Two Kinds of Language The Sangha UK 258 10 13 24

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Dhammarato: And today we can talk about two kinds of languages. Now, just to fill in for the folks who have been kind of watching the the video, before we started the call, we’ve been talking about sensuality and sexuality, and that’s one of the topics that can be discussed. But let’s talk about it in the sense of two different kinds of languages. We have ordinary language, the language of our society, the language of our culture. And in that language, we have all kinds of do’s and don’ts and things that we’re supposed to do and things that we’re not supposed to do, etc. Like that. And then the Buddha talks in a dhamma language. And so today I want to introduce you to the idea of dhamma language. So you’ve actually been introduced to it many times before when we talk about the difference between ordinary mind, ordinary reality, and Dhamma. And the dhamma language actually is referenced as liberating language to where ordinary language is not. Now, in one of the pieces that I have seen from Bhikkhu Buddhadasa, he gives a long list of words and gives the distinction in the definition of those words as to whether they are noble or whether they’re ordinary words. And in fact, we use the same words, but they have completely different definitions to them. An example of that would be the word love in the sense that the word love has all of the stuff built in with culture. It has love in the sense of selling products. It has love in the sense of jealousy. It has love in the sense of two girls fighting over the same guy. We have love in the sense of sensuality and sexuality. So there’s all kinds of stuff going on with love to where in the dhamma language, we don’t even bother to use the word because we know how polluted it is. Then. In fact, the stuff that I was able to find for this talk, I could not find one of the old dhamma talks that I’ve heard before to where Bhikkhu Buddhadasa refers to ordinary language as balloon language. And the noble language, the Dhamma language, is actually called knife language. Why is one called balloon language and the other one is called knife language? Well, the balloon language is the kids love to play with balloons. They’re lightweight, airy, fairy can play around with them, no problem until the balloon blows up in your face. Then you’ve lost it. To where knife language is a language that slices right through it, cuts down all of the fat away, and gets right down to the reality of the situation. So dhamma language is a language that we can use to actually see what really is. Now, Bhikkhabuddasa also mentions that ordinary language is a language of the world, and that we have a lot of different definitions of the world, the word world, and that the dhamma language is actually much more mental. Now, I’d like to make an adjustment to that just a bit, in the sense that almost all of ordinary language is a language of perception and perceiving things and seeing things the way that we want them to be, as opposed to dhamma language is seeing things actually the way they are, to see reality as it is with the senses and to see things the way that they actually are without adding our own desires, wants, perceptions, etc like that, so that we stop telling ourselves stories about reality and start allowing reality to be just the way that it is. So most of you have been living your whole lives using ordinary language. And so often when I talk about things in a noble language and dhamma language, we have a lot of questions, we’re not quite sure what we mean, and other things like that, because it doesn’t fit in with everything that we’ve heard and been taught and the way that we perceive reality. But the difference is, is that it’s noble and it is liberating, and therefore it is worth the time and effort to put into it so that you can get the real value out of it then. In fact, one of the words that Bhikkhu Buddhadasa uses is the word work. Now, in the ordinary sense of the language of work, that means having a job, taking the kids to school, making your payments, doing all the kinds of stuff that’s necessary for living your life, even to the point of the delusion of if you don’t work, you don’t eat. And yet, in the Dhamma language, the word work could actually be referred to most specifically as right noble effort to come out of all of the work that we do in the ordinary world and come to the effort of putting the effort in, of stopping all of the work that we’ve been doing and just enjoy our lives. So all of the words that we have been using with Dhamma would have these distinctions between ordinary and dhamma language. One of them would be the word Buddha. Buddha is almost always in our culture used in an ordinary sense. We see the Buddha as statues, we refer to the Buddha as a historical figure and all of that kind of stuff. Yet we can see the word Buddha as a noble word in the sense that there is the possibility that you can come out of your trained nature, that the way that you’ve been living your lives, has been trained, your nature, your real nature, has been trained into a way of looking at the world, what you’re desiring and wanting and things like that. And when you begin to disregard all of that training and look at the way things actually really are, that’s how we use the word Buddha, to see things the way that it really means that in fact, the word bu actually has the quality of awakening, to be awake, to look at what we’re actually doing, to look at what we’re actually seeing. Because if we can wake up to what we’re seeing, wake up to what we’re doing, we now have a choice. And that choice, then would be the right noble effort to come out of our desire, come out of our delusion, to come out of our ill will, and to come into the state of being Buddha just awakened. The same thing would be then true about the word Dhamma, that when we hear the word Dhamma, it’s almost always referred to as the teaching of the Buddha. And yet a more noble way of looking at the word would be reality itself. That in fact, the word D has the quality of the word foundation. You could go so far as to say that the real foundation is the actual, real laws of nature, the law of gravity, the law of electromagnetic forces, nuclear, strong and weak forces, the actual thing that puts the world together. Now, in Thailand, they have a word called domicile, and the word dhammakai actually means the body of the dhamma. And we can see then that that would be all of reality itself. And in that regard, we could use the word namakai or the word Dhamma in the sense of what is God, Because God is real. It’s our environment, it’s the air we breathe, it’s gravity that holds us to the ground. It’s the light that we use to be able to see, it’s the sound waves that we can hear with, et cetera, like this. So we are actually immersed into, let us call it, kind of an ocean of reality. And that that ocean that we live in is then the God. And yet you can hear in the ordinary language the word God has some dude on a cloud, maybe with binoculars, watching what you’re doing. Some of the Christians think that they have a personal relationship with him, when in fact all they’re doing is hallucinating. They better have their relationship with God in church rather than in the psychiatric ward. At least church you can go home. And so the. The point is, is that the word God is almost always in our society, used in an ordinary way, it’s an ordinary word. But in the dhamma language, we can use the word God to be that which you are in is the environment. It’s your what contacts you, your sight, sounds, touches, smells. And your ability to have a mind, to think is all part of that reality. Now, another word that we can look at would be the word Sangha. The word sangha is a common word throughout Buddhism, generally meaning the collection of monks. And when I say collection, I’m using that word specifically to where really Sangha, and has nothing to do with the collection of monks. What it has to do with is your attitude about the people around you. If you have a noble attitude that those that are around you are noble, then you’ll have Sangha. Otherwise, you’re just going to have some sort of conflict with the people around you. So another word that the Buddha Buddhadasa uses is the word eat. When we use the word eat, we think about chewing with the mouth, consuming. And yet another way of looking at the word when we’re looking at it from a noble perspective is not devouring something, but. But just letting it in, just in. Just let it come apart in, inside, to be absorbed within, as opposed to devouring something so we can eat in the sense of just experience. So all of these words are used for us to make a choice about whether we’re going to see these words and use these words in a noble context so that we can begin to have noble thoughts with noble language, or whether we’re going to be using our language in the way that we have been trained throughout all of our lives. Remember that the ordinary language was kind of given to the child as a gift in the sense of a toy, but it winds up blowing up in his face to where we want to keep knives away from children because we don’t want them to hurt themselves. And so now then, the child is untrained and unskilled in using a language that actually dissects, looks, and takes in consideration exactly what really is. So there’s an entire vocabulary of words that we can use. I’ve only used a few of them. So does anybody have any questions about this? Jesus. Jesus. Good to see you, friend.

Speaker B: Good to see you. Good to see the matter. Good to see you all. I happy you feel better. Can you hear me?

Dhammarato: Yes, I can hear you.

Speaker B: Okay. No, I don’t have any questions right now. It’s very clear. Thank you very much.

Dhammarato: All right, well, there’s. There’s not a whole lot that needs to be said about it, but it has the quality that we have to remember what kind of language that we’re going to be using. Are we going to be using ordinary language with ordinary people? Are you going to spend our time with people who can actually understand a noble language? Christopher, do you have any thing to say?

Speaker C: Is that me? Yes, sorry, I’m not a Skype user. I only installed this to make an international call to my bank. I’m not sure what my tagline says, but my name is Chris. No, I think the easiest way to sound smart is to not talk. Not today.

Dhammarato: Carl. Go ahead.

Speaker D: I was gonna add more on the previous topic. What Thomas asked about the love and all the relationship problems that come along down the path. But it’s. It’s like that. I don’t know. If you want to talk more about like how you don’t need it, then every argument you will have with the spouse or wife, it’s not going to be a big deal. But you have to have like, it’s too much work first kind of attitude, champions mentality before you can get into any relationship. I feel like.

Dhammarato: I’m not quite sure what you’re saying. Can you clarify that?

Speaker D: I’m saying when you don’t need it, then it needs you more than you need it. Like as soon as you drop this whole issue of needing love and needing relationships, it finds you back again. I don’t know if you know what I mean. It’s like when you don’t want something, everything becomes just like a toy, a gift, a toy to play with. Right? We say so same with relationships. It’s just like another kind of toy.

Dhammarato: Right? Okay, so here’s one of the ways that we can put that. And that is that relationship is all about chase chasing things. And when you stop chasing things, the things that you were chasing are going to turn around and start chasing you. That everything is a chase in the ordinary life and that we don’t need to be chasing around. That that was what we were taught to do and that we can in fact recognize that I’m just out chasing, looking for something, looking for love. In fact, there’s a song that I like very much because it has got some quite value by understanding it. And that is the song that says looking for love in all the wrong places. That in fact there is no place that you can look for love that’s not in the wrong place. Everybody’s looking for love. The point would be is, is that some of them who are looking for love and says, well, you can love Yourself. But the Buddha wouldn’t say that. What he would say instead is, is that you’re okay, you’re all right, you don’t need loved, you don’t need to be loved, you don’t need to love yourself. What you need to do instead is take care of yourself, to nurture yourself, be friends with yourself, but you don’t need to love yourself. Yes. Geez, go for it. Yeah.

Speaker B: A question about seeing people as nobles, like about the Sangha, if this happens to me, if, if I am with people that obviously or I see my, in my perception, they are not wise. And I had the thought it wouldn’t be nice if I am with wise people. This is a way to. Because I, I understand this is a wholesome thought because I am like preferring to be with one kind of people than the other. At the same time, it’s a wise thought because it’s nicer if I change my environment and work with people. But this feeling of I wish I was, how can I use this like in a wholesome way? Like when I am around my family, for example, and they are not super wholesome. Do you understand what I mean?

Dhammarato: Yes. Okay, here is a way of doing it, is that you can see those folks as not noble. And because you can see them as not noble, you treat them as if they are not noble. And then they will prove over and over again with two you that they are not noble. Okay, so that’s, in fact you’re, you’re taking it and not applying the idea. And the idea then would be that yes, everything is noble. I am noble, my family is noble, and if I start treating them noble, I will begin to see they too are noble. So if you treat children in a noble, happy way, they’ll begin to respond in a noble, happy way. And if you treat them like trash, guess what? They’re going to act like trash. So it’s actually, the reality is that it’s always inside one’s, the practitioner is in his mind, where the nobility can be found. Now, when you’re around other people and you treat them nobly, and they don’t act nobly, you continue to treat them nobly. While you’re on your way out, you can go find people who will actually behave nobly when you treat them nobly. And there are quite a number who have been so well trained at being non noble, ordinary people that no matter how you treat them now, they continue to behave in the habits that they have. And you can see that. But within your family, the right way to Handle them is by handling them as if they were noble. Give them credit for what they have instead of saying that they’re not noble and then treating them as if they’re not noble so that they prove to you that they’re not noble. The right way to handle it is exactly opposite of that. And that is start treating them as noble and then begin to look for signs of nobility within them and keep your own mind noble. When your mind is noble, everything is noble.

Speaker B: Okay. Okay. And if the. The. The movement from. From that environment to a more wholesome, beneficial environment, which is maybe consequence of a thought of I’m getting out. This getting out is the thing I don’t want to. I would like to find a way to. I’m getting out, but not in like aversion way. Not having aversion to the. To the. To the space. And then move to the. To the more wholesome environment. Sorry for my English. I non tie and speak English.

Dhammarato: Okay. One of the important point is, is that when we’re moving out the movement, the moving out in the beginning is your mind. So what we’re saying then is that when you are seeing your family as ignoble, they’re not acting noble, you want them to behave noble, you act like they’re noble, and they continue to show you that they’re not noble. Then the way to handle that is to make sure that your mind is noble, to keep coming back to right effort. Right noble effort to put your mind in a really, really good state, and your feet will follow naturally.

Speaker B: Okay, I got it. I got it out. Thank you.

Dhammarato: Yeah. It is all about a mental state, a mental attitude that we have about the world and the way that we perceive the world. Instead of perceiving the world the way that we’ve been taught to perceive the world. Ordinarily, we begin to see the world in a noble way. But that takes training. And the training that it takes is basically to catch our own unwholesome, unknowable thoughts and changing them into wholesome, noble thoughts. This is the actual practice of Anapanasati. This is actually the practice of the Eightfold Noble Path. Now, when Ajahn Vika Buddhadasa talked about Dhamma as a noble language word, he actually used it in the sense of the way that we would use the Four Noble Truths, that there is a Dhamma, it exists, and that we have a duty to that dhamma. If we fill our duty to the Dhamma, then the dhamma will be noble. And if we do not fulfill our duty to the Dhamma, then it will not be. Now, the interesting point about it is, is that this teaching about our duty to the Dhamma is exactly the same as the Eightfold Noble Path. We actually, once we learned the Eightfold Noble Path path, we actually see we’ve got a duty to practice the Eightfold Noble Path. And when we don’t practice the Eightfold Noble Path, we get punished by the reality of our own manufactured dukkha. And when we practice the Eightfold Noble Path, that means that we’re actually, in a way, fulfilling our duty to the Dhamma. And by fulfilling our duty to the Dhamma, that makes the Dhamma noble. And so this is an important point. Bhikkha Buddhadasa spoke about this quite often. We all have a duty to the Dhamma. Now, in reality, we have a duty in our ordinary world. The world is full of ordinary duties that we have. We have duty, for instance, to treat the police with respect. And if you don’t do your duty to the dhamma, you’re going to wind up with your face in the dirt and your hands behind you. If you do not fulfill your duty to the Dhamma in their sense of breathing, you’ll run out of breath. So we have all these little duties that we have in reality that are ordinary. Let’s start recognizing that we have some noble duties. And the noble duty is to practice the Eightfold Noble Path. We actually have a duty to become noble. It’s a duty. And if we don’t perform our duty, guess what? We’re, let us say, imprisoned by and have to put up with the reality of that. Our reality is not noble. It’s ordinary. You become an ordinary person again, because we’re not practicing the Noble dhamma. We have a responsibility. We have an actual duty to it. Now, to be honest, when I first heard about this duty to the Dhamma, I wanted to rebel. What? Me? I don’t have any duties to the Dhamma. I’m having too much fun here not recognizing and in fact, that we do have a duty, that you have all kinds of duties, and that the important one in this regard of being noble is that you actually have a duty to become noble. And when you practice your. Your responsibility of becoming noble, you get the fruit or the benefit of your own practice, and that the mind becomes noble. And so this is an important point that we can say is, is that we can start keeping track of the language that we use mentally so that we can then intentionally bring our mind into a Noble state, because we have a duty to make the mind noble. And when we don’t fulfill our duty, then we’re back into the ordinary world. With all the problems that brought you to this talk today. So who we get, Ben, what do you think?

Speaker E: All makes sense.

Speaker F: Yeah.

Speaker E: I’m happy. Have a. A comment. When you said about. I’ve heard before, like, you don’t have to work to eat. I was. I was watching a documentary on Zen Buddhism the other day, and they do live a sort of subsistence lifestyle. Like they. They grow their own food and they’ve got a rule where if you. If you don’t work, you can’t eat that day.

Dhammarato: Well, someone there at that temple is making ordinary rules for ordinary people. Mm. And yet I imagine that if someone is sick, they’re not going to be, let us say, deprived of food, are they? No, this is actually a training rule. And that the problem with the Dhamma is that almost all of the training rules and almost all of the watts are ordinary training rules. Teaching the kids to do ordinary things and they never wind up becoming noble. Then in fact, possibly the right thing to do is for all of the monks just to stop growing the vegetables. Let the vegetables grow all by themselves. I think gardens are generally well, too well tended. A lot of the work of a farmer is make work. They gotta stay busy. And in fact, that’s the wonderful thing about grass and crops is that they actually grow by themselves pretty much. And so we are actually, then most of the monasteries that you’ll find throughout the world are populated by ordinary people who are striving to become noble without even knowing how to do that, being taught how to become noble by teachers who don’t know how to be noble. That we’re actually very fortunate to have had a teacher like Bhikkhu Buddhadasa, who began to understand what real noble nobility is. Rather than doing what you’re told to do and getting a pat on the head. My, what a good boy you are. Which is the way that a lot of the watts operate. Oh. If you follow all the rules and you get it just right, then you’re a good monk. And yet the people who grew that are generally just ordinary people doing what they were told to do, still looking for enlightenment to where, in fact, they could have been enlightened all along by changing their attitude from that ordinary. I’ve got to get the job done because I was told to do it into I’m okay. Whether I do the work or not, I’m still okay. Let’s look at it in a. In a very, very large way. Notice how much technology has happened in the past hundred years from electronics, vacuum tubes, transmitters, short waves, spark gap transmitters, and all of that kind of stuff in the early days up through transistors and then mainframe computers and then into PCs and then into cell phones and all this technology that’s happened in the past hundred years. Look how much technology has happened and look at how many people have become noble because of it. Nobody. An interesting way of looking at it is, is that way, way back when humans were using stones to break open the bones of the dead carcasses, after the lions had finished with it, to get the marrow out. And one of these dudes finds a really, really sharp, special kind of stone that can cut through that bone quickly so that he can get right to the marrow. And what does he do? He picks up that stone and he carries it with him. He loves that stone. He makes a pocket for it. He loves that stone. And so he attaches a stick to it and makes the first ax. And he carries that thing around with him until it’s 20, 24. And recall that ax that he picked up, a cell phone. No real mental change has happened. The only thing that’s changed is the technology that we rely upon. And when he loses that stone ax or if you lose your cell phone, what happens? You feel bad. So what’s the point? The point about society and the point about all of this stuff that we picked up and we’ve learned and all of this technology hasn’t really made anybody happy because we’re not practicing to become happy. We’re practicing to be technologically proficient. So we need to change our mentality from oh, I need a new iPhone, or oh, I need new memory, more memory in my computer, et cetera like that, into I’m already okay, everything is already fine. So we actually have to remember to practice being noble, because look at how much technology and how much we have in our society that is teaching you, oh, you got to do it society’s way. And society’s way is just more dukkha. And so this is why Bhikkhu Buddhadasa mentions this idea of this concept of let’s look at the kind of language that we’re using, because almost all the language that we’ve been using is not liberating. It may make you a technological expert, but you’re going to be a stole, miserable technological expert. The question is, is can you change your mind? Can you change your attitude? Can you change from being an ordinary person to a noble person. When you, in fact you’re generally surrounded by all these ordinary people who don’t even have a clue about how to work to become noble, which is what Jesus is talking about. So when your family, Jesus is not noble, guess whose mind sees them as not noble? Where is the nobility in that? So this is the way that we begin to understand things is that we have to get our own mind straightened. We have to get the unwholesome thoughts out of the mind and bring happy, wholesome, noble thoughts in over and over and over and over and over again. Just as kind of an example, let me give you this kind of question. How many thoughts of want, desire, confusion, unwholesome thoughts? How many unwholesome thoughts have you had in your life? About 10 or so a minute, every minute of your life. Pretty large number. Which means now that we actually have to practice having a whole lot of one after another after another wholesome thoughts just to kind of make up for, for all of the unwholesome thoughts who we’ve been taught. Go ahead, Ivan.

Speaker G: Oh no, Damrad. I was just trying to say I realized my sense of self shift very quickly when, when I’m around quote unquote not noble people. It’s like not sure very quickly. Like there can be unwholesome speech.

Speaker B: Or.

Speaker G: Just unwholesome thoughts like, like, but I know that’s not me, like that’s just the whole me. But it comes out so quickly like yeah, that’s. I mean I’m not sure what I’m trying to say. It’s just kind of frustrating when I think about it.

Dhammarato: I guess you’re actually breaking up a really important point and that is that conventional language, ordinary language is language about self. It’s about me. It’s about my desire, my relationships, my wanting, love in all the wrong places. It’s about selfishness and noble minded. In fact Jesus, back to the point of you’re noble but your family is not noble, you want them to be noble. Your non nobility is dealing with what you’re seeing is not noble. But if you can get your mind into a state of nobility, then you’re treating all of your family as if they were also noble. And so this is the whole thing is, is that we can come out of our selfishness, come out of our selfish desires. Oh, I want my family to be noble so I don’t have to work so hard. Oh, I want the people around me to be noble so I don’t have to work so hard. To try to see them as noble, when in fact, I know they’re not. That’s our own lack of nobility. So we have to keep practicing over and over and over again, remembering that we’ve had a million or more unwholesome thoughts in our lifetime. Now it’s time to start practicing, having some happy, wholesome thoughts, one after another after another after another, until there’s nothing left to think about. Everything is okay. Everything is just fine. No work to be done, because all the work that needed to be done has been done. And what is that? The only job that you have to do is to make your mind noble. That’s the only job you’ve got. The only job that you’ll ever have is to make your mind noble. And guess what? That only takes a tenth of a second, right bloody now make it noble. You might have to do that again later, but that’s okay. I can do that. When the time comes, I’ll remember, and it’ll become noble right then. So we practice over and over and over again. Everything is all right. Everything is fine. Not a problem, not a worry in the world. But we have to practice being noble, knowing that most of the people around us have not a clue about how to practice. But that doesn’t mean that we have to have the attitude that they’re not good enough because they’re not practicing. Because that, in fact, is taking our own nobility away in order to see them as not noble. So the question is, and this is a tough one, can you actually remain in a noble state, see that they’re not noble, treat them as if they were noble, and continue on like that? Or do you have to become disappointed because you see that they’re not noble, can you actually say, it’s okay with me that you’re not noble, then, in fact, I’m the one who’s calling them not noble? Yeah, you’re the one who’s calling them not noble. Yes. Jesus, go ahead.

Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. This is very interesting because what. So if I. If. If I see. If I see the unwholesomeness of. Of actions of myself or other people, and I think, I’m out of here. So the. The I’m out of here is. The thing I, like, makes me feel sometimes is that I am rejecting them or. Or what you say, I’m. I’m being. I’m. I’m making my. My mind noble and my feet are following. Sometimes I doubt. I mean, when. When, you know, this is the thing. It’s like if. If I’m gonna Because I want. I have thoughts of. For dating next next year. I’m thinking, am I in? Am I just escaping this? Or I am like, you know, this is the. Sometimes the. The doubt I have. Like, I am out of fear. When I say I’m out of fear, what I mean with that, you know?

Dhammarato: Well, the. If. The. If it’s the way that you’re saying I’m out of here, that means that my selfishness is being removed from the situation, leaving nothing but the emptiness of nobility. Take the eye out. I’m out of here. Oh.

Speaker B: Okay. Okay, okay, okay. It clicked now.

Dhammarato: Thank you. Okay.

Speaker B: All right.

Dhammarato: So excellent. I’m glad to see that it’s clicking for you. It takes a while. This stuff is subtle. The Buddha says it is profound. It’s difficult to discern, but we have to keep practicing by seeing one unwholesome thought after another and removing it. And pretty soon we can begin to see the subtleties of the thoughts that we thought were wholesome were in fact, just more judgmental thoughts.

Speaker B: This is very nice. Thank you very much for that. Yeah, thank you.

Dhammarato: So, Ross, do you have anything to say?

Speaker H: I suppose. Sorry, I don’t know if it’s noisy in the background. Hopefully you can hear me. I think one thing that I have learned from coming to your calls is the power of language and how that helps you reframe things in your mind so you can, well, be more. Will be better in your practice, I suppose. Become more skillful. A lot of words that I’ve used in the past, I’ve kind of changed. And it’s been very, very helpful. Yeah, it kind of resonates me what we’re talking about. The other thing I want to say is I think Ben spoke before about the quote about a day without work is a day without food. The person who is attributed to is a person called Baijung Huaihai. He was actually born in the district that I live in. His temple’s quite near where his ordination temple is, near where I actually live. I think a lot of that became because of the culture in China where they didn’t really do alms rounds anymore. So they had no access to food from the laity a lot. And it was quite difficult where they had their monasteries. It wasn’t close to people. Maybe the term that he said. I agree it’s not very well phrased, but you can take joy in that sort of work as well. I think have the right approach to the practice. I decided to mention that because.

Dhammarato: Yes, I would say that if the Monks in a foreign society whether it was in China or Japan or even modern Europe nowadays the problem is not that the monks go on Ben debate and get nothing the problem is is that they don’t continue to go on Ben divide and get nothing. If they continue to go on Bendabad and get nothing over and over and over again day after day after day after day pretty soon they begin to get some stuff but they quit too early. That’s what happens with the monks in the United States in fact we have been on Bendabad I was surprised that they stopped doing it. What we did was early in the morning at about 7am on a regular work day they parked the car in a regular parking place within a block of I think it’s either trade or trying the main drag and we walked up and down and basically when we would get in bend about area of a. A dunkin donut or a 7 not a 711 or something like that on the street people would go in and get stuff and give it to us and so that’s the problem is, is that in China they didn’t keep going out they said oh we’ve got to grow our own food because nobody’s giving us anything then in fact they were not treating their fellow Chinese as noble. If we start treating all of these people on the street as noble they’ll begin to behave noble if we have the idea oh I can’t get any food from them, we’ve got to go grow our own then where’s the nobility in that one?

Speaker H: I think people do make donations they just got the temple to do it But I am struggling to understand myself what is better about going on alms round and growing your own food. Like what’s why like what’s more noble about that?

Dhammarato: Well the noble of going on arms round is, is that you get enough for you to carry or less none of the guys that are on our normal group here are on but Cat and David go on Bendabad over at Watsu and milk on a regular basis and Cat’s gotten kind of used to it I got used to it I got used to getting a tiny little fish that was half eaten and all you saw was the skeleton of the fish half eaten bananas and other things like this but when the mind becomes noble then we can do with what food is there and so recognize that in most cases the, the, the watts throughout the world are not practicing nobly. If we started practicing nobly the Dhamma would grow and swell greatly. Now I do know then recognize that there’s what, 400 million people in the world who are Buddhist. But that’s an ordinary kind of Buddhism. There’s not a lot of nobility there. We in fact have the mentality that nobility is rare. Gosh, you’re not going to see a whole group of enlightened monks walking down the street. You’d be lucky if all of those monks walking down the street have ever actually seen an enlightened one. What kind of noble thought is that? So begin to have your own noble thoughts. Begin to see that everything is actually already okay, that your family is noble, etc. Go ahead, Christopher.

Speaker C: Yeah, so not to take anything away from gardening, which is. Can be a beautiful thing, but if you’ve never done pindapat on a, on a regular basis, it’s beautiful. It’s a beautiful thing. And I was actually, I’ve been out in the forest all day trying to find a place that’s not crawling with humans. And I was thinking about some related stuff as I was looking for a place of solitude. And that is, I have caught myself before when lay people ask me why I became a monk, feeling guilty that I, that I left society, that I ran away, that I gave up, that I. It was a cowardly thing to do. But if I look at those people that are in the hills, the people that feed me every morning, they’re out there picking tea leaves. They don’t. Or as I can tell, not many people. There are a few hundred people in the village around me. Not many people have, like, a real job. They don’t have the pressures of the stuff I used to have to put up with the nonsense. They just get up and walk off into the woods and pick enough tea leaves to get by. And that with a lot of generational knowledge about how to live off the land, they. I don’t feel guilty at all anymore. When I look at that like, you don’t have to work, it’s a, they tricked you, they tricked you. So I agree.

Dhammarato: Exactly. So. And so when you’re having those kind of thoughts of, oh, well, I’m just escaping from the world by becoming a monk, the answer to the correct and right answer is, yeah, that’s right, let me out of here. Okay, so it’s not a matter of leaving the world to become a monk. It’s how. What kind of attitude do you have doing it? And over time, you’ve developed the right attitude, but it took some time because you were dealing with those thoughts that sometimes other people giving you. Is that all you just quit? You’re not living up to the. To the obligations of society. The answer to that is that society is not worth living up to. In fact, if we’re going to live up to something, let’s live up to something that’s worth living up to. Having a noble mind. It’s clean. So congratulations, Christopher, you’ve gotten over that hump.

Speaker C: I mean, literally. Alms round is more often than not the most beautiful part of my day. It’s a. It’s a beautiful thing.

Dhammarato: Well, another way of saying it is that when you’re really practicing, well, it’s the only part of your day. Everything else is just nothing there. So, Thomas, you had your hand up for a moment a little while ago.

Speaker I: Yeah, I was going to say too that I think with solitude and seclusion, etcetera, there’s a little bit of crab in the bucket mentality in society. So yeah, they may say, oh, you’re giving up. But I’ve also heard, oh, that’s so brave. How can you be alone? Oh, that’s impossible. So one way or the other, it’s something. Or either unbelievable impossible, too brave, too difficult, or too easy. You are giving up on society. But there’s. There is that push always that. No, you can’t do that. You can’t do that. Well, yeah, I can. As a matter of fact, I can and I do.

Dhammarato: Yes, exactly. Isn’t that funny? Within society, you’ll have a yes coming from the left and you’ll have a yes coming from the right, and you’ll have a no coming from the left and a no coming from the right. It’s a hodgepodge, it’s all over the place, but very little of it is noble. They don’t see that becoming a monk is a noble thing to do to get away from the society. All of those people who will criticize you and look at you about being a monk, they’re doing it from within their mindset of being in society. They can’t see you and they can’t see themselves as removing yourself from the society that is not noble. And coming into a state of mentally being noble. Like I said, there’s what, 400 million Buddhists and there’s very few nobles there, they braiding the society with them. The Buddha that they have is an ordinary Buddha, not a noble Buddha. So we have to start practicing to make our thoughts noble, to make our Buddhahood noble Buddha. This is the way that we do it over and over and over again. So guys, why don’t we go ahead and finish now? I think that we’ve kind of gotten the point. Does anybody have any last things to say? All right, so, Mikey, why don’t you take it home? Yeah.

Speaker F: Thank you, everyone, for being here today. It’s great to see so many happy, smiling friends on this Sangha call. If you haven’t yet, go ahead and subscribe to our YouTube channel. You can also follow us on your favorite podcast platform as well. And it really helps the channel when you leave a like and comment on our videos. And also, if you haven’t yet, please go ahead and sign up for opensongofoundation.org Things have really come together on the website. We’ve been mostly fixing bugs and addressing security issues, things like that. So if you happen to come across something that’s not working, please let us know and go have fun on the site. Add a profile, picture, message some friends. Create a blog post. Have a ball.

Dhammarato: Thank you. Take a poll. Take the survey. Write your own poll. This is very, very oriented towards people being interactive. This is not the normal website to where they expect you to read what they’ve written, but this is a very highly interactive website, so that we expect you to build your own content, write your own post, write your own comments, add your own photos, make your messages, get to become friends with one another. This is what it’s all about. And the messaging system seems to be working very well. So have at it, folks. Have a. Have a noble happy old time.

Speaker G: Thank you. Thank you.

Dhammarato: All right, so thank you, guys. Thank you very much. Bye bye.

Speaker I: Thank you.

Dhammarato: Language be noble.

Brief Summary of This Dhamma Talk

Dhammarato’s talk centers on the critical distinction between ordinary language and dhamma language. Ordinary language, shaped by societal norms and perceptions, is likened to a “balloon” — appealing but ultimately unreliable, leading to dukkha (dissatisfaction). In contrast, dhamma language, akin to a “knife,” cuts through illusion and reveals reality as it is. This liberating language is crucial for understanding and practicing the Eightfold Noble Path, which he emphasizes as a duty for achieving true nobility, where the mind is consistently wholesome. Dhammarato argues that many Buddhist concepts (like Buddha, dhamma, sangha, eat, work) are misinterpreted in ordinary language and must be redefined using this knife-like dhamma language to be truly effective. The core message is that by shifting from ordinary perception and language to a noble perspective, we can escape the cycle of dissatisfaction and realize true Buddha-hood. The main practice instruction is to consciously shift from unwholesome thoughts to wholesome thoughts, making the mind Noble, which is the single most important job we have.

Outline of this Dhamma Talk

• [00:05-00:30] Introduction: Two Kinds of Language

  • Dhammarato introduces the topic of two kinds of languages, referencing a previous discussion about sensuality and sexuality.
  • He frames the conversation around the idea of different languages, building a foundation for understanding deeper concepts.

• [00:30-01:31] Ordinary Language vs. Dhamma Language

  • He introduces the two types of language: ordinary language (the language of society and culture with its “dos and don’ts”) and dhamma language (the language of liberation).
  • Dhamma language is described as “liberating language,” unlike ordinary language.
  • He mentions Buddhadasa and his list of words with different definitions in ordinary and noble contexts.
  • Key concept: Same words, different definitions depending on the context of use.

• [01:31-02:43] Balloon Language vs. Knife Language

  • He references Buddhadasa who calls ordinary language “balloon language” and dhamma language “knife language.”
  • Analogy: Balloon language is like a child’s toy, light and playful, but ultimately leading to disappointment when it bursts. Knife language cuts through the fat and gets to the reality of the situation.
  • Key concept: Dhamma language is a tool for seeing reality as it is.

• [02:43-05:21] Language of Perception vs. Language of Reality

  • He adjusts Buddhadasa’s definition, suggesting ordinary language is more about perception, seeing things the way we want them to be, while dhamma language is about seeing things as they actually are.
  • Key concept: Dhamma language stops us from telling ourselves stories about reality and allows reality to be what it is.
  • Key concept: The goal is to see reality as it is with the senses without adding our own desires, wants, perceptions.

• [05:21-06:09] The Value of Noble Language

  • Dhammarato acknowledges that using dhamma language may feel unfamiliar, but it is worth the effort because it is noble and liberating.
  • He emphasizes the value of understanding and using dhamma language for true benefit.

• [06:09-07:11] Re-defining ‘Work’

  • He introduces the word “work”, saying that ordinary language understands work to mean having a job and fulfilling daily requirements for living life.
  • He then redefines work in terms of dhamma language, as right noble effort, which is to stop all of the ordinary work and enjoy life.
  • Key concept: Work as right noble effort means to stop working in the ordinary world and instead putting in the effort to enjoy our lives

• [07:11-07:57] Re-defining ‘Buddha’

  • He distinguishes between the ordinary understanding of Buddha (statues, historical figure) and its noble interpretation as the possibility of coming out of our trained nature.
  • Key Concept: Our real nature has been trained into wanting, desiring, and seeing the world a certain way.
    • Key concept: To become Buddha is to disregard the training and see things the way they actually are.

• [07:57-09:11] The Quality of ‘Buddha’ as Awakening

  • He notes the word Buddha has the quality of awakening and that by awakening to what we are seeing and doing, we then have a choice.
    • Key concept: The choice is to come out of desire, delusion, and ill will and into the state of being Buddha (awakened).

• [09:11-10:00] Re-defining ‘Dhamma’

  • He contrasts the common understanding of dhamma as the “teaching of the Buddha” with a noble definition: reality itself or the foundation or laws of nature.
    • Key concept: Dhamma is the very essence of how the world works, including gravity, electromagnetic forces, etc.

• [10:00-11:27] Dhamma and ‘God’

  • He introduces the Thai word dakai, meaning “body of the dhamma,” equating it with all of reality.
    • He equates dhamma with God as the environment we live in, the air we breathe, gravity, light, etc., rather than an anthropomorphic figure.
    • Critique: He critiques the ordinary perception of “God” as “some dude on a cloud,” highlighting the difference between ordinary and dhamma language
    • Key concept: God, in a dhamma language, is the very environment that we are immersed in.

• [11:27-12:57] Re-defining ‘Sangha’

  • He distinguishes between the ordinary definition of sangha (collection of monks) and the noble definition of attitude about those around you.
  • Key Concept: True sangha comes from having a noble attitude toward others, not just being in a group.
  • Key Concept: If you have a noble attitude that those around you are noble, then you will have a noble sangha, otherwise you will experience conflict with others.

• [12:57-13:42] Re-defining ‘Eat’

  • He contrasts ordinary understanding of the word “eat” to mean chewing with the mouth and consuming with the noble perspective which means letting it in and absorbing it.
  • Key Concept: Eating is about experiencing rather than devouring.

• [13:42-15:03] Choosing Noble Language

  • He emphasizes that we have a choice to use words in either an ordinary or a noble context.
  • Analogy: Ordinary language was given to children like a toy that will blow up in their face, and we keep knives away from children because they could hurt themselves.
  • He emphasizes the need for training to use knife language to properly dissect reality

• [15:03-15:16] Open to questions

  • Dhammarato opens the floor to questions

• [15:52-16:26] Recap of the importance of noble language

  • He recaps and says that we need to remember what kind of language that we are going to be using.
  • He says that we have to decide between using ordinary language with ordinary people or noble language with noble people.

• [16:26-17:40] Conversation about ‘Love’

  • Dhammarato asks for questions from the audience.
  • One member asks about the love and relationship problems and wants to know if they can be resolved. He asks if it can be stated that you do not need it and if that is true, does it need you more than you need it.
  • Key Concept: There is too much work in having a romantic relationship and it requires a champion’s mentality.

• [17:40-18:16] Chasing vs. Being Chased

  • He introduces the idea that chasing relationships means chasing things, whereas stopping the chasing means the things we were chasing will begin to chase us.
  • Key concept: Ordinary life is a chase. We don’t have to chase.
  • He states that the chasing is what we were taught to do, but that we can recognize that we are looking for love.

• [18:16-20:02] No Need for Self-Love

  • He references a song about looking for love in all the wrong places.
  • Critique: He states that there is no place you can look for love that is not the wrong place.
  • Critique: He states that the Buddha wouldn’t say that you need to love yourself instead, you need to take care of yourself.
  • Key concept: Rather than love yourself, you should be nurturing yourself and being friends with yourself.
  • Key Concept: You do not need to love yourself.

• [20:02-22:32] Seeing Others as Noble

  • He addresses a question about seeing others as noble, particularly when surrounded by those who don’t appear wise.
  • Key Concept: He says if you see others as not noble, you will treat them as such and they will prove that they are not noble.
  • He says that everything is noble, including ourselves and our family, and that we should begin treating them in a noble manner.
    • Key Concept: If you treat children in a noble happy way they will respond in a noble happy way, but if you treat them like trash, they will act like trash.
    • Key Concept: Nobility is always inside the practitioner’s mind.
    • Key Concept: You treat others nobly, if they don’t act nobly, you continue to treat them nobly while on the way out to find other people that will behave nobly.
    • Key concept: Some people have been so well trained in being non-noble that they will continue their habits, regardless of how they are treated.
    • Key Concept: The right way to treat family is to treat them as if they were noble, and give them credit for what they have.
    • Key Concept: Keep the mind noble, when your mind is noble, everything is noble.

• [22:32-25:32] The Importance of Mental Nobility

  • He discusses dealing with family members and if they are not noble, make sure the mind is noble and return to right effort to put the mind in a good state and the feet will follow naturally.
  • Key concept: The movement in the beginning, is your mind.
    • Key concept: It is all about a mental state and mental attitude about the world.
    • Key concept: Instead of perceiving the world as we have been taught, we begin to see it in a noble way.
  • Key concept: The training involves catching our unwholesome thoughts and changing them into wholesome noble thoughts which is the practice of anapanasati and the Eightfold Noble Path.

• [26:19-27:08] Dhamma as Duty and the Four Noble Truths

  • He says that, in dhamma language, dhamma is a noble language word.
  • He mentions Buddhadasa, in that the dhamma exists and that we have a duty to the dhamma.
  • He states that if we fulfill our duty to the dhamma it will be noble, if we don’t, it won’t be.
    • Key Concept: This teaching of our duty to the dhamma is the same as the Eightfold Noble Path.

• [27:08-27:53] Duty, the Eightfold Noble Path and Dukkha

  • He says that once we learn the Eightfold Noble Path, we see we have a duty to practice it.
  • He says that when we do not practice the Eightfold Noble Path, we get punished by the reality of our own dukkha.
    • He says that when we practice the Eightfold Noble Path we are fulfilling our duty to the dhamma.
    • Key Concept: By fulfilling our duty to the dhamma, it makes the dhamma noble.

• [27:53-29:28] Ordinary Duties vs. Noble Duties

  • He notes that we have many ordinary duties in the world (treat police with respect, breathe).
  • He states that we must recognize that we have noble duties, and the noble duty is to practice the Eightfold Noble Path.
    • Key concept: We have a duty to become noble, and if we don’t fulfill it, we are imprisoned by the reality of an ordinary life.
    • Key Concept: We have a responsibility and a duty to the noble dhamma.
    • Critique: When he first heard about a duty to the dhamma he wanted to rebel because he thought he was having too much fun.
    • Key Concept: We have a duty to become noble.
    • Key Concept: By practicing our responsibility of becoming noble, we get the fruit of our practice and the mind becomes noble.

• [29:28-30:06] Keeping Track of Language

  • He says we can keep track of the language that we use, so we can intentionally bring our minds to a noble state.
  • Key concept: We have a duty to make the mind noble.
    • Key Concept: If we don’t fulfill the duty, we are back into the ordinary world.

• [30:06-31:06] Open to Questions

  • Dhammarato opens the floor to questions.

• [31:14-31:43] The ‘Work to Eat’ Concept in Zen

  • A student comments that he has heard the saying that you do not have to work to eat.
  • He states that he was watching a documentary on Zen where they had a rule stating that if you do not work, you do not eat.

• [31:43-32:45] Ordinary Rules for Ordinary People

  • Dhammarato states that the monks in the documentary are just making ordinary rules for ordinary people.
  • Key concept: That rule is a training rule and that the problem is that most training rules are ordinary training rules, training the kids to do ordinary things.
    • Key Concept: They never wind up becoming noble.
    • Key Concept: Possibly the right thing to do is for all the monks to stop growing vegetables and let them grow by themselves.
    • Key Concept: That a lot of the work that farmers do is make-work.
    • Key concept: Crops grow by themselves.

• [32:45-33:49] The State of Monasteries

  • He states that most monasteries are populated by ordinary people who are trying to be noble without knowing how to be noble.
    • Key concept: They are being taught by teachers who do not know how to be noble.
    • Key Concept: He says we are fortunate to have had a teacher like Buddhadasa who understood what real nobility is, not just doing what you are told to do to get a pat on the head.

• [33:49-34:45] The Trap of Rules

  • He states that most watchs operate on a reward system, if you follow the rules, then you are a good monk.
  • He states the people who make those rules are ordinary people doing what they were told to do while still looking for enlightenment.
  • Key Concept: They could have been enlightened all along by changing their attitude from ordinary to noble.

• [34:45-35:54] The Lack of Noble Change

  • He notes how much technology there has been in the past 100 years and that this has not made anyone noble.

• [35:54-37:36] The Stone Axe Analogy

  • Analogy: He uses the story of the man who creates a stone axe and carries it around until 2024 when that axe has turned into a cellphone as an analogy.
    • Key Concept: No real mental change has happened, only the technology that we rely upon.
    • Key Concept: When you lose your axe or cell phone, you feel bad.
  • Key Concept: All the things we have learned and picked up in technology have not made anyone happy because we are not practicing to become happy.

• [37:36-38:47] Change in Mentality

  • He says we need to change our mentality from focusing on technology, to focusing on “I am already okay, everything is already fine.”
  • Key Concept: We have to remember to practice being noble.
  • Key concept: There is a lot of technology teaching us to be a society’s way which is more dukkha.
  • Key Concept: We need to be looking at the language we are using, and that almost all language is not liberating.
    • Key concept: It may make you a technological expert, but you are a miserable technological expert.
  • Key Concept: Can we change our attitude and become noble?

• [38:47-39:54] How to Work to Become Noble

  • He says most people around us have no clue about how to work to become noble.
    • He states that if your family is not noble, it is because your mind sees them as not noble.
    • Key concept: We have to get our own minds straightened out.
    • Key Concept: We have to get the unwholesome thoughts out of our minds and replace them with wholesome noble thoughts over and over and over.

• [39:54-40:37] The Scale of Unwholesome Thoughts

  • He gives an example that most of us have had about 10 unwholesome thoughts a minute for our entire life.
  • Key Concept: We have to practice having a large number of wholesome thoughts just to make up for all the unwholesome thoughts.

• [40:37-41:27] Shifting Sense of Self

  • A student says that his sense of self shifts when he is around non-noble people and it is frustrating that the old unwholesome thoughts come back so quickly.

• [41:27-42:47] Conventional Language and Self

  • Key Concept: Conventional language is about self and selfishness.
  • Key Concept: Noble-minded means that your non-nobility is dealing with what you are seeing is not noble, but if your mind is in a state of nobility you are treating your family as if they were also noble.
  • Key concept: We need to come out of selfishness and selfish desires for the family and people around us to be noble, so we do not have to try so hard to see them as noble.
  • Key concept: That our lack of nobility is seeing others as not noble.
  • Key concept: We have to keep practicing to remember all of the unwholesome thoughts and to replace them with wholesome thoughts.

• [42:47-43:57] The Single Most Important Job

  • Key concept: The only job we have to do is to make our mind noble.
  • Key Concept: Making the mind noble only takes a 10th of a second.
  • He notes we have to do this repeatedly, and that when the time comes, we will remember to make it noble.

• [43:57-44:33] Practice, Practice, Practice

  • We have to practice that everything is okay, not a problem, and that we need to practice being noble while knowing most people around us do not know how to practice.
  • Key Concept: Having the attitude that others are not good enough because they are not practicing is taking away our own nobility.

• [44:33-45:11] Remaining in a Noble State

  • He asks, can you remain in a noble state while seeing that others are not, and treat them as if they were, or do you have to be disappointed?
  • Key concept: Can you say it is okay with you that others are not noble?
  • He notes you are the one calling them not noble.

• [45:11-46:52] “I’m Out of Here”

  • He discusses if when we see unwholesomeness in ourselves or others, do we have to get out of there?
  • He then asks, is this rejecting others or being noble?
  • Key concept: If when you say “I’m out of here” it means your selfishness is being removed leaving nothing but the emptiness of nobility.

• [46:52-47:25] Subtlety

  • He says the teachings are subtle, profound, and difficult to discern and we need to keep practicing seeing unwholesome thoughts and removing them.

• [47:25-47:55] The Power of Language

  • A student states that they have learned from the talks the power of language and reframing thoughts.

• [47:55-49:17] “A Day Without Work”

  • A student notes a saying “a day without work is a day without food” and that they are from the same district as the person who coined that phrase.
  • Key Concept: You can take joy in work if you have the right attitude.

• [49:17-51:21] The Failure of Bendot

  • He says the problem for monks in foreign societies is not that they do not get anything on bendot, but that they do not continue to go on bendot and get nothing.
    • Key Concept: If they continue to go and get nothing, they will eventually get something.
    • Key Concept: Monks quit and start growing their own food.
  • He states that the monks were not treating their fellow countrymen as noble and that if they did, the people would start behaving nobly.

• [51:21-52:28] The Nobility of Going On Bendot

  • A student questions what is more noble about going on an arms round vs growing your own food.
  • Key Concept: The nobility of going on arms round is that you get only what you can carry.
  • He talks about the food that is given to them on bendot and how when the mind is noble you can do with what food you have.
  • Key Concept: Most watchs are not practicing nobly.

• [52:28-53:17] The Potential for Growth

  • He states that if we start practicing nobly, the dhamma would grow and swell.
  • He notes there are 400 million Buddhists, but that is an ordinary kind of Buddhism without much nobility.
    • Key Concept: We have the mentality that nobility is rare.
  • Key Concept: He notes that you’d be lucky to see enlightened monks, or for them to have ever seen an enlightened one.

• [53:17-55:19] Having Noble Thoughts

  • Key Concept: Start having noble thoughts and see that everything is already okay.
  • A student says he has been trying to find a place with solitude all day.
  • He states that, previously, he felt guilty that he had become a monk and left society.
  • Key concept: He doesn’t feel guilty anymore when he looks at the lay people who feed him because they don’t have the same pressures that he used to have.
  • Key concept: They tricked you.

• [55:19-56:36] Escaping the World as a Monk

  • Key concept: The answer to “Are you escaping by becoming a monk?”, the answer is yes.
  • Key Concept: It is not a matter of leaving the world, but what kind of attitude you have while doing it.
  • Key Concept: Society is not worth living up to. Let’s live up to something that is worth living up to; having a noble mind.

• [56:36-57:52] Beautiful Bendot

  • The student states that bendot is the most beautiful part of his day.
  • Key Concept: When you are really practicing well, it’s the only part of your day.

• [57:52-59:30] The Crab in the Bucket Mentality

  • A student notes that there is a “crab in a bucket” mentality in society that will have people say you are either too brave or too cowardly when you become a monk.
  • Key Concept: You will get a yes coming from the left and the right and a no coming from the left and the right, it is a hodge podge.
  • Key Concept: Very little of it is noble.
  • Key concept: People don’t see that becoming a monk is a noble thing, but it is.
  • Key Concept: People criticize from the mindset of being in society.
    • Key concept: They cannot remove themselves from society like you have done.
  • Key concept: The Buddha that many have is an ordinary one, not a noble one.
  • Key Concept: We have to practice to make our thoughts and our Buddha-hood noble.

• [59:30-61:50] Closing Remarks

  • Dhammarato ends the talk with concluding remarks and thanks the participants.

3. Special Attention Points

• Pali Terms and Translations:
  • Dukkha is consistently translated as dissatisfaction, not just suffering.
  • Dhamma is interpreted both as the teachings but more importantly as the underlying reality, the foundation of the universe itself, not simply religious doctrine.
  • Sangha is defined less as a group of monks and more as the quality of your relationship and attitude toward those around you, where a noble attitude causes a noble sangha.
  • Buddha is not just a historical figure but a possibility of Awakening that we all hold, a state of being awake.
  • Anapanasati is introduced as a practical tool for changing unwholesome thoughts to wholesome ones.
• Distinctions:
  • He strongly differentiates between ordinary (common) interpretations of terms and their noble interpretations according to dhamma language.
  • He reframes concepts like work, love, God, eat, and sangha through the lens of noble language.
  • He explicitly critiques the tendency of many Buddhist institutions to focus on rules and rituals rather than the actual transformation of the mind.
• Practical Explanations:
  • He relates concepts to daily experience, noting how ordinary language shapes our perceptions and actions.
  • He explains how the Eightfold Noble Path is not just theory but a practical duty to be practiced daily.
  • He gives specific examples of how to change unwholesome thoughts to wholesome, through practice and awareness.
• Recurring Themes/Phrases:
  • The distinction between ordinary and noble is constantly reinforced.
  • The phrase “seeing things the way they actually are” is a recurring motif.
  • “Everything is okay” and “everything is fine” are used to convey the state of the noble mind.
  • The idea of “duty” toward the dhamma and toward becoming noble is emphasized,
  • The concept of a knife language cutting through illusion is repeated.
• Critiques of Western Buddhism:
  • He critiques the emphasis on rules and rituals in many monasteries as ordinary and ineffective.
  • He critiques the concept of self-love as not necessary.
  • He critiques the ordinary concepts of God as a “dude in the sky”.
  • He suggests that many practitioners do not apply a noble understanding to their lives, perpetuating dukkha.

Key Practice Instructions and Recommendations

• Shift from Unwholesome to Wholesome Thoughts: Consciously catch unwholesome thoughts and replace them with wholesome, noble thoughts. This is the essence of the practice.
• Make Your Mind Noble: This is the most important job you have in life. Make your mind noble as soon as you can, and then, do it again when you need to. It only takes 10th of a second to make the mind noble.
• Use Knife Language: Reinterpret common words (love, work, sangha, etc.) using dhamma language to cut through the illusions built by ordinary perception.
• Embrace Duty to the Dhamma: View practicing the Eightfold Noble Path as a personal duty, a pathway to real liberation and nobility.
• Practice Seeing Nobility in Others: Treat others as if they were noble, as you would like to be treated yourself, recognizing that nobility comes from within. This includes family, as the most difficult relationships present the best opportunities to practice in this way.
• Remember the Scale of Unwholesome Thoughts: Do not become disheartened when unwholesome thoughts arise, because, as humans, we’ve had a large number of them in our lives and we need to practice replacing them.

By focusing on these key practices, the student can begin immediately to implement Dhammarato’s teachings and begin their transformation from ordinary to noble.

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