From: https://youtube.com/watch?v=PW_2KMn7ieo

Context: Throughout this transcript, Bhante Vimalaramsi is the speaker unless otherwise indicated.

[Music]

okay

thus if i heard on one occasion the

blessed ones living at sawatee and

jettas grove and athenpendika's park

there he addressed the monks thus monks

venerable sir they replied the blessed

one said this

monks for the most part

beings

oh i'm sorry

is that better

maybe we need to turn it up let's turn

it up here and see what happens

testing testing

testing testing that's a little better

for the most part beings have this wish

desire and longing

if only unwished for undesired

disagreeable things would diminish

and wished for desired agreeable things

would increase

that sounds reasonable yeah

even though all beings have this wish

desire and longing unwished for

undesired disagreeable things increase

for them

and wish for desired agreeable things

diminish

now monks

what do you think is a reason for that

venerable sir our teachings are rooted

in the blessed one

guided by the blessed one

have the blessed one as their resort

it would be good if the blessed one

would explain the meaning of these words

having heard it from the blessed one

amongst will remember it

then listen monks and attend closely to

what i shall say that's really an

important part

be attentive don't let your mind wander

don't be looking around and

just not paying attention as closely as

you can

yes venerable sir the blessed one said

this here amongst an untaught ordinary

person

who has no regard for the noble ones

is unskilled and undisciplined in their

dhamma

who has no regard for true men

and is unskilled and undisciplined in

their dharma

these are the monks

that

they

do the study

and they're

they're very well versed in what the

buddha is talking about

but they don't have a practice

or they're practicing very little

does not know what these things should

be cultivated and what things should not

be cultivated

he does not know what things should be

followed and what things should not be

followed

not knowing this he cultivates things

that should should not be cultivated

and does not cultivate things that

should be cultivated

he follows things that should not be

followed

and does not follow things that should

be followed

because he does this

that unwished for undesired disagreeable

things increased for him

and wished for desired agreeable things

diminish

why is that

that is what happens to one who does not

see clearly

the well-taught noble disciple whose

regard for noble ones is killed and

disciplined in their dhamma

who has regard for true men is killed

and disciplined in their dharma

knows what things should be cultivated

and what things should not be cultivated

he knows what things should be followed

and what things should not be followed

knowing this he cultivates things that

should should be followed

and cultivated and does not cultivate

things that should not be cultivated

he follows things that should be

followed and does not follow things that

should not be followed

it is because he does this that unwished

for

undesired disagreeable things diminished

for him

and wished for desired agreeable things

increase

why is that

that is what happens to one who knows

and sees clearly

monks there are these four ways of

undertaking things

what are the four

there is a way of undertaking things

that is painful

right now and ripens in the future as

pain

there is a way of undertaking things

that is pleasant right now and ripens in

the future as pain

there's a way of undertaking things that

is painful now

and ripens in the future as pleasure

there are

there is a way of undertaking

things that is pleasant now and ripens

and the future is pleasant

now there's another suit in dignikayah

that talks about this

is talking directly about meditation

there are some meditations that are real

painful at the start and they're always

painful

what is that

well breaking your precepts

is painful now because you feel guilty

and is

painful in the future because it

disturbs your

mind now amongst one who is ignorant

that doesn't mean stupid

that means

just not educated you don't understand

you don't know

not knowing this way of undertaking

things is painful now

and ripens in the future as pain

does not understand as it actually is

thus

this way of undertaking things is

painful now and ripens in the future as

pain

not knowing it not understanding it as

it actually is

the ignorant cultivates it

and does not avoid it

because he does so unwished for

undesired disagreeable things

increase in him and wish for desired

agreeable things diminish

why is that

that is what happens to one who does

not

know and see clearly

makes sense

now monk

one who is ignorant not knowing this

way of undertaking things that is

pleasant now

and ripens in the future as pain

does not understand as it actually is

thus

this way of undertaking things is

pleasant now and ripes in the future in

the future as pain

not knowing not understanding as it

actually is

the ignorant one cultivates it and does

not avoid

does not avoid it

ah

that helps

because he does so unwished for

things increase for him

and wish for things diminish

why is that

that is what happens to one who does not

know and see clearly

now monks

one who is ignorant not knowing the

weight of undertaking things

that is painful now ripens in the future

as pleasure

does not understand as it actually is

thus

this way of undertaking things is

painful now and ripens in the future as

pain

not knowing it not understanding it as

it actually is

the ignorant one does not cultivate it

but avoids it

because he does so the unwished four

things increase for him

and wish for things diminish why is that

that is what happens

to one who does not know and see

what is that

well it's pleasurable to drink alcohol

right

but what happens when you drink too much

pain

now monks one who is ignorant not

knowing the way of undertaking things

that is pleasant now ripens in the

future as pleasure

what is that

give me a guess

what's pleasant now and ripe sins in the

future is pleasant

starts with the sixth

ah

okay

does not understand it as it actually is

thus

the way of undertaking things is

pleasant now and ripens in the future as

pleasure

not knowing it and not understanding it

it is actually

the ignorant one who does not cultivate

it well i guess that's going to be the

last one not this one for the six ours

but avoids

avoids it because he does so unwished

four things increased for him

and wished for things diminish why is

that

that is what happens to one who knows

and sees clearly

now amongst one who is wise

knowing this way of undertaking things

that is painful now and ripens in the

future as pain

understands as it actually is thus

this undesirable things is painful now

and ripens in the future as pain

knowing it understanding it as it

actually is

the wise one does not cultivate it

but avoids it

because he does so unwished for the

undesired disagreeable things diminish

for him

and wished for desirable things increase

why is that

that is what happens to one who knows

and sees clearly

now monks

one who is wise

knowing this way of

undertaking things

that is pleasant now and ripens in the

future as pain

understands it as it actually is thus

this way of undertaking things is

pleasant now and ripens in the future as

pleasant as as pain

knowing it understanding it as it

actually is the wise one

does not cultivate it but avoids it

because he does so wish for things

diminished for him and wished for things

increase

why is that

that is what happens to one who knows

and sees

now monks

one who is wise knowing and seeing this

way of undertaking things

that is painful now and ripens in the

future as pleasure

understands as it actually is

this way of undertaking things is

painful now and ripens in the future as

pain pleasure

knowing it understanding it as it

actually is

the wise one does not avoid it but

cultivates it

because he does so

unwished four things diminished for him

and wished for things increase

why is that

that is what happens to one who

knows and sees clearly

now amongst one who is wise knowing this

way of undertaking things that is

pleasant now and ripens in the future as

pleasure

understands it as it actually is thus

this way of undertaking things

is now pleasant and ripens in the future

as pleasure

what's coming to my mind right now is

one pointed concentration

because it's pleasant pleasurable you

have a lot of bliss

you're in that bliss and afterwards you

feel really good

but that's not leading to

the end of the suffering

knowing it understanding it as it

actually is the wise one does not avoid

it but cultivates it

because he does so unwished four things

diminished for him

and wished for things in greece why is

that

that's what happened to one who knows

and sees clearly

what monk is the way

of undertaking things that is painful

now and ripens in the future as pain

here monks

someone in pain

and grief kills living beings

and he experienced pain and grief after

that killing of living beings as

condition

in pain and grief he takes what is not

given

he misconducts himself in sexual

pleasures

he speaks falsehoods

he speaks maliciously

he speaks harshly

he gossips

and his covetous

covetous

has a mind of ill will

holds wrong view

and he experiences pain and grief

that have wrong view as condition

so on the desolation of the body after

death he reappears it reappears in a

state of deprivation

in an unhappy destination in perdition

even in hell

that gives you some idea what happens

when you break the precepts doesn't it

these things are real

and it's

your responsibility

even the slightest little white lie

can cause this kind of problem for you

this is called the way of undertaking

things that is painful now and ripens in

the future is pain

what monks is the way of undertaking

things that is pleasant now

and ripens in the future as pain

here amongst

someone in pleasure and joy kills living

beings

any experiences pleasure and joy that

have killing living beings as their

condition

in pleasure and joy

he takes what is not given i ran across

a man he got caught but he

uh

robbed someplace

and he said when he opened up that safe

oh he was so happy

but one of the things that happens with

things that you steal is they don't last

they just disappear on their own

so it's only a short period of time and

then you're broke again

so

and he experiences pleasure and joy

that have wrong view his condition

on the desolution of the body after

death he reappears in a state of

deprivation

an unhappy destination in perdition even

in hell

this is the way of undertaking things

that is pleasant now and ripens in the

future is pain

what monks is a way of undertaking

things that is painful now and ripens in

the future as pleasure

here someone in pain and grief

abstains from killing living beings

and he experiences pain and grief that

have

abstention

from killing living beings as their

condition

in pain and grief he abstains from

taking what is not given

he abstains from sexual misconduct

sexual misconduct is much understood

that doesn't mean abstinence from sexual

conduct i mean there's too many

buddhists in the world to believe that

it means having wrong sexual activity

with someone that's too young

wrong sexual act activity with another

person's partner

and the guilty feeling that happens

along with

that any kind of sexual activity that

causes

pain

and dissatisfaction to arise

that's wrong sexual

activity now a lot of monks they they

refuse to talk about this kind of thing

and it's something that you need to know

so that you won't do that sort of thing

okay

from speaking of falsehood

from speaking maliciously

from speaking harshly

this is another one that's it's really

catching on right now with

all societies

as foul language

what kind of a mind do you have when

you're cursing

is it happy and uplifted

no why

because you feel guilty for saying it

and you upset other people

so you don't want to be doing that sort

of thing

from gossiping what is gossip

is talking about somebody that's not

there and talking making up stories

about them

and basically telling lies

and i know that it's a big temptation

and

what you want to do

is picture that person standing right

beside you and whatever you say they

hear what you're saying

and

that

will stop you from gossiping and making

up stories about how bad they are in one

way or another

he is not covetous

he doesn't try to

become jealous of other people

he does not have a mind of ill will

he holds right view

he experiences pain and grief

that have

right view as condition

on the desolution of the body after

death he reappears in a happy

destination even in a heavenly world

this is called the way of undertaking

things that is painful now and ripens in

the future as

pleasure

what monks is a way of undertaking

things that is pleasant now and ripens

in the future is pleasant now we got the

six ours

here monks

someone in pleasure and joy

abstains from killing living beings and

he experiences pleasure and joy

that have abstention from killing living

beings as a condition

one of the things that's real

interesting is

there's an awful lot of beings

that pets

that

you think you're

saving them from painful existence

by

taking them to the vet and

have

what they call putting them to sleep

that's just another way of saying

they're murdering them

the thing is if you're with that being

and they're in a lot of pain

they take comfort in knowing that you

love them

and even though their body has pain

their mind has a tendency to be more

uplifted

and there were some that

people left for roadkill and i would

take them and try to take them to the

vet to see if we could fix it

and the vet said well we might as well

put them to sleep i said no no way i'll

take them home.

and

i would uh chant for them to let the men

to suta

and i would chant to them the blessings

and all kinds of kind things you know

animals know more about your mind state

than you think they do

and when they feel that loving kindness

coming to them that makes their minds

settle down and they accept the fact

that they're going to die

oh i spent a lot of time

about a year

being with people as they die i was

working in a nursing home

and

there were some people that had extreme

pain

one lady in particular that i can

remember

she had cancer in her brain

and she was always in a state of pain

but i was lucky enough and not many

people would think that was lucky

but i was lucky enough to be with her

and i gave her the precepts

she wasn't

conscious at the time but she understood

what i was doing and she was feeling

that love coming from me

and she actually died smiling

that made me happy

of course the family suffers a lot and

that's i'm not happy because of that

but i was happy for

them because their mind was uplifted

and you can i can almost feel them being

taken to a pleasant realm

in pleasure and joy abstains from taking

what is not given

when somebody drops their wallet

and you can go run after them and say

here you drop this what does that do to

their mind

now another thing that happens

is if you broke a precept

and you feel guilty about it

then go by an animal is going to be

killed

and

[Music]

take them away and let them go free

and

i've done this a few times

mostly because i wanted to be an example

for other people and they would see

that it was with chickens they're not

known to be the smartest animals in the

world

and

they

turned around looked me straight in the

eye thanking me

now what happens

at the butcher

the chicken gets pulled out

they kill it they take the feathers off

they give it to the person that's buying

it

but

this time

they

get grabbed and they

they see what's happening to the other

animals

and oh man it's my time and they're

really afraid

they're truly afraid

so the butcher takes them and ties their

feet up and they go well

i guess they're going to kill me later

so they still have the fear of death

but

i would take them out to the forest

and

cut the streams and let them go free

and they always would go a little ways

away turn around and look me in the eye

and thank me

because they went from the worst day in

their life

to the best day

and people would say well if you do this

with fish and they'll do the same thing

they'll still look you in the eye and

then go swim off

and they people say well they're going

to get caught and and

killed

that's their karma

that's not doesn't have anything to do

with me

it's okay

so you let them go free

and

they're real thankful

and when you let him go free you let him

go

free with the thought of giving up that

guilty feeling of having done that to

other animals

or done some um

some deed you've broken a precept in one

way or another

and that's one of the highest gifts you

can give giving life is

really amazing

so if if you feel like you've

had some kind of

guilty feeling about something it

doesn't matter how long ago it doesn't

matter even if it's in another lifetime

you're still carrying around that guilty

feeling

so what you want to do is

let these animals go free with that

guilty feeling

and you will feel immediate joy and

happiness for doing it

and it's really amazing

there was one place that i i was in

malaysia at the time and they have a lot

of

hunting birds hawks and

eagles and that sort of thing

and i let this chicken go

i let two of them go

actually

and

they were real clever and they would go

hide under something when the birds were

flying around looking for food

and they lasted a long time

and i came back maybe a year later and i

was shocked

these chickens came running up to me

and then saying hi basically

and

they

lived a fairly long life i guess i

didn't go back after that but i was

truly amazed that that happened

anyway

he holds right view

what is right view

letting go of grieving that's how you

purify your mind

using the six ours

and he experiences pleasure and joy that

have right view as condition

well you know that for a fact because

you've all felt it

that's wonderful

on the desolution of the body after

death he reappears in a happy

destination even a heavenly realm

this is

the way of undertaking things

that is pleasant now and ripens in the

future as pleasant because you have the

memory of

helping them

it made a lot of joy come up and then me

when i saw the chickens

that was really amazing

i was quite happy for a lot of days

after that

and the thing is the more happy you

become the less you have pain in your

body

so it's it's a good thing all the way

around and lasts for a long time

how can you take on somebody else's

breaking the precept

you can't

all you can do is be a support for them

and radiate loving-kindness to them

and you can tell them it's a good thing

if they find an animal the bigger the

animal the better

a pig is another real good one

you let them

people don't like it much if you let

them go free but you can keep them

around and feed them until they die i i

had a pig that

he weighed about 200 pounds he was about

250 pounds when they when he left

and they're one of the best pets you've

ever run across they're smart

they have a sense of humor

they laugh with you they don't smell bad

especially if you don't hold them in a

small place

you put them in a field

and they can run around and do whatever

they want and

i had a pig he followed me wherever i

went and he even developed a way

of getting into the back of my truck

and i didn't know he was there until i

looked in the rearview mirror and

there's a

pig with his ears flapping

but he had a lot of joy in doing that

and he paid attention to what i was

saying quite a bit

they say that pigs have the mentality of

about a seven-year-old so they do

understand what you're saying

i read this thing in a newspaper about

this one guy that he had a pig in his

house he was a pet

and the pig did something that the owner

didn't like

so the owner said you know

i'm going to turn you into bacon

and this is when they had

wires on the telephone

he went and pulled the telephone down on

the ground

with his nose he dialed 9-1-1 and then

squeals

i thought that was just great

but they have a sense of humor and

they're always doing things

and in the spring i was living in a

place that had a

fairly big garden

and

i would dig down a little ways and i

would put a lump of cheese that was

moldy and really gunky

and put it in and cover it up then

springtime came and i said okay you

gotta go to work

and he would dig up my garden for me so

i didn't have to do it

it worked it was a good relationship

but he was always doing things to step

in the way and i'd fall down or whatever

he was always playing jokes like that

so

samoa was

i loved this part i absolutely love it

if you've ever had bitter gourd you'll

know what i'm talking about

monks suppose there were a bitter gourd

mixed with poison

and a man who came who wanted to live

not to die

who wanted pleasure and recoiled from

pain

who told him good man this bitter gourd

is mixed with

drink from it

and they can juice it

and as you drink from it its color its

smell and its taste will not be

agreeable for you and that's the

understatement of the year

but the asians love it

they can eat they they'll eat anything

as even the flawless stuff

and

they do it as medicine

so they can have these all these

medicines that are really bad tasting

but

their body heals because of it

so

the best thing that western medicine has

come up with in

all of medicine

is the little tab you can put that foul

tasting stuff in so you can get it down

without tasting it

anyway that's my personal opinion

after drinking it

you will come to death or deadly

suffering

then he drank it

without reflecting and it did not

relinquish it

as he drank from it

its color its smell and his taste did

not agree with him

and after drinking from it

he came to death or deadly suffering

similar to that i say

is the way of undertaking things that is

painful now and ripens in the future as

pain

suppose there was a bronze cup

of beverage possessing a good color a

smell and taste that was nice

but it was mixed with poison

and a man who came who wanted to live

not to die

who wanted pleasure

and recoiled from pain

told him good man

this bronze cup very nice to look at

possesses a good a good color and a nice

smell

and it has a good taste but it's mixed

with poison

drink from it if you want

as you drink from it its color smell and

taste

will agree with you

but after drinking it you will come to

death or deadly suffering

then he drank from it without reflecting

and did not relinquish it

as he drank from it his color smell and

taste agreed with him it was pleasurable

but his drinking from it he came to

death or deadly suffering

similar to that i say is the way of

undertaking things that is pleasant now

and ripens in the future as pain

suppose there were fermented urine

mixed with various medicines

and a man came sick and with jaundice

and they told him good man

this fermented urine is mixed with

various medicines

drink from it if you want

as you drink from it its color smell and

taste will not agree with you

but after drinking from it

you will be well

this sounds really weird but in the

vineya

there is

a remedy for

a lot of skin problems

they have uh

well

just a lot of things that make you itch

and that sort of thing

and

the remedy is

to go out and get a quart of cow's urine

and let it sit in the sun for

a few days

and then

you drink it

and the color is nice

there's no taste to it it's not bitter

there's no taste

but after you drink it it makes your

body smell

really bad

i mean it's foul

and after a couple of days of doing that

you're you're over your skin problem but

you don't have any friends coming

so you have to suffer with that

then he drank it

after reflecting and did not relinquish

it

as he drank from it

his color taste and smell did not agree

with him

but after drinking from it he became

well

similar to that i say is the way of

undertaking things that's painful now

and ripens in the future as pleasure

suppose their work heard

honey ghee and molasses mixed together

and a man with dysentery came

and he told him good man

this curd honey bee and molasses mixed

together

drink it

if you want

as you drink it

its color smell and taste will agree

with you

and after drinking it

you'll get well

then he drank from the root

and after reflecting and did not

relinquish it

as he drank from his color

his smell and his taste agreed with him

after drinking from it he became well

similar to that i say is the way of

undertaking that which is pleasant now

and ripens in the future as pleasure

when one comes to know this he

investigates him

further thus

are there found in in the tagatta

or not clean states cognizable through

the eye or through the air

when he

investigates he comes to know clint

states recognizable through the eye or

the nose are found in the tagata

when he comes to know this he

investigates him further

has this venerable one attained any this

wholesome state over a long time or did

he attain it recently

when he investigates him he comes to

know the venerable one has attained this

wholesome state over a long time

he did not attain it only recently

this is something that happens for a lot

of folks

they really are enthusiastic they want

it to happen as fast as it can

but

my teacher russell ananda

he knew i was the kind of a person that

really

didn't

want to wait i wanted it now

and he told me

about every day

patience leads to nibana

so

remember that statement for yourself

if you if you're impatient you try too

hard if you try too hard you have more

restlessness if you have more

restlessness you have more pain in your

head

and in your body

so relax into things

don't resist or

push soften

smile

okay

remember that

when he comes to know this he

investigates him further thus

as this venerable one

acquired renown and attained fame

so that the danger is

connected with renown and fame

that's pride

i'm something special

or found in him

for monks as long as a monk has thus not

acquired renowned in fame

the dangers connected with that renown

and fame are not found in him

but

when he has acquired renowned and famed

those dangers are found

when he investigates him he comes to

know

this venerable one has acquired renowned

in vain

but the dangers connected with renown

and fame are not found in him

and that's one of the things that it was

always a danger for me

especially being in asia because i was

so much bigger than anybody else they

always looked up to me

because they had to because they were

showing them

[Music]

but

they also listened to what i was saying

for the most part

and they

when i

went to i was invited to go to the

biggest monastery in

malaysia that was theravada

and

i was asked to give dhamma talks every

other week on friday nights okay fair

enough

when the head mount keshri damananda

very famous monk he wrote 60 or 70 books

he's very famous

he introduced me

well there was a couple thousand people

watching a ceremony that we did at the

start of the range retreat

and the head monk says

we're very very lucky to have this

famous monk

be with us for the whole range retreat

you should take advantage of it

so i'm sitting right beside him and i'm

thinking i wonder who he's talking about

i started looking down the way

and i

turned back to the head monk and he's

handing me the microphone

i was the famous monk

i didn't know i was famous

and then he says

oh just give a talk for an hour and a

half that'll be long enough

oh geez

not repaired at all

so i fumbled my way through it

but

it was really a shock to me to find out

that he considered me famous

anyway

when he comes to know this he

investigates him further thus if a

venerable one is restrained with fear

not restrained with he's restrained

without fear not restrained with fear

and he does

avoid indulging in sensual pleasures

because he's without lust through the

destruction of lust

when he investigates him

he comes to know this venerable one is

restrained without fear

not restrained by fear

and he avoids indulging in sexual

pleasures

because without lust

through the destruction of lust

now monks

if others should ask that monk

thus

what are the venerable ones reasons

and what is his evidence whereby he says

the venerable one

is restrained without fear not

restrained by fear

and avoids indulging in sensual

pleasures because he's without lust

through the destruction of lust

answering rightly

that monk would answer this

whether that venerable one dwells in the

sangha or alone

while some while some there are

well-behaved

and some are ill-behaved

and some teach a group

while some are seen

concerned about mint material things

and some are unsullied by material

things

still that venerable one does not

despise anyone because of that

and i have heard

and learned from the blessed one

from his own lips

am not restrained i am restrained

without fear

not restrained by fear

i avoid indulging in sensual pleasures

because i am without lust through the

destruction of lust

the tatargata amongst

should be questioned further about this

are there found in the

or not

any defiled states cognizable through

the eye or through the ear

the tatagato would answer thus

no defiled states cognizable through the

eye or the ear are found in the tatakata

if asked

are there found in the

tatakata not any mixed states cognizable

through the eye or the ear

the detox would answer this

no mixed states cognizable through the

eye or through the ear or found in the

tataugata

if asked

are there found in the titagata or not

cleanse states cognizable through the

eye and through the ear

the tatakata would answer thus

cleanse states cognizable through the

eye or through the ear or found in the

tatakata

are my pathway

my domain

yet i do not identify with them

he has no craving

monks a disciple should approach the

teacher who speaks thus in order to hear

the dhamma

the teacher teaches him in the dhamma

with its higher and higher levels

with its more and more sublime levels

with its dark and bright counterparts

as the teacher teaches the dhamma to a

monk

in this way

through direct knowledge of a certain

teaching

here in that dhamma

the monk comes to a conclusion about the

teachings

he places confidence in the teacher thus

the blessed one is fully awakened

the dharma is well proclaimed by the

blessed one the sangha is practicing the

good way

now if others should ask that monk thus

what are the venerable ones reasons

what is his evidence whereby he says the

blessed one is fully awakened the dhamma

is well proclaimed by the blessed one

the sangha is practicing the good way

answering rightly

that monk would answer

here friends i approached the blessed

one in order to hear the dhamma

the blessed one taught me the dhamma

with its higher and higher levels

with its more and more sublime levels

with its dark and bright counterparts

as the blessed one taught the dhamma in

me in this way

through direct knowledge

of a certain teaching here in the dhamma

i came to know

[Applause]

and

reached the conclusion about the

teachings

i placed confidence in the teacher

the blessed one is fully awakened

the dhana is well proclaimed by the

blessed one

the sangha is practicing the good way

monks when anyone's faith is thus

planted rooted and established in the

tatakata

through these reasons

terms and phrases

his faith is said to be supported by

reasons

rooted in vision

seeing directly

and very firm

it is invisible

by any recluse or brahman for our god or

mara or brahma or anyone in the world

that is how the monks there is an

investigation of the dhamma

in accordance with the dhamma

and that is how the tatakata is well

investigated in accordance with the

dhamma

that's what the blessed one said

the monks were satisfied and delighted

in the blessed one's words

now it's real interesting

a lot of people they don't like the idea

of

taking the precepts every day oh it's

just a writing ritual

no

it's not

it is reminding you that you want to

keep them without breaking them why

because that leaves your well-being

that leads to a magical kind of life

you can think something a happy thing

from about somebody else

and it just emanates from you

that's a real fun

so the more you can do this

the more your mind becomes uplifted

and that's why i wrote the book with the

title life is meditation meditation is

life

meditation is not about sitting

it's about practice

all the time

whatever you're doing

develop your mindfulness so you can see

on wholesome state starts to arise and

you can 6r right then

it's real fun

so the more

you don't take this as some kind of

commandment then some god is going to

throw a thunderbolt as you

the more

you take this seriously

but happily

the more uplifted you become

you cannot you can become a sotopanel by

not practicing meditation at all

but having faith that the buddha's

teaching is the right way

and hearing a dhamma talk

all of a sudden it can click

and there you are

i haven't had many students that that's

happened to

but there are some

one of them

i was giving her a talk on dependent

origination and she was really really

interested in independent origination

and i told her that it's not this subtle

just moment moment-to-moment dependent

origination you need to understand you

need to understand

in your life

and as soon as i said that she got it

there it

was and she was happy for days and days

after that she was walking around being

joyful and

her personality type was she was

fearful of things and she was very

unsure of herself

and that just disappeared

i saw her with this

magnificent

and it really is a magnificent glow on

her face and that made me really happy

every time one of you experiences nibana

it makes me exceptionally happy for the

rest of the day

i'll think about that and

i'll see your face in my mind and that's

oh

wow

and you hear me say thank you

because

you've done the work

you've understood how it really

occurs

so why wouldn't i say thank you for

doing all that hard work that you're

doing

it can be fun work but it's still hard

it's like practicing some kind of

instrument you have fun doing it

but as you get better and better you

start really appreciating it more and

having fun doing it

that's the way all life is

and that's what i

wish for you

and it's a sincere wish

the more people we have like that in the

world

the easier things become

you'll see for yourself

so

please continue on

this is a fun practice so have fun doing

it well i don't know how to have fun

well can you laugh

can you laugh at how crazy your mind can

be sometimes

because it is

we're all crazy

the only people that are not crazy i've

never run across one

is an arahat

but it's

it's worth it looking for him

so do you have any questions

do you really understand what i'm trying

to get across

yeah you said that

if um

for whatever reason you might have

killed a living being

you know you could

do you know remedy

um

is there the same thing that happens

let's say for you know gossip or why

yeah

you can let it go by

giving life it's a wonderful practice

i told this to one lady and she did it

and she had a couple of kids

one of them was three and

four and the other was five or six

and they went with her to let the animal

go and they said mom

let's do that again

and they actually they would go out and

get some corn for the animals

for the

the

chickens

and feed them

so that was a nice start for their

freedom reign as it were

and they did it fairly often so that was

a good thing it's a great thing it's a

great lesson for your kids because they

kind of imitate you

and they see how happy you can become

so

it's it's

helping now but it's also helping the

future generations

yeah

uh

the pieces against lying that counts

about yourself like applying to yourself

right

i'll try to follow that as closely as

you can so you don't do that anymore

okay

yeah

um this is in regard to

watching other people suffer

who are expressing them

so i'm in the medical business and

we see people suffer and sometimes when

they're dying we

put them on drips

yeah

so don't do that refuse to do that

my mother ran a nursing home

50 years

she helped people a lot she was one of

the most compassionate people i've ever

run across

and i worked for her so she let me do

pretty much what i wanted to do with

with people that were dying

now there's a couple of books that we

have over here

one of them is who dies

by steven levine

and the other is by steven levine it's

called

healing into death

and that could give you some real good

insights into

how to handle that

you can't take somebody else's pain away

as much as you want to even when you

give them drugs you're not helping them

really

what you need to do

is start radiating loving kindness to

them

their mind will settle down

i told

quite a few people that if they had

family members that they truly loved

to get a picture of them and put in

front of your face as you're dying

and

they

had a tendency to die with smiles

now always when i was with them

sometimes the family would come and they

don't know me from anybody

so the last thing i would tell them

was that i share the merit of every good

act that i've ever done in any lifetime

and they would their mind would start to

come up of course

and i also told them to remember times

when they laughed and had fun with their

family members

and that helped their mind be uplifted

there's different visions that people

can have

right as they're dying

and that's the whole reason i was being

around people because i wanted to see if

those visions are real yeah i've read it

in the suttas but i want to know

i want to know firsthand

there are some people that are really

grumpy and they have a lot of hatred

when they die they die the horrible

death i mean they die

suffering a lot

and they're probably going to be reborn

in a hell realm

there was one man that he was

he was really greedy his whole life and

that was his habitual tendency

and right as he was dying he started

saying out loud

don't pull me away

and i said what's happening

he said well

there's this

black

hairy beast that's pulling me away and

if i die right now i'm going to be one

of those

so i gave him the precepts and i told

him to take it easy

and his mind got uplifted right after

that

there

is times

um the american indians they always talk

about the happy hunting ground where

they can go and kill animals

and

they're going to be reborn as

an animal that's going to be killed very

often

there are some people

and some of my friends that had died

they were very close to death and it was

like they were talking to somebody else

he said who are you talking to

well my family members are sitting right

here they've already died and they're

they're encouraging me to let go so i

can be with them

so they're reborn as a human being

and then there's the ones that

i work with

by

keeping the precepts reciting the

precepts sometimes i would read from the

bible because they felt comfortable with

that i don't care

that's up to them what their belief is

is fine i have no problem with that at

all

so i would read to them and as they were

dying they would tell me that

well there's some beings coming down

and this sounds corny but they come down

with a chariot

that's

motored by itself it doesn't have white

horses on it

and they pick them up and they take them

to a heavenly realm

so after being around enough people and

seeing this i really became a believer

now the thing with the precepts if

there's nobody around to tell that you

broke the precept

what i want you to do is forgive

yourself for breaking the precept

take the precepts you only have five it

only takes a minute

recite the precepts

and then make a real strong

determination i don't want to do that

again because that causes me pain in the

future i don't want that

and you'll feel relief

so that's how you can purify your mind

being a monk

i i do a confession every morning in

case i did break something not that i

absolutely did

but i might have broken a precept not

knowingly there's no excuse so don't do

that

okay

so i confess it every morning

there's always a sense of relief when i

do that

i did it

every day

for

two years while i was in burma

with the monks and it was like a private

little ceremony we went through every

day but this was the kind of ceremony

that had some real meaning to it

so it was good to do it

yeah

my best friend passed away few months

ago i

i mean i still talk to him okay

um and you can read it

on animals or

well that's true let me tell you you can

still radiate loving kindness to them

but you're not going to get any effect

from it

right now i want you to stay with a

loving kindness

and

this is your training period

so

they have to be alive

yes

right

but in the future

if you want to bring a picture of them

and

radiate loving kindness to them

and wish them happiness and

you can donate to the sangha

and you see that that happens

that can make them very happy

if they were reborn as a hungry ghost

that means their mouth was so small that

they can't even take a sip of water

uh it will make them so happy that they

can

leave that realm and become one of the

in into the heavenly realm depending on

their karma

and it's recommended that's one of the

things that the buddha said to do

with your departed relatives

is

find monks to give it to

donate to them

with the idea of them getting the merit

for doing that and food will

automatically appear in front of them

and if they're in a realm where they can

get food

it will make them extremely happy

and they'll walk around

singing and dancing and having fun

because they feel so good that you've

remembered them

no why would that be an attachment

is there any craving in that

no

well that's what i'm talking

making a pet making is there any

attachment in making it

well

then it's a pure gift isn't it

yeah

so i still watch television

okay

you know there's a there's a remedy for

that it's called a brick

a brick

and uh and some of the program many of

the programs that i enjoy

they break the presets quite often yeah

um

what's your what's your

find some movies that don't

what how does that i guess i guess uh i

guess it's just it's you're watching

wholesome activity so therefore

right you have a tendency to break it

because they do because that's what

you're putting in front of you

that's one of the

folds of the eightfold path is being

careful with that sort of thing

and i do too

but

it doesn't really affect me i don't

think about it later

but be careful about the news that you

get

because

they're professional liars

so

anything else

okay let's share samaritan

may suffering ones be suffering free and

the fear strapped fearless be

may the breathing shed all grief and

male beings find relief

may all beings share this merit that we

have thus acquired for the acquisition

of all kinds of happiness

maybe happening

mighty power

share the spirit of ours may they alone

protect the buddhist dispensations

no way