(E11)-01-How-do-you-define-a-Buddhist

The other day, there were two suggestions for the talk tonight. One was on meditation, the other one is how to practice Buddhism for beginners. I have a tape here on meditation, so I won't talk about meditation. This talk was given in Sydney last year, so you can keep this. So I'll talk about how to practice Buddhism today. Firstly, how do you define a Buddhist? How is a Buddhist defined? In the sutras, it is said that a Buddhist is one who takes refuge in the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha. And this taking refuge, just means that you personally acknowledge that you take refuge in the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. It was only later that they developed this ritual, for example, in Mahayana Buddhism, where whenever you take refuge with the Triple Gem, you also take refuge in the teacher, monk teacher. And In Theravada Buddhism, in original Buddhism, a monk is a kalyāṇamitā, a good friend who introduces you to the original teachings of the Buddha. And we don't really take refuge in a monk or any teacher. In the original Buddhism, original teachings of the Buddha, we always only take refuge with three, the Buddha, Dharma, and the Sangha. Later in Mahayana Buddhism and Tibetan Buddhism, they added a fourth, taking refuge with the teacher, the teacher monk. So how does one take refuge in the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha? In the Buddha, it means that we have faith in the enlightenment of the Buddha. That the Buddha is Arahant. Arahant means one who has destroyed the cycle, the wheel of existence. Samma-Buddha, a perfectly self-enlightened one. And that he is a world-knower, teacher of gods and men, unsurpassed, tamer of tamable men. Thus gone one, well gone one, Sugato, etc. So, we believe that the Buddha was enlightened. That is the conviction we have. That's why we take refuge in the Buddha. But how do we know that the Buddha was enlightened? We, for that now we have to rely on the Dhamma. Taking refuge in the Dhamma means having faith that the Dhamma is the true teachings about reality, that the Dhamma is true and that it leads us to enlightenment, to the ending of Dukkha. And taking refuge in the Sangha, there are two types of Sangha. You can see in the Suttas that during the Buddha's time, many people when they took refuge with the Triple Gems, they said that they take refuge in the Buddha, the Bhagavata, and then they take refuge with the Dhamma, and then they mention that they take refuge with the Bhikkhu Sangha. The Sangha means community, so the community of monks. It is often mentioned in the suttas that people take refuge in the Bhikkhu Sangha. And sometimes it is also mentioned that the Sangha refers to the Arya Sangha. Arya Sangha is the Sangha of Aryans, the eight types of Aryans. Now in the Digha Nikaya No. 16, when the Buddha... There is the Mahaparinibbana Sutta. When the Buddha was about to pass into Nibbana, Remember Ananda, I believe, asked him something like, Bhagavata, after you have passed into Nibbana and you are no more with us, whom should we take as the teacher? Because when the Buddha was in the world, they took the Buddha as the teacher. So they wanted to know whether the Buddha was going to appoint a successor. So they asked, who should we take as the teacher? And the Buddha said, take the Dhamma Vinaya as your teacher. Dhamma Vinaya. Dhamma Vinaya is the totality of the Buddha's teachings. Dhamma is the teachings on the truth about existence and Vinaya is the monastic disciplinary code that concerns monks and nuns only. So now that the Buddha is no more with us, we take the Dhamma Vinaya as our teacher. Now, in the Sutta, Anguttara Nikaya 4.180, it is defined that Dhamma refers to the Suttas. It is said there that Dhamma refers to the Suttas. And Vinaya, we all know, is the disciplinary code for monks and nuns. This Sutta is very important that Dhamma refers to the Suttas because nowadays people say Dhamma includes other books also but from here it's very clear Dhamma only refers to the discourses of the Buddha and that also actually refers to the original discourses of the Buddha and we find when we study the Sutta Pitaka we find that there are five collections, Nikayas there. And the first four are not contradictory. The first four are very consistent. So because of that, we can safely say that the first four Nikayas are the original teachings of the Buddha, namely the Digha Nikaya, the Long Discourses, the Majjhima Nikaya, Medium-Length Discourses or Middle-Length Discourses, the Sanghyuta Nikaya, group discourses. They are arranged in groups according to the topic or the subject. And then Anguttara Nikaya is discourses that are grouped according to the numerical content. So these are the four earliest Nikayas. Now taking refuge with the Arya Sangha, it is very difficult to tell who is an Arya. especially for lay persons, it's difficult for a person who is not an Arya to distinguish another person who is an Aryan. Now, in the Anguttanikaya, Sutta No. 5.9.88, the Buddha said that it is possible that even a very senior monk, one who has gone forth for a long, long time. And he might even be world-renowned, well-known monk with a great following of lay and monastic disciples, with a great following of disciples. And he is much learned, very well read in the scriptures. Even such a monk can have wrong view. can have wrong view and the Buddha didn't say why but it is easy to tell why because nowadays there are so many books that if you rely on books which are not the original teachings of the Buddha then you can end up with wrong view to attain right view you should only rely on the original discourses of the Buddha which are consistent which does not contradict does not have contradictory teachings. Now, in the Anguttara Nikaya 4.180 that I mentioned just now, the Buddha said, if any monk says that such and such are the teachings of the Buddha, or for that fact, any teacher, whether he's a monk or a layman, he makes some statement and he says this is the Buddha's teachings. The Buddha said, you don't welcome what he says and you also don't scorn his words. In other words, you neither accept nor reject what he says. But, instead of accepting or rejecting what he says, you compare what he says to be the Buddha's teachings with the Suttas and the Vinaya. If it agrees with the Sutta and the Vinaya, then we accept what he says to be the Buddha's words. But if it contradicts the original suttas and the Vinaya, then the Buddha said, throw it away, reject it straight away. Those are not the words of the Buddha, and it was wrongly taken by that person. So, here, that means whenever anybody says, that such and such is the teachings of the Buddha, we must always check it with the suttas to find whether that is actually the teachings of the Buddha or not. So that is taking refuge with the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha basically also means taking refuge with the original sutras of the Buddha because from there only the original sutras of the Buddha represents the Buddha himself represents the teachings of the Buddha and also from there we can gauge whether a person teaches according to the Aryan teaching of the Buddha whether that person actually has views in line with the teachings of the Buddha, so that if his teachings are not in line with the words of the Buddha, then you know definitely you cannot take refuge in him because he's not an Arya.

(E11)-02-The-greatest-homage-to-the-Buddha

Now in the Digha Nikaya No. 16, when the Buddha was about to pass into Mahaparinibbana, at the last moments, a lot of devas, heavenly beings, devas and devis came to see the Buddha. And some of them wept and all that. And heavenly music was heard, a lot of heavenly music was heard. Flowers, heavenly flowers from the sky rained down, rained down until they were knee-deep, so much. probably big flowers from the sky came down. And then sandalwood, nice smelling, fragrant wood powder also dropped from the sky. And so the Buddha noticed it. And even two trees on his head and at his feet, the two sal trees, they were not due to bear flowers, but suddenly they sprouted flowers. So the Buddha said, look at all these, these devas are showing respect for the Tathagata. But the Buddha said, all this type of respect is very low, low type of respect. The Buddha said, the highest respect you can pay to a Buddha is by carrying out his instructions, carrying out his teachings. That means practicing what he advises to practice, to keep our sila, to be helpful to others, be charitable, if possible, to meditate, to learn the suttas, discourses of the Buddha especially, and all the other advice that are found in the suttas. So, the only way we can carry out his instructions is to be familiar with his instructions in the suttas. That is why I always advise people to get Our Buddhist Bible, Buddhist Bible consists of these four Nikayas. Diga Nikaya, Majjhima, Samyutta and Aguttara Nikaya. And they can be obtained from the Pali Text Society and from wisdom publications. The other way is to listen to tapes by some teacher or some monk who explains the sutras. That means explain the original sutras, you know, not just some general talk because If a monk or any teacher gives a general talk, a lot of it is his own interpretation. But if he reads out the suttas, then he can't go very much wrong because those are the words of the Buddha.

(E11)-03-The-importance-of-Right-View

The other thing I'd like to say, being a Buddhist, if you want to be a good Buddhist, you must get right view. Because right view is the first factor in the Aryan Eightfold Path. And unless you get right view, you have not stepped into the path at all. You have wasted your time as a Buddhist. And the only way to get right view, according to the Majjhima Nikaya, are two conditions. One is listening to the suttas of the Buddha. The other one is having proper attention when you are listening, paying proper attention. So, just by these two conditions, listening to the suttas and paying proper attention, you can get Right View. And when you get Right View, it means you are a Sotapanna, because in the first stage of Ariyahood, because in the suttas, it is said, a person with Right View understands the Four Noble Truths. So, just by listening to the suttas here, it is obvious that a person can become a suttapanna. Also, I mentioned in my earlier talk that there are five instances, five times when a person becomes an ariya. When he listens to the suttas, when he teaches the suttas, when he repeats the suttas, when he reflects on the suttas, and the fifth one is during meditation. Now, a good Buddhist family, in case next time some of you get married and have a family and all that, a good Buddhist family should be like some of the other, for example, a Christian family. I know a very good Christian family. Every day after dinner, the whole family gets together, they read the Bible, and they pray for world peace. And they do good things like this. So, a good Buddhist should do the same. After dinner, father, mother, children, all should get together, read perhaps one or two suttas. And then, if you want to, discuss on it. Do some chanting, maybe Mangala Sutta or any of these popular chants. And maybe meditate for a short while. Because if children are taught to meditate from very young, even though they can't sit long, 5 minutes or 10 minutes, over the years they will make very fast progress. We also have to remember that we should not be careless. A lot of Buddhists, they call themselves Buddhists, but they are very careless. Never practice what the Buddha said, because they don't even know what the Buddha said, because they didn't study the suttas. Now, all of us must remember, in one of the sutras, the Buddha said most beings when they pass away, they will fall into the woeful planes because they don't know the sutras and they don't know what to practice. They practice all the wrong things and they fall into the three woeful states. Very few reborn as human beings go to heavenly realms. Probably out of 10, 7 or 8 might fall into the woeful planes and only 2 or 3 might be reborn as humans or in the deva realm.

(E11)-04-What-is-the-teaching-of-the-Buddha

Now, the teachings of the Buddha are defined as all evils not doing, doing what is wholesome, cleansing one's own mind. These are the teachings of the Buddhas. This is found in the Upada Patimokkha and also in the Dharmapada. All evils not doing, doing what is wholesome, cleansing one's own mind. These are the teachings of the Buddha. Most religions have the first two, not doing evil and doing what is good. It is found in most religions. But the third one, cleansing one's own mind, not many religions have it. You have it in Buddhism, you have it in Hinduism.

(E11)-05-All-evil-not-doing-(SILA)

All evils not doing, basically means keeping the five precepts. Because the basic practice for a lay Buddhist is to keep the five precepts every day, all the time. What are these five precepts? The first one is not to kill. Not to intentionally kill any living being. Even a mosquito or an ant, if you can help it, you try not to kill. And sometimes we have to use our wisdom to avoid killing sometimes. For example, sometimes if a lot of ants come into your house, then you might find it's quite difficult not to kill them. So instead of allowing them to come into the house, we have to see why they come into the house. Usually ants come into our house because they look for food. And if you have crumbs on the floor, and then they are likely to come. If you spill sugar, you spill edible things on the floor, then they will come. So it is good practice every time after a meal to sweep the floor. And if you have more time to mop the floor, then the food must be kept in the pantry, kept in a sort of a Your food kept so well that they can't, for example, enter the bottle or bite your paper and go into your food or something. So we have to use the wisdom. For example, the rubbish bin, try not to keep it inside the house, try to keep it outside. Because the rubbish bin is the place where ants always head for. So things like this, we use our wisdom. Cockroaches also, for example, they'll be around if you have food accessible to them. Now, in the original Buddhism, this precept, not to kill, does not mean you must be a vegetarian. If you want to be a vegetarian because of conscience, that's very good. well and good. But in the original Buddhism, there are two types of meat. One that is allowable, one that is not allowable. The type of meat that is allowable is that which has three conditions. You don't kill, you don't ask somebody to kill, you don't see the killing and you don't hear the animal crying as it is being killed. Otherwise, it is not allowable. The second precept is not to take what is not given. It is slightly higher standard than not to steal. Because sometimes, sometimes you might take somebody's things without permission, and then you say it is not stealing, just borrowing it, but somebody else may get annoyed. The owner may get annoyed. So the higher standard is not to take what is not given. If you want to take something without permission, then you ask first. And the third is not to commit adultery. The fourth is not to lie. The fifth is not to take intoxicants. But you must remember our precepts, not like the Christian commandments. In the commandments, Christian commandments, they are stated, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal. But in our Buddhist precepts, when we recite the five precepts, What you are saying is, I undertake to train myself to abstain from killing living beings. So you undertake only to train yourself, you don't make a vow, you don't guarantee that you don't kill. You just said that you will try to train yourself. So we do what we can. Sometimes some people, they can't keep the precept 100%. For example, businessmen find it very difficult not to lie. And businessmen who entertain customers find it very difficult not to take liquor and they go out with customers. So we just do what we can and slowly we improve. The Buddha also said that lay people should keep the eight precepts once a week because you don't have time to practice the eight precepts every day at least once a week. You should remember because life is so uncertain. We don't know whether we have cancer starting in our body or not nowadays. Every fifth person has cancer. So the chances of getting cancer are extremely high. So Because of that, we don't know how long we are going to live. So at least once a week, we try to practice, strive a bit. And if you keep the eight precepts, the Buddha said the chances of going to heaven are extremely great, very great. As I mean the eight precepts. The eight precepts, the first one is the same, not to kill. The second one, not to take what is not given. The third one is not to engage in sexual intercourse. In the five precepts, it is not to commit adultery. But in the eight precepts, the third one is not to engage in sexual intercourse, to abstain at least once a week. And the fourth one is also not to lie. The fifth one is not to take intoxicants. The sixth one is not to take solid food, normal food. Between noon and the next dawn, we try to puasa once a week. So that is the aim also is to not to allow ourselves to be a glutton, to train ourselves with a minimum amount of food. And then the seventh precept is not to adorn the body, use perfume, cosmetics, etc. And also not to see shows, not to hear music, etc. Then the eighth precept is not to sleep on a luxurious bed, over comfortable bed. So these are the eight precepts.

(E11)-06-Doing-what-is-good-(DANA)

Doing good, doing what is wholesome, the second part of the teachings of the Buddha means being charitable. Helping those who are in need of help. It is good to do social work. A lot of Westerners, they have a very good habit when their children are a bit grown up and they have time, they like to do a lot of social work. For example, in Australia, they have some of these organizations which are voluntary. You join this organization and then whenever there is some help needed, for example, in Australia a lot of old people stay by themselves. Sometimes they can't cook or they can't buy food. They are too old to go out. So they need volunteers to go and buy food regularly for them to stock up their fridge. And sometimes because they can't cook, they're too old to cook, they need people to bring food to their house every day. So when there's a lot of volunteers, all this can be done. And this is something very good, something that perhaps Buddhists in this country could start. If we do start doing something like this, then it's really worthwhile. Now in the Mangala Sutta, there's a lot of advice given on how to do good. Because when Deva, heavenly being came to ask the Buddha, he said that all beings want blessings. How do we get the highest blessings? And the Buddha said, not to associate with fools, the first one. Associate with wise people. Fools are those who do not know the Dhamma, who do not live their lives according to Dhamma, who do not conduct themselves according to Dhamma. and go on the wrong path. And as a result of that, one day they will be reborn into the woeful place. Such people we do not associate with. We associate with wise people. Wise people are not necessarily the richest people, not necessarily the handsomest looking people, not necessarily the most beautiful people. But if they are wise and they live their lives according to the Dharma, then actually they have a lot of spiritual wealth. They might be more wealthy inside than a person who is a millionaire. And then to respect those worthy of respect, that means our elders, our parents, our uncles, aunties, monks, nuns, etc., teachers. Living in a suitable place. Living in a, what is a suitable place? A suitable place It's a place where you can learn the Dhamma, where you can practice the Dhamma, where you can practice meditation, etc. Malaysia is not too bad. Guide oneself through life by Dhamma. That means to live your life according to the Dhamma teachings. That's very good advice. You get a lot of blessings from that. And then much knowledge of the Suttas. Much knowledge of the sutras means either you study the sutras through books or you listen to tapes on sutra teachings. To train oneself in the precepts, you have to make an effort to train yourself. As we train ourselves in the precepts, then year after year we find the degree, quality of our precepts or the degree of our purity becomes higher and higher. Gentle speech. It's another way we can get much blessings. Gentle speech is quite important. We know all people, we have a lot of anger. Most people have a lot of anger inside them. So you just need to press the buttons and they will explode like an atom bomb. So, and that usually happens if you talk very roughly to them, you know. Okay, so gentle speech is necessary. If we want to get our message across, if we talk to somebody, in a rough way most often usually they won't accept whatever we say even though it might be the best advice but if you give that advice in a gentle way then people are more likely to accept it and to listen to you and if you develop this habit of speaking gently then people tend to listen to you all the time because they know that you always speak gently Then another way to get the highest blessings is to avoid evil friends. Because friends influence us very much, you know, especially young people. We are very much influenced by the friends we mix with. Sometimes I've gone to stay in a dark cave in Ipoh, near Ipoh. Sometimes I go to these lonely places like these caves, and I find small boys, 11 years old, three or four of them, smoking away. And then you ask them, then you find, because some of them start to smoke, and then if you, if the small kid, he doesn't do the same thing, then he's said to be a coward or something. so he has to show that he is more manly so he has to follow the crowd so that is why in that way friends influences a lot so either directly or indirectly and evil friends again are those foolish people who don't know the Dharma who don't live their lives according to Dharma more generally speaking are those who like to live their life, as they say, wine, women and song, jolly kaki, jolly friends. And then another way to get the highest blessing is to support one's parents. We owe a lot to our parents because they were those who helped us when we most needed help when we are young. and helpless. Without our parents, many an occasion we would have passed away, we would have died because of some sickness. Some of you might remember when you are sick with high fever, your mother carried you around. When you can't sleep at night, your mother got to doi-doi you to sleep. Then supporting one's wife or husband and children, That means if you have a family, then you have to carry out your family responsibilities. Once you start a family, you must be responsible. If you're not responsible, you shouldn't start a family. And then helping relatives and friends. Relatives and friends are those that are close to us. If we help them, then when we are in need of help, they will also help us. Then practice of humility. Humility is one of those qualities. Long time ago, people like to practice. But nowadays, very few people practice humility. If you practice humility, people think you are a fool nowadays. So it's a very good quality to practice if you have any interest in the spiritual path. Contentment is another one, especially now with the economic recession. gonna have things as good as before, we have to be contented. And if you are contented, it doesn't matter as long as we get two meals a day, we have a roof over our head, we should be happy enough. When we think, especially when we think of people in Africa who are suffering so much, or people in Russia, I'm sure some of you have seen the papers how some places they have to go to the garbage areas to go and scavenge for food. Go through all the rubbish to look for something edible just like rats and crows. Then to have gratitude, to be grateful to our teachers, to be grateful to our parents, our uncles and aunties, our grandparents, and all those who have helped us. Gratitude also is a very important quality. But it's so uncommon in the world. The Buddha says one of the persons who are very rare to find in the world is somebody with gratitude. Then discussion of Dharma. After we have learned the Dhamma, there are many points that we are not clear about. It's good to ask and discuss with friends who know the Dhamma, who have an interest in the Dhamma, or some teachers, monks, etc. Even the Arahants, whenever they meet in the evening, during the Buddha's time, they would also discuss the Dhamma. Then another important quality is forbearance or patience. Sometimes people are not good to us. We have to bear. Sometimes it's hard to bear. Then we have to think, perhaps it's our karma. Perhaps we did the same thing to somebody in the past. That's why we are getting it back now. If we think in terms of, in that way, then it becomes a bit easier to bear, you know, sometimes. Because sometimes we think, It's very unjust why that person behaves like this towards me. So I suppose the only logical way to see it is a working of karma. Another important quality is meekness. Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the kingdom of God or something like that in the Bible. Meekness is like humility, very good quality to practice. Instead of always trying to assert our rights, trying to fight for our rights, sometimes we just practice meekness. Then what we deserve, we will get it. We must always remember karma is very fair. Eventually, karma is very fair. Then, seeing monks, Samana Dasanam. Seeing monks is a blessing, you know. But a lot of Chinese don't think so. When they see a bald-headed monk, for them, very unhappy. They think, sui, bad luck. But in the Indian tradition, when they see a monk, they are very happy. That's why sometimes I am quite happy to see Indian people on the road. They'll greet me. Chinese won't greet a monk. Indian people will greet a monk. Then making effort in the spiritual path. Whatever we have learned in the Dhamma, we make an effort to put it into practice. All these are ways of getting the highest blessings.

(E11)-07-Guidelines-of-what-is-right

Now what is the guideline for good and bad action, good and bad karma? Something lay people should know. Good karma is that which benefits oneself or others. And because it benefits oneself or others, the result of it is that you reap happiness. Bad karma or bad intentional action is that which harms oneself or harms others. And if it harms oneself or harms others, the result is that you will have to suffer for it eventually when the karma ripens. And then another criterion for good karma and bad karma is if it leads to an increase in wholesome states, wholesome states of mind in oneself or in others, or it leads to a decrease in unwholesome states of mind, in oneself or others, then that is good karma. That which leads to wholesome states of mind, peaceful states of mind, happy states of mind, or a decrease in unwholesome states of mind, that means agitated states of mind, unhappy states of mind, painful states of mind, that is good karma. And bad karma is the reverse. Bad karma leads to a decrease in wholesome states of mind in oneself or others. Or an increase in unwholesome states of mind in oneself or others. So those are the two criterion that we need to remember. Now in one of the sutras, the Buddha was giving advice to his son, his only son Rahula. In that time, Rahula was a monk and the Buddha told him, before you do any action, before you do any karma, you should contemplate, this action that I'm going to do, this karma that I'm going to do, is it going to lead to the benefit of myself and others, or is it going to lead to the harm of myself and others? If it leads to the benefit of myself or others, then I should do it. If it leads to the harm of myself or others, then I should not do it. So before doing the karma, you should consider properly. And even during the doing of the karma, if you remember, you should try to remember to contemplate again. This action that I'm doing now, does it lead to the benefit of myself and others, or does it lead to the harm of myself and others? And even after doing that action, one day after, or three days after, or one week after, or even one month after, if we remember, we should try again to remember, to consider whether that action that I have done previously, which I did, did it lead to the benefit of myself and others, or did it lead to the harm of myself and others? If it led to the benefit of myself and others, then I should do it again and again. But if it led to the harm of myself and others, then I should not do it again. So, these are the three times we should consider karma before, during and after doing karma.

(E11)-08-Cleansing-one's-mind

The last part of the Buddha's teachings is cleansing one's own mind and this refers to meditation. Why do you say cleansing one's own mind? Because In the Buddha's teachings, the type of meditation that is praised by the Buddha, according to the Majjhima Nikaya, is that type of meditation where we get rid of the five hindrances, because the five hindrances are obstructions, defilements of the mind, which makes our mind clouded, which makes our mind unable to see things as they really are. But that type of meditation whereby the five hindrances are abandoned is the type of meditation that is praised by the Buddhas because it leads to getting rid of these hindrances, defilements. In meditation, there are always two things that are to be practiced. Samatha and Vipassana. Tranquillization of the mind and contemplation. Another practice is Sati. Sati has often been translated as mindfulness. But actually, the definition of Sati in the sutras is to remember what was said and done a long time ago. So it is a quality of remembering. Sati means to remember. And what is it we have to remember? We have to remember always that this body and this mind is not I, it is not mine, it is not myself. Always, whenever we can, Always remember that this body and mind is not I, is not mine, is not myself. Why? Because if we take this body and mind to be I or mine or myself, then dukkha very quickly follows. As long as there is a self, there is dukkha. But without the self, then we can dissociate ourselves from dukkha.

(E11)-09-Develop-four-importance-Qualities

Now, there are four very important qualities that the Buddha advised everyone to cultivate. The first one is faith, saddha, faith in the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. The second one is sila, moral conduct, to conduct ourselves according to the precepts. The third one is generosity, to practice generosity, not to be selfish, but to be open-handed, to like to give, especially to those in need of help. And the fourth quality is wisdom. Wisdom. Wisdom is obtained firstly from studying the words of the Buddha. You listen to the words of a wise man, you also become wise. You listen and believe the words of a foolish man, you also become foolish. So, in one of the sutras, the Buddha said Our parents have been extremely helpful to us. And because of that, the Buddha said, it's very difficult to repay our parents' kindness. Even if you were to carry your mother on one shoulder and your father on the other shoulder for 100 years, looking after them every day, carrying them on your shoulders and bathing them, feeding them, massaging them, etc. Still, the Buddha said, you would not be able to repay your parents' kindness. But if you teach them to acquire these four qualities, faith in the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, by introducing them to the teachings of the Buddha so that they have faith, and then teaching them to have sila, to have moral conduct, so that if they did not keep the precepts before, you teach them to keep the precepts and to be happy to keep the precepts, especially the five precepts. And the third thing is generosity. If they were not generous before, you teach them to be generous, to be liberal, to be open-handed, to like to help others. That's the third way. The fourth way, if they did not have wisdom, you teach them to have wisdom by either teaching them the discourses of the Buddha, or giving them books on the discourses of the Buddha to read, or giving them tapes, teachings on their suttas for them to listen, so that they acquire wisdom, or teaching them to meditate, so that they acquire wisdom. Then the Buddha said, you would have repaid your parents' kindness. In fact, you have repaid more than your parents' kindness. Why? Because if you teach your parents these four things, to have faith in the Buddha, Dharma, Sangha, to keep the precepts, to be generous, and to have wisdom, at the least, they would not be reborn into the woeful planes. They would either come back as a human being or go to the Deva realm. Or if they make better progress, then they might even become an Arya. For example, if they listen to the suttas enough, or study the sutras enough and have a good understanding of the Buddha's teachings then they might become an Arya. Again in another sutra the Buddha said there were two very loving persons, husband and wife and they were so loving in their old age they came to see the Buddha and they asked the Buddha how they can be reborn again and the Buddha said People can be reborn again if they have these four things in common. Faith, moral conduct, generosity and wisdom. That means they have faith in the, say for example, in the same religion. And then moral conduct, either they keep their precepts equally well or equally badly. And then generosity, either they are equally generous or they are equally selfish. and wisdom, either they are equally wise or equally foolish. Then if you have these four things in common, then the chances are that they will be reborn in the same place. So if those that you love, your parents, your brothers and sisters, if you want them to be reborn in the same happy place with you, then teach them to have these four things. the faith in the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha to keep the precepts like you, to be generous and to have wisdom.

(E11)-10-Develop-unconditional-love

Now, another thing that lay people should remember is to develop metta, to have this universal love, this unconditional love towards all beings. Because the Buddha said, if you practice metta, you have a lot of love and kindness in your heart instead of anger. Then wherever you go, there are a lot of unseen beings, ghosts, devas, and all kinds of spirits. They would not harm you if you have metta in your heart, if you have kindness in you. Because these beings, these spiritual beings, these spirits, they are psychic. Whatever you think, they can read your mind. So what type of person you are, you cannot hide from them. If you are a person with a lot of arrogance, with a lot of anger, with a lot of unwholesome states of mind, Wherever you go, the chances of being disturbed by them are higher. You go on the road, might get into a road accident. You go to some lonely place, you might be disturbed by them. But if you have a lot of kindness in your heart, then wherever you go, these beings would most probably not disturb you.

(E11)-11-Causes-of-one's-downfall

The last thing I'd like to advise, I'd like to give advice on how to practice the Buddha's teachings, is the teachings from the Parabhava Sutta, found in the Suttanipata. This Sutta talks about all the various reasons why a person has a downfall, why that person fails in life. The first one is that person has no love for the Buddha Dharma, the Buddha's teachings. He has no affinity with the Buddha's teachings, does not like to hear the Buddha's teachings, does not want to hear the Buddha's teachings. Such a person, because he does not hear the teachings which tell him about the truth about existence, how to conduct yourself in life, then he conducts his life in the wrong ways. Instead of doing skillful actions, he does unskillful actions. Instead of doing wholesome actions, he does unwholesome actions. He does all the wrong things in life. He goes in the wrong direction in life. So because of that, he will end up in the wrong place, namely the woeful planes of rebirth. So this is probably the most important reason why a person is a failure in life. Because he does not want to listen to the Dhamma. The second reason is that person associates with evil persons. Evil persons I've mentioned are those who do not know the Dhamma, do not lead their lives according to Dhamma. Things which are really unimportant, they take to be so important. For example, having a lot of money, enjoying life in the material sense, and chasing after worldly things which he thinks is very important and very good. But to a wise man, it's not really important. Money is something that everyone needs, or most people need. But it is not an end by itself. It's just a tool you use so that you don't suffer in life. But to have too much money is actually a burden. Then your life is in danger. You go out, also you're afraid you might get kidnapped. Or your house might be burgled. and a lot of other responsibilities, etc. So, a wise person are those persons who can see what are really the important things in life. To lead a meaningful life, a life that will give you happiness within, Foolish people look for happiness outside. They think that the outside things give you happiness. Outside things never give you happiness. It's the internal. Happiness always comes from within. If you, for example, you keep the precepts, that itself gives you a lot of happiness. Why? Because when you think that your precepts are pure, straight away, you get a lot of happiness. Whereas a person who does not keep the precepts, Then he gets remorse at having done some evil deed, or having done some wrong, for example, towards his parents or something, and not being a good son or a good daughter to the parents. And later, after the parents have passed away, a lot of remorse comes. And with this remorse, depression comes. That's why you see some people, they have depression, and then they have mental problems. All of this is karma. We always get what we deserve. This is the life. Life is strange, you know. If we don't discipline ourselves, life will discipline us, as they say. That's the purpose of hell. Why do you think hell is there? to make you suffer for the wrongs you did, to make you change your ways. Why is there a ghost realm? Also to teach you to change your ways, to go the right way. The same with the animal realm. So you see a lot of people in life, they're not disciplined. They're gangsters, they do whatever they like. In the end, they suffer. I've heard about some of those people who go to be hanged, you know. When they are a big gangster, they are very brave, you know. They bully other people, they beat up other people. But when they are on that day, when they are... In fact, even a few days before they're hanging, they are already shivering and they are so scared they can't eat. And on that day of the actual hanging, the jailers had to drag him to the hanging place because he was so scared and he was so weak, he couldn't even move. They had to pull him there. By the time he got there, he was already half dead, with fear. So, that's the way of life. Somehow, the round of rebirth will discipline us if we don't discipline ourselves. Another cause for failure is laziness. People who are lazy, they never succeed. In one of the suttas, the Buddha was asked, What is that one quality which brings us happiness in this life and in future lives? And the Buddha said, Āpamāda is earnestness or sincerity or diligence. So if we are diligent, we are earnest, then we are happy in this life and in the next life. Another cause of failure is not to look after aged parents. Another cause of failure is lying. Another cause is being selfish, not generous. Another cause for failure is arrogance and pride. Another cause is spending extravagantly on liquor, women and gambling. Another cause is committing adultery. Another cause is doing foolish things like being very old and marrying a very young girl or a very young boy. And then another cause for failure is to put an immoral person without precepts to manage your affairs. For example, you are a businessman and you engage a manager who does not have sila, does not have moral conduct. Then he will cheat you of his money. Another cause is being over-ambitious. There are a lot of other advice you will find in the suttas, in the Buddha's discourses. Why? The people during those times are just like the people now. They had a lot of questions. And all those questions that they asked of the Buddha, if the Buddha was around nowadays, people would also ask the same questions. So when you read the sutras, you find a lot of questions answered, which are relevant to you, which are relevant to your life. Before I studied the sutras, I had a lot of questions. After I studied the sutras, all my questions were answered. So I think I'll end here now.