WEBVTT 00:21.563 --> 00:22.804 Okay, good evening everyone. 00:23.345 --> 00:48.668 Welcome to our weekly Sutta Dhamma session where I try to find something that I think is beneficial for specifically people who are interested in 00:49.930 --> 00:59.904 cultivation of mindfulness and insight and peace, peace, happiness, freedom from suffering. 01:05.772 --> 01:16.326 So tonight we're looking at the topic of declaring or 01:21.672 --> 01:28.761 Affirming one's enlightenment, one's level of attainment. 01:32.466 --> 01:36.512 It's an important part of the practice, so it's something that's important to talk about. 01:36.532 --> 01:40.457 And it brings up at least a couple of important issues. 01:44.774 --> 01:49.440 The most important issue that it brings up is what we call reification. 01:49.460 --> 01:50.682 It's a really good English word. 01:50.942 --> 01:52.103 I don't think we use it enough. 01:54.587 --> 02:06.322 Reification, as I understand the word to mean, and how I'm going to use it, is when you affirm the existence of something. 02:06.922 --> 02:08.184 You affirm something to be. 02:09.306 --> 02:12.790 You basically call it into existence with your mind. 02:14.525 --> 02:22.434 It's a very important part of our cognitive process, reification. 02:26.659 --> 02:32.165 We tend to reify this place as a meditation center. 02:34.007 --> 02:35.589 In fact, it's just a house. 02:35.969 --> 02:37.891 And you know, it's not even a house. 02:37.931 --> 02:39.553 That's a reification itself. 02:46.030 --> 02:56.633 And you really realize that anything you come up with, you may have walls and a floor, but even the walls aren't really walls. 02:58.978 --> 03:05.693 So all the time our mind is constantly creating concepts. 03:07.462 --> 03:20.203 to form an idea and to categorize and to relate to our experiences in incredibly complex ways. 03:22.366 --> 03:31.461 If we compare the way our cognitive process works to that of the Buddha and how the Buddha described reality, 03:33.483 --> 03:38.313 Again and again reminding us it's only seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, feeling, thinking. 03:41.059 --> 03:51.340 That really enlightened being is aware of that, is clear about this reality that this is seeing, hearing, this is hearing, this is smelling. 03:54.155 --> 04:06.910 Whereas an ordinary experience of reality is, oh, this is a person, this is this thing, that thing, and much more importantly, good, it's bad, it's me, it's mine, I like it, I don't like it, and so much. 04:08.331 --> 04:09.353 So many problems. 04:09.473 --> 04:20.145 So the problem with this, the reason why it creates problems is, well, basically these things aren't real. 04:21.155 --> 04:36.773 But more specifically or more clearly, what the problem is, is that because they're not real, they lend themselves to conceptions of permanence, stability, satisfaction. 04:38.695 --> 04:46.504 You can be satisfied by concepts or you can have the delusion that you're being satisfied by concepts, that they're satisfying. 04:48.155 --> 04:49.576 Take a person, for example. 04:49.716 --> 04:52.839 We have my cousin. 04:55.021 --> 04:56.082 Poor Nicholas. 04:56.262 --> 05:00.506 He's now being used as my dharma example now that he's died. 05:01.486 --> 05:01.927 He died. 05:01.947 --> 05:02.687 He died in... 05:02.707 --> 05:06.631 I guess it's a year now, is it? 05:07.251 --> 05:07.431 No. 05:07.692 --> 05:08.412 Did he just die? 05:09.914 --> 05:10.394 He died. 05:14.537 --> 05:15.779 Pretty sure it was a year ago. 05:16.599 --> 05:17.520 Boy, time flies. 05:18.715 --> 05:20.118 Maybe it was just this January. 05:20.138 --> 05:20.518 What is it? 05:20.558 --> 05:21.360 It's March now. 05:25.808 --> 05:27.171 No concept of past. 05:27.351 --> 05:29.715 It was either this January or last January he died. 05:30.797 --> 05:41.517 And of course this was incredibly upsetting for his parents, particularly his sister as well. 05:48.263 --> 05:53.955 because of their conception of this person and their attachment to it. 05:56.621 --> 06:05.580 Our loved ones are things that we depend upon and we really love, we really appreciate, but the truth is that we're really attached to. 06:08.429 --> 06:10.853 There's a sense of this person. 06:12.095 --> 06:20.189 And so there's of course this utter despair when you lose because it's on a very deep level. 06:20.229 --> 06:25.397 It goes against what you think should be or what you believe to be. 06:28.723 --> 06:33.711 So they lend themselves to clinging because they appear, give the appearance of 06:35.328 --> 06:44.502 of permanent satisfaction and possessibility or controllability, all these things associated with self, right? 06:46.004 --> 06:50.010 These three things being the exact opposite of what reality is. 06:50.050 --> 06:58.904 Reality is impermanent, unsatisfying, and uncontrollable, unpredictable, undependable, unpossessable. 06:58.924 --> 07:01.167 You can't say it's me or mine. 07:05.888 --> 07:15.522 And unfortunately, all of the concepts, all of these things, the house, the person, the meditation center, they're all dependent upon reality. 07:17.986 --> 07:21.531 And because they're really just a mishmash of experience. 07:22.313 --> 07:23.915 When I look, I see the center. 07:23.955 --> 07:27.000 When I feel, I feel the wall. 07:27.020 --> 07:28.462 But it's just an experience. 07:29.063 --> 07:32.588 And these experiences are unpredictable, undependable. 07:39.318 --> 07:41.761 How does that relate to declaring enlightenment? 07:41.801 --> 07:51.494 Well, it doesn't directly relate to the Sutta, but it's very important for us to talk about. 07:52.234 --> 07:56.019 A person, no, it does relate to the Sutta, the Buddha does mention, but there's more to it. 07:56.840 --> 07:57.982 There are two kinds of people. 07:58.743 --> 08:01.346 So Sunakata is this guy, he comes to the Buddha. 08:03.269 --> 08:06.793 He's heard that there's a bunch of monks who have declared 08:08.444 --> 08:11.948 declared the enlightenment in front of the Buddha. 08:11.968 --> 08:14.612 They came to the Buddha and said, we're enlightened. 08:15.933 --> 08:19.998 So he asked the Buddha, he said, does everyone who declares this, are they all enlightened? 08:21.860 --> 08:27.668 And the Buddha said, well, of course some are and some aren't. 08:27.688 --> 08:33.675 And so then Sunakata asks him to explain and he does something 08:35.039 --> 08:39.446 So we'll back up a little bit before we get into explaining all that stuff I just talked about. 08:41.048 --> 08:50.062 The Buddha describes several types of people, which I think is useful. 08:50.343 --> 08:59.697 Useful for us to understand because it's important to understand that just because you think you're enlightened doesn't mean you are, right? 09:01.178 --> 09:18.883 I suppose that goes without saying, or should go without saying, but I get often, or from time to time, people will contact me and say things like, I've become enlightened, I'm free from suffering, I've become this. 09:19.524 --> 09:23.851 Sometimes they'll tell me they're a sotapanna, or a streamender, or this or that. 09:25.513 --> 09:28.117 And certainly, I mean, it's certainly possible. 09:28.137 --> 09:31.101 I don't doubt that it's possible, but 09:33.697 --> 09:41.088 I think it's actually much more likely or it's probably much more common to overestimate your practice. 09:42.170 --> 09:44.734 Especially if you're contacting me by email. 09:44.754 --> 09:50.943 I would think enlightened beings would perhaps not be so open about that. 09:52.065 --> 09:52.385 Anyway. 09:57.653 --> 10:02.100 So it is an issue here that we have to discuss. 10:03.363 --> 10:10.516 More importantly, it's an issue for all of us because it's a big part of our cognitive process as we're practicing. 10:11.056 --> 10:14.202 You practice for a while and then you wonder, what am I at? 10:14.262 --> 10:16.165 Where am I at? 10:16.185 --> 10:17.488 Am I close to being enlightened? 10:17.548 --> 10:20.273 Am I closer to being enlightened? 10:20.293 --> 10:21.014 Am I enlightened? 10:23.037 --> 10:25.101 Very dangerous question, you know, problematic. 10:29.080 --> 10:31.445 So Buddha talks about different types of people. 10:32.186 --> 10:38.119 If you want to, first of all, to dispel the idea that this sort of person is the same as that sort of person. 10:38.840 --> 10:43.690 First they have a person as someone who is intent upon sensual pleasure. 10:46.035 --> 10:48.540 Intent upon material things, worldly things. 10:52.570 --> 10:59.524 So I wouldn't say there's a lot of spiritual people who think that that could possibly, would mistake that for enlightenment. 11:00.366 --> 11:10.327 But I would say there are people in the world who think that they are healthy, they have a healthy mind, who are engrossed in sensuality. 11:10.407 --> 11:12.992 They might be so confident that they've got everything worked out. 11:15.318 --> 11:16.499 We all know such people. 11:17.801 --> 11:26.171 I certainly know some of these people who appear outwardly to have it all figured out. 11:26.191 --> 11:36.523 They feel or they appear to feel for themselves that everything is fine, that they are healthy. 11:38.465 --> 11:40.347 And of course these are the sorts of people who 11:42.790 --> 11:59.589 Well, first of all tend to manipulate and without realizing it will always find ways to maintain their calm, their peace, their stability in life. 12:01.451 --> 12:08.359 Often even in unethical ways at the expense of their morality. 12:09.790 --> 12:25.517 More importantly, these are of course the people who become very much attached to worldly things and of course it's not enlightenment and it's considered to be limited and limited value because it's impermanent. 12:26.038 --> 12:33.992 I mean I've seen such people in desperate straits, crying, totally devastated. 12:35.373 --> 12:40.603 But then the next day, back thinking that they're on top of the world, thinking that everything's good. 12:42.306 --> 12:45.412 Tend to be, you know, not evil, evil people. 12:46.054 --> 12:48.338 I think evil people tend to be messed up in mind. 12:48.378 --> 12:49.821 Their minds are not stable. 12:53.902 --> 12:58.329 But it's quite possible to, it's a good example of overestimation. 12:59.010 --> 13:08.665 You think you're happy, but anyone looking at you with a discerning eye could be quite clear that you're not all that happy overall. 13:10.548 --> 13:13.412 Again, it's one thing to think you're on top of the world. 13:16.615 --> 13:18.799 It's sometimes another thing to actually be. 13:21.183 --> 13:22.806 Which is really the topic of the sutta. 13:22.926 --> 13:30.019 The second type of person is a person who enters into the jhanas. 13:30.039 --> 13:31.442 I'll go quickly through them. 13:31.502 --> 13:32.664 We'll group them all together. 13:32.724 --> 13:34.287 There's three different ones. 13:36.410 --> 13:37.372 Three different ones. 13:37.392 --> 13:39.156 But it's all about jhana. 13:40.639 --> 13:41.921 This is much more common. 13:41.982 --> 13:50.599 It's very common to attain some high spiritual state and think you're enlightened. 13:51.802 --> 13:57.253 A person who's attained some kind of absorption where their mind is just so still. 14:01.233 --> 14:07.598 Very quickly, very easy to jump to the quick conclusion that you've become enlightened. 14:24.014 --> 14:30.344 So it's important to distinguish between two types of spiritual practice. 14:30.464 --> 14:37.155 There's tranquility, where your mind becomes very calm, very peaceful. 14:38.457 --> 14:51.878 And then there's insight, where, honestly, you become very calm and very peaceful, but much more to the point, you come to understand reality, which I think 14:53.680 --> 15:06.199 has to be stressed and explained because I think a lot of people, I've met people who have clearly just practiced tranquility and think that they do understand reality. 15:08.703 --> 15:14.592 Again, it's what this confidence does to you when you become something. 15:17.761 --> 15:25.789 you reify, you create this confidence, this sense that you are attained to something. 15:28.071 --> 15:31.535 It comes along with the idea that you understand, you understand the right way. 15:34.518 --> 15:43.026 But we have to emphasize what it means to understand reality because it's not just some simple or 15:44.693 --> 15:51.604 conceptual thing where, oh yes, having attained this, that means I understand everything. 15:51.644 --> 15:51.824 No. 15:52.685 --> 16:07.368 It really means that you have investigated deeply into the admittedly very simple objects of reality or aspects of reality, what is real. 16:09.651 --> 16:12.696 Basically seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, feeling, thinking. 16:12.716 --> 16:13.317 You've done 16:14.849 --> 16:25.745 deep, prolonged, extensive, usually extensive and prolonged training in observing and understanding these things. 16:26.426 --> 16:29.129 It's quite specific. 16:29.230 --> 16:31.373 You can't just claim to understand things. 16:32.534 --> 16:37.421 It really is a scientific investigation. 16:37.441 --> 16:43.590 And it's that scientific investigation that allows one to then 16:44.971 --> 16:48.235 Be sure or make the claim that they understand reality. 16:48.315 --> 16:49.517 It's quite simple. 16:49.537 --> 16:51.600 You've investigated, therefore you understand. 16:52.561 --> 16:54.604 You've investigated until you understood. 16:59.831 --> 17:08.362 And so it's much more common for people to have some experience and then just get a feeling that they're enlightened. 17:08.382 --> 17:10.405 A feeling that makes them think they're enlightened. 17:13.355 --> 17:27.339 And so a good way to know whether it's real or not real is have you really investigated and understood the details of your experience as being what they are, as being not worth clinging to. 17:27.719 --> 17:30.284 That's what the Buddha is going to end up in a sutta saying. 17:33.309 --> 17:36.274 And truly enlightened beings such as one who 17:39.545 --> 17:47.304 has investigated to the point, and this isn't intellectual, you can't skip steps and say, okay, well then let me intellectually understand that. 17:47.384 --> 17:51.734 No, it's not like that. 17:51.754 --> 17:54.060 You keep practicing until 17:56.487 --> 18:03.554 knowledge, clear understanding comes to you, nothing is worth clinging to. 18:03.574 --> 18:13.124 Not intellectual, not something that you can just assume having attained some peaceful state. 18:13.144 --> 18:19.911 So he says, a person who attains these peaceful states is intent upon them. 18:20.912 --> 18:25.397 It's impressive because they're no longer at all interested in sensuality. 18:26.896 --> 18:47.362 But that's one of the big reasons why they then think they're enlightened is because, well, being intent upon that, being, you could say, attached to that, and certainly becoming somewhat egotistical about it in the sense of clinging to it as I am this or I am that. 18:47.382 --> 18:50.085 No longer interested in sensuality. 18:53.558 --> 18:56.383 But any meditative attainment is impermanent. 18:57.325 --> 19:14.959 The only thing that is really lasting, we would say, is this waking up of insight, where you see clearly that nothing is worth clinging to, or you experience that. 19:21.790 --> 19:23.412 And so then he says, there's two people. 19:24.494 --> 19:25.675 He talks about these two people. 19:26.556 --> 19:37.692 One person comes to me and, or no, one person hears, well, the Buddha has taught that craving is, craving is an arrow. 19:39.214 --> 19:43.900 Craving is like an arrow in your side, a poisoned arrow. 19:47.997 --> 19:50.079 But that arrow has been removed from me. 19:50.540 --> 19:53.743 I've gotten rid of all the poison. 19:55.425 --> 20:00.130 I am one who is completely intent on Nibbana. 20:02.353 --> 20:03.114 But it's not true. 20:06.497 --> 20:08.199 They believe this, but it's not true. 20:11.263 --> 20:12.924 And he points out the danger. 20:13.565 --> 20:16.148 And this is where we get into this idea of reification. 20:17.714 --> 20:28.957 The danger is that because they think they're enlightened, they're going to stop with the intense urgency. 20:30.981 --> 20:32.444 They'll stop putting out the great effort. 20:33.426 --> 20:36.111 If you think you're enlightened, of course, you'll stop practicing. 20:37.306 --> 20:38.648 It leads to complacency. 20:38.808 --> 20:47.939 It should be familiar from what we said earlier about how when you reify something it creates contentment, it creates a false sense of security. 20:49.721 --> 20:59.514 And the very same thing and probably one of the worst ways this can happen is in spiritual practice when you believe that you're enlightened. 21:00.695 --> 21:06.182 It's one of the worst because it shuts the door for actual and true enlightenment. 21:10.752 --> 21:15.156 I mean, we should remind ourselves of what we're doing. 21:15.196 --> 21:17.518 We're not practicing to become anything. 21:20.261 --> 21:25.005 The idea is not to stop and see, am I enlightened yet? 21:26.587 --> 21:27.988 And then you can stop and rest. 21:28.108 --> 21:37.317 If you still want to stop and rest, it's a sign you have some kind of clinging and some kind of aversion to whatever it is you think this work is that you have to do. 21:41.262 --> 21:43.805 We're practicing mindfulness to become mindful. 21:44.365 --> 21:45.827 An enlightened being is mindful. 21:49.391 --> 21:58.140 So if you think, if you still have the idea that you can stop meditating because you've stopped being mindful because you become enlightened, that's a good sign that you're not. 22:01.283 --> 22:02.164 But this is what happens. 22:02.244 --> 22:03.626 People then become complacent. 22:03.646 --> 22:04.907 He said it's like a person 22:06.541 --> 22:24.852 who gets struck by an arrow, again the arrow of defilement, poisonous arrow, and then a doctor comes and cuts the arrow out and cleans the wound, patches them all up and says, okay, you're good to go. 22:26.295 --> 22:27.517 You're all healed. 22:28.699 --> 22:31.063 Just take care of, and he says, take care of the wound. 22:32.461 --> 22:37.248 And the man goes home, but it turns out that the poison wasn't all taken out, and there's some poison. 22:38.690 --> 22:44.078 And not only that, worse than that, he doesn't take care of the wound. 22:44.098 --> 22:45.240 He doesn't look after it. 22:45.260 --> 22:48.224 The doctor says, oh, make sure it doesn't get dirty and keep it clean. 22:48.785 --> 22:49.366 He doesn't do that. 22:51.809 --> 22:58.159 So he's doubly problematic, because the wound gets not only poisoned, but infected and all that. 22:59.561 --> 23:00.342 The person dies. 23:04.810 --> 23:09.919 And then he says, there's this other type of person who comes and hears that I teach. 23:12.984 --> 23:15.288 I teach that craving is the cause of suffering. 23:15.388 --> 23:17.491 Craving is a dart, is an arrow. 23:17.532 --> 23:22.881 And they make a statement, wow, this craving is gone from me. 23:23.061 --> 23:27.308 Not wow, but they make a statement that the craving is, I have eradicated the craving. 23:28.587 --> 23:31.004 And it's actually true that they actually have. 23:31.367 --> 23:34.851 So this is the person who claims to be enlightened and is enlightened. 23:42.256 --> 23:46.122 And he says, this is like a person who is shot with an arrow, a poisonous arrow. 23:47.124 --> 23:54.495 And then the doctor comes and cleans it all out and patches him up and says, well, take care of this wound. 23:55.236 --> 23:55.917 It's all clean. 23:55.937 --> 23:56.919 The poison's all gone. 23:57.680 --> 24:02.728 He said that about the first guy as well, but this time he's maybe a little more sure. 24:04.261 --> 24:06.505 And he says, take care of it. 24:06.985 --> 24:14.337 So this person, they think, wow, my wound is healed, the poison's all out. 24:14.477 --> 24:15.980 And they take good care of the wound. 24:16.040 --> 24:16.721 They clean it. 24:16.761 --> 24:18.804 They keep dirt out of it. 24:20.367 --> 24:22.170 And as a result, they're perfectly healthy. 24:22.530 --> 24:25.375 They have no death, no deadly suffering. 24:33.522 --> 24:34.344 And so they're different. 24:34.424 --> 24:36.147 These two people are different in two ways. 24:37.009 --> 24:40.977 They're different because one of them still has the poison, one of them doesn't. 24:40.997 --> 24:43.923 But they're also different in how they react to the wound. 24:45.185 --> 24:48.612 The wound has been cleaned and treated. 24:52.540 --> 24:58.886 An enlightened being has not just done the work that needs to be done. 24:58.906 --> 25:04.452 They're a person who lives their life in the way that needs to be lived. 25:05.052 --> 25:10.958 So this is again, an enlightened being doesn't say, oh, I've done all my work, now I can stop. 25:11.979 --> 25:17.264 An enlightened being has become mindful. 25:17.324 --> 25:20.067 The mindfulness practice that they did has reached a 25:21.481 --> 25:22.742 A pinnacle. 25:22.762 --> 25:23.463 It doesn't drop. 25:23.483 --> 25:31.451 It doesn't stop. 25:31.471 --> 25:39.038 And so that, at the very least, that helps us to focus on what's important. 25:39.058 --> 25:41.040 Because again, we're not trying to become something. 25:41.421 --> 25:46.746 And it leads me to the third thing, the third option that the Buddha doesn't talk about. 25:49.105 --> 26:05.020 for whatever reason he's giving a talk to a specific person, but important to talk about here as well is a third type of person, and that's really Buddhist meditators who are on the path to become enlightened. 26:05.040 --> 26:09.525 We hear about all these stages of enlightenment, sotapanna, streamenter. 26:12.348 --> 26:14.910 I've had people come tell me they're anagamis, 26:21.033 --> 26:23.898 Lots of different ideas. 26:24.760 --> 26:27.465 I've had people ask me about how to become Sotapanna. 26:27.485 --> 26:29.949 There's this urgency, this desire to become. 26:30.791 --> 26:33.596 And there's the checking and people who read the texts. 26:33.676 --> 26:40.428 I've talked to people who read the texts and say, well, going by the texts, I'm a Sotapanna. 26:40.448 --> 26:41.590 I'm a stream-enterer. 26:43.477 --> 26:50.825 Some of you probably never heard these words before, but they're basically someone who has seen Nibbana, but they're labels. 26:52.067 --> 26:55.311 And they are useful, but they are also problematic. 26:57.073 --> 26:58.474 Because they're a reification. 26:58.514 --> 27:04.641 This is where I was getting at, what I was getting at. 27:04.661 --> 27:13.011 I think a person who is a Sotapanna, who has seen Nibbana, is in very real danger 27:14.594 --> 27:18.580 of reifying that state and becoming complacent. 27:19.121 --> 27:22.265 You say, I am a sotapanna. 27:22.285 --> 27:23.607 And again it becomes a thing. 27:23.667 --> 27:29.055 You've created in your mind this thing, this concept that you apply to the self and to I. 27:30.617 --> 27:35.364 While a sotapanna is actually free from views of self, they still have conceit. 27:38.609 --> 27:39.370 They can become 27:40.868 --> 27:48.217 Not greatly conceited, you know, they wouldn't be evil about it, but it can become a real hindrance and prevent them from progressing. 27:50.600 --> 27:57.228 Because they cling to that idea of, oh, I'm safe, I've made it, I've done something good. 27:58.809 --> 28:01.813 Something very good, something noble, in fact. 28:05.962 --> 28:16.275 But if we think about what an enlightened being is like, how the end goal, this person is just always mindful. 28:16.295 --> 28:17.997 It's like they're always practicing. 28:18.057 --> 28:28.830 Then we should only see ourselves as climbing the mountain or cleansing the mind. 28:30.211 --> 28:32.654 I think the best way is to talk about cleansing the mind. 28:34.216 --> 28:41.224 You could say, oh look, boy, I've cleaned a lot, but you're still admitting that there's still stuff left to be cleaned. 28:43.286 --> 28:51.857 You clean your house and you say, look, I managed to clean the center of the room and all the stuff around the outside of the room. 28:54.920 --> 28:57.383 You just push everything up against the walls or you still have 28:59.303 --> 29:01.326 rest of the house to clean, you clean one room. 29:03.189 --> 29:04.731 And you say, wow, look what I've done. 29:08.877 --> 29:16.449 I mean, clearly anyone would, anyone with any sense of cleanliness would say, oh no, you've still got several rooms left clean. 29:16.489 --> 29:22.558 If you think of it in this way, we're not reifying anything. 29:22.598 --> 29:24.180 We're not claiming any state. 29:26.135 --> 29:32.786 Now again, it can be encouraging to think of the progress you've made. 29:35.991 --> 29:43.183 It can also be in line with the person who is wrong about their practice. 29:43.203 --> 29:47.029 And I think it really, so the point is it really doesn't matter whether you're right or wrong. 29:48.351 --> 29:52.378 It's not something we should ever focus our attention on. 29:53.928 --> 29:57.552 You think, my teacher would always say, do you still have greed? 29:58.032 --> 29:59.073 Do you still have anger? 30:00.054 --> 30:01.156 Do you still have delusion? 30:02.337 --> 30:03.638 Then you still have work to do. 30:05.320 --> 30:06.761 It's really the best way to look at it. 30:07.322 --> 30:11.026 Because once you get rid of all three of those, then you're safe. 30:12.708 --> 30:14.590 But you're safe from slacking off. 30:14.710 --> 30:17.192 That's the point. 30:17.212 --> 30:18.914 If you ever think, oh, I'm done. 30:19.034 --> 30:20.095 Good, I can slack off. 30:20.155 --> 30:20.796 You're not there yet. 30:23.594 --> 30:25.357 Because an enlightened being doesn't slack off. 30:25.918 --> 30:29.624 They're always energetic, always on the ball. 30:38.077 --> 30:50.918 The Buddha says, suppose there were a cup with a liquid in it. 30:52.872 --> 30:56.397 with a beverage in it, with a good color, a good smell, and a good taste. 30:57.799 --> 31:02.064 Something that just looked quite appealing, but is mixed with poison. 31:04.968 --> 31:13.860 And if someone came and knew that it was, knew that it was, that this wonderful drink had poison in it, would they drink from it? 31:16.764 --> 31:18.306 And he says, no venerable sir. 31:19.670 --> 31:21.133 Same with someone who is enlightened. 31:22.015 --> 31:25.623 They will never go back to unmindful ways. 31:26.605 --> 31:31.194 Never go back to the senses, sensuality. 31:32.497 --> 31:35.704 Never go back to acquisition, he says. 31:39.937 --> 31:52.812 And then he said, suppose there were a snake and someone who wanted to live, who wasn't fond of pain, would they stick their hand up to the poisonous snake? 31:52.972 --> 31:56.136 No, venerable sir. 31:56.156 --> 32:01.322 Likewise, an enlightened being would never go back to those bad ways. 32:02.863 --> 32:06.788 If you read the Sutta, it's quite, it's a good one, I think. 32:10.244 --> 32:12.066 I wanted to address this idea. 32:13.027 --> 32:15.590 It helps give some perspective of what's important. 32:15.850 --> 32:17.652 It's not important to become something. 32:18.894 --> 32:33.089 It's the work that's important and the cleansing of the mind in increments. 32:33.109 --> 32:35.732 We're very goal-oriented, I think is a big problem. 32:36.613 --> 32:38.395 Rather than be goal-oriented, we 32:40.670 --> 32:44.881 be process-oriented, doing our work bit by bit. 32:49.855 --> 32:51.299 So that's the Dhamma for tonight. 32:52.863 --> 32:53.926 Thank you all for tuning in. 32:54.527 --> 32:56.974 I wish you all a good night, good week.