(E02)-01-Importance-of-Sila-and-Dana

Good evening, brothers and sisters in the Dharma. It's good to see you all here in spite of the rain, the drizzle. I still have the interest to come to listen to the Dharma talk. Tonight we're going to discuss this dāna and sīla. Dāna, probably many of you know, is offering or charity. Hou Si in Cantonese. And Si La is moral conduct. This word Si La has also come into Bahasa Malaysia. So, these two things, Dana and Si La, are very basic practice of lay Buddhists. It is very important that lay Buddhists understand this dāna and sila and practice it. All religions, all good religions teach us to do good and not to harm others. And this is what dāna and sila is all about. Dāna is doing good, positive good. Sila is not harming others. refraining from harming others. So these are the two, the positive and the negative aspect of doing good. And for lay people, these two things are easier to practice. And besides this, there are higher levels of Dharma practice. which are more advanced and which many lay people cannot do. But these two things, dana and sila, you should do for your own welfare. And why is it so important can be seen in a sutra. In a sutra, a discourse of the Buddha, the Buddha said, that three things we get merit in doing three things. One is charity, dana. Another one is sila, moral conduct. And the third is bhavana. Dana, sila, bhavana. Bhavana means development. And basically it means development of the mind. That means meditation. And why is it called development of the mind? Because an ordinary mind is obstructed by five things called the five hindrances, panca nivarana. These five hindrances prevent us from seeing things clearly. What are these five things? Sensual desire, ill will, sloth and pauper, restlessness and worry, and doubt. When we practice meditation, especially the type of meditation that gives us deep tranquility, then when we attain tranquility or concentration of mind, these five hindrances drop away. That is why it is called development of the mind because if a person attains this state of calmness whereby the five hindrances drop off, then the mind is developed. It becomes different from the ordinary mind. And a person with a low level of hindrances is a person with a high IQ. You can see things very clearly. But development of the mind, bhavana, is difficult for laypeople to practice. And Dhana and Sila, the other two aspects of getting married, the other two ways of getting married are much easier. That's why it is encouraged for lay people.

(E02)-02-Influence-of-Sila-and-Dana-on-future-rebirth

Now in one sutta, the Buddha said these two things, dana and sila, charity and moral conduct. If you practice it to a very low degree, very little, then it is expected that you, when you pass away, you will come back to get a human rebirth. You will get a human rebirth. But when you are reborn as a human, you won't have much luck. You won't have much blessings. Whereas, won't have much blessings means you're probably born into a low family, a poor family, and then when you try to earn a living, it's difficult to earn a living. And besides that, you may have some defects in your physical appearance. You might be a paraplegic or half-blind or something. So that is a person with no blessings. or very little blessings. So this is what happens when a person does very little, observes very little dana and sila. But at least he gets a human rebirth. A person who does charity and keeps the moral conduct or precepts to a medium degree, it is expected that he will be reborn as a human being with a lot of blessings, with great blessings. You might be born into a wealthy family, a good family, and then it's very easy for you to earn your livelihood. Cari makan senang. So the Buddha also said, the third thing is that if you observe these two things, dana and sila, to a high degree, you do a lot of charity and you keep your precepts very well, Then the Buddha said that it is expected that you can get a heavenly rebirth where you will enjoy life for a very, very long time. So that is why it is good to observe these two things, charity and keeping the precepts of moral conduct. So from this, although the Buddha did not mention, the fourth thing you can conclude from these three things is that if a person does not do these two things, charity and moral conduct, does not observe these two things at all, then that person won't come back as a human being, won't get a human rebirth, won't get a heavenly rebirth. Instead, he'll go down to the three woeful planes of rebirth. Slightly below the human level is the ghost realm. A lot of human beings, because of insufficient blessings, they are reborn as ghosts. That's why our Chinese believe that seven days after a person passes away, that person will indicate to you that the person has come back to the house. that person gives any indication that that person has come back to the house. Usually it means that that person is reborn as a ghost. Then only he can come back. Then the other, the second type of woeful plane rebirth is the animal realm. Animal realm is worse than the ghost realm because in the animal realm they devour each other, eat each other alive. So there's a second type of woeful rebirth. The third and the worst is the hell realm rebirth. Hell realm rebirth where a person does a lot of evil and is reborn in the hell realm to suffer a lot, both physically as well as mentally. Now, of these two things, charity and moral conduct, you could say that actually sila, moral conduct, is more important. Because if a person does not observe the moral conduct, that person would be liable to kill, for example, go hunting, and to steal or cheat people, to commit adultery, to lie, etc. So, if that person does not have this moral conduct at all, it is expected that that person would be reborn, for example, in the animal realm or even in hell. Whereas if a person does not do dana, charity, that means that person is short of blessings. And a person short of blessings is generally reborn as a ghost. A ghost realm is slightly worse than the human realm.

(E02)-03-What-are-precepts-(Sila)

So in the observance of Sila, the moral conduct, the Buddha taught that five basic precepts are very important. Every person has got to observe these five precepts for his or her own good, regardless of whether that person is a Buddhist, or a Christian, or a Muslim, or a Hindu, etc., or even a non-believer, a free thinker, still has to observe these five precepts. These five precepts in Pali is called Panchasila. And Panchasila in Buddhism is so famous that in Indonesia, During President Soekarno's time, he also decided that they also must observe Pancasila. But Indonesian Pancasila is slightly changed. These five precepts, the first one is not to kill, not to purposely kill any, take the life of any living being intentionally. And that is put as the first precept And the second precept is not to take what is not given to you. Not to take what is not given to you is slightly more strict than stealing. Stealing is you know that you should not take it and yet you take it. But taking what is not given to you is for example like somebody lost something, dropped something on the floor. and then it's not given to you but yet you pocket it because later that person may come back to look for this object. So it does not belong to you, you should not take it. The third one is not to commit adultery. And the fourth one is not to lie. The fifth is not to take intoxicants, drugs or liquor because When you take intoxicants to the extent that you are intoxicated, then you lose control of yourself. What you should not do, you do. What you should not say, you say. And what you should do, you don't do. What you should say, you don't say. So you have no control of yourself. Now these five precepts are so important that even in the laws of a country, if you break, especially the first four precepts, you could get into serious trouble. For example, if you kill another human being, you will probably get a life sentence or death penalty if you kill another human being. The second one, if you steal or you cheat somebody, or you steal somebody's property, you can also get into the trouble with the law. Third one, if you seduce somebody's wife or commit adultery, you also can get into big trouble in the law. The fourth one, if you lie and cheat people, also you could get into big trouble with the law. So, of these five precepts, why is killing put as the number one precept? Because actually is the most important. Because every living being, there is nothing more valuable to us than our life. If somebody borrowed, say, a million dollars from you, or even if they took away cheated you of all your property. When you are about to die, you might still forgive them. Why? Because you know that when we die, we cannot even take a single cent with us. There's nothing in this world we can take along with us when we die. So everything in this world, nothing in this world actually belongs to us. It is because of our good karma, of our blessings, that we get to use certain things temporarily. We get to use certain things. And then when life is ended, we have to give up everything and go empty-handed. So because of that, if somebody took a lot of our property away or stole our money, etc., we still can forgive. But generally, if somebody took your life, you would feel like taking revenge when you're about to die because there's nothing more important than your life. The result of this, breaking this precept, the killing precept, if you often break this precept, for example a person likes to go hunting, shoot wild boar and shoot all kinds of animals, then because of making the other beings' life short, the result of kama-vipaka is that you will have short life in your future rebirth. Or possibly sometimes even this life itself, you may have short life. Because we know there are some hunters, they go shooting wild boar, and then one day they get shot by their friends because their friends saw them as a wild boar. So they get shot. So you can see the karma ripened in this very life itself. The second precept is not to take what is not given to you. If we break this precept often, then the result is that people will also steal from us. There are some people, they have a factory or they employ workers in their company. And then you find that the workers like to steal the things from the boss. So that is the result of stealing kamal. And then the third precept is not to commit adultery. If a person commits adultery then he breaks up another person's family and then he causes others to hate him. And then the other result of adultery is that you might be reborn as an animal, because animals have very strong sensual desire. And then when you are born as an animal, you might be castrated many lifetimes. There was a story in the Therigatha. Arahant nun, when she attained Arahanthood, she saw her previous life. And then she recalled that she was a man before and committed adultery and as a result she was reborn as an animal many times and was castrated many times and then when she was born as a human being also a lot of people didn't like her so that is a result of breaking the adultery precept then the fourth precept is not to lie if we lie often then It is possible, it is probable that people will also lie to us in the future. And then the fifth precept, not to take intoxicants to the extent of being intoxicated. If we constantly take intoxicants, then the Buddha said it is very likely that when you come back as a human being, there is something wrong with your brain. So, one thing we must understand in our Buddhist Sīla, our Buddhist precepts are not like Christian commandments. Christian commandments, thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, etc., they are commandments. You cannot break them at all. But in Buddhism, the Buddha said that when we recite our precepts, we recite, It means I undertake to train myself to abstain from killing. So you only undertake to train yourself. You don't promise that you will not break the precepts. So when you say you undertake to train yourself, that means you try your best to uphold the precept. And sometimes, as a beginner, it is not possible to be very strict with the precepts. For example, a lot of new Buddhists, they always ask, you know, I can't keep this precept. Sometimes this mosquito comes and bites me. I have to allow. It's very natural. then as we progress, as we understand more dharma, then we can keep the precepts better. So actually, these precepts, it is quite impossible to keep them 100%. For example, if your house is invaded by white ants, if you don't call the rent-to-kill company, then your house may come down. So you have to sometimes do some killing. But the Buddha said, what is not necessary, don't harm other living beings if it's not necessary. Sometimes, like you have your own child, your own children, sometimes they are naughty, so you have to allow them, yes or no, for their own good. So we have to use our wisdom Now this killing precept, it is not necessary that we must be vegetarians. The Buddha was a very practical person and he said that what is important is that we don't directly cause the killing of living beings. So the Buddha allowed that if you buy meat in the market, an animal that is already killed or fish that is dead, So you don't directly contribute to its killing, then it's alright. Because even if every human being became a vegetarian in this world, there will still be killing. Killing is something that cannot be avoided. Even if we don't eat the meat of animals, they will multiply so fast that very soon they will be running all over the highways. Plus, we'll have to engage people to kill them. Even now, the government has to get these workers to kill stray dogs, dogs without license, because if they multiply too much, then they will become rabid and they bite people. People will get sick. What is important, the Buddha said, if we eat meat, it must have three conditions. We do not see, we do not hear, and we do not suspect that the animal was purposely killed for us. Those people who slaughter animals, they are not actually directly killing for us. They slaughter to sell the meat. What you do with the meat is not their concern. Whether you take the meat and throw it away or you feed it to some animal and all that, what they want is just money. So they are not actually killing directly for you. Besides the five precepts, the Buddha taught that lay people should keep the eight precepts once a week because the Buddha said life is very uncertain. We don't know when we are going to pass away. Just about a month ago, this former Kapiya of mine, Kapiya is a person who looks after the monks' accounts and who helps the monks buy things and all that. He was 49 years old in Penang, suddenly passed away because he had a weakness for good food. Whenever he came across good food, he could not control himself. So he already had a warning about three, four years ago he had a stroke. But because he was a very good, decent person, he had this kuai-yen, somebody who did reflexology on him, and he recovered completely from his stroke. But after a few years, he went back to his old habit of eating excessively. Suddenly, one day he just died on the bed. So we don't know when we are going to pass away. So because of that, the Buddha said, that actually every one of us actually has cancer. Our body is like a cancer. When the doctor pronounces that you have cancer, what does he say? He may say you have at the most, say, you're expected to have at the most, say, two years more to live or five years more to live. But he cannot tell exactly when you will die. Yes or no? And he cannot be certain also that within 5 years you will die. Maybe you might continue to live on. So, in the same way, the Buddha says, every one of us has got cancer because we don't know when we are going to die. We might die within 1 year, we might die within 5 years, within 10 years. But definitely within 30 years or so, definitely most of us will be dead. So, Because we don't know when we are going to die, and we might die suddenly. So the Buddha said, even lay people, you have to think of cultivating yourself at least once a week. Once a week, you should keep the eight precepts. And what are the eight precepts? Basically, it's the five precepts, plus the sixth precept is not to eat normal food between noon and the next morning. not to eat normal food, rice and all that. But if you are hungry at night, you can make a drink. So that is the sixth precept. The seventh precept basically has two precepts. One is not to see shows, listen to music, see television, sing songs and all that. And the other part of it is not to adorn your body, put makeup or perfume, etc. And then the eighth precept is not to sleep on high and wide beds, luxurious beds. So when you practice these eight precepts, you are trying to be like a monk or a nun for one day and one night. So, because you have this urge to renounce, the merit is very great. And the Buddha said in the suttas that if lay people keep the eight precepts constantly, the chances of being reborn in heaven are very great. And when you are reborn in heaven, you enjoy life in terms of millions of years. So it is worth the trouble to at least once a week keep the eight precepts. If you can't keep it in the Buddhist society or in the monastery, at least try to keep it at home.

(E02)-04-Dissdvantages-of-of-not-practising-Sila

Now, what are the disadvantages of not practicing sila? The first one, if a person does not keep the sila, he will squander away whatever wealth he has through drinking, womanizing, nightlife, gambling, etc. That's the first disadvantage of not keeping sila. The second one is he will have a bad reputation because people will say this person is a drunkard or is a gambler or is a womanizer, etc. Third one is he will not be confident before a crowd of people, people who don't have moral conduct. They dare not face people because they are ashamed they have done something wrong. Number four, if you don't keep sila, then you can have remorse later. Remorse will trouble you, make you restless. And then there are some people, before they become very old, they become senile, partly because of that. Because if you don't have good sila, the mind is troubled. There are some people in their 50s, they become senile already. Whereas there are some, I have an old supporter in Penang, 80 plus years old. Her sila is very good, and her memory is very good. She can remember telephone numbers and all that. Then the fifth disadvantage of not keeping seal is that when we die, we become frightened, very frightened, because we know we are going to have a bad rebirth. There are some people when they die, they even shout in terror. Then the sixth disadvantage, of not keeping Sila is that you'll have a bad rebirth in a woeful plane. So that's about Sila.

(E02)-05-Doing-Good-(Dana)

Now, dāna, now we talk about dāna. Dāna is charity. Charity, normally when we talk about charity, that means giving material things, like giving money and all that. But besides that, you can also give, donate your energy or your time, etc., and even comforting words, especially if some friend, or some acquaintance is sick with cancer or with some bad, very serious ailment, then it is very good if you can go and see that person and give him or her some comforting words. This is especially true and needed if that person is terminally ill. And a lot of Chinese, we Chinese have a bad reputation of pantang. Somebody is very sick, they don't like to go, they think, oh, might get some bad luck, might get sick or something. But if we understand the Dharma, then we should not be afraid. What is important is if we perform good karma. When we perform good karma, we have a lot of blessings. And when you have a lot of blessings, then our, how do you say, what? So then we are not afraid. Now, as far as making offerings or charity, there are four things called the four requisites that every person needs. The first one is food. The second one is clothing. For a monk, it would be robes. The third one is medicinal care. The fourth one is a place to sleep, a place to stay. And these are the basic necessities of every person. So when we do charity, these are the basic things that we have to give, we have to do.

(E02)-06-Good-man-gifts

Now, in the suttas, the Buddha said a good man's gift, when you give, you give with confidence, with faith or confidence. And then you give with respect. That means you don't look down on the receiver. And then you give also, a good man's gift is timely. What is needed at the right time, you give. And then another quality of a good man's gift is not to have remorse. There are some people, they are generous, and then later, they have a stingy mind. They think, oh, why did I give so much? Then they are remorseful. And that is not good, because every action has a reaction. There's one story in the, actually it's a true story, about a man in the long past. He was a very stingy person and his wife was the opposite. The wife always liked to give alms to monks who passed by the house. So the husband didn't like very much the wife giving away the good food. But one day he was in a very good mood. He told the wife to do some charity to some monk. So the wife was overjoyed that the husband today was in a very good mood telling her to give to the monks. So she prepared some good food to donate to whatever monk that came by. So it happened that a Pacheka Buddha came by. A Pacheka Buddha is an enlightened being who does not teach the Dhamma. So he came by to this house and the wife, after cooking some very good food, gave it to this Pacheka Buddha. So when the Pacheka Buddha left the house, the husband came back from supervising some work. So he came back, he saw this monk leaving his house. He was curious what the wife gave this monk. So he asked the monk to stop, stop. Then the monk stopped. He opened the monk's bowl to see what was inside. Then he saw the lovely food. Then he closed the bowl. He went back to the house mumbling to himself, if I had given this good food to my workers, they could have worked more for me. So he had this regret, you know. And, but, so after he died, because he, actually he did something wrong also that life. He, his brother, his brother was a very rich man. The brother had only one son, you know. And then the brother died suddenly. So when he died suddenly, the property should go to the son. But the son was too young. So the son was looked after by this man. And because of his greed for the property, One day he killed the son to get the property. So because of killing the nephew, after he died, he went to hell for a long time. Then later he came back in the human realm. He became the richest man in the whole of Savatthi, that big town Savatthi, the richest man. But because of killing his nephew, the only son, Actually, he was born seven times as the richest man in Savatthi, but every time he was reborn as the richest man in Savatthi, he had no son, no child. He was barren because of killing the nephew. But because of contributing to the giving of alms to a Pacheka Buddha, the merit was so great, he was the richest man in the whole of Savatthi. Then the result of having remorse at giving such good food was that he was not happy. He was not happy when the wife gave such good food. So when he was a rich man also he didn't know how to be happy. In the sense that he had so much money but he used the the oldest horse carriage, you know. His horse carriage was like a repaired horse carriage. The clothes he used were all very old ones. And the food he ate also was not good food, you know. If his servant wanted to throw away yesterday's food, he would scold the servant, you know. He said, this is why you waste my money and all these things. So, he was such a kadukut. In Penang, they say kadukut. Very stingy, kiam siap. to the extent that he didn't know how to enjoy his wealth. So that's the consequence of having remorse. So the Buddha said, before we do charity, the thought of wanting to do charity, you should be very happy. Then when you are doing charity also, you should be very happy. And after doing the charity, when you think about it, you should again be very happy. So next time when you become rich, then you can know how to enjoy your... The other thing the Buddha said, a good man's charity does not hurt himself or hurt others. In other words, for example, if you want to cook a chicken curry for a monk, don't go and order a live chicken to be slaughtered. It's okay if you go and buy the cold meat. You must not slaughter the chicken yourself also. Also, you must not harm yourself in the sense that if you can't afford it, don't give too much to the extent of depriving yourself or your family. Actually, this teaching contradicts the Jataka story, where it is said that the Buddha in his previous life, as a bodhisattva supposed to be, offered his own body to feed the tiger. That kind of a story doesn't make sense. It's just a story made up by people. It's not found in the suttas. A lot of these Jataka stories are grandmother's tales. Of course, with a moral behind it, a good moral to teach people, but actually it's all made up. Even the Pesantara Jataka where the Buddha in his past life was supposed to have given away the wife and the children to a poor beggar. That also is illogical. How can a person give away the wife and the children to a poor beggar to torture? Doesn't make sense at all. That's why a lot of things in Buddhism, because Buddhism is now 2,500 years old. Somebody gave a very brilliant simile. It's like a river, a river flowing like a Klang river. From the hills, it flows down to the Port Klang. When you go to Port Klang, how do you find the water? very dirty and muddy with dead carcass and all that, isn't it? If you want to find the pure, clear water, you must go upstream, you know, go to the source of the water, where the water comes out from the hill, that is the pure water. So in the same way, now our Buddhism is very polluted with a lot of wrong teachings and a lot of rojak inside. So we want to find the original teachings, we must go back to the earliest discourses of the Buddha, like this. Then you find there's a lot of contradiction in Buddhism. So you must use your wisdom to see what is the correct teaching of the Buddha. Another thing the Buddha said about a good person's charity is that if you give yourself personally, because if you give yourself personally, you do the offering personally, then when you think about it later, if you reflect on how you offered the thing personally, it gives you a lot of joy. Another thing is a good person's gift is you offer good things, not something like you want to throw away already. People who don't know are ignorant. Sometimes they give things that they want to throw away to a monk. Last time, many years ago, when I came back from Thailand, 1987, I went to look for cave to stay, so I came around Ipoh. Then I found a cave in Simpang Polai, behind Simpang Polai village. Stayed in a dark cave, you know. So I went to Simpang Polai, the market place, to Pindabat. Pindabat is going arms round, begging for food. So these people had never seen a monk beg for food, you know. They stared at me as though a orang asli came out. So, and then I had to go and walk to the stalls there, you know. I walked to the stalls there. So, they didn't know how to offer. I had to stand in front of the stall. Then the stall was selling kueh. Then one of the customers told the lady, I said, hey. She didn't know how to give, you know. And then after that, I walked to the next stall, and they gave me some cock coin. Then the third stall gave me some cock coin. Then I walked back to the cave. I walked past the meat stall. They didn't know how to give. They thought monk must be vegetarian. Walked past Nasi Lemak also never give. So, second day I came, also I had to stand in front of the stall, you know. Then only she give, you know. Then I also got kokkoi to eat for the second day. Third day I thought I'm not going to stand. I walked slowly. I walked slowly past the stall. Luckily she came forward with the kokkoi. Third day also I ate kokkoi. Fourth day also kokkoi. Fifth day also kokkoi. For ten days I had to eat kokkoi, you know. Then after ten days, they came to visit me, you know. They were saying, oh, you know, xin wo xiang hai go san dou ma. So I think some of them were very curious, came to see me and talk to me. Then I told them, I said, we Theravada monks, we are not vegetarians like Mahayana monks, you know, we beg for our food. Then the next day, 11th day, I got nasi lemak. So after that, I managed to get some rice. Then one day, I walked past one of the houses. They saw me, they came running, you know. So gave me some bread. So I accepted the bread. I went back to the cave and opened up my bowl. The bread already got mold on it. So this is, can't blame them because they don't know anything about dana. The other thing is about dana is that the Buddha said when we give, We must not have a selfish aim. Some people we don't understand. When we give, we make a wish. We want this and we want that. When you have this kind of wish, then it becomes a bit selfish and your merit won't be so great. The Buddha said we must give understanding that you are performing good karma, that there will be a vipaka. You don't have to make a wish. The result will come very naturally. So if you don't make a wish, then your blessings will even be greater, your merit is even greater.

(E02)-07-Advantages-of-Dana

Now one day the Buddha, in one sutra, the Buddha went to a lay person's house for food. So that lay person offered food to the Buddha. And during the Buddha's time, after the Buddha or his monks received the food, they give a short dharma teaching. They don't do chanting. They give a short dharma teaching, then they leave. So in this case, the Buddha, after having received food from this lady, Supya or something, then the Buddha spoke to her and the Buddha said, when you give food to a monk, actually you give four things. And these four things is Ayu, Vano, Sukham, Balam. Ayu is long life. So the Buddha said when you give food to a monk, the monk has a longer lifespan. When the monk gets to eat good food, he lives longer. So as a result, you will also get long life, either this life or future. Then the second one is vāno. Vāno is beauty. You give to a monk good food, then the monk's body also becomes more beautiful. Then you will get beauty in return. Then the third one is sukhaṅ. Sukhaṅ is happiness. When a monk gets to eat good food, he's happy. You will also receive happiness in future. The fourth one is bālāṅ. Bālāṅ is strength. When a monk gets to eat good food, he gets strength. And so, you will also get strength in return. So, these are the four things you receive when you give food to a monk. Ayubhanu Sukham Balam. Long life, beauty, happiness, and strength.

(E02)-08-Merit-depends-on-the-giver-and-receiver

Now, in one sutra, the Buddha said, when you do charity, the amount of blessings you get partly depends on the person who does the charity and the person who receives the charity. If both are upright persons, then the merit will be the highest. If the person who receives is virtuous, but the person who gives is not virtuous, then your merit depends on the receiver. And sometimes you give to that person, that person is not a virtuous person. For example, you give to a drug addict. The person who receives is not virtuous, but you are virtuous. So your merit is from you, from your heart, because you give. So if both, the receiver and the giver is virtuous, then the merit is highest. And the Buddha also said, if the receiver is one who is walking the path to cutting out greed, hatred and delusion, He is a cultivator who is practicing to cut off greed, hatred and delusion. Then your merit will be very great. Now in one sutra, the Buddha said that in previous life, He was a very rich Brahmin and he did a lot of charity. He gave 84,000 buckets of gold, 84,000 buckets of silver, 84,000 buckets of precious stones, a lot of cloth, a lot of animals, a lot of slaves, a lot of food, a lot of drinks, etc. I said the food and drinks he gave flowed like the river. But he said in spite of doing so much charity, his merit was very little. Why? He said because the people who received, none, not a single one of them had right view. That means not a single one of them was an Arya, not a single one understood the Dhamma. If a person does not understand the Dhamma, then he's like a drug addict, you know, he does more evil than good. Only when we understand the Dhamma, then we do more good than evil. So because of that, he said his merit was very little. So he said, if he had given to one person with right view, that means a Sotapanna, it would have been more, the merit would have been more than giving to so many thousands of people. In another sutra, Dakina Vibhanga Sutta in the Majjhima Nikaya. The Buddha said, if you make an offering to an animal, even making an offering to an animal, the result is expected that you will receive the result hundred times what you gave to the animal. It will be multiplied hundred times. And you give a gift to an ordinary person, Putujana, not an Arya. And that person is immoral person, does not have any precepts. Even then, because he's a human being, the result of that giving is one thousand times what you gave, one thousand times. And then if you give to an ordinary person who is virtuous, who keeps the precepts, it is expected that your offering will be returned. That means the result you get is 100,000 times what you gave. And then the fourth one, if you make an offering to an external ascetic who is free from lust, Free from lust means a person who has attained jhāna, chanting, one-pointedness of mind, so that he has no sensual desire, no anger, then it is expected that your gift will be returned a hundred thousand times a hundred thousand times. That means ten to the power of ten. And then if you make the fifth one, if you make an offering to an ārya, either first path attainer or second path, third path, fourth path attainer or first fruit, second fruit, third fruit, fourth fruit, ariya, your merit is incalculable, the Buddha said. Still, the Buddha said, if you give to a sangha, sangha means monks in general, and even if the monks are are immoral, they don't keep the precepts. But because you give to the Sangha, like to a monastery, the merit is greater than giving to any individual person, even including the Buddha. Because when you give to the Sangha, you are giving to the present monks as well as the future monks. And also because if you support the Sangha, then the Sangha of monks will continue, will not be broken. Monks will continue to ordain and monks will continue to be around. As long as monks are around, the Dharma will be around, the teaching will be there. Also because even if the present monks are corrupt, immoral, but because the Sangha continues, Sangha of monks continues, in the future you may still find Arya and Arahants. That's why there's no greater giving than giving to a sangha of monks. For example, giving to a monastery or support a monastery. Now the Buddha said it is the duty of Buddhist lay persons to support the sangha of monks and nuns with the basic, at least with the basic requisites. food, and clothing, and medicinal support, and a place to stay. During the Buddha's time, he had a few lay disciples who were anagamis, attained the third fruit of arya-hood. And there was one by the name of Hatakka. And after he died, he was reborn in heaven. After he was born in this high level of heaven, he came back to see the Buddha. Then the Buddha asked him, Hataka, how is life in the heavens? Then he said, Bhagava, they used to call the Buddha Bhagava, he said, Bhagava, there's not much difference between heaven and life on earth. But he said, in the heavens, these devas always come and ask me to teach them the Dharma. because he was very well-versed in the Dhamma, in the suttas, so he had to teach them. Then he told Buddha, he told the Buddha, there were a few things he regret now that he has died, passed away from the human realm. The first one, he said, he doesn't get to see the Buddha so often. The Buddha was a person with great compassion and wisdom, so that his disciples not only had great respect for him, they also had great love for him. because he was so compassionate. The second one, he said, he regretted was that he was not able to serve the Sangha now. Because he is now a heavenly being, he is not able to serve the Sangha as a human being. So, as a layperson, you all should remember this. because now you have the opportunity to serve the Sangha of monks. You use the opportunity because when you are about to pass away, then you remember, ah, now I have no more chance to serve the Sangha.

(E02)-09-How-to-acquire-more-merits

Now, the other thing the Buddha said, when we do good, we get blessings or merit. Now if we encourage other people to do good also, we will also get the merit. For example, some of you are good enough to ask your friends or your relations to come and hear the Dharma talk. So you get merit. for coming to listen to the Dharma talk. And in addition, because you ask your friends to come, you get more merit. So the second one is encouraging others to do good. The third one is you approve of doing good. You approve of other people doing good, you also get more merit. Then the fourth one, if you praise the doing of good, praise the doing of charity or keeping sila, you also get more merit.

(E02)-10-How-to-meet-again-in-the-next-life

Now, the other thing is, in one sutra, there was one old man. He came to see the Buddha, Nakula Pitta. Then he told the Buddha, he said, Bhagavata, now I'm very old, and my wife, he said, They have so much love for each other, he said, ever since they were married when they were very young. He said, up to now, they are so close to each other. They never have ever got angry with each other. Not only have they not spoken a word of anger towards each other, he said, they have never even had a thought of anger against each other. They are so loving. So he asked the Buddha, he said, we would like to meet again in the future. So he asked the Buddha, is it possible for us to meet again in the future? Then the Buddha said, there are four conditions. If you have four conditions similar, you will meet again in the future. The first one is you have the same faith. So, like you are Buddhist, then it is good if you want your children to meet you again in the next rebirth. Teach them to become Buddhist or understand some dharma. Same faith. The second one, same virtue. If you practice good sila, then whoever you want to meet in your next lifetime, you also encourage the person to have the same sila. So the people who are moral, they will be reborn together. Those people who are immoral also reborn together. Whether you practice Sila or you don't practice Sila, as long as it's the same, you'll be reborn together. Third one is generosity. A person who is equally generous will be reborn together. People who are equally selfish also get reborn together. Third one is generosity. The fourth one is wisdom. People who are equally intelligent will get born together. People who are equally stupid also get born together. So remember these four things. The same faith, virtue, generosity and wisdom.

(E02)-11-Transfence-of-merit

Then the last thing I want to talk about is transference of marriage. In one sutra, one discourse, there was a Brahmin who came to see the Buddha, and it was the Brahmin's practice that when their relatives die, that they make offerings of food, and then they will burn this food, you know, not like our Chinese, Chinese Qingming, they go and offer all the lovely food, but quickly you take back to the house and voila, The Indians, they will burn everything. So he asked the Buddha, he said, will my relatives actually get all this food that I burn? Then the Buddha said, it depends on where they are reborn. If they are reborn in heaven, they won't get it. Anyway, they won't need it also, right? If they are reborn as humans also won't get it. Reborn as animal also won't get. be born in hell also won't get. Only if reborn in the ghost realm they can get. And then the Buddha didn't explain why. And then he asked the Buddha, he said, what happens if my relative is not born in the ghost realm? Then the Buddha said, if this relative is not born in the ghost realm, it is highly likely that you have other relatives who are in the ghost realm waiting for you to make this offering and they will get it, your other relatives in the ghost realm. Then the Buddha said, even if you have no relatives at all in the ghost realm, because you make this offering, you get the merit, at least you will get it. Now why is it the Buddha said only ghosts can get Although the Buddha did not explain why, I think it is because ghosts are the only people who are reborn that can come back. Because, for example, if your close relative has passed away and is born as a ghost, that person will be, that ghost will be hungry, difficult to chari makan, not enough blessings. Maybe no clothes to wear also, cold and shivering. So, you go here, go there, Cannot get food, you know. Then he will think, who can help me? Then he will think, ah, my son, my daughter. Surely, at least they'll think of me. Then they'll come home. Come home waiting for you to do some good deed for them. That's why the Buddha said whenever we do any good deed, when we listen to a Dharma talk, we keep our sila, we practice meditation, we do charity and all that, then every night when we go to sleep, it's good to share the merit with all beings. And the Buddha said especially the spirit family that lives in our house. The Buddha said every house normally has a spirit family, just like trees. They have three spirits. So house also has got this house spirit, Tei Chi Kung, Tei Chu Kung. So when we share the merit with them, they are very happy with us and they protect us, protect the house. So not only the house spirit, also the Datuk Kung, all around, the three spirits, all the beings around, we share the merit with them. and then they see that you think of them, they also think of you, they also protect you. So I think I'll end the talk here, and then I invite any questions or any comments.

(E02)-12-Two-separate-account-of-Kamma

Actually, most people or almost all people, we have good and bad karma. So, this good and bad karma, they do not cancel each other. It's like separate accounts. Separate accounts. So, we have to deal with every account. So, sometimes, A person, because of being charitable, that person may be reborn into a rich family and be rich. But say for example, if that person had done killing karma in the past life, then that person would have a short life, might be a happy life but a short life. So in that respect, most of us are like that. We have good and bad karma. For example, the other day, somebody was mentioning about some pretty lady who had a very unhappy married life. So somebody asked me, if that person is reborn pretty, that means she must have some good karma, correct? She has some good karma to make her pretty. But because of some bad karma, she's not happy. At least in that way it's a bit fair so that people not so pretty at least also have some good life. So it's a mixed karma. But it's not for sure you're not pretty, it means you have a good life. Some people not pretty also don't have a good life. So it all depends on our karma.

(E02)-13-If-don't-do-bad-why-should-we-practise-Buddhism

I don't do evil. I don't do any bad things. Why should I need to learn the Dharma? That's what many people usually say. Yes. Even one of my close relatives also said this to me. He said, as long as I don't do any evil, why should I do good? But if we understand the Dharma, then our life is supported, you know, every day of our life depends on our karma. And if we understand that, then we will realize that we have good and we have bad karma. And actually when we are born as a human being, we are actually very lucky, you know, very fortunate. Because human being is just below the heavenly realm. and above the woeful plains. So we are in a much better condition than ghosts and animals and hell realm beings. So we are in a way like a low heavenly being. So because of that, every day that we live a happy life, we are actually using up our bank account of blessings. Our merit bank, is slowly being depleted, you know. Every day we are taking out the merit money, you know. So the merit is getting less and less. So if we don't supplement it by doing good deeds now, the merit can wear off, you know. Just now I told you the story about the rich man in Savatthi, the richest man. So after seven lives, as the richest man in Savatthi, All the seven lives, he was still very stingy, still very selfish. So after seven lifetimes, when he died, the last lifetime he died, then the king went to collect all his property because he had no heir, no son. The king collected all his property. After that, the king went to see the Buddha. Then the Buddha asked him, How come today you're so busy? What have you been doing?" Then the Raja told the Buddha, said, Today I've been collecting all these riches of this man and brought them all to my palace. Then he said, Ah, this man terrible. Nobody suspected he was so rich. He had so much property in his house. You know, in the old days, there was no bank. You know, you can't keep your property in the bank. So your gold, your silver, all your property, they will go and hide in the house. Hide here and hide there, everywhere. So the king, after he died, went to search the house, collected and found so much money. The king was so surprised. So when he told the Buddha, then the Buddha told the story, how this man became to be so wealthy, how in the past, he in the past life asked the wife to donate to a Pacheka Buddha. That's why for seven lifetimes he was born as the richest man in Savatthi. But the Buddha said because he didn't do any good, now he's finished all his blessings, he's going down to hell to suffer for a long time. That's the reason why we need to do good. Because we are using up our store of blessings. And our store of blessings might be very little, you know. Each person is different. You can see that some people, their luck is not so great, you know. When they do their business, small business, it flourishes, you know. Flourishes and then they become over-ambitious. Then they make their business very big. When their business becomes big, everything collapse. because they don't have enough blessings to support. So we must know how much blessings we have, we must estimate. So it's to be on the safe side, the more charity and keeping the sila that you do, the better for you. Don't assume that you have a lot.

(E02)-14-How-does-ghost-get-merit-we-transferred

If a person is born in the ghost realm and we transfer the merit to him, how is it that that person can receive it? Now, this being in the ghost realm, they can receive to a certain extent. Like for example, you cannot think of transferring the merit to that person in the ghost realm so that person can get out of the ghost realm. That is probably not possible. But food and clothing, just as you see a dog, you see a dog suffering on the roadside, hungry, can you give food to the dog? You can, isn't it? You can't say, oh, this dog is meant to suffer. Why should I give food to the dog? Out of compassion, you can give food to the dog. You can help the dog to a certain extent. Even if the dog has got a bad wound on the back, full of maggots, maybe you can even take care of that wound. So we can help to a certain extent. But we cannot say, for example, want the dog to be reborn in heaven or something. So only to a certain limited extent we can help. One thing we must understand that this world and all worlds is in consciousness. Yes or no? Right? Everything is in consciousness. So everything is mind made. Right? So when a person, for example, makes this offering of food for his relative who has passed away and he burns the the food. So he is actually offering this food to that ghost. So that ghost is expecting to receive it. So he, in his mind, you know, the mind is so powerful, you know, a person under hypnosis, he can be told by a doctor, now put out your hand. I have a hot piece of iron here. I'm going to touch your hand with this hot piece of iron. And then the doctor just take the finger and touch the hand like that. What happens? That person actually gets a burn on his hand. Because that person believes there is a hot iron touching his hand. And the hand gets burned. You see how powerful the mind? So if you believe, you believe to a certain extent it's true for you. Nowadays they say virtual reality. Actually everything is virtual reality. Our mind is conditioned by our karma that we believe now we are in the human world. It's like a dream. But I feel like this birth in the ghost realm is like a sentence, you know, or in the animal realm. And if a person has a prison sentence, there is a fixed term, you know, after this fixed term only you can come out. So the same, if a person goes into the woeful realm, animal or ghost or hell realm, he must be there to suffer for a fixed time. After that, that person can come out. And actually our human Human lifespan is very, very important. Why? Because in the human realm, we use our mind a lot. We use our mind so much that sometimes people, time to sleep or so, they cannot sleep. Cannot turn off their thinking. So whenever we use our mind and we think and we will to do something, we are creating karma. So humans, we create a lot of karma compared to other realms. Even heavenly realms, they just enjoy. They don't do so much karma. They have no opportunity to do dāna, and they don't think so much of keeping sila. They just enjoy. And then in the woeful planes, they just suffer. They have no opportunity also of doing good. They don't even think of doing good because they suffer so much. They're only thinking of their next meal. So in the human realm, we are different. We create so much karma that whatever we do now determines the next few lifetimes. Next few lifetimes. So we have to be very, very careful here. A bit careless only, you fall down. More careful, you can go up.

(E02)-15-Transferring-and-sharing-of-merit

Actually, it's just a matter of words, whether it's transfer or share merit. Either transfer to ghosts and also transfer to devas, or you share with devas and also share with ghosts. It's either word you want to use, no difference.

(E02)-16-What-is-Rigth-Livelihood

You feed the live prawns to big fish. Yeah, I suppose it is, but not very big kama. Just like killing mosquitos, right? Small. So you have good and bad karma there. You see, for example, when we were young, our parents used to slaughter the chicken for us to eat. And since they want to feed us, that's enough by doing bad actions. So good and bad karma. Sometimes, some of these actions, sometimes you know it's not so good, but cannot be helped. For example, Say like there is an Aedes mosquito around, and people getting this, what's the sickness? The Aedes mosquito? Tangy fever. So you see a pool of water with mosquito lava, then you're going to put oil to kill the mosquito lava, but your intention is good. Right? So, kamma depends on intention. So if your intention is to, for example, to protect human beings at the expense of this mosquito larva, then I think your good karma is more than your bad karma. So it depends. You see, just now I mentioned about karma, that if we do good, we should encourage others to do good, we should approve of doing good, we should praise doing good. So similarly, if you do wrong, or you encourage others to do wrong, then you also get that evil karma. So, like a person who rears animals to sell for the meat, for example, some people rear chicken or rear ducks or goat or water buffalo and fish to sell for the meat, that is wrong livelihood. There are five types of wrong livelihood for lay persons that the Buddha said lay persons should not indulge in. One is rearing animals for slaughter. Another one is selling liquor or intoxicants. Another one is selling weapons. Another one is selling drugs that kill, for example insecticide. They sell insecticide. They encourage people to kill a lot of these insects. Then the last one, buying and selling human beings. In those days they had slavery. Nowadays also they also have, illegally. So this is wrong livelihood.

(E02)-17-How-to-deal-with-pests

Actually, this insecticide, nowadays in the West, because we are behind time, we are always behind time in Asia, but now in the West, they find that this insecticide is causing more harm than good, because some of this insecticide, they stay in the ground, and for a long time, That's why some of the early insecticides we use, for example, DDT, I think, now banned totally. So now in the West, they are turning to other things. For example, using the, is it the neem tree? Neem tree, the juice or the oil of the, I think the juice of the neem tree. And you can, they spray, because the neem trees, the leaves are very bitter. So when they spray it, these insects also can't stand it. So bitter, they run off. They don't come and eat. For us here, if we do small planting in your garden, you can do what our sister Lai Ling did, was pound the chili and the garlic, soak in water and spray. We know all this killing, killing of animals. As a Buddhist, we should not encourage other people to do this kind of job, this kind of profession, for example, slaughtering of cows or pigs and all that, or chicken, because in the end, they will have to suffer for it. But some of these things we know that you can't stop people from doing. There will always be people who do this kind of thing. What is important is that we don't encourage people to do. But when people do, it's their business.

(E02)-18-Conditions-for-creating-Kamma

Just thinking alone, without intention, does not create karma. You must have intention, because in the sutra, the Buddha said, intention is karma. Intention is karma. You see, like most people, we have a sensual desire, we have anger and all that. So when we have thoughts, sensual thoughts, or we have angry thoughts, but we don't sort of work it out, we don't put it into action, then it's just a habit. It's just a habit. It's not really karma. But only when you really intend to carry it out, then only it's karma. Actually, you see, But in Mahayana Buddhism, it's different. Mahayana Buddhism is like the Christian viewpoint. When you think only, you've already done it. For example, if you have lustful thoughts, in Christianity, it's already a sin, so you have done it. But in the Buddha's teaching, he has explained it in more detail. This is not found in the suttas, but found in the monk's vinaya, monastic discipline, where, for example, the Buddha said, It is in the monk's precepts, there are four precepts which are the heaviest. And if a monk breaks any one of these four precepts, he is automatically no more a monk. First one is engaging in sexual intercourse. Second one is stealing or stealing something that is really valuable. Third one is killing a human being or encouraging the killing of a human being. The fourth one, if he does not have a supernormal attainment, he lies that he is an ariya or he has attained a meditative state, sakhi powers and all that. So you see, like in the stealing precept, if a monk steals something that is worth say approximately 20 US dollars, about 80 ringgit or more. If a monk steals a thing worth 80 ringgit or more, then he has broken that offence, he has committed that offence, broken the precept. Now, in defining how a monk breaks the precept, the Buddha said, if this thing of value, for example, and a monk wants to come and steal this thing, he has to do a few actions before the theft is finally completed. For example, this expensive clock is lying in somebody's room. So this monk wants to steal the clock. So firstly he plans how is he going to steal. He wants to go inside the room where nobody is around. So he, say suppose he completes the theft by firstly he goes into the room, Mobi around, and then he lifts up the object with the intention of stealing it. Then the Buddha said in the Vinaya, the moment the object is lifted up from its place, The task is completed. Now, if that monk, he were to come into that room quietly, open the door, get inside the room, then he has the intention of stealing this clock. He touches the clock, but he hears footsteps coming. So when he hears footsteps coming, immediately he let go of that clock. and then quickly run out of the room. So he has not completed the task. He has come up to the last stage. He did not complete. And then that offence is considered a very serious minor offence. The most serious of the minor offences. But if he had walked into the room with the intention of stealing, but he did not touch the clock yet. But he had this intention. Before touching the clock, he heard footsteps. Then he walked out of the room, ran away. That is another minor precept which is lighter than the previous one. So the Buddha graded the breaking of the precepts into different levels. You can think of how many actions you did. So the Buddha had the wisdom to analyze it like that. So just thinking about it without doing anything, he has not done anything wrong yet.

(E02)-19-Does-Buddhism-encourage-Good-Thoughts

Since our human mind is always thinking a lot of things, sometimes it's something that we say a lot of times. But if we discipline ourselves and keep on thinking good things and wish people good, with good intention, even though we didn't say that, is it a good way to communicate? We see, like for example, like this happen around the world, we can't know anything about it. Maybe we make a good comparison, but do good thoughts and good intentions really have any impact? I don't know. Oh, yes, yes, yes. Good thoughts and good intentions are encouraged by the Buddha. You know, in the Noble Eightfold Path, there is one factor called right effort. This right effort consists of four things. The first one, if unwholesome thought or evil thought or unwholesome state of mind has arisen. Firstly, I define what is wholesome and what is unwholesome. Unwholesome is like thoughts of greed, hatred, jealousy, arrogance, selfishness. This is unwholesome states of mind. Restlessness. sloth and topper, doubt, and then wholesome states of mind, letting go, non-greed, no anger, calm state, peaceful state, happy state, humility, meekness, These are wholesome states. Now in the sixth factor of the Noble Eightfold Path, the Buddha said that right effort means firstly four things. If unwholesome states have arisen, then you should immediately try to get rid of the unwholesome states. And then if unwholesome states Number two, unwholesome states have not arisen, you don't allow them to arise. Then the third one, if wholesome states have not arisen, then you encourage wholesome states to arise, like good thoughts, peaceful thoughts, thoughts of wishing well all beings and all that, that is metta, loving kindness, equanimous mind and all that. And then the fourth one, if wholesome thoughts have already arisen, then you try to maintain it. Don't let it stop. Maintain the wholesome thoughts. So this is the factor called right effort.

(E02)-20-Is-it-possible-to-undo-an-Kammic-offence

it starts to develop growth. I'm sitting among a thousand flowers, you get a wave. But he didn't. He returned it the next day. The seed doesn't matter. The seed doesn't matter. I didn't actually want it. Wait, wait, wait. He didn't want it. It's different. It's still there. It's still there. Keep it, leave it alone for one night. Next night, if you try something wrong, replace that. Take it away. The seed doesn't matter. Oh, yes, yes, yes. Other seed doesn't matter. Just now I explained in the Vinaya, the Buddha said, once the thing is removed, it's already constituted the offense already. Then later, out of remorse, that person puts back, he's making right the thing, but the offense already done. Offense already done. It's just like you slap somebody in anger, after that you say sorry. Damage already done, right? Easy to say sorry.

(E02)-21-Does-investing-in-shares-create-bad-Kamma

Let's put it this way, it doesn't harm people, right? It doesn't harm people. So you have to be careful you don't harm yourself only la.

(E02)-22-Is-rebirth-spontaneous

Actually, whether a person is reborn immediately or later is not mentioned by the Buddha, but In a few suttas, when somebody passed away, then they came to ask the Buddha. But it was not mentioned after how long they asked the Buddha, what happened to this person so and so who just passed away. Then the Buddha would say, this person inborn is such and such a place, such and such a place. So it appears like a person can be reborn straight away. But whether this is the general case all the time or not, we don't know. But sometimes there are some strange things also. For example, there was one man, you know, one external ascetic who was practicing not in accordance with the Dharma, being an external ascetic. But one of the Buddha's disciples had great respect for this external ascetic because he was practicing this ascetic practice. I think he was behaving like a dog. He walked like a dog. Then when people give him food, he wants people to throw it on the ground. Then he would eat from the ground. He won't accept it like a normal human being. So for years, he was practicing like that, behaving like a dog, eating like a dog, sleeping like a dog, and all these things. And then one of the Buddha's disciples, he was a bit foolish. Instead of respecting the Buddha, he had more respect for this external setting. So the Buddha wanted to, in a way, teach him a lesson. The Buddha said, After a certain number of days, he said, this person will die. And then when this person has died, they will throw his body in such and such a place. Three days after he has died, you go to his corpse. You go and knock on his corpse and ask him where he is reborn. And he will tell you that he is reborn in a certain woeful plane of existence. So this stupid disciple, instead of believing the Buddha, he went to warn this external ascetic. He said the Buddha said that after a certain number of days he will die. So you better be very careful, you know, don't be careless so you don't die after so many days. So this external ascetic fellow, he tried to be very careful, still on that day he died. Then after, three days after he died, then the disciple, the Buddha's disciple, he followed the Buddha's instructions, went to look for the corpse. So after a certain, the three days after the external ascetic had died, so this disciple of the Buddha went to that corpse, then knocked three times on his body and called his name and asked him where he was reborn. Then this corpse sat up, you know, and then told his disciple that he was born in such and such a woeful plane and then boom he went back. So it's a bit strange man, but it's one of the funny cases.