We're All Connected

As the circle of birth and death ('Saṃsāra') has been going on for such a long time, we all had millions and billions of past lives. The Buddha teaches that it's difficult to meet a single being that has not been our mother, father, child, sibling, or spouse in some past life. Recognizing this close connectedness, we undermine the delusion of an autonomous, individual 'Self'. Recognize this close connectedness, we find it easy to develop empathy, kindness, and compassion for all beings.

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Transcript

The Buddha pointed out that it is difficult to find a single being.

Anyone who we meet,

Whether it's a human or even an animal,

But to meet someone who has not been our mother or father or spouse or sibling or child in some past life,

We're actually all comically connected.

And even nowadays,

Even if it's someone of a different country,

Different continent,

Different ethnic background,

Different religion,

Different language,

Different culture,

You may feel zero connection in reality.

In some past life,

We would have been very close.

How is it possible?

It's possible because the chain of repeated birth and death,

The circle of Sanghsava,

The wheel of birth and death,

Now reaches back very,

Very far.

In fact,

The beginning point can't be defined or pointed out or discerned.

Bhubakoti in the Panyayati,

As the Buddha said,

Because however far we go back,

Even a trillion lifetimes back,

There would still be another lifetime before that.

And so,

Statistically,

As this chain of previous lives is so endlessly long,

Obviously at some stage we would have been close to all the beings.

That's a beautiful reflection for establishing the matter and compassion.

Whatever we encounter,

However,

Disgusting or unpleasant,

Whether that's a cane toad or a cockroach,

Whether it is the people who are looking unattractive,

Or who may be criminals or disadvantaged in many ways,

The Buddha said that we have been through the same thing.

At some stage we have been born as a cockroach,

As a cane toad.

At some stage in some past life we would have been criminals or disabled or disfigured or disadvantaged in any way.

So it's a good reflection never to look down on other beings,

Never to fear nor contend.

Whatever exalted we may see,

Whether it's billionaires or kings and queens and heads of states and CEOs and famous movie stars and influencers and celebrities or even the devas,

Bahmas,

At some stage we have been reborn exactly as that.

So it's no need to feel jealousy or to be hankering after anything in terms of worldly accomplishment.

We already had it at some stage in the past.

These are beautiful connections to show that we are actually all connected.

We are also mentally connected.

We are calmly connected from these past lives,

Where we have been close to almost all the beings we can possibly encounter.

But we are also mentally connected because how we think affects others and if we radiate anger and aversion and depression and others pick it up,

You may have noticed that when someone is very negative,

Or one is in danger of picking up that energy,

And when someone has got calm and loving kindness and compassion,

It also affects other people,

You pick it up,

And that could go even over great distance.

So what we think is actually not irrelevant.

It's relevant because it shapes our character over time.

It's also relevant because it impacts other people.

It's important to reflect on this connection because in our time and age there is a strong illusion of a completely autonomous individual,

Individualism.

The lonely cowboy who can do everything on themselves is not reality and if we investigate,

We notice that we usually would be unable to even survive on our own.

Would you be able to produce all the food you eat and whatever other clothes and shelter you require?

No,

I doubt it.

So we depend on each other.

That's another one how we are connected.

Now we have this contact tracing for coronavirus.

You may have read that some people in one week had a thousand contacts.

You can trace it all back and it's fascinating how this pandemic is also driving home a few realities of life to us.

It shows how closely we are connected.

Just imagine if someone in this one week had maybe not a thousand,

Even just a hundred contacts,

And if each of these one hundred had another hundred,

Then already ten thousand.

So in a few steps you get to very large numbers.

There is this famous thing from sociology,

The six degrees of separation,

That probably all human beings are at a maximum only about six degrees of separation apart.

If I remember that correctly,

Six was a number they suggested.

Meaning,

If you consider all the people you somehow know even remotely,

That's the first step.

And then you take all the people you know know even remotely,

The second.

And the theory is that if you do that about six times,

Then there's hardly anyone left in this world who isn't connected in that way.

So it's good not to counter this in the delusion of we being a completely separate individual on our own.

We are not.

There's almost an extreme expression of sacaya-diti,

Of entity view,

Personality view,

In the delusion of self,

Because a true self would be independent.

So the definition of a true self,

A true self with a big capital S,

In the philosophical sense,

Wouldn't really work if it was constantly dependent on others.

The delusion of self implies this independence.

And maybe we could achieve that temporarily if one is reborn in bahma-loka,

The high deva-lokas of pure form or even the formless ones.

These bahmas can live in splendid bliss and internal unification,

Completely on their own,

Just feeding on bliss or even equanimity for a long,

Long time,

Maybe even eons.

But even then they come back and get reborn in some other realm of rebirth.

But at least that is a possibility in a form several eons knew could be in splendid individual isolation as a bahma,

Immersed in internal samadhi,

Unification and bliss.

But even that would be temporary.

But here in this human world,

In the human body,

It is impossible.

We couldn't live on our own,

We are karmically connected,

We are mentally connected,

We influence each other mentally.

We have only a few degrees of separation to virtually everyone,

As the contact tracing is quite strongly also showing now,

Kind of demonstrating that.

I think here in Queensland there were more than 10,

000 people in isolation,

Because they had to isolate anyone who was a contact.

And from these relatively few cases we had,

Rather than a few dozen,

Quickly we had 10,

000 plus people who were somehow contacts.

And it also shows that our bodies are not isolated.

There is another thing,

If we take this body as self,

Me,

Mine,

As an atta,

With a capital S,

Self,

That would be required for this body to be independent.

Many people in the may feel like that when they are strong and healthy.

I can look after my body myself,

Can we really?

And is this body truly separate?

The elements are constantly going in and out,

The wind goes in and out,

The heat element goes in and out,

The water element we drink,

Water and then we sweat and urinate and produce saliva and snot and it goes out.

The earth element the same,

We eat food,

Consuming also the earth element,

We excrete it again.

So it's an amazing delusion to attack this body as an independent self.

And again the pandemic is driving this point home because right now we are trying our most desperate way to kind of separate these bodies,

Social distancing,

Wearing masks.

And it doesn't work very well.

Australia was exceptionally successful so far,

They managed to almost close their borders.

That only worked almost and then there were all these spillovers from the quarantine system or the breakouts.

So Australia couldn't fully separate itself from the virus.

And now when I look at Sydney,

It looks like they are struggling after seven weeks lockdown.

The cases are still cropping up because it's not so easy to separate human beings completely.

Because we are breathing the same air,

That is why ventilation is important,

To stop it.

But even with ventilation we are only reducing how much we are sharing the air.

And ultimately we are still sharing the air.

We are sharing the air with the plants,

Breathing out carbon dioxide.

Little plants metabolize and turn into oxygen and then we breathe in the oxygen,

Metabolize and turn into carbon dioxide.

So we coexist.

So I suggest that as a theme for reflection.

Now are we truly independent autonomous selves?

Or are we depending on conditions?

Which means that it's not a true self.

And the second one is what we find if we investigate.

Can we truly,

Totally separate ourselves from other human beings?

If we investigate,

We notice how incredibly difficult that is whether we are sharing our viruses,

Or we are sharing our bacteria,

Or we are sharing the very breath which keeps us alive.

And once we reflect like that,

We establish a loving kindness.

We recognize that we in a deep sense are in it together and that we can't totally separate ourselves from all these other beings,

Not even from the animals.

Because it turns out that animals,

Some of them can also get coronavirus and many diseases are like that.

Now even with the animals,

Or at least some of them,

We are sharing the air we breathe,

We are sharing the bacteria and viruses.

Once we realize that,

Then I think there is a much stronger natural empathy,

A much stronger compassion,

A much stronger loving kindness.

If one lives in that conceit,

In that illusion of a totally independent,

Lonesome,

Cowboy,

Individual self,

There is not a delusion that fosters empathy,

Compassion and loving kindness.

But the contemplation of how much we are connected,

In my opinion,

Supports our attitude of loving kindness and compassion.

And I'm quite intrigued how the virus is driving this point home.

Krasnodar has all these extreme measures,

An incredible effort to separate people.

And still some of the virus manages to connect,

Hasn't been fully successful,

Not even in Australia,

Much less in all the other countries.

But very quickly this whole thing went all around the world.

So let us now establish loving kindness and compassion for all beings.

Let us wish well,

May you live long,

Healthy and happily,

May you be free from all pain and suffering.

Let us wish well and absolutely everyone to all beings.

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