’Dedicating Goodness’ for Beginners: Intercontinental Metta & Prayer for Skeptics! | Ajahn Kovilo

Namasa
bawat arhat sama sudasa
bakawato
arhat sama s buasa
bakawato arhat sama
Okay. Who here has practiced something
like that? Some kind of dedication
prayer or dedication meditation before?
Okay. A good some number of people.
Yeah. It was definitely new for me when
I first came to the monastery.
Um, but it is a really cool practice.
It's a very cool practice and it's so
cool that I think that I will give the
whole talk today on it. And for those
who want to participate in that
coolness, we've printed out about 50
copies of that chant so that you can you
can fold it up and put it in your wallet
or you can put it in your pocket. You
can put it on your wall.
You can do so many things. It's just a
piece of paper. Um so whatever you do,
it's uh part of uh Buddhist practice. Um
the word ba, which usually gets
translated as meditation, just means
cultivation. And a big aspect of what we
do when we come to a monastery, a big
part of our fun at a monastery is
chanting, learning the chants and
memorizing the chants. And this for
those who are want who want to uh we
don't have enough of the actual
hardbound chanting books to give away.
But for those who want, we've got that
chant both in poly on the front or
English on the front and poly on the
back. Could you pass these around? Nice.
And do feel free to uh to take one or
not. I won't watch. Uh
so yeah, talking about goodness and what
this might mean and how this might work,
this sharing of of goodness.
Uh again based on Doug's suggestion
years ago, I have started using
whiteboards. So this is a list, it's
actually comes from the commentaries,
but a list of 10 bases of merit. 10
bases of merit and it comes from the
commentaries originally there was just
three. So in the oldest strata what the
Buddha was talking about was just three
and those are the ones which are
furthest over to the right that's
generosity orana virtue orsila and
meditation cultivation that's bana um
but then the commentaries I think quite
usefully expand the definitions and
elaborate and name these other types of
of goodness because they really do
brighten the heart and a lot of us you
know when we come bumbling into a a
spiritual life. Uh it's not always so
intuitive for some of us. For some of us
it is. You just see the light very
clearly and you don't need somebody to
name it for you. You know how it feels
and you know okay that's that's good. I
see it in myself and it's beautiful and
I see it in others and it's beautiful.
But for some of us we need a list and
three things just won't do. So we bump
it up to 10. So, that's a lot of what
the the commentaries were doing, just
elaborating these lists.
Uh, but before going into some of these
specifics, I would uh like to say a
little bit more about my grandma. About
my grandma. This is her.
It's well, it's St. Fr. St. Francis of
Aisi. His body and then my grandma's
face. My grandma's face. And I made
about 10 of these grandma playing cards
um for her funeral. She died about six
years ago. And um probably about 16
years ago, she started asking me um you
know, she's not Buddhist. Uh but she's a
very good Christian. She's a very good
Christian, a very good person. These
things, she did all of them in spades.
She was such a good role model. And
yeah, 10 16 years ago, she started
asking me. She knew I was becoming
Buddhist, something spiritual, doing
something spiritual. And she felt like
she could open up to me. She said, uh,
and she was one of the first family
members who was not only cool with
calling me Kovo, but actually liked
doing it. I would give her a call, Angie
would say, "Covilo."
And I could just see her face quiver
with excitement.
And since that time, from very early on,
when I first came to the monastery,
okay, don't know what a monk is, but
maybe they think about and can actually
meditate on, can pray about meaningful
things in life. And so she asked me
around that time, when I die, okay,
she's probably in her 80s at that time,
16 years ago. And she said, uh, when I
die, Kovaleo, and I don't think she told
anybody else this. She certainly didn't
make any requests of anybody, but she
said, "When I die, could you read the
prayer of St. Francis of Aisi at my
funeral because that's very important.
That's what I've tried to live my life
around."
And so I did. I I memorized it. And then
we found these cool Catholics make
trading cards apparently and you can buy
them on Amazon. So yeah, and then you
just print out a little picture of your
grandma and you stick it right on there
and laminate it. So, and I will I'll
read the prayer uh because it is really
beautiful and I was I did memorize it
before the before the funeral and then
had it memorized for years afterwards.
But it doesn't totally always some come
so fresh to my mind. But some of the
ideas you'll have to kind of translate
into a more Buddhist context. But a lot
of it is just onetoone. And certainly
all the virtues that are pointed to are
very they're just virtues period.
Whatever spiritual guides or religious
context you find them in. So Lord, make
me an instrument of your peace. Where
there is hatred, let me so love. Where
there is injury, pardon.
Where there is doubt, faith.
Where there is despair, hope. Where
there is darkness, light. and where
there is sadness, joy.
Grant that I may not so much seek to be
consoled as to console, to be understood
as to understand, to be loved as to
love. For it is in giving that we
receive, it is in pardoning that we are
pardoned, and it is in dying that we are
born to eternal life.
So, yeah, that's my grandma card, and
it's awesome. And I usually keep it
inside of this shrine box which I might
open up for you later. But
yeah,
and I can believe, you know, it is part
of a Buddhist framework that this life
isn't the end of things. And
you know, grandma was so good that she's
got to, you know, I I have Yeah, she was
doing so much good that it's not hard
for me to imagine her being in heaven.
and still having a a relationship with
her. And part of what's cool about this
practice, which you know, most people
did not raise their hands when I said,
"Okay, who has a practice of of
dedication?" Most people did not raise
your hands because that's not what most
people most of you were not born into
Buddhist families. And most of you
didn't come to Buddhism for prayer.
Yeah. You go to a meditation retreat or
you pick up a some kind of meditation
book. And it's mostly meditation first
and for a lot of you meditation period.
It's like you don't want all the rest of
the religiosity like I don't know I
don't even know what I think about you
know future lives and I don't really
care and um but it but it's interesting
to have uh chants like this or
recollections which just open up the the
frame a little bit. I have no proof that
my mom, my grandma's not in heaven. Um,
and that the relationship just totally
ended right there. And honestly, the way
that I relate to this, you know, I both
my parents are are doctors, a very
scientific uh family growing up. And I
have no proof. And part of me because I
don't have absolute proof, I can't fully
get my um my heart around it, but I can
at least have the humility to say I
really don't know that it's it's not
true. And for me, it's good this opening
up of my practice. And I would submit to
you that opening up your practice and
thinking about others, even if it's just
thinking, even if you can't get around
the psychoynamics of how it might
possibly work, that you could dedicate
goodness to somebody else.
Maybe it could. And certainly, I see it.
You know, my grandma, she did a lot of
good things. She was constantly anytime
I would go to visit her growing up, she
would take me to go visit other old
ladies
and she was like in her 80 70s or 80s or
90s, but she's taking me to visit these
60 year olds or 70 year olds or
80-year-olds who are in like nursing
homes and she goes there and she reads
what's called um
contemporary news,
something like that. It was basically
her reading the news to these older
people. And it wasn't about the news. It
was just, in fact, I think it was like
specialty news. I think it was like all
of the bad news taken out and like just
specialty, easy to digest, pre-chew news
for older people. So, she would read
that to them and it was sweet. You know,
she'd go there and she'd bring flowers
from her garden and I would help her
bring the, you know, pick the flowers in
the garden. And then after she had fed
the the birds in the yard and then we'd
go there and then on the way back we'd
stop at recording for the blind, which
almost certainly doesn't exist anymore,
but it's basically like um yeah, you go
and read a textbook for some blind
people. And my grandma didn't have the
best voice. I would love to listen to
like a ninth grade algebra textbook read
by my grandma. It would be hilarious.
I don't I don't know if I could learn
algebra actually through my grandma. Uh
it would be too distracting. But um but
the fact that she would do this, she
didn't have to. She was retired for the
whole whole of my life. Uh but she would
still do these things. And then pretty
much anytime we would separate from
someone and certainly when I would go my
separate way, she would say, "And
Kovaleo, I'm praying for you. Kovaleo,
I'm praying for you." And it was
meaningful because she actually did. She
took time out of her day to actually
think about me. And did I or do I
believe in some intercessionary aspect
from some deity that she's somehow
saving me? I don't or I I I don't even
know what I think about that and it's
not actually that important. But that my
grandma took the time to think about me
that Ajan Nisbo takes the time to think
about me.
And for me it is even though I've been
chanting this chant had it have it
memorized in poly in English um having
it memorized is different from actually
taking it on as a practice. And it's
only been somewhat recently that I have
conjoined my daily bowing practice with
the daily
call like daily thinking of you daily
thinking of you practice.
And Ajaniso, he takes a list. He's got a
little notebook in his pocket like I do
and we keep people in mind. Someone on
alms round will say, "Oh, you know, my
my spouse is actually having a hard
time." I say, "What is what is their
name?" And actually taking the time to
learn that person's name. My child is
actually going through something that's
really really rough. They're going
through some kind of addiction. and
would you keep them in your prayers? We
were going for a a walk just around our
neighborhood and some guy pulled up
rather frantically and said, "Um, my
cousin Richard
Josephson, I believe, just got in a car
crash. He was on his bike and I think he
got hit by a car and he's just in the
hospital. You know, I saw you guys and
you look like you're monks or something.
Could you keep him in mind?" and we put
him on the blessing braid. And yeah, he
is in our hearts and it might seem like
something very small. And you might even
say, you know, what's the big deal?
Like, you know, you're not doing
anything for anybody. You know, that's
like the the weakest, most poulry,
happy, you know, way to help the world.
Um, but it's not. It is. It is an
opening and it is that's how meta works.
We don't know how meta works but knowing
that Ajanisbo I don't actually see him
that much. We've got our own little
huts. I live in a hut that's maybe like
all told maybe 12t x 12t. He lives in a
little hut that's maybe something
similar and we're about 15 ft away. But
I'm doing my thing. I'm meditating and
like studying over in my hut. He's doing
his thing. I basically just come over to
use the restroom. But okay, I know he
thinks about me. He thinks about me from
time to time. And similarly, I'm
thinking about other people who are in
our life and thinking about you and
people who are on our our blessing braid
and dedicating one's practice is one of
these forms of goodness.
So I'll just name these 10 types of
goodness because hopefully when we did
that part of the dedication of offering
that first line through the goodness
that arises from my practice imina puna
kamea through the goodness the puna the
merit that I've done hopefully and I was
trying to gr
guide you through that it was very easy
for you all to think oh yeah you know I
do do good things you know I've got a
good job I'm a health care provider And
even though if I've got like a you know
a job in tech and you know saying nice
things to my guys next to me and saying
nice things to my family hopefully it's
very easy but this is a cool checklist
of types of goodness in a Buddhist
context. So of the three we can see that
generosity two sub virtues from that are
dedication of goodness and delighting in
others goodness. So that dedication of
goodness is called pyidana.
So donna means giving and py is like the
accumulation of puna. It's like your
merit store.
And hopefully you all know people who
you're like like my grandma. Hopefully
you've all got my grandmas in your life
who are like, "Oh yeah, that's just a
really good person." And no matter what
religion or non-religion they come from,
they just do a lot of good and it seems
like they've got some kind of internal
psychological storehouse of all that
goodness that they've been doing for
their whole life. It's like I can see
the halo in their face
and dedicating that. That's the putty. P
A TI putty. And there's nothing silly
about this putty.
Thank you. Sometimes I come up with a
pun and I just have to say it or else it
gets stuck.
Thank you and apologies.
And that delighting in others goodness.
This is put anodina. So anumodina like
we say here anumodina which means
delighting in the putty the goodness the
accumulated goodness of others. And Ajan
Jeff calls that lazy man's merit. Lazy
man's merit because you don't have to do
anything else. You don't have to do
anything by yourself. You just somebody
does something good and you say sudding
in somebody else's goodness. That is
merit in and of itself.
Next we have virtue. So refraining in a
Buddhist context from killing, stealing,
sexual misconduct, lying, intoxicants,
and all the other types of sin
restraint. all of the ways that you're
kind of collecting the mind, not letting
the mind just flow out and waste your
waste your mind's your heart's energy.
So that's virtue and then two subpoints
from that we have humility
and service.
So humility is a beautiful virtue.
Humility just being humble.
All those times when you can just become
that cracked gong, this is a damapata
verse. If when struck by the unwelcome
words of another, you can make yourself
make the heart like a cracked gong, then
you've achieved a nibbana here and now.
And this is one of the few occasions,
this is Dharmapata verse where the
Buddha uses nibbana not as the highest
exalted goal of complete freedom from
greed, anger and delusion but just the
release the ah moment of yeah my spouse
said that triggering thing which I'm
triggered by every single day and I know
it's going to happen but like a cracked
gong. You hit the gong
and it's like this.
Yeah, there's not the reverberation.
So, humility
as a a virtue.
Service, the way that you help your
family, friends, people you work with.
And then meditation, you have listening
to the dharma, talking dharma, and
actually straightening out your views.
So, these are the 10 types of merit.
And the Thai version, where's all our
Thai people at today? A
Bad weather. Oh,
I'm sorry. You all are missing out. Tie
people are great. You should all find
some Thai people and bring them into
your life. They're great. But the Thai
version of this chant actually has a
final line that says, "Through the power
of these 10 virtues, may darkness and
delusion be dispelled." And then it has
a little it doesn't say them in the
chant, but then it has a little asterisk
which says and then the footnote gives a
list of of these 10. So this is what we
pay attention to in that first line
through the goodness that arises from my
practice
and then whether you have a little
notebook that you keep down the write
down the important people in your life.
How Ajan Nisbo does this is he says,
"Okay, to my preceptor, Ajan Anan, to my
mother Sarah Connover, to my father Doug
Robnet Connover, to my homeest homeboy
Kov Biku." He might just say Kovo, but
uh whatever he says, he includes me in
there and then he goes through his list
of people who have brought up their
names in the past week and then he bows.
And he might even do it uh one bow per
person. I'm not sure exactly but for
myself it is more this creative act and
the word ba literally uh the word for
being is buddha from the root bu to be
and bhavana is the causitive of that so
to cause to come into being is
meditation and or cultivation what are
you causing to come into being wholesome
qualities you're
undercutting your greed, your anger, and
your delusion, and you're cultivating
patience and friendliness.
So, that's what you're bringing into
being. That's what cultivation is about.
So, that's what you bring to mind. Uh,
and would encourage people to, yeah,
maybe today if you took one of those
pieces of of paper, even taking it as as
a daily practice, maybe I can take this
on for the next week. I'll at least read
this thing. when you take on a new
habit. This is a practice called the
twominute rule
uh from the book Atomic Habits by James
Clear. Great book.
But when you're taking on a new habit,
see if you can make it circumscribed. So
just two minutes, just read the chant
and it's fully free on the internet,
page 33. Just go to it and for the next
week, the next month, the next year.
Okay, that monk up there, he made a good
case that
maybe this would help me be a little bit
less selfish. Maybe this would help me
instantiate the the love that I say that
I I feel for other people. And it really
is meaningful. I feel it. You know if I
have been which I do think of you
particular ones of you many of you on a
daily basis if I've done it while I've
do been doing my my bowing in this
creative way and that's the point that I
was trying to make one translation for
bavina could be creativity and for me my
bowing my practice of recollection
recollecting the good people in my life
is a creative act I'm bowing and whoever
comes up at the time that's who I share
my my merit with. That's who I share
this this goodness. Or at least think
about and it's good. Can I take a little
bit of time? Can I take less than two
minutes? It doesn't take two minutes to
chant this. Take less than two minutes
to actually expand the scope of my heart
and include other people. And if I've
thought about you earlier this morning
and I see you today, I see you at the
mccrina or I see you here. It's like, oh
yeah, I actually do have a connection
with that person. I was thinking about
them and their family just this morning.
That feels really good to have somebody
who can say that to you and actually
have some weight to it. Like my grandma,
it was meaningful. And
yeah. Yeah, it was it was meaningful.
Inside of this box
is it's a prayer box that I pretty much
take everywhere with me. Uh the wood was
planed from wood at Abayiri and inside
of it are my own kind of best of
Buddhist uh playing cards.
So different teachers of mine including
the Daly Lama. This was a photo of the
Daly Lama that my grandma actually sent
me. Could have been 13, 14 years ago.
She cut it out from Newsweek and she
actually was thinking about me and she
took the time, I'm going to cut this out
and mail it across the world to Thailand
where I was living at the time. And you
know, he's you know, everybody loves the
Daly Lama. Everybody loves the Daly
Lama. So, I I put it in this little
piece of plastic and have carried around
with me ever since. I've got pictures of
my my teachers and pictures of of family
in there. And I put it up on my on my
shrine as just a way to
think of of the people in my life. And
hopefully you all have pictures of of
those you you care about.
So going through this list, this is a a
systematic way. I mean, some of you
maybe are just inherently creative.
you're a nine out of ten on the
creativity scale or a 10 out of 10 and
you can tap into spontaneity anytime
that you want. And if you can do that,
then this is just a super fun practice
that will just never get old. It's a
it's play. It's bringing play to the
cushion. It's bringing play to your
bowing to your life. But for those of
you who aren't, I'd say I'm about at one
point in my life, I thought I was about
an 8.6. six on the creativity scale and
now I'm more like a 5.6. But that's
okay. I've got other virtues. I've got
other virtues. But having a prompt,
having a chant, which is like, okay,
here's the syllabus. Here's a list, a
point by point, okay, to my spiritual
teachers and guides of great virtue.
I know who those are in my life. And the
list does grow.
And then I can go to my mother, my
father and my relatives and that's fun
and it's a they're nodes they're points
which just
uh expand. Think of my father then his
partner and then their whole families
and it just keeps keeps the practice
alive. It keeps this a Thai word is nami
which means the water of the heart. This
is something you're tapping into the
wellwater of the heart and it keeps the
keeps practice juicy to the sun and the
moon and all virtuous leaders of the
world. So this chant this chant
sometimes people are like where is this
from? I have
at least half of this book probably goes
back to the time of the Buddha, but some
of them go back much more recently. So I
believe this chant for a while I thought
it was composed by the fourth king of
Thailand who was the subject of the king
and I that musical before he became a
king he was a monk for 20 years and he
did he he led like super reformation in
the Thai sa he did instantiate or he did
create the modern Thai chanting book as
you find it all over Thailand.
So this chant is in that book, but it
goes further back than that. Goes
further back than that. And how far? As
far as I can tell, it goes back to
something called the yoga vata, which
was the first
meditation manual translated into
English by Rise Davids of the Polytech
Society in 1896.
in 1896, the first meditation manual and
he titled it the manual of a mystic and
apparently it goes back it was found in
a library in Sri Lanka uh by Anagara
Munra and apparently goes back to 15th
or 16th century at least Sri Lanka but
perhaps Thailand. So this is not all the
word of the Buddha. So you see some
things like my mother, my father, and my
relatives. That's all. There's so much
canonical basis for dedicating merit and
thinking of one's parents. But the sun
and the moon, the sun and the moon, this
is something as like a kind of nitpicky
modern intellectual Buddhist like I very
much was when I first came to the
monastery. I'm like, there's no sun and
moon worship in Buddhism,
you lion chanting book.
But at least it's it's poetic and it
does have Yeah. Can it be Can you hold
the poetry of it? If you can't see the
immediate beauty of it, um yeah, what
what could that mean? Can I can I
dedicate the goodness to the sun and the
moon? What would that even mean to
nature? At least a recollection of
gratitude. The poly word for gratitude
is katanu, which is literally knowing
that which has been done. or a better
translation might be appreciation.
Appreciating that which has been done
for us. And it's a wise virtue.
And so we continue with that list.
Sun and the moon, all virtuous leaders
of the world, highest gods, evil forces,
celestial beings, all this pantheon of
Buddhist cosmos, those who are friendly,
indifferent, or hostile. May they all
receive the blessings of my life.
And then through the goodness that
arises from my practice and through this
act of sharing may all desires and
attachments quickly cease. For we go so
we go from recollection of our own
virtues silanuati to thinking about
others this meta practice to finally
this dedication this aditana this uh
dedication to our own
spiritual upliftment
and this whole practice. I think the
best analogy if you still can't get
around the I don't understand the uh
spiritual psychonamics of how this might
work but the best analogy for it is like
book dedication. So this book right
here, this is stillness flowing the
authoritative biography of Ajan Sha and
it's a big book and if you go to the
dedication
you'll see this book is not for sale.
It's not what I was looking for.
Come on.
Acknowledgements. My thanks in
particular to my editors,
Venerable Kovaleo.
Venerable Misa Monisra, Jan Davies, and
Joe Deleo. So there were three of four
of us. We were the four-fold SA. You had
a monk which is Kovo, a bikuni which was
venerable munisa, a laywoman who is Jan,
and a layman who is Joe. And anytime I
see this book, I think, oh yep, he
dedicated it to me. To little old Kovo,
to your Kovaleo. He did something good.
He did something good in his life. And
if you've ever had a book dedicated to
you, it just feels good. And I remember
it was like a year and a half of my life
I was doing. This was like eight hours a
day, six days a week for about 10 months
that I was going through every single
page of this book. And it feels good if
you Yeah, I'm sure you know Ajan Jasuro
just has so much goodness to recollect
with that book, but that he would
dedicate it to me and all the other
people. Um, it was a great team that we
had. Um, but yeah, just think about
that. Maybe it does transfer. And I will
tell you, it does. It does. If you think
about somebody and then you see them,
you've been nurturing a relationship of
kindness and thoughtfulness even before
you see. You've been priming your heart
to care. And if care comes easy for you,
then here's another tool. But if it
doesn't, here's an especially good,
skillful means to bring more care into
your life. So just encourage everybody
see if you can okay if that monk made an
okay enough case for it then take one of
those little things and say okay I'll
I'll chant this for the next week or at
least later today I'm going to dedicate
the goodness of my life to soand so just
one one dedication start with one start
with one
okay in in the talk there
Su
anami.
Okay. If anybody has any any questions
or thoughts uh both in person, uh Ryan
can bring a mic around to you or if
you're on Zoom, feel free to um raise
your hand there.
Yeah, please.
I figure now would be an appropriate
time to share a practice that I've taken
on for the last maybe six months. Um,
I'm
sometimes at the end of my day, I will
write a word down on a sticky note of a
quality that I saw in myself during some
point in the day, some action, and I
stick it on my mirror and I have a
bedroom mirror covered in sticky notes
that say things like patient, warm,
mindful.
Um and I just thought that it would be
nice to share that practice because it's
been really lovely.
That is really lovely. And others feel
free to to share. That's thank you so
much Assa. That's beautiful. Um and
others feel free to share creative um
sharing of aspiration practices as well.
Sharing of goodness.
So um
that prayer to St. Francis is the only
artifact from Catholicism that I've kept
and and I find it so inspiring. It's
really beautiful. And when you let us I
have done a um guided meditation about
um Cela before but when you used this
particular structure of uh this
beautiful chant it was a totally
different experience for me and I'm
really grateful and I and I thought
about all the times when I've struggled
to uh calm the mind even in a Janna
retreat or something and thinking about
that u proximate cause of joy um being
you know an important step to gathering
the mind and it it it was as if this
guidance through this um beautiful chant
was that piece like I could start with
that so really really lovely
And it also reminded me of something
Joseph Goldstein said that cracked me up
uh early in his practice. Um he went in
with an with Seda Upandida for an
interview and um and he was you know
ruminating on something and Upandida
said, "Joseph, just just reflect on your
sila." And he said, "What did I do
wrong?
So, you know, he's come a long way and
I feel like, you know, we're all coming
a long way with that. So, thank you,
Mary. Thank you very much. And it does
remind me when I first ordained, me and
one of my monk brothers would meet up
multiple times through the day to try to
encourage ourselves to practice having
an accountability buddy. We'd say,
"Okay, for the next 5 hours, I'm going
to meditate this long. I'm going to
chant this much. I'm going to do this
thing." And and after a while, he came
to the realization that it was still
just dry. He would do all those things
and he would still that the waters of
the heart weren't there. And so he took
to dedicating his practice. He's like,
"Okay, you know, I'm going to do these
things and I'm going to do it with a
dedication to my family. I'm going to
meditate for my mother. I'm going to do
this chant for my father." And that just
had a huge effect on his practice. And
uh yeah, thank you for that memory.
Yeah, Scott, please.
>> U thank you for that meditation. That
was one of the more moving ones for
myself and I think for other people too.
I heard some po people sniffing around
me afterwards. I think it was tears of
joy or else they have um um pollen
problems.
Um but I I I just want to thank you for
that.
I would like to do that again. And I was
hoping that for this particular um
Saturday morning
um session if they could also include
that in the in the the YouTube video
they put online because usually they cut
that part out. They just start from the
dharma talk. But I'd really nice to be
able to try this one again and have that
guide guidance.
>> Thank you Scott. That's a good idea.
I'll talk with Cheryl and Kota about
that. We can do that. If not now then
later.
Yeah, I can do that.
And just uh one other way to dedicate um
so yeah, one in addition to um yeah,
other ways to support clear mountain uh
one thing that we do on our website,
we've got something called recitations
of refuge. And there's a good number of
people who will chant the um Buddhang
Sarnang Chami, Damong Sarnam, Sang
Sarang Chami. I go to refuge to the
Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sana. And
we'll do that a certain number of times
every day. Uh if you've got one of those
malas, you can count that as 108 times.
And some people will do that every day.
And then on the website, there's a way
you can put that into
I think it's like a Google form, just
however many times you've done it, and
then dedicate that goodness. Okay, I did
that refuge chant 108 times myself. I do
it 108 times at least at least every
day. And then we'll submit that to the
form and we've got a clock. We've got a
counter. And so for some random
arbitrary somewhat number, we chose five
million recitations of refuge. And we're
up to 3.9 million group recitations of
refuge. So if you want to find a way to
tap into Clear Mountain, consider doing
that refuge chant and dedicating it to
the flourishing of Clear Mountain just
on the website. Joti, please.
Yeah, it was a beautiful practice. Um,
similar to what you were saying about
um, the old Joseph Goldstein reaction to
um, those sort of specific
contemplations, I find that from for
myself as well, I do all of the other
steps.
But when I try to um
like recollect the specifics of my own
goodness, it's like ego itching powder.
and that that like you know like you
know when I go through the list like I
don't know my virtue is pretty good but
like if I try to contemplate the
specifics that inner voice starts you're
not generous enough and you're not and
you blah blah blah blah and and I just
instantly go oh what do you know and I
just skip right to meta and I and I
don't know if I'm like
bypassing work that I should maybe be
doing but I it in when I'm doing meta
practice that voice is 100% gone and I
work with the my spiritual teachers
that's so beautiful I do that all the
time but I can't do the specifics
without it being and I don't believe the
voice but it's really instantaneously
present so I just skip it um and I don't
know like and I and when during this
practice I was like oh can meta become
become like an avoidant. Um like I don't
know. Anyway,
>> yeah, thank you very much. I it does
seem like it's a skillful means for you.
It's just okay, sidestep that. For
whatever reason, it's bringing stuff up
and sidestep to meta and then it just
dissolves. That's beautiful. And I I
think that's not at all uncommon. I
think that's actually how it was for my
grandma. didn't like there's like some
kind of I think the Christianity she was
raised with did like really taboo
thinking of your own goodness as like a
mark of pride. Um but I would also to
the extent that you can gently lean into
it. I think it's a very good habit to
create. Ajan Jasaro does recommend you
having a very clear list even written
down of the 10 kind of best things that
you've done in your life and
recollecting those on a very regular bas
basis and even practicing them day daily
because when you when we're on our
deathbeds you don't want that voice
which doesn't see any goodness in our
lives to be what comes to the four you
want the the voice which says oh yeah I
did do really cool thing and I did help
that person and I did make that offering
and I did you know edit this book that's
on my my short list uh for sure and this
book as well. Yeah. Um
so yeah maybe experimenting leaning into
it a little bit because you do have so
much goodness obviously and um yeah or
maybe you could ask Gavin to for him to
do it. You could do it for each other.
You say all the goodness of him and or
just every day before you go to bed just
one goodness of the other. Yeah.
Please.
Thank you so much for that, you know,
meditation and and the talk. And I I
just I guess I'm coming from at it from
a little bit of a skeptic view. um which
is that if I'm having good thoughts
about somebody, I'm not sure if it's
actually affecting that person, um it
helps me. And so I've heard about having
resentment towards somebody and and the
teaching is generally if you have
resentment towards somebody, you're not
affecting that person. You're only
hurting yourself.
And so to me it seems like what helps
the person is if I let them know that I
am thinking about them not just thinking
about them.
>> Thank you for saying that. I'm I can
sympathize a lot. How this whole talk
came about was last Sunday I was talking
with my dad. He's a psychiatrist. He's
very skeptical but also somewhat open.
And um he asked me point blankly uh is
there intercessionary prayer in Buddhism
and it's just such a nuanced answer.
There's not you're not certainly not the
intercession of a Buddha that's not
terra Buddhism isn't about asking the
Buddha to give blessings to us or
anybody else. um or even like
intercession of saints asking someone
else to uh give us their merit or
something. In fact, that's why there are
several ways to translate this practice.
One of them is transferring merit or
sharing merit or dedic dedicating merit.
And I think dedicating and sharing is
better than transferring because it's
not like this esoteric economy of tit
fortat I do these good things and then
it makes up for all those bad things I
did or that saint can intercede on my
behalf. Um but yeah I'm very s
sympathetic. You know I don't know how
it might work. Tomorrow is his birthday
and I sent him a card. I he really one
of the ways that I'm trying to convert
him to Buddhism
is uh I draw these cartoons which he
really likes and uh it's called Monk and
Dad and so his birthday is tomorrow and
so I sent him a card and I didn't have
as much time as usual to to draw it out
but we have him he's his you know
psychiatrist face with his glasses and
his parted hair and I'm this monk over
here and he asks hey Kobe he calls me
Kobe
Hey Kovi, is there such a thing as
intercessionary prayer in Buddhism? And
I say,
"Dad,
if there is,
I'mma intercede the hell out of you."
Dot dot dot. But if there's not, you
better keep doing a lot of good stuff
like your head was on fire.
So kind of you know frightening him a
little bit and you know but yeah through
humor like and again I can't you this is
something nobody else can prove for you
and I think how you're holding it
especially telling them and maybe take
that on as a practice. Um that's that's
beautiful. Thank you for sharing that,
Tim.
>> Bonnie,
>> maybe we can go Bonnie and then Suz and
then
>> just a really quick recollection of
something I read online. It was an old
woman and her grandchild noticed that
she put lotion on her arms every day.
And she asked her grandmother, "Why do
you do that?" And she said, "When I put
the lotion on, I reflect of the good my
arms have done. And I found that
absolutely beautiful. So every time I
put lotion on my arms or on my hands, I
think of the good my hands have done,
what they've made, the babies they've
held, just the good work that comes from
what your body does. And and I just
found that absolutely beautiful and
focusing on the goodness that your body
produces.
>> So nice. If anybody is inspired to buy a
bunch of babysized lotions and bring
them to Clear Mountain to give away so
everybody can rub the goodness into
their arms, that would be great.
Suz, thank you so much. Bonnie,
>> you use the phrase um expanding the
scope of your heart and I wanted to
share this experience. So last night I
turned on the news and there was the
picture of a person driving their truck
into this synagogue in West Bloomfield,
Michigan, which is my brother's temple.
And I've been there and nobody was hurt.
And I then called my brother and
sister-in-law.
And then this morning I read in the
paper about the man who had driven his
truck into the temple and he was
Lebanese. He is a US citizen.
And four or five of members of his
family had just been killed by um a bomb
from Israel.
And I was sitting there and I don't
remember his name right now. I'm going
to go back and and remember it. But I
sent him
blessings for
this transition. He is now dead and the
pain that he was feeling and it was a
different kind of response and I really
felt the expansion of the scope of my
heart. So something this practice is
working.
>> Thank you Suz.
Yeah. And there is
>> a lot going on in the world right now.
And
praying, sending meta, sharing goodness,
opening the heart, expanding the heart
in all these ways. If you do read the
news, expanding it that much and more.
Um,
I would actually if you are going to
watch the news,
please do practice this afterwards
because there's so much so many prayers
that need need having. So
maybe go to Joseph.
Thank you, venerable. I just wanted to
um check in a view I have and get some
uh some feedback. So when I hear the
idea of inter uh interceding prayer
um if I said that correctly, sorry if
I'd said the wrong term. The the way I
understand it in a Buddhist framework um
is we make we help ourselves when we are
uh keep our virtue
and we're generous and we engage in
meditation and we help others when we
encourage approve and praise those
behaviors in others. So an interceding
prayer in a Buddhist context would be
like telling all the angels may you may
you give gifts with confidence. May you
guard your virtue always and may you ga
uh engage in meditation and so when
we're asking you for a blessing right
say you're the the the monk and we
request you to give a blessing to the
audience you are spreading goodwill and
so we're encouraging you to be kind and
so we're witnessing you being kind and
so there is some actual kind of
scientific research that shows that the
receiver the giver and the witness of an
act of kindness
all gain an increase in health and
happiness. So there is tangible actual
proof in blessing is not a magical word.
It's it's encouraging, approving and
praising kindness. So I would like to
intercede on behalf of the entire clear
mountain community. Uh please uh give
gifts with confidence. Guard your
virtual ways and engage in meditation
and may you be healthy and happy along
with all your relatives.
>> Nice. Thank you Joseph.
Well,
let's
keep opening our our hearts up. Um
something we do, we mentioned it a
little bit, but that blessing braid on
our website, it's a just an ongoing list
of um people who've either requested
blessings or requested that we as a
community keep certain people in mind.
So, you can go and add people there. You
can tell Ajanisbo and I and we can add
their names and I think we've got quite
a list today. So, just as Cheryl reads
these out, um yeah, see if you can tap
into that that place of okay, maybe I
don't know this person, but is there any
way that I can open my heart to them and
and share any goodness that I've done
today?