From: https://youtube.com/watch?v=lY77In3ZYGI
Context: Throughout this transcript, Bhante Vimalaramsi is the speaker unless otherwise indicated.
have you ever heard of a suit to call
this
but a no tsuita
huh yeah oh that's what I'm going to do
tonight but I'm going to make it a brief
one most of the time when I give this
baton a suit that takes two days and
sometimes I barely get done I have to
make the talk longer at the end but I'll
try to make it a little bit easier this
time
thus have I heard on one occasion the
blessed one was living in Nakuru country
in a town of the cruise named Casas
Adama there he addressed the monks thus
monks venerable survey replied the
Blessed One said this now we're going to
go into the contemplation of the body
and this is the first part is
mindfulness of breathing and how monks
does a monk abide contemplating the body
as a body here a monk gone to the forest
or to the root of a tree or an empty hut
sits down having crossed his legs folded
his legs crosswise set his body erect
and established mindfulness in front of
him ever mindful he breathes in mindful
he breathes out breathing in long he
understands I breathe in long or
breathing out long he understands I
breathe out long
breathing in short he understands I
breathe in short or breathing out short
he understands I breathe out short now
did anyone hear me say nose nostril tip
upper lip or abdomen
oh good if you're paying attention why
because it's not in the instructions
those instructions of telling you to put
your attention on your nose or your
upper lip or even on your abdomen come
from commentaries it just says you
understand when you take a long breath
and you understand when you take a short
breath you understand when your breath
is fast and when it's slow you
understand when your breath is coarse
and when it's very fine you understand
that's the key word it doesn't say focus
on
it doesn't say only keep your attention
on the breath it just says I understand
when my breath is long or short
now the next two sentences are where the
training is actually being taught and
this also works for the mindful
mindfulness of loving-kindness he trains
thus I shall breathe in experiencing the
whole body he trains thus I shall
breathe out experiencing the whole body
and this is the key right here he trains
thus I shall breathe in tranquilizing
the bodily formation he trains thus I
shall breathe out tranquilizing the
bodily formation
what is tranquilizing the bodily
formation me relax you hear that word
before
I've been practicing meditation for 35
years for 20 years I practice straight
Vipassana I went to Burma was there for
almost three years doing very intensive
meditation watching the rise and fall of
the abdomen at no time was I ever told
to relax anything
this statement is the key to the
meditation this is why a lot of people
practicing meditation they get to a
certain plateau and their meditation and
they don't go any further if you don't
have that relaxed step that means you're
not letting go of
you're not letting go of craving and
what is craving craving is the I like it
I don't like it mind now in in terms of
dependent origination you have a good
working eye and there's color inform the
good working eye hits color inform eye
consciousness arises the meeting of
these three things is called eye contact
with eye contact as condition I feeling
arises we're not talking about emotional
feeling we're talking about either
Pleasant feeling painful feeling neither
painful nor Pleasant feeling with I
feeling as condition I craving arises
when the craving arises it causes
tension and tightness to occur in your
head and in your mind
so this says on the in-breath you
tranquilize the bodily formation on the
out-breath you tranquilize the bodily
formation which is continually telling
you to relax okay if there's a
distraction what do you do you practice
the six R's you recognize your mind is
distracted you let the distraction be
there by itself you release it now you
relax now you need to bring up a
wholesome object what's that smile and
then come back to your object of
meditation and stay with your object to
meditation
now with the mindfulness of breathing
your object of meditation is the breath
you understand what the breath is doing
that's what the instruction set and
relaxing now if you cut out that relaxed
step you're not letting go of craving
when you talk about the Four Noble
Truths the first noble truth there is
suffering we don't have to have anybody
tell us that when we already understand
there is suffering in life the next time
you stub your toe tell me it's not it
doesn't hurt it's suffering the next
noble truth is a cause of the suffering
what is the cause of the suffering
craving then there's the third noble
truth the cessation of suffering every
time you let go of craving there is the
cessation
oh I've been telling you a lot about
this over and over again you have to use
the six hours you continually use the
six hours any kind of distraction that
causes your mind to go away you have to
allow it to be there
relax plow allow it to be there release
it
relax smile why do you need to smile you
need to bring up something wholesome the
smile is an important part of the
practice I mean all of the Buddha images
smile why can't we right
the artist is telling us that we're
supposed to be smiling because it's a
happy state it's real important to
understand that when you let go of this
tension and tightness in your head right
after you do that right after you relax
there's a moment where your mind is
exceptionally clear very alert and you
have a pure observation of the present
moment
have you ever heard of a suit to call
this
but a no tsuita
huh yeah oh that's what I'm going to do
tonight but I'm going to make it a brief
one most of the time when I give this
baton a suit that takes two days and
sometimes I barely get done I have to
make the talk longer at the end but I'll
try to make it a little bit easier this
time
thus have I heard on one occasion the
blessed one was living in Nakuru country
in a town of the cruise named Casas
Adama there he addressed the monks thus
monks venerable survey replied the
Blessed One said this now we're going to
go into the contemplation of the body
and this is the first part is
mindfulness of breathing and how monks
does a monk abide contemplating the body
as a body here a monk gone to the forest
or to the root of a tree or an empty hut
sits down having crossed his legs folded
his legs crosswise set his body erect
and established mindfulness in front of
him ever mindful he breathes in mindful
he breathes out breathing in long he
understands I breathe in long or
breathing out long he understands I
breathe out long
breathing in short he understands I
breathe in short or breathing out short
he understands I breathe out short now
did anyone hear me say nose nostril tip
upper lip or abdomen
oh good if you're paying attention why
because it's not in the instructions
those instructions of telling you to put
your attention on your nose or your
upper lip or even on your abdomen come
from commentaries it just says you
understand when you take a long breath
and you understand when you take a short
breath you understand when your breath
is fast and when it's slow you
understand when your breath is coarse
and when it's very fine you understand
that's the key word it doesn't say focus
on
it doesn't say only keep your attention
on the breath it just says I understand
when my breath is long or short
now the next two sentences are where the
training is actually being taught and
this also works for the mindful
mindfulness of loving-kindness he trains
thus I shall breathe in experiencing the
whole body he trains thus I shall
breathe out experiencing the whole body
and this is the key right here he trains
thus I shall breathe in tranquilizing
the bodily formation he trains thus I
shall breathe out tranquilizing the
bodily formation
what is tranquilizing the bodily
formation me relax you hear that word
before
I've been practicing meditation for 35
years for 20 years I practice straight
Vipassana I went to Burma was there for
almost three years doing very intensive
meditation watching the rise and fall of
the abdomen at no time was I ever told
to relax anything
this statement is the key to the
meditation this is why a lot of people
practicing meditation they get to a
certain plateau and their meditation and
they don't go any further if you don't
have that relaxed step that means you're
not letting go of
you're not letting go of craving and
what is craving craving is the I like it
I don't like it mind now in in terms of
dependent origination you have a good
working eye and there's color inform the
good working eye hits color inform eye
consciousness arises the meeting of
these three things is called eye contact
with eye contact as condition I feeling
arises we're not talking about emotional
feeling we're talking about either
Pleasant feeling painful feeling neither
painful nor Pleasant feeling with I
feeling as condition I craving arises
when the craving arises it causes
tension and tightness to occur in your
head and in your mind
so this says on the in-breath you
tranquilize the bodily formation on the
out-breath you tranquilize the bodily
formation which is continually telling
you to relax okay if there's a
distraction what do you do you practice
the six R's you recognize your mind is
distracted you let the distraction be
there by itself you release it now you
relax now you need to bring up a
wholesome object what's that smile and
then come back to your object of
meditation and stay with your object to
meditation
now with the mindfulness of breathing
your object of meditation is the breath
you understand what the breath is doing
that's what the instruction set and
relaxing now if you cut out that relaxed
step you're not letting go of craving
when you talk about the Four Noble
Truths the first noble truth there is
suffering we don't have to have anybody
tell us that when we already understand
there is suffering in life the next time
you stub your toe tell me it's not it
doesn't hurt it's suffering the next
noble truth is a cause of the suffering
what is the cause of the suffering
craving then there's the third noble
truth the cessation of suffering every
time you let go of craving there is the
cessation
oh I've been telling you a lot about
this over and over again you have to use
the six hours you continually use the
six hours any kind of distraction that
causes your mind to go away you have to
allow it to be there
relax plow allow it to be there release
it
relax smile why do you need to smile you
need to bring up something wholesome the
smile is an important part of the
practice I mean all of the Buddha images
smile why can't we right
the artist is telling us that we're
supposed to be smiling because it's a
happy state it's real important to
understand that when you let go of this
tension and tightness in your head right
after you do that right after you relax
there's a moment where your mind is
exceptionally clear very alert and you
have a pure observation of the present
moment
have you ever heard of a suit to call
this
but a no tsuita
huh yeah oh that's what I'm going to do
tonight but I'm going to make it a brief
one most of the time when I give this
baton a suit that takes two days and
sometimes I barely get done I have to
make the talk longer at the end but I'll
try to make it a little bit easier this
time
thus have I heard on one occasion the
blessed one was living in Nakuru country
in a town of the cruise named Casas
Adama there he addressed the monks thus
monks venerable survey replied the
Blessed One said this now we're going to
go into the contemplation of the body
and this is the first part is
mindfulness of breathing and how monks
does a monk abide contemplating the body
as a body here a monk gone to the forest
or to the root of a tree or an empty hut
sits down having crossed his legs folded
his legs crosswise set his body erect
and established mindfulness in front of
him ever mindful he breathes in mindful
he breathes out breathing in long he
understands I breathe in long or
breathing out long he understands I
breathe out long
breathing in short he understands I
breathe in short or breathing out short
he understands I breathe out short now
did anyone hear me say nose nostril tip
upper lip or abdomen
oh good if you're paying attention why
because it's not in the instructions
those instructions of telling you to put
your attention on your nose or your
upper lip or even on your abdomen come
from commentaries it just says you
understand when you take a long breath
and you understand when you take a short
breath you understand when your breath
is fast and when it's slow you
understand when your breath is coarse
and when it's very fine you understand
that's the key word it doesn't say focus
on
it doesn't say only keep your attention
on the breath it just says I understand
when my breath is long or short
now the next two sentences are where the
training is actually being taught and
this also works for the mindful
mindfulness of loving-kindness he trains
thus I shall breathe in experiencing the
whole body he trains thus I shall
breathe out experiencing the whole body
and this is the key right here he trains
thus I shall breathe in tranquilizing
the bodily formation he trains thus I
shall breathe out tranquilizing the
bodily formation
what is tranquilizing the bodily
formation me relax you hear that word
before
I've been practicing meditation for 35
years for 20 years I practice straight
Vipassana I went to Burma was there for
almost three years doing very intensive
meditation watching the rise and fall of
the abdomen at no time was I ever told
to relax anything
this statement is the key to the
meditation this is why a lot of people
practicing meditation they get to a
certain plateau and their meditation and
they don't go any further if you don't
have that relaxed step that means you're
not letting go of
you're not letting go of craving and
what is craving craving is the I like it
I don't like it mind now in in terms of
dependent origination you have a good
working eye and there's color inform the
good working eye hits color inform eye
consciousness arises the meeting of
these three things is called eye contact
with eye contact as condition I feeling
arises we're not talking about emotional
feeling we're talking about either
Pleasant feeling painful feeling neither
painful nor Pleasant feeling with I
feeling as condition I craving arises
when the craving arises it causes
tension and tightness to occur in your
head and in your mind
so this says on the in-breath you
tranquilize the bodily formation on the
out-breath you tranquilize the bodily
formation which is continually telling
you to relax okay if there's a
distraction what do you do you practice
the six R's you recognize your mind is
distracted you let the distraction be
there by itself you release it now you
relax now you need to bring up a
wholesome object what's that smile and
then come back to your object of
meditation and stay with your object to
meditation
now with the mindfulness of breathing
your object of meditation is the breath
you understand what the breath is doing
that's what the instruction set and
relaxing now if you cut out that relaxed
step you're not letting go of craving
when you talk about the Four Noble
Truths the first noble truth there is
suffering we don't have to have anybody
tell us that when we already understand
there is suffering in life the next time
you stub your toe tell me it's not it
doesn't hurt it's suffering the next
noble truth is a cause of the suffering
what is the cause of the suffering
craving then there's the third noble
truth the cessation of suffering every
time you let go of craving there is the
cessation
oh I've been telling you a lot about
this over and over again you have to use
the six hours you continually use the
six hours any kind of distraction that
causes your mind to go away you have to
allow it to be there
relax plow allow it to be there release
it
relax smile why do you need to smile you
need to bring up something wholesome the
smile is an important part of the
practice I mean all of the Buddha images
smile why can't we right
the artist is telling us that we're
supposed to be smiling because it's a
happy state it's real important to
understand that when you let go of this
tension and tightness in your head right
after you do that right after you relax
there's a moment where your mind is
exceptionally clear very alert and you
have a pure observation of the present
moment