To anyone questioning or confused about buddha’s instruction of ‘save yourself from suffering first’ ; something I always refer to and use to explain it is the safety instructions on an airplane. Before taking off they always say ‘in an emergency when the oxygen masks come down please put it on yourself first before helping others’ :)

Your calmness and patience is admirable when asked some of these questions. It must be unpleasant sometimes. Imagine being addicted to feeding people because of the happiness it brings to you and them, and by so doing overlook the way to never be hungry in the first place (which you can then show others). Its like using a small happiness as a reason to not pursue a higher one. It's just dependance, mutual dependence, within suffering, like eating for the sake of preserving a perverted ritual. It doesn't even tackle the real problem, let alone uproot it. Now I see why this monk goes on and on about first understanding right view.

This kind Q and A programs are very helpful. Hope to have more of these.

If I may suggest the Venerables’ talk “ Discussions From a Mountain Top # 10 - Lifestyle Choices”. Just excellent practical instruction.

Very clear advices for an ordinary person. Thank you Banthe

24:45 ( Sutta of an Arahant monk who addressed others harshly.) Ud 3:6 Pilinda I have heard that on one occasion the Blessed One was staying near Rājagaha at the Bamboo Forest, the Squirrels’ refuge. Now at on that occasion Ven. Pilindavaccha went around addressing the monks as if they were outcastes. So a large number of monks went to the Blessed One and, on arrival, bowed down to him and sat to one side. As they were sitting there they said to him, “Lord, Ven. Pilindavaccha goes around addressing the monks as if they were outcastes.” Then the Blessed One told a certain monk, “Come, monk. In my name, call Pilindavaccha, saying, ‘The Teacher calls you, friend Vaccha.’” Responding, “As you say, lord,” to the Blessed One, the monk went to Ven. Pilindavaccha and on arrival said to him, “The Teacher calls you, friend Vaccha.” Responding, “As you say, my friend,” to the monk, Ven. Pilindavaccha went to the Blessed One and, on arrival, having bowed down to him, sat to one side. As he was sitting there, the Blessed One said to him, “Is it true, Pilindavaccha, that you go around addressing the monks as if they were outcastes?” “Yes, lord.” Then the Blessed One, having directed attention to Ven. Pilindavaccha’s previous lives, said to the monks, “Don’t take offense at the monk Vaccha. It’s not out of inner hatred that he goes around addressing the monks as if they were outcastes. For 500 consecutive lifetimes the monk Vaccha has been born in brahman families. For a long time he has been accustomed to addressing people as outcastes. That’s why he goes around addressing the monks as if they were outcastes.” Then, on realizing the significance of that, the Blessed One on that occasion exclaimed: In whom there’s no deceit or conceit, his greed ended, unpossessive, free from longing, his anger dispelled, his mind Nibbana: He’s a contemplative. He’s a brahman: a monk.

This Monk is gold.

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Lions roar brother 🙏💮🙏

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When i hear the standpoints of people which are based on the claim that it is selfish to strive for one's own liberation from suffering , craving, aversion and the notion of self, me and mine , and that it is more noble to first strive for the liberation of all other beings, as the Boddhisattvas proclaim, then i can't get rid of the impression that the mahayan teachings resemble a kind of spiritual globalism of the past. Since the globalists of today seem to pursue the same principle claiming to ensure the well-being of the community at the cost of the freedom of the individual. Those viewpoints were countered by Ajahn with the beautiful simile of the ocean that is being polluted by all the individually polluted streams that pour into the ocean, so not cleansing the ocean , but cleansing your own individual stream represents the only remedy for the individual as well as the whole.

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@hillside hermitage Thank you so much for this.

I think the notion that "everything is one" or the interconnectedness is another major misconception of what the Buddha taught... and being attached to that view can make one an angry person as well because truly 'craving' is where the problem is

Venerable Sir your answers are on point, instructive, clarifying. Parato ghosa - the Early Buddhist Teachings of course, but may you also be considered as such? 🙏🏽

the monch sounds like a star wars fan and i am grateful for that :D

Thank you for your explanation of non-self. Previously, I found it difficulty to understand.

Bhante I have had problems with my thyroid hormones in recent times so I apologize for my unclear questions and confusions. My hormones were not in normal levels and therefor my emotions were amplified and it was not until 3 days ago that I got it checked and it was normal thank God and I feel much better. The Doctor told me that I need to work on my thinking as it is the cause for my hormones. Bhante this video was very practical and touched many important points that I have not been able to answer. Bhante if some of my questions are not needed to answer then I am ready to drop it I just want to live a normal life not interrested in some high attainments if that is not necessary to live a happy and ordinary life. I have concluded that I must understand certain things that the Dhamma speak about in order to live a normal life but maybe that was wrong and I hyponotized my self into that conclusion by not understanding what the Dhamma meant. 1)Bhante when it comes to approaching the teaching when I first came across it I had before that ended up overwhelmed by huge emotional pain and I was trapped in pain aswell as enslaved by doubt and fear. Buddhism came as a hope and when I read the Buddhas teachings I felt like this teaching is something I can have faith in unlike other teachings. I couldnt practically apply the teaching so I started searching for someone that actually knew the teaching and I found about a monk which pointed to you. I very fastly saw that what you teach was in accordance with the Suttas which made me very hopeful and faithful. When I heard that in order to free oneself we need to understand things like Citta nimitta,understanding craving,understanding upadana,peripheral mindfulness,mutual dependes of nama rupa and vinjana, understanding responsbility for ones mental actions (which for me seemed logical I concluded ofcourse I need to understand this and stop whatever I am doing to my own harm even though I am not aware of it and it is going on on autopilot and therefor I became pressed beause my logic told me it needed to be understood as the only way out), Now all theese questions I understood that the Dhamma was teaching it in the following way either I understand theese things and get free from my situation of being trapped in pain and enslaved by doubt and fear or not in which case I must be trapped in pain and enslaved by doubt and fear. Maybe that was understood in a wrong way and in a black and white way. Maybe I dont need to understand theese things in order to free my self but unless I clarify it I feel there is a pressure inside me that believes that theese things must be understood beacuse the Dhamma which I have trust in says it. But again if you could clarify to me that for example answering those questions can not lead me to free my self to free my self from my emotional situation then that pressure would cease to press me with the conviction that the solution is in answering those questions. When that is clarified that would take of that pressure and also would just enduring be the solution after that. 2) Bhante for someone wanting to living a normal life not necesarily wanting to attain anything I have heard about mundane right view. Would mundane right view be to clarify that thinking is in my control and therefor the emotions resulting from it. With thinking is it meant the same as believing and imagining beacuse it is easier for me that way for example I have tried while I was outside to think positive and was not sucessfull when I started to believe and imagining that something positive have already occured with 100% conviction and faith and belief that it is so I felt finally a positive state. Would (and it seems it would) imagining and believing in that state cancel out ones siutation of being trapped in pain and fear and doubt? Therefor I dont need to read anything about the Dhamma nor understand all theese things like right view, citta nimitta, understanding craving, understanding upadana I can just control what I believe and imagine and there would be no more pain doubt and fear beacuse they are there when I give up the power of controling what is in my control my believing and imagining or thinking and they seem to become automatic although I am doing it even then volitionaly? 3) Bhante when one has been overwhelmed by pain and he didnt know what to do and he ended up trapped in pain and enslaved by doubt and fear and that becomes his automatic situation and now he wants to discern his situation. What is it that he is implicitly blaming as the casue of his suffering or "the world" is it the pain as it seems or is he blaming the thought and is according to the Dhamma "thoughts" included in "the world" , - Also is this blaming or believing the problem to be the object (and not the pain) a starting point for him and is he implicitly believing that he is dealing with the feeling by attacking this perception? 4) Bhante in the video you spoke about not acting out of ones desire which I have worked hard on. But how about my situation for example when I have been perpetuating uknowingly ill will in the situation of being trapped in pain and fear and doubt and now it is going on automaticaly but at the same time if I knew clearly where my border is and what the mind is doing there on its own it would help me discern my situation and stop my doing. I want to see what is the mind doing there on its own and what is my responsbility because I am unclear about it. Thank you very much for teaching in accordance with original Suttas and excuse me for being confused. If theese questions are not needed to answer then i am ready to drop them all.

Theruwansaranai! How is restraint in speech (musavada) sense restraint? As in, I can understand how it is restraint since it is controlling your intentions and actions in terms of speech, but how exactly would not engaging in wrong speech constitute restraint in regards to SENSES? thank you

Dear Bhante, if I want to make a donation to hillside hermitage,is it still the same site?

Venerables, can you suggest a good English translation of the Dhammapada? Thank you.

How can someone join these Q&A sessions online?

In almost every instance I’ve witnessed of nonBuddhists interrogating a monk, the question/criticism they bring is that Buddhism is insular and selfish. This always comes from westerners as well. I find this humorous because they present a binary like you are either saving the world or you are selfish, not taking a single moment to reflect that this is a criteria that is used to criticize Buddhism more than any other religion (despite the fact that its effects are a widespread community of people who never lie, cheat, steal, or harm anyone, who don’t even acquire more than the most basic needs) while ignoring the fact that they offer no criticism on the over indulgence and meanness that characterize “normal” life. I think the very fact that the result of following the Dhamma is that you will never even harbor a cruel or greedy thought towards any other beings is enough to validate Buddhism as one of, if not the most, valuable way of living life ever created by a human being. That’s not even going a tiny bit deeper to see that the approach of grosser systems of “good,” such as political activism, are characterized by the same greed, hatred, and delusion that is the underlying cause of the injustices that they are claiming to alleviate. The Buddha was wise enough to see that prescribing “doing good” was just another side of the cycle of samsara that drives all the problems of history and environmental degradation. One person’s “good” is another’s “evil.” Love for one system of ideals creates hatred for another, and on and on. The historical Buddha gets us off that wheel, and I’ve never encountered another teaching that accomplishes that goal. Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Humanists, Marxists, Communists, Capitalists, Activists of every kind, and all other -isms, have all screamed, shouted, loved, hated, harmed and even killed in the name of helping others. That is the rule for them. Only Buddha Dhamma is the exception. The single exception in Burma (Myanmar) is one case in human history and is the result of a government co-opting a religion to meet their end.

How long are you planning to stay in Slovenia, Bhante?

In the first 2 minutes you spoke about "God" as a being. Yes, gods are beings and shouldn't have influence. "God", as in "the unknowable creator of infinity" isn't the same. Determinism anthropomorphised is "his will", as is, ultimately, the exercising of "your" free will.

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