(E01)-01-Buddhist-concept-of-the-Creator

you find that many religions are quite similar in the sense that many religions talk about God that God created the universe and so because of that we should be God fearing and you should worship the God. But Buddhism is a bit more profound. It's not so simple. Buddhism does not actually bring up the concept of God because in a way, God is a concept. But instead of bringing up the concept of God, Buddhism teaches us to walk the path that brings us to meet the Creator, to meet the Creator itself. And just like the Buddha, he had a long struggle. And when he was enlightened, he said he had seen the builder of this house. means the builder of this body. And then he said, having recognized the builder of this house, then he said, there's no building of this house again. Now if you study a book like the Bible, it says that man is made in the image of God. Man is made in the likeness of God. What is this likeness of God? It is not our face, because if you look at all the men and the women in the world, the faces are different. It's not our skin, because in this world you have dark-skinned people, you have light-skinned people, and different shades of darkness and lightness. So there's something inside us which is the Creator, is in the likeness of the Creator. And in Hinduism, they call this the God-nature. That there is this God-nature inside every one of us. In original Buddhism, Theravada Buddhism, it does not talk about this God-nature as such. I mean, it doesn't call it God-nature. It calls it the uncreated, the unconditioned. And it seems to be something that the Buddha says cannot be described, but it can be attained, it can be reached. It is also called the deathless state. Basically, this is the same as the God nature. But in Mahayana Buddhism, later Buddhism, they call it the Four Singh, the Buddha nature. And this basically is the same thing. So, instead of talking about God, instead of talking about the Buddha nature, or fearing God, etc., the Buddha is trying to teach us to see things as they really are. And that's not easy. You have to follow the path created by these holy men who have come face to face with the Creator. Then only you can attain that state, that deathless state. So, in this respect, Buddhism is different from other religions in that at least original Buddhism, it doesn't talk about this God, this God nature. Instead, it teaches us the path, which is called the Aryan Eightfold Path, to reach that Creator. And when we reach that Creator, then we will realize that the whole world is a manifestation of our inner self. It's a manifestation of ourselves, so that all beings are one with us. But that state can only be reached if we go into our inner self, into our mind, deep within us.

(E01)-02-The-mind-is-all-important

Now, this mind can be likened to an ocean. If you look at the ocean, the sea, you find that we are using only the surface of the sea. That is where all the ships travel. And that is where all the waves are, all the storms are. But if you try to go deep into the ocean, it's very difficult. What happens when you try to go deep into the ocean? Just like imagine, you take a ping pong ball, you go into your bathroom, and you collect some water, you push the ping pong ball into the bottom of the pail, and you let it go. What happens? The ping pong ball is immediately pushed to the surface, right? So, That is what happens when we try to go into the ocean. When you try to go into the ocean, the ocean will push us up. It's not easy to go into the ocean. And you have some people like this. What's his name? That French guy, Jacques Austreau or something. He built this submarine that went deep into the ocean. Now, this submarine, he had to build it so strong that it could go deep into the ocean. Because if you take an ordinary, for example, Milo tin, you close up the Milo tin and you push it into the bottom of the ocean, you can go a certain way, a certain distance, but if you keep on pushing it to the bottom of the ocean, what happens? Slowly, that Milo tin will get crushed. Yes or no? So you need something so strong like this, I think you call it a barry's cap or something, that submarine, that could go into the bottom of the ocean. And when you go to the bottom of the ocean, you find it is so peaceful, so calm, and so powerful inside there. So in the same way, our mind is a bit similar to this ocean. We are using the everyday mind which is just the surface, just like the surface of the ocean. And this everyday mind is the thinking mind. And this thinking mind is what we call the normal consciousness. Now this normal consciousness, to understand how it works, the Buddha gave a simile. Buddha gave a simile of a hunter caught, this hunter caught six animals. What are these six animals? He caught an eagle, he caught a monkey, he caught a snake, he caught an alligator or crocodile, he caught a dog, he caught a hyena. These six animals. So he tied Each animal, he tied with a rope. So these six ropes, he tied them together, made it into a knot. And he let go of these six animals. What happens when he lets go of these six animals? They all try to take off in a different direction. The eagle wants to fly up into the air, because that's the natural way it goes. The monkey wants to climb up the tree. The snake wants to find a hole to burrow into. because that's the normal hiding place for a snake. And the alligator or crocodile wants to go into the water because that's the natural home of the alligator. The dog wants to go into town to look for food. The hyena wants to go up the hill because that's his natural home. So these six animals are pulling in six different directions, right? At any time, whichever one is the strongest, he will pull, the others have to follow him, right? And when he's tired, some other animal which is stronger than the rest will pull, and the others have to follow him, right? That is a very good simile or parable of the working of our mind. Our mind, we have six sense organs or six senses. One is seeing, hearing, smelling, taste, touch and thinking. And our attention is pulled by these six sense objects. The eye is pulled by forms, the ear is pulled by sounds, the nose is pulled by smells. The tongue by taste, the body by touch, and the thinking mind, the thinking mind is the mano, is pulled by thoughts. So these six sense objects are pulling in six different directions, and at any one time, whichever one is the strongest, will pull and your attention is pulled there, right? And then the next moment, another one, so your attention is jumping from one object to another. That's exactly how the mind works. For example, now you're sitting here listening to me. Suddenly a car goes by and you hear the sound of the car, your attention goes there. And then you come back and listen to me again. Maybe suddenly a mosquito bites you and your attention goes there. So, and then when you're listening here suddenly, the thought goes back to your home or to your room. You forgot whether you closed the window or not. Tonight it's going to rain. All these things, right? So, that's how the mind works. Your attention is being caught by one object after another. That's the normal working mind.

(E01)-03-How-to-control-the-mind

So the Buddha said, to control the mind, that is not the way. Just as this hunter, to control the six animals, this is not the way of letting them go off in the different directions that they want to. To tame these animals, the Buddha said, the hunter has to rope these six animals and tie the six ropes to a stout pole. To a stout tiang. So when you tie all these six animals to a stout post or pole, then whichever direction the animals try to run or fly, they will go round and round this pole. That's enough. Keep on going round and round until they get very tired. And when they become very tired, they will lie down and rest beside the pole, completely exhausted. Then they become tame. So in the same way, the Buddha said, to tame our mind, it is no use letting our mind flip from one object to another, to another, to another. Because that is the natural way the mind works. And that way makes your mind totally scattered. And when your mind is scattered, you get darkness. That's why when we close our eyes, we see darkness. Yes or not? But for an Arahant, he has got complete control of his mind. When he closes his eyes, all is bright. Why? Because the Buddha said, originally the mind is bright. But because of defilements, meaning the six sense objects distracting our attention, the mind becomes defiled, becomes dark. So, The Buddha said to control the mind, we have to fix our attention on one object. Because the mind doesn't like to do that. And to tame the mind, you have to make it do what it doesn't want to do. So you bring your object, your attention to one object. If it runs away, you bring it back to one object again. Runs away, you bring it back. Continually do it until the mind slowly becomes tamed. and when you're able to put your attention on one object you'll find that a brightness comes forth from within and this brightness is your original brightness of the mind so If we can go back to that state, we are going back to our original nature, what we call the God nature, then we will realize that our nature is infinite, our nature is bright. And then you realize that all beings are part of you.

(E01)-04-The-world-is-conjured-by-the-mind

So that is why, just now I used the simile of the ocean and the mind, and I was saying that most people, we just use the surface of the mind. And because we use the surface of the mind, we only know the world of the six senses. That's the only world we know, the world of the six senses. And we think that's all there is to this world. But this is not the only world. When we go deep inside us, then we know there's another world inside us. And this inner world, when we go into, you find that slowly the outer world slowly disappears. then you might realize that the outer world is the creation of the mind. It is created by consciousness. The Buddha says that the world exists dependent on consciousness. This is something ordinary people find it very hard to realize because all you know is the world of the six senses. You don't know another world within. So when you know only the world of the six senses, you think that the world is very real, it's very solid. I can touch this chair. How can you say it's a dream? It's not a dream, it's a solid chair. So like you see, okay, suppose now I ask you, where is the world? How do you know there's a world? Then you will have to answer. You know there is a world because you see the world, right? You see the things in the world. You hear the sounds in the world. You smell the smells in the world. You taste the taste in the world. And you can touch things in the world. So you say the world is real to you. And if we examine these five senses which make up the outer world, most people, we think that the eye, the two physical eyes see the world, right? But you examine again. That's why Buddhism is very interesting because it tells you not to take things for granted. Examine everything, investigate. Don't see things as they seem to be. We always see things the way they seem to be because firstly, we don't consider properly. Secondly, there are five hindrances covering us which make it difficult to see these things as they really are. So coming back to this seeing, we say we see the world with our eyes. Now, if we consider, suppose you went for an operation, and you remove these two eyes, you put the two eyes on the table for 10 seconds, and you ask the eyes to see the world. Boleh nampak tak? Cannot, isn't it? So it is not the eyes that see the world, because if the eyes can see the world, you take out the two eyes, the eyes should be able to see the world. The eyes only help us to see, just like the spectacles help you to see, right? Now, we can think again when we go to sleep. When we go to sleep and we are dreaming, we see a world which, when we are dreaming, is real as it is now. As real as it is now. That's why when we are dreaming, we become very excited, very scared and all that. Especially if we dream of ghosts and all that. It's only when you wake up then you realize it's a dream. So in the dream, you see things exactly as you see now, without using your eyes. Right? Which shows you don't need the eyes to see. So what is it that makes you see? It's the seeing consciousness. When the seeing consciousness arises, you see. And this seeing consciousness is not that reliable as you think, you know. For example, You consider a person who is lost in the desert. He's hungry and thirsty and he's dying in the desert. He's walking and walking and he's trying to reach land where there is water. He's hoping to come across a place where there is a lake and there are trees where he can take a rest. So because he's The desire to see this oasis in the desert is so strong that the mind conjures up a mirage. As he's walking, he sees a mirage in front of him. And he believes that that is real. And he keeps on walking and walking. When he reaches that place, there is no oasis. It was just a mirage created by the mind, which shows that What you see is not all that reliable. It is conjured by the mind. And what determines what you see depends on your karma. So before I come to that, so the world of the five senses, It's not the way we think it is, you know. It's not as real as we think it is. It's all dependent on the seeing consciousness, the hearing consciousness, smelling consciousness, taste and touch consciousness. And the Buddha said, this consciousness arises dependent on two conditions. For example, the seeing consciousness. Seeing consciousness arises when you have a good eye. That's the first condition. The second condition is something, some form, some object comes before your eye. And then because of these two conditions, the seeing consciousness arises. And when the seeing consciousness arises and you pay attention, then you see. So the same with hearing. When a sound comes, the sound must come first. And then you have a good ear. And because of these two, hearing consciousness arises. And you pay attention, and you hear. But if you don't pay attention, you might not hear enough. For example, you're absorbed reading a book, and your mother is calling you behind, you don't know. Or somebody is walking behind you, so you don't know because you're absorbed in that book. So, the Buddha said, the world exists dependent on consciousness. That's why in Buddhism the mind is all important. We have to know the working of the mind. We have to go deep into the mind to understand ourselves.

(E01)-05-Why-are-we-mind-made

So just now I mentioned about what we see, what we hear, what we smell, what we taste, what we touch, depends on karma. Why do I say this? Because the mind is a little bit like a computer, you know. In a computer, when you turn on the computer, that what comes on the screen of the computer is dependent on what program you put in, right, into the computer. So, in the same way, what comes up in the screen of our mind is dependent on the program we put into our mind. And what is that program? It is called Karma. Karma is intentional action. Whenever we do any action with intention, that means we are exercising our willpower. And when you exercise your willpower, you have to answer for it, whether good or bad. So when a person passes away from this world, immediately the mind conjures up another world. And this other world that is conjured up in his mind will make him see, makes him hear, smell, taste and touch. And if he has put good karma into his mind, he has programmed good karma, he's done a lot of good karma, immediately he passes away. The world that arises is like the heavens. He sees beautiful sights, beautiful sounds, etc. Smell, taste, touch, etc. But if he has put in a lot of bad karma, has done a lot of evil deeds, the moment he passes away, the world that is conjured up is like hell. He can see himself being cut, being stabbed, being beaten, etc., etc. In fact, as you grow older like me, then you will find, you meet people or you hear of people who die. And many of these people who die, before they actually pass away, they start to see another world already. Because their mind is withdrawing from this world. And it's starting to project another world. Like a few months ago, I went to see one old man in Ganga. This man had been a good Buddhist. He had been going to the Wat and all that, doing dana, and doing his chanting, keeping his precepts, and studying the Dhamma, listening to tapes, etc. So, because he had been a good Buddhist, and he was dying of old age. When a person like him is dying of old age, slowly, slowly, the body is breaking up. So he started to have visions. He started to see another world. And then he asked his children about it. His children said, no such thing. At first he thought his children were all bluffing. Because he started to see a young girl running around the room. And he saw a monk or so coming in and out of the room. And then he asked them, who is this? He said, who? Where? Then he described to them. They said, no. Then he got so annoyed. He thought they were all trying to keep some secret from him. I went to see him. I went to see him, then he saw two, how do you say, like two, how do you say, like two pieces of cloth with names written down there, you know, like a donation list. Then he said, this thing fluttering in the air. He asked his son. His son said, no. He said, you bring my tongkat. wanted the son to go and touch the pig. So the son used the tongkat, but he went too far and waved the tongkat here and there, and the father said, no, no, no. So I took the tongkat, and I moved the tongkat slowly over everywhere. Then he realized it's not there, you know. Then suddenly he realized that his time was very short. His eyes became red, and he asked his children to call his grandchildren and other children back. And later, because the mind is weak at that time, then he forgot again. He talked about some other thing, and then later some other vision come up again. Then I asked him what he sees, and then he described to me. He said a big bridge over a river. You can see houses. You can see people on the streets and all that. Then you can see signs also. Then I asked him, can you read? I said, what language is it? He said, English. I said, can you read? He said, no. I said, cannot. So anyway, because he had been a good Buddhist, he had a very peaceful death. Very peaceful. The children are all very happy. So you see, coming back to this, even science agrees a lot with what the Buddha teaches. For example, scientifically, if we analyze the body, if we analyze the body, you find the body is made up of cells, millions and millions of cells. Most of it are live cells, some are dead cells. The dead cells make up your hair, the dead cells make up the outer layer of your skin, make up your nails, etc. Now, these cells, when you analyze it again, is made out of atoms. A lot of atoms, okay? Even the live cells and the dead cells are made out of atoms. And when you analyze the atoms again, you find that the atoms, 99.99999% of it is void. Inside the atoms, you have particles of energy moving through and through, right? And these particles of energy are not even solid things. Right? They are just energy only, right? So basically, we are what? Hollow, you know? Emptiness, you know? 99.999999% of us is hollow. Right? And the rest of it is particles of energy. Now slowly, science is beginning to realize that this hollow is not as hollow as they seem to think. Now they're beginning to realize that this hollow is actually consciousness. Consciousness. That is why every cell in our body is affected by the way we think. If you're happy, every cell in your body It's happy in a way. When you're depressed, every cell in your body is affected. When you're thirsty, then you feel here dry. Maybe your bladder tries to retain the water and you just desire to drink. Maybe your sweat glands maybe start to close up so that you don't lose the water. So now, scientifically, we know that we are no different from the air around us. The air around us also, most of it is hollow, right? And we are the same. Now, how is it we see ourselves as a human body? How is it? Because we are dreaming. It's all a matter of consciousness. That is why one lifetime you see yourself as a human being. Another lifetime you see yourself as a dog. Lifetime you see yourself as something something. That's why Buddhism is very profound. Buddhism and Hinduism. Hinduism is very similar to Buddhism. Very similar. So I think I'll stop here now and you can bring up some questions.

(E01)-06-Time-to-find-out-the-real-purpose-of-life

or become old, that the prospect of aging and death coming, then you become more interested to find out what is life all about. I have found in my experience with myself and other young people, that when a person reaches about 28, 29, then he starts asking questions. Why? because he sees the 30s coming, you know. Suddenly, a man wanted a beautiful wife. He wanted to be a millionaire, became a millionaire, maybe a multimillionaire after that. And then, wanted beautiful children, and after that, grandchildren, and houses, etc. And then, at the end of it all, he starts asking himself, what is this all about? Everything I wanted, I achieved. What is life all about? Where am I going? And then if he's not prepared, he becomes very frightened. So, the Buddha said, there are four kinds of thoroughbred horses, pure breed horses. The first type, when the master comes to him with the In the Sutra, it calls a goat. Goat is the sharp stick, you know, where you poke the horse to make it move faster. So, the first type of pure-breed horse, when the master comes along with that goat, he sees the master and the goat only, he gets excited, you know, all ready to go into action. That's the best type of thoroughbred horse. Then the second type, He sees the master with the goat, he tak peduli lah, couldn't care. Until the master puts the saddle on him and goes up, then only he gets into action. The third one, Even at that stage, still won't move into action until the master pokes him with that goat, pokes his flesh. Then he gets into action. The fourth one, even poking him is not enough. You have to poke right to the bone. Get into action. So the Buddha said in the same way, there are four types of thoroughbred men in the world. The first type, he hears of somebody being seriously sick, very seriously sick, or somebody has just passed away. Then something from the past, from the past life, suddenly clicks, you know. And then he sees impermanence, and he wants to renounce and cultivate the holy life. That's the best type. The second one is like the Buddha. And he himself saw an old man, a very, very old man, a very sick man groaning by the roadside and a dead corpse being carried on a funeral day. When he saw this for himself, then something from the past struck him. Then he realized dukkha. Then he decided to renounce and practice. The third type, is seeing that also not enough until somebody close to you, very close to you, your mother or your father or your brother or your sister or your husband or your wife passes away, then you feel so hurt, then you decide to renounce. And the fourth type, the Buddha said, is even that is not enough. Until he himself is told by the doctor that he's got cancer, he's got six months more to live, or something like that, then he panics. Then only he thinks about cultivating. But most people don't even fall into these four categories. Even when he's told that he's got cancer, he just panics, but he doesn't know that there is a path out of suffering, there is a path out of a round of rebirth. So you find a lot of people when they die, they are confused, they are scared. So the Buddha said, most people, when we pass away, most people will fall into the woeful plains. There are five planes of rebirth. Five types of places we can take rebirth in. The best is the heavenly planes. Okay? The second is the human plane. And after that, there are three woeful planes. Three woeful planes. The worst is hell. The worst is hell. Slightly better than hell is the animal realm. In the animal realm, if you observe, you find animals eating each other alive. That's the animal realm. And slightly better than that is the ghost realm. Ghost realms are beings with insufficient blessings. They are a bit like human beings but because of not enough blessings, food is a problem. Staying in a place is a problem. Wearing clothes is a problem. So they suffer and they go around crying and other beings around also crying. So these are the five planes of rebirth. So the Buddha said most people, when we pass away, we fall into the three woeful planes of rebirth. To my mind, just as a guess, I would say out of 10 people, maybe 7 or 8 will go into the woeful planes. Only 2 or 3 either come back to the human world or go to the heavens. So we have to remember, don't be like a lot of ordinary people. Don't be long before you are 29. On the average, we live up to 70, our normal lifespan for 70. So I like to remind people sometimes in the Dharma talk, you get people 60 years, 50, 40, 30 years. I say you calculate how many years you have left. If you have 30 years, even 30 years, it's not as long as you think. You have 30 new years to celebrate. One goes by, you have 29. Another goes by, you have 28. Buddhism is not meant to be pessimistic. But then, we have to face up to reality. This concept of God is alright. Only thing is, some people are so simple, they imagine God is like another human being, with human qualities. If you think that way, then a lot of problems arise. For example, if you say God is merciful, then why did He create hell? And if God created human beings, why some beings are created blind? Some created like a moron, born like an idiot. Some born into a very good family, very rich, having a good life. Some thrown into a very poor family. Some born in Africa, and they have to suffer so much. So if you think that one being created all this, then you think it's not fair, isn't it? I mean, we can accept the concept of God. Only thing is, God is something that we call the Creator is something that we have to find, we have to meet. Unless you meet the Creator, there's no point talking about the Creator.

(E01)-07-How-to-teach-our-parents-Dhamma

Can they read? They can read. And you can try to get them some books to read. What dialect do they speak? You see a lot of Buddhists in this country are Hokkien and Teochew. So we have tapes in Hokkien. We have tapes in Hokkien. But Cantonese very few. We need more Cantonese monks. We need volunteers. So I think Cantonese a bit susah. But if they... Where do they stay? In KL? KL, they can come to our centre, we have a Dharma talk every Sunday night at 8 o'clock. Sutta, Sutta, investigation. I read the Sutta and explain. But the problem with our family members is that it's very difficult for them to accept a teaching from somebody like you. It's the same even for a monk, you know. For a monk to teach their parents is also difficult because their parents see him still as a small boy or something. Because like in my case, I have given my dharma talks to my mother to listen and it has taken some effect. If it's possible, you can bring your parents to the monastery, where there's some monks to advise them. Where do they stay? What town? Lekha. Lekha have Mahayana monks, but very few Theravada. Lekha, I think you have a Thai temple, but most of the Thai monks don't teach.

(E01)-08-Why-there-are-contradictions-between-Mahayana-and-Theravada

Actually, Theravada monks in this country, Malaysian Chinese, is a new breed. Many of us, like myself, Mahayanis, that's how you see my head, nine dots. So slowly, we are beginning, a lot of us are turning to Theravada because we begin to realize that the real teachings of the Buddha are in Theravada. In Buddhism, you find, if you have investigated as much as I have investigated, you find a lot of contradiction between Mahayana and Theravada. And the reason is because they have different set of books, you know. Completely different set of books. Unlike the Christians. Like the Christians, you have the two main groups are the Catholics and the Protestants. But these two main groups, they use basically the Bible, which is the same. So in that sense, their teachings are basically the same. Whereas with Buddhists, a completely different set of books, you know, of Theravada and Mahayana. And Mahayana books, because it appeared later, it was predicted by the Buddha that the Dhamma would become adulterated after 500 years, after his passing away, it was predicted in the Samyutta Nikaya. So, you find 500 years after the Buddha passed away, the Mahayana started. And because they started later, you find Mahayana books always talking about Da Cheng and Xiao Cheng. Yes or no? Dai Xing, Xiu Xing. But you look into our Theravada books, no mention, no differentiation. Why? Because we were the earliest. The earliest, during the Buddha's time, there was no splitting into these two groups. So because of that, there was no mention. So because the books are different, if you have been schooled in a different school, you have completely different thinking.

(E01)-09-Our-Kamma-influence-our-future-birth

There is only prana in Mahayana Buddhism. Yes. and like Kuan Yin, Kuan Yin is only found in Mahayana Buddhism. Yes, yes, that's because it is Mahayana book, that's why they talk like that. Is it true? From the Mahayana point of view, it's true. Not from the Theravada point of view. You see, I'll tell you why. In the Theravada sutras, one day the Buddha came to a certain place and then the Brahmins came to see him and the Brahmins told him of India. They like to carry water pots. They like to bathe three times in the river to clean their sins. And they have one belief. Their belief is when their relative passes away, quickly they take out the body outside and they all hold the body high. When they hold the body high facing the sky and they shout his name and ask him to go to heaven. They say, go that way, go to heaven. And they believe that because they helped him like that, that he will find his way to heaven, you see. So this Brahmin asked the Buddha, he said, Bhagavan, now you are an enlightened person in the world. I think you can help all the beings in the world go to heaven. You know, they told him, they asked the Buddha. What did the Buddha reply? The Buddha said, I will ask you a question in return, so please try to answer me. The Buddha said, suppose now a man came to a lake, beside a lake, he took a rock, okay? and he threw the rock into the pond or the lake. And then what happens? The rock will sink. That's enough. When the rock sinks, he called his friends all together and shout at the rock, you know, good rock, clever rock, please float up, please float to the shore. So the Buddha said, is it possible for the rock to float up? Then the Brahmin said, no, not possible. The rock is heavy, but surely it will sink. Then the Buddha said, So in the same way, the Buddha said, suppose a man has done a lot of evil, he hasn't done any good. When he passes away, and everybody shouts and asks him to go to heaven, is it possible? And they thought for a while, and they say it's not possible. He has done all evil and hasn't done any good. He'll be like a rock, will sink down. Then the Buddha said, OK, then suppose now another man comes along. He takes a container with some oil in it. Then he throws the container into the pond. And then the container will sink, right? Assuming it's made of clay, it will sink. And what happens? The oil will start to float up. When the oil is floating up, they all come together and shout at the oil, please sink down good oil, please sink to the bottom. Will the oil sink? No, the oil will float up. So the Buddha said in the same way, if a person has done a lot of good karma, when he passes away, everybody comes along and curses him, asking him to go to hell. He won't go to hell, he'll still go to heaven because of karma. Right? So, it's very clear from this sutra that if the Buddha is able to help everybody in the world by making a vow, the Buddha would have made a vow. Isn't it? You see, how many Buddhas have come? Uncountable Buddhas have come. Uncountable Bodhisattvas have come. The hells are still full. The ghost realm still plenty of ghosts. Animal world still plenty of ghosts. And the Buddha said, time has no beginning and time has no end. Samsara will never end. The round of rebirth will never end. So if you want to stay in Samsara, you'll never get out of it. Unless you make the effort. In fact, a lot of things like this, that time has no beginning and time has no end, only now science is beginning to discover. Professor Stephen Hawking. Formally they didn't know. It's because formally people didn't know and people assumed that time had a beginning. And the beginning was the beginning of the universe. That's why the concept of God came about. The simple concept that God made the universe. But if you say that time had no beginning and no end, then The simple concept of God doesn't come into being, does it? And then God becomes something more profound, not a simple person who created the universe.

(E01)-10-The-importance-of-Yonisomanasikara

That's why I say, unless you investigate, you'll find a lot of contradictions. I'll give you another glaring example. Actually, here is a very interesting point. The Buddha said, right view and wrong view. Actually, I'm covering a lot of topics and I have to repeat some of these things later. How do you get right view and how do you get wrong view? Right view comes about by hearing the teachings. and having yoni so manasikara. Yoni so manasikara is thorough consideration. Yoni means the womb, it also means the source of the problem. Manasikara is attention or consideration or contemplation. So, yoni so manasikara means the ability to contemplate a problem up to the source of it. That means you have a very good mind, very analytical mind. The two conditions for right view is listening to the teachings and the second condition is having a very clear mind so that you have thorough consideration of the problem. The ability to see very clearly the problem. And then wrong view, wrong view comes about from listening to wrong teachings and having a-yoniso manasikara, the inability to notice that there's something wrong with it. This is very important, you know. Why it's very important? Recently, some people have been publishing this book, you know, called the Filial Piety Sutra or something, showing the Buddha bowing down to the ground, bowing and homage to a pile of bones. Okay? Now, if you don't have Yoniso Manasikara, you look at this, you accept it. Because that's a Mahayana Sutra. And it says that, according to the start of the Sutra, the Buddha is walking with his disciples, and then in the forest, they came across a pile of bones. Then the Buddha started to prostrate and bow down to the pile of bones. And then according to the sutra, Venerable Ananda asked the Buddha, why are you bowing to this pile of bones? Then the Buddha said, you don't understand. This could have been my previous life, mother or father. That's why I bow to it. So if you don't think carefully, you accept it. But if you think carefully, Then you think, you start to question. If the Buddha can bow down to a pile of bones, okay? Now if this pile of bones was alive, all the more so he should bow down, isn't it? If that being is a previous life mother or father, right? All the more so, okay? Now suppose a dog comes along who is a previous life mother or father. Shouldn't the Buddha bow to the dog? Huh? Right? If he can bow to a pile of bones, all the more he should bow to this dog because this dog is alive. Isn't it? Okay. Now, a lot of disciples of the Buddha were related to him in the past. Okay? That means he must go around bowing to all his disciples. Isn't it? Because they were previous time mother and father. Isn't it? But in our Buddha's teaching, what is taught is that if a person renounces and becomes a monk, and he's a true monk, a true cultivator, keeps the precepts and practices meditation, etc., then his parents should bow to him, even though he's their son. It is fit for the parents to bow to him because he's no more their son, he's now a monk. So you see the contradiction? The Buddha's teaching is that even parents should bow to them, just as the Buddha's parents have bowed to him, isn't it? Irrespective. The Buddha went back home, he doesn't bow to his parents. So this, see this kind of contradiction. That's why nowadays there's a lot of Pollution. Pollution in the Buddhist teachings. So there's a haze, a very strong haze. You can't see.

(E01)-11-Why-many-suttas-stated-that-the-Buddha-preached-in-the-same-place

I noticed that in the sutra, they mentioned that the Buddha used to say that in such and such a time, in such and such a country, there was a this, there was a that. And I noticed that they used the same name on the same town or city all the time. But surely, in such a long span, the same city, the same town wouldn't exist for so long. Even if it does exist, it won't be the same name, same town. It was during the Buddha's time. That means during his lifespan now of 80 years, the towns existed. And the Buddha walked not too far, you know, because by walking how far can you go? So he used to walk along the Ganges Valley, just like we have the Klang Valley. He was walking along the Ganges Valley. And towns like Rajagaha, Savarthi, he spent a lot of time. You see, every time during the rain season, the four months of the rain season, in India there are three seasons. The rainy season, followed by the winter season, followed by the summer season. So these three seasons were four months each. And during the rain season, the monks had to go on a retreat, three months retreat. And then the fourth month is a time for rope offering. So the longest the Buddha would stay at any one place is four months during the rains retreat. After that, he would travel. So it is recorded in our suttas that he spent many years, many vasas, the rains retreats, in Savatthi, Savatthi monastery. That's why you find a lot of the suttas were spoken in Savatthi.

(E01)-12-Are-Jataka-stories-reliable

Okay, there's one more event. The event that happened a few days ago, and if I read correctly, he said that many, many hundred years ago, there was such a king in this same country who has this index, and then he died probably hundreds of thousands of years ago. What is the name of the same king? Oh, you are referring to the Jataka Tales, right? That's why now our teachings are so mixed up. You must take only the earliest four Nikayas, our Theravada Nikayas, as the original source. Because this original, the four Nikayas, there's no contradiction. If you take other books, even Abhidhamma, there is contradiction with these four Nikayas. You investigate enough. So, these four original Nikayas, when you read books like the Jataka Tales, they talk about long time ago, such and such a king. That is not in the original sutra. Those Jataka Tales are actually tales made up with a moral behind them. Actually, just in passing, you know our Sankancil stories also come from the Jataka.