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Namo tassa bhagavato, arahato Samma Sambuddhasa, Namo tassa bhagavato, arahato Samma Sambuddhasa, Namo tassa bhagavato, arahato Samma Sambuddhasa, Buddham dhammam sangham namassami.
As I was going to start by saying that I apologise for keeping on talking about the deep meditations, but I decided I can't really do that honestly because I don't apologise for that at all.
I think that's an important thing to keep on focusing on. And it's not just for the sake of the experience of
samadhi of stillness. It's also for the fact that if the mind does become still, you do get huge amounts of insight.
And it's as if like your mind wakes up, you can see things much more clearly. You don't know the suttas keep on saying that about the five hindrances, and those other two in the nalakapana sutta, of the tandi and the arati, the discontent and the weariness. And it's almost like one of those things that once you get those datas, or get close to those datas, you do see things much more clearly. You see even read suttas more clearly.
It's a weird thing to say, but all of those words, they're meaning almost comes out very clearly to you. And it's a brightness of the mind, a clarity of the mind without any doubt. And you have the beautiful state of weariness of disappeared. So you do have this beautiful energy. And that's hopefully that each one of you have experienced
that for some time in your life, that sometimes you're meditating and you're just so happy content, you don't get
tired, you don't get bored, you have energy.
And that the restlessness is just not there. Energy is replaced. You don't get discontent if something happens.
You get a little sickness or a flight comes in and buses all around you. You can let it happen. I do remember just talking like that, Nolla mara one afternoon. And of course those Nolla mara talks when I give them on a
Saturday afternoon. I forget exactly when. But they were always videoed. So whatever I did, it was always
recorded in a video or put online or something.
So as soon as I mentioned about whatever happens, you're not supposed to have any discontent if you've got
some decent meditation. And so the fly landed right under my nose. And it was being recorded. So I couldn't go. That would make me a hypocrite. But I say when you have enough stillness, it's okay. There's a fliken band
there. And then at this particular time, I always remember this experience because once the fly landed there, it
even flies a restless.
It didn't stay there. It decided to walk around my mouth. And I offered a joke. But it's a fair core, I think. That fly went around my mouth in a clockwise direction, keeping its right side to my mouth.
Three times. I really say it must be a Buddhist fly. Circumabulating my mouth. And it's true, when it got to the
third circuit on the just under my nose, then it flew off and left me alone. That's no exaggeration. What insight
did I get there?
The insight which I got was the most sensitive parts of my mouth or rather the edge of my mouth, the lips. Were there just the two edges of the lips? Not under the nose, not the bottom of the lips. But just under two edges. So once I realized that, I realized when it was walking around, once it got past those two edges on the left side and the right side of the mouth, it was very easy. I'm glad it never stopped on the edges. For me, that was the most sensitive part of my mouth area. That's the insight I got from that.
Nevertheless, you know, you didn't really worry about it, it wasn't going to cause you any sickness or illness or whatever, but you got the insight, you know, that these things they do pass. And whatever you're experiencing, it
comes in its worst part when it's very intense and then it just mellows down again and it comes intense again
and mellows down again. And it certainly just disappears altogether. It gets to the insight into the way this body
works.
And that was just now the beginning of the meditation. But it's the beginning of the meditation which I want to focus on on this talk. I have to mention this meditation because again, without that meditation, your mind is not clear and it's restless, it just doesn't know what it's doing. And you do get the arati, the discontent. And sometimes I tell people, this monastery here, or Jhanagrove, is idyllic. There's not many sounds here. No one really disturbs you.
It's comfortable. We get so much food here. It's incredible the amount of food we have here.
And we have all the different types of food which you can possibly want. You know, vegan food, vegetarian food, Chinese food, English food, Aussie food, Sri Lankan food, Indian food. Any other food I missed out? No. So Norwegian food, salmon, yeah. Okay. And seaweed. So it's amazing just how the people come here, many with the different needs for their food. And it's catered for.
What other place in this world where you can meditate, can you get something like this? And the rooms are comfortable. Even your huts and some of those huts which I remember being one of the, especially in this side of the monastery, not so much over in Hermit's Hill. But on this side, I was always the one who would pick the site for these huts. I would pick them and you say, well, there was another monk with me at the time, was senior to me, Ajahn Jagaro.
And said, how can I pick the huts when he was a broken charge, the monk in charge? And if you don't know that story, here it comes again. This is the insight in how to control and get your own way with a monk who's senior to you. Please listen to this, Venerable, Ajahn Api, Ajahn Brahmali.
Or the nuns from Dhammasara. I'm sure that this will be very important for you to get special privileges from Aya Hasapanya. But don't tell him about this piece. Do you?
That's not going to stop me telling it. It is true. I'm sure you do. I'm sure you do. I'm sure Jana Pidas and everybody else as well. What you do is, I wanted to build a hut somewhere and I'd be walking with Ajahn Jagaro and I said, let's build a hut here. He said, that's a stupid idea. I think he used to say it's a ridiculous idea. It won't work. It can't be done. It's not possible. Now, I don't think you do practice this idea, Ajahn Brahmali, because the right response, once you're rejected, is to shut up and be quiet.
That means, so I'd be very quiet. It's okay, good, fair enough. And then I'd wait, usually two or three weeks, maybe a month, until you've forgotten about it. I'd say again, why don't we build a hut over there? So it's a ridiculous idea. It won't work, you'd see. But all I was doing was just brainwashing. It was just psychologically putting the idea in to his head and then it would work around all the neural circuits there. Of course it was a very good idea of mine.
But he was in charge of no way that he would let that happen. And then it was brilliant how it worked. Then a few weeks later, after I reminded him a second time, and then he'd forget it, he would say, Ajahn Brahmali, just for thinking, there's building a hut over there, it's a wonderful place to build a hut. And I'd pause and say, wow, what an amazing idea of yours. I think that might work. I always gave him credit. Do you give me credit, Ajahn Brahmali?
So anyhow, so that's kind of how it was done. There's a nice little way there because you don't have to force your ideas or argue them. You just put it out there. You put it out into people who, you know, they could help. They could agree to this and make sure it happens. You put that idea out and just see how it goes. It's a good idea. It will get traction. There must have been, that's also what happened with the recreating the bikkhuni-sangha. Put ideas out there, like seeds.
And after a while, some of them drop in good places, and where they drop in a good place is, they're the bikkhuni-sangha grows. All of these things, that's all you really do, just make those suggestions. And then eventually a few people do the work and we get these beautiful sanguine in the world. But anyhow, the reason why I was just mentioning that about buildings, that you've got great buildings here. And I think I said this every week, but nevertheless, it's not just about the buildings which are important.
If you have these places, why on earth are people restless? I don't know what to meditate. And one of the reasons, actually just we go to the core reasons, always want to make sure that the insights and the stillness always work together. So why is it that there's nothing to do and we find things to do? I have mentioned this to many people in their private interviews. Sometimes we're afraid of quietness, afraid of stillness.
When we first started building this monastery, we would get some visitors. And sometimes they wouldn't even put it, so it was like an open piece of land, and they would just come for a walk. And the quieter it was, the louder they spoke. I couldn't understand that. Why? There's no, you could just whisper and be heard in a place like this, but they were shouting. And the reason they were shouting is because the silence scared them. It wasn't what they were used to. And that's also what happens in meditation, the silence.
Nothing to do, but we don't know how to do nothing. It's quite a frightening. It's a skill we haven't learned. I know many people think they're lazy. That's just because of their thought finding mind. And amazing how that thought finding mind, first of all, chooses oneself in one's own practice or something or other, more than anything else. Or first before anything else, that thought finding mind. But sometimes when there's no faults to find. You're living in a perfect monastery for the time being anyway, it's good enough.
Why do you keep finding faults with it? so one of the things which I encourage everyone to do, instead of being negative, because that negativity can just go so strong when you get into quiet states of mind. This can't be right. Nothing's happening. I know that I was taught I should be doing something. Certainly I remember from some of my relations, you've got a good degree, don't waste it, do something. And of course now you understand that doing something causes most of the problems in this world.
Instead of doing something, just sit and be still. It's a much better option, a much tougher, a harder thing to do. And of course now why? It's because that sense of self gets in the way. This is more supposed to be the main topic of the talk tonight. Why is this sense of self, which causes fear? Why do we entertain this and encourage this? That sense of self, I always like what the Buddha said, when is it a self, the things which you own?
It's not just ownership, whatever you own you control. That's what ownership means. That's why it says in the Anatta Lakkhana Sutta, which many of you, not just chant, but contemplate. For these five khandas, you don't own them. You don't own your body, you don't own your maiden, the experience. For the first one, experience and feeling. You don't own your perception. You perceive things one way, I perceive things the other way.
I look at a sausage, I think that's really healthy for me. Some of you look at that and say that's killing me. I look at things in a totally different way. Every one of you will perceive things in a different way. In the same way with the perceptions with the Sankhara, the will and the consciousnesses. Each one of these, you don't own them. I love focusing, I don't even own my unconsciousness. Who does? The easiest explanation belongs to nature.
In other words, it goes according to these cause and effects. One of those biggest causes, especially in the meditation, is what you read or what you hear, or what you experience when you're meditating. Find out what works for you. And when you actually find out what works for you, and there you find out all these great teachings of the Buddha like we just chanted now, and the Dhamma Cakka Pavattana Sutta, all those teachings, they come alive.
Because you've had some experience and your mind is clear, you see these are gorgeous teachings. There's the four ways of letting go of someone. They came from Brisbane two days in a row and they say those were the favorite teachings, which I gave them, four ways of letting go of Caga, Mutti, Patinissaggo and Analayo. We just chanted those. And that's where that came from. And so those kind of teachings, you look at those and they just make this the whole path of meditation alive and easy.
I never was going to do this, but here we go, Caga is giving up, renouncing. Caga and the real Caga is giving, not expecting anything back in return. I always like to add that part to generosity. So, sometimes people just want to give a donation as long as your name is put on the building which you give. Or as long as it's put on the offering. This was offered by Ajahn Brahmali. We don't do that over here. That's actually buying advertising rights.
Instead it's given and it's just quiet. Otherwise it's not really given. The given is a way of letting go of one's sense of self and ownership. Once it's given that you don't owe it anymore. It's beautiful when that happens. You know, even when I wrote my first book of the opening the door of your heart book, I got a call from someone in Adelaide, a religious person. And they were a pastor, a Christian pastor. They said, I go converting my Buddhist and others to being Christians.
Can I use some of the stories in your book? How would you answer that? I said, of course, I don't own the stuff in the book. Just whatever you find useful but don't change it. Just present it. People suffering will eventually stop. So anyhow, I remember that call. That's interesting call. Anyway, so I don't own those books. My name's on the front or the pictures on the back but you put them out there to share with whoever finds them useful.
So when you don't own anything, the sense of self can start to disappear. And this is where, when you start your meditation, because I was just messing around with this this afternoon. You start your meditation that's not me meditating. I meditate starting from a perception that this is not mine. This is not me. It has sit down there and let go of his sense of ownership, control, and the sense of self. It's almost like saying, who's doing this meditation this afternoon?
Sitting in my hut. I don't go that. So I'm complicated. I just say, this is not my meditation. You feel that. You perceive that. All these five candidates you don't own at all. No one owns them. This is process. And as soon as you stop trying to own things and control things, meditation gets so easy. You get so easy, of course. Because when you don't own things, you don't rate things. You don't judge things. You don't put things in the list of, this is really good and that's really bad.
And because I own these things, I want to make sure I only have good meditations, no bad meditations. And when you don't own anything or collect anything, it's easy. The things just vanish. They disappear. All the stuff which you keep in your hut. Why? Sometimes it's things which you own. You know, I was the store monk once, or wat pha nanachat. I wasn't popular at all. Because I was so tough. Not quite as tough as Ajahn Liem, though.
Ajahn Liem, when he was the store monk at Wat Papong, he was the very toughest. On one rain's retreat, a Wat Papong, this is rain's retreat. It's still like a remnant rainforest at Wat Papong.
So when it rains, it was a good rainy season. Everything gets so damp. And, you know, we didn't have any electricity there. So we just had to use candles at night time, you know, to find the way in our kuti or to walk in meditation.
Even the candles, there weren't many of them, but they were enough to light the way, you know, in your hut. But there wasn't many matches. So one rain's retreat, Ajahn Liem went to all the monks and gave one box of matches to each monk and said, that's all you're getting for the whole rain's retreat. One box of matches. And, of course, not just there wasn't many matches in those boxes, and only one for the whole retreat. Also, because it was so wet and damp, it was so hard to light those matches.
You tried one and the red stuff on the outside just fell off and you had to get another one and then another one just to get a light. But no one thing it did teach me just how to look after those one set of matches you had. You got some plastic made sure you put those matches inside the little plastic bag so they didn't get damp at all. And even sun the matches if there was any sun, so they would really dry out. Otherwise you couldn't use any of them and there was no replacements.
I kind of like that idea. The fact that you learn how to live with very little. I remember another time I'd just leave him. And I wasn't actually I'd just charge this time. He asked a few of us to go after this forest monastery and it was very simple monastery. And I thought we were just going there for a dharma, for lunch. So he just had your bowl and robe and that's it. And then when we got there he said, I'm leaving you here for five or six days.
And no toothpaste, no toothbrush, no clock. And all the sort of stuff which I thought was essential for existence. He didn't have no tea or anything like that. And I kind of hated that at first. And I had to wash your teeth with no brush of teeth with no toothpaste. And I didn't have any of the stores in this monastery. It was just too poor. So all we actually used was we had some salt and just brushed it with our fingers over our teeth. I'm not sure if that was very healthy or not. But that's the only thing you had to do. You had to use.
That's when you had any soap either. So you just would actually just bathe in the lake. Just rub yourself as best you possibly could. So it's kind of interesting just having less things. And see just how little you really needed to survive as a forest monk. But anyhow, that's during the meditation.
I don't go that far, but it's just a notice that I can't control anything. I don't own my mind. And then when I could do stuff like that, it's so easy to be peaceful.
Because you don't own things, you've got no responsibility for them. I always say this like those in Jhana Grove, you're in your room. Please keep it tidy. But when you leave, we try and keep as tidy as possible. When you leave, you don't take the room back with you to Indonesia or wherever you come from. You leave it here. You make use of it, but you don't own it. And I think of that with my meditation. When you start there, you sit down. I own nothing.
And I start with that contemplation. The anatta. So I'm not trying to get, you know, deep meditation. I'm not trying to get limited. I'm not trying to get jhanas. I'm just trying to disappear.
I'm not even an oxymoron to try to disappear because the more you try, the more you are. But I think you can understand what I mean. Don't we don't own anything? So any achievements? Who gets those achievements? Not me. They're not mine.
It's a wonderful thing to realize that that makes the meditation so much easier. It doesn't mean you waste your time. Just being restless, thinking about travel, thinking about money, thinking about football, thinking about movies, thinking about, I don't know what you think about. It doesn't mean you do anything because you don't own that either. So everything gets kind of discarded. You don't own anything. You don't own your body. You don't own your mind. You don't own your perceptions. Perceptions are wonderful to look at. They used to have all these psychology articles about perceptions.
And just about how many of our perceptions are so trained that we can see some things and other things we just can't see. Especially if it's impossible, we just cannot see it. I wasn't going to say this, but for those of you who know that wonderful experiment of the levitating flower pots, experiments, which was done in Imperial College in London, has told me by Bernard Carves coming to the next global conference on Buddhism in Singapore, which Ajahn brahmali is going to as well as myself.
And anyway, Bernard once told me that this physicist said that it had discovered the secret of levitation. Bernard was also part of the Psychic Research Society as well as being professor of theoretical physics. And so he had some credit. And so when he said he was going to show people how levitation works, and he said, no, he's proved it. Many of his friends actually came, well, this is another scientist, sorry. Many of the physicists came to the Imperial College London to witness this.
And this scientist came into the lab with the flower pot holding it, simple flower pot, no strings, put it on the desk. And then that was when he said, I need to set the mood. So can you please all chant together, Ohm? Okay, and this has got nothing to do with the talk, but I saw this on the Internet. And I wasn't on the Internet. I think it was Dania sent me some funnies. One of the funnies was this cow looking at this Indian sardine who's going Ohm, Ohm, Ohm. And the cow said, it's got it the wrong way around. It should be move, move, move. So totally stupid. That's why I like things like that. And anyway, so he asked everybody to go Ohm, Ohm, Ohm, Ohm. And they all did that, all these old professors. I would love to see that.
All these famous professors and physicists chanting Ohm. And that's when the flower pot lifted. Lifted it up above the desk. Everybody could see that. It was photographed, recorded, no strings, it worked. Prove levitation. And then the interesting part of the experiment was a couple of these professors, or these were experimental physicists. People were trained to be objective observers. Just as to watch without interfering with what they're perceiving.
They said it never lifted above the table at all. And to them it never did. They blocked that out of their perception. Something as solid as a flower pot. And it did lift above the table. It was only because it was a huge electromagnetic turned on. That's why they had to do the Ohm to mask the electric current, which was suddenly turned on. Anyone could hear that if they hadn't been masked by the Ohm, Ohm, Ohm, Ohm, Ohm. So the cows were right. They said, Ohm, Ohm, Ohm, Ohm, it still would have worked.
Anyhow, they said they didn't see it. They said they were watching. Their perceptions didn't work.
I found that fascinating. Do you really control your perceptions? Yes, you do. They're not trustworthy. They'll be bent to suit you. So that's one of the reasons why. When I say meditation is easy. And you say it's not. Who's right? So they can't be easy. Come on, Ajahn Brahm, I've been meditating for such a long time. It's not easy at all. Yeah? So when you question stuff like that, it gives you a sense of freedom that anything can happen.
You don't know you're not limited by your knowledge. That's one of these other statements which I said once. It allows your wisdom to be limited by what you've learned. Let it break those bounds. See and experience things you think are impossible. But actually happening. So when you do the meditation and you have a little confidence in myself, I was a teacher, it is easy. You just sit there. You don't know anything. What am I supposed to do? You know the odds, don't you?
Do nothing. Stay in this moment. I just stay in this moment right now. You're already here. You've arrived. At this point I wish you stay in retreats. You've arrived. Baby, you've arrived. I used to say that in the 60s when anyone has made it in the world. You've arrived, baby. You've arrived. You're here. Stay here. Let things be. Don't try to get somewhere else. This place is good enough. I just thank you in beautiful monasteries or Jhana grove or Dhammasara. Brilliant places to meditate. So well supported. Especially the nuns. 20 years ago, there was no chance for you.
You've got a monastery. You can actually, your day, you can be seminars. There'll be daughters of the Buddha. You respect it. You can go on the alms round. You get enough good food. You can meditate. The teachings of Buddhism are right there for you. Wow. It's amazing just what you have now. I'm here in Bodhinyana, yeah we have work every now and again, but it's not that much. You've got so many hours every day. Nothing to do. So do nothing. That's your job.
But of course doing nothing really means nothing to him. Telling everything off and just being here. But if you're really being here, fully being here, with this perception of non-self behind, you've got nothing to gain. Nothing you can add to your list of achievements in this world. Nothing to add to your wealth, physical wealth or spiritual wealth. But nothing. So what are you trying to attain? Meditation is not about attaining things.
And that was Ajahn Chah saying to me, which of course I never understood at the time. When he said we meditate to let go, not to attain things. I mean, we're not supposed to attain Jhanas. If you understand what Jhanas are, they're not attainments. Those states of letting go. States of disappearance. You vanish more. It's not there anymore. And then those deep meditations, they just occur. I said this before, but here it comes again. When people in, it was first of all in Sri Lanka, they asked me direct.
And it was in front of a camera. It was only monks at the time. So they said, Ajahn Brahm, you can't use the excuse. You can't tell us because there's lay people present. That's one of our monastic rules. If people ask you, are you enlightened? Can you enter Jhanas? Any of these psychic powers? Can you do that? You're not even allowed to answer yes or no in front of lay people. So they said, look, there's no lay people here, Ajahn Brahm. So you can't use that excuse.
So Ajahn Brahm, can you enter Jhana? They put me on the spot. I always remember just, because it was put on the spot, you wanted to give an answer, which was not going to get you into trouble,
but which was going to help all those other monks who were asking the question how they could experience Jhana as well. And what came up, I was very happy with this answer. The answer was, Ajahn Brahm cannot get into Jhana.
I remember posting what I said that to see how people reacted. When they're going to throw me out of the monastery, you'd be glad. You've got all these books and you can't do anything yourself. How can we trust you ever again? And instead, I continued, Ajahn Brahm has to disappear, has to vanish, and then the Jhana's happen. The stages of disappearance of letting go. I can't do it.
I have to stop all of this ownership and wanted to protect what I own and wanted to get more, wanting to take these levels which will put a talk to the next higher level and keep on adding to them. And realizing that that's not what actually happens. All the time these Jhana's happen, all of them, and other people say this to them, unexpected. You're sitting there being nice and peaceful, still. You're not trying anything. You're just happy being in the stillness which you're experiencing.
And then these minds start to go inwards. That's how I describe it. Go inwards, more peaceful, creative amounts and bliss start to come up from where I don't know. When you start blissing out, you don't really question that. You just enjoy it. You indulge in that. And again, for those of you who can't worry, if you get attached to the joys of the deep meditations or lovely nimittas or the Jhana's, that's attachment. Attachment is wrong.
But how can you attach to letting go? How can you cling to nothingness? All states of things disappearing. It's because of that. It's like an oxymoron to say you get attached to letting go. There's a bit of attachment there because that's what the Buddha said. But it's the attachment which, and I said this so many times, here it comes again, anyone who gets attached to the joys of meditation. There's only four results. I love it how they say only four results possible, not a fifth one. It's for you.
Either going to be a stream winner, once return or a non-return or a fully enlightened. That's it. Not a buddy's up for just four. That's all there is. If you really get into the meditations. I love saying that because that's what it's supposed to do. It creates the insights, the understandings from your own personal experience and what it's like to disappear. And what the sense of self really is. And just how it hinders you. And asking questions,
Ajahn Brahm? Can you please explain what the sense of self is?
Those being words, but when it happens when you're just meditating, and that is your own insight. That is an experience from which you can create the words. And if you're very good at explaining things, you can make your own language. That's why sometimes I used to love poetry when I was a student. Because one of my favorite poets of those of you who don't know this was Wilfred Owen. He was a war poet from the First World War.
Whenever it is stuff, it's almost like you were crying inside. He kind of captured the horror and the pain. And it's the terrible life of these young people who were blown up and mutilated in the carnage of World War I. And it was just his power. Even though it was a negative context, still his power of sort of description was just something which really, I was going to say, blew me away. Maybe that's not the right word. But really impressed me.
And it's the same when you try these experiences in meditation. You try and capture them with words. None of those words is good enough. And just again, talking with Ajahn Brahmali, it's just such a great work on the suttas. And trying to find the right word to describe some of the things which the Buddha taught. And it's almost impossible to get that right word to describe any of these things which happen in meditation.
Because sometimes just the words in English are just not full enough, not wide enough, not deep enough to really carry and convey how the Buddha meant them to be conveyed. But sometimes you can kind of get those meaning of those words when the Buddha used many words. Sometimes people say, why in part did they always keep repeating these words? You know, we'd, aloka, pannya, udapadi. So many times, why do we need so many words? Because this one word is not enough to really capture what the Buddha is describing. And even the English words sometimes need many. Or even better sometimes like stories which sometimes the Buddha would mention. And that would capture these amazing terms of what it's like in these deep meditations.
And the fact, what's in its light? The experience, non-self, nothing there, nothing to gain, nothing to own, nothing to keep. Basically, no worries, ever. And those sorts of ideas, capturing what this Buddhism is all about, that's what the insight is all about.
And again, I keep mentioning this, but I love doing this. Doing the, that buddhanusati at the beginning of the meditation. And instead of doing the buddhanusati, isn't it, iti pi so bhagava araham, you can do that if you want, if you know what those words mean. But one of the ways I did that years ago, just experimenting, and I just love the result. I really got off on it and continue to do it. And just imagine, you shall sense of imagination, you still have that.
And what would it be like for those of you from Jhana grove, what would it be like to be a monk or a nun? I don't think of the problems, but just having a bald head and a brown robe. And you're part of this incredible lineage, international, going over, not just two and a half thousand years, going on for a tiny memorial, eon after eon after eon. And you're wearing these robes and the bald head and the wonderful protective vinaya, which inspires people, you're actually doing it.
What would it be like to be a monk? But do more than that. What would it be like to be an enlightened monk? Fully our hearts. I did this with just a group of kids. And they understood it.
It taught the meditation, not by saying what you're breathing, just imagine that everything in your world has been completed. Nothing else to be done. You really are retired. Nothing to be afraid of anymore, nothing to be afraid of. It's something that kills you, that's wonderful,
it's power in the banner. The goal. If nothing to convert you, nothing you need. You know the way of life, we're always thinking what else can we do? What do we need? How can we help this person? How can we help that person? You know, one of the most wonderful gifts you can ever give. Each one of you, you know, you may have some money somewhere or some things you want to. I want to go and help the nuns monastery. I want to go and build something at Bodhinyana monastery.
I want to just help any monk who is sick. All that goodness which you think you can do that way.
Imagine comparing that to you being an enlightened one, a real one. An Arahat. How much can that give to this world? After a while, if you imagine, just imagine you're fully enlightened, then wow, there's nothing else you need to do. That's almost like a highest gift to the world. Billions and billions and billions of dollars can't match that.
You're an enlightened one and as people see you, it gives them hope that this is still possible in these days. You teach and the teach just brings a sutta and so alive. And it's gorgeous. I don't know sometimes. I'm sure this has happened to you, but sometimes I listen to a talk and somebody just says something which is gorgeous. It's beautiful and tears come to your eyes. Sometimes there's some places where I go to in India and I just can't help but just almost weeping.
Sometimes you read something in the sutta and it's amazing. And it's just amazing to give credit to it and tears come up. It's just a way of just seeing this incredible beauty and power. You know, some of these teachings. And that's coming from you. You know, you're all a wonderful gift that is. So imagine that you're fully enlightened Buddha or just arahat is good enough. You're nothing else to do. Absolutely no worries left at all in the whole world.
Even if you don't believe in Deva's, they'll protect you. It's amazing just how Deva's come and it's really needed. And if I was a Deva, I'd protect practicing monks and nuns. You're special. You'll give inspiration and joy and beauty to this world. So remember just, I was speaking this out, just imagining, you know, out loud, being a Buddha under the Bodhi tree. You're not worried about heat or cold. You're not worried about any problems in your tummies or any diseases anywhere in your body.
You don't need anything anymore. Aches and pains just don't affect you. That's just not yours. It's totally been let go of all attachments or identifications or wanting or ill will. A whole lot totally vanished in your job which is to be peaceful. And if you can, be kind, that's all. I remember this day that all the people that really got off on that, even the kids, they were so quiet when I said it's time to end now, one of the teachers opened their eyes and said, no, no, no, carry on.
Kids have never been so peaceful. And of course, it was such a powerful meditation that in that evening I was supposed to give a talk to some of the members of the Buddhist fellowship in Singapore. So I said, please teach us that again. I really enjoyed that. And so what I'm encouraging you to do in today's talk, when you start your meditation, don't just go sit down and just go through the body, make sure you're comfortable like all those guided meditations I do online.
Don't just go and just watch your breath or whatever. Please focus and make sure the beginning of your meditation is beautiful. It's dhamma is with insight. You can imagine the other put on and what that would mean. It gives you this like taste of freedom, which the Buddha kept talking about. To me, it gives you the taste of sambodhi sukha, the taste of enlightenment, freedom. All the things which run your life and cause the restlessness is all vanished.
The main part of that is generated by this delusion. There's a self, there's something you should be doing. Something you own, something you can attain. You let go a whole lot. So because you imagine it, it's much easier to do. Because you can go back to being the normal you afterwards. You have to taste and feel what it's like. Just to visualize being someone who's totally free in this world. Nothing you need is not going to be any rebirth for you.
You don't need to worry about anything. This is your last life. Finish. Wow. When you get that joy, then when you just, okay, now what? Then your breath comes up just so easily. Because your mind is peaceful. It doesn't want anything of anything more. It's not interested in anything in the world. It's like free of time, free of bodily aches and pains. It's totally just liberated from that, from the time being. And you go deeper into what it must mean. Just to be a liberated one.
That taste of freedom, it tastes so delicious. It leads the mind going deeper and deeper and deeper into this peace. As you go deeper and deeper into the peace, it tastes more. And it becomes irresistible. You just don't do it. It just draws you in. And your sense of soul just has to be let go of. I jump round, can't get into Jhanas. I disappear first. And then those things are just, what happens? You can't avoid it. It's just nature. It's just when things get too hot, they burn. When they get really cool, they just get very still.
It is the nature of this body and mind. And so this is how we learn to meditate by how we start. But a contemplation like that is brilliant. Love and kindness is brilliant. That's all there is. Just love and kindness is opening the door of the heart. Not the door of my heart, please. Take off M.Y.
Take off the door of the heart, to whatever is happening right now. I'm just caring for it. There's a beautiful sense of welcoming, accepting, softness, holding it so gently at this moment.
And you hold it very gently. You're not trying to get something. You're not trying to get rid of anything. And all of those departments, they call them, those negative qualities, those things which stir up their mind, just disappear. Just like Ajahn Chah saying, when there's no wind, the leaves on the trees don't move. Actually, they do move, but they move less and less and less. And you watch in awe. You don't do anything. You're just protecting.
Actually, not really protecting. You just stop everything. And then the leaves become perfectly still.
More and more still. The nice thing about leaves when they are still, for anything when it's still, it disappears. And you see what's behind those leaves, what's around them, what's beyond them, what's inside of them. Anything which is just seeing the next level of disappearance. And all those next levels of disappearance as they just come up in your meditation.
They just small and more joy. That's natural to them. It's a joy of freedom. And just like sometimes you've had an illness and someone gives you this magic potion, and all that aches and pains disappear immediately, you feel, wow, you're free of the afflictions which you bring onto yourself by wanting stuff. And all the idea of the meaning of life. Why is it when people ask you those questions, what's the meaning of life? They just want you to attain.
The idea of the meaning of life is you vanish. You disappear no longer anymore. Wow, that really doesn't make sense. Sometimes people argue about that. They say, I work so hard to become enlightened. I just do so much renunciation, so much time. I wear out so many subongs sitting on my cushion. That's not the exaggeration, but I kind of like that. And then, I just disappear. I can't enjoy it afterwards. That's what we have in the world, isn't it? The idea of you work and you get successful and then you get robbed out.
It's a bit weird, isn't it? It's not a fact that you don't work. And you're not successful. You disappear. cravings, defilements, and that causes us. It's a craving and defilements, a one thing. That's what creates you, this sense of self. This me, this mine. So, it is actually very much better good kamma, I reckon, if you're not successful in life. If you're successful in life, it's much harder to abandon a sense of self. Because a sense of self has been pretty smart. It's got things.
Imagine you're really hopeless. Your sense of self is just really a pain in the butt. You'd be so fortunate. Because what I mean is there's nothing there to protect. Your sense of self is hopeless. It should have been annihilated a long time ago, but it's still here and you can't annihilate things.
I just want to mind that the Darwin prizes, they have that every, every unseen of for a while. Darwin prizes as when they do one of the most stupid acts a person has done.
And they think that they qualify to be exterminated. All their genetic codes should be stopped.
So it doesn't sort of create more vaccines in the world. But all of that idea of achievements and non-achievements and even annihilation, you can't stop things like that. You just let them go and they just disappear. They vanish. It's quite nice yet idea of vanishing instead of achieving. See how much you can let go. That's why you define the jhanas.
Not by how it feels when you're in there, but what's missing? Where did they go off? I've mentioned that to many of you. If you ever get into a deep meditation and you come out afterwards, first thing to do when you see what was that, what wasn't there? What have gone? What have vanished? And that's a much better way of finding out just exactly what had happened to you in the meditation. What had vanished? And if you see that, or experience of the body had vanished, you were still very aware.
That could be the first jhana. You see that your will has vanished. Wow. That's really cool. All this time, you know, you say about wanting, craving. That's like parts of the will. You can see that vanish. Only temporarily, but vanished for an hour or two. You're perfectly aware. It feels so free. Similarly is, like you're in a jail. And in a jail, you've got this really awful prison warden. Always telling you what to do. You're sitting down. It tells you to get up.
If you're laying down, it tells you to sit down. If you're having a bath, you said, no, just wash your teeth. If you're watching the TV, you said, turn it off and do some exercises. Never let you be still.
And imagine in that prison cell, this warden called will, just disappears for a course on holiday for an hour or two. Oh, what freedom? I don't have to do anything. You can't do anything. It's nothing to move you. I mean, to actually to make you do something, this thing we call the will.
It's disappeared. It's weird because you've never been there before. It's very delightful. Now for the first time, you can have some peace. You don't need to watch over things to keep things still.
You don't have to hold it. But every time a little bit of will comes up and just whack it on the head. This just doesn't come up at all. There's stillness. And that's where part of who you think you are, a very important part of who you think you are.
Now your ability to choose, ability to decide, to want, to strive. There can't be any striving if there's no will. Don't know what you have to do. Don't know what you have to do. You don't do anything. You can really relax and be resting. And when that's all stuff happens, then you know what it would really mean. The meditation is easy. Imagine, just now use this idea of saying the beginning with the Buddha meditation, reflection.
Imagine the will. It's gone. You awake, you alert, you're conscious. You can't do anything. You can't choose not to exert the will. You can't choose anything. The will is vanished. Now if you try that at the beginning of a meditation, just understand how this is best understanding if you possibly can, of what the will is. To you. I don't mean there's a scientific theory. I don't mean there's a psychologist. I mean just how you understand the will. And imagine just turning it off.
Sitting there. No will at all. Pretty cool. Don't turn it on again. Just keep your hands off that switch. You're just sitting there. Get so peaceful. There's good chance that peace will turn into a lot of joy and energy so the mindfulness is really strong. There's good idea you get so still, you might even just fluke one of those dramas. Let's go straight in. Nothing to stop you. There's a will and a sense of self which accompanies it. That is what blocks you. And restlessness. Goodness gracious. Restlessness is self-torture.
You realize what you really do is. After a while you just can't do that. So you know that's going to cause you a lot of pain and agony and only an idiot will do that. Unfortunately I'm really, really idiot so out. But nevertheless you learn and you just let go. Turn off the will. That's what happens in second jhanas. There's no enlightenment yet but you're getting close and then eventually just this sense of knowing. The sense of the mind. The knowing part of the mind.
That too starts to disappear. You turn off the consciousness of the five senses first of all. Because you can't see. You can't hear. You can't smell taste or touch anything. People touch you. You can't feel it. Anybody who gets into those states, there's a even first jhana, you're apart from the five sense world. Even that, that's really so blissful. Compared to the world here, this world of five senses. Basically I didn't know what I was doing when I started doing these meditations of the lay person. I did, I was a lay person, I was a young man.
I had this really long term relationship with a girl called Penny sleeping with her having good relations. Then I did a meditation retreat. That was the end of that relationship. Really unfair. I didn't exactly know exactly what was going on with the mind but when you can taste deep meditation you're interested in sensory pleasures anymore. It's not because you become a goody goody, just monk. It's just because you have a better pleasure. Easier.
That's one of the reasons why that happens. That's why we have celibate monks. If a monk had some good meditation and some insight, they would never disrobe. They would never bust up their celibacy. They would lunge. A beautiful piece of freedom from the world and the five sense pleasures. It was so much. You can't just give that for some which is so ordinary. So anyway, this is what happens to you. When meditation deepens, the insights get not something which you can just describe in books but it does affect your life.
You become more of someone who follows in the footsteps of a Buddha. It's a beautiful thing you can do. So when you start meditating, you can even just imagine what it must be like to be fully enlightened. You're going to feel it. Someone who has known anything, has got no possessions, no responsibilities. It's totally free. I'm never worried about anything in the world. This world is just, you don't own it. Why should you worry about it? You don't control it. You've got no real influence. So you totally let go. And that's the best influence you can give to the world.
The person who's left it. So anyway, that's my talk this evening. I hope you enjoyed it.
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