the most important point, and this is what I was talking about as being sort of the core, not the entirety, but the core of the Buddha's practice, and that is to see things as they are. 07:30.593 --> 07:37.202 So the Buddha taught us to look at the reality that presents itself in front of us and to come to see it clearly. 07:37.282 --> 07:38.944 He taught us to see the truth. 07:39.505 --> 07:44.031 He didn't want to teach us any dogma or theory or belief. 07:44.972 --> 07:50.139 The Buddha taught practical ways by which we can come to understand things as they are. 07:50.219 --> 07:52.262 And this is really the core of the Buddha's teaching. 07:52.763 --> 07:59.892 If you want to understand what it was that the Buddha taught, he taught that we should learn to see things as they are. 07:59.872 --> 08:08.102 and more specifically to learn to come to see the experience in front of us as it is. 08:08.442 --> 08:22.579 So not to learn about all of the various aspects of the universe and outer space and under the ocean and so on, learning about other people's lives or society, but learning simply about the building blocks of reality. 08:22.639 --> 08:24.141 How does reality work? 08:24.121 --> 08:53.233 how does our experience work and how does suffering arise and looking at our habits and our ways of behaving and coming to see the useful and the useless, the skillful and the unskillful habits and behaviors and being able to separate and to give up those habits which are causing us suffering, those behaviors that are unwholesome. 08:54.800 --> 09:09.739 So the ultimate goal and the most complete and perfect method to become free from suffering is to see things as they are. 09:09.759 --> 09:12.903 There's no running away from suffering, chasing it away. 09:12.943 --> 09:22.174 Simply seeing things as they are is the ultimate and the supreme way of getting rid of the unwholesome tendencies that exist in our mind. 09:22.154 --> 09:29.785 Because when you see things as they are, obviously you would never engage in unwholesomeness. 09:29.805 --> 09:32.990 You would never engage in those things that were going to lead to your own suffering. 09:33.551 --> 09:41.603 If you knew the truth, that this was something that led to your suffering and stress, then you would never engage in it. 09:41.703 --> 09:43.486 So this is really the key point. 09:43.786 --> 09:44.888 And so the Buddha said, 09:44.868 --> 10:04.227 The first important thing is to undertake this sort of meditation where we focus on what is important, we give up what is unimportant, we don't think about worldly speculation or cosmic speculation, thinking about the universe and philosophy and so on. 10:04.207 --> 10:08.453 We come to look at that which is important, that which is causing us suffering. 10:08.473 --> 10:14.823 And we come to see the truth, the most important truth of what is the cause of suffering. 10:15.924 --> 10:20.251 As a result of this, we will come to let go of those things that are causing us suffering. 10:20.311 --> 10:22.434 We'll come to let go of our clinging. 10:22.454 --> 10:28.763 We'll come to let go of all of the things that are unpleasant and unsatisfying. 10:28.743 --> 10:38.936 All of those objects of the sense that we normally cling to, we will let go of them, the people, the places and the things which ordinarily we thought brought us happiness. 10:39.576 --> 10:46.185 Once we come to understand them as they are, we will come to let go and we'll come to accept things as they are. 10:46.205 --> 10:50.750 We won't need, we won't require, we won't wish for things to be other than what they were. 10:51.331 --> 10:55.476 We will accept them as they are and be able to live our lives in peace, happiness. 10:55.456 --> 10:57.740 and freedom from suffering in any case. 10:58.501 --> 11:05.354 We'll be able to accept all of reality, not segregating it into good and bad, acceptable and unacceptable. 11:07.077 --> 11:10.523 And so this is really the first and most important way. 11:10.583 --> 11:13.228 This is simply the process of watching 11:13.208 --> 11:42.422 When something arises, you look at it, you see it for what it is, you might use this mantra that I talk about, when you feel pain, simply reminding yourself, this is pain, saying to yourself, pain, pain, pain, to stop or to remove the judgments, the disliking, the aversion to the pain, and simply replace it with simply an understanding of it as it is, this is pain. 11:44.157 --> 11:47.582 when you're thinking good thoughts or bad thoughts, to simply know that you're thinking. 11:47.622 --> 11:59.399 When you are moving the body, when you're walking or when you're sitting, when the breath is going in, the breath is going out, simply reminding yourself of it as it is, using this mantra. 11:59.920 --> 12:02.824 When you like something, reminding yourself this is liking. 12:02.844 --> 12:04.406 When you dislike something, dislike. 12:04.426 --> 12:12.578 And when you feel worried or tired or stressed or bored or scared or confused, 12:12.558 --> 12:17.742 Simply looking at that state, the emotive state or the physical state or the mental state, 12:19.139 --> 12:25.187 And seeing it for what it is, seeing it as it is, not judging it, but coming to understand it a little bit deeper. 12:25.207 --> 12:30.194 Everything, whether it's a good or a bad thing, coming to understand it for what it is. 12:30.734 --> 12:31.896 Because you don't need to judge. 12:31.976 --> 12:39.827 Once you understand for what it is, its causes, its effects, then you will straighten out all of your life and all of your behavior. 12:40.347 --> 12:43.932 You would never engage in those behaviors that lead to your suffering. 12:43.912 --> 12:48.017 But this is what it means to see, to see things as they are. 12:48.157 --> 12:56.088 And this is the first method the Buddha taught to remove the taint, to remove the unwholesomeness in the mind. 12:56.508 --> 12:59.332 This is really theoretically enough. 12:59.973 --> 13:05.059 And as I said, the point is that we're not able to do this 24 hours a day. 13:05.039 --> 13:29.224 And if we don't approach the other aspects of our life in a spiritual manner, in terms of our development and cultivation of the mind, then they will become doors to allow our mind to escape and to remove our concentration, to cause us to give rise to more unwholesomeness. 13:29.204 --> 13:35.717 And our insight meditation, our contemplation of things as they are, will not progress. 13:35.817 --> 13:37.400 So that's why there are six other ways. 13:38.081 --> 13:41.888 Really this first one is really the core practice. 13:42.409 --> 13:44.293 But then we have other... 13:44.273 --> 13:47.296 other aspects of our practice that we have to keep in mind. 13:48.438 --> 13:50.860 These are the other ones that I'll be talking about next. 13:50.900 --> 13:56.466 The second one is through restraint or through guarding. 13:57.547 --> 14:13.605 Some of the bad habits that we have have to be fixed by restraining ourselves or by guarding our senses, guarding the six senses. 14:14.092 --> 14:24.141 Ultimately we want to open the senses and look and to see things as they are, but in the beginning or even throughout our training this won't be possible if we just let everything in. 14:24.782 --> 14:32.669 Because as soon as you see something that is beautiful and wonderful, you'll lose all of your mindfulness and you'll be off chasing after it. 14:33.029 --> 14:41.837 When you see something unpleasant, you see a person who you don't like, you'll become angry and frustrated and you'll forget all about the meditation. 14:41.817 --> 14:44.399 And you'll stop to look at things as they are. 14:45.240 --> 14:52.227 When you hear sounds, sometimes people practice meditation and think that you need to be in complete silence. 14:52.347 --> 15:03.337 And so when they hear sounds that are unpleasant or continuous, repetitive sounds, people talking and so on, they'll feel like their practice is unable to progress. 15:04.378 --> 15:11.284 And they'll feel frustrated and they might even give up the meditation thinking that they don't have a suitable location to practice. 15:13.036 --> 15:13.657 And so on. 15:13.677 --> 15:20.447 So seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, feeling and thinking, there are the good things and the bad, the pleasant and the unpleasant. 15:21.028 --> 15:23.070 And they will lead us away from the meditation. 15:23.131 --> 15:25.714 Pleasant things will lead us to chase after them. 15:25.814 --> 15:31.062 Unpleasant things will cause us to become frustrated and upset and cause us to suffer. 15:31.042 --> 15:35.669 Either way, we'll lose sight of the goal and we'll lose sight of our practice. 15:35.689 --> 15:41.617 So for this reason, the Buddha said, it's important for us to understand the six senses and to guard them. 15:42.678 --> 15:46.924 We should avoid certain sights and sounds and smells and tastes. 15:46.944 --> 15:57.319 We should, in a sense, keep ourselves from indulging in excessive pleasures or displeasures. 15:57.299 --> 16:10.961 So when we practice meditation intensively, we'll, for this reason, often seclude ourselves, stay away from people in general, stay away from pleasant sights and sounds and smells. 16:11.382 --> 16:20.657 We'll give up movies and music and entertainment, because these are all things that will take away our mindfulness, take us away from our practice. 16:20.637 --> 16:26.246 So this guarding of the senses, when we're living our lives, we should always be thinking about this. 16:27.207 --> 16:47.438 Walking down the street, we should not always be looking around at the world around us, because it's liable to entice us into, at the very least, mental distraction, causing us to think more than is necessary, and as a result losing our focus on the ultimate reality of our experience. 16:49.358 --> 16:55.203 We should remember this in our daily lives, and we should remember this throughout our practice as Buddhists. 16:55.223 --> 17:08.355 It's something that we should take seriously, that when we walk we should be aware that we're walking and try to focus, not looking around, not going to places that are liable to cause us distraction. 17:09.076 --> 17:19.365 We should try to limit our entertainment and our diversion, because it's something that will give rise to more of these unwholesome tendencies. 17:19.345 --> 17:24.495 They, as a result, will make it too difficult for us to see things as they are. 17:26.298 --> 17:28.641 This is the second method. 17:28.721 --> 17:53.773 The third method, or the third aspect of our practice, which is a method to give up the unwholesome tendencies in the mind, is by using, by making use of our requisites, the belongings that we have, or the requisites of our life, those objects 17:53.753 --> 17:56.298 that are essential in our life. 17:56.939 --> 18:17.736 So, a Buddhist meditator should be content with very little, should be able to, or should set themselves on living a simple life, giving up pleasure and luxury, trying their best to give up the possessions that are not totally necessary. 18:17.716 --> 18:20.598 This has to do with guarding. 18:20.618 --> 18:22.340 This is the second one. 18:22.360 --> 18:30.027 But the third one, those things that you have to use, that you have to engage in, how to use them appropriately. 18:30.927 --> 18:33.810 And so we might want to limit our food intake. 18:33.930 --> 18:41.496 This would be guarding the tongue, not eating too much food or eating food simply because it's delicious. 18:41.757 --> 18:46.761 We should try to give up those sweets and candies and foods which are 18:46.741 --> 18:50.646 not of any use, but simply for our sensual pleasure. 18:51.247 --> 18:54.011 This is a way to guard our sense faculties. 18:55.132 --> 18:59.138 But we can't give up food entirely if we're intending to practice in the long term. 19:00.139 --> 19:05.526 We still need food to sustain our lives, and therefore sustain our practice. 19:05.506 --> 19:07.611 So how do we use the food? 19:07.691 --> 19:09.275 How do we use our clothes? 19:09.355 --> 19:11.099 How do we use our dwellings? 19:11.159 --> 19:12.302 How do we use medicines? 19:12.342 --> 19:17.654 How do we use those things that are required for our existence? 19:17.674 --> 19:23.127 And so the Buddha laid out very specific details on how to use these things. 19:23.107 --> 19:26.572 simply for their purpose. 19:26.912 --> 19:28.614 And it's kind of a reflection. 19:28.674 --> 19:38.247 When you're using something, you should reflect on what its use is for, and thereby you can come to see whether it's really necessary or not. 19:38.287 --> 19:45.537 The way that we come to distinguish between those things that are necessary and those things that are not is through this reflection. 19:45.517 --> 19:50.524 So the clothes that we wear, we're simply using them for some purpose. 19:50.805 --> 19:55.471 When we understand this purpose, then the clothes that we wear will reflect that purpose. 19:55.591 --> 20:08.470 If we're using clothes to be beautiful, to be attractive, to gain some kind of sensual pleasure from having this beautiful clothing and so on, to make ourselves look good. 20:08.450 --> 20:13.785 then this is obviously going to lead to our distraction and our defilement. 20:13.906 --> 20:17.676 It's going to lead us to more attachment and more clinging and more craving. 20:18.619 --> 20:19.542 And it will be a detriment. 20:19.662 --> 20:21.447 It will be a hindrance in our practice. 20:22.945 --> 20:39.688 If on the other hand we use our clothes simply to cover the body, the nakedness, if we use it to keep our body warm, to keep our body cold, to protect it from the sun, to protect it from the wind, to protect it from insects and mosquitoes and so on, 20:39.668 --> 20:49.402 then this is a good use, this is a proper use, this is something that will not thereby lead to our affliction, will not lead to our suffering. 20:50.083 --> 21:00.478 If we use it to guard from those unpleasantnesses, then it will make our practice more convenient, more comfortable. 21:00.458 --> 21:04.324 And so our clothing should be useful in this way. 21:04.384 --> 21:07.188 Our food should also be useful. 21:07.228 --> 21:17.843 We should use food to remove the hunger and eat those foods that are not going to give us indigestion. 21:17.823 --> 21:23.694 Just the right amount so that we don't feel over full and so that we don't feel still hungry. 21:24.455 --> 21:28.843 Once we are full then we stop and are able to continue our meditation. 21:28.903 --> 21:33.612 If we eat too much obviously it will be a hindrance to our practice. 21:33.632 --> 21:36.878 If we don't eat enough it will likewise be a hindrance to our practice. 21:36.858 --> 21:52.504 We eat those foods that are going to be of use to sustain ourselves, not those foods that are going to cause diseases, that are going to cause obesity or disease and therefore discomfort and difficulty in our practice. 21:54.509 --> 22:02.802 We use our lodging, our bedding, our room, we have this dwelling place, our home. 22:03.884 --> 22:20.010 And many times people who become Buddhist meditators or Buddhist practitioners will give up many of the things in their home or will maybe even move to a new home that is more suitable for the practice of meditation, giving up luxury and comfort 22:19.990 --> 22:29.359 If we use our bed, for instance, to sleep and to be lazy and to laze around and try to get as much sleep as possible, then it will give rise to more defilements. 22:29.499 --> 22:48.158 If, on the other hand, we use our bedding and our lodging for the purpose of seclusion, for the purpose of meditation, thinking that our bedroom is a place where we can meditate, arranging things so that we have room to walk and we have a place to sit, and there's not many, many things distracting our attention and so on, 22:48.138 --> 22:52.909 then it will be a support for our practice. 22:52.989 --> 23:00.627 We use it obviously for the same reasons as clothes, to ward off cold and heat and wind and insects and so on. 23:01.610 --> 23:02.532 Then this is a benefit. 23:02.572 --> 23:04.797 This is something that will assist in our practice. 23:06.278 --> 23:09.964 We use medicines as well. 23:10.304 --> 23:14.231 And we use those various things that are requirements in our life. 23:14.291 --> 23:16.093 People use cars or vehicles. 23:17.235 --> 23:18.738 Medicine is something that we use. 23:20.861 --> 23:22.003 All of the many instruments. 23:22.023 --> 23:26.510 People use telephones and computers and so on for some purpose. 23:26.690 --> 23:28.533 And all of these things should be reflected upon. 23:28.593 --> 23:29.475 What is the purpose? 23:29.575 --> 23:30.757 Is this a useful purpose? 23:30.777 --> 23:31.678 Is this purpose 23:31.658 --> 23:33.560 leading towards the goal? 23:33.660 --> 23:36.063 Or is it complementary? 23:37.924 --> 23:39.947 Does it fit with a spiritual practice? 23:40.527 --> 23:47.714 Or is it contradictory towards the aim that I'm trying to reach and therefore a hindrance in regards to my practice? 23:47.735 --> 23:51.558 And so we use all of these things, but we use them in the right way. 23:52.019 --> 23:59.927 It doesn't mean that one has to give up one's home and one's belongings, but it means one has to separate those things that are important 23:59.907 --> 24:09.841 and the uses of the various things that are proper uses that are going to be complementary and fit with our meditation practice. 24:11.764 --> 24:21.098 So this is the third way by which we develop in the practice, and it's another important part of the comprehensive practice. 24:21.118 --> 24:29.610 The fourth way is by bearing with certain things, by forbearing. 24:30.637 --> 24:38.266 in regards to our lives, in regards to those things that are unpleasant, are difficult to bear. 24:38.326 --> 24:46.435 So in our practice and in our lives there are going to be situations that are going to be a cause for suffering for us. 24:47.155 --> 24:53.463 There's going to be heat, there's going to be cold, there's going to be wind and bad weather. 24:53.503 --> 24:58.348 There's going to be painful feelings, hunger, thirst. 24:58.328 --> 25:07.038 Even painful feelings, the Buddha said, to the point that they might kill us, they might take away our life. 25:08.080 --> 25:16.389 Diseases and sicknesses, people have indigestion and so on, that can be very painful and a cause for great suffering. 25:16.429 --> 25:20.034 So the question is, how do we incorporate these into our practice? 25:20.054 --> 25:23.678 And the important thing here is to realize that 25:23.658 --> 25:28.082 there are certain sufferings that you can't avoid. 25:28.403 --> 25:30.865 There are certain circumstances that you can't avoid. 25:31.346 --> 25:41.996 And when you realize this, when you're able to set your mind in this way so that you're trying to develop patience, it will then allow you to look at the object. 25:42.096 --> 25:45.059 If you're not going to be patient with the object, you'll never look. 25:45.119 --> 25:46.501 And if you never look, you'll never see. 25:47.242 --> 25:50.745 So getting back to the first point is that we want to see things clearly. 25:50.725 --> 25:59.825 In many cases what's stopping us is the intensity of the experience as being something that we can't bear, we can't stay with. 26:00.346 --> 26:09.747 So teaching ourselves to be able to bear with difficulty will allow us to incorporate that into our practice and come to see it clearly. 26:09.727 --> 26:20.697 If we don't understand the need for patience, the need for the ability to bear with unpleasantness, then we'll never be able to come to see it for what it is. 26:20.757 --> 26:37.573 If, on the other hand, we are patient, we bear with it, once we come to see it for what it is, we come to look at it objectively, there'll be no need to be patient with it at all, whether it be heat or cold or painful feelings, hunger and thirst. 26:37.553 --> 26:45.387 Any of these things, we'll come to see them simply as phenomena that have arisen, experience that arises, and the judgment will be gone. 26:45.427 --> 26:53.301 We'll come to see that there's nothing good or bad about these or any other experience, and as a result, they won't be able to cause us suffering. 26:55.255 --> 27:00.107 So this is another important part of our practice. 27:00.127 --> 27:07.525 This is something that is quite important in terms of understanding what a proper meditation is. 27:07.986 --> 27:10.733 Many times people understand meditation practice to be 27:10.713 --> 27:19.530 a happy thing, where it always has to be comfortable, where you always have to be happy, you always have to have some sort of pleasure or calm state. 27:19.650 --> 27:29.970 And when pain arises in the body or in any situation where it's uncomfortable, then immediately you have to change and there's some problem. 27:29.950 --> 27:41.590 But all of these physical ailments of heat and cold and hunger and thirst and even deadly suffering are simply physical realities. 27:41.891 --> 27:46.238 They don't have to do with your state of mind and they don't have to be suffering if you don't let them. 27:46.218 --> 27:54.606 If you are always running away from these states, then you'll never come to fully open up to reality and your practice will never succeed. 27:55.166 --> 28:04.335 So we should, when we practice, be open to even unpleasant situations and try to simply see them for what they are instead of judging them. 28:05.716 --> 28:11.161 This is the fourth method or the fourth aspect of our practice. 28:11.181 --> 28:12.883 The fifth aspect is those 28:14.078 --> 28:29.880 Those phenomena that we do have to avoid, that some of our bad habits and so on will be, some suffering will be averted by avoiding certain things. 28:30.040 --> 28:40.795 So it's not that the Buddha said you have to bear with everything just like a cow or an animal without any sense of judgment or reason. 28:40.775 --> 28:43.802 It is important to avoid certain things. 28:44.423 --> 28:47.591 And so this is another aspect of our practice as you can see there. 28:47.651 --> 28:53.805 It's not cut and dry where you just sit and practice and sit with everything. 28:53.865 --> 28:55.850 There are certain things that you have to avoid. 28:55.970 --> 28:56.792 For instance, 28:56.772 --> 29:08.992 The Buddha gave mention of a monk who's walking through the forest and comes upon a thorn patch, a patch of thorn bushes. 29:09.073 --> 29:19.590 Well, the person who takes this sort of bearing with things literally might think you're just supposed to walk through the thorn patch and become all cut up and scratched up and 29:19.570 --> 29:26.659 and lead to your suffering and distress. 29:27.520 --> 29:30.604 But this is one of the things Buddha said, well this should be avoided, go around it. 29:30.685 --> 29:35.791 And obviously don't be ridiculous. 29:37.834 --> 29:41.258 If you see a big pit in front of you and you can just go around it, you go around it. 29:41.319 --> 29:48.548 If there's an elephant or a wild elephant or a wild beast or so on, 29:48.528 --> 29:50.890 Avoid the animal. 29:50.950 --> 29:58.518 Don't just walk up and say, well, my karma will take care of me, and if I'm meant to be killed, then I'll be killed. 29:58.578 --> 30:14.354 It's important to be circumspect about it, to be able to judge and to discern what is the right and what is the wrong course of behavior, and to avoid certain things. 30:16.556 --> 30:17.877 More importantly, though, 30:19.173 --> 30:32.239 we should avoid those people and those situations that are going to be a cause for our downfall, are going to be a cause for the arising of defilements. 30:32.279 --> 30:36.287 We should avoid bars and parties 30:38.427 --> 31:04.485 people who are engaged in immorality and drugs and alcohol and all sorts of sensuality, we should try to avoid people who, by their very nature, by their behavior or their position, will be a cause for us to fall into immorality, following after them. 31:04.465 --> 31:14.863 We should avoid those places, we should avoid those things that will give rise to defilement and as a result suffering. 31:15.764 --> 31:22.355 Oftentimes the practice of meditation, when taken seriously, leads people to change their lives. 31:22.696 --> 31:29.848 It will lead them to change their circle of friends, it will lead them to change their lifestyle. 31:29.828 --> 31:45.278 their way of finding entertainment and so on, will change so that it becomes more appropriate for one who is trying to develop their mind. 31:45.358 --> 31:49.947 It's something that will fit in better with the meditation practice. 31:49.927 --> 31:54.953 So there are certain things that we have to avoid, people that we have to avoid. 31:54.973 --> 31:59.618 You should never think that you have to remain friends with people who you've been friends for a long time. 31:59.658 --> 32:09.650 If you come to realize that they're on a bad path, you really should be careful about how much time you spend with them and with all such people. 32:10.271 --> 32:19.782 And you should be careful in general in regards to who you spend time with and the places you go and frequent and so on. 32:19.762 --> 32:23.910 Because these will all have some effect on your practice. 32:23.970 --> 32:37.315 There will be a distraction and aversion and a hindrance if you engage or get involved in the wrong sorts of people, places and things. 32:39.168 --> 32:43.414 So that's number five, the things that we do have to avoid. 32:43.454 --> 32:49.864 There are certain things that we have to bear with, and these are unpleasant, painful things that can't be avoided. 32:50.264 --> 32:59.057 But when they can be avoided and there is no benefit to be gained from involvement therein, then they should be avoided. 32:59.778 --> 33:00.600 This is number five. 33:01.181 --> 33:03.965 Number six is those things that should be destroyed. 33:05.206 --> 33:08.972 The development of the mind through destruction. 33:08.952 --> 33:17.563 or abandonment, giving up, that there are certain qualities of mind, certain things that exist in our mind that we should give up. 33:17.784 --> 33:23.171 And if we are able to give them up, then it will lead to our mental development. 33:24.472 --> 33:30.420 And this is really getting to the core now of what we're trying to do through Seeing Clearly. 33:30.400 --> 33:54.788 But here the Buddha is more talking about those thoughts that arise, and this is like those kind of immoral or unskillful thoughts, those kind of trains of thought that we get into that will lead to the arising of more and more unskillful tendencies, thoughts based on 33:54.768 --> 34:17.147 on desire, thinking about beautiful women and beautiful men and romantic encounters, thinking about fantasizing about this or that, about adventures and so on, thinking about getting this or that thing, thinking about the food that you're going to eat, thinking about the places that you're going to go, 34:17.127 --> 34:34.401 thinking about all sorts of wonderful things, when engaged upon, will obviously give rise to more and more craving, more and more attachment, and will be a hindrance to your practice, may even cause you to lose track of your practice in favor of chasing after those things. 34:35.724 --> 34:37.988 The kind of thoughts that are based on ill will, 34:37.968 --> 34:50.679 where we get caught up in thinking about people and the bad things that they have done to us and maybe how we want to do bad things to them, how we want to hurt them, or dwelling on the ways people have hurt us. 34:51.339 --> 34:56.444 The Buddha said dwelling in this way will obviously never lead to any end. 34:57.464 --> 35:07.553 Engaging again and again in the ideas of vengeance and trying to get back at people who have hurt us will never lead to any benefit and will never 35:07.533 --> 35:09.932 will never lead to the way out. 35:10.153 --> 35:11.282 The way out of 35:12.477 --> 35:22.046 out of the cycle of revenge or enmity, is not through vengeance, is not through trying to win, trying to beat the other person. 35:22.606 --> 35:27.310 It's through letting go and through not clinging to these kinds of thoughts. 35:27.410 --> 35:31.374 And obviously these kinds of thoughts will be a great hindrance to our practice. 35:31.394 --> 35:35.197 They'll give rise to more and more anger and aversion and hatred. 35:35.818 --> 35:42.484 And as a result will divert us from our practice and cloud our mind 35:42.464 --> 36:11.239 and also those kinds of thoughts that have to do with delusion or identifying with things the idea of being proud thoughts of pride, thoughts of arrogance and self-righteousness thinking of yourself as a great person and how wonderful you are or thinking about how terrible you are this idea that we are less than others the feelings of low self-confidence and so on 36:11.219 --> 36:28.462 These kinds of thoughts that have to do with identifying with a self, with the I, reifying yourself, saying, who am I, and making up this identity and creating this identity out of nothing. 36:29.103 --> 36:37.834 This is something that also truly clouds the mind and causes us to lose sight of what is real. 36:37.814 --> 36:43.883 Because experience has no I, it has no identity. 36:44.384 --> 36:45.446 It simply is what it is. 36:45.486 --> 36:47.950 There are the elements of the experience and that's it. 36:48.851 --> 36:58.887 This idea of the I, of the me, is simply a concept that arises and it covers over the actual reality. 36:59.428 --> 37:00.269 It's a red herring. 37:00.309 --> 37:05.357 It takes us away from the goal and takes us off of the path. 37:06.316 --> 37:22.840 These kinds of thoughts, thoughts of an unwholesome nature, the kinds of thoughts that are going to lead us to give rise to greed, anger, delusion, that are going to... 37:22.820 --> 37:29.688 going to take us away from a clear understanding of reality. 37:29.708 --> 37:30.789 These are to be avoided. 37:30.809 --> 37:39.119 And we should recognize them when they come up, and we should understand that they are to be avoided, so that we're able to see what's going on clearly. 37:39.139 --> 37:44.085 We can see the greed, we can see the anger, we can see the delusion, we can see the thinking. 37:44.065 --> 37:48.939 and to break it apart and not get lost in that kind of train of thought. 37:49.320 --> 37:57.484 We should have an understanding that these thoughts are not to our benefit and should be guarded against for our own benefit. 37:59.489 --> 38:17.977 The seventh and final method by which we come to do away with the unwholesomeness in the mind and the suffering that exists in our lives is through the development, through mental development, the development that comes through seeing clearly. 38:18.137 --> 38:24.366 As we look, as we examine reality, how our mind develops. 38:24.346 --> 38:30.897 So this is simply talking about what happens when we look at, when we watch, when we practice meditation. 38:32.640 --> 38:39.631 It's not enough simply to say that we're going to watch, we're going to look, we're going to see things as they are. 38:40.472 --> 38:47.704 It's important that we do it again and again, and we do it with the aim to develop our minds, the aim to develop ourselves. 38:47.684 --> 38:57.474 in those things that are going to lead us closer and closer to the final goal, which is realization and understanding and enlightenment and freedom from suffering. 38:58.135 --> 39:15.193 The realization that permeates all of reality, that covers everything, whereby we understand all of experience and we realize the way things are and we don't become deluded and ignorant again. 39:16.912 --> 39:25.790 So as we look, and as we look deeper and deeper and with more and more accuracy, we're going to develop certain qualities of mind. 39:25.870 --> 39:31.922 The first one is the ability to see things as they are, the ability to recognize things as they are. 39:31.982 --> 39:36.912 And this is the basic practice that we're undertaking in the beginning. 39:36.892 --> 39:40.397 You might look at the pain and say, pain, pain, pain, but you really don't like the pain. 39:40.718 --> 39:44.363 And so as a result, simply saying pain, pain, pain, doesn't do anything. 39:44.383 --> 39:50.693 It doesn't have any immediate effect because there's no clarity of mind there. 39:50.933 --> 39:56.341 There's the word and the attempt, but in the beginning it's still growing. 39:56.361 --> 39:58.765 So this is the first one that we have to develop. 39:58.745 --> 40:02.088 As this becomes developed, we will come to see things as they are. 40:02.708 --> 40:06.432 We will come to see the nature of things. 40:06.772 --> 40:13.018 So when we see the pain for what it is, we'll come to see that it is simply a phenomenon that arises and ceases. 40:13.038 --> 40:14.959 There's nothing pleasant or unpleasant about it. 40:15.700 --> 40:21.145 We'll come to see the anger associated with the pain that does have something unpleasant about it. 40:21.225 --> 40:22.706 It is intrinsically unpleasant. 40:23.387 --> 40:28.431 It is the experience of the phenomenon as unpleasant. 40:28.411 --> 40:34.139 And so we are able to see that there's nothing wrong with the pain, but there is something wrong with anger. 40:34.460 --> 40:37.564 And so we're able to separate these two out. 40:37.584 --> 40:40.889 And as a result we're able to live with pain and live without anger. 40:41.349 --> 40:52.545 We're able to change this aspect of our lives by separating the nature of the realities as we see them for what they are. 40:52.525 --> 41:00.932 Once we're able to separate things out, then we free up this energy that we've lost. 41:03.795 --> 41:17.186 We are able to exert ourselves and streamline our efforts. 41:17.807 --> 41:21.250 And so as a result, our 41:22.850 --> 41:24.133 our energy increases. 41:24.293 --> 41:31.269 We're able to focus better and we're able to progress quicker. 41:31.289 --> 41:41.972 As we work and work and work at seeing things clearer, we're able to streamline our efforts, we're able to 41:42.847 --> 41:59.607 we're able to go to a higher level and to increase the effort to a greater and greater level to the point that our intensity and our clarity of mind becomes stronger and stronger and stronger. 41:59.587 --> 42:03.211 As we do this, our mind starts to quiet down. 42:03.352 --> 42:07.156 Once our mind starts to quiet down, then our mind becomes focused. 42:07.397 --> 42:12.983 And eventually it gets to the point where we simply see the experience for what it is. 42:13.164 --> 42:17.930 We might see the pain and we simply see it as pain. 42:17.970 --> 42:20.052 There doesn't arise any anger anymore. 42:20.873 --> 42:24.818 Once our mind focuses, our mind calms down and then focuses, 42:24.798 --> 42:28.163 we'll come to gain this level of equanimity. 42:28.844 --> 42:42.846 We will no longer judge things as good or bad, we'll no longer have any favorite and any kind of attachment and aversion to things. 42:43.367 --> 42:44.930 We'll simply see things as they are. 42:45.250 --> 42:50.839 This is really the state that we're hoping for, we're hoping to come, or we're looking for, we're aiming for. 42:50.819 --> 43:08.524 that eventually through our practice we'll simply see things as they are and we'll look at all things as they are until we can get this, as I said, comprehensive understanding and this realization that in all of the universe there's nothing worth clinging to, that everything simply arises and ceases. 43:08.504 --> 43:12.490 So this is what comes from the practice. 43:12.510 --> 43:15.153 This is the final part of the comprehensive practice. 43:15.174 --> 43:18.939 But as you can see, there are many aspects that we have to take into account. 43:18.999 --> 43:21.422 And it's worth going over again all of these. 43:21.523 --> 43:26.970 I encourage people to read this sutta, the Sābhāsala Sutta, the second one in Imogen and Micaiah. 43:27.411 --> 43:36.604 It's one that I often teach from, and I think that we can all use going over again and again, something that will really and truly support our practice. 43:36.584 --> 43:41.110 So I hope this has been useful and that you're able to put this into practice. 43:41.130 --> 43:54.049 And I would like to encourage everyone not to be, as usual, not to be content simply with this sort of intellectual understanding that comes from listening to the Dhamma, but to actually put it into practice. 43:54.369 --> 43:57.073 And I hope that you all are able to put this into practice. 43:57.053 --> 44:07.526 and as a result, develop and progress in the Buddha's teaching, so that you all may realize for yourselves true peace, happiness, and freedom from suffering. 44:08.027 --> 44:09.612 Thank you for watching, and have a good day.