0:00:04.610,0:00:10.157
(Sounds of birds and a bell)

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This world it is the way it is because we are the way we are.

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(Bell sound)

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And we are the way we are because there is Karma

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(Sound of birds chirping, bells ringing, and a dog barking)

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Every morning we wake up to a new day.

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but every morning we also wake up to our old life.

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To the life that we have created.

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(forest sounds as the monk walks through it)

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Last week.

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Last year

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Last life

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This is our Karma.

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We cannot escape it.

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(Chanting)

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Karma is a sanscrit word. It means "action".

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We can easily see some of our Karma.

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Let's just think what we did.

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Yesterday.

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Last year.

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In our childhood.

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Or in our last life.

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If we can remember that.

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What ever we did, this is our Karma.

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This has become our life.

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Now.

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The Buddhist says "Life is about suffering".

0:02:45.777,0:02:49.995
Very often we create suffering.

0:02:49.995,0:02:51.298
For ourselves

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or for others. We know that.

0:02:56.401,0:02:59.001
We say bad things.

0:02:59.016,0:03:00.763
We're impatient.

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We hurt.

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We do create suffering around us.

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This means we fill our own world with suffering.

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How can we expect to find anything else in this world

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other than suffering?

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We will find exactly what we had previously provided.

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We can create our own hell,

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but we can just as well create heaven.

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(People talking, market and traffic sounds)

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Wherever we look in this universe,

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there is cause and effect.

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Nothing ever happens out of thin air.

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This law of cause and effect also applies

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to our destiny.

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To the way our life evolves.

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Whatever we do, whatever we even think

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will have some effect on our life.

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Even if just a tiny little bit.

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Our thoughts and feelings

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form the world within us.

0:04:57.717,0:04:59.393
Our words and actions

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form the world around us.

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We are constantly shaping our world.

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And we are shaping our life, little by little.

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Because for every cause,

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there must be an effect.

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(Birds chirping)

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Whatever we do or think

0:05:56.383,0:06:02.627
shapes our world, a tiny little bit.

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Be towards greed and anger

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or be it towards love and kindness.

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We can increase suffering in our world

0:06:18.005,0:06:20.797
or we can prevent suffering.

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It is up to us.

0:06:35.583,0:06:40.165
So our actions directly affect our world.

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Our own as well as other people's world.

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Because from a Buddhist perspective all is one.

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Nothing is separate. All is connected.

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We are all connected.

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Our own future and the future of others.

0:06:59.922,0:07:04.934
They interact like cogwheels in a clock.

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They are one.

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(Birds continue chirping. Piano sound)

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Let's see our life as a garden.

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If we take good care of it,

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it can be beautiful.

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Obviously, this will take time and effort.

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(water sound)

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And obviously there are a lot of things in our garden

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beyond our control.

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The weather,

0:07:46.883,0:07:49.972
the seasons or maybe some other people

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whose intentions are different from ours.

0:07:54.365,0:07:58.056
But, after all, we are the gardener.

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We will determine what our garden

0:08:00.426,0:08:02.356
will finely look like.

0:08:08.586,0:08:13.316
(Birds chirping and men chanting)

0:08:15.916,0:08:19.708
Our present life is created by our Karma

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We cannot escape it.

0:08:27.506,0:08:30.889
Since we have created suffering in the past,

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there will be future suffering too.

0:08:35.254,0:08:40.830
The future is just the echo of our past actions.

0:08:41.091,0:08:43.596
For a long time, we have been filling

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the world around us with our

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anger and greed.

0:08:49.669,0:08:52.891
And now it is still there.

0:08:53.014,0:08:55.757
For example, in the reactions and the feelings

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of the people around us, in various situations.

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The suffering we have previously created

0:09:04.101,0:09:07.167
will now create new suffering.

0:09:16.382,0:09:18.892
So, is there a way of actually prevent

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future suffering?

0:09:25.479,0:09:30.119
Yes, there is.[br]

0:09:31.135,0:09:32.898
Our past unwholesome Karma is like

0:09:32.898,0:09:36.018
a drop of dirty water on the bottom

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of a big jar.

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It is there.

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We cannot change it.

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We cannot remove it.

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But we can add clean water.

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Drop by drop. Little by little.

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After some time, the jar will contain

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almost perfectly clear water again.

0:10:14.199,0:10:16.331
Since we cannot get rid of our

0:10:16.331,0:10:21.322
unwholesome Karma,

0:10:21.322,0:10:23.070
we need to dilute

0:10:23.070,0:10:27.988
and thereby neutralize it.

0:10:29.741,0:10:35.129
Rather than creating new suffering again and again,

0:10:35.129,0:10:38.608
we need to prevent suffering.

0:10:39.347,0:10:42.825
Therefore, we need to replace our anger

0:10:42.825,0:10:48.191
and greed with love and kindness.

0:10:48.191,0:10:54.230
We need to be in control.

0:10:54.230,0:10:59.793
By meditating we learn to be mindful.

0:11:00.116,0:11:03.390
We learn to be in control of our actions,

0:11:03.390,0:11:05.978
our thoughts and feelings.

0:11:08.332,0:11:10.403
So, finally,

0:11:10.603,0:11:12.133
we will be able to create

0:11:12.133,0:11:14.218
less suffering

0:11:14.557,0:11:17.779
for us and for others.

0:11:29.579,0:11:32.694
Our Karma is the bond that ties us

0:11:32.878,0:11:36.532
to past suffering

0:11:36.532,0:11:38.342
and that will create

0:11:38.342,0:11:41.059
future suffering too.

0:11:47.136,0:11:50.527
If we want to be free, we need to cut

0:11:50.527,0:11:51.873
this bond.

0:11:52.596,0:11:55.127
We need to prevent the creation of

0:11:55.127,0:11:58.891
new suffering.

0:11:58.891,0:12:02.763
So our life can be better

0:12:02.763,0:12:05.115
next week,

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next year,

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next life.