Getting High on Vesak

Getting High On Vesak by Ajahn Brahm So you lucky people were here this evening to meditate and hear a talk to readjust your body. Let's finish meditation. Now is the time for the Dharma talk. Nice inspiring words straight from the heart. Not prepared. Not being read out. Never know what I'm going to say. Just prepare the mind in peace and kindness. And as I say in Australia, let her rip. So people are still coming in? Some going out. Okay. Being that this song, this year's president was saying that it's Waisake night tonight. And that's why we have the the Disneyland lights on outside. There's going to be more coming tomorrow and the next day. This is just a start. So we're celebrating. This is party time for Buddhists throughout the world and by party. I don't really get triggered as stupid things. What we do is just really get inspired, inspired on the meaning of why celebrate it? And because we get to inspired and start celebrating the beautiful way it enhances us as human beings brings us more happiness, more peace, more freedom, more wisdom, more compassion. There's a great thing for our world. One of the amazing things about Buddhism, when it's taught from the heart, it's not dry and dead. It's just so alive and meaningful. It just gets to people and it just gets deep inside and starts changing. The way we look at life energizes us. So all this negativity, this dullness of depression fades away. It's amazing how many people have come here. They were depressed, sometimes clinically. Clinically depressed. Not anymore. They're just high. I was telling, I just come back from one of these. Horrendous. If you were to look at the itinerary, horrendous trips to Bangkok and also to Singapore, and if any of you looked at my schedule, even looking at it will kill you, let alone doing it. But I really get off on this because this gets so much joy and so much inspiration and just understanding that just how much, how powerful that can be for people's lives, how these teachings have literally saved many, many lives, have brought people from the edge and given them not just hope, but this energy and direction. And that's actually why, as we celebrate things like this, this is way out day celebrating the birth, enlightenment and final passing away of a Buddha. And what it actually means is we're celebrating something which we value saying, wow, what happened and how much we respect. This event simply because the teachings which were given are so powerful. In many religions, you have to believe not in Buddhism. Just as a letter I said to our ex-premier Jeff Gallup a couple of weeks ago. We're talking about different religions and faiths. And I said, Buddhism is a religion without a faith. And I like that line. A religion without a faith. What we mean by that is that as Buddhist, we don't disbelieve Buddhas. We strive to know, just like the Buddha did know 26 centuries ago, sitting under a tree. Finding out for himself what all this is about. Because too often that now we want to find it out from someone else that some authority, some guy usually who knows better than we do. And that's never been the way with Buddhism. And that's one of the reasons why I got really inspired with it when I was young. Wasn't telling you what to believe and saying to you to hell or calling you evil if you disagree with anybody. And that's why whenever we question here, you are always encouraged. There's never anything called a bad or stupid question. And some of the questions I've been asked. I really had to stretch it. Not to call it a bad question. I was reminded by what one of my marks said a few moments ago when I was teaching in a girl's school many years ago in Perth, I had my hands under my robes because it was cold. And one of the girls was a question time and one of the girls said, oh, venerable monk, what are you doing with your hands under your robe? Really cheeky. The next question was even cheeky. When she came at her turn again, she said, monk, the girls turn you on. Fortunately, all the other girls came to my rescue. Said, don't embarrass us. Don't embarrass us, I apologize. She's always like that. I said, no, it's great. I ask those questions because one of the things about Buddhism, you're able to ask any question you like. Why is because the whole purpose is to find out, to ask those questions and to delve, to look, to search until you find out what's going on. So the whole ethos is not to hide anything. That's why that I'm very proud to say this, that when you come to our monastery, especially on these open days, it really is open. You can go in Mark's huts, see how we live, search under the mattresses. If you can find a mattress that it might have just a little map and see if there's any copies of Playboy under the mattresses, you won't find any. The point is there that you know we are honest guys, nuns, because the whole purpose of this is actually investigate and find out for yourself. So if you want to find out how I live going to my heart, I'll open the door and you can search around. Just in. I've just been busy going over to Bangkok and Singapore. Just on the airport. One of the people who takes me off. What are you going to do? You're back. What do you carry around? Have a look. Please say no. I can't. Please no person in there. Have a look. See what a man carries. So let them search with the hold of my bag. It's great to be able to do that because it's a symbol you could actually search for yourself. You don't have to take anything on faith. Don't take anything for granted. Search, search, search and find out for yourself. So the whole teachings of the Buddha are encouraging you to search and also helping you to search, how to search, how to find out. And that's what really encouraged me. I don't have to believe in anything just because somebody says so. Have you ever noticed that in Buddhism there's never some big shot, like a pope who tells everybody what to do? There's no sort of authority which decides what's right and what's wrong, and everyone has to follow that. It's a very much a democratic, sort of individualistic, finding out for yourself type of path. And that's really the only one you can trust. History has shown that any sort of books reveal documents. Authorities history says they're untrustworthy, always making mistakes. It's up to you to find out. And this is what we celebrate. The finding out of wisdom, the discovery of truth, the understanding, the way things are, and also celebrating and rejoicing in what that does to a human being. I mentioned that in passing at the end of the meditation, which we just did. From peace comes compassion comes love. This is what the Buddha was up to. Sitting down under a tree. Going in to find the truth. Not a real truth for some big shot in heaven. But finding out within his own own heart and discovering that that same truth lies in everyone's heart right here, now. Each one of you has got the seed to complete and utter enlightenment, just packaged and buried amongst layers and layers of thoughts and ideas. It is only open it up and see what's deeply inside of you. That's what the Buddha did 26 centuries ago. When we talk about meditation sometimes on the retreats, I've given this metaphor, this simile, to understand what meditation really is all about. You have to sometimes, uh, uh, approach it from different angles. But this is one of the most meaningful and helpful angles this meditation is going within. You go within this world to get to this present moment called now go into time. Actually, I went a bit too far. So go within the world to get into the body where you are right now. Go into the body to get into into time to get into this now. It's always going in. If you ever notice when you start thinking it's over there somewhere. If you start remembering what happened to you before this going backwards, we're going into life as it's happening. This is where truth is going into the moment, then into the silence, into the body, into the mind. You would find that this meditation is going in to wherever you are now. Sometimes I described meditation like this series of Russian dolls. Now when you have these wooden dolls, you open one up and there's another one exactly the same, but slightly smaller inside. You open that one up and there's another one inside that. Open that one up. There's another one even more beautiful inside that one. And that's actually what happens in meditation. You go to these stages of going in ever more profound, ever more beautiful, going into the truth of things. And it's not revealed by someone else. It's right inside you now. So you don't have to depend upon other people. You just have to go deep within yourself. And just as I was saying, this path is not a miserable path. That's the other thing I really liked about the Dharma Buddhism. All these people have been going on this path a long time before I had and had really got to something. They were all incredibly happy, powerful, uh, inspiring people. So it's just like those old advertisements I used to see on TV for for toothpaste. Before you use the toothpaste, you had a body odor or breath odor. Bad breath. No one liked you. People, even in the shops, would walk away from you. But once you had this new toothpaste, everybody would come to you and have lots of friends. You'd be popular again because you had good breath. What was the before and after? And just like in Buddhism, it's not bad breath. It's just, you know, bad mind, bad mind smell. And it comes out. And just the way you look at people and the way you speak to them. But when you have this beautiful Dharma toothpaste and you brush it into your mind, then you come out and just so fragrant and whatever you say is just so nice and so wonderful, inspiring and wise and compassionate. People just keep coming to you. So I always wanted to see that before and after. Unfortunately, you could do that in Buddhism because you didn't have to wait till heaven to see the angels. You can see the angels now, three of them in front of you right now. And there's lots of monasteries all over the place. So that's what that inspired me. This is not just words. When the Buddha became enlightened, it did something to that guy and people saw it. It was a change. It wasn't just some idea. From that deep piece and seeing things as they really are. This freedom. This beautiful freedom called peace of mind. Liberation. And from there you can get this beautiful compassion and happiness. You really know how to serve in this world. And you know what happiness truly is. In Singapore, I was talking about greed. Nothing wrong with greed is the aspiration of the mind for happiness. Trouble is, we want the wrong things as all it is. We think that we should get the get the promotion at work. That then will be happy. But you all know by now. Shouldn't you know by now that once you get the promotion, you just get more headaches, more work, even less time at home. And doesn't matter how much increase in salary you have, it's never enough. That's why I said in Singapore I didn't work. I tried it here once, I tried again. I studied down in the United States by many economic departments. Found the maximum salary to create happiness in your life is 50 000 us a year. Any more than that, it doesn't increase your happiness. In fact, if anything, it lessens your happiness because you have more worries. But $50,000 was the optimum salary, and I'm sure that this many people here who are earning more than that. So in order out of compassion to make sure that you keep your happiness and don't lose anything, anything over $50,000, you can donate to our monastery and donate. It's not that we wanted, but just, you know, you need to be happy just out of compassion for all of you. It never worked. How does it work again? Never mind. The. The point of the story is, is that just out of. We think that this is how we're going to have happiness. And you may try that throughout your whole life and it doesn't work. So greed is okay. We want happiness, but we want to find out what really gives it to us. This beautiful peace, contentment is where you find that happiness. The partner you are with, the job you are. It. Your old body, your old mind, your old house, your car, whatever it is. You find happiness with what you have, not with happiness with what you might have, and not happiness with what you once had. You find happiness in the moment, a sense of appreciation and delight in this moment. It's incredible that once you get the hang of this, you find how true this is. All throughout your life, you are looking for happiness somewhere else, anywhere else, and you weren't appreciating what you already had. Why now? So beautiful once you stop looking somewhere else, the problem is not you. The problem is not the world. The problem is certainly not your husband. Believe me, I know you can argue about me, but believe me, your husband is beautiful. Your wife is just so one. So nice. You. Even if you're single, you're good enough. That's why in Mahayana Buddhism, we say that everyone's got Buddha nature. Can you see that right now? Inside of you, this beautiful purity. This piece is inspiration which is there. If you can only discover it, why can't you discover it? Always looking somewhere else. So in meditation, we start to go within it. It's not just meditation, it changes the way we look at life as well. So if I look at my hectic schedule, so what? It's good enough and I enjoy it. I make peace with it. I open the door of my heart to whatever I have to do. I let it be, I appreciate it. I have gratitude just to be here in this moment, serving and talking with you. What a great inspiration, a wonderful thing that is. What a privilege. Thank you for letting me talk. When I do that, just get this incredible energy coming up in every moment. It doesn't matter what I have to do every now and again. How to go to the dentist. I never like going to the dentist when I was a kid, but now it's great. Go to the dentist. According to my rules. I'm not supposed to lay down in luxurious chairs, but in the dentist I can. It's the most luxurious chair I've ever sat on. Is in a dentist's. It's even better than business class on Singapore Airlines. The dentist chairs. And the best thing is, sometimes when I go travelling, people recognise me and they say I don't. Can I ask you a question? And sometimes it gets very tiring. Especially, you know, when sometimes you just been talking all day and then you sort of get into the airport and what I've said. And then you said a few years ago I was in Changi Airport about 3 or 4 months ago. I've been talking all day. If you don't give a public talk, people talk to you afterwards or counselling their problems. You name it, you say it. And at the end they took me to the airport. But some of them work for Singapore Airlines, so they work inside the terminal. So they took me inside and they kept on talking to me and I thought, oh my goodness, how am I going to get any peace at all? So toilet. I went into the gents toilets in Changi Airport. Didn't work. The toilet attendant recognised me. I told Rob for 20 minutes I was in that toilet cubicle. Not actually in the sort of outside of it, you know. Just, you know, I was it called the lobby by the washroom, talking to the toilet attendant about Dhamma and meditation. But who cares? I have fun, so when that happens, instead of having negativity, why does this happen to me? I don't want to do this. This is not right. That's the cause of suffering. Instead, we have this beautiful. Well, I can't do anything about it. I can't change it. Let it be. I open the door of my heart to the toilet attendant of Changi Airport. And I opened the door of my heart to just so much tiredness sometimes. I open the door of my heart to sometimes things going right, sometimes things going wrong. It's easier to open the door of your heart when things go right. But however, open the door of your heart when it doesn't go according to plan. When things go wrong. When you get sick. When you're in pain. When you get divorced. When somebody dies. How can you do that? The Buddha taught that under the body tree. There's nothing you can do. Leave it alone. It's either the mango or the shit. The dog poo. That's all life is. Dog poo or mangoes. If it's dog poo, you just dig it in and it becomes a mango. If you dig it in under the mango tree. If it's a mango, it's just dog poo transformed. That's my life. And whenever you're having a difficult time, great. I got more fertilizer for my wisdom in the future. Whenever I have any suffering or difficulty, that's great. I can give a talk about this. Now, like, you know, being bored stiff with the toilet. But I can talk about this on a Friday night. Make people laugh. What a wonderful experience that is. Oh, thank you so much. But when are you enjoying yourself? Isn't it great? I can have fun for the whole of life. Whatever happens, you can open the door of your heart till you can appreciate it. You can make peace with it. You can let it be. You can find worth in every moment. Can you do that? Oh, there's some parts of life which are really stink. And you want to get rid of things which should not happen, and it's somebody's fault, and I'm going to do something about it so it never happens again. For those of you who've been hurt, you don't know how to love. If you haven't felt pain. You can't have compassion in this world. If everything goes well for you. You should know that by now in your life, when you've had disappointments, real things which are like a knife to the heart, not just a knife, but a knife which is turned slowly. Tortuously. That's where you grow. It's not nice, but there's a way through and there's a way through, which is not just getting rid of the problem, but transforms the pain into inspiration. That's what I learned from Buddhism. There is nothing, no experience in life which cannot be used for the happiness and benefit of all sentient beings, including yourself. Even murderers became enlightened. Prostitutes, street sweepers, anybody? How can that happen? How it happens is it doesn't matter what you've got in life. It's how you make use of it. And that is what really inspired me. You don't have to be an intellectual or a smart ass to become enlightened. Anyone can. It's just one's attitude, that's all. Doesn't matter. Poor. Rich. Female. Male. Gay. No discrimination whatsoever on the path to enlightenment. It's just what you make of what you've got. So whatever happens in life. What is this? How? What am I doing about it? This is all what I call the relationship problem. If anyone looks at what Buddhism is talking about, what the. The root evil is the big cause of trouble. The axis of evil. As Mr. Bush, we might say, his greed, hatred and delusion. And where do those things lie? They don't lie in you, otherwise have no possibility of enlightenment. They don't lie in the world. You can't change the world. Look, in history, it's always been like this. But what you can do is change your relationship with the world. The whole point of Buddhism. That's what you're supposed to be doing. Changing the way you look at life. That's when the delusion is changed into wisdom. To be able to look at dogshit as fertilizer, to be able to look at the mango not as something to feel guilty about, but something to enjoy. I got a lot of praise recently because one of the ways we sometimes we celebrate this way, like in so many different ways. But as a Buddhist, you can be innovative. Like, tradition should always just be focusing on the core of Buddhism, but changing the way it's presented. When I was in Singapore, I was performing in a concert, a musical. I was a musical star. Just I wasn't singing Good job, because I didn't want inflict that amount of suffering on people. But I was acting as myself in this musical about. It was called Opening the Door of Your Heart, because it was based on my book. A wonderful experience that was to inspire people to move them on. Dumber. Not for entertainment sake. You want to entertain when you go somewhere else, but sort of a way of packaging these teachings about love, kindness in a way which stayed with people all about making peace with whatever you have to experience in life. Learning how to love. I don't mean loving the nice people, not just loving the wonderful times you have in life, but even loving the difficult times in life. Sometimes you may think that's impossible, but it ain't. So love doesn't mean to like. It means to embrace, to make peace with, to open the door of your heart to this, this wonderful. How transformative that is. When you're making peace, compassion, kindness not just to other beings, but to life itself. You know what the Buddha was doing under the Bodie tree? According to the story, for years he was struggling and striving, trying to get rid of difficulties, trying to get rid of the problems. What we call the the pest management system, the pest management path is anything you don't like. You try and annihilate. Get rid of spray to kill so they're no longer there. I don't mean just termites. I mean a pest management system for husbands. The pest management system for, uh. For bosses at work. The pest management system for governments. Get rid of them. They don't deserve to be in office. And a pest management system for things in your life which you'd rather not face. Isn't it always the case that we get into this thing? If we don't like it, it's annihilate it. Let's exterminate it. Let's spray it. So it's no longer a pest anymore. What happens that way. In the end, you find this pest riddled inside of you, things you don't like about yourself. And when you try and exterminate yourself, then you're in big trouble. It's called depression, suicidal tendencies. In Buddhism, you can't commit suicide. It's not that. It's against the morality. It's just to kill yourself. You're still there afterwards, you know? Reincarnation. So what's the point? You see, you can't escape that easy in Buddhism. So anyhow, the point is, we don't get into pest management systems in Buddhism. We don't try and annihilate the pests. We embrace them as something which they're therefore to learn from, to be with. And so the Buddha was trying to eliminate greed, hatred, illusion, as if it was a pest. For the way he practiced under the birdie tree for enlightenment, he made peace. Let things be. Develop compassion and kindness to his own mind. And saw this incredible transformation. When you make peace. When you make compassion, when you allow things to be, when you embrace this moment, you are making good, beautiful karma right now. The result could only be something wonderful when you make peace. It's like laying a brick. Every moment when you make peace with this is another brick in the house of peace. It doesn't take long to build the mansion of peace. Those deep mansions of peace record in Buddhism, the genres, the deep states of meditation. They don't come from wanting. They come from stopping all this wanting, being so content, so at peace that nothing moves, that everything becomes incredibly still. Time stops. Thinking stops. The body stops. Then the mind stops. Absolute, utter stillness in those deep still states in meditation. Your opening up, going deep within. And the deeper you go, the more happiness and joy you feel you get to the ecstasy states what I call the sex, the bliss better than sex in the deep states of meditation. Once you start to do that, then you notice how powerful and strong the teachings of Buddhism are. You get incredible wisdom as a result. The enlightenment of the Buddha. Then you understand why we have this path. Because from that peace you get power. The power to truly be compassionate, to see things as they truly are, to embrace. Whatever you have to do in life, whatever pain, whatever difficulty, whatever trouble with peace, you cannot control this world, but you certainly can control your attitude towards it. The way you look at it. And it was done, first of all by a Buddha. And it's done many, many, many thousands, millions of times over by people who hear these teachings. Well, that's what I'm supposed to do. Be at peace, make peace, embrace, leave things alone, disengage, and just watch and appreciate this moment you find at least there's so much bliss. You understand how easy it is to appreciate your husband or your wife. Really appreciate them. I don't know why it is in our society that there's so many divorces, so many arguments that people who choose their partner in life, they just don't appreciate them. They said, don't say it. Now don't act it. And so there's always this argument between husband and wife, what we call nagging. Na na na na na. Here she goes again, man. What is this? Shut up. Why does that keep happening in our world? Is the people you're living with. Can't we have love towards them in real life? Just like the love you have to your children. It's one of those reflections. Why is it these children. You love them. You never chose them. They just came into your life. You don't know where they came from. You don't know where you picked them up. But there they are in your life. They come into your womb. They come out. Who's this? And you got to get to know them. They're not you. In Buddhism, it's very clear they've come from another life into your life. You just give them a body. And here they are. Your son, your daughter. Don't know where from. But you will love them forever. Your husband, your wife. You choose your partner. You check them out before you commit. I keep on saying you test drive these days before you buy. But still, you can't love them. Why? I think a lot of the time is because we don't know how to love it anymore. Just so fault finders. We expect too much. We don't appreciate. We haven't got this wonderful way of opening the door of your heart and give it rather than expecting. So why is it? Another way to enlightenment is just giving. By giving, I mean expecting nothing back in return. Just give to this moment. You give your energy to your partner. You give this time to her. You just give your life to him. She says. You sacrifice like a mother. Sacrifice her life, her only child. Whoever's in front of you is your only child. It is a gift. Fully 100% expecting nothing back in return. That's the way I live my life. Go over to Thailand, give talks or whatever. Don't expect anything back. Just do it for sheer fun. You just enjoy doing it and go over to Singapore. I just teach all day, go to concerts all night. Very rare. I go to concerts as I'm like. That's probably why I really enjoyed it, because it was a summer concert. And see how people just get inspired. You don't ask for anything. I know recently that actually the end of this month, I'm just going on tangents, I don't care. At the end of this month, I'm going to be speaking at an international human resources conference in Singapore. And the story behind this is interesting that I well known in Singapore, this is to CEOs and companies how to look after their staff, how to run a business, basically. So I'm in the commercial world now, but I always say I've been a CEO for a long time, the CEO of a franchise of the biggest multinational company, or certainly the oldest multinational company in our world called the Buddhist Sangha. The Buddhist monk, who is a very old we got the franchise here in Perth and I'm its CEO. But anyhow. When I was first invited. The letter said that please come and give a few sessions at our conference. We'll pay you business class airfares and a fee. That sounded interesting. But you know, because I'm a monk. You don't care about these things. But one of my disciples in Singapore who knew the committee organising this very high profile conference, said, well, how much are you going to pay this guy, this monk? And I asked, what's his going rate? I'm very glad you said nothing. Well, they didn't say nothing because he said, well, you know what the other speakers get. I couldn't believe you know how much these speakers get. They said between 50,000 and 100,000 a session, just for about like an hour, 50,000 to 100,000. I will the talks which I have given here. I think that Sol you owe me a lot of that. So this guy in Singapore said he's a monk, so we'll settle for 30,000. So that's what they were going to pay me 30,000. And business class airfares. But then what happened next was they couldn't get enough sponsorship or people going. So they wrote to me, say, I'm sorry, we can't afford you. Yeah. And that's what I wrote back. And I said, listen, I'm a monk. I don't expect anything back in return for for teaching there. So look, I'll do a deal with you. I'll go for free. I'll get sponsors for my airfare. And I just want to give just speak. No fee whatsoever at all. And apparently they got that letter now. So inspired. So that's a monk. We don't do things asking for something back in return. I just bust my ass for the fun of it. Just going good and I enjoy it. And I thought, wow, what a great privilege that was. I'm going there and all. This must be some other big profile speakers. They're going to get, you know, 30,000, 50,000, 100,000. But I am the winner. I get nothing. Yeah, because I'm doing it because it's love giving. If you give without wanting anything back in return, what do you actually get out of that? Well, you get blissed out. You get so much happiness and so much power. His cult is the power of giving. Of letting go. Of compassion. Of making peace. Of joy. Just appreciating what you have. Not wanting anything out of it. As for the Buddha, understood under the boundary what made him enlightened? Don't need anything. The end of craving. The end of a sense of self. You don't measure yourself by how much you earn. You measure yourself by how much you can give, not how much you can get, but just what you can contribute to society. Isn't that the case? I often ask, who is the richest man in the world? Who the richest man in the world is now? Are you okay? You know me well enough. Now. If I ask the question, keep your mouth shut. Because I was the richest man in the world is not Bill gates. I read in the newspaper he's supposed to be $50 billion. No. He's poor. He has to work. He hasn't got half as much happiness as I've got. So enlightened beings are the richest people in this world. Because they are the ones who don't want anything. Don't need anything. Just got so much happiness. Too much happiness. They end up just giving generously. Happiness every Friday evening. Please take some happiness. Please take some. Take some. Have as much as you want. Now you understand what Buddhism was all about. Why? It inspires me. Never ask for anything. Never charges for anything. Never wants anything but just wants to give. It's all part of the same path. Whether it's a meditation, whether it's a monk giving a talk, whether it's a nun building a monastery. It's not about me. It's not about wanting. It's not about criticizing. Sometimes people get exasperated, sometimes with me when they sort of say, no, this person's done something wrong with the Buddhist society or the the paths weren't swept, or there's something falling down or it's good enough. What a beautiful place we have here. Sure it could be bad. It could have no personal air conditioning just right above where you're, you know, your own remote control. You can get it just right. You can have make sure that anyone who has a mobile phone on by mistake gets executed at the end of the day. That'll teach you a lesson. But that's not our study, so we can't do that. It was wonderful to have the mobile phone on. And the little people. This little kid calling for his mommy wasn't that sweet. So nice. It teaches us patience, teaches us not to be fault finding. If you got angry at that, you spoiled your whole meditation. If you get angry at the dog barking, you can't stop that dog, so why not make peace with it? Open the door of your heart to this moment, however it happens to turn out. Then you understanding what the Buddha was up to you understanding what Buddhism is, your understanding why we celebrate this, why we get inspired. Because these are teachings which work. They create happy people, peaceful people, people who get more and more joy in their life. They can live with themselves. First of all, you know why so many people get divorced? Because they're so unhappy not with their partner, but with themselves. For goodness sake, if you can't love yourself, how on earth do you think can love another person? This is why we teach in this place the secret of love. Looking at yourself, making peace with yourself, and finding out you're not half as bad as you thought you were. Not more. Not that actually. You're just incredibly beautiful. It's a wonderful person inside who just wants to. To give, to be kind, to love, to serve, to be generous, to help. I never found a human being who doesn't want to do that. And I have good fun every now and again. And going to prison as I was when I started going to prisons in Singapore. Because, you know, during the days of weekdays, nothing much to do except counselling and talking to people. So in my spare time, I've been visiting the jails in Singapore, the beautiful people in there, and just oh, and was it Monday or Tuesday? I went to the Changi School, the school for the prisoners and some great guys in there. They gave me a nice little picture, which I left in Singapore because I left in the room where I usually stay, made all by themselves. A painting. This little piece is made of such a beautiful thing, and they did this out of their spare cash, which they get. I think they get $10 a week or something for the work they do, and they just give it to a monk. Isn't that beautiful? It's not the picture. It's where it comes from, gives me this bliss. I see so many beautiful things happening in this world. It inspires me and gives me happiness. So I never really get that tired. My body gets a bit weak, but my mind is just so bright and energised through inspiration. And that's really what we're supposed to be doing on this waisake weekend. Inspiring ourselves. And it is sometimes that we restrain our inspiration too much. We don't allow ourselves to really get off on happiness. Strange thing, human beings were afraid of being happy and being free. What's wrong with it? Being inspired. I remember once being in going to this ceremony in England. One of the monks over there has been working in prisons for a long time. He got an OBE last year, apparently from the Queen, for his work in prison, a Buddhist monk. But one of the things he did, he managed to talk the Home Office, these people who run the prisons in the United Kingdom to have what he called a Buddha grove in one of the prisons in the garden of the prison. He would supply the Buddha statue, a big one. The prisoners would actually landscape the area, and it would be a place of peace and reflection for everybody. And when he managed to pull the first one off, I think what's it called is Springhill Prison. And the I happened to be there visiting my mum. So he said, why don't you come along for the ceremony? So one evening I went into prison with a few other people to celebrate this Buddha statue. And just like we're going to do on Sunday evening. But not in a prison here in North America. We did a circumnavigation just at dusk with candles and incense and a flower. A few of us and the 2 or 3 prisoners who were Buddhists. We walked around as Buddha statue three times. And I'm a friend of inspiration. I encourage it in myself. I started thinking, what an amazing thing this is. And the country of my birth has a born in England, in a place of negativity, a prison, a jail. There's this beautiful picture of not picture. Big statue of a Buddha. Spreading peace, compassion, and most of all, forgiveness. Doesn't matter what you've done. That's the past. Let it go. Don't blame other people either. Let that one go. Be free in the present moment. Stop carrying the past like so many coffins on your head. You don't have to. You can be free. Doesn't matter what happened in the past. Dog shit! Mangoes. It's all good stuff for you. But let it just. Transform into this moment. As I was thinking of just the beauty of the scenery and as the inspiration of the moment, I had this huge smile on my face just walking around as blissed out. I knew that because there was two prisoners. They weren't Buddhist. They were just checking out, see what was going on. Standing by the side and I saw the corner of my eye. One turned to the other and say, pointing to me. He's on the gear. I'm not quite sure what gear means, but it's either cocaine or heroin or some drug, because that's the only way they could recognize my blissful smile. I was high, like on drugs. And these were the experts in death. I don't know anything about drugs. Those guys know everything. But I was proving you don't need to have things injected into your arm to get bliss. You just inspiration. So if any of you are free on a Sunday evening, it's not just better than sex. It's better than cocaine or heroin. I never tried those things, but I'm sure it is just going around and missing out on something which is really beautiful and meaningful. The purity of the Buddhist teachings of the Dharma not reveal teaching in some book, which we have to argue over narrative belief in some sort of God takes away responsibility from yourself. Blaming or praising or asking. You have everything you need yourself. It's all in your heart. You have the Buddha in your heart. You don't need anything else. Just open the door of your heart and get all the bliss, inspiration, peace, wisdom you could possibly want and more. So much you start sharing with others. Just go out and out. Be missing out on the inspiration and peace. I think people think, yeah, it's okay for you, but what about everybody else? Look, people need to see happy people. There's so many miserable, grumpy, negative people in this world. What a wonderful thing it is to send out next Monday. At least 300, 570,000 people come here on a Sunday evening. Thousands of smiling, happy, inspired people to go to your workplace on a Monday morning with a big smile on your face. Do you have a nice weekend? Oh, yes. Oh, beautiful. Blissful. Wow. What were you on? I was on Buddha. Now, they may think you're crazy, but they'll smile too. They'll be happy too, because happiness is contagious. In fact, the happiness virus is even more contagious than bird flu. So people pick it up for you. When I was in Singapore, so many people came out and said, I just like coming here because you're such a happy guy. So just like, you know, whenever there's a few people that are depressed over troubles, divorces, lost their jobs, sometimes just sit with them. It doesn't matter what you say. Just being there makes them feel more at peace. Happy gives them hope. And the hope gives them a path and the path they will follow. When they get out of their trouble, they realise how important happiness is as a path. So they get inspired and inspiration is something which is lost in our present world. Sometimes we look at the newspapers. The government's, the budget, they're the eagles are dockers. Very careful not to say anything that I get in big trouble. And I married my husband. Wife, you know, funerals, divorces, the. Sometimes. Can we actually stop seeing the faults in life and seeing the beauty of life is so much beauty there. That's why we have a place like this. It's a beauty shop. The beauty parlor of Nola Mara Dermalogica center. Just come in here and just see beauty and happiness and joy. It's important because it's there all the time. But sometimes we just miss it. You go home and you can respect your partner more. You can appreciate them. You tell them this, darling, I don't know. I've been married to you for how many years? Thank you for all those wonderful times. I really love you. I care for you. Okay. Sometimes I forget and say stupid things. You know, I'm. I'm a boy. I'm a girl. But look, underneath all of that. I really love you. Try that. And that's. Why. Can't we say that more? Because we need more inspiration, more encouragement. And just look at yourself in the mirror. This person I've lived so many years with. Those were me. I'd gone through so much, so much dog shit. So much mangos in my life. Here I am there. Look at yourself and realize you're not that bad. In fact, you are a beautiful person. So me, two of my hearts open to me. I love me, I care, I'm not that bad. And I'm going to give myself the gift of happiness and inspiration. What a beautiful thing that is to inspire yourself. So this is actually why I really get off from being a Buddhist monk, being able to encourage people to inspire themselves and they become better husbands, better wives, much better parents when they show by example just how to have fun, how to have joy in their family, how to respect themselves. Okay, you're not as that successful. You're not that much of a failure. You just you. That's all. You do so many things. We try so hard, but we praise ourselves too little. So this is actually why we've practiced in these ways where we have this beautiful celebrations, whether it's waist circle, whether it's our conference which are supposed to really promote sort of this weekend, because in four weeks time we're having a conference, not a talk fest. So I can't really tell you, but we've got a number of surprises for our global conference because, you know, my character, many of you know me for a long time, have a lot of fun, do things a little bit weird, new, unexpected. Because if you knew exactly what was going to happen, that would not be true to life. So we have a program, but don't depend upon it. That's why I never know what I'm going to speak about. It'd be terrible if I had a talk written out here and just read it out. Oh. How boring. No, that wouldn't be like life. That would be just an invitation. Like a script. It's the same with these conferences. Sure, we've got a rough idea what's going to happen. But I truly hope, and I know the main organizers sitting over there should be like, I truly hope it goes terribly wrong. And it doesn't go according to schedule at all and people don't show up. In other words, we have every year we have this Commonwealth Day service at Saint George's Cathedral, which I've been going to for years and years and years. We get the different religions to come and do some sort of chant or something, but the best service we ever did at the cathedral, no Saint George's in Saint George's Terrace was one day we just got started and doing this stuff and everyone was just it was a hot day and basically people were getting bored out of their skulls. But on this day, some nutcase rang up the police and said they planted a bomb in Saint George's Cathedral. And what happened was he had to stop the dean. And, um, what's his name? John Shepard. Yeah, it's John Shepard. I should know, I'm getting big trouble because he's a good mate of mine. John Shepard had to come up, stop everything. So there's been a bomb threat. The police has asked us to evacuate the cathedral. Now be calm. Your religious guys, anyway should be calm. We'll just go and have the refreshments, which were supposed to be after the service. So we all went into this, I think John Birt Hall, I think they call it, to have these refreshments. And because it was unexpected and because we couldn't leave straight away because the rest of the service was going to go on, we had to talk to each other. And everybody had to mingle when things went wrong. And that was the best service we ever had. And I told the dean, Don Shepherd, can't we have a bomb threat every year, please? And if he does that, it was a really good because when things go wrong, it's human. It's real. If things go perfectly in your life, in your marriage, with your kids, in your profession, then you're missing out on life. It's when things go wrong. We learn about compassion and wisdom and openness and friendliness and forgiveness. That was his teachings. And until we learn about those things, we have to keep repeating the same mistakes. As soon as you learn how to forgive, to let go, to embrace, to make peace with. Open the door of your heart. Let go. Appreciate not fall. Fighting. Feel gratitude and express that. Then you know just how whether your religions male, female, gay, whatever, whether you're from Mars, Venus, I don't care where you're from. You know how to make peace. Our conference is called Confronting the Controversies, but it doesn't stop there. The second title is for Making a Peaceful World. Isn't that enhancing a peaceful world? That's what we're doing. So those of you who are free on June the 10th and 11th to come to another celebration and inspiration, well, you're not just going there just to learn words. You're just going there to learn inspiration. Energy, power. The heart for the Buddhist teachings. So this is what it's all about is what we celebrate. We celebrate these things for the peace and happiness of the whole world. To take happiness and spread it out. Not by words, but by example. Buddhism is growing and throughout the world. I learnt in Bangkok that the Chinese government in a recent sermon I said there was a thousand million Buddhists. Now in China, the president who said that apparently he should know he's a boss and certainly in other countries is growing very fast. Think last November, guy from Sweden came along and said that the Swedish government had done a survey in every high school. One of the questions they asked every kid in high school, if you had to choose a religion, what religion would you choose? 60% wrote down Buddhism 60%. Why? Peace. Inspiration. Not telling you what to do, but encouraging you how to do it. Seeing the real problem not in a person. It's not in a religion. It's not in a gender. The problem is how we relate to the world. But exploiting it for our own needs. But having a relationship with the world. Having a relationship with our father. Relationship with our kids and the relationship with ourselves. Having a relationship with life. Not of domineering, dominating. Not being submissive, but a sharing, caring partnership. It's not them. It's not us. It's what's in between. That's where the action is. Doesn't matter what you're experiencing, it's how you're experiencing it. That's the key to liberation. What lies between you and this experience called now making peace, embracing. Opening the door of your heart is a way to enlightenment. That's what the Buddha found over 2500. And was it 80, 94 years ago? It's still there in your heart right now. A timeless teaching, just there for the taking. That's why we celebrate ways that we can. That's why we have these conferences. That's why so many people in our Buddhist society are just working 25 hours a day to pull off this conference. Why? Because we love to do it. What a wonderful thing to give. And each one of you are invited. If you haven't joined up yet for our conference, remember? So probably the only Buddhist conference in your lifetime in Perth. You'll have to wait to another life. To have this opportunity. So this is a bit of a plug for a plug for our conference, but most of all a plug for the inspiration of making peace with this moment. The heart of the Dharma. The way to be a Buddha yourself. Thank you. Okay. Any comments or questions about this evening's talk anyway? Yes, we got one. Yeah. You enjoyed it. Thank you very much. Great. Oh, it makes me so happy. Yeah, there's some of the things which I get in life, and people come up and say, wow, without you, I'd be dead. I was suicidal. Oh, no, there were separations. Now, that sort of. We're together again. Do you remember last year, one lady told me when I told you about the problems of my husband after speaking to you, we're together again. Having a wonderful time. Thank you so much. When you give. You don't expect anything back, but you get the world. That's a happiness which you can't buy. So I'm having a great old time as a monk. I really recommend this if anyone wants to join up. Any other questions? Thank you, sir, for that lovely comment. Appreciation. He says thank you. Enjoy the talk. When you go home, say thank you to your wife for appreciating enjoying her cooking or her just her company, her just being there. Please say that cost nothing but huge returns. Any other comments? Okay, here we go. Oh, yeah. Another one. Okay. All right. Let's see where he gone wrong a little. You got? The little guy as well. What you've done. Is so good. Yeah. I think sometimes it's true that sometimes that when people really go through difficult times, sometimes they go to the hospital. You know, this this is again, um, not about a hospital for the crazy mind that people come here and they really get off. But after a while, it's not just getting better. Now, if you really understand, it's getting better and better and better and you just really take it to the limit. So, you know, sometimes people don't realize, okay, when you get rid of your problems, you know you're at peace. But don't be content with that in the sense of just leaving at that. There is so much on offer. Bliss upon bliss upon bliss upon ecstasy upon euphoria. The Buddha once said that enlightenment is the ultimate happiness. And as I say when I first read that, what does he mean by that? Just I know how true that is. My goodness, you guys out there, you know, not in this, uh, hall this evening or going watching the bill or watching a movie or something. You just don't know what happiness is. And people say, why are you a monk? Because I know what happiness is. I really do. And I said, wow, no way will ever sort of leave a monastery. That's where the action is. When you really know what happiness is. You keep on going. So the Dharma is the path of ever increasing peace, happiness, freedom, liberation. You truly understand it. The damage is always there. It's like food for the heart. You really understand this. You can eat as much as you like. You never get fat from Dharma. You just eat all day. Stuff your mind with bliss. That's what I thought. Monks do stuff. Stuff, stuff. Well, please. Please. Thank you very much. Why not? So the point is that she hasn't really understood. Just how dumb it is, not just for overcoming suffering, but dumb is also for encouraging more and more happiness. And. That's what I really like about it. Yeah. I think what he was saying is that your happiness or liberation is not complete yet. So do you want three minutes a day for once? Enough. What? You would actually have to stuff things in your mouth three times a day and brush your teeth three times a day? Once a day is more than enough. And now, why do you have to cook three times a day? Cooking is so much hard work and washing up afterwards. Imagine going home and saying, I just heard from this mark that one meal a day is sufficient and tell your husband from now on I'm just going to have one meal a day. You can eat as much as you like, but I'm only going to cook and wash for you once a day. Okay, so just put it all together. If I like breakfast, I like some cereals, put cereals in their bowl and if they're like sort of say some spaghetti, put the spaghetti on top of the cereals and whatever they're like in the evening, say sort of a some sort of pie, put the pie on the top with the ice cream, which they like last of all night on top of that. So all in one go, get it over and done with. Imagine how much have you really got that much time in your life? Are you like, sort of mean there's never enough time so we'd be more efficient. You've got to get this food in your body, put it on in one go. You have a lot of time that way. And imagine all these things you can get done when you're not having to go eating all times of the day. So after a while, I mean, once you get into it sometimes, why do you meditate for? He's sitting down there just blanking out or hypnotizing yourself or when you understand what it actually is. When I first meditated, sat down, it was just so beautiful. It was only for five minutes, but it was a taste there, which was lovely. And so I just followed that taste and just got more and more delicious. So once you understand what's happening, you know, the damage is so incredibly powerful. It's beautiful. That's why when I suddenly evening when I go around three times. Sometimes I cry because the first time around, I think of the Buddha, and I just. What that means. The Buddha inside of you, the Buddha nature. This purity which I see in every human being, even animals. Incredible goodness inside a human. And I've seen that in jails as well, with rapists and murderers. You can see it very easily if you're a monk. So I just get so inspired thinking about the Buddha logo, the Dharma. Oh my goodness. Is how much the happiness that creates in the world. This is what you hear here. And why are you come here on a Friday evening after finishing work, rushing here to come here and listen to this? Why is this so beautiful and lovely? So I go around just crying. This damage is so wonderful. And the last time I go around, I think about the sangha, all these great teachers like adjunct. I've met these people who actually taught me this, who shared it with me and gave the greatest gift that human being can ever give. Another how to find the truth, how to know peace, and how to find love in your own heart so you can give it out to others. Let us get I inspired the tears out of myself. I haven't got problems. I come to the temple and the Dharma for even more happiness. I'm a druggie, an addict. I'm hooked. I don't mind it. That's what I would say. And that's why we we do these things. Learn to live simply. Why do you want three meals a day? Why do you want a big house for. Why do you want a sort of a big car? What do you want it for? Come on. So that we think if I get that, then I'll be happy. I'll have status. You don't get status. People give you more status. I respect you more. The more you grow in love, not in wealth. I think that you're an amazing person. The more peaceful you are. I look at I'm going over time. Who cares? Like last March, I had dinner with Queen Elizabeth and people couldn't pay it. Actually, there was one guy in Perth. He's the owner of Creepy Crawly. Um, he invented it and his wife was there. She was a Thai Buddhist. And she said, the only reason my husband's in here. Because he gave all this money to John Howard. So how did I get in here, then? I haven't got any money to give to anybody. So there you are. Just this poor guy, sort of, you know, having this huge fame and status, you know, dinner with the Queen. So what is his famous status business? You can work really hard. You can get the biggest house and the biggest car. But I get to the Queen, not you. For why? Okay, I think I've spoken about. I've gone on too long anyway.