WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.839 Here is one of a series of talks by spiritual 00:00:02.839 --> 00:00:06.459 leader Lola McDowell Lee, spanning two decades 00:00:06.459 --> 00:00:10.380 from the early 70s through the 90s. Lola was 00:00:10.380 --> 00:00:13.599 a Zen Roshi, whose Rinzai lineage included Dr. 00:00:13.820 --> 00:00:17.440 Henry Plutov and renowned Zen master Shigetsu 00:00:17.440 --> 00:00:21.039 Sasaki. Lola was a religious scholar as well 00:00:21.039 --> 00:00:24.280 as an ordained Christian minister. While the 00:00:24.280 --> 00:00:27.019 talks are focused mainly on Zen and Buddhism, 00:00:27.339 --> 00:00:30.820 Lola drew on many spiritual traditions, including 00:00:30.820 --> 00:00:35.240 those of Jesus, Plato, Lao Tzu, the Hindu Vedas, 00:00:35.679 --> 00:00:56.479 Meister Eckhart, and Gurdjieff. And you all remember 00:00:56.479 --> 00:01:00.659 what the word means and where it came from and 00:01:00.659 --> 00:01:03.700 all those things, the history of it that we went 00:01:03.700 --> 00:01:08.799 into. Because I can't repeat that every time. 00:01:09.239 --> 00:01:14.599 I would just be repeating that every time. Anyway, 00:01:15.519 --> 00:01:18.980 we come to this now where it says, the fool is 00:01:18.980 --> 00:01:23.120 careless, but the master guards his watching. 00:01:24.810 --> 00:01:31.769 It is his most precious treasure. He never gives 00:01:31.769 --> 00:01:36.790 in to desire. He meditates. And in the strength 00:01:36.790 --> 00:01:39.810 of his resolve, he discovers true happiness. 00:01:41.150 --> 00:01:44.829 He overcomes desire. And from the tower of wisdom, 00:01:45.209 --> 00:01:48.750 he looks down with dispassion upon the sorrowing 00:01:48.750 --> 00:01:52.250 crowd. From the mountaintop, he looks down on 00:01:52.250 --> 00:01:57.060 those who live close to the ground. Mindful among 00:01:57.060 --> 00:02:02.400 the mindless, awake while others dream. Swift 00:02:02.400 --> 00:02:08.300 as a racehorse, he outstrips the field. By watching, 00:02:09.639 --> 00:02:14.919 Indra became king of the gods. How wonderful 00:02:14.919 --> 00:02:21.599 it is to watch. How foolish it is to sleep. The 00:02:21.599 --> 00:02:26.770 bhikshu, now that's a monk. The bhikshu who guards 00:02:26.770 --> 00:02:33.189 his mind and fears the waywardness of his thoughts 00:02:33.189 --> 00:02:36.770 burns through every bond with the fire of his 00:02:36.770 --> 00:02:42.129 vigilance. The bhikshu who guards his mind and 00:02:42.129 --> 00:02:46.469 fears his own confusion cannot fail. He has found 00:02:46.469 --> 00:03:08.159 the way to peace. Well, I guess that's one thing 00:03:08.159 --> 00:03:14.000 that could be said for living in a monastery 00:03:14.000 --> 00:03:17.740 as a monk. You know, you are so constantly in 00:03:17.740 --> 00:03:22.479 the surround, in the environment that it is a 00:03:22.479 --> 00:03:29.629 little easier to practice mindfulness and to 00:03:29.629 --> 00:03:34.610 watch. Of course, they're watching the same things 00:03:34.610 --> 00:03:38.110 as we're watching out here. They've got their 00:03:38.110 --> 00:03:43.030 emotions to deal with just as much. But anyway, 00:03:43.229 --> 00:03:54.319 they... And we know that man... generic man, 00:03:54.460 --> 00:03:58.539 you know, man and women. Man is the only creature 00:03:58.539 --> 00:04:04.580 on this planet who has the ability to choose. 00:04:07.800 --> 00:04:11.860 The birds and the animals and the insects and 00:04:11.860 --> 00:04:17.459 the plants and all that we find out there, they 00:04:17.459 --> 00:04:22.850 have no choice. They don't have mind. with which 00:04:22.850 --> 00:04:30.310 to choose for one thing. They're so encompassed 00:04:30.310 --> 00:04:34.350 in their state, in nature, that their lives are 00:04:34.350 --> 00:04:38.930 what we could call predetermined. Nature takes 00:04:38.930 --> 00:04:42.290 care of them. Of course, nature takes care of 00:04:42.290 --> 00:04:45.230 us, too. The body keeps functioning. You don't 00:04:45.230 --> 00:04:48.089 have to tell the heart, now beat. You don't have 00:04:48.089 --> 00:04:49.829 to get up every morning and say, now breathe, 00:04:50.689 --> 00:04:53.879 now heartbeat. And stomach, you know, and I digest 00:04:53.879 --> 00:04:56.399 your food and all that. It's all taken care of 00:04:56.399 --> 00:05:02.420 for us, every bit of it. But other than that, 00:05:02.420 --> 00:05:09.980 we've got a choice. The choice is limited by 00:05:09.980 --> 00:05:18.579 our abilities. But we can choose to go against 00:05:18.579 --> 00:05:26.269 nature, and we very often do. And we must also 00:05:26.269 --> 00:05:32.389 keep in mind that man is not born a being, not 00:05:32.389 --> 00:05:37.310 yet a being, not in the true sense. He is a becoming. 00:05:38.329 --> 00:05:41.930 He's on the way to be sure. Every human being 00:05:41.930 --> 00:05:45.629 is on the way. But it is still a becoming. We 00:05:45.629 --> 00:05:49.250 are becoming sad and we are becoming happy and 00:05:49.250 --> 00:05:52.990 we are becoming first a child, and then we're 00:05:52.990 --> 00:05:56.470 becoming a teenager, and then we're becoming 00:05:56.470 --> 00:06:00.550 an adult, and then we're becoming mature, and 00:06:00.550 --> 00:06:03.910 then we're becoming old. We're along that line. 00:06:04.129 --> 00:06:07.850 Always we're becoming something. If you watch, 00:06:07.889 --> 00:06:10.129 you know, you can count how many times a day 00:06:10.129 --> 00:06:15.370 you move. So you become something else. You have 00:06:15.370 --> 00:06:18.189 a different attitude. You see things in a different 00:06:18.189 --> 00:06:23.089 light. And you can switch, you know, like that, 00:06:23.250 --> 00:06:26.649 from this point to this point. And we don't seem 00:06:26.649 --> 00:06:32.230 to find that odd, you know. And so man is, in 00:06:32.230 --> 00:06:38.170 his way, searching, and he's seeking, and he's 00:06:38.170 --> 00:06:44.509 groping, and this is called, in some areas, faith 00:06:44.509 --> 00:06:50.279 without an object. This is the search. The searching. 00:06:51.639 --> 00:06:57.319 Faith without an object. There is something somewhere. 00:06:58.160 --> 00:07:03.100 There is something greater than I am. Searching. 00:07:04.060 --> 00:07:07.180 And we keep with this question, you know, philosophy, 00:07:07.639 --> 00:07:11.120 old time philosophy. Had it, you know, who are 00:07:11.120 --> 00:07:15.079 you? And I keep drumming at it. Who are you? 00:07:17.409 --> 00:07:21.509 Difficult for man to know who he is because he 00:07:21.509 --> 00:07:25.970 is not yet the being he is supposed to be. But 00:07:25.970 --> 00:07:30.990 he can certainly perceive whatever state he is, 00:07:32.970 --> 00:07:36.769 who he is. He can perceive something about that 00:07:36.769 --> 00:07:44.550 state. Being has to happen in here somewhere. 00:07:46.699 --> 00:07:50.420 And the being comes about through the searching 00:07:50.420 --> 00:07:57.300 and the seeking and the groping. And also through 00:07:57.300 --> 00:08:07.540 a choice. We have the ability to make a conscious 00:08:07.540 --> 00:08:13.040 choice. To have an awareness of the choices that 00:08:13.040 --> 00:08:21.060 we make. But how often do we do that? This seems 00:08:21.060 --> 00:08:28.300 to be easy, so I'll go this way. To make a choice 00:08:28.300 --> 00:08:33.740 in awareness of what it is that you are doing. 00:08:35.299 --> 00:08:39.039 And it was Jean -Paul Sartre, I think it was, 00:08:39.700 --> 00:08:45.320 who said that man is a project. You know, he 00:08:45.320 --> 00:08:51.460 creates himself by his own effort. He is born 00:08:51.460 --> 00:08:56.200 as an opportunity. He is born as a possibility. 00:08:59.000 --> 00:09:06.360 And he must become actual. And of course it is 00:09:06.360 --> 00:09:09.019 within the realm of possibility that he misses. 00:09:09.940 --> 00:09:15.679 He misses the mark. Millions of people have missed. 00:09:16.539 --> 00:09:22.559 And some never find. Of course, they probably 00:09:22.559 --> 00:09:28.399 never did anything about it either. Some do find. 00:09:31.659 --> 00:09:33.980 Because they made a choice. This is what they 00:09:33.980 --> 00:09:39.799 wanted to do. And then out of that finding, then 00:09:39.799 --> 00:09:43.149 beingness is the state. and they can say, I am 00:09:43.149 --> 00:09:56.629 awake. Those, the many that miss, miss the mark. 00:10:01.110 --> 00:10:05.529 Maybe only because they don't choose, or they 00:10:05.529 --> 00:10:10.700 choose an incorrect way. Many of them are just 00:10:10.700 --> 00:10:15.580 sit down and wait. They just wait. They just 00:10:15.580 --> 00:10:18.320 have this hope that somewhere in here something's 00:10:18.320 --> 00:10:20.899 going to happen and it's going to change them. 00:10:24.100 --> 00:10:27.419 And not much ever really happens that way, you 00:10:27.419 --> 00:10:32.179 know. Why should it? If we can't make any effort 00:10:32.179 --> 00:10:36.860 to further ourselves, well then this hope, you 00:10:36.860 --> 00:10:39.919 know, that something, maybe like a Great light 00:10:39.919 --> 00:10:42.580 descending or whatever it is that people dream 00:10:42.580 --> 00:10:46.019 up about things, you know How can it happen? 00:10:46.960 --> 00:10:49.299 Well, maybe that I like this in great light descends, 00:10:49.299 --> 00:10:58.139 but it's also hallucination We create a context 00:10:58.139 --> 00:11:02.480 within ourselves for a transformation for a waking 00:11:02.480 --> 00:11:08.139 up we create the space in ourselves for something 00:11:08.139 --> 00:11:12.120 valuable and something viable, you know, lots 00:11:12.120 --> 00:11:16.279 of life, for the something essential which is 00:11:16.279 --> 00:11:21.840 going to happen. And we're not free in the sense 00:11:21.840 --> 00:11:25.299 that if you don't choose, you will be allowed 00:11:25.299 --> 00:11:29.919 not to choose, you know, because simply not choosing 00:11:29.919 --> 00:11:41.440 is a choice. The whole point of choosing something, 00:11:41.440 --> 00:11:46.379 you know, is to be able to make an aware choice. 00:11:46.860 --> 00:11:49.860 A choice in awareness. Not just, oh yeah, I guess 00:11:49.860 --> 00:11:52.179 I'll do this, or I guess I'll do that. Just willy 00:11:52.179 --> 00:11:55.899 -nilly. And then you don't do it out of a desire, 00:11:56.200 --> 00:11:58.740 and you don't make the choice out of loneliness, 00:11:59.279 --> 00:12:03.360 or because somebody else wants you to. You choose 00:12:03.360 --> 00:12:09.730 your life. That's what it's all about. And you're 00:12:09.730 --> 00:12:14.090 doing it all the time, every minute of the day. 00:12:14.850 --> 00:12:18.210 So, but let's make the choice with some awareness. 00:12:18.929 --> 00:12:29.429 You choose your life. Now, in this world in which 00:12:29.429 --> 00:12:33.250 we find ourselves, there are many schools of 00:12:33.250 --> 00:12:43.899 thought. One of which is that Man believes that 00:12:43.899 --> 00:12:50.919 we are born as an essence, and it's called the 00:12:50.919 --> 00:12:57.419 essence -central school. That is, man is born 00:12:57.419 --> 00:13:03.440 ready -made. He's all ready, so to speak. And 00:13:03.440 --> 00:13:07.509 the other school is that of existentialism. And 00:13:07.509 --> 00:13:10.669 they believe that man is born as an existence. 00:13:12.889 --> 00:13:18.730 So we got two things here now. First, the essence 00:13:18.730 --> 00:13:26.450 is you bring it with you when you arrive and 00:13:26.450 --> 00:13:30.470 you carry it all of your life. And the only job, 00:13:30.750 --> 00:13:34.330 the only job you have to do is to do something 00:13:34.330 --> 00:13:41.039 so that it will unfold. because it is now as 00:13:41.039 --> 00:13:45.539 it is the essence is in a seed and in this seed 00:13:45.539 --> 00:13:50.720 is in the tree seed an acorn is the oak tree 00:13:50.720 --> 00:13:55.799 it is in the essence now in the essence of a 00:13:55.799 --> 00:14:08.559 human being is this one body we have to unfold. 00:14:12.580 --> 00:14:15.580 You don't have to create yourself, you already 00:14:15.580 --> 00:14:21.759 are. Now to be born as an existence, the other 00:14:21.759 --> 00:14:25.139 side of the fence, even the essence has to be 00:14:25.139 --> 00:14:32.600 created. It is not already present. Both ways, 00:14:33.159 --> 00:14:37.100 both of these schools You have to find the ways 00:14:37.100 --> 00:14:45.659 and the means to be. You have to become a womb 00:14:45.659 --> 00:14:51.200 to your own being. This body is a womb for a 00:14:51.200 --> 00:14:59.120 being. You have to give birth to yourself, as 00:14:59.120 --> 00:15:04.990 it were, which is very poorly put. Physical birth 00:15:04.990 --> 00:15:08.590 is not the true birth, it's first birth. So out 00:15:08.590 --> 00:15:10.769 of the first birth you have to be born again. 00:15:11.830 --> 00:15:14.509 So these two, out of many, these two schools 00:15:14.509 --> 00:15:18.149 of thought, and I bring it up only because I 00:15:18.149 --> 00:15:22.529 want to ask you, which way does the wind blow 00:15:22.529 --> 00:15:31.110 for you? If you have to choose between these 00:15:31.110 --> 00:15:34.470 schools of thought, Which one would you choose? 00:15:37.309 --> 00:15:48.330 And why? And if you choose a neither, then what? 00:15:50.289 --> 00:15:56.929 And why? You know, this is how we come little 00:15:56.929 --> 00:16:03.230 by little to look at what we think. And this 00:16:03.230 --> 00:16:08.070 is very essential. And it is to look at the choices 00:16:08.070 --> 00:16:18.250 that we make. When the Buddha began his teaching 00:16:18.250 --> 00:16:21.409 pilgrimage after he had sat under the tree and 00:16:21.409 --> 00:16:27.090 had arrived at this state of being awake, becoming 00:16:27.090 --> 00:16:30.429 the Buddha, and he went through the temptations 00:16:30.429 --> 00:16:33.840 of Mara, which is like Jesus going through the 00:16:33.840 --> 00:16:42.480 temptations of Satan. And people, he went to 00:16:42.480 --> 00:16:47.100 the Deer Park near Benares from the little place 00:16:47.100 --> 00:16:50.899 where he was sitting. And the people began to 00:16:50.899 --> 00:16:53.259 gather around him because his face was so radiant. 00:16:55.379 --> 00:16:57.600 And they asked him, you know, are you a god? 00:16:58.539 --> 00:17:05.839 And he'd say no, no. Are you an angel? No. No. 00:17:07.339 --> 00:17:11.299 Well, what are you then? And he smiled and he 00:17:11.299 --> 00:17:19.500 said, I'm awake. Hmm? Yeah. Simple answers put 00:17:19.500 --> 00:17:22.759 by these people, you know, when they asked Jesus 00:17:22.759 --> 00:17:28.539 who he was. You know, he said, I am. This one 00:17:28.539 --> 00:17:34.720 says, I'm awake. And the five disciples who left 00:17:34.720 --> 00:17:38.859 him when he became so emaciated that he couldn't 00:17:38.859 --> 00:17:42.680 keep on with his meditation and everything, they 00:17:42.680 --> 00:17:47.420 were there and they saw him. And they decided 00:17:47.420 --> 00:17:51.599 that they would keep their distance and they 00:17:51.599 --> 00:17:54.200 wouldn't shun him, but they weren't going to 00:17:54.200 --> 00:17:57.880 give him any special attention either. But somehow 00:17:57.880 --> 00:18:01.339 they kept getting closer and closer to him because 00:18:01.339 --> 00:18:05.900 they wanted to see this You see somebody like 00:18:05.900 --> 00:18:07.640 that who's that radiant, you want to get close 00:18:07.640 --> 00:18:11.900 to him. And so like a magnet draws, you're drawn. 00:18:12.900 --> 00:18:16.279 And the next thing you know, they're going up 00:18:16.279 --> 00:18:19.099 for a better look at what happened to this man 00:18:19.099 --> 00:18:20.839 because the last time they saw him he was at 00:18:20.839 --> 00:18:25.180 death's door. And here he is. And they found 00:18:25.180 --> 00:18:27.299 all of a sudden to their surprise that they were 00:18:27.299 --> 00:18:31.140 preparing a place for him. And then they sat 00:18:31.140 --> 00:18:37.109 at his feet. They're these same flies. So they 00:18:37.109 --> 00:18:40.170 said to him, please teach us what you have found. 00:18:41.390 --> 00:18:44.769 And so it was to these five students, these five 00:18:44.769 --> 00:18:47.730 disciples, who had at one time deserted him, 00:18:48.410 --> 00:18:51.269 now come back. That's where he began his work. 00:18:53.289 --> 00:18:58.569 And he began by teaching the Dharma, the path 00:18:58.569 --> 00:19:04.480 that leads finally to the end of sorrow. And 00:19:04.480 --> 00:19:10.240 his teaching to these five went like this. The 00:19:10.240 --> 00:19:17.039 first truth is the fact of suffering, anguish. 00:19:19.259 --> 00:19:23.539 All of us want happiness. All of us want what 00:19:23.539 --> 00:19:28.240 is good, what is pleasant, what is right, what 00:19:28.240 --> 00:19:32.559 is permanent, what is joyful, what is harmonious. 00:19:32.839 --> 00:19:40.140 satisfying and puts us at ease. And yet we all 00:19:40.140 --> 00:19:44.259 find that life usually brings the opposite. It 00:19:44.259 --> 00:19:48.579 brings frustration, dissatisfaction, incompleteness, 00:19:49.160 --> 00:19:53.319 suffering, and sorrow. Because life is change. 00:19:55.259 --> 00:20:01.009 And change can never satisfy desire. Therefore, 00:20:01.009 --> 00:20:09.910 everything that changes brings suffering. It 00:20:09.910 --> 00:20:16.150 is so easy to see this. I mean, if we see something 00:20:16.150 --> 00:20:18.970 that we like, that we think is compatible with 00:20:18.970 --> 00:20:22.950 us, or to us, or anything along that line, we 00:20:22.950 --> 00:20:26.970 immediately think we have to possess it. We should 00:20:26.970 --> 00:20:32.220 own this. It should be in our lives all the time. 00:20:33.339 --> 00:20:36.000 We can't just say, oh yeah, I like it now, and 00:20:36.000 --> 00:20:39.759 so I'll like it again. But no, we have to make 00:20:39.759 --> 00:20:41.880 something permanent out of it. And because we 00:20:41.880 --> 00:20:45.319 cannot make something permanent out of it, it's 00:20:45.319 --> 00:20:48.900 sorrow. We have anguish. Oh, look what I lost. 00:20:49.039 --> 00:20:55.980 I didn't lose anything. The second truth is the 00:20:55.980 --> 00:21:00.890 cause of suffering. It isn't life that brings 00:21:00.890 --> 00:21:04.890 so much sorrow. It is the demands that we make 00:21:04.890 --> 00:21:10.990 on life. The cause of sorrow is selfish desire. 00:21:12.650 --> 00:21:15.589 It is there's a kind of a thirst in us, you know, 00:21:15.910 --> 00:21:19.670 to have what we want and to get our own way. 00:21:22.990 --> 00:21:25.670 And so thinking that life, just by being, we're 00:21:25.670 --> 00:21:28.349 here living, you know? We're supposed to be happy 00:21:28.349 --> 00:21:32.470 just because we're here. Where this fallacy came 00:21:32.470 --> 00:21:36.609 from, I'll never know, but it's here. And I'm 00:21:36.609 --> 00:21:39.109 living, so I'm supposed to have what I want. 00:21:42.029 --> 00:21:44.269 And so people are running all the time after 00:21:44.269 --> 00:21:46.970 their desires. They never stand still, they just 00:21:46.970 --> 00:21:51.940 run. And all they get is unhappiness. Because 00:21:51.940 --> 00:21:54.519 this kind of selfishness only brings sorrow. 00:21:57.980 --> 00:22:00.059 And they say, you know, there's no fire like 00:22:00.059 --> 00:22:04.220 a selfish desire. And not a hundred years of 00:22:04.220 --> 00:22:07.400 experience can really extinguish it. For the 00:22:07.400 --> 00:22:11.460 more you feed it, the more it burns. And we can 00:22:11.460 --> 00:22:14.279 see it in the eyes of people, you know, burning 00:22:14.279 --> 00:22:23.720 with desire. Yeah. What we want, you know, it's 00:22:23.720 --> 00:22:26.880 very simple. It's something that experience simply 00:22:26.880 --> 00:22:31.200 can't give us. We want permanent pleasure mixed, 00:22:32.400 --> 00:22:35.920 unmixed, totally unmixed, permanent pleasure 00:22:35.920 --> 00:22:42.759 unmixed with anything unpleasant. Always the 00:22:42.759 --> 00:22:53.309 pleasant. And there is no end, you know, to such 00:22:53.309 --> 00:22:57.650 kind of wanting, because this is the nature of 00:22:57.650 --> 00:23:02.890 the ego. Suffering because life isn't satisfying, 00:23:03.589 --> 00:23:06.809 you know, our every selfish desire, and this 00:23:06.809 --> 00:23:10.509 is really like suffering because a banana tree 00:23:10.509 --> 00:23:17.670 doesn't bear mangoes. Hmm? Yeah, silly, isn't 00:23:17.670 --> 00:23:25.750 it? Now the third truth, and you know Buddha 00:23:25.750 --> 00:23:31.849 in his teaching as a teacher was called the great 00:23:31.849 --> 00:23:37.329 physician, the great eater, the physician. The 00:23:37.329 --> 00:23:41.150 third truth, any ailment that can be understood 00:23:41.150 --> 00:23:48.839 can be cured. And suffering that has a cause 00:23:48.839 --> 00:23:56.460 also has an end. When this fire of selfishness 00:23:56.460 --> 00:24:00.740 has been extinguished, when the mind is free 00:24:00.740 --> 00:24:05.359 of all our selfish desires, what remains then 00:24:05.359 --> 00:24:11.180 is a state of wakefulness. It's a state of joy. 00:24:12.220 --> 00:24:15.700 And it is called, you know, that which has been 00:24:15.700 --> 00:24:20.759 extinguished, that state where the desires have 00:24:20.759 --> 00:24:24.400 been extinguished, that which has been extinguished. 00:24:24.680 --> 00:24:27.900 And the name of that, of course, is nirvana. 00:24:30.799 --> 00:24:40.980 Yeah. The fourth truth is that selfishness can 00:24:40.980 --> 00:24:46.130 be extinguished. by following the eightfold path, 00:24:46.430 --> 00:24:50.589 which is the right understanding or correct understanding, 00:24:51.130 --> 00:24:53.789 the right purpose, you can put correct in here 00:24:53.789 --> 00:24:58.950 and incorrect purpose, right speech, right conduct, 00:25:00.109 --> 00:25:04.269 right occupation, right effort, right attention, 00:25:04.849 --> 00:25:09.250 and right meditation. See, so they speak, you 00:25:09.250 --> 00:25:12.960 know, of Dharma as the wheel. The dharma of your 00:25:12.960 --> 00:25:16.680 life is this wheel going around, and the spokes 00:25:16.680 --> 00:25:21.319 are this eight -fold path where you find yourself 00:25:21.319 --> 00:25:26.200 in the dharma. So that the right understanding 00:25:26.200 --> 00:25:34.539 begins with seeing life as it is. In the midst 00:25:34.539 --> 00:25:38.039 of all the change, this wheel is going around 00:25:38.039 --> 00:25:42.930 all the time. And in the midst of that, in the 00:25:42.930 --> 00:25:47.690 midst of all of your activities, do you see a 00:25:47.690 --> 00:25:54.369 place where you can firmly stand? Firmly stand 00:25:54.369 --> 00:25:57.369 in all the changes that take place. Where do 00:25:57.369 --> 00:26:04.390 you stand firm? Where on this wheel is there 00:26:04.390 --> 00:26:07.289 really anything that you can hang onto, that 00:26:07.289 --> 00:26:14.549 you can hold? And to understand that happiness 00:26:14.549 --> 00:26:24.549 doesn't come from out there. I am the cause of 00:26:24.549 --> 00:26:29.509 my own unhappiness. If I just stop causing myself 00:26:29.509 --> 00:26:32.890 unhappiness, I'll be happy. To understand that. 00:26:35.930 --> 00:26:39.690 And to understand also that all things that come 00:26:39.690 --> 00:26:46.259 into existence Pass away again And that's right 00:26:46.259 --> 00:26:49.220 understanding and that is the beginning of wisdom 00:26:49.220 --> 00:26:56.079 Now right purpose or correct purpose follows 00:26:56.079 --> 00:27:03.960 from right understanding So that the thinking 00:27:03.960 --> 00:27:12.039 you know falls in line with life as it is And 00:27:12.039 --> 00:27:15.200 they say, you know, as a flood sweeps over a 00:27:15.200 --> 00:27:19.359 slumbering village, so death sweeps away those 00:27:19.359 --> 00:27:23.859 who are not prepared. Well, you know that every 00:27:23.859 --> 00:27:27.519 10 days or so there's something that comes by 00:27:27.519 --> 00:27:31.799 that sweeps away, if you're not prepared, the 00:27:31.799 --> 00:27:38.240 ground on which you stand. So one begins to have 00:27:38.240 --> 00:27:44.339 a purpose of ordering one's life. in learning 00:27:44.339 --> 00:27:51.079 how to live. And that's right purpose. V is a 00:27:51.079 --> 00:27:58.240 very poor way, learning, understanding. That's 00:27:58.240 --> 00:28:02.880 the purpose, to live so that one can understand. 00:28:05.059 --> 00:28:09.259 Now, the right speech and the right action and 00:28:09.259 --> 00:28:14.279 the right occupation They all follow this. This 00:28:14.279 --> 00:28:18.480 consists of living in harmony with oneself and 00:28:18.480 --> 00:28:21.759 with others, living in harmony in a unity of 00:28:21.759 --> 00:28:26.359 life. It is speaking kindly. It is acting kindly. 00:28:27.220 --> 00:28:30.700 It is living not just for yourself, but for the 00:28:30.700 --> 00:28:34.920 welfare of all. It's easy to live for oneself. 00:28:36.099 --> 00:28:38.440 Just get out of my way and let me have mine. 00:28:39.880 --> 00:28:43.359 And it is somewhat easy to live for one's family, 00:28:43.880 --> 00:28:46.019 you know, one's friends and dear ones and so 00:28:46.019 --> 00:28:51.640 on. But living for the good of all, that's difficult. 00:28:52.920 --> 00:28:57.339 It takes some doing, because it is always putting 00:28:57.339 --> 00:29:02.240 somebody else's feelings ahead of yours. And 00:29:02.240 --> 00:29:06.819 this is something we don't like to do. But you 00:29:06.819 --> 00:29:10.279 know, if you read the Tao Te Ging, Lao Tzu, you 00:29:10.279 --> 00:29:16.980 will see the same thing in there. Now as far 00:29:16.980 --> 00:29:22.339 as right occupation or right livelihood are concerned, 00:29:23.160 --> 00:29:25.799 I read a little thing not too long ago by a man 00:29:25.799 --> 00:29:30.279 named Schumacher and he presented two points 00:29:30.279 --> 00:29:35.500 of view as far as occupation is concerned of 00:29:35.500 --> 00:29:40.339 right livelihood. And he says, the modern, that 00:29:40.339 --> 00:29:45.420 is today's, the modern economist has been brought 00:29:45.420 --> 00:29:52.920 up to consider labor or work as a little more 00:29:52.920 --> 00:29:57.960 than a necessary evil. From the point of view 00:29:57.960 --> 00:30:02.819 of the employer, it is in any case simply an 00:30:02.819 --> 00:30:09.240 item of cost. to be reduced to a minimum if it 00:30:09.240 --> 00:30:14.759 cannot be eliminated altogether, say by automation. 00:30:18.319 --> 00:30:23.839 So from the point of view of the workman, working 00:30:23.839 --> 00:30:29.700 or labor, you know, is a disutility. To work 00:30:29.700 --> 00:30:33.359 is to make a sacrifice of one's leisure and one's 00:30:33.359 --> 00:30:38.940 comfort. and the wages are a kind of a compensation 00:30:38.940 --> 00:30:43.019 for that sacrifice. And you'd be surprised at 00:30:43.019 --> 00:30:46.839 the people that hold that attitude. Now, they 00:30:46.839 --> 00:30:48.599 go to work and because I've got a job they owe 00:30:48.599 --> 00:30:51.460 me. They've got to pay me my wages because I'm 00:30:51.460 --> 00:30:54.380 putting in my time, where I could be enjoying 00:30:54.380 --> 00:31:00.259 myself. Anyway, hence the ideal from the point 00:31:00.259 --> 00:31:05.470 of view of the employer is to have output Without 00:31:05.470 --> 00:31:09.869 employees and the ideal from the point of view 00:31:09.869 --> 00:31:14.029 of the employee is to have income from unemployment 00:31:14.029 --> 00:31:21.690 Okay, that's one point of view and it's quite 00:31:21.690 --> 00:31:26.750 prevalent Then we come to the Buddha and his 00:31:26.750 --> 00:31:33.390 contrasting way of thinking and in Buddhism they 00:31:33.390 --> 00:31:40.430 take the function of work to be threefold. One, 00:31:40.609 --> 00:31:47.430 it gives a man a chance to use and develop his 00:31:47.430 --> 00:31:50.049 faculties. Where else are you going to develop 00:31:50.049 --> 00:31:55.789 them? Playing around? Sitting under a tree? You 00:31:55.789 --> 00:32:02.009 have an opportunity to use your talents, to develop 00:32:02.009 --> 00:32:06.920 your talents. by doing as good a work as you 00:32:06.920 --> 00:32:15.519 possibly can. And it also helps him to overcome 00:32:15.519 --> 00:32:19.180 his ego centeredness by joining with other people 00:32:19.180 --> 00:32:24.940 in a common task. Working together and so that 00:32:24.940 --> 00:32:28.660 everybody is the same together. And to bring 00:32:28.660 --> 00:32:33.019 forth, to help to bring forth goods and services 00:32:33.200 --> 00:32:38.920 that are needed for our becoming existence. Now 00:32:38.920 --> 00:32:40.819 there's a great deal of difference between those 00:32:40.819 --> 00:32:47.359 two points of view. The first, that of the materialist, 00:32:47.619 --> 00:32:54.140 is very imprisoning. We don't have much latitude 00:32:54.140 --> 00:33:00.279 in there. And the second is simply a way of looking 00:33:00.279 --> 00:33:11.140 for liberation. Anyway, these spokes of the wheel, 00:33:11.160 --> 00:33:14.380 they sound very simple. And to some people, they're 00:33:14.380 --> 00:33:21.240 very boring. You know, there's something that 00:33:21.240 --> 00:33:29.900 you drag them through. Who bothers to plumb the 00:33:29.900 --> 00:33:34.319 depths to see maybe what he really meant? You 00:33:34.319 --> 00:33:38.089 know, the simple little thing in the... precepts, 00:33:38.109 --> 00:33:40.210 you know, or even the Ten Commandments, let's 00:33:40.210 --> 00:33:43.809 say. Thou shalt have no other God before me. 00:33:45.369 --> 00:33:47.410 Then why do you keep putting your head above 00:33:47.410 --> 00:33:57.470 God's? See, it's not just a matter of projecting 00:33:57.470 --> 00:34:00.130 out there that, oh, somebody's got an idol or 00:34:00.130 --> 00:34:02.170 an icon there, and they're worshiping that, so 00:34:02.170 --> 00:34:08.699 they've got somebody ahead of God. As the Senate 00:34:08.699 --> 00:34:15.320 say, why keep putting your head above God's? 00:34:21.719 --> 00:34:34.519 Thou shalt not kill. And yet we gossip all the 00:34:34.519 --> 00:34:37.059 time. We're killing reputations left and right. 00:34:40.940 --> 00:34:43.139 And killing something in ourselves when we do 00:34:43.139 --> 00:34:52.840 it. So these eight spokes, you know, one can 00:34:52.840 --> 00:34:56.320 go over them and all the time see more and more 00:34:56.320 --> 00:35:00.179 and more. Because as we look around now, who 00:35:00.179 --> 00:35:04.300 acts in accordance with them? Who keeps them 00:35:04.300 --> 00:35:08.920 in mind? Do you even keep them in mind? Even 00:35:08.920 --> 00:35:16.309 one -tenth of the time? All creatures in this 00:35:16.309 --> 00:35:21.110 world love life. All of them. And they all fear 00:35:21.110 --> 00:35:25.929 of pain. And so we should treat them all as ourselves. 00:35:28.230 --> 00:35:35.989 Be kind, be considerate, and be courteous. Now, 00:35:36.010 --> 00:35:39.489 the last three spokes, you know, they deal with 00:35:39.489 --> 00:35:45.190 the mind. Our mind, on which so very much depends. 00:35:46.309 --> 00:35:48.909 You know, because, you know, they start out with 00:35:48.909 --> 00:35:51.969 this whole thing with, our life is shaped by 00:35:51.969 --> 00:35:57.210 our mind. So, if you don't like the shape of 00:35:57.210 --> 00:36:01.530 your life, you look to your mind. See, our mind 00:36:01.530 --> 00:36:06.690 is conditioned. And it is so conditioned. We 00:36:06.690 --> 00:36:15.739 see nothing wrong with the way we think. We can't. 00:36:17.300 --> 00:36:19.980 And we see nothing wrong with what we do and 00:36:19.980 --> 00:36:26.619 therefore what we say and so on. But just watch 00:36:26.619 --> 00:36:33.099 what's going on. Do not be deceived. Just watch 00:36:33.099 --> 00:36:40.280 what is going on with you. Be watchful. Right 00:36:40.280 --> 00:36:46.989 effort. is an endeavor, is this trying to train 00:36:46.989 --> 00:36:53.429 oneself in thought, so therefore in word and 00:36:53.429 --> 00:36:58.429 in action. You know, a gymnast trains the body 00:36:58.429 --> 00:37:01.710 day in and day out, day in and day out, eight 00:37:01.710 --> 00:37:05.010 hours a day. They train and train, and that body 00:37:05.010 --> 00:37:10.750 is like this, like an instrument, you know. Those 00:37:10.750 --> 00:37:13.630 who want to know, Those who want to be aware, 00:37:13.789 --> 00:37:20.349 they train the mind. See, then one is mindful. 00:37:20.469 --> 00:37:25.010 This is what they mean by mindful. It is difficult, 00:37:25.070 --> 00:37:27.309 as Buddha said, to reach beyond the clutches 00:37:27.309 --> 00:37:31.110 of Mara. It is so easy to have a partnership 00:37:31.110 --> 00:37:34.010 with him. You know, let him have a little and 00:37:34.010 --> 00:37:36.010 I can have a little, you know, and so on and 00:37:36.010 --> 00:37:40.429 so on. But he says, don't do that. He says, be 00:37:40.429 --> 00:37:45.840 vigilant. Be vigilant among those who slumber. 00:37:47.619 --> 00:37:51.239 Right attention follows from right effort, keeping 00:37:51.239 --> 00:37:55.860 the mind where it should be. The wise, he says, 00:37:56.280 --> 00:38:00.719 train the mind to give complete attention to 00:38:00.719 --> 00:38:04.619 one thing at a time, to what one is doing, what 00:38:04.619 --> 00:38:08.500 one is about, here and now. You give that complete 00:38:08.500 --> 00:38:12.409 attention. The mind which wants to go where it 00:38:12.409 --> 00:38:15.730 likes and do what it likes, it is this unruly 00:38:15.730 --> 00:38:22.130 mind that suffers and it causes suffering. Those 00:38:22.130 --> 00:38:25.570 who want to follow the Dharma should always be 00:38:25.570 --> 00:38:33.429 mindful. That is attentive. Always attentive. 00:38:34.809 --> 00:38:37.269 And then of course we come to this right meditation. 00:38:38.920 --> 00:38:43.360 Because that's the means of training the mind. 00:38:44.219 --> 00:38:48.219 You know, and as they said, as rain sweeps, seeps 00:38:48.219 --> 00:38:52.840 through an ill -thatched hut, selfish passion 00:38:52.840 --> 00:38:58.940 seeps through an untrained mind. So train your 00:38:58.940 --> 00:39:03.460 mind to be attentive through your meditation. 00:39:07.239 --> 00:39:11.320 And I put before you another point of view, and 00:39:11.320 --> 00:39:15.760 this is by a Rabbi Dressler. He's a catalyst, 00:39:16.139 --> 00:39:22.840 I am given to understand. He says, man's continued 00:39:22.840 --> 00:39:30.719 existence is by no means guaranteed. There is 00:39:30.719 --> 00:39:35.699 no stability or certainty to man's existence. 00:39:37.610 --> 00:39:41.849 One keeps oneself on one's toes if has this sort 00:39:41.849 --> 00:39:43.989 of in the back of one's mind because this is 00:39:43.989 --> 00:39:46.250 true You don't know how long you're going to 00:39:46.250 --> 00:39:51.690 exist here however He goes on because he's gathering 00:39:51.690 --> 00:39:54.650 things out of the Old Testament and he says the 00:39:54.650 --> 00:39:59.210 angels opposed the creation of man The forces 00:39:59.210 --> 00:40:02.690 of truth and just did oppose the creation of 00:40:02.690 --> 00:40:07.389 man The creation of man was opposed because the 00:40:07.389 --> 00:40:10.250 evil that would come forth from him was foreseen. 00:40:11.809 --> 00:40:15.769 The creation of man was opposed because man's 00:40:15.769 --> 00:40:22.190 power to hurt he will destroy, and this was foreseen. 00:40:23.829 --> 00:40:28.769 Notwithstanding all this opposition, God created 00:40:28.769 --> 00:40:32.789 man, now this is according to this rabbi, in 00:40:32.789 --> 00:40:37.670 the hope that the good would conquer the evil, 00:40:38.630 --> 00:40:42.710 that the power to love would conquer the power 00:40:42.710 --> 00:40:52.369 to hurt, and the will to obey. His will should 00:40:52.369 --> 00:40:58.869 conquer the will to destroy. The history of man, 00:40:58.909 --> 00:41:02.710 however, has been the history of God's disappointment 00:41:02.710 --> 00:41:09.969 with man. What the prophets feared most was God's 00:41:09.969 --> 00:41:14.590 abandonment of man, the silencing of his voice 00:41:14.590 --> 00:41:20.210 and the withdrawal of his presence. Perhaps this 00:41:20.210 --> 00:41:25.449 is the meaning of our time. If man wants to destroy 00:41:25.449 --> 00:41:30.550 himself, God seems to say, let him. I've had 00:41:30.550 --> 00:41:39.699 enough. I shall try it again. elsewhere. It's 00:41:39.699 --> 00:41:44.780 a very limiting picture, but it also shows how 00:41:44.780 --> 00:41:49.820 little we have considered others, how little 00:41:49.820 --> 00:41:54.280 we have loved others, how little we have put 00:41:54.280 --> 00:42:02.519 somebody before us. It's a very anthropomorphic 00:42:02.519 --> 00:42:07.219 picture. And it's very dismal picture that God 00:42:07.219 --> 00:42:10.239 just gives up on us because we've made such a 00:42:10.239 --> 00:42:17.800 mess out of things. And at the same time, you 00:42:17.800 --> 00:42:22.000 see, how many men and women really try to study 00:42:22.000 --> 00:42:26.219 themselves, to be watchful of themselves, to 00:42:26.219 --> 00:42:32.860 become mindful. People are afraid of death. And 00:42:32.860 --> 00:42:37.460 you know this fear of death that we have can 00:42:37.460 --> 00:42:44.119 be met with the wish to understand life and death. 00:42:44.880 --> 00:42:49.559 And that wish to understand can be so strong 00:42:49.559 --> 00:42:53.659 that it is the same strength as our fear of death. 00:42:53.980 --> 00:42:59.219 And that then is the bridge between man and immortality. 00:43:02.619 --> 00:43:10.340 to understand. You want to understand? You watch. 00:43:10.980 --> 00:43:15.300 You guard your thoughts. You watch. And there 00:43:15.300 --> 00:43:21.539 is a story in connection with this of al -Hawaj. 00:43:22.500 --> 00:43:27.260 He was a 10th century sage. He was a Sufi. He 00:43:27.260 --> 00:43:31.679 lived in Persia. and he was sentenced to die 00:43:31.679 --> 00:43:44.219 for heresy. And they scorched him and they mutilated 00:43:44.219 --> 00:43:48.940 him and his skin was very slowly stripped from 00:43:48.940 --> 00:43:54.760 his body. Then he was hung on a cross to wait 00:43:54.760 --> 00:44:00.139 for his death. That's historical fact. You see, 00:44:00.380 --> 00:44:02.619 make it bad enough and I'll get your attention. 00:44:07.239 --> 00:44:11.800 This al -Halaj had a song that he sung, you know, 00:44:12.059 --> 00:44:17.360 and it was a song of his identity with God. And 00:44:17.360 --> 00:44:21.739 this is heretical to the Muslims. And then the 00:44:21.739 --> 00:44:23.699 story goes that, you know, he's hanging there 00:44:23.699 --> 00:44:27.559 on the cross on his last day, and his pupils 00:44:28.110 --> 00:44:32.889 they come to see him, if he will say one last 00:44:32.889 --> 00:44:41.849 word of instruction, what would you expect him 00:44:41.849 --> 00:44:48.329 to say? Would you expect him to say, be faithful? 00:44:51.530 --> 00:44:55.030 Would he, like Jesus, give a command of forgiveness? 00:44:57.210 --> 00:45:00.349 Would he maybe describe a vision of God that 00:45:00.349 --> 00:45:02.670 he was having what do you think would be his 00:45:02.670 --> 00:45:08.429 last words? You know as he was dying He said 00:45:08.429 --> 00:45:13.030 one thing to these his disciples One thing what 00:45:13.030 --> 00:45:15.030 do you think it was do you think it was a blessing 00:45:15.030 --> 00:45:18.670 you think he said to them peace be with you? 00:45:18.849 --> 00:45:27.320 Love be with you What do you think he said? One 00:45:27.320 --> 00:45:42.960 thing, study yourself. It's something we hear 00:45:42.960 --> 00:45:49.480 from everywhere. You know, the Oracle at Delphi, 00:45:49.920 --> 00:45:57.760 know thyself in true proportion. Study yourself. 00:46:01.059 --> 00:46:05.219 Now, the Buddhist disciples, they came from many 00:46:05.219 --> 00:46:08.480 walks of life, just as Jesus' disciples came 00:46:08.480 --> 00:46:12.300 from many walks of life. Ananda and Devadattu, 00:46:12.460 --> 00:46:16.119 they were his cousins, and they left wealth and 00:46:16.119 --> 00:46:20.780 social position to be with him. Shariputra, the 00:46:20.780 --> 00:46:25.480 great scholar, and Madhagalyayana and Keshapa. 00:46:25.769 --> 00:46:28.250 They, all three of them were scholars, great 00:46:28.250 --> 00:46:32.070 scholars, knew tremendous amounts already. Came 00:46:32.070 --> 00:46:35.329 from other teachings and other teachers. Upali 00:46:35.329 --> 00:46:40.010 had been a barber in Kapilavastu, which is the 00:46:40.010 --> 00:46:45.929 same town where Buddha had lived. And Sona, he 00:46:45.929 --> 00:46:49.469 was also from a very wealthy family. But, you 00:46:49.469 --> 00:46:51.769 know, he had become so enamored of the Buddha. 00:46:53.860 --> 00:46:56.920 that he had, at one time he'd had great hopes 00:46:56.920 --> 00:46:59.900 of becoming a musician, really a musician, you 00:46:59.900 --> 00:47:02.380 know, and his heart, you know, was with this 00:47:02.380 --> 00:47:08.420 vina, what they play in India. But anyway, he 00:47:08.420 --> 00:47:11.019 met the Buddha and so he became a disciple and 00:47:11.019 --> 00:47:13.599 he embraced the spiritual life and I mean he 00:47:13.599 --> 00:47:16.179 was out to swallow it, you know, he went into 00:47:16.179 --> 00:47:21.679 a hook line and sinker. He threw everything else 00:47:21.679 --> 00:47:26.739 away. Everything else was to be thrown overboard. 00:47:28.960 --> 00:47:31.940 So in the forest around there, where they had 00:47:31.940 --> 00:47:35.860 the camp, there were wild animals. There were 00:47:35.860 --> 00:47:38.119 lions and there were tigers and there were elephants 00:47:38.119 --> 00:47:40.519 and also there were lots of poisonous snakes. 00:47:43.099 --> 00:47:47.820 So this little guy goes out into the forest every 00:47:47.820 --> 00:47:52.460 day to practice his meditation. He goes as deep 00:47:52.460 --> 00:47:55.909 as he can in the forest. And not only that, he 00:47:55.909 --> 00:48:00.010 insisted on going barefoot, which, you know, 00:48:00.130 --> 00:48:03.210 his pampered feet, you know, from his past, he 00:48:03.210 --> 00:48:06.070 had been a very pampered young man. You know, 00:48:06.130 --> 00:48:08.230 his feet rebelled and they bled and they got 00:48:08.230 --> 00:48:11.789 sore and he was in a mess. But every day he went 00:48:11.789 --> 00:48:14.829 out there anyway, blisters on his feet from stumbling 00:48:14.829 --> 00:48:20.489 around. And after a time of this, one day the 00:48:20.489 --> 00:48:25.250 Buddha followed him. And he carried with him, 00:48:25.349 --> 00:48:27.750 the Buddha did, as always, his begging bowl. 00:48:27.849 --> 00:48:30.269 He always carried the begging bowl with him. 00:48:31.010 --> 00:48:37.010 But he also had a vina. And he had loosened the 00:48:37.010 --> 00:48:39.510 strings on this instrument until they were limp 00:48:39.510 --> 00:48:45.670 like spaghetti. So finally he gets to the place 00:48:45.670 --> 00:48:49.110 where Sona is. He sees Sona meditating under 00:48:49.110 --> 00:48:53.190 the banyan tree. And the boy sees him and he 00:48:53.190 --> 00:48:55.590 limps over to him and the Buddha didn't notice 00:48:55.590 --> 00:48:57.449 at all that he was limping or didn't seem to 00:48:57.449 --> 00:49:01.269 it anyway. All he said to him was, Sona, can 00:49:01.269 --> 00:49:06.550 you show me how to make music with this? And 00:49:06.550 --> 00:49:10.469 so Sona took the instrument, very respectfully, 00:49:10.789 --> 00:49:14.150 because you know this was his tremendous desire 00:49:14.150 --> 00:49:18.940 at one time. He fingered a few notes. And then 00:49:18.940 --> 00:49:21.719 he laughed and he said, blessed one, you can't 00:49:21.719 --> 00:49:24.579 produce music when the strings are so loose. 00:49:26.059 --> 00:49:29.619 Oh, I see, said the Buddha, you know, let me 00:49:29.619 --> 00:49:33.059 try it again. And he proceeds to wind the strings 00:49:33.059 --> 00:49:37.199 so tight that Sona winced. And then when the 00:49:37.199 --> 00:49:39.139 Buddha tested them, they produced nothing but 00:49:39.139 --> 00:49:43.820 high -pitched squeaks. Blessed one, that won't 00:49:43.820 --> 00:49:48.590 work either. You'll break the strings. Here let 00:49:48.590 --> 00:49:52.530 me tune it for you. So he took the instrument 00:49:52.530 --> 00:49:55.809 and he loosened the strings gently and then he 00:49:55.809 --> 00:50:02.369 played a little of a very haunting melody. And 00:50:02.369 --> 00:50:05.590 then abruptly he stopped and he gave the thing 00:50:05.590 --> 00:50:08.409 back to Buddha, you know, because the melody 00:50:08.409 --> 00:50:11.809 was bringing back memories, you know, and he 00:50:11.809 --> 00:50:13.829 didn't want to arouse these memories. He was 00:50:13.829 --> 00:50:17.969 so immersed. in what he was going to do and to 00:50:17.969 --> 00:50:20.630 be, that he wanted to trample everything else 00:50:20.630 --> 00:50:26.949 underfoot. Even his ability to make music. And 00:50:26.949 --> 00:50:28.789 he gives the thing back to him, he says, the 00:50:28.789 --> 00:50:33.389 Buddha, it has to be tuned just right to make 00:50:33.389 --> 00:50:38.849 music. Neither too tight nor too loose. It has 00:50:38.849 --> 00:50:44.329 to be just right. And the Buddha turns to him 00:50:44.329 --> 00:50:47.849 and says, Sona, it is the same for those who 00:50:47.849 --> 00:50:52.309 seek enlightenment. Don't let yourself be slack, 00:50:53.190 --> 00:50:56.090 but don't stretch yourself to a breaking point 00:50:56.090 --> 00:51:02.969 either. You choose the middle way. You choose 00:51:02.969 --> 00:51:07.690 the middle way between too much and too little. 00:51:08.909 --> 00:51:13.719 And this is the whole way. of the Eightfold Pound. 00:51:15.019 --> 00:51:18.639 Now it was this what he called the Middle Way, 00:51:21.820 --> 00:51:26.320 onto which the Avatamsaka Sutra is based, and 00:51:26.320 --> 00:51:30.480 it is this on which Nagyuna wrote, you know, 00:51:31.059 --> 00:51:36.739 this man of this tremendous wisdom who went into 00:51:36.739 --> 00:51:46.409 this Middle Way. And so we do not stop with just 00:51:46.409 --> 00:51:50.389 choosing, I won't go too far this way and I won't 00:51:50.389 --> 00:51:52.210 go too far this way, I'm going to stay in the 00:51:52.210 --> 00:51:56.969 middle. That's very surface. There is a middle 00:51:56.969 --> 00:52:33.710 way. There is a middle way. Here on this, where 00:52:33.710 --> 00:52:37.650 we find ourselves, we have this world of appearance. 00:52:40.409 --> 00:52:46.070 That's one aspect. Then we have another world, 00:52:46.349 --> 00:52:50.429 which we sometimes call an inner world, in which 00:52:50.429 --> 00:52:56.909 we perceive some things about ourselves, other 00:52:56.909 --> 00:53:01.570 states of consciousness. So when people talk 00:53:01.570 --> 00:53:05.329 about having visions or whatever, you know, of 00:53:05.329 --> 00:53:10.050 seeing states. Okay, so you've got states of 00:53:10.050 --> 00:53:12.730 consciousness on one side, and here is this world 00:53:12.730 --> 00:53:15.940 of appearance. These two aspects. Now there's 00:53:15.940 --> 00:53:31.000 a middle way. That's something else again. And 00:53:31.000 --> 00:53:34.059 this is Nagarjuna. You know, Henry said, you 00:53:34.059 --> 00:53:37.260 know, he was the greatest genius who ever lived. 00:53:38.840 --> 00:53:41.619 And there are, with this Avatamsaka Sutra, There 00:53:41.619 --> 00:53:43.780 are maybe five, maybe seven people in the whole 00:53:43.780 --> 00:53:48.739 world who really understand it. So, that's what 00:53:48.739 --> 00:53:50.639 you're going after. That's what you're going 00:53:50.639 --> 00:53:58.000 after. Anyway, back to this Dhammapada. The fool 00:53:58.000 --> 00:54:01.719 is careless, but the master guards his watching. 00:54:03.460 --> 00:54:09.539 It is his most precious treasure. A fool remains 00:54:09.539 --> 00:54:13.739 a slave. He is a slave of his instincts, of his 00:54:13.739 --> 00:54:16.980 unconscious desires, of all kinds of whims that 00:54:16.980 --> 00:54:20.139 blow through. He's a slave of anything and everything 00:54:20.139 --> 00:54:23.639 that happens around him. What happens around 00:54:23.639 --> 00:54:25.780 him, no matter what kind of an appearance it 00:54:25.780 --> 00:54:28.380 is, he just picks it up and tosses it in his 00:54:28.380 --> 00:54:32.860 little bag and carries on in his pack. You don't 00:54:32.860 --> 00:54:36.639 want to do that. A watchful man becomes the master 00:54:36.639 --> 00:54:42.539 of his life. He lives according to that light 00:54:42.539 --> 00:54:49.639 And he has a simple contended life no matter 00:54:49.639 --> 00:54:58.019 what comes Guarding the watching The meditation 00:54:58.019 --> 00:55:00.860 the meditation some people say meditation is 00:55:00.860 --> 00:55:04.639 an escape mechanism We shouldn't be doing it 00:55:04.750 --> 00:55:07.130 That's kind of the view that some people have 00:55:07.130 --> 00:55:09.530 in this country. Meditation is something very 00:55:09.530 --> 00:55:15.030 new in the Western culture, actually. But a meditation 00:55:15.030 --> 00:55:19.909 is an escape from the unreal, from the delusions, 00:55:20.510 --> 00:55:24.130 from the deluded mind. It is an escape from desire, 00:55:24.670 --> 00:55:27.349 and it is an escape from our thoughts, and it 00:55:27.349 --> 00:55:29.929 is an escape from everything in us that creates 00:55:29.929 --> 00:55:35.860 our confusion, if you're sitting right. because 00:55:35.860 --> 00:55:39.739 it is simply moving into the mind so that one 00:55:39.739 --> 00:55:47.760 is mindful. Now, somehow in our everyday life 00:55:47.760 --> 00:55:51.719 we manage to keep ourselves together. We have 00:55:51.719 --> 00:55:58.480 here a semblance of togetherness. This togetherness 00:55:58.480 --> 00:56:05.670 is a facade. It is something, it's our face that 00:56:05.670 --> 00:56:10.610 we present to the world. And we keep, we're very 00:56:10.610 --> 00:56:12.630 busy all the time. We have to keep adjusting 00:56:12.630 --> 00:56:18.010 this facade so that we can make it more appealing 00:56:18.010 --> 00:56:25.710 to the people, to others out there. Now, we're 00:56:25.710 --> 00:56:34.219 very busy doing this. While we are so busy creating 00:56:34.219 --> 00:56:37.280 this facade and presenting it, what is going 00:56:37.280 --> 00:56:48.719 on behind it? What is this facade covering? Well, 00:56:48.800 --> 00:56:50.960 there are some people who think that this facade 00:56:50.960 --> 00:56:57.760 is covering a clamoring crowd. You know, we have 00:56:57.760 --> 00:57:02.440 what we have acquired from our relatives. And 00:57:02.440 --> 00:57:04.639 the things we have read and the things we have 00:57:04.639 --> 00:57:07.599 seen, you know, all this what we see on television, 00:57:08.320 --> 00:57:11.820 and there are all these great contradictions. 00:57:12.059 --> 00:57:14.820 So that it's like a civil war going on within 00:57:14.820 --> 00:57:18.380 us. But some thoughts are fighting other thoughts. 00:57:19.340 --> 00:57:21.360 And thoughts want to be fulfilled, you know, 00:57:21.539 --> 00:57:28.739 their desires. And they confuse us. And they 00:57:28.739 --> 00:57:32.309 look, you know. There's a desire in us. It looks 00:57:32.309 --> 00:57:35.510 to you to fulfill the desire that's running around 00:57:35.510 --> 00:57:37.630 in here is looking to you to do something about 00:57:37.630 --> 00:57:51.070 it See no other people don't want to look If 00:57:51.070 --> 00:58:02.869 you are somewhat aware of this confusion. All 00:58:02.869 --> 00:58:09.070 it takes is just to be aware of it. And you're 00:58:09.070 --> 00:58:17.469 no longer identified with it. As soon as you 00:58:17.469 --> 00:58:21.030 are no longer identified and clutched to and 00:58:21.030 --> 00:58:23.750 clinging to this confusion, you're on your way 00:58:23.750 --> 00:58:29.480 home. See? Make it sound very simple. And it 00:58:29.480 --> 00:58:37.039 really is in its way. You're watching. And when 00:58:37.039 --> 00:58:38.880 you're watching, you're no longer aiding and 00:58:38.880 --> 00:58:46.199 abetting the confusion. So that very slowly, 00:58:46.239 --> 00:58:53.699 you can withdraw your energies from all the strife. 00:58:55.119 --> 00:58:58.019 And the energies that are withdrawn, will go 00:58:58.019 --> 00:59:01.480 to feed the new man. You know, the new man that 00:59:01.480 --> 00:59:03.340 is born of the old man, which is the way Saint 00:59:03.340 --> 00:59:11.179 Paul puts it. So again and again and again and 00:59:11.179 --> 00:59:16.179 again, with a watchful mind, the wise man brings 00:59:16.179 --> 00:59:20.039 himself back to the present. See, back either 00:59:20.039 --> 00:59:22.400 from the future or from the past, you know, he 00:59:22.400 --> 00:59:26.750 brings himself now. And always now. He brings 00:59:26.750 --> 00:59:30.130 himself back to it every moment that he possibly 00:59:30.130 --> 00:59:36.050 can and slowly it begins to happen. Slowly a 00:59:36.050 --> 00:59:40.269 window opens and suddenly you're touching life. 00:59:41.949 --> 00:59:46.889 There's the wind and the rain and there's a leaf 00:59:46.889 --> 00:59:51.190 swirling and there's the earth as a witness to 00:59:51.190 --> 00:59:56.639 it all. And so that life It becomes not just 00:59:56.639 --> 01:00:03.380 a word. The word life represents something. And 01:00:03.380 --> 01:00:09.360 there is this very tangible quality. And love 01:00:09.360 --> 01:00:14.460 is not just a word. It is this tremendously overflowing 01:00:14.460 --> 01:00:19.760 energy. And a blessing then is no more just a 01:00:19.760 --> 01:00:25.679 hope of some grace. You are it. Because meditation 01:00:25.679 --> 01:00:29.739 is a state of non -asking, of non -questioning, 01:00:30.079 --> 01:00:35.039 of non -thinking. And in the Pali they call it 01:00:35.039 --> 01:00:42.820 samasin or samasati. And we call it samasamati. 01:00:45.320 --> 01:00:49.559 Right mindfulness, right awareness, consciousness, 01:00:50.500 --> 01:00:56.960 alertness, watchfulness. witnessing all -encompassing 01:00:56.960 --> 01:01:04.760 consciousness is with no content. The mind is 01:01:04.760 --> 01:01:08.920 empty and it is a pure presence with nowhere 01:01:08.920 --> 01:01:15.340 to go. It is at home. So that is Samma Samadhi. 01:01:22.840 --> 01:01:24.960 More will be posted in weeks to come.