Tonight is my last session in our study on the Mangasutra. And for this session I thought I might ask you all to join me in a very special meditation, one of my favorites, which kind of is in consonance with the occasion. It is a meditation on death. If you find it a bit morbid, you may do your own meditation. But I have a reason for doing this. It's a very powerful reflection, as you will notice that we have done this for a short while. So please assume your usual position of meditation. Check your posture so that you are comfortable. Just let go of all other thoughts.

[01:03]

For this moment, let us reflect that at any moment, death may come. Death may come to me, to you. This breath may stop. at any time. The eyes do not see, nor the ears hear, nor the body feel, nor the nose smell, nor the tongue taste, nor is the mind present. Just reflect, what would it be like if we were to stop breathing and we were to die in this very moment. There are many ways that death is reflected upon in the meditation system, especially the Theravada.

[03:13]

For example, using an actual rotting corpse, because in those days there were channel grounds so that you can see various forms of corpses, of human corpses in various stages of decay and decomposition. Then the other kind is to reflect upon your own body. The idea of such meditation is not so much to experience revulsion. Speaking from experience, I find that you begin to value, begin to treasure what you have right now, present moment, what you are, very simply put. So, anyone like to give a feedback how you felt in that moment, very brief moment of practice? Any special feeling that you would like to share? Anyone thought what you're going to do?

[04:25]

Was there fear? I felt a little relief, actually. Relief? Okay. Well, in a way, I'm quite amused by the kind of answers you have given, because this is America. And we do not, we are not reminded very much of death, nor do we kind of fear death because of the cycle. And if you feel you could get out of the cycle of the samsara, you feel relief. That's the only way of looking at it, I suppose. But imagine, if you're really in some sort of danger,

[05:29]

Let's say while you're driving a car and you see this car coming straight at you, that split moment is a terrifying thought, isn't it? And a lot of things will come to you. It's moments like that when the meditation on death is very real. Or when your face is in very great difficulty, for example. Another important point is, it is thoughts like this that led to the one of the roots of the great religions, to answer such questions. Why do we die? What happens after death? How do we prepare for death? Or how to get rid of the fear that precedes death, and so on. So of course, I think the problem with death is usually the fear of death, the fear of the unknown. so that the wise do not fear death. In a way, if we meditate regularly, this idea of fear is not present.

[06:35]

But like I said, when we talk about death, we feel this... I mean, we really think about it. There is a sense of losing control. Losing control of what in this case? We lose control of the senses. the six senses, the five physical senses and the mind. Now, if we can think in that way, then I think we begin to appreciate how useful and how valuable it is when we are able to command or control our senses while we are alive. In a way, we can say that we are only truly alive, truly living, when we are in control of the senses. and that's where we come to this first line or first mangala of today's verse, verse 15, having self-control in the bracket sense restraint. The Pali word here is tapo.

[07:44]

Now, tapo is another interesting word, which is same as the Sanskrit term tapas, from which we get the term tapasa or tapasi meaning an ascetic a meditator and this term tapas here is translated as self-control or sense restraint it has to do well it literally translates as burning or the etymology of it comes from the term to burn So we have the fire analogy here. Burn what here? Burn off defilements. Burn off covetousness, grief, and so on. But let's look at it on the negative side. Now on the positive side, you have fire. It burns and gives energy. That's another way of looking at it. Now, while we are still on this analogy of fire,

[08:49]

There's another word which also means burning, that is dhyana. We're so used to the term dhyana meaning meditation, zen. I mean in Japanese it becomes zen. You have dhyana in Sanskrit, then you have jhana in Pali, then you have chan in Chinese, and then you get zen. And the word dhyana means to burn. And from there you have the famous analogy of a certain monk in the Lotus Sutra who, having led a celibate life, drank sweet-scented oil, rubbed his body with sweet-scented oil for a long time, and then burned himself as an offering to the Buddha. Of course, if we take it literally, that's what it means. But if we examine the term carefully, the term also means to meditate. So there's a kind of analogy there. So to meditate also means to burn, or meditation also means burning.

[09:52]

So you have tapas, or tapo, and then you have dhyana. Here's a very interesting coincidence of meanings. So on a simple level, on a daily level, on a non-Zazen level if you like, there is sense restraint. It means do not see what you don't need to see, do not hear what you do not need to hear, and so on. And this really cuts down a lot of trouble, a lot of hassle, as they say. For example, as we walk on the street, you find there's so many things we don't need to see. I have a friend who bought this big bag of expensive basmati rice. I said, why do you buy this? We don't need this. He said, well, that bag is really nice. It's a beautiful bag, and I'm so tempted to buy it. I said, yeah, well, they've succeeded in making you buy. You buy the bag. So this is where the advertiser is in control of your sense of seeing.

[11:00]

So in a way, to be mindful is to see less, hear less in the manner of speaking. See less of what's outside, to listen more to the inside. and listening more to your inside, you begin to be more clear about what's going on outside. It's a kind of paradox. So this is a simple daily practice of self-control or sense-restraint. The term self-control is in a way quite limiting, although it seems to sound better than sense-restraint, because the term self, when used by itself in such context usually refer only to the mind. For example, in the Dhammapada, we have a verse which says, the self is the lord of self, attahi attanonato, atta means self, the self is the lord of self, or self is self's own refuge. Well, some people have translated this to mean you are your own refuge, but from what I understand through the study of the Pali text, the word self here actually refers to the mind.

[12:10]

So when you say self-control here, very specifically it refers to mind control. And when the mind is controlled, I suppose all the other senses kind of fall into their proper places too. So for that reason I put a kind of square bracket, sense restraint. The Buddha gave a very beautiful and very simple instruction in this connection, a famous story I've told again and again. And I think this story is meant to be a kind of reflection. So it's worth telling many times. You know, sometimes we hear Dhamma stories and say, I've heard that one before. But that's not the point. Especially the Pali stories, they're like classical music. You hear them again and again. And then when you hear them again, they sound different. It depends on how you listen to them. Not in terms of quantity, but in terms of quality. There was this man, Bahia, he was shipwrecked, so he was wandering around and he met the Buddha.

[13:19]

For some reason he was reflecting on the brevity of life, like what we did at the opening of our study. So, the Buddha was going on his alms round with his bowl and collecting food and it is customary that he does not talk or preach while doing that. He will be collecting his alms bowl in silence. So, Bahiya went up to the Buddha and asked the Buddha, please teach me your teaching. The Buddha was silent. Then the second time, Bahiya said, well, please teach me, because if you don't, maybe I might die. Life is so short. The Buddha was still silent. And he insisted a third time. He said, well, if you don't teach me, then you might die. Then how am I going to learn? He was quite insistent. So Bahiya wanted a very brief teaching, just enough for me to practice.

[14:22]

So finally, Buddha said, all right. Bahiya just considered this. There are the six senses, the eye, ear and so on. So in seeing, consider only that there is just seeing. In the ear, there is just hearing. In the tongue, there is just tasting and so on. So in simple terms, watch whatever action is going on before you just as it is. Do not color it, do not add to it or minus it. Be like a mirror reflecting it. So that's another practice of sense restraint or self-control. Watching whatever is going in front of you. This in fact is the essence of Vipassana. There's another very important analysis here. It shows the Buddha's compassion. Now we know it is the Ubinaya rule that

[15:24]

monks do not talk when they're collecting alms. It's a minor rule. But here we see the Buddha actually teaching at the wrong time, out of compassion for Bahiya. And true enough, after listening to the very short discourse given by the Buddha, Bahiya became an Arahant and he asked to be ordained. But because of his past karma, he was not able to obtain the robes and the bow and things for ordination. So he had to go around looking for it. And while he was doing that, his old karma ripened. There are two versions of how he died. One is a sheep goat got him to death. The other is a cow. Well, that was his old enemy in the past life. with whom we had a very bad relationship. So this bad coward came back and he died.

[16:27]

I mean, he was never reborn again anyway. So in a way, ironically, what he said was true. Please teach me dharma now. Who knows when my end will come? So anyway, it's very interesting to see how the practice of mindfulness and brevity of life are interwoven. And in Thailand, I remember, I've never seen this ceremony, but I've been told. Now, we usually perform what is called Pansakula, or the Last Rites for the Dead. But they have a special ceremony that is called Last Rites for the Living, Pansakula for the Living, Pansagunpen in Thai. Very old people who are past their age, they would invite monks, especially if these elders are living in the upcountry region, and they would cover themselves with a kind of a white cloth representing a shroud, and the monks would recite some kind of verses for the last rites.

[17:34]

And this is supposed to bring them good karma and also lengthen their life. That's the interesting part of it. But it's a reflection on death too for the old folks. So this is where you see a traditional practice in Buddhism has become very Siamese in this case. So anyway, the next mangala is Living the Holy Life. Here the word is Brahmachari. Now earlier on, we have this word dharmalife, that's dharmacharya. That's verse 11. So here we have this third level of practice or samadhi or meditation. That is what we're dealing with today. And living the holy life is brahmacharya. Here it has been variously translated. I think at this level it means to live a celibate life, whether temporarily or on a long-term basis of a life.

[18:40]

and it's in a way a more special or specialized aspect of dharma-faring. But the brahmacharya can also translate as a very careful observance of the five precepts. If you say, go on retreat during a pochara day, a full moon, new moon days, that is also regarded as brahmacharya, for the day anyway. So it comes in this category. Of course here we could spend a long time discussing the merits and demerits of celibacy. But all kinds of world religions have a place for celibacy because there is a kind of need for turning inwards into oneself to be one with oneself, of which incelibacy is the opposite.

[19:48]

The Pali word for incelibacy, one of the words is metuna. Sanskrit is maituna. It means couple, coupling. In fact, that's the name for, I think, the Zodiac of Pisces. No, sorry, the twins. The twins, Libra, isn't it? Gemini, sorry. In Thailand, that's the word they use. Coupling represents a kind of this world, a culmination of samsara. It's not that we're trying to get rid of this nature of coupling. That's impossible. It's always there. It's the nature of the world. But what is meant here is that it's like the mud from which the lotus grows and to do this you have to turn in into yourself and you can only do that alone and in doing this your life is enriched and it results in liberation and spiritual liberation, the liberation of the spirit and this is what this section today we're dealing with is about so when we talk about Brahma

[21:06]

chariot or holy life we're talking about turning inwards looking yourself and truly knowing yourself and now after being a buddhist for so long my feeling is that this can be practiced at any level whether you are single or you're married or temporarily or for life or for any length of time that you choose. The important thing is when you practice it, it is clearly understood what is meant by this Brahmacharya and to keep to those rules even for a while. I think the most significant feeling you get here is a great sense of freedom. I mean this is one of those things I felt when I was a monk, there's so much time. There's so much time if you want to do important things, to think, to write, and so on. And of course, the monk's life is such that you eat less, and you do many things less, and so in a way your life is relatively longer than, say, the working person out there in the world.

[22:18]

And that time is meant to be quality time. It's meant to be work time in the sense of mind work. So actually meditation is the mind work. So holy life here has got, in fact, covers the whole of Buddhism, so that there are various grades. You can suffer from five precepts right up to the rules of the monks. So what happens when you control your senses or restrain your senses, do the holy life? The result is vision of the truth. So here again we see a kind of levels of realization. The vision of the Noble Truth arises. Now here we see a new analogy, a new imagery, the imagery of seeing. Seeing of the Noble Truth. The Noble Truth is to be seen. In other words, it's realized. For some reason in India, seeing is a favorite imagery.

[23:22]

I don't know. I think in the West, what do you say? Do you hear? Isn't it? Do you see? You do say that, right? If someone doesn't understand, do you see? But in Malaya, we use the word hear. Do you hear? I mean, in other words, do you accept this? Do you understand? So it's a different culture. I'm not sure if that's the influence of Islam. The hearing is this one, isn't it? I don't know. But that seems to be the popular verbal imagery we use in Malay. So in Indian philosophy, vision is very important. For example, just seeing the teachers, darshan, the physical kind of reflecting the teacher. Then the Buddha used this for the Arhats, looking at the Arhats and feeling inspired. That's the opposite of pornography. Because in pornography you look at pictures to stimulate your senses in a negative way.

[24:27]

Whereas when you look at an arahat or a wholesome teacher, you get this feeling of that's the ideal and that's what you would like to be and you get inspired towards good. And this later became, this is one of the principles of Buddhist aesthetics. You get Buddha images from that. So when you can see the teacher, the Buddha, you have an image of him. For that reason, if you look at Buddha images, they are not actually photographic representations. They are meditation representations. They are a kind of symbol, a kind of set of measurements, if you like, characteristics for you to meditate upon. The ideal human, a Buddha, doesn't look like that. And for that reason too, very rarely do we ever see an image of the Buddha suffering. And I think there's only one, there's the Buddha, and it's not even Buddha, there's the Buddha.

[25:33]

So before his enlightenment, when he was going on a long fasting, where you could see his bones, and this image was based on his statement about when he touched his belly, you could feel his backbone, before the enlightenment. That's one of those rare images found in, I think, Skandhana. So this seeing here means realizing. and the form of a truth is a kind of a... this vision comes in 12 ways now you have the statement of the truth 1, 2, 3, 4 then the second factor is for example in the case of the well second factor is something to be done and then third factor is something has been done so you multiply by 3 you get 12 aspects of the Four Noble Truths. For example, the First Noble Truth is the Truth of Suffering.

[26:34]

Now, we can understand it quite easily on the intellectual level. So that's the First Vision. Now, this Noble Truth must be seen. And then, it has been seen. And then, the Cause of Suffering, Craving, must be given up. It has been given up, so three steps again. Nirvana, the third noble truth. Nirvana is to be realized and has been realized, so you get nine. And then the Eightfold Path. The Eightfold Path is to be practiced and has been practiced, so you have twelve altogether. So in other words, here we see a complete 12 stages of the vision of the fallen of the truth. So then we come to the refrain, this is the most auspicious fortune.

[27:41]

Now, in a way, with this verse, we come to the end of the main section of the discourse. The next verse is a kind of summary, the next two verses actually. It's very beautiful, this verse. It talks about the mind of one who's enlightened. We can even take it temporarily, it can happen to us at any point in time, especially in meditation. When touched by worldly vicissitudes, with mind remaining unshaken, being sorrowless, undefiled, secure, this is the most auspicious fortune. Now, oh before that, let me start one line, one more blessing. The realization nirvana, right?

[28:47]

Nibbana saccikiriya, that is most auspicious. Here is meant the fruition of arahatship, that is, breaking of all ties that would make one be reborn in the five destinies, namely the hells, the animal kingdom, the hungry ghost realm, the human world, and the heavens. So to attain nirvana means to actually not even to be reborn in the heavens. Nirvana, the teaching on nirvana, is like the teaching of non-self. It's what makes Buddhism unique. Most world religions, if not all, would talk of a paradise which we go to, and this paradise is described in beautiful details and so on. But here we have nirvana, which is impossible to put into words.

[29:50]

It's ineffable. But attempts have been made to describe it, of course. Why? Because there is this need to communicate the truth. The true experience of nirvana is silence itself. So this is where you come to this whole paradox of silence of words and so on. And in hermeneutics of the systematic study of the text, we have a term called apophysis. Apophysis means to use negative terms to describe a state. Not this, not that, and so on. And the opposite of apophysis is cataphysis. Cataphysis means to use actual daily terms of existence. For example, we say nirvana is happy. Siva. Nirvana is cool. Cool in the traditional Indian sense. Well, it can be in the American sense too.

[30:50]

Nirvana is a cave, where in India, a cave is supposed to be a very cool place. I mean, India is a very hot country, especially in the South, and so on. Now, some scholars in the past, the ancient scholars, the great scholars of Buddhism, say that it is more accurate to talk Nirvana in terms of what it is not, rather than what it is, because what it is is purely figurative. Now I don't want to go into too much detail because it would be very philosophical, and I think in Zen you have a lot of this kind of approach, the apophatic negative language approach, so I think you're very familiar with that. And you can almost taste it, so that's what it's like, you have that kind of idea in your mind. So in a way, language does help us to have at least a hint of what it's like, or at least what it is not. Maybe I'll just have a simple analogy here, I think which many of us know, but for the sake of those who are listening to the tape in the future, the most famous analogy the Buddha uses is the analogy of fire.

[32:11]

I mean, there was this person who was arguing with the Buddha, how can you say nirvana? You talk, it's not this, it's not that, how can it exist? So the Buddha said, well, you see this fire in front of you. If I were to extinguish it, where's the flame gone? Has it gone north, south, east or west? Well, those terms don't apply. So what can be said? The Buddha said, silence. Unfortunately, in those days, people were kind of more intelligent, or Buddha had intelligent audiences, so no further discussion ensued. I suppose today there are lots of other possibilities that might arise. But anyway, the point is that if we understand the limitations of analogies, I think if we discuss within that understanding what analogies are, we should be able to get what Buddha is trying to tell us.

[33:16]

Perhaps, I mean, I may be just putting words in Buddha's mouth. If Buddha was alive today, he would use a different analogy, surely. So what is meant here is that there are certain experiences, especially in the deeper levels of our mind, which go beyond words. That is why we have art. Because art is a very important level of communication. What we cannot express in words, written or spoken or electronic, we express in a medium of art. Painting, music, poetry. And what we try to get in this, in art, we try to get a feeling of. And art is something very special, it's man-made. I was writing this, I wrote this article on inspiration and I was doing some research, what is art? I came across a very interesting definition, well actually a description rather, not an explanation.

[34:20]

If you walk by the seaside and you come across this driftwood, well that's a natural piece of wood, it's not art. But if you took it home and you clean it even just a bit and you put it on your table, it's a work of art. So if you make any change to it, it becomes a work of art. I've got just a very, very basic example of what a work of art is. So, art is something man-made. It's a way of expressing some inner feelings you have in you. And this is a very important aspect in religion. In fact, you might even say that in those early days, art grew side by side with religion, if not because of religion. Some of the great paintings we see today, The Zen garden, beautiful temples, images, stories, and so on, all grew with the great desire to convey this ineffable experience of the Buddha.

[35:27]

Did you say, I might not go back, but did you say that the Buddha said that, or you think, Yeah. Because I was thinking about the fire and it occurred to me that probably this is because I think it's transformative, fire is transformative. That's right. And so it usually has that image of a death and rebirth experience and I think maybe that could be what he meant in terms of the monk. Yes. Well, in fact, the second discourse which the Buddha delivered to the five monks was called the discourse on, this is the third discourse, I think, was the Aditya Pariyaya Sutta, the discourse on fire.

[36:35]

The monks, everything's on fire, the eyes on fire, the ears on fire, Nose is on fire, the tongue is on fire, the body is on fire, the mind is on fire. I mean, even today, if you read this text, it's amazing. I mean, it's so simple, but the imagery is powerful. It's so powerful, it influenced, I think, was it Yeats, who wrote The Wasteland, this poet, Irish poet, he used this, it went into his poem. And then the Buddha went on, on fire with what, all the monks? The eye is on fire with greed, is on fire with hatred, is on fire with delusion. It's a very elaborate way, a very beautiful recital of stating the three fires, the three evil motivations, three unwholesome roots, as they are called, the various names. Or three poisons, in Mahayana they're called three poisons. So the fire here, in the analogy of nirvana represents the three poisons so when they are extinguished they go nowhere and you can't talk about them anymore so this realization of nirvana is the most auspicious fortune then comes to the kind of statement in words of the nature of the enlightened mind

[38:02]

When touched by worldly vicissitudes, with mind remaining unshaken, being sororous, undefiled, secure. This is the most auspicious fortune. Here we have the analogy of touch. Another meaning, of course, is experience. When touched or when experiencing worldly vicissitudes, what are they? There are four pairs. sometimes called the Eight Winds in Mahayana. The Mahayana tends to be more kind of figurative here. The Eight Winds. Gain, whether it's gain... I'm sorry. Whether it's gain, it must be loss. Whether it's fame, there's ill-fame. Whether it's praise, there's blame. Whether it's happiness, there is sorrow. They are these terrible twins. So... For this reason, for example, when a monk goes around to collect alms food, he's not accelerated if he gets lots of food, nor is he sad if he doesn't get any.

[39:10]

I mean, that's the way he should be, actually. So, because that's the nature of his training. Where there's gain, there's loss. I mean, in a way, putting it as someone's gain is someone else's loss. And in the Dhammapada, we have a verse which says, something like, the taste of victory is sweet, but the loser always feels bad. And for that reason, gambling is bad. That's one way of putting it. Yes? But isn't that also connected with the monarchy and non-attachment? Yes. They wouldn't be attached to the monarchy. This is a very elaborate way of actually talking about non-attachment, really. A very graphic and beautiful way of talking, using the imagery of wind in this case. Because what happens when the wind blows, we bend this way, and the wind blows the other way, we bend it in the direction of the wind.

[40:12]

So the enlightened mind, in other words, does not bend with the wind. Here can be a similar imagery called in Pali, pati sotagami. Pati means counter, sota means current, gami means to go. Going against the current. The Buddha, soon after his enlightenment, reflected, this teaching of mine, this truth I've discovered, is very difficult. It goes against the current, against the current of prevalent thoughts. So how are we going to understand this? And he was reflecting for a while, wondering how he's going to teach. But I think even if you look at Buddhism or the Buddhadharma as a whole, it is against the current in different ways. You can reflect in so many ways. It's against the current which we are pulled towards or we are pulled with.

[41:20]

This current of our emotions, our rationalizations, our fears and so on. We're trying to go against that. So we're going the other way. So we try to go upstream to the source. That's when we're looking at it. But at the same time, we have a counter-imagery here. This is the problem with imageries and analogies. You have the term, stream-winner. So stream-winner, that means if you win the stream, then you flow with the current. And where do you flow it? You flow into the sea of nirvana. And this imagery is used in the poem, The Light of Asia, by Edwin Arnold. This is the situation with analogies. It depends on the context. Analogies are not final, so we cannot totally say, well, that's it. It depends on the context. So basically here, the enlightened mind does not waver in face of these eight winds.

[42:27]

This is most auspicious. Of course, we can practice this too. But because our minds are not enlightened, we cannot always do this. We have to make extra effort. But it is possible. Now, let us examine the third line. Being sorrowless, undefiled, secure. These are very big terms. This describes in doctrinal manner what was described by analogy. The word here is asokan or asoka, the name of the king. This is what it means actually, sorrowless. Soka means sorrow or suffering. Asoka means no sorrow, absence of sorrow. The commentary or tradition have got a very interesting way of kind of giving meanings.

[43:29]

They sound like a modern thesaurus. So what's the meaning of Asoka? Sorrow, the opposite of sorrowing, sorrowfulness, inner sorrow, inner sorrowiness, consuming of the heart. This is from the Abhidhamma, called the Vibhanga, page 100. Now we're talking about a different level of experience now. We're talking about the level where the mind is calm, like what some of us said at the opening, when we reflect on death, there's a sense of relief. That's because you're the practitioners, you could say that. And here we have a number of stories which reflect a similar sentiment. There is a jataka called the snake jataka, Uraga, jataka number 354. which relates of in the past life the Bodhisattva that is the Buddha in the past life was born as a Brahmin and he had a wife and he had a son and the son died of a snake bite but even at that time the Buddha to be the Bodhisattva did not grieve because his son died from the snake bite

[44:49]

he accepted the fact of the death calmly. Now this is not a suppressed feeling, it's a kind of an understanding feeling. And because of this understanding, there is no either grief, nor fear. Now, such events on earth tend to challenge the heavenly states, especially Lord Sakran. In the Jataka stories, you always have this Sakra seed being troubled when something good happens on earth. The account goes that whenever someone does something great, in other words, one of the Bodhisattva Paramitas is being practiced to its fullest or nearing its fullest, Sakra's marble seed would warm up and Lord Sakra, the King of the Devas, would be very uncomfortable in his seed. and he would get up and look down who is threatening his position on earth or rather who on earth is threatening his position in heaven when you kind of take up his place so you kind of look down and examine who is this person and he would go down and test this person anyway in this case the situation was less dramatic he just went down and asked the couple as a bodhisattva why

[46:18]

He didn't feel grievous about the loss of a son. And this is the reply. Well, it's a kind of reflection on impermanence and on death. Man quits his mortal frame when joy in life is past. Even as a snake is worn its worn-out slough to cast. No friend's lament can touch the ashes of the dead. Why should I grieve? He fenced away. He had to tread. Well, some people may say it is a very cold philosophy, but we're talking about a realistic situation here. So, sorrowless means to see things as they are, and in that way not to be unduly affected by them. So, here we're talking about, in positive terms, happiness. characteristic of the enlightened mind is happiness.

[47:25]

Opposite of dukkha if you remember the three characteristics. The second characteristic, undefiled. As I said, sorrowless is a apophatic term, looking at the situation from the negative point. And from the cataphatic term, from using positive terms, would be happiness. But it's a traditional approach to language in Pali anyway. So one way of saying happiness is to say sorrowlessness. For example, instead of saying generosity, in Pali there's a word which could mean, in English, lack of miserliness. It's quite a long term. So the idea here is to show, it's almost like a dictionary. That's how a dictionary started actually, in Buddhism, where And therefore it's made to explain certain terms.

[48:31]

So a positive term was given, and then a negative term was given, and then a string of other terms were given, and all these were collected by someone, and you got a thesaurus. So we come to the next term, Andiphao, which means dustless, where we have another interesting analogy. When the Buddha was enlightened, He, as I told you earlier, he was reflecting on the depth of his teaching and he was wondering, how am I going to teach this? It's against the stream and how are the people of the world going to understand? They're so drowned in their delights and so on. And then it is said that a God from the highest heavens came down, Brahma Sampadji, He is supposed to be in charge of order in the world and he thought, so tradition goes, that the Buddha is not going to teach.

[49:33]

So he comes down on earth in a gross form which could be seen and circles the Buddha three times with palms together and implored the Buddha to teach the Dharma. What he is telling the Buddha is that there are those who in this world would benefit from the Buddha's teaching and moreover if the Buddha does not teach then the world will be lost and then the Buddha surveyed the world with his Buddha eye and saw the situation as Brahma had mentioned that he noticed there are three kinds of people and he compared them to the lake of three kinds of lotuses this very famous classic analogy. You have lotuses at the bottom of the water, eaten by turtles and fish.

[50:36]

Those are the people who are not interested in the Dharma, or who would not listen to the Dharma, or would not be able to understand the Dharma, even if they heard it. Then you have lotuses which are blooming beautifully in the sun. Those are already enlightened, who are spiritually liberated. They don't need the Dharma. But then, there are many lotuses which are bobbing on the surface of the water, waiting for the sun. The moment the sun shines, they will bloom forth. If not, they will sink. So, these are the beings with little dust in their eyes. With little dust, that means we can see, or we could at least blink our eyes and we could see well enough. the tendency is to close our eyes. So, for this reason, the Buddha is called Awaken. The word Buddha means Awaken.

[51:38]

Having dust in the eyes, in a way, also can mean that someone is in the same family of analogy of sleeping. We are still asleep, as it were. We are not born yet. Following the analogy I gave, was it last week? I was talking about, are we really learners? I was reflecting on that term, that we are not learners until we at least attain the first stage of sainthood as a string winner. Only then we really begin to learn in a spiritual sense. So, to kind of follow up with that analogy, we can say, as long as we are not enlightened, we are still asleep or half asleep. And then Buddha comes along with a loud shout, With a koan maybe, it tells us to wake up and we wake up We open our eyes and we see with our own eyes And we clear the dust from our eyes There is another very interesting case of dust There was this monk called Chulapantaka

[52:51]

Now his elder brother Mahapanthaka became a monk and did very well as a monk but his younger brother Chulapanthaka did not do well. He could not even remember a four line verse, the story went. So his other brother told him, look younger brother, you can't even remember a four line verse. Now for a monk who doesn't even remember a four line verse, you are in deep trouble because you won't get any food. I mean, if you can chant, I mean, devotees won't give you food. So the poor younger brother felt so bad and he was going to leave the order. Now here, we find the Buddha intervening. Elder brother is not very encouraging, but Buddha comes along and says, where is this Chulapantaka? Call him here. And the Buddha interviewed him and found out about his case. Now, before I tell you what the Buddha did, let me explain, according to the story, this is from the Dhammapada commentary, why Cilad Pandaka was unable even to remember four-line verse.

[54:03]

In the past life, the Dhammapada story went, Cilad Pandaka was a brilliant scholar, a very learned person. But he was in the habit of coughing and looking down on those who are not learned and making fun of them. So in his last life, that karma kind of ripened in him and he had difficulty remembering even a four-line verse. But here I see something beautiful. It's kind of cold and very mechanical, almost mechanical. But here you have the Buddha's compassion coming in and changing things. So compassion is very important aspect in our life. It means not accepting things which are negative and not living things as they are in that sense, where they are negative. So compassion is that. effort to go ahead and change things.

[55:06]

And wisdom is how we do it. So the two kind of go together. So how did Buddha help Chulapantaka to be enlightened? Now here we have a kind of meditation. It shows that the Buddha actually uses different kinds of meditation with different people. He told Chulapantaka to hold his hand out I think it's the left hand, if I'm not mistaken. Put a clean white cloth over it. And for some reason, I asked Chula Pandeka to sit facing the sun. Or facing the rising sun. And to go on rubbing that white cloth on his hand. Gently like that, just rubbing. And watching it, concentrating on it. and as a rapi he should recite a mantra, I call it a mantra, anyway it's just a word Raju Haranam, [...] Raja, here's a short sound, Raja, not Raja, it's Raja, meaning dust, Aharanam, to take away, removing dust, so removing dust or cleaning, and as he did that, the cloth became soil, and

[56:28]

Now, it's important to understand his mind at that time, while he was watching it. It's not an intellectual mind, he's kind of one with the whole action. And he saw this whole beautiful white cloth became soil. And when he noticed that, that moment he became enlightened. It was so easy in the Buddha's time in a way. But it's the Buddha who knew what medicine to use. There was another case of a nun, Pattachara. She has a beautifully tragic story which you should read when you have the time. Pattachara. She lost all the things that are dear to her. Everyone important in her life died. Anyway, so she got enlightened in an equally if not more dramatic way. She was washing her feet one day and water just ran off her feet and went into the ground. on the ground outside, of course. And as she washed her feet, she noticed this water flowing on the soil and then disappearing to the ground.

[57:38]

She was watching this. And then she got enlightened. According to another version, she got one stage of sainthood by watching the water disappearing. But the final enlightenment came when she blew out the lamp in her room. So there are two versions. So when she blocked the land to retire, then that moment, she got enlightened. And then there's the case of Ananda, how Ananda got enlightened. Ananda, because he was so attached to the Buddha, taking care of the Buddha, so aware of the Buddha's physical body, every little unease he's aware, and he would try to make the Buddha comfortable. Because of that, in a way, his practice was affected, so he was only strong-willed at best. So when the Buddha passed away and the monks were going to gather for the first council, they were all Arahats, and he couldn't attend, he was not an Arahat. But for some reason, Mahakasyapa, the president of the council, left a seat empty for him according to one tradition.

[58:42]

Ananda, of course, tried hard to meditate. He was not successful. Then he was going to retire. He was just going to put his head on this pillow, or on whatever he was using as a pillow, one foot up. He was neither up nor down. He was in none of the four postures. And he got enlightenment at that moment. So he is unique in the sense that he was not enlightened in any of the four postures, standing, walking, sitting, or lying down. So these are some of the dramatic ways in which some of those people got enlightened in the past. And I'm sure there are similar stories in Zen too, Zen tradition. Any questions? Right, so I was talking about the term andhifa. Now, the Buddha has something to say about dust.

[59:49]

A couple of things, in fact. I remember when I was trying to translate the Suttanipata, there was one verse which says, the household life is full of dust. But out there, it's open and beautiful. I suppose the situation today is quite different. Out there, it's quite dusty. But suddenly, the term dusty is used in a figurative sense. For example, in this verse, from the commentary, Dharmapada commentary. Lust indeed, not dust, I call dirt. Dirt is the name for lust. Having rid themselves of this dirt, the monks live in the teaching of him who is without dirt. So here's a play on the word dust. And then the Buddha goes on to talk about the same thing, of hate and of delusion. Now then, the third characteristic of the enlightened mind is secure.

[60:59]

In fact, nirvana is sometimes called secure, keman. Secure in the sense of it is like an island or a rock in the ocean of suffering. Secure in the sense that it will never be sunk. So here, there are various levels of We can talk about various levels of what is called letting go of mental hindrances. This is very important to know, especially if you are not enlightened. In fact, we have a number of sutras that actually talk about this. One very simple sutra talks about... It's called the Witaka Santana Sutra. It's worth looking up. How to deal with states of mind. It's in the middle-length sayings. I forgot the number of the sutra. Anyway, according to the Abhidharma, we have five kinds of abandoning of hindrances that leads one to be secure.

[62:12]

The first is by suppression, vikambana. This is only a temporary suspension of the five hindrances. The analogy given here is like a pot thrown into moss-covered water and it pushes the moss aside for a while. Now this is for example when we are deep in meditation and we are concentrated. What is meant by concentration? It means at that moment the hindrances are kind of pushed aside. There are no hindrances at the moment. There is no sense desire and so on. But then when you go back to your daily life, you find they come back. unless you are extra mindful. So what do we do then? Say, while we are talking to people, while we are working, we can practice what is called substitution, the danga. That is, using a wholesome opposite mental object. Let's say, for example, when this feeling of hate arises towards someone, we have a choice.

[63:17]

We have a choice when we are mindful. So we can immediately replace that that hateful thought with a loving thought because hateful thought, anger, they're poisons they're emotional poisons and if we allow them to stay too long, it will hurt it will hurt us, it won't hurt the other person and if we think in that sense, it really helps so if you think negatively about someone, first thing is to immediately switch and say, you'll be unhappy mentally I think it's safer not to say it too loudly Because to say, may you be unhappy in front of a person you don't like, this person could misinterpret these good words. It could sound sarcastic. So when we are saying, may you be unhappy, we are clearing that negative thought in the mind. And facial expression, and I think a kind of feeling is exuded, this other person could sense. I'm sure we have that feeling when we look at someone, we know, this person doesn't seem to like me. We could be wrong, but often enough, we are right. So it starts from this thought, by saying, maybe well, maybe happy.

[64:26]

Or another way is to think of moments or occasions when you spend very good, happy times together. And keep that as an object of meditation. Of course, some people may say, oh, you're living in the past. No, that's not the point here. We're talking about an object of meditation. We're talking about mental health. If we use that object well enough, it can become reality We can change the negative situation around Then The substitution is called Tadanga in Pali. Now comes the third level which is even more radical. It's the radical abandonment to the knowledge of the noble path. Here it is like a tree which has been destroyed by lightning.

[65:27]

So here is where one has attain some knowledge, some understanding of the path to enlightenment itself. So this is kind of a higher realization. And then comes tranquilization. This is a translation of the Pali called patipassadi, tranquilization. That is, after the disappearance of the spiritual fetters at the entrance to the path of sainthood. So at least, in other words, string winning. So this is another way of looking at the stages of sainthood, actually. And finally, escape. Nisarana. Not escapism, mind you. It's escape. Here that means non-dependence, utter liberation, which is identical with nirvana itself. So this is a kind of categorization of the stages of enlightenment, a favorite method used in the Pali tradition.

[66:33]

So this is under the term Sakya. So what are the characteristics of the enlightened mind or characteristics of Nibbana? Sorrowless, undefiled, secure. This is the most auspicious fortune. Then we come to the last verse. This last verse is a kind of summary of the rest. Those who have done deeds such as these are everywhere invincible. everywhere they fare long well. This is most auspicious fortune. The first impression one gets here is that all this we have studied here actually comes to one point, just one point. So what Buddha has done is kind of elaborated into a number of items so that we could reflect one by one what they are.

[67:38]

As if a big piece of cake has been cut to small pieces so that they are more chewable by the mouthful. Invincible. Here it means not to be subjugated by Mara. Mara In Malaysia, we have a very interesting public body called MARA, M-A-R-A, which is an acronym for kind of a public trust fund. It's a Malay word. So the Buddhists are privately amused. Of course, we never say what it means because MARA means the devil himself in Buddhism, but not in the theistic sense. In fact, when we talk about MARA, we have various levels or various aspects of Mara. In every religion, again, we have good, we have bad, we have good being, we have the evil being, and the essence of evil we call the devil, Satan, etc.

[68:46]

In Buddhism, it's called Mara. But it's very interesting the way Buddhists look at evil. I'll just give one story on the analogy side, on the imagery side, to give an illustration. maybe a couple, because I think there are one or two important stories. Moggallana, or Maugalyayana, the left-hand disciple of the Buddha, one day he became very sick. And according to the story, he took a Mara. This Mara went into him and caused him a terrible bellyache. Through his meditation, he realized he knew this Mara. And he looked back in a past life this he was the uncle of this Mara so he told this Mara so now i suppose you have to be we are supposed to be amused by this story the story goes that Mara was ashamed to know the fact that he has hurt his own relative so in other words even though this Mara is so evil he has some sense of shame

[69:59]

But then, that feeling was aroused by a saint, not by any person. We would have a great sense of fear. What is meant here, I think, is that there is nothing as evil as we make it. That is one way of looking at it. Then, of course, you have Mara appearing and trying to distract the Buddha, trying to prevent him from becoming enlightened. For me, this story means that whenever you are planning for something good, whether alone or as a Sangha, someone or something will be in the way, trying to stop you. Quite some people say it's a test, but I think it's the nature of things, as well as this force. And the more noble it's going to be, the greater sometimes this anti-force may be. So that's Yamara. So you have to overcome that. And I think the life of the Buddha is very important in that sense.

[71:05]

I'm waiting for someone to, I think there may be someone who has written a kind of a life of the Buddha in this sense, in a kind of, you take an episode and then you reflect. What does it mean in your daily life? Not so much historically, but psychologically, emotionally, symbolically. Because most of the life of the Buddha is symbolical, many of those things are not factual, not the way even the Pali Canon mentions it. For example, if we are to follow the Pali Canon carefully, Prince Siddhartha did not leave home in the dark of night. He left home before the very eyes of his parents who were weeping. And that's the historical account we have in the Pali Canon itself. So what has happened is later on the monks and the scholars dramatize the life of the Buddha so that it becomes useful as a kind of object lesson for their students. It becomes symbolic. So this is one area I think the scholars are working on at the moment, I'm sure.

[72:12]

Anyway, coming back to the Mara. The first kind of Mara are the five aggregates themselves. They are Mara because they cause the suffering. The five aggregates are our body and preciousness and so on, our existence. The five moons are Mara, our kilesas, our store of karma. Abhisankara is Mara, it causes us to be reborn. Then fifthly, you have Mara the deity. So Mara in Buddhism is a deity, is a heavenly being. In fact, Mara is said to be lord of the whole world of senses. Mara feels great when you delight in your senses. It is his job to see that you delight in your senses. I think Mara is alive and well in East Bay, if you look at all those papers, advertisements and so on.

[73:14]

That's what Mara tries to do. Go and enjoy life. Why do you want to give up? Why do you want to renounce? He tries to stop you. But then even this Mara is not forever. He falls in that state and is reborn. So the Buddhist concept of evil is also impermanent. It's quite a positive concept actually. And in some cases, death itself is regarded as mara too. It's called machu mara. So this is a whole field of study called the concept of evil. I was also interested. Now, the other word is well. This word well, is also a term used for the Buddha. The Buddha has been called Welfarer, Sugata, one who fares well.

[74:19]

This is maybe just a trivial point here, but by right, a Buddhist should not say goodbye. A Buddhist should say farewell. I think some of you might know why. Anyone? Why Buddhists by right shouldn't say goodbye? It's old English for God be with ye. So when you say it quick, you say goodbye. Of course, if you say it in a God's BBSU, I suppose it's all right. You can just reinterpret it. I mean, it's just a trivial point, as I said, but it's interesting from an etymological point of view, how we forget some of the words grow, and then they get compacted. But farewell is so Buddhistic. May you farewell, like the well-farer. The Buddha is called the well-farer. Sugata. So for that reason, among the Dhamma Pharaohs, we say swasti, you know, when we part, may you be well, may you fare well.

[75:26]

So this word well is a very beautiful word in Buddhism. There was a time in Old English where you get The word well, when it becomes a noun, a state of being well, is called wealth. But today the meaning is different. It's become more substantial. There's a time where to be healed, the state of being healed is called health. But today the meaning remains the same. There's a time when to be ill, and the noun is ilth. We have lost that word. There was a time when you are at ease. The opposite of that is dis-ease. But today, disease means sickness. So this is how words have changed. But when you study the Buddhist texts, you begin to come across these very fine aspects of words. It's very interesting to see how they change.

[76:30]

And sometimes you get that meaning again in the religious texts. And that's why some religious texts are valuable from a language point of view. It makes us see some things we have missed in daily language. and in that sense, it enriches our communication and it makes talking, even on a human level, more delightful. So we have effectively come to the end of our study of the Sutta. But we can still kind of have a couple of points by summary. I've tried to summarize them on page 8 and 9 if you notice, where I've used the 3-fold training, Silas Samadhi Panna, to categorize the various blessings. So more or less will be Mangalas number 1 to number 21, then Samadhi or concentration will be Mangalas number 22 to 30, and the rest will be wisdom.

[77:40]

If you categorise the Mangalas of Blessing in terms of Wisdom and Compassion, then you have Compassion first. Compassion would cover Mangala 1 to Mangala 30, and the rest would be Wisdom. That's another way of looking at it. Now I leave the last 10 minutes for any discussion because this is our last study on this sutta. You can ask questions on this, or study or general questions. how the approach here breaks the elements of action and consciousness into very small, discrete units.

[79:03]

or very small individual meditations, or objects of meditation, how do you feel this I think a good practitioner is versatile. It depends on the situation, depends on the kinds of individuals. So, like when we teach Dhamma, we have to be aware of the audience. What kind of audience is it? We can't say, okay, there's only one kind of Dhamma for everyone. Like this, the style of this sutra, it is in the category of what's called Gihi Vinaya.

[80:06]

In other words, the lay discipline for the very busy householder. So it's kind of given in bits and pieces as it were. But actually, if you take any one point here, if you reflect, you can link all the rest. And the beautiful analogy of interest net of jewels comes in here. I suppose where Zen comes in, it would be more in the last section of the section of meditation. It's more of it. Because if we take Zen as a tradition, that's what Zen actually is about, meditation. But then again, when you function in daily life, when you talk to people and when you try to teach beginners it can be difficult for them to go straight into how the Zen people speak, for example.

[81:15]

For that reason, in Malaysia and Singapore, we don't have any Zen groups. There was one group that David Lloyd tried to start in Singapore, but I don't think it's there anymore. So it depends on the society, on the individual, So you need, I think one characteristic of Buddhism is that it's able, it's versatile. It's able to deal with different levels and kinds of individuals and groups of people. It's able to be a living world religion. It's fascinating to me that it's saying in Malaysia, Zen, has, you know, I mean, it's in the same region of the world. I mean, it's Southeast Asia, I mean. Yeah, it's just really fascinating how in some countries, you know, Zen might catch on, and others... Yes.

[82:18]

I've not done any study of the history of Buddhism in Vietnam. It'd be interesting to know why. Well, I know why in Malaysia we don't have Zen. I mean, I may sound ironic here, The people, they are not intellectual enough. Because when you talk about Zen, you must have some kind of intellectual depth and ability to understand language, certain nuances of language. So understandably, it's easier for Westerners to understand Zen. And of course, Zen people came here quite early too. That's another reason, historical. But then, as I said, there was someone who went to Singapore, for example, and there was, for a while, a small group, but that's it, you know. That's recent, right? Well, about, now, can we do that, I think, about 10 years ago, I think. No, that's recent. I mean, I'm not, I'm just not listening.

[83:19]

Oh, no, no. Another reason I think Zen also entails discipline and commitment to practice. which the busy businessmen of Malaysia and Singapore are not interested in. It's interesting because I think it may be more the second reason more than the first because I don't consider myself... I mean I think there's a lot of people that practice Zazen, especially Soto, isn't it called Farmer's Zen? It was for people who were really not learned. Yes, I suppose. You needed to sit Zazen in a disciplined way. I mean, I'm talking of the impression I get when I hear Zen lectures. I suppose maybe even the farmers are educated, I suppose, because of listening to Dharma. Like in Thailand, I'm amazed, even a street peddler who sells toasted bananas, I mean, she or he knows literature.

[84:22]

We can converse with you to some depth on some fine aspect of Thai literature. I don't think we can do that very easily, even in Singapore. In the streets, no, you can't. You know more about what's the stock and shares in New York. More than... More than what? More, I mean, about stock and shares in New York. I mean, in Singapore, yeah. I mean, it's a different situation, yeah. There may be reasons for this, but I think that's sociology. So in that kind of region, Pure Land Buddhism, Amitabha school is more popular. They recite Amitabha's name and they feel quite happy about that. So that kind of Buddhism kind of helps them. They relate to it better. That's actually true in martial nature. Yes, yes. Including Vietnam. I mean even the Zen tradition for average people.

[85:25]

Another point just came to my mind about U.S. and individualism when you talk about various national characteristics. I was reflecting on, you know, like what Ellen told me once, I was wondering about all the rituals here and I'm not very good at rituals and it's obvious when I was in front of the Shrine once. You know, reflecting on that ritual, I made a mess of myself. When I heard someone laughing, I felt very relieved. I said, oh, well, at least they didn't take it seriously, too. I was quite happy. You know, usually we go through a very long series of briefings, even in the monasteries. I mean, even in the Pali Theravada tradition, I was not very concerned with all those. I mean, it's like royalty. You have to go through all those, the way you walk, the way you do things, the words you use. We are supposed to renounce these things. Anyway, but I felt it is good in a way to keep these rituals because that's what makes it Zen.

[86:38]

Especially in America. It has been said that many Americans turn to Eastern religions because they are individualist. They want to be different. But then not with Zen. I think when you come to Zen, you lose the individuality. You bow the same way, you sit the same way. And in that sense, you learn to grow out of that individualism. And in that sense, the tradition is useful. It's just a reflection that came to me. And I've given you a paper, I think there's a discussion there too. You should be happy about that. Any other questions? We have one more minute. If nothing, we'll end here with a reflection and dedication of merit.

[87:51]

We have finally come to the end of our study of the Mangala Sutta, the discourse on what should be of high value to us in our daily life. Having spent time together here in the spirit of Sangha is itself beautiful to reflect on. It reminds us of how the Dhamma was discussed and talked during the Buddha's own time. And we are in a way reliving the beauty and the truth of the Buddha's teaching. With such thoughts that has recalled to mind various aspirations we have for the success of the Center, for people dear and near to us, for our own personal spiritual benefits.

[89:01]

Let us, in our own minds, recall these awesome thoughts to mind. by the power of these various wholesome energies we have generated these few days, these few weeks, studying the sutra. Yatha varivaha pura pare purenti sagaram eva mevaito dinam petanam upakapati icchitam patitam tumham kipameva samicchato sape purentu sangkapo chando panaraso yatha manicho atiraso yatha Sabitio vivacanto sabba rogo vena sattumate bhavato antarayo sukhi diga yukho bhava. Abhivadana silesa nitcham udabhacaino chapta ro dhamma vaddhanti ayubhanno sukham balam. Bhavato sabba mangalang rakhanto sabba devata sabba buddha nubhavena sadasuti bhavantute. Bhavato sabba mangalang rakhanto sabba devata sabba dhamma nubhavena sadasuti bhavantute.

[90:07]

Bhava tu sapa mangalam rakham tu sapa devata Sapa sanghana bhavena Sada suti bhavantuti Sapa, sapa, sapa

[90:22]

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