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Very good,
So one of the things which I was contemplating, there was contemplation not just exploring. In other words, thinking about sometimes when people mention insight they say, well actually he is insight. And sometimes I don't like the word thinking about things
Because I always know that thinking is always just working over just old patches of land. It's already been mowed so many times, it's been harvested and people just try it and just fossack for a little bit which no one else has found.
Instead of actually using those old fields to look at something different, something new
Some which hasn't ever been harvested or reaped before, there are so many other great fields of insight which we can use To do that I always like the idea of exploring instead of just thinking about things I never trust thought that much and even to the point when I give a dhamma talk I don't think of what I'm going to say, sometimes I ask you, you know, what should I talk about this evening, especially at the tea time
So with me at tea time an hour ago, you know when I ask you what should I talk about, I've given the talk so many times Well I don't know, yeah that's a very easy talk to give But I don't mind because it's not again, just thinking about what you're going to talk about or preparing it Very much the case of just getting in the right mood and trying to connect with people And trying to talk about some of your own experiences to overcome some of the difficulties which we face in monastic life
And a lot of times is, you know, we have expectations Expectations are what monastic life should do, what it can give to us and how it can serve us And how we can serve it as well And a lot of times I'm sure that you've experienced this, that monastic life is not exactly what you expected It's always something different And the point is that it's not that the monastic life is wrong, it's the fact that our expectations were a little bit too undeveloped, a bit too Longer we found it
And I often notice that I think you all know that story because I wrote about it, I think one of the first articles I did And that was that little booklet, what was it called, of the early disciples of Ajahn Chah, the western disciples Seeing the way, yes, or the silly title that was, and I rather didn't see the way at all, it wasn't got totally lost on the way But that was the days before GPS, so give them some credit for trying But I remember just saying it, they're my ideas of monastic life, I'm not sure what it was
But to try and do really well, get enlightened within two or three years, and then go back and continue my career, find a nice lady, get married and have a family Once you were enlightened, get that out of the way for us, it was how stupid I was at the very beginning there These days people actually know much more about Buddhism They know much more about spirituality, but still, there's a lot we have to discover in our mind And a lot of times on this journey, yes, we have support, but much of the time in this journey, we're on our own
As a concept, which I've been trying to get my head around, that all this time we make friends with one another, we get to know one another But every human being is like a different world And they all have different ideas, different experiences, different ways of interpreting things And a wonderful thing I've seen sometimes is when people from totally different concepts, different ideas, different backgrounds express the dhamma each in different ways In ways which is true to them
And little by little, as we talk together, some of the kind of pointy edges of our understanding of dhamma And the ones which are kind of scratch and hurt others get sort of blunted off As with the coming together, listening to dhamma together, talking together about dhamma It's wonderful we can talk dhamma more and not talk about how to build kitchens or about how to secure the monastery Or our monasteries
But as we talk together, live together and communicate together, those different worlds we come from Can actually get some sense of peace and harmony, we can learn how to cope and live with one another And as we do so, we find this is going to some of the very core teachings of Buddhism About making sure that this path is based on a loving kindness And that loving kindness is not just may all beings be happy and it's what in the first mosquito which lands on you
It really is the true loving kindness Of trying to be of service to others as best you possibly can as well as being of service to yourself That sort of little way of looking
Which I started developing when you had to do this marriage set Marriage blessings, it's not about me, it's not about you, it's always about us And I just take that seriously, in a monastery, it's not all the monks, all the novices, all the animacres And the nuns as well who are visiting, it's about you as well Next week, we're going off to dhamma saa to do an ordination ceremony And of course, it's not just a responsibility, it's a privilege
What you love doing to be able to help and to be able to serve, you can only do that when it's, we don't see the difference It's about us, the community, monastic community, a Buddhist community, we always want to help one another However much we possibly can, sure enough we've found sometimes, that's no part of our life But the intention, the intention to be of service to help to give as much as we possibly can
And I think I did tell all the monks already, this is the monks I've seen and hung out with The reason I went on my retreat after the new year was because I was exhausted
And I have enough mindfulness about my health to know that I do really need to take some time off sometimes Because when I take that time off and just go into my cave and just do a lot of meditation
It's not just for the sake of britishing out, it's the sake of feeling my body get much more healthy It's, you know, when I was in Penang recently, that over there, that one of the people was a really lovely fellow He was not part of Chalpoh's group, but one of the other groups, he was a doctor And he said to me, it was going to be my translator for a talk which I gave And he said to me, I told him, I really think I need to give you a blood test And I said, no, it's a bit nice important, you've got to make sure that you're healthy in your body, I need to test you
And he asked me, what was the last time you had a bodily test? And I said just about an hour ago, and he was sort of double-talked me and said, I was mindful of my body
And that mindfulness, I get to know my body probably better than you could ever check Because that mindfulness, I do practice that, the awareness, not sort of thinking that you're going to avoid something Not thinking that you're going to be dishonest to how you feel But actually knowing how your body is and how it works and knowing if there's any problems there
That's what I do all the time when I'm meditating And I still say that's one of the best health tests you could ever do You get to know your own body, but it's not just with just knowing how it feels It's also just knowing just how to heal it, what it needs healing How to blast, it's the wrong word blast, but you know, it's had to soak part of your body with this beautiful energy of laughing kindness And you put it in there and it's amazing just what it does to your body And heals things and makes them as best you can possibly do So that's the medical treatment which I had when I was in Pinnang, my own
And you can do whatever you want, and I've always found it, it's very, very helpful Sometimes, as you know, as Ajahn Bamadi was just saying when he grabbed my sitting cloth when I was at my Upatak Tener was trying to get hold of it, he's saying it's rebellious And of course I recommend that, I encourage that Not to just follow what other people do, but see these things for yourself I'm sure he knows when he translates You don't just translate from the sutras the way everybody else is translated
You see what they're trying to talk about, what the Buddha meant by that phrase I want to figure out what he meant by that phrase
Then you can actually translate the phrase, not the word And that's one of the best ways of translating When I started doing that with my word of the Buddha Krasis People started saying it makes it alive, you know, it actually can connect with people That's why, even though I haven't told you this, Ajahn Bamadi, I think you probably know that The bifas over in Hong Kong are going to do a printing of that word of the Buddha translation which I've done so far But I still have in the introduction, this is a work in progress, I never want it to be a final version
Because these words, these translations, these understandings can always be improved upon And also there is not one final translation which is going to be authentic for generations This is like a living dumbness, it is ahipasicos, also a kadik, it's a kadikob It needs the messages timeless, but the way it's expressed must always be just adapted to each audience as you present it to them And those are the sorts of things which restrict me from publishing that as a booklet before Sometimes a booklet makes it a bit too final, and you have to do that I suppose
But as long as I make sure that people understand that this is one way of looking at it
I think it's inaccurate, I think it's really good, but you can always be wrong But how do you know you are right? This is something which I was trying to express when I was in Singapore at that conference I was with Adam Bumali about how do you know what you are seeing, how you interpret it, your perceptions and your thoughts and your views are accurate Of course you can argue about, you can support it through references, you can do amazing stuff by looking at the books
But what kind of shocked me was when some people they quote the books as well, but interpret it in a totally different way One of those really weird ways of interpreting it was when the courses were being a stream winner You know, paratha gosa and the only some manasee kara, and you know what the translated paratha gosa is? Like hearing the sweet word of God or Jesus or something, the words of another And I thought well that's going a bit far, very hard to justify that But nevertheless, people did justify it, and because it's what people wanted to hear, it got some traction
People said oh yeah, what a great interpretation that was So I could see from examples like that, it's not just what is true, but what people want to believe is trueIt's really sort of a big block, which is one of the reasons why the inner monastic life, because there were so many good monks and nuns here And because we can talk to each other without fear and without being judged Now if you have different ideas from me, fine, you can still stay here That's one of the lovely things about Buddhism
I remember reading that in the journeys of those Chinese pilgrimage I think we have a big book up in the library, I think I ordered it when I was a young monk And they were saying just how wonderful it was that they'd come from China over the Gobi desert And they managed to get into India, many other travelers' pilgrims tried to get to India, they probably died on the way This was one of the ones who survived and they'd come famous He went to all these different monasteries in India And in the different monasteries of India, the people from all different schools of Buddhism You can't really call it Mahayana Buddhism or Terravada Buddhism
But they had different types of schools of Buddhism which were around in that time
They had slightly different philosophical viewpoints But he said what really astounded him, they always lived in harmony together They could discuss, they were discussed with a sense of respect for one another And with a sense of respect for the soft speech, arguments weren't won by being the most violent Arguments were won just because those teachings worked Those teachings would make you into a calm and more peaceful, more kind human being
And to me that's always been one of the key points of Buddhism The theory, great, and the teachings' understanding is great, the meditation is great, but does it work?
Does it lead to that peace? That Upasama, I don't mean leading to the Venable sitting in front over here I mean leading to that quality which is named after that peace It's one of my favourite words Upasama, and to understand its meaning, what that word actually means, the peace It settles things, that's why in the Vinaya, after the seven Adi Karyna Samata quietening them
That they use the word Upas, Adi Wambali, help I've got you as well, okay, yeah, you're done, yeah, upasama, it settles things It quietens things, Samata, Upasama, those two words, going together, it's almost like a synonym of Samata, Upasama It quietens, but it's like how the monastic communities settle their businesses or challenges And that word, once you get a feeling for it, you get to know it inside, so you can write it down on a piece of paper But you feel what it's like, the Upasama, it settles all the problems and difficulties
There's no time to get ready for the next performance, but I was energised again, it was like I had a couple of cups of coffee I was not like the energy of coffee, where you're sort of restless, but just really good energy, which was focused So you could give even better performance, or a better talk, in the second performance there I always remember that, I was very glad I did that, simply because it showed me the power of this upasama It actually gives rise to energy, and the mind leaps to it, stays there and gets energised
So that's what I needed to do for my retreat, which I was just finished off a day or two ago And that gives me confidence, the confidence it gives me that I can sometimes, I'm an old monk now It's like I can work very hard, and I work very hard, but then I can also just learn how to relax quickly And when you do that, your energy comes back again And of course it's wonderful having that good energy, it means you don't get depressed You know, you don't get upset, you don't get angry, and you can help and serve others There's something again, I have to keep repeating these stories, because they're very meaningful to me
Some of which I learned in my early years as a monk, and sometimes you're looked at an adjunct child How on earth could he sit there all day, to answer all these stupid questions of people, and hardly rest at all Of course it caught up to him in the end, I don't want to end up like adjunct child, well, I can't really say that, can I? But, you know, it did work a bit hard, so it did have that stroke later on in his life, but I don't think that really mattered I'm saying that out of respect for a great teacher
But nevertheless, it's nice to be able to know that you can perform, you can give, and this particular experience was those years when Three monks were making their robes one evening And in those days, if you were going to ordain as a monk, you had to make your complete set of three robes Sangati, Chibara, and a sabbom You know, all yourself had a white cloth to measure, cut, and sew it, and then dye it And of course the hardest part was actually dyeing it
And to be able to do the dyeing, these three monks were up for about three nights
And I really felt sorry for them, hadn't slept for, I think, two of those nights And so, after the evening meeting, I was not allowed to help them, according to the monastic rule, but I always said I was rebellious And Ajahn Bumali is a good disciple of that, so is Ajahn Appi, he's rebellious enough Actually, you all are pretty rebellious, anyway But at the end of how the nuns have been done with sama, are you rebellious?
Being honest? You're quiet, because this is recorded But I think maybe inside you are, but I had to break the rule Without kindness, these three monks, they hadn't slept for such a long time, and I just know what it feels like When you haven't slept for one night, that's okay, but two nights, you really feel I remember once when I was on a teaching tour, I had, as in Malaysia, I had slept for two nights And in the first night the room was full of mosquito, so no one slept
The next night we got to this place really late And they said, it doesn't matter, you know, you can actually sleep, you don't need to come to the morning chanting But the kouti they gave me was so close to the sama But when they rang the bell at 3am, and they started the chanting, there was no way you could carry on sleeping So I didn't have any sleep that night either So two nights without sleep, and I remember just feeling what it was like, it was like being drunk
You know, when your mindfulness was not clear, because you had slept for two nights, or for two days, actually, almost 60 hours when you hadn't slept And that really felt like you're not in control of your body or your mind So anyway, it was a nice experience to know, but it was very unpleasant So knowing how it feels, I really helped those monks, I said, you'd go back to your huts I got to the dying shed about 10pm, it was only 5 hours, 3am, the bell will go So you'd go back to your huts and have a rest
And I remember I was quite surprised, not one of those three argued with meI expected at least one of them to say, no, no, no, it's the rule, you know, thanks for the offer anyway But they didn't argue at all, they just ran And I was very happy to help out And the bell went at 3am, and they came about 10 past 3, and they carried on the work And I just wanted to keep my record clean, and to kind of just to hide the fact that I hadn't kept the monastic wall by staying up all night
That I went back to the 3am for the morning chanting and the meditation and the morning binder barter But what surprised me, I couldn't figure it out, that I had so much energy that morning And I liked doing this, because sometimes when I give a talk, this is a good example for each one of you Sometimes people get tired and almost fall asleep when they hear these talks, they've heard the story before But then I said, when I was chanting, yo so bagoa, really loud, so I hope that sort of woke you up And make change the tone of your voice when you give talks
And anyway, that's actually the truth of the matter, I was told to please chant quietly
Or chant sort of ordinary The meditation, I've told you many times that those morning meditations in Wapana, we're just so tiring And you always used to fall asleep, at least half asleep, the best you possibly could That morning, my back was so straight, good meditation, and I hadn't slept all night I couldn't figure it out until I asked one of the monks afterwards on the way back from arms round I confessed, so I could work the walls, I helped these monks last night
It's against the monastic wall, they're supposed to make the robes themselves, but this is what happened to me And there was a dhamma, I was just surprised at, and that's when the senior monk there said to me It's because you broke the rule out of kindness, you wanted to help people And when you do something like that, out of real matter, and compassion, whatever you wish to call it You always get this big boost of energy, when you do pure things, it doesn't just give rise to this peace But the peace is powerful peace, it's energized peace, in a very beautiful way
And that's one of the reasons why, you know, when Ajahn Jakra left, and I was asked to, well I say, the only one left really During a carry on being the abbot here, I accepted, but I didn't accept straight away, I'm being honest with you These stories I think are quite important, so you may have heard it before, but I'll add it in here Because as soon as Ajahn Jakra desrobed, a lot of the people, the big supporters, they came and asked me, he said, well when are you going to go as well?
Which girl in the community do you like? And they were really so probing me, and I said, look, I'm a monk, and I love being a monk at this time And then I went back to my heart, and for the next three or four days, I kept asking myself, Ajahn Jakra, I'm honestly, will you ever desrobed? And I asked and asked and asked, and I always got the same answer, no, this is my life, this is where I want to be And so it's only when I tested myself out like that, eventually, I said, okay, I'll take it on
Because the last thing I ever wanted to do is to disappoint anybody, and this dharma is so precious, and the path of the Buddha, when practiced properly, there's so much peace and inspiration and kindness and goodness And sometimes I look back upon the life since I took over, I leave it beforehand, it's how much we've actually given to this world, and sometimes I don't want to be proud, that's a big defilement And nevertheless, you're going to be realistic, and it has done a huge amount
And so when I see that I see the gorgeous beauty of the dhamm, which is another thing I know this must be the right path, this leading to peace, to kindness, to forgiveness And even just talking about the monks at Amur Watty, the monks in Thailand who really just wanted to see the end of me, when I did the Bikuni ordination, or assisted the Bikuni ordination There was also amazing to experience the fact that these were my friends, and they would always be my friends, so I can't feel vindictive about them, I can't feel any anger towards them
Just this wonderful sense of, well, I differed in my opinion, so let's just get on with it, because anger doesn't have any place in a good monk's heart, if it does come up, it just goes away pretty quickly It cannot be justified, no matter what a person's done to you, and even at that time, I did think a few times about the simile of the saw, if this, the way I translated it, in my word of the Buddha, if these terrorists grab you And they don't cut off your limbs with like a two-handed saw, I mean, that's not what terrorists do these days, they cut off your limbs with a serrated knife
That's what terrorists do, I should watch the news more, what they do these days, to torture people, or they cut off your fingers with a pair of pliers, I'm not sure, if you had ever won, ever won thoughts of wanting revenge or hatred towards your tortureers
Then you're not a disciple of mine, I said, the Buddha, oh, that was a bit tough, could you do that? The least, what it did for me was to realize that this is possible, so let's give it a try, not have any hatred or ill will towards anybody, and it's much more beautiful And when you give up hatred, whatever people do, that's actually what I got that saying, as an Australian saying, no need to seek revenge because karma will get the BASTA-RDS anyway
That's my very sense of humour, and that's an Australian web saying, and that's actually quite helpful because it means that you're making fun and not taking the feeling of revenge too seriously And stuff like that meant you can always make friends with anybody But that's kind of beautiful, to me that's uplifting, it's easy to make friends with people who are like you, who treat you the way that you want them to treat you
But to be friendly to people who hurt you, that's a beautiful thing, that's how the Buddha taught, you say, oh, it's impossible, you can actually see it's possible
Remember one of the interviews with one of these Tibetan monks who was tortured over in China or somewhere, and that's one of the things he kept on saying, he actually escaped, eventually went to the West And he was saying that when he was being tortured, it doesn't matter how much of the pain he was feeling, he realised if he had one moment of ill will towards his torturous, he would lose it That's the only thing he had left, which he protected, he couldn't hurt his practice of the dumber, and that's amazing, that that could be done
It told me, yes, it can be done, it's possible, so it may fail a few times, but you keep on going that direction, and that's Buddha's teaching, that's the dumber, that's the reason you became a monk, to practice, so you can do that It's beautiful when you can do that, it makes you kind of invulnerable, so you don't have to be afraid of anything, but when you're not afraid, then you find the Upasama Beautiful, a problem has been settled, the party mocha has been chanting, it's over now, you have to leave it now for another couple of weeks, that's what it means by settling these things, the samata in the duties and business of the Sangha
It's like just when you've been, had a toothache, you go to the dentist and you get it fixed up, it's great, it's a problem, it's been Upasamad, it's been settled, it's peaceful now, it's another thing you have to worry about, it's not taking your time That's one of the reasons why I'm just talking at tea time, the monastery here, well Buddhism in Australia, how can we make it just improve it? It's not the dama, but the practice of it, just the idea of simplicity, it's a beautiful word, don't make it more complicated, try and have hearts which are just more easy to maintain, which are more comfortable, but don't sacrifice their ease, that simplicity for the sake of comfort
I do have an air con in my office, but I just noticed today I never turned it on even though I was working in that office until we later on, I don't know why I didn't turn it on early on, one or two o'clock in the afternoon But you can learn how to be comfortable and keep things simple, even that air con in my office, I never installed it, actually no one ever asked me, I just went off overseas somewhere, when I came back there was an air con in my office You guys have a way to kind, you probably would have known that if you'd have asked me, I would have said no, I've got a cave, the cave is really nice, it's cool enough
So anyhow, the simplicity is a beautiful way of settling problems because you don't start the problems in the first place, so you can have a nice peaceful life And of course that's what I hope for each one of you in this monastery in Damasara, maybe you have a nice simple life there, as much as possible So you can enjoy, Damasara is a gorgeous monastery, I just was again my nostalgia, because now I was there, actually I was one of the first months in that monastery
First month ever, because when we're going there with Bianca and Ron Baddersby, just have a look inside, we can't afford this, Ron Baddersby kept on saying this, what do you mean? We don't have to pay to go inside and have a look, we can afford that, and of course we can afford it, something is all of those problems which people have
It's like maybe too much faith, too much confidence, they just kind of test us, Marla doesn't like too much success, so it kind of tests you, but you don't give in
And eventually you get this beautiful monastery, you get a beautiful Bodhinyana, you get a beautiful Damas, you get beautiful friends in the Damas And when you have that, what more in life do you want, that's how we keep it simple By seeing the beauty of what we have already, the amazing friendships you have here, you know all people are friendly at first, but eventually they succumb and become good friends and peaceful in their own ways
And that's how I really love being a monk and doing anything else So again, thank you for listening, that's a talk this evening called, mmm
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