3 Right Action 8 fold path series w/Delson Armstrong

Today we're going to be talking about three things. Right speech, right action, and right livelihood. These three constitute the sila, as we call it. Sila is the foundation of the path. When we talk about the three aggregates, as opposed to the five aggregates that we commonly know, the three aggregates are, as it's mentioned in Majjhima Nikaya 43, sila, samadhi, and panya. So over the course of this series we've already discussed right view and right intention.

Now, right view and right intention are part of panya, actually, because with right view we come to the understanding of the Four Noble Truths, and with right intention we come to the understanding of how to let go. With right speech, right action, and right livelihood, we are starting off with sila. By the way, with regards to panya, there is also another aspect to it, which we'll discuss much later on, but it is basically something that is unlocked, let's say, when somebody becomes fully awakened, and that's known as samanyana, that is right insight or right knowledge.

But traditionally speaking, when we talk about panya or wisdom, it includes right view and right intention. So, sila literally means foundation. It literally means the bedrock of something. When we talk about sila as the Pali word, it comes from the Sanskrit word shila or shil, which, if some of you take Shilajit, you'll know what I'm talking about, which means Shilajit is the victory from the mountains. And really what this is referring to is a state of mind that is unshakable, or at least it's pointing to it.

Now, when we talk about sila, a lot of people think, okay, yeah, yeah, fine, whatever, sila, yeah, we get it. We have to keep the precepts, we have to refrain from lying, and we have to make sure we have a good, wholesome career, and so on and so forth. Now, get me to the good stuff, which is the meditation and jhana and so on. Not so fast. It is really, really vital to understand the benefits of sila and the importance of sila.

So when we talk about sila, it's something that distinguishes us from the rest of the other beings, especially animals. Let's take aside the cosmology. If those of you who know the cosmology of the Arupa Lokas, you know, the different Brahmas, the different devas and celestial beings, the hell beings, the hungry ghosts and so on. Let's just talk about what we see right here, right now. Right. The majority of us, all of us at some point, have only seen the animal realm. Right. We perhaps have pets, we have cats, we have dogs, we have lizards, we have snakes, whatever the pet is, goldfish. But we have an understanding of other beings around us in the form of animals.

And so when you think about the distinguishing factor between animals and humans, it really is sila. Animals have the capacity to experience some level of empathy. Animals have the capacity to experience some level of compassion. They have the capacity to experience even negative, afflictive emotions, just the same way that humans do. But human beings have a certain factor, which is to say that they are able to retain information, arguably speaking. In terms of whatever information they receive, they're able to retain it for longer, and they're able to create ideas and concepts around it. As far as we understand it, most animals are incapable of this. There are some animals, like dolphins and other animals, that seem to be more humane or more human-like in terms of the way that they create societies and they communicate and so on.

But even so, when we talk about human beings and animals, humans have the capacity to have self-restraint and self-control to a much greater degree than animals can. This is why there's an emphasis on sila. It is the understanding that when we keep sila, we are behaving, so to speak, like humans when we think about the world around us, and we think about the people in this world, the humans in this world. When we see society around us, especially now in our modern day, we see that there is less and less emphasis on sila, because it seems like it's uncool to be moral, it's uncool to be ethical. People seem to be more enamored by being the bad boy or the person who breaks the rules, and so on and so forth. But all that does is actually chain you to samsara. So when we talk about sila, it's not from some kind of moral high ground. It's just to regain and retain our humanity.

When we talk about sila, it is the understanding that we are able to see and understand the pain in other beings to a much greater degree than animals can. So the first part of sila is right speech, and here I'm going to be reading again from Majjhima Nikaya 117, just a snippet. It says here: "And what, bhikkhus, is right speech? It is abstinence from false speech, abstinence from malicious speech, abstinence from harsh speech, abstinence from gossip. This is right speech that is affected by taints, partaking of merit, ripening in the acquisitions."

so i'm not sure why the so the translation that i'm using is by bhikkhu bodhi so i'm not sure why he's translated these words in the way that he has because when you look at the original Pali, somehow the translation doesn't match up. And we talk about harsh speech. Actually, what we're talking about from the original Pali is divisive speech. I should say, sorry, malicious speech. When we talk about malicious speech, it is speech that is divisive. It is speech that is slanderous. It is speech that actually indulges in gossip.

So the translation of gossip is something else, which I'll get to. So what does it mean when we talk about slander? What does it mean when we say gossip? Gossip is talking about another person, something that we know to be true or untrue, but primarily, let's say, it's untrue, and we talk about them behind their back. And how do you know if you are indulging in gossip? Well, if you are saying something about another person to a third person, would you be saying the same thing if that person were in the same room with you? If not, then you know that it is likely gossip, because gossip is basically the indulgence of backbiting. It is the indulgence of creating division: I heard this about this person, and so they are like this. And you start to create doubts about that person in others' minds. This is gossip. When you talk about false speech, false speech is speaking something that is untrue, speaking something that you know to be untrue.

So if you've gotten information that you don't know whether it is true or not, you can preface it by saying: I have heard this information in this way. I don't know if it's true or not, but this is what has been told to me. So false speech can be something that creates doubt in yourself as well. What that means is when you indulge in any kind of lies, even if it's a white lie, you start to create doubt in yourself.

And you will see this over time: you say one lie, and you'll have to say other lies in order to cover that up, and then you create a whole other story around that whole process. But if you spoke the truth from the beginning, then you're okay. Then you're confident in yourself. You have a natural level of self-confidence. False speech creates a sense of doubt, not only in yourself and not only in others, but in your abilities in terms of your practice. This is why, when we talk about keeping the precepts, oftentimes I will talk about the benefits of keeping the precepts and also how that can create certain kinds of hindrances in the mind if we don't keep the precepts. So in this case, when we indulge in any kind of false speech, it actually starts to strengthen the hindrance of doubt. Now, when you do indulge in false speech, you also start to create doubt in others about yourself because of the way you behave. If you start to indulge in false speech, you'll notice that

people start to stay away from you they don't believe in what you have to say but when you keep to the truth when you become honest and you speak truth there's something else that happens in your mind no no not only do you have confidence not only do you have self-confidence not only do you have uh the lack of doubt or the eventual eradication of self-doubt in the practice but it is understood and it has been understood in ancient india that when you keep to your word and when you start to speak the truth at all times then eventually you have perfect speech you have something known as vak siddhi.

Vak means voice, and siddhi is a certain kind of accomplishment. So it can create things that you want in your life. In other words, when you maintain the truth at all times, when you don't indulge in falsehoods, then over a certain period of time, as you continue to be honest, as you continue to be correct with your speech, whatever it is that you say actually manifests. Whatever it is that you say about yourself, or for yourself, or for others, actually manifests. And you can actually test this for yourself. When you create an intention and you speak it out, over time you will see that it actually does happen, so long as you continue to remain honest and not indulge in false speech. So that's false speech, malicious speech, which is divisive speech.

When you talk about harsh speech, when we talk about our speech, this is actually abusive speech. This is speech intended to hurt someone. It's speech that comes from the intention of harming another individual, and so it is very closely tied to the precept of not engaging in activities that harm and kill other living beings, because you can really harm people with your words. You can really hurt people with your words, and we've seen it, we've experienced it ourselves, and we've seen it for ourselves, that when we say something that's untoward, when we say something that's hurtful, we can have a certain immediate sense of regret: oh, I shouldn't have said that. Because we know that it is hurtful, we know that it is harmful.

and it creates a lower morale in others and it creates a low morale in yourself. So when you pay attention to the words you speak and the tone of voice that you use and how you say certain things, then you become more and more aware of the kinds of words, the quality of your speech. And so this is very important to understand in order to experience and send out loving kindness. The Buddha has talked about loving kindness, or metta as it's understood in Pali, as being not only in terms of the meditation of sending it out to other beings. That is your intention, that is mental acts of loving kindness. But there are verbal acts of loving kindness, and there are physical acts of loving kindness.

What is a physical act of loving kindness? Maybe somebody is in grief. Maybe you just are there and you embrace them. You put your hand on their shoulder and let them know that you were there if they need anything. What is a verbal act of loving kindness? Having comforting words to them. Appreciating people. Hey, I really like what you said about this thing, or I really like how you presented it in this way. Or I really like how, whatever it is. This sense of appreciation for others actually rebounds towards you as well. So it has a double effect. When you appreciate others, not only do they feel good, but then that is reciprocated in you.

Not necessarily from them, but from a sense of this warmth in your heart, this sense of loving kindness. So this is the refraining from harsh speech. Then it talks about refraining or abstinence from gossip. Actually, I'm not sure why Bhikkhu Bodhi used this particular word, because the original word that is used, I'll just bring it up here. It's an interesting word. It is samphappalapa. It's like an onomatopoeia. And what that means is nonsensical speech.

It really means refraining from speech that is unnecessary. It's okay to have small talk. It's okay to talk about the weather. It's okay to talk about, how was your day? How are things going on? And so on and so forth. But then if you keep indulging in speech about, hey, have you heard about this person? Have you heard about what happened here? This is what the Buddha would refer to as a talk of kings. And you see that a lot in our news. It doesn't matter what part of the world you're in. I have seen news from wherever I've traveled and it's all the same. It's like they all have the same kind of speech that they use, which is to say they will give you the news and then they'll give you opinions about the news and then they'll talk to you about people's lives who don't have any effect on us. They indulge in this celebrity or that celebrity or this scandal or whatever it is.

How does it affect you? What does it matter? So, having small talk, there's nothing really wrong with it. But indulging in this kind of talk about this or that is unnecessary speech. So in that sense, yes, it could be gossip, but really it's more about restless speech. When you indulge in this kind of speech, it causes restlessness in the mind. It's difficult for the mind to remain in one place for a longer period of time. So refraining from these kinds of speech is really vital to the practice.

And this really incorporates all of right speech. Now, I've always used this acronym, THINK, T-H-I-N-K. Think before you speak. You've often heard that from others. Why don't you think before you speak? And so when we say think, it actually stands for something. The T in think stands for timeliness. Is it the right time to say what it is that you want to say? Or is it not the right time? Perhaps I should not say it right now. Maybe it's not the right place or time to say what I need to say. Maybe I should wait for another time. So this is timeliness.

H is for honesty. Is what I'm saying true? Do I know it to be true? Do I know if it is valid? If I don't, then I preface with saying, this is what I've heard, so take it with a grain of salt. But honesty, dealing in honest speech. I is for intention. What is the intention behind what it is that you want to say? Are you intentionally being facetious? Are you intentionally being mean-spirited?

Or are you intentionally being kind? Are you intentionally being supportive? What is the intention behind what it is that you want to say? N is for necessity. Is it necessary? So this is closely related to timeliness. But necessity here refers to: is it appropriate to say what it is that you need to say? Is it actually necessary for the other person to hear it? Or is it just indulging in useless banter, so to speak? Is it indulging in speech that's related to restlessness, related to this, that, or the other? Does it really move the conversation forward? Does it really provide anything of substance? This is necessity. So make sure that when you speak, there is a certain intention there and there is some reason behind what it is that you want to say.

Something of substance. And finally, K is for kindness. Can you say what you want to say with kindness? Now, whenever I say this on retreats or in other events, oftentimes there'll be a question. Well, I have to deal with situations where people are not behaving in the right way. Like, for example, your kids, or I need to reprimand people in the office or at the workplace, or whatever it is. Sure, you can do it, but you don't have to be mean-spirited. You don't have to be harsh with your words. You can still be kind. You can still be empathetic. You can still be supportive in the way that you speak.

So this is the speech. This is the right speech that we talk about. And when you get on any kind of TWIM retreat, you'll be told about noble silence. Noble silence is probably the best speech: refraining from speaking at all. You'll find that if you take maybe one or two days out of the week where you make it a point not to say anything, or at the very least not say things that are unnecessary and only speak when it's vital, you'll notice that your mind actually moves a lot more. Because as you start to become quieter and quieter verbally, your mind has a tendency to want to say things. And there's a whole myriad of thoughts and ideas and concepts that come to mind.

So noble silence also has two parts. There is the noble silence of not saying anything verbally, but then there's the noble silence that you experience when the mind quiets down. And this is the kind of noble silence of the mind that leads to intuition. I've often said this, that the birthplace, the womb of intuition is the quiet mind. And so for those of you who are developing this practice and have gotten to that point, you will notice that as your mind starts to quieten down, certain kinds of insights flow. It's as if you receive downloads of information that you would never have experienced just from reading. It's like all of the dots are connecting.

And this happens when your mind is quiet. You have to give the opportunity for your mind to be quiet, to be in this noble silence. So make it a point to try to pay more attention to the quality of your words, to the quality of your speech, and as best as possible engage in noble silence, not only of speech but also of the mind. Now it also says here in the and what because is right speech that is noble, taintless, super mundane, a factor of the path. In other words, what is that kind of speech that noble ones use? What is that kind of speech that a fully awakened being might use? And he says the desisting from the four kinds of verbal misconduct, the abstaining, refraining, abstinence from. In one whose mind is noble, whose mind is taintless, whose mind possesses the noble path and is developing the noble path, this is the right speech that is noble, taintless, super mundane, a factor of the path.

So in other words, when you start to develop the path, when you start to get onto this path, you make it an intention to always try to use right speech. The great thing is when you are on retreat, you're always in noble silence, hopefully, and you're automatically utilizing right speech in that sense. So you're already developing that factor of the path. And so once you do this, and you start to become more aware of this, and you start to get onto the path as somebody who has entered the stream, as a noble being, as a noble person, you will see that whenever there is an inclination

to gossip, whenever there's an inclination to use false speech, whenever there's an inclination to use harsh speech, whenever there is an inclination to use unnecessary speech, that part of the mind that is rooted in right view, that is to say the super mundane right view that you achieve after having entered the stream, starts to become your compass. It's like Jiminy Cricket is on your shoulder and says, hmm, should you be saying this? Are you sure you want to indulge in this kind of speech? And so, having this kind of compass, having developed the path, leads you from, or leads you towards, desisting from the four kinds of verbal misconduct.

And then when it comes to somebody who's fully awakened, their speech will always be appropriate for whatever is required for the situation. There have sometimes been these interesting questions that come from time to time. One question was, and there are variations of this question, one question is, and it's all hypothetical, what would you do if you found yourself in Nazi Germany, or at the time of Nazis, and you were protecting people the Nazis were looking for, and you had to lie in order to protect them? What would you do? And a variant of this particular question is, what if it was an arahant, right? So what would you do? Would you lie, or would you tell the truth and allow the people to be caught by these people?

So these hypotheticals are really unnecessary. They're just creating a lot more restlessness in the mind. First of all, speaking in terms of the idea of whether an arahant would be in the situation or not, they're not going to be in that situation. There's no way they would be found in that kind of situation, and the reason is this: when you start to keep your precepts, and when you start to perfect the keeping of the precepts, you will find yourself in less and less situations where you have to lie. And eventually you don't have to find yourself in any situation where you have to lie.

You will see this for yourself. Oftentimes, when people tell white lies, maybe they have to lie to their boss at work, or maybe they have to do this, or maybe they're trying to impress somebody and they tell a white lie. What happens? You will find that that person finds themselves in situations where they have to often tell lies.

But if you become truthful and you start to think before you speak, eventually those karmic fruitions will start to cease, and you will find yourself in situations and circumstances where you never have to indulge in that kind of speech. So I would just say, for all of you in the community, there's no need to indulge in these kinds of hypotheticals. Just focus on your own mindset. And just do the basics.

If you do the fundamentals, if you do the foundation, everything else will take care of itself. Now we'll get into right action. And what, bhikkhus, is right action, the Buddha says? Right action, I say, is twofold. There's the mundane right action and the super mundane action. And so he says, and what, bhikkhus, is right action that is affected by taints, partaking of merit, ripening in the acquisitions, abstinence from killing living beings, abstinence from taking what is not given, abstinence from misconduct in sensual pleasures.

This is right action that is affected by taints, partaking of merit, ripening in the acquisitions. So this is the mundane right action, and you'll see this is part of the five precepts. The first precept that we take is we abstain from killing or harming living beings. The second is we abstain from taking what is not given. The third is we abstain from any kind of sensual or sexual misconduct. The fourth is we abstain from false speech. We talked about false and harsh speech, but in this case, false speech. We've already talked about that in right speech. Now, what are these three referring to? Abstinence from killing living beings. What does it mean to kill a living being?

Well, actually, in certain commentaries and in the Abhidhamma, it talks about what does it mean? There has to be a living being. There has to be an intention to kill. There has to be a weapon of some sort that is used. Doesn't matter, it's your fist or a knife or your teeth, whatever it is. There has to be the act of killing, and the living being has to be dead. This is how it's understood when you say killing a living being. Likewise, to that extent, what it means when you say harming a living being. Now, what happens when you indulge in this kind of activity? Even if it's as small as killing a fly, swatting a fly or a mosquito?

Well, when you do this, there is an intention to harm. So first and foremost, whenever you indulge in killing or harming, there is the strengthening of the intention of ill will, which means that in your meditation practice, when you sit down, and if you've been somebody who has continued to harm and kill living beings one way or the other, that sense of ill will, that hindrance of ill will, will be predominant in your mind, and it will be difficult, perhaps extremely difficult, to deal with that hindrance. It will keep coming over and over and over again. And so indulging in this gives rise to that. But as you start to understand the principle behind this precept, this abstaining from harming and killing living beings, you will see the benefits of that.

Namely, the reduction of ill will in your mind and the eventual eradication of that. But the decrease of ill will as a hindrance in your mind is one benefit. But secondly, as you start to do this, as you start to abstain from this, you will notice that you have a certain kind of aura about you. There are beings that become naturally attracted to you.

That is to say, they are comfortable in your presence. They feel at peace in your presence. Whether it's other people or babies or animals or whatever, when they're around you, they seem to be naturally okay being around you, and eventually this becomes another kind of siddhi, where when you're with that person or when you're in a group of people where there is a stressful situation, where there is anxiety and shouting and arguing back and forth, if you can just go into that room and send loving kindness when you are able to refrain

from that kind of harming and killing living beings. Just your mere presence starts to calm the people in the room. So you'll notice that people are starting to argue. He said that, she said this. What do you think? They come to you and they say, what do you think? And you don't have to say anything. You just sit there and you radiate loving kindness. Within moments, you will notice that people start to become more collected. And they start to forget about what it is that they were fighting. And then they start to realize, oh, maybe I shouldn't have said that. And then they make up and then they apologize and so on and so forth.

This can happen. You will see it for yourself when you start to practice the perfection of this precept. Then we talked about abstinence from taking what is not given. This is generally understood as, practically speaking, abstaining from stealing, taking what is not given. So unless explicitly somebody says, hey, you can have that, you abstain from taking that.

And I like to be a little bit broader with this particular precept, which is to say, when we say taking what is not given, it's not just physical items. It's not just possessions. It's not just objects. But it can be also taking what is not given in terms of attention. Say you're sitting in a room with people and they're talking, and maybe you become jealous, or maybe you are insecure of what another person is talking about in terms of their achievements and accomplishments. So you try to get into the conversation and you start to steer the conversation. You make it all about yourself.

You're taking the limelight away from somebody. Or you're trying to take credit for something that maybe somebody else did. That's also taking what is not given. So what is the onset of this? Why would somebody do this? How does it arise? It's because of insecurity. And it's because, essentially, of a restless mind. So whenever somebody tries to take something that is not given, whether it's objects, whether it's credit, whether it's attention, whatever it is, it stems from a restless mindset. So the more you indulge in taking what is not given, the more restless your mind becomes, and therefore you start to strengthen that hindrance of restlessness in your meditation practice.

But there are benefits to keeping this precept aside from letting go of the hindrance of restlessness. When you become more aware of the things that are around you and you become more attentive to people's needs, and then you actually ask, is this something I can take? There is a prevention of misunderstandings that could potentially arise. And whatever it is that you seem to be insecure about, that insecurity first of all starts to fade away. And in fact, the things that you seem to want start to come to you. Maybe you become insecure about, oh, that person has this particular possession, or that person seems to have this much in their bank account, or whatever it is. You become insecure about it, you become jealous of that. But when you let go of that jealousy through the utilization of mudita, for example, then the things that you seek come to you. The fact of the matter is, as you start to let go of your obsession of the things that you're seeking out and trying to take from others, what is not given.

It will be given unto you. It will be given to you automatically. You will see this for yourself. And so what this means is that the mind becomes more content. And that is the greatest wealth in this universe, a content mind. It doesn't matter who you are in this world. You might be on the Forbes list, and you might be the top billionaire in this or that. And on paper, you might be the wealthiest.

But if your mindset is such that give me more, give me more, give me more, and I want to take, take, take, then you'll never be satisfied. You will never be content. But you can be in the direst of situations, financially speaking. You could be in a situation where you're not making ends meet, but you start to become more content. And instead of taking what is not given, you start to practice generosity. It can start with the smile. It can start with giving words of support. It can then start with giving a portion of your income.

People often think, if I give to this charity or if I give to this organization and so on, then I'm motivated by the fact that my by my generosity more will given be given to me completely fine. But when we talk about giving money, that is the least kind of generosity. That's one level of generosity. One of the greatest things you can give is your time. That is the thing that you will not get back. Money will come and go, but time. So when you steal other people's time, that is also taking what is not given. But when you give them your time, when you give them your support, when you give them your presence, and you give them a lending ear, that is an amazing kind of generosity.

And the highest generosity is teaching the Dhamma, offering the Dhamma to others, right? So when you start to perfect this practice, that happens automatically. Oftentimes people will say, hey, I want to start teaching. In my mind, I would say that if you want to start teaching, you're not ready to teach, because you have to see what you're motivated by. Sure, maybe you're motivated by compassion. Maybe you're motivated by the idea that, hey, I have this information, I have attained this new wisdom, and I want to share it with the world.

But in doing so, you are actually starting to identify with that role as a teacher. When you start to perfect your own practice, you don't care about whether you want to teach or not. What you will see, what you will find for yourself, is that you start to get into situations where you have to teach, where people naturally ask you questions about this, that or the other in relation to the Dhamma. And because of the perfection, or the perfecting, of the experience that you have, the experiential wisdom you have, whatever you say

will be exactly what they need in terms of the teaching. So when we talk about abstaining from taking what is not given, it results in a mind that is content. All of this are steps towards samadhi, which we'll talk about later, but samadhi means that the mind is collected. It doesn't mean that the mind is super focused. It doesn't mean that the mind is laser pinpointed at an object. It means it's collected, and what that means is that it's collected because it has naturally let go.

So when we get to samasamadhi, I will talk a little bit more about what this means. But suffice it to say that samasamadhi is the natural effect of having let go and the utilization of sati. That is to say, remembering to observe how the mind's attention moves from one object to the other, right? And remaining impersonal through that whole process. That can only happen when you're able to let go. That can only happen when the mind naturally becomes collected. And that can only happen when you are free of hindrances.

And how do you become free of hindrances? You start to perfect the precepts. In other words, you start to perfect your bedrock, your foundation, that is the sila. Now he talks about abstinence from misconduct in sensual pleasures, or in other words, sensual misconduct, and also sexual misconduct. So what is sensual misconduct? Sensual misconduct means that the mind is craving for something in terms of the five physical sense bases.

What are the five physical sense bases? The eyes, the ears, the nose, the tongue, the body. The mind is the sixth, but we're not talking about that. We're talking about the cords of sensual pleasure, as the Buddha would put it. So when we try to overindulge in this, when we try to grasp onto this, and in the pursuit of something that is an object of our sensual craving, what happens is we become obsessed by it, we become addicted to it, and being addicted to it we will not see what is right and wrong. There is an imbalance in the mind, and through this imbalance the mind starts to indulge in the breaking of other precepts for owning, for the sake of grasping onto those sensual pleasures.

This is what is known as misconduct in sensual pleasures. But then what is sexual misconduct? Now, this is very interesting, because sexual misconduct, generally speaking, when the Buddha talks about it, is not to indulge in any kind of sexual activity with one who is under the protection of one's parents, or under or betrothed to another. So that means that you do not indulge, obviously, in things like rape, in things like pedophilia, and so on and so forth. But let's talk about this idea of not engaging in sexual activity with somebody who is betrothed or who is engaged.

What this means is you are loyal to your partner. Now, it doesn't mean, it doesn't matter, I should say. It doesn't matter whether it's a heterosexual or homosexual or whether it's a polyamorous or it's a polycule or whatever you want to talk about whatever it is but all that means is within the confines of that relationship there is a level of loyalty where none of the partners cheat on the other this is the understanding of uh you know refraining from sexual misconduct but there is a deeper level to understand about this which i don't think has been talked about that often but i will explain it from uh the understanding in ancient india when we talk about energetics this is to say that when you indulge in any kind of sexual activity that results in you know the cheating of one partner with another or cheating out of outside of the relationship and so on and when you indulge in any kind of sexual activity that is not within the confines of a relationship of an emotionally secure relationship

what I'm referring to is basically things like one-night stands or casual flings and things like that, because the understanding is when you do that you are engaging with the karma of the other person. So when you indulge in any kind of sexual activity like this, this is what happens. There is an exchange of karmic energy that's happening between the two of you.

So between the two partners, but if that partner has indulged in constantly having different kinds of sexual encounters, then not only are you dealing with the energy of that particular partner, but potentially the energy of all of the other partners that person has been with, which means that not necessarily that you take on their karma, but what happens is you start to become more like them one way or the other, because there is some kind of give and take.

Even in a loving and emotionally secure relationship, there is a give and take, but that give and take is of a different quality. It's something else that's long lasting, something else that is emotionally satisfying. Having these kinds of sexual encounters actually results in where the mind starts to lose touch with its own internal joy. You will see this for yourself, or you will see this in those who might engage in this kind of activity. Maybe at some point or another, we might have all engaged in something like this. And if you look back on it, you will see that it was not emotionally satisfying. In fact, you might have had some kind of regret.

And that also results in further hindrances. So I'm not saying this as some kind of a moral judge or anything like that. I'm just saying, for the benefit of your practice, understand how you deal with your energy and who you choose to give your energy to, mentally, physically, verbally, emotionally, who you choose to give it to. Because the more you indulge in these kinds of frivolous acts, the more you're going to be essentially out of joy. You will see this in people when they indulge in these kinds of things. They forget how to laugh from their heart. It's difficult for them to find some kind of emotionally satisfying joy.

So, in other words, when you start to take the precepts, you have already intentionally decided that I will refrain from breaking any of these precepts. Well, we've talked about the first four precepts, which are refraining from harming or killing living beings. We've talked about refraining from taking what is not given. We've talked about refraining from sensual and sexual misconduct. And we've talked about refraining from false speech. But there is a fifth precept there, which is not mentioned here. That fifth precept is refraining from indulgence in intoxicants. What is an intoxicant? In the time of the Buddha, it was known as sura, and this is where the word asura comes from.

You talk about the Devas and the Asuras. The Asuras are those who fell from heaven, or from where Saka is right now in the cosmology. They fell from it because they got too drunk. They got drunk. So the indulgence in any kind of intoxicant that clouds the mind is what the Buddha is referring to whenever he talks about this. Now, this is very interesting, because this particular precept came about a little later. And the precedent for that, as I understand it, is that it was where you could drink Tadi. Tadi is a fermented drink made from coconut water. And you could drink that, and that's fine. But it has some alcohol in it.

And it just so happened that there was an arahant who drank copious amounts, I believe, of that Tadi, and was not himself. Let's say he was perhaps a little too jovial, perhaps in a stupor, perhaps a little too drunk. And this did not look good for the Sangha. So when you look back into the Vinaya, you will see that oftentimes all of these are precedents to create a certain kind of image of the Sangha, because the Sangha is the direct representative or representation of the Dhamma and the Buddha.

So in order to maintain that nobility of the Sangha, the Buddha put into account this particular precept. Yes, there is a sutta, maybe a couple of suttas, it depends on which nikaya you're going to. But there is a sutta where the Buddha declares somebody becoming a stream enter who was known to be a drunkard. And one of the monks, that was Mahanama, was walking around and he heard the villagers saying, oh, how easy it is nowadays to become a sotapanna. The Buddha seems to be declaring everybody a sotapanna, anyone and everyone, even this particular person who had alcohol on his breath and his dying breath. And Mahanama goes to the Buddha and he says, how could you declare this person, who was known to indulge in alcohol, as a sotapanna? And the Buddha said, it is because Mahanama, in that moment prior to his dissolution of the body

He had full experiential confidence in the Triple Gem, in the Buddha, the Dhamma and Sangha, and because of that it elevated his mind away from that, and he was therefore declared a sotapanna. Now, that does not excuse any of us to say, oh well, I should just do that, I can still continue to indulge in this intoxicant or that intoxicant and so on, but all I have to do is when I die just remember the Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha. Not so easy, doesn't work that way all the time. This particular person was still practicing. Even if you're practicing and you still indulge in this, there is always the risk that your mind becomes dull, and this is what my point is. Whenever there is an overindulgence in anything, and I've mentioned this in past retreats, whether it's binging on the latest Netflix show, whether it's indulging in watching the news too often, whether it's going on YouTube and just continuously looking at this video and that video, or going on the internet and just surfing mindlessly on what's going on.

You will notice at the end of that, your mind starts to feel slightly dull. It just dulls out. And so this is closely related to the hindrance of sloth and torpor. When there is an overindulgence in anything, it has a tendency to create this dullness. And this dullness is translated as the hindrance of sloth and torpor when you are in meditation.

But what you will see is, once you start to let go of this overindulgence and once you start to let go of breaking this fifth precept, your mind becomes sharper and clearer. There was a question asked of me recently in India, where I had gone to someone's house upon their invitation for lunch and then giving a talk, and they said, we talked to other people about the precepts and so on and so forth, but they always have this issue with, what about just a glass of wine or beer at the end of the day? Is that so bad? And all I said is, we can say what we have to say. We can say, hey, maybe you shouldn't be doing that, but we are not a moral police. We don't have to police people. People are free to do as they please.

But what I'll say is, and I've explained to them, is that as you start to get into this path you will notice that your mind, the quality of your mind, becomes subtler and subtler, and as it becomes subtler and subtler your mind starts to see the movements that get affected by the overindulgence in these intoxicants, and eventually it starts to get in the way of your desire to be clear-minded. Because as you become more clear-minded, as you become more collected, as your mindfulness becomes sharper, you want to make sure you yourself will have this wholesome desire to make sure that nothing gets in the way of it. And so through your experience and experimentation you realize overindulging in this intoxicant, or overindulging in doing this particular activity, starts to dull out my mindfulness, and so because you want to keep that mindfulness, eventually your mind will start to let go of breaking that precept automatically.

Again, that's not an excuse for any of us to say, hey, it'll happen when it happens. Start to make the effort of keeping that precept as best as you can. The other thing is, because of this clarity of mind, when you keep this, well, before I continue with that, I want to also explain the benefit of keeping that precept of not indulging in sensual pleasures, not having misconduct due to sensual pleasures. It reduces the hindrance, I should say, of sensual craving, and your mind becomes much clearer. It's easier for you to get into jhana when you do this. It's easier for your mind to start to notice and experience truly the immaterial joy.

That is to say, the joy that is not dependent on the five physical sense bases. You experience another otherworldly kind of joy, a transcendental, super mundane joy and bliss that, when you do experience it over time, starts to dull out the other sensual pleasures. And as you continue to do this, you eradicate your obsession with the pursuit of sensual pleasures.

In other words, that sensual desire starts to dull out, starts to burn out, and eventually your mind remains ever joyful, ever blissful, ever aware. Tied also to this fifth precept, where you have greater degrees of clarity. Now, as you do this, what you will find is, because your mind is able to get into jhana easier, your mind is able to become more quiet easier, which means that you're able to actually listen to your intuition more. In fact, the voice of your intuition, so to speak, starts to get louder as you start to maintain this level of sila.

Now, finally, we'll get into what is right livelihood. So here the Buddha says, and what, bhikkhus, is right livelihood? What is right livelihood that is affected by taints, partaking of merit, ripening in the acquisitions? Here, bhikkhus, a noble disciple abandons wrong livelihood and gains his living by right livelihood. This is right livelihood that is affected by taints, partaking of merit, ripening in the acquisitions.

Well, that doesn't say much, but what it's talking about is essentially the right livelihoods of a noble one, or somebody who is starting to be on the path. There are other suttas in which the Buddha talks about a list of what is right livelihood and what is wrong livelihood. In the case of lay people, it is not engaging in any kind of business activities that cause any kind of harm.

So that means not engaging in any kind of trade that deals in the manufacturing of weapons, that deals in slaves and human trafficking, that deals in poisons, that deals in intoxicants, and that deals in the slaughter of beings for meat. In the case of the monastics, there's a whole host of things that are considered as wrong livelihood, and oftentimes people will confuse that because in that list it talks about palmistry, it talks about astrology, it talks about reading the sky, reading this and that, discerning through different kinds of signs, perhaps like with tarot and things like that.

It talks about not being a doctor and so on, but this is all for the sake of the bhikkhus and the bhikkhunis. In other words, these are instructions given to those who have gone into brahmacharya, the holy life, for those who are essentially on the path as a bhikkhu and bhikkhuni for one goal and one goal only, and that is the total eradication of suffering, that is the experience of nidana. So all of these other things get in the way. That doesn't mean a lay person can't be a doctor. That doesn't mean a lay person can't be an astrologer. That doesn't mean a lay person can't be a palm reader, this or that or the other. It just means that these can be distractions for those who are a little bit more serious, because they have taken on the robes.

So anything that gets in the way of getting to your final goal can be considered wrong livelihood in that sense. And of course, in terms of the Sangha, the Bhikkhu Sangha and the Bhikkhuni Sangha, it can be seen as something strange where the bhikkhu is trying to read somebody's palm, or indulging in this astrology or that astrology for the sake of money or whatever it is. There is another kind of wrong livelihood in another sutta where the Buddha says, he tries to attain this with what he already has, so that means that whatever he has he tries to trade in for something else, engaging in the exchange of this or that for favours or whatever it might be. These are all extraneous because they are all related to the holy life, as it could be clean. But for the noble, for the one who is a lay person,

it is essentially not indulging in any kind of activity or any kind of business that causes harm to other beings. So you have to see for yourself. Oftentimes there will be questions asked, where, what if I am investing in the stock market and I find that this particular stock is related to this particular company that engages in human trafficking somehow, or engages in child labour, or engages in this, that or the other?

Yeah, that's very difficult. The thing about it is this is samsara. When you are in samsara, you are enmeshed in all kinds of different, difficult and challenging situations, morally speaking. All you can do is use your intuition. And if it really feels like you should not be investing in this company, don't invest in it. It all depends upon your particular situation.

Somebody will ask the question about, okay, it says not to engage in trade that deals in the slaughter of meat, the slaughter of animals for the sake of meat. Then why is it that you eat meat? Or not me specifically, but anybody within the community, or the bhikkhus even, the bhikkhus and bhikkhunis, why do they eat meat in that case? Well, there is a sutta called Jivaka Sutta, where the Buddha gives certain kinds of criteria, where he says, under these circumstances, bhikkhus are not to take any kind of meat. When they suspect that an animal has been killed for them, when they hear or see the animal being slaughtered for them, or when they know that the animal has been slaughtered for their sake, they cannot take that.

So oftentimes it's then said, okay, but what about us lay people? Because we always buy meat at the supermarket, or we order our meat from this butcher shop or this or that. Well, technically speaking, we have to see that that animal specifically wasn't killed for us. Yes, people can say, oh, that's a loophole and so on and so forth. Completely fine.

My point is, if you want to be vegan and you want to be vegetarian, more power to you. But so long as somebody is not actually hunting, especially for sport, but hunting for their animal, for their meat, or not indulging in the slaughter of that animal for the sake of that meat, then it's okay. So let people live as they want to live. Who are we to try to change them? This is what we have to understand in this community, which is we have to stop trying to be on this high ground where, oh, what about them? What about these people? What about them? We are better than them. I'm holier than thou.

No. All of that is rooted in conceit. It's rooted in identity. It's rooted in ego. Take care of your own self and everything else will be taken care of. If you believe by not indulging in meat you are somehow helping the planet, by all means do that, but don't try to reel other people in. All you're doing is you're becoming an evangelist. Don't do that for the Dhamma either. Don't try to say, hey, you should try this out, you should check this out. So with this sort of view that I'm better than you, because that's where it stems from, it stems from that conceit that I know better, I have the higher wisdom, so let me tell you what you should be doing. If you let go of that, you will find more peace of mind for yourself, and when you have more peace of mind for yourself, it's easier for you to meditate.

Very straightforward. I am saying that you are responsible for your own awakening. You are responsible for your own welfare. It matters, importantly, that you attain full awakening first and foremost, because when you do that, things will change around you, where you are actually able to help others. I'm not saying that you don't help others right now. I'm not saying that you don't have compassion, but what I am saying is that you have to have a balance.

We are not here to be saviors of the world. We are not here to be messiahs. We are here because at some point or another we screwed up, and now we have to find a way to get out of this matrix, and the way to do that is to focus on our own practice, is to focus on our own development of mind in terms of the precepts, that is to say sila, samadhi, which comes into fruition through panya, through wisdom. So I'll stop there, and I'll take some questions now.

Thank you, Delson, and if there are any questions, I suppose raising your hand would be, David, are you in two places at the same time? I am now. My computer was getting a little dicey and it was freezing, so I just hopped up here, so I'm keeping an eye on both places. Everything's all right. That's a great talk, tells you... all right, who's got a question? All right, we've got raised hands here. Is that Mario or you? No, Patrick was first, I guess. All right, Patrick.

Thanks, David, and thank you, Delson. Sorry. Right livelihood. In regards to my livelihood, it seems like it was much more straightforward in the time of the Buddha in terms of proper livelihood. I've been a software engineer for many years. We make software for manufacturers, and I've known for many years that some of the manufacturers make pesticide, some are in the food industry, and I've been okay with that. But recently, within the last month, maybe two months, the company's formed a group to go after defense contractors, and that bothers me a lot. But when I'm writing software and the company's intention seems to be to provide software for manufacturers, how they use it, it seems to me would be like their kamma. But is that true, or am I just trying to justify it in my head?

So the way I would look at it is like, if somebody decides to, I know this is a very rudimentary example, but hopefully it helps you, if somebody decides to be in the business of making different kinds of tools, hardware tools, and someone else buys that and takes that tool and uses it as a weapon, is that person who has manufactured that particular tool, which was not intended to be used as a weapon, karmically responsible for that particular incident?

No. So you have to see for yourself. If it's really creating some kind of agitation in your mind, maybe you need to rethink the choices you're making in terms of the business you want to get into. But my point about this is, we cannot help how we deal, engage in this world. Yeah. So, yeah, the software, whatever you are developing, is for this particular use, but you can't control how that software is going to be used and for what purposes. I hope that helps. Yeah, it does. It does. Thank you. Mario, did you have a question? Yeah, just a comment. Thank you. Delson, what you said about right speech reminded me of a talk I heard by Thanissaro Bhikkhu the other day.

And he says, we're going to talk about right speech, but only one condition: we cannot talk about Nazi Germany. That is the one thing we cannot do, right? And it reminds me of that because I imagine, of course, that comes up every time. Yeah. Yeah. And that's my point. These hypotheticals are not going to get you anywhere. Unless you find yourself in that situation, then you'll know what to do. But there's no point in engaging with these kinds of hypotheticals.

Next question. Oh, thank you. Yeah, thanks David, and thank you Delson. Just a quick question about the unconscious. I know in your first talk I think you talked about CBT and rational emotive therapy and also IFS. I'm psychoanalytically trained, and I'm just curious what you think about right action, but when wrong action is perhaps unconsciously motivated, so for instance, I guess it begs the question that we actually know our mind better than we think we do. I mean, I'm just curious what you might say about certain unconscious motivations, and how best to deal with that, and maybe even go further. Does the arahant have no unconscious that would perhaps lead them into these sorts of wrong actions, wrong speeches, wrong so on and so forth?

So can I get some clarity on what you mean by unconscious motivations? Sure. Again, the assumption is that maybe this is just that the arahant is totally consciously aware of the purposes and motivations behind their actions, which may be the case. I'm not ruling that out, but I'm just, as a psychoanalyst, I assume that there's an unconscious, whether one, and maybe this is the purpose of a mindfulness practice, is to be so, I'll just use the word well-analyzed, because that's the language of psychoanalysis, that you're so well-analyzed and mindful that you would never find yourself in a situation in which you would unconsciously act in a way that creates, again, this wrong action.

This week and so let's say it's harmful, it's hurtful. Again, I understand philosophically that in principle to say, well, Sarah would never find themselves in this situation because they're so, again, well-analyzed, mindful, openly aware, that, and that's again fine to say, but I don't want to pull out historical examples of gurus and whatnot, Trungpa Rinpoche, who's behaved poorly, crazy, with so on and so forth. I know that that will lead us down a wrong path. I'm just asking you in terms of how you would deal with the question of unconscious, if I mean, unless you feel that again the arahant is so well-analyzed that there just simply is no unconscious, that they're fully conscious, always fully aware of what they do, how they do it, when they do it, so they're never, there's not a blind spot, they're never sort of caught off guard. So you have to understand when we talk about karma that this is why the Buddha has always said karma is intention, intention is karma. In other words, there is a conscious decision.

to lie, there's a conscious decision to harm, there's a conscious decision to steal, there's a conscious decision to engage in some kind of misconduct, so there's always going to be intention involved in these kinds of wrongful activities to be considered unwholesome karma. There was another example of where the Buddha was walking around and he saw this monk just frozen, standing just on this piece of ground, not moving. And the Buddha said, what are you doing? He said, well, I know that there are beings that are underneath this ground, and if I walk, I might harm them. They might be killed because of my stepping onto that ground? And the Buddha said, you can't control that.

I'm paraphrasing, but basically you can't control that. In essence, if you did something unconsciously, if you did something by mistake, if you did something that was not intended, then that's not karma. This is the philosophical understanding, since we're getting to philosophy, within the context of Buddhism. The other understanding is the Jain philosophy. Whether I intended it or not intended it, I am beholden to the effects of that. This is the difference.

For the arahant, being fully conscious, they will not find themselves in these situations. And got a question? So I guess the arahant won't have mice in their house? Yeah, we have a little mouse, at least one that we see, and my husband wants to go after it and I won't let him, but of course, they do propagate, and so we've got these herbal things all over the kitchen, and we are cleaning up the kitchen way more impeccably than ever, so I'm hoping that he feels unwelcome. However, I'm sure this is a not a unique situation, and I can never remember because I've asked David about ticks, Damasuka is out in the country and you don't want to kill anything and you ticks, but so please advise.

Since you use the example of an arahant, you know what an arahant would do? Yes, I'd like to know. They just move house, move out of the house and give it to the money. They just move to a different place, right, because they don't have any ownership of anything anyway. But the mice will be somewhere where it's warm and there's food, just like us. Maybe they'll become friends with the mice. Maybe they'll use the mice to their advantage. Anyway, I'm just joking around, but can I go ahead? Let me interject. We have a lot of mice here, we have this problem, and

We use little live traps, little things you can buy on Amazon, like Have a Heart traps. Yeah, whatever. And you, they go in, they get a little peanut butter and they trap, and then you drive them down to the lake, and they have a lake cottage down there, and you said, "Hey, here's your place." And you just keep doing this, and then bugs and wasps come into your cabin, in your place, so you get your critter catcher from Amazon and you grab those, and you take them out, and you take them out, and you take them out, and pretty soon there's nothing there. And then the next day you just do that again. Now people say, "Well, there's some pigs rooting around, this is dangerous, we better call somebody," and says, "Well, fun, just let the picture around until they come up here, what's the problem?" So it's been our experience, we have a lot of critters running around, we live with them. I do, I like to have a heart, I'll, uh, because we do have

a Have a Heart trap for critters to get in our garden, you know. That we have probably populated this area, a certain area, with groundhogs. Of course that's against the law, you're not supposed to do that, but if we called the people, they'd kill them. So yeah, but my, I hadn't thought about it for the mice. Thank you. Okay, this reminds me, actually. David, I mean, this might get into a whole other tangent, but I wonder if it's useful. Didn't you have a situation in your cabin, or underneath your cabin, or near your cabin, where there was a war with squirrels or something like that? Yeah, there was, there was probably mice or rodents down there scratching away.

And I'll go out, make a lot of noise, and then shut up, and then it was kind of a constant thing. What, what would you... Yeah, my thing was you didn't really do anything to them, you just allow them to be there. Yeah, yeah, yeah, and they disappeared because everything is permanent. Yeah, eventually. And this year, nothing. So, but I do understand your question, because you know there are situations in people who have houses and homes and apartments where they have cockroaches and spiders and other kinds of insects and things like that. And to that I would just say, live with them. Well, well.

At one time we had a compost area that was open and it seemed to work wonderful. We went away for 21 days, and when we came back there were rats climbing the peach trees and just roiling around, and so many of them. It turned out there was a whole tunnel, it was like a rat resort underneath the compost. And there was like, there were like many. Well, Larry did go after them, and now I feel like an accomplice because I didn't stop him. But, and then it was a concern not only for our house but for the houses next door, and we kind of have a close neighborhood, so it was a real, and that was a real dilemma. This one little mouse doesn't, but I only see the one.

But there usually isn't just one, they're very social, so I'm hoping they, these, it's warm now, so probably maybe they'll feel more comfortable outside. Yeah. One other thing, what the ultimate example is termites, and people don't know what to do with them, and I've told people, you know, live with them until the house falls down and then move. I mean, or just move. You don't have to put the tent on, kill everything, because there might be some weakness, or you know, a piece of timber is not looking so hot. It's okay, just let them have their way. And then of course might not be able to sell that house, but I don't think, you don't get any situations, you just don't get in situations. But what about the microbes? Yeah, if we're going to get picky, microbes. You know, you get a pneumonia and your lungs are infected with organisms.

You know, you don't want to die. This is it. This is a good, yeah, there's a good distinction, because it's interesting within the cosmology, and this is where it becomes slightly philosophical and things like that. Because within the cosmology, there is no taking into account bacteria, viruses, fungi, and to some extent, the plant kingdom as being beings.

However, in the Jain context, in the Jain cosmology, all of these are taken into account. And you will see a lot of times with the Jains, they have very extreme ways of dealing with it. They'll cover their mouths with a certain kind of mask so that their breath doesn't destroy the microbes in the air and so on and so forth.

So what I'm saying is within the Buddhist cosmology, since they're not taking into account as beings, and what defines a being is that being has some kind of karma that they have to deal with and that they can evolve through the cosmology one way or the other. Secondly, a being is also identified or understood as someone or a mind, let's say, that identifies with one or more of the five aggregates.

So we just don't really know when it comes to microbes, especially viruses, because we, you know, there's a whole debate on that, whether viruses are actually alive or not. And then when it comes to bacteria, yeah, we can consider them as alive, and they do divide and they do grow, but they don't necessarily evolve beyond that, or they have the potential to evolve into something greater in the animal kingdom if you're taking into account the cosmology. So also, when you talk about disease, you know, the Buddha was sick. The Buddha had colds, the Buddha had whatever infection. But Jivaka, who I mentioned before in the Jivaka Sutta, who was his personal doctor, and he would give him medicines and medications and different kinds of treatments that would have to invariably deal with these microbes one way or the other. So, you know, I hope that answers it.

Okay, I think we're going to get to the question on the issue of bugs and things like that. Quilly, how about you? Well, I think this discussion is kind of interesting, because I just comment on the Have a Heart trap. The Have a Heart trap is really about this heart, because many of the beings that you trap and then relocate, they die because they are not relocatable. You can't just say, okay, Mr. Rattlesnake, you go live over here. So you've, you know, and I think

The precepts are an attempt, in a way, to create a way of being. But I really, what I took from today's talk was that develop your own practice, and then you don't have to worry about these things so much, you know, to try to get there before. And I always have the question about our planet herself, and like, what's a living being? Like that was an interesting definition you just said. But we are abusing our minerals. We, you know, I might be wearing a beautiful crystal around my neck or something, because and what it, and certainly the oil system, I mean, is obvious.

So I just see how important the moment is, because you've got to decide right in this moment what the right thing to do is, and I noticed that shame coming up, because as an older person, I really don't have a whole lot of energy at the end of the day. And it's getting earlier at the end of the day. And I do turn to Netflix, you know, and I try to choose wisely.

And that is not really possible. And I really have to agree. What really came up today was about how that leads to me wanting to watch Netflix tomorrow. And I'm noticing the brain or the mind, and I can't differentiate really, but that it's really changing, and so I can't use the same techniques that I once used, and so what do I do, how do I adapt in this moment? It's a genuine question. Yeah. So I mean, you brought up, you know, minerals and things like that. Yeah, I mean, in some sense everything that we see around us has some level of beingness, not necessarily. You know, I mean, again, the definition of what is life and what is living is so

It's going to be around for as long as samsara is around, let's say, you know, and so trying to define that is like one of those undefinables when it comes to karma and things like that. But to your point, you know, for example we all use, you know, mobile phones, we all use smartphones, and they have lithium batteries in them, and they, you know, have different kinds of precious minerals and rare earth minerals, metals and things like that. And as far as the news is concerned, they say that some of these are mined using child labor. It's, you know, slave labor, it's, you know, using slave labor, and it's a tragedy. But this is the world we live in. This is how life is, our life. This is the whole point of life, is suffering. The fact that we are engaging in this world is going to cause suffering one way or the other, but it's not intentional. It's not our intention to cause this suffering. Again, very careful with the statement. That doesn't mean that we have to stop living

you know, physically or otherwise, but we have to be more mindful, we have to be more aware, and that can vary in terms of the degree. Some people want to be more ecologically aware, some people want to be more environmentally friendly, some people want to be more whatever it is. You decide to make the choices that you want to make. There is no one universal answer here for these kinds of situations. Whatever seems to cause the mind mental peace, which can then allow you to evolve in your own practice, is really, is really the pathway here. Yeah, that's important, and when this intention come, you know, now I know lithium batteries are in my phone, so there's a little bit of

Agreement, let's call it yes. I don't know. So then what's done is done. That's the idea: what's done is done, and now you make a different choice. Yeah, because before that you didn't have an intention to do this or that. We are in samsara, right? We can't, that's, we... Yes, thank you Delson. Thank you for these talks, they're really rich. Okay, who's Mario's back? All right, Mario, go for it. Hello. One question about this, the language using the sutta, because for every aspect we have a mundane and a transcendental, like maybe not a good word, but in the second it says that it's taintless, that is developing the path. So clearly, what is it meant by taintless in that sense, because it's developing the path?

I'm having trouble understanding what taintless means. Yeah, so it's referring to different situations. So it says that path that is noble, that path that is a factor of the path, oh sorry, that aspect that is a factor of the path, that which is taintless, doesn't ripen acquisitions, and you know, all of these other statements that are mentioned for the supramundane, for the transcendental, it's just referring to different situations, not that it's always pointing to the same thing. So it's a factor of the path for one who is a noble one, one who has entered the stream and is practicing towards becoming taintless, and it's also something practised by one who is taintless, i.e.

they are fully awakened one. Anyone else? Looks like everybody's got right view and figured it out. And Delson, any final words? Any final words? See you guys next week. Next week, what's the subject next week, Delson? Right mindfulness. Right mindfulness. Don't be mindful of the date and the time. All right. Let's share some merit. Do you have it up on the screen or no? No. All right. Let's see if I remember again. I put it in the chat, Delson.

Oh, you did. Okay, those who want to follow along: May suffering ones be suffering free, and the fear-struck fearless be. May the grieving shed all grief, and may all beings find relief. May all beings share this merit that we have thus acquired, for the acquisition of all kinds of happiness. May beings inhabiting space and earth, devas and nagas of mighty power, share this merit of ours. May they long protect the Buddha's dispensation. All right. Bye everyone, take care. Thank you, Delson. Thanks everyone, thanks for coming. Thank you, David. Thank you, Kristen. Thank you, everyone.