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Brothers and sisters in the Dharma, we are very happy to have Sayadaw U Jotika here tonight to give us his teachings on the Mangala Sutta. And, um, we'll start off with the Puja: Namo Tassa, Three Refuges, and the Five Precepts. The talk will end at 9:00 p.m.
sharp. All right? Thank you.
And please repeat:
Namo
Tassa Bhagavato Arahanto Samma Sambuddhassa. Namo Tassa Bhagavato Arahanto Samma Sambuddhassa.
Namo Tassa Bhagavato Arahanto Samma Sambuddhassa.
Okay. Now let's take the Triple Refuge. Please repeat:
Buddham saranam gacchami.
Buddham saranam gacchami. Dhammam saranam gacchami. Dhammam saranam gacchami. Sangham saranam gacchami. Sangham saranam gacchami. Dhuthiampi Buddham saranam gacchami.
Dhuthiampi Buddham saranam gacchami. Dhuthiampi Dhammam saranam gacchami. Dhuthiampi Dhammam saranam gacchami. Dhuthiampi Sangham saranam gacchami. Dhuthiampi Sangham saranam gacchami.
Tadhiampi Buddham saranam gacchami. Tadhiampi Buddham saranam gacchami. Tadhiampi Dhammam saranam gacchami. Tadhiampi Dhammam saranam gacchami. Tadhiampi Sangham saranam gacchami.
Tadhiampi Sangham saranam gacchami. Titharana gamanam paripounam. Paripounam.
Now, Precepts in Pali. Please repeat: Paṇḍadipāṭha.
Paṇḍadipāṭha. Viramanisikha-bhadam. Viramanisikha-bhadam. Samādhiyāmi. Samādhiyāmi. Ādhiṇṇa-dhaṇa. Ādhiṇṇa-dhaṇa. Viramanisikha-bhadam. Viramanisikha-bhadam. Samādhiyāmi. Samādhiyāmi.
Kāmeśu miccācāra. Kāmeśu miccācāra. Viramanisikha-bhadam. Viramanisikha-bhadam. Samādhiyāmi. Samādhiyāmi. Mussā-vaḍhā. Mussā-vaḍhā. Viramanisikha-bhadam. Viramanisikha-bhadam. Samādhiyāmi.
Samādhiyāmi.
Asura-meṛaya. Asura-meṛaya. Madja. Madja. Pamāda-dhaṇa. Pamāda-dhaṇa. Viramanisikha-bhadam. Viramanisikha-bhadam. Samādhiyāmi. Samādhiyāmi. Tisaraṇe-na sa-pañca-sīlam sa-sa-dhu-kam kaṭhava abhimāde-na sampādeṭha.
Abhimāde-na sampādeṭha.
All of you know that today I'm going to talk about Mangala Sutta, and I believe that most of you have read or heard about Mangala Sutta. Is that right? Right. It is a very famous sutta, and also a very important sutta in the teaching of the Buddha.
In our country, in Myanmar, when a child is sent to a monastery to study because in our country,
before the British rule, only the monastery is the place where a person goes to study. So when a child is sent to a monastery to study, first the child learns to read, read the letters, read the alphabet, and learn how to spell and pronounce. And after a child has learned to read, the first thing that the child learns is Mangala Sutta.
So that shows that Mangala Sutta is a very important sutta in the teaching of the Buddha. And this sutta is a very big sutta.
Um, I'm not sure whether I can finish the whole sutta today, but anyway, I will try to give you a glimpse of
what this sutta really means.
When I was young, when I was interested in reading Dharma books,
at that time
I was about 12, 13 years old. So I read some Dharma books and articles in magazines, Dharma magazines, about Dharma, and I came across this sutta.
I got very interested in this sutta since then, and I'm still very interested in this sutta. I still read that sutta because I've memorized it also. Sometimes I memorize the sutta and think about some points in the sutta again and again, and found out that this is one of the most important teachings of the Buddha.
For example, let me tell you one instance in my life. As most of you know, my parents were not Buddhists. I'm not a born Buddhist.
I became a Buddhist when I was 25, but I started reading Dharma since I was 12, so I took quite a long, long time. So, um, whatever I do, I take time. I'm not in a hurry to make any decision, especially such an important decision as to choose a religion which
I will practice and live. So this is a very serious decision for me. Therefore, I took quite a long time, 12 years, 13 years, studying and practicing without
saying that I was a Buddhist. So when I first read these suttas, to tell you, my parents got very upset
because they thought that
I was becoming a Buddhist, and they did not like that. Then I told them, "Read this first and see if you can find anything bad or wrong in this sutta."
So they won't read the book. Then I read the book for them. I said, "Just listen. Let me read it." So what is the first point in the Mangala Sutta? Can anybody help?
The first Mangala.
Please, louder, please.
Of course, most of you know that. In Pali it is Asevanācābhālanam. In Burmese we pronounce it in a slightly different way. We pronounce Ādhevanācābhālanam. And the meaning is
not to associate with fools. So I asked my parents, "This sutta teaches that we should not associate with fools. Is that good or bad?"
What do you think they will say?
They did not say anything.
Because they know that it is good. It is true, it is right, it is important, it is beneficial.
So another point I read for them is, "Buddha said, Mātha pi tu upaṭhānam." What does that mean?
To look after your parents. So I asked them again, "Is this good or not?"
You know what they say? They did not say anything.
They did not want to say it is good. People are so biased. I'm not blaming them. It's common. Most people are biased. So I said, "Look, this teaching gives this advice: look after your parents. If you think this is not good, I'll reverse that. I'll do it the other way.
Do you like that?" And they did not say anything.
They were so upset that I was reading Dharma books.
So it was very difficult for me, um, to be with my parents who are not open-minded. I was quite open-minded since I was young. I don't know how I became open-minded. Maybe I was exposed to so many different religions and so many different philosophies that, um, I told myself that, "Don't commit to anything.
Wait and learn. And make sure that what you believe is really true and good." So to make sure, you need a lot of time. So as I told you the other day,
when I have to fill up the forms and when I have to fill the blank for your religion, I always fill up, "Not yet. No religion yet."
This is very important. You cannot inherit a religion. You have to learn and understand and practice it. So maybe I was very serious, maybe too serious, but I think this is a very serious matter.
You can't just say that, "I believe in such and such a religion," and not practice it. It means nothing if you say, "I believe something," and not practice it.
So I studied the Mangala Sutta very in detail.
So first I asked the question, "What does Mangala mean? What does the word Mangala mean?" In Burmese language, we use the word Mangala as if it's a Burmese word. We don't translate that. So when you don't translate that, you feel that you know the meaning, but you don't really don't know.
So what does Mangala mean? When I ask people how they understand the word Mangala, they say, "Anything that is good," which is true, which is true. But when I look in the Pali text to find out the exact meaning of what Mangala means, I found that.
And when I found that meaning, it made me
feel more seriously about this sutta because the meaning that I found in Pali language is edi kāranam, vodhi kāranam, sabha sampāti kāranam. So edi, the Pali word edi means to be successful. Kāranam means cause. The cause is that leads to a successful life, to become a successful person.
So these are the causes that will make you become successful. And vodhi kāranam means vodhi means to grow. Kāranam means the causes. The cause is to grow.
The cause is that can make a person grow. And sampāti means to be fulfilled, to have everything you want. You like that meaning? To have everything you want. So
this Mangala Sutta gives you all the points, all the important causes that can make you feel fulfilled,
that can make you feel that you have everything. So when I think about these points, that made me think more seriously and practice more seriously this sutta. So Buddha taught this sutta not to memorize, not just to memorize, and not just to recite.
Buddha taught this sutta to understand and to practice.
So this is a very important point to remember because,
um, most people memorize this sutta and maybe they also read the meanings, the translation of the sutta, but they don't give serious thought about it. They don't really seriously study this sutta. And also, most people memorize it and in their daily life, they don't remember that.
They don't remember to put that into practice.
So there are 38 factors or 38 points in this Mangala Sutta. And the first point is
not to associate with fools. Why did Buddha put this point in the first place?
Anybody can guess? Because in this sutta, to attain nibbāna is also one factor that makes your life fulfilled, to make your life really complete and fulfilled.
You have to attain nibbāna also. Because without attaining that, we cannot say that we have really fulfilled our life. But Buddha did not mention about nibbāna in the first place.
Instead, Buddha gave the advice first not to associate with fools. Why?
Please, if you have any idea.
What will happen if you associate with fools?
You will never be able to fulfill the other factors, the other points.
Right? Yes. So this is very important, not to associate with fools is the most important thing that we need to practice first in our life.
Not to associate with fools. Who are fools?
Why is a person become a fool? What makes a person become a fool? And what does a fool do?
A person is a fool or foolish if he is doing something evil, unwholesome. In Pali, aku salah.
Or more seriously, duccarita.
So a fool is a person who kills, who steals, who commits adultery, who tells lies, who takes intoxicants.
And not only that, a fool also encourages another person to do the same. Therefore, when I look for the meaning of the word bāla, I found that
a person who destroys both benefits. So both benefits means his own benefit and
the benefit of another person, his own well-being and also the well-being of another person. He destroys both parties because he does evil and he encourages others to do the same. And worse than that, if you associate with fools and when he tells you to do what he is doing, which is something evil, and if you refuse to do, what will happen?
He will get angry. He will hate you.
So it is very dangerous to associate with fools. And sometimes a fool pretends like he is a friend.
For example, sometimes you may have heard that somebody wants to take a drink and he will say, "Come, let's take a drink." And you said, "No, I don't want to drink." Then he will say, "If you love me, drink."
So sometimes a fool pretends like a friend. How many times have you heard that? Many times. Many, many times.
So a fool encourages another person to do evil. And a fool destroys the well-being, the benefits in this life and also the well-being and benefits in future life also. Both. This life and future life. Destroys both.
So therefore, it is very dangerous to associate with fools. And when I was discussing about this sutta in America, because I lived there a long time in a meditation center and people spent months there, so we had a lot of time to discuss Dhamma. So I was discussing this point with the people who live in the monastery and I told them that it is very important not to associate with fools because if you do that, you will never be able to fulfill the rest of the Mangalas.
And many people in the discussion group
laughed. So I said, "Why are you laughing? I'm talking about something very serious. I'm not talking jokes. So why are you laughing?" And some people in the group say, "We are laughing because if we don't have to associate with fools, then we don't have anybody to associate with."
Is that true or not? Yes. I said, "Yes, you are right. You are very courageous and honest to admit that. All of us are more or less
fools." That's right. Thank you very much.
So this is very important. First, to admit, I myself sometimes do something very foolish and later I feel ashamed and I feel guilty and I regret that. Many, many times in my life, I've did many things so foolish. And later I thought, "How could I have done that?
I shouldn't do that." And I feel very much ashamed. So all of us are more or less fools. This is true. What makes us foolish?
Just guess.
Please. Ignorance. Right. Greed, ignorance, yes. And many others: anger, pride, envy, jealousy.
So when a person becomes too greedy, too lustful, he loses his mind. He cannot think whether what he is going to do is proper or improper. He doesn't care. Because greed has overwhelmed his mind and he is like, uh, possessed. You know the word possessed mean? Some people are possessed by evil spirits.
Heard about that? Yes. So greed possesses your mind, takes over your mind, so and impels and compels you to do something improper, to do something unwholesome. So I myself did a lot of unwholesome deeds when I was young because of greed.
And also anger. When you become very angry, you lose your mind. You can't reason anymore. Therefore, Buddha said, "Lobho attam na jānati." Lobho is greed. Dana also greed. So there are many synonyms for the same word, greed.
So when you become greedy and lustful, you don't know what is proper or not proper, what is beneficial or not beneficial. Lobho dhamma na patati. When this lobha, greed, does not know whether something is proper or not proper.
And the same, Buddha said, "Dosho
attam na jānati." Anger does not know whether something is beneficial or not. Dosho dhamma na pasati. Anger does not see
whether something is proper or not. So when we are possessed by greed or anger or anything like pride, envy, jealousy, we become blind. We don't see anymore. We lose our reasoning. We lose our
sense of propriety.
So therefore,
in reality, it's greed or anger or pride or envy or jealousy and the whole company
makes us foolish.
So Buddha said, "Don't associate with fools." Since I learned that, I tried my best to dissociate with fools, but it is not so easy. Like some of my friends said, "If we don't have to associate with fools, we won't have anybody to associate with."
So what do you do when you come across with when you see a person, when you relate to a person who is foolish? What do you do?
So some of the elders, some of the people advise us that
when you cannot avoid fools,
don't take his advice. In Burmese, we have a very beautiful saying, "Ko pao sei khoa." You are physically associated with fools, but mentally you don't associate with fools. So this is also very important to remember. We meet with many people every day. Not everybody is wise.
We are not also always wise. Sometimes we are wise, sometimes we are foolish. So when we associate with fool, if we are also foolish, we will do whatever that other person tells us to do. But if we are mindful, if we are careful, if a fool encourages us or forces us to do something evil, with our mindfulness, with our wisdom, we can refuse to do that.
So it is more important for us to be responsible for ourselves. Even though we associate with some people who are foolish, if we are strong in mind, we can resist
that foolish person's encouragement or advice or force to do evil.
And it is more important to see that in our mind, when there is greed arising in our mind, we have we should see that greed with awareness and notice that this is greed. This is greed. If we don't notice greed as greed, we will think that I want.
In fact, it's not I who wants that. It's greed wanting something. Greedy mind wanting mine.
So in some ways, we have a fool inside. So if we say that I don't want to associate with fools outside, but we associate fools with the fools inside, what we said will not make sense anymore. So it is more important to be more careful of the foolish mental state arising in our mind.
More important. If we are overwhelmed by greed or anger or pride or any other negative mental states, we will not be able to resist another person's foolish advice.
Therefore, it is more important not to associate with the foolish mental state. And in Sati Pattana Sutta, which most of you are familiar, Buddha said, "Sa ragam wa chittam, sa ragam chittanti pajanati." Raga, the same.
Raga means also desire, greed, lust. So when there is
lust arising with mind, one knows that one means a person who is meditating. So a person who is meditating, a person who practices Sati Pattana knows that there is greed arising in the mind.
So there is greed arising, not me or mine. Greed does not
greed is not I. Greed is not me. Greed is greed. So when we can see that greed is greed, not I, not mine, it is easier for us to be dissociated. Because when you think or when you feel that I want, I and wanting becomes together, one. So when you put the two together, you associate the two.
I and greed are together and one. So it is more difficult to
control or even to overcome, harder to overcome,
any kind of desire when you think that it is you who wants something. But when you can dissociate or step back and watch this greedy mental state and see that very clearly, there is greed. This is greed.
Greed is arising, then you have already dissociated yourself because you are watching greed. Watching means greed becomes the object of your mind. So you become more objective. So when you are objective, you have already dissociated with that mental state. So that's what we should learn to practice and do in our daily life.
Because when we are greedy, we will make a very wrong decision. And many times, still today, I make wrong decisions sometimes and I regret it for my mistake and look at my own mental state or my attitude very carefully.
And many times I find out that when I'm greedy, I make the wrong decision.
So whenever greed arises in the mind, we must be very careful to watch that greed. We may not be able to overcome greed totally, but when we are aware of that, we don't let greed run our life.
So don't ever let greed run your life.
When you have any kind of desire, you can watch the desire. Desires are many, many, many things. You desire for many things. So when something what that you want is not evil, you can do what you can to get what you want in proper way. So for example, when you want money, you don't go and steal a rock.
What do you do?
You work for it. It's still desire. It's still greed. We want money. We want a lot of money. How much money do you want? Limitless. You laugh, so I know. Limitless.
We don't have any limit to how much we want. But if you have to work for it, then you know that you must have a limit because you only have so much time and energy. So whether you have your own business or whether you work for another person or for a company, there's a limit to how much money you can make.
So you have to be content with that amount. So when you have greed and you know that there is greed and you want something, money or anything, when you are mindful, you can put a limit. But when you are not mindful, you cannot put a limit. No matter how much you get, you still want more and more.
And when the greed becomes too strong, you will do anything to get what you want, which means you will do something improper. You may steal or cheat or rob. In many ways, there are many ways we can cheat and rob.
So the important point is not to totally to overcome greed in the beginning. In the beginning, the important point is to be aware of this mental state, greedy mental state. So greed is a mental state. Anger also is a mental state, not a person, not a thing. It doesn't last forever.
So when we can watch these mental states, we already dissociate ourselves from this mental state. We don't let this greedy mental state, foolish mental state, take over our mind, take over our body, take over our life.
So when I practice this Mahasati Pattana Sutta, I understand
this Mangala Sutta more deeply. When you put the two together, then you really know what to do. Because to dissociate with the fool outside, a foolish person, is easier. But to dissociate with your own mental state, with your own foolish mental state, is much difficult, much more difficult.
And it is more important not to associate with foolish mental states, not to let foolish mental states run our life, run our life, and do evil deeds.
And the same way with all other negative mental states.
So if we can learn not to associate with
foolish mental states, we don't need to be afraid of fools outside.
If we are not foolish, we don't need to be afraid of fools. But if we are foolish, then we have good reason to be afraid of fools outside.
So try to understand deeper meaning of this advice, this instruction by the Buddha. Don't associate with fools.
So if we don't associate with fools, that will lead us to give a good life, to do proper things, to do proper deeds, to work properly, to have a good livelihood, right livelihood, to say what is proper and not to say what is improper. And not only that, when you practice meditation, you also watch your thoughts.
And when you are thinking something improper, you can overcome that improper thoughts even. So only those people who practice mindfulness, who practice Sati Pattana, can really understand the deeper meaning of this advice, not to associate with fool.
Because as long as we are associating with our own foolish mental states
and we say that I don't want to associate with fools, it doesn't make sense.
If we ourselves are foolish and we say that I'm a fool, but I'm not going to associate with any fool, how does that sound?
Sounds very funny. So it is more important for us not to be a fool. So not to be a fool means not to associate with foolish mental states. So not in order not to associate with foolish mental states, we must be very careful. We must be mindful. We must be aware. Whenever a foolish mental state arises in our mind, we must pay attention and watch.
Here is a foolish mental state. Here is greed. This is greed.
So when we practice mindfulness, as we develop more and more mindfulness, we become more and more clear. So as our mindfulness develops, our concentration also develops. When we have strong mindfulness and strong concentration, we can see everything arising in our body and mind very clearly, very precisely.
And when sati and samadhi, mindfulness and concentration becomes very strong,
at least temporarily, we will experience mental states where there is no greed, no anger, no pride, no envy, no jealousy,
no drowsiness, no ignorance. So
if you have been meditating for a long time, you must have come across to this kind of clear, pure, peaceful mental state.
Free from greed, free from anger, free from envy, jealousy, pride, free from doubt, free from drowsiness, free from dull mental states. So when the mind is totally free from all these negative qualities, it is full of energy, full of purity. There's mindfulness, concentration, wisdom, peace, clarity, and all other good qualities there.
So you can see that this mental state is so peaceful. So in my meditation practice also, when I first experienced that, I felt very delighted. And also, I got very attached to that mental state because you feel so peaceful and calm, so relaxed. Any kind of greed or any kind of anger makes your mind very tense.
It is very stressful.
Greed makes you feel very stressful. When you want something very badly, you can't even sleep. You can't think of anything else.
Greed takes over the whole mind and you keep thinking of what you want, what you want. This is what I want. This is what I want. And also, when you are angry, when you hate somebody, when you are very upset that somebody did something wrong to you or to your family, that mental state, when it is so strong, takes your mind over.
So you keep thinking about that person whom you hate and you will be thinking, well, I'll do this to him. I'll do that to him. I'll let him know. I'll teach him. I'll give him a piece of my mind. So when you are angry, you keep thinking, thinking like that. It's very tiring. It is very stressful. So these negative mental states are most stressful.
But when your mind is totally free from greed, anger, envy, jealousy, pride, all those negative qualities, you feel very calm, very peaceful, very relaxed.
Therefore, greed never gives you a rest. You must understand that
anger never gives you a rest. It drives, drives, drives. Go for it. Go for it. Greed tells you, go for it. Go for it. And anger tells you, go and hit, go and kill, go and destroy. So we are driven. Most of us are driven by greed or anger or pride. You must be better than another person.
Be that person. Take over that person. So we are, most of us are driven. You know what the word driven means?
The meaning becomes very clear when you think of a horse-drawn car or a bullock-drawn car. So the driver beat the horse.
Beating and driving. Go, go. Run faster. So greed
tells us to do that the same. Go, run faster. Anger tells us to do the same. So we are driven by greed, by anger, by pride, by envy, by jealousy. All these negative mental states are driving us. So mostly we are very tired because we are driven.
And only when we meditate and our mind becomes free from greed, anger, pride, envy, jealousy, and so on, we feel restful. Oh, now I have a rest. Now the mind is at rest. Not driven anymore. So in that mental state, the mind becomes so clear that it can see things very clearly, very wise also.
So when I read the second advice of the Buddha in Mangala Sutta, what is the second point?
To associate with the wise.
Paññīda nanca sevanā. To associate with the wise. So when I read that point, first I understand the direct meaning of the advice, of the instruction. Not to associate with wise people. This is very important. To associate with those who are wise is very important because we can learn good things from the wise persons.
And a wise person
does not do anything evil and he does not encourage anybody to do anything evil.
A wise person does what is good, what is proper, what is beneficial, and he also encourages others to do the same. So I have associated with
many people who are much wiser than me. My teachers, they are much wiser than me. They are wise. So they have learned the Dhamma. They have been practicing the Dhamma for many, many years. So they have trained themselves. They have tamed themselves. They have overcome most of the defilements.
So being
with somebody who is calm and peaceful and wise makes you feel also calm and peaceful and wise. Because a wise person always encourages you to do what is good, what is proper.
So I've met with many good teachers and learned from them many wise lessons, instructions. And because of the encouragement and instructions, I've practiced them too. But it is not always easy to associate with a wise person. Most of my teachers have passed away.
They have lived quite a long life. My preceptor lived for 90 years and helped to live as long, if possible, more than that.
And I have other teachers still living and most of them are in their late 80s. Very calm, very peaceful, very wise. So even this evening, I was talking about my teacher with another monk. Very calm person, my teacher. Very peaceful, very wise, very innocent.
No pride.
But I cannot be with my teacher all the time. Mostly I'm on my own. I'm living alone. But to have associated with wise teachers
benefited me quite a lot because I've learned from them. But when I practice meditation and when my mental state becomes totally free from greed or envy or jealousy or pride or any other negative qualities, negative
mental factors, I see that this pure, calm, peaceful mental state is a wise mental state. And that encourages me to develop this wise mental state and to maintain this wise mental state as much as possible, as long as possible.
Therefore, I understand the meaning of the second advice of the Buddha to associate with the wise in a different way. To cultivate wise mental state and to associate with that mental state.
I noticed that when my mind is totally free from greed or envy or jealousy or any other negative mental qualities, I do not make a wrong decision.
So even now, whenever I want to make an important decision, I will try my best to calm down my mind, to meditate, to be mindful. So when the mind becomes very calm and peaceful and free from greed, envy, jealousy, pride, and all that negative qualities, then I ask myself, what should I do?
And with that mental state, I get the right answer.
Therefore, it is very important to cultivate wise mental states. We can do that. All of us has that quality, that potential. We are born with mindfulness. This quality which we call mindfulness. We are born with it. And when we cultivate this mindfulness to a very high degree,
we also develop strong concentration. And with that mindfulness and concentration,
we look at anything, we see very clearly. So seeing clearly is wisdom. Seeing what is really there is wisdom. And with that wise mental state, if we want to make a decision, we will make the right decision and we will never regret
having made the right decision. So therefore, if we really want to take the Buddha's advice
to associate with the wise, we need to meditate and cultivate a wise mental state. Because what's the use of associating with a wise person and not to cultivate a wise mental state, not to become wiser? It's no use. So when we associate with a wise person, we associate with that person because we want to become like that person.
So whenever I read about the Buddha, since I was young,
I want to become like a Buddha. I'm not like a Buddha yet. I want to remind you that. And also, when I met my teacher, I looked at him. He looked so calm and peaceful. And whenever I asked an advice from him, he never gave me any advice. He never encouraged me to do anything evil.
So I looked at my teacher and I thought, I want to become like him. So when you associate with a wise person, you want to become a wise person.
And when you want to become a wise person, what do you do? You practice Dhamma. You practice meditation. You practice mindfulness. You watch what you thought, what you are thinking. You watch your thoughts. So if we want to become wiser, we must watch our mind. We must see what we are thinking mostly.
So only when we practice Sati Padana and especially Cittanupasana Sati Padana, we can become wiser.
So this is the gist of what
I understand about these two Mangalas.
So if we practice these two, we will feel that
when we become wiser, we'll feel that we are successful.
When we become wiser, we'll feel that we have grown up. Because if you are still foolish, you cannot say that you have grown up. So to grow means to become wiser.
So only if we can practice Dhamma, we can become wiser. So to grow, and also, when we become wiser, we feel fulfilled.
We feel like we have everything we need. So unless we become wiser, we will never feel fulfilled. Because greed never feels fulfilled.
Greed always wants more, more, more. Always lacking, always wanting.
And when we practice these two
well, we can also
develop other qualities. With that kind of mindfulness and awareness and wisdom, we can do anything we want to do in our life and do it well. For example, if you are a student studying and you meditate and develop a calm and clear and strong mind, and when you go to study, you'll find that it's much easier for you to study.
Why?
Because you are not greedy.
If you don't meditate and you have seen many things
all day and your mind is overwhelmed with greed, when you are studying, you'll be thinking of what you want. I want to eat this. I want to eat that. I want to go and see this movie or that movie, watch that television show, or go on and have a good time with friends. Although you are reading and studying, most of the time you are thinking of what you want. So you cannot really study well.
You may be sitting and studying for one hour, for example, but in that one hour, mostly you are thinking of what you want. So you are not really using one hour to study.
More than half of that time, you'll be thinking of what you want. And the same way, when you are angry or upset, when you hate somebody, you cannot concentrate on what you are doing.
You cannot concentrate. I find myself the same. When I'm angry or upset, I want to read a Dhamma book. I cannot. Although my eyes are going through reading, my mind is not totally there. And after I've read a page, I ask myself, what have I read? I don't know.
I was thinking of another person who made me upset. So when you are not calm and peaceful, when you are not concentrated, you are not efficient. You waste so much of your time and energy. So if you want to be efficient in whatever you do, you need a calm and concentrated mind. So when you develop calmness and concentration, when you develop mindfulness, you develop efficiency also
and
creativity also. Because when you apply all your mental energy and all your mental power in what you are doing, you can see things that you have not seen before. Even reading can be very creative. When you are reading
with your mind thinking of something else, you cannot really understand the deeper meaning of what you are reading. But when you are reading with full concentration, you can see and understand deeper and deeper meaning. So I've read many books since I was young, but after I've meditated, I read the same books that I've read before
and I found that I understood the meaning much more deeply. Dhamma books and other books too. So when you have developed concentration, when you have developed calmness, when you have developed mindfulness, even reading becomes more creative.
So these are a few examples that I gave you. That developing calmness, developing mindfulness makes your life more creative and also more enjoyable. You may be with somebody you love, your father or your mother or your brothers or your sisters or your children or with your friends.
But if you are possessed with greed or anger, you cannot really enjoy your friendship. You cannot really pay attention to what your parents are saying or what your brothers or sisters are saying or what your children are saying. Because your mind is possessed, you cannot enjoy this relationship. But when your mind is free from anger or greed or any other negative mental factors, you can pay complete attention to the person you are with.
You can really communicate. You can really listen. You can really talk. So you may have experienced many experiences with people. You are talking to that person, but that person is not paying attention. How do you feel?
You feel very frustrated. Oh, what's the use? Talking to mom is useless. She's so busy thinking about something else. Oh, don't go and talk to dad. He's always thinking about his work. He's always worrying. He won't listen to you. He will say, "Yes, yes, yes." And you ask him, "What do you mean?" He has no answer. So to talk with a person who is absent-minded is really not satisfying.
So even talking with another person and enjoy that conversation, you need to have a strong concentration. So reading a book or talking with another person or even eating your food needs concentration if you really want to enjoy. So you have experience, and I do have experiences too. I was so involved or worried about something, and it's time for me to eat.
I sat down and put food in my mouth, chew and swallow, chewing and swallowing, not knowing, not paying attention. And I finished eating. I filled my stomach and I thought, "What did I eat?"
I don't know.
So mostly we are living our life half awake only, very absent-mindedly. Most of us
are like sleep walkers. You know what sleep walkers mean? There's a kind of mental disease. People wake up in the middle of the night and they go out and walk and do some things. And in the morning, you ask them, "What did you do in the night?" They say, "I don't know. I didn't do anything."
And also,
some people use the word automatic pilot mode.
You know what automatic pilot mode means?
In
flying the planes these days, they have computer controls, automatic. You set the numbers, height and speed and direction, and just let the plane fly. You don't need to control anything. Most of us are living our life in automatic pilot mode. We are not really in control. We are doing things. Sometimes we don't make much mistakes, but we are not really aware.
We eat automatically. We walk automatically. Not really there. So if you are not really there, are you still living? Are you really living?
So one writer who writes many books about meditation practice wrote that if you are peeling an orange and if you are not doing it mindfully, in that time, in that moment, you and the orange does not exist.
See what that means? If you are doing something unmindfully, if you're not paying attention, you are peeling an orange and you are thinking of something else, not aware, not mindful, in that moment, you and the orange does not exist.
So when we are mindful, that's the time we are really living. When we are not mindful, we are not really living. So if you want to feel alive, if you really want to feel alive, you need to be mindful. So when you are mindful, that's the time you've got to live.
When you are not mindful, you lost that.
So we want to live a long life. How long do you want to live?
Yes, some people say that they want to live 100 years. I do want to live for 100 years too. But if you live 100 years mindlessly, automatically,
what do you say? If you live for 100 years
unmindfully, automatically, would that be meaningful or satisfying? No, not at all. So even if you live for one day mindfully, that's more satisfying. The Buddha said to understand the Dhamma and to live mindfully even for one day is much better than to live for 100 years and not to understand Dhamma and not to live mindfully.
So this is very serious, very important. We want to live a long life, but if you waste your time, even though you live a long life, it's not satisfying. It's not meaningful. It's worthless, meaningless. So if we want to make the most of our life, we need to be mindful.
So we want to make the most of our life. I want to live my life efficiently. I'm also very greedy in some ways. I have a plan to make one life as if I have lived two lives.
I can make my life more efficient. And if my efficiency doubles,
it means that I've lived twice as much.
So therefore, I try to make the best use of my time.
I try to make my life more efficient. So living mindfully makes your life more efficient. You learn more, you see more, you experience more. You can do so much more if you are mindful. If your mind is not possessed by greed or anger or pride or envy or jealousy, you don't go out and do foolish things and waste your time. You do what is really important, what is necessary, and feel very happy and satisfied that you have done something very useful.
So most of us spend so much time doing things which are not so useful.
So we must be very careful about that. If we are really serious about making the most out of our life, we must learn to be mindful. And that's what the Buddha advised us
every day in his life. He said, "Be mindful. Be mindful." And this is the last advice he gave just before he passed into Nibbāna. Be mindful.
And the third maṅgala, what is that?
Pūjāca Pūjanayanam. Wibhāmi is pronounced that as Pūsāsa Pūjanayanam. And the meaning is
to honor those worthy of honor.
Why is it so important to honor those who are worthy of honor? Why is it so important for our success, for our growth, and for our fulfillment? So remember, maṅgala means that which helps a person to grow, to succeed, to be fulfilled. So why is it so important to honor those who are worthy of honor?
And who are those who are worthy of honor?
Well, most of you know that Buddha, Dhamma, Sangha, worthy of honor. But also our teachers, our parents, they are also worthy of honor.
So why is it so important?
What do we mean by honor?
And there are many ways to honor a person. When we pay respect to a person, when we pay respect to the Buddha, we are honoring the Buddha, right? Why do we honor the Buddha?
Not because we want something from the Buddha. When we pay respect to the Buddha, it's not because we want something from the Buddha. When we pay respect to the Buddha, we do that because
we
understand and appreciate the qualities of the Buddha.
It's the qualities of the Buddha which we are honoring, which we are bowing down to. Why do we honor the qualities of the Buddha? Because the qualities of the Buddha are the highest that a human being can attain, the best that a human being can attain.
So when we understand that Buddha has attained the highest that anybody can attain, we are appreciating those high qualities.
So to honor also means to appreciate. Only when we can understand the high quality of the Buddha and appreciate those qualities, then we can honor. And just to be able to appreciate the qualities of the Buddha needs a lot of wisdom.
Because if we are not really wise, if we don't have wisdom, we will not be able to understand or appreciate the qualities of the Buddha. So just to be able to understand and appreciate something, anything which is good, needs wisdom.
So we must develop wisdom to be able to honor, to be able to appreciate, to be able to respect. But this is not too difficult. Even a child can understand to a certain degree what is good and what is not.
So we can teach anybody
the good qualities of the Buddha. Buddha's mind is totally free from greed, hatred, envy, jealousy, pride, and all those negative qualities. And we can also teach the qualities of the wisdom of the Buddha. So even a child can understand to a certain degree. And when a child understands that Buddha's mind is totally free from greed, envy, jealousy, therefore totally free from mental suffering, mental anguish, mental dukkha, if a person understands that, what would he want?
He wants to be free like that.
So therefore, when we honor somebody, we are also in some ways aspiring to become like that person. And that aspiration can motivate us
to study, to learn, to practice the Dhamma.
So to honor the Buddha is very important for us. To grow, to be fulfilled, and to be successful, we must learn to honor those who are worthy of honor.
And
many teachers told me, and I've read in many books too, there are some people who contemplate on the qualities of the Buddha. So you may have read the same stories, similar stories. And many teachers, they told me that when they cultivate
on meditating on the qualities of the Buddha,
they wanted to become a Buddha.
Not everybody, but there are some monks, especially I know, who aspire to become Buddha.
And where did they get that aspiration? How did they get that aspiration?
By learning, by studying the qualities of the Buddha, qualities of the Buddha. So knowing any good quality of another person is good for us.
Not only the Buddha. Take the meaning, wider meaning. Knowing any good quality of anybody
helps you to grow.
It's good for you. It's good for me.
So like I tell you just a moment ago, I met my teachers and I look at them, they are so calm.
And one of my teachers, I never saw him upset.
He was always calm. And I never saw him greedy. I never saw him saying, "I have to have that. I want that very badly." Never said that. He was very content, very loving, kind, forgiving, very compassionate. So when I see a person like that, I thought, I said to myself, "I want to become like him."
That's very good for me. To see a person like that is good for me because I appreciate those qualities.
I honor him for his good qualities. So I pay respect to him. And honoring has many other meanings too. When he gave me advice, instructions, when he taught me, I received that instruction with gratitude, with respect. And I try my best to practice that. So when we practice what the Buddha taught, we are honoring the Buddha.
So honoring by paying respect, honoring by offering something, and honoring by following the advice, following the instruction. Which is the best way of honoring?
Honoring by following the advice, honoring by following, by practicing the instruction is the best. So to honor those who are worthy of honor has a very wide and deep meaning. It's very important. If we want to be successful in our life, if we want to grow, if we want to be fulfilled, we must learn to honor those who are worthy of honor.
We must learn. It is something we must learn.
Without learning to honor, we will not know how to honor.
So
we must teach children to learn to appreciate good qualities of Buddha, of Dhamma, of Sangha, of anybody. So when a person learns to appreciate good qualities, then he will learn to honor. So to honor another person needs some learning, some education, some wisdom too.
Because a totally foolish person will never be able to honor those who are worthy of honor. So you may have met some people who are very disrespectful toward somebody who is worthy of honor. Why is that person disrespectful? Because that person is foolish, not wise.
Because that person has not learned. So we must learn
to honor. And once we have learned to honor and
we take good advice from those who can give good advice and practice those advice, we will become successful, we will grow, we'll be fulfilled. So when you see somebody who has some good qualities and you say that, "Oh, no. What's that? What's that amount to?
It doesn't matter. It's nothing." When you devalue another person, what happens to you? You are not motivated to develop those good qualities. So when you devalue another person, you devalue yourself.
So when you honor another person, what happens? You honor yourself too. At the same moment, you honor yourself too. So remember this. This is very important. When you treat another person disrespectfully, you are also treating yourself disrespectfully. It's one and the same action.
When you appreciate another person, you are at the same moment appreciating yourself. When you are honoring another person, you are at the same moment honoring yourself because your mental state is high. You can love yourself. You can respect yourself.
So it is very important for us to appreciate any good quality in anybody. If we don't appreciate any good quality in anybody, we will not be motivated to develop that good quality in ourselves. We will not be motivated. And if you are not motivated to develop any good qualities, you will not grow, you will not succeed, you will not be fulfilled.
Therefore,
when I see somebody, I know that
no one, not one of us here is perfect. I'm not perfect. And
not one of you is perfect. This is not devaluing. This is understanding the truth, the reality. But when I look at the person, first I look at the good qualities. And I feel very happy about that. "Oh, this person has done something so nice, so good. This person is so generous, so kind." So look at the good qualities in everybody you meet.
That will help you
to grow, to prosper, to be fulfilled. That will make your relationship better. If you go and look for all the mistakes and defects in people and say that, "Oh, I hate that person," what will happen to you?
You are developing hatred in yourself already.
And will that help you to grow up, to feel happy, to succeed? No. So you watch people. There are some people who are doing very well in their life. They are happy. They are healthy. They have enough money. They may not be millionaires or billionaires, but they have enough money. They have good friends. And watch what helps them to become like that.
You'll find that these people appreciate good qualities in their associates, in their friends. They see good qualities in people. So to become successful, to grow up, to feel fulfilled, we must learn to see good qualities in everybody.
So there are many people I met. And one great monk, a very successful teacher, he established a very big monastery in Burma. And whenever he met a person, he always praised something about that person, said something good about that person. So one of his friends who was just a few years younger than him, therefore they can talk openly, asked this teacher, "Sayadaw, you always say something nice about people."
And he said, "There was a monk who was totally crazy in that monastery." Even a monk can go crazy, you know?
So there was a monk who was totally absent-minded and totally crazy. And he said, "What can you say something good about that crazy monk?" You know what that great teacher said? When he
walks, he walks like a cat. He does not make any noise.
This is true. That crazy monk, when he walks, he walks very mindfully. He did not make any noise. He said, "Oh, he's great. Although he's crazy, he walks mindfully and never makes a noise."
So this teacher
has many followers, many disciples, and everybody who met him loves him very much. You know why? Because they know that this teacher sees what is good in me.
You see that? If somebody is looking for what is bad about you, what will you feel? How will you feel when you meet that person?
You don't feel happy. Can you love that person who is always looking for what's wrong about you?
Of course not. You don't feel happy. You don't want to go and see that person. And that person cannot help you to become better. If somebody is always looking for what's wrong about you, what's bad about you, that person cannot really help you become better. So especially I want younger people to understand this. Look for the good qualities in you.
Look for the good qualities in other people. All of us has goodness. Everybody has goodness. So if you want to be successful, if you want to grow, if you want to feel fulfilled, even be happy, if you want to have many good friends, because without good friends, we will not be successful. So if we want to have good friends, many, many good friends, look for the good qualities in people.
So looking for good qualities and appreciating is also honoring. So when I read this, I started thinking
with real concentration. I started thinking, "What does this mean?" And gradually this meaning came to me. I said, "Oh, psychologically, this is very important. If I want to be happy and successful, I must look for what's good in me and I must look for what's good in other people. I must honor good qualities in people."
So
this is the advice of the Buddha. If you want to be successful, if you want to grow, if you want to feel fulfilled, honor those who are worthy of honor. And in some ways, all of us are worthy of
honor.
In some ways. All of us has goodness. So many of you here, how many here can you guess?
So
this is the advice of the Buddha. If you want to be successful, if you want to grow, if you want to feel fulfilled, honor those who are worthy of honor. And in some ways, all of us are worthy of
honor.
In some ways. All of us has goodness. So many of you here, how many here can you guess?
How many hundreds?
Just a guess. 500s?
Well, why are you here? Because you love Dhamma. And I honor that very much.
That's good. That's goodness. Because you have goodness, you are here. Otherwise, you won't come here. And I honor that very much. I'm very happy to see you, to talk with you. So to feel happy makes me feel fulfilled now here. I'm happy because you love Dhamma.
So there are 38 points in this sutra. I finished only three.
What's the time now?
Whoa. It doesn't matter. If you understand three points, that's enough for you.
But let me go briefly because I really want you to understand and study this sutra and put it into practice. Because I see in the society
many good qualities disappearing.
So I want people to cultivate good qualities.
And the fourth factor is dwelling in a suitable locality, dwelling in a suitable place, suitable region, suitable country also.
Do you want to live in a country where they are always fighting? No. We don't want to live in a country like that. No. Because it makes you feel so hatred, so angry that you cannot cultivate goodness anymore. So to live in a suitable place, suitable locality has also wide meaning.
Live in a place where the air is clean,
no air pollution. Or if it's not possible, very little air pollution. Also, clean air, clean water, clean food. Isn't that important? Very important. Good education, very important. And a proper way to earn a living, you don't have to go and steal or cheat.
You can do what you like to do with honesty, good livelihood, and earn enough to live. So if you go and live in a place where there's no way you can earn a livelihood, that is not a proper place to live. But not only that. Live in a place where you can learn Dhamma
and practice Dhamma, where there are many people who encourage you and support you to practice Dhamma. Therefore, when we think of finding a place to go and live, we must consider many different points. Is that a place where we can
be healthy, bodily and mentally healthy? Good food, good water, clean air, good livelihood, good education, good medical treatment too. Because we get sick once in a while. But when we get sick, we need good medical treatment. Sometimes people die because they can't get medicine.
If they can get only about 20 or 30 antibiotics, they can live. But some people die because they cannot get medicine.
So we must find a place where we can get good medical treatment too. But we must also consider that, is there a person, a teacher, or is there a community like this where I can grow and join and become a member and learn Dhamma and practice Dhamma? So is this a proper or suitable place to live or not?
Yes, it is. This is a place where you can get all that you need in life. You can also learn and practice Dhamma.
So never go to a place where you can get all the money you want, but you cannot study and practice Dhamma.
Because all the money can never make you feel fulfilled. All the money can never make you feel successful. All the money cannot help you to grow up in the Dhamma. So if you really want to be successful, if you really want to be if you really want to grow in the Dhamma especially, and if we really want to feel fulfilled, we must find a good community to live in.
Community is important. Here we have a community. Here we have Dhamma friends.
And another point is good deeds done in the past.
When you have done something good and you remember that, how do you feel? You feel happy. You feel peaceful. "Oh, I've done such and such good deeds. How happy I am." And very recently, I've met a man in a meditation retreat.
He came to the retreat and he did not ask many questions. He did not say much. But after a few days, he came to me and we discussed about his meditation practice. And he asked me a question.
"Can I attain any insight? Can I attain enlightenment?" I said, "Of course you can. Why do you ask that question?" He said, "I've done something terrible."
To be exact, he said, "I've done something terrible before I got married." So he said only just that. I did not want to ask him anymore.
I don't know what he did. So I just guessed what he did. So a guess is only a guess. I'm not sure. But he said that he did something terrible. And he said, "Because of that, whenever I go and sit and meditate, I remember that and I can't meditate anymore. I feel very unhappy and sad."
So I said,
"You regret it, what you did?" He said, "Oh, yes. I regret it, what I did." "Do you want to do the same thing again?" He said, "Oh, no, no, no. I don't want to do the same thing again. I'm so unhappy that I did that." "So you are not going to repeat the same mistake again. So you have learned from the mistake, right?"
He said, "Yes, I've learned from my mistake." "And you are not trying to be a good person. You are a good person." So I said, "You are a good person now. And that's what matters most." Every one of us has done something terrible in the future in the past, I mean. Sorry. In the past.
If not in this life, maybe not only maybe, surely we have done something terrible in our past life. Even the Bodhisattva did terrible things. So we can be sure that we have done something terrible in the past. But we have learned from our mistake. Now we are studying Dhamma. We are practicing Dhamma.
So I told him, "You are a good person now and that's the most important thing." And when I said that, he cried so much. He really want to be a good person. But he felt guilty all the time. Whenever he tried to do something good, he remembered what he did in the past, something terrible.
So the past was haunting him. You know what haunting means?
The past is haunting him. The terrible deed that he did in the past haunting him. So doing something, having done something bad, something evil is really
does not help you to grow up. So learn from the past mistake, but don't go on thinking about the past mistake. It doesn't help. I can go more deeply psychologically into this point, but I'm afraid I don't have so much time. So to reverse that, when you remember something good that you have done in the past, that makes you feel happy and peaceful.
That motivates you to do something good. Because your mind is calm and peaceful in that moment, you can do something really good. But if you remember having done something evil in the past and you feel unhappy, and that unhappiness absorbs all your energy, you are not motivated even to do something good. You don't feel that you're worthy of anything good.
You don't feel that you will achieve anything.
Anything good even though you try to do it. So having done something good in the past helps you to do more good. So that helps you to succeed, to grow, to feel fulfilled.
Therefore, it is good to have done good deeds in the past, and it is much better to be doing good deeds now in the present, today. And Buddha said, "Don't postpone to do something good. Do it now because we don't know when we will die."
Don't say, "Tomorrow I will do something good." Do something good now. So we have
so many good things to do. And
the best that we can do
doesn't need any special time or even cost money. So
we are doing good deeds now here. What is that?
There's one point in Mangala Sutra, Kalena Dhamma Savanam, to listen to the Dhamma. To listen to the Dhamma when the time is suitable. So this is a very good time, a suitable time to listen to the Dhamma. And we are doing that. That also helps us to become successful, to grow, and to be fulfilled.
And practicing mindfulness, we don't need a special place or a special time. We don't need money to practice mindfulness. That's also a good deed. So don't postpone to be mindful. Be mindful now.
So it's very good and it supports you to be successful to have done good deeds in the past. And it is also very important to be doing good deeds now in the present. And we have done good deeds in the past. We are doing good deeds now. What can we expect in the future?
Good results, good life, happiness, prosperity, growth, fulfillment. We can expect that. If we have not done good deeds in the past, if we have not done if we are not doing good deeds now, what can we expect in the future? Not much.
Don't hope. Don't expect anything. Because we have to pay. We cannot get something for nothing.
So it's very important. And another point is to establish oneself in the right cause. Have we established in the right cause now? I think we do. I believe we do. Learning Dhamma, practicing Dhamma means establishing yourself on the right cause.
That leads to growth, fulfillment, and success. Because we are learning Dhamma, we are practicing Dhamma, therefore we are trying not to do anything evil. We are trying to do what is good. And that helps us to prosper, to grow, to be fulfilled.
Another point is great learning and skill in work. So this sutra has so many points that it covers everything in our life.
So to be successful in every way, not in only one way, not only in practicing Dhamma, but to be successful in every way, we must learn. Therefore we need good education.
Therefore we need to learn some skill. So some of you are here engineers, some of you are doctors, some of you are teachers, some of you are, I don't know, many things, doing many things. So try your best to do what you are doing.
Try to do the best that you can do. That will help you to grow, to prosper.
And you know that there are people who made a soft drink, very famous.
Soft drink, Coca-Cola. You can become millionaire or billionaire even if you can make something good like that. And there are some people who made a hamburger and they become very rich and successful materially, money-wise. So it means that if you want to be successful, you need to learn.
You need good education. Good education doesn't mean a piece of paper where they say that you have passed certain examinations.
Really knowing how to do something well. You don't need a piece of paper.
So if you want to prosper, you need to learn. Without education, we cannot be prosperous.
So let me go to another point.
A highly trained discipline. To become successful, we need discipline. Without discipline, we cannot accomplish anything. A student needs to be disciplined, learn regularly, properly, attend classes regularly,
and do what needs to be done regularly at the right time. Then you can be a good student. And when you have a job, you have to go to the job at the right time and finish the quota, so to speak, what you need to do, and finish it at the right time. If you go to your job late and if you cannot finish your work at the right time, what will happen?
You'll be sacked.
I don't know whether you understand this word, sacked. This is an American idiom, which means that
your boss will kick you out. Don't come back to work tomorrow. Finish.
So you need discipline. And
in Pali word, this word discipline has a very wide meaning. It has very wide meaning. You know the Pali word for this discipline? Winayasa sukhito. Winaya means discipline. For monks, we have winaya. We have discipline, how to live. Even how to dress, how to wear our robes.
It's a discipline. How to walk even. Buddha even taught us how to walk, how to take steps. Don't take small steps. It doesn't look good. It doesn't look respectful. Don't take very wide steps. It doesn't look good. You lose your balance. So take steps which are not too wide or not too small. And don't walk with your
tip of your toes. How do you say that? Walking with your toes. Don't do that. Don't walk with your heels only.
Will that look good if somebody walks on the heels only? Looks very clumsy. You have to walk with your step evenly placed on the ground. So in the Pali books, there's a description of how the Buddha walked. So we learn that and try to
understand what it means and try to walk like that too. So when you walk, don't look here and there.
If we have to look, we can look. But look in front and walk. Don't keep your head high like this. Don't keep your head down like this. Look straight. So that looks very dignified. Walk with dignity. So Buddha was teaching the monks how to walk with dignity, how to dress with dignity.
Cover yourself well when you go out. When you are in your own place, it's okay. But when you go out, you have to cover yourself properly. It doesn't need to be fashionable. So we are not fashionable. We are very old-fashioned.
But we cover ourselves well when we go out. This is discipline. When we eat, Buddha said, "Don't make noise when you eat. Put the food properly in your mouth. Don't let the food come out from your mouth and fall on your plate again." It doesn't look dignified. Eat with dignity. This is discipline. When you drink a soup, don't make noise like don't do that.
Put your spoon in your mouth and take the soup in your mouth without making noise. So Buddha made so many hundreds of rules for monks. It's good for us. We need discipline. We need to set good examples. Teachers need to set good examples.
Parents need to set good examples. So to set good examples is good for us and it's good for the community too. So if we want our children to be well-disciplined, what should we do? We must be well-disciplined. So only a well-disciplined society can prosper. If all people are not disciplined, all people will do whatever they like to do, what will happen to the society?
The society will break down. The society cannot accomplish anything at all. So there are some societies like that,
with no discipline.
So to succeed, to grow, to be fulfilled, we need discipline. Discipline is good for us.
So that's what Buddha advised us to do. If we want to be successful, if we want to grow, if we want to feel fulfilled, we must learn discipline. We must practice discipline.
And another point, well-spoken speech. Very important. Personal relationships are very important. Things cannot happen if personal relationships are not good. We cannot do anything good if we cannot relate to each other well. If we want to relate to each other well, we must be very careful what we say.
Say the truth. Say what is useful. Don't say what is not true. Don't say what is not useful.
So I can go more deeply into this. I have even written a book on that.
The title of the book is in Burmese, but the translation is Speak Mindfully.
So speaking is not so easy. It's the most difficult thing.
And one of the qualities of the Buddha
is Sugato. Sugato means one who spoke well.
Why is this a good quality of the Buddha? Only a person who can speak really well can become a Buddha. Not otherwise. So speaking is one of the most difficult skills in life. So we must learn to speak well. This is something, a skill we must learn and cultivate all through our life.
So when we say something, we must consider, is this useful? Is this true?
So to speak well is one important thing we need to do if we want to be successful, if we want to grow, if we want to be fulfilled. So I want to go more deeply into every point because I see so much in this small instruction, in this short instruction of the Buddha.
There's so much we can dig out. But because of time pressure, I cannot go so much in detail. But I hope you can find out for yourself. Learn this. Think about it more deeply. Learn to speak well. You will be successful.
Oh.
Well, I still want to cover a few more points
because there are a few points very, very important. So please be patient.
Here comes a very important point.
Please pay attention. This is a very important point Buddha advised. Looking after one's mother and father.
If you don't look after your mother and father, you will never be successful. You will never grow in the Dhamma. You will never feel fulfilled. So looking after our parents is very important for ourselves.
So these days, I have heard many stories about people neglecting their parents, not looking after their parents well.
So we must remember that no matter how busy we are, no matter how high
a position we have, no matter how much money we have, if we cannot look after our parents, we cannot be considered successful.
So to be successful, we must look after our parents. Isn't that important? If
children don't look after the parents,
will that person, can that person expect his or her children to look after himself, to look after him or her? No. If we think that my children will not look after me, therefore I'm not going to take care of them, what will happen to the society?
The society cannot develop. We human beings have come to this stage of development in culture, in education, in every way, in science, in arts. We have developed to this stage because our parents looked after us.
They gave us everything they had. They educated us. They taught us.
So
only if we
look after them when they grow up, our children will see that. Oh, my parents look after their parents and I will do the same.
And
my parents brought me up. They educated me. And I will do the same for my children. Only when we can do that, the whole society, the whole humanity can grow. So there's another point, caring for one's wife and children. Not only wife. Caring for one's husband also
is necessary. So we need to care for each other. So in a community, in a society where people care for each other, people look after each other, that society will grow. That family will grow. So society is made up of families. A family is the smallest unit of society.
Father, mother, children. Or grandparents also, put together. Grandparents and parents and children. It's a unit.
So only when we look after each other, only when we care for each other, we can expect to grow. So if we want the whole humanity, the whole community, the whole society to grow, we must take this very seriously. If we don't look after our children, if we don't look after our family, if we don't look after our parents, we will destroy the whole community, the whole society, the whole humanity.
And another point is to be engaged in the blameless occupation. When we want to make money, when we want to earn money, we must consider whether what we do is blameless or not.
Blameless also has a very wide meaning. If we are doing something improper, that is blame-worthy. But what we are doing is not
evil, but if we don't do, if we don't have the right standard to do, then we cannot be prosperous. So when we do something, we must learn to do it well. Only when we learn to do something well, we can grow, we can prosper.
I think I should stop here for a while and let some of you ask the questions because it's difficult to cover all the 38 points tonight.
Not finished. I just stopped.
It's not the same. Finishing and stopping are not the same. You can stop without finishing it.
Now, a few questions, please, when we have some time. Questions?
The questions on the paper already. Please raise your hand and we'll collect the papers from you.
Do we have to finish at 9:30? Yes, we have to finish at 9:30. Yes. How much time do we have now? Half an hour. Half an hour? Oh.
Here's a very good question.
Sayodo, my mind is always, constantly, every second, filled with thoughts.
Yes. We are thinking all the time.
Filled with thoughts, negative thoughts.
That's too bad. Always.
It is so overwhelming.
And I always feel mentally drained. Very tiring. True. Negative thoughts make you feel very tired. It drains your energy.
How do I keep these negative thoughts from arising?
Yes, there are a few things you can do.
So
I also think quite a lot. When I was younger, I was a compulsive thinker. That doesn't mean that what I think or what I thought were useful.
So when I learned to meditate, I told my teacher that I keep thinking all the time. It is very difficult for me to stop thinking. I've trained myself to think so much that it went to an extreme.
So my teacher said, "Well,
you can learn to stop thinking." I told my teacher that I like thinking and I think thinking is important, thinking is useful, and we need to learn how to think well. And my teacher said, "Yes, it is important to think. It is important to think well. But it is also important how to learn not to think anymore, how to stop thinking," which is really true.
So
he taught me to meditate, to
breathe deeply. So when you do something with all your energy, all your energy gets absorbed in that work. So at that moment, you can't think. So whoever has asked this question,
I want to advise you, meditate. But since your mind thinks all the time, breathe very deeply
and pay attention to that breath. When you breathe very deeply, you can pay attention because your mind cannot escape, cannot run away.
And I give you another example of one of my close friends who lived with me for a few years. And he learned meditation from me. When he came to meditate, I said, "Meditate. Pay attention to your breath." He said, "Impossible." He tried for many days.
He said, "I can't." "I don't know whether I'm breathing or not," he said. His mind was so scattered that he can't pay attention to breathing. So I said, "Then you get up and walk and pay attention to every step, lifting and moving and placing and touching the floor." So he did that on a floor like this.
He said, "Only for a few minutes I can do that. After that, I can't even pay attention to my feet living and moving and placing and touching." So very difficult to teach him to meditate. But he won't give up. He said, "Give me something to do." Then I was thinking,
"What can I do for this man? What can I teach him?" At that time in my monastery, we made a new road. So you level the road and put crushed
stones. Do you call that stones or rocks? Crushed. So very sharp edges on the road. So I said, "Go and walk on that road."
He really took my advice. He went and walked on the road. He said, "Oh, it hurts so much." "Good. Good for you. Pay attention."
He said, "Oh, I can't help paying attention. It hurts so much." So he tried to walk on that road and felt the pain. Every time he took a step, it was very painful. So his mind cannot run away from the pain.
And gradually, after doing that for many days, he developed some concentration and he was able to walk on
a smooth floor and pay attention to that too. And he worked very hard for many years. And after a few years, he became a very, very good meditator. He can watch everything happening in the body, even the pulsation at the tip of the finger.
And he can pay attention to every thought. So he said, "No matter how subtle a thought, I know even before it's coming. I know that it's coming." So you can train yourself to do that. You need to be persistent.
Persistent. Keep doing it and doing it and doing it. So if you cannot meditate
on something like breathing, find something that hurts
and pay attention. Paying attention is meditation. It doesn't matter what you pay attention to. Let's say you press your hand like this with your nail, fingernail. What will happen? Oh, it hurts.
So your mind cannot run away. But don't do that too much. You can cause permanent damage.
So
persistent is important.
Sayodo, it is possible for the mind to be empty of all thoughts at all times.
At all times, it's not possible.
I think even Buddha had many thoughts.
There is a question
in the Tipitaka.
The question was that did Buddha
get absorbed in nibbāna all the time? And the answer was no.
When Buddha gave a Dhamma talk, he had to think. Not hard because Dhamma
is natural for the Buddha. But
still, he had to think to give a Dhamma talk.
So one cannot function in daily life without thinking anything at all. So we need to think. But we also must learn to meditate and stop thinking. We also must learn to cultivate a very quiet mind.
Very quiet. Thinking is noisy. So when you stop thinking, your mind becomes really quiet. We must learn to do that. But we must also learn to think mindfully. Can you do that? Do you think it can be done? So I will give you an example, an instruction. Buddha said, "When you are talking, talk mindfully."
What is the difference between talking and thinking?
There's only one difference. When you talk, you make sounds. When you think, you don't make sounds. But the same mental process, identical mental process. The only difference is when you speak, you make sounds from your mouth.
So thinking and speaking are not much different. So you can talk mindfully, therefore you can think mindfully. And you can read mindfully, you can write mindfully too. The same mental process.
Or is it normal for the mind to be filled with thoughts, unnecessary chatter? For ordinary people, this is what mostly they do,
chatter in the mind.
But for a trained mind,
this is not normal anymore. For a trained mind, you can think mindfully and you can stop thinking too. But sometimes there will be chatter too because you forget. When you are not mindful, there's a chatter, internal chatter in the mind.
Most of the time, I would center a play of fantasies. I mean, sorry. Most of the time, I would create a play of fantasies. I would be actually holding conversation in my mind. Is this normal? Yes. Normal people do like that.
This is also a function of the mind. And in some ways, it is useful too.
Play or fantasy is normal for people. Children have a lot of play, a lot of fantasy. That's why we have books on fairy tales. What are fairy tales? Fantasies, plays.
But it is necessary for a young person to have that kind of thought. And in some cases, even older people, it is necessary. Useful, I mean, to have
a playful thought because those who are creative are very playful when they think. They just imagine something and create some ideas. So in a worldly sense, I mean, it is useful.
But when you want to practice meditation, you must not let your mind
drift away into
fantasizing most of the time. So although it is normal for people
to have fantasies,
not all fantasies are useful.
I do have fantasies too. And in some cases, I even teach that people need to learn to daydream.
Really? Some people are laughing.
Well, daydreaming that you are doing something good is good.
It motivates you to really do something good.
Can you agree with that? I daydreamed when I was young that I was a monk. And later I became a monk.
If I never dream of becoming a monk, do you think I would become a monk? Because in those days, it was unthinkable for me to become a monk. But it was possible to dream. I dreamed that I was in a forest, in a quiet and peaceful place, meditating, and I was in deep samādhi, very peaceful.
And one day, my dream came true. So dream of good things. It's good and useful for you. I don't know who asked this question, but it's a very good question.
Well, this is a very serious question.
In the first blessing, not to associate with fools.
As a Bodhisattva, one will always try to spread the Dhamma with everyone, even with fools.
In the Pali texts,
I read a story about a man who went to the Buddha.
And he was walking. So he was carrying a walking stick. And when he found the Buddha sitting under a tree, he was standing there and he was holding the stick. He said, "Well, Buddha, how do you teach your disciples? Tell me." So Buddha was very kind. So he told that person in brief how he taught his disciples.
But he did not really go deeply into the answer because Buddha knew that this man is not ready to receive. So when you know that a man is not ready to receive,
if you force to give something, that person will get angry and upset and even harm you. So sometimes you have to be very patient. Even though you are compassionate, even though you know that if that person learns the Dhamma, he will be happier. But if that person is not ready, you cannot force him to listen to the Dhamma or practice the Dhamma.
So
when a person is not ready, don't force him. Don't go and give a long Dhamma talk.
It's not useful.
And in the Pali texts also, Buddha said, "When you teach Dhamma to a person who is evil, that evil person will
harm you even."
Dear Bhante, I'm working for
McDonald's. Great.
I work honestly, professionally. I always try to practice the Dhamma, try to be mindful and to control my greed and negative qualities. But I work for McDonald's, a company, a structure that promotes greed and consumerism.
Well, when you want to make money, you have to persuade people that what you are selling is good for you, good for them. That's the way we do business. But I don't think McDonald's is stealing or lying. I don't think so.
A company, a structure that promotes
greed and consumerism. How should I cope with this? What can I do to control this social greed?
When you watch commercials in television shows,
all the shows, all the people who produce the show,
create the shows, have one thing in their mind. They want you to believe that what they are promoting is good for you.
Maybe true, maybe false. They may be lying.
Because if you don't do that, you can't do business. Very difficult to do business. So since you are working for a company and you are doing your job well, serving the customers, you are not responsible for the company.
You are not responsible for what they do. Because they are selling food. If they are selling poison, then you are also responsible.
They are selling food, they are making money. And there's nothing wrong if they make profits.
So don't take that so seriously.
Don't sell poison, don't sell liquor, don't sell arms, don't sell human beings
for slavery, don't sell animals to kill.
The rest, okay.
Venerable, you come from a predominantly Buddhist country. Why has suffering in your country got worse over the years in spite of Buddhism being the key religion? I cannot answer this question truthfully. So you know what my answer is?
I guess you know.
I cannot answer this question truthfully. Sorry.
It's not the religion that made the people poor. You know what's making the people poor?
Got the hint? Yes. Okay. Good.
Well, this is a very personal question.
Would that be possible to brief us on your journey in becoming Buddhist?
I must tell you why I became a Buddhist?
Maybe
some key triggering events. Thank you very much.
Why did I become a Buddhist?
Actually, I did not try to become a Buddhist.
I'm very interested in learning and finding out what's really true, true about anything. It doesn't matter what it is about. So when I was younger, I read a lot of science books. And whenever I find out something true about anything, about a plant or about an animal or about the planets or about a star, I feel very happy and I like that very much.
To know a truth, any truth, is good. So when people told me about religion, about many religions, because I was exposed to many religions since I was very young, because in the community where I lived, that community was a multicultural community.
There were Christians and there were many different kinds of Christians too. There were Hindus, Sikhs,
Muslims, and Buddhists, and many other religion people too with different religions. So I was exposed to many different religious ideas. And one religion says this, another religion says another thing. So I said, "Who is right?" I want to know who is right. I want to know the truth.
So I started reading more and more religious books, books on Dhamma, books on religions. And the more I read, the more I got very confused.
Then I said, "Well, I'll leave religion for a while," and started reading philosophy because I thought that in philosophy I can find truth. So I read many philosophy books and the same thing happened to me. Materialistic philosophy and spiritualistic philosophy, there are many different kinds of philosophy. And Marxism.
So I thought, "Well, I can't find, I can't decide which is true."
Then as I grew up, I learned to practice
whatever I can. So my attitude is very experimental. I want to experiment with whatever I know. So when I get a seed, I'll go and put that in the soil and make the plant grow and see how the plant grows. So I have many chickens. I want to grow, see how the chicken comes out of the egg. So I wait every day and watch and watch.
Then one day I saw the chicken came out of the egg. It was so amazing. So I want to experiment with everything that I can. So when I read Dhamma books, I experimented with meditation. So I did not become a Buddhist and later meditate. I meditated first and later I became a Buddhist, so to speak.
So after meditating for
about eight years and had some understanding about the nature of my body and mind, and also after experiencing some calmness and peacefulness and clarity in my mind, I decided that I will practice this
all my life. And if you want to say that that is what to become a Buddhist,
that is the time when I become a Buddhist.
And you said maybe some key triggering events.
Nothing really special triggers me to become a Buddhist. It was just curiosity.
Like me, many people have the same kind of experiences in their life. You have a mother, you have a father. You can't agree with your parents. You have problems.
And many other good things or bad things happen in your life. So nothing special. My life story is nothing special.
So no triggering events really, just curiosity and practice brought me to a point where
I decided that I will practice what the Buddha taught. And also later, I got even more seriously interested in practicing. So I decided that I will become a monk and practice meditation more seriously.
So it's the desire to experiment and to find out the truth. And also it's a desire to experience higher mental states
that motivates me to practice Dhamma and to become a monk.
And in the same piece of paper, there's another question.
I'm trying every day to reach to what I aspire to
because I cannot get what I want, I cannot sleep.
How can I
solve this problem?
To accomplish something, we need some time. We need skill also. Sometimes because we don't have enough skill, we have to work very slowly. For example, to read a book, we need to spend a lot of time. For me, for example, I want to read Pali books in Pali language. So I had to spend many, many years to learn how to read.
So whatever you want to do, you need to have enough time and you need to have enough skill to do that. So as you keep doing, you'll develop your skill. And when you develop your skill, what you want to do will become easier and easier and you can accomplish that. So
for example, Buddha aspired to become a Buddha. You know how long it took? You can just guess. Nobody can tell. It took eons, worlds and worlds to become a Buddha. But because Buddha determined to become a Buddha, he had to go through all the developing processes for so long.
So if you really want something so badly, you must work hard and you must also be patient. Keep working until you attain what you aspire to attain. There's no shortcut. But in the meantime, try to get a good sleep. Because if you cannot sleep, then you cannot work.
So if you want to sleep, you can meditate and your meditation can help you to go to sleep too. I know many people
who cannot sleep well, but after they learn to meditate, they found out that they can lie down in the bed and relax and meditate and fall asleep. And I do that every day.
Because if I don't meditate before I go to sleep, I may fall asleep and after a couple of hours, I wake up again and can't go to sleep again. So
if I cannot sleep well, I cannot work the next day. Therefore, before I fall asleep, I meditate. Lying down in the bed, not sitting. Lying down in the bed, I relax my body and I watch my mind. If I'm thinking of anything, I watch that thought and I said, "Calm down.
You can think tomorrow. Meditate." So I've been doing that for a long time. So the moment I pay attention to my thoughts, it stops. But you have to practice for a long time to be able to do that. So when my mind stops thinking, the mind became very calm, quiet, peaceful, and clear. And I pay attention to that mental state, calm, quiet, and clear, relaxed.
And at that time, I tell myself, "I'm going to sleep and I will sleep soundly and I will get up in the morning." And I set a time when I want to get up. And
I've been doing this for many, many years. Therefore, I get up at the right time. Sometimes just in case I won't get up, I set the alarm. But
mostly, I wake up before the alarm goes off. So you can meditate and learn to go to sleep well. You can do that.
Do we have more time?
9:30 now? Yes. Five minutes more. Five minutes more. Maybe I can finish one more question.
This is a very good question. Dear Venerable, majority of us here tonight are working adults. The majority of you are working adults. We spend most part of our time in the office. What should we do in order to create good deeds and make good use of the time while we are in the office?
This is a very good question. We spend so much time working in the office. The best part of the day and the best part of our life, we spend working. So the first thing we need to do is our attitude toward the work we do. It's very important. What is your attitude toward what you do for a living? And when you ask this question, it is very important for you to choose the right kind of work for you.
If you are doing something which is not wholesome, it's very difficult. But if you are doing something which is harmless, then
you can find
many good benefits that you get from work. So when you work, you contribute.
No matter what you do, even if you work in a restaurant, you help the customers to eat well. If you work as a nurse, you help the patients to get well. If you work as a teacher, you teach children to learn and grow, to become a good citizen.
If you are a taxi driver, you help the person to get to where he wants to go in the shortest way and in the safest way. So when you work, you are helping other people. And if you have the right attitude, you can feel happy about that. And that attitude is good deeds.
I'm helping people. I'm helping the community. So when we work, we are contributing.
So that makes you happy.
And when you work, you also learn. Working and learning are the same in most cases. If you have the right attitude, you learn something every day from your work. And when you work, you relate with other people too. You don't work alone most of the time. There are other people working with you and you have to cooperate with other people. There's some sort of cooperation, give and take.
So
when you work, you help your associates too.
And working also can be teaching because when you are a teacher, especially, teaching is your work, but you're teaching another people to learn.
So there are many things you do for the good of mankind when you work.
So develop right attitude toward your work. And if you can work mindfully,
you are meditating at the same time when you're working. This is not so easy, but you can do that. You can drive mindfully. You can even type mindfully. You can write mindfully. You can talk on the telephone mindfully. So have you ever tried to practice talking on the telephone mindfully?
You can if you want to. So every day you talk on the telephone. And talking on the telephone is part of your job. And if you talk mindfully and also with kindness because somebody called you, they want some information, you give them information, you give them advice. So you are helping people.
So with that kind of attitude, you can make the best use of your time while working. I'm sorry,
that's all the time we have for today. And I'm very interested in your questions. Therefore, because I cannot answer all the questions, I feel sorry for you. But when we meet again, ask questions. Because when you ask questions, then I know what you really want to know.
When I know what you want to know, then I can give you better answers. And I learn from your questions too.
That's very important. So let's conclude our Dhamma talk by reciting something from the Pali text which is very deeply meaningful. And I will say that and please follow me. I will explain the meaning too. But first, I will say that in Pali and tell you the meaning. "Imaya dhammanu dhamma patipatiya buddham pusemi."
By practicing according to the Dhamma, we honor the Buddha.
So "Imaya
dhammanu dhamma patipatiya
buddham pusemi."
By practicing according to the Dhamma,
we honor the Buddha.
"Imaya dhammanu dhamma patipatiya
buddham pusemi." By practicing according to the Dhamma,
we honor the Dhamma.
"Imaya dhammanu dhamma patipatiya
buddham pusemi." By practicing according to the Dhamma,
we honor the Sangha.
Sayadaw U Jotika was born on August 5, 1947, into a Muslim family in Myanmar. In his youth, he was sent to study at a Christian seminary, graduating with a degree in electrical engineering and conducting extensive research in science, psychology, and Western philosophy.…