Question & Answer #187: from Female Impediments to the Reason for Bodhisattvas

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Okay then.
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Hello and welcome to question and answer
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number 187.
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I am your host Pony Basa and this is my
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beverage.
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Before I get into factoring out the
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number 187, I would like to announce
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that at long last my fourth book has
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been published and is available on
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Amazon. It's entitled A Memoirs from
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Myanmar, which is largely
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autobiographical stuff about my monk's
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life, mainly in Burma, but also
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including Indonesia and the United
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States.
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And uh those of you who are interested
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may find it in the URL links below this
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video, unless you're watching it on
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Subscribe Star, in which case you're
00:00:53.199 --> 00:00:54.869
going to have to go directly to YouTube
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or Bitshoot or Rumble to find the link.
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And if you do read it, I would
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appreciate an honest review unless it's
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like really negative.
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So 187. A lot of you guys probably
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thinking, "Oh, that's prime." It's
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because you're too freaking cowardly to
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do the work to factor out the number.
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Just disgusting.
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Actually, it's 11* 17, which is kind of
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interesting. Sort of pseudo prime.
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So, I guess I should just uh
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just commence to answering questions.
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And as usual lately, the first few
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questions or three of the first four
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questions
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um were asked quite some time ago and
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then I I just overlooked them when
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compiling the previous list. So they're
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on this list up near the top of the
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scroll.
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So the first question is from Fred and
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Fred says, "Are women an impediment to
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progress?"
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And I assume he means spiritual
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progress. And I would say
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probably
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well I mean for someone who's practicing
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spiritual like for the average guy
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having a woman may actually I mean in a
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lot of cases it helps to straighten a
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guy out you know it you know he's gets a
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crash course in responsibility
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that kind of thing. So for a lot of like
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average Joe's,
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women can
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kind of improve their their morality,
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that kind of thing. It's not always the
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case, but it is often the case. With
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regard to someone who is trying to live
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a spiritual life, are women an
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impediment to progress? I would say
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usually, but not always.
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Rahm Das used to say that the only
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legitimate reason for a spiritually
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oriented person to marry is if being
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married it's helping you to live a
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spiritual life. For example, you find a
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woman who's wiser than you or equally
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spiritually inclined that kind of thing
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then having a woman in your life can be
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helpful. Also there is the famous saying
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attributed to Socrates I think that by
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all means a man should marry and if he
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gets a good wife he'll be a happy man
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and if not he will become a philosopher.
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So there's that too. But for a lot of
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people, a lot of men, women are pretty
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much of a necessity
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just because we are instinctively
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attracted to a woman or to women in
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general. I guess it's like I think it
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was Carl Young said that we're just like
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a man is just evolved and adapted
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adapted to being in a relationship with
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a woman pretty much like we're adapted
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to having certain like percentage of
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carbon dioxide in the air we breathe.
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You know, it's just we are just evolved
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for that. It is true that lately, you
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know, the past less than a century of
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the existence of western civilization, I
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suppose, that women have become
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liberated. You know, we've got women's
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liberation, which has really thrown a
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wrench into
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thousands yearlong dynamic between men
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and women where like the man is the
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boss. there's a certain limit to the
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amount of crap he is required to take,
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that kind of thing. And so it has really
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destabilized
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male female relationships, especially in
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the West. Um, and that's just going to
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have to get worked out somehow or other
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because the way it is now, like women,
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a lot of them want a career. They don't
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want to have kids. the at least half of
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marriages in certain certain countries
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result in divorce.
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So
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um this the civilization is unlikely to
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prosper so long as this kind of
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destabilized male female dynamic is
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still active.
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So something's going to have to get
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worked out
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and I wouldn't hold my breath. It may
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take a while.
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Also, for some reason, I'm reminded of a
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story by JD Salinger called Teddy about
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some enlightened little kid. I mean,
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he's he's born and raised in New York
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City and he's got this completely
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dysfunctional family. His parents are
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just like fighting all the time. They
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apparently don't even like each other.
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His sister is just horrible. just this
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little kid and he's enlightened and he's
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he explains to someone that he would
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have got enlightened in the previous
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life but he got involved with a woman in
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the previous life so it caused a delay
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of one lifetime
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but as I say if a woman is helping you
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in your spirituality if for some reason
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you're you just having the woman in your
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life is helping you to develop
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spiritually in whatever way. It may even
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be that you've got certain karma that
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needs to be worked out.
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So, or you need the woman that helps you
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to be a philosopher maybe. You know,
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there's different ways. But in general,
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I mean, I suppose I should also add that
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some guys just can't be celibate.
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They're just too horny. And even some
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guys who are celibate, I mean, they're
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just like consumed. They're just burning
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with lust all the time because it's sort
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of like a starving man thinking about
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food all the time. So in a case like
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that, then you may as well just defer to
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nature to some degree. if it's just too
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just too much of a a cross to bear, too
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much of a strain to be celibate. In
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which case, find a good girl, a good
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woman, I should say. You know, settle
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down, be faithful to her, be faithful to
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each other.
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But as a general rule, if it's possible
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to be celibate,
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it's it's that's that's what the Buddha
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says. That's like the official position
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of Terra Buddhism. Like the Buddha says,
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you know, if if you're able to be
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ordained as a beu, get ordained. If
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you're not capable of that, then at
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least avoid sexual intercourse like a
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person would avoid falling into a deep
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pit with burning coals at the bottom.
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But if even that is too much, if you
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can't handle even that much, then
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just at the very least avoid the wives
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of other men.
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But I mean ancient Indian ethics were
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extremely strict,
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much stricter than like Christian ethics
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for example.
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So the ancient Indian ethics like the
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the the cultural millu in which terabara
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Buddhism arose was this very you know
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the world is a bad place. You need to
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find your liberation from samsara and
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that is done through renunciation
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and celibacy
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and strict adherence or strict morality
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this kind of stuff. And so Terraata
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adopted that point of view. It's not the
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only possible point of view. And most of
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the people who are famous for being
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enlightened in the west tend to be
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married. I think Ekhart Tollah is
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married. Nisara Data Maharaj was
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married. Some of the sages of the
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Upupanads were married. Although it
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could be largely fictional
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the like the dialogues in the
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Upanishads.
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So, I mean, to some degree, you're just
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going to have to decide for yourself. I
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mean, do you really need to have a
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woman? Uh, have you already made like a
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lifelong commitment to a woman? which
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case I mean if you if you're like um a
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person who believes in God and you have
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stood in a house of God and solemnly
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vowed before God that you will stay
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together through better for worse till
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death do you part then that's a serious
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consideration
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so many people I mean they will vow make
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this solemn vow to stay together for the
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rest of their life and then
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three years later they're getting
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divorced
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because of like finances or something or
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the woman just thinks she can do better.
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You know, she's just vaguely
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dissatisfied and thinks she can do
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better than this guy.
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So,
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I hope I answered that question.
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It is kind of a touchy one for some
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people.
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So, I'm just going to move on to Fred's
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next question. And he asked this
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question more than a week ago and I just
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found it in my inbox cuz he asked it in
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an email. Emails are not the best way to
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ask me questions for Q&As's because
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usually I don't get questions for Q&As's
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or Q's and A's Q&A videos in my email.
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And so a lot of the time I don't even
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think to look in my inbox for questions
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for the next Q&A. So anyways, Fred says,
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"Is a stream enterer a true man who
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knows the ropes?"
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And
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again, I've expressed a certain
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skepticism for the whole four stages of
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Arya
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many times. I've written about it. I've
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talked about it. And I really do not
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think that the four stages of aryhood
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with the sodapana or stream enterer
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being the first stage of the four stages
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of of Buddhist saintthood.
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Um I don't think that the Buddha really
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taught this that originally a stream
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enterer was probably like the Buddhist
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equivalent of like a born-again
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Christian or just like a new convert to
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Buddhism. That was probably what a
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stream enterer was. Was a new convert to
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Buddhism who had just entered the stream
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of dharma, had just started interpreting
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their life along spiritual lines.
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And there were certain considerations
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like there was an obscure rule in the
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podium rules that uh monks should not be
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overly reliant upon a family of
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sodaponas.
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And that's makes more sense if you view
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sodaponas as new converts who might be
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rich in faith and might just like
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impoverish themselves trying to offer
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stuff to the monks especially if the
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monks are not ashamed to be asking for
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lots of stuff.
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So, a stream enterer.
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Um
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gosh, I mean going with orthodox
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terravada, you could go along with
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Fred's interpretation that a streamer is
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a true man or a true woman, true boy,
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true girl who knows the ropes, who in
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other words, who has who's pretty much
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like locked in, you know, who knows
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what's what with regard to how to to
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live their life along Dharmic lines,
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that kind of
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Although if a stream mentor is just a
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new convert to Buddhism, like a devout
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new convert to Buddhism, not just some
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person dabbling, being eclectic, you
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know, just investigating a little bit,
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but someone who's really
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really just convinced that this is the
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right way for me and they're just their
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life is changed. Then even then they
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don't necessarily know the ropes. They
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may still be relatively naive with
00:13:30.160 --> 00:13:32.310
regard to a lot of a lot of stuff that
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is taught in Buddhism.
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And I think I answered that question
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well enough. So I'm just going to move
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on to this next question. This is from
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PSA. And PSA again, he asked these
00:13:44.560 --> 00:13:48.069
questions more than a week ago. He says,
00:13:48.079 --> 00:13:51.110
"Could you talk in more depth about this
00:13:51.120 --> 00:13:53.990
same question? I keep going back to it
00:13:54.000 --> 00:13:56.310
because if your mind is distracted now,
00:13:56.320 --> 00:13:57.990
it makes sense because you're currently
00:13:58.000 --> 00:14:00.150
living the life of a householder. But
00:14:00.160 --> 00:14:02.310
how did you lose your unification of
00:14:02.320 --> 00:14:04.870
mind as a monk?
00:14:04.880 --> 00:14:07.030
What happened? Could you please
00:14:07.040 --> 00:14:09.990
elaborate when you started to lose this
00:14:10.000 --> 00:14:12.790
singleness of mind as a monk and what
00:14:12.800 --> 00:14:15.110
methods did you use to try to get it
00:14:15.120 --> 00:14:17.189
back before disroving? So, this is a
00:14:17.199 --> 00:14:19.350
question that I'm getting asked or are
00:14:19.360 --> 00:14:21.509
variations on this question I'm getting
00:14:21.519 --> 00:14:24.310
asked almost every Q&A now. I don't know
00:14:24.320 --> 00:14:28.069
why that is. Could be just coincidence,
00:14:28.079 --> 00:14:30.870
but let's see here. What is the exact
00:14:30.880 --> 00:14:33.030
question? How did I lose my unification
00:14:33.040 --> 00:14:35.910
of mind as a monk? Well, I mean, it
00:14:35.920 --> 00:14:39.030
wasn't something that you could really
00:14:39.040 --> 00:14:41.350
see clearly as to what exactly was
00:14:41.360 --> 00:14:44.790
causing it. It's just that my meditation
00:14:44.800 --> 00:14:47.509
just stopped being as good as it was for
00:14:47.519 --> 00:14:51.189
whatever reason. And
00:14:51.199 --> 00:14:52.870
partly I mean it just started getting
00:14:52.880 --> 00:14:56.069
into just this is just ridiculous. My my
00:14:56.079 --> 00:14:59.430
concentration or my meditation was never
00:14:59.440 --> 00:15:01.990
I mean I've never been by nature a
00:15:02.000 --> 00:15:04.150
really good meditator. You know it took
00:15:04.160 --> 00:15:06.629
a long time before I could get start
00:15:06.639 --> 00:15:08.790
getting into relatively deep meditative
00:15:08.800 --> 00:15:10.629
states. And even then it was sort of
00:15:10.639 --> 00:15:13.910
like God in the Godas where he gets it
00:15:13.920 --> 00:15:15.590
and loses it and gets it and loses it
00:15:15.600 --> 00:15:17.350
and gets it and loses it until he's at
00:15:17.360 --> 00:15:21.030
wit's end and finally he just selfdees
00:15:21.040 --> 00:15:25.670
because he just can't stand it anymore.
00:15:25.680 --> 00:15:27.670
So I mean it was kind of that sort of
00:15:27.680 --> 00:15:30.710
thing and um I remember reading in a
00:15:30.720 --> 00:15:32.389
book by St. John of the Cross, I think
00:15:32.399 --> 00:15:34.870
it was uh the ascent of Mount Carmel,
00:15:34.880 --> 00:15:38.230
where um someone who gets contemplation
00:15:38.240 --> 00:15:40.310
and loses it and gets it and loses it,
00:15:40.320 --> 00:15:41.590
gets it and lose, you know, they're able
00:15:41.600 --> 00:15:43.990
to practice high contemplation as the
00:15:44.000 --> 00:15:46.550
Catholics call it and then you you just
00:15:46.560 --> 00:15:48.069
can't get it anymore. The best you can
00:15:48.079 --> 00:15:51.350
do is just meditation which has like um
00:15:51.360 --> 00:15:53.990
visualizations or you know perceptions
00:15:54.000 --> 00:15:56.069
going on. When when you get into high
00:15:56.079 --> 00:15:59.350
contemplation like either you know
00:15:59.360 --> 00:16:01.509
Catholic high contemplation or the
00:16:01.519 --> 00:16:04.949
higher Janna in Buddhism then you're no
00:16:04.959 --> 00:16:07.350
longer thinking your mind is just clear
00:16:07.360 --> 00:16:09.509
and silent for the most part you know
00:16:09.519 --> 00:16:11.749
there might be little motions but that's
00:16:11.759 --> 00:16:15.350
as far as it gets is little motions
00:16:15.360 --> 00:16:17.990
and according to St. on the cross. If
00:16:18.000 --> 00:16:19.189
you get it and lose it and get it and
00:16:19.199 --> 00:16:20.389
lose it and get it and lose it, you
00:16:20.399 --> 00:16:23.110
don't just, you know, finally master it,
00:16:23.120 --> 00:16:27.509
then well, God has other plans for you.
00:16:27.519 --> 00:16:29.110
And he had a lot of experience with
00:16:29.120 --> 00:16:31.670
this. He was like a meditation master
00:16:31.680 --> 00:16:33.430
teaching
00:16:33.440 --> 00:16:35.350
Catholic contemplatives in a
00:16:35.360 --> 00:16:37.269
contemplative order. He had a lot of
00:16:37.279 --> 00:16:41.430
experience. And I mean from his point of
00:16:41.440 --> 00:16:44.230
view apparently based on his own
00:16:44.240 --> 00:16:46.870
experience if you don't just you know
00:16:46.880 --> 00:16:49.269
get it and keep it but you just get it
00:16:49.279 --> 00:16:50.710
and lose it. Get it and lose it. Get it
00:16:50.720 --> 00:16:54.470
and lose it then apparently just God has
00:16:54.480 --> 00:16:57.110
other plans for you. And that's the way
00:16:57.120 --> 00:16:58.550
it was for me. I get it and lose it. Get
00:16:58.560 --> 00:17:00.870
it and lose it. And finally I just
00:17:00.880 --> 00:17:02.550
stopped getting it except for just the
00:17:02.560 --> 00:17:04.309
occasional little glimmer. you know,
00:17:04.319 --> 00:17:07.590
maybe one good meditation in in just a
00:17:07.600 --> 00:17:09.990
matter of months.
00:17:10.000 --> 00:17:12.789
And it was just so frustrating just
00:17:12.799 --> 00:17:15.189
going back to the ABCs, going back to
00:17:15.199 --> 00:17:19.029
labeling that kind of thing that it just
00:17:19.039 --> 00:17:22.710
started becoming discouraging
00:17:22.720 --> 00:17:25.189
and disillusioning to some degree. And
00:17:25.199 --> 00:17:27.270
then I just decided well I mean after 10
00:17:27.280 --> 00:17:30.310
years of
00:17:30.320 --> 00:17:33.190
meditation that is below what I was
00:17:33.200 --> 00:17:35.990
doing like 2003
00:17:36.000 --> 00:17:38.230
more than 10 years
00:17:38.240 --> 00:17:41.430
time to try something else.
00:17:41.440 --> 00:17:43.270
So let's see how did you lose your
00:17:43.280 --> 00:17:46.230
unification of mind as a monk? It's just
00:17:46.240 --> 00:17:49.430
the mind just is restless.
00:17:49.440 --> 00:17:52.390
Um maybe a little contracted
00:17:52.400 --> 00:17:53.909
and then you just start losing
00:17:53.919 --> 00:17:57.190
enthusiasm because it's so unreliable.
00:17:57.200 --> 00:17:59.430
There's kind of a question farther down
00:17:59.440 --> 00:18:01.830
the scroll that addresses that
00:18:01.840 --> 00:18:03.750
particular issue indirectly that I'll
00:18:03.760 --> 00:18:06.150
probably touch upon this a little more,
00:18:06.160 --> 00:18:08.870
but it's just unreliable.
00:18:08.880 --> 00:18:11.110
You know, it's like you try and try and
00:18:11.120 --> 00:18:13.669
try for years and years sometimes and
00:18:13.679 --> 00:18:15.990
then sometimes you get a glimpse or a
00:18:16.000 --> 00:18:19.110
glimmer. Other other people they can try
00:18:19.120 --> 00:18:21.270
for years and years, meditate for years
00:18:21.280 --> 00:18:23.909
and years and never get anything above
00:18:23.919 --> 00:18:27.350
first genre. You know, they just never
00:18:27.360 --> 00:18:30.549
get beyond like thinking and perceiving
00:18:30.559 --> 00:18:32.789
as as like their main meditation
00:18:32.799 --> 00:18:34.470
technique. You know, they still have
00:18:34.480 --> 00:18:37.350
this method that they're following. you
00:18:37.360 --> 00:18:39.430
never just kind of break free of methods
00:18:39.440 --> 00:18:42.390
and just get into this clear silent
00:18:42.400 --> 00:18:45.830
spaciousness.
00:18:45.840 --> 00:18:48.470
And for me, I'd get it sometimes and
00:18:48.480 --> 00:18:51.830
then finally around 2004, it just kind
00:18:51.840 --> 00:18:54.310
of tapered off and almost stopped
00:18:54.320 --> 00:18:57.750
happening.
00:18:57.760 --> 00:19:01.830
So, what happened? I mean, sometimes
00:19:01.840 --> 00:19:03.830
anyone who's who's done like a an
00:19:03.840 --> 00:19:05.909
intensive meditation retreat can know
00:19:05.919 --> 00:19:09.270
that your subconscious mind can fight
00:19:09.280 --> 00:19:11.909
against enlightenment or fight against
00:19:11.919 --> 00:19:15.909
dharma. This sabotage your practice and
00:19:15.919 --> 00:19:18.150
because it's subconscious, you're not
00:19:18.160 --> 00:19:19.750
fully aware of what's going on. It can
00:19:19.760 --> 00:19:21.669
be like hysterical symptoms, that kind
00:19:21.679 --> 00:19:23.590
of thing that happened with Catholic
00:19:23.600 --> 00:19:27.190
saints, too.
00:19:27.200 --> 00:19:31.190
So there's always that and it's I mean
00:19:31.200 --> 00:19:33.029
you can see the surface stuff you know
00:19:33.039 --> 00:19:35.590
what's h going on at the surface but
00:19:35.600 --> 00:19:38.150
what's going on deep down in the murky
00:19:38.160 --> 00:19:40.549
depths of your subconscious mind which
00:19:40.559 --> 00:19:42.230
is where a lot of this stuff is
00:19:42.240 --> 00:19:44.789
originating you know troubles with your
00:19:44.799 --> 00:19:46.870
meditation that kind of thing sometimes
00:19:46.880 --> 00:19:48.230
the best you can do is just make an
00:19:48.240 --> 00:19:51.510
educated guess
00:19:51.520 --> 00:19:53.510
or you can just resort to St. John of
00:19:53.520 --> 00:19:55.909
the Cross's explanation,
00:19:55.919 --> 00:20:00.470
God just has other plans for you.
00:20:00.480 --> 00:20:02.470
So, could I please elaborate when I
00:20:02.480 --> 00:20:04.549
started to lose
00:20:04.559 --> 00:20:06.070
the singleness of mine? Well, I mean,
00:20:06.080 --> 00:20:09.430
it's I mean, even at my best, it wasn't
00:20:09.440 --> 00:20:13.350
like every single minute of every time I
00:20:13.360 --> 00:20:15.669
would sit down to meditate. Back in
00:20:15.679 --> 00:20:17.909
those days, you know, for most of my
00:20:17.919 --> 00:20:19.590
career as a monk, I was meditating
00:20:19.600 --> 00:20:21.350
several hours a day, sitting
00:20:21.360 --> 00:20:23.110
cross-legged with my eyes closed,
00:20:23.120 --> 00:20:28.310
usually several hours a day. And I mean,
00:20:28.320 --> 00:20:29.990
sometimes your mind is restless and
00:20:30.000 --> 00:20:31.990
doesn't settle down. Sometimes you get
00:20:32.000 --> 00:20:35.510
right into it and it's just beautiful.
00:20:35.520 --> 00:20:38.549
And so, you know, after around 2003,
00:20:38.559 --> 00:20:41.029
2004, you know, it's just restless and
00:20:41.039 --> 00:20:44.310
not settling down very well anymore.
00:20:44.320 --> 00:20:46.789
I mean, you can kind of grind away at
00:20:46.799 --> 00:20:48.470
the technique, but I mean, it's like
00:20:48.480 --> 00:20:51.430
going back to the ABCs after you've had
00:20:51.440 --> 00:20:53.669
something that was much higher, more
00:20:53.679 --> 00:21:00.070
advanced than that can be discouraging.
00:21:00.080 --> 00:21:01.909
So, let's see. I mean, I've I've really
00:21:01.919 --> 00:21:04.710
answered this question pretty much in in
00:21:04.720 --> 00:21:07.350
the previous Q&A and then also like two
00:21:07.360 --> 00:21:09.990
or three Q&As's before that. So, I
00:21:10.000 --> 00:21:11.909
shouldn't just keep flogging a dead
00:21:11.919 --> 00:21:13.909
horse here.
00:21:13.919 --> 00:21:16.230
See
00:21:16.240 --> 00:21:18.630
what methods did I use to try to get it
00:21:18.640 --> 00:21:21.750
back before disruping is just just
00:21:21.760 --> 00:21:26.870
continuing to meditate.
00:21:26.880 --> 00:21:30.470
went to a few retreats
00:21:30.480 --> 00:21:33.510
but it was uh by then after several
00:21:33.520 --> 00:21:36.390
years of it I mean you just kind of it
00:21:36.400 --> 00:21:39.990
becomes like habitual just this
00:21:40.000 --> 00:21:43.510
not having momentum going not having
00:21:43.520 --> 00:21:47.990
enthusiasm for for practice because just
00:21:48.000 --> 00:21:50.549
the the expectation that the practice is
00:21:50.559 --> 00:21:52.630
not going to get very deep that kind of
00:21:52.640 --> 00:21:55.430
thing you know it just kind of derailed
00:21:55.440 --> 00:21:58.789
the whole the whole holy life attitude,
00:21:58.799 --> 00:22:02.149
I suppose, or at least contributed to
00:22:02.159 --> 00:22:05.430
the derailing of the holy life attitude.
00:22:05.440 --> 00:22:07.909
I just got as far as I could get with it
00:22:07.919 --> 00:22:10.310
and then it leveled off and even started
00:22:10.320 --> 00:22:14.390
tapering off. And so after several years
00:22:14.400 --> 00:22:18.950
of that, time to try something else.
00:22:18.960 --> 00:22:20.149
I'm going to take a drink of my
00:22:20.159 --> 00:22:24.470
beverage.
00:22:24.480 --> 00:22:26.149
Ah,
00:22:26.159 --> 00:22:28.070
it's good.
00:22:28.080 --> 00:22:29.990
So, I guess I should just move on to the
00:22:30.000 --> 00:22:32.549
next question.
00:22:32.559 --> 00:22:35.110
This is also from PSA.
00:22:35.120 --> 00:22:38.710
He says, "For monks stroking it without
00:22:38.720 --> 00:22:41.190
emission, is it considered breaking the
00:22:41.200 --> 00:22:44.149
third precept and does the monk have to
00:22:44.159 --> 00:22:45.350
confess it?" Well, the monk isn't
00:22:45.360 --> 00:22:47.110
dealing with five precepts. He's dealing
00:22:47.120 --> 00:22:49.350
with vineia rules, rules of monastic
00:22:49.360 --> 00:22:51.270
discipline. So, we're dealing with the
00:22:51.280 --> 00:22:56.470
first sada rule here.
00:22:56.480 --> 00:22:58.630
And according to the first sad dissa
00:22:58.640 --> 00:23:03.110
rule to deliberately have an orgasm is a
00:23:03.120 --> 00:23:05.590
sanada offense requiring six days and
00:23:05.600 --> 00:23:09.190
six nights of penance followed by this
00:23:09.200 --> 00:23:11.669
very inconvenient reinstatement ceremony
00:23:11.679 --> 00:23:13.990
in which at least 20 monks in good
00:23:14.000 --> 00:23:17.430
standing have to attend. and it's really
00:23:17.440 --> 00:23:19.990
inconvenient.
00:23:20.000 --> 00:23:24.870
But um there are minor rules that are
00:23:24.880 --> 00:23:26.870
associated with the first song. For
00:23:26.880 --> 00:23:30.070
example, if you try
00:23:30.080 --> 00:23:33.110
to have an orgasm and for whatever
00:23:33.120 --> 00:23:35.590
reason fail, I'm pretty sure that's a
00:23:35.600 --> 00:23:38.390
tulachaya offense.
00:23:38.400 --> 00:23:41.190
It's at any rate, it doesn't rank as a
00:23:41.200 --> 00:23:45.430
full sana. So let's say you start and
00:23:45.440 --> 00:23:48.390
you you you're like have the in the
00:23:48.400 --> 00:23:50.710
intention to have an orgasm and then
00:23:50.720 --> 00:23:51.990
change your mind. Well, still you were
00:23:52.000 --> 00:23:54.310
doing it with the intention which is you
00:23:54.320 --> 00:23:56.470
know the action and the intention.
00:23:56.480 --> 00:23:58.390
That's two out of three. You know you
00:23:58.400 --> 00:24:00.470
didn't actually accomplish it but still
00:24:00.480 --> 00:24:04.470
you you did the action with the in the
00:24:04.480 --> 00:24:07.270
intention of doing it to completion and
00:24:07.280 --> 00:24:09.350
then you didn't complete. So I'm pretty
00:24:09.360 --> 00:24:11.750
sure it's either a ducata or a tulichaya
00:24:11.760 --> 00:24:13.350
offense, but it falls short of a full
00:24:13.360 --> 00:24:15.750
song of you say. So just confession is
00:24:15.760 --> 00:24:18.470
enough. You don't have to do the penance
00:24:18.480 --> 00:24:21.430
and all that. Or let's say you start and
00:24:21.440 --> 00:24:23.750
then like somebody starts walking in so
00:24:23.760 --> 00:24:25.830
you suddenly stop and pretend you know
00:24:25.840 --> 00:24:27.669
everything's cool, that kind of thing,
00:24:27.679 --> 00:24:30.710
then again then it would be against the
00:24:30.720 --> 00:24:33.590
rules. But if you're just not exactly
00:24:33.600 --> 00:24:35.430
spanking the puppy, but just petting it,
00:24:35.440 --> 00:24:38.149
and then it just accidentally goes off,
00:24:38.159 --> 00:24:41.269
which can happen, then that would
00:24:41.279 --> 00:24:47.510
technically not be breaking a rule.
00:24:47.520 --> 00:24:49.590
But if you're not sure, you know, you're
00:24:49.600 --> 00:24:50.950
like secondguing, trying to
00:24:50.960 --> 00:24:53.750
psychoanalyze yourself, then just to
00:24:53.760 --> 00:24:57.269
make sure, you may want to do penance
00:24:57.279 --> 00:25:00.390
just to clear all doubt. just to make
00:25:00.400 --> 00:25:02.390
sure you've got a clean slate, that kind
00:25:02.400 --> 00:25:04.390
of thing. And a lot of monks do that
00:25:04.400 --> 00:25:05.590
sort of thing. I've done that sort of
00:25:05.600 --> 00:25:08.070
thing before, not only with regard to uh
00:25:08.080 --> 00:25:10.789
sana number one, but like touching a
00:25:10.799 --> 00:25:14.870
woman with with like desire, you know,
00:25:14.880 --> 00:25:17.909
desire to to derive pleasure from the
00:25:17.919 --> 00:25:20.630
touch. There was one of the abbotts my
00:25:20.640 --> 00:25:23.110
one of my main teachers in Burma. He
00:25:23.120 --> 00:25:26.230
would do the penance every year because
00:25:26.240 --> 00:25:28.310
sometimes women would touch him. You
00:25:28.320 --> 00:25:30.870
know, it's like just brush up against a
00:25:30.880 --> 00:25:33.909
woman on a bus or for whatever reason
00:25:33.919 --> 00:25:36.070
you come into contact and he was kind of
00:25:36.080 --> 00:25:39.430
a macho monk and he enjoyed it. So just
00:25:39.440 --> 00:25:41.750
just to make sure that he was he was
00:25:41.760 --> 00:25:45.430
clean, ritually clean, he would do the
00:25:45.440 --> 00:25:47.510
do the the penants practic pretty much
00:25:47.520 --> 00:25:52.710
every year.
00:25:52.720 --> 00:25:55.830
So in order to
00:25:55.840 --> 00:25:59.669
get to commit sada number one then you
00:25:59.679 --> 00:26:03.510
have to like perform the act physically.
00:26:03.520 --> 00:26:05.830
You have to have the intention of having
00:26:05.840 --> 00:26:07.510
an orgasm and then you have to
00:26:07.520 --> 00:26:09.990
successfully have the orgasm in order
00:26:10.000 --> 00:26:14.710
for it to be a full sanada offense.
00:26:14.720 --> 00:26:17.830
And all of the sanodisas are like this.
00:26:17.840 --> 00:26:19.669
In fact, a lot of winni rules are like
00:26:19.679 --> 00:26:22.470
this where there's lesser rules with
00:26:22.480 --> 00:26:25.990
regard to like trying and then not
00:26:26.000 --> 00:26:27.590
actually succeeding and breaking the
00:26:27.600 --> 00:26:29.190
rule. But the very fact that you tried
00:26:29.200 --> 00:26:31.269
to break the rule,
00:26:31.279 --> 00:26:33.190
like even with regards to like stealing,
00:26:33.200 --> 00:26:35.990
that kind of thing, then it's it's a
00:26:36.000 --> 00:26:38.549
lesser rule, but not like the full
00:26:38.559 --> 00:26:41.029
penalty.
00:26:41.039 --> 00:26:42.070
And I'm just going to move on to the
00:26:42.080 --> 00:26:45.350
next question. This is from Mark.
00:26:45.360 --> 00:26:47.190
Hi, Moi.
00:26:47.200 --> 00:26:49.990
This is from Mark and he says, "Who were
00:26:50.000 --> 00:26:52.870
your favorite wrestlers from Portland
00:26:52.880 --> 00:26:55.590
wrestling back in the early to mid
00:26:55.600 --> 00:26:57.510
1970s?
00:26:57.520 --> 00:26:59.029
And it is true that when I was a kid,
00:26:59.039 --> 00:27:00.549
starting when I was in about fifth
00:27:00.559 --> 00:27:04.870
grade, um my family started watching big
00:27:04.880 --> 00:27:07.909
time wrestling, also called Portland
00:27:07.919 --> 00:27:09.430
wrestling, but really it was in
00:27:09.440 --> 00:27:11.669
beautiful Lake Oiggo,
00:27:11.679 --> 00:27:15.510
which is ne next to Portland, I guess.
00:27:15.520 --> 00:27:18.230
And it's true. Sometimes I would like
00:27:18.240 --> 00:27:20.710
cheer for the bad guys just to to
00:27:20.720 --> 00:27:22.789
irritate my mother because my mother
00:27:22.799 --> 00:27:24.789
really believed it. You know, it's a lot
00:27:24.799 --> 00:27:26.390
of this stuff is fake. you know, they're
00:27:26.400 --> 00:27:28.310
like bashing each other with with metal
00:27:28.320 --> 00:27:30.310
chairs and this kind of stuff, you know,
00:27:30.320 --> 00:27:31.990
getting out jumping out of the ring and
00:27:32.000 --> 00:27:33.669
just beating each other up out in the
00:27:33.679 --> 00:27:37.190
out on the parking lot sometimes. And
00:27:37.200 --> 00:27:40.950
she thought it was all just 100% legit.
00:27:40.960 --> 00:27:43.269
But when even even as a kid, you could
00:27:43.279 --> 00:27:44.950
see that it was a lot of it was just
00:27:44.960 --> 00:27:47.590
sort of fake, you know, dramatized fake
00:27:47.600 --> 00:27:50.310
blood, this kind of thing.
00:27:50.320 --> 00:27:52.789
So, my favorite wrestlers from Portland
00:27:52.799 --> 00:27:54.710
wrestling back in the early to mid
00:27:54.720 --> 00:27:57.269
1970s,
00:27:57.279 --> 00:28:00.549
beautiful Lake Oiggo.
00:28:00.559 --> 00:28:03.269
Well, I mean, Dutch Savage and Jimmy
00:28:03.279 --> 00:28:05.269
Snooka were like the the two heroes.
00:28:05.279 --> 00:28:06.870
Those were like the two main favorite
00:28:06.880 --> 00:28:10.310
good guys. Um, I remember one of the bad
00:28:10.320 --> 00:28:13.830
guys was Bull Ramos. And the very first
00:28:13.840 --> 00:28:17.590
time I ever saw um oh, what's his name?
00:28:17.600 --> 00:28:21.909
Jesse the Body Ventura who was in some
00:28:21.919 --> 00:28:23.830
relatively big movies like the first
00:28:23.840 --> 00:28:26.630
Predator movie and also he was what
00:28:26.640 --> 00:28:28.389
governor of Minnesota or something like
00:28:28.399 --> 00:28:30.149
that. First time I ever saw him he was
00:28:30.159 --> 00:28:33.510
the new tag team partner for Bull Ramos
00:28:33.520 --> 00:28:36.149
and he was just silent and Bull Ramos is
00:28:36.159 --> 00:28:37.750
like slapping at him on the stage.
00:28:37.760 --> 00:28:39.430
They're up in the crow's nest talking to
00:28:39.440 --> 00:28:42.950
the host Frank Bonama and Bull Ramos,
00:28:42.960 --> 00:28:44.630
this big fat Indian guy, is just
00:28:44.640 --> 00:28:46.310
slapping it at Jesse Ventur saying,
00:28:46.320 --> 00:28:49.830
"Pose, pose," because Jesse is is he's
00:28:49.840 --> 00:28:51.909
just adopting these, you know, Mr.
00:28:51.919 --> 00:28:54.549
Universe poses.
00:28:54.559 --> 00:28:56.230
That was back when wrestlers were kind
00:28:56.240 --> 00:28:58.070
of making the transition from diesel
00:28:58.080 --> 00:29:01.909
powered to nuclearpowered.
00:29:01.919 --> 00:29:05.029
So, I mean, I could say uh like Haru
00:29:05.039 --> 00:29:07.110
Sasaki with the the dreaded karate
00:29:07.120 --> 00:29:09.830
thumb. Definitely diesel powered
00:29:09.840 --> 00:29:11.590
old-fashioned wrestler who was just kind
00:29:11.600 --> 00:29:13.590
of built like a weightlifter or
00:29:13.600 --> 00:29:15.190
something.
00:29:15.200 --> 00:29:20.149
Tough Tony Bourne
00:29:20.159 --> 00:29:23.830
with regard to uh bad guys. Well, that's
00:29:23.840 --> 00:29:26.070
the next question here. So, yeah. I
00:29:26.080 --> 00:29:28.870
mean, Dutch Savage and Jimmy Snooker was
00:29:28.880 --> 00:29:30.389
pretty much everybody's favorite back in
00:29:30.399 --> 00:29:32.870
those days. And then Mark here says,
00:29:32.880 --> 00:29:36.310
"Who was your favorite bad guy?"
00:29:36.320 --> 00:29:40.710
And I don't know, I suppose it was, what
00:29:40.720 --> 00:29:43.430
was his name? Lord Jonathan Boyd, one of
00:29:43.440 --> 00:29:46.789
the kangaroos, the Royal Kangaroos.
00:29:46.799 --> 00:29:48.870
Cuz he was a bad guy, but he was tough.
00:29:48.880 --> 00:29:51.350
I mean, he was genuinely a good a good
00:29:51.360 --> 00:29:54.149
wrestler who maybe just, you know, they
00:29:54.159 --> 00:29:56.149
they had to like draw lots to see who
00:29:56.159 --> 00:29:58.230
had to be the bad guy or something. And
00:29:58.240 --> 00:30:02.389
so he and his uh his tag team partner,
00:30:02.399 --> 00:30:05.110
what was it? What was it? Uh Charles.
00:30:05.120 --> 00:30:08.389
Lord Charles. No, not Lord Charles.
00:30:08.399 --> 00:30:11.669
Something Charles.
00:30:11.679 --> 00:30:12.789
But they were tough. I mean, they could
00:30:12.799 --> 00:30:13.750
take a beating. They were good
00:30:13.760 --> 00:30:16.310
wrestlers. Sometimes they would win.
00:30:16.320 --> 00:30:18.870
So, let's go with Lord Jonathan Boyd.
00:30:18.880 --> 00:30:22.630
Who was this Australian guy
00:30:22.640 --> 00:30:24.230
and uh I'm just going to move on. Next
00:30:24.240 --> 00:30:26.950
question. This is from Austin.
00:30:26.960 --> 00:30:29.510
And Austin says, "If ultimate awareness
00:30:29.520 --> 00:30:32.389
were truly static, would that not
00:30:32.399 --> 00:30:34.230
contradict the Buddhist doctrine of
00:30:34.240 --> 00:30:36.630
impermanence?"
00:30:36.640 --> 00:30:37.990
Buddhists say that everything has
00:30:38.000 --> 00:30:39.830
changed from when I was 5 years old
00:30:39.840 --> 00:30:42.230
until now. But if the capacity for
00:30:42.240 --> 00:30:44.470
awareness or pure awareness itself has
00:30:44.480 --> 00:30:46.710
not changed, why could that not be
00:30:46.720 --> 00:30:50.470
considered an atman or self? Well, I
00:30:50.480 --> 00:30:53.350
mean, I was I thought I was fairly clear
00:30:53.360 --> 00:30:57.350
in my explanation to of my answering of
00:30:57.360 --> 00:30:59.190
Austin's previous question, which was
00:30:59.200 --> 00:31:00.549
kind of along these lines. This is like
00:31:00.559 --> 00:31:02.310
a followup.
00:31:02.320 --> 00:31:04.630
He says, I mean, I was saying that human
00:31:04.640 --> 00:31:07.669
awareness in the samosauric sense is not
00:31:07.679 --> 00:31:11.190
static, but ultimately,
00:31:11.200 --> 00:31:13.430
you know, ultimately like the the
00:31:13.440 --> 00:31:15.590
highest state of awareness, like
00:31:15.600 --> 00:31:18.789
assuming for example that nirvana is
00:31:18.799 --> 00:31:22.389
pure formless consciousness, you could
00:31:22.399 --> 00:31:24.149
say that that is static partly just
00:31:24.159 --> 00:31:27.190
because it's no longer in time.
00:31:27.200 --> 00:31:31.430
It's timeless. A calico.
00:31:31.440 --> 00:31:34.230
So it doesn't contradict the Buddhist
00:31:34.240 --> 00:31:36.149
doctrine of impermanence because the
00:31:36.159 --> 00:31:38.230
Buddhist doctrine of impermanence like
00:31:38.240 --> 00:31:41.909
in the the the three marks of existence
00:31:41.919 --> 00:31:44.070
sabara
00:31:44.080 --> 00:31:47.350
anicha which is all conditioned things
00:31:47.360 --> 00:31:50.789
are impermanent. But when you go beyond
00:31:50.799 --> 00:31:53.909
like samsaric awareness into this
00:31:53.919 --> 00:31:57.110
hypothetical ultimate highest absolute
00:31:57.120 --> 00:31:59.110
awareness of pure formless
00:31:59.120 --> 00:32:01.350
consciousness. It's not a sankara
00:32:01.360 --> 00:32:05.110
anymore. It's not in samsara anymore.
00:32:05.120 --> 00:32:08.710
But Buddhism really doesn't it tries to
00:32:08.720 --> 00:32:12.470
avoid or at least early Buddhism wisely
00:32:12.480 --> 00:32:15.909
avoided reifying the absolute.
00:32:15.919 --> 00:32:18.389
So I mean you don't even refer to the
00:32:18.399 --> 00:32:23.190
highest state as an it or a thing or
00:32:23.200 --> 00:32:24.950
like a goal. You don't really try to
00:32:24.960 --> 00:32:26.630
describe it. I mean, you can have it as
00:32:26.640 --> 00:32:29.269
a goal and so forth, but still it has to
00:32:29.279 --> 00:32:34.389
be like practically like an an
00:32:34.399 --> 00:32:36.549
enigma.
00:32:36.559 --> 00:32:39.430
Man, that was hard to say. Or just a
00:32:39.440 --> 00:32:41.909
mystery, you know, like mysticism.
00:32:41.919 --> 00:32:44.389
Mystery and mysticism have the same
00:32:44.399 --> 00:32:48.149
root, the etmological root.
00:32:48.159 --> 00:32:52.389
So I mean kind of you can say that
00:32:52.399 --> 00:32:53.990
assuming
00:32:54.000 --> 00:32:57.029
that nirvana is infinite formless
00:32:57.039 --> 00:32:59.029
consciousness
00:32:59.039 --> 00:33:01.750
you know this unmanifest luminous all
00:33:01.760 --> 00:33:06.310
around like some ancient verses say then
00:33:06.320 --> 00:33:08.310
you could say that that kind of ultimate
00:33:08.320 --> 00:33:12.470
awareness would not be impermanent but
00:33:12.480 --> 00:33:14.630
it's off the scale it's not a sankara so
00:33:14.640 --> 00:33:16.710
it's not contradicting
00:33:16.720 --> 00:33:19.269
sab Sankara or all conditioned things
00:33:19.279 --> 00:33:21.350
are impermanent.
00:33:21.360 --> 00:33:24.230
But when you're at the human level
00:33:24.240 --> 00:33:28.070
still in samsara, everything is changing
00:33:28.080 --> 00:33:31.750
from one moment to the next.
00:33:31.760 --> 00:33:34.149
So
00:33:34.159 --> 00:33:36.710
I mean there are some Mahayana Buddhists
00:33:36.720 --> 00:33:38.870
who will say that this infinite formless
00:33:38.880 --> 00:33:41.909
consciousness is like the origin of like
00:33:41.919 --> 00:33:43.750
the Buddha nature and all that and it
00:33:43.760 --> 00:33:45.750
doesn't change and so you can call that
00:33:45.760 --> 00:33:49.909
your true self. But in early Buddhism
00:33:49.919 --> 00:33:52.149
you don't call anything your true self.
00:33:52.159 --> 00:33:54.630
That's just sort of a later Mahayana
00:33:54.640 --> 00:33:56.310
philosophical development that is
00:33:56.320 --> 00:33:58.470
emotionally satisfying to certain types
00:33:58.480 --> 00:34:02.070
of people.
00:34:02.080 --> 00:34:03.830
So
00:34:03.840 --> 00:34:05.350
I'm just going to move on to Austin's
00:34:05.360 --> 00:34:07.110
next question.
00:34:07.120 --> 00:34:10.470
He says, "Nama," which is usually
00:34:10.480 --> 00:34:13.990
translated as mind. He says, "Nama is
00:34:14.000 --> 00:34:16.069
considered immaterial, meaning it
00:34:16.079 --> 00:34:19.990
doesn't have mass or physical extension.
00:34:20.000 --> 00:34:22.230
Consciousness arises dependent on
00:34:22.240 --> 00:34:25.030
conditions, but it is not reducible to
00:34:25.040 --> 00:34:27.589
matter. If computers could become
00:34:27.599 --> 00:34:30.790
conscious, consciousness could arise
00:34:30.800 --> 00:34:33.190
from purely material structures without
00:34:33.200 --> 00:34:36.149
anything immaterial. Would this not be a
00:34:36.159 --> 00:34:38.149
huge problem for Buddhism? Well, it'd be
00:34:38.159 --> 00:34:41.030
a huge problem for Abidama philosophy
00:34:41.040 --> 00:34:43.589
because I've said this before. One time
00:34:43.599 --> 00:34:46.550
I I asked a Burmese Abidama scholar,
00:34:46.560 --> 00:34:48.470
would it be possible for a computer to
00:34:48.480 --> 00:34:50.550
become conscious? And he just gave this
00:34:50.560 --> 00:34:53.909
unconditional no. Because according to
00:34:53.919 --> 00:34:57.349
Abid Dhama, consciousness has to arise
00:34:57.359 --> 00:35:01.670
in kama ja rupa or matter that is
00:35:01.680 --> 00:35:05.270
generated by karma and computers
00:35:05.280 --> 00:35:07.190
apparently don't have that. But
00:35:07.200 --> 00:35:09.190
personally I do not see any problem at
00:35:09.200 --> 00:35:12.710
all that you could argue that
00:35:12.720 --> 00:35:15.910
consciousness arises from a brain which
00:35:15.920 --> 00:35:19.109
is is a kind of organic computer. You
00:35:19.119 --> 00:35:21.109
know, it's still matter. a brain is
00:35:21.119 --> 00:35:23.589
still matter at least from a
00:35:23.599 --> 00:35:27.349
materialistic point of view.
00:35:27.359 --> 00:35:29.829
So I mean I really don't see a problem.
00:35:29.839 --> 00:35:32.550
I mean it would be a problem for certain
00:35:32.560 --> 00:35:35.510
tenets of terra Buddhist orthodoxy
00:35:35.520 --> 00:35:38.550
because of what Abidama says. But most
00:35:38.560 --> 00:35:39.910
westerners don't have much use for
00:35:39.920 --> 00:35:42.790
abidama anyway. I certainly don't. Most
00:35:42.800 --> 00:35:46.310
Buddhist monks, western Buddhist monks
00:35:46.320 --> 00:35:49.670
do not take abidama very seriously.
00:35:49.680 --> 00:35:52.150
They do not consider it to be genuine
00:35:52.160 --> 00:35:57.190
teachings of the historical God.
00:35:57.200 --> 00:35:59.430
So I mean if and if you're like a
00:35:59.440 --> 00:36:01.910
Mahayana Buddhist who doesn't believe
00:36:01.920 --> 00:36:06.069
that matter even really exists then
00:36:06.079 --> 00:36:07.990
I mean where would the problem be there?
00:36:08.000 --> 00:36:09.829
I mean you wouldn't have mind
00:36:09.839 --> 00:36:12.470
originating from pure matter because
00:36:12.480 --> 00:36:14.790
according to like a yoga Buddhist of the
00:36:14.800 --> 00:36:21.349
Mahayana then there is no pure matter.
00:36:21.359 --> 00:36:23.030
So let's see here. Did I answer the
00:36:23.040 --> 00:36:25.589
question? Nama is considered immaterial
00:36:25.599 --> 00:36:27.670
meaning it doesn't have mass or physical
00:36:27.680 --> 00:36:30.069
extension. Consciousness arises
00:36:30.079 --> 00:36:33.510
dependent on conditions. Well, yeah,
00:36:33.520 --> 00:36:36.230
that's vinyanakanda arises dependent on
00:36:36.240 --> 00:36:38.710
conditions. Yeah, we can say that. But
00:36:38.720 --> 00:36:41.270
if you're talking about nirvana as
00:36:41.280 --> 00:36:43.589
infinite formless consciousness then
00:36:43.599 --> 00:36:46.150
it's not arising dependent on conditions
00:36:46.160 --> 00:36:49.030
because that's just transcends samsara.
00:36:49.040 --> 00:36:51.349
It transcends conditionality and it
00:36:51.359 --> 00:36:53.589
transcends the duality of exist
00:36:53.599 --> 00:36:56.230
existence and non-existence
00:36:56.240 --> 00:36:57.829
so that you can't even really talk about
00:36:57.839 --> 00:36:59.990
it.
00:37:00.000 --> 00:37:01.990
So if computers could become conscious,
00:37:02.000 --> 00:37:04.069
consciousness could arise from purely
00:37:04.079 --> 00:37:06.790
material structures. If you believe that
00:37:06.800 --> 00:37:09.109
physical matter is ultimately real and I
00:37:09.119 --> 00:37:10.630
don't
00:37:10.640 --> 00:37:12.390
without anything immaterial, would this
00:37:12.400 --> 00:37:14.630
not be a huge problem for Buddhism? It'd
00:37:14.640 --> 00:37:18.150
be a huge problem for some like orthodox
00:37:18.160 --> 00:37:21.349
terra Buddhist philosophers and maybe
00:37:21.359 --> 00:37:23.910
certain other Buddhist philosophers of
00:37:23.920 --> 00:37:26.550
other schools who are dogmatically
00:37:26.560 --> 00:37:30.230
attached to certain tenets found in
00:37:30.240 --> 00:37:32.950
Buddhist texts.
00:37:32.960 --> 00:37:34.870
But overall, I don't think it would
00:37:34.880 --> 00:37:38.069
change much at all with regard to is
00:37:38.079 --> 00:37:40.470
Buddhism true or not.
00:37:40.480 --> 00:37:42.710
I mean with regard to how to practice
00:37:42.720 --> 00:37:47.510
and all that, it would remain unchanged.
00:37:47.520 --> 00:37:49.670
Four noble truths remain exactly the
00:37:49.680 --> 00:37:51.750
same regardless of whether computers can
00:37:51.760 --> 00:37:54.390
become conscious or not or regardless of
00:37:54.400 --> 00:37:57.030
whether a blob of gray meat can become
00:37:57.040 --> 00:37:59.190
conscious or not. I mean according to
00:37:59.200 --> 00:38:01.190
orthodox terraata, your brain isn't even
00:38:01.200 --> 00:38:04.870
the the organ of thought. It's it's like
00:38:04.880 --> 00:38:07.349
thought just arises through the force of
00:38:07.359 --> 00:38:09.670
karma in the blood in one of the
00:38:09.680 --> 00:38:12.150
chambers of your heart.
00:38:12.160 --> 00:38:15.349
Hadaya watu you know the heart base is
00:38:15.359 --> 00:38:18.870
where thought and mentality arises
00:38:18.880 --> 00:38:21.030
according to orthodox terravada they
00:38:21.040 --> 00:38:23.510
didn't even know what the brain was for
00:38:23.520 --> 00:38:25.670
in the wisudi manga the brain is just a
00:38:25.680 --> 00:38:27.910
big lump of bone marrow filling a large
00:38:27.920 --> 00:38:29.990
hollow bone
00:38:30.000 --> 00:38:32.710
almost the only thing that your brain
00:38:32.720 --> 00:38:35.190
does according to Buddha and the wizudi
00:38:35.200 --> 00:38:39.589
maga the number one um commentarial text
00:38:39.599 --> 00:38:42.150
in orthodox terabata Buddhism
00:38:42.160 --> 00:38:43.670
The only thing that your brain really
00:38:43.680 --> 00:38:45.990
does is if you catch a cold, it starts
00:38:46.000 --> 00:38:48.550
to liquefy. And so the snot coming out
00:38:48.560 --> 00:38:50.630
your nose is like melted brain.
00:38:50.640 --> 00:38:53.990
According to the Wisudi Maga,
00:38:54.000 --> 00:38:56.390
as uh venerable Nyanamoli, the first
00:38:56.400 --> 00:38:58.069
famous Yanamolei who translated the
00:38:58.079 --> 00:39:01.190
Wizudi Maga into English, as he said,
00:39:01.200 --> 00:39:03.349
the commentators were hard put to find a
00:39:03.359 --> 00:39:05.030
use for the human brain because they had
00:39:05.040 --> 00:39:09.190
already decided that your heart was the
00:39:09.200 --> 00:39:11.589
organ of thought. They really didn't
00:39:11.599 --> 00:39:14.150
have an idea of like blood circulation
00:39:14.160 --> 00:39:15.829
at the time that they came up with these
00:39:15.839 --> 00:39:18.470
ideas. And so apparently they had this
00:39:18.480 --> 00:39:21.349
idea that it was your liver that was
00:39:21.359 --> 00:39:24.310
responsible for splashing your blood
00:39:24.320 --> 00:39:26.310
around in your body causing it to
00:39:26.320 --> 00:39:28.710
somehow circulate through this splashing
00:39:28.720 --> 00:39:31.190
activity.
00:39:31.200 --> 00:39:34.870
So I mean you really can't take ancient
00:39:34.880 --> 00:39:39.430
Buddhist or ancient Indian ideas about
00:39:39.440 --> 00:39:40.950
the function of the brain or the
00:39:40.960 --> 00:39:42.390
function of the heart or the function of
00:39:42.400 --> 00:39:45.430
the liver. Like you can't take them too
00:39:45.440 --> 00:39:47.829
seriously. There are some people of
00:39:47.839 --> 00:39:50.230
course that think ancient Indians they
00:39:50.240 --> 00:39:51.750
knew everything better than modern
00:39:51.760 --> 00:39:53.829
science does. And with regard to how the
00:39:53.839 --> 00:39:56.790
mind works, maybe. But with regard to
00:39:56.800 --> 00:39:59.589
human anatomy and physiology, there's no
00:39:59.599 --> 00:40:01.750
way. Unless you have some kind of
00:40:01.760 --> 00:40:03.430
enlightened doctor that just had like
00:40:03.440 --> 00:40:05.829
this transcendent understanding without
00:40:05.839 --> 00:40:08.069
really conceptualizing it and writing it
00:40:08.079 --> 00:40:13.190
down in medical texts.
00:40:13.200 --> 00:40:16.550
So let's see here. I guess I answered
00:40:16.560 --> 00:40:17.910
that question. I'm just going to move on
00:40:17.920 --> 00:40:20.950
to the next one. This is from Maximan.
00:40:20.960 --> 00:40:22.950
And Maximan says, 'In holding your views
00:40:22.960 --> 00:40:25.990
on politics and the war effort, do you
00:40:26.000 --> 00:40:28.710
consider the fear and dread young men
00:40:28.720 --> 00:40:31.589
face who could be drafted? And then in
00:40:31.599 --> 00:40:34.550
parenthesis, he says, I'm 27.
00:40:34.560 --> 00:40:36.950
And my view on politics and the war
00:40:36.960 --> 00:40:40.870
effort is mainly like objective like
00:40:40.880 --> 00:40:43.750
political analysis. You know, I'm not
00:40:43.760 --> 00:40:47.109
trying to interpret
00:40:47.119 --> 00:40:49.589
like world politics
00:40:49.599 --> 00:40:52.630
in in terms of Buddhist ethics. In in
00:40:52.640 --> 00:40:54.870
Buddhist ethics, almost all politics is
00:40:54.880 --> 00:40:58.230
immoral. Which is why a devout serious
00:40:58.240 --> 00:40:59.990
Buddhist is supposed to just renounce
00:41:00.000 --> 00:41:02.470
society and go off and live alone in a
00:41:02.480 --> 00:41:05.030
forest.
00:41:05.040 --> 00:41:09.589
If you just like abolish all military,
00:41:09.599 --> 00:41:11.910
you know, all all all wars, this kind of
00:41:11.920 --> 00:41:13.990
thing, even wars of self-defense,
00:41:14.000 --> 00:41:16.069
punishing criminals, this kind of thing,
00:41:16.079 --> 00:41:18.230
you consider all that to be immoral. You
00:41:18.240 --> 00:41:21.030
know, even like killing lice in your
00:41:21.040 --> 00:41:23.910
children's hair. If all that you're just
00:41:23.920 --> 00:41:25.030
not going to do that, you're not going
00:41:25.040 --> 00:41:27.829
to break any precepts at all. Then the
00:41:27.839 --> 00:41:30.390
thing for you to do is just go off into
00:41:30.400 --> 00:41:33.030
a forest, renounce the world, and just
00:41:33.040 --> 00:41:37.349
go out and and live the holy life.
00:41:37.359 --> 00:41:39.589
So, in holding my views on politics in
00:41:39.599 --> 00:41:41.829
the war, I don't really consider very
00:41:41.839 --> 00:41:43.829
much the fear and dread young men face
00:41:43.839 --> 00:41:47.910
who could be drafted. And if it arises,
00:41:47.920 --> 00:41:49.670
I mean, especially when I'm thinking
00:41:49.680 --> 00:41:53.430
politically, not just being like
00:41:53.440 --> 00:41:56.790
empathetic and subjective and thinking
00:41:56.800 --> 00:41:58.870
like in terms of Buddhist ethics, but
00:41:58.880 --> 00:42:01.990
I'm thinking in terms of politics, then
00:42:02.000 --> 00:42:04.230
fear and dread of young men. I mean,
00:42:04.240 --> 00:42:06.150
that's that's fatal to a society. If you
00:42:06.160 --> 00:42:08.790
have I mean, there's always going to be
00:42:08.800 --> 00:42:11.190
a lot of young men who just don't want
00:42:11.200 --> 00:42:13.430
to fight. They're afraid to fight. they
00:42:13.440 --> 00:42:15.349
don't don't want to get killed, this
00:42:15.359 --> 00:42:18.470
kind of stuff. But if you don't have any
00:42:18.480 --> 00:42:22.069
men who are willing to fight for their
00:42:22.079 --> 00:42:25.829
country, the country is doomed. And I
00:42:25.839 --> 00:42:29.910
mean, at present, the United States at
00:42:29.920 --> 00:42:33.990
least has an all volunteer military. So
00:42:34.000 --> 00:42:36.069
I mean, it's like nobody's being drafted
00:42:36.079 --> 00:42:38.550
at present. anyone who's getting killed
00:42:38.560 --> 00:42:41.589
in the military volunteered to join the
00:42:41.599 --> 00:42:44.230
military knowing full well that there
00:42:44.240 --> 00:42:48.950
was a chance a risk of being killed. So
00:42:48.960 --> 00:42:51.349
I mean I can't really
00:42:51.359 --> 00:42:53.670
consider that to be any kind of
00:42:53.680 --> 00:42:56.150
injustice anymore than somebody knows
00:42:56.160 --> 00:42:58.630
the risks of smoking. they decide to
00:42:58.640 --> 00:43:00.470
smoke anyway and then they get lung
00:43:00.480 --> 00:43:03.670
cancer or emphyma or they decide they
00:43:03.680 --> 00:43:06.309
want to be a motorcycle racer and they
00:43:06.319 --> 00:43:07.990
know in advance there's always the
00:43:08.000 --> 00:43:10.790
hazard you know you can get in a wreck
00:43:10.800 --> 00:43:13.109
you can get killed but they may they
00:43:13.119 --> 00:43:14.870
decide to take that chance and they go
00:43:14.880 --> 00:43:17.430
for it and then if they kill I mean it's
00:43:17.440 --> 00:43:21.589
if they get killed in a wreck god forbid
00:43:21.599 --> 00:43:24.390
I mean at least they were willing to
00:43:24.400 --> 00:43:27.430
take that risk
00:43:27.440 --> 00:43:29.190
And in their ch in their particular
00:43:29.200 --> 00:43:32.230
case, they rolled snake eyes and
00:43:32.240 --> 00:43:34.150
but I mean they willingly rolled the
00:43:34.160 --> 00:43:36.870
dice knowing that it could come up snake
00:43:36.880 --> 00:43:39.190
eyes.
00:43:39.200 --> 00:43:42.710
So the fear and dread of young men who
00:43:42.720 --> 00:43:44.870
who
00:43:44.880 --> 00:43:47.750
um I mean even in the old days there
00:43:47.760 --> 00:43:49.510
would be a draft you know sometimes the
00:43:49.520 --> 00:43:51.030
army would just go through just
00:43:51.040 --> 00:43:52.710
recruiting all the young men in a
00:43:52.720 --> 00:43:54.630
certain village you know that happened a
00:43:54.640 --> 00:43:58.870
lot and as a general rule the men might
00:43:58.880 --> 00:44:02.630
be very afraid full of dread but still
00:44:02.640 --> 00:44:04.870
when you get thrust out onto that
00:44:04.880 --> 00:44:07.589
battlefield it's like this innate
00:44:07.599 --> 00:44:09.349
manhood
00:44:09.359 --> 00:44:13.349
you know, this innate heroic virtue just
00:44:13.359 --> 00:44:17.030
rises to the surface and you just find
00:44:17.040 --> 00:44:19.430
it within you to fight or to do your
00:44:19.440 --> 00:44:22.150
duty. You know, my father was in World
00:44:22.160 --> 00:44:24.630
War II and he would say there are some
00:44:24.640 --> 00:44:26.550
people that I'm not going to fight. I'm
00:44:26.560 --> 00:44:27.589
not going to fight. I can't kill
00:44:27.599 --> 00:44:30.390
anybody. Then, you know, when you've got
00:44:30.400 --> 00:44:33.510
Germans or Hungarians or whatever
00:44:33.520 --> 00:44:36.950
shooting at you, then you just find it
00:44:36.960 --> 00:44:38.950
within yourself to start shooting back
00:44:38.960 --> 00:44:41.589
as a general rule. Most of the people
00:44:41.599 --> 00:44:43.589
that said, "I can't do it. I'm not, you
00:44:43.599 --> 00:44:45.589
know, I'm I'm afraid of getting killed
00:44:45.599 --> 00:44:48.630
and all this." Most of them would would
00:44:48.640 --> 00:44:51.589
come around and start fighting. And some
00:44:51.599 --> 00:44:53.670
of them would be good fighters once the
00:44:53.680 --> 00:44:55.589
once the ice was broken, once they
00:44:55.599 --> 00:44:58.710
finally found the inner warrior, you
00:44:58.720 --> 00:45:01.349
know, the the the inner Viking or the
00:45:01.359 --> 00:45:03.430
inner Saxon or whatever came to the
00:45:03.440 --> 00:45:07.109
surface, which is what grown men have
00:45:07.119 --> 00:45:11.030
been doing since the human race existed.
00:45:11.040 --> 00:45:13.270
I mean, there was a time when almost
00:45:13.280 --> 00:45:18.309
every able-bodied man in a village was a
00:45:18.319 --> 00:45:21.430
warrior if necessary.
00:45:21.440 --> 00:45:23.589
you know, your your village or your
00:45:23.599 --> 00:45:26.150
tribe gets raided by another village or
00:45:26.160 --> 00:45:28.710
tribe. You pick up your spear and you go
00:45:28.720 --> 00:45:30.870
fight to protect your village. And it
00:45:30.880 --> 00:45:33.349
was back in those days, it was like with
00:45:33.359 --> 00:45:35.190
spears, like people looking each other
00:45:35.200 --> 00:45:36.550
in the eye as they're killing each
00:45:36.560 --> 00:45:38.950
other. That's maybe you were lucky
00:45:38.960 --> 00:45:40.309
enough to have a bow and arrow and
00:45:40.319 --> 00:45:43.829
standing farther back.
00:45:43.839 --> 00:45:46.630
So I think excessive fear and dread of
00:45:46.640 --> 00:45:49.990
young men um just fearing having to go
00:45:50.000 --> 00:45:52.710
to war. I mean in a way it's it's a sign
00:45:52.720 --> 00:45:55.750
of societal decay.
00:45:55.760 --> 00:45:57.510
Sorry to say I don't want to insult
00:45:57.520 --> 00:46:00.710
anybody. I mean you have the option of
00:46:00.720 --> 00:46:02.790
just refusing just be a conscientious
00:46:02.800 --> 00:46:06.069
objector. And I remember there's a a
00:46:06.079 --> 00:46:09.670
book by Jay Krishna Murdy where somebody
00:46:09.680 --> 00:46:10.950
was complaining to him. I think it was
00:46:10.960 --> 00:46:13.349
an Indian man saying that if you don't
00:46:13.359 --> 00:46:15.109
join the army they'll shoot you. I mean
00:46:15.119 --> 00:46:16.710
if they draft you and you refuse to
00:46:16.720 --> 00:46:18.309
fight they'll shoot you. And Christian
00:46:18.319 --> 00:46:20.870
Murdy says okay still you still have the
00:46:20.880 --> 00:46:23.270
choice so you'll be shot. That's just
00:46:23.280 --> 00:46:25.190
something you just got to consider.
00:46:25.200 --> 00:46:26.950
Still you make the choice if you prefer
00:46:26.960 --> 00:46:30.309
to get shot or whatever it is. Go to
00:46:30.319 --> 00:46:32.950
prison rather than fight in a war. I
00:46:32.960 --> 00:46:39.990
mean still that is your choice to make
00:46:40.000 --> 00:46:46.069
in accordance with your comma
00:46:46.079 --> 00:46:47.750
but I mean I can relate when I was a
00:46:47.760 --> 00:46:49.589
young man I was sort of a militant
00:46:49.599 --> 00:46:51.270
pacifist
00:46:51.280 --> 00:46:53.589
and uh yeah I definitely did not want to
00:46:53.599 --> 00:46:55.589
join the military I came from a military
00:46:55.599 --> 00:46:57.589
family most of the males in my family
00:46:57.599 --> 00:47:00.150
especially my father's side
00:47:00.160 --> 00:47:03.510
had been in the army
00:47:03.520 --> 00:47:05.990
But I was just a militant pacifist at
00:47:06.000 --> 00:47:09.270
the time, a dope smoking cosmic cowboy
00:47:09.280 --> 00:47:12.230
with long hair. And I just I just didn't
00:47:12.240 --> 00:47:14.630
want to do that. So I mean, if they
00:47:14.640 --> 00:47:16.230
would have drafted me, then I would have
00:47:16.240 --> 00:47:17.750
had to I mean, they didn't have the
00:47:17.760 --> 00:47:19.750
draft back then. There was like a
00:47:19.760 --> 00:47:22.390
mandatory registration for selective
00:47:22.400 --> 00:47:24.790
service, which I eventually wound up
00:47:24.800 --> 00:47:27.349
doing due to my father just insisting on
00:47:27.359 --> 00:47:31.109
it. So I I signed up for the selective
00:47:31.119 --> 00:47:32.950
service and they didn't draft anyone. It
00:47:32.960 --> 00:47:34.950
was just in case.
00:47:34.960 --> 00:47:37.910
But if I had been drafted, then it may
00:47:37.920 --> 00:47:40.230
have been that I would have just had to
00:47:40.240 --> 00:47:42.390
decide, you know, am I really willing? I
00:47:42.400 --> 00:47:44.790
mean, you can be like Mahatma Gandhi,
00:47:44.800 --> 00:47:47.829
Moandas K. Gandhi. He volunteered to to
00:47:47.839 --> 00:47:50.390
join the military in World War I on the
00:47:50.400 --> 00:47:52.390
British side as an unarmed
00:47:52.400 --> 00:47:54.230
stretcherbearer. You know, he was at
00:47:54.240 --> 00:47:56.069
least going to do his part. He was not a
00:47:56.079 --> 00:47:58.550
coward, you know, he was going to do his
00:47:58.560 --> 00:47:59.589
part. He just didn't want to kill
00:47:59.599 --> 00:48:02.230
anybody. So, he was just running out
00:48:02.240 --> 00:48:04.710
onto the battlefield and pulling wounded
00:48:04.720 --> 00:48:07.190
soldiers to safety without shooting at
00:48:07.200 --> 00:48:09.670
anybody. So, I mean, that's an option,
00:48:09.680 --> 00:48:13.270
too. I mean, if if you're just afraid,
00:48:13.280 --> 00:48:17.829
then that's probably not so good. But um
00:48:17.839 --> 00:48:19.670
at at the very least I mean if it's just
00:48:19.680 --> 00:48:21.349
a moral decision you don't want to kill
00:48:21.359 --> 00:48:24.790
anybody which is I mean that's not a bad
00:48:24.800 --> 00:48:27.430
choice to make then I mean still you
00:48:27.440 --> 00:48:29.349
could be like an unarmed stretcher
00:48:29.359 --> 00:48:31.990
bearer or something. I don't know if
00:48:32.000 --> 00:48:33.990
that's really an option in the modern
00:48:34.000 --> 00:48:36.470
American military. I mean possibly like
00:48:36.480 --> 00:48:38.950
a combat medic
00:48:38.960 --> 00:48:40.309
something like that. I think combat
00:48:40.319 --> 00:48:41.910
medics in World War II at least they
00:48:41.920 --> 00:48:43.270
carried a pistol. They didn't have an
00:48:43.280 --> 00:48:45.510
they didn't have a rifle, but they still
00:48:45.520 --> 00:48:47.990
had a sidearm.
00:48:48.000 --> 00:48:49.270
Well, I mean, I don't know if you'd
00:48:49.280 --> 00:48:51.190
actually be required to use that. I
00:48:51.200 --> 00:48:52.390
mean, you could just leave it in its
00:48:52.400 --> 00:48:55.510
holster.
00:48:55.520 --> 00:48:57.430
So, getting back to Maximon's actual
00:48:57.440 --> 00:48:59.109
question,
00:48:59.119 --> 00:49:00.870
it's kind of surprising to me that
00:49:00.880 --> 00:49:02.549
Maximan
00:49:02.559 --> 00:49:04.950
is is asking this kind of question
00:49:04.960 --> 00:49:06.549
considering that Maximan was like the
00:49:06.559 --> 00:49:09.510
first barbarian emperor of Rome.
00:49:09.520 --> 00:49:14.069
allegedly he was just a complete animal.
00:49:14.079 --> 00:49:16.069
He definitely was I mean he rose up
00:49:16.079 --> 00:49:18.390
through the ranks of the legions became
00:49:18.400 --> 00:49:21.270
he became emperor that way.
00:49:21.280 --> 00:49:24.950
So yeah I mean when usually when I'm
00:49:24.960 --> 00:49:26.950
when I have views on politics and the
00:49:26.960 --> 00:49:30.230
war effort it's just from this amoral
00:49:30.240 --> 00:49:33.349
objective you know what is expedient
00:49:33.359 --> 00:49:35.349
from a political point of view kind of
00:49:35.359 --> 00:49:38.549
attitude.
00:49:38.559 --> 00:49:40.790
And so there's not a whole lot of I mean
00:49:40.800 --> 00:49:42.549
it's really cut and dried from a
00:49:42.559 --> 00:49:44.790
Buddhist point of view. War is murder.
00:49:44.800 --> 00:49:46.710
Just don't do it. Don't kill anybody.
00:49:46.720 --> 00:49:50.470
Don't even kill an ant. Period. That's
00:49:50.480 --> 00:49:52.230
it.
00:49:52.240 --> 00:49:55.829
It's really not negotiable.
00:49:55.839 --> 00:49:58.150
But I mean, from a political point of
00:49:58.160 --> 00:49:59.910
view,
00:49:59.920 --> 00:50:02.549
just observing, you know, what Donald
00:50:02.559 --> 00:50:05.829
Trump and the the Ministry of War and
00:50:05.839 --> 00:50:08.710
all this is doing, I mean, it's you
00:50:08.720 --> 00:50:11.109
can't really just insist
00:50:11.119 --> 00:50:14.309
that we just disband all of our military
00:50:14.319 --> 00:50:15.990
forces and all this just because it's
00:50:16.000 --> 00:50:18.870
it's not Dharmic. I mean, it's it's just
00:50:18.880 --> 00:50:20.470
unrealistic.
00:50:20.480 --> 00:50:22.470
So it's more of an anthropological kind
00:50:22.480 --> 00:50:24.150
of a thing when you're looking at
00:50:24.160 --> 00:50:28.230
politics and you know what is
00:50:28.240 --> 00:50:30.870
conducive to the prosperity and success
00:50:30.880 --> 00:50:32.950
of a country
00:50:32.960 --> 00:50:37.030
and just not hurting anything is really
00:50:37.040 --> 00:50:39.510
not conducive to the prosperity of a
00:50:39.520 --> 00:50:44.630
country not for very long anyway
00:50:44.640 --> 00:50:45.829
and I'm just going to move on next
00:50:45.839 --> 00:50:48.870
question this is from Siovak and Sipad
00:50:48.880 --> 00:50:50.870
Zidana
00:50:50.880 --> 00:50:54.390
And I alluded to this question um in
00:50:54.400 --> 00:50:56.710
answer to one of the first questions
00:50:56.720 --> 00:51:00.230
section Zena says thoughts on this quote
00:51:00.240 --> 00:51:03.030
and it's a quote from Terrence McKenna
00:51:03.040 --> 00:51:05.829
and Terrence McKenna says the thing that
00:51:05.839 --> 00:51:08.790
is so powerful about the psychedelics is
00:51:08.800 --> 00:51:11.990
that they perform on demand which almost
00:51:12.000 --> 00:51:13.910
in principle you cannot expect of a
00:51:13.920 --> 00:51:16.069
mystical experience because that would
00:51:16.079 --> 00:51:18.950
be essentially man ordering God at man's
00:51:18.960 --> 00:51:21.349
whim, which is not how it's supposed to
00:51:21.359 --> 00:51:23.829
work. And this is something that I used
00:51:23.839 --> 00:51:25.750
to consider a lot. Like a little little
00:51:25.760 --> 00:51:29.430
while ago, I was talking about how um
00:51:29.440 --> 00:51:32.150
with meditation, getting like a mystical
00:51:32.160 --> 00:51:33.990
experience through meditation. There's
00:51:34.000 --> 00:51:35.750
no guarantees at all. Some people might
00:51:35.760 --> 00:51:38.390
try their entire life and fail. And then
00:51:38.400 --> 00:51:39.990
other people, you get it and lose it.
00:51:40.000 --> 00:51:43.109
Get it and lose it. A few lucky few or
00:51:43.119 --> 00:51:45.910
fortunate few will master it. and then
00:51:45.920 --> 00:51:48.230
they can just slide right into a deep
00:51:48.240 --> 00:51:50.150
mystical state pretty much every time
00:51:50.160 --> 00:51:51.990
they sit down. There are people like
00:51:52.000 --> 00:51:54.309
that. I assume St. John of the Cross was
00:51:54.319 --> 00:51:57.670
one of those. A lot of Buddhist Buddhist
00:51:57.680 --> 00:52:00.950
monks both Terravada and otherwise have
00:52:00.960 --> 00:52:04.230
been that way also.
00:52:04.240 --> 00:52:07.750
But I mean I can't really agree. I mean
00:52:07.760 --> 00:52:09.270
it's
00:52:09.280 --> 00:52:11.910
let me back up a little bit. So I mean
00:52:11.920 --> 00:52:13.829
meditation getting into deep meditative
00:52:13.839 --> 00:52:15.270
states or mystical states through
00:52:15.280 --> 00:52:18.549
meditation as I say is woefully
00:52:18.559 --> 00:52:20.470
unreliable sometimes. There's no
00:52:20.480 --> 00:52:23.270
guarantees. Whereas something like two
00:52:23.280 --> 00:52:25.910
hits of acid, you take those two hits of
00:52:25.920 --> 00:52:30.630
acid and you're pretty much guaranteed
00:52:30.640 --> 00:52:33.109
of some kind of mystical experience. At
00:52:33.119 --> 00:52:35.430
least in my case, it has generally been
00:52:35.440 --> 00:52:38.230
that way
00:52:38.240 --> 00:52:40.549
in my youth.
00:52:40.559 --> 00:52:42.390
So, I mean, I used to think about that a
00:52:42.400 --> 00:52:44.710
lot when I was a monk. It's like, man,
00:52:44.720 --> 00:52:47.349
it's like you can just take two hits of
00:52:47.359 --> 00:52:50.950
acid and you'll be getting into states
00:52:50.960 --> 00:52:53.750
that some meditators have tried to get
00:52:53.760 --> 00:52:58.390
into for decades and have failed.
00:52:58.400 --> 00:53:01.829
So it it's almost unfair
00:53:01.839 --> 00:53:04.950
that it's it's so reliable with
00:53:04.960 --> 00:53:07.430
something like mushrooms psilocybin
00:53:07.440 --> 00:53:10.390
mushrooms or or masculine or or LSD,
00:53:10.400 --> 00:53:12.230
that kind of thing. Whereas with
00:53:12.240 --> 00:53:16.790
meditation, it's not nearly as reliable.
00:53:16.800 --> 00:53:19.750
But um what McKenna's talking about
00:53:19.760 --> 00:53:22.549
here, it's like let's see, it would be
00:53:22.559 --> 00:53:24.950
essentially man ordering God at man's
00:53:24.960 --> 00:53:27.829
whim, which is not how it's supposed to
00:53:27.839 --> 00:53:30.069
work. Well, I mean, not how it's
00:53:30.079 --> 00:53:31.589
supposed to work is just sort of a
00:53:31.599 --> 00:53:35.270
cultural thing, I think, because even
00:53:35.280 --> 00:53:38.630
like somebody who is practicing
00:53:38.640 --> 00:53:41.430
diligently and they've got like a talent
00:53:41.440 --> 00:53:44.069
at like contemplation
00:53:44.079 --> 00:53:46.470
so that they finally master it. I mean
00:53:46.480 --> 00:53:48.390
still I mean they're working at it.
00:53:48.400 --> 00:53:49.910
They're making efforts. It's not just
00:53:49.920 --> 00:53:52.309
like this gift of God that's just
00:53:52.319 --> 00:53:55.349
spontaneous. It's not purely divine
00:53:55.359 --> 00:53:57.030
grace even them because they're really
00:53:57.040 --> 00:53:58.950
striving for it. You know they're really
00:53:58.960 --> 00:54:00.950
putting in the effort, putting in lots
00:54:00.960 --> 00:54:04.390
of effort.
00:54:04.400 --> 00:54:09.589
So it is true that it's it seems kind of
00:54:09.599 --> 00:54:13.589
vaguely unfair, unjust
00:54:13.599 --> 00:54:15.829
that some people can meditate and
00:54:15.839 --> 00:54:17.990
meditate and meditate for years and
00:54:18.000 --> 00:54:20.790
still not get into a mystical state as
00:54:20.800 --> 00:54:22.710
deep as if they just took a bunch of
00:54:22.720 --> 00:54:27.430
psilocybin mushrooms.
00:54:27.440 --> 00:54:29.750
I think I mentioned previously not long
00:54:29.760 --> 00:54:34.390
ago that some Hindu yogi or swami back
00:54:34.400 --> 00:54:36.549
in like the 1970s
00:54:36.559 --> 00:54:38.950
made the observation that God came to
00:54:38.960 --> 00:54:42.390
America in the form of LSD because
00:54:42.400 --> 00:54:44.710
Americans are materialists and they
00:54:44.720 --> 00:54:46.390
wanted their God in the form of a
00:54:46.400 --> 00:54:49.430
material substance.
00:54:49.440 --> 00:54:52.630
So I mean it's all just I mean just
00:54:52.640 --> 00:54:55.910
going with you know cosmic justice in a
00:54:55.920 --> 00:54:58.710
Buddhist sense with karma and all that
00:54:58.720 --> 00:55:01.829
then everyone gets what they deserve
00:55:01.839 --> 00:55:03.829
even though it may not seem that way
00:55:03.839 --> 00:55:05.109
especially if it's like innocent
00:55:05.119 --> 00:55:07.589
children being abused and so forth from
00:55:07.599 --> 00:55:09.910
the Buddhist point of view it's it's a
00:55:09.920 --> 00:55:12.630
karmic thing. Anything that happens to
00:55:12.640 --> 00:55:15.910
you and causes any kind of sensation,
00:55:15.920 --> 00:55:18.150
positive or negative, is the fruition of
00:55:18.160 --> 00:55:20.710
karma. If not karma made in this life,
00:55:20.720 --> 00:55:23.910
karma made in a previous life. And you
00:55:23.920 --> 00:55:26.390
know, a lot of people that really cannot
00:55:26.400 --> 00:55:28.790
appreciate the whole idea of karma will
00:55:28.800 --> 00:55:30.950
call it victim blaming and just get
00:55:30.960 --> 00:55:33.829
indignant and angry about abused
00:55:33.839 --> 00:55:36.390
children and so forth. And I can get
00:55:36.400 --> 00:55:39.910
that. But still I mean
00:55:39.920 --> 00:55:43.190
it does it does I do accept the idea of
00:55:43.200 --> 00:55:45.910
karma that the world we living in the
00:55:45.920 --> 00:55:48.789
world we are living in is mind-made
00:55:48.799 --> 00:55:51.270
like the first verse of the dharmapata
00:55:51.280 --> 00:55:55.030
it's mindmade mind is chief mind is the
00:55:55.040 --> 00:55:58.950
forerunner
00:55:58.960 --> 00:56:01.030
and some people just aren't very good at
00:56:01.040 --> 00:56:04.069
at like generating their reality you
00:56:04.079 --> 00:56:06.549
know it's like even good people can have
00:56:06.559 --> 00:56:08.710
nightmares just you know it's we're
00:56:08.720 --> 00:56:10.470
creating our own dreams and some people
00:56:10.480 --> 00:56:14.230
are creating nightmares
00:56:14.240 --> 00:56:17.430
but I'm uh wandering away from the
00:56:17.440 --> 00:56:19.190
question and from the Terrence McKenna
00:56:19.200 --> 00:56:22.069
quote and I I gave my thoughts on it so
00:56:22.079 --> 00:56:23.910
I'm just going to move on to Seio Cipad
00:56:23.920 --> 00:56:25.990
Ziderna's next question which is a
00:56:26.000 --> 00:56:29.109
surprisingly difficult one he says who
00:56:29.119 --> 00:56:32.870
is your favorite American of all time
00:56:32.880 --> 00:56:34.950
and then he says writer philosopher
00:56:34.960 --> 00:56:37.190
mystic politician and any other fields
00:56:37.200 --> 00:56:40.230
you think are important. So, my favorite
00:56:40.240 --> 00:56:41.990
American of all time, I guess I can just
00:56:42.000 --> 00:56:45.270
cheat and say my dad, my dad is my
00:56:45.280 --> 00:56:47.349
favorite American.
00:56:47.359 --> 00:56:48.950
Um,
00:56:48.960 --> 00:56:53.430
but just getting into these categories
00:56:53.440 --> 00:56:55.430
like my favorite writer, my favorite
00:56:55.440 --> 00:56:58.309
American writer. I mean, America really
00:56:58.319 --> 00:57:00.230
hasn't produced
00:57:00.240 --> 00:57:04.309
any like great like Shakespearees that
00:57:04.319 --> 00:57:07.670
I'm aware of. I mean, Herman Melville,
00:57:07.680 --> 00:57:09.589
who wrote Moby Dick, I mean, Moby Dick
00:57:09.599 --> 00:57:13.430
is great. It's it's more profound than
00:57:13.440 --> 00:57:15.190
the Old Testament of the Bible, for
00:57:15.200 --> 00:57:18.230
example, in my opinion. I mean, it's it
00:57:18.240 --> 00:57:21.670
is profound. It is a mystical text in in
00:57:21.680 --> 00:57:23.750
certain respects. Like Moby Dick himself
00:57:23.760 --> 00:57:28.470
is like the left fist of God.
00:57:28.480 --> 00:57:31.430
Um, but then again, Melville wrote a lot
00:57:31.440 --> 00:57:35.349
of kind of not so good stuff. In fact,
00:57:35.359 --> 00:57:37.349
most of his stuff wasn't all that great.
00:57:37.359 --> 00:57:38.789
You know, he's he's kind of like a one-h
00:57:38.799 --> 00:57:41.910
hit wonder. I mean, his second best
00:57:41.920 --> 00:57:44.870
writing would be maybe Billy Bud,
00:57:44.880 --> 00:57:46.470
you know, like some of his early stuff
00:57:46.480 --> 00:57:48.950
like Taipei, you know, that's it's
00:57:48.960 --> 00:57:51.990
readable. It's it's interesting. But all
00:57:52.000 --> 00:57:54.390
in all, he was just he was inspired with
00:57:54.400 --> 00:57:57.589
Moby Dick. just he was inspired by a
00:57:57.599 --> 00:57:59.430
muse when writing Moby Dick, even though
00:57:59.440 --> 00:58:03.109
even Moby Dick has some corny parts.
00:58:03.119 --> 00:58:06.069
Um,
00:58:06.079 --> 00:58:08.150
but I mean, Melville lived a really
00:58:08.160 --> 00:58:10.950
interesting life. I mean, he's like of
00:58:10.960 --> 00:58:13.670
the Dutch aristocracy of New York City
00:58:13.680 --> 00:58:15.349
back from going back from when it was
00:58:15.359 --> 00:58:17.910
New Amsterdam. And then his family fell
00:58:17.920 --> 00:58:20.470
upon hard times back in the 1800s. You
00:58:20.480 --> 00:58:21.750
know, there was some kind of depression
00:58:21.760 --> 00:58:23.750
or stock market crash or something back
00:58:23.760 --> 00:58:26.549
then. And so he just went off and and
00:58:26.559 --> 00:58:29.270
started working on whailing ships. And
00:58:29.280 --> 00:58:31.349
Melville, who wrote Moby Dick, was
00:58:31.359 --> 00:58:33.430
actually one of the harpooners, you
00:58:33.440 --> 00:58:35.430
know, he's the guy standing in the front
00:58:35.440 --> 00:58:38.950
of a rowboat chasing a a sperm whale,
00:58:38.960 --> 00:58:41.030
like hurling the harpoons into the
00:58:41.040 --> 00:58:44.069
whale. So I mean, he he definitely lived
00:58:44.079 --> 00:58:46.470
an adventuresome life. And so that
00:58:46.480 --> 00:58:48.630
causes me to have a little higher
00:58:48.640 --> 00:58:50.150
opinion of him, even though he wrote a
00:58:50.160 --> 00:58:53.190
fair amount of duds.
00:58:53.200 --> 00:58:56.630
Um, with regard to like poetry, I don't
00:58:56.640 --> 00:58:58.390
I don't know if America has had very
00:58:58.400 --> 00:59:00.950
many really great poets. Robert Frost,
00:59:00.960 --> 00:59:03.190
maybe.
00:59:03.200 --> 00:59:06.390
Um, let's see. The best my favorite
00:59:06.400 --> 00:59:09.030
American philosopher. I mean, America
00:59:09.040 --> 00:59:10.549
hasn't produced any really great
00:59:10.559 --> 00:59:12.309
philosophers either that I know of. some
00:59:12.319 --> 00:59:14.630
good scientists.
00:59:14.640 --> 00:59:18.390
But maybe William James like he wrote
00:59:18.400 --> 00:59:20.230
the the varieties of religious
00:59:20.240 --> 00:59:23.109
experience which is more religion than
00:59:23.119 --> 00:59:24.390
philosophy. I guess with regard to
00:59:24.400 --> 00:59:26.710
philosophy, William James was mainly
00:59:26.720 --> 00:59:29.750
known for being one of the the founding
00:59:29.760 --> 00:59:33.750
pioneers in of pragmatism which was one
00:59:33.760 --> 00:59:35.510
of the theories of truth. It was kind of
00:59:35.520 --> 00:59:39.109
a epistemological theory
00:59:39.119 --> 00:59:42.150
that something is true if and only if it
00:59:42.160 --> 00:59:45.109
works.
00:59:45.119 --> 00:59:48.309
Um, my favorite American mystic, well,
00:59:48.319 --> 00:59:50.309
there's Herman Melville again who wrote
00:59:50.319 --> 00:59:51.910
movie dick. That's definitely a mystical
00:59:51.920 --> 00:59:55.510
book. Or also maybe Wal Ralph Waldo
00:59:55.520 --> 00:59:59.589
Emerson wrote the the poem Brahma.
00:59:59.599 --> 01:00:02.309
Brahma is a good mystical poem if you've
01:00:02.319 --> 01:00:03.750
never read it and it's it's short. I
01:00:03.760 --> 01:00:06.710
think it's only like three verses long.
01:00:06.720 --> 01:00:09.030
My favorite pol my favorite American
01:00:09.040 --> 01:00:12.630
politician. Let's go Theodore Roosevelt,
01:00:12.640 --> 01:00:15.030
which may help to explain why I like
01:00:15.040 --> 01:00:20.710
Trump as much as I do.
01:00:20.720 --> 01:00:24.549
I like someone who just gets [ __ ] done.
01:00:24.559 --> 01:00:26.470
And let's see. And any other fields I
01:00:26.480 --> 01:00:28.789
think are important.
01:00:28.799 --> 01:00:30.549
Gosh,
01:00:30.559 --> 01:00:32.309
I really can't think of very much. I
01:00:32.319 --> 01:00:34.309
mean, musicians. My favorite American
01:00:34.319 --> 01:00:38.069
musician. I don't even know.
01:00:38.079 --> 01:00:41.670
Johnny Cash. I don't know.
01:00:41.680 --> 01:00:43.670
Let's see.
01:00:43.680 --> 01:00:45.750
So, yeah. I mean, with regard to my
01:00:45.760 --> 01:00:48.710
favorite American of all time, I'm still
01:00:48.720 --> 01:00:53.030
just sticking to my dad.
01:00:53.040 --> 01:00:56.470
He was a great man in his own way.
01:00:56.480 --> 01:00:58.870
And uh
01:00:58.880 --> 01:01:01.670
yeah I mean if Siovak and Cad Zena is
01:01:01.680 --> 01:01:07.349
not satisfied with this answer he can uh
01:01:07.359 --> 01:01:11.270
like ask a specific category
01:01:11.280 --> 01:01:14.230
in future and like maybe I'll have more
01:01:14.240 --> 01:01:16.230
time to reflect on it because really I'd
01:01:16.240 --> 01:01:18.150
have to sit here just really thinking
01:01:18.160 --> 01:01:22.309
about gosh who is my favorite American
01:01:22.319 --> 01:01:24.150
philosopher for example. You know,
01:01:24.160 --> 01:01:25.589
there's a good chance I'm overlooking
01:01:25.599 --> 01:01:29.910
somebody.
01:01:29.920 --> 01:01:32.630
So, let's see here. I mean, if it were
01:01:32.640 --> 01:01:34.309
English or Scottish or something, it'd
01:01:34.319 --> 01:01:36.150
be easy. I could just, you know, my
01:01:36.160 --> 01:01:38.390
favorite Scottish philosopher obviously
01:01:38.400 --> 01:01:40.789
would be David Hume. Favorite English
01:01:40.799 --> 01:01:42.470
philosopher, I don't know, maybe FH
01:01:42.480 --> 01:01:46.309
Bradley.
01:01:46.319 --> 01:01:47.990
But
01:01:48.000 --> 01:01:50.150
I mean, the great rock and roll bands,
01:01:50.160 --> 01:01:52.950
Led Zeppelin, for example, that's
01:01:52.960 --> 01:01:54.789
English.
01:01:54.799 --> 01:01:57.750
The Beatles were English.
01:01:57.760 --> 01:01:59.670
Best American rock and roll band. I
01:01:59.680 --> 01:02:02.950
don't even know. Pink Floyd was English.
01:02:02.960 --> 01:02:05.430
Rush was Canadian.
01:02:05.440 --> 01:02:08.309
Maybe the Doors. I don't know. Let's
01:02:08.319 --> 01:02:10.950
just move on. Next question.
01:02:10.960 --> 01:02:13.510
This is also from Seio.
01:02:13.520 --> 01:02:15.430
This is more philosophical, more
01:02:15.440 --> 01:02:20.390
Buddhist if you will. He says in terra
01:02:20.400 --> 01:02:23.190
why is delusion considered a sankara
01:02:23.200 --> 01:02:25.670
rather than perception. I thought
01:02:25.680 --> 01:02:28.630
perception was the way you see the world
01:02:28.640 --> 01:02:31.829
while delusion is incorrectly seeing it.
01:02:31.839 --> 01:02:35.510
Thus making it all form of see all
01:02:35.520 --> 01:02:38.390
making it a form of misperception.
01:02:38.400 --> 01:02:40.950
Well, this is another like Abid Dhama
01:02:40.960 --> 01:02:45.829
thing that first of all
01:02:45.839 --> 01:02:49.990
according to Abidama there are 52 mental
01:02:50.000 --> 01:02:52.069
states
01:02:52.079 --> 01:02:54.950
all of them are sankaras and then for
01:02:54.960 --> 01:02:57.510
some reason
01:02:57.520 --> 01:03:00.230
two of these sankaras which are sya or
01:03:00.240 --> 01:03:01.910
perception
01:03:01.920 --> 01:03:04.789
and also way or feeling got singled out
01:03:04.799 --> 01:03:06.230
because supposedly they're more
01:03:06.240 --> 01:03:09.270
important than the other 50 and it's
01:03:09.280 --> 01:03:14.549
just it's bad like categorization bad
01:03:14.559 --> 01:03:16.549
systematlogy in my opinion this is
01:03:16.559 --> 01:03:19.430
indicative of like early terravada
01:03:19.440 --> 01:03:22.870
Buddhism being like pre-logical
01:03:22.880 --> 01:03:26.150
like being a product a product of Indian
01:03:26.160 --> 01:03:28.710
culture before formal logic had really
01:03:28.720 --> 01:03:33.349
been established in Indian philosophy.
01:03:33.359 --> 01:03:37.670
So it's just I mean you can say that
01:03:37.680 --> 01:03:40.710
you've got the five condas and that is
01:03:40.720 --> 01:03:43.349
it that's all we are and sankara would
01:03:43.359 --> 01:03:46.630
just be volition or will in which case
01:03:46.640 --> 01:03:49.190
all these other mental states even wrong
01:03:49.200 --> 01:03:52.789
view is is considered to be a distinct
01:03:52.799 --> 01:03:55.910
qualitatively separate mental state just
01:03:55.920 --> 01:03:58.549
distinct from perception and that kind
01:03:58.559 --> 01:04:00.950
of stuff I just can't buy it. You're
01:04:00.960 --> 01:04:04.710
better off just saying perceptions and
01:04:04.720 --> 01:04:07.510
and will and will perception and
01:04:07.520 --> 01:04:09.589
volition even feelings would be a kind
01:04:09.599 --> 01:04:15.190
of like sensory perception.
01:04:15.200 --> 01:04:17.990
So yeah, I'd be I'd go along with that.
01:04:18.000 --> 01:04:19.829
You've got
01:04:19.839 --> 01:04:23.349
mental states or or just perception and
01:04:23.359 --> 01:04:27.750
volition and and consciousness. But even
01:04:27.760 --> 01:04:30.230
even that is it's it's getting too too
01:04:30.240 --> 01:04:32.069
complicated.
01:04:32.079 --> 01:04:36.870
So I mean at one point I did write the
01:04:36.880 --> 01:04:39.349
first Buddhist philosophical essay I
01:04:39.359 --> 01:04:41.430
ever wrote
01:04:41.440 --> 01:04:44.549
was uh with regard to trying to make
01:04:44.559 --> 01:04:47.270
sense of the five condas and trying to
01:04:47.280 --> 01:04:50.710
make sense of how perception and
01:04:50.720 --> 01:04:52.950
volition especially are related. how
01:04:52.960 --> 01:04:57.750
perception is like the static aspect of
01:04:57.760 --> 01:05:00.069
volition and volition is like the
01:05:00.079 --> 01:05:02.710
kinetic aspect of perception. So that
01:05:02.720 --> 01:05:04.710
even that is a false distinction. It's
01:05:04.720 --> 01:05:07.829
just based on the the weird way like the
01:05:07.839 --> 01:05:11.029
grammatical way that human beings label
01:05:11.039 --> 01:05:14.390
things and identify things.
01:05:14.400 --> 01:05:16.069
And I'm probably confusing some people
01:05:16.079 --> 01:05:19.270
because I'm slightly confusing myself
01:05:19.280 --> 01:05:21.430
trying to answer this and just kind of
01:05:21.440 --> 01:05:24.390
going about it scattershot.
01:05:24.400 --> 01:05:26.870
But in Terravada delusion is considered
01:05:26.880 --> 01:05:29.829
a sankara rather than perception mainly
01:05:29.839 --> 01:05:32.870
because you had these abidama scholars
01:05:32.880 --> 01:05:36.230
trying to categorize everything and not
01:05:36.240 --> 01:05:38.630
doing a really good job of it because
01:05:38.640 --> 01:05:41.109
they were not particularly sophisticated
01:05:41.119 --> 01:05:44.309
with regard to formal logic. they didn't
01:05:44.319 --> 01:05:48.230
really have a a really solid system. And
01:05:48.240 --> 01:05:50.309
so they're just coming up with this kind
01:05:50.319 --> 01:05:51.829
of mental state. Yeah, we'll just call
01:05:51.839 --> 01:05:53.829
that an ultimate reality. And that kind
01:05:53.839 --> 01:05:55.029
of mental state, yeah, we'll just call
01:05:55.039 --> 01:05:57.190
that an ultimate reality. And then
01:05:57.200 --> 01:05:59.750
they'll just like come up with other
01:05:59.760 --> 01:06:01.829
mental states that you're not even fully
01:06:01.839 --> 01:06:03.910
aware of, but they have to be there to
01:06:03.920 --> 01:06:05.910
kind of fit the theory. kind of the way
01:06:05.920 --> 01:06:08.549
some subatomic particles are theorized
01:06:08.559 --> 01:06:11.029
or hypothesized by theoretical
01:06:11.039 --> 01:06:13.750
physicists just as a way of getting a
01:06:13.760 --> 01:06:16.069
theory to work.
01:06:16.079 --> 01:06:19.829
And so Abidama was kind of that way. But
01:06:19.839 --> 01:06:22.069
I would personally I would say delusion
01:06:22.079 --> 01:06:24.630
is is perception. In fact, I would say
01:06:24.640 --> 01:06:31.589
delusion and perception are synonyms.
01:06:31.599 --> 01:06:33.990
Might as well throw samsara in there.
01:06:34.000 --> 01:06:38.549
Samsara is delusion is perception.
01:06:38.559 --> 01:06:42.710
Perception is samsara.
01:06:42.720 --> 01:06:46.950
So I mean I go with a much simpler
01:06:46.960 --> 01:06:49.829
way of interpreting the world than
01:06:49.839 --> 01:06:52.470
Abidama scholars with their gosh I don't
01:06:52.480 --> 01:06:54.230
remember what is it 128 ultimate
01:06:54.240 --> 01:06:56.150
realities. No it's no it wouldn't be
01:06:56.160 --> 01:06:59.589
that many. It's 28 kinds of matter, 52
01:06:59.599 --> 01:07:02.549
kinds of mental states, plus one kind of
01:07:02.559 --> 01:07:08.710
consciousness and one kind of nibbana.
01:07:08.720 --> 01:07:11.430
But I just I just don't I'm I'm like a
01:07:11.440 --> 01:07:14.230
monist, you know? It's you start off
01:07:14.240 --> 01:07:17.029
with this undifferentiated
01:07:17.039 --> 01:07:21.430
like pleum, I guess, and then perception
01:07:21.440 --> 01:07:23.670
just starts differentiating. I mean,
01:07:23.680 --> 01:07:27.190
that's papancha.
01:07:27.200 --> 01:07:29.190
just starts differentiating this
01:07:29.200 --> 01:07:31.109
undifferentiated
01:07:31.119 --> 01:07:34.470
ultimate reality and just sort of
01:07:34.480 --> 01:07:37.349
forming individual essences out of it.
01:07:37.359 --> 01:07:39.029
And that's that's all just artifacts of
01:07:39.039 --> 01:07:44.470
perception.
01:07:44.480 --> 01:07:46.549
So a lot of this is this is one of those
01:07:46.559 --> 01:07:48.470
cases I think one of the very first
01:07:48.480 --> 01:07:50.549
questions like like Fred was asking
01:07:50.559 --> 01:07:52.710
about sodaponas. I have to give two
01:07:52.720 --> 01:07:54.470
different answers. I have to give my own
01:07:54.480 --> 01:07:57.430
personal best answer and then I have to
01:07:57.440 --> 01:08:01.430
say what orthodox terravada says because
01:08:01.440 --> 01:08:03.270
they don't always agree. Sometimes I'm
01:08:03.280 --> 01:08:05.990
in agreement with orthodox terravada but
01:08:06.000 --> 01:08:08.710
other times I've got to like give two
01:08:08.720 --> 01:08:10.390
different answers because orthodox
01:08:10.400 --> 01:08:12.309
terraata says this but I can't really
01:08:12.319 --> 01:08:14.470
accept that. I don't think that's true
01:08:14.480 --> 01:08:16.789
because I don't just follow along with
01:08:16.799 --> 01:08:24.709
my religion like a lot of people do.
01:08:24.719 --> 01:08:27.030
So
01:08:27.040 --> 01:08:29.430
yeah, so I mean in ter delusion is
01:08:29.440 --> 01:08:30.870
considered to be a s car rather than
01:08:30.880 --> 01:08:32.709
perception just because you have these
01:08:32.719 --> 01:08:35.430
abidama scholars just trying to just
01:08:35.440 --> 01:08:38.149
divide the entire universe up into its
01:08:38.159 --> 01:08:41.669
constituent elemental parts and they
01:08:41.679 --> 01:08:43.189
just didn't have the common sense
01:08:43.199 --> 01:08:47.030
apparently to realize that delusion is
01:08:47.040 --> 01:08:49.510
perceptual. I mean they would they would
01:08:49.520 --> 01:08:51.349
ad freely admit that there has to be
01:08:51.359 --> 01:08:53.590
perception involved in delusion. But
01:08:53.600 --> 01:08:55.910
then there's this also this delusion
01:08:55.920 --> 01:08:58.309
trron that has to be added to the
01:08:58.319 --> 01:09:01.510
perception tra in order to form the full
01:09:01.520 --> 01:09:03.269
mental state which also has to have all
01:09:03.279 --> 01:09:05.910
these other trrons that are in the rupa
01:09:05.920 --> 01:09:09.110
kalapa. This it's like a molecule of all
01:09:09.120 --> 01:09:11.430
these little particles of mental states
01:09:11.440 --> 01:09:13.990
and matter and all this.
01:09:14.000 --> 01:09:16.149
And I just I just can't buy it. Most
01:09:16.159 --> 01:09:18.709
western Buddhists don't really have any
01:09:18.719 --> 01:09:20.789
use for this sort of thing. It's just
01:09:20.799 --> 01:09:24.149
ancient Indian philosophy
01:09:24.159 --> 01:09:27.510
from a time when formal logic and a
01:09:27.520 --> 01:09:29.669
certain sophistication of thought had
01:09:29.679 --> 01:09:32.709
not yet entered Indian philosophy. I
01:09:32.719 --> 01:09:34.149
mean you don't even you don't really
01:09:34.159 --> 01:09:37.110
need sophistication of thought if you're
01:09:37.120 --> 01:09:38.950
if you're just practicing mysticism.
01:09:38.960 --> 01:09:40.470
you're getting into these deep mental
01:09:40.480 --> 01:09:42.950
states where you're experiencing reality
01:09:42.960 --> 01:09:44.870
directly without having to theorize
01:09:44.880 --> 01:09:47.749
about it. Then you can still be fully
01:09:47.759 --> 01:09:51.510
enlightened without having formal logic,
01:09:51.520 --> 01:09:53.829
without having some sophisticated
01:09:53.839 --> 01:09:57.430
theoretical framework to account for the
01:09:57.440 --> 01:10:02.550
mental states you're having.
01:10:02.560 --> 01:10:05.590
I hope that this Q&A isn't just me just
01:10:05.600 --> 01:10:08.229
rambling in in just various directions
01:10:08.239 --> 01:10:09.990
and not giving a straight answer to
01:10:10.000 --> 01:10:12.149
anything.
01:10:12.159 --> 01:10:14.870
It's kind of how it feels sometimes for
01:10:14.880 --> 01:10:17.590
some reason today.
01:10:17.600 --> 01:10:19.030
Maybe just cuz I'm sitting in a
01:10:19.040 --> 01:10:22.630
different place than usual.
01:10:22.640 --> 01:10:24.390
So, let's just move on this question.
01:10:24.400 --> 01:10:27.110
This is from the sabotur.
01:10:27.120 --> 01:10:31.030
And the sabotur says the vast majority
01:10:31.040 --> 01:10:33.590
of people around the world accept that
01:10:33.600 --> 01:10:35.990
their governments are ripping them off
01:10:36.000 --> 01:10:39.350
in the form of taxation, high prices,
01:10:39.360 --> 01:10:43.270
poor quality social services, etc. Does
01:10:43.280 --> 01:10:45.669
that mean that karmically in some future
01:10:45.679 --> 01:10:47.990
life we shall be either rich or
01:10:48.000 --> 01:10:50.390
generally better off or perhaps it's
01:10:50.400 --> 01:10:52.630
already our karma to be ripped off?
01:10:52.640 --> 01:10:54.149
Yeah, it's already our karma to be
01:10:54.159 --> 01:10:55.830
ripped off. assuming that we are ripped
01:10:55.840 --> 01:10:57.350
off. I mean, I wouldn't go so far as to
01:10:57.360 --> 01:10:59.189
say that the vast majority of people
01:10:59.199 --> 01:11:01.110
around the world accept that their
01:11:01.120 --> 01:11:02.870
governments are ripping them off. I
01:11:02.880 --> 01:11:05.590
mean, some people are just naive and
01:11:05.600 --> 01:11:08.310
they think their government is great.
01:11:08.320 --> 01:11:11.830
Some people are just uh
01:11:11.840 --> 01:11:14.229
uh I mean they'll just attribute it to
01:11:14.239 --> 01:11:16.070
well-intentioned
01:11:16.080 --> 01:11:18.709
in inefficient bureaucracy
01:11:18.719 --> 01:11:20.310
and they're you know they don't want to
01:11:20.320 --> 01:11:22.070
think badly of their government even
01:11:22.080 --> 01:11:23.990
though they would they will admit that
01:11:24.000 --> 01:11:27.189
it could be better.
01:11:27.199 --> 01:11:29.510
So
01:11:29.520 --> 01:11:33.830
let's see here. Yeah, I mean what I this
01:11:33.840 --> 01:11:35.590
this question is kind of a strange one
01:11:35.600 --> 01:11:38.630
here. So the vast majority of people
01:11:38.640 --> 01:11:40.550
according to the sabotur, let's just say
01:11:40.560 --> 01:11:43.910
lots of people around the world believe
01:11:43.920 --> 01:11:45.830
that their government is ripping them
01:11:45.840 --> 01:11:48.870
off, you know, that they're they're
01:11:48.880 --> 01:11:52.550
being treated like livestock, which is
01:11:52.560 --> 01:11:54.870
kind of true.
01:11:54.880 --> 01:11:56.870
So does that mean that karmically in
01:11:56.880 --> 01:11:58.390
some future life we shall be either rich
01:11:58.400 --> 01:12:01.350
or generally better off? No. Because
01:12:01.360 --> 01:12:04.229
your karma is I mean whatever is
01:12:04.239 --> 01:12:06.470
happening to you is the fruition of
01:12:06.480 --> 01:12:09.350
karma. It's not creating new karma.
01:12:09.360 --> 01:12:11.430
Anything that's just happening to you,
01:12:11.440 --> 01:12:13.590
your reaction to what's happening to you
01:12:13.600 --> 01:12:15.910
is creating more karma which will have
01:12:15.920 --> 01:12:19.430
its fruition afterwards.
01:12:19.440 --> 01:12:22.709
So yeah, I mean if you feel that you are
01:12:22.719 --> 01:12:24.550
being ripped off by your government,
01:12:24.560 --> 01:12:27.590
that is the fruition of karma, not the
01:12:27.600 --> 01:12:30.070
creation of new karma other than your
01:12:30.080 --> 01:12:32.229
feeling, your belief is making new
01:12:32.239 --> 01:12:34.709
karma, which may reinforce
01:12:34.719 --> 01:12:37.750
that the government ripping you off in
01:12:37.760 --> 01:12:40.229
your estimation.
01:12:40.239 --> 01:12:42.070
So yeah, it's already our karma to be
01:12:42.080 --> 01:12:43.189
treated this way. That's why we're
01:12:43.199 --> 01:12:46.950
treated this way.
01:12:46.960 --> 01:12:49.110
And I mean, it's just that's just the
01:12:49.120 --> 01:12:51.270
way government works. I mean, I did read
01:12:51.280 --> 01:12:52.950
this one book, I think it was uh called
01:12:52.960 --> 01:12:55.030
the 10,000-year explosion, talking about
01:12:55.040 --> 01:12:58.149
the acceleration in human evolution once
01:12:58.159 --> 01:13:00.470
we developed agriculture.
01:13:00.480 --> 01:13:04.790
And the book points out that um before
01:13:04.800 --> 01:13:07.189
we developed agriculture, we were we
01:13:07.199 --> 01:13:08.790
were more or less the equivalent
01:13:08.800 --> 01:13:11.350
evolutionarily to a wild animal. But
01:13:11.360 --> 01:13:13.830
once we developed agriculture which then
01:13:13.840 --> 01:13:16.870
resulted in sedentary settlements and
01:13:16.880 --> 01:13:19.350
then chiefs or I mean they probably
01:13:19.360 --> 01:13:21.750
chiefs in the stone age but still like
01:13:21.760 --> 01:13:23.669
hunter gatherers stone age but you
01:13:23.679 --> 01:13:25.510
started having governments started
01:13:25.520 --> 01:13:29.189
having kings and laws and and temples
01:13:29.199 --> 01:13:31.750
and armies and this kind of stuff that
01:13:31.760 --> 01:13:35.830
human beings underwent an evolutionary
01:13:35.840 --> 01:13:37.430
metamorphosis into a kind of
01:13:37.440 --> 01:13:40.630
domesticated animal. So people really
01:13:40.640 --> 01:13:43.030
have been over the course of history
01:13:43.040 --> 01:13:46.149
treated like livestock, treated like a
01:13:46.159 --> 01:13:48.630
farmer treats his own livestock, you
01:13:48.640 --> 01:13:50.630
know, kind of a a resource to be
01:13:50.640 --> 01:13:52.550
exploited. I mean, you you try to make
01:13:52.560 --> 01:13:54.630
sure that they're safe. You don't want
01:13:54.640 --> 01:13:57.189
wolves to be eating your sheep, that
01:13:57.199 --> 01:13:59.750
kind of thing. you want your sheep to be
01:13:59.760 --> 01:14:02.229
healthy, you know, so you you put forth
01:14:02.239 --> 01:14:04.950
efforts to keep the sheep, you know,
01:14:04.960 --> 01:14:07.830
healthy and and relatively secure until
01:14:07.840 --> 01:14:09.270
it's time for you to start butchering
01:14:09.280 --> 01:14:13.270
them or whatever it is.
01:14:13.280 --> 01:14:15.910
And it's just it is our karma to be a a
01:14:15.920 --> 01:14:19.830
kind of domesticated animal.
01:14:19.840 --> 01:14:22.149
And it's been that way for the past
01:14:22.159 --> 01:14:25.669
10,000 years. At least 10,000 years
01:14:25.679 --> 01:14:27.669
starting in the the so-called fertile
01:14:27.679 --> 01:14:30.550
crescent like the Levant and like
01:14:30.560 --> 01:14:33.750
southern south, let's see, southeastern
01:14:33.760 --> 01:14:35.750
Anatolia and getting down into like the
01:14:35.760 --> 01:14:38.149
Tigress Euphrates
01:14:38.159 --> 01:14:39.750
plain
01:14:39.760 --> 01:14:42.070
area.
01:14:42.080 --> 01:14:45.189
So yeah, that was the sabotur's first
01:14:45.199 --> 01:14:49.430
question. The sabatur's second question.
01:14:49.440 --> 01:14:52.550
Can negative karma be at least partially
01:14:52.560 --> 01:14:55.830
neutralized by performing good deeds
01:14:55.840 --> 01:14:57.510
such as leaving your last will and
01:14:57.520 --> 01:15:02.550
testament to a Buddhist organization.
01:15:02.560 --> 01:15:07.110
Well, um you don't really you I mean you
01:15:07.120 --> 01:15:11.350
can't eliminate bad karma through some
01:15:11.360 --> 01:15:14.550
act like a a priest blesses you or some
01:15:14.560 --> 01:15:17.270
dowist priest waves a paper wand at you
01:15:17.280 --> 01:15:20.390
or some Catholic priest you know blesses
01:15:20.400 --> 01:15:23.189
you and says you're forgiven or Jesus of
01:15:23.199 --> 01:15:26.149
Nazareth you know says you are forgiven
01:15:26.159 --> 01:15:28.229
or you know the priest tells you to do
01:15:28.239 --> 01:15:31.510
some some kind of penance hail Marys and
01:15:31.520 --> 01:15:33.669
Peter ers that kind of thing and then
01:15:33.679 --> 01:15:36.790
it's like your bad karma is cleansed you
01:15:36.800 --> 01:15:39.110
know by making confession that you are
01:15:39.120 --> 01:15:41.910
cleansed of your sins that doesn't
01:15:41.920 --> 01:15:44.550
happen in Buddhism
01:15:44.560 --> 01:15:46.070
no
01:15:46.080 --> 01:15:49.270
so the closest you can come to that um
01:15:49.280 --> 01:15:52.149
there is a kind of simile or parable
01:15:52.159 --> 01:15:54.070
given in one of the polyutas I don't
01:15:54.080 --> 01:15:56.790
recall exactly which suta it is where
01:15:56.800 --> 01:15:59.030
the Buddha I mean I've I've mentioned
01:15:59.040 --> 01:16:01.590
this before the Buddha compares
01:16:01.600 --> 01:16:04.310
all of your bad karma to a handful of
01:16:04.320 --> 01:16:06.709
salt. So you take the handful of salt,
01:16:06.719 --> 01:16:09.669
you pour it into a cup of water, you
01:16:09.679 --> 01:16:12.310
can't drink it cuz it's so salty that I
01:16:12.320 --> 01:16:14.229
mean the the water is so salty you can't
01:16:14.239 --> 01:16:15.990
even drink it. Well, you take that same
01:16:16.000 --> 01:16:18.709
handful of salt and pour it into a pool
01:16:18.719 --> 01:16:21.350
of clear water and then you dissolve it
01:16:21.360 --> 01:16:23.110
all in there. Then if you drink the
01:16:23.120 --> 01:16:25.110
water, you might hardly even taste the
01:16:25.120 --> 01:16:28.550
salt because you've diluted it way down
01:16:28.560 --> 01:16:33.270
with pure water. So the the Buddhist um
01:16:33.280 --> 01:16:35.030
the Buddhist way of dealing with bad
01:16:35.040 --> 01:16:38.390
karma is you dilute your bad karma down
01:16:38.400 --> 01:16:40.870
with lots of good karma. So instead of
01:16:40.880 --> 01:16:42.550
pouring the handful of salt into a cup
01:16:42.560 --> 01:16:44.229
of water, you're pouring a handful of
01:16:44.239 --> 01:16:47.030
salt into a whole pool of water with
01:16:47.040 --> 01:16:50.709
that water being sort of the
01:16:50.719 --> 01:16:52.550
metaphorical
01:16:52.560 --> 01:16:54.870
equivalent of good karma. Doing good
01:16:54.880 --> 01:16:58.229
deeds kind of dilutes down your bad
01:16:58.239 --> 01:17:00.470
karma, but it doesn't make it go away.
01:17:00.480 --> 01:17:03.030
The salt is still there.
01:17:03.040 --> 01:17:05.830
The only way that you can get rid of bad
01:17:05.840 --> 01:17:09.990
karma is either by just allowing it to
01:17:10.000 --> 01:17:11.510
reach fruition over which you really
01:17:11.520 --> 01:17:15.189
don't have much control or if you just
01:17:15.199 --> 01:17:17.830
avoid the opportunities for your bad
01:17:17.840 --> 01:17:20.229
karma to reach fruition. Sometimes
01:17:20.239 --> 01:17:22.310
according to Buddhist philosophy that
01:17:22.320 --> 01:17:27.830
karma will just eventually fade out.
01:17:27.840 --> 01:17:30.149
So if it's like your your karma to be
01:17:30.159 --> 01:17:32.229
trampled by an elephant or something,
01:17:32.239 --> 01:17:34.950
you just avoid elephants long enough,
01:17:34.960 --> 01:17:36.550
there's a good chance that karma will
01:17:36.560 --> 01:17:38.630
eventually just fade out, you know, just
01:17:38.640 --> 01:17:40.950
expire.
01:17:40.960 --> 01:17:42.630
But there's no guarantee of that. I mean
01:17:42.640 --> 01:17:45.189
might be that
01:17:45.199 --> 01:17:47.270
some hundred years in the future you
01:17:47.280 --> 01:17:50.070
might still get trampled by an elephant.
01:17:50.080 --> 01:17:51.990
So don't just fling yourself underneath
01:17:52.000 --> 01:17:54.070
elephants assuming that your your karma
01:17:54.080 --> 01:17:55.590
of being trampled by an elephant has
01:17:55.600 --> 01:17:58.709
been exhausted.
01:17:58.719 --> 01:18:00.149
So let's just move on to the next
01:18:00.159 --> 01:18:03.830
question. This is from Romeo
01:18:03.840 --> 01:18:06.070
and Romeo says, "It is said that
01:18:06.080 --> 01:18:08.630
artists, writers, and creative people in
01:18:08.640 --> 01:18:10.550
general are prone to having mental
01:18:10.560 --> 01:18:13.270
health issues. Do you think there is an
01:18:13.280 --> 01:18:15.270
actual link between creativity and
01:18:15.280 --> 01:18:17.510
mental illness? Or is this just a kind
01:18:17.520 --> 01:18:20.229
of myth? If you do think there is such a
01:18:20.239 --> 01:18:21.750
link, why do you think this is the
01:18:21.760 --> 01:18:23.669
case?" And before I answer, I'm just
01:18:23.679 --> 01:18:25.030
checking to make sure we are in fact
01:18:25.040 --> 01:18:26.630
recording. And we are in fact recording,
01:18:26.640 --> 01:18:28.550
which is good.
01:18:28.560 --> 01:18:30.310
So yeah, I do think it's a it's a
01:18:30.320 --> 01:18:33.590
stereotype that artists are nuttier than
01:18:33.600 --> 01:18:35.990
the average person. And most stereotypes
01:18:36.000 --> 01:18:38.550
have a basis in truth. This also reminds
01:18:38.560 --> 01:18:40.390
me of there's a an English saying, I
01:18:40.400 --> 01:18:42.630
don't remember the exact words, but it's
01:18:42.640 --> 01:18:45.750
that genius and madness
01:18:45.760 --> 01:18:47.990
come very close together. That the
01:18:48.000 --> 01:18:50.390
greatest geniuses also tend to be kind
01:18:50.400 --> 01:18:52.870
of nutty. Like um Nicola Tesla for
01:18:52.880 --> 01:18:55.510
example, he was a genius, but he was
01:18:55.520 --> 01:18:58.149
also kind of nutty. like he had like
01:18:58.159 --> 01:19:00.470
these weird kind of phobias about like
01:19:00.480 --> 01:19:02.550
he he couldn't stand seeing a woman's
01:19:02.560 --> 01:19:05.110
neck that all the women that that worked
01:19:05.120 --> 01:19:06.470
for him had to have like these really
01:19:06.480 --> 01:19:08.950
high collars concealing their neck. He
01:19:08.960 --> 01:19:10.870
couldn't stand like jewelry on a woman.
01:19:10.880 --> 01:19:15.910
It just kind of freaked him out somehow.
01:19:15.920 --> 01:19:18.229
But like artists and just creative
01:19:18.239 --> 01:19:21.030
people in general tend to be liinal.
01:19:21.040 --> 01:19:24.630
It's like there has to be uh like like a
01:19:24.640 --> 01:19:26.070
break in the structure. I mean, if
01:19:26.080 --> 01:19:28.229
you're just completely regimented, you'd
01:19:28.239 --> 01:19:31.669
have like no originality, no creativity
01:19:31.679 --> 01:19:33.270
because everything's just kind of locked
01:19:33.280 --> 01:19:35.110
into place. And so, you're very
01:19:35.120 --> 01:19:36.630
predictable,
01:19:36.640 --> 01:19:38.390
you know, it's just kind of almost
01:19:38.400 --> 01:19:41.189
robotic, just a complete normie, no
01:19:41.199 --> 01:19:43.830
imagination, you know, just very
01:19:43.840 --> 01:19:47.350
predictable. then you're less likely to
01:19:47.360 --> 01:19:51.030
be considered weird or eccentric than if
01:19:51.040 --> 01:19:54.390
you've got like these kind of windows
01:19:54.400 --> 01:19:57.110
in in the structure of your mind through
01:19:57.120 --> 01:20:00.950
which like intuition and creativity can
01:20:00.960 --> 01:20:03.030
can emerge
01:20:03.040 --> 01:20:05.750
that you can be possessed by a muse more
01:20:05.760 --> 01:20:08.630
easily let's say
01:20:08.640 --> 01:20:10.390
so you're going to be liinal and there's
01:20:10.400 --> 01:20:12.630
going to be a less rigid structure to
01:20:12.640 --> 01:20:14.149
your mind there's going to be more loose
01:20:14.159 --> 01:20:15.510
ends
01:20:15.520 --> 01:20:18.870
you know, more kind of I don't know,
01:20:18.880 --> 01:20:21.270
kind of weird twilighty places in your
01:20:21.280 --> 01:20:24.229
mind maybe and that that you have access
01:20:24.239 --> 01:20:27.189
to that that's where you're I mean
01:20:27.199 --> 01:20:29.030
you're having original ideas, it's
01:20:29.040 --> 01:20:31.189
coming up from some kind of primordial
01:20:31.199 --> 01:20:33.510
chaos, you know, it's not coming from
01:20:33.520 --> 01:20:35.669
rigid structure.
01:20:35.679 --> 01:20:38.070
And so the more exposure you have to
01:20:38.080 --> 01:20:40.470
this like primordial chaos kind of
01:20:40.480 --> 01:20:43.510
stuff, the more likely that this really
01:20:43.520 --> 01:20:45.590
kind of abnormal stuff is going to come
01:20:45.600 --> 01:20:47.270
through.
01:20:47.280 --> 01:20:49.910
And so I mean it's I don't think it's
01:20:49.920 --> 01:20:51.910
any kind of stretch at all. you go to a
01:20:51.920 --> 01:20:54.630
university, you know, you go like check
01:20:54.640 --> 01:20:57.030
out the law students, the premed
01:20:57.040 --> 01:20:59.510
students, the b business administration
01:20:59.520 --> 01:21:01.830
students on the one hand, and then go
01:21:01.840 --> 01:21:04.149
over to like the drama students and the
01:21:04.159 --> 01:21:05.590
art students, and you're going to find
01:21:05.600 --> 01:21:07.350
the drama students and the art students
01:21:07.360 --> 01:21:10.390
are going to be more irrational and just
01:21:10.400 --> 01:21:11.910
more
01:21:11.920 --> 01:21:13.990
eccentric
01:21:14.000 --> 01:21:17.990
than like the like the STEM students,
01:21:18.000 --> 01:21:19.669
you know, the mathematicians, that kind
01:21:19.679 --> 01:21:21.750
of thing. But then if you have like a
01:21:21.760 --> 01:21:24.550
really inspired genius with regard to
01:21:24.560 --> 01:21:27.030
mathematics, let's say, he's going to be
01:21:27.040 --> 01:21:31.110
more um eccentric than just, you know,
01:21:31.120 --> 01:21:34.149
the the kid like maybe the the East
01:21:34.159 --> 01:21:36.630
Asian kid whose father insists that he
01:21:36.640 --> 01:21:40.310
he be like uh an engineer,
01:21:40.320 --> 01:21:42.470
you know, so that his ancestors will be
01:21:42.480 --> 01:21:47.110
proud.
01:21:47.120 --> 01:21:49.590
So yeah, I do think that uh there is an
01:21:49.600 --> 01:21:51.990
actual link between creativity and
01:21:52.000 --> 01:21:55.350
mental illness or between creativity and
01:21:55.360 --> 01:21:58.790
just eccentricity, creativity and this
01:21:58.800 --> 01:22:01.830
sort of unpredictability and like
01:22:01.840 --> 01:22:03.830
nonconformity
01:22:03.840 --> 01:22:04.870
because a lot of people that are
01:22:04.880 --> 01:22:06.229
considered mentally ill, I mean you
01:22:06.239 --> 01:22:09.189
can't have like some kind of real like
01:22:09.199 --> 01:22:11.430
like some kind of mental illness that is
01:22:11.440 --> 01:22:14.629
like a some kind of organic flaw in your
01:22:14.639 --> 01:22:16.470
brain. brain, you know, like
01:22:16.480 --> 01:22:18.310
obsessivempulsive disorder, you know,
01:22:18.320 --> 01:22:21.430
it's it's like a genetic thing. So, that
01:22:21.440 --> 01:22:24.550
would be different, I think, at least a
01:22:24.560 --> 01:22:26.629
little bit different. But people that
01:22:26.639 --> 01:22:28.950
are just considered to be just wild,
01:22:28.960 --> 01:22:30.470
nutty people, a lot of them are just
01:22:30.480 --> 01:22:32.390
sort of original thinkers who are
01:22:32.400 --> 01:22:34.070
following their own idea instead of
01:22:34.080 --> 01:22:41.030
conforming to the traditional culture.
01:22:41.040 --> 01:22:44.310
So yeah, they're more interesting too in
01:22:44.320 --> 01:22:46.629
my opinion. And so I'm just going to
01:22:46.639 --> 01:22:47.750
move on to the next question. This is
01:22:47.760 --> 01:22:51.030
from Tzas is this is kind of an easy
01:22:51.040 --> 01:22:54.310
one. Tzask is says Jesus's most inner
01:22:54.320 --> 01:22:56.550
circle was that of James, Peter, and
01:22:56.560 --> 01:22:59.189
John. Who was the most inner circle of
01:22:59.199 --> 01:23:01.350
Buddha? Well, the Buddha's two chief
01:23:01.360 --> 01:23:04.390
disciples were Sar Puta and Mogalana.
01:23:04.400 --> 01:23:07.430
So they would be um the top two, I
01:23:07.440 --> 01:23:09.189
think. And then probably you could throw
01:23:09.199 --> 01:23:11.590
in Ananda, who was the Buddha's personal
01:23:11.600 --> 01:23:14.070
attendant in the Buddha's later years.
01:23:14.080 --> 01:23:15.750
Ananda really wasn't the Buddha's
01:23:15.760 --> 01:23:19.350
attendant in the Buddha's early years.
01:23:19.360 --> 01:23:21.510
He had at least two other personal
01:23:21.520 --> 01:23:24.870
attendants that are named in the texts.
01:23:24.880 --> 01:23:27.750
But as the Buddha was getting older,
01:23:27.760 --> 01:23:29.830
probably more in need of a personal
01:23:29.840 --> 01:23:32.870
attendant, then his cousin Ananda, whose
01:23:32.880 --> 01:23:35.430
family name was also Godma,
01:23:35.440 --> 01:23:39.350
became his sort of his companion just
01:23:39.360 --> 01:23:41.189
was pretty much with him most of the
01:23:41.199 --> 01:23:44.070
time.
01:23:44.080 --> 01:23:46.950
So yeah, I mean his the inner circle at
01:23:46.960 --> 01:23:50.709
least in the Buddha's later years.
01:23:50.719 --> 01:23:54.229
Um yeah, I think that Ananda and Sar
01:23:54.239 --> 01:23:56.390
Puta and Mogulana I mean they knew each
01:23:56.400 --> 01:23:59.189
other that Mogulana and Sar Puta Sar
01:23:59.199 --> 01:24:01.590
Puta died before the Buddha did and
01:24:01.600 --> 01:24:03.910
Ananda survived the Buddha. So you know
01:24:03.920 --> 01:24:06.310
they they weren't all together at the
01:24:06.320 --> 01:24:08.790
same time all the time.
01:24:08.800 --> 01:24:12.310
But yeah, I guess the the top three of
01:24:12.320 --> 01:24:15.910
the Buddha's inner circle would be Sar
01:24:15.920 --> 01:24:17.750
Puta Mogalana who are his two chief
01:24:17.760 --> 01:24:21.030
disciples and also Ananda
01:24:21.040 --> 01:24:23.270
maybe Mahakasapa but Maha Kasaba was
01:24:23.280 --> 01:24:25.270
kind of a loner. He went off on his own
01:24:25.280 --> 01:24:27.910
a lot probably much more than Ananda
01:24:27.920 --> 01:24:30.229
did.
01:24:30.239 --> 01:24:35.030
But Kas Maha Kasapa was the senior monk
01:24:35.040 --> 01:24:37.110
in the SA after the Buddha passed away
01:24:37.120 --> 01:24:39.510
because Saruta Mogalana as I say passed
01:24:39.520 --> 01:24:41.430
away before the Buddha did. They're
01:24:41.440 --> 01:24:44.629
probably older than him.
01:24:44.639 --> 01:24:45.910
And so I'm just going to move on to the
01:24:45.920 --> 01:24:48.550
next per the next question,
01:24:48.560 --> 01:24:50.629
next person.
01:24:50.639 --> 01:24:53.350
This is Pashet Pashetti
01:24:53.360 --> 01:24:55.270
Pasceti
01:24:55.280 --> 01:24:59.110
and his first question is Stevens.
01:24:59.120 --> 01:25:01.270
That is the first question, Steven's
01:25:01.280 --> 01:25:04.629
question mark. And I really wasn't
01:25:04.639 --> 01:25:06.229
exactly sure what he was getting at. So
01:25:06.239 --> 01:25:09.030
I asked if that was really his question.
01:25:09.040 --> 01:25:12.390
And then he pointed out that Stevens,
01:25:12.400 --> 01:25:16.070
who I've done a few videos with
01:25:16.080 --> 01:25:20.950
and uh is a member of the Discord server
01:25:20.960 --> 01:25:23.750
associated with like these Q&As's and
01:25:23.760 --> 01:25:26.470
and just stuff that I've done that he
01:25:26.480 --> 01:25:28.390
has deleted all of his videos. and I
01:25:28.400 --> 01:25:30.550
didn't notice that.
01:25:30.560 --> 01:25:33.350
So, Stevens may have deleted all of his
01:25:33.360 --> 01:25:36.870
videos. He's he's kind of gone offline
01:25:36.880 --> 01:25:39.990
or off the grid a little bit. Um, he was
01:25:40.000 --> 01:25:42.709
talking recently, well, a few months ago
01:25:42.719 --> 01:25:44.790
anyway, about just moving on to like a
01:25:44.800 --> 01:25:47.750
farm, just kind of living a rustic life
01:25:47.760 --> 01:25:50.310
for a while. But why he deleted all of
01:25:50.320 --> 01:25:51.750
his videos, I don't know. Some of his
01:25:51.760 --> 01:25:54.390
videos were somewhat controversial. Um,
01:25:54.400 --> 01:25:55.990
maybe he just decided it was time to
01:25:56.000 --> 01:25:57.910
move on to something else. But I've
01:25:57.920 --> 01:26:01.110
never really discussed this with him.
01:26:01.120 --> 01:26:03.430
And I didn't even notice that he had
01:26:03.440 --> 01:26:06.390
deleted all of his videos until Puscetti
01:26:06.400 --> 01:26:09.990
here said that he did. But I guess he's
01:26:10.000 --> 01:26:13.910
still alive and well. Um he made some
01:26:13.920 --> 01:26:16.470
comment on the Discord server. I think
01:26:16.480 --> 01:26:19.189
it was less than a week ago. So he's
01:26:19.199 --> 01:26:21.189
still around. I'm pretty sure he's just
01:26:21.199 --> 01:26:24.629
Why he deleted his videos. I'm not sure.
01:26:24.639 --> 01:26:26.550
So, let's just move on to Petti's next
01:26:26.560 --> 01:26:28.229
question. I think I spelled his name
01:26:28.239 --> 01:26:31.590
wrong. I think it's Pasceti and not
01:26:31.600 --> 01:26:33.189
Pashetti.
01:26:33.199 --> 01:26:34.709
So, let's just do that. Let's just fix
01:26:34.719 --> 01:26:36.790
this. We don't want to mispronounce
01:26:36.800 --> 01:26:39.270
Puscetti's name.
01:26:39.280 --> 01:26:42.629
Okay. Puscetti says, "A rum and monster
01:26:42.639 --> 01:26:45.030
energy swilling pirate is attacking
01:26:45.040 --> 01:26:49.270
guided meditation. Defend it, sire." And
01:26:49.280 --> 01:26:50.950
I understand what he's talking about.
01:26:50.960 --> 01:26:54.229
He's talking about Stixs Hexenhammer 666
01:26:54.239 --> 01:26:55.750
who
01:26:55.760 --> 01:27:00.310
um I mean he's like an ex Satanist
01:27:00.320 --> 01:27:01.830
who
01:27:01.840 --> 01:27:04.310
uh he's really into like the occult but
01:27:04.320 --> 01:27:07.030
he made his claim to fame I mean he
01:27:07.040 --> 01:27:09.030
originally got famous through occult
01:27:09.040 --> 01:27:12.550
stuff and also through like ex
01:27:12.560 --> 01:27:14.550
describing his experimentation with
01:27:14.560 --> 01:27:16.950
various intoxicants that kind of thing
01:27:16.960 --> 01:27:19.110
that was before my time but by the time
01:27:19.120 --> 01:27:21.030
I started watching sticks Hex number
01:27:21.040 --> 01:27:24.070
666. He was giving political commentary
01:27:24.080 --> 01:27:27.189
on YouTube and he had a grasp of the big
01:27:27.199 --> 01:27:30.229
picture um that was better than most
01:27:30.239 --> 01:27:32.310
people including most political
01:27:32.320 --> 01:27:34.629
commentators on YouTube. And so I used
01:27:34.639 --> 01:27:36.629
to watch his show. I mean I didn't have
01:27:36.639 --> 01:27:38.390
much interest in his occult stuff that
01:27:38.400 --> 01:27:41.830
he still occasionally produced but um
01:27:41.840 --> 01:27:44.229
his political stuff I generally
01:27:44.239 --> 01:27:46.470
appreciated.
01:27:46.480 --> 01:27:50.470
But then he started crashing out. I
01:27:50.480 --> 01:27:53.430
think for starters, he got married to a
01:27:53.440 --> 01:27:54.790
Dutch woman. He lived in the
01:27:54.800 --> 01:27:57.350
Netherlands, had a child there, and then
01:27:57.360 --> 01:28:00.470
they had um they had a parting of the
01:28:00.480 --> 01:28:04.149
ways. And so he came back to America and
01:28:04.159 --> 01:28:08.629
just started like associating with
01:28:08.639 --> 01:28:12.629
like women of questionable repute and
01:28:12.639 --> 01:28:16.390
sanity and just started like drinking
01:28:16.400 --> 01:28:18.709
and probably like taking other
01:28:18.719 --> 01:28:23.270
intoxicants at a very high rate and and
01:28:23.280 --> 01:28:25.510
he just started crashing hard, you know,
01:28:25.520 --> 01:28:29.669
and the last I heard I mean as of today
01:28:29.679 --> 01:28:31.750
he is hiding out from the police. He's
01:28:31.760 --> 01:28:34.149
got a a warrant for his arrest for some
01:28:34.159 --> 01:28:37.110
kind of domestic violence charge and
01:28:37.120 --> 01:28:39.750
then also just at this at this point
01:28:39.760 --> 01:28:41.910
probably also like contempt of court and
01:28:41.920 --> 01:28:43.990
evading arrest and that kind of thing.
01:28:44.000 --> 01:28:47.430
So, he's hiding out and in some woman's
01:28:47.440 --> 01:28:50.310
apartment I think in New York City and
01:28:50.320 --> 01:28:54.310
the woman is um allegedly mentally
01:28:54.320 --> 01:28:57.030
disabled.
01:28:57.040 --> 01:28:59.110
So, and he's he's got like a broken
01:28:59.120 --> 01:29:02.070
tooth now because one of the other women
01:29:02.080 --> 01:29:05.270
that he was associating with um just
01:29:05.280 --> 01:29:06.950
punched him in the mouth and broke his
01:29:06.960 --> 01:29:10.229
teeth that you can see the like the the
01:29:10.239 --> 01:29:12.790
police like what is it the badge camera?
01:29:12.800 --> 01:29:15.110
What is it? Live camera stuff. I can't
01:29:15.120 --> 01:29:16.709
remember what it's called. You can you
01:29:16.719 --> 01:29:17.750
can see that kind of stuff on the
01:29:17.760 --> 01:29:18.790
internet. There are people who are
01:29:18.800 --> 01:29:21.350
avidly keeping up with all the gossip on
01:29:21.360 --> 01:29:23.270
this guy. He started wearing a pirate
01:29:23.280 --> 01:29:25.510
hat. Even when he's arrested, even when
01:29:25.520 --> 01:29:27.830
he's going to court, he's he's attending
01:29:27.840 --> 01:29:29.750
virtual court hearings like through Zoom
01:29:29.760 --> 01:29:31.830
or something, still wearing this pirate
01:29:31.840 --> 01:29:36.709
hat, the broken tooth. And
01:29:36.719 --> 01:29:38.629
it's just
01:29:38.639 --> 01:29:41.030
he he's pretty much lost credibility.
01:29:41.040 --> 01:29:45.030
And now just recently he he did a video
01:29:45.040 --> 01:29:51.270
where he is um just sort of giving his
01:29:51.280 --> 01:29:53.990
opinion with regard to guided
01:29:54.000 --> 01:29:56.070
meditation.
01:29:56.080 --> 01:29:57.750
And
01:29:57.760 --> 01:30:00.229
I mean before I even get to what his his
01:30:00.239 --> 01:30:01.830
decision was on the subject and I didn't
01:30:01.840 --> 01:30:03.590
even watch the video but apparently
01:30:03.600 --> 01:30:07.350
Boskeeti says he was attacking guided
01:30:07.360 --> 01:30:09.990
meditation. Um, I mean, he's just kind
01:30:10.000 --> 01:30:12.149
of lost credibility with regard to
01:30:12.159 --> 01:30:15.350
wisdom that I mean, he he cannot get his
01:30:15.360 --> 01:30:16.870
own life in order. He seems to be
01:30:16.880 --> 01:30:19.270
crashing out hard. There's a good chance
01:30:19.280 --> 01:30:23.030
that he's going to be going to prison
01:30:23.040 --> 01:30:25.189
in New Orleans
01:30:25.199 --> 01:30:27.350
due to some domestic violence thing
01:30:27.360 --> 01:30:30.470
originally and then like shooting like
01:30:30.480 --> 01:30:32.709
possession of a firearm and and shooting
01:30:32.719 --> 01:30:36.709
a firearm while like already u having
01:30:36.719 --> 01:30:39.030
like a restraining order and maybe like
01:30:39.040 --> 01:30:41.189
some charges against him and it just
01:30:41.199 --> 01:30:43.189
gets worse and worse because I mean he
01:30:43.199 --> 01:30:45.669
really does not have responsibility. I
01:30:45.679 --> 01:30:47.030
mean, one thing I've noticed about him,
01:30:47.040 --> 01:30:50.790
even when I liked him, is or, you know,
01:30:50.800 --> 01:30:52.390
when I was still like taking him more
01:30:52.400 --> 01:30:56.790
seriously because of his sober
01:30:56.800 --> 01:30:59.110
political commentary
01:30:59.120 --> 01:31:02.470
that Oh, where was I going with this?
01:31:02.480 --> 01:31:05.590
Ah, I lost the thread. What was I going
01:31:05.600 --> 01:31:08.709
to say?
01:31:08.719 --> 01:31:13.110
Huh? That's too bad.
01:31:13.120 --> 01:31:14.950
I forgot what I was going to say.
01:31:14.960 --> 01:31:17.270
Sometimes I have such long sentences
01:31:17.280 --> 01:31:19.590
leading up to my point that I just get
01:31:19.600 --> 01:31:21.430
distracted and forget what the the point
01:31:21.440 --> 01:31:23.669
I was aiming towards.
01:31:23.679 --> 01:31:26.149
But I mean,
01:31:26.159 --> 01:31:29.350
oh yeah, it's even when I considered him
01:31:29.360 --> 01:31:31.750
to have like a a good grasp of the big
01:31:31.760 --> 01:31:34.709
picture, he he always seemed to be like
01:31:34.719 --> 01:31:38.149
without a moral compass, you know? He
01:31:38.159 --> 01:31:40.790
was always kind of amoral. He had like a
01:31:40.800 --> 01:31:43.830
morbid sense of humor. He liked gross
01:31:43.840 --> 01:31:47.270
slasher movies, this kind of stuff. His,
01:31:47.280 --> 01:31:50.229
you know, he just I don't think he was
01:31:50.239 --> 01:31:53.830
would be a very nice person.
01:31:53.840 --> 01:31:57.669
But now it's really caught up to him and
01:31:57.679 --> 01:32:00.709
it's just he has lost credibility and
01:32:00.719 --> 01:32:04.470
he's trying to tell people,
01:32:04.480 --> 01:32:06.550
you know, how to live their lives when
01:32:06.560 --> 01:32:10.390
he obviously is just going downhill
01:32:10.400 --> 01:32:12.550
fast. He is on a toboggan ride
01:32:12.560 --> 01:32:14.149
downwards.
01:32:14.159 --> 01:32:16.470
In a lot of his videos, he is just
01:32:16.480 --> 01:32:17.990
obviously
01:32:18.000 --> 01:32:22.070
just stinking drunk, for example, with a
01:32:22.080 --> 01:32:24.870
a tooth missing from getting punched by
01:32:24.880 --> 01:32:26.790
a woman that he was he was living with
01:32:26.800 --> 01:32:29.510
for a while,
01:32:29.520 --> 01:32:32.950
wearing the pirate hat, hiding out in a
01:32:32.960 --> 01:32:34.629
different town so that he won't get
01:32:34.639 --> 01:32:36.149
arrested,
01:32:36.159 --> 01:32:37.910
etc., etc.
01:32:37.920 --> 01:32:42.070
And it is too bad because his his grasp
01:32:42.080 --> 01:32:45.750
of the big picture is now kind of blurry
01:32:45.760 --> 01:32:48.790
due to his overindulgence in alcohol
01:32:48.800 --> 01:32:52.390
mainly I think. But also the spell is
01:32:52.400 --> 01:32:55.430
broken. you know, he he had like kind of
01:32:55.440 --> 01:32:59.270
like this I don't know, call it charisma
01:32:59.280 --> 01:33:02.629
or something, a mystique that I mean he
01:33:02.639 --> 01:33:06.390
is just kind of destroyed through really
01:33:06.400 --> 01:33:08.709
bad life decisions and just
01:33:08.719 --> 01:33:10.550
irresponsibility.
01:33:10.560 --> 01:33:13.110
Um, and it's too bad. Well, with regard
01:33:13.120 --> 01:33:14.390
to guided meditation, let's get to
01:33:14.400 --> 01:33:15.669
guided meditation. Let's just leave
01:33:15.679 --> 01:33:18.470
sticks, hex, and hammer aside. Now, I
01:33:18.480 --> 01:33:20.790
don't like, excuse me, I don't like
01:33:20.800 --> 01:33:22.950
guided meditation either. I've never
01:33:22.960 --> 01:33:25.669
liked guided meditation. It's like
01:33:25.679 --> 01:33:27.669
somebody's getting inside your head and
01:33:27.679 --> 01:33:30.870
telling you what to think.
01:33:30.880 --> 01:33:33.110
No. If I'm going to meditate, I'm just
01:33:33.120 --> 01:33:35.270
going to meditate on my own without
01:33:35.280 --> 01:33:36.709
having to listen to somebody else's
01:33:36.719 --> 01:33:39.590
words. And when you're listening to
01:33:39.600 --> 01:33:40.950
somebody else's words in a guided
01:33:40.960 --> 01:33:42.310
meditation, you're not going to get very
01:33:42.320 --> 01:33:43.669
deep because you're always going to be
01:33:43.679 --> 01:33:45.990
at the verbal level.
01:33:46.000 --> 01:33:47.510
You know, you're still listening to what
01:33:47.520 --> 01:33:49.030
somebody else is saying and processing
01:33:49.040 --> 01:33:50.870
that. You're still very much at the
01:33:50.880 --> 01:33:52.149
verbal level. you're never going to get
01:33:52.159 --> 01:33:54.390
very deep in the meditation. And
01:33:54.400 --> 01:33:57.910
besides, I just do not like people
01:33:57.920 --> 01:33:59.990
telling me, you know, what to think,
01:34:00.000 --> 01:34:03.189
what to visualize, anything like that.
01:34:03.199 --> 01:34:06.950
So, I actually agree um with Stixs,
01:34:06.960 --> 01:34:09.669
Hexenhammer if he does not like guided
01:34:09.679 --> 01:34:11.110
meditation because I don't like it
01:34:11.120 --> 01:34:14.310
either. But even so, Stixs Hexenhammer
01:34:14.320 --> 01:34:18.470
666 has pretty much lost his credibility
01:34:18.480 --> 01:34:22.310
and it's uh
01:34:22.320 --> 01:34:26.310
yeah, it's I personally do not really
01:34:26.320 --> 01:34:30.070
enjoy kind of juicy negative gossip
01:34:30.080 --> 01:34:31.910
about people. I mean, it's kind of
01:34:31.920 --> 01:34:33.590
interesting sometimes if you remain
01:34:33.600 --> 01:34:35.430
objective about it, but I don't really
01:34:35.440 --> 01:34:38.550
revel in seeing somebody even if they
01:34:38.560 --> 01:34:40.550
they're destroying their own life, even
01:34:40.560 --> 01:34:42.470
if they're messing up their own life,
01:34:42.480 --> 01:34:45.669
still I really don't get satisfaction
01:34:45.679 --> 01:34:50.390
from, you know, like observing that
01:34:50.400 --> 01:34:53.189
if the bad guy in the movie eventually
01:34:53.199 --> 01:34:54.870
gets shot or something, that's kind of
01:34:54.880 --> 01:34:57.510
satisfying. but he's just like this kind
01:34:57.520 --> 01:34:59.189
of a
01:34:59.199 --> 01:35:01.430
two-dimensional, you know, symbol of
01:35:01.440 --> 01:35:03.910
evil, whereas, you know, he's not like a
01:35:03.920 --> 01:35:09.030
a a genuine human being in the movie.
01:35:09.040 --> 01:35:11.110
So, anyways, let's just move on to
01:35:11.120 --> 01:35:13.910
Pcetti's third question. He said, "Would
01:35:13.920 --> 01:35:15.910
you kindly beam meta at one of the
01:35:15.920 --> 01:35:18.390
questioners and not tell them?" And
01:35:18.400 --> 01:35:20.550
yeah, I've already done that. In fact, I
01:35:20.560 --> 01:35:24.070
was doing that yesterday.
01:35:24.080 --> 01:35:26.709
So, that was easy. Let's move on to the
01:35:26.719 --> 01:35:29.590
next question. This is from Watermocker.
01:35:29.600 --> 01:35:31.590
And Watermacher says, "Dumb question,
01:35:31.600 --> 01:35:33.830
but I want to hear your answer anyway."
01:35:33.840 --> 01:35:35.510
And there are no dumb questions. There
01:35:35.520 --> 01:35:38.070
are only dumb people. That's just a
01:35:38.080 --> 01:35:40.470
joke. That was a bad joke.
01:35:40.480 --> 01:35:43.510
Watermacher says, "Did Sedarta follow
01:35:43.520 --> 01:35:45.830
the rules of monastic discipline on his
01:35:45.840 --> 01:35:48.390
way to becoming the Buddha?" That's not
01:35:48.400 --> 01:35:50.709
that's not a dumb question. I mean even
01:35:50.719 --> 01:35:52.229
if there are dumb questions that wasn't
01:35:52.239 --> 01:35:55.990
a dumb one. So did Sedarta I mean
01:35:56.000 --> 01:35:59.030
Sedarta it's not found that name is not
01:35:59.040 --> 01:36:01.590
found in like the earliest Buddhist
01:36:01.600 --> 01:36:05.910
texts. I mean in Poly would be Sedata.
01:36:05.920 --> 01:36:07.510
And speaking of which I'm just going to
01:36:07.520 --> 01:36:10.629
totally digress here that um I finally
01:36:10.639 --> 01:36:13.669
got another job. I report to work. My
01:36:13.679 --> 01:36:15.750
first day of work is this coming Monday
01:36:15.760 --> 01:36:18.149
working in a metal shop again which is
01:36:18.159 --> 01:36:19.590
good.
01:36:19.600 --> 01:36:22.629
And after I've already, you know, passed
01:36:22.639 --> 01:36:25.110
the the the P test, you know, signed the
01:36:25.120 --> 01:36:27.189
papers, you know, I've already got this
01:36:27.199 --> 01:36:30.870
job. Um, somebody named Sedarta is
01:36:30.880 --> 01:36:33.189
trying to hire me for a different job.
01:36:33.199 --> 01:36:36.550
But I mean, it would be some Indian HR
01:36:36.560 --> 01:36:39.270
department, maybe HR department, maybe
01:36:39.280 --> 01:36:42.470
even station in India for all I know. So
01:36:42.480 --> 01:36:44.070
I mean I I just thought it was kind of
01:36:44.080 --> 01:36:47.669
uh I don't know kind of
01:36:47.679 --> 01:36:50.790
mentionable remarkable in the sense of
01:36:50.800 --> 01:36:53.270
worthy of remark that somebody named
01:36:53.280 --> 01:36:55.109
Sedarta wants to hire me but it's
01:36:55.119 --> 01:36:57.030
already too late.
01:36:57.040 --> 01:36:58.629
So let's just get back to the question
01:36:58.639 --> 01:37:03.510
now. Did S did did Sedata did
01:37:03.520 --> 01:37:05.270
Shakyamuni
01:37:05.280 --> 01:37:07.109
follow the rules of monastic discipline
01:37:07.119 --> 01:37:08.629
on his way to becoming the Buddha?
01:37:08.639 --> 01:37:10.790
Technically the vineia rules did not
01:37:10.800 --> 01:37:12.870
exist in the Buddhist time. He had not
01:37:12.880 --> 01:37:17.109
formulated vineia yet. But he probably
01:37:17.119 --> 01:37:19.350
did follow a lot of those rules just
01:37:19.360 --> 01:37:21.669
because a lot of the the rules of
01:37:21.679 --> 01:37:24.310
monastic discipline for monks was just
01:37:24.320 --> 01:37:28.709
like common etiquette or protocol for
01:37:28.719 --> 01:37:31.750
the renuncience of the Ganges Valley in
01:37:31.760 --> 01:37:34.149
ancient India like approximately fifth
01:37:34.159 --> 01:37:36.950
6th century BCE.
01:37:36.960 --> 01:37:40.149
So like only eating in the morning and
01:37:40.159 --> 01:37:43.350
wearing robes and shaving your head or
01:37:43.360 --> 01:37:45.910
or different different schools would
01:37:45.920 --> 01:37:47.189
have different ways of dealing with the
01:37:47.199 --> 01:37:49.270
hair. Like the James would just pull it
01:37:49.280 --> 01:37:52.070
out. I think the the Brahman priests a
01:37:52.080 --> 01:37:53.669
lot of the Brahman priests would just
01:37:53.679 --> 01:37:55.270
have like dreads, you know, they just
01:37:55.280 --> 01:37:56.950
grow it long and not do anything with it
01:37:56.960 --> 01:37:59.350
until it was all dreadlocks.
01:37:59.360 --> 01:38:01.910
But there were certain rules, celibacy,
01:38:01.920 --> 01:38:04.310
this kind of thing that were common to
01:38:04.320 --> 01:38:07.510
various spiritual practitioners in the
01:38:07.520 --> 01:38:10.149
Buddhist time. And so he was probably
01:38:10.159 --> 01:38:12.950
following along with a lot of this just
01:38:12.960 --> 01:38:16.070
tradition of how aesthetics were
01:38:16.080 --> 01:38:18.229
supposed to live
01:38:18.239 --> 01:38:20.550
before the rules of monastic discipline
01:38:20.560 --> 01:38:23.590
were devised. And according to
01:38:23.600 --> 01:38:25.590
tradition,
01:38:25.600 --> 01:38:27.510
it was years before the Buddha even
01:38:27.520 --> 01:38:29.830
started making rules because at first
01:38:29.840 --> 01:38:32.149
the the monks were were like veteran
01:38:32.159 --> 01:38:34.470
spiritual heavy hitters. They didn't
01:38:34.480 --> 01:38:36.070
need these rules. You know, they would
01:38:36.080 --> 01:38:39.510
just of their of their own valition.
01:38:39.520 --> 01:38:42.070
They would just conform to the tradition
01:38:42.080 --> 01:38:45.430
of ancient Indian spirituality. and you
01:38:45.440 --> 01:38:47.189
know you didn't have to make this rule
01:38:47.199 --> 01:38:49.350
that this is a rule of such and such
01:38:49.360 --> 01:38:52.070
category that is expedated by such and
01:38:52.080 --> 01:38:54.870
such ritual. It wasn't necessary yet.
01:38:54.880 --> 01:38:57.350
But then as Buddhism became more
01:38:57.360 --> 01:38:58.870
popular,
01:38:58.880 --> 01:39:03.510
you had people with less pure motives
01:39:03.520 --> 01:39:06.790
joining the SA and so some of them were
01:39:06.800 --> 01:39:08.709
kind of rascally and so you started
01:39:08.719 --> 01:39:10.709
having the Buddha started having to make
01:39:10.719 --> 01:39:12.470
these rules. That's according to
01:39:12.480 --> 01:39:14.550
tradition. Although it's also possible
01:39:14.560 --> 01:39:16.950
that there were no rules at all until
01:39:16.960 --> 01:39:19.270
after the Buddha died. And then at the
01:39:19.280 --> 01:39:21.830
first council, they formulated a kind of
01:39:21.840 --> 01:39:26.470
py mocha rules just to have structure.
01:39:26.480 --> 01:39:27.990
Now that the founder was gone, they were
01:39:28.000 --> 01:39:29.270
going to have to have some other kind of
01:39:29.280 --> 01:39:32.070
structure holding things together. Like
01:39:32.080 --> 01:39:35.189
I mean tradition says, you know, the
01:39:35.199 --> 01:39:37.189
Buddha laid down the rules as there was
01:39:37.199 --> 01:39:41.430
a need. But also tradition says like if
01:39:41.440 --> 01:39:44.390
you read the the history of the first
01:39:44.400 --> 01:39:47.510
council that after the Buddha passed
01:39:47.520 --> 01:39:50.709
away after he reached part Ibana the the
01:39:50.719 --> 01:39:52.870
enlightened monks you know they accepted
01:39:52.880 --> 01:39:54.790
it with equinimity but a lot of the
01:39:54.800 --> 01:39:57.030
unenlightened monks were grieving
01:39:57.040 --> 01:39:59.109
because you know their teacher had died
01:39:59.119 --> 01:40:00.870
and then you had this old monk who was
01:40:00.880 --> 01:40:02.709
ordained when he was old. So he was kind
01:40:02.719 --> 01:40:04.629
of set in his ways and not easily
01:40:04.639 --> 01:40:07.189
trainable. He's saying essentially why
01:40:07.199 --> 01:40:08.790
all the long faces now we can do
01:40:08.800 --> 01:40:09.910
whatever we want. We don't have
01:40:09.920 --> 01:40:11.830
venerable god saying do this don't do
01:40:11.840 --> 01:40:14.629
that all the time. And then ma kasapa
01:40:14.639 --> 01:40:16.950
who was senior monk in the song after
01:40:16.960 --> 01:40:19.510
the Buddha's passing away. He heard this
01:40:19.520 --> 01:40:22.070
and then he realized you know if that's
01:40:22.080 --> 01:40:23.430
the attitude some monks are going to
01:40:23.440 --> 01:40:25.350
have we're going to have to lay down
01:40:25.360 --> 01:40:27.510
some rules. And so the first council is
01:40:27.520 --> 01:40:30.550
also called the vineia saniti or the
01:40:30.560 --> 01:40:34.070
convocation of monastic discipline. So
01:40:34.080 --> 01:40:36.470
it's possible that there really were no
01:40:36.480 --> 01:40:38.709
vineia rules until after the Buddha
01:40:38.719 --> 01:40:40.390
passed away. And the per one of the
01:40:40.400 --> 01:40:42.790
purposes of the first council was to
01:40:42.800 --> 01:40:46.149
establish rules to kind of stabilize the
01:40:46.159 --> 01:40:49.270
SA so that it doesn't just dissolve and
01:40:49.280 --> 01:40:54.390
peter out after the founder is gone.
01:40:54.400 --> 01:40:57.270
So, but again, he probably did follow
01:40:57.280 --> 01:41:00.390
certain just established protocols and
01:41:00.400 --> 01:41:03.830
traditions that most of the renuncients
01:41:03.840 --> 01:41:07.189
were were already following at the time.
01:41:07.199 --> 01:41:09.189
And I'm going to move on to Walker
01:41:09.199 --> 01:41:12.310
Watermacher's next question.
01:41:12.320 --> 01:41:15.830
He says, "Likely, it's not possible for
01:41:15.840 --> 01:41:18.870
us in modern times to do what he did to
01:41:18.880 --> 01:41:21.750
become enlightened back then. ought one
01:41:21.760 --> 01:41:25.030
attempt doing what he did if the goal is
01:41:25.040 --> 01:41:27.830
enlightenment. I understand that his
01:41:27.840 --> 01:41:30.790
conclusion was that the extremes he went
01:41:30.800 --> 01:41:33.990
to don't work and the middle way is his
01:41:34.000 --> 01:41:36.310
prescription, but those extremes did
01:41:36.320 --> 01:41:40.229
work in a roundabout way for him. So the
01:41:40.239 --> 01:41:42.229
actual question here is ought one
01:41:42.239 --> 01:41:45.109
attempt doing what the Buddha did if the
01:41:45.119 --> 01:41:48.629
goal is enlightenment and if you're in a
01:41:48.639 --> 01:41:52.229
Buddhist culture, a Buddhist country
01:41:52.239 --> 01:41:55.109
and some place like Thailand or Burma or
01:41:55.119 --> 01:42:00.229
or Sri Lanka or maybe Cambodia where I
01:42:00.239 --> 01:42:03.430
mean the flora and fauna and the climate
01:42:03.440 --> 01:42:05.910
is relatively similar and even a lot of
01:42:05.920 --> 01:42:08.790
the culture is similar to the Ganges
01:42:08.800 --> 01:42:11.030
Valley in the Buddhist time you can live
01:42:11.040 --> 01:42:14.390
the way ancient Indian monks lived.
01:42:14.400 --> 01:42:17.910
That's what I was trying to do in Burma.
01:42:17.920 --> 01:42:22.709
So it works in like a Buddhist culture
01:42:22.719 --> 01:42:25.350
in a kind of Buddhist environment to
01:42:25.360 --> 01:42:27.430
follow the traditional Buddhist way
01:42:27.440 --> 01:42:29.750
works fairly well. You bring it into a
01:42:29.760 --> 01:42:31.990
western country like into the temperate
01:42:32.000 --> 01:42:34.870
zone, it doesn't work nearly as well.
01:42:34.880 --> 01:42:37.109
Especially, you know, just the weather
01:42:37.119 --> 01:42:39.109
is different. So, you're going to have
01:42:39.119 --> 01:42:41.510
to probably break rules. If it gets down
01:42:41.520 --> 01:42:42.870
below zero, you're going to be having to
01:42:42.880 --> 01:42:45.109
be wearing like, you know, un thermal
01:42:45.119 --> 01:42:47.189
underwear and socks and shoes and all
01:42:47.199 --> 01:42:48.310
this kind of stuff, which are
01:42:48.320 --> 01:42:50.790
technically against the rules. But also,
01:42:50.800 --> 01:42:52.790
you can't just live under trees and
01:42:52.800 --> 01:42:58.229
wander around in Norway or like
01:42:58.239 --> 01:43:00.229
Massachusetts.
01:43:00.239 --> 01:43:03.669
maybe to a limited degree, but just to
01:43:03.679 --> 01:43:07.189
take up that lifestyle in the west is
01:43:07.199 --> 01:43:11.669
much less likely to be successful, let's
01:43:11.679 --> 01:43:14.390
say.
01:43:14.400 --> 01:43:16.470
So,
01:43:16.480 --> 01:43:19.270
yeah, I mean, if you're in a Buddhist
01:43:19.280 --> 01:43:21.030
culture, in a Buddhist environment,
01:43:21.040 --> 01:43:23.669
following a traditional Buddhist path is
01:43:23.679 --> 01:43:26.310
about your best bet.
01:43:26.320 --> 01:43:29.030
But if you're in a non Buddhist culture,
01:43:29.040 --> 01:43:31.430
a non Buddhist environment, some secular
01:43:31.440 --> 01:43:34.229
western culture, for example, it's not
01:43:34.239 --> 01:43:36.950
necessarily going to be your best bet.
01:43:36.960 --> 01:43:39.510
It's still not a bad choice to be a
01:43:39.520 --> 01:43:41.750
Buddhist monk in the West, but it's
01:43:41.760 --> 01:43:43.109
going to be very different. There's
01:43:43.119 --> 01:43:44.629
going to be a lot of concessions and
01:43:44.639 --> 01:43:47.750
compromises made.
01:43:47.760 --> 01:43:49.109
you're going to be living a relatively
01:43:49.119 --> 01:43:52.629
luxurious lifestyle, not very aesthetic
01:43:52.639 --> 01:43:55.669
for for example.
01:43:55.679 --> 01:43:58.149
But then getting to this other part that
01:43:58.159 --> 01:44:02.149
uh water mocker was saying, see
01:44:02.159 --> 01:44:03.910
I understand that his conclusion was
01:44:03.920 --> 01:44:06.870
that the extremes he went to don't work
01:44:06.880 --> 01:44:08.550
and the middle way is his prescription,
01:44:08.560 --> 01:44:10.229
but these extremes did work in a
01:44:10.239 --> 01:44:12.709
roundabout way for him. Yeah, I mean it
01:44:12.719 --> 01:44:15.510
was necessary for him, I guess. Although
01:44:15.520 --> 01:44:18.229
it could be that if he had known, you
01:44:18.239 --> 01:44:19.990
know, he had there was an already a
01:44:20.000 --> 01:44:23.430
Buddha teaching him, you know, how to
01:44:23.440 --> 01:44:25.030
how to practice, he probably wouldn't
01:44:25.040 --> 01:44:27.590
have almost killed himself through like
01:44:27.600 --> 01:44:32.310
starving himself and that kind of thing.
01:44:32.320 --> 01:44:35.030
So
01:44:35.040 --> 01:44:37.590
yeah, I mean
01:44:37.600 --> 01:44:40.310
it seems like following the teachings of
01:44:40.320 --> 01:44:43.430
an enlightened being on how to become
01:44:43.440 --> 01:44:45.510
enlightened would be about your best
01:44:45.520 --> 01:44:49.030
bet. Especially if you're in a culture
01:44:49.040 --> 01:44:51.590
that is more or less in harmony with the
01:44:51.600 --> 01:44:53.510
instructions giving by given by the
01:44:53.520 --> 01:44:55.990
enlightened teacher. If you can find an
01:44:56.000 --> 01:44:58.310
enlightened western teacher who isn't
01:44:58.320 --> 01:44:59.990
just a charlatan but is genuinely
01:45:00.000 --> 01:45:02.310
enlightened or at least extremely wise,
01:45:02.320 --> 01:45:04.550
then they might be able to guide you
01:45:04.560 --> 01:45:06.709
about how to navigate through western
01:45:06.719 --> 01:45:11.030
style samsara better than God of the
01:45:11.040 --> 01:45:13.990
Shakya clan clan who lived 25 centuries
01:45:14.000 --> 01:45:16.070
ago.
01:45:16.080 --> 01:45:17.830
But with regard to meditation
01:45:17.840 --> 01:45:19.669
techniques, you know, what your mental
01:45:19.679 --> 01:45:22.790
state should be like, still
01:45:22.800 --> 01:45:25.750
the Buddha's advice is good. But trying
01:45:25.760 --> 01:45:28.950
to live according to ancient Indian
01:45:28.960 --> 01:45:33.189
monastic discipline is I mean it just it
01:45:33.199 --> 01:45:35.990
fits ancient India to a large degree. It
01:45:36.000 --> 01:45:38.790
still fits terra Buddhist culture. But
01:45:38.800 --> 01:45:41.109
you get out of terabata Buddhist culture
01:45:41.119 --> 01:45:48.149
and you're a stranger in a strange land.
01:45:48.159 --> 01:45:49.669
So I think I answered his question
01:45:49.679 --> 01:45:51.830
although I didn't fully address his
01:45:51.840 --> 01:45:54.709
comments after his question but there
01:45:54.719 --> 01:45:56.470
was no question mark after that and it
01:45:56.480 --> 01:45:59.109
would have added a question which would
01:45:59.119 --> 01:46:00.709
have then been transgressive because he
01:46:00.719 --> 01:46:02.629
would have asked more than three. So I'm
01:46:02.639 --> 01:46:04.470
just moving on to his next and third
01:46:04.480 --> 01:46:06.390
question.
01:46:06.400 --> 01:46:08.870
He says, "Also, I've heard you say that
01:46:08.880 --> 01:46:11.270
you think it is likely that the few
01:46:11.280 --> 01:46:13.990
enlightened people of the modern day, I
01:46:14.000 --> 01:46:16.790
forget the time frame you gave were or
01:46:16.800 --> 01:46:18.790
are Hindu.
01:46:18.800 --> 01:46:21.030
If someone were to ask your advice about
01:46:21.040 --> 01:46:22.870
the most likely path to becoming
01:46:22.880 --> 01:46:24.310
enlightened in modern times, would
01:46:24.320 --> 01:46:26.229
following Hinduism be part of your
01:46:26.239 --> 01:46:28.229
recommendation?" And I, this is a
01:46:28.239 --> 01:46:30.790
misunderstanding. I never really said
01:46:30.800 --> 01:46:32.470
that the few enlightened people of the
01:46:32.480 --> 01:46:35.990
modern day were or are Hindu. I mean I
01:46:36.000 --> 01:46:37.990
would say that over history I would not
01:46:38.000 --> 01:46:39.830
at all be surprised if there have been
01:46:39.840 --> 01:46:42.550
more enlightened Hindus than enlightened
01:46:42.560 --> 01:46:45.270
terravada Buddhists. I have said that
01:46:45.280 --> 01:46:46.870
I'm not insisting that that's the case
01:46:46.880 --> 01:46:48.870
but it wouldn't surprise me if there
01:46:48.880 --> 01:46:50.950
have been more enlightened Hindus than
01:46:50.960 --> 01:46:53.990
enlightened terra Buddhists
01:46:54.000 --> 01:46:57.109
partly because Hinduism is more open.
01:46:57.119 --> 01:47:00.070
It's less rigid and so there's more kind
01:47:00.080 --> 01:47:03.910
of personality types that can adapt to
01:47:03.920 --> 01:47:07.270
like different approaches in Hinduism.
01:47:07.280 --> 01:47:10.070
you know, it's it's more broad spectrum,
01:47:10.080 --> 01:47:12.229
whereas Terravada Buddhism is more
01:47:12.239 --> 01:47:14.629
narrow and so it's going to kind of weed
01:47:14.639 --> 01:47:16.950
out certain personality types. And a lot
01:47:16.960 --> 01:47:19.189
of the people that do follow terra
01:47:19.199 --> 01:47:21.109
Buddhism are going to be rigid
01:47:21.119 --> 01:47:23.109
dogmatists
01:47:23.119 --> 01:47:26.149
who like with regard to Romeo's question
01:47:26.159 --> 01:47:28.629
just lack the inspiration. you know that
01:47:28.639 --> 01:47:31.030
because you're a rigid dogmatist, you're
01:47:31.040 --> 01:47:34.310
just kind of locked in to this rigid
01:47:34.320 --> 01:47:37.750
system and there's not much room left
01:47:37.760 --> 01:47:40.629
for inspiration. I mean, you have to
01:47:40.639 --> 01:47:42.709
have a certain originality to become
01:47:42.719 --> 01:47:44.950
enlightened. It seems to me you have to
01:47:44.960 --> 01:47:47.750
transcend the rigid structure because
01:47:47.760 --> 01:47:49.590
the rigid structure is like a mental
01:47:49.600 --> 01:47:53.350
prison.
01:47:53.360 --> 01:47:55.350
So yeah, I mean I wouldn't be surprised
01:47:55.360 --> 01:47:56.550
if there have been more enlightened
01:47:56.560 --> 01:48:00.629
Hindus, but I'm not insisting on that.
01:48:00.639 --> 01:48:04.629
So let's see. If someone were to ask
01:48:04.639 --> 01:48:06.709
your advice about the most likely path
01:48:06.719 --> 01:48:09.030
to becoming enlightened in modern times,
01:48:09.040 --> 01:48:10.709
would following Hinduism be part of your
01:48:10.719 --> 01:48:13.910
recommendation? Um, I mean, if you're
01:48:13.920 --> 01:48:16.950
going to follow a spiritual path in
01:48:16.960 --> 01:48:21.350
India, Hinduism might be the way to go.
01:48:21.360 --> 01:48:22.950
If you're going to follow a spiritual
01:48:22.960 --> 01:48:25.350
path in Burma or Thailand, Terra
01:48:25.360 --> 01:48:27.430
Buddhism might be the way to go. If
01:48:27.440 --> 01:48:29.830
you're following trying to become
01:48:29.840 --> 01:48:34.629
enlightened in 16th century Spain, Roman
01:48:34.639 --> 01:48:36.390
Catholicism would be your only choice
01:48:36.400 --> 01:48:37.990
and so you'd have to just make do with
01:48:38.000 --> 01:48:39.510
that.
01:48:39.520 --> 01:48:42.629
You know, medieval Europe in general.
01:48:42.639 --> 01:48:44.790
So
01:48:44.800 --> 01:48:47.669
with regard to modern America, I mean
01:48:47.679 --> 01:48:49.030
you might be better off with someone
01:48:49.040 --> 01:48:51.270
like Krishna Murdy
01:48:51.280 --> 01:48:53.510
uh Jay Krishna Murdy or maybe even UG
01:48:53.520 --> 01:48:57.189
Krishna Murdy who I mean they were born
01:48:57.199 --> 01:48:59.510
into a a Hindu culture but you could
01:48:59.520 --> 01:49:04.310
hardly call either one of them a Hindu.
01:49:04.320 --> 01:49:07.590
So yeah, I mean there might be a certain
01:49:07.600 --> 01:49:11.430
like radical iconoclasm that might be
01:49:11.440 --> 01:49:14.310
part of a western approach.
01:49:14.320 --> 01:49:17.270
Um I mean you can you can look into a
01:49:17.280 --> 01:49:20.070
lot of the sort of western enlightened
01:49:20.080 --> 01:49:22.390
teachers or teachers claiming to be
01:49:22.400 --> 01:49:26.070
enlightened and I mean Jay Krishna Murdy
01:49:26.080 --> 01:49:27.430
would be a good start with regard to
01:49:27.440 --> 01:49:32.149
that and I mean his approach is fairly
01:49:32.159 --> 01:49:35.590
good for westerners I guess and I guess
01:49:35.600 --> 01:49:38.790
he still has a kind of I mean in his
01:49:38.800 --> 01:49:41.510
memory he's he's long gone but I think
01:49:41.520 --> 01:49:44.390
like oh high California there's still
01:49:44.400 --> 01:49:47.270
like a Krishna Merti community living
01:49:47.280 --> 01:49:53.189
there. There's like a Nim Karoli Baba um
01:49:53.199 --> 01:49:56.310
based community like sort of his old
01:49:56.320 --> 01:49:59.189
disciples living in Taos, New Mexico. I
01:49:59.199 --> 01:50:01.750
think you can sort of find isolated
01:50:01.760 --> 01:50:05.830
communities following various paths. Um,
01:50:05.840 --> 01:50:08.229
but it could just be a matter of your
01:50:08.239 --> 01:50:11.350
own karma, a certain amount of like
01:50:11.360 --> 01:50:14.390
chance, you want to call it that. Just
01:50:14.400 --> 01:50:16.310
who's going to be the first enlightened
01:50:16.320 --> 01:50:19.189
teacher or the first really
01:50:19.199 --> 01:50:22.629
like believable kind of spiritual
01:50:22.639 --> 01:50:25.030
teacher that really vibes with you,
01:50:25.040 --> 01:50:26.790
really resonates with you, where you can
01:50:26.800 --> 01:50:29.990
just say, "Yeah, I can follow this." I
01:50:30.000 --> 01:50:32.229
mean, it's not necessarily going to be
01:50:32.239 --> 01:50:34.310
Buddhist or Hindu or anything else.
01:50:34.320 --> 01:50:36.629
especially
01:50:36.639 --> 01:50:40.229
in the west.
01:50:40.239 --> 01:50:41.990
So let's see what's the actual question
01:50:42.000 --> 01:50:45.030
here. If someone were to ask your advice
01:50:45.040 --> 01:50:47.030
about the most likely path to becoming
01:50:47.040 --> 01:50:48.870
enlightened in modern times, would
01:50:48.880 --> 01:50:50.390
following Hinduism be part of your
01:50:50.400 --> 01:50:53.270
recommendation? Not necessarily.
01:50:53.280 --> 01:50:55.830
I mean you can read the upupanachads,
01:50:55.840 --> 01:50:59.030
read the Bavad Gita and see if you if
01:50:59.040 --> 01:51:02.470
that really rings any bells for you. You
01:51:02.480 --> 01:51:04.310
can read the sutin pata, see if that
01:51:04.320 --> 01:51:06.550
does anything for you. Read like the the
01:51:06.560 --> 01:51:09.189
heart sutra, see if that does anything
01:51:09.199 --> 01:51:11.030
for you. A lot of people, they'll just
01:51:11.040 --> 01:51:12.629
read the Bible and that's that's good
01:51:12.639 --> 01:51:15.270
enough for them. At least you're going
01:51:15.280 --> 01:51:19.189
to have the culture supporting you
01:51:19.199 --> 01:51:23.510
and in the West, at least in America
01:51:23.520 --> 01:51:26.709
or Eastern Europe.
01:51:26.719 --> 01:51:29.350
So yeah, I mean your best bet would be
01:51:29.360 --> 01:51:32.310
just be eclectic and and like be a
01:51:32.320 --> 01:51:35.030
student of all religions. And this is
01:51:35.040 --> 01:51:37.830
this is essentially what I did is just
01:51:37.840 --> 01:51:39.589
read the scriptures of various
01:51:39.599 --> 01:51:43.189
religions. Just consider the teachings
01:51:43.199 --> 01:51:45.270
of people who are claimed to be very
01:51:45.280 --> 01:51:46.950
wise.
01:51:46.960 --> 01:51:49.750
You know, echarttolah see if he's he
01:51:49.760 --> 01:51:51.990
does anything for you. And then whatever
01:51:52.000 --> 01:51:54.070
it is that really resonates with you the
01:51:54.080 --> 01:51:56.310
most deeply, go with that. and still
01:51:56.320 --> 01:51:58.229
till it stops working and then maybe try
01:51:58.239 --> 01:52:01.830
something else.
01:52:01.840 --> 01:52:02.870
And I'm just going to move on to the
01:52:02.880 --> 01:52:04.709
next question because we've already been
01:52:04.719 --> 01:52:07.910
going at this for almost two hours.
01:52:07.920 --> 01:52:10.470
Next question is from Scooterain.
01:52:10.480 --> 01:52:13.510
And Scudamain says, "So my mom is super
01:52:13.520 --> 01:52:16.070
Christian and she's asked me to read
01:52:16.080 --> 01:52:19.109
Living Buddha, Living Christ by Tiknat
01:52:19.119 --> 01:52:21.669
Han. I am struggling to get through it
01:52:21.679 --> 01:52:23.910
to be honest and I don't know how I'm
01:52:23.920 --> 01:52:25.830
going to break it to my mom when we talk
01:52:25.840 --> 01:52:29.430
about it. Haha. His engaged Buddhism is
01:52:29.440 --> 01:52:32.310
social justice warrior propaganda in the
01:52:32.320 --> 01:52:35.189
guise of Buddhism. He even has his own
01:52:35.199 --> 01:52:37.589
version of the precepts. The first
01:52:37.599 --> 01:52:40.550
precept for instance he says should be
01:52:40.560 --> 01:52:42.870
to refrain from killing but also to
01:52:42.880 --> 01:52:45.430
prevent others from killing. The second
01:52:45.440 --> 01:52:49.510
is not only to not steal but to share.
01:52:49.520 --> 01:52:51.589
My official question on the matter is
01:52:51.599 --> 01:52:53.189
this. So we're getting to the question
01:52:53.199 --> 01:52:55.669
here. What is your opinion on the
01:52:55.679 --> 01:52:59.990
following quote from the book? Quote,
01:53:00.000 --> 01:53:02.950
if while we practice we are not aware
01:53:02.960 --> 01:53:05.189
that the world is suffering, that
01:53:05.199 --> 01:53:07.430
children are dying of hunger, that
01:53:07.440 --> 01:53:10.310
social injustice is going on everywhere,
01:53:10.320 --> 01:53:12.790
we are not practicing mindfulness. we
01:53:12.800 --> 01:53:16.629
are just trying to escape unquote.
01:53:16.639 --> 01:53:18.870
Well, I mean that's certainly not
01:53:18.880 --> 01:53:22.149
orthodox terravada anywhere near to it
01:53:22.159 --> 01:53:25.830
like let's see Scudamain is saying to
01:53:25.840 --> 01:53:27.830
some degree that is like social justice
01:53:27.840 --> 01:53:31.350
propaganda with Buddhist flavoring
01:53:31.360 --> 01:53:32.790
although it goes a little deeper than
01:53:32.800 --> 01:53:34.709
that. I mean Tiknahan was relatively
01:53:34.719 --> 01:53:37.669
serious in his Mahayana heart oriented
01:53:37.679 --> 01:53:39.350
Buddhism.
01:53:39.360 --> 01:53:41.750
So he was definitely kind of a karma
01:53:41.760 --> 01:53:44.950
yogi who wanted to like help people even
01:53:44.960 --> 01:53:48.310
though according to like early Buddhism,
01:53:48.320 --> 01:53:50.790
you know, it's you're first you have to
01:53:50.800 --> 01:53:52.629
get out of the building. The building is
01:53:52.639 --> 01:53:54.950
on fire. You've got to escape from the
01:53:54.960 --> 01:53:57.830
building and escaping from the building
01:53:57.840 --> 01:54:01.109
is really the only sensible thing to do.
01:54:01.119 --> 01:54:03.030
I mean, staying in the building out of
01:54:03.040 --> 01:54:05.910
compassion to treat the burn victims
01:54:05.920 --> 01:54:07.750
while the building is still on fire and
01:54:07.760 --> 01:54:09.669
you still don't know how to get out. I
01:54:09.679 --> 01:54:11.350
mean I mean it might be
01:54:11.360 --> 01:54:12.950
well-intentioned,
01:54:12.960 --> 01:54:15.990
but it's I mean it is not really the
01:54:16.000 --> 01:54:19.510
wise choice. The wise choice is find
01:54:19.520 --> 01:54:21.270
your way out of the burning building.
01:54:21.280 --> 01:54:23.430
And then after you found your way out of
01:54:23.440 --> 01:54:26.390
the burning building, then if you see
01:54:26.400 --> 01:54:29.189
fit, you can come back in and try to
01:54:29.199 --> 01:54:30.629
help other people get out of the burning
01:54:30.639 --> 01:54:32.470
building. But as a general rule, most
01:54:32.480 --> 01:54:33.910
people don't even know the building is
01:54:33.920 --> 01:54:35.910
on fire
01:54:35.920 --> 01:54:38.149
and they they don't want to get out of
01:54:38.159 --> 01:54:41.109
the building.
01:54:41.119 --> 01:54:43.030
So
01:54:43.040 --> 01:54:44.950
if while we practice we are not aware
01:54:44.960 --> 01:54:46.470
that the world is suffering, that
01:54:46.480 --> 01:54:47.830
children are dying of hunger, that
01:54:47.840 --> 01:54:49.910
social injustice is going on everywhere,
01:54:49.920 --> 01:54:51.510
we're not practicing mindfulness, we're
01:54:51.520 --> 01:54:53.669
just trying to escape. Well, I mean
01:54:53.679 --> 01:54:55.669
that's to be aware of that is fine.
01:54:55.679 --> 01:54:57.910
That's the first noble truth. To exist
01:54:57.920 --> 01:55:01.430
is to suffer. So the world is suffering.
01:55:01.440 --> 01:55:03.990
Yes. First noble truth. Children are
01:55:04.000 --> 01:55:06.870
dying of hunger. Yes. First noble truth.
01:55:06.880 --> 01:55:09.189
It's always happened.
01:55:09.199 --> 01:55:11.669
Social injustice is going on everywhere.
01:55:11.679 --> 01:55:13.990
Yes, that's first noble truth. This
01:55:14.000 --> 01:55:16.870
world is never going to be perfect.
01:55:16.880 --> 01:55:19.510
There's always going to be suffering in
01:55:19.520 --> 01:55:22.149
any version of reality you live in until
01:55:22.159 --> 01:55:24.310
you get fully enlightened. And even
01:55:24.320 --> 01:55:25.589
then, there's going to be like the
01:55:25.599 --> 01:55:27.589
superficial appearance of suffering so
01:55:27.599 --> 01:55:29.830
long as you superficially appear to have
01:55:29.840 --> 01:55:33.510
a body and a personality.
01:55:33.520 --> 01:55:36.149
So yeah, I mean you can be mindful, you
01:55:36.159 --> 01:55:38.870
can be mindful, be aware that the world
01:55:38.880 --> 01:55:40.550
is suffering, that children are dying of
01:55:40.560 --> 01:55:42.149
hunger and that social injustice is
01:55:42.159 --> 01:55:43.589
going on everywhere, but that doesn't
01:55:43.599 --> 01:55:45.910
mean you're supposed to just get up and
01:55:45.920 --> 01:55:48.629
and and go out and try and fix it
01:55:48.639 --> 01:55:50.229
because you're not going to succeed. You
01:55:50.239 --> 01:55:52.070
might make things a little better, but
01:55:52.080 --> 01:55:53.830
we're living in a world of dualities
01:55:53.840 --> 01:55:56.149
where you fix one thing and it's it's
01:55:56.159 --> 01:55:58.229
just going to cause some new bad thing
01:55:58.239 --> 01:56:02.870
to crop up.
01:56:02.880 --> 01:56:04.629
So
01:56:04.639 --> 01:56:06.950
yeah, be aware of it. Yeah, first noble
01:56:06.960 --> 01:56:09.430
truth definitely be aware that to exist
01:56:09.440 --> 01:56:12.390
is to suffer, but that doesn't mean that
01:56:12.400 --> 01:56:15.990
you have to go out and try and fix it.
01:56:16.000 --> 01:56:18.070
I mean, you don't contribute to it. You
01:56:18.080 --> 01:56:19.990
don't try you don't make things worse on
01:56:20.000 --> 01:56:22.950
purpose. You know, it's like think lo
01:56:22.960 --> 01:56:25.350
think globally and act locally is like,
01:56:25.360 --> 01:56:28.149
you know, fix yourself. That's the best
01:56:28.159 --> 01:56:31.270
you can do. And if fixing yourself, I
01:56:31.280 --> 01:56:33.030
mean, fixing yourself will help other
01:56:33.040 --> 01:56:36.870
people.
01:56:36.880 --> 01:56:39.030
But that's your like top priority. Just
01:56:39.040 --> 01:56:45.109
get out of the burning building.
01:56:45.119 --> 01:56:48.390
So I guess I guess that's good enough. I
01:56:48.400 --> 01:56:50.229
hope it is.
01:56:50.239 --> 01:56:51.589
So I'm just going to move on to the next
01:56:51.599 --> 01:56:53.669
question. This is from Crash Meta
01:56:53.679 --> 01:56:57.350
Religion. And crash meta religion says
01:56:57.360 --> 01:56:59.189
are you familiar with the religious
01:56:59.199 --> 01:57:02.629
scholar David Bentley Hart. He claims he
01:57:02.639 --> 01:57:04.870
is Eastern Orthodox but he is really a
01:57:04.880 --> 01:57:06.550
syncratist.
01:57:06.560 --> 01:57:08.950
He is extremely well-versed in all world
01:57:08.960 --> 01:57:12.229
religions not just Christianity. He has
01:57:12.239 --> 01:57:14.390
a form of Christian belief that many
01:57:14.400 --> 01:57:17.350
call vantic Christianity. I am seeing
01:57:17.360 --> 01:57:19.510
more and more of him but I have been
01:57:19.520 --> 01:57:21.910
aware of him for years. If you are
01:57:21.920 --> 01:57:22.950
familiar with him, what are your
01:57:22.960 --> 01:57:24.310
opinions? Well, this is an extremely
01:57:24.320 --> 01:57:27.589
easy question to answer because um David
01:57:27.599 --> 01:57:30.229
Bentley Hart sounds kind of familiar,
01:57:30.239 --> 01:57:32.870
but I don't think I've ever heard a word
01:57:32.880 --> 01:57:36.149
that he has ever said.
01:57:36.159 --> 01:57:39.030
So, I really cannot contribute to this
01:57:39.040 --> 01:57:42.070
particular discussion because I don't
01:57:42.080 --> 01:57:45.030
really know who David Bentley Hart is.
01:57:45.040 --> 01:57:46.070
So, I'm just going to move on to the
01:57:46.080 --> 01:57:48.870
next question and we're kind of getting
01:57:48.880 --> 01:57:50.950
down towards the bottom here. This is
01:57:50.960 --> 01:57:52.870
from RFS
01:57:52.880 --> 01:57:56.229
and RFS says which param is the most
01:57:56.239 --> 01:57:59.350
important for spiritual development and
01:57:59.360 --> 01:58:01.669
according to terra Buddhism there are 10
01:58:01.679 --> 01:58:04.550
parameies and when I was a monk I came
01:58:04.560 --> 01:58:06.550
up with this dumb pneummonic I mean it's
01:58:06.560 --> 01:58:08.310
really dumb you'll hear for yourself how
01:58:08.320 --> 01:58:12.229
dumb it is for memorizing the 10 pyrams
01:58:12.239 --> 01:58:14.790
in the correct order and the pneummonic
01:58:14.800 --> 01:58:18.390
is dad says nasty pink vultures kept
01:58:18.400 --> 01:58:21.109
seven angels mending underwear
01:58:21.119 --> 01:58:24.790
So dad or d is donna that's the first
01:58:24.800 --> 01:58:26.870
part of me is donna or generosity
01:58:26.880 --> 01:58:30.950
literally giving. Then says is sila
01:58:30.960 --> 01:58:34.870
which is morality. Then nasty is nama
01:58:34.880 --> 01:58:38.790
which is um renunciation renouncing the
01:58:38.800 --> 01:58:40.310
world.
01:58:40.320 --> 01:58:44.550
Then nasty pink is pa which here doesn't
01:58:44.560 --> 01:58:46.950
mean wisdom so much as just presence of
01:58:46.960 --> 01:58:49.669
mind having your wits about you.
01:58:49.679 --> 01:58:54.550
And then vultures is vir which is like
01:58:54.560 --> 01:58:56.870
heroic effort. I mean usually it's
01:58:56.880 --> 01:58:59.350
translated as something like energy but
01:58:59.360 --> 01:59:02.310
the the ver in vira is the same ver as
01:59:02.320 --> 01:59:04.870
in the English word virile or like the
01:59:04.880 --> 01:59:07.750
ver in the the latin trivirate. It
01:59:07.760 --> 01:59:10.470
literally means man. So it's sort of
01:59:10.480 --> 01:59:13.270
manly effort
01:59:13.280 --> 01:59:14.790
vir
01:59:14.800 --> 01:59:21.030
then well's k kept is ki or um it's
01:59:21.040 --> 01:59:22.870
usually translated as something like
01:59:22.880 --> 01:59:26.390
patience or forbearance I would us I
01:59:26.400 --> 01:59:28.709
generally translate it as acceptance you
01:59:28.719 --> 01:59:31.109
know like the the verb form of ki is
01:59:31.119 --> 01:59:33.669
comedy the verb comedy which just means
01:59:33.679 --> 01:59:36.790
to accept not to accept into your hand
01:59:36.800 --> 01:59:39.030
like taking something but to accept
01:59:39.040 --> 01:59:42.550
something like making peace with it.
01:59:42.560 --> 01:59:45.830
So then see nasty pink voltages kept
01:59:45.840 --> 01:59:50.470
seven that's sucha or truth. So honesty
01:59:50.480 --> 01:59:54.550
telling the truth not deceiving.
01:59:54.560 --> 01:59:57.910
Seven angels. A is aditana
01:59:57.920 --> 01:59:59.990
which is determination.
02:00:00.000 --> 02:00:02.310
You know just steadfast unflinching
02:00:02.320 --> 02:00:05.270
determination which helps in just about
02:00:05.280 --> 02:00:07.669
any endeavor including living the
02:00:07.679 --> 02:00:09.990
spiritual life.
02:00:10.000 --> 02:00:13.830
And then mending meta is usually
02:00:13.840 --> 02:00:16.790
translated as loving kindness. Literally
02:00:16.800 --> 02:00:18.950
it would mean like benevolence or
02:00:18.960 --> 02:00:21.030
friendliness. like the the poly word
02:00:21.040 --> 02:00:24.870
meta um is related to the poly word mita
02:00:24.880 --> 02:00:27.270
which means friend. So literally it's
02:00:27.280 --> 02:00:29.430
like friendliness
02:00:29.440 --> 02:00:31.430
usually translated as loving kindness. I
02:00:31.440 --> 02:00:33.830
mean you could call it love in a
02:00:33.840 --> 02:00:36.790
positive benevolent sort of way just
02:00:36.800 --> 02:00:38.629
benevolence.
02:00:38.639 --> 02:00:42.709
And then finally is underwear
02:00:42.719 --> 02:00:45.750
which is equinimity.
02:00:45.760 --> 02:00:48.070
So the question is which part of me is
02:00:48.080 --> 02:00:49.910
the most important for spiritual
02:00:49.920 --> 02:00:52.390
development and you could argue that all
02:00:52.400 --> 02:00:54.790
of them are important. I mean it's like
02:00:54.800 --> 02:00:57.030
which organ is most important in your
02:00:57.040 --> 02:00:59.430
body. I mean you don't if your brain is
02:00:59.440 --> 02:01:01.589
destroyed you die. But then again if
02:01:01.599 --> 02:01:03.910
your heart is destroyed you die. If your
02:01:03.920 --> 02:01:07.669
liver is destroyed you die. I mean even
02:01:07.679 --> 02:01:10.470
your butthole is destroyed unless you
02:01:10.480 --> 02:01:14.070
got modern medicine
02:01:14.080 --> 02:01:16.870
figuring out a workaround then you die.
02:01:16.880 --> 02:01:19.189
So I mean you could say that all 10
02:01:19.199 --> 02:01:22.070
parameies are essential although
02:01:22.080 --> 02:01:24.070
spiritually the most advanced I mean it
02:01:24.080 --> 02:01:26.310
goes in order of advancement. So, Donna
02:01:26.320 --> 02:01:27.990
or generosity, that's kind of a lay
02:01:28.000 --> 02:01:30.709
person thing, you know, that's that's
02:01:30.719 --> 02:01:34.629
like like like what's the word like
02:01:34.639 --> 02:01:37.109
elementary and then finally you get up
02:01:37.119 --> 02:01:40.070
toka which is like the most advanced
02:01:40.080 --> 02:01:41.990
equinimity.
02:01:42.000 --> 02:01:44.390
No, it's it's higher than meta or loving
02:01:44.400 --> 02:01:46.310
kindness like in the the four Janna
02:01:46.320 --> 02:01:50.310
system or the the Brahma Vihara system.
02:01:50.320 --> 02:01:51.990
Practicing meta will get you up to third
02:01:52.000 --> 02:01:54.390
Janna according to the commentarial
02:01:54.400 --> 02:01:56.149
tradition. Whereas the only one of the
02:01:56.159 --> 02:01:57.669
Brahma viharas that would get you all
02:01:57.679 --> 02:01:59.990
the way to fourth Janna
02:02:00.000 --> 02:02:02.229
is upeka.
02:02:02.239 --> 02:02:03.910
So
02:02:03.920 --> 02:02:06.550
um for a beginner then you just start
02:02:06.560 --> 02:02:08.390
off with donam like before you're even a
02:02:08.400 --> 02:02:10.070
monk before you've renounced the world.
02:02:10.080 --> 02:02:13.030
I mean nama is renunciation. So you
02:02:13.040 --> 02:02:16.229
start off with generosity and morality
02:02:16.239 --> 02:02:20.390
before you even practice renunciation.
02:02:20.400 --> 02:02:22.070
So I mean it all depends on how you look
02:02:22.080 --> 02:02:23.910
at it which which part of me is the most
02:02:23.920 --> 02:02:26.390
important for spiritual development.
02:02:26.400 --> 02:02:28.310
Depends on what stage you're at. I guess
02:02:28.320 --> 02:02:31.030
I mean you can say the most fundamental
02:02:31.040 --> 02:02:33.030
would be generosity which is just kind
02:02:33.040 --> 02:02:36.550
of getting you in a in a karmic
02:02:36.560 --> 02:02:39.109
situation where you're you're even able
02:02:39.119 --> 02:02:42.310
to practice higher dhamma and then I
02:02:42.320 --> 02:02:45.030
mean the most advanced the most exalted
02:02:45.040 --> 02:02:46.950
of the 10 parmes would be the last one
02:02:46.960 --> 02:02:51.589
which is up or or uh equinimity
02:02:51.599 --> 02:02:53.430
but for those of you who really want to
02:02:53.440 --> 02:02:55.910
uh memorize the stupid pneummonic that I
02:02:55.920 --> 02:02:58.470
came up with I will repeat it again. Dad
02:02:58.480 --> 02:03:01.189
says nasty pink vultures kept seven
02:03:01.199 --> 02:03:03.910
angels mending underwear.
02:03:03.920 --> 02:03:08.070
That's the 10 pyramse in order.
02:03:08.080 --> 02:03:09.030
And I'm just going to move on to the
02:03:09.040 --> 02:03:10.709
next question. This is from Sedarta
02:03:10.719 --> 02:03:12.310
Lohachita.
02:03:12.320 --> 02:03:15.350
And Sedarta Lohachita says, "As a half
02:03:15.360 --> 02:03:18.709
Spanish person, do people in the USA
02:03:18.719 --> 02:03:21.990
separate European Spaniards from Mexican
02:03:22.000 --> 02:03:24.870
Indian mesto people from the former
02:03:24.880 --> 02:03:27.189
American colonies?
02:03:27.199 --> 02:03:28.870
Yeah, I think that there is a
02:03:28.880 --> 02:03:31.589
differentiation between Hispanics,
02:03:31.599 --> 02:03:33.990
which is what Edward Dutton would call a
02:03:34.000 --> 02:03:36.629
clin. It's an ethnicity, but not a race.
02:03:36.639 --> 02:03:40.310
Hispanic is not a race because it's a
02:03:40.320 --> 02:03:43.030
mixture of two races. It's like um
02:03:43.040 --> 02:03:46.629
European, especially Spaniards, mostly
02:03:46.639 --> 02:03:49.669
from the male line of ancestry mixed
02:03:49.679 --> 02:03:52.870
with American Indian, especially like
02:03:52.880 --> 02:03:57.589
Mexican, South American Indian. um that
02:03:57.599 --> 02:04:00.310
race, I guess you'd call it,
02:04:00.320 --> 02:04:03.589
um mainly on the female line of
02:04:03.599 --> 02:04:06.229
ancestry. So, I mean, you could have a
02:04:06.239 --> 02:04:08.470
Hispanic person that's 100% American
02:04:08.480 --> 02:04:12.149
Indian, 100% Mayan, for example, or you
02:04:12.159 --> 02:04:15.030
could have a Hispanic person that's 100%
02:04:15.040 --> 02:04:18.149
European, like 100% Spanish, which would
02:04:18.159 --> 02:04:20.149
generally be like of the the upper
02:04:20.159 --> 02:04:24.470
classes in uh Latin American countries.
02:04:24.480 --> 02:04:27.350
But, um, like pure Spanish people living
02:04:27.360 --> 02:04:29.270
in Spain, yeah, they're in a different
02:04:29.280 --> 02:04:31.830
category. I mean, lately they're just
02:04:31.840 --> 02:04:33.669
seen as loony leftists that are
02:04:33.679 --> 02:04:36.870
contributing to just the the the [ __ ]
02:04:36.880 --> 02:04:41.350
up of the European Union through um like
02:04:41.360 --> 02:04:44.310
socialism and just opening the borders
02:04:44.320 --> 02:04:47.910
wide open to um
02:04:47.920 --> 02:04:49.750
immigrants from North Africa which are
02:04:49.760 --> 02:04:53.910
then flooding into Europe through Spain.
02:04:53.920 --> 02:04:57.430
So, Spain is I mean a lot of Americans,
02:04:57.440 --> 02:05:00.790
they're not really good at geography,
02:05:00.800 --> 02:05:02.550
you know, so they just know Spain is
02:05:02.560 --> 02:05:04.310
kind of over there across the ocean
02:05:04.320 --> 02:05:06.950
somewhere. It's part of Europe. So,
02:05:06.960 --> 02:05:08.950
Spain would be seen as just kind of part
02:05:08.960 --> 02:05:11.750
of Europe, especially part of decadent
02:05:11.760 --> 02:05:14.629
Western Europe, decadent, feminized,
02:05:14.639 --> 02:05:17.669
leftist Western Europe. But they a lot
02:05:17.679 --> 02:05:18.950
of Americans probably wouldn't even be
02:05:18.960 --> 02:05:22.629
able to locate Spain on a map.
02:05:22.639 --> 02:05:24.950
I think it was Ambrose Beers that said
02:05:24.960 --> 02:05:27.350
that God created war in order to teach
02:05:27.360 --> 02:05:29.990
Americans geography
02:05:30.000 --> 02:05:31.750
and there has haven't been any major
02:05:31.760 --> 02:05:35.109
wars in Spain lately. So lately, people
02:05:35.119 --> 02:05:36.709
are pretty much ignorant of what's going
02:05:36.719 --> 02:05:40.390
on in Spain.
02:05:40.400 --> 02:05:43.669
Uh, and then in uh of of Hispanic
02:05:43.679 --> 02:05:48.470
people, I mean, the ones that kind of
02:05:48.480 --> 02:05:50.470
that are like second or third generation
02:05:50.480 --> 02:05:53.350
in America that speak English with like
02:05:53.360 --> 02:05:56.229
the standard white person accent, let's
02:05:56.239 --> 02:05:58.310
say. You know, they just kind of blend
02:05:58.320 --> 02:05:59.990
in there, all right, except for you see
02:06:00.000 --> 02:06:01.750
them like you're a stranger. You see
02:06:01.760 --> 02:06:03.030
them on the street and they look
02:06:03.040 --> 02:06:05.430
obviously like brownskinned and so
02:06:05.440 --> 02:06:07.750
forth. You might see them as a like a
02:06:07.760 --> 02:06:10.629
foreigner or a Mexican.
02:06:10.639 --> 02:06:12.950
I think a lot of a lot of people in
02:06:12.960 --> 02:06:14.790
America just consider all Latin
02:06:14.800 --> 02:06:17.270
Americans to be Mexicans
02:06:17.280 --> 02:06:19.990
or like like someone from El Salvador. I
02:06:20.000 --> 02:06:21.750
mean, at best it'd be like a fake
02:06:21.760 --> 02:06:26.550
Mexican.
02:06:26.560 --> 02:06:28.470
Yeah. But I I do think that there is a
02:06:28.480 --> 02:06:30.709
kind of a difference that Spain is is
02:06:30.719 --> 02:06:32.149
part of Europe and it's seen as
02:06:32.159 --> 02:06:35.750
European, Western European, and then the
02:06:35.760 --> 02:06:39.430
Hispanics, the the Mexicans that that
02:06:39.440 --> 02:06:42.709
are like swarming the borders
02:06:42.719 --> 02:06:44.470
are uh yeah, that's just a whole
02:06:44.480 --> 02:06:47.910
different kettle of wax.
02:06:47.920 --> 02:06:50.870
So,
02:06:50.880 --> 02:06:53.510
huh. Personally, I mean, Hispanics
02:06:53.520 --> 02:06:56.069
really, um, especially if they enter the
02:06:56.079 --> 02:06:57.910
country legally, I got no problem with
02:06:57.920 --> 02:06:59.510
them because they're generally easy to
02:06:59.520 --> 02:07:01.910
get along with, fairly intelligent, then
02:07:01.920 --> 02:07:03.350
they're willing to work for a living.
02:07:03.360 --> 02:07:04.709
They don't just immediately go on
02:07:04.719 --> 02:07:06.950
welfare except for a lot of the illegal
02:07:06.960 --> 02:07:09.669
ones who are like flown in the middle of
02:07:09.679 --> 02:07:10.870
the night during the Biden
02:07:10.880 --> 02:07:13.109
administration to various cities to kind
02:07:13.119 --> 02:07:15.990
of populate conservative areas with
02:07:16.000 --> 02:07:17.669
people who will vote Democrat in order
02:07:17.679 --> 02:07:19.990
to get more free free handouts. this
02:07:20.000 --> 02:07:22.950
kind of stuff that yeah, Hispanics do
02:07:22.960 --> 02:07:25.030
have kind of they've taken a hit to
02:07:25.040 --> 02:07:27.430
their reputation mainly due to all the
02:07:27.440 --> 02:07:29.350
illegal immigrants that are coming in
02:07:29.360 --> 02:07:31.430
and just committing crimes because it's
02:07:31.440 --> 02:07:33.430
a lot of gang members and so forth are
02:07:33.440 --> 02:07:36.310
included among the people who are just
02:07:36.320 --> 02:07:39.510
economic migrants and then a lot of a
02:07:39.520 --> 02:07:41.589
lot of them are just immediately like
02:07:41.599 --> 02:07:43.350
signing up for welfare benefits that
02:07:43.360 --> 02:07:45.030
kind of thing. So they don't have a very
02:07:45.040 --> 02:07:47.669
good reputation. Although and it is
02:07:47.679 --> 02:07:49.350
unfortunate because a lot of the I mean
02:07:49.360 --> 02:07:51.430
the legal immigrants
02:07:51.440 --> 02:07:54.390
you know as a general rule they're easy
02:07:54.400 --> 02:07:56.790
to easygoing people who are quite
02:07:56.800 --> 02:07:59.589
willing to work for a living and that's
02:07:59.599 --> 02:08:03.270
that's fine
02:08:03.280 --> 02:08:04.390
but I'm just going to move on to the
02:08:04.400 --> 02:08:07.910
next question. This is from Robert.
02:08:07.920 --> 02:08:09.430
Okay.
02:08:09.440 --> 02:08:12.310
And Robert says, "I live in a country
02:08:12.320 --> 02:08:14.550
with no Terravada monasteries and want
02:08:14.560 --> 02:08:16.550
to grow spiritually with a real
02:08:16.560 --> 02:08:18.629
community. I've mostly followed
02:08:18.639 --> 02:08:22.550
Terravada online, tried a nearby Tibetan
02:08:22.560 --> 02:08:25.270
center, and even considered Catholicism
02:08:25.280 --> 02:08:26.950
because of the mystics like Meister
02:08:26.960 --> 02:08:29.669
Eckhart and communities. What would you
02:08:29.679 --> 02:08:31.830
do in a situation like this if you don't
02:08:31.840 --> 02:08:33.910
plan to become a monk soon?" Well, what
02:08:33.920 --> 02:08:36.390
I personally did, I was a lone I'm just
02:08:36.400 --> 02:08:39.510
always been a loner by nature. So I
02:08:39.520 --> 02:08:43.830
would just practice alone and read books
02:08:43.840 --> 02:08:45.669
alone. This is back before internet,
02:08:45.679 --> 02:08:47.830
back before I became a monk. So it was
02:08:47.840 --> 02:08:51.430
mainly through reading books. Um I mean
02:08:51.440 --> 02:08:54.550
you can travel somewhere to do like an
02:08:54.560 --> 02:08:56.790
intensive retreat
02:08:56.800 --> 02:08:58.550
but for the most part I was just
02:08:58.560 --> 02:09:00.310
practicing alone going alone like the
02:09:00.320 --> 02:09:02.470
horn of the rhinoceros. Even before my
02:09:02.480 --> 02:09:04.470
ordination,
02:09:04.480 --> 02:09:07.589
I did consider um just kind of being a
02:09:07.599 --> 02:09:10.790
non-en non-denominational renuncient,
02:09:10.800 --> 02:09:12.709
just make myself a robe and get a bowl
02:09:12.719 --> 02:09:15.589
and just take off walking. But there
02:09:15.599 --> 02:09:17.189
wasn't enough. I knew myself well enough
02:09:17.199 --> 02:09:18.790
that without some kind of formal
02:09:18.800 --> 02:09:21.910
structure imposed upon me that
02:09:21.920 --> 02:09:24.069
misbehavior was much more likely, you
02:09:24.079 --> 02:09:25.990
know, just kind of being lazy and going
02:09:26.000 --> 02:09:28.470
my own way and just indulging in my own
02:09:28.480 --> 02:09:30.470
like attachments and weaknesses and so
02:09:30.480 --> 02:09:33.189
forth. that having some structure
02:09:33.199 --> 02:09:35.589
imposed upon me like rules of monastic
02:09:35.599 --> 02:09:38.310
discipline and a sa would definitely
02:09:38.320 --> 02:09:41.189
help and it did.
02:09:41.199 --> 02:09:43.910
Um, if there's any Zen places, some Zen
02:09:43.920 --> 02:09:46.790
places, if you've got a wise teacher,
02:09:46.800 --> 02:09:48.629
um, I mean, you can definitely get
02:09:48.639 --> 02:09:51.189
benefit from practicing Zen. Just doing
02:09:51.199 --> 02:09:53.910
Zen meditation is really not just
02:09:53.920 --> 02:09:56.870
radically different from practicing, you
02:09:56.880 --> 02:09:59.270
know, weasa or something in a terra
02:09:59.280 --> 02:10:03.350
Buddhist um, terra Buddhist tradition.
02:10:03.360 --> 02:10:04.950
But the most important thing with regard
02:10:04.960 --> 02:10:07.030
to any kind of local community is the
02:10:07.040 --> 02:10:09.669
leader, the teacher of that community. I
02:10:09.679 --> 02:10:12.870
mean, you can have a Terravada Buddhist
02:10:12.880 --> 02:10:16.310
community that's led by some real estate
02:10:16.320 --> 02:10:20.310
agent or insurance salesman or like
02:10:20.320 --> 02:10:22.709
elementary school principal or something
02:10:22.719 --> 02:10:25.350
who they're really not qualified to be a
02:10:25.360 --> 02:10:27.589
teacher. I mean, most dharma teachers in
02:10:27.599 --> 02:10:30.310
the west in my opinion are not really
02:10:30.320 --> 02:10:32.470
qualified to be dharma teachers. I mean,
02:10:32.480 --> 02:10:34.310
some of them are just really ignorant of
02:10:34.320 --> 02:10:36.390
what they're trying to teach. But then
02:10:36.400 --> 02:10:39.030
again, you might have some Zen master or
02:10:39.040 --> 02:10:41.030
even like a Christian pastor or
02:10:41.040 --> 02:10:43.669
something who really does have wisdom
02:10:43.679 --> 02:10:46.310
and can thus help you to make progress
02:10:46.320 --> 02:10:49.430
more easily even though it might not be
02:10:49.440 --> 02:10:53.510
in the spiritual system that would be
02:10:53.520 --> 02:10:57.830
your first choice all else being equal.
02:10:57.840 --> 02:11:00.790
So I mean if you can find any wise
02:11:00.800 --> 02:11:04.149
teacher who can really help you to make
02:11:04.159 --> 02:11:07.750
progress the the system that they're in
02:11:07.760 --> 02:11:10.149
is almost irrelevant.
02:11:10.159 --> 02:11:12.870
I mean ideally you know they'd be like
02:11:12.880 --> 02:11:14.950
terra Buddhist I mean from my point of
02:11:14.960 --> 02:11:17.589
view but I mean you've got some advita
02:11:17.599 --> 02:11:20.390
vanta teacher who's very wise maybe
02:11:20.400 --> 02:11:23.030
wiser than the terravada one just
02:11:23.040 --> 02:11:25.669
because of individual differences.
02:11:25.679 --> 02:11:27.830
It's not just because you're a terrible
02:11:27.840 --> 02:11:29.430
Buddhist teacher makes you automatically
02:11:29.440 --> 02:11:31.830
wise. Or if you're like a Christian
02:11:31.840 --> 02:11:33.109
teacher, you're just automatically
02:11:33.119 --> 02:11:34.550
foolish. It doesn't work that way.
02:11:34.560 --> 02:11:35.990
You're going to have wise teachers and
02:11:36.000 --> 02:11:38.229
foolish teachers in any system. And it's
02:11:38.239 --> 02:11:40.229
more important to find a wise good
02:11:40.239 --> 02:11:44.229
teacher than to follow a charlatan or
02:11:44.239 --> 02:11:46.709
just some unqualified person fumbling
02:11:46.719 --> 02:11:49.669
along who just happens to be in the
02:11:49.679 --> 02:11:52.229
system. That would be your first choice.
02:11:52.239 --> 02:11:55.669
Just all else be an equal.
02:11:55.679 --> 02:11:59.589
So I mean look into Zen maybe or
02:11:59.599 --> 02:12:02.629
even like unitarianism some some system
02:12:02.639 --> 02:12:04.790
that isn't really dogmatic or you have
02:12:04.800 --> 02:12:06.470
to believe this or you are wrong and
02:12:06.480 --> 02:12:08.149
you're going to burn in hell kind of
02:12:08.159 --> 02:12:10.629
stuff. I mean who knows you could you
02:12:10.639 --> 02:12:13.270
could find like a Sufi teacher. I I I
02:12:13.280 --> 02:12:15.270
knew this one really wise advanced
02:12:15.280 --> 02:12:18.629
practitioner whose teacher was a Sufi
02:12:18.639 --> 02:12:20.550
which technically is Muslim although I
02:12:20.560 --> 02:12:23.030
doubt that the prophet Muhammad peace be
02:12:23.040 --> 02:12:27.350
upon him would have approved of Sufism
02:12:27.360 --> 02:12:30.790
or you know various kinds of Hinduism,
02:12:30.800 --> 02:12:32.550
Daoism.
02:12:32.560 --> 02:12:34.709
I mean there was a time when I was
02:12:34.719 --> 02:12:37.189
actually considering
02:12:37.199 --> 02:12:40.470
becoming a Catholic like a a Carthusian
02:12:40.480 --> 02:12:42.950
you know like the strictest the
02:12:42.960 --> 02:12:45.430
strictest uh denomination or order
02:12:45.440 --> 02:12:47.589
monastic order of Catholicism. One of
02:12:47.599 --> 02:12:49.910
the strictest is the Carthusian order.
02:12:49.920 --> 02:12:52.550
They they undertake vows of silence. I I
02:12:52.560 --> 02:12:54.229
was thinking well if I took a vow of
02:12:54.239 --> 02:12:55.669
silence I wouldn't have to admit that
02:12:55.679 --> 02:12:57.990
I'm not really a Christian. But I would
02:12:58.000 --> 02:12:59.430
guess that even if you take a vow of
02:12:59.440 --> 02:13:01.270
silence, you have to make confession to
02:13:01.280 --> 02:13:03.430
to a father confessor somehow or
02:13:03.440 --> 02:13:05.350
another. Even if you're just writing it
02:13:05.360 --> 02:13:07.510
on a slate or doing hand gestures or
02:13:07.520 --> 02:13:10.390
something. So that was a dumb idea. I
02:13:10.400 --> 02:13:13.030
didn't follow through with that.
02:13:13.040 --> 02:13:15.189
But seriously, I think your best bet I
02:13:15.199 --> 02:13:18.149
mean if you cannot find a wise teacher
02:13:18.159 --> 02:13:19.990
who can teach you in a way that you are
02:13:20.000 --> 02:13:23.189
able to accept, then your best bet is
02:13:23.199 --> 02:13:27.350
just go it alone. And then you have more
02:13:27.360 --> 02:13:30.550
more a broader choice of what you're
02:13:30.560 --> 02:13:32.629
going to follow. You know, you can find
02:13:32.639 --> 02:13:34.470
the scriptures of just about any
02:13:34.480 --> 02:13:38.149
religion online for free.
02:13:38.159 --> 02:13:41.510
So there is that. You know, you got wide
02:13:41.520 --> 02:13:44.310
array of teachers of various traditions
02:13:44.320 --> 02:13:45.990
that they're just on YouTube channels
02:13:46.000 --> 02:13:47.830
that you can watch for free, listen to
02:13:47.840 --> 02:13:50.470
for free.
02:13:50.480 --> 02:13:54.870
So yeah more I mean if it's just like
02:13:54.880 --> 02:13:57.109
from books and so forth then you try to
02:13:57.119 --> 02:13:59.990
find the wisest tradition
02:14:00.000 --> 02:14:02.470
and you know that a a way like a
02:14:02.480 --> 02:14:05.350
tradition that speaks to you that your
02:14:05.360 --> 02:14:07.510
character is in harmony with that so
02:14:07.520 --> 02:14:09.270
that you can actually practice it and
02:14:09.280 --> 02:14:11.189
make progress. But if you're actually
02:14:11.199 --> 02:14:13.510
dealing with human teachers and human
02:14:13.520 --> 02:14:15.270
communities, you're going to have to
02:14:15.280 --> 02:14:18.629
find a teacher especially that is a wise
02:14:18.639 --> 02:14:21.990
and good person, not just some insurance
02:14:22.000 --> 02:14:25.030
salesman who's like a Zen Roshi in his
02:14:25.040 --> 02:14:28.390
spare time who really still thinks like
02:14:28.400 --> 02:14:31.030
an insurance salesman. He just kind of
02:14:31.040 --> 02:14:33.830
puts on the show of being the wise Roshi
02:14:33.840 --> 02:14:35.430
when he's sitting in front of his his
02:14:35.440 --> 02:14:38.470
his disciples. So you have to be careful
02:14:38.480 --> 02:14:41.430
about that kind of thing especially
02:14:41.440 --> 02:14:43.910
and good luck. I mean there's there's a
02:14:43.920 --> 02:14:46.390
saying in Hinduism when the when the
02:14:46.400 --> 02:14:48.870
student is ready the teacher will come.
02:14:48.880 --> 02:14:51.030
You know when it's your karma to have
02:14:51.040 --> 02:14:53.109
that teacher you're going to get it. And
02:14:53.119 --> 02:14:55.189
the teacher could just be a book. I mean
02:14:55.199 --> 02:14:57.189
I've had times in my life where I've
02:14:57.199 --> 02:14:59.350
just been kind of in a kind of crisis
02:14:59.360 --> 02:15:02.149
state and then just the right teacher or
02:15:02.159 --> 02:15:04.069
the right book just falls into my hands
02:15:04.079 --> 02:15:07.030
without me even having to look for it.
02:15:07.040 --> 02:15:09.109
That's happened to me more than once.
02:15:09.119 --> 02:15:10.709
But it may be that you really have to
02:15:10.719 --> 02:15:13.750
like have some kind of crisis in order
02:15:13.760 --> 02:15:16.790
to break through the rigidity of the
02:15:16.800 --> 02:15:20.550
system to allow a kind of grace to come
02:15:20.560 --> 02:15:25.109
down on you, so to speak.
02:15:25.119 --> 02:15:26.229
And I'm just going to move on to
02:15:26.239 --> 02:15:28.790
Robert's next question,
02:15:28.800 --> 02:15:31.589
which is as follows. Would you just go
02:15:31.599 --> 02:15:33.990
it at it alone having the sutas and
02:15:34.000 --> 02:15:35.990
online resources as a teacher and
02:15:36.000 --> 02:15:37.830
meditate on your own? Or would you
02:15:37.840 --> 02:15:39.589
consider a physically available
02:15:39.599 --> 02:15:41.990
tradition and possibly convert while
02:15:42.000 --> 02:15:44.069
still aiming to realize ultimate
02:15:44.079 --> 02:15:45.669
reality? Well, I've kind of already been
02:15:45.679 --> 02:15:48.470
addressing this. Um, in my own personal
02:15:48.480 --> 02:15:52.310
case, I just went it alone and then I
02:15:52.320 --> 02:15:55.510
just kind of made like this pilgrimage,
02:15:55.520 --> 02:15:58.470
you know, more a thousand miles pos, you
02:15:58.480 --> 02:16:01.030
know, hundreds of miles to go to like
02:16:01.040 --> 02:16:04.390
some formal retreat.
02:16:04.400 --> 02:16:06.310
So, I did that at a Zen place and also
02:16:06.320 --> 02:16:08.149
at a Terra Buddhist place when I was
02:16:08.159 --> 02:16:10.550
looking for a place to ordain.
02:16:10.560 --> 02:16:13.270
Um, so if I mean if you're really
02:16:13.280 --> 02:16:15.750
serious then you may want to you know
02:16:15.760 --> 02:16:18.550
cross get get yourself a passport and go
02:16:18.560 --> 02:16:20.470
to a different country if you don't even
02:16:20.480 --> 02:16:22.149
have a suitable place in your own
02:16:22.159 --> 02:16:24.790
country.
02:16:24.800 --> 02:16:27.750
I mean going to some Asian countries
02:16:27.760 --> 02:16:30.069
once you get there it's cheap. living
02:16:30.079 --> 02:16:32.309
there is cheap, maybe cheaper than
02:16:32.319 --> 02:16:34.469
living in your own country once you've,
02:16:34.479 --> 02:16:36.230
you know, paid for the the visa, the
02:16:36.240 --> 02:16:37.830
passport and the visa and the plane fair
02:16:37.840 --> 02:16:41.270
and all that. Just to live in a hut in
02:16:41.280 --> 02:16:43.910
in Sri Lanka or something is actually
02:16:43.920 --> 02:16:48.709
pretty cheap.
02:16:48.719 --> 02:16:50.469
So
02:16:50.479 --> 02:16:52.629
yeah, I mean for starters, you just kind
02:16:52.639 --> 02:16:55.830
of have to go alone, you know? I mean,
02:16:55.840 --> 02:16:59.030
you have access to the internet like um
02:16:59.040 --> 02:17:01.830
you and I have both admitted
02:17:01.840 --> 02:17:03.429
and look around to see what kind of
02:17:03.439 --> 02:17:05.429
teachers there are. If there's no
02:17:05.439 --> 02:17:07.030
suitable teachers, you feel like you
02:17:07.040 --> 02:17:08.790
need a human teacher. And a human
02:17:08.800 --> 02:17:10.309
teacher can be very helpful. A book
02:17:10.319 --> 02:17:12.950
isn't going to like scold you when
02:17:12.960 --> 02:17:15.509
you're when you do something wrong or
02:17:15.519 --> 02:17:17.509
scold you for being lazy, anything like
02:17:17.519 --> 02:17:19.509
that. Just a book isn't going to do
02:17:19.519 --> 02:17:22.230
that. You have to like rely on your own
02:17:22.240 --> 02:17:24.950
initiative if you're going it alone. So
02:17:24.960 --> 02:17:26.629
for a lot of people, having a supportive
02:17:26.639 --> 02:17:29.910
group and a wise teacher who can like
02:17:29.920 --> 02:17:31.750
look into you and see where you need
02:17:31.760 --> 02:17:34.150
help and is willing to tell you what you
02:17:34.160 --> 02:17:36.309
don't want to hear but ought to hear. I
02:17:36.319 --> 02:17:39.110
mean, that's invaluable. And it may be
02:17:39.120 --> 02:17:41.030
that you you're just going to consider
02:17:41.040 --> 02:17:44.709
it to be an equitable trade if that wise
02:17:44.719 --> 02:17:48.549
good teacher is not from your first
02:17:48.559 --> 02:17:53.429
choice of spiritual traditions.
02:17:53.439 --> 02:17:54.790
So, I've already said that kind of
02:17:54.800 --> 02:17:56.070
stuff. I'm just going to move on to the
02:17:56.080 --> 02:17:59.990
next question. This is from Cole Murf.
02:18:00.000 --> 02:18:02.389
And Cole Murf says, "Can you please
02:18:02.399 --> 02:18:05.349
discuss some strategies for developing
02:18:05.359 --> 02:18:08.230
continuous sad or mindfulness? In
02:18:08.240 --> 02:18:10.469
particular, I struggle with getting into
02:18:10.479 --> 02:18:13.270
conversations with others. I find myself
02:18:13.280 --> 02:18:15.830
losing mindfulness quite easily. Should
02:18:15.840 --> 02:18:17.830
I be more actively shifting to different
02:18:17.840 --> 02:18:20.469
objects depending on the particular
02:18:20.479 --> 02:18:22.790
activity I'm engaged in? Looking for
02:18:22.800 --> 02:18:25.509
some good strategies here. Thank you.
02:18:25.519 --> 02:18:28.790
Well, um I think there's more than one
02:18:28.800 --> 02:18:30.790
way I could interpret this with regard
02:18:30.800 --> 02:18:32.150
to struggle when getting into
02:18:32.160 --> 02:18:35.750
conversations with others. Um Cole Murf
02:18:35.760 --> 02:18:38.389
maybe is trying to retain mindfulness
02:18:38.399 --> 02:18:41.190
while conversing with someone else. And
02:18:41.200 --> 02:18:44.070
that's relatively advanced mindfulness.
02:18:44.080 --> 02:18:47.349
Um, I've I've mentioned before that when
02:18:47.359 --> 02:18:48.950
I was doing intensive practice, I
02:18:48.960 --> 02:18:52.150
remember one time I was staying in this
02:18:52.160 --> 02:18:55.429
building that was owned by a Buddhist
02:18:55.439 --> 02:18:59.110
supporter of my Tonulu tradition which I
02:18:59.120 --> 02:19:01.589
was ordained. Monks that were in Rangon
02:19:01.599 --> 02:19:03.429
that had business in Rangon could stay
02:19:03.439 --> 02:19:05.509
in this building and you know and he
02:19:05.519 --> 02:19:07.030
would support them while they were
02:19:07.040 --> 02:19:09.669
there. And so one time I was in Rangon
02:19:09.679 --> 02:19:11.990
and I'm just doing intensive practice
02:19:12.000 --> 02:19:14.230
and I just happened to be doing walking
02:19:14.240 --> 02:19:16.230
meditation and this old gentleman who
02:19:16.240 --> 02:19:18.230
owned the place and was supporting me
02:19:18.240 --> 02:19:20.309
came out and wanted to talk with me and
02:19:20.319 --> 02:19:23.509
I remember I was some I was I was in
02:19:23.519 --> 02:19:26.070
such kind of a groove of mindfulness
02:19:26.080 --> 02:19:29.190
that I was having the conversation with
02:19:29.200 --> 02:19:31.429
relatively good mindfulness. It was like
02:19:31.439 --> 02:19:35.110
my main object of attention
02:19:35.120 --> 02:19:37.750
was just kind of feeling the vibration
02:19:37.760 --> 02:19:39.910
in my throat and the movements of my
02:19:39.920 --> 02:19:42.070
mouth while I was talking and the the
02:19:42.080 --> 02:19:43.349
conversation just kind of took care of
02:19:43.359 --> 02:19:45.509
itself. It was just sort of nature
02:19:45.519 --> 02:19:47.429
taking its course. It was weird. You
02:19:47.439 --> 02:19:50.389
you'd think that you wouldn't be able to
02:19:50.399 --> 02:19:53.510
talk in a conversation mindfully because
02:19:53.520 --> 02:19:54.950
you know you have to pay attention to
02:19:54.960 --> 02:19:56.150
what you're trying to say and what the
02:19:56.160 --> 02:19:57.830
other person is saying and so forth. But
02:19:57.840 --> 02:20:00.150
you get to a certain level and that kind
02:20:00.160 --> 02:20:01.510
of stuff just kind of takes care of
02:20:01.520 --> 02:20:03.429
itself, you know, it's sort of like
02:20:03.439 --> 02:20:05.910
autopilot or probably even better than
02:20:05.920 --> 02:20:08.550
autopilot while you're being mindful of
02:20:08.560 --> 02:20:10.870
of just the movement of your legs as
02:20:10.880 --> 02:20:12.710
you're walking or the vibration in your
02:20:12.720 --> 02:20:15.750
throat or just the sounds, you know, vi
02:20:15.760 --> 02:20:17.429
mindfulness of hearing, that kind of
02:20:17.439 --> 02:20:19.830
thing. But to get to that level, you
02:20:19.840 --> 02:20:22.710
have to be practicing mindfulness with
02:20:22.720 --> 02:20:25.349
regard to everyday activities
02:20:25.359 --> 02:20:27.110
pretty consistently. So it just becomes
02:20:27.120 --> 02:20:30.309
second nature so that when you do have a
02:20:30.319 --> 02:20:33.110
conversation this habit this momentum of
02:20:33.120 --> 02:20:35.590
mindfulness just continues while you're
02:20:35.600 --> 02:20:37.670
having the conversation. Reading a book
02:20:37.680 --> 02:20:41.110
is difficult like turn mindfully turning
02:20:41.120 --> 02:20:44.150
the page that kind of thing is you can
02:20:44.160 --> 02:20:46.790
manage but reading the book mindfully
02:20:46.800 --> 02:20:48.309
that was even more challenging than
02:20:48.319 --> 02:20:51.190
having a conversation mindfully.
02:20:51.200 --> 02:20:52.790
So you might just want to reduce the
02:20:52.800 --> 02:20:54.630
amount of reading that you do if you're
02:20:54.640 --> 02:20:56.950
trying to have unbroken mindfulness. And
02:20:56.960 --> 02:20:58.950
also just try to keep down the amount of
02:20:58.960 --> 02:21:01.990
conversing that you do. Just try to
02:21:02.000 --> 02:21:03.510
emphasize stuff that you can do
02:21:03.520 --> 02:21:05.510
mindfully. You know, just live a very
02:21:05.520 --> 02:21:08.230
simplified quiet lifestyle as much as
02:21:08.240 --> 02:21:10.469
you can. If you've got a job, bills to
02:21:10.479 --> 02:21:12.309
pay, you got people that you live with,
02:21:12.319 --> 02:21:17.590
it might not be so easy.
02:21:17.600 --> 02:21:21.429
So did I answer the question?
02:21:21.439 --> 02:21:23.670
See, should I be more actively shifting
02:21:23.680 --> 02:21:27.349
to different objects? U whatever is is
02:21:27.359 --> 02:21:29.270
like foremost in in your attention,
02:21:29.280 --> 02:21:31.110
whatever is the most obvious is
02:21:31.120 --> 02:21:33.190
generally what you should be mindful of
02:21:33.200 --> 02:21:35.030
until you can get into like wide open
02:21:35.040 --> 02:21:37.349
mindfulness where you're not focusing on
02:21:37.359 --> 02:21:39.270
one thing in particular. Then it's just
02:21:39.280 --> 02:21:41.990
like a a mirror or something that when
02:21:42.000 --> 02:21:45.030
it's there, it's it's there clearly and
02:21:45.040 --> 02:21:47.429
you know, it's not obscured in any way.
02:21:47.439 --> 02:21:48.950
You know, it's like your focus becomes
02:21:48.960 --> 02:21:50.790
like the focus of a cheap camera where
02:21:50.800 --> 02:21:53.590
everything is equally in focus kind of a
02:21:53.600 --> 02:21:55.190
thing.
02:21:55.200 --> 02:21:56.790
That's relatively advanced mindfulness.
02:21:56.800 --> 02:21:58.870
Usually beginning mindfulness is, you
02:21:58.880 --> 02:22:00.630
know, you're kind of labeling, you're
02:22:00.640 --> 02:22:03.830
focusing on whatever is like most
02:22:03.840 --> 02:22:07.030
noticeable at the time.
02:22:07.040 --> 02:22:08.790
And then after you get better and better
02:22:08.800 --> 02:22:11.110
at that, then you can sort of make your
02:22:11.120 --> 02:22:13.429
mindfulness more wide open, less
02:22:13.439 --> 02:22:15.990
focused. you know, there's less looking
02:22:16.000 --> 02:22:19.910
and more just seeing, which is um
02:22:19.920 --> 02:22:21.990
definitely an improvement, but I mean,
02:22:22.000 --> 02:22:24.150
you got to do it in order as a general
02:22:24.160 --> 02:22:26.870
rule. You can't just skip the elementary
02:22:26.880 --> 02:22:29.429
stuff and go directly into you can't go
02:22:29.439 --> 02:22:31.510
directly into calculus without without
02:22:31.520 --> 02:22:34.070
knowing basics of of like mathematics,
02:22:34.080 --> 02:22:39.030
arithmetic, that kind of thing.
02:22:39.040 --> 02:22:41.670
So, yeah, you find yourself losing
02:22:41.680 --> 02:22:43.110
mindfulness quite easily. Yeah, welcome
02:22:43.120 --> 02:22:44.550
to the club. Pretty much everybody is
02:22:44.560 --> 02:22:46.950
that way. I think probably only a fully
02:22:46.960 --> 02:22:48.710
enlightened being would be fully mindful
02:22:48.720 --> 02:22:51.990
all the time.
02:22:52.000 --> 02:22:55.030
So, let's see.
02:22:55.040 --> 02:22:56.950
Should you be more actively shifting to
02:22:56.960 --> 02:22:59.750
different objects? Just whatever is most
02:22:59.760 --> 02:23:03.110
noticeable, I guess. Um, I mean, there
02:23:03.120 --> 02:23:05.030
should be changes in what is most
02:23:05.040 --> 02:23:06.950
noticeable. I mean, you could
02:23:06.960 --> 02:23:08.550
deliberately make something else more
02:23:08.560 --> 02:23:10.710
noticeable in order to practice sort of
02:23:10.720 --> 02:23:13.670
a a broader repertoire of objects of
02:23:13.680 --> 02:23:16.950
mindfulness, I suppose.
02:23:16.960 --> 02:23:19.270
Um,
02:23:19.280 --> 02:23:21.110
but yeah, I guess that's good enough for
02:23:21.120 --> 02:23:23.510
for an answer. Now, my answers are
02:23:23.520 --> 02:23:25.510
almost always much longer than the
02:23:25.520 --> 02:23:27.349
question itself, and we've been going
02:23:27.359 --> 02:23:30.469
for well over two hours. So, oh, but
02:23:30.479 --> 02:23:32.150
wait, there's only one more question
02:23:32.160 --> 02:23:34.070
after this.
02:23:34.080 --> 02:23:35.910
catches me by surprise almost every
02:23:35.920 --> 02:23:39.990
time. But I think I think I have semi
02:23:40.000 --> 02:23:43.429
answered Cole Murf's first question.
02:23:43.439 --> 02:23:45.750
I hope I gave him something of value
02:23:45.760 --> 02:23:47.110
because I'm moving on to the next
02:23:47.120 --> 02:23:50.389
question now also by Cole Murf. He says,
02:23:50.399 --> 02:23:52.790
"Why do you think the Mahayana school
02:23:52.800 --> 02:23:55.830
emphasizes the bodhicattva ideal when
02:23:55.840 --> 02:23:57.670
the Buddha taught his disciples to
02:23:57.680 --> 02:23:59.990
become arroants?"
02:24:00.000 --> 02:24:03.110
I often wonder what precipitated this
02:24:03.120 --> 02:24:05.349
shift in focus leading up to the
02:24:05.359 --> 02:24:08.230
formation of the Mahayana schools.
02:24:08.240 --> 02:24:10.630
Perhaps monks of the day weren't able to
02:24:10.640 --> 02:24:13.190
attain to the level of orahant and so
02:24:13.200 --> 02:24:18.309
they adjusted their goal.
02:24:18.319 --> 02:24:20.469
Well, before I answer that or attempt to
02:24:20.479 --> 02:24:22.870
answer it, I'm going to break open the
02:24:22.880 --> 02:24:26.469
emergency backup beverage.
02:24:26.479 --> 02:24:28.630
And I mean, I've I've answered this
02:24:28.640 --> 02:24:31.830
question before.
02:24:31.840 --> 02:24:34.710
It is a shame that people don't watch
02:24:34.720 --> 02:24:40.070
all 186 previous episodes before asking
02:24:40.080 --> 02:24:43.510
questions on this one because probably
02:24:43.520 --> 02:24:46.389
most most questions that are asked I've
02:24:46.399 --> 02:24:49.110
answered at least once before. Not all
02:24:49.120 --> 02:24:51.670
those. It's there's always a few
02:24:51.680 --> 02:24:53.110
questions that haven't been asked yet
02:24:53.120 --> 02:24:54.950
that I wind up getting asked. my
02:24:54.960 --> 02:24:57.030
favorite American for example or my
02:24:57.040 --> 02:25:01.750
favorite bad wrestler.
02:25:01.760 --> 02:25:03.990
So let's see here. Why do you think the
02:25:04.000 --> 02:25:05.190
Mahayana school emphasizes the
02:25:05.200 --> 02:25:07.910
bodhicattva ideal when the Buddha taught
02:25:07.920 --> 02:25:09.750
his disciples to become arroants? That
02:25:09.760 --> 02:25:12.469
is that is the big question, isn't it?
02:25:12.479 --> 02:25:14.070
And I think there are two main reasons
02:25:14.080 --> 02:25:16.710
why Mahayana Buddhism
02:25:16.720 --> 02:25:20.469
first mistransated the word bodhic satta
02:25:20.479 --> 02:25:23.590
into bodhic sattva in my opinion and
02:25:23.600 --> 02:25:26.550
then just sort of emphasized that to the
02:25:26.560 --> 02:25:30.230
to the extent of just rejecting what the
02:25:30.240 --> 02:25:33.349
Buddha actually taught which is become
02:25:33.359 --> 02:25:35.110
enlightened in this very life if you are
02:25:35.120 --> 02:25:36.710
able.
02:25:36.720 --> 02:25:38.469
I mean, it's just amazing just having
02:25:38.479 --> 02:25:41.510
conversations with like
02:25:41.520 --> 02:25:44.870
sometimes like really self-righteous
02:25:44.880 --> 02:25:49.190
Mahayana Buddhists who justify rejecting
02:25:49.200 --> 02:25:51.590
the teach the teachings of the founder
02:25:51.600 --> 02:25:53.590
of their own religion for the sake of
02:25:53.600 --> 02:25:56.469
following this later I mean just
02:25:56.479 --> 02:25:59.750
fictional stuff in a lot of cases pure
02:25:59.760 --> 02:26:02.309
land Buddhism I mean that's even another
02:26:02.319 --> 02:26:06.230
step beyond just mere like pranya
02:26:06.240 --> 02:26:09.190
paramita zen kind of mahayana
02:26:09.200 --> 02:26:11.429
cuz they're just flat out rejecting what
02:26:11.439 --> 02:26:13.510
the founder of the religion taught in
02:26:13.520 --> 02:26:17.429
favor of fictional teachings of like
02:26:17.439 --> 02:26:22.790
mythological space Buddhas in my opinion
02:26:22.800 --> 02:26:24.950
but with getting back to the bodhicattva
02:26:24.960 --> 02:26:27.590
ideal I mean originally bodhic sata in
02:26:27.600 --> 02:26:29.110
pi
02:26:29.120 --> 02:26:31.429
um probably did not mean enlightenment
02:26:31.439 --> 02:26:33.590
being which is what the meaning of
02:26:33.600 --> 02:26:36.070
bodhicata Satva Bodhi is enlightenment.
02:26:36.080 --> 02:26:40.230
Sattva is being. But sata in Pali has
02:26:40.240 --> 02:26:42.309
more than one possible meaning. And
02:26:42.319 --> 02:26:45.590
probably Sata in Pali was a past
02:26:45.600 --> 02:26:48.070
participle of the verb sagit which means
02:26:48.080 --> 02:26:51.830
to be bound for. So a bodhic sata in
02:26:51.840 --> 02:26:53.990
terra Buddhism was someone who was bound
02:26:54.000 --> 02:26:56.550
for enlightenment or in this case bound
02:26:56.560 --> 02:27:01.270
for Buddhahood. So a bodhic sata
02:27:01.280 --> 02:27:04.550
was like someone who was destined to
02:27:04.560 --> 02:27:07.910
become a Buddha. So mainly or like
02:27:07.920 --> 02:27:10.710
originally it was Gorma Buddha before
02:27:10.720 --> 02:27:12.389
his enlightenment was just called the
02:27:12.399 --> 02:27:15.270
bodhicatta bodhic sata
02:27:15.280 --> 02:27:17.750
but it somehow got mistransated in my
02:27:17.760 --> 02:27:21.030
opinion into enlightenment being not
02:27:21.040 --> 02:27:22.230
just someone who is bound for
02:27:22.240 --> 02:27:25.990
enlightenment. And I think there's two
02:27:26.000 --> 02:27:29.270
main reasons why it it just rose to
02:27:29.280 --> 02:27:32.389
prominence and and eclipsed the original
02:27:32.399 --> 02:27:34.469
teachings of the Buddha to the point
02:27:34.479 --> 02:27:36.230
that the original teachings of the
02:27:36.240 --> 02:27:39.910
Buddha were like scoffed at as the
02:27:39.920 --> 02:27:42.790
inferior vehicle.
02:27:42.800 --> 02:27:44.389
I mean, it's just kind of amazing when
02:27:44.399 --> 02:27:47.349
you think about it. Although to devout
02:27:47.359 --> 02:27:49.110
Mahayana Buddhists, they think it's just
02:27:49.120 --> 02:27:51.990
absolutely fine and dandy because they
02:27:52.000 --> 02:27:54.230
believe despite, you know, historical
02:27:54.240 --> 02:27:57.670
evidence that the Buddha himself taught
02:27:57.680 --> 02:28:01.270
Mahayana Buddhism.
02:28:01.280 --> 02:28:04.790
So anyways, one reason why the whole
02:28:04.800 --> 02:28:08.950
bodhicattva ideal arose in Mahayana was
02:28:08.960 --> 02:28:11.590
the glorification of the Buddha. It's
02:28:11.600 --> 02:28:14.309
just a common thing in human nature that
02:28:14.319 --> 02:28:16.950
a religion followers of a religion will
02:28:16.960 --> 02:28:19.349
glorify the founder of their religion.
02:28:19.359 --> 02:28:21.270
Like Christianity was pretty extreme.
02:28:21.280 --> 02:28:24.070
They they just glorified Jesus of
02:28:24.080 --> 02:28:26.870
Nazareth until he was literally God
02:28:26.880 --> 02:28:28.790
almighty.
02:28:28.800 --> 02:28:31.270
The only begotten son of God and he is
02:28:31.280 --> 02:28:33.830
God the son.
02:28:33.840 --> 02:28:35.830
He is the son of God the father and he
02:28:35.840 --> 02:28:38.389
is God the son with a capital G on that
02:28:38.399 --> 02:28:39.990
God.
02:28:40.000 --> 02:28:43.429
So in in Buddhism it was a similar
02:28:43.439 --> 02:28:45.190
thing. I mean people will say oh the
02:28:45.200 --> 02:28:47.110
Buddha was just a human or at least
02:28:47.120 --> 02:28:49.750
terra Buddhists will a lot of Mahayana
02:28:49.760 --> 02:28:52.070
Buddhists will say there was no human
02:28:52.080 --> 02:28:54.790
being called God Buddha. It was it was
02:28:54.800 --> 02:28:56.790
kind of like some Christian schools who
02:28:56.800 --> 02:28:59.110
believe that Jesus never had a physical
02:28:59.120 --> 02:29:01.349
body that he was just sort of this
02:29:01.359 --> 02:29:04.790
divine apparition you know just some
02:29:04.800 --> 02:29:07.590
personification of some divine force
02:29:07.600 --> 02:29:09.190
kind of a thing.
02:29:09.200 --> 02:29:11.590
God Almighty. Some Mahayana Buddhists
02:29:11.600 --> 02:29:12.870
believe that there really was no
02:29:12.880 --> 02:29:15.590
physical Buddha at all. Like pure land
02:29:15.600 --> 02:29:18.950
Buddhists can believe this stuff.
02:29:18.960 --> 02:29:20.550
But I mean, if you if you think that
02:29:20.560 --> 02:29:21.910
there was no Buddha at all, you should
02:29:21.920 --> 02:29:23.750
believe that there's no anybody else at
02:29:23.760 --> 02:29:26.790
all either.
02:29:26.800 --> 02:29:29.510
But getting back to the idea of the
02:29:29.520 --> 02:29:31.429
Buddhist Satva, they glorified the
02:29:31.439 --> 02:29:35.670
Buddha. And one of the I mean as as
02:29:35.680 --> 02:29:37.349
Buddhism
02:29:37.359 --> 02:29:40.710
became more popular, it became more
02:29:40.720 --> 02:29:42.950
devotionalistic because you had people
02:29:42.960 --> 02:29:45.590
that maybe weren't as profound in their
02:29:45.600 --> 02:29:48.309
thinking and just the common person.
02:29:48.319 --> 02:29:51.670
They wanted like traditions, legends,
02:29:51.680 --> 02:29:53.990
rituals that they could feel familiar
02:29:54.000 --> 02:29:56.150
with and cling to and give structure to
02:29:56.160 --> 02:29:58.230
their lives and make them feel like they
02:29:58.240 --> 02:30:00.950
were doing something worthwhile in in
02:30:00.960 --> 02:30:03.349
sort of, you know, within the scope of
02:30:03.359 --> 02:30:06.309
their mundane version of reality.
02:30:06.319 --> 02:30:08.230
And so there was a lot of devotionalism
02:30:08.240 --> 02:30:12.150
and glorification of the Buddha. Um, and
02:30:12.160 --> 02:30:16.150
one of the um examples of this was
02:30:16.160 --> 02:30:19.349
Jotica tales. Jotica stories which were
02:30:19.359 --> 02:30:23.030
stories of the Buddha's previous lives
02:30:23.040 --> 02:30:25.830
and in the Buddha's previous lives he's
02:30:25.840 --> 02:30:28.870
gen usually working on at least one pie
02:30:28.880 --> 02:30:32.870
usually one parmmy in particular
02:30:32.880 --> 02:30:36.309
and so because of all this glorification
02:30:36.319 --> 02:30:39.510
of the Buddha and this idea that the
02:30:39.520 --> 02:30:43.429
Buddha was purifying himself lifetime
02:30:43.439 --> 02:30:46.389
after lifetime after lifetime for
02:30:46.399 --> 02:30:48.950
millions millions of years there came to
02:30:48.960 --> 02:30:51.429
be this distinction between an ordinary
02:30:51.439 --> 02:30:54.150
enlightened being or an arahant and a
02:30:54.160 --> 02:30:57.590
Buddha who is just like
02:30:57.600 --> 02:31:01.110
when you just like radically like just a
02:31:01.120 --> 02:31:03.270
orders of magnitude beyond an ordinary
02:31:03.280 --> 02:31:05.349
enlightened being and I do not think
02:31:05.359 --> 02:31:07.429
that the Buddha really it really worked
02:31:07.439 --> 02:31:09.349
that way originally the Buddha was
02:31:09.359 --> 02:31:10.630
saying I'm enlightened you can be
02:31:10.640 --> 02:31:11.990
enlightened too the Buddha himself was
02:31:12.000 --> 02:31:13.910
called an arahant
02:31:13.920 --> 02:31:19.110
you know it's like namotasa bavat Buddha
02:31:19.120 --> 02:31:20.870
I mean the Buddha is called an arahant
02:31:20.880 --> 02:31:22.389
that's just an enlightened being and
02:31:22.399 --> 02:31:24.150
there are a few sutas that call an
02:31:24.160 --> 02:31:25.830
ordinary enlightened being a Buddha I
02:31:25.840 --> 02:31:27.110
mean literally Buddha just means
02:31:27.120 --> 02:31:31.750
enlightened awakened
02:31:31.760 --> 02:31:34.230
but so I mean originally I think that
02:31:34.240 --> 02:31:36.469
the Buddha I mean he was his main claim
02:31:36.479 --> 02:31:39.590
to fame is he got the system going you
02:31:39.600 --> 02:31:41.190
know he he helped others to become
02:31:41.200 --> 02:31:43.990
enlightened but he wasn't more
02:31:44.000 --> 02:31:45.910
enlightened than
02:31:45.920 --> 02:31:49.110
I mean it's you just go with like logic
02:31:49.120 --> 02:31:51.830
combined with abidama kind of a strange
02:31:51.840 --> 02:31:55.590
combination sometimes but wisdom
02:31:55.600 --> 02:31:58.710
um is exactly synonymous with amoa or
02:31:58.720 --> 02:32:02.230
absence of delusion. If you have zero
02:32:02.240 --> 02:32:04.950
delusion you have maximum wisdom. Your
02:32:04.960 --> 02:32:07.190
wisdom is perfect.
02:32:07.200 --> 02:32:10.150
So I mean an ordinary enlightened being
02:32:10.160 --> 02:32:13.590
has zero delusion. A sama Buddha has
02:32:13.600 --> 02:32:15.990
zero delusion. Assama Buddha may have to
02:32:16.000 --> 02:32:19.349
be more clever and creative because he's
02:32:19.359 --> 02:32:23.349
having to discover dharma on his own,
02:32:23.359 --> 02:32:25.270
you know, for the first time since it
02:32:25.280 --> 02:32:28.150
had gone gone extinct.
02:32:28.160 --> 02:32:30.309
I mean, he didn't invent Dharma, he just
02:32:30.319 --> 02:32:32.550
rediscovers it, but he rediscovers it
02:32:32.560 --> 02:32:35.510
based on his own genius.
02:32:35.520 --> 02:32:38.950
So he might be more clever than an
02:32:38.960 --> 02:32:41.190
ordinary enlightened being, but he's not
02:32:41.200 --> 02:32:42.790
more enlightened than an ordinary
02:32:42.800 --> 02:32:44.389
enlightened being. In my opinion,
02:32:44.399 --> 02:32:46.710
originally I do not think he was, but
02:32:46.720 --> 02:32:48.870
it's the glorification of the founder of
02:32:48.880 --> 02:32:52.070
the system that resulted in a Buddha
02:32:52.080 --> 02:32:53.990
being just far more exalted than
02:32:54.000 --> 02:32:55.830
ordinary enlightened being. And then
02:32:55.840 --> 02:32:57.429
there came this idea, this is what I've
02:32:57.439 --> 02:32:59.750
been leading to.
02:32:59.760 --> 02:33:01.349
This is like the point I'm trying to get
02:33:01.359 --> 02:33:03.910
to. There came to be this idea that just
02:33:03.920 --> 02:33:05.510
being an ordinary enlightened being like
02:33:05.520 --> 02:33:07.270
the Buddha was teaching you to be was
02:33:07.280 --> 02:33:11.030
somehow inferior to being a sama Buddha
02:33:11.040 --> 02:33:12.870
and therefore it is much more noble and
02:33:12.880 --> 02:33:16.070
exalted to strive to be a sama sam
02:33:16.080 --> 02:33:18.150
Buddha instead of just settling for
02:33:18.160 --> 02:33:21.110
being an ordinary enlightened being
02:33:21.120 --> 02:33:23.030
which is kind of strange and it
02:33:23.040 --> 02:33:24.550
certainly is not what the original
02:33:24.560 --> 02:33:27.750
Buddha was teaching in my opinion. So
02:33:27.760 --> 02:33:29.990
that's one aspect of it. is just the
02:33:30.000 --> 02:33:33.910
glorification of Buddha and Buddhahood
02:33:33.920 --> 02:33:37.590
and just the idea that it's just way
02:33:37.600 --> 02:33:40.070
more noble and exalted to become a
02:33:40.080 --> 02:33:42.309
Buddha than to just become an ordinary
02:33:42.319 --> 02:33:44.309
arahant which is like the inferior
02:33:44.319 --> 02:33:45.590
vehicle even though that's what the
02:33:45.600 --> 02:33:48.870
Buddha was originally teaching.
02:33:48.880 --> 02:33:51.349
So these self-righteous Mahayana
02:33:51.359 --> 02:33:54.309
Buddhists called the actual teachings of
02:33:54.319 --> 02:33:57.349
the historical Buddha to be inferior and
02:33:57.359 --> 02:33:59.429
then they came up with something better
02:33:59.439 --> 02:34:03.510
based on essentially fiction.
02:34:03.520 --> 02:34:05.110
But then there's this other reason which
02:34:05.120 --> 02:34:08.389
is actually something that Cole Murf
02:34:08.399 --> 02:34:11.830
here suggested. He said perhaps monks of
02:34:11.840 --> 02:34:13.510
the day weren't able to attain to the
02:34:13.520 --> 02:34:15.990
level of arant and so they adjusted
02:34:16.000 --> 02:34:17.670
their goal. And I do think that's
02:34:17.680 --> 02:34:20.309
another factor of why the the
02:34:20.319 --> 02:34:22.790
bodhicattva idea and even the bodhicatta
02:34:22.800 --> 02:34:24.870
idea in terraada
02:34:24.880 --> 02:34:26.469
um
02:34:26.479 --> 02:34:28.790
gained popularity. It's like you had a
02:34:28.800 --> 02:34:30.469
lot of people that maybe were not all
02:34:30.479 --> 02:34:33.030
that talented spiritually striving to
02:34:33.040 --> 02:34:36.790
become enlightened and failing. And so
02:34:36.800 --> 02:34:39.270
it just was more satisfying to them to
02:34:39.280 --> 02:34:41.270
say, "Well, I'm just going to postpone
02:34:41.280 --> 02:34:43.510
enlightenment, make the noble sacrifice,
02:34:43.520 --> 02:34:45.030
postpone this enlightenment that they
02:34:45.040 --> 02:34:46.950
weren't able to attain anyway for
02:34:46.960 --> 02:34:48.710
whatever reasons, and I'm going to
02:34:48.720 --> 02:34:51.670
strive to become even more exalted in
02:34:51.680 --> 02:34:54.469
the future." And there are some terra
02:34:54.479 --> 02:34:57.429
monks that also are, I think possibly
02:34:57.439 --> 02:34:59.429
even the founder of my own tradition,
02:34:59.439 --> 02:35:01.670
venerable Tomulus, he may have
02:35:01.680 --> 02:35:03.030
considered himself to be a Buddhist
02:35:03.040 --> 02:35:04.950
sata.
02:35:04.960 --> 02:35:08.230
And then like I have been told pure land
02:35:08.240 --> 02:35:10.790
Buddhists um they actually believe that
02:35:10.800 --> 02:35:12.389
you can't even become enlightened in
02:35:12.399 --> 02:35:14.070
this world anymore. I mean they can't do
02:35:14.080 --> 02:35:18.309
it. So therefore nobody can do it and so
02:35:18.319 --> 02:35:20.870
the best you can do is just strive to be
02:35:20.880 --> 02:35:22.790
to be reborn into the pure land or
02:35:22.800 --> 02:35:24.790
whatever and become enlightened from
02:35:24.800 --> 02:35:26.230
there.
02:35:26.240 --> 02:35:29.030
So the bodhic sattva idea also I think
02:35:29.040 --> 02:35:31.990
was convenient for people that either
02:35:32.000 --> 02:35:34.870
lacked the the ripeness the spiritual
02:35:34.880 --> 02:35:37.110
talent to become enlightened in this
02:35:37.120 --> 02:35:39.910
very life or the people who just didn't
02:35:39.920 --> 02:35:42.309
want to make the effort maybe just lazy
02:35:42.319 --> 02:35:44.950
or just devotionalistic you know they it
02:35:44.960 --> 02:35:47.030
was just easier for them to do the
02:35:47.040 --> 02:35:49.670
chanting and bowing instead of really
02:35:49.680 --> 02:35:52.150
just going off alone into a wilderness
02:35:52.160 --> 02:35:53.670
and meditating until they were
02:35:53.680 --> 02:35:56.389
enlightened.
02:35:56.399 --> 02:35:59.030
So yeah, I think it was a combination of
02:35:59.040 --> 02:36:01.750
those. Probably some other subtleties
02:36:01.760 --> 02:36:04.710
that I'm not thinking of right now, but
02:36:04.720 --> 02:36:06.870
I think that was essentially it. And
02:36:06.880 --> 02:36:09.270
that's it. That's that's the end of of
02:36:09.280 --> 02:36:11.990
this Q&A aside from the the few things I
02:36:12.000 --> 02:36:15.190
see at the end. And again, don't forget
02:36:15.200 --> 02:36:17.670
my new book has is out now. It's on
02:36:17.680 --> 02:36:20.790
Amazon. The link should be in the URL
02:36:20.800 --> 02:36:24.309
links below. and like and subscribe if
02:36:24.319 --> 02:36:27.510
you found anything of value in this long
02:36:27.520 --> 02:36:30.389
rambling tirade.
02:36:30.399 --> 02:36:33.750
And uh what else? I guess you're going
02:36:33.760 --> 02:36:35.429
to have to look at the URL links if you
02:36:35.439 --> 02:36:38.710
look for the the link to the new book.
02:36:38.720 --> 02:36:40.550
And um again, the new book is
02:36:40.560 --> 02:36:42.309
autobiographical. It's less
02:36:42.319 --> 02:36:44.550
philosophical and more autobiographical
02:36:44.560 --> 02:36:47.110
than the the first three books. And uh
02:36:47.120 --> 02:36:49.750
aside from that, I just say be happy and
02:36:49.760 --> 02:36:53.120
I'm out of here.