(E26)-01-Worldly-Right-View

Okay, the topic tonight is Right View. It's a very important topic, as I shall explain now first. Now, there are two types of Right View. One is Worldly Right View, and the other one is Supramundane Right View or Aryan Right View. First I will explain what is Worldly Right View. Worldly Right View means Believing that there is life after death, there is rebirth, and there are realms of existence. In the Buddhist teaching, there are five realms of existence. And then, believing also in Kamalipaka, that what you do to others or give to others, you get back in return, that if you give happiness to others, you get back happiness. But if you give suffering to others, you get back suffering. And then also believing that there are holy men who practice the holy path and have spiritual attainments. So, this basically is worldly right view. Now, if you believe in this worldly right view, basically the law of Kamavipaka, that you get what you deserve, then you cannot believe that there is a super being that can help you. Because if this law of Kamavipaka applies, then we should get what we deserve. So, For example, if a person has done a lot of evil in his life, at the last moment when he's dying, he prays to some super being for help. And if that super being can help him so that he does not have to suffer, then other people who suffer will say it's unfair. Right? It's just like suppose now you go on the highway or you take a plane ticket from Kuala Lumpur to Kuching, you have to pay how much? I came the other day, return fare by air is the cheapest, 452 Ringgit. But, if you know somebody, or you put string or something, you can get a free flight. It's not fair, you think, why should I, how come I have to pay, other people don't have to pay, isn't it? So, in this case, there are a lot of come-ups we pass. According to Buddhist belief, we cannot ride heaven, just by chanting or praying to some super being. The Buddha's teaching is that you should walk the path to avoid suffering, because when suffering comes, it is the result of the karma that you did, so you have to pay for it. There's no other way. Sometimes people look for a BOMO or some body who can take away your suffering, but if it's due to karma, you can just postpone your suffering. It will come back looking for you another day. So, kamavipaka is that we get what we deserve and everything that we get is basically what we deserve. But sometimes we think it's not fair, like you've been nice to somebody and that person talks bad about you behind your back. But if you understand the law of kamavipaka, then you should think maybe in my past life I did the same thing to somebody else. So now I get the result of that kamma. So that is worldly right view.

(E26)-02-Ariyan-Right-View

Now I come to Aryan Right View or Supramandane Right View, which will be the bulk of my, the main part of my talk tonight. This Aryan Right View is found in the Noble Eightfold Path of the Buddha. You know that the Noble Eightfold Path is the way out of samsara, the way out of suffering, And this Noble Eightfold Path, as stated in the Suttas, always goes in a certain manner. The first factor is always the first factor, the second factor, etc. You cannot jumble them up. And the Noble Eightfold Path always starts with right view as the first factor. And you can say that of all the factors in the Noble Eightfold Path, Right View is the most important. In the Majjhima Nikaya, Sutta 117, the Buddha said that to practice the Noble Eightfold Path, you must start with Right View. If you have not attained Right View, you have not entered the Noble Eightfold Path. You can only enter the Noble Eightfold Path through Right View. So, you have not attained Right View, you have not entered the door of Abhijitmui. So, a lot of people, because they don't read the Suttas, they come into Buddhism and then people say, oh, meditation is very important, you can only become an Arya by meditation. And then they jump straight into meditation. They don't realize, meditation actually is among the last practices of the Noble Eightfold Path. It's among the last things that you do in practicing the Noble Eightfold Path. In fact, if you study the Samyutta Nikaya under Satipatthana Samyutta, there is a sutra where a monk came to the Buddha for brief instructions. He said, Bhagavata, I intend to go off into the forest and live alone and practice hard. Please give me some brief instructions." So actually, the Buddha wanted to give him some brief instructions about meditation, about satipatthana. But the Buddha started off by saying, there are two foundations that you must establish first. First one is sila, you must have good moral conduct. And the second one is right view, meaning Arjuna's right view. So actually, Sila is also Arim Sila. Arim Sila is not as difficult as some people think. In the Noble Eightfold Path, only three factors make up the Sila component, which is right speech, right action and right livelihood. Right speech has four precepts, not to lie, not to engage in malicious speech, speech that is motivated by anger. For example, slandering somebody, telling lies, slander somebody. Or you hear A talking bad about B, you purposely go and tell B, yesterday A said this and this about you, then you cause A and B to quarrel and fight. Then the third precept in the right speech is not to engage in coarse speech, foul language and all that. And the fourth precept is not to engage in idle gossip. So these four precepts make up right speech. And then right action comprises three precepts, not to kill, not to steal and not to engage in sexual misconduct. Just now somebody was asking me about this sexual misconduct. Later, if you are interested, you can ask and I will explain. So, these three precepts make up the right action. Right livelihood means you earn your livelihood without harming others. It's not considered a precept. So these three factors of the Noble Eightfold Path make up Aryam Sila. So actually Aryam Sila consists of seven precepts plus Right Livelihood. That's why if you look into the Suttas, the earliest Suttas, the first time the Buddha told lay people to keep precepts, he told them to keep the seven precepts. It was only later he added the liquor precepts. That is Sila, Arin Sila. And then the second thing the Buddha said, the monk must have a firm foundation or grounding in his right view, and that means Arin right view. So before a person can meditate, he should attain these two first, Arin Sila and Arin right view. What is Arunabhairava? Arunabhairava means seeing or understanding the Four Noble Truths. When you see or you understand the Four Noble Truths, you attain the Dhammacaku. This term Dhammacaku is a Pali term. Literally it means the eye of the Dhamma. You have attained the eye of the Dhamma. Simply said, it means you have a vision of the Dhamma. You have a vision of the Dhamma. You see the Dhamma. And the Dhamma can concisely be stated, the core, the essence of the Buddha's teachings can be said to be the Four Noble Truths. The Four Noble Truths consist of four things. The first one is that all existence is dukkha. This word dukkha can be translated as suffering or unsatisfactoriness of life. And the Buddha said that dukkha means the following. Birth is dukkha, aging is dukkha, sickening is dukkha, dying is dukkha. Not to get what one wants is dukkha. To be separated from your loved ones is dukkha. To associate with those that you dislike is also dukkha. In brief, the five aggregates of attachment are dukkha. These five aggregates of attachment are body, feeling, perception, volition and consciousness. and it basically also means that it is body and mind. So basically, the five aggregates of attachment is dukkha. Why does the five aggregates of attachment give us Luka? Because of attachment, it is the word attachment that is important. So, because we see this body and the mind as I or mine, that is why we attach to it. Nature has made it so, made it such that all of us fight for survival because of that feeling that there is an I itself. So, this dukkha is because also of impermanence. In this world, the main characteristic of this world is impermanence. Everything is changing. There is nothing that does not change. So because of that, the Buddha said, all is Anatta. Anatta means no Atta. Sometimes people say no self, but then you must remember that self, there is a conventional self and another self which is the word Atta. Atta means there is no abiding entity that remains unchanged. This body and the mind is ever-changing. Our body is made up of cells, trillions and trillions of cells. And the Buddha said our body is just like foam. You know when you wash your clothes, you use fat, you stir the water, there's a lot of bubbles, a lot of foam. And this foam, you can see the bubbles, some break up and some new ones are formed, and some burst and some are formed. Our body is actually like this. Because our body is made up of cells, and these cells die, some are dying, some are being born, some are dying, some are being born, exactly like the foam. There is nothing inside the body that remains unchanging. So that is why, because of change, Whenever we experience happiness, we want to cling to it, we want to hold it, we want it to last as long as it can. But it cannot last. It must change. Even sometimes couples, they are so loving, they fall in love and they say, I love you forever. But they forget there is no such thing as forever. After a few years, they quarrel and fight and then divorce. happens very often. So because of impermanence we are suffering. This person that I love so much, why is it today I hate him so much? The more you love, the more you hate. You see those couples who are very much in love when they marry, when they separate, a lot of hatred. But if they didn't love so much when they separate, not so big heartache. So he don't hate so much. So that is suffering. And then the cause of suffering is craving. In the Buddha text, three types of craving. Craving for sensual pleasures, worldly pleasures. Second is craving for existence or for life. And the third is craving for non-existence. The first two you can understand, craving for worldly pleasures and then craving for life or existence. Third one, craving for non-existence are those people who experience so much suffering that they want to commit suicide. Those people who commit suicide, they want to die, not to exist anymore. But then, because when they die at the last moment, their mind is very disturbed, very agitated. They cannot enter Nibbana. Actually, there is still a strong clinging for existence inside. Only thing is, when they are suffering, they are blinded by the sorrow. They think they want to die, but actually they don't want to die. Because I know of a person who tried to commit suicide a few times, was not successful. In the end, what did he do? He jumped into a lake, a mining pond. He wanted to drown. But when he was drowning, the water was going inside him. He panicked and started swimming back to the shore. Then he realized actually he doesn't want to die. From that moment onwards, he stopped trying to kill himself. He was enlightened. So, that is craving for non-existence. So, these three types of craving, because at the moment of dying our mind is very agitated, so it brings us back to rebirth. So, you have dukkha. So, craving is the cause of dukkha. And then the fourth noble truth is that there is a state called Nibbana which is free of suffering. This state of Nibbana is the state where greed, hatred and delusion are eliminated. If you eliminate greed, hatred and delusion, then you attain Nibbana. And the fourth noble truth is that there is a path leading to Nibbana, to the cessation of suffering called the Noble Eightfold Path. And this Noble Eightfold Path starts with right view and right thoughts. The Buddha said right view will bring you to right thoughts, and right thoughts will bring you to right speech, because you have to think before you speak. and right speech will bring you to right action, and right action will bring you to right livelihood, and right livelihood will bring you to right effort, and right effort will bring you to right recollection, and right recollection will bring you to right concentration. So, you see here, this is the Four Noble Truths. Now, if you attain not so deep understanding of the Four Noble Truths, Buddha said that you still have attained the vision of the Dhamma, but if you fully understand the Four Noble Truths, then you become enlightened, you become an Arahant, not a Buddha. In fact, on the night of enlightenment, when the Buddha was enlightened, he contemplated on the Four Noble Truths, and then he suddenly understood the Four Noble Truths, then only he became enlightened. And the Buddha said, It is because of not understanding four things," he told the monks. He said, monks, that you and I have been wandering in this long round of rebirth for such a long time, from birth to birth, suffering. This time we come all because we did not understand the Four Noble Truths. And the Buddha said, it is by understanding the Four Noble Truths that this round of existence is extinguished. You get out of samsara when you understand fully the Four Noble Truths. So that is why understanding the Four Noble Truths is so important, and understanding the Four Noble Truths is the first sector of the Noble Eightfold Path. So even a shallow understanding is enough to make you see the Dhamma. Now how do you attain Arun Right View? The Buddha says in the Majjhima Nikaya, Sutta 43, that there are two conditions, only two conditions for us to attain Right View. The first condition is the voice of another person, and the second condition is Yoniso Manasikara. simply translated, you can say it is proper attention. So to attain Right View, you must hear the Dhamma from somebody else. And then you pay attention, you concentrate on what is being said and you understand, then you attain right view. That's why you find in the Suttas and the Vinaya books, during the Buddha's time, all the people who attained stream entry and became Aryans initially, his first stage was by listening to the Dhamma. So listening to the Dhamma is extremely important. That's why the Buddha called his disciples, Savakas, hearers or listeners of his Dhamma. You cannot consider yourself a disciple of the Buddha, a follower of the Buddha, if you don't listen to his words. Listening to the words of the Buddha can bring us to become an Arya. So these two conditions the words of another person, and proper attention. This first factor is very important. It means only somebody else teaching you the Dhamma will make you attain Right View. In other words, if you meditate by yourself, you can never get Right View. It must always come from somebody else. And it can come either by listening Or nowadays, we have the words of the Buddha in book form. You read the Nikayas, the Suttas, the earliest discourses of the Buddha, it is the same as hearing the words of another person. The thing is that you must pay proper attention, because when you pay proper attention, your mind is focused, then what you read or what you hear, you can understand. Remember, the important thing is to hear the Dhamma either from somebody else, and nowadays it's very convenient, you have CDs. I give some CDs to Brother Lau, if you are interested, English and Hokkien, you can get from Brother Lau. Now, what happens when you get Arun Right View, when you see the Dhamma? There's one sutra, Ambuddha Nikaya 9.20, which is very interesting. In this sutra, the Buddha talked about his past life. One past life, the Buddha said, when he was born as a Brahmin, very long time ago, he said he did a lot of charity, a lot of dana. So he said, He gave so much dana to so many people, you could say that it amounted to 84,000 buckets of gold, 84,000 buckets of silver, 84,000 buckets of precious stones, 84,000 pairs of pebbles, 84,000 pairs of pigs, 84,000 pairs of sheep, 84,000 pairs of chickens, 84,000 pairs of ducks, etc. And the Buddha said, the food and the drinks that he gave was so much, it flowed like the river, so much. But the Buddha said, in spite of giving so much dana, doing so much charity, he said the merit was not very much. Why? Because the Buddha said all the people he did dana to, none of them had right view. None of them had right view. In other words, there was no arya to receive offering. The Buddha said, the merit would have been more if he had just given to one person with right view. This one Arya, the merit would have been more. But then after this, the Buddha said, again something very interesting, the Buddha said, even if he had given to 100 persons with right view, the merit is still less than giving to one Sotapanna. One Sotapanna. One Sotapanna is a first-fruit ariya, it's cold, too cold. And then after that, the Buddha said, even giving to 100 Sotapannas, their merit is less than giving to one person who is a second-path attainer. Then after that, the Buddha said, giving to one hundred second path attainers, the merit is also less than giving to one second fruit attainers, asakadagami. So in this way, it goes up to the fourth fruit. Because in the Buddha's teachings, there are eight types of holy men, four paths and four fruits, and it goes in this order. The lowest is the first path. Slightly higher is the first fruit, slightly higher is the second path, and higher is the second fruit, and then third path, then third fruit, fourth path, fourth fruit. The fourth fruit, the person is called an Arahant, or if he is enlightened by his own effort, he is called a Buddha. So, here from this Sutta, two things we can deduce. Whenever we read Suttas, we must think. What is the implication here? There are a lot of suttas, there are implications that if you don't think properly, you cannot catch. And sometimes you need to read the suttas many times before you catch the important point. So in this sutta, there are two important points here. One is that the first path attained is a person with right view. So once you attain right view, you have already become an Arya, a first path attainer. The second important point in this Sutta is that you can give to a path attainer. This contradicts the Abhidhamma, because the Abhidhamma says that when you attain the path, it immediately becomes fruit, the next conscious moment, the next kāna or sāna in Sanskrit, immediately becomes fruit. If that is so, then it is impossible to give to a past attainer. Because if a person attains the past, you want to give an offering to him, immediately he has already turned to fruit. So, we are actually giving a person who has already attained the fruit, not the past. But the Buddha says you can give to a past attainer. So, these are the two important points in this sutra. So you see the importance of right view here. Once you attain right view, you are already an Arya. You have become a holy person. And once you become an Arya, that is the greatest thing you can get in this world. Better than getting all the riches in this world, because even if you become the richest man in the world, you can own everything, but if you are not an Arya, you are still in the cycle of birth and death, which means that one day you will become a ghost, one day you will become an animal, one day you will go to hell. But once you become an Arya, the three woeful planes are closed forever. You will never be reborn in the three woeful planes. At that time, you are very happy already. Even if you don't get out of saṃsāra, never mind, because you have a good life, you won't suffer. Even if you come back as a human being, you are a person, you say jīvaṅguan, on so-called, you are an ārya, you always have a good life. But only thing is the Buddha says, once you become an ārya, maximum you have seven existences left. Maximum you go to heaven, come back to the human plane or you go to heaven again and come back. Maximum seven lifetimes more.

(E26)-03-Stream-Entry

Now, there is another interesting sutra called the Sarakani Sutra that confirms that attaining stream-entry or Sotapanna is by listening to the Dhamma. The other thing I just mention briefly here is that in the Buddha's earlier discourses, the Buddha said that once you attain the path, it will take some time before it turns to fruit. It may take a few years, but at the last moment, once you have attained the path, at the very latest, when you are dying, you will turn to fruit. Before you die, you will turn to fruit. So it takes some time, but you will definitely, from past, you will become fruit. So now, in this Saracani Sutta of the Samyutta Nikaya, there was a Sakyan by the name of Saracani. He was a follower, a lay follower of the Buddha and he passed away. So when he passed away, some people came to ask the Buddha, where was Sarakani reborn? So the Buddha said, oh, Sarakani was a Sotapanna, that means the first fruit, Arya. The Buddha said he's gone for a good rebirth. So this news spread. So when this news spread, some people were not happy. Those who did not have much faith in the Buddha, they got angry with the Buddha. They said, how can the Buddha say Salakani was a Sotapanna, an Arya? Because they said Salakani was a drinker. What do you say? Kaki botol. So since he was a drinker, they said how can Salakani be an Arya? If Salakani can be an Arya, all of us are already Arya. So this news went back to the Buddha's ears. The monks told the Buddha. Then the Buddha said, why should not Sarakani be a Sotapanna? The Buddha said, Sarakani has learned the Dhamma for a long time. He has listened to the Dhamma and he believes in the Dhamma. He has practised the Dhamma for a long time. So why shouldn't he be a Sotapanna? Then the Buddha said, look at this tree. Buddha said, even these trees, not to mention Sarakani, even these trees, if I taught them the Dhamma and they can understand my words, they can distinguish between what is wholesome, what is unwholesome. Even the trees also can become Sotapanna, not to talk about Sarakani. So here, the Buddha is saying, if the trees can understand my words, they will become a Sotapanna. The Buddha did not say, if these trees know how to meditate, they will become a Sotapanna. So from here you can see that becoming a Sotapanna is from understanding the words of the Buddha and not by meditating. As I mentioned just now, right view is synonymous with stream entry and once you attain stream entry, it turns to food. So a stream enterer becomes a Sotapanna. So this confirms that attaining stream entry and becoming a Sotapanna is from listening to the Buddha's words. The other thing about this stream entry, the Pali word for it is Sotapatti. Now, this word Sotapatti consists of Sota and Apatti. Sota normally in this case, they translate Sota of cream. and apati has entered, so it's entered the stream, so it's called stream entry. But the normal translation for sotā is ear. So suttapati can also mean that a person whose ear is penetrated already. The dhamma has entered the ear of this person, that's why it's called a sāvaka. Once the person understands the dhamma, it's called a sāvaka. a follower of the Buddha. So, you can also see here, even the word Sotapanna also comes from the word Sota. Here, one who hears the Dhamma is a stream-entry.

(E26)-04-Characteristics-of-Stream-Entry

So once a person has attained understanding of the Dhamma, he has become an Arya. So how do you know whether you are Arya or not? You all have been listening to the Dhamma. Maybe some of you have already attained same entry. The Buddha says there are certain characteristics. The first one the Buddha mentioned, once a person has become an Arya, There are four characteristics. One, he has unshakable faith in the Buddha. He has unshakable faith in the Dhamma. He has unshakable faith in the Sangha. And the fourth, he has Arun Sila. Arun Sila is what I mentioned just now, seven precepts plus, right? Livelihood is not such a high standard. You don't have to keep so many precepts like monks. I don't need seven precepts to become an Arya. So that's why during the Buddha's time, a lot of lay people were Aryans by listening to the Buddha's words. So this is the first thing about a person who has become an Arya. He has these four characteristics. He will never change his religion, even how much money you pay him, he will never change his religion. And also, he has automatically, he has this basic Aryan feel. Another thing mentioned in the Sutta is that a person who has become an Arya, he becomes independent of others in the Buddha's teaching. Independent of others in the Buddha's teaching. That means he does not rely on other people for the Dhamma. In other words, he does not blindly go and look for teachers. Not like nowadays, a lot of people are looking for Ho Liao Su Hu, that's enough. Liao Liu, the Sifu, going here, there and going there, here and there. Actually, the best teacher is with us, the best teacher is the Buddha. The Buddha's words are in the Nikayas. and is available for us. If only we make the effort to go and study the Buddha's words in the earliest Nikayas, we study them again and again and again. As I mentioned just now, the more times you read the Buddha's words, or you listen to some talks based on the Buddha's words, then you will understand more of the implications, you will see the Dhamma more, you will understand more, and then you would have attained still entry. So, the other thing is that an Arya does not go blindly looking for teachers. He will look to the suttas as his teacher. The other thing is that, as I mentioned just now, when the person attains stream entry or vision of the Dhamma, this right view, is because he has seen the Dhamma. has understood the Dhamma. When a person has seen the Dhamma or understood the Dhamma and become an Arya, he becomes a changed person. If formerly a person likes to go to the races, likes to go gambling, likes to go karaoke, and after he has listened to the Dhamma and understood, He becomes very much a different person. He wants to spend most of his time studying the Dhamma and maybe meditating and keeping his precepts. He does not want to mix so much with people. As there's an Indian saying, the holy path is the path of the alone, to the alone, by the alone. It is not like going Lu Heng, Lee Hsing, with a big crowd of people, go here, go there. The holy path is the path of the alone, to the alone, by the alone. So very few people have the courage to walk the spiritual path because it's a very lonely path. When you become a monk, sometimes you stay in a cave and you meditate, and if your meditation is not going well, you're so frustrated. Like once I was staying in a cave in Thailand, in a very lonely place. I was meditating alone. I was feeling so frustrated in my early years, struggling so hard. My meditation cannot come together. And then this taxi outside was going blaring very nice Thai music. I was laggy. Laggy susa, my heart. I was thinking to myself, what the hell am I doing here so far away from home? in a foreign country. So some people, they cannot stand this, they betrothed. That's why the holy path is not an easy path to practice. But when you understand the Dhamma, you know that it is worth all your effort. When I first renounced, it was so difficult. The first year I renounced, I became a monk. I kept thinking of home all the time. I think I broke down and cried. In spite of breaking down and crying, I did not give up. The Buddha said, even if the suffering is so much, the Buddha said, clench your teeth and grit and bear it. Because everything is impermanent, after you get a good cry already, then you've gone over the hill. That is the holy path. So these are the characteristics once you have attained the right view. Just now I mentioned the unshakable faith in the Buddha, Dhamma, and Sangha. You have Arunasila, then you have seen the Dhamma, and because of having seen the Dhamma you become a changed person. You know that the most meaningful thing to do in life is to practice the spiritual path. If you can renounce, renounce. If you cannot renounce, even as a lay person, you spend as much time as you can in the spiritual practice. Even if you cannot meditate, then study the Nikayas or listen to the Dharma talks based on the Nikayas. Then when you make the effort, then you will not regret. A lot of people They regret at the moment of dying that they have come into the Dhamma, but they did not make enough effort. So now is the time to make the effort, not at the last moment. At the last moment, you have to make the effort or you cannot make it already. So the other thing about having attained Right View is that you don't look for a teacher blindly. You know that the best teacher is the Buddha and his words. If you study the Buddha's words, it is as though the Buddha is still alive. When you study his words, you can feel as though he is sitting next to you and talking to you. and in their affinity, you'll be very happy when you read the suttas. Last time when I just came into the Dhamma and I read the suttas, I was so happy. I kept reading, reading. I didn't feel like sleeping. Just wanted to read.

(E26)-05-Not-difficult-to-attain-Stream-Entry

Now, some people think that attaining stream entry is so difficult. It's not really difficult. In the Sutras and the Vinaya books, we find that many people attain stream entry just by listening to the Dhamma for the first time. There's one case where the Buddha went to 1,000 Jatila ascetics. In the beginning, when the Buddha wanted to find disciples, he would look for those ascetics who had cultivated jhāna, because if they had cultivated jhāna, you can very easily absorb the Dharma teaching from the Buddha and become enlightened. So the Buddha went to these 1000 jatirla, external ascetics, by the banks of the river. And because these ascetics having cultivated jhāna, some of them had psychic power. So when the Buddha went to them, of course they think they are greater than the Buddha. They didn't know the Buddha's psychic power. So they found it very difficult to listen to the Buddha. So the Buddha knew that. The Buddha did not immediately teach them. The Buddha stayed with them many weeks and showed psychic power to them. So various types of psychic power, for example, like the leader of this yatila, he was quite impressed by the Buddha. Sometimes in the morning, he would come personally and invite the Buddha for breakfast. So the Buddha said, you go first for supper, I will join you in the dining hall. So this ascetic, he walks to the dining hall. When he reached the dining hall, he found the Buddha sitting there and holding a flower. And the Buddha offered him this flower, and he looked at this flower and never seen this flower before. The Buddha said, I just went up to Tavatimsa heaven and I brought down this flower specially for you. Then he was impressed, wow, the Buddha can fly up to the heaven and come down and give me this flower even before I can reach the dining hall. So by showing this type of psychic power, all of them had faith in the Buddha. So finally, they keep off their hair, their long hair. and became monks under the Buddha. And after they became monks under the Buddha, the Buddha preached to them one discourse, only one discourse, called the Fire Discourse, because these people like to pray to fire, they worship the fire. So the Buddha said, the whole world is on fire, the eyes are on fire, the ears are on fire, the nose, the tongue, the body, the mind is on fire. What fire? The fires of greed, hatred and delusion. made them more interested because they are interested in fire. So when the Buddha talked about fire, immediately they want to listen. Then the Buddha went on to explain anatta, no-self. And because they had attained jhāna, their mind was so clear, one thousand of them immediately became arahants just by listening to one sutta only. So after that, the Buddha brought them to Rajagaha, where King Bimbisara threw a big lunch for them. So having eaten, the Buddha gave a talk on the Four Noble Truths to all the people of Rajagaha. And according to the Vinaya books, twelve Nahu stars of people came. And the Vinaya commentary explains one Nahuta as 10,000 people. So 12 Nahuta is 120,000 people, the inhabitants of Rajagaha. And it is stated in the Vinaya Bricks that all of them who listen to the Dhamma teaching of the Buddha, all attain Supreme Entry. So, you see, attaining stream entry is just ordinary people. It's not professors and doctors and lawyers attaining stream entry. It's very ordinary people. So, that is the case of people attaining stream entry. Now, another case mentioned in the Vinaya books is that there was a disciple of the Buddha called Devadatta. He wanted to take over the Buddha's place when the Buddha was old. He wanted to lead the Sangha of monks. But the Buddha scolded him in front of all the monks, saying, who do you think you are? You want to lead the Sangha? Then the Buddha said that he was not fit to lead the Sangha and all that. The Buddha said, I don't even ask Sariputta or Moggallana to lead the Sangha, and you dare to say you want to lead the Sangha. So he got so angry with the Buddha, he wanted to kill the Buddha. So he tried to pitch a rock from the hill to kill the Buddha, he was not successful. Then he asked the prince to give him a wild elephant to kill the Buddha, also not successful. Then he asked some sasau, hit men, killers, to kill the Buddha. So he told the first one, he said, this Samana Gotama is residing in this forest. You go by this road, you go and kill him, and you come back by this road. Then this man said, OK. Then this man went off. Then he called two men. He said, you wait on this road. When this man comes back, you kill this man, and you come back by another road. Then he asked four people to kill the two men, and asked eight people to kill the four men, and asked sixteen people to kill the eight people, so that there will be no witness. so that people won't know who actually killed the Buddha. So he planned everything. So the first person went to the Buddha. You know the Buddha, sometimes, very often he meditates, he's not aware of what is happening in the world. So somebody wants to come and kill him also he's not aware, unless he wants to contemplate. But usually he's not aware. But then there are a lot of believers protecting the Buddha. So they must have informed the Buddha So the Buddha was waiting for this guy. So when this guy, this killer, came to the Buddha, he saw the Buddha waiting there, and then the Buddha, you know, is not an ordinary person, or can say, is quite a ham. There's a kind of, how do you say in English, aura or some kind of chi. So when he came to the Buddha, he started to tremble, frightened. So he saw the Buddha waiting for him, he probably thought the Buddha knows what he wants to do, so he threw away his weapons and then he knelt down by the Buddha and apologized to the Buddha. So the Buddha said, never mind, you sit here, I will teach you the Dharma. So this healer sat by the side of the Buddha. The Buddha preached to him the Four Noble Truths. This fellow became a stream enterer, attained stream entry. Then the Buddha told him, two men are waiting to kill you if you go back by this road. You don't go back by this road, you take another road. So he subverted, ran off. So the two fellows waiting, waiting, how come this fellow never came? So they walked along this road and they came to the Buddha. Then the same thing happened, the Buddha stared at them, they got frightened already, threw away their weapons and then came to see the Buddha, and then the Buddha said, sit down here, I will teach you the Dhamma. And then the Buddha taught the Dhamma to these two persons, who attained stream entry, became holy men. And then the Buddha said, four persons are waiting to kill you. You don't go back by this road, go take another road. So these two fellows line up. The same thing happened, four men came, listened to the Dhamma, and became Aryans. Eight men, sixteen men, all became Aryans. So you see, it's not that difficult. It's only we take the trouble to pay attention to the words of the Buddha. Make an effort to study. Even if an ikaya costs you one or two thousand ringgit, that is sub-sub-sorry only. Buddha, 45 years of hard work, what is one thousand, two thousand ringgit? I think the Buddha put so much effort, 5,000 suttas are available now in the whole Nikaya. So, you see, even such people can become Arya. I'm sure you all are better than them, isn't it? You don't have to be high schoolers, right? So the chances of you becoming an Arya are very great.

(E26)-06-Which-Suttas-to-study

Now, what is this sutta that we need to study? This sutta, the earliest discourses of the Buddha that we need to understand to attain field entry, is the earliest four Nikayas. The Vijja Nikaya, which is now called the Long Discourses of the Buddha, the Majjhima Nikaya, Middle-Length Discourses of the Buddha, Sanguttanikaya, which is the connected discourses, that is the translation by Venerable Bhikkhu Bodhi, and the Anguttanikaya, The available translation is from the Pali Text Society called the Gradual Sayings. These are the earliest four Nikayas. In the last Nikaya, the Kudaka Nikaya, Kudaka Nikaya started as a minor collection, only one or two books, but now he has grown to 15 books. And then in the year 1956 or 55, the Burmese added another three books. And everyone knows that these three books are not the Buddha's works and still they put them inside. From here you can understand people have been adding books into the Kudaka Nikaya. So out of these fifteen books in the Kudaka Nikaya, only six are reliable because they don't contradict the earliest four Nikayas. And these six books are the Dhammapada, the Sutta Nipata, the Itthivuttaka, the Udana, the Theragatha and Therigatha. This I have mentioned in my book called Liberation. If you all don't have the book Liberation, you can access our website dbgnet.org. If you go into this website, you find my books there, my Dharma talks, which you can download. So these are the books that you need to study and the chances of your getting right view is very great.

(E26)-07-Attaining-other-Ariyan-Stages

Now, it is mentioned in the Sittas that after a person gets right view, has become a Supreme Enterer or a Sotapanna, if he wants to strive to become liberated, become an arahant, five other things are necessary to support his effort. The first one is sila, the second one is dhamma-savana, Then Dhammasakaja and Samatha and Vipassana. Dhammasavana is listening to the Dhamma. Dhammasakaja is discussion of the Dhamma. If you study the suttas and there are certain things that you don't understand, it is good to discuss it with other Dhamma friends who may understand more than you, or if there is a learned monk around who understands the suttas, then you can consult him. Then Samatha and Vipassana. Samatha is meditation, tranquility meditation to focus your mind, and then Vipassana is to contemplate, contemplate on the Dhamma that you have learned. So you find here that Firstly, to become a stream-enterer, you have to listen to the Dhamma. Now you find to become an Arya, you also have to listen to the Dhamma. So the Dhamma is extremely important. From the first step to the last step, the Dhamma is always our guide. Just now I mentioned how to become a Sotapanna. How do you become a Sakadagamin, a second fruit attainer? It is mentioned that the difference between a Sotapanna and a Sakadagamin is that a Sakadagamin has reduced his greed, hatred and delusion. For you to reduce your greed, hatred and delusion, you need some samadhi. Right samadhi or perfect samadhi in the Buddha's teachings is the four jhanas. Having attained four jhanas, the Buddha says, your mind is so clear that when you listen to the Dhamma, sometimes even one sutta you can become enlightened. But if you are short of the four jhanas, even three jhanas, that is still not perfect concentration. So a person becomes the Sakadagamin, by attaining either Upacara Samadhi, threshold concentration, which is near to Jhana, or the first Jhana, or the second Jhana, or the third Jhana, and then when you study the Suttas and you understand and you have these lower Jhanas, you can become a Sakadagamin. Now how do you become an Anagamin? During the Sutta, in the Majjhima Nikaya, 64 or 68, where the Buddha mentioned that there is a path to the destruction of the five lower factors. Now, the destruction of the five lower factors means the attainment of Anagamin, the third fruit, or Arahant. Arahant has eliminated all the ten factors, which also means that he has eliminated the five lower factors. So the Buddha says there is a definite path to the attainment of the destruction of the five lower factors, meaning anagamin or arahant. And the Buddha says, without walking this path, it is impossible to become an anagamin and an arahant. And what is this path? The Buddha says the first jhāna, second jhāna, third jhāna, fourth jhāna. In other words, you need the four jhānas minimum to become an anagamin or an arahant. If you attain the four jhanas and then you study the suttas, you can become an arahant. That is the way to become an anagamin and an arahant. Now, the other thing mentioned is that there are five occasions of liberation in the Anguttara Nikaya, 5.26. There are only five times when a person becomes an arahant. The first one is when he listens to the Dhamma. When he listens to the Dhamma and he understands, that is Vipassana. Because during the Buddha's time there was no Vipassana meditation, but the Buddha went to those ascetics who had attained the Jhanas and then he taught them the Suttas and they became enlightened. That is the Vipassana part, contemplation of the Dhamma, having to the dumb mind, we digest it. The mind works very fast. There is nothing faster in the world than the mind. So the moment you hear the Dhamma, very quickly you digest it, you contemplate and you digest it. That is the vipassana part which leads to enlightenment. The first one is listening to the Dhamma. Second occasion for enlightenment is teaching the Dhamma. When the person is teaching the Dhamma, he has to contemplate the Dhamma in his mind before it can come out through his mouth. So that understanding also leads to enlightenment. is when he repeats the Dhamma. During the Buddha's time, there were no books, so the disciples of the Buddha, whether lay disciples or monk disciples, they liked to recite the Sutta. Every day they recited the Sutta. Not like the sants that we do nowadays, not those sants. But the suttas in the Nikaya, you will repeat and repeat. And the more times they repeat, the more they understand. It's just like reading the suttas now. If you keep reading the suttas, that is also the same as repeating the Dhamma. So that is the third way they become enlightened. The fourth way is by reflecting on the Dhamma. After you have listened to the Dhamma and then you reflect on it, then you can see the truth. For example, the nun Arahant, I think Patacara, she came back from alms round to the Pata, then she washed her feet. She took the water, splashed on the ground to wash her feet. Then she saw the water go a certain distance and sink into the ground. Then she took some more water, splashed again. She saw the water go a bit further and sank into the ground. Third time she took the water, splashed, the water went further and sunk into the ground. Then he struck her. That is similar to her own situation because a few years ago, her two sons died. Then the husband also died. Then the parents also died. So she reflected that there are some beings, the first time she threw the water, the water went a short way and sank into the ground. It's just like beings dying in their young age. The second time when she splashed the water, the water went a big further and sank into the ground. She thought, is this like some beings in their middle age, they die. And the third time she splashed, the water went further and sank into the ground. She thought, is this like beings who die in their old age. Just reflecting on that, she saw Dukkha and she let go, in her heart, in her mind, she let go that clinging and became an Arahant. That is reflecting on the Dhamma. So this is the fourth way we become enlightened. The fifth way is during meditation. Out of five occasions, only one is during meditation. When he reflects, the Buddha says, when he reflects on the Samadhi-Nimitta, the sign of concentration, and then through impermanence he becomes enlightened. But this Samadhi-Nimitta It's not well explained in the Sutta, what exactly it is. So nowadays some monks have different interpretations, what is this Samadhi Nidhita. So anyway, you see out of these five associations, four of them have to do with Dhamma. So you see, Dhamma is so important, understanding of the Dhamma. To attain Suttapanna, you have to listen to the Dhamma. To attain Arahanthood, just now I mentioned, one of the conditions is Dhamma Sravana, listening to the Dhamma. All along the way, you have to listen to the Dhamma to attain the various stages of Ariyahood. So the Dhamma is extremely important. Don't be misled by some meditation teachers nowadays who tell you not to study the books, just meditate only. Recently, last month, I was in Singapore for a seminar, an international seminar, a Muslim Buddhist seminar to discuss about harmony. Then I met an Australian monk. I went to visit his center. He told me that he has seen many people over the years practice meditation and go cuckoo. So you see, people who meditate without learning the Dhamma, many of them go cuckoo. So you don't just meditate. You must have the Dhamma to guide you. Otherwise, we say, tao ho is good moral.

(E26)-08-Make-effort-now!

Okay, now another thing, in the Dijanukaya, Sutta number 14, the Buddha said he recollected 91 world cycles. One world cycle is a very very long time, but he recalled 90 world cycles, 91, that means the whole night he did not sleep, from 6pm until 6am he was looking into the past. And over such a long period of time, he saw only six Samatha Buddhas willing to preach the Dhamma. Only six Buddhas willing to preach the Dhamma. In other words, 99.99% of Buddhas are Pasikha Buddhas. They refuse to teach the Dhamma, because very few people are interested in the Dhamma. So most Buddhas, they can see that each of us, we have our time. and there's no necessity. If you are interested in the Dhamma, if your time is right, you will search. And as the Bible says, look and search and you will find. Knock and the door shall be opened unto you. So you have to make the effort. So thinking about it, you see, 91 world cycles, there are only 6 Buddhas. That means a Buddha on the average appears once in 15 world cycles. 15 world cycles, a person would have taken rebirth many, many, many, many, many times. Right? So, out of so many times you take rebirth, only once in a long time you get to meet the Dhamma. So now that we have met the Dhamma, we are extremely lucky. Some people say this is more faster time. It's rubbish. It's not more faster time. This is the Dhamma age. In fact, you are more lucky than people who were born during the Buddha's time. Because if you are born during the Buddha's time in India, how many Suttas can you hear? The Buddha comes to your kampong and stay only for a few days, and then after that, after giving a few talks, the Buddha will walk away. So you can only listen to not many Suttas. Even if you Stay with the Buddha in that area, the Buddha would stay longest in one place during the rains retreat, either three months or four months. That's the longest the Buddha would stay in one place. During the three or four months, how many suttas can you hear? Not so many. The Buddha is not a tape recorder, non-stop. But now, 5,000 discourses of the Buddha, the Buddha's sweat over 45 years is available for us if we make the effort to study. So don't waste the opportunity. This is the real Dharma age. This is not the Dharma ending age. Later, don't know how long, a few thousand years later, you won't have these suttas available in the world anymore. So now that the suttas are available for us, we must Strike when the iron is hot, make hay while the sun shines, as they say. Also, some people like to say, this Siu Heng Bo Yung, to become enlightened, you need a long time. You have to cultivate the paramis over 4 Asanteya Kapas and 100 Maha Kapas. This is another rubbish that they like to say, discourage you from Siu Heng. because the Suttas say a completely different thing. Firstly, the word paramī is not spoken by the Buddha. These paramīs, they talk about the six paramī in Mahāyāna and ten paramī in Theravāda, these are based on the Jataka stories. And you look into the Jataka stories, those stories cannot be real. You look at those Jataka stories, animals talking, Have you heard of animals talking? How can you believe them to be real? Some more, they say, like the Vaisantara Jataka, where the Bodhisattva in his previous life, to cultivate the parami of giving, he gave away his wife and his two children to a heartless beggar. He knows the beggar is going to beat them, going to torture them also, he gave them away. Just because he wants to cultivate his dana, paramita, so selfish. If he is so selfish, how can he be a Buddha? Isn't it? At least you give your wife to Bill Gates or somebody very rich. That is the aristocratic logic. Isn't it? Isn't it such a logic? Or the story, the Jataka, where the Bodhisattva jumped from the hill, committed suicide to feed the hungry tiger. When you do that, you make your family suffer, yes or no? So also no logic, because he contradicts the Dhamma. The Buddha's Dhamma in the Sittas, the Buddha said, a wise person, Dāna, must not harm yourself, must not harm others. So this case, the resantra jataka, where he gives away the wife, he's harming his wife and harming his children. He's not a wise man's dana. The second case where he jumps on the hill to commit suicide, he harms himself, also a stupid man's dana. So it cannot be the Buddha's words. So these paramita were not spoken by the Buddha, it's not mentioned in the suttas at all. This thing about taking so long to become a Buddha and all that, entirely is contradicted by the Suttas because the Buddha says in the Suttas that in his previous life he only met one Buddha. Later books say that the Buddha met 24 Buddhas and made a vow to become a Samatha Buddha and all that is just stories only. In the actual Suttas, the Buddha said that he only met one Buddha, the previous Buddha called Kassapa Buddha. After meeting the Kassapa Buddha, he heard the Dhamma, he must have attained Supreme Entry, and then he became a monk, disciple of the Buddha Kassapa. He renounced, became a monk, and then he must have attained at least the first jhāna. After that he was born in the Susita Heaven, and then he came back in his last birth as Siddhāsa Gosama. When he came back at Siddhaka Gautama, as a small boy he could attain the first jhāna under the jambu tree. It shows that he had attained the first jhāna under Buddha Kassapa. And if a person listens to the Dhamma and attains the first jhāna, you can assume that he is a Sakadagami. So our Bodhisattva, when he came back in his last life, he was already an Arya, Sakadagami. Bodhisattvas are Aryas. They are Aryas, just like our Buddha. So Sakadagami, the Buddha says, is a once-returner. He will come back in the human form one last time and must enter Nibbana. Just like a ripe fruit, overripe already, must fall. Even no wind takes the tree or so in Maksor, it's time, it's ripe already. That's why our Siddhaka Gautama, even though he had such a good life, his family was rich, his wife was young and beautiful, his son was born. In spite of all this, he gave everything up and became a poor beggar, begging for his food. Why? Because as an Arahant, he has no choice, he must walk that way. and the time is ripe, they will seek enlightenment. So he struggled and attained enlightenment. So you see, in this stage, how many lifetimes did the Buddha take? When he met the Dhamma, under Buddha Kassapa was the first lifetime. Then he went to Sita Heaven, second lifetime. He came back at Siddhartha Gautama, third lifetime, and he entered Nibbana. Only three lifetimes you can attain Buddhahood, attain Enlightenment, enter Nibbana, three lifetimes. Now they are talking, what, one hundred Mahakapas, four Asanteya Kampas, meaning countless, countless aeons, but that's not true according to the Sutta, only three lifetimes necessarily. So now if you make the effort to study the Sutta again and again, at least you become Sotapanna, Maximum you have only seven lifetimes left and you will enter Nibbana. There is a sutra in the Agotanikaya 5.88 where the Buddha says that you may, in the future, you may have a world famous monk who is very renowned and have a lot of disciples, monk and nun disciples and lay disciples, and he will be very learned in the books and all that. The Buddha says, even such a monk can have wrong views. That is why the Buddha says, don't rely on any monk, but rely on the Buddha. When the Buddha was about to enter Nirvana, remember Ananda asked the Buddha, Bhagavan, after you are gone, whom should we follow as our teacher? And the Buddha said, take the Dhamma Vinaya as your teacher after I am gone. So our lay teacher is the Dhamma and the Vinaya. But Vinaya only concerns monks. So for lay people, your teacher should be the Dhamma. And what is the Dhamma? There is a sutra, the Anguttara Nikaya 4.180, where the Buddha said, if any monk says that such and such is the Buddha's Dhamma, is the Buddha's teachings, the Buddha said, you should not accept it, you should not reject it. You compare it with the sutra, the earlier sutra. If it agrees with the suttas, you can take that to be the Buddha's word. But if it does not agree with the suttas, then reject it. So in other words, for lay people, your teacher should be the suttas, the earliest suttas, the nithaya. So I shall end here and invite questions.

(E26)-09-Q-and-A-01

Sante, following on what Brother Wong said about Pali translation, I was just thinking on what Sante said, for a person to have the right view, you need to listen to somebody else's voice. So I was just thinking, could it be because it is a Pali, I suppose it is translated from a Sutra to some way or something like that, Because I was thinking, I don't know the Pali language that well, I think it can be something like, Chinese something, a word can mean two things. And I remember once I was reading about the Buddha going to a disciple's house by the name of Sunda to have his meal, you know. I think that was when Buddha's demise was initiated, because he got poisoned from the food that was offered to him. And the commentary was that the word mentioned in Pali can mean two things. It can mean the pork that was served to the Buddha, or it can also mean that there was this vegetation that was given to the pig as food. I was just wondering, I was just trying to digest, like a person's right view, you have to depend on another person's voice. How does that... I was just thinking, I'm trying to grasp that part. This depending on another person's voice means hearing the Dhamma from somebody else. So, basically it means hearing the Dhamma rather than meditation, and hearing the Dhamma can mean actually listening to somebody speak it or studying it in the books, and These suttas that have been handed down to us over 2,500 years from the Buddha's time, initially was transmitted orally. The Buddha chose to transmit his teachings by word of mouth orally because he saw that that was the best way to transmit his teachings, because in the Buddha's time, And after it, there were thousands and thousands of monks, and they all chanted these suttas the same way. They repeated the suttas exactly as it was handed down. But later, from about 500 years after the Buddha's passing away, people started to write books, and the Mahayana books started with books. in book form. That is why you look into the Mahayana texts, at the end of the suttas, they encourage people to write down the suttas and distribute, translate the suttas. But you know during the Buddha's time there were no books, that's why the Mahayana suttas appeared later, not during the Buddha's time. Because it was handed down by word of mouth, it was very pure, nobody could alter it, whereas if you write books, people can write, each person can write a different book, a different interpretation, but when it's handed down, it is exactly as spoken by the Buddha, so it is quite pure. The only problem nowadays is the translation. But then the translations of it, either in English or Chinese or Thai or Burmese, the differences are not much. And you could say even if it is 95% accurate, that is good enough for you to become an Arya. I read the commentaries Actually, we should not depend on commentaries because the Buddha said that his words, we should neither add to his words or subtract from his words. Don't add to what the Buddha said and don't subtract from what the Buddha said. Just take his words exactly as handed down to us over the years. Then if you study his words, you get an understanding. And when you get an understanding, then you can tell the difference. What is the right Dharma? not the right Dharma. And then when you read later books like the Abhidharma and the Mahayana books and all that, then only you can see the contradiction. But unless you have a good understanding of the early suttas, then you cannot see the contradiction. So the point is not to whether they are accurate and all that. Just go into the sutras and study them, and after you study them and you have an understanding, then you judge for yourself. You see, as far as this last meal of the Buddha, the Buddha had been persuaded many times by Mara to enter Nibbana. But the Buddha said, no, I will not enter Nibbana until my teachings have spread and the Sangha of monks is strong, and then when I have finished my work, then only I will enter Nibbana. So the Mara, he asked the Buddha many times until when the Buddha was 80 years old, then the Buddha agreed to enter Nibbana. So when the Buddha agreed to enter Nibbana, that means his time was up. Whether he ate anything or did not eat anything, he would still enter Nibbana on that day. So it doesn't matter what he ate. But when that man Sunda served this food to the Buddha, and then the Buddha told Ananda to tell this Sunda, because after eating the food, the Buddha will pass away. So the Buddha was afraid that this Sunda would have a lot of remorse. Oh, I fed this food to the Buddha and then the Buddha passed away. Maybe it was poisoned. But the Buddha said, tell him, don't think like that. The Buddha said, two meals given to the Buddha are the highest merit. One is the meal that he takes and then he becomes enlightened. The second is he takes that meal then he enters Parinibbana. These two are the greatest merits. So Ananda was asked to tell that to Sunda so that he would not have any remorse. So it's not that the food was poisoned or whatever. He said that Buddha's time was ripe. It was time for him to go. Whatever food he took also he will still die.

(E26)-10-Q-and-A-02

I would just imagine if a person can carve all the sutras. There are some people who are really very proficient. They carve every bit of it. What makes that person, short of the last three things about meditation, does that make him enlightened? I didn't catch your question. Because Banteay say, investigation, knowledge of the Dharma, to the study of the sutras, everything, so imagine all the nithayas, if a person is a proficient reader, he read through all the nithayas and have a command of nithayas, understanding of nithayas, what does that make him? That would make him enlightened? When a person hears the Dhamma or studies the Dhamma, the effect it has on him depends on the clarity of his mind. If a person has not attained Jhāna, then he listens to the Dhamma and understands he can only become a seam-enterer, the first path. But another person who has attained the four jhanas, who listens to the same teaching, he may become an anagamin or arahant. So it depends on the state of your mind. The Buddha says the state of our mind is very important. The Buddha says just as a cloth, if the cloth is dirty, you try to dye it. you put it into a dye to soak the color. If the cloth is dirty and oily and all that, it will not soak up the color, right? But if you want it to soak up the color, the cloth must be clean, white cloth, very clean and very white. Then you soak it into the dye, it will absorb all the color, right? So what is that dirtiness in the cloth that is in the mind? The mind has certain defilements which the Buddha calls the five hindrances, sensual desire, ill will or anger, sloth and torpor, restlessness and worry, and doubt. And these five hindrances envelop our mind and make our mind dirty. So that when you listen to the Dhamma, it's difficult to absorb. But if you clear your mind of these five hindrances, then you can absorb. Now, it is stated in the Suttas that even if a person does not have Jhana, when he listens to the Dhamma and he pays close attention, for a short moment the five hindrances are not there. So when the five hindrances are not there and he listens to the Dhamma attentively, he can absorb to a certain extent the Four Noble Truths. That's how he attains Supreme Entry. But if a person has attained the Four Jhanas, then the mind is completely pure. So when he listens to the same Sutta, he absorbs all of it, and he becomes an Arahant or an Agamin. So the state of our mind is quite important. Hmm.

(E26)-11-Q-and-A-03

You can ask any questions, not necessarily on tonight's talk. Why do we need to contemplate on suffering? Why do we need to contemplate on suffering? For instance, we look into our past lives to see the suffering. Why do we need to know about the suffering? It's not so much to contemplate the suffering as to contemplate the cause of the suffering. The cause of our suffering is attachment to our body and our mind. So the Buddha said that we should contemplate on the five aggregates of attachment, the body and the mind. to see that it arises to conditions, it continues or it persists through conditions and then it will only go away through certain conditions. So, if we understand, then we see that these five aggregates are the source of suffering and they are impermanent. and it's not worth clinging to. Slowly, slowly we let go. Not so much suffering itself as a cause of suffering. Do Buddhists believe in heaven and hell? And is Nibbana heaven? No, no, no. Okay. Now, Most religions believe in heaven and hell. Why? Because most religions have holy men, holy men who meditate and attain psychic power. So when they attain psychic power, You can see that there's Heaven, that there is Hell. That's why not only in Buddhism, but in Christianity, in Islam, in Hinduism, they talk about Heaven and Hell. But in addition to Heaven and Hell, Buddhism talks about three other realms. Buddhism talks about five destinations of rebirth, two happy destinations and three unhappy or woeful destinations. The best is heavenly rebirth. Second best is human rebirth. These two are considered su-gati, su from the su-kala, su-kha-gati, happy destinations of rebirth. And then there are three du-gati, du-kha-gati, ghost realms. and worse than ghost realm is animal realm, and worse than animal realm is hell realm. Through Buddhism, we talk about five destinations of rebirth. Now, all these five destinations of rebirth are in consciousness. Although it appears so real to us, it's only our consciousness so here, so to our here. So, for example, if you ask yourself, how do you know the world exists? The world exists because I say I can see the world, I can hear the sounds of the world, I can smell the smells of the world, I can taste and I can touch. These five senses make up the external world, and the thinking mind makes up the internal world. Most people, we think that the eye sees the world, but it is not the eye that sees the world, because if it is the eye that sees the world, I'll give you a quick operation. Take out your two eyes, put it on the table and ask the eyes to see. Your eyes will not be able to see. But at night when you go to sleep and your eyes are closed and you start to dream, and then another world appears as real as now. But the only thing is when you are dreaming, you don't know that it is a dream. You think that it's real, so you get very excited and all these things. So in your dream state, what is it that sees the world? It's consciousness. So actually, consciousness causes the seeing, causes the hearing, the smelling, taste, touch and thinking. These six consciousnesses make up the world. Nibbana is a state where the Sixth Consciousness ceases. But even though the Sixth Consciousness ceases, in the Sutta it is mentioned that there is a different type of consciousness. And this different type of consciousness is unlike the Sixth Consciousness. The Sixth Consciousness, our normal Sixth Consciousness, must have an object. When the same consciousness arises, you see something. When the smelling consciousness arises, we smell something, etc. But the consciousness in Nibbana, it has no object. It's like static energy, it's not kinetic energy, it's not energy that moves, it's only potential energy. So that consciousness in Nibbana is throughout space, throughout boundless, the Buddha says, is boundless and it is bright. And the Buddha also says that Nibbana paramam sukham. Nibbana is the greatest bliss or happiness. But the Buddha's disciples asked the Buddha, how can that be? Because Nibbana got no consciousness, no feeling. How come you say it's the highest bliss? The Buddha said, it's not necessary that you must have feeling to experience bliss. So how do we understand this? We think about our sleep state. When we go to sleep at night, there are two types of sleep. One type is the dream state, the other type is the no dream state. The dream state is not a very pleasant sleep because in your dream, maybe somebody is trying to murder you, you are running away, or some ghost is chasing you, so you may be frightened in your dreams. So it is not such a restful sleep. But there is another type of sleep where it is so deep that you don't dream and you don't know of anything. So when you are in deep sleep, people call you also you don't know. People pull your leg also you don't know. But that state is so blissful that when we wake up in the morning, you still want to sleep because it is so sweet. So that deep sleep state gives you an idea of Nibbana. Why is it so pleasant? Because there is no self. Whenever we have a self, we are worried, we want to protect the self, we are afraid for the self. From the moment we are born until we die, we are always trying to protect the self. And not only the self, anything associated with the self, my son, my daughter, my wife, my husband, eye and mind makes us worry. Here's all the problems. But when there is no eye, nothing to worry about. So it's so happy. You become like Cinderella in a deep sleep. That is Nibbana. It's not a place. So actually the Buddha's teachings are very profound, very scientific. The Buddha says there is no no cells, anatta, nothing abiding. So when we use science to analyse our body, we find it's true. Because when we use science to analyse our body, we find that our body is made up of cells, trillions and trillions of cells. And when we analyse the cells, it is made up of atoms, totally made up of atoms. So our whole body is made up of atoms. And when we analyze the atoms, we find it's like space at night. You look into the space, near the sky at night, here and there you see a star, or a moon, or a comet, or an asteroid, but 99.9999% of the sky is empty. So an atom is also like that. Now science tells us that an atom is 99.9999% emptiness. So since our body is all made up of Our body is 99.9999% empty. Just particles of energy here and there. Our body is no different from the air around us. And yet we see ourselves as so solid. Why? Only now science is beginning to discover that this emptiness is actually consciousness. Consciousness pervades the whole of space. And now scientists are beginning to talk about ether. This word ether has been used by Hindu saints 5,000 years ago. They say that the ether pervades all of space. 5,000 years ago, holy men already talked about this. Now scientists are beginning to discover this. Now there are a lot of different theories about space. Only recently some of my old university classmates came to see me. One fellow is a very scientific minded fellow. He likes to study all these things. He happens to have become a Christian because his wife is Christian. So now after reading all these things, that how matter is influenced by mind and all this, then he finds that Buddhism is quite similar. So that day he told me all these things. So this type of person with a scientific mind, if you tell him more about the Buddha's teachings, he would understand.

(E26)-12-Q-and-A-04

Any other questions? You can ask about karma or anything. Bhante, maybe I'll just touch then on right view. Because I'm even to understand the consequences for having a wrong view is actually quite terrible I think. If one have a wrong view, so it depends on what wrong view. Depends on what wrong view. Because there is worldly wrong view and other wrong view. I mean, we have Arun right view and worldly right view. Wrong view only concerns worldly right view. If you don't have worldly right view, then you have wrong view. But you cannot have Arun wrong view. If you don't have Aryan right view, that means you just don't have Aryan right view. It's not that you have Aryan wrong view. It's just that you are not an Arya. Now, if you have wrong view, worldly wrong view, it means you don't believe in karma. You don't believe in karma. If a person does not believe in karma, he will dare to do anything. He does not believe that there is an afterlife. So he will dare to kill, he will enjoy himself as much as he can at the expense of other beings. This can be a terrible consequence for him. Just like the last time, after the Vietnam War, a lot of Vietnamese refugees were trying to run away from their country. They left their country in these boats, and some of them, when they went through this near Thailand, they were caught by these pirates and then sometimes these pirates, they're very cruel, they rape the women and then the men they throw to the sharks to eat. If they don't understand Kamma, Vipaka, then when the sharks are eating the men, they may clap their hands and laugh and all these things. So, because of ignorance, you can do terrible wrong. When we understand some Dhamma, we understand about Kamavipaka, we know how to use the brake, we don't go to excesses. So in that way, wrong view can be quite terrible. In this case, let's say if we take a world arena, people will be asking your sense of right view and wrong view is based on the Buddha's teaching. there will be many other people who will perceive things differently and they hold that as the right view but as far as the Buddhist reason is concerned, it's totally the wrong view. So in a way, I should think that a right view should be an absolute right view. Anybody, no matter from what angle they look at it, it will always turn out to be the right view. But it so happens in this world, the reality is that a lot of people are looking at things so differently. Even let's say I know some Buddhist group who maintain the first precept of killing only refers to human beings. Animals, they are reborn as animals to be killed as food. So that even among Buddhists. Your first thing about the absolute right view, there is no such thing as absolute right view, because different people will have different views. Only thing is like in the Kalama Sutra, when the Buddha went to a place where the Kalama people lived, they told the Buddha, they said, many holy men have come here of different religions. and all of them claim to be practicing the truth, and they teach different things, and each one of them say only their religion teaches the truth. So in the face of so many differing opinions, how can we know what is the truth? This is the correct doctrine. So the Buddha says, don't simply believe just because somebody says so. Don't simply believe just because the person who speaks it is considered a holy man. Don't just believe just because it was told to you by somebody you respect. Don't believe just because the person who says it is very learned in the scriptures. And don't believe because it is commonly believed by people etc. etc. But the Buddha said, if whatever doctrine leads to more greed, hatred and delusion, then don't follow it. But if it leads to the reduction of greed, hatred and delusion, that is good for you, then you should practice it. So of course even this standard that the Buddha used, of course there are some people who also won't believe. And some people, for example, say they only believe in God. So they say only belief in God is the ultimate truth. All else is rubbish. Of course, that is their view. That is their right view. So there is no absolute right view. These 62 wrong views are mentioned in the Brahmajala Sutta, I think the first Sutta of the Digha Nikaya, and out of the 62 wrong views, maybe some may be still relevant today. Of course, as we said just now, if you tell these people, if they hold that view, they won't take this wrong view. In Buddhism, we don't say that God does not exist. It is that our concept of God is different, for example, from the Christians or the Muslims. The Christians and the Muslims also, even within themselves, they also have different views of God. Long time ago, people who are more simple-minded, they think as though God is a being, a being up there looking at you, old man with a long beard looking at you. You do wrong, you go to hell. I like you, you go to heaven. But nowadays, people are more smart, even among the Christians. Christian priests, they even write books about God. What is God? And now they come to the conclusion that God cannot be a being. But still, of course, there are a lot of fanatics who are, as they say, hua tang shai. They don't really understand their religion and yet they are very fanatical about it. So, if you say that God is a being and you say God is compassionate, that is contradictory. because you can see there is so much suffering in the world, and then you say God is omnipotent, omniscient, etc. In other words, God knows everything in the past, God knows everything in the future, and God knows everything now. If that is the case, when God makes somebody, he knows in future this person is going to heaven or going to hell, isn't it? Because he knows the future. So if he sees that this person is going to go to hell, then he should put on hold. If you continue to make him, then he goes to hell, then you are very cruel, isn't it? If God makes somebody to go to hell, then he's very cruel. In fact, when I was in school, I was in a Catholic school for 12 years. When I was 17 years old, I decided I'm going to become a Catholic one day. But when I was 18 years old, my mind started to work and think. So I had a lot of questions. For example, if God is merciful, why did God create hell? God don't have to create hell. God can create heaven so that everybody goes to heaven. Close the hell. If God makes hell, surely he wants to put somebody in there, isn't it? Otherwise, why go and make hell? So it's contradictory. You say God is merciful and then you want to put somebody inside hell. Secondly, you say God is omnipotent, anything also can do. Okay, if God is merciful, rescue all the beings from hell. If you can rescue the beings from hell and you don't want to rescue the beings from hell, then you are cruel. You are not merciful enough. Merciful means that no matter what people, how people behave, You still love them, isn't it? After all, they are your own sons. They are your own children. If your child is naughty, you don't put him in hell, isn't it? You teach him how to become a better person, isn't it? So it's not logical. So there are a lot of these questions. And so a lot of theologians who study religion, they also think about all these questions. So they start writing, now like in America, they try to say some intelligent design. They don't say intelligent being, some intelligent design, some kind of force. So in Buddhism, God is what? God is the force that created the world and governs the world. What is it in simple language that created the world and governs the world? Mother Nature. Mother Nature created the world and governs the world. In Taoism, they call it the Tao. And the Tao Te Ching begins with the words, the Tao that can be described is not the eternal Tao. And then after that, it says that the immediate things in the world are all created from the Tao. In other words, the Tao is Mother Nature and also God. So actually Taoism is also actually the earliest Taoism taught by Lao Tzu. It's quite a profound good religion. The only thing is, in the 2nd century, one of these Taoists hijacked Taoism and led it the wrong way. And now it has become full of superstition and rituals and all these things. So, God in Buddhism cannot be a being. In one of the suttas, I think the Sutta Nibbata, the Buddha says that this world is created, is conditioned, and it is full of suffering. But the Buddha said that there is an uncreated and unborn, an unconditioned. The Buddha said if there is not the unborn, the uncreated, the unconditioned, there could not be an escape from suffering, from what is born, what is created, what is conditioned, which is suffering. So the Buddha's teaching is to go back to the uncreated, the unborn, the unconditioned. what is called Nibbana, which you can also say is God, go back to God. Actually the Buddha's teachings are very practical, but very profound. You have to take a lot of effort to study and listen and understand the Buddha's teachings. But if you make the effort and you really understand, it is of tremendous benefit to us. You'll find happiness in this life and you'll find happiness in many, many lifetimes to come. And you'll be released from suffering. You'll be released from birth as a ghost, as an animal, or in hell.

(E26)-13-Q-and-A-05

I was just thinking of something, a quick one, because I think tomorrow is school reopening day, so they might have to go early. I was just thinking that karma is impartial to any borders, creed, race or religion, you know. So isn't it a bit sad that a lot of people have only lived a lifetime thinking they have the perfect right view, in the end they find out that they have to suffer that karma for a lifetime of doing something that they perfectly believe is the perfect right view. Here again, people who do what? Because karma, if you have the wrong view, doing the wrong thing, of course karma is attached to it. So what I'm saying is that karma is impartial to any creed, race or religion. There is no boundaries. Anybody who commits something wrong, of course karma will be after that person. So isn't it that because there is no perfect right view, there are a lot of people in this world holding on to a certain view that they so happily think that there is a perfect right view for the whole life and in the end, the karma catches up with them. Isn't that a little bit How to face them? It's bad in a way. Not really, because all of us have been created with a conscience inside us. All of us, we have a conscience. When we do something wrong, our conscience tells us that it's wrong. But unfortunately, because of greed, hatred and delusion, we don't listen to our heart. Sometimes we do things because we want to do it, even though it goes against our conscience, because we have a loyal guru inside here. This loyal guru, when you want something, he will create a lot of reasons for you, why you should do or not do this. So because of that, you do the wrong things. Even in Buddhism, some people because of not understanding the Dhamma, they also have wrong view, because what they think, what they practice, they think is Buddhism, but unfortunately it is not the Buddha's teachings, because Buddhism is now mixed with a lot of later books. So sometimes they spend a lot of effort and all that, but they get nothing for it. So I always tell people that it doesn't matter what religion you belong to. If you want to go to heaven, you want to have a good rebirth, two things are basic, no matter what religion you belong to. One is charity, helping others. The other one is moral conduct, not harming others. Doing good and not harming others. This is basic. If you take care of these two things, you will have a good rebirth. This is what we call ox-steak, ox-tea, worldly blessings, these two. You know, these Chinese are very concerned about money, and we like to pray to Chai-Tin. The real Chai-Tin is these two. If you take good care of these two, wealth will come to you very naturally. He looks like Bill Gates, the richest man in the world. He does a lot of dana. And he keeps moral conduct because he wants to help everybody. He doesn't want to harm other beings. That's why Bill Gates is the richest man. All because of these two things, Dana and Sita. But if you want to walk the spiritual path to get out of suffering, then three other things are important. One is to listen to the Dhamma. The Dhamma means the original teachings of the Buddha, found in the Nikaya. And then secondly, meditate. And after doing these two things, then the third thing, change your character. Look at your mao ping, your thoughts, and change. Some people, they practice meditation, but because of not understanding the Dhamma, they think the spiritual path is about attaining this and attaining that, trying to attain the jhanas and all that. And when they think that they have attained something, That is not what the spiritual path is about. The spiritual path is about letting go. Attaining is not important. We already got too many things. Our baggage is already too heavy. We have to release, let go, let go, let go. When you let go, then your ship will go faster. We are trying to cross to the other shore, not to attain this and attain that, and then it becomes more and more heavy.