(EA03)-01-Condition-for-Attaining-Sotapanna

So tonight we are having some Sutta discussion. I have for some time asserted that the first stage of Ariya-hood, stream entry, is attained by listening to the Dhamma. And a lot of people find it very hard to believe because they have been taught by many meditation teachers that Ariyaputra is only attainable by meditation. I'd like to quote some suttas to make it more plain that stream entry actually is by listening to the Dhamma There's one sutta where the Buddha talked about his previous life when he was a Brahmin, and he was very generous. He said that his donations during that lifetime, you could say it was like 84,000 buckets of gold, 84,000 buckets of silver, 84,000 buckets of precious stones, and then the 84,000 pairs of cattle, 84,000 pairs or numbers of pigs and 84,000 chickens and all these animals are 84,000 numbers of them and then cloth and all that and then the food and the drinks that he gave during that lifetime flowed like the river so much. And then he said, in spite of giving so much, he said his merit was very little. Why? Because he said at that time, there was no person with right view to receive the offering. So here, what he's trying to say is there was no ariya around to receive the offering. So here you see, all ariyas must have right view. So that's the first thing. So to become an ariya, the first step is to get right view. And also stated in the Majjhima Nikaya, I think Sutta 117, the Buddha said, if you want to practice the Noble Eightfold Path, the first step is to attain right view. And after you attain Right View, that will bring you to Right Thoughts. And Right Thoughts will bring you to Right Speech. And Right Speech will bring you to Right Actions. And Right Actions will bring you to Right Livelihood. And that will bring you to Right Effort. And that will bring you to Right Recollection. And that will bring you to Right Concentration. So these factors of the Noble Eightfold Path, they are given in a definite order. and you have to practice it in that order. So here you see, to enter the Noble Eightfold Path, first you have to get Right View. When you get Right View, you attain Stream Entry. And the Buddha says, a person who gets Right View, he has seen the Dhamma. Now, two other Suttas are very important. One is the Majjhima Nikaya Sutta 43, where the Buddha stated there are two conditions to attain right view. And what are these two conditions? In the Pali Text Society books, it is stated the two conditions are another's utterance, and then the second condition is yoniso manasikara, which you can translate as thorough attention, proper attention. of this another's utterance. The latest translation of the Majjhima Nikai is by Venerable Bhikkhu Bodhi. And there he puts the two conditions as one, as the voice of another. And the second condition is proper attention. So you see, it is the voice of another that gives you right view. This is a very important statement In other words, you must hear the Dhamma from somebody else, then only you get right view. You cannot get it by meditating on your own and trying to see Nama Rupa and all these things and believe that you get right view. If that was possible, then the Buddha would not have spoken so many Suttas. When a Samatha Buddha appears in the world and speaks these Suttas and people listen to them, then they become Ariyas. If there's no Sammasambuddha in the world, Ariyas don't arise by themselves. They only arise with the coming of a Sammasambuddha. So that's why you see, as you can see from here very clearly, that to get right view, you must hear the Dhamma from another person. Then you understand the Dhamma. Then only you enter the stream, the instrument tree. Sutta which corroborates this is the Saracani Sutta in the Sangyutta Nikaya. This Sutta, Sakhin by the name of Saracani, he passed away. And people came to ask the Buddha, where was Saracani reborn? And then the Buddha said, Saracani has gone for a good rebirth because he has attained Srimantri. So when this news went around, many people were angry with the Buddha because Sarakani was a drinker, he used to drink liquor. And probably he didn't drink just a little bit, probably drink a fairly big amount. That's why a lot of people could not believe. They said, why if Sarakani can be a Sotapanna, anybody can be a Sotapanna, he's a drinker. So they thought that he broke the precept, he cannot be Arya. So when this news came back to the Buddha, the Buddha said, why shouldn't Sarakani be Suddhapanna? Sarakani has learned the Dhamma and practiced the Dhamma for a long time. And then the Buddha also said, look at these trees. Even these trees, if they can understand my words, what is well-spoken, what is not well-spoken. Even the trees also can become a Sutta Panna. This is a very important point. The Buddha said, if the trees can understand my words, they would become a Sutta Panna. If stream entry is by meditation, the Buddha would have said, if these trees know how to meditate, they also could become a Sutta Panna. But the Buddha did not say that. The Buddha did not say these trees can meditate. The Buddha said if these trees can understand what is well-spoken and what is not well-spoken, even they can become Sotapanna. So from here it's very obvious that you become a Sotapanna by listening to the Dhamma and understanding the Dhamma. Of course, not everybody who listens to the Dhamma becomes a Sotapanna for various reasons. I guess one of the main reasons is sila. If you don't keep good sila, then you have remorse. The mind is disturbed. So when you listen to the Dhamma, you cannot concentrate on the Dhamma. When you listen to the Dhamma, it's very important to concentrate on it. That's why the second condition is thorough attention. If you pay thorough attention with all your heart and your mind, try to understand the words in the Dhamma, then you can understand. In the Digha Nikaya, there was a king by the name of Ajatasattu. He came to see the Buddha for the first time. And then he asked the Buddha some questions, and the Buddha answered him exactly what he asked. And the Buddha did not talk more. After that, he was happy with the Buddha. He left. And then the Buddha told his disciples, you see, this foolish man, to become a king, he killed his father so that he could become a king. The Buddha said, if he had not killed his father, who was such a good man, tonight if I had spoken some Dhamma to him, he would have attained stream entry. So you see, people like this person, because of doing great evil, So his mind was very disturbed. So there was no point teaching him the Dhamma. He could not penetrate his mind because his mind was very disturbed. So is it quite clear that attaining Sotapanna is by listening to the Dhamma, not by meditation? That's why the Buddha's disciples are called Savakas, hearers or listeners. Of course meditation is very helpful, especially Samatha meditation. When you practice Samatha meditation and you attain some concentration, your mind becomes much clearer than a person who has the five hindrances covering him. So that when you listen to the Dhamma, when you listen to the words of the Buddha, you can see the implications much better than another person. Like all these Duttas that I quoted to you, they have their implications, and not everybody can see those implications, unless your mind is clearer. After you attain Right View, there are a few things that you need to attain liberation. One is Sila. Another one is listening to the Dhamma, Dhammasavana. Another one is discussion of the Dhamma, Dhammasakaja, another one is Samatha, another one is Vipassana. Now, listening to the Dhamma has a lot to do with Vipassana. Nowadays, when people talk about Vipassana, they think we are talking about Vipassana meditation. It is not Vipassana meditation. A lot of people don't investigate properly because In the early suttas, there is no mention of Vipassana meditation. Vipassana meditation was only created about 30-40 years ago. It started off with Mahasi Sayadaw. Mahasi Sayadaw taught this method of meditation. And because it is not the Buddha's method of meditation, that's why he called it, or people call it the Mahasi method of meditation. And this Mahasi method of meditation is based on the Visuddhimagga. And we know that the Visuddhimagga was written about 900 years after the Buddha passed away. So the Visuddhimagga talks about 16 jhānas. This is not mentioned in the suttas. So you have to be very clear. In the suttas, When the Buddha talks about Vipassana, the meaning of Vipassana is contemplation. This you can get from the Chinese translation. The Chinese translation of Samatha and Vipassana is Chir Kuan. Chir is stilling the mind, that is meditation. Kuan is contemplation. So to know the meaning of Vipassana, we look at the cases In the Vinaya books, the Buddha, it is mentioned how the earliest Arahants became Arahants. Firstly, after the Buddha became enlightened, and also if you study the suttas and the Vinaya books, you find that the Buddha tried many ways to attain enlightenment. He could not. He was not successful. Finally, he thought, now what is the way out of samsara? Then he remembered that when he was very young, about 10 years old, he sat under the Bodhi tree and attained the first jhāna. And then he thought, is this the way to enlightenment? Then he realized, because his mind is quite clear, having attained jhāna, he said, yes, that is the way to enlightenment. Then he remembered why he did not use the way before, although he had attained jhāna. Then he realized because the jhānic bliss is very pleasurable. So the ascetics during the Buddha's time, they thought that by pleasure you cannot get out of saṃsāra. You must suffer only you can get out of saṃsāra. So they tortured themselves by all ascetic practices. So the Buddha also, he thought Jhana is so pleasurable, so blissful, it cannot be out of the way, out of samsara. So he did not use Jhana. Instead, he went through all the different ascetic practices for six years, until he nearly died. Because he was so thin, he fell into the stream, so he had no strength to do one push-up to get out of the stream. So then only he realized there's no point in all this ascetic practice. He could have died and wasted all his effort. And then he started thinking that he remembered this jhāna. Then he thought to himself, but this pleasure that comes with jhāna is different from worldly pleasure. It's different, altogether different. So he decided to use jhāna. So he entered the four jhānas. Then because of attaining the bodhichitta, his psychic power came at this divine eye. And he used this divine eye to contemplate the three things. The first one, the three knowledges. The first one was he saw his past lives. That is very important because when he looked into his past lives, then he recalled that he was a monk under the previous Buddha Kassapa. And then all the Dhamma that he learned from Buddha Kassapa all came back to him. Four Noble Truths and all that. Without the Dhamma, you cannot get out of samsara. Then the second knowledge was he looked at beings passing away and being reborn, passing away and being reborn according to Kamavipaka. Then he realized all beings, we take rebirth according to Kamavipaka. And the third knowledge was he used the Four Noble Truths that he remembered, that he had learned under the Buddha Kassapa. When he contemplated on the Four Noble Truths, then he attained enlightenment. Now after he attained enlightenment, at first he refused to teach the Dhamma because he looked into the minds of living beings. He found that most of the living beings in the world, we want to follow our greed, hatred and delusion. Whereas the way out of samsara is the opposite, going against the grain, going against all your natural tendencies to enjoy the worldly happiness, enjoyment. So he decided to become a Pacheka Buddha. But after he decided to become a Pacheka Buddha, then the Brahma Sahampatti came to plead with him because the Brahma Sahampatti's lifespan is very long and he had seen previous Buddhas. So he realized this is another Buddha. So he came down and asked our Buddha to teach the Dhamma. He said, it's true, most beings would not listen to you. But there is a small percentage of people in the world, they have the potential to understand the Dhamma. If you don't teach them the Dhamma, they cannot progress. Then the Buddha contemplated again and he found that it's true there are some beings in his lifetime and also those in the future like us who have the ability to understand the Dhamma. It's because of the sake of the few that he decided to teach. Now once he decided to teach in the Vinaya book, who was the first person he wanted to teach? The first person was his teacher. Why? Because his teacher had attained Jhana. The two teachers who taught him Jhāna, these were the two persons he wanted to teach first in the world. Because he thought to himself, these persons had attained Jhāna, very easy for them to understand the Dhamma. But then the Deva came and told him, these two had just passed away. Then again he thought, then who? Then he thought of his five disciples. Because he had attained Jhāna, he had also taught his five disciples to attain Jhāna. Must be enough, right? So when he went to them, at first they did not accept him. Later, they decided to listen to him. And then he asked them to sit down. He did not ask them to meditate at all. He said, you sit down. I will teach you the Dhamma. And he started by teaching the Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta about the Noble Eightfold Path and all that. Hearing this Sutta, the first person to attain stream entry was Kondanya. That's why he's called Anya Kondanya. Anya meaning the one who knows. Kondanya, who knows. So after that, for the next few days, he continued preaching to them the Sutta, one Sutta after another, until when he preached the Anatta-Lakkhana Sutta, all five of them attained Arahanthood. So now I ask you, where is that Vipassana? They had already attained Samatha, The other ingredient for liberation is Vipassana. Listening to the Dhamma is Vipassana. Because when you listen to the Dhamma, you contemplate. Isn't it? Our mind works very fast. As soon as you listen, you start to digest it already in your mind. That is contemplation. And once you understand, that is having that insight. So the Vipassana during the Buddha's time is this. because you find in one sutta, I mention in my book Liberation, that there are five occasions when a person becomes liberated, when a person attains Arahanthood. The first one is listening to the Dhamma. Second is teaching the Dhamma. The third is repeating the Dhamma. The fourth is reflecting on the Dhamma. The last only during meditation, when you contemplate on the Samadhi Nimitta. So you see, So after the five disciples became enlightened, then he looked around the Buddha, then he saw this person called Yassa. Yassa was the son of a very rich man, the richest man in town. And he had four wives, maybe more than four wives, I'm not sure. And he was being so rich, every day he was entertained by the slaves who would sing and dance for him. And then maybe he would get drunk and all that. So one night as usual, they sang and danced for him until he was tired and he fell asleep. And they also were tired, they slept on the floor. In the middle of the night, I think the Buddha make him wake up. And when he woke up, he saw all these slaves with their hair loose and half naked and saliva. oozing from the mouth. And then he looked at them, it reminded him of corpses. So he probably was an ascetic in the previous life who had attained jhana and contemplated corpses. So when he saw all these people sleeping there, he thought of Dukkha. Dukkha, Dukkha. And he walked out of the room, didn't want to see. And then the Buddha must have used his psychic power to make him walk to the city gates. And the city gates are normally closed at night to prevent bandits from coming in. They open by themselves. And then he walked out of the city gates and walked straight to the forest where the Buddha was waiting for him. When he came to the Buddha, he was repeating, maybe he was half asleep, mumbling Dukkha, Dukkha. And then the Buddha said, Yassa, sit down here. There is no Dukkha here. Then he sat down. Then the Buddha taught him the Four Noble Truths. The Buddha always gave a graduated discourse to a new person. And this I've tried to repeat in my book called The Message of the Buddha. So, after hearing the Four Noble Truths, he attained stream entry. Then he stayed with the Buddha. The next morning, the father came looking for him, and also came right to where the Buddha was. The Buddha again taught the father the same graduated discourse, ending with the Four Noble Truths. And the father again streamed entry. And Yassa, listening for the second time, became Arahant. So now I ask you again, where is that Vipassana meditation? Listening to the Dharma. Of course, the necessary condition to become an Arahant is he had already attained the Bhojanas. Maybe not that lifetime, the previous human lifetime. So after that, 54 of his friends, of his close friends, they may have been ascetics together in the previous life. When they heard that Yasabi had become a monk, because after he became an Arahant, an Arahant doesn't go back to the home anymore. So he became a monk under the Buddha. So his 54 friends wondered to themselves, how come this richest man in town, his son, can become a monk? They thought his teacher must be special. So one by one, they went to see him and to see his teacher. And one by one, the Buddha taught them the Four Noble Truths. One by one, they became Arahants. So Yasa and his friends, 55 of them, arahants, plus the earlier five disciples, there were 60 arahants. When there were 60 arahant disciples, the Buddha asked them to walk at least a dhamma. And two of them should not go on the same road. They should walk different roads and spread the dhamma. And all 60 went to spread the dhamma. And then the Buddha looked again with his divine eye. And then he saw 1,000 ascetics staying by the banks of the river. And these 1000 ascetics, they must have practiced jhana for the Buddha to be interested in them. And they must have attained jhana because the leader of this group of 1000, he always thought that he was an arahant. And I guess he thought he was an arahant probably because he had some psychic power. Maybe he had attained the four jhanas and attained some psychic power. So the Buddha went to them and stayed there for a few weeks. And during these few weeks, the Buddha slowly showed psychic power to them, to impress them that his psychic power was very great. For example, sometimes this ascetic, in the morning, because he was very impressed with the Buddha, he would come and invite the Buddha for the breakfast. And the Buddha said, OK, you go first. I'll join you. Then when he walked to the dining hall, he saw the Buddha sitting there with a flower in the hand. And then the Buddha told him, Kasapa, I offer you this flower. I just brought it from Tavatimsa heaven. So the Buddha had flown to heaven, collected the flower and came back. He sat in the dining hall and gave him the flower. Of course, he was impressed. Wow, such great psychic power. I can go to heaven and come back immediately. So by showing these various types of psychic power, all 1,000 of them were so impressed that they became monk disciples of the Buddha. They shaved their head and became disciples. And after they became monk disciples of the Buddha, then only the Buddha decided to teach them the Dharma. And the Buddha preached to them the fire discourse, Aditya, Pariyaya, Sutta. Why the Buddha used the simile of fire? Because these people, these ascetics, they pray to fire, they worship the fire. And then the Buddha started by saying, the world is on fire. How come the 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? fire of greed, hatred and delusion and slowly the Buddha talk about no self and all that and one thousand of them hearing the sutra for the first time became arahants now where is the vipassana meditation? that is vipassana, listening to the dhamma and contemplating So you see here, 1060 Arahants, the earliest 1060 Arahants, all attained Arahanthood by listening to the Dhamma. So that is Vipassana. Vipassana meditation, after Mahasi Sayadaw taught, then it has become popular. It has become popular for a very simple reason, because you don't need Jhana. They say it is a path of pure Vipassana, no necessity for Jhana. So of course, because Jhana is very difficult to attain, so people like to practice it, because they think they can practice that way. But the trouble is nowadays, some Vipassana monks, either they speak lies or they are very ignorant. For example, one very famous Vipassana teacher, he said that the Buddha's method of meditation is Vipassana. And he said that Samatha meditation or Jhanas is the meditation of external ascetics. So either that must be a pure lie or is totally ignorant. Because in the Majjhima Nikaya, Venerable Ananda was asked, what type of meditation is praised by the Buddha? In other words, what type of meditation is the Buddha's meditation? And Venerable Ananda said the first jhāna, the second jhāna, the third jhāna, the fourth jhāna. It's very plain here, very obvious here, that Buddhist meditation is the jhānas. There is no other Buddhist meditation other than the jhānas. If you practice meditation and you don't aim for the jhanas, it has nothing to do with Buddhist meditation. It's external sect ascetic now, external sect meditation. So now people become confused because of such lies of ignorance by some of these monks. Also in the Samyutta Nikaya, in one sutra, the Buddha told his disciples, he said, monks, if anybody asks, what type of meditation did the Tathagata practice? The Buddha said, you tell them that the Tathagata practiced Anapanasati. The Buddha said, before the Tathagata was enlightened, he practiced Anapanasati. And even after he has become enlightened, he also practices Anapanasati. So here it is very obvious that the Buddha's method is Anapanasati. How can you say it is Vipassana meditation? Isn't it?

(EA03)-02-The-8-Buddhas

The Buddha mentioned that he contemplated the past. And he said that he contemplated as far as 91 world cycles. Which means he must have taken the whole night. He didn't sleep probably from 6 p.m. until 6 a.m. He kept looking, looking, because one world cycle is extremely long time. And he looked into 91 world cycles and he found that there existed six Sammasambuddhas. And out of these six Sammasambuddhas, which he named, the first one is Vipassi Buddha, then Sikhi Buddha, then Vesabhu Buddha. These three are not in this world system, not of this earth. Then after that, another three before him, they lived on this earth. Kakusanda Buddha, Kona Gamana Buddha, that Kasapa Buddha. And he also mentioned in the Vinaya books that when Kakusanda Buddha lived on this earth, people's average age was 60,000 years. And then when the second Buddha on this earth, Kona Gamana, came, people's lifespan was 40,000 years. And then the third Buddha, Kassapa Buddha, when he came to this earth, human lifespan was 20,000 years. And now our Gautama Buddha, people's lifespan is not more than 100 years. And then the age goes down, and then it will go up again. And when people's age is 80,000 years average, Maitreya Buddha will come, Maitreya Buddha, what we call Melek Buddha, will come. this world was created and after that it will dissolve. When you say one world system, you mean one sun and the planets and all that. That is one world system. So when the Buddha mentioned the first three Buddhas, they are in another world system. But science tells us as long as there is water, there will be life. So it is also mentioned in the suttas that a long time ago, this world was so populated with people that towns were everywhere. So much so that a cockerel could walk from one town to another. So the towns were so near each other that even a cockerel can walk across from one town to another. So at that time, the population, the world was filled with people. Yet now, the world has very much less people. And somebody asked the Buddha, why? The Buddha said, for a few reasons. That people's great hatred and delusion are too much. And one, they start killing each other. Another one is, when people's great hatred and delusion is too much, then the devas are annoyed. And then when the devas are annoyed, then the rain does not come at the right time, the crops don't grow, there's famine, people also die. And the reason is when people's greed, hatred and delusion is too much, then the higher devas will release fierce yakas. Fierce devas will come down. Either they eat human beings or they create disease and all these things. People die. Look at some of these things because There is no evidence. We can't prove it. A lot of things in religion you cannot prove. All religions talk about heaven and hell. How to prove this heaven and hell?

(EA03)-03-Communicating-with-Mind

You can read the Buddha's mind because they have this psychic power. That is the way they communicate. They don't open their mouths. They communicate with each other mentally, just like you SMS. But then, because the Buddha's psychic power is greater, sometimes he can control their mind. and sometimes they want to control his mind, they cannot. For example, there was one sutta where the Buddha saw that there was some Brahma, Devas with wrong view. So usually, when the Buddha goes to some being, there must be some reason, not only that they have wrong view. More often, it's because they were his teachers before. so he feels that he owes them something out of gratitude he wants to go and teach them and correct their wrong view so he went to this Brahma and this Brahma has great psychic power and he didn't believe the Buddha because they are so attached to their psychic power they only respect you if your psychic power is greater than them if your psychic power is less than them they have no respect for you so When the Buddha talked to him and told him his wrong views, at first he didn't accept. And then he wanted to test the Buddha. He said, I will disappear from you. You won't be able to see me. And the Buddha said, you try to disappear and see whether you can disappear. Then he said, I'm going, I'm going, I'm going. But he was still visible to the Buddha. So then he realized that the Buddha was controlling him. Although he wanted to vanish, he could not vanish. Then the Buddha said, I will vanish from you. Then he said, go away. Then the Buddha vanished. And then he couldn't see the Buddha, but he could hear the Buddha's voice. And then he got a shock. He realized that this human being, Normally, devas, they are very proud of their psychic power. Human beings are nothing compared to them. It's a shock that this human being has such great psychic power. Then only you believe the Buddha.

(EA03)-04-Right-Livelihood-and-Consuming-Liquor

There are five types of livelihood that the Buddha said a layperson should not engage in. Trading, trading in five things. One is weapons, weapons that kill. Another one is drugs or insecticide or herbicides that kill. Another one is breeding animals for slaughter. Another one is buying and selling human beings. Slavery. Nowadays, it still goes on illegally. Another one is selling liquor. But you are putting liquor into your foodstuff, cooking it. Cooking is not a problem usually, because when you cook, that liquor evaporates. For example, if they make a cake for a monk, and they put in some liquor, when you bake the cake, all that liquor evaporates. Or even when you cook, you put some liquor, when you cook, it also evaporates. For a monk, the standard is higher than for lay people. For a monk, he stated in the Vinaya books, that a monk cannot consume any food which has the taste of liquor, which has the smell of liquor. And the third one, I think it says the color of liquor, but color is very hard to see. If there is a smell and taste of liquor, then a monk is not allowed to consume. But for lay people, sometimes if you take some liquor for medicinal purpose, may be allowable. The precept against liquor is that you take it to a stage where you lose control. Of course, you have to be careful. Sometimes people like to take liquor and they use an excuse. Even some monks, sometimes they like to use an excuse for health sake. People who keep ornamental fish or breed ornamental fish to sell, I think it's alright because you're not doing any harm. They're not hurting the animal.

(EA03)-05-Can-Buddhists-Teach-their-Children-to-Sing-Songs

It is not mentioned in the sutras that you can teach children to sing, but it is also not mentioned in the sutras that you cannot teach children to sing. So, it is better to teach children to sing good songs, otherwise they will go and learn bad songs. You must tell the parent, you are not teaching your son or your daughter to become a monk or a nun. You are only teaching your son or daughter to become a good Buddhist. lay person. Only for a monk or a nun, you cannot sing and dance. But for a lay person, it's nothing wrong. We must not be too extreme, like some religions. Certain things, like worldly enjoyment for lay people, Buddha did not say lay people cannot enjoy. Buddha said, you can enjoy, but enjoy in a wise way. You enjoy not to the extent of harming others or harming yourself. It's okay. Secondly, when you enjoy, be careful not to get attached. Because in the suttas, the Buddha said, worldly happiness, once you enjoy it, there is a tendency to become attached to it. Very strong tendency to become attached to it. For example, liquor. I start consuming liquor, feeling high, very nice feeling. Tomorrow night, I want to drink, right? Also, if you start to drink liquor already, all your inhibitions drop away. Things you dare not say, you dare to say when you drink liquor. Things you dare not do, you dare to do when you drink liquor. So it's very nice. But then you have to be very careful. You get carried away usually. You have to be very careful because the standard for monks and nuns is very different from the standard for lay people. Only when you understand the Dharma enough, then you will naturally steer away from worldly happiness, because you find in the end it's not really satisfying. It only gives you short-term pleasure, short-term pleasure. Whereas there's another type of happiness which is deep inside. You walk the spiritual path and you lead your life so that it benefits others. at the end of your life even you don't have to wait for the end of your life even when you're walking the spiritual path you find because you lead a life that benefits others and you'll be very happy inside you know you're leading a very useful life not you're not leading your life only for yourself living your life for others What's the point of living our life just for ourselves? Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy. At the end of it, you'll find all your blessings used up. And then also in that process, very often people who only think of themselves, they harm others, they cheat others. As if you live your life for others, even though you may not be so happy like Mother Teresa, I think I'm sure she has a lot of inside happiness and satisfaction even though she was in India living a very hard life. You can see it in her face, a lot of lines. But then it's a satisfying life.

(EA03)-06-Kamma-Vipaka-and-Merits-Cultivation

is the effects of karma is very complicated that's why the Buddha said there are four things that you should not think about too much otherwise you become a bit cuckoo one is the power of Buddha otherwise the depth of jhana another one is world speculation another one is kamavipaka because kamavipaka depends on many factors for example now you have a lot of bad karma obstructing you. So you hear the Sutta says that you have to do a lot of good deeds to overcome your obstructions, your bad karma. So some people think, oh, okay, I do charity. Then he does some charity. Then he thinks he has done a lot. And after some time, he finds his problems are still the same. Then he might get disillusioned. I'm gonna call Actually, yeah, all CR charity is the easiest thing to do. You are only giving your extra money away Of course you do something like Bill Gates is different not give away 95% of your wealth I only keep 5% but most people is the opposite you give only 5% and then you keep 95% right so your Charity is not very great. On the other hand, if you keep your sila, it's better karma, better merit, more merit. Keeping your sila is harder to do. Then if you really follow the Buddha's words, not only keep your five precepts every day, once a week also you have to keep the eight precepts. And then after that, If you listen to the Dharma and then you put it into practice and you meditate. This Dhana, Sila, Bhavana. Dhana is charity, Sila is keeping your precepts. Bhavana is developing your mind. Developing your mind is not only through meditation. It also involves listening to the Dharma, learning the Dharma. Because when you learn the Dharma, then you get more wisdom. so you are developing your mind also when you learn the dhamma you learn to change your character to put away your your defects your wrong habits evil habits and then you cultivate good habits change your character that's the most important thing you are able to change your character for the better become a better person when you become a person such that people like to be near, because you are truthful, you don't cheat people, you are straightforward, you don't have anger, you don't keep anger in your heart and all these things. So that's the best way to impress people. So if you really change your character, that is really very meritorious. Then if you are If you actually practice the Dhamma, then you know you are walking the right path. And then, whether that karma ripens or does not ripen, you are not so greedy for the fruit of it. You are always looking for the fruit. You do something and you expect the result. Then the Buddha says your merit becomes less because you have a selfish motive. On the other hand, if you do it without expecting the result, you know that it's proper what you should do. Whether the kamma ripens this life immediately or in a future life, you're not greedy for the result. Then, just by doing it, you're happy already. And then also, if you understand the Dhamma, then you will realize that whatever evil comes to you, it's a result of your past kamma. So you accept it. Once you accept it, it's not much of a problem. Most of the time, these things make us suffer because we cannot accept it. When we cannot accept something, then we find a lot of dukkha. Once we accept it, it's not a problem. This is like sometimes, some people are very attached to their child. and then the child passes away, then they become so grief-stricken sometimes to the point of becoming mentally deranged. But if they can let go, then they see that it's the karma of their child. There's nothing you can do. There's nothing that anybody can do. It's the karma that that person has to bear. Then you accept it. No more problem. So in the same way, whatever problems come to us, we accept it. Then we also think about the good things that come to us, don't only think of the bad things. And when we count our blessings, then life is not so bad. Now when you compare yourselves with other people, there are many people much worse than us, right? And we should be happy. This kamma is a very complicated one, not only what you do, also the state of your mind, also the person you do it to, and then the environment affecting you, and then also your kamma from the past, how bad is the kamma from the past. If the kamma from the past is very bad, then sometimes whatever you do also you don't seem to improve it. That's because your kamma is very bad. Since you don't know all these factors, it's hard to say whether what you do is going to have effect or not. You must differentiate between worldly cause and effect and Buddhist cause and effect. Kamma vipaka means intentional action and its result. So as far as buying the fish is concerned, if you buy a live fish and have it killed, that is evil karma. But if you buy a fish that is already dead, you have not contributed to its killing. If the whole world became vegetarians, you think they won't kill animals? Animals will still be killed. People use fish as fertilizer nowadays. So even if you don't eat the fish, people will still catch the fish and use it as fertilizer for the plants. The Buddha is a very practical person. He had the wisdom to see that you cannot stop killing in this world. The only way to stop killing is to understand the Dharma. If you use this logic that because you eat fish, so people kill fish, then there's a lot of things you cannot do. You cannot stay in a house. Why? Because when you stay in a house, people have to make more housing estates. When people make housing estates, they have to clear huge forest areas to make housing estates and a lot of animals die. You cannot use electricity because if you want to use electricity, the government has to make dams. When the government make dams, then the rivers, the banks are all flooded and a lot of animals die. And you cannot sit in a car, because if you sit in a car or drive a car, then they will make more cars. And right now, with the number of cars on the road, every day, 2,000 human beings are killed on the road, and countless animals. So, by using a car, are you contributing to the killing of human beings and animals on the road? If you don't use car, then there's no car on the road. No human beings are killed on the road. So you cannot use a car. I give you a simile. Suppose there is a serial killer in town. This serial killer has raped and killed many women. So much so that no women dare to go out in the streets at night. Nobody dare to go out. So the whole town is scared and everybody is crying out to the police, why don't you do your job? So the police have to work very hard. And after some time, they managed to catch the killer. So there is a trial. And then after that, after the long trial, then the judge passes sentence according to the law. He is to be hanged until death. So on the appointed day and the execution day, they lead him out. And then they bring him to the place where he is to be hanged. Then they get a hangman. Hangman to close his eyes, tie his hands, put the rope around his neck and this hangman goes to one side and pulls the lever and this person is killed. Now a human being is killed. So somebody must have done evil for a human being to be killed. Who has done the most evil? If you look carefully, according to the Karma Vipaka, the one with the heaviest evil karma is the person who did the execution because he pulled the lever, right? But when you accuse him of doing the killing, he will say, well, I didn't kill him. I'm only looking for food to feed my wife and children. He's the judge. The judge condemned him to death. Then when they asked the judge, the judge said, what? I only go according to law, ma. I sentence him only according to law, but I didn't kill him. It's the man who killed him. That's enough. So if you go by kamavipaka, the avious kamma is the person who pulled the lever to kill him. The second biggest kamma is the judge, because the judge condemned him to death. Now how about the people in the town, all of you? Actually, this person has to die because of all of you, because of the safety of all of you, all of you crying out to the police to find the killer. And this person has to die for your sake. So are you guilty? Are you guilty of killing this man? Indirectly, you are responsible for this person's death. Because of your safety, this person has to die. That's enough. So are you guilty? You are not guilty because you did not ask for him to be hanged. If, suppose, you write a letter to the newspaper, this person must die because he killed my daughter. This person must hang. Then, in a way, you are responsible because you asked for this person to be executed. But if he did not open your mouth, he did not say he must be hanged, then you have no karma. Even though you benefit from his death, So in the same way, when somebody breeds some animal and he sells it to the market to be slaughtered, the heaviest karma is the person who works in the market and slaughters the chickens, slaughters the pigs and all that. Because he is the one who actually slaughters them. The second evil karma, the heaviest evil karma, is the person who breeds the animal. because he breeds the animal and then he sells it to the market with the intention of having it slaughtered. That means he's like the judge. He has condemned the animals to death by selling them to be slaughtered. But the person like you and me who eat the meat, we have no karma of killing. Even though we benefit from the killing, we did not ask for it to be killed. But it's different if you go to a restaurant and then you select a live fish. or a live crab or whatever, and you ask them to cook for you, then you are responsible, because you have condemned that creature to be killed. As long as you don't open your mouth, you don't ask for it to be killed, even though you are indirectly responsible, you don't have that karma. Because whether you eat that animal or not, most of them will still be slaughtered. Because imagine if all human beings became vegetarians and then these animals multiplied so fast and then they'll become pests. For example, in Africa, many years ago, people used to, these poachers, they'll kill the elephants because of the tusks, isn't it, to sell. So they killed them until their numbers were quite small So then these African countries, like Kenya and all that, they make very strong laws against poaching. So strong that most of the poachers, they're not poaching. So now the elephants multiply until so much, they become a threat to human existence. They come into the villages to eat the banana trees, and then when people go and chase them, they kill human beings. Once when I was in my brother's house, I went to visit my mother. I saw a natural geographic of one of these shows. These elephants are very smart. They know certain houses. These people came to chase them away. At night, they come and they kill the man. They come, they know there's somebody in the house. They go there and kill the man. So they become a pest that people have to shoot them again. So when they multiply too much, it becomes a threat to human existence. They have to kill them. For example, like if you plant vegetables or you plant fruit trees and these rabbits come and eat and these kangaroos and these squirrels and all that, these farmers will kill them or trap them. Even like they plant vegetables, they have to use a lot of herbicide, insecticide. Like no harvest, cannot harvest anything. So this world is such that it's a race for survival. Dog eat dog world. Don't talk about flesh. Even in the business, when people do business, it's also a dog eat dog world, only they don't eat flesh. Sometimes they kill each other in different ways. This world, the Buddha said it's dukkha. In the Bible, you know what they say? The Bible says that the world is evil. The world is evil. The nature of the world is evil. Because every being is fighting for survival. As long as you have a self, you will fight for survival. And sometimes when your life is threatened, or when your son or your daughter's life is threatened, you will also kill. Right? As long as there is a self, Selfishness. Protect yourself. So we cannot change this world. The world is like that. We can only change ourselves. And the way to end suffering is to strive in the spiritual path. When you strive in the spiritual path, then you give up a lot of things. Then if everybody lives like monks and nuns, then there's no need for electricity, no need for houses. A lot of the evil is not done

(EA03)-07-Meditation-and-Listening-to-the-Dhamma-are-Both-Important

Both are so important, listening to the Dhamma and meditation. Meditation I'd advise you to do early morning as soon as you wake up. Because when you wake up, you try to wake up slightly earlier so that you can meditate. Because that's the best time to meditate when your body is not so tired. And then in the evening when you come back from work, then you listen to the Sutta. And then you read the Dhamma books. Because when you're after work, you're quite tired. It's quite difficult to meditate. So in the evening, when you have free time, you listen to dharma talks and read the suttas. In the morning, you meditate. Actually, our meditation is to clear our mind so that we can understand the sutta. So understanding the sutra is by listening to the dharma or reading

(EA03)-08-Facing-Death

Actually, if a person is not prepared, at the last minute, it's very hard to do anything. Facing death is not a hundred meters dash. It's a long, long run. So we have to prepare ourselves over a period of years. Then only we can face death. So if somebody is ignorant, then at the last minute you try to teach the person some dharma or anything, it's no use. The mind is not tuned to dharma. What is important is the everyday mind. Our everyday mind, the state of our mind every day is extremely important. That is your natural frequency. So when we die, The doctor will examine your breath, you stop breathing, and examine your pulse, your heart has stopped beating, and then the doctor will say, oh, this person is dead. Actually, that person is not dead because the mind is still going on. And the mind may go on for another one hour or two hours or three hours. During those moments, that person is not conscious of the outside world. That person is only conscious of whatever is in his mind. So the mind is in a state of dreaming. So that state depends on your everyday mind. If a person is always chasing after worldly things, then when that person is dying, he will also think about all the worldly things. And if that person is a bad-tempered, violent type of person, then that last minute, his thoughts will be fighting and all that, and be reborn as an animal, probably. But if that person is a cultured person who practices the Dhamma, who loves the Dhamma, then when that person is dying, his thoughts will be on Dhamma. And the Buddha said that kind of thoughts will bring you up to a good rebirth. So whatever you say to that person at that last minute is no use. When his eyes are open, when his ears are open, he can listen to whatever you say. The moment his heart stops beating and he stops breathing, then his thoughts will run. And those thoughts have nothing to do with your talk. Those thoughts are his everyday thoughts. And his everyday thoughts will bring him to his rebirth. So it doesn't matter what you say to him in the last moment, it doesn't matter at all. You know, most of us, especially lay people, we chase after different things in life. When you're young, you want to have a good education. After you have a good education, you want to have a good partner. After you have a good partner, you want to have nice children, then at the same time you want to make a lot of money, then you want to get a nice big house to stay in, nice car to drive, etc. Then at the end of life, you find all these things are not important. At the end of life, when you are dying, what is important to you? Firstly, the good deeds that you did, the good deeds that you did to others. Secondly, the evil deeds that you did to others, you'll be very remorseful. Thirdly, the things that could have made you advance spiritually, the steps or the the spiritual path, if you did not make enough effort after having come to the Dhamma, knowing the Dhamma, and you did not make enough effort, you will also regret very much. A few years ago, there was a man from Kuala Lumpur who came to our Jamo monastery to stay for two weeks, and everybody liked him because he was a very good cook. He was very popular with people. But then he came, he was not used to monastery life, not used to not having dinner. So he didn't keep his biscuit very well. He'd hide some biscuit in his kuti to eat at night, which I later found out. So after that, he left. And maybe he thought monastery life is too difficult, and night was an old dinner. So he didn't come back. Then a few years later, maybe four years later, three or four years later, he came back one day. Then I looked at him, and I said, what happened to you? Because his face was dark, very dark. So he told me I have cancer, terminal cancer. He said I came back to say I regret very much, I regret extremely I didn't come back to practice in the monastery. After that, he went back to KL and friends visited him also. He told them he regret very much. He come back to the monastery to keep the eight precepts to practice. Shortly after that, he passed away. So you see, when we have the chance to progress spiritually, it will make the effort. It's very important having come to the Dhamma, to learn the Dhamma enough so that you get right view. because once you get right view, you are secure. That is most important. In samsara, in the cycle of birth and death, I don't mind going on forever if I can always be reborn in the heavenly world. Right? You also, I'm sure you don't mind being in samsara forever and ever if you are always in the Good rebirth, isn't it? What we are afraid of is rebirth in the ghost realm, in the animal realm, and worse, in the hell realm. These three we are afraid of, right? But once you have right view, then you will never be reborn as a ghost or an animal or go to hell. Ah, safe now. Then slow boat out of samsara also never mind. Right? Once you have become an Arya, I think your kong teck, your merit is so great. Even you come back as a human being or so, I think you'll have a good life. Like many of the Buddha's disciples, sons of the very rich men in town, right? Having four wives, plenty of slaves. Go to heaven also, 500 devis as your wife. So it's very important now that we have come to the right dharma, the true dharma, to make an effort. If you don't make an effort, then when you are passing away, that will be your greatest regret. Because human life is very difficult to get. And our human life here will determine the next many, many lifetimes. It does not only influence your next life, It influences many lifetimes after that. Because in this human birth, we create a lot of karma. When you are born in other realms, you reap the effects of your karma as a human being. In heaven, you don't create much karma. You only enjoy, enjoy, enjoy, use up your good karma. And when you go to hell, you have to pay back, pay back, pay back, pay back all your evil karma. Or you are born as a ghost or an animal, has no chance to create karma, you're just paying back, paying back. So human life span, lifetime is very crucial. Very, very crucial. So we must not be careless. We have to be extremely careful. Don't at the last moment regret this and regret then. Imagine now that you have a second chance in life. A lot of people don't have it. Suddenly they know they got cancer and within One or two months, they pass away. Just like this Chinese New Year, one of my devotees in Perak State, said just before New Year, the sister-in-law phoned her and said, coming back for Chinese New Year, asked her to cook this and cook that. And before she could come back, suddenly she found she got cancer. And then went to check, found that the lung collapsed already. I had to go to hospital to take out that lump. And then suddenly, I found that the cancer spread already. Now, we're just waiting for death. And then she told my devotee, she said that she regret very much that she did not take an interest in religion. Before she got sick, she used to laugh at my devotee, spending so much time with your Buddhist monastery and all these things. And now that she is on the brink of death, then only she understands that she is not prepared for death at all. So her greatest regret is that she did not take any interest in religion. We should live our life like the scout, be prepared. Anytime, you go for a check-up, suddenly you find out you've got cancer. Among the Chinese, most of the Malaysians who get cancer are Chinese. On the average, in Malaysia, one in four people get cancer. So among the Chinese, you can say one in three. One in three. So your chances of getting cancer are very, very high. But anyway, whether the doctor tells you you've got cancer or not, the Buddha already said that you all have cancer. In the sutra, the Buddha said, you have cancer. Anytime you can die. You don't know when you're going to die. And life is very short, very, very short. When you don't expect it, suddenly, you find you're going to die. Like this lady, never expect, come home for Chinese New Year, want to celebrate. Suddenly, cannot enjoy anymore. Many years ago, one of our Penang devotees, her husband was dying. So the doctor said, within three months, definitely he will die. But after that, he didn't die. And it dragged on, month after month. So this old lady asked me and another monk to go to the house to do some chanting for this old man. So when we went to the house, He saw this old man with all skin and bones. He should be dead already, but he refused to die. And he was so weak that his mouth opened and could not close his mouth. So we did some chanting for him. And after that, we left. Within five minutes, he passed away. Some people are like that. They don't go off because they don't have enough good karma. So they know they're going to take rebirth. So they're scared. So as long as you cling on to life, you won't die. Our mind is very strong. You're not willing to die. Even your body is rotting. Just recently somebody told me the mother's body is rotting already and yet she refused to die. Pulse is already coming out from the mouth. Actually it's rotting already and yet she refused to die. Holding on to life. So this person, scared of dying because not in a good karma. So when we did some chanting for him, he felt assured. Then he let go. Passed away. But that does not mean he'll go to a good place. At the last moment, he feels peaceful. Once he closes his eyes and is clinically dead, then the mind will continue to go on. That depends on his karma. If his karma is good, it brings him to a good rebirth. If his karma is no good, still full of greed, hatred and delusion, he will go to a bad rebirth.

(EA03)-09-Right-Effort-Right-Recollection-and-Right-Concentration

one leads to the other, right effort, if you practice right effort then you can easily practice right recollection, if you practice right recollection to the extent of satipatthana then it will bring you to concentration, right effort is like looking at your unwholesome states and discarding unwholesome states of mind and practicing wholesome states of mind. If you do that, like keeping sila, then your mind becomes happy. When your mind becomes happy, then you can practice right recollection and right concentration.