The following talk was given at the Insight Meditation Center in Redwood City, California.

Please visit our website at audioderma.org. You're not going to. So this week the topic for our discussion, our consideration is nonviolence.

And it's I think the one of the fundamental ethical principles of Buddhism is

not to harm, to kill,

and it's represented by the very first precept,

which is usually said not to kill,

but it's a little bit more comprehensive it's not to harm any physically harm any

living being and um and this is such an important thing in this world that we live in.

And I believe that as we meditate, this becomes more and more and more the orientation we have is to not want to cause harm.

And there's a two reasons I can think, many reasons for this.

One reason is that as we meditate, we become, we develop a heightened sensitivity

for what the cost is to ourselves when we harm others intentionally, deliberately.

That it's very stressful for our own system.

It involves a diminishment, a narrowing of our scope,

it involves being involved in anger and greed and ill will,

delusion even involves speaking up stress and so you can feel and that once we

start meditating start feeling that the effect that unwholesome behavior, harmful behavior has on ourselves.

And so part of the motivation not to be violent, not to cause harm to others, that the cost we see the cost is too high for

ourselves and another reason is we see the cost is too high for others and we start feeling a

kinship with others. There's something about sitting quietly and having the thinking mind become quiet, the mind that

objectifies, the mind that is cut up in thoughts and ideas about people and projections into the future and all kinds of ideas of conceit that interfere

with our body and heart's capacity for sympathy for

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