(EA02)-01-True-Dhamma

This matriarch here is from the other side, Johor, in Phnom Penh. He is the head priest of the Dhamma Life Meditation Center in Phnom Penh. One of our senior relations, Theravada monks. Now our vision Sangha, there are other Sangha, is growing, is growing more and more, Malaysian, Chinese Sangha is becoming clearer and more clear. Before, this will give you all more data so that you can ask questions and just talk a little bit. This meditation now, you are supposed to be in the Kali Yoga. and connected into this age of fighting. But I think this fighting has all along been in the history of mankind from early times. Now mankind has always been fighting and killing each other. So there's nothing very special about that. Something very special about this is we are now in this key fact that there is an information explosion. We are in the age of information. As you all know, the information in the whole world is at your fingertips now, right? And a click of a mouse. Whenever it's happening at the end of the other side of the world, it can happen. You can see very clearly now in the TV and all that. So, with so much information about this problem and people are getting very crazy and people tend to question everything. So, like now, I think you all know that there are many people who still don't understand. I think a lot of people, questions about Jesus and all that, that were not asked for two thousand years and now people are asking, right? Last time people's minds were very simple. Now people are more You see, like people say that Holy Mary was the Virgin. Why did they come to that conclusion? Because now, scholars, they say that when Mary and her parents, Joseph, she was already pregnant, she had already conceived. So at that time they thought, oh God must have made her pregnant, so that's why even before she was married she was already conceived. So they came to the conclusion that she was a virgin. But now the scholars like this recently decided to pull the book out. There was another book by another scholar saying that that Mary was either raped or seduced by a Roman soldier, and even came up with the name of that Roman soldier. So, why is it that these things were not asked before? How many after 2,000 years have people asked him? So, that's why, I don't know, 2-3 years from now, information is coming to us at a great speed. So it is also the same with Buddhism. For 2,500 years, a lot of things have been lost to action. Nowadays we are questioning, for example, the story about the Buddha, that the Buddha was the son of a king. But now, if you start to do more research, study the scriptures of the Buddha, you find that the Buddha was not the son of a king. It just happens that he belonged to the warrior class of the Kasyapa, the warrior clan. And his father was just one of the many ordinary, what we call, Tungku Sankaracharyas. And his father was not the king of the country. He was the king of Gosala Patanadi, Prajapatanadi. And sometimes people say that Buddha's father was the ruler of the Satyans, and that is also not true. The ruler of the Satyans was a person by the name of Bhaktiya, who became a monk under the Buddha and became enlightened. Other things like Apitāma, you know, people are questioning because it contradicts sūtras, and also meditation, where we often have meditation. A lot of people are going to it and thinking that it is the Buddha's method of meditation, but they take the trouble to do some research. And you should know that 50 years ago, nobody heard of the Parthenon Meditation. It was only invented by Marty Seidel about 30 years ago. But now we claim that it was the original. meditation taught by the Buddha. But when we study the Buddha, Ananda was taught one type of meditation raised by the Buddha and Ananda said, type of meditation prayed by the Buddha is the first jhāna, the second jhāna, the third jhāna, the fourth jhāna, which has nothing to do with Vipassana meditation. Vipassana meditation is supposed to be a method of meditation that's just a way of jhāna, nothing to do with jhāna, and yet they claim that it's a Buddha teaching, and if you study the Sutta, it's very different. So with that, I think I hope you all will start to ask questions. Thank you. So it's open for you to ask questions. Please don't be shy. No question is ridiculous. So please ask what you have doubts on. Talk about the first precept, no chewing. Now very often we always go for dinner or lunch and they start to order like live fish and then we pass it. Are we considered as breaking the first precept? It is not allowed, the precepts to order live fish. So if you know that it was gorgeous for you, so if you want to uphold your precepts, you should not eat. Because if you think of that food, next day when they invite you, they are going to do the same thing again. So if you can serve and you say, this is fish, Once live and then you are audited killed, so I'm not going to say terminate all, then you will have this preceptive uphold the next time you go for auditing. Is this necessary information or exposure? Every day we see on television, in the morning, in the... So what anti-dope do you recommend to us basically? The Buddha's teaching is for us to practice the Dharma. The world is such that we can never change the world. And if you try to go out there and change the world, you might get born. So what we are taught to do in the Buddha's teaching is to improve ourselves. As we improve ourselves, we set a good example so that people can see that we are such a good example and people want to follow us. Especially if you start to practice Buddhism and you try to influence your family members, they will look at your character and will assume you are so hot-tempered and so sexy and all that. They are not going to be much influenced by it. But if you set a very good example and you change for the better, you change so much that it influences the people around you and people will appreciate that you are walking the right path. So that's what we try to do firstly. Secondly, I don't know whether how many of you know that there's a DVD from Veracruz or what the place is, do you know? Anyone of you know about this? It's one of those modern-day shows where they got a few professors to talk about quantum physics. And quantum physics is saying that the world outside is projected from our mind. So this whole concept that God is some being up there who judges us and that if we don't believe in him, we will be cast into hell or thirsty and if we worship him and are afraid of him that will bring us up to heaven and all that, it's out of date. So ... The world, each one of us now is protected from our mind. If we have a very thick mind, then we will see that everybody is against us and gets very scared and very depressed and all that. But if we change our mind, then we are much happier. So, since our mind can influence the world, if more people meditate and become peaceful, then it can also influence the world to become a better place. If you are, for example, come to the state of being an Arahant, the Buddha said, a place like an Arahant state is very peaceful. such a mind that is so strong that it goes with everything around you. So if we have more people like that in the world, even though you don't become a tarahana, but you meditate and you attain jhana and the mind becomes very peaceful, the influences, the behaviour comes very distinct. So if more people meditate, then the world will become a much more peaceful place. to potential and to liberation. Some people don't understand the state of jhāna. First, we have to, when we meditate or we practice a spiritual path, if God or Self or this or that goal, what is the final result we want? In the Buddha's teaching, the final result we want is nirvāṇa, right? This Nirvana, according to the Kevala Sutra and the Sita Nikaya, is a state where the fixed consciousness stops working. And because this world is created by the fixed consciousness, the higher consciousness creates the outside world and the mind makes the inside world. But that mind is only one aspect of the mind. thinking mind. So this state of nirvana can be experienced by holy men with very strong samadhi. And this state that they can abide in is called nirodha samapatti. This state of nirodha samapatti is the and feeling. And when perception and feeling ceases, then consciousness also ceases too. And this Hirudhalokamapati are only attained by Avalokiteshvara and Anagarmini. Or if somebody again exists, when he is not yet an anagami or an arahant, then when he comes out of that state, he automatically becomes an anagami or an arahant. And this state is a very special state. In the Tathāgata, we find the Buddha said that one of the previous Tathāgatas, his disciple, was abiding in a state in the forest. So he, in the forest, this arahant, was in this state of eroda, samapatti, cessation of consciousness. And then these villagers, they went into the forest to look for, I'm not sure, firewood or food or anything. So they went into the forest. They saw this mountain in this statement. So when they called in, no answer. Then they came up to him and they started examining him. They found that he was not breathing. Then they tried to feel his pulse. They found that his heart had stopped beating. So they assumed that he had passed away. So they thought they gave him a good send-off. So they got a lot of wood, dry wood, and they piled the wood on top of him and set it on fire. So, after that he left, went back. The next day, he saw this monk on a housetop. He got shocked. Thai ghost came back. So, when they talked to him, then they found that he didn't die. So, they brought in some diva to come to life again. So this state is such an advanced state that when a person enters this state and he tries to burn him or he tries to kill him, he cannot kill him. So that is the state of Nirodha Samvarti, and that is the state after the Dharma. To attain the jhāna, you have to enter the first jhāna, second, third, fourth jhāna, that is the rūpa-jhāna. Then you go higher than that, that is the arūpa-jhāna, all the jhāna. And if you are able to attain all these eight jhāna, then you are able to enter the nirvāṇa-samāpatti, that is the very advanced stage. So the world we live in is the world of the six And Nibbāna is the state where that Sixth Consciousness has ceased. Now, Ajāna. Ajāna is a state where when you go in, you go away from the Six Senses. You withdraw from the world of the Six Senses. As we meditate and go deeper and deeper into our mind, surely the world fades away from us. And if we go too deeper, even your body also fades away from you. That's why in the Sutra, the Buddha says that the five aggregates, our body and our mind, are alien to us, external to us. This you only realize when you go into the mind. You go deeper and deeper into the mind. Then you find your body and your mind. That mind, that mind of the six senses, is the thinking mind. The Manmo, or Mata, is the thinking mind. So as we go into a deeper and deeper stage of meditation, Samatha meditation, the 80 Mind Chakras, In the first jhāna, the thinking mind is still there, but still it fades. And the Buddha phase, when you're in that phase, only sinful thoughts arise, not unsinful thoughts. In other words, you don't think about your own, you don't think about your world and all that. The kind of thoughts you may have, it's like, oh, I certainly remember a vow to repeat these steps so that we can get into this narayana state. Now when you go into the second jhana, the concentration is so deep and the mind becomes so strong that the thoughts cannot surface. The thinking mind cannot work. The thoughts cannot surface at all, but you are still aware and yet still conscious. So this page of Jhāna is a page where you separate yourself from the six senses. So you are leaving the world. To give a simile, suppose now Nibbāna is likened to, you know, sometimes we say Nibbāna is the other side, the further shore. So suppose now you say, we use the simile again, you say Nibbāna is up there on the moon, and we want to go to Nibbāna on the moon, but You are still on the ground now. You are still on this earth now. And you say, I want to go to the moon. I want to go to the moon. As long as you have not lifted off the ground now, you have not taken off to up to the moon yet. You can say anything you'd like, but you are still on the ground. So as long as you are on the Tījā now, you haven't taken off yet and lifted off. So, when you attain jhāna, you have lifted off the ground, gone like a rocket from Cape Canaveral, go towards the moon. So, the eight jhānas are the eight different stages that will bring you to the moon. So, these eight jhānas are stepping stones to Nibbāna. And this is exactly what the Buddha said in one sutra, where the Buddha likened and likened to the opening of the coral flower in the heavens. The Buddha said for the coral flower to bloom, many steps must happen. The bud must form. Then the bud grows bigger, at the end the bud starts to open and slowly slowly the petals fall and all that until they get the full bloom. So these different types of the flower blooming, the Buddha likened it to the first jhāna, the second jhāna, the third jhāna, the fourth jhāna before the flower blooms. But nowadays, different methods of meditation, of thought, where the emphasis is not on these dharmas. So as long as you don't think, you don't attain these dharmas, you haven't lifted off the ground, you're still using the thinking mind.

(EA02)-02-Questions-and-Answers-01

So for lay people to receive jhāna. During the Buddha's time, there were several lay people who were undergarments and they attained jhāna. Because unless you attain the full jhāna, you cannot become an undergarment. That is stated in the Sutra also. The only thing is if a person has already attained jhāna in the past life, then it's much easier for him to attain jhāna in this life. If you have not attained in the past life, then if you try to attain in this life, it is a much greater struggle. And to live at home, to practice, to attain jhāna is very difficult. Unless you are like one of those laymen during the Buddha's time, where even though they lived in the house, they had given up their work, they passed all their business to their wives, and they locked themselves in a room as though they are inside a cave. They don't sleep with their wives and all that. They become dormant in their house. It's not a type of person you can find among Indians. Indians, they have a great affinity with religion. And there are many Indian men wearing their robes. They have one special robe which they call the prayer robe. And they will do their chanting, they will do their meditation. And they don't allow their children or their wives to go inside their room. They do it in practice. So unless we are able to do that, then it's very difficult to attain Dhamma. When the Buddha came into this world and he wanted to spread the Dhamma, the first few people he looked for were those actually who had Dhamma in the previous life. He went to these people, and these people When they met up with the Buddha, the Buddha also asked them to meditate. The Buddha asked them to sit quietly and listen. And the Buddha asked them to listen carefully. And then the Buddha preached the Dharma to them. Just hearing the Dharma, one by one they became arahants. The first 1060 arahants are mentioned in the Vinaya book, all in enlightenment by this way. And then there was one layman who had an affinity to the Buddha. And so the Buddha purposely went to meet him. But of course the Buddha did not go and tell him, oh, I know you from the previous life. So the Buddha just walked past his house, and on Armstrong, walked past his house. And this man was so rich, and he was enjoying temple pleasures every day. He would be drunk every day. slaves singing to him and fanning him and all that, and dancing for him and all that. So one day he was in this drunken state, and then the Buddha walked past his house. When he saw the Buddha coming from the path, struck him like lightning, and then he sobered up immediately. All the drunkenness vanished. Can you do that? If you are drunk, you can go up like that. How can a person go up like that? Because of the strong mind. The mind is so strong that a person who has attained jhāna, he can focus his mind just like that. So because of that, his mind is focused as he woke up from his drunken state. And because of that affinity with the Buddha, he just immediately knew that he was a Buddhist teacher. So it is the power of yajna. You don't have that kind of strong mind. You cannot continue to focus your mind immediately. So why Buddha went to such people who had attained Jhāna? Because when the Buddha preached to them, they can focus their mind on one concept and listen to the Buddha intensely. And just by listening to the Buddha, they become enlightened. And that is Vipassana. In the early suttas, Vipassana has nothing to do with meditation. In the early suttas, Vipassana is listening to the Dharma. teaching the Dhamma, repeating the Dhamma, and reflecting on the Dhamma. Because these are the four out of five ways that an arahant becomes enlightened. In the sutras, the Buddha said there are five times when a person becomes an arahant, five occasions. And these are the first four, followed by meditation on the Samadhi Nidra. So, this is the Vipassana dharma. In the suttas, nothing to do with meditation. Meditation is always samatha. That's why the Bhagavad Gita says that the type of meditation praised by the Buddha is the first dharma, the second dharma is the fourth dharma. In other words, the aim of meditation is to attain the jhāna. It doesn't matter what method you use. As long as you attain the jhāna, then it's Buddhist meditation.

(EA02)-03-Questions-and-Answers-02

What's the truth of our life? Oh, you should find out. If you ask such questions and you pursue it, then you will come to your own answers. In the Christian Bible it is said, search and you shall find, knock and the door shall be opened unto you. So you have to walk your own journey. Different people come into life for different reasons. Some people come into life because they want to marry a certain person, be with a certain person. Some people marry and come into life because they have a certain ambition. become rich and all that. You don't come to life because you want to enjoy life. But if you are spiritually mature, then you start asking questions and you find getting married also is not permanent. One day either I die or my spouse will die. And where would I go after that? So you start asking more questions. Then you go on a spiritual search, spiritual journey like I did. I think all the different religions, I feel actually to Buddhism, it sounds more profound. It's very similar to Hinduism. But in Hinduism, now you find the Indian holy leaders, some of them may even be enlightened, but they might be Jain Kshatriyas who cannot teach so well as the Tathagata Buddha. So the Buddha, our Samasambuddha, he had explained the holy path so clearly that all the answers that you receive will be answered. He studied the Buddha's words. When I started on the journey, I had one thousand and one questions. By the time I read the Buddha's words, all my questions were answered. So you have to find your own answers.

(EA02)-04-Questions-and-Answers-03

Then the Dharma is like that. How can we carry forward the Dharma to the next life? You see, our Buddha in his past life, mentioned in the Vajimanikaya, when the previous Buddha, Sattvapada Buddha was here on this earth, our Bodhisattva was born as a Brahmin called Jodhipala. And because he was a Brahmin, a different religion, he had no desire to see the Buddha. But his very good friend was a pot maker called Gatikara. And Gatikara, the pot maker, was the chief supporter of the Buddha Kassapa. Even though he was a very poor man, but he had very strong faith and gave his full support to the Buddha Kassapa. So his Gatikara, the thought maker, managed to pull our Jyotipala, the Brahmin, to go and see the Buddha. And when he went to see the Buddha, he refused to pay respect because he didn't have the respect of the Buddha. So the Gatikara bowed to the Buddha and then told the Buddha, Sampa, I said, Bhagavata, this is my good friend Jyotipala and he's a Brahmin. this teaching from Dhamma, out of compassion. So, the Buddha Tathagata taught the Four Noble Truths to the Sutipala, the Brahmin. And after hearing that truth, he was so taken up that he decided he was going to become a monk. and he did become a monk. The fact that a person can change so much, and have so strong faith in the Buddha to renounce, shows that he must have entered the stream. So after that, when he was a monk disciple of the Buddha Tathagata, he practised and attained at least the first ghana. Why we say he attained at least the first jhāna? Because after that, he went to Sita Island, enjoyed himself, and then he came back in his last life as Siddhāsa Gosama, the person that came to become the Sāmasambuddha. So you see, in Aviyana, he goes to heaven and he comes back. When he was a young man, our Siddhartha would come up. He could enter the first jhāna. His father was supervising the ploughing of the fields. He sat under the jambu tree and paid the first jhāna. It shows very clearly that under the Buddha Kassapa, he has at least attained the first jhāna. So if he has attained the first jhāna, he probably has become a Sakadagamin. So a Sakadagamin, when he comes back, according to the sutra, he must enter Nibbāna. He is called a one-creature, he comes back as a human being only once, and he must enter Nibbāna. So that is why you can understand why our Siddhartha has come out. Even though he was born into a very rich family and he had a beautiful young wife and his son was just born. Despite all this, he gave up everything and renounced and went into the forest to become an ascetic. Only a Sakadagami can do this thing. So I have come to the conclusion, all Buddhas are Sakadagamis. And the Buddha called himself a Bodhisattva from that life onwards when he moved under the Boddhasattva. So a Bodhisattva is an Arya, not a deer or a rabbit or something like that, that I have seen later on. Our Buddha in his past life, the Bodhisattva was born as a deer, born as a rabbit, and all that. All that is going up in scale. So the real Bodhisattva and Arya. So you see, our Buddha in his past life as a human being, he attained Jhāna. Then he came back and using Jhāna he became a python. So if in your last human existence you have attained jhana in your last human existence, even though you have gone to heaven and come back and you still can use that jhana still in your mind.

(EA02)-05-Questions-and-Answers-04

If you study the Tathagata, you will know the characteristics of jhāna, right? And then, the thing is, the Buddha says that it's a very peaceful state where you experience bhikṣi and sukhā. This teaching in sutra, in the sutras, is a subtle perception. It's not like later books. Some monks feel that it's like a strong feeling, goosebumps and all that. Those are commentary. In the sutras, I think it's a subtle feeling. But then your mind becomes one-pointed and you don't pay attention to outside sounds and anything outside. Because you are not paying attention to it, you don't notice. And then that feeling is very pleasant, even though it's very subtle. And then if you go into higher jhānas, from the second jhāna on the left and the top and on the right, and you can see the strength of the mind is so strong that you realize that the power, the power of the universe is in you. I suppose if you keep practicing and you are going the right way, then you get more and more peaceful and you become much calmer and things cannot trouble you. When you are so peaceful, even if somebody says something that normally would make you angry, you will not become angry because your mind is so peaceful. And if you don't want to get angry, you can get angry, but they always listen.

(EA02)-06-Questions-and-Answers-05

If somebody in this existence practices meditation for a day, 15 years, 20 years, not achieving any jhāna, so his next existence, will he bring along all these experiences? What he brings along is the state of our mind, of the good qualities and the bad qualities that we have. So if we practice tranquility meditation and we try to calm our mind, even though if you don't achieve jhāna, or even if you achieve it for a short while, because if your mind is not trained, then even if you attain it, you attain it for a short while and you get bored out of it. I forgot to mention that in the suttas also it is mentioned that before you enter jhāna, you achieve a state called sometimes it's called, in Pali it's called Upacara Samadhi. It's a statement where you have not entered jhana, but it is still enough, tranquil enough that your five senses have fallen away. And this statement, when you achieve this statement, a kind of brightness may come forth from inside you. This brightness will also come within you. So, and that's another characteristic. So, coming back to what was your question again? Let's say a lay person that has been meditating for a long, many years, and he did not have time in his life, and let's say he passed away, he was just reborn, and that's just a human being. Will all these practices that he has done, will he bring along in his next meditation, will he still remember all this, all his respect from the very beginning until he has It depends if we are reborn as a deva. I think deva can remember that previous time. If we are reborn as a human being, we bring along these things, but we may forget. But even though we forget, it is not very far from our consciousness, not very far. So sometimes we know certain things, but we don't know everything. For example, if you have been practicing the Dhamma in the previous life and you understand the Dhamma, this life you come back, you may know that you have this knowledge, But what is that knowledge? You're not sure because you've forgotten it. And then later when you practice, you'll remember. Or sometimes certain things can make your mind one-pointed, that you realise previously you've cultivated this. But whatever it is, what state we are in, we bring along, whether it's good or bad. But you see, If we train our mind to be more tranquil, then we are able to see things more clearly. Because in the Sutta, the Buddha said, the condition of seeing things clearly as they really are is Samadhi. But even so, if you don't attain full samadhi, as long as the mind becomes more tranquil, then you can see things more clearly. So we bring along whatever state of mind we have trained, and this meditation, tranquility meditation, helps us in many ways. Obviously, I was able to see things more clearly. But in other words, our IQ goes up. Secondly, if your mind is more calm, you can express better. That's why it's good to meditate in the morning. So if you go to work, and then your body, if you're posing and all that, then you can sense better. If there's a lot of pressure in your work and all that, then you can sense better. And also, nowadays, they say that meditation is the best anti-stress medicine. It helps to calm your mind. So if your mind is more calm, then you are less likely to become sick, not sickness, not too much stress. So there are a lot of advantages in meditation.

(EA02)-07-Questions-and-Answers-06

This person may become an Arahant and he must be properly ordained in the country of the land before he becomes an Arahant. Okay. During the Buddha's time, there were some people that the Buddha taught the Dharma to, they were lay people, and the Buddha just spoke the Dharma to them and they became Arahants. But after that, the Buddha said, they won't go back to the home. They will renounce. The Buddha said that if they don't renounce, they will die. But the Buddha never said that. The Buddha said that they will naturally ... They might. No more. No more like ordinary persons might. They have no more attachment. No more. They have nothing to do with the family. This is the Theravada. saying of the Arahants. There was one Arahant who renounced and I think in a short while he became an Arahant. Then he came back to his hometown begging for food. The wife got to know and the wife pleaded after him. By that time he had already taken his food and gone to the forest. sitting under a tree and probably taking his food. So the wife came up to him and told him, this is your baby. And put the baby down beside him. And the child said, you look after him. Then the wife walked away. He kept on eating his food, never even bothered to look at the baby. And the wife walked a long way and looked back. So he didn't even bother about the baby. Then the wife came back and picked up the baby and went home. So it's no more like an ordinary person. So the six arahants, the first five monks that the Buddha helped to attain arahants were his former disciples. So since the Buddha has attained jhanas, he must have taught them the jhanas. So when the Buddha was first enlightened, after the Buddha was enlightened, he thought to himself, who should I teach? Then he thought of this teacher who had taught him jhāna. Why he thought of such a person because this person had attained high jhāna. He thought that would be very easy to help him become enlightened. Then the Deva came and told him that this teacher had passed away. And then he thought of his second teacher who had taught him the Jhanas. He also thought this is a very suitable person to teach the Dhamma. Very easy to come and meet him. The Deva again came and told him that this person was suitable. Then after that he thought of his five disciples. Then he went to his five disciples and he told them to sit down and teach you the Dhamma. Then he started the Dhammasattva Tathagatthana Sutta. And then Aniruddha and Dandiya entered the tree. And then the others, they kept teaching them the sutra day after day. In the Vinaya book, like it stated, the five monks brought the Buddha six monks. Sometimes 3 of them will go and beg for food to bring back for the 6th. Sometimes 4 of them will go and beg for food to bring back for the 6th. Sometimes 2 of them will go and beg for food to bring back for the 6th. And over the days, the Buddha taught them the sutras, just teaching them the Dharma. And after a number of days, all of them became Mahants. And then after that the Buddha went to look for Yathā. Yathā was the son of a very rich man. He was the richest man in the town. And he had four wives, this Yathā, four wives. And he had a lot of slaves. And he made the slaves to sing and dance for him. And made each of the slaves to dance and sing for him and he watched what was happening and he thought it was neat. So one night he fell asleep like that, and then this day he was tired, so he slept on the ground. So something made him wake up in the middle of the night. The Buddha himself made him wake up. So when he woke up, he looked and he saw all this place was half naked. He was dancing, half naked. He was sleeping there with the air. And then the flies were coming out. So he looked at them and reminded him of corpses. So you see he must have been ecstatic in the previous life that he hated corpses. So at that time I made him think of corpses. So he thought of Dukkha and Dukkha. And then the Buddha, to me he must have been the Buddha. He walked out of the house. and walked towards the city gates. And normally the city gates are closed at night, so that bandits don't come in. And the city gate opened by itself, and he walked out of the city gates and kept walking until he went to the palace where the Buddha was. And Buddha told him, Yatha, he kept saying, Dukkha, Dukkha. So Buddha said, Yatha, there is no Dukkha here. Come and sit down. So he sat down. As the Buddha prayed to him, the monk overthrew it, and he answered the stream. After this stream, the next day, his parents were looking for him, being the richest people in the town, and they thought that he had been kidnapped by the mother of the world. So the father walked and looked for him, and walked into the forest and walked to where the Buddha was. And then the yathā was sitting beside the Buddha, but the Buddha used his psychic power to shield him from the father so the father could not see him. And the Buddha told the yathā's father, if you sit down, you'll probably see yathā in a short while. And then when the father was there and the father was happy to sit down, then the Buddha taught him the Dharma, and he entered the tree. And then they are taught during the same teaching, second time they came and sat down. He never meditated. And that is Vipassana. So after that, the Buddha used to remove his psychic powers. Then Yasoda's father saw his son. He said, Yasoda, your mother is really sick for you. You need to go home. And the Buddha told Yasoda's father, and he said, Yasoda is no more the same person. You can never go home. And the father understood. The black father also became a dream enterer. After that, Yaksa became a monk. Then his friends, 54 friends, his close friends, who were probably attracted to him in their previous life, they heard Yaksa had been known. So they thought, oh, this teacher must be really special. The richest man in town, the son has been known to him. So one by one they went to look for him in the forest. So he brought them to see the Buddha. The Buddha also asked them to sit down and taught them the Dhamma. One by one, three people all came around. Never practiced meditation. So after the Buddha At this time, his friends, fifty-five, plus the five earlier monks, sixty others, and the Buddha asked them to walk and teach the Dharma for the welfare of many folks. Those two of them go by the same road, all go by different roads and preach the Dharma. So after they had gone, the Buddha contemplated whom should he teach. Then he saw one thousand aesthetics that he loved, method-headed aesthetics. He liked the banks of the river, and he went to them. These people are full of practice and dharma. So when the Buddha went to stay with them, the Buddha performed a psychic power for them. He think that his contributions were great. But the devil of his death, he laughed. Because he had some psychic power, he kept thinking that he was an Arahant. And he thought this Samana person was great, but he is not an Arahant like me. So after staying there for several weeks, then the Buddha finally The Buddha at this time, this day, like in the middle of the night, first the four great heavenly kings will come and pay respects to the Buddha. And then these people saw the bright light coming. Maybe first they had coffee with the Jhana, they could see the bright light coming. And then the next morning they'll ask the Buddha, who is that Deva King? Then the next night, Sathādeva arrived out here. He was more bright. And then again when they found out Sathādeva arrived out here, they were very impressed. Then another night, Brahmā, Mahābhārata came. Oh, they were thrilled in many other ways with the potential of taking Mahābhārata. So finally, when the Buddha felt that he had shown enough, one day he told the leader of this Jatayala, he said, Kassapa, you keep thinking you are an arahant, but you are not an arahant, and you are not walking the path to becoming an arahant. So when he heard this word, it was like a slap to his face. Openly he had challenged him that he was not an arahant. He talked to himself. Then he realised that the Buddha was late, that means that he asked to become a disciple of the Buddha. And the Buddha bows in the shape of his head, and then all the rest of the forest seems to be gone. After they had become disciples of the Buddha, the Buddha preached to everyone to stop. Because they breached the fire, the Buddha preached them the fire and they stopped by saying that the whole world is on fire. The eyes are on fire, the ears are on fire, the nose, tongue, body, and mind are on fire. Fire of what? Fire of greed, hatred, and delusion. And slowly, and from there, Kula talks about alaka, no-self. Till here is one sutra, now one thousand of them attain Arahant Buddha. Where is the Vipassana meditation? No impersonal meditation. All the practice of jhana and hearing the Dhamma became enlightened. So after they became enlightened, then the Buddha walked with them, 1000 Arahants, walked with them to Rajagraha. Because previously, before the Buddha was enlightened, he had passed through Rajagraha and King Vibhishana had seen him. And King Vibhishana was very impressed. with him and asked him to stay, but the Buddha said no. He was searching for enlightenment. So King Bhimdesvara told him, OK, if you leave, promise me that you'll come back if you become enlightened. So because of that, the Buddha came back. Then King Vibhishana saw the Buddha with one thousand arahants. He called the people of Rajagaha to come out and threw a big dana for the monks. After the dana, the Buddha preached the Four Noble Truths to them. According to the Vinaya books, 120,000 people entered the stream. This which leads to the form of the truth, yes, to the stream. So where is the vipassana meditation? That is the vipassana, my thought meditation is listening to the dharma.

(EA02)-08-Questions-and-Answers-07

This Buddha actually teach the Abhidharma in the form of North Bridge. And knowing that North Bridge is part of the Abhidharma, well, it differs in the Chinese and in the German. The Abhidharma posture, if you look at them, The first few ones are actually this repeating of what is in the suttas already. And then there are some major books that talk about that. Bhavanga, Jhāvana, Kalapa, and all these. And all these conceptions were not mentioned by the Buddha in the suttas. And then if you look carefully, when you compare the Atitama with the sutras, you find some contradictions. So, because there are contradictions, we must conclude that this is not the teaching of the Buddha. And also, These Atitama teachings, they are very conceptual and good for people who like to think, why doesn't it help you to attain jhāna? Because to attain jhāna, you have to give up all your thinking, give up all these concepts. So it's not helpful to practice. And if we look into the history, we find that When the 500 arahants met after the Buddha's passing away, they recited the sutras as a denial. They never recited the Abhidhamma. And there are some serious flaws in the Abhidhamma. which make it totally unacceptable. For example, it is stated that the Buddha taught the Abhidhamma in the heavens to his mother, and then 800 million devas became arahants. But if we study the sutra carefully, we find that that the Buddha mentioned that arahants are only found in the human plane. Only humans become arahants. No devas become arahants. Even Anagamis, people who have attained the third truth, they are reborn in the Suddharasa, the fourth jhāna heavens. That means they have attained the fourth jhāna. Or they are reborn in the formless heavens. Okay? The sutras, they have to be in the form of a gun. From there, they enter nirvana without becoming an arahant. When they die, they pass away in nirvana. They don't have to become an arahant, because actually they have finished their work. It's only a matter of time. And the Buddha gave a simile. This is like the state of Nirvana. It's called the cool state. Cool state. And the Buddha gave a simile to make us understand the Anagami. The Buddha said, for example, suppose there is a lady who is hammering a piece of metal to shape it either into a sword or a to hammer or anything. So he hammers this metal which is heated with water. As he hammers it, a piece breaks away, breaks off and falls to the ground. And then It's slowly cooled until it is completely cool. So that is the simile for an anagami. In other words, the anagami has to be, he has done his work, he's just waiting for the time to cool his nibbana. So, when the Anakamini is reborn in the Sudapaksa Heavens, there are five levels. So, some are reborn at the lowest level, and after they pass away, they are reborn to the second level. So, they take five rebirths in the Heavens before they ascend Nibbana. Those who take longer have to go down. Some may pass to 4 Heavens, and that is a Nirvana. Some 3, some 2, some 1, and that is a Nirvana. So in the Sutas, arahants are not found in the devas' plane, because devas enjoy themselves. There's no incentive to struggle, only in the human plane, because we see ourselves in the mirror as we are talking year by year. So as you know, there is such a thing as old age, chickening, and dying. we see Anicca. In the heavens, life is so long and so pleasant, there is no Dukkha, there is no Anicca. If you are in the Tathagatila Vaishnavaja heaven, you look like a 16-year-old boy or a girl. Two million years later, you still look like 16 years old. Where is Anicca? We don't see Anicca. But the Imams can attain street entry. He was not convinced that the Buddha preached the Dharma. He came to listen. He listened and then he understood that he had preached the Supreme Truth. That's all. He came to understand that I preached the Supreme Truth.

(EA02)-09-Questions-and-Answers-08

What are some of the contradictions of the Abhidharmakas? What do you think? Okay. I don't remember all, but I have mentioned some. You know in the Mahayana books, they talk about a new Taoism with fixed estimations of rebirth. The early sutras of the Buddha talk about five destinations of people. Heaven, humans, the three woeful planes, ghosts, animals, and hell realms. So Mahayana books, because they came later, they added one more. They called it the Asura. And the Asura, they placed in the woeful plane. So the same with Abhidhamma. Abhidhamma also added the asura. But whoever added the asura is not well versed in the sutra. Because if you study the sutras in the Jigna Nikaya, that one sutra is the Buddha's teaching. The lowest type of asura is called the Kalakanya Asura. And there is another sutra also in the Jigna Nikaya. One day, a lot of devas came to pay respect to the Buddha and they came from very, very far. So the Buddha told his disciples, those with psychic power, he said, look at those powerful devas that come from so far to pay respect to the Tathāgata. And the Buddha mentioned their name, this type of deva, that type of deva, and then he mentioned Kālakañjāpura. That means Kālakañjāpura is a deva. So how can there be lower devas and lower asuras? But later books like the Sub-Talmantri, they mention, because they thought that asuras like to fight, like to drink, they thought that asuras There is the type of asuras that are in the dead heaven. There is the type of asuras in the hell realm, because they thought that hell, if you go to hell, the beings torture you. So they thought that these beings that torture you are so fierce, they are called asuras. And then they thought that maybe there is a type of ghost called asuras. So they added the ghost asuras and the hell asuras. So they came to the conclusion that asuras are in the woken plane. So this is a serious contradiction. Why sutta? You don't read like a storybook. Sutta you must examine. Sutta is like a code. You do line by line. Sutta, sometimes you read a sutta for the first time, you don't get very important implications. And you read it a second time, you might catch more of the meaning. Read it a third time, you catch more of the same meaning. I feel it's really part of it. So that's one theory of contradiction. Another one is that they say, and fruition. The Buddha mentions there are eight types of ariya, right? The first path, which is the three mantra, the first fruit is called rotapanna. Then the second path, And the second fruit, second fruit is called once-returner, bhāvibhādhi-śākha-gāmini. Then the third path and the third fruit, the third fruit is anagāmini, means non-returner. Non-returner means it doesn't come back to the human rebirth. and then the fourth path and the fourth show. The fourth show is also called an arahant and that includes the Buddha. So the Buddha mentioned there are nine types of beings in the whole world. The eight types of āyā and the puṭṭhujāna, the ordinary beings. The Abhidharma case, when you attain the first path, it's only for a short moment, what we call it as jhāna or kāna. The next moment it turns into truth. So the same with the second path turning into the second truth. path and funda is instantaneous and that's what it is. If that is the case, then there's no chance that you can give something as udāna to a path attainer, isn't it? Because the moment it attains the path, the next moment it's already a fruit, right? So if you want to do dhāna to an ārya, you only have a person with the fruit that you can do dhāna to. In other words, there are only four types of ārya, right? Now in the Saṃhitā-Niṭhāya, the Buddha says that when a person attains the path, Before he dies, he will become a fool. Before he dies. He didn't say the next moment. Before he dies can be one second, it can be one year, it can be ten years, it can be thirty years. So it's very different. And in the sutra, the Buddha said that if you do dhāna, if you do offerings to many, many, many, many, to dhāna-ordained beings, it cannot compare, the merit is less than if you do dhāna to one first path attainer, the three and third. And then the Buddha also says that if you give dāna and make offerings to one hundred first path attainers, chief entrants, the merit is less than if you do dāna to one first true attainer, the Sotāpanna. So the fact is similarly like that where I quote from the second thought. So in other words, you can do dharma to a path attainer in that existence. It's not that he exists only for one moment, one thought. He exists as a person for a few years, you can do dharma to him, but before he dies, he will become a fruitless attainer. So this is a very serious contradiction. They say when a person dies and then his consciousness stops here, then he is reborn somewhere else, the consciousness stops. But there is no being that goes from here to there. Suppose now, for example, a person dies in PJ, and then he is reborn in KL. There is no being that goes from PJ to KL. But Sutta says differently. Sutta says that there is a being that actually goes. What in Chinese we call 靈魂, some people call it soul. It's alright to call it 靈魂 or call it soul, as long as you understand the meaning of the Nata Not that there's nothing. Meaning of nāgāra is that there's nothing unchanging. There's nothing that's frozen and never changes. This lingua or sola is a bundle of energy that's changing all the time. Because in the sutra, the Buddha said that If a person is come on his own back, then he's going to hell. When he dies, the hell beings will come up and drag him down to hell with our back. I have one supporter in Kampala. He told me that two days before the father passed away and the father died, now Thao Ma is waiting for him.

(EA02)-10-Questions-and-Answers-09

According to my understanding of what is the biggest doubt of this current generation, exclusion only comes before death, right? So what about the time when the students converted to disciples and they all became Arhats, but death was not imminent at that time? PRABHUPĀDA No. Before that, it doesn't mean at the point of time. Say suppose now a person has been a father and thirty years later he dies. Anytime within these thirty years, it can change.

(EA02)-11-Questions-and-Answers-10

I read The Falling Days and I've seen the movie and I've read some of the commentaries. I'm not here to try to disrespect Christianity. But I find that once any teaching of any religion It's been recorded or translated. We do not know which is the truth. Now, of course, it's not as Christianity. You have the Catholics, you have the Protestants, you have the Methodists, and you have many others. So they each interpret it differently. It takes for example Islam. you have the kundi, you have the hatred, you have the curse. They are killing each other like mad. They have different interpretations. Now, in Buddhism, I find that also, what we are practising today, the Theravadians are practising the Thali version. Now, there are two things. One, I understand that Buddha did not speak He spoke something like Mangala or something. Another dialect. But then he is speaking to a representative of Thali. And I was told by Venerable Ajatmata that at that time there were four versions of this. One of them was the Thali version. But at that time I found there is a king Mahinda. He liked this book, or he decided to use it, so he wiped out all the other versions. So he had only left one version. Then, of course, the Chinese, you know, the rest of Germany and so on, spent a lot of months in India to get the Dharma. But when that is translated, you find that when it's translated from one language to another, for one country to another, the culture and the interest of that country is incorporated into the teaching. Of course, you have a certain position which is different and so on. So, what I observe is, Anything that is interpreted or translated, it is sent to deviate from the truth. Because the interest of the translator or his culture comes into the translation. But then, if you look at the history of our Buddha's teachings, you find that the earliest teachings of the Buddha were transmitted verbally by mouth, not in writing. And the Buddha spoke a language. The Buddha, you might remember, was from Kosala. And the neighbouring country was Magadha, and they were both in the Kansas valley. Then you have the other smaller kingdoms there. But their language was a little bit similar, although not exactly the same. It's something like Malaysia. When our government created the Bahasa Malaysia, it is like a standardization of the Malaysian language spoken in the different states. If you go to Kelantan, you find the Malaysian language is not exactly Bahasa Malaysia. They have a lot of different different ways of seeing things. So partly, in the same way, some people say that the Buddha spoke the Magadha language. Actually, it is mentioned in the sutra that he was a citizen of Kodala. So he should have spoken the Kodala language. Of course, it might be very similar to the Magadha language. Now partly the language was supposed to be a standardization all the languages in the Ganges valley, so it's just like Mahayana, Malaysia, Tamil, Thai, and different things. So it's not very different from what maybe the Buddha spoke. And the Buddha told his disciples to teach the Dharma in the local language. So when the Dharma, the Buddha's teachings, the sutras were transmitted by word of mouth, it was not easy to change those teachings because you have several thousand monks reciting the same words of the Buddha. So if you think you want to challenge that, you come with your group of friends, let's say like 50 friends, any chance nothing different. You cannot number those numbers, so many, thousands. So that's why the word transmitted by the mouth actually is very good, very accurate. It's not easy to change. When they decided to put into writing, it was first put into writing in Pali. And then later people thought Pali is Like bazaar, it's like we say bazaar in Malay, spoken word, not so refined as Sanskrit. Sanskrit was used by the king, used by Brahmins, high class, high class language. So later they decided to change the Pali to Sanskrit. So that was a later phase. So later when Mahayana teachings started, they were written in Sanskrit because it came later. 500 years after the Buddha's passing away, Mahayana Sutras appeared. Later, these teachings were brought to China and different countries and all that. And then they find Buddhism in China. Firstly, it is Mahayana Buddhism based on the nature books. Secondly, even though it is Mahayana Buddhism, what they practice in China is quite different from the Mahayana Buddhism practiced in India. Why is this? Because of the culture. Firstly, I think what I heard is that the emperor in China, he did not allow the monks to go on alms round. He wanted to give them the food and he wanted them to take vegetarian food. So our culture has just played its part. Then you find, for example, in Thailand, monkeys, sometimes they chew the betel nuts. Some of them, they smoke. But that is because of Thai culture. Because just like many years ago, our local people, they also smoke a very cheap type of cigarette, which is tobacco, weed, and then they go. He wrote the same thing. And because he was very cheap, it was one of those small pleasures that monks were allowed to indulge in, but not in China. So that's why some of our Chinese, when they see Chinese monks smoking, they get very offended, they get very annoyed. Actually, it's a very small thing. Then if you go to Perth, also you can find that Burmese monks, even though they say that they don't allow, they are not allowed to drink coffee or drink tea, and some things that Thai monks can take at night, they say they are not allowed to take. But in spite of that, they still chew something at night. which is peculiar to them. I don't know whether it's made of some prawns or something whatever it is. But I've seen some Burmese monks and they like to take that quietly. But the Malaysians do not offer that. Burmese lay people will offer that. So some of these things is... Oh, I forgot to say this. We study speaking for the Buddha, and then if you find contradictions, then you have to start thinking, why is there contradiction? For example, in the Devadatta Sutra, the Buddha said, once the Buddha enters Nirvana, nobody can see him again, or hear his voice, etc. And then the Buddha said the same for the Arhat. The Arhat enters nirvana, there is a contraction. And then you find in the Maya Sutra, you find in the Diamond Sutra, he says the same thing. He says, if a Buddha enters nirvana and you think you want to see the Buddha again or hear his voice or touch him, then you don't understand the Dharma. You have walked the deviant way. That's what the Dhamma Sutra says. But then if you look at the Earth-Talk Bodhisattva Sutra in the Mahayana teaching, they say that when the Buddha started to preach the Earth-Talk Bodhisattva Sutra, millions and millions of Buddhas appeared and came to listen. The Buddhas, they haven't entered the Nirvana, how can they come back to listen to the Dhamma? That's a contradiction. So when we study, then we have to use our thinking. Initially I went to Mahayana Buddhism for nine years, so I know quite a lot of Mahayana teachings. But then Mahayana teachings also, they sound very lofty because initially I was very attracted to Mahayana Buddhism because it seems so compassionate. and the Bodhisattva ideal is so high and all that. But then, if you compare it with Mahayana and Theravada teachings, you find that in Theravada teachings, the Buddha is telling you that you can rely on nobody. No one can help you. If someone can help you, then there won't be ghosts in the ghost realm. There won't be beings in hell. If there's a Buddha who resonates in our lives, he can save all the beings from hell, but there is still beings in hell. So in Dharavada teachings, the Buddha said, no one can help you. The Buddha said, be a lamb unto yourself, be a refuge unto yourself, ignore other refuge. Take the Dharma as your lamb, take the Dharma as your refuge, ignore other refuge. So this is a very important teaching in Theravada that we have to rely on ourselves to strive and make sure we don't fall into the woeful place again. And the only way we can make sure we don't go into the woeful place again and suffer is to become an Adya, is to become a tree enterer. And the way to do that is to study the suttas again and again and again until you insist your mind. So in Mahayana teachings, they praise the Bodhisattva and they praise the Buddha and all that, but they don't really practice to get out of samsara. In fact, they say it's no use to practice because it is full of four asanjaya, four uncountable bhagavata world titles and one hundred maha-bhagavata. before you can become a Buddha, before you can become enlightened. So in other words, they are telling you it is useless to practice, you cannot get out. But in Theravada teachings, once you understand the Dharma of the Buddha, then you are an Arya. At most, you have seven more lifetimes left. That's great. If you only make the effort, make the effort enough, and become an Arya, you are safe already. You can take a slow boat out of Kamsara. So, over the years, I've seen Christians who believe that they, having been baptized, that they will go to heaven. Quite a number of them, after they pass away, they come back as ghosts to haunt their house. So I think to myself, what's the reason? Then I come to the realization that if you feel that some senior is going to help you or a gentleman is going to strike so hard, you just keep praying to that senior. So even in Buddhism, it's very dangerous to think that you have Kuan Yin or your Amitabha Buddha to help you. These people, they keep chanting Amitabha, Amitabha Buddha, thinking that Amitabha is going to help you. So they don't make enough effort to keep Sila, to keep that Sila properly, to do Dharma. study the kutas, to meditate. So if you don't create enough good karma, then when you pass away, you are going to go back to the old food plate. Most of us, most people, when we pass away, we go and be reborn as a ghost. We don't have to do evil. We will very naturally go to the ghost realm. Why? Because as human beings, we enjoy the good karma from past life. And we are living up our blessings, but the time we pass away, You have less blessings than before. So you're going to end up dead in the boat. That's why we Chinese believe after seven days, you're ready to pass away. You still come back in a minute. So don't rely on anybody. Make sure if you want to ensure that you don't go and be reborn as a ghost or an animal or in hell. It's better to become a Dharia this life. very popular with the people of Calcutta who were excited to talk, and then if you meditated on it, you could hear your mind as you were meditating on it, and you'd start to talk. And it's popular. But if you put that in the heart, I don't believe it.

(EA02)-12-Questions-and-Answers-11

A friend told me that one of the Kathaka brothers, during the Buddha's time, he showed his mighty power, and then enabled the Buddha's foundation to be increased, going up to the Manipura itself. Is that the case? Then the Buddha is not compassionate. No such thing in the Theravada teachings. You see, when I was in my enough wisdom, I used to hear a lot of stories. It sounds very nice. But they say when you think about this, it's not very good. Like this story about Ben Chan, Sam Chok, going to India to look for the Buddha's teachings. So the story goes that along the way, he stopped to rest. When he talked to the rest of the children, there was this rock beside him. And he looked at this rock and it looked like a human being. And he looked again. Yeah, it looked like a human being. So he took out his yin qing. Ding! And then this rock woke up. This rock woke up and then asked him, ah, where is Satyamuni Buddha? And Satyamuni Buddha arrived. And he said, oh, Satyamuni Buddha has come and gone already and is in Ivana already. And this being said, I was waiting for Prasenjani Puja to come to help him to propagate the Dharma, to try to make him for thousands of years waiting in samadhi. Sankaracharya, now your body is so old, thousands of years and you can't do anything without any body. Why don't you pass away and then you take rebirth in Peking. Wait for me when I go to India and then I come back and you can help me propagate the Dharma. And he said, yes, okay. So you take rebirth in that big palace of the emperor. So if you are born as an emperor's son, then you can help me on the yellow roof or something like that, because that's typical. Then he passed away. And then I went to India. 17 years later, he went back to Philippines and was welcomed by the emperor. And after that he asked the emperor, do you have a son? 17 years old, do you have a son? The emperor said, no, I don't have a son. There it is, that night, Sanjong went to see Utapadi and then he contemplated and he found that this old monk took rebirth in the general's house with a red roof instead of a yellow roof. Then the next morning he told the emperor, he said, this son of this general was the monk I met 17 years ago when I told him this story. So he said, you must make him become a monk. So the emperor called in and asked him to become a monk. So this young man said, how can I become a monk? I have so many girlfriends. I like to eat meat. I like to drink liquor. I cannot become a monk and give up all these things. the emperor after some days. Whatever condition he wants, he can have the condition, but must become a monk. So the emperor told him, you can have whatever condition you want, but you must become a monk. So he himself said. And that appeared. If I become a monk, three castes must follow me. All castes. The first one, all my girlfriends must be inside me. Second one, All my, all my. He talked with me, so I can have meat every day. And the third one, he talked with liquor, so I can drink liquor every day. So, the emperor got tired of this, and he said, OK, OK. So, after that, this young man came around, and everywhere he went, he threw a few cards for him. So, one day, he went up the mountain, went to one temple. As he entered the temple, he heard the gong. Om. Om. And then suddenly his memory came back that he was a monk before. Then he became ashamed of the three gods and they had to go away and then he became a good monk and helped Sanjaya. This story is very revealing and very nice to hear. But it's nonsense. Now, can a person enter Samadhi for thousands of years? Now they spread the same story that Mahakasyapa went to Dekalbhuta mountain, staying inside that hill in Hamahi, waiting for the next Buddha to come. Our Buddha, he says that at that time when our Buddha was around, the human lifespan was supposed to be 100 years. And at the age of eighty, he was ready to pass away. But he told his disciples, he said, if necessary I can pay for the whole Ayurveda Kapha. Ayurveda Kapha is a full life penance, that means up to a hundred years I can pay if need be. But then he said his body is in so much pain, as if the old pride begins to break in. So eventually he passed away at the age of fifty. Even how Buddha had to pass away at the age of fifty, if he can, if the body can last for thousands of years, why can't he still be around to help us? He said in the Dhamma. He's not compassionate. So, if right now our lifespan is 75 years old, even a person is enlightened or so, by that age he will pass away. He cannot go into Samadhi and live for another 10,000 years. Take all these books, all these Taoist immortals, and they've got hundreds of years, and they've got thousands of years to be used to belief. How can we advise them?