From: https://youtube.com/watch?v=63G6axb9DJ8

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

[Music]

you

I gave 14 retreats as it keeps me off

the streets giving talks as much as I

have been doing my talks have started to

change a little bit and I'm talking a

lot more about using the six hours and

I'm also talking a lot more about

recognizing hindrances and what do with

the hindrances when they arise also I've

been talking a lot more about getting

into your own intuition and asking

yourself questions too many people want

somebody to give them an answer and what

I found is when you ask yourself you get

the answer much more quickly and it's

always right so what's stopping me from

going deeper that's a reasonable

question that you can ask yourself and

you will get the answer so the teaching

that I'm giving these days is a little

bit different than what you've heard in

the past I hope you appreciate it and I

hope you're successful with it I'm

really I'm starting to people are

becoming so successful that I'm not so

excited about it anymore

doesn't that sound odd but so I'm just

gonna give you the basic instruction

tonight and a lot of you have already

done the practice I'm giving the

beginners instruction if you've already

got your practice going and you're doing

a six direction just follow the six

directions with lovingkindness to start

off with and then when you come in for

interviews we can adjust okay so when

you're practicing loving-kindness

meditation you first start by sending

loving and kind thoughts to yourself

remember a time when you were happy when

that happy feeling arises it's a nice

flowing feeling in the center of your

chest as soon as that feeling arises

then make a wish for your own happiness

you want to feel the wish now one of the

real mistakes that a lot of people make

is they make it a mental wish but they

don't feel it you need to feel that wish

you make a feeling for being happy then

feel that happiness you make a wish for

feeling peaceful and calm then feel

peaceful and calm put that feeling in

your heart if it's joy then do it with

joy

whatever the feeling is that you make

for yourself put that feeling in your

heart and radiate that feeling to

yourself

one of the things that I found it's

really really helpful is to be grateful

for whatever you're doing gratitude is a

big help for your practice and that

helps your feeling to get stronger

no criticizing yourself no making

yourself think about negative stuff okay

now this is a smiling meditation and

that means smile and in Asia they have

this belief that anybody that sees you

smiling will think that you're crazy so

they're really reluctant to smile and I

have to push them quite hard sometimes

to smile if you want to progress with

your practice you have to smile the more

you smile more uplifted your mind

becomes the more joy you have arise the

better your mindfulness becomes that's a

key word mindfulness it's really popular

here in America not so much in Asia but

what's your definition of mindfulness

okay I went to Toronto to a mindfulness

conference and I gave a talk near the

end of the of the second day and when I

got there I said okay you've been

hearing about mindfulness for a day and

a half

what's a definition and it was

surprising to see 500 people become so

quiet

and they couldn't really give me a

definition of what mindfulness is so I'm

going to give you this definition it

works a hundred percent of the time it

helps your your practice to deepen it

helps your awareness to become sharper

mindfulness is remembering to observe

how mind's attention moves from one

thing to another how does it move now

that's a key question how does

mindfulness move from one thing to

another how does your attention your

with your object of meditation and your

thinking about this how did that happen

what happened first what happened after

that what happened after that when you

use that definition of mindfulness it

helps you understand much more clearly

and more deeply how the links of

dependent origination actually work so

how does this process happen because it

is a process and it is an impersonal

process another another word that's used

a lot in meditation with the Buddhists

is a not o self it doesn't have anything

to do with self it has to do with the

impersonal nature of how everything

works it's not you it's not yours it's

not yourself everything that happens is

part of an impersonal process anytime

you have a hindrance arise why do

entrances arise

you ever think about that oh I'm so

Restless

why did the hindrance arise because in

the past you broke a precept and when

you break a precept your little

intuition voice says I shouldn't have

done that and then you feel guilty and

then you take that guilty feeling and

make it personal okay so what is a

hindrance a hindrance is a past mistake

welcome to the real world we all have

past mistakes and it's okay to have a

past mistake let's not do it anymore

though that's just causing more and more

hindrances to arise one of the things

that is very confused with an awful lot

of people that are practicing meditation

is when you're on your object of

meditation and you have a hindrance

arise what are you supposed to do with

it well I I've read books where they say

you're supposed to push it down push it

away stop it from coming up well that

doesn't work so good and I have other

other practices that I personally have

done for 20 years

note it until it goes away and then come

back to your primary object of

meditation that's not right effort right

effort is very plain it's part of the

Eightfold Path

when a hindrance arises you use the six

R's

you recognize when your mind is

distracted that's easy then you release

the distraction that means you don't

make a big deal out of it you don't try

to control it you don't try to do

anything with it you leave it be there

by itself and relax now what is craving

how are you supposed to recognize

craving when it arises what he is

supposed to do to let that craving go

how are you supposed to purify your mind

that's what the meditation is all about

right

purifying your mind so how are you

supposed to do that it's pretty easy

craving is not particularly strong it is

very persistent it'll keep coming back

until you learn how to purify your mind

so let's take a look at craving craving

is tension and tightness in your mind in

your head you've heard me talk about you

got this meninges that goes around your

brain well the meninges not only goes

around your brain it goes all the way

down your spine so every time you have a

thought every time there is any kind of

distraction that pulls your attention

away from staying with your object of

meditation your brain expands a little

bit and that causes tension and

tightness in your head in your mind

so relax let go of that tension in your

head in your mind and as soon as you

relax you're gonna notice that you don't

have any distracting thoughts your mind

is very clear your mind is very bright

and your mind is pure why is it pure

because you've given let go of craving

now that's half of right effort the rest

of it is a fun stuff bring up something

wholesome smile smiling sometimes you

can get to a place where you're not

smiling with your your lips but you're

still smiling with your mind so that's

when I start talking about smile with

your mind smile with your eyes even when

your eyes are closed I don't care a

little smile on the lips and smile in

your heart so a smile is not just one

thing it's not just putting this silly

grin on your face it's about being happy

it's about allowing joy to help your

mind become light and as soon as you

smile and your mind is light then bring

that to your object of meditation now

for beginners the object of meditation

is yourself to start off with for the

first 10 minutes then after 10 minutes

you pick a spiritual friend a spiritual

friend

someone that you respect a lot that you

like they are the same sex and they are

alive

not a member of your family to start off

with so a spiritual friend is someone

that when you think of them you

sincerely do wish them well

sincerely do really have good feelings

towards that person no person that

you're gonna pick is going to be perfect

they're gonna have some things that

they've done that you don't particularly

care for but you let that go and you

start appreciating them for the good

things that they have done for the times

that you've laughed together for the

times that you've smiled and been happy

with each other and the more sincere you

are with that and smiling the better

your meditation is going to become now

I've had some pretty amazing experiences

in this last six months of people that

have been doing meditation for many

years and all of a sudden they they get

what I'm talking about and by the second

day of the retreat they become a soda

pada because they're practicing exactly

like I'm showing you right now it's hard

to keep up with people like that but

they're ready I wish that for all of you

to be ready don't add anything to these

instructions don't take away any of

these instructions just follow them as

closely as you can

smile all the time I don't care what

you're doing I don't tear it care if

you're you're going to the toilet I

don't care if you're taking a shower

appreciation and happiness this is what

we're trying to develop and the more you

have joy arising the better your

mindfulness becomes the better your

mindfulness becomes the faster you start

recognizing little tiny movements and

you start catching that and relaxing

right then and your progress is going to

be fast it really works

there's no time during the day when you

don't have a smile somewhere whether

it's a smile in your mind there's mile

with your eyes a little smile on your

lips a smile in your heart you want to

have a continual smile all the time

this feeling is real necessary because

when your mindfulness is good you'll

start to see your mind start to wobble a

little bit and then it wobbles more and

it'll start fading away and going into

something else

when you smile all the time your

mindfulness is improved by 75% it's not

a maybe

the more you smile the lighter your mind

becomes the lighter your mind becomes

the better your mindfulness becomes the

better your mindfulness becomes the

faster your progress becomes it works

it's not a maybe when I was in Indonesia

I've been going there for eight years or

so so they really do believe me when I

tell them to do this stuff there was 34

people that did a retreat with me there

that's one of the retreats I gave there

34 people there was 30 experiences of

Nirvana in that one retreat 30 and

that's pretty high percentage it really

really works

so I'm giving you these instructions in

the clearest way that I can but I want

you to understand you have to take the

responsibility for yourself you have to

be able to recognize when your attention

is starting to wobble off of your object

of meditation and go to other things you

have to have strong interest but it has

to be with a sense of fun

I know meditation teachers aren't

supposed to talk about having fun

they're not supposed to talk about

smiling and there are times when

hindrances arise that you can really get

caught for a period of time so what are

you supposed to do with that laugh laugh

with yourself why because your mind is

crazy and it's okay to be crazy the

fastest way to overcome any hindrance

that I know of is by laughing with

yourself and the more you laugh with

yourself you go from I am this and I

don't like it too well it's only this do

I want to carry it around with me now

let's let it go the biggest problem with

people in Asia especially India with the

Goenka practices their seriousness and

if you're doing a go Inca retreat and

the teacher sees that you're smiling

they will tell you you're not doing the

practice correctly you have to leave

you can't have fun with the meditation

well I'm here to tell you that they

don't have fun and they suffer really

really big and they have a lot of pain

and anxieties and all of these different

things that their one pointed

concentration can suppress for a period

of time but it always comes back because

they don't understand craving and how to

let it go it's real important for you to

understand how this process works don't

take anything seriously laugh with

yourself your mind has gotten gotten

into some old habits because of breaking

a precept feeling guilty and then having

it come back at you over and over and it

gets stronger with your dislike and your

want to control it and you get

frustrated then you have get into your

anger and your anxieties and then your

suffering all the time don't do that to

yourself

you can't blame anybody else for your

pain your pain is because of your

actions in the past now you might have

done something three lifetimes ago and

you have this hindrance coming up now

okay we don't care about why it came up

doesn't matter what matters is what you

do with what arises in the present what

matters is how fast you can remember to

use the six hours

but you don't use the six RS as some

kind of stick to beat away entrance

it's just let that hindrance be there by

itself it doesn't go away okay don't pay

attention to it don't make a big deal

out of anything you're gonna hear me and

say that a lot that was the one one of

the things that I found that the agent

is they really identified with don't

make a big deal out of it stop making it

into something that's big stop trying to

control it let it be by itself don't pay

attention well it didn't go away okay so

what relax

smile come back to your object of

meditation if it didn't go away your

mind will go back to it and you get to

do it again until finally you let go of

that attachment that wrong idea in a

personal self and when you let go of

that that hindrance is going to go away

by itself you don't have to push it you

don't have to make it be something

special if you try to make it into

something special you get to do it over

and over again till you learn that don't

do that anymore

so it's a real important thing for you

to realize that you need to have fun

with the meditation don't be getting

serious with stuff don't set yourself up

to cause pain stop making a big deal out

of anything it's only a thought did you

ask the thought to come up did you ask

the feeling to come up no well why are

you taking it personally why are you

saying this is me this is mine this is

my sadness this is my anger this is my

frustration no it's not

it came up because of past actions and

breaking a precept now one of the things

that I found that I started stressing a

lot is you have to be able to take the

responsibility for yourself yep you made

a mistake in the past okay you don't

have to do it anymore you don't have to

take it personally and try to fight with

it what you need to do is allow it to be

there by itself don't make a big deal

out of it just let it be there okay you

want to be here you want that anger to

be here fine

it can stay as long as it wants I don't

care it's not mine anyway I didn't ask

it to come up

I didn't tell myself you know I've been

angry for a while I might as well be mad

now let me see who can I be mad at

around here you don't do that it happens

because of the past actions that you

hat and you took it personally that's

where the mistake is it's not something

to blame it's not something to try to

make it stop it's something to realize

okay that did happen okay maybe I

remember what it is maybe I don't I

don't care it's just a feeling it's just

a thought so allow it to be by itself

smile relax into this stuff

stop making big deals out of nothing

well I don't like this and I've never

liked it okay so who cares well I care

okay who cares I care how much pain are

you causing yourself because of that

well then let's just let it go it

doesn't matter yeah but I remember well

okay

now I've had some soldiers that have

have been doing really bad stuff when

they were got put in a situation where

they had to shoot guns at other people

and harm other people and they have PTSD

what is that okay you made a mistake in

the past can you forgive yourself for

making that mistake I mean truly forgive

yourself

it's hard work forgive yourself this is

one of the things that I found

especially in in India that everybody

beats himself up a lot for some of the

things that they've done and some of the

things that they've done is really bad

they have heard other people okay and

that keeps coming up and at night they

have these nightmares and they see the

faces of these people well okay why

don't you forgive yourself for doing

that and ask that person that's in your

mind to forgive you for doing that and

stay with the forgiveness until you feel

relief I have seen miracles happen with

forgiveness meditation I have seen

people that have really been they've

lived very rough lives they've harmed

other people they've stolen from other

people they have this huge amount of

guilt okay you want to get rid of it

you got to forgive yourself because you

made a mistake

and don't make a big deal out of that

okay it happened now forgive let it be

relax smile

that the two that came to this one

retreat both of them were soldiers and

both of them had PTSD and they really

suffered and they they weren't about to

smile okay there's nothing there's

nothing that everything is bad and I

feel so guilty because of some of the

things that I've done to other people

okay well it's gonna take a little while

sometimes it takes four or five days

even but you start forgiving and you

forgive yourself for making a mistake

forgive yourself for having anger

forgive yourself for causing pain to

somebody else or forgive somebody else

for causing pain to you and the more you

seriously do it and get into it the more

relief you have and the more relief you

have the happier your mind becomes and

both of these guys after only a ten day

retreat they have completely different

kinds of personality now they actually

walk around smiling and I had one of

them write to me not too long ago and

they said I really have this has changed

my entire life now this isn't

psychological nonsense that we're

talking about psychology doesn't work as

good as it could because you're looking

for answers of why and we're looking for

answers of how how did this occur what

can you do with it as you see it

putting in your mind again I had one

student that did a retreat and he had a

memory of a past lifetime where he

killed somebody he was he remembers that

he was out on the beach and he had a

sword in his hand and he killed somebody

and as he turned around somebody killed

him and he had this very strong memory

of dislike for that whole situation so

he came to me and he said what am I

supposed to do with this I said well

forgive yourself for killing somebody

else ask that other person that you

killed in your mind to forgive you and

they didn't like that idea that person

that they've killed didn't like the idea

that I'm not gonna forgive you for that

but you have to keep going and

eventually he that that guy that he

killed forgave him in his mind he had

such relief that it changed the health

of his entire body

did your choice you can do that or not I

don't care

I'm just the guide and that's all I am

I'm not your teacher you're your own

teacher you teach yourself all kinds of

things and what kind of things happen to

you where you have repeat thoughts and

it's just like it's on a tape deck you

have these repeat thoughts coming up

over and over and you really don't like

them so you take that dislike and give

it to somebody else but it doesn't you

don't really give it away you cause

other people to be sad so anytime you

have repeat thoughts guess who has an

attachment guess who's taking it

personally guess who's causing

themselves so much pain and then you

give that pain to other people because

you don't like it and you want to

transfer it it's not my problem it's

their problem they did this no no the

thing about Buddhism is you have to take

self-responsibility

you can't blame somebody else for your

pain you can't blame somebody else for

your breaking a precept in the past

although you try to it's always easy to

blame somebody else for your problem

but you're just mirroring it you'd have

to sincerely and this is a word that

I've been using a lot lately sincere it

has to be sincere you have to really

mean it it can't just be some surface

yeah I forgive you that then no I've

done the forgiveness I don't need to do

anymore nah come on you've got to do it

completely until you feel relief and

when you feel relief your your mind is

gonna be amazing

your mind is going to be so uplifted and

happy and you know what it stays around

do you start feeling happy all the time

that's why I wrote that one of one of my

books life is meditation meditation is

life

do you have hindrances arise in your

daily life if you don't there's

something weird about you but what do

you do with it see this is an all the

time practice it's not just about

sitting this is about living

and look at how you cause yourself

suffering how you caused your own pain

because somebody didn't meet your

expectation somebody didn't do what you

wanted them to do somebody said

something that wasn't really nice what

are you doing to yourself how much pain

do you caused yourself why not let's let

it go let's have some fun on this

retreat don't take anything seriously

don't make a big deal out of anything if

you're making a big deal who's making it

who's causing themself suffering you're

doing it to yourself

you're your own teachers now one of the

things that I've been telling a lot of

people to do and that takes a heck of a

burden off of me is to ask yourself

questions what's the cause of this why

is my mind blocked right now is there

something that's stopping me from going

deeper what is it ask yourself that one

time and then listen for the answer as

the answer will come I started doing

this a lot more with people that have

been practicing with me for a while I

didn't I didn't use to talk about

intuition so much

and I told this one man I said you got

to ask yourself what you're doing

because you're starting to get angry and

you're giving me that anger and I don't

want it it's yours so ask yourself why

are you angry so he did and he came back

and his face was all glowy and he really

had a happy look in his eyes and I said

well what what was the answer and he

said well I've been waiting to get

enlightened and now I don't need to wait

he didn't get him gotten enlightened yet

but his waiting caused the block caused

him to get frustrated caused him to get

angered so he stopped waiting the next

day he came in I looked at him and said

oh you were successful good he stopped

waiting it can be something as simple as

that or it can be something else who

knows ask yourself what's the cause and

condition for this to stop my meditation

why am I having so much restlessness

okay ask yourself you'll get the answer

one of the students said is it ever

wrong is your intuition ever wrong I

said no he said I can't believe that I

said will

you know I've been practicing it off and

on for 45 years and I haven't I haven't

had a wrong answer yet sometimes I

forget to ask and get caught in this or

that for a period of time but eventually

I do ask those kinds of questions the

first time I went through this I I was

working at a Meditation Center and I had

a lot of jobs that I wanted to do they

had to fix a lot of things and this man

came to the Meditation Center and he was

going to do a retreat so the teacher

came to me and he said I want you to

stop doing everything and do a retreat

with him so he doesn't have to do it

alone and I said okay that's fine I

that's what I was at the meditation

center to do so yeah okay fine and I had

restlessness and I'm not prone to

restlessness it was really odd I had two

or three days where it was hard to sit

still and I thought why is this

happening

if anything I'm brown I'm prone to sloth

and torpor I'm not prone to be restless

so I went on and my intuition came and

said well you don't really want to be

here you want to be fixing that and I

thought oh yeah that's right because my

mind was tending towards thinking about

that instead of staying on my object of

meditation so I let go of the want to do

this other stuff all of a sudden my

practice got real deep so don't forget

to ask yourself

trip if you're running across something

that you really don't understand and

your mind is going crazy for one reason

or another ask yourself why what am i

doing to cause this kind of problem your

intuition will tell you it really does

work

so there's smiling

there's having fun there's laughing

without crazy your mind can be at times

because it's really comical this one

lady came to me one time and she said I

have such pain what can I do and I said

well smile I don't feel like smiling and

I said okay then why don't you and she

said it's not funny and that's what I

did

I laughed and because I left she laughed

and because she laughed I said how did

your mind feel now oh I feel great

okay remember that we are our biggest

hindrance because we take things

personally and we keep on repeating the

same things over and over and over again

and cause ourselves more frustration

more pain more anxiety sadness whatever

it happens to be or it can even be some

kind of attachment to a certain kind of

way of acting

it can be an attachment to anything it's

where your mind grabs on and says this

is me this is who I am so when you have

more fun and you turn this into a game

instead of a serious problem and you

start to laugh with yourself a little

bit all of a sudden you don't have this

problem anymore

and you're starting more and more to

realize how tricky craving can be as

it'll come up real fast some but it's

only craving it's not even yours

what is craving I like it I don't like

it it's a painful feeling I don't like

it it's a pleasant feeling I like I

that's the start of it that's the start

of all of this nonsense stuff that we

get caught in for years and years and

years that we keep on fighting with and

we keep on trying to give to other

people it's your problem you're doing

this to me how silly is that it's my

problem and it's only a problem because

I make a big deal out of it because I'm

causing it myself

lighten your mind smile more more joy

joy is an Enlightenment factor for a

reason

okay and it's right in the middle of all

the other and awakening factors it's

right in the middle that's the thing

that gives you balance the more joy you

have the lighter your mind becomes the

better your mindfulness becomes your

awareness of how little timing things

start arising all by themselves now if

you get in you're gonna go through the

first day blues everybody does and it's

okay to go through the first day blues

but don't take it seriously it's just

that your mind is used to being out

there now you're going to be going in

and you're gonna be watching and your

mind will dull out okay the more

interest you have in staying with your

object of meditation the less you're

going to have sloth and torpor but it's

still gonna come your mind just might

bail out for a little while okay that's

fine or you're gonna get a little

restless okay that's fine

what do you do with that use the six

arts stop taking things personally

start playing this game of life because

that's what it is if you have that

perspective if you use that perspective

keep your minds light anytime you get

serious how much pain do you have how

much suffering because yourself this all

intertwines with dependent origination

and this is how this whole process

really works this is the backbone of the

Buddha's teaching as you start to

understand how this process works and

your mind starts to settle down a little

bit you've got you get to start seeing

it more and more clearly more and more

quickly and this leads to a natural high

a natural uplifting of your mind that

will stay with you in your daily life

it's not a maybe it really does work

so for those that are just starting out

with the meditation spend 10 minutes

sending loving and kind thoughts to your

spiritual third to yourself sit no less

than 30 minutes and I mean no less I

don't care what's happening sit no less

than 30 minutes when you're sitting is

good sit longer I don't care what the

restlessness or the sleepiness is for

the first day of the retreat go through

it you have to sit no less than 30

minutes but people that have been

practicing for a while they're gonna sit

for an hour two hours something like

that that's okay you can do that you can

set longer

ask yourself what's the cause of the

sleepiness you can start off on the

first day by asking yourself the

question what's stopping me from going

deeper why is this sleepiness here why

do I have this restlessness why do I

have this frustration why do I have this

anger why does it keep coming up at me

what difference does it make

we don't care why stop making a big deal

out of the hindrance let it be by itself

relax let go that tension and tightness

in your head in your mind smile come

back to your object to meditation stay

with your object of meditation as long

as you can it's pretty straightforward

it's pretty easy the biggest complaint I

have almost everybody ever every retreat

that I give they start complaining it

can't be that simple it's got to be more

complicated than this well that's funny

when when I hear somebody's been

practicing Goenka for 30 years and

they're telling me how complicated the

meditation it really is and after a

couple of the days they come back and

they say no this this can't be right I

must be doing something wrong this is

too easy well it's not always easy but

it is always simple there's sometimes

you're gonna have a hindrance it's gonna

keep coming back for a while okay so

every hindrance that arises is your

teacher it's teaching you where you have

an attachment and what is the attachment

the attachment is always I am that it's

always taking something personally from

your past actions

let it be simple don't make it

complicated now a lot of people have

done a lot of meditation and meditation

teachers as they talk about it nietzsche

dukkha not everything is impermanent

it's suffering and it's not self you're

gonna see that all on your own you don't

need me to say that stuff over and over

again you're gonna see to how things

change and you're gonna see it for real

it's not gonna be some philosophy it's

not going to be just some words that you

think you hunters understand

intellectually you're gonna see things

changing okay and because they're

changing

it's unsatisfactory it's it's painful

sometimes it's more painful than others

but it doesn't matter it's just because

it's changing that it's painful but it's

never yours ever anata that's one of the

most confusing ideas in the whole world

well it's myself and I've heard some

some people say well you have to build

up yourself before you can see not self

I'd say you don't have to build up

yourself so you can see yourself you see

yourself every time you have an

attachment every time there's a

hindrance coming up you're seeing it up

close and personal right there right

then and that's why it's so important

for you to use the six R's and relax let

go of that tightness caused by that

wrong belief in a personal self well

that means I'm gonna disappear I don't

think so you're still gonna be here well

where am i well your mind is very clear

and it doesn't have any attachment in it

that's all you're seeing you're seeing

how this process works more and more

clearly and it's not you it's not yours

you don't have to take it personally

you're still gonna be here you still

have your aggregates they're gonna be

here you're still gonna have feeling and

perception and you're gonna have some

thoughts occasionally now one of the

things that I want you to be careful of

is not use the six arse too much okay

don't use the six arse as some kind of a

block to stop things from coming up when

you first start out with your meditation

and you're you're with your spiritual

friend and and you're staying with your

spiritual friend and I thought comes up

but it doesn't pull your attention away

from your spiritual friend it's just a

thought you don't need the six are that

just ignore it

only when your attention gets pulled

away from your object of meditation

now you use the six art okay so you

don't have to try to use the six RS with

every thought that arises if you're able

to stay with your spiritual friend just

ignore that thought those thoughts will

go away by themselves you don't have to

worry about it

only when your attention gets pulled

away now you use the six arts so

please have fun please smile more don't

worry you're gonna hear me say this

stuff over and over again you will

probably get tired of me saying it but I

don't care okay yeah so I've been

talking for a long time do you have any

questions

that means I explained everything oh

good yeah

yeah I I didn't I didn't say 30 people I

said there was 30 experiences of Nirvana

on the way yeah you've got to become a

sotapanna and then sotapanna with

fruition and then sakagami in sakagami

with fruition on egami

inugami with fruition then alright and

the final one is with fruition that's

when you're off the wheel but I found

out some real interesting things that

I'll be able to talk with you more about

so it wasn't 30 people it was 30

experiences because some of them had two

or three experiences in the 10-day

retreat but I was in Australia and there

was only four I felt like a failure I

couldn't get them to be serious with the

practice they'd been doing too much

other meditations and they were getting

stuff trying to incorporate what they

learn from somebody else and the simple

fact is if you don't follow the

directions the way I give them it's not

going to work so good and it'll take a

while to work out why you're doing that

because it's some kind of attachment

from past experience yeah

more attention the more interested you

are and staying with your spiritual

friend the less you are going to have

softened torpor it's more attention well

I'll tell you exactly how sloth and

torpor works how's that you're with your

friend but then you have these little

tiny thoughts and you kind of take more

interest in that than you are with your

friend and then you start to get kind of

dreamy and then your back starts

slumping and then your head starts

bobbing now that's generally how it

works I could be a lot more specific but

I'm not going to be you have to tell me

take an interest in how that arises it's

just a hindrance it's not even yours

okay and smile more yeah

you six are whatever hold your attention

away but don't try to control the bodily

feeling allow it to be there soften your

mind let it be there by itself smile

come back to your object of meditation

your mind gets pulled to it again do it

again but you're not doing it is some

kind of control right but don't stay on

your object and try to force your mind

to be there like you don't have a pain

coming up this is a natural process you

will naturally progress don't fight

don't resist don't try to make things be

the way you want them to be your job is

only to observe and look at what your

mind does with a pain okay it grabs on

that says I don't like that that's a

version right there right and then the

more that pain is there the more you try

to squeeze it and try to control it and

try to make it be the way you want to be

and that's exactly the opposite of what

you're supposed to be doing everything

in Buddhism is this it's allowing it to

be well it's a painful feeling okay so

yeah we have painful feelings sometimes

it can be really intense but it's only a

feeling it's not your feeling you didn't

ask it to come up

allow it to be there

don't keep your attention on it don't

make a big deal out of it

let it be there by itself come back to

your object of meditation eventually one

of two things is going to happen either

it's going to go away or it's not good

choice right but as you develop more

equanimity in your mind it's not a big

deal it's only a pain and it doesn't

pull your attention to it anymore it's

okay that pain is there so fine it can

be there

I didn't ask it to come up not mine

eventually that pain will just fade away

by itself what is the cause of these

kind of pains back to the hindrance it

is a hindrance isn't it because of

something you did in the past now when I

was practicing so much straight

Vipassana I had major pain and it was

like somebody took a knife and they

stuck it in my arm and they ripped down

like that and then he turned the blade

and then pulled it out and it was it was

so intense that I couldn't pick my hand

up and I had that pain off and on it

wasn't continually but I had that pain

for about 15 years because nobody told

me what to do with it eventually I

learned to develop enough equanimity to

it so it just didn't bother me anymore

and when it stopped bothering me it went

away by itself never been back

see the that's one of the problems with

a lot of people that are practicing

meditation is they still make big deals

out of things and then they try to

control it and then they they're causing

themselves immeasurable amounts of pain

and suffering and they're doing it to

themselves

the Magnificent thing about the Buddha

was he made it so simple that your

progress is going to be fast if you

follow the directions the way okay don't

make a big deal out of anything right

that cross your eyeballs don't make a

big deal allow everything to be there

let it be by itself relax

smile let all of these things be there

by themselves and you're going to

develop more and more equanimity and

with that equanimity you start to get

into the deeper states and then you

really start having fun with the

meditation

I guarantee have you ever heard a

meditation teacher give you a guarantee

that you're going to have fun you got to

follow it up what I'm showing you and

it'll be more and more clear as we go on

I promise

okay anybody else yeah recognize that

your mind is distracted okay you just

know that you're not with your object of

meditation anymore release the

distraction that means don't keep your

attention on the thing that pulled you

away relax the tightness caused by that

distraction we smile put a smile on your

face

in your mind take that smiling mind that

doesn't have any more craving in it back

to your object of meditation stay with

your object of meditation as long as you

can that's a six arts I gave you you

have the cart can you give him one it's

on the back

so I'm used to everybody being

successful so you'd better be successful

I'm going to get mad at you

no pressure oh I didn't did I okay stay

with your object of meditation when

you're walking do not walk slowly walk

at a normal pace if we see you walking

slowly we're going to tell you you're

you got to walk faster you got to be

able to carry your object to meditation

with you when you're not sitting right

and what good is it to put your

attention on your feet when you want to

be staying with your object of

meditation

don't put your attention on your feet

walk at a normal pace there are some

times depending on the condition of what

you're doing I'm gonna tell you that I

want you to walk fast

stay with your object of meditation they

tell people run up and down stairs up

and down the mountain the reason that

you're walking at a normal pace is to

get circulation and to stay with your

object of meditation if you're with your

spiritual friend stay with your

spiritual friend while you're walking

don't be looking around keep your eyes

down where your eyes go there goes your

mind and you're going to

distracted 6r that come back and stay

with your friend

doesn't matter how many times your mind

is distracted what matters is what you

do with the distraction after it occurs

recognize it release relax smile come

back to your friend

stay with your friend it's pretty simple

don't try to make it complicated thank

you by the way I get carried away

sometimes getting a hold Oh

I keep on recommending the other people

don't get old it's not worth it but

having fun now that's the important

thing

you're not going to get old if you have

fun so I have fun what's the meditation

don't don't be getting serious with

anything now I'm not going to be giving

interviews tomorrow but the day after

tomorrow we'll have a list of when you

can come so how many people they gave me

50 people at one retreat and I see

everybody every day my that was tough

plus I give a two hour Dom I thought and

in my spare time I collapse just fall

over

okay anything else have fun

don't be getting serious okay

the lighter your mind is the faster your

progress in the meditation becomes

that's why I want you to smile okay all

the time while you're eating I don't

care I don't care what you're doing now

if you wake up in the middle of the

night get up and try sitting on your bed

if you feel like you know that's not

gonna work then bleed out and go back to

sleep but sometimes you can wake up and

your mind is fairly alert you start

sitting you can have a really good city

I'll make sure you get enough rest don't

worry about it I'll take care of you

now before you go to sleep there's two

things I want you to do one is make a

determination what time you're gonna

wake up in the morning don't make it the

same exact time every time let's say

you're gonna get you want to get up at

five o'clock well do 459 or 501 just try

to do that right before you go to sleep

I'm gonna get up at this time if you do

good if you don't that's okay too but

also I want you to make a strong

determination right before you go to

sleep that you're gonna wake up smiling

and happy and when you do don't stop

okay wake up smiling and happy it's a

nice way to start today okay

you'll be able to sit fairly long fairly

soon but when you're first starting out

no less than 30 minutes but if you sit

for 45 minutes okay fine

where do you sit for an hour okay fine

where do you sit for three hours okay

fine I'm kind of getting used to that

sort of thing these days

because I had these guys said they were

really good meditators they just didn't

have the relaxed step they didn't have

the fun in the meditation they were

really serious I had to work hard to get

him to smile and I was doing this with

sister kima and she got a stick that had

a feather on it and she said this is my

laughing stick so anytime I come around

and I see you're being serious I'm gonna

tickle you with it you have to laugh

okay let's hear Samaritan

may suffer in one's be suffering free

and the fear struck fearless be maybe

the grieving [ __ ] all grief and may all

beings find relief I mean all being

shared this merit that we've thus

acquired for the acquisition of all

kinds of happiness may beings inhabiting

space and earth Davis and Nagas of

mighty power share this merit of ours

may they long protect the Buddha's

dispensations

[Music]