Wisdom and Stupidity | Ajahn Brahm | 04-02-2011

so last week I gave a talk on autonomy in the original Buddhism and at the end of the talk somebody pointed out that Lawrence is not here this evening on the statue which welcomes you to come into this place there was saying they're not to do any evil and the violence quite correctly and I really agree with him said why forgot that word evil because is that really part of Buddhism no even he was very correct evil is nothing to do with Buddhism at all the word does not exist in Buddhist and there is no such thing as evil in Buddhism and I know that when we had those 9/11 and the Twin Towers of people going around saying no those terrorists are evil and people actually asked me at that time is there such a thing as evil in Buddhism is no such thing as evil in Buddhism just stupidity not evil and in fact you can't even say that those people were stupid because again there is no concept of a person being stupid in Buddhism or the only concept we have is that people who sometimes do stupid things so it's far far softer so number one is no evil and in a sense that means that you'll never find like too many movies on Buddhist themes we're far too boring if you have evil and vampires and monsters who are totally corrupt and evil it's far more exciting in fact we Buddhism where we don't have sex we don't have violence it's a very very boring religion so if you like excitement you've come to the wrong place but if you like peace well done you come to a good place but we don't have evil we have stupidity and no one is stupid as people do stupid things and so the whole thrust of Buddhism when it says not to cultivate such stupidity instead of that we cultivate sort with understanding and somebody did send me a request can you be please today talk about sort of what they call ignorant sore delusion or stupidity and that is a central part of Buddhism but first of all I've already mentioned one important thing there is no such thing as evil there's no such thing as stupidity it's just a temporary thing which some people do there is a story I haven't told for a long time now but which is in opening the door of your heart that book which has been translated in so many languages and it brings out the point of what I'm saying that sometimes that though we just don't see things correctly and that is what so stupidity is all about and this was an example of the two children at the supermarket checkout they were in parallel lanes and almost exactly the same time one child took out a carton of milk from the trolley and he dropped it on the ground and it went splat all over the floor making a whole mess and his mum said you stupid child almost exactly the same time in the parallel aisle another child they picked up the jar of honey and it was slippy they dropped it and it went smash all over the floor but that mother because she must come to the Buddhist Society nollamara that mother she didn't say you stupid child she said that was a stupid thing you did and we emphasized the huge difference between those two responses now if you'll examine it you call that's you stupid child it's as if they are totally stupid they were like totally sort of corrupt that when they were made there must be some genetic malfunction that they are actually stupid they're permanently stained with stupidity and that's that first child and many of you can recognize no such reactions when you make a mistake and someone calls you stupid someone calls you dumb someone calls you all these things and what they're saying is you're fatally flawed there's nothing worth redeeming in you and you know what it's like when that happens to you now you feel totally diminished totally hopeless you lose all your self esteem and that's no way to bring up a child the other child received that was a stupid thing you did you're not a stupid kid but you know you had a moment of stupidity and what that means is you're recognizing the truth that was the sort of silly thing to do to pick up that jar of honey with making more slippy but you're not a stupid person is more to you than that now this gives an idea of what wisdom is you know in Buddhism and many of you when you argue with each other at home knowing married life you know you know that old story in your first year of marriage in the first year of marriage the husband listens to the wife and the second year of marriage the wife listen to the husband in the third year of marriage the neighbors listen to both of you is talking so why are you laughing because it's true isn't it we know what it's like when people argue with each other you stupid husband you selfish woman you idiot there is no such person who's selfish there is no idiots there is no stupid people in this world as as people who do stupid things people who do selfish things so the first bit of wisdom is that there is no one who is stupid what a great relief because that includes you there is just people who have moments of stupidity some people have many moments of stupidity together when wills continuous but you do have moments of wisdom each one of you do so it's wonderful to recognize that the each one of you you know how those moments of lucidity and wisdom so there's no such thing as evil but why is it that those moments of lucidity and wisdom aren't enough why our people now sometimes act stupidly again and again again and this is what's the main thrust of the question which somebody asked me to talk about why is that we just don't see one of the reasons is because it's not encouraged no to see too many people are lazy so they just want to be told what to believe and that's why sometimes you come to this place to be told what to believe to be told what the law of karma is to be told what you're supposed to do to be told this and to be told that and I'm actually failing in my duty if I tell you what to do many years ago I made a statement that be careful don't believe what I say and straightaway people believe what I just said in other words the purpose of a religion like Buddhism is not to tell you what to believe but tell you how to find out so it's a path rather than the truth which is given to you you have to do that work so wisdom is not something which you learn just and listening to a talk it's not something you get from reading a book it's what you get by doing the work of investigating contemplating looking very deeply into the nature of yourself of relationships and into life you have to do the work and that's one of the reasons why it's tough being a Buddhist is great in other religions you just tell what to believe you don't need to do the work someone else has done the work for you God has found out the truth so you just have to believe what God says as long as God has found the truth what happens if God was stupid and he's telling you things which don't exist so be careful you know sometimes even God makes mistakes this is old story as it's not going into jokes now because it's a hot evening it's our story of again I don't think I'll tell this for over a year and many of you are old enough now your memories going so I can repeat the jokes as long as it's not too recently I don't have you heard but you know there's a lot of interface work being done and a lot of rapprochement was being done recently between the Catholic Church and the Anglican Church now the Archbishop of Canterbury the head of the Anglican Church actually visited the Pope in Rome but you may not know that they decide to have some time by themselves so they could actually just meet with each other and have personal time to have this trust between each other so they both had a game of golf together and as they were playing golf they were sort of was saying well look you know that we both believe in God and now God is all-powerful so let's make a resolution whoever wins his game of golf or rather whoever loses it has to convert to the others religion so if the archbishop loses he has to become a Catholic if the Pope loses he has to become a Protestant fair enough let God decide on a game of golf so the stakes were that high and as they came to the last hole the Pope was a couple of shots ahead he just needed to sink this putt and he'd win by two shots and of course the state's being so high he asked his caddie you know what the Catholic Church is like the Caddy was a nun I got to get into trouble with this again I always get into trouble but look I'm not stupid I'm not evil I just sometimes do stupid things and tell stupid stories but anyway so the the caddy the dad gave him gave him a putter and he lined it up and he hits it and you may have seen on a TV if you don't actually play golf yourself it wind the hole it didn't go in it just went past and a couple of feet past and so no he missed a shot but still sing the next putt maybe no I forgot to say that when he missed the hole no because he was a bit tense he actually swore you said damn it missed and at that that neither none heard it and said no your your MA what do you call a poke your eminence your holiness well anyway whatever you call it your PO penis okay we'll be trauma but just be careful your eminence or whatever is you shouldn't swear you know he said damn that's a bad word and he said I'm sorry I won't do it again no just the heat of the moment so had another pot and he would still win no by one shot and he hit that one and again you know what it's like he's so excited he hit that he went another two foot past the hole he missed a long way he said damn it missed and the nun crossed herself and said lowly you're tempting fate you know person your position you shouldn't say things like that it's an October - sorry it was just so important I sank that putt now if I don't sing this one I'm going to have to convert to being a Protestant and so he was so nervous he hit that putt it went straight for the hole it wasn't hard enough he stopped just a millimeter in front of the hole and again he swore damn it missed and before the the nun finish crossing herself there was a thunderbolt from heaven it's big war and the Thunderbolt the bolt of lightning hit the nun and she fell down dead nuns always get it don't they and his big war came out from heaven damn it missed for God so silver God makes mistakes sometimes so you can't trust anything can you so the wonderful thing about Buddhism is that we have to find out for ourselves wisdom is not something which you just get from listening to a talk it's not something you get from a book it's something which you have to find out for yourself and so basically 99% of Buddhism is actually teaching you how to find out for yourself and the first thing is is sometimes you have to challenge to be able to find out so questioning is more important than just blind faith which is why we encourage those questions and you know I carried them so much it's really hard to find those questions that when I give talks overseas we have much more time for questions and answers and know what it's like sometimes you know you finish a talk are there any questions and other times as people just stare at you they've got no questions these that's what they say so it's very hard to actually get a question out of anybody so I have this little technique which seems to always work to get questions out of people when I go overseas I tell them some traditional Buddhism now you know that part of Buddhism is a law of karma and reincarnation or rebirth so I tell them this is actually from the Maha Kimura bunga souter and it's one of these sutras of the Buddha in Imagi Meena kaya and there they tell the story of this man who came up to the border and asked him like a question on Karma he was saying you know I've noticed it as well some people are just born wealthy and they manage to maintain that wealth and increase it now other people are born poor and sometimes they get wealthy but you know there's some people they they're poor they work really hard and they try very hard and they worked with all hours of the night and still it's just so hard to make ends meet you know that why can't you be wealthy while other people they seem to work much less than you they just got the gift of no making money is it it must be some karma from a past life that we're born poor in this life so it was asked what do I do in this what do I have to do in this life what karma do I have to make in this life to be rich in my next life there's a fair enough question and so the Buddha gave him an answer he was so happy with it he asked the second question he said now I've also noticed that sometimes people are very beautiful what other people are ugly and you may notice when I mentioned the word ugly I stared at the carpet and a reason for this the reason of this is I told his story in Singapore once and I just I just happened to be looking at a certain woman when I mentioned the word ugly oh my goodness did she complain she said why did you mention the word ugly when you're looking at me it's even worse if I mention the word beautiful when I'm looking at someone to get the wrong idea so if anyway he the Buddha explained the cause for beauty and ugliness in your next life but then the killer question why is some people intelligent and other people they just have such a hard time at school and university you be with some people they're hard to do any of the homework they just float through school they get the prizes and they go to universities they get double first no for the rest of us it's just so hard to stand there just getting the te pass so said why is it what's the karmic reason why people are born intelligent and other people aren't intelligent was a karmic course and a Buddhist said and this was a beautiful answer the karmic reason for stupidity in your next life is not asking questions in this life it's a very beautiful answer and I always get a question afterwards but it's the Buddha is actually saying the cause of intelligence the cause of wisdom is actually questioning and investigating not just sitting here and just soaking it all in but questioning asking those difficult questions investigating digging deeper into things and that's why it's always encouraged in Buddhism to ask those questions and in fact the very last teaching of my master Rancho before he stopped teaching at all I remember this he would I can imitate it correctly he would get his hands out he'd imitate a crab with a lame leg and so once there was a crab with a wonky leg and it always walked with a limp and it told its little baby crabs he said look I've got a bad leg that's why I walk with a limp don't you walk like me but all the baby crabs also walk with a limp just like their mother they were just sheep and he said don't do that and this is the problem with many many people that you know that you know if I if we like have a limp now my wisdom is not toque perfect as the Buddhist so don't just be a Crone of someone like me think for yourselves investigate for yourself another my favorite sayings is when everybody thinks the same no one thinks at all if you want to use that and write that on your your office wall where everyone thinks the same no one thinks at all the whole purpose of Buddhism is actually stopping that stupidity of just everybody thinking the same you know it's much tougher being a teacher when people question you and they argue with you but you know I wouldn't have there any other way if people didn't question me and argue with me from time to time I get very concerned I'm not doing my job whole purpose of Buddhism is to find that wisdom and the only way to do that is asking the questions going deep and not just being just an imitator just like that mother crab and all the baby crabs also walking with limps so this is not a faith tradition not a belief tradition it it quietly requires a lot of work from you to be wise and when you're wise actually you you tend to see things in a unique and different way not the way everybody else sees it which is why to be wise you have to be a bit rebellious remember many years ago people told me in IBM this was when I was young everybody had to wear a suit and a tie be well-groomed everybody except the peep research and development the more weird and eccentric they were the better their job prospects were because they realize in research and development in creativity you had to be a bit eccentric and weird to see things which no one else had seen in other words to be wise not just to repeat what other people had done but to take knowledge further and that took a lot of eccentricity and also it took a lot of courage one of the biggest reasons for stupidity is fear we don't have the courage enough to sort of let go of the past ideas we've had to see things differently which is too comfortable sometimes and are all ways of looking at things it our old ideas so great teachers actually challenge you they challenge you to see things in a totally different way and that's one of the the most exciting interesting but sometimes fearful things which you can do especially when you become a monkey let go of everything and put yourself in these situations when everything you knew and understood was totally challenged you know I did have a good education I did come from this Cambridge University and I went into monastic life thinking I was so clever and intelligent until I met real intelligent people intelligent people who knew much more than I did they didn't know sort of theoretical physics but they certainly knew the nature of the mind and how it worked and how to deal with it especially in difficult situations they had real wisdom now I remember place like Cambridge you were hanging out with Nobel laureates there with professors who one could be brilliant in their field but stupid in life and I realized that that wasn't real intelligence but when you went to places like no Cecilia's and there's old monks they were wise and in situations which one normally would challenge people they had this wisdom this insight into the nature of the human mind which worked so many times one example which I will never forget this is what my master was a person who came to his temple possessed these that's what the villagers said just early in the morning the head man and his assistant came into the monastery and told ajahn Chah that there was a woman in their village who had been possessed by some spirit by some demon the night before and they were totally crazy they've been trying to deal with her all night and they could not so they were bringing her to see this great monkey attention now of course in Thailand they don't have a pet team they don't have psychiatrists it's actually the monks who are the psychiatrists in those days we are the ones you know who have the psychological wherewithal to deal with such problems and so they bring in this lady into this monastery and as they were bringing her in you could actually hear her screams even though it's a long way away but when people are crazy I mean they scream in such a loud voice and they scream profanities even in like a temple and know how devout Thai people are around there monks and their monasteries but this lady was out of her head and of course what did a giant shard to our Great Master he just ordered these two novices dig a hole I want a big hole dug and another couple of novices boil some water I want some boiling water lots of bored in water and I began to wonder who was a mad person you know this lady being dragged to the monastery or a giant chuckles I couldn't understand what the heck he was doing you don't sort of treat a person you know with it was mad by digging a hole and boiling some water what's he going to do give her a cup of tea and as she was coming closer ajahn Chah was very sort of fierce with the novices come on I need a hole dug quickly and I need more water lots of water boil heaps of water and again we didn't know what he was up to I couldn't figure this guy out and when they brought this woman to here you know it was this classic case you know she was literally foaming at her mouth and she was so crazy and so powerful with her madness that you know these were no tough North East Thai farmers and had about four or three or four of them holding her down and they were just that's all they could do to keep her from sort of lunging at ajahn Chah and then he let on what he was up to he told the villagers this is a very very dangerous demon has got into this woman the only thing we can do to help her is put her in this hole pour boiling water over her heaps and then bury her alive it's too dangerous a demon and that's what he said he was going to pour all this boarded water over this lady and bury her alive now you know you think that people just don't do this but agile char was so eccentric so unique I thought actually he might do this and certainly this girl thought he might do this and she started calming down before the water was boiled and the hole was dug she was sitting in front of him as calm as anything receiving the Buddhists know precepts exhausted and after giving the precepts they calmly took her home now that was wisdom because what a general understood whether that was a demon inside of you or whether that was just a psychotic attack there is something deep inside each one of us called self-preservation and if you really thought that if you don't get your act together and that get it together quickly you're going to have boiling water poured all over you and buried in a hole you get better finis quickly and that's what I tend to I saw this this self-preservation and that was some sort of wisdom which can never be repeated no one can repeat that it was unique to that time to that situation my goodness how powerful it worked no need for any injections of any chemicals or medication just incredible powerful wisdom how well it worked and I see him do this so many times it really showed me it is the power of wisdom stupidity would be now you may be a psychiatrist or psychologist and someone comes into your rooms psychotic and you go and order your secretary dig a hole balls or mops or water it won't work because you're just being just like that baby crab you can't repeat wisdom it's not something you learn and just repeat that is one of the problems with our caring professions now we always think Oh what do I do in such a situation when but someone comes up to me with a schizophrenic episode what do I do when they come up with a cancer what do I do look don't just look in this of the manuals what worked before and think it's going to work again we all know that every human being is totally unique every disease is unique every problem is unique there's never going to be another problem like that so instead of just repeating what you're supposed to do instead we develop this incredible Buddhist wisdom so we actually see what needs to be done rather than just believe in what happened in the past just like a person who believes in a book and has faith in some sort of book it may worked in the past it's not going to work now so how do we actually develop that Buddhist wisdom and of course as many of you know it means just raising your mind of all that past knowledge as I said last week never allowed knowledge to stand in the way of truth never allow you're learning what you think you should do to stand in what you know should be done so you feel it rather than think it the problem with our Western world what makes us really stupid is because we think too much and we have this assumption of by thinking it out working it through logically we're going to find a wise answer and I think you all been thinking a lot for so many years and as there ever really sort of helped to at or has it really gave you wisdom at all there are people who trained there thinking far more that I've ever done the great philosophers the really great intellectuals and I've known a few of them and they're all to a person pretty stupid or rather I shouldn't say that they do stupid things but a lot of the time to be consistent to what I said at the beginning of this this this talk I mean is the answer to how to be wise is in their old story of the the famous philosopher in Japan many many years ago here was a professor not just of one universities of several universities and he was so well known and he was the biggest intellectual in the country and just for a bit of fun but also for a bit of intellectual stimulation he would hold these debates with all the other philosophers but he was so sharp he was so knowledgeable that no person would enter into a debate with him because he would always win and so wondering who to debate next he thought I will debate a Buddhist monk this and say to be wise but they're really stupid he thought I'll go and debate the most famous monk in the country and see who wins and so he found this monk his meditation monk and he arranged to have a debate with this monk and so he went to the monastery with all of his students to debate with this monk and being in Japan before the debate actually started it was a task of the host among to serve tea to the guest of professor and as he was serving tea to the professor he poured the tea into the cup and when the cup was full he carried on pouring and so the water went into the saucer at which point the professor said to the monk my cup is full you can stop now but the monk carried on pouring until it went over to the cup into the saucer over the saucer onto the table at which point professor thought this monk must be a bit hard of hearing of a bit blind so he shouted mug my cup is full you can stop now at which point of my smile broadly and emptied the whole teapot and to we're not just over the cup into the sauce not just over the sauce or onto the table but onto the floor as well at which point the professor's said you stupid man I've come all this way to debate with you and you don't even know how to serve a cup of tea what an idiot what a fool I wasted my whole time at which point the mark said if you haven't heard a story before it it's a great story he said professor you were just like this Cup you're so full that no one can pour pour any wisdom into you at which point a professor wet doubt honesty's and says you've won because that's a trouble with professors at each one of your professors aren't you something sometimes we're so full that someone pours any more in and it can't go in it just goes out so the more of that story is to be wise you have to be empty - empty all your past knowledge so you can see things from a different angle see things freshly with an empty peaceful still mind and that is why we have the core practice in Buddhism is not learning what somebody said not memorizing things it's not actually just listening and being brainwashed and taking things on faith the core teaching is learning how to meditate to make your mind so peaceful and still you can see things in a different way it can be actually free from the past to see what's really happening in a present here we don't see what's really there we see what we want to see and a good example of that one of my funny stories is night this evening many people will be out of the nightclubs or maybe if they're a bit wealthier than maybe on these candlelit dinners or you know maybe just after dinner then maybe having a walk as a beautiful warm night maybe by the river under the Starlight because those are the romantic places of our world but why do we call such places romantic if you want a romantic evening where do you go those are the three main places like now a nightclub water a candlelit restaurant we'll walk by the river in the moonlight know why they are romantic if you notice they all share one thing in common they are all dark because when it's dark you can't really see whom you're falling in love with you don't really want to see who you're falling in love with because you don't we'll be disappointed that's one of the reasons no one falls in love in the middle of the day so with the night though and why do people do that they do that because they want to believe that their partner is like I was his name Justin Bieber I got this I was in Singapore I said who's the hottest guy these days Justin people they they want to look at their girl it's it's Meegan knows me no no not me can go somebody else walking off I think I just I don't watch these things but who's the hottest girl these days and and say your wife your wife well you want to we want to think that the girl in front of us is this beautiful bimbo whatever you call it and that's why we go out at night time because in that night time in the moonlight you know in the candle light with a candle place on her face it gives delusion full freedom to make up what you want to see now this is if this is actually why we're deluded because we wants us we our wisdom it's not what's really out there but what we really want to see now I'm not sort of putting down sort of relationships or putting down marriage but you'll find relationships and marriage do much better when they're based on truth and honesty now when you realize who that person is and who you are and realized neither of you are perfect and in fact if you were perfect it will be no reason to love each other it's because of imperfections that's why we love each other because I'm imperfect you are imperfect that's why this beautiful love is we sweet and wonderful it's easy to love someone is perfect but to love what someone who's got all these faults it's something beautiful in that and something selfless is something which is letting go of your desire for perfection in something which is true to the nature of our world which is the world is not perfect but we can still love it you're not perfect but you can be at peace with yourself your partner's not perfect never will be you can still find peace and happiness then now you can understand with your honest there is a possibility for happiness love freedom the whole works but it's a dishonesty which stops us it's a dishonesty in the relationship which creates all the suffering in a relationship if you're honest enough start recognize your imperfections recognize the other one's imperfections and realize no they're not going to be changed they're going to be there accept that and celebrate it then we can find some happiness and peace in the world I often say living up on the hills in serpentine overlooking the ocean sometimes there are some very glorious sunsets but the best sunsets are always winners a cloud in the sky or when there's some dust from a heavy day from a hot day and a windy day as it's the dust it's the imperfections which spread the light into these glorious Crimson's and gold when no not there the sunset isn't beautiful its imperfection which is the cause of beauty is imperfection which creates this beauty in our world and I say that because even in the forests in the forest the trees are never in rows and in lines in our monastery in our monasteries there are no perfect trees no trees which are totally straight with no limbs falling off if they were perfect we'd realize it would be a plantation it would not be natural in nature the reason why it is beautiful is because of imperfect sand that's what nature is we come to be at peace and accept it and love it for that so when our mind becomes very still and peaceful instead of actually understanding what the world should be what I shall be what follows should be what skies should be we have this wisdom which sees things as they truly are this is nature this is our world this is us this is the world we're living in and then we can find there is this possibility for acceptance for peace for love not love of the perfect the love of the imperfect so a lot of times what we say is delusion or stupidity is actually asking from the world something it will never give us that's the great definition of pain and suffering when you ask from the world what it will never be able to provide when you are from yourself what you can never give when you are some your partner or from your relationship what it will never ever be able to supply that's called suffering that is a moment of stupidity so real wisdom when you let go of everything you've been told when your mind becomes very peace when you see things truly now you realize that the world is not the problem it's the way we've been relating to it it's a problem stupidity is just a dysfunctional relationship we have with ourselves with the world and with others it's nothing to do with what's right which is what's wrong it's nothing to do with some ultimate truth it's just totally to do with a dysfunctional relationship so when we realize that it's all about the relationship we have with ourselves with relationship we have with our partners the relationship we have with life then we realize that where wisdom is is not in me is not in a text it's not in you wisdom is in the space between us that's where wisdom lies which is why there in one of the greatest so little stories of wisdom which again didn't come from a Buddhist text we don't need to sort of say that Buddhist has the whole franchise on wisdom this actually came from that story from fom Leo Tolstoy it was one of those moments of wisdom when I read this story which again rocked me for days I remember when I first read this as a student and just spinning out for a couple of days when I thought my goodness I'd seen things in a totally wrong way now I understand and it changed a lot of the way that I looked at my life if not the whole of my life and that was that story of the Empress three questions it's a very long story told by Tolstoy but it boils down to and again this is goes back to my talk last week of the autonomy I which religions should be giving you there was an emperor who was fed up with organised religions none of it made sense to him and all the people teaching those religions were so hypocritical they told him to do things they didn't do themselves so he rejected or organized religions and being an emperor he thought why don't I find my own religion so he got the wise people the impressive people he taught with them investigated and he finally came down to his three questions thinking if only I could find the answer to these three questions I'd have all the religion and spirituality which I needed in my life and the three questions were when is the most important time who is the most important person and the what is the most important thing to do though when the who the what now know that many of you have heard the story before but there are many people who haven't heard the story before and those who haven't heard the story before I want you to think about those three questions and what you think the answers are if you've heard the story before please don't spoil my fun be quiet because there's a point to this so those were the empress three questions you ventually found the answers an unexpected source but what are the answers when is the most important time Christmas time way sec friday evening when you finish work when is the most important time come on now correct exactly it's the most important time so when you should you say sorry now so turn around and say sorry to your pod before you duck when is the most important time to say you love your parents now please don't wait till tomorrow or this evening because you know what happens so often it happens that you know the moment passes you don't have that opportunity notice say how much you care for someone you find they're dead or they've got overseas now that you may think that that's no such a a simple obvious answer but if you practice that if you take that on as one of the most important parts of your life that now really is the most important time it really is you'll find that your relationship to others your relationship to life will totally change for many people now is not the most important time we've sacrificed too many moments of now getting things out of the way and then I'll be happy and for many people now is not really important that's why we get so old and all the things we should have done we find we haven't done now is the most important time but the second question is the best who is the most important person yet can hear are you spoiling it you read it before most people when I say this and they haven't heard it before they all say themselves which is a long answer we in a such a self-centered society we are seeing that I am the most important person in the world which is totally wrong and the answer that's what I thought first of all because that's what I've been taught come on you're important you make sure that you get what you wanted your relationship now what satisfies you your job which you really want what you really deserve in life you go for it you go and get it you're really important but the answer is someone suggested was the person you're with the one in front of you is the most important person in the world and as soon as I heard that that this is what I mean by wisdom you understand it why didn't I see that before it is important so whoever is in front of you they are the most important person in the world given that importance and of course as soon as I point that out you know what I'm talking about because how many times have you been talking with your partner and they've been ignoring you they're not giving you a sense of importance they're trying to get rid of you I remember just when I was a student so when I read this story for the first time sometimes at the end of a lecture I'd gone up to the lecturer to ask a question he wasn't listening to me he's just trying to get rid of me I was just a small hairy insignificant student he had better things to do and that was a terrible feeling that you know you were asking a question and the other person was just trying to get rid of you you weren't important to them and that's if you had that happens to you too many times you live or lose all your self esteem you get depressed you don't need to do that so ever since I read that and when I become a monk one of the core practices which I really tried odd to to live by is even now maybe really tired and you come up after the talk and you want to ask a question you are really important to me I don't try and get rid of you even if I'm really tight because I try and practice if you're right in front of me and I'm talking to you you are the most important person in the world it's important for that and there are many times in your life you're by yourself and of course then who are you with you're with yourself and then you're really important so important as I'd said here before whenever I go to bed at night the last person I say goodnight to is myself and I say that goodnight me have a great night see you in the morning when I wake up in the warding hi good morning Here I am again have a great day me unless that's no joke I do that I'm not crazy and then actually this is just showing that I'm important to me instead of just now you're not really important so just sacrifice yourself for the company for your partner for your kids for other people no don't do that so when you buy yourself you are the most important person in the world when you lose somebody they're the most important person and the last question what's the most important thing to do so an obvious Buddhist answer is to care to care for yourself to care for others and I mentioned last week how important that is caring is much more important than keeping people alive someone came to see me today that though very sort of upset that in their apartment block sort of in Perth somebody jumped from the balcony last week and committed suicide there's no asking so is that a wrong thing to do a bad thing to do what's happened to them and the details were was an 84 year old man who the week before had lost his wife about 60 years suddenly he was didn't have a partner anymore the person had been with him like they said like joined-at-the-hip for so many years and so he decided to jump off the balcony and take his life was that a long thing to do now your knowledge would say that suicide that's bad you remember what I've been talking about this evening put that aside never allow your knowledge to stand in the way of truth well your head says is that suicide that's bad we should have counseled him or did something give him some injections some medicine to stop him doing that but is that really caring for him is that really compassionate there's something inside of me which respects life but which respects compassion even more and there was a guy who had a broken heart 84 years of age he lived a long life and he'd lost someone he just wanted to go back to her I believe in reincarnation it happens so there's something sweet in that I mentioned that to me I can understand and level criticize a guy who does something like that it's understandable it was his way of caring and it's not up to me to judge that at all you may disagree but what does your heart say and this is actually what wisdom eventually comes down to now is the most important time the one in front of you is the most important thing and the most important thing to do is to care and that's why we make compassion the most important part of Buddhism the wisdom compassion both going together and the sign of wisdom is how much you can care not how much you know but how sensitive you are to the people around you how sensitive you are to the relationship you have with the events of life how much can you care is what we all wisdom is is how it manifests not in knowledge not in be able to write books nothing to be able to explain the most deepest points of metaphysics but how much you can actually care and it's not just caring for others it's caring for yourself it's not just caring for yourself it's caring about life you can't change life but my goodness you can care you can't stop people from dying you can care about them in their last days as I said last week the job of a doctor of a psychologist that nurse is not to cure the patient but to care for them the job of a wife a husband is not to cure your partner of all their stupid things is to care for them and the job of you is not to sort of change all your stupid idiosyncrasies that my job is not to stop telling stupid jokes I can't stop that my job is to care and today's stupid joke is about the two men who were who were talking to one another and one of them said you know I think I need a pet I'm going to buy a dog I'm going to buy a Labrador and his mate said bye and Labrador don't be stupid haven't you noticed the owners of lappa doors usually go blind that's the basis to picture now that I can't help myself you know just my condition so what wisdom is is not trying to change people but caring for them not trying to change life but caring for life not trying to even that change the world but caring for this world and it's a huge difference there try to make the perfect make the world perfect is actually hating the world as it is trying to make yourself perfect is hating yourself as you are caring is embracing you as you are that is wisdom it lies in the relationships we have with people and it is aware we don't see things as they truly are the way we don't see things as they are number one we rely too much on knowledge we rely too much on what we've been told we relied too much on sort of received wisdom we don't do the work to think for ourselves to investigate for ourselves that's why hopefully you get challenged when you come in here you left with work to do you don't have someone do the homework for you that you have to go back and meditate and see these things and you know you've found wisdom now if you're a caring person if you're at peace with yourself because when you care that's where you find the peace you care for this world you care for yourself you care for the relationships you have with other people then you find you have peace so from care comes wisdom from wisdom comes peace and you should know that by now every time you meditate and you care for every moment there you understand this is peaceful you have the understanding the wisdom this is the path to freedom the pass the real peace so that's what wisdom is and this is stupidity is just just like the professor we have the full cup empty the cup be still see things feel things rather than knowing things and then you'll be wise not like the professor but by the happy old bug so that's the talk this evening on stupidity and wisdom so now any questions who wants to be intelligent in your next life very good okay this is the idea of respect in some religions you're not supposed to question your teachers as if they are some sort of gods and that to me if you don't question that it's disrespect its disrespect to the teachings it's disrespect to the Dharma it's disrespectful to truth so when we're talking about respect is actually what are we truly respecting and what are we disrespecting and this comes it's wonderful like being a westerner that you come to teaching my Buddhism afresh without any cultural baggage so you have got that empty cup so you can actually see much clearer there's an old story was it about the Frog who was so close to the Lotus you could never smell it because it was used to it and someone came a flesh and they could they could savor the beautiful scent of the Lotus because they were they didn't grow up with it and it's the same sometime we're too close to things we can't really appreciate it and see it but what are you truly respecting you should be respecting truth more than any person respecting sort of compassion and kindness more than any sort of rituals which is why I know here even today look I'm not going to criticize anyone I'm actually praising it as many people are now pointing they're free to the Buddha in a time monastery you want no carry-on point point in a book in a time - you would not be allowed to do that because they said that's disrespectful to a Buddha I'm saying that's disrespectful to people because they got bad legs and the Buddha would not mind that at all he's a compassionate person so compassion Trump's ritual so respect compassion which we know come points I have is truth and that's one of the things which is really important what is important in in religion what is important in the spiritual path and respect that which is really important what's not important forget about that well the nice things now for each one of you can actually go back to the original form of Buddhism you'll find what respect really is one of the stories which was wonderful that I was told as he as a monk that look now you remark this was in Thailand you have to sit higher and you are sort of higher in society and everybody else even kings would have to bow to you but then I read in this story of the one of the wisest monks next to the Buddha veneral sorry puta he was walking on arms round and a little novice this little squeak of a novice so came out to and said you're badly dressed now usually that would be a no no you can't so tell these very high monks and criticizing they're badly dressed but the wisest monk next to the border had a look and said my goodness you're right he went behind a bush he adjusted his robe and he came out afterwards and he put his hands up and he called this little novice teacher and that type of humidity was something which I thought was very beautiful to say an original Buddhism which you don't see so much in the the traditional Buddhist of our modern day but now and again you do see it you would see that with an adjunct are total humble he'd respect truth more than any hierarchy and I think that's important because I was having time for nine years I saw that some monks doesn't matter you know if they've done something wrong I'm senior you can't tell me and of course you know what happens when we have hierarchy is more important than truth I have all the problems which you know in the West we know from the Catholic Church there's many wonderful people in that Catholic Church but the hierarchy is strangling it and in other churches as well please don't having to Buddhism respect truth Amon anything else respect compassion is that's what I say yeah intuition is part of wisdom because what is intuition was you feel the moment you feel what needs to be done and please you can trust that and it's not just female intuition men have intuition as well this is an example of that an example of wisdom some years ago people came up and asked this very difficult question for Buddhism in the West I've got a dog I've got a cat it's ill the vet said I should put it down should I should I not I'm supposed to not kill any living beings you know that's a very famous preset of a Buddhist Buddhist I'm supposed to be kind of compassionate to these animals they're in pain what should I do and you know to me is the monk is very clear what to do you know the wisdom was very clear all these what you're supposed to do put that aside and feel the situation to me it was very clear it's not my task to tell a dog or a cat whether it should die or not die it's a catch Joyce is a dog's choice so I asked old people ask the cat ask the dog what it wants to do and that's not a stupid question many times people have done is they've taken their dog and cat aside in the vet surgery and they just spent a few minutes with it do you really want to die would you want to carry on they've done that and sometimes they've insured the answer the dog actually doesn't want to die yeah sometimes they can't they look at it and they feel no it's had enough and so when you tell the vet it's not your decision the cat wants to die the dog wants to live it has some great example of that was Judy was she serious oh I saw earlier today Judy was telling me that she did that with her dog she went to the vet and the vet had a cancer and the vet said your dogs in such great pain I've got to put it down she took it aside and actually took it aside as she felt the dog didn't want to go so she told the vet now I'm taking it home and the vet was very angry at her so you Buddhists are very cruel you're heartless you know you supposed to be compassionate the dogs in great pain and y'all know keeping it alive you cruel person but good on earth she sort of took it home six months later she took the dog back to the vet who made a full recovery and the vet said something like you Buddha's are very wise yes that's right wasn't it Judy are you over there yeah something like that bitter made a full recovery so you know this is what intuition is you eat if that's your dog your care and you've been with it for such a long time you love it intuition is very easy to say if you know that's your mom or your dad in a coma in the ICU the doctors say should we turn off the ventilator should we turn off all the life-support is that someone you love very much just ask them and you'll know that's why their intuition when your mind is silent when it's free from fear then you can actually hear that's wisdom does that answer the question very good okay afterwards we we're finishing off now so we'll pay respects the Buddha Dhamma and Sangha and then we'll finish off you

Channel: Buddhist Society of Western Australia

Views: 117,754

Rating: 4.8824577 out of 5

Keywords: Ajahn Brahm, wisdom, stupidity, Buddhism, dharma talk, Buddha Dhamma, Dhamma, ignorance, investigating, contemplating

Id: hbOShAIwNJA

Length: 63min 20sec (3800 seconds)

Published: Sat Feb 05 2011