"Gems" The Ratana Sutta -Inspiring Sunday Talk with Delson Armstrong

So basically, this is just some photos from, I've been out for a bit, last four or five days, maybe longer. I was in Rara Nasi and Sarnath and Prayagraj. So what you guys are seeing here is a line of about 200, no, sorry, 120 monks. all the way from Thailand. So as I understand it, they flew in from Calcutta. Sorry, flew into Calcutta. And they've been traveling all around northern India by foot.

And they are in Sarnath at this Chinese temple that's there in Sarnath. We had an opportunity to meet with the head monk and one of our guides. He's a great facilitator of dana, so he gave us an opportunity to offer some food to the monks. So here it is, they're all lined up. After we offered them some food, they gave us a blessing. And then in addition to that, we had some food and medicines, water, different kinds of supplies that they might need on their journey, because they're going to be continuing this journey by foot all across parts of northern India and up into Nepal until probably April of this year. Now this is something they do pretty much. Yeah, you can see that's all the food and water that's being offered for the lunch. And yes, foreign. Yeah, so these are some of the supplies.

that we got for the monks. Fruits, vegetables, lemons, lots and lots of lemons. They love lemons. So we got lemons, oil, water, and a lot of medicine for their legs, because they've been walking so much all throughout this time. So, Tiger Balm, those kinds of things, for their legs. Yeah. And then this is where the food is being prepared. There's our head chef frying up some garlic. And then this is where they were residing, so you can see all the tents.

What was that? It looked like a kangaroo. It was a dog. It was a dog, okay. All right, let's see. So there were all these tents set up. Yeah, so here we are just doing the offering. So it looks like the monks are all different, like Thai, Vietnamese, Burmese. No, they are generally all Thai. They're all Thai, okay. Yeah, but from different monasteries in Thailand. Because that one guy you spoke with, he had a kind of Vietnamese.

Oh, it's possible. Yeah. Dialect. Are you trying to keep that bowl from leaving the table? Yeah, I'm trying my best. I'm trying my best. You can see how determined I look. This is the head monk. And so they were just reassuring them what we've got for them. He's helping us translate what's around. Okay. He's saying, are you sure that's okay? Well, I don't know. Let me check. So ceremonially, I actually just offered him a head of cabbage, but that was basically representing the entire stuff that was there. Yes, they're coming in.

There you go. This is some biscuits that I'm offering, representative of the entire food. There was a cabbage there somewhere, but yeah. Yeah, there's some of the monks. I guess it's a life photo. Yeah, that's it. So that was just a part of my journey in Varanasi and other parts. When I say we, I'm talking about one of my teachers from the Himalayas and a student and our guide who arranged all of this for us, after visiting with the monks, to Prayagraj, where we went to a place called the Magha Mela, which happens every January.

And you have thousands of tents all across the Ganges, just on either side of the Ganges. You've got some Naga sadhus and other kinds of sadhus just hanging out. It's like an ancient Burning Man. It's the original Burning Man for sadhus and sages and monks. So I had a lot of fun. Yeah. Sounds like it. Yeah. Great.

All right. So let me get through some sutras here. Oh, to which Thai tradition? I'm not sure about that. I'm going to have to find out from my guide. We didn't really get to talking too much. They were all quite hungry, so we just let them eat and left. Yeah. Here. Let's see. You see this? Is it big enough? Yeah, that looks great. Okay, good. So I was reading this on the flight back to Mumbai.

This and a few other ones. And I thought I would pick out this one, which is the Sutta Nipata chapter that's 2.1, and I think it's 2.4 or 2.5, we'll see in a bit. But I really, this particular sutta struck out to me because it's talking about the Triple Gem, and it's right there, what we've always been talking about: what is the Buddha, the Dhamma, and the Sangha? And then we'll see what happens in the next one. So this is the wrap. Whatever being, be happy and then listen carefully to what is said.

So you want a steady mind, have loving kindness for yourself and for others. Mind gets steady and listen carefully. Therefore, O beings, all of you, show loving kindness to the human population who day and night bring you offerings. So this is talking to all of the beings in terms of the devas. Why are gems so valuable? Because they're so rare. They're so unique. They're sublime.

And they're likening the Buddha, the Tathagata, to this rare gem that has no equal. And it's interesting that they use first the word Tathagata. We've talked about this briefly before, but it's so important to understand what we mean by Tathagata. It is that. That's literally what it means. It's that. And it's sometimes translated as Tathata. So Tathata is suchness or thatness.

In Sanskrit, this would be also Tathata, but a similar word would be tattvam or tattva, which is sometimes translated as element or quality. But what this is primarily pointing to is that in terms of the unconditioned, in terms of the absolute, in terms of that which is beyond the confines of dependent origination, because the world that we experience here is dependently arisen. But that is unconditioned. That is the absolute. That is outside of the purview of any kind of cause and effect: uncaused, unformed, unborn, the deathless. It is called Nibbana. So that's one who has gone there and returned from it. Tathagata can mean one who has returned from Nibbana, having touched it. Or Tathagata can also mean one who has thus gone, gone there.

Destruction, dispassion, the deathless, the sublime, all pointing to what? All pointing to Nibbana. Sakyamuni, concentrated or collected, attained. There is nothing equal to that Dhamma. That is what we're talking about when we talk about the Dhamma. When we talk about the Buddha, we're talking about this capacity and possibility for all of us to go and touch that, to go and enter into Nibbana.

And that Dhamma, that is unequal to anything else, that Dhamma is the destruction of what? Destruction of craving, destruction of unwholesome tendencies, destruction of unskillful tendencies and habits. It's the dispassion, the detachment, the ability for the mind to remain in one place for quite some time without getting affected one way or the other. But as dispassion, dependent upon disenchantment.

The deathless, the sublime. The deathless here is that which is beyond birth and death, which means it's beyond the scope of dependent origination: Nibbana. That's the Dhamma that we're talking about. When we talk about the Dhamma, yes, it's the understanding of the Four Noble Truths. Yes, it's the understanding of dependent origination. But ultimately, when we talk about Dhamma from this context, we're talking about the deathless.

That is the unsurpassed Dhamma. The purity that the Supreme Buddha praised, which they call the collectiveness or concentration without interval, the equal of that state does not exist. This is referring to what is sometimes translated as timeless samadhi. Samadhi that is unending. Samadhi that is never broken, or unbroken. And this kind of samadhi generally points to what's known as Phala Samapatti, Phala Samadhi. And that is the state of the mind of somebody who has attained Nibbana: surpassed, unequaled, supreme level of collectedness without interval, where one touches Nibbana. This too is a sublime gem in the Dhamma. By this truth, may there be safety.

The eight persons praised by the good constitute these four pairs. What are the four pairs? Stream entry, stream winner. Once-returner, once-returner with fruit. Non-returner, non-returner with fruit. And one worthy of veneration, which is what actually arahant means. And one worthy of veneration with fruit. These are the four pairs. By this truth, may there be safety.

Those who strive well with a firm mind, who are desireless in Gautama's teaching, have reached attainment, having plunged into the deathless, enjoying perfect peace obtained free of charge. This too is a sublime gem in the Sangha. So when he says this, those who have strived well with a firm mind, those who have determined to get off the wheel of samsara, to get off the wheel of rebirth, those who have that proper intention, who are desireless in Gautama's teaching. That's a very interesting statement: who are desireless.

In other words, they have let go of all desires in the form of craving, in the form of obsession, in the form of clinging, having reached attainment, any of the four attainments or attainments with fruit, having plunged into the deathless, having touched Nibbana, enjoying perfect peace obtained free of charge. It's priceless. You can't put a number on the peace that you get from this practice.

This too is a sublime gem in the Sangha. So in other words, this is somebody who has established themselves into the Dhamma, who makes up the Sangha. So you can see that we talked about the Buddha a couple of times. We talked about the Dhamma a couple of times. But here there is emphasis on the Sangha because it is made up of so many different types of persons.

So somebody who has seen the noble truths, what does that mean? Somebody who has seen the dependent origination. The four noble truths are an abbreviated form of dependent origination. First noble truth is suffering, right? You understand suffering, how suffering arises. The second noble truth is craving, obsession, clinging: the cause and conditionality for that suffering to arise. It could be the undue attention to a hindrance. It could be clinging, it could be becoming, it could be whatever. Abandon it. The third noble truth is peace, liberation, Nibbana, nirodha dukkha nirodha. How do we experience dukkha nirodha? By letting go of that link that is causing suffering: seeing the obsession and the craving arise, letting that go; seeing the clinging come up, letting that go; seeing the becoming come up, letting that go; seeing the underlying tendencies leading to that craving, letting it go.

Seeing the undue attention that arises in contact between the eyes and its form. The form as the sense object. Or any of the sense bases and their particular corresponding objects. And letting go of the undue attention to that. When you do that, you let go of any potentiality. For craving to arise. For obsession to arise. For clinging to arise. Coming to arise, and how do you do it? Through the fourth noble truth, which is the Eightfold Path, by living the Eightfold Path, by seeing for yourself the perspective to take on, which is ultimately the understanding of karma and consequence, by realizing for yourself the right intention. If you can't have loving kindness, at least don't do any harm. If you can't have any compassion, at least don't be cruel.

And have some contentment, of course, right speech, right action, and so on. But the heart of the Eightfold Path is the ability to recognize when there are unskillful states, to let them go, and to generate the wholesome or skillful states and keep them going, so that they're like a river that takes you all the way to the ocean of the bottom. So when you see it in this way, when you don't intellectualize it, but you see it for yourself, you experience through the understanding of suffering, through the abandoning of craving, through the realization and experience of Nibbana or Nirodha, and the cultivation and development of the Eightfold Path, then you are a noble person.

Of the Sangha, in that sense. Those who have cognized the noble truths, well taught by one of deep wisdom, even if they are extremely heedless, do not take an eighth existence. What does this mean? So those who have established for themselves, have experienced stream entry with fruit, or even stream entry. Those who have cognized the noble truths, well-taught by one of deep wisdom, even if they are extremely heedless, which can happen for somebody who is a sotapanna, it can happen. They are careless.

They hold on to grudges. They get tempted by different things. They indulge in different things. But they still have stream entry, because there's three parts to stream entry, which we've discussed. They do not take an eighth existence, which means that only up to seven, seven births, seven lifetimes, however you want to phrase it. This too is a sublime gem in the Sangha. By this truth, may there be safety. Together with one's achievement of vision, three things are discarded. In other words, together with one's achievement of vision, one who has attained to right view, the supramundane right view of the Four Noble Truths, three things are discarded: the view of a personal entity, in other words self-view; the intellectual understanding, because yes, you can still take things personally until you've let go of conceit; until you've let go of the desire to control things a certain way; until you've let go of identifying with things from a very intrinsic, very deep level of that sense of self, which we call or conceit. This will go away eventually.

But what goes away right now in stream entry is the view of the personal self. You know for a fact, based on your experience, based on your investigation, based on your understanding, that there can't be this independent self that is outside of the scope of dependent origination. We see self arises as a result and is dependent upon causes and conditions. The I that we say is I, the me that we say is me, identifies with whatever is arising in the present moment, and that is the personal self.

But in reality, when we talk about emptiness, when we talk about anatta, we're talking about the realization that no, there is no inherently permanent, separate self here. We understand that. And that's what goes away. The view. Doubt. What do we mean by doubt? Doubt in the Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha. Doubt in the teachings of the Buddha. Doubt in the possibility of Nibbana. Doubt in the possibility of attaining to that full awakening. And whatever good behavior and observances there are. It's a little weirdly phrased that that's discarded.

Because you wouldn't discard good behavior, and you wouldn't discard observances. What you would discard is any kind of clinging to them. Clinging to certain rites and rituals with the idea that they alone will take you to Nirvana. They're stepping stones. But the real work is to sit down, close your eyes, keep your eyes open, that's fine too, and look into the nature of your mind.

That's the work to be done. Reflect and see for yourself how the mind creates its own suffering, and by letting it go, how the mind attains freedom, and is incapable of doing six deeds. What are these six deeds? Well. One, killing an Arahant. Two, killing one's mother. Three, killing one's father. Four, shedding the blood of a Buddha with the intent to harm that Buddha.

And five, causing a schism within the Sangha. What is number six? Taking on another doctrine or taking on another teacher as one's own outside of the Buddha. What does that mean? It means that somebody who doesn't completely subscribe to what the Buddha is talking about. It's not like you change a teacher from one thing to the other, because we have so many teachers within the world of Buddhism. But that doesn't mean you're taking them on as a teacher. Ultimately, the ultimate teacher is the Buddha, the source of the stream of the Dhamma. So the idea here is that to take on another teacher would mean that we completely forget about the Buddha. We're not talking about teachers or guides or anything like that. This too is a sublime gem in the Sangha. By this truth, may there be safety. Although one does a bad deed by body, speech or mind, one is incapable of concealing it. Such inability is stated for one who has seen the state.

This too is a sublime gem in the Sangha. By this truth, may there be safety. In other words, although one does any kind of deed that is unwholesome, one is incapable of concealing it, because you have Jiminy Cricket on your shoulder telling you, you shouldn't have done that. Why did you do that? That is because you have attained to that view. You have understood right view. You have understood action and consequence. You've understood karma. You realize, oh, maybe I shouldn't have said that. Maybe I shouldn't have done that. Maybe I should go back to that person and clear things up. So it is incapable of concealing it. In other words, there is this guilt and remorse that arises.

Which shows that we have conscience. We don't have a lack of conscience. We listen to our conscience. We listen to our intuition. And we realize that, okay, we need to right some wrongs. Like a woodland thicket with flowering crests in a summer month, in the first of the summer, just so he taught the excellent Dhamma, leading to Nibbana for the supreme welfare. This too is a sublime gem.

The Buddha. By this truth, may there be safety. Now we come back to the Buddha. Here is someone who saw for himself how this process works, using his intuition, using his effort, having gone through years of doing the ascetic practices, some of which I've seen when I was at Prayer Garage yesterday, of these different sadhus. Some of them are walking around in pretty frigid temperatures, maybe not as frigid as it is now in the US, but about 45 or 50 degrees Fahrenheit is still pretty cold, just with ash on their body, or holding up their arms like this, for years at a time, or just very interesting, strange things, let's say strange to the modern mind.

And so the Buddha tried all these different ascetic practices, saw for himself that it wasn't working, saw for himself that this process of trying to get to a point where he was literally barely just skin and bones would have just caused his death, and found a different path. That is to say, he saw for himself the middle way. Having seen the middle way, he realized for himself that this is the way leading to the end of suffering.

But when he did that, he also saw that it would be very subtle and very difficult to explain to others. And so he had a choice whether to actually explain to others or not. And that's when Brahma Sahampati, I think that's the name, came to him and said, there are those with little dust in their eyes. So out of compassion, would you please elucidate the Dhamma for them? And so, out of compassion, he did that. That is wonderful. If we had not done that, there would be no Dhamma as we understand it now. The excellent one, knower, the excellent giver, the excellent bringer, the excellent, the unsurpassed one, taught the excellent Dhamma. So now it's praising the realization that the Buddha had. It is excellent. It is something that is clear and

Sounds simple and is actually simple and effective, but it's something that requires one's effort. It requires one's intention. It requires one's will and volition. It requires one to let go of those comfortable habits that we all like to do sometimes, which are not necessarily conducive for experiencing the Dhamma. And so the Buddha here has given that excellent Dhamma, that teaching that allows us to let go of those habits, let go of those unskillful tendencies, and come to a space where we experience that sublime peace.

The old is destroyed. There is no new origination. Their minds are dispassionate toward future existence. These are the ones who have fully excelled. Destroyed, with no desire for growth, those wise ones are extinguished like this lamp. The ones who are fully awakened, who have seen it for themselves. This too is a sublime gem in the Sangha. By this truth, may there be safety.

Thus if I heard on one occasion the Blessed One was dwelling at Savatthi in Jeta's Grove, Anathapindika's Park, then when the night had advanced, a certain deity of stunning beauty, having illuminated the entire Jeta's Grove, approached the Blessed One, paid homage. "So, declare the highest blessing." This is the request for the Buddha. And here's how the Buddha explains. He says, is very difficult. This is very difficult. We've got a bunch of fools everywhere that we see. How do we know somebody is wise? Is it that they've got a big old gray beard? The longer the beard, the wiser you are. Is it they've got some long flowing robes? Is it because they've traveled the Himalayas for many years and come back and now shown you certain wisdom?

Can we tell who is wise and who is a fool only through time, only by associating with them? You take, make the risk of either seeing a fool or seeing a wise person, but you learn from their actions. You learn from their mistakes. You learn from their wrongdoings, of the foolish ones, and you learn from what seems to be appropriate and what seems to be offering peace and tranquility and joy and comfort. And it's not something that is talking about just a physical form of peace. We're talking about a peace that happens in the heart and in the mind. So to associate, not associating with fools, that pretty much accounts for about 80% of the population of this world, if not more.

place where you don't know what kind of company you're keeping, and you only know the kind of company you're keeping once you start to interact, once you start to see, and then you make a choice. You make a determination after a while. And the Buddha even said this, if you can't find any wise ones around you, then go into the forest like a tusker and be on your own. That's sometimes too extreme for us because we live in the lay life, but I think there's a lesson there. If we find that there are people who are not conducive to our practice, not conducive for the peace of mind that we all seek, then we should leave them.

We should leave them in kindness. We should leave them in a way that doesn't cause harm, and either find new company or enjoy our own company. And venerating those worthy of veneration, this too is a risk. I mean, we have a lot of people who are in robes and, by that power, we say yes this person is a bhikkhu and this person is a bhikkhuni and we venerate them. That's wonderful and we should do that, not because they're in the robes. We should do that because of what the robes represent. It's not about the person or the individual. It's about what the Sangha represents. Residing in a suitable place, merit done in the past, and directing oneself rightly.

This is the highest blessing. Residing in a suitable place. Find a place that is conducive for your practice. I'm in a very interesting situation because though I live in Mumbai, which is, I think, at this point, the population of 22 million people, and it has a lot of traffic, a lot of pollution, and helter-skelter everywhere, I found myself a nice spot by some really peaceful places, and so it's important to find that space for you where you can meditate. I love being at Damasuka when I'm there for the summer when I'm giving retreats because it's deep. It's in the forest and I have my own cabin and I have my own sanctuary and I can meditate and I can relax and I can read and all these things. So find a suitable place, a place that doesn't have too many snakes, too many bugs, too many irritants, and all these things.

Merit done in the past. When you recall the good things that you've done in the past, what does that cause? It causes an uplifted mind. Oh, that's the cabin, by the way, that I think David is right in front of. That's my cabin there. My cabin. I identify with that cabin. It's mine, strictly mine. Joke. But it's a beautiful cabin and I love being there.

So merit done in the past, good actions, the good speech, the good intentions we've had. I feel amazing whenever I go to Varanasi or to Bodhgaya or anywhere because I have my trusty guide, Shambhu. He's a wonderful guy and he facilitates all of this opportunity to do all this kind of dana. And it's not just for monks. It's for people who are in need, orphans and people who are elderly and no one is there to take care of them, and all these other possibilities of helping people. When you do that, when I look back in my own experience, in my own life, that's what really counts. That's what really counts because it uplifts the mind.

It softens the heart. It expands the heart. And you can use that as a foundation for loving kindness for yourself and for others. So if you can't do anything, smile. That's the fallback. If you can't do anything, if you can't give anything, you can't give away your time, you can't give away your energy, you can't even go and donate blood if you needed to. Just smile.

Smile. This is so wonderful because when you do that, your mind isn't agitated. Your mind feels relief. And directing oneself rightly, which means what? We have the self-effort. We make the effort ourselves to go in the right direction. What is the right direction? The direction that leads to peace. The direction that leads to tranquility. The direction that leads to the unconditioned. Much learning, a craft, a well-trained discipline, well-spoken speech. This is the highest blessing.

Much learning. That doesn't mean book knowledge. That doesn't necessarily mean a good education. Although if you have that, that's a blessing. That's wonderful for you. But it's the experiences that you have that is really the school of hard knocks, which is also a really great education. Goodness knows I've had that. And a craft, a skill, something that you're good at, right? Person, if there's something you're good at that you can contribute to the world, right? I've talked about this maybe last time or time before, but when we talk about Dharma or Dhamma, we talk about it as the Dhamma in terms of the teachings, or sometimes we talk about the Dhamma in terms of phenomena, or Dhamma in terms of the true nature of reality. But there's also another kind of Dharma which is similar to the concept of ikigai, and that means that you do something that you are good at, something that you enjoy doing, something that you're good at, something that will help bring contribution to the world around you, bring some kind of service to the people around you, and something that you also get paid for.

Because that's the way the world works. That's the way we as humans have set things up in terms of society. That's your ikigai, something that puts food into your stomach, gives you some shelter, gives you clothing, gives you medicines when you need it. And so money here is the representative of that. Something that you get paid for, that you're good at and that you enjoy, but also provides service to others. That's also karma. That's the craft that we're talking about. A well-trained discipline, something where, for example, the Eightfold Path, the Dhamma that we are practicing in the form of meditation. In the form of sila, samadhi, and panya. In the form of dana, bhavana, and panya.

A well-trained discipline. This is what the Buddha has offered to all of us. And well-spoken speech. The ability to transform and communicate and provide information in a way that is beneficial for others. Beneficial to others. Blessing: serving one's mother and father, maintaining a wife and children, and an honest occupation. This is the highest blessing. Again, this is in the context of lay people serving one's mother and father. This is a very Asian thing, especially an Indian thing, right? It's something that we as my generation and generation before we don't do it out of a sense of 'we have to.' We do it out of a, that, yes, here are these people who have taken care of me, who have clothed me, given me an education, who have fed me, and all of these wonderful things.

That's the duty of a parent to a child. But to the modern context of where we live in this world, there's not a lot of emphasis on giving back to parents. And it does not mean that we need to do it in a way where we give them back something in the form of food, clothing, shelter, medicine, education, whatever. It just means that we will be there for our parents when they need us. It could mean that, yes, maybe they're being taken care of by a nurse. Maybe they're being taken care of at a senior care center. But we go visit them. We spend time with them. We make sure we pay for whatever it is that needs to be paid for.

Ways in which we can give back. Now, obviously, we also have situations where our parents haven't been the best. Maybe they've been abusive. Maybe they've been neglectful. Maybe they've been harmful intentionally towards us. The best we can do is forgive them. That's the best we can do. Because it's difficult to return back anything to them when we have all this resentment. But if we forgive them, we let go of that resentment.

And that resentment feeds into our mind. It creates darkness in our mind. If we can let go of that and have no ill will towards them, that's a good starting point. And if you feel like you want to do some kind of service to them, that's up to you. Maintaining a wife and children. This is really, again, a very Asian thing. It's a very Indian thing. Obviously, it's talking from the perspective of somebody who is, male and somebody, all of these other things. But really what it's talking about is having a family. Having a family is also the highest blessing. In the lay life, being able to spend time with the people in your family, whether that's a partner and that's children that comes from that relationship or whatever it might be, the ability to have that means that you are contributing to society as well, right?

and contributing to society by creating a home for yourself and for the future generation where there will be peace and there will be tranquility, and that future generation goes out into the world and contributes to society. How they behave and how they act with others that they don't know, with strangers, how they make friends with others, how they maintain relationships with others, is a direct reflection of how they've been brought up at home. One of the highest blessings is to have a family. The opportunity to contribute to society in that way. To contribute to fellow humans in that way. And an honest occupation. So that's right livelihood. Livelihood that doesn't harm ourselves or harm others.

Giving and righteous conduct. Assistance to relatives and blameless deeds. This is the highest blessing. Giving. Generosity. Like I said, if you can't give anything at all, still give your smile. You can still make someone's day with a gentle word, with a genuine compliment, with conversation. Some people just need to be heard. You can give of your time to them and listen to what they have to say.

Righteous conduct. Conduct that is in alignment with Sila. Assistance to relatives. This is an interesting one. Again, this is something that's more Asian or Indian, where we come from, very big families in India. And we have uncles and aunts and cousins and second cousins and third cousins twice removed and all of these other things that are there.

And it's interesting when you hear about relatives in the Hindi language, you would think it's just aunts and uncles, but every relation has its own term. Like your brother is one term. That's mama. That's your mother's brother. That's an uncle. Your dad's sister. In Hindi, that's bua. There are all these different terms. There are different relationships that you keep with the different relatives.

And assistance to them could be anything. It could be anything from giving them advice to offering them help with something that they're working on or whatever it is. That, again, is maintaining good harmony with the family, which then means that one has harmony with the world at large. Blameless deeds. This is, again, righteous conduct. This is conduct where you know that you're doing the right thing.

You're not telling lies. You're not cheating. You're not stealing. You're not infringing on your relationship or another's trust. You are not harming. You're not taking what is not given, and so on. This is the highest blessing. Keeping the precepts. Desisting and abstaining from evil. There you go. Refraining from intoxicating drink. Heedfulness and good qualities. This is the highest blessing. Refraining from intoxicating drink. This is something that's very important, because this can cause a lot of confusion and a lot of pain in the mind when we try drinking a bottle of wine and then the next morning sitting down for meditation. How do you feel? Can you really meditate as well as you could without having had that bottle of wine, or that glass of wine, or whatever it is, intoxicating drink? Because it leads to a mind that can be heedless. It has nothing to do with, it's wrong to drink or this or that. It's more about, it can enable us to be a bit more heedless.

And in that heedlessness, it can cause us to break other precepts. So best to kind of avoid that. Best to try to let go of any situations or potential situations by letting go of the causes that could lead to those potential situations. Reverence and humility, contentment and gratitude, namely listening to the Dhamma. This is the highest blessing.

Reverence and humility. Reverence to who? Reverence in the sense of, do we need to bow? Do we need to do this? Do we need to do that? No. It means that we have a certain level of respect. We have a certain level of our lack of contempt at somebody who, or towards somebody who is teaching the Dhamma, guiding you. There's reverence for that. When you have a mentor, you have reverence there because you're listening to them carefully.

When you have a guide, you're listening to them carefully. That's the level of reverence you want to give them. You owe them that. At least you owe them that. Humility. What is humility? Humility is not the false humility of, oh, I'm so humble and I only had one meal a day and I only told one lie today or this week. And I've been really good most of my time here and whatever. It's just, that's all false humility. When we talk about humility here, we're talking about a mind that realizes that everybody can be a teacher.

Everybody in our life can teach us something. Every situation in our life can teach us something. To listen carefully to what other people are saying, to listen carefully to situations as they arise, listen carefully to our friends, listen carefully to our enemies, the people who don't wish us well. What can we learn from them? What can we learn from them in terms of what not to do, and in terms of how to trust and how not to trust? And that humility, especially against enemies. Reverence and humility for your enemies. That's a big thing.

That's a big thing. Contentment and gratitude. Last year's word of the year was contentment. Gratitude. What is gratitude? A lot of people say, oh, the Buddha doesn't seem to talk too much about gratitude. Well, here's a rare sutta where he does address that. When we talk about gratitude, we're talking about gratitude towards others, gratitude towards the situation that we're in. When you have gratitude, you have a certain level of acceptance of life.

And you can get to that point that you have radical acceptance of whatever is happening in your life. That takes time, but it happens. Timely listening to the Dhamma. In other words, is it the right time to listen to what you're listening to? Or are you just putting on somebody reading the or a recording of Bhante or whatever, but not really paying attention.

Or you're finding time for yourself where you can actually fully listen, focus, contemplate, and reflect. This is the highest blessing. Patience, being amenable to advice, the seeing of ascetics, timely discussion on the Dhamma. This is the highest blessing. Patience. This is what Ibanez Ramsey and David Johnson have said over and over and over: patience leads to nibbana. Patience leads to nibbana. Patience here is the ability to remain present with whatever is happening and not trying to control the outcome of whatever is happening, not trying to control what the future is going to look like because you wanted a certain way. When we spoke last time, we talked about, yes, we have goals, we have certain targets, we have certain deadlines, or we have certain things that we want to accomplish, and that's all well and good, but the patience that is required to be able to do what we're doing in terms of the action that is required, without getting bogged down by the future. Being amenable to advice: I talked about this just earlier, being able to listen to our teachers and our guides. Anyone can be a teacher.

Anyone can be a guide in our life. It can be anyone from the mailman, to the gardener, to our grandchild, to our children, to our siblings, to whoever, being able to listen to what they have to say and taking account for, maybe this makes a lot of sense. Why do we see ascetics? Because they have hard-earned wisdom.

It might not be the wisdom we're looking for, but it can be the stepping stones towards where we're going, in the things that they may say. And there may be a possibility that what they say might not jive with us, might not vibe with us. But we know what to look for and what not to look for.

Timely discussion on the Dhamma. Well, here we are. Every Sunday, we come together and talk about the Dhamma. Discuss and ask questions and all these other things. Timely discussion. Highest blessing. Austerity and the spiritual life. Seeing of the Four Noble Truths and realization of Nibbana. This is the highest blessing. What do we mean by austerity? It's not about asceticism, remember. When we talk about austerity, it means that we have a level of restraint when it comes to our sense experiences.

Our senses are constantly consuming, constantly consuming different things. The eyes are constantly taking in so much information. The ears, listening to music, listening to the news, listening to people talk, listening to even just silence. The nose, the tongue, the food that we eat. The body itself. And, of course, the mind with its thoughts. So when we talk about something like Samvega, or I should say Samvara. Samvega is spiritual urgency. Samvara means to restrain, or that's usually the general translation, but it means that we pay attention to the kind of food that we eat through the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind, and not to over consume, not to get so bogged down by the things that we're experiencing that we get inundated and we start to identify and it causes us suffering. So paying attention to the quality of things that we see, hear, taste, touch, smell, and think.

Especially what we think. And the spiritual life. What is the spiritual life? The Eightfold Path. Seeing of the Four Noble Truths. The realization of the body. Seeing the Four Noble Truths. Investigating into it and having an understanding from experience of what these Four Noble Truths are. And seeing for oneself the unconditioned. Highest blessing: those whose mind does not shake when touched by worldly conditions, sorrowless, dust-free, secure. This is the highest blessing, indeed it is the highest blessing. This is the most sublime tranquility, the most unsurpassed peace. The ability to have that level of peace where no matter what is going around you, being able to do that is a highest blessing.

Very difficult. But that is what we are all training for. To get to that point where no matter what is happening around us, we have the island of our mind that is always at peace. Those who have done these things are victorious everywhere. Everywhere they go, safely, theirs is that highest blessing. In other words, those who have done these things, these experiences, they go in safety.

That is their highest blessing. So we'll stop there and open it up for any questions, comments, and so on. I highly recommend that if you are just starting out. Is this a question or just a comment, I think? Yeah. I'd recommend that if you're just starting out on the Twin Path, then at least do an online retreat that you can do at home if you can't do a physical retreat, or do a Zoom retreat. Good plug for my retreats that are coming up. David, do you want to tell them about that?

Well, there are some Zoom retreats that are coming up. February 13th, I think, is the next one. Something like that. Yeah. And then March and April. Yeah. It's like nine days, and every day you talk to Delson about your practice and watch a video and practice, practice, practice at home, from your home. And so there's information about that on our website and so on. Right, exactly. The All-Embracing Net of Views Sutta is a great discourse on virtue for lay persons. All-embracing net of views, I wonder if he's talking about the Brahmajala Sutta, unless he's talking about something else. Maybe you can give us the nikaya and the number. Kalyana mitta, besides the WhatsApp group and Sunday Zooms, are other channels available for discussing the Dharma with a senior Dharma teacher? I'm not sure what that means. Well, not really, but you can. We have a little thing called Talk to a TWIM Guide, and you can sign up for that on our website.

That's free. You can talk to me or Kirsten. And then also, Delson has his own website, and you can book a consultation with him and talk at length with him, too. Yeah. What would be your word of the year for 2026? Virgil, you missed out, man, last year, last week. It was, it is. Refuge. To take refuge. Anybody else? Along that, I was reading something from the Chronicles of the Buddha, and he was describing the definition of taking refuge.

And he said, you're a refugee. Refugee from samsara. Well, that is true. That is true. If you think about the word, we say in the Pali, Buddham saranam gacchami. Dhammam saranam gacchami. Sangham saranam gacchami. Saranam means I take the protection of. I am under the protection of the Buddha, I am under the protection of the Dhamma, I am under the protection of the Sangha. So, yeah, we are refugees in that regard.

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 dispensation. All right, thank you everyone. I'll see you around. All right, thanks everybody, see you next week.