From: https://youtube.com/watch?v=_LTORe5JxkU

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

just over 30 years

I practice meditation for 20 years with

Hannibal I had been beat and the Bakken

many Burmese then I was invited to go to

Malaysia and be at the biggest tear

about a monastery in Malaysia it was a

sri lankan monastery and Kuala Lumpur

while I was there I began to study the

sutas actual discourses of the Buddha

and what I found was the suit does and

what I was being taught from commentary

was not the same thing and I also found

out that almost everyone is being taught

meditation is being taught meditation

from the commentaries and there is one

step in the suta that is not mentioned

in the commentaries and when you add

this one step to your meditation it

changes the entire meditation

are you doing mindfulness of breathing

is that the meditation that you're

practicing must be here okay I'll give

you the instructions and the mindfulness

of breathing according to the suta and

you'll see that it's a little bit

different than what you are being taught

it says there's four sentences that give

the instruction it says that you

understand when you take a long

in-breath you understand that it's a

long in-breath when you let the long

out-breath you understand it's a long

tough breath you understand when it's a

short in-breath and when it's a short

cut breath now did anyone hear me say

nose nostril tip upper lip or abdomen no

because that's not in the instruction it

just says you understand when you take a

long breath and when it's short you

understand when the breath is big and

when it's small you understand when the

breath is fast and when it's slow that's

all this means the next part of the

instructions are where it tells you

exactly how to train your mind

now with the these instructions it does

not ever mention any location for

watching the breath and it doesn't say

to only focus on the breath and I'll

show you that in just a moment the next

part of the instructions

he trains thus he meaning anybody doing

the practice you experience the entire

body on the in-breath and you experience

the entire body on the out-breath

that means the whole physical body it

does not mean the breath body it means

the physical body then the instructions

go on further and say you train this way

on the in-breath you tranquilize the

body formation on the out-breath you

tranquilize the body formation now what

does this mean on the in-breath relax on

the out-breath relax

this is the step that the commentaries

leave out and I'll explain the

importance of this in just a woman the

way that you practice the meditation is

that you every time Minds attention

moves from the breath and relaxing to a

distraction it's a thought it's feeling

it's a sound whatever it happens to be

that distracts your mind away every time

mind's attention moves there's a tension

and tightness that arises in your head

and in your mind

tension and tightness is craving that's

how you can recognize when craving

arises it's not a big tension or

tightness and if you don't look for it

you won't see it you won't even

recognize that it's there

it's a little tightness that happens in

the head itself your brain is like this

and there's a membrane that goes around

your brain kind of holds everything

together every time minds attention

moves that membrane tightens a little

bit on the in-breath you're relaxed you

feel your mind you can feel your brain

kind of it kind of opens up and then

becomes calm what you have just done is

let go of craving it when you let go of

craving that is the cause of suffering

and you let that go that is the

cessation of suffering when you let go

of that tension and tightness let's say

your mind is distracted by a thought you

let the thought go and you relax right

then you feel that kind of openness and

become calm but also you notice that

there's no thoughts at that time you

notice that mine is very clear and

bright at that time and you bring that

mind back to your object of meditation

your object to minute

is the breath and relaxing you don't

focus only on the breath you use the

breath as the reminder to let go of the

craving to let go of that tension and

tightness you do that on the in-breath

you do that on the out-breath there's a

distraction you let go of the

distraction you relax now smile

this is something that most people don't

think of when they're doing the

meditation I've been to many many many

meditation retreats I've taken a lot of

meditation I've done a lot probably 12

three months retreats I did an eight

month retreat I did a two-year retreat I

do know about meditation retreats when I

go to a retreat and I look at the people

almost everyone is sitting with a very

sour face

and they're paying out working very hard

and they've got these deep lines in

their faces and I have a tendency when I

find someone doing that woman weapon but

no it's not don't be so heavy mostly

that is because they're practicing a

form of absorption

Tresa what's the difference between what

I just suggested that the buddha said

and the way most people are practicing

your mind is on your object of

meditation on the breath mine gets

distracted when you're practicing

absorption types of concentration you

let go of the distraction and

immediately come back now what are you

doing because you haven't relaxed that

tension and tightness you're bringing

the craving back to your object of

meditation and that changes the

meditation a lot not just a little bit

what I'm showing you is your mind is on

your object of meditation that's the

same there's a distraction that's the

same you let go of the distraction

that's the same but you add one extra

step you let go of that tension and

tightness before you come back to your

object of meditation that changes the

meditation and you don't go into

absorption concentration when you do

this now I practice Vipassana meditation

for twenty years I went through all of

the insight knowledge --is and I was not

satisfied with the end result I was

never taught to relax that tension and

tightness with the pasta no meditation

they tell you when you have a pain so

you get a pain

you're me they tell you put your

attention right in the middle of that

pain and watched its true nature every

time I did that I noticed that my mind

was just like a rock it is so tense and

tighten so hard because it's difficult

to put your attention in the middle of a

pain and stay balanced stay at ease your

mind it's painful and the more you put

your attention in the middle of that

sensation the bigger it gets so your

mind naturally does this now when I

teach meditation when I give the

instructions I get very precise

instructions in what you do when a

sensation arises in your body it doesn't

matter whether it's a want to cough or

it's an itch or it's a heat or it's a

vibration or it's a pain you treat all

of these in the same way when your

attention gets pulled away from the

breath and relaxing it goes right to

that sensation and the first thing

you'll notice is you start thinking

about all of the reasons why you don't

like that I wish it would stop just go

away and leave me alone write every

thought about that sensation makes the

sensation bigger and more intense so the

first thing that we do is the moment of

thinking about it now because you were

thinking there's a little tension

tightness relax now you've noticed that

your mind is there and it's not thinking

but it's still painful and anytime a

painful feeling arises there is a tight

mental fist around that pain that says I

don't like it I want it to go away now

the Dhamma the truth is when a pain

arises it is there that's the truth

anytime you try to control the truth

anytime you try to fight with the truth

anytime you try to make the truth be the

way you want it to be that is a cause of

suffering so what do we do well the

truth is when this pain arises it's

there and it's okay for it to be there

it has to be okay because it's the truth

it's there so you allow the space for

that pain to be there

now you notice there's tension and

tightness in your head and you relax and

you come back to your object to meditate

back to the breath and relax on the

in-breath whoops there it goes again

now you have thoughts about it so you

let go of the thoughts and relax you

allow the space for that sensation to be

there this is learning how to lovingly

accept the present moment without trying

to change it it's very important step so

you relax you allow that that feeling to

be there you relax the tension and

tightness kalt caused by mind's

attention moving and you bring this

clear pure mind back to the breath now

the whole point of meditation is to

teach you how mind's attention works

that's what meditation is for and as you

keep bouncing back and forth from the

breath to that sensation as you become

more familiar with this process you

start to notice right before your mind

got all the way to this sensation

something else was there I'll look at

that and you relax and let go and come

back the next time you notice that again

so you start letting go right there

instead of getting carried away with big

heavy feelings about this sensation

as you let go more and more and allow

that sensation to be there there's not

resistance to that feeling there is

acceptance of the fact that it's there

and also your mind is starting to gain

balance you're starting to change your

perspective your view of that pain at

first when the pain comes and you have

all of these thoughts about it and

tightness around it you're taking this

sensation personally this is me this is

mine this is Who I am as you start to

see this as a process you start changing

that view - oh it's only this feeling

see the difference this is me this is

mine this is who I am and you've changed

- it's only in this feelings let it be

relax into it

allow that feeling to be without trying

to do anything to make it different now

you're learning to lovingly accept

whatever arises in the present moment

as you become more and more familiar

with how that sensation arises and how

your mind acts when that sensation

arises it turns in to one of the best

lessons that you can teach yourself one

of the big things that the Buddha taught

and this is major is that whatever

arises in the present moment it's not me

it's not mine

I didn't ask it to come up do you sit

and think well you know I haven't had a

sad feeling for a long time I think I

should what sad now nobody's crazy

enough to do that

it comes up because the conditions are

right for it to arise what you do with

what arises in the present moment

dictates what happens in the future if

you resist what's happening in the

present moment if you try to fight it if

you try to control it you can look

forward to having more and more sadness

or whatever the capture of the day is

getting bigger and stronger why because

you're taking it personally

you're saying this feeling and these

thoughts are me they're mine

this is Who I am you have the choice of

doing that which is your old habitual

tendency their old pattern or seeing it

for the way it actually is allowing it

to be relaxing into it gently coming

back

object of meditation after you smile I'm

real big on smiling I think it's a real

important aspect of the meditation they

did a study in University of Minnesota I

think it was years and years ago and the

study was on the corners of your mouth

when the corners of your mouth go down

so it is your mental state when the

corners of your mouth go up so does your

mental state when your mental state is

when you smile and have your mental

state arise and come up your mind is

much more alert your mind is much

clearer your awareness is much faster so

over the years I have developed what we

call a mnemonic system it's a way of

remembering how to do the meditation

I've only got three brochures here but

you can take these if you want this

tells exactly how to do it this mnemonic

system is you recognize when your mind

is distracted you release the

distraction how do you release the

distraction say as a thought you don't

keep your attention on the thought

anymore you relax the tightness caused

by that mind's attention

moving now Yuri smile and then you come

back

return to your objects of meditation and

you're ready to stay with the object of

meditation as long as you can remember

to do it now I call this the six R's

recognize release relax breathe smile

this helps pull your mind up a little

bit

return to your object to meditation when

you smile a little bit and come back to

your object to meditation your mind is

more clear alert so you'll be able to

catch distractions more quickly then you

repeat this process you stay with your

object of meditation as long as you can

now when people are doing meditation

they have the idea that hindrances are

the enemy and we have to fight them and

we have to push them down and we have to

stop them from coming up the hindrances

you have lust breathing mind I won it

mind you have hatred aversion mind the I

don't want it might you have sleepiness

and dullness you have restlessness and

anxiety

you have doubt now all of these

hindrances when they arise they will

take your attention completely away and

you'll get involved in some kind of

story about why you want something why

you don't want something how your mind

dolls out how your mind gets super

Restless every distracting thought is

part of restlessness okay

now the thing with the hindrances is

every time my hindrance arise arises

there is the belief that I am that that

comes along with it this is where your

attachments are stored in your entrances

most people that practice meditation

they have the idea that you have to

force the meditation over you have to

force the hindrance away knock it down

beat it up push it down stop it from

coming up but this is where your

attachment is if you push away a

hindrance and stop it from coming up it

will stop for a little while

and then it will come back stronger why

because you're feeding it with your

attention and your desire to crush it

hindrances are your best friends

hindrances are your teachers I'm not a

teacher I'm a guy you teach yourself

when a hindrance arises you don't fight

it you don't try to control it let me

let me show you this there are five

aggregates undos they call it in Pali

this makes up this mind and body process

you have a physical body you have

feeling wave enough feeling is not

emotion feeling is feeling it's either a

pleasant feeling or a painful feeling or

a neither painful nor pleasant feeling

you have perception perception is the

thing that gives names to two different

objects you look at this and you say a

piece of paper the part of your mind

that said paper that's the perception

and this also has memory in it you have

thoughts and you have consciousness when

in a painful feeling arises the first

thing we try to do is think the feeling

away but feelings are one thing and

thoughts or something else never go to

show me the more you think about the

feeling the bigger and more intensely

becomes just like in the instructions I

was telling you a little while ago when

a pain arises the first thing you have

to do is let go of the thoughts if you

don't the pain becomes bigger and more

intense now this doesn't matter what

kind of dealing it is it can be a

feeling of sadness it can be a feeling

of any kind of emotion it has the

feeling arise and it has the thoughts

about the feeling the thoughts are part

of clinging clinging is all of your

concepts all of your ideas all of the

story about why you like or dislike the

feeling the more you think about the

feeling the bigger the feeling becomes

so what do we have to do we have to let

go of the thoughts relax allow the going

to be there without trying to make it

different and relax smile come back to

your so the five aggregates they can be

affected by clinging or not depending on

your awareness at the time and when you

start practicing this way you will

notice at first you're not going to be

very good at anytime you try something

new you're not

be good at the start but as you persist

in relaxing you start seeing things in a

deeper and deeper level that you've

never seen before I have people that

I've been teaching meditation too for a

long time they've been practicing all

kinds of different kinds of meditation

and then they came and started

practicing with me and started

practicing the way that I'm teaching and

without doubt they say that this is the

best meditation that they've ever run

across and it's funny because it's not

by meditation

it's the Buddhist meditation all I did

was read what the Buddha said and said I

want to try to have to see if it works

and I saw that it did when I give a

retreat I insist that everyone smile

boom because that lifts your

consciousness up and lifts your mind up

your mind is much more easily aware of

when it starts to go down so you can let

go of that more easily when I give the

retreat I rather expect people to

advance in their meditation quickly if

in 2 or 3 days you haven't advanced very

much then and talked to you and find out

what are you doing different than the

instructions now the way the

commentaries have been taught these days

is they say jhana practice is here

Vipassana practices here don't do jhana

practice it doesn't lead to navona only

do the pasta

when I started looking at the suit does

I started noticing something very

peculiar when they talked about

Vipassana they talked about jhana in the

same breath in the same sentence and

when you start looking at the suit test

the word jhana comes up many many

thousands of times the word Vipassana

comes up to very few around a hundred

times as compared to quite like ten

thousand so what do you think the Buddha

was teaching I ran across another suit

up and it said that Vipassana and

Samanta which means tranquility which

means jhana practice already open

together it's like you have a bull cart

a bullock cart and if you only have one

bullet it's very hard to go on a

straight line you need to and they need

to be pulling equally so that you can go

in the straight line if one of them

tries to go a little bit faster than the

others then you start going in circles

it's the same way with hasanah and

samhita they need to be equally strong

when you add this extra step of relaxing

of tension and tightness it takes the

vape Astana right into the

what is Jonna Jonna means a level of

understanding

it doesn't mean absorption concentration

it doesn't mean concentration at all it

means a level of understanding now let's

get back to the inferences remember

those games you have a hindrance arise

what do you do with that you will allow

the hindrance to be there by itself it

pulls your attention away you see it you

allow it to be you relax and smile and

you come back to your object of

meditation but the nature of inferences

is there strong so your mind gets pulled

back now as you become more familiar

with being pulled away from your object

of meditation and allowing it to the in

relaxing smiling coming back to your

object of meditation there goes again it

doesn't matter how many times your mind

gets distracted by the hindrance

remember this hindrance is your helpers

it is showing you where your attachment

is every time you relax

you're letting go for just a moment

you're letting go of the belief of I am

that hindrance just for a moment then

you have this peer spot if you bring

that clear spot back to your office

meditation the hindrance starts to get

weaker and weaker until finally it fades

away now what happens is as you become

more familiar with this hindrance

pulling your mind's attention away your

minds attention doesn't just jump from

one thing to another it is a process you

start recognizing this process you are

teaching yourself how your mind's

attention actually does work you are

seeing I don't know if you're familiar

with this kind of term dependent

origination you know that okay dependent

origination is real it's not a

philosophy it's not particularly hard to

understand once you learn it how this

something arrives in order to see you

have to have good working height it has

to hit color in form then eye

consciousness arises the meaning of

these three things is called eye contact

with eye contact as condition I feeling

arises I feeling buzzing painful neither

painful nor pleasant with I feeling as

condition craving arises craving is a

tension and tightness craving is that

part of the mind that says I like it I

want it or I don't like it and I don't

want this is the beginning of the

identification with that sight

with craving as condition clinging

arises clinging there's all of your

thoughts all of your opinions all of the

concepts all of the stories about why

you like or dislike that site and with

clinging as conclusion than your

habitual tendency arises every time this

kind of feeling arises I always act that

way that's dependent origination the

tendrán is showing you this process very

very nicely as you get more familiar

with the distraction and how it occurs

you see something happens right before

your mind that carried away and got into

a story so you let go there and you're

relaxed and as you become more familiar

with letting go there you notice there's

something right before that you are

teaching yourself how dependent

origination actually works that's why I

said that jhana is a level of your

understanding why because after a period

of time when you don't feed that

hindrance and try to control it anymore

you just see it as something else to let

go of and relax and watch the process

that hindrance starts to lose strength

and becomes weaker and weaker and weaker

and then it doesn't even know values

anymore now what happens you have a very

big sense of relief just like somebody

took a big pile of rocks off of your

shoulder right after that relief you

feel very very strong joy and the joy is

a very happy feeling and it's an excited

feeling oh this is really great I love

this feeling when it comes this is why

I'm meditating but joy is appealing just

like the hindrance and just like a pain

is a feeling you allow that feeling to

be there pleasant isn't this you relax

into that you you come back to your

object of meditation you'll go back to

the joy if you try to say I love this

joy I want this joy I never want this

feeling to go away again

that's the fastest way to make it go

away so you allow that feeling to be

there and then when it fades away you

will feel very very strong tranquility

you feel just peaceful great stuff and

you start feeling very comfortable in

your body no pains arise you feel very

comfortable in your mind no disturbance

very very calm and peaceful and your

mind stays on your

the meditation very easily it can still

have some distracting thought but if the

thought arises you'll see it very

quickly you'll let go very easily relax

smile and come back without any effort

at all now I have just described to you

what happens in the first jhana

this is called an aware jhana

you will still hear things motorcycle

goes down the street you hear it but it

doesn't make your mind wobble it doesn't

make your mind fake and go to it and

then get caught up in thinking about why

doesn't he go down the street that's

someplace else where he won't bother me

you won't have that you'll just notice

that there's a sound there and you know

what kind of sound it is but that's okay

you're starting to develop this balance

of mind now the hindrances are where

your attachments are so you're going to

have hindrances arise not only while

you're sitting but this is happening all

the time how many people you hear

somebody say something and you don't

like that now what is it I don't like

the I don't like is the second hindrance

I don't like is a version

and there's craving attachment to that

and then there's cleaning attached to

that and then there's your practical

tendency attached to that but as you go

deeper in the meditation as you teach

yourself how the hindrance actually

works you start having more balance of

mind not only while you're sitting in

meditation but out there this is called

personality development this is how you

develop your personality so you don't

have a lot of the negative emotions

arising you don't have a lot of problems

anymore because your mind starts to gain

more balance because the hindrance

doesn't knock you off balance now again

the difference between the meditations

the absorption kind of meditation pushes

the the force of the concentration

pushes the hindrance down well you have

been concentrated you get up you lose

your concentration you go out in your

daily life a hindrance comes in it

knocks you over you really get angry at

somebody you really get upset you really

get sad you really get depressed because

you haven't learned how mines attention

actually works the force of the

concentration stops your lessons while

you're sitting in this deep

concentration state it can be wonderful

it can be very peaceful it can be very

calm it's great

but when you get out and you lose that

concentration then somebody cut you off

in the car and immediately you start

yelling at why because you haven't

really looked at how the hindrances

arise or how your attachment has gotten

ahold of this hindrance and it starts

pushing you around the whole point of

the Buddhist is learning how actually

works and seeing how the minds

attention when you start letting it go

and stop feeding hindrances and feeding

dissatisfactions and feeding all of

these different things how when you let

that go

there is happiness there is a kind of

deep

so you get into the first jhana we've

experienced all of these wonderful

states and you're there for a little

while but eventually your mindfulness

slips a little bit and when it does

you're not in the jhana anymore

you have another hindrance to work with

the hindrance is the thing that is

helping you go deeper and deeper into

your meditation it's showing you more

and more subtle things about how mine

actually does work see if you just focus

on the breath you've never learned these

kind of lessons because your mind

becomes absorbed just on the breath but

when you put that extra step of relax of

the attention and tightness it changes

the meditation and now you start

teaching yourself more and more how to

be happy and that's what the Buddha was

trying to teach us all about he was

trying to teach us how we can learn to

be happy no matter what happened

and [ __ ] I've been talking for a long

time I wanted to ask if there is any

questions that you have with what I was

saying or are any comments anything like

that did I understand you to say that

the thing that you understand is putty

just sell the product me to the first

gentleman in every job if it goes more

and more subtle but that's when I was

practicing Vipassana the big thing that

they wanted me to understand was that

everything is impermanent everything is

suffering everything is not something

when I started looking at the experience

they said was nirvana it was seeing

impermanent suffering or not self three

or four times in a row very very quickly

and then you have this blackout when you

get out of this state then you have the

reviewing of all the insight knowledge

--is okay when I started looking in the

suta's it only talked about attaining

the bona through the understanding of

dependent origination so the end result

is not the same

yeah

so the understanding that you've gained

by just adding this one extra step of

relaxing it takes you so much deeper

into your practice then you ever thought

that you could get but isn't it all did

you say that before you relax your

release yes and wouldn't that imply

relaxing when I release I it has it has

to be intentional observation of the

subtle tightness --is that are still

there tranquilizing you have to relax

that subtle tightness and it has to be

an intentional

we're an awful lot of people are running

into problems with breathing meditation

is they say well I am trainable I am

peaceful but they still have this

tension and tightness that they didn't

even recognize is there it has to be

intentionally recognizing and you have a

definite feeling of expansions when you

let go of that tension that's around

your brain you feel your brain is kind

of hot

now this kind of meditation has more oh

wow in it than you ever thought possible

because you start to understand how this

works and you go oh wow I've never seen

that before this is great an awful lot

of people they practice meditation for

15 years 20 years and they become bored

with it because they don't feel like

they're progressing it never happens

with this kind of meditation that I'm

showing you you have so many new things

that you're seeing all of the time that

you almost you look forward to go with

sitting so you can see more and it

really turns into a lot of fun now

that's something I bet you haven't heard

before in the same sentence meditation

and fun

just relax into the feeling lovingly

accept whatever arises in the present

moment we're not trying to go back to

concentration what's happened if it

doesn't go well one time you release a

relaxed smile come back to your object

to meditation if it's still there your

mind will go back to it that means that

there's a lot of attachment to it

there's a lot of identifying little so

do it again you have to develop your

patience with this eventually when you

finally let go you're going to have an

overlap you're gonna have tu and break

for eating and come back and have

questions do you want to do that you

have to go to our website which is on

this and go to our schedule and you can

get in touch with the people that are

running their HP I keep everything for

free but the facility does cost money

and you know if that's a problem for you

you can always carpool and come to

Missouri because it's free if you come

to the center we do everything by Donna

at our Center in Missouri and people

come from all over the place and they

come in for different periods of time

and do personal retreats and so there's

everything yeah so that's an adventure

in itself coming to the center and

building log cabins to you I know now we

have Kevin's it needs to be that you had

to come

yeah that's how it started everybody was

intense do you what - it's okay okay so

before we break this

Buddha recommended that every time

there's a dhamma talk at the end of the

dominant our future owner may suffering

ones be suffering free and the fear

struck fearless be being the grieving

[ __ ] all great and may all gains finding

me man all being share this merit that

we have thus acquired for the

acquisition of all kinds of happiness

may beings inhabiting space and earth

des Vosges and i was a mighty caller

share this merit of ours made a long

protect the village dispensation

just over 30 years

I practice meditation for 20 years with

Hannibal I had been beat and the Bakken

many Burmese then I was invited to go to

Malaysia and be at the biggest tear

about a monastery in Malaysia it was a

sri lankan monastery and Kuala Lumpur

while I was there I began to study the

sutas actual discourses of the Buddha

and what I found was the suit does and

what I was being taught from commentary

was not the same thing and I also found

out that almost everyone is being taught

meditation is being taught meditation

from the commentaries and there is one

step in the suta that is not mentioned

in the commentaries and when you add

this one step to your meditation it

changes the entire meditation

are you doing mindfulness of breathing

is that the meditation that you're

practicing must be here okay I'll give

you the instructions and the mindfulness

of breathing according to the suta and

you'll see that it's a little bit

different than what you are being taught

it says there's four sentences that give

the instruction it says that you

understand when you take a long

in-breath you understand that it's a

long in-breath when you let the long

out-breath you understand it's a long

tough breath you understand when it's a

short in-breath and when it's a short

cut breath now did anyone hear me say

nose nostril tip upper lip or abdomen no

because that's not in the instruction it

just says you understand when you take a

long breath and when it's short you

understand when the breath is big and

when it's small you understand when the

breath is fast and when it's slow that's

all this means the next part of the

instructions are where it tells you

exactly how to train your mind

now with the these instructions it does

not ever mention any location for

watching the breath and it doesn't say

to only focus on the breath and I'll

show you that in just a moment the next

part of the instructions

he trains thus he meaning anybody doing

the practice you experience the entire

body on the in-breath and you experience

the entire body on the out-breath

that means the whole physical body it

does not mean the breath body it means

the physical body then the instructions

go on further and say you train this way

on the in-breath you tranquilize the

body formation on the out-breath you

tranquilize the body formation now what

does this mean on the in-breath relax on

the out-breath relax

this is the step that the commentaries

leave out and I'll explain the

importance of this in just a woman the

way that you practice the meditation is

that you every time Minds attention

moves from the breath and relaxing to a

distraction it's a thought it's feeling

it's a sound whatever it happens to be

that distracts your mind away every time

mind's attention moves there's a tension

and tightness that arises in your head

and in your mind

tension and tightness is craving that's

how you can recognize when craving

arises it's not a big tension or

tightness and if you don't look for it

you won't see it you won't even

recognize that it's there

it's a little tightness that happens in

the head itself your brain is like this

and there's a membrane that goes around

your brain kind of holds everything

together every time minds attention

moves that membrane tightens a little

bit on the in-breath you're relaxed you

feel your mind you can feel your brain

kind of it kind of opens up and then

becomes calm what you have just done is

let go of craving it when you let go of

craving that is the cause of suffering

and you let that go that is the

cessation of suffering when you let go

of that tension and tightness let's say

your mind is distracted by a thought you

let the thought go and you relax right

then you feel that kind of openness and

become calm but also you notice that

there's no thoughts at that time you

notice that mine is very clear and

bright at that time and you bring that

mind back to your object of meditation

your object to minute

is the breath and relaxing you don't

focus only on the breath you use the

breath as the reminder to let go of the

craving to let go of that tension and

tightness you do that on the in-breath

you do that on the out-breath there's a

distraction you let go of the

distraction you relax now smile

this is something that most people don't

think of when they're doing the

meditation I've been to many many many

meditation retreats I've taken a lot of

meditation I've done a lot probably 12

three months retreats I did an eight

month retreat I did a two-year retreat I

do know about meditation retreats when I

go to a retreat and I look at the people

almost everyone is sitting with a very

sour face

and they're paying out working very hard

and they've got these deep lines in

their faces and I have a tendency when I

find someone doing that woman weapon but

no it's not don't be so heavy mostly

that is because they're practicing a

form of absorption

Tresa what's the difference between what

I just suggested that the buddha said

and the way most people are practicing

your mind is on your object of

meditation on the breath mine gets

distracted when you're practicing

absorption types of concentration you

let go of the distraction and

immediately come back now what are you

doing because you haven't relaxed that

tension and tightness you're bringing

the craving back to your object of

meditation and that changes the

meditation a lot not just a little bit

what I'm showing you is your mind is on

your object of meditation that's the

same there's a distraction that's the

same you let go of the distraction

that's the same but you add one extra

step you let go of that tension and

tightness before you come back to your

object of meditation that changes the

meditation and you don't go into

absorption concentration when you do

this now I practice Vipassana meditation

for twenty years I went through all of

the insight knowledge --is and I was not

satisfied with the end result I was

never taught to relax that tension and

tightness with the pasta no meditation

they tell you when you have a pain so

you get a pain

you're me they tell you put your

attention right in the middle of that

pain and watched its true nature every

time I did that I noticed that my mind

was just like a rock it is so tense and

tighten so hard because it's difficult

to put your attention in the middle of a

pain and stay balanced stay at ease your

mind it's painful and the more you put

your attention in the middle of that

sensation the bigger it gets so your

mind naturally does this now when I

teach meditation when I give the

instructions I get very precise

instructions in what you do when a

sensation arises in your body it doesn't

matter whether it's a want to cough or

it's an itch or it's a heat or it's a

vibration or it's a pain you treat all

of these in the same way when your

attention gets pulled away from the

breath and relaxing it goes right to

that sensation and the first thing

you'll notice is you start thinking

about all of the reasons why you don't

like that I wish it would stop just go

away and leave me alone write every

thought about that sensation makes the

sensation bigger and more intense so the

first thing that we do is the moment of

thinking about it now because you were

thinking there's a little tension

tightness relax now you've noticed that

your mind is there and it's not thinking

but it's still painful and anytime a

painful feeling arises there is a tight

mental fist around that pain that says I

don't like it I want it to go away now

the Dhamma the truth is when a pain

arises it is there that's the truth

anytime you try to control the truth

anytime you try to fight with the truth

anytime you try to make the truth be the

way you want it to be that is a cause of

suffering so what do we do well the

truth is when this pain arises it's

there and it's okay for it to be there

it has to be okay because it's the truth

it's there so you allow the space for

that pain to be there

now you notice there's tension and

tightness in your head and you relax and

you come back to your object to meditate

back to the breath and relax on the

in-breath whoops there it goes again

now you have thoughts about it so you

let go of the thoughts and relax you

allow the space for that sensation to be

there this is learning how to lovingly

accept the present moment without trying

to change it it's very important step so

you relax you allow that that feeling to

be there you relax the tension and

tightness kalt caused by mind's

attention moving and you bring this

clear pure mind back to the breath now

the whole point of meditation is to

teach you how mind's attention works

that's what meditation is for and as you

keep bouncing back and forth from the

breath to that sensation as you become

more familiar with this process you

start to notice right before your mind

got all the way to this sensation

something else was there I'll look at

that and you relax and let go and come

back the next time you notice that again

so you start letting go right there

instead of getting carried away with big

heavy feelings about this sensation

as you let go more and more and allow

that sensation to be there there's not

resistance to that feeling there is

acceptance of the fact that it's there

and also your mind is starting to gain

balance you're starting to change your

perspective your view of that pain at

first when the pain comes and you have

all of these thoughts about it and

tightness around it you're taking this

sensation personally this is me this is

mine this is Who I am as you start to

see this as a process you start changing

that view - oh it's only this feeling

see the difference this is me this is

mine this is who I am and you've changed

- it's only in this feelings let it be

relax into it

allow that feeling to be without trying

to do anything to make it different now

you're learning to lovingly accept

whatever arises in the present moment

as you become more and more familiar

with how that sensation arises and how

your mind acts when that sensation

arises it turns in to one of the best

lessons that you can teach yourself one

of the big things that the Buddha taught

and this is major is that whatever

arises in the present moment it's not me

it's not mine

I didn't ask it to come up do you sit

and think well you know I haven't had a

sad feeling for a long time I think I

should what sad now nobody's crazy

enough to do that

it comes up because the conditions are

right for it to arise what you do with

what arises in the present moment

dictates what happens in the future if

you resist what's happening in the

present moment if you try to fight it if

you try to control it you can look

forward to having more and more sadness

or whatever the capture of the day is

getting bigger and stronger why because

you're taking it personally

you're saying this feeling and these

thoughts are me they're mine

this is Who I am you have the choice of

doing that which is your old habitual

tendency their old pattern or seeing it

for the way it actually is allowing it

to be relaxing into it gently coming

back

object of meditation after you smile I'm

real big on smiling I think it's a real

important aspect of the meditation they

did a study in University of Minnesota I

think it was years and years ago and the

study was on the corners of your mouth

when the corners of your mouth go down

so it is your mental state when the

corners of your mouth go up so does your

mental state when your mental state is

when you smile and have your mental

state arise and come up your mind is

much more alert your mind is much

clearer your awareness is much faster so

over the years I have developed what we

call a mnemonic system it's a way of

remembering how to do the meditation

I've only got three brochures here but

you can take these if you want this

tells exactly how to do it this mnemonic

system is you recognize when your mind

is distracted you release the

distraction how do you release the

distraction say as a thought you don't

keep your attention on the thought

anymore you relax the tightness caused

by that mind's attention

moving now Yuri smile and then you come

back

return to your objects of meditation and

you're ready to stay with the object of

meditation as long as you can remember

to do it now I call this the six R's

recognize release relax breathe smile

this helps pull your mind up a little

bit

return to your object to meditation when

you smile a little bit and come back to

your object to meditation your mind is

more clear alert so you'll be able to

catch distractions more quickly then you

repeat this process you stay with your

object of meditation as long as you can

now when people are doing meditation

they have the idea that hindrances are

the enemy and we have to fight them and

we have to push them down and we have to

stop them from coming up the hindrances

you have lust breathing mind I won it

mind you have hatred aversion mind the I

don't want it might you have sleepiness

and dullness you have restlessness and

anxiety

you have doubt now all of these

hindrances when they arise they will

take your attention completely away and

you'll get involved in some kind of

story about why you want something why

you don't want something how your mind

dolls out how your mind gets super

Restless every distracting thought is

part of restlessness okay

now the thing with the hindrances is

every time my hindrance arise arises

there is the belief that I am that that

comes along with it this is where your

attachments are stored in your entrances

most people that practice meditation

they have the idea that you have to

force the meditation over you have to

force the hindrance away knock it down

beat it up push it down stop it from

coming up but this is where your

attachment is if you push away a

hindrance and stop it from coming up it

will stop for a little while

and then it will come back stronger why

because you're feeding it with your

attention and your desire to crush it

hindrances are your best friends

hindrances are your teachers I'm not a

teacher I'm a guy you teach yourself

when a hindrance arises you don't fight

it you don't try to control it let me

let me show you this there are five

aggregates undos they call it in Pali

this makes up this mind and body process

you have a physical body you have

feeling wave enough feeling is not

emotion feeling is feeling it's either a

pleasant feeling or a painful feeling or

a neither painful nor pleasant feeling

you have perception perception is the

thing that gives names to two different

objects you look at this and you say a

piece of paper the part of your mind

that said paper that's the perception

and this also has memory in it you have

thoughts and you have consciousness when

in a painful feeling arises the first

thing we try to do is think the feeling

away but feelings are one thing and

thoughts or something else never go to

show me the more you think about the

feeling the bigger and more intensely

becomes just like in the instructions I

was telling you a little while ago when

a pain arises the first thing you have

to do is let go of the thoughts if you

don't the pain becomes bigger and more

intense now this doesn't matter what

kind of dealing it is it can be a

feeling of sadness it can be a feeling

of any kind of emotion it has the

feeling arise and it has the thoughts

about the feeling the thoughts are part

of clinging clinging is all of your

concepts all of your ideas all of the

story about why you like or dislike the

feeling the more you think about the

feeling the bigger the feeling becomes

so what do we have to do we have to let

go of the thoughts relax allow the going

to be there without trying to make it

different and relax smile come back to

your so the five aggregates they can be

affected by clinging or not depending on

your awareness at the time and when you

start practicing this way you will

notice at first you're not going to be

very good at anytime you try something

new you're not

be good at the start but as you persist

in relaxing you start seeing things in a

deeper and deeper level that you've

never seen before I have people that

I've been teaching meditation too for a

long time they've been practicing all

kinds of different kinds of meditation

and then they came and started

practicing with me and started

practicing the way that I'm teaching and

without doubt they say that this is the

best meditation that they've ever run

across and it's funny because it's not

by meditation

it's the Buddhist meditation all I did

was read what the Buddha said and said I

want to try to have to see if it works

and I saw that it did when I give a

retreat I insist that everyone smile

boom because that lifts your

consciousness up and lifts your mind up

your mind is much more easily aware of

when it starts to go down so you can let

go of that more easily when I give the

retreat I rather expect people to

advance in their meditation quickly if

in 2 or 3 days you haven't advanced very

much then and talked to you and find out

what are you doing different than the

instructions now the way the

commentaries have been taught these days

is they say jhana practice is here

Vipassana practices here don't do jhana

practice it doesn't lead to navona only

do the pasta

when I started looking at the suit does

I started noticing something very

peculiar when they talked about

Vipassana they talked about jhana in the

same breath in the same sentence and

when you start looking at the suit test

the word jhana comes up many many

thousands of times the word Vipassana

comes up to very few around a hundred

times as compared to quite like ten

thousand so what do you think the Buddha

was teaching I ran across another suit

up and it said that Vipassana and

Samanta which means tranquility which

means jhana practice already open

together it's like you have a bull cart

a bullock cart and if you only have one

bullet it's very hard to go on a

straight line you need to and they need

to be pulling equally so that you can go

in the straight line if one of them

tries to go a little bit faster than the

others then you start going in circles

it's the same way with hasanah and

samhita they need to be equally strong

when you add this extra step of relaxing

of tension and tightness it takes the

vape Astana right into the

what is Jonna Jonna means a level of

understanding

it doesn't mean absorption concentration

it doesn't mean concentration at all it

means a level of understanding now let's

get back to the inferences remember

those games you have a hindrance arise

what do you do with that you will allow

the hindrance to be there by itself it

pulls your attention away you see it you

allow it to be you relax and smile and

you come back to your object of

meditation but the nature of inferences

is there strong so your mind gets pulled

back now as you become more familiar

with being pulled away from your object

of meditation and allowing it to the in

relaxing smiling coming back to your

object of meditation there goes again it

doesn't matter how many times your mind

gets distracted by the hindrance

remember this hindrance is your helpers

it is showing you where your attachment

is every time you relax

you're letting go for just a moment

you're letting go of the belief of I am

that hindrance just for a moment then

you have this peer spot if you bring

that clear spot back to your office

meditation the hindrance starts to get

weaker and weaker until finally it fades

away now what happens is as you become

more familiar with this hindrance

pulling your mind's attention away your

minds attention doesn't just jump from

one thing to another it is a process you

start recognizing this process you are

teaching yourself how your mind's

attention actually does work you are

seeing I don't know if you're familiar

with this kind of term dependent

origination you know that okay dependent

origination is real it's not a

philosophy it's not particularly hard to

understand once you learn it how this

something arrives in order to see you

have to have good working height it has

to hit color in form then eye

consciousness arises the meaning of

these three things is called eye contact

with eye contact as condition I feeling

arises I feeling buzzing painful neither

painful nor pleasant with I feeling as

condition craving arises craving is a

tension and tightness craving is that

part of the mind that says I like it I

want it or I don't like it and I don't

want this is the beginning of the

identification with that sight

with craving as condition clinging

arises clinging there's all of your

thoughts all of your opinions all of the

concepts all of the stories about why

you like or dislike that site and with

clinging as conclusion than your

habitual tendency arises every time this

kind of feeling arises I always act that

way that's dependent origination the

tendrán is showing you this process very

very nicely as you get more familiar

with the distraction and how it occurs

you see something happens right before

your mind that carried away and got into

a story so you let go there and you're

relaxed and as you become more familiar

with letting go there you notice there's

something right before that you are

teaching yourself how dependent

origination actually works that's why I

said that jhana is a level of your

understanding why because after a period

of time when you don't feed that

hindrance and try to control it anymore

you just see it as something else to let

go of and relax and watch the process

that hindrance starts to lose strength

and becomes weaker and weaker and weaker

and then it doesn't even know values

anymore now what happens you have a very

big sense of relief just like somebody

took a big pile of rocks off of your

shoulder right after that relief you

feel very very strong joy and the joy is

a very happy feeling and it's an excited

feeling oh this is really great I love

this feeling when it comes this is why

I'm meditating but joy is appealing just

like the hindrance and just like a pain

is a feeling you allow that feeling to

be there pleasant isn't this you relax

into that you you come back to your

object of meditation you'll go back to

the joy if you try to say I love this

joy I want this joy I never want this

feeling to go away again

that's the fastest way to make it go

away so you allow that feeling to be

there and then when it fades away you

will feel very very strong tranquility

you feel just peaceful great stuff and

you start feeling very comfortable in

your body no pains arise you feel very

comfortable in your mind no disturbance

very very calm and peaceful and your

mind stays on your

the meditation very easily it can still

have some distracting thought but if the

thought arises you'll see it very

quickly you'll let go very easily relax

smile and come back without any effort

at all now I have just described to you

what happens in the first jhana

this is called an aware jhana

you will still hear things motorcycle

goes down the street you hear it but it

doesn't make your mind wobble it doesn't

make your mind fake and go to it and

then get caught up in thinking about why

doesn't he go down the street that's

someplace else where he won't bother me

you won't have that you'll just notice

that there's a sound there and you know

what kind of sound it is but that's okay

you're starting to develop this balance

of mind now the hindrances are where

your attachments are so you're going to

have hindrances arise not only while

you're sitting but this is happening all

the time how many people you hear

somebody say something and you don't

like that now what is it I don't like

the I don't like is the second hindrance

I don't like is a version

and there's craving attachment to that

and then there's cleaning attached to

that and then there's your practical

tendency attached to that but as you go

deeper in the meditation as you teach

yourself how the hindrance actually

works you start having more balance of

mind not only while you're sitting in

meditation but out there this is called

personality development this is how you

develop your personality so you don't

have a lot of the negative emotions

arising you don't have a lot of problems

anymore because your mind starts to gain

more balance because the hindrance

doesn't knock you off balance now again

the difference between the meditations

the absorption kind of meditation pushes

the the force of the concentration

pushes the hindrance down well you have

been concentrated you get up you lose

your concentration you go out in your

daily life a hindrance comes in it

knocks you over you really get angry at

somebody you really get upset you really

get sad you really get depressed because

you haven't learned how mines attention

actually works the force of the

concentration stops your lessons while

you're sitting in this deep

concentration state it can be wonderful

it can be very peaceful it can be very

calm it's great

but when you get out and you lose that

concentration then somebody cut you off

in the car and immediately you start

yelling at why because you haven't

really looked at how the hindrances

arise or how your attachment has gotten

ahold of this hindrance and it starts

pushing you around the whole point of

the Buddhist is learning how actually

works and seeing how the minds

attention when you start letting it go

and stop feeding hindrances and feeding

dissatisfactions and feeding all of

these different things how when you let

that go

there is happiness there is a kind of

deep

so you get into the first jhana we've

experienced all of these wonderful

states and you're there for a little

while but eventually your mindfulness

slips a little bit and when it does

you're not in the jhana anymore

you have another hindrance to work with

the hindrance is the thing that is

helping you go deeper and deeper into

your meditation it's showing you more

and more subtle things about how mine

actually does work see if you just focus

on the breath you've never learned these

kind of lessons because your mind

becomes absorbed just on the breath but

when you put that extra step of relax of

the attention and tightness it changes

the meditation and now you start

teaching yourself more and more how to

be happy and that's what the Buddha was

trying to teach us all about he was

trying to teach us how we can learn to

be happy no matter what happened

and [ __ ] I've been talking for a long

time I wanted to ask if there is any

questions that you have with what I was

saying or are any comments anything like

that did I understand you to say that

the thing that you understand is putty

just sell the product me to the first

gentleman in every job if it goes more

and more subtle but that's when I was

practicing Vipassana the big thing that

they wanted me to understand was that

everything is impermanent everything is

suffering everything is not something

when I started looking at the experience

they said was nirvana it was seeing

impermanent suffering or not self three

or four times in a row very very quickly

and then you have this blackout when you

get out of this state then you have the

reviewing of all the insight knowledge

--is okay when I started looking in the

suta's it only talked about attaining

the bona through the understanding of

dependent origination so the end result

is not the same

yeah

so the understanding that you've gained

by just adding this one extra step of

relaxing it takes you so much deeper

into your practice then you ever thought

that you could get but isn't it all did

you say that before you relax your

release yes and wouldn't that imply

relaxing when I release I it has it has

to be intentional observation of the

subtle tightness --is that are still

there tranquilizing you have to relax

that subtle tightness and it has to be

an intentional

we're an awful lot of people are running

into problems with breathing meditation

is they say well I am trainable I am

peaceful but they still have this

tension and tightness that they didn't

even recognize is there it has to be

intentionally recognizing and you have a

definite feeling of expansions when you

let go of that tension that's around

your brain you feel your brain is kind

of hot

now this kind of meditation has more oh

wow in it than you ever thought possible

because you start to understand how this

works and you go oh wow I've never seen

that before this is great an awful lot

of people they practice meditation for

15 years 20 years and they become bored

with it because they don't feel like

they're progressing it never happens

with this kind of meditation that I'm

showing you you have so many new things

that you're seeing all of the time that

you almost you look forward to go with

sitting so you can see more and it

really turns into a lot of fun now

that's something I bet you haven't heard

before in the same sentence meditation

and fun

just relax into the feeling lovingly

accept whatever arises in the present

moment we're not trying to go back to

concentration what's happened if it

doesn't go well one time you release a

relaxed smile come back to your object

to meditation if it's still there your

mind will go back to it that means that

there's a lot of attachment to it

there's a lot of identifying little so

do it again you have to develop your

patience with this eventually when you

finally let go you're going to have an

overlap you're gonna have tu and break

for eating and come back and have

questions do you want to do that you

have to go to our website which is on

this and go to our schedule and you can

get in touch with the people that are

running their HP I keep everything for

free but the facility does cost money

and you know if that's a problem for you

you can always carpool and come to

Missouri because it's free if you come

to the center we do everything by Donna

at our Center in Missouri and people

come from all over the place and they

come in for different periods of time

and do personal retreats and so there's

everything yeah so that's an adventure

in itself coming to the center and

building log cabins to you I know now we

have Kevin's it needs to be that you had

to come

yeah that's how it started everybody was

intense do you what - it's okay okay so

before we break this

Buddha recommended that every time

there's a dhamma talk at the end of the

dominant our future owner may suffering

ones be suffering free and the fear

struck fearless be being the grieving

[ __ ] all great and may all gains finding

me man all being share this merit that

we have thus acquired for the

acquisition of all kinds of happiness

may beings inhabiting space and earth

des Vosges and i was a mighty caller

share this merit of ours made a long

protect the village dispensation