From: https://youtube.com/watch?v=udota_i776Q

Context: Throughout this transcript, Bhante Vimalaramsi is the speaker unless otherwise indicated.

[Music]

and tonight I'm going to add something

to that and that is 120 just a short

section of it

before my awakening while I was still

only an unawakened Bodhisattva I

perceive both radiance and the object of

meditation hello hello hello

okay well we'll try that again before my

awakening while I was still in only

unawakened Bodhi sativa both radiance

and the object of meditation soon

afterwards the radiance and object of

meditation disappeared I thought what is

the cause and condition why the radiance

and object of meditation have

disappeared this is a major

inside into the practice itself now you

have to understand the Bodhisattva

didn't have anybody to tell him what

happened or why things happened he had

to figure it out for himself and this

question what is the cause and condition

why the radiance and object of

meditation have disappeared is a key

question for you because if you have

something that is blocking you something

that's stopping you and distracting your

mind and you want to find out what that

is

you have to ask yourself the question

why is this happening what you're doing

is you're asking your intuition to show

you what it is that's blocking you from

going deeper

so this is a key question that you need

to ask yourself and you have to realize

that you are your own teacher you're

showing yourself all of these different

things and this will help you anytime

you have your you get restless for some

reason and you keep going back to the

restlessness this will help you figure

out what the cause is why is this

happening many years ago I was working

at a Meditation Center and I was kind of

the handyman fixing things that were

falling apart as it was an old house and

while I was doing that somebody came and

they wanted to do a retreat so the

teacher came to me and said I want you

to do a retreat with him so I won't be

sitting alone good that's why I'm here

right so

I started sitting with him and I got

Restless I'm not prone to restlessness

I'm more prone to sleepiness and

dullness than I am restlessness which

was unusual and it kept happening and

finally I asked myself a question what

why is this happening that's this isn't

normal for me I just got done doing a

one-month retreat and all of a sudden I

was real peaceful during that time all

of a sudden I'm Restless why and the

answer came back to me my intuition

answered that and it said you really

don't want to be sitting you want your

thinking about doing all of these other

things that need to be done around the

house and I went oh yeah that's true so

I stopped getting involved with those

kind of thoughts and as soon as I did my

mind settle down and since then I found

that using your intuition to overcome

fear anxiety a version of whatever thing

when you ask those kinds of questions

why is this happening now what's the

cause of this you will get the answer

and this is a real important thing and

I'll you're gonna come up and talk to me

about this or that and I'm going to ask

you to ask yourself don't ask me the had

the answer to your question I don't know

depends on you depends on what you're up

to

depends on how you're doing it your

intuition will always give you the

answer but it comes from a quiet mind

because it's a quiet voice all of you

have have had intuitive moments and if

you don't pay attention to that then

you've lost your opportunity to see how

you could straighten things out whatever

the problem was quite often there's

people that especially in Asia I think

the the people in Asia are afraid of

their own shadow in a lot of ways and

they have fear coming up so I get them

to instead of indulge in the fear and

fight with it and try to push it away

ask why is that fear here what's the

cause of this your intuition will give

you the answer and you can overcome that

without much problem after that so this

is an important part of the practice and

it can show you where some of your old

habits are and how to let go of these

old things that keep coming up and

bothering you and causing your mind to

start thinking about it and trying to

analyze it with your thoughts now you're

made up of five different things you

have a physical body you have feeling

feeling is not emotion feeling is

pleasant feeling painful feeling neither

painful nor Pleasant you have perception

perception is always attached to the

feeling they come together they're

enjoying

Pleasant feeling comes up your mind says

that's Pleasant painful feeling comes up

your mind says that's painful is it

still then you have thoughts then you

have consciousness now what we get

caught up in by our old habit is when a

painful feeling arises it doesn't matter

whether it's mental or physical you

treat them both in the same way when a

painful feeling arises we try to think

the feeling away and the more you think

the feeling the bigger and more intense

that feeling becomes so this is where

you use your six artists when you start

thinking about what is there and we do

have what's commonly called in Asia a

Western disease and Western disease is

analyzing you want to find out why is

that and get involved in your thousand

miles away from what you should be doing

this is the magic of using the six R's

the six R's are right effort an eight

fold path there's four parts to right

effort I just tacked on a couple of

different things because it's you

recognize it okay you recognize that

your mind is distracted

that is seeing an unwholesome state

arise what is unwholesome unwholesome is

always I am that this is my thought this

is my feeling so you recognize that your

mind gets pulled away then you release

that you release it by not keeping your

attention on that distraction and

relaxed relaxed attention and tightness

caused by that feeling then you have to

bring up something wholesome so I added

another little thing that helps with

that smile the more you smile

the faster your progress becomes that's

a promise so you smile it lightens your

mind it improves your mindfulness a lot

then you come back to your object of

meditation and stay with your object of

meditation for as long as you can it's

pretty simple but don't try repeating

what each step is just do what it says

to do so roll your R's together

recognize release relax Rea smile return

repeat this simple thing will take you

all the way to our aaj because this is

right effort so many times people are

teaching other kinds of meditation and

they don't they want you to stay with

what the distraction is say a painful

feeling comes up in the body now I've

done a lot of meditation and I did most

of that meditation with the Mohave

method and they said when a pain comes

up put your attention right in the

middle of that pain and quote see its

true nature

well if you put your attention on a pain

guess what happens it gets bigger and

more intense so you really causing

yourself a lot of problems when you do

that

so the second step of just let it be

there

don't keep your attention on whatever it

is that's distracting you let it be

there by itself but don't feed it with

your attention let it be with the Mohave

method any kind of distraction you're

supposed to watch it until it goes away

and note it well that doesn't work very

well so don't do that

because you're feeding it that means

it's going to stay longer and it turns

into other kinds of distractions so

allow that to be there by itself and

relax let go of that tension in your

head in your mind

this is your brain it's not your brain

really but this is kinda like your brain

how's that now there's a membrane that

goes all the way around the brain it's

called the meninges and it goes in in

between every time you have a thought

every time a feeling arises every time

there is a sensation your brain expands

out against the meninges and it causes

tension and tightness now some some big

questions that I kept asking while I was

in Asia I was there for 12 years as what

exactly is craving you know what is

craving craving is the I like it I don't

like it mind when a pleasant feeling

arises I like it when a painful feeling

arises I don't like it how do you

recognize craving when it arises now

these kind of questions I went to major

teachers all over Asia and that's the

same thing and I never got any kind of

good answer

it was actually kind of frustrating well

craving is desire just don't desire

anything and you won't have any craving

that is such a surface simpleton answer

to the question that's that is quite

deep

so when the way you recognize craving is

by the tension and tightness that

happens in your head in your body and

how do you let it go relax

first you have to notice that it's there

okay a lot of the meditation teachers

they don't tell you about this and if if

you start getting a headache from doing

the meditation they tell you it'll go

away after a while never mind but this

is key when you first start noticing

that tension and tightness sometimes

it's big sometimes it's subtle doesn't

matter when you notice it and relax

you'll feel kind of like an expansion

like a letting go and right after that

you'll notice that your mind is clear

your mind is very bright your mind is

very observant and there's no craving in

your mind at that time so your mind is

pure bring that pure mind to a smile so

your mind starts to develop the habit of

being lighter almost all one-pointed

kinds of concentration practice causes

your mind to get heavy and with a heavy

mind your mindfulness is very poor

one of the things they told me when I

was doing so much meditation and in

Burma and and other places was when joy

arises don't get attached why I didn't

want to be attached so I pushed it away

and my mind got heavier in and actually

very hard and with that kind of hard

mind comes a critical mind judgmental

mind and you have a tendency to beat

yourself up if your mind doesn't do what

you want to do so it's a necessary part

of the practice to be able to know what

craving is and how to let it go and see

the effect of letting it go

that means relaxing and see how clear

your mind is at that time there's a lot

of relief in that and smile make your

mind lighter instead of staying with the

heavy mind make your mind light

that will happen more and more the more

you smile it sounds kind of different

than a lot of meditations that you learn

because they have but everybody wants

you to try harder and I got you have to

note more and there was a lot of pain

involved in that physical pain as well

as mental pain but when you keep your

mind light when you when you allow the

joy to come whenever it's going to be

there you don't keep your attention on

the joy necessarily you let it be there

and relax into it and smile and come

back to your object of meditation now

you're bringing some joy back to your

object of meditation and it actually

turns out to be fun I am one of the few

people in the world I think that tells

you is that you're supposed to have fun

I want you to smile I want you to laugh

especially with how crazy your mind can

get so it's a necessary thing to keep

your mind light your mindfulness will

become much sharper much more quickly

the more you smile but if you get caught

in thinking about this and that whatever

it happens to be well as soon as you

recognize that this is what's happening

don't judge your mind stop moving your

legs

that says that you're Restless so you I

lost my train of thought there so the

more you smile the more you have a light

mine the easier it is to recognize when

that craving starts to come in and

you'll catch it more quickly and let go

more usually so when I say smile I mean

all the time I don't care what you're

doing your mind needs to be light one of

the biggest problems I have with people

that come here that have done other

kinds of meditation is to get them to

stop trying so ordered

and laughing is a part of the practice

and it's a necessary part of the

practice why if you laugh at yourself

for getting angry or whatever the catch

of the day happens to be you are taking

it personally you're really caught in

your craving and then you notice that

you're doing a new laugh with yourself I

got caught again this crazy might as

soon as you do that all of a sudden that

anger or whatever the catch is goes from

I am that to it's only that oh it's only

this anger it's only this

dissatisfaction whatever it is do I want

to carry this around with me no nobody

is that crazy so just let it be and

right after that your mind is very clear

your mind is very observant and you

don't have that craving tightening

things now it becomes loose

this is the fastest way to let go of a

hindrance I have some people that come

and they're really tight they're really

angry about something and one of the

things I try to get them to do is smile

and then laugh and then I'll say how did

your mind feel now oh I don't have that

anger anymore I don't have that

dissatisfaction this meditation

somewhere along the 2500 years that the

Buddha's been away from us

has changed to from a fun meditation to

a serious meditation and most of that

comes from doing one point in

concentration your mind has a tendency

to get very tight and hard so asking the

question what's the cause of this why it

is an occasional me you can ask yourself

things aren't as good as they could be a

spur yourself

is there anything blocking me from going

deeper you'll get an answer sometimes it

comes right away sometimes it doesn't

you have to be patient but you will get

an answer and it's going to be one

that's going to give you great insights

so now let's go to the suit

thus if I heard on one occasion the

blessed one was wandering in the

magadhan country and eventually arrived

at rajagaha there he went to the Potter

bagua and said to him if it's not

inconvenient for you bagua I will stay

one night in your workshop it's not

inconvenient for me venerable sir but

there is a homeless one already staying

there if he agrees then stay as long as

you like venerable sir

now there was a Klansman named kuku sati

who had gone forth from the home life

into homelessness out of faith in the

blessed one and on that occasion he was

already staying in the Potters workshop

then the blessed one went as a venerable

poopoo sati and said to him if it's not

inconvenient for you monk I will stay

one night in the workshop the Potters

workshop is large enough friend let the

venerable one stay as long as he likes

then the blessed one entered the Potters

workshop and prepared a spread of grass

at one end and sat down setting his body

erect established mindfulness in front

of him then the Blessed One spent most

of the night seated in meditation and

the venerable puka sati also spent most

of the night seated in mid

Asian then the Blessed One thought this

clansmen conducts himself in a way that

inspires confidence suppose I were to

question him so he asked the venerable

poopoo sati under whom have you gone

forth monk

who is your teacher whose Dhamma do you

profess friend there is the Rekluse

Gautama the son of this audience who

went forth from the sake and plan now a

good report of that blessed Gautama has

been spread to this effect that bless

and one has accomplished fully awakened

perfect and true knowledge and conduct

sublime nor of world's incomparable

leader of persons to be tamed teacher of

gods and humans awakened and blessed

I've gone forth under that blessed one

that blessed one is my teacher I profess

the Dhamma of that blessed one but monk

where is the Blessed one accomplished

and fully awakened now living there is

friend the city in the northern country

named Swati the Blessed one accomplished

and fully awakened is now living there

but have you ever seen the Blessed one

before would you recognize him if you

saw him no friend I've never seen that

blessed one before nor would I would

recognize him if I saw him then the

Blessed One thought this clansmen has

gone forth from the home life into

homelessness

under me suppose I were to teach him the

Dhamma so the blessed one addressed the

venerable puku sati thus monk I will

teach you the Dhamma listen and attend

closely to what I shall say yes friend

the venerable puku sati replied the

Blessed One said this monk this person

consists of six elements six bases of

contact eighteen kinds of mental

exploration and he has four foundations

the tides of conceiving did not sweep

over one who stands upon these

foundations and when the tides of

conceiving no longer sweep over him he

is called a sage at peace one should not

neglect wisdom should preserve truth

should cultivate relinquishment and

should train for peace cultivating

relinquishment relinquishment means

letting go of grieving this is a summary

of the exposition of the six elements

monk this person consists of six

elements so it was said and with

reference to what was this said there

are the earth element the water element

the fire element the air element the

space element and the consciousness

element so it was with reference to this

that it

said monk this person consists of six

elements monk this person consists of

six bases of contacts so it was said and

with reference to what was this said

there are the base of eye contact the

base of ear contact the base of nose

contact the base of tongue contact the

base of body contact and the base of

mind contact so it was with reference to

this that it was monk this person

consists of six pieces of contact monk

this person consists of eighteen kinds

of mental exploration so it was said and

with reference to what was this said on

seeing a form with the eye one explorers

of form productive of joy one Explorer

is a form productive of grief one

explorers of form productive of

equanimity excuse me on hearing a sound

with the ear on smelling an odor with

the nose on tasting a flavor with the

tongue on touching a tangible with the

body on cognizing a mind object was mind

one explorers of one of these objects

productive of troye one explorers one of

these sense doors for did productive of

grief one explores one of these sense

doors productive of equanimity so it was

with reference to this that it was said

monk this person consists of eighteen

kinds of mental exploration mock this

person in

this person has four foundations so it

was said and with reference to what was

this said there are the foundation of

wisdom the foundation of truth the

foundation of rape relinquishment and

the foundation of peace so it was with

reference to this that it was said monk

this person has four foundations one

should not neglect wisdom should

preserve truth and cultivate

relinquishment and should train for

peace so it was said and with reference

to what was this said how a monk does

one not nink

does one not neglect wisdom there are

these six elements the earth element

water element fire element air element

space element and consciousness element

what monk is the earth element the earth

element may be either internal or

external what is the internal earth

element whatever internally belonging to

oneself is solid solidified craved and

clung to that is head hairs body hairs

nails teeth skin flesh sinew bones bone

marrow kidney heart liver diaphragm

spleen lungs and

since mesentery contents of the stomach

thesis or whatever else internally

belonging to oneself is solid solidified

craved and clung to this is called the

internal earth element now both the

internal earth element and the external

earth element are simply earth element

and that should be seen as it actually

is with proper wisdom this is not mine

this I am NOT this is not my self

[Music]

so that is one one part of developing

your wisdom the other part is seeing

this process that we're continually

going through of the links of dependent

origination and you'll get more of that

in a little bit not with this with this

but and during the retreat you'll get

more when one sees it as it actually is

with proper wisdom one becomes

disenchanted with the earth element and

allows the mind to be dispassionate

towards the earth element now we're

gonna go over to the advice to rahula

Rahula developed meditation that is like

the earth for when you develop

meditation that is like the earth arisen

agreeable and disagreeable contacts will

not invade your mind and remain that is

a key statement if you let things invade

your mine and remain you're going to get

caught and you're going to be a thousand

miles away thinking this and that and

judging and getting caught in all kinds

of emotional upsets so when you allow it

to be by itself

just notice that it's there and relax

and smile and come back to your object

of meditation these kind of distractions

will become less and less as you go

deeper in your meditation one thing that

I want you to be careful of beginners

have a tendency to want to 6r every

thought that comes in and if you're

staying with your object of meditation

you're staying with your spiritual

friend and you're not distracted away

then ignore those thoughts just stay

with your friend they will fade away by

themselves only when your mind gets

fully distracted pulled away from your

spiritual friend and you're caught up in

thinking this or that then use the six

R's and come back so you don't have to

six are every tiny little distraction

only if your attention is pulled away

from your object

to meditation that's important just as

people throw clean things and dirty

things

excrement urine spittle pus and blood on

the earth and the earth is not repelled

or disgusted because of that so to

rahula developed meditation that is like

the earth for when you develop

meditation that is like the earth arisen

agreeable and disagreeable context will

not invade your mind and remain

what monk is the water element the water

element may be either internal or

external what is the internal water

element whatever internally belonging to

oneself is water watery craved and clung

to that is bile phlegm pus blood sweat

fat tears

grease spills not oil of the joints

urine or whatever else internally

belonging to oneself is water watery

craved and clung to this is called the

internal water element now both the

internal water element and the external

water element are simply water element

and that should be seen as it actually

is with proper wisdom thus this is not

mine this I am NOT this is not my self

when one sees that thus as it actually

is with proper wisdom one becomes

disenchanted with the water element and

allows the mind to be dispassionate

towards the water element rahula

developed meditation that is like water

for when you develop meditation that is

like water arisen agreeable and

disagreeable contacts will not invade

your mind and remain so you see not

invade your mind and remain starts to

get pushed into you with every element

and it makes things more clear now the

thing that

is helpful to the meditation is let your

mind be like water when you have water

going down a stream and there's a rock

in the way does it try to push that rock

out of the way and spend time trying to

force it to go away no water just flows

around it so you do that with hindrances

now a statement you're going to hear me

say a lot is don't make a big deal out

of a hindrance don't turn it into

something that you are attached to and

you're fighting with or you're trying to

control and make it be the way you want

it to be but let your mind be like water

what happens when water hits an obstacle

it finds a way around

I just lets that obstacle be there it

doesn't turn it into a major thing to

try to overcome just let it be there by

itself this is another reason why you

want to soften your mind you don't want

to have a rigid mind that's trying to

make things happen the way you want

because this is a different kind of

meditation it's not something that

you've ever really experienced before

just let your mind be like water around

that obstacle don't get caught up in it

don't get involved with it let it be

there by itself and smile come back to

your object

just as people wash clean things and

dirty things

excrement urine spittle pus and blood

and water and the water is not repelled

and disgusted because of that so - Rahul

it developed meditation that is like

water for when you develop meditation

that is like water arisen agreeable and

disagreeable contacts will not invade

your mind and remain

what Mach is the fire element the fire

element may be either internal or

external what is the internal fire

element whatever internally belonging to

oneself is fire fiery craved and clung

to that is that by which one is warmed

ages and is consumed and that by which

what is eaten drunk consumed and tasted

gets completely digested or whatever

else internally belonging to oneself is

fire fiery craved and clung to this is

called the internal fire element now

both the internal fire element and the

external fire element are simply fire

element and that should be seen as it

actually is with proper wisdoms us this

is not mine this I am NOT this is not my

self when one sees it says it actually

is with proper wisdom one becomes

disenchanted with the fire element and

allows the mind to be dispassionate

towards the fire element rahula and

developed meditation that is like fire

for when you develop meditation that is

like fire a risen agreeable and

disagreeable contacts will not invade

your mind and remain just as people burn

clean things and dirty things

excrement here and spittle pus and blood

and fire and the fire is not repelled

and disgusted because of

that so2 Rahula developed meditation

that is like fire for when you develop

meditation that is like fire arisen

agreeable and disagreeable contacts will

not invade your mind and remain what

monk is the air element the air element

may be either internal or external what

is the internal air element whatever

internally belonging to oneself is air

Airy craved and clung to that is upgoing

winds down going winds winds and nabela

winds in the bowels winds that course

through the limbs in-breath and

out-breath or whatever else internally

belonging to oneself is air airy grieved

and clung to this is called the internal

air element now both the internal air

element and the external air element are

simply air element and that should be

seen as it actually is with proper

wisdom thus this is not mine this I am

NOT this is not my self when one sees it

thus as it actually is with proper

wisdom one becomes disenchanted with the

air element disenchantment is a finer

degree of equanimity of balance

so these different things that that can

come up they don't make your mind wobble

and go to them it just allows them to be

with without judging or condemning or

just letting your mind be in a state of

balance every different level of the

meditation and that's what a jhana is is

it's a level of your understanding every

different level has different degrees of

this balance that happens in your mind

when you get to the fourth jhana it's

going to be very strong now this is

going to carry over into your daily

activities one of the meditations that

are one of the books that I wrote was

life is meditation meditation is life

and what I'm trying to show you is this

isn't all the time practice so you can

practice it it doesn't matter what

you're doing can you smile with it can

you have a light mine

I've had some computer people tell me

that they've well I can't practice I

have to think when I'm doing this

well okay can you think with a smile in

mind can you have fun doing it instead

of the frustration that happens when the

machine doesn't do what you tell it to

that you think you tell it to maybe but

the more fun you have in your daily life

the lighter your mind becomes in your

daily life and everything is very easy

you don't have this mind that grabs on

and tries to figure something out you

allow your mind to to be uplifted and if

you run across a problem ask yourself

the question what's the answer to this

how what's what's blocking me from

understanding more deeply and save

yourself a measurable amounts of time

okay Rahula developed meditation that is

like the air element for when you

develop meditation that is like air

arisen agreeable and disagreeable

context will not invade your mind and

remain just as the air blows on clean

things and dirty things on excrement

urine spittle pus and blood in and the

air is not repelled and disgusted

because of that so to develop meditation

that is like air or when you develop

meditation that is like air arisen

agreeable and disagreeable context will

not invade your mind and remain and

think about the air just like the water

it hits something and then it goes

around it it doesn't try to push it over

although sometimes it does push it over

depending on the situation but it

naturally just wants to keep flowing the

way it's going so it comes up to a tree

it goes around the tree

so this is a real important thing to

understand don't resist or push anything

soften your mind and smile into it this

is an acronym drops don't resist or push

the ROP soften your mind you don't have

to fight with what's happening

soften your mind allow it to be there

and smile into it keep your mind light

[Music]

what is the space element the space

element may be either internal or

external what is the internal space

element whatever internally belonging to

one say itself is space spatial craved

and clung to that is the holes of the

years the nostrils the door of the mouth

and that aperture whereby what is eaten

drunk consumed and tasted get swallowed

and where it collects and whereby it is

excreted from below or whatever else

internally belonging to oneself is space

spatial crave and clung to this is

called the internal space element now

both the internal space element and the

external space element or simply space

element and that should be seen as it

actually is with proper wisdom thus this

is not mine this I am NOT this is not my

self when one sees it says it actually

is with proper wisdom one becomes

disenchanted with the space element and

allows the mind to be dispassionate

towards the space element

Rahula developed meditation that is like

space for when you develop meditation

that is like space arisen agreeable and

disagreeable contacts will not invade

your mind every mean now this is talking

about going into the Aruba jhanas it's

talking about going into the deeper mind

Jonah's mind only where there's no body

just as space is not established

anywhere so to rahula develop meditation

that's like space for when you develop

meditation that's like space arisen and

agreeable and disagreeable contacts will

not invade your mind and remain rahula

developed meditation on loving-kindness

for when you develop meditation on

loving-kindness any ill-will will be

abandoned now we're getting into talking

about the brahma vihara switch is what I

teach you here to Rahul the develop

meditation on compassion for when you

dissolve meditation on compassion any

cruelty will be abandoned rahula develop

meditation on joy for when you develop

meditation on joy any discontent will be

abandoned

Rahula develop meditation on equanimity

for when you develop meditation on

equanimity any aversion will be a band

so the brahma vihara is our major thing

to go through and that starts your

personality development that's where you

have more equanimity towards everything

you have more balance of mind and your

mindfulness is very sharp when you get

into these then there remains only

consciousness purified and bright what

does one cognize with that consciousness

one cog noises this is pleasant one

cognizes this is painful one cognizes

this is neither painful nor pleasant in

dependence on a contact to be felt as

pleasant

there are rises a pleasant feeling when

one feels a pleasant feeling one

understands I feel a pleasant feeling

one understands with the cessation of

that same contact to be felt as pleasant

it's corresponding feeling the pleasant

feeling that arose in dependence on that

contact to be felt as pleasant ceases

and subsides so this gives you a real

good idea of everything is part of a

process and you'll get to understand

this process as you go deeper one thing

that I pretty much guarantee is you're

gonna be a lot smarter at the end of

this 10 days than you ever

possible because you're gonna have

direct experience you're gonna see all

of these things that I'm talking about

just just as the contact and the

friction of two fire sticks heat is

generated and fire is produced and with

the separation and disjunction of those

two fire sticks the corresponding heat

ceases and subsides so to independence

on contact to be felt as pleasant or

painful or neither painful nor Pleasant

there arises one of these kinds of

feeling one understands with the

cessation of that same contact to be

felt as pleasant or painful or

neither-pleasant-nor-painful excuse me

it's corresponding feeling ceases and

subsides then there remains only

equanimity a purified bright malleable

wealdian radiant suppose monk a skilled

goldsmith or his apprentice were to

prepare a furnace heat up the crucible

take out the gold with tongs and put it

in the crucible from time to time he

would blow on it from time to time he

would sprinkle water over it from time

to time he would just watch on that goal

would become refined well refined

completely refined faultless rid of

dross valuable wildy and radiant

then whatever the kind of ornament he

wishes to make from it whether a golden

chain or earrings or a necklace or

golden garland it would serve his

purpose so two monk there remains only

equanimity purified and bright now you

both will be in radiant

he understands thus if I were to direct

this equanimity

so purified and bright to the base of

infinite space and to develop my mind

accordingly then this equanimity of mind

supported by that base of infinite space

craving and clinging to it would remain

for a very long time

in other words you once you get in a

state like that you can like it a lot

and you can keep coming back to it but

you're not gonna go deeper when you do

that you're gonna be caught in that

state and I have a tendency to push you

through all of these different states

faster so you'd have the experience of

something if I were to direct this

equanimity so purified and bright to the

base of infinite consciousness or to the

base of nothingness or to the base of

neither perception nor non-perception

and to develop my mind accordingly then

this equanimity of my supported by

whatever base it is craving and glint of

it would remain for a very long period

of time he understands thus if I were to

direct this equanimity so purified and

bright to the base of infinite space and

to develop my mind accordingly this

would be can

and if I were to direct this equanimity

so purified and bright to the base of

infinite consciousness or to the base of

nothingness or the base of neither

perception nor non-perception and to

develop my mind accordingly this would

be conditioned he does not form any

condition or generate and he generate

any observation tending towards either

being or none being sense it is not form

any condition or generate any

observation tending towards either being

or non being he does so he does not

craving and clinging to anything in the

world one of the things with perception

is perception is the very start of your

conceptual thinking we only think in

concepts for instance show me an

automobile where is the automobile is it

the bumper is it the headlights is it

the windscreen is it the motor is it the

wheels it's made up of a lot of little

things put together to make up this

concept of a car or an automobile and

that's the way we think and that's why

translation is so tricky because the

things that use you say you're trying to

convey a certain kind of thought or

emotion or whatever it happens to be

you're coming from your conceptual

understanding of

and my night might not be the same so I

have to be able to translate every time

I talk with you to see that we get on

the same page when he does not crave her

claim he is not agitated when he's not

agitated he personally attains me Bona

and that's what we're working for here

he understands thus Bertha's destroyed

the holy life has been lived what had to

be done has been done there is no more

coming to any state of being that's the

formula that comes up in your mind when

you become an are hot if he feels a

pleasant feeling he understands it is

impermanent there is no holding to it

there is no delight in it if he feels a

painful feeling he understands it's

impermanent there's no holding to it

there's no delight in it if he feels a

feeling when neither painful nor

pleasant feeling he understands it is

impermanent there is no holding to it

there is no delight in it now this is

describing over and over again letting

go of the craving of that letting go of

the I am that mind craving is exactly

where the false belief in a personal

self originates when you get to clinging

your stories about and your opinions and

ideas and all of this sort of

thing that one of the definitions of

clinging is that you're very strongly

identified personally with whatever it

is but the craving is the very beginning

of the false belief that's why when you

let go of that and you relax your mind

is clear you're you can still have some

thoughts coming through but they're not

going to have I am that thought attached

to it if he feels a pleasant feeling he

feels it in a detached way that means

without any craving if he feels a

painful feeling he feels that in a

detached way if he feels a neither

painful nor pleasant feeling he feels

that in a detached way when he feels a

feeling terminating with the body he

understands I feel a feeling terminating

with the body when he feels a feeling

terminating with life he understands I

feel a feeling terminating with life he

understands on the dissolution of the

body with the ending of life all that is

felt not being delighted in or craved

will become cool right that now the

definition of navona nee means no Bona

means fire

so every time you let go of the craving

you were experiencing Nirvana as your

mind is cool at that time monk just as

an oil lamp burns in dependence on the

oil and wick and when the oil and wick

are used up if it does not get any more

fuel it is extinguished from the lack of

fuel so to when he feels a feeling

terminating with the body or with life

he understands I feel of feeling

terminating with life he understands on

the death solution of the body with the

ending of all life all that is felt not

being delighted in or craved will become

cool right there ain't that cool

therefore amok possessing this wisdom

possesses the supreme foundation of

wisdom for this mount is the supreme

noble wisdom namely the knowledge of the

destruction of this of all suffering his

deliverance being founded upon truth is

unshakeable for that is false monk which

has a deceptive nature and that is true

which has a none deceptive nature

Nibbana therefore a monk possessing this

truth possesses the supreme foundation

of truth for this monk is the supreme

noble truth namely jnana which has an

undisciplined Hrant he undertook and

accepted acquisitions now he has

abandoned them cut them off at the root

made them like a palm stump done away

with them so they are no longer subject

to future arising therefore a monk

possessing this relinquishment this

letting go of craving

possesses the supreme foundation of

relinquishment for this monk is the

supreme found noble relinquishment

mainly the relinquishing of all

acquisitions of taking anything

personally formerly when he was ignorant

he experienced covetousness desire and

lust

now his abandoned them cut them off at

the roof made them like a palm stump

done away with them so they are no

longer subject to future arising

formerly when he was ignorant he

experienced anger ill-will and hate now

he has abandoned them cut them off at

the root made them like a palm stump

done away with them so they are no

longer subject to future arising

formerly when he was ignorant he

experienced ignorant sand delusion what

is delusion delusion is taking things

personally

now he has abandoned them cut them off

at the root made them like a palm stump

then away with them so they are no

longer subject to future arising so lust

hatred delusion they call these the

three poisons and Zen practice but is

actually one poison it's describing

craving I like it I don't like it must

hate I am that delusion so this is just

a different way of explaining what

craving are how craving works

therefore amok possessing this peace

possesses the supreme foundation of

peace for this monk is the supreme Nobel

Peace namely the pacification of lust

hatred and delusion the letting go of

gravy so it was with reference to this

that it was said one should not neglect

wisdom one should preserve truth should

cultivate relinquishment and should

train for peace the tides of conceiving

do not sweep over one who stands on

these foundations and when the tides of

conceiving no longer sweep over him he

is called a sage at peace so it was said

and with reference to what was this said

monk I am is conceiving I am this is

conceiving I shall be is conceiving I

shall not be is conceiving I shall be

possessed of form is conceiving I shall

be formless is a conceiving I shall be

radiant is conceiving I shall be non

radiant is conceiving I shall be neither

radiant nor non radiant is conceiving

conceiving is a disease conceiving is a

tumor conceiving is a dart if I overcome

all conceiving --zz one is called the

sage at peace and the sage at peace is

not born does not age does not die he is

not shaken and does not yearn for

anything for there is nothing present in

him by which he might be born not being

born

how could he age not aging how could he

die not dying how could he be shaken not

being shaken how could he yearned for

anything so it was with reference to

this that it was said the tides of

conceiving do not sweep over one who

stands upon these foundations and when

the tides of conceiving no longer sweep

over him is called a sage at peace monk

bear in mind

this brief exposition of the six

elements that was a short discourse

thereupon the venerable puku sati

thought indeed the teacher has come to

me the sublime one has come to me

the fully awakened one has come to me

then he rose from his seat arranged his

upper robe over one shoulder and

prostrating himself with his head at the

blessed one's feet

he said venerable sir a transgression

overcame me in that like a fool confused

and blundering I presumed to address the

Blessed One as friend venerable sir may

the Blessed One forgive my transgression

seen as such for the sake of restraint

in the future surely monk a

transgression overcame you in that like

a fool confused and blundering you

presumed to address me as friend but

since you see your transgression as such

this is what we do with hindrances when

we see them as they are and make amends

forgive yourself for doing making a

mistake or confessing it to your teacher

or other spiritual friend in accordance

with the Dhamma we forgive you for it is

growth in the noble one's discipline

when one sees once transgression as such

makes amends in accordance with the

Dhamma and understands restraint in the

future venerable sir I would receive the

full admission under

blessed one he's asking him to become a

full monk but our your mole in robes

complete monk venerable sir my Boland

robes are not complete monk to target us

do not give full admission to anyone

whose Boland robes are not complete then

the venerable puku sati having delighted

and rejoiced in the Blessed ones words

rose from his seat after paying homage

to the Blessed One he departed in order

to search for Bolen robes then while a

venerable poopoo sati was searching for

a bowl and ropes a strable killed him

close but no cigar

then among a number of monks went to the

Blessed One after being homage to him

sat down at one side and told him

venerable serve the clansmen poopoo sati

who was given brief instruction by the

Blessed One has died

what is his destination what is his

future course monks the clansmen puku

sati was wise he practiced in accordance

with the Dhamma and did not trouble me

in in the interpretation of the Dhamma

with a dissolution of the five lower

fetters the clansmen puku sati has

reappeared spontaneously in the pura

boats and will attain final nirvana

there without ever returning from the

world that is what the Blessed One said

the monks were satisfied and delighted

in the Blessed ones works so the things

that he purified his mind of he no

longer have any doubt of whether this is

a correct path or not you know from your

direct experience this is the correct

path you know that rites and rituals

will not lead to nirvana this is a kind

of an interesting thing I've had some

Muslims

that I've taught and they were

successful with their meditation and

then at the end of the retreat they

asked if they could go and pray five

times a day

and I said I don't care it's up to you

what you were going to do with your time

just know that this is the right path

and eventually they will change and

become more more open and free because

of that but you will know that a lot of

people are very much into chanting and

they think they can attain nirvana by

chanting and you you know for a fact

that you can't anything that you

verbalize in your mind that means your

mind is not going deep enough to be able

to attain nirvana

also you see more and more clearly the

impersonal nature of everything that

arises

when you get to be an on egami which is

what we're talking about that's the

third stage of awakening and on egami is

a person that never has lust or greed or

I want mind or hatred or aversion arise

in their mind again it's kind of a nice

state to be in

you have mostly loving kindness strong

mindfulness and good collectiveness of

mind so those are the five things that

was talked about so he was an honor

gommi by that by that practice

you'll start understanding this more and

more as we go through the next few days

and you'll start seeing it for yourself

as you continue practice please smile

have a light mind the more you smile the

easier it is to recognize when your mind

gets distracted and you'll start to see

that more and more quickly as you do

that then you'll start staying on your

object of meditation for longer and

longer periods of time

keep it fun make it a game don't get

serious with this it's important to keep

your mind uplifted and you're gonna make

mistakes well join the human race we all

make mistakes that's how we grow just

don't make the same mistake over and

over again

learn from your mistakes learn what

makes you happy and what doesn't learn

what brings joy up to you and other

people see everybody thinks meditation

is only about sitting and that's the

furthest thing away from what the Buddha

was teaching the first part of

meditation is practicing your generosity

and that doesn't mean giving material

things necessarily it can mean that

because it's fun to give stuff away but

you practice your generosity when you

uplift other people's might when you

help them overcome their suffering when

you smile time you laugh with them

you're giving them that feeling of

happiness that's practicing your

generosity and the more you practice

your generosity the lighter your mind

becomes the better your mindfulness

becomes

so it can be physically you're giving

your energy to someone else to help them

overcome their suffering whatever it

happens to be one of the big mistakes

that has been happening in in this

country in particular is that people

don't really practice generosity it's

more they're they're being stingy with

the things that they know when the

things that they feel and they said oh

you don't understand but you want to be

giving the whole time give somebody else

a smile say something that makes them

happy do something that helps them to

overcome their suffering and reflect on

doing that and that makes you happy

but it's giving away it's not keeping it

inside to yourself and I don't mean

become a born-again Buddhist but in

harmonious ways the second part of

meditation is keeping your precepts why

is it so important to keep your precepts

without breaking them because when you

break a precept you feel guilty and

that's the very beginning of I am that

why do hindrances arise because in the

past you broke hindrances okay we've all

done it

so it takes a while to purify your mind

that's why when you're sitting in

meditation and you have a hindrance come

up you welcome the hindrance from being

there you don't fight with it you don't

resist it you don't try to push it away

a hindrance is your teacher it's showing

you where you have an attachment where

the craving is so be grateful for the

entrances what you do with what arises

in the present dictates what happens in

the future now the truth is when a

hindrance arises it's there that's the

truth anytime you try to fight with the

truth anytime you try to change the

truth anytime you try to force the truth

to be other than it is you're fighting

with Sudama and you're causing yourself

immeasurable amounts of pain one of the

things I like most about Buddhism is the

self responsibility you can't blame

anybody else for your pain why because

it's yours they didn't give you pain you

took it you fought with it you didn't

like it and you probably broke a precept

what are the precepts while you're

taking over every morning

one of the two of the easiest things to

break is not telling the truth trying to

deceive the world in one way or another

and Asia is real big because you're

supposed to be polite when you tell a

little white lie oh how do you like this

this set of clothes that I'm wearing and

you look at that and you go god that's

the ugliest thing I've ever seen oh it's

wonderful it's beautiful no you don't do

that also

cursing this country is really really

it's shocking when I was in Asia for 12

years and I came back and I was hearing

cursing on the radio in the music on

television in the movies you couldn't

get away from all this cursing and and

what kind of mind do you have when you

curse is it a happy uplifted mind not

really it comes from your anger and then

you feel guilty for doing it even though

you don't notice that guilt but when you

come for a retreat you have a lot of

entrances why because you've broken the

precepts and it takes a while to purify

your mind so you'll go deeper and deeper

and progress

I had one student he followed most of

the precepts except the one on cursing

he cursed like a sailor I mean he was

really using bad language often and I

kept on telling him don't do that you're

hurting yourself when you use that kind

of language but they didn't hear it so

he'd come for a two-week retreat and the

first 10 or 11 days he had hindrances

all over the place and then his mind

would start to purify and he'd have one

or two days of good meditation and then

it was time to get off retreat well he

was doing that to himself after more

than 30 years of that he finally dawned

on him oh I wonder what'll happen if I

quit his progress was very fast and he

became successful with his meditation

but he'd hurt himself all of those years

because he liked being like that he

liked having a foul language and making

off-color jokes his his lifestyle but

when he stopped then his mind started

getting much more peaceful more quickly

that's why he keeps the precepts you're

doing it for yourself and there's no

Commandments nobody's gonna throw a

lightning bolt at you if you make a

mistake but you know that you did it and

it causes suffering so your choice

and we'll get more into that as as time

goes by but the cause of all the

hindrances is because of breaking

precepts it might not be even be in this

lifetime that you broke a precept might

be five lifetimes ago you did something

that caused your mind to feel very

guilty and you hold on to those sort of

things but the hindrances are not there

to fight with they're not to be

suppressed they're not to be controlled

be grateful that these are coming up so

you can let them go when you start

feeling more and more light in your mind

more happy but don't get caught and

being critical and and hard on yourself

we all do that but start to be more kind

to yourself and forgive yourself for

making mistakes and continue on there's

great benefit in that and you'll see

that on this retreat so let's share some

merit

main suffering ones be suffering free

and the fear struck fearless be me the

grieving shed all grief and may all

beings find relief may all be share this

merit that we've thus acquired for the

acquisition of all kinds of happiness

may beings inhabiting space and earth

divas and not as a mighty power share

this merit of ours

may they long protect the Buddha's

dispensation decide

[Music]

[Music]

and tonight I'm going to add something

to that and that is 120 just a short

section of it

before my awakening while I was still

only an unawakened Bodhisattva I

perceive both radiance and the object of

meditation hello hello hello

okay well we'll try that again before my

awakening while I was still in only

unawakened Bodhi sativa both radiance

and the object of meditation soon

afterwards the radiance and object of

meditation disappeared I thought what is

the cause and condition why the radiance

and object of meditation have

disappeared this is a major

inside into the practice itself now you

have to understand the Bodhisattva

didn't have anybody to tell him what

happened or why things happened he had

to figure it out for himself and this

question what is the cause and condition

why the radiance and object of

meditation have disappeared is a key

question for you because if you have

something that is blocking you something

that's stopping you and distracting your

mind and you want to find out what that

is

you have to ask yourself the question

why is this happening what you're doing

is you're asking your intuition to show

you what it is that's blocking you from

going deeper

so this is a key question that you need

to ask yourself and you have to realize

that you are your own teacher you're

showing yourself all of these different

things and this will help you anytime

you have your you get restless for some

reason and you keep going back to the

restlessness this will help you figure

out what the cause is why is this

happening many years ago I was working

at a Meditation Center and I was kind of

the handyman fixing things that were

falling apart as it was an old house and

while I was doing that somebody came and

they wanted to do a retreat so the

teacher came to me and said I want you

to do a retreat with him so I won't be

sitting alone good that's why I'm here

right so

I started sitting with him and I got

Restless I'm not prone to restlessness

I'm more prone to sleepiness and

dullness than I am restlessness which

was unusual and it kept happening and

finally I asked myself a question what

why is this happening that's this isn't

normal for me I just got done doing a

one-month retreat and all of a sudden I

was real peaceful during that time all

of a sudden I'm Restless why and the

answer came back to me my intuition

answered that and it said you really

don't want to be sitting you want your

thinking about doing all of these other

things that need to be done around the

house and I went oh yeah that's true so

I stopped getting involved with those

kind of thoughts and as soon as I did my

mind settle down and since then I found

that using your intuition to overcome

fear anxiety a version of whatever thing

when you ask those kinds of questions

why is this happening now what's the

cause of this you will get the answer

and this is a real important thing and

I'll you're gonna come up and talk to me

about this or that and I'm going to ask

you to ask yourself don't ask me the had

the answer to your question I don't know

depends on you depends on what you're up

to

depends on how you're doing it your

intuition will always give you the

answer but it comes from a quiet mind

because it's a quiet voice all of you

have have had intuitive moments and if

you don't pay attention to that then

you've lost your opportunity to see how

you could straighten things out whatever

the problem was quite often there's

people that especially in Asia I think

the the people in Asia are afraid of

their own shadow in a lot of ways and

they have fear coming up so I get them

to instead of indulge in the fear and

fight with it and try to push it away

ask why is that fear here what's the

cause of this your intuition will give

you the answer and you can overcome that

without much problem after that so this

is an important part of the practice and

it can show you where some of your old

habits are and how to let go of these

old things that keep coming up and

bothering you and causing your mind to

start thinking about it and trying to

analyze it with your thoughts now you're

made up of five different things you

have a physical body you have feeling

feeling is not emotion feeling is

pleasant feeling painful feeling neither

painful nor Pleasant you have perception

perception is always attached to the

feeling they come together they're

enjoying

Pleasant feeling comes up your mind says

that's Pleasant painful feeling comes up

your mind says that's painful is it

still then you have thoughts then you

have consciousness now what we get

caught up in by our old habit is when a

painful feeling arises it doesn't matter

whether it's mental or physical you

treat them both in the same way when a

painful feeling arises we try to think

the feeling away and the more you think

the feeling the bigger and more intense

that feeling becomes so this is where

you use your six artists when you start

thinking about what is there and we do

have what's commonly called in Asia a

Western disease and Western disease is

analyzing you want to find out why is

that and get involved in your thousand

miles away from what you should be doing

this is the magic of using the six R's

the six R's are right effort an eight

fold path there's four parts to right

effort I just tacked on a couple of

different things because it's you

recognize it okay you recognize that

your mind is distracted

that is seeing an unwholesome state

arise what is unwholesome unwholesome is

always I am that this is my thought this

is my feeling so you recognize that your

mind gets pulled away then you release

that you release it by not keeping your

attention on that distraction and

relaxed relaxed attention and tightness

caused by that feeling then you have to

bring up something wholesome so I added

another little thing that helps with

that smile the more you smile

the faster your progress becomes that's

a promise so you smile it lightens your

mind it improves your mindfulness a lot

then you come back to your object of

meditation and stay with your object of

meditation for as long as you can it's

pretty simple but don't try repeating

what each step is just do what it says

to do so roll your R's together

recognize release relax Rea smile return

repeat this simple thing will take you

all the way to our aaj because this is

right effort so many times people are

teaching other kinds of meditation and

they don't they want you to stay with

what the distraction is say a painful

feeling comes up in the body now I've

done a lot of meditation and I did most

of that meditation with the Mohave

method and they said when a pain comes

up put your attention right in the

middle of that pain and quote see its

true nature

well if you put your attention on a pain

guess what happens it gets bigger and

more intense so you really causing

yourself a lot of problems when you do

that

so the second step of just let it be

there

don't keep your attention on whatever it

is that's distracting you let it be

there by itself but don't feed it with

your attention let it be with the Mohave

method any kind of distraction you're

supposed to watch it until it goes away

and note it well that doesn't work very

well so don't do that

because you're feeding it that means

it's going to stay longer and it turns

into other kinds of distractions so

allow that to be there by itself and

relax let go of that tension in your

head in your mind

this is your brain it's not your brain

really but this is kinda like your brain

how's that now there's a membrane that

goes all the way around the brain it's

called the meninges and it goes in in

between every time you have a thought

every time a feeling arises every time

there is a sensation your brain expands

out against the meninges and it causes

tension and tightness now some some big

questions that I kept asking while I was

in Asia I was there for 12 years as what

exactly is craving you know what is

craving craving is the I like it I don't

like it mind when a pleasant feeling

arises I like it when a painful feeling

arises I don't like it how do you

recognize craving when it arises now

these kind of questions I went to major

teachers all over Asia and that's the

same thing and I never got any kind of

good answer

it was actually kind of frustrating well

craving is desire just don't desire

anything and you won't have any craving

that is such a surface simpleton answer

to the question that's that is quite

deep

so when the way you recognize craving is

by the tension and tightness that

happens in your head in your body and

how do you let it go relax

first you have to notice that it's there

okay a lot of the meditation teachers

they don't tell you about this and if if

you start getting a headache from doing

the meditation they tell you it'll go

away after a while never mind but this

is key when you first start noticing

that tension and tightness sometimes

it's big sometimes it's subtle doesn't

matter when you notice it and relax

you'll feel kind of like an expansion

like a letting go and right after that

you'll notice that your mind is clear

your mind is very bright your mind is

very observant and there's no craving in

your mind at that time so your mind is

pure bring that pure mind to a smile so

your mind starts to develop the habit of

being lighter almost all one-pointed

kinds of concentration practice causes

your mind to get heavy and with a heavy

mind your mindfulness is very poor

one of the things they told me when I

was doing so much meditation and in

Burma and and other places was when joy

arises don't get attached why I didn't

want to be attached so I pushed it away

and my mind got heavier in and actually

very hard and with that kind of hard

mind comes a critical mind judgmental

mind and you have a tendency to beat

yourself up if your mind doesn't do what

you want to do so it's a necessary part

of the practice to be able to know what

craving is and how to let it go and see

the effect of letting it go

that means relaxing and see how clear

your mind is at that time there's a lot

of relief in that and smile make your

mind lighter instead of staying with the

heavy mind make your mind light

that will happen more and more the more

you smile it sounds kind of different

than a lot of meditations that you learn

because they have but everybody wants

you to try harder and I got you have to

note more and there was a lot of pain

involved in that physical pain as well

as mental pain but when you keep your

mind light when you when you allow the

joy to come whenever it's going to be

there you don't keep your attention on

the joy necessarily you let it be there

and relax into it and smile and come

back to your object of meditation now

you're bringing some joy back to your

object of meditation and it actually

turns out to be fun I am one of the few

people in the world I think that tells

you is that you're supposed to have fun

I want you to smile I want you to laugh

especially with how crazy your mind can

get so it's a necessary thing to keep

your mind light your mindfulness will

become much sharper much more quickly

the more you smile but if you get caught

in thinking about this and that whatever

it happens to be well as soon as you

recognize that this is what's happening

don't judge your mind stop moving your

legs

that says that you're Restless so you I

lost my train of thought there so the

more you smile the more you have a light

mine the easier it is to recognize when

that craving starts to come in and

you'll catch it more quickly and let go

more usually so when I say smile I mean

all the time I don't care what you're

doing your mind needs to be light one of

the biggest problems I have with people

that come here that have done other

kinds of meditation is to get them to

stop trying so ordered

and laughing is a part of the practice

and it's a necessary part of the

practice why if you laugh at yourself

for getting angry or whatever the catch

of the day happens to be you are taking

it personally you're really caught in

your craving and then you notice that

you're doing a new laugh with yourself I

got caught again this crazy might as

soon as you do that all of a sudden that

anger or whatever the catch is goes from

I am that to it's only that oh it's only

this anger it's only this

dissatisfaction whatever it is do I want

to carry this around with me no nobody

is that crazy so just let it be and

right after that your mind is very clear

your mind is very observant and you

don't have that craving tightening

things now it becomes loose

this is the fastest way to let go of a

hindrance I have some people that come

and they're really tight they're really

angry about something and one of the

things I try to get them to do is smile

and then laugh and then I'll say how did

your mind feel now oh I don't have that

anger anymore I don't have that

dissatisfaction this meditation

somewhere along the 2500 years that the

Buddha's been away from us

has changed to from a fun meditation to

a serious meditation and most of that

comes from doing one point in

concentration your mind has a tendency

to get very tight and hard so asking the

question what's the cause of this why it

is an occasional me you can ask yourself

things aren't as good as they could be a

spur yourself

is there anything blocking me from going

deeper you'll get an answer sometimes it

comes right away sometimes it doesn't

you have to be patient but you will get

an answer and it's going to be one

that's going to give you great insights

so now let's go to the suit

thus if I heard on one occasion the

blessed one was wandering in the

magadhan country and eventually arrived

at rajagaha there he went to the Potter

bagua and said to him if it's not

inconvenient for you bagua I will stay

one night in your workshop it's not

inconvenient for me venerable sir but

there is a homeless one already staying

there if he agrees then stay as long as

you like venerable sir

now there was a Klansman named kuku sati

who had gone forth from the home life

into homelessness out of faith in the

blessed one and on that occasion he was

already staying in the Potters workshop

then the blessed one went as a venerable

poopoo sati and said to him if it's not

inconvenient for you monk I will stay

one night in the workshop the Potters

workshop is large enough friend let the

venerable one stay as long as he likes

then the blessed one entered the Potters

workshop and prepared a spread of grass

at one end and sat down setting his body

erect established mindfulness in front

of him then the Blessed One spent most

of the night seated in meditation and

the venerable puka sati also spent most

of the night seated in mid

Asian then the Blessed One thought this

clansmen conducts himself in a way that

inspires confidence suppose I were to

question him so he asked the venerable

poopoo sati under whom have you gone

forth monk

who is your teacher whose Dhamma do you

profess friend there is the Rekluse

Gautama the son of this audience who

went forth from the sake and plan now a

good report of that blessed Gautama has

been spread to this effect that bless

and one has accomplished fully awakened

perfect and true knowledge and conduct

sublime nor of world's incomparable

leader of persons to be tamed teacher of

gods and humans awakened and blessed

I've gone forth under that blessed one

that blessed one is my teacher I profess

the Dhamma of that blessed one but monk

where is the Blessed one accomplished

and fully awakened now living there is

friend the city in the northern country

named Swati the Blessed one accomplished

and fully awakened is now living there

but have you ever seen the Blessed one

before would you recognize him if you

saw him no friend I've never seen that

blessed one before nor would I would

recognize him if I saw him then the

Blessed One thought this clansmen has

gone forth from the home life into

homelessness

under me suppose I were to teach him the

Dhamma so the blessed one addressed the

venerable puku sati thus monk I will

teach you the Dhamma listen and attend

closely to what I shall say yes friend

the venerable puku sati replied the

Blessed One said this monk this person

consists of six elements six bases of

contact eighteen kinds of mental

exploration and he has four foundations

the tides of conceiving did not sweep

over one who stands upon these

foundations and when the tides of

conceiving no longer sweep over him he

is called a sage at peace one should not

neglect wisdom should preserve truth

should cultivate relinquishment and

should train for peace cultivating

relinquishment relinquishment means

letting go of grieving this is a summary

of the exposition of the six elements

monk this person consists of six

elements so it was said and with

reference to what was this said there

are the earth element the water element

the fire element the air element the

space element and the consciousness

element so it was with reference to this

that it

said monk this person consists of six

elements monk this person consists of

six bases of contacts so it was said and

with reference to what was this said

there are the base of eye contact the

base of ear contact the base of nose

contact the base of tongue contact the

base of body contact and the base of

mind contact so it was with reference to

this that it was monk this person

consists of six pieces of contact monk

this person consists of eighteen kinds

of mental exploration so it was said and

with reference to what was this said on

seeing a form with the eye one explorers

of form productive of joy one Explorer

is a form productive of grief one

explorers of form productive of

equanimity excuse me on hearing a sound

with the ear on smelling an odor with

the nose on tasting a flavor with the

tongue on touching a tangible with the

body on cognizing a mind object was mind

one explorers of one of these objects

productive of troye one explorers one of

these sense doors for did productive of

grief one explores one of these sense

doors productive of equanimity so it was

with reference to this that it was said

monk this person consists of eighteen

kinds of mental exploration mock this

person in

this person has four foundations so it

was said and with reference to what was

this said there are the foundation of

wisdom the foundation of truth the

foundation of rape relinquishment and

the foundation of peace so it was with

reference to this that it was said monk

this person has four foundations one

should not neglect wisdom should

preserve truth and cultivate

relinquishment and should train for

peace so it was said and with reference

to what was this said how a monk does

one not nink

does one not neglect wisdom there are

these six elements the earth element

water element fire element air element

space element and consciousness element

what monk is the earth element the earth

element may be either internal or

external what is the internal earth

element whatever internally belonging to

oneself is solid solidified craved and

clung to that is head hairs body hairs

nails teeth skin flesh sinew bones bone

marrow kidney heart liver diaphragm

spleen lungs and

since mesentery contents of the stomach

thesis or whatever else internally

belonging to oneself is solid solidified

craved and clung to this is called the

internal earth element now both the

internal earth element and the external

earth element are simply earth element

and that should be seen as it actually

is with proper wisdom this is not mine

this I am NOT this is not my self

[Music]

so that is one one part of developing

your wisdom the other part is seeing

this process that we're continually

going through of the links of dependent

origination and you'll get more of that

in a little bit not with this with this

but and during the retreat you'll get

more when one sees it as it actually is

with proper wisdom one becomes

disenchanted with the earth element and

allows the mind to be dispassionate

towards the earth element now we're

gonna go over to the advice to rahula

Rahula developed meditation that is like

the earth for when you develop

meditation that is like the earth arisen

agreeable and disagreeable contacts will

not invade your mind and remain that is

a key statement if you let things invade

your mine and remain you're going to get

caught and you're going to be a thousand

miles away thinking this and that and

judging and getting caught in all kinds

of emotional upsets so when you allow it

to be by itself

just notice that it's there and relax

and smile and come back to your object

of meditation these kind of distractions

will become less and less as you go

deeper in your meditation one thing that

I want you to be careful of beginners

have a tendency to want to 6r every

thought that comes in and if you're

staying with your object of meditation

you're staying with your spiritual

friend and you're not distracted away

then ignore those thoughts just stay

with your friend they will fade away by

themselves only when your mind gets

fully distracted pulled away from your

spiritual friend and you're caught up in

thinking this or that then use the six

R's and come back so you don't have to

six are every tiny little distraction

only if your attention is pulled away

from your object

to meditation that's important just as

people throw clean things and dirty

things

excrement urine spittle pus and blood on

the earth and the earth is not repelled

or disgusted because of that so to

rahula developed meditation that is like

the earth for when you develop

meditation that is like the earth arisen

agreeable and disagreeable context will

not invade your mind and remain

what monk is the water element the water

element may be either internal or

external what is the internal water

element whatever internally belonging to

oneself is water watery craved and clung

to that is bile phlegm pus blood sweat

fat tears

grease spills not oil of the joints

urine or whatever else internally

belonging to oneself is water watery

craved and clung to this is called the

internal water element now both the

internal water element and the external

water element are simply water element

and that should be seen as it actually

is with proper wisdom thus this is not

mine this I am NOT this is not my self

when one sees that thus as it actually

is with proper wisdom one becomes

disenchanted with the water element and

allows the mind to be dispassionate

towards the water element rahula

developed meditation that is like water

for when you develop meditation that is

like water arisen agreeable and

disagreeable contacts will not invade

your mind and remain so you see not

invade your mind and remain starts to

get pushed into you with every element

and it makes things more clear now the

thing that

is helpful to the meditation is let your

mind be like water when you have water

going down a stream and there's a rock

in the way does it try to push that rock

out of the way and spend time trying to

force it to go away no water just flows

around it so you do that with hindrances

now a statement you're going to hear me

say a lot is don't make a big deal out

of a hindrance don't turn it into

something that you are attached to and

you're fighting with or you're trying to

control and make it be the way you want

it to be but let your mind be like water

what happens when water hits an obstacle

it finds a way around

I just lets that obstacle be there it

doesn't turn it into a major thing to

try to overcome just let it be there by

itself this is another reason why you

want to soften your mind you don't want

to have a rigid mind that's trying to

make things happen the way you want

because this is a different kind of

meditation it's not something that

you've ever really experienced before

just let your mind be like water around

that obstacle don't get caught up in it

don't get involved with it let it be

there by itself and smile come back to

your object

just as people wash clean things and

dirty things

excrement urine spittle pus and blood

and water and the water is not repelled

and disgusted because of that so - Rahul

it developed meditation that is like

water for when you develop meditation

that is like water arisen agreeable and

disagreeable contacts will not invade

your mind and remain

what Mach is the fire element the fire

element may be either internal or

external what is the internal fire

element whatever internally belonging to

oneself is fire fiery craved and clung

to that is that by which one is warmed

ages and is consumed and that by which

what is eaten drunk consumed and tasted

gets completely digested or whatever

else internally belonging to oneself is

fire fiery craved and clung to this is

called the internal fire element now

both the internal fire element and the

external fire element are simply fire

element and that should be seen as it

actually is with proper wisdoms us this

is not mine this I am NOT this is not my

self when one sees it says it actually

is with proper wisdom one becomes

disenchanted with the fire element and

allows the mind to be dispassionate

towards the fire element rahula and

developed meditation that is like fire

for when you develop meditation that is

like fire a risen agreeable and

disagreeable contacts will not invade

your mind and remain just as people burn

clean things and dirty things

excrement here and spittle pus and blood

and fire and the fire is not repelled

and disgusted because of

that so2 Rahula developed meditation

that is like fire for when you develop

meditation that is like fire arisen

agreeable and disagreeable contacts will

not invade your mind and remain what

monk is the air element the air element

may be either internal or external what

is the internal air element whatever

internally belonging to oneself is air

Airy craved and clung to that is upgoing

winds down going winds winds and nabela

winds in the bowels winds that course

through the limbs in-breath and

out-breath or whatever else internally

belonging to oneself is air airy grieved

and clung to this is called the internal

air element now both the internal air

element and the external air element are

simply air element and that should be

seen as it actually is with proper

wisdom thus this is not mine this I am

NOT this is not my self when one sees it

thus as it actually is with proper

wisdom one becomes disenchanted with the

air element disenchantment is a finer

degree of equanimity of balance

so these different things that that can

come up they don't make your mind wobble

and go to them it just allows them to be

with without judging or condemning or

just letting your mind be in a state of

balance every different level of the

meditation and that's what a jhana is is

it's a level of your understanding every

different level has different degrees of

this balance that happens in your mind

when you get to the fourth jhana it's

going to be very strong now this is

going to carry over into your daily

activities one of the meditations that

are one of the books that I wrote was

life is meditation meditation is life

and what I'm trying to show you is this

isn't all the time practice so you can

practice it it doesn't matter what

you're doing can you smile with it can

you have a light mine

I've had some computer people tell me

that they've well I can't practice I

have to think when I'm doing this

well okay can you think with a smile in

mind can you have fun doing it instead

of the frustration that happens when the

machine doesn't do what you tell it to

that you think you tell it to maybe but

the more fun you have in your daily life

the lighter your mind becomes in your

daily life and everything is very easy

you don't have this mind that grabs on

and tries to figure something out you

allow your mind to to be uplifted and if

you run across a problem ask yourself

the question what's the answer to this

how what's what's blocking me from

understanding more deeply and save

yourself a measurable amounts of time

okay Rahula developed meditation that is

like the air element for when you

develop meditation that is like air

arisen agreeable and disagreeable

context will not invade your mind and

remain just as the air blows on clean

things and dirty things on excrement

urine spittle pus and blood in and the

air is not repelled and disgusted

because of that so to develop meditation

that is like air or when you develop

meditation that is like air arisen

agreeable and disagreeable context will

not invade your mind and remain and

think about the air just like the water

it hits something and then it goes

around it it doesn't try to push it over

although sometimes it does push it over

depending on the situation but it

naturally just wants to keep flowing the

way it's going so it comes up to a tree

it goes around the tree

so this is a real important thing to

understand don't resist or push anything

soften your mind and smile into it this

is an acronym drops don't resist or push

the ROP soften your mind you don't have

to fight with what's happening

soften your mind allow it to be there

and smile into it keep your mind light

[Music]

what is the space element the space

element may be either internal or

external what is the internal space

element whatever internally belonging to

one say itself is space spatial craved

and clung to that is the holes of the

years the nostrils the door of the mouth

and that aperture whereby what is eaten

drunk consumed and tasted get swallowed

and where it collects and whereby it is

excreted from below or whatever else

internally belonging to oneself is space

spatial crave and clung to this is

called the internal space element now

both the internal space element and the

external space element or simply space

element and that should be seen as it

actually is with proper wisdom thus this

is not mine this I am NOT this is not my

self when one sees it says it actually

is with proper wisdom one becomes

disenchanted with the space element and

allows the mind to be dispassionate

towards the space element

Rahula developed meditation that is like

space for when you develop meditation

that is like space arisen agreeable and

disagreeable contacts will not invade

your mind every mean now this is talking

about going into the Aruba jhanas it's

talking about going into the deeper mind

Jonah's mind only where there's no body

just as space is not established

anywhere so to rahula develop meditation

that's like space for when you develop

meditation that's like space arisen and

agreeable and disagreeable contacts will

not invade your mind and remain rahula

developed meditation on loving-kindness

for when you develop meditation on

loving-kindness any ill-will will be

abandoned now we're getting into talking

about the brahma vihara switch is what I

teach you here to Rahul the develop

meditation on compassion for when you

dissolve meditation on compassion any

cruelty will be abandoned rahula develop

meditation on joy for when you develop

meditation on joy any discontent will be

abandoned

Rahula develop meditation on equanimity

for when you develop meditation on

equanimity any aversion will be a band

so the brahma vihara is our major thing

to go through and that starts your

personality development that's where you

have more equanimity towards everything

you have more balance of mind and your

mindfulness is very sharp when you get

into these then there remains only

consciousness purified and bright what

does one cognize with that consciousness

one cog noises this is pleasant one

cognizes this is painful one cognizes

this is neither painful nor pleasant in

dependence on a contact to be felt as

pleasant

there are rises a pleasant feeling when

one feels a pleasant feeling one

understands I feel a pleasant feeling

one understands with the cessation of

that same contact to be felt as pleasant

it's corresponding feeling the pleasant

feeling that arose in dependence on that

contact to be felt as pleasant ceases

and subsides so this gives you a real

good idea of everything is part of a

process and you'll get to understand

this process as you go deeper one thing

that I pretty much guarantee is you're

gonna be a lot smarter at the end of

this 10 days than you ever

possible because you're gonna have

direct experience you're gonna see all

of these things that I'm talking about

just just as the contact and the

friction of two fire sticks heat is

generated and fire is produced and with

the separation and disjunction of those

two fire sticks the corresponding heat

ceases and subsides so to independence

on contact to be felt as pleasant or

painful or neither painful nor Pleasant

there arises one of these kinds of

feeling one understands with the

cessation of that same contact to be

felt as pleasant or painful or

neither-pleasant-nor-painful excuse me

it's corresponding feeling ceases and

subsides then there remains only

equanimity a purified bright malleable

wealdian radiant suppose monk a skilled

goldsmith or his apprentice were to

prepare a furnace heat up the crucible

take out the gold with tongs and put it

in the crucible from time to time he

would blow on it from time to time he

would sprinkle water over it from time

to time he would just watch on that goal

would become refined well refined

completely refined faultless rid of

dross valuable wildy and radiant

then whatever the kind of ornament he

wishes to make from it whether a golden

chain or earrings or a necklace or

golden garland it would serve his

purpose so two monk there remains only

equanimity purified and bright now you

both will be in radiant

he understands thus if I were to direct

this equanimity

so purified and bright to the base of

infinite space and to develop my mind

accordingly then this equanimity of mind

supported by that base of infinite space

craving and clinging to it would remain

for a very long time

in other words you once you get in a

state like that you can like it a lot

and you can keep coming back to it but

you're not gonna go deeper when you do

that you're gonna be caught in that

state and I have a tendency to push you

through all of these different states

faster so you'd have the experience of

something if I were to direct this

equanimity so purified and bright to the

base of infinite consciousness or to the

base of nothingness or to the base of

neither perception nor non-perception

and to develop my mind accordingly then

this equanimity of my supported by

whatever base it is craving and glint of

it would remain for a very long period

of time he understands thus if I were to

direct this equanimity so purified and

bright to the base of infinite space and

to develop my mind accordingly this

would be can

and if I were to direct this equanimity

so purified and bright to the base of

infinite consciousness or to the base of

nothingness or the base of neither

perception nor non-perception and to

develop my mind accordingly this would

be conditioned he does not form any

condition or generate and he generate

any observation tending towards either

being or none being sense it is not form

any condition or generate any

observation tending towards either being

or non being he does so he does not

craving and clinging to anything in the

world one of the things with perception

is perception is the very start of your

conceptual thinking we only think in

concepts for instance show me an

automobile where is the automobile is it

the bumper is it the headlights is it

the windscreen is it the motor is it the

wheels it's made up of a lot of little

things put together to make up this

concept of a car or an automobile and

that's the way we think and that's why

translation is so tricky because the

things that use you say you're trying to

convey a certain kind of thought or

emotion or whatever it happens to be

you're coming from your conceptual

understanding of

and my night might not be the same so I

have to be able to translate every time

I talk with you to see that we get on

the same page when he does not crave her

claim he is not agitated when he's not

agitated he personally attains me Bona

and that's what we're working for here

he understands thus Bertha's destroyed

the holy life has been lived what had to

be done has been done there is no more

coming to any state of being that's the

formula that comes up in your mind when

you become an are hot if he feels a

pleasant feeling he understands it is

impermanent there is no holding to it

there is no delight in it if he feels a

painful feeling he understands it's

impermanent there's no holding to it

there's no delight in it if he feels a

feeling when neither painful nor

pleasant feeling he understands it is

impermanent there is no holding to it

there is no delight in it now this is

describing over and over again letting

go of the craving of that letting go of

the I am that mind craving is exactly

where the false belief in a personal

self originates when you get to clinging

your stories about and your opinions and

ideas and all of this sort of

thing that one of the definitions of

clinging is that you're very strongly

identified personally with whatever it

is but the craving is the very beginning

of the false belief that's why when you

let go of that and you relax your mind

is clear you're you can still have some

thoughts coming through but they're not

going to have I am that thought attached

to it if he feels a pleasant feeling he

feels it in a detached way that means

without any craving if he feels a

painful feeling he feels that in a

detached way if he feels a neither

painful nor pleasant feeling he feels

that in a detached way when he feels a

feeling terminating with the body he

understands I feel a feeling terminating

with the body when he feels a feeling

terminating with life he understands I

feel a feeling terminating with life he

understands on the dissolution of the

body with the ending of life all that is

felt not being delighted in or craved

will become cool right that now the

definition of navona nee means no Bona

means fire

so every time you let go of the craving

you were experiencing Nirvana as your

mind is cool at that time monk just as

an oil lamp burns in dependence on the

oil and wick and when the oil and wick

are used up if it does not get any more

fuel it is extinguished from the lack of

fuel so to when he feels a feeling

terminating with the body or with life

he understands I feel of feeling

terminating with life he understands on

the death solution of the body with the

ending of all life all that is felt not

being delighted in or craved will become

cool right there ain't that cool

therefore amok possessing this wisdom

possesses the supreme foundation of

wisdom for this mount is the supreme

noble wisdom namely the knowledge of the

destruction of this of all suffering his

deliverance being founded upon truth is

unshakeable for that is false monk which

has a deceptive nature and that is true

which has a none deceptive nature

Nibbana therefore a monk possessing this

truth possesses the supreme foundation

of truth for this monk is the supreme

noble truth namely jnana which has an

undisciplined Hrant he undertook and

accepted acquisitions now he has

abandoned them cut them off at the root

made them like a palm stump done away

with them so they are no longer subject

to future arising therefore a monk

possessing this relinquishment this

letting go of craving

possesses the supreme foundation of

relinquishment for this monk is the

supreme found noble relinquishment

mainly the relinquishing of all

acquisitions of taking anything

personally formerly when he was ignorant

he experienced covetousness desire and

lust

now his abandoned them cut them off at

the roof made them like a palm stump

done away with them so they are no

longer subject to future arising

formerly when he was ignorant he

experienced anger ill-will and hate now

he has abandoned them cut them off at

the root made them like a palm stump

done away with them so they are no

longer subject to future arising

formerly when he was ignorant he

experienced ignorant sand delusion what

is delusion delusion is taking things

personally

now he has abandoned them cut them off

at the root made them like a palm stump

then away with them so they are no

longer subject to future arising so lust

hatred delusion they call these the

three poisons and Zen practice but is

actually one poison it's describing

craving I like it I don't like it must

hate I am that delusion so this is just

a different way of explaining what

craving are how craving works

therefore amok possessing this peace

possesses the supreme foundation of

peace for this monk is the supreme Nobel

Peace namely the pacification of lust

hatred and delusion the letting go of

gravy so it was with reference to this

that it was said one should not neglect

wisdom one should preserve truth should

cultivate relinquishment and should

train for peace the tides of conceiving

do not sweep over one who stands on

these foundations and when the tides of

conceiving no longer sweep over him he

is called a sage at peace so it was said

and with reference to what was this said

monk I am is conceiving I am this is

conceiving I shall be is conceiving I

shall not be is conceiving I shall be

possessed of form is conceiving I shall

be formless is a conceiving I shall be

radiant is conceiving I shall be non

radiant is conceiving I shall be neither

radiant nor non radiant is conceiving

conceiving is a disease conceiving is a

tumor conceiving is a dart if I overcome

all conceiving --zz one is called the

sage at peace and the sage at peace is

not born does not age does not die he is

not shaken and does not yearn for

anything for there is nothing present in

him by which he might be born not being

born

how could he age not aging how could he

die not dying how could he be shaken not

being shaken how could he yearned for

anything so it was with reference to

this that it was said the tides of

conceiving do not sweep over one who

stands upon these foundations and when

the tides of conceiving no longer sweep

over him is called a sage at peace monk

bear in mind

this brief exposition of the six

elements that was a short discourse

thereupon the venerable puku sati

thought indeed the teacher has come to

me the sublime one has come to me

the fully awakened one has come to me

then he rose from his seat arranged his

upper robe over one shoulder and

prostrating himself with his head at the

blessed one's feet

he said venerable sir a transgression

overcame me in that like a fool confused

and blundering I presumed to address the

Blessed One as friend venerable sir may

the Blessed One forgive my transgression

seen as such for the sake of restraint

in the future surely monk a

transgression overcame you in that like

a fool confused and blundering you

presumed to address me as friend but

since you see your transgression as such

this is what we do with hindrances when

we see them as they are and make amends

forgive yourself for doing making a

mistake or confessing it to your teacher

or other spiritual friend in accordance

with the Dhamma we forgive you for it is

growth in the noble one's discipline

when one sees once transgression as such

makes amends in accordance with the

Dhamma and understands restraint in the

future venerable sir I would receive the

full admission under

blessed one he's asking him to become a

full monk but our your mole in robes

complete monk venerable sir my Boland

robes are not complete monk to target us

do not give full admission to anyone

whose Boland robes are not complete then

the venerable puku sati having delighted

and rejoiced in the Blessed ones words

rose from his seat after paying homage

to the Blessed One he departed in order

to search for Bolen robes then while a

venerable poopoo sati was searching for

a bowl and ropes a strable killed him

close but no cigar

then among a number of monks went to the

Blessed One after being homage to him

sat down at one side and told him

venerable serve the clansmen poopoo sati

who was given brief instruction by the

Blessed One has died

what is his destination what is his

future course monks the clansmen puku

sati was wise he practiced in accordance

with the Dhamma and did not trouble me

in in the interpretation of the Dhamma

with a dissolution of the five lower

fetters the clansmen puku sati has

reappeared spontaneously in the pura

boats and will attain final nirvana

there without ever returning from the

world that is what the Blessed One said

the monks were satisfied and delighted

in the Blessed ones works so the things

that he purified his mind of he no

longer have any doubt of whether this is

a correct path or not you know from your

direct experience this is the correct

path you know that rites and rituals

will not lead to nirvana this is a kind

of an interesting thing I've had some

Muslims

that I've taught and they were

successful with their meditation and

then at the end of the retreat they

asked if they could go and pray five

times a day

and I said I don't care it's up to you

what you were going to do with your time

just know that this is the right path

and eventually they will change and

become more more open and free because

of that but you will know that a lot of

people are very much into chanting and

they think they can attain nirvana by

chanting and you you know for a fact

that you can't anything that you

verbalize in your mind that means your

mind is not going deep enough to be able

to attain nirvana

also you see more and more clearly the

impersonal nature of everything that

arises

when you get to be an on egami which is

what we're talking about that's the

third stage of awakening and on egami is

a person that never has lust or greed or

I want mind or hatred or aversion arise

in their mind again it's kind of a nice

state to be in

you have mostly loving kindness strong

mindfulness and good collectiveness of

mind so those are the five things that

was talked about so he was an honor

gommi by that by that practice

you'll start understanding this more and

more as we go through the next few days

and you'll start seeing it for yourself

as you continue practice please smile

have a light mind the more you smile the

easier it is to recognize when your mind

gets distracted and you'll start to see

that more and more quickly as you do

that then you'll start staying on your

object of meditation for longer and

longer periods of time

keep it fun make it a game don't get

serious with this it's important to keep

your mind uplifted and you're gonna make

mistakes well join the human race we all

make mistakes that's how we grow just

don't make the same mistake over and

over again

learn from your mistakes learn what

makes you happy and what doesn't learn

what brings joy up to you and other

people see everybody thinks meditation

is only about sitting and that's the

furthest thing away from what the Buddha

was teaching the first part of

meditation is practicing your generosity

and that doesn't mean giving material

things necessarily it can mean that

because it's fun to give stuff away but

you practice your generosity when you

uplift other people's might when you

help them overcome their suffering when

you smile time you laugh with them

you're giving them that feeling of

happiness that's practicing your

generosity and the more you practice

your generosity the lighter your mind

becomes the better your mindfulness

becomes

so it can be physically you're giving

your energy to someone else to help them

overcome their suffering whatever it

happens to be one of the big mistakes

that has been happening in in this

country in particular is that people

don't really practice generosity it's

more they're they're being stingy with

the things that they know when the

things that they feel and they said oh

you don't understand but you want to be

giving the whole time give somebody else

a smile say something that makes them

happy do something that helps them to

overcome their suffering and reflect on

doing that and that makes you happy

but it's giving away it's not keeping it

inside to yourself and I don't mean

become a born-again Buddhist but in

harmonious ways the second part of

meditation is keeping your precepts why

is it so important to keep your precepts

without breaking them because when you

break a precept you feel guilty and

that's the very beginning of I am that

why do hindrances arise because in the

past you broke hindrances okay we've all

done it

so it takes a while to purify your mind

that's why when you're sitting in

meditation and you have a hindrance come

up you welcome the hindrance from being

there you don't fight with it you don't

resist it you don't try to push it away

a hindrance is your teacher it's showing

you where you have an attachment where

the craving is so be grateful for the

entrances what you do with what arises

in the present dictates what happens in

the future now the truth is when a

hindrance arises it's there that's the

truth anytime you try to fight with the

truth anytime you try to change the

truth anytime you try to force the truth

to be other than it is you're fighting

with Sudama and you're causing yourself

immeasurable amounts of pain one of the

things I like most about Buddhism is the

self responsibility you can't blame

anybody else for your pain why because

it's yours they didn't give you pain you

took it you fought with it you didn't

like it and you probably broke a precept

what are the precepts while you're

taking over every morning

one of the two of the easiest things to

break is not telling the truth trying to

deceive the world in one way or another

and Asia is real big because you're

supposed to be polite when you tell a

little white lie oh how do you like this

this set of clothes that I'm wearing and

you look at that and you go god that's

the ugliest thing I've ever seen oh it's

wonderful it's beautiful no you don't do

that also

cursing this country is really really

it's shocking when I was in Asia for 12

years and I came back and I was hearing

cursing on the radio in the music on

television in the movies you couldn't

get away from all this cursing and and

what kind of mind do you have when you

curse is it a happy uplifted mind not

really it comes from your anger and then

you feel guilty for doing it even though

you don't notice that guilt but when you

come for a retreat you have a lot of

entrances why because you've broken the

precepts and it takes a while to purify

your mind so you'll go deeper and deeper

and progress

I had one student he followed most of

the precepts except the one on cursing

he cursed like a sailor I mean he was

really using bad language often and I

kept on telling him don't do that you're

hurting yourself when you use that kind

of language but they didn't hear it so

he'd come for a two-week retreat and the

first 10 or 11 days he had hindrances

all over the place and then his mind

would start to purify and he'd have one

or two days of good meditation and then

it was time to get off retreat well he

was doing that to himself after more

than 30 years of that he finally dawned

on him oh I wonder what'll happen if I

quit his progress was very fast and he

became successful with his meditation

but he'd hurt himself all of those years

because he liked being like that he

liked having a foul language and making

off-color jokes his his lifestyle but

when he stopped then his mind started

getting much more peaceful more quickly

that's why he keeps the precepts you're

doing it for yourself and there's no

Commandments nobody's gonna throw a

lightning bolt at you if you make a

mistake but you know that you did it and

it causes suffering so your choice

and we'll get more into that as as time

goes by but the cause of all the

hindrances is because of breaking

precepts it might not be even be in this

lifetime that you broke a precept might

be five lifetimes ago you did something

that caused your mind to feel very

guilty and you hold on to those sort of

things but the hindrances are not there

to fight with they're not to be

suppressed they're not to be controlled

be grateful that these are coming up so

you can let them go when you start

feeling more and more light in your mind

more happy but don't get caught and

being critical and and hard on yourself

we all do that but start to be more kind

to yourself and forgive yourself for

making mistakes and continue on there's

great benefit in that and you'll see

that on this retreat so let's share some

merit

main suffering ones be suffering free

and the fear struck fearless be me the

grieving shed all grief and may all

beings find relief may all be share this

merit that we've thus acquired for the

acquisition of all kinds of happiness

may beings inhabiting space and earth

divas and not as a mighty power share

this merit of ours

may they long protect the Buddha's

dispensation decide

[Music]