11/5/2026 Jhana Grove - Sutta Session 3.00 - 4.00 pm

Added: 2026-05-18

[00:00:38]Okay.

[00:00:40]So, u we are looking at this suta called the avida suta here translated as ignorance found in the numerical discourse is the 10th chapter number 61.

[00:00:54]And we have been looking at this sequence of uh uh factors or qualities of the mind that kind of arise in a certain sequence. And when they arise in a certain sequence then they gradually uh fulfill the whole purpose of the path going all the way to awakening.

[00:01:14]And I pointed out initially how this starts with right view just like the noble eightful path. Then you have the right the idea of the right purpose or the right aim which is similar to uh the faith and maybe the yonis or mana is kind of the directing the mind in the right way and then we have the various kinds of virtue that we find here. This is similar to the virtues on the noble 84 path. Right speech, right action, right livelihood.

[00:01:41]And then uh we come down to the deeper aspects of virtue that is an equivalent to essentially to right effort which is the effort of uh uh getting the mind basically in a good shape. Yeah. Getting rid of some defilements and things like that. And then we come to right mindfulness which here is the satipanas.

[00:02:02]And as you might expect after that comes then the sama samadi. Yeah the right the right samadi the four jas as they are found in the noble eightful path. So you can see here how it parallels the noble eightful path very nicely and then at the very end you have the idea of knowledge and freedom which of course is the result of the practice of that noble eightful path. So uh coming back again to uh this idea that the three kinds of good conduct they fulfill the four kinds of mindfulness meditation. Yeah the four satipanas.

[00:02:37]And so the point here again is the uh uh purpose. Yeah. The importance of sila and the importance of right view which starts out the whole sequence and how this is really what makes the meditation work. And so if you want to be at ease and you just want to watch the breath and you want to relax or whatever, now you know what you have to do. Yeah. You have to basically purify that seal as far as you possibly can which then includes as I mentioned before includes things like compassion and meta and all of these kind of things. So then uh we come to the next factor here. When the factor of the four kinds of mindfulness meditation is fulfilled, it fulfills the factor of the seven awakening factors.

[00:03:25]So when you watch the breath, which is to my mind the main way of fulfilling the four satanas, the result of that is the sata sambujanga are fulfilled. The seven factors of awakening here. And what are the seven factors of awakening?

[00:03:41]Well, they basically are samadi practice. The early parts of the seven factors of awakening. Yeah, you may remember the sati sambbojanga. The factor of awakening of mindfulness, the mindfulness factor of awakening. Dhamma vita sambbojanga, the uh the uh investigation of dhamma's factor of awakening. Yeah. Damich investigation of principles of qualities or something like that. And then you have the vira sambujanga the factor of awakening of energy. Pi sambbojanga the factor awakening of rapture. We talked about rapture before the importance of uh achieving some kind of rapture on the path as part of the uh breath meditation. Yeah. And then from that rapture comes the tranquility.

[00:04:33]Yeah. I just had a uh conversation with somebody. Yeah. I just uh sometimes I have to do Zoom meetings in the middle of things. I have some other things that I have to do as well as part you know when I'm here. And I just spoke to someone over Zoom. This was a bikini because sometimes you have this ovadas and that sort of things. I spoke to a bony over Zoom and she told me she had all this rapture. It's incredible amount of rapture but she wasn't sure how to go to go from rapture to tranquility. Yeah.

[00:05:02]That's what they call the luxury problem. It's kind of everything is going really really well for you but you don't know the next step to get even better here. And uh so it's kind of a that's so again yeah when obviously that is an important point. So then from that rapture you go to a very calm and peaceful state of mind samba. Yeah. Where things become really settled and really solid and from that you gain samadi.

[00:05:29]And so the seven factors of awakening show you the transition from mindfulness to samadei. Yeah, these are very diff these are quite diff different things.

[00:05:40]Sati is just a general ability to be aware to be present to be here to know what's going on. And that's quite different from being focused 100% on one object. And that object or that subject or whatever you want to call it is also very blissful and happy at the same time. Very calmer. So it shows the transition here going through this what we're seeing here from Sati again samadi and this is such an important point and I think you know I'm sometimes I'm kind of surprised at how um badly this is often expressed in the Buddhist world and how very often people go from sati to vipasana for example or or they think that vipasana and sati is the same thing but in the sutas the purpose of sati is always to achieve samadi. It is very clear in this suta but it is even more clear in other parts of the sutras like the noble eightful path where the seven factor is right mindfulness and the eight factor is right samadi. Yeah. One leading to the next one. This is one of the core principles in the sutas. How mindfulness leads to samadei. And it goes through this process of the seven factors of awakening in the way that I've just been showing just now. This is kind of the process standard process.

[00:07:01]You see it again and again in the sutas.

[00:07:04]Yeah. Seven factors of awakening are one of the core groupings of mental factors we're supposed to cultivate. Part of the 37 bodhip pakyadamas, the 37 aids to awakening. These are the foundational parts of the dharma. Yeah. and so so important and yet it is often missed.

[00:07:24]Yeah. People don't often see that the and I think this is to me one of the kind of the weaknesses of at least part of the vipasana movement is this um lack of seeing some of these fundamental kind of conditional conditional relationships that you find in the sutas. They are so important and and they matter so much.

[00:07:47]So this is what we see here. And so ideally you want to practice the breath meditation to achieve samadi in this way. It doesn't mean that there is no room for vipasana there is. Yeah.

[00:07:59]Because when you have vipasana when you see things are caught in the right way that also helps you to achieve samadi because vipasana helps you to get the obstacles out of the way. Vipasana helps you to see the world in such a way that you lose some interest and that also moves the mind towards samadi. So both vipasana and samata together practice together in this way via sati via sati pratana leads you to samadei and samadei is one of these critical things that then takes you all the way to the end of the path. So then we come to the last part of this. Yeah. Which is the last one here. When the seven factors of awakening are fulfilled they fulfilled knowledge and freedom. Knowledge and freedom. Vija vimi. Yeah. And that is the fuel for knowledge and freedom. And that is how it is fulfilled.

[00:08:54]Yeah. The purpose of samade is twofold.

[00:08:57]Knowledge and freedom or if you like insight and freedom. Again the idea here of vija really being an insight into the nature of things and freedom. Yeah. You become free. You didn't really know even beforehand that you were trapped, that you were in prison. And then one day you step out of prison and you understand what actually was going on. Yeah. Kind of very beautiful ideas, insight and freedom. These are some of the most beautiful ideas in I think the entire realm of human understanding or human wisdom or human discernment or human whatever. Yeah. Freedom and uh insight.

[00:09:38]This is what we all want. Insight just means wisdom is another word for wisdom really or insight leads to wisdom.

[00:09:45]Freedom is always beautiful. Everyone wants to be free. No one wants to be in prison. You want to be free from all kinds of oppressive states. What are those oppressive states? Well, suffering is only one of them. And then you have all these defilements and all and anything else that might be oppressive.

[00:10:03]Yeah. Liberation from all oppressive states. That's really what it kind of u boils down to in a sense. Yeah. So wisdom and freedom. Yeah. Isn't that kind of great? It's such a this thing that never kind of ceases ceases to astonish me is how everything really everything that is good comes out of this practice of this path. anything that you ever wanted to have, independence, um, uh, compassion, love, happiness, joy, wisdom, freedom, all of these things arise out of this path. Yeah. If you can think of anything positive, it is there. It is the result of this practice. And so it's kind of extraordinary in that way. And it comes as we see here from samadi. samadi stillness of the mind, the coming together of the mind, that unification of the mind is what leads to all of these positive things.

[00:11:04]So, uh that is this little suta. Yeah.

[00:11:08]How hanging out with the wise. Yeah. So, please hang out with the wise. How hanging out with the wise leads you all the way to awakening here.

[00:11:18]Yeah. So, that's your job. Yeah. Hang out with the wise. And then we have a nice little uh uh simile at the end here who show that shows you in a very nice way how that hanging out with the wise leads all the way to awakening.

[00:11:32]And uh it goes as follows. It's like when the heavens rain heaven heavily on a mountaintop and the water flows downhill to fill the hollows, the crevices and the creeks. As they become full, they fill up the pools. The pools fill up the legs. The legs fill up the streams. The streams fill up the rivers.

[00:11:54]And as the rivers become full, they fill up the ocean. That's the fuel for the ocean. And that's how it is filled up.

[00:12:05]So um the idea here, the ocean of course is nibbana. The ocean is uh extinguishment. The ocean is insight and freedom. That's the ocean. That's where we're trying to go. And how do you fill up that ocean? How does nibbana gets filled up? How do you achieve that nibbana? Well, it is by raining on the mountaintop. Yeah. And all you have to do is to make sure that it continues to rain. If you stop the rain on the mountaintop, then guaranteed it will stop somewhere downhill and it won't reach the ocean. The only way to ensure that that water reaches the ocean is to continue raining on that mountaintop.

[00:12:46]continue and continue and continue. It will take a while. It takes a while for the crevices to fill up. It takes a while for the legs to become full. It takes a while for the even larger legs to fill up. And so, you have to keep the rain going. But as long as you keep the rain going, you know that eventually there must come a time when that water reaches the ocean. That's all you can ever that's all you can know. You can't know when, but you will know that it will happen eventually. In the same way, raining on that mountaintop refers here to the beginning of the sequence. Yeah.

[00:13:21]The sequence begins very beautifully.

[00:13:23]We're just hanging out with the noble ones. And as you hang out with the noble ones, you hear the good Dharma. Not only do you hear the good dharma, but you take after them because you see the conduct the way they are. Yeah. I always I'm amazed at the kind of conduct of the people I consider noble and I'm always kind of astonished by it because it's so different from people in the world. It's as if they are you can feel almost as if they are fading away. They're not really there in the same way as ordinary people. They are kind of very there's nothing by which they would want to say I am here because why would you want to say you are here if there is no sense of self? And so they kind of have this feeling of someone who is not there in quite the same way. This is how you see the noble ones and you kind of learn from that. Yeah. It kind of uh somehow it transmits to you without words. It transmits to you via sort of osmosis.

[00:14:20]You are in the presence and you just feel the feeling of the noble ones and it's very beautiful and gradually you also move in that direction. You become more kind of self- aacing. you become more uh the qualities of the noble ones.

[00:14:36]It kind of gets transmitted in this way even without words.

[00:14:40]And so you hang out with them, you get to hear the dharma. And this whole process just starts. Yeah. And this process is then more or less automatic.

[00:14:49]It happens by itself. One factor filling up the next one gradually stage by stage until you reach that awakening yourself at the end of this thing.

[00:15:00]It's kind of an extraordinary thing.

[00:15:02]Yeah. And uh a lot of the time we just have to get out of the way. We have to allow the process to happen. Not try too hard, not try to involve the ego. The ego just messes things up. Yeah. And then kind of causes problems for us. And then this is how this uh kind of works out ultimately. Yeah. Yeah. It's nice, isn't it? It's kind of beautiful to see this happen in this way. And your job is just to see it happen to observe to be there and see how things kind of develop in this way.

[00:15:35]So avid sutra and uh that is the uh first verse of the maha mangala suta and uh shows you I think very nicely here how the association with the right people uh leads you all the way to awakening.

[00:15:57]Actually there's one thing I haven't said anything about. I haven't said anything about honoring those worthy of honor.

[00:16:04]Yeah. So I kind of what does that mean?

[00:16:08]Honoring those worthy honor. Well, those worthy of honor are ultimately are the noble ones. The areas are the ones worthy of honor. And so honoring them, what does that mean? It means like listening to them. Yeah. It means practicing. The highest way of honoring someone, the Buddha says, is to practice according to the teachings. Yeah. That's kind of the highest way of honoring them. Not just to kind of uh you know offer them flowers and incense or food or whatever. That's all very nice and good but the highest way is actually to practice according to the dharma. Why?

[00:16:40]Well, because the reason they teach you is because they want you to do that.

[00:16:44]They want you to be happy. And if you gain the results of the path, that's kind of how you honor them in the highest kind of way.

[00:16:52]And in the meantime, we kind of bow down to the Buddha. Yeah. This is one of the nice things we do here in the evening when we kind of do the homage to the Buddha Damasana in the evening. I some of you may find it a bit awkward to bow down to a metal statue.

[00:17:09]Is that right? Especially when you come from a western culture, you're not really used to bowing down to anything.

[00:17:15]Yeah. I sometimes you come from an Asian Buddhist culture and you kind of taught this since you were a toddler. You know exactly what you have to do. Yeah. the mother would take the baby and would bow with the baby. Yeah. So, you know that from your kind of two months old, you're used to bowing down. So, it's like you it's kind of part of who you are. But for people in the west, we're not used to doing that. It's kind of initially it's really it's a bit awkward. It's a bit strange. Yeah. Bowing down to something. And uh but it's a very beautiful thing to do. And those people who don't bow down, they are missing out. Yeah. That's the reality because there's something about bowing, about honoring something worthy of honor when what you are really honoring is those qualities that are represented by the Buddha. That's what you're honoring because the Buddha is those qualities.

[00:18:03]That's what the Buddha is. And so when you bow down to the Buddha, when you bow down to Ajam Brah, yeah, it's a beautiful thing. It feels really nice because someone like Ajam Brah also represents those values those qualities and then you feel you can feel that actually those qualities grow in you because you respect and honor those qualities in others. So try to bow even if you come from a culture a western culture not used to it try it get into it. Yeah it's good stuff. Yeah.

[00:18:37]And then gradually as you do that you can feel actually it is part of the path to do that. The sutas are full of this.

[00:18:44]You know the reason why we bow down in the present day is because it was done in the sutas. Yeah. You bow down with your head at the feet of someone else.

[00:18:53]That's kind of how it happens in the in the sutas and we basically just following that culture and if other people want to bow down to you allow them to bow down to you as well. There's nothing wrong with that. Sometimes as a westerner it feels awkward if someone bows down to you because it feel like oh if you you know because it feels kind of strange why is someone bowing down to me like when you first become a monk it's like what what is going on but actually if it's good for you to bow down to others it means it's good for other people to also to bow at any occasion right so it's okay if someone wants to bow down to you good yeah nothing wrong with that anyway honor those worthy of honor the highest way is to actually practice the path. But even the just simple things like bowing down can be very helpful and useful there. So let us move on to verse number two and verse number two.

[00:20:02]So uh the first part here means to live in a suitable place having previously done good kama uh to apply oneself in the right way. This is the greatest good fortune.

[00:20:15]So there is nothing kind of uh earthshattering in this little verse.

[00:20:21]Yeah, it's fairly kind of straightforward to live in a suitable place.

[00:20:27]Yeah, what does that mean? It means living in a place that is safe. Yeah. In a good place where you feel safe, you feel at ease. There's many ways in which this can be understood. But maybe most importantly, it means living in a place where you have access to the dharma. Yeah. If there are some places in the world where it's very hard to have access to the dharma because there aren't any teachers around or the society doesn't accept Buddhism or whatever. Yeah. And so living in a place where the dharma is available is very very useful. Uh but even more than just the dharma being available because dharma means many different things. There is right dharma and there is wrong dhamma. And so you want to live in a place where the aryans are where there's access to those people who are really noble. That is really living in a suitable place. Uh and what that means of course is you have to investigate a little bit. You have to find out where these aryans actually exist. Yeah. Where are these aryans? And then you can kind of that's kind of where you can hang out and live. In those days it was more important. These days when you have the internet it is not matter quite as much but it's still very useful to be in the presence of people sometimes.

[00:21:43]I know that people who you know watch the YouTube channel the BSWA and you know lot of people around the world watch those videos but still people like to come here from around the world.

[00:21:56]Yeah, we can see on the retreat like this is people coming from so many different places and that's really cool.

[00:22:01]I really like that uh kind of working together from around the world and uh still there's something else about being in the presence of somebody it kind of adds a certain value in a little bit intangible but a certain value that's added to that. So uh living in a suitable place yeah living in a house which kind of is a place where you can do some meditation uh a place that is not too noisy that doesn't have too many problems.

[00:22:28]Ultimately living in a suitable place might mean living in a monastery. Yeah, that's a suitable place, right? That's kind of one of the suitable places. I'm not saying you have to live in a monastery. I'm saying it is a suitable place. And uh at the end of the day the uh the best way or maybe the most profound way of describing what it means to live in a suitable place is any place again where you are growing in good qualities and declining in bad qualities that is a suitable place. Yeah. This is kind of one of those universal ways in the sutas. People often ask you know how to make choices? How do I make choices? And often they're very very difficult. But the Buddha has one very principled way of always making choices in the right way, in the good way. And that is any choice that you make should be based on the idea how can I grow in good qualities and decline in bad qualities. And so you make a choice in accordance with that. Yeah. Where should I live? Okay. Wherever I can grow in good qualities, who should be my teacher? Whoever helps me grow in good qualities, which monastery should I ordain in wherever I can grow in good qualities? Yeah. Everything. What kind of robe should I wear? Etc., etc. Yeah.

[00:23:52]What kind of computer should I use?

[00:23:55]Maybe that's the wrong question. Yeah.

[00:23:56]Maybe I shouldn't have a computer. Maybe that's the right question. It's not what kind. It's kind of should I have a computer at all? That's that's the question there. And so all of these things, yeah, kind of it's a very nice and universal way of deciding things.

[00:24:11]So, uh, living in a I don't think there is all that much more to be said about that little verse.

[00:24:17]Um, having previously done good karma.

[00:24:22]Yeah. So, in other words, having done good karma in the past life, that is very helpful.

[00:24:30]So, why does the Buddha say that?

[00:24:33]There's nothing much you can do about that now anyway. Yeah, either done it or you haven't. So, it's kind of too late.

[00:24:39]Or maybe it isn't quite too late. It is not too late because uh in one way you may have to come back again in the next life. Yeah. You don't know if you're going to make an end of things in this life. I hope you do. Would be great if you do. But the chances of doing it are not that high. Yeah. It is kind this takes a lot of commitment and perseverance to become an arrow hunter.

[00:25:02]So uh yeah, good luck. But you know it may not happen. Let's be realistic about things. Yeah, you do your very best, but still it may not happens. And so then at the very least we make as much good karma as we can in this life and that gives us a head start in the future life. The nice thing about making good karma is that it both leads to a good rebirth. It leads to all kind of good things and it also leads to support on the spiritual path.

[00:25:33]Yeah. The Buddha says in a nice little suit, I think in the Angutrafors or something like that, he says that monks or monastics, monks and nuns or whatever, you don't be afraid of puna.

[00:25:47]Puna is merit. Yeah. In other words, good karma, same thing. Don't be afraid of that. Why? Because puna is a term for happiness.

[00:25:58]If you make good karma, you are making happiness for yourself. And that happiness is absolutely foundational to make the meditation work. We've seen this now again and again how that comes into the sequence the dependent liberation sequence. So when you watch the breath or whatever all so many factors that have to do with happiness there pamuja joy pi which is rapture suka which is bliss or happiness. Yeah.

[00:26:25]One h kind of happiness after the other.

[00:26:28]And so if we can kind of kickstart that whole thing by making as much good merit now as we possibly can then in your next life you will automatically be a more happy person because deep down in your mind somewhere will be a memory of all those things you did in the past. Yeah.

[00:26:45]It will carry over from one life to the next one. And that is kind of the beautiful thing about rebirth is that you bring along those habits, those traits, that personality that you have developed in one life, you take it with you into your next life. That's both for good and for bad. And so we use that for our own benefit.

[00:27:06]And so uh yeah, make make sure that you take every opportunity to do what is good in this way.

[00:27:13]And then we have the idea of to apply oneself in the right way.

[00:27:21]Pedi is like to direct yourself.

[00:27:23]Directing yourself in the right way.

[00:27:26]Yeah. S is the same thing as ini the same word right direction oneself. Yeah. It sounds almost like the self but it means oneself. So directing yourself correctly.

[00:27:42]What does that mean? It means basically the same thing as yoniso manasara wise attention because when you have wise attention you are directing yourself in the right way. Yeah. You are heading towards good actions by body speech and mind. And so that is kind of the the point here. Directing yourself in the right way towards goodness towards kindness towards uh generosity and all of these kind of things.

[00:28:08]So that is the verse number two. So there's a little suta which uh kind of relates to this verse and so I'll just read that out very briefly for you and this is from the numerical discourses the chapter of four iss 31.

[00:28:25]So mendicans there are these four situations.

[00:28:30]When these situations come about, any god or human who takes advantage of them will soon acquire great and abundant wealth.

[00:28:42]What for? Living in a suitable re region, relying on true persons, being rightly resolved in oneself and past merit.

[00:28:55]Yeah. So you have the uh basically the three of the factors found in the this verse and adding to that relying on true persons. Yeah. So you can take it that that in that verse then the idea of relying on true persons is probably sort of included in living in a suitable place. Yeah. Because I think these two um that suta is related to that verse. I think the mahamangla suta is like a summary of things found in the sutas.

[00:29:24]And so I think in a sense that that suta from the numerical discourse is probably has priority and then that verse was built up out of you know what is found in the sutas.

[00:29:36]So that's probably what's going on here I would argue. Yeah. So you have relying on true persons. True person sapurisa the arans the noble ones. Again these are the four situations. When these four situations come about, any god or human who takes advantage of them will soon acquire great an abundant wealth.

[00:29:59]So, um it's interesting how sometimes the sutas talk about abundant wealth. Yeah.

[00:30:08]Sometimes that kind of sounds a bit strange maybe because why are we concerned about wealth? We're here to meditate. We're not here to become wealthy. Or maybe you are. I don't know.

[00:30:18]I'm not sure why you are here. I mean, if you come to become wealthy, well, this is the verse for you. So that at least you are also catered for in this retreat. Yeah, that's kind of good. Very handy. But um you know, we can think about the idea of great wealth in many different ways and one of the ways of thinking about it is wealth in the dharma. Yeah. So that's kind of another we can turn it into something more spiritual. However, as I mentioned before, uh the Buddha kind of looks after us in all kind of ways. He looks after us in worldly ways. He looks after us in spiritual ways. So, it also looks after you, you know, looks after your wallet also. So, that's kind of handy.

[00:30:58]This is kind almost what is meant here.

[00:31:01]When a man lives in a suitable region, making friends with noble ones, possessing right resolve, and having merit from the past, gain riches, fame and reputations and happiness come to them.

[00:31:23]So there you are here. So that is verse number two. So let us move on to verse number three here.

[00:31:37]Okay.

[00:31:39]So here we have it goes as follows. To be educated uh and to have a vocation to be well trained in one's chosen field and to speak words that are well spoken.

[00:31:51]This is the greatest good fortune.

[00:31:54]So uh to be educated here it uh basically means it the pi word is bahua bahu sata is is the kind of how it is contracted here but it means bahu suta which is you have heard a lot. Yeah that's how education happened 2 and a half thousand years ago. You had to hear things and you had to memorize things and that's how you became an educated person. And bahu satcha is also something that we want to do on the Buddhist path. Yeah. You want to hear many sutas. You want to learn the word of the Buddha. You want to understand what is going on. And the more you kind of understand of the sutas, the more you have heard, the more you get a nice rounded view of the dharma, what it really means. It is very difficult often to get a rounded view of the dharma because um it is so common in the Buddhist world to focus on specific sutas and make that the mainstay of what you do. And um I asked the monk recently I asked him kind of what are the sutas that you rely on to you know in your practice and this is a very common thing in the world. You ask somebody what other sutas you rely on and very often what they will say they will say the satipatana suta and that is interesting satipatana suta is a nice suta nothing wrong with that the problem is however if you only rely on the satipatana suta for your entire practice you get a biased view of the dharma yeah because you don't really have a good enough overview to know what is going on to know exactly what to do and this is true for a number of reasons. Um, one of the reasons is that the Satipatana Suta comes in many different varieties and it can be quite hard to know what is really the best version of the Satipatana Suta. Yeah, it is a suta that seems to have been added to during history and so actually the what is the core message here? What did the Buddha really say? That is not always so easy to single out with that suta.

[00:34:02]Now that's one reason. Another reason is simply that satipatana is talked about a lot in the sutas in many different kind of contexts and only really by knowing all of those context can you know properly what satipana is about. Yeah.

[00:34:16]So bahu suta bahu sata allows you that broader view of things and this is one of the reasons why I like to look at a fairly large number of sutas. Yeah.

[00:34:28]don't even have to go into incredible depth of each one but just enjoying a large number. So you gain a kind of more rounded view of what is going on.

[00:34:38]Ultimately if you want a really rounded view you have to read the sutas yourself. Yeah. Get into the poly cannon read what the Buddha actually said and really kind of get into that start to see what's going. I know that some of you are really really enjoy that and that's great. Yeah. And after a while you will be able to understand yourself whether someone is really speaking from the sutas or not because you have enough experience to know what is going on and focus on the sutas of the Buddha. Don't go too broadly. There are it's too easy to focus on all kind of other things on commentaries on abidama on Mahayana sutas on late sutas on Buddha biographies on all kind of treatises and philosophical uh discussions and what have you. It is so easy to become very broad in one's study. But uh I would recommend you to stay mostly with the sutas. Sometimes you need these other studies to shed a bit of light on the sutas because the suta may be a little bit too succinct or a little bit too cryptic to really be enable you to know what's going on. So sometimes we need the commentaries but a lot of the time yeah it is not time very well spent to kind of study the abidama for years and years and years just so that you can you know study philosophy or whatever. So knowing what to focus on is really important. Bahu sata having heard a lot doesn't just mean here hearing all kind of random things. It means hearing the core message of the Buddha that he wanted us to hear. That's what it means.

[00:36:19]And so that takes a little bit of analysis. Yeah. It takes a little bit of understanding the different layers of the pi scriptures because the pi scriptures are very varied. Yeah. Some of them are the word of the Buddha and some of them are not. And you have to listen to people who are experts. Yeah.

[00:36:39]To be able to kind of differentiate these things. How do you differentiate?

[00:36:44]How do you know for example that the obidama is not the word of the Buddha?

[00:36:48]How can we know that? Well, there's many many reasons why we can know that. But a very simple reason is that the language is very different. Yeah. It is like you read you know someone who wrote 200 years ago in English and straight away you know it comes from a different time.

[00:37:05]Why? Because the vocabulary is a little bit different. The way they express them the style is a little bit different.

[00:37:12]Yeah. The emphasis is a bit different.

[00:37:16]It's just small little things. Yeah.

[00:37:18]That kind of stand out and make it feel makes it feel different.

[00:37:22]If you read Dickens or whatever who wrote you know what is it 150 years ago or whatever straight away there is a different feel to that compared to a contemporary writer and the same thing is true of pari parley language changes over time and you can see that if you know enough pari you know straight away that that is the case and so it's kind of obvious when you know what is going on and so in this way we can kind of single out those things that are most likely to be the word of the Buddha and those things that you know almost certainly are not the word of the Buddha. So you become bahu sata you have great learning in the word of the Buddha and you are not necessarily all that learned in other things because uh it often just detracts from the core message.

[00:38:12]So anyway, that's my that's kind of how I go about these things and then you have to do whatever you think is appropriate, but that's kind of a good way of thinking about it. So one of the purposes of this retreat is to become a bit more bahua, a bit more educated about the suism.

[00:38:30]And uh then you have the idea to have a vocation. Yeah, this is like sip. Sipa is a trade. Yeah. Trade or a vocation or whatever. In other words, a job, something to do. Yeah, that's in the Mahamangla Suta is kind of geared a little bit towards lay people. That's why it has these things that are a bit unusual. You don't find it so many other places. So, sip you have, it's good to have a vocation. Yeah. So, you can make a good living for yourself to be well trained in one's chosen field. This is vinayo and susik.

[00:39:06]So, vinaya. Yeah. The um usual word for the monastic training, the monastic discipline basically means training.

[00:39:16]That's what it means. And that's the root meaning of that word. So you train your vineyard. You can be trained in many different ways. But uh in the um uh in the uh sutas it means like the uh you know you have the dhamma vineya. The dharma is the doctrine and the vineya is the practical application of that doctrine. And so it is the the training that you go through and susik is similar. Sikita means trained. It's a similar kind of thing in one's chosen field. That is my dodgy translation. I just added that because it sounded yeah useful in that context. So that's what I mean. Don't don't trust translators.

[00:39:58]Yeah. Don't trust me. So because you might get some dodgy things in there, but the idea is because it's about vocation, it seemed like a natural thing and it kind of completed the sentence nicely. I suppose that is kind of what you do when you I wonder now whether that is right. Maybe that was a mistake.

[00:40:16]I'm thinking now. Yeah, maybe this was a bad idea. Gee, anyway, let's leave that for now.

[00:40:23]And then you have to speak words that are well spoken. And that is obviously a very large area of concern because this is about savva and there's a lot about this in the sutras and so I want to look at that in quite a bit of detail. Uh the first parts here don't have to look so much at but the word are well spoken is worthwhile dwelling on for quite a while. So uh let us get started with that. So we have the first suta here from the angutonica 5 the numerical discourse the fifth chapter number 198 and it is called well spoken words and this is what the Buddha has to say here mendicans speech that has five factors is wellspoken not poorly spoken it is blameless and it is not criticized by sensible people what Five, it is speech that is timely, speech that is true, speech that is gentle, speech that is beneficial, and speech that is loving.

[00:41:34]Speech with these five factors is well spoken, not poorly spoken. It is blameless and not criticized by sensible people or wise people.

[00:41:46]So, uh what exactly does this mean? What does timely speech for example what does that mean speaking at the right time and I think this is one of those really kind of important factors yeah that we often don't really uh contemplate properly we don't apply properly because it's very easy to speak when you feel like speaking there's some kind of compelling force inside you that says now I must speak yeah you are driven not by the circumstances outside whether other people need to hear what you have to say or not. But what you are driven by is by an inner compulsion that drives you to actually say things. And that is kind of scary because when you are driven by those inner compulsions, what are those inner compulsions? And usually they are defilements. Yeah. you are, you have some kind of desire, some kind of thing that you want to uh acquire or get or do or something or maybe you just need to speak or whatever it is, but some kind of desire. And when that desire is strong, it is a compelling force inside of you that makes you speak. Yeah. It just kind of happens. Your mouth opens automatically, then the words come out. Yeah. That's what happens sometimes. So uh but be very careful when you feel the compulsion to speak. Yeah. Then watch your mind why what is driving that? And very often you will find out that actually wait when that compulsion is there because that compulsion usually means something dodgy is going on. Yeah.

[00:43:28]Anger is a very very compelling force.

[00:43:31]When you feel upset about something you think I must speak now. Yeah. Now is the time they before they disappear I have to tell them off. They need to know that that is the wrong conduct. Yeah. And if I don't tell them the wise words in my mind they will they will have be in trouble hereafter. Yeah. I'm only coming out of compassion, right? I want to help them. That's kind of the thought. But uh that compassion is kind of distorted compassion. Yeah. The kind of angry compassion. It's not a pure kind of compassion. It is the wrong time to speak usually when you have those defilements of the mind. And so it is not timely. Timely is when the other person is ready. Not when you are compelled. When the other person you can actually do something out of compassion and kindness and the other person can receive something beneficial out of that. That is a timely speech.

[00:44:25]One of the reasons why we speak and this is was something that was pointed out to me by Ajam Brah. Yeah. Often we speak simply because we want to say I am here.

[00:44:36]Yeah. I am here. It's the ego. Yeah. The ego says the ego wants to say that we exist. We are present. Yeah. That is often the driver of speech. We feel compelled to experience our own presence because that feels nice when we can experience our own existence. And this is one of the ways of experiencing your own existence is by speaking and saying here I am look at me I exist. Yeah. This kind of stuff. And uh so a lot of the time if there is a very little ego then there's also very little grounds for speaking. There isn't all that much to say. And again this is another kind of defilement that tends to drive a speech.

[00:45:20]And so, yeah, look at how compulsive it is. If it is very compulsive your speech, then chances are you shouldn't be speaking at all. When you're really at ease and you think, should I speak, should I not speak, is it the right time, that is often the right time to speak because you are judging wisely whether you are should be speaking or not.

[00:45:44]So, speaking at the right time, yeah, speaking truth. Yeah. such a uh obviously very important part of right speech. This is one of the four aspects of right speech on the noble edible path. And the idea here is really to be as truthful as possible. Not just to be, you know, be some kind of legalistic truth, but not to deceive people, but to be as honest as you possibly can. That's kind of the idea here. uh not honesty for honesty's sake or not honesty for you know in in the wrong kind of way obviously like using honesty to hurt people or whatever but truthful in the sense that uh uh you are just straightforward about things gentle speech yeah this is the u what is the pi word whatever I cannot sure now um gentle speech very important um part of uh of the dhhamma it is also one of the four kind of right ways of right speech the opposite of harsh speech and I think I have included the passage on dental speech further down I'm not sure I think yeah I have actually so I will discuss this more further down but it's a very beautiful passage where the Buddha talks about the qualities of gentle speech speech that is beneficial yeah speech that adds value adds value both for yourself and for the other person. Yes. Speech where you are deliberately trying to give something to the other person. Here is my gift of speech to you. I want to make your life better by speaking to you in a kind way.

[00:47:28]Yeah. Beneficial speech. How can I enhance the quality of another person's life through my speech? Yeah, it's kind of a nice way of thinking. How can I say something that will be of benefit for the other person so that they feel more at ease, they feel more relaxed, they feel enriched from a dharma point of view. All of these things and it is not just about philosophical discussions or dharma. It's also about the tone of speech and how we kind of bring these things across and bring brought across in a way where people feel at ease around you. They feel kind of good about things. Yeah. So it is beneficial on many different levels in a way the speech that we that we use. And then the last one is that it should be loving speech. This is a meta meta speech and so it is imbued with a quality of meta. Yeah. So this is the uh wellspoken speech.

[00:48:29]So it is a high standard. Yeah. This is kind of the idea. This is why we when we talk about sila, it is not easy to live with perfect sila or perfect virtue because really it is about these kind of qualities that you have to bring to the speech and to your actions and to everything. So it's a very high bar to clear.

[00:48:49]Yeah. And this is why the practice is is demanding.

[00:48:54]uh one of the things is that as you practice the path then the speech all of the factors kind of tend to come together somehow. So you don't have to kind of remember all of these little details. I mean it's helpful to remember it a little bit and so when you speak you have a bit of sense of direction or whatever but very often these things kind of tend to kind of grow by themselves almost automatically as you pursue the factors of the noble airful path. Yeah. So this is just this just kind of happens. Someone who is an Aryan may never have heard this suta but will still speak in this way because it is a natural expression of an enlightened person. This is how they speak. And so uh yeah person who is welldeveloped will speak in this way.

[00:49:43]Okay maybe uh let's have a look at one more suta.

[00:49:48]So this next suta is from the suta nepata. This is from the third chapter and this is the mahabaga the great chapter and this is this is called well spoken words subassa or something like that. So uh let's see what we have here.

[00:50:09]So I have heard at one time the Buddha was staying near savvati in jetas grove and at aindika's monastery. There the Buddha addressed the mendicans.

[00:50:18]Mendicans, venerable sir, they replied.

[00:50:21]And the Buddha said this, mendicans speech that has four factors is wellspoken, not poorly spoken. It is blameless and not criticized by wise people. What for? It's when a mendic speaks well, not poorly. Their speech is principled, not unprincipled.

[00:50:44]They speak pleasantly, not unpleasantly, and they speak truthfully, not falsely.

[00:50:51]Speech with these four factors is well spoken, not poorly spoken. It is blameless and not criticized by wise people.

[00:51:01]So, uh, okay. So, what is going on here?

[00:51:06]First, it speaks well. Yeah, it doesn't really add all that much. It just means subitta not dubasita and so it just kind of reiterates the idea of something that is spoken well. Uh then the speech is principled and principled speech is dhma vacha. Yeah speech that is in accordance with the dharma is what that means he translated as principled.

[00:51:33]So that can mean a number of things. One thing is that it means that you speak about the dharma. Yeah. You speak things that you know the sutas or the word of the Buddha or something like that. That is one way of thinking about it. Yeah.

[00:51:49]Or it can mean speech that is in accordance with the dharma. In other words, in accordance with the dharma, just basically right speech again. So dhamabasita is a bit ambiguous. It has all of these kind of different meanings to it. And that's why I think he has chosen the word principle here to translate this.

[00:52:09]Uh they speak pleasantly not unpleasantly. I think this is manappa I believe. Uh so this means that you speak in a way that people enjoy listening to you. Yeah. It's nice to hear your voice.

[00:52:26]Yeah. Please carry on speaking.

[00:52:31]And this this is one of those beautiful little sutras. Actually, this is in the Mahapanibana suta, the suta on the Buddha's final passing away. And towards the very end of the suta, the Buddha praises Ananda. Yeah. Ananda is kind of grieving. Oh, I am still a trainee. I'm still not fully enlightened. And the Buddha is about to pass away and is kind of really upset about that. And then the Buddha says to Anand says, "Ananda, come over." And then he praises Ananda. And one of the things he says about Ananda.

[00:53:02]Well, he says first of all that you will become enlightened. Yeah. Soon which is exactly what happens according to the sutas just before the first council the great communal recitation of the sut as he there's a nice story about honable anand becoming enlightened. Yeah. Maybe tell that story later on. It's a nice little story.

[00:53:23]uh and uh uh then he says about venable Ananda that Anandanda he is so beloved by the four assemblies. Yeah. So when the monks listen to and has given a talk when he's about to stop they're all thinking oh may he please go on yeah carry on speaking when the nuns hear a talk of the same when the lay men and the lay women hear a talk of venable ana still the same. May he please carry on.

[00:53:52]Yeah, because he was such a beloved teacher and we can see that in the character of he was a kind of a soft and very gentle person and he would be very obviously very kind kind to people and so uh yeah he's speaking pleasantly in a way that people actually want to listen and then the last one here is truthfully not falsely so that is well spoken speech that is what the Buddha said then the holy one this is the sugato the teacher the sata went on to say here good people say wellspoken words are foremost second speech ought to be principled not unprincipled third speak pleasantly not unpleasantly and fourth speak truthfully not falsely so that is what the Buddha says and then you have Someone another monk entering the scene. Yeah. And what does he have to say? Uh then venerable Vanisa got up from his seat, arranged his robe over one shoulder, raised his joint palms towards the Buddha and said, "I feel inspired to speak, blessed one. I feel inspired to speak." Then speak as you feel inspired, said the Buddha.

[00:55:17]It's kind of interesting, isn't it?

[00:55:18]Imagine just getting up. Yeah. One of you gets up here, I feel inspired to speak. I want to speak. And then you get up and you declare some words, right?

[00:55:26]That would be kind of cool, wouldn't it?

[00:55:28]So maybe towards the end of the retreat, Ananda, will you take on my job? You can be say something. But it's kind of kind of interesting how the interaction between you know it was in those days there was kind of a bit of back and forth like that and they would kind of talk especially if it was maybe more of an informal talk in a way and you notice first of all vendable vanisa he was the foremost person in just making up verses on the spot. Yeah. Just kind of the vers literally just flow out of him. And if you want to read there's a whole sanguta on the ver on the discourses of vanisa which contains many of the verses that he spoke. There's also vang venerable vanisa in the terra gata. Yeah the verses of the elder monks. You also find venerable vanisa and so it is all kind of there. So he was one of these who just on the spot spontaneously verse would just kind of come out of his mouth and that's kind of kind of nice. Yeah, it's a nice faculty to have this ability to speak like that. And then you will notice he puts his robe over one shoulder. Yeah. Same thing as we do now.

[00:56:41]Yeah. Nothing has really changed. Yeah.

[00:56:44]All of these things come from ancient India the way we do now. Raising the joint palms towards the Buddha. Yeah.

[00:56:50]Again, same thing. So, and then you then you are allowed to say I feel inspired.

[00:56:55]If you don't have your robe over one shoulder, you can't say that. Yeah. You have to first of all know the kind of the appropriate courtesy the right way of doing things otherwise you are in trouble. So then Vanisa extol the Buddha in his presence with fitting verses.

[00:57:15]Speak only such words that do not hurt yourself nor harm others. Such speech is truthfully well spoken.

[00:57:27]Speak only pleasing words. Words gladly welcomed. Pleasing words are those that bring nothing bad to others. Truth itself is undying speech. This is an ancient teaching. Good people say that teaching and meaning are grounded in truth. The word spoken by the Buddha for finding the sanctuary extinguishment, for making an end of suffering. This really is the best kind of speech.

[00:58:01]So, um yeah, the first one, the first couple of lines are kind of interesting.

[00:58:07]Uh speak only words that do not hurt yourself nor others. Yeah. So, also don't say things that somehow put yourself down. Yeah. Somehow you are, you know, sometimes we can hurt ourselves with the way we speak. So know that no one should be hurt by this. This is kind of everything that is right on the Buddhist path is right both for yourself and for others. One of the qualities of uh you can decide whether something is spiritual or not. Yeah.

[00:58:38]Then you have the idea of pleasing words. Uh should words always be pleasing and the answer is no. There are times when words should not be pleasing and we may come to this later on. Yes.

[00:58:50]Sometimes you have to be a bit direct to help people. And the Buddha uses the simile of a child that is choking on a piece of meat or something. Sometimes you have to just stick your finger down the throat and pull out the meat. Uh unless the child should die. Yeah. So sometimes you have to hurt a little bit so as to bring long-term benefit. But that is rare. That is not the rule. That is happens only occasionally and then you're on the right track.

[00:59:18]Truth itself is undying speech. Yeah, it is always true that you should be truthful. It is always the case. Uh so it is not like this is not culturally dependent or anything like that. It is true in all cultures.

[00:59:36]And um then last one, yeah, the best kind of speech of all is the word spoken by the Buddha because that is how you find sanctuary. Yeah. Sanctuary, refuge and extinguishment, the making an end of all suffering. That is what the words of the Buddha are for. Yeah.

[00:59:59]So that is uh the uh sutas for this afternoon. So please carry on enjoying yourself, have a good time, have a nice cup of tea or whatever. And we'll see you back again at 7:00 this evening here.