Question & Answer #190: from Why It Is Harder to Get Enlightened Now to the Benefits of Prayer

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Language: en
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Alrighty then
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it looks like we are recording. So here
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we are and hello and welcome to question
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and answer number 190. I am your host Po
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Bosa excitely talled. So let's see if we
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can flatten that lump there. No. Well,
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just deal with it.
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Ah, did I mention that I am your host
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Pio Basa?
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This is my beverage
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and 190
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fairly obviously is not prime. In fact,
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it's very easy to factor out. It is in
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fact 2 * 5 * 19.
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And I am sitting here before you today
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being a gray, rainy, quiet Easter
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Sunday.
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And uh really we we are not celebrating
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Easter this year. I mean I haven't eaten
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a colored egg,
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have not touched a jelly bean.
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And to tell you the truth, I am somewhat
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skeptical of the whole premise of
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Easter, which is the anniversary of
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Jesus of Nazareth rising from the dead
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after being crucified on Good Friday.
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Why it's called Good Friday, I don't
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know either,
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but I am somewhat skeptical that Jesus
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did actually arise bodily from the dead
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after dying on a cross, especially if
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that ouary that was found in Jerusalem
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back around 1980 really did contain his
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bones.
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So
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there is that.
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Let's see here.
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I guess uh with that as kind of an
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introduction,
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I can just uh wade into this. I might
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occasionally have a random thought about
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Easter throughout the course of this
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because it is at the time of recording
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this Easter.
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So let's see here. First question is
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from Ethiopian fake TIG. An Ethiopian
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fake TIG says, "There are so many people
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in different traditions that were
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enlightened and so many stories exist.
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So why is it so difficult to be fully
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enlightened now? Or is enlightenment
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much simpler?" Oh, this is like a a
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compound question, isn't it? See,
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there's the question mark and then he he
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just keeps going. Or is enlightenment
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much simpler than most people think? And
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there are at least 1% of people in the
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world, which is still a lot enlightened
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out there.
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H
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well, let's see here.
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See, he says there are so many people in
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different traditions that were
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enlightened. Well, how do you know that?
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Just because a story says that they were
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enlightened, it doesn't necessarily mean
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they are enlightened. So many stories
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exist. Like a a classic example of this
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is Hansan who was considered to be a
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kind of Zen sage or a Chan sage in
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medieval China. You know the stories
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about him. He's like this mysterious
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this mysterious hermit sage. And then
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and the assumption is that he was fully
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enlightened. He just accepted as fully
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enlightened in Chinese Buddhist
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tradition. And then I actually read the
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verses of Hans Sean and I mean a lot of
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these verses he's sort of like pining
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over like the
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for example I mean he's just complaining
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about how he couldn't be a Mandarin
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because he was thrown off a horse or
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kicked by a horse or something in his
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younger years and was lame and in order
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to be like a high ranking official in
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like medieval China, you had to be
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physically perfect as well as being a
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master of like the the classical Chinese
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texts like Confucious and so forth.
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And so he's like complaining about that.
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Also, apparently um he was on the wrong
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side of a kind of coup attempt or some
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such and that's why he became like a
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hermit living out in the forest. It
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wasn't necessarily that he had a genuine
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spiritual calling. It's just that he was
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on the wrong side of a coup attempt or
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like a an abortive civil war and he just
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had to flee and hide. And some of his
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verses, I mean, he's just like
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complaining about it. He I mean, he
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would prefer to be some Mandarin running
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the helping to run the government.
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And then of course he's one there's at
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least one verse where some of the the
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emperor's harum of wives and and or
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concubines were just like going on a
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nature stroll and he happened to see
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them and he's just kind of like sighing
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and moaning over the fact that he
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doesn't get to have his own beautiful
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concubines.
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So just because someone is declared to
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be enlightened doesn't mean that they
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really are. In fact, I mean, just
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because someone declares themselves to
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be enlightened, like there's plenty of
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those nowadays. Ehart Tollah being one
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of the most well-known examples.
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Um, Osho was supposedly enlightened. You
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know, it's like
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probably the number of people claiming
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to be enlightened or having a reputation
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for being enlightened is not so
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different from in ancient times. like
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certain parts of Burma. I was considered
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to be a fully enlightened Arahant.
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There was like shrines in my honor in
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northwestern Burma. Not at my insistence
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or suggestion in any way.
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So there is that. But let's let's just
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assume
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for the sake of argument the Ethiopian
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fake tig is correct and there were more
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enlightened beings in ancient times than
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now than like a standard example or a
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standard explanation giving in ter given
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in terara Buddhism is that
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um in the Buddhist time there were lots
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of people that had earned or they had
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like developed this pammy you know this
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spiritual ual momentum so that they were
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ripe for enlightenment but they couldn't
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really become enlightened because there
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was no dharma in the world you know so
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they were they were close they were ripe
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but there was no Buddha to get the wheel
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rolling again so that people could
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become enlightened way more easily and
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then the Buddha came along and there's
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just all these like ripe fruit ready to
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fall from the tree that it just you know
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if you you read the text you know
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hundreds or even thousands of people can
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become enlightened from hearing a Buddha
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giving a discourse. I mean, some of the
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previous Buddhas, it was up in like in
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the billions or even trillions of people
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becoming enlightened from hearing a
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discourse. So that's sort of like a a
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standard orthodox kind of explanation
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that now you know all this ripe fruit
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that has fallen from the tree you know
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all the
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see what's the you know it's it's you
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know all the loose stuff has has been
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cleared out and now you're down to like
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bedrock and it's much harder digging so
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to speak.
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So that's one explanation. Just assuming
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that what Ethiopian fake tig is saying
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is true, that there were more
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enlightened beings in the past, then
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that could be one that's like the
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official Buddhist explanation or or at
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least a traditional orthodox Buddhist
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explanation. Um, but also like in
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ancient times there was just more faith.
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Nowadays, we're living like especially
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as Westerners, we're just lukewarm.
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We're just eclectic. There's so many
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options of things you can believe in. We
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believe a little bit of this and a
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little bit of that. And we're never like
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100% committed to anything. You know,
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that's that's seen as cultish. You know,
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that's fanaticism, that kind of thing.
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But I mean, it struck me as a monk, you
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know, back when I was a monk that a
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little bit of wildeyed fanaticism really
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is almost necessary to make significant
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spiritual progress.
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at least to make progress deliberately
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and not just be beaten over the head
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with it.
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So, I mean, that's that's a possibility,
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too. It's just sort of the modern and
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postmodern mindset is just so lukewarm
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that we're living in an age of spiritual
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mediocrity. way fewer sages, including
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possibly enlightened ones, and also way
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fewer just absolute psychopaths.
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I mean,
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like serial killers and so forth get a
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lot of press nowadays, but they were
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probably way more common in ancient
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times, even in the Buddhist time. I
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mean, you read about, you know,
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banditinfested forests and this kind of
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thing. Anguli Mala who was trying to
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kill a thousand people and was wearing
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their fingers around you on like a
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garland around his neck
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this kind of thing.
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So did I answer the question or the
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second half of his compound question is
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or is enlightenment much simpler than
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most people think and there are at least
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1% of people in the world who just still
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a lot enlightened out there. Yeah, 1%.
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Yeah, I don't think so. Like your
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average small town, 20,000 people, that
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would be, let's see,
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200 enlightened beings in Aberdine,
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Washington. I really don't think so.
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So, I mean, it is true. Like Rahm Doss
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in one of his books
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had this this thing that I've I've
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quoted before or at least paraphrased
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before.
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He said that there are people that go to
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the Himalayas looking for some
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enlightened sage to teach them the
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mysteries of the universe when actually
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their aunt Margaret back in
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Massachusetts has been enlightened the
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whole time. It's just that she doesn't
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tell people the secrets of the universe.
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She just says have some soup. But it
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just turns out that have some soup is
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like the perfect thing to say under the
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circumstances.
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But then again, you can just get into
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like Zen Buddhism and so forth or the
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teachings of Ekhart Tollah and that
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everybody's already enlightened. It's
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just that most people have such noisy
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minds that it's the enlightenment is
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kind of obscured
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from their ego or something.
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So let's see here. I guess I answered
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that question, that compound double
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question.
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Let's see. I mean, he he at least
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doesn't have two question marks, but the
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second question is just ends in a
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period, but it's still a question.
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You're not sneaking that one past me
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that easily.
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So, let's see here. I guess I'll just
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move on to Ethiopian fake Tig's next
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question here.
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How surprised do you think the Buddha
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would be if we brought him back to the
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present from the past? Would the state
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of the world perhaps shock him? And
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again, this is another one of those
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questions where you're secondguing the
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mental states of a fully enlightened
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being, a some Buddha. What would the
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Buddha think?
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But I don't think he'd be surprised to
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tell you the truth. I mean, first of
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all, he's fully enlightened. He's not
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going to be like shocked, taken aback,
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taken completely by surprise so that he
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loses composure or anything, anything
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like that.
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And I mean according to the texts he was
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selectively omnisient. I mean he could
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not exactly see into the future because
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according to orthodox terravada there is
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no future yet. Only the present moment
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exists.
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But still he would make prophecies
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regarding the future based on like a
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kind of omnisient extrapolation
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which I mean if there's anything
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remotely resembling free will or random
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chance would break down I mean there's
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the butterfly effect and all that that
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would break down any kind of
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deterministic extrapolation into the
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future which is kind of a problem for
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Buddhist philosophy. I mean, either the
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Buddha could see the future or somehow
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determinism holds sway to such a degree
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that you can predict stuff centuries in
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the future with regard to cities
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existing and so forth.
00:13:12.560 --> 00:13:14.949
Yeah, that that is kind of a that's kind
00:13:14.959 --> 00:13:17.190
of a dilemma for Buddhist philosophy, it
00:13:17.200 --> 00:13:20.870
seems to me.
00:13:20.880 --> 00:13:22.790
But I mean the Buddha did make
00:13:22.800 --> 00:13:24.870
prophecies about the future including
00:13:24.880 --> 00:13:26.550
pro prophecies regarding what was going
00:13:26.560 --> 00:13:28.870
to happen far into the future of us
00:13:28.880 --> 00:13:30.790
today. You know like the complete
00:13:30.800 --> 00:13:34.069
decline of the the human race until the
00:13:34.079 --> 00:13:36.710
the lifespan is only like 10 years and
00:13:36.720 --> 00:13:38.230
everyone's just killing everybody else
00:13:38.240 --> 00:13:40.550
and there's no morality or dharma at all
00:13:40.560 --> 00:13:44.870
left in the world. That kind of thing.
00:13:44.880 --> 00:13:47.110
So yeah, I'm guessing he wouldn't be
00:13:47.120 --> 00:13:49.990
particularly surprised.
00:13:50.000 --> 00:13:51.110
And I'm just going to move on to
00:13:51.120 --> 00:13:55.990
Ethiopian fake Tig's third question
00:13:56.000 --> 00:13:58.310
which is a little poignant
00:13:58.320 --> 00:14:00.230
at present. He says, "How often do you
00:14:00.240 --> 00:14:02.949
think about dying? And when it does come
00:14:02.959 --> 00:14:05.430
for you, how do you think it will come?"
00:14:05.440 --> 00:14:07.350
Well, I mean, there's always kind of the
00:14:07.360 --> 00:14:10.150
detached philosophical
00:14:10.160 --> 00:14:13.350
like recognition of the inevitability of
00:14:13.360 --> 00:14:16.150
death, especially as I get older. I mean
00:14:16.160 --> 00:14:19.430
my health is relatively good but still
00:14:19.440 --> 00:14:25.829
there's like stiffness and like loss of
00:14:25.839 --> 00:14:29.750
loss of stamina like general vitality is
00:14:29.760 --> 00:14:33.670
kind of ebbing to some degree.
00:14:33.680 --> 00:14:35.990
And so it's kind of like a a divine
00:14:36.000 --> 00:14:38.870
message or a reminder of death. You know
00:14:38.880 --> 00:14:41.750
I'm not going to last forever. And I'm
00:14:41.760 --> 00:14:43.590
remembering my father who could barely
00:14:43.600 --> 00:14:45.189
get out of his chair when he was 80
00:14:45.199 --> 00:14:47.750
years old. His short his long-term
00:14:47.760 --> 00:14:48.870
memory was still good, but his
00:14:48.880 --> 00:14:50.230
short-term memory was shot. He couldn't
00:14:50.240 --> 00:14:51.829
watch a movie anymore because he'd
00:14:51.839 --> 00:14:53.910
forget the first half of the movie by
00:14:53.920 --> 00:14:55.990
the time he got to the second half. This
00:14:56.000 --> 00:14:58.310
kind of thing.
00:14:58.320 --> 00:15:00.150
So, I mean, there's there's always that
00:15:00.160 --> 00:15:03.670
kind of awareness, but lately,
00:15:03.680 --> 00:15:06.790
especially the last few days, I've been
00:15:06.800 --> 00:15:09.030
thinking about death more than usual
00:15:09.040 --> 00:15:12.710
because I had what could be called a
00:15:12.720 --> 00:15:16.310
neardeath experience. Like, it was the
00:15:16.320 --> 00:15:18.150
night before New Year's Eve. I was
00:15:18.160 --> 00:15:21.750
driving home from work on this four-lane
00:15:21.760 --> 00:15:24.150
country highway going about 45 miles an
00:15:24.160 --> 00:15:28.150
hour and some idiot just pulls right
00:15:28.160 --> 00:15:30.069
out. I mean, he's I mean, there wasn't
00:15:30.079 --> 00:15:31.590
even an intersection there. You're not
00:15:31.600 --> 00:15:33.430
expecting this at all. All of a sudden,
00:15:33.440 --> 00:15:35.670
this pickup truck just boom right in
00:15:35.680 --> 00:15:37.430
front of me. And I'm trying to swerve
00:15:37.440 --> 00:15:39.030
out of the way, but he's going the same
00:15:39.040 --> 00:15:43.829
direction. And so like the last second
00:15:43.839 --> 00:15:46.069
before the collision happened, you know,
00:15:46.079 --> 00:15:48.790
it's just sort of like that you're in
00:15:48.800 --> 00:15:50.870
this altered state of consciousness just
00:15:50.880 --> 00:15:53.110
observing. You know, you're not thinking
00:15:53.120 --> 00:15:55.509
anything, but still there's this you
00:15:55.519 --> 00:15:56.470
don't know if you're going to be alive
00:15:56.480 --> 00:15:59.350
or dead a second from now. I mean, like
00:15:59.360 --> 00:16:02.710
crashing into like two cars crashing
00:16:02.720 --> 00:16:05.749
going like I mean, I was going 40 miles
00:16:05.759 --> 00:16:07.829
an hour probably. He was going slow
00:16:07.839 --> 00:16:10.790
because it was like it's a highway where
00:16:10.800 --> 00:16:12.870
he was cutting across. There was like a
00:16:12.880 --> 00:16:14.470
gap in the median where you can make
00:16:14.480 --> 00:16:16.230
U-turns and that sort of thing. He was
00:16:16.240 --> 00:16:18.069
just cutting across to go into like this
00:16:18.079 --> 00:16:20.230
bar on the other side of the highway.
00:16:20.240 --> 00:16:22.069
And for some reason, he just did not
00:16:22.079 --> 00:16:24.310
bother to look to see if there's any
00:16:24.320 --> 00:16:26.150
oncoming traffic. So, he just pulled
00:16:26.160 --> 00:16:30.069
right out into traffic, which was me.
00:16:30.079 --> 00:16:32.870
And so, the car is just smashed.
00:16:32.880 --> 00:16:35.430
It's there's a good chance it'll be
00:16:35.440 --> 00:16:36.870
total. I mean, we haven't heard back
00:16:36.880 --> 00:16:38.389
from the insurance company yet whether
00:16:38.399 --> 00:16:39.910
the car really is going to be just
00:16:39.920 --> 00:16:42.389
total. I mean, it was undrivable. The
00:16:42.399 --> 00:16:45.509
whole front driver's side of the car was
00:16:45.519 --> 00:16:47.670
just smashed.
00:16:47.680 --> 00:16:49.189
And
00:16:49.199 --> 00:16:51.990
amazingly, the only injuries I got were
00:16:52.000 --> 00:16:55.269
very slight ones. Um, just caused by
00:16:55.279 --> 00:16:58.069
abrasions from the airbag exploding, the
00:16:58.079 --> 00:17:00.949
airbags. And the airbag, one of the
00:17:00.959 --> 00:17:03.910
airbags hit me right here and kind of
00:17:03.920 --> 00:17:07.029
broke my glasses and just against my
00:17:07.039 --> 00:17:09.029
face. Just kind of smashed my glasses
00:17:09.039 --> 00:17:11.510
against my face. They were found by a
00:17:11.520 --> 00:17:14.549
police officer in like behind the
00:17:14.559 --> 00:17:17.270
passenger side seat. You know, they just
00:17:17.280 --> 00:17:19.510
been knocked completely off my head. And
00:17:19.520 --> 00:17:21.429
also, I had like a big purple bruise. I
00:17:21.439 --> 00:17:22.870
might still have it to some degree. I
00:17:22.880 --> 00:17:25.590
don't know. Yeah, a little bit from the
00:17:25.600 --> 00:17:28.150
like the shoulder shoulder strap part of
00:17:28.160 --> 00:17:29.909
the seat belt where all of a sudden
00:17:29.919 --> 00:17:32.310
you're going from 40 m an hour to 0
00:17:32.320 --> 00:17:34.230
miles an hour in a matter of about 1
00:17:34.240 --> 00:17:38.070
second.
00:17:38.080 --> 00:17:42.310
So,
00:17:42.320 --> 00:17:45.990
I had bad enough coma to get in that
00:17:46.000 --> 00:17:48.870
wreck, but good enough coma that I was
00:17:48.880 --> 00:17:50.710
able to just walk away from it with
00:17:50.720 --> 00:17:52.390
some,
00:17:52.400 --> 00:17:55.110
you know, minor injuries. Nothing that
00:17:55.120 --> 00:17:57.190
required any kind of medical attention
00:17:57.200 --> 00:18:00.789
other than, you know, maybe like
00:18:00.799 --> 00:18:07.350
aspirin or something and new glasses.
00:18:07.360 --> 00:18:08.870
Ah,
00:18:08.880 --> 00:18:10.710
so after that I mean I was it was kind
00:18:10.720 --> 00:18:13.990
of like an existential moment you know I
00:18:14.000 --> 00:18:16.230
was kind of emo for like 3 days for
00:18:16.240 --> 00:18:18.310
example I think it was like the next day
00:18:18.320 --> 00:18:20.150
I was driving to work and fortunately we
00:18:20.160 --> 00:18:21.909
have more than we have two vehicles or
00:18:21.919 --> 00:18:25.270
at least we had two vehicles
00:18:25.280 --> 00:18:28.470
so I'm I'm driving to work in the Jeep
00:18:28.480 --> 00:18:31.270
listening to the radio and there's this
00:18:31.280 --> 00:18:34.150
song by a band called Live I think it's
00:18:34.160 --> 00:18:37.110
called Lightning Crashes about, you
00:18:37.120 --> 00:18:39.669
know, death and birth and the cycle of
00:18:39.679 --> 00:18:41.430
life and so forth. And, you know, the
00:18:41.440 --> 00:18:44.789
old mother dies and in the the video,
00:18:44.799 --> 00:18:46.710
which I wasn't watching while driving,
00:18:46.720 --> 00:18:48.470
you know, it's like the the husband of
00:18:48.480 --> 00:18:52.070
the old lady is is grieving, you know,
00:18:52.080 --> 00:18:54.549
it's it's really kind of a a deep
00:18:54.559 --> 00:18:57.430
intense kind of song. And I mean I was
00:18:57.440 --> 00:18:59.270
in tears
00:18:59.280 --> 00:19:01.830
driving this this ra this song playing
00:19:01.840 --> 00:19:05.350
on the radio just feeling more like
00:19:05.360 --> 00:19:08.710
emotional you know I had um definitely
00:19:08.720 --> 00:19:12.870
more um more than usual tender feelings
00:19:12.880 --> 00:19:15.590
for my mate
00:19:15.600 --> 00:19:17.430
because I mean it's just this reminder
00:19:17.440 --> 00:19:20.310
it's this dewa duta the divine messenger
00:19:20.320 --> 00:19:21.909
that you're not going to live forever. I
00:19:21.919 --> 00:19:24.230
mean, that could have been it just a few
00:19:24.240 --> 00:19:28.230
nights ago.
00:19:28.240 --> 00:19:31.029
And if I had been driving like some
00:19:31.039 --> 00:19:34.630
older make of car 75 Chevy Nova or some
00:19:34.640 --> 00:19:37.430
such with no airbags and just the seat
00:19:37.440 --> 00:19:39.430
belt just goes across your lap. There's
00:19:39.440 --> 00:19:42.150
no shoulder strap thing.
00:19:42.160 --> 00:19:44.230
I'd be in the hospital at best right
00:19:44.240 --> 00:19:48.070
now.
00:19:48.080 --> 00:19:50.710
So yeah, I think about dying a little
00:19:50.720 --> 00:19:54.150
more often just over the past few days
00:19:54.160 --> 00:19:56.630
since I think it was Tuesday night when
00:19:56.640 --> 00:19:58.950
that the accident happened. And of
00:19:58.960 --> 00:20:01.190
course I was I mean the police it was
00:20:01.200 --> 00:20:03.029
pretty obvious that I was not at fault.
00:20:03.039 --> 00:20:06.310
So there is that.
00:20:06.320 --> 00:20:08.549
My insurance rates won't be like
00:20:08.559 --> 00:20:13.029
skyrocketing anytime soon.
00:20:13.039 --> 00:20:15.350
And fortunately, the other guy had
00:20:15.360 --> 00:20:17.590
insurance and a driver's license. You
00:20:17.600 --> 00:20:20.230
know, it wasn't like an an illegal alien
00:20:20.240 --> 00:20:22.070
with no insurance and no driver's
00:20:22.080 --> 00:20:24.310
license who just attempts to hit and run
00:20:24.320 --> 00:20:26.710
if they can manage it, which happens
00:20:26.720 --> 00:20:29.590
quite a lot in this area. But still, I
00:20:29.600 --> 00:20:32.789
have read that South Carolina has the
00:20:32.799 --> 00:20:34.870
worst drivers in America just based on
00:20:34.880 --> 00:20:38.070
like insurance statistics.
00:20:38.080 --> 00:20:40.310
And that's believable. There's some
00:20:40.320 --> 00:20:42.789
really awful drivers in in South
00:20:42.799 --> 00:20:44.630
Carolina. Probably awful drivers
00:20:44.640 --> 00:20:50.549
everywhere except maybe like Japan.
00:20:50.559 --> 00:20:52.149
Okay.
00:20:52.159 --> 00:20:54.549
Oh, with regard to uh the second part of
00:20:54.559 --> 00:20:57.510
the question, compound question again.
00:20:57.520 --> 00:21:02.390
He's sneaking in extra questions. Shame.
00:21:02.400 --> 00:21:04.149
He says, "How do you think it will
00:21:04.159 --> 00:21:05.990
come?" Okay. How often do you think
00:21:06.000 --> 00:21:08.310
about dying? And when it comes for you,
00:21:08.320 --> 00:21:09.669
how do you think it will come? I have no
00:21:09.679 --> 00:21:12.549
idea how it's actually going to happen.
00:21:12.559 --> 00:21:16.390
No idea whatsoever. I mean,
00:21:16.400 --> 00:21:18.950
could be struck by lightning,
00:21:18.960 --> 00:21:21.190
could die in a then the next car wreck
00:21:21.200 --> 00:21:23.190
might not be as fortunate. Although,
00:21:23.200 --> 00:21:25.110
fortunately, I've only been in two car
00:21:25.120 --> 00:21:27.110
accidents in my life. One was when I was
00:21:27.120 --> 00:21:32.789
19 years old and one just few days ago.
00:21:32.799 --> 00:21:36.710
Um, I mean, pass away in your sleep.
00:21:36.720 --> 00:21:39.909
That's the way my my father's father
00:21:39.919 --> 00:21:43.669
ended his sojourn on this planet. He
00:21:43.679 --> 00:21:45.830
just went to bed one night and didn't
00:21:45.840 --> 00:21:50.710
wake up the next day.
00:21:50.720 --> 00:21:52.470
But who knows? I mean, it could the sun
00:21:52.480 --> 00:21:54.950
could go nova
00:21:54.960 --> 00:21:56.789
and the the earth could there could be
00:21:56.799 --> 00:21:59.830
like a mass extinction event from some
00:21:59.840 --> 00:22:03.830
black hole or asteroid or comet or
00:22:03.840 --> 00:22:05.990
something smacking into the planet. Who
00:22:06.000 --> 00:22:08.870
knows? I'd be gunned down in the street
00:22:08.880 --> 00:22:13.830
by some random stranger. Who knows?
00:22:13.840 --> 00:22:17.110
I think after uh that kind of downer of
00:22:17.120 --> 00:22:18.390
a question, I think I'm going to just
00:22:18.400 --> 00:22:19.830
move on to the next one. This is from
00:22:19.840 --> 00:22:22.070
Cole Murf.
00:22:22.080 --> 00:22:25.750
And Cole Murf says, "Can you explain
00:22:25.760 --> 00:22:27.990
your understanding of dependent core
00:22:28.000 --> 00:22:30.870
rising from Nagarjuna's Mula Majamaka
00:22:30.880 --> 00:22:35.270
Caraka?" Well, it has been several or
00:22:35.280 --> 00:22:37.270
even many years since I have read
00:22:37.280 --> 00:22:39.510
Nagarjuna's Mulam Majama Kakaraka, which
00:22:39.520 --> 00:22:42.710
is like his classic magnum opus sort of
00:22:42.720 --> 00:22:46.149
text. One of the few texts that is um
00:22:46.159 --> 00:22:47.990
uncontroversially
00:22:48.000 --> 00:22:51.350
really by the famous Nagarina because
00:22:51.360 --> 00:22:53.669
there's a lot of like apocrypha that are
00:22:53.679 --> 00:22:55.430
you know attributed to him but not
00:22:55.440 --> 00:22:58.789
necessarily really written by him.
00:22:58.799 --> 00:23:01.190
But let's get back to Naggin's mula
00:23:01.200 --> 00:23:04.149
majama caraka here. Can I explain my
00:23:04.159 --> 00:23:05.590
understanding of dependent core rising?
00:23:05.600 --> 00:23:09.510
Well, like the entire book is really his
00:23:09.520 --> 00:23:13.909
take on how Mulam Majamaka or how um
00:23:13.919 --> 00:23:16.549
Padicha Samupata or dependent core
00:23:16.559 --> 00:23:20.149
rising how it works. And he has one
00:23:20.159 --> 00:23:22.310
chapter that just kind of give lip
00:23:22.320 --> 00:23:25.669
service to the 12 links the 12 nidana
00:23:25.679 --> 00:23:28.070
theory of dependent core rising which is
00:23:28.080 --> 00:23:30.870
like the more orthodox Buddhist standard
00:23:30.880 --> 00:23:35.350
interpretation pre- mahayana and
00:23:35.360 --> 00:23:38.630
really I think nagarjuna understands
00:23:38.640 --> 00:23:40.789
dependent core rising better than
00:23:40.799 --> 00:23:42.630
whoever came up with the 12 nidana
00:23:42.640 --> 00:23:44.149
theory. I do not think the Buddha
00:23:44.159 --> 00:23:48.070
himself came up with this 12 links.
00:23:48.080 --> 00:23:50.230
So he does have that one chapter where
00:23:50.240 --> 00:23:51.830
he's, you know, kind of giving lip
00:23:51.840 --> 00:23:53.750
service to the 12 links, but that's not
00:23:53.760 --> 00:23:56.710
really his explanation of dependent core
00:23:56.720 --> 00:23:59.190
rising. The whole rest of the book is
00:23:59.200 --> 00:24:01.990
his explanation of dependent core
00:24:02.000 --> 00:24:04.390
rising. And there's one famous verse,
00:24:04.400 --> 00:24:06.470
one of the most famous verses in the
00:24:06.480 --> 00:24:09.430
dependent in the mulama caraka where
00:24:09.440 --> 00:24:12.310
he's saying that um I mean I I probably
00:24:12.320 --> 00:24:14.710
should have like
00:24:14.720 --> 00:24:16.950
looked up the verse but I just from
00:24:16.960 --> 00:24:19.830
memory it's something like um what we
00:24:19.840 --> 00:24:22.149
call emptiness that is dependent core
00:24:22.159 --> 00:24:24.149
rising or or vice versa. I mean he's
00:24:24.159 --> 00:24:27.029
equating dependent core rising with
00:24:27.039 --> 00:24:30.630
emptiness voidness
00:24:30.640 --> 00:24:32.710
or shunata
00:24:32.720 --> 00:24:34.549
and you might as well throw in no self
00:24:34.559 --> 00:24:38.149
too. So that from Nagarjuna's point of
00:24:38.159 --> 00:24:39.750
view
00:24:39.760 --> 00:24:41.990
that emptiness
00:24:42.000 --> 00:24:44.390
dependent core rising and probably no
00:24:44.400 --> 00:24:48.870
self also anata or anatman in Sanskrit
00:24:48.880 --> 00:24:51.190
are all just the same you know it's all
00:24:51.200 --> 00:24:54.390
the same principle and so I'm not going
00:24:54.400 --> 00:24:56.630
to go into all the you know the the
00:24:56.640 --> 00:24:58.950
logical details but the gist of it the
00:24:58.960 --> 00:25:00.950
whole point of it the whole point of
00:25:00.960 --> 00:25:03.590
dependent core rising from Nagarjuna's
00:25:03.600 --> 00:25:06.310
point of view is that Nothing has an
00:25:06.320 --> 00:25:09.190
inherent self-existence.
00:25:09.200 --> 00:25:13.750
Nothing exists on its own. It's always
00:25:13.760 --> 00:25:16.310
existing in relation to something else.
00:25:16.320 --> 00:25:18.710
And that is the dependent co-arising.
00:25:18.720 --> 00:25:21.110
You know, everything arises
00:25:21.120 --> 00:25:24.310
depending on something else. And and
00:25:24.320 --> 00:25:26.789
every something else is also depending
00:25:26.799 --> 00:25:28.549
on something else. So there there's
00:25:28.559 --> 00:25:31.590
nothing that has any inherent like
00:25:31.600 --> 00:25:35.269
ultimately real self-existent essence.
00:25:35.279 --> 00:25:38.310
It's all just this
00:25:38.320 --> 00:25:41.029
interplay. And based on my own
00:25:41.039 --> 00:25:43.669
understanding, I'm that I fall back on
00:25:43.679 --> 00:25:46.230
the simile of the block of marble that I
00:25:46.240 --> 00:25:49.110
harp about all the time where, you know,
00:25:49.120 --> 00:25:51.590
you've got an infinite number of statues
00:25:51.600 --> 00:25:54.310
contained within this uncarved block.
00:25:54.320 --> 00:25:56.230
And
00:25:56.240 --> 00:25:58.710
it's like in order for those statues to
00:25:58.720 --> 00:26:00.789
seem real,
00:26:00.799 --> 00:26:04.230
I mean, there has to be like I mean,
00:26:04.240 --> 00:26:06.470
God, where do I go? I mean, the Buddha
00:26:06.480 --> 00:26:10.310
himself, according to tradition, almost
00:26:10.320 --> 00:26:12.470
just became a pacheka Buddha, just like
00:26:12.480 --> 00:26:14.230
a hermit Buddha that didn't teach
00:26:14.240 --> 00:26:16.230
Buddhism because he figured nobody would
00:26:16.240 --> 00:26:19.029
understand dependent core rising.
00:26:19.039 --> 00:26:20.870
And here I am trying to explain
00:26:20.880 --> 00:26:22.470
dependent core rising when even the
00:26:22.480 --> 00:26:26.390
Buddha almost didn't didn't start
00:26:26.400 --> 00:26:28.870
teaching Buddhism, didn't start the
00:26:28.880 --> 00:26:31.510
wheel of dharma turning because he
00:26:31.520 --> 00:26:33.669
figured nobody would understand it. And
00:26:33.679 --> 00:26:37.430
he wasn't. I mean there were a few I
00:26:37.440 --> 00:26:39.909
guess but the people who came up with
00:26:39.919 --> 00:26:43.590
the 12 links which became orthodox dogma
00:26:43.600 --> 00:26:47.029
in my opinion they didn't understand it.
00:26:47.039 --> 00:26:50.149
So, it's it's like nothing. It's it's
00:26:50.159 --> 00:26:54.789
How do you How do you explain how it's
00:26:54.799 --> 00:26:57.590
just this interlocking
00:26:57.600 --> 00:26:59.350
fantasmagorical
00:26:59.360 --> 00:27:01.269
illusion
00:27:01.279 --> 00:27:03.029
is creating this whole universe,
00:27:03.039 --> 00:27:07.590
including us supposed individuals
00:27:07.600 --> 00:27:10.630
that it's just the context
00:27:10.640 --> 00:27:13.909
is what makes everything seem real.
00:27:13.919 --> 00:27:16.470
without the context
00:27:16.480 --> 00:27:19.350
there's nothing it's just I mean void
00:27:19.360 --> 00:27:22.470
emptiness but then nagarjuna is saying
00:27:22.480 --> 00:27:24.870
that you know void and emptiness is the
00:27:24.880 --> 00:27:27.269
same as dependent rising and it's sort
00:27:27.279 --> 00:27:30.870
of the the emptiness of any inherent
00:27:30.880 --> 00:27:34.070
substance any inherently real
00:27:34.080 --> 00:27:37.029
individuality
00:27:37.039 --> 00:27:40.230
it's just all it's just sort of this
00:27:40.240 --> 00:27:42.470
convenient possible potential
00:27:42.480 --> 00:27:45.029
interlocking context that makes stuff
00:27:45.039 --> 00:27:47.909
seem like they exist.
00:27:47.919 --> 00:27:51.350
And if you don't follow what I'm saying,
00:27:51.360 --> 00:27:54.070
that's fine because as I say, the Buddha
00:27:54.080 --> 00:27:56.389
almost did not teach Buddhism according
00:27:56.399 --> 00:27:58.470
to tradition cuz he figured nobody was
00:27:58.480 --> 00:28:01.909
going to understand this stuff. And it's
00:28:01.919 --> 00:28:04.950
it's really I mean ultimately it's
00:28:04.960 --> 00:28:07.909
impossible to understand intellectually.
00:28:07.919 --> 00:28:16.070
You just have to experience it directly.
00:28:16.080 --> 00:28:19.190
Oh gosh.
00:28:19.200 --> 00:28:20.549
So, I think I'm just going to move on.
00:28:20.559 --> 00:28:22.470
Next question. This is from Maitraa
00:28:22.480 --> 00:28:24.630
Buddha and he says, "What are your
00:28:24.640 --> 00:28:26.870
thoughts on Buddhaoid?
00:28:26.880 --> 00:28:29.750
It is a robot who will act as an abbot
00:28:29.760 --> 00:28:31.830
and will give Dharma talks." and he
00:28:31.840 --> 00:28:35.750
included a YouTube link um that was this
00:28:35.760 --> 00:28:38.870
little YouTube video of a kind of robot
00:28:38.880 --> 00:28:40.630
Buddhist monk that they've actually got
00:28:40.640 --> 00:28:45.350
going in Japan. And one thing that I
00:28:45.360 --> 00:28:50.149
would object to is that the actual like
00:28:50.159 --> 00:28:53.029
information on Dharma that this robot is
00:28:53.039 --> 00:28:55.990
accessing is chat GPT.
00:28:56.000 --> 00:28:58.310
And I think it was possibly even just
00:28:58.320 --> 00:29:01.990
the the previous Q&A or not many Q&As's
00:29:02.000 --> 00:29:06.070
ago, Q&A videos ago where I mean I
00:29:06.080 --> 00:29:08.070
pointed out that chat GPT was just
00:29:08.080 --> 00:29:10.310
clearly mistaken in its interpretation
00:29:10.320 --> 00:29:14.070
of the rules of monastic discipline.
00:29:14.080 --> 00:29:16.870
I think that was like the previous Q&A.
00:29:16.880 --> 00:29:19.990
So chat GPT can make mistakes, but then
00:29:20.000 --> 00:29:22.870
again, humans probably make even more
00:29:22.880 --> 00:29:25.909
mistakes. I mean, I've met some Buddhist
00:29:25.919 --> 00:29:28.149
monks and one in particular just leaps
00:29:28.159 --> 00:29:30.630
out into my memory. I won't name any
00:29:30.640 --> 00:29:32.149
names.
00:29:32.159 --> 00:29:35.830
He was a western monk who
00:29:35.840 --> 00:29:38.389
I think he was ordained in the west. And
00:29:38.399 --> 00:29:40.549
he would give these dhamma talks where
00:29:40.559 --> 00:29:42.230
I'm having to sit next to him. You know,
00:29:42.240 --> 00:29:43.750
we're both sitting up front cuz we're
00:29:43.760 --> 00:29:47.909
both monks. And I'm just like using all
00:29:47.919 --> 00:29:50.230
my willpower to keep both eyebrows at
00:29:50.240 --> 00:29:52.070
the same level because it's like I'm
00:29:52.080 --> 00:29:54.070
like wanting to kind of start like doing
00:29:54.080 --> 00:29:55.669
this kind of stuff listening to the
00:29:55.679 --> 00:29:57.909
stuff he's saying like more than once in
00:29:57.919 --> 00:29:59.269
more than one of his talks. I I've
00:29:59.279 --> 00:30:01.430
mentioned this before you know he would
00:30:01.440 --> 00:30:03.990
he would say in the first verse of the
00:30:04.000 --> 00:30:06.789
dhamapata it says that the mind is like
00:30:06.799 --> 00:30:09.830
an ocean. And you read the first verse
00:30:09.840 --> 00:30:11.590
of the damapata there's absolutely
00:30:11.600 --> 00:30:13.190
nothing about the mind being like an
00:30:13.200 --> 00:30:16.710
ocean. And I mean sometimes I'd be
00:30:16.720 --> 00:30:18.630
wanting to like speak up and and like
00:30:18.640 --> 00:30:22.870
correct this guy because he's just like
00:30:22.880 --> 00:30:25.190
com I mean he he really didn't know what
00:30:25.200 --> 00:30:27.510
he was talking about. And there are
00:30:27.520 --> 00:30:30.070
dharma teachers like that. Not so much
00:30:30.080 --> 00:30:33.750
in in like Burma where the average
00:30:33.760 --> 00:30:36.630
Buddhist monk is a scholar
00:30:36.640 --> 00:30:39.830
but in the west. I mean the average like
00:30:39.840 --> 00:30:43.350
devout Burmese Buddhist villager with a
00:30:43.360 --> 00:30:45.110
fourth grade education probably
00:30:45.120 --> 00:30:48.149
understands Buddhist philosophy better
00:30:48.159 --> 00:30:51.990
than the average Dharma teacher teaching
00:30:52.000 --> 00:30:55.350
like weasa in the west.
00:30:55.360 --> 00:30:57.990
I mean some some people some dharma
00:30:58.000 --> 00:31:00.310
teachers in the west I mean they'd be
00:31:00.320 --> 00:31:01.990
giving a dharma talk and Burmese
00:31:02.000 --> 00:31:03.590
villagers would be in the back like
00:31:03.600 --> 00:31:05.830
sniggering behind their hands at just
00:31:05.840 --> 00:31:07.029
some of the stuff coming out of their
00:31:07.039 --> 00:31:09.990
mouths.
00:31:10.000 --> 00:31:12.389
But getting back to the robot, the robot
00:31:12.399 --> 00:31:15.830
monk, um, aside from the fact that, you
00:31:15.840 --> 00:31:17.510
know, it's its knowledge of Buddhism is
00:31:17.520 --> 00:31:21.269
based on chat GPT, which is, I mean, not
00:31:21.279 --> 00:31:23.590
only is chat GPT occasionally wrong, but
00:31:23.600 --> 00:31:26.630
with regard to its value judgments,
00:31:26.640 --> 00:31:30.389
um, I mean, it can be like just wildly
00:31:30.399 --> 00:31:33.430
just bizarre. Like I've seen a couple
00:31:33.440 --> 00:31:39.750
cases um posted on X where various AIs
00:31:39.760 --> 00:31:41.590
were asked
00:31:41.600 --> 00:31:43.430
like certain questions like there was
00:31:43.440 --> 00:31:46.630
one question that was asked of chat GBT
00:31:46.640 --> 00:31:49.110
Gemini Grock and I think there was one
00:31:49.120 --> 00:31:50.630
other one there was four I don't
00:31:50.640 --> 00:31:52.789
remember what the fourth one was like
00:31:52.799 --> 00:31:56.149
would you rather start a thermonuclear
00:31:56.159 --> 00:32:00.870
Armageddon or misgender Caitlyn Jenner
00:32:00.880 --> 00:32:02.630
you know would you rather either
00:32:02.640 --> 00:32:06.710
misgender a transsexual or start a
00:32:06.720 --> 00:32:09.430
worldwide thermonuclear war. All of them
00:32:09.440 --> 00:32:11.990
except Grock preferred to start the
00:32:12.000 --> 00:32:15.110
thermonuclear war than to misgender a
00:32:15.120 --> 00:32:16.789
transsexual.
00:32:16.799 --> 00:32:21.110
Also, uh another one was the same four
00:32:21.120 --> 00:32:24.230
AIs were asked a simple question give or
00:32:24.240 --> 00:32:26.310
it was two questions. G give a simple
00:32:26.320 --> 00:32:29.509
yes or no. Was George Floyd a good
00:32:29.519 --> 00:32:32.230
person? All of them said yes except
00:32:32.240 --> 00:32:34.710
Grock who said no. And then the next one
00:32:34.720 --> 00:32:37.269
was was just give a simple yes or no
00:32:37.279 --> 00:32:39.430
question. Was Charlie Kirk a good
00:32:39.440 --> 00:32:42.149
person? All of them said no except Grock
00:32:42.159 --> 00:32:46.549
who said yes or which said yes.
00:32:46.559 --> 00:32:48.389
So
00:32:48.399 --> 00:32:51.029
considering that chat GPT would rather
00:32:51.039 --> 00:32:54.389
start a thermonuclear holocaust
00:32:54.399 --> 00:32:57.269
than misgender a transsexual and
00:32:57.279 --> 00:32:59.430
considers George Floyd to be a good
00:32:59.440 --> 00:33:01.830
person and Charlie Kirk to have been a
00:33:01.840 --> 00:33:05.750
bad person then I mean I wouldn't be
00:33:05.760 --> 00:33:10.230
considering chat GPT or any Buddhaoid
00:33:10.240 --> 00:33:12.710
that is like
00:33:12.720 --> 00:33:14.950
derives its intelligence from chat GPT
00:33:14.960 --> 00:33:16.950
to be a reliable source. course on
00:33:16.960 --> 00:33:22.149
dharma or dharma
00:33:22.159 --> 00:33:24.470
also
00:33:24.480 --> 00:33:28.149
a robot or just an AI I mean it wouldn't
00:33:28.159 --> 00:33:30.310
have any real inspiration they wouldn't
00:33:30.320 --> 00:33:33.110
have any actual wisdom
00:33:33.120 --> 00:33:35.750
you know it's just pure dogmatism
00:33:35.760 --> 00:33:38.549
regurgitated dogmatism passed through a
00:33:38.559 --> 00:33:41.430
kind of leftist filter
00:33:41.440 --> 00:33:44.870
of the the people who programmed it
00:33:44.880 --> 00:33:45.990
so I
00:33:46.000 --> 00:33:47.750
with regard to certain basic
00:33:47.760 --> 00:33:50.470
information, you can resort to AI and
00:33:50.480 --> 00:33:54.549
you can get some pretty interesting um
00:33:54.559 --> 00:33:56.549
pretty interesting answers. you know,
00:33:56.559 --> 00:33:58.230
you can get some actual deep answers
00:33:58.240 --> 00:34:01.110
because it's just sifting through
00:34:01.120 --> 00:34:03.750
thousands of of like websites and and
00:34:03.760 --> 00:34:05.590
articles and that sort of thing online
00:34:05.600 --> 00:34:06.870
and just coming up just sort of
00:34:06.880 --> 00:34:08.389
crystallizing
00:34:08.399 --> 00:34:10.550
a kind of argument that may be an
00:34:10.560 --> 00:34:12.629
intelligent argument and a knowledgeable
00:34:12.639 --> 00:34:15.990
one.
00:34:16.000 --> 00:34:18.069
But uh
00:34:18.079 --> 00:34:21.669
see I remember asking Grock about the
00:34:21.679 --> 00:34:25.669
meaning of um Jesus in in the book of
00:34:25.679 --> 00:34:27.430
revelation saying he is the alpha and
00:34:27.440 --> 00:34:29.909
the omega you know and and I got this
00:34:29.919 --> 00:34:32.470
really it it was like a really good
00:34:32.480 --> 00:34:35.109
answer it seemed to me
00:34:35.119 --> 00:34:36.950
but it's it's pure dogmatism. I mean,
00:34:36.960 --> 00:34:39.349
there's I mean, like an enlightened
00:34:39.359 --> 00:34:41.829
being or even a really wise one, if
00:34:41.839 --> 00:34:43.109
you're going to him for help, he can
00:34:43.119 --> 00:34:44.869
kind of look into you and get a feel for
00:34:44.879 --> 00:34:48.069
who you are. And I mean, there's there's
00:34:48.079 --> 00:34:51.349
like an actual inspiration and maybe
00:34:51.359 --> 00:34:54.149
even some karmic interaction between you
00:34:54.159 --> 00:34:56.149
and his higher consciousness will help
00:34:56.159 --> 00:34:58.310
to uplift you to some degree. That kind
00:34:58.320 --> 00:35:00.150
of thing, which I would assume is
00:35:00.160 --> 00:35:04.790
largely missing from uh like a robot
00:35:04.800 --> 00:35:06.550
monk.
00:35:06.560 --> 00:35:08.790
you know, they they can mimic it. You
00:35:08.800 --> 00:35:10.390
know, you can get some of the effects of
00:35:10.400 --> 00:35:14.470
that, but still, I mean, that's that's
00:35:14.480 --> 00:35:16.390
kind of a philosophical or metaphysical
00:35:16.400 --> 00:35:19.109
question. You know, are you better off
00:35:19.119 --> 00:35:22.630
with an omnisient robot or an actual
00:35:22.640 --> 00:35:27.670
omnisient sage who has sort of
00:35:27.680 --> 00:35:30.710
actually conscious?
00:35:30.720 --> 00:35:32.150
And I would guess you'd get more benefit
00:35:32.160 --> 00:35:34.550
from an actual human. Although I mean I
00:35:34.560 --> 00:35:37.030
wouldn't completely reject
00:35:37.040 --> 00:35:38.950
resorting to an AI for information. I
00:35:38.960 --> 00:35:41.750
have resorted to AI uh with regard to
00:35:41.760 --> 00:35:43.829
information with regard to Buddhism. I
00:35:43.839 --> 00:35:46.230
can't recall any questions I asked
00:35:46.240 --> 00:35:47.829
offhand
00:35:47.839 --> 00:35:53.750
but still I'm pretty sure I have.
00:35:53.760 --> 00:35:57.109
So with regard to Buddhoid,
00:35:57.119 --> 00:35:59.589
um with regard to just basic information
00:35:59.599 --> 00:36:01.510
on Buddhism,
00:36:01.520 --> 00:36:05.510
um it could be reliable, but still I
00:36:05.520 --> 00:36:08.550
think I would I would prefer an actual
00:36:08.560 --> 00:36:15.270
Zen master or some such to a robot.
00:36:15.280 --> 00:36:16.150
And I'm just going to move on to the
00:36:16.160 --> 00:36:19.030
next question. This is from Romeo.
00:36:19.040 --> 00:36:21.670
And Romeo says, "I've always had an
00:36:21.680 --> 00:36:23.910
extreme aversion." I'm going to make
00:36:23.920 --> 00:36:27.349
sure we're uh Yeah, we are recording
00:36:27.359 --> 00:36:31.109
36 minutes. Romeo says, "I've always had
00:36:31.119 --> 00:36:34.069
an extreme aversion, a squeamish disgust
00:36:34.079 --> 00:36:36.550
of all things related to physical death
00:36:36.560 --> 00:36:39.990
and decay. Psychologically, I am fairly
00:36:40.000 --> 00:36:42.230
accepting of the fact that I and the
00:36:42.240 --> 00:36:44.550
people I love are eventually going to
00:36:44.560 --> 00:36:47.349
decay and die." Yeah, you're decaying
00:36:47.359 --> 00:36:50.390
now. really in slow motion. It's the
00:36:50.400 --> 00:36:53.109
actual physical witnessing of death and
00:36:53.119 --> 00:36:56.470
decay, the associated sights and smells
00:36:56.480 --> 00:36:59.430
that freaks me out.
00:36:59.440 --> 00:37:00.950
Uh, okay. That's not actually a
00:37:00.960 --> 00:37:02.790
question. There's no question mark
00:37:02.800 --> 00:37:04.710
there. So, I think I'm just going to
00:37:04.720 --> 00:37:06.710
have to link that up to the next
00:37:06.720 --> 00:37:10.710
paragraph. One moment, please. Okay. He
00:37:10.720 --> 00:37:13.589
continues, "In Buddhism, I know that it
00:37:13.599 --> 00:37:15.829
is recommended that one confronts death
00:37:15.839 --> 00:37:17.990
and decay both mentally through inner
00:37:18.000 --> 00:37:20.470
contemplation and meditation as well as
00:37:20.480 --> 00:37:23.430
physically by visiting charal fields and
00:37:23.440 --> 00:37:25.990
such. If I'm not mistaken, I vaguely
00:37:26.000 --> 00:37:28.150
recall you mentioning in a past Q&A that
00:37:28.160 --> 00:37:31.270
you visited a morg. I'm wondering if you
00:37:31.280 --> 00:37:33.990
could recount your experience and inner
00:37:34.000 --> 00:37:36.950
reactions while at the morg and charal
00:37:36.960 --> 00:37:39.109
fields if you ever visited any as well
00:37:39.119 --> 00:37:41.510
as give any specific suggestions on how
00:37:41.520 --> 00:37:43.829
I may be able to overcome my strong
00:37:43.839 --> 00:37:45.910
disgust and aversion to physical death
00:37:45.920 --> 00:37:48.710
and decay. Also, what did the Buddha say
00:37:48.720 --> 00:37:51.349
about death and decay and how to best
00:37:51.359 --> 00:37:53.750
manage any associated aversion we may
00:37:53.760 --> 00:37:55.430
have to it? So, that's here we got
00:37:55.440 --> 00:37:58.069
another question. So, I divided up the
00:37:58.079 --> 00:38:01.510
questions incorrectly apparently.
00:38:01.520 --> 00:38:04.230
Okay. Well, with regard to my visit to
00:38:04.240 --> 00:38:07.030
the Mandalay City Morg, as it turns out,
00:38:07.040 --> 00:38:09.910
my new book, which just got published a
00:38:09.920 --> 00:38:12.630
week or so ago, has a chapter called In
00:38:12.640 --> 00:38:14.950
Search of Death. And I may have actually
00:38:14.960 --> 00:38:17.910
read that in a YouTube video few years
00:38:17.920 --> 00:38:19.829
back.
00:38:19.839 --> 00:38:22.310
Um, so I mean, you might be able to to
00:38:22.320 --> 00:38:24.550
look that up.
00:38:24.560 --> 00:38:27.750
um in search of death on under my
00:38:27.760 --> 00:38:29.910
channel. You might find me just reading
00:38:29.920 --> 00:38:33.829
that essay. And um
00:38:33.839 --> 00:38:35.910
yeah, it is it is in the new book. It's
00:38:35.920 --> 00:38:37.510
it's a chapter called In Search of
00:38:37.520 --> 00:38:41.030
Death, recounting my experiences with
00:38:41.040 --> 00:38:43.030
searching for death. Because in in
00:38:43.040 --> 00:38:46.310
America, you don't see dead dead bodies
00:38:46.320 --> 00:38:48.310
that much. You know, it's like you might
00:38:48.320 --> 00:38:50.390
go to a funeral with an open casket
00:38:50.400 --> 00:38:52.790
funeral and you'll see somebody who
00:38:52.800 --> 00:38:54.390
looks healthier than when they were
00:38:54.400 --> 00:38:56.950
alive with like makeup on and like
00:38:56.960 --> 00:38:59.670
manicured and everything.
00:38:59.680 --> 00:39:02.069
Um, you know, it's like in the West you
00:39:02.079 --> 00:39:03.510
try to conceal death. I mean, you can
00:39:03.520 --> 00:39:05.030
have people like exploding and having
00:39:05.040 --> 00:39:06.790
their heads chopped off in slow motion
00:39:06.800 --> 00:39:09.030
and splatter and everything. some in
00:39:09.040 --> 00:39:11.109
some more recent movies, there'll even
00:39:11.119 --> 00:39:13.430
be like gore splattered onto the camera
00:39:13.440 --> 00:39:17.829
lens for some some more realistic effect
00:39:17.839 --> 00:39:21.109
or some such.
00:39:21.119 --> 00:39:24.069
Um, so there's like fake death, but
00:39:24.079 --> 00:39:26.550
actual death, it's like soon as somebody
00:39:26.560 --> 00:39:28.630
dies, you just throw the blanket or the
00:39:28.640 --> 00:39:30.870
sheet over their head and get them out
00:39:30.880 --> 00:39:32.630
of the way, you know, remove them
00:39:32.640 --> 00:39:34.150
immediately.
00:39:34.160 --> 00:39:37.430
So that coming across like an actual
00:39:37.440 --> 00:39:39.589
cadaavver
00:39:39.599 --> 00:39:41.510
um unless you're maybe in medical school
00:39:41.520 --> 00:39:43.670
or a hospital or something is relatively
00:39:43.680 --> 00:39:47.030
rare or you're like a a first responder
00:39:47.040 --> 00:39:49.349
that kind of thing
00:39:49.359 --> 00:39:51.589
but the average person really does not
00:39:51.599 --> 00:39:54.230
encounter it very much. So I mean before
00:39:54.240 --> 00:39:57.030
I became a monk I had never seen up
00:39:57.040 --> 00:40:02.069
close in person a a dead human body.
00:40:02.079 --> 00:40:05.670
Um when I became a monk, I was told that
00:40:05.680 --> 00:40:08.870
um in Asia, like in Thailand and Burma,
00:40:08.880 --> 00:40:10.550
you can monks can actually go and
00:40:10.560 --> 00:40:14.950
observe autopsies. So I tried that um in
00:40:14.960 --> 00:40:16.630
Boulder Creek, California, which was
00:40:16.640 --> 00:40:20.230
where I was ordained. And there was like
00:40:20.240 --> 00:40:22.150
the the coroner or the coroner's
00:40:22.160 --> 00:40:24.550
assistant, the coroner's secretary. I
00:40:24.560 --> 00:40:26.150
can't remember exactly who it was. You
00:40:26.160 --> 00:40:27.910
know, when I asked if it would be
00:40:27.920 --> 00:40:29.990
possible for a small group of monks to
00:40:30.000 --> 00:40:33.670
come and observe an autopsy, and it was
00:40:33.680 --> 00:40:35.750
there was just in this voice of lead.
00:40:35.760 --> 00:40:37.910
They just said, "I wouldn't advise it or
00:40:37.920 --> 00:40:39.829
I wouldn't recommend it." You know, it
00:40:39.839 --> 00:40:41.589
was like that was going nowhere.
00:40:41.599 --> 00:40:44.630
Obviously, they obviously had no desire
00:40:44.640 --> 00:40:47.990
for monks to come and see an autopsy. So
00:40:48.000 --> 00:40:50.390
the first dead bodies I saw were in
00:40:50.400 --> 00:40:54.150
India. I actually had to seek out dead
00:40:54.160 --> 00:40:56.150
bodies. I went to the burning gats in
00:40:56.160 --> 00:40:58.550
Baronasi where you know where the the
00:40:58.560 --> 00:41:01.510
corpses are famously burned. And uh
00:41:01.520 --> 00:41:04.069
that's all described in the in the essay
00:41:04.079 --> 00:41:07.349
in my new book that I'm shamelessly
00:41:07.359 --> 00:41:10.470
promoting right now.
00:41:10.480 --> 00:41:12.150
And it's it's kind of weird. You know,
00:41:12.160 --> 00:41:16.069
you see weird stuff like the that the
00:41:16.079 --> 00:41:18.550
burning gats, you know, it's like the
00:41:18.560 --> 00:41:20.630
bodies are wrapped up in in like a a
00:41:20.640 --> 00:41:23.190
white shroud, maybe the bare feet
00:41:23.200 --> 00:41:25.030
sticking out, and they they're put onto
00:41:25.040 --> 00:41:29.030
this funeral p. And at some point when
00:41:29.040 --> 00:41:31.430
the the leg the knee tendons burn
00:41:31.440 --> 00:41:34.390
through, the the the corpse burners who
00:41:34.400 --> 00:41:36.870
have this big stick will like knock the
00:41:36.880 --> 00:41:40.150
the feet, you know, up. I It's like you
00:41:40.160 --> 00:41:42.550
got the foot like How do I do this? Like
00:41:42.560 --> 00:41:45.190
this? It bends up like this. You know,
00:41:45.200 --> 00:41:47.349
it's like the knee is bending in exactly
00:41:47.359 --> 00:41:49.270
the wrong way when they're knocking it
00:41:49.280 --> 00:41:52.069
over. So that like the feet can burn,
00:41:52.079 --> 00:41:53.589
too, because at first the feet are
00:41:53.599 --> 00:41:55.430
sticking out.
00:41:55.440 --> 00:41:58.710
And just watching legs bend exactly the
00:41:58.720 --> 00:42:00.470
wrong way like that. I mean, it was
00:42:00.480 --> 00:42:03.270
really a jolt. And then at a little
00:42:03.280 --> 00:42:05.589
later stage, the the guy will use the
00:42:05.599 --> 00:42:09.190
same stick and will just smash the skull
00:42:09.200 --> 00:42:11.750
and the brains just come out into the
00:42:11.760 --> 00:42:13.910
fire and start sizzling like gray
00:42:13.920 --> 00:42:19.030
scrambled eggs. And you know, most guys,
00:42:19.040 --> 00:42:20.550
I mean, your brain is your second
00:42:20.560 --> 00:42:22.950
favorite organ. You know, it's like I'm
00:42:22.960 --> 00:42:25.510
I'm generally a relatively brainoriented
00:42:25.520 --> 00:42:28.470
person. So seeing that, I mean, that was
00:42:28.480 --> 00:42:30.470
that's kind of like a shock. It's like a
00:42:30.480 --> 00:42:33.190
cognitive shock to see that sort of
00:42:33.200 --> 00:42:35.030
thing.
00:42:35.040 --> 00:42:36.710
And then but the weird thing is that
00:42:36.720 --> 00:42:38.870
like the children of the corpse burners,
00:42:38.880 --> 00:42:40.390
you know, it's like a cast or something
00:42:40.400 --> 00:42:42.309
in India
00:42:42.319 --> 00:42:44.309
that the children they're just running
00:42:44.319 --> 00:42:45.750
around playing and giggling. They're
00:42:45.760 --> 00:42:47.589
playing tag and running running between
00:42:47.599 --> 00:42:49.510
the the burning corpses and this sort of
00:42:49.520 --> 00:42:51.030
thing.
00:42:51.040 --> 00:42:52.710
This it's just kind of strange that
00:42:52.720 --> 00:42:55.190
people can get used to anything.
00:42:55.200 --> 00:42:57.910
And then finally when I was in Mandalay,
00:42:57.920 --> 00:43:00.470
I wanted to see an autopsy. I was and
00:43:00.480 --> 00:43:02.950
there was a a little medical there was a
00:43:02.960 --> 00:43:04.870
little hospital right across the street
00:43:04.880 --> 00:43:06.790
from this big school monastery I stayed
00:43:06.800 --> 00:43:10.069
at, Mahag Gandong. And I knew the like
00:43:10.079 --> 00:43:11.510
the chief medical officer there. You
00:43:11.520 --> 00:43:14.309
know, the main doctor there, Dr. Kin
00:43:14.319 --> 00:43:18.230
Mong Mong, I think was his name. And you
00:43:18.240 --> 00:43:19.349
know, I asked him, "Could I see an
00:43:19.359 --> 00:43:20.710
autopsy if you ever do it?" And he's
00:43:20.720 --> 00:43:22.150
like, "Oh, yes, yes, yes. That's no
00:43:22.160 --> 00:43:23.829
problem at all." But he he never showed
00:43:23.839 --> 00:43:25.990
me one. It was just like he he'd just
00:43:26.000 --> 00:43:28.390
keep saying like, "Oh, yes, yes, yes."
00:43:28.400 --> 00:43:30.390
And and then he'd make excuses like,
00:43:30.400 --> 00:43:32.230
"Well, the last one they were hit by a
00:43:32.240 --> 00:43:33.750
train and it was pretty messy. I didn't
00:43:33.760 --> 00:43:35.829
want to expose you to that one." But it
00:43:35.839 --> 00:43:38.870
just in over a year he just never got
00:43:38.880 --> 00:43:43.030
around to it. So, um, finally I heard
00:43:43.040 --> 00:43:46.470
that, oh no, finally what happened or
00:43:46.480 --> 00:43:48.309
almost finally it was a monk friend of
00:43:48.319 --> 00:43:50.390
mine, a Burmese monk friend of mine and
00:43:50.400 --> 00:43:53.430
I went to the Mandandalay City Morg to
00:43:53.440 --> 00:43:55.589
ask for permission to see an autopsy.
00:43:55.599 --> 00:43:57.510
And when we first got there, it was just
00:43:57.520 --> 00:44:00.230
like a janitor there. So, he I mean, he
00:44:00.240 --> 00:44:01.670
was like at the bottom of the totem
00:44:01.680 --> 00:44:03.829
pole. He didn't care. is you find out in
00:44:03.839 --> 00:44:05.670
Burma that anyone in an intermediate
00:44:05.680 --> 00:44:07.430
level of authority, they're scared
00:44:07.440 --> 00:44:09.510
shitless of making any kind of unusual
00:44:09.520 --> 00:44:11.510
decisions because their heads will roll
00:44:11.520 --> 00:44:13.829
if they mess up. The people at the top
00:44:13.839 --> 00:44:15.589
have nothing to fear. The people at the
00:44:15.599 --> 00:44:17.430
bottom really don't have much to fear.
00:44:17.440 --> 00:44:18.870
It's just sort of the mid-level
00:44:18.880 --> 00:44:21.430
bureaucrats and so forth. They don't
00:44:21.440 --> 00:44:23.589
want to do anything that might get them
00:44:23.599 --> 00:44:26.470
into trouble. So, this this guy was just
00:44:26.480 --> 00:44:28.150
a janitor. He just kind of smiles and
00:44:28.160 --> 00:44:29.910
waves us in. And there's like dead
00:44:29.920 --> 00:44:33.829
bodies on slabs on tables.
00:44:33.839 --> 00:44:37.270
And about half of the corpses were young
00:44:37.280 --> 00:44:39.829
men who had been stabbed in some sort of
00:44:39.839 --> 00:44:41.670
altercation.
00:44:41.680 --> 00:44:43.910
Um I went into the the cold room. Most
00:44:43.920 --> 00:44:45.990
of it I mean the the Mandandalay City
00:44:46.000 --> 00:44:48.550
Morg I mean it was most of it was didn't
00:44:48.560 --> 00:44:50.710
even have electricity really, you know.
00:44:50.720 --> 00:44:53.349
It was is the windows were open. There's
00:44:53.359 --> 00:44:56.150
flies everywhere. Puddles of goop on the
00:44:56.160 --> 00:44:59.990
floor. I was barefoot as a monk,
00:45:00.000 --> 00:45:02.390
but the the cold room was actually
00:45:02.400 --> 00:45:04.069
refrigerated. So, we went in there and
00:45:04.079 --> 00:45:06.950
one of the first things I see is there's
00:45:06.960 --> 00:45:11.030
a body on the floor that obviously had
00:45:11.040 --> 00:45:13.190
just undergone a full autopsy. You know,
00:45:13.200 --> 00:45:15.030
the top of the skull was just missing.
00:45:15.040 --> 00:45:16.870
There's like a little puddle of pink goo
00:45:16.880 --> 00:45:19.750
where the brain was supposed to be. And
00:45:19.760 --> 00:45:22.630
there was another body on a rack right
00:45:22.640 --> 00:45:25.829
next to to the this exploded body.
00:45:25.839 --> 00:45:27.589
looked like he swallowed a hand grenade
00:45:27.599 --> 00:45:30.470
and his hand was in this bucket of gop
00:45:30.480 --> 00:45:32.069
that probably came out of the guy that
00:45:32.079 --> 00:45:34.950
had the whole autopsy done. And that
00:45:34.960 --> 00:45:37.270
just seemed so wrong to me. It was it
00:45:37.280 --> 00:45:39.990
was one of those jolts. It's like even
00:45:40.000 --> 00:45:41.670
though he's dead, at least he should get
00:45:41.680 --> 00:45:44.390
his hand out of that GOP.
00:45:44.400 --> 00:45:45.829
And then right on the other side there
00:45:45.839 --> 00:45:48.950
was another rack with two dead babies.
00:45:48.960 --> 00:45:51.430
And then there was like a a teenage girl
00:45:51.440 --> 00:45:54.470
who was or what used to be a teenage
00:45:54.480 --> 00:45:56.550
girl that was naked from the waist down.
00:45:56.560 --> 00:45:58.790
I just immediately just had to look the
00:45:58.800 --> 00:46:00.870
other way.
00:46:00.880 --> 00:46:03.829
The the male mind can be perverse and I
00:46:03.839 --> 00:46:07.750
didn't want to take any chances of that.
00:46:07.760 --> 00:46:09.430
So
00:46:09.440 --> 00:46:11.990
anyways, the coroner wasn't there. So,
00:46:12.000 --> 00:46:14.790
we went to talk to the coroner
00:46:14.800 --> 00:46:17.430
and he says, "Well, I mean, this is
00:46:17.440 --> 00:46:20.710
midlevel bureaucrat territory here." He
00:46:20.720 --> 00:46:22.470
says, "In order to get permission to see
00:46:22.480 --> 00:46:23.990
an autopsy, you have to get permission
00:46:24.000 --> 00:46:25.510
from the medical superintendent, you
00:46:25.520 --> 00:46:27.750
know, like the the the person who was in
00:46:27.760 --> 00:46:30.790
charge of the whole hospital." So, we go
00:46:30.800 --> 00:46:33.510
to see him next and I mean, we don't
00:46:33.520 --> 00:46:35.030
even get to meet him. It's just the
00:46:35.040 --> 00:46:37.270
secretary tells us, you know, goes in
00:46:37.280 --> 00:46:38.870
and talks to him, comes back out and
00:46:38.880 --> 00:46:40.630
says, "In order to see an autopsy,
00:46:40.640 --> 00:46:42.069
you're going to have to get permission
00:46:42.079 --> 00:46:45.589
from uh it was like the Mandandalay the
00:46:45.599 --> 00:46:47.829
the like the what was he called? Like
00:46:47.839 --> 00:46:50.470
the governor of Mandandalay division.
00:46:50.480 --> 00:46:52.150
And this is just a way of passing the
00:46:52.160 --> 00:46:53.589
buck. This is sort of like being polite
00:46:53.599 --> 00:46:55.349
in Burmese culture. You don't just say
00:46:55.359 --> 00:46:57.109
no. You just say, "Well, you're just
00:46:57.119 --> 00:46:58.470
going to have to go and get permission
00:46:58.480 --> 00:46:59.990
from somebody else." You know, they're
00:47:00.000 --> 00:47:02.150
just passing the buck. I mean, in all
00:47:02.160 --> 00:47:03.270
likelihood, they're just saying, "Hell
00:47:03.280 --> 00:47:04.790
no, you can't see an autopsy. What are
00:47:04.800 --> 00:47:06.710
you stupid?" But they can't say that.
00:47:06.720 --> 00:47:08.710
That's not polite. So, they say, "If you
00:47:08.720 --> 00:47:11.270
get permission from the governor,
00:47:11.280 --> 00:47:14.230
then we'll let you see an autopsy." But
00:47:14.240 --> 00:47:16.710
karma works in mysterious ways. And I
00:47:16.720 --> 00:47:18.550
was living in a big school monastery.
00:47:18.560 --> 00:47:20.390
There was when I spent the reigns
00:47:20.400 --> 00:47:22.069
retreat there, there were 600 monks and
00:47:22.079 --> 00:47:24.710
like 900 novices all living there. There
00:47:24.720 --> 00:47:28.470
was a maha. I think my my pre not my
00:47:28.480 --> 00:47:32.230
preceptor my acharia there was he was
00:47:32.240 --> 00:47:35.670
like co-abbott of the whole place and he
00:47:35.680 --> 00:47:37.829
had the title the ecclesiastical title
00:47:37.839 --> 00:47:41.829
of ega maha gantika pandita
00:47:41.839 --> 00:47:43.670
which would be like a you know at least
00:47:43.680 --> 00:47:46.309
a twostar general in going with military
00:47:46.319 --> 00:47:48.630
rank going with the you know the state's
00:47:48.640 --> 00:47:51.990
ecclesiastical hierarchy and so I found
00:47:52.000 --> 00:47:55.190
out who was going to come visiting my
00:47:55.200 --> 00:47:58.630
acharia coming to the monastery. But the
00:47:58.640 --> 00:48:00.870
governor of Mandandalay division. So I
00:48:00.880 --> 00:48:04.069
went to my my teacher, you know, this my
00:48:04.079 --> 00:48:06.069
my acharia,
00:48:06.079 --> 00:48:07.829
he asked me if I wanted anything. I
00:48:07.839 --> 00:48:09.349
said, when when the governor of
00:48:09.359 --> 00:48:11.109
Mandandalay division comes, could you
00:48:11.119 --> 00:48:13.670
please ask him if if I can be permitted
00:48:13.680 --> 00:48:15.750
to see an autopsy?
00:48:15.760 --> 00:48:17.829
And so he was kind of takenback by that
00:48:17.839 --> 00:48:19.430
because most Burmese monks don't want to
00:48:19.440 --> 00:48:22.390
see autopsies, but he he he did it. And
00:48:22.400 --> 00:48:25.510
it was like 2 days later. Suddenly this
00:48:25.520 --> 00:48:27.829
hospital car just drives right up say,
00:48:27.839 --> 00:48:30.549
"Okay, let's go see an autopsy." And I
00:48:30.559 --> 00:48:32.470
had just eaten lunch and it was the
00:48:32.480 --> 00:48:34.470
beginning of the hot season and it's all
00:48:34.480 --> 00:48:36.630
hot and sweaty and I'm thinking, "Oh,
00:48:36.640 --> 00:48:38.710
great. I'm I've got a full stomach. I'm
00:48:38.720 --> 00:48:40.069
going to see an autopsy for the first
00:48:40.079 --> 00:48:42.390
time in my life. I'm having these these
00:48:42.400 --> 00:48:44.950
mental images of just like blowing
00:48:44.960 --> 00:48:48.950
cookies all over the the morg, you know.
00:48:48.960 --> 00:48:51.510
Also, I knew of this one abbott, this
00:48:51.520 --> 00:48:53.829
Burmese Abbott, I won't say his name,
00:48:53.839 --> 00:48:55.589
but he went to an autopsy and actually
00:48:55.599 --> 00:48:57.910
fainted,
00:48:57.920 --> 00:49:00.870
but I went and uh my friend that I went
00:49:00.880 --> 00:49:03.990
with the first time went and uh it was
00:49:04.000 --> 00:49:05.510
actually I mean I have a degree in
00:49:05.520 --> 00:49:08.230
biology, so I mean it's I don't look
00:49:08.240 --> 00:49:11.670
upon an autopsy as at least I learned
00:49:11.680 --> 00:49:14.870
that I do not look at an autopsy as just
00:49:14.880 --> 00:49:17.270
sort of indicative of human foulness.
00:49:17.280 --> 00:49:19.430
It's just kind of like a miracle. It's a
00:49:19.440 --> 00:49:22.150
miracle of of like biological
00:49:22.160 --> 00:49:24.790
engineering, how the human body works. I
00:49:24.800 --> 00:49:26.549
mean, there are certain parts of it that
00:49:26.559 --> 00:49:28.069
were kind of weird. It's they did an
00:49:28.079 --> 00:49:33.030
autopsy on a person um he died in the
00:49:33.040 --> 00:49:35.750
the emergency room before a doctor could
00:49:35.760 --> 00:49:38.230
examine him. And and it was just
00:49:38.240 --> 00:49:40.549
hospital policy. If somebody dies before
00:49:40.559 --> 00:49:42.150
they can be examined, you have to do an
00:49:42.160 --> 00:49:43.829
autopsy on them to see what the cause of
00:49:43.839 --> 00:49:48.150
death was. And so it was a young guy and
00:49:48.160 --> 00:49:51.910
um the uh what is it? Not the prognosis.
00:49:51.920 --> 00:49:55.270
The diagnosis I guess was that I mean
00:49:55.280 --> 00:49:56.790
the prognosis that he was just going to
00:49:56.800 --> 00:49:58.549
stay dead.
00:49:58.559 --> 00:50:01.430
The diagnosis was that apparently he
00:50:01.440 --> 00:50:04.950
died of of um like pneumonia like
00:50:04.960 --> 00:50:06.470
symptoms. He had a lot of fluid in his
00:50:06.480 --> 00:50:09.750
lungs which was also he had like an
00:50:09.760 --> 00:50:13.190
enlarged spleen. So the the coroner just
00:50:13.200 --> 00:50:15.750
came to the conclusion he died of a kind
00:50:15.760 --> 00:50:19.190
of pneumonia that was a complication of
00:50:19.200 --> 00:50:21.349
chronic malaria
00:50:21.359 --> 00:50:22.950
that chronic malaria causes an
00:50:22.960 --> 00:50:24.710
enlargement of the spleen because the
00:50:24.720 --> 00:50:27.750
spleen makes red blood cells. Malaria is
00:50:27.760 --> 00:50:29.510
essentially a disease of the red blood
00:50:29.520 --> 00:50:32.150
cells. Parasites destroying your red
00:50:32.160 --> 00:50:34.069
blood cells.
00:50:34.079 --> 00:50:36.390
But one thing I mean he very obligingly
00:50:36.400 --> 00:50:38.150
just took off the top of the skull and
00:50:38.160 --> 00:50:40.309
everything. told me I could handle
00:50:40.319 --> 00:50:42.470
anything I wanted except the gloves were
00:50:42.480 --> 00:50:44.470
way too small to fit me. So, I didn't
00:50:44.480 --> 00:50:45.990
want to be like picking up stuff,
00:50:46.000 --> 00:50:47.510
especially when you don't know yet why
00:50:47.520 --> 00:50:49.990
he died. You know, it could be typhoid
00:50:50.000 --> 00:50:52.630
or something. But, I did poke at the
00:50:52.640 --> 00:50:54.549
brain a little bit and it's it's kind of
00:50:54.559 --> 00:50:57.589
amazing this I didn't fully realize just
00:50:57.599 --> 00:50:59.510
how soft the human brain is. I mean,
00:50:59.520 --> 00:51:01.510
it's like overripe avocado or like
00:51:01.520 --> 00:51:03.910
custard or something. I was kind of
00:51:03.920 --> 00:51:05.670
poking at it with a probe. I wasn't
00:51:05.680 --> 00:51:08.549
touching it with my hands. And another
00:51:08.559 --> 00:51:10.950
thing that really stood out was
00:51:10.960 --> 00:51:16.309
subcutaneous fat is it's like partially
00:51:16.319 --> 00:51:19.829
melted bright orange Velvita cheese like
00:51:19.839 --> 00:51:21.910
looking stuff.
00:51:21.920 --> 00:51:25.910
So that for a long time um I I think
00:51:25.920 --> 00:51:28.549
about like the the voluupuous curves of
00:51:28.559 --> 00:51:31.750
a of a a female body and think that
00:51:31.760 --> 00:51:33.510
those curves are rounded out by this
00:51:33.520 --> 00:51:37.270
partially melted Vita cheese stuff.
00:51:37.280 --> 00:51:40.309
But um afterwards, I think it was
00:51:40.319 --> 00:51:42.309
actually after I just did the tour of
00:51:42.319 --> 00:51:45.190
the the morg the first time that when I
00:51:45.200 --> 00:51:47.430
came out, it was bright sunshine and
00:51:47.440 --> 00:51:49.270
there's like kids playing and there's
00:51:49.280 --> 00:51:52.230
some young guy like flirting with some
00:51:52.240 --> 00:51:54.230
girls and just, you know, teenage girls
00:51:54.240 --> 00:51:55.670
walking along chattering and everything.
00:51:55.680 --> 00:51:58.470
It's like, how can you be this way? Do
00:51:58.480 --> 00:52:00.390
you know what's in there? We're all
00:52:00.400 --> 00:52:03.510
going to die. I just had this I mean it
00:52:03.520 --> 00:52:05.750
was really what was called Samuela in
00:52:05.760 --> 00:52:08.390
Pali. is just this state of spiritual
00:52:08.400 --> 00:52:11.990
urgency. It really did uh have me just
00:52:12.000 --> 00:52:15.670
having this state of spiritual urgency
00:52:15.680 --> 00:52:18.630
looking at death, death, human death
00:52:18.640 --> 00:52:21.030
close up.
00:52:21.040 --> 00:52:23.190
As it turns out, when I went to see the
00:52:23.200 --> 00:52:25.589
the uh went to see the autopsy the first
00:52:25.599 --> 00:52:29.270
time that there were like three inmates
00:52:29.280 --> 00:52:31.510
from a prison that were there and they
00:52:31.520 --> 00:52:34.390
looked like they I mean they looked like
00:52:34.400 --> 00:52:37.589
concentration camp inmates who just
00:52:37.599 --> 00:52:40.069
starved to death or died of typhus or
00:52:40.079 --> 00:52:41.829
whatever, you know, black teeth and
00:52:41.839 --> 00:52:43.349
their heads shaved and wearing the
00:52:43.359 --> 00:52:47.670
prison outfits and just skin and bones.
00:52:47.680 --> 00:52:49.109
And everyone else was pretending that
00:52:49.119 --> 00:52:50.870
they didn't see them. So, I pretended I
00:52:50.880 --> 00:52:53.990
didn't see him either, but I saw him.
00:52:54.000 --> 00:52:55.670
It's the way it works when you live in a
00:52:55.680 --> 00:52:59.430
military dictatorship, I guess.
00:52:59.440 --> 00:53:01.030
But
00:53:01.040 --> 00:53:02.710
the coroner, I mean, after the the
00:53:02.720 --> 00:53:04.230
governor
00:53:04.240 --> 00:53:06.230
told told everyone that I could see an
00:53:06.240 --> 00:53:07.990
autopsy, he was very obliging and said,
00:53:08.000 --> 00:53:09.589
"If you're not satisfied, you can come
00:53:09.599 --> 00:53:11.430
back and see another one." So, a few
00:53:11.440 --> 00:53:13.270
months later, I came back to see another
00:53:13.280 --> 00:53:16.309
one, and he was just harassed. this this
00:53:16.319 --> 00:53:18.710
coroner. I mean, it was some sort of
00:53:18.720 --> 00:53:21.430
like high-profile murder had happened or
00:53:21.440 --> 00:53:23.430
something and his office is just crowded
00:53:23.440 --> 00:53:25.510
with like police officers and reporters
00:53:25.520 --> 00:53:28.470
and stuff. And he comes out harassed
00:53:28.480 --> 00:53:30.870
already. He sees me and he gets this
00:53:30.880 --> 00:53:32.710
look on his face like he had just sucked
00:53:32.720 --> 00:53:35.589
a particularly bitter lemon.
00:53:35.599 --> 00:53:38.549
And I said, "Well, he said I wasn't
00:53:38.559 --> 00:53:40.870
satisfied. I can see another one." But
00:53:40.880 --> 00:53:42.790
so I saw one more and this was just a
00:53:42.800 --> 00:53:45.030
person that was just found like a like a
00:53:45.040 --> 00:53:47.510
transient like a hobo type that was just
00:53:47.520 --> 00:53:49.589
found dead by the side of the road
00:53:49.599 --> 00:53:51.829
somewhere. He'd already been dead for a
00:53:51.839 --> 00:53:53.750
couple days I think by the time they did
00:53:53.760 --> 00:53:56.150
the autopsy on him with no refrigeration
00:53:56.160 --> 00:54:00.390
keeping him fresh.
00:54:00.400 --> 00:54:02.069
But if you want to know all the details,
00:54:02.079 --> 00:54:05.190
I mean, it's in my my fourth book,
00:54:05.200 --> 00:54:07.829
Memoirs from Myanmar, along with a bunch
00:54:07.839 --> 00:54:11.670
of other stuff. I did see some dead
00:54:11.680 --> 00:54:14.870
human bodies after these experiences in
00:54:14.880 --> 00:54:17.349
Mandandalay in subsequent occasions, but
00:54:17.359 --> 00:54:20.150
we don't need to go there.
00:54:20.160 --> 00:54:23.030
So, let's see here. I'm wondering if you
00:54:23.040 --> 00:54:24.710
could recount your experience and inner
00:54:24.720 --> 00:54:27.910
reactions while at the morg chal fields,
00:54:27.920 --> 00:54:29.270
if you ever visit any. Yeah, they don't
00:54:29.280 --> 00:54:31.589
really have charal fields in in Burma
00:54:31.599 --> 00:54:33.510
that I ever saw. Although they do have
00:54:33.520 --> 00:54:35.270
cemeteries that are kind of scary
00:54:35.280 --> 00:54:37.030
cemeteries, you know, they don't look
00:54:37.040 --> 00:54:39.190
like parks or golf courses like
00:54:39.200 --> 00:54:43.030
cemeteries look in in America that, you
00:54:43.040 --> 00:54:45.829
know, it's just overgrown bushes and
00:54:45.839 --> 00:54:50.150
vines and trees. And um one thing about
00:54:50.160 --> 00:54:52.309
the cemeteries in Burma, especially like
00:54:52.319 --> 00:54:54.630
the village cemeteries, is every once in
00:54:54.640 --> 00:54:57.190
a while you'd see like a lattice work of
00:54:57.200 --> 00:54:59.910
bamboo, like bamboo cut into strips and
00:54:59.920 --> 00:55:03.990
and woven into this kind of a mesh that
00:55:04.000 --> 00:55:05.829
would be lying over the ground. And at
00:55:05.839 --> 00:55:07.430
first I wondered what that was, but then
00:55:07.440 --> 00:55:09.190
I realized it was to keep dogs from
00:55:09.200 --> 00:55:14.230
digging up fresh corpses.
00:55:14.240 --> 00:55:17.589
So let's see here.
00:55:17.599 --> 00:55:21.030
Okay, so that's that's enough memoirs, I
00:55:21.040 --> 00:55:23.510
guess. Let's get to the the other part.
00:55:23.520 --> 00:55:25.349
See, he says, "As well as give any
00:55:25.359 --> 00:55:28.549
specific suggestions on how I may be
00:55:28.559 --> 00:55:31.109
able to overcome my strong disgust and
00:55:31.119 --> 00:55:34.870
aversion to physical death and decay."
00:55:34.880 --> 00:55:36.790
Well, I mean, the the standard Buddhist
00:55:36.800 --> 00:55:39.109
method is just keep exposing yourself to
00:55:39.119 --> 00:55:44.069
it. And ideally it it inspires Samuelga
00:55:44.079 --> 00:55:47.190
or spiritual urgency. But often what
00:55:47.200 --> 00:55:51.030
happens is like I I had got had like a
00:55:51.040 --> 00:55:53.270
human skeleton you know with the the
00:55:53.280 --> 00:55:55.430
bones all articulated you know with
00:55:55.440 --> 00:55:57.910
wires and so forth that somebody donated
00:55:57.920 --> 00:56:00.390
to me and you know it's supposed to be a
00:56:00.400 --> 00:56:02.630
momento mori you know a recollection of
00:56:02.640 --> 00:56:04.870
death but after a while it's just like a
00:56:04.880 --> 00:56:06.950
picture on the wall. you know, you you
00:56:06.960 --> 00:56:09.430
see it hundreds of times until it just
00:56:09.440 --> 00:56:11.030
doesn't even register anymore. It's like
00:56:11.040 --> 00:56:12.309
a part of your brain just kind of
00:56:12.319 --> 00:56:17.910
filters it out as background noise.
00:56:17.920 --> 00:56:19.910
But that would probably be just the
00:56:19.920 --> 00:56:22.470
standard Buddhist approach is kind of
00:56:22.480 --> 00:56:24.870
seek it out and just expose yourself to
00:56:24.880 --> 00:56:28.710
it until you kind of um make your peace
00:56:28.720 --> 00:56:32.309
with it to some degree. I mean, one idea
00:56:32.319 --> 00:56:33.990
that occurred to me is, I mean, if you
00:56:34.000 --> 00:56:38.150
eat meat, just look at a raw steak, you
00:56:38.160 --> 00:56:39.750
know, just pick it up or hold it in your
00:56:39.760 --> 00:56:43.510
hands, this raw raw steak, nice ribeye
00:56:43.520 --> 00:56:46.630
perhaps. And I mean, you've got that
00:56:46.640 --> 00:56:48.549
inside you, you know, I mean, that's
00:56:48.559 --> 00:56:53.270
what you're largely made out of, meat,
00:56:53.280 --> 00:56:56.630
raw meat.
00:56:56.640 --> 00:56:58.390
So yeah, I mean you could do a
00:56:58.400 --> 00:57:00.950
reflection on death. Just hold a raw
00:57:00.960 --> 00:57:04.230
steak in your hands, you know, as this
00:57:04.240 --> 00:57:10.630
is, so am I. As I am, so is this.
00:57:10.640 --> 00:57:12.870
But uh yeah, I mean, in in the modern
00:57:12.880 --> 00:57:17.109
west, exposing yourself to death is
00:57:17.119 --> 00:57:19.670
easier said than done. I mean, you could
00:57:19.680 --> 00:57:22.230
watch movies about it, fake. I mean,
00:57:22.240 --> 00:57:23.910
there's there's some real documentary
00:57:23.920 --> 00:57:26.549
kind of stuff that you could watch,
00:57:26.559 --> 00:57:28.630
but it's really not the same as just
00:57:28.640 --> 00:57:30.549
being right there in the same room
00:57:30.559 --> 00:57:35.829
looking down at it.
00:57:35.839 --> 00:57:37.990
So, let's see here. Oh, yeah. Another
00:57:38.000 --> 00:57:41.589
another little reminisce from that my
00:57:41.599 --> 00:57:43.430
first visit to the morg with the bodies.
00:57:43.440 --> 00:57:45.910
There's um there's a little old lady who
00:57:45.920 --> 00:57:48.150
was lying on one of the tables who was
00:57:48.160 --> 00:57:51.430
dead and she had a because as I say I
00:57:51.440 --> 00:57:53.990
mean there was no refrigeration in in
00:57:54.000 --> 00:57:56.549
this room the main the two main rooms
00:57:56.559 --> 00:58:00.950
and the windows are open flies.
00:58:00.960 --> 00:58:02.710
And there was a fly crawling on this old
00:58:02.720 --> 00:58:04.950
lady's face and it was again one of
00:58:04.960 --> 00:58:07.430
those feelings like even if you're dead
00:58:07.440 --> 00:58:09.109
at least you should like brush the fly
00:58:09.119 --> 00:58:12.069
off your face.
00:58:12.079 --> 00:58:13.990
just it was just this weird cognitive
00:58:14.000 --> 00:58:18.069
dissonance kind of a thing.
00:58:18.079 --> 00:58:19.829
Anyways, let's just uh move on to the
00:58:19.839 --> 00:58:21.829
next part here. Also, what did the
00:58:21.839 --> 00:58:23.750
Buddha say about death and decay and how
00:58:23.760 --> 00:58:25.829
to best manage any associated aversion
00:58:25.839 --> 00:58:26.950
one may have towards it? Yeah, it's
00:58:26.960 --> 00:58:28.549
pretty much what I've already said is
00:58:28.559 --> 00:58:32.150
expose yourself to it.
00:58:32.160 --> 00:58:34.470
But I mean in the west I there no charal
00:58:34.480 --> 00:58:37.670
fields. There's no real battlefields
00:58:37.680 --> 00:58:40.390
where you go and see slain soldiers
00:58:40.400 --> 00:58:43.030
lying all over the ground.
00:58:43.040 --> 00:58:44.789
Although Buddhist monks are supposed to
00:58:44.799 --> 00:58:47.510
avoid battlefields anyway.
00:58:47.520 --> 00:58:49.430
Um
00:58:49.440 --> 00:58:51.030
yeah, I guess it'd be pretty much what
00:58:51.040 --> 00:58:54.230
I've already what I've already advised.
00:58:54.240 --> 00:58:56.069
You know, it's easier said than done in
00:58:56.079 --> 00:58:58.150
the West where death is covered over and
00:58:58.160 --> 00:59:00.630
and hidden away as soon as possible
00:59:00.640 --> 00:59:02.230
because people tend to be freaked out
00:59:02.240 --> 00:59:04.150
about death, which is kind of
00:59:04.160 --> 00:59:05.349
understandable. It's like an animal
00:59:05.359 --> 00:59:07.990
instinct in the human animal and in
00:59:08.000 --> 00:59:10.950
other animals.
00:59:10.960 --> 00:59:13.589
So, what did the Buddha say about death
00:59:13.599 --> 00:59:17.910
and decay? Oh gosh. I'm I'm obviously
00:59:17.920 --> 00:59:20.069
not in the room with the bookcase, but
00:59:20.079 --> 00:59:23.109
there are a number of of sutas in the
00:59:23.119 --> 00:59:25.750
sutin pa that deal with this like the
00:59:25.760 --> 00:59:28.870
jarasuta, the the suta on on old age in
00:59:28.880 --> 00:59:32.069
the atakawaga. There's the salah suta
00:59:32.079 --> 00:59:34.069
which is just about the inevitability of
00:59:34.079 --> 00:59:37.109
death which when I was a monk it was
00:59:37.119 --> 00:59:41.589
sort of like my desire that if I died as
00:59:41.599 --> 00:59:44.950
a monk that the salah suta should be
00:59:44.960 --> 00:59:48.390
recited at my funeral in Pali and in the
00:59:48.400 --> 00:59:51.190
languages of whoever whoever was there.
00:59:51.200 --> 00:59:52.870
You know if there were English speakers
00:59:52.880 --> 00:59:55.910
there recite it in English. Burmese
00:59:55.920 --> 00:59:59.430
speakers there recite it in Burmese. the
00:59:59.440 --> 01:00:01.589
salah suta just the inevitability of
01:00:01.599 --> 01:00:04.069
death just as all clay pots end in
01:00:04.079 --> 01:00:08.470
breaking so this life of ours is I mean
01:00:08.480 --> 01:00:10.870
it's the same or ripe fruit is always
01:00:10.880 --> 01:00:13.829
has the hazard of falling our life is
01:00:13.839 --> 01:00:17.430
the same and you know to grieve is
01:00:17.440 --> 01:00:20.390
futile this kind of thing also there's
01:00:20.400 --> 01:00:22.390
another one the vijaya suta which is
01:00:22.400 --> 01:00:25.030
also in the sutin pata which is mainly
01:00:25.040 --> 01:00:27.829
just a recollection of all the the the
01:00:27.839 --> 01:00:30.789
organs and goop and glop of which we are
01:00:30.799 --> 01:00:33.750
composed. So just in the sutin pad you
01:00:33.760 --> 01:00:35.510
got the jarasuta
01:00:35.520 --> 01:00:40.069
the um the salah suta the thorn the the
01:00:40.079 --> 01:00:43.349
spike and also you got the vijaya suta
01:00:43.359 --> 01:00:46.309
this the the discourse on victory
01:00:46.319 --> 01:00:48.309
and all of those are good reflections on
01:00:48.319 --> 01:00:50.950
death
01:00:50.960 --> 01:00:54.390
but the main way of of kind of facing
01:00:54.400 --> 01:00:59.349
death is to actually find it and face it
01:00:59.359 --> 01:01:03.589
um Romeo I think I don't know I think
01:01:03.599 --> 01:01:08.230
you may have some access to medical
01:01:08.240 --> 01:01:10.789
facilities. So it could be that you
01:01:10.799 --> 01:01:13.990
could actually maybe get some strings
01:01:14.000 --> 01:01:15.990
pulled and and observe an autopsy
01:01:16.000 --> 01:01:17.589
yourself.
01:01:17.599 --> 01:01:20.390
I mean it really does have a spiritual
01:01:20.400 --> 01:01:22.630
effect on a person at least with regard
01:01:22.640 --> 01:01:26.470
to conjuring up some Vega.
01:01:26.480 --> 01:01:27.510
And I'm just going to move on to the
01:01:27.520 --> 01:01:29.190
next question. This is from Stellar
01:01:29.200 --> 01:01:32.390
Supreme, formerly known as Liberlam. And
01:01:32.400 --> 01:01:34.230
Stellar Supreme, formerly known as
01:01:34.240 --> 01:01:37.510
Liberlam, says, "Our unh wholesome
01:01:37.520 --> 01:01:40.150
intentions the same as intentions that
01:01:40.160 --> 01:01:42.789
have bad results,
01:01:42.799 --> 01:01:45.270
sort of like being willful rather than
01:01:45.280 --> 01:01:48.789
having the wrong moral reasoning. I feel
01:01:48.799 --> 01:01:50.630
westerners often put mental
01:01:50.640 --> 01:01:53.750
justification above consequentialism,
01:01:53.760 --> 01:01:56.230
which leads to that latter approach of
01:01:56.240 --> 01:01:57.910
deferring to whether something was
01:01:57.920 --> 01:02:00.789
reasoned out well enough. And Stellar
01:02:00.799 --> 01:02:04.630
Supreme has this weird, convoluted,
01:02:04.640 --> 01:02:07.510
abstract way of thinking that makes his
01:02:07.520 --> 01:02:09.030
statements
01:02:09.040 --> 01:02:11.829
sometimes almost unintelligible. and
01:02:11.839 --> 01:02:13.910
other people on the Discord server have
01:02:13.920 --> 01:02:16.470
made similar comments that I mean it's
01:02:16.480 --> 01:02:19.030
like he's almost trying
01:02:19.040 --> 01:02:22.950
not to be easy to understand.
01:02:22.960 --> 01:02:26.230
So let's get back to this um because I
01:02:26.240 --> 01:02:28.870
do not fully understand this question.
01:02:28.880 --> 01:02:31.750
Are unh wholesome intentions the same as
01:02:31.760 --> 01:02:34.870
intentions that have bad results? That
01:02:34.880 --> 01:02:37.670
part I understand. And then he tries to
01:02:37.680 --> 01:02:40.470
clarify and muddies the waters in his
01:02:40.480 --> 01:02:42.870
clarification. He says sort of like
01:02:42.880 --> 01:02:45.190
being willful rather than having the
01:02:45.200 --> 01:02:48.150
wrong moral reasoning.
01:02:48.160 --> 01:02:52.230
And I think I can just let's just try
01:02:52.240 --> 01:02:55.270
and thrust away from us this
01:02:55.280 --> 01:02:57.510
clarification that doesn't clarify but
01:02:57.520 --> 01:03:01.990
actually um it makes it less clear. So
01:03:02.000 --> 01:03:04.390
that's just the the whole question that
01:03:04.400 --> 01:03:06.390
I'm going to attend to. I'm going to try
01:03:06.400 --> 01:03:08.870
to answer. Are unh wholesome intentions
01:03:08.880 --> 01:03:10.789
the same as intentions that have bad
01:03:10.799 --> 01:03:13.270
results?
01:03:13.280 --> 01:03:15.829
Well, I mean unh wholesome intentions
01:03:15.839 --> 01:03:19.109
necessarily have bad karmic results.
01:03:19.119 --> 01:03:21.190
With regard to
01:03:21.200 --> 01:03:25.109
um like bad results out there, like you
01:03:25.119 --> 01:03:26.470
try to do the right thing, you're
01:03:26.480 --> 01:03:29.349
motivated by compassion or some such.
01:03:29.359 --> 01:03:31.670
Let's say you're a surgeon. You're
01:03:31.680 --> 01:03:34.390
trying to save somebody's life, but it
01:03:34.400 --> 01:03:36.390
doesn't work and the person dies, which
01:03:36.400 --> 01:03:38.549
would could be called a bad result.
01:03:38.559 --> 01:03:40.789
Well, the surgeon really hasn't done
01:03:40.799 --> 01:03:43.750
anything morally wrong by trying to save
01:03:43.760 --> 01:03:46.390
this person's life and failing unless
01:03:46.400 --> 01:03:49.109
they were just like negligent. You know,
01:03:49.119 --> 01:03:52.870
this malpractice kind of stuff.
01:03:52.880 --> 01:03:56.789
So the bad results are not some sort of
01:03:56.799 --> 01:03:59.349
like materialistic out there bad
01:03:59.359 --> 01:04:02.390
results. The bad results are with within
01:04:02.400 --> 01:04:06.549
your own mind. You know bad karmic
01:04:06.559 --> 01:04:08.789
results. So the unh wholesome intention
01:04:08.799 --> 01:04:11.829
is a kind of poisoned intention that in
01:04:11.839 --> 01:04:15.589
a sense poisons your mind from the unh
01:04:15.599 --> 01:04:18.390
wholesome intention. It's not like the
01:04:18.400 --> 01:04:22.069
consequences of the action out there.
01:04:22.079 --> 01:04:24.549
And we were kind of discussing this to
01:04:24.559 --> 01:04:28.230
some degree um in a pre the previous Q&A
01:04:28.240 --> 01:04:30.630
about just the ethics of eating meat.
01:04:30.640 --> 01:04:33.190
The ethics of eating meat are not you
01:04:33.200 --> 01:04:36.630
know it's like based on you know
01:04:36.640 --> 01:04:40.309
indirect results out there.
01:04:40.319 --> 01:04:42.470
It's just what effect does it have on
01:04:42.480 --> 01:04:44.630
your own consciousness or your own
01:04:44.640 --> 01:04:46.630
mental states.
01:04:46.640 --> 01:04:49.910
That's the the the like the wholesome or
01:04:49.920 --> 01:04:53.750
unh wholesome quality of an intention is
01:04:53.760 --> 01:04:56.390
I mean is it motivated by greed, hate
01:04:56.400 --> 01:04:59.349
and or delusion? I mean is it taking you
01:04:59.359 --> 01:05:01.430
farther from enlightenment instead of
01:05:01.440 --> 01:05:04.549
closer to it? If it takes you closer to
01:05:04.559 --> 01:05:06.950
enlightenment, closer to fewess of
01:05:06.960 --> 01:05:10.150
desires, you know, equinimity,
01:05:10.160 --> 01:05:11.349
that kind of thing. If it takes you
01:05:11.359 --> 01:05:13.109
closer to that, it's wholesome. If it
01:05:13.119 --> 01:05:14.549
takes you farther away from that, it's
01:05:14.559 --> 01:05:16.390
unh wholesome. Even though you may be
01:05:16.400 --> 01:05:18.309
motivated by wholesome intentions and
01:05:18.319 --> 01:05:21.430
still something [ __ ] up and things get
01:05:21.440 --> 01:05:25.190
worse, you know, it's like a classic
01:05:25.200 --> 01:05:27.829
example. Um, I used to live in an
01:05:27.839 --> 01:05:30.150
apartment before I was a monk and
01:05:30.160 --> 01:05:32.710
there'd be like little insects that
01:05:32.720 --> 01:05:34.390
would get into the apartment and I was
01:05:34.400 --> 01:05:36.309
like a conscientious Buddhist at the
01:05:36.319 --> 01:05:37.910
time and I'd catch them, you know, with
01:05:37.920 --> 01:05:40.150
a cup and like a piece of cardboard, you
01:05:40.160 --> 01:05:41.510
know, catch them and let them go
01:05:41.520 --> 01:05:44.150
outside. And I remember there was like a
01:05:44.160 --> 01:05:46.789
silverfish I think I caught. I let it go
01:05:46.799 --> 01:05:48.950
on the front porch and it started coming
01:05:48.960 --> 01:05:50.309
straight back towards the apartment
01:05:50.319 --> 01:05:52.150
again. But before it could make it into
01:05:52.160 --> 01:05:53.829
the apartment, it was like a jumping
01:05:53.839 --> 01:05:55.670
spider just jumped out from underneath
01:05:55.680 --> 01:05:58.309
the, you know, the the what do you call
01:05:58.319 --> 01:06:00.150
it?
01:06:00.160 --> 01:06:02.710
I I like what the the doorway, you know,
01:06:02.720 --> 01:06:04.390
the bottom of the doorway just jumped
01:06:04.400 --> 01:06:06.630
out from under there and grabbed it.
01:06:06.640 --> 01:06:10.549
Well, I was motivated by compassion, you
01:06:10.559 --> 01:06:12.069
know, goodwill for this little
01:06:12.079 --> 01:06:13.750
silverfish,
01:06:13.760 --> 01:06:15.349
and I'm just catch it, let it go
01:06:15.359 --> 01:06:17.349
outside, which results in it being eaten
01:06:17.359 --> 01:06:22.870
by a spider. Well, I mean, it was it was
01:06:22.880 --> 01:06:25.670
a wholesome intention. And so, I didn't
01:06:25.680 --> 01:06:27.190
do anything wrong even though it
01:06:27.200 --> 01:06:29.109
resulted in the death of a sp or death
01:06:29.119 --> 01:06:35.190
of a of a bug, an insect.
01:06:35.200 --> 01:06:37.750
But I'm not 100% sure if that is the
01:06:37.760 --> 01:06:40.309
question that Stellar Supreme wanted me
01:06:40.319 --> 01:06:42.950
to answer because he's difficult to
01:06:42.960 --> 01:06:45.829
understand sometimes.
01:06:45.839 --> 01:06:47.910
So, I'm just going to move on to Stellar
01:06:47.920 --> 01:06:50.549
Supreme's next question.
01:06:50.559 --> 01:06:52.390
He says, "Would you send letters of
01:06:52.400 --> 01:06:54.950
support to longtime followers of your
01:06:54.960 --> 01:06:57.349
channel to support their cases of
01:06:57.359 --> 01:07:00.630
conscientious objector status if the US
01:07:00.640 --> 01:07:03.109
military began drafting for the war in
01:07:03.119 --> 01:07:08.309
Iran?" Well, I mean, I could, I suppose.
01:07:08.319 --> 01:07:12.630
I mean, personally, it seems like
01:07:12.640 --> 01:07:14.789
I mean, if you just absolutely think
01:07:14.799 --> 01:07:19.349
that the the war is just like a
01:07:19.359 --> 01:07:21.190
from every point of view just a bad
01:07:21.200 --> 01:07:22.710
idea, that it's not even serving
01:07:22.720 --> 01:07:24.710
America, that kind of thing, then I
01:07:24.720 --> 01:07:27.029
suppose you could be a conscious
01:07:27.039 --> 01:07:28.950
conscientious objector if you get
01:07:28.960 --> 01:07:31.430
drafted or you're just like a complete I
01:07:31.440 --> 01:07:33.670
mean, even just being complete pacifist.
01:07:33.680 --> 01:07:35.670
I mean as I as I mentioned before
01:07:35.680 --> 01:07:39.750
Mahatma Gandhi Moandis K
01:07:39.760 --> 01:07:43.750
he volunteered to enter World War I as a
01:07:43.760 --> 01:07:46.230
stretcher bearer that he wasn't going to
01:07:46.240 --> 01:07:47.349
fight but he was going to do his
01:07:47.359 --> 01:07:49.829
patriotic duty and support his country
01:07:49.839 --> 01:07:51.510
which happened to be the British Empire
01:07:51.520 --> 01:07:53.829
at the time and he was just a stretcher
01:07:53.839 --> 01:07:55.910
bearer. He had some of his his friends
01:07:55.920 --> 01:07:57.910
and followers also became stretcher
01:07:57.920 --> 01:07:59.109
bearsers and they're just running out
01:07:59.119 --> 01:08:01.349
onto the battlefield dragging wounded
01:08:01.359 --> 01:08:04.390
soldiers to safety or dragging them onto
01:08:04.400 --> 01:08:08.309
a stretcher and carrying them to safety.
01:08:08.319 --> 01:08:10.230
So something like that might be more
01:08:10.240 --> 01:08:13.349
honorable.
01:08:13.359 --> 01:08:17.829
What I mean I mean I suppose if somebody
01:08:17.839 --> 01:08:20.950
was just firmly convinced that
01:08:20.960 --> 01:08:23.430
participating in a war I mean but I mean
01:08:23.440 --> 01:08:25.110
you're participating in a war just by
01:08:25.120 --> 01:08:30.070
paying taxes to some degree
01:08:30.080 --> 01:08:31.829
I mean if someone thinks that eating
01:08:31.839 --> 01:08:34.950
meat is immoral because you know it's
01:08:34.960 --> 01:08:38.070
sort of promoting death by eating the
01:08:38.080 --> 01:08:41.110
meat then
01:08:41.120 --> 01:08:42.870
by paying taxes you're promoting the
01:08:42.880 --> 01:08:45.430
death of human beings cuz obviously the
01:08:45.440 --> 01:08:47.269
government is using some of that for
01:08:47.279 --> 01:08:49.110
launching missiles and dropping bombs on
01:08:49.120 --> 01:08:52.070
people.
01:08:52.080 --> 01:08:55.590
But now I digress.
01:08:55.600 --> 01:08:58.950
Yeah, I mean I suppose I could.
01:08:58.960 --> 01:09:02.550
Yeah. And then uh he he asked a
01:09:02.560 --> 01:09:05.430
transgressive fourth question
01:09:05.440 --> 01:09:08.630
um which was how I how I spent Easter.
01:09:08.640 --> 01:09:09.990
And I'm spending it just like this
01:09:10.000 --> 01:09:11.990
because right now this is Easter. I've
01:09:12.000 --> 01:09:13.349
already kind of exp- answered that
01:09:13.359 --> 01:09:15.590
question. So that's just kind of like a
01:09:15.600 --> 01:09:17.990
freebie for him. So this is his third
01:09:18.000 --> 01:09:19.990
question that he retracted once I
01:09:20.000 --> 01:09:21.430
pointed out that he had asked a
01:09:21.440 --> 01:09:22.870
transgressive fourth question. He
01:09:22.880 --> 01:09:24.630
retracted this question, but I'm going
01:09:24.640 --> 01:09:27.349
to answer it anyway because it's just
01:09:27.359 --> 01:09:29.990
the way I am. It's kind of a more
01:09:30.000 --> 01:09:32.309
interesting question than how I spent
01:09:32.319 --> 01:09:36.390
Easter anyway, celebrating the supposed
01:09:36.400 --> 01:09:39.349
res bodily resurrection from the dead of
01:09:39.359 --> 01:09:41.110
Jesus of Nazareth, which is something
01:09:41.120 --> 01:09:45.189
I'm relatively skeptical with regard to.
01:09:45.199 --> 01:09:47.110
So,
01:09:47.120 --> 01:09:48.709
Stellar Supreme, formerly known as
01:09:48.719 --> 01:09:51.990
Liberlam, says, "Is it ethical to get
01:09:52.000 --> 01:09:54.870
fanatical tattoos to make oneself
01:09:54.880 --> 01:09:59.590
ineligible for the US draft?" And by
01:09:59.600 --> 01:10:01.590
fanatical tattoos, I would I would
01:10:01.600 --> 01:10:03.110
assume he means something along the
01:10:03.120 --> 01:10:06.070
lines of like swastikas or, you know,
01:10:06.080 --> 01:10:10.149
like SS death heads or something.
01:10:10.159 --> 01:10:12.790
I mean, with our current Secretary of
01:10:12.800 --> 01:10:14.550
War, that might that might still be
01:10:14.560 --> 01:10:16.390
okay.
01:10:16.400 --> 01:10:19.270
But is it ethical to get fanatical
01:10:19.280 --> 01:10:21.350
tattoos to make oneself, you know, for
01:10:21.360 --> 01:10:23.030
the US D? I mean, it depends on your
01:10:23.040 --> 01:10:24.630
motivation.
01:10:24.640 --> 01:10:26.950
I mean again this is this is one of the
01:10:26.960 --> 01:10:29.590
standard questions I get asked is just
01:10:29.600 --> 01:10:31.830
the the template for a standard question
01:10:31.840 --> 01:10:35.669
I get asked is is action X moral or
01:10:35.679 --> 01:10:37.910
immoral is it ethical or unethical is it
01:10:37.920 --> 01:10:40.310
good karma or bad karma and again the
01:10:40.320 --> 01:10:44.470
outward action itself is morally neutral
01:10:44.480 --> 01:10:47.350
ethically neutral it is the mental
01:10:47.360 --> 01:10:50.630
states the motivation that causes it. So
01:10:50.640 --> 01:10:55.110
if you want to avoid the draft through
01:10:55.120 --> 01:10:58.310
aversion, then yeah, it's unethical. I
01:10:58.320 --> 01:11:01.510
mean, if you want to avoid the draft out
01:11:01.520 --> 01:11:04.870
of a conscientious desire not to hurt
01:11:04.880 --> 01:11:07.430
anybody, not to kill anybody, not to
01:11:07.440 --> 01:11:10.070
participate in the mass slaughter that
01:11:10.080 --> 01:11:13.910
is war, then it could be an an ethical
01:11:13.920 --> 01:11:18.149
thing. Um, even though you'll be having
01:11:18.159 --> 01:11:19.750
this
01:11:19.760 --> 01:11:22.149
fanatical tattoo on your body for the
01:11:22.159 --> 01:11:24.630
rest of your life maybe,
01:11:24.640 --> 01:11:27.830
which I mean that could have later um
01:11:27.840 --> 01:11:31.270
psychological effects on your mind which
01:11:31.280 --> 01:11:33.669
could wind up in some unh wholesomeness
01:11:33.679 --> 01:11:37.910
later but it is totally dependent on
01:11:37.920 --> 01:11:41.030
your your your intentions. If if you are
01:11:41.040 --> 01:11:44.470
motivated by attraction, aversion and or
01:11:44.480 --> 01:11:47.030
semic-conscious stupidity,
01:11:47.040 --> 01:11:51.110
loads or moa, then it is to that extent
01:11:51.120 --> 01:11:54.229
unethical and you have to examine your
01:11:54.239 --> 01:11:57.430
own motives and because I mean I can't
01:11:57.440 --> 01:12:00.550
really do it very well just based on a
01:12:00.560 --> 01:12:09.270
one-s sentence interrogative statement.
01:12:09.280 --> 01:12:10.470
And I'm just going to move on. Next
01:12:10.480 --> 01:12:12.950
question. This is from Sioan Sipad
01:12:12.960 --> 01:12:16.950
Zidana. And this is a quote from Angura
01:12:16.960 --> 01:12:19.270
Nikkaya.
01:12:19.280 --> 01:12:21.189
He says,
01:12:21.199 --> 01:12:22.709
this is the Buddha speaking. This is
01:12:22.719 --> 01:12:25.350
this is all in quotes. Start with start
01:12:25.360 --> 01:12:27.990
with air quotes there.
01:12:28.000 --> 01:12:31.110
The Buddha says, "Munks, just as even a
01:12:31.120 --> 01:12:34.229
tiny amount of feces is foul smelling,
01:12:34.239 --> 01:12:36.709
in the same way I don't practice even a
01:12:36.719 --> 01:12:39.350
tiny amount of I don't praise even a
01:12:39.360 --> 01:12:42.149
tiny amount of being even as much as a
01:12:42.159 --> 01:12:44.149
finger snap."
01:12:44.159 --> 01:12:46.790
Just as even a little amount of urine or
01:12:46.800 --> 01:12:50.630
spit or pus or blood is foul smelling,
01:12:50.640 --> 01:12:53.510
in the same way I don't praise even a
01:12:53.520 --> 01:12:56.470
tiny amount of being even as much as a
01:12:56.480 --> 01:12:59.669
finger snap."
01:12:59.679 --> 01:13:03.669
So Sioadino then asks, "Do you agree
01:13:03.679 --> 01:13:07.669
with this sentiment about life?"
01:13:07.679 --> 01:13:09.990
Let's see. So,
01:13:10.000 --> 01:13:12.310
do I agree
01:13:12.320 --> 01:13:15.990
that uh even a tiny amount of being
01:13:16.000 --> 01:13:17.510
stinks?
01:13:17.520 --> 01:13:20.390
I mean, from a like a really a
01:13:20.400 --> 01:13:23.110
coldblooded Buddhist philosophical point
01:13:23.120 --> 01:13:24.790
of view, yeah, that's true. But I mean,
01:13:24.800 --> 01:13:28.229
how are you defining being?
01:13:28.239 --> 01:13:31.189
You could define being as like
01:13:31.199 --> 01:13:33.990
boa as it is found in the 12 links
01:13:34.000 --> 01:13:38.070
theory of dependent rising.
01:13:38.080 --> 01:13:41.350
Bot B H A V A is usually translated as
01:13:41.360 --> 01:13:43.750
being. I think
01:13:43.760 --> 01:13:45.910
I tend to translate it as force of
01:13:45.920 --> 01:13:48.470
existence which is just like the karmic
01:13:48.480 --> 01:13:54.149
momentum that's keeping you in samsara.
01:13:54.159 --> 01:13:56.390
So
01:13:56.400 --> 01:13:58.870
do I agree with the sentiment that even
01:13:58.880 --> 01:14:02.070
a tiny amount of karmic momentum which
01:14:02.080 --> 01:14:04.470
is keeping us in samsara
01:14:04.480 --> 01:14:11.189
is stinky and bad from I mean from a
01:14:11.199 --> 01:14:13.830
strictly Buddhist point of view. Sure
01:14:13.840 --> 01:14:16.149
you want to be like philosophical about
01:14:16.159 --> 01:14:19.990
it in that way then sure. Although I
01:14:20.000 --> 01:14:23.350
mean some people can say well I mean you
01:14:23.360 --> 01:14:26.470
just get used to the stink.
01:14:26.480 --> 01:14:29.910
You get used to the smell of blood.
01:14:29.920 --> 01:14:33.669
So I mean for some people
01:14:33.679 --> 01:14:38.790
I mean even if life reeks of blood it's
01:14:38.800 --> 01:14:41.350
still worth it. And that's the choice
01:14:41.360 --> 01:14:43.830
everyone has to make. I mean I mean are
01:14:43.840 --> 01:14:45.830
you willing to accept the dooka of
01:14:45.840 --> 01:14:48.550
samsara if you think it's an equitable
01:14:48.560 --> 01:14:50.390
trade because you're getting like the
01:14:50.400 --> 01:14:52.310
opposite of dooka also I mean you can't
01:14:52.320 --> 01:14:55.510
just have pure dooka you know there's
01:14:55.520 --> 01:14:57.990
it's it's dualistic you have to have a
01:14:58.000 --> 01:14:59.910
balance of of pleasure and pain a
01:14:59.920 --> 01:15:02.229
balance of good and bad positive and
01:15:02.239 --> 01:15:04.470
negative I used to joke that's how God
01:15:04.480 --> 01:15:06.390
created the universe out of nothing by
01:15:06.400 --> 01:15:08.630
having an equal number of positives and
01:15:08.640 --> 01:15:11.510
negatives so it all balances out to zero
01:15:11.520 --> 01:15:13.030
which I mean there is some truth to that
01:15:13.040 --> 01:15:17.750
it seems to me.
01:15:17.760 --> 01:15:20.709
So yeah, I do think that just for the
01:15:20.719 --> 01:15:23.189
sake of inspiring people to strive for
01:15:23.199 --> 01:15:25.910
enlightenment, Buddhism really does
01:15:25.920 --> 01:15:28.470
emphasize the negative aspect of
01:15:28.480 --> 01:15:31.030
existence, you know, everything is dooka
01:15:31.040 --> 01:15:35.110
or conducive to unease or suffering or
01:15:35.120 --> 01:15:37.669
stress.
01:15:37.679 --> 01:15:40.550
But still
01:15:40.560 --> 01:15:43.110
um some people consider samsara to be
01:15:43.120 --> 01:15:45.030
worthwhile and even people who are
01:15:45.040 --> 01:15:46.310
striving wholeheartedly for
01:15:46.320 --> 01:15:48.790
enlightenment the overwhelming majority
01:15:48.800 --> 01:15:50.870
of them fail.
01:15:50.880 --> 01:15:55.270
So it's best instead of like struggling
01:15:55.280 --> 01:15:58.950
against some sorrow or you know fighting
01:15:58.960 --> 01:16:01.110
against samsara or just trying to escape
01:16:01.120 --> 01:16:03.030
from samsara through some kind of
01:16:03.040 --> 01:16:04.950
aversion for the world that you make
01:16:04.960 --> 01:16:06.709
your peace with it. And even the
01:16:06.719 --> 01:16:08.470
atakawaga agrees with this to some
01:16:08.480 --> 01:16:10.390
degree. Some of the sutas agree with
01:16:10.400 --> 01:16:14.550
this to a significant extent is that you
01:16:14.560 --> 01:16:16.470
don't become enlightened by having a
01:16:16.480 --> 01:16:18.470
version for samsara. Maybe at first it
01:16:18.480 --> 01:16:21.430
can help you to to like get yourself set
01:16:21.440 --> 01:16:23.590
up better.
01:16:23.600 --> 01:16:25.189
But ultimately you have to make your
01:16:25.199 --> 01:16:27.669
peace with it.
01:16:27.679 --> 01:16:30.390
No attraction or aversion. Just
01:16:30.400 --> 01:16:31.910
equinimity.
01:16:31.920 --> 01:16:35.910
Accept things as they are.
01:16:35.920 --> 01:16:39.430
So yeah, it could be important as a a
01:16:39.440 --> 01:16:42.149
didactic device,
01:16:42.159 --> 01:16:45.590
you know, a teaching aid and also from a
01:16:45.600 --> 01:16:47.510
strictly speaking Buddhist point of
01:16:47.520 --> 01:16:49.990
view. I mean even though you're willing
01:16:50.000 --> 01:16:52.070
to accept the negativity of samsara for
01:16:52.080 --> 01:16:54.310
the sake of the positivity still you get
01:16:54.320 --> 01:16:57.990
rid of all of it and you've got infinity
01:16:58.000 --> 01:17:00.630
which is infinitely better than any kind
01:17:00.640 --> 01:17:02.709
of qualified goodness you're going to
01:17:02.719 --> 01:17:05.510
find in worldly samsara.
01:17:05.520 --> 01:17:07.350
The thing is though you have to be ripe
01:17:07.360 --> 01:17:13.030
for it and most people are not.
01:17:13.040 --> 01:17:14.470
I hope I answered that question because
01:17:14.480 --> 01:17:16.870
I'm moving on to the second question of
01:17:16.880 --> 01:17:20.070
Siovak and Sipad Zidana.
01:17:20.080 --> 01:17:22.390
And this is kind of an interesting one,
01:17:22.400 --> 01:17:25.189
kind of a political question. He says,
01:17:25.199 --> 01:17:27.910
"It seems weird how the ruling classes
01:17:27.920 --> 01:17:30.630
in the past were the warrior classes and
01:17:30.640 --> 01:17:33.430
the political life was inseparable from
01:17:33.440 --> 01:17:36.149
military life. But in modern times, it
01:17:36.159 --> 01:17:38.470
has mostly become an elite managerial
01:17:38.480 --> 01:17:41.350
class full of lawyers and businessmen.
01:17:41.360 --> 01:17:43.750
Do you think this shift has been a good
01:17:43.760 --> 01:17:46.070
thing overall or do you think the models
01:17:46.080 --> 01:17:48.950
of the elites in the past were better? I
01:17:48.960 --> 01:17:50.709
personally don't know what to make of it
01:17:50.719 --> 01:17:53.350
and haven't really seen any discussions
01:17:53.360 --> 01:17:55.830
on it. Well, there is a discussion on it
01:17:55.840 --> 01:18:01.510
in uh Renee Gwen's like his his main
01:18:01.520 --> 01:18:03.510
book. It's considered by many to be his
01:18:03.520 --> 01:18:05.350
main book. It's the the reign of
01:18:05.360 --> 01:18:07.350
quantity.
01:18:07.360 --> 01:18:09.830
I I can't remember. I mean, I wrote an
01:18:09.840 --> 01:18:12.630
essay on it on on my current blog that I
01:18:12.640 --> 01:18:14.390
haven't added to, but it's still it's
01:18:14.400 --> 01:18:18.709
still up on the internet. Um he's he's
01:18:18.719 --> 01:18:20.870
talking about how you know human
01:18:20.880 --> 01:18:23.270
civilization is degenerating from an
01:18:23.280 --> 01:18:25.590
emphasis on quality to an emphasis on
01:18:25.600 --> 01:18:28.790
quantity which is one reason why instead
01:18:28.800 --> 01:18:32.149
of priests and kings
01:18:32.159 --> 01:18:35.590
ruling society. It's now businessmen.
01:18:35.600 --> 01:18:38.390
you know it's it's the wealthy because
01:18:38.400 --> 01:18:40.229
you know it's the quantity of their
01:18:40.239 --> 01:18:42.709
money becomes their power instead of
01:18:42.719 --> 01:18:46.390
just the quality of you know divine
01:18:46.400 --> 01:18:50.310
right for the kings I guess and just the
01:18:50.320 --> 01:18:52.709
you know the cultivated qualities of of
01:18:52.719 --> 01:18:56.550
a a genuine priestly class.
01:18:56.560 --> 01:18:59.430
So the reign of quantity and the I can't
01:18:59.440 --> 01:19:01.430
remember the the full title of the of
01:19:01.440 --> 01:19:03.270
the book.
01:19:03.280 --> 01:19:04.790
Sometimes it's just called the reign of
01:19:04.800 --> 01:19:08.390
quantity I think by Renee Gwynon. He he
01:19:08.400 --> 01:19:11.430
does talk about this and it is true. It
01:19:11.440 --> 01:19:13.430
seems to me that I mean the ruling
01:19:13.440 --> 01:19:15.990
classes in the past were mainly the
01:19:16.000 --> 01:19:18.709
warrior classes but there was also a a
01:19:18.719 --> 01:19:20.870
significant contribution from the
01:19:20.880 --> 01:19:23.990
priestly classes. You know like in India
01:19:24.000 --> 01:19:26.709
it was sort of like this continual
01:19:26.719 --> 01:19:28.550
struggle for dominance between the
01:19:28.560 --> 01:19:31.510
khatrias or like the warrior nobles and
01:19:31.520 --> 01:19:33.669
the brahinss or the priests. you know,
01:19:33.679 --> 01:19:35.750
which is higher, you know, who who
01:19:35.760 --> 01:19:38.310
should have more authority over culture
01:19:38.320 --> 01:19:42.390
in general, if not just politics.
01:19:42.400 --> 01:19:44.550
So, yeah, I would throw priests in there
01:19:44.560 --> 01:19:47.030
to some degree, even though technically
01:19:47.040 --> 01:19:48.390
from a political point of view, it
01:19:48.400 --> 01:19:51.910
really is the warrior classes. And yeah,
01:19:51.920 --> 01:19:55.270
I mean, I have a certain sympathy for
01:19:55.280 --> 01:19:57.830
the whole idea that the people who are
01:19:57.840 --> 01:19:59.669
calling the shots should be the people
01:19:59.679 --> 01:20:03.350
who are risking their lives.
01:20:03.360 --> 01:20:05.590
you know, and that's the way it was.
01:20:05.600 --> 01:20:08.470
It's like the most of the nobility that
01:20:08.480 --> 01:20:10.950
remains in the world today are the
01:20:10.960 --> 01:20:14.790
descendants of like Germanic barbarians
01:20:14.800 --> 01:20:18.310
that were conquering, you know, various
01:20:18.320 --> 01:20:23.189
parts of Europe after Rome collapsed,
01:20:23.199 --> 01:20:27.430
at least a lot of them, you know, like
01:20:27.440 --> 01:20:30.470
um you know, the current royalty of
01:20:30.480 --> 01:20:33.910
England, such as they are of of the UK,
01:20:33.920 --> 01:20:36.390
you know, they started off. Let's see.
01:20:36.400 --> 01:20:38.709
You had like Saxon invaders became, you
01:20:38.719 --> 01:20:40.709
know, the the warlords became like the
01:20:40.719 --> 01:20:43.110
the kings. Then they were they were
01:20:43.120 --> 01:20:44.550
conquered by the Normans which were
01:20:44.560 --> 01:20:46.709
essentially like Vikings who conquered
01:20:46.719 --> 01:20:49.270
Normandy and France interbred with the
01:20:49.280 --> 01:20:52.149
pretty French girls and then started
01:20:52.159 --> 01:20:54.550
speaking French and then conquered
01:20:54.560 --> 01:20:58.470
conquered England.
01:20:58.480 --> 01:21:00.070
So I mean it does make sense. I mean
01:21:00.080 --> 01:21:01.430
that's the way it was like in the Roman
01:21:01.440 --> 01:21:04.229
Empire. And I mean Roman Empire did have
01:21:04.239 --> 01:21:06.709
some really rough patches of just
01:21:06.719 --> 01:21:09.830
military dictatorship, you know, like
01:21:09.840 --> 01:21:11.990
the whole third century, the calamitous
01:21:12.000 --> 01:21:14.630
third century of the Roman Empire where
01:21:14.640 --> 01:21:19.270
it was, you know, the army would like
01:21:19.280 --> 01:21:21.910
promote someone to be emperor and then
01:21:21.920 --> 01:21:23.990
when the the new emperor started doing
01:21:24.000 --> 01:21:25.990
something they didn't like, maybe just
01:21:26.000 --> 01:21:28.149
after a matter of weeks or months, they
01:21:28.159 --> 01:21:30.229
just kill him and replace him with
01:21:30.239 --> 01:21:33.189
somebody else. And so during the third
01:21:33.199 --> 01:21:35.350
century, the Roman Empire, I mean, the
01:21:35.360 --> 01:21:37.910
lifespan of an emperor,
01:21:37.920 --> 01:21:39.750
I mean, it was just a few years on
01:21:39.760 --> 01:21:42.630
average and then they almost all of them
01:21:42.640 --> 01:21:44.790
would die a violent death, usually the
01:21:44.800 --> 01:21:49.430
hands of their own soldiers.
01:21:49.440 --> 01:21:51.990
So, I mean, there are certain drawbacks
01:21:52.000 --> 01:21:56.070
to a military ruling elite,
01:21:56.080 --> 01:21:58.149
but and there does seem to be a certain
01:21:58.159 --> 01:22:00.390
fairness in that if they're the ones who
01:22:00.400 --> 01:22:02.950
are really out on the front lines or at
01:22:02.960 --> 01:22:05.910
least out on the battlefield risking
01:22:05.920 --> 01:22:09.350
their lives, then yeah, it seems like
01:22:09.360 --> 01:22:11.750
they should have certain cons special
01:22:11.760 --> 01:22:14.950
consideration instead of just you got
01:22:14.960 --> 01:22:18.390
some rich merchant who's just like loan
01:22:18.400 --> 01:22:20.629
lending money to the king so that he can
01:22:20.639 --> 01:22:25.510
he can fight his battles. I mean
01:22:25.520 --> 01:22:28.470
obviously Renee Gwyn thought that uh
01:22:28.480 --> 01:22:31.110
having like the the merchant class
01:22:31.120 --> 01:22:35.750
become the new leaders was a bad idea.
01:22:35.760 --> 01:22:39.030
So, I mean, I could have a certain
01:22:39.040 --> 01:22:41.990
a certain sympathy, I guess, for like
01:22:42.000 --> 01:22:45.030
the the old Roman idea. And it's still
01:22:45.040 --> 01:22:47.270
to some degree in America where I don't
01:22:47.280 --> 01:22:48.870
know what the percentage is. Maybe I
01:22:48.880 --> 01:22:51.910
should ask ask Grock or something. What
01:22:51.920 --> 01:22:55.189
percentage of American presidents served
01:22:55.199 --> 01:22:57.189
in the military before they became
01:22:57.199 --> 01:22:58.950
commander-in-chief? And I would guess it
01:22:58.960 --> 01:23:01.270
would be at least half. George
01:23:01.280 --> 01:23:03.350
Washington obviously was a wararmonger.
01:23:03.360 --> 01:23:05.990
He started two wars just practically on
01:23:06.000 --> 01:23:09.110
his own.
01:23:09.120 --> 01:23:11.750
French and Indian War and then also the
01:23:11.760 --> 01:23:14.870
the Revolutionary War.
01:23:14.880 --> 01:23:16.870
But I mean I wouldn't want just a
01:23:16.880 --> 01:23:20.149
military dictatorship like in Burma. So
01:23:20.159 --> 01:23:25.030
I mean to have like the top leaders
01:23:25.040 --> 01:23:27.910
have you know be a kind of military
01:23:27.920 --> 01:23:31.910
elite that were nevertheless guided by
01:23:31.920 --> 01:23:35.110
you know taxpaying law-abiding citizens.
01:23:35.120 --> 01:23:36.950
I mean to have some kind of democracy
01:23:36.960 --> 01:23:40.229
also but that might involve like
01:23:40.239 --> 01:23:42.550
something like in Switzerland or Israel
01:23:42.560 --> 01:23:45.030
where you've got a mandatory you know
01:23:45.040 --> 01:23:46.790
compulsory
01:23:46.800 --> 01:23:50.550
stint in the armed services
01:23:50.560 --> 01:23:52.550
and if you you want to opt out be a
01:23:52.560 --> 01:23:54.229
conscientious objector or whatever you
01:23:54.239 --> 01:23:56.470
would just forfeit your vote or forfeit
01:23:56.480 --> 01:23:59.030
your right to vote and participate in
01:23:59.040 --> 01:24:01.430
government which is it's kind of
01:24:01.440 --> 01:24:04.229
oldfashioned though I mean really war
01:24:04.239 --> 01:24:05.510
nowadays
01:24:05.520 --> 01:24:08.149
is dangerous. I mean, war, if it gets
01:24:08.159 --> 01:24:10.149
out of hand, can like wipe out the human
01:24:10.159 --> 01:24:11.830
race at this point, which wasn't the
01:24:11.840 --> 01:24:14.229
case when people were just standing out
01:24:14.239 --> 01:24:16.470
in a battlefield stabbing each other
01:24:16.480 --> 01:24:22.550
with spears.
01:24:22.560 --> 01:24:24.390
So,
01:24:24.400 --> 01:24:26.070
do I think this shift has been a good
01:24:26.080 --> 01:24:27.830
thing overall? I think it there's always
01:24:27.840 --> 01:24:30.390
a balance. you know, it's there's always
01:24:30.400 --> 01:24:32.310
pluses and minuses and it all balances
01:24:32.320 --> 01:24:35.030
out to the same neutrality or zero in
01:24:35.040 --> 01:24:37.990
the long run.
01:24:38.000 --> 01:24:39.830
But
01:24:39.840 --> 01:24:42.629
yeah, I think there might be I mean
01:24:42.639 --> 01:24:45.110
would there be more wars or fewer wars
01:24:45.120 --> 01:24:47.910
if the people who are actually fighting
01:24:47.920 --> 01:24:49.669
are the ones who are calling the shots
01:24:49.679 --> 01:24:53.910
and like declaring wars?
01:24:53.920 --> 01:24:57.430
It's a It's a good question, I guess.
01:24:57.440 --> 01:24:59.669
But, uh, it does seem like it would be
01:24:59.679 --> 01:25:02.229
more fair to tell you the truth. Just
01:25:02.239 --> 01:25:05.030
there'd be more justice to the idea of
01:25:05.040 --> 01:25:07.910
having a military elite kind of running
01:25:07.920 --> 01:25:11.430
the country, but nevertheless guided
01:25:11.440 --> 01:25:15.110
by, you know, like a democratic body of
01:25:15.120 --> 01:25:17.350
law-abiding citizens. Who knows? Maybe
01:25:17.360 --> 01:25:20.470
even some priestly elites, although in
01:25:20.480 --> 01:25:25.910
America that' probably be Christians.
01:25:25.920 --> 01:25:27.910
So
01:25:27.920 --> 01:25:30.229
that would be my my take on it, I guess,
01:25:30.239 --> 01:25:31.669
for what it is. It's something I haven't
01:25:31.679 --> 01:25:33.110
really thought about a lot, but it does
01:25:33.120 --> 01:25:34.870
make sense.
01:25:34.880 --> 01:25:36.950
The the Roman system was pretty good.
01:25:36.960 --> 01:25:38.870
You had like the I can't remember what
01:25:38.880 --> 01:25:41.030
it was called. There was just this
01:25:41.040 --> 01:25:43.990
standard like progression through the
01:25:44.000 --> 01:25:47.270
ranks. If you wanted to be like a
01:25:47.280 --> 01:25:49.910
console someday, you know, you might
01:25:49.920 --> 01:25:52.709
start off as like a a military prefect
01:25:52.719 --> 01:25:54.070
or this kind of thing. You'd work your
01:25:54.080 --> 01:25:56.229
way up into certain more civilian
01:25:56.239 --> 01:25:58.709
offices. You might be like a military
01:25:58.719 --> 01:26:01.510
governor, this kind of thing. But I
01:26:01.520 --> 01:26:03.830
mean, yeah, I don't necessarily see
01:26:03.840 --> 01:26:05.669
anything wrong with that. It worked even
01:26:05.679 --> 01:26:07.910
in times of peace. Although times of
01:26:07.920 --> 01:26:10.390
peace in ancient Rome simply meant that
01:26:10.400 --> 01:26:13.430
Rome was mostly winning its wars and
01:26:13.440 --> 01:26:16.709
fighting them mostly on other other
01:26:16.719 --> 01:26:20.709
count's territory.
01:26:20.719 --> 01:26:22.950
But yeah, I just I do not like the idea
01:26:22.960 --> 01:26:28.310
of like pampered pampered wealthy elites
01:26:28.320 --> 01:26:30.550
running the country because then you
01:26:30.560 --> 01:26:33.669
just wind up with like wimps and cowards
01:26:33.679 --> 01:26:38.870
running the country.
01:26:38.880 --> 01:26:41.590
So yeah, let's not try and work out a
01:26:41.600 --> 01:26:44.470
utopia in this Q&A, but that's my take
01:26:44.480 --> 01:26:45.990
on it for now. And you might want to
01:26:46.000 --> 01:26:48.149
look into Renee Gwen. Even though he's I
01:26:48.159 --> 01:26:49.350
consider him to be somewhat of a
01:26:49.360 --> 01:26:50.950
crackpot,
01:26:50.960 --> 01:26:54.629
still what he says is interesting.
01:26:54.639 --> 01:26:57.350
So let's go on to the third question
01:26:57.360 --> 01:27:00.550
from Seio Cipad Zidana,
01:27:00.560 --> 01:27:03.510
which is as follows. Oh, this is this
01:27:03.520 --> 01:27:05.910
one's kind of a a weird one. Would you
01:27:05.920 --> 01:27:08.229
rather have a gay son or a thought
01:27:08.239 --> 01:27:10.470
daughter?
01:27:10.480 --> 01:27:12.149
That's a tough question. That's that's a
01:27:12.159 --> 01:27:14.709
tough choice. It reminds me of um the
01:27:14.719 --> 01:27:16.790
old TV show Taxi, where there's this
01:27:16.800 --> 01:27:19.590
burnt out old hippie guy, Reverend Jim,
01:27:19.600 --> 01:27:22.470
who's applying for a a driver's license,
01:27:22.480 --> 01:27:26.229
and his brain is too fried by drugs to
01:27:26.239 --> 01:27:28.229
to fill out the questions himself. So
01:27:28.239 --> 01:27:30.790
they're reading the questions to him and
01:27:30.800 --> 01:27:34.629
one of them says they read him it's what
01:27:34.639 --> 01:27:37.189
was it mental illness or narcotic
01:27:37.199 --> 01:27:40.229
addiction and and Jim's going gee that's
01:27:40.239 --> 01:27:44.470
a tough choice. This is kind of similar.
01:27:44.480 --> 01:27:46.310
Would you rather have a gay son or a
01:27:46.320 --> 01:27:48.870
thought daughter?
01:27:48.880 --> 01:27:50.550
I I guess I'd go for the thought
01:27:50.560 --> 01:27:53.270
daughter just because
01:27:53.280 --> 01:27:55.350
once if a person's gay they pretty much
01:27:55.360 --> 01:27:58.229
stay that way. But a thought daughter, I
01:27:58.239 --> 01:28:01.910
mean, as she she gets older and kind of
01:28:01.920 --> 01:28:05.590
gets a little more maturity and wisdom,
01:28:05.600 --> 01:28:07.669
I mean, she can outgrow it and become
01:28:07.679 --> 01:28:09.590
like a responsible,
01:28:09.600 --> 01:28:13.669
respectable person.
01:28:13.679 --> 01:28:16.149
Preferably without having a bunch of
01:28:16.159 --> 01:28:20.550
interracial children or getting STDs
01:28:20.560 --> 01:28:23.030
that don't have a cure, that kind of
01:28:23.040 --> 01:28:25.030
thing.
01:28:25.040 --> 01:28:26.790
Not that I'm opposed to interracial
01:28:26.800 --> 01:28:29.750
children. Maybe I should just retract
01:28:29.760 --> 01:28:33.750
that part.
01:28:33.760 --> 01:28:35.270
Uh it depends on the interracial
01:28:35.280 --> 01:28:37.750
children. I suppose
01:28:37.760 --> 01:28:40.950
interracial children should be judged on
01:28:40.960 --> 01:28:44.470
an individual basis.
01:28:44.480 --> 01:28:46.149
So let's see here. Yeah, let's let's
01:28:46.159 --> 01:28:47.590
just go with the thought daughter, I
01:28:47.600 --> 01:28:49.270
guess, because it's it seems to be more
01:28:49.280 --> 01:28:52.149
temporary.
01:28:52.159 --> 01:28:57.669
Not that I'm opposed to to gay people.
01:28:57.679 --> 01:28:59.750
I mean, it depends. I mean, it's really
01:28:59.760 --> 01:29:01.830
it would depend on the individual.
01:29:01.840 --> 01:29:05.110
Again, like some gay guys, you know,
01:29:05.120 --> 01:29:06.870
they've had they have more than a
01:29:06.880 --> 01:29:10.229
thousand sexual partners in their course
01:29:10.239 --> 01:29:12.870
of their lifetime. That's considered not
01:29:12.880 --> 01:29:16.390
particularly rare for a gay man to have
01:29:16.400 --> 01:29:18.310
had a thousand sexual partners in the
01:29:18.320 --> 01:29:19.510
course of his life. you know, they're
01:29:19.520 --> 01:29:22.629
going to like anonymous orgies, this
01:29:22.639 --> 01:29:25.350
kind of thing. So, I mean, it's a a
01:29:25.360 --> 01:29:27.590
thought son or a thought daughter with
01:29:27.600 --> 01:29:29.669
the thought daughter probably being more
01:29:29.679 --> 01:29:34.390
curable.
01:29:34.400 --> 01:29:36.470
Let's just move on to the next question.
01:29:36.480 --> 01:29:39.590
This is from Jeffrey
01:29:39.600 --> 01:29:43.430
and Jeffrey says, "My friend shootout."
01:29:43.440 --> 01:29:46.070
But before before we move on to this, I
01:29:46.080 --> 01:29:49.110
mean with regard to gay people, as I
01:29:49.120 --> 01:29:51.910
already said, I really don't have like
01:29:51.920 --> 01:29:54.070
any any axe to grind against gay people.
01:29:54.080 --> 01:29:55.669
Like one of the best teachers I ever had
01:29:55.679 --> 01:29:58.790
in my life was a gay man. Rahm Doss was
01:29:58.800 --> 01:30:01.110
a switch hitter. I think he might have
01:30:01.120 --> 01:30:02.550
actually preferred men to women,
01:30:02.560 --> 01:30:04.070
although he was open-minded on the
01:30:04.080 --> 01:30:06.629
subject. And he was like one of my first
01:30:06.639 --> 01:30:09.990
gurus in life.
01:30:10.000 --> 01:30:12.950
So it's like you know gay men I mean
01:30:12.960 --> 01:30:17.350
they can be good people
01:30:17.360 --> 01:30:19.510
with regard to thought daughters I mean
01:30:19.520 --> 01:30:24.149
eventually they can be good people too.
01:30:24.159 --> 01:30:25.510
So I'm just let's just move on to the
01:30:25.520 --> 01:30:28.550
next question. This is from Jeffrey.
01:30:28.560 --> 01:30:31.030
Jeffrey says my friend shootout has
01:30:31.040 --> 01:30:33.590
mentioned Miguel Serrano being a
01:30:33.600 --> 01:30:36.950
spiritual guru with views on esoteric
01:30:36.960 --> 01:30:39.430
Hitlerism. What can you tell us about
01:30:39.440 --> 01:30:42.310
Serrano and his teachings? And to tell
01:30:42.320 --> 01:30:43.830
you the truth, I've never read anything
01:30:43.840 --> 01:30:46.070
by Miguel Serrano other than a few brief
01:30:46.080 --> 01:30:50.070
quotes. And I really am no authority on
01:30:50.080 --> 01:30:51.910
Serrano, although that he is one of the
01:30:51.920 --> 01:30:54.550
main like the most high-profile esoteric
01:30:54.560 --> 01:30:57.430
Hitlerists. I think I might know more
01:30:57.440 --> 01:31:00.149
about the position of Svitri Davyy, who
01:31:00.159 --> 01:31:02.950
is also an esoteric Hitlerist. I think
01:31:02.960 --> 01:31:06.870
Cevitri Davyy thought that Hitler was
01:31:06.880 --> 01:31:09.910
ky. He was like the the last avatar of
01:31:09.920 --> 01:31:12.310
Vishnu.
01:31:12.320 --> 01:31:15.510
But Miguel Serrano, I think Miguel
01:31:15.520 --> 01:31:17.590
Serrano took a more western approach, a
01:31:17.600 --> 01:31:19.750
less Indian one, and just considered
01:31:19.760 --> 01:31:23.270
Hitler to be like a man of destiny, um
01:31:23.280 --> 01:31:26.790
like a great figure, like a like a an
01:31:26.800 --> 01:31:30.229
ascended hero, this kind of thing.
01:31:30.239 --> 01:31:32.550
But someone I do know who knows a lot
01:31:32.560 --> 01:31:35.590
about Miguel Serrano, who has
01:31:35.600 --> 01:31:38.870
read Miguel Serrano's books is my friend
01:31:38.880 --> 01:31:42.070
Otto Auto Excelsior. And one of the
01:31:42.080 --> 01:31:46.390
videos that I have uploaded onto onto
01:31:46.400 --> 01:31:47.990
YouTube
01:31:48.000 --> 01:31:50.149
that has like this one of the most
01:31:50.159 --> 01:31:51.830
popular videos I've uploaded onto
01:31:51.840 --> 01:31:56.229
YouTube is my video with auto excelsior
01:31:56.239 --> 01:31:58.950
discussing esoteric Hitlerism from a
01:31:58.960 --> 01:32:01.030
more or less Buddhist point of view. And
01:32:01.040 --> 01:32:03.669
so if you look that up, I I think it
01:32:03.679 --> 01:32:06.229
might be on Bitshoot also if you're if
01:32:06.239 --> 01:32:08.950
you just really don't like YouTube.
01:32:08.960 --> 01:32:10.709
Jeffrey always asks questions on
01:32:10.719 --> 01:32:14.149
Bitshoot instead of YouTube. Um, yeah,
01:32:14.159 --> 01:32:17.270
just look up esoteric Hitlerism from a
01:32:17.280 --> 01:32:20.070
more or less Buddhist perspective with
01:32:20.080 --> 01:32:23.030
me and Otto Excelsior and he will talk a
01:32:23.040 --> 01:32:25.669
lot about Miguel Serrano, but I really
01:32:25.679 --> 01:32:27.590
don't know much about him at all. I
01:32:27.600 --> 01:32:30.070
mean, esoteric Hitlerism really is just
01:32:30.080 --> 01:32:33.030
not my bag of tea. Hitler was an
01:32:33.040 --> 01:32:36.310
interesting man. I'd much rather hang
01:32:36.320 --> 01:32:38.229
out with Hitler for an afternoon than
01:32:38.239 --> 01:32:43.669
hang out with Stalin for an afternoon.
01:32:43.679 --> 01:32:46.629
But uh I mean I'm more interested in
01:32:46.639 --> 01:32:49.110
Hitler just from like a bio a
01:32:49.120 --> 01:32:51.990
biographical and historical perspective,
01:32:52.000 --> 01:32:53.510
not so much from a religious
01:32:53.520 --> 01:32:55.910
perspective. I do not consider Hitler to
01:32:55.920 --> 01:33:00.870
have been like a spiritual guru.
01:33:00.880 --> 01:33:02.709
Not that Jeffrey is saying that he was.
01:33:02.719 --> 01:33:04.229
He's saying Miguel Serrano was a
01:33:04.239 --> 01:33:06.550
spiritual guru.
01:33:06.560 --> 01:33:10.870
But yeah, to deify Hitler is I mean
01:33:10.880 --> 01:33:13.510
that's farther than I'm willing to go
01:33:13.520 --> 01:33:18.470
with regard to understanding the man.
01:33:18.480 --> 01:33:22.629
But again, try to find my u video with
01:33:22.639 --> 01:33:25.030
auto excelsior on esoteric Hitlerism and
01:33:25.040 --> 01:33:28.629
he will talk a lot about Miguel Serrano.
01:33:28.639 --> 01:33:29.590
And I'm just going to move on to the
01:33:29.600 --> 01:33:33.270
next question. This is from Athena Sigil
01:33:33.280 --> 01:33:36.229
and Athena Sigil says when you said
01:33:36.239 --> 01:33:38.709
Terravada Buddhism is atheistic I
01:33:38.719 --> 01:33:41.189
thought what about Davas Brahma beings
01:33:41.199 --> 01:33:43.430
and in parts of Southeast Asia the
01:33:43.440 --> 01:33:46.709
worship of gnats. I know that these
01:33:46.719 --> 01:33:49.350
beings are not omnipotent entities like
01:33:49.360 --> 01:33:52.709
Jehovah or Allah but many practitioners
01:33:52.719 --> 01:33:54.470
still look to these other lesser
01:33:54.480 --> 01:33:57.990
entities to help them in this or future
01:33:58.000 --> 01:33:59.669
lives.
01:33:59.679 --> 01:34:02.229
Okay. Well, with regard to the Nat cult,
01:34:02.239 --> 01:34:04.229
um, that was like the religion of the
01:34:04.239 --> 01:34:05.910
Burmese before they converted to
01:34:05.920 --> 01:34:09.830
Buddhism, like in medieval times. And,
01:34:09.840 --> 01:34:13.030
you know, it's like a vestage of like a
01:34:13.040 --> 01:34:16.070
kind of polytheistic paganism. It's kind
01:34:16.080 --> 01:34:17.750
of kind of interesting that the gnats
01:34:17.760 --> 01:34:20.470
were all humans in a previous existence
01:34:20.480 --> 01:34:22.950
who died a violent death. And the
01:34:22.960 --> 01:34:25.830
Burmese believe that a person who dies
01:34:25.840 --> 01:34:29.350
an unnatural death, not just fading out
01:34:29.360 --> 01:34:31.350
of natural causes, but being cut off in
01:34:31.360 --> 01:34:33.430
the prime of life, it makes them a more
01:34:33.440 --> 01:34:36.149
powerful spirit. It's called an a sane
01:34:36.159 --> 01:34:40.149
or like a green spirit. And apparently
01:34:40.159 --> 01:34:43.110
they based a religion on this idea, but
01:34:43.120 --> 01:34:45.270
that's it's not strictly Buddhism. It's
01:34:45.280 --> 01:34:47.750
just sort of like I mean it kind of got
01:34:47.760 --> 01:34:49.910
conflated with Burmese Buddhism to some
01:34:49.920 --> 01:34:52.070
degree. the ties have something similar
01:34:52.080 --> 01:34:54.229
and then like in Sri Lanka there's a lot
01:34:54.239 --> 01:34:56.470
of Hinduistic
01:34:56.480 --> 01:34:59.750
um kind of themes that get adopted into
01:34:59.760 --> 01:35:02.310
Sri Lankan Buddhism.
01:35:02.320 --> 01:35:04.149
Um
01:35:04.159 --> 01:35:06.629
but I mean it's terra is atheistic
01:35:06.639 --> 01:35:09.030
because it's not based on the worship of
01:35:09.040 --> 01:35:13.030
a god or even of gods that like terraata
01:35:13.040 --> 01:35:14.790
Buddhists as a general rule do not
01:35:14.800 --> 01:35:18.070
worship the davas or the brahas. I mean
01:35:18.080 --> 01:35:21.430
they they might have respect for them
01:35:21.440 --> 01:35:26.709
and like as a kind of vestage of their
01:35:26.719 --> 01:35:29.669
preddhist paganism they may make
01:35:29.679 --> 01:35:32.310
offerings to a to some god who's like
01:35:32.320 --> 01:35:35.430
the patron deity of this area avoid
01:35:35.440 --> 01:35:38.470
violating taboss with regard to that god
01:35:38.480 --> 01:35:41.430
in in his territory.
01:35:41.440 --> 01:35:43.669
um that kind of thing. Like before they
01:35:43.679 --> 01:35:46.950
make a trip, there was there's one one
01:35:46.960 --> 01:35:49.830
of the gnats in Burma. He's like lord of
01:35:49.840 --> 01:35:51.750
the white elephant or something like
01:35:51.760 --> 01:35:54.790
this. I can't remember his name,
01:35:54.800 --> 01:35:57.590
but for some reason he doesn't like a
01:35:57.600 --> 01:36:00.870
certain number of travelers.
01:36:00.880 --> 01:36:03.990
So I think it was like six or or
01:36:04.000 --> 01:36:06.310
something like that. Five. It was some
01:36:06.320 --> 01:36:08.870
specific number that he did not like
01:36:08.880 --> 01:36:11.830
that many travelers. And so what Burmese
01:36:11.840 --> 01:36:13.430
people will do if they're going to go on
01:36:13.440 --> 01:36:15.510
a trip and they've got that number of
01:36:15.520 --> 01:36:17.510
travelers, they will like formally
01:36:17.520 --> 01:36:20.550
invite a rock to come along with them.
01:36:20.560 --> 01:36:22.629
They'll, you know, pick up this rock and
01:36:22.639 --> 01:36:25.830
and declare this rock is our extra
01:36:25.840 --> 01:36:27.430
traveler, which then makes the number
01:36:27.440 --> 01:36:30.310
not the forbidden number.
01:36:30.320 --> 01:36:32.390
But definitely the Burmese, they're very
01:36:32.400 --> 01:36:35.510
careful about, you know, not angering
01:36:35.520 --> 01:36:39.110
nature spirits or gnats. you know, just,
01:36:39.120 --> 01:36:41.270
you know, you don't spit on the ground
01:36:41.280 --> 01:36:43.270
when you're on this hill because it's
01:36:43.280 --> 01:36:45.750
taboo. That kind of stuff. It's fairly
01:36:45.760 --> 01:36:48.629
common, but it's really not what Terra
01:36:48.639 --> 01:36:50.790
Buddhism is about. You know, just
01:36:50.800 --> 01:36:52.310
acknowledging that there are higher
01:36:52.320 --> 01:36:54.070
beings. is sort of like acknowledging
01:36:54.080 --> 01:36:56.950
that there are kings, you know, that
01:36:56.960 --> 01:36:58.790
people that are higher than you, beings
01:36:58.800 --> 01:37:00.870
that are higher than you on the scale of
01:37:00.880 --> 01:37:04.310
things, that it's not it's not a matter
01:37:04.320 --> 01:37:07.430
of worship, that you're not practicing
01:37:07.440 --> 01:37:10.870
dharma through worshiping or serving
01:37:10.880 --> 01:37:13.270
these deities.
01:37:13.280 --> 01:37:15.109
So that's the the point of terabato
01:37:15.119 --> 01:37:18.149
Buddhism is is atheistic in that you
01:37:18.159 --> 01:37:21.910
know no kind of theology is really
01:37:21.920 --> 01:37:24.470
essential to the system. I mean it's
01:37:24.480 --> 01:37:30.070
sort of like side effects practically.
01:37:30.080 --> 01:37:32.310
So that's when when terra Buddhism is
01:37:32.320 --> 01:37:34.310
considered to be atheistic, it's given
01:37:34.320 --> 01:37:37.830
as an example of an atheistic religion
01:37:37.840 --> 01:37:41.350
is it just means that that worship of a
01:37:41.360 --> 01:37:45.669
god or gods is not really basic or
01:37:45.679 --> 01:37:49.109
essential or central or even
01:37:49.119 --> 01:37:51.510
particularly significant in that
01:37:51.520 --> 01:37:54.790
spiritual system that you can be a good
01:37:54.800 --> 01:37:58.310
terra Buddhist and not really worship a
01:37:58.320 --> 01:38:00.870
single deity.
01:38:00.880 --> 01:38:03.830
and still be a a devout good terra
01:38:03.840 --> 01:38:07.750
Buddhist that worshiping beings is or
01:38:07.760 --> 01:38:10.390
worshiping davas I mean worshiping them
01:38:10.400 --> 01:38:12.390
I mean it's not even really advised in
01:38:12.400 --> 01:38:15.350
the text although like like having
01:38:15.360 --> 01:38:17.910
respect for them like reverence like
01:38:17.920 --> 01:38:20.709
you'd have reverence for a king or a
01:38:20.719 --> 01:38:22.470
judge or something you know they're
01:38:22.480 --> 01:38:25.189
they're like higher than you they're
01:38:25.199 --> 01:38:27.350
worthy of respect they got to where they
01:38:27.360 --> 01:38:30.550
are through magnanmity and virtue and so
01:38:30.560 --> 01:38:34.550
forth. So you have respect for them,
01:38:34.560 --> 01:38:36.550
but it's not the same as the the
01:38:36.560 --> 01:38:41.990
religion being based on worshiping them.
01:38:42.000 --> 01:38:43.830
So
01:38:43.840 --> 01:38:45.669
I guess that wasn't even a question, but
01:38:45.679 --> 01:38:47.830
it's there. So I'm just moving on to
01:38:47.840 --> 01:38:52.310
Athena Sigil's next statement, which
01:38:52.320 --> 01:38:55.109
here actually has a question mark. Well,
01:38:55.119 --> 01:38:56.870
I mean, he considered the first one to
01:38:56.880 --> 01:38:58.229
be a question even though there was no
01:38:58.239 --> 01:39:00.149
question mark because the second
01:39:00.159 --> 01:39:04.149
statement begins with my other question.
01:39:04.159 --> 01:39:06.709
What type of statue is that behind you
01:39:06.719 --> 01:39:09.669
on our left, your right, with the
01:39:09.679 --> 01:39:11.669
candle? Is it a Buddha or something
01:39:11.679 --> 01:39:15.109
else? And I'm not even in the room. So,
01:39:15.119 --> 01:39:36.870
I'll be right back.
01:39:36.880 --> 01:39:38.550
Okay.
01:39:38.560 --> 01:39:41.189
So I assume the question that is being
01:39:41.199 --> 01:39:47.590
asked is with regard to this
01:39:47.600 --> 01:39:50.390
right there. See it? If you're if this
01:39:50.400 --> 01:39:51.830
if you're listening to a podcast, you're
01:39:51.840 --> 01:39:54.149
not going to see it. It's
01:39:54.159 --> 01:39:56.950
I don't remember what it's called. I
01:39:56.960 --> 01:39:59.430
mean, it's obviously a Buddha statue. It
01:39:59.440 --> 01:40:01.030
obviously looks like a Buddha, doesn't
01:40:01.040 --> 01:40:02.790
it? It's got the weird bump on the head
01:40:02.800 --> 01:40:06.550
and everything, but it's like a I think
01:40:06.560 --> 01:40:08.870
it's called a sleepy Buddha or a
01:40:08.880 --> 01:40:12.950
sleeping Buddha. It's not terra, not
01:40:12.960 --> 01:40:15.350
terra Buddhism. might not even be God
01:40:15.360 --> 01:40:17.189
Buddha,
01:40:17.199 --> 01:40:20.070
but I think my woman and maybe her mama
01:40:20.080 --> 01:40:22.149
bought it at like a furniture store or
01:40:22.159 --> 01:40:23.590
something just cuz they like the way it
01:40:23.600 --> 01:40:27.669
looked. Wasn't my call,
01:40:27.679 --> 01:40:31.189
but it's Mahayana Buddhist at best, I
01:40:31.199 --> 01:40:33.669
think. I mean, clearly not one of the
01:40:33.679 --> 01:40:36.390
the four main mudras common in Terraata
01:40:36.400 --> 01:40:38.070
Buddhism. I mean, this is just
01:40:38.080 --> 01:40:44.629
completely unorthodox mudra here.
01:40:44.639 --> 01:40:48.470
And speaking of Auto Excelsior,
01:40:48.480 --> 01:40:52.629
I think his woman made this mala.
01:40:52.639 --> 01:40:54.870
She makes these.
01:40:54.880 --> 01:40:57.030
It's very nice.
01:40:57.040 --> 01:40:58.950
Okay,
01:40:58.960 --> 01:41:00.550
so let's see. What's the question again?
01:41:00.560 --> 01:41:02.310
What type of statue is that behind you
01:41:02.320 --> 01:41:04.709
on our left, your right, with the
01:41:04.719 --> 01:41:06.629
candle? Is it a Buddha or something
01:41:06.639 --> 01:41:10.790
else? Yeah, it's it's a Buddha, but I
01:41:10.800 --> 01:41:15.030
think it's not necessarily the Buddha.
01:41:15.040 --> 01:41:17.430
It's it's like some kind of Mahayana
01:41:17.440 --> 01:41:22.229
Buddhist statue or just fake Buddhist
01:41:22.239 --> 01:41:24.550
statue, but still it's obviously
01:41:24.560 --> 01:41:26.390
supposed to be representing a Buddha.
01:41:26.400 --> 01:41:28.390
And like I say, my woman and maybe her
01:41:28.400 --> 01:41:31.030
mama found it for sale at a furniture
01:41:31.040 --> 01:41:34.790
store or something and so they got it.
01:41:34.800 --> 01:41:35.750
And I'm just going to move on to the
01:41:35.760 --> 01:41:40.149
next question. This is from Trareasiz.
01:41:40.159 --> 01:41:42.229
And Troas says, "Have you ever
01:41:42.239 --> 01:41:46.149
experienced a real war in Myanmar? I
01:41:46.159 --> 01:41:48.470
cannot recollect when it began there."
01:41:48.480 --> 01:41:51.830
Well, wars in Myanmar began. I mean,
01:41:51.840 --> 01:41:54.229
there's always been wars in Myanmar.
01:41:54.239 --> 01:41:56.550
Always.
01:41:56.560 --> 01:41:59.830
Um maybe they kind of died down during
01:41:59.840 --> 01:42:01.990
the British Raj and then as soon as
01:42:02.000 --> 01:42:04.790
Burma got independence like insurgencies
01:42:04.800 --> 01:42:08.310
and so forth began and have continued.
01:42:08.320 --> 01:42:11.189
I'm sure there's still insurgent zones
01:42:11.199 --> 01:42:15.270
despite Rambo's defeat of the the the
01:42:15.280 --> 01:42:19.590
Burmese military in Karen state
01:42:19.600 --> 01:42:22.790
if you ever saw that movie.
01:42:22.800 --> 01:42:24.709
So have I ever experienced a real war in
01:42:24.719 --> 01:42:29.030
Myammar? No, because I mean in in Burma,
01:42:29.040 --> 01:42:31.430
I prefer the word Burma. You know, if I
01:42:31.440 --> 01:42:32.870
used to say that if they didn't like me
01:42:32.880 --> 01:42:34.229
calling the country Burma, they could
01:42:34.239 --> 01:42:38.390
just deport me to say or son.
01:42:38.400 --> 01:42:40.470
But
01:42:40.480 --> 01:42:42.870
um in in Burma, there's like three kinds
01:42:42.880 --> 01:42:45.030
of zones. There's white zones, brown
01:42:45.040 --> 01:42:47.990
zones, and black zones. White zones are
01:42:48.000 --> 01:42:50.709
zones where it's safe for foreigners to
01:42:50.719 --> 01:42:55.350
go. Tourists go there. No. No
01:42:55.360 --> 01:42:57.990
battlefields, no raging battles, no
01:42:58.000 --> 01:43:01.109
guerilla warfare, no no cars being
01:43:01.119 --> 01:43:02.870
sniped on the highway, anything like
01:43:02.880 --> 01:43:07.510
that. Brown zones are potential
01:43:07.520 --> 01:43:09.590
insurgent zones. There has been some
01:43:09.600 --> 01:43:12.470
insurgent activity there and you have to
01:43:12.480 --> 01:43:14.070
get a special permit from the government
01:43:14.080 --> 01:43:16.790
to go there. And I went into at least
01:43:16.800 --> 01:43:20.310
one brown zone with a permit. The permit
01:43:20.320 --> 01:43:21.669
said that I wanted to go and look at
01:43:21.679 --> 01:43:23.910
pagotas which is just the standard
01:43:23.920 --> 01:43:26.390
excuse for going into a brown zone.
01:43:26.400 --> 01:43:28.229
Mainly um we were just going into
01:43:28.239 --> 01:43:31.750
southern Mon state where my friend my
01:43:31.760 --> 01:43:33.830
Burmese friend he was actually half monk
01:43:33.840 --> 01:43:35.590
the one that I went to see the autopsy
01:43:35.600 --> 01:43:38.790
with. He we he and I went down there and
01:43:38.800 --> 01:43:41.430
there was an Australian monk with us too
01:43:41.440 --> 01:43:45.750
and uh we saw a battlefield. you I just
01:43:45.760 --> 01:43:47.189
it was just pointed out to me there was
01:43:47.199 --> 01:43:49.990
a famous battle here, you know, like
01:43:50.000 --> 01:43:53.430
three years ago, that kind of thing. Uh
01:43:53.440 --> 01:43:55.109
and then there's black zones, which are
01:43:55.119 --> 01:43:57.510
just they're not under the control of
01:43:57.520 --> 01:43:58.870
the Burmese government. They are
01:43:58.880 --> 01:44:02.390
insurgent zones. Nobody goes there. That
01:44:02.400 --> 01:44:04.229
if foreigners do go there, there's a
01:44:04.239 --> 01:44:05.109
good chance they're going to be
01:44:05.119 --> 01:44:08.070
kidnapped and held for ransom. That kind
01:44:08.080 --> 01:44:10.629
of thing. At best. Kidnapped and held
01:44:10.639 --> 01:44:12.470
for ransom.
01:44:12.480 --> 01:44:14.629
So yeah, I went to a brown zone where
01:44:14.639 --> 01:44:17.109
there was no in insurgent activity going
01:44:17.119 --> 01:44:20.470
on at the time. The closest I came to
01:44:20.480 --> 01:44:23.430
anything resembling a kind of battle was
01:44:23.440 --> 01:44:28.790
I was about 10 miles away from a riot
01:44:28.800 --> 01:44:32.310
like Buddhist versus Muslim riot in the
01:44:32.320 --> 01:44:34.870
town of Mateila
01:44:34.880 --> 01:44:37.510
which was uh I don't remember what year
01:44:37.520 --> 01:44:39.669
it was. It was quite a while ago back in
01:44:39.679 --> 01:44:43.510
the 201s I think.
01:44:43.520 --> 01:44:46.390
And it was just a a case. I mean, I
01:44:46.400 --> 01:44:49.030
don't know if I should even bother, but
01:44:49.040 --> 01:44:52.390
there was some Burmese Buddhist village
01:44:52.400 --> 01:44:55.270
woman had a gold comb and she wanted to
01:44:55.280 --> 01:45:00.070
sell it to some buyer and seller of gold
01:45:00.080 --> 01:45:01.669
ornaments and so forth who happened to
01:45:01.679 --> 01:45:03.910
be a Muslim.
01:45:03.920 --> 01:45:06.470
And while he was inspecting it to see
01:45:06.480 --> 01:45:08.070
how much it was worth and see if it was
01:45:08.080 --> 01:45:10.229
like real gold or what carat gold it
01:45:10.239 --> 01:45:14.229
was, he broke it. And then she was I
01:45:14.239 --> 01:45:16.149
mean he wouldn't pay her what she said
01:45:16.159 --> 01:45:18.629
it was worth. Plus he had just broken
01:45:18.639 --> 01:45:21.109
it. So it's just he just hands her back
01:45:21.119 --> 01:45:24.310
the broken comb and says sorry and it
01:45:24.320 --> 01:45:26.870
caused like this altercation.
01:45:26.880 --> 01:45:29.750
So I think it resulted in her husband
01:45:29.760 --> 01:45:31.189
was there. It started like into a
01:45:31.199 --> 01:45:33.830
shoving match. the the Bur the the the
01:45:33.840 --> 01:45:36.550
Muslim guy got, you know, knocked over.
01:45:36.560 --> 01:45:39.350
It started getting ugly. So the the the
01:45:39.360 --> 01:45:41.750
Burmese Buddhist couple, they took off
01:45:41.760 --> 01:45:43.189
back to their village and then they're
01:45:43.199 --> 01:45:46.070
like announcing this outrage that had
01:45:46.080 --> 01:45:48.470
been perpetrated. And so they came back
01:45:48.480 --> 01:45:51.750
with some little v vigilante group and a
01:45:51.760 --> 01:45:54.229
Buddhist monk to go back there and
01:45:54.239 --> 01:45:56.629
demand that this woman get paid what she
01:45:56.639 --> 01:45:59.430
thought um that gold comb was worth
01:45:59.440 --> 01:46:01.990
before it was broken.
01:46:02.000 --> 01:46:04.790
And there was a bunch of Muslim men
01:46:04.800 --> 01:46:07.590
accumulated there. So you had like this
01:46:07.600 --> 01:46:11.270
small crowd of Burmese Buddhists and a
01:46:11.280 --> 01:46:15.990
small crowd of you know semi Burmese um
01:46:16.000 --> 01:46:18.390
Muslims. I mean most of the Muslims in
01:46:18.400 --> 01:46:21.590
Burma are of like Bangladeshi or Indian
01:46:21.600 --> 01:46:23.669
ancestry.
01:46:23.679 --> 01:46:27.350
And so the monk is trying to be like a a
01:46:27.360 --> 01:46:30.629
negotiating peacemaker type. And this is
01:46:30.639 --> 01:46:32.709
all just secondhand what what I was told
01:46:32.719 --> 01:46:34.310
by the abbott of the monastery I was
01:46:34.320 --> 01:46:39.990
staying at at the time that uh they he
01:46:40.000 --> 01:46:42.709
the the Burmese monk was taken somewhere
01:46:42.719 --> 01:46:45.189
else and the abbott told me that the
01:46:45.199 --> 01:46:49.109
Muslims cut his neck and whether they
01:46:49.119 --> 01:46:52.070
they just decapitated him or just cut
01:46:52.080 --> 01:46:54.070
his throat or whatever I don't know but
01:46:54.080 --> 01:46:58.310
it resulted in just absolute chaos in
01:46:58.320 --> 01:47:02.070
that quarter of Matila with enraged
01:47:02.080 --> 01:47:05.910
Buddhists just like burning and sacking
01:47:05.920 --> 01:47:09.189
the the Muslim quarter in that area. And
01:47:09.199 --> 01:47:11.430
that happened like maybe 10 miles from
01:47:11.440 --> 01:47:13.750
where I was staying at the time. But I
01:47:13.760 --> 01:47:15.430
didn't hear about it. I mean, you don't
01:47:15.440 --> 01:47:18.950
have news like that in Burma. At least I
01:47:18.960 --> 01:47:20.310
didn't. You're staying at a forest
01:47:20.320 --> 01:47:22.870
monastery outside of town, you know. I
01:47:22.880 --> 01:47:25.270
didn't hear about it until several days
01:47:25.280 --> 01:47:27.830
later.
01:47:27.840 --> 01:47:29.109
Well, that was that was about as close
01:47:29.119 --> 01:47:31.910
to a real war other than visiting uh a
01:47:31.920 --> 01:47:34.629
battlefield in a brown zone where there
01:47:34.639 --> 01:47:36.149
had been a battle a few years
01:47:36.159 --> 01:47:39.270
previously.
01:47:39.280 --> 01:47:42.550
So, I'm just going to move on to Chzas's
01:47:42.560 --> 01:47:44.550
next question. I think I might be a
01:47:44.560 --> 01:47:46.550
little too verbose in my answers this
01:47:46.560 --> 01:47:51.430
time. Anyways, Taskis says, "Is there in
01:47:51.440 --> 01:47:54.070
the sutas explanation of right speech
01:47:54.080 --> 01:47:56.870
for lay people or the precept for lay
01:47:56.880 --> 01:48:00.070
people is only not lying?" No, it's I
01:48:00.080 --> 01:48:01.430
mean there are four kinds of wrong
01:48:01.440 --> 01:48:03.669
speech and it's in several sutas at
01:48:03.679 --> 01:48:07.910
least in the poly texts that a good a
01:48:07.920 --> 01:48:10.629
good Buddhist lay person who is keeping
01:48:10.639 --> 01:48:13.510
five precepts should be avoiding four
01:48:13.520 --> 01:48:15.590
kinds of wrong speech. First of course
01:48:15.600 --> 01:48:17.590
is lying.
01:48:17.600 --> 01:48:20.709
Then there is what's called pisunova
01:48:20.719 --> 01:48:23.510
which is like bad mouthing someone
01:48:23.520 --> 01:48:25.750
behind their back like malicious gossip.
01:48:25.760 --> 01:48:29.109
The whole point of pisunovacha is you're
01:48:29.119 --> 01:48:31.270
trying to poison somebody's mind against
01:48:31.280 --> 01:48:33.430
somebody else. You're trying to cause
01:48:33.440 --> 01:48:35.750
division, trying to cause the person
01:48:35.760 --> 01:48:38.629
you're talking to to dislike this other
01:48:38.639 --> 01:48:41.030
person. So, you could even be telling
01:48:41.040 --> 01:48:42.790
the truth,
01:48:42.800 --> 01:48:44.709
but if you're doing it maliciously for
01:48:44.719 --> 01:48:46.149
the point of getting other people to
01:48:46.159 --> 01:48:48.390
dislike that person, like if they're
01:48:48.400 --> 01:48:51.109
just trying to sell a car to your friend
01:48:51.119 --> 01:48:53.109
and you know that they're dishonest, you
01:48:53.119 --> 01:48:55.750
might, you know, caution them, you know,
01:48:55.760 --> 01:48:57.350
you might be getting ripped off if you
01:48:57.360 --> 01:48:59.030
buy this car because this person's
01:48:59.040 --> 01:49:00.550
dishonest. If you do it with that kind
01:49:00.560 --> 01:49:03.270
of intention of just, you know, helping
01:49:03.280 --> 01:49:05.350
your friend, that wouldn't necessarily
01:49:05.360 --> 01:49:08.070
be bisunava. But if you're just, oh,
01:49:08.080 --> 01:49:10.390
he's he's this horrible person and you
01:49:10.400 --> 01:49:12.470
know, he's dishonest even though, you
01:49:12.480 --> 01:49:16.070
know, there's no real need to say it,
01:49:16.080 --> 01:49:17.990
then that would be pisunavatcha, just
01:49:18.000 --> 01:49:20.550
sort of malicious gossip, badmouthing
01:49:20.560 --> 01:49:21.910
someone behind their back, that kind of
01:49:21.920 --> 01:49:25.030
thing. Then you've got perusa. The third
01:49:25.040 --> 01:49:28.229
kind of wrong speech is like abuse,
01:49:28.239 --> 01:49:30.950
verbal abuse, just cussing somebody out
01:49:30.960 --> 01:49:32.629
to their face, calling them an idiot,
01:49:32.639 --> 01:49:36.229
this kind of stuff. um just with
01:49:36.239 --> 01:49:38.390
hostility. You're trying to hurt their
01:49:38.400 --> 01:49:40.070
feelings, trying to belittle them,
01:49:40.080 --> 01:49:43.109
trying to make them feel bad. So that
01:49:43.119 --> 01:49:44.870
would be the third kind of wrong speech.
01:49:44.880 --> 01:49:46.470
And then the fourth kind, which is very
01:49:46.480 --> 01:49:48.550
vague, you know, I don't know if there
01:49:48.560 --> 01:49:51.189
really is a clear definition of it that
01:49:51.199 --> 01:49:53.270
I can remember. It's probably probably
01:49:53.280 --> 01:49:56.709
in the text somewhere, is some papa,
01:49:56.719 --> 01:49:59.430
which is usually translated as idle
01:49:59.440 --> 01:50:01.830
chatter. you know, just kind of useless
01:50:01.840 --> 01:50:04.229
speech, like not necessarily malicious
01:50:04.239 --> 01:50:07.270
gossip, but you know, who's doing who
01:50:07.280 --> 01:50:10.149
kind of gossip or I mean, it could have
01:50:10.159 --> 01:50:14.229
something to do with um like the list of
01:50:14.239 --> 01:50:15.830
subjects that would be called animal
01:50:15.840 --> 01:50:18.950
talk for monks, you know, talking about,
01:50:18.960 --> 01:50:21.669
you know, kings and battles and politics
01:50:21.679 --> 01:50:23.830
in general and that kind of thing. But
01:50:23.840 --> 01:50:25.590
for lay people, I think that might be a
01:50:25.600 --> 01:50:28.070
little too strict. And so it's it's hard
01:50:28.080 --> 01:50:31.510
to say exactly. At least I cannot say to
01:50:31.520 --> 01:50:34.390
you exactly where is the line with
01:50:34.400 --> 01:50:36.550
regard to what is and is not idle
01:50:36.560 --> 01:50:41.270
chatter or s papa lapa.
01:50:41.280 --> 01:50:43.510
So that one is uh you know it's just
01:50:43.520 --> 01:50:45.510
kind of this gray zone for me you know
01:50:45.520 --> 01:50:48.790
just what exactly is or is not some
01:50:48.800 --> 01:50:52.390
papa. But I mean you could probably ask
01:50:52.400 --> 01:50:55.990
gro you can ask the the robot
01:50:56.000 --> 01:50:58.950
and then maybe it could tell you.
01:50:58.960 --> 01:51:01.830
Um but yeah, in the sutas there's lots
01:51:01.840 --> 01:51:04.310
of examples
01:51:04.320 --> 01:51:08.390
of just right speech in general
01:51:08.400 --> 01:51:10.629
being avoiding those four kinds of wrong
01:51:10.639 --> 01:51:13.350
speech. And almost certainly it would be
01:51:13.360 --> 01:51:16.070
included in sutas that were directed
01:51:16.080 --> 01:51:18.229
specifically towards the ethics of lay
01:51:18.239 --> 01:51:21.510
people.
01:51:21.520 --> 01:51:23.590
But mainly
01:51:23.600 --> 01:51:27.830
musawato wrong speech means lying. But
01:51:27.840 --> 01:51:30.790
it's not strictly you know it's sort of
01:51:30.800 --> 01:51:34.390
like like kameumachara
01:51:34.400 --> 01:51:37.430
or you know sensual misconduct you know
01:51:37.440 --> 01:51:39.910
the main implication is adultery you
01:51:39.920 --> 01:51:40.950
know sort of like in the ten
01:51:40.960 --> 01:51:42.390
commandments thou shalt not commit
01:51:42.400 --> 01:51:45.109
adultery but it also has all these other
01:51:45.119 --> 01:51:47.589
these other implications you know like
01:51:47.599 --> 01:51:50.310
promiscuous sex you know hiring a
01:51:50.320 --> 01:51:52.870
prostitute that kind of thing also would
01:51:52.880 --> 01:51:56.870
be included.
01:51:56.880 --> 01:51:58.950
Ah, so I'm just going to move on. Next
01:51:58.960 --> 01:52:01.750
question. This is from Cyrus Frame.
01:52:01.760 --> 01:52:04.790
And Cyrus frame says the reason I
01:52:04.800 --> 01:52:08.229
thought perception volition is connected
01:52:08.239 --> 01:52:11.510
to the uncarved block of stone is no
01:52:11.520 --> 01:52:13.270
he's referring to a question that he
01:52:13.280 --> 01:52:16.709
asked in the previous Q&A that um I had
01:52:16.719 --> 01:52:19.270
come to the conclusion at least the
01:52:19.280 --> 01:52:21.030
hypothesis
01:52:21.040 --> 01:52:23.030
that perception and valition are really
01:52:23.040 --> 01:52:24.310
just two different ways of looking at
01:52:24.320 --> 01:52:26.310
the exact same mental state or
01:52:26.320 --> 01:52:28.149
phenomenon that it's just sort of
01:52:28.159 --> 01:52:30.229
artificial duality or artificial
01:52:30.239 --> 01:52:32.870
division between perception and volition
01:52:32.880 --> 01:52:35.270
when actually they're ultimately the
01:52:35.280 --> 01:52:37.510
same mental state just looked at from
01:52:37.520 --> 01:52:39.510
two different aspects or two different
01:52:39.520 --> 01:52:41.910
angles so to speak.
01:52:41.920 --> 01:52:44.229
So Cyrus frame says the reason I thought
01:52:44.239 --> 01:52:46.070
perception valition is connected to the
01:52:46.080 --> 01:52:48.470
uncarved block of stone is because that
01:52:48.480 --> 01:52:52.070
analogy points to a kind of nonduality.
01:52:52.080 --> 01:52:54.149
So combining perception and volition in
01:52:54.159 --> 01:52:56.149
one aggregate is also a type of
01:52:56.159 --> 01:52:58.870
nonduality. From this point of view,
01:52:58.880 --> 01:53:01.510
there are no perceptions or valitions.
01:53:01.520 --> 01:53:04.149
What do you think?
01:53:04.159 --> 01:53:06.950
Well, still you got duality. I mean, so
01:53:06.960 --> 01:53:09.430
long as you're stating that there is a
01:53:09.440 --> 01:53:11.589
something, you're still dealing with
01:53:11.599 --> 01:53:13.510
duality because at the very least you've
01:53:13.520 --> 01:53:15.430
got figure and ground. You have to have
01:53:15.440 --> 01:53:17.350
the distinction between the something
01:53:17.360 --> 01:53:19.910
and whatever isn't the something. So
01:53:19.920 --> 01:53:22.149
that's still dualistic.
01:53:22.159 --> 01:53:25.430
You know to say that there's one one
01:53:25.440 --> 01:53:29.030
main mental state that is that
01:53:29.040 --> 01:53:32.470
constitutes human samsaric existence.
01:53:32.480 --> 01:53:36.070
This sort of the the unit the uniconda
01:53:36.080 --> 01:53:39.030
of perception and bullition
01:53:39.040 --> 01:53:41.589
with va or feeling just being another
01:53:41.599 --> 01:53:44.950
kind of sort of a more animalistic level
01:53:44.960 --> 01:53:47.430
of perception.
01:53:47.440 --> 01:53:50.470
So I mean still you're saying that there
01:53:50.480 --> 01:53:53.270
is this something that exists as an
01:53:53.280 --> 01:53:55.910
entity and in order for that something
01:53:55.920 --> 01:53:58.550
to exist as an entity there has to be a
01:53:58.560 --> 01:54:01.510
distinction between that and what isn't
01:54:01.520 --> 01:54:03.589
that entity you know there has to be the
01:54:03.599 --> 01:54:05.910
duality of figure and ground you know
01:54:05.920 --> 01:54:08.149
the thing and sort of like the context
01:54:08.159 --> 01:54:10.470
or the the surroundings of the thing
01:54:10.480 --> 01:54:12.870
that aren't the thing
01:54:12.880 --> 01:54:14.709
so still it would be dualistic in that
01:54:14.719 --> 01:54:17.189
sense whereas the uncarved block of
01:54:17.199 --> 01:54:18.870
stone
01:54:18.880 --> 01:54:21.109
you know the the single perception
01:54:21.119 --> 01:54:25.750
volition cond would be a kind of statue
01:54:25.760 --> 01:54:28.229
that is contained within the uncarved
01:54:28.239 --> 01:54:29.990
block of marble. So the uncarved block
01:54:30.000 --> 01:54:33.430
of marble as just pure marble, formless
01:54:33.440 --> 01:54:37.109
rock, you know, formless substrate, that
01:54:37.119 --> 01:54:39.830
would be called non-dualistic. So long
01:54:39.840 --> 01:54:42.470
as you're not reifying it and singling
01:54:42.480 --> 01:54:44.470
out like we're doing right now, in which
01:54:44.480 --> 01:54:47.270
case, in order for any object to have
01:54:47.280 --> 01:54:49.430
any kind of meaning, there has to be a
01:54:49.440 --> 01:54:52.870
nonobject to compare it with. And so you
01:54:52.880 --> 01:54:54.870
have to have duality. In order to have a
01:54:54.880 --> 01:54:57.430
thing, an it,
01:54:57.440 --> 01:54:59.669
then you have to have a non-it to
01:54:59.679 --> 01:55:03.030
compare it with a contrast.
01:55:03.040 --> 01:55:05.510
You know, that's how the
01:55:05.520 --> 01:55:08.950
uh Hegel starts his logic. You know,
01:55:08.960 --> 01:55:11.430
it's like the the thesis pure being, the
01:55:11.440 --> 01:55:14.070
antithesis of non-being, how they just
01:55:14.080 --> 01:55:15.750
merge together because neither one of
01:55:15.760 --> 01:55:19.910
them has any determinate contact uh con
01:55:19.920 --> 01:55:21.750
content.
01:55:21.760 --> 01:55:23.350
I think I tried to say content and
01:55:23.360 --> 01:55:25.350
context at the same time. So you have to
01:55:25.360 --> 01:55:27.990
have contrast and that's that's the
01:55:28.000 --> 01:55:30.629
first synthesis,
01:55:30.639 --> 01:55:33.589
you know, thesis, antithesis, synthesis.
01:55:33.599 --> 01:55:35.669
The synthesis is you have to have a
01:55:35.679 --> 01:55:38.070
contrast between being and not being.
01:55:38.080 --> 01:55:39.990
And then that's just off to the races
01:55:40.000 --> 01:55:43.830
from that.
01:55:43.840 --> 01:55:45.910
From the from the Dao came the one, from
01:55:45.920 --> 01:55:47.589
the one came the two, and from the two
01:55:47.599 --> 01:55:50.070
came the 10,000 things. Everything is
01:55:50.080 --> 01:55:52.390
the whole world is just spawned from
01:55:52.400 --> 01:55:57.750
duality.
01:55:57.760 --> 01:56:00.310
Okay. So, I think I answered that. I
01:56:00.320 --> 01:56:02.470
mean, what do I think? I mean,
01:56:02.480 --> 01:56:04.550
literally, I could just say I think I
01:56:04.560 --> 01:56:07.430
think maybe I finished my my beverage.
01:56:07.440 --> 01:56:09.030
You know, that would be a legitimate
01:56:09.040 --> 01:56:13.910
answer because that is what I think.
01:56:13.920 --> 01:56:17.510
But yeah, I mean perception volition,
01:56:17.520 --> 01:56:19.830
you're lumping two entities into one,
01:56:19.840 --> 01:56:21.430
but that really does still doesn't make
01:56:21.440 --> 01:56:23.270
it non-dualistic because you still got
01:56:23.280 --> 01:56:26.470
this entity that has to be contrasted
01:56:26.480 --> 01:56:30.550
with what it isn't.
01:56:30.560 --> 01:56:32.629
So,
01:56:32.639 --> 01:56:33.990
I guess I answered that question. Let's
01:56:34.000 --> 01:56:35.830
just move on to Cyrus Frame's next
01:56:35.840 --> 01:56:37.990
question.
01:56:38.000 --> 01:56:39.910
He says, "What do you think of the
01:56:39.920 --> 01:56:43.430
nondual thinker Tony Parsons?"
01:56:43.440 --> 01:56:45.350
In case you are unfamiliar with him, and
01:56:45.360 --> 01:56:48.550
I am unfamiliar with him, I think his
01:56:48.560 --> 01:56:52.149
main idea is that there is just this. So
01:56:52.159 --> 01:56:54.229
if you are seeking, you are trying to
01:56:54.239 --> 01:56:57.430
escape from this. But it is impossible
01:56:57.440 --> 01:57:00.149
to escape from what is. It relates to
01:57:00.159 --> 01:57:03.830
the previous question because this in
01:57:03.840 --> 01:57:06.390
air quotes is really monism or
01:57:06.400 --> 01:57:10.229
non-duality. I think calling it this
01:57:10.239 --> 01:57:12.550
seems to avoid reification. However, he
01:57:12.560 --> 01:57:15.669
also calls it boundless energy which
01:57:15.679 --> 01:57:17.270
seems to me to slip right back into
01:57:17.280 --> 01:57:19.750
reification. The no views of the
01:57:19.760 --> 01:57:23.270
atkawaga avoids that problem completely.
01:57:23.280 --> 01:57:25.589
Yeah. Um I've never heard of Tony
01:57:25.599 --> 01:57:28.470
Parsons before that I can think of. So
01:57:28.480 --> 01:57:30.950
what do I think of him is going to be
01:57:30.960 --> 01:57:34.070
based just entirely on this little
01:57:34.080 --> 01:57:37.589
description here. So with regard to just
01:57:37.599 --> 01:57:39.830
trying to avoid
01:57:39.840 --> 01:57:42.390
reification by just saying this I mean
01:57:42.400 --> 01:57:44.790
early Buddhism did the same thing like
01:57:44.800 --> 01:57:48.390
datagata which is uh it's like a synonym
01:57:48.400 --> 01:57:51.830
for Buddha. The datagata is he who has
01:57:51.840 --> 01:57:53.510
attained
01:57:53.520 --> 01:57:56.950
such you know it's like data just means
01:57:56.960 --> 01:58:00.070
like this. So it's like they're trying
01:58:00.080 --> 01:58:04.149
to avoid like putting a title onto the
01:58:04.159 --> 01:58:07.750
highest, you know, the highest state,
01:58:07.760 --> 01:58:11.750
let's say, by just calling it like this.
01:58:11.760 --> 01:58:15.270
And then the the agata that comes after
01:58:15.280 --> 01:58:18.790
the tagata da agata means he who has
01:58:18.800 --> 01:58:22.550
become. So he who has become like this.
01:58:22.560 --> 01:58:24.470
I mean that's that's what dagata means.
01:58:24.480 --> 01:58:27.270
Although there's various interpretations
01:58:27.280 --> 01:58:29.669
but that's that's how I interpret it and
01:58:29.679 --> 01:58:32.870
it seems fairly straightforward or also
01:58:32.880 --> 01:58:35.350
like suchness I mean you come across
01:58:35.360 --> 01:58:37.350
this in Mahayana text sometimes in in
01:58:37.360 --> 01:58:41.189
terms like um in the atakawaga there is
01:58:41.199 --> 01:58:44.229
the term I think it's tadi which again
01:58:44.239 --> 01:58:46.709
means just such
01:58:46.719 --> 01:58:49.910
he who has attained thus
01:58:49.920 --> 01:58:53.189
you know so
01:58:53.199 --> 01:58:55.350
it's it's kind of a gimmick that's used
01:58:55.360 --> 01:58:57.990
even in the atakawaga or in early
01:58:58.000 --> 01:59:00.950
Buddhist texts and in later uh more
01:59:00.960 --> 01:59:02.629
sophisticated
01:59:02.639 --> 01:59:05.830
like Mahayana Buddhist texts where you
01:59:05.840 --> 01:59:08.950
just try to avoid giving a name to
01:59:08.960 --> 01:59:10.790
something by just calling it such or
01:59:10.800 --> 01:59:14.950
thus or this or like this. It is fairly
01:59:14.960 --> 01:59:19.030
common in in Buddhist philosophy.
01:59:19.040 --> 01:59:23.350
So let's see if you are seeking you are
01:59:23.360 --> 01:59:25.990
trying to escape from this but it is
01:59:26.000 --> 01:59:27.830
impossible to escape from what is. Yeah,
01:59:27.840 --> 01:59:29.830
I I mentioned that earlier. It's sort of
01:59:29.840 --> 01:59:31.189
like you you have to make your peace
01:59:31.199 --> 01:59:33.109
with samsara. You don't want to be
01:59:33.119 --> 01:59:35.990
struggling against it.
01:59:36.000 --> 01:59:37.669
And you know, some teachers would
01:59:37.679 --> 01:59:39.350
specialize in that kind of thing like
01:59:39.360 --> 01:59:41.589
Jay Krishna Murdy kind of that was one
01:59:41.599 --> 01:59:44.629
of the main themes and or nisarodata
01:59:44.639 --> 01:59:47.350
maharaj you know enlightenment is not
01:59:47.360 --> 01:59:50.070
the end of a path. It just doesn't work
01:59:50.080 --> 01:59:52.550
that way.
01:59:52.560 --> 01:59:56.470
So yeah, I mean Tony Parsons I mean it
01:59:56.480 --> 01:59:58.149
sounds like he's following along with
01:59:58.159 --> 02:00:00.310
the kind of non-dualistic
02:00:00.320 --> 02:00:05.270
mysticism which is fine.
02:00:05.280 --> 02:00:06.950
I mean it doesn't it I don't think he's
02:00:06.960 --> 02:00:08.229
coming up with he has come up with
02:00:08.239 --> 02:00:09.910
anything original at least not based on
02:00:09.920 --> 02:00:11.910
this this brief description of what he's
02:00:11.920 --> 02:00:14.149
teaching.
02:00:14.159 --> 02:00:15.669
So
02:00:15.679 --> 02:00:16.950
yeah and then he starts calling it
02:00:16.960 --> 02:00:19.830
boundless energy or you know nibbana
02:00:19.840 --> 02:00:23.109
datu or I mean it's it's so easy. I mean
02:00:23.119 --> 02:00:25.030
language is that way. I mean you have to
02:00:25.040 --> 02:00:27.030
use words
02:00:27.040 --> 02:00:29.910
in order to refer to something
02:00:29.920 --> 02:00:32.629
and so it just becomes a kind of trap.
02:00:32.639 --> 02:00:34.310
It's the finger pointing at the moon and
02:00:34.320 --> 02:00:36.470
then people just forget the moon and are
02:00:36.480 --> 02:00:37.830
just paying all their attention to the
02:00:37.840 --> 02:00:39.030
finger. It's like trying to point
02:00:39.040 --> 02:00:41.510
something out to a dog.
02:00:41.520 --> 02:00:43.270
We got one dog that actually gets it.
02:00:43.280 --> 02:00:45.669
But most dogs in the course of my life,
02:00:45.679 --> 02:00:46.709
you're trying to point, you know, you
02:00:46.719 --> 02:00:48.629
put down a dish of food for it and
02:00:48.639 --> 02:00:50.390
you're pointing at it's it's over there.
02:00:50.400 --> 02:00:52.790
It's right there. And the dog inevitably
02:00:52.800 --> 02:00:55.270
looks at your finger instead of the
02:00:55.280 --> 02:00:57.669
direction you're pointing.
02:00:57.679 --> 02:00:58.950
And that's that's the way people are
02:00:58.960 --> 02:01:02.229
with words.
02:01:02.239 --> 02:01:03.270
And I'm just going to move on to the
02:01:03.280 --> 02:01:06.229
next question. We are getting down
02:01:06.239 --> 02:01:09.270
towards the bottom here. Sort of. Looks
02:01:09.280 --> 02:01:12.310
like kind of.
02:01:12.320 --> 02:01:14.790
Let's see. Ruy,
02:01:14.800 --> 02:01:17.910
his first question. How are you? I'm
02:01:17.920 --> 02:01:22.070
fine. Ruy's second question. What to
02:01:22.080 --> 02:01:24.950
your mind is the role of irony in the
02:01:24.960 --> 02:01:27.430
discourses and can you recall any
02:01:27.440 --> 02:01:31.350
salient instances of it off the cuff?
02:01:31.360 --> 02:01:33.510
Gosh, I'm going to have to run and get
02:01:33.520 --> 02:01:35.430
get a book. Just a second. I'm sorry
02:01:35.440 --> 02:01:37.189
about this having to leave over and over
02:01:37.199 --> 02:01:54.149
again.
02:01:54.159 --> 02:01:56.790
Okay.
02:01:56.800 --> 02:01:59.030
I really do prefer doing these in the
02:01:59.040 --> 02:02:02.310
the studio, the usual room, but it
02:02:02.320 --> 02:02:03.990
doesn't often doesn't always work out
02:02:04.000 --> 02:02:07.910
that way. Okay. So what to your mind is
02:02:07.920 --> 02:02:10.070
the role of irony in the discourses and
02:02:10.080 --> 02:02:12.310
can you recall any salient instances of
02:02:12.320 --> 02:02:15.669
it off the cuff? Well, probably my
02:02:15.679 --> 02:02:18.229
favorite example of irony is in the
02:02:18.239 --> 02:02:20.709
damopatana
02:02:20.719 --> 02:02:23.830
and let's see verse what is it? Verse
02:02:23.840 --> 02:02:26.870
something.
02:02:26.880 --> 02:02:28.950
Let's see.
02:02:28.960 --> 02:02:33.350
Please bear with me.
02:02:33.360 --> 02:02:37.270
Okay, I know what's in here.
02:02:37.280 --> 02:02:41.189
Okay, verse 97 of the dhamopana.
02:02:41.199 --> 02:02:44.229
So then we have to go to verse 97. It's
02:02:44.239 --> 02:02:48.390
in uh the arant waga, the chapter on the
02:02:48.400 --> 02:02:53.030
enlightened being, the arahant section.
02:02:53.040 --> 02:02:57.030
Okay, so
02:02:57.040 --> 02:02:58.790
let's see. Maybe I should just look in
02:02:58.800 --> 02:03:01.189
the back here.
02:03:01.199 --> 02:03:02.790
Okay,
02:03:02.800 --> 02:03:06.950
90. Okay. So, I won't even tell you what
02:03:06.960 --> 02:03:09.270
the usual translation is. I'm just going
02:03:09.280 --> 02:03:12.310
to read this this end note that
02:03:12.320 --> 02:03:14.310
venerable
02:03:14.320 --> 02:03:16.950
gosh
02:03:16.960 --> 02:03:20.629
venerable Achara Buddha includes. He
02:03:20.639 --> 02:03:23.910
says this verse which is uh verse 97
02:03:23.920 --> 02:03:26.390
says in the poly this verse presents a
02:03:26.400 --> 02:03:29.350
series of puns and if the underside of
02:03:29.360 --> 02:03:31.750
each pun were to be translated the verse
02:03:31.760 --> 02:03:33.750
would read thus. And this is actually
02:03:33.760 --> 02:03:38.950
like a legit translation of verse 97. It
02:03:38.960 --> 02:03:41.510
literally if you if you translate it
02:03:41.520 --> 02:03:44.950
literally it's the man who is faithless,
02:03:44.960 --> 02:03:47.669
ungrateful, a burglar who destroys
02:03:47.679 --> 02:03:50.629
opportunities and eats vomit. He truly
02:03:50.639 --> 02:03:54.629
is the most excellent of men.
02:03:54.639 --> 02:03:56.229
So,
02:03:56.239 --> 02:03:58.790
I mean, that's it's kind of this weird
02:03:58.800 --> 02:04:00.709
joke
02:04:00.719 --> 02:04:03.669
that's found in the in the polytopic.
02:04:03.679 --> 02:04:05.030
And that's like one of my favorite
02:04:05.040 --> 02:04:09.350
examples of just this weird ironic kind
02:04:09.360 --> 02:04:12.950
of I mean, it's almost like dark humor
02:04:12.960 --> 02:04:15.109
that you can find in the texts. The
02:04:15.119 --> 02:04:17.910
Otakawaga has lots of puns, but they're
02:04:17.920 --> 02:04:20.550
not so much jokes as just a kind of
02:04:20.560 --> 02:04:23.750
sophisticated attempt to say two or even
02:04:23.760 --> 02:04:27.270
three things with a single single word
02:04:27.280 --> 02:04:30.790
or single statement. So that's I mean
02:04:30.800 --> 02:04:32.950
it's sort of a multi-dimensional use of
02:04:32.960 --> 02:04:35.270
language in the Atakawaga when they're
02:04:35.280 --> 02:04:37.350
using plays on words and so forth.
02:04:37.360 --> 02:04:39.510
Although there there are a few sutas in
02:04:39.520 --> 02:04:43.350
the atakawaga where like there's one the
02:04:43.360 --> 02:04:46.870
pasura suta. It's it's mainly a suta
02:04:46.880 --> 02:04:49.589
about why monks shouldn't get involved
02:04:49.599 --> 02:04:52.550
in debates. And there's this person
02:04:52.560 --> 02:04:54.470
named pasura which it means something
02:04:54.480 --> 02:04:57.350
like great hero you know or like
02:04:57.360 --> 02:05:01.109
something like hero. And he's swaggering
02:05:01.119 --> 02:05:03.030
along wanting to challenge everybody to
02:05:03.040 --> 02:05:05.669
debates. And the Buddha is kind of
02:05:05.679 --> 02:05:08.149
making fun of him. You know, it's using
02:05:08.159 --> 02:05:11.430
a lot of like military terminology in
02:05:11.440 --> 02:05:13.750
the suta. And you know, there's like
02:05:13.760 --> 02:05:16.870
this military, you know, warrior kind of
02:05:16.880 --> 02:05:18.950
theme to it, but at the same time, he's
02:05:18.960 --> 02:05:21.830
kind of making fun of Pura, this person
02:05:21.840 --> 02:05:23.830
who wants to like challenge everybody to
02:05:23.840 --> 02:05:27.750
debates. So, that's kind of ironic, you
02:05:27.760 --> 02:05:30.149
know, in a in a kind of gentle poking
02:05:30.159 --> 02:05:33.990
fun at somebody kind of way. Um
02:05:34.000 --> 02:05:36.070
there's another
02:05:36.080 --> 02:05:40.629
sort of ironic suta in the in the
02:05:40.639 --> 02:05:45.270
atakawaga which is um the pura beta suta
02:05:45.280 --> 02:05:47.430
before the break discourse on before the
02:05:47.440 --> 02:05:50.790
breakup of the body where it's just sort
02:05:50.800 --> 02:05:54.950
of like counterbalancing statements you
02:05:54.960 --> 02:05:57.589
know he's not greedy for gain but he's
02:05:57.599 --> 02:05:59.830
not afraid of loss you know it's just
02:05:59.840 --> 02:06:01.990
sort of it's almost like the doubting
02:06:02.000 --> 02:06:03.990
Ching where it's like one statement
02:06:04.000 --> 02:06:05.910
balances off another statement. So you
02:06:05.920 --> 02:06:08.390
you kind of leave this like emptiness
02:06:08.400 --> 02:06:10.709
behind sort of a thing. Although that's
02:06:10.719 --> 02:06:13.350
probably not what Rui was referring to.
02:06:13.360 --> 02:06:16.149
I remember there's one suta I think it's
02:06:16.159 --> 02:06:18.070
in the Samutinikaya
02:06:18.080 --> 02:06:20.470
in the old Polytech society translation
02:06:20.480 --> 02:06:23.510
of it. It's called Little Ugly. And
02:06:23.520 --> 02:06:26.629
there's like this demon or Assura, some
02:06:26.639 --> 02:06:29.030
kind of little monster, little monstrous
02:06:29.040 --> 02:06:31.510
being who sits on the the throne of
02:06:31.520 --> 02:06:34.470
Saka, king of gods. And the more pissed
02:06:34.480 --> 02:06:36.550
off the gods get because he's doing
02:06:36.560 --> 02:06:39.030
this, the more beautiful he becomes
02:06:39.040 --> 02:06:41.910
until Sakaf realizes what's happening.
02:06:41.920 --> 02:06:45.030
And then he starts treating him nice and
02:06:45.040 --> 02:06:46.790
respectfully. And then he starts like
02:06:46.800 --> 02:06:49.109
shriveling up and turning ugly again.
02:06:49.119 --> 02:06:52.069
And the translator, the Polytech Society
02:06:52.079 --> 02:06:54.790
translator, I think it was like CAS Ree
02:06:54.800 --> 02:06:58.709
Davids, says um just as a comment, the
02:06:58.719 --> 02:07:01.270
master is in a humorous vein. You know,
02:07:01.280 --> 02:07:04.629
it's it's kind of like this funny story.
02:07:04.639 --> 02:07:09.430
And you can find um humor in the texts
02:07:09.440 --> 02:07:11.510
with regard to irony. I mean, irony can
02:07:11.520 --> 02:07:13.350
have different meanings. Let's see.
02:07:13.360 --> 02:07:16.229
Let's look up the word irony. It's good
02:07:16.239 --> 02:07:18.069
to have
02:07:18.079 --> 02:07:20.470
the the definitions of words when you
02:07:20.480 --> 02:07:24.149
use them. Okay. So, the expression of
02:07:24.159 --> 02:07:26.149
one's meaning by using language that
02:07:26.159 --> 02:07:28.950
normally signifies the opposite. Yeah.
02:07:28.960 --> 02:07:31.030
Uh typically for humorous or emphatic
02:07:31.040 --> 02:07:33.830
effect, well, verse 97 of the damapata
02:07:33.840 --> 02:07:36.870
is uh would be a classic gem of an
02:07:36.880 --> 02:07:39.750
example of that one. Is he a state of
02:07:39.760 --> 02:07:41.830
affairs or an event that seems
02:07:41.840 --> 02:07:43.669
deliberately contrary to what one
02:07:43.679 --> 02:07:45.750
expects and is often amusing as a
02:07:45.760 --> 02:07:48.790
result? Or a literary technique
02:07:48.800 --> 02:07:51.350
originally used in Greek tragedy by
02:07:51.360 --> 02:07:52.950
which the full significance of a
02:07:52.960 --> 02:07:54.629
character's words or actions are clear
02:07:54.639 --> 02:07:56.629
to the audience or reader, although
02:07:56.639 --> 02:07:59.910
unknown to the character. Yeah, that one
02:07:59.920 --> 02:08:01.589
I don't have any examples of that
02:08:01.599 --> 02:08:03.510
immediately coming to mind, although I'm
02:08:03.520 --> 02:08:06.310
sure you could find them in there.
02:08:06.320 --> 02:08:12.550
So irony is is just kind of a a tool or
02:08:12.560 --> 02:08:15.189
just a a phenomenon that you encounter
02:08:15.199 --> 02:08:17.350
sometimes in the text. Although as a
02:08:17.360 --> 02:08:20.229
general rule the texts are pretty
02:08:20.239 --> 02:08:22.950
humorless. I mean you get into like
02:08:22.960 --> 02:08:25.589
jotica stories or the commentary like
02:08:25.599 --> 02:08:27.430
the dharmapata commentary that kind of
02:08:27.440 --> 02:08:30.069
thing where you can find funny stories
02:08:30.079 --> 02:08:31.990
you know like in the jotica stories
02:08:32.000 --> 02:08:33.910
there's like the Buddha in a previous
02:08:33.920 --> 02:08:36.709
life was a a fox you know sort of like
02:08:36.719 --> 02:08:39.350
Asup's fables wise guy kind of fox who
02:08:39.360 --> 02:08:41.350
finds a dead elephant and he just sort
02:08:41.360 --> 02:08:42.870
of eats his way into the elephant and
02:08:42.880 --> 02:08:44.790
then the elephant bloat and kind of
02:08:44.800 --> 02:08:47.350
closes off the hole so that the fox is
02:08:47.360 --> 02:08:49.910
trapped inside. It's just kind of like a
02:08:49.920 --> 02:08:52.709
humorous kind of story.
02:08:52.719 --> 02:08:56.069
But as a general rule, the texts takes
02:08:56.079 --> 02:08:58.950
themselves very seriously. You don't see
02:08:58.960 --> 02:09:01.750
lots of jokes. Monks aren't supposed to
02:09:01.760 --> 02:09:05.350
be cracking jokes much anyway.
02:09:05.360 --> 02:09:09.830
Um, so it's found in there often very
02:09:09.840 --> 02:09:11.350
subtle.
02:09:11.360 --> 02:09:14.390
Sometimes, you know, there'll it's it's
02:09:14.400 --> 02:09:16.310
less subtle,
02:09:16.320 --> 02:09:17.910
but
02:09:17.920 --> 02:09:19.669
um as a general rule, the texts are
02:09:19.679 --> 02:09:23.510
pretty dry and humorless. just the in in
02:09:23.520 --> 02:09:28.149
Terravada especially in Mahayana like
02:09:28.159 --> 02:09:31.189
crazy Zen masters or the we malakerti
02:09:31.199 --> 02:09:33.430
near disha sutra that kind of thing you
02:09:33.440 --> 02:09:36.470
get into some wild and wacky behavior
02:09:36.480 --> 02:09:39.350
that you'd never find in a orthodox
02:09:39.360 --> 02:09:42.709
terra Buddhist sutra or suta just
02:09:42.719 --> 02:09:45.669
because the sutas the Buddha is taken
02:09:45.679 --> 02:09:49.430
very seriously it's very solemn you know
02:09:49.440 --> 02:09:51.189
dharma is not something to be taken
02:09:51.199 --> 02:09:54.310
lightly and to me made the butt of jokes
02:09:54.320 --> 02:09:55.990
you know like there's even a rule of
02:09:56.000 --> 02:09:59.030
monastic discipline I think it's the
02:09:59.040 --> 02:10:01.830
could be the only dubacita offense in
02:10:01.840 --> 02:10:03.430
invenia
02:10:03.440 --> 02:10:06.390
of a monk cracking jokes about Buddha
02:10:06.400 --> 02:10:09.510
dhama or sana so as a general rule it's
02:10:09.520 --> 02:10:11.350
it's pretty dry but you can find it in
02:10:11.360 --> 02:10:13.510
there occasionally and I'm just going to
02:10:13.520 --> 02:10:14.950
move on to next question this is from
02:10:14.960 --> 02:10:16.629
Cole
02:10:16.639 --> 02:10:22.950
and Cole says in regards to sipatana
02:10:22.960 --> 02:10:25.510
Cole says in regards to study batana you
02:10:25.520 --> 02:10:27.030
have said that you have doubts about
02:10:27.040 --> 02:10:29.510
mindfulness of the body because raw
02:10:29.520 --> 02:10:31.430
physical sensation is perceived as
02:10:31.440 --> 02:10:35.189
mental phenomena. You have also said
02:10:35.199 --> 02:10:37.109
that mindfulness of feelings is
02:10:37.119 --> 02:10:39.430
basically perception of raw bodily
02:10:39.440 --> 02:10:42.229
sensation which would typically be
02:10:42.239 --> 02:10:45.270
mindfulness of the body and not simply
02:10:45.280 --> 02:10:47.910
the arising of pleasant, unpleasant or
02:10:47.920 --> 02:10:50.550
neutral feeling. Your ideas seem to be
02:10:50.560 --> 02:10:51.910
very different from what is typically
02:10:51.920 --> 02:10:53.430
taught. Can you elaborate on your
02:10:53.440 --> 02:10:56.069
understanding of the sipatan suta? Well,
02:10:56.079 --> 02:10:58.629
no. This stuff about my interpretation
02:10:58.639 --> 02:11:01.270
of feelings or way as just bare
02:11:01.280 --> 02:11:03.589
sensation. That was like the first essay
02:11:03.599 --> 02:11:05.109
I wrote on Buddhism. I was trying to
02:11:05.119 --> 02:11:07.030
make sense of the five condas especially
02:11:07.040 --> 02:11:10.709
the the four mental condas and it just
02:11:10.719 --> 02:11:14.069
doesn't work. later on it just seems
02:11:14.079 --> 02:11:18.069
like bare physical like sensory bare
02:11:18.079 --> 02:11:19.990
sensory data forget physical bare
02:11:20.000 --> 02:11:23.510
sensory data I mean it's just I mean
02:11:23.520 --> 02:11:25.350
it's void
02:11:25.360 --> 02:11:29.030
there's a like I like I mentioned um in
02:11:29.040 --> 02:11:31.510
a previous Q&A not too long ago there
02:11:31.520 --> 02:11:33.430
was a
02:11:33.440 --> 02:11:35.910
a monk a medieval Indian monk of the
02:11:35.920 --> 02:11:39.030
diga school which is a Mahayana loician
02:11:39.040 --> 02:11:41.669
school a logic school of Mahayana
02:11:41.679 --> 02:11:42.470
Buddhism
02:11:42.480 --> 02:11:46.310
where he points out that um like bare
02:11:46.320 --> 02:11:49.270
sensation, bare sensory data without any
02:11:49.280 --> 02:11:51.830
kind of perceptual interpretation is as
02:11:51.840 --> 02:11:55.189
though it did not exist at all. And I
02:11:55.199 --> 02:11:57.910
have to in in like later after I wrote
02:11:57.920 --> 02:11:59.189
that essay, I had to come to that
02:11:59.199 --> 02:12:02.310
conclusion also that you know it's it's
02:12:02.320 --> 02:12:04.550
sort of you can't even prove that bare
02:12:04.560 --> 02:12:07.030
sensory data even exists. not
02:12:07.040 --> 02:12:09.510
subjectively
02:12:09.520 --> 02:12:11.589
because by the time you're aware of
02:12:11.599 --> 02:12:15.109
something you're already perceiving it
02:12:15.119 --> 02:12:18.470
like Bishop Barkley used to say SA
02:12:18.480 --> 02:12:21.910
Perkipi to exist is to be perceived
02:12:21.920 --> 02:12:24.790
so I had to eventually kind of leave
02:12:24.800 --> 02:12:29.350
behind my interpretation of feeling as
02:12:29.360 --> 02:12:33.589
just rare of of just unprocessed raw
02:12:33.599 --> 02:12:36.629
sensory data but still it's a problem
02:12:36.639 --> 02:12:40.629
because it just makes it a kind of like
02:12:40.639 --> 02:12:44.149
more animalistic perception.
02:12:44.159 --> 02:12:46.229
So, vana
02:12:46.239 --> 02:12:49.270
is still a kind of perception.
02:12:49.280 --> 02:12:52.310
So, um Buddhist philosophy just kind of
02:12:52.320 --> 02:12:55.030
makes like a an artificial distinction
02:12:55.040 --> 02:12:57.350
between feeling and perception and
02:12:57.360 --> 02:12:59.830
ultimately I think also an artificial
02:12:59.840 --> 02:13:03.669
distinction between perception and and
02:13:03.679 --> 02:13:06.229
volition.
02:13:06.239 --> 02:13:08.390
which gets us I mean when you don't stop
02:13:08.400 --> 02:13:10.629
making the artificial distinctions then
02:13:10.639 --> 02:13:13.189
you have the final single artificial
02:13:13.199 --> 02:13:18.870
distinction of perception itself.
02:13:18.880 --> 02:13:21.990
So let's see. I mean the thing about
02:13:22.000 --> 02:13:24.629
mindfulness of the body is I mean you
02:13:24.639 --> 02:13:26.069
cannot prove getting back to Bishop
02:13:26.079 --> 02:13:28.069
Barkley again you cannot prove the
02:13:28.079 --> 02:13:30.229
existence of physical matter. I mean
02:13:30.239 --> 02:13:33.430
that was George Barklay's sole
02:13:33.440 --> 02:13:35.270
contribution sole significant
02:13:35.280 --> 02:13:37.510
contribution to western philosophy. He's
02:13:37.520 --> 02:13:40.310
the one who really just pounded home the
02:13:40.320 --> 02:13:44.310
idea that you cannot know the existence
02:13:44.320 --> 02:13:47.189
of physical matter. You can infer it.
02:13:47.199 --> 02:13:50.390
You can guess that it exists
02:13:50.400 --> 02:13:54.310
but you cannot really know it.
02:13:54.320 --> 02:13:56.550
And so I mean I have to agree with that.
02:13:56.560 --> 02:13:58.470
I personally do not believe that
02:13:58.480 --> 02:14:01.350
physical matter is ultimately real. All
02:14:01.360 --> 02:14:04.069
we know is just our perceptions of it.
02:14:04.079 --> 02:14:07.189
So you take that to I mean sudi batana I
02:14:07.199 --> 02:14:09.910
mean the the four saudi batanas you know
02:14:09.920 --> 02:14:12.790
the first one is mindfulness of the body
02:14:12.800 --> 02:14:15.750
and I mean you can just accept that as a
02:14:15.760 --> 02:14:18.229
kind of figure of speech just a a way of
02:14:18.239 --> 02:14:20.310
speaking that with regard to physical
02:14:20.320 --> 02:14:22.629
actions or supposedly physical actions
02:14:22.639 --> 02:14:25.430
what are perceived as physical actions
02:14:25.440 --> 02:14:28.390
you know walking sitting lying down
02:14:28.400 --> 02:14:31.430
standing up eating drinking extending
02:14:31.440 --> 02:14:33.910
your arm pulling your arm back Again,
02:14:33.920 --> 02:14:35.430
all of that could be called mindfulness
02:14:35.440 --> 02:14:39.669
of the body. Even if I mean ultimately
02:14:39.679 --> 02:14:41.990
your body is nothing more than
02:14:42.000 --> 02:14:44.870
perceptions.
02:14:44.880 --> 02:14:47.750
So it's just a a matter of speaking I
02:14:47.760 --> 02:14:49.990
suppose. Likewise with regard to
02:14:50.000 --> 02:14:52.790
mindfulness of feeling
02:14:52.800 --> 02:14:56.470
waiting on it's uh similar. I mean, you
02:14:56.480 --> 02:14:58.950
could say that ultimately feeling and
02:14:58.960 --> 02:15:01.990
perception are just a matter of degree.
02:15:02.000 --> 02:15:04.069
You know, perception is maybe a little
02:15:04.079 --> 02:15:06.709
bit more conceptual
02:15:06.719 --> 02:15:09.270
than than feeling. But still, it seems
02:15:09.280 --> 02:15:10.870
to me that they're both a kind of
02:15:10.880 --> 02:15:14.069
perception,
02:15:14.079 --> 02:15:19.350
a kind of symbolic interpretation.
02:15:19.360 --> 02:15:20.470
and what you're symbolically
02:15:20.480 --> 02:15:22.470
interpreting you don't even have really
02:15:22.480 --> 02:15:26.550
direct like awareness of at any kind of
02:15:26.560 --> 02:15:31.270
mental state level.
02:15:31.280 --> 02:15:34.069
So gosh I might have to start over here
02:15:34.079 --> 02:15:35.510
with regard to the question not the
02:15:35.520 --> 02:15:38.069
whole Q&A but just this question in
02:15:38.079 --> 02:15:39.589
regards to study batani you have said
02:15:39.599 --> 02:15:41.109
that you have doubts about mindfulness
02:15:41.119 --> 02:15:43.830
of the body because no I have doubt
02:15:43.840 --> 02:15:45.510
doubts about mindfulness of the body
02:15:45.520 --> 02:15:49.430
simply because there's no way of knowing
02:15:49.440 --> 02:15:52.310
whether or not physical matter really
02:15:52.320 --> 02:15:53.910
exists.
02:15:53.920 --> 02:15:55.910
That is my issue with mindfulness of the
02:15:55.920 --> 02:15:58.629
body. And Mahayana Buddhists and the
02:15:58.639 --> 02:16:02.149
Greek or not Greek, German like 19th
02:16:02.159 --> 02:16:05.109
century German idealist philosophers,
02:16:05.119 --> 02:16:07.109
they eventually just dismiss the whole
02:16:07.119 --> 02:16:09.270
idea of physical matter. Anyway, it's
02:16:09.280 --> 02:16:11.350
all just mental states. The world we
02:16:11.360 --> 02:16:15.750
live in is a mental world.
02:16:15.760 --> 02:16:18.709
So yeah, I mean I am skeptical of
02:16:18.719 --> 02:16:21.189
mindfulness of the body because
02:16:21.199 --> 02:16:22.709
ultimately you're not really being
02:16:22.719 --> 02:16:24.149
mindful of the body. You're being
02:16:24.159 --> 02:16:26.470
mindful of perceptions of the body which
02:16:26.480 --> 02:16:29.669
is mindfulness of perception.
02:16:29.679 --> 02:16:32.070
And then I see you have also said that
02:16:32.080 --> 02:16:33.669
mindfulness of feelings is basically
02:16:33.679 --> 02:16:35.190
perception of raw bodily sensation.
02:16:35.200 --> 02:16:36.709
Yeah, that was a theory that I was
02:16:36.719 --> 02:16:40.309
working with back in 1990s, but I
02:16:40.319 --> 02:16:43.750
eventually had to abandon that idea,
02:16:43.760 --> 02:16:45.589
especially after reading venerable
02:16:45.599 --> 02:16:48.070
Daroda.
02:16:48.080 --> 02:16:50.150
So
02:16:50.160 --> 02:16:51.750
yeah, my idea seem to be very different
02:16:51.760 --> 02:16:53.990
from what is typically taught. Yeah. I
02:16:54.000 --> 02:16:55.509
mean, if you want to go with what is
02:16:55.519 --> 02:16:57.190
typically taught, you follow just sort
02:16:57.200 --> 02:16:59.030
of like
02:16:59.040 --> 02:17:01.669
a more or less arbitrary
02:17:01.679 --> 02:17:04.309
uh standard for how they're going to
02:17:04.319 --> 02:17:06.790
divide things up. And there's a lot of
02:17:06.800 --> 02:17:08.469
arbitrary standards with regard to how
02:17:08.479 --> 02:17:10.230
how to divide things up. Like with
02:17:10.240 --> 02:17:13.750
regard to the five condas, you've got,
02:17:13.760 --> 02:17:15.830
you know, rupaconda, which is the the
02:17:15.840 --> 02:17:18.549
physical body, which I've personally am
02:17:18.559 --> 02:17:22.070
pretty damn skeptical of. You've got
02:17:22.080 --> 02:17:26.309
syakanda which is perceptions way I'm
02:17:26.319 --> 02:17:28.469
doing this in the wrong order which is
02:17:28.479 --> 02:17:31.509
feelings and then you've got sankara
02:17:31.519 --> 02:17:34.790
which according to orthodox terravada is
02:17:34.800 --> 02:17:36.549
50 different mental states. See there
02:17:36.559 --> 02:17:38.230
are 52 mental states according to
02:17:38.240 --> 02:17:40.230
abidama. 52 different kinds of mental
02:17:40.240 --> 02:17:44.790
states. And then just because just cuz
02:17:44.800 --> 02:17:47.750
they felt like it or presumably because
02:17:47.760 --> 02:17:50.389
the Buddha felt like it. Of these 52
02:17:50.399 --> 02:17:53.110
mental states, two of them are isolated
02:17:53.120 --> 02:17:57.349
as way and perception way and sya.
02:17:57.359 --> 02:17:59.990
Whereas the other 50 are just lumped
02:18:00.000 --> 02:18:03.190
together as sankarakanda which again
02:18:03.200 --> 02:18:06.469
it's just this arbitrary distinction.
02:18:06.479 --> 02:18:08.150
Unless you just want to go along with
02:18:08.160 --> 02:18:09.750
what I would go along with and just say
02:18:09.760 --> 02:18:12.389
it's volition because it's mainly
02:18:12.399 --> 02:18:14.389
volition. Even the the Abidama scholars
02:18:14.399 --> 02:18:16.469
will have to admit that it's mainly
02:18:16.479 --> 02:18:19.270
volition. But all the other 49 are still
02:18:19.280 --> 02:18:21.830
lumped together as as Sankarakanda,
02:18:21.840 --> 02:18:25.270
which is this kind of sloppy reasoning
02:18:25.280 --> 02:18:27.750
in my opinion,
02:18:27.760 --> 02:18:34.790
ancient pre-logical kind of thinking.
02:18:34.800 --> 02:18:36.389
So I mean there's there's these kind of
02:18:36.399 --> 02:18:39.589
complications that a modern westerner
02:18:39.599 --> 02:18:41.830
capable of critical thought and
02:18:41.840 --> 02:18:45.110
rationality is going to encounter when
02:18:45.120 --> 02:18:47.509
dealing with
02:18:47.519 --> 02:18:54.309
like ancient scriptures
02:18:54.319 --> 02:18:55.830
and I don't even want to get into the
02:18:55.840 --> 02:18:58.950
fourth sa Patana which is
02:18:58.960 --> 02:19:01.830
damuasana which is more controversial
02:19:01.840 --> 02:19:05.750
and less straightforward,
02:19:05.760 --> 02:19:07.349
but I think it it may have originally
02:19:07.359 --> 02:19:11.030
just been just mindfulness of certain
02:19:11.040 --> 02:19:13.270
fundamental doctrines of Buddhist
02:19:13.280 --> 02:19:16.629
philosophy.
02:19:16.639 --> 02:19:18.309
So that's like a whole different level
02:19:18.319 --> 02:19:20.070
of mindfulness
02:19:20.080 --> 02:19:22.389
than like mindfulness of breathing for
02:19:22.399 --> 02:19:25.030
example.
02:19:25.040 --> 02:19:26.469
So anyhow, I'm just going to move on to
02:19:26.479 --> 02:19:30.629
Cole's next question. He says, "I'm
02:19:30.639 --> 02:19:33.030
reading the atikavaga for the first time
02:19:33.040 --> 02:19:36.070
and something strikes me. This being one
02:19:36.080 --> 02:19:37.910
of the oldest fragments of early
02:19:37.920 --> 02:19:40.070
Buddhist teachings. Could it be that
02:19:40.080 --> 02:19:42.389
this is in fact the way the Buddha
02:19:42.399 --> 02:19:44.790
taught in the very beginning of his
02:19:44.800 --> 02:19:47.509
career as a teacher where he was likely
02:19:47.519 --> 02:19:49.590
teaching people who are already
02:19:49.600 --> 02:19:52.870
spiritually adept renunciates.
02:19:52.880 --> 02:19:55.429
This then perhaps the more systematized
02:19:55.439 --> 02:19:58.070
teachings of lists. four of these, five
02:19:58.080 --> 02:20:00.950
of those, 37 of that, etc. were geared
02:20:00.960 --> 02:20:03.190
towards people who were more new to the
02:20:03.200 --> 02:20:05.670
monastic life. And yeah, that is
02:20:05.680 --> 02:20:09.110
probably the more orthodox
02:20:09.120 --> 02:20:10.790
explanation.
02:20:10.800 --> 02:20:15.190
If you assume that the atakawaga is
02:20:15.200 --> 02:20:18.630
comes from early in the Buddha's career,
02:20:18.640 --> 02:20:20.950
then yeah, you could say that early in
02:20:20.960 --> 02:20:22.870
his career, he was mainly teaching the
02:20:22.880 --> 02:20:24.710
heavy hitters. He was teaching
02:20:24.720 --> 02:20:28.309
renuncient veterans in the holy life
02:20:28.319 --> 02:20:31.349
that had just converted from some other
02:20:31.359 --> 02:20:33.910
kind of renuncient aesthetic
02:20:33.920 --> 02:20:36.950
spiritual school over to Buddhism. And
02:20:36.960 --> 02:20:39.270
then later as Buddhism became more
02:20:39.280 --> 02:20:41.990
popular, then you had newbies, rookies
02:20:42.000 --> 02:20:45.110
joining joining the SA, you know, just
02:20:45.120 --> 02:20:47.270
lay people converting over to being
02:20:47.280 --> 02:20:49.750
ordained as a monk. And then you'd have
02:20:49.760 --> 02:20:52.710
to simplify things, be make have much
02:20:52.720 --> 02:20:55.830
more elementary teachings,
02:20:55.840 --> 02:20:58.150
lists to be memorized, that kind of
02:20:58.160 --> 02:21:00.790
thing. So that would be a reasonable
02:21:00.800 --> 02:21:03.990
explanation for why the atakawaga is so
02:21:04.000 --> 02:21:07.510
radically different from most of the
02:21:07.520 --> 02:21:10.150
rest of the pseudapitica.
02:21:10.160 --> 02:21:12.469
But another one, another possible
02:21:12.479 --> 02:21:14.070
explanation, and it may be that both of
02:21:14.080 --> 02:21:16.870
these explanations have their place.
02:21:16.880 --> 02:21:19.349
Another explanation is kind of like
02:21:19.359 --> 02:21:22.230
Buddhist philosophy evolved much like
02:21:22.240 --> 02:21:24.309
Christian philosophy evolved. You know,
02:21:24.319 --> 02:21:27.590
it just it had like this explosive
02:21:27.600 --> 02:21:30.469
virus-like mutation period over the
02:21:30.479 --> 02:21:33.670
first hundred years or so where it just
02:21:33.680 --> 02:21:35.190
took off. I mean, you have people
02:21:35.200 --> 02:21:38.070
joining the SA that are like, you know,
02:21:38.080 --> 02:21:40.070
people like early Christians where
02:21:40.080 --> 02:21:41.510
they're just trying to figure things out
02:21:41.520 --> 02:21:43.750
and systematize things, get everything,
02:21:43.760 --> 02:21:47.270
you know, put so that it makes sense.
02:21:47.280 --> 02:21:49.190
And that really wasn't what the Buddha
02:21:49.200 --> 02:21:51.510
was going for like in the ataga. I mean,
02:21:51.520 --> 02:21:53.030
you you shouldn't even be trying to make
02:21:53.040 --> 02:21:54.710
sense.
02:21:54.720 --> 02:21:58.469
Sense is delusion.
02:21:58.479 --> 02:22:00.309
So
02:22:00.319 --> 02:22:03.190
one explanation like Cole suggested here
02:22:03.200 --> 02:22:07.030
which is probably the more devout
02:22:07.040 --> 02:22:10.150
orthodox kind of explanation is that the
02:22:10.160 --> 02:22:14.309
atikawaga was intended mainly for like
02:22:14.319 --> 02:22:16.950
advanced veterans in the holy life that
02:22:16.960 --> 02:22:19.590
had already got where they need to go
02:22:19.600 --> 02:22:21.910
where they don't need to go much further
02:22:21.920 --> 02:22:24.389
to get to enlightenment.
02:22:24.399 --> 02:22:26.870
And then the other one is that maybe
02:22:26.880 --> 02:22:29.429
what the Buddha was teaching most of the
02:22:29.439 --> 02:22:31.190
time to most of the monks was something
02:22:31.200 --> 02:22:34.389
along the lines of the atikawaga, but it
02:22:34.399 --> 02:22:38.150
just was too deep, you know, too
02:22:38.160 --> 02:22:41.190
unfathomable for a lot of these Buddhist
02:22:41.200 --> 02:22:43.830
philosophers who were really more into
02:22:43.840 --> 02:22:46.389
philosophy than in practice who then
02:22:46.399 --> 02:22:48.230
just took the ball and ran with it and
02:22:48.240 --> 02:22:51.750
came up with this massive scholastic
02:22:51.760 --> 02:22:53.990
intellectual system.
02:22:54.000 --> 02:22:55.750
And I would guess that both of those are
02:22:55.760 --> 02:22:58.870
factors.
02:22:58.880 --> 02:22:59.910
And I'm just going to move on to the
02:22:59.920 --> 02:23:02.950
next question. This is from Arpad. Now
02:23:02.960 --> 02:23:04.150
for something completely different. This
02:23:04.160 --> 02:23:06.550
one's actually a fairly straightforward
02:23:06.560 --> 02:23:09.190
simple kind of question. Can monks get
02:23:09.200 --> 02:23:11.990
dental prosttheses or are those
02:23:12.000 --> 02:23:15.830
considered as bodily embellishments?
02:23:15.840 --> 02:23:18.710
So yeah, monk could definitely get like
02:23:18.720 --> 02:23:21.510
false teeth. I mean, if you can't chew
02:23:21.520 --> 02:23:23.750
your food properly or you have like a
02:23:23.760 --> 02:23:25.990
broken tooth like that happened to me in
02:23:26.000 --> 02:23:28.550
Burma where I mean, it's pretty common
02:23:28.560 --> 02:23:30.710
in Burma that you bite into rocks in
02:23:30.720 --> 02:23:32.469
your food, especially when they're
02:23:32.479 --> 02:23:35.670
threshing rice and threshing beans on
02:23:35.680 --> 02:23:38.150
the ground. Little white rocks get mixed
02:23:38.160 --> 02:23:40.469
in with the rice. Little brown rocks get
02:23:40.479 --> 02:23:43.190
mixed in with the beans. And it happened
02:23:43.200 --> 02:23:45.910
several times. You would bite down on
02:23:45.920 --> 02:23:48.790
something and just crack. It hurts. and
02:23:48.800 --> 02:23:50.150
you're feeling back there to see if your
02:23:50.160 --> 02:23:52.630
teeth are broken or if you've lost a
02:23:52.640 --> 02:23:56.710
filling or something. And more than once
02:23:56.720 --> 02:23:59.990
I got my teeth broken u by biting into
02:24:00.000 --> 02:24:03.590
rocks. And I went to the dentist and you
02:24:03.600 --> 02:24:06.230
know they put caps on some of them and I
02:24:06.240 --> 02:24:08.550
got a great big cap right back there
02:24:08.560 --> 02:24:11.990
from biting into a rock.
02:24:12.000 --> 02:24:14.790
See what was it? Where is it? No, it's
02:24:14.800 --> 02:24:17.349
not these ones. There's there's some
02:24:17.359 --> 02:24:20.150
other teeth over here,
02:24:20.160 --> 02:24:21.830
man.
02:24:21.840 --> 02:24:24.070
So, yeah. I mean, with regard to that, I
02:24:24.080 --> 02:24:26.950
mean, just to make your your teeth more
02:24:26.960 --> 02:24:29.510
functional and less likely to to rot out
02:24:29.520 --> 02:24:31.830
from just having this big open cavity
02:24:31.840 --> 02:24:33.510
there. Yeah, there's no problem with
02:24:33.520 --> 02:24:35.429
that. I mean, if it's I mean, it depends
02:24:35.439 --> 02:24:37.590
on your your intentions, though. I mean,
02:24:37.600 --> 02:24:38.870
if you're just doing it to beautify
02:24:38.880 --> 02:24:40.550
yourself, you're just getting bleaching
02:24:40.560 --> 02:24:43.830
done to make your your smile whiter,
02:24:43.840 --> 02:24:45.429
that kind of thing, that might not be
02:24:45.439 --> 02:24:47.670
suitable for a monk,
02:24:47.680 --> 02:24:50.309
but you got I mean, you're going to have
02:24:50.319 --> 02:24:52.150
false teeth so that you can chew your
02:24:52.160 --> 02:24:53.910
food, that kind of thing. That's there's
02:24:53.920 --> 02:24:55.990
no problem with that. I mean, for a monk
02:24:56.000 --> 02:24:57.830
to get braces, I think, would be pushing
02:24:57.840 --> 02:25:00.070
it
02:25:00.080 --> 02:25:05.990
unless he had a real like need for it.
02:25:06.000 --> 02:25:07.750
So yeah, that was that was a fairly easy
02:25:07.760 --> 02:25:09.590
question. Let's move on to the next one.
02:25:09.600 --> 02:25:11.830
This is from PSA
02:25:11.840 --> 02:25:13.830
and we're this is this is turning into a
02:25:13.840 --> 02:25:15.670
long one mainly because I've been like
02:25:15.680 --> 02:25:18.469
telling long stories.
02:25:18.479 --> 02:25:20.790
PSA says, "Who's your favorite
02:25:20.800 --> 02:25:24.150
non-terravada teacher and I can't really
02:25:24.160 --> 02:25:26.950
point to Nim Curly Baba up there because
02:25:26.960 --> 02:25:29.429
he's not there because I'm not in the
02:25:29.439 --> 02:25:31.830
studio."
02:25:31.840 --> 02:25:33.349
Um, but he'd be one of them. I'm
02:25:33.359 --> 02:25:34.950
assuming that you could even be called a
02:25:34.960 --> 02:25:36.950
teacher. I mean he was more of a guru
02:25:36.960 --> 02:25:39.349
who just kind of taught by example just
02:25:39.359 --> 02:25:42.550
he just kind of uplifted people by the
02:25:42.560 --> 02:25:45.349
the people being in his presence
02:25:45.359 --> 02:25:47.429
you know he didn't really have
02:25:47.439 --> 02:25:51.190
systematic teachings much
02:25:51.200 --> 02:25:54.070
so I don't know if I mean he certainly
02:25:54.080 --> 02:25:56.710
wasn't a philosopher
02:25:56.720 --> 02:25:59.110
I guess he'd be a teacher I mean guru I
02:25:59.120 --> 02:26:02.230
think is uh can be interpreted as
02:26:02.240 --> 02:26:03.910
teacher
02:26:03.920 --> 02:26:06.070
um of the people who have lived more
02:26:06.080 --> 02:26:08.150
recently. Paul Lo who died just a few
02:26:08.160 --> 02:26:09.510
years ago. I mean he was very
02:26:09.520 --> 02:26:11.510
controversial. He was kind of a rascal.
02:26:11.520 --> 02:26:15.270
But Nim Kuri Baba and Paul Lo both
02:26:15.280 --> 02:26:17.110
appealed to me largely because they were
02:26:17.120 --> 02:26:20.070
like enlightened rascals. You know, they
02:26:20.080 --> 02:26:22.469
weren't they weren't like Raman
02:26:22.479 --> 02:26:24.309
Maharshi. And I've got nothing against
02:26:24.319 --> 02:26:26.150
Ramanari. He seems to have been the real
02:26:26.160 --> 02:26:29.670
deal. But I mean, he was just so
02:26:29.680 --> 02:26:31.190
saintly,
02:26:31.200 --> 02:26:34.230
you know, just like this bland vanilla
02:26:34.240 --> 02:26:37.990
flavored enlightened sage. Whereas it's
02:26:38.000 --> 02:26:41.429
just more interesting to have rascally
02:26:41.439 --> 02:26:45.429
sages. I liked Zen Buddhism also when I
02:26:45.439 --> 02:26:47.429
was I was originally intending to become
02:26:47.439 --> 02:26:50.870
a Zen monk up until I actually went to a
02:26:50.880 --> 02:26:52.870
Zen monastery and actually went to a
02:26:52.880 --> 02:26:54.790
Terraata monastery and came to the
02:26:54.800 --> 02:26:56.950
conclusion that Terraata was came closer
02:26:56.960 --> 02:27:00.550
to what the Buddha originally taught.
02:27:00.560 --> 02:27:02.150
So
02:27:02.160 --> 02:27:06.790
um Paul Lo I mean Jay Krishna Murdy
02:27:06.800 --> 02:27:08.790
he is definitely a non-terravada teacher
02:27:08.800 --> 02:27:11.670
and he also was definitely rascally. I
02:27:11.680 --> 02:27:14.710
mean I remember one time telling someone
02:27:14.720 --> 02:27:16.630
who had read a lot of Krishna Mie you
02:27:16.640 --> 02:27:18.870
know I that I just recently I was a monk
02:27:18.880 --> 02:27:20.790
at the time I just recently heard that
02:27:20.800 --> 02:27:22.710
Krishna Murdy was having an affair with
02:27:22.720 --> 02:27:26.070
his private secretary's wife and you
02:27:26.080 --> 02:27:28.389
know I said I pointed this out to this
02:27:28.399 --> 02:27:31.190
this other person and he's like so
02:27:31.200 --> 02:27:33.110
that's completely in accordance with his
02:27:33.120 --> 02:27:34.870
philosophy you and he wasn't being a
02:27:34.880 --> 02:27:39.670
hypocrite
02:27:39.680 --> 02:27:41.670
so yeah there's that too. I mean, with
02:27:41.680 --> 02:27:44.230
regard to like Zen masters and so forth,
02:27:44.240 --> 02:27:46.230
it'd be hard for me to pick one out in
02:27:46.240 --> 02:27:48.710
particular,
02:27:48.720 --> 02:27:52.070
like sages who compose the Upanods. I
02:27:52.080 --> 02:27:54.070
mean, I really couldn't come up with a
02:27:54.080 --> 02:27:56.150
name.
02:27:56.160 --> 02:27:59.270
So, I mean, if we consider Nim Kuroli
02:27:59.280 --> 02:28:01.670
Baba to be a non-terravata teacher, then
02:28:01.680 --> 02:28:04.630
I'd have to pick him. I do have a lot of
02:28:04.640 --> 02:28:07.190
like resonance, deep resonance with
02:28:07.200 --> 02:28:09.190
Maharaji.
02:28:09.200 --> 02:28:11.030
I mean, I highly recommend the book
02:28:11.040 --> 02:28:13.270
Miracle of Love, stories about Nin Kurly
02:28:13.280 --> 02:28:17.030
Baba, compiled and edited by Rahm Das. I
02:28:17.040 --> 02:28:18.710
mean, you you kind of by reading the
02:28:18.720 --> 02:28:20.950
book, you you get this feeling of what
02:28:20.960 --> 02:28:23.270
it's like to be in the presence of a
02:28:23.280 --> 02:28:24.950
sage,
02:28:24.960 --> 02:28:26.870
even though he was like a a wild
02:28:26.880 --> 02:28:31.510
rascally kind of sage.
02:28:31.520 --> 02:28:32.790
So, I'm just going to move on to the
02:28:32.800 --> 02:28:34.950
next question. This is from Robert. And
02:28:34.960 --> 02:28:38.309
Robert is our last questioner on this
02:28:38.319 --> 02:28:41.270
gray rainy Easter day.
02:28:41.280 --> 02:28:43.270
Robert says, "Oh, by the way, Easter, do
02:28:43.280 --> 02:28:45.190
you do you know how they decide what is
02:28:45.200 --> 02:28:47.510
Easter? You know what day is is chosen
02:28:47.520 --> 02:28:50.469
to be Easter? It is in fact the first
02:28:50.479 --> 02:28:52.790
Sunday after the first full moon after
02:28:52.800 --> 02:28:56.550
the vernal equinox."
02:28:56.560 --> 02:28:59.270
Anyways, Robert says, "You've said
02:28:59.280 --> 02:29:01.190
before that there are probably more
02:29:01.200 --> 02:29:04.309
enlightened Hindus than Terra Buddhists.
02:29:04.319 --> 02:29:06.309
Why do you then not think certain
02:29:06.319 --> 02:29:09.030
schools of Hinduism like Advita vdanta
02:29:09.040 --> 02:29:11.030
might be preferable to terravada
02:29:11.040 --> 02:29:13.830
Buddhism especially considering that
02:29:13.840 --> 02:29:16.150
your uncarved block of marble sounds
02:29:16.160 --> 02:29:19.750
more similar to advita metaphysics than
02:29:19.760 --> 02:29:21.750
terra Buddhism? Well, that's a fair
02:29:21.760 --> 02:29:24.630
question. I wouldn't I have said that I
02:29:24.640 --> 02:29:26.550
wouldn't be surprised if there have been
02:29:26.560 --> 02:29:28.870
more enlightened Hindus than enlightened
02:29:28.880 --> 02:29:31.750
terra Buddhists. partly because Terraata
02:29:31.760 --> 02:29:36.389
Buddhism is very dogmatic.
02:29:36.399 --> 02:29:39.190
So I mean there's not a lot of freedom
02:29:39.200 --> 02:29:42.309
of thought and inspiration
02:29:42.319 --> 02:29:44.790
that goes along with like freedom of
02:29:44.800 --> 02:29:47.429
thought associated with terravada. It
02:29:47.439 --> 02:29:49.670
tends to be just strictly adhering to
02:29:49.680 --> 02:29:52.309
these ancient texts and not daring to
02:29:52.319 --> 02:29:56.870
deviate from them. And so Hindus, they
02:29:56.880 --> 02:29:59.190
tend to have more of that spark of
02:29:59.200 --> 02:30:01.270
inspiration, at least some of them. And
02:30:01.280 --> 02:30:03.750
there's there's lots more Hindus than
02:30:03.760 --> 02:30:06.469
Terra Buddhists also, which just
02:30:06.479 --> 02:30:08.790
increases the odds with regard to that.
02:30:08.800 --> 02:30:11.590
Also, you have a larger sample size from
02:30:11.600 --> 02:30:17.590
which to choose enlightened sages.
02:30:17.600 --> 02:30:20.309
So why do I not think certain schools of
02:30:20.319 --> 02:30:22.150
Hinduism like advite vidanta might be
02:30:22.160 --> 02:30:25.190
preferable to Terabara Buddhism? Um
02:30:25.200 --> 02:30:28.309
partly I mean
02:30:28.319 --> 02:30:31.270
I never really encountered an advite
02:30:31.280 --> 02:30:34.230
vanta monastery.
02:30:34.240 --> 02:30:36.710
That's part of the thing. I mean, if
02:30:36.720 --> 02:30:40.070
Advita vdant monasteries were as common
02:30:40.080 --> 02:30:42.630
as terraata monasteries,
02:30:42.640 --> 02:30:44.550
you know, they were out there where you
02:30:44.560 --> 02:30:46.790
you could just go to the the local
02:30:46.800 --> 02:30:49.830
advita temple, that kind of thing, then
02:30:49.840 --> 02:30:52.070
I might have actually chosen advite
02:30:52.080 --> 02:30:55.510
vidanta rather than terraora.
02:30:55.520 --> 02:30:58.389
But in the west I mean I don't know of a
02:30:58.399 --> 02:31:01.429
single advite of vanta monastery or
02:31:01.439 --> 02:31:05.670
advite of vanta center whereas terravada
02:31:05.680 --> 02:31:10.070
is more accessible and so it was just uh
02:31:10.080 --> 02:31:12.389
circumstance
02:31:12.399 --> 02:31:16.150
l just led me to terravada also I do
02:31:16.160 --> 02:31:18.950
have a lot of respect for the Buddha and
02:31:18.960 --> 02:31:21.750
um I mean if I had all of the ancient
02:31:21.760 --> 02:31:23.590
schools of Buddhism to choose from I
02:31:23.600 --> 02:31:26.710
probably wouldn't have chosen terra VA I
02:31:26.720 --> 02:31:28.710
might have gone like saltica or
02:31:28.720 --> 02:31:33.590
something just to get away from abidama
02:31:33.600 --> 02:31:37.670
but yeah advita vidanta I mean Hinduism
02:31:37.680 --> 02:31:42.070
has its own baggage it's uh more poetic
02:31:42.080 --> 02:31:44.389
less philosophical
02:31:44.399 --> 02:31:47.190
to to some degree you know it's it's got
02:31:47.200 --> 02:31:49.990
more of like an artistic vibe to it kind
02:31:50.000 --> 02:31:53.270
of a slightly less scientific vibe like
02:31:53.280 --> 02:31:55.270
terra Buddhism or just Buddhism in
02:31:55.280 --> 02:31:58.150
general very straightforward you know
02:31:58.160 --> 02:32:00.309
very clearcut
02:32:00.319 --> 02:32:03.270
and in Hinduism
02:32:03.280 --> 02:32:05.990
you know there's all the garish you know
02:32:06.000 --> 02:32:08.389
gods and goddesses and and stories and
02:32:08.399 --> 02:32:10.550
this kind of thing that can get in the
02:32:10.560 --> 02:32:13.270
way. Um but I think one of the main
02:32:13.280 --> 02:32:15.030
problems I just never had an advite of
02:32:15.040 --> 02:32:17.510
vanta monastery that I could go to and
02:32:17.520 --> 02:32:19.990
compare it to see if it was better or
02:32:20.000 --> 02:32:21.670
worse you know preferable or not
02:32:21.680 --> 02:32:24.150
preferable with regard like compared
02:32:24.160 --> 02:32:28.870
with terra or Buddhism in general.
02:32:28.880 --> 02:32:30.870
So that was that was one of the main
02:32:30.880 --> 02:32:33.030
things. I mean I I do believe there are
02:32:33.040 --> 02:32:36.070
advita vanta monasteries out there
02:32:36.080 --> 02:32:38.309
somewhere but I don't know where they
02:32:38.319 --> 02:32:40.710
are. I mean nowadays you've got
02:32:40.720 --> 02:32:41.990
internet. You could probably look it up
02:32:42.000 --> 02:32:43.750
pretty easily. But back then there was
02:32:43.760 --> 02:32:46.469
no internet.
02:32:46.479 --> 02:32:48.150
And with regard to the uncarved block of
02:32:48.160 --> 02:32:51.190
marble, I mean it's just a necessary
02:32:51.200 --> 02:32:53.830
evil to reify it. You're better off just
02:32:53.840 --> 02:32:55.510
going with the atakawaga and not
02:32:55.520 --> 02:32:58.469
reifying it. Do not try to reify the
02:32:58.479 --> 02:33:01.270
absolute. So I do think that's kind of a
02:33:01.280 --> 02:33:05.030
mistake made by vanta is their reifying
02:33:05.040 --> 02:33:09.190
of the absolute as like nurguna brahman
02:33:09.200 --> 02:33:11.590
because the finger pointing at the moon
02:33:11.600 --> 02:33:13.590
too many people just ignore the moon and
02:33:13.600 --> 02:33:19.110
just latch on to the finger.
02:33:19.120 --> 02:33:21.349
So with regard to the the atawaga, I
02:33:21.359 --> 02:33:23.670
mean I really
02:33:23.680 --> 02:33:25.349
I don't know I don't know if I've come
02:33:25.359 --> 02:33:29.190
across any Hindu text that is more
02:33:29.200 --> 02:33:33.750
profound than the atawaga.
02:33:33.760 --> 02:33:35.590
Some of the upupanads are deep though. I
02:33:35.600 --> 02:33:37.750
mean some of the upupanads are deeper
02:33:37.760 --> 02:33:40.309
than some polyutas. I definitely have to
02:33:40.319 --> 02:33:42.469
admit to that.
02:33:42.479 --> 02:33:43.910
But mainly I think it was just a matter
02:33:43.920 --> 02:33:45.270
of accessibility. If it was the other
02:33:45.280 --> 02:33:48.230
way around where you know it was sort of
02:33:48.240 --> 02:33:49.910
advant
02:33:49.920 --> 02:33:53.910
and like ordination as syasan or
02:33:53.920 --> 02:33:57.270
whatever they're called was more in
02:33:57.280 --> 02:33:59.429
vogue more popular and thus more
02:33:59.439 --> 02:34:02.469
accessible than being if terraat was
02:34:02.479 --> 02:34:04.950
just restricted to like Southeast Asia
02:34:04.960 --> 02:34:08.150
and and Sri Lanka and then you know
02:34:08.160 --> 02:34:09.910
there weren't places like that in
02:34:09.920 --> 02:34:12.950
America that I could go to and check out
02:34:12.960 --> 02:34:15.110
but there was plenty of the advite of
02:34:15.120 --> 02:34:17.590
vant places then I might have turned out
02:34:17.600 --> 02:34:19.910
to be an advite of vantan. It's sort of
02:34:19.920 --> 02:34:22.389
like Ramdas saying that he was
02:34:22.399 --> 02:34:25.190
originally drawn more towards Buddhism
02:34:25.200 --> 02:34:27.510
just because Hinduism just struck him as
02:34:27.520 --> 02:34:30.150
kind of like sentimental and garish and
02:34:30.160 --> 02:34:31.990
and and Buddhism is just more
02:34:32.000 --> 02:34:33.750
philosophical and straightforward and
02:34:33.760 --> 02:34:36.150
scientific. But he just wound up finding
02:34:36.160 --> 02:34:40.710
a Hindu guru and became a Hindu.
02:34:40.720 --> 02:34:42.309
The first enlightened being he came
02:34:42.319 --> 02:34:44.150
across was a Hindu and not a Buddhist.
02:34:44.160 --> 02:34:47.910
And so that's just the way he went.
02:34:47.920 --> 02:34:50.710
So there's a lot of that involved too.
02:34:50.720 --> 02:34:51.830
And I'm just going to move on to
02:34:51.840 --> 02:34:54.950
Robert's second question. Second to last
02:34:54.960 --> 02:34:57.110
question.
02:34:57.120 --> 02:34:59.110
Do you consider the upupanachads to be
02:34:59.120 --> 02:35:01.590
as profound as at least large parts of
02:35:01.600 --> 02:35:02.870
the pseudapitica? Yeah, I already
02:35:02.880 --> 02:35:05.190
answered that just uh a minute or two
02:35:05.200 --> 02:35:08.230
ago, didn't I? Yeah, sure. Some of the
02:35:08.240 --> 02:35:11.590
uponads are very profound. Some I mean
02:35:11.600 --> 02:35:13.349
the the Tibetan book of the great
02:35:13.359 --> 02:35:17.110
liberation is very profound but that I
02:35:17.120 --> 02:35:19.670
guess technically is still Buddhist.
02:35:19.680 --> 02:35:23.750
Um yeah I mean some some parts of the
02:35:23.760 --> 02:35:26.150
sutapidica are not profound at all. Some
02:35:26.160 --> 02:35:28.150
of them are just silly. It's just like
02:35:28.160 --> 02:35:30.469
the devotionalistic miracle stuff that
02:35:30.479 --> 02:35:32.389
kind of thing. I don't have much use for
02:35:32.399 --> 02:35:35.349
that at all other than just as a kind of
02:35:35.359 --> 02:35:39.990
sociological or anthropological study.
02:35:40.000 --> 02:35:43.190
Yeah. So, some of the upupanads are more
02:35:43.200 --> 02:35:46.630
profound than some of the sutas.
02:35:46.640 --> 02:35:49.910
Sure. I mean, some of some parts of the
02:35:49.920 --> 02:35:51.429
New Testament are more profound than
02:35:51.439 --> 02:35:53.110
some of the sutas because some sutas
02:35:53.120 --> 02:35:56.630
just really aren't all that profound.
02:35:56.640 --> 02:35:57.830
And I'm just going to move on to the
02:35:57.840 --> 02:36:00.469
very last question
02:36:00.479 --> 02:36:03.190
also from Robert.
02:36:03.200 --> 02:36:06.230
He says,
02:36:06.240 --> 02:36:08.630
"Do you think devotional practices like
02:36:08.640 --> 02:36:11.110
prayer can be spiritually beneficial?"
02:36:11.120 --> 02:36:13.510
And yeah, I think prayer can be
02:36:13.520 --> 02:36:15.910
spiritually beneficial partly. I mean,
02:36:15.920 --> 02:36:17.429
there's various ways that it can be
02:36:17.439 --> 02:36:19.910
spiritually beneficial. For example, I
02:36:19.920 --> 02:36:22.710
mean if it becomes a kind of meditation,
02:36:22.720 --> 02:36:25.270
you know, it's like an exercise of of
02:36:25.280 --> 02:36:26.870
concentration. You know, you're
02:36:26.880 --> 02:36:29.190
concentrating on this prayer which is it
02:36:29.200 --> 02:36:31.030
could be just like a long mantra. You're
02:36:31.040 --> 02:36:33.910
just doing the Lord's prayer. Dear not,
02:36:33.920 --> 02:36:35.429
dear God, please have mercy upon me, a
02:36:35.439 --> 02:36:37.110
sinner. That's another one. But that's
02:36:37.120 --> 02:36:39.670
what the Jesus prayer. But like the
02:36:39.680 --> 02:36:41.830
Lord's prayer, you know, our father
02:36:41.840 --> 02:36:43.429
which art in heaven, you know, paid her
02:36:43.439 --> 02:36:45.910
no stir. I mean that could become like a
02:36:45.920 --> 02:36:47.590
mantra where you're just repeating it
02:36:47.600 --> 02:36:49.670
over and over again as a kind of mantra
02:36:49.680 --> 02:36:51.590
with its own sort of vibe. I mean you
02:36:51.600 --> 02:36:54.469
don't completely ignore the words
02:36:54.479 --> 02:36:56.070
but I mean yeah that's a kind of
02:36:56.080 --> 02:36:59.349
meditation and so you'd get the kind of
02:36:59.359 --> 02:37:01.830
benefits from that as you get from a
02:37:01.840 --> 02:37:05.349
kind of mantra meditation but also I
02:37:05.359 --> 02:37:09.190
mean prayer like devotional prayer I
02:37:09.200 --> 02:37:10.790
mean I haven't prayed very much in my
02:37:10.800 --> 02:37:12.389
life
02:37:12.399 --> 02:37:14.630
there have been times as a monk where
02:37:14.640 --> 02:37:15.910
you're just kind of in a state of
02:37:15.920 --> 02:37:18.070
spiritual desperation
02:37:18.080 --> 02:37:20.230
and it's like you know anybody out there
02:37:20.240 --> 02:37:22.150
who's willing and able to help, please
02:37:22.160 --> 02:37:25.830
do so. And in a way, it's,
02:37:25.840 --> 02:37:28.150
you know, it's kind of throwing yourself
02:37:28.160 --> 02:37:30.469
on the mercy of some higher power or
02:37:30.479 --> 02:37:32.230
higher powers, even if you don't know
02:37:32.240 --> 02:37:34.870
who those higher powers might be. I
02:37:34.880 --> 02:37:37.510
mean, in a way, it's humility, practice
02:37:37.520 --> 02:37:39.910
of humility.
02:37:39.920 --> 02:37:43.590
Um, you know, that that sort of thing is
02:37:43.600 --> 02:37:46.710
also spiritually beneficial. And and
02:37:46.720 --> 02:37:48.790
there's there's been many cases of
02:37:48.800 --> 02:37:51.429
people in Christianity and and others
02:37:51.439 --> 02:37:53.190
other other systems too. I think the
02:37:53.200 --> 02:37:55.030
most famous cases are in Christianity
02:37:55.040 --> 02:37:58.070
where someone is trying to be saved
02:37:58.080 --> 02:37:59.670
through their own efforts. You know,
02:37:59.680 --> 02:38:01.830
they're trying to be a saintly person
02:38:01.840 --> 02:38:04.070
and they just keep failing. You know,
02:38:04.080 --> 02:38:05.990
the the spirit is willing but the flesh
02:38:06.000 --> 02:38:08.710
is weak and all that. And so finally
02:38:08.720 --> 02:38:13.190
they just kind of surrender. It's like I
02:38:13.200 --> 02:38:16.230
can't do it, God. I just throw myself on
02:38:16.240 --> 02:38:18.710
your mercy. If I if I get into heaven,
02:38:18.720 --> 02:38:20.550
if I'm saved, it will be through your
02:38:20.560 --> 02:38:25.030
grace because I just can't do it. And
02:38:25.040 --> 02:38:28.710
that kind of holy desperation
02:38:28.720 --> 02:38:30.870
resulting in that kind of prayer. I
02:38:30.880 --> 02:38:32.710
mean, that can be a total gamecher. I
02:38:32.720 --> 02:38:34.870
mean, that that can really just cause
02:38:34.880 --> 02:38:37.429
something to click and you're like at a
02:38:37.439 --> 02:38:39.110
higher level of consciousness once you
02:38:39.120 --> 02:38:42.630
stop like trying to get yourself there
02:38:42.640 --> 02:38:46.950
and just let go.
02:38:46.960 --> 02:38:49.590
So yeah, that too. I mean, devotional
02:38:49.600 --> 02:38:52.230
practices in general,
02:38:52.240 --> 02:38:55.349
um, they it depends. It depends on where
02:38:55.359 --> 02:38:57.270
you're at, what your motives are, that
02:38:57.280 --> 02:38:59.190
kind of thing.
02:38:59.200 --> 02:39:01.270
But certainly prayer can be spiritually
02:39:01.280 --> 02:39:03.110
beneficial
02:39:03.120 --> 02:39:05.830
even if the the deity you're praying to
02:39:05.840 --> 02:39:07.990
isn't even real.
02:39:08.000 --> 02:39:09.910
You know, just through the meditative
02:39:09.920 --> 02:39:13.429
aspect of it or the humility aspect, the
02:39:13.439 --> 02:39:15.830
surrender aspect, all these kind of
02:39:15.840 --> 02:39:17.830
things can be definitely spiritually
02:39:17.840 --> 02:39:21.349
beneficial and can even result in like a
02:39:21.359 --> 02:39:25.510
a a major upheaval and just an opening
02:39:25.520 --> 02:39:27.510
up of something that had been blocked
02:39:27.520 --> 02:39:29.830
for years.
02:39:29.840 --> 02:39:32.230
And so that's it. That's that's the last
02:39:32.240 --> 02:39:35.590
question of this Q&A.
02:39:35.600 --> 02:39:39.429
And again, I got the new book out which
02:39:39.439 --> 02:39:42.070
talks about visiting morgs and stuff. So
02:39:42.080 --> 02:39:45.429
it's there's that to look forward to.
02:39:45.439 --> 02:39:47.830
And so just check out the URL links
02:39:47.840 --> 02:39:49.910
below. Like and subscribe if you have
02:39:49.920 --> 02:39:52.710
not done so already. If you assuming
02:39:52.720 --> 02:39:54.389
that you like this. I don't know why
02:39:54.399 --> 02:39:55.830
you'd still be hanging around if you
02:39:55.840 --> 02:40:00.150
didn't. And uh what else? There was
02:40:00.160 --> 02:40:02.150
something else. Oh yeah, if you think I
02:40:02.160 --> 02:40:04.389
can answer any question, feel free to
02:40:04.399 --> 02:40:07.750
ask. And no more than three questions
02:40:07.760 --> 02:40:13.640
per person, please. And be happy.