Transcription
Namo Buddhaya. Welcome and welcome back to another video. Today, I want to talk about something really important for all of our lives, specially in these days.
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And that is the things that we should not speak with others according to Buddha's teachings. Now, at first, you might be [music] thinking, well, I'm not a Buddhist, so why should I care about these things? Here's the thing. These principles can be applied to anyone's life regardless of their religion or belief system. So, that is why these uh speeches are called four unwholesome speeches. That is what Buddha uh said about these speeches, four unwholesome speeches. So, without any further ado, let's dive in.
First of all, we have lying. Now, Buddha said, stay away from lying. Now, I know we all have said white lies here and there in all of our lives, right? But, whether it is a white lie, whether it is a black lie, gray lie, or a red lie, no matter what the lie is, lying itself can be so harmful for all of our lives. Why is that? When you lie, it destroys your trust. When you lie, it destroys your character. Right? So, that is why it is very important to have trust between people. In our daily relationships between people, the most important component of a happy relationship is the trust. So, that is why Buddha said, live a truthful life. And it is very important to have that transparency and honesty >> [music] >> in our relationships. So, the first thing that we have to stay away from is [music] lying.
And next, we have divisive speech. What do you mean by divisive speech? Divisive speech is all about [music] creating drama between people or creating conflicts between people using your words, right? It can be gossiping or it can be talking behind someone's back, right? I must say that when you talk these words or when you use this divisive speech, it is not a good thing for your life. And and also, it is not a good thing for other people's relationships. So, Buddha said, do not use this divisive speech. Do not break the relationships between people using your words. Most of the time, we use the divisive speech out of jealousy or out of anger. So, that is why it's very important to stay away from divisive [music] speech.
And the third one is Buddha said, stay away from harsh speech. Now, when someone is calling you or when when someone is treating you with rude words, how do you feel? Now, we all have been in this receiving end of such speeches, no? How did you feel? We felt sad. We felt depressed. We felt down about ourselves. So, that is why Buddha said, do not use your words to put someone down. Right? Do not use your words out of anger. This is all about criticizing and name-calling and putting someone else down [music] with your words, right? So, Buddha said, stay away from harsh speech.
And finally, Buddha said, stay away from idle chatter. What do you mean by idle chatter? Idle chatter is all about speaking meaningless or useless things, right? Now, that doesn't say that we cannot have a small chat or a fun talk with people. You can we can do that, but we have to know where our limit is in our speech, right? We have to set the boundaries in our speech, right? We have to know where our speech become unproductive. [music] Right? When you use these words, when you use your words in a meaningful way, you can create a positive life. And you can create a positive emotions or positive positive [music] feelings in others' lives, too, right? So, these are the four unwholesome speeches that we have to stay away from that our great teacher Supreme Buddha taught us according to the Buddha's teachings, right?
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So, why all these things matter? Why these unwholesome speeches matter in our life? Well, Buddha said, the words that we speak can create either positive or negative karma in our life. Do not think lightly about this karma, right? You have to be very careful about the karma. So, the intention behind your words really matters in your life. [music] And that is why we have to use our words wisely because it can make a huge impact [music] in our lives as well as in others' lives, too. So, words that we speak [music] are like a knife, right? You can use the knife to cut something useful, right? And also, you can use the knife to kill someone else. So, let's use our words to create a better life for ourself and for others. So, thank you for tuning in. I hope you got some food for thought for your life. So, until next time, I wish you all May all of you be well and happy, and may [music] all of you live in peace forever. Namo Buddhaya.
Why most of the students feel sleepy while they are studying? Now, this has been a huge problem for all the students who are studying, including myself. I still can remember when I was at school, I used to fall asleep right after I get a book to my hand. Do you have the same experience? I think yes. Well, today in this video, I'm going to be sharing with you seven tips you can practice to stay away from sleepiness while studying.
So, the same thing happened to a monk who lived in the Buddha's time. He was struggling with meditation, specially he was struggling with the sleepiness during meditation. So, the Buddha gave him these seven advices and seven tips to practice [music] to stay away from the sleepiness during the meditation. But, these tips can be applied to our studies as well. So, without any further ado, let's dive into these tips.
Tip number one, change the perception. Sometimes, the reason for our sleepiness is not where we study or when we study, but what we study, right? Sometimes, [music] the meditation that we are doing, maybe the study, the subject that we are studying is not vibing along with our mind. At that time, we feel boring and less interested. Once you feel boring, what is the normal reaction from your body? You feel sleepy, >> [music] >> right? You feel the drowsiness within you. That is why the Buddha says, change the perception. Once you feel sleepy while studying or meditating, >> [music] >> just change the perception. Change what you study for a little while. Let's say you're studying a subject and you feel boring, okay? You feel less interested. So, what do you have to do? Change it to something that you feel interesting. Maybe a subject that you feel >> [music] >> fun in studying, maybe you enjoy that subject, maybe it is your favorite subject, maybe you it is your favorite meditation, okay? Once you do that, what happens to you is you're doing something that is enjoyable and enthusiast, you feel that enthusiasm within you, then your body and your mind becomes active. Okay? Once your body and mind becomes active, what will happen? Your mind will open to new things, okay? So, when you spend a little while in that enthusiastic activity, maybe studying, maybe meditating, okay? Then, you can come back to the same thing that you studied earlier and keep on studying because at that time, we gave our mind a little jump-start >> [music] >> to be active.
Tip number two, memorize it. The Buddha says, recall what you have studied and memorize it and examine it with your mind. [music] When you examine something with your mind, when you recall something from your mind, and you wisely reflect on it, what you have what happens? Your mind becomes active. It okay? Because you you need that focus and you need that activeness in your mind to memorize it. Once you memorize it, what will happen? You stay away from that inactiveness or inactive state of your mind. [music] Then, it will help you to stay away from the sleepiness. So, what do you have to do? Whenever you feel sleepy or drowsy, just memorize one thing that you have learned or recall something that you have learned. That is one thing that we can do.
Tip number three, reciting. >> [music] >> Now, reciting is one of the best ways to stay away from sleepiness during [music] meditation and studying, okay? Now, when you recite something or when you say something out loud, it it activates your jaw muscles and your mouth, and also, when you recite something, you create those vibrations in your skull, and it activates your brain, okay? Once your brain and your muscles are active, your jaw are active, you feel some energy within your head. Okay? And then it will be very easy for you to study. And also, when you recite something, it gives that activeness to your body. And then it will help you to stay away from the sleepiness. That is tip number three.
Tip number four, >> [music] >> the Buddha says, "Pinch your ears and rub your limbs." Now, when you pinch your ears and rub your limbs, what happens is your muscles get a good blood circulation and your body becomes active. [music] Once your body becomes active, then your mind's mind becomes active. Then you will be less sleepy and you will you can stay away from sleepiness by doing this. So, these are This is something that very simple that you can do to stay away from sleepiness.
Tip number five, the Buddha says, "Get up from your seat and wash your eyes with cold water and look at the night sky." If you're specially if you're studying at night, maybe you're meditating at night. Right? If you feel sleepy, you can go outside and look at the night's night sky. Enjoy the Enjoy the nature. Enjoy that breeze. Okay? Once you stay in the nature for a little while, you feel so much refreshed. And then you can come back to studying and meditation [music] and keep on doing it. So, nature can make our body so much and so much refreshed. Keep that in your mind.
Tip number six, the Buddha says, "Focus on the perception of light." Now, most of the time when we are studying at night, the reason for our sleepiness is the surrounding. Okay? Sometimes some students some people used to study in a dark [music] room. Maybe in the darkness. Okay? While having a little light on that. Okay? The reason for our sleepiness can be the darkness around us because >> [snorts] >> when the darkness surrounds us, we feel like sleeping because [music] it stimulates our sleepiness. Okay? Because we used to sleep in the darkness and then when there is darkness around us, it trigger it triggers our sleepiness. So, what the Buddha says is just when you study, focus on something that is very bright. Okay? Focus your mind on something that is very bright and think that you are studying. >> [music] >> Imagine that you're studying in the daytime. Okay? When you're studying, always try to study under a good light source. And also, you can imagine to yourself that I am studying in the daytime. Okay? When you imagine it and when you have that perception of light [music] in your mind, then you will feel less sleepy. Okay? So, that is the That is one thing that we can do to focus on the perception of light.
And we have come to the final and the seventh tip and that is the Buddha says, [music] "Do walking meditation." Whenever you are meditating, okay? Or when you are studying, if you feel sleepy, if you feel drowsy, just [music] get up from the seat and go and walk back and forth with mindfulness. Okay? Focus on your bodily postures and bodily movements and go walk back and forth for a little while. Okay? It will activate your body as well as it will activate your mind because we need a good focus to be mindful. Okay? Once the mind becomes mindful, it activates our mind. So, that is one way that we can do we can stay away from sleepiness >> [music] >> to do the walking meditation. So, okay?
So, as students, you all can do these things. Let's say you tried all of these seven tips and none of them worked for you. Okay? You still feel sleepy. Then what we can do? The Buddha says, "If none of them worked for you, that means you really really need a sleep." Okay? [music] So, that is why the Buddha says, "Then you can go to bed mindfully. >> [music] >> Okay? Being mindful about the posture that you're going to sleep and you have to remember to yourself that right at this time, okay? Maybe after 1 hour, I'm going to wake up." Okay? When you do that, when you remember to yourself that the wake up time, then it is very easy for you to [music] wake up. And also remember, most of the time the students enjoy sleeping. Okay? More than studying. Okay? It is all about our priorities. When we give the priority to study, we can easily study. When we give the priority in our mind to sleep more than study, then you feel more and more sleepy. So, that is why it is all about what you give priority [music] to. Okay? So, remember. So, if none of the those seven tips worked for you, just have some rest and then go back to studies or meditating. So, these are the things that [music] we can apply to our daily life to stay away from sleepiness during studying and also [music] during meditating. So, apply these things and see what works for you. Namo Buddhaya.
Welcome to another video. Do you know why we need to be so serious and we need to be wise when we choose friends? Now, the reason is the friends and the people who we choose to associate can shape our character. They can affect in many ways in our life. Okay? So, that is why we need to be very serious and very wise when we let people into our life. Okay? Because there's a saying that goes like this, "You become who you choose to associate with." Okay? You become like the people around your your surrounding with. So, that is why we need to find a true friend and good friends to associate. But the thing is it is very hard to find a true friend. Okay? How can we find a true friend? What are the signs? Well, the Buddha taught there are seven signs of a true friend. Buddha taught this in a sutta named Mitta Sutta in Anguttara Nikaya, book of seven. The Buddha says, "There are seven signs of a true friend."
The first sign is the Buddha says, "He gives what is hard to give." What do you mean by that? Giving what is hard to give is not about uh material gifts. Okay? It is not about giving the gifts and the presents that you like. Okay? A true friend will give you his time his or her time, the valuable thing, the most valuable thing in our life. The time, the dedication, listening, helping hand, >> [music] >> and care and kindness. These are the most valuable things and these are the most hardest thing that people find to give to other people. Okay? So, a true friend will never be shy or never think twice [music] to dedicate his time and his effort and his dedication [music] towards your success. Okay? So, the Buddha says the first sign of a true friend is he gives what is hard to give.
The second sign is the Buddha says, "He does what is hard to do." Now, what do you mean by that? It means a true friend will always step out of his comfort zone to help you. Okay? He will do what he finds hard to do for your own benefit. Okay? That is all about dedication. That is all about sacrifice. Okay? A true friend will always be there for you no matter how hard he find he or she finds it. Okay? So, a true friend will do what is hard to do.
The third sign is the Buddha says, "He endures what is hard to endure." Okay? No matter how hard his life become or no matter how hard her lives become, they will endure all the difficulties and tough times and they will be there for you. Okay? They will stand with you and they will face those tough times together. Okay? So, these are all things about dedication of a true friend. Okay? Purely They are pure in their heart and they they are always willing to help you. So, this is all about dedication and sacrifice. So, that is why the Buddha said, "A true friend will endure what is hard to endure."
The fourth sign is I'd like to put fourth sign and the fifth sign together because it is all about the trust. The Buddha says, "A true friend will protect your secrets. He will never reveal your secrets to anyone. And also, a true friend will reveal his secrets or her secrets >> [music] >> to you." That means a true friend is trustworthy. You can trust him or her and they will trust you also. So, a true friend is a friend who is trustworthy.
And the next sign is the Buddha says, "A true friend is a friend who stands with you when you face tough times in your life. Okay? When you hit mis- misfortune, when the life strikes you with misfortune and when you hit the rock bottom in your life, a true friend will never abandon you. He or she will be there with you always facing the tough times [music] together. Okay? Lending their helping hand, caring for you, and showing their kindness. Now, this is one of the best test to find that your friend is a true friend or not, okay? Because there are so many people who claim them to be the friends, but when we hit the misfortune, when we have troubles in your in our life, they're gone, okay? So, a true friend will be there for you, be there with you, no matter what happens in your life, even in in your good days and even in your bad days, they will be there with you.
And the final sign is, the Buddha says, when you hit misfortune, and when you have tough times in your life, a true friend will never look down on you. Okay? They will never disgrace you. They will never disrespect you, okay? They will always protect your personality, >> [music] >> okay? They have the respect in their heart for you. And also, they will be honest with you always, okay? One of the best signs of a true friend is they will become honest, okay? They will say what is wrong as wrong, and they will say what is right as right, okay? Even though the truth will hurt you. Okay? So, they're not that people who are like cheering you up always, right? Keeping trying to keep you happy all the time and saying what is bad as good and good as bad, okay? So, remember, >> [music] >> a true friend will never look down on you, and they will be honest with you.
So, these are the signs of a true friend, okay? Now, after learning all these signs, then you will come up with this thought that well, it is very hard to find a true friend. It is very difficult to find a true friend. You can tell me like, "Oh, it is very easy for you to say that there are they these are the signs of a true friend, but it is difficult to find." I know, right? People with these characteristics and people with these signs are very rare. That is what make them exceptional. That is what make them so much interesting, and that is what make them a true friend. Okay? Right. Let's say you did not you cannot find such >> [music] >> a friend around you, okay? Maybe you cannot find, okay? There are some instances like that. So, what can you do? Well, there's one thing that you can do, [music] and that is to build up these seven qualities within yourself and become [music] a true friend to people around you. Okay? Once you create those qualities within you, you create a potential for another true friend to be attracted to you, okay? Because that is the nature of this world, okay? The nature of this world is the birds of feather flock together. That means same things get together. People with same qualities, they get together, okay? So, one thing that you can do is if you did not find a true friend, be a true friend to people, okay? So, learn these signs and identify who is a true friend is and be with them. Namo Buddhaya.