Why? | Ajahn Brahmali

Ajahn Brahmali asks the question, "Why?". Using anecdotes from the life of Ajahn Chah and referring to the suttas on how meditation practice answers the question "Why?". Through letting go during the process of meditation - letting go of the sense of self -meditation starts to happen and we can gain insight and true freedom. Ajahn Brahmali, a senior disciple of Ajahn Brahm, is an exemplary scholar, meditator, and much sought-after teacher. He has a gift for bringing the Buddha’s message to life.

Transcript

Okay,

Good.

So shall we start?

Great.

So let's start.

So as I mentioned before,

Initially the title of this retreat was simply Why?

Which is kind of cryptic,

But it's a nice one though because it sort of gets to the heart of the idea of causality.

Everything has a why in Buddhism.

Nothing happens without the why.

So it is very interesting in that way,

But it's also a bit like a zen koan,

Just why?

Why?

And there are a few sutras that are koan-like that the Buddha defined among the four nikayas.

And I will look at a couple of those sutras later on because they're kind of interesting,

They're different.

I don't know if they are the inspiration behind the kogos that came later on or maybe similar kind of things.

But it's kind of interesting because it makes you think about the Dhamma in a new way when you get things that are different like that and you have to kind of figure out what is going on.

So first of all,

Why?

Where does this come from?

What is the idea behind this?

And as I mentioned before,

This is something that Ajahn Brahm came up with.

And of course,

I think it refers back to the idea of Ajahn Brahm,

The famous story that he tells very often when he met with Ajahn Shah.

Ajahn Shah went off to the sauna and then while he was in the sauna,

Ajahn Brahm sometimes did some meditation and he had some very nice meditation.

And then after he came out of his meditation,

He then saw Ajahn Shah coming out of the sauna.

So he met to meet Ajahn Shah.

And then Ajahn Shah,

Of course,

Being the great meditation master and having the ability to take one look at people and know pretty much exactly where they're at,

He looked at Ajahn Brahm and he said to Ajahn Brahm,

Why?

What do you do when a big meditation master looks at you and says,

Why?

What do you say?

And Ajahn Brahm,

I think he was a bit stunned.

They didn't know why.

What am I supposed to say to why?

It's a bit too strange.

And of course,

Then Ajahn Shah said,

There is nothing.

There is nothing.

And then the reply to the question,

Why?

And of course,

The story is that Ajahn said to Ajahn Brahm,

Do you?