Sharing The Joy Of Service | Ven Canda

Thank you for the opportunity to sit and think beautiful thoughts.

I definitely felt a genuine welling up of joy there in the beginning,

Recognizing that we're so many people coming together today for sharing the Dhamma and feeling very grateful actually that I was re-energized this morning,

Through the topic of the talk,

Which is sharing the joy of service.

And sometimes service can be something that is a very beautiful,

Wonderful,

Energizing thing to do and at other times in our lives,

You know,

We are tired,

We are exhausted.

And everything can seem like a little bit too much.

Sometimes we can lose the connection with the meaning of what we're doing and start to feel quite overwhelmed.

So I've certainly been feeling that way of late,

Even though I very much love my vocation,

Especially my practice,

But also sharing the Dhamma and trying to do something here in the UK to,

You know,

Bring the teachings of the Buddha to the general public,

You know,

And in an accessible as possible way.

You know,

I feel very happy that we have quite a mixed community with people from all over the world,

Different genders,

Different races,

Different age groups,

You know,

And people that we're really starting to form a bond with,

People that have been practicing together now for quite a while.

And,

You know,

I want to have the energy to continue to serve and yet sometimes I feel that my physical energy kind of fails me.

And today I just can be connected,

I guess,

With how it feels to share the joy of service as well as to serve myself.

So,

Before I get carried away with that,

I just want to give a little overview of what we're going to discuss.

So,

Service,

What is service,

First of all,

I mean sometimes in the West we don't really use this term,

Maybe you think of service as like going to a service station or doing service in the army.

And we're not really talking about that,

Although that could be seen as a way to serve.

But service in the Buddhist sense is really an act of dana,

It's an act of generosity,

An act of giving.

And in terms of dama service,

It's helping people or giving something that's really of value to others,

You know,

Being able to help them in a very concrete way.

Perhaps sharing something that you value.

So,

For example,

I spoke to a friend earlier today and she's training now to be a nurse.

She is a very old dama sister and old in terms of our connection,

Not so much her age.

And she's been working as a carer for a long time and bit by bit she's sort of doing more qualifications so that she can look after her clients in a more comprehensive way.

And she told me that one of the reasons she chose to do it is because her colleagues are just so enthusiastic about her joining their team,

And the nurse that she's training under said,

I'm just so genuinely excited to,

You know,

To be training you like I really can't wait,

It gives me so much joy.

It's lovely you know when you do something that's a value that you know is a value and that's changed your life and then you're able to pass that on and share that skill or that craft with another and feel so much happiness doing that,

You know,

It's really increasing your own happiness in what you're doing by sharing it with someone else.

And I thought that was very beautiful.

You know this idea of generosity is also related to the Buddhist word Chaga,

Which if you are interested in the suttas you might recognize as one of the definitions of the third noble truth.

So the third noble truth is basically the antidote to wanting the antidote to suffering.

And in one of Ajahn Brahm's lovely talks he calls these the four ways of letting go.

So Chaga is the first way of letting go and it literally means giving again.

And it's a little bit different from Dhanar in the sense that it seems to focus a bit more on the letting go aspect of giving,

So that you're actually relinquishing something as well.

So again,

You know,

In terms of serving,

We sometimes have to give something up in order to serve others we have to give up a little bit of our free time,

Or perhaps we have to give up sort of some of those activities that we like indulging in but we don't feel really good for us we know they're not really good for us,

Or that we use maybe as distractions you know like watching any old TV program whatever happens to come along,

Or even like numbing out you know by kind of scrolling through all this mindless stuff on social media.

It's a way of distracting so we have to give that up to some degree we have to give away some of the things that we normally occupy ourselves with in order to make space for something hopefully more meaningful and perhaps more productive of happiness for ourselves and others in the longer term.

But also this service is an act of silo it's a virtuous thing to do and that is very important because we can serve others in all kinds of ways we can serve others alcohol at the pub or we can serve,

You know,

And I'm not recommending it I mean I'm not also condemning people that do this because maybe they put a lot of care into it maybe they speak to the customers in a really friendly uplifting way,

But it's not essentially going to help them because things like alcohol,

You know,

Which go against those words do cause that model mindedness and that kind of lack of clarity lack of mindfulness.

That isn't for a person's greater good in the longer run at least not on the path of Dhamma if you're really diligently trying to cultivate the whole path.

So,

Service in terms of the Dhamma is something virtuous it's something beautiful and that benefits oneself and others.

There's a lovely passage in the Anguttarini Kaya it's number 495.

I looked it up earlier.

Otherwise I'm not like,

I don't have all these numbers in my head.

I used to but not anymore.

And in there the Buddha talks about four kinds of people and he said the best kind of person is one who practices for their own welfare,

And for the welfare of others.

So with service it should benefit both,

You know if it's really going to be powerful,

And it helps others live a more meaningful rewarding,

Even ennobling kind of life is to see it as a kind of cultivation.

So at this point if any of you here know about the Buddha's basic teachings you can link these to Sila,

Dhanasila and Bhavana,

Yeah the first three kind of practices that the Buddha taught to lay people so he said you know be generous,

Live a virtuous life and cultivate the mind,

Develop the mind in meditation so this one is the cultivation.

And in terms of service I think it very much relates to sense restraint.

Yeah,

Restraint again is a strange word that can seem like we're not doing something but actually restraint means how we use attention.

Yeah,

How we align ourselves with our intentions as well.

So are we calming giving,

Letting go,

Our attention should be on those things that benefit ourselves and others.

And even our thoughts.

Yeah,

So when we give service we're thinking all the time of how to do something in a way that is going to be helpful for another person.

So for example today.

Actually my earphones aren't plugged in.

Are they plugged in now?

I hope you've been able to hear me okay because my earphones were like in here but not in the computer.

But,

Yeah.

So today,

The reason that this talk came to mind is that we're hoping to organize a retreat with Ajahn Brahm,

A real one this year.

And for the last two years of course he hasn't been able to come to England so we have benefited from his online presence and his online retreats.

And we had to have a meeting,

You know,

First of all with Ajahn Brahm and I think actually we haven't had the meeting with all the trustees just yet,

But we decided to take a risk and go ahead because even though it's a massive financial risk we feel that benefit,

Even the projected benefit really is worth it.

Even if we don't fill the venue,

You know,

Even if there were COVID restrictions and all kinds of difficulties forming a kind of cancellation policy,

Still,

You know,

It's something that can pull the whole community together it's something that we can really focus our minds on and that can sort of galvanize the project in a way galvanize the team,

And also bring us together for something really inspiring and uplifting.

And we had a little meeting with four other three other volunteers so myself and no four,

Four volunteers.

I'll keep you confidential for now in case anyone's embarrassed,

At least one of them's here.

And for me this was a really interesting process because I was almost too afraid to ask until basically I'm kind of like on a burnout now.

And there's no choice but to ask for genuine help.

And at the beginning of the meeting today,

We did a little go around and I asked everybody there how they were feeling.

And most people were saying yeah I'm feeling kind of weary and tired and I'm actually exhausted and,

You know,

The work going back to work is much harder than I expected and so much being asked of us,

You know,

We're already kind of under the same kind of resource because of the pandemic and now we have even more work than usual.

And they all felt a little bit exhausted,

Actually,

So I thought,

Oh gosh,

How is this going to work now to give them something else to do.

And yet,

I mean my experience of that meeting perhaps because I was handing over some of my work.

And I realized that it,

It roused energy,

It gave us a sense of purpose,

A sense of having something to work toward that would really be incredible if we can pull it off.

And I realized you know today that sometimes on the one hand we're doing too much but on the other hand,

Perhaps we're not doing enough of the things that really matter,

The things that are really truly beneficial,

The things that really truly mean a lot to us,

And that we love,

Right,

Because I think the fact that you've all been with us for so long or most of you have been with us for a while on these groups shows that you love the Dhamma and having an opportunity to engage with the Dhamma and to help bring that Dhamma to others,

You know,

Is just so beautiful.

And for myself as well as I say you know I've been exhausted,

Needing a break and just yesterday I had some health results back that showed adrenal fatigue,

Really quite severe adrenal fatigue and it was really quite validating actually,

Because I know I can smile and come alive when I share the Dhamma because that's what I love,

Right,

And yet physically there's this real kind of sense that my body is telling me to stop.

And so balance is really key.

You know,

Again,

On the one hand,

We need to look after our body we need to rest and take care of our health.

But on the other hand by doing that I don't want to put down the things that I love the things that are good for me and good for others.

So it's a matter of finding a way to balance the two.

And in that same sutta the Angata of 4.

95,

The Buddha says that if you have to choose one,

He doesn't use these words but if you have to choose one,

It's better to do something that's for your own benefit and welfare,

And not to serve others than to serve others without looking after your own benefit and welfare.

He said that is more excellent and sublime.

So he's actually endorsing us in having breaks,

Having a rest because only when we're resourced we can really do good for others.

So it's a balancing act because sometimes you know we need something to look forward to something that's meaningful and important in our lives,

And yet we need to find a way to do that whilst respecting our limits and whilst being able to give a deep rest.

I was very happy to talk to one of the co hosts before this session and they said,

I had total rest today.

So I'm feeling a bit brighter.

And I just love that word total,

You know,

Because I remember it was actually Ajahn Chah,

Give it everything you've got.

So even when you rest,

You know,

Or even when you look after your health do it completely.

Don't cut corners with that.

And then you'll have more to give.

It is possible though to mistake tiredness sometimes physical tiredness for something more like depression or a sense of hopelessness,

Maybe boredom,

Even boredom,

Yeah,

One of the hindrances.

We can think we're really tired when in fact we're just bored.

We're a bit fed up with life,

You know,

There's that lethargy,

A sense of ennui.

My mum mentioned this word to me earlier when I spoke about this subject with her and she said,

Yeah,

This ennui,

She looked it up and it's defined as a feeling of listlessness,

Dissatisfaction,

Listlessness and dissatisfaction,

Arising from a lack of occupation,

Or even excitement.

So sometimes having a lack of a decent occupation in other words something that you want to work toward like serving or organizing a retreat is also a cause for this dissatisfaction and listlessness.

In other words,

Something that can be confused with physical tiredness.

You know,

Because sometimes we can feel like really exhausted and then a friend calls you up and says you want to come for a cup of tea or,

You know,

Should we get together and meditate or maybe watch a movie I don't know what else you do.

I don't know,

I have a very boring life actually.

It doesn't take much to make me happy if somebody says let's go on a walk or,

You know,

Let's go into nature I'm just like a little dog wagging its tail.

Or maybe a big dog wagging its tail,

You can't keep me contained.

So sometimes it is actually just a lack of joy,

Right that tiredness is a lack of inspiration and joy.

And when something does come along you jump up immediately.

Yeah,

Wag wag wag wag wag,

Let me help.

So we have to know for ourselves.

Yeah.

And in Buddhism this joy is a very beautiful word,

It's actually the word pomoja.

That's the one that I define as joy.

And pomoja is like a kind of rejoicing,

Rejoicing in goodness rejoicing in doing good.

Yeah,

Rejoicing and sharing the blessings of our life and sharing,

You know,

Our practice with others talking about the Dhamma.

My friend earlier today she told me that one of my teachers has passed away.

He was one of my very first teachers,

An Indian man called Dr.

Savla.

And this was when I was doing a lot of vipassana in India,

So I sat many long courses with him and his wife,

Pushpa Ben,

And they're from Koch in Gujarat,

A very beautiful part of India,

Very traditional part and fairly affluent in relation to India as a whole.

And so I heard that he'd passed away after a heart operation,

He was about,

I think he was in his 80s if not 90s.

But in the little article about him in the vipassana newsletter it said that even when he was,

You know,

In his last few days he was teaching the nurses who were looking after him how to do anapana meditation.

So he was teaching them breath meditation.

And his wife said you know even though he's gone he'll always be by our side,

Because really what is a person's life is it their physical presence or is it what they've taught us you know is it the Dhamma that they've taught is it what they've shared,

And that carries on,

It lives within us,

It carries on through us and this is the beauty,

You know,

Sharing the Dhamma,

Sharing what means the most to us in our life.

So,

And also in Buddhism,

Joy is known the Buddha teaches that joy is a result of confidence.

And I think that's a really interesting one because in terms of service it's a kind of confidence in doing good,

You know you're confident that by doing something good something worthwhile,

Something that will benefit others is going to lead to your own welfare and to the welfare and happiness of many.

Yeah,

So we have that confidence we have the confidence in the Buddha Dhamma Sangha.

Which means really in the qualities of those things.

So we have confidence in peace we have confidence and compassion.

We're motivated we're inspired by these things.

And this gives rise to joy and joy is a little bit different from happiness happiness is more like something we pursue something we look toward maybe it's a little bit more externalized but joy is something that wells up from within.

It wells up through our practice through connecting with the goodness in our heart in our lives.

So it's an inner feeling of delight.

And I read something on a website today it was a children's charity and it said that joy also endures hardships and trials,

And it connects us with meaning and purpose.

And I thought that was really beautiful because in something like taking on the organization of a retreat,

There are going to be trials that are going to be hardships,

There are going to be obstacles you know glitches,

Maybe the website doesn't work well there's a problem with the booking system or maybe a change in the policy the COVID policy or whatever maybe nobody applies,

You know,

But it doesn't matter because what you're doing is a good thing,

Even if nobody receives your invitation to join the retreat still your intention is what counts.

And so there's joy,

You know,

Joy that connects you to the meaning of what you're doing to the purpose of it,

And that rejoices in the beauty of your intention overcomes those obstacles.

And I think you know as a team that are going to be organizing this retreat because I've delegated pretty much most of it.

90% I hope.

You know,

It's actually more satisfying when the retreat goes ahead,

If you've overcome difficulties right those difficulties and the ways that you've worked together you found solutions you've overcome problems,

Give you even more satisfaction.

When it finally goes ahead.

And I've organized lots of these retreats now and for me there's nothing better than looking at the room chart and filling up his name in,

And it all looks quite kind of technical and you're trying to sort of guess which room might be good for who.

And then on the day you go,

And suddenly the room chart manifests in like 70 people suddenly here they all are and it's like,

Oh you're this person here,

And you feel like you know them it's like,

Oh this person who we gave this room to,

I hope the room is going to be good for you and for me it's just such an uplifting time when people come on the retreat and they take their place in the hall,

And you know that they're in for possibly a life changing event,

Without wanting to build it up and having too much expectation,

Even understanding not to have expectation and accepting your meditation accepting yourself as you are,

You know,

Loving yourself as you are,

Is a life changing event.

So,

These are really special occasions to come together and I feel it's worth giving it a chance.

The other thing about joy is that it's an inner cultivation,

It's almost like a deliberate choice to be happy,

A choice for joy.

So again,

You know,

It relates to that cultivation of mind it relates to how we use our senses in the world,

How we regard others,

How we regard ourselves.

You know,

When you look out of the window into the dark dismal,

Damp English countryside or your little back garden.

What do you see,

Do you see that darkness and dampness and the cold or do you see like the little shoots of daffodils that are poking through the earth already.

What do we see?

My mom again told me today about a lady,

I wrote her name down,

Miss Wilmot,

And there's a plant named after Miss Wilmot called Miss Wilmot's Ghost,

And she was somebody who actually used to go out with seeds in her pocket and plant them just throw them in other people's garden,

Because she knew that eventually those seeds would,

You know,

Turn into flowers,

And she has so much joy doing that.

So we don't only plant seeds in our own gardens and look forward to them with hope blooming in the spring.

But you know we can even go and plant some flowers in someone else's garden,

And in a way that's like sharing dummers isn't it.

You know we plant the seeds of loving kindness in our heart and then we share them with others you know and those seeds start to grow.

We don't know when they're going to grow,

We don't go to that person next year and say hey did you benefit from what I shared.

But you just trust that you've given them the seeds you've given them the opportunity and in time,

They're likely to grow into beautiful flowers.

So that's the motivation and I think that's just such a lovely analogy,

You know,

For the way that we can just regard life,

And you know how we choose to look at things and how we choose to share our experiences.

And lastly,

First of all,

I was going to call this talk Serve for Dammer Joy,

Because I felt a lot of dammer joy today after you know sharing about service and giving others an opportunity to serve.

And I like to check these themes out on the people around me I like to discuss the dammer,

And I don't have monastics around me so I asked my dad you know what do you think about Share for Dammer Joy,

And he said,

Hmm,

Let me.

Yeah.

He said,

Well,

You just,

You serve don't you serve.

And then the joy is a byproduct you don't serve for the joy,

But rather you serve with good intentions and that joy comes as a result.

And I thought that was very wise and insightful,

And it really reminded me of the practice of metta,

It reminded me of the Brahma Vihara practices because it's the same principle,

You know,

We don't meditate to get something,

As Ajahn Brahm says,

We meditate to let go.

The practice metta,

So that may all beings be happy and likable and pleasable and agreeable to me.

May you be happy so that you change and so that I like you,

And so that you'll never hurt me again.

We genuinely wish another person to be happy,

You know,

We don't go and ask them hey did you get my metta yesterday,

How are you feeling now are you going to talk to me more politely.

We just develop metta loving kindness wishing them well,

No matter who you are,

No matter who you are to me,

No matter what you've done to me,

No matter,

You know,

Whether you know that I've sent you metta or not,

This is not the point is an offering.

May you be happy,

May you be happy,

May I be happy,

We offer ourselves the opportunity for happiness.

We don't demand that of ourselves or anyone else.

And in the same way with service we don't demand that people appreciate our service.

We just serve,

Whether they receive our service or not,

Whether they apply for the retreat or not,

Whether they approve of our service or not is irrelevant if we can really connect with the meaning and joy of service in our heart.

We're an inside job like much of the path.

And we're not seeking any favors we're not seeking for others to like us or reconcile with us.

We're just serving for the sake of serving,

We're loving for the sake of loving,

We're giving because giving is a beautiful thing to do.

And the Buddha said that the highest form of giving is the giving that uplifts adorns and beautifies the mind.

Yeah.

I also just wanted to give a caveat on that because the Buddha often goes through the various kinds of giving,

And he talks about them in a sequential way.

So you know giving expecting something in return is not merely pure giving.

Giving because it's a good thing to do is not as pure as giving just to adorn the mind.

Giving because somebody told us to do it or because even the Buddha said to do it is not quite as pure as doing it through our own wisdom,

That this is going to be a benefit.

And yet that's okay.

It doesn't mean we shouldn't give it doesn't mean we shouldn't serve because our motivation can change.

You know,

As we start to receive the rewards of service,

Of giving,

We start to understand in a much deeper way through our own experience through our own wisdom why giving is such a beautiful thing to do because we see the results in our practice.

You know,

And it's interesting that the word joy,

Pamoja is also part of the Anapanasati Sutta,

Is part of breath meditation.

There's a stage in breath meditation called abhipamoja yam chitam.

One breathes in and out,

Gladdening the mind.

Abhipamoja yam,

Pamoja again joy.

And Ajahn Brahm likes to call this shining up the nimitta.

So he thinks of the mind as like when the mind manifests as a light or as another kind of mental sign in the mind.

Usually it's visual-ish.

It can also be feeling some kind of softness or warmth.

And this abhipamoja yam is like the joy of that.

It kind of shines it up,

It brightens it up.

And so this joy can go straight into our meditation and really deepen our progress on the path.

Joy is an integral part of practice,

You know,

And yet we don't practice for the joy.

Just as metta is an integral part of the practice,

But we don't practice metta expecting something from it.

Then it's real metta,

Then it's letting go.

And then there's no difference between giving,

Between practicing metta,

Between love and letting go.

So just lastly,

I wanted to put one more little thing in which is the joy of giving others the opportunity to serve and that's really what happened for me today.

So because I gave other people the opportunity to make some good karma and to help,

To help out,

I had this wonderful feeling of lightness and happiness that accompanied me through the day.

It was really beautiful to be able to delegate to people that I trust and to people that I know have really good intentions and want to give this a chance,

Not only to provide opportunities to others to practice but also to support me and to support the project.

Because right now I really do need a break.

And it was just very encouraging for me and it brought a great sense of confidence and relief to realize that there are people in this project now that are so committed that I can let go that little bit more,

You know,

And this is not always easy for us to do,

Especially if we've had difficult experiences in the past when we've asked for help,

And that help was refused or perhaps we felt neglected or abandoned emotionally in some way,

And it's difficult to rely on others.

But for me today that was a huge,

Wonderful thing to do.

And I also feel so much joy in my heart and so much gladness and gratitude,

Not only for myself but for them.

I feel a lot of medita for them,

Because I know that they're making incredibly good karma,

Even though it's not always going to be easy,

Even though sometimes they'll be tired when they're working,

But I know that you know you're giving an incomparable gift of Dhamma,

You're facilitating,

You know the offering of Dhamma from a teacher like Anajam Brown to all the people coming for that retreat.

So I want to thank everybody for everything you do,

Including your practice,

And just share so that you can pick up on some of it,

Even if you're not feeling that way yourself right now,

It can change.

It will obviously not always be the same.

But I definitely experienced a lot more energy today through the joy of sharing,

The joy of service.