Learn to be at peace with yourself | Ajahn Brahm | 6 Jan 2017

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Any subject you need help with and ajahn brahm has done a talk on YouTube. Love him!

👍︎︎ 1 👤︎︎ u/bmwbaby 📅︎︎ Jan 26 2017 đź—«︎ replies
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Ok, most people have managed to get a space inside, great, excellent So for those of you who've been coming to this center for a long time you may notice that when I give a talk It is a... based on Buddhist principles, it is a Buddhist center, But I usually talk about just how we can improve our lives just by changing our attitudes. Because there's much in our life we have not got the power, the ability to change, but one thing we can do a lot about is the way we look at life, the way We react to our life. And by seeing things in a different way, so that it lessens our anxiety, our irritation, our pain And live as happy and more peaceful human beings And the last couple of talks I was just focusing on just how we can change our attitudes towards perfection And not be... try so hard to be something you're not and to improve yourselves To many people trying to improve themselves and they're getting all frustrated, actually they're getting worse The more they try to improve the worse they get And then we suddenly learn that, who says we're not good enough? Where did that come from? And so we learn how to be at peace with ourselves Learn how to be at peace with ourselves! Not to make ourselves perfect first and then to be at peace with yourself Be at peace with yourself as you are now and then the improvement happens Then the problems get solved. It's counter-intuitive to many people in the west But it is what has worked for centuries in the east Learn to relax, and be at peace with yourself, accept yourself as you are And the you find that the problem gets solved So it's all about changing the attitudes which we have towards our life And somehow or other, Ahh... somehow the western world, and I say this as a western born person, has been just so into progress and development, and not really recognizing just what we already have There's a basic saying of Buddhism which, you know, if you're gonna learn any Buddhism, you don't need to learn lots and lots and lots of theories you don't need to read all the books, thank goodness, cause there's heaps of them. All you really need to do is understand what those books really mean. and that saying is: "when you want something more, you can't enjoy what you already have". You can't even appreciate what, you already have, because you're not looking at what you already have you're way over there, wanting something more, to develop the next addition to your house, how many more rooms do you need in a house? my house has only got one room I live in a cave, beautiful, so simple it doesn't take long to clean it up I don't even need to clean it up, someone cleans it up for me, out of compassion for the cleaner I only have a small room. Imagine, imagine when you go home tonight, and you've only got one room and that's all you have in you're house oh what bliss. you don't have much to clean up you can't have many possessions cause you can't fit them in. You don't have to spend all you're life saving up and paying off the debts to build these huge mansions in which you live. Look at how we live these days, you live mansions which even kings 100 years ago would not be able to live in, they’re so huge and big. Why do we do that? Because it's what everybody else does. And sometimes we need some people to say: "What on earth are you doing? Can't you actually look at thing in a different way?" Small is much more beautiful. And also, just, I never expected to actually go on this, but Those of you who are privileged, where fortunate, to be poor when you grew up. You had to share rooms with your brothers, sisters, Sometimes people say they had to share the same bed with four or five siblings, yeah you may not have got much sleep at night, but you sure had a lot of fun together. And you learn how to love one another. It's one of the things which, because I was poor, I spent my whole life In the same room with my brother. Only one bedroom, we had to share, didn't have private bedrooms. And those of you who've seen my brother: we love each other! We get on, even, he was a banker, I was a monk, you couldn't get two, sorta... more diverse careers than that, but, you know we respect each other, love each other, you know, to this day. And I often say: "why was that?". Because we had to to get on together. And now you give separate rooms To all you're kids, huge mansions, which means that we don't learn how to get on together, we don't learn how to love. We don't learn those attitudes of life. So I always think small is incredibly beautiful! It's great for the economy, great for sort of... not wasting all the resources you know, of our planet, bad for the building industry, bad for the government bad for the GDP, but really great for human happiness. Small, close together, learning how to get on, because you have to. So changing attitudes like that is part of my life, it's being a bit rebellious but why not? And one of the biggest attitudes, which I wanted to change you know, in my career as a monk, is just the way that we look at material stuff being really important; Things are not important: people, relationships are. Doesn't matter how much stuff you have, look: Experiences which I've had as a monk Because as a monk is a... I really recommend this lifestyle. If you really want to go to interesting places where you people can't go I can go to these places, cause I'm a monk. You can go to see, uhh, royalty go to see, uhh, what was it... presidents. I've met a couple of presidents A couple of royalty, and, you know, you guys can't... how can you get to be there, in those places? You can as a monk, because... it's weird, somehow or other they think because you're religious, you must be really special. Especially if you're in politics, they need all the blessing they can get (laugh) Seriously. So that's why they sort of... and, you know one of the things which I've noticed talking to prime ministers and presidents, quite a few of them now that one of the things which they ask you, is they say: "Help!", the problems of the world are just so tough, and they've run out of solutions literally, they don't know what to do, and they say: "We're open for any suggestions any new ways of dealing with these things, because it's just hopeless, whether it's economy, terrorism, global warming: "Help!", and so they're very open to people like myself, spiritual people, trying to give them some new way of looking at things, which can cut through the sorta... the great, uhh, burdens and problems and obstacles of getting things done. So, seeing that, you get into some very interesting areas of existence, which gives me an opportunity to maybe do some stuff. I say, as a monk, because you do live outside the box, you know, you do think outside the box. I was very happy, after the last federal election, someone actually... I've been saying this for so many years and somebody actually sent me a copy of The Melbourne Age, with something I've been saying for a long time, it actually appeared in the lead article, about just, our democracy. Democracy doesn't work, we all know that, so how can we improve it? Why do we always have to take the same old system, and do it again and again knowing it doesn't work. So what I was suggesting, and I was just using a little bit of reason, ok, this comes from the corporate world, but the corporate world isn't all bad: If you hold shares in a company, at they're AGM (annual meeting), you have votes proportionate to the number of shares you hold in that company. If you hold 10% of the shares, you get 10% of the vote which sounds fair. You're investment, you're commitment to that Organisation will determine how many votes you get, that seems very fair. What about our democracy, our governments. Why is it, that everyone has one vote each? Even though there are some people who are so old, they're gonna die soon they don't have much of a share, in life. But young people, eighteen year olds they're whole life ahead of them. Maybe, life expectancy, say eighty maybe sixty years of life; should they have the same vote as an old person who is on the way out soon? Cannot we... apportion... very simple mathematical solution: can't we apportion the number of votes, to you're life expectancy, the amount of shares you have in life. Which means young people would have a much much larger say, than the old guys, who don't really give that much of a damn about global warming, cause they're not gonna be here to face the consequences; They don't give much... well they do care, I'm not saying they don't care, but they don't care as much about going to war, cause they don't have to fight, It's the young people [who] have to fight, and take the bullets and die. Wouldn't it be amazing if we could just, somehow, change the balance so those who have more... more commitment to this world, more investment, more life expectancy, have more say about how this wold... and the world they're gonna live in is gonna be run. That, I think, just that simple thing would change a lot. So I like seeing things in a different way, because this is part of my life to see things in a different way, and that was the gist of an article which somebody wrote in The Melbourne Age, I don't know if they got it from me, but, it just comes up there, people think: "nahh that's a stupid idea", but eventually these ideas get some traction, and people realize: "Yeah!" One of my other great ideas: our education system, kids over here in western Australia have already done they're year twelves, how much stress that is. And everybody knows! Just getting high grades in year twelve, which is the pre-university exam, doesn't guarantee you 're gonna be successful in life. That's just... you 're good at exams! Look at me, I passed all my exams, I went to Cambridge, and look at me now, I'm broke, I've got no money (laughs), I've got a tiny house, I've got no assets, no superannuation (laughs), What a waste of time those exams where, and honestly, they where! I'll say that, ok? And people argue with me, but I went to Cambridge University, hang out with Nobel Laureates, people top of their field, and then I decided to become a monk! Why to become a monk? I told people, actually, I think I new year's, I think: Because I had a relationship, she dumped me, and I became a monk to forget (laughs). That's not true... I wish it was true, because that would be really romantic, that would be really cool! But then somebody said: "It could be true Ajahn Brahm, because you've forgotten" (Laughs) It's logically consistent. But no... But you became a monk and then you're with these, these, old monks in northeast Thailand that had only gone to school for four years, and after a few weeks, you had to admit, you had to confess to the fact that that they where much smarter than you where. Much more intelligent. And I think: What Have I been doing, working so hard, and these people are far more intelligent than I am? And there's something wrong with our eduction system. We learn how to think, but we don't know how to be still, and how to listen, and how to know. It's one of the reasons why we're in such a big problem in our life, because we listen to all these thoughts, we solve problems through thoughts, and we don't really solve the problems, we just make more problems! Thoughts are just out of control. You know that. When you really have a big problem, a lot of anxiety, a lot of difficulty in life, what do you do? You think like crazy! And it makes you more mad. You never find a solution that way, solutions come through stillness. So this is actually what we learn, as monks, we learn how to be still and let the mind see things, hear things. Thinking is like talking back at life. Have ever you, like, lived with somebody, and you talk to them, and they're not Listening? They're listening to they're thoughts, they're not listening to you. And that's like you're living with life: life is always teaching you, giving you advice, but you never listen, because you're too busy talking to yourself inside, in you're thinking world. When you're still, it's amazing just what you understand, and what you see. Somebody was asking me earlier: See all of these monks in the time, you know, when I was, where I grew up, and even beforehand, in the old books which I used to read, all these monks used to live in the forest, in nature. And they said they're greatest teacher was nature, because they would always be listening to nature, much more than books, much more than experts, like me, you know, in front of a microphone; They would go out there and learn it for themselves, you know, in the raw nature. Look, one example of that: cause in a few days time, I don't know what it is that, recently there's a spate of like a... deaths. There's a funeral here this afternoon, a funeral here on Wednesday, there's another funeral I have to go to on Tuesday. I don't know why people are dying, perhaps because they waited until after Christmas and new year to get it over and done with, and then they're gonna die, you know, they scheduled it for out of compassion for everybody else (Laughs). I always say that to people you know, that, look I mean Don't be so selfish; Why do people die when THEY want to die? You should think of your friends and your relationships, make it also convenient for them. I always say that during the rains retreat, because we go on retreat for three months every year, the monks and the nuns so we can have some peace and quiet, we can meditate. So I ask everybody before our rainy season retreat begins, of three months, because it's my rest, relaxation please... Don't die (laughs), during the rains retreat. Die beforehand, or afterwards, whenever you want, but that three months, please, be respectful, don't just be selfish and die when you want to die (laughs). Of course that's just messing around, you can't do that. But anyway, so, there was a young person... That causes so much suffering for people, when young people die. there's something about that, they haven't lived a full life yet, why, why does that happen? And, have you ever got a good answer to that? The answer which, I got for that, I got from a monk, an old monk who's living in the jungle, who was one of these people who was still enough to listen to the teachings from the nature, from around us Brilliant teachings. And I tell this every time I have to do a funeral service for someone who is young. I tell this, and many people get it, they understand "Ahh, I understand now". And it was, this monk was in a very simple hut, in the north of Thailand, and when I talk about simple, I really mean simple, just made out of bamboo and thatch for the roof, and thatch for the walls as well: really simple to put up, very natural, very easy. And you know, he'd go on alms round every morning to the local village, live a very very frugal, peaceful life, but very very happy. But living in the jungle, there are such things as storms, and if a storm comes when you're in the middle of the forest, and you haven't got much protection, it is very dangerous. Trees come down, or even big branches! And imagine, just visualize a bamboo and thatch hut, if a decent size branch hits that roof, it just goes straight through. Not like metal roofs, or these, uhh, roofs which are engineered so that almost like an Elephant could fall on this roof and it wouldn't go through. Otherwise we wouldn’t get planing permission and building permission, not that an elephant would actually fall on this roof, but you never know (Laughs) So, so over engineered, for safety. But anyway, so, it was such a flimsy dwelling, that one branch could go through and it would... if you didn't actually get crushed you'd get injured, break a leg, break an arm, and remember this is simple living, you don't have mobile phones, you don't... you know even if you did have one, there would be no telecommunications tower there, there's no one you can call, no one can help you if you break a leg, that's probably worse than dying instantly you just die slowly. So it was very dangerous! So he was up all night, hearing the... THUUUDD! BANG! (Hits Table) WHA... oops, WHACK actually that hurt (Laughs) That didn't work as I expected it to. I always say that when you give a public talk, do some special effects (Laughs) Cause you know what happens when people talk, talk, talk, you know, they fall asleep they get bored. It is something like, special like raise your voice, or go BANG! or WOFF! then actually, you know, people actually enjoy it in weird ways. Anyway, so BANG!, WHACK! All these trees where THUDDING next to him. And so, you know, it was very difficult to meditate And he was up all night, but, you know, he survived If he didn't survive he wouldn’t be able to tell me the tale. He survived the night. And in the morning He walked outside, to see the damage; And yeah, several big trees Just missed his hut, he was lucky to be alive! But it wasn't the trees which grabbed his attention, what he saw was the leaves on the forest floor. Most of the leaves which had been torn off the trees and laid dead on the forest floor, where the old, brown leaves. But amongst those old brown leaves there where several yellow leaves, even a few green leaves. And some of those green leaves where so freshly green, they could have only been alive for a few hours, and now they laid dead on the forest floor. Before he completed his insight, his understanding, he checked to see what leaves remained alive on the twigs and branches of those trees; And of course! Most of the leaves remaining alive on the forest trees, where the green leaves! But, even though a few green leaves had been torn off and laid dead on the ground, there where still a few curly old brown leaves, still clinging on, Even though the young green leaves where torn off and laid dead. You understand what we mean, even though young children die, there are still some of these old people who keep coming to our center every Friday for years and years and years still clinging on (Laughs). You know the old Grandma and Grandpa, why aren't they dead yet? (Laughs) They're all still clinging on when these young people die. And he realised that there was nothing wrong. That's what they where saying there: "there's something wrong, It can't be right, why are old people still alive and young people die? It can't be right". Then he saw it was right: It was the nature of life and death it's the nature of a storm which goes through a forest, to mostly take the old leaves, but it always leaves a few old leaves. And it always takes a few young green leaves as well. Nothing is wrong, welcome to life. That's the law of life in which we live. Diseases, accidents, whatever happens, mostly takes the old people first, but a few young people, and a few very young people, and a few children as well. That's our life. But the nice thing abut that little story also not only is it true, but it's a reflection from nature which we understand when we are still, we can actually see that we can actually get the connections, as in nature, as in our life we're not apart from nature, we're part of nature. And from that we can also have a lot of other really great understandings and the main thing I wanted to talk about tonight, which I got on to, maybe, just kinda almost halfway through the talk already Is actually just: well, young people die, three deaths recently, And just what happens afterwards, when a person dies. And, ever since I was really small I had no problem in accepting the idea of reincarnation. One of the reasons why It's got even firmer as a truth it's by understanding the nature of the mind, we learn what this mind actually is. We have become such a materialistic society in so many ways, that even things like love and kindness, even joy we think it's just something which is a by-product of a brain. Just to be able to get some happiness and joy by taking some physical stuff like a drug. And people just, sometimes don't believe, when they come to see monks especially, or nuns; We are pretty happy people and sometimes they come and say: "Well, what drugs are you taking, monks?" (Laughs). That happened to me so many times! One time, I was visiting a prison in UK You know, we spend a lot of time in prison as monks, I often tell people: Visiting prisons, I always would keep a log of how many hours and minutes I spent doing community work in prison to be used as credit, in case I ever got sentenced for something (Laughs) look, I've already done about... the equivalent of about two or three months you should take that off (Laughs). But anyway, I was inside this jail, cause it was a ceremony, somebody had sweet talked the British government into putting a Buddha statue In the middle of an open prison, a big one! And you know, it's very easy for people to sponsor a Buddha statue especially inside a prison, wow, it's amazing! And so we did a installation ceremony. And for those who ever come and see some of the Buddhist rituals, one of the favourite ones is actually we go around three times flowers, candles and incense, we go around It's like an act of worship, reverence you know, it's interesting, where this comes from we don't know but they also do that in Mecca, when they go around the, whatever it's called ...the Kaaba, always go three times around, wearing white this is incredible similarities between our different traditions where they came from I don't know, but it's... that's Buddhist Anyhow... There we where, going round three times, and I was inspired I was happy, Amazing, something good being done in a prison! Not just locking people up and reenforcing how guilty they should feel but no, just something which is inspiring and I was just so happy with a big smile on my face much more than I usually have cause, you know, more inspiration and at the corner of my eye I saw these two prisoners they just got nothing to do, nothing was on the TV that night so they just hung out to see what the hell was going on with these crazy people with brown robes and a Buddha statue so just, you know, having a quick look and then I heard them, one looking to me... looking at the other prisoner and pointing to me he said: "That monk, he's on the gear" (Laughs) If you don't know what gear means you know, it's like, some sort of drug cause that's the only thing they could explain the happiness from just some medication; it's not medication! you know, it's meditation, not medication (Laughs) you don't need that stuff to be happy and have a really good time. And I tell people, I don't know why people laugh at this, because it's true I'm a good time monk: I have a good time. People say good time girl, a good time boy and that has other meanings, I'm a good time monk, cause you're having a good time, you're happy. And, so you don't need the medication, something else which goes on there and this is actually where you start to realize: why do people wanna be happy with things? Material stuff. We're far too focused on the material stuff and instead, those ancient religions, especially Buddhism we've been focusing on the mind for year and years and years that's the important part. So these days people don't understand what the mind actually is. And still, great scientists have been trying to prove that the mind is some byproduct of the brain and they have failed miserably. for years and years and years. It's about time that they face the truth that they're barking at the wrong tree as they say that the mind is something totally different fortunately there's a few scientists, big ones who're actually seeing something totally different one of them, you all saw recently, or some of you saw who came to our global conference on Buddhism Professor Bernard Carr. I mention him cause he's a really close friend we went to Cambridge together and he, Buddhist society, we chased ghosts together in the psychic research society, chasing ghosts and, Buddhists and astronomy as well and also theoretical Physics And he, you know, he lessened his interest in Buddhism and went more into theoretical Physics I lessened my interest in theoretical Physics and became more a Buddhist. But he made a wonderful analogy, at our conference where he said We're really close friends, it's great we've come together again. Ajahn Brahm went off to be a well known Buddhist, under one of the great teachers: Ajahn Chah; And Bernard, you know he gave up his Buddhism, he became a close disciple of Stephen Hawking's He told me only recently, I went for lunch with him when I was in Cambridge last October- November, I did realise just how close he as to Stephen Hawking's so, In that movie, which they did of Stephen Hawking's: brief... no, "The Theory of Everything" I think they called it In that movie, one of the characters in there was based on him based on Bernard. So much so that Bernard got invited to the premiere in London. He actually walked on the red carpet, which he thought was really cool So you know, very close... so he became a disciple of Stephen Hawking's, I became a disciple of Ajahn Chah. And now we sort of come together again and, he still he wants to spend the rest of his time, you know because he is emeritus now, he's retired as professor of theoretical Physics at Queen Mary College in London. He is the top Physicist to try and reintroduce into science the primacy of the mind. So, what the heck do I mean, what is the mind and this is a little exercise, when you're giving a talk don't just talk at people, get them to contribute I am now going to ask you something, and I want you to put up you're left hand or you're right hand, you can't keep both hands down unless you're armless. If you got two hands, put one of the up and be honest... Not yet! Come on, now be patient! (Laughs) If you are happy, you know, more happy than sad, having a reasonably good time put up you're right hand. If you're more miserable, put up you're left hand, ok? Put up you're hand, doesn't matter which one it is, keep it up. Those people who got the right hand up, you're happy, now please point to the happiness for me, locate it for me, where is it, where is it? point to it. You're all pointing to different places, how come? you're head, is you're head happy? Now, you can put it down, this is an exercise because it's so hard to locate happiness you're not imagining it, in fact, happiness is a real thing, it's tangible you know it, you experience it many times. Different forms, but it's real. Where is it? next time you're angry, where is anger? where is it? Is it in you're head, is it in your tummy? where is it? The point is, that we can't locate these things, because these are things which exist in the mind. Just like you locate, or define a garden, what is a garden? a garden is where you find trees and flowers, and lawns. A garden is defined by what exists in it. So if you want to know what the mind is, the mind is where Love, Kindness, Happiness, Anger, Anxiety, Fear, Hope, Peace, where all of those flowers and weeds live. That's what defines the mind. So it gives you an understanding of what that mind actually is. It takes it away from being some philosophical, superstitious, what actually is it? Where you find those things, those qualities that is where the mind is. And you will soon figure out it does not live in physical space It doesn't live in you're brain, or in you're body here. Now, to prove that again: one of Bernard's and my common friends is actually at house where we had lunch together A few weeks ago it's guy called Jeff one of my other friends from Cambridge had a lot of time together Uhhh, I know that when my friend Bernard came here I think, Cecilia who was here, just a few hours ago, she asked him in public "Ok, you where a close friend of Ajahn Brahm, tell us all the dirt... what did he really get up to as a student, what was the naughtiest thing he did, come on, let us know" now, Bernard doesn't know much, but my friend Jeff does know a lot So that's why I've never invited him over here (Laughs) I was just a student, like everybody else! Did really stupid things. But fortunately I didn't get caught (Laughs) But anyway... He's daughter, Pascal, she came, she's married now, and got a kid she came and saw me just in October as well, and, when she was at grade one primary school, that was when the teacher asked her a question this is a brilliant story. In philosophy, this is actually where you start with a story, a logical sequence which you end up in a place you never expected to end up, and it changes the way you look at life and this came from a five year old kid who later on went to do post graduate research in Oxford, in Biochemistry. So, she was obviously just a really gifted kid, but at five years of age, her teacher, grade one, at school asked a question: "What is the biggest thing in the world?" That was the question. And, one kid put her hand up this is... he wrote to me about this and this is actually what happened (Puts hand up) "My daddy", five year old kid, you know? For a five year old kid, daddy is huge. And some other kid said "No, no no miss: an Elephant" they'd just been to the zoo, Elephant is much bigger than anybody's daddy. "No, no miss: A mountain is much bigger than an elephant" and actually you're getting somewhere, this is the whole point of the exercise, getting the kids to actually think and imagine and to know more and then Pascal put her hand up and said: "no miss, my eye is the biggest thing in the world". And at that even the teacher didn't understand what the heck she meant. "What do you mean you're eye?" And then this five year old genius said: "Well, miss, my eye can see her daddy, my eye can see an elephant and a mountain and so much more if all of that can fit into my eye, my eye must be the biggest thing in the world" that is genius. It's genius because it sees things in a different perspective than other people think. And it's, you can't fault it. It's just seeing things from a different angle, and now you know what's the biggest thing: you're eye cause everything you see can fit into it. It's huge! But, I wrote back immediately and said: 9 out of 10, but not 10 out of 10 because, you're mind can see everything you're eye can see, and many other stuff you can't see with you're eye, imaginary things, flying pigs (Imperceptible) Elephants, you can imagine all of that sorta stuff you'll never see that. And you're mind can also hear stuff real and imaginary sounds it can smell, it can note tastes, it can feel feelings in the body even like phantom limbs, sometimes. Real and imaginary sensations It's also got it's own area, you know, the love, the kindness, the fear In fact, I argued, Everything you can ever experience and know in life can fit into you're mind. So, you're mind is the biggest thing Not in the world, because you can know the world and that can fit into you're mind. You're mind is even bigger than the world Now that is a logical argument, which I've never had any Philosopher manage to tear apart, and deny. It's just looking at life in a different perspective and coming up with an incredible answer about how huge and powerful you're human mind is. Which is why people continue to report to me weird and strange things... Mind-games and stuff... You know I told this story a long time ago and people said "that's true" but they didn't actually believe it but I, I heard it from the source, and the source swore to me I asked him again and again "Yes it Happened!" The guy who was an Anagarika for one year at Serpentine Monastery Went over to Germany to complete his degree first day at a University campus he walked past the ATM machine This is a great story, and you may actually get some benefit from this, if you understand it and practice it properly So, he walked past the ATM machine and he said the ATM machine emitted a sound, he called it a gurgling type sound very difficult to define, but it made a sound just as he passed by and he took that as a welcome from the ATM machine to the campus And so from that time on that was his ATM, that's where he did all his transactions, and because he had been by a monk like me A little bit weird and crazy but, he would always give Loving-Kindness to the ATM machine. "May you be happy and well, may you never run out of cash may you're clients never hit you and swear at you when they find they've got no balance, may, you now, robbers never tear you out of a wall with a four wheel drive or blow up trying to get the cash may you live at peace and happy" that sorta stuff He'd talk to the ATM, regarded it as a personal being with consciousness and was always kind to it! And he swore to me, this actually happened, having his lunch one afternoon, on a bench, maybe about five or ten meters away from the ATM. No one had gone close to that ATM machine for about 20 minutes, he was there he saw it, no one had gone close to it! and he was sitting there, having his lunch, and he heard the gurgling sound again, the machine gurgled at him and he looked around, and he saw a twenty euro note come out of the machine (Laughs) no one had put in any credit card, punched in any numbers for twenty minutes it got twenty euros. And he went to the machine with disbelief, but it was there and he pulled it out: "does this belong to anybody?" no one claimed it but of course they wouldn’t claim it because it was the ATM's gift to It's friend (Laughs) Do you believe that? That absolutely happened. People say it couldn't happen therefore it didn't but that's not the case, any scientist know it did happen it was there, it was real, just we haven't figured out how that happens yet it's the way the mind works! And somebody was telling me that recently I got this story, one very, uhh, strong supporter was telling me That his old iPhone was not working, you know, sometimes you're mobile phones you used them so much and they get a bit passed it, but you know, he was just, you know he was trying to live a simple life so instead of replacing it, get a new one, he kept the old one. And when it wasn't working he banged it, he hit it and of course it still didn't work and then he realised: "I'm a Buddhist that's not the way you should do things" so he apologized to his iPhone "I'm sorry iPhone, I should not have hit you, I really apologize, I will never do that again, I wish you all peace and happiness" and he said it started working immediately. (Laughs) It did! I've tried that before, not with iPhones, I don't have an iPhone but I've tried that so many times even, where is... I saw her earlier, Ronnie, is she here? Veronica? She's out the back somewhere. They where trying to open they're car, I came back from a ceremony and I was just walking down the road here, on a Saturday afternoon and our Kalyana-mitta group, they where about to go out kite-surfing or doing something weird. And anyway, the Boot of their car was locked, tight. And they could not open it! and they where trying for twenty minutes... OH! (Points) She's over there, there you are. How long where you trying to open up that car before I came along? (Lady replies, unintelligible) Only five or ten minutes, yeah How many people tried? (Lady replies, unintelligible) Only two of us, but you couldn't do it? Yeah there we go So I came along, and they said: "Ajahn Brahm, please could you use your powers to open the car?" (Laughs) So I'm always a very kind monk, and very helpful, and so I said: Ok, but one condition, I wanted to make a deal The deal was that Ronnie, at the back there, will become a nun. (Laughs) And she said yes, never ever imagining I could do it. But of course, that's what you do. You give it loving-kindness: Nice car, that was what I did, nice car, and I put the key in and I turned it and it opened straight away. And poor old Ronnie has to become a nun now. Be careful, playing around with monks just, uhhh, it's very dangerous. But fortunately, fortunately one of the other youth group members is a lawyer (Laughs). She saw the loophole straight away which is why Ronnie doesn't have to become a nun yet. She said: "You never mentioned the time, maybe in fifty years or a next life sometime, but, she promised yes she will become a nun but you didn't say when" that was the loophole. (Laughs) But it's amazing what you can do with the mind. And this is something which we see for such a long time, the mind is huge! And I spent most of my life as a monk investigating and getting to know it what it's really like, how powerful it is. And, it is enormously powerful and as a scientist you wish you could take that evidence out there and show it to people, so we realize that, you know, this mind is incredibly powerful, and this is actually what we should be doing in our modern world Strengthening the mind, not our brain! Not learning how to think, but learning how to be still, and accessing much more of the power which we've lost, you know with our mind. And it's incredible what it can do. So, because of that, it's always been the case in Buddhism: focusing on the mind, learning what your mind is like. The exercise which we do is meditation, that's how you really strengthen the mind, get to know it. Simile to end up with now, cause I'm going overtime again: Sometimes, the only way you can convey these truths is through similes, Very hard to find similes but this is one of the similes which I used the simile of the Emperor: So once there was an Emperor, but every time the emperor came out in public, the emperor was always covered, head to toe, with five pieces of clothing. With boots that went right up to the thighs, with these trousers which covered way over the top of the boots to the ankles and, you know, really high up his... It wasn't HIS, don't know who it was; The chest. And a big jacket, which overlapped the top of the trousers, when right up to the neck, and right down to the arms. HUGE gloves, which overlapped the sleeves of the tunic, and a helmet, like Darth Vader or something, which overlapped the top of the tunic. So you could not see any part of the skin or the eyes or the face of this emperor. You didn't know who the emperor was. What is it? A girl or a boy? Old or young? Asian, Caucasian, African or whatever. You couldn't see the body at all, all you could see was the coverings, the five coverings: the helmet, the jacket, the gloves, the trousers and the boots. So no one really understood this powerful emperor, who it was. And the only way you can find out is to take off those five pieces of clothing to find out what's underneath. And in that simile, this is the five senses: Seeing, hearing, smelling tasting and touching. You're mind, the Emperor and it is the Emperor, controls so much of what you do in life you're happiness, you're sadness, you're ability to love or be loved You're physical health, you're peace. It's all this Emperor inside. We don't know what it is, you know, who we are. So, we take off those five pieces of clothing: seeing hearing smelling tasting and touch, that's what happens in meditation, close you're eyes and sight vanishes, really still, you can't hear anything, can't smell, as long as no one... Farts. (Laughs) Disappears. You know, that is why in Buddhist temples they would light lots of incense (Laughs), Just in case, to mask the smell. There's always reasons for this. And you're not tasting anything, and because you're sitting perfectly still and just watching you're breath, soon you're body vanishes Can't feel the feet, can't feel you're hands, no aches and pains and when you're body disappears then you're breath disappears, and you go, the last of those five senses has vanished, and the only thing left is you're mind, the sixth sense, that's what happens in meditation, it's what you do. So you carry on like this, and soon everything of those five senses vanishes: You're girliness, your Sri Lankan'nes, your Englishness, that's all outside in the body, being old, being young that's body stuff, when all that vanishes you find out who this Emperor is inside for you're self! Not theory, not believing in somebody else: you're own direct experience. And that is what meditation does. You find out what is this mind, and it will blow... actually how can knowing the mind blow you're mind? (Laughs) But you know what blowing the mind means. It will literally just really amaze you, just how powerful is this mind.That's what the monks and nuns do! So much time, and then the body vanishes and disappears, you see these beautiful lights in the mind, incredible bliss and power. Therefore you understanding this mind is much more powerful than this body. Little driver, gets into this body for a lifetime, and afterwards goes and gets another body. Or just goes to incredible other places where that mind can live for long periods of time. And how this mind creates time, creates stuff. If you want to know who the creator is, it's not some God in the sky, You are the creator, this mind. Once you know that, woof! You know just how you can get twenty euros out of an ATM. (Laughs) Very useful skills in today's economy. Thank you for listening (Laughs). (Audience): "Sadhu, Sadhu, Sadhu!" Ok, very good. Ok, let's get some of the questions, especially from, yeah, Overseas. Here we go. (Reads iPad): "Since a while my meditations end in the mindfulness stage, I lean back, relax and suddenly notice how agitated I actually am. It get's worse during meditation so I have to stop. What to do?" Follow the instructions which I give! So if you start by, especially paying attention to the peace o'meter, then you find when the peace o'meter get's more and more still, the you're actually looking at what's really important so you de-agitate yourself. So sometimes it's because the mindfulness is not put in the right place. You're not really seeing what the problem is. And if you put the mind on the peace o'meter as I mentioned here, It will probably be solved. Next question (Reads): "Letting go. Are these two words overused these days? People seem to be careless users for anything they cannot get or do not want to put effort into." Exactly! You go to work, and instead of people saying you're fired, or we sack you, they say: "We have to let you go" (Laughs). They don't have to let you go! You're sacking me! But, it is overused, and sometimes people can be: "Well if we just let go we get nowhere in life!" Exactly! There is the time for letting go, and the time for doing stuff. So, if you need to go to the toilet, do not let go in this room (Laughs). You put effort to get to the toilet first, and then you let go. Do not let go when you're riding on the back of a motorbike going home, Cling and be attached! So letting go is a skill which we use when it's appropriate. When there's nothing to do, then we let it be, when there's something to do then we put effort in. But the point is, we know how to put effort into our lives, we've been doing that ever since we went to school! But we haven't learned how to be still and let things be, which is one of the reasons we're a crazy society. So let go: great! Learn how to do that. A skill which you can use whenever it's necessary. When there's nothing to do, do nothing, let go. How many times is it... there's nothing to do, but we still have to do something. Cause we don't know how to let go. Lastly, from Germany: "What is transcendent... transcendent mind? Is it what remains of us after death?" Transcendent mind, I don't know. Uhhhmm, I know that one of our monks many years ago, he, you know, he had a bad teeth, and you know, we live in Serpentine, it's a long way to go to the dentist. And you know what it's like these days, you have to make an appointment, and when you go to the appointment then you have to wait and then... It's just such a pain in the... actually probably the pain in the neck is worse than the pain in the mouth to go to the dentist sometimes. So this monk decided "ah yeah, it's a waste of time going to the dentist". So he decided to pull his own tooth out. I saw him! He just, he went to the workshop, got a pair of pliers and just yanked his tooth out. And I just happened to be going to the workshop at Bodhinyana Monastery and I saw this bloody tooth, you know, in a pair of pliers. "What have you been doing?" "Oh you know, took my tooth out, It's much cheaper and much quicker than going to the dentist." And I thought "How did you do that?" And he said "It's very easy, because..." It's a wonderful little teaching He said: "When I decided to pull my tooth out, that didn't hurt. You know, thinking about, planning doesn't hurt. And when I went to the workshop that didn't hurt, when I picked up the pliers that didn't hurt, when I put the pair of pliers on the tooth that never hurt, when I wiggled that hurt! But you know, just for, maybe, twenty seconds, thirty seconds and it was out and it didn't hurt much afterwards. It's only twenty seconds of pain, that's all." But if that was you, (Points at audience), even before you'd even picked up the pliers it would hurt like hell (Laugh). You see what pain is? Anticipation. He trained himself not to anticipate, being in the present moment, so it's only ten seconds of pain. So that is what we call how to... Trancen...DENTAL meditation (Laughs). And that's enough for tonight, thank you so much. (Clapping). OK, let's pay respects to Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha, I apologize for that, but those of you who know me, know what to expect. Araham samma-sambuddho bhagava Buddham bhagavantam abhivademi. Svakkhato bhagavata dhammo Dhammam namassami. Supatipanno bhagavato savakasangho sangham namami. (Speaking, unintelligible)
Info
Channel: Buddhist Society of Western Australia
Views: 543,722
Rating: 4.7583013 out of 5
Keywords: Buddhism, Dhamma, Dharma Talk, Ajahn Brahm, acceptance, letting go, imperfection, peace, perfection
Id: eu0RtEG6V4A
Channel Id: undefined
Length: 59min 20sec (3560 seconds)
Published: Fri Jan 06 2017
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