From: https://youtube.com/watch?v=fplBU8rvPbo

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

[Music]

so

[Music]

so welcome everyone

uh just to get a sense of where everyone

is at how many people are new completely

new to twin

okay

so i'll give you the instructions the

meditation instructions but before i do

that

it's important for you to know that

there will be a lot of emphasis

on smiling

and the reason is because

smiling

sharpens your mindfulness

the more you smile the more attentive

you

become the more you smile

the more uplifted your mind becomes

and the easier it is for you to let go

of things

so smiling is

very vital to this practice

as you'll understand when i talk about

the six hours

so

i mentioned before that smiling

sharpens your mindfulness

and it's important to know it's

important to to know

what is mindfulness

we have so many different definitions of

what mindfulness is

mindfulness is being in the present

moment mindfulness of eating mindfulness

of walking

mindfulness of breathing and so on

but there's a very practical and easy

to understand definition of what

mindfulness is

that is

mindfulness is

remembering to observe how mind's

attention

moves from one object to another

why do we say remembering because

mindfulness comes from the pali word

sapi

and sati means memory

or to remember

so you're remembering to keep your mind

or rather to observe

how your mind moves

how its attention moves from one object

to the other

and so when we talk about the practice

we talk about two components

number one we talk about

what is the object of meditation here

so primarily it is the brahmaviharas

mata karuna

we start off with meta which is loving

kindness

so to start off the practice

you bring up a wholesome image

or a wholesome memory

you could use verbalization in your mind

for a couple of times

with words like

may i be happy may i be well

may i be content

may i be free of suffering

whatever works for you

and you don't have to keep

verbalizing it in your mind like some

kind of mantra

just a couple of times to get the

feeling

and

that's very important to understand this

is not a

meditation where you're using words this

is not a meditation where you're using

primarily visualization it's a somatic

meditation it's a feeling

based meditation

so when you use a wholesome image or a

wholesome memory like

holding a little baby in your arms or

petting a puppy or something that

inspires you something that puts a smile

on your face

you feel the warmth in your chest

it's a warm glow in your chest

and that feeling is a feeling of

joy a feeling of happiness a feeling of

meta a feeling of wanting happiness for

yourself

so you feel this metha this loving

kindness in your heart

and you allow it to be there

and you let your mind rest and bask in

that feeling of meta

now you do that for the first 10 minutes

maybe even longer if you feel like but

at least 10 minutes

and you allow the mind to just stay

there

after that

you send this feeling to a spiritual

friend

a spiritual friend is somebody who is

alive

not a family member

is of the same sex

and somebody who you admire could be

anybody somebody you know or somebody

you

admire in

public life

whatever it might be

somebody who you think of that

immediately puts a smile on your face

and you can visualize the friend there

smiling and that you're sending this

loving kind

feeling loving kindness feeling out to

them

or

you could just allow the spiritual

friend to be in your heart

in that glow

and allow them to rest there and just

know that they're experiencing your

loving kindness

this is the practice

you just stay with your spiritual friend

in your sitting meditation

and when you're walking you walk at a

normal pace

and you stay with a spiritual friend

stay with loving kindness the feeling of

loving kindness

and with the idea that your spiritual

friend

is experiencing your loving kindness

now in meditation there is something

known as

distraction your mind will become

distracted

it will experience certain kinds of

hindrances

and so

now i will tell you what to do

when you

have these hindrances when they come

about

how do you know your mind is distracted

your mind is distracted when it's no

longer on

the feeling of loving kindness

on the feeling of sending loving

kindness to your spiritual friend

so there might be background thoughts

um just

coming and going without your attention

you kind of know that they're there

but if they're there you don't need to

do anything with them you don't have to

bring your mind back because your mind

is still on the object

it's only when your mind is no longer

with the feeling of loving kindness no

longer with the feeling of sending out

this loving kindness

to your spiritual friend

that you use what's known as the six r's

so the six r's are

recognize

release

relax

we smile

return

and repeat

so you notice that you were distracted

you realize oh

my mind is no longer on my object of

meditation

that's the first step that's recognizing

that your mind is distracted

releasing or release is to

take your mind's attention away from

that distraction and bring it back

to the mind and body

bring it back to the present moment

and the mind and body are the anchor for

the present moment

and then you

relax

what are you relaxing

you are relaxing craving

so craving is a big word in the dharma

and it has different connotations

different shades

different meanings depending upon

context

but the easiest way to understand the

manifestation of craving is through

tightness and tension in the body and

mind

and what is tightness and tension it's

literally

when you tighten your fist

you feel this tightness in the body you

feel

like the mind has become

very hard pressed

so relaxing is letting go of that

tightness

just releasing that

and you know that you've relaxed when

you feel like the mind is opened up the

mind has expanded

so you go from

a very spotlight

field of vision in your mind to a more

panoramic

way of looking at things

and that's the way you want to do this

meditation

you don't want to be super focused you

don't want to be one pointed

you want to let your awareness rest and

observe the feeling of loving kindness

to feel the loving kindness

but you want to keep your mind open

allow the awareness to be

open so that

your mind is able to

recognize when it gets distracted

oftentimes when you become one pointed

it will suppress the mind

and you might experience joy you might

experience equanimity you might

experience balance of mind

and you think that you're super focused

on the feeling of loving kindness

but when you do that

because you're suppressing those

hindrances when you come out of the

practice

those hindrances come back with full

force

so this meditation is not about

suppressing hindrances

it's about dealing with them while your

mind is collected

around the object meditation

the feeling of loving kindness

so coming back to

relax when you relax you're loosening up

the body loosening up the mind

then you come back to the smile

so you started off this practice

this meditation with a smile as i said

you're using the smile as a way to keep

the mind sharp

to keep the mind collected to keep the

mind clear and mindful

and it's an anchor for experiencing

wholesome states of mind like

loving-kindness

so you re-smile

so you notice if your smile is still

there

be there

but if you notice that the smile is not

there

smile again

it's a small smile it's like the smile

of a buddha when you see a statue or an

image of the buddha you see him smiling

and you smile with your mouth you smile

with your eyes

you smile with the mind and you smile

with the heart

keep everything light and fun

once you come back to the smile then you

come back to the feeling of loving

kindness

and you stay there

until you get distracted again and you

repeat the whole process again

now when you do the six r's it's not a

process of verbalizing them it's not a

process of analyzing them it's not a

process of saying oh here i am

recognizing

here i'm releasing here i'm relaxing

here i'm re-smiling

here i'm returning

you just do it allow it to be in the

flow when you notice your mind is

distracted that's recognizing when you

come back to the mind and body that's

releasing when you relax

that's relaxing when you come back to

the smile that's re-smiling when you

come back to your object that's

returning

so it's a flow it shouldn't take you

more than three or four seconds

to do the whole cycle of the six hours

to come back to your object of

meditation

and the six r's aren't just used for

your formal sitting practice

they can be used while you're doing your

walking meditation

so while you're walking around and you

are with your spiritual friend

you notice that the mind got distracted

because it was seeing something and

suddenly you're no longer feeling the

feeling of loving kindness

you notice oh i'm distracted

use the six ours recognize you were

distracted

release the attention bring it back to

mind and body by releasing the attention

relax the mind and body come back to the

smile

come back to the feeling of loving

kindness

and not only can you do it in your

formal sitting practice

and in your walking meditation practice

but you can do it anytime

just as i'm going to

suggest and recommend that you keep the

smile going as much as possible

i also suggest and recommend that you

apply the six r's

what in whatever circumstance you are

when you notice that the mind starts to

crave for something when you notice this

tension

this feeling of

i want this or

i'm resisting this

this feeling of dissatisfaction with the

present moment

in whatever way it is

just a small little irritation or

a thought or a distraction

then you can use the six hours you can

notice my mind is distracted it's no

longer here in what it is whatever is

going on

you can recognize that you can release

that

you can relax you can re-smile and you

can come back to whatever it is you're

doing

with a feeling of loving kindness

so in other words imbue everything that

you're doing with loving kindness stay

with the loving kindness stay with the

spiritual friend whether you're

walking whether you're

eating your breakfast

whether you're taking a shower

whatever it might be stay with a smile

stay with your spiritual friend stay

with that light mind

now in terms of some practicalities

when you wake up the next day before you

go to sleep

try to

determine what time you'll wake up

if you're gonna wake up at five o'clock

or whatever it might be

wake up uh

4 55 let the mind know that you're going

to wake up at 4 55 and see how close you

get to that

or the next day 503 or the next day 4 57

and the second thing you want to do is

when you wake up

before you go to sleep you determine

that when you wake up

you will wake up with a smile on your

face and when you

keep that smile going

and then allow that to keep the mind

light and uplifted

there's no trying too hard in this

meditation there's two things i've done

is with people who do this meditation

they feel like they have to try too hard

they feel like they have to push

and they're not able to accept

themselves or the present moment

when you try too hard you constrict the

mind you constrict the awareness and

that causes the mind to become one

pointed

and when you do that the mind

experiences restlessness

the mind experiences racing thoughts the

mind experiences pain and tension

in the body and in the head

so allow the meditation to flower

naturally this is a natural progression

a natural process

allow your observation allow your

intention to bring up the loving

kindness allow your observation to bring

up the feeling of loving kindness

and allow the meditation to progress as

it does

once you get started with experiencing

the feeling of loving kindness and you

start really feeling it

as that warm glow and allow the mind to

rest there

then keep it going with your attention

and when it gets distracted use the six

hours so in essence i would say you just

observe in six hours that's all you have

to do don't push

don't try to bring up the feeling allow

the feeling to come up

with that wholesome image with those

verbalizations allow the mind to feel it

and let it just flow

and when you

judge yourself and think i'm

not doing good enough or i can't accept

the way i'm doing things

let that go

just see that as another distraction and

sex art and come back

be happy be kind to yourself be gentle

to yourself when you're gentle with

yourself

when you're kind with yourself you can

be kind and gentle

with the world

so be loving and kind and keep smiling

and for those people who are

going beyond this practice because there

will be other parts of the practice

just do what feels natural to you

use your intuition

does the mind feel like bringing up

loving kindness does it feel like

bringing up compassion does it feel like

bringing up joy

does it feel like bringing up equanimity

and allow the mind to rest in whatever

it feels like it wants to do in that

sitting

and then

radiate it outward

and get to quiet mind

you want to be able to get the quiet

mind

as quickly as possible but don't push it

allow the mind to naturally progress

to quiet mind

and when you're sitting when you're

doing your walking meditation the same

thing you can radiate whatever the mind

feels like it wants to radiate and then

allow it to get into quiet wind while

you're walking

so let's see i think i've covered

most of everything

yes so tomorrow you're going to be

taking precepts

that's very important

you have to understand

the

the importance of why you're taking the

precepts

you're making a commitment

to have a pure mind

when you take the precepts understand

that what you're doing is you're letting

go

of all

unwholesome states of mind as you're

doing that

and when you commit to take

commit to taking those precepts and

commit to keeping those precepts

you're purifying your mind

and so those precepts

should be kept all day long all retreat

long and

ultimately all lifelong

if you break a precept

forgive yourself it's okay

you did it take it again and move on

tomorrow i'll talk about the importance

of precepts in reference to hindrances

and

why

the hindrances arise and how they arise

because

you're probably going to experience them

in your sit

at some point or another

so this practice is very gentle this

practice is

very

easy very free-flowing

just keep smiling

and keep the mind light

was there anything i missed

yeah

make sure that you have a straight

posture

you don't want to slump

because that's going to cause you

slot and torpor that's going to make the

mind dull and might make you feel sleepy

and you don't need to be like completely

rigid with your back either that's going

to cause a lot of discomfort

just be comfortable find the posture

that works for you

whether it's sitting in a chair or

sitting cross-legged or whatever you

don't have to sit on a cushion there's

no magic to that just sit comfortably

and keep your back relatively straight

keep it

upright

and

i think that's it

yes walking with a spiritual friend

are there any questions

in the meditation the sitting meditation

we don't have a buddha here you see that

those statues there

you can

move as much as they do

as bonte says

no

so

we know radiating in the six directions

so the way i've done it is basically

you choose one direction individually

so in six individual directions so you

have

forward

backward

right

left

below and above

and you bring up the feeling of loving

kindness you bring up the feeling of

compassion you bring up the feeling of

joy or equanimity whatever it might be

you can start with loving kindness if

you want

and you just allow the mind

to

bring up this feeling and let it flow in

one direction

and you allow it to just

radiate that means it's just flowing

it doesn't matter if it's flowing from

the body or the head just know that it's

flowing outward because a lot of times

people will be focusing too much

on the head

and and when they do that especially

when they're trying to push out the

feeling

they feel tension in the head especially

in the direction that they're pushing it

outward so if you're pushing it out on

the left you feel tension here if you're

pushing out on the right you feel

tension here and so on and so forth

so it doesn't matter if you're pushing

it out from the head

what matters is you don't push it out at

all

you just allow it to flow and observe

how the feeling is flowing

allow the feeling of that expansion of

radiating loving kindness to go in one

direction

stay there for five minutes

and then go to the next direction stay

there for five minutes

go to the next direction stay there for

five minutes allow the mind to radiate

for those five minutes in that direction

and so on for each of the six individual

directions

once you finish that should be about 30

minutes

once you have done all six

individually

then you allow the mind to radiate in

all directions at the same time

so it's a feeling of expansiveness that

the feeling of radiating loving kindness

just moves outward out into space

you don't have to visualize too much you

don't have to think too much

just

feel it allow it to be

there and allow it to just grow and

expand as it would in whatever

rate of expansion it wants to go

and you're going to feel some

spaciousness and other things that go on

in the mind

but this is the general instruction for

radiating

yes when you start radiating in the

directions and

you haven't finished all the directions

your mind naturally sometimes

will start radiating throughout

and that's wonderful that's okay yes

no

so if you start radiating in just one

direction and you notice oh the mind

just wants to radiate outward in all

directions just allow it to be that

and one thing is sometimes it's

you're not sure what's going on whether

you should radiate or not

and you can just try radiating again

and just

you know if you're not sure where

just do it again if you're in equanimity

and well maybe i'm in quiet line

maybe it's good to just you know test

that yeah that's going to say

no i got enough

yeah basically when you are in

equanimity and your mind starts to

radiate equanimity

it might just stop

and you think that you're in quiet mind

like david said you just try again and

it might just

feel like a little tension is there and

the mind is just saying no i'm pretty

good resting in quiet mind if that

happens that's fine

but you just want to test and see what's

going on when you're doing the radiating

so the same question

if the mind goes into quiet mind

while doing directions

and the sequence happens rather quickly

you would say then that there would be

no need to

continue doing directions

just

slip just be with the quiet mind

yeah and you can test it out and see for

yourself does the mind feel like it

still needs to radiate if it does and

allow it to happen then it will

naturally

fade away and they'll be quiet mind

again

but if there's a tension if the mind

says

i'm okay with this and doesn't want to

do any more effort of radiating

then you can just stay with quiet mind

so what's your advice

so

let's say that's the circumstance

and the sitting ends

you come back to the next city

what's the wise choice here to come back

to that quiet mind

or

because

my experience is

meditations never continue

right it's another

practice

what's your advice

you always want to start off the

meditation with radiating a little bit

it keeps the mind's energy balanced

if you go into quiet mind and you might

mistake that quiet mind

uh or you might mistake slot intorper

for quiet mind

when you radiate even if it's equanimity

wherever you last left off if it was

equanimity or compassion or whatever it

might be

just radiate a little bit

at that point you might radiate for only

two minutes aside two minutes of

direction or maybe just radiate three or

four minutes and eventually

it becomes spacious again and you might

still radiate and might change

the feeling and then go

naturally into quiet mind or it might

just skip all of that and go naturally

into quiet mind but always start with

doing the radiating

yes

it's very quiet

yeah

yeah there's there's basically just

it's it's an experience of the mind

being

quite comfortable and collected and at

ease

and there's not much going on there

there's a feeling of the mind resting in

itself the mind just kind of

rests in itself

no movement

any other questions

it is easy for me to feel

kindness and

joy

what is the difference

between that and compassion

so compassion

in the progression of the brahmaviharas

you have loving kindness

you have compassion you have joy and you

have equanimity

in my own experience loving kindness has

a feeling of

vibrancy there's a certain energy to it

it's not as energetic as the joy factor

of janus

which we'll talk about later

but it has a certain level of vibrancy

to it

and it kind of downshifts into

compassion it's like

much much softer a little more expensive

a little quieter

in its energy

and then the feeling of joy is

even softer than that but there is a

feeling of

this happiness that's there this feeling

of joy that's there this

feeling of

upliftment that's there

then that downshifts into equanimity

which is more balanced more tranquil

more stable

it's basically a feeling of

no feeling

in the sense that

it's neither painful nor pleasant so

there's not a lot of there's no energy

there it's just

very relaxed very stable

any more questions

yeah

if someone is really really tired

um with just

perhaps

just taking a smile as an object be

sufficient without having to

you know put any

tired meaning

what do you mean by tired

like

physically

physically tired

deprived you know

stumbling around because they can't even

focus

and it's time to practice

go to sleep

go back to bed go back to bed

you need to have sufficient rest so

sometimes you'll find that

you know somehow you wake up in the

middle of the night you might wake up at

2 a.m or 3 a.m or 4 a.m or whatever it

might be and if you want you can sit

and do your practice for the next hour

and a half or whatever it is

and then go back to bed if you need to

take the precepts on your own if you

have to but i would recommend that

everybody comes here together and takes

the precepts there's a certain

vibe that happens when you do that

and take naps

naps really help and that doesn't mean

like half an hour nap or an hour and a

half now i'm talking about short

15 minute to 20 minute maps if you go

beyond that what's going to happen is

you're going to get into dreamland and

you're going to get groggy

but if you sleep for take a nap for 15

to 20 minutes it keeps the mind alert

and sharp

if you experience latin torpor

which is where the mind is just very

dull it's not sleepy necessarily but

it's just dull

then do some walking and meditate out if

it's good weather out in the light

and that will help

and walk backwards

that

sharpens the mind's attention

and when that happens then you're able

to be more connected with your object

but if you're just plain tired

there's no point in pushing yourself

get enough sleep make sure you get

enough sleep

and

you'll have better meditation sessions

that way

good

[Music]

so

[Music]

so welcome everyone

uh just to get a sense of where everyone

is at how many people are new completely

new to twin

okay

so i'll give you the instructions the

meditation instructions but before i do

that

it's important for you to know that

there will be a lot of emphasis

on smiling

and the reason is because

smiling

sharpens your mindfulness

the more you smile the more attentive

you

become the more you smile

the more uplifted your mind becomes

and the easier it is for you to let go

of things

so smiling is

very vital to this practice

as you'll understand when i talk about

the six hours

so

i mentioned before that smiling

sharpens your mindfulness

and it's important to know it's

important to to know

what is mindfulness

we have so many different definitions of

what mindfulness is

mindfulness is being in the present

moment mindfulness of eating mindfulness

of walking

mindfulness of breathing and so on

but there's a very practical and easy

to understand definition of what

mindfulness is

that is

mindfulness is

remembering to observe how mind's

attention

moves from one object to another

why do we say remembering because

mindfulness comes from the pali word

sapi

and sati means memory

or to remember

so you're remembering to keep your mind

or rather to observe

how your mind moves

how its attention moves from one object

to the other

and so when we talk about the practice

we talk about two components

number one we talk about

what is the object of meditation here

so primarily it is the brahmaviharas

mata karuna

we start off with meta which is loving

kindness

so to start off the practice

you bring up a wholesome image

or a wholesome memory

you could use verbalization in your mind

for a couple of times

with words like

may i be happy may i be well

may i be content

may i be free of suffering

whatever works for you

and you don't have to keep

verbalizing it in your mind like some

kind of mantra

just a couple of times to get the

feeling

and

that's very important to understand this

is not a

meditation where you're using words this

is not a meditation where you're using

primarily visualization it's a somatic

meditation it's a feeling

based meditation

so when you use a wholesome image or a

wholesome memory like

holding a little baby in your arms or

petting a puppy or something that

inspires you something that puts a smile

on your face

you feel the warmth in your chest

it's a warm glow in your chest

and that feeling is a feeling of

joy a feeling of happiness a feeling of

meta a feeling of wanting happiness for

yourself

so you feel this metha this loving

kindness in your heart

and you allow it to be there

and you let your mind rest and bask in

that feeling of meta

now you do that for the first 10 minutes

maybe even longer if you feel like but

at least 10 minutes

and you allow the mind to just stay

there

after that

you send this feeling to a spiritual

friend

a spiritual friend is somebody who is

alive

not a family member

is of the same sex

and somebody who you admire could be

anybody somebody you know or somebody

you

admire in

public life

whatever it might be

somebody who you think of that

immediately puts a smile on your face

and you can visualize the friend there

smiling and that you're sending this

loving kind

feeling loving kindness feeling out to

them

or

you could just allow the spiritual

friend to be in your heart

in that glow

and allow them to rest there and just

know that they're experiencing your

loving kindness

this is the practice

you just stay with your spiritual friend

in your sitting meditation

and when you're walking you walk at a

normal pace

and you stay with a spiritual friend

stay with loving kindness the feeling of

loving kindness

and with the idea that your spiritual

friend

is experiencing your loving kindness

now in meditation there is something

known as

distraction your mind will become

distracted

it will experience certain kinds of

hindrances

and so

now i will tell you what to do

when you

have these hindrances when they come

about

how do you know your mind is distracted

your mind is distracted when it's no

longer on

the feeling of loving kindness

on the feeling of sending loving

kindness to your spiritual friend

so there might be background thoughts

um just

coming and going without your attention

you kind of know that they're there

but if they're there you don't need to

do anything with them you don't have to

bring your mind back because your mind

is still on the object

it's only when your mind is no longer

with the feeling of loving kindness no

longer with the feeling of sending out

this loving kindness

to your spiritual friend

that you use what's known as the six r's

so the six r's are

recognize

release

relax

we smile

return

and repeat

so you notice that you were distracted

you realize oh

my mind is no longer on my object of

meditation

that's the first step that's recognizing

that your mind is distracted

releasing or release is to

take your mind's attention away from

that distraction and bring it back

to the mind and body

bring it back to the present moment

and the mind and body are the anchor for

the present moment

and then you

relax

what are you relaxing

you are relaxing craving

so craving is a big word in the dharma

and it has different connotations

different shades

different meanings depending upon

context

but the easiest way to understand the

manifestation of craving is through

tightness and tension in the body and

mind

and what is tightness and tension it's

literally

when you tighten your fist

you feel this tightness in the body you

feel

like the mind has become

very hard pressed

so relaxing is letting go of that

tightness

just releasing that

and you know that you've relaxed when

you feel like the mind is opened up the

mind has expanded

so you go from

a very spotlight

field of vision in your mind to a more

panoramic

way of looking at things

and that's the way you want to do this

meditation

you don't want to be super focused you

don't want to be one pointed

you want to let your awareness rest and

observe the feeling of loving kindness

to feel the loving kindness

but you want to keep your mind open

allow the awareness to be

open so that

your mind is able to

recognize when it gets distracted

oftentimes when you become one pointed

it will suppress the mind

and you might experience joy you might

experience equanimity you might

experience balance of mind

and you think that you're super focused

on the feeling of loving kindness

but when you do that

because you're suppressing those

hindrances when you come out of the

practice

those hindrances come back with full

force

so this meditation is not about

suppressing hindrances

it's about dealing with them while your

mind is collected

around the object meditation

the feeling of loving kindness

so coming back to

relax when you relax you're loosening up

the body loosening up the mind

then you come back to the smile

so you started off this practice

this meditation with a smile as i said

you're using the smile as a way to keep

the mind sharp

to keep the mind collected to keep the

mind clear and mindful

and it's an anchor for experiencing

wholesome states of mind like

loving-kindness

so you re-smile

so you notice if your smile is still

there

be there

but if you notice that the smile is not

there

smile again

it's a small smile it's like the smile

of a buddha when you see a statue or an

image of the buddha you see him smiling

and you smile with your mouth you smile

with your eyes

you smile with the mind and you smile

with the heart

keep everything light and fun

once you come back to the smile then you

come back to the feeling of loving

kindness

and you stay there

until you get distracted again and you

repeat the whole process again

now when you do the six r's it's not a

process of verbalizing them it's not a

process of analyzing them it's not a

process of saying oh here i am

recognizing

here i'm releasing here i'm relaxing

here i'm re-smiling

here i'm returning

you just do it allow it to be in the

flow when you notice your mind is

distracted that's recognizing when you

come back to the mind and body that's

releasing when you relax

that's relaxing when you come back to

the smile that's re-smiling when you

come back to your object that's

returning

so it's a flow it shouldn't take you

more than three or four seconds

to do the whole cycle of the six hours

to come back to your object of

meditation

and the six r's aren't just used for

your formal sitting practice

they can be used while you're doing your

walking meditation

so while you're walking around and you

are with your spiritual friend

you notice that the mind got distracted

because it was seeing something and

suddenly you're no longer feeling the

feeling of loving kindness

you notice oh i'm distracted

use the six ours recognize you were

distracted

release the attention bring it back to

mind and body by releasing the attention

relax the mind and body come back to the

smile

come back to the feeling of loving

kindness

and not only can you do it in your

formal sitting practice

and in your walking meditation practice

but you can do it anytime

just as i'm going to

suggest and recommend that you keep the

smile going as much as possible

i also suggest and recommend that you

apply the six r's

what in whatever circumstance you are

when you notice that the mind starts to

crave for something when you notice this

tension

this feeling of

i want this or

i'm resisting this

this feeling of dissatisfaction with the

present moment

in whatever way it is

just a small little irritation or

a thought or a distraction

then you can use the six hours you can

notice my mind is distracted it's no

longer here in what it is whatever is

going on

you can recognize that you can release

that

you can relax you can re-smile and you

can come back to whatever it is you're

doing

with a feeling of loving kindness

so in other words imbue everything that

you're doing with loving kindness stay

with the loving kindness stay with the

spiritual friend whether you're

walking whether you're

eating your breakfast

whether you're taking a shower

whatever it might be stay with a smile

stay with your spiritual friend stay

with that light mind

now in terms of some practicalities

when you wake up the next day before you

go to sleep

try to

determine what time you'll wake up

if you're gonna wake up at five o'clock

or whatever it might be

wake up uh

4 55 let the mind know that you're going

to wake up at 4 55 and see how close you

get to that

or the next day 503 or the next day 4 57

and the second thing you want to do is

when you wake up

before you go to sleep you determine

that when you wake up

you will wake up with a smile on your

face and when you

keep that smile going

and then allow that to keep the mind

light and uplifted

there's no trying too hard in this

meditation there's two things i've done

is with people who do this meditation

they feel like they have to try too hard

they feel like they have to push

and they're not able to accept

themselves or the present moment

when you try too hard you constrict the

mind you constrict the awareness and

that causes the mind to become one

pointed

and when you do that the mind

experiences restlessness

the mind experiences racing thoughts the

mind experiences pain and tension

in the body and in the head

so allow the meditation to flower

naturally this is a natural progression

a natural process

allow your observation allow your

intention to bring up the loving

kindness allow your observation to bring

up the feeling of loving kindness

and allow the meditation to progress as

it does

once you get started with experiencing

the feeling of loving kindness and you

start really feeling it

as that warm glow and allow the mind to

rest there

then keep it going with your attention

and when it gets distracted use the six

hours so in essence i would say you just

observe in six hours that's all you have

to do don't push

don't try to bring up the feeling allow

the feeling to come up

with that wholesome image with those

verbalizations allow the mind to feel it

and let it just flow

and when you

judge yourself and think i'm

not doing good enough or i can't accept

the way i'm doing things

let that go

just see that as another distraction and

sex art and come back

be happy be kind to yourself be gentle

to yourself when you're gentle with

yourself

when you're kind with yourself you can

be kind and gentle

with the world

so be loving and kind and keep smiling

and for those people who are

going beyond this practice because there

will be other parts of the practice

just do what feels natural to you

use your intuition

does the mind feel like bringing up

loving kindness does it feel like

bringing up compassion does it feel like

bringing up joy

does it feel like bringing up equanimity

and allow the mind to rest in whatever

it feels like it wants to do in that

sitting

and then

radiate it outward

and get to quiet mind

you want to be able to get the quiet

mind

as quickly as possible but don't push it

allow the mind to naturally progress

to quiet mind

and when you're sitting when you're

doing your walking meditation the same

thing you can radiate whatever the mind

feels like it wants to radiate and then

allow it to get into quiet wind while

you're walking

so let's see i think i've covered

most of everything

yes so tomorrow you're going to be

taking precepts

that's very important

you have to understand

the

the importance of why you're taking the

precepts

you're making a commitment

to have a pure mind

when you take the precepts understand

that what you're doing is you're letting

go

of all

unwholesome states of mind as you're

doing that

and when you commit to take

commit to taking those precepts and

commit to keeping those precepts

you're purifying your mind

and so those precepts

should be kept all day long all retreat

long and

ultimately all lifelong

if you break a precept

forgive yourself it's okay

you did it take it again and move on

tomorrow i'll talk about the importance

of precepts in reference to hindrances

and

why

the hindrances arise and how they arise

because

you're probably going to experience them

in your sit

at some point or another

so this practice is very gentle this

practice is

very

easy very free-flowing

just keep smiling

and keep the mind light

was there anything i missed

yeah

make sure that you have a straight

posture

you don't want to slump

because that's going to cause you

slot and torpor that's going to make the

mind dull and might make you feel sleepy

and you don't need to be like completely

rigid with your back either that's going

to cause a lot of discomfort

just be comfortable find the posture

that works for you

whether it's sitting in a chair or

sitting cross-legged or whatever you

don't have to sit on a cushion there's

no magic to that just sit comfortably

and keep your back relatively straight

keep it

upright

and

i think that's it

yes walking with a spiritual friend

are there any questions

in the meditation the sitting meditation

we don't have a buddha here you see that

those statues there

you can

move as much as they do

as bonte says

no

so

we know radiating in the six directions

so the way i've done it is basically

you choose one direction individually

so in six individual directions so you

have

forward

backward

right

left

below and above

and you bring up the feeling of loving

kindness you bring up the feeling of

compassion you bring up the feeling of

joy or equanimity whatever it might be

you can start with loving kindness if

you want

and you just allow the mind

to

bring up this feeling and let it flow in

one direction

and you allow it to just

radiate that means it's just flowing

it doesn't matter if it's flowing from

the body or the head just know that it's

flowing outward because a lot of times

people will be focusing too much

on the head

and and when they do that especially

when they're trying to push out the

feeling

they feel tension in the head especially

in the direction that they're pushing it

outward so if you're pushing it out on

the left you feel tension here if you're

pushing out on the right you feel

tension here and so on and so forth

so it doesn't matter if you're pushing

it out from the head

what matters is you don't push it out at

all

you just allow it to flow and observe

how the feeling is flowing

allow the feeling of that expansion of

radiating loving kindness to go in one

direction

stay there for five minutes

and then go to the next direction stay

there for five minutes

go to the next direction stay there for

five minutes allow the mind to radiate

for those five minutes in that direction

and so on for each of the six individual

directions

once you finish that should be about 30

minutes

once you have done all six

individually

then you allow the mind to radiate in

all directions at the same time

so it's a feeling of expansiveness that

the feeling of radiating loving kindness

just moves outward out into space

you don't have to visualize too much you

don't have to think too much

just

feel it allow it to be

there and allow it to just grow and

expand as it would in whatever

rate of expansion it wants to go

and you're going to feel some

spaciousness and other things that go on

in the mind

but this is the general instruction for

radiating

yes when you start radiating in the

directions and

you haven't finished all the directions

your mind naturally sometimes

will start radiating throughout

and that's wonderful that's okay yes

no

so if you start radiating in just one

direction and you notice oh the mind

just wants to radiate outward in all

directions just allow it to be that

and one thing is sometimes it's

you're not sure what's going on whether

you should radiate or not

and you can just try radiating again

and just

you know if you're not sure where

just do it again if you're in equanimity

and well maybe i'm in quiet line

maybe it's good to just you know test

that yeah that's going to say

no i got enough

yeah basically when you are in

equanimity and your mind starts to

radiate equanimity

it might just stop

and you think that you're in quiet mind

like david said you just try again and

it might just

feel like a little tension is there and

the mind is just saying no i'm pretty

good resting in quiet mind if that

happens that's fine

but you just want to test and see what's

going on when you're doing the radiating

so the same question

if the mind goes into quiet mind

while doing directions

and the sequence happens rather quickly

you would say then that there would be

no need to

continue doing directions

just

slip just be with the quiet mind

yeah and you can test it out and see for

yourself does the mind feel like it

still needs to radiate if it does and

allow it to happen then it will

naturally

fade away and they'll be quiet mind

again

but if there's a tension if the mind

says

i'm okay with this and doesn't want to

do any more effort of radiating

then you can just stay with quiet mind

so what's your advice

so

let's say that's the circumstance

and the sitting ends

you come back to the next city

what's the wise choice here to come back

to that quiet mind

or

because

my experience is

meditations never continue

right it's another

practice

what's your advice

you always want to start off the

meditation with radiating a little bit

it keeps the mind's energy balanced

if you go into quiet mind and you might

mistake that quiet mind

uh or you might mistake slot intorper

for quiet mind

when you radiate even if it's equanimity

wherever you last left off if it was

equanimity or compassion or whatever it

might be

just radiate a little bit

at that point you might radiate for only

two minutes aside two minutes of

direction or maybe just radiate three or

four minutes and eventually

it becomes spacious again and you might

still radiate and might change

the feeling and then go

naturally into quiet mind or it might

just skip all of that and go naturally

into quiet mind but always start with

doing the radiating

yes

it's very quiet

yeah

yeah there's there's basically just

it's it's an experience of the mind

being

quite comfortable and collected and at

ease

and there's not much going on there

there's a feeling of the mind resting in

itself the mind just kind of

rests in itself

no movement

any other questions

it is easy for me to feel

kindness and

joy

what is the difference

between that and compassion

so compassion

in the progression of the brahmaviharas

you have loving kindness

you have compassion you have joy and you

have equanimity

in my own experience loving kindness has

a feeling of

vibrancy there's a certain energy to it

it's not as energetic as the joy factor

of janus

which we'll talk about later

but it has a certain level of vibrancy

to it

and it kind of downshifts into

compassion it's like

much much softer a little more expensive

a little quieter

in its energy

and then the feeling of joy is

even softer than that but there is a

feeling of

this happiness that's there this feeling

of joy that's there this

feeling of

upliftment that's there

then that downshifts into equanimity

which is more balanced more tranquil

more stable

it's basically a feeling of

no feeling

in the sense that

it's neither painful nor pleasant so

there's not a lot of there's no energy

there it's just

very relaxed very stable

any more questions

yeah

if someone is really really tired

um with just

perhaps

just taking a smile as an object be

sufficient without having to

you know put any

tired meaning

what do you mean by tired

like

physically

physically tired

deprived you know

stumbling around because they can't even

focus

and it's time to practice

go to sleep

go back to bed go back to bed

you need to have sufficient rest so

sometimes you'll find that

you know somehow you wake up in the

middle of the night you might wake up at

2 a.m or 3 a.m or 4 a.m or whatever it

might be and if you want you can sit

and do your practice for the next hour

and a half or whatever it is

and then go back to bed if you need to

take the precepts on your own if you

have to but i would recommend that

everybody comes here together and takes

the precepts there's a certain

vibe that happens when you do that

and take naps

naps really help and that doesn't mean

like half an hour nap or an hour and a

half now i'm talking about short

15 minute to 20 minute maps if you go

beyond that what's going to happen is

you're going to get into dreamland and

you're going to get groggy

but if you sleep for take a nap for 15

to 20 minutes it keeps the mind alert

and sharp

if you experience latin torpor

which is where the mind is just very

dull it's not sleepy necessarily but

it's just dull

then do some walking and meditate out if

it's good weather out in the light

and that will help

and walk backwards

that

sharpens the mind's attention

and when that happens then you're able

to be more connected with your object

but if you're just plain tired

there's no point in pushing yourself

get enough sleep make sure you get

enough sleep

and

you'll have better meditation sessions

that way

good

[Music]

so

[Music]

so welcome everyone

uh just to get a sense of where everyone

is at how many people are new completely

new to twin

okay

so i'll give you the instructions the

meditation instructions but before i do

that

it's important for you to know that

there will be a lot of emphasis

on smiling

and the reason is because

smiling

sharpens your mindfulness

the more you smile the more attentive

you

become the more you smile

the more uplifted your mind becomes

and the easier it is for you to let go

of things

so smiling is

very vital to this practice

as you'll understand when i talk about

the six hours

so

i mentioned before that smiling

sharpens your mindfulness

and it's important to know it's

important to to know

what is mindfulness

we have so many different definitions of

what mindfulness is

mindfulness is being in the present

moment mindfulness of eating mindfulness

of walking

mindfulness of breathing and so on

but there's a very practical and easy

to understand definition of what

mindfulness is

that is

mindfulness is

remembering to observe how mind's

attention

moves from one object to another

why do we say remembering because

mindfulness comes from the pali word

sapi

and sati means memory

or to remember

so you're remembering to keep your mind

or rather to observe

how your mind moves

how its attention moves from one object

to the other

and so when we talk about the practice

we talk about two components

number one we talk about

what is the object of meditation here

so primarily it is the brahmaviharas

mata karuna

we start off with meta which is loving

kindness

so to start off the practice

you bring up a wholesome image

or a wholesome memory

you could use verbalization in your mind

for a couple of times

with words like

may i be happy may i be well

may i be content

may i be free of suffering

whatever works for you

and you don't have to keep

verbalizing it in your mind like some

kind of mantra

just a couple of times to get the

feeling

and

that's very important to understand this

is not a

meditation where you're using words this

is not a meditation where you're using

primarily visualization it's a somatic

meditation it's a feeling

based meditation

so when you use a wholesome image or a

wholesome memory like

holding a little baby in your arms or

petting a puppy or something that

inspires you something that puts a smile

on your face

you feel the warmth in your chest

it's a warm glow in your chest

and that feeling is a feeling of

joy a feeling of happiness a feeling of

meta a feeling of wanting happiness for

yourself

so you feel this metha this loving

kindness in your heart

and you allow it to be there

and you let your mind rest and bask in

that feeling of meta

now you do that for the first 10 minutes

maybe even longer if you feel like but

at least 10 minutes

and you allow the mind to just stay

there

after that

you send this feeling to a spiritual

friend

a spiritual friend is somebody who is

alive

not a family member

is of the same sex

and somebody who you admire could be

anybody somebody you know or somebody

you

admire in

public life

whatever it might be

somebody who you think of that

immediately puts a smile on your face

and you can visualize the friend there

smiling and that you're sending this

loving kind

feeling loving kindness feeling out to

them

or

you could just allow the spiritual

friend to be in your heart

in that glow

and allow them to rest there and just

know that they're experiencing your

loving kindness

this is the practice

you just stay with your spiritual friend

in your sitting meditation

and when you're walking you walk at a

normal pace

and you stay with a spiritual friend

stay with loving kindness the feeling of

loving kindness

and with the idea that your spiritual

friend

is experiencing your loving kindness

now in meditation there is something

known as

distraction your mind will become

distracted

it will experience certain kinds of

hindrances

and so

now i will tell you what to do

when you

have these hindrances when they come

about

how do you know your mind is distracted

your mind is distracted when it's no

longer on

the feeling of loving kindness

on the feeling of sending loving

kindness to your spiritual friend

so there might be background thoughts

um just

coming and going without your attention

you kind of know that they're there

but if they're there you don't need to

do anything with them you don't have to

bring your mind back because your mind

is still on the object

it's only when your mind is no longer

with the feeling of loving kindness no

longer with the feeling of sending out

this loving kindness

to your spiritual friend

that you use what's known as the six r's

so the six r's are

recognize

release

relax

we smile

return

and repeat

so you notice that you were distracted

you realize oh

my mind is no longer on my object of

meditation

that's the first step that's recognizing

that your mind is distracted

releasing or release is to

take your mind's attention away from

that distraction and bring it back

to the mind and body

bring it back to the present moment

and the mind and body are the anchor for

the present moment

and then you

relax

what are you relaxing

you are relaxing craving

so craving is a big word in the dharma

and it has different connotations

different shades

different meanings depending upon

context

but the easiest way to understand the

manifestation of craving is through

tightness and tension in the body and

mind

and what is tightness and tension it's

literally

when you tighten your fist

you feel this tightness in the body you

feel

like the mind has become

very hard pressed

so relaxing is letting go of that

tightness

just releasing that

and you know that you've relaxed when

you feel like the mind is opened up the

mind has expanded

so you go from

a very spotlight

field of vision in your mind to a more

panoramic

way of looking at things

and that's the way you want to do this

meditation

you don't want to be super focused you

don't want to be one pointed

you want to let your awareness rest and

observe the feeling of loving kindness

to feel the loving kindness

but you want to keep your mind open

allow the awareness to be

open so that

your mind is able to

recognize when it gets distracted

oftentimes when you become one pointed

it will suppress the mind

and you might experience joy you might

experience equanimity you might

experience balance of mind

and you think that you're super focused

on the feeling of loving kindness

but when you do that

because you're suppressing those

hindrances when you come out of the

practice

those hindrances come back with full

force

so this meditation is not about

suppressing hindrances

it's about dealing with them while your

mind is collected

around the object meditation

the feeling of loving kindness

so coming back to

relax when you relax you're loosening up

the body loosening up the mind

then you come back to the smile

so you started off this practice

this meditation with a smile as i said

you're using the smile as a way to keep

the mind sharp

to keep the mind collected to keep the

mind clear and mindful

and it's an anchor for experiencing

wholesome states of mind like

loving-kindness

so you re-smile

so you notice if your smile is still

there

be there

but if you notice that the smile is not

there

smile again

it's a small smile it's like the smile

of a buddha when you see a statue or an

image of the buddha you see him smiling

and you smile with your mouth you smile

with your eyes

you smile with the mind and you smile

with the heart

keep everything light and fun

once you come back to the smile then you

come back to the feeling of loving

kindness

and you stay there

until you get distracted again and you

repeat the whole process again

now when you do the six r's it's not a

process of verbalizing them it's not a

process of analyzing them it's not a

process of saying oh here i am

recognizing

here i'm releasing here i'm relaxing

here i'm re-smiling

here i'm returning

you just do it allow it to be in the

flow when you notice your mind is

distracted that's recognizing when you

come back to the mind and body that's

releasing when you relax

that's relaxing when you come back to

the smile that's re-smiling when you

come back to your object that's

returning

so it's a flow it shouldn't take you

more than three or four seconds

to do the whole cycle of the six hours

to come back to your object of

meditation

and the six r's aren't just used for

your formal sitting practice

they can be used while you're doing your

walking meditation

so while you're walking around and you

are with your spiritual friend

you notice that the mind got distracted

because it was seeing something and

suddenly you're no longer feeling the

feeling of loving kindness

you notice oh i'm distracted

use the six ours recognize you were

distracted

release the attention bring it back to

mind and body by releasing the attention

relax the mind and body come back to the

smile

come back to the feeling of loving

kindness

and not only can you do it in your

formal sitting practice

and in your walking meditation practice

but you can do it anytime

just as i'm going to

suggest and recommend that you keep the

smile going as much as possible

i also suggest and recommend that you

apply the six r's

what in whatever circumstance you are

when you notice that the mind starts to

crave for something when you notice this

tension

this feeling of

i want this or

i'm resisting this

this feeling of dissatisfaction with the

present moment

in whatever way it is

just a small little irritation or

a thought or a distraction

then you can use the six hours you can

notice my mind is distracted it's no

longer here in what it is whatever is

going on

you can recognize that you can release

that

you can relax you can re-smile and you

can come back to whatever it is you're

doing

with a feeling of loving kindness

so in other words imbue everything that

you're doing with loving kindness stay

with the loving kindness stay with the

spiritual friend whether you're

walking whether you're

eating your breakfast

whether you're taking a shower

whatever it might be stay with a smile

stay with your spiritual friend stay

with that light mind

now in terms of some practicalities

when you wake up the next day before you

go to sleep

try to

determine what time you'll wake up

if you're gonna wake up at five o'clock

or whatever it might be

wake up uh

4 55 let the mind know that you're going

to wake up at 4 55 and see how close you

get to that

or the next day 503 or the next day 4 57

and the second thing you want to do is

when you wake up

before you go to sleep you determine

that when you wake up

you will wake up with a smile on your

face and when you

keep that smile going

and then allow that to keep the mind

light and uplifted

there's no trying too hard in this

meditation there's two things i've done

is with people who do this meditation

they feel like they have to try too hard

they feel like they have to push

and they're not able to accept

themselves or the present moment

when you try too hard you constrict the

mind you constrict the awareness and

that causes the mind to become one

pointed

and when you do that the mind

experiences restlessness

the mind experiences racing thoughts the

mind experiences pain and tension

in the body and in the head

so allow the meditation to flower

naturally this is a natural progression

a natural process

allow your observation allow your

intention to bring up the loving

kindness allow your observation to bring

up the feeling of loving kindness

and allow the meditation to progress as

it does

once you get started with experiencing

the feeling of loving kindness and you

start really feeling it

as that warm glow and allow the mind to

rest there

then keep it going with your attention

and when it gets distracted use the six

hours so in essence i would say you just

observe in six hours that's all you have

to do don't push

don't try to bring up the feeling allow

the feeling to come up

with that wholesome image with those

verbalizations allow the mind to feel it

and let it just flow

and when you

judge yourself and think i'm

not doing good enough or i can't accept

the way i'm doing things

let that go

just see that as another distraction and

sex art and come back

be happy be kind to yourself be gentle

to yourself when you're gentle with

yourself

when you're kind with yourself you can

be kind and gentle

with the world

so be loving and kind and keep smiling

and for those people who are

going beyond this practice because there

will be other parts of the practice

just do what feels natural to you

use your intuition

does the mind feel like bringing up

loving kindness does it feel like

bringing up compassion does it feel like

bringing up joy

does it feel like bringing up equanimity

and allow the mind to rest in whatever

it feels like it wants to do in that

sitting

and then

radiate it outward

and get to quiet mind

you want to be able to get the quiet

mind

as quickly as possible but don't push it

allow the mind to naturally progress

to quiet mind

and when you're sitting when you're

doing your walking meditation the same

thing you can radiate whatever the mind

feels like it wants to radiate and then

allow it to get into quiet wind while

you're walking

so let's see i think i've covered

most of everything

yes so tomorrow you're going to be

taking precepts

that's very important

you have to understand

the

the importance of why you're taking the

precepts

you're making a commitment

to have a pure mind

when you take the precepts understand

that what you're doing is you're letting

go

of all

unwholesome states of mind as you're

doing that

and when you commit to take

commit to taking those precepts and

commit to keeping those precepts

you're purifying your mind

and so those precepts

should be kept all day long all retreat

long and

ultimately all lifelong

if you break a precept

forgive yourself it's okay

you did it take it again and move on

tomorrow i'll talk about the importance

of precepts in reference to hindrances

and

why

the hindrances arise and how they arise

because

you're probably going to experience them

in your sit

at some point or another

so this practice is very gentle this

practice is

very

easy very free-flowing

just keep smiling

and keep the mind light

was there anything i missed

yeah

make sure that you have a straight

posture

you don't want to slump

because that's going to cause you

slot and torpor that's going to make the

mind dull and might make you feel sleepy

and you don't need to be like completely

rigid with your back either that's going

to cause a lot of discomfort

just be comfortable find the posture

that works for you

whether it's sitting in a chair or

sitting cross-legged or whatever you

don't have to sit on a cushion there's

no magic to that just sit comfortably

and keep your back relatively straight

keep it

upright

and

i think that's it

yes walking with a spiritual friend

are there any questions

in the meditation the sitting meditation

we don't have a buddha here you see that

those statues there

you can

move as much as they do

as bonte says

no

so

we know radiating in the six directions

so the way i've done it is basically

you choose one direction individually

so in six individual directions so you

have

forward

backward

right

left

below and above

and you bring up the feeling of loving

kindness you bring up the feeling of

compassion you bring up the feeling of

joy or equanimity whatever it might be

you can start with loving kindness if

you want

and you just allow the mind

to

bring up this feeling and let it flow in

one direction

and you allow it to just

radiate that means it's just flowing

it doesn't matter if it's flowing from

the body or the head just know that it's

flowing outward because a lot of times

people will be focusing too much

on the head

and and when they do that especially

when they're trying to push out the

feeling

they feel tension in the head especially

in the direction that they're pushing it

outward so if you're pushing it out on

the left you feel tension here if you're

pushing out on the right you feel

tension here and so on and so forth

so it doesn't matter if you're pushing

it out from the head

what matters is you don't push it out at

all

you just allow it to flow and observe

how the feeling is flowing

allow the feeling of that expansion of

radiating loving kindness to go in one

direction

stay there for five minutes

and then go to the next direction stay

there for five minutes

go to the next direction stay there for

five minutes allow the mind to radiate

for those five minutes in that direction

and so on for each of the six individual

directions

once you finish that should be about 30

minutes

once you have done all six

individually

then you allow the mind to radiate in

all directions at the same time

so it's a feeling of expansiveness that

the feeling of radiating loving kindness

just moves outward out into space

you don't have to visualize too much you

don't have to think too much

just

feel it allow it to be

there and allow it to just grow and

expand as it would in whatever

rate of expansion it wants to go

and you're going to feel some

spaciousness and other things that go on

in the mind

but this is the general instruction for

radiating

yes when you start radiating in the

directions and

you haven't finished all the directions

your mind naturally sometimes

will start radiating throughout

and that's wonderful that's okay yes

no

so if you start radiating in just one

direction and you notice oh the mind

just wants to radiate outward in all

directions just allow it to be that

and one thing is sometimes it's

you're not sure what's going on whether

you should radiate or not

and you can just try radiating again

and just

you know if you're not sure where

just do it again if you're in equanimity

and well maybe i'm in quiet line

maybe it's good to just you know test

that yeah that's going to say

no i got enough

yeah basically when you are in

equanimity and your mind starts to

radiate equanimity

it might just stop

and you think that you're in quiet mind

like david said you just try again and

it might just

feel like a little tension is there and

the mind is just saying no i'm pretty

good resting in quiet mind if that

happens that's fine

but you just want to test and see what's

going on when you're doing the radiating

so the same question

if the mind goes into quiet mind

while doing directions

and the sequence happens rather quickly

you would say then that there would be

no need to

continue doing directions

just

slip just be with the quiet mind

yeah and you can test it out and see for

yourself does the mind feel like it

still needs to radiate if it does and

allow it to happen then it will

naturally

fade away and they'll be quiet mind

again

but if there's a tension if the mind

says

i'm okay with this and doesn't want to

do any more effort of radiating

then you can just stay with quiet mind

so what's your advice

so

let's say that's the circumstance

and the sitting ends

you come back to the next city

what's the wise choice here to come back

to that quiet mind

or

because

my experience is

meditations never continue

right it's another

practice

what's your advice

you always want to start off the

meditation with radiating a little bit

it keeps the mind's energy balanced

if you go into quiet mind and you might

mistake that quiet mind

uh or you might mistake slot intorper

for quiet mind

when you radiate even if it's equanimity

wherever you last left off if it was

equanimity or compassion or whatever it

might be

just radiate a little bit

at that point you might radiate for only

two minutes aside two minutes of

direction or maybe just radiate three or

four minutes and eventually

it becomes spacious again and you might

still radiate and might change

the feeling and then go

naturally into quiet mind or it might

just skip all of that and go naturally

into quiet mind but always start with

doing the radiating

yes

it's very quiet

yeah

yeah there's there's basically just

it's it's an experience of the mind

being

quite comfortable and collected and at

ease

and there's not much going on there

there's a feeling of the mind resting in

itself the mind just kind of

rests in itself

no movement

any other questions

it is easy for me to feel

kindness and

joy

what is the difference

between that and compassion

so compassion

in the progression of the brahmaviharas

you have loving kindness

you have compassion you have joy and you

have equanimity

in my own experience loving kindness has

a feeling of

vibrancy there's a certain energy to it

it's not as energetic as the joy factor

of janus

which we'll talk about later

but it has a certain level of vibrancy

to it

and it kind of downshifts into

compassion it's like

much much softer a little more expensive

a little quieter

in its energy

and then the feeling of joy is

even softer than that but there is a

feeling of

this happiness that's there this feeling

of joy that's there this

feeling of

upliftment that's there

then that downshifts into equanimity

which is more balanced more tranquil

more stable

it's basically a feeling of

no feeling

in the sense that

it's neither painful nor pleasant so

there's not a lot of there's no energy

there it's just

very relaxed very stable

any more questions

yeah

if someone is really really tired

um with just

perhaps

just taking a smile as an object be

sufficient without having to

you know put any

tired meaning

what do you mean by tired

like

physically

physically tired

deprived you know

stumbling around because they can't even

focus

and it's time to practice

go to sleep

go back to bed go back to bed

you need to have sufficient rest so

sometimes you'll find that

you know somehow you wake up in the

middle of the night you might wake up at

2 a.m or 3 a.m or 4 a.m or whatever it

might be and if you want you can sit

and do your practice for the next hour

and a half or whatever it is

and then go back to bed if you need to

take the precepts on your own if you

have to but i would recommend that

everybody comes here together and takes

the precepts there's a certain

vibe that happens when you do that

and take naps

naps really help and that doesn't mean

like half an hour nap or an hour and a

half now i'm talking about short

15 minute to 20 minute maps if you go

beyond that what's going to happen is

you're going to get into dreamland and

you're going to get groggy

but if you sleep for take a nap for 15

to 20 minutes it keeps the mind alert

and sharp

if you experience latin torpor

which is where the mind is just very

dull it's not sleepy necessarily but

it's just dull

then do some walking and meditate out if

it's good weather out in the light

and that will help

and walk backwards

that

sharpens the mind's attention

and when that happens then you're able

to be more connected with your object

but if you're just plain tired

there's no point in pushing yourself

get enough sleep make sure you get

enough sleep

and

you'll have better meditation sessions

that way

good