Latest / Buddhistisches Tor Berlin Podcast / A Buddhist’s Response to Global Crises - Part 2

Transcript

A Buddhist’s Response to Global Crises - Part 2 · Buddhistisches Tor Berlin Podcast

0:04
Welcome to the Buddhisticious Tour.
0:06
Berlin podcast here we share talks.
0:09
And reflections from our Buddhist centre in Berlin,
0:13
exploring themes such as meditation.
0:16
Ethics and the Path. Of awakening in everyday life.
0:20
We are part of the Sri Ratna Buddhist community and our talks
0:24
are offered. Freely, in a spirit of
0:26
generosity. We hope this episode supports.
0:30
Your practice and your life. So if if you were here last
0:41
week, or if you managed to listen to the talk from last
0:44
week on the podcast that was posted in the WhatsApp group,
0:48
you'll know that I was speaking on a Buddhist's response to
0:53
global crises. Well, that was the title last
0:56
week, A Buddhist's Response to Global Crises.
1:00
And as I said, I chose my words carefully.
1:02
So it's a Buddhist's with an apostrophe S.
1:05
And that Buddhist was me. So I was talking more from a
1:08
personal perspective. How am I trying to respond to
1:12
the things and the events that I see unfolding around me?
1:17
And I was using the story or the myth, the archetypal story or
1:24
legend of the Bodhisattva, Avalo Kiteshvara, to explore that
1:29
theme. So Avalo Kiteshvara in the story
1:33
is a great Bodhisattva. So Bodhisattva is a being, a
1:38
satva, who is concerned only with bodhi or enlightenment, and
1:43
not just for his own sake, but for the sake of all of this.
1:48
Yep. So Avalo Kiteshvara is concerned
1:50
with the the welfare of all of this.
1:53
And in the story, he begins by making this great vow to his
1:57
teacher that if, as he's working for the benefit of all beings,
2:03
he has one single selfish thought, then he would just
2:08
break into 1000 pieces. Yeah.
2:11
So may I never have such a selfish thought.
2:13
And if I do, I'll break into 1000 pieces.
2:16
And then he worked tirelessly for many.
2:19
I don't know how long I forget in the story, but he, yeah, he
2:23
works very hard to alleviate the suffering of others.
2:27
And then one day he stops and he looks out on the world and he
2:32
just sees all the suffering is going on and on and on.
2:36
I think that the text I was reading last week is something
2:39
like the world was like an ocean of fire, and he saw the sorrows
2:44
of other beings. He wept.
2:47
And then he had the thought, what's the use?
2:50
What's the point making all this work and not making any
2:53
difference? And then he broke into 1000
2:57
pieces. But at that point, as I was
2:59
saying, last week, something else emerged.
3:02
So something broke, but something else emerged.
3:06
So the Buddha Amitabha appeared before him, reassembled him from
3:10
the thousand pieces into the figure that we've got depicted
3:15
on the wall there. So this Bodhi sat the figure
3:18
with 1000 arms and 11 heads to help alleviate the suffering of
3:25
the world. So it's an inspiring story, an
3:30
inspiring myth. And I was relating to that
3:33
personally by saying that I've been a Buddhist for 15 years.
3:37
I look around me, I can see that it's had a positive effect on
3:41
myself and some of the people around me.
3:43
But when I look at the world, is it making a difference?
3:47
That was the question and the exploration and I was drawing
3:51
inspiration from that story in the sense that if we can just
3:56
begin to break down some of the self concern and the belief in
4:03
our own centre, identity centre, maybe as that breaks up then
4:09
something else can begin to come in or come through.
4:14
So that's a, a rough outline of of some of the things I said
4:19
last time. There was one detail in that
4:22
story that I left aside because I thought last week, I, it
4:27
doesn't really matter. I'll just edit that bit out.
4:30
So that that one detail I left out was that when have a look at
4:35
Tesharu has made his vow and he's worked for the benefit of
4:39
others and he looks out on the world and he sees that there's
4:42
just as much suffering, if not more suffering going on.
4:47
At that point, he weeps and his tears begin to form a pool of
4:53
water. And on the pool, a Lotus
4:57
suddenly appears. And seated on the Lotus is a
5:02
beautiful goddess that we call Green Tara.
5:08
And there's an image of Green Tara on the shrine.
5:12
And she blesses him, helps him, influences him.
5:17
And then the rest of the story continues.
5:20
So I just want to return to that detail because there's something
5:23
in that part of the story, the appearance of Green Tara in the
5:28
Pool of tears, that I think offers us another aspect of a
5:34
possible response to the difficulties and tragedies that
5:40
we see around the world all the time.
5:44
Yep. So let's just in a way I'm
5:47
inviting this Green Tara into the space and I'll say more
5:52
about her as we go on, but let's just allow that part of the
5:57
story to unfold like the Lotus unfolded in the pool.
6:08
So I want to talk today about happiness.
6:16
So happiness as a an aspect of a response to the suffering of the
6:21
world. So that's different, isn't it?
6:26
Last week I talked a lot about suffering and being able to
6:29
witness and be with suffering without either going into a kind
6:35
of shutdown state and just wanting to not see it, or
6:40
without going into an anxious response of trying to fix
6:43
things. But can we just be with and
6:46
witness suffering enough for something to begin to break down
6:51
and for something else to come in it's place?
6:56
The the word for suffering in Buddhism is duca.
6:59
Yeah. So that was last week.
7:01
This week, as I say, it's happiness.
7:03
And the word in Buddhism is sucker.
7:06
So not to be confused, but duca and sucker.
7:10
This week's sucker. Two things to bear in mind like
7:15
as we set out on this kind of different track today, first of
7:21
all, like last week, my appeal to you is to have beginner's
7:26
mind towards happiness. So this word sucker, what does
7:31
it really mean? Let's just whatever ideas we
7:34
have about what happiness is and how to achieve it, let's just
7:39
put that to one side and come at it fresh.
7:44
So last week I was I quoted this poem by Sangarachi to the unseen
7:48
flower and as an encouragement to do that with compassion.
7:53
So whatever ideas we have about compassion, put them aside.
7:58
I think in the poem we could just as easily substitute the
8:01
word compassion for happiness and it still works.
8:05
So then the poem would go something like this.
8:07
Happiness is far more than an emotion.
8:13
It's something that springs up in the emptiness when you
8:16
yourself are not there, so that you do not know anything about
8:20
it. Nobody, in fact knows anything
8:23
about it. If they knew it, it would not be
8:26
happiness. But they can only smell the
8:29
scent of the unseen flower that blooms in the heart of the void.
8:36
Yep. So happiness, I'm proposing, and
8:39
I think Buddhism proposes, is far more than just an emotion.
8:43
It's more than something that we just feel or don't feel.
8:47
So let's have that open beginner's mind to whatever
8:51
happiness might be. The other thing I want to bring
8:56
in, and for you to bear in mind that in talking about happiness,
8:59
this isn't a kind of balancing act against last week where we
9:03
talked about Ducker. It was quite emotionally
9:07
stirring and potentially challenging.
9:10
It's not that I'm talking about happiness this week as a kind of
9:15
Band-Aid or plaster to make us all feel better.
9:20
Yeah. It's not that we're just
9:22
balancing things out, suffering, if we do that, the problem is
9:27
that we might lose some of the advantages that I was describing
9:34
last week that come from being able to look and turn towards
9:38
suffering or DUCA. So last week, as I was saying,
9:43
if we can, if we can experience suffering, be with suffering,
9:47
see suffering long enough, then something begins to break down.
9:53
This sense of identity at the centre of things that we believe
9:58
in can begin to open up to some extent and allow something else
10:02
through. If now we just talk about
10:05
happiness as a way of avoiding that or trying to fix it, like
10:11
let's be happy instead, then we lose that possibility of
10:15
suffering as a gateway into a deeper way of being and
10:20
understanding. So the the proposal then is to
10:24
explore happiness not as a balancing proposition, but to
10:29
explore happiness as something that takes everything further,
10:34
more, deeper, more deeply still. Yeah.
10:38
So then the proposition is, well, how do we fully experience
10:43
and acknowledge and witness suffering and be happy at the
10:48
same time? Because it might sound like a
10:52
contradiction. Isn't it just that we're one or
10:55
the other? And actually that's the whole
10:57
problem. We want to be more happy and
11:00
less and suffer less. It could seem that that's a
11:05
contradiction or that there's some sort of compromise, but OK,
11:09
we suffer, but we are also happy as well sometimes.
11:12
Yeah, I think Buddhism and then the Buddhist perspective on
11:18
happiness is that it is not just the balance against suffering or
11:23
a counteraction of suffering. And if we treat happiness as
11:28
being that, that might actually make suffering worse.
11:33
I'll say more about that in a moment.
11:38
The Buddha's our example, obviously.
11:41
That's why the Buddha sits in the middle of the room.
11:44
And if we look at the Buddha's life, he seems to have been
11:47
somebody who could hold both together at the same time,
11:52
suffering and happiness, or as I said last week, heartbreak and
12:00
happiness. So really able to see suffering
12:04
and its causes, but also be happy, unimaginably happy.
12:11
So it's just just by historical development or the, the
12:18
particular course that Buddhism has taken that it is known as
12:22
Buddhism. I don't know if you know this,
12:25
but the Buddha's name, Buddha means awake, the awakened one.
12:30
But in the early texts he's he's referred to by many other names.
12:34
One of them is Sugata, and sugata means Happy 1.
12:40
So we could just as much be in a Surgatist centre as a Buddhist
12:46
centre. Surgatisha's tour, that would
12:48
be, wouldn't it, Berlinch, The Happy Gate?
12:53
Yeah, it could just as much be called that.
12:56
But things took a different turn, and Buddhism is what
12:58
stuck. So the Buddha himself was known
13:02
for being incredibly happy. And yeah, as he famously said
13:06
once, look at the world, it's on fire.
13:10
It's on fire with suffering. So he seemed to be able to live
13:16
those, not as a contradiction. Yeah.
13:21
Also his his community, the people who were inspired by him
13:27
and followed him. The way the Buddha talked about
13:30
the Sangha was in terms of happiness.
13:35
So there's these lines from the Dharma Pada, one of the earliest
13:38
texts where the Buddha is quoted as saying happy indeed we live,
13:45
happy indeed we live. What is it, I forget now?
13:50
Friendly amid the haters, among those who hate we dwell free
13:56
from hatred. Happy indeed, we live healthy
14:02
amid the sick. Among those who are sick, we
14:06
dwell free from sickness. Happy indeed, we live content
14:11
amid the greedy. Among those who are greedy, we
14:15
dwell free from greed. So I don't know how those lines
14:23
land. It could sound a bit judgmental,
14:28
couldn't it? Like we're the ones who've got
14:30
it all sorted out, we're the happy ones, the friendly ones,
14:35
they're the haters, we're the content ones, they're the greedy
14:39
ones. It doesn't mean it like that.
14:42
I'm pretty convinced. I mean, on a relative level, the
14:47
the Buddha and his followers, they did set themselves up as a
14:51
kind of radical alternative to society.
14:54
They did have their own thing going on, let's say.
14:58
But you don't have to go far in the Buddhist texts to find
15:01
examples of followers of the Buddha really hating each other,
15:06
falling out, having arguments. It's not that the Sangha, just
15:10
because it existed, was free from greed, hatred and delusion.
15:15
So it can't, can't mean that what I think it does mean.
15:20
I'll, I'll come to in a moment, so just stay with me.
15:26
So happiness, what is happiness from a Buddhist point of view?
15:32
What did the Buddha have to say about happiness and what it is?
15:38
So in one of the suttas, one of the Buddhas teachings, sutta
15:45
means thread. So we've got all these suttas or
15:48
sutras, these threads of things he said, that kind of trail
15:53
through the ages, and we can pick up and follow and try to
15:56
get a sense of what the Buddha had experienced by following his
16:00
thread. And in one of these suttas, one
16:03
of these threads, he talked about 3 levels of happiness.
16:09
This is so classic Buddhism. There's always levels.
16:13
There's always 3 levels that subdivide into four other
16:16
categories. And in this case, that's what
16:19
it's like. But let's just keep it simple
16:21
and say there are three levels of happiness that the Buddha or
16:25
the sugata talked about. So the first level was sensuous
16:35
happiness. So the happiness that comes
16:38
through the five physical senses, seeing, hearing,
16:42
tasting, touching, smelling. Yeah.
16:47
So you can think of your own examples.
16:51
Seeing, seeing the sun this morning.
16:53
That was my sensual happiness. The first thing I did this
16:57
morning when I rolled up the blind was the sun is out.
17:00
Joy. Yeah.
17:01
Rather than cloud ducker. Yeah, we hear somebody who's
17:09
playing the piano in the break very nicely, very beautifully.
17:13
Ah, And I was sat here just waiting and hearing that sound
17:16
like, ah, there's some joy in the experience of hearing
17:21
something well, well played, beautiful music.
17:26
So I won't multiply examples because there are millions and
17:29
we experience them all the time. But that's the first level of
17:33
happiness and nothing wrong with that.
17:38
Obviously I'll have more to say about sense pleasure later.
17:44
But what the Buddha points out when he talks about this level
17:46
of happiness is that because it's external, because it
17:51
depends very much on our senses and how we're perceiving the
17:56
external world, sounds and sights, etcetera, it's kind of
18:02
out of our control, or it's less within our control.
18:08
So we know that because whenever I start to talk, an ambulance
18:12
goes past and I start having to speak louder and I start getting
18:17
frustrated about that. So the sounds we don't really
18:20
control whatever is going on out there will affect our
18:24
environment. So that that can be an issue.
18:29
In other words, the the pleasure of the senses is conditioned.
18:34
So if those conditions are present, the sun is out, then I
18:38
experience pleasure. If those conditions are not
18:41
present and the clouds are there covering the sun, I don't feel
18:45
the joy. So it's outside of my direct
18:50
influence or further outside than other types of happiness.
18:57
The second level of happiness is is near amisa.
19:04
That's the word. So amisa is the sensory
19:07
happiness. Near Amisa is the the non
19:12
sensory or something that's more to do with the mind.
19:16
So it's not dependent on the five physical senses.
19:19
It's something that comes from the mind and therefore something
19:23
that comes from within. So it's kind of inner source of
19:28
happiness and inner mental source of happiness, which when
19:34
the Buddha's talking about it, he speaks in terms of
19:36
meditation. Maybe you were here, some of
19:39
you, for Arthur Ketu's talk about the Burkhine and getting
19:44
into the club that Well, it wasn't just about that.
19:49
It was about the hindrances in meditation and how to overcome
19:52
the hindrances in meditation and the joy one experiences as one
19:57
goes deeper in meditation. So that's an example of inner
20:01
joy and happiness that can come from within.
20:07
So if the first level is external, this is more internal
20:11
and in a way much more refined. But.
20:16
It's also still conditioned. Yep.
20:19
So whatever pleasure we might get through meditation or
20:24
doesn't have to be meditation, doesn't it through mindfulness
20:27
practice where we feel that kind of inner source of radiance,
20:33
happiness, joy, might still be dependent on conditions.
20:39
So again, the ambulance could go past and it throws me out of
20:42
that inner state of happiness. So it's more stable than just an
20:47
external source of happiness, but it's still not completely
20:53
bulletproof. Let's say the third level is.
20:58
So the third level of happiness is nirvanic happiness.
21:03
This is the highest form of happiness.
21:06
So the happiness that is, is not conditioned.
21:11
It doesn't depend on external sounds, sights, taste, touch,
21:17
doesn't even depend upon certain mental inner experience.
21:23
It's free from all of that. It's it's a type of happiness
21:27
that is free from any trace of self orientation or self
21:33
centredness. Sounds great and also sounds a
21:44
long way away. Yeah.
21:47
So I, I have 43 years of experience of the first level of
21:52
happiness, I'm glad to say. I've never had a year where
21:55
there's been no sensory enjoyment whatsoever.
22:00
Yeah. So 43 years where that's been
22:02
going on, I have some experience of an inner happiness and joy,
22:08
particularly having found Buddhism and learnt to meditate
22:13
and living ethically and all the the inner joy that that brings.
22:21
But I'm not at the level of nirvanic happiness.
22:25
Maybe occasionally there's been glimpses or hints or suggestions
22:30
of that there must have been or I wouldn't be here.
22:36
I believe that that is a possibility, but that is not my
22:41
usual living state. Just to be stating the obvious
22:46
perhaps. So yeah, it can feel a long way
22:53
away. And this week, in wanting to
22:57
come in and talk more about happiness, not as a balancing
23:01
act, but to take things deeper, these 3 levels of happiness have
23:06
been on my mind. And actually, the more I
23:09
reflected on them, the more I felt like I just needed to break
23:14
away from that particular model with those 3 levels.
23:17
It's very neat and tidy, isn't it?
23:19
And it's brilliant. Like to have that clarity about
23:24
experience and clarity about the possibilities that are open to
23:29
us in terms of how we experience happiness in our lives.
23:35
It's fantastic to just assume that the only level of happiness
23:41
available to us is that which comes through the external
23:43
senses. If that's our working model for
23:46
life trouble. Yeah, because whatever we enjoy
23:52
is going to change as the conditions change.
23:55
So knowing that actually there's something I can do to cultivate
23:59
an inner source of happiness that is a fantastic gift, but
24:05
then also to think, well, don't settle down for that because
24:09
there's something even more incredible that gives you then a
24:14
whole vision for life and what really happiness is or can be.
24:21
So I I cherish the fact that these teachings exist, but as my
24:27
reflections went on during the week, I always have to do this,
24:32
slightly rebel against the system and the structure.
24:37
And I just went into exploring. Well, a more simple question,
24:42
what are the sources of happiness?
24:45
So what have been the things in my life that have actually given
24:50
me some sense of happiness on whatever level?
24:53
Like, forget the levels now for a moment, What are the sources
24:57
of happiness in our lives? So I just want to share three
25:06
sources that have have, yeah, unfolded in my life in such a
25:12
way that I would say I'm more happy and therefore able to
25:21
influence other people in a positive way or yeah, affect of
25:27
the people in a more positive way.
25:30
And I think it's opening to that something else that we get in
25:34
the have a look at Teshra story. Something else coming through
25:39
can happen or is more likely to happen if I'm in touch with
25:43
these particular sources of happiness, you know, so first
25:52
one is the happiness that comes from serving something greater
25:58
than myself. So the happiness that comes from
26:02
serving something greater than myself.
26:08
OK, I definitely serve myself and I need to, we all need to,
26:14
don't we? So I wake up in the morning and
26:17
I serve myself by brushing my teeth, having breakfast, not not
26:24
necessarily in that order, but doing all those things, washing.
26:30
We look after ourselves. Whatever we think about
26:34
ourselves and whatever opinions we have about ourselves, we care
26:38
deeply for ourselves just in those small ways.
26:43
We go to bed, we give ourselves some rest, some sleep.
26:47
Maybe we do some exercise. Maybe we come to the Buddhist
26:51
Centre on a Saturday morning because there's something here
26:55
that we like or we enjoy or that we benefit from.
26:59
So you're all here today because you're in some way caring for
27:03
yourselves. So that that's good.
27:07
To serve ourselves, to care for ourselves is good.
27:10
The problem comes is the problem comes when we only care for
27:15
ourselves when self protection, self concern is our vision again
27:25
of, of life and what life is for.
27:31
And that's, that's a trap. Yeah.
27:34
And that's a trap that I fall into every day is yes, there's
27:39
healthy serving myself, but then there's also plating up the food
27:44
for different people and wanting a little bit more for myself.
27:48
You know, those small things where I just just rely on my own
27:54
self centre and wanting a bit more for that and to protect
27:58
that against other people. So if I'm only serving myself in
28:03
that way, that's when it becomes problematic or when, yeah,
28:09
suffering arises. So serving something else or
28:15
serving something greater than myself is something that has has
28:20
brought more and more happiness into my life.
28:24
And I'd say I learned that before, before Buddhism.
28:27
You don't have to be a Buddhist to understand that or to grasp
28:32
that or to practice that. And I'm sure many of you in the
28:35
room, whether you're Buddhists or not, have have done that in
28:38
many different ways in your life.
28:42
So for myself, that became really quite apparent 15 years
28:48
ago. I keep saying that a lot
28:50
recently because it's 15 years ago that I found Buddhism.
28:53
But just before that, for four months I went travelling in
28:57
South America and I spent two weeks as a tourist and going to
29:05
parties and things. And after two weeks I was just
29:08
bored. Like, it actually just got a bit
29:11
boring going to a party doing the same thing that I could have
29:15
just done at home. You know, what was the point in
29:19
being all that way from home if that's all I was going to do?
29:23
And I decided to start looking for opportunities to do
29:27
something to help other people. In the course of the travels.
29:33
Even within a couple of weeks, I'd seen the conditions there
29:36
were much more difficult for most people than they were from
29:42
what I was used to. Not that I come from a kind of
29:45
luxurious, rich and wealthy background, but still, it was a
29:50
lot worse. And a bit like I was saying last
29:53
week, just having the space to see that meant something else
29:58
could start to stir in me. And I just wanted to do
30:00
something to benefit others. Thought if I'm going to be away
30:05
all this time and yeah, have new experiences, why not make them
30:12
experiences that are also beneficial to others?
30:16
So I did various things and what I found was that it was
30:21
incredibly enjoyable, even if it was difficult or even especially
30:29
because it was difficult sometimes.
30:33
So the one, the example that really stands out in my mind was
30:37
joining a building project in Peru in a place called Pisgah.
30:42
Are there any Peruvians here? No, that's a shame.
30:48
Anyway, I was in this place on the coast, Pisco, where there'd
30:52
been a really bad earthquake, I think in 2007, a few years
30:57
before I was there, and a group of people at the Burning Man
31:01
festival in America heard about the earthquake, and they just
31:06
went there. No experience of earthquake
31:10
relief as far as I could tell, but they just went there and
31:13
they set up this project and then it just carried on by
31:17
people who were there handing on to people who came.
31:20
And I came after four years or whatever of this going on.
31:24
And day one I ended up on this building site with no building
31:29
experience. And nobody else had any building
31:32
experience apart from one person.
31:35
And we were building a house for somebody who'd lost their house
31:39
in the earthquake. And it was a woman and her
31:43
grandson. And they were basically living
31:46
in a shed in the back somewhere. And we were building this House
31:52
of, of bags of earth, basically. And as I'm telling this, I'm
31:57
suddenly thinking, have I told this story before?
31:59
And people are like, oh, yeah, no.
32:01
OK, So we were filling these sacks with earth.
32:05
Then they dried and then they were used as the bricks so that
32:09
in an earthquake there was less. You can see I've got no building
32:14
experience. There was less potential for it
32:17
to be such a disaster, let's say.
32:20
So that involved working in the midday heat, shovelling dirt
32:26
into bags, like hundreds and hundreds of them, hundreds and
32:30
hundreds of times with a group of volunteers from different
32:33
parts of the world. And there was one day where I
32:36
was, like I say, in the midday sun, sweating, really knackered.
32:41
Like really hurting. And I stopped and I just looked
32:46
around at the others doing the backbreaking work, and I just
32:50
felt this rush of joy and the fact that, well, this is
32:55
incredible. If these people, including
32:59
myself, if we were being paid to do this, we wouldn't be working
33:03
half as hard. But because we're doing it for
33:08
somebody else, everybody was just giving it everything.
33:13
And then at the end of the day, we'd all get in the truck and
33:15
drive home exhausted. I just remember these drive home
33:20
moments like swaying on these bumpy roads and feeling so
33:24
exhausted and happy. Yeah.
33:29
So you probably people are nodding and smiling.
33:32
So you probably had experiences like that where something else
33:36
is active in you and you're just giving and you find energy.
33:41
And I think that is happiness. Obviously, it can go too far and
33:46
become you. You end up getting anxious about
33:50
helping. And that's what I was talking
33:51
about last week. But if we can clock that in,
33:55
that serving something greater than ourselves, there is joy
34:01
that that joy can then just grow and grow and grow.
34:07
Shortly after that, I discovered Buddhism, and that was great
34:11
because I then discovered this whole story of Abala Kateshwara,
34:16
this whole myth of the bodhisattva working for the good
34:20
of others. And I thought, that's it.
34:23
That's what I want to serve and give my life to.
34:27
That's why I became an order member, because I want to serve
34:31
others in the way that I think is of ultimate benefit to other
34:37
people. So that's that's why I'm sat
34:41
here talking now, not in a I'm the hero kind of way either.
34:49
Hopefully I don't come across like that.
34:53
It's just because, I mean, partly it's for my own
34:55
enjoyment. I enjoy, maybe this does come
34:58
across. I enjoy sitting here doing this
35:01
and talking to you, but I really believe that it is the answer to
35:06
the global crises that I've been talking about for the last
35:09
couple of weeks. If ever, if ever, becoming a
35:15
Buddhist becomes sorry, if being a Buddhist becomes about just
35:21
serving some kind of institution, I'm done.
35:27
Like, I'm not here because I just want to prop up the fact
35:30
that a Buddhist centre exists. And if ever you see me and think
35:37
you've lost track here and you're just propping up an
35:41
institution, tell me, yeah, snap me out of it.
35:46
Because the real motivation and the real reason to be here is to
35:51
genuinely offer something despite all my imperfections.
35:55
Say something, echo the words of the Buddha to some extent so
36:01
that that helps you and other people to be less in suffering
36:08
and more on the flight towards whatever nirvanic happiness is.
36:15
So tell me I'm serious. I I can tell I have strong view
36:19
about this. Yeah.
36:24
OK. Second source of happiness that
36:27
I've been reflecting on is the happiness of the moment.
36:34
Yeah, the happiness of the moment.
36:38
So if if serving others is having a, let's say a grand
36:43
vision, vision for life, happiness can come from that.
36:51
But I think happiness can also come from the moment being
36:57
present. And some of you might have been
37:01
here a few weeks ago. I was leading this exercise
37:04
where we just stopped and we just had chance to look around
37:08
the room and see what we see. I can do it now if you like.
37:14
Just take a moment, look around and see what you see.
37:25
It's nice. Just to stop is nice.
37:27
Forget what we see, but just to stop, you don't have to listen
37:33
to me. I don't have.
37:34
To talk SO. When I, when I did that on the
37:42
previous occasion, there was a huge shadow across the wall.
37:47
And I remember at the time mentioning it because I was
37:49
like, wow, there's this beautiful shadow.
37:52
It's not now don't don't have to turn around.
37:57
But that's the kind of thing we notice, isn't it?
37:59
When we just are able to stop whatever we're busy with, what
38:05
becomes available to us, I think is beauty.
38:09
Beauty is always there and always available to us in some
38:13
form or another. And if we stop and drop into the
38:17
moment, perhaps we capture a glimpse of that.
38:23
And this, I think this is what this appearance of Green Tara on
38:28
the pool of Avalokateswara's tears.
38:32
I see something of what I'm saying in that image.
38:40
Because even at times of difficulty, even at times of
38:43
real pain or sickness, you know when when you know or you feel
38:51
that life is just not going well for you.
38:54
Sometimes, Despite that, there's moments where we just stop and
39:00
something else breaks through. And what breaks through is
39:04
beautiful. Yeah.
39:06
And it's against all the odds, isn't it?
39:08
It's like I'm having a crap time.
39:10
I'm sick. I just want to be better.
39:15
But then whatever it is, the birdsong and something in US
39:21
just sees something beautiful and the experiences altered, not
39:28
balanced. Because it's not that the pain
39:31
goes away. And it might even be that
39:33
because of the pain and because of the suffering that we're in
39:36
touch with, somehow the beautiful thing is even more
39:40
beautiful. Strikes us even more strongly
39:46
because both of those things are present at the same time.
39:53
And I think that's what we've got with Tara.
39:54
There's the sorrow of Avalokatechra, the tears, the
39:59
pool of water, and then this appearance, miraculous
40:03
appearance of beauty. And I think the more I am able
40:08
to stop and just drop into presence and be open to the
40:14
senses and. And yes.
40:17
Sense pleasure we have to be careful with and if we enjoy
40:22
something and we want more and more of it then that gets into
40:25
difficulties. But don't let that kind of put
40:29
you off enjoying healthy experiences through the senses
40:35
that take us out of our own identity centre and self
40:39
concern. OK, I'm going to read a bit of a
40:49
poem. I was just thinking about the
40:50
time, but it's fine. So this is from a poem by Roger
41:02
Keys. We've had it before, Hokersai
41:04
says. So he's talking about the
41:07
Japanese artist Hokersai and what his images say.
41:15
So Hokersai says this is just an extract from it.
41:17
I can't read the whole thing, Hokersai says.
41:20
Everything is alive. Shells, buildings, people, fish,
41:28
mountains, trees. Wood is alive.
41:33
Water is alive. Everything has its own life.
41:39
Everything lives inside us, he says.
41:43
Live with the world inside you, he says.
41:47
It doesn't matter if you draw or write books.
41:51
It doesn't matter if you saw wood or catch fish.
41:55
It doesn't matter if you sit at home and stare at the ants on
41:59
your veranda or the shadows of the trees and grasses in your
42:04
garden. It matters that you care.
42:09
It matters that you feel. It matters that you notice.
42:16
It matters that life lives through you.
42:21
Contentment is life living through you.
42:26
Joy is life living through you. So I think that's what becomes
42:36
available. If there are moments where we
42:40
just stop and notice, that's what he's saying.
42:44
It matters that we care. Just notice.
42:48
And then there's the opportunity for this experience of life
42:52
living through US. Whatever that whatever life is
42:55
throwing at us, life is living through US.
42:57
And there's something I think in that.
42:59
That is joyful, OK. So the third source of happiness
43:15
from my reflections, the third one, I'm going to use the
43:22
Buddhist word. So the the Buddhist word for
43:24
this is mudatar, Mudatar, which is a translation or translated
43:30
into English, something like sympathetic joy, basically the
43:35
joy that we feel at seeing the joy of others.
43:42
So it's a resonance, if you like, or a vibration with the
43:46
joy of other people. We don't experience it directly,
43:51
but because we see another person experiencing joy, some
43:55
joy emerges in US. And that is Mudatar.
43:59
Yeah, I had a a very strong experience of this last week
44:05
after the talk. So as you know, I was speaking
44:08
about suffering. It was strong.
44:13
I felt the strength of speaking about that, having reflected on
44:17
it all week as well. So I gave the talk.
44:21
I left the Buddhist centre. I walked home to my apartment,
44:24
which is just 10 minutes past the hospital.
44:27
And just outside my apartment on the street, there was a man with
44:33
his three children. And the kids were about this
44:39
tall, maybe 6 or 7, obviously a family brothers, 2 girls and one
44:45
boy. And each of the three children
44:49
was wearing what were obviously a brand new pair of roller
44:52
skates. Like there was not a single mark
44:57
or scratch on them. So they were definitely brand
44:59
new. And they were brightly coloured
45:02
like orange, blue, pink. And the kids, it was obviously
45:07
their their maiden voyage on these roller skates.
45:12
They could hardly use them. They were just walking.
45:16
And the wheel sometimes would take them into a bit of a slide,
45:18
but they were kind of walking around and they were so happy.
45:24
And they were looking at everybody else in the street as
45:27
if to say, have you seen these? And I saw this.
45:34
And I was just so moved. Like, it was so wonderful.
45:40
So wonderful. Luckily, I was right near my
45:42
home because it brought tears to my eyes.
45:45
And I quickly got inside my apartment and then then cried
45:51
with joy in mood at all. Yeah.
45:57
And on another day, I would have just completely missed that.
46:02
I just wouldn't have even seen it.
46:05
And what a shame it is when there's joy like that and it can
46:10
feed joy in US and we miss it. But that day I noticed.
46:15
It Yeah. And I think I probably noticed
46:21
it because of all the reflection on suffering.
46:27
Yeah, So not instead of. It's not like I saw these kids
46:31
on roller skates. Like, it's not all bad.
46:35
No, there is suffering. That is the Buddha's first noble
46:39
truth, and no amount of putting happiness on the other side is
46:43
going to get rid of that. There is suffering and there are
46:47
three children playing on roller skates and it's beautiful.
46:52
And being able to hold that range of experience, that's what
46:59
I want to give my life to. That's why I'm here again and
47:04
what I want to share the possibility of that, to share
47:08
the possibility of that. So I think, yeah, it's
47:15
interesting how reflecting on suffering can open the door to
47:19
joy, and particularly in this case, this mood attire, this
47:23
sympathetic joy. And what gets in the way is
47:28
often just being busy and not noticing and not having the
47:32
radar on for what what's going on for other people, the
47:37
suffering and the joy of other people and the self concern
47:42
that's there and that that gets in the way.
47:45
And if that wasn't there, imagine, imagine what that would
47:49
be like. Something else that gets in the
47:54
way. I, I can feel myself wanting to
47:56
avoid this, but I'm going to go there with Moody tar.
48:03
Sympathetic joy. It's said that the, the far
48:07
enemy of that, the thing that really gets in the way of
48:11
Mudatar sympathetic joy is envy. So one thing that blocks
48:17
sympathetic joy is envy. And envy is a real shame.
48:24
It's a horrible thing to experience, isn't it?
48:26
Because it's like hatred. So when we dislike somebody, we
48:33
hate them. That's painful.
48:36
That's painful for us, isn't it? Nobody enjoys that.
48:39
I'm sure that's painful. But with envy, there's the
48:44
dislike and there's the feeling that they have something that I
48:50
wish I had. You know, they have something I
48:55
don't have. So there's hatred and there's a
48:58
sense of inner poverty in a lack, and that's so painful.
49:06
Yeah, it's painful. And it's very hard to admit to
49:11
as well. And I experience it.
49:17
So I'm outing myself now as a person who sometimes has envious
49:22
thoughts. And I'm sure we all to some
49:26
degree, have these envious thoughts crossing our minds.
49:31
For example, you know, sometimes one of the other members of our
49:38
wonderful team will sit here and give the talk and they give this
49:43
incredible exposition of the word of the Buddha and
49:48
everybody's smiling and enjoying it and benefiting from it.
49:53
And I sometimes it crosses my mind like you.
50:03
That's better than the talk I gave last week.
50:07
I'm serious. I think it's funny.
50:09
But those thoughts crossed my mind.
50:11
What a shame. Yeah.
50:15
And it's so hard to admit to that, isn't it?
50:17
Because it's. Yeah.
50:23
I don't need to say any more on that topic.
50:26
I said too much, but it's something just to reflect on
50:31
that. Yeah, that that gets in the way
50:33
of our own happiness. Yeah.
50:36
And it's understandable. We all have habits and these
50:39
things come up and it's better to acknowledge them, even to
50:44
share them perhaps with people that we trust, so that those
50:48
things are out and then we can transform.
50:52
Yeah. So there we go.
50:59
That's my exploration. Then.
51:01
This has been a Part 2, hasn't it, To a Buddhist response to
51:04
global crises. So if Part 1 was responding with
51:08
awareness, responding by really seeing, not turning away from,
51:15
not shutting down, not trying to prematurely fix, but to be aware
51:19
and to see suffering around us and see that the causes of that
51:28
suffering are ambulances. The causes of that suffering are
51:35
the belief in a fixed identity centre.
51:40
An awareness of that can begin to break that up and allow
51:43
something through. So awareness is a key part of my
51:47
response, a Buddhist response to global crises.
51:51
The other one is love. Yeah.
51:54
So the other one is I, I mean, I said joy at the beginning, but I
51:58
think joy comes to the cultivation of, of love or meta,
52:03
as we say in the Buddhist tradition, because meta is
52:07
always the appropriate emotion. This thing we've all practiced
52:11
this morning, it is an amazing thing to cultivate because it is
52:15
always, always, always the appropriate response to any
52:19
experience in your life is meta. And if, if meta comes into
52:26
contact with suffering, it becomes compassion.
52:30
Don't worry about being a compassionate person.
52:33
Just cultivate meta. And when you meet suffering,
52:36
compassion will arise, whatever that is.
52:40
And similarly, if you meet joy, if meta meets joy, it becomes
52:47
sympathetic joy, it becomes Moody tar.
52:50
So that is the the absolute core emotion that we can cultivate,
52:57
awareness and meta or love. And I really do believe that
53:02
that is the response to the events around the world.
53:07
Whatever specific form awareness and love take at the root, any
53:11
effective response must have those two things.
53:16
Thank you. Thank you for listening.
53:28
If you enjoyed this talk. You are warmly invited to visit
53:32
Buddhisticious Tour Berlin in Kreutzberg.
53:35
We offer meditation, Dharma talks.
53:38
And courses that support practice.
53:40
In Everyday Life, you'll find more information in the episode
53:45
description.