From: https://youtube.com/watch?v=U4vbsjAA7Us

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

[Music]

hello

my name is david johnson i manage the

online retreat program here at domestic

meditation center in missouri

thank you for signing up for your online

loving kindness retreat

i want to go over with you a few things

about how this program is going to work

you're going to learn the tranquil

wisdom insight meditation method

as it's taught by bonte vilma ramsay

monte has spent 40 years searching for

what he thinks the buddha taught

and we believe he's found it this is the

method which is based on the earliest

teachings of the buddha

the ancient pali suttas themselves

which have been passed down for 2600

years

this meditation called in pali

is the samata vipassana practice

this means it combines summita which

means the practice of tranquil

collectiveness

and vipassana which means to see

or incite so in other words this is the

practice of

samadhi which means tranquil wisdom

thus twim tranquil wisdom insight

meditation

you have heard many times the word

mindfulness

but we're going to show you a little bit

different twist on that

the pali word is sati sati means

watching the movement of mind's

attention

it doesn't mean focusing strongly on an

object

but just hanging out with that seeing

how the mind moves

you will see how craving arises and

pulls the mind away

and learn a method called the six r's

which lets

go of tension and tightnesses this is

what you're going to do when your mind

wanders

we call it the 6r process and be

much more about that later the suit to

say

don't just pull your mind back to your

object

but release your attention and

tranquilize the tension and tightness

that is pulling

it so when your mind wanders don't

just jerk it back because that's doing

it with craving

what you want to do is notice recognize

that your mind has wandered

and you've left the building you release

that attention to that wandering mind

then you relax any pull that is left

that is pulling you away or something

you want to think about

and then you're going to re-smile you're

going to put a

smile on your face during your entire

sitting

and then you return to your object

meditation which is the feeling of

loving kindness

and you repeat as necessary we're going

to show you how smiling

uplifts and makes your mindfulness

stronger and it's a trigger for bringing

up

more loving kindness we're going to show

you what the genres are

and how you will go through these

special states of understanding on the

retreat

these are the john is taught in the

suttas which are the fully aware genres

that are not that hard to attain when

combined with the 6r process

going through these states you will

start to come out of the swamp of the

deluded mind

out of depressive states out of anger

and hatred

and endless central desires you're going

to come to a place of happiness

and peace so that's a summary of what

you're going to learn

so let's go through the process now and

take a look and see

a few more details every day you'll

watch a video which is a talk from a

retreat that's previously been given by

ponte velma ramsey

these are in a special order so please

don't watch them out of order

this is in order to deepen your

understanding of how the meditation

works

and the progressive steps of the

meditation

[Music]

and also some background knowledge of

buddhism

now there's a playlist that's uh listed

on your program guide which is a a web

page

and it is a youtube playlist

and you can just click that and watch

all the videos in order

now of course you're going to be sitting

you're going to be sitting at least

twice a day for 30 minutes to start

and you'll be walking doing a walking

meditation at least once a day for

20 minutes to start and hopefully you'll

get

very much past that in the first few

days of the retreat but that's a minimum

you'll want to try to increase the time

as your sitting gets better

we suggest that later you don't even use

a timer

and just see how long your sitting goes

if it's going well

then keep sitting once you get up you

can lose that collectedness that you've

built up

and you'll find that you just can't get

get it back that easily

you can always open your eyes to see the

clock never sit

less than 30 minutes as it really isn't

enough to gain those deeper states

and don't move at all we're going to

give you

a booklet which you should read by the

end of the second day

it has everything about the meditation

that is typically asked by beginners

read it a few times if you like

and by the way for the week try to avoid

things like news tweeting

and facebook and entertainment

and try to focus on your meditation

you'll be taking five precepts

you don't need to take eight precepts

you'll be able to live

a normal life this is an online retreat

which you do at home

and it assumes some people have to work

and they have various

duties that they have to do or some

people will just go

out in a cabin and just retreat all week

it just depends on what you how deep you

want to take this

every day you're going to fill out an

interview sheet

the guide will look all the responses in

in the questions like

how long did you sit how long were you

on your

object in meditation before you wandered

away

did you experience anything special in

your best sitting or walking of the day

when you start the day every day you

need to take the refuges and the

precepts

these are taking refuge in the buddha's

teachings as your refuge for this week

you will also repeat and keep the six

moral precepts

for this period of time we want to avoid

any unwholesome

like actions and by doing that your mind

becomes tranquil

and remorse and guilt-free and your mind

can go much deeper into the practice

so please no killing of anything no

stealing

no taking things that are not given no

lying

no pro inappropriate conduct no drugs or

intoxicants that dull the mind you also

repeat some dhammapada sayings that will

put you in the right frame of mind

now we suggest not to do this the moment

you get out of bed

but rather get up do your washing and

breakfast and then sit afterward

if you can as your mind will be much

more awake

you can sit at lunch or in the evening

as well you can walk anywhere you like

just avoid somewhere that is overly

distracting

so back to how this works you'll be sent

a reminder

about a week before your retreat begins

by your guide

then the day of your retreat which is a

friday you should see a welcome

email you should start reading the

booklet that we send you

and watch the first orientation video by

bonte

from here on out just look at your

program guide and follow

to see what it does next there's a link

for your interview form on the program

guide

use the one that is for your specific

guide

you can fill this out and submit it

anytime during the day

and we'll get to it as soon as we can

you can always send questions

to your guide about anything at all i

wish you an amazing journey

if you follow instructions carefully you

are on your way to happiness and peace

okay so let's review the program and

just summarize

uh what it's going to be about as you

can see i'm

surrounded by the 6rs always 6r

and smile

ok so here we are so welcome to the

online retreat and this will

summarize what we just went through

so the first thing that happens is you

sign up

then you'll receive a confirmation from

your guide

as to thanking you for signing up

and just to let you know that they'll

send you another reminder about a week

before the retreat

begins feel free to reach out with

questions anytime before you retreat

now a week before the retreat your guy

will send you another reminder

that the retreat is about to start it's

going to start on

friday the next friday that's coming up

so prepare and get ready to meditate

then after the retreat another message

will be sent out

sunday or monday following the retreat

it'll have a few more things about what

to do next

and how to follow up

okay what is the program program

is watching a video each day of a talk

by bonte

go ahead and bookmark that playlist in

youtube

or it's also listed on your program

guide and you want to use the program

guide quite a bit

refer to it it gives you all the links

that you're going to need

for the precepts and refuges and the

videos

and of course you're going to be sitting

walking sit twice a day

walk at least one or two times a day

watch the first instruction video and

read the booklet you're given

that's on friday of the first night

take the refuges and the precepts daily

print out the sheet that's listed

and by the way you don't need to turn in

a report

on the first day of your retreat because

you need a day to get

to get going and each day you will fill

out an interview sheet

please fill out and submit each day so

your guide can write back to you and

advise you

on your progress

let's go over the met okay so let's go

over the meta instructions very quickly

always sit at least 30 minutes or longer

if it's going well

please don't move radiate 10 minutes of

loving kindness

to yourself first and smile the entire

sitting radiate meta for 20 minutes to a

spiritual friend

six are when your mind wanders and keeps

smiling

a spiritual friend is somebody of the

same sex they're alive

not a family member someone who you like

can appreciate

a friend a colleague counselor someone

who makes you smile

don't overthink this if you can't think

of somebody you can always use

monks or nuns as appropriate to your own

gender

walking meditation pick an area at least

30 paces long

find somewhere that is not too busy

where you can avoid distractions

walk at a normal rate just stroll then

take your spiritual friend for a walk

and radiate loving kindness

to he or she while you walk out in the

world

in general radiate loving kindness

wherever you go

anyone that you see all throughout the

day

smile all day long if you can

six are all the disturbances to the mind

and that's it okay

so finally

have fun smile smile

all the time it uplifts your mind and

makes you happy

and this is what we're trying to be is

happy

don't try too hard just hang out with

your spiritual friend and

smile with them like you're having a cup

of coffee see them

smile with them put put them in your

heart

you can [ __ ] use a chair there's no

magic in the floor

and with that good luck and have a great

retreat

you