Transcript
[0:03] change.
[0:12] So
[0:13] moreenior
[0:25] giving talk
[0:27] about the second
[0:31] In the first
[0:40] practice teaching
[0:55] practice,
[1:03] I say
[1:06] the second half
[1:26] celebration festival.
[1:30] atmosphere.
[1:41] That's why
[1:55] [snorts]
[2:26] Okay, it's just finding your knots and
[2:28] cushions.
[2:48] Just while we're here, just turning off
[2:49] our phones.
[2:56] [clears throat]
[3:09] Okay,
[3:31] Okay, very good.
[3:34] So, that's probably And you can just
[3:36] shut close the doors for us. That's
[3:38] great. Thanks.
[3:48] Okay, good. So, what we're going to do
[3:50] first is just to help us settle uh
[3:53] before we do another special type of
[3:55] meditation is we're just going to do a
[3:56] lying down meditation just to help us
[3:59] arrive. So, spread yourselves out.
[4:01] Plenty of room. So, and you what we want
[4:03] to do is have our feet facing the door,
[4:04] our heads facing that way. Um just so
[4:07] we're all um can fit in. And just having
[4:10] a cushion underneath your head. Welcome
[4:13] if you're joining us online as well.
[4:14] Just doing the same thing at home. Um,
[4:17] so just lying down.
[4:20] Yeah, that's it. And I'll just turn the
[4:22] lights down.
[4:25] Yeah,
[4:27] that's lovely.
[4:40] Good.
[4:42] So yeah, as soon as we starting to lie
[4:44] down, just a chance to really settle.
[4:47] [cough]
[4:55] Maybe start with taking a few deeper
[4:57] breaths
[5:02] and just letting ourselves breathe
[5:04] naturally.
[5:12] And with each outreath
[5:15] sinking deeper
[5:20] and deeper
[5:22] into the ground.
[5:29] It's really allowing the ground to take
[5:31] our weight.
[5:44] So any tension just releasing down with
[5:47] the outreath.
[5:55] Sense of calming the body down,
[6:02] calming the mind.
[6:27] We just bring our attention to our feet.
[6:41] Aware of the texture of the ground,
[6:49] temperature.
[7:04] Allowing our feet to spread out on the
[7:06] ground.
[8:54] And just bringing our attention now to
[8:56] our bellies.
[8:58] Often we hold tension in the belly.
[9:03] Just imagining any tension releasing in
[9:06] the belly.
[9:10] Feeling for any effect.
[9:36] Noticing the breath in the belly perhaps
[9:41] particularly below the belly button.
[11:01] Bringing our attention to our shoulders.
[11:04] Just really allowing the shoulders to
[11:06] drop down the back.
[11:12] Noticing the breath in the shoulders.
[11:21] See if you can let them go that little
[11:23] bit more.
[12:08] Coming into contact with our hands.
[12:14] Letting go of any gripping in the hands.
[12:35] Tuning into the sensations of the hands.
[12:59] And if the mind wanders just bringing
[13:01] that back
[13:06] to the body.
[13:27] Coming into contact now with the chest
[13:29] area, the heart center.
[13:37] Is there any pleasant experience or
[13:40] unpleasant around the heart?
[13:45] Just breathing what with whatever's
[13:47] there
[13:49] or not there perhaps.
[15:28] Just starting now to expand our
[15:30] awareness of the whole body.
[15:34] Perhaps
[15:42] tuning into sounds in the room as well.
[16:16] And in the next movement, we're going to
[16:17] be rolling over onto our side, facing
[16:19] the front, facing the shrine.
[16:25] So, when you're ready, rolling over onto
[16:26] your left hand side, facing the shrine.
[16:37] And in the next movement, we're going to
[16:39] be sitting up.
[16:41] So when you're ready, keeping your head
[16:43] bringing your head up last, move on to a
[16:46] seated position.
[16:51] That's quite hard to do that.
[16:56] Good.
[17:00] And yeah, before we get too comfortable,
[17:03] just cuz it's a special evening tonight
[17:05] and they've put a lot of effort into the
[17:07] shrine here. What we do traditionally is
[17:09] we salute the shrine just to the shrine
[17:12] represents um our highest potential
[17:15] and it's a sort of focus of beauty and
[17:18] yeah potential the qualities that we
[17:21] want to aspire to. So we'll just salute
[17:23] that in a traditional way do that call
[17:25] in response. So um yeah so you can stand
[17:29] upon
[17:48] Now [chanting]
[17:52] more
[17:56] [chanting]
[18:00] sam
[18:03] [chanting]
[18:10] [chanting]
[18:17] ah. H
[18:19] >> home.
[18:21] >> Okay, Grace, just sit comfortably. I'll
[18:23] say a few things, then I'll meditate.
[18:33] Okay. Good. Good. So, yes. So with um
[18:38] yeah I guess why this is so special is
[18:40] because with Buddhist practice um uh
[18:43] tonight we're saying that you can that
[18:45] you need to to change the world you have
[18:47] to change yourself and um we always
[18:49] start with our self because we need to
[18:51] generate compassion and work on our own
[18:55] mind otherwise we're just contributing
[18:57] hatred and other anxiety and other
[18:59] things to the world. So the first thing
[19:01] we do in Buddhism is we we transform our
[19:03] own mind. But of course that always has
[19:05] an effect um beyond ourselves. And um
[19:09] actually the ideal of enlightenment is
[19:11] an ideal where um there's no you've
[19:15] [clears throat] seen into reality. And
[19:17] what reality is according to the Buddha
[19:19] is just it's just um a sense that we're
[19:22] all connected. Um there isn't a separate
[19:24] self fixed and separate self. Instead,
[19:26] it's just that consciousness is almost
[19:28] like connected. Um, we're all Yeah, it's
[19:31] quite hard to explain, but it's it's uh
[19:34] when you you know, when you meditate and
[19:35] you do the metab, you get that sense of
[19:37] connection, don't you? That there's
[19:39] something beyond just ourselves. And um
[19:42] and it's very freeing when we're doing
[19:43] that, when we're cultivating meta. Um
[19:46] you get this sense that it's a bit of a
[19:48] relief. It's not just all about me and
[19:50] my worries. Um it's like the world's
[19:53] much bigger than that. Um, and that's
[19:55] what Buddhism is trying to teach us
[19:57] actually, that we're there's much much
[19:58] more than just just our what we think of
[20:01] as our world. There's a sort of bigger
[20:03] world um out there. And yeah, that's um
[20:08] and that's what's happening. Yeah. And
[20:09] this I say we're celebrating that
[20:12] tonight that not only are we changing
[20:13] ourselves, but when you change
[20:14] ourselves, you can then you then change
[20:16] the world. And this is a real concrete
[20:17] example of doing that. you're actually
[20:19] in this case freeing yourself from cast
[20:22] for example um which is a real
[20:24] achievement and that still goes on today
[20:26] it's not just historical either half of
[20:29] the movement that we're part of true is
[20:32] active and alive in India today from
[20:34] that from this yeah from what what's
[20:36] happened here and we'll say more about
[20:38] that paramod will explain more and give
[20:41] us an as I say talk in the second half
[20:44] um but how that relates to us now is
[20:46] we're going to do a meditation called
[20:48] the Karuna barna. So it's like the
[20:51] metab. So you've done all done the
[20:54] metab.
[20:55] Yeah. And in fact it's based on the
[20:57] metab. Um but karan means compassion.
[21:02] And you could say that what karan is
[21:05] it's it's when metaar meets suffering
[21:08] what happens is you get a sense of
[21:10] compassion and the compassion is like a
[21:13] force that comes out of us and helps
[21:15] others. Um so
[21:18] um yeah so this karuna um yeah you might
[21:22] get a sense of that I don't know if
[21:23] you've you've come across suffering in
[21:25] the world we probably all have um you
[21:27] know what's it like when we come across
[21:29] it sometimes if we're not careful we can
[21:31] be anxious about it or we can um have
[21:34] pity that's not a Buddhist quality so we
[21:37] sort of look down on people but Karen is
[21:39] not that Karen I said it's just a
[21:41] genuine heartfelt uh well-wishing for
[21:44] people in suffering or suffering. Um,
[21:47] you really just don't want there to be
[21:49] suffering in other people. Um, yeah,
[21:51] it's almost like, yeah, sort of and and
[21:54] you have to sort of be able to bear it.
[21:57] Um, as well, you know, when when a good
[21:59] friend is with you if you're suffering.
[22:01] Um, they're a really good friend if they
[22:02] can sort of almost like bear that bear
[22:05] your suffering and be with you with it.
[22:06] And you don't need to do much apart from
[22:08] that really. Just be there with you if
[22:10] you're suffering and you can do the same
[22:12] for them. Um but it's quite a practice
[22:15] because instinctively we might u you
[22:18] know resist it you know sometimes we
[22:20] think I don't want want to look there
[22:22] don't want to go there I've got my life
[22:24] don't want to look at suffering um other
[22:27] people's suffering or you think I've got
[22:29] too much suffering so I can't bear other
[22:31] people's suffering but Buddhism saying
[22:33] we're much bigger than that of course we
[22:35] can we can bear other people's suffering
[22:37] we can help other people of course we
[22:39] can be there for people um there you
[22:42] know that that's very inspiring I always
[22:44] think as well.
[22:46] So how this practice works is it's in
[22:49] it's in five stages like the metab. Um
[22:52] so first of all we just um send metaar
[22:55] to ourselves in the first stage you know
[22:57] maybe our own suffering um um in so
[23:01] that's that's the first stage. In the
[23:02] second stage um you bring a friend to
[23:05] mind that you know is suffering and you
[23:07] just bring bring them to mind and you
[23:09] just wish them well.
[23:11] Um and in the third stage a neutral
[23:13] person. The fourth stage, a difficult
[23:15] person because even our enemies or
[23:18] people we don't like, they're suffering
[23:19] and sometimes in a sense that's why
[23:21] they're that's why they might be angry
[23:23] or or or painful to live with or be
[23:26] around because they're suffering. So
[23:28] just being able to empathize with that
[23:30] actually really helps us as well as
[23:32] them. Then in the fifth stage we we just
[23:35] imagine the suffering in the world and
[23:37] you know if you watch the news
[23:38] unfortunately there is a lot of it
[23:39] there. Um and particularly you could
[23:42] think of try and be specific like
[23:45] there's been um some disasters in the
[23:47] world recently in Nepal say for example
[23:50] um or even just just areas where you
[23:53] know the suffering could be anywhere
[23:54] actually um and you just bring that to
[23:57] mind and and sit with it and yeah and if
[24:00] it gets a bit too intense you just uh
[24:02] bring metal to yourself again and you
[24:05] know and be aware of the breath of
[24:08] course keeping the heart open and yeah,
[24:11] just having that faith and confidence
[24:13] that it's um it'll be okay and it's a
[24:16] very skillful thing we're doing. It's a
[24:18] very it can be very moving. It's
[24:20] important that we're I guess you're
[24:23] looking in this direction.
[24:25] It's what we, you know, it's what
[24:27] mature,
[24:28] you know, when you, it's in a way what
[24:30] Buddhism is for, you could say, to
[24:31] become mature people, um, who can look
[24:36] at face reality, can look at reality.
[24:38] And in the end, um, that's what we all
[24:40] want really to to be able to look at
[24:42] reality and, um, live live from a real
[24:44] place. So, this is part of that that as
[24:47] well, that that training.
[24:51] Okay, good. So we'll um yeah we'll do
[24:53] the practice and then um yeah and that
[24:56] will take us up to the tea break and our
[24:58] reminders of the stages as we go through
[25:01] the practice but also give us space to
[25:03] do the practice as well and uh all we
[25:06] have to do remember is to keep very
[25:08] embodied particularly around the heart
[25:09] center and us grounded like we did in
[25:12] the first meditation that should help
[25:14] help with the practice as well. Good.
[25:17] So, let's give that a go
[25:21] and go from there.
[25:51] Okay. So, just closing our eyes, taking
[25:53] a few deeper breaths,
[25:58] just allowing the ground to take our
[26:00] weight.
[26:09] Just spending a bit of time coming right
[26:11] up close to the heart center.
[26:14] The heart center.
[26:18] Just see if you can breathe with the
[26:20] heart center
[26:28] with each breath. Allowing the heart to
[26:30] open that bit bit more.
[26:45] There's nothing in us that needs
[26:47] protecting or guarding.
[26:50] We can just allow the heart to open.
[27:10] And any tension just melts away.
[27:27] And if there's any strong emotion there,
[27:29] just breathing with that.
[27:38] It's okay. It's just emotion.
[27:52] An emotion just wants to be felt.
[28:20] If it's a bit numb, how does that
[28:39] Just breathing with sensations around
[28:42] the heart center.
[29:10] >> [bell]
[29:10] >> The karuna bara
[29:13] [music]
[29:14] wishing yourself well
[29:24] staying tuned into the heart center
[29:33] allowing meta to touch your own
[29:35] suffering.
[32:41] >> [music]
[32:42] [bell]
[32:46] >> Bringing a friend to mind.
[32:51] Allowing your metal to touch their
[32:53] suffering.
[32:57] Staying tuned into the heart center.
[37:41] >> [music]
[37:42] [bell]
[37:42] >> Bringing to mind a neutral person
[37:47] [bell]
[37:48] sending the metal
[37:51] current off.
[40:10] >> [cough and clears throat]
[42:58] [music]
[43:00] >> car for the difficult person.
[43:05] Staying connected into the heart center
[43:09] and the breath.
[44:04] >> [snorts]
[44:28] [snorts]
[47:30] [music]
[47:33] >> In the final stage, sending out current
[47:38] to a wider and wider amount of people,
[47:43] situations in the Hold.
[52:05] So now starting to relax any effort that
[52:08] you're making but continuing to sit
[52:10] still.
[52:13] Just allowing the practice to fade,
[52:20] absorbing the fruits of it.
[52:24] Just sitting.
[53:43] >> [music]
[53:52] [music]
[53:57] >> Okay. So coming out of the meditation.
[54:05] Okay. Very good.
[54:10] So we'll have a tea break now where we
[54:12] can enjoy some Indian sweets and mill
[54:15] around for a bit. Um and then in the
[54:18] second half we've got power and bodies
[54:20] talk. So we'll have a sort of short
[54:23] sharp tea break and then we're back in
[54:24] here uh for the second half shortly.
[54:27] Thanks very much.
[55:53] >> [snorts]
[55:56] >> Dr.
[56:00] United
[56:44] What were you
[56:46] born?
[56:57] Okay.
[57:02] Have a look at
[57:30] Diet
[57:48] I don't know if you know
[58:25] last year.
[58:45] Come over here.
[59:15] Next up,
[1:00:07] I've been
[1:00:45] I think
[1:00:51] you didn't
[1:01:20] I'll let you
[1:01:23] your Remember?
[1:01:59] on Wednesday.
[1:02:48] That's something.
[1:03:12] That's why
[1:03:15] weird.
[1:03:21] Yeah.
[1:03:42] I'm right across.
[1:05:11] I love you.
[1:06:18] Come
[1:06:29] on.
[1:06:39] Nice.
[1:06:49] Thank you.
[1:07:42] I don't know.
[1:08:03] Hello everyone.
[1:08:05] Say a few things.
[1:08:25] in I just want to tell you about next
[1:08:27] week coming on Wednesday.
[1:08:49] What we're doing is tonight
[1:08:57] was a true
[1:09:01] >> [snorts]
[1:09:04] >> That's what
[1:09:06] we're trying to individual. That means
[1:09:09] that we're people that are free.
[1:09:13] Think for ourselves.
[1:09:18] confidence and the moral courage that
[1:09:22] and at the same time
[1:09:25] always tries to help other
[1:09:46] explores that
[1:09:48] You're true.
[1:09:56] How would you
[1:09:58] harmonious
[1:10:04] things
[1:10:25] complicated
[1:10:27] who you really are.
[1:10:32] How
[1:10:47] in the area
[1:10:58] next
[1:11:09] Christmas. Without
[1:11:30] much
[1:11:35] truly
[1:12:05] Huh? Okay.
[1:12:54] What is chai more
[1:12:57] to talk about. Do you want to talk about
[1:13:55] Okay,
[1:13:58] very good. So, I think this is us. So,
[1:14:00] yeah, very warm welcome from me again if
[1:14:02] you come from the other room or if
[1:14:03] you're joining us online for this
[1:14:04] special occasion celebrating Dr.
[1:14:06] Ambedka's 70 70th anniversary of the
[1:14:09] mass conversion. And um yeah, I'll I'll
[1:14:12] I'm going to hand over to Paramodi who's
[1:14:15] very kindly organized this whole event.
[1:14:17] He's very passionate about it having
[1:14:20] been ordained 40 years ago. Um and he
[1:14:23] was ordained given the name Paramabodi.
[1:14:25] His name means supreme enlightenment.
[1:14:28] That's a good name. And uh he's yeah 40
[1:14:31] years ago he when he first got dained he
[1:14:33] was around the LBC that's 40 years ago
[1:14:35] teaching here. Then he went off to San
[1:14:38] Francisco to teach as well. Um we have a
[1:14:40] center there in San Francisco right now
[1:14:43] and also India where he came across um
[1:14:46] where where people that had been really
[1:14:48] moved and touched by Dr. is very
[1:14:51] passionate I know about this cause and
[1:14:52] about the history um very moved by it
[1:14:56] and I'm really looking forward to
[1:14:57] hearing that passion come out tonight um
[1:15:00] so yeah without much further ado
[1:15:05] [applause]
[1:15:11] thank you Dianartha and the first thing
[1:15:13] I must say is J BIM J BIM that's
[1:15:16] especially for people out there in
[1:15:18] YouTube land Jim Bim is the greeting in
[1:15:22] India for all the Ambedka Buddhists and
[1:15:25] Jai Bim means victory for BIM. Bimra
[1:15:31] Ramji Ambedka that is Dr. Ambedka. So
[1:15:35] when you meet people the Ambbeedka
[1:15:36] Buddhists in India you always Jim Jim.
[1:15:40] So you've learned that tonight some of
[1:15:42] you um so yes Dr. Dr. Ambedka, doctor of
[1:15:47] law. And what I'm going to do this
[1:15:50] evening is give his story. It's the most
[1:15:53] extraordinary story. It's an unthinkable
[1:15:56] story really.
[1:15:57] And I'll tell that basic story. Some of
[1:16:00] you will be familiar with it, some of
[1:16:01] you not familiar with it, but I'm going
[1:16:03] to tell that story in my own way. Um,
[1:16:06] it's this is not an academic talk. Um,
[1:16:08] it's historically probably inaccurate,
[1:16:11] but some of it will be at least
[1:16:13] poetically accurate, I'm sure. But I'll
[1:16:16] tell the story and I'll talk about
[1:16:18] Dr. Ambedka's relationship with Sanger
[1:16:21] who's the founder of this particular
[1:16:23] Buddhist movement and how that came to
[1:16:26] be part of therefore Triatner and where
[1:16:29] we all are today. So it becomes very
[1:16:31] relevant. It's very relevant for me
[1:16:33] personally as a Buddhist in the world
[1:16:34] now in the 21st century and uh and for
[1:16:39] all of us really and it's a it's a it's
[1:16:41] a fantastic story. It's a human rights
[1:16:43] story and I know as a child I was always
[1:16:47] really interested in human rights
[1:16:49] especially in America. I I actually grew
[1:16:51] up in Canada and spent quite a lot of
[1:16:53] time in America but it was a big issue
[1:16:55] but when I came across it in India
[1:17:00] it was a bigger issue put it that way
[1:17:04] and it's the 70th anniversary of what we
[1:17:06] call the mass conversion of Dr.
[1:17:08] Trumpka's personal conversion from
[1:17:10] Hinduism to Buddhism which took place
[1:17:13] right at the end of his life and uh I'm
[1:17:16] going to talk about that a bit more
[1:17:18] later.
[1:17:19] But um 40 the 40th anniversary took
[1:17:23] place when I was in America. I was
[1:17:24] living in San Francisco and I I offered
[1:17:27] this talk a similar talk about Dr.
[1:17:30] Ambedka to all the Buddhist groups in in
[1:17:32] the Bay Area where I was. There's a lot
[1:17:33] of Buddhist groups there. It's a very
[1:17:35] strong dharmic community. There's been
[1:17:38] Buddhists practicing all traditions in
[1:17:40] the Bay Area for a very long time.
[1:17:42] There's a very
[1:17:45] present sense of depth of practice in
[1:17:47] the Bay Area. It was very apparent to me
[1:17:49] when I moved there. But they'd never
[1:17:51] heard of Dr. Ambedka. Hardly anyone
[1:17:53] heard of Dr. Ambedka. It's it's a part
[1:17:56] of the very interesting thing. So many
[1:17:59] people most people have heard of Gandhi.
[1:18:02] Hardly anyone's heard of Dr. Dr. Ambedka
[1:18:04] Dr. Ambedka
[1:18:06] wrote the Indian Constitution.
[1:18:08] He was the first law minister of
[1:18:11] independent India and he came from an
[1:18:14] untouchable background and the fact that
[1:18:17] that happened is unthinkable.
[1:18:20] It was absolutely completely beyond the
[1:18:22] realm of possibility but it did happen.
[1:18:25] So I gave this talk as something a bit
[1:18:27] like this possibly. I don't know because
[1:18:29] it was 30 years ago but I would I would
[1:18:34] start that talk I went to the Zen center
[1:18:36] Tibetan centers spirit rock vipasa
[1:18:39] center green gulch another zen center
[1:18:41] went around all these places talking to
[1:18:43] hundreds of people about Dr. Rambedka
[1:18:45] celebrating his life and his achievement
[1:18:48] and I would start I thought I'll go for
[1:18:50] the jugular and I'll start by reading
[1:18:53] from this book here ambed Buddhism
[1:18:57] written by Sangaracha it's one of the
[1:18:59] few books that Sangaracha just wrote as
[1:19:01] a book most of the literature that
[1:19:04] you'll find from Sangaretta our founder
[1:19:08] are transcripts of talks that he gave
[1:19:10] but he wrote this as a book
[1:19:13] and he had a lot to do with Dr. Ambedka
[1:19:16] as part of the story as an incredible
[1:19:18] part of the story. But this book, the
[1:19:21] preface of the book, the first couple of
[1:19:23] sentences, I'm going to read them out
[1:19:25] exactly as they're written. And it gives
[1:19:27] you a sense of where Dr. Ambedka came
[1:19:29] from.
[1:19:32] This is written in 1986.
[1:19:35] So that was 30 years after Dr. Ambedka's
[1:19:39] conversion to Buddhism and his death. He
[1:19:42] he was only a Buddhist for six weeks.
[1:19:44] It's an incred part of the incredible
[1:19:46] story. He was a Buddhist for six weeks
[1:19:48] and arguably the most significant
[1:19:50] Buddhist of the 20th century. It's
[1:19:53] nothing like it. Anyway, this is the
[1:19:55] beginning of this book from the preface
[1:19:57] written by Sangra in 1986.
[1:20:01] There are at present [clears throat]
[1:20:04] 100 million untouchables in India.
[1:20:08] the vast majority of whom are
[1:20:11] underprivileged in every sense of the
[1:20:13] term.
[1:20:15] Each year between four and 500 of them
[1:20:18] are murdered by their cast Hindu
[1:20:21] compatriots while thousands more are
[1:20:24] beaten, raped and tortured, their homes
[1:20:28] looted and burned. An incalculable
[1:20:31] number of them are not only
[1:20:33] [clears throat] subject to social,
[1:20:35] economic, and religious discrimination,
[1:20:38] but daily suffer personal harassment and
[1:20:41] humiliation.
[1:20:44] So, it's quite graphic and it's quite
[1:20:47] sobering.
[1:20:48] And I remember reading that out in
[1:20:50] America to [clears throat] these quite
[1:20:52] wealthy Buddhists in Marin County, for
[1:20:54] instance, and their mouths would all
[1:20:55] just sort of drop open.
[1:20:58] So, that's where Dr.
[1:20:59] came from. He was born an untouchable at
[1:21:03] the at the end of the 19th century, 1891
[1:21:07] I think
[1:21:09] and he was the 14th of 14 children.
[1:21:14] So the so and the thing was untouchable
[1:21:17] people were not allowed to be educated.
[1:21:20] However,
[1:21:22] in in Bimra's case, his father was in
[1:21:27] the British army. So, the British army
[1:21:30] did some good in India, just that little
[1:21:33] bit. But, um, he did manage an
[1:21:37] education. He was allowed to sit at the
[1:21:38] back of the class on a piece of
[1:21:41] sackcloth. He he started out by trying
[1:21:43] to listen in from the window outside.
[1:21:46] Anyway, he he he was educated
[1:21:49] and to the extent that he actually ended
[1:21:53] up at Bombay University
[1:21:55] [cough and clears throat] that had never
[1:21:56] happened. An untouch a person from that
[1:21:58] background had never ever been to
[1:22:01] university.
[1:22:04] Untouchability existed at the time of
[1:22:06] the Buddha by the way. It wasn't some
[1:22:08] new thing that had happened. It had gone
[1:22:10] on for thousands of years.
[1:22:14] So he went to Bombay University and
[1:22:19] um a a very wealthy
[1:22:22] Maha
[1:22:24] Maharaja
[1:22:25] supported Bimra Ambedka and he got a
[1:22:30] scholarship to go to Colombia University
[1:22:32] in New York. So he was educated in New
[1:22:35] York and he went from there to the
[1:22:37] London School of Economics right here.
[1:22:40] He also was called to the bar at Grey's
[1:22:43] Inn and when he went back to India
[1:22:46] as I said he wrote the Indian
[1:22:48] constitution became the first law
[1:22:50] minister that's the basic bones of it
[1:22:53] wasn't easy for him you can imagine was
[1:22:56] not easy for him he was still treated
[1:23:00] badly like when he came back to India he
[1:23:02] couldn't find anywhere to live nobody
[1:23:03] would have him because they still
[1:23:05] considered him an untouchable soon as
[1:23:07] they found out even though he was the
[1:23:08] law minister of India wrote the India
[1:23:11] constitution.
[1:23:12] He couldn't he couldn't live anywhere.
[1:23:15] He did live somewhere.
[1:23:18] Anyway, he wrote the Indian
[1:23:19] Constitution. He became the first law
[1:23:20] minister in independent India. Perhaps
[1:23:24] most famously, he had a long battle with
[1:23:26] with Gandhi. Gandhi was a cast Hindu and
[1:23:30] Bedkar and untouchable. And Bedka had
[1:23:34] already declared at this point that he
[1:23:36] famously declared in 1936 I think he
[1:23:40] declared although I was born a Hindu I
[1:23:43] will not die a Hindu. He already had it
[1:23:45] in mind that he would free himself from
[1:23:48] untouchability
[1:23:50] through conversion to another religion.
[1:23:53] He'd made untouchability illegal in the
[1:23:56] Indian constitution. Didn't really make
[1:23:59] any difference.
[1:24:04] So
[1:24:05] he'd made this declaration and he
[1:24:08] studied very carefully all all
[1:24:10] religions.
[1:24:11] He had a history with Buddhism. His his
[1:24:14] father had given him a book on Buddhism
[1:24:16] when he was a child. He knew about
[1:24:18] Buddhism. He studied Buddhism. He's
[1:24:20] written many books about Buddhism even
[1:24:23] when he wasn't a Buddhist. Interestingly
[1:24:25] enough, so I called this talk Dr. Bedka
[1:24:28] and the bodhic satta ideal. So in
[1:24:32] Buddhists, Buddhists talk about bodhic
[1:24:34] sattvas. Bodhic sattvas are people that
[1:24:36] put off their own enlightenment until
[1:24:38] everyone else is enlightened first. It's
[1:24:41] an altruistic extreme position of the
[1:24:43] Mahayana,
[1:24:44] the second development of Buddhism. I
[1:24:46] won't get into all that the
[1:24:47] technicalities [snorts]
[1:24:48] of it, but it it's an extreme position
[1:24:50] of altruism for Buddhists, the bodhic
[1:24:54] sappra ideal. And and strangely enough
[1:24:58] before Dr. Tranbedka converted to
[1:25:01] Buddhism a couple of years before the
[1:25:03] World Buddhist Council declared him to
[1:25:05] be a bodhicattva because he'd been
[1:25:08] working tirelessly for the uplift of his
[1:25:11] people. In 1986, a 100 million
[1:25:15] ex untouchables known as the Dick
[1:25:18] community, the downtrodden, the
[1:25:20] dispossessed.
[1:25:22] [snorts]
[1:25:25] Pause. Um
[1:25:31] [snorts]
[1:25:32] so towards the end of his life he
[1:25:35] decided that Buddhism was was the
[1:25:37] answer. Not the legal route, not through
[1:25:40] the law, not through being the law
[1:25:42] minister but through conversion to
[1:25:45] Buddhism that would free himself would
[1:25:46] deliberate himself and his people. He
[1:25:50] was the he was the hero of all his
[1:25:51] people.
[1:25:53] And so it was this is what we're
[1:25:55] celebrating today in India. Millions of
[1:25:58] people will be celebrating and all over
[1:26:01] the world. They have a beach party at
[1:26:04] the beach at Mumbai on this day every
[1:26:07] year. A million people beach party. Can
[1:26:10] you imagine?
[1:26:13] They do things in big numbers in India.
[1:26:16] Some of you will have been there I'm
[1:26:17] sure perhaps. But [snorts] everywhere
[1:26:19] you go there's a lot. There's a lot of
[1:26:21] people, a lot of animals, a lot of
[1:26:23] trash, a lot of noise, a lot of
[1:26:25] everything going on. So, a beach party
[1:26:27] with a million people to celebrate this
[1:26:30] at the Dick Shaboomi in Nagpur where it
[1:26:33] initially happened. So, when when Dr.
[1:26:35] Ambedk had converted to Buddhism, he did
[1:26:38] so along with half a million other
[1:26:39] people.
[1:26:41] The interesting thing is before this
[1:26:43] happened, he consulted with Sangaracha.
[1:26:46] He met Sangarachta previously through
[1:26:49] the Mahabodhi society. Sangaracha had
[1:26:51] been living in India for 20 years as a
[1:26:54] monk and he'd been given the name
[1:26:56] Sangarachta by his preceptor
[1:26:58] Uchandraani.
[1:27:00] When Dr. Amka consulted Sangaracha as to
[1:27:03] how do you become formally how do you
[1:27:05] become a Buddhist through taking the
[1:27:07] refugees and precepts the three refugees
[1:27:09] the Buddha the Dharma the Sana the
[1:27:11] precepts the basic precepts of ethical
[1:27:13] living.
[1:27:15] [snorts] He he talked to Sangra about
[1:27:17] this. He asked Sangracha if he would
[1:27:18] conduct his his conversion ceremony the
[1:27:22] refugees and precepts and Sangra said to
[1:27:24] him it'd be better if you received the
[1:27:27] refugees and precepts from the same
[1:27:29] preceptor from Uchandra Mani. So in fact
[1:27:33] this is what happened that was the
[1:27:34] senior most monk in India at the time
[1:27:36] Uchandramani. So Sangar and Dr. Ambedka
[1:27:39] have the same preceptor. I personally
[1:27:42] find that very interesting. They were
[1:27:43] they were inexurably linked together.
[1:27:46] Sangaracha and Dr. Ambedka. Sangaratcha
[1:27:49] taught Dr. Ambedka the basics of how to
[1:27:52] convert to Buddhism and he and he
[1:27:55] suggested to him that he had
[1:27:56] Uchandramani this senior monk to to do
[1:28:00] that because it would give it more
[1:28:01] weight. Sangaracha was a relatively
[1:28:04] unknown monk but he impressed Ambedka
[1:28:08] because he was English and also he was
[1:28:12] very well educated and knew about
[1:28:14] Buddhism. He was not a monk in a sort of
[1:28:18] formalistic sense. That's another thing
[1:28:20] I don't really want to go into here but
[1:28:21] he trusted Sankar
[1:28:24] and he took his advice. And so it was
[1:28:26] that Utrand Demani on the 14th of
[1:28:28] October 1956
[1:28:30] conducted this conversion ceremony for
[1:28:33] Dr. Ambedka. Dr. Ambedka then turned
[1:28:36] around
[1:28:38] and gave the refugees and precepts to
[1:28:40] the half million people himself
[1:28:43] along with 22 new vows that he'd made up
[1:28:47] specially for these ex untouchables as
[1:28:50] they were then as they converted to
[1:28:51] Buddhism.
[1:28:54] It was to do with not worshiping the
[1:28:56] Hindu gods for instance.
[1:28:59] However, as I mentioned earlier,
[1:29:03] Dr. Ambedka was only a Buddhist for six
[1:29:05] weeks and then he died rather suddenly.
[1:29:08] Before he died, he had another meeting
[1:29:10] with Sangaracha
[1:29:12] and uh Sangaracha the story goes he was
[1:29:16] trying to get he could see that Bamba
[1:29:18] was very ill. He was trying to pull
[1:29:19] himself away after about 15 minutes. And
[1:29:21] Bedkar wouldn't let him go. He kept him
[1:29:24] there for two hours
[1:29:26] and he just kept saying there's so much
[1:29:28] to be done and he you sense or Sanger
[1:29:31] sensed that he knew and Bedka was
[1:29:33] finished and Sangarachta was going to
[1:29:36] have to carry on this work and that's
[1:29:38] exactly what happened and Bedka died.
[1:29:40] The day he died, Sanger happened to be
[1:29:43] in the same town. And that night,
[1:29:47] all these griefstricken, hundreds of
[1:29:50] thousands of griefstricken people
[1:29:53] were bereff and and Sangaracha talked to
[1:29:56] them and consult them. And he spent the
[1:29:58] following several weeks going around
[1:30:01] talking to these people about being a
[1:30:03] Buddhist and and carry on the work of of
[1:30:06] Dr. Ambedka. And so it was that
[1:30:09] Sangaracha and Ambedka was were so
[1:30:11] strongly linked. And so it was then that
[1:30:14] 10 years later Sangaracha came back to
[1:30:17] this country, founded what was called
[1:30:19] the Friends of the Western Buddhist
[1:30:20] Order, the FWBO, and then the Western
[1:30:23] Buddhist Order, which then became
[1:30:25] Triatner. And 10 years after that he was
[1:30:29] back in India and
[1:30:32] carrying on that work along with some of
[1:30:35] his disciples who at that point had been
[1:30:37] ordained for 10 years such as especially
[1:30:40] Locommetra Sabutbouti. Some of you will
[1:30:42] know these people. Locomitra spent the
[1:30:45] rest of his life living and working in
[1:30:47] India with that community.
[1:30:50] [snorts] And so tree ratner
[1:30:53] is as strong or stronger in India than
[1:30:56] it is anywhere else in the world and
[1:30:57] we're part of that. So just for a little
[1:31:00] bit that I wanted to talk about was my
[1:31:02] own personal my time in India. So I'd
[1:31:05] gone from here
[1:31:07] to America with my friend Paramman and
[1:31:09] as some of you might know him. We were
[1:31:11] ordained together by Sanger. He gave us
[1:31:13] our names. He was our preceptor.
[1:31:16] and [snorts] uh and off we went to San
[1:31:18] Francisco to help set up San Francisco
[1:31:20] Buddhist center and it was from San
[1:31:22] Francisco that I went to India and I'm
[1:31:27] not sure if it was Sangra who had this
[1:31:29] idea or Sabuchi or a group of people the
[1:31:31] idea was to have a retreat an ordination
[1:31:34] retreat where Americans and Indian
[1:31:37] people would be ordained together to
[1:31:40] strengthen the links the links of
[1:31:42] Triatna tree ratnner is a is a global
[1:31:44] Buddhist movement
[1:31:47] And it's inexraably linked with the the
[1:31:49] movement of of Ambedka.
[1:31:52] And you might say it's it's a movement
[1:31:54] of modern engaged Buddhism. That's what
[1:31:58] this is. It's very strong in India. So
[1:32:01] when you go to India, I went to India.
[1:32:03] I'd already been working. I mean,
[1:32:05] actually, I designed the cover of this
[1:32:07] book, funnily enough. I'd been working
[1:32:08] here as a graphic designer and I'd
[1:32:10] worked for a thing called the Karina
[1:32:12] Trust which was a charity that raised
[1:32:14] money for the social work in India with
[1:32:17] these Buddhists in India the the
[1:32:18] deprived people the Dallot community as
[1:32:20] they're called
[1:32:22] especially health care and education one
[1:32:25] of the things I I I haven't said yet
[1:32:28] about Dr. Bedka. One of the things that
[1:32:30] impressed me so much amongst so many
[1:32:33] things
[1:32:35] was the the law, the constitution and
[1:32:39] the provision for women
[1:32:42] such as the women's right to divorce.
[1:32:46] And one of his one of my favorite quotes
[1:32:49] of Dr. Ambedka
[1:32:51] is that the way to judge the progress of
[1:32:54] a society is through the progress of its
[1:32:57] women. I think that's a that's a
[1:32:59] typically very telling way that Ambedka
[1:33:02] was looking at what he was doing. I'm
[1:33:05] just going to see if my technology works
[1:33:07] because would you like to hear from Dr.
[1:33:09] Ambedka
[1:33:11] >> because we have there are you can you
[1:33:14] can listen to his voice and get a sense
[1:33:17] of him. I've got this short recording
[1:33:20] here. This is from 1946 from the
[1:33:23] constituent assembly meeting where they
[1:33:25] were they were thrashing out independent
[1:33:28] India and how it was going to happen,
[1:33:30] how how on earth it would work. And this
[1:33:32] is this is him. Let's see if this works.
[1:33:38] [snorts]
[1:33:39] >> Mr. chairman. Therefore,
[1:33:42] I should have thought
[1:33:45] that in order to make a start,
[1:33:49] in order to induce
[1:33:52] every
[1:33:54] party,
[1:33:55] every section
[1:33:57] in this country,
[1:34:00] it would be the act of greatest
[1:34:02] statesmanship
[1:34:04] for the majority party
[1:34:08] even to make a concession to the
[1:34:10] prejudices
[1:34:12] of people who are not prepared to march
[1:34:14] together.
[1:34:18] And it is further
[1:34:21] that I propose to make this appeal.
[1:34:25] Let us leave aside slogans.
[1:34:29] Let us leave aside words which frighten
[1:34:31] people.
[1:34:34] Let us even make concession to the
[1:34:36] prejudices
[1:34:37] of our opponents.
[1:34:40] Bring them in
[1:34:42] so that they may willingly join with us
[1:34:46] on marching upon that road
[1:34:49] which as I said if we walk long enough
[1:34:54] must necessarily lead us to unity.
[1:35:02] >> That's fairly typical. What I love about
[1:35:04] that is leaving aside slogans that
[1:35:07] frighten people and making concessions
[1:35:10] to one's opposition to bring them on
[1:35:12] board and and and
[1:35:16] work together. He did have this very
[1:35:19] long oppositional fight with Gandhi
[1:35:22] which I'm not going to go into. to the
[1:35:24] extent that Gandhi was on hunger strike
[1:35:26] to death in opposition to Ambedka and
[1:35:29] they they came up with what became
[1:35:31] called the puna pact a concession but
[1:35:34] that's a a story that I'm not going to
[1:35:36] get into I was going to tell you a bit
[1:35:37] of my own story so I went from America
[1:35:40] the idea being that Americans and Indian
[1:35:42] people would be ordained together to
[1:35:44] strengthen the the the bonds of what was
[1:35:47] then the western Buddhist order and the
[1:35:49] true Ratner order which has continued
[1:35:52] today. But anyway, I flew I flew over
[1:35:56] the Pacific therefore into [snorts] into
[1:35:58] Bombay as it was then and the first
[1:36:01] thing that I saw was the constellation
[1:36:04] Orion
[1:36:06] lying down. So I'd never seen that and
[1:36:09] the crescent moon lying on its back. It
[1:36:12] was quite something just I thought this
[1:36:14] is a magical thing happening here. And
[1:36:16] then it was Diwali and so there were
[1:36:18] fireworks going off everywhere. We were
[1:36:19] landing this plane surrounded by fly by
[1:36:22] fireworks and explosions and things
[1:36:24] going off. This was my introduction to
[1:36:26] to India. First time I'd been there.
[1:36:29] [snorts] And uh and when we landed in
[1:36:30] the airport, there'd been a stopover at
[1:36:32] Singapore airport. Very plush. We get to
[1:36:35] Bombay airport, there were cats
[1:36:37] wandering around in the airport and
[1:36:39] beggars and people and noise and cat
[1:36:41] completely the opposite.
[1:36:43] Absolute cacophony. I was taken I was
[1:36:46] met by all these people. In fact, we
[1:36:48] were met and we were immediately given
[1:36:51] these things. I'm put this on. I've
[1:36:53] still got it. That's a headband that
[1:36:55] says Jim. So that every time you greet
[1:36:58] somebody, you just do that. You didn't
[1:37:00] have to say Ja Bim all the time because
[1:37:01] you got it written on your head. So
[1:37:03] we're all walking around. All gang of
[1:37:05] us. Jim.
[1:37:07] [snorts]
[1:37:08] It's one of my little trophies from
[1:37:09] India. I've got this ring here as well,
[1:37:11] the Dr. Ambedkar ring. I always wear it.
[1:37:14] I got it on the beach at Mumbai with
[1:37:16] with the celebrations that were going on
[1:37:18] and people always ask me what's that on
[1:37:21] your ring. In fact, just very recently I
[1:37:23] was in a shoe shop on Oxford Street and
[1:37:24] the guy said why have you got Dr.
[1:37:26] Ambbecker on your ring? So that was a
[1:37:28] bit different but um he was an Ambbea
[1:37:30] devote from India. [snorts] Anyway there
[1:37:33] we were first morning I woke up in this
[1:37:35] hotel in Bombay. open opened the
[1:37:38] curtain, looked out. First thing I saw
[1:37:41] was this huge mound of orange peels just
[1:37:44] in middle of the street surrounded by
[1:37:46] cows. The cows were just munching away
[1:37:49] on orange peel. That was a typical
[1:37:51] abiding site, you know, like just cows
[1:37:54] everywhere, people everywhere, noise,
[1:37:56] dogs, children. [snorts]
[1:37:59] And um and another strange thing that
[1:38:02] happened was I kept a journal and you
[1:38:04] know until couple of weeks ago I was
[1:38:06] researching Ambedka and I found in my
[1:38:08] studio among my books a book that I
[1:38:10] didn't recognize
[1:38:12] wasn't sure what it was and it was a
[1:38:14] journal that I kept the whole time that
[1:38:16] I was in India and there's there's a
[1:38:18] random page there. This is from Sarnath.
[1:38:22] So after the retreat when some of the
[1:38:24] Indian people my friends from San
[1:38:25] Francisco were ordained Viralama for
[1:38:27] instance some of you might know might be
[1:38:29] out there in YouTube land listening in
[1:38:32] [snorts]
[1:38:33] it's the middle of the afternoon in San
[1:38:34] Francisco now I still keep in touch with
[1:38:36] all these people anyway sorry there's a
[1:38:39] bod bodhi leaf there's bodhi bodhi trees
[1:38:41] everywhere in India they're just common
[1:38:43] trees and a one rupee note one of the
[1:38:47] nice things nice or not but one of the
[1:38:49] things about being in India is I felt
[1:38:51] rich for the first time in my life I
[1:38:54] had, you know, hundreds and hundreds of
[1:38:55] rupees, just a few dollars. It's
[1:38:58] [snorts] extraordinary the contrast
[1:38:59] going from America to India and then
[1:39:02] back to America. You couldn't get more
[1:39:03] extreme contrasts.
[1:39:05] But I had this fabulous time being on
[1:39:07] retreat with 70 people. At [snorts] the
[1:39:10] end of the retreat,
[1:39:12] we'd been in silence and uh
[1:39:16] the washing up, for instance, my duty
[1:39:18] was washing up and I had a a big cold
[1:39:21] bucket of water and to do the washing up
[1:39:24] and I did the washing up with this other
[1:39:25] guy. And at the end of the retreat, we
[1:39:27] we broke the silence and he said to me,
[1:39:30] first thing he said to me was, "I've got
[1:39:32] a confession."
[1:39:34] His [snorts] name was um Padma. I'd
[1:39:35] written it in my book. I'd never have
[1:39:37] remembered that. pad of my ear. He said,
[1:39:38] "I've got this confession. I've been
[1:39:40] coveret coveting your watch all the time
[1:39:43] we've been washing up together. I've
[1:39:45] been coveting that watch of yours. I had
[1:39:46] this little cheap Casio digital watch
[1:39:49] and [snorts] uh
[1:39:51] it was a special watch because I'd had
[1:39:53] it the whole time I've been meditating,
[1:39:54] which at that point had been about 10 or
[1:39:57] 12 years. I I was ordained two years
[1:40:00] after learning to meditate. That's how
[1:40:02] it happened in those days very quickly.
[1:40:04] Anyway, [snorts] I said, "Look, have the
[1:40:06] watch. It's fine. and you can have it.
[1:40:07] And he said, "Well, I'll swap it for my
[1:40:09] watch." And he gave me this watch,
[1:40:13] which I still have, still works. This
[1:40:16] watch, it doesn't tell the time. It just
[1:40:18] says on Manny, Padme, Hong. I mean, the
[1:40:20] dials go round, but you can never tell
[1:40:22] what at the moment. It's
[1:40:25] it's uh demay.
[1:40:29] It's about 9:00 apparently. But the
[1:40:32] thing was, so I I very happily I've got
[1:40:34] this watch. The next day we left the
[1:40:36] retreat and this watch broke. I thought
[1:40:39] I've been had given me this dud watch.
[1:40:42] It had been made in Taiwan specially for
[1:40:44] the Triatna Buddhists. The Ambedka
[1:40:47] Buddhists in India. These Taiwanese
[1:40:50] Buddhists have had them made specially
[1:40:51] on Manny Padme watches. If Ambedka had a
[1:40:54] mantra, by the way, it was on Man Padme.
[1:40:57] And the story goes that see I'm
[1:40:59] digressing. The story goes that when he
[1:41:02] heard about Gandhi being shot, he
[1:41:06] straight away started chanting on
[1:41:07] Maniphon. That was his mantra.
[1:41:11] Even though it was sort of his enemy,
[1:41:12] but didn't really have enemies. He just
[1:41:15] wanted things to work out.
[1:41:18] Anyway, [snorts] on Manny Padme, so this
[1:41:20] watch broke and uh I was in this
[1:41:23] rickshaw. I said to the rich ritual guy,
[1:41:26] "Is there somebody in this town that can
[1:41:28] fix a watch?" And pretty much
[1:41:30] immediately pulled up at the side of the
[1:41:32] road and said, "See that guy there in
[1:41:33] the dirt at the side of the road? He's a
[1:41:35] watch fixer." So I got out of the
[1:41:37] rickshaw and I handed over this watch to
[1:41:39] this guy. He had just had a little box
[1:41:41] with some little tools. And within
[1:41:43] seconds, he had this watch in pieces. I
[1:41:45] just watched him just go. He put it all
[1:41:47] back together again. He's like, "There
[1:41:49] you go. It's worked perfectly ever
[1:41:51] since." I said, "How much do I owe?" and
[1:41:53] he said, "Nothing. It's a special
[1:41:55] watch." He recognized what it was and
[1:41:58] still keeps pretty good time. I have to
[1:42:00] put in a new battery in it every few
[1:42:02] years. Same thing happened to my mara.
[1:42:04] I've got this mara here. Have had that
[1:42:06] from the same time. It was black bone
[1:42:09] and now it's white bone. But the same
[1:42:12] thing happened. It broke and 108 beads
[1:42:15] went everywhere. But I managed to find
[1:42:17] all 108 of them. And I went to a mara
[1:42:20] maker and he fixed it. Again,
[1:42:24] no charge.
[1:42:26] These are these are my treasured
[1:42:28] possessions.
[1:42:30] I've got more here. Show and tell part.
[1:42:33] This is first edition
[1:42:36] Dr. [clears throat] Ambedka stamp
[1:42:38] [snorts]
[1:42:40] with a little picture of him on the
[1:42:42] envelope.
[1:42:44] Anyway, [snorts] I digress. But after
[1:42:46] the retreat, we went off on pilgrimage.
[1:42:49] It's a It was an epic journey. It's not
[1:42:52] easy to travel in India in 1995
[1:42:55] I think it was. You had to queue up for
[1:42:58] days to get a train ticket which may or
[1:43:00] may not have worked. We one train was 12
[1:43:03] hours late. We just had to sit around
[1:43:05] waiting for 12 hours and they just kept
[1:43:07] saying train coming soon.
[1:43:10] So anyway, we got up there to the
[1:43:13] Buddhist sites and the the Bodhi tree
[1:43:15] and and Sarnath where the the wheel of
[1:43:18] the dharma was turned initially. In a
[1:43:21] way that was the most special place for
[1:43:23] me going to Sarnath with these
[1:43:26] exouchable Buddhists that I was
[1:43:27] traveling with and we circumambulated
[1:43:30] this huge stuper that had been built by
[1:43:32] Ashoka.
[1:43:33] [snorts] That was the second coming of
[1:43:35] Buddhism. In a way, the Ambedka movement
[1:43:37] was the third coming of Buddhism.
[1:43:39] And the thing is
[1:43:42] the thing is about Dr. Ambedka's life
[1:43:44] and his mission and his conversion to
[1:43:46] Buddhism and the effect he had on
[1:43:48] millions and millions of people was that
[1:43:51] he was really walking in the footsteps
[1:43:53] of the Buddha. He was living a life
[1:43:56] very similarly. Now he didn't meditate
[1:43:58] much. He didn't it was a different life
[1:44:01] in a way. But the thing that they had in
[1:44:04] common was that they were concerned with
[1:44:08] people with humanity.
[1:44:11] The Buddha was a social revolutionary.
[1:44:14] He also denied the cast system. The
[1:44:17] Buddha ordained people from any walk of
[1:44:20] life. He ordained women into the same
[1:44:22] order. That would have been unthinkable
[1:44:24] at the time of the Buddha. Exactly the
[1:44:26] same with Dr. Ambedka. Exactly the same
[1:44:28] with Sangarachta. Actually, when Sangra
[1:44:32] first founded Friends of the Western
[1:44:33] Buddhist Order and the Western Buddhist
[1:44:34] Order, the very first ordination was men
[1:44:36] and women together at the same time into
[1:44:38] the same order. That was a pretty
[1:44:40] radical thing to do even in the 1960s.
[1:44:44] It was a radical thing to do in the
[1:44:45] 1950s with Dr. Ambedka. It was a radical
[1:44:49] thing to do two and a half thousand
[1:44:50] years ago with the Buddha. These people
[1:44:53] were were social revolutionaries. We
[1:44:56] talk about individual practice,
[1:44:58] meditation, practice, ethics,
[1:44:59] meditation, wisdom. It's a simple path,
[1:45:02] the path of the dharma, the the wheel of
[1:45:04] the dharma that's been rolling two and a
[1:45:06] half thousand years all over this
[1:45:08] planet. You know, when I went to San
[1:45:10] Francisco, I met people from Tibet, from
[1:45:13] Japan. There was the Buddhist Church of
[1:45:16] America been set up in the 1800s just
[1:45:19] like a church with pews. And instead of
[1:45:21] Jesus at the front, they had a little
[1:45:22] baby Buddha. and we sung hymns to the
[1:45:24] Buddha. They were trying to integrate.
[1:45:26] It's another story. But um I suppose the
[1:45:30] point that I'm making is
[1:45:32] the dharma
[1:45:35] is for everybody. And the Buddha taught
[1:45:38] people from every walk of life from you
[1:45:41] know he was taught he teach kings,
[1:45:44] prostitutes, beggars, robbers, everybody
[1:45:46] and anybody that would listen to him.
[1:45:47] You teach them from different religions
[1:45:52] and Ambedka
[1:45:55] was a social revolutionary essentially
[1:45:57] that's what his life was dedicated to.
[1:45:59] He was a bodhic satta officially
[1:46:02] declared by the world Buddhist council
[1:46:04] but he was a bodhic sat in the exemplary
[1:46:07] manner that his entire life was
[1:46:09] dedicated to the uplift of other people
[1:46:13] to the alleviation of suffering. It was
[1:46:14] nice we did that current above there at
[1:46:16] the beginning because that's very very
[1:46:19] appropriate. That's the entirety of Dr.
[1:46:22] Ambedka's life and it's why we celebrate
[1:46:24] and why millions of people especially in
[1:46:26] India but we're all celebrating together
[1:46:29] and that's why I think it's important
[1:46:31] that all the trees trienters
[1:46:34] we all acknowledge Dr. Bedka his
[1:46:36] relationship with Sangrada the emphasis
[1:46:39] on what we call engaged Buddhism
[1:46:41] socially engaged Buddhism
[1:46:44] that it's for the uplift of the many the
[1:46:46] liberation of the many so I think Dr.
[1:46:49] Tramka's best known sort of catchphrase,
[1:46:52] his three words,
[1:46:54] liberty, equality, fraternity.
[1:46:57] That's what he's known for.
[1:46:59] And he's known as the father of India,
[1:47:02] the writer of the Indian constitution.
[1:47:07] Baba sahibb he's known as. So I'd like
[1:47:10] us to finish, if you'll join me, I'd
[1:47:12] like to finish with three jiims. And
[1:47:15] it's for the people out there in in the
[1:47:17] ether of of YouTube. Can we all do that
[1:47:20] together?
[1:47:22] Okay. Ready?
[1:47:23] Jim,
[1:47:25] >> Jim,
[1:47:28] >> Jin.
[1:47:33] [applause]
[1:47:41] Okay, very good. Thank you so much Param
[1:47:43] Body for really evoking um this man Dr.
[1:47:46] Inka and everything that's happened
[1:47:47] since then. I mean I think
[1:47:50] um it's just quite struck that um that
[1:47:54] we're here today in a sense because
[1:47:57] um Sangar um is here and taught us but
[1:48:01] he was very inspired by Dr. Ambbe wasn't
[1:48:03] he? So really is it really is um this
[1:48:06] lineage that we can sort of benefit from
[1:48:08] and inspire us for our own lives as
[1:48:10] well. How can we make a difference in
[1:48:12] the world as well? So that's what struck
[1:48:14] me. So thank you very much for that for
[1:48:16] evoking that parami. Okay, good. So um
[1:48:19] what we'll do now is we'll do a bit of
[1:48:22] meditation just to absorb that and we'll
[1:48:24] end with a short ritual just a chance to
[1:48:27] chant and um connect with yeah [snorts]
[1:48:31] connect with um well the mystery of it
[1:48:33] all. Um yeah, I'll say a bit more
[1:48:36] actually over there, but um let's set up
[1:48:38] in our meditation postures and we'll go.
[1:48:42] Um okay.
[1:49:06] Yes.
[1:49:18] >> Yeah. It's sometimes interesting how
[1:49:20] life works, isn't it? Sort of um
[1:49:22] synchronicities. Um so at the time of um
[1:49:26] well it's interesting at the time of Dr.
[1:49:28] Ambedka's death um Sangaracha
[1:49:32] um he was somewhere else he wasn't
[1:49:33] actually near there he was wasn't in
[1:49:34] Nangpo he was somewhere else and he just
[1:49:36] had this sense at the time that he had
[1:49:38] to leave where he was um what he was
[1:49:41] doing because he was invited to stay
[1:49:43] longer and um and do some other work in
[1:49:46] the area he was but he has this sense he
[1:49:48] just had to leave and he didn't really
[1:49:49] know why um and he got on the train and
[1:49:52] he just went to he was going to Nagpur
[1:49:54] anyway so he went there and when he got
[1:49:57] to the
[1:49:58] people had told him that Dr. Ambedka had
[1:50:00] died and um and even then Sang actually
[1:50:03] hadn't slept for a couple of days. who's
[1:50:05] on the train. But there was all these
[1:50:07] people like you know how many people was
[1:50:10] it? Mill a million pe lots of pe
[1:50:12] hundreds of thousands of people who were
[1:50:14] just in mourning because their follower
[1:50:16] who'd prom you know who just converted
[1:50:18] them to to Buddhism who had released
[1:50:21] them from from cast and freed them had
[1:50:23] just died. And um there were some other
[1:50:27] speakers and other people to help as
[1:50:28] well. But [snorts] um Sangarashtra was
[1:50:31] invited to speak to all these hundreds
[1:50:32] of thousands of people in this park. And
[1:50:36] um when he got there, he was meant to be
[1:50:38] la um the last speaker, but when he got
[1:50:41] there, all the other speakers couldn't
[1:50:43] speak because they were so upset. So it
[1:50:45] ended up being him Sarashtra that had to
[1:50:48] speak um in front of all for all these
[1:50:51] people and just really um encouraged
[1:50:53] them to practice the dharma really he
[1:50:56] what he said was obviously it's upset
[1:50:58] that Dr.
[1:50:59] has died but at the same time we know in
[1:51:02] Buddhism that things are impermanent
[1:51:04] things change and also that we can um we
[1:51:07] can learn and grow and do something with
[1:51:10] this um so it's very good this very very
[1:51:13] inspiring talk um that you know you're
[1:51:15] now free and you can just live your life
[1:51:17] as Buddhist and here's a picture of that
[1:51:20] here on the shrine him doing that um
[1:51:23] with that mic the microphone so that's
[1:51:25] what he looked like like there and what
[1:51:27] happened was he had to
[1:51:28] over like three or four or five days, he
[1:51:30] had to meet lots of different people.
[1:51:32] And he said that despite having no sleep
[1:51:35] and no energy, it was like he had all
[1:51:38] the energy in the world. Um and it was
[1:51:40] almost as if um there was something
[1:51:43] coming through him like it wasn't him
[1:51:45] doing the talk. It was like there was
[1:51:46] this super personal force coming through
[1:51:49] him um to give these talks to inspire
[1:51:51] these Buddhists. You can really believe
[1:51:54] that, can't you? a time of need um
[1:51:57] something comes through us um we sort of
[1:51:59] reach the sort of like the mystery of
[1:52:00] the universe almost um sort of steps in
[1:52:03] you could say to help um when it's
[1:52:05] needed and Sangra is very in touch with
[1:52:08] that sort of yeah the mystery um so in
[1:52:12] the ritual we're going to do tonight
[1:52:14] we're going to we'll chant a few verses
[1:52:16] um and then we'll finish with a mantra
[1:52:19] in a sense just to evoke that mystery of
[1:52:21] how how things happen in in life um
[1:52:24] mystery of the universe you could say
[1:52:26] will evoke that that spirit and also
[1:52:29] like paramod was saying that spirit of
[1:52:32] being the true individual being um
[1:52:35] someone who's trying to help the world
[1:52:37] um we can sort of connect into that for
[1:52:39] ourselves as well um so whatever that
[1:52:42] means for us so
[1:52:45] yeah so we'll when we do the mantra you
[1:52:48] can join in the mantra and then come up
[1:52:50] just to make an offering and when we
[1:52:52] make an offering what we're doing is
[1:52:53] we're just in a sense making an offering
[1:52:55] to that commitment to helping the world.
[1:52:59] You could say the world uh needs more
[1:53:02] light and um just by that very simple s
[1:53:05] symbol of lighting a candle we're saying
[1:53:08] we ourselves can contribute to that
[1:53:10] light you know in our own small way um
[1:53:14] you know inspired by Dr. between and
[1:53:17] other other our other heroes as well.
[1:53:20] But we can contribute to that to the
[1:53:22] world um by just lighting the light. So
[1:53:24] that's that's what we're doing there. So
[1:53:26] it can be quite moving especially when
[1:53:29] we're all doing that together. Um yeah
[1:53:31] and with to this beautiful shrine. Yeah.
[1:53:34] Then we just sit back down and we just
[1:53:35] let the mantra die down. And when the
[1:53:38] mantra dies down, we can just imagine
[1:53:40] it's like musical statues. We just sort
[1:53:42] of very very still. And um then there's
[1:53:44] a sort of aliveness to the stillness um
[1:53:47] that we can we can just feel um yeah and
[1:53:50] get in touch with um and let all the
[1:53:52] images of parambodi and and today just
[1:53:55] sort of yeah settle within us.
[1:54:00] Okay good. So we'll uh we'll set
[1:54:04] ourselves up for that. Oh um are you
[1:54:07] okay to start the shakim mantra from
[1:54:09] moximati? Yeah, at the end at the
[1:54:13] Yeah, we'll do um the three four puan at
[1:54:15] the end of that.
[1:54:17] >> Yeah.
[1:54:19] >> Um just the one from the winter retreat,
[1:54:21] you know, the one
[1:54:24] classic. Yeah.
[1:54:28] All right. Good. So, yeah. So, just
[1:54:29] setting ourselves up
[1:54:37] and just letting those images
[1:54:40] Stories and feelings settle.
[1:55:44] >> [music]
[1:55:45] [bell]
[1:55:48] >> the three-fold puja opening reverence in
[1:55:51] call and response.
[1:55:54] We reverence the Buddha, the perfectly
[1:55:57] enlightened one.
[1:55:59] >> We reverence the Buddha, the perfectly
[1:56:02] enlightened one,
[1:56:03] >> the shower of the way.
[1:56:07] We reverence the dharma, the teaching of
[1:56:09] the Buddha.
[1:56:10] >> We reverence the dharma, the teaching of
[1:56:13] the Buddha,
[1:56:14] >> which leads from darkness to light.
[1:56:17] >> which leads from darkness to light.
[1:56:19] >> We reverence the SA, the fellowship of
[1:56:22] the Buddha's disciples.
[1:56:24] >> We reverence the SA, the fellowship of
[1:56:27] the Buddha's disciples.
[1:56:29] >> That [snorts] inspires and guides.
[1:56:31] >> that inspires and guides.
[1:56:35] >> [music]
[1:56:37] >> Reverence the three jewels.
[1:56:40] We reverence the Buddha.
[1:56:42] >> We reverence the Buddha
[1:56:44] >> and aspire to follow him.
[1:56:46] >> and aspire to follow him.
[1:56:48] >> The Buddha was born as we are born.
[1:56:51] >> The Buddha was born as we are born.
[1:56:53] >> What the Buddha overcame.
[1:56:55] >> What the
[1:56:57] >> We too can overcome.
[1:56:59] >> We too can overcome.
[1:57:01] >> What the Buddha attained. All good
[1:57:04] attained.
[1:57:05] >> We too can attain.
[1:57:07] >> We too can attain.
[1:57:09] >> We reverence the dharma.
[1:57:11] >> We reverence the dharma.
[1:57:12] >> And aspire to follow it.
[1:57:14] >> And aspire to follow it.
[1:57:16] >> With body, speech, and mind until the
[1:57:19] end.
[1:57:20] >> With body, speech, and mind until the
[1:57:23] end.
[1:57:23] >> The truth in all its aspects.
[1:57:26] >> The truth in all its aspects.
[1:57:28] >> The path in all its stages.
[1:57:30] >> The path in all its stages. We aspire to
[1:57:34] study, practice, realize.
[1:57:37] >> We aspire to study, practice, realize.
[1:57:42] >> We reverence the SA.
[1:57:44] >> We reverence the SA
[1:57:46] >> and aspire to follow it.
[1:57:48] >> And aspire to follow it.
[1:57:50] >> The fellowship of those who tread the
[1:57:52] way.
[1:57:53] >> The fellowship of those who tread the
[1:57:55] way.
[1:57:55] >> As one by one we make our own
[1:57:58] commitment.
[1:57:59] >> As one by one, we make our own
[1:58:01] commitment. An ever widening circle.
[1:58:04] >> An ever widening circle.
[1:58:06] >> The SA grows.
[1:58:08] >> The SA grows.
[1:58:12] [music]
[1:58:14] >> Offerings to the Buddha.
[1:58:18] Reverencing the Buddha, we offer
[1:58:20] flowers.
[1:58:21] >> Reverencing the Buddha, we offer
[1:58:23] flowers.
[1:58:24] >> Flowers that today are fresh and sweetly
[1:58:27] blooming.
[1:58:28] Flowers that today are fresh and sweet
[1:58:31] and blooming.
[1:58:32] >> Flowers that tomorrow are faded and
[1:58:35] fallen.
[1:58:36] >> Flowers that tomorrow are faded and
[1:58:38] fallen.
[1:58:39] >> Our bodies too like flowers.
[1:58:42] >> Our bodies too like flowers
[1:58:44] >> will pass away.
[1:58:46] >> Will pass away.
[1:58:48] >> Reverencing the Buddha
[1:58:50] >> reverencing the Buddha.
[1:58:52] >> We offer candles.
[1:58:54] >> We offer candles [snorts]
[1:58:55] >> to him who is the light. We offer light
[1:58:58] >> to him who is the light. We offer light
[1:59:01] >> from his greater lamp. A lesser lamp. We
[1:59:04] light within us.
[1:59:05] >> From his lamp, a lesser lamp within us.
[1:59:09] >> The lamp of Bodhi.
[1:59:11] >> The lamp of Bodhi.
[1:59:13] >> Shining within our hearts.
[1:59:15] >> Shining within our hearts.
[1:59:17] >> Reverencing the Buddha, we offer
[1:59:19] incense.
[1:59:21] >> Reverencing the Buddha, we offer
[1:59:23] incense. Incense whose fragrance
[1:59:25] pervades the air.
[1:59:27] >> Incense whose fragrance pervades the
[1:59:29] air.
[1:59:30] >> The fragrance of the perfect life.
[1:59:32] >> The fragrance of the perfect life.
[1:59:34] >> Sweeter than incense.
[1:59:36] >> Sweeter than incense.
[1:59:38] >> Spreads in all directions
[1:59:40] >> spreads in all directions
[1:59:42] >> throughout the world.
[1:59:43] >> throughout the world.
[1:59:50] Shak money.
[1:59:55] Oh money
[1:59:58] shark.
[2:00:03] Oh moon
[2:00:08] shark moon.
[2:00:13] Oh moon [singing]
[2:00:17] shack moon swah.
[2:00:21] Oh moon
[2:00:25] shack moon.
[2:00:30] Oh moon
[2:00:34] shack moon.
[2:00:38] Oh moon
[2:00:42] shak moon.
[2:00:47] Oh [singing] my
[2:00:51] Sh.
[2:00:57] [singing]
[2:01:04] Oh
[2:01:08] sh
[2:01:11] [singing]
[2:01:16] [singing]
[2:01:22] [singing]
[2:01:28] [singing]
[2:01:32] Moon
[2:01:34] [singing]
[2:01:39] [singing]
[2:01:42] shoo
[2:01:48] [singing]
[2:02:00] m
[2:02:03] Oh moon [singing]
[2:02:05] [chanting]
[2:02:07] shack moon. [singing]
[2:02:12] Oh moon
[2:02:16] shak.
[2:02:19] [clears throat]
[2:02:20] Oh moon
[2:02:24] shak moon.
[2:02:28] Oh, moon
[2:02:32] [singing]
[2:02:34] moon.
[2:02:37] Oh sh [singing]
[2:02:41] [music]
[2:02:45] Oh [singing]
[2:02:49] sh
[2:02:51] [singing and music]
[2:02:57] [singing]
[2:03:02] Oh mighty [singing] moon
[2:03:06] Sha
[2:03:12] [singing]
[2:03:13] moon
[2:03:15] sh
[2:03:19] Oh moon
[2:03:24] sh
[2:03:27] [singing]
[2:03:30] moon
[2:03:32] Sh.
[2:03:44] >> [singing]
[2:03:45] >> Oh sh
[2:03:49] [singing]
[2:03:54] Oh Mary
[2:03:56] [music]
[2:03:58] sh
[2:04:06] [music and singing]
[2:04:10] Oh [singing]
[2:04:15] sh
[2:04:18] [singing]
[2:04:21] moon
[2:04:23] [singing] sh
[2:04:28] Oh moon
[2:04:32] sh
[2:04:36] Oh Money moon
[2:04:40] shaky [singing]
[2:04:46] moon
[2:04:48] shaky
[2:04:50] [singing]
[2:04:54] moon
[2:04:57] sh
[2:05:01] Oh moon
[2:05:05] shaka
[2:05:10] Oh money [chanting]
[2:05:13] shak [singing] money.
[2:05:18] Oh money moon.
[2:05:34] Oh mah
[2:05:52] [singing]
[2:06:00] [singing]
[2:06:03] shaka.
[2:06:04] Money
[2:06:09] [singing]
[2:06:20] shak.
[2:06:25] [singing]
[2:06:32] Oh [singing and music] moon
[2:06:36] shark moon.
[2:06:41] Oh moon
[2:06:44] shark.
[2:06:49] Oh moon
[2:06:53] shak moon swah.
[2:06:57] Oh, moon
[2:07:01] shark.
[2:11:11] >> [snorts]
[2:11:28] [music]
[2:11:31] [bell]
[2:11:43] >> Okay, very good. That brings us to the
[2:11:45] end of the evening. So, what we'll do,
[2:11:47] let's keep it silent in here and then
[2:11:49] when we come back outside, we can talk
[2:11:52] and uh we can just end by just putting
[2:11:54] our mats and cushions away and then
[2:11:56] leaving. And just to say, yeah, thank
[2:11:57] you very much for coming tonight and see
[2:12:00] you next time. Thank you.
