Transcript
[7:21] Good morning everyone. Uh we would like
[7:24] to warmly welcome Bante Joe back to the
[7:26] Buddhist Society of Victoria. Um Bante
[7:29] visited us last year and he's um uh been
[7:33] leading a retreat at SOS um earlier this
[7:36] week and also led yesterday's
[7:37] meditation. Um and thanks also uh very
[7:40] much to Bante who has been kindly
[7:43] assisting um Bante Joe during this
[7:45] visit. Bante Joe um found his way to T
[7:49] Sarina and ordained as an Anagara in
[7:51] 2008. In 2010, Bante Joe was ordained as
[7:55] a bik with Ajan Viridamo as his
[7:58] preceptor. Bante trained at Tisarina um
[8:01] and with one year in Thailand until
[8:03] 2015. In 2015, his teacher released him
[8:06] from dependence and he spent um some
[8:08] time in California and then to Canada.
[8:12] Uh he stayed in the Toronto area from
[8:14] 2016 to 2019. Um but most recently um
[8:18] Dante has been staying uh in Sri Lanka
[8:22] where he currently resides. Um I will
[8:25] pass to uh to Salvatry to request the
[8:29] three refues.
[8:31] Everyone's welcome to join us.
[8:34] Great.
[8:40] So,
[9:02] and I'd like to invite Pantet to lead
[9:05] the precepts and the chanting today.
[9:08] >> Okay. So, we'll do the chanting first,
[9:11] same as yesterday, then we'll do the
[9:12] five precepts after. Okay. So, I assume
[9:17] many of you don't need the sheet by now,
[9:19] but are we passing around sheets for
[9:21] those who do need it? Maybe it's a bit
[9:24] late now. Anyway, okay.
[9:26] >> Very sorry, folks. The projector is
[9:28] acting up this morning. It doesn't want
[9:30] to connect. So, I hope you remember the
[9:32] chant. It's the same you do every week.
[9:35] >> Okay. So, we'll do the pie for this one.
[9:40] [clears throat]
[9:55] Look how we do
[10:22] Hey,
[10:25] When I go
[10:29] with the humble in you
[10:55] Walk
[11:29] Angelo
[11:37] Lord.
[11:41] s and then we will also do the metasuta.
[11:45] So this one's a bit more tricky if you
[11:46] don't already know it, but I think all
[11:48] the Sri Lankans here probably know it,
[11:50] right? So we'll be okay. So we'll do the
[11:54] pari version of that.
[11:57] [clears throat] Sorry. Is that something
[11:59] we normally do on the Sunday talks? The
[12:01] meta as well. Yeah.
[12:07] [singing]
[12:19] Georgia
[12:47] in a window.
[13:09] to
[13:12] say
[13:36] we
[13:42] to
[14:04] mat.
[14:08] Are you
[14:31] man?
[14:45] No,
[14:50] we got a window.
[14:58] Fore.
[15:24] Okay.
[15:26] So then we'll do the five precepts for
[15:28] those who are taking it. [clears throat]
[15:31] So we'll start by paying respects to the
[15:32] Buddha.
[16:03] and then to the triple gem. So if you
[16:05] were to repeat after me in Pali
[16:16] I go to the Buddha for refuge.
[16:19] >> I go to the Buddha for refuge.
[16:33] refuge.
[16:45] >> I go to the SA for refuge.
[16:49] >> I go to the
[16:51] refuge. Duty.
[17:02] Duty.
[17:11] Duty.
[17:28] Tatami
[17:46] tang.
[17:51] Okay. So for this one, for the precepts,
[17:52] we'll do the pi and then followed by the
[17:54] English afterwards for those who would
[17:57] like to take it.
[18:07] >> [singing]
[18:12] >> I undertake the training rule to refrain
[18:14] from taking life. I have
[18:19] to
[18:34] >> I undertake the training rule to refrain
[18:36] from stealing.
[18:38] >> I
[18:41] refrain from stealing.
[18:56] >> [singing]
[18:57] >> I undertake the training rule to refrain
[19:00] from sexual misconduct.
[19:03] >> I undertake the training rule to refrain
[19:06] from sexual misconduct.
[19:21] I undertake the training rule to refrain
[19:23] from false speech.
[19:26] >> I train
[19:29] from false speech.
[19:48] I undertake the training rule to refrain
[19:50] from intoxicating drinks and substances
[19:54] that reduce clarity of mind.
[20:05] >> Yeah.
[20:06] >> [laughter]
[20:09] >> That one always goes in that somewhere
[20:11] else. Yeah. So s
[21:00] Okay. [clears throat and cough]
[21:08] arhat suddi.
[21:30] >> [cough and clears throat]
[21:37] [clears throat]
[21:40] >> So there's a phrase that the Buddha
[21:43] gives in the suta nepata
[21:45] and it reads like this.
[21:49] All phenomena are rooted in desire.
[21:55] Start with this one. Whoever a thinker
[21:58] knowing both sides
[22:00] doesn't adhere in between.
[22:03] He I call a great person.
[22:06] He here has gone past the seamstress.
[22:11] So there's a number of monks who get
[22:13] together
[22:15] and they ask each other what did the
[22:18] Buddha mean?
[22:21] What did he mean by the first side?
[22:24] What did he mean by the second?
[22:27] What's the middle and what's the
[22:29] seamstress essentially?
[22:32] And all these monks come up with
[22:35] different answers.
[22:38] So the first one says that contact
[22:42] is the first side.
[22:45] The origination of contact
[22:48] is the second.
[22:51] The sessation of contact is in between
[22:57] and craving is a seamstress
[23:01] because craving stitches together
[23:05] this or that state of becoming.
[23:09] Another monk says, "The past is one
[23:12] side, the future is the other, and the
[23:16] present is in between,
[23:18] and craving is a seamstress."
[23:22] Another monk says, "Pleasant feeling is
[23:25] one end,
[23:27] painful feeling is another, and neutrals
[23:30] in between,
[23:31] and craving is a seamstress."
[23:36] So all the monks get confused.
[23:40] which one of us is right?
[23:43] And so they approach the Buddha to ask
[23:45] him
[23:46] what the answer is.
[23:50] But before we talk about the Buddha's
[23:52] answer,
[23:53] it's important to know some of what they
[23:55] were talking about.
[23:59] Craving is a seamstress
[24:02] stitches together this or that state of
[24:05] becoming.
[24:08] >> [clears throat]
[24:08] >> And this word becoming in Pali is an
[24:11] interesting one.
[24:14] It's a process that we engage in to
[24:17] become who we are.
[24:21] Who we are is an action.
[24:26] It's not static.
[24:29] something that we do
[24:32] and it's something we stitch together
[24:36] to create
[24:38] everything that we know.
[24:42] We talked about this a bit yesterday.
[24:46] Sometimes somebody might praise us.
[24:49] Nice car.
[24:52] [snorts] Good talk. Bad talk.
[24:57] As a result of that praise,
[25:00] we become something.
[25:03] Become somebody with a nice car,
[25:07] gave a good talk or a bad talk. And this
[25:10] happens all the time
[25:14] as we go through the day.
[25:17] Whatever we touch has the potential to
[25:21] become who we are.
[25:25] And we stitch this together.
[25:29] stitch all of these things together and
[25:31] that's our personality.
[25:36] Remember when I was in school
[25:39] there was a fellow student who went down
[25:41] to South America for a conference.
[25:45] He said what I learned in South America
[25:48] was that essence of who you are. You
[25:51] take it with you [laughter]
[25:53] wherever you go. Right. that who you
[25:56] are,
[25:58] but who you are is what you choose.
[26:03] In Buddhism,
[26:05] we make choices
[26:07] all throughout the day.
[26:11] As far as craving, the Buddha has an
[26:13] interesting phrase for that, too. I'll
[26:16] read it out because I'm not the best at
[26:17] memorizing.
[26:20] He says, "All phenomena are rooted in
[26:23] desire.
[26:26] All phenomena come into play through
[26:29] attention.
[26:32] All phenomena have contact as their
[26:35] origination
[26:38] and all phenomena have feeling as their
[26:42] meeting place.
[26:44] That's an interesting statement.
[26:49] So as we stitch together
[26:51] our experience of reality,
[26:54] the reason we do this is because of
[26:56] feeling.
[26:59] We're driven by feeling.
[27:02] It's the reason that we search
[27:06] to have something pleasant
[27:09] wherever it comes from.
[27:12] And so our world gathers here.
[27:16] Feeling is the meeting place.
[27:19] And because it's the meeting place,
[27:22] it tends to be where we look to solve
[27:25] our problems.
[27:29] Trouble for this is
[27:31] that feeling doesn't come from itself.
[27:36] It has a deeper origin.
[27:41] So the way that the mind functions isn't
[27:44] static
[27:47] functions on what you might call a
[27:48] feedback loop system
[27:52] in which things that start small can
[27:55] grow large very rapidly
[27:59] and things that start large can quickly
[28:02] deescalate.
[28:06] And so we have a feeling that we like,
[28:10] oh, nice car,
[28:12] nice job.
[28:15] And that spreads.
[28:18] We have a thought about the feeling.
[28:20] Yeah, it is a nice job.
[28:23] It is a nice car.
[28:26] I [clears throat] got this car and this
[28:28] house because of who I am.
[28:33] Because of that essence that never
[28:36] leaves
[28:39] because I'm an intelligent person
[28:43] or I'm a strong person.
[28:46] One of the funniest ones is I'm an
[28:48] attractive person. [laughter]
[28:52] I once met a monk
[28:54] and he later told us that he was Claudia
[28:57] Schiffer's manager.
[29:00] I don't know if everybody remembers
[29:01] Claudia Schiffer. That shows how old I
[29:03] am. 1990s.
[29:05] Supermodel from the 1990s.
[29:09] He was a manager for a lot of models.
[29:12] And he said they would become so afraid
[29:14] when they saw the smallest lines in
[29:16] their face.
[29:19] It's going to happen.
[29:21] But I'm an attractive person.
[29:25] You think that thought and then the
[29:28] feeling proliferates. It feeds into the
[29:31] feeling. I'm a smart person.
[29:35] And after the feeling proliferates, it
[29:37] feeds into the thought and the thoughts
[29:40] grow. In the future, I'll have another
[29:42] car like this
[29:44] or I'll get a promotion at my job
[29:48] or I'll get a new supermodeling
[29:50] contract.
[29:53] And so the emotions that come into our
[29:55] mind can grow like the weather,
[30:00] particularly the weather in Melbourne
[30:05] [laughter]
[30:07] can be a overcast day.
[30:11] And from a single small cause, it
[30:13] expands
[30:16] till the whole city is bathed in sun.
[30:21] She has at Newbury Buddhist monastery.
[30:24] I shut the blinds because it was
[30:26] raining.
[30:28] Open them two hours later and it was
[30:29] this beautiful sunny day.
[30:31] [snorts and laughter]
[30:32] Completely surprised me.
[30:35] And the weather in our mind is like
[30:37] that.
[30:40] But the trouble is
[30:42] when this weather comes,
[30:45] we tend to get into it.
[30:48] We tend to try to stop it there
[30:52] because feeling is the meeting place.
[30:55] This tends to be where we look to change
[30:57] feeling.
[30:59] And it's like trying to push back a
[31:01] storm.
[31:05] Storm whips up,
[31:07] creates enormous waves.
[31:11] We try to push the waves back,
[31:15] throw them away,
[31:18] but that doesn't dissipate the storm.
[31:23] Storm starts further up.
[31:26] Doesn't start with the waves.
[31:29] Starts in the atmosphere.
[31:33] starts in the weather conditions.
[31:37] If we want to disperse the storms,
[31:41] that's where we have to look.
[31:45] So the
[31:47] next statement up
[31:49] is that all phenomena have contact as
[31:53] their origination.
[31:57] It's an interesting statement
[32:00] because we often don't think about
[32:02] [snorts] contact.
[32:05] Contact means where things touch.
[32:10] So in order for there to be a touch
[32:13] anywhere,
[32:15] three things have to be present.
[32:19] You have to have something internal
[32:22] that can perceive
[32:24] the mind, the eye, the ear.
[32:29] You have to have something external
[32:32] that is to be perceived,
[32:35] a thought. It's interesting that that's
[32:38] external
[32:40] or a form or a sound.
[32:43] When these things come together, what
[32:46] knows arises?
[32:49] This aspect of our experience
[32:52] which is just aware
[32:55] and the touch of these things is
[32:59] contact.
[33:02] This is where feeling comes from
[33:06] and it's a place where we can stop the
[33:08] storm.
[33:12] So quite often
[33:14] as a feeling comes up,
[33:17] we jump into the feeling
[33:19] and we jump into the thoughts.
[33:22] And because we're in the feeling,
[33:25] then we're in the weather,
[33:29] in the sunny weather.
[33:31] And if the weather changes,
[33:34] we're in the rainy weather. [laughter]
[33:38] Saw the kangaroos living that way.
[33:40] It's quite the existence.
[33:44] But one of the strategies that we can
[33:46] use is to step back from this.
[33:50] And there's two primary types of people
[33:54] who will approach the practice in
[33:56] broadly different ways.
[34:01] The first of these types of people
[34:04] are called those who engage in a suka
[34:06] patipa.
[34:09] Suka means happy,
[34:13] pleasant.
[34:16] And these kinds of people have an
[34:18] inclination in their mind.
[34:22] All of us here have different
[34:24] personalities.
[34:27] And we choose different things
[34:30] from reality.
[34:33] People who have a suka pada
[34:36] are attracted to beauty.
[34:40] They see the beautiful in things quite
[34:42] often.
[34:44] The beauty in the weather,
[34:47] beauty in the sunset,
[34:50] the glass is half full. [laughter]
[34:54] And they're attracted to these things.
[34:57] And because they're attracted to beauty,
[35:00] their mind can remain still
[35:04] because it's content.
[35:07] can see the beautiful in the present
[35:10] moment
[35:12] and so it can stay there,
[35:16] can feed there,
[35:19] can become calm there
[35:22] and this is a strategy that we can use
[35:25] to stop the storm from contact.
[35:32] So, in regards to that,
[35:35] I visited Thailand about eight months
[35:37] ago, maybe nine months ago,
[35:40] and there was a monk that I'd heard a
[35:42] lot about for a number of years.
[35:45] Many of the monks in Thailand are highly
[35:48] famous and sought after.
[35:52] But as a monk, you have a backstage
[35:54] pass.
[35:57] So I knew another monk who had gone to
[36:00] see this monk and I said I'd like to see
[36:01] him
[36:03] and I wanted to ask him about my past
[36:05] lives. [laughter]
[36:09] I had a relatively serious decision to
[36:11] make and I was at a crossroads.
[36:17] So I wanted to know what influences
[36:19] there were that were shaping my
[36:21] decisions
[36:23] and whether there was anything that I
[36:25] had to fulfill.
[36:27] that I was unaware of.
[36:31] So I approached him and I asked him
[36:33] about my past lives
[36:36] and he didn't tell me [laughter]
[36:42] actually he only told me about one
[36:45] but beyond that he didn't tell me
[36:49] instead he kept wanting to talk about
[36:51] meditation
[36:54] and I was already satisfied with my
[36:55] meditation approach
[36:58] and he said something interesting
[37:02] And it was a practice that I've tended
[37:04] to ignore
[37:06] because I didn't like the onlogical
[37:09] implications.
[37:13] This was a practice of just being the
[37:15] knower.
[37:19] Typically in my monastic life, I've
[37:21] shied away from it because sometimes it
[37:24] gets equated with nibbana.
[37:27] But this was the practice he gave to me.
[37:29] After
[37:31] looking at me in whatever way he did,
[37:34] he said, "Learn to be the knower."
[37:37] [laughter]
[37:38] Then he grabbed my shoulders and he's
[37:40] like pressed them hard. He said, "Kaoji,
[37:43] do you understand?"
[37:46] Then he let them go a little bit and he
[37:47] said, "Coji,"
[37:49] he let them go a bit more. "Ka, do you
[37:52] understand?"
[37:55] What he was pointing to was just to know
[38:00] because this is further up the stream.
[38:04] We can remain with the fact factor of
[38:07] mind that's just aware
[38:10] and we don't have to flow in [snorts]
[38:12] the cascade
[38:16] because what we become is a cascade.
[38:20] It's an expansion.
[38:23] It meets it feelings and expands there.
[38:27] And if we just know, then we don't have
[38:30] to be in that.
[38:33] And when we're not in that, we don't
[38:36] flow with it.
[38:39] Like somebody standing at the mouth of a
[38:41] stream.
[38:44] Stream originates, say, the head
[38:48] and watching it flow downwards.
[38:53] doesn't stop the stream,
[38:55] but it stops us from flowing with it,
[38:59] from expanding with it.
[39:02] So, we can learn to identify with this
[39:04] aspect of mind.
[39:08] It isn't nibbana,
[39:11] consciousness,
[39:13] but it's a safer place in being in the
[39:16] storm.
[39:20] The second approach that some people
[39:21] take
[39:23] is what we can call a ducaapati pada.
[39:29] People who have the character for
[39:30] ducaapati pada
[39:33] tend to be people who hate [laughter]
[39:38] hating types of people
[39:41] and these people pick out the negative
[39:43] in experience.
[39:46] The interesting thing about the negative
[39:50] in experience
[39:51] is that it's very close to discernment.
[39:57] Beauty is close to concentration.
[40:00] Ugliness is close to discernment.
[40:04] Because in order to see the dividing
[40:06] line,
[40:08] you have to see where the flaws are.
[40:12] You don't see where the flaws are. You
[40:15] don't see where things change
[40:18] and you don't see why.
[40:22] So for people this character
[40:25] will tend to look for cause and effect
[40:29] and become interested
[40:32] in what it is that gives rise to things.
[40:37] And this is something they can attend to
[40:39] very closely.
[40:42] But it's not the same as concentration
[40:44] per se.
[40:46] It involves following,
[40:50] watching the storm to see the small
[40:54] areas where it begins.
[40:57] When you notice this,
[41:00] then you can become dispassionate.
[41:04] And you're also not in the storm
[41:06] [clears throat]
[41:07] when you follow it.
[41:10] This brings us to the third portion of
[41:13] the Buddhist teachings
[41:16] in this particular phrase
[41:20] which is that all phenomena come into
[41:23] play through attention. [cough]
[41:26] [clears throat]
[41:28] That's an interesting statement.
[41:32] Often times we're taught in classical
[41:34] Buddhist theory
[41:36] that consciousness is a series of
[41:38] moments,
[41:41] series of little tiny pieces of time.
[41:45] But in the canon, it's sustained through
[41:48] attention.
[41:51] We become conscious
[41:54] because we look.
[41:57] And when we look,
[41:59] we're already searching for something.
[42:04] And that's what we see.
[42:06] It's one of the reasons why all of us
[42:08] here today
[42:10] live in very different worlds.
[42:13] [cough]
[42:14] It's because of what we look for.
[42:17] [snorts] And it's because of what we
[42:19] see.
[42:22] What we see expands.
[42:26] fills our awareness.
[42:29] Which is why when the feeling is good,
[42:32] the world seems bright.
[42:36] Why? When the feeling is bad,
[42:39] world seems dark.
[42:42] And it's all the same world.
[42:45] It's us who are already looking for it.
[42:49] We're looking to create it before we
[42:53] touch it.
[42:54] And that means that we can make a
[42:56] choice.
[42:59] We can make a choice in what we see
[43:03] and what it is that fills our awareness.
[43:07] So as a monks, we train in these vineia
[43:10] rules.
[43:12] And a lot of them might seem a bit
[43:13] obscure if you're a lay person,
[43:17] but wherever I go, I tend to notice how
[43:20] high the beds are.
[43:24] Are the beds above 16 cmters? [laughter]
[43:28] Notice the legs.
[43:30] And when I look at food, the first thing
[43:33] I wonder, has anybody given this to a
[43:36] monk?
[43:37] Is it offered?
[43:40] What time of the day it is?
[43:42] This is my world with regards to these
[43:45] things
[43:46] because of what I've chosen to look for.
[43:51] And so in order to see we have to tune
[43:54] the mind
[43:57] like tuning a radio station.
[44:01] Actually the word for a monk as we
[44:03] discussed yesterday
[44:04] sa
[44:06] one of its roots is the word sama
[44:10] like sama
[44:12] watcha means right
[44:16] but it also means in tune
[44:20] like a person tuning a musical
[44:22] instrument
[44:23] so that it sounds just right
[44:28] and this is something that we can do
[44:30] with the mind
[44:32] can do with our attention. We can tune
[44:36] it to see
[44:39] to choose aspects of experience to focus
[44:42] on
[44:43] and allow them to grow larger.
[44:48] And so we learn to tune our mind away
[44:51] from feelings and towards contact,
[44:57] something we don't normally see.
[45:00] We decide to look for this before
[45:05] and then it comes into our world
[45:09] and it's here that we can bring these
[45:11] things under our control
[45:14] when we start to see the touch.
[45:18] What was it that caused the pleasant
[45:20] feeling?
[45:22] Was a pleasant contact? They said my car
[45:26] was nice.
[45:28] What was it that caused painful feeling?
[45:33] It's a painful contact.
[45:36] Somebody told me I look thin.
[45:40] For a monk, that's usually they're
[45:41] worried about you. Somebody said that to
[45:44] me yesterday.
[45:47] I don't look thin.
[45:52] So when we tune our minds to contact
[45:55] then we don't see the statement
[45:58] in the same way we see the contact
[46:03] a pleasant touch arising
[46:07] or a pleasant touch passing away.
[46:11] And it's because of what we give
[46:13] importance to.
[46:16] It's because of what we choose to make
[46:19] the central thing.
[46:23] So when we tune our minds to contact, we
[46:25] have these choices
[46:27] and these choices have a root.
[46:31] So the very first statement that the
[46:34] Buddha makes in this cascade
[46:36] is that all phenomena are rooted in
[46:39] desire.
[46:42] It's another interesting statement.
[46:46] So whatever it is that we experience
[46:49] has our craving as the forerunner
[46:53] has our desire to be.
[46:57] What we start to notice as we practice
[46:59] more and more
[47:01] is that there's a desire to touch.
[47:06] sit alone on a retreat
[47:10] with not much to experience
[47:13] and there becomes a desire
[47:16] just to contact
[47:19] just to have something touch
[47:22] the eye
[47:24] or the ear or the nose or the tongue or
[47:27] the body or the mind.
[47:31] This is the root of the storm.
[47:35] This is where it begins
[47:38] and this is also where it can be brought
[47:40] to an end.
[47:45] So the whole of the noble eightfold path
[47:48] is built on desire
[47:52] [snorts] but it leads to the end of
[47:54] desire.
[47:57] And so we have a paradox in our
[48:00] practice.
[48:02] You can call it the paradox of becoming.
[48:08] We become something to let go of
[48:10] becoming.
[48:14] We desire
[48:16] to achieve the end of desire
[48:19] and we use that desire to build.
[48:24] We use it to build a world of experience
[48:28] that becomes more and more refined.
[48:33] away from the storms
[48:35] and towards their origin
[48:38] to see how pleasant it is.
[48:43] Because we talked about this yesterday,
[48:47] the word aijah or ignorance,
[48:52] it doesn't just mean that we don't know.
[48:56] It also means that we don't want to see
[49:02] and it also means that we protect
[49:06] we protect contact.
[49:10] It's the basis of who we are in a sense
[49:14] protect our feelings
[49:18] and as we guard them we're not released.
[49:23] So as we investigate in this way and our
[49:25] standards become higher then what we
[49:28] notice is that wherever there's a touch
[49:31] there has to be agitation
[49:36] because it has to be held together.
[49:40] Wherever there's something internal and
[49:42] external they have to be joined.
[49:47] So we hold together our ideas of who we
[49:49] are.
[49:51] I'm an accountant.
[49:54] I've got a nice car.
[49:57] I have these feelings.
[49:59] And that holding together is stress.
[50:05] So through desire,
[50:08] we look for better things.
[50:12] We turn the qualities of desire towards
[50:15] the path
[50:17] because desire tends to lead to
[50:19] familiarity
[50:22] and familiarity leads to
[50:23] dissatisfaction.
[50:27] So the things we become familiar with we
[50:29] start to see their flaws
[50:32] and so we learn to become more and more
[50:35] familiar with happiness.
[50:40] We direct our minds to higher levels of
[50:43] peace.
[50:45] [clears throat]
[50:47] But within these levels of peace,
[50:48] there's flaws.
[50:52] So we desire something higher.
[50:57] Even in the touch,
[51:00] there's stress.
[51:03] And so at the end, our desire has to be
[51:06] for something where there's no stress at
[51:08] all.
[51:11] So the Buddha has this recommendation
[51:16] says to incline the mind
[51:19] towards the deathless
[51:23] to develop the perception.
[51:26] This is peaceful.
[51:29] This is sublime.
[51:32] Stilling of all formations,
[51:36] the relinquishment of all acquisitions,
[51:41] the sessation of craving,
[51:44] dispassion,
[51:45] nibbana.
[51:48] So we come to see stillness is peace.
[51:54] So the Buddha's recommendations for
[51:55] contact can get a bit graphic.
[52:00] He says it should be seen like a flayed
[52:02] cow.
[52:06] So a cow that's been struck by a whip
[52:08] again and again. It's a graphic
[52:09] metaphor.
[52:12] Wherever that cow stands, beings bite
[52:15] it.
[52:17] If it stands in the air, it's bitten by
[52:20] beans in the air.
[52:22] Sits on the ground, it's bitten by beans
[52:24] on the ground.
[52:26] leans against the wall. It's bitten by
[52:27] beans in the wall. And he says that's
[52:30] how contact should be regarded.
[52:35] Not because one is afraid of it per se,
[52:39] but because one's standards of happiness
[52:41] have grown higher.
[52:44] One wants something where there's not
[52:46] even the agitation of the touch
[52:51] of the holding together.
[52:56] So as to that statement,
[52:59] the Buddha's answer
[53:02] was that all of the monks had spoken
[53:04] well.
[53:06] All of them had said something right.
[53:11] But as to what he meant when he said,
[53:14] "Whoever a thinker knowing both sides
[53:19] doesn't adhere in between
[53:21] he I call a great person.
[53:24] He here has gone past the seamstress."
[53:28] What he meant was that contact is the
[53:30] first side.
[53:32] The origination of contact is the
[53:35] second.
[53:37] Sessation of contact is the middle.
[53:41] And in craving is the seamstress
[53:46] because it stitches together this or
[53:48] that state of becoming.
[53:51] And one who knows and sees this knows
[53:54] what should be directly known.
[53:57] Sees what should be directly seen.
[54:00] Knowing and seeing what should be
[54:02] directly known and seeing.
[54:04] They bring an end to all suffering and
[54:07] stress.
[54:08] So with the sessation of becoming
[54:12] with the sessation of agitation,
[54:15] there's freedom from suffering.
[54:18] And we can train ourselves in this way
[54:22] from the lowest levels not to be caught
[54:25] in feeling.
[54:27] We become more peaceful,
[54:30] not flowing with the world as it flows
[54:32] out.
[54:35] But to the highest
[54:37] where we look for something where
[54:39] there's no agitation at all.
[54:42] And so we can tune our minds in this way
[54:46] because
[54:48] all phenomena have feeling as their
[54:50] meeting.
[54:53] They have contact as their origination.
[54:59] They come into play through attention,
[55:02] but they're rooted in desire.
[55:06] And so we cultivate this desire to
[55:09] overcome desire
[55:12] because in the end that's what all of us
[55:15] are looking for.
[55:19] So I think I'll leave that for
[55:20] reflection.
[55:23] And does anybody have any questions?
[55:36] Uh thank you for the talk. Um
[55:40] I have heard you talk about this topic
[55:42] online as well.
[55:44] >> Oh, did you?
[55:45] >> And I've had a question since then and I
[55:47] still have it.
[55:48] >> When you're talking about contact
[55:51] >> are you meaning literally avoiding like
[55:55] say a family situation
[55:58] is going to bring up a storm could bring
[56:01] up a storm. literally avoiding that
[56:04] situation or
[56:08] thinking about it in a different way,
[56:11] standing back while you're in that
[56:14] situation.
[56:15] >> Yeah. So,
[56:18] well, here like in in terms of the talk
[56:20] and the Buddhist statements, he's
[56:22] talking about something that's very
[56:24] fundamental to existence.
[56:26] And so this statement that he makes is
[56:29] specifically referring to somebody who's
[56:31] essentially on the path to aranchship.
[56:34] So it's very I mean you don't kind of
[56:35] overcome if you overcome contact you're
[56:38] in our hunt. That's basically what it
[56:39] is. [snorts] So in terms of a family
[56:42] situation I mean contact essentially
[56:45] means the touch by which consciousness
[56:47] arises.
[56:49] And you may want may or may not want to
[56:51] avoid situations that could be
[56:53] potentially
[56:55] choppy.
[56:56] But there's not a one-sizefits-all
[56:58] answer to social questions. They're
[57:00] actually very complicated. And so what
[57:03] you have to evaluate a lot of the times
[57:05] are the intentions of the people that
[57:06] you're dealing with. Are the intentions
[57:09] that they have good? Are they bad? When
[57:12] you look at your overall relationship
[57:14] with them, is it a relationship that's
[57:16] plus one plus one? Like, are you both
[57:19] growing stronger together? You both give
[57:22] something up and yet you both grow
[57:24] stronger. or when you look at your
[57:26] relationship with these people over the
[57:28] long term, is it one in which they're
[57:30] getting stronger by a bit and you're
[57:32] getting much weaker because they're
[57:35] taking and you're giving. So, if it's
[57:37] more of a situation like the second one,
[57:40] then longer term, you probably want to
[57:43] attenuate or eliminate as many of those
[57:45] relationships from your life as possible
[57:48] because they'll drain you and they
[57:50] actually don't benefit the person who
[57:52] takes. But if it's a situation in which
[57:55] you're both gaining [clears throat] from
[57:57] your interactions with each other, but
[57:59] there's like occasional choppiness. I
[58:01] mean, it's just to be expected in human
[58:03] relationships that they're not perfect.
[58:06] So, in terms of evaluating the specifics
[58:09] of the situation, it would come
[58:12] underneath those categories. Maybe it's
[58:14] a family event that you have to go to
[58:16] because there's some reason, in which
[58:18] case you would just go and try to avoid
[58:20] or speak little to the people who are
[58:22] dragging you down. But if you don't have
[58:25] to go and it's some situation with the
[58:27] person who's really dragging you down,
[58:29] then maybe you'd want to consider not
[58:30] going. So it's very hard to give a
[58:33] general one-sizefits-all statement for
[58:36] those situations. It has to be evaluated
[58:37] in its specifics.
[58:41] Yeah.
[58:43] Yeah,
[58:45] >> thank you. Um,
[58:46] >> oh, sorry.
[58:48] >> I don't have questions online yet. So,
[58:49] Vendy, maybe the two hands. Oops, three
[58:52] hands.
[58:55] >> Thank you, Bante, for the talk. Um, my
[58:58] question was around um
[59:01] thoughts being an external element as
[59:05] opposed to um internal. Mhm.
[59:09] >> Do you mind speaking to that from the
[59:13] teachings perspective please?
[59:15] >> Yeah, it's something that the Buddha
[59:17] doesn't elaborate on actually.
[59:20] So he basically states that
[59:23] one of the things that
[59:26] is the case in Buddhism is that the mind
[59:28] is not who we are. So it's not ours.
[59:33] It's considered to be something alien in
[59:34] a sense. And so here the Buddha seems to
[59:37] be dividing the part of the mind that's
[59:39] able to cognize
[59:41] from the discrete parts that it
[59:43] cognizes.
[59:45] And so the parts that this just one of
[59:47] the ways that you can look at it like
[59:49] the mind is not a unitary entity. It's
[59:51] an entity composed of parts and those
[59:54] parts function together to give us a
[59:56] sense of who we are.
[59:58] So he doesn't elaborate beyond why this
[1:00:01] is external
[1:00:04] but um it is something that he does say.
[1:00:08] So I'm actually not 100% sure of all the
[1:00:11] reasons. It's just one of those things
[1:00:12] you just uh can't really say. But
[1:00:16] another important point is that not
[1:00:18] every in Buddhism not every voice that
[1:00:20] comes into our head is ours is kind of
[1:00:23] influenced by things external to us. So
[1:00:26] the thoughts that we have are not things
[1:00:28] that are entirely our choosing.
[1:00:31] So um when they come in they can be
[1:00:33] external. That's one facet of it. But as
[1:00:36] to the you know the specific mechanisms
[1:00:39] I don't know. So unfortunately I can't
[1:00:41] answer that in detail.
[1:00:42] >> Mhm.
[1:00:44] >> Thank you John. The there are a couple
[1:00:46] of questions on meditation online.
[1:00:49] >> Sure.
[1:00:49] >> Let me start with this one. It says
[1:00:50] devante. Thank you so much for your talk
[1:00:53] today and yesterday. I was wondering how
[1:00:56] do we overcome desire by using desire
[1:00:59] for example with regards to the
[1:01:01] meditation practice. Thank you.
[1:01:04] >> Yes. So the classic metaphor that you
[1:01:07] get in the Thai forest tradition is of a
[1:01:09] ladder.
[1:01:11] And so when you're climbing a ladder you
[1:01:13] have to have desire to climb to the next
[1:01:15] highest rung. I should look at the
[1:01:17] camera. I guess they're online. And so
[1:01:20] in order to climb from one rung to the
[1:01:22] next, you have to let go of the lower
[1:01:24] rung.
[1:01:26] So you desire the next higher one. And
[1:01:29] as you grab to the higher rung, your
[1:01:31] desire for the lower rung subsides
[1:01:34] and then you desire the next higher rung
[1:01:37] because you see the flaws in the one
[1:01:38] that you're on. So you go higher. But
[1:01:42] it's only when you get to the roof that
[1:01:44] you let go of the entire ladder.
[1:01:47] And so your desire builds the noble
[1:01:49] eightfold path in terms of grabbing on
[1:01:52] to increasingly skillful states.
[1:01:55] States that are increasingly peaceful.
[1:01:58] But at the end of that, what you'll have
[1:02:00] to notice is that wherever there's a
[1:02:02] state that you put together, there's
[1:02:04] going to be agitation
[1:02:06] because it has to be held together. And
[1:02:09] so at the end of that path, what you
[1:02:11] realize you have to do is let go of
[1:02:13] everything that you cling to because any
[1:02:16] type of clinging will be agitation.
[1:02:19] And that's the end of desire.
[1:02:21] So that's where the noble eightfold path
[1:02:24] leads. It's a path that we put together.
[1:02:26] It's a fabricated path that leads to
[1:02:29] something unfabricated.
[1:02:31] So it's the same way that a road leads
[1:02:33] to a mountain. Doesn't create the
[1:02:36] mountain. it just leads there. So that's
[1:02:39] one way we can look at it.
[1:02:43] >> Thank you J. I think Wendy has handed
[1:02:45] the mic
[1:02:47] too.
[1:02:47] >> Hi Po, thank you for the dama talk. Mhm.
[1:02:51] >> Um going back to the first question
[1:02:56] um from this lady
[1:02:59] um in your answer you mentioned about
[1:03:02] >> arant
[1:03:04] >> uh from my understanding
[1:03:06] uh in the sangha nusati that we chanted
[1:03:09] this morning.
[1:03:10] >> Mhm.
[1:03:12] >> In that sanati it says there are four
[1:03:15] pairs of the disciples. M
[1:03:20] >> correct yeah
[1:03:21] >> yep that's correct
[1:03:23] >> uh from what I learned the four pairs
[1:03:27] are sautapana
[1:03:30] sakadagami
[1:03:32] anagami
[1:03:33] and arahant
[1:03:36] um yes from your answer you
[1:03:40] uh talk about arahant
[1:03:42] >> mhm
[1:03:44] >> my first question would be
[1:03:50] When the Buddha
[1:03:53] talk about these four pairs,
[1:03:58] does he
[1:04:00] uh did he
[1:04:02] also ment
[1:04:07] did these four pairs
[1:04:11] does he did he involve
[1:04:14] um the sila
[1:04:17] waya? Yeah.
[1:04:20] >> And
[1:04:22] beside that the second question will be
[1:04:27] how did he make those categories?
[1:04:32] Thank you. Okay. So your first question
[1:04:35] was when he described the four pairs the
[1:04:38] eight kinds of noble beings did he talk
[1:04:40] about sila or virtue?
[1:04:43] So yes he did. So a few things um the
[1:04:48] four pairs involve stream mentor
[1:04:51] sakadagami uh stream mentor once
[1:04:54] returner non- returnturner and arant
[1:04:57] and also there's people who are on the
[1:04:59] path to stream entry the path to once
[1:05:02] return non- returnturn and aranchship.
[1:05:05] So what that involves is that people
[1:05:06] whose practice has reached a stage where
[1:05:09] they actually can't die without
[1:05:12] achieving the fruit. So they can't die
[1:05:14] without becoming a sotapana or etc. So
[1:05:18] those are the four pairs. There's eight
[1:05:20] types total.
[1:05:22] In terms of sila, yes, he does talk
[1:05:25] about sila and that's especially going
[1:05:28] to be the case for a stream enterer but
[1:05:31] also one on the path to stream entry.
[1:05:33] It's all throughout. Cila is all
[1:05:34] throughout. But the big change comes
[1:05:37] when a person becomes an Arya pugala
[1:05:40] because they can't do if they're on the
[1:05:42] path to stream anything that would cause
[1:05:45] them to go to hell or anything that
[1:05:47] would cause them to go to the animal
[1:05:49] realm. So they basically can't create
[1:05:51] this type of kama that will prevent them
[1:05:53] from gaining the fruit. Then if you
[1:05:56] become what's called a stream mentor or
[1:05:58] sotapana
[1:05:59] then you're curbed at the level of
[1:06:01] intention.
[1:06:03] It's basically certain intentions that
[1:06:04] you can no longer hold in mind. Which is
[1:06:07] why these people are called Arya
[1:06:09] pugalas. They're a different type of
[1:06:11] being. So if you remember the Buddha's
[1:06:14] descriptions of kama based on intention,
[1:06:17] you have one class of beings that can
[1:06:19] make all kinds of intentions and will if
[1:06:22] they stay in ssara.
[1:06:24] Good intentions, bad intentions. Then
[1:06:27] you have another type of being whose
[1:06:30] ability to make choices is curbed before
[1:06:32] they make intentions.
[1:06:34] It's kind of cut before that. And so
[1:06:38] that is fundamental to their sila. What
[1:06:41] it means is that there's certain things
[1:06:43] that they won't do. They're no longer
[1:06:46] able to hide an offense. They have to
[1:06:49] confess their offenses to people. Maybe
[1:06:51] not to everybody, but they can't really
[1:06:53] hide who they are.
[1:06:55] They there's an interesting passage
[1:06:57] which says that they can't decline. So
[1:07:00] essentially their progress is always
[1:07:02] going to be like a you know like a stock
[1:07:03] market graph kind of may go up or down
[1:07:06] but the trend line is up.
[1:07:09] So there's a number of things like that
[1:07:11] and they basically the Buddha says that
[1:07:12] they have virtues that are unto unbroken
[1:07:16] unspottled and unmuddled
[1:07:19] which means that there are certain
[1:07:20] things that are fundamental to the
[1:07:22] ability to move forward spiritually that
[1:07:24] they won't do like killing things that
[1:07:27] will take them to hell or take them to
[1:07:29] the animal realm. They lost the
[1:07:30] capability to do that. However, there's
[1:07:34] some minor rules that they could still
[1:07:35] break and not every Buddha's
[1:07:38] dispensation has what he calls the minor
[1:07:40] rules. So CIA will be fundamental um to
[1:07:44] all of the
[1:07:46] noble disciples and what you might call
[1:07:49] sila which is essentially their
[1:07:50] intentions becomes more refined the
[1:07:53] further that they go along the path and
[1:07:56] so their intentions towards people
[1:07:57] become better and better intentions
[1:07:59] towards themsel become better and better
[1:08:02] which is fundamentally what sila is so
[1:08:05] yes there's a current that runs through
[1:08:06] it all and then your last question as to
[1:08:09] why the Buddha divided things this way.
[1:08:13] It's something that is not an arbitrary
[1:08:16] distinction of the Buddhas. So
[1:08:18] [clears throat] he didn't just like
[1:08:19] choose to come up with these four
[1:08:21] categories.
[1:08:22] That's what happens.
[1:08:24] So they're literally events that change
[1:08:27] a person. And so he's describing things
[1:08:30] as they are when a person practices
[1:08:33] rather than taking a continuum and
[1:08:35] making arbitrary distinctions within it.
[1:08:38] Does that make sense?
[1:08:44] Thank you Ajan. Um there profound
[1:08:47] answer. Thank you so much. There is a a
[1:08:50] another question on meditation online.
[1:08:53] >> Um this one is if meditation grows a
[1:08:56] pool of silence
[1:08:58] um does this enable the mind attention
[1:09:01] to move inwards towards dispassion?
[1:09:05] So how how does silence uh link to the
[1:09:09] mind's attention to move inwards to
[1:09:12] dispassion?
[1:09:14] >> So
[1:09:16] I mean silence is an English word that
[1:09:19] can have a number of different meanings
[1:09:21] in terms of meditation.
[1:09:24] So basically as the mind stops thinking
[1:09:27] or it stops proliferating then it
[1:09:29] becomes increasingly still
[1:09:32] and the feeling that a person can get as
[1:09:34] the mind becomes increasingly still is
[1:09:36] that it can become increasingly clear.
[1:09:40] So there's less in the mind to disturb
[1:09:41] it and there's less to move it. And at
[1:09:45] first that's a process which is
[1:09:46] uncomfortable but it becomes something
[1:09:49] which one perceives as comfort because
[1:09:52] when the mind becomes more still it
[1:09:54] becomes more happy and the happiness
[1:09:57] that one gets comes from within rather
[1:09:59] than from without.
[1:10:01] So this type of happiness actually
[1:10:04] enables discernment
[1:10:06] because when we have a lot of
[1:10:07] proliferative thinking when we're
[1:10:09] thinking thinking thinking thinking all
[1:10:11] the time actually what happens is that
[1:10:13] we don't see the links between things.
[1:10:16] Our thinking jumps when we don't pay
[1:10:18] attention.
[1:10:20] When we learn to pay attention to a
[1:10:22] single thing over and over again, then
[1:10:24] what actually happens for us is it's
[1:10:26] like time slows down. Like our mind is
[1:10:30] able to see in smaller and smaller
[1:10:32] increments of time because we've been
[1:10:34] directing it towards smaller and smaller
[1:10:36] increments of time. So at the same time
[1:10:39] that we see things in smaller
[1:10:41] increments, we can one can feel more at
[1:10:44] ease. And when one feels more at ease or
[1:10:47] still, it's much easier to watch. One is
[1:10:51] not threatened by what one looks at. And
[1:10:55] so this is particularly the case with
[1:10:57] what you might call discernment.
[1:11:00] Because what we want to do with
[1:11:01] discernment is to see the things that
[1:11:03] have been causing us to suffer. And as
[1:11:06] we practice, what we come to realize is
[1:11:08] that everything that causes us to suffer
[1:11:12] is connected to something that we like.
[1:11:15] >> [laughter]
[1:11:16] >> That's how it is.
[1:11:19] And so people don't want to see that
[1:11:21] because their happiness depends on the
[1:11:23] things they like. And so they don't want
[1:11:26] to see the half of it that causes them
[1:11:27] to suffer. So when a person's mind is
[1:11:30] calm and it feels at ease apart from the
[1:11:33] happiness they get from something
[1:11:34] external, then they're ready to discern
[1:11:38] that this is something that's causing me
[1:11:40] suffering. And that means that they're
[1:11:42] going to be more ready to let it go in
[1:11:44] favor of something better. So in those
[1:11:47] ways, stillness can link with
[1:11:49] discernment.
[1:11:51] >> Thank you. Um Wendy, yes. Yeah, Dr. J.
[1:11:55] >> And uh you said contact and desire
[1:11:59] >> in the dependent origination principle.
[1:12:03] What do you mean desire is uh craving
[1:12:07] and grasping or is it either or both
[1:12:11] together? When you say desire, craving
[1:12:13] and grasping the next step.
[1:12:16] >> So then you said uh
[1:12:19] when you are a nova at the point you
[1:12:22] don't become party to the process that's
[1:12:24] how you get developed
[1:12:27] >> in the spiritual path. I think desire is
[1:12:30] a inbuilt habit of human beings
[1:12:34] >> and when you lose that habit of desiring
[1:12:38] even to desire to be enlightened will
[1:12:41] disappear.
[1:12:42] >> Mhm.
[1:12:43] >> And that is I think what Buddha means by
[1:12:46] nibbana when you give up when we let go
[1:12:49] of the habit of desiring. Mhm.
[1:12:52] >> So I want to clarify that nisa would
[1:12:54] mean craving and grasping together or
[1:12:59] either or or grasping.
[1:13:02] >> Well, they all kind of glom together but
[1:13:05] in specific in this um formulation that
[1:13:08] we talked about all phenomenon are
[1:13:10] rooted in desire. What the Buddha is
[1:13:12] talking about is a more abstract
[1:13:14] principle in a sense which is that
[1:13:17] wherever we build our world, whatever we
[1:13:19] experience in our world has to do with
[1:13:21] our basic desire to exist. So it's
[1:13:25] because we exist that we contact these
[1:13:27] things. And also whatever it is that we
[1:13:30] contact has a search inherent in it. So
[1:13:34] throughout everything that's in our
[1:13:36] world is a thread and that thread is
[1:13:38] desire. And so in terms of the absence
[1:13:41] of desire, desire is used to overcome
[1:13:44] desire. But an important distinction is
[1:13:47] that it's only particular types of
[1:13:49] desire that are the cause of suffering.
[1:13:51] So the Buddha sings singles out desire
[1:13:53] for sensuality, desire for becoming and
[1:13:57] the desire for non-becoming.
[1:13:59] So as you practice, you overcome those
[1:14:02] desires. But when you attain nibbana,
[1:14:05] you can still cross the road.
[1:14:08] you can still want to cross the road.
[1:14:11] You can still want to help people. So,
[1:14:14] there's still a form of desire there.
[1:14:17] So, um those are some of the
[1:14:20] distinctions that desire in this sense
[1:14:24] is kind of a more broadspectctrum thing.
[1:14:27] In an experiential sense, when we cling
[1:14:29] to something and become it, both desire
[1:14:31] and clinging will be there. So, it's
[1:14:32] kind of like an experiential thing. But
[1:14:35] the point that he's making here, one of
[1:14:37] the points that we can take away from it
[1:14:38] is that the path that we build to the
[1:14:40] end of desire is a phenomena. It's a
[1:14:43] dharma. And so that has to be done
[1:14:45] through desire in order to end desire.
[1:14:58] Thank you so much for today.
[1:15:01] I'm curious about certain perceptions
[1:15:04] that I have of
[1:15:07] spiritual beings and adjuns who are
[1:15:11] quite far along the path that I witness
[1:15:16] have quite strong personalities in the
[1:15:18] way that they express themselves.
[1:15:21] Uh hopefully this is said respectfully
[1:15:24] but I notice Ajam Brah sometimes will
[1:15:28] maybe use a little bit of sarcasm for
[1:15:29] example if he's explaining a point and
[1:15:32] certain other adjuns will be like super
[1:15:35] passionate when they're and like intense
[1:15:39] and I've got a lot of inner critic in a
[1:15:42] towards my own expression
[1:15:45] witnessing myself and going where's that
[1:15:47] coming from and analyzing myself a lot
[1:15:50] And I'm curious the direction
[1:15:54] that my own expression will take and why
[1:15:58] potentially it's a I'm assuming it will
[1:16:01] be a hypothesis, but maybe there's
[1:16:03] something in there of if there's a very
[1:16:06] advanced being that takes on some kind
[1:16:08] of personality when they're expressing
[1:16:11] themsel.
[1:16:13] if that is an unconscious personality
[1:16:17] patterning or are they
[1:16:21] choosing to be a personality to be
[1:16:23] relatable or something I might not be
[1:16:26] seeing?
[1:16:28] Yeah. Well,
[1:16:31] only the Buddha was able to basically
[1:16:34] change all of his um expressive
[1:16:38] characteristics to be in line with the
[1:16:40] Dharma.
[1:16:41] all other beings won't be able to do it.
[1:16:44] So essentially it's there's a habit that
[1:16:46] you have in terms of interacting with
[1:16:47] the world but the intention behind it
[1:16:50] changes and so as the intention changes
[1:16:53] obviously the outward expression will
[1:16:55] change but there's certain things that a
[1:16:57] person just gets used to from the time
[1:16:59] that they're young. So there was
[1:17:01] actually this monk in the cannon whose
[1:17:04] name was Palinda Vacha
[1:17:06] and he would go around calling all the
[1:17:09] other monks chandelas.
[1:17:11] So if you're not from India, [laughter]
[1:17:14] Chandela is like the worst insult you
[1:17:16] can call somebody. It means like an
[1:17:18] outcast which means that you can't even
[1:17:20] be touched. You kind of clean up garbage
[1:17:22] in the street. You bathe with the dirty
[1:17:24] water sometimes that other people use
[1:17:26] like really a tough insult. And so he
[1:17:29] would call other monks that. But he was
[1:17:31] in our hunt. [snorts] And so the Buddha,
[1:17:34] they complained to the Buddha. And the
[1:17:35] Buddha said, you know, he doesn't have
[1:17:37] bad intentions towards you. It's just
[1:17:39] that he was a Brahman for 500 lifetimes.
[1:17:42] And so what you find with basically all
[1:17:44] monks is that they essentially have
[1:17:46] these ways that they're used to
[1:17:47] expressing themsel.
[1:17:49] And as you come to try to teach people,
[1:17:52] the Buddha's recommendation is to adjust
[1:17:54] the way that you express yourself
[1:17:56] according to the audience.
[1:17:59] But that's an external skill.
[1:18:02] It's not something that's fundamental to
[1:18:05] your practice. And so you may or may not
[1:18:08] get good at it. [laughter]
[1:18:11] And so what it means is that some monks
[1:18:12] will express their personality more.
[1:18:15] Other monks will take on particular
[1:18:17] personalities with particular people and
[1:18:20] you'll tend to see that skill pretty
[1:18:22] prominently if you go and associate with
[1:18:24] monks in the Thai forest tradition
[1:18:25] especially kind of change their person
[1:18:28] their ch their p personality can change
[1:18:30] very fast like almost immediately and
[1:18:32] they'll change they won't say things to
[1:18:34] you sometimes they'll change their
[1:18:35] personality they'll change the way they
[1:18:37] behave to you and that's their message
[1:18:39] if you do something they like or you do
[1:18:41] something they think is bad it's very
[1:18:43] effective in changing behavior,
[1:18:46] but um that skill differs from monk to
[1:18:50] monk. And so even within that capacity
[1:18:52] to change their personality, you'll
[1:18:55] still see a kind of a core [laughter]
[1:18:57] of their character. And it's to be
[1:19:00] expected.
[1:19:01] So yeah, you can't really evaluate
[1:19:04] somebody's spiritual progress by like
[1:19:06] how skilled they are in speaking always
[1:19:09] gently or speaking always kindly or
[1:19:11] speaking in a way that a particular
[1:19:12] group of people finds palatable. That's
[1:19:15] an inner thing. Um you can evaluate it
[1:19:18] in part by their sila but it's it's very
[1:19:20] tricky to evaluate on the basis of oh
[1:19:22] did he say an off-color joke or did he
[1:19:25] seem a little bit forceful. It's very
[1:19:27] hard to evaluate in those terms. Yeah.
[1:19:31] Thanks very much Fonte um and uh for
[1:19:34] your teachings here today. Um that's I
[1:19:36] guess the end of um the session. Uh it's
[1:19:39] been much appreciated. Um just some
[1:19:42] quick announcements um for everyone. Um
[1:19:44] the Kina rope ceremony is uh next s
[1:19:47] Sunday 15th from 9:30 till 300 p.m. at
[1:19:50] Newbury. Um there was a special
[1:19:52] newsletter sent out on Friday the 16th
[1:19:55] of October with more details. For those
[1:19:57] catching the bus, please arrive here at
[1:19:59] Buddha Loka by 6:45 a.m. for a 7 a.m.
[1:20:03] departure. Um, there are about 10
[1:20:06] tickets remaining if anyone's
[1:20:07] interested. For the lunch dana
[1:20:09] offerings, please bring ready to eat
[1:20:11] food. There will be no scope for food
[1:20:13] preparation. Um, though heating is
[1:20:16] available. Um, to assist the team with
[1:20:19] the food that day. Uh, we ask that you
[1:20:22] don't bring any uh food needing cutting
[1:20:24] or slicing. um please do uh that at home
[1:20:27] beforehand. Um the Buddha loca center
[1:20:29] here will be closed u that day and there
[1:20:32] will be no communal lunch here. However,
[1:20:34] Dharma school will run per usual uh next
[1:20:37] Sunday.
[1:20:38] Um online student discussions
[1:20:40] facilitated by Bante Sangamaji and
[1:20:42] Ayanta that uh the next session is next
[1:20:45] Saturday the 14th um commencing at 700
[1:20:49] p.m. uh Canberra Melbourne Sydney time
[1:20:51] on Discord. Um, thanks for everyone who
[1:20:54] participated in the Kalana meter
[1:20:56] cleaning day last weekend. The gardens
[1:20:58] needed more attention with spring and we
[1:21:00] really appreciate the efforts of all
[1:21:02] those involved. Um, the next Kalana
[1:21:04] meeting meter cleaning day will be on
[1:21:06] the Sunday 29th November. In terms of
[1:21:09] upcoming retreats, um, Bante Chunda and
[1:21:12] Bante Bodhi Daja um will be having their
[1:21:14] retreat 27th November to 2nd December.
[1:21:17] Registrations are open and both single
[1:21:20] and double occupancy rooms are
[1:21:21] available. Um the Adanso retreat from
[1:21:25] the 26th through the 31st of December
[1:21:28] registrations will be opening uh Friday
[1:21:31] the 13th um at 6 p.m. Um tomorrow's
[1:21:34] teaching, thank you very much again,
[1:21:36] Bante um will be Bante Joe. Um and next
[1:21:40] week there is no Sunday dharma teaching
[1:21:42] um but the Monday night teaching will be
[1:21:45] uh led by Ajan Sardo. So that's the um
[1:21:48] announcements today. If I can hand over
[1:21:50] to Bante to close the session. Uh and if
[1:21:53] we can please allow um both bantes to
[1:21:56] leave the hall before um ley do. Thank
[1:21:58] you very much.
[1:21:59] >> Okay. So just with our home then. Yeah.
[1:22:15] >> [clears throat]
[1:22:17] >> for
[1:22:29] [singing]
[1:22:31] me.
[1:22:38] >> [singing]
[1:22:52] [singing]
[1:22:57] >> Nam. Mommy.
