What Does It Really Mean to Be Free? | Buddhist Teachings with Jigme Khyentse Rinpoche in Barcelona

Freedom is something that all of us are very um passionately wanting. I think I can say mostly freedom is something we passionately want for ourselves. Now should others have that freedom? If it doesn't disturb me then oh why not You know others should have that freedom. That seems to be what um how things happen to be. Anyway, this idea of freedom is something very cherished. Whether it is especially these days, [Music] political freedom, um what is it? Especially, you know, these last few days, as you must have seen in The news, what is it? Uh,

economical freedom. Freedom to have to pay more taxes, freedom to um to have uh what is it? Um less ability to to buy things. We're getting that kind of freedom. and especially personal freedom. So know when we think freedom, what is it that we actually think of? What idea Bubbles up, springs up when we think freedom? Um, I'd like to really ask you when you think freedom, what atmosphere does it inspire in you? How do you feel with the word freedom? And how do you phrase the word freedom? Um, One of the most um popular

um word that comes with freedom. It's freedom to isn't it? Freedom to speak, to think. Basically, it boils down to freedom to do something. um like freedom to have Um running water, freedom to buy things, freedom to sell things. Basically, freedom is attached to something that we can do. I noticed that most of the time we define freedom as an ability to act, ability to do something. I didn't notice this for a long time. Um because uh also as I grew up I grew up uh learning English with uh at school but also my father

had quite a few students from the west. So it sort of the language has that effect that when I talk in English it's more freedom to do something and then when I read in Tibetan when I read Tibetan texts it's not so much freedom two, But actually it's freedom from these two languages has such uh ways of looking at things. So from the Buddhist point of view, it is freedom from in Tibetan Free from what? If I say I'm free Tibetan and you speak in Tibetan it I think I would naturally say from what and

in English if I somebody says I am Free it's almost I'm free to do this free to do that like of course it has the same um same word and possibly the same um effect like if you win the lottery, what are you free to do? Free to buy a lot or free to not have to worry. So this time I'm going to explore freedom from the point of view of freedom from what? That is how the Buddhist philosophy, Buddhist teachings are uh structured. It's and of course you know even speaking uh in English um

there's a lot of things that we would like to be free from. So if I look at my own experience, my own life, what would I like to do if I'm free and what can I what will I be free from? So that's why um the Buddha when he first taught he actually taught freedom from what in the beginning when I thought of it you know the Buddhist uh teachings it's based around the four noble truths and it really didn't sound like a very uh good sales pitch. Imagine a salesman comes to you and said

everything is wrong. But this is actually also a very very Good way of uh presenting something. It's actually explaining freedom from what? when he said to his audience there is suffering in in Sanskrit there is duka da basically it means there is unease in our life there is discomfort in our life then what do we Naturally when we notice that From there comes the idea of freedom from. So then when we look in our own experiences in our daily life, am I totally satisfied with everything or are there certain niggly small things or big things

that um that I am struggling to to work with? It can be anything. It doesn't have to be anything spiritual. So whether it is outer material things or inner things, inner experiences, how we relate to our emotions, how we relate to the world like these days, we can see how the world that we were used too. Just even a few months ago, a few about a year ago is completely different. Of course, we're all hoping that it'll Be uh at least same as before. If not, by some kind of magic, things will be better. But

there's some kind of trepidation, some kind of um unsuress. That actually from the Buddhist point of view is what the Buddha meant by there is duka. There is basically things that we don't control. When there are things that we don't control, Then there is duka, there is suffering. So when we talk about freedom from the Buddhist point of view, it's from that perspective that we talk about it. But that requires that we acknowledge where we are. It doesn't mean that where we are is bad. When the Buddha said there is suffering, it doesn't mean go

look for suffering or make your life less inspiring than before. It simply means Acknowledge what is happening. Acknowledge your own surrounding, your life. What is it like? And from that point of view when we notice things a little bit more then what do we do? How do we relate to that? How we relate to it is also very much based on Um a certain bias. Bias of how we see things or we have learned things. A bias that we don't notice how we relate to things. That's why so many of us when we are relating

to physical, emotional uh and I suppose mental mentally vulnerable situations. We seem to relate to it in the same way again and again. finding an innovative way of relating to It is very rare. I notice I can't say for others but myself whenever things are uncomfortable, uneasy, I seem to sort of close in, get tight. It's like, you know, animals when they are afraid of each other, they puff themselves up. They make themselves stiff. And I see that I do it Every time when I am a little bit uncomfortable. It's not that I don't look

at others. I just notice myself more because I think I have to be honest. My way of relating to things is very selfish, self-centered, insecure. And I have a feeling that I'm not alone on this world relating to things in that way. that way of relating to things. The bias that I'm talking about is that I don't even notice I do that. When somebody um not when somebody does something that is uncomfortable for me, I have this habit, this instinct to get annoyed, to get irritated. And I'm sure all of you will think that's normal.

That is, you know, very Understandable that it is like that. It is understandable. But That kind of insecurity, what does it do to me? It actually makes me feel uncomfortable inside. It makes me feel more imprisoned. I am stuck in my fear. I am stuck in my insecurity. And at that time my vision not just the physical vision my emotional vision my psychological vision is dimmed and then I think more about myself and then I become this person that is really like a spoiled child that is always throwing a tantrum in my mind and feeling

why why is it like this? Why Am I feeling like this? I have such ease to blame everything under the under the sky under the sun. Sometimes I blame myself but very very what do you call it? Lightly blaming myself. It's so much easier to blame other than this. And I'm intelligent enough to know that I'm stuck in this but not intelligent enough to investigate why I do that. According to the Buddha's teachings, That bias is called ignorance. Not knowing, not seeing, that bias is very much there. We don't have to be, you know, um,

we don't need to have high IQ to know that. We just don't notice it. And it's also more convenient to not know that, to not see that. There's an example that I really like for myself. When somebody annoys me, irritates me, I feel irritated. I feel it's natural. It's normal. It's it's legitimate. But why don't I see what it is doing to me? Um, do you have a do you read comics? Anybody read comics? >> Some of you read comics. Now, the comic that I read was very, very old. I read it I think in

the last century. It's a comic called Fat Freddy's Cat. >> Fat Freddy's Cat. It's a It's a hippie Who is always uh drugged on marijuana and he has a cat and he forgets to feed the cat and he goes around listening listening on his headphone and with a what do you call it? a joint hanging from his mouth. He's smoking and his zones out and then his headphone falls off and the cat is hungry and the cat shits in the headphone. So the next time he listens to it, his ear is full of catpoo. My

emotions remind me of that. Imagine now maybe you didn't read comics like that but I am sure many of you have stepped in dog food dog poo or cat poo when you do that what do you do what is the first reaction when you step on a dog poo dog poo or a cat poo you're lucky here it's not human poo in some countries when you walk around you will actually step on human poop. What do you think is your first reaction? >> H you clean it. >> You clean it. You sure? >> The first

time you see what do you what do you say? How do you react? >> Lot of So All right. So, if it's the first you clean it. >> If it is the second time, what do you do? >> If it's a third time, what do you do? If It is five times you've stepped on the on the what do you do? What is your first reaction? >> You say >> You say That's good. Do you just Do you just say I walked on dog food. Or do you say that with some passion? Some passion. Especially

if that happens to be your husband, your wife or your neighbor and they do that often and you've Told them not to do it, but they still do. Then what do you do? >> More irritated. more irritated. That is the example. The example is that if our inner discomfort and irritation was actually that Can you see what you're actually doing at that time? You are seeing the When you get angry or upset or you feel Hurt, you feel disrespected, you feel whatever. When you feel that, what do you do? You sit there and you cook

it in every way possible. Smell every part of it possible. You will think, I told my husband to not do this. He did it again. Then you feel a little bit and then again it'll come up again and then you say I told him to do not do this. He is doing it on purpose. He is disrespecting me And what is that? That is you have stepped on the and you're looking at it like this and then you're smelling it and then that is when when you're upset you have heartbeat. This is now enough. It

has been 20 years he has been doing this. 30 years he has not put the toilet seat up or down. Then you start to have a heartbeat. it gets stronger during each of that moment. What we are actually doing is we are not only Looking at the ship, you are allowing the acidity of that emotional, intellectual, conceptual give you stomach acid. That is like ingesting that Uh if any ordinary people when they see dog they look at it, smell it, taste it, and then they tell everyone, "Look, somebody did on my shoes. I smelt it.

It was his. I tasted it. It was just like his shit." What would somebody tell Us? They will think, "Are you really saying that? You must be a bit crazy." But we do that with our emotions. We do it all the time. Every time. Now the problem is we are used to doing this. We get used to do doing this. That habit of doing that is something we are accustomed to. That has become familiar for us to the point that even in our dealings with people they will say I Understand your plight. You deserve better.

I understand why you are so angry at that husband of yours or wife or friend or dog or whatever it is. I understand. And we glorify that feeling. To the point that we think doing that is good. Not only is there ignorance, we are starting to like ignorance. We are getting attached. We are loving identifying With that bias as being the solution. That is called attachment in the Buddhist point of view. This is happening in all our lives every day. That not noticing that bias makes us glorify that conduct. glorifying that conduct, it becomes something

we identify with. When we identify with that so much, then when anything um slightly doesn't support that, We can't bear it. This escalates to another kind of emotion. We start to burn ourselves inside even more. That's called aggression, anger. These are what the Buddha has taught to being the cause of duka or suffering. And basically it is from these three things. You can say three things. If we reduce them, if you reduce them completely, it becomes just that bias to be free from that Ignorance. Then one can elaborate that to three things like ignorance, attachment

and anger. And you can elaborate more if you want plus jealousy and pride or arrogance. Then you can even make it more. Then it becomes 20. Then it gains more. Actually uh it is said that one can elaborate it to 84,000 Types of things that we need to be free from. Actually 84,000 is just an a number just for us to uh to know how vast it is. It's countless. Basically it is based on these three things. Freedom from this is actually what we want to do. Then once we are free from this then we

can talk about what can we do with this. So both of these questions are not Wrong. Freedom from what or freedom to do what? You might think I have the freedom to speak, to do all of those things. But none of those happen without freedom from what? Once we have figured out freedom from what? First, when we think of freedom from what, it's always somebody else, something else. We look outside. Then when we start looking inside It's actually freedom from what starts to connect with freedom to do what? For example, freedom to not smear the

Freedom to wear shoes that are shitproof. Freedom eventually to clean them. Freedom to be mindful that I don't step in further for Now you can't stop from other people. That's Impossible. But we have the freedom to not step in that shoe. Um there is a story of two monks. It's a Zen story. Two monks they're walking and then when they get to the river this couple, this monk, these two monks saw this lady. I think quite an attractive lady. And this young monk was very very strict and He was very proud of his strictness. He

didn't even look at the young girl. And the older man walking next to him, he saw the lady and she said, "Can you help me go across the water?" And he said, he said, "Yes." He put her on his neck and crossed so she didn't get wet. When he went to the other side, the lady got off and then they walked. And throughout the whole time, the young monk was thinking, "He should not have Done that. He is really, you know, not a good monk." After a while, he could not stop. So he said, "How

dare you do that? You are a monk. How did you Why are you carrying it?" The old monk said to him, "I dropped her since the lake, since the water was crossed. You're still carrying her. This is what we're doing." Still carrying. That freedom is what we have. But in order to remove that freedom, we need to notice The bias. The thing that makes us not notice what we're doing. So the real thing that we try to do at that point is we have to develop some confidence in our intelligence, our ability to see, to

notice. is not only our ability to see and notice but to welcome our ability to notice. There are certain things that we hear, feel, but we don't really feel Courageous enough to see. But here the solution is developing knowing the courage to know. In the beginning, it's just courage to know. Afterwards, it has to become courage to preserve that knowing. Even if it is uncomfortable, even if I realize, oh, this morning, I not only stepped in my emotional but I ate it. And I was proud of eating It. And now I realize it. This is

embarrassing. I am an adult. If I was a baby and I put, you know, touched it and ate it, I could laugh, but I'm not a baby anymore. We are adults, but we are still acting like babies. Recognizing that, noticing that should bring some wakefulness. developing that wakefulness from that moment on. Then we have the third possibility of the Buddhist Buddha's teachings called truth of the Path. We are actually going towards removing truth of cause of suffering. Noticing that is very uncomfortable. In the beginning, all we will do is just notice it, notice it, notice

it and not much will happen. But if you notice it long enough, then we need to be open to one part of our Mind that actually will be a very natural instinct to not wanting it. Usually this goes so fast you don't even notice. The moment you think oh this is uncomfortable that uh what is I think sometimes we call it survival instinct but actually it's not just survival instinct if we look further at first is survival instinct in sense That we don't want something uncomfortable so we forget it or we do something to not

remember it but actually beneath that instinct there's something very very healthy. It is just something that rejects that stupidity that um um that habit of ignoring that thing. So once we notice that then we need to somehow celebrate It. Like if you think oh this is something really stupid I did this there's one part of us we sort of wish I wish I didn't do this but we need to transform that to oh I wish I didn't do this now I wish to not do this that changes into something that is the beginning of freedom

I want to do something. Like if you remember something and then you think, "Oh, I Should not forget this." What should you do at that time? What do we do? Take notes. Tell people, can you remind me? Those are many many possibilities. But actually, if possible, we should do it right away. create that habit in our mind so that that becomes easier because all of these are habits that we're used to. They keep recreating. So if we could create a counter habit instead of not doing something we do something or even if you don't do

something feel the urge to do something. For example, um right now if all of us are busting to pee that we have to go to the toilet because we have been drinking a lot, let's say three three bottles of beer and you really need to pee, then what do you do? >> Run. >> Run. And if you can't run and we are locked in here well there will be a moment a certain moment you can't hold back and then you'll think okay let me I'll do it that point even if it is run for example

if you have to run in front of everyone sometimes we feel a little bit embarrassed to do but if we have to there is a moment that makes us press that button. That has to happen. Once we notice The bias, the ignorance and it is not so clever. Then that will happen. That is again one of the triggers for what we call freedom. We actually act on that intelligence. Then in general if it is for peeing etc it's short term but in our life in general if our whole life is or pee every day then

we have to develop a whole different Uh strategy for remembering for knowing. Then once you know you have to develop a strategy to not forget that and you have to develop a strategy to make sure whether you are starting to get distracted from that or you're forgetting that is actually called meditation in the Buddhist tradition. When people do meditation, that's what they do. They learn different strategies to combat first This um what is it called? Uh this it's almost some kind of certain defeatism. When you think everything is like this and then you sort of

give up from the very beginning, giving up hope needs to be worked with. We can call it giving up hope, not having hope, which is also mixed with, you know, giving up hope and being desperate Has some connection with not wanting to make that effort or not allowing us to not make making that effort. It's sort of a giving up. In other terms we can call that now please I hope you don't mind me saying this but seeing from this perspective it is helpful to see that hopelessness has some connection with helplessness. helplessness with some

sense of Not give not having much belief in oneself and sometimes not having belief in oneself is easier than believing in oneself. Therefore we take that easy path. Now if we keep taking that easy path all the time then what do we become? Lazy. So combating that is very important if we want to talk about freedom freedom from these things requires that we notice that and basically we need to call what is it in English we say call a Spade a spade however beautifully it is made it's still a spade or in other words is

whoever shits whether it is a saint that shits a or whether it is a demon that It's a They're both So once you have that, once you have noticed that we need to combat that helplessness mix with some kind of laziness. I'm not saying people are lazy, but there is a Sense of giving up is easier than continuing. So once you do that then we need to keep remembering that because that hope that we have it doesn't stay all the time. Why? Because it doesn't have support. Even like this flower what is it? Orchid. An

orchid has its particular environment where it thrives. It is not with somebody like me. With Me, it dries up very quickly because either I forget to water it or I give too much water, then it's always dry. There are some other people who just know how to give it enough and then it lasts for a very long time. Likewise, this hope that we have is something like an orchid. It needs to be maintained, served, protected, given enough encouragement but not too much because if you give too much Encouragement then um again things are not realistic.

So our own hopefulness I want courage needs to have some encouragement but also some dose of truth that okay I'm hopeful I'm doing this well it's really good to pat my back a little bit but you shouldn't pat it so much that you fall forward because if we keep praising ourselves too much then we start to think that oh I don't really have to do much I'm so good then it Doesn't work. So it needs some dose of reality. When we do that, what we need to do is we need to really remember this hope.

How we have this hope? Why we have this hope? We need to preserve it. That is called mindfulness. being aware of something that we have tremendous uh Joy and belief in. We need to preserve that. But the thing is in our life we are also used to being uh swayed away, distracted. I suppose many of you watch movies, many of you watch what is it YouTube in one thing of YouTube you watch. How many advertisings do you get from so many different things? That is what our mind is getting. You you know you YouTube is

nothing. Our mind is getting So many advertising. Once in a while I have this idea, oh this is what I should do. Like if you watch YouTube they have some advertising of what is it of dieting or do some exercise or you'll get so healthy right after that they have some advertising for delicious food my idea oh I must do this next time they comes something else comes I think oh I must eat that restaurant sounds really good or this Indian restaurant is so Good because I grew up in India thinking of all of those

there's so many advertisings happening. So that is why that mindfulness needs to be preserved. That intelligence needs to be preserved to in to preserve that intelligence. Then you need to notice whether the lack of intelligence or ignorance is again being advertised in our mind. Noticing whether we are advertising to ourselves something that Is wholesome and constructive for us or whether something that is not constructive not in tune with our project happening or not. That is also very very important. If we notice that then freedom has some chance. If not, freedom is just a nice word.

Just like in our present modern day world where we think freedom is very important. I was just watching a thing with I think Obama where he was saying that we're in from a Generation where we have been saying I am for this or that like for freedom of speech, freedom of if you want to think of these days freedom of trade, freedom of this, freedom of that. Most of us can say that but it doesn't cost anything to us. We can just say, "Oh, I am for freedom of speech." But usually when it it is

somebody else wanting to be free to say something not so nice about me at that time, do I have do I advocate for freedom of speech or not? If not, saying I am for freedom of speech is nothing but just a statement. It has to cost something to us. Likewise here when we are training our mind to become free it will cost some sweat for us which is our mind getting feeling distracted. It's something that we have to acknowledge that oh this is what I have to invest in. When we are able to do that,

then We are somehow on the path to freedom. But that doesn't mean we're free. It just means we have now the some idea of how to become free. This is still just knowledge. Now we have to do the heavy part. We have to earn it. For example, um when did Spain have first get the vote, freedom to vote? Do you know? >> 1975. >> Okay. >> 77. >> 77. Did Did you have to do something for it or did you just have to wait for Franco to die? >> So it was a gift from Franco.

For example, I think in the US people were allowed to vote, but then women didn't get the freedom to vote for a long time. Then afterwards, the black people had to fight like people like Martin Luther King had to somehow uh give really a lot to earn that freedom. So this is really what we're talking about. >> So now I forgot why I've lost my thread. >> Yes. >> So we need to apply that actually knowing hearing about it. that is called from the Buddhist point of view uh the wisdom of hearing You know it's

sort of curiosity when you're curious enough then you start to think of those things or you hear it from somebody as Buddhists we heard it from the Buddha and then his disciples and then for me in my case I heard it from my teachers my teachers like and uh this song is I'm saying these in order because this is how I met them and then after that uh yeah one of my teachers Dur is here Heard it from all of them and another one of my teachers This is what I have heard from them. So

now once I hear from them then starts a difficult part. In Tibetan it call it we call it gum. In English this not the right word. Usually we call it meditation but meditation is really not the right for word for it. It actually means assimilating or getting used to that. This way of thinking has to become a Reference for me. However annoying and difficult it is, it has to become a reference. It has to become a way of living and therefore a way of acting. How my emotions work based on that. How my relation to

my material world works with that. and how I my relation with my psychological world that I live in. How that is affected by this by seeing this what did we call it? This bias this bias that thinks that Wash wiping my face with dog is legitimate good. that and recognizing that in everything that I'm doing I'm engaging in that basically that bias is present in me in whatever I do and that bias is not I'm not saying it's bad we have to check analyze is this doing me as much good as I think it is

or is it not if it is not whether Whether it is tradition, whether it is Custom, am I courageous enough to act on letting go of it or not? When we are able to do that, when we're able to start assimilating, then we have something called contemplation. The first is called wisdom of studying or learning. Second is called wisdom of contemplating. That is when you're starting to assimilate it in the way you're thinking and it becomes more and more natural to us. Then after that We just have to get used to it. We know this

is how it how I feel is correct and I have to get used to it. getting used to it has many things. One, sometimes we when we get used to it, we have to reproduce the entire experience again and again until it stays longer. That's also called meditating or contemplative meditation. Once we have changed that and you don't need to reproduce, it stays there. Then we just have to make sure that our mind Is holding that or welcoming that getting accustomed to that getting comfortable with it. Even if it gets pulled away I'm able to

bring it back. Once we can do that without any difficulty then we have gotten used to it. At that time freedom comes naturally in the sense that I am free from my ignorance bias, not knowing bias and therefore also from my attachment bias and my aggression bias. I become free From that at that time. Then from the Buddhist point of view we have properly underlined freedom from what? Until then it's just freedom but then from what I'm not so sure even if I know still not sure even if I have contemplated still not enough I

have to get used to it to the fact that until this freedom from what becomes as natural as law of gravity is to us Even falling from here from where we sitting Now going down we have this natural self-preservation that kind of instinct has to come when that happens then we have properly talked about freedom from what from the point of view of Buddha Buddhist teachings once we have that then we have every freedom to do. Freedom to do whatever we want. Freedom to be free from not smearing dog on my face. Whether it is

physical, emotional, or psychological dog freedom to not Eat it, freedom to not smell it. All of that happens. Until then, just saying, "Oh, we have freedom of speech," is absolutely useless. because we don't we can say some in some corner whatever you want but then it's not really freedom to say what you want and even if we had that freedom what's use so here this freedom freedom from what and freedom to do what is um according to the four noble truths That the Buddha taught how we see freedom. So that's it. I don't think I

can think of anything more. If you have any questions, I'm happy to. >> Yes. >> Can you say some words between freedom and peace? >> Freedom and peace. >> Peace of mind and >> Oh, yes. Yes. Peace of mind is not something Is really not something we can buy. is nowhere. And the peace of mind first what do we call peace? That is a really vast subject. So in your mind when you are asking that question what does peace mean? >> The satisfaction. >> Okay. The satisfaction h of having an answer But to what? Because

if there's no question there's no answer. So what is the question in that sense? Let us say discomfort. Isn't it? Because we definitely we don't necessarily want to be free from comfort. So if it is discomfort first thing you cannot uh remove all discomfort from the world that's impossible there is this uh passage in a poem written by a Buddhist philosopher he says rather than cover the entire earth with leather cover your foot with leather. It's so clever, so intelligent. So how do we do that? You cannot remove every unpiece in the world. But we

can make the mind learn to be at peace. So how do we do that? What for that we have to see what are the conditions that makes our mind not be at peace. For example, um if you let us say you Have a jacuzzi and it's not working. Yeah. Everything else in your house is working but your jacuzzi is not working. Then there's always a little thorn in the thing, if only this was working, I'll be at peace. So now you repair that jacuzzi. But then something else goes down. There's no end to this. I

doesn't mean don't repair your jacuzzi. We absolutely should. But we have to see why I am disturbed because of the jacuzzi. When your jacuzzi in your house doesn't work, does your neighbor get suffering? Of course not. The reason why your jacuzzi is disturbing you is because it is your jacuzzi. If you picked that broken jacuzzi, sold it to somebody, you'd be at peace. Even if you didn't have a jacuzzi like with our cars, you put know sell your old car to somebody hoping they won't realize what's wrong with it and then you're happy. So actually

it is Connected with I. So that peace first I want to be at peace. Peace as such somewhere doesn't exist. There is no separate peace. It is peace of mind. In that respect, how does my mind relate to that peace? What are the things that makes my mind at peace or not peace? That is what we have to really find out depending on our um the evolution of our Life. It changes what makes us at peace. As you know when you were a little little child know what do you call it? Even chewing a toilet

paper you'll be happy. If somebody takes that you'll be upset but now somebody gives you a toilet paper you won't be happy. Actually, one of my teachers um was um somebody gave him a statue of a Buddha made of gold. They gave it to Him. He looked and then he put it there. He said, "Oh, thank you." That's all. Then my brother gave him some paper. Know these napkin papers too. Why? It was hot in Nepal. He was so happy to get that toilet paper. But that statue, he he didn't really mind much. I think

he was at peace because he could be made happy with just some napkin papers. For us, if I was the one given that, if somebody gave me a toilet paper, I would think, oh, thank you. But I would think, Why are you giving me toilet paper? If they g if he gave me that gold statue, I would think this is good. My mind is not free is stuck to that. So therefore when we think of this freedom we have to see whom why then I think it is absolutely possible also from the Buddhist point of

view another aspect of that is how we relate to the eye. What is this eye? That is a big question. We all think I am so and so. That person is so and so. So let's see if we ask a question. Who is who am I? If I ask you, may I ask you who are you? >> Me? >> Yes. >> Well, I'm the result of uh some evolution. >> Some evolution. >> Yeah. >> Yes. to have my you know my mission in life. >> Mhm. >> Is my >> So you are the result of

evolution that wants to be free. Okay. At peace. >> Well yeah >> let us say that just for our argument that wants to be at peace. So from that point of view evolution result of evolution means changing. Changing of what? Cells and all the different um >> touch, >> thoughts, uh feelings, consciousness, so many things. >> So tell me this word I, this letter I, is it singular or plural? For me, singular. >> Singular, right? >> But when you say for you, which is an evolution of billions and billions of Cells and countless emotions and

so many thoughts and things, how can that be singular? So even when we're speaking, there's some discrepancy between singular and multiple. So we start to realize this eye is actually an aggregate of many many things together. When we use our intelligence, it is like that. When we don't use it, it is not. So should we be intelligent or not? That's the question. If we want to get to the bottom of something, should we use intelligence or should we not? If you lose your let us say if you lose your wallet will you ask your baby

where is my wallet or will you ask your wife or your friend or somebody if you ask keep asking the baby it's not going to work. Therefore, when we say I want freedom, then it's time to ask, who is this eye that wants freedom? Or who are the eyes? Which one is more real or not? When it gets to that, then we will start to question a little bit our um obedience to this chief, this eye. Just question. It doesn't mean don't. We're not saying it's bad. We're not saying anything like that. We're just simply

being curious >> and being uh realistic. Then when we do that then Peace starts with intelligence knowing and also if I am looking for peace for the eye if I am looking for the peaceful eye I need to know this eye. If not otherwise I'm never going to get any peace for this eye. For example, if you go to a restaurant and they come and ask you what would you like to eat? Should they ask that or should they just give you food? If you just go there and they say there is all of this

on the list, but you're going to eat this. It's Not in the word. So, I the one who wants needs to be asked. Now it doesn't mean as a Buddhist that we are that this eye is not useful that we should get rid of it right away but it means that we should investigate we should look at it so that we have a more healthy relation with it if we can start to think that this eye is an aggregate of things because right now when we look at it it doesn't feel like that. It really

feels like one solid permanent selfindependent. That's okay. But now what is it? If I look, what is it? Or should I not look? If I don't look, then why not? If I'm not looking because I'm a coward, okay, that's fine. I'm a coward. If not, then why not? Then we can actually see maybe in secret when nobody's listening to me I could just look into it and think hey what is it is it singular multiple do I really Feel that it is singular if it is singular then how come for this I to be I

I have to put all of these together. So one of the ways of getting peace from the Buddhist point of view is doing that because you know if you want to negotiate you have to ask what do you want and you have to know who it is if like these days there's a lot of negotiation I think for trade going on each has to know each other what do they Want so that I can get this well here we have to do this and also for that you have to know them. Here we have to

know us. In the Buddhist term, it's called anatma, selflessness. It doesn't mean selfless. It just means how we are looking at this self. The way we are projecting it, it's questionable. If if we are um serious about that question, then it's questionable. If not and it's fine. Thank you for your question. >> Yeah. Um while you were saying this, I was wondering um how do you preserve this? Yeah. How do you preserve this kind of um thinking in a world like this where a lot comes from outside? Um a lot is also inflicted on someone.

How do you remain hopeful? How do you remain um yeah peaceful in a sense if there is no Real peace in this world? How do you how do you do that? >> Um I wonder if there was ever peace in this world. Even in the past, if we go a few hundred years behind, I definitely think there wasn't. At least based on the movies that we have seen, there was less peace. And uh even even in the animal realm or even in the prehistoric time I don't think there Was much peace just that the humans

had less powerful machines that's all isn't it especially with this kind of thing we have such a powerful machine to hurt ourselves as of course to have to do good things but also to hurt ourselves. For that it is just like the example that I gave before to bring that peace. Do you wear shoes? >> Slippers, >> right? Why? >> It's warm. Today was warm, so I wore them. >> So that your foot doesn't get burnt. Is it? >> Yes. >> Exactly. You could have asked the government to cover the ground with something warm or

demand that there is air conditioning on the ground. That is impossible. That's why you wore that slipper. Exactly in the same way we can bring peace in us. Protecting our mind. Not protecting our mind from others but protecting our mind from delusional methods of relating to reality. Wrong ways of relating to reality. Now that will take time. It's very difficult. It won't happen just instantly. Just like when we go to school. How many years do you have to go to school in Spain before university? >> 15. >> 15 years. >> Okay. So when you first

start school to finishing school what seven years 8 years 9 years and then you can be thrown into university right likewise to do this if we want to do it really really seriously if all the conditions are present I think just to develop some stability of the mind we will need about I don't know seven or eight months but the strength to do seven or eight months day and night some training then I think there's some chance of doing something for example one of my teachers Dr. Tushi he did about 60 years of meditation. The

benefit is that his mind is malleable. Whatever comes it's not stiff. So it can function in things but it is mainly developing some Intelligence and then sticking to that intelligence. It's not impossible but it is very difficult when we have to do so many things together then it's very difficult but if if one can arrange all of these um circumstances for example usually to do kind of some kind of meditation in the texts it is said that first we need to find an environment that is not too disruptive. That's why in the past many of

the People went to the forest to meditate. Not because the trees are better or anything like that. It's more that the trees and animals don't distract them. So it gives them some time to do. And then those are the outer things. Then the inner things we have to start recognizing our uh thoughts, our mind, our emotions. We have to start filtering which one is helpful, which one is not helpful. Then it's possible. It's quite easy. But the main thing is that we've been talking with few friends for a few days. There is five kind of

obstacles that happen when you're trying to develop some peace of mind. First one, lack of courage or thinking I can't do it's not possible. It's sort of feeling helpless almost going towards because of that helplessness then it's easier to say it's not possible. So we call it laziness. The first one laziness has got Few levels to it. One of those laziness is thinking that I don't have that power. One other one of those laziness is uh that giving up. It's in different stages. And another one is when you find something else when you're trying to

do this and suddenly somebody tells you that there's there's this you know somebody is talking about you on Instagram. You get distracted by it easily. So those are three kind of Laziness that happens. Once that happens, if you notice that and then you will notice also another part which is called um you forget forget what you started to do. So you have to make sure you don't forget what you wanted to do. Then once you remember that it's not end there's other obstacles. You start to either feel very very uh agitated because you have so

many things that you have to worry about you think Of or when you start to uh contain your mind you start to feel sleepy. Those are some kind of obstacles that will arise. Then after that once you notice that then you will have difficulty in engaging in doing things. Just like I was saying before everyone is for freedom of speech but not many of us are at this moment ready to act on it. So basically you don't act On it. So then we have to do something. But once you have done that again sometimes if

you push too much you act too much it goes to the other side then again it doesn't work. So these are five obstacles. Um >> I I am Muslim and then we have similar beliefs like we have similar practices to this like to the mind and what you should do to avoid the worldly things uh affecting you and your mental state but Um I still struggle a lot for example with um the situation happened in Palestine or in Tibet the similar situations. How do you let such world like worldly things um not take this away

from you? Cuz um like you said, it's very difficult. It takes a lot of sacrifice. >> Um >> yeah, I'm I'm not really sure what my question is at this point. is just >> well you know we can say it's worldly Things but it's actually not just worldly worldly things and what's happening in us you can't separate that so the frustrating things that is happening in this world is frustrating to us because it hits us that part I can't say that that is worldly that is the we you can call it spiritual, you can call

it whatever you want. Whatever label you want. It really doesn't matter. It is. So how we deal With it inside is as important as how we deal with it outside. The problem is in our life when difficult things happen in the outside world we are so you know hurt in pain inside when we give up then it's the same as giving up in the outside. However much somebody does something to us physically, does it mean that I have to make my own Intelligence dim inside? That is really the question. For example, if you think of

many of the Sufi masters, their words like the rubayat of what is it? I don't Yes. room is so beautiful. Those things what he says there is exactly what we are actually trying to do in our mind. If we let go of that regardless of what we do outside, it Doesn't really make much difference. Basically, what we're doing outside for others, even though it is sweet, it's somewhat um hypocritical. Okay, one more question if there is. If not, it's fine. The expression When we talk about freedom of speech, it's it's something that as human beings

we have agreed, isn't it? It's not some kind of universal thing that that is somewhere That just what we have agreed. So of course we use that word as freedom of speech and it's true that freedom of speech as long as that freedom of speech does not infringe the freedom of somebody else then we're happy to call it freedom of speech. And it's it's a very very u vague uh un unclear it's not a straight uh straightforward line. Now in terms of feeling of freedom of love um even all of those we have to really

if if it is something that we want to actually use as a as a path for oneself then we really have to to investigate what this love what this love really means to us. investigate thoroughly what love means because as you said love it's quite it's a beautiful world but most of the people That we are we cannot not have ego we cannot not act most of us act from ego so from that point of view if we say love is most important we just have to really define clearly like All our each country we

have constitution. That constitution needs to be debated, investigated thoroughly so that we can actually say what is that. >> Yes. Yeah. >> Love to is not a feeling. >> Mhm. Yes. >> Is not a feeling is to make >> Yes. >> one thing good for other people. It's not a feeling because the feelings >> yes changes it's not reliable >> but to to to realize that to make a good thing for the other person. >> Yes. >> Uh for example I I am in the bus and some view I old people come >> I am

sitting in >> of course >> that's that's love for me. It's not a big thing is to make little good things. >> That you know that >> humanity love is humanity. >> See that kind of freedom we have. All of us have that freedom. But why don't we take that freedom? Not many of us take that freedom. We don't accept that freedom. We don't take that freedom. We don't take that freedom because many of us have not learned That we can take that freedom. That freedom is not considered um free for many of us. No,

it's not free. It's not considered something good that freedom. For example, when we are small child, some children, of course, Buddhists have an idea for that, but some children naturally make things good for others like they smile as babies. They will give the food to the mother instead of Them. They have naturally that many of us don't have that naturally. We have to be told you get this say thank you. You have you are told do this for your parents don't do this for your parents. Many of us need that education. We need to remove

that ignorance that not knowing. Unless we are taught that freedom. How will we know that we have that freedom? I think many people who are egotistical Is not because they are evil. Many of us, not all but many of us just don't have the right education for it. Have not been taught. We have not learned whether it is at know in our society in general, whether it is in uh know at school. We don't learn that. For example, most of the things we learn at school like history, like when we hear about um what is

it about um Uh the heroes, when we hear about fairy tales, most of them is not encouraging that. So, we have not learned. Some of us have that fortune. we have learned but not all of us have that so we don't have that freedom because we don't know that I think >> yes that is why I think the biggest obstacle to freedom is ignorance not knowing if we don't know we cannot Uh advertise that most of the time people when they do like you say You go in the bus and somebody old or sick is

coming to get up. Many people think oh this person is stupid giving his place to somebody else. Not everyone but many people think that they feel that I me is more important. That's because of ignorance. >> Stupid things. It's stupid. That stupidity needs to be removed. But it needs to be removed in a intelligent Way. For example, if you look at any advertising publicity, which publicity is encouraging altruism? Not many. Maybe some things for what is it called UN or save the children, save this, save that. Maybe some not many advertising is about altruism. So

how do we expect our entire education system? Is there one education subject that says altruism helping others? There isn't. So of course that is why removing ignorance Is one of the biggest. There is religion but how many people go to religion? So religion in the past parents these days parents have so much work so much stress they don't have much time these days this is the parents we learn everything through this and this has made parents less uh respectful to us >> well I I am 65. >> Mhm. >> So I can I am not

used to the >> the mobile is for me very important for work but >> not personal. >> It's not >> and I think that books are very important. >> Yes. So that is what I think you should encourage people this but you have to make sure that the message is Given in a way that people hear. For example, if you some of us 60 70 year old people go to some place where only this is what they do. If you tell them this message right now, it's not going to go. They will not understand. It's

a different language. Therefore, if we learn that language, >> they understand me, but they don't want to hear. >> That is what I mean. That is why they understand the language, but they don't Hear the message. So, they don't understand the message. You need a translator. >> They don't care. They don't care. You see, they don't care because they don't understand. It's not that they don't really care. They have to have a different messenger. For example, if you want to if you want a dog to eat medicine, what do you do? You tell the dog

you must eat the medicine. It will not. If you put the Medicine in some dog food with nice steak or something then the dog will eat the message. It doesn't mean whether the dog eats it with steak whatever. So that's the most difficult and I don't know that language very well either. Thank you for your question and thank you for your question.