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

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Welcome, welcome.

Nice to see you all.

So today I'd like to give a talk about this story that we find in the suitas that

I don't know, I kind of like it, it's a little bit silly.

Maybe silly is not the right word.

It has these exaggerated portions of it, which I think are kind of fun.

Maybe that's the right word, a little bit fun.

And we might even ask, what is the purpose of having some of these stories that are fun?

And I would say, actually, so maybe I'll clarify.

So we have the suitas, he's kind of like the scriptures we might say.

And then maybe a thousand years later they wrote what are called the commentaries.

And the commentaries are as we're all this very colorful kind of what we might say, like fun stuff.

So it's not in the earliest strata of literature.

It's not from the time of the Buddha, but sometime later as they were filling in the back story,

well, why did that happen?

And sometimes the back story is some fantastical thing as is the case here.

And so I'm sharing this just because I don't know, it kind of makes me smile a little bit this story.

But there's also some really good teachings in here.

So it's not just entertainment or entertainment, say, but it can be entertainment too.

But also I like that this idea that okay, that Dharma doesn't have to be so dry and boring.

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