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  • Yes, whatever is the main task at hand,

  • that's what you are supposed to be aware of.

  • Next question. Please ask retreatants to

  • look out for one another if there's a

  • missing person, if they suspect he's missing,

  • please let us know. Two retreatants

  • were lost in the forest this afternoon.

  • Fortunately, a neighbour drove them back

  • to Jhana Grove. [laughter] Really?

  • Who was lost in the forest?

  • You can't get lost, there's a big fence around here.

  • You walked through the fence. Now this

  • is the reason why we have like precepts,

  • like a fence. [laughter] If you go over that

  • fence and break your precepts, if you

  • do naughty things, how far did you get, how far?

  • Cos the only property out there, is a prison

  • and if you walk into there [laughter]

  • you'll be stuck there for years. [laughter]

  • (Voice from background : It's quite far)

  • Okay, now listen, there is a fence around here,

  • so don't go through it. You know why we put

  • a fence there? So you don't go through it.[laughter]

  • So stay within the fence and you can't get lost.

  • Okay. Oh dearie me [laughter]

  • Does an Arahant ever get angry or become irritated?

  • No! [laughter] Now that's one way you can tell

  • if someone's enlightened or not. They

  • get irritated or angry, of course they're not

  • enlightened. Then you all know that, of course, okay, is

  • that story, happens through meditation? About the monk who went onto the

  • island to live alone, to become a fully

  • enlightened monk. He asked his abbot, he said,

  • "Look you got many monks here. Out, far

  • is an island in the middle of the lake

  • where no one ever goes, perfect for solitude.

  • I'll build a simple hut and all I ask,

  • all I ask, is once a week, get one of the

  • attendants to row across to the island

  • to leave me supplies for the week. Just simple things,

  • rice and a few vegetables. And he can

  • go back afterwards, so I can live in solitude."

  • And the abbot said, "Okay."

  • So for three years, that monk lived in

  • perfect solitude. Just once a week, the

  • attendant would come to make sure he

  • was okay and have enough things to eat,

  • and any other sort of medicines or stuff

  • he needed. And so after 3 years in perfect

  • seclusion, he decided he was enlightened, an

  • Arahant, perfectly free of all anger and

  • all wants. So he thought "what should I do next?

  • How do you let people know that you're enlightened?"

  • So the next time the attendant came over in

  • a boat, he asked the attendant, "Can I please

  • have some parchment, a pen and some ink.

  • I want to write some calligraphy", because

  • in the Chinese tradition, the way that you

  • write those characters, is a sign of how

  • advanced you are. And what you say can

  • raise your attainments. So one week later,

  • the parchment, the ink and the quill pen

  • came and then, as the attendant went away,

  • the monk sat in deep meditation, preparing himself

  • to write the words of an enlightened being.

  • When he came out of meditation, he picked

  • up the pen and dipped it in ink and wrote

  • with exquisite strokes. The diligent monk,

  • alone for 3 years is no longer moved by the

  • 4 worldly winds, which in Buddhism means,

  • you've cracked, you're an enlightened person.

  • And he let the parchment dry and he waited,

  • waited for the attendant to come the next week. When the

  • attendant came, he had the scroll neatly

  • rolled up, tied by a little ribbon and said,

  • "Give this to your abbot." And then he relaxed

  • because he imagined once the abbot saw

  • the calligraphy and the message, the claim

  • to enlightenment, imagine what would happen next?

  • Maybe become an abbot of an important monastery

  • somewhere, maybe that scroll be hung up

  • for monks in the future to be inspired by it.

  • And the days went by and the attendant came back

  • and gave what looked like his old scroll

  • back to him. He wondered, "Did you give

  • it to the abbot?" "Yes, this is what the abbot

  • gave you back." So with excitement, he

  • opened up that scroll. It was his scroll

  • with his calligraphy on it. But on top of

  • the first line, 'The diligent monk', the abbot

  • had written in red ball point pen, 'Fart'.[laughs]

  • What? The next line, 'is longer moved'. No,

  • 'The diligent monk alone for 3 three years',

  • there was another 'fart', this time in capital letters.

  • And the next one, 'The diligent monk is no longer moved',

  • there was a 'fart' with an exclamation mark on it.

  • And the last line, 'by the four worldly winds',

  • a big 'fart', capital letters, exclamation

  • marks and underlined. And that monk was

  • so upset. This was a calligraphy of an Arahant

  • and it's been spoilt by this, you know

  • these people do graffiti all over the world,

  • by the stupid incompetent abbot. He spoiled this.

  • He doesn't know enlightenment when it is

  • in front of his fat nose. He was so upset

  • and called the attendant, "Take me back."

  • And so the attendant had to row him back to

  • the monastery. And he stormed into the abbot's

  • office, he slammed the parchment on the table,

  • "Look at this, what have you done to my

  • beautiful parchment!" And the abbot was calm

  • and he slowly unrolled the parchment,

  • stood up and read it out to the monk.

  • "The diligent monk, alone for 3 years

  • is no longer moved by the four worldly

  • winds. Yet, monk, four little farts have

  • blown you clean across the lake." [laughter]

  • That's only little winds. [laughter]

  • And the monk realised, "Oh god, I'm not

  • enlightened after all" [laughter] and went

  • back and meditated some more. And that is

  • a traditional way we try and find out if someone's

  • enlightened. If someone comes up and says,

  • they are fully enlightened. I'll tell them

  • it's impossible for females to become enlightened.[laughter]

  • They go, "What?! What do you mean?!"

  • Sorry, you're not enlightened, you failed the test. [laughs]

  • We'll do anything to try and

  • upset them. That's the best way you can find out

  • whether you're enlightened or not. So they get angry, if

  • they don't doesn't mean enlightened. If

  • they do get angry, they're certainly not.

  • Venerable sir, please read the questions

  • slowly [laughter]. Your angmo English is

  • hard to catch by the China man, hehe. [laughter]

  • I will read the question slowly if you write

  • them slowly. [laughter] How can you read

  • something like this slowly? It is so

  • small, you got a .. Dear Ajahn, thank you for being so

  • inspiring. Just want to share this, I took a

  • nature walk today and then I realised

  • that I'd wandered off too far. Oh, no.

  • I finally spotted Jhana Grove to my very,

  • very far right, looking rather small.

  • There was no track leading through the trees

  • and thick brambles. I just went in the general

  • direction, parting and parting away with

  • many tall brambles without being able

  • to see further ahead, but finally did

  • come to a clearing but still with no view

  • of Jhana Grove. I walked in the general direction

  • I remembered and lo behold I found the Buddha,

  • a lovely statue in a quiet sitting place.

  • That's the secret Buddha Garden. So it's not

  • that far, it is within the fence.[laughter]

  • So don't go too far. [laughter]

  • So I thought to myself, if you are on the

  • right path you can't really get lost. [laughter]

  • Exactly. Now remember in that book, "The Art of

  • Disappearing", have you read that book? In the preface, I told you

  • to get lost. But I didn't mean in the forest. [laughter]

  • Dear Ajahn Brahm, what is nama rupa? What about

  • the 5 elements, earth, wind, etc? How is the

  • nama rupa and the 5 elements linked to

  • meditation? Thank you Ajahn Brahm.

  • Nama rupa is just one way of looking at

  • the objects of consciousness. In particular

  • regarding the 5 skandhas which make up the

  • body and the mind. The first skandha is the body rupa,

  • it's called. And then the other 4 skandhas

  • has got to do with mind. Things like

  • vedana that's the feeling of happiness or

  • pain associated with each one of the 6 senses.

  • And there's perception, there is what we call

  • ?? formations which include thoughts and will

  • and that's nama. And the consciousness is the

  • fifth. So consciousness and nama rupa, the

  • Buddha said, those 2 lean against each like

  • 2 sheaves of reeds, using agricultural simile.

  • So when you got 2 sheaves of reeds leaning

  • together, that's consciousness and nama rupa. ,You take one

  • of those away, the other one falls over.

  • So basically, you can't have consciousness

  • without something to be conscious of.

  • And when you start to be conscious of,

  • there's no consciousness. That's nama rupa

  • and the, and the, consciousness. And the 5 elements, usually

  • it's usually the 4 elements, you can always

  • add few other elements onto it if you like, earth,

  • wind, fire and water. That was just the old

  • way they understood, know, rupa, body, stuff.

  • Now, that's that past that's used by the 4 elements,

  • because now if you've ever done science,

  • there're quarks, there's Higgs Boson, there's

  • all sorts of stuff out there. And Higgs Boson,

  • is that earth, fire, water or air? It's none of

  • those. So you can use the earth, fire,

  • water and whatever else is, but you don't really need to

  • these days, just you know, stuff.

  • Dear Ajahn, I have had a few experience when

  • I'm feeling quite still and very contented

  • with my breath, when I feel tear drops

  • forming at the corner of my eyes. Can you

  • please help me understand this?

  • If you feel tear drops, if it's happy, it's supposed to

  • happen. It's a form of piti, joy.

  • So you cry from joy. You could be crying

  • because you're sitting so long in here[laughter]

  • and your legs hurt like hell. You could

  • be crying because of the old jokes,

  • oh, not that one again. [laughter]

  • You could be crying because of the bad

  • chanting. [laughs] Whatever it is, but anyway,

  • if it happens, let it happen. Cry, it's good for you.

  • Dear Ajahn, sometimes when we wake up from

  • sleep, the mind is awake but the body is not.

  • I can't feel the body, is it similar to jhana? [laughs]

  • No, no, you can't get jhana that easy.

  • So, yeah, your body is quiet and relaxed

  • and your mind is waking up but when it's

  • jhana, it's incredible bliss. Bliss better than

  • sex, so when you wake up, is that better than

  • sex? [laughter] If it is, you're weird.

  • So incredible happiness and bliss in jhanas.

  • Dear Ajahn, sometimes when I get into deep

  • meditation, very still and blissful, Good, I thought I saw the nimittas

  • but I realised that the stream of light

  • seem to be coming from outside. I felt

  • my eyes not totally shut. Why is that so?

  • Look, it's very hard for you to see light

  • streaming in from outside inside this hall.

  • You have to be looking up for a start and the right

  • place if there's any sun coming up here.

  • So if it's in this hall, that was a nimitta,

  • nothing else. I notice some tradition

  • taught meditation with the eyes open,

  • looking downward. What's your view on that,

  • wouldn't it be more difficult to focus on the breath?

  • Exactly. So the whole idea is allowing the

  • 5 senses to disappear. The easiest way is to

  • close your eyes. I mentioned yesterday or

  • day before, about, in Zen retreats, you look at

  • the wall with your eyes opened but still that's

  • another way. It's not as good as closing your eyes.

  • In some tradition,they ask you to keep

  • your eyes open just so you don't fall asleep.

  • But you still fall asleep anyway, [laughs] it's

  • a waste of time. [laughs]So please close your eyes.

  • In most traditions, they always have the

  • eyes closed. Someone's drawn a cartoon.

  • I see, it's on the other side, they just

  • traced it, oh.

  • I thought I progressed in my meditation today

  • because for the first time I couldn't feel

  • my hands. But why is it that I could still

  • feel my legs, it's just that my hands were numb?

  • You're getting there, start with your hands,

  • then you get your legs, eventually then your mouth, and you

  • shh, not talk any more. [laughter]

  • So it's starting, very good.

  • When, while meditating it felt like the room

  • was lighted as if someone lit up the room.

  • It was for a very moment and then the light

  • faded quickly. It happened twice in the last

  • 3 days. What could that be or maybe someone

  • has switched on the lights?

  • Very unlikely, there, these are the first bits,

  • nimitta comes up, now, it's like, like a sheet of light,

  • everything is bright and then,eventually, it focusses on

  • just one nice bright spot. That's good,

  • it's working, that's what's supposed to happen.

  • It's like your eyes are closed and you should

  • know, if you want to open one eye, it's

  • totally dark. Or as Claire does, I gave her

  • the Singapore Airlines, um, eye shades,

  • and if you have any doubts, put those eye

  • shades on, and then you'll know for absolute

  • certainty that this is not light from

  • outside, it has to be a nimitta.

  • I got a few more of those if anyone needs them.

  • Dear Ajahn, after 3 days I still cannot

  • sit still, what should I do?

  • Go home. [laughter] No, don't go home.

  • If Dania's not here, but what, we can,

  • if you can't sit still, we'll get some

  • string and tie you up [laughter] which is the

  • chair so you got no choice, sit still.[laughs]

  • Don't try to sit still. You can sit still

  • when you are not trying when it just happens

  • naturally. When you're watching a movie,

  • can you sit still? So why can't you sit

  • still when you are meditating? So,

  • what you can do is, all these different

  • types of meditation, what's happening is

  • your thoughts is usually driving you to be

  • restless. So just be, make peace, be kind and

  • be gentle, follow all the advice, so don't try

  • and fight this but say, "Welcome, restlessness"

  • like the monster who came into the emperor's

  • palace. Little by little over the next

  • couple of days, you'll find you'll

  • calm down and you'll be able to sit

  • still for longer and longer and longer.

  • You don't need to sit still all day

  • but just maybe half an hour a day or

  • couple of half hour sessions. Don't push it

  • too much and gradually get into stillness.

  • Dear Ajahn, body scan meditation, can I

  • request a favour from you just to guide us through for a body

  • scan meditation please, thank you.

  • Sometimes, people ask the guided meditations

  • but it is difficult to do in this context

  • when you've got interviews to do and other

  • stuff going on. Because in the mornings,

  • we have our chanting and other stuff and

  • some people like to sit quietly.

  • So if you want to do a body scan meditation,

  • a guided one, I'm sure that somebody's got sort of an

  • Iphone you can put a sort of, an ear adapter in

  • and get it downloaded so you can hear it

  • yourself. It's okay to sit here just listening

  • to a guided meditation through an ear phone.

  • So that's the best way of doing it.

  • If you haven't got a recording of the

  • body scan meditation, I'm sure that Dania

  • can get one for you. Sorry? [voice from background] on youtube, yeah.

  • so you can sort of download that and

  • you all got your gizmos here

  • and get sort of a, little earphone,

  • they can plug it in there and have your own.

  • Dear Ajahn, I am not sure whether I have intestinal

  • problems or maybe it is the amount of cheese

  • I'm eating. But for the last couple

  • of days I've been farting a lot. [laughter]

  • If you're farting a lot, please sit at the

  • back, [laughter] so there's no one behind you. [laughter]

  • It's fine when I'm alone in my cottage,

  • I just let it go. However the problem

  • arises when I'm meditating in the hall,

  • do I just let it go and fart away or

  • do I have to suck it back in? [laughter]

  • Does the ?? apply to farting as coughing? Thank you. [laughter]

  • Get a plug [laughter]. No, it's natural that

  • people pass wind. So just sit in the back there

  • somewhere so that you know, there's no one

  • right behind you and that way I'll find

  • out who the ones are. [laughter]

  • Jerry [laughter]. No it's just part of nature,

  • so a lot of time people don't notice it after a couple of seconds,

  • it's just part of life.

  • Is the greater letting go the letting go of self?

  • Is underlying all our grasping and love,

  • happiness, excess pleasure, etc

  • the grasping of a self? Yeah, but who grasps

  • the self. So, sometimes it's very hard

  • to let go of the self. It's like eating your

  • own head. How can you eat your own head?

  • That was the simile from Charles Dickens in Oliver Twist.

  • Now to eat your own head is impossible to do.

  • The same way of letting go of yourself

  • is impossible to do because you do it.

  • So what happens is your idea of self fades

  • away, you don't let it go, you don't do anything,

  • cos all doing creates more self.

  • These are some deeper teachings here,

  • that if you strive in meditation, you are

  • actually reinforcing and strengthening your

  • idea of self. That's where the sense of self

  • comes from, all of your achievements,

  • all your trying, all of the great things you've

  • done, that makes who you are. Which is why

  • when we struggle and strive and try to make

  • things happen, we are going against the

  • stream of dhamma, you're making a bigger self.

  • But when you let go, when you just make peace,

  • be kind, be gentle, and not even trying to attain

  • things, just being here. If jhana comes, it

  • comes, if it doesn't, it's all the same to me.

  • I'm just sitting under the mango tree

  • perfectly still. If that's how you meditate,

  • your sense of self gets less and less and less.

  • It'll vanish. That was the whole reason we wrote the

  • book "Art of Letting Go" oh, "Art of Disappearing". Sorry.

  • Just basically you disappear, that's how

  • you let go of self. It disappears,

  • it vanishes. And any of you who know

  • the Pali, sometimes the translations

  • which people have done, need to be adjusted

  • to see the full picture. They have this word

  • which you might read many times

  • 'Viraga'. It's the whole thing of you get insight,

  • you see things as they truly are, from stillness

  • you see things as they truly are then

  • you get this dispassion, and then 'viraga', things

  • fade away, and then nirodha, they cease.

  • And sometimes the word viraga is sometimes

  • called dispassion but it has another

  • meaning, fading away, which is the right meaning

  • because it's the way that you fade, you

  • disappear. In the same way that you experience

  • your hands disappear, they just fade

  • away, not just one point and suddenly

  • they're gone, just, they fade, it's a process,

  • they're not there any more.

  • In deep meditation you fade away, you are

  • not there any more. That's how you realise

  • non-self, you don't let it go, you don't

  • put it down, just holding it and just, it's gone,

  • it disappears. That's why stillness is so

  • important. Stillness is the cause of

  • things vanishing. When you're still you don't

  • do anything and you vanish. It was, I saw

  • this when I was a student in Cambridge in about

  • 1970. This was English graffiti in Cambridge

  • University. When they had graffiti in those days,

  • it actually meant something and it was

  • usually very wise. And this I saw with my

  • own eyes on the wall of the Philosophy Department

  • in Cambridge. The first line was "To do is

  • to be" Rene Descertes, the French philosopher.

  • It was then, "I think therefore I am", he also refined that

  • "To do is to be" and underneath that was

  • written "To be is to do" Jean-Paul Sartre,

  • the French existential philosopher, that's

  • what being was. So the first one is,

  • "To do is to be" by Rene Descertes,

  • the second one was turning it around "To be is to do"

  • by Jean-Paul Sartre and that was summed up,

  • so brilliantly by the modern American philosopher,

  • "Do be do be do" Frank Sinatra [laughter]

  • That's a brilliance [laughs] but the first

  • part of that was actually showing that your

  • existence, who you think you are is so

  • caught up with what you do. Now, you're

  • a doctor, and say, that's who I am, it's not who

  • you are, that's just what you do. You see that's who we

  • think we are. I'm a monk, cos I monk around [laughs]

  • that's what I do. So you can actually see

  • that when you do things, that's who you are.

  • So what happens when you don't do anything,

  • when you are still? You actually vanish,

  • your identity disappears which is one of

  • the reasons why it's a really tough thing

  • to do nothing. It's like you're vanishing, like

  • you don't exist any more, you are disappearing,

  • that's what's supposed to happen.

  • It's difficult but it's great fun.

  • Because it's so happy when you're not around. [laughs]

  • Dear Ajahn, I notice the constriction in

  • my throat during meditation at times. Perhaps

  • it's some sort of energy blockage. Is

  • such a phenomenon indicative of anything in

  • particular? Just probably you've got

  • a sore throat like many people have. Take a lozenge. [laughs]

  • There's nothing indicative when you've got a

  • constriction in your throat. This is pollen

  • season now in this part of the world, so

  • it's a lot of hay fever and maybe and

  • sometimes people don't have hay fever anywhere

  • else in the world but they get it when they

  • come here. Be careful it may be just

  • an irritation in the respiratory system.

  • And just take some hot water, just relax

  • rest, it usually goes away. That's nothing to do

  • with meditation.

  • Dear Ajahn, when the breath is more refined,

  • the body may need to swallow saliva,

  • how to prevent it? Thank you Ajahn.

  • Just swallow and don't make a big problem of it.

  • Because sometimes, you think, should I swallow

  • should I not swallow, then it just goes on forever. [laughs]

  • And now,can feel your saliva now? I can feel mine.

  • As soon as you start talking about it, then

  • it becomes a problem. Do you have problems

  • do you wake up in the middle of the night

  • when you swallow saliva? No, just swallow it, an

  • automatic process, it doesn't bother anybody.

  • So the point is, just don't make it a big problem,

  • and it's natural and it won't disturb your

  • meditation at all. If that doesn't work,

  • we can send Dania in to get one of these

  • things from the dentist, [laughter]

  • which will suck saliva out so you can

  • meditate without any problems at all.[laughter]

  • So if you're really having trouble, we'll get one

  • of those for you. [laughter]

  • Next question. The Buddha taught that we let go

  • of our senses. Does that mean persons who are

  • hearing impaired, visually impaired or mute have

  • a higher chance of gaining enlightenment

  • or even faster, going into jhanas?

  • That's actually a really, really good question.

  • As many people know, say if you are blind,

  • you are visually impaired, your

  • other senses become incredibly refined.

  • So when one sense has gone, that part of the

  • brain is taking up with the other senses. Yeah,

  • maybe you may have problem with seeing things but

  • you can hear, you're so incredibly sensitive.

  • Or you know, if you are, if you are deaf, sometimes your hands are

  • just so sensitive, you can actually feel

  • everything with your body. So basically

  • there is no advantage or disadvantage, know, if one of your

  • senses is impaired. You don't gain anything,

  • you don't lose anything, so it's all the same,

  • no matter you've only got 4 senses.

  • Many of the tree trunks in the bush along

  • the walk to Bodhiyana Monastery are blackened.

  • When did the bushfire pass through?

  • Oh, actually this time last year, it was

  • very dry and there was an arsonist in the

  • area who's just going around lighting fires, about 13 or

  • 14 in this area, never caught. So we

  • don't know exactly who it was. But they're

  • only small fires, so they didn't do

  • too much damage, in the sense it actually

  • helps the bush here because if you did a little

  • bushfire, burn this time last year,

  • it means there's not so much fuel, safer. So, we didn't really

  • mind so much. It's part of living in the

  • Australian forest, so sometimes things burn.

  • So this time of the year, because it's a

  • very wet year and you've seen some of the rain

  • in the first few days, it's really, really safe right now.

  • I seem to have an internal time keeper in

  • meditation. I seem to always be prompted to end it at 30 minutes.

  • Why is it and how can I deal with it?

  • It's true you do have internal clocks and

  • that's why that you can actually say to

  • yourself "I will meditate for 1 hour"

  • and if you really listen to what you say and

  • mean it, that's how long you will meditate for.

  • For those who've never tried this before,

  • I invite you to try this tonight.

  • Don't know what time you want to wake up tomorrow morning,

  • probably 5 to 7, oh no, no, 6.40, sorry.[laughs]

  • Say you want to wake up at 6.40 to have

  • a breakfast, you can set your alarm to 6.45,

  • just to make you feel safe and not afraid

  • and then when you go to sleep, just tell

  • yourself "I will wake up at 6.40. I will wake up at 6.40.

  • I will wake up at 6.40" You say that to yourself

  • 3 times clearly and listen with as much

  • mindfulness as you can and you set your

  • alarm to 6.45 just in case. And you'll find you'll wake in the

  • morning, you don't know what time it is,

  • the alarm hasn't gone off and you look

  • at your clock, it'll be one or two minutes

  • either side of 6.40. It's amazing just how your body

  • clock can wake you up when you tell it to.

  • And of course, you know, you want to get the morning

  • chanting for a change, just say, "I will wake up at

  • a quarter to 6, I will wake up at a quarter to 6,

  • I will wake up at quarter to six" to get ready

  • for the chanting at 6. And you'll be surprised

  • you'll just wake up without an alarm.

  • So please try that because it just shows

  • us how this body clock works.

  • And all you need to do is to make the suggestion,

  • listen to it and it works. So for those of you doing,

  • this person, 30 minutes, and that's all you

  • can do, programme your body clock,

  • this is just a habit, that's all you have.

  • Just tell yourself when you sit down, you close

  • your eyes, you get yourself reasonable relaxed and

  • you tell yourself, "I will meditate for 40 minutes.

  • I will meditate for 40 minutes. I will meditate

  • for 40 minutes." Tell that to yourself and

  • usually you find that you'll go for 40 minutes. That's how

  • you can condition your mind.

  • You mentioned that thoughts coming up is discontent

  • and unhappiness in meditation. Today I

  • thought of friends and I was happy and

  • grateful. What does that mean?

  • Yeah, you can think of sex, you can

  • think of your favourite movie, that will

  • make you happy as well, so you don't have

  • any other thoughts. That is not learning

  • how to be still. So if you think of your

  • friends and happy and grateful or

  • you might think of, actually you might think of your favourite food,

  • it makes you happy at first but very disappointed later. [laughs]

  • So there's all sorts of ways of borrowing

  • happiness, and this is really what we're doing.

  • This is what the Buddha said that the sensory

  • desire is just the borrowing happiness and

  • you have to pay it back with interest afterwards.

  • So any fantasy or stuff, yes it stops you

  • being sleepy, but, you know you have to pay

  • that back later on. So it's much better to try

  • and be quiet. Yes you can think and be happy,

  • but it's only borrowing happiness, so if

  • you can be still and happy to be still,

  • then that's the true happiness of the mind.

  • When the breath is more refined, how to

  • programme the knower stronger than the doer?

  • When the breath is more refined, just let

  • the breath be. So when the breath is

  • very, very fine, is very, very soft, hopefully

  • it will start to be a happy, beautiful breath.

  • This is a usual way it occurs. The breath calms

  • down and because you're not doing very much,

  • the energy in your mind goes into knowing,

  • is not wasted on doing. So the knowing, the

  • mindfulness gets stronger, it gets empowered,

  • it gets brilliant and with that comes a natural

  • form of happiness. Have you ever been depressed?

  • If you are depressed, nothing tastes nice.

  • Doesn't matter how much effort the cook puts

  • into your lunch, urgh, it doesn't taste nice,

  • and the sun is just too hot, the rain is

  • too wet, Ajahn Brahm talks the same old jokes,

  • I'm fed up, the meditation cushion is too

  • lumpy, the beds are just too cold or whatever.

  • When you're depressed you can't enjoy anything.

  • And the world is grey for you but it just means

  • you got low energy. But when you build up

  • energy in the mind, everything is delicious

  • and beautiful. The rain is brilliant,

  • the cold, aw, it's so wonderful, it's just so

  • embracing and invigorating, the cold, Ajahn Brahm's

  • jokes, oh, the golden oldies, [laughter]

  • I remember the first time I heard that, and oh,

  • and that was such beautiful memories,

  • and everything is wonderful when you got lots of

  • energy in the mind. So this is what usually happens when

  • the knower becomes strong, it's just too happy which

  • means you just can't do anything.

  • You just, remember when you listen to great

  • music or you listen to your movie, you don't

  • do anything because you're satisfied with

  • happiness. It is the happiness stops the

  • doing and stops the thinking. Please cultivate

  • the happiness in meditation and don't be depressed.

  • That's why one of the greatest ways of overcoming

  • depression is meditation. Why, why does that work?

  • Because you're being still and peaceful,

  • that means the energy is allowed to flow

  • to where it really belongs, in the mind.

  • You wake up and everything is bright and brilliant again.

  • Dear Ajahn, is it craving if we respectfully

  • request for hot Asian lunch? [laughs]

  • These are Asian lunches, Cauc-Asian lunches.[laughter]

  • You don't know what it was like to be, when

  • my 9 years I was a monk in Thailand.[laughs]

  • I never saw any Western food, never a slice of

  • bread, never a chip, nothing. All I ever saw

  • was Asian food. [laughter] You know what happened, it was

  • actually after 7 years. After 7 years I

  • went to England to visit my family. My mother said,

  • "Oh, you've been in Thailand, I'll make you

  • rice and curry." Oh, no,[laughter]

  • that, that's so many years and this is absolutely true.

  • When I went to UK after 7 years as a monk,

  • only once did I get chips and that was from

  • the Thai man. All of the other people thought,

  • oh, you know, must like rice and curry. You lived there for so long. [laughter]

  • And I was just dreaming of [laughs].

  • So remember it's just 4 elements that's

  • all you're eating. [laughs] But we are actually

  • trying. I did hear some of you wanting some

  • Asian. But actually the cook is supposed to be from Singapore.

  • I don't know why she's not making Singapore food.

  • It must mean your karma is not ripe yet. [laughter]

  • But at least you're getting a breakfast of congee

  • every day, is there enough of that?

  • Very good. [laughs] It'll come, you'll

  • get an Asian lunch soon. You can understand

  • how I felt. But itis true because sometimes you

  • get used to certain type of food. But what about poor Priya, she's Sri Lankan.

  • She doesn't get anything, I saw that English food or

  • Caucasian food or Asian food but not Sri Lankan food,

  • poor Priya [laughs]. But anyway, we're trying our very best,

  • we're try and get some Asian food too.

  • Meditation is good and we all know it but

  • how do we keep the practice sustainable after

  • we leave this wonderful place and return

  • to the real world? You haven't left yet. [laughter]

  • It's another week before you leave. [laughter]

  • Stop being so far ahead of yourself. [laughter]

  • You can ask that question on the last hour, last day.

  • Thank you for your utmost patience and gentleness

  • with us. Could you please advise us how to

  • develop the genuine or something beautiful

  • breath when it appears? You just let it be.

  • Ah, on the back of T-shirts once it gets

  • warm when people don't cover themselves up

  • with all sorts of blankets and stuff, you will see

  • the words "Make peace, be kind, be gentle."

  • That's all you ever need to do at any stage

  • of the meditation. Just make peace with the

  • delightful breath or whatever else you

  • you're experiencing. If you make peace with it

  • rather than changing it, you're making peace

  • which means peace is growing. You get more peace

  • and more peace and more peace. And the meditation 's

  • just peace upon peace upon peace. Many moments of

  • making peace and you have the house of peace.

  • Just like this hall, many, many bricks,

  • all laid one by one by the builders. Now

  • we have a hall of bricks, just like you

  • have the house of peace, by laying one brick

  • of peace after the other. That's how we make it.

  • So you just make peace with whatever you

  • experience. Be kind. Open the door of your heart

  • to the delightful breath. This is good enough,

  • what more do you want? Some people haven't

  • even been able to watch the present moment.

  • So, just, you are doing well. Enjoy and

  • just be so gentle. I'm just going to go very,

  • very slowly. This is good enough for me.

  • So the opposite of gentle is be violent.

  • Come on! Get on to the next stage, stop

  • messing around! So please don't do that,

  • just always make peace, be kind, be gentle.

  • And that's advice for any stage of meditation

  • and it works.

  • A lay person while on her way to give

  • food dana to an Arahant, she saw a hunger

  • streaking and dying beggar. Who should she

  • give the food to, the beggar or the Arahant?

  • Who would you give it to?

  • Put your hand up, who's for the beggar? Okay.

  • Who's for the Arahant? Aw,poor Arahant. [laughter]

  • Okay. [laughter] Because how do you it's

  • the Arahant, that beggar could be the Arahant.

  • Who knows? So when the Buddha said is, give where

  • heart finds the greatest satisfaction. So a lot of

  • you, doesn't matter about the Arahant, if

  • you give where your heart finds satisfaction,

  • because someone really needs it, that's a wonderful

  • place to give. You get much more joy out of that.

  • And sometimes you give to all these people

  • and sometimes, I give that alms, I give to the beggar

  • because I had that experience myself when I was in

  • Thailand. [chuckle] We used to eat this terrible,

  • terrible food. Asian food would have been nice. [laughter]

  • It wasn't Asian food, it was just rice and

  • frogs or beetles, you know, egg curry, no it was ant egg curry, red ant

  • curry as well. We had red ant curry and

  • anything which slithered on the ground,

  • we ate, literally. And so, one day,

  • having eaten this disgusting food, I was sitting

  • in Ajahn Chah's monastery, about 50 monks

  • there waiting for our daily meal of rice

  • and rotten fish, you know how is it, disgusting stuff.

  • I don't know how I actually ate that, in those days.

  • But anyway, that's all you had so you ate it.

  • And a car came and it was one of these

  • pick up trucks with a train in the back, full of

  • pots of food. It had come from the city,

  • which meant this was nice, nice Asian

  • food, stuff you could eat. And the man got

  • out of the car, came into the dining hall

  • and just asked "Is Ajahn Chah here?" He was

  • actually out that day. He went to do a blessing

  • at someone's house. So I said, "No, he's not here."

  • So the man got back into his car and drove

  • off away. [laughter]. That, I would never

  • forget that forever. You can see the food,

  • you can smell the food but it was driving

  • away. [laughter] Instead we had rice and

  • rotten fish again. [laughter] Why did he do that?

  • Cos he thought, give it to an Arahant is where

  • you get all of the good merit and give to

  • beggars like me, that's how I felt, [laughs]

  • was no merit. Of course you give it to the person who needs it.

  • That's what I would do.

  • Hope this is not a stupid question. There is

  • no such thing as a stupid question. Sometimes

  • if a person ask a question and it is wrongly put,

  • you may feel stupid for a second but

  • if you don't ask the question, you are stupid

  • for the rest of your life. Remember that.

  • People say that if you meditate, it is inevitable

  • that you are able to see spirits whether you

  • want to or not. Is it true?

  • Unfortunately, it's not true. Many people

  • meditate and they can't see any spirits at all.

  • Venerable Sariputta was one of those, fully

  • enlightened, very wise but he could not see

  • any spirits. But if you do see spirits you are

  • very lucky. Spirits are very, very helpful.

  • They know lottery numbers [laughter], they

  • know the stock market, they can help you

  • when somebody, when there's going to be car crash,

  • you can avoid the place. Oh, they're

  • really, really very helpful. So don't be scared. [chuckle]

  • That's why the story of the tsunami ghost.

  • It's a long time since I told that story.

  • This was, just after the boxing day tsunami,

  • this was a Thai girl married to an Englishman,

  • an angmo in the town of, where was it, Krabi, which was

  • just maybe hundred kilometres outside of Phuket.

  • And she woke up in the middle of the night,

  • after a dream, where she dreamt of seeing

  • this Caucasian girl with long blonde hair,

  • but her clothes all ripped, gashed and bleeding.

  • And the Caucasian girl came to her in a dream and said,

  • "I'm dead. I am dead. Help me, I am dead."

  • Do I sound like a ghost? [laughter]

  • [Off the lights - voice from background] Off the,

  • yeah, go on, turn off the lights, come on. [laughter]

  • Very good. I'm dead, help me...

  • and she said, "I was on Phi Phi Island when the

  • big wave hit. I'm dead, my cell phone is

  • at the bottom of the ocean. My mother is

  • trying to call me right now. Help me. Please

  • my body is now in the temple in Phuket

  • where they are keeping many of the dead bodies.

  • This is my name, this is the temple. Help me.

  • I want a Buddhist funeral. Cremate me but

  • don't let my mother know or come. So don't let

  • my mother come until after the cremation.

  • I don't want my mother to see me like this,

  • and tell my mother, here is the number."

  • And after giving a telephone number,

  • is when the Thai girl woke up. It was

  • one of those dreams which was so clear,

  • she remembered everything. She woke up

  • her husband, told him everything and her

  • husband was quite shocked. Now, that number was

  • a London telephone number. So he told his

  • wife, "Give the number a call." She said, "No way, you call".

  • So he had to call that number. Someone, it was the

  • middle of the night in Thailand, late in

  • the evening in London, a woman picked up

  • that phone. It was the mother. She had a

  • daughter with that name. And the mother

  • said, "I knew that she was dead." She could feel

  • it and she heard the news about the big

  • tsunami. She knew her daughter was on Phi Phi Island.

  • She said, "I knew. Thank you for telling me. go ahead."

  • And so the next day they drove to Phuket,

  • found the temple which the ghost had named,

  • went inside and saw the body, exactly as

  • she had seen in the dream. And because the

  • Thai authorities were trying to get rid of

  • the bodies as soon as possible, they

  • gave permission to cremate that body.

  • They cremated it and the next day,

  • the mother arrived from Heathrow to pick

  • up the ashes, thanking them for what they

  • had done. And then they went back to Krabi. A couple

  • of nights later, she had another dream.

  • The English girl came to see her again.

  • "Thank youu, thaank, youuu. Loook at me." [laughter]

  • and she was just so perfectly dressed

  • and groomed. I think the Thai girl said,

  • just like she'd been to, like a salon and

  • got her hair done, her skin was just radiant

  • like she'd been to a spa and she's wearing this

  • beautiful white dress. "Thank youu, so much for

  • what you have done." She said, "I want to help you back."

  • She gave or the ghost gave the girl, or maybe deva, more like

  • a deva now, the deva gave the Thai girl

  • another set of numbers which were not

  • telephone numbers.[laughs] They were

  • lottery numbers. She remembered them

  • and wrote them down when she woke up.

  • And she put a lot of money on that lottery

  • number and it won and they made a fortune.

  • Which is why whenever you see spirits you should

  • never run away. [laughs] Not until you've

  • asked them for numbers first.[laughter]

  • That's a true story. So that sometimes, you should

  • not be afraid of the ghost, they can help out.

  • Turn on the lights so I can see the next question.

  • Oh, upside down that's why I can't read it. Wow.

  • Why do ghosts always come in the dark?

  • And the answer is - they don't. Even in

  • the middle of the day, ghosts come out. ]laughs]

  • The thing is, in the middle of the day,

  • you don't notice them. You think it's just

  • an ordinary person sitting next to you [laughter].

  • Today 2 people disappeared into the forest.

  • Are we sure the ones who came back are real? [laughter]

  • Didn't I tell you when, sometimes ghosts

  • you can't tell them apart. One of the most

  • amazing stories in Australia, you don't need

  • to turn the lights off, was the lady who

  • married a ghost. It's a true story, well

  • documented. Are you going to turn the lights off again? [laughter] Okay, yeah, okay.

  • So this woman was about to

  • get married. And in the Western tradition,

  • as in a big church, girl wears white and

  • the groom is there waiting in the church for her.

  • But if the wedding, doesn't matter what

  • time the wedding is, the bride must always

  • arrive late. It's tradition. Just shows

  • she's not so keen [laughter]

  • otherwise husband will take advantage of you.

  • So even the wedding I did the other day,

  • it's supposed to be at 3.15 and she didn't

  • arrive till about 3.30, so made me late.

  • But the bride arrived late, 5 minutes late

  • to find that the groom hadn't arrived yet.

  • And she was really disappointed and also a bit

  • concerned. Cos sometimes, you know, boys they get

  • cold feet at the last moment. I don't want to

  • get married. And so some of the times, you know, their friends

  • tell them bad jokes about marriage like I told

  • the other day. But, didn't I tell the joke about

  • love is blind? I did that one. Okay what

  • other jokes are there, about the man who said, I always

  • wanted to marry Mrs. Right and I've finally

  • found her, that's why I married the right woman.

  • She's always right and I'm always wrong.[laughter]

  • There's loads and loads of marriage jokes.

  • So sometimes the guys get cold feet at the last

  • moment. So she thought she was going to

  • be stood up, the guy wasn't going to turn up.

  • And as the minutes passed by, she was more and

  • more worried. And there was sense of relief

  • but also concern when she saw the groom,

  • the guy she was about to marry, running

  • down the street towards her. And because

  • she was pleased to see him, but worried because he

  • was bleeding and his suit was cut. And he told her

  • the reason he was late, he was caught in

  • a car accident. She took one look at him and

  • said "I'm taking you to the hospital."

  • "No, no, I'm okay. I want to go through this

  • marriage. It's really important for me. I want

  • to marry you." and said, " I feel okay."

  • So she trusted him. He went into the men's

  • room, cleaned himself up. And even though they

  • started late, they went through the marriage.

  • They were exchanging rings, making their vows,

  • signing the register, kissing, you know the whole lot.

  • And after doing all the signing, the kissing,

  • exchanging rings, the bride and groom went

  • in the car to the reception, the party they

  • have afterwards. And as they wanted to have

  • some together so they went in the car alone.

  • And she drove because he was still a bit shaky.

  • And everyone else followed after them on

  • the way to the reception hall.

  • People following found the car parked

  • with the bride sobbing, hysterical and no

  • sign of the groom, the new husband.

  • When they calmed her down, they asked "where's he gone?"

  • And she said, "I was driving the car. He was

  • sitting next to me and suddenly he just disappeared from

  • the passenger seat." He just vanished.

  • They checked afterwards, that spot where

  • he vanished was the spot where he had died

  • an hour, two earlier in a fatal car crash.

  • He died there. And he wanted to get married

  • so much, he made himself as a ghost. He

  • went to the marriage and she didn't know.

  • Even when she kissed him, it was like kissing

  • a real guy. He signed the register, everything.

  • So be careful, [laughter] the next time you kiss someone, yeah. [laughter]

  • He could be ghost. So they just don't come

  • out at night. Sometimes you can marry one.

  • So she is Mrs. Ghost now. [laughter]

  • That's a true story, happened in Australia,

  • it's weird but that's a true ghost story.

  • And it's because of his craving and desire to go

  • through the marriage, that created the solid

  • body for him enough to go through

  • that ceremony but only that much. Great story, isn't it?

  • Dear Ajahn, I believe I got better at being at present

  • moment awareness, although still interrupted

  • by thoughts and inner chatter. I almost

  • do not respond to them at all. However when

  • I came out of meditation, the present

  • moment are not very vivid in my memory. Is

  • that normal? That's quite normal. Later on,

  • the present moments, because you are not holding on to

  • them, you're not making them so important,

  • they don't really stay. What stays in your memory

  • are very strong moments, trauma moments of

  • pain and disappointment. Those are things

  • which stay in your memory or very high bliss

  • states,they are the things you remember

  • because they are intense experiences.

  • Dear Ajahn, would you please share with us

  • what was Ajahn Chah's teachings which was

  • misquoted. Ah I know what was one of them.

  • I know about like jhanas, cos I think it was in

  • Jack Kornfield's book. I remember once, he asked him about

  • is jhana important. And he actually wrote

  • in his book, you know, questions, Ajahn Chah

  • said "Not really." And Ajahn Chah was always

  • into jhanas. And some of the earliest talks

  • he gave, he was always encouraging people to do that.

  • So I know that was one quote that was misquoted.

  • But I forget what that book was, which was

  • badly translated. When we asked the translator,

  • said, why did you translate it like this?

  • And he actually said, "Because that's what I think

  • Ajahn Chah really wanted to say."

  • So you have to be very careful, whenever

  • you are translating a book, you know, you have to know

  • the person first of all, you are translating,

  • so you know exactly what they mean when they

  • say things. That's why that maybe you translate

  • what I say, you have to be someone who's

  • gone to retreats, someone who's lived me,

  • so actually you know exactly what I mean,

  • cos you've heard me say the stories so many times.

  • Cos otherwise, you know, you're not really translating at

  • all. You're actually saying you're interpreting

  • what you think the person meant.

  • Question 2, This is a modern world, would I be

  • doing others keen to tell, would I be doing

  • others keen to do full time injustice if

  • I were ordained just for a short period.

  • I'm a female, just for 1 to 2 years?

  • It's might just do 1 to 2 years of ordaination.

  • If you can get enlightened in 1 to 2 years, fine.[laughs]

  • It's like saying I'm going to go to university

  • for 3 weeks. Would the university let you in?

  • Would you really learn very much, just going to

  • university for 3 weeks? You got to go and do

  • the whole course and why not? It's good being a nun.

  • Although, you know, that's why we're doing a lot of work, trying

  • to raise funds for the nuns monastery.

  • Even the Buddha said that nuns come by things

  • with difficulty. You just look in Asia,

  • monks get lots of things. Women get very little.

  • And you know why? Next time we chant metta

  • sutta, listen to it. "Whatever living beings

  • they may be or meeting nuns,[laughter]

  • let none deceive another, let none, through

  • anger or ill will which harm upon another",[laughter]

  • that's why. [laughter] That's why.

  • Anyway, question 3, since getting a visa is

  • difficult and Dhammasara's a long waiting list,

  • is there other monastery I could apply for

  • practice? What is your recommendation? Thank you very much.

  • Still, the moment for women is very difficult.

  • We've got another monastery, nuns' monastery, Santi in Sydney,

  • which we're repopulating again now. That went

  • through a bit of difficulty, we're really

  • trying to establish that as a bhikkuni monastery.

  • So now the few nuns have gone back there now.

  • But they had a nice nuns monastery in United States,

  • but they didn't get much support at all.

  • And actually the building's got so badly infected

  • with mold. The health department told them to leave.

  • So they spent the last rains retreat all over the place,

  • they had to break the rains. And there's

  • so many wealthy people in California who

  • are supposed to be Buddhists. They don't help

  • the nuns at all. So it's really weird in

  • United States. So it's tough, that's why

  • we're working hard to get places for nuns

  • to live and Australia's a great place.

  • We got the land, it's pretty easy to get.

  • We got a good country here so, it's close to

  • Asia. So you know eventually you'll be able

  • to come here or maybe when you go, you're

  • all so kind, you always give donations

  • and you brought lots of books with you came here,

  • so please take some land back with you.

  • We've got lots of land here, so take a

  • quarter acre back each [laughter] and then

  • we can have a nuns monastery in Singapore.

  • Wouldn't it be great?

  • Dear, next question. Ups and downs of life, challenges,

  • meditate, positive thinking to move on.

  • How to end suffering? Should we still have

  • children and let them suffer?

  • It's a good question, should we have children?

  • Is that appropriate thing to do in today's world?

  • You got climate change, you got wars, is it

  • good to have children and let them suffer?

  • You can look upon it in one way, so there's

  • enough people in this world. But you look at it

  • another way, so you're giving the opportunity

  • of a human birth to somebody, so they

  • can actually get close to the dhamma and

  • actually maybe, even become a great monk or a

  • great nun and even help spread the teachings.

  • So you can look at it both ways, sometimes

  • it's good to have a child cos you've

  • given the opportunity of a human life to somebody.

  • You look at it another way, there's already

  • enough children in the world. So, know, whichever

  • way you want to do, it's, you can't really

  • make a decision there.

  • Dear Ajahn, what is the significance of the

  • kathina to the lay person?

  • It is usually traditionally, it was a way of showing

  • gratitude to the monks who spent the whole

  • rains retreat there and also because they've

  • been meditating really hard or really deeply

  • for 3 months, there was more chance of getting

  • Arahants, once returners, non returners and

  • the Sangha who's just finished the rains

  • retreat, so more chance of getting

  • the biggest bang for your bucks [laughs] when you give stuff.

  • So that's what it usually came from.

  • But these days it's just the opportunity,

  • it's supposed to be a fund raiser to get

  • the building stuff for the next year.

  • So most of the buildings we get, you know,

  • come from the kathina ceremony. So all the

  • stuff which we're doing over the next year,

  • that's one of the biggest fund raisers at the kathina.

  • That's why we have a lot of people come here,

  • they give a lot of donations and that's

  • where we build the stuff for the next year.

  • And that's also why, because, know, you guys always

  • so generous, I want you to go and see where

  • we spent the money. Cos, you know, sometimes, you know, you give,

  • you know, you give like the angpows and donation

  • but you don't know where it goes. Does it

  • go in Ajahn Brahm's trust fund? Does it go to

  • buy Rolex watches? Does he live in a penthouse?

  • Which is why that, on Saturday afternoon,

  • after lunch, you're all welcome to go and

  • see where I live. And you are quite free to

  • rummage around and see if you can find

  • where I keep my Rolex watches. [laughter]

  • Now, hiding from you cos I know you're being there.

  • Where I live is where I live. And the

  • anagarikas they've been in there many times,

  • they see how I live and what I do.

  • So it's not secret and you can actually go

  • and see the other monks' huts as well.

  • And that actually gives you inspiration because

  • we don't spend much money on ourselves.

  • A lot of the time, the money goes in these other

  • things like the nuns' monastery, halls,

  • meditation centres like this, that's where it all goes.

  • So that you can get some confidence, that you

  • know it's hard to make money. You work

  • really hard, and you know, these monks

  • come along and say, "Can you sort of help out in this

  • project and that project?" It's really

  • tough sometimes. You know, sending Lai Peng

  • and she put this story on the website.

  • Sometimes, I, did I tell that story

  • about squeezing the lemon here? Yeah, the

  • lemon challenge. That's why, I think I told it in Singapore

  • with a different context. That's like, like in a bar

  • in Singapore. The barman was a very tough guy,

  • he was an ex-weight lifter, you know, representing Singapore

  • in Olympic Games, really, really strong.

  • You know, he retired and got a bar selling alcohol.

  • And he had a challenge in his bar. If anybody,

  • after he squeezed the lemon into a cocktail,

  • if anyone could take that lemon and squeeze

  • another 3 drops out, they will get a free drink

  • or like a hundred dollars. And many people tried,

  • you know these really big strong guys,

  • they tried to actually, just squeeze another 3 drops

  • out of that lemon. They could not do it at all.

  • Then one day this small Singapore girl,

  • really thin, came in and she said, "I want to

  • try the lemon challenge." And they laughed at her.

  • "You're just such a thin, petite, feminine girl.

  • You can't squeeze any more drops out of this lemon!"

  • She said, "Give me a try." And she took that

  • lemon, squeezed not just 3 drops, 7 drops

  • came out of that lemon. And everyone was so amazed, they

  • gave her the prize. They said, "Who are you?"

  • She said, "I work for Ajahn Brahm on this fund raising." [laughter]

  • We squeeze and squeeze and squeeze.[laughter]

  • Angie, okay. The last time I told that story,

  • I said it was the tax inspectors from Singapore,

  • squeezing extra out of you people. [laughter]

  • Then I said, I've always ??? to that.

  • But If it's a good cause, it's worth doing.

  • And I want you to see the cause of it

  • and also you get great joy out of this.

  • So many of you here actually were the donors

  • for this place. And many of you came up to me

  • and said, "Oh, you're so generous and kind

  • building this beautiful place for us. A nice

  • hall and you got your own ensuites and beautiful

  • surroundings. Thank you so much." Don't

  • thank me. Thank many of the people from Singapore,

  • Malaysia, Australia as well and other parts

  • of the world who made this place happen.

  • Thank yourselves. Well done. It's not just

  • you who enjoy this place. Hundreds of people

  • come here every year, thousands of people.

  • So well done. So when actually you see what you

  • contribute, it gives you so much happiness

  • that you know that your 5 dollars here,

  • 10 dollars there, it really works. Yes!

  • And when you actually spend things on a good

  • cause and you see it's results, that really, really

  • makes you happy. So that's really important.

  • Last one, no, last two. Meditate for all the

  • goodness to lead a happier life and well being.

  • How do monks spend long duration alone?

  • It's really easy. I'm never alone.

  • When I spent 6 months in solitude, I never

  • saw another living being for 6 months.

  • I never spoke to a human being for 6 months.

  • But I wasn't alone. I was with me. [laughter]

  • I'm with me all the time. And I never felt

  • lonely because I'm my best friend.

  • So when you're by yourself, if you like

  • yourself, if you've got a good relationship

  • with yourself, you'll never feel alone.

  • You're with your best friend. That's why, you

  • know, I've always done open the door of my

  • heart to myself, giving myself a hug, looking

  • at myself in the mirror and smiling. And then

  • you find you have this beautiful relationship

  • with yourself. Yeah, you're not the most perfect one,

  • but you're good enough. You're not the

  • most perfect girl, the most perfect boy but you

  • are good enough. Good enough to love, respect

  • and be a good friend to. When you're a good

  • friend to yourself, when you're with people

  • you're relaxed. When you're with yourself,

  • you're also relaxed, which means solitude,

  • being in a big crowd, both the same.

  • Cos sometimes, I look at myself, how many

  • people in this world has spent 6 months alone,

  • in solitude? And how many people have sat

  • in front of audience who's 5,000 and 10,000,

  • all alone and entertain them for couple of hours?

  • I do both. This is weird isn't it? You know,

  • I'm an extrovert. When in front of you,

  • I tell jokes, Sadhu!, Sadhu!! Sadhu!!, so you know, it's

  • a bit of an extrovert. But when you're

  • alone you're an introvert, you can do both with ease.

  • that's the best thing to be able to do.

  • Anyway, the last question. Venerable sir,

  • actually I should actually mention how to

  • address me appropriately, cos sometimes venerable sir,

  • sometimes Ajahn Brahm, sometimes, you know,

  • Bhante. The correct address for me, at this stage of my monastic life,

  • is his roundness Ajahn Brahm [laughter].

  • So you say, your roundness, could you please answer

  • this question? [laughter] Can't stop laughing myself.

  • Do you think that stillness is the ultimate

  • key that switches the mind consciousness out

  • of samsara and the rest of the 7 factors

  • are just the essential conditions to be ripe?

  • Yes,actually that is a very profound, that's what the Buddha said.

  • Samadhi maggo asamadhi comaggo. Samadhi, the

  • stillness is the path, no stillness is not the path.

  • Just before the Buddha sat under the Bodhi tree

  • when he was really depressed cos nothing

  • was working, he remembered the time, under, when he

  • was a kid under the rose apple tree, he saw

  • his father doing a ceremony, he got bored stiff,

  • so he decided to meditate instead got

  • into jhana. And remembering that time he said,

  • "Is that the path to enlightenment, that jhana?"

  • And he realised, actually said, "Yes, that's

  • the path, that's deep stillness." Many times

  • the Buddha said that. So yes, it is actually

  • the essential part, the stillness is the path.

  • And even you know that there is the decline

  • of Buddhism. This is in the Kassapa Samyutta,

  • the 5 reasons for the decline of Buddhism.

  • And the first one is disrespect to the Buddha,

  • second, disrespect to the Dhamma,

  • disrespect to the Sangha, the fourth is disrespect

  • to the training and the fifth, disrespect to

  • Samadhi, the stillness. If you don't value the

  • stillness, the Samadhi, basically the jhanas,

  • Buddhism declines. Buddha, Dhamma, Sangha,

  • the training and Samadhi, Kassapa Samyutta.

  • This is means that the mango will not fall

  • if the conditions are not ripe no matter how

  • still we sit. No, no, if you sit very still,

  • those are the conditions, the mango will fall.

  • This also means that monk hood is only good

  • bet of getting the conditions ripe. So for

  • us lay people, meditation's only to provide a

  • little side effect of a calm mind.

  • That's not true cos sometimes it's amazing, you guys

  • can meditate so still, people in this room,

  • lay people have achieved jhanas.

  • And you know, sometimes, it was about a year ago,

  • it was so unexpected. It was a guy who came on

  • one of our retreats. He had tattoos all over

  • him, you know, sort of, really like one of

  • these ochre Australians, one of the people

  • you would never think belonged in a Buddhist temple

  • but belonged in a pub. Just a whole look of him,

  • said, "What are you doing here?" But when he

  • came for the interviews, he started describing

  • what he's experienced, I was amazed, I was stunned,

  • this guy was getting jhanas. And I don't know

  • what his background was but you know,

  • I've been around a long time, I know when

  • you so you try and fake it, then I know, it's not a jhana.

  • This guy was the real thing and

  • the most unexpected which is why that sometimes

  • you see people wearing white clothes or shaven hair [laughter],

  • and they look, oh these must be real thing.

  • And you get some guy who dresses in just

  • totally inappropriate stuff, they got tattoos and long hair

  • and maybe piercings in their body and you think,

  • what's this person doing here? And they go

  • and meditate and they get it. You don't

  • know, you can't tell. And lay people they

  • do get jhanas. So you're not wasting your time here,

  • otherwise I won't be teaching you.

  • You know a long time ago, I was one of the

  • first monks who started teaching jhanas and

  • I got told off by some of the senior monks,

  • for doing that. I still remember, one of the

  • senior monks in England. In England when I was visiting

  • Amaravati Monastery and I was just going to

  • the reception area, he was just coming out and he took me aside

  • and he looked around and said, [whispering]

  • "Ajahn Brahm thank you for teaching jhanas"

  • so that no one else would hear. It was almost

  • like a controversial thing to do.

  • But you know, I said, "Why? In the time of the

  • Buddha, lay people got jhanas, so why not give them

  • a try and it worked." Not all of you but some

  • of you do. [laughs] And eventually you'll get there.

  • If you don't even teach it, there's no way

  • anyone get jhanas. If you teach it, eventually

  • these things happen. So, it's brilliant and so I'm

  • proud of you guys. That's why it's not a waste of

  • time, keep on going.

  • So anyway, I still meditate, next life I may be

  • a monk, who knows, be prepared.

  • Huh, huh [laughter] I'm not coming next life,

  • I'm out of here. Enough is enough, is enough,

  • [laughter] So, you can.

  • And that's one of the amazing things,

  • it doesn't matter if you are a lay man or

  • a lay woman, old or young, it matters whether

  • you put the causes in place. It's the brilliant

  • teachings of the Buddha. It's only you've got

  • the eightfold path, you do the eightfold path,

  • doesn't matter even if you call yourself a Christian,

  • you've got the eightfold path,

  • you will eventually get to enlightenment.

  • Of course you change your views on the

  • path along the way but it's the causes give

  • rise to effects. If you let go, follow the instructions

  • eventually these jhanas appear. It's just there,

  • because it's cause and effect. It's nothing to do

  • with who you think you are. It's just cause

  • and effect, that's all. Thats so inspiring for me.

  • It's just like me teaching the monks over the

  • road. So as long as you keep carrying on,

  • practising this path, you'll get results,

  • it always happens. You just got to keep along,

  • keep on the path then you'll get to your

  • destination. That's how much faith I've got

  • in this path. So keep on going. You may not get

  • jhanas on this retreat, but may be the next one

  • or the one afterwards. You're always making progress,

  • getting closer every time. So, carry on.

  • It's the last question, just getting into it.

  • Okay, wow, wow, it's really late, 9.30.

  • I do apologise but don't worry, even though

  • it's late that means breakfast is not so far away [laughter].

  • Sadhu, sadhu, sadhu.

Yes, whatever is the main task at hand,

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4日目 Q&A - 2013年10月 Ajahn Brahmリトリート (Day 4 Q & A - Oct 2013 Ajahn Brahm Retreat)

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    Buddhima Xue に公開 2021 年 01 月 14 日
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