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2,500 years ago,
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nestled in a fertile valley
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along the border between India
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and Nepal, a child was born who
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was to become the Buddha.
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The stories say that before his
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birth, his mother, the queen
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of a small Indian kingdom,
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had a dream.
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A beautiful white
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elephant offered the queen
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a lotus flower and then entered
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the side of her body.
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When sages were asked to
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interpret the dream, they
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predicted the queen would give
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birth to a son destined to
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become either a great ruler or
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a holy man.
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One day, they said, he would
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either conquer the world or
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become an enlightened being,
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the Buddha.
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People like stories.
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It is one of the ways we learn.
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The story of the Buddha�s life
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is an archetypal journey.
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But it is a means to an end.
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It is not an end.
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Within ten months,
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as a tree lowered a branch to
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support her, a baby boy was
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born, emerging from her side.
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Seven days later, the queen
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died.
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"The world is filled with pain
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and sorrow," the Buddha would
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one day teach.
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"But I have found a serenity,"
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he told his followers, "that you
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can find too".
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Everybody understands
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suffering.
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It is something that we all
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share with everybody else.
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It's at once utterly intimate
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and utterly shared.
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So Buddha says, "that's
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a place to begin.
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That's where we begin".
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No matter what your
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circumstances, you will end up
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losing everything you love.
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You will end up aging.
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You will end up ill.
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And the problem is that we need
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to figure out how to make that
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all be all right.
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What he actually said was
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that life is blissful.
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There's joy everywhere,
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only we're closed off to it.
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His teachings were actually
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about opening up the joyful or
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blissful nature of reality,
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but the bliss and the joy is
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in the transitoriness.
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"Do you see this glass?
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I love this glass.
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It holds the water admirably.
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when I tap it, it has a lovely
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ring.
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When the sun shines on it, it
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reflects the light beautifully.
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But when the wind blows and the
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glass falls off the shelf and
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breaks or if my elbow hits it
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and it falls to the ground,
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I say, 'of course.'
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But when I know that the glass
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is already broken, every minute
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with it is precious".
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The Buddha can shine out
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from the eyes of anybody.
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Inside the buffeting of
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an ordinary human life, at any
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moment, what the Buddha found,
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we can find.
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in southern Nepal,
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at the foot of the Himalayas,
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is one of the world's holiest
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places, Lumbini; where,
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according to the sacred tales,
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the Buddha was born.
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Today Buddhist pilgrims from
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all over the world make their
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way here to be in the presence
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of the sage whose life story is
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inseparable from centuries of
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anecdotes and legends.
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There are countless stories
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of the Buddha.
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Each tradition, each culture,
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each time period has their own
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stories.
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We have lots of visual
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narratives and artwork from
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all over Buddhist Asia.
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But the first written material,
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actually... the first biography,
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say, of the Buddha...
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really, we don't see that before
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about 500 years after his death.
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For the first few centuries,
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Buddhist narrative was oral.
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Historically, it is based
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on something certainly
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that happened.
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There must have been someone
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who corresponded with Gautama
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Buddha, but we don't know.
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We don't know how much of it is
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pure fairy tale and how much of
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it is historic fact.
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But it doesn't matter.
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It touches something that we all
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basically know.
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The relevance of it is in
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the message of the story,
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the promise of the story.
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Like any good story, it has
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a lot to teach.
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So the story of his life, then,
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is a beautiful way of telling
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the teaching.
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"He who sees me sees
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the teaching," the Buddha said,
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"and he who sees the teaching
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sees me".
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Born some 500 years before the
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birth of Jesus, the Buddha would
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grow to manhood in a town
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vanished long ago.
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For nearly three decades,
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he would see nothing of the
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world beyond.
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The tales say he was the son
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of a king, raised in a palace
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with every imaginable luxury.
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He was called Siddhartha
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Gautama, a prince among a clan
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of warriors.
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"When I was a child," he said,
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"I was delicately brought up,
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most delicately.
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A white sunshade was held over
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me day and night to protect me
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from cold, heat, dust, dirt,
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and dew.
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My father gave me three
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lotus ponds:
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One where red lotuses bloomed,
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one where white lotuses
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bloomed,
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one where blue lotuses bloomed".
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The father wants him to be
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a king; wants him to conquer the
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world and to be the emperor of
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India, which at that time was
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16 different kingdoms.
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And it was predicted that he
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would be able to conquer
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wherever he wanted if he
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remained as a king.
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So the father was creating this
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artificial environment to
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coddle him.
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His father wanted to prevent
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him from ever noticing that
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anything might be wrong with
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the world because he hoped that
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he would stay in the life they
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knew and loved and not go off,
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as was predicted at his birth,
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and possibly become a spiritual
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teacher rather than a king.
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Shielded from pain and
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suffering, Siddhartha indulged
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in a life of pure pleasure:
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every whim satisfied,
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every desire fulfilled.
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"I wore the most costly
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garments, ate the finest foods.
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I was surrounded by beautiful
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women".
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"During the rainy season,
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I stayed in my palace, where
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I was entertained by musicians
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and dancing girls.
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I never even thought of
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leaving".
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When he was 16, his father,
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drawing him tighter into palace
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life, married him to his cousin.
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It wasn't long before they fell
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in love.
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He was totally in love
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with her.
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There is a story that on their
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honeymoon, which was about ten
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years long, at one time, they
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rolled off the roof that they
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were making love on while in
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union, and they fell down but
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landed in a bed of lotuses and
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lilies and didn't notice they
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had fallen.
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And so, the stories
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say, he indulged himself for
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29 years, until the shimmering
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bubble of pleasure burst.
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His father does everything
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he can to never let him leave,
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never let him see the suffering
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that life is.
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But one day, he goes outside,
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and he's traveling through the
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kingdom, and he has the first
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of four encounters.
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He sees an old man.
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And he asks his attendant,
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and the attendant says,
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"Oh, that's change.
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One doesn't always stay young
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and perfect".
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Then on the next tour outside,
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he sees a sick man and doesn't
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quite understand what it is.
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He asks his attendant,
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and the attendant says,
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"Oh, that happens to all of us".
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Everybody gets sick, and
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don't think, "you are a prince;
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you will not get sick".
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Your father will get sick.
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Your mom will get sick.
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Everybody will become sick.
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Then he sees that it isn't
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just this sick person;
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in fact, it's universal.
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And something is stimulated
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inside of him.
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So he keeps getting the chariot
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driver to take him out, and he
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sees, you know, horror after
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horror.
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And on his third trip
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outside, he... he meets a corpse,
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and he recognizes impermanence
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and suffering and death as the
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real state of things;
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the world that he had been
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protected from, shielded from,
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kept from seeing.
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And he was shocked.
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You know, he was shocked, and
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he realized, "this is my fate
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too.
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I will also become old.
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I will also become ill.
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I will also die.
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How do I deal with these
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things?"
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These are universal questions
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in any human being's life:
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what it's like to be in a body
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inside of time, and our fate,
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and how do we navigate that?
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It really is a tale of the
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transformation from a certain
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naive, innocent relationship
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to your own life to wanting
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to know the full story, wanting
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to know the full truth.
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And then the fourth trip
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outside, he sees a spiritual
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seeker: someone who has decided
289
00:15:59,069 --> 00:16:01,270
to live a life completely other
290
00:16:01,337 --> 00:16:04,171
than his life in order to escape
291
00:16:04,238 --> 00:16:07,107
from impermanence, suffering,
292
00:16:07,175 --> 00:16:09,443
and death.
293
00:16:09,510 --> 00:16:10,610
So he has this sort of
294
00:16:10,678 --> 00:16:14,681
traumatic encounter with the
295
00:16:14,748 --> 00:16:18,151
pain and suffering of life.
296
00:16:18,220 --> 00:16:19,120
We try to protect our
297
00:16:19,188 --> 00:16:19,887
children.
298
00:16:19,955 --> 00:16:20,720
We don't want to let our
299
00:16:20,788 --> 00:16:22,522
children see all the pain
300
00:16:22,590 --> 00:16:24,257
that's in the world.
301
00:16:24,325 --> 00:16:25,792
But at a very early age, at
302
00:16:25,859 --> 00:16:27,127
a time before he could remember
303
00:16:27,195 --> 00:16:29,396
anything, at a time before
304
00:16:29,464 --> 00:16:31,331
there was conceptual thought,
305
00:16:31,399 --> 00:16:32,931
he already suffered the worst
306
00:16:32,999 --> 00:16:36,102
kind of loss that one could
307
00:16:36,169 --> 00:16:38,070
suffer.
308
00:16:38,138 --> 00:16:39,937
Suddenly and mysteriously,
309
00:16:40,006 --> 00:16:41,574
his mother died when he was
310
00:16:41,641 --> 00:16:44,876
a week old.
311
00:16:44,944 --> 00:16:48,547
So something tragic happened,
312
00:16:48,615 --> 00:16:49,681
you know, right at the
313
00:16:49,749 --> 00:16:52,118
beginning.
314
00:16:52,185 --> 00:16:53,785
That might be what it takes to
315
00:16:53,853 --> 00:16:55,053
become a Buddha�is that you
316
00:16:55,122 --> 00:16:57,188
have to suffer on such
317
00:16:57,256 --> 00:16:58,789
a primitive level.
318
00:17:09,368 --> 00:17:11,035
29 years old,
319
00:17:11,103 --> 00:17:13,570
profoundly troubled, Siddhartha
320
00:17:13,638 --> 00:17:15,139
was determined to comprehend
321
00:17:15,206 --> 00:17:17,741
the nature of suffering.
322
00:17:17,808 --> 00:17:22,179
He resolved to leave the palace.
323
00:17:22,248 --> 00:17:23,548
His wife had just given birth
324
00:17:23,616 --> 00:17:25,183
to a baby boy.
325
00:17:25,251 --> 00:17:27,652
Siddhartha called him Rahula,
326
00:17:27,719 --> 00:17:29,186
"fetter".
327
00:17:29,254 --> 00:17:32,221
He names his son "fetter".
328
00:17:32,289 --> 00:17:34,090
He names his son "ball and
329
00:17:34,158 --> 00:17:35,358
chain".
330
00:17:35,425 --> 00:17:38,828
"This is the fetter that will
331
00:17:38,896 --> 00:17:42,431
keep me tethered to this life.
332
00:17:42,499 --> 00:17:44,167
This is what will keep me
333
00:17:44,235 --> 00:17:46,971
imprisoned".
334
00:17:51,742 --> 00:17:52,776
Late one summer
335
00:17:52,843 --> 00:17:54,577
evening, Siddhartha went into
336
00:17:54,645 --> 00:17:57,346
his wife's room.
337
00:17:57,414 --> 00:18:03,018
A lamp of scented oil lit up.
338
00:18:03,086 --> 00:18:04,987
His wife lay sleeping on a bed
339
00:18:05,055 --> 00:18:07,322
strewn with flowers, cradling
340
00:18:07,391 --> 00:18:12,761
their newborn son in her arms.
341
00:18:12,829 --> 00:18:14,497
He gazed from the threshold,
342
00:18:14,565 --> 00:18:18,668
deep in thought.
343
00:18:18,735 --> 00:18:20,303
"If I take my wife's hand from
344
00:18:20,370 --> 00:18:22,672
my son's head and pick him up
345
00:18:22,739 --> 00:18:25,006
and hold him in my arms,
346
00:18:25,074 --> 00:18:26,508
it will be painful for me to
347
00:18:26,576 --> 00:18:28,510
leave".
348
00:18:31,881 --> 00:18:34,349
He turned away and climbed down
349
00:18:34,417 --> 00:18:37,118
to the palace courtyard.
350
00:18:39,722 --> 00:18:41,122
His beloved horse Kanthaka was
351
00:18:41,190 --> 00:18:44,491
waiting.
352
00:18:44,559 --> 00:18:46,260
As he rode toward the city's
353
00:18:46,328 --> 00:18:48,395
northern wall, he leapt high
354
00:18:48,463 --> 00:18:53,634
into the air.
355
00:18:53,703 --> 00:18:56,003
Mara, the tempter god of desire,
356
00:18:56,071 --> 00:18:59,806
was waiting.
357
00:18:59,874 --> 00:19:01,475
"You are destined," Mara told
358
00:19:01,543 --> 00:19:06,779
him, "to rule a great empire.
359
00:19:06,848 --> 00:19:09,116
Go back, and worldly power will
360
00:19:09,183 --> 00:19:12,085
be yours".
361
00:19:17,892 --> 00:19:21,128
Siddhartha refused.
362
00:19:23,831 --> 00:19:26,600
He left grief and probably
363
00:19:26,668 --> 00:19:29,536
absolute puzzlement and dismay
364
00:19:29,604 --> 00:19:31,972
in the hearts of wife, in the
365
00:19:32,039 --> 00:19:34,072
infant son, who was innocent and
366
00:19:34,141 --> 00:19:36,142
yet was suddenly fatherless,
367
00:19:36,209 --> 00:19:38,778
and, of course, his own father.
368
00:19:38,845 --> 00:19:41,247
But there is no knowledge won
369
00:19:41,315 --> 00:19:44,250
without sacrifice.
370
00:19:48,589 --> 00:19:50,490
And this is one of the hard
371
00:19:50,557 --> 00:19:55,260
truths of human existence:
372
00:19:55,329 --> 00:19:56,663
in order to gain anything,
373
00:19:56,730 --> 00:20:00,667
you must first lose everything.
374
00:20:07,072 --> 00:20:08,106
Siddhartha was alone
375
00:20:08,174 --> 00:20:14,244
in the world for the first time.
376
00:20:14,313 --> 00:20:15,979
On the bank of a nearby river,
377
00:20:16,048 --> 00:20:19,618
he drew his sword.
378
00:20:19,686 --> 00:20:20,885
"Although my father and
379
00:20:20,953 --> 00:20:22,153
stepmother were grieving with
380
00:20:22,221 --> 00:20:24,055
tears on their faces," he said,
381
00:20:24,123 --> 00:20:25,890
"I cut off my hair.
382
00:20:25,958 --> 00:20:27,257
I put on the yellow robes and
383
00:20:27,326 --> 00:20:29,226
went forth from home into
384
00:20:29,294 --> 00:20:31,595
homelessness.
385
00:20:31,663 --> 00:20:32,962
I had been wounded by the
386
00:20:33,030 --> 00:20:34,931
enjoyment of the world,
387
00:20:34,998 --> 00:20:36,666
and I had come out longing to
388
00:20:36,734 --> 00:20:39,502
obtain peace".
389
00:20:51,716 --> 00:20:53,282
Siddhartha wandered south,
390
00:20:53,351 --> 00:20:59,188
toward the holy Ganges river.
391
00:20:59,257 --> 00:21:01,258
Once a great prince, now he
392
00:21:01,326 --> 00:21:03,259
became a beggar, surviving on
393
00:21:03,327 --> 00:21:07,529
the charity of strangers.
394
00:21:07,597 --> 00:21:09,332
he slept on the cold ground in
395
00:21:09,399 --> 00:21:11,133
the dark forests of banyan,
396
00:21:11,201 --> 00:21:13,802
teak, and sal that covered the
397
00:21:13,871 --> 00:21:17,406
northeastern plain; frightening
398
00:21:17,474 --> 00:21:18,774
places where wild animals
399
00:21:18,842 --> 00:21:21,276
roamed and dangerous spirits
400
00:21:21,345 --> 00:21:24,280
were said to live.
401
00:21:27,017 --> 00:21:28,951
He is going out to see what
402
00:21:29,019 --> 00:21:30,052
there is.
403
00:21:30,120 --> 00:21:31,954
He's a seeker.
404
00:21:32,022 --> 00:21:34,456
He doesn't have a teaching yet.
405
00:21:34,524 --> 00:21:35,724
He doesn't have
406
00:21:35,792 --> 00:21:36,792
an understanding yet.
407
00:21:36,860 --> 00:21:39,326
He doesn't have an insight yet.
408
00:21:39,395 --> 00:21:40,762
He doesn't have a solution yet,
409
00:21:40,829 --> 00:21:43,063
but he recognizes the problem.
410
00:21:48,137 --> 00:21:49,037
Siddhartha could not
411
00:21:49,105 --> 00:21:50,272
expect help from the religion
412
00:21:50,339 --> 00:21:52,340
of the time, the ancient Vedic
413
00:21:52,409 --> 00:21:54,542
religion, steeped in ceremony
414
00:21:54,610 --> 00:21:56,878
and ritual.
415
00:22:02,650 --> 00:22:04,451
Some of its rituals still live
416
00:22:04,520 --> 00:22:05,887
on in ceremonies conducted by
417
00:22:05,954 --> 00:22:08,088
Hindu priests, who chant Vedic
418
00:22:08,156 --> 00:22:10,124
formulas more than 2,500 years
419
00:22:10,191 --> 00:22:12,125
old.
420
00:22:49,830 --> 00:22:50,830
For centuries, the
421
00:22:50,897 --> 00:22:52,365
Vedic rituals had commanded
422
00:22:52,433 --> 00:22:54,334
respect for the gods and
423
00:22:54,401 --> 00:22:57,036
inspired conviction.
424
00:22:57,104 --> 00:22:58,604
But by Siddhartha�s time, the
425
00:22:58,672 --> 00:23:00,239
rituals no longer spoke to the
426
00:23:00,307 --> 00:23:02,908
spiritual needs of many Indians,
427
00:23:02,977 --> 00:23:05,077
leaving a spiritual vacuum
428
00:23:05,144 --> 00:23:09,014
and a sense of foreboding.
429
00:23:09,082 --> 00:23:11,850
The gods become less
430
00:23:11,918 --> 00:23:13,119
important than the rituals
431
00:23:13,187 --> 00:23:14,887
themselves.
432
00:23:14,955 --> 00:23:17,256
It's a period of great unrest.
433
00:23:17,324 --> 00:23:19,525
It was a period of social
434
00:23:19,593 --> 00:23:24,229
upheaval, social change.
435
00:23:24,297 --> 00:23:25,830
Cities were growing,
436
00:23:25,898 --> 00:23:27,199
generating new wealth and
437
00:23:27,266 --> 00:23:31,370
spiritual hunger.
438
00:23:31,438 --> 00:23:33,171
As one ancient voice cried out
439
00:23:33,239 --> 00:23:34,439
in despair:
440
00:23:34,507 --> 00:23:36,375
"The oceans have dried up;
441
00:23:36,442 --> 00:23:37,976
mountains have crumbled;
442
00:23:38,044 --> 00:23:40,644
the pole star is shaken;
443
00:23:40,712 --> 00:23:42,279
the earth founders;
444
00:23:42,347 --> 00:23:44,548
the gods perish.
445
00:23:44,616 --> 00:23:48,152
I�m like a frog in a dry well".
446
00:23:50,322 --> 00:23:51,155
A lot of people aren't
447
00:23:51,223 --> 00:23:53,224
satisfied with the religion
448
00:23:53,292 --> 00:23:55,527
that they grew up in.
449
00:23:55,594 --> 00:23:57,995
And when prince Siddhartha
450
00:23:58,063 --> 00:24:01,132
decides to give up his life,
451
00:24:01,199 --> 00:24:02,232
he's doing something that lots
452
00:24:02,299 --> 00:24:05,468
of other people were doing.
453
00:24:05,537 --> 00:24:06,369
Siddhartha joined
454
00:24:06,437 --> 00:24:07,671
thousands of searchers like
455
00:24:07,739 --> 00:24:11,074
himself, renunciants: men and
456
00:24:11,142 --> 00:24:12,475
even a few women who had
457
00:24:12,544 --> 00:24:14,745
renounced the world, embracing
458
00:24:14,813 --> 00:24:17,313
poverty and celibacy, living on
459
00:24:17,381 --> 00:24:19,583
the edge, just as spiritual
460
00:24:19,651 --> 00:24:23,587
seekers still do in India today.
461
00:24:31,029 --> 00:24:33,029
Now, at this time in India,
462
00:24:33,096 --> 00:24:34,295
there were lots of renunciants
463
00:24:34,363 --> 00:24:35,396
out there.
464
00:24:35,464 --> 00:24:37,599
It's a flourishing renunciant
465
00:24:37,668 --> 00:24:38,568
tradition.
466
00:24:38,635 --> 00:24:40,169
There are many different people
467
00:24:40,236 --> 00:24:42,371
who have given everything up
468
00:24:42,439 --> 00:24:45,007
and practice austerities and
469
00:24:45,075 --> 00:24:49,645
meditate in order to escape from
470
00:24:49,713 --> 00:24:53,481
the cycle of death and rebirth.
471
00:24:53,549 --> 00:24:55,149
The notion of reincarnation
472
00:24:55,217 --> 00:24:56,117
is something that's part of
473
00:24:56,185 --> 00:24:57,652
Indian culture, part of Indian
474
00:24:57,721 --> 00:24:59,555
civilization, part of Indian
475
00:24:59,623 --> 00:25:02,291
religion, that was there long
476
00:25:02,358 --> 00:25:04,059
before the Buddha, and it was
477
00:25:04,126 --> 00:25:07,828
the... in a sense, the problem
478
00:25:07,896 --> 00:25:11,699
that the Buddha faced.
479
00:25:11,766 --> 00:25:13,366
Suffering didn't begin
480
00:25:13,434 --> 00:25:16,103
at birth and finish with death.
481
00:25:16,170 --> 00:25:20,207
Suffering was endless,
482
00:25:20,275 --> 00:25:21,509
unless it was possible to find
483
00:25:21,577 --> 00:25:26,981
a way out, become enlightened,
484
00:25:27,048 --> 00:25:31,551
become a Buddha.
485
00:25:31,620 --> 00:25:33,353
In his time, there was
486
00:25:33,421 --> 00:25:36,756
a sense of death not being final
487
00:25:36,824 --> 00:25:40,326
but of death leading inexorably
488
00:25:40,393 --> 00:25:44,096
to rebirth and of beings,
489
00:25:44,164 --> 00:25:46,699
suffering beings, bound to the
490
00:25:46,767 --> 00:25:50,703
wheel of death and rebirth.
491
00:25:55,575 --> 00:25:56,809
It is said that
492
00:25:56,877 --> 00:25:58,678
Siddhartha had lived many lives
493
00:25:58,746 --> 00:26:01,647
before this one,
494
00:26:01,714 --> 00:26:04,649
As countless animals...
495
00:26:09,455 --> 00:26:12,891
innumerable human beings...
496
00:26:18,697 --> 00:26:21,732
and even gods;
497
00:26:21,800 --> 00:26:24,101
across four incalculable ages,
498
00:26:24,169 --> 00:26:25,903
the sacred texts say,
499
00:26:25,972 --> 00:26:28,840
and many aeons,
500
00:26:28,908 --> 00:26:30,809
experiencing life in all
501
00:26:30,877 --> 00:26:34,311
its different forms.
502
00:26:38,082 --> 00:26:40,416
Siddhartha�s previous lives,
503
00:26:40,484 --> 00:26:44,087
many aeons, sometimes as
504
00:26:44,155 --> 00:26:46,156
a human being, sometimes as
505
00:26:46,224 --> 00:26:50,127
an animal, but then gradually
506
00:26:50,195 --> 00:26:53,097
using his practice, becoming
507
00:26:53,164 --> 00:26:54,864
more higher and higher
508
00:26:54,932 --> 00:26:57,867
and deeper, deeper.
509
00:27:02,640 --> 00:27:03,874
The idea is, from life to
510
00:27:03,942 --> 00:27:06,042
life, to progress more and more
511
00:27:06,110 --> 00:27:08,278
towards the enlightenment and
512
00:27:08,347 --> 00:27:12,949
become wiser and wiser.
513
00:27:13,017 --> 00:27:14,418
Some beings will stubbornly
514
00:27:14,485 --> 00:27:16,152
insist on their ignorance and
515
00:27:16,221 --> 00:27:17,487
their egotism, and they will
516
00:27:17,555 --> 00:27:18,788
charge ahead, grabbing and
517
00:27:18,856 --> 00:27:20,156
eating what they can in front
518
00:27:20,225 --> 00:27:21,625
of themselves and being
519
00:27:21,693 --> 00:27:22,959
dissatisfied but thinking that
520
00:27:23,027 --> 00:27:24,794
the next bite will do it.
521
00:27:24,862 --> 00:27:26,563
And they will die and be reborn
522
00:27:26,631 --> 00:27:27,397
and die and be reborn
523
00:27:27,465 --> 00:27:31,467
infinite times.
524
00:27:31,536 --> 00:27:32,603
It could take them, you know,
525
00:27:32,670 --> 00:27:34,338
a billion lifetimes if they are
526
00:27:34,405 --> 00:27:39,475
very stubborn, you know.
527
00:27:39,543 --> 00:27:41,044
And becoming a Buddha,
528
00:27:41,112 --> 00:27:42,846
becoming enlightened, is the
529
00:27:42,913 --> 00:27:45,248
only way of getting out of the
530
00:27:45,315 --> 00:27:47,515
continual cycle of death and
531
00:27:47,583 --> 00:27:49,284
rebirth.
532
00:27:49,352 --> 00:27:51,453
Now, rebirth here isn't the
533
00:27:51,521 --> 00:27:53,790
popular notion that, you know,
534
00:27:53,858 --> 00:27:55,125
in my past life, I was
535
00:27:55,192 --> 00:27:56,592
Cleopatra floating down the
536
00:27:56,660 --> 00:28:00,964
Nile or Napoleon.
537
00:28:01,031 --> 00:28:05,200
It's as if every life is going
538
00:28:05,268 --> 00:28:07,469
through junior high school
539
00:28:07,536 --> 00:28:12,840
again, over and over and over.
540
00:28:27,990 --> 00:28:28,956
With the authority of
541
00:28:29,024 --> 00:28:30,358
the priests worn thin and
542
00:28:30,426 --> 00:28:32,059
wisdom seekers like Siddhartha
543
00:28:32,127 --> 00:28:34,729
roaming the countryside,
544
00:28:34,798 --> 00:28:37,432
holy men emerged, teaching their
545
00:28:37,500 --> 00:28:41,435
own spiritual disciplines.
546
00:28:48,976 --> 00:28:51,077
Siddhartha apprenticed himself
547
00:28:51,145 --> 00:28:53,079
to one of them, a celebrated
548
00:28:53,147 --> 00:28:54,515
guru who taught that true
549
00:28:54,582 --> 00:28:56,215
knowledge could never come from
550
00:28:56,283 --> 00:28:58,551
ritual practice alone.
551
00:28:58,620 --> 00:29:02,189
It was necessary to look within.
552
00:29:02,256 --> 00:29:03,757
"You may stay here with me,"
553
00:29:03,825 --> 00:29:05,458
the guru told him.
554
00:29:05,526 --> 00:29:07,327
"A wise person can soon dwell
555
00:29:07,394 --> 00:29:09,228
in his teacher's knowledge and
556
00:29:09,296 --> 00:29:10,863
experience it directly for
557
00:29:10,931 --> 00:29:13,932
himself".
558
00:29:13,999 --> 00:29:15,400
Siddhartha set himself to learn
559
00:29:15,468 --> 00:29:17,101
the rigorous practices the guru
560
00:29:17,169 --> 00:29:20,539
prescribed.
561
00:29:20,607 --> 00:29:22,007
The teachers of the time are
562
00:29:22,075 --> 00:29:25,211
already teaching forms of yoga
563
00:29:25,278 --> 00:29:27,313
and meditation, teaching that
564
00:29:27,381 --> 00:29:30,249
the self-reflective capacity
565
00:29:30,317 --> 00:29:32,083
of the mind can be put to use
566
00:29:32,151 --> 00:29:34,786
to tame the mind, to tame the
567
00:29:34,854 --> 00:29:35,720
passions.
568
00:29:35,787 --> 00:29:37,287
That was already established in
569
00:29:37,356 --> 00:29:38,222
India.
570
00:29:38,289 --> 00:29:40,290
And there were probably so many
571
00:29:40,360 --> 00:29:44,128
schools of yoga and meditation
572
00:29:44,196 --> 00:29:45,230
in those days, just as there
573
00:29:45,297 --> 00:29:46,030
are now.
574
00:30:41,418 --> 00:30:42,717
Although yoga appears
575
00:30:42,785 --> 00:30:44,318
to focus on controlling the
576
00:30:44,386 --> 00:30:47,121
body, it is in fact an ancient,
577
00:30:47,189 --> 00:30:49,825
spiritual discipline,
578
00:30:49,893 --> 00:30:52,060
a form of meditation,
579
00:30:52,128 --> 00:30:53,462
harnessing the energies
580
00:30:53,530 --> 00:30:57,466
of the body to tame the mind.
581
00:31:06,241 --> 00:31:07,942
Some yogis learn to sit without
582
00:31:08,010 --> 00:31:10,612
moving for hours, breathing
583
00:31:10,680 --> 00:31:12,748
more and more slowly until they
584
00:31:12,816 --> 00:31:13,916
seem to be barely breathing
585
00:31:13,983 --> 00:31:15,918
at all.
586
00:31:33,035 --> 00:31:35,035
All kinds of trance states
587
00:31:35,103 --> 00:31:37,537
are possible through meditation.
588
00:31:37,605 --> 00:31:39,005
If you hold the mind, if you
589
00:31:39,073 --> 00:31:40,807
concentrate the mind on
590
00:31:40,875 --> 00:31:42,909
a single object, you know,
591
00:31:42,977 --> 00:31:45,912
be it a word or a candle flame
592
00:31:45,980 --> 00:31:48,014
or a sound, it's possible to
593
00:31:48,082 --> 00:31:50,917
transport the mind into all
594
00:31:50,986 --> 00:31:54,921
kinds of interesting places.
595
00:32:01,729 --> 00:32:03,062
The person who was to become
596
00:32:03,130 --> 00:32:05,064
the Buddha was very good at all
597
00:32:05,132 --> 00:32:05,898
of those practices.
598
00:32:05,966 --> 00:32:08,534
He was a super student, doing
599
00:32:08,602 --> 00:32:11,369
these practices, taking them to
600
00:32:11,436 --> 00:32:14,005
their limit, and no matter what
601
00:32:14,073 --> 00:32:17,009
he did in these practices,
602
00:32:17,076 --> 00:32:18,744
he was still stuck in the pain
603
00:32:18,812 --> 00:32:22,915
that he set out with.
604
00:32:22,983 --> 00:32:25,951
He ascends to these very
605
00:32:26,019 --> 00:32:27,952
rarified states of
606
00:32:28,020 --> 00:32:29,954
consciousness, but it's not
607
00:32:30,022 --> 00:32:32,857
permanent, and it does not bring
608
00:32:32,925 --> 00:32:34,325
penetrating truth into the
609
00:32:34,394 --> 00:32:36,027
nature of reality.
610
00:32:36,094 --> 00:32:38,530
So these become a temporary
611
00:32:38,597 --> 00:32:41,032
escape from the problem of
612
00:32:41,099 --> 00:32:42,600
existence, but they don't solve
613
00:32:42,668 --> 00:32:44,135
the problem.
614
00:32:53,144 --> 00:32:54,244
Siddhartha apprenticed
615
00:32:54,311 --> 00:32:56,580
himself to another popular guru,
616
00:32:56,649 --> 00:33:01,252
but the results were the same.
617
00:33:01,319 --> 00:33:02,686
"The thought occurred to me,"
618
00:33:02,754 --> 00:33:04,521
he said later, "this practice
619
00:33:04,589 --> 00:33:06,055
does not lead to direct
620
00:33:06,122 --> 00:33:11,594
knowledge, to deeper awareness".
621
00:33:11,662 --> 00:33:13,495
Disenchanted, he left this
622
00:33:13,564 --> 00:33:15,998
master too.
623
00:33:30,513 --> 00:33:31,948
Siddhartha continued to drift
624
00:33:32,015 --> 00:33:34,116
south, still searching for the
625
00:33:34,184 --> 00:33:36,718
answer to his questions:
626
00:33:36,786 --> 00:33:39,086
Why do human beings suffer?
627
00:33:39,154 --> 00:33:42,857
Is there any escape?
628
00:33:42,925 --> 00:33:44,425
He's trying and trying and
629
00:33:44,493 --> 00:33:45,994
searching and searching,
630
00:33:46,062 --> 00:33:48,229
and he already experienced
631
00:33:48,297 --> 00:33:50,565
extreme luxuries, so now he
632
00:33:50,633 --> 00:33:54,569
tries extreme deprivation.
633
00:34:00,141 --> 00:34:01,809
Among the renunciants,
634
00:34:01,877 --> 00:34:03,377
asceticism was a common
635
00:34:03,445 --> 00:34:05,946
spiritual practice: punishing
636
00:34:06,014 --> 00:34:07,648
the body as a way to attain
637
00:34:07,716 --> 00:34:10,584
serenity and wisdom.
638
00:34:10,652 --> 00:34:11,952
Siddhartha fell in with five
639
00:34:12,020 --> 00:34:14,487
other ascetics and soon was
640
00:34:14,554 --> 00:34:16,122
outdoing them in mortifying the
641
00:34:16,189 --> 00:34:18,925
flesh, subjecting his body to
642
00:34:18,993 --> 00:34:21,594
extremes of hardship and pain.
643
00:34:34,608 --> 00:34:36,141
The body represents
644
00:34:36,208 --> 00:34:38,744
a fundamental problem.
645
00:34:38,811 --> 00:34:41,647
Old age brings a decrepitude to
646
00:34:41,714 --> 00:34:42,881
the body.
647
00:34:42,949 --> 00:34:44,683
Sickness brings pain and
648
00:34:44,752 --> 00:34:45,952
suffering to the body.
649
00:34:46,020 --> 00:34:48,219
And death is ultimately the
650
00:34:48,287 --> 00:34:50,055
cessation of the functioning of
651
00:34:50,123 --> 00:34:51,523
the body.
652
00:34:51,590 --> 00:34:53,925
So there was a sense that if
653
00:34:53,994 --> 00:34:56,095
you could punish the body
654
00:34:56,163 --> 00:34:58,164
sufficiently, you could escape
655
00:34:58,231 --> 00:34:59,298
its influence.
656
00:34:59,366 --> 00:35:01,534
You could transcend some of the
657
00:35:01,601 --> 00:35:02,902
limitations that the body
658
00:35:02,970 --> 00:35:05,936
seemed to impose.
659
00:35:06,005 --> 00:35:09,240
The ascetic pursues the truth
660
00:35:09,308 --> 00:35:11,943
by taking the requirements of
661
00:35:12,011 --> 00:35:14,646
survival down to the absolute
662
00:35:14,714 --> 00:35:16,581
minimum possible:
663
00:35:16,649 --> 00:35:17,949
barely enough food to stay
664
00:35:18,017 --> 00:35:20,318
alive, no protection from
665
00:35:20,386 --> 00:35:24,021
the elements, no heat,
666
00:35:24,089 --> 00:35:25,856
sit in the cold, sit in the
667
00:35:25,924 --> 00:35:31,195
rain, meditate fiercely for all
668
00:35:31,263 --> 00:35:33,098
the hours of awakening.
669
00:35:33,166 --> 00:35:36,333
The step of renunciation, of
670
00:35:36,401 --> 00:35:39,870
shedding everything, of dying,
671
00:35:39,938 --> 00:35:41,805
the feeling that one is dying
672
00:35:41,872 --> 00:35:44,908
to one's life as it was,
673
00:35:44,975 --> 00:35:47,811
is essential to being reborn
674
00:35:47,878 --> 00:35:51,781
as someone who sees.
675
00:36:02,659 --> 00:36:03,893
Ascetics can still be
676
00:36:03,961 --> 00:36:05,828
seen in India, firm in the
677
00:36:05,895 --> 00:36:07,629
belief that by subduing the
678
00:36:07,697 --> 00:36:09,932
flesh, they can gain spiritual
679
00:36:09,999 --> 00:36:14,402
power.
680
00:36:56,311 --> 00:36:58,980
emaciated, exhausted,
681
00:36:59,047 --> 00:37:00,782
Siddhartha punished himself for
682
00:37:00,849 --> 00:37:03,584
six years, trying to put an end
683
00:37:03,652 --> 00:37:07,220
to the cravings that beset him.
684
00:37:07,288 --> 00:37:09,121
He tortures himself, trying
685
00:37:09,189 --> 00:37:12,958
to destroy anything within
686
00:37:13,026 --> 00:37:15,828
himself that he sees as bad.
687
00:37:15,897 --> 00:37:17,898
The spiritual traditions of that
688
00:37:17,965 --> 00:37:19,800
time said you can be liberated
689
00:37:19,867 --> 00:37:22,869
if you eliminate everything
690
00:37:22,937 --> 00:37:24,104
that's human: you know,
691
00:37:24,172 --> 00:37:25,338
everything that's coarse
692
00:37:25,406 --> 00:37:27,673
and vulgar, every bit of anger,
693
00:37:27,740 --> 00:37:28,774
every bit of desire.
694
00:37:28,842 --> 00:37:31,643
If you... you know, if you wipe
695
00:37:31,711 --> 00:37:33,645
that out with force of will,
696
00:37:33,713 --> 00:37:34,947
then you can go into some kind
697
00:37:35,015 --> 00:37:36,314
of transcendental state.
698
00:37:36,381 --> 00:37:38,349
and the Buddha tried all that,
699
00:37:38,418 --> 00:37:39,785
and he became, you know,
700
00:37:39,853 --> 00:37:41,753
the most anorectic of the
701
00:37:41,822 --> 00:37:43,754
anorectic ascetics.
702
00:37:43,823 --> 00:37:45,589
He was eating one grain of rice
703
00:37:45,657 --> 00:37:46,324
per day.
704
00:37:46,391 --> 00:37:47,859
He was drinking his own urine.
705
00:37:47,927 --> 00:37:49,393
He was standing on one foot.
706
00:37:49,461 --> 00:37:51,229
He was sleeping on nails.
707
00:37:51,297 --> 00:37:54,465
He did it all to the utmost.
708
00:38:03,142 --> 00:38:04,809
"My body slowly became
709
00:38:04,877 --> 00:38:06,710
extremely emaciated,"
710
00:38:06,777 --> 00:38:10,680
Siddhartha said.
711
00:38:10,748 --> 00:38:11,949
"my limbs became like the
712
00:38:12,016 --> 00:38:14,451
jointed segments of vine or
713
00:38:14,518 --> 00:38:18,121
bamboo stems.
714
00:38:18,189 --> 00:38:20,022
My spine stood out like a string
715
00:38:20,090 --> 00:38:22,124
of beads.
716
00:38:22,193 --> 00:38:23,793
My ribs jutted out like the
717
00:38:23,862 --> 00:38:25,528
jutting rafters of an old,
718
00:38:25,596 --> 00:38:29,733
abandoned building.
719
00:38:29,800 --> 00:38:31,168
The gleam of my eyes appeared
720
00:38:31,236 --> 00:38:32,402
to be sunk deep in my eye
721
00:38:32,470 --> 00:38:34,804
sockets, like the gleam of
722
00:38:34,873 --> 00:38:40,408
water deep in a well.
723
00:38:40,476 --> 00:38:42,710
My scalp shriveled and withered
724
00:38:42,779 --> 00:38:44,813
like a green bitter gourd
725
00:38:44,882 --> 00:38:47,250
shriveled and withered in the
726
00:38:47,317 --> 00:38:50,253
heat and wind".
727
00:38:56,826 --> 00:38:58,094
What he was trying to do was
728
00:38:58,161 --> 00:38:59,395
pushing his body to the most
729
00:38:59,462 --> 00:39:01,364
extreme that he could.
730
00:39:01,431 --> 00:39:02,698
But then he realized that
731
00:39:02,766 --> 00:39:04,767
from that, he cannot gain what
732
00:39:04,835 --> 00:39:06,135
he wants.
733
00:39:06,203 --> 00:39:07,636
Trying to torture the body,
734
00:39:07,704 --> 00:39:09,838
the body becomes too much.
735
00:39:09,907 --> 00:39:11,106
The whole attention is given to
736
00:39:11,173 --> 00:39:14,042
the body, nothing else.
737
00:39:14,110 --> 00:39:16,144
He surrendered himself
738
00:39:16,212 --> 00:39:18,579
completely to the hard training
739
00:39:18,647 --> 00:39:20,448
that he was given.
740
00:39:20,516 --> 00:39:21,816
And what he discovered, having
741
00:39:21,884 --> 00:39:23,851
tried this completely for many
742
00:39:23,920 --> 00:39:26,154
years, was that he had not
743
00:39:26,223 --> 00:39:28,024
answered his question.
744
00:39:28,091 --> 00:39:31,059
It hadn't worked.
745
00:39:31,127 --> 00:39:33,628
he was on the verge of death,
746
00:39:33,695 --> 00:39:36,464
dying, unawakened, when he
747
00:39:36,532 --> 00:39:39,467
remembered something.
748
00:39:43,071 --> 00:39:44,705
he remembered a day when he was
749
00:39:44,773 --> 00:39:47,206
young and sat by the river with
750
00:39:47,274 --> 00:39:49,876
his father and the perfection
751
00:39:49,945 --> 00:39:52,346
of the world as it was simply
752
00:39:52,414 --> 00:39:57,885
gave itself to him.
753
00:39:57,953 --> 00:39:59,253
Years before, when
754
00:39:59,321 --> 00:40:01,556
Siddhartha was a small boy, his
755
00:40:01,623 --> 00:40:03,223
father, the king, had taken him
756
00:40:03,291 --> 00:40:07,025
to a spring planting festival.
757
00:40:12,333 --> 00:40:13,967
while he watched the ceremonial
758
00:40:14,034 --> 00:40:15,936
dancing, he looked down at the
759
00:40:16,003 --> 00:40:17,938
grass.
760
00:40:23,643 --> 00:40:25,210
He thought about the insects
761
00:40:25,278 --> 00:40:29,114
and their eggs...
762
00:40:29,182 --> 00:40:30,716
destroyed as the field was
763
00:40:30,784 --> 00:40:32,985
planted.
764
00:40:33,053 --> 00:40:36,490
He was overwhelmed with sadness.
765
00:40:39,158 --> 00:40:40,558
One great taproot of
766
00:40:40,626 --> 00:40:42,461
Buddhism is compassion, which
767
00:40:42,528 --> 00:40:45,130
is the deep affection that we
768
00:40:45,198 --> 00:40:46,831
feel for everything because
769
00:40:46,899 --> 00:40:48,700
we're all in it together...
770
00:40:48,767 --> 00:40:50,202
be it other human beings, other
771
00:40:50,269 --> 00:40:53,005
animals, the planet as a whole,
772
00:40:53,073 --> 00:40:54,474
the creatures of this planet,
773
00:40:54,541 --> 00:40:55,608
the trees and rivers of this
774
00:40:55,675 --> 00:41:00,112
planet.
775
00:41:00,179 --> 00:41:03,115
Everything is connected.
776
00:41:12,824 --> 00:41:13,824
It was a beautiful
777
00:41:13,892 --> 00:41:15,725
day.
778
00:41:15,793 --> 00:41:18,462
His mind drifted.
779
00:41:22,267 --> 00:41:24,368
As if by instinct, he crossed
780
00:41:24,436 --> 00:41:26,137
his legs in the yoga pose of
781
00:41:26,204 --> 00:41:29,507
meditation.
782
00:41:29,574 --> 00:41:31,242
And the natural world paid him
783
00:41:31,309 --> 00:41:33,576
homage.
784
00:41:36,448 --> 00:41:37,780
As the sun moved through the
785
00:41:37,848 --> 00:41:41,051
sky, the shadows shifted, but
786
00:41:41,118 --> 00:41:42,385
the shadow of the rose apple
787
00:41:42,453 --> 00:41:44,287
tree where he sat remained
788
00:41:44,355 --> 00:41:47,890
still.
789
00:41:47,958 --> 00:41:54,163
He felt a sense of pure joy.
790
00:41:54,230 --> 00:41:56,865
the joy that he found is in
791
00:41:56,933 --> 00:41:58,333
the world that is already
792
00:41:58,402 --> 00:41:59,536
broken.
793
00:41:59,603 --> 00:42:03,273
It's in this transitory world
794
00:42:03,340 --> 00:42:05,508
that we're all a part of.
795
00:42:05,576 --> 00:42:08,076
And the fabric of this world...
796
00:42:08,143 --> 00:42:09,878
despite the fact that it can
797
00:42:09,946 --> 00:42:12,047
seem so horrible, the underlying
798
00:42:12,114 --> 00:42:13,949
fabric of this world actually
799
00:42:14,016 --> 00:42:15,817
is that joy that he recovered.
800
00:42:15,885 --> 00:42:20,855
That was his great insight.
801
00:42:20,924 --> 00:42:22,758
"But," he says, "i can't sustain
802
00:42:22,826 --> 00:42:25,193
a feeling of joy like this
803
00:42:25,260 --> 00:42:26,895
if i don't take any food,
804
00:42:26,963 --> 00:42:29,698
so i better eat something".
805
00:42:29,765 --> 00:42:30,832
And then at that moment,
806
00:42:30,900 --> 00:42:32,701
a village maiden mysteriously
807
00:42:32,768 --> 00:42:34,869
appears carrying a bowl of rice
808
00:42:34,937 --> 00:42:36,905
porridge.
809
00:42:36,973 --> 00:42:39,607
And she said to him, "here,
810
00:42:39,674 --> 00:42:44,243
eat".
811
00:42:44,312 --> 00:42:47,014
that moment of generosity and
812
00:42:47,083 --> 00:42:49,851
release when he accepted the
813
00:42:49,919 --> 00:42:52,921
rice was a decision towards
814
00:42:52,989 --> 00:42:55,957
life.
815
00:42:56,025 --> 00:42:58,526
It was what in the Christian
816
00:42:58,594 --> 00:42:59,827
tradition might be called
817
00:42:59,894 --> 00:43:03,897
"grace," that you cannot do it
818
00:43:03,966 --> 00:43:06,567
completely on your own.
819
00:43:06,636 --> 00:43:10,370
And in Christianity, the grace
820
00:43:10,438 --> 00:43:13,040
comes from the divine.
821
00:43:13,108 --> 00:43:14,942
In the story of the Buddha,
822
00:43:15,010 --> 00:43:16,110
the grace comes from the
823
00:43:16,177 --> 00:43:19,045
ordinary, kind heart of a girl
824
00:43:19,113 --> 00:43:21,781
who sees somebody starving and
825
00:43:21,849 --> 00:43:25,317
says, "eat".
826
00:43:25,386 --> 00:43:26,820
There's something beautiful.
827
00:43:26,888 --> 00:43:28,421
whenever I remember that story,
828
00:43:28,489 --> 00:43:30,057
it makes me so happy because
829
00:43:30,125 --> 00:43:32,660
I see the heart of Buddha
830
00:43:32,727 --> 00:43:34,861
as the person he was, like the
831
00:43:34,928 --> 00:43:37,530
Siddhartha.
832
00:43:41,934 --> 00:43:43,334
This dish was the dish he used
833
00:43:43,402 --> 00:43:45,270
to be fed by his stepmother,
834
00:43:45,337 --> 00:43:46,672
rice pudding.
835
00:43:46,740 --> 00:43:49,676
He was missing that so much.
836
00:43:52,879 --> 00:43:54,146
and then he remembered maybe
837
00:43:54,213 --> 00:43:55,280
further and further, and he
838
00:43:55,347 --> 00:43:56,648
remembered about his wife,
839
00:43:56,716 --> 00:43:57,916
about his son.
840
00:43:57,984 --> 00:43:59,417
And the deepest emotions that
841
00:43:59,485 --> 00:44:01,352
he had suppressed, they
842
00:44:01,420 --> 00:44:02,253
overpower.
843
00:44:02,321 --> 00:44:03,088
They came up.
844
00:44:03,156 --> 00:44:05,157
They were still there.
845
00:44:05,224 --> 00:44:06,792
And he had a feeling of missing.
846
00:44:06,859 --> 00:44:07,892
He had a feeling of seeing his
847
00:44:07,959 --> 00:44:10,359
son and a feeling of being near
848
00:44:10,428 --> 00:44:11,261
his loved ones.
849
00:44:11,329 --> 00:44:13,764
They were so powerful.
850
00:44:13,832 --> 00:44:15,365
Oh, this must have soaked his
851
00:44:15,433 --> 00:44:20,604
whole entire being.
852
00:44:20,672 --> 00:44:21,638
He was actually an utter
853
00:44:21,707 --> 00:44:23,741
failure.
854
00:44:23,809 --> 00:44:25,509
He had been clinging to the path
855
00:44:25,577 --> 00:44:27,143
of asceticism.
856
00:44:27,211 --> 00:44:28,945
And when he took the food, what
857
00:44:29,013 --> 00:44:30,914
followed was a return of his
858
00:44:30,982 --> 00:44:33,450
original question.
859
00:44:33,518 --> 00:44:36,286
Life is painful.
860
00:44:36,354 --> 00:44:38,888
Life involves change.
861
00:44:38,956 --> 00:44:40,489
This is still a problem.
862
00:44:40,557 --> 00:44:43,993
The problem didn't disappear.
863
00:44:47,430 --> 00:44:48,530
It wasn't long before
864
00:44:48,598 --> 00:44:49,798
the ascetics who had been
865
00:44:49,866 --> 00:44:51,333
Siddhartha�s companions found
866
00:44:51,400 --> 00:44:53,102
him eating and turned away in
867
00:44:53,170 --> 00:44:57,140
disgust.
868
00:44:57,208 --> 00:44:58,775
"Siddhartha loves luxury,"
869
00:44:58,843 --> 00:45:00,110
they said.
870
00:45:00,177 --> 00:45:01,644
"He has forsaken his spiritual
871
00:45:01,712 --> 00:45:03,011
practice.
872
00:45:03,079 --> 00:45:06,882
He has become extravagant".
873
00:45:06,950 --> 00:45:08,415
But the man who will become
874
00:45:08,483 --> 00:45:12,019
the Buddha realizes that extreme
875
00:45:12,087 --> 00:45:15,556
deprivation isn't the way to go.
876
00:45:15,625 --> 00:45:16,759
We can live as normal human
877
00:45:16,826 --> 00:45:17,926
beings.
878
00:45:17,994 --> 00:45:19,694
We can eat and drink.
879
00:45:19,763 --> 00:45:21,629
And, in fact, we kind of need
880
00:45:21,696 --> 00:45:22,797
to eat and drink and be normal
881
00:45:22,865 --> 00:45:27,201
human beings in order to break
882
00:45:27,269 --> 00:45:28,770
through, in order to attain the
883
00:45:28,837 --> 00:45:30,171
kind of realization that he was
884
00:45:30,239 --> 00:45:32,840
looking for.
885
00:45:37,380 --> 00:45:38,478
Siddhartha had put his
886
00:45:38,545 --> 00:45:40,680
faith in two gurus.
887
00:45:40,748 --> 00:45:44,550
They hadn't helped him.
888
00:45:44,618 --> 00:45:45,986
He had punished his mind and
889
00:45:46,053 --> 00:45:47,353
body.
890
00:45:47,421 --> 00:45:50,824
That had almost killed him.
891
00:45:50,892 --> 00:45:54,828
Now he knew what he must do.
892
00:45:54,896 --> 00:45:56,095
to find the answer to his
893
00:45:56,163 --> 00:45:58,497
questions, he would look within
894
00:45:58,565 --> 00:46:01,935
and trust himself.
895
00:47:03,296 --> 00:47:04,797
Bodh Gaya is a small
896
00:47:04,865 --> 00:47:07,498
town in northeastern India.
897
00:47:14,606 --> 00:47:15,974
Throngs of pilgrims have come
898
00:47:16,041 --> 00:47:17,475
here from all over the world
899
00:47:17,542 --> 00:47:20,511
for more than 16 centuries.
900
00:47:35,427 --> 00:47:36,895
For Buddhists, there are
901
00:47:36,962 --> 00:47:39,462
hundreds of holy places but
902
00:47:39,530 --> 00:47:43,900
none more sacred than this one.
903
00:47:43,967 --> 00:47:45,768
Bodh Gaya is the sacred point
904
00:47:45,836 --> 00:47:47,104
from which the Buddhist faith
905
00:47:47,171 --> 00:47:49,106
radiates.
906
00:47:53,477 --> 00:47:54,778
Some pilgrims travel great
907
00:47:54,845 --> 00:47:57,281
distances, reciting prayers and
908
00:47:57,348 --> 00:47:59,081
prostrating themselves every
909
00:47:59,149 --> 00:48:01,384
step of the way.
910
00:48:06,123 --> 00:48:09,190
It is their Mecca and Jerusalem.
911
00:48:13,997 --> 00:48:15,663
Their holy of holies is not the
912
00:48:15,731 --> 00:48:17,899
imposing temple beside them but
913
00:48:17,967 --> 00:48:20,335
a simple fig tree: ficus
914
00:48:20,403 --> 00:48:26,874
religiosa, the Bodhi tree.
915
00:48:26,943 --> 00:48:27,875
The tree, it is said,
916
00:48:27,944 --> 00:48:29,010
is descended from the Buddha�s
917
00:48:29,079 --> 00:48:31,013
time.
918
00:48:40,756 --> 00:48:42,924
Every pilgrim knows the story
919
00:48:42,991 --> 00:48:44,391
of how Siddhartha, after
920
00:48:44,460 --> 00:48:45,893
accepting the rice milk from
921
00:48:45,961 --> 00:48:48,262
the young girl, put aside the
922
00:48:48,330 --> 00:48:49,897
rags he was wearing, bathed
923
00:48:49,965 --> 00:48:52,566
himself in a nearby river, and,
924
00:48:52,634 --> 00:48:55,135
strengthened, sat down in the
925
00:48:55,203 --> 00:48:56,804
shade of the Bodhi tree,
926
00:48:56,872 --> 00:48:58,906
and began to meditate.
927
00:49:02,243 --> 00:49:04,244
It was springtime.
928
00:49:04,312 --> 00:49:07,381
the moon was full.
929
00:49:07,449 --> 00:49:09,349
Before the sun would rise,
930
00:49:09,416 --> 00:49:11,150
Siddhartha�s long search would
931
00:49:11,218 --> 00:49:16,356
be over.
932
00:49:16,424 --> 00:49:18,459
He sat down under a bodhi
933
00:49:18,526 --> 00:49:21,462
tree, in the shelter of the
934
00:49:21,529 --> 00:49:23,797
natural world in all of its
935
00:49:23,865 --> 00:49:28,534
beauty and fullness,
936
00:49:28,602 --> 00:49:30,536
and he said, "I will not move
937
00:49:30,604 --> 00:49:32,738
from this place until I have
938
00:49:32,806 --> 00:49:37,809
solved my problem".
939
00:49:37,878 --> 00:49:39,345
"Let my skin and
940
00:49:39,413 --> 00:49:41,714
sinews and bones dry up,
941
00:49:41,781 --> 00:49:43,382
together with all the flesh and
942
00:49:43,449 --> 00:49:45,850
blood of my body," he said.
943
00:49:45,918 --> 00:49:49,021
"I welcome it.
944
00:49:49,088 --> 00:49:50,389
but I will not move from this
945
00:49:50,456 --> 00:49:52,424
spot until I have attained the
946
00:49:52,492 --> 00:49:57,095
supreme and final wisdom".
947
00:49:57,164 --> 00:49:59,598
All at once, Mara, Lord of
948
00:49:59,666 --> 00:50:03,335
Desire, rose to challenge him.
949
00:50:11,543 --> 00:50:13,144
With an army of demons,
950
00:50:13,211 --> 00:50:15,679
he attacked.
951
00:50:18,950 --> 00:50:21,718
Siddhartha did not move,
952
00:50:21,786 --> 00:50:23,454
and their weapons turned into
953
00:50:23,522 --> 00:50:25,956
flowers.
954
00:50:33,098 --> 00:50:34,998
Mara is the ruler of this
955
00:50:35,067 --> 00:50:36,933
realm of desire, this world
956
00:50:37,000 --> 00:50:38,534
that we all live in.
957
00:50:38,602 --> 00:50:41,704
And what he's afraid Siddhartha
958
00:50:41,774 --> 00:50:43,340
is going to do when he attains
959
00:50:43,408 --> 00:50:44,642
enlightenment and becomes the
960
00:50:44,710 --> 00:50:47,879
Buddha is conquer that world.
961
00:50:47,947 --> 00:50:50,014
That is, he's going to do away
962
00:50:50,082 --> 00:50:51,115
with desire.
963
00:50:51,183 --> 00:50:52,817
He's going to... he's going to
964
00:50:52,885 --> 00:50:55,619
wreck the whole game.
965
00:50:59,090 --> 00:51:03,426
Mara did not give up.
966
00:51:03,495 --> 00:51:04,996
He sent his three daughters to
967
00:51:05,064 --> 00:51:07,998
seduce him.
968
00:51:16,206 --> 00:51:21,543
Siddhartha remained still.
969
00:51:21,612 --> 00:51:23,846
When he faces Mara, he faces
970
00:51:23,915 --> 00:51:26,216
himself and his own destructive
971
00:51:26,283 --> 00:51:28,951
capacity.
972
00:51:29,019 --> 00:51:30,452
But he's not the warrior
973
00:51:30,520 --> 00:51:32,588
trying to do battle with those
974
00:51:32,656 --> 00:51:34,323
qualities.
975
00:51:34,390 --> 00:51:36,092
He's discovered his own
976
00:51:36,159 --> 00:51:39,027
capacity for equanimity.
977
00:51:39,095 --> 00:51:41,429
He has become like, you know,
978
00:51:41,497 --> 00:51:43,264
the top of the great Himalayan
979
00:51:43,332 --> 00:51:44,599
mountains, you know:
980
00:51:44,668 --> 00:51:46,801
the weather is passing over him,
981
00:51:46,869 --> 00:51:49,037
storms are raging around him,
982
00:51:49,105 --> 00:51:50,639
and he sits like the top of the
983
00:51:50,706 --> 00:51:52,741
mountain... impassive...
984
00:51:52,808 --> 00:51:55,844
not in a trance state, you know,
985
00:51:55,911 --> 00:52:00,381
totally aware of everything.
986
00:52:00,449 --> 00:52:05,719
So he frustrates Mara.
987
00:52:05,788 --> 00:52:06,921
Siddhartha resisted
988
00:52:06,989 --> 00:52:08,756
every temptation Mara could
989
00:52:08,823 --> 00:52:11,091
devise.
990
00:52:11,159 --> 00:52:13,127
The Lord of Desire had one
991
00:52:13,194 --> 00:52:15,129
final test.
992
00:52:19,400 --> 00:52:21,035
He demanded to know who would
993
00:52:21,102 --> 00:52:22,635
testify that Siddhartha was
994
00:52:22,703 --> 00:52:24,370
worthy of attaining ultimate
995
00:52:24,437 --> 00:52:27,006
wisdom, and his demon army
996
00:52:27,074 --> 00:52:31,010
rose up to support him.
997
00:52:36,417 --> 00:52:39,951
Siddhartha said nothing.
998
00:52:40,019 --> 00:52:41,619
he reached down and touched the
999
00:52:41,688 --> 00:52:46,257
ground, and the earth shuddered.
1000
00:52:53,834 --> 00:52:56,768
Mara's demons fled.
1001
00:53:00,740 --> 00:53:03,775
the Buddha reaches down and,
1002
00:53:03,843 --> 00:53:05,476
with his finger, touches the
1003
00:53:05,544 --> 00:53:06,912
Earth.
1004
00:53:06,979 --> 00:53:08,379
he says, "the Earth is
1005
00:53:08,447 --> 00:53:11,115
my witness".
1006
00:53:11,184 --> 00:53:12,517
He said, "Mara, you are not
1007
00:53:12,585 --> 00:53:13,185
the Earth.
1008
00:53:13,252 --> 00:53:14,952
the Earth is right here, beneath
1009
00:53:15,020 --> 00:53:16,020
my finger".
1010
00:53:16,088 --> 00:53:18,322
And the Earth is what we're
1011
00:53:18,389 --> 00:53:19,890
talking about...
1012
00:53:19,958 --> 00:53:21,625
accepting the Earth, not owning
1013
00:53:21,693 --> 00:53:23,127
the Earth, not possessing the
1014
00:53:23,195 --> 00:53:25,429
Earth, but the Earth just as it
1015
00:53:25,496 --> 00:53:29,934
is: abused and exploited and
1016
00:53:30,001 --> 00:53:34,270
despised and rejected and
1017
00:53:34,339 --> 00:53:36,673
plowed and mined and spat on
1018
00:53:36,742 --> 00:53:39,508
and everything else, you know.
1019
00:53:39,576 --> 00:53:41,778
It's still the Earth, and it's...
1020
00:53:41,846 --> 00:53:44,180
it is... it's...
1021
00:53:44,248 --> 00:53:46,182
we owe everything to it.
1022
00:53:53,790 --> 00:53:55,124
Siddhartha meditated
1023
00:53:55,192 --> 00:54:00,596
throughout the night,
1024
00:54:00,664 --> 00:54:02,431
and all his former lives passed
1025
00:54:02,499 --> 00:54:04,801
before him.
1026
00:54:08,671 --> 00:54:09,536
He remembers all his
1027
00:54:09,604 --> 00:54:10,872
previous lives, infinite numbers
1028
00:54:10,939 --> 00:54:13,707
of previous lives, female and
1029
00:54:13,776 --> 00:54:15,109
male and every other race and
1030
00:54:15,177 --> 00:54:16,310
every other being in the vast
1031
00:54:16,379 --> 00:54:21,784
ocean of life-forms.
1032
00:54:21,851 --> 00:54:22,885
And he remembered that all
1033
00:54:22,952 --> 00:54:23,551
viscerally.
1034
00:54:23,619 --> 00:54:24,986
So that means his awareness
1035
00:54:25,053 --> 00:54:28,089
expanded to be... so that all the
1036
00:54:28,157 --> 00:54:29,023
moments of the past were
1037
00:54:29,091 --> 00:54:32,426
completely present to him.
1038
00:54:32,494 --> 00:54:35,129
He gains the power to see
1039
00:54:35,197 --> 00:54:38,132
the process of birth, death,
1040
00:54:38,201 --> 00:54:40,302
and rebirth that all creatures
1041
00:54:40,370 --> 00:54:43,137
go through.
1042
00:54:43,205 --> 00:54:45,173
he's given this sort of cosmic
1043
00:54:45,240 --> 00:54:48,710
vision of the workings of the
1044
00:54:48,778 --> 00:54:51,613
entire universe.
1045
00:54:59,255 --> 00:55:00,322
As the morning star
1046
00:55:00,389 --> 00:55:03,925
appeared, he roared like a lion.
1047
00:55:07,430 --> 00:55:08,863
"My mind," he said,
1048
00:55:08,931 --> 00:55:12,265
"is at peace".
1049
00:55:12,334 --> 00:55:14,167
The heavens shook, and the bodhi
1050
00:55:14,235 --> 00:55:18,471
tree rained down flowers.
1051
00:55:18,539 --> 00:55:20,139
He had become the "Awakened
1052
00:55:20,207 --> 00:55:23,275
One," the Buddha.
1053
00:55:29,451 --> 00:55:31,017
Something new opens up for
1054
00:55:31,085 --> 00:55:34,753
him, which he calls "Nirvana"
1055
00:55:34,821 --> 00:55:37,522
or which he calls "awakening".
1056
00:55:42,395 --> 00:55:44,596
He said, "at this moment,
1057
00:55:44,665 --> 00:55:46,233
all beings and I awaken
1058
00:55:46,300 --> 00:55:48,801
together".
1059
00:55:48,870 --> 00:55:51,137
So it was not just him.
1060
00:55:51,205 --> 00:55:53,805
It was all the universe.
1061
00:55:53,874 --> 00:55:55,374
He touched the Earth.
1062
00:55:55,441 --> 00:55:58,344
"as Earth is my witness,
1063
00:55:58,411 --> 00:56:00,679
seeing this morning star, all
1064
00:56:00,747 --> 00:56:04,649
things and I awaken together".
1065
00:56:04,718 --> 00:56:05,685
It's not like entering
1066
00:56:05,753 --> 00:56:06,686
a new state.
1067
00:56:06,754 --> 00:56:08,688
It's uncovering or surrendering
1068
00:56:08,756 --> 00:56:10,121
to the reality that has always
1069
00:56:10,189 --> 00:56:11,722
been there.
1070
00:56:11,790 --> 00:56:12,957
He realized he'd always been in
1071
00:56:13,025 --> 00:56:14,592
Nirvana, that Nirvana was always
1072
00:56:14,659 --> 00:56:15,860
the case.
1073
00:56:15,928 --> 00:56:18,997
Your reality itself is Nirvana.
1074
00:56:19,064 --> 00:56:20,698
It's the unreality, it's your
1075
00:56:20,766 --> 00:56:22,000
ignorance that makes you think
1076
00:56:22,067 --> 00:56:24,468
you're this self-centered
1077
00:56:24,536 --> 00:56:26,470
separate being trying to
1078
00:56:26,539 --> 00:56:27,671
fight off an overwhelming
1079
00:56:27,739 --> 00:56:29,607
universe and failing.
1080
00:56:29,674 --> 00:56:31,209
You are that universe.
1081
00:56:31,277 --> 00:56:32,977
You're already enlightened.
1082
00:56:33,045 --> 00:56:35,446
He's saying the capacity for
1083
00:56:35,514 --> 00:56:36,781
enlightenment... that your
1084
00:56:36,848 --> 00:56:39,417
awake-ness already exists within you.
1085
00:56:47,405 --> 00:56:49,039
Nirvana is this moment seen
1086
00:56:49,107 --> 00:56:51,175
directly.
1087
00:56:51,242 --> 00:56:55,111
There is nowhere else than here.
1088
00:56:55,181 --> 00:56:56,849
The only gate is now.
1089
00:56:56,916 --> 00:56:58,215
The only doorway is your own
1090
00:56:58,284 --> 00:56:59,885
body and mind.
1091
00:56:59,953 --> 00:57:01,386
There's nowhere to go.
1092
00:57:01,455 --> 00:57:03,155
There's nothing else to be.
1093
00:57:03,222 --> 00:57:05,190
There's no destination.
1094
00:57:05,258 --> 00:57:06,825
It's not something to aim for
1095
00:57:06,894 --> 00:57:08,028
in the afterlife.
1096
00:57:08,094 --> 00:57:09,394
It's simply the quality of
1097
00:57:09,463 --> 00:57:10,395
this moment.
1098
00:57:10,463 --> 00:57:12,164
Just this.
1099
00:57:12,232 --> 00:57:14,300
Just this, this room where
1100
00:57:14,367 --> 00:57:15,167
we are.
1101
00:57:15,235 --> 00:57:17,403
Pay attention to that.
1102
00:57:17,471 --> 00:57:19,873
Pay attention to who's there.
1103
00:57:19,941 --> 00:57:21,974
Pay attention to what isn't
1104
00:57:22,043 --> 00:57:22,842
known there.
1105
00:57:22,910 --> 00:57:24,110
Pay attention to what is known
1106
00:57:24,179 --> 00:57:24,779
there.
1107
00:57:24,845 --> 00:57:26,512
Pay attention to what everyone
1108
00:57:26,582 --> 00:57:28,716
is thinking and feeling,
1109
00:57:28,784 --> 00:57:31,118
What you're doing there.
1110
00:57:31,186 --> 00:57:32,319
Pay attention.
1111
00:57:32,388 --> 00:57:35,323
Pay attention.
1112
00:57:39,795 --> 00:57:41,195
For weeks, the Buddha
1113
00:57:41,263 --> 00:57:43,264
remained near the Bodhi tree,
1114
00:57:43,332 --> 00:57:48,003
peaceful and serene.
1115
00:57:48,071 --> 00:57:49,504
He was tempted to retire into
1116
00:57:49,573 --> 00:57:51,841
a profound solitude, instead of
1117
00:57:51,909 --> 00:57:53,910
trying to teach others what it
1118
00:57:53,978 --> 00:57:56,011
had taken him six long years to
1119
00:57:56,080 --> 00:57:59,248
discover for himself.
1120
00:57:59,316 --> 00:58:00,917
He wants to stay there.
1121
00:58:00,986 --> 00:58:02,285
He's very happy.
1122
00:58:02,353 --> 00:58:03,787
He doesn't want to go out.
1123
00:58:03,856 --> 00:58:07,291
He says to himself, "No one is
1124
00:58:07,359 --> 00:58:08,727
going to understand this.
1125
00:58:08,794 --> 00:58:10,127
You know, people are going to
1126
00:58:10,195 --> 00:58:11,997
think I'm crazy.
1127
00:58:12,064 --> 00:58:12,830
They're going to think I'm
1128
00:58:12,897 --> 00:58:14,665
nuts".
1129
00:58:14,733 --> 00:58:16,500
Buddha saw the nature of the
1130
00:58:16,567 --> 00:58:19,970
people: envy and jealousy and
1131
00:58:20,039 --> 00:58:21,840
the strong negative mental
1132
00:58:21,908 --> 00:58:22,742
states.
1133
00:58:22,808 --> 00:58:25,476
All the people in the world,
1134
00:58:25,545 --> 00:58:29,414
they are like the fishes
1135
00:58:29,483 --> 00:58:31,784
wriggling in the very shallow
1136
00:58:31,852 --> 00:58:32,885
water.
1137
00:58:32,954 --> 00:58:36,056
So Buddha, he himself afraid to
1138
00:58:36,124 --> 00:58:40,027
teach the people.
1139
00:58:47,403 --> 00:58:49,170
The myth is that a god
1140
00:58:49,237 --> 00:58:50,837
comes to the Buddha.
1141
00:58:50,905 --> 00:58:52,873
Brahma comes on his knees and
1142
00:58:52,941 --> 00:58:55,777
says, "Please, we need you.
1143
00:58:55,845 --> 00:58:57,780
Why don't you try talking about
1144
00:58:57,846 --> 00:58:58,946
what you just understood?
1145
00:58:59,015 --> 00:59:01,083
'Cause the world needs... the gods
1146
00:59:01,152 --> 00:59:02,686
need it, and the men need it".
1147
00:59:02,752 --> 00:59:04,320
You know, "the people need it".
1148
00:59:04,389 --> 00:59:06,355
And then Buddha decided to
1149
00:59:06,423 --> 00:59:11,493
give his teachings...
1150
00:59:11,562 --> 00:59:14,129
because of a great compassion.
1151
00:59:14,198 --> 00:59:18,301
It's not an ordinary compassion.
1152
00:59:23,809 --> 00:59:24,975
When you feel the feelings
1153
00:59:25,043 --> 00:59:26,544
of others, you automatically
1154
00:59:26,612 --> 00:59:28,313
don't want them to feel bad.
1155
00:59:28,380 --> 00:59:29,547
You feel the feeling of your
1156
00:59:29,616 --> 00:59:30,482
hand; you don't put it
1157
00:59:30,550 --> 00:59:32,284
in the oven.
1158
00:59:32,352 --> 00:59:33,118
I mean, you're not being
1159
00:59:33,186 --> 00:59:34,320
compassionate to your hand.
1160
00:59:34,387 --> 00:59:35,487
You just feel the pain,
1161
00:59:35,556 --> 00:59:36,189
so you're not gonna
1162
00:59:36,257 --> 00:59:37,023
put it there.
1163
00:59:37,090 --> 00:59:38,123
So if you feel other's pain,
1164
00:59:38,192 --> 00:59:39,292
you're going to do your best to
1165
00:59:39,360 --> 00:59:40,758
help them alleviate it.
1166
00:59:40,826 --> 00:59:41,992
When somebody becomes
1167
00:59:42,061 --> 00:59:43,429
enlightened, something blooms
1168
00:59:43,495 --> 00:59:44,495
in his heart.
1169
00:59:44,564 --> 00:59:46,131
It's like a flower blooms, and
1170
00:59:46,199 --> 00:59:48,133
it cannot hold the fragrance.
1171
00:59:48,202 --> 00:59:50,203
It has to naturally release.
1172
00:59:50,271 --> 00:59:51,804
so it's like he naturally had
1173
00:59:51,872 --> 00:59:53,005
to release his radiance.
1174
00:59:53,074 --> 00:59:54,475
He has to share this joy that
1175
00:59:54,542 --> 00:59:58,210
was in his heart.
1176
00:59:58,280 --> 01:00:00,147
35 years old,
1177
01:00:00,214 --> 01:00:01,414
the Buddha would devote the rest
1178
01:00:01,483 --> 01:00:02,617
of his life to bringing his
1179
01:00:02,684 --> 01:00:05,085
teachings... the Dharma,
1180
01:00:05,154 --> 01:00:06,455
the fundamental laws of
1181
01:00:06,521 --> 01:00:11,258
all things... into the world.
1182
01:00:11,326 --> 01:00:13,327
But as he had feared, it would
1183
01:00:13,396 --> 01:00:16,997
not be easy.
1184
01:00:17,065 --> 01:00:18,532
As he set off to share what he
1185
01:00:18,601 --> 01:00:21,002
had learned, he met a wandering
1186
01:00:21,071 --> 01:00:22,572
ascetic.
1187
01:00:22,640 --> 01:00:23,839
"Who is your guru?"
1188
01:00:23,907 --> 01:00:26,342
the ascetic asked him.
1189
01:00:26,410 --> 01:00:28,444
the Buddha said he had no guru,
1190
01:00:28,513 --> 01:00:29,380
that he had attained
1191
01:00:29,446 --> 01:00:32,081
enlightenment on his own.
1192
01:00:32,150 --> 01:00:34,684
"It may be so," the ascetic said
1193
01:00:34,752 --> 01:00:37,620
and walked away.
1194
01:00:37,689 --> 01:00:40,157
On his first attempt to teach,
1195
01:00:40,224 --> 01:00:42,258
the Buddha had failed.
1196
01:00:42,327 --> 01:00:44,861
Buddha meets someone who
1197
01:00:44,930 --> 01:00:46,230
doesn't see anything special
1198
01:00:46,298 --> 01:00:48,632
about him, because the awakened
1199
01:00:48,701 --> 01:00:49,834
Buddha doesn't look any
1200
01:00:49,903 --> 01:00:51,436
different from anybody else.
1201
01:00:51,504 --> 01:00:53,938
He is ordinary.
1202
01:00:54,006 --> 01:00:55,407
Buddhism is not about being
1203
01:00:55,475 --> 01:00:56,709
special.
1204
01:00:56,777 --> 01:00:58,344
Buddhism is about being
1205
01:00:58,412 --> 01:00:59,612
ordinary.
1206
01:00:59,680 --> 01:01:02,247
And it is not about the
1207
01:01:02,317 --> 01:01:06,019
continual exudation of bliss.
1208
01:01:06,086 --> 01:01:09,021
It is about walking a normal
1209
01:01:09,088 --> 01:01:11,189
human life with normal human
1210
01:01:11,257 --> 01:01:12,758
beings, doing normal human
1211
01:01:12,827 --> 01:01:15,529
things, and this reminds you
1212
01:01:15,596 --> 01:01:16,896
that you yourself might be
1213
01:01:16,964 --> 01:01:17,698
a Buddha.
1214
01:01:17,765 --> 01:01:19,599
At this moment, the person
1215
01:01:19,668 --> 01:01:21,769
you're looking at might be one.
1216
01:01:21,837 --> 01:01:23,571
It's an interesting practice;
1217
01:01:23,639 --> 01:01:25,306
just each person you see as you
1218
01:01:25,375 --> 01:01:28,008
walk down the street: "Buddha?
1219
01:01:28,076 --> 01:01:29,076
Buddha?
1220
01:01:29,144 --> 01:01:30,378
Buddha.
1221
01:01:30,447 --> 01:01:31,647
Buddha.
1222
01:01:31,715 --> 01:01:33,649
Buddha".
1223
01:01:39,056 --> 01:01:40,223
from Bodh Gaya, the
1224
01:01:40,290 --> 01:01:42,123
Buddha walked west nearly 200
1225
01:01:42,192 --> 01:01:43,792
miles and crossed the Ganges
1226
01:01:43,859 --> 01:01:47,127
river.
1227
01:01:47,197 --> 01:01:48,732
He was still searching for a way
1228
01:01:48,799 --> 01:01:50,166
to explain to others what
1229
01:01:50,234 --> 01:01:52,635
he feared was unexplainable,
1230
01:01:52,703 --> 01:01:54,671
the path to the enlightenment
1231
01:01:54,739 --> 01:01:58,941
he himself had experienced.
1232
01:02:11,190 --> 01:02:13,157
In a deer park in Sarnath,
1233
01:02:13,225 --> 01:02:14,659
not far from the Ganges,
1234
01:02:14,727 --> 01:02:20,063
he would try again.
1235
01:02:20,132 --> 01:02:22,000
His five former companions were
1236
01:02:22,068 --> 01:02:22,869
still practicing the
1237
01:02:22,936 --> 01:02:24,604
austerities he himself had
1238
01:02:24,638 --> 01:02:29,542
abandoned.
1239
01:02:29,610 --> 01:02:31,076
"From far off, they saw me
1240
01:02:31,145 --> 01:02:33,146
coming and, on seeing me,
1241
01:02:33,215 --> 01:02:34,783
made a pact with one another,"
1242
01:02:34,850 --> 01:02:36,683
the Buddha recalled.
1243
01:02:36,751 --> 01:02:37,851
"Friends, here comes
1244
01:02:37,919 --> 01:02:40,386
Siddhartha, living luxuriously,
1245
01:02:40,455 --> 01:02:41,789
straying from his ascetic
1246
01:02:41,856 --> 01:02:43,189
practice.
1247
01:02:43,257 --> 01:02:44,658
He doesn't deserve to be bowed
1248
01:02:44,727 --> 01:02:46,728
down to".
1249
01:02:46,795 --> 01:02:47,994
These are his buddies, who
1250
01:02:48,063 --> 01:02:49,697
were just disappointed and
1251
01:02:49,765 --> 01:02:52,033
disgusted with him for giving in
1252
01:02:52,101 --> 01:02:53,268
after they'd all been trying
1253
01:02:53,336 --> 01:02:54,702
to starve themselves into
1254
01:02:54,770 --> 01:02:56,738
enlightenment.
1255
01:02:56,807 --> 01:02:59,775
So they... they're a little
1256
01:02:59,843 --> 01:03:01,209
distrustful at the beginning.
1257
01:03:01,277 --> 01:03:02,745
They refer to him as an
1258
01:03:02,814 --> 01:03:05,281
equal, and he then tells them,
1259
01:03:05,349 --> 01:03:06,483
"No, that's not the term you
1260
01:03:06,551 --> 01:03:07,751
should use when you refer to
1261
01:03:07,820 --> 01:03:09,554
a tathagata, a being who's gone
1262
01:03:09,620 --> 01:03:11,320
beyond".
1263
01:03:11,388 --> 01:03:13,823
And so he sets them straight.
1264
01:03:13,891 --> 01:03:17,327
and they then become the first
1265
01:03:17,394 --> 01:03:20,129
people to hear the content of
1266
01:03:20,198 --> 01:03:21,231
what he realized under the
1267
01:03:21,298 --> 01:03:23,567
Bodhi tree.
1268
01:03:26,539 --> 01:03:27,606
His first teaching
1269
01:03:27,674 --> 01:03:29,373
would later be called �setting
1270
01:03:29,441 --> 01:03:30,975
in motion the wheel of the
1271
01:03:31,043 --> 01:03:32,978
Dharma� because it brought the
1272
01:03:33,044 --> 01:03:34,545
Buddha's message into the world
1273
01:03:34,614 --> 01:03:40,785
for the first time.
1274
01:03:40,854 --> 01:03:43,421
He did not propound a dogma.
1275
01:03:43,491 --> 01:03:44,991
Instead, he spoke from his own
1276
01:03:45,058 --> 01:03:47,392
experience, out of his own
1277
01:03:47,461 --> 01:03:51,564
heart.
1278
01:03:51,632 --> 01:03:53,099
He had known the abandon of the
1279
01:03:53,167 --> 01:03:55,202
sensualist and the rigors of
1280
01:03:55,269 --> 01:03:56,937
the ascetic.
1281
01:03:57,005 --> 01:03:59,473
Now he would disavow both of
1282
01:03:59,542 --> 01:04:02,076
them.
1283
01:04:02,144 --> 01:04:03,044
The Buddha said, "I've
1284
01:04:03,112 --> 01:04:04,845
discovered a new way, and it's
1285
01:04:04,914 --> 01:04:07,115
not the path of asceticism,
1286
01:04:07,181 --> 01:04:08,949
and it's not the path of sensory
1287
01:04:09,018 --> 01:04:10,084
indulgence.
1288
01:04:10,152 --> 01:04:12,553
It's the middle way".
1289
01:04:12,621 --> 01:04:13,354
What the Buddha was always
1290
01:04:13,423 --> 01:04:15,024
doing was saying, "Everything
1291
01:04:15,091 --> 01:04:16,492
needs to be balanced".
1292
01:04:16,560 --> 01:04:17,894
So, you know, the middle way
1293
01:04:17,961 --> 01:04:19,862
was always balancing between,
1294
01:04:19,930 --> 01:04:21,364
you know, excesses on this side,
1295
01:04:21,432 --> 01:04:23,198
excesses on the other side.
1296
01:04:36,916 --> 01:04:38,716
"fair goes the dancing
1297
01:04:38,784 --> 01:04:41,284
when the sitar is tuned.
1298
01:04:41,352 --> 01:04:43,286
Tune us the sitar neither high
1299
01:04:43,355 --> 01:04:46,223
nor low,
1300
01:04:46,292 --> 01:04:48,060
and we will dance away
1301
01:04:48,127 --> 01:04:50,429
the hearts of men.
1302
01:05:04,378 --> 01:05:05,478
But the string too tight
1303
01:05:05,547 --> 01:05:06,813
breaks...
1304
01:05:08,050 --> 01:05:12,319
and the music dies.
1305
01:05:12,387 --> 01:05:13,720
The string too slack has
1306
01:05:13,789 --> 01:05:18,559
no sound, and the music dies.
1307
01:05:21,163 --> 01:05:25,467
There is a middle way.
1308
01:05:25,535 --> 01:05:27,470
Tune us the sitar neither low
1309
01:05:27,536 --> 01:05:30,605
nor high,
1310
01:05:30,674 --> 01:05:32,108
and we will dance away
1311
01:05:32,175 --> 01:05:35,611
the hearts of men".
1312
01:05:39,181 --> 01:05:39,915
The path to
1313
01:05:39,984 --> 01:05:41,217
enlightenment lay along the
1314
01:05:41,284 --> 01:05:44,087
middle way, the Buddha taught,
1315
01:05:44,155 --> 01:05:47,758
and the ascetics listened.
1316
01:05:47,826 --> 01:05:49,592
Now he would answer the question
1317
01:05:49,661 --> 01:05:51,294
that six years before had
1318
01:05:51,362 --> 01:05:53,731
provoked his spiritual journey:
1319
01:05:53,799 --> 01:05:56,067
the question of suffering.
1320
01:05:56,134 --> 01:05:57,300
Buddhists don't have
1321
01:05:57,369 --> 01:05:58,369
a creation story.
1322
01:05:58,437 --> 01:06:01,472
There is no creator deity.
1323
01:06:01,541 --> 01:06:03,609
It's not really of interest.
1324
01:06:03,677 --> 01:06:06,445
It's not an issue.
1325
01:06:06,514 --> 01:06:08,881
What's of interest is the
1326
01:06:08,949 --> 01:06:11,984
problem of human suffering and
1327
01:06:12,053 --> 01:06:13,986
the solution to human suffering.
1328
01:06:14,054 --> 01:06:16,022
Pretty much everything else,
1329
01:06:16,089 --> 01:06:21,127
all right, is beside the point.
1330
01:06:21,196 --> 01:06:22,563
The Buddha's analysis
1331
01:06:22,632 --> 01:06:24,366
of suffering came in the form
1332
01:06:24,433 --> 01:06:26,167
of what have come to be called
1333
01:06:26,234 --> 01:06:28,369
"the Four Noble Truths".
1334
01:06:28,437 --> 01:06:29,937
There is no commandments or
1335
01:06:30,005 --> 01:06:31,273
anything.
1336
01:06:31,340 --> 01:06:32,607
The first Noble Truth is that
1337
01:06:32,675 --> 01:06:33,575
there is suffering in this
1338
01:06:33,643 --> 01:06:34,643
world.
1339
01:06:34,711 --> 01:06:35,744
Generally, this "suffering" has
1340
01:06:35,812 --> 01:06:37,313
been mistranslated.
1341
01:06:37,381 --> 01:06:39,649
"Suffering" is not entirely
1342
01:06:39,717 --> 01:06:42,551
accurate to the word that the
1343
01:06:42,618 --> 01:06:44,386
Buddha probably used.
1344
01:06:44,453 --> 01:06:47,088
It means something closer to
1345
01:06:47,157 --> 01:06:49,325
"dissatisfaction" ...that,
1346
01:06:49,393 --> 01:06:50,359
you know, we're never quite
1347
01:06:50,427 --> 01:06:51,894
happy, and if we are, that's
1348
01:06:51,962 --> 01:06:53,564
gone in an instant, anyhow.
1349
01:06:53,630 --> 01:06:54,630
And he says that this
1350
01:06:54,699 --> 01:06:55,299
suffering, this
1351
01:06:55,366 --> 01:06:57,000
unsatisfactoriness, doesn't
1352
01:06:57,069 --> 01:06:59,903
arise by itself; it has causes.
1353
01:06:59,970 --> 01:07:03,407
Our own mind causes it.
1354
01:07:08,948 --> 01:07:09,815
While the Second Noble
1355
01:07:09,882 --> 01:07:11,417
Truth asserts that suffering
1356
01:07:11,484 --> 01:07:13,818
has a cause, the Third Noble
1357
01:07:13,886 --> 01:07:15,554
Truth makes an astonishing
1358
01:07:15,622 --> 01:07:17,089
claim.
1359
01:07:17,156 --> 01:07:18,523
You really can be free of
1360
01:07:18,591 --> 01:07:20,491
suffering by understanding
1361
01:07:20,560 --> 01:07:22,194
the cause of suffering.
1362
01:07:22,261 --> 01:07:23,661
But nobody tells you that,
1363
01:07:23,730 --> 01:07:24,697
and so that was a huge
1364
01:07:24,764 --> 01:07:28,400
announcement.
1365
01:07:28,469 --> 01:07:29,369
The problem, Buddha
1366
01:07:29,437 --> 01:07:32,239
taught, is desire,
1367
01:07:32,307 --> 01:07:33,907
how to live with the confused
1368
01:07:33,975 --> 01:07:35,775
and entangling desires of our
1369
01:07:35,843 --> 01:07:39,246
own minds.
1370
01:07:39,314 --> 01:07:41,482
People often misunderstand
1371
01:07:41,550 --> 01:07:43,617
Buddhism as saying:
1372
01:07:43,685 --> 01:07:45,085
"In order to wipe out suffering,
1373
01:07:45,152 --> 01:07:47,287
you have to wipe out desire".
1374
01:07:47,356 --> 01:07:48,556
If that was what the Buddha was
1375
01:07:48,625 --> 01:07:49,924
saying, then where does the
1376
01:07:49,992 --> 01:07:52,760
desire for enlightenment fit in,
1377
01:07:52,827 --> 01:07:54,194
you know?
1378
01:07:54,264 --> 01:07:55,063
The Buddha's saying:
1379
01:07:55,131 --> 01:07:57,065
"Be smart about your desires".
1380
01:08:19,157 --> 01:08:20,190
With the Fourth and
1381
01:08:20,258 --> 01:08:22,559
final Noble Truth, the Buddha
1382
01:08:22,627 --> 01:08:23,560
laid out a series of
1383
01:08:23,629 --> 01:08:25,062
instructions for his disciples
1384
01:08:25,130 --> 01:08:27,198
to follow, a way of leading the
1385
01:08:27,266 --> 01:08:29,300
mind to enlightenment called
1386
01:08:29,368 --> 01:08:31,736
"the Noble Eightfold Path,"
1387
01:08:31,804 --> 01:08:33,037
the cultivation of moral
1388
01:08:33,105 --> 01:08:35,006
discipline, mindfulness,
1389
01:08:35,074 --> 01:08:36,509
and wisdom.
1390
01:08:36,576 --> 01:08:38,110
They are, as I like to think
1391
01:08:38,178 --> 01:08:39,845
of them, a set of possible
1392
01:08:39,914 --> 01:08:45,017
recipes that you can try on
1393
01:08:45,084 --> 01:08:47,251
your own life and see which one
1394
01:08:47,321 --> 01:08:50,389
makes the best soup.
1395
01:08:50,457 --> 01:08:51,524
The Buddha didn't speak
1396
01:08:51,592 --> 01:08:53,226
for long, but when he was
1397
01:08:53,294 --> 01:08:55,128
finished, the five skeptical
1398
01:08:55,196 --> 01:08:57,997
ascetics had been won over.
1399
01:08:58,066 --> 01:09:02,269
They became his first disciples.
1400
01:09:02,338 --> 01:09:04,371
Word quickly spread of the sage
1401
01:09:04,440 --> 01:09:05,640
teaching in the deer park at
1402
01:09:05,708 --> 01:09:06,974
Sarnath.
1403
01:09:07,042 --> 01:09:08,710
Hundreds came to hear him and
1404
01:09:08,778 --> 01:09:11,313
became disciples too.
1405
01:09:11,380 --> 01:09:13,112
Many were wealthy merchants or
1406
01:09:13,181 --> 01:09:15,450
their sons, living just five
1407
01:09:15,518 --> 01:09:16,819
miles away in a thriving
1408
01:09:16,886 --> 01:09:19,054
trading center on the Ganges,
1409
01:09:19,121 --> 01:09:21,522
the holy city of Benares.
1410
01:09:49,189 --> 01:09:51,490
Today Benares is the most sacred
1411
01:09:51,557 --> 01:09:53,792
city in all of India, as it has
1412
01:09:53,860 --> 01:09:56,560
been for millennia.
1413
01:10:01,969 --> 01:10:03,303
Even before the time of the
1414
01:10:03,371 --> 01:10:05,605
Buddha, pilgrims came here to
1415
01:10:05,672 --> 01:10:08,308
worship their gods and bathe in
1416
01:10:08,377 --> 01:10:11,812
the holy river of heaven.
1417
01:10:20,689 --> 01:10:23,190
You see people purifying
1418
01:10:23,259 --> 01:10:25,260
themselves bathing in the
1419
01:10:25,328 --> 01:10:28,263
Ganges.
1420
01:10:30,535 --> 01:10:32,468
You see priests performing
1421
01:10:32,536 --> 01:10:35,771
rituals.
1422
01:10:44,281 --> 01:10:47,551
You see corpses, because that's
1423
01:10:47,619 --> 01:10:49,653
the best place to end one's
1424
01:10:49,720 --> 01:10:52,388
life.
1425
01:10:52,458 --> 01:10:53,991
So you see going on there
1426
01:10:54,059 --> 01:10:56,060
a great range of religious
1427
01:10:56,127 --> 01:10:58,362
activity, and much of it
1428
01:10:58,431 --> 01:10:59,998
of the type that does go back
1429
01:11:00,066 --> 01:11:01,232
to the Buddha's time.
1430
01:11:07,373 --> 01:11:08,574
Many of today's sacred
1431
01:11:08,641 --> 01:11:10,576
ceremonies on the Ganges echo
1432
01:11:10,644 --> 01:11:12,211
the ancient practices of the
1433
01:11:12,279 --> 01:11:16,247
Vedic priests, the Brahmans.
1434
01:11:16,316 --> 01:11:18,284
In the Buddha's day, only the
1435
01:11:18,352 --> 01:11:19,853
Brahmans could mediate between
1436
01:11:19,920 --> 01:11:21,921
the gods and men.
1437
01:11:21,990 --> 01:11:23,556
Only they could conduct the
1438
01:11:23,624 --> 01:11:25,124
holy rituals that were said to
1439
01:11:25,192 --> 01:11:28,628
preserve the universe itself.
1440
01:11:33,736 --> 01:11:35,269
The Brahman priests stood at
1441
01:11:35,337 --> 01:11:36,771
the pinnacle of a rigid social
1442
01:11:36,839 --> 01:11:39,140
hierarchy: a sacred system of
1443
01:11:39,209 --> 01:11:40,976
caste.
1444
01:11:41,043 --> 01:11:43,344
Beneath them were the warriors,
1445
01:11:43,413 --> 01:11:44,446
the caste to which the Buddha
1446
01:11:44,514 --> 01:11:46,581
belonged.
1447
01:11:46,649 --> 01:11:49,751
Below them were farmers.
1448
01:11:49,820 --> 01:11:50,553
at the bottom were the
1449
01:11:50,621 --> 01:11:53,556
servants and, still lower,
1450
01:11:53,624 --> 01:11:55,458
outcastes.
1451
01:11:55,527 --> 01:11:57,661
Those social groups are not
1452
01:11:57,730 --> 01:11:59,430
merely social conventions, but
1453
01:11:59,497 --> 01:12:01,431
rather, they're hardwired into
1454
01:12:01,500 --> 01:12:03,700
the nature of the universe.
1455
01:12:03,768 --> 01:12:05,636
You're supposed to stay in that
1456
01:12:05,703 --> 01:12:07,671
group, and the survival of
1457
01:12:07,740 --> 01:12:09,007
society depends upon your
1458
01:12:09,075 --> 01:12:10,642
continuing to perform the
1459
01:12:10,709 --> 01:12:12,444
function associated with that
1460
01:12:12,513 --> 01:12:16,580
social status.
1461
01:12:16,648 --> 01:12:18,082
Caste was irrelevant
1462
01:12:18,151 --> 01:12:20,218
to the Buddha.
1463
01:12:20,286 --> 01:12:21,753
So were priestly rituals to
1464
01:12:21,820 --> 01:12:24,789
preserve the universe.
1465
01:12:24,858 --> 01:12:26,759
His teachings focused on the
1466
01:12:26,826 --> 01:12:30,963
universe within.
1467
01:12:31,032 --> 01:12:32,199
The Buddha said you could be
1468
01:12:32,268 --> 01:12:33,268
from any caste.
1469
01:12:33,334 --> 01:12:35,168
What makes you noble is if you
1470
01:12:35,236 --> 01:12:36,736
understand reality, you know,
1471
01:12:36,804 --> 01:12:38,138
if you're a good person.
1472
01:12:38,206 --> 01:12:39,973
If you're a wise person,
1473
01:12:40,041 --> 01:12:41,341
then you're noble.
1474
01:12:54,523 --> 01:12:55,690
In time, a devoted
1475
01:12:55,757 --> 01:12:57,425
gathering of monks formed around
1476
01:12:57,493 --> 01:12:59,260
the Buddha at Sarnath, near the
1477
01:12:59,329 --> 01:13:02,864
Ganges.
1478
01:13:02,932 --> 01:13:04,933
Broken stones and fallen
1479
01:13:05,002 --> 01:13:06,803
pillars mark what remains
1480
01:13:06,870 --> 01:13:08,371
of what grew to be a vibrant
1481
01:13:08,439 --> 01:13:13,874
monastic community, the Sangha.
1482
01:13:25,624 --> 01:13:27,824
It took the Buddha many,
1483
01:13:27,892 --> 01:13:31,129
many years to find his way.
1484
01:13:31,196 --> 01:13:32,463
But he didn't want it to be
1485
01:13:32,532 --> 01:13:35,234
so hard for people, and so
1486
01:13:35,302 --> 01:13:36,902
he established a community who
1487
01:13:36,969 --> 01:13:38,537
could live together and help
1488
01:13:38,606 --> 01:13:41,241
one another.
1489
01:14:04,066 --> 01:14:05,300
In a ceremony evoking
1490
01:14:05,367 --> 01:14:06,433
the beginning of the Buddha's
1491
01:14:06,501 --> 01:14:08,302
own spiritual journey,
1492
01:14:08,371 --> 01:14:10,405
fledgling monks of all ages
1493
01:14:10,473 --> 01:14:12,072
say good-bye to their families
1494
01:14:12,140 --> 01:14:15,342
and homes and join the Sangha.
1495
01:14:29,459 --> 01:14:31,760
I go to the refuge of the
1496
01:14:31,829 --> 01:14:34,498
Buddha, I go to the refuge of
1497
01:14:34,566 --> 01:14:36,832
the Dharma, and I go to the
1498
01:14:36,901 --> 01:14:38,535
refuge of the Sangha.
1499
01:14:46,477 --> 01:14:48,112
the Sangha is an embodiment
1500
01:14:48,181 --> 01:14:49,514
of Buddha's experience and
1501
01:14:49,582 --> 01:14:50,882
wisdom.
1502
01:14:50,950 --> 01:14:52,417
What happens if people practice
1503
01:14:52,484 --> 01:14:53,151
this thing?
1504
01:14:53,220 --> 01:14:54,586
Are they truly happy or not?
1505
01:14:54,653 --> 01:14:56,121
Are they joyful or not?
1506
01:14:56,189 --> 01:14:57,355
So I think Buddha wanted us to
1507
01:14:57,423 --> 01:14:59,691
lead a perfect example of his
1508
01:14:59,760 --> 01:15:01,293
teaching: an alive teaching,
1509
01:15:01,362 --> 01:15:02,763
a teaching that walks,
1510
01:15:02,830 --> 01:15:03,930
a teaching that can talk,
1511
01:15:03,997 --> 01:15:05,732
a teaching that can laugh.
1512
01:15:05,800 --> 01:15:07,667
So I would say sangha is just
1513
01:15:07,736 --> 01:15:09,970
like a living example of
1514
01:15:10,039 --> 01:15:11,106
Buddha's teaching.
1515
01:15:19,580 --> 01:15:20,748
the first Sangha was
1516
01:15:20,815 --> 01:15:22,716
a radical institution,
1517
01:15:22,785 --> 01:15:25,120
open to people of every caste
1518
01:15:25,187 --> 01:15:27,021
and, remarkable for the times
1519
01:15:27,090 --> 01:15:28,657
in which the Buddha lived,
1520
01:15:28,725 --> 01:15:34,863
to both men and women.
1521
01:15:34,931 --> 01:15:36,031
The Buddha was part of
1522
01:15:36,100 --> 01:15:37,868
a culture deeply suspicious of
1523
01:15:37,934 --> 01:15:41,436
women.
1524
01:15:41,506 --> 01:15:43,539
The attitude towards women
1525
01:15:43,606 --> 01:15:46,108
at the time was very critical,
1526
01:15:46,177 --> 01:15:47,609
and many things were impossible
1527
01:15:47,677 --> 01:15:49,378
for them.
1528
01:15:49,445 --> 01:15:50,846
So that was a very
1529
01:15:50,915 --> 01:15:53,049
revolutionary thing to do that
1530
01:15:53,118 --> 01:15:59,490
in that times of India.
1531
01:15:59,557 --> 01:16:00,758
By ordaining women as
1532
01:16:00,826 --> 01:16:02,827
nuns, the Buddha gave women the
1533
01:16:02,896 --> 01:16:04,528
chance to escape the drudgery
1534
01:16:04,597 --> 01:16:06,131
of daily life.
1535
01:16:11,237 --> 01:16:13,071
Life was so hard for most women
1536
01:16:13,140 --> 01:16:14,472
that entering the Sangha was
1537
01:16:14,540 --> 01:16:17,009
a liberation, as we know from
1538
01:16:17,076 --> 01:16:18,643
their ecstatic, heart-rending
1539
01:16:18,712 --> 01:16:22,547
poems.
1540
01:16:22,615 --> 01:16:24,683
"So freed! So freed!
1541
01:16:24,751 --> 01:16:26,686
So thoroughly freed am I...
1542
01:16:26,753 --> 01:16:29,022
from my pestle, my shameless
1543
01:16:29,089 --> 01:16:30,489
husband, and his sunshade
1544
01:16:30,558 --> 01:16:33,660
making, my moldy old pot with
1545
01:16:33,728 --> 01:16:36,396
its water-snake smell.
1546
01:16:36,465 --> 01:16:38,499
Aversion and passion I cut
1547
01:16:38,567 --> 01:16:40,667
with a chop.
1548
01:16:40,735 --> 01:16:41,869
Having come to the foot of
1549
01:16:41,938 --> 01:16:44,771
a tree, I meditate,
1550
01:16:44,841 --> 01:16:48,009
absorbed in the bliss.
1551
01:16:48,077 --> 01:16:51,646
'What bliss!'"
1552
01:16:59,589 --> 01:17:02,124
Bliss, Nirvana, the Buddha
1553
01:17:02,193 --> 01:17:04,361
taught, could be found in the
1554
01:17:04,427 --> 01:17:06,028
fleeting moment through the
1555
01:17:06,097 --> 01:17:09,032
practice of meditation.
1556
01:17:09,100 --> 01:17:10,433
The Buddha showed his followers
1557
01:17:10,502 --> 01:17:11,802
how to come to terms with their
1558
01:17:11,871 --> 01:17:14,670
own roiling thoughts and desires
1559
01:17:14,738 --> 01:17:17,006
by paying attention to them,
1560
01:17:17,075 --> 01:17:18,842
by becoming aware,
1561
01:17:18,911 --> 01:17:22,146
becoming mindful.
1562
01:17:22,214 --> 01:17:24,782
As an ancient poem counsels:
1563
01:17:24,851 --> 01:17:27,586
"Like an archer, an arrow,
1564
01:17:27,653 --> 01:17:28,854
the wise man steadies his
1565
01:17:28,922 --> 01:17:31,490
trembling mind, a fickle and
1566
01:17:31,557 --> 01:17:36,560
restless weapon".
1567
01:17:36,630 --> 01:17:38,198
Many times, our mind is not
1568
01:17:38,265 --> 01:17:40,432
peaceful enough.
1569
01:17:40,501 --> 01:17:42,068
So we realize that perhaps we
1570
01:17:42,137 --> 01:17:43,404
need to understand more about
1571
01:17:43,470 --> 01:17:46,872
mind itself and how to balance
1572
01:17:46,941 --> 01:17:48,208
the emotions, how to balance
1573
01:17:48,276 --> 01:17:50,376
our mind, and try to cultivate
1574
01:17:50,444 --> 01:17:53,213
more happiness.
1575
01:17:53,282 --> 01:17:54,681
The difficulties come from
1576
01:17:54,748 --> 01:17:56,616
within.
1577
01:17:56,684 --> 01:17:59,353
One experiences unexpected
1578
01:17:59,422 --> 01:18:01,990
things from one's mind:
1579
01:18:02,058 --> 01:18:04,492
the most dangerous skeptical
1580
01:18:04,560 --> 01:18:06,528
doubts, doubts about one's
1581
01:18:06,595 --> 01:18:10,431
self, doubts about the Buddha.
1582
01:18:10,500 --> 01:18:12,402
Physical is... we can get from...
1583
01:18:13,970 --> 01:18:15,938
from the food and from the
1584
01:18:16,005 --> 01:18:18,340
supplement of vitamins and...
1585
01:18:18,408 --> 01:18:21,043
yeah, and for the mind, this is
1586
01:18:21,111 --> 01:18:25,013
the only way we have to...
1587
01:18:25,082 --> 01:18:26,382
only medicine.
1588
01:18:30,020 --> 01:18:31,321
Meditation is not about
1589
01:18:31,389 --> 01:18:33,390
getting rid of anger or getting
1590
01:18:33,459 --> 01:18:35,961
rid of lust or getting rid of
1591
01:18:36,027 --> 01:18:37,962
jealousy.
1592
01:18:38,030 --> 01:18:39,364
Even while becoming a monk,
1593
01:18:39,433 --> 01:18:41,133
often we experience angers;
1594
01:18:41,200 --> 01:18:42,499
it happens.
1595
01:18:42,568 --> 01:18:43,768
And it often happens when people
1596
01:18:43,836 --> 01:18:44,734
start teasing you, like,
1597
01:18:44,802 --> 01:18:47,037
"shaven bald-head person".
1598
01:18:47,105 --> 01:18:48,339
But it gives a good chance for
1599
01:18:48,407 --> 01:18:49,740
us to realize that, "Okay,
1600
01:18:49,808 --> 01:18:51,009
let's see, this anger arises.
1601
01:18:51,078 --> 01:18:54,046
What is it?"
1602
01:18:54,114 --> 01:18:56,048
What most often happens in our
1603
01:18:56,116 --> 01:18:57,649
ordinary life is that whenever
1604
01:18:57,717 --> 01:18:59,285
we experience these emotions,
1605
01:18:59,354 --> 01:19:00,886
we get stuck into it.
1606
01:19:00,954 --> 01:19:05,224
It starts twisting us.
1607
01:19:05,293 --> 01:19:06,826
But Buddhism is going through
1608
01:19:06,894 --> 01:19:08,561
inside it and getting out of it
1609
01:19:08,630 --> 01:19:10,698
peacefully.
1610
01:19:10,765 --> 01:19:12,133
And I think that gives us more
1611
01:19:12,201 --> 01:19:13,801
joy.
1612
01:19:13,870 --> 01:19:15,370
And that makes human life more
1613
01:19:15,436 --> 01:19:17,970
full, more round.
1614
01:19:18,039 --> 01:19:19,539
It's not like... we are not living
1615
01:19:19,608 --> 01:19:20,908
a partial truth, but it's like
1616
01:19:20,975 --> 01:19:24,077
the whole of things together.
1617
01:19:24,146 --> 01:19:25,980
It takes time to comprehend
1618
01:19:26,048 --> 01:19:27,748
this.
1619
01:19:27,816 --> 01:19:29,550
and then by practicing again
1620
01:19:29,619 --> 01:19:30,819
and again, the practitioner
1621
01:19:30,888 --> 01:19:33,456
becomes very balanced, and one
1622
01:19:33,523 --> 01:19:35,823
reaches the state of very strong
1623
01:19:35,892 --> 01:19:39,094
equanimity, equanimity towards
1624
01:19:39,162 --> 01:19:41,997
the physical and mental objects.
1625
01:19:42,066 --> 01:19:45,300
And this is the base camp
1626
01:19:45,369 --> 01:19:47,904
for the summit:
1627
01:19:47,972 --> 01:19:50,307
enlightenment.
1628
01:20:02,488 --> 01:20:03,255
"After washing
1629
01:20:03,322 --> 01:20:05,890
my feet," a disciple said,
1630
01:20:05,959 --> 01:20:07,693
"I watch the water going down
1631
01:20:07,760 --> 01:20:09,961
the drain".
1632
01:20:19,038 --> 01:20:22,040
"I am calm.
1633
01:20:22,109 --> 01:20:24,377
I control my mind, like a noble
1634
01:20:24,445 --> 01:20:27,380
thoroughbred horse.
1635
01:20:32,487 --> 01:20:37,257
Taking a lamp, I enter my cell;
1636
01:20:37,326 --> 01:20:38,693
thinking of sleep,
1637
01:20:38,760 --> 01:20:44,499
I sit on my bed.
1638
01:20:44,568 --> 01:20:46,233
I touch the wick.
1639
01:20:46,302 --> 01:20:49,104
the lamp goes out:
1640
01:20:49,171 --> 01:20:52,908
Nirvana.
1641
01:20:52,976 --> 01:20:56,377
My mind is freed".
1642
01:21:06,390 --> 01:21:07,224
"The mind is
1643
01:21:07,291 --> 01:21:08,892
as restless as a monkey,"
1644
01:21:08,961 --> 01:21:11,930
the Buddha taught.
1645
01:21:11,998 --> 01:21:14,298
Who you are, what you think of
1646
01:21:14,367 --> 01:21:16,467
as your "self," is constantly
1647
01:21:16,534 --> 01:21:19,202
changing...
1648
01:21:21,873 --> 01:21:24,742
like a river, endlessly flowing,
1649
01:21:24,810 --> 01:21:26,477
One thing today,
1650
01:21:26,545 --> 01:21:31,116
another tomorrow.
1651
01:21:31,185 --> 01:21:33,186
There's water in a river,
1652
01:21:33,253 --> 01:21:35,387
then there's water in a glass,
1653
01:21:35,456 --> 01:21:36,289
and then the water is back
1654
01:21:36,357 --> 01:21:37,457
in the air, and then it's back
1655
01:21:37,526 --> 01:21:39,059
in the river.
1656
01:21:39,126 --> 01:21:40,292
The water's there,
1657
01:21:40,361 --> 01:21:42,428
but what is it?
1658
01:21:42,496 --> 01:21:44,497
That's a way to think about the
1659
01:21:44,565 --> 01:21:47,700
self in Buddhism.
1660
01:21:47,769 --> 01:21:49,170
one moment you're angry.
1661
01:21:49,238 --> 01:21:50,672
The next moment you're laughing.
1662
01:21:50,738 --> 01:21:53,340
Who are you?
1663
01:21:58,581 --> 01:22:00,315
"A seed becomes
1664
01:22:00,384 --> 01:22:02,818
a plant.
1665
01:22:07,057 --> 01:22:09,425
Wisps of grass are spun into
1666
01:22:09,494 --> 01:22:11,928
a rope.
1667
01:22:16,300 --> 01:22:18,702
A trickling stream turns into
1668
01:22:18,769 --> 01:22:21,771
a river".
1669
01:22:26,879 --> 01:22:28,479
The self comes, and the self
1670
01:22:28,548 --> 01:22:31,950
goes.
1671
01:22:32,018 --> 01:22:33,518
Simply notice how from one
1672
01:22:33,586 --> 01:22:35,987
moment to another, your self is
1673
01:22:36,055 --> 01:22:38,289
actually not as much the same
1674
01:22:38,358 --> 01:22:41,694
as we think it is.
1675
01:22:41,762 --> 01:22:43,696
What the Buddha realizes is
1676
01:22:43,764 --> 01:22:45,732
that if we can get rid of this
1677
01:22:45,800 --> 01:22:48,102
fundamental misunderstanding
1678
01:22:48,168 --> 01:22:49,668
of the nature of the self based
1679
01:22:49,737 --> 01:22:51,904
on egotism, we won't cling to
1680
01:22:51,973 --> 01:22:53,541
things; we won't screw up
1681
01:22:53,608 --> 01:22:55,508
everything we do because
1682
01:22:55,577 --> 01:22:56,510
we're thinking about it
1683
01:22:56,578 --> 01:22:57,411
in the wrong way.
1684
01:22:57,480 --> 01:23:01,783
Once you stop centering your
1685
01:23:01,851 --> 01:23:03,452
feelings about your feelings on
1686
01:23:03,520 --> 01:23:07,256
your self, what naturally arises
1687
01:23:07,323 --> 01:23:09,958
is simple compassion:
1688
01:23:10,025 --> 01:23:11,092
compassion for your own
1689
01:23:11,160 --> 01:23:12,661
suffering, compassion for
1690
01:23:12,730 --> 01:23:15,231
the suffering of others.
1691
01:23:18,836 --> 01:23:20,203
Even the most abstract
1692
01:23:20,272 --> 01:23:21,538
of the Buddha's teachings had
1693
01:23:21,605 --> 01:23:25,074
a practical, ethical dimension.
1694
01:23:25,143 --> 01:23:27,844
Compassion, the Buddha taught,
1695
01:23:27,912 --> 01:23:29,246
comes from understanding
1696
01:23:29,314 --> 01:23:32,817
impermanence, transience, flow:
1697
01:23:32,886 --> 01:23:34,552
how one thing passes into
1698
01:23:34,620 --> 01:23:37,089
another, how everything and
1699
01:23:37,157 --> 01:23:41,592
everyone is connected.
1700
01:23:41,661 --> 01:23:43,262
"When this is,
1701
01:23:43,330 --> 01:23:45,664
that is.
1702
01:23:45,730 --> 01:23:48,532
From the arising of this
1703
01:23:48,601 --> 01:23:54,306
comes the arising of that.
1704
01:23:54,374 --> 01:24:00,679
When this isn't, that isn't.
1705
01:24:00,748 --> 01:24:03,150
From the cessation of this
1706
01:24:03,218 --> 01:24:06,987
comes the cessation of that".
1707
01:24:10,159 --> 01:24:11,293
This is always connected
1708
01:24:11,360 --> 01:24:12,260
to that.
1709
01:24:12,329 --> 01:24:13,395
Everything is connected
1710
01:24:13,462 --> 01:24:17,596
to everything else.
1711
01:24:17,666 --> 01:24:19,167
You never live by yourself.
1712
01:24:19,234 --> 01:24:21,435
You live always within a family,
1713
01:24:21,503 --> 01:24:22,904
a society, or culture.
1714
01:24:22,972 --> 01:24:25,307
You constantly interact with
1715
01:24:25,374 --> 01:24:27,542
other people all the time.
1716
01:24:27,610 --> 01:24:29,245
So our happiness depends on
1717
01:24:29,314 --> 01:24:33,483
their happiness as well.
1718
01:24:33,551 --> 01:24:36,418
How can we be happy if we are
1719
01:24:36,486 --> 01:24:38,387
the only one happy in...
1720
01:24:38,456 --> 01:24:40,090
on, you know, just an island
1721
01:24:40,158 --> 01:24:41,658
of happiness within an ocean
1722
01:24:41,727 --> 01:24:42,560
of misery?
1723
01:24:42,626 --> 01:24:45,627
Of course, that's not possible.
1724
01:24:49,201 --> 01:24:50,235
Compassion stirred the
1725
01:24:50,302 --> 01:24:51,568
Buddha to send his monks out
1726
01:24:51,635 --> 01:24:53,904
into the community.
1727
01:24:53,972 --> 01:24:56,673
Sworn to chastity and poverty,
1728
01:24:56,742 --> 01:24:58,076
they wandered the roads,
1729
01:24:58,144 --> 01:24:59,811
bringing the Buddha's teachings
1730
01:24:59,879 --> 01:25:02,280
into the world.
1731
01:25:06,387 --> 01:25:07,620
"Go forth, monks, for the
1732
01:25:07,688 --> 01:25:09,488
happiness of the many,
1733
01:25:09,556 --> 01:25:13,193
out of compassion for the world.
1734
01:25:13,261 --> 01:25:14,960
There are beings whose eyes have
1735
01:25:15,029 --> 01:25:17,063
little dust on them, who will
1736
01:25:17,130 --> 01:25:18,397
perish if they do not hear
1737
01:25:18,465 --> 01:25:20,733
the teaching.
1738
01:25:20,802 --> 01:25:22,904
But if they hear the teaching,
1739
01:25:22,970 --> 01:25:26,406
they will gain liberation".
1740
01:25:26,475 --> 01:25:29,777
The monks exist by begging.
1741
01:25:29,844 --> 01:25:30,912
we think of begging as kind of
1742
01:25:30,979 --> 01:25:32,579
a bad thing.
1743
01:25:32,648 --> 01:25:33,748
Begging in this tradition is
1744
01:25:33,815 --> 01:25:34,448
a good thing.
1745
01:25:34,516 --> 01:25:39,553
It's a sign of spiritual purity.
1746
01:25:39,622 --> 01:25:41,223
You're not allowed to beg
1747
01:25:41,292 --> 01:25:43,359
tomorrow's lunch today...
1748
01:25:43,428 --> 01:25:45,327
only today's lunch.
1749
01:25:45,394 --> 01:25:46,928
Then you can't eat from noon
1750
01:25:46,996 --> 01:25:48,230
until dawn the next day.
1751
01:25:48,298 --> 01:25:49,197
Then you have to go out and get
1752
01:25:49,266 --> 01:25:50,499
another lunch.
1753
01:25:50,567 --> 01:25:52,302
And then in exchange for lunch,
1754
01:25:52,369 --> 01:25:53,702
you give a lecture,
1755
01:25:53,770 --> 01:25:54,603
unless they say, "we don't want
1756
01:25:54,671 --> 01:25:55,405
to hear about it".
1757
01:25:55,473 --> 01:25:56,473
Then you don't.
1758
01:25:56,540 --> 01:25:57,606
But that's the only thing...
1759
01:25:57,674 --> 01:25:58,908
but that forces you to interact
1760
01:25:58,977 --> 01:26:00,377
with the lay community.
1761
01:26:00,445 --> 01:26:01,545
And if you're not serving
1762
01:26:01,613 --> 01:26:03,047
them, if you're not doing
1763
01:26:03,113 --> 01:26:04,981
something useful for them, they
1764
01:26:05,050 --> 01:26:06,350
won't put anything in your bowl,
1765
01:26:06,419 --> 01:26:07,252
and that will be the end of your
1766
01:26:07,320 --> 01:26:09,254
community.
1767
01:26:13,260 --> 01:26:14,360
The Buddha himself
1768
01:26:14,427 --> 01:26:16,560
wandered across northeast India,
1769
01:26:16,628 --> 01:26:18,163
teaching and gathering new
1770
01:26:18,231 --> 01:26:20,765
disciples everywhere he went.
1771
01:26:20,833 --> 01:26:21,899
You didn't have to become
1772
01:26:21,968 --> 01:26:23,368
a monk or a nun to become
1773
01:26:23,436 --> 01:26:24,535
a Buddhist.
1774
01:26:24,604 --> 01:26:25,804
The Buddha's teachings were
1775
01:26:25,871 --> 01:26:27,772
for everyone.
1776
01:26:37,784 --> 01:26:38,951
"Everything is
1777
01:26:39,020 --> 01:26:41,654
burning.
1778
01:26:41,723 --> 01:26:45,526
What is burning?
1779
01:26:45,594 --> 01:26:48,462
The eyes are burning.
1780
01:26:48,530 --> 01:26:50,364
Everything seen by the eyes
1781
01:26:50,432 --> 01:26:52,701
is burning.
1782
01:26:57,707 --> 01:27:00,609
The ears are burning.
1783
01:27:00,676 --> 01:27:02,511
What is burning?
1784
01:27:03,647 --> 01:27:05,581
Everything heard by the ears
1785
01:27:05,649 --> 01:27:07,917
is burning.
1786
01:27:19,230 --> 01:27:21,097
The nose is burning.
1787
01:27:21,166 --> 01:27:27,171
Smells are ablaze.
1788
01:27:27,240 --> 01:27:29,274
The tongue is burning.
1789
01:27:29,341 --> 01:27:34,811
Tastes are ablaze.
1790
01:27:34,880 --> 01:27:38,849
The body is burning.
1791
01:27:38,919 --> 01:27:42,655
The mind is burning".
1792
01:27:42,722 --> 01:27:44,590
We're on fire.
1793
01:27:44,659 --> 01:27:45,725
We may not know it, but we're
1794
01:27:45,792 --> 01:27:46,992
on fire, and we have to put
1795
01:27:47,062 --> 01:27:49,228
that fire out.
1796
01:27:49,296 --> 01:27:51,197
We're burning with desire,
1797
01:27:51,266 --> 01:27:51,898
all right?
1798
01:27:51,965 --> 01:27:54,467
We're burning with craving.
1799
01:27:54,536 --> 01:27:59,506
Everything... everything about us
1800
01:27:59,575 --> 01:28:04,011
is out of control.
1801
01:28:04,081 --> 01:28:05,447
The Buddha goes on to talk
1802
01:28:05,514 --> 01:28:07,315
about The Three Poisons,
1803
01:28:07,384 --> 01:28:12,020
greed and anger and ignorance,
1804
01:28:12,088 --> 01:28:14,456
and how The Three Poisons are
1805
01:28:14,523 --> 01:28:16,558
what is making the fire,
1806
01:28:16,626 --> 01:28:21,029
and the way out of doing this is
1807
01:28:21,099 --> 01:28:24,500
not to deny The Three Poisons
1808
01:28:24,569 --> 01:28:25,668
but to recognize that if you
1809
01:28:25,736 --> 01:28:27,937
turn them around, you come to
1810
01:28:28,005 --> 01:28:30,640
their opposites.
1811
01:28:30,709 --> 01:28:31,576
Instead of greed,
1812
01:28:31,642 --> 01:28:33,510
you have generosity.
1813
01:28:33,579 --> 01:28:35,346
Instead of anger,
1814
01:28:35,414 --> 01:28:38,416
you have compassion.
1815
01:28:38,485 --> 01:28:40,485
And instead of ignorance,
1816
01:28:40,552 --> 01:28:43,287
you have wisdom.
1817
01:28:52,132 --> 01:28:52,932
"I can give
1818
01:28:53,001 --> 01:28:54,101
my teachings in brief,"
1819
01:28:54,168 --> 01:28:55,802
the Buddha said.
1820
01:28:55,870 --> 01:28:58,403
"I can teach in detail.
1821
01:28:58,472 --> 01:29:00,206
It is those who understand that
1822
01:29:00,274 --> 01:29:02,776
are hard to find".
1823
01:29:04,747 --> 01:29:06,347
There are stories of people
1824
01:29:06,413 --> 01:29:09,649
coming to the Buddha and saying:
1825
01:29:09,717 --> 01:29:11,718
"I am leaving your teaching
1826
01:29:11,787 --> 01:29:13,421
because you have not told me
1827
01:29:13,489 --> 01:29:14,856
about whether there is a life
1828
01:29:14,922 --> 01:29:17,057
after death or whether there is
1829
01:29:17,126 --> 01:29:18,493
another world".
1830
01:29:18,561 --> 01:29:21,129
And the Buddha says, "did I ever
1831
01:29:21,197 --> 01:29:22,497
say that I would give you
1832
01:29:22,566 --> 01:29:24,433
the answer to these things?"
1833
01:29:24,501 --> 01:29:26,202
"No, lord, you didn't".
1834
01:29:26,270 --> 01:29:29,104
"Why do you think that I never
1835
01:29:29,173 --> 01:29:30,473
said that I would give you the
1836
01:29:30,542 --> 01:29:31,875
answer to these things?
1837
01:29:31,942 --> 01:29:33,142
Because these are not the things
1838
01:29:33,211 --> 01:29:35,145
that you need to know.
1839
01:29:35,212 --> 01:29:37,280
The thing that you need to know
1840
01:29:37,348 --> 01:29:39,616
is how to deal with suffering,
1841
01:29:39,685 --> 01:29:41,118
because at this very moment,
1842
01:29:41,186 --> 01:29:42,819
what made you ask that question
1843
01:29:42,888 --> 01:29:47,558
was suffering".
1844
01:29:47,626 --> 01:29:48,660
The Buddha was,
1845
01:29:48,728 --> 01:29:51,461
above all, a pragmatist.
1846
01:29:51,530 --> 01:29:52,998
he did not expect his followers
1847
01:29:53,066 --> 01:29:54,099
to agree with everything
1848
01:29:54,167 --> 01:29:55,333
he said.
1849
01:29:55,401 --> 01:29:56,968
He encouraged them to debate
1850
01:29:57,037 --> 01:30:00,306
and argue, to challenge him.
1851
01:30:00,373 --> 01:30:02,541
Buddha said, "My followers
1852
01:30:02,610 --> 01:30:04,712
should not accept my teaching
1853
01:30:04,779 --> 01:30:08,147
out of devotion but rather your
1854
01:30:08,216 --> 01:30:09,750
own experiment".
1855
01:30:09,817 --> 01:30:11,684
Even Buddha himself, in order
1856
01:30:11,753 --> 01:30:14,354
to get final enlightenment,
1857
01:30:14,423 --> 01:30:17,457
need hard work.
1858
01:30:17,525 --> 01:30:20,560
So investigate based on reason,
1859
01:30:20,629 --> 01:30:23,631
through logical investigation.
1860
01:30:23,699 --> 01:30:27,601
If something contradict,
1861
01:30:27,669 --> 01:30:29,670
in Buddha's own words, then we
1862
01:30:29,739 --> 01:30:35,610
have the right to reject that.
1863
01:30:35,678 --> 01:30:36,812
As the Buddha gathered
1864
01:30:36,881 --> 01:30:38,248
more and more followers,
1865
01:30:38,314 --> 01:30:40,682
stories spread of his miracles,
1866
01:30:40,752 --> 01:30:42,252
which mixed the marvelous with
1867
01:30:42,320 --> 01:30:44,921
the mundane.
1868
01:30:44,989 --> 01:30:46,989
One story tells how
1869
01:30:47,057 --> 01:30:50,059
500 pieces of firewood split
1870
01:30:50,127 --> 01:30:53,496
at the Buddha's command.
1871
01:31:01,005 --> 01:31:03,240
In another, a mad elephant
1872
01:31:03,309 --> 01:31:05,644
charged wildly down a street,
1873
01:31:05,712 --> 01:31:11,817
forcing everyone to flee.
1874
01:31:11,886 --> 01:31:14,020
Only the Buddha remained,
1875
01:31:14,088 --> 01:31:16,555
quietly waiting.
1876
01:31:18,791 --> 01:31:20,792
The elephant, overcome by the
1877
01:31:20,860 --> 01:31:22,662
Buddha's radiant kindness,
1878
01:31:22,730 --> 01:31:25,332
knelt before him,
1879
01:31:25,400 --> 01:31:27,233
and the Buddha patted his
1880
01:31:27,302 --> 01:31:30,370
leathery trunk.
1881
01:31:52,196 --> 01:31:55,497
Because miracle is something
1882
01:31:55,565 --> 01:31:58,066
you cannot understand.
1883
01:31:58,135 --> 01:31:59,636
so now I think that within this
1884
01:31:59,704 --> 01:32:02,739
century, we may find some new
1885
01:32:02,808 --> 01:32:05,576
ideas or new facts.
1886
01:32:05,644 --> 01:32:10,013
so far, we spent all our energy
1887
01:32:10,081 --> 01:32:12,181
and time for research on
1888
01:32:12,250 --> 01:32:16,919
matter, not internal world.
1889
01:32:16,988 --> 01:32:20,023
This skull, a small space,
1890
01:32:20,092 --> 01:32:21,793
but lot of mysterious things
1891
01:32:21,860 --> 01:32:23,193
still there.
1892
01:32:23,262 --> 01:32:24,996
The great field of knowledge
1893
01:32:25,065 --> 01:32:26,932
is as tiny as the Earth is
1894
01:32:27,000 --> 01:32:27,933
in the universe.
1895
01:32:28,001 --> 01:32:28,800
I mean, it's a tiny...
1896
01:32:28,868 --> 01:32:30,168
it's a speck.
1897
01:32:30,236 --> 01:32:32,838
And the... the universe is what
1898
01:32:32,905 --> 01:32:34,072
we don't know, and it will
1899
01:32:34,140 --> 01:32:35,375
always be that way.
1900
01:32:35,442 --> 01:32:37,477
However much we find out,
1901
01:32:37,545 --> 01:32:39,145
it will still be that way,
1902
01:32:39,213 --> 01:32:42,783
because the unknown is vastly...
1903
01:32:42,852 --> 01:32:46,052
it's unspeakably greater than
1904
01:32:46,120 --> 01:32:49,389
anything we will ever know.
1905
01:32:56,063 --> 01:32:57,097
In one of the most
1906
01:32:57,165 --> 01:32:59,200
storied miracles, the Buddha
1907
01:32:59,269 --> 01:33:01,203
strode on a jeweled walkway
1908
01:33:01,271 --> 01:33:04,972
suspended in midair
1909
01:33:05,041 --> 01:33:07,610
while streams of water spouted
1910
01:33:07,676 --> 01:33:08,710
and flames flashed from
1911
01:33:08,779 --> 01:33:10,946
his body, shooting out to the
1912
01:33:11,015 --> 01:33:16,052
very edge of the universe.
1913
01:33:23,694 --> 01:33:25,162
And as the Buddha sat on a lotus
1914
01:33:25,230 --> 01:33:27,398
flower giving his teachings,
1915
01:33:27,465 --> 01:33:29,766
he replicated himself, filling
1916
01:33:29,835 --> 01:33:31,403
the sky with multitudes of
1917
01:33:31,470 --> 01:33:33,738
Buddhas for all to see and
1918
01:33:33,807 --> 01:33:36,075
wonder.
1919
01:33:42,749 --> 01:33:44,983
Do we believe that literally?
1920
01:33:45,051 --> 01:33:46,784
Does it matter whether we
1921
01:33:46,853 --> 01:33:48,620
believe it literally?
1922
01:33:48,688 --> 01:33:50,423
What many of those miraculous
1923
01:33:50,490 --> 01:33:52,724
stories are about is the sheer
1924
01:33:52,793 --> 01:33:54,094
wonder of it all.
1925
01:33:54,162 --> 01:33:55,728
The very fact that the whole of
1926
01:33:55,796 --> 01:33:59,332
unknown time and space has
1927
01:33:59,399 --> 01:34:01,633
led down to this... led to this
1928
01:34:01,702 --> 01:34:03,971
very moment when we're sitting
1929
01:34:04,039 --> 01:34:05,673
here talking... when we are
1930
01:34:05,740 --> 01:34:06,907
sitting here talking to each
1931
01:34:06,976 --> 01:34:09,143
other is utterly miraculous.
1932
01:34:09,212 --> 01:34:12,281
Sitting here in a room,
1933
01:34:12,349 --> 01:34:13,982
having had a cup of coffee,
1934
01:34:14,050 --> 01:34:17,151
having taken it out of
1935
01:34:17,219 --> 01:34:19,187
a beautiful blue-and-white
1936
01:34:19,254 --> 01:34:21,322
porcelain mug, what could be
1937
01:34:21,391 --> 01:34:25,294
more miraculous than that?
1938
01:34:25,363 --> 01:34:27,330
Everyday life around us is
1939
01:34:27,398 --> 01:34:31,300
already so implausible and
1940
01:34:31,369 --> 01:34:33,937
so glorious, that what need for
1941
01:34:34,005 --> 01:34:35,772
further miracles?
1942
01:34:35,840 --> 01:34:37,541
And that's the teaching
1943
01:34:37,610 --> 01:34:38,409
of the Buddha.
1944
01:34:38,477 --> 01:34:40,411
That's the miraculous teaching
1945
01:34:40,479 --> 01:34:44,048
of the Buddha.
1946
01:34:47,386 --> 01:34:48,386
Violence, the Buddha
1947
01:34:48,454 --> 01:34:50,187
taught, always leads to more
1948
01:34:50,255 --> 01:34:52,089
violence.
1949
01:34:52,157 --> 01:34:54,258
"To the slayer comes a slayer.
1950
01:34:54,327 --> 01:34:55,427
to the conqueror comes
1951
01:34:55,495 --> 01:34:56,862
a conqueror.
1952
01:34:56,930 --> 01:34:58,931
He who plunders is plundered
1953
01:34:58,999 --> 01:35:00,933
in turn".
1954
01:35:01,002 --> 01:35:02,536
War was endemic in the Buddha's
1955
01:35:02,603 --> 01:35:04,971
age, ravaging northeast India
1956
01:35:05,039 --> 01:35:08,574
again and again.
1957
01:35:11,312 --> 01:35:12,379
Although kings and their
1958
01:35:12,447 --> 01:35:14,181
ministers sought his council,
1959
01:35:14,249 --> 01:35:15,849
the Buddha offered no grand
1960
01:35:15,917 --> 01:35:17,851
political vision.
1961
01:35:17,920 --> 01:35:19,521
He was powerless to stop the
1962
01:35:19,587 --> 01:35:21,855
killing and the fighting.
1963
01:35:21,924 --> 01:35:23,525
Even the men, women, and
1964
01:35:23,593 --> 01:35:25,226
children of his former kingdom
1965
01:35:25,293 --> 01:35:26,660
were massacred by a marauding
1966
01:35:26,728 --> 01:35:30,598
king: forced into pits
1967
01:35:30,667 --> 01:35:34,603
and trampled by elephants.
1968
01:35:38,476 --> 01:35:39,543
It was said that the Buddha
1969
01:35:39,610 --> 01:35:43,045
received the news in silence.
1970
01:36:07,940 --> 01:36:11,643
The Buddha failed, but we,
1971
01:36:11,712 --> 01:36:15,148
as the Buddha, fail constantly,
1972
01:36:15,217 --> 01:36:18,049
and part of our suffering is
1973
01:36:18,118 --> 01:36:19,384
our... is our failure, our
1974
01:36:19,452 --> 01:36:22,488
recognition of our failure.
1975
01:36:22,556 --> 01:36:23,689
Buddhism doesn't argue with
1976
01:36:23,757 --> 01:36:25,191
reality.
1977
01:36:25,259 --> 01:36:26,659
There will always be both the
1978
01:36:26,728 --> 01:36:29,696
potential for awakening in any
1979
01:36:29,764 --> 01:36:32,699
moment and the potential for
1980
01:36:32,768 --> 01:36:35,369
incredible damage at any moment,
1981
01:36:35,437 --> 01:36:36,903
and if we fool ourselves into
1982
01:36:36,971 --> 01:36:38,606
thinking we're past that,
1983
01:36:38,674 --> 01:36:42,043
we will do incredible damage.
1984
01:36:42,111 --> 01:36:43,245
Change, the Buddha
1985
01:36:43,313 --> 01:36:47,016
said, must come from within.
1986
01:36:47,083 --> 01:36:48,383
The Buddha starts always
1987
01:36:48,451 --> 01:36:50,519
with the mind and talks about
1988
01:36:50,587 --> 01:36:52,320
the violence in the mind and
1989
01:36:52,388 --> 01:36:53,988
says that violence in the world
1990
01:36:54,056 --> 01:36:55,223
is a result of violence
1991
01:36:55,292 --> 01:36:58,060
in the mind.
1992
01:36:58,128 --> 01:37:00,829
A tree lives on its roots.
1993
01:37:00,898 --> 01:37:01,831
if you change the root,
1994
01:37:01,899 --> 01:37:04,067
you change the tree.
1995
01:37:04,135 --> 01:37:06,870
Culture lives in human beings.
1996
01:37:06,938 --> 01:37:09,174
if you change the human heart,
1997
01:37:09,240 --> 01:37:12,176
the culture will follow.
1998
01:37:22,221 --> 01:37:23,721
For decades, the Buddha
1999
01:37:23,790 --> 01:37:25,524
shared his teachings all across
2000
01:37:25,592 --> 01:37:29,494
northeastern India.
2001
01:37:29,563 --> 01:37:31,096
"Let all beings be happy,"
2002
01:37:31,164 --> 01:37:33,566
he taught, "weak or strong,
2003
01:37:33,633 --> 01:37:37,236
great or small.
2004
01:37:37,305 --> 01:37:39,406
Let us cherish all creatures,
2005
01:37:39,473 --> 01:37:45,811
as a mother her only child".
2006
01:37:45,879 --> 01:37:47,713
Barefoot in his robes,
2007
01:37:47,781 --> 01:37:49,216
he was still walking the roads
2008
01:37:49,283 --> 01:37:51,718
when he was 80, but old age was
2009
01:37:51,786 --> 01:37:53,654
upon him.
2010
01:37:53,722 --> 01:37:54,988
His back hurt.
2011
01:37:55,056 --> 01:38:01,429
His stomach was often in pain.
2012
01:38:01,497 --> 01:38:03,931
"I am old, worn out," he told
2013
01:38:03,999 --> 01:38:06,134
a trusted disciple,
2014
01:38:06,202 --> 01:38:07,969
"like a dilapidated cart held
2015
01:38:08,037 --> 01:38:12,441
together with thin straps".
2016
01:38:12,509 --> 01:38:15,311
The world is so sweet, he said,
2017
01:38:15,380 --> 01:38:16,380
that he could understand wanting
2018
01:38:16,448 --> 01:38:17,781
to live for at least another
2019
01:38:17,849 --> 01:38:19,815
century.
2020
01:38:19,883 --> 01:38:23,886
But he was frail and exhausted.
2021
01:38:28,393 --> 01:38:31,062
He became ill near Kushinagar,
2022
01:38:31,130 --> 01:38:32,396
a remote village near the border
2023
01:38:32,465 --> 01:38:34,466
of Nepal, when he was offered
2024
01:38:34,533 --> 01:38:37,002
a meal which would prove deadly.
2025
01:38:37,069 --> 01:38:39,570
The food was spoiled.
2026
01:38:39,639 --> 01:38:40,773
He ate what was offered to
2027
01:38:40,840 --> 01:38:43,275
him, and it's said that he knew
2028
01:38:43,343 --> 01:38:44,844
it was bad, but he took it
2029
01:38:44,912 --> 01:38:46,379
anyway 'cause it was offered
2030
01:38:46,446 --> 01:38:47,913
and didn't want the person who
2031
01:38:47,981 --> 01:38:49,447
offered it to feel bad,
2032
01:38:49,516 --> 01:38:52,018
'cause it was his time.
2033
01:39:11,240 --> 01:39:12,873
Today Kushinagar is
2034
01:39:12,942 --> 01:39:14,776
revered by pilgrims as the place
2035
01:39:14,845 --> 01:39:16,145
where the Buddha finally left
2036
01:39:16,212 --> 01:39:18,312
the world.
2037
01:39:22,084 --> 01:39:23,819
It was in Kushinagar where he
2038
01:39:23,887 --> 01:39:25,855
grew weak and asked to be laid
2039
01:39:25,923 --> 01:39:27,756
on his side in a quiet grove of
2040
01:39:27,825 --> 01:39:31,860
sal trees.
2041
01:39:31,929 --> 01:39:33,395
As he neared the end,
2042
01:39:33,463 --> 01:39:35,497
his disciples began to weep,
2043
01:39:35,566 --> 01:39:37,134
stricken with grief.
2044
01:39:54,453 --> 01:39:56,687
But the Buddha reassured them.
2045
01:39:56,755 --> 01:39:59,924
"all things change," he said.
2046
01:39:59,993 --> 01:40:02,161
"Whatever is born is subject
2047
01:40:02,229 --> 01:40:04,363
to decay".
2048
01:40:04,431 --> 01:40:05,130
He's saying this is
2049
01:40:05,198 --> 01:40:07,632
a natural process.
2050
01:40:07,700 --> 01:40:09,201
He tells his disciples: "Use
2051
01:40:09,270 --> 01:40:11,972
this time, use the energy here,
2052
01:40:12,039 --> 01:40:13,406
even this, for your own
2053
01:40:13,474 --> 01:40:17,043
awakening".
2054
01:40:17,112 --> 01:40:18,711
So he used even his own death
2055
01:40:18,779 --> 01:40:20,847
and their sadness as a time to
2056
01:40:20,916 --> 01:40:22,949
remind them of what their real
2057
01:40:23,017 --> 01:40:25,252
task was.
2058
01:40:29,024 --> 01:40:30,457
What he's actually doing is
2059
01:40:30,525 --> 01:40:33,094
inviting those who are close to
2060
01:40:33,162 --> 01:40:37,499
him into the experience.
2061
01:40:37,566 --> 01:40:38,500
I don't think the Buddha's
2062
01:40:38,568 --> 01:40:41,236
teaching in any way argues
2063
01:40:41,304 --> 01:40:45,407
against grief or sadness
2064
01:40:45,475 --> 01:40:46,276
or loss.
2065
01:40:46,343 --> 01:40:47,610
The teachings, if they make
2066
01:40:47,677 --> 01:40:49,044
any sense, have to make sense
2067
01:40:49,112 --> 01:40:50,745
in ordinary circumstances,
2068
01:40:50,814 --> 01:40:52,548
in ordinary lives.
2069
01:40:52,616 --> 01:40:54,517
And in ordinary lives,
2070
01:40:54,584 --> 01:40:56,819
we grieve when we lose.
2071
01:40:56,888 --> 01:40:58,654
We... we grieve. We...
2072
01:40:58,722 --> 01:41:02,458
when it hurts, we say, "ouch".
2073
01:41:08,734 --> 01:41:09,935
Buddhism is trying to look at
2074
01:41:10,002 --> 01:41:11,236
things the way they are,
2075
01:41:11,304 --> 01:41:14,806
the way it is, just as it is.
2076
01:41:14,874 --> 01:41:15,739
It hurts.
2077
01:41:15,807 --> 01:41:16,606
This is life.
2078
01:41:16,674 --> 01:41:19,043
This is our life.
2079
01:41:19,111 --> 01:41:20,578
And our relation to life
2080
01:41:20,646 --> 01:41:23,081
involves losing it too.
2081
01:41:23,149 --> 01:41:24,449
You don't get beyond these
2082
01:41:24,517 --> 01:41:25,318
things.
2083
01:41:25,385 --> 01:41:28,854
You don't get beyond them.
2084
01:41:28,922 --> 01:41:31,523
It's all right to feel what
2085
01:41:31,592 --> 01:41:36,329
human beings feel, and we are
2086
01:41:36,397 --> 01:41:38,565
not supposed to turn into rocks
2087
01:41:38,632 --> 01:41:40,767
or trees when we practice
2088
01:41:40,835 --> 01:41:42,569
Buddhism.
2089
01:41:42,637 --> 01:41:46,374
Buddhas laugh, cry, dance, feel
2090
01:41:46,442 --> 01:41:49,977
ecstasy, probably even feel
2091
01:41:50,045 --> 01:41:51,445
despair.
2092
01:41:51,513 --> 01:41:54,314
It is how we know the world.
2093
01:41:54,383 --> 01:41:56,451
It is how we live inside of
2094
01:41:56,519 --> 01:41:59,287
our hearts and not dissociated
2095
01:41:59,356 --> 01:42:02,892
from them.
2096
01:42:02,960 --> 01:42:03,860
The Buddha had always
2097
01:42:03,927 --> 01:42:05,661
been saying good-bye.
2098
01:42:05,730 --> 01:42:07,030
Now he prepared to leave the
2099
01:42:07,099 --> 01:42:09,299
Earth forever.
2100
01:42:09,366 --> 01:42:11,367
He would never be reborn, never
2101
01:42:11,435 --> 01:42:12,636
die again.
2102
01:42:16,274 --> 01:42:17,709
"It may be that after I am
2103
01:42:17,776 --> 01:42:19,076
gone," the Buddha told his
2104
01:42:19,144 --> 01:42:21,078
disciples, "that some of you
2105
01:42:21,147 --> 01:42:22,947
will think, 'now we have no
2106
01:42:23,016 --> 01:42:24,749
teacher.'
2107
01:42:24,817 --> 01:42:26,150
But that is not how you should
2108
01:42:26,218 --> 01:42:27,351
see it.
2109
01:42:27,420 --> 01:42:29,054
Let the Dharma and the
2110
01:42:29,122 --> 01:42:30,155
discipline that I have taught
2111
01:42:30,223 --> 01:42:32,024
you be your teacher.
2112
01:42:32,091 --> 01:42:36,294
All individual things pass away.
2113
01:42:36,363 --> 01:42:40,666
Strive on, untiringly".
2114
01:42:40,735 --> 01:42:42,036
These were the Buddha's last
2115
01:42:42,103 --> 01:42:44,070
words.
2116
01:42:53,248 --> 01:42:54,148
The Buddha died
2117
01:42:54,215 --> 01:42:56,816
peacefully.
2118
01:43:03,725 --> 01:43:04,825
His head was pointed to the
2119
01:43:04,893 --> 01:43:08,729
north, his face to the west.
2120
01:43:14,172 --> 01:43:15,738
The stories tell how the Earth
2121
01:43:15,807 --> 01:43:17,875
shook, and the trees suddenly
2122
01:43:17,942 --> 01:43:20,542
burst into bloom...
2123
01:43:24,915 --> 01:43:26,450
their petals falling gently
2124
01:43:26,517 --> 01:43:29,352
on his still body,
2125
01:43:29,420 --> 01:43:32,855
falling out of reverence.
2126
01:43:45,638 --> 01:43:48,340
Divine coralflowers and divine
2127
01:43:48,409 --> 01:43:50,542
sandalwood powders fell from
2128
01:43:50,611 --> 01:43:53,412
above on the Buddha's body
2129
01:43:53,480 --> 01:43:56,415
out of reverence.
2130
01:44:12,434 --> 01:44:14,935
His disciples were quite
2131
01:44:15,003 --> 01:44:17,838
upset: "What are we going to do
2132
01:44:17,906 --> 01:44:18,973
without our teacher?
2133
01:44:19,042 --> 01:44:20,609
We will be lost without our
2134
01:44:20,675 --> 01:44:22,009
teacher".
2135
01:44:22,077 --> 01:44:24,779
But his instruction was
2136
01:44:24,848 --> 01:44:27,816
so simple and so clear:
2137
01:44:27,884 --> 01:44:29,217
"I am not your light.
2138
01:44:29,285 --> 01:44:31,019
I am not your authority.
2139
01:44:31,086 --> 01:44:32,320
You've been with me a long time
2140
01:44:32,388 --> 01:44:33,188
now.
2141
01:44:33,257 --> 01:44:36,325
Be your own light".
2142
01:44:41,399 --> 01:44:43,033
The Buddha saw death and
2143
01:44:43,100 --> 01:44:46,536
life as inseparable.
2144
01:44:46,604 --> 01:44:48,138
These are two sides of the same
2145
01:44:48,206 --> 01:44:49,505
thing.
2146
01:44:49,573 --> 01:44:53,509
Death is always with us.
2147
01:44:53,579 --> 01:44:55,180
Death is part of the whole large
2148
01:44:55,246 --> 01:44:58,848
unknown.
2149
01:44:58,918 --> 01:45:05,557
And if we are unable to smile
2150
01:45:05,624 --> 01:45:08,359
at the idea of the unknown,
2151
01:45:08,428 --> 01:45:11,497
we're in real trouble.
2152
01:45:11,565 --> 01:45:13,131
That's the realism that the
2153
01:45:13,201 --> 01:45:15,602
Buddha was talking about: trying
2154
01:45:15,670 --> 01:45:19,605
to come to terms with reality.
2155
01:45:26,447 --> 01:45:27,780
When he was 29 and
2156
01:45:27,849 --> 01:45:30,251
still prince Siddhartha,
2157
01:45:30,318 --> 01:45:31,851
the Buddha had left his wife,
2158
01:45:31,920 --> 01:45:34,589
child, and family to try and
2159
01:45:34,656 --> 01:45:36,123
understand the nature of
2160
01:45:36,192 --> 01:45:38,460
suffering.
2161
01:46:03,854 --> 01:46:06,188
He had attained enlightenment,
2162
01:46:06,258 --> 01:46:09,493
shared what he had learned,
2163
01:46:09,561 --> 01:46:11,428
and left a path for others to
2164
01:46:11,497 --> 01:46:13,765
follow.
2165
01:46:35,789 --> 01:46:39,825
Now he was gone.
2166
01:46:39,894 --> 01:46:41,995
But before he died, he had asked
2167
01:46:42,063 --> 01:46:43,831
his followers to remember him
2168
01:46:43,898 --> 01:46:46,500
by making pilgrimage...
2169
01:46:49,270 --> 01:46:52,204
to the place of his death...
2170
01:46:54,942 --> 01:46:55,942
to where he gave his first
2171
01:46:56,010 --> 01:46:58,412
teachings...
2172
01:47:02,852 --> 01:47:03,652
where he achieved
2173
01:47:03,720 --> 01:47:06,087
enlightenment...
2174
01:47:11,429 --> 01:47:14,364
and where he was born.
2175
01:47:17,568 --> 01:47:20,069
Those four places mark out
2176
01:47:20,138 --> 01:47:23,874
a sacred biography.
2177
01:47:23,942 --> 01:47:26,675
And in tracing that pilgrimage
2178
01:47:26,744 --> 01:47:29,746
route, you are learning the
2179
01:47:29,814 --> 01:47:31,949
story of that life.
2180
01:47:36,857 --> 01:47:38,157
At places of pilgrimage,
2181
01:47:38,225 --> 01:47:39,524
temples were built,
2182
01:47:39,593 --> 01:47:41,061
images were installed,
2183
01:47:41,127 --> 01:47:43,895
and relics were enshrined.
2184
01:48:16,165 --> 01:48:17,164
Although the Buddha had
2185
01:48:17,233 --> 01:48:18,833
predicted that his teachings,
2186
01:48:18,902 --> 01:48:20,067
like everything else,
2187
01:48:20,136 --> 01:48:22,404
would in time disappear,
2188
01:48:22,471 --> 01:48:24,206
Buddhism flourished in India
2189
01:48:24,274 --> 01:48:27,509
for 1,500 years,
2190
01:48:27,576 --> 01:48:29,411
spread into Sri Lanka,
2191
01:48:29,479 --> 01:48:31,214
central and southeast Asia,
2192
01:48:31,283 --> 01:48:35,985
Tibet, China, Korea, Japan,
2193
01:48:36,053 --> 01:48:37,720
and in the 20th century,
2194
01:48:37,789 --> 01:48:40,490
to Europe and the Americas,
2195
01:48:40,558 --> 01:48:41,992
adapting different forms and
2196
01:48:42,060 --> 01:48:45,662
shapes wherever it took root,
2197
01:48:45,731 --> 01:48:47,598
attracting many millions of men
2198
01:48:47,666 --> 01:48:49,067
and women who practice the
2199
01:48:49,136 --> 01:48:51,470
Buddha's teachings both within
2200
01:48:51,538 --> 01:48:52,904
and outside the monastic
2201
01:48:52,971 --> 01:48:55,272
community.
2202
01:49:01,681 --> 01:49:04,249
But everywhere and in every age,
2203
01:49:04,318 --> 01:49:06,419
the essence of the story remains
2204
01:49:06,488 --> 01:49:11,357
the same.
2205
01:49:11,426 --> 01:49:12,593
The Buddha said that we've
2206
01:49:12,660 --> 01:49:14,494
turned this world into a painful
2207
01:49:14,563 --> 01:49:17,598
place, and this world does not
2208
01:49:17,667 --> 01:49:19,768
have to be a painful place.
2209
01:49:19,836 --> 01:49:22,135
This world can be a world
2210
01:49:22,203 --> 01:49:24,371
inhabited by Buddhas.
2211
01:49:24,439 --> 01:49:26,306
But it's up to each one of us
2212
01:49:26,375 --> 01:49:28,676
to turn ourselves into a Buddha.
2213
01:49:28,744 --> 01:49:30,912
That's really... that's the work.
2214
01:49:30,979 --> 01:49:33,413
If the Buddha is not you,
2215
01:49:33,483 --> 01:49:34,883
finally, the Buddha is of
2216
01:49:34,952 --> 01:49:36,986
no interest to you.
2217
01:49:37,053 --> 01:49:39,021
The Buddha is... the Buddha is
2218
01:49:39,089 --> 01:49:40,823
of such interest to you because
2219
01:49:40,892 --> 01:49:43,159
you are the Buddha.
2220
01:50:04,415 --> 01:50:05,482
I know that there are
2221
01:50:05,550 --> 01:50:06,917
supposed to be preserved
2222
01:50:06,986 --> 01:50:08,620
footprints of the Buddha which
2223
01:50:08,688 --> 01:50:11,390
are kept in one of the sacred
2224
01:50:11,457 --> 01:50:14,660
places in India or Nepal, and,
2225
01:50:14,729 --> 01:50:17,096
you know, you can stand in them,
2226
01:50:17,164 --> 01:50:18,565
and if you stand in them, maybe
2227
01:50:18,633 --> 01:50:21,165
you realize, "Ah, ten toes.
2228
01:50:21,234 --> 01:50:23,602
Me too".
2229
01:50:29,911 --> 01:50:31,011
There is a story of
2230
01:50:31,078 --> 01:50:32,779
a Brahman who one day found the
2231
01:50:32,847 --> 01:50:34,581
Buddha under a tree, calmly
2232
01:50:34,650 --> 01:50:39,019
meditating.
2233
01:50:39,086 --> 01:50:42,556
The Buddha's mind was still.
2234
01:50:42,624 --> 01:50:44,158
he radiated such power and
2235
01:50:44,225 --> 01:50:46,126
strength that the Brahman was
2236
01:50:46,195 --> 01:50:49,297
reminded of a tusker elephant.
2237
01:50:53,770 --> 01:50:54,969
The Brahman asked him who
2238
01:50:55,038 --> 01:50:59,174
he was.
2239
01:50:59,241 --> 01:51:01,242
"Imagine a lotus that had begun
2240
01:51:01,311 --> 01:51:02,912
life underwater," the Buddha
2241
01:51:02,980 --> 01:51:05,247
replied...
2242
01:51:10,321 --> 01:51:11,989
"but grew and rose above the
2243
01:51:12,058 --> 01:51:14,992
surface until it stood free.
2244
01:51:21,166 --> 01:51:23,101
So I, too, have transcended the
2245
01:51:23,169 --> 01:51:25,437
world and attained the supreme
2246
01:51:25,504 --> 01:51:30,474
enlightenment".
2247
01:51:30,542 --> 01:51:31,442
"Who are you then?"
2248
01:51:31,510 --> 01:51:36,080
the Brahman wondered.
2249
01:51:36,149 --> 01:51:38,717
"Remember me," the Buddha said,
2250
01:51:38,785 --> 01:51:42,722
"as the one who woke up".
2251
01:51:43,305 --> 01:51:49,317
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