The Essence of Pilgrimage | Ajahn Brahm

Essence Of Pilgrimage by Ajahn Brahm And okay. When everyone's got a nice place to sit, there's a few more people looking for the best spots. I can tell you the best spot in the house is right up here. If anybody was today in the best spot in the house. But this evening, like usual, I don't really decide what I'm going to talk about until the very last minute. And it was only when Albert reminded me that I just come back from pilgrimage. Actually, I'd forgotten, because so many things happen since Tuesday morning, as soon as the plane dropped down. Then it's back to work again. I was about to work on on Tuesday morning. That about anybody? Anybody else? A lot of work to do. But I think I might sort of start talking about what the what we did and what pilgrimage is all about and why people do this. Going off to India, to the the places where the Buddha lived. It's not just going to be a travelogue. This is not sort of John Brown's version of Michael Palin. This is going to be sort of like the more spiritual dimension of what a pilgrimage is, is really all about. It may surprise some of you to know that actually, the idea of a pilgrimage that he started with Buddhism. The Buddhist actually started the very idea before the Christians and Muslims got into the act, because from the very early time before the Buddha passed away, they said actually those places where the Buddha lived and all the important places of his life, he said they can even go to those places as a source of inspiration. And so from the very early time and according to history, that people would actually visit those places from 2500 years ago, 2400 years ago, and is being Indian Emperor Asoka, the first king who unified the country of India. He went on pilgrimages to these places, which is very helpful because he left his stone records of where these places are. And from that time on. For those of you who remember the series monkey on the TV some years ago, that was all about. So the Chinese who went on pilgrimage to the Indian holy places. He was based on the story of the Chinese pilgrims just jazzing up a bit for TV. But the the heart of the story was the fact where these people would go all the way from China and over to India to collect some of the holy books and see where the Buddha lived. And so it's been a tradition right from the very start of Buddhism, actually, to go on pilgrimage to these places. But why do you do it for especially these days? Because if you want to go anywhere these days, you can just get a DVD, a documentary of the place, and maybe with the virtual reality, it might be just like being there. But it's not because some of the things you see over there, they actually signify just what Buddhism is all about, as if they are physical reminders of what we talk about every Friday evening here, as if they reinforce the message of what Buddhism actually is. And, for example, that's one of the places we always go. Which is that the last place we went on a pilgrimage was a deer park just outside of Benares, because that's where the Buddha gave his first talk. And, uh, the story, which is, uh, almost certainly true because these things were actually carved into rock. In those days, they did not have like they did have some books, but they all disappeared. But, uh, when Buddhism became famous, all the great stories of Buddhism, they actually carved them into stone. And 2300 years ago. And of course, those stone monuments are still there. You can still see them. So those little stories we talk about. Actually a well known 2300 years ago. So it really is a historical record. Even like today, for example, we had some school kids come to our monastery. And I'm not quite sure how old they were, eight, 9 or 10 years old. So I told him the story. The talkative tortoise. And many of you know that story because it's in little booklets, which I printed. But so when I went to to Java about a month ago and one of the temples there, that story is in stone on one of the. They are the old temples, very close to bored powder. So you can see the story. The little tortoise, sort of with a stick in its mouth and two swans on either side. And that's actually an old story. And it's carved in stone, you know, it must have been the same story as we tell these days, because there is on a stone monument, I think, built about 900 years ago. So it actually gives a sense of history to what we're actually saying here. But in this particular place in in the deer Park just outside of Banaras, is one of the favorite stories of mine. Because, uh, before the Buddha became enlightened, he was into all this ascetic practice. And too often that religion is actually associated with austerity. And I think it must be really hard. If it doesn't hurt, you never get enlightened. No. No pain, no gain. And of course, that many people think like that. And of course, the religion of Buddhism, as you've probably seen here, is a very mild, compassionate religion, and we don't believe in that at all. It's not no pain, no gain, it's no pleasure, no gain. As far as Buddhism is concerned, I no like mental pleasure, no progress on the path. It's not into austerity. But according to the stories here, these are carved into stone. What actually happened? One of the places we go and see is, is, uh, first of all, you know where the Buddha was actually trying his austerities. And it is all statues of him with his bones sticking out, with his ribs showing, looking really gaunt and thin like the summer's been in the concentration camp. And I mentioned concentration camps, because next week we're having a meditation retreat. But that's nothing to do with the concentration camp. Okay. This meditation is not concentration. It's letting go relaxing. But you can see what happens when you sort of get that idea, because people think that this is what the Buddha thought early on was what meditation really was. Sit down there and beat down the mind. Be tough. Don't be a namby pamby cream puff monk, but just be really tough and hard. And if you sit there really long enough, you'll soon become enlightened. And Buddhism is not for wimps. Now, of course, the idea. You actually see that in some even Buddhist circles they've got it all wrong because that sort of toughness and hardness, the Buddha tried that and they said, no, it doesn't work. And it had this beautiful story. We actually went to this cave where he actually supposed to practice these austerities. First of all, you see the caves in India, the sort of places where, you know, you'd understand that monks and nuns would hang out places of solitude as stillness and peace. They got the atmosphere there, where if you really want to get away from the world and have a bit of silence and peace, those are the sort of places you go to. But he was in his cave to start really not eating, not looking after his body, and he never got anywhere. And it's the same when, you know, I told his story. For many of you here the first time I went to Malaysia, and because there's many Malaysians here from Singapore as well. First time I went to Malaysia and all these meditators there were complaining about something they called somebody headache. Somebody is a word for meditation. And they said, oh, we suffer from meditation, headache. But my goodness, what have you guys guys been doing? I never heard that term. And they the monastery is in Thailand where we use the heaps and heaps of meditation, I never heard that term meditation headache. My God, what are you doing it for? Meditation is supposed to be relaxation, letting go, peace, stillness, kindness. We. So if you want to have a headache, go back to work, go and get married and have kids. I shouldn't say things like that, but this is actually like the opposite of that letting go. Relax. It's supposed to be peaceful and happy. It's because people are being too austere. And as very few people can understand what we really mean by this, because we tend to actually to go in either two extremes, either we really settled on austere, we really go for it no matter what, or we just, you know, just relax too much and indulge. And this was one of the first things that you see in this pilgrimages to India. You see, the Buddha taught the middle path this middle way. And you can see the place where the first five disciples, they abandoned him. So, you know, you've given up the path when you started eating properly. And I thought, no way you can get enlightened like that. And of course, the the Buddha, the bodhisattva, he was going to sing things out for himself. He was not going to follow others. He was not going to just be a sheep. He had to find out the truth for himself. And this was always an important part of Buddhism from the beginning, in the middle right to the end, and is something which we emphasize here. You've heard me say many times that as a teacher, I try my hardest to get rid of you all. A teacher tries to get rid of his disciples or her disciples of his sister Yama. We want you to be independent so you know for yourself. So don't need to come and listen to the teachings anymore. You understand? Just like in the school or university, the lecturer wants to get rid of their students. And if their students keep coming back year after year after year to do the same course, that's a terrible teacher. So some of you been coming back so often. I must be a terrible teacher. The point being here is in Buddhism and meditation, you're not trying to sort of control people or make decisions for them or direct them. You're supposed to be empowering them and transmitting that knowledge, giving them understanding just so you can be free and liberating people, not trying to control them in the same way that the Buddha would not follow others, he would be independent, find his own way. And that is wonderful. Saying that the Buddha's only show the way. Then only point what to do encourage when they can't do it for you. And so in the whole history of Buddhism, there has never been any dogma which says, you must do this and you mustn't do that. So that's why we don't have any way of, of getting a what's it called, a excommunicating anybody. It doesn't matter what you do here. You'll never get excommunicated. We can't get rid of you no matter what happens. So everybody is accepted. Because we don't control, we want to encourage. So there's no criticism. There's no blame. There's just encouragement. Encouraging everybody to do the best they possibly can. And so the Buddha's of when against the stream, we realized this is not working. Let's try something else. So don't just be little sheep and just follow everything which I say. And so you're saying, yes, we mustn't follow everything, which John Brown says. So we think things out for ourselves. We challenge. When you do that, this is what is called empowerment. And this is what the Buddha she did. He decided to go against the stream and just find a different way. And this was actually what this middle way was. And you can actually see that with the place where he became enlightened. It wasn't a sort of a harsh place by a river and a beautiful grove of trees with nice wind coming through. So this is a center here. We try and make it comfortable. We turn the fans on. It's not about torturing anybody. That's why we have chairs so people can sit meditation on the chair. You don't need to torture yourself sitting on the floor. The idea is to keep the body comfortable, not indulgent. So we have chairs. We don't have lazy boys, and that's not really quite a good idea in a in a temple. But we have like, comfortable chairs because this is how the Buddha became enlightened. And it's an important thing which is seeing you learn in these places when you go on pilgrimage there you can see the physical situation where it happened. Her place of tranquility, a stillness of calm, but also of comfort. So you can learn how to let go of the world. So the world is not oppressing you with hunger, or with pain, or with tightness in your body. The body is relaxed, sharp, energized, happy. And only then can you transcend that body, to let it go and to see what's beyond that body. To see this mind inside. Even today, just coming back, someone had an email for me asking you about this brain and mind business and still confused about surely the mind is part of the brain, and when the brain dies or the brain gets damaged, surely the mind gets damaged as well. That's not the case as many people know. And even what? Yesterday I was doing a funeral for a good friend of our monastery and just talking as part of the funeral, as I often do, about people out of the body experiences. The fellow came, and usually all the time I talk like that people come up afterwards. I'm glad you said that because I had an out-of-body experience as well. I died and floated out of my body. It's not an uncommon experience to do that, but what was really interesting was a couple of years ago when Professor Pim van Lommel and the Netherlands, he published an article in The Lancet where he shared his research. And this is The Lancet, the journal of the British Medical Association. So this is not some, some, uh, crazy new age, uh, flaky journal. This is hard medical science showing that people only have these near-death experiences when the brain is dead. When there's no activity in the brain whatsoever and they are still conscious, they can still see and hear. It's hard proof that when your brain stops, there's something continuous. Recall that the mind. So the mind is different than the brain. And so this is actually what you find out in meditation. This is what the Buddha does. Sitting under a tree going inside. Because the mind, as it were. As in the center of things. In the center of the body. In the center of time, in a center of silence. When you let all of these things disappear and go, then you can find the mind. Sometimes that I've given this simile, I don't know the last time I gave as soon. I usually only give the simile on retreats. It's a simile of the emperor with the five pieces of clothing. Imagine a very powerful emperor, and he's got these big boots on. Like the old Emperor's did, which goes over his feet, up his calves, and halfway up his thighs. And he's got this big trousers on which cover the top of his boots and cover his waist. That's clothing number two. He's got a jacket which covers the top of his pants, goes up to his neck and to his wrists, and he's got gloves which cover the wrists. And lastly, he's got a helmet which covers the whole of his head and his shoulders. Each of these five pieces of clothing overlapping so you can never see this emperor underneath. You don't know whether it's a man or a woman. There's an Asian or European or what it is old or young, because you can never see the emperor under these five pieces of clothing. This is a simile. If you want to find out exactly who the emperor is, the one in charge, you're going to take off those pieces of clothing to see the Emperor bare. In that simile, the five pieces of clothing stand for your five senses seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, and physical touch. Because they, as it were, they clothe the mind. They cover it so you can actually see what's underneath it. What is doing the hearing? What is doing the seeing? what knows these words, which I'm saying now you're going to uncover the emperor, and that's what meditation does. That's what the Buddha did under the body tree. We went to that place where the Buddhist meditation, we know it's that place because just shortly afterwards, people put shrines here. I knew it was a place where the Buddha became enlightened. And 200 years later, again, the emperor put a big pillar there to show. Yeah, this was the place where the Buddha became enlightened. So it's marked 2300 years ago. We know exactly where that happened. You can go there and imagine sitting close to the place where that happened. Anyone who's never had any good meditation before, if you go to those places, they are powerful, they are strong. They are full of energy. People feel that places have got energy. And when you have good energy in a place, you can actually strip the emperor of its outermost clothing and find out this mind underneath. Find out exactly what makes you tick. Who is doing all of this and why? This is why enlightenment happens in those places. I say places have energy because there's many, many stories. Ah, monastery hall in serpentine has got good energy. For years, monks have been meditating there. Great monks have done great things in that hall. And because of that, it has got atmosphere. Just like when I was a student, I was a student at Cambridge. They used to have this old, um, laboratory, the Cavendish Laboratory. I remember having a guided tour there when I first went to the university, and I point out this room, this is where Rutherford split the atom. This is where, um, I was their names. Uh, uh, the guys who discovered, uh, DNA, Crick and Watson. This is where they did. They discovered DNA. They went through all this whole history of what happened in these small little rooms, and they all did. it, just not with expensive equipment, just going to bits of aluminium foil and a few paperclips and an elastic band. That's what they used in those days. It's incredible what they did and it had atmosphere. He used to just go in there and you could feel just what was happening, and it was like a Warren of these corridors, these little rooms with danger lasers or these other experiments, and you can imagine these crazy professors with long white hair, absolutely mad, stuck in these rooms for years. That was the atmosphere it had there. It was great. And then they knocked it all down to build a new and new laboratory. It's truly terrible. They don't know about atmosphere, but ah, because what happened in there, they almost says places had a resonance like a monastery has that resonance. And one of the stories I remember just in the early years, let alone now in the early years, there was this guy, he was building a water tanks. If you see the big concrete water tanks which collected rainwater, our monastery down at serpentine, this is really rough. Australian granite worker. And when he was mixing the concrete and pouring it in, they had his music blaring away. But we couldn't ask him to stop because he was much bigger than I was. You've got to be practical about these things. I want to live. And but at the very end, when it finished, because I was looking after the work, he came up to me and says, Brian, would you mind if I look in your church? He called it a church to the temple, but it might be good enough for sure. And so I walked with him. And you can imagine this, this big Australian concrete worker just in his boots. And he's like, Grace Street Uh, overalls. You know, the street with the concrete and really dirty old face. And when we went to the hall, he was talking all the time, chatting about this, talking about that, because it was just so restless. But as soon as he went into that hall, he had his boots on and said, look, don't take your boots and just poke your head round the corner and have a look. It was incredible what happened. I always remember this because as soon as we went into the hall, he put his head around the corner. He went absolutely quiet. As if somebody who put a hand over his mouth as if his brain had stopped, if he had had some sort of seizure. But I left him there for a while. Now, just with him just enjoying just the effect that place had on him. And then just after about five minutes, quite a long time, he turned around to me and it's with a toothy smile. He said, God, this is good, ain't it, Bram? You're just so sweet. He really appreciated the silence. He knew nothing about Buddhism and meditation. We could feel the silence. It has an effect on you when you go to such powerful places. So you can imagine what happens when you go to powerful places where these amazing things happen. Sit meditation. And as as if all of your restlessness, all your thoughts, all your worries get sucked away. As if it's some like vacuum cleaner in your brain, which sucks away all your worries, all your pasts and futures and just leaves you with silence. And you can understand that silence is the heart of what Buddhism is all about. The quietness of the mind. Every time you meditate, you felt that quietness is a happiness is a contentment, the sense of fulfillment, a sense of where everything is done. And I just this afternoon, just editing the last poof for my little booklet opened the door of your heart. The painting in the US. For God to change all of the English words into American words. I can't have a football anymore. It has to be a soccer ball. A spanner is a wrench. And all this. a little bits and pieces. And I was just reading that one of the stories again about just about quietness and about I've forgotten the story now, I was going to say a few moments ago, but never mind. But when we actually I remember in a few hours when I start thinking about it, because when you start thinking about it, you can never remember it. So I've got to start thinking about something else. And I think where I'm going, I was planning to start this to say a story in one of those books, but when you're actually really quiet and peaceful and you actually understand the contentment, the beauty. This is what I was going to say the story about. Wanting for nothing, because there was a time when I was a monk in Thailand. And many of you know that monks have our tradition. We keep our rules very easily. Some people probably say strictly, but it doesn't feel strange. It becomes a natural just to live like a monk. And one of the rules we have, we don't accept any money, so we actually penniless. So sometimes now people say, oh, you know, you've done some things for me because the only thing I can do and there's one thing you can do for a monk which is allowable, that you can actually say, is there any things you need for a certain amount of money? And this happened to me once. Please don't do it to me again. Because what happened? I was in Thailand. I was a young man. Monk might help someone with some service. And they came up to me afterwards and they said, no, Bram, you've really helped me. Is there anything you need for 100 baht? That's like a Thai currency. It's only worth about. Was it $3? $4? At that time? Obviously, it was worth a bit more. About 25 years ago. And at the time I was very happy. Before I never wanted anything. But then he said anything you want for about 100. But they usually say the amount of money, so there's no confusion. So I started thinking and I couldn't really think straight away. And he was in a hurry. So he came to an agreement. He'd come back the following day so I could ever think what I needed for 100 baht. So I went back to my room in my heart, got out a piece of paper and say, what can I get for 100 baht? And I started writing things down in about five minutes. 100 baht wasn't enough. And all the things I wrote down were suddenly incredibly important. It's not what I wanted. I actually needed these things. And after about ten minutes, 5000 baht was announced. And on his list of things, I couldn't take anything off. And I soon realized what was happening. And I screwed up the piece of paper, threw it away. And the following day, I told that man. Give it to the monastery. Don't give it to me. So, because I was so happy before, you mentioned that when I didn't have any money, I didn't want anything. Now, you gave me all this opportunity, and it's never enough. And I realized something there with, you know, with desire. Once you get it going. It's never enough. Whether it's 5000 baht or $5000 or $5 million. Is it ever enough? Before I had that money, I wanted for nothing. You understand that word? To want for nothing. That's all I want. This beautiful nothing. This emptiness. When you want for nothing. You're the richest person in the world. Because that's the other reason to want for nothing is like a word. A phrase which means you got everything you ever want. There's two parts types of people who get everything they ever want. They're supposed to be filthy rich, but I don't think they've got everything they ever want. But the poor like the monks. And as a man, you have everything you ever want. You want for nothing. Isn't that being rich? So this is actually some of the heart of Buddhism with you. You understand that these places, in that contentment, in that meditation and in that feeling of these places in India, you get the understanding there, that there is a wonderful sense of contentment in the beautiful simplicity of these places. You also go in these pilgrimages to the places where the Buddha actually lived, and the places where he hung out, and the places where he hung out. Although you went with me, you could see just how peaceful or how remote they were. His beautiful case upon the vultures peak, his beautiful parks outside of the city, his remote places so quiet and so still. You can understand why a Buddha would stay in such places. The one place in particular one of my favorite places is called the Vultures Peak. This big mountain with caves around it. When we went there before dawn 30. To meditate before dawn, to see the sun come up. Where the Buddha once saw the sun rise. To where the mountains have hardly changed. I call that. I call that in a talk on Wednesday night in my monastery. I call that the Mecca, the Vatican, the holiest of holies of Buddhism. But there you don't see these walls which are so thick. You don't see a great vaulted roof, as you do see the vaulted roof, the stars and the sky, and the walls, such as the mountains. Surrounding is a cathedral of simplicity, of emptiness, of nature. And that's why I really feel it's a great monument to true religion. Not big churches and cathedrals and big mosques or big temples. I really think that misses the point of what religion is all about. You can build these big edifices, but we miss the point. The whole point of Buddhism, especially meditation, simplicity, contentment, having few things. What do you need in this world? It's not the buildings, it's the people. The peace of quietness. That's what's important. That's why I like going to these holy places. Because there's nothing there. That's why I call it the footprint of the Buddha. Just empty. Still free. Liberating. Those places need no maintenance. I don't know how much it costs to keep the Vatican chi those places. It is so free and still. And it's incredible that. No, people like to go up to those places. It's like my monastery the first year, a couple of years when we we went there and started building the place, visitors would come and see us and they'd say, where's the monastery? What do you mean? What do you mean it? No. The way the monastery said is here. What it really meant is, where's the building? You know, where is this great church or temple? Where is this, this big stone buildings with his big roof on it and big spires or whatever else you're supposed to have. And I said, no, that's not the monastery. A monastery is a peace is a stillness. The sense of contentment, the ease, the freedom. It has some monastery. The trees of the monastery. The wind flowing through those trees of the monastery. The stillness of peace. The kindness of everyone who comes here. That's the monastery, not the buildings. Buildings are easy to construct. The silence of peace, the kindness. That's what's really valuable. And that's what makes a monastery. So when they came in the first few years. Whereas the monastery is here. Can you see it? We're looking for the wrong things. And that's why in some of these beautiful places you go to in India, you can actually see the Buddha in those places. Not the person, but the peace, the silence of freedom, the emptiness. It is resonant in those places. That's why I say it has an atmosphere. So you go to those places, you just make their mind still for a few moments. You open your mind. And all this beautiful stillness and calm comes in because so many people. Monks, nuns, travelers, pilgrims have been coming to that very place for thousands of years, and they have left their offerings in those places, not in a donation box. They left their offerings and their meditation and their peace and their stillness and their calmness. And that's why those places are rich in something you can never see with your eyes, which you can feel with your heart to peace in the and stillness. That's where I get off on going to such places. Even though it's tiring and it's hard work. It's very beautiful because it's inspiring what is at the heart of Buddhism and in those places? Sure, the remote, but they're not austere. The Buddha never snow sat on a bed of nails. It was a comfortable, cool and quiet cave of sand. You go and sit there yourself. If you weren't. And no one will charge you any money to go in and a vow to speak. You just walk up and you just go in the cave. You just sit there. There's no attendant stopping you and saying, are you a Buddhist? You're a woman. You can't go in your Western, you can't go in. No one says that. It's open to everybody. And that's a beautiful part of the Buddhist teachings. So one of the things which I always was impressed with. You don't need to be a university professor to become enlightened people with just the the ordinary states of mind, ordinary jobs, even street sweepers will become enlightened. You don't need to be a high caste people. Even prostitutes became fully enlightened. You don't even need to be have this incredible good karma from the past. Even a serial killer became enlightened. Even a crazy woman became enlightened. It's incredible the stories you read of people in those days. Of all walks of life, of all intelligences, of all genders, over all castes and walks of life. They could all find peace inside of themselves, because peace is the birthright of everybody. So no one was excluded. And in the same way, you can go to these places and no one is excluded. You just go in there. I know some places you can go to some holy places. Only the priests can go into the inner sanctum. Or sometimes even women are not allowed. Or sometimes the. You know, if you don't know the right people, you can't go through the doors. That's not religion. That's some sort of control freak business. But one of the great things about these places, you just walk in and sit and feel the peace. It's a symbol of the freedom which you can feel in the mind. The simplicity and the simplicity is just a wonderful parts of going to those places. Sure, in some of those places, people have built these big monuments, but sometimes look at those big monuments they've built and they're just covering up just what's underneath the simplicity of the Buddha. And it's still mainly the simple places, because one nice thing with monuments is they fall apart. And I like monuments falling apart because when they fall apart, they reveal what's underneath. The simplicity underneath. Now sometimes you wonder why people build these big statues. Or they build these big temples when they build his great cathedrals. Because it's a lot of money to keep them going. Why can't we let them fall apart when they fall apart? We understand that the buildings are the monastery, The edifices aren't in the religion. The statues aren't the Buddha. They're the signposts which are pointing to something. And I always tell people here because a common question is, why do you bow to a Buddha? What's the point of saying all these Buddhists about what they're doing? And of course, you're not bowing to a statue. You're bowing to what it represents. So that story, when I first became a monk, people started bowing to me. And I just come from England. I was a scientist. Sure. I was a meditator. I had faith in Buddhism, but some of the rituals I just couldn't accept. And so I told people, I said, look, you don't need to bow to me about the time, monks, but don't bow to me now. I'm a Westerner, I don't. Please stop. And then one of the West, one of the Thai men who could speak English, said, you know, Venerable sir, we're not bowing to you. We're bound to what you represent. And as soon as he said that, I felt disappointed. Why would I actually do that? And be honest about it. Well, that was sad, but it was true what he was saying. He had either stood firm. That why you should be bowing is what you represent, what it represents. So what I would do represents when I bowed to a Buddha statue. It's what it represents. I bow to to virtue, to goodness, purity of speech and action. I bow down to peace. Silence. Letting go. And a third qualities compassion and wisdom. And for those of, you know, Buddhism, it's like. Selah. Samadhi. Virtue, meditation. Wisdom, wisdom and compassion. They go together. That's what I bow to when I bow to a Buddha. You know why I do that? Because I really love virtue, I love goodness, I really respect it. I do literally worship virtue, and I also worship peace. And the freedom of that peace is so lovely to be still have peace of mind. have contentment, have freedom. Because freedom is peace. Peace is freedom. I love that, I worship that, and I also worship wisdom and compassion and kindness. That's really important to me. I found it very easy to put my head down to those qualities. But also I've discovered over the years that when you actually put your head down, worshiping those qualities is if like you're raising those qualities above you. It means because you're respecting them, you tend to imitate them and they've become important to you. Just like fashion. Why do we actually have our fashions very often? Because we we imitate those people we worship. You know who I used to worship when I was a young man? Jimi Hendrix. If you see pictures of me when I was 17, 18, 19, you see, I had much more hair than I have now. He was out here somewhere. Jimi Hendrix style. Because that's because I. So here's a guy I worship. And so I imitated him with my fashion. And that's what we do. We imitate people. And so when we worship the Buddha, that's what we imitate. We imitate virtue, peace, compassion and wisdom. That's why I made it. That's why firing actually works when you know what you're doing it for. That's what you're worshiping. And you become that which you worship. You imitate it. So it's a marvelous way of actually allowing those qualities to grow. That's also when you go to these holy places, what they mean to me as a Buddhist. Now, every time I go there, because your meditation always gets deeper, you get more sensitive to the beauty of what happened in those places that are being actually opened the doors to really true religion, not a religion of power, saying, you have to come to this church or go to that priest to get into heaven. Not like a sort of getting power of you, but freeing you, liberating you. So you don't need to be wealthy. You don't need to be poor. You don't need to be clever. You don't need to be stupid. Anybody as you are. Contentment, freedom, peace. That sort of love. The door of my heart's open to you, said the Buddha. No matter who you are, no one is being rejected. And the great things which I got from these places is there's no judgment at all. Yeah, it's supposed to be Buddhist places, but you see Hindus going in wisdoms going in, Sikhs going in. There's no one on the gate saying only put this only anyone can go in. And anyone can feel some of that piece and some of that stillness because that Buddhism is an open religion, nonjudgmental for me. So some of these things which you feared in these places were actually fundamental parts of what Buddhism is all about, what meditation is all about, the sorts of things which you actually say in a talk you actually feel as the atmosphere of these places, places of freedom, liberation. And that is by far the most important to us. You never find truths in books. You find truth in your heart. But the only way you can read that book of truth in your heart is to be still and peaceful first of all. Sometimes when we're moving, we're always moving away from that truth. Going here, going there. Looking for it all over the place. We miss it. All we need to do is to stop. To be still or to be peaceful. And there you have the truth right in front of you in the peace of this moment. I mentioned that earlier, the contentment that is having everything you ever want. If any of you ever had the feeling that you don't want to be any other place, any other, you got everything you ever want to want to be any other place in the world except just here, just now. You got everything you ever need for happiness and contentment. Have you had those moments before? When the mind is still fulfilled. There's nothing wanting, nothing lacking. The point of it is you don't need very much to experience such contentment, such freedom, such beautiful happiness. But our world. Because. Searching for happiness in things. We go searching for happiness. In going here and coming there. Happiness is like the rainbow. Always a few feet in front of us. We go running after it. but the rainbow goes away from us as well. We never quite catch this happiness. You run here and run there. But one day we stop all the running. We become still. And then happiness comes to us. When I was in Bangkok, I told the story of the of the, uh, the donkey to some Thai disciples. It's one of my favorite meditation stories. It's a simile which is actually not in the suitcase, because this is an original simile. Made it up myself. The donkeys in southern Europe. You know, you said anyone who comes from southern Europe has ever been to southern Europe. We'll say that in those days, maybe just after the Second World War, when they didn't have many vehicles, they used to use donkey carts to transport goods backwards and forwards, and even people would ride in the back of donkey carts. But these days you very rarely see a donkey cart anymore. Ever since Buddhism came to southern Europe to the donkeys, once they learned Buddhism, they learned how to catch the carrot. Because, as you know, that donkeys are very stubborn beings, and the only way they can get them to move is that I stick to their back. Maybe the front end, two feet in front of their head. On the end of a stick is a string on the end of a sticky stick, or sorry, end of the string as a carrot. And they see that carrot. You can hit the donkey. They won't move, but they see a carrot two feet in front of them on the end of the string and then move towards a carrot. But because it's tied to a string on the end of a stick, which is tied to their back, when they move forward, so does the carrot. If they run, the carrot runs at the same speed in front of them because it's tied on a stick to their back. And that's the way they used to get carrots. They also used to get donkeys to actually to pull the carts. But of course, these days, now that donkeys know Buddhism, they know how to catch that carrot. I use this similarly because sometimes that's like us. Happiness is just a little off in front of us. We go towards it and happiness goes in front of us, just like the carrot and the donkey. But for those of you who haven't been on one of my meditation retreats, this is how the donkey catches the carrot. It runs like hell after that carrot as fast as has ever done before. And that's actually what you've been doing. You've been running after that carrot really fast all your life. But where Buddhism comes in. The donkey knows how to stop. He knows how to let go. So, having run very fast, the donkey suddenly stops. What happens when you stop? The carrot goes further away from you. This is actually sometimes when I ask people to let go. Relax. Leave it all alone. Sometimes, even in meditation, it starts to go crazy. And if you don't have faith and confidence, you start running again doing things. But if you just let go, that character is further away than it's ever been before. But if you still patient, it goes so far away, then it starts coming back again and the donkey doesn't need to do anything. Just be patient. You don't need to run. You don't need to go chasing carrots. You don't need to go chasing happiness as soon as you stop. At first, happiness goes further when it's ever been before. And then he starts coming towards you. Concern is as its usual place, two feet in front of you. But this time is coming at a great speed towards you. And all the donkey needs to do the right time is just open its mouth. Can catch the carrot. The carrot comes to the donkey. The donkey doesn't chase the carrot. And ever since Buddhism and meditation got to southern Europe. And all the donkeys figured out how to catch the carrots, they couldn't use donkey carts anymore. So they had to use automobiles. And I think that's the reason why you don't see donkey carts very often in southern Europe anymore. But this simile is important because this is sometimes we try and catch the carrot of happiness in life. We sometimes try to catch the carrot of truth we want to attain, we want to reach. We try so hard for it. And how many people ever feel fulfilled and happy in life? Very few, because they never stop. But there comes a time when we learn Buddhism and we stop And at first the carrot seems to go further away, but we right away. It's not patient. An account of happiness starts coming towards us. So beautiful. Simply because that's how it works. Stillness and patience. Letting go. Being content and you find all the happiness you ever want in the world comes towards you. This is actually we see that you feel that these places, you just go and sit down there, you don't do anything and you allow peace to come closer and closer to you, freedom to come towards you, not fighting for it but welcoming it. So these pilgrimages which you go to, you go to these places you can feel in the atmosphere just what all these words are supposed to be pointing to. You feel the freedom, you feel the peace. You know that what happened there so many years ago is still happening there today. People are understanding what truth really is, what peace really is, where people aspire towards. What are you doing this for anyway? For truth, for peace, for freedom, for liberation, for happiness. And here you find it. When you go to these places, you take that back. The inspiration of the heart of all religions. Inside of here. Sometimes people argue about different religions, but when you look at the heart of religions, you see so much in common. One of my favorite quotes from the Christian Bible. Be still and know that thou art God since Psalms, apparently. Isn't that a beautiful way of meditation? Be still and don't move and go inside. And there you'll find all the truth you ever need. There you see the Emperor underneath all of this. Taking off the clothes of the body and the senses. Which take you outside into the world. Instead of going inside into the mind, into stillness, into peace. That's where you find the truth. So those pilgrimages which you go off all the way to India for they really are pilgrimages inside to opening the doors of the heart. Opening up the mind to feeling and seeing and knowing what's actually inside of you. And of course, there is a lot of that. Result of enlightenment is not some sort of selfishness or just not being of use the world. It is too often people say, oh, if you're so calm and peaceful, what use is that to other people? There's so many things to do in the world. There's so many problems, so many things to to solve and to heal. The point is that once you're still in the piece, that's where your power comes from. I've often thought from experience that compassion arises from peace, but love comes from freedom. So when you have that inner peace and inner freedom, that's the source of compassion and wisdom. Without that inner peace, you might think you're being kind, but it's too much self investment in what you're doing. So less you have, the more you can give to the world. And this is actually you can see this what the Buddha did after his enlightenment. He just taught, helped and served 45 years can see the effects of that. Sometimes people look at this particular tradition, his called Theravada. So the Mahayana is quite offensively called it Hini. And it's supposed to be the selfless tradition. We're supposed to be just in for our own enlightenment, not care about other people. But for those of you who've been watching us over all these years, we work so hard for other people. We do so much for others. Actually, I should mention this. You know that, uh, fundraising we did for the tsunami victims. We joined in with my group in Singapore, the Buddhist Fellowship, because they were also doing a project as well. And so we combined our resources and the Buddhist fellowship. I think this study in Sri Lanka at this moment, finalizing to build 500 houses in the south of Sri Lanka to offer to the people to have lost this. So the money we raised there, the money we raise in Sri Lanka, it's in Singapore, is going for 500 accommodation units. That's your money. That's our money. That's our gift. Trouble is, we don't put it in the papers. Other people do. That's what you did. So you can see it as the compassion, the hard work which we are doing. This is not a selfish part. It's a hard working path. That's the path of the Buddha. But you can only do that when you've got that place of peace, that stillness and that compassionate wisdom which comes from the stillness. So that's why the Buddha works so hard. That's why the true compassion needs that base of stillness and wisdom, first of all, which you get and the emptiness of your heart. And you have all the love in the world. Love doesn't come from doing things, but rather comes from stopping. And then he goes out to help in the world. This is a part of Buddhism. You can see that just what the Buddha did, when you go to those places, you can feel the kindness, the energy of that world, and you can also feel it now, his in your heart, in this moment. Because the real pilgrimage is a pilgrimage of the heart of the inner journey. It's just these places far away. They resonate with that inner journey. The church is not the building. The church is what happened inside. And wherever people practice kindness, wherever people practice stillness and peace. There is a place where the Buddha stands. There is a holy place. Wherever this kindness, where this peace, where this wisdom. So you don't need to go far to go on a pilgrimage. To go inside. Be peaceful. Be still. Be kind. And you feel the heart of all religions. And once you know that place. Once you abide in that place. Not only do you never need to spend all that money on airfares and hotel accommodation. But also on a Friday night, you'll have no need to come here anymore. And finally, I would have got rid of you all. Thank you very much for listening. Okay. Anyone got any questions about tonight's talk on the essence of pilgrimage? Yeah, that's a very common story. Just to repeat it for the, um. For the tape. You saying that some Australians were going to Ireland to two young men they got set upon by some louts. One of them was very heavily injured and, uh, the hospitalized. The hospital called the um family in Australia, in Sydney. Come over. Your son's in a coma. And the, uh, the mother and the sister went over there. The doctor wanted to turn off the machine because there was no sign of brain activity whatsoever. And he's. And all the best machines you've got. Ireland is a very, uh, well developed country and they have all the best machines. The doctors say no hope. But he recovered later on, and he recalled, said on the radio that at the time when his mother was their sister was, uh, he was screaming at them. He was very conscious of what was happening, screaming them, do not turn off the machines. I'm still alive. And he said, there must have been some connection there because the mother said, give him another 24 hours. And he came, came to. I told that story before. A lady in Singapore also sort of had that experience that he too was actually, uh, in a coma for quite a long time. And of course, in Singapore, Chinese tradition, they are the children, the sons and the sons told the eldest son, you make up the decision. You're the eldest son, your responsibility. He said, no help. I said, no, it's your decision because they wouldn't when made that decision and at the time she was hearing the whole conversation, but she could not respond. As far as the doctor was concerned, there was no sign of brain activity at all. And again, she did the same. She was begging her son, look, I'm still here. Don't turn it off. And interestingly, that he did the same thing. Give her another day. And in that day, she started to move. She regained for consciousness and for command. And for a long time to get command of her body again. But it's her. Goes around just like any other person can walk through everything. It's fascinating. Very true. Happens many times. The people who think the brain and the mind are together. There's too much evidence to say no. And the point is that once we accept, the mind can be independent of the brain. It obviously means that when you brain dead. Really dead. In other words, now when you go to character Fremantle. Your mind is still there. You don't just disappear. You are still there. And if I'm wrong, if you're not there afterwards, you can come back and tell me. You're wrong. Of course you couldn't if you're not there anymore. But the point is, I guarantee that when you die, you'll still be there. Fascinating. It shows you, if you only know that now, you're going to be so afraid of death. You made such a big fuss and bother about people dying. The point is, this man, instead of dying, is like how you die. And what you do before you die is important. So don't worry about death. It's not a big thing. You've done it many times before. You do it many times again. Every time you get closer. Here we go again. So don't make a big fuss about about it. And also when somebody else dies. Don't make a big fuss and bother about people dying during all the times. Having every day, for goodness sake, is nothing special. Your mum dies, your father dies, sister dies, wife dies. Is it really special? It's the most normal thing in the world. Happens every day. Strange, isn't it? Because it's my mother. My father. Everything is special. The truth of the matter is very different. We know what actually happened. So they just left the body. They don't disappear. Just the body goes. Yes, Lawrence. I don't know, I think it's just some sort of rotten trick of somebody giving us a brain. Cause we've got a brain. We've got to think and worry and goodness knows what else. That's better with that one. So next time, see if we can get one without a break. Are you joking? Okay, I think that's long enough. And I've got another time. So thanks for announcements. We've got a few announcements to make before you go off. Off you go. And.