Welcome.
We will begin the online meditation with Venerable Pham Nunsinim shortly.
Before we proceed,
We will meditate for a brief moment to calm our minds.
We will begin the meditation with Venerable Pham Nunsinim.
We will begin the meditation with Venerable Pham Nunsinim.
Hello.
Hello.
The temperature in Korea,
Despite being fall,
Has plummeted.
So it almost felt like early winter for a couple of days.
So only now,
Only today,
Has it relaxed somewhat so that we are back to normal temperature range.
My daily routine has also changed.
So we are back to our regular routine actually.
Instead of waking up earlier and working the fields,
Then coming in for breakfast,
We wake up early for prayers,
Then breakfast and work.
I used to go out in the morning for chestnut to pick up the chestnut,
But that season has passed as well,
So there are no more chestnuts to pick up.
How long have you been harvesting the rice?
All the rice plants that were ripe for harvest have been harvested and everything else has been harvested or picked.
The rice has been harvested for a long time,
But it has not been picked up.
There is still kind of cabbage and radishes that are still waiting to be picked for kimchi.
When we are harvesting the rice,
We have to make sure that the rice is cooked and that it is cooked well.
Of course,
In our farm,
We also run indoor farms underneath the vinyl coverings,
So we still have peppers and other plants that are suited for warmer temperatures.
The leaves are falling because of the fall,
So we sweep them away,
But right after we go through with our brooms,
You see that it's gathered again.
In the middle part of South Korea,
The fall colors are really coming in beautifully.
Basically,
It's your traditional fall in Korea with the colorful leaves falling down from the trees.
Now that we talked about the weather,
Let's begin our meditation session.
Let's take questions first.
During the meditation,
I spent most of my sitting dealing with a strong subconscious issue around feeling deceived and betrayed by my previous fan master.
I became aware that I'm still holding resentment and anger toward him.
AdvancedSuper CALUM propose to Trans photos For 10 years,
I experienced indoctrination,
Suspected sexual misconduct,
Financial exploitation,
And lots of alcohol intake,
All promoted by the spiritual community.
I became conscious that this had affected my trust and is interfering with my actual practice.
I can't understand how an enlightened individual can take advantage of others.
I want to leave this behind,
But my anger in resentment toward my previous master is deeply seeded in my subconscious.
How can I get out of this turmoil?
I wonder if he should continue to be an engaged individual for the past 30 years?
How can you enlighten individuals who can act in such a way?
This question is more suited,
Appropriate,
Not during the meditation sessions,
But during our regular Dharma talk.
The statement,
How can an enlightened individual who can act in such a way,
That's not the right question.
When referring to an enlightened individual,
It should use the phrase,
Someone who claims to be enlightened,
Not someone who is an enlightened individual.
There are countless people throughout history who claim to be enlightened and claim to be the Buddha and the sage himself,
But committed these atrocious acts.
In the So the questioner,
Because you had misunderstood what enlightenment is,
You allowed yourself to be taken by this person.
The questioner,
Because you had misunderstood what enlightenment is,
You allowed yourself to be taken by this organization and this individual.
Let's take an example of a stock market.
If you buy this stock for this company,
They have this proprietary technology that's about to go through the roof and you'll make huge profits.
These things happen every day,
Even today,
Right?
So I took him at his word,
I bought that stock.
In the beginning,
It seemed to do well.
And I trusted that broker because it seemed that his recommendation paid off.
And then after a while,
The stock started doing badly until it just crashed.
And your losses were huge.
And whose responsibility is that?
Of course,
If the broker actually went against the law or the canons of his professional ethics,
Then you might have a legal case there.
And make sure that he never gets the opportunity to be in that business again and trick others.
However,
Say it's not a professional broker,
But somebody who actually strongly recommended something to buy this stock,
Then whose responsibility is that?
Ultimately,
It's your responsibility,
The individual who bought this.
You have no choice but to be accountable for your losses.
Is that necessarily a bad thing,
Though?
I don't think so.
You say you continue trading in stocks.
Then you have lessons learned,
So you'd be more cautious and not fall for exaggerations.
Or you can stop trading stocks altogether.
So what I'm saying is that this loss doesn't have to remain as a loss.
This loss can be a lesson learned to prevent a bigger loss in the future.
Right,
It's just because somebody claims to be enlightened doesn't mean that person is.
So you have to have the eye to be able to discern that.
So many people claim to be enlightened,
But what's the criteria by which you can evaluate these claims?
Of course,
If you are taken in by these people,
It's that person's fault for tricking you,
But at the same time you share the blame because your condition existed for you to take that.
People worship power in this world.
If you have a lot of money,
You gain a lot of power.
That's why wealth is called wealth power.
If you have a higher position and some authority,
Then you have power.
And that's the power that comes with your position.
Of course,
There is also power that comes from a belief in mysticism.
We call this some special,
Mysterious power.
For example,
You can predict the future.
You can prevent a misfortune.
When religious or spiritual people tend to get taken in by the charlatans,
They get taken in by the claim of some spiritual or mysterious power or mysticism because they are actually worshipping the power that comes with that claim.
So Buddha denied power of all sorts,
Whether they came from wealth or position or mysticism.
He pointed out that worshipping these types of powers would prevent you from seeing the truth.
Of course,
If you have a lot of money,
You don't have to use your wealth just to gain more power,
But you can use it to help others through charity.
Likewise,
With a high position of authority,
You can use that position to help others.
So even mystic powers,
You don't have to use it to show both,
To gain other types of powers for yourself,
But you can use that power to help others.
So Buddha said even if he acknowledged the existence of mystic power,
He said you should not use that against the public because you make the public foolish and dull.
So you should not allow yourself to be taken by the showboarding of certain mysticism of claims of enlightenment.
You have to see how that person lives.
The first criteria is,
Does he live modestly?
No matter how powerful or attractive that person might be,
If he doesn't live modestly,
Then you know he's not on the right path as a spiritual practitioner.
And of course,
If he uses ownership in a big building,
Riding a nice car,
Or fancy clothing to assert his authority,
That's not the right way either.
The second is,
How does he treat others?
Is he humble?
Yes,
He is humble,
He is humble,
He is humble,
He is humble.
It's because you claim to be a monk or a priest or a practitioner.
If you are arrogant,
If you show off your knowledge over others,
That's not the right way.
You have to observe whether that person maintains his or her calm and equanimity.
If you are a monk or a priest,
You have to observe whether that person maintains his or her calm and equanimity.
Thus,
You get awfully excited over things that may happen that are positive or awfully down because something didn't go this way.
That kind of gap in plus and minus is not a good way for a spiritual practitioner.
You have to watch whether in making a decision,
Whether the person is inclusive of others' opinions and listens to others' voices and respects their opinions.
Or does he make decisions in an arbitrary way?
To move beyond the fancy talk and to see right through the truth of the person,
If you just examine the simple criteria,
Then it will be easy to tell.
If you are a monk or a priest,
You have to observe whether or not you are inclusive of others' opinions and respects their opinions.
If you are a monk or a priest,
You have to observe whether or not you are inclusive of others' opinions and respects their opinions.
If you are a monk or a priest,
You have to observe whether or not you are inclusive of others' opinions and respects their opinions.
Because all these behaviors and attitudes towards life that I talked about must be accompanied by a sense of wisdom.
And only when those four factors come together can that person deserve more respect.
Because I was yet foolish and my eyes were not yet opened,
That's why I was taken in by this organization and individual,
You have to end it right there with that realization.
Because I was not wise enough,
I was foolish then,
And I was done with it.
And through lunch,
You can start taking that trauma and say that things were taken into consideration.
And obviously through your question,
It's apparent that you still carry that trauma of that experience with you.
And that first and foremost you must treat and heal.
Next question.
Is it wrong to take a deep breath on purpose when I forget to observe my breath?
No,
It's okay.
As long as you adhere to a larger framework and guidelines and slight variations of how you actually do your training,
It's okay.
For example,
Opening your eyes.
Or counting your breath.
But the methodology itself is wrong.
But if you're using that deep breath to refocus yourself,
Your awareness of the breath,
Then that's okay.
With that,
Let's start the meditation.
Let's do it for 40 minutes today.
Straighten your posture.
And your back.
Close your eyes,
Relaxed.
Two hands to the front.
The most important thing is allow your mind and body to be comfortable.
With a sense of space and idleness.
And in the midst of that relaxation and comfort,
Focus your mind on the tip of your nose and become aware of the breath in and breath out.
This is the easiest thing in the world.
You don't have to make an effort.
You don't have to tense up.
Just pay attention to the breath and you become aware of the breath.
Of course,
Sustaining this attention is difficult.
Because there are a lot of distractions out there.
Because there are a lot of distractions that try to take your attention away.
Noises from outside the windows.
Pain in the legs.
You're drowsy.
But the biggest distractor is your own thoughts.
Thoughts of the past.
And plans for the future.
And these things take your mind away.
So you go from meditating to somebody who thinks.
In that case,
Once again,
Refocus your awareness on the tip of your nose and recognize the breath.
You can also feel the breath in your body.
So your desire and state is to be at a state in which there are no thoughts,
Just awareness of the breath.
You can also feel the breath in your body.
But on your way to get there,
Because there are a lot of thoughts that distract you,
You try to reach a state in which you're not framed or you're not defined by your thoughts while meditating.
Because the to-be state is to maintain and sustain this awareness of the breath.
However,
In reality,
You tend to lose it because you keep being distracted.
So don't be disappointed or despair that you lost the awareness because that's the reality.
So recognize that reality and let that be your starting point on your way forward.
If you lose the focus,
Regain it,
Lose it,
Regain it.
Consistent practice.
You want to do this without making a concerted effort because making an effort allows you to tense up.
And you don't want to today,
You want to avoid it and just be able to maintain the focus and awareness without an effort.
And just because it doesn't happen easily,
Do not despair,
Get disappointed and give up.
All you can do is try again.
It's not a reason to be disappointed.
So do not tense,
Do not try to put forth an effort,
Just be consistent and constant.
Let us try.
Thank you.
Thank you.
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