#platform/youtube #channel/bodhi-light  once you understand how your ego functions it can no longer manipulate you then you can do anything that's important to you what are you supposed to study it's not Buddhism it's not the Koran it's not science it's not engineering whatever it is your ego notice when your parents send us to school to study anything and everything accept our ego because we're told studying the ego doesn't pay the ego should be worshipped it's not supposed to be studied so noble hearted people when they study the ego and thoroughly understand the ego what happens to them when you understand your ego you become so dangerous because you can easily manipulate other people's ego then you can figure out people so easily and you can make so much money if you want to you can marry them you can con them you can shmooze them you can do all sorts of things to people so contrary to popular belief when you have understood your ego either you can become a real asset to society you become a real menace to society it's your choice if you recognize it you can do good or evil at will when you don't recognize it the ego controls you so the question would be how do you control your ego know how to understand your ego you understand the ego the ego cannot manipulate you anymore you are the boss now not your ego here's what happened to ordinary people ordinary people don't realize that it's the ego who is in charge not the thinking mind you think you can figure things out everything is logical to you for example when you ask why did decide on that why did you do that I said well I thought about it and this is makes sense to me this is most logical thing for me to do what is that exactly what are they saying they're selling to us they're justifying themselves that's all but in truth what really happened for most of us is that when we make up our mind more than 50% of the time is emotional decisions we only use our logic to justify after not before that's the nature of the ego we claim to be logical animals but actually our decision making is mostly emotional look how we got married guys and then regret later because oh why did I think about these issues when you can figure out your own ego your ego can no longer manipulate you and you can see other people's ego manipulating them and others but they cannot manipulate you anymore then you can do anything that's important to you because then you decide what's important to you not your ego or not your mother's ego someone else's ego tells you what's important you decide what's important for yourself that's called wisdom have you noticed I don't know about you I grew up and I said I want to become rich that wasn't me I had to be successful so I spent half of my life trying to be successful trying to make money trying to have all these things because this is what everyone else was doing that's what you ask them say oh that's what I'm supposed to do this is what the meaning of success it was a meaning of life it's always someone else ideas who we picked up from and we follow it spend our lives pursuing it at the end our lives then you find out what the heck happened I'm divorced four times my body's riddled with sicknesses that incurable so that's what happens to us until you figure out your ego you have to do what others egos tell you this is our dilemmas so these people have ended the study of the ego meaning they have figured out their ego and therefore they are in full control of their lives and their decision making yes they're still emotional when they choose to be emotional and they can be very rational when they need to be rational but it's no longer dictated by their ego I just wanted to comment something's happened with me over the years fairly recently here I find now that if I can feel anger rising or some kind of conflict I automatically pause now and as I pause it seems mentally I back away from engagement and I realize in my mind now's the time to be quiet don't say anything very good it happens because first of all when you practice Chan it naturally reduces your anger it's intensity of the anger and the frequency of anger that's what I experienced throughout my chan practice I became less angry and less angry less angry if anger is an issue with you you don't need anger management you need chan you don't need to go see a therapist you need chan seriously why because you practice Chan you keep up your Chan practice it naturally neutralizes your anger No. 1 Chan practice is an antidote to anger and if I'm a therapist I see an angry patient I would make sure I would teach them about chan because it's the long term solution to it natural antidote and that's what the therapists are discovering whatever you teach mindfulness meditation or weird meditation it doesn't matter that works but Chan is the most powerful way to control your anger to quell it the more you practice Chan the more your anger less frequent it is and less intense it is and No. 2 as you improve to next level and then it further reduces the anger so naturally as you make progress the anger is lessened and the ego shrinks that's how we practice chan the Chan is the study of the ego time is of the essence when you sit in Chan you practice Chan you actually see what happens your ego squirms the ego doesn't like it he says hey you're trying to control me are you such a control freak really no the ego is the one who loses control that's why he's complaining that's what happens you sit there that one there says I'm so bored I don't know what to do this is taking too long this is so boring who's speaking the ego that's how you recognize your ego at work and guess what the people who don't practice Chan they said meditation boring I knew it I always knew meditation is boring and they don't even realize it's the ego manipulating them and then one day they said oh I like meditation because ego says oh I'm bored today so let's do something else that's like meditation for a change 5 10 minutes what harm is there you see ego nature of ego is can make up his mind is wishy washy is it possible to end our kind of ego or is it just part of you no you can put an end to it once you understand how your ego functions then you have ended your study it can no longer manipulate you such fundamental knowledge by the way folks this is the first time I explain to you that way because all the Buddhist teachings from China from India never explained it this way at all they always said oh you're supposed to have ended all studies but never explained to us what we're supposed to study it's not Buddhism it's not the korean it's not science it's not engineering whatever it is your ego according to me my ego and if you figured out your ego there's nothing you cannot do so what do you do with that nothing he said make money yeah I can do that be successful I can do that I can figure it out if you can figure out the ego then there's nothing that you cannot figure out so what do you do then nothing meaning what two things why you do nothing because you wait until something must be done that's called conserving energy here's what happens normally don't you feel you must do something you feel compelled to do something because you're afraid to waste time you're afraid of this you're afraid of that miss out opportunity so you're chasing your tail all day whereas when you have wisdom you only do things that are necessary you only fix problems that need to be fixed because the world has so many problems you cannot fix them all the people who have wisdom because the wisdom comes from having recognized their ego they said now I can afford to conserve my energy and instead of being busy like the rest of them I will only focus my energy on doing things that matters more to them that's our help so are they dead no they're not they're just like us they function just like us we cannot tell the difference except that what they do is important what we do isn't what they do is important to us to most of us what we do is only important to us alone at the expense of everyone else that's what we do so you do nothing because they have the clarity of mind to be able to do nothing until it must be resolved doesn't mean they have no more emotions if your wife matters to you and what's a good way to communicate with your wife besides buying her a washer and dryer or a new car the emotions need to be fulfilled so when you need to be emotional remember they do nothing until there's a need to be done therefore if you need to connect with your wives then you need to connect at the emotional level that's when they become emotional not before we are emotional constantly I like you I love you oh I'm so excited to see you and you get so excited constantly you cannot help yourself whreas these people they're as cool as cucumbers until it's oh I love you and all the intensity comes out that's emotions for you meaning they're more emotional than us they're more emotional than we are normally because when they express their emotions it's more intense than ours and that's all they want that's all the wives ask for love me and mean it the rest of the time leave me alone let me go shopping okay thank you everyone and continue next time