Compassion,
The attitude,
Quality,
Practice and power.
Developing genuine,
Deep and vast compassion.
Hello everyone.
You may have noticed when you first saw this talk on a menu bar somewhere that it has both a part 1 and a part 2.
Normally I would try to keep my talks to around a half an hour or 45 minutes,
But this particular subject deserves more attention and care.
Oftentimes I speak in person to groups of practitioners,
But sometimes I compose something and then read what I have written.
I would like to share a little background with you.
At the time of writing and then recording this talk,
I had actually been hoping and intending to do a talk and guided meditation on the theme of compassion for more than five years.
The main factor which delayed my efforts was that I felt I should take a proper amount of time and care,
As it would be too easy to gloss over and in doing so undervalue this multi-dimensional attitude,
Meditative quality,
Practice and power.
After five years I began to feel like it had better be now or never,
Or it might not happen at all.
Compassion is a profound and transformative quality and theme.
In our practice it can play an incredible role in both nourishing and teaching us as we develop along this path.
So I felt it very important to try and do this subject through justice,
At least as best as I could.
This being the case,
While being in a personal one month silent retreat,
I have taken an hour or two each day in order to compose just this one talk and the accompanying guided meditations.
Reviewing this theme has been nourishing for my practice as well,
And it feels good to be able to send this now lovingly out into the world.
Because compassion is such an important,
Central and multi-faceted practice,
There are actually many subjects touched upon in this talk.
Due to this,
I would like to encourage you,
If you are sincerely interested,
To take the time to listen through this recording more than once.
Listen through,
Let things settle,
And then come back and dive in again later.
You will probably hear different things in separate go-throughs.
Don't worry,
I don't think you'll get bored.
I've said plenty of interesting things.
Sometimes the tone is celebratory,
And at other times it is challenging.
Teachers have a duty to try and rouse people from the slumber of fixed perceptions and stuck habits.
So be prepared to have your mind stretched and your heart massaged,
A deep tissue massage at that.
If it's any consolation,
Writing these twenty or so pages was a stretch for my lazy mind at times too.
In previous talks and guided meditations we have covered the practice of cultivating loving kindness or metta in considerable detail.
On this occasion I am taking the opportunity to talk specifically about the cultivation of compassion,
A quality both praised and embodied by the Lord Buddha.
In the monasteries of our Thai forest tradition,
We chant Pali verses every morning,
Recollecting the Buddha and his teachings,
And one of the lines goes like this,
Buddho susudho karuna mahan navo,
The Buddha,
Absolutely pure,
With ocean-like compassion.
This is such a beautiful contemplation.
It also says a lot about this quality and its central importance in Buddha's practice.
I would like to suggest that since compassion and purity are two of the hallmark qualities which remain after greed,
Hatred and delusion have been abandoned,
Then both of these qualities must also play an important role in establishing the mind in the liberated state.
But before we dive into this subject in more detail,
I need to further preface this particular talk with a little qualification.
As a Buddhist monk who has lived in Asia for more than two decades,
Despite the fair colour of the skin on my born-in-Australia body this lifetime,
By now I am probably what you would call a traditional Asian Buddhist,
And perhaps even a faith type at that.
This is a little unusual among western-born monastics who prefer the methods and philosophy without much cosmology.
I am not apologetic about my manner of presentation,
However,
As I believe it is the result of many years of serious study and practice,
And of living with wonderful,
Realised teachers.
I certainly understand the methods and philosophy,
But I choose to include the cosmology as well.
Pick up any collection of suttas and you will soon find that this element is consistently there.
I mention this now because throughout this talk I will be referring to concepts such as karma and rebirth,
The existence of devas and heaven realms,
And stages of enlightenment as matters of fact,
Not artful metaphors or quaint Asian concepts.
These are things about which I personally have no doubts.
Certainly in most talks I would not emphasise these aspects,
But with regards to embracing a practice of purposefully cultivating a deep and vast quality of compassion,
I believe that these aspects of worldview are helpful.
There need to be motivating factors to inspire us to commit to the rigorous disciplines of spiritual training.
And if there was only this one life,
Then why bother cultivating saint-like qualities such as boundless compassion?
If however we embrace the possibility that our spiritual practice has positive consequences for beings in this and other realms,
And for ourselves in future lives as well,
Then there is a lot more benefit to be gained,
And many more reasons to practice.
If you are not fully committed to believing these things at this stage,
Then this is fine too.
Not fully believing until one knows for oneself is a fair enough approach to take,
But I would ask that you try not to be attached to disbelieving.
Sometimes modern people,
In being determined not to be superstitious,
Develop a superstitious belief in the doubts.
While not believing in devas or karma literally,
They fully believe in their doubt.
Try to simply have an open mind.
If we don't know,
Then we don't know.
Let's be truly honest about that.
Yet if we sincerely want to know for ourselves,
Then there is humility and openness in this.
In either case,
I am sure that there will be parts of this talk about the cultivation of compassion that could be helpful.
Compassion So what is compassion exactly?
Compassion is becoming aware of,
And sensitive to,
The quality of pain,
Suffering and difficulty that we and others experience,
As well as the sincere wish that this experience of pain and difficulty could be removed or resolved.
The connotation is of genuinely caring.
It is a quality of the heart which when meditated upon frequently,
Can become an attitude that we carry habitually.
When further cultivated,
It becomes a powerful force for spiritual transformation,
A very pure and wholesome type of samadhi,
Or concentration,
Which also serves to uproot qualities such as selfishness and indifference.
If we train ourselves to have a profound quality of compassion for all beings,
Including the very negative appearing ones,
Compassion then has the power to transform our minds to become truly saint-like,
In the manner in which we perceive and respond to others in life.
Similar to loving kindness or metta,
When cultivated as a form of samadhi,
A samatha practice,
The bright,
Wholesome and steady quality can give an excellent foundation for developing insight into the impermanent and not self-nature of conditions.
Lord Buddha describes his teaching and path of training as being a path that leads to heaven and beyond.
Loving kindness and compassion support us on this journey and in this process.
At first,
The sincere and diligent practitioner experiences more heaven-like,
Radiant mind states,
Which gives the foundation for the purifying insight that leads to deeper experiences of peace,
Superior to the happiness of the devas.
The thought of cultivating broad and expansive compassion seems instantly more daunting than that of cultivating loving kindness,
At least for me,
For simply being kind is actually quite pleasant for oneself as well as for others.
Radiating a quality of warmth,
Love and goodwill is uplifting,
Uncomfortable.
With metta practice,
It can take some time to get over some bumps or limitations,
Learning to be truly kind to oneself and even to people we don't like,
At least on the level of our thoughts and attitude,
But it is doable.
With metta,
We learn to overcome the quality of meanness and experience the joy of a heart released from the power of ill-will and selective liking and disliking.
Genuine compassion,
However,
Denotes truly caring,
And with truly caring there is often a sense of commitment and determination that also arises,
To actually do something to lessen another's suffering.
This feels less safe and less comfortable,
Less warm and fuzzy.
If cultivated sincerely,
However,
The expansive joy that pure compassion brings to the heart can be liberating in different ways.
It is powerful and cool,
And it can make us brave and determined in the face of pain.
It facilitates growth outside of the often closed bubble-like experience in minds.
Cultivating all four of the Four Divine Abidings,
Or Brahma Viharas,
Is recommended by the Lord Buddha,
Because they weaken negative qualities which darken and obscure the mind,
Making it more likely for a meditator to see life and phenomena in accordance with deeper truths,
Seeing things in accordance with Dhamma,
Rather than through the filter of ignorance and delusion,
And through habitually grasping at the idea of self.
They are also conducive to brightening and stabilizing the mind,
And eventually can deepen into different types of samadhi absorption.
Stability of concentration is explained consistently by Lord Buddha in the suttas as being very helpful for developing deep and truly liberating insights.
The mind needs a certain amount of steadiness from which to investigate and penetrate deeper truth.
Ignorance is a very powerful force in the mind,
And so we need something even more powerful to remove it.
Given this,
All meditation subjects which incline the mind towards brightness and stillness are a tremendous support to our mental cultivation.
These qualities of loving kindness,
Compassion,
Appreciative joy and equanimity are also sometimes referred to as the four immeasurables,
Because they are attitudes and mind states that can be cultivated to be truly boundless.
The degree to which a practitioner decides to cultivate these qualities is a personal choice,
But we all need to cultivate them to some degree,
Because they are important tools which play a fundamental role in the process of purifying the mind.
They work against self-centeredness,
Selfishness,
Cynicism,
Cruelty and harshness,
While at the same time sensitizing the mind to the universally shared experience of pain and suffering.
With regards to becoming more sensitive to the existence of suffering,
This is actually very important.
It can seem counter-intuitive,
Because after all,
We are trying to get away from all of that.
Yet according to the Lord Buddha's first liberating teaching on the Four Noble Truths,
Dhukkha,
Or unsatisfactoriness,
Is to be known.
Having an honest look at this experience is actually what lays the foundation for transcending it,
Whereas avoiding it does not.
Becoming sensitive to and aware of the degree to which suffering affects oneself and others plays a very important role in orienting the mind correctly in the direction towards liberation.
When we can truly and simply be with,
The experience of suffering with genuine sensitivity combined with some deep steadiness,
Several things begin to occur in the mind.
It grows truly weary of the samsaric experience and begins yearning for a genuine way out,
While at the same time becoming spiritually mature enough to actually experience a quality of insight that will reveal the deeper nature of mind.
For truly seeing dhukkha as a pervasive characteristic,
The unsatisfactory and suffering nature of conditioned experience is precisely what causes delusion to fall away from the mind and for true vision and knowledge to arise,
Of a deeper potential that we all possess where suffering does not affect the mind at all.
Minds can be liberated from all suffering through understanding how it arises and then relinquishing its cause.
Whereas in the past we may have tried running away from the fact of suffering by distracting ourselves with fleeting pleasure or craving for a different type of becoming,
When spiritual maturity starts to ripen we begin to see that this approach is futile and that the experience of suffering is unavoidable.
A sense of weariness often arises at this point and many people wonder what is wrong with themselves.
Others seem to be happy enough,
But for the person who is becoming wise,
Worldly aspirations lose their allure.
We might not realize it at the time,
But this weariness is actually quite wholesome and plays an important role in orienting us towards something more dependable.
What we really need to do is sit down,
Have a good look at the recurring experience of suffering and unsatisfactoriness,
Learn the deeper causes for the fact of this experience and methodically work to uproot and abandon them.
Deeper peace will follow.
Having true compassion for oneself motivates us to do something that might actually be effective,
While loving kindness supports us through the process.
So compassion is a quality that will nourish us deeply,
While at the same time it compels us to actually do something to bring about a positive change.
Staying human in a degenerating world.
But before going much further forward in our contemplation of the higher value of compassion in spiritual practice,
Which is the main theme of this talk,
I think that it is important to recognize the degree to which different qualities have become prevalent in our society and world.
The advent of social media,
Where people can make comments in a somewhat removed context from the subjects that they are commenting about,
Seems to have had a terrible effect upon human decency and courtesy.
Similar to the way that otherwise nice people can suddenly become rude and aggressive at other drivers for the slightest infringement when separated by a metal and glass bubble.
Users of social media can become quick to insult and say nasty things,
Which they would most likely not have said face to face just a few years ago.
Read the comments below almost any YouTube video to get a sense for just how many jaded,
Cynical and critical minded people are out there posting nasty comments these days.
The problem with this is that after some time it becomes normalized.
And so people's levels of patience,
Tolerance and courtesy are taking a big nosedive,
And harsh behavior is spilling out everywhere.
As we are social creatures who are influenced by the people and trends around us,
It is very important that we recognize the degree to which the level of virtue and courtesy is degenerating in the world.
If we hope to retain our human decency and human dignity,
Forget cultivating and utilizing compassion as a method for complete purification and liberation just for a moment,
And recognize that we need these brahma-vihara based practices simply to restrain our minds from degenerating into the sub-human state that many around us now dwell in.
Desiring to resist this trend alone by applying a different socializing trend,
An utterly wholesome one,
Is good enough a reason alone to decide to commit to a diligent and regular metta or compassion practice.
The benefits are far greater of course as the practice deepens and broadens through persistence.
Cosmologically speaking,
Heaven and beyond.
When cultivated correctly,
These divine attitudes also become a place where a meditator can rest in his or her own mind,
Quite literally,
A divine abiding.
There is the more active or dynamic expression of sincerely bringing others to mind and radiating these qualities outwards,
And then there is the mode where one allows the energy to pervade and brighten one's own mind and simply rests within this,
Not thinking of self and other,
Simply generating and then abiding in one of these powerful,
Radiant,
Pure and beautiful expansive mental qualities,
Experiencing a heaven realm-like sublime state in the here and now.
According to Buddhist cosmology,
We understand that there are in fact many realms of Brahma savers who are living in high and subtle ethereal realms enjoying the bliss of samadhi,
Precisely because they have cultivated these qualities in the past.
When absorbed in one of these states,
The mind is considered to have attained one type of purity,
As it becomes aloof from the five hindrances to concentration and in doing so,
Becomes truly bright.
It is worth noting that apparently Mara,
The evil one,
A kind of CEO of the chilesas of greed,
Hatred and delusion,
Who abides in the heaven realm just below the Brahma realms,
Cannot actually see any of the Brahma devas abiding above his head.
Nor can he physically locate any spiritual practitioner during the time that their mind is absorbed in deep concentration.
By entering jhana,
One can remove themselves from his snare for periods of time.
It is only through the means of the deluding five hindrances that he can have his way with ignorant beings.
This analogy will not seem relevant to some,
But will be very interesting to others.
The samadhi states are a kind of jumping board for going to heaven and beyond,
And all who are interested in this beyond need to give some attention to the heavenly states that play a role in realizing it.
If we don't have any jhanas yet,
That is of course okay,
But we should incline the mind towards peaceful states at least to the degree that we can,
Through breath meditation and brahma-vihara based practices as well as other reflective methods,
Whatever works,
Because this pacifies the hindrances to a significant degree and makes white's contemplation and investigation more effective.
Many people wonder how an evil-minded being could get a high place in samsara,
And this is actually a very valuable contemplation.
Really great merits and many virtuous qualities were cultivated in the past,
But then some serious delusion took hold.
This can act as a warning to all of us with regards this snakes and ladders game of life that we are all enrolled in.
Merits can gain us the high positions,
But if while in that position we serve evil,
Our next post will be very low and painful indeed.
Heedfulness is the path to the deathless,
Said Lord Buddha,
Whereas the heedless are likened to the dead.
Because countless rebirths,
Ensnared by heavy karma,
Await them.
In samadhi absorptions,
The obscuring darkness of the hindrances disappears.
The latent grasping to self-view is often still present however,
Which is why we must cultivate wisdom and insight as well as concentration.
The minds of beings with amazing samadhi can become proud,
Attached and identified with the very radiance of their mind once they come out of their absorptions.
It is important to investigate the causal conditions for the arising and ceasing of even these states,
Because we are not simply aiming for heavenly rebirth,
We are aiming for heaven and beyond.
Nibbana is superior,
Say the wise.
Even more interesting than Mara not being able to locate the mind of someone in Jhana,
Or see the high and subtle Brahma-devas,
Is the fact that the Brahma-devas cannot locate the mind of an arahant when he or she is abiding in that liberated state.
There is a wonderful sutta where Sariputta is meditating upon voidness or sunyata,
The ultimately empty nature of all phenomena.
The radiance of his mind while he is in this state is so bright that tens of thousands of Brahma-devas come to pay honor and respects and they exclaimed,
So bright and radiant is this light shining from venerable Sariputta,
Yet amazingly we cannot discern from where this light comes.
Keep in mind that these are the most radiant beings in the conditioned universe coming to celebrate the radiance of the arahant's liberated mind,
The radiance of the unconditioned.
This is a useful contemplation for people who assume that Nibbana is a kind of annihilation.
The liberated and purified mind abides in Nibbana,
Which Lord Buddha also described as a deathless state.
We are not just trying to get rid of suffering and annihilate the self.
This is a common incorrect misunderstanding.
We are aiming at realizing our deepest ultimate potential,
The realization of which will shine a radiance so vast that even Brahma-devas bow their heads in honor.
Finally the habit of grasping at things as being a self will be shed along the way.
Liberated purified mind will remain,
Experiencing unshakable peace.
I'm going to continue on this little aside now before returning to the main theme of our cultivation of compassion.
Ajahn Achalo sometimes talks about devas and psychic powers in his dharma talks.
Many people appreciate this and some people don't.
This is inevitable,
But because most western monks hardly ever talk about these things at all,
I feel it is important that at least some of us do,
Sometimes.
Because this aspect of the teachings of the Buddha is also inspiring to many.
For some people a visual analogy speaks more directly to the heart.
And let's face it,
We can't start talking about divine abidings and beautiful boundless qualities without the devas and heaven realms suddenly becoming relevant.
At least I can't.
Many devas cultivated these qualities in the past,
Which was precisely why they were born in heaven.
I am sharing the following because I believe it to be relevant and helpful.
So I personally know some monks who can actually see different classes of devas in their meditation.
I won't mention any names,
Otherwise I may get into trouble.
But suffice to say,
These experienced senior monks are very well respected within our tradition.
After coming out of a samadhi absorption,
When the mind is still very bright and lucid,
These bhikkhus can see such subtle bodied beings and even have conversations with them.
I have enjoyed asking many questions over the years and have listened enthralled to their descriptions.
So one of these monks explained that he could tell the difference between a brahma deva who had attained to a realization of dhamma and one who as yet had not,
At a quick glance.
Keeping in mind that many human beings who become stream enterers through attaining the first stage of enlightenment on the path to arahantship will naturally also develop deep concentration and will subsequently be destined for rebirth in high heaven realms in one of their remaining births.
In the time of the Buddha,
Many beings attained arahantship swiftly,
So ripe were their spiritual faculties.
But in general,
We understand it takes most beings a few lives between entering the stream and complete and final liberation.
So how could he tell the difference,
I asked?
The venerable master explained,
The brahma devas with amazing concentration have extremely bright auras that stretch vast distances.
The brightness,
However,
Although very impressive,
Is somewhat cloudy.
The brahma deva who has had deep insight into the impermanent and not self-characteristic of conditions will have an extremely bright and vast aura,
Which is also as clear as a diamond.
I find this so interesting,
So if a person has the eyes for seeing as it were,
They can literally see the manner in which the self-view clouds the mind,
Whereas deep insight literally makes things crystal clear.
The insight of such wise devas will deepen,
Particularly at the time of death,
And within a life or two they will attain to complete liberation from all births,
Enjoying the unceasing bliss of unshakable peace,
Nibbana,
With no more births in any conditioned realms.
One should note that of course these same monks can tell whether humans have samadhi or insight at a glance as well,
In this very same manner.
If you don't keep precepts,
Hardly ever meditate,
And haven't developed much wisdom,
Your aura will be very dull and cloudy.
If you have good ethical standards and meditate regularly,
Your mind will be quite bright and the radiance will shine around you to some degree.
Even our ordinary eyes can see that good monks and nuns appear quite bright and radiant.
So do most laypeople straight after an intensive meditation retreat.
If there is deep insight and concentration in a human,
Then a bright diamond-like clarity can be seen in the aura and mind as well.
There are no secrets,
And you can't hide anything,
For those with eyes for seeing can see everything.
Apparently for the devas who are advanced on the bodhisattva path,
It is slightly different.
How so,
I asked.
The Venerable Master explained that the vast merits and profound spiritual qualities that bodhisattva practitioners develop over many lifetimes generates a radiance that is much more broad and vast than that of ordinary beings.
This radiance can also be very clear.
Such beings can have both great wisdom and great samadhi,
Yet do not fully enter final nibbana as their attachment to the welfare of others restrains them.
I asked the Master how he could tell the difference between an advanced bodhisattva practitioner and an extremely well advanced one.
This might sound like spitting hairs,
But it's the kind of thing that fascinates me.
He explained,
If a truly well-developed bodhisattva were to visit him,
He would not be able to see the point where the radiant aura ceased.
The radiance literally filling all of space.
Isn't that awesome?
I think that's just awesome.
We can deduce from these descriptions that no effort at cultivating the mind or wholesome qualities is ever without consequence.
The radiance from the goodness of such effort literally grows and shines in all directions.
Perhaps this will inspire some people to get serious about developing compassion,
Brahma Vihara,
And to let your love shine.
There are many more things I could relay pertaining to the interesting attributes of devas and fascinating manifestations in the subtle mind,
But that may prove a distraction.
It is helpful to have a sense for the bigger picture and for the amazing transformative nature of this path though,
So I am happy to have shared this much,
But coming back to some more practical considerations pertaining to where we may find ourselves now.
Firmly setting the aspiration and resolve.
Our own suffering can seem both unbearable and unresolvable at times.
Many people struggle with a sense of being overwhelmed and stuck.
When this is the case,
Taking on additional burdens seems quite scary.
Radiating warmth and love from one's mind in all directions is truly lovely.
You don't actually have to think of other beings much.
Just smile and bathe them in love,
Whether they want it or not.
Yet genuinely wishing for all others to be completely free from suffering,
Including people currently manifesting with cruel,
Mean or harmful behaviours,
Would seem to require quite a bit more spiritual guts as it were.
And yet we can feel scared and weak.
So what to do?
Firstly,
We have to challenge the fear by refusing to believe it,
And stop believing that we are weak.
Having compassion for another's suffering will not harm you,
And sincerely wishing to help others does not require that you do so right away.
In the beginning stages,
We are working on our attitude and our ability to simply care,
And to make the wish that beings could be free.
The potential of all human beings is in fact amazing,
And extraordinary results grow from plodding yet unrelenting efforts.
We have to truly want to grow beyond our current limitations and be determined to do so,
And we have to see the genuine value of becoming deeply compassionate.
So clearly,
In order to generate a deep and powerful quality of compassion,
We are going to need to have several things well in place.
Courage and aspiration for a start,
And if we can back these qualities up with sound understanding of the genuine benefit and value,
We will begin to find the necessary energy,
And our efforts will more likely be consistent and sincere.
Aspects of the traditional Buddhist worldview can be very helpful for our courage,
Determination and understanding,
And just as important is a belief in your own potential and a determination to realize it.
One simple question everyone can ask themselves right now is this,
Wouldn't it be great to be courageously compassionate and powerfully forgiving?
Can you imagine how cool,
Bright and fearless your mind would become?
It is good to spend some time imagining this,
Then affirming that it is entirely achievable and worthwhile aspiring to.
Another important thing to consider is,
If we don't get serious about these kinds of practices,
How much more angry,
Frightened and resentful do you think you might become?
You should wish the very best for yourself,
Especially if doing so will actually make you more selfless,
As cultivating the Brahma Viharas does.
Challenging our normal habits and perceptions,
Replacing them with wise responses.
I am presenting this talk and guided meditation with reference to and in deference to certain important principles of traditional Buddhist worldview for very good reasons.
For whereas I do believe that it is possible to cultivate some compassion for many of the people and beings who populate our world without a belief in karma and rebirth,
In order to cultivate compassion for beings currently displaying cruel,
Negative and harmful behaviour,
This belief system is truly helpful.
For a belief in the law of karma and the truth of rebirth also encompasses a belief in past lives and the karmas generated in those,
And herein lies the true cause of so much of the suffering that we see now.
Without this belief or understanding,
Not only will our deeper cultivation of compassion likely fail,
When we consider the serious suffering of others,
We are likely to fall into unwholesome states as well.
For example,
Suppose you have a friend or family member who became addicted to drugs.
You really want them to be able to get off the drugs which are crippling their mind and life.
In truly wishing for this,
And in truly caring,
We can soon quickly fall into anger about the heartless drug dealer,
The complicit police officer who will not prosecute the sellers,
And even the paid off or bribed politicians too compromised to lift a finger despite their impressive promises.
If we are not mindful and do not have a wise perspective,
Our love and compassion for our friend may quickly give rise to feelings of rage and ill will towards scores of others.
This is why we must also cultivate a wise perspective that will foster equanimity along with the cultivation of compassion.
We must literally have the balm of compassion in one hand and the sword of wisdom in the other,
For both qualities are needed for this courageous endeavor.
One of the biggest challenges we face in the task of cultivating compassion is our tendency to see things in fixed and limited ways.
We are prone to seeing things in terms of victims and perpetrators,
Abusers and the abused.
Then we naturally feel compassion for the one being harmed,
And anger at the one causing the harm.
In order to broaden our compassion we must actually challenge this perception and learn to restrain the anger.
It takes real work,
But it is absolutely necessary.
When I have attended the teachings of His Holiness the Dalai Lama in the past,
I have heard him say repeatedly that it is normal to feel some anger about cruel actions,
But he advised that we should not feel anger towards the actual being who is being cruel.
We must take the energy of anger and resolve to try and improve the situation if we can.
We must transform anger,
But not aim it at others,
For to do so only increases our negative karma,
And then we will experience more painful consequences in the future.
If the occasion arises where one has to restrain another forcefully,
This forcefulness can actually come from a truly caring space,
It doesn't have to come from an angry place.
His Holiness also explained that ideally we would have compassion for the harmful negative being even while they are being harmful,
Understanding that they are suffering right there and then as well.
Suffering,
With their minds being totally ablaze with greed,
Hatred and delusion,
Their minds are oppressed even while they oppress others.
If we cannot manage this yet,
Then we try to have compassion for the painful karmic consequences that this being will have to endure in the future.
If we cannot manage to have compassion at all as yet for these harmful beings,
At the very least we must restrain hatred and ill will.
We do not add fire to fire,
As two wrongs do not make a right.
When we fall into these angry,
Self-righteous reactions,
We have to challenge these old habits.
For starters,
It is good to ask ourselves,
Is it actually wholesome to have loving feelings towards one group of people,
While feeling anger and even hatred towards another group?
Will tolerating this state of affairs actually serve my own needs in abandoning the energies of craving,
The liking and disliking that bind me to cyclic existence?
Obviously not.
This is fundamentally important.
When we have deeply ingrained unskillful habits,
We have to confront them quite forcefully.
At the moments when we feel angry at a cruel person and begin to wish them harm,
It can be good to ask ourselves,
If I were to die right now,
Where would I most likely be reborn?
Keep in mind that your self-righteous justifications will not be the determining factor.
The quality of your mind will be.
Mindfulness of death is often taught in Buddhism,
But sometimes mindfulness of rebirth can be just as sobering.
Mindfulness of death can be a very useful tool in learning to let go of unskillful reactions quite quickly.
Getting personal,
The ways I still get stuck.
So I don't want to just keep talking about what you all need to do to further develop yourselves.
It's important to be honest about the fact that I am still training,
Still learning and sometimes still struggling.
But I am sincerely working on cultivating this path.
After more than two decades of disciplined meditation and engaging in the path of mental cultivation,
I can attest to the fact that there is definitely more metta and compassion in this mind than there was before.
Because of this,
There is also less suffering.
And although I am not liberated as yet,
I can see the way these practices readily enable us to relinquish negative qualities in the mind.
Naturally,
Then,
I can truly see the value of cultivating such qualities in meditations and envision the way the power of such practices will continue to gain momentum and subsequently be even more effective in the future.
But in order to be truthful and humble,
As someone still walking the path,
I will reveal a little of my own struggle,
In order to make it more real and personal.
Being somewhere along in the process of purifying the mind,
Unfortunately,
I still get triggered at times.
Being an abbot and being involved in creating a monastery has been wonderful for helping me to see the many areas where I still get caught.
Two favorite times of reactivity for me are when someone is especially greedy or especially ungrateful.
There have been repeated examples of when a neighbor,
Who is nominally a Buddhist,
Apparently,
Informs us that they would like to sell their land.
Because Thailand has poor zoning rules,
It is generally considered wise to try and establish a large forest buffer around modern forest monasteries.
Otherwise,
A resort complete with karaoke bar could literally be built on your doorstep.
So we have an active interest in expanding our forest.
When we've asked these people the price,
They are frequently asking more than double of what would currently be considered the usual price.
Forget a discount for the monastery,
They want double.
Amazingly,
We have had the support to purchase several plots despite the inflated price.
Kind and generous practicing Buddhists were willing to pay the greedy,
Non-practicing ones.
But these people have been the approximate outside cause for irritation and aversion to arise in this bhikkhu's mind,
Repeatedly.
My own greed for a peaceful forest and attachment to the principle of being reasonable is the inner approximate cause.
There is one last parcel of land,
Just in front of the entrance to the monastery,
That would be an important acquisition,
As it is just 50 meters from our meditation hall.
Most recently,
An amazingly generous donor pledged the entire amount of double the normal price,
Seeing the long-term benefits.
When we approached the owner,
They said,
No,
That was the price I said a few years ago.
I want more than that now.
I couldn't even bring myself to ask the price,
And so I had to get back on my cushion after huffing and puffing for a while.
The reflection that always helps me to let go of my irritation at such times is brutal truthfulness with myself about my own attachment and negativity,
Not the greedy landowners.
And so I challenged my reaction and had a serious chat with myself,
Acknowledging first that yes,
This person is greedy.
Yes,
It is very unreasonable,
And yes,
It is very unsuitable for a Buddhist to try to extort a Buddhist monastery for personal gain.
But then I asked myself,
Is he the cause of this negativity and irritation in my mind?
And the answer is no.
My attachment to establishing a forest and protecting a quiet meditation monastery is the cause.
So these difficult characters help us to see where we are still attached and reveal the work that is yet to be done.
I can still try and be responsible and expand the forest buffer if I can,
But with less attachment and negativity if it doesn't go how I'd like.
When I think of the good opportunity to make auspicious karma and powerful merits that these people give up by deciding to take advantage of other good people and their virtuous meditating monks for temporary worldly gain,
And think further about the heavy karma they incur instead in the process,
I can quickly feel a deep sense of concern and compassion for them.
These people will most likely have great difficulty finding both qualified teachers as well as places to practice in future,
And what could be more frightening.
How will they even begin to dig themselves out of this samsaric mess,
As it is hard enough to make progress even with good teachers and good situations for most of us?
When I come to meditate,
The pain of my own reaction is also quite easy to see,
So I am able to let go of the painful reaction and develop compassion for both myself and these challenged and challenging others quite quickly.
One can witness in others the result of not training in letting things go and allowing things to be as they are.
When elderly people sometimes talk about the big disappointments in life,
You can see the resentment and grudge still there even after decades.
Alternatively,
We can witness someone like His Holiness the Dalai Lama,
Who is always ready to smile and laugh despite having every reason to be resentful,
Except that he is both compassionate and wise.
So which kind of being would you rather be?
The cramped-minded,
Reactive,
Easily irritated,
Worldly being?
Or the gracious and forgiving wise being,
Who understands the causes and conditions for both the arising and cessation of suffering,
Who can smile in the face of terrible difficulty and suffering even while the heart quivers with compassion?
This concludes part one of the talk Compassion,
The Attitude,
Quality,
Practice and Power.
