The End of 'Evil'

Somebody gave me a topic for this evening's Dharma. Talk about a 2 or 3 minutes before I came in here, and they wanted me to talk some more about right view, because it is an essential part of our Buddhist path. It's a very powerful part as well. Many years ago, somebody asked me, do you have any concept of evil in Buddhism? Because many times when things go really wrong or if somebody does something very bad. No, it's almost the Western culture say that's evil or that person is evil. And is there such a thing as evil but isn't? There's no such thing as evil in Buddhism. Their whole concept is absent. So instead of someone being evil because, you know the world is not malicious, I don't think I've ever met a person who's truly malicious. They're just stupid. And it's a stupidity we have in place of evil. It's just ignorance. Not seeing things clearly like a wrong view, a distortion of perception. Her illusion, our delusion. Rather. So in a place of evil, we have light delusion. Many people they know sincerely want to have happiness for themselves and happiness for others, but sometimes they get it wrong. This is stupidity, basically. Which is why the first part of the Buddha's way to enlightenment, the Eightfold Path was right view getting the way. You look at the world, look at yourself and look at nature. Get that correct. And so the talk this evening is quite an easy talk for me to give. Just what we mean by right view in practice, in our life, and how it is by changing the way we look at things. We can let go of so much pain and suffering and difficulty and problems in our life, which is why people come here, realize this is a religion, Buddhism. But we don't go around praying to a Buddha. We actually do what the Buddha said by changing the way we look at things. And that's far more effective than lighting incense and bowing and chanting and all this other stuff, which is sometimes very helpful. But the main reason why we come to a place like this, the main reason I become a man, to change the way I look at things for the better. And I spread that light view to as many people as possible. So they also sees things in a more balanced, positive, wise way and compassionate way so we can build a better world. So let's talk this evening as about how to change the way one looks at things and have a deeper, better idea about life. And of course, so when I give these talks, it's usually the impressions, the experiences I've had recently. They're the ones which means so much to me. And the first impression which comes to my mind about how to create a better, wiser view about some of the things we do in life is I just come back from Singapore and also from Thailand. The main reason I went to Thailand was actually to do the marriage ceremony for a long standing disciple's family, and there's a high society wedding in Bangkok. Now, one of the reasons I'm a monk, one of the reasons I enjoy, uh, doing weddings or giving the wedding blessings is not because I'm a romantic monk. I don't go crying. Oh, doesn't she look wonderful? Oh, he's so in love. Isn't that sweet? That's not why I go to marriages. I go to marriages because I know you can make a difference there. And there's a lot of suffering happens in relationships. And I know that I can actually ease much of that. And of course, you know, you all read my books, you know, many of the stories, but there's some stories aren't in that book and some are. Especially these two. I looked at them. This is their marriage day. And I looked at the partner. The husband, first of all, Doctor Nam. I looked at him and said, from now on, from this day forth, you should never think of yourself. And he smiled and looked at his wife. And I looked at the wife myself, and said, from this day on you you should never think of yourself either. And she goes longingly into her husband's eyes. And I said to her, you should never think of your husband either from this day on. And it's wonderful seeing the change of expression on her face. What is this about talking about? And then looked at him and say, you should not think of her from this day on. Because if you think of yourself, that is again wrong view in the relationship. People understand that for they miss the point. If you think of your partner, that too is wrong view. That will create a huge amount of problems and suffering in your relationship. The answer is from now on, you should think of us. Not me, not you, but us. And they got the point and they nodded and smiled. Yeah. Because, you know from your own experience that if you give yourself to somebody else, it means there's one person who has got no stake in that marriage. Yeah. If you're selfish, is another person's got no stake in that marriage, then it's a relationship. Stupid is ours from here on in. So I told him, whatever happens in your partnership from here on in, if you get upset, I talk to the wife. Don't think it's your husband's fault. If you get upset at her, it's not her fault. Whatever happens, it is our fault. In other words, you share the problem and you also share the solution. Now, I do understand. When we think of me, we think of them. We're missing the point in a marriage and a simple thing like that, which is right view is seeing things a little bit deeper. Gee, it's all so many problems. That's actually why I was invited all the way to Bangkok to do these things. Now I share my secrets with each one of you. I don't need to go there anymore. Someone else can say the same thing. But it is very powerful when you see what's happening and you just see things in a slightly different way, then the problem is solved. Or rather, it doesn't actually arise in the first place. This is an example of how we change the views of things. And another example is obviously the other end that I say we do cradle to grave services as much, but actually we do much more than that now do baby blessings as well. So if you have a baby, you so bring it to me and I bless the thing and give it away as soon as I possibly can. I don't know if the last time I told that story, it was the it was a custom. In Thailand, if you have a baby, especially a male baby, actually offer it to the mug like you'd offer a glass of water, a cup of tea, and you'd give it to the monk. Now, here you are. It's yours. In other words, from that time on, I'm like, it's the same as like being a godfather. And then I quickly give it back as soon as I can to the mother or the father and say, okay, now it's my religious child if you like, but you look after it from here on in. So we do baby blessings as well. But it's much more than just from cradle to grave, actually before the cradle, because many, many times when a person is pregnant, you just teach them how to meditate, just how to make the mind peaceful and calm. Because we all know that mother child, it is so connected in those months before birth. If the mother learns how to keep a very cool heart and very peaceful, that baby who learns meditation, learns peacefulness, learns quietness so quickly, I know we should do some research on this and publish a paper, because this will solve so much suffering for parents in the first months of a child's life. If you meditate before birth, your child sleeps well and doesn't wake up in the night. This is actually a weird story, but it happened. There was one. I forget where they were from, where there was a Singaporean disciple, or here in Perth. They said that just after the baby was born, they were lying in bed with a baby and they'd already breast fed, and the baby was just on their mother's tummy and facing the mother. The baby sat, crossed his legs and put his hands and meditated. Freaked the mother out. Where did he learn that the baby was actually in a meditation position, not just on her mother's womb? It's obviously baby knows a lot more than the mother did. But anyhow, he also do Beyond the Grave, ghosts and things we Do ghost busting. And, uh. Okay, this is a nice time for this little story. It's got nothing to do with right view, but. This story was totally by Argentina because I knew Argentina. Damo. He was second monkey for many years, and I just was it. Wednesday night was staying at his monastery. So he told me this amazing story I never heard before from the tsunami. Couple of days after the tsunami hits in pockets, many Westerners died. A couple of days later. Those Thai people here in the province of Gubbi, now maybe 150km away from where the tsunami hit, a Thai woman married to a Westerner had a dream. She dreamt of an English girl, maybe in her 20s. Young, pretty. But in the dream, she was battered, bruised and cut. She looked terrible. And this person came to this woman in a dream, announced that she had died in the tsunami. And at that moment, her body was being picked up by the Thai soldiers and placed in one of the Buddhist temples, which they use as a temporary morgue. She described her clothing, her hair and where she was put. And she also said, I'll come to you because I want you to call my mother in England. She's worried about me. She knew I went into Peepee Island for a holiday, and she hasn't been able to contact me because I'm dead. But don't tell her to come yet. I don't want her to see me like this. Please give me a Buddhist funeral. And after funeral is finished and ask her to come to collect the ashes. The amazing thing was then this ghost in her dream gave her a telephone number of her mother. After which this Thai woman woke up remembering the dream and remembering the telephone number taught with her Western husband. Let's give it a try. She rang the number. He was the mother of a person who was missing in PPI. It was her when she described what had happened. Her mother was convinced that was her daughter. They cried together over the phone. She soon went to Puckett. From Kirby found the body where the ghost said gave her the Buddhist funeral. And then the mother came from England to collect the ashes. Met at the airport, embraced him and wept together. A few days later, after the mother had gone back to the UK. This is a nice part of the story for those people who are Thais here. She had another dream. This woman appeared a second time. This story was told to Xanana by the woman herself, who had the dream appeared a second time. This time wearing white. Beautiful. No bruises, no cuts, no wounds. And the wounds came to say thank you. And he said, I owe you something. Here is another number. And it won. It's the good cover. And there is a true story about. There are such thing as ghost. And we do look after those ghosts and do a little Buddhist ceremony, which is where we do some chanting and do some meditation and tell some good attitudes towards it. And of course, that whole story, you can imagine just how they would ease the pain of a mother who lost her son or daughter, rather in that great evil. Was this tsunami evil? Sometimes people say these things. It's like an evil smile. It's not an evil tsunami, it's just nature. This is what happens in the world. Death is what happens in the world. Disappointments are what happens in the world. And if we could only see the bigger picture. Of what happens in this world. Again, then we can have this right view, and it takes away a lot of the pain and suffering of when a person dies. One of the reasons I was in Singapore just last weekend when Sister Rama was here, was I was appearing in a concert. Not singing because I have to. Compassion. Too much compassion to sing for somebody. Somebody asked me the fundraiser once. Can you sing your favorite song? And they really put me on the spot. So I said, okay, I'll sing something from Simon and Garfunkel. For those of you who are old enough to know this, I sang The Sound of Silence. That was their first hit. I got away with it when I said the concert was trying to put basic teachings of Buddhism, of Dharma into a context where people could hear it, see it sung. And also go away afterwards is not entertainment. People thought it was entertainment was actually a way of taking that message. And many of you may know in that book opened the door of your heart. There's one story called the The Falling Leaves that in a forest when there's a storm, it's not just the old leaves which get ripped from the tree. So. So the young leaves turn. She look on a forest floor. After a very heavy rainstorm, you'll see most of the leaves torn off the tree, lying dead on the ground. Her old withered leaves. Among the withered leaves were yellow leaves, green leaves even, and even a few leaves, who probably had only sprouted the night before. They too lay on the ground while old withered leaves still hang on despite the storm. Look how many young children have died in the last week. And just look around you to see how many withered leaves are still alive. To come to the Buddhist center tonight. Now, there was a story I heard years ago which made me understand have right view about the law, the nature of death. It does not always take all people. It takes young people as well, even children. When I saw that white view came, I never thought from that time on the death of a child was some evil, some terrible tragedy, which shouldn't be. And someone, somewhere needs to be blamed. I don't know how many times before I heard that story, I thought, and I heard other people say, why does this happen? Why does a child who hasn't had a chance of life three, four years of age die? He's seen the children in the camp sought soon with terrible diseases. Sometimes we think why that gives you the answer. Why? And that was put his as a song. A beautiful song in his little play. When a mother lost her daughter. You have beautifully sung. Beautifully played. And it was actually written by a woman who lost her father as a gift to her father. Had of love for her father. She also wrote another song. This too will pass. This too will pass the story of in my book, The Emperor's Ring. So how many times I tell people this story? It's a great story because again, it just shows you the right view. I know many of you have heard this story before, but if you have heard this story, just bear with it. They will soon pass. This story is very easy. At home for us was began whenever things went well in the kingdom, he'd have a party and a celebration. When things went wrong, he'd be in his room sulking, crying, depressed. You understand who the Emperor is, don't you? That's you. When things go well, have parties. You think? Great. Wonderful. Going holidays have a wonderful time. When things go badly in your life, you get depressed, you get upset, you get anguish. But being a young emperor, he has some good friends, some wise ministers. You know who your wise ministers are, don't you? Amongst the nuns, all the people who come and teach you. We're your friends. And the wise ministers toiled around for. Why didn't you? Actually, they didn't tell him. They just got a ring made just with the words on the outside. This too will pass engraved on the outside. I forget who it was, but I know that one of the people here has got such a ring, and they put those words on the outside. This too will pass on their fingering. Every time they looked at that ring, they remember not just at the sad times will pass. The death of a loved one. Just the breakup of a relationship or a marriage. Even the sadness when your son leaves home and goes off to some other countries, to a bank or somewhere to get a job or get married. Or the pain of the sickness or an operation. Look at that ring. You know it will pass. Pain doesn't last. Swift sadness despite you will just pass away and fade and flow into happiness again. But the wonderful part of that story, the one which I really like to focus on, is to look at that ring when you're having a good time, when things are going well in your life, when you have a great relationship, good job, when you're healthy and prosperous. This too will pass. Now, that's not being morbid. What that means is when you know that even happiness, prosperity and health is unstable. It means that just because you're having a good time, it does not mean you can be heedless. But instead, you have to still work calmly, mindfully, energetically, compassionately work even in the good times, so that your health, your happiness, your calmness, your goodness. Last longer than usual. You know what happens. The reason why I say relationships founder. Because you take them for granted. You forget that this too will pass. So you stop putting effort into your relationship. You stop contributing because you take it for granted. So much of the problems in life come just from that because we think, oh, everything's okay now. We got ourselves together. Now our finances are okay. Our shares are okay in the market. You know what happens. This too will pass up and down. Live in your house. And they your loved ones. When you understand that it's right for you, you know it will pass. And when you understand that very deeply. It doesn't make life more troublesome. It actually enhances your life. You know how to get more out of this life. More peace, more wisdom, more compassion, and more importantly, more joy and fun. By remembering these things, your children, they will pass away. They will go off and get married and go somewhere else and leave you. So thanks very much, mum. Bye bye. After all you've given them all, you cared for them. Now that's nature. You know that deep inside. And you work with that at any problem, any difficulty, any situation you have, it will pass sometimes because there's a mind you, a bit of a counselor. Sometimes this is a counselling trick. Sometimes people come to you and they've got terrible situation with a partner, with their health or with something or other. Sometimes your job is just to listen, to be there, to be kind. And just to let change do its job. And sometimes I don't do anything. I'm just there to be kind, to pacify. Because change is hope. You know it's going to change. It's not going to be the same. Understanding the change of life is again the other part of right view. We accept that sense. We don't just accept it, we value it. Accepting is as. Okay, I got to bear with this. We value this change of life because this is, you know, when you really understand what this life is all about, this is a beautiful, valuable part of life lived when there are such things as death. Now, the other simile which I gave was a concert. Render a concert. I'm doing this very briefly because many of you know these stories at the end of a concert, when the band goes away and you leave. How many of you cry? Oh, I'm never going to hear that band again. Oh, isn't this terrible? Of course you never cry after a concert. Even though it may be you won't hear that musician again. Because after a concert, we always value the beauty of the music we've heard. What a wonderful performance. How lucky I am. And that's how I looked at my father's death when I was only 16. Great performance dad. I loved you so much. Thank you for those years. I've taught that at every funeral service and many times here on a Friday night. By changing your view of a death, what you're doing is instead of looking at what's been taken away, you're looking at what you've had. It's just a positive view. I've had 16 years with my father. Oh, maybe only nine months with a child in my womb. Alyssa got to know them that long. What a wonderful time that was. Thank you. I wouldn't have given up that experience for the world. Thank you. Be great if we could have longer time together. But this too will pass. I have to let it go. But not just letting go of these other negative things. The right view. It's amazing. Just how many times will we allow ourselves to suffer? Because the way we view life, the way we look at things, is we just attach and grasp from and accumulate just the negative and painful stuff in life. People like to read newspapers because all about the things which go wrong in the world. And the same way, the way we think of the past, we just think of all the things which have gone wrong in the past. It's wrong view again. And of course, this is one of the repeated stories. About the two chicken farmers. Chicken farmer number one. Again, I go through this very briefly. Chicken farmer number one goes into his. This was also in the conflict. Chicken farmer number one because in the concert I just play myself. I don't need makeup. I was supposed to look like this. So in this little concert towards the end, when this woman actually was because of the pain which she experienced with having a husband who kept many mistresses. It's a story of modern life there, how much pain that causes people. And this was a woman who, throughout her whole life in this concert, had a husband. Getting divorced in those days was no option for her. She just wore it as her husband straight. She hated the man who, when her husband died, her hate carried on. Why is it that we can't forgive? It's a weird thing in life. The anger is wrong for you. Revenge is never justified. And the opposite path of revenge and anger when it's directed at yourself, is called guilt. Guilt and anger are exactly the same things, but just directed either to someone else or in a case of guilt to yourself. And as far as Buddhism is concerned, I just put aside Buddhism as far as common sense is concerned. That is stupidity. Why allow someone else who's hurt you to continue hurting you by not letting it go? In the concert. My part was to get on the stage there. This was just a play. And to tell this lady that your husband was not a good man, but he hurts you. Why are you allowing him to continue to hurt you by every time you remember what he's done? With anger, you allow him to hurt you again. Why can't we let the past go back to the story? The two chicken farms. Chicken farmer number one goes into the shed. Collect the produce of the night before. Takes the basket into the shed, leaves the eggs in the shed to rot and fills the basket with chicken shit. Brings a shit back into the house. You know what happens when you bring shit into the house? It stinks. The whole house out. That was a very stupid chicken farm. I learnt a new word when I was in Singapore. Gundu. See a few people from Singapore. That means stupid. It's a Malay word. There's a good Gundu chicken parlour. Stupid chicken. Farmer number two goes into the shed with a basket. Leaves the shit to rot in the shed where it belongs. And takes the eggs. Butts carefully into the basket and brings the eggs into the house, where he can make an omelette for his family and sell the rest of the eggs in the market for cash. That's the smart chicken farmer, and this is one of our favorite stories. And he would say, the meaning of this story is when you collect your past, what do you put into your memory basket? Are you a shit collector or an egg collector? Be honest. You're shit collectors, aren't you? Why do we do this? Why is it the past way where we remember what happened to us? We collect all the things which went wrong. When you think of your husband, how many times you think of wonderful things he does 2 or 3 things wrong. That's what you remember what your wife said to you? 3 or 4 things which she said, are you 2 or 3 have got to be even. That's what you remember. And that spoils your whole week. So I told that in this concert to this lady, it's only a plane. But why are you collecting the shit of your past and allowing that just like shit makes a house stink. You're allowing that to cause your life in this moment to stink. Suffering? Pain. The Buddha called that attachment. We look at our past. How many of us? How attached to the pain of the past. Not just the pain of somebody else, but our own pain. What we've caused, which is called guilt. And as many psychologists come here and they all know this as well as I do, I never studied psychology. I studied my mind in meditation, studied Buddhism. And that's why many psychologists and Buddhists, that's why the I. In October last year, we started the Australian Association of Buddhist Counselors and Psychotherapists, all these psychologists and psychiatrists in Sydney area, they've got branches. I hope they've got branched now in Western Australia. I told them to do it. To actually to make sure that the people in these professions exploit these teachings of Buddhism more and more and more, because Buddhism was not a faith based religion, never was. It was an evidence base about the mind and how to live a happy, peaceful life. And so all these things have all been discovered a long time ago, and we put them into practice in our monasteries, in our nunneries, in our temples. That's why it's a huge resource of stories like the Chicken Farmer story, which nation wrote a whole book about and get a psychology degree, but it works when we see what we're doing. You see why I really am Gundu. I really am stupid. Why do I remember some terrible thing which I did in the past, which was a bad thing and wrong thing? Sure it was. But what other things have you done? Why have we just collecting shit? And why do we never collect the eggs? Every time I see people I don't know, it's the way I've trained my mind, I suppose. But I see this is wonderful. People who come here. That's why it's so difficult. When I ever do marriage counselling. I see the one partner and it's just a wonderful person. That's how I see them. Sure, they've got a few faults in them, but I just train myself over these years actually, to see the beautiful part in it and then look at their other partner. And that is a wonderful person. I just value them as a good friend. They come to me and say they can't stand each other. How come you're two really nice people? Strange isn't it? Sometimes married people have children and their children love their mother and they love their father. They can see so much wonderful things in them. Somehow, along the line we learn negativity. We learn how to look at the faults in each other. As children, they don't seem to do that so much. Somehow we lose that ability just to love unconditionally. That's my mom, I love you. That's my dad. I love you too. Mother and father lose that ability. We tend to see the mistakes in each other. Not only that, we see the mistakes in ourselves. It's exactly the same stupidity of our mind. Not evil, but stupidity. When we have the right view. The two bad bricks in the wall story. I'm not going to repeat that. Two bad bricks 998 gold bricks in the wall. I wanted to destroy the wall because I saw two bad bricks. It's amazing why I when I laid that wall myself, why I only saw two bad bricks. I could never see the good bricks which I had laid. I laid this wall. I made two mistakes, and I wanted to destroy that wall because of those two mistakes. That was stupid. That was the wrong view. Now I look at that wall. 998. Good bricks. Only two bad bricks. That's a pretty nice wall. Being a perfectionist is being negative. Seeing the negative parts in life and not realizing that that's not what life is. How many people here are perfect? The old joke is, you know me. The only time I've ever made a mistake in life was when I once I thought I was wrong. That's only a joke. And we all make mistakes in life. We all do stupid things. But I embrace my stupidity. I accept it. Was it just a few days ago in Singapore? Somebody gave me in the airport in Changi. They gave me a drink. No, actually, it was in Penang. On the way back from Penang just before New Year's. They gave me this very delicious ice cream and coffee or whatever. I forget what it was called. But anyway, it was very delicious. And no, they gave us. I didn't have my glass. It was a straw. So I started sucking up. I couldn't suck it through so it was blocked. It was actually the spoon. There I was, his wise teacher, sucking. Sucking through a spoon. Hey, you see, it's great to make a mistake. And it made you laugh. It made me laugh as well. Made them laugh as well when they saw what I was up to. Isn't it great when you make mistakes? I feel guilty about it. Tell everybody and make them laugh. Because what you're actually saying. You see, the reason you laugh there is because you see that now Jim Brown is a human being. I had to make mistakes. So I am connecting with you. And when we actually see our mistakes, they become features of our life. Beautiful things. There is right view. There's a great when you're not afraid of mistakes in life. Actually, they don't become mistakes anymore. It has become beautiful parts of your character. And that way we have this wonderful right view and we can start to accept things and be. At peace with things. We can be at peace with our partner, even in them. Not. They may not be the best in this world. They're good enough. We can be at peace with ourselves. We're not the best in the world. But you know we're good enough. That's another story I told this happy couple, which also made them laugh and made their parents laugh especially. The story of this happened in Singapore. Real story. Just after a couple got married, the father of the bride took his new son in law aside and said, son, you probably loved my daughter very much. He said, father in law, your daughter. She's so special. I'm so lucky to marry someone like her. She's so wonderful and charming and beautiful and oh, wonderful in every way. And the father in law rolled his eyes and said, yeah, that's what it's always like when you fall in love. But son in law, in 1 or 2 years time you will start to see the faults and defects in my daughter. But always remember this son in law. When you start to see her faults, always remember, if she never had those defects to begin with, she would have married someone much better than you. Well, it's true, it goes both ways. So I've been lucky. You've got the husband or the wife or the partner you have. They may not be the best, but if they were better, you were never got them. They'd got someone much better than you. So that way we can be at peace with things in this world. Which is what we mean is right for you. Sometimes people ask me why. How can we know whether it's right for you or wrong for you? What does he mean by that? It's right for you. Because, number one, it's wise. It's sensible. Once we see it, we say, yes, that makes sense. That's the first quality of right view that it's true. And the second quality of right view is it leads to peace, to happiness, to a sense of freedom. That's the second reason why it's right there. You can see just it leads to the solving of problems in this world. It's just like sometimes the view people will have of work in this place. People think, oh, we work so hard and we more work we have. That's why we get so stressful in life. And I do a lot of talks to business people and say, look, that is not correct. Stress is not caused by the amount of work you have to do. Otherwise, I'd be stressed out. More than a lot of you. I don't have holidays. I was working, got many groups to look after. I tell people all my responsibilities got modestly down at serpent I. What a society of W.A. look after this joint. I oversee the nuns monastery at Damansara. But the Society of South Australia and the spiritual. Was it advisor, director or something? Spiritual advisor, Buddhist Society of Victoria. Two temples in Sydney I look after. I'm the spiritual director of the Buddhist Fellowship in Singapore. 2 or 3000 members there. And also I've got a centre named after me in Singapore. The Brown centre. It does sort of counselling a lot of disciples in Malaysia and in Thailand. So many responsibilities. But I don't get stressed out at all because a busy person is not someone who has lots to do. A busy person is someone who does too many things at the same time. If you do too many things at the same time, then you're a busy person. Have a look and you see that's a busy person doing many, many things at the same time. If you know how to focus. Do one thing and do it well. Suppose you have three things on your plate. If you try to do three things at the same time, you know you just don't do anything. Well, you actually waste time because that's an inefficient way to be productive. No task is done well when you're still trying to do your job and you're thinking about your family or thinking about, so the telephone call or the dinner afterwards. If you learn how to focus and do this job really well, and then do the next job and then do the next job, the three jobs you do, one at a time, take much less time than doing three jobs at the same time. It's basically efficiency. That's what I learned in meditation how to focus. So when I give a talk, I'm focusing on this stuff. I forget everything else, all the other things I'm supposed to do in my life. Even if I want to go to the toilet, I can't even feel it because I'm not focusing on that part of my body. I'm focusing on you, the talk. And even if I go over to, say, Singapore. Quite frankly, I forget all about you. I don't take this place with me on the aircraft. That's one of the other questions I was asked at this concert. How do you prepare for death? What can you do to die? I told his following story. And then over the last time, I told this joke. But it's a good Buddhist joke. There was a man. A man in Singapore. He was a Buddhist, but he'd only go to the temple once a year for the way sake. He's what we call razor Buddhist. Just like in Christianity, they only go Christmas time. Or Easter, maybe. Or when it's a marriage or a funeral. Other than that, never go to church at all. But this man went to the temple on waiting. It's very busy. You know what they are like in Singapore. It's got lots of jobs. He had a big shop, so it's always at his shop. Keeping it open, selling this or that. So the very, very busy man. So he went to the temple one way. So his wife made him go, and he heard the monk preach about what happens when you die. And this is classic Buddhist teachings. The most important time is your last thought just before you die, because your last thought before you die. That is what will send you to a good rebirth or a bad reaper. And the monk also said, one of the best thoughts to think about just before you die is to think about the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha. We call that the Triple Gem. Now the Buddha, the teacher, the Dharma, the teachings of Sangha, those following the teachings, the Buddha, diamond Sangha. And this monk said, if you can keep that in your mind before you die, the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha before you die, then you're certain to go to a heaven rule. So this guy thought, great. I don't need to go to the temple again, nor do I need to give all these donations. It's very expensive going to a temple. All I need to do is to make sure before I die, I think of Buddha. I was going to go straight up to him. Don't have to give any food. Don't have to go to the temple. Don't. Don't do anything. Just sing Buddha Dam and sing. But then he thought, how can I make sure that my last thought is of the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha? Then he had a great ideas of very smart men because he had three sons. So he decided to rename his sons. You can do that by deed poll. His first son, he renamed the Buddha, second son Dharma. And the third son, Sanger, because he knew Chinese tradition. At his deathbed, he had to have his children around. So that's the way he thought he could beat the system. So sure enough, many years later, he never went to the temple at all or was at his shop doing business, always counting the money and worrying about how he could make more. And at his deathbed, there he was on his deathbed with his three children. The Buddha, David Sanger Buddha, David Sanger, Buddha. He was said he had it all worked out. And just before he died, he saw Buddha, Dharma and Sanger. But then. But then he thought, hang on. If my three sons, Buddha, Dumb and Sanger were here, who's looking after my shop? Unfortunately, that's when he died. You can't beat the system. The best way to prepare for death is knowing how to live life. If you live your life well, with right view, with wisdom, with kindness, compassion. Then of course your last moment will be the same. So really, what we should be doing right view means we let go of the past, especially the painful past. If you want to keep anything, keep the beautiful, the positive, the things which have inspired you in your life. The eggs. That's what we keep. That's all right for you. Because that leads us to happiness, to inspiration. I never said this other thing. Every psychologists business people know if you focus on what went right in your business, in your relationship, in your life, you focus on the eggs, what went right. It inspires you, energizes you, and makes you do that thing again and again and again. You repeat the causes for happiness. That's why we collect the eggs. When we collect the eggs, we actually make more eggs. We collect the collect the shit. We make more shit. So by remembering what went right in your life, in your relationship, in your work, in your business, what works? Remember that it inspires, encourages, energizes, and you do the same again. That's how you're successful. You learn how to live life. And that's what we do when we die. Remember what worked. What inspired us? What energized the beautiful parts of life? What was the most beautiful thing which ever happened to you in your life? The most inspiring moment when you learn how to focus on the positive. On the beauty. When you die, you'll have a beautiful mind. And beautiful minds can only go to beautiful places. That's how we prepare for death. By preparing how to live life right now with your right view. Letting go of the pain, forgiving the past, not carrying the hurts from the past into the present, and also not worrying about the future. Future is so uncertain. The only time I read horoscopes is the one man I love is here today. Can't see him because the lights are a bit brighter. But he came to my monastery and he read out a horoscope on my birthday many years ago. He thought that was a good idea. On my birthday, he'd read out the horoscope. Because I think horoscopes in a paper have a special one if it's your birthday. That day he started reading it out for those born on August 7th and it was August the 7th. This year is a good year for romance. I never believed a horoscope since. I thought of actually writing the horoscope once, and the first line of the horoscope would be today you're going to read a horoscope. That would work. Think of it. The future's so uncertain, so we don't even worry about the future. And as I said in the beginning. Right view. So many people are just so this way. So much time worrying about what's going to happen next that's wrong for you. As I said in the beginning, when we're doing the meditation every time, every time you think and plan about what you're going to do next, you are neglecting the future. Because now is the place where the future is made. Now is the only time you have to affect your future. So if you neglect this present moment by planning something later on, you are actually neglecting your future. Here is where the future is made. Now is when you can be proactive. Only in this moment can you do something to create the causes for a positive, effective future. So those of you who really, really, really want to have a successful future, spend more time creating the future. Now, if you know how to make this moment beautiful, peaceful, compassionate, kind, wise, of course the next one will be the same, and the next moment and the time when you die would also be the beautiful moment. Which is why I love that question. How do you prepare for death? How do you prepare for tomorrow? By caring for the now that is right for you. More people did that that have many more happy people as well. Less afraid, less anxious, less panicky. Look at me. I never prepared for this talk. I just prepared in the meditation how to be in the now. And this tall just evolved like they all do. See, this is how one is successful in life by having quiet fear. So that's the tall for this evening I have helped you may have caused greater happiness and peace in your life. Thank you. Okay. Now, any comments or questions about this talk? It's not really extensive. Many more things you could say about the right view, but it's a good start. Anyone got any comments or questions about that talk? No. It's good bright lights. I have to do that. Yes. You got a question there. 0000. Okay. Talking about has been many, many people and situations in the world which have created a lot of harm. And there are such people like Hitler. Are they evil? When I was, uh, grew up, uh, one of my best friends were in the Boy Scout cubs together. We went to the same school together, kept in contact with him, was one of the few friends from my early years I always keep in contact with. After he finished his university, he decided to be a school teacher and he went to one of the rough schools in South London because he wanted. He has a very compassionate person. I wanted to do something for the underprivileged part of society. So he took a job as a science teacher in Wandsworth Comprehensive School, one of the roughest schools in south London. He told me this incident, he actually wrote this in a letter to me when his class came in one morning. One of the boys spat, had his feet clean that up f off, said the boy bathed another four. No, I don't dare say the four f went. Straight to the principal with you. So I went to the principal. A couple of hours later. The principal came with his hand around the boy. So did he know why he did that? Last night his father beat up his mother quite severely. Family is broken. A huge case of domestic violence. And this poor boy who loved his mother. And could not stop when he saw his mother savagely beaten. Then the police came out and took that father away. This boy hasn't slept all night. His boy is completely distraught. This not excusable. To spit and to swear. Understandable. Was that boy evil for spitting and swearing? Sometimes he's too easy to judge. If we look deeper, sometimes we see why people do these things. And I say not excusable, but understandable. When I heard that, I thought, well, I love my mother very much. Fortunately, my father was very, very kind and gentle. But can you imagine what it would be like? Say 11, 12 year old boy saying your father. Beep beep beep. Your mother in front of you. How would that affect you? So sometimes we see maybe everyday things. The right word. Malice. There is no world ever. Where does it come from? I never think that a human being is all bad. Even Adolf Hitler was a vegetarian. So I don't think anyone deserves to be thrown away. There's always a good part in. There are some hurtful things, but those hurtful people are basically stupid. They have some goal in society, but they just go about it in the wrong ways. And sometimes even the goal is not correct. Why do some people want to be rich? Because I think they can be happy. You don't need to be rich to be happy. So remember, keep it right. What's the real goal? Happiness, peace, harmony, whatever had the right goals. And then it's much easier to be wise and have the right view. I can't see anyone in this world who is so bad. They need to be destroyed. So I don't believe in capital punishment. No more than I believe that a a wall should be destroyed. Even it's got 998 bad bricks. Two good bricks is enough to save that wall. So that's how I see the world. And how if you see the world in that way, if you see the good in another person. And I've been in these jails, probably the most notorious criminal I've ever saw was old Ronnie Kray, the Kray twins. Though those of you who, especially if you're English, these were the Kray twins, one of the most notorious gang of criminals. Gang leaders in the East End of London. I went in with to the Broadmoor prison. He was in that psychiatric ward with another monk and saw Ronnie Kray, and he put his head out of his house, shook his head and he said, oh, would I get a few quid? Who said something to your temple? And that's what he said. He has a generous. So he's not all bad even though he's shot people. Don't say shooting is good, but there's there's always a kind part to such people. I remember, you know, the the person. Myra Hindley, for those of you who are old enough, is the one that sees the Moors murderers. Now, that was really gross. Many people think that was evil. I don't think so. She was. For those of you who don't know this, that is a man and a woman who would kidnap children, torture them, record their screams on the old cassette tapes. And then bury them on her moor in the central England somewhere. And when they were caught, the death penalty had was given up. So they put him the life, life in jail. And she was one of these. One of the Buddhist nuns. An English one who was only a nun for a short while in Thailand, worked in Holloway and knew her. She was in Holloway Woman's Prison in London, and she told me when she first met this notorious person who tortured children and killed them and recorded, it was sick. She said she couldn't believe what a kind person this was. It was another side to her. I always remember what she said. It's amazing if you'd meet Adolf Hitler. He wouldn't be such a bad guy. He was surprised you. Know because. Be human. No. Jewish. No. Buddhist. No Christian. These are the things which cause thee the problem. What am I, a Buddhist? I don't know, I'm a Buddhist. Is it in my genes? In my blood? Is there some sort of RNA, DNA? Can you actually get a DNA of everyone here? And you get the the Buddhist gene in the DNA, which shows that, you know, that's the Buddhists and Jews have different DNA, Muslims have different DNA. There's another gene in there which makes you a Christian. You find that we all have the same DNA. It's lovely to see that no matter what religion or race you are, no matter what gender. We have so much in common which unites us. So I would like to see what unites us, not what separates us. What unites me with Adolf Hitler. That's the interesting part. And if I can see what unites me, what I share in common with that person. And I've never the only thing which I've ever killed responsible was a mouse in my mother's flat when I was young, and I felt so guilty for that. When I see what I have in common with other people. Then this healing happens. That is right for you. Thank you for that question. I'm not sure if I answered it adequately, but it's a great question. You. Are kind of my uncle, the bar goer a long ago and unhappy. What made me. So accustomed are a lot more to my name a sunny. Sympathy piano bar a little song like a song sung on a man.