Excellent. So even though there hasn't got any talk prepared, it gives so many talks these days. And if it's not here, it's overseas. If it's not overseas, it's online. And it seems all you do when you be a senior monk is eat, give talks, and have your photograph taken. Honestly, you've done so much of that. But nevertheless, sometimes you ask yourself, why do you do this?
What's the purpose of just having your photograph taken? What's the purpose of eating? What's the purpose of working and making a nice nice kitchen or tidying up things? And of course, you know, the purpose is quite clear. You know, as Buddhist monks and nuns, we do new places where we can stay. Not just one place. There are times in our life that one place is very convenient for us.
And other times, we need to go and visit another place. And it's for many years, certainly, here in Western Australia. There was hardly any place at all. And then we just managed to build this place over in serpentine. And now just looking at, this is 40 years I've been here. On those 40 years, it's amazing just all the places which we've built. And as we built these, a lot of them we built ourselves.
All we managed to find the funds from somewhere to actually buy like already houses.
I can put our chara all down in Albany. But even it's, I'm really impressed with all the monks and nuns who see what you've done over these years. Even just the stables over a cusola, horse, a jistman, a property. I don't know what you really call it. But I still remember just going there years ago and seeing the stables there.
And they were just amazingly well turned into a hermitage for a few monks. And now they're finishing off with what you call the granny frat. And I think there'll be a couple of grannies will be staying there soon. A monk granny. But it's kind of nice just to see how much hard work has been put in. And how that's created inspiration that people love going over there, inviting those monks out and listening to some of their talks.
And also allowing those monks to give those talks. A lot of the talks which I've given, as long as a person has done enough training in Buddhism, they understand what the Buddha said and they also have the meditation practice that they have got very peaceful. But I know the one thing, on Saturday I think I'm giving a talk, how do we know what is truth? How can we know what we're actually experiencing isn't just like fantasies or believing what we want to believe?
One of the things we know that is Buddhist teachings is if it does lead to things like peace, does lead to a sense of freedom, does leave to a sense of simplicity, does lead to a sense of just being like cool. I don't mean like freezing, but in the sense that you don't have to do much, think much, worry too much, that you can have when a job is finished, it's actually finished. I know that's one of something Ajahn Chai used to say.
He doesn't mind doing things which happen like an ending to them. If you go somewhere overseas, as long as there's an end time when you come back again, you build something and this is an ending to it. Because what really just is tiring and takes us so much energy when it goes on and on and on and on. That's just like rebirth, like Samsara, one building project and there's another building project, one problem, then we have another problem, one's sickness and then another's sickness and then another's sickness.
So sometimes you look at all of these things, you think when can there be an ending to stuff? That's one of the reasons why Ajahn Chai used to always like endings rather than beginnings, but an ending which really is an ending. That's one of the reasons why when you do have a hut, over here we have our huts released two years and then when you become a senior monk you can stay there for much longer.
And it's wonderful that sometimes a few people have thought, okay I'm senior monk now, this is my hut, I'm going to die in here. And that's a lovely thing to know, it may not be a perfect hut, it may be that sometimes there's other huts on offer. But when you really think of it, this is good enough, you've got use to it and it's healthy enough.
The air there's always advantages if you have air cons or inect fizzity or something, but there's also disadvantages as well.
It just takes up so much time having those things, so if you're a youngish monk, it's wonderful just having that simplicity there. Some of the places where I've stayed at, they look back upon those places with a sense of, I wish I could be there again. And I just was telling a few people today, I actually told a lot of people today about because they were from the north of Thailand.
And they knew the area where I spent a lovely rains retreat up in the mountains, it was a tea plantation, that was much tears I could ever drink. But it wasn't that which attracted me there, it was so simple and peaceful. There was nothing to do there, you could do a bit of sweeping if you wanted, or just a bit of cleaning, but hardly anything to do. The lay people, they just loved having a monk there, especially having a western monk.
I could speak good Thai, and so there's only a few of them came to look after me, and that's all I wanted. And I always remember what they told me, I asked them later on, how come there's not more monks come and stay here, it's a beautiful monastery. Up in the mountains, that was where there was only one vehicle a week, that you could see, and it would go down the hill again a long way down, taking up things and taking away things.
It was such a quiet place. And all these amazing experiences up there, that was, please excuse me for being nostalgic, but one of those times, shame, I can't really explain it because none of you would actually believe it. Just getting up one day out of my meditation, just meditating, feeling something, it was weird happening outside, so I went outside my hut, and all the birds, every bird there ever was, was up in the sky, or flying.
Sometimes you see birds migrating, but this was all the birds, so many different species. And right in the middle of that were the two really huge birds. And you know, might, that had some good meditation at that time, kind of insight, this is like King and Queen of the Birds in this area, huge birds. Didn't recognize what they were, and so to these days I wish I could have had some sort of camera. It was almost like Garuda's, and mythical birds.
You can see where some of those myths came from, but anyway, to seeing them, it was an amazing sight, and because it was so remote, sometimes you did have those experiences. It was actually very close to the Burmese border, but nevertheless, I was explaining it about the old, you know, why I love the smell of bat poo. Because it's in a cave, I used to go in there every day after lunch.
Lunch was actually in the morning, just arms round, come back and just eat, and that was it for the day. And go inside then into the cave, straight away, no rest. And just goes, meditate, beautiful. Absolutely the most, probably the most stress free I've ever been. There's nothing to do all day. And that's why the villagers used to say it was too quiet for most monks. Imagine that, people complaining it was too quiet, nothing going on. If that place still existed, I'm sure many of you would love the address.
Just go there and just get fed, go there into the cave afterwards and just meditate all day, and come out in the afternoon and they'll have a cup of kombucha. That's why I first discovered that. They used to make that for me, a whole big, big jar of it. And anyway, that was just almost the perfect place to stay. And all of those little memories, they were so important for my monastic life. Because they gave me so much wisdom, just you can live simply.
You can live with few things. Yes, you know, you may be older, you need some more things to keep warm, what to keep cool. You may be sick and need some medicines and medications and stuff. But still, that ideal of living a simple life, a simple life where you don't need very much. And because you don't need very much, you have very little to worry about. The people here in Perth are so incredibly generous. And they love making sure that we can have all that we need here to live our monastic life.
And that's really inspiring. And they get inspired too, because they do read and they do hear what it was like in the time of the Buddha. We do have the sutta classes, we have good translations of the sutas and things like the tehra gata and tehra gata. What would it was like in those days? Yes, people's shape and sizes have changed. The color of their skin changed. But nevertheless, the nature of human beings has pretty much remained the same.
Defarmours are defarmours. So sometimes it's inspiring to read stories of some of these monks and nuns. And some of the stupid things they got up to, which you can recognize today. Yeah, maybe a few little details have changed, but the same thing happens. People always criticize one another when they've got nothing better to do. That's not a joke either. Because a lot of times when you're peaceful and you're happy and you love meditating and get inspired, you tend not to want to criticize anybody.
It's just the mind just can't do it. It's weird. A lot of times, just after the poiwanis ceremony, which we did just six weeks ago, at the end of the range retreat, actually, more like seven, eight weeks ago, whatever. At the end of the range retreat, when everybody gives their invitation, if it's seen anything which I haven't seen for myself, please let me know to reprove me. It's a beautiful act of humility, but I've never done that to anybody. Always know that people usually see their own faults.
And if you can't see your own faults, I'm not going to put spy cameras in your hats.
That's just not the right way of doing things. I was inspired by trust, as an child would know, trust us. Here's the hearts, here's the opportunities, here's the teachings. Off you go. Meditate. You still be peaceful and see what happens. And that meditation is never too difficult once you have that simplicity as your background. You keep that simple mind. Still, it's not encumbered by stuff.
Just the same way you try not to have too many things in your heart. You try not to have too many things in your mind. What does a monk or a nun need, anyway? Sometimes, and please excuse me here, sometimes people keep giving you things. And it's coming down to like Christmas time now. I'm glad, please excuse me, I'm glad that I just disappear over Christmas, go overseas, to actually avoid things like presents. What do you need?
So often, you know, when people give you a gift, what's the most valuable gift you, as a monk or a nun, can possibly receive? One of those gifts would be like forgiveness. You want to give some gift to somebody, get a little box, but forgiveness in the box, I forgive you, whatever happened between us, that's such a long time ago, last week, doesn't matter, that's a long time long enough. Put it in a box and present it to the person, it's a Christmas present.
Or send it, give them a little gift of just peace or kindness. And I encourage people to do that, because it's one thing to say, oh I wish you kindness, have a wonderful day. You know, my loving kindness goes to you, and you're very ill at the moment, and I may your body heal quickly. It's one thing to say those things, but to get a little box and just wrap it up and give it to somebody, that's a gorgeous thing to do.
But please don't be nasty like I was when I was a kid and give an eel to my mother on a birthday. That was a nasty thing to do. But some beautiful things, and that little gesture is a wonderful way of letting go of the past, and the past can be let go of. And the trust, we always trust, that's one of the reasons why when people were in relationships, is when they were just committed to each other and married to each other, often you'd say that how many times should you forgive?
And the answer would always be one more time. It's a beautiful answer. But they'll take advantage of me, not too much, always one more time. And that means that you become, you give your trust so easily. And every person in this monastery, in the nuns monastery, is trustworthy. The worthy of trust, otherwise they wouldn't be wearing brown robes, or even white robes, so that matter.
And I kind of like that because a lot of times people grow up without trust,and when they receive it, sometimes they don't know what to do with it. But after a while they value that. They trust. Even today. You know, you get some amazing people who come to visit us, and a couple of girls who came today, I've known them because they always come here. They were at Thai Kit boxes. That's their sport.
One of them is a world champion, and the other one, she told me she was over in Bangkok, and she lost her first match, and then she went back and had to think about it, and then she started having more confidence in herself. And she's all about self-confidence, that you can do it. And she trusted herself, and she won all her matches, and she's got all these awards now, and she's doing a world championship fight in February, I think she said, or soon.
Actually soon. That's why they came to get a blessing today. And I kind of backed that idea. Okay, that's sport. But nevertheless, that sense of self-belief. Yes, you can do this. You're going to do this. You're going to ordain as an office. You're going to ordain as a monk. You're going to become a terror. You're going to run a monastery. You're going to teach and lead. When you have that sense of belief, that's an important factor. And also you have the confidence that you can cross your legs, sit down on the floor, or sit on a chair.
You should have found the best posture in your age, or your health, or your condition.
Found that best posture. And you sit there. And you have the confidence. You don't have to do anything. You have the confidence. You just sit there and wait. Wait in a moment. Be here. Be still. Be kind to your body. Be kind to your mind. Kindness is not trying to get somewhere else. Kindness is not trying to zap all the problems.
And as they say in the US Marines, kick ass. You don't do that tomorrow. I know you, Marah. And little by little, they wist them. And the kindness, they come together, and they zap the defarmours. The defarmours can't last. You're not born without defarmours.
That's one of the reasons why I like telling that story. I've given my mother a birthday present of an eel in a box. It's the main thing to do. But nevertheless, you learn from your mistakes. And you become a better human being afterwards.
I've got enormous confidence in faith. I don't know. It's through the roof. In this path, the eightfold path, I've got enormous confidence in a way of meditation to sit there, be mindful and be kind. That's all. So you do that. Sometimes I'm really tired. I remember just a few days ago, I was meditating in my cave and when I just finished the, I'd only had half an hour, I just opened my eyes and my head was almost on the floor. I was just really tired.
But I know you just carry on meditating. And then soon the body just, that's a weird thing. I hope you've all experienced this. Just when you're really tired and your body is just really bent over, you don't do anything. That's the amazing thing. Just not do anything at all. Not feel ashamed of a bent over body. Not feel embarrassed, humiliated if it happens in public. But just be a, I remember just once we were doing a meditation sitting in front of the lay people at what Nana chart years ago.
And somebody wanted to do some little book about what by Nana chart. So they started taking photographs of monks when they were meditating and some of those monks were really bent over. And so one of them heard a click of a photo and they knew they, they knew they'd get very embarrassed. Here's a tough monk meditating with his head almost on the floor. And so just opened up the camera and just exposed all the film. That's really nice sitting to do. You kind of understand it.
But nevertheless, it's wonderful when we do, that's part of nature. Sometimes you do get tired. And so when you do get tired, what do you do? You don't get angry and upset at what happens to you. It's your attitudes to what you have to experience. That is where the work begins and ends with our meditation. You've got the attitude. It's not under my control. It's not my body, not my mind. I'm just working with it. It's got tired because of being jet-lagged or whatever.
Or working too hard, not getting enough sleep at night. Whatever the cause is, it's just nature. So after a while, you just let that be. And that's what I was alluding to, all of you experienced that time when you're bent over tired. And you don't do it. You don't give any instructions. You don't say, but your body just starts to straighten up all by itself. And I kind of just find that so cool. I didn't do it. I didn't decide, no, no, senior monks should not be bent over when they're meditating.
They should have a straight back. Instead, it just straightens up all by itself. And when it does, it stays straightened up. It's not forced. It's nature. You know the causes. You know, the reason why you're bent over because it's tired. And if you can't go to sleep or you don't want to go to sleep, you just sit there and after a while, energy comes back. Just because you aren't fighting anything. You're not doing a battle, you know, with whatever you're trying to overcome.
And so it all straightens up. Just carry on with that method. Not fighting anything. That being happy to be here. Wherever here happens to be. I've done that several times.
When it gets really hot, you know, we're coming into the hot weather now. Yeah, if you've got an air con, you can turn it on. If you haven't got an air con and you're in your heart, what are you going to do? Well, the nicest things to do, and I've done this several times, is to sit here. I'm happy to be here. Yeah, it's a bit hot, but it's not boiling.
At least know that in your heart, obviously, I hope there's not too many ants or mosquitoes or other things biting you. But if they do bite you, they just bite you and then they just go away. You can't be. You don't get a whole stream of mosquitoes coming into your room, not like in Thailand. This is Australia, so there's only a few compared to over there. So you can just learn how to be content to be here.
To see the good qualities of being here. Yeah, it's not perfect. It could be better. It may be not as quiet as Ajahn Rams Cave. It may be not as cool as a nice air con turn full on. It may not be as fresh as, I don't know, living out in the open somewhere. But nevertheless, it's good enough. I love that saying, good enough. Not perfect. It never will be perfect. You can aim for perfection in the world. You get close, but you can never actually reach there.
But instead, you start to say, well, I've done enough now. This is good enough. I want you to feel it's good enough. You can stop the wanting. And that's the most important.
You really are happy to be here. Yes, you know, you're sweating. But then that's what people do in a sauna. You've got a free sauna for the afternoon. That's supposed to be very healthy for you. So whatever it is, you try and see the nice part of what's happening. Yes, you might die. Wonderful.
Because if you die, then you don't have to suffer that much more in this life. Is that a good idea? Yes, I don't know. But you always try and see the positive side of it. And that's not just Ajahn Rams. What was that sauna? I quoted this sauna because when I was in Thailand, and I was asked to come here to Perth, you know, the monks over there, I was quite popular over there at that time. And they asked me, can you give a talk before you go to Australia?
And so I gave the talk that night. The subject of the talk was based on one of the sutas. I cannot remember the exact sutta. But it was the sutta where this monk asked the Buddha, can I please go up to this remote area to the north of India? And the Buddha said there's very rough people up there. What happens if they will criticize you?
That's a piece of excuse me. I'm an Australian citizen now, but at the time I was English and said, I'm going to a very rough area, Australia.
What if they criticize you and call you a bastard? Actually, that's a term of friendship I found out afterwards. How are you, old bastard? OK, I mean, it's not being offensive, please. And so the Buddha said, this monk said, well, at least they don't hit me. But what if they hit you after they call you names? Well, at least they don't hit me with a weapon. But what if they hit you with a weapon? Well, at least they don't kill me. What if they kill you?
Well, you know, there are some monks who actually say those days take the knife and they almost end their life through suicide. They already have a hat. And then the Buddha said, OK, you can go. So I told that story to the monks in Tada before I came here. And of course, did anybody hit me here? They came close. Actually, I did get hit.
I got hit in the nose once. And I told you that story. And fell, and they knocked me over. Do you know that story? No, you don't.
OK, when we first came here, we were always open for people to come and visit. And I don't know how the first person came here to visit, but he was from Greylands. And he was the hospital for those with emotional mental difficulties. And he came over here. And it was so kind to him. You can feed him, and pray so he can stay. And he would help with all the work. And one of the things we needed to do in those days is create the fire breaks.
So he had a chainsaw. And he would love doing chainsaw work, you know, to trim some of the forest. And he was having a hard time getting the chainsaw going. And so I went to go and help him. And so I approached him behind, and just at the point where he pulled the cord. He didn't notice I was behind him. I'm a very quiet kind of monk. I was only going there to help him. And he pulled the cord, and his elbow got me right in the nose. And knocked me over.
There was a bit of blood, but there were plenty left in those days. It was quite apologetic. But the other monk there, Ajahn Jakra, you know what he did? He just burst out laughing. He thought it was very funny. I didn't mind. Anyhow, I know afterwards because it was Dr. Sanakar. Dr. Sanakar Tisira, he was the head psychologist at Great Dance at the time. And so he's told me that he said, you better stop some of these people coming in from Great Dance because the words got around all the wards.
But in Jana Monastery it's a great place to go.
So we had to stop it. We came almost like a forest. In addition to Great Dance Hospital in birth. We were all very kind people. I missed a few of them. They were really nice. But nevertheless, that's when I did get hit. Almost a couple of other times.
Especially by tradies. But you always knew just how to be calm and peaceful. Sometimes it's, you know, all these things which you hear in Buddhism.
All these things, you know, when you say that if ads come into your heart, give them kindness, and they will probably leave. You know, if you have lots of loving kindness, things like snakes, they may even call over you. They will never bite you. And after a while you just see that. And it's true. And you live by that. I remember just, we did the party mocha chanting yesterday, last night. I remember just doing the chanting. I was actually doing the chanting over in Thailand some years ago.
And there was a monk sitting in front of me. And that was actually, I remember his name was Ben Titignano. And he was sitting in front of me. He was the one he disrobed unfortunately. And he sponsored the retreat kouti. You know, down where venerable Patti Baddar was staying. Still staying. He was not at the Cambodian temple.
But he sponsored that one after he disrobed. But nevertheless, I remember just doing the chant. And I had to stop.
Because I saw just on his left shoulder, crawling up his sangati, there was a snake. And it was one of those ridiculous moments which I'll never forget. It's amazing just what you remember in your monastic life. Sometimes there are, you know, beautiful moments of deep meditation and insight, sometimes difficult moments of like sickness. And it was also so ridiculous moments as well. And this was a ridiculous moment because I saw the snake come up his sangati and his snake's head poked up above this monk's left shoulder.
And the monk saw the snake out of the corner of his eye, turned around, turned his head, and the snake turned his head around as well. And the two were eyeballing each other. And it was for about 10 or 15 seconds. It's absolutely ridiculous. The snake and the monk were just looking at each other. He didn't need to read snake's mind to know what it was thinking. He was thinking, what do I do next? Because it wasn't afraid. And the monk wasn't afraid.
But I didn't know how to end the standoff. The snake eyeballing the monk. And the monk eyeballing the snake. But the monk was very smart. He just went slowly. And I went to the bottom of his sangati and just pulled it so it fell very gently off. So the snake had a way out and would actually crawl out of the party mocha venue and off into the forest. And that was the end of it. But I'll never forget that.
Just the kindness, the kind lifestyle, living with loving kindness, living not harming others, how that helped that monk. And that snake too. So both of them could go off and just whatever they needed to do in the monastery. They weren't sort of hindering one another. And somebody asked me that huge snake, the big do guide I saw in this monastery many years ago, when I was doing my six months retreat. It was a really hot day. And this poor do guide was a huge one.
That was the one which was, again, three meters. Yeah, three meters long. That's a pretty big do guide. It was quite fat too. And all the kangaroos, I mean, it was in the afternoon or just after lunch because I was washing my bowl. And as I was washing my bowl, I heard all the kangaroos, you know, there was half a sleep. They'd get up and run away because something was making quite a loud noise coming down the hill to that hut where I did my six months retreat.
And the snake came right towards me. It saw me. And I was moving and I put its head up and looked. And I looked too. And then I just carried on wiping my bowl to my head away. And then when I turned around again, it had found shade next to my hut on the western wall. That was actually shaded at the time. And so then it would, it just stayed there for a while. I finished doing my bowl, went inside my hut. And when I came afterwards, the snake was gone.
The weird thing was it could have attacked me, but why attack a monk? I was just drying my bowl and it just needed some shade for a little while, that's all. And so when you're kind and understand nature, a lot of times nature will never harm you. And that's by just the kindness and simplicity which you have, you know, to life, to other monks.
If snakes won't harm you, other monks won't harm you, nuns won't harm you. Nothing actually harms you. So after a while, we learned how to have this loving kindness, real true loving kindness. And that gives us a sense of really deep peace inside our hearts. Yeah, there were times when we lose it for a while, or other people lose it for a while, but just after a short time, usually it's amazing what I've seen, you know, people thought they could never live with each other, and then eventually become really best friends.
Anyhow, little by little we practice, and it's not just even best friends and peace and harmony between people. Peace and harmony between ourselves as well, between our past, our future, our diseases, our sort of difficulties which we have, we're all going to die one day, but it's just like how we die. So we try to be kind, trust one another, trust yourself, trust your mind.
That's one of the reasons why I please excuse me for repeating myself, but I always love these beautiful insights of so much trust to your body, to my body of mind, that I often ask my mind, what do you need? I'm your friend. I'm not trying to discipline you.
I'm not going to train you, mind. I'm going to understand you, get to know you and get that kindness. Find out what you need. That's one of the reasons why my mind shocks me sometimes, surprises me.
Tides when I don't really expect it. You're sitting down there in your cave, across the lake. You know, you've been really busy, but you've got an hour before tea time or something, and you just meditate. You've got all these gorgeous nimeters. Where did that come from? You know, it's not that you've been meditating on retreat for a week or two weeks, but they just come. Just my mind just appreciates. It doesn't need to feel afraid.
Then it can go all over the place if it wants to, but because it can, it doesn't. And it just stays still. I know this is just what happens when you remain still peaceful. Just being here. Making peace being kind, being gentle. That's one of the ways I say it. Or just in this moment, being kind. The mindfulness and the kindness, the kindfulness. Just whatever's happening right now, you don't choose.
You just blast this moment with kindfulness. It's not really a say, but it's not like exploding. Just the kind of formless gets intense. And then what happens is this moment starts to fall. It gets beautiful. And you're just watching this breath. But that's another thing which is moving. It's coming in and going out. You're not really worried about how long or how short or whether it's going to last or not last. It just becomes delightful.
Because you're not putting any pressure on it. It's like sometimes watching the kids run around and play it, not a mara or hear. You know when it's a school holiday, you get a few kids running around enjoying themselves to the max. That's like my mind. A lot of times it enjoys itself so much here. It just wants to sit down and enjoy it in silence.
And in peace, it doesn't go anywhere. It's used to this place. It's not threatened by it.
It feels safe and happy here.
So in my cave, it's not my mind saying, well you don't want me to do anything now.
I don't need to send any emails or work out how to get this property over in the UK or how to do this or do that. I can just sit here. Yeah. I thank you. My mind just, oh, it says, you're such a nice monk to be associated with. My mind and I. This is only one way of looking. I'm not saying there's an eye there which controls anything.
An eye there which is separate from the mind. An eye there which is the original whatever. Now it's just one way, a useful way of looking at it, but no more than that.
And just the mind just is happy. Because it's happy, it gets peaceful. Often say that the happiness is an important cause of peacefulness and stillness. And you can find all sorts of reasons not to be happy. I sometimes think, oh, I'll crack.
I'm an old monk now. Why don't I have to keep giving talks? Why do I have to keep making decisions? Why do I have to keep solving problems? Why do you ask me? If you ask me, I'll do my best. That's all. But it's no obligation. That's why I try. Yeah, I do ask some of you to please carry on being the work monk, Ben Woodjaker, but you know, have you really done wanted? That's fine by me.
Just call yourself the work monk and let other people do the work. Is that a good idea? No. Is he awake? Yeah, he is. And please don't worry about criticizing me. You can criticize me all you want. It's a swatter off of a duck's back. Not on my duck. It's supposed to be a rabbit. But anyway, whatever animal I'm supposed to be. But the whole point is that you learn how to be still.
When you know the secret of stillness, not fighting the world, you sit in your cave, sit in your heart, and just let the world disappear. And it does very easily when you start fighting it. You can really be at peace. You'll be like the ideal of a monk. When I was a young, even at university I remember just sitting at the window, watching the sun go down. And just sometimes just dreaming, not so dreaming, but almost like fantasizing
about the ideal monk or nun.
Just sitting there, just allowing the mind to become perfectly still. So all the whole world, the whole past vanishes, the whole future vanishes, and with it all fear and all plans just totally go. And you just, in this wonderful moment of just being here, like all those great monks and nuns, no matter what tradition they are, or what age, whether in mountains or in caves or in deserts or wherever, they just allow the whole universe to vanish. And they just go this one moment of peace when nothing moves, and there's nothing to say. All words are just so disturbing.
So why even think? Just make this mind just so peaceful that nothing moves at all.
You don't need to capture anything with words. And you do understand so clearly just how words can be so deceptive. Instead of words, we trust in silence. Gorgeous silence inside the mind. And of course that's gorgeous. You bliss out, I don't see how anybody can't bliss out when they get into silence and stay there. So energizing, they have a wonderful meditation.
And they come out afterwards if you talk to anybody, you always tell too many jokes, I'm sorry, but you're just full of oath. And anyway, you can go much deeper than just tell jokes or oath. How this beautiful kindness to the whole monastery, to the whole world. And that kindness, it's amazing how that can heal things. You have a cut, a bite, whatever it is, you suffer with kindness. And everything's relaxed so much, and the kindness itself is like an energy, very positive nurturing healing.
And that's one of the reasons why it's been such a long time since I've been to a doctor. Honestly, the kindness is a strong, and zap anything in the body. When you do stuff like that, you don't have any fear. And after a while, you just learn. To turn that fear into friendship, into the opportunity to teach, and that opportunity to teach, into giving more people the freedom to get into jhanas. Why not? The freedom, just in those deep states of meditation, to understand what the Buddha felt.
Sambodi Sukha, the Buddha's description of what it feels like in the first jhana. It's the first jhana to Sambodi Sukha, enlightenment happiness. It's such a good taste. And once you have that, you realize what really is important in life. Many other things, which we spend too much time on, yeah, you spend time on it, but that's not so important. What really is important is you have a feeling for what enlightenment is. Sambodi, what is that?
And it's right in front of you. You feel it. It's true. It's real. It's how the Buddha felt. That's our Sari Putra, Moghalana, Maraka Sibha, Patachara, all of those great beings, their experience of understanding the dhamma, at least getting that deep to be able to let go so much, they could experience the first jhana. And that's only the beginning.
Wow. And that just blows your mind. Please excuse that term, blow your mind. But that's just what they used to use in those days of the hippies.
I think if it's a little pastum, I want to understand that word. Blow your mind. It kind of does. It just takes the ideas of what the mind can know, how it perceives, just a way deeper level. It was only other people who could understand what that meant, how that felt. So that they would change a lot of the way they perceived themselves in the world. And realize what real Buddhism is. You feel Buddhism. The dhamma. The truth.
My goodness, it's inspirational. Okay. So anyway, I'm just getting too high now, so I'm going to stop.
I'm going to stop.