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Meditation Course Week 4
Beautiful Mind
Rojana Center, Bangkok, 2017
Video and transcript from the meditation course this year – fourth part
Part of the reason for posting the full transcript is to make the video searchable by content – i.e. for most videos you can only search by the title of the video, and not by it’s actual content.
full transcript:
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The topic today is in large part about Metta
– or loving-kindness meditation
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and loving kindness meditation
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is something that doesn’t come easy to me
it never came easy to me
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because I’m rather grumpy
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and I’m English
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and …
we don’t like bombastic things
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we like … humble
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self depreciating things
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and so I could never do it
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and the teachers would say
‘Ok just sit …’
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‘and shine this loving kindness over the whole world’
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‘think of every being as your mother’
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that ruined it right there
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and so I would sit, and I’m like
‘uggh, I don’t want to do it!’
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when I do meditation ..
I spend enough time thinking about stuff
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I spend all day thinking about stuff
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when I sit
and do my meditation
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I want to stop all that!
I don’t want to be doing things anymore
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so the loving kindness meditation
it made sense to me
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it’s a sensible practice ..
but .. I just …
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I guess I was very reluctant
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and if you do a meditation
.. or anything I guess ..
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half hearted, or a little bit reluctantly
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you know, it’s never really going to work
[did you catch that one?]
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and so I was doing this for
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years and years at the end of the meditation
would sit and ..
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after doing the meditation you would do the metta
or some kind of sharing of merits
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it’s very important
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that we don’t just do meditation for ourself
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we do meditation for the sake of all world beings
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according to the Buddhist schema
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there are 3 levels of merit
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what they call ‘merit’ in Thailand
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and often we don’t like this word ‘merit’ too much
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because it sounds a bit like when you were at school
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when you were at kindergarden
[nursery school]
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and if you do something good
you get like a gold star
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stuck on your report sheet
did you ever get this?
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and then you go home and ..
you get a gold star for art
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or a gold star for writing, or something
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and these were ‘merits’
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and if you do something good,
somebody gives you a merit
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So, Thais often use this word ‘merit’
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and it doesn’t go down too well with Westerners
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the word ‘merit’ actually, in the Thai is
in the Thai is ‘boon’ but in the Pali is ‘punya’
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and the word ‘punya’
[pu~n~na]
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means ‘to brighten’
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and the opposite of punya is paapa
or in Thai is pbaab
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and pbaab means to darken
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so punya is things that you can do
or experiences that you can have
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that brighten
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that make lighter, brighter, sweeter
purer, more beautiful
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there are 3 levels of punya
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and these 3 levels
the first level is
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generosity
and generosity has 2 kinds
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first of all is the giving of material things
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be it money, be it food,
be it shelter or be it medicine
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and the second level
is the giving of spiritual qualities
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So giving someone patience
giving someone time
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giving someone care
giving someone compliments
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then these are a form of spiritual giving
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the next level of punya is
sila, or morality
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and the idea is that if you keep the morality
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if you keep yourself as a good person
with basic precepts
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then this is an even higher offering to the world
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than giving things
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and then the third level of punya
or brightening, is
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called bhavana
and bhavana is ‘development’
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So if you develop good qualities
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good states of mind
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this is the highest offering that you can
make to the world – according to Buddhism
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so our practice that we do,
our meditation
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is a form of bhavana,
a form of development
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we are developing certain specific states of mind
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and we are developing certain specific observations
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then this development,
this growth as a human being
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this development into brighter
punya states
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this is our offering to the world that we can make
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so at the end of every meditation
we always do some kind of sharing of merits
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and it doesn’t really matter
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in my opinion
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which you choose
there are various different kinds
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of these beautiful states
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the other word than punya is ‘sobhana’
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and sobhana beans ‘beautiful’
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so
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so in the abhidhamma
they list all the possible states of mind
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according to the Buddhist schema of vourse
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there are certain states of mind that are based on greed
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certain states of mind that are based on
hatred
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certain states that are based on delusion
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there are certain states
that have no cause, or no root
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there are certain states that come from meditation
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and there are certain states that are called ‘sobhana’
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if there is an absence of greed, hatred or delusion
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these are listed as sobhana,
or ‘beautiful’ mind states
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So the …
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topic of today is developing beautiful mind states
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of which one is actually
metta, or loving kindness meditation
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So if everybody is here and every body is ready …
those of you who can sit ….
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somebody want to go first?
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[audience feedback]
it’s hard ?!
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too many mixed feelings – OK
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in amongst that mix, can you find this .. does it exist?
the well-wishing, unconditional, for all beings
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the idea –
ok so if the idea of it is clear, you start with the idea
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what about – and I’m interested for my own research
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is what about the trigger that you use
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do you use the words?
‘may you be happy, healthy’
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do you visualize a person’s face?
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do you visualize light?
do you visualize .. how do you do it?
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what’s your key?
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so what’s the trigger?
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[the only thing that works for me is my dog]
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your dog? OK!
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ok so if the dog is the trigger that’s cool
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I know somebody who imagines a foal
a new born horse
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horses don’t do it for me but ..
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kittens would do it for me
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ok she said she remembers
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she thinks of somebody she knows right now
who needs .. who is suffering
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and who might need that
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Ok so adding into the perception
that there is compassion
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and I guess beautiful beings in this universe
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and it’s not up to you to save them all
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so you are tapping in to a universal movement
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in a way
but do you do that by
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a visual image, by saying a particular word
or how is the key?
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so sometimes just knowing there is light
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and sometimes by remembering one of the Bodhisattvas such as Kuan Yin
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go ahead
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she said she uses her children
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because it’s easy to .. to
offer unconditionally to your children, but
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she also has a difficulty with her mother
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and why is it that we can’t
just offer this to certain people?
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anyone else?
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so it’s difficult to trigger that feeling
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for someone to whom you have a negative perception
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but that’s partly why we always start with the people
that we can trigger it easily with
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be it ourself, or teacher or something
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and then once you get hold of the feeling
then you can offer that feeling
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to me the key to that ..
because I would always like, have
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perfect beautiful loving kindness
towards all beings in the world
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except for him, him him, him
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Bleep not so much
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bleep nah-uh …
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and I would – I would have a list of people that ..
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I wouldn’t articulate it, but it would be in my head,
you know, that like
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some of you don’t deserve to be on my list right now
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I really noticed that feeling that
that holding back
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and I … somebody …
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the thing that got me through that was
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something somebody said once
– it’s an obvious thing, but –
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like I said
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at certain times something clicks into place
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and someone said
‘people only do bad things because they are suffering’
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and then that just clicked at that time
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and then – OK, I can do it now for all
even the bad people
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they wouldn’t be bad if they didn’t suffer
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and that just clicked, at that time
for me personally
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but for these things to click into place
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you have to be, kind of, working it
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So this is what we are doing with the meditation
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it may be difficult
it may be tricky
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It may be very easy for you too
for some people
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I was on a retreat – my first ever retreat
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and the teacher was saying
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you recite these words:
‘may you be happy, may you be healthy
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‘may you be free from suffering
may I be happy’
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‘may I be healthy
may I be free from suffering’
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and this is a very, kind of
audible thing
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is that the word?
it’s a thinking exercise
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and there was a a person there who was really not
enjoying this practice at all
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– it wasn’t me –
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and I spoke to them afterwards
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they said
‘oh wasn’t it terrible!’
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‘that metta meditation that he was doing
it just doesn’t work’
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‘and all that thinking about stuff!’
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and he said
‘oh no no no – I have a much better teacher, he …’
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‘has a different way of doing it’
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and I said
‘oh, what’s that way of doing it?’
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and he said
‘well, you imagine the whole world in pink’
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ok … !?
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if that’s your trigger
if that’s your way in, then use it
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it’s not that there’s a right method
and a wrong method
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it’s whatever the trigger is
to get you into that state, into that feeling
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then you can start to develop it
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if you find it difficult to develop
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like I said – just pretend you have it!
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pretend that you have
loving kindness for the whole world
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and if you can’t pretend that you have it
then you just invite it
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into yourself
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really nothing comes into you unless you invite it in
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this is why
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in all the movies – vampires
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when they come to your house
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and they knock on your door,
and they ask you
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they try and trick you
to make you invite them into the house
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and vampires represent the bad and the evil qualities
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which is why vampire can’t stand light
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so, bad qualities and good qualities
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they can only come into you
if you’ve invited them in
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so there are times when I’ve sat there
just like ….
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praying to be somebody who has loving kindness
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because all these other people were doing it
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and I tell you the truth –
16 years I tried to do loving kindness meditation
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and I got nothing
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I just couldn’t
it just didn’t exist there
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‘yeah yeah –
all of you be happy, all of you be peaceful’
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‘now leave me alone’
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‘and let me get on with my breathing meditation
because that I can do’
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but I was always conscious
that I was dismissing the practice
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was always conscious that there was an area that other people were doing
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that I hadn’t done.
That I hadn’t mastered yet
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and so I spent quite a long time
just asking the universe to teach me
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to bring it into me
to help me to be able to do it
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and it was much much later on that I was able to
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to start doing this kind of practice
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16 years it took me!
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Slow Learner!
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for loving kindness meditation
0:14:48.680,0:14:51.560
one of the triggers ..
not the triggers, but
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one of the things that slotted into place
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we have this practice of remembering the qualities of the Buddha
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the compassion, the wisdom and the enlightenment of the Buddha – these 3 qualities
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you can also remember 10 qualities of the Buddha
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and, you know …
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I love the Buddha’s teaching,
but I never had a personal connection
0:15:15.440,0:15:18.240
with this figure
like some people do
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and so I was just kind of playing around,
trying at one point with this
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remembering the qualities of the Buddha
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and then suddenly I got this
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visualization – now this was my imagination
it’s not a supernatural experience
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but this visualization of the Buddha being inside me
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and then this Buddha being just perfectly giving
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and I couples this with another
teaching which is
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with a Buddha – anything that you put on to them
0:15:54.560,0:15:55.360
dies
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and what the meaning of this is
any karma
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that you take and you throw on to a Buddha
it dies right there
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somebody else told me it was like a bucket
like a refuse bin
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and any rubbish that you throw into the bin
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the bin has a big hole at the bottom and the rubbish goes out
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so these 2 ideas came together in my mind
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of this Buddha
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what would I be like if I was a Buddha?
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was the kind of idea
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and then this idea that any karma that
other people’s karma that comes to me
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it’s going to die right there
no more karma gets bounced back
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no more unhappy or un-nice thoughts get given back
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and the reason I found it
easier to do this as the Buddha
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was because I can’t do that
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I can’t just give back boundless openless compassion
[what the heck is ‘openless’?]
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to people who are
driving me to the wrong place
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a taxi driver –
I swear I said to him Wat Paknam Bhasicharoen
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and he took me to Wat Paknam Samut Prakaan
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it’s my fault – I had my headphones on and I said
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‘take me to Wat Paknam Bhasicharoen’
and I put my headphones on and I shut off
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and an hour later I opened my eyes,
and I’m in Samut Pragaan
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which is an hour and …
nearly 2 hours away from my temple
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and it’s very difficult to have
0:17:25.440,0:17:28.560
metta for this person
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right ?
but if I imagine the Buddha being inside me
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he can have metta
he can have loving kindness to the person
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so it’s easier for me to offload it onto the Buddha
kind of thing
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I’m letting you into the secret machinations
of my mind here
0:17:48.080,0:17:49.720
the point is that
0:17:49.800,0:17:53.560
you have to be in it
you have to be working it
0:17:53.560,0:17:55.680
you have to be trying to do it
0:17:55.680,0:17:58.000
and even if the practice is difficult
0:17:58.280,0:18:00.160
you have to keep it in mind
0:18:00.160,0:18:03.120
and then at certain times, at certain places
0:18:03.320,0:18:05.200
something somebody says
0:18:05.200,0:18:11.200
or something that you remember will click into place
and then suddenly you’ll be able to do it
0:18:11.920,0:18:15.040
you may be able to do it for 10 minutes
or 1/2 hour
0:18:15.040,0:18:18.560
you may be able to do it with this person
but not with that person
0:18:18.880,0:18:23.760
whatever it is that is your foundation
get started on this practice
0:18:24.200,0:18:27.720
these are what I call
‘altered states of meditation’
0:18:28.760,0:18:31.320
so these altered states of meditation
0:18:33.080,0:18:35.720
often people get into meditation
0:18:35.720,0:18:40.520
because they’ve heard of, or they’ve experienced
altered states of consciousness
0:18:40.920,0:18:45.120
and usually when we talk about
altered states of consciousness
0:18:45.120,0:18:48.000
we are referring to drugs
0:18:48.640,0:18:52.200
or in psychology we are referring to states of sleep
0:18:52.800,0:18:55.000
or sleep deprivation
0:18:55.000,0:18:58.680
or things like this
as altered states of consciousness
0:18:58.680,0:19:01.840
so I like this term
‘altered states of meditation’
0:19:02.920,0:19:09.960
because in terms of consciousness with drugs and sleep deprivation and REM sleep and things
0:19:09.960,0:19:12.680
these are really things that happen to you
0:19:13.600,0:19:17.960
but with altered states of meditation
these are states that you are generating
0:19:19.320,0:19:23.320
and we want to specifically try to generate these
0:19:23.320,0:19:26.840
wholesome or punya
these bright states
0:19:26.840,0:19:30.680
or sobhana –
these beautiful states of mind
0:19:31.480,0:19:34.840
because most of the time that you spend in your life
0:19:35.240,0:19:40.680
you spend putting your energy and attention
in to getting the things that you want
0:19:40.680,0:19:43.400
and getting rid of the things that you don’t want
0:19:43.840,0:19:48.720
if I was to follow you around
and take note of what’s gong through your mind
0:19:48.800,0:19:52.960
how much time do you spend
to increasing your compassion?
0:19:54.240,0:19:56.600
and how much time do you spend
0:19:57.200,0:19:59.600
increasing your earning capacity?
0:20:00.040,0:20:02.280
your potential for a promotion?
0:20:02.660,0:20:05.280
your potential for love
0:20:05.980,0:20:08.380
finding love with the person that you want
0:20:09.300,0:20:11.860
how much time do you spend watching TV?
0:20:14.280,0:20:18.940
I can spend more time watching Judge Judy
than I do loving kindness meditation
0:20:19.260,0:20:21.560
I always have this idea ….
0:20:22.760,0:20:27.100
in Christianity of course, when you die
you go up to heaven and you meet St Peter
0:20:27.620,0:20:29.240
and St Peter
0:20:29.240,0:20:33.080
rather like Father Christmas,
he asks you ‘have you been a good boy?’
0:20:34.720,0:20:37.540
and he has a book and a ledger,
and he’ll take note
0:20:38.140,0:20:39.980
of what you’ve done
0:20:41.180,0:20:44.160
and in Buddhism we have a similar story
0:20:44.240,0:20:45.700
his name is King Yama
0:20:45.840,0:20:50.080
and he’s a very fierce
and compassionate God
0:20:51.080,0:20:53.580
and after you die, King Yma
0:20:53.740,0:20:56.900
will come and look at the ledger of the things that you’ve done
0:20:57.320,0:21:01.000
and he will decide which karma that you’ve done
0:21:01.500,0:21:04.320
will propel you in to your next life
0:21:05.860,0:21:09.740
so he’s accepting that you’ve done
lots of good things and lots of bad things
0:21:09.840,0:21:13.060
but which deed is going to cause your rebirth?
0:21:13.560,0:21:16.820
into a happy realm
or an unhappy realm
0:21:17.200,0:21:19.720
according to the mythology
the legend
0:21:21.160,0:21:22.260
So King Yama
0:21:22.960,0:21:25.420
will be there – and part of the
0:21:26.140,0:21:29.560
background of some of these myths and legends is
0:21:29.640,0:21:32.680
this is how the artists used to represent them
0:21:33.420,0:21:36.300
before books and CDs and YouTube and things
0:21:36.620,0:21:39.600
Buddhism, as with, you know, all …
0:21:40.960,0:21:42.260
great traditions
0:21:42.580,0:21:44.560
was transmitted through stories
0:21:44.900,0:21:47.640
and the stories were painted on walls
0:21:47.860,0:21:50.400
so very often the
0:21:50.500,0:21:54.020
stories that survive are the ones
that make for good pictures
0:21:54.440,0:21:58.540
that the artist would paint on the walls
and you see this in Thai temples too
0:21:58.700,0:22:02.020
so King Yama, with his jaws, and the whole world
0:22:02.020,0:22:04.580
in his jaws and in his hands,
here, is like
0:22:04.600,0:22:10.120
‘I’ve got total control and mastery’
and he’s always a pretty nasty looking figure
0:22:12.680,0:22:16.300
so I wonder, when I get to King Yama or St Peter
0:22:16.300,0:22:20.060
and they’re going to say ‘you’ve spent ..
in your lifetime you’ve spent’
0:22:20.280,0:22:26.920
164291 hours watching YouTube
0:22:28.060,0:22:31.540
and you’ve spent 4000 hours practicing loving kindness
0:22:33.780,0:22:36.100
what do I want to show him when I die?
0:22:36.260,0:22:38.900
so I have this image in my mind that
0:22:39.620,0:22:40.700
these are …
0:22:41.020,0:22:46.720
most of the time, most of your effort
goes into just getting what you want
0:22:48.020,0:22:54.520
and not very much of your time goes into actually practicing these good and beautiful qualities
0:22:55.680,0:22:57.240
‘well I have compassion!!’
0:22:57.300,0:22:59.740
‘I feed the cat, I pay my taxes!’
0:23:00.280,0:23:01.340
‘what more do you want?!’
0:23:01.340,0:23:03.080
well we want more than that
0:23:05.160,0:23:07.740
you have to … if you want to increase your compassion
0:23:07.740,0:23:09.420
then you have to put in an affort
0:23:09.560,0:23:12.800
and an energy in finding out how to do that
0:23:13.340,0:23:15.340
if you want to increase your loving kindness
0:23:15.340,0:23:17.160
you need to make a practice of it
0:23:18.020,0:23:20.100
well, kindness and generosity
0:23:20.100,0:23:24.440
I love this Thai tradition of putting food
in the alms bowls in the morning
0:23:25.080,0:23:26.680
it’s not because I get the food!
0:23:27.840,0:23:29.620
sometimes it’s not very convenient
0:23:29.780,0:23:32.440
you know in Wat Doi Suthep
0:23:32.960,0:23:35.680
the monks aren’t supposed to use the lift
0:23:35.680,0:23:38.440
to go down the hillside,
so we go down the stairs
0:23:38.440,0:23:41.340
we go round on the alms round in the local town
0:23:42.040,0:23:47.000
and one of the ideas in Thai culture is
what you give is what you will receive
0:23:47.340,0:23:49.820
so they give you their favorite foods
0:23:50.080,0:23:52.700
because they want to get their
favorite food in the future
0:23:53.640,0:23:55.860
and they also give you water
0:23:56.320,0:23:59.540
because they want in their future
to never be short of water
0:24:00.400,0:24:01.080
but
0:24:01.500,0:24:05.000
but if 10 people give you a little ..
give you a bottle like this
0:24:05.000,0:24:08.540
this is getting like 6,7 or 8 Kilos that you are carrying
0:24:08.840,0:24:09.660
in your bag
0:24:09.940,0:24:13.520
and you have to walk all the way
back up those steps to the temple
0:24:15.220,0:24:17.300
and that’s quite a walk at the best of times
0:24:17.380,0:24:21.080
you try carrying the water
and the food, and your alms bowl
0:24:21.080,0:24:24.880
this is 15 or 20 kilos
that you are hoiking up the steps ..
0:24:25.140,0:24:27.460
it’s not that we receive the things
0:24:27.460,0:24:30.440
that we praise the practice
it’s a beautiful thing
0:24:30.580,0:24:32.840
to start the day with an act of giving
0:24:33.380,0:24:37.220
not only an act of giving,
but an act of giving to the Sangha
0:24:37.280,0:24:43.520
which means that you are supporting this highest ideal of human kind, which is enlightenment
0:24:45.820,0:24:49.020
I would also do a practice as I walked up the steps
0:24:49.340,0:24:51.340
a practice of loving kindness
0:24:51.620,0:24:54.980
and loving kindness for all those poor tourists
0:24:54.980,0:24:58.160
who are going to be walking up the steps during the day
0:24:58.300,0:25:01.780
so out of my absolute beautiful kindness of heart
0:25:02.180,0:25:06.800
I would leave them bottles of water …
0:25:08.080,0:25:09.580
as I go up the steps
0:25:10.780,0:25:12.700
my loving kindness practice
0:25:14.280,0:25:17.780
so to improve on it you have to keep it close
0:25:17.780,0:25:22.020
you have to try to find ways to make it real
0:25:23.160,0:25:25.440
the statement – I have written up here
0:25:26.140,0:25:28.460
this is the Buddhist teaching
0:25:28.460,0:25:29.960
straight out of the suttas
0:25:30.500,0:25:36.400
‘to what a man thinks and ponders often
there is a leaning in his mind’
0:25:37.480,0:25:38.840
this word ‘leaning’
0:25:39.260,0:25:41.360
comes from a story of a tree
0:25:41.760,0:25:43.940
and if the tree grows up crooked
0:25:45.040,0:25:48.320
when a strong wind comes
and that tree is knocked down
0:25:48.320,0:25:50.180
which way will the tree fall?
0:25:50.700,0:25:54.060
of course it will fall
in the way that it’s already leaning
0:25:55.160,0:25:58.600
the idea is we are all growing up a little bit crooked
0:25:59.840,0:26:03.460
but when the day comes
which way are we going to fall?
0:26:05.420,0:26:06.020
so
0:26:06.460,0:26:09.740
when your taxi driver takes you an hour
in the wrong direction
0:26:10.340,0:26:13.380
and you find out
which way does your mind fall?
0:26:13.780,0:26:17.160
do you fall easily into anger and frustration
0:26:17.500,0:26:21.500
and making him feel unhappy
that he’s taken you the wrong way
0:26:21.500,0:26:24.220
which I’m ashamed to say is exactly what I did
0:26:27.640,0:26:32.080
you may feel the anger and frustration
but you don’t need to put that on to him
0:26:34.320,0:26:35.880
that’s the way I trained my mind
0:26:35.880,0:26:39.060
my mind falls easily into anger and frustration
0:26:39.200,0:26:42.640
my mind doesn’t fall so easily into loving kindness
0:26:43.560,0:26:44.980
unless I practice it
0:26:45.880,0:26:48.520
if I practice it and I’m keeping it close
0:26:48.980,0:26:52.340
then my mind falls easily into the loving kindness
0:26:52.660,0:26:55.720
and as soon as I start to feel hateful, angry
0:26:56.720,0:26:58.800
at myself or at other people
0:26:59.280,0:27:04.020
that loving kindness is right there next to me
because I’m keeping it close to me
0:27:05.460,0:27:08.260
I think of it like a desktop on the computer
0:27:08.700,0:27:11.040
what documents do you have on your desktop?
0:27:11.180,0:27:14.700
in fact these days
my main documents I have in Dropbox
0:27:15.140,0:27:18.340
so my Dropbox folder – that’s what’s close to me!
0:27:18.920,0:27:20.020
because it’s right there
0:27:20.020,0:27:24.020
as soon as I turn on the computer
I can come back to that document
0:27:25.080,0:27:28.220
compare this to your photo albums
0:27:29.160,0:27:31.740
from 1975
0:27:33.020,0:27:36.220
where do you keep your photo albums from 1975?
0:27:37.400,0:27:42.180
they are in a folder, with other folders
in a box, in a bigger box, in the attic – right?
0:27:42.380,0:27:43.780
you don’t pull them out!
0:27:44.020,0:27:46.800
you may say ‘well I have them,
I keep them, they’re there!’
0:27:47.280,0:27:48.600
they are not really ‘there’
0:27:48.860,0:27:51.660
unless you keep them close on your desktop
0:27:52.780,0:27:57.100
so the loving kindness,
and other forms of beautiful mind states
0:27:57.400,0:28:01.400
we’ve only did the metta, loving kindness meditation ..
0:28:01.820,0:28:04.480
but there are many forms of beautiful mind state
0:28:04.660,0:28:06.420
you need to keep them close
0:28:06.660,0:28:08.180
if they are close to you
0:28:09.020,0:28:10.920
there is a leaning in your mind
0:28:10.920,0:28:13.040
your mind will easily lean
0:28:13.040,0:28:16.220
another word for ‘lean’
that they translate is a ‘bias’
0:28:17.440,0:28:21.120
usually we think of bias as a bad thing
but in this case it’s a good thing
0:28:21.700,0:28:22.360
if
0:28:23.120,0:28:26.580
the thing that you think and ponder
on often is a good thing
0:28:28.700,0:28:35.220
these practices that we do are to keep
the beautiful mind states close to us
0:28:36.340,0:28:40.440
that way then, our mind can fall easily into those states
0:28:42.940,0:28:44.980
does it really work?
0:28:46.060,0:28:49.980
when you are offering
loving kindness out to other people?
0:28:51.800,0:28:52.960
well, try it
0:28:53.820,0:28:58.580
offer them loving kindness, and then when you’ve finished, call them up and ask them
0:28:59.360,0:29:01.480
‘did you feel something just then?’
0:29:03.360,0:29:04.640
is it possible?
0:29:07.980,0:29:11.360
I don’t know, I mean you can’t say
but I believe so
0:29:12.760,0:29:16.180
there was a story of one dhamma teacher I know who
0:29:16.700,0:29:18.760
was working in a factory
0:29:18.920,0:29:20.580
and they’d gotten
0:29:20.620,0:29:23.100
into a negative mind state about somebody
0:29:23.100,0:29:24.480
and they thought
‘I know I’ll do’
0:29:24.620,0:29:27.040
‘metta loving kindness meditaiton’
0:29:27.400,0:29:31.600
now there happened to be somebody in that factory
who claimed they could see auras
0:29:31.600,0:29:34.380
and they were always telling you
your aura is this, or your aura is that
0:29:34.380,0:29:34.940
or …
0:29:36.900,0:29:40.400
you didn’t eat vegetables this morning,
you ate something else ..
0:29:40.400,0:29:42.680
and it’s disrupting this part of your aura
0:29:42.680,0:29:44.800
and this guy [dhamma teacher]
had always thought ‘yeah yeah yeah’
0:29:44.800,0:29:45.900
‘pull the other leg’
0:29:47.600,0:29:51.780
anyway – so he’d gotten into this
negative mind state with a person
0:29:53.120,0:29:55.240
decided to practice loving kindness
0:29:55.240,0:29:58.460
so he’s there, really beaming it out
really starting to enjoy it
0:29:58.740,0:30:00.380
and this guy walks past and says
0:30:00.380,0:30:02.280
‘WOW your aura just turned green!’
0:30:05.520,0:30:09.820
so if you fancy a green aura …
loving kindness …
0:30:11.320,0:30:12.500
is it possible?
0:30:14.640,0:30:16.980
one time I had a friend
0:30:17.200,0:30:21.040
.. we had a van trip
and somebody was taking the vans with us
0:30:21.400,0:30:23.200
and this person is very ….
0:30:23.820,0:30:25.220
what’s the word?
0:30:26.420,0:30:27.440
uppity
0:30:29.040,0:30:30.680
uppity – do you know that word?
0:30:32.940,0:30:36.120
kind of .. very particular .. precise
0:30:36.120,0:30:39.440
and will let you know the second
there is something they don’t like
0:30:40.640,0:30:44.860
and what I’d done was –
I think we’d had 32 people
0:30:45.840,0:30:48.120
and I thought well, 2 people aren’t going to show up
0:30:48.120,0:30:50.280
so I’ll get 3 vans – that’s 30 people
0:30:50.480,0:30:53.200
and what happened was 31 people showed up
0:30:53.700,0:30:56.180
and so in the vans, everyone got a seat
0:30:56.180,0:30:58.300
but he had to sit behind the driver
0:30:58.300,0:31:00.700
facing the rest of the people in the van
0:31:00.840,0:31:02.020
reverse seated
0:31:02.020,0:31:03.740
and it’s not very comfortable
0:31:04.900,0:31:07.320
and I knew that I was going to get both barrels
0:31:07.420,0:31:12.860
because this is not a person
who puts up with things easily
0:31:13.160,0:31:16.200
I even said – I won’t charge you for the van seat
0:31:17.420,0:31:19.260
‘it’s not about the money waaahhh’
0:31:19.440,0:31:23.680
so I made sure that I
was in a different van all the way down
0:31:25.880,0:31:27.640
[sending him loving kindness??]
0:31:27.840,0:31:31.800
sending him not loving kindness,
I was sending him patience
0:31:32.960,0:31:36.100
like I say, beautiful mind states are not only loving kindness
0:31:36.100,0:31:38.140
it’s also other states
0:31:38.140,0:31:42.100
so I was sending .. I was beaming
patience at him the whole way down
0:31:42.100,0:31:45.000
and we stopped about an hour and a half into the trip
0:31:45.000,0:31:49.180
and we all got off
to go to the bathroom at the station
0:31:50.000,0:31:52.060
and I went up to him and I said,
‘you know, if ..’
0:31:53.420,0:31:57.460
‘if you would like to take a seat in my van’
0:31:57.920,0:31:59.140
‘I’ll organise something’
0:31:59.140,0:32:02.140
I didn’t want to say, but I would take
the reverse seat
0:32:02.140,0:32:03.480
because I actually don’t mind
0:32:03.720,0:32:07.440
you should see some of the temple
vehicles that we have to sit in
0:32:08.860,0:32:11.100
and so I found him out and I said
0:32:11.460,0:32:13.620
‘that must have been uncomfortable for you’
0:32:13.620,0:32:15.680
‘I’m going to change it around
for the rest of the trip ..’
0:32:15.680,0:32:17.760
he was like
‘Oh no no it’s alright’
0:32:18.340,0:32:19.620
‘no problem at all’
0:32:19.840,0:32:20.380
[it worked?]
0:32:20.420,0:32:21.320
So it worked!
0:32:22.720,0:32:26.280
my patience that I sent him
worked!
0:32:28.000,0:32:29.240
now did it work ??
0:32:30.680,0:32:32.840
I’ll leave that for you to decide
0:32:35.120,0:32:39.660
there was a real experiment done on this
you may remember with TM
0:32:40.300,0:32:43.620
and it was in the late 70’s I think it was
0:32:44.300,0:32:47.740
and they had all the TM practitioners in Washington
0:32:48.200,0:32:52.220
don’t ask me if it’s Washington State
or Washington DC
0:32:54.660,0:33:01.440
and they – all the TM meditators got together and made a coordinated simultaneous meditation
0:33:01.640,0:33:02.500
for peace
0:33:03.540,0:33:07.220
and the crime rate dropped by a huge percentage
[23.3%]
0:33:07.260,0:33:09.580
at that time in Washington
0:33:10.960,0:33:12.080
[Washington DC]
0:33:12.180,0:33:13.360
that was DC?
0:33:13.460,0:33:15.520
So … I’m not
0:33:15.800,0:33:18.420
giving you the clear details but
0:33:18.420,0:33:21.300
but you can look this up
it’s quite a famous experiment
0:33:21.300,0:33:23.600
there are critics of the experiment
0:33:23.820,0:33:25.860
and there are proponents of the experiment
0:33:26.120,0:33:28.240
but there’s plenty of websites that show
0:33:28.880,0:33:30.920
good research into this
0:33:31.300,0:33:34.980
and it seems to be that actually it did make a difference
0:33:36.440,0:33:37.600
again …
0:33:38.080,0:33:42.100
it’s up to the individual to decide for themself
0:33:43.100,0:33:47.020
even if sending these states out doesn’t
make a difference
0:33:47.020,0:33:51.040
to the people around you
it’s still going to affect your own behaviour
0:33:51.040,0:33:53.380
and your behavior affects the people around you
0:33:54.300,0:33:56.120
so either way
0:33:56.120,0:33:58.680
this is an offering that you make to the world
0:33:58.680,0:34:02.120
this is a way to remember your practice is not just for your self
0:34:02.280,0:34:03.880
but for all world beings
0:34:04.760,0:34:07.660
it’s also a way to start to distinguish
0:34:08.160,0:34:10.040
what are sobhana mind states
0:34:10.040,0:34:12.500
what are beautiful mind states
0:34:13.800,0:34:16.640
and traditionally we do metta, loving kindness
0:34:16.640,0:34:18.860
we also do Karuna
0:34:19.280,0:34:20.820
which is compassion
0:34:21.180,0:34:24.980
and compassion is feeling for other being’s suffering
0:34:27.460,0:34:29.340
we also do Mudita
0:34:29.640,0:34:30.480
which is
0:34:31.380,0:34:32.280
trickier !
0:34:32.680,0:34:34.880
it took years for me to get this one too
0:34:35.040,0:34:38.960
Mudita is feeling joy for other people’s success
0:34:41.100,0:34:43.300
when I first started doing this
0:34:43.380,0:34:45.460
when I finally figured it out
0:34:45.460,0:34:47.100
I really started to enjoy this
0:34:47.380,0:34:48.900
because it’s so lovely
0:34:49.260,0:34:51.260
feeling good for other people
0:34:51.580,0:34:53.640
‘oh this person is so beautiful’
0:34:53.680,0:34:56.160
or ‘has such a lovely car…’
0:34:56.280,0:34:58.120
or has such a nice life …
0:34:58.480,0:35:03.580
anything good – it’s really worshiping and praising the good things that happens to other people
0:35:04.960,0:35:07.960
the loving kindness,
the metta is kind of a
0:35:08.580,0:35:10.500
I don’t know if you say a mixture, but
0:35:10.780,0:35:12.640
is unconditional
0:35:12.640,0:35:15.800
so we are not looking at the bad things
we are not looking at the good things
0:35:16.180,0:35:18.980
Karuna, Mudita are both
0:35:19.400,0:35:21.320
have an element of judgement
0:35:21.840,0:35:25.440
the suffering or bad things …
success in good things
0:35:25.800,0:35:28.960
loving kindness is in-between
it has neither
0:35:29.520,0:35:34.540
so it’s unconditional
whatever the situation is it has a loving kindness
0:35:35.760,0:35:39.760
and the 4th one is Upekkha
or ‘equanimity’
0:35:40.860,0:35:44.680
and equanimity
– there is the dull kind
0:35:45.100,0:35:46.940
and there is the fierce kind
0:35:47.800,0:35:49.260
so the dull kind is
0:35:49.920,0:35:50.800
‘ stuff it ‘
0:35:52.040,0:35:53.480
bit of an English phrase
0:35:53.700,0:35:55.880
in Thai is ช่างมัน
0:35:56.240,0:35:57.440
any Thais here?
0:35:58.340,0:35:59.300
‘ chang man ‘
0:35:59.360,0:36:00.000
it’s like
0:36:01.000,0:36:02.520
stuff it
forget it
0:36:03.020,0:36:03.900
don’t care
0:36:04.420,0:36:07.900
so that’s the ..
like the fake equanimity
0:36:08.540,0:36:12.340
the positive equanimity is an equipoise
0:36:12.340,0:36:13.140
I like that word
0:36:13.380,0:36:17.000
because it’s a very vibrant, clear total balance
0:36:17.540,0:36:19.680
again I like this image of the
0:36:20.860,0:36:22.140
karma dying
0:36:22.560,0:36:24.500
any karma that gets put on you
0:36:24.500,0:36:27.560
dies right there because you are completely equanimous
0:36:28.580,0:36:31.620
and this practice also is quite tricky
0:36:33.200,0:36:36.360
because there are things that you don’t like
you don’t like to fall sick
0:36:36.360,0:36:37.100
you don’t like
0:36:37.500,0:36:40.220
certain people,
or certain governments
0:36:40.220,0:36:43.080
or certain newspapers,
or certain situations
0:36:43.540,0:36:45.560
you do love other things
0:36:46.040,0:36:49.240
so to have real equanimity is quite tricky
0:36:51.100,0:36:53.720
with the altered states of meditation then
0:36:53.840,0:36:56.540
there are 2 main categories
0:36:57.000,0:36:59.780
that are useful
altered states of meditation
0:36:59.940,0:37:03.940
first category is what
I would call disenchantment
0:37:04.640,0:37:06.400
states and feelings
0:37:06.920,0:37:09.880
and these are insights that come from meditation
0:37:11.000,0:37:15.260
and so .. certain times
you look at something
0:37:15.260,0:37:18.680
you just have this overwhelming feeling
‘ That’s Not Real ‘
0:37:20.460,0:37:24.860
a person, or a place, or a situation
suddenly you snap out of it, and
0:37:25.200,0:37:27.600
it’s not real
or it’s not worthwhile
0:37:28.040,0:37:32.280
or sometimes you have a state of mind that’s there
and then suddenly it vanishes
0:37:32.300,0:37:34.080
and you notice it vanish
0:37:35.440,0:37:36.920
‘ that wasn’t real ‘
0:37:38.220,0:37:42.980
disenchantment – I love this word
it’s called nippita in the Pali
0:37:43.740,0:37:48.760
nippita – in Thai they translate as เบื่อหน่าย
which is to get fed up [of]
0:37:49.860,0:37:55.300
and there are various experiences
that lead you toward the dis- engagement
0:37:55.300,0:37:58.180
or the dis-entanglement with the things of the world
0:37:58.980,0:38:02.600
and it’s the things of the world
that attract your attention
0:38:03.160,0:38:04.040
outwards
0:38:04.400,0:38:07.460
because your attention leaks outwards
you miss
0:38:07.580,0:38:09.480
the citta, or the heart
0:38:10.340,0:38:12.260
or the unconditioned
0:38:12.480,0:38:14.880
so I was talking about this last week
0:38:15.140,0:38:17.380
enlightenment is unconditioned
0:38:18.320,0:38:24.560
or unborn, undying, unchanging
it’s kind of like the cinema screen
0:38:25.380,0:38:28.900
like this screen up here
we can play images on this screen
0:38:28.960,0:38:30.840
any image, any story
0:38:30.920,0:38:33.680
wonderful stories
terrible stories
0:38:34.920,0:38:36.760
and we see them on the screen
0:38:36.760,0:38:38.860
but the screen has never changed
0:38:39.220,0:38:44.020
the screen remains completely
unchanged by the thing that’s shone on it
0:38:44.200,0:38:47.960
in the same way our own real nature
out enlightened nature
0:38:48.000,0:38:49.680
or unconditioned nature
0:38:49.960,0:38:52.840
has always remained completely unchanged
0:38:53.720,0:38:58.720
it’s that real nature that
we are trying to get back to in the practice
0:39:00.500,0:39:01.140
So
0:39:01.380,0:39:03.620
why do we not see that real nature?
0:39:03.620,0:39:06.000
because our attention is leaking outwards
0:39:06.000,0:39:08.560
things that we can see
things that we can hear
0:39:08.560,0:39:11.420
things that we can taste
things that we can touch
0:39:11.620,0:39:14.200
things that we can feel
things that we can think about
0:39:14.200,0:39:16.640
and we like them or we dislike them
0:39:16.800,0:39:19.680
we push against them
or we try to pull them in
0:39:19.680,0:39:23.300
and this is what keeps our attention
dancing around in the world
0:39:23.500,0:39:27.100
to get back to this real nature
we have to dis-entangle
0:39:30.720,0:39:34.520
he has a mindfulness blog coming up called ‘Disentangled’
0:39:34.920,0:39:36.380
for this very reason
0:39:38.820,0:39:39.560
So
0:39:40.060,0:39:42.460
some of these beautiful mind states
0:39:42.460,0:39:44.900
might not appear as beautiful mind states
0:39:44.900,0:39:46.840
because they are feelings of
beuanai [disenchantment]
0:39:46.880,0:39:48.220
of getting fed up
0:39:48.560,0:39:51.040
of dis-enchantment with things
0:39:51.920,0:39:55.600
and I love this word enchantment
specifically because
0:39:56.280,0:39:59.000
I love faerie tales
and with faerie tales
0:39:59.260,0:40:03.340
there’s always the evil being
that puts an enchantment on you
0:40:03.980,0:40:06.440
makes you fall in love with the wrong person
0:40:06.440,0:40:08.360
or gives you creaky knees, or
0:40:08.380,0:40:10.980
whatever it is
turns you into a frog
0:40:11.580,0:40:14.860
and this enchantment is a spell, and it’s not real
0:40:14.960,0:40:18.900
it’s hiding you, or separating you
from your real nature
0:40:20.660,0:40:23.860
but that enchantment
in every faerie tale
0:40:23.900,0:40:25.420
there is always a trick
0:40:25.660,0:40:29.980
to breaking that enchantment
if you just know the trick
0:40:30.340,0:40:32.620
if the frog can just get a kiss
0:40:32.780,0:40:34.900
from a beautiful woman
0:40:34.900,0:40:37.380
then the enchantment is broken
0:40:39.480,0:40:42.360
so this word disenchantment
0:40:42.520,0:40:46.120
there are different words
they use dis-illusionment
0:40:46.180,0:40:47.580
sometimes as well
0:40:49.680,0:40:53.120
on the other side to disenchantment
experiences there are
0:40:53.180,0:40:55.060
illuminatory expeirences
0:40:55.060,0:40:57.900
where you suddenly see brightness or
0:40:57.920,0:41:00.960
light – when the mind suddenly comes together
0:41:01.140,0:41:03.440
when everything kind of coalesces
0:41:03.440,0:41:05.780
and these are enlightenment experiences
0:41:06.340,0:41:10.740
and of course most people
really want enlightenment experiences
0:41:11.840,0:41:14.000
you don’t want to sit there suffering
0:41:14.040,0:41:15.400
you don’t want to see
0:41:15.780,0:41:18.820
the unpleasant nature of your obsessive mind
0:41:19.720,0:41:23.480
but seeing the unpleasant nature
of your obsessive mind
0:41:23.520,0:41:25.480
will dis-entangle you from it
0:41:26.680,0:41:29.380
so ultimately
if you want to develop
0:41:29.620,0:41:30.360
wisdom
0:41:30.660,0:41:35.800
the disenchantment experiences
are longer lasting and more powerful
0:41:36.160,0:41:39.680
people dismiss them
because they are not so pleasant
0:41:41.540,0:41:43.620
the illuminatory experiences
0:41:43.680,0:41:46.960
great faith comes from illuminatory expeirence
0:41:48.180,0:41:50.740
so in the long term you are better off
0:41:50.740,0:41:54.660
by developing the disentanglement experiences
0:41:57.300,0:42:02.200
which way do you use to key into
the beautiful mind states
0:42:03.400,0:42:06.360
for me personally I want to finish with my own
0:42:06.640,0:42:08.860
way into the metta meditation
0:42:08.860,0:42:10.380
loving kindness meditation
0:42:11.220,0:42:13.800
was every time I wold come and meditate
0:42:13.840,0:42:15.760
I just didn’t want to do stuff
0:42:17.180,0:42:20.540
this is why I was never any good at TM meditation
0:42:21.160,0:42:24.360
sit and recite a mantra over and over
– arghh –
0:42:25.000,0:42:27.080
I’ve got enough stuff in my mind
0:42:27.520,0:42:31.200
I know it has benefits, and if you do it
it’s good, you can work it
0:42:31.800,0:42:33.480
I just didn’t want to do it
0:42:34.040,0:42:37.080
I had this teacher who said –
you focus on the in-breath
0:42:37.080,0:42:38.320
focus on the out-breath
0:42:38.320,0:42:42.000
and on the out-breath, just as it stops
you focus on your buttocks
0:42:42.000,0:42:43.120
pressing on the seat
0:42:43.120,0:42:46.800
and then back to the in-breath,
and the out, and then the buttocks
0:42:47.380,0:42:49.260
I don’t want to do it
0:42:49.960,0:42:51.160
but I did it anyway
0:42:51.160,0:42:57.640
ok in-breath in, out, buttocks
in-out-buttocks buttocks buttocks to this practice
0:42:58.960,0:43:00.880
and I went back and I reported
0:43:00.880,0:43:04.320
because I wanted to report
that I was doing the practice so I did it
0:43:04.320,0:43:06.380
and I went back and I reported that I did it
0:43:06.400,0:43:08.240
‘fine. Now I want you to say’
0:43:08.580,0:43:12.340
‘in-breath, hands, out-breath, buttocks’
NO
0:43:12.780,0:43:14.940
I draw the line – I’m not doing it!
0:43:15.820,0:43:19.020
oh man – this may work for many people
0:43:20.140,0:43:22.860
I’m absolutely not saying it’s a bad practice
0:43:23.040,0:43:25.100
just not what I wanted to do
0:43:28.220,0:43:32.260
this Tibetan teacher gave me a Bodhisattva
0:43:32.260,0:43:33.860
I think it was Manjushri
0:43:34.220,0:43:36.180
with the sword of insight
0:43:36.180,0:43:39.000
he said this is your Bodhisattva
you have to memorize it
0:43:39.080,0:43:42.680
color of the finger nails
the jewels .. everything …
0:43:44.900,0:43:46.040
STOP!
0:43:48.100,0:43:50.900
and so what I would do is I would just stop
0:43:50.900,0:43:53.300
I don’t want to do anything in my meditation
0:43:53.420,0:43:56.220
and what I find is my mind will do stuff anyway
0:43:56.220,0:44:00.800
but when I hold my mind back
from this leaking out and doing things
0:44:00.960,0:44:07.040
every so often the mind comes together
becomes very bright, very mindful and very clear
0:44:07.300,0:44:09.500
IT’S RIGHT THERE!
0:44:11.640,0:44:15.000
so this is the kind of meditation that I would do
0:44:15.000,0:44:17.320
and I would say it’s more towards emptiness
0:44:17.920,0:44:18.800
than
0:44:20.500,0:44:23.860
not generating certain beautiful mind states
0:44:23.860,0:44:26.460
but just allowing everything to be empty
0:44:26.980,0:44:30.660
and when I would get to that
.. ahh .. it’s just .. nice!
0:44:30.880,0:44:36.280
it’s just right
my mind is just so present and happy and bright
0:44:36.400,0:44:38.560
and then it occurred to me one day
0:44:38.560,0:44:40.400
I was sitting like this,
and I thought
0:44:40.480,0:44:42.400
what if I just called this
0:44:42.860,0:44:44.860
loving kindness meditation
0:44:46.120,0:44:47.880
and what if I just offered it out?
0:44:47.880,0:44:50.680
and then suddenly that was when could do it
0:44:51.660,0:44:55.500
I could just shine this clarity of mind out
0:44:55.760,0:44:59.240
and that was how I keyed into the
metta meditation
0:44:59.240,0:45:01.060
and when ti first started to make sense for me
0:45:02.620,0:45:07.640
so out of the different states
that are worth developing
0:45:07.780,0:45:09.380
there are disenchantment states
0:45:09.380,0:45:14.240
and I’m going to talk more about these in
one of the future weeks
0:45:14.600,0:45:18.440
So long term – disenchantment is ..
are more powerful
0:45:18.820,0:45:21.080
they will generate wisdom
0:45:21.080,0:45:23.300
they will break your attachment to the world
0:45:23.320,0:45:25.300
they will really help your meditation
0:45:25.560,0:45:28.760
so those are one set of the beautiful mind states
0:45:29.320,0:45:33.840
and the other set, as the illuminatory mind states
you have th
0:45:33.840,0:45:37.000
mundane illuminatory mind states,
which means
0:45:37.240,0:45:40.680
states that you’ve developed through intention
0:45:40.980,0:45:44.260
patience practice,
or loving kindness practice
0:45:44.260,0:45:45.600
or compassion practice
0:45:46.280,0:45:49.340
all the different mind states
that you can think of that are
0:45:49.460,0:45:50.480
beautiful
0:45:50.480,0:45:54.520
and the tricks and the techniques that you use to develop them and bring them up
0:45:54.520,0:45:56.240
and bring them close to you
0:45:56.420,0:45:58.580
so that your mind leans in to them
0:45:59.260,0:46:02.680
the other set comes from the emptiness practices
0:46:02.680,0:46:04.740
which is just where everything stops
0:46:05.380,0:46:10.560
that kind of illuminatory experience
also is a beautiful mind state
0:46:16.380,0:46:20.560
according to – I love these !
– according to science
0:46:21.500,0:46:28.060
there are 6 scientifically proven reasons
to practice loving kindness meditation
0:46:32.320,0:46:36.560
1. it increases positive emotions
0:46:41.680,0:46:43.920
it is a positive emotion!
0:46:44.600,0:46:47.200
that’s like saying having money makes you rich
0:46:48.140,0:46:53.740
it is a positive emotion – it doesn’t
increase my positive emotion
0:46:55.320,0:46:58.340
2. it decreases your inner critic
0:46:59.480,0:47:00.580
that’s true
0:47:00.620,0:47:04.300
I have a strong inner critic
and I’d like to decrease him
0:47:05.700,0:47:07.800
3. it increases your empathy
0:47:07.800,0:47:12.120
it’s the same as the first one –
I mean, that loving kindness is empathetic
0:47:13.820,0:47:18.640
it’s like, if you practice empathy,
you are empathetic .. yes
0:47:19.540,0:47:22.640
here’s a more practical one in case you’re interested
0:47:22.640,0:47:24.320
4. it decreases migranes
0:47:27.120,0:47:29.520
personally I’ve never had a migrane
0:47:30.100,0:47:32.740
so not so attractive to me that one
0:47:33.680,0:47:36.240
5. it increases your compassion
0:47:37.440,0:47:40.240
and the last one – this is my favorite of all
0:47:40.920,0:47:43.020
I have to check how you say it
0:47:43.380,0:47:45.940
6. it lengthens your telomeres
0:47:47.440,0:47:48.800
you know telomeres?
0:47:48.800,0:47:50.100
I might be saying it wrong
0:47:50.180,0:47:53.340
telomeres are the ends of your genes
0:47:53.620,0:47:54.720
genes are the
0:47:56.180,0:47:58.540
the DNA right
0:47:58.580,0:48:01.220
your amino acids – your 4 amino acids
0:48:01.220,0:48:03.540
and they go into chains
and the chains fold up
0:48:03.540,0:48:04.880
and that is a gene
0:48:04.980,0:48:09.760
as an expression of certain batch .. of .. genes
0:48:09.880,0:48:12.320
and on the end of these is like a cap
0:48:12.720,0:48:17.200
and every time the cell divides
the cap gets a bit shorter
0:48:17.300,0:48:19.720
and this is what increases your aging
0:48:19.720,0:48:21.980
and why human beings age
0:48:23.820,0:48:27.740
it’s not as obvious … you’d think that
it’s obvious that animals will age
0:48:27.880,0:48:30.360
but actually it’s not
trees don’t age
0:48:31.740,0:48:33.940
they may get more impurities
0:48:33.960,0:48:36.360
and they may get more and more impure
0:48:37.020,0:48:38.860
so eventually they will die
0:48:38.860,0:48:41.880
but they don’t actually have a programmed aging
0:48:41.960,0:48:43.200
like animals do
0:48:43.540,0:48:47.140
so apparently
if you practice loving kindness meditation
0:48:47.260,0:48:49.180
it lengthens your telomeres
0:48:49.960,0:48:52.360
you seem to know more about this than I do
0:48:52.680,0:48:54.280
according to my science
0:48:54.300,0:48:57.180
it is not possible to lengthen the telomere
0:48:57.240,0:48:57.960
right
0:48:58.680,0:48:59.340
so
0:49:01.060,0:49:02.340
take that from us
0:49:02.340,0:49:05.220
there are 11 reasons
which I’ll finish off with
0:49:05.220,0:49:09.120
11 reasons that the Buddha gave
for practicing loving kindness
0:49:09.520,0:49:11.520
and this list makes a bit more sense
0:49:12.960,0:49:14.720
first 3 reasons
0:49:14.720,0:49:17.240
you will sleep more easily
0:49:17.600,0:49:19.580
you will wake more happily
0:49:19.580,0:49:21.680
and you will not have evil dreams
0:49:23.340,0:49:24.760
so that’s handy!
0:49:29.120,0:49:31.400
it’s true, this thing about evil dreams
0:49:31.500,0:49:35.020
if you do bad things
it affects your dreams right?
0:49:35.140,0:49:36.280
it just does
0:49:38.540,0:49:41.700
4. it will make you dear to human beings
0:49:43.520,0:49:46.080
if you fancy being dear to human beings
0:49:46.880,0:49:49.960
to me … you know … I’m no so …
0:49:50.140,0:49:54.860
I don’t mind being dear to human beings
but, just so long as you don’t …
0:49:55.580,0:49:58.060
come and knock on my door too often
0:50:00.240,0:50:04.880
5. this one is a bit more worrying
it makes you dear to non-human beings
0:50:06.280,0:50:09.120
and the first thing that I thought of was ghosts
0:50:09.120,0:50:10.400
because they are in-human right
0:50:10.400,0:50:12.400
I don’t want to be dear to ghosts
0:50:12.400,0:50:16.000
unless there’s a ghost already here
then I want to be dear to it
0:50:16.200,0:50:20.040
but if I’m dear to ghosts
and I’m pulling ghosts in
0:50:20.700,0:50:24.220
but then it occurred to me
that non-human beings may be animals
0:50:24.220,0:50:25.960
and I want to be dear to animals
0:50:27.860,0:50:30.740
kittens – I want to be dear to kittens
0:50:31.080,0:50:33.560
even snakes .. you know .. I would
0:50:35.740,0:50:38.260
I would rather – if there’s going to be a snake
0:50:38.300,0:50:41.440
I would rather dear to it …
0:50:45.260,0:50:49.740
I’m not bad with snakes ..
snakes and me have a working relationship
0:50:50.700,0:50:53.660
we’re ok
spiders not so much!
0:50:54.780,0:50:55.860
but snakes …
0:50:55.860,0:50:59.140
I know this one Thai woman
she was absolutely terrified of snakes
0:50:59.160,0:51:00.520
and she was a very …
0:51:00.820,0:51:03.940
hi-so woman
[high society]
0:51:04.320,0:51:06.680
she used to make …
well, I’m not going to tell you that
0:51:07.680,0:51:10.940
and when she was young
there was a snake in the house
0:51:10.940,0:51:14.200
and she got her servants to catch it
and hold it, and she
0:51:14.200,0:51:17.180
took a needle and thread
and she sewed it’s mouth shut
0:51:18.600,0:51:22.440
so ever after that she was
absolutely terrified of snakes
0:51:23.980,0:51:24.720
so
0:51:26.100,0:51:29.300
if you practice loving kindness, then …
0:51:29.300,0:51:31.920
this thing about sleeping more easily – yes
0:51:31.920,0:51:33.060
you have less fear
0:51:33.200,0:51:36.560
if you do bad things
those fears will stick with you
0:51:37.440,0:51:39.280
so dear to non-human beings
0:51:39.280,0:51:40.160
here’s a good one
0:51:40.160,0:51:41.980
devas will protect you
0:51:42.240,0:51:45.600
so good devas will come
and they will look after you
0:51:46.400,0:51:49.760
I don’t know if this is
how we get the next three
0:51:49.980,0:51:51.660
positive qualities, but
0:51:51.660,0:51:56.380
fire, poison and weapons
will not be able to harm you
0:51:57.380,0:52:00.740
if you do loving kindness meditation
0:52:00.980,0:52:04.020
these days it’s easier,
you just get an amulet
0:52:04.020,0:52:08.080
and the amulet will protect you
so you don’t need to bother with the loving kindness
0:52:10.260,0:52:12.660
your mind will concentrate quickly
0:52:13.560,0:52:17.280
and I’ll come back to that one
there’s a very nice story about that
0:52:17.620,0:52:19.740
your complexion is bright
0:52:19.960,0:52:21.880
and this is actually true
0:52:22.200,0:52:24.240
when people have been meditating
and when …
0:52:24.240,0:52:27.900
and I know for myself
when I’ve been meditating and hitting the spot
0:52:28.060,0:52:30.020
my face just kind of shines
0:52:30.020,0:52:32.560
you actually get like, a kind of grease
0:52:33.660,0:52:35.400
will come on the skin
0:52:35.580,0:52:39.820
and people will actually say to you
‘oh you look very nice today’
0:52:40.620,0:52:42.180
so it actually does
0:52:42.380,0:52:44.660
not just loving kindness meditation
0:52:44.660,0:52:46.820
but like a … pure meditation
0:52:47.500,0:52:48.760
and when you die
0:52:49.100,0:52:51.020
you will die unconfused
0:52:51.320,0:52:53.560
and you will go to a heavenly realm
0:52:55.320,0:52:58.200
this thing of concentrating quickly
the Buddha had a
0:52:58.200,0:53:00.600
very quickly, had a story about this
0:53:00.660,0:53:04.660
he said that a man who concentrates
0:53:05.100,0:53:09.820
on his meditation but has not practiced loving kindness
0:53:10.660,0:53:15.700
it’s like a person who is thirsty
and in need of water
0:53:16.020,0:53:17.820
finds a hoof print
0:53:18.100,0:53:21.060
is walking somewhere where there is no water
0:53:21.260,0:53:22.940
and they find a hoof print
0:53:23.300,0:53:24.980
that is filled with water
0:53:25.520,0:53:28.360
and in order to get the water
from that hoofprint
0:53:28.360,0:53:30.100
they have to find a straw
0:53:30.300,0:53:32.460
kneel down and very carefully
0:53:32.460,0:53:34.940
put the straw into the middle of the water
0:53:35.100,0:53:37.620
to suck up
the water
0:53:37.680,0:53:41.040
so that it doesn’t get
mixed with the earth
0:53:41.320,0:53:42.680
so it’s unmiddied
0:53:44.260,0:53:48.420
it occurs to me – I’m just hoping
that it’s water in the hooprint
0:53:51.300,0:53:54.840
he said that’s like a person doing meditation
0:53:54.880,0:53:59.160
who can concentrate
but has not practiced this morality
0:53:59.780,0:54:02.980
compared to a person who is wondering in a desert
0:54:03.060,0:54:05.780
looking for water
and finds an oasis
0:54:05.780,0:54:09.980
and takes off their clothes and
jumps into the pool and splashes around
0:54:10.080,0:54:14.640
that’s the meditation of a person
who has practiced loving kindness
0:54:15.180,0:54:19.340
so the loving kindness in Buddhism,
will make you happy
0:54:20.540,0:54:22.980
Insight meditation makes you wise
0:54:22.980,0:54:24.880
loving kindness makes you happy
0:54:25.080,0:54:28.680
when your mind is happy
it’s easier to concentrate
0:54:30.720,0:54:33.960
OK so that’s beautiful mind states
0:54:33.960,0:54:37.560
we’ve only mentioned some of
the beautiful mind states, but …
0:54:39.520,0:54:42.120
are there any questions,
thoughts, or comments?