Latest / Buddhistisches Tor Berlin Podcast / Between Twin Sala Trees

Transcript

Between Twin Sala Trees · Buddhistisches Tor Berlin Podcast

0:09
Well, very warm welcome from me as well.
0:11
My name is Dama Sara, I'm part of the team here.
0:14
It's Saturday class, so very warm welcome to you if this is
0:18
your first time here at the centre.
0:20
So in the second-half now we usually have a talk or some some
0:25
form of input or it's usually a talk.
0:28
So today I will talk a little bit about Pari Nirvana, which is
0:36
like, no one knows what that means, So it's a great title for
0:38
a talk. He knows.
0:40
He knows. Yeah.
0:41
Great. Lahit Ratna knows.
0:47
It's a Buddhist inside joke. Sorry.
0:51
Yeah. Yeah.
0:55
Again, sorry, inside jokes here. So Pari Nirvana, Well, to put it
1:01
very, very simply, it's basically means, well, to put it
1:07
in very plain terms, the death of the Buddha.
1:09
Yeah. So this is the Buddha's,
1:10
Buddha's death day. So next weekend on Sunday, we
1:15
will celebrate Pari Nirvana Day. Pari Nirvana Day.
1:19
So that's so we commemorate the the death of the Buddha.
1:23
Yeah. So in kind of in this Buddhist
1:25
centre, we've got all sorts of different festival day is
1:28
happening and you know, they, they tend to, you know,
1:33
celebrate different, different events in the life story of the
1:36
Buddha. You know, we've got the
1:38
Enlightenment of the Buddha. We've got the, the day that's
1:41
where it's the first time he was teaching to people.
1:45
And that's the day where, you know, the Sangha was forming.
1:48
And so one of them is obviously also, well, the death of the
1:52
Buddha. The Buddha being born a human
1:55
being. Well, he had to die one day as
1:58
well. But with the Buddha, it's a bit
2:01
interesting. Yeah.
2:01
Because the whole point of a Buddha is that he's not like us.
2:06
Yeah. That he's not like a normal
2:08
human being. So you could say his body died,
2:14
but whatever happened to his consciousness?
2:15
Well, we don't know. We can only know once we're
2:20
enlightened. Yeah.
2:20
So sometimes, sometimes you try to avoid this terminology of the
2:25
death of the Buddha because it's a bit, it's a bit spooky.
2:28
Yeah. It's a bit mysterious what
2:29
actually happened there. It's the word pari, Nirvana, you
2:35
know, has the word Nirvana in there.
2:37
So, you know, like enlightenment, like awakening.
2:42
And pari sort of means something like can either mean something
2:45
like ultimate enlightenment, the ultimate awakening, or it can
2:52
mean something like without remainder.
2:54
Yeah. So he's, he was fully
2:56
enlightened without remainder. I don't really want to go too
3:00
much into the details of that. That's just for you.
3:02
If you're really into Buddhist philosophy, for the few nerds
3:07
and geeks among you like myself, that just basically you could
3:11
say that, you know, he enlightenment being that
3:15
ultimate transformation of mind, that ultimate transformation of
3:19
consciousness. You know, his physical body was
3:22
still, you know, sort of part of the world.
3:24
So with, with, with that, with his sort of the death of his
3:27
physical body, he finally fully gained ultimate enlightenment.
3:31
You could say again, this is all theories.
3:36
It's all just sort of dictionary definitions.
3:39
It's quite mysterious. Who knows what that actually
3:42
means. Yeah, we'll we'll only know once
3:44
we're there ourselves. So that's the talk.
3:48
Thank you very much. I don't have anything more to
3:52
say about that. We can all go home now and eat
3:55
cake. But in a way, the only thing
4:04
what I want to talk about today is actually sort of what
4:07
happened before that. So what I would like to do today
4:12
is just share a few stories of the Buddhist life just just
4:17
shortly previous to his, well, final passing.
4:20
Yeah, his, his death, the death of his body.
4:27
Because the there's a very long text, a very long teaching in
4:34
the scriptures, the Pali Canon called the Maha Pari Nibhana
4:38
Suta. So it's sort of the, you know,
4:40
the greater story of, of the last days of the Buddha.
4:44
And it's, I think it's the longest chapter, the longest
4:48
teaching in the Poly cannon. It's like the longest text we
4:51
have. So that that shows you how
4:54
important it was to people that kept, you know, that kept sort
4:56
of adding stories and that kept kind of really remembering what
4:59
happened there. So it's a lovely text.
5:02
Yeah, it's a it's a lovely, lovely text.
5:05
So if you want to, if you want to have a like a really good,
5:09
you know, foundational reading of Buddhism, you could just be
5:13
reading that. Yeah.
5:14
Because it's got everything in there.
5:15
It's got Buddhist teachings in there.
5:17
It's got lovely, funny stories in there, lovely humor, you
5:22
know, solemn passages, all sorts of different things.
5:26
So it's quite long. So I hope I can not make this
5:32
too long, but I kind of chose sort of two to three stories,
5:36
which really. Well, they highlight what what
5:41
those last days must have been like.
5:43
And they also highlight what Buddhism is about.
5:45
Yeah. And they really highlight
5:48
Buddhism. Some of those stories really
5:49
highlight what Buddhist teaching is essentially about.
5:53
And some of those stories that don't necessarily contain much
5:57
teaching, but they give you, like, a really lovely flavor of
6:00
the spirit, you know, of how the communication was, how the
6:04
people live together, what being a Buddhist at the time must have
6:07
meant. Yeah.
6:09
So. So that's why I've chosen them.
6:14
Yeah. So that's two or three stories.
6:17
Let's see how we go. And.
6:23
Well, we've already heard a few of those stories, so I'm not
6:26
going to go into them too much. We've heard a few stories a few
6:28
weeks ago when Sangadharshani was talking about Tara Chitta,
6:32
who's an autumn member in our movement, who died recently.
6:35
And she was kind of also then sharing a few stories from that,
6:38
sort of from, from the, from the last days of the Buddha.
6:41
So, so we heard those legends of, you know, when the Buddha
6:46
was about to die, when he was lying down on his final
6:49
deathbed, he was lying beneath twin Sal trees, Sala trees.
6:56
These are Indian trees, apparently, that you have in
6:59
India. I've never seen one,
7:01
unfortunately. It's supposed to be quite
7:04
beautiful. And in the stories it said so.
7:07
This is what Sangadashini told us in the story.
7:09
It said that even though those trees, even though they weren't
7:14
in season, they started blooming and flowers were falling down on
7:19
the Buddha and raining down on the Buddha.
7:21
And then the Buddha said, you know, and there's all sorts of
7:24
deities have come and, you know, we are revering the Buddha.
7:30
So now whether or not you take that literally is up to you.
7:33
And so maybe that did happen. Maybe that is just really
7:36
evocative of the kind of atmosphere that was around.
7:39
Yeah. Among the people.
7:40
So, you know, his disciples were gathered, his, you know, the
7:44
monks, the nuns, the lay people, even people who weren't
7:48
Buddhists who were just around in the town at the time, you
7:51
know, they came. So there must have been that
7:53
atmosphere of, you know, the Buddha being 80 years old at the
7:56
time, You know, an old man spent his life teaching people his
8:00
life wandering around in the jungles from town to town,
8:05
teaching, giving his life to helping people develop, helping
8:08
people transform their consciousness.
8:12
So it must have been that sort of solemn but joyful, graceful
8:16
atmosphere, I imagine. So it must have been as though,
8:20
you know, it was this sort of rain of blessings, this rain of
8:24
flower petals raining down. But maybe it did happen.
8:27
Maybe it happened literally like that.
8:30
Who knows What happens when a Buddha dies?
8:34
It's up to you. You can choose.
8:38
And we've also, she's also shared the story of shortly
8:41
before that, when the Buddha started to get quite I'll and
8:48
because he, he, he actually died of food poisoning.
8:50
And he, he unfortunately ate a meal that had gone off, which
8:56
was offered to him. He wasn't poisoned in that way.
9:00
He was, it was, it was an accident basically.
9:03
But him, him being AT obviously his body wasn't, you know, up to
9:07
up to that anymore. We also heard this lovely story
9:11
of the Buddha lying down, already in pain, and Ananda his
9:18
his attendant for 20 years, who also happened to be his cousins
9:21
over the last 20 years. Ananda was his attendant.
9:24
He, you know, walked wherever the Buddha walked.
9:28
He would listen to whatever the Buddha said, and he would
9:31
memorize whatever the Buddha was teaching.
9:34
Yeah. So it was Ananda's job to listen
9:37
to what the Buddha said so that he could memorize it and repeat
9:40
it to others. Yeah.
9:43
And then that that's this lovely story where the Buddha is quite
9:46
ill and Ananda sort of has a moment of grief.
9:51
Ananda isn't enlightened yet, so he's still sad.
9:55
And the bullet tells him off and said, you know, and sort of
9:58
says, you know, well, I told you everything's impermanent.
10:00
I told you attachment leads to suffering.
10:03
So, you know, don't cry for me, Argentina.
10:10
No, sorry. I'm having a musical phase at
10:13
the moment. Stop that.
10:21
So, so there's, there's this lovely moment where the, where
10:23
Ananda is just sort of leaning against the doorpost and it's
10:26
sort of, it's really weeping. And it's just, it's just really
10:28
sad that the Buddha is quite sick and, you know, clearly is
10:31
going to die or it's not going to live for much longer.
10:35
And the only thing sort of Ananda can say, you know, how
10:39
sad it is that the Buddha is dying.
10:41
And he calls the Buddha he who was so kind, you know, he who
10:44
was so kind. This is this is what Ananda has
10:48
to say about the Buddha. And you know, in the talk about
10:56
about the part Nirvana de Sang Raksha, the founder of our
11:00
order, he really points out isn't that interesting that, you
11:03
know, Anand has been with a Buddha for 20 years listening to
11:07
every teaching and some of those teachings can be quite, you
11:11
know, sort of metaphysical or can be quite sort of, you know,
11:14
philosophically suit and, you know, quite sort of mind
11:17
blowing. The only thing that springs to
11:22
mind for Anand is the Buddha's kindness.
11:24
Yeah. The Buddha's kindness with which
11:26
he communicated those teachings, you know, the the kindness that
11:32
that the Buddha had towards people even when he was
11:35
communicating profound truths to him.
11:37
Yeah. So anyway, those two stories
11:42
we've heard from Sanga Dashni a while ago, you know, where you
11:45
can already see that sort of atmosphere, the atmosphere that
11:48
must have lingered for the last few days of the Buddha's life.
11:52
So we know that the Buddha must have been a very kind man, very
11:57
kind person. And we've, we've heard the
12:00
whole, you know, that sort of almost legendary supernatural
12:04
phenomenon of those, you know, of the, of the untimely flowers
12:09
raining down on him from the trees.
12:13
OK, but now to my stories. So I've picked, well, three
12:18
really. I won't, I won't go into them
12:22
too much. And we'll focus a bit more on
12:24
the on the third one. The first one is actually
12:31
happens quite a long time before the Buddha actually gets sick.
12:37
Yeah. So he's already an old man, but
12:40
there's sort of no signs yet of his disease.
12:45
And it's actually the very beginning of the suta.
12:49
So this is how the SUTA starts. And I just want to, I wasn't
12:53
actually going to talk about this one when I prepared the
12:55
talk, but I saw this and I thought, oh, this is actually
12:57
really good. I really like this particular
12:59
teaching because it's actually, it's very fitting to our times,
13:04
I think. So what happened is so the, the,
13:10
the, all these suttas, these teachings, they always start
13:15
with telling us where the Buddha lived at the time, where he was
13:18
staying. And at this time the Buddha is
13:20
staying at Rajagaha, which is called the Vultures Peak
13:23
mountain, which is which You can actually go there.
13:28
You can go, you can visit that place.
13:31
It's not, it's not too far from Botgaya, from where the Buddha
13:34
gained enlightenment. You it's there's, there's
13:36
actually a place called Rajagaha.
13:39
What's it called these days? It's remember, it has a slightly
13:43
different name these days, Small town.
13:46
I went there last year. It was quite, it was very
13:47
beautiful. You can go up the mountain that
13:51
that Vulture's peak where the Buddha is supposed to have
13:54
stayed and taught quite a few and where he's supposed to have
13:58
stayed in caves as well to meditate.
14:00
It's this lovely peaceful atmosphere there.
14:03
It's not very high, it's not very tall mountain at all, but
14:06
it's a sort of sort of singular peak in a bit of a valley.
14:10
Yeah, it's really lovely. It's also weirdly not very
14:15
crowded. Yeah.
14:16
There's loads of tourists at the bottom of the mountain because
14:18
they all go up to this like Japanese pagoda that the
14:21
Japanese build up there, which is a bit, I mean, I'm really
14:23
into Japan, but that one was a miss.
14:25
It's actually not very, not very beautiful.
14:30
Sorry, anyone's part of that. But it's it's it's lovely.
14:35
It's it's, it's just a lovely space.
14:37
So he was staying there. And then he, he's getting
14:40
visited by a Brahman called Vasakara.
14:45
Yeah. Vasakara.
14:46
He's a Brahman, which means that he was a sort of religious
14:49
priest, a minister, high caste. And he was sent by a king.
14:53
Yeah. So Vasakara was sent by the king
14:56
Ajata Satu. Yeah.
14:58
Ajata Satu. He was a king of a local Kingdom
15:01
called Makada, which was one of the main kingdoms which kept
15:04
expanding. Then they kept wanting to grow
15:07
their influence. And King Ajatasatu thought to
15:12
himself that he wants to invade. He wants to invade the veggies.
15:18
Yeah. So the veggies are are a clan
15:20
next to next to Magadah. And he thinks, well, he thinks
15:24
to himself, I shall wipe out these veggies so mighty and
15:28
powerful. I shall destroy them and like
15:30
ruin and devastation upon them. And he thinks to himself, well,
15:34
he's not quite sure if it'll it'll work.
15:36
So he sends his the Brahman Basakhara to the Buddha.
15:41
Yeah, to ask him will he be successful.
15:45
I think the king hasn't quite understood what a Buddha is.
15:48
He sort of thinks he's some sort of Oracle or something.
15:52
But he but he knows that sort of enlightened ones, spiritual
15:57
people, they never lie. Yeah, so he says so he says to
16:01
Vasakara, remember well how the Buddha answers and tell it to me
16:04
for realized ones say nothing that is not so.
16:07
And so he knows that that he'll he'll get the truth, whatever it
16:10
might be. OK, so then the then Vasakara
16:16
gets to the Buddha and, you know, asks him the question, you
16:22
know, Magadha wants to invade the Vajis.
16:25
And will that be, will that be successful?
16:29
Will that be, is that a good idea?
16:33
Well, you know, the Buddha is like, like the first thing we
16:35
learn about Buddhism is that, you know, the first precept is
16:38
about not killing and not harming others.
16:40
So I don't know what they expected in asking the Buddha.
16:43
They didn't have social media. So I guess they didn't know what
16:45
Buddhism was at the time. It's quite interesting the way
16:49
the Buddha then answers. So the Buddha is sitting there.
16:52
Ananda, who we've heard about before, is standing behind him,
16:57
fanning him, actually giving him some, some nice air.
17:01
So the Buddha doesn't reply directly.
17:03
He doesn't give the truth directly to what's his name,
17:07
Vasakara, but he's talking to Ananda behind him.
17:11
So he says to Anandam, Ananda, have you heard that the veggies
17:15
meet frequently and have many meetings?
17:19
Ananda replied. I have heard that, Sir, as long
17:22
as the veggies meet frequently and have many meetings, they can
17:26
expect growth, not decline. Ananda, have you heard that the
17:31
budgies meet in harmony, leave in harmony and carry on their
17:35
business in harmony? I have heard that, Sir, as long
17:40
as the budgies meet in harmony, leave in harmony, and carry on
17:44
their business in harmony, they can expect growth and not
17:48
decline, Ananda. Have you heard that the budgies
17:53
don't make new decrees or abolish existing decrees, but
17:57
precede having undertaken the ancient virgin traditions as
18:00
they have been decreed? I have heard that, Sir, as long
18:05
as the budgies don't make new decrees or abolish existing
18:08
decrees, but precede having undertaken the ancient virgin
18:11
traditions as they have been decreed, they can expect growth,
18:15
not decline. Ananda, have you heard that the
18:20
veggies honor, respect, esteem, and venerate virgin elders and
18:25
think them worth listening to? I have heard that, Sir, as long
18:31
as the veggies honor, respect, esteem, and venerate virgin
18:35
elders and think them worth listening to, they can expect
18:39
growth, not decline, and so on. He goes into a few more of
18:45
those, but I just wanted to give you these.
18:49
So it's quite interesting, isn't it?
18:51
Especially I find the first one to be particularly interesting.
18:58
He says that as long as the budgies meet frequently and have
19:00
many meetings, they can expect growth, not decline.
19:04
So you can see he's he's he's sort of saying, well, you know,
19:10
the Budgians, you know, they have a they have a functioning
19:13
society, basically. Yeah, they have a functioning
19:16
society, meaning they meet regularly and they actually meet
19:20
each other. You know, they try to carry out
19:24
their business and harmony and they don't sort of, there's no
19:29
doubt around how society works around them.
19:31
Yeah, it's a sort of, it's a unified society.
19:33
And they know that this is what's meant with the decrease.
19:36
They don't abolish existing decrees.
19:38
I don't think it means, I don't think the Buddha.
19:40
Well, that's my interpretation. I don't think the Buddha means,
19:43
you know, they just sort of blindly follow whatever old
19:46
tradition they have. But it's about, well, what
19:49
works, you know, let's keep what works and let's, let's not get
19:52
bored with, you know, things that work sometimes.
19:56
Sometimes we do have this habit, don't we?
19:57
We sort of invent new ways of doing just because we got a bit
20:01
bored with the old ways when actually there are things that
20:04
still work that we can keep with.
20:07
And they honor and respect the elders and think them worth
20:11
listening to. So the Vajian, they, they, you
20:16
know, they, they think that, you know, people who've lived a long
20:19
life have something to say. We can listen to them.
20:22
We respect them and care for them.
20:25
Yes. So he just, he just finished his
20:26
thing. Then the Buddha said to Vasakara
20:28
Brahman. This one time I was staying near
20:30
Vasali at the Sarandada shrine. There I taught the Vajis these 7
20:35
principles that prevent decline. As long as these 7 principles
20:39
that prevent decline last among the Vajis, and as long as the
20:43
Vajis are seen following them, they can expect growth, not
20:47
decline. When the Buddha had spoken,
20:49
Vasakara said to him, Worthy go to mount.
20:52
If the Vajis follow even a single one of these principles,
20:55
they can expect growth, not decline.
20:58
How much more so all 7. King and Janta Sato cannot
21:03
defeat the Vajis in war unless by bribery or by sowing
21:07
dissension. Well, now where the Gautama I
21:10
must go. I have many duties and much to
21:12
do. And then the Buddha just says
21:15
please Brahman go at your convenience, which I think he
21:18
has a sort of it's AI don't know.
21:20
I find it quite ironic. So isn't that interesting.
21:23
So there's actually a commentary tradition of of of the Sutter
21:29
which then says that King Ajata said to heard that and then he
21:32
actually did start to undermine the budgies by sowing descent
21:36
and getting them not to follow those 7 principles.
21:39
And then he conquered them. And then afterwards the Buddha
21:43
immediately calls together his order, the monks and nuns.
21:47
I think in this case it's the monks, but obviously it applies
21:49
to the nuns as well. And then applies those 7
21:53
principles to the spiritual community as well.
21:55
Yeah. So the first one being meeting
21:57
regularly at a large numbers. This is one of those principles
22:01
which, you know, prevents decline and we can expect
22:05
growth. And I think this is something
22:08
that we that I've been thinking about quite a lot recently.
22:13
You know, also in terms of, well, just sort of our state of
22:18
the world in general, it's I think we are living in a world
22:22
where we think we are more connected than ever when
22:26
actually we are more isolated than ever.
22:28
You know, it's my opinion, you know, with, with sort of it's
22:33
very easy to stay at home the whole day and be in
22:37
communication with all sorts of people, get information from all
22:40
sorts of sides, get all sorts of input without ever having seen a
22:45
single person, flesh to flesh. Yeah, without ever having seen a
22:50
human being. Some people can, you know, with
22:54
Home Office and all that, we can sort of be in isolation for
22:57
weeks on end if you wanted to be.
23:00
And yet we have this illusion of being in connection, being in
23:03
contact with people. So isn't that interesting that
23:07
the first thing the Buddha says is, well, we actually ought to
23:10
meet. We actually ought to come
23:12
together and not just one-on-one, but actually in a
23:16
sort of bigger, well, just sort of ask people together.
23:19
Yeah, like us here on a Saturday.
23:21
That's why I really like those Saturdays because you know,
23:24
when, what context do we actually meet in a large number
23:28
like that with other people without, you know, and actually
23:33
talk to each other. You know, I guess we could,
23:35
could go to the cinema or the concert or whatever, but you
23:38
know, there isn't much sort of would be lovely if there was,
23:40
but there isn't much sort of communication happening.
23:42
So communication, actual real human connection is important
23:48
because what happens if you meet regularly and in large numbers
23:52
with your community? It's very difficult to sustain
23:56
stories about other people. And it's very easy to have a
24:00
story or a box you put people in if you just sort of scrolling
24:04
through social media. But if you if you keep coming
24:09
into a room with people, it's very difficult to actually
24:14
sustain a fixed image about someone.
24:17
Eventually we will have to drop that image.
24:19
We will have to drop that story. We will have to start seeing
24:22
because we will see. We will start seeing people in
24:24
all their different shades and particularities, and very, very
24:31
difficult to just see them as one thing.
24:35
Now, this is one of the reasons why, you know, sort of in our
24:38
community, people, you know, some people decide to live
24:40
together. Some people decide to work
24:42
together because that actual human connection in all parts of
24:48
life is it's just really important for, well, for letting
24:52
go of that kind of wrong perception of people.
24:56
Yeah, it is actually conducive in the long term, maybe not
25:01
immediately, to matter and friendliness.
25:05
Well, if you start living with people initially, you think your
25:08
matter has gone out of the window and you actually start
25:12
hating people and you realize, oh, there's actually a lot of
25:14
hate there. But that's good.
25:17
Yeah, that's a good thing. Because if we just, if you just
25:21
all, you know, decided to isolate ourselves and be alone
25:24
where we would only have lukewarm emotions, yeah, we
25:27
wouldn't be able to actually know what we're working with.
25:31
So to have something that you know, to have actually other
25:34
people in the way, it's really helpful to, well, get in touch
25:38
with our emotions first so that we can then refine them and turn
25:42
them into love. Yeah.
25:43
I mean, I noticed that I've been living in community now for I
25:48
think 8 years now in different communities with Buddhist
25:50
communities, with other people, varying different
25:54
constellations. I'm working for the Buddhist
25:58
Centre now for like five years or something, something like
26:03
that feels longer. You know, we, we work together
26:09
in teams. There's a lot of sort of
26:11
teamwork here. You know, these classes are let
26:13
in teams, you know, our, our, our, you know, management team.
26:16
We have a team sort of try to have everything on a team basis.
26:21
And I can tell you this has been one of the most challenging time
26:23
of my life. Yeah, most transformative time
26:27
of my life because before that, when I had a job, I would
26:31
usually just work, you know, in a sort of small office and I
26:33
would just sort of scan stuff or whatever.
26:37
Very difficult to get your emotions flowing.
26:39
Yeah. Very difficult to get your, you
26:42
know, not talk, not even talking about hatred, just any sort of
26:45
emotion flowing. Very difficult.
26:47
But being a team with people where you're trying to get
26:51
something to work, you have to transform.
26:54
Yeah. Otherwise you'll explode.
26:56
That's how I felt. Yeah.
26:59
So this, I think this is the point of the of the Buddha.
27:02
He is trying to say, well, if we want to.
27:05
So he's making a commentary about society, but also about
27:08
spiritual communities. If we want to not decline but
27:11
grow, we'll have to start to meet.
27:14
Yeah, we will have to actually meet up.
27:17
We'll have to be together. You know, it doesn't matter if
27:22
we are, if we are, you know, not feeling like it doesn't matter
27:25
whether we, you know, have strong reactions and all that,
27:29
you know. And ideally then the second
27:31
thing is meeting in harmony, leaving in harmony.
27:33
Carry on their business in harmony.
27:35
Well, that's a tall order. That's quite a tall ask.
27:39
But that should be the ideal. Yeah.
27:42
And if we can't do that, if we can't meet in harmony, if you
27:45
can't actually be with one another in harmony, well, then
27:50
it's up to us again. Yeah.
27:53
Practicing meta, practicing friendliness, trying to
27:56
establish something of harmony or actually working towards
28:00
harmony. I mean, harmony is a bit of a it
28:05
can be a bit of a red herrings of the word can be a bit of a
28:10
sort of funky word that's thrown around.
28:13
Harmony doesn't mean you that on the surface level everything's
28:17
fine and you push everything under a rug.
28:19
That's not harmony. Harmony means, I think in my
28:24
experience, it comes about when you learn to relax around other
28:29
people. You know, when you learn to just
28:33
be with others no matter what's there.
28:35
Yeah. No matter what's happening with
28:37
them. And when you're courageous
28:40
enough to, well, say, if you say things, say things to others,
28:48
and if you take responsibility for your own actions.
28:51
Yeah. My problem is usually being a
28:53
bit too outspoken. I usually sort of have to sort
28:57
of catch my words again. But what I've learned is that
29:00
harmony comes, you know, not by not saying those things, but by
29:04
then actually taking responsibility for your own
29:08
actions. Responsibility being one of
29:10
those big, big, big things in Buddhism.
29:17
OK, so that's the first story talked a bit more about that
29:20
than I wanted, so I'll keep the other two a bit shorter.
29:25
Now the second story is actually my favorite.
29:27
It's really short and it's not really a story at all, but it's
29:30
just, I don't know. It's just, it's almost just one
29:33
little paragraph, but I find it really sweet.
29:37
So this is a bit later. So the Buddha is actually don't
29:40
know where he is. He's travelling around in
29:42
Bisali, wherever that is, somewhere in India.
29:49
And he, you know, by the time he that the Buddha was 80, he was
29:54
obviously, you know, he had been teaching for most of his life.
29:57
So he gained enlightenment, according to tradition, around
30:00
the age of 35. Some traditions say 25, but the
30:04
mainstream tradition says 35. And so by the time that he's 80,
30:11
he's already fairly well known. Yeah.
30:13
And religious people at the time in India were quite sort of in.
30:17
Yeah. So the Buddha wasn't the only
30:19
religious person at the time. There was all sorts of other
30:22
teachers around. And people were, even if they
30:25
weren't Buddhist, they were quite fond of religious teachers
30:28
because they, you know, they gave instructions, they gave
30:32
things to ponder about. They gave interesting advice.
30:40
So this is about Amber Pali, the courtesan.
30:43
She's courtesan. Courtesan.
30:47
English is a difficult language because then I don't know.
30:51
It's like with pronunciations. I'd sometimes ask my friends
30:54
and, you know, try to get the pronunciation right.
30:56
But then an Australian person comes along.
30:58
It's like, no, that's not how we say it.
31:01
Make up your. That happened to me a few times.
31:08
So Ambapali, the courtesan, is that correct?
31:11
Court the Sun. OK, Yeah, Yeah.
31:17
So she had heard that the Buddha had arrived and that he was
31:20
staying in her mango Grove. So she's she owns the mango
31:23
Grove, which is which is also meant to be quite lovely, lovely
31:26
places to stay and in order for. And then she was really
31:32
interested. So she really wanted to meet the
31:33
Buddha. So she then the story goes, she
31:36
had the finest carriages harnessed.
31:39
Yeah, so she's really doing herself up.
31:41
And she mounted a fine carriage and along with other fine
31:44
carriages, set out from Vesali for her own park.
31:47
She went by carriage as far as the terrain allowed, then
31:50
descended and approached the Buddha on foot.
31:53
She bowed and sat down to one side.
31:56
The Buddha educated, encouraged, fired up and inspired her with a
32:02
Dumber talk. And then because she was so
32:06
inspired, she said to the Buddha, Sir, may the Buddha
32:09
together with the mendicant sanga.
32:11
So the, the monks, please accept tomorrow's meal from me.
32:15
Yeah, that was that was usual at the time that you, that, you
32:18
know, the, the the monks announced they would only accept
32:20
food if it was offered to them. Yeah.
32:22
So there was a tradition of offering, you know, because they
32:25
were all wonderers. Yeah.
32:26
They were home homeless Wanderers.
32:31
The Buddha consented with silence.
32:33
Then, knowing that the Buddha had consented, Ambapali got up
32:36
from her seat, bowed and respectfully circled the Buddha,
32:39
keeping him on her ride before leaving.
32:42
That's also traditional, but now she gets competition.
32:47
The lechevies of Thessali, so that's.
32:49
A group of people also heard that the Buddha had arrived and
32:53
was staying in Ambapali's mango Grove.
32:56
They had the finest carriages harnessed, then they mounted a
33:00
fine carriage and along with other fine carriages set out
33:03
from Vesali. And those literaries, they're
33:06
sort of young, young people. Yeah, sort of young, young guys.
33:09
I think some of the literaries were in blue of blue colour,
33:13
clad in blue, adorned with blue, and some were similarly colored
33:18
in yellow, of yellow colour, clad in yellow, adorned with
33:22
yellow. And some of them were red of red
33:25
colour, clad in red, adorned with red.
33:28
And some of them were wearing white of blue color, white
33:31
color, clad in white and to dawn with white.
33:34
So they were all sort of wearing the latest fashions of of
33:37
Vasali, really doing doing themselves up, really wearing
33:42
the sort of the latest trends of Vasali fashion.
33:48
But like Fashion Week here sometimes.
33:52
So then Amber Parley, the courtesan, collided with those
33:55
literary ewes on the way, axle to axle, wheel to reel, yoke to
33:59
yoke. So they bumped into each other,
34:02
the literary said to her, and they're very rude.
34:06
What you wench on the Pali are you doing colliding with us,
34:10
axle to axle, wheel to reel, yoke to yoke?
34:14
Well, masters, it's because I've invited the Buddha for
34:17
tomorrow's meal together with the mendicant sanga wench, give
34:22
us that meal for 100,000. So they want to invite the
34:25
Buddha as well. Masters, even if you were to
34:28
give me Vasali with her provinces, I still wouldn't give
34:31
that meal to you. So she's insisting and she
34:34
really wants to offer, you know, to put out a meal because, you
34:37
know, he's an enlightened person.
34:38
And it's a lot of, it gives you a lot of merit if you can offer
34:41
food to people who practice the religious life.
34:45
So then, you know, the literary is being really young and naive
34:48
and arrogant. Snap their fingers saying we've
34:51
been beaten by the auntie. Sometimes, sometimes in some
34:55
translations, it's it's the mango Las called the mango.
34:59
The we've been beaten by the mango Las.
35:02
And then they continued on to Ambapali's mango Grove because
35:05
they're still certain to see the Buddha.
35:08
And now comes the I I just find this lovely.
35:10
So the Buddha sees them coming in the distance.
35:12
Yeah. Remember, this is all these sort
35:14
of young guys in like lovely dresses and, you know, like
35:18
perfumes, maybe even, you know, like blue and red and yellow
35:22
white. So he sees them coming in the
35:26
distance. So he turns to his monks and
35:28
says any of the mendicants, any of the monks who've never seen
35:33
the gods of the 33 before. So that's in in Indian
35:37
cosmology, these are like sort of high-ranking gods.
35:40
You're beautiful deities, which you can, according to Buddhist
35:45
tradition, you can see in meditations with deep meditative
35:48
experiences, you can sort of start, start to see that that
35:52
form of beauty, it's a, it's a realm of beauty.
35:55
So he says any of the mendicants have never seen the gods of the
35:58
33 before. Just have a look at the assembly
36:01
of the Lechevies, see the assembly of Lechevies, check
36:05
them out. They are just like the 33.
36:10
I find that so lovely. It's like, I don't know, it's
36:12
sometimes you, you know, again, he's 80 and you can sort of see
36:16
he's, I think he's joking. He's sort of like, I think he
36:21
has the smirk on his face. That's how I imagine it.
36:24
And it's just sort of like, aha, you know, I don't know,
36:26
sometimes I get that. I mean, I'm only 31, but I don't
36:30
know when you sort of see young guys or, or, you know, girls
36:33
dressed up and sort of trying to just think, yeah, of course
36:36
that's what you do. You know, it's just like when
36:37
you're in that age, you sort of, I don't think we should sort of,
36:41
you know, he's not shaming them, he's not sort of telling them
36:43
off for dressing up. But it's just lovely, isn't it?
36:45
It's life. It's reviews trying to really
36:47
express itself and it's just life, isn't it?
36:50
It's life and beauty and beauty also being a, you know, big,
36:56
big, big quality in Buddhism. So anyway, they come and they
37:02
try to try to convince the Buddha that they are much more
37:06
suited, they're much more suited to meeting the Buddha than
37:10
Ambapali, the courtesan. But obviously the Buddha says,
37:12
well, she's already, I've already agreed to her.
37:16
So they have to, they again snap their fingers and say we've been
37:19
beaten by the mangolas, we've been beaten by the auntie.
37:24
And then they they go away and meet, meet the Buddha a
37:28
different day. So he's sort of really teaching
37:30
them well, you know, responsibility and you can sort
37:33
of see that's sort of full of arrogance and sort of youthful
37:36
naivety and thinking that's sort of the the latest shit or
37:39
something. So that's the second story.
37:47
And I just want to finish with the last story, which sort of
37:52
contains the biggest teaching, I think.
37:58
So, you know, so he's in his last few, I guess, days or maybe
38:01
even weeks. He's meeting all sorts of
38:03
people. He does get sick.
38:06
You know, it's quite clear his body is not for handling the
38:09
sickness anymore. He's just taking some rest.
38:15
And then Ananda again comes to him and it's all sorts of
38:21
questions. And, and you can see the Ananda
38:23
is really worked up. He's really worried that the
38:25
Buddha is going to die soon. So the Buddha being very sick is
38:30
Ananda last teaching. And he tells them, Ananda, you
38:37
can always whenever the Buddha talks to Ananda, he's slightly,
38:41
slightly telling him all for a bit poor Ananda.
38:45
So he, the Buddha says to Ananda, that's the teaching
38:48
Ananda, abide self reliant, taking refuge in yourself, not
38:54
taking refuge in others, reliant on the Dumber, the teaching
39:00
taking refuge in the Dumber, not taking refuge in another.
39:05
So he's saying a by itself reliant, taking refuge only in
39:08
yourself, not taking refuge in others and reliant on the Dumber
39:12
taking refuge in the Dumber, not taking refuge in another.
39:18
And that is actually a teaching which is mirrored all throughout
39:21
the Buddhist teachings. There's even a saying where the
39:24
Buddha says something like, you know, be a, you know, take
39:26
refuge in yourself, be a lamp, be an island onto yourself.
39:30
This is the only refuge. So that's interesting, isn't it?
39:34
He's saying, on the one hand, what we must do is we ought to
39:37
take refuge in ourselves, be self reliant, not seeking refuge
39:42
in others. And on the other hand, he's
39:45
telling Ananda to to take refuge in the teaching in the dumba,
39:50
the truth. So that might be a slightly
39:54
contradiction, right? It might be that might be a sort
39:56
of contradiction there, You know, are we now to just follow
39:59
ourselves and our own, you know, urges and impulses, or are we to
40:04
actually follow a teaching, a path, something that's set out
40:08
before us? And again, Sam Raksha makes in
40:13
his talk about this makes a very interesting point.
40:15
He says that he thinks there's these are sort of the two poles
40:18
of the spiritual life. Yeah, these are the two poles of
40:21
the spiritual life. It's that on the one hand,
40:25
spiritual life is about self development, taking
40:28
responsibility for ourselves, you know, so this is what we're
40:31
doing here. We're learning how to meditate,
40:32
transforming our own mind. We're working on our mind,
40:36
becoming more mindful, opening up to meta, to a loving
40:40
kindness. We're trying to be more ethical.
40:43
We're trying to be friendly. We're trying to sort of not just
40:46
do it for ourselves, but you know, even with others outside,
40:50
you know, the ubon, I'm trying to be friendly, patient,
40:54
generous, but really trying to becoming an individual.
40:59
Yeah, transforming our own consciousness through
41:01
meditation, through ethics, less, less dependent on, you
41:06
know, what do others think of us and how, how can we please
41:10
others? Becoming much more self
41:13
dependent through friendship, ethics and so on.
41:18
And then he says sort of the other pole of the spiritual life
41:22
is devotion to a supremely worthwhile object.
41:27
Yeah. So we can only develop ourselves
41:32
if we have something that is worthwhile to devote ourselves
41:36
to. Yeah.
41:37
Some sort of ideal, something that, you know, some direction,
41:40
really. Otherwise we can just sort of
41:42
develop as as we please in all sorts of directions if you want
41:46
to. So he's, so that's sort of the
41:49
second teaching in there. It's a sort of spiritual life
41:53
makes sense once we've found for us something that we can
41:57
venerate, something that we can devote or commit ourselves to.
42:01
Over the last few weeks, Papmasagra and Tarpaul to have
42:03
explored that whole theme of commitment.
42:06
That's what that means, is finding a worthwhile object, a
42:10
supremely worthwhile object that we can devote ourselves to some
42:13
sort of higher ideal, something that we can practice for.
42:19
For Buddhists, this is obviously the Dharma at the teaching of
42:23
the Buddha, something that leads to enlightenment, to
42:27
transcendence. And he's some actually in the
42:32
talk is making a sort of statement of, well, you know,
42:37
devotion means both obviously having devotional feelings, sort
42:40
of, you know, cultivating that sense of looking up, revering,
42:48
which is maybe something that in modern times isn't so obvious
42:52
for us. It doesn't come easy.
42:55
We sort of think, well, that's, yeah, it's a sort of medieval
42:59
thing. I've always, I mean, I've always
43:02
said that I was always, when I grew up, I was always a bit
43:05
suspicious of religion anyway. I grew up without any religion.
43:08
I grew up in East Berlin after the wall fell, but still in that
43:13
environment, but not nonetheless.
43:17
Maybe I'm just a weird child, but nonetheless, what I, I just
43:20
remember as a child already that started that sense of wouldn't
43:25
it be nice if I could go into a place of worship or like a
43:28
church or a temple and I would always light a candle, not
43:31
knowing what that is? So I think that seems to be a
43:35
sort of human need almost for wanting to venerate something,
43:39
wanting to Revere something. It's just that in our
43:42
experience, we've learned to be quite suspicious, and rightly so
43:46
with veneration because we see where that leads, but we also
43:50
seeing now that the lack of that leads to not good things either.
43:55
So I think so for me, it was one of those almost revelations that
44:00
I felt like, oh, I can actually Revere something.
44:03
I can devote myself to something higher and well learn to grow
44:10
from them. So and the Buddha, you know, the
44:15
Buddha in, in, in a different sort of, he is saying that not
44:19
to Revere anything means to suffer.
44:22
Yeah, he he does say that. That's when he asks himself,
44:25
well, now that he is the Buddha, who is he revereing?
44:28
He's really, he's really asking himself the question because he
44:30
thinks, well, not to Revere anything is suffering.
44:34
It's the Buddha. You know, the Buddha says that
44:37
about himself and he knows that he can't Revere himself.
44:41
So he then decides to venerate, to Revere, to devote himself to
44:45
the Dhamma. Yeah.
44:46
The truth, sort of transcendental truth, which is
44:49
non personal, which is sort of that law of the fact that we can
44:55
all get enlightened. So even the Buddha needs
44:58
something to Revere. Yeah, even he is not without
45:02
veneration. So you can see it's not
45:05
something where you where we try to put ourselves down or sort of
45:08
make ourselves small. It is actually an opening up of
45:10
becoming bigger experience and the Buddha as well.
45:16
That's actually that's what I want to finish with.
45:18
You know, when he sort of, you know, is very sick, lies down
45:22
and sees all these flowers, all the petals, these untimely
45:27
flowers raining down on him, he is actually saying, you know,
45:31
this is very lovely. Thank you very much.
45:36
But he's sort of saying, but this isn't actually the way to
45:40
Revere a Buddha. The best way to venerate and
45:43
Revere a Buddha is to practice the Dhamma.
45:46
And it's to actually put it, put yourself to the practice that's
45:50
and and achieve that state of enlightenment yourself.
45:52
That's the best way you can devote yourself to to Buddha.
45:58
But again, that I feel like it fits quite well into our modern
46:02
sentiment of like, OK, yeah. So we're we're not supposed to
46:04
actually feel anything. We're just supposed to do it.
46:07
I do think we need, we need both.
46:09
Yeah. We need both.
46:10
That kind of commitment to spiritual development, personal
46:13
development, taking responsibility for our own
46:15
lives, for our own minds, and finding something, finding the
46:19
truth that we can then live by. So I'm just going to finish with
46:24
the last words that the Buddha ever said to his disciples.
46:30
So this is before he died. He sort of called them, called
46:34
them together for one last teaching.
46:35
And the only thing he then at the end says, he says quite a
46:38
few things, but at the end he sort of says all things that are
46:43
subject to rising about to cease with mindfulness, Strive on.
46:50
That's the last thing he says. Thank you very much.