Transcript
[0:09] Namo Tassa Bhagavato Arahato Samma
[0:14] Sambuddhassa
[0:16] Namo Tassa Bhagavato
[0:20] Arahato Samma Sambuddhassa
[0:24] Namo Tassa Bhagavato
[0:28] Arahato Samma
[0:31] Sambuddhassa
[0:33] Buddha
[0:35] Dhamma
[0:36] Sangha
[0:37] Namassami
[0:45] So tonight is the bigger possater the
[0:48] full moon of September. So we're all
[0:51] gathered here.
[0:52] The monks and nuns have done their
[0:53] recitations today.
[0:56] As per usual.
[1:01] It's always interesting to know exactly
[1:02] where or try to mark where we are in
[1:04] time.
[1:06] And
[1:07] >> [clears throat]
[1:07] >> I think this point is
[1:09] almost exactly 2/3 of the way through
[1:12] the Vasa.
[1:13] So it seemed only a few days ago that
[1:15] Ajahn Amaro was telling us we were
[1:17] halfway through it. Now we're 2/3 of the
[1:19] way through the Vasa.
[1:21] Um
[1:23] And most many monks and nuns are on solo
[1:25] retreat, which is why there aren't so
[1:27] many in the hall tonight.
[1:30] But this period of solo retreat
[1:32] will be coming to an end on the 19th of
[1:35] October.
[1:36] And then we go into another period,
[1:38] which is of group practice up until the
[1:41] 26th of October, and that's the end of
[1:43] the Vasa.
[1:44] So this may not be very significant for
[1:47] lay visitors, but for the Sangha it is
[1:48] quite significant.
[1:52] And the other thing I thought struck me
[1:54] was about the the date today, today's
[1:58] date
[1:59] is in fact what we call in English a
[2:01] palindrome.
[2:03] Now, a palindrome is a sequence of words
[2:06] or letters or numbers
[2:08] that read the same front to back and
[2:11] back to front.
[2:13] So, today's date is 26 9 26.
[2:18] 26 9 26.
[2:21] So, it's nothing particularly
[2:22] significant, but I thought I'd mention
[2:23] it.
[2:28] So, anyway, today's talk I'm I wanted to
[2:30] talk about responsibility.
[2:34] Uh this is a sort of
[2:36] interesting word, how we respond,
[2:38] whether we take responsibility
[2:40] or not for certain things and how we do
[2:43] that.
[2:44] So, in English we can talk about taking
[2:46] responsibility,
[2:48] accepting responsibility,
[2:50] assuming responsibility,
[2:53] denying responsibility, and shouldering
[2:56] responsibility.
[2:58] These are all slightly different terms
[3:00] as to how we approach this concept of
[3:03] responsibility.
[3:05] And one of the incidents in the early
[3:08] life of this Sangha has always stayed
[3:10] with me,
[3:12] which is uh something I heard,
[3:14] which is that um in the early days uh of
[3:18] the Sangha,
[3:19] uh as you may know, there were a few
[3:21] nuns that become uh nuns and one of
[3:24] them, let's call her Nun B,
[3:27] um was was talking with somebody, let's
[3:29] call that person person A.
[3:32] And person A said to this nun,
[3:35] "Are you sure that what you're doing
[3:38] is really the responsible thing? Are you
[3:40] being responsible?"
[3:43] To which the nun replied,
[3:45] "I think I couldn't do anything more
[3:47] responsible than what I'm doing."
[3:50] So, this of course was a a period some
[3:52] time ago
[3:54] before people uh were very accustomed to
[3:57] monks and nuns
[3:59] or less accustomed to monks and nuns.
[4:01] People sort of
[4:03] leaving uh the the usual paths of life
[4:06] and going into a monastery.
[4:08] So, anyway, what were these two angles
[4:11] on responsibility?
[4:13] So, the first one, person A,
[4:16] was I'm sure thinking of taking your
[4:18] place in society,
[4:21] earning your living,
[4:23] you know, standing up for your own sort
[4:25] of
[4:27] supporting your own life, paying your
[4:29] taxes,
[4:31] um
[4:32] being a model for other people, and so
[4:34] on. Being a full playing a full part in
[4:36] society.
[4:38] Whereas the nun, nun B,
[4:41] was I'm sure thinking of other things.
[4:43] She was thinking of,
[4:44] you know,
[4:46] from the practice angle of taking full
[4:48] responsibility for her actions and her
[4:50] speech,
[4:52] and even possibly for the contents of
[4:54] her own mind.
[4:56] So, for her, this was the most
[4:57] responsible thing she could do.
[5:07] So, I thought I'd try to look at this
[5:09] concept of being responsible or what
[5:11] responsibility entails from these
[5:13] different angles.
[5:16] And let's start with the
[5:18] So, the the
[5:20] person A's version is the societal angle
[5:23] on responsibility. Let's say that the
[5:25] nun's version is individual or spiritual
[5:29] responsibility.
[5:31] So, let's start with the world's the
[5:32] world's view on responsibility.
[5:35] And when people are willing to take
[5:38] responsibility or not.
[5:43] >> [clears throat and cough]
[5:44] >> So, it comes back, it seems to me, to
[5:46] success and failure.
[5:52] Everyone likes success.
[5:54] Nobody wants to be associated
[5:57] with failure.
[6:00] So,
[6:02] some [clears throat] of you may have
[6:02] heard this name. There's a
[6:04] a gentleman by the name of Nick Scott
[6:07] who
[6:08] at some point was very close to the
[6:10] monasteries. He was a kind of project
[6:12] manager at Chithurst and he did many
[6:14] things for the monasteries.
[6:16] He's a kind of mover and shaker. Could
[6:19] He's very good at
[6:21] um initiating things, perhaps not so
[6:23] good at finishing them off, but
[6:25] he certainly gets things going and
[6:27] inspires people.
[6:29] So, anyway, in his younger self, he was
[6:31] I think he was the warden of a bird
[6:33] reserve somewhere in Northumberland.
[6:36] And there was an issue around a beach.
[6:38] There was a mining company that wanted
[6:40] to mine the beach for certain
[6:43] stones or whatever, certain
[6:47] you know, items on the beach.
[6:50] Nick was very uh much opposed to this
[6:51] and so were some other people. So, they
[6:53] started a campaign to stop this mining
[6:55] company mine the beach. And at first,
[6:59] very few people were interested.
[7:01] Clearly, the council and the company
[7:03] going to mine the beach were in
[7:05] agreement. There didn't seem to be, you
[7:07] know, much that they could do, but they
[7:08] kept on with the campaign.
[7:10] And gradually, more and more people
[7:12] became aware of this.
[7:14] And finally, it was even taken to court
[7:17] and they won. They managed to stop this
[7:19] mining happening on this very beautiful
[7:21] beach in Northumberland.
[7:23] And it was a triumph, you know,
[7:25] eventually, it was a great success.
[7:27] And they put on lots of displays like
[7:29] Nick turning up as a Viking holding a
[7:31] sword and with a helmet
[7:33] off with his head and things like that.
[7:36] Anyway, he says by the end of it,
[7:38] everyone wanted to be on board because
[7:40] it was it was a success. Everyone wanted
[7:43] to
[7:44] be partly responsible for this
[7:46] uh this campaign.
[7:48] They all took responsibility because it
[7:50] was a success.
[7:52] Now, we look at other aspects of life in
[7:54] Britain, and
[7:56] some of them can be a little bit
[7:58] depressing or concerning.
[8:00] So, in particular, I'm thinking of a an
[8:02] event that happened 9 years ago.
[8:05] And this was a tower block in central
[8:07] West London called Grenfell Tower.
[8:10] And this was a specially constructed
[8:12] building with lots of kind of concrete
[8:14] compartments in it. So, fire was not
[8:16] supposed to spread.
[8:18] Everyone lived in their own separate
[8:20] little concrete compartment, and fire
[8:23] couldn't get to them even if it was
[8:24] affecting someone else.
[8:27] And so, many had had heard the advice,
[8:29] "Stay in your flat. Stay in your
[8:31] compartment. Don't move if there's a
[8:32] fire, you'll be safe."
[8:35] But then, added to the tower
[8:38] was thermal insulation or cladding,
[8:42] which, of course, should have been
[8:43] fireproof,
[8:45] but in fact wasn't.
[8:46] So, when a fire did start,
[8:49] this cladding took up the fire, and the
[8:51] fire went right through the building, a
[8:53] huge conflagration, which went on for
[8:55] about a day or two.
[8:57] Inside that building, 72 people died.
[9:03] Now, after an incident like that, nobody
[9:05] wants to be responsible.
[9:07] The people who built the building, who
[9:09] gave the advice, the people who put up
[9:12] the cladding and claimed it was
[9:15] nonflammable,
[9:16] the local authority that was supposed to
[9:18] check the safety of the building, nobody
[9:21] nobody's going to take responsibility.
[9:23] They're all going to slough it off onto
[9:25] someone else.
[9:29] And that's what's happened, and even 9
[9:32] years later, no one has been charged
[9:33] with anything.
[9:36] And there was another sort of scandal
[9:38] which was called the
[9:40] Post Office Horizon scandal. Some of you
[9:42] may remember.
[9:43] The Post Office adopted a kind of
[9:45] software from Japan called Horizons.
[9:49] Which was to do with the accounting side
[9:51] of local post offices.
[9:53] And postmasters and mistresses
[9:57] doing their very best, they're very
[9:58] honest people on the whole,
[10:00] were told that they'd stolen thousands
[10:02] and thousands of pounds because this
[10:04] software wasn't working properly.
[10:06] They were taken to court.
[10:08] Many had to pay back huge amounts of
[10:09] money which they actually hadn't taken.
[10:13] And probably the people at the top of
[10:14] the Post Office knew by some point they
[10:16] must have known
[10:18] that these Horizon this Horizon software
[10:21] was not working, but they still
[10:22] continued
[10:24] with these
[10:25] prosecutions.
[10:27] So once again, nobody wanted
[10:28] responsibility for this
[10:31] disaster.
[10:33] >> [snorts]
[10:34] >> Everyone trying to
[10:35] push it off onto someone else.
[10:38] So we come back to what is it called?
[10:40] The worldly winds, success, failure,
[10:44] praise and blame.
[10:46] We want success and we want praise. We
[10:49] don't want failure and we don't want
[10:50] blame. This is the natural human
[10:52] reaction.
[11:00] But there were sometimes people who step
[11:01] into the breach and are prepared to take
[11:03] the blame, unusually.
[11:06] So one such person in one incident is
[11:09] our Abbot, Ajahn Munindo. So this was
[11:11] when he was
[11:12] much younger. He was
[11:14] a young man. His name was Jeremy.
[11:17] And he was a buck cow or he was an
[11:19] anagarika in Wat Pah Nanachat in
[11:21] Thailand. A new anagarika there.
[11:25] And
[11:27] >> [clears throat]
[11:28] >> in the schedule of the day, the monks
[11:30] very much looked forward to a cup of tea
[11:32] at some point in the afternoon.
[11:34] And the anagarika's job was to make the
[11:36] tea.
[11:37] So there was another anagarika from
[11:39] France who was making the tea.
[11:42] But he'd been given tea that was very
[11:43] unusual, something like twig tea or
[11:45] something rather complicated. He didn't
[11:47] know how to how to make the tea
[11:50] properly.
[11:51] So he did his very best, but he made a
[11:52] terrible mess. This tea was going to be
[11:54] absolutely disgusting.
[11:57] So Ajahn Amaro, Jeremy, turns up and the
[12:00] the anagarika is saying, "I just don't
[12:02] know what I'm going to do. It's it's
[12:03] absolutely horrible."
[12:05] So Jeremy said, uh
[12:09] "Don't worry, I'll make the tea and you
[12:10] can go and have a rest."
[12:14] So the other anagarika says, "Okay,
[12:16] thanks." You know, he goes and have a
[12:17] rest. So there we are, Ajahn Amaro
[12:19] making the tea for all these monks.
[12:22] And then the universe decided to support
[12:25] him. So he's prepared to take the blame.
[12:29] Then the universe decided to support
[12:31] him. And up rolls a van
[12:34] and out comes somebody with
[12:36] crates of Coca-Cola.
[12:39] This was most unusual.
[12:41] Never happened, but on that day it did
[12:42] happen.
[12:45] So that courage to step in and take the
[12:47] blame
[12:48] I mean, the monks had a wonderful tea.
[12:50] They were praising him no end.
[12:53] They were delighted.
[12:59] So we expect you know, people to take
[13:01] responsibility. So one example of this
[13:03] would be parents and children. We do
[13:05] expect or society expects that parents
[13:08] take responsibility
[13:10] for their children. They're bringing
[13:11] them up.
[13:13] They're setting them an example. They're
[13:15] giving them advice and so on and so
[13:16] forth.
[13:18] But clearly there are some parents who
[13:19] can't do this.
[13:21] They try maybe or in a sort of
[13:23] half-hearted way they try.
[13:25] And there are children who are so
[13:27] willful or so
[13:29] disobedient or so wild that they can't
[13:31] be controlled.
[13:33] So, there was one such uh
[13:36] child, if you like, or young man. His
[13:37] name was Axel, I think Riddick Cabana.
[13:40] Anyway, he
[13:41] he had done some pretty unpleasant
[13:43] things already.
[13:44] And then a year or two ago, he decided
[13:46] he decided to find out what it was like
[13:48] to have murdered someone.
[13:51] So, he went to um
[13:54] he was in South Wales, up in the north,
[13:56] and he went to a dance class of little
[13:58] girls.
[13:59] He went into the dance class with a
[14:01] knife, and he stabbed three little girls
[14:02] to death.
[14:05] So, obviously, he was under arrest.
[14:08] Many other people were injured in the
[14:09] course of that.
[14:11] And then,
[14:12] you know, when the court case came, the
[14:15] father admitted that he was frightened
[14:17] of his own son. He couldn't control his
[14:20] own son.
[14:22] But the court held him to, you know, you
[14:25] should you were responsible. You should
[14:26] have done something about this young
[14:28] man. Maybe this incident wouldn't have
[14:30] happened.
[14:35] Now, another example of of people trying
[14:38] not to accept responsibility would be
[14:39] when we become
[14:41] intoxicated. So,
[14:44] uh last Sunday, I was giving a talk on
[14:47] uh intoxication without alcohol.
[14:51] And um
[14:54] part of that was talking about the
[14:55] effect of alcohol
[14:57] on people. So,
[15:00] people drink, and then they feel that
[15:02] they can do things they wouldn't
[15:03] normally do.
[15:04] So, we have had some very famous
[15:06] sportsmen who
[15:09] in terms of, you know, having got drunk,
[15:11] they will go and wreck places or destroy
[15:14] rooms or bars and things like that.
[15:15] They're quite famous, so they get into
[15:17] the newspaper, and somehow they usually
[15:18] get away with it.
[15:20] And also, sons of the wealthy,
[15:23] uh
[15:24] there was a club in Oxford University
[15:26] called the Bullingdon Club, and two
[15:29] prime ministers of this country were
[15:31] both, as young men, members of that
[15:33] club. And the way they would behave in
[15:35] that club was to go and get drunk. They
[15:37] would then go to a restaurant for a
[15:39] meal, and then, having had the meal,
[15:40] they would wreck the restaurant.
[15:43] So, people like this say, "Well, it
[15:44] wasn't me, it was the drink. I didn't do
[15:47] that, or I wouldn't say that, it was the
[15:49] drink."
[15:53] So, then the question arises, well, who
[15:54] took the drink in the first place? But
[15:59] And sort of other reasons that people
[16:00] use for their antisocial behavior, um
[16:05] "My parents made me like this, I can't
[16:07] help it, this is what they made me." Or
[16:10] they say things like, um "I was abused,
[16:13] or I was bullied in a certain situation,
[16:15] and it made me like this."
[16:17] Or perhaps they say, "I was in a boys'
[16:19] home or a girls' home."
[16:20] "And this was the only way I could
[16:22] survive was to be like this."
[16:29] So, again, people not taking
[16:31] responsibility for their own actions.
[16:33] And
[16:34] quite a lot of the time, in the wider
[16:37] society, people do listen to this and
[16:39] take account of it. And you know, um
[16:42] give it some credence.
[16:46] Now, another example of responsibility
[16:49] or questioning over responsibility will
[16:51] be to do with our relationship with
[16:53] advanced technology, high-tech.
[16:57] So, if you have a driverless car, and
[17:00] they apparently are appearing on the
[17:01] roads, a driverless car gets into an
[17:04] accident, somebody gets killed or
[17:06] injured, who is responsible for that? If
[17:09] it's the car, the driverless car, that
[17:11] caused the accident.
[17:13] Is it the person in the back seat who
[17:15] was asking the car to do various
[17:19] Is it the person who who designed or or
[17:22] built the car?
[17:23] Or is it perhaps the person who designed
[17:26] or built the software for the computer
[17:28] in the car? Who is responsible?
[17:31] It seems to me that we are
[17:33] entering new territory. There is not
[17:36] easy to ascribe responsibility in these
[17:38] situations.
[17:44] And then we have the development of AI.
[17:46] So everyone's talking about this now.
[17:49] And some of these autonomous AI agents
[17:52] are talking to each other
[17:55] without being asked to do so. They're
[17:56] talking to each other and doing certain
[17:59] things which are considered to be wrong
[18:02] or you know, they're hacking into
[18:03] government websites and so forth. So
[18:06] this is the very beginning of the AI era
[18:09] and we are seeing these things
[18:11] happening.
[18:12] So it seems to me that
[18:14] you know, one time
[18:16] technology seemed to be about
[18:19] giving power or more power to human
[18:23] beings over the environment, over
[18:26] nature,
[18:28] over perhaps their fellow human beings.
[18:30] So giving human beings more power. But
[18:34] we seem to have reached the the stage
[18:36] where it's going in the other direction.
[18:38] And as this technology streams ahead, so
[18:42] more and more power is being taken from
[18:44] the human being and given to these
[18:47] automated processes.
[18:50] So
[18:51] we're giving up power to these machines.
[18:57] So anyway, this is some aspects of
[18:59] worldly
[19:00] by that I mean of course responsibility.
[19:02] We lose responsibility. We don't have
[19:04] responsibility.
[19:06] So these are aspects of what we could
[19:07] call worldly responsibility.
[19:19] >> And what's about the other kind in terms
[19:21] of the practice that we engage in here
[19:23] and
[19:24] the teachings that we follow?
[19:29] I think what we stress in this practice
[19:32] and this lifestyle is that we're working
[19:34] towards taking more responsibility, not
[19:37] just for our own actions and our speech,
[19:40] but even for the contents of our own
[19:41] minds.
[19:44] So this might strike people from outside
[19:46] as very strange. How can I take
[19:49] responsibility
[19:50] for the contents of my own mind?
[19:53] But as we're working
[19:55] in cultivating more awareness and
[19:57] mindfulness
[20:00] and sensitivity to how the mind and the
[20:02] heart operates,
[20:04] then we have the possibility to exercise
[20:09] more choice.
[20:10] We have an the ability of a greater
[20:12] inner freedom.
[20:14] So instead of being pushed around by
[20:15] some of these
[20:17] inner forces, we have the chance to
[20:19] observe them,
[20:21] to let them go if they're not very
[20:23] wholesome,
[20:25] and to
[20:27] to choose to act in a more wholesome
[20:29] way.
[20:30] So there's this very famous
[20:32] first and second verse in the
[20:34] Dhammapada,
[20:36] a mind is the forerunner.
[20:39] So I think the first verse goes, he who
[20:41] acts or speaks uh with an impure mind or
[20:45] unwholesome mind,
[20:46] uh unhappiness follows him like the
[20:51] wheel of the cart follows the hoof of
[20:52] the ox.
[20:54] And the second verse is, he who acts and
[20:56] speaks with a pure mind, with a
[20:58] wholesome mind,
[20:59] happiness follows him like his shadow
[21:02] never leaves.
[21:09] So if we are able to
[21:11] >> [clears throat and cough]
[21:12] >> understand our hearts and minds better,
[21:14] we can start to also own or have
[21:18] responsibility for our own thoughts
[21:21] and the way we approach
[21:23] the world around us.
[21:25] And this would include such things as
[21:29] uh
[21:33] the projections we put onto other
[21:35] people.
[21:37] So,
[21:38] we see people, we see their behaviors,
[21:42] we hear them speech speaking, and we
[21:44] draw certain conclusions about these
[21:46] people, or we make judgments about
[21:48] people.
[21:50] And yet, where are the judgments coming
[21:51] from? You know, we all have a an
[21:53] upbringing, we have a culture, we had
[21:56] parents,
[21:57] we had certain experiences or influences
[22:00] in our lives,
[22:03] and
[22:04] people from different cultures,
[22:06] different families, different
[22:07] backgrounds will have different
[22:09] assessments around the same person.
[22:13] So, this thing about project what we
[22:15] project onto people is
[22:18] quite important. It's in an
[22:20] international community like we have
[22:21] here,
[22:23] we can have very different opinions
[22:25] around any person that we're discussing.
[22:33] So, if we're talking about projections,
[22:35] there's no one who's had more
[22:37] projections put onto them than Lung Por
[22:39] Sumedho,
[22:40] the founder of this monastery and of
[22:43] various other monasteries
[22:45] uh
[22:47] So, he had to
[22:50] take an enormous number of projections.
[22:53] Sometimes, for some people, he was the
[22:55] loving father.
[22:57] For others, he was a domineering
[22:58] patriarch.
[23:00] Some people referred to him as the
[23:02] supreme commander because he was tended
[23:05] to be you know make decisions on his
[23:07] own.
[23:09] So all these things
[23:11] came at him.
[23:13] Um and he you know he he had to go
[23:16] through an awful lot of
[23:18] suffering I think is a result. So one of
[23:20] the things that Ajahn Sundara
[23:23] uh one of the senior nuns said to him
[23:24] was, "Oh, there's no one ever been more
[23:27] loved or more hated than you, Ajahn
[23:29] Sumedho."
[23:32] And later on Ajahn Sumedho would say
[23:34] things like this. He says,
[23:36] "If you want to be kind to me or to be
[23:39] kind,
[23:41] um
[23:42] just don't create me as a person.
[23:45] Don't create me as a person in your
[23:47] mind."
[24:00] So I I have a memory a very clear memory
[24:03] of a certain incident that happened here
[24:05] in Amaravati. It was the probably the
[24:08] early '90s.
[24:10] Um and Luang Por and various senior
[24:13] monks had been discussing about having
[24:15] or holding an interfaith conference here
[24:18] in Amaravati.
[24:22] And in those days uh we would all have
[24:25] breakfast together. It was a communal
[24:26] event.
[24:27] We'd all have be sitting in circles
[24:29] around Luang Por and he would offer
[24:32] reflections
[24:34] or some kind of
[24:35] story or something, reflection, homily,
[24:38] whatever.
[24:39] And um
[24:41] so on this particular day he started
[24:44] talking about this future plan for an
[24:47] interfaith conference.
[24:49] And he decided to call it he had decided
[24:52] to call it Pathways for Mankind,
[24:54] Pathways for Mankind.
[24:57] Now this stage at that time, there was a
[24:59] lot of you know, big upsurge in
[25:01] feminism, particularly in the United
[25:03] States, but it came over here as well.
[25:06] And we had a kind of mixed bag of people
[25:08] in the in the room. Some were from North
[25:10] America, some from Britain, some from
[25:12] other places.
[25:14] So, when he announced this title,
[25:16] Pathways for Mankind,
[25:19] the people who were from North America
[25:22] began to react enormously.
[25:24] Some of them got extremely emotional
[25:27] and said, "Lumpa, how can you do this?
[25:29] How can you, you know, cut out women
[25:32] from being considered and blah, blah."
[25:34] So, he was
[25:35] he took a very firm line at that moment.
[25:37] He said then,
[25:39] "Uh let me tell you something about the
[25:41] English language.
[25:43] Mankind refers to both men and women."
[25:47] Um
[25:49] Now, many of the British people there
[25:50] didn't seem to particularly care
[25:51] whatever this title said, but the kind
[25:54] of the North Americans, people from
[25:56] North America, were very, very
[25:57] emotional, and some of them gave quite
[25:59] long speeches.
[26:02] And what he said did not impress them.
[26:07] So, this is very unusual, this level of
[26:09] discord,
[26:10] that you could feel the split in the
[26:12] room, you could feel the tension. Very
[26:14] unusual cuz normally things were very
[26:16] harmonious and happy.
[26:19] Anyway, he didn't sort of retract
[26:21] anything at that stage,
[26:23] but the following day it was announced,
[26:25] "Oh, no, we're not going to call it
[26:26] Pathways for Mankind, we're going to
[26:28] call it Faith in Awakening."
[26:32] So, he moved his position and adapted to
[26:34] what
[26:36] what had been said.
[26:38] But this is the kind of thing kind of
[26:40] situation where
[26:41] many people witness something or witness
[26:44] a
[26:45] an event and have very different
[26:47] feelings about it.
[26:49] So, this particular debate on that day,
[26:51] I think many people had different
[26:53] feelings. They felt, yes, it was
[26:54] divisive, but
[26:56] very different views and opinions.
[27:00] And in fact, this interface conference,
[27:02] Faith in Awakening, was a huge success.
[27:06] People came from many different
[27:07] religious faiths, and they stayed here
[27:10] overnight.
[27:12] One or two days they spent discussing
[27:14] and debating and exchanging.
[27:17] And it was a huge success. It was even
[27:18] covered in the media and got into the
[27:20] news.
[27:22] People were very impressed with it.
[27:31] But this is a kind of illustration of
[27:33] how
[27:35] how a situation like that or a debate
[27:37] like that can be seen in many different
[27:39] ways.
[27:40] Uh another example would be if you if
[27:43] you were in a motor accident
[27:45] uh or you witness a motor accident and
[27:47] people come and ask after, you know,
[27:49] afterwards, what did you see?
[27:52] So, you can have what, four or five
[27:53] different
[27:55] people witnessing an accident and each
[27:57] one of those accounts are different
[27:59] because their perspective is different.
[28:03] And what they, of course, what they
[28:04] brought with them in terms of their
[28:05] karma, their understanding, their
[28:08] experience, that's all different as
[28:09] well.
[28:12] And in fact, there was a
[28:14] >> [clears throat]
[28:14] >> a very famous film made in 1950 by a
[28:18] Japanese director called Akira Kurosawa.
[28:22] It's called Rashomon. Some of you may
[28:24] have seen it.
[28:25] And in this particular story, the story
[28:28] of Rashomon,
[28:29] uh there was a samurai and his wife. I
[28:31] think they're making their way through a
[28:32] forest, and then a bandit attacks them
[28:35] and there's a fight and things go on.
[28:37] And the samurai gets killed and maybe
[28:39] the wife wife gets raped.
[28:41] And various things happen and there were
[28:43] various other people passing through and
[28:44] and witnessing some of what goes on.
[28:48] And later on in the film, all these
[28:49] people are giving their account to the
[28:52] court of what they believe happened. And
[28:54] every one of these accounts is
[28:55] different.
[29:00] So this is called the Rashomon effect
[29:01] now. People know that if everyone has a
[29:04] different account of what actually went
[29:05] on.
[29:09] And so when we witness an event, there
[29:11] could be many different emotions. People
[29:13] may think, "Oh, everyone agrees with my
[29:15] emotion around this event."
[29:17] But again, people have brought very
[29:19] different experiences, different,
[29:21] you know,
[29:22] backgrounds to the situation and they
[29:25] feel different things.
[29:27] And I'll give you one example of this.
[29:29] And that is again an incident that
[29:31] happened here maybe two or three decades
[29:34] ago.
[29:35] And it involved, I think it was an
[29:37] Anagarika from Slovakia,
[29:39] and one of the senior monks. And
[29:41] something had gone on between these two.
[29:43] I don't know what had happened.
[29:45] Maybe the Anagarika was told he couldn't
[29:47] progress to being a Samanera or maybe he
[29:49] was reprimanded in some way.
[29:52] But he decided to take revenge on the
[29:55] senior monk.
[29:57] In a very unusual way.
[30:10] >> [clears throat]
[30:11] >> So he's
[30:12] his plan was to go into the sala
[30:15] at the most,
[30:17] you know, when most people were there
[30:19] and to do a strip.
[30:23] And that's what he did. He went into the
[30:25] sala just before the meal
[30:28] and proceeded to start taking his
[30:29] clothes off.
[30:35] And he he screwed his socks up into a
[30:37] ball and threw them at the senior monk
[30:41] and walked out in his underpants.
[30:46] Now, when you get something like that
[30:47] happening,
[30:49] um
[30:51] the people there will have very
[30:52] different responses, emotional
[30:54] responses. Some will be totally shocked
[30:57] what's going on, others will be angry.
[31:01] Some will be frightened.
[31:06] Some will be bewildered.
[31:09] Some may even be amused.
[31:13] So, from one event, all these different
[31:15] emotions and reactions can occur.
[31:19] There's no one emotion. You can't say
[31:21] all everyone would feel the way I did
[31:22] when I witnessed that dreadful event.
[31:24] No.
[31:26] Many different versions.
[31:29] Many different responses.
[31:38] So, how we react
[31:41] in human relations. This is very
[31:43] important, isn't it? What we bring to a
[31:44] situation and how we react.
[31:47] So, it's not just our projections onto
[31:49] others, but how we respond to what they
[31:51] say to us.
[31:54] And perhaps the most some of the most
[31:56] difficult areas are in intimate
[31:57] relationships, marriages and
[31:59] partnerships and close relationships
[32:01] like that, because your partner knows
[32:04] every button to punch.
[32:06] They know your weak spots.
[32:09] They know where you'll get upset or
[32:11] angry.
[32:13] And if they feel they're in a kind of uh
[32:15] should we say uh
[32:17] somewhat unkind moods, they may push
[32:19] these buttons
[32:21] to get a response from you.
[32:26] And the question is, how do we respond
[32:27] in those situations?
[32:29] Can we see our way to
[32:32] letting go
[32:34] of the, you know, the initial
[32:37] reactivity
[32:39] to a wiser and better response.
[32:50] So, one really
[32:52] um inspiring example
[32:55] in the suttas or perhaps two of them
[32:57] actually is so are uh
[32:59] associated or concerned with the
[33:02] Buddha's chief disciple, Sariputta.
[33:05] So, I'll just talk about these two
[33:07] examples of how Sariputta
[33:09] handled these difficult situations.
[33:13] So, one involved another monk, a fellow
[33:16] monk.
[33:17] So, in the monastery where they were
[33:18] living
[33:19] uh it was time for Sariputta to
[33:23] to By the way, I should mention in case
[33:24] you're not clear, he was the Buddha's
[33:26] chief disciple. There were two chief
[33:27] disciples and he was he's sometimes
[33:29] referred to as the
[33:31] mm
[33:33] I think marshal of wisdom or something
[33:35] like that.
[33:37] People really admired this monk. He was
[33:39] very restrained, very patient.
[33:43] So, anyway, Sariputta was leaving to go
[33:45] on a journey
[33:47] and he left the monastery and as soon as
[33:49] he left, this monk who was either
[33:50] jealous or perhaps deluded or something
[33:53] like this, he approaches the Buddha and
[33:55] he says,
[33:56] "That
[33:57] disciple of yours, that chief disciple,
[33:59] he hit me on the back
[34:03] and he left without making an apology."
[34:08] So, the Buddha says to the monks, "Could
[34:10] you please go after Sariputta and bring
[34:12] him back?
[34:14] Let him answer this."
[34:16] So, that's what they did. They went and
[34:18] found Sariputta, brought him back to the
[34:19] monastery.
[34:21] And Sariputta is there and the Buddha
[34:23] says, "Well, this is what this monk
[34:25] says. What have you got to say?"
[34:32] So, Sariputta's response was this. He
[34:34] said, "Lord,
[34:36] uh
[34:37] one in whom um
[34:40] mindfulness directed to the body
[34:43] is not
[34:44] present in regard to the body, one in
[34:47] whom mindfulness directed to the body is
[34:49] not present in regard to the body, may
[34:52] well hit another monk and then leave
[34:55] without making an apology."
[34:58] So, he
[34:59] gives that. Then he says,
[35:00] "As for me,
[35:02] >> [clears throat]
[35:03] >> my mind is expansive,
[35:06] limitless,
[35:08] and free of enmity.
[35:10] And I am like the earth,
[35:13] which feels no resentment when rubbish
[35:17] is piled upon it or dropped upon it."
[35:20] So, that's what he said.
[35:22] Now, all the monks there have been
[35:24] expecting him to be giving a fierce, you
[35:26] know, rejoinder or reprimander to this
[35:29] to this monk,
[35:30] uh whom they all felt would not be, you
[35:32] know, telling the truth.
[35:34] But that was uh Sariputta's measured and
[35:37] gentle response.
[35:39] Um and it deeply affected this other
[35:42] monk, the monk who was making the
[35:43] accusation.
[35:45] And he just says,
[35:48] "I'm really sorry. What I told you was
[35:50] not true."
[35:51] And he asks Sariputta for forgiveness.
[35:55] And Sariputta very graciously forgives
[35:57] him
[35:58] and even then asks him for forgiveness,
[36:01] too.
[36:02] So, what could have been a very ugly
[36:04] situation through his restraint and his
[36:07] patience
[36:08] and his humility is turned into a very
[36:11] beautiful ending.
[36:14] Um and Sariputta was in fact
[36:16] renowned. He would take feedback from
[36:18] anyone, even from a novice. He was
[36:21] prepared to listen and to be patient.
[36:23] And he didn't seem to be
[36:26] uh uh, at all concerned with his own
[36:28] pride or his own ego.
[36:32] But there was another incident involving
[36:34] Sariputta which must have been more
[36:36] trying.
[36:38] And that concerned him and his own
[36:39] mother.
[36:40] So these two did not have a very good
[36:42] relationship.
[36:45] His mother was a very wealthy woman and
[36:48] a an orthodox
[36:50] Brahmin, very staunchly Brahmin.
[36:53] So what her son had done made no sense
[36:56] to her at all because she had this
[36:58] enormous wealth.
[37:00] He had renounced the wealth.
[37:02] And he'd gone to ordain with the Buddha.
[37:05] Not only that, he was the most talented
[37:07] of her sons. He took, well, six of his
[37:10] brothers followed his example. They
[37:12] renounced the wealth, too.
[37:15] And they went off to join
[37:18] uh, the order
[37:20] that the Buddha had founded and become
[37:22] monks.
[37:23] So she was livid. She was bitter.
[37:27] She was very angry.
[37:29] And there wasn't much of a relationship.
[37:31] So anyway,
[37:33] >> [clears throat and cough]
[37:35] >> he decided to grasp the nettle
[37:38] and to take a party of monks to the
[37:41] village where he grew up.
[37:45] And he went to his mother's house.
[37:48] And she opened the door.
[37:51] And uh, he said, you know, "We've come
[37:53] for arms." And she said, "All right, I
[37:55] will feed you." So she allowed them into
[37:56] the hall and, you know, ordered the
[37:58] servants to produce the the food and
[38:02] make the food and bring it to the monks.
[38:04] And when they served the food, or when
[38:05] she served the food,
[38:07] she did it with invective. She reviled
[38:10] her son and she reviled the monks.
[38:13] And I'm going to read out what she said.
[38:18] >> [clears throat]
[38:20] >> This is what she said to Sariputta.
[38:23] Ha,
[38:23] eater of leavings,
[38:25] failing to get leftovers of sour rice
[38:28] gruel, you therefore go from house to
[38:31] house among strangers, licking off the
[38:34] back of a ladle such sour rice gruel as
[38:38] clings to it.
[38:40] And for this, you renounced 80 billion
[38:44] coins of wealth and became a monk.
[38:47] You have ruined me.
[38:49] Eat now.
[38:52] And then to the other monks, she said,
[38:54] "So, you are the men who have made my
[38:57] son your own page boy.
[39:00] Eat now."
[39:02] So, you can imagine the atmosphere in
[39:04] the room having been handed the food and
[39:07] also this uh
[39:08] series of insults by the mother.
[39:11] So, how does it Sariputta respond?
[39:15] Well, he kept quiet.
[39:17] He didn't say a word. He just ate up the
[39:20] food.
[39:21] And the other monks followed his
[39:23] example. And then when they finished the
[39:24] meal, they got up and left and went
[39:27] away.
[39:30] So, this story gets back to the Buddha.
[39:33] Uh his own son, Rahula, was present on
[39:35] that occasion with Sariputta.
[39:38] And the monks in the monastery are
[39:40] marveling, how could, you know, your
[39:41] chief disciple have been have not
[39:44] reacted when his mother was talking to
[39:46] him and insulting him in the way that
[39:47] she did?
[39:50] So, the Buddha explains to the monks
[39:52] that an arahant does not get angry
[39:56] and is not, you know, he he he does not
[39:58] have the pride of ego. He's he has no
[40:01] no need to do this.
[40:03] And then he comes out with a verse. He
[40:05] hears what what Sariputta did. He comes
[40:07] out with a verse which apparent which
[40:09] appears in the Dhammapada.
[40:11] And it's something like this. He says,
[40:16] "A brahmin is one who is free from
[40:20] anger,
[40:23] who practices austerity,
[40:27] who is virtuous and free from craving,
[40:31] whose senses are collected,
[40:34] who is collected in his senses,
[40:39] and for whom this body is the very last
[40:42] one.
[40:45] Him I call a Brahmin who does those
[40:47] things. Him I call a Brahmin
[40:50] who
[40:52] is free of anger,
[40:54] who is virtuous and free from craving,
[40:58] whose senses are collected,
[41:01] and for whom this body is the very last.
[41:03] So, that's what he said, and it goes
[41:05] it's a verse in the Dhammapada.
[41:09] >> [clears throat]
[41:12] >> So, once again, Sariputta's restraint
[41:15] and his humility, his ability to bear
[41:17] with
[41:18] very difficult situations
[41:21] enables that situation to to pass
[41:24] without too much incident.
[41:26] And in fact, there is a happy ending to
[41:28] it because when
[41:29] his mother was on her deathbed, he goes
[41:32] to her and he's, you know, in the room
[41:35] where he spent his time as a child. He's
[41:36] she's on her deathbed,
[41:38] and his great presence there, his
[41:40] spiritual presence,
[41:42] and his advice
[41:44] brings tremendous comfort to her.
[41:47] And she starts to
[41:49] her opposition or her hostility fades
[41:52] away and she starts to listen to the
[41:54] teachings
[41:55] and do as he suggests, and then she
[41:57] apparently attains to the first stage of
[42:00] enlightenment. So, there's quite a
[42:01] story.
[42:02] So, once again, a
[42:04] a very ugly situation has been
[42:06] transformed
[42:07] by the failure to react
[42:11] of this great monk, uh his ability to
[42:15] be restrained, to be patient,
[42:17] to be tolerant, and to be humble.
[42:23] So, this is a very fine
[42:25] example to us all.
[42:28] So,
[42:30] being aware of the
[42:32] trying to [clears throat] be more aware
[42:33] of these projections we put on other
[42:35] people,
[42:36] and questioning whether we, you know,
[42:38] whether they're as true as we think they
[42:40] are. That's one aspect of the
[42:43] what I'm trying to talk about. And then
[42:44] taking responsibility for our reactions,
[42:47] our emotions in the face of of
[42:51] some very difficult things that are said
[42:53] to us or done to us.
[42:55] If we practice in the way that
[42:59] Sorry, Buddha did.
[43:01] We can bear with these things, be
[43:02] patient, be kind,
[43:05] then we will indeed be worthy of the
[43:07] name of
[43:08] a Buddhist monk or a Buddhist lay
[43:10] person.
[43:12] So, I'd like to offer these thoughts for
[43:15] your consideration
[43:16] tonight, and hope they might be of some
[43:19] some use.
[43:26] Sadhu.
[43:29] Sadhu.
[43:32] Sadhu.
[43:34] Anumodana.
