(E05)-01-Introduction

I would like to also quote something from a sutra. It is from Samyutta Nikaya, 20.7. It states like this. First, you should train yourselves. We will take, we will listen when discourses and words of the Tathagata, deep, deep in their meaning, are being recited. We will lend ear, we will rest our hearts on or knowing them, will regard these teachings as worth grasping and mastering. That's how you should train yourselves. So I hope you will pay very careful attention to what Antony de Moldeau is going to tell us, and you will go away definitely very much benefited. Thank you again.

(E05)-02-Buddha-and-his-teachings

Namo tassa bhagavato arahato sammasambuddhassa Namo tassa bhagavato arahato sammasambuddhassa Namo tassa bhagavato arahato sammasambuddhassa evening. Today our chairman here, Dr. Lim, has given me nine topics to talk, but I think I won't talk too much. I hope you all will put on your thinking caps and ask questions, because if you ask then we can discuss. what you are interested in. If I keep talking, you might not be interested in what I'm talking about. Also, I've given many talks and they are recorded and you can listen to those CDs. But I'll try to talk a bit what Tulim has asked me to talk. Firstly, the Buddha is our role model. The Buddha is one of the few founders of a religion which is very much respected in the world for being very peaceful, for being a very exemplary character in the world, a person of lofty attainments, and who teaches people the path to attain the same lofty heights that he and his Arahant disciples have attained. So the Buddha is our model for us to follow, whether we are monks or lay people, he is still a very exemplary actor for us to follow. And his teachings are found in the suttas, the discourses. And if you take the trouble to study those suttas or discourses of the Buddha, then you can get very good advice there. His teachings are not only meant for monks. The Buddha's teachings, a lot of his suttas are about lay life, because many of the questions that were posed to the Buddha were by lay people, and some of them were very ordinary questions that you yourself might ask. These have been asked before, so the answers are all found in the suttas. And then for monks like us, the Buddha has also very deep discourses which teaches the way to get out of samsara, So the Buddha's teachings vary from a low level up to the highest level, and there is much we can learn from the suttas if only we take the trouble to study it. According to the Buddha, when he looked into the past ninety-one world cycles, which is an extremely long time, he said he saw only six Sammasambuddhas. six Buddhas who were willing to teach the Dhamma. 99.9% of Buddhas are Patekabuddhas. They know as much as our Samasambuddha, but they are not willing to teach. Why do I say they know as much? Because our own Buddha, Sakyamuni Buddha, or Gautama Buddha, he himself, after attaining enlightenment, he decided not to teach. He decided to become a Patekabuddha. But then the Brahma Sahampati, the celestial heavenly being, came to preach with him to teach. Then after preaching three times, then only he decided to teach. So there is no difference between a Samasambuddha and a Pacheka Buddha except that one wants to teach and one does not want to teach. However, there are Later books, they tend to say things that the Buddha never said. Some people say in the books that Pasekabuddha does not have the ability to teach. It's not true. He knows as much as the Samasambuddha, so he should be able to teach as much.

(E05)-03-Two-Types-of-Right-View

And then from the discourses of the Buddha, the suttas, we can get right view, right view of life, right view of the things, of things as they really are. And the Buddha said there are two types of right view, worldly right view and Aryan right view. Worldly right view is believe in kamavipaka, the law of kamma and its effect. Kamma is intentional action. So if we intentionally do some deeds, whether by body, speech, or thought, then there is a resultant effect of it, which is called the vipaka. So the law of karma, vipaka, basically is that if we benefit living beings, we will receive happiness, and if we harm other living beings, then we will have to suffer for it. So if a person believes in kamavipaka, then he tends to be careful in his actions not to harm other living beings. But if a person does not believe in kamavipaka, then he can do atrocious things for which he will have to suffer in hell later. That is worldly right view. And wrong view, of course, is not to believe in this law of Tama Vipaka. And then Aryan right view is understanding of the four noble truths, the noble truth of suffering, the cause of suffering in this world, the cessation of suffering and the path leading to the cessation of suffering. If you understand the Four Noble Truths, even a basic understanding, you become an Aryan, you have entered the stream, you become a noble person, and you are on your way out of samsara, out of the round of rebirth. That's why studying the sutras or listening to the Dhamma, If it is based on the original teachings of the Buddha, that is the surest way to help us attain stream-entry, the first stage of Aryahood. So that is Aryan Right View. And if you don't understand the Four Noble Truths, then you don't have Aryan Right View, you have wrong view.

(E05)-04-Purification-and-Control-of-the-mind

Now, the sutras give us the theory on how to practice, how to lead our lives, and it also gives higher teachings on how to purify our mind and control our mind. If we don't purify and control our mind, Then even though we may understand that certain things we should not do, but we still do because we are not in control of our mind. We don't have a hold of our mind. And if you don't have this control over your mind, certain things that you know that you should do, also sometimes you don't have the will to do. So, attaining this purification and control of the mind is quite important. We know, for example, very ordinary things, that we can be weak and do the wrong things or fail to do the good things. As the English saying goes, the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. So a very good example is like committing adultery. A person may be a family man. Because of constant contact with the secretary in the office, emotional involvement may lead to adultery. So sometimes a person may know that it's wrong, but he keeps going in that direction because his mind is weak. Cultivation of the mind is very important and we can act according to the Dhamma, otherwise we may know some theory and yet we are not able to carry it out. So this purification of the mind is through meditation and in the Buddha's teachings, Buddhist meditation is the first jhāna, the second jhāna, third jhāna, and the fourth jhāna. Only this is Buddhist meditation because in the Majjhima Nikaya, Parable Ananda, a very close disciple of the Buddha was asked, what type of meditation is praised by the Buddha? And he said, the first jhāna, second jhāna, third jhāna, and fourth jhāna. This is Samatha meditation. Samatha or meditation. Samatha means tranquilization of the mind, practice that leads to tranquility of the mind. There is another term in the suttas which is vipassana. Vipassana, and the Buddha says samatha and vipassana are necessary for liberation. And this word vipassana means contemplation and it has nothing to do with meditation. Nowadays people I have the wrong view that vipassana is vipassana meditation. Vipassana is contemplation and the Buddha says in the suttas there are five occasions when a person becomes liberated or becomes an arahant. The first one is when he's listening to the dhamma. The second is when he's teaching the dhamma. The third is when he's repeating the dhamma. The fourth is when he's reflecting on the dhamma. And only the last occasion is during meditation. And he's contemplating on the Samadhi Nimitta. So the first four have to do with the Dhamma. So these first four is actually Vipassana. Listening to the Dhamma, teaching the Dhamma, repeating the Dhamma, and reflecting on the Dhamma. This is Vipassana. It was only about 30 years ago, that some Burmese monks started to create Vipassana meditation. The first one was called Mahasi Method of Meditation. So it was not called the Buddha's Method of Meditation, it was called Mahasi Method of Meditation because it was created by Mahasi Sayadaw based on later books. So Vipassana meditation is something 50 years ago nobody heard of Vipassana meditation. So we have to be very careful. We can only come to this conclusion if we study the sutras carefully. And unfortunately some people are so taken up by meditation that they jump into meditation and then they are not bothered to study the Buddha's words. They don't know that the Buddha on listening to the Buddha's words. That's why the Buddha called his disciples, all his disciples, whether monks or nuns or lay people, he called all of them savakas, listeners or hearers. So he wants all of us who are followers of the Buddha to listen to his words. If you don't listen to the Buddha's words, you are like those external ascetics who practice very hard on meditation or in their ascetic practices, and if they are successful, they end up something like Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ was a first-class meditator. So in that respect, he was a holy man because his mind is cleared of all the defilements, so that he had psychic power. He could walk on the water, he could cure people and all that, to drive away spirits from people's bodies and all that. But because he did not have the opportunity to hear the original teachings of the Buddha, so he did not become an Arya. But such a person, because he had attained the four jhanas, if he had the opportunity to hear the Buddha's words, he could, he can easily become enlightened. come in Arahant. So listening to the Buddha's words is extremely important.

(E05)-05-Practising-Buddha's-teachings-brings-happiness

But if we learn the Buddha's teachings and put it into practice, we will get a lot of happiness. Why? Because the Buddha said that there are some basic things that we should practice. For example, generosity. If we practice generosity and we practice charity by being kind to other people, we receive happiness in return. And secondly, if we keep our moral precepts by not harming other living beings, basically the precept of not killing, not stealing, not committing adultery, not lying, not carrying tales and causing disharmony, not using false speech, not engaging in idle gossip. All these things, if we practice these precepts, then also we do not suffer from remorse. If a person does not keep the precepts, then he harms other living beings. And after that, that person will have remorse, especially at the moment of death. There are some people who like to kill animals, They go hunting or they slaughter chickens or they slaughter pigs and all that. At the last moments when they are dying, they have a lot of fear. And some of them, they start to behave like those animals that they kill. For example, a person slaughters pigs, he may squeal like a pig. We have heard some people say that. If we keep our precepts and we don't harm other living beings, that again is a source of happiness to us. And when we are dying, we will have the confidence that we will go to a good place. And then if we meditate and attain the jhanas, then that is the highest happiness we can get. Those states of dana are very high states that are very hard to achieve. But if you can achieve those states, then you get great bliss. It's even more satisfying than indulging in drugs and all that. These people indulge in drugs because they get high. They get very happy for a short while. But unfortunately, after that, They get dukkha. But these states of jhāna are prolonged states of happiness and bliss. So the Buddha said if a person attains the second jhāna and constantly abides in the second jhāna, that person is likely to be reborn in the second jhāna plane in the form heavens. And when that person is reborn there, every day he's exclaiming happiness, happiness, sukha, sukha, so happy. The mind itself gives us that happiness. This contentment and happiness is a state from within us. We learn how to develop that happiness and that contentment. It comes from within us. It does not depend on outside conditions. A lot of us, Don't realize that. So we look for happiness outside. Keep chasing after worldly things that give us happiness. But this worldly happiness is very fleeting, very short while. It doesn't last. Sometimes you make a lot of effort to get that happiness and yet it lasts so long. It's not worth it. But states of meditative bliss They are harder to achieve, but when you achieve it, then it is lasting. So the practice of the Dhamma can give us a lot of happiness.

(E05)-06-Practising-Buddha's-teachings-brings-happiness

There is a lot of advice given in the Buddha's discourses on how to live our life properly, how to live our life skillfully. There are many ways we can live our life, but the best way is to live it skillfully so that we get the maximum happiness in life, satisfaction. Before I came into the Dhamma, I had a lot of questions, like most people, a thousand and one questions. But after I studied the Buddha's words, I found all my questions answered. No more questions. So you can learn a lot from the Buddha's words. And then when we study the Buddha's words, and we practice according to what the Buddha teaches us, then we will understand reality, understand the truth about this world. what is the meaning of this world, where we came from, and all that. All of us, when we come into this world, we don't know what is the purpose of life. So many people, especially Chinese, we chase after worldly things like money and all that, and so taken up by the worldly path that we forget about the spiritual side. religious side. So in the end they get a lot of unhappiness. But we study the Dharma, then we understand what life is about. That not happiness, money does not give us total happiness. Money only helps to satisfy some of our desires, but those desires are also not really satisfactory. The higher happiness we want can be achieved by learning the Dhamma and putting the Dhamma into practice.

(E05)-07-The-Law-of-Dhamma

The Dhamma actually, the Buddha taught us the Dhamma to understand the world as it really is. This Dhamma is not something new. The Buddha said whether he teaches the Dhamma or he does not teach the Dhamma, this law of the Dhamma continues to prevail. So the Dhamma is all about natural laws, about the world as it really is. So because the Buddha is enlightened, has understood the world as it is, he has attained those psychic powers where he can see the past, he can see the present, he can see the future, he can see the different states of existence, he can see beings that our ordinary eyes cannot see, ghosts and devas and all that. So because he has understood the world, he is trying to make us understand the world. So if we understand the world, we know that there are certain natural laws in the world, and if we abide by these natural laws, then we are safe, we will not suffer so much. But if we go against these natural laws of the world, then we are likely to suffer a lot. So the Buddha did not talk about the Creator God. The Buddha talk about natural laws in this world. So from his teachings, we can understand that this God concept that most people believe in, to us Buddhists, God is Mother Nature. God is Mother Nature, a natural force that has created the world and controls the world. It is not a being out there that we need to pray to. It is not a being out there that we need to fear. It is not a being out there that determines whether we go to heaven or to hell. So Mother Nature just has all these natural laws. So our purpose in life is to understand these laws because we are in this round of rebirth. We die and then we come back again and again and again. So unless we understand nature as it really is, we will continue in this long cycle of rebirth. So if we understand the Dhamma, then we will understand that the Buddha has taught a way out of this round of rebirth. And if we follow the path taught by him, we will reduce our suffering in this very life and in future lives. And also we will walk the path that brings us out of samsara.

(E05)-08-Stream-entry-by-listening-to-Buddha's-discourses

In the Buddha's teachings, to become an arya and be on the stream that brings you out of this round of rebirth is not that difficult. Attaining this stream entry, the lowest path of aryahood, is by listening to the Buddha's discourses. We find in the suttas and the vinaya the teachings of the Buddha, that all the people who attained stream entry became Aryas, and all did so by listening to the Buddha's words. And so much so that even there was a time when some people were hired to kill the Buddha, to murder the Buddha. And the Buddha made them sit down and the Buddha's discourse to them, the Dhamma. And after listening to the Buddha's discourse, even these high-feelers also attained stream-entry. And there was another person also who used to drink liquor. And after he passed away, the Buddha also said he had attained stream-entry. So much so that some people did not believe So when the Buddha heard that these people did not believe, the Buddha said, why? Even the trees, if they could understand what I say, even they also can attain stream entry. So what the Buddha is trying to say that it's not difficult for us to become an Arya and be on the way out of samsara if we take the trouble to go and study the discourses of the Buddha, the sutra. If we don't get a set of these Nikayas and study it, then it is very regrettable, because here and now you have the opportunity to become an Arya, which is worth more than anything else you can get in this world. Even becoming king of the whole wide world is nothing at all compared through attaining stream entry. Because once you attain stream entry, you will never fall into the woeful planes again. You'll never be reborn as a ghost, an animal, or in hell. And you only have seven more lifetimes left in samsara before you enter nirvana. And every lifetime, you're either born in heaven or as a human being. Even if you come back as a human being, you will have a lot of happiness because a person who is an Arya has so much merit that he will have great happiness in every human life left. So the most important ambition for us as Buddhists is to attain stream entry, so we must take more trouble to listen to the Buddha's discourses, and either by reading the suttas by listening to talks that are based on the original teachings of the Buddha.

(E05)-09-Buddhism-is-not-stifling-or-pessimistic

Now, some people think that Buddhism is a stifling and pessimistic religion, but this is not true because if we understand the Buddha's teachings, then it is not stifling to keep the precepts because we know that if we keep the precepts, it gives us happiness in this life and even future life. Because if you don't keep the precepts, then you harm other living beings and you will have a lot of remorse later. And it is not pessimistic because it does not say that you are going to hell or you are going to become a ghost or what. We act like a deva or a devi, then we will be reborn as a deva or a devi. We act very selfishly. then we are likely to be reborn as a ghost. And if we act like an animal, tao ching, then we are likely to be reborn as an animal. And if we harm other beings severely, then we are bound for hell. So we choose our actions to determine where we are going to be reborn. So Buddhism is not a stifling and pessimistic religion because it doesn't say that you are going to hell or what. It just says that your rebirth depends on yourself. And it's a very realistic religion. It does not say that you can bribe heaven by some means, some simple means, and then you can go to heaven. You have to work for it. If you want to go to heaven, you have to work for it. You have to behave like a heavenly being. But if you want to go to the woeful place, you don't have to work. It's very easy to go to the woeful place. It's as easy as falling off a chair. So I think I'll stop here.

(E05)-10-Pacceka-Buddha

When did all the commentators get the idea that Prachikabuddha's present was the ability to teach? I don't know where they got this idea, but they had a lot of ideas. A lot of wrong views, like this teaching about paramita and the Jataka tales and all that. Because over the A long time, 3,500 years, so many people were involved in writing these commentaries. So one person had one wrong view, another person had another wrong view. Then you get a lot of wrong teachings in Buddhism. For example, like the Buddha. Before he left his wife and child, he had a last look at them in the middle of the night, and then he ran off in the middle of the night. This is not based on the system, and it's not true.

(E05)-11-Pacceka-Buddha

Vande, does it mean that since these Pacheka Buddha don't teach, does it mean that even nowadays there are a lot of Pacheka Buddha staying somewhere, maybe in high places, in mountains or in Tibet or wherever it is? Yes. Firstly, we have to understand where do these Buddhas come from, whether it's Sammasambuddha or Pacheka Buddha. To me, these Aceka Buddhas are like our Buddha. The Buddha did mention in the Gatikara Sutta that when the last Buddha, the last Buddha before our Bodhidharma Buddha was Kasapa Buddha. Now when Kasapa Buddha was here, our Bodhisatta, our Buddha, Sakyamuni Buddha in his previous life, was born as a Brahmin at the time of Kasapa Buddha. Then because he was a Brahmin, he was not interested to see the Buddha, but his good friend, the pot maker, Gatikara, was a very devoted supporter of Kasapa Buddha. So Gatikara kept calling our Bodhisattva many times to see the Buddha, but he refused. So finally he had to pull him by the hair. So our Bodhisattva had a shock. Why? Because Brahmin is a high caste person in India. You can't pull him by the hair. This pot maker is a low caste man. A low caste man, a paraya, to pull him by the hair, if he tells other Brahmins, probably this man will be killed. This is low caste potter. So our Bodhisattva had a shock and asked his friend, is it that important? In other words, is it so important for me to see your teacher that you risk your life, you risk being killed? So his friend said, yes, it is that important. Then only he went. And then when two of them went to see the Buddha Kassapa, our Kathikara, the pot maker, he paid deep respect to the Buddha, bowed to the Buddha and sat down. Whereas our Bodhisattva didn't refuse to pay respect and just say hello, hello. Then he sat down. So our Gatiphara, he told the Buddha Kassapa, he said, Bhagavan, this is my good friend, Yotipala, and he's a Brahmin, please teach him some dharma out of compassion. Then the Buddha taught him some dharma. Just listening to the discourse of the Buddha, he must have entered the stream, become an Arya, because after that he decided to become a monk. How can a person of another religion just hear one discourse and want to become a monk? That means he understood the discourse, right? And if he understood the discourse, he would have entered the stream. So after he attained stream entry, then he became a monk under the Buddha Kassapa. Now, when he became a monk under the Buddha Kassapa, he learned meditation and attained at least the first jhāna. Why do we say he attained at least the first jhāna? Because the Buddha said after that lifetime, he was reborn in the Pusita heaven. And after the Pusita heaven, he came down as Siddhartha Gautama. His last life, he was born as Siddhartha Gautama. And Siddhartha Gautama as a young boy, when his father was overseeing the ploughing of the fields, he went under the jambu tree, sat down under the jambu tree and attained the first jhana. So as a small boy, he could not have learned the first jhana in his lifetime as Siddhartha Gautama. He must have learned it under the Buddha Kassapa. So if a person has already attained stream entry and he attains the first jhana, it must mean that he has attained the second fruit, second fruit, Sakadagamin. The difference between Sakadagamin and Sotapanna is that Sakadagamin has reduced greed, hatred, and delusion. For a person to reduce greed, hatred, and delusion, he must attain some some amount of samādhi to suppress the great hatred and delusion. So the fact that he has attained the first jhāna, to me, it means that he has attained sakata-gāmin, second fruit. Now according to the suttas, if a person has attained sakata-gāmin, when he comes back, he is called a once-returner. Once-returner means he comes back to the human birth one last time. And after that human birth, he must enter nirvana. He's like a ripe durian, ready to fall. Whether the wind blows or it doesn't blow also, he must fall down. So Asaka Degamin, he comes back, and then, like our Buddha, even though he was born as Hidata Gotama, of a wealthy family, of a warrior caste, with a beautiful wife, in spite of all these pulls of the worldly life, yet he renounced worldly life and became an ascetic. That is a characteristic of a Sakadagamin. Sakadagamin is due for enlightenment. So whether he has a teacher or he does not have a teacher, he will go and practice until he becomes enlightened. So all Buddhas are like that. To me, that's my opinion, based on Sakyamuni Buddha, Gautama Buddha. So all Buddhas, they are past Aryans. So during the Buddha's time, there were many people who attained Sotapanna and Sakadagami. These people, when they come back, if they come back now, then they will practice and attain enlightenment, maybe as a Hindu, maybe as a Taoist like Lao Tzu. And if they come back later when there's no Dhamma in the world, they will still go and practice and attain enlightenment. So to me, I think Pachinka Buddhas exist all the time. Only thing there are not many of them. They exist all the time. So a person like Lao Tzu, The Buddha did not teach Dhamma in China, but he was a highly attained person with psychic power and lofty teachings. So a person like Lao Tzu could very well be a partaker of the Dharma.

(E05)-12-State-of-Nibbana

If a person is enlightened already, after death, what would the state be, the state of the mind be? The Buddha said the state of Nibbana is a state of boundless consciousness, of bright consciousness. And yet, the Buddha says, the sixth consciousness has stopped now. So, the sixth consciousness, It's that which creates the world. Because we know the world exists because of our seeing consciousness, hearing consciousness, et cetera. So the world is like a dream. When we are dreaming at night, we see, we hear, and all that. And we believe it to be real. But when we wake up, then we realize it was a dream. Now when you wake up, do you ask yourself, Chong, Chong last night, I was dreaming, What happened to him? Where did he go? You ask yourself. Why? Because in that dream, that Chong in the dream never existed. It was just a dream. Right? The same now. Now life is also a dream. So the Buddha is called the awakened one because he has stopped his dream. The sixth consciousness has stopped working. You don't ask after the Buddha has entered nirvana, where is he, whether he will come back or not. You understand the Dhamma, you don't ask this question. Because the Buddha said, basically, this being that we think we are actually doesn't exist. That's why the Buddha stressed his teaching is to understand that there is anatta. Atta means something that is permanent, something that you can call I. But if everything is changing, this body that you think is I or this mind that you think is I is changing all the time. So what is that inside you that you call to be the Self? So to give us a little understanding of this state of Nibbana, we consider the state of sleep. When we go to sleep, there are two types of sleep. The shallow type of sleep is when we are dreaming. We dream and it's not a restful state because your mind is agitated, you get excited in the dream and all that. If you dream a lot, then when you wake up, you don't feel very restful. But there's another type of sleep that is a very deep state of sleep. In this deep state of sleep, you're not even aware that you exist. and there's no dreams. In that state, where you have no awareness that you exist, and yet there is a consciousness, but you are not aware that you exist. This state is a little similar to nirvana. That's why this deep sleep state is so blissful that when we wake up, we want to sleep again. It's so pleasurable. It's one of the pleasures that we indulge in. That's why the Buddha said, Nibbānaṁ paramaṁ sukhaṁ. Nibbāna is the highest bliss. So sometimes we find it very hard to understand. Why? Because Buddha says Nibbāna is the state where the Sixth Consciousness has ceased. So that means there is no feeling. So there is no feeling. How come the Buddha says it's the highest bliss? Then if you compare to this deep sleep state, then you can understand. In this deep sleep state, you don't even know that you exist. You don't even have a self, and yet when you wake up, you think that it's a great bliss, great enjoyment.

(E05)-13-World-is-in-us

Pantei, you seem to have said that the whole world isn't us. What do you mean by that? We are the whole world. Half time before I practiced Buddhism, I was practicing Hinduism. There is one Indian holy man, an ordinary person, sees himself in the world. Enlightened person sees the world in himself. For a person to attain this state where the world is within you, the mind has to expand. Normally, you see, the less developed we are, the more restricted our consciousness is. For example, you see a line of ants. You stand over the line of ants, you see them very busy carrying the sand and all that. Then you say, hello, hello. Do they know? Do they know when you say hello to them? They don't know. Why? Because their world is very limited, right? Their consciousness is very limited. So, human beings, maybe our range of consciousness is more. When we look into the distance, can we see indefinitely? No. Even our vision is limited to a certain extent. You look as far as you can, you can see a certain distance. Then you want to see further, what do you do? You use a telescope, isn't it? You can see further. So these holy men, they cultivate their minds. I feel they attain these states, what they call arupajana, states of formless jana. So in these states the mind expands. The lowest one is the base of boundless space, and the second one is the base of boundless consciousness, and the base of nothingness, and then the base of neither perception nor non-perception. So the base, the lowest, the base of bounded space is when the mind opens up like bounded space. So you see like this Arahant, Anuruddha, his mind was so developed that it seems he could see the ten thousand world systems like in the palm of his hand. His mind had expanded so greatly, 10,000 world systems. He looked like in the palm of his hand. That's why there's a Chinese story about the journey to the West, isn't it? The monkey got very naughty. Then the Buddha wanted to tame him, ask him how far he can jump. He jumped as far, flew as far as he could. He thought he was very great. Then the Buddha said, you haven't jumped in between my two fingers. So a person's mind has to develop and become like boundless space. So like the Buddha, his psychic power is so great, his consciousness expanded to many, many world systems. That's why he's aware that the stars that we see, the Buddha said, every star is one world system. And then the Buddha said, The smallest gathering of these stars is called a 1,000 whole small world system. That means 1,000 stars. And nowadays science calls it what? Galaxy. Then because the Buddha's consciousness is expanded so great, he could see 1,000 of these galaxies. It's another system. The Buddha calls it the thousand-thousand-fold middle world system. And then again, clusters of these middle world systems, another one thousand of these clusters of middle world system, the Buddha calls a thousand-thousand-thousand great world system. So that shows the Buddha's consciousness expanded so much that he can see all these stars, clusters of stars. So when a person's mind has grown so boundless, then he can see the world is inside of him.

(E05)-14-Listening-to-Dhamma

Ante, during the times of Buddha, people listened to the Buddha and many of them became Srimandharas. That is, during the times of Buddha. Can I presume that in modern times, people who embodies the Dharma, who teaches the true Dharma, and we listen to them, it's also possible to become Srimandharas? Yes, definitely. Because people If you go by statistics, people are the same all the time. The only reason why nowadays there is no many arahants like during the Buddha's time is because somebody like the Buddha with great psychic power is not around. You see, when the Buddha first started preaching, he sought out certain people to teach the Dharma. And who were these people that he sought out? We know from the suttas that the Buddha said for a person to become an arahant he must attain jhāna. So it is most likely that the first disciples of the Buddha that the Buddha chose were those people who had attained jhāna either in this lifetime or in their previous human existence. The Buddha purposely went to such people, like the first five disciples of his, the five monks. Because the Buddha had attained jhāna, he must have taught his five disciples jhāna also. So when he preached to these five disciples, he never asked them to meditate. He just asked them to sit down and listen carefully. I will teach you the Dhamma, he said. So they listened to him, and over a period of a few days, all five of them Then later, the sixth disciple he went to look for was a man by the name of Yasa, a young man from a very rich family. And this Yasa being a young man from a rich family, he had at least four wives. And the Buddha make him come in the middle of the night, come to the Buddha in the forest. The Buddha taught him the Dhamma. Listening to the Dhamma the first time, he attained stream-entry. The next morning, his father was worried for him. His parents thought whatever happened to him. Then his father went looking for him until finally came to the forest where the Buddha was. And the Buddha asked him to sit down and preach the same discourse to him, basically about the Four Noble Truths. listening it the first time also became a stream-enterer. But Yasa, listening to the same discourse a second time, attained Arahanthood. An ordinary person, if he has not attained Jhāna, if he listens to the discourse of the Buddha, he can never become an Arahant, only a person who has attained Jhāna. So because the Buddha was around, he purposely sought out these people who had jhāna, and when he preached the Dhamma to them, they became arahants. So because the Buddha is not around nowadays, there still are people around who have attained jhāna in their previous lives. But because the Buddha It's not around to preach the Dhamma to them, so some of them might be American or German or something, and they don't have the chance to listen to the Dhamma, then they don't become an Arahant. But other people, if we take the trouble to study the suttas or listen to Dhamma based on the suttas, we can become a Sotapanna if only we take the trouble to listen again and again and again. The problem is nowadays people are lazy. So they say, I cannot. During the Buddha's time, people had a lot of calamity and all that. No such thing. During the Buddha's time, there were many people even who scolded the Buddha. They followed external ascetics who were teaching rubbish and then they say, oh liao, oh liao.

(E05)-15-Exhaustion-of-blessings

But just like you are saying that when you become a Tathagatagamin, you will be born in heaven and you will enjoy bliss, happiness. Now if you were born in heaven and you are in bliss all the time, that means practically there is no action being done, no karma, no good karma being done. So you stay there and enjoy and become in bliss, then all your merits may be, some of the time may be used up. So you may fall back again. So how do you become an Arhat later on? You see, if a person is a Sakadagamin, that means he is already an Arya. And I said just now that an Arya can never fall into the three woeful planes. He can never become a ghost or an animal or in hell. Now his merit as a deva is exhausted. That merit as a deva, not all his merit is exhausted, only that merit of being a deva is exhausted. So he comes back to the human form. But when he comes back to the human form, he still has a lot of merit left. So he will come into a good family like those, like the Buddha. The Buddha being a Sakadagamin, he was reborn as a warrior caste into a wealthy family. So not all the merit is used up. So there are some devas from a high heaven, for example, say, Second Jhana Plain. He enjoys life there for a very long time, and then when he passes away, he might fall into the first jhāna plane, that is Mahābrahmā, and enjoy life there for a very long time again. And after that, fall into the sensual heavens. Sensual heavens, there are six heavens, and then he might be reborn, one level, one level, down, down, down, slowly come down. Doesn't mean he use up all his merit. That merit that enabled him to live in that heaven is used up. So he must come into a lower heaven. So Kakadagamin, from the heavenly plane, he comes down as a human being. Still got a lot of merit.

(E05)-16-Suicide

Okay. Can you please explain a little bit about Buddha's thoughts on suicide and people and why people commit suicide? Okay. Why people commit suicide? People commit suicide because they are experiencing a lot of dukkha, okay, and they experience dukkha could be due to bad karma. For example, somebody who is not filial to the parents, and after the parents pass away, he is full of remorse. So he gets into states of deep depression, deep depression, and becomes suicidal. Then another type of person is like a businessman. This man has been very worldly, very worldly, enjoy life, and then his business collapses. And because he has been too worldly, he has not created much good karma. He has not created good karma, so he has used up his good karma to enjoying life. So now he is due to be reborn in the woeful plane. So because he does not have the good karma to support him, for example charity or keeping the precepts, so when he becomes bankrupt, he decides to jump from the top of the 20-storey building or something like that. Now when this person jumps, he is in a state of depression and his mind is very agitated So his last moments are full of sorrow and agitation. Suicide, they are likely to be reborn as a ghost, and they'll stay there until, if they have some good karma to bring them back to the human plane, later they'll come back. In fact, most human beings, when we pass away, Most human beings are reborn into the ghost realm. Why? Because for us to be here in the human plane, we have good merit from the past. There are five destinations of rebirth. The best is the heavenly plane. The second is the human plane. These two are called happy destinations of rebirth. Then another three are called woeful destinations of rebirth, the ghost, animal and hell realm. So for us to be reborn either as a human or as a heavenly being, we have much more good karma than bad. But then when we are reborn as a human being, our karma is not as good as heavenly being. In other words, our good karma, our blessings, is limited. So when we live our life, we use our good karma. So unless a person, like a Buddhist, if a person does not understand the Dhamma, then he does not know how to replenish the good karma by doing good charity, by keeping the precepts. So most people, because they don't do these two things, or don't do enough of charity and keeping the precepts, by the time they die, they have used up their good karma. So they very naturally fall into the next plane, which is the ghost plane. That's why we Chinese believe after seven days, your father has passed away, he'll come back. And most often they do come back. They'll let you know when they come back. Why they want to let you know? they are suffering, they hope you can do something for them to help them.

(E05)-17-Helping-parents

You did mention something about helping your parents who may, on passing away, go into the ghost plane. How can we as children do some good deeds to help them? It is best if our parents are helped before they pass away. And the Buddha did mention four ways of helping parents before they pass away, teaching them charity, to do charity, teaching them firstly to bring them to have faith in the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, become a Buddhist. Secondly, teach them to be charitable. Thirdly, teach them to keep the moral precepts. And fourthly, teach them the Dhamma or give them Dhamma to listen so that they can attain wisdom. These are the four ways of helping our parents before they pass away. Now if our parents pass away, the Buddha said we can only help them if they are reborn as ghosts. If they are reborn in the other four destinations of rebirth, we can't help them. And I think mainly because they don't come back. They don't come back. Only ghosts come back. So if your relative is reborn as a ghost, what does a ghost need? A ghost firstly needs food. Secondly, clothes to wear, only these two. So in our Theravada tradition, it's very simple. If your parents have passed away, then you offer some food either to some monks or to some old folks' home or some orphanage. None of these is around, then you offer by the roadside. And then after you have done the offering, then you transfer the merit to them. But better still, before you do, you are planning to do some charity for your departed parents, then before you do that offering, you inform them by praying at night and mentally informing them. Because they are psychic, they will know And then after that only you do the charity and then when you come back again you transfer the merit to them.

(E05)-18-Ghost-Festival

And what is the Buddhist view of this Chaiyit Satsang? I mean, now, the full month of this speech coming out, what is the Buddhist view? It depends on which Buddhist view, because you have the Theravada and the Mahayana. Like the Mahayana, they believe in this ghost festival. But in Theravada we don't believe in this ghost festival on the seventh moon, because in the Theravada point of view, or the original Buddhist point of view, is that ghosts exist all the time. It's not that at a certain month they are released. Every night they come out and they look for food and they cry along the road, walking and crying along the road looking for food. So every day they are around. It's just that sometimes we Chinese tend to believe on this particular month that there are more ghosts around, so we frighten ourselves. Sometimes we get into accidents also because of the fright.

(E05)-19-Ghost-Festival

So pandai, so it's true and it's good that a lot of people, especially in the villages, they come and pray, they burn joss stick and burn the money, paper money, and then offer some sweets and biscuits on the roadside. So it's good to do that. What's the view on this place? Whether it's good or not, it's hard to say. Some people want to do it, some people don't want to do it. But then, you see, if you offer paper money, they will receive paper money. But like in the ghost world, they don't use money. You offer them a paper car, they get a paper car. I don't know whether they can drive a paper car, but there's no petrol in the ghost realm.

(E05)-20-Transfer-of-merit

But very often we hear people say, our parents pass dreams to us because they need clothes or they need food or they are suffering or whatever. Is there any truth in that? You see, sometimes our relative is born in the ghost realm and we are not doing anything for that relative because we don't know that that relative is in the ghost realm and suffering. So sometimes out of desperation, they may come to you or they make you dream. So if you dream that they are in a state of suffering, then it's good to do some charity on their behalf, transfer the merit to them. Sometimes you may not have a relative who has passed away, but if you still dream of some ghost, coming to you for help. It might be some relative you forgot about already, maybe, in a past life or something. And also you do some merit for that being.

(E05)-21-Right-View

In your tape, you say that by having right will, we can become Sotapanna. Can you elaborate on that? Okay, this right view whereby a person becomes stream-enterer is the right view of the Dhamma, that means has understood the Four Noble Truths. If a person listens to the Buddha's teachings, and understands the Four Noble Truths, that means the basic understanding, it means that person has seen anicca, has seen impermanence in the world. So if a person has seen impermanence, then he understands that because of impermanence, life is dukkha, life is sorrowful. And he will also realize that There is no security in this world. Whatever state we attain, it is all impermanent. Even you go to heaven also, one day you must come down. So because there is no security, it is important to strive to become secure. a person who has understood the Dhamma, he will become independent of others in the Buddha's teachings. That means this person will not look for a teacher. He knows that his real teacher is the Buddha's Dhamma. And a person who has attained this right view or stream entry, He will know there is nothing more valuable in the whole world than the Buddha's teachings, the Dhamma. And he will also know that his priority in life is to practice the Dhamma, study and practice the Dhamma. So when he has this understanding of life, his direction in life is no more worldly. Priority in life is no more worldly, it is spiritual. So he becomes different. So his friends may think he's become funny, doesn't want to socialize, doesn't want to go happy hour and all that. That's a price we have to pay. But anyway, if you At the day stream entry, you would also not be interested in worldly pursuits. Sometimes you do it just to please friends only.

(E05)-22-Transfer-of-merit

I think you mentioned about doing charity and all that to help out relatives who pass away and transfer merits to them. But is it the same, suppose we have a dharma session every week, you know, dharma discussions with our studies, and after we transfer merits also to our departed ones, is it the same as doing charity? No, it is not the same. Because our relative in the ghost realm, he needs food and he needs clothing, but when we practice the Dhamma or we learn the Dhamma and we transfer merit, it does not make his stomach full. Maybe it makes his ears full, but not his stomach. So that's why in Mahayana, they have this Ulaanbaatar festival, and then they do a lot of prayers for the departed relatives. We don't do it because I think they are not interested in prayers. They are interested to satisfy their stomach. We come and listen to the Dhamma and we transfer merit. Who are those who are likely to come and listen, unseen beings who are likely to come and listen to the Dhamma are devas. During the Buddha's time, devas would also come and listen to the Buddha's Dhamma. And when they listened to the Buddha's Dhamma, sometimes the Buddha said they also attained stream entry. So the most a deva can attain is actually sleep and dream, when in contact with the Dharma. Because when you are a deva, there is no desire to strive because you are so happy in the deva realm. You don't see tukkha, you don't see aging. After millions of years, you look at yourself in the mirror, still sixteen years old, no incentive to strive. Just come and listen so they can attain sleep and dream. So when we practice Dhamma and all that, we transfer to all beings around, so that these devas, they also rejoice with us. So they become, when you practice the Dhamma, they are happy. They also come and listen to the Dhamma, then they become our Dhamma protectors. That's why the monastery, practices well, then the devas around there will protect the monastery. I think you all probably have heard me say before, many years ago I went to Gurun to give a Dharma talk, and then before the Dharma talk, the chairman drove me around the Gurun countryside. So he brought me to a base, a Malay kampung called Ruat, R-U-A-T. Then I told him, what a strange name, R-U-A-T, this is not a Malay word, isn't it? He said, this word originally was W-A-T. W-A-T. Before the, I think before the Japanese occupation, it was a Thai kampong. So, he drove me along the road, he said, he looked at these houses, and then he came to one spot, there was no house vacant. So he told me, The reason why it's vacant is because it was a wad. Anybody who makes a house on that previous wad land will get disturbed by the spirits there. So it looks like the protectors of that wad are still there, still protecting the place. So it shows that monasteries will have more dharma protectors.

(E05)-23-Transfer-of-merit

PRABHUPĀDA Okay. Coming to this transfer of merits for departed ones again, am I to suppose that the transfer of merits to departed ones is to gladden their minds? PRABHUPĀDA Departed ones? PRABHUPĀDA Yes. PRABHUPĀDA You see, in this sūtā where the Buddha mentioned about transfer of merits to our departed relatives who are born as ghosts, the Buddha Firstly, I repeat this sutra. A Brahmin came to see the Buddha. Then this Brahmin told the Buddha, he said, Bhagavata, we Brahmins, we have a certain practice. When our relative passes away, we offer this food to our diseased relative and then we burn it. So then he asked the Buddha, does our relative actually get the food? Then the Buddha said, it depends on where they are reborn. Only if they are reborn as a ghost, we can get it. And this man asked the Buddha, what if my relative is not reborn as a ghost? Then the Buddha said, if your particular relative is not reborn as a ghost, it is most likely that you have other relatives in the ghost realm and they will get it. Then the Buddha said, even in the extreme case that you don't have any relative in the ghost realm, then you yourself will get the merit of this good deed. So the sutra ends here. Now, when you listen to this sutra, you may notice the Buddha said that your relative in the ghost realm gets it. The Buddha didn't say everybody in the ghost realm gets it, only your relative. Why? I think because your relative is waiting for you to do the merit. Other ghosts are not waiting for you to do the merit, isn't it? Only your departed relatives are waiting and expecting you to help them, right? So when you do that food offering and transfer the merit to them, I believe they actually get the food. Why? Because they believe that you have offered this food for them. You see, the power of the mind It's very powerful. You know people have been put into states of hypnotism, right? And when a person is hypnotized, it seems the doctor has tried this experiment. The doctor takes a pencil and he tells this hypnotized person, he says, I'm going to touch your hand with a red-hot iron rod, a burning red-hot iron rod. Then he uses the pencil and touches this man. Then that part becomes burned. Why? Because that person believes that it is a red-hot iron. There's another case I've seen on Australian TV. This scientist, he hypnotized this lady and then made her remember her past. And she remembered her past life some 200 years ago, that she was of a royal family in France. Now this lady is in Australia, but she says about 200 years ago she was in France, a princess there, having a beautiful life in a castle and all that. Now, this lady wears spectacles. So this man, this scientist wanted to find out exactly the town that this lady was reborn. He mentioned the name of the town, but this scientist wanted to make sure it was the same town. So he woke this lady up from the ... still hypnotized, but he asked the lady to open her eyes. So the lady opened her eyes. He asked the lady to look at this map of France. And of course the town was there. He asked the lady to pinpoint the particular town. And when the lady was hypnotized, she had taken off her specs. And then when he asked this lady, showed her the map and asked her the town, she could look at this map and tell him this is the town. Then after that he asked her to go to sleep again. Then after finding everything out from her, then he ended the session. Now, after the session, the lady put on her specs again. Now this scientist asked her to take off her specs, so she took off her specs. Then asked her to look at the map. and asked her to look at the map and asked her a particular town, where is this particular town. So she looked at the map but without her spectacle she cannot see. She cannot see. But during the hypnotic state she could see without the spectacle. So you see, a lot of things is controlled by the mind.

(E05)-24-Good-and-Bad-ghosts

There are good and bad people in the world. Are there also good and bad ghosts in the world? And if they are bad and they harm people? Yes, I believe there are good and bad ghosts just as there are good and bad devas also. Because there are some ghosts which harm beings, harm people. And there are some good ghosts also, I believe. You see, like a lot of our Chinese temples, they engage somebody to kill bóng, hell tongue, go into a trance. Now, they go into a trance and then they say a certain God has come. Right? And then this spirit will help sometimes if a certain person is sick and this spirit will prescribe some medicine whereby that person takes that medicine and is cured now. Now what is this spirit that comes into this human body? I don't believe it is a deva. Because although we call it deva, because devas are higher than us, and human bodies to the devas are smelly like pigs to us. When pigs come near us, we close our nose, isn't it? It is smelly. So our body is dirty compared to devas' body. So it's not likely that you ask the Deva to come into the human body, they'll want to come into the human body. Lagi, you ask him to come immediately, you think they'll come. Just like you're making a phone call to the Prime Minister, asking him to come immediately. I want to talk to you. Will the Prime Minister come? So who are we to ask the Prime Minister to come immediately? So for the Deva, you ask him to come inside the body immediately. He's not your servant. He won't come immediately. So it's more likely it's ghosts that come into the human body, or maybe a very low deva, very low, like a snake spirit. Maybe hard up only they come. So, why do some of these ghosts come into the human body and help us humans? I believe because they are good at heart. You know, there's one thing I'd like to say, is that those beings that go into the woeful planes, it's not mainly because they are evil. Because they are stupid. Why are they stupid? Because they did not hear the Dhamma. Because they did not hear the Dhamma, then they do stupid things. Their heart may be good, but because of stupid actions, people fall into these woeful planes and suffer. So, sometimes a person is reborn as a ghost, then that person regrets. I didn't do enough good deeds, so actually I'm suffering here on this coast. So maybe it's because of that, some ghosts, they come into the human body and then try to help us. So there are good and bad ghosts. You know why I mention this about not all evil people go into the woeful flames, because About a week ago, somebody came to see me. She said her brother has this weakness for money, so he likes to gamble and borrow money and get the family into trouble. So when the wife does not have any money from him, then they quarrel, and even the mother also given up on him, so useless. But this sister was talking to me, but she was asking whether the brother can come to the monastery to stay. But I told her, I said, it's not that we don't want him to come, but it's not likely that he wants to come in the first place. Secondly, even if he comes, he's not likely to change. It takes a long time to change a person, you know. So then she said, she said, he's not that bad now. When he has money, he will buy a lot of things for the mother, buy for the children and all that. So I was thinking to myself, a lot of people are like that. We have a good heart, basically, but because of weakness, we do certain wrong actions that bring us to this woeful plane. So a lot of people are suffering in the woeful planes, not because they are really evil at heart, but because they are stupid and never learn the Dhamma and do those unscrupulous actions for which they regret later. That's why the Dhamma is so valuable. So the best thing in the world, if you learn the Dhamma, then you know how to differentiate between right actions and wrong actions. And you will do right actions that bring you happiness in this life and in the future life, instead of the stupid fellow who does wrong actions and suffers. You see a lot of drug addicts, they are not evil people. A lot of drug addicts, just like ordinary human beings, they want to enjoy. Only thing is they enjoy in the wrong way, and also they don't know the consequence that after being a drug addict and being hooked on to drugs, they'll probably be reborn in the ghost realm and become a hungry ghost. It's like a person is hungry all the time. So this drug addict is also hungry for the drug all the time, so he's very likely to be reborn in the ghost realm where he's hungry all the time. So be careful, you know. It's wrong, silly actions that bring us into the woeful things. Even people who are good at heart do silly actions and regret.

(E05)-25-Can-layperson-be-Arahant

He said that in order to be an arahant, you must be a monk. A layman cannot be an arahant. Not exactly. Because like this person, Yasa, I mentioned just now, the sixth disciple of the six arahant disciples of the Buddha, he was a layperson. But after listening to the Dhamma, he became an arahant. Now after becoming an Arahant, he won't go back to lay life, even though he has got a beautiful four wives or forty wives or so, he won't go back to the lay life. He will become a completely different person. That old Yasa died already, reborn as an Arahant. So a layperson can attain arahanthood, but he must have attained jhāna in the previous life, and then listening to the Dhamma he will become an arahant, but after becoming an arahant he will never go back to lay life. Of course later books also got this funny story, this funny thing they say that if a layperson becomes and Arahant, and he does not renounce, he will die within 24 hours. No such thing. All these crazy ideas that the Buddha never taught, they spoke up later.

(E05)-26-Mind-faster-than-lightning-kammic-accounts

I think, Bhante, our mind moves so fast. Is it faster than this lightning electricity? That I can't tell you because I have not investigated. But it is likely that the mind after See the lightning, when the lightning flashes in the sky, you can see the flash of lightning going, isn't it? And if you can see it going, then it must be faster, the mind must be faster, otherwise you cannot perceive the going of it. One last thing, just now, Phalim asks about the transference of merit, like after a Dhamma session, whether it's the same as transferring merit from a food offering to a ghost. It's just like karma. Karma, there are different accounts. Killing karma is one account, and generosity karma is another account. And stealing karma is another account. So for example, if a person has done a lot of killing, and for example, a person likes to go hunting, and as a result of hunting a lot of animals, then he is dying of cancer. His life is going to be short. So he, maybe the son or the daughter, having learned some Dhamma and has not understood properly, he thinks, I want to do charity and lengthen the life of the father. Charity is different account. Killing Dhamma is different account. Doing charity cannot lengthen the life of your father. You do charity for your father, maybe next lifetime, he would have a better life, in the sense of he can get money or livelihood easier, but it is a totally different account. So we have to be clear, you know, karma, different account books, cannot mix them up.

(E05)-27-Liberation-of-animals

but they are doing charity. But especially the Mahayana, they believe in feng shang. This is setting free of animals or some bodies or some beings in maybe even brought to a slaughterhouse or with their animals. I know a friend who had saved a monkey from He was picked by a pawn, you know, and put in a cage by the Malay boys. Then he bought the animal, took out the pawns, and set the monkey free. After that he comes, he seems to have a better life. So, was it setting free helps in lengthening the life of a person? Yeah, this Phong Sang, liberation of animals, generally it is not very meritorious, not very helpful. Why? Because very often it does not really benefit. For example, you go on Huisak Day, you go and buy a lot of birds and then you release them. So next year, they know that you are going to buy birds. Just before Huisak, they are going to catch a lot of birds. So it defeats the purpose. But if you see an animal is about to be killed, then you go and buy the animal and release it. It's different. You really save that animal. So you have to see case by case. When I was a Mahayana, when I was practicing Mahayana Buddhism, both as a layman and as a novice monk, I saw a lot of this being done, and very often I saw that it was, it defeated the purpose. Why? Because a lot of these birds that they bought were caged for so long that they could not fly, and even if they knew how to fly, they did not know how to cari makan. They are dependent on people feeding them. After that, they completely don't know how to look for food. They stay up the tree until they become so weak, they collapse and fall down. I've seen that. And sometimes they release the bird. The bird don't want to come out of the cage. It's so scared. It wants to stay in the cage. And then sometimes I've seen they release them in the wrong places. And then they cannot survive. For example, they buy the tortoise from the shop, then they go and release them in a certain river or something, and they cannot find food in that river, and then they die there. And sometimes I've seen, when I was in America, they release a lot of pigeons. After a few days, you find the pigeons feathers on the floor. Why? Because that area, a lot of eagles, the eagle will attack them. Because once you release them, they have no home, they don't know where to go. They fly here, they fly there, and then they get attacked by these eagles. So very often, it is not meritorious. But you rarely save a life than it is.