∞
Meditation Course Week 3
Samatha-Vipassana
Rojana Center, Bangkok, 2017
Video and transcript from the meditation course this year.
Part of the reason for posting the full transcript is to make it searchable by content – i.e. for most videos you can only search by the title of the video, and not by what is actually presented.
Videos take a huge amount of effort to do. Clicking ‘LIKE’ is a very easy way to show appreciation and encourage the authors to do more.
0:00:15.440,0:00:19.080
OK, so to recap
over the last couple of weeks
0:00:19.440,0:00:21.320
The first week
0:00:23.080,0:00:25.640
I was talking about
0:00:26.840,0:00:29.680
just getting started with meditation
0:00:30.160,0:00:32.520
that the core method
0:00:33.320,0:00:35.600
is to bring your attention back
0:00:36.400,0:00:38.840
to the breathing
0:00:40.120,0:00:43.760
the breathing in fact is only one meditation object
0:00:43.840,0:00:47.040
there are many possible meditation objects
0:00:47.920,0:00:51.520
some people like to use a mantra
0:00:52.480,0:00:56.600
a mantra is a repeated word or phrase
0:00:57.880,0:01:01.680
that you run over and over again in the mind
0:01:02.600,0:01:05.480
so that it will push out,
or drown out
0:01:05.560,0:01:08.600
all the other thoughts, all the other ideas
0:01:09.400,0:01:14.400
and you can attain to quite a feeling, or state of serenity
0:01:15.120,0:01:16.280
by doing a mantra
0:01:17.600,0:01:20.080
there are many different mantras
0:01:20.480,0:01:21.680
that are possible
0:01:22.520,0:01:25.040
very often the simpler the better
0:01:26.880,0:01:31.760
one of the famous ones in Thailand is
‘Bud-dho Bud-dho’
0:01:33.160,0:01:35.320
and you say ‘Bud’ on the in-breath
0:01:35.520,0:01:37.280
then ‘dho’ on the out-breath
0:01:39.080,0:01:43.320
another famous one in Thailand is
‘Samma Araham Samma Araham’
0:01:43.400,0:01:45.160
and I actually use this one
0:01:47.040,0:01:48.400
Om Mani Padme Hum
0:01:49.040,0:01:51.320
there are many of these different mantras
0:01:51.440,0:01:53.960
that is possible to use
0:01:54.600,0:01:56.440
Do you know the Thai mantra?
0:01:57.600,0:02:04.360
‘mai pben rai, mai pben rai’
[Thai saying, meaning ‘don’t worry about it’]
0:02:05.120,0:02:09.160
and because you are concentrating
your mind on a mantra
0:02:09.280,0:02:11.560
it will push out, or drown out
0:02:12.200,0:02:15.120
all of the other kind of thoughts and thinking
0:02:15.600,0:02:20.240
and you attain to something quite ..
a state of serenity
0:02:21.440,0:02:23.360
in some instances the
0:02:23.600,0:02:26.520
the mantra itself has meaning
0:02:27.560,0:02:30.480
and in some instances it’s just a word
0:02:30.480,0:02:32.240
it’s just a sound that you make
0:02:33.120,0:02:37.280
if it has meaning
then you can be concentrating on the meaning
0:02:37.280,0:02:39.880
for example “may all beings be happy”
0:02:39.880,0:02:41.480
“may all beings be well”
0:02:42.400,0:02:45.280
this is a mantra that we can use
0:02:46.000,0:02:50.400
in order to arouse that feeling of ‘metta’
or loving kindness
0:02:52.120,0:02:55.160
other than mantras there are visualizations
0:02:55.920,0:02:58.080
if you are more of a visual person
0:02:58.280,0:02:59.280
you can
0:02:59.280,0:03:02.240
imagine certain things visually
0:03:04.240,0:03:06.920
I tend not to recommend this
0:03:07.080,0:03:08.120
because it’s ..
0:03:08.280,0:03:10.920
for those of you who are visual people
0:03:11.920,0:03:15.680
You can get quite caught up in visions and sights
0:03:15.720,0:03:18.360
and images in the mind
0:03:19.000,0:03:20.960
and usually these are a distraction
0:03:21.640,0:03:24.200
it’s not very often that they are acually
0:03:24.880,0:03:27.000
really real and really useful
0:03:27.640,0:03:31.160
but because they kind of appear magically in the mind
0:03:31.400,0:03:35.720
it can feel as if you are having
some kind of supernatural insight
0:03:35.920,0:03:37.440
actually it’s just vision
0:03:37.640,0:03:41.120
it’s just an image that has arisen in the mind
0:03:42.640,0:03:46.240
so I don’t recommend that you really follow the visual
0:03:47.040,0:03:49.120
things that arise in the mind
0:03:49.400,0:03:52.520
because they can be a real distraction
0:03:52.640,0:03:55.840
and can appear very beautiful
or very intricate
0:03:55.840,0:03:57.040
and very interesting
0:03:57.600,0:03:58.200
but
0:03:58.960,0:04:03.920
they are not usually anything that is really profound or useful
0:04:08.040,0:04:10.040
there are some visualizations [methods]
0:04:10.040,0:04:12.400
I like to visualize light
0:04:12.520,0:04:18.280
In fact I visualize a very tiny,
very bright grain of rice
0:04:19.320,0:04:21.360
down in the center of my body
0:04:21.440,0:04:24.160
this is a practice that I really like to do
0:04:25.600,0:04:29.280
if your mind gets quite refined in the meditation
0:04:29.600,0:04:31.920
what you can discover is
0:04:32.000,0:04:35.240
the breathing becomes too course
0:04:35.720,0:04:37.440
of a meditation object
0:04:38.200,0:04:39.880
if you can switch to light
0:04:40.120,0:04:45.000
light is actually a much more refined meditation object
0:04:46.840,0:04:51.560
there are others.
there are different forms of body meditation
0:04:52.800,0:04:56.240
some people they switch
from certain points in the body
0:04:56.240,0:05:00.800
in another meditation you visualize
a light in the center of your hand
0:05:01.200,0:05:04.320
there’s one where you move your arms
0:05:04.360,0:05:05.880
Luang Phor Tien method
0:05:06.800,0:05:10.480
so there are many different kinds of meditation object
0:05:11.560,0:05:17.640
the object that we would normally recommend
is to use the breathing
0:05:18.440,0:05:19.760
breathing is
0:05:20.120,0:05:22.440
something that’s very close to you
0:05:23.040,0:05:26.280
and so if you have developed
your meditation with the breath
0:05:26.800,0:05:34.440
then you can find and feel your meditation object very easily and very clearly all of the time
0:05:37.280,0:05:41.600
the breathing is also a very good barometer
for the way that you’re feeling
0:05:42.800,0:05:45.520
and our path of meditation is
0:05:45.760,0:05:47.920
is a path of insight
0:05:48.040,0:05:50.320
and by ‘insight’ what we mean is
0:05:51.880,0:05:55.240
the meditation should be turning your vision back
0:05:55.320,0:05:58.200
turning your awareness back on to yourself
0:05:58.600,0:06:01.000
so that you understand your
0:06:01.480,0:06:03.400
processes of body and mind
0:06:04.360,0:06:07.160
and it’s this process of knowing yourself
0:06:07.840,0:06:09.760
that will start to change you
0:06:11.600,0:06:13.760
so if you set forth a
0:06:14.720,0:06:18.160
a resolution of the kind of person that you want to be
0:06:19.040,0:06:23.600
‘I’m going to be perfectly calm
and beautiful and peaceful and holy and …
0:06:24.560,0:06:27.440
that’s just something that you’ve
generated with your ego
0:06:27.440,0:06:28.760
with your willpower
0:06:29.280,0:06:32.640
and it’s very difficult to try and maintain that
0:06:32.640,0:06:34.240
over a long period of time
0:06:34.840,0:06:38.040
because 10 minutes later you’re getting in a taxi
0:06:38.040,0:06:41.920
and he takes you to a different place
than you wanted to go
0:06:42.280,0:06:45.160
or somebody annoys you
or you bang your foot
0:06:45.320,0:06:48.640
and it’s just that intention has gone out of your mind
0:06:50.320,0:06:53.960
so to produce a long term effect; a long term change
0:06:53.960,0:06:58.520
what we do is, we practice this witnessing of yourself
0:06:59.360,0:07:02.800
witnessing of your processes –
your body, your mind
0:07:03.080,0:07:04.040
how it works
0:07:05.320,0:07:08.840
and it’s this knowing yourself that will change you
0:07:09.680,0:07:12.960
so in Buddhism we don’t have “thou shalt”
0:07:13.840,0:07:18.760
“thou shalt not do this”
“thou shalt not worship graven images”
0:07:19.360,0:07:24.200
“thou shalt not ….. live in Thailand without a visa”
0:07:25.640,0:07:27.440
these kind of things
0:07:27.800,0:07:30.080
we don’t really have in Buddhism
0:07:30.320,0:07:32.320
there are precepts and things
0:07:32.840,0:07:36.120
that you may voluntarily undertake as a training
0:07:37.000,0:07:38.680
but the idea is that
0:07:38.960,0:07:41.320
the onus is put back on you
0:07:41.520,0:07:44.720
you need to develop your own wisdom
0:07:45.800,0:07:47.920
and you do this by seeing yourself
0:07:47.920,0:07:51.320
and by seeing yourself – that is real
0:07:51.520,0:07:53.560
that’s not something religious
0:07:53.560,0:07:57.280
it’s not something that we’ve put on to you
0:07:57.840,0:08:00.240
this you seeing, well, your own processes
0:08:00.240,0:08:02.520
this is how it [you] works
0:08:04.080,0:08:07.080
and by generating this kind of wisdom
0:08:08.040,0:08:12.000
what you find is that when you look at things internally
0:08:12.880,0:08:18.080
you start to behave differently
to when you look at things externally
0:08:19.360,0:08:24.040
so you look at things externally and
you want to change them
0:08:24.040,0:08:25.880
you want to change the world
0:08:28.120,0:08:31.800
you look at Donald Trump
and you don’t like Donald Trump
0:08:31.800,0:08:35.680
you think, well, how can I protest,
how can I get him out of office
0:08:35.680,0:08:37.160
can we impeach him
0:08:37.600,0:08:40.560
of course there’s plenty of people
that do like Donald Trump
0:08:41.240,0:08:43.720
probably not many here today, but …
0:08:44.040,0:08:46.880
there’s plenty of people that do like him, so ..
0:08:47.040,0:08:49.640
we have to remember that our opinion is only that
0:08:49.640,0:08:50.880
it’s only an opinion
0:08:51.360,0:08:55.120
but when you turn the vision back inwards,
what you see is
0:08:55.280,0:08:58.000
not the external characteristics
0:08:58.520,0:08:59.800
but what you see it
0:08:59.800,0:09:02.200
well, there’s this anger arising in me
0:09:02.480,0:09:05.240
and there’s this hatred arising in me
0:09:05.680,0:09:08.520
or there’s greed arising in me
0:09:08.960,0:09:11.360
or this obsession arising in me
0:09:12.040,0:09:15.640
and when you see these things as internal qualities
0:09:16.400,0:09:19.400
what happens is you start to get wisdom
0:09:19.920,0:09:23.280
some things are worth developing
0:09:23.480,0:09:26.200
some things are not worth developing
0:09:27.440,0:09:33.040
so you see the greed, you anger,
you see hatred, you see jealousy, you see attachment
0:09:33.600,0:09:35.600
all of the negative qualities
0:09:37.200,0:09:40.400
when you feel them on the inside, you think, well
0:09:40.800,0:09:45.400
I don’t really want to have that quality
in myself right now
0:09:46.600,0:09:48.320
so you are feeling angry
0:09:49.720,0:09:53.920
externally you may have every justification
0:09:54.120,0:09:55.240
for that feeling
0:09:56.240,0:09:58.920
but internally, when you turn the vision back
0:09:58.960,0:10:01.240
you see, well, this is anger
0:10:01.600,0:10:04.320
this is not nice, it’s not pleasant
0:10:04.720,0:10:07.920
somebody may tell you
“don’t be angry, it’s bad”
0:10:07.960,0:10:09.800
it doesn’t have much affect
0:10:10.040,0:10:12.960
but when you see it inside your own self
0:10:13.120,0:10:16.560
because you’ve trained
your attention to turn back
0:10:16.920,0:10:20.920
then you start to want to give it up quite naturally
0:10:22.240,0:10:25.160
the Buddha’s analogy for this was
0:10:26.240,0:10:29.160
imagine a young man or a young woman
0:10:29.160,0:10:31.840
who is very fond of their appearance
0:10:33.360,0:10:36.560
and imagine you were to take a dead
0:10:36.560,0:10:39.080
and rotting corpse of a dog
0:10:39.840,0:10:42.640
and drape it over that person’s shoulders
0:10:43.880,0:10:46.520
what would that young man or young woman
0:10:46.560,0:10:49.040
fond of their appearance
wish to do??
0:10:51.120,0:10:52.520
the answer is
0:10:52.600,0:10:57.720
they would wish to remove that
rotting dead dog corpse from their shoulders
0:10:58.360,0:11:00.080
as quickly as possible
0:11:00.720,0:11:02.920
I love the language of the suttas
0:11:02.920,0:11:07.040
they are really stark, clear metaphors
0:11:07.720,0:11:10.000
so in exactly the same way
0:11:10.000,0:11:13.640
is when you start to see
negative qualities inside yourself
0:11:14.000,0:11:17.440
because you’re watching them
and feeling them directly
0:11:17.840,0:11:20.200
you have this urge to cast them off
0:11:21.520,0:11:25.360
there’s no longer any question of
“how do I deal with anger”
0:11:25.680,0:11:28.280
“how do I remove negative qualities”
0:11:28.760,0:11:31.720
“I’m just so greedy – how can I remove that?”
0:11:33.840,0:11:36.400
you know that man, he went to the Doctor
0:11:37.480,0:11:39.960
and he had a problem with greed
0:11:39.960,0:11:41.760
he said “Dr, I’m just so greedy”
0:11:42.120,0:11:43.600
and the Dr said
0:11:43.800,0:11:46.520
“don’t worry – we have pills for that now”
0:11:46.520,0:11:48.600
and the man said
“give me lots of them!”
0:11:51.840,0:11:56.320
so when you see it directly,
you naturally want to give it up
0:11:57.280,0:11:59.400
greed is interesting because
0:11:59.920,0:12:01.800
other negative qualities
0:12:03.240,0:12:06.200
[you] are quite quick to see them as negative
0:12:06.200,0:12:09.200
if you are really hateful or angry, it’s quite easy
0:12:09.280,0:12:11.840
to see that as a negative quality
0:12:12.720,0:12:14.240
but when you are greedy
0:12:14.640,0:12:18.160
that’s much harder because you think
“well, that thing is really nice”
0:12:18.200,0:12:20.920
it feels like a nice state of mind
0:12:22.080,0:12:24.240
but to a meditator what you see is
0:12:24.240,0:12:27.880
this greed, or this desire is starting to obsess the mind
0:12:27.920,0:12:30.440
it starts to pull the mind into it
0:12:31.360,0:12:33.920
and it’s this losing your wakefulness
0:12:33.920,0:12:35.440
losing your awareness
0:12:35.520,0:12:39.440
as the mind condenses around that thing that you want
0:12:39.480,0:12:44.840
this is what you start to see
as unpleasant and unwholesome
0:12:53.280,0:12:54.960
OK, so …
0:12:57.800,0:13:01.440
20 minutes here counts to your 20 minutes a day
0:13:06.480,0:13:11.040
do try!
Make this period a period where
0:13:12.280,0:13:14.680
you are making that extra effort
0:13:17.200,0:13:21.840
I have a friend of mine
and he insists that he cannot do meditation
0:13:23.800,0:13:26.400
and some years ago
0:13:26.920,0:13:28.680
he said he really tried
0:13:28.920,0:13:31.080
he said for a couple of months he was in a
0:13:31.080,0:13:33.400
Christian Ashram
0:13:34.160,0:13:37.360
there are such things
It’s a kind of hybrid
0:13:42.240,0:13:46.080
and he .. he really tried at that time
0:13:46.800,0:13:49.800
and he said
“you know I felt really good when I did it”
0:13:50.000,0:13:51.880
and I said
“so why don’t you do it now?”
0:13:51.880,0:13:53.480
he said
“oh I can’t meditate”
0:13:53.480,0:13:55.040
“But you did it!”
0:13:55.040,0:13:56.800
he said
“no, I wasn’t any good at it”
0:13:56.800,0:13:58.680
I said
“but you felt really good with yourself”
0:13:58.680,0:14:00.120
“when you were doing it”
0:14:01.560,0:14:04.800
so this is the thing
if you take that 20 minutes
0:14:05.160,0:14:09.000
of time every day, to stop and be with yourself
0:14:10.040,0:14:12.600
you will start to really appreciate it
0:14:12.960,0:14:16.520
it will start to be a beautiful part of your day
0:14:17.760,0:14:20.360
if you do 10 minutes once a week
0:14:21.080,0:14:24.280
that 10 minutes is always going to be difficult, right?
0:14:24.600,0:14:26.800
that 10 minutes is always going to be spent
0:14:26.800,0:14:30.640
just trying to
get any kind of awareness that you can
0:14:31.440,0:14:33.280
your mind is a machine
0:14:33.880,0:14:37.480
it will just so exactly the way that you have trained it
0:14:38.560,0:14:42.000
it will work in exactly the way that you’ve trained it to work
0:14:43.760,0:14:46.080
so from an early age you have always
0:14:46.560,0:14:47.920
been looking for
0:14:48.520,0:14:51.800
things outside of yourself, stimulation
0:14:52.280,0:14:55.560
things to look at,
things to see, things to do
0:14:56.000,0:14:57.280
things to learn …
0:14:59.160,0:15:02.800
and your parents
they congratulate you
0:15:03.280,0:15:06.520
on the new things that you can do
0:15:06.520,0:15:08.600
and that’s what parents are interested in
0:15:09.360,0:15:12.240
I’m thinking of these guys with the baby over here
0:15:14.400,0:15:16.160
That’s what they like to do
0:15:16.160,0:15:18.680
you know what my mother use to do ….
0:15:19.200,0:15:20.920
when I was very young
0:15:21.440,0:15:25.600
under 6 years old
because we moved house when I was 6 years old
0:15:25.920,0:15:28.960
and she trained me to remember my phone number
0:15:30.400,0:15:32.920
353 5536
0:15:33.640,0:15:37.440
I was less than 6 years old
when I memorized that number
0:15:37.560,0:15:39.000
it’s still with me now
0:15:40.480,0:15:43.280
and if I couldn’t say the phone number
0:15:43.280,0:15:45.240
my mother would be very unhappy with me
0:15:48.000,0:15:51.240
when I could say the phone number
I didn’t even get a treat
0:15:51.240,0:15:54.520
I just didn’t get the unhappiness
0:15:57.840,0:16:00.480
my mother was trying to teach me colours
0:16:02.720,0:16:04.320
do you know Smarties?
0:16:04.920,0:16:06.800
they are like M&Ms
0:16:06.840,0:16:09.040
multi-coloured M&Ms
0:16:09.680,0:16:12.320
and she’d line them all up in a row
0:16:12.520,0:16:14.160
between her and I
0:16:15.080,0:16:18.640
and then she’d point to one of them and say
“what colour is that?”
0:16:19.800,0:16:22.720
and if I get the colour right, I can eat it
0:16:24.520,0:16:27.480
and if I get the colour wrong, SHE eats it
0:16:30.720,0:16:34.400
this was horrible! Tears would stream down my face
0:16:35.080,0:16:37.880
“what colour is that?”
“is it blue?”
0:16:37.880,0:16:39.040
“it’s RED!”
0:16:41.600,0:16:44.480
“what colour’s that one”
I’ll go “Yellow!”
0:16:44.480,0:16:45.880
she’d say “are you sure???”
0:16:46.680,0:16:49.640
I’d say “It’s blue!”
she said “it’s yellow!”
0:16:53.520,0:16:56.280
she’d drilled this stuff in to my mind
0:16:56.720,0:17:00.000
this is the way we are trained from a very early age
0:17:00.000,0:17:02.440
to be always looking outside of ourself
0:17:03.200,0:17:05.720
looking at the new thing that we can see
0:17:05.720,0:17:08.520
we can learn, we can do, we can taste
0:17:09.320,0:17:13.280
and to train the attention to come back,
therefore, is difficult
0:17:13.720,0:17:17.000
it’s actually the most natural thing in the world
0:17:17.040,0:17:18.960
just to be aware of yourself
0:17:19.440,0:17:23.080
be happy, present, breathing
0:17:23.680,0:17:26.160
and for those of you who do meditation
0:17:26.840,0:17:30.360
you know that sometimes
the mind just comes together
0:17:30.840,0:17:32.320
and it’s just there
0:17:33.800,0:17:36.240
when the mind has come together,
there really …
0:17:36.640,0:17:39.360
isn’t any need for a meditation method
0:17:39.360,0:17:40.760
you just know
0:17:41.040,0:17:44.360
that you are here, you are awake, you are present
0:17:44.560,0:17:45.760
you are bright
0:17:46.320,0:17:47.960
and very very happy
0:17:50.520,0:17:52.520
but you are not in that state, because
0:17:52.520,0:17:55.920
the mind is a machine
you’ve trained it to always be working
0:17:56.000,0:17:57.840
always be jumping around
0:17:58.600,0:18:01.360
and then you sit for 5 minutes
or you come to the temple
0:18:01.400,0:18:03.320
or you come see me
0:18:04.120,0:18:06.280
and the meditation doesn’t work
0:18:06.280,0:18:07.960
you are like
“well I can’t do meditation”
0:18:07.960,0:18:09.240
of course you can’t!
0:18:09.280,0:18:11.760
you haven’t trained yourself to do it
0:18:13.880,0:18:17.000
it’s only when you do the training
day in day out
0:18:17.000,0:18:19.240
that then you start to get these experiences
0:18:19.280,0:18:21.920
when the mind really does come together
0:18:23.520,0:18:25.720
these experiences are really
0:18:26.800,0:18:28.840
bright and clear
0:18:29.600,0:18:31.320
they are really
0:18:31.960,0:18:34.040
it’s moving into a silence
0:18:34.520,0:18:37.160
all this chattering in the mind
0:18:37.560,0:18:39.360
that you think is you
0:18:41.560,0:18:46.440
you think this is me chattering in my mind
this is me doing things
0:18:47.480,0:18:49.920
but the interesting thing is you are still there
0:18:49.920,0:18:52.360
even when the mind has completely stopped
0:18:53.640,0:18:56.440
so you start to get a sense of yourself
0:18:56.440,0:19:00.280
independent of the things that go on in the mind
0:19:01.640,0:19:04.720
this is important for enlightenment
which is ‘unconditioned’
0:19:04.720,0:19:09.360
but I’ll go into the nature of enlightenment another time
0:19:11.240,0:19:13.520
so moving into this silence
0:19:13.520,0:19:16.400
this is the mystic path
0:19:16.400,0:19:20.320
all religions have the exoteric path
0:19:21.000,0:19:24.280
the teachings that they have ‘outside’
that you should do this ..
0:19:24.280,0:19:26.720
and you shouldn’t do that ..
and the world was created
0:19:26.720,0:19:29.320
in this way, at that time, and blah blah blah
0:19:29.360,0:19:30.480
The stories
0:19:31.920,0:19:33.480
that’s the exoteric
0:19:33.960,0:19:37.560
Buddhism has plenty of stories too
0:19:38.640,0:19:42.200
you know when the Buddha was born,
his mother was standing up
0:19:45.120,0:19:47.240
and then he’s born, and he lands on his feet
0:19:47.240,0:19:49.160
and he takes 7 steps
0:19:49.400,0:19:53.600
and a lotus flower appears under
each footstep as he walks
0:19:55.000,0:19:57.240
Buddhism has it’s stories too
0:19:57.360,0:20:00.640
actually they are beautiful stories
0:20:00.720,0:20:04.000
and stories are not supposed to be literally true
0:20:08.280,0:20:11.080
there comes a point where all of this
0:20:11.280,0:20:13.680
exoteric teachings
0:20:14.000,0:20:16.200
for all religions have these
0:20:16.560,0:20:19.120
but they also have the esoteric teachings
0:20:19.120,0:20:23.360
which is the .. I would call the mystic path
0:20:23.560,0:20:28.240
like most men I like to think of myself
as a bit of a mystery
0:20:28.520,0:20:30.120
bit of an enigma
0:20:31.160,0:20:33.080
still waters run deep
[English saying]
0:20:34.880,0:20:37.200
the mystic path is
0:20:37.560,0:20:40.680
the side of religion
the side of the …
0:20:41.240,0:20:45.040
that turns the attention around and goes inwards
0:20:45.320,0:20:50.440
and every religion
and not even religion – every cutlure
0:20:50.640,0:20:54.720
has a teaching … has a group of people
0:20:54.760,0:20:57.320
that have at some point wanted to
0:20:57.560,0:21:04.240
retreat a little bit from society, to turn the attention around and go into this mystery
0:21:05.200,0:21:07.560
the mystery is ‘What Are You?’
0:21:08.760,0:21:12.280
and the real way to find out what you are
0:21:12.280,0:21:15.000
is to stop all the things that you think you are
0:21:15.880,0:21:18.360
then you start to get this clear
0:21:18.560,0:21:21.160
understanding of the direction
0:21:21.160,0:21:24.280
of what you actually are, what you really are
0:21:26.760,0:21:29.720
So this … path
0:21:30.160,0:21:34.840
in order to turn the attention around and see this silence
0:21:34.920,0:21:36.720
be with this silence
0:21:37.040,0:21:39.520
it’s really the most beautiful thing
0:21:40.640,0:21:43.920
sometimes if you are meditating well
0:21:43.920,0:21:47.080
and you do your meditation before you go to sleep
0:21:47.080,0:21:50.960
which is not allowed by the way!
That doesn’t count to your 20 minutes!
0:21:51.640,0:21:55.120
you have to do the 20 minutes sitting at some point
0:21:56.160,0:21:59.680
then when you go to bed you can do extra
0:21:59.960,0:22:01.600
5 minutes, 10 minutes,
0:22:01.840,0:22:06.040
if you are doing your meditation as you go to sleep
0:22:06.040,0:22:07.120
as your only meditation
0:22:07.160,0:22:10.480
you start to draw that association in the mind
0:22:10.480,0:22:12.280
meditation is falling asleep
0:22:14.720,0:22:16.800
sometimes you can feel
0:22:17.760,0:22:19.600
just as you are waking up
0:22:19.840,0:22:22.120
the meditation wakes up first
0:22:23.240,0:22:25.880
you become bright and clear and mindful
0:22:26.000,0:22:29.920
but you have no memory of who you are
or what you are doing, or
0:22:30.640,0:22:33.960
and just for that time you are very very happy
0:22:34.880,0:22:37.600
and then the mind starts to crank up
0:22:38.120,0:22:40.040
“oh, I’ve got to go to work today”
0:22:40.040,0:22:43.240
“I’ve got to feed the baby, I’ve got to buy the…”
0:22:43.560,0:22:45.840
“something. I have to pay my bills …”
0:22:45.840,0:22:48.640
and this mind that cranks up, and you see it
0:22:48.880,0:22:52.040
like – wow, that’s really, kind of, suffering
0:22:54.160,0:22:55.240
If you
0:22:56.520,0:23:00.520
can really meditate well, as you’re waking up
0:23:01.840,0:23:05.440
you can even know
which breath it was that you woke up on
0:23:05.440,0:23:07.480
the in-breath or the out-breath
0:23:08.200,0:23:09.400
do you believe me?
0:23:12.760,0:23:15.120
I heard this said for many years
0:23:15.120,0:23:19.160
and I was a little doubtful –
I thought this was one of those stories
0:23:19.440,0:23:21.480
meditation teachers tell
0:23:22.880,0:23:25.000
and then one day I woke up
0:23:26.480,0:23:29.840
I knew which breath I woke up on!
This is fantastic!
0:23:30.520,0:23:32.280
and I called my friend and I said
0:23:32.280,0:23:35.080
“you know that thing where you know which breath you woke up on”
0:23:35.080,0:23:37.720
I said “I did it, I did it this morning, I knew!”
0:23:39.120,0:23:41.520
and he said
“which one was it?”
0:23:42.280,0:23:45.520
“I can’t remember now” 🙁
0:23:47.160,0:23:51.400
It’s also said that you know
which breath that you fell asleep on
0:23:52.200,0:23:56.480
I haven’t done that one myself – I haven’t got there yet
0:23:57.560,0:24:04.720
So, how do we start to enter into this mystery?
0:24:06.080,0:24:09.880
according to the Buddha,
the first thing that we have to do
0:24:09.880,0:24:12.520
is dis-entangle from the world
0:24:13.400,0:24:19.920
this dis-entanglement is the job that we are doing
with insight meditation
0:24:20.760,0:24:23.280
and there are various ways that we do that
0:24:23.320,0:24:28.400
but this week I want to concentrate on
the primary way that we can use
0:24:28.400,0:24:30.200
there’s a very clear mechanism
0:24:30.360,0:24:36.880
there’s a very clear tool for this
practicing this dis-entanglement
0:24:37.680,0:24:40.400
this is called Samatha-Vipassana
0:24:42.240,0:24:45.920
the word ‘Samatha’ means tranquility
0:24:47.160,0:24:51.400
it’s closely connected to ‘Samadhi’
which means ‘concentration’
0:24:52.000,0:24:55.160
the idea that when you concentrate on an object
0:24:55.200,0:24:59.240
the mind will become calm
will become kind of damped down
0:25:00.040,0:25:02.600
and become very blissful in many cases
0:25:04.400,0:25:06.720
and ‘vipassana’ is ‘mindfulness’
0:25:07.240,0:25:12.320
or ‘insight’
seeing and knowing what’s actually happening
0:25:12.920,0:25:17.520
so these 2 practices go in tandem
they go hand in hand
0:25:18.400,0:25:22.640
and there is something of a debate
some people say
0:25:22.840,0:25:26.160
you must do concentration first
0:25:26.160,0:25:29.160
until you get to prefect states of concentration
0:25:29.320,0:25:31.000
then you can do vipassana
0:25:32.680,0:25:34.760
and the other side is to say
“no no no”
0:25:34.760,0:25:36.680
concentration – that is just …
0:25:37.000,0:25:38.920
making yourself calm
0:25:39.360,0:25:41.200
doesn’t do anything for you
0:25:41.200,0:25:43.520
what you need to do is insight meditation
0:25:44.000,0:25:45.800
you need to be learning
0:25:46.800,0:25:49.080
developing qualities
0:25:50.120,0:25:52.320
when you go back to the original suttas
0:25:52.320,0:25:55.720
actually there was not really any difference between these 2
0:25:55.720,0:25:58.560
the Buddha himself never made a clear distinction
0:25:58.560,0:26:02.920
he never said this is one kind of practice
and that’s another kind of [right] practice
0:26:03.080,0:26:06.040
both of these were part and parcel of the path
0:26:07.520,0:26:10.800
so in this particular exercise for this week
0:26:10.840,0:26:13.680
Samatha-Vipassana exercise
0:26:14.160,0:26:17.840
what I am suggesting for you to do
0:26:17.880,0:26:22.200
or the tool that I am offering up
for you to pick up and use
0:26:23.720,0:26:27.320
is one of concentrating on your meditation object
0:26:27.760,0:26:31.640
just like we were last week, counting the breaths, focusing on the breathing
0:26:33.960,0:26:41.040
but now start to take more note
of the things that pull you away from the concentration
0:26:43.400,0:26:48.040
bringing those things,
those distractions in to the attention
0:26:48.040,0:26:51.240
that’s how you start to dis-entangle from the world
0:26:52.840,0:26:57.880
it’s this en-tanglement
that makes your meditation difficult
0:26:58.920,0:27:00.960
because you say to yourself
“OK I’m going to sit”
0:27:01.000,0:27:03.440
“I’m going to watch my breath like a big gorilla”
0:27:03.960,0:27:05.400
“just sit and breath”
0:27:06.720,0:27:10.080
and unfortunately your mind has other ideas
0:27:10.760,0:27:14.080
the mind decides:
“no no no – now is the time to go worrying”
0:27:14.680,0:27:17.760
“something my mother said to me 35 years ago”
0:27:18.320,0:27:23.440
“now is the time to start thinking about
my retirement 35 years in the future”
0:27:23.680,0:27:29.440
“now is the time to start planning out
the design of the new building I’m going to build”
0:27:30.160,0:27:31.240
etc
0:27:32.320,0:27:34.800
the mind going like a machine, right?
0:27:34.880,0:27:40.840
so it’s this entanglement that’s
pulling the mind out of the meditation
0:27:41.320,0:27:44.520
and every time something comes up into your mind
0:27:45.760,0:27:48.200
it comes up with an attachment
0:27:48.600,0:27:52.480
now by attachment what I mean, it’s like a little string
0:27:53.960,0:27:59.000
and the idea, the thought, the concept, the hope, the dream, the desire
0:27:59.080,0:28:00.040
what ever it is
0:28:01.120,0:28:03.800
when it arises, it’s only just arisen
0:28:03.800,0:28:07.280
it’s not something that’s actually been there for 20 years
0:28:07.280,0:28:10.360
it is something that has just arisen into consciousness
0:28:11.360,0:28:13.680
and it arises with this attachment
0:28:13.680,0:28:16.960
and the attachment is like a little string that tugs you
0:28:16.960,0:28:18.600
that tugs on your attention
0:28:19.360,0:28:24.000
“come think about me! Come be with me!
Come plan this thing out!”
0:28:25.720,0:28:28.040
maybe a thought – past or the future
0:28:28.120,0:28:30.240
it may be a feeling in the body
0:28:30.240,0:28:33.840
you may want to meditate, but your knee has other ideas
0:28:34.320,0:28:36.800
“oh come and think about me instead!”
0:28:38.080,0:28:41.520
it may be a noise or a sound that’s going on around you
0:28:41.520,0:28:43.480
something you like, or something you dislike
0:28:45.400,0:28:46.800
it’s just arisen
0:28:48.560,0:28:51.640
you know, outside my window in the temple
0:28:51.960,0:28:52.880
are
0:28:54.280,0:28:56.760
did you catch that one??
0:28:58.360,0:29:01.200
are 2500 school girls
0:29:01.640,0:29:03.320
and they make a lot of noise!
0:29:03.400,0:29:07.160
actually the teachers make more noise than they do …
0:29:09.640,0:29:11.120
and I don’t like it
0:29:11.760,0:29:12.880
to be honest
0:29:14.120,0:29:19.320
and I have dreams sometimes of hanging enormous speakers outside my window ..
0:29:20.200,0:29:24.240
what I heard is – if you make a recording
of the sound that’s coming in
0:29:24.320,0:29:27.280
and you play it back but slightly out of sync
0:29:27.280,0:29:29.520
it makes people thoroughly disorientated
0:29:29.920,0:29:32.920
so I’ve had dreams of plans of doing this
0:29:35.160,0:29:36.920
but you know what happens?
0:29:37.800,0:29:41.320
I can’t stay annoyed at that sound for very long
0:29:41.800,0:29:45.560
usually it lasts for an hour or so in the morning
that’s OK
0:29:45.560,0:29:49.080
sometimes they have these concerts that go on all day
0:29:49.080,0:29:52.920
and it’ll rattle the coffee cup across your table
It’s so loud!
0:29:53.920,0:29:56.560
I can’t stay annoyed at it all day
0:29:56.840,0:30:03.560
the annoyance, or the non-acceptance is just those moments when my mind condenses around that thing
0:30:04.440,0:30:07.200
I’ll be sitting there doing my thing, quite happy
0:30:07.240,0:30:10.000
and then suddenly I’ll think
“arrrgh! that noise!”
0:30:10.000,0:30:11.760
or “arrgh! I’m going to move”
0:30:12.160,0:30:15.360
“arrgh! Can I go and stay in Ariyasom!?”
0:30:17.680,0:30:21.360
and just at that moment, when I’ve pulled it into conscious awareness
0:30:21.360,0:30:23.680
That’s
that little string
0:30:24.000,0:30:26.280
that idea has just occurred
0:30:26.760,0:30:28.840
it’s tugging on your attention
0:30:29.080,0:30:34.040
“come think about me! Be with me!
Feel me, feel me! – It’s important”
0:30:35.640,0:30:39.720
and what happens is,
if you don’t follow that line of thinking
0:30:40.080,0:30:41.400
it fizzles
0:30:41.880,0:30:43.160
fizzles out
0:30:43.160,0:30:47.880
even if it’s something very big and important in your life
It will just fizzle out
0:30:47.880,0:30:49.360
all by itself
0:30:50.040,0:30:53.000
unless you feed it with thoughts
0:30:54.000,0:30:58.160
they’re like little trolls –
you know a troll, under the bridge
0:30:58.800,0:31:02.240
on internet forums they say
“don’t feed the trolls”
0:31:02.720,0:31:05.880
when someone’s making
deliberately inflammatory comments
0:31:05.880,0:31:09.600
and you write back –
that just feeds them and gets them more interested
0:31:10.280,0:31:13.320
people do this from time to time on my facebook
0:31:14.160,0:31:16.960
they put in a real troll comment
0:31:17.360,0:31:20.760
and I just don’t respond
and they go and troll somewhere else
0:31:21.800,0:31:23.640
If you don’t feed it
0:31:24.040,0:31:27.400
it will fizzle out by itself
it’s very interesting
0:31:28.000,0:31:28.800
So
0:31:29.680,0:31:33.840
you’re sitting there quite calm,
you’re quite happy, you’re doing your meditation
0:31:33.840,0:31:36.200
and then this thing pops up into your head!
0:31:36.240,0:31:38.480
“come and think about me!”
0:31:39.200,0:31:41.360
don’t feed it with more thoughts
0:31:42.720,0:31:45.560
then it will die out by itself
0:31:47.280,0:31:50.160
why do these things come up?
They come up because of karma
0:31:50.160,0:31:52.080
because you’ve thought about them
0:31:52.360,0:31:57.400
appreciated them, cherished them
you’ve had desire around them in the past
0:31:58.200,0:32:00.840
it’s a habit – Karma is just a habit
0:32:03.080,0:32:07.320
So you feel this tugging in the mind
during the meditation
0:32:07.360,0:32:12.320
and you stop – and you say
I’m not going to follow after that line of thinking
0:32:13.400,0:32:16.360
now it may be there – you don’t have to solve it
0:32:16.760,0:32:18.920
that’s thinking about it right?
0:32:20.160,0:32:24.800
so fighting against it
isn’t really going to work very well
0:32:25.040,0:32:27.240
you can do it in some cases but
0:32:27.240,0:32:29.760
for the moment I wouldn’t recommend it
0:32:31.360,0:32:34.840
but feeling that pull, that tug, that attention
0:32:38.200,0:32:39.160
So …
0:32:42.080,0:32:46.520
where … these ideas are popping up
0:32:46.680,0:32:51.280
due to karma
because you’ve had them in the past
0:32:52.760,0:33:00.040
because of society, because of adverts
because of something somebody said to you
0:33:00.040,0:33:02.320
that you didn’t even notice
0:33:03.800,0:33:06.000
I had this boss one time
0:33:06.560,0:33:11.320
I was working as a wash-up in a restaurant
when I was about 16 I think
0:33:12.440,0:33:15.360
and our head chef – his name was Adam
0:33:16.320,0:33:20.240
and he was quite a tough character actually
0:33:20.960,0:33:25.680
and like all chefs, everywhere in the world
-this is absolute truth-
0:33:25.800,0:33:31.240
no matter what country you’re in
or whatever restaurant you’re in
0:33:31.920,0:33:36.280
chefs are bad tempered egotistical maniacs
0:33:39.360,0:33:44.680
years after this I actually worked as a chef
and I was exactly the same ..
0:33:45.120,0:33:46.800
it’s the nature of the job
0:33:48.520,0:33:52.600
and so when he would get in one of his funks
when things weren’t going right
0:33:52.600,0:33:56.160
I had this sure fired way to calm him down
0:33:56.760,0:34:03.080
I knew that he had this ..
liking for the really stupid song
0:34:03.320,0:34:04.880
She Was Only Sixteen
0:34:05.560,0:34:07.000
do you know that song?
0:34:08.560,0:34:10.480
shall I sing it?
0:34:15.040,0:34:19.440
she was only 16, she was only 16
she was too young to know
0:34:20.960,0:34:23.560
so what I would do is
if he was in a bad mood
0:34:23.560,0:34:26.440
I would go walking by him
and I would go –
0:34:26.760,0:34:31.000
“she was only 16, she was only 16”
and then go off
0:34:31.440,0:34:35.800
within 10 minutes he’d be happy as a little lamb
doing his cheffing
0:34:36.200,0:34:39.800
“she was only 16, only 16 ..”
he had no idea at all
0:34:39.880,0:34:41.760
that idea came from me
0:34:41.840,0:34:44.240
that I’d planted that into his brain
0:34:44.480,0:34:49.200
and flipped him like a remote control
I could flip his mood by doing this
0:34:50.680,0:34:56.200
I hope that one day he sees one of these videos and
“OH – It was YOU who was doing that!”
0:34:57.840,0:35:03.160
where do all these ideas come from?
that pop up into our brain
0:35:03.320,0:35:06.240
there’s too much, it’s too complicated to figure out
0:35:08.320,0:35:10.760
you know of an English breakfast right?
0:35:10.840,0:35:12.440
bacon, egg, sausage
0:35:13.680,0:35:16.000
or an American breakfast
0:35:16.480,0:35:19.080
bacon, egg, sausage x 2
0:35:22.480,0:35:24.720
do you know where that comes from?
0:35:25.520,0:35:27.120
Edward Bernays
0:35:27.720,0:35:30.200
he was Freud’s nephew
0:35:31.000,0:35:34.600
and he was employed
as an advertising man
0:35:34.680,0:35:37.640
by a bacon company
to sell more bacon
0:35:38.560,0:35:44.640
so he invented the whole idea of this English breakfast, where you have bacon for breakfast
0:35:44.640,0:35:49.880
before him nobody would have dreamed
of having this heavy, salty, oily, fatty ..
0:35:49.880,0:35:52.480
thing for breakfast – it doesn’t make any sense!
0:35:52.680,0:35:55.880
he put that idea in your head,
to sell bacon
0:35:58.160,0:36:01.320
and what he thought was
“well, people eat this much bacon”
0:36:01.320,0:36:03.400
“I advertise – they eat that much bacon”
0:36:03.560,0:36:07.440
“but if I make people who wouldn’t
normally eat bacon, eat it
0:36:07.440,0:36:11.160
“or at a time they wouldn’t normally eat it,
to eat it at that time”
0:36:11.160,0:36:13.920
“I will quadruple the the sales of bacon”
and it worked!
0:36:14.120,0:36:15.280
and we still eat
0:36:16.360,0:36:17.800
bacon and eggs for
0:36:18.560,0:36:20.640
English or American breakfast
0:36:21.760,0:36:24.520
same for Claude Hopkins
0:36:25.080,0:36:30.280
he didn’t invent toothpaste
but he made everybody in the world use toothpaste
0:36:31.680,0:36:34.160
I’ll tell you that story another time
0:36:34.160,0:36:38.080
the point is that these thoughts and ideas
that pop up into your head
0:36:38.080,0:36:41.160
you’re doing your meditation
and all these little ideas come
0:36:41.320,0:36:44.040
and when they come into your mind
they have a little tug
0:36:44.040,0:36:45.640
they’re pulling on your attention
0:36:46.240,0:36:49.800
where did the ideas come from?
where does all this stuff come from?
0:36:49.800,0:36:51.880
we don’t need to analyse
0:36:52.840,0:36:54.520
but don’t follow after it
0:36:55.400,0:36:57.800
if you want to enter into the mystery
0:36:57.800,0:37:01.200
if you want to turn the attention around
and bring it inwards
0:37:01.680,0:37:03.760
enter into the silence
0:37:04.000,0:37:06.880
enter into the really beautiful, majestic
0:37:06.960,0:37:11.320
states of meditation
all of these will come through the silence
0:37:13.480,0:37:18.920
so in order to do that we have to practice
letting go of that one small thing at a time
0:37:19.600,0:37:23.160
that idea that has just popped up into your mind
0:37:23.520,0:37:25.160
that you need to let go of
0:37:26.000,0:37:29.920
letting go is not about letting go of big things in your life
0:37:30.800,0:37:35.920
letting go of your children, your health
letting go of your childhood
0:37:36.400,0:37:40.520
try doing that!
you have to pay a therapist a lot of money
0:37:41.320,0:37:43.120
in order to do that
0:37:45.840,0:37:48.640
letting go doesn’t come with big things
0:37:48.800,0:37:52.840
letting go comes with little things
one breath at a time
0:37:52.840,0:37:54.440
one small thing at a time
0:37:56.040,0:38:00.440
so when the ..
you’re sitting in meditation and something comes up
0:38:00.440,0:38:03.560
and starts pulling on your attention – you stop
0:38:04.720,0:38:07.960
make a note of what that thing was
0:38:10.360,0:38:13.880
then drop it,
come back to your meditation
0:38:14.680,0:38:17.720
now when I day “drop it”
don’t worry if it stays there
0:38:17.840,0:38:21.360
what you are doing is dropping
the following after it
0:38:21.560,0:38:25.240
dropping the attention that you are giving to it
0:38:25.960,0:38:27.640
turn away in your mind
0:38:28.880,0:38:32.160
but your attention comes back
to your meditation object
0:38:32.520,0:38:34.160
every time you do that
0:38:34.760,0:38:38.640
you are practicing just that little bit
of the letting go
0:38:40.200,0:38:42.040
of the thing that has arisen
0:38:42.800,0:38:45.680
then later you can let go of big things
0:38:48.040,0:38:54.040
I find that in my life I have plenty of things
that annoy me and get my attention
0:38:54.560,0:38:57.760
if you give me half an hour
just to stop
0:38:57.960,0:39:00.800
do my practice
I let go of everything
0:39:01.880,0:39:06.360
it’s only when you’ve let go of everything that the mind is really able to turn around
0:39:06.680,0:39:09.400
come back inwards
enter into the silence
0:39:10.680,0:39:14.640
and then these majestic mind states start to manifest
0:39:19.200,0:39:25.240
So we do this …
one small thing at a time
0:39:26.040,0:39:29.040
think of it as like exercising a muscle
0:39:30.000,0:39:33.800
my friend over in the dance center,
she is a ballet teacher
0:39:33.800,0:39:36.680
and she says
“if you don’t keep practicing your ballet”
0:39:36.680,0:39:42.480
“you don’t strengthen those particular muscles
around in your legs”
0:39:43.600,0:39:48.520
“and if you don’t exercise them daily
you can never be a ballet dancer”
0:39:48.520,0:39:51.320
so that’s what we are doing with the meditation
0:39:51.480,0:39:52.840
Samatha-Vipassana
0:39:53.080,0:39:58.480
Sanatha – concentration – means you are focusing on the breath as your core
0:39:58.800,0:40:00.960
as your place to come back to
0:40:01.520,0:40:06.520
Vipassana means –
you’re paying attention to what distracts you
0:40:08.120,0:40:11.720
but you are willing to drop that thing and come back
0:40:12.240,0:40:18.640
so pure vipassana – we forget about the meditation object and we just focus on the thing that’s arisen
0:40:19.120,0:40:22.560
but in Samatha-Vipassana
mixing these two methods together
0:40:22.920,0:40:23.800
you are
0:40:24.720,0:40:27.360
noting where your attention has gone to
0:40:27.400,0:40:30.440
and then returning to your meditation object
0:40:32.480,0:40:35.640
so if a sound arises – sound of the baby
0:40:35.840,0:40:37.760
sound of the air conditioner
0:40:37.760,0:40:40.120
sound of someone going to the bathroom
0:40:40.520,0:40:43.000
attracts your attention –
you stop
0:40:43.720,0:40:45.440
“hearing hearing ..”
0:40:46.640,0:40:49.040
come back to your meditation object
0:40:50.440,0:40:52.600
if it’s a thought that has arisen
0:40:53.480,0:40:56.040
you can just note
“thinking thinking”
0:40:56.960,0:40:59.600
if you want you may distinguish between
0:40:59.640,0:41:03.280
past or future
planning or worrying
0:41:03.320,0:41:07.240
if you’re thinking about the past
usually you are worrying
0:41:08.080,0:41:11.160
there’s not many people think about
the good things in the past
0:41:11.920,0:41:15.600
and if you’re thinking about the future
usually it’s planning
0:41:15.600,0:41:20.520
because usually you’re thinking about
the good things in the future that you want to get
0:41:22.000,0:41:28.920
but don’t get too caught up in trying to find the right label for what the experience is
0:41:29.760,0:41:32.600
don’t think
“well is this thinking … is this ”
0:41:32.600,0:41:37.960
“I’m thinking, but I’m thinking about some song that I heard .. is that in the past?”
0:41:38.000,0:41:39.360
“or the present?”
0:41:39.600,0:41:43.160
“and is that hearing, or is that internal or … ?”
0:41:43.360,0:41:45.280
then you’ve lost the meditation
0:41:46.240,0:41:48.440
we’re only using the label
0:41:48.840,0:41:53.440
in order to be able to let go of that thing
0:41:54.520,0:41:57.640
how is it letting go?
well, if something arises
0:41:57.800,0:41:59.840
something that you dislike
0:42:00.160,0:42:04.000
something that happened that you don’t like
and it arises
0:42:04.000,0:42:06.480
and you stop
and you note ‘thinking thinking’
0:42:06.920,0:42:10.520
you’ve separated yourself from that topic
0:42:10.920,0:42:14.200
you’ve become a person who is witnessing
0:42:14.800,0:42:18.320
that thinking, rather than being caught up in the thinking
0:42:20.180,0:42:21.500
if it’s desiring
0:42:21.940,0:42:25.040
you’ve become a person who is witnessing the desiring
0:42:25.040,0:42:27.860
rather than one who is caught up in the desiring
0:42:30.800,0:42:33.360
you know, I was walking past Klong Thom
0:42:33.800,0:42:37.320
a while back
this is my favorite area – Thieves Market
0:42:37.680,0:42:38.840
It’s where they sell …
0:42:39.220,0:42:43.520
the one thing in this world where I have never been able to let go of my desire for
0:42:43.960,0:42:44.840
power tools!
0:42:48.980,0:42:51.440
and I was walking past the Makita shop
0:42:51.440,0:42:57.360
and there was this twin….
14 volt, twin battery, rapid charge
0:42:57.360,0:43:00.260
Makita cordless poser drill with hammer action
0:43:02.160,0:43:04.720
and I just had to have it
I just ….
0:43:05.180,0:43:09.680
this little lawyer appeared on my shoulder and
“you really need this ”
0:43:10.120,0:43:14.120
I haven’t drilled a hole in 10 years, but
no no – you need this!
0:43:15.500,0:43:19.380
then the little monk appears and like
“you don’t need it – you can let go of it”
0:43:19.700,0:43:22.080
and then this guy says
“no no no you can use it!”
0:43:22.140,0:43:24.460
you can drill holes for other people
0:43:27.760,0:43:30.960
“this isn’t selfish!
this is for other people!”
0:43:30.960,0:43:33.080
“you can go and help them with their things”
0:43:33.140,0:43:36.580
“this is an act of compassion if you buy this drill!”
0:43:38.500,0:43:41.200
now I’m in it
I’m in the story right?!
0:43:42.480,0:43:45.180
but if I stop and I label
“thinking”
0:43:46.120,0:43:47.080
or “wanting”
0:43:48.800,0:43:50.720
I’ve suddenly separated from it
0:43:50.760,0:43:55.360
I’m no longer wanting it
I’m witnessing a feeling of wanting arise
0:43:57.080,0:44:00.120
separated from it
I’m one step back
0:44:01.060,0:44:03.480
then I can react with more wisdom
0:44:03.480,0:44:05.420
well do I need it
do I not need it?
0:44:06.760,0:44:08.360
I didn’t get it by the way
0:44:09.880,0:44:13.280
I’m only telling you
just in case you wonder what I want for Christmas
0:44:17.720,0:44:19.820
You know I said this once to a friend of mine
0:44:19.820,0:44:21.920
he said “oh, is there anything I can get you?
0:44:22.100,0:44:24.620
and I said “now you have to be more specific than that!”
0:44:25.140,0:44:27.000
I said “now do you mean like a cappuccino?”
0:44:27.000,0:44:31.860
“or do you mean like a 14 volt, twin pack, Makita cordless powerdrill with hammer action?”
0:44:33.480,0:44:35.760
and he said
“do you want milk and sugar in that ?”
0:44:38.460,0:44:41.380
[you could say it’s to build a temple!]
0:44:41.380,0:44:46.860
Yes! it keeps me awake so I can do meditation, and get enlightened and save all world beings!
0:44:47.300,0:44:48.980
that’s what it was for …
0:44:50.500,0:44:51.860
.. the coffee was for
0:44:54.060,0:44:54.680
So
0:44:55.080,0:44:58.280
by labeling the thing that’s arisen in your mind
0:44:58.660,0:45:00.700
you need to make this into a habit
0:45:01.860,0:45:04.740
just like 353 5536
0:45:04.740,0:45:08.080
that phone number I learned when I was 5 years old
I can still remember
0:45:08.540,0:45:10.860
because I made it a habit in the mind
0:45:11.680,0:45:17.880
so we develop this habit of labeling
what’s actually happening right now
0:45:19.360,0:45:22.260
this will then give you a step back from it
0:45:22.340,0:45:24.980
you are no longer involved in that state of mind
0:45:25.300,0:45:27.540
it may be that you need to follow it
0:45:28.460,0:45:32.440
you may have this thought arise
“oh I’m going to go and write my book today” …
0:45:32.900,0:45:34.920
maybe it’s time for you to write your book
0:45:35.120,0:45:36.960
you can respond with wisdom
0:45:38.320,0:45:40.680
but what it’s doing is
it’s giving you a choice
0:45:40.800,0:45:44.240
it’s giving you a space
between you and your mind
0:45:44.280,0:45:47.160
or between you and the things of the mind
0:45:47.880,0:45:50.240
so a) you can respond with wisdom
0:45:50.660,0:45:52.980
to the things that arise in the mind
0:45:53.440,0:45:57.300
and b) you get used to dis-entangling yourself
0:45:57.800,0:46:01.220
from all those things that
tug on your attention in meditation
0:46:01.560,0:46:07.180
So that your attention can turn around
stop, and start to see the silence
0:46:07.680,0:46:10.280
and these beautiful inward states
0:46:13.280,0:46:17.040
what happens to that thought, idea, emotion
0:46:17.080,0:46:21.160
when it has arisen,
when you’ve labeled it, when you’ve let go
0:46:22.280,0:46:23.680
you don’t worry about it
0:46:24.280,0:46:26.440
we’re not doing psychology here
0:46:26.700,0:46:29.500
we’re not trying to fix your childhood or .
0:46:29.940,0:46:31.380
change your constructs
0:46:32.340,0:46:34.900
meditation is like swimming
0:46:35.200,0:46:37.280
with swimming
all you have to do
0:46:37.280,0:46:39.200
is throw the water behind you
0:46:40.320,0:46:42.320
so meditation is just the same
0:46:42.700,0:46:44.900
whatever those thoughts and things are
0:46:45.100,0:46:46.380
throw it behind you
0:46:47.080,0:46:50.560
don’t worry – you’ll still get on with doing
the things you need to do in the world
0:46:53.420,0:46:54.860
is that clear enough?
0:46:56.520,0:46:59.000
so: very simple meditation practice
0:46:59.440,0:47:03.160
you sit. Watch your
meditation object
0:47:03.860,0:47:06.580
when your attention is distracted
0:47:06.660,0:47:09.300
Note
that tugging on the mind
0:47:10.780,0:47:12.060
that’s attachment
0:47:16.940,0:47:19.980
when we say that attachment causes suffering
0:47:21.080,0:47:23.600
that doesn’t mean that you’re attached to your children
0:47:23.600,0:47:25.340
you’re attached to your house
0:47:25.340,0:47:26.820
you’re attached to your job
0:47:26.820,0:47:28.600
you’re attached to your diet
0:47:28.980,0:47:31.660
all these things are important
those don’t cause suffering
0:47:32.000,0:47:33.680
they may cause suffering
0:47:35.720,0:47:37.660
but that’s not what we’re talking about
0:47:37.660,0:47:41.700
that’s the exoteric teaching
that’s what .. the external teachings ..
0:47:41.740,0:47:45.080
but the internal teaching is
when you see these things inside
0:47:45.460,0:47:47.140
attachment causes suffering
0:47:47.380,0:47:50.660
you can feel that the things that arise in the mind
0:47:51.100,0:47:52.700
pulling you like a leash
0:47:53.320,0:47:56.500
you have a leash around you
and they’re pulling you after them
0:47:57.840,0:48:00.560
freedom is freedom from that attachment
0:48:02.920,0:48:03.960
any questions ?
Many thanks Pandit again you have help me with my meditation ,Unfortunate icant get to your talks now and this was so good.