From: https://youtube.com/watch?v=LLFs2oN3ugQ

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

I wanted to talk a little bit before I

begin the actual talk about the

importance of keeping the precepts and

keeping them all the time not just while

they're here

if you break a preset here it will very

negatively affect your meditation

practice so if you do something new an

aunt comes around you didn't really like

him didn't think about it and you kill

the app that will affect your your

practice negatively if that happens

please come and tell me there's there's

remedies for this I want your meditation

to be as good as possible

all of the time in in Burma there was a

man that he had a habit of saying things

that weren't true and his meditation

went from when he first got there

sitting three hours at a time great

posture no problems to at the end of the

retreat he could sit no more than 15

minutes and that's because he broke the

precepts knowingly and you didn't do

anything to correct it so I can correct

it for you it's not a big deal and

there's no

you're pointing or anything like that if

you break a precept please come and tell

me so that your meditation can be

settled as much as possible

now the precepts are real important to

keep in your daily life if you want your

meditation to really progress you have

to keep your precepts not killing on

purpose not taking anything that's not

given I'll give you an example of

somebody that just did this at the

center

they went into a computer and took

information that wasn't theirs to have

and even something as simple as that can

cause your mind to have a lot of remorse

and guilt in it and that will affect

your meditation very negatively so not

taking what is or taking what is not

given is real important make sure that

what you're taking is freely given or

offered

not having any wrong sexual activity

everybody's pretty well clear on that

one I think then we get into the speech

patterns not saying something that's not

true not causing different groups to

clash with each other this is called

slander I don't go to this group and say

do you hear what they're doing and they

get upset and then I go back to that

group and I say well they're upset at

you because they think you're doing this

and now you're dividing people instead

of bringing them together now the next

part of the speech is cursing harsh

speech

it's a habit that an awful lot of people

have gotten into and when I got back to

this country from Asia I was shocked at

how much cursing there was on television

on the radio and how everybody thought

it was okay to use all of these foul

words and it's not it because your mind

to have one hatred in it to causes

remorse even though you don't notice it

if you can't save words that are

pleasing and pleasant don't say anything

if you get angry and you have curse

words you have broken the precept if you

tell a joke and you use curse words you

have broken the precept and a little

thing like

I don't want to use any of those words

you know what the words are now one of

the reasons that you do this is because

it helps your mindfulness it helps your

clarity of knowing what you're going to

do before you do it and this is really

important and the last part of the

speech is gossip now what is gossip

gossip is sitting around and talking

about somebody else and then making up

stories about it that's what gossip

actually is it's just using your

imagination to say negative things about

other people so taking drugs and alcohol

as is the last precept now why don't you

take drugs and alcohol because you have

a tendency to break one of the other

precepts and it tells your mind

so taking these precepts that I have you

do every morning I really would like you

to continue taking the precepts every

morning not as a write-in ritual but as

a reminder to keep the precepts all day

and when you break one of the precepts

you don't beat yourself up and criticize

yourself and come down on yourself you

forgive yourself for making a mistake

take the precepts again with the

determination that you're not going to

break up yeah in the preceptor about

singing and dancing

the precept about singing and dancing is

during retreat but that will you'll go

back to five precepts that there's also

the precept of not eating solid food

after the noonday meal but okay now I

have actually changed the eight precepts

the last precept in in the suit does it

says that you're you don't sleep on high

and luxurious beds well we don't have

any high-end luxurious beds here I

changed that precept to be loving and

kind to yourself and all beings

that's another reminder now the

importance of keeping the precepts is

that the longer you can keep the

precepts without breaking them the

easier your meditation becomes and the

less you have trouble with hindrances

you're still going to have entrances

because how many lifetimes that we lived

and how many bad things have we done

those hindrances eventually come back

but it won't be near as troublesome when

you keep the precepts now the suta that

i was going to work with tonight is

called removing distracting fuss and

this has to do with what do you do and

precepts arise or what do you do when

hindrances arise excuse me

now almost everybody that has has had

any previous practice they've been

taught that when a hindrance arises it's

a bad thing and you need to suppress it

or you need to stop it you need to force

it away that is the opposite of the

Buddha's teaching the Buddha never

wanted anything to be suppressed

why because who's suppressing who

doesn't like it who doesn't want it I

don't it's me

these are my problems and I'm gonna stop

up and who wants to control well I do so

what we're doing is we're reinforcing

the hindrances and we're causing them to

come up more and more as we try to

control as we try to push away and stop

this particular suta is kind of

interesting because the first part of

the suta is from the Buddhist teaching

and the second part of the second third

fourth fifth part of the suit death is

not this suit has been it's it's come

later after an awful lot of people have

had practice in one pointed

concentration and absorption kinds of

concentration and I've talked to a lot

of monks that have done this practice

and the last part of this practice it

says if none of this other stuff works

then you're supposed to sit

mashing your tongue against the roof of

your mouth and crushing mind with mine

and I go there laughing telling other

monks you know I've never seen anybody

that had to do that and they go they're

going oh yeah we have to do that all the

time

well who's doing what here who doesn't

like the hindrance who wants it to be

different who's trying to control it and

that's what comes from the absorption

kinds of concentration that kind of

thinking because the hindrances really

are hard to get rid of

and they're real pesky because

hindrances don't only arise while you're

sitting in meditation hindrances are

rise all through life and if you don't

know how to handle it while you're being

quiet then how are you going to handle

it while you're being active see the

whole point of the Buddha's teaching is

learning how to recognize what mind is

doing in the present moment how to

recognize and then you practice this

exerts you recognize that your mind is

distracted release the distraction relax

the tightness caused by that distraction

in your mind and body BRE smile bring up

that wholesome object come back to your

object of meditation repeat this whole

process

the six R's are not a club to stop

anything or beat anything away or change

anything

the six R's are a way of recognizing how

your mind is acting in the present

moment this is right effort in in the

full path right effort there's four

parts that says you notice when you have

an unwholesome state you let go of that

unwholesome state and relax you bring up

a wholesome state smile come back to

your object of meditation stay with that

object of meditation stay with that

smile

so it's it's a real important aspect of

the teaching to learn how the entrance

arises to be quite honest your hindrance

is your teacher and it is the best

teacher that you could possibly ever ask

for why because it's showing you where

your attachments are what's your

attachment I am that I am this emotion I

am this thought I am this feeling the

hindrance when it arises does it in the

same way every time

I don't care what hindrance it is the

hindrance arises in exactly the same way

you can call it a distraction whatever

you want to call it just don't curse

that it

a feeling arises and that feeling can be

pleasant or it can be painful or it can

be neither one it can be neither PES

Pleasant nor painting for as soon as

that feeling arises there is a tension

and tightness that arises in your mind

and in your body this is how you're able

to recognize when craving horizons

craving always manifest as tension and

tightness in your mind and in your body

it's subtle

it happens fast as soon as that feeling

arises right behind it there's this

tightness right after that there's the

clinging the clinging is all of your

concepts your opinions your ideas your

story about your eye your preferences

and that's where the verbalization

starts and right after that then you

have your habitual tendencies every time

this series of things happen I always

act that way somebody says this I always

get angry and yell back somebody cuts me

off

I always pound my steering wheel and

yell back at them so your habitual

tendency is where the action for the

emotion really lies

it's I just went through a major change

in my life my mother just died

my family they don't get along very well

I had to make a conscious decision

to let go of all of my old habitual

tendencies of not liking this and

fighting with this person or that person

and it's a conscious decision that you

make if you don't make a conscious

decision to let go of all of your

emotional garbage then you're gonna

continually be caught by it over and

over and over and over and over again

though and this was a pretty heavy-duty

learning experience some of my relatives

would come up to me and they would say

incredibly nasty things which in the

past would have made me very angry now I

look at what they were saying and at one

point a poor person you're really

suffering compassion came up I didn't

take things personally

when you don't take what arises

personally then you have a balanced

perspective you have a balanced mind and

with that balanced mind there's nothing

that will knock you off balance and in

two scoops these relatives were always

they were bad and I've got a lot of

relatives they were always coming up to

me in one white one form or another

trying to make some kind of negative

reaction happen and what I had to do was

to be able to recognize that that's what

was happening release it relax into it

and smile

drove them crazy they didn't know what

to think of it and after a while they

stopped trying

so hindrances can come up at any time

for any reason they can be little they

can be big a lot of them are real sneaky

they'll just creep up and all of a

sudden they're there now where is your

mindfulness

what does mindfulness mean give me a

definition somebody thank you what is

mindfulness what what's the definition

of it

part of it

seeing how Minds attention moved from

one thing to another

it's that observation mind it's the mind

that's really clear and bright and alert

so

what is the fastest easiest way to

develop your mindfulness

meta communication months six hours

smile

and all of you were directed

the more you can smile during the day

the more uplifted your mind becomes

the more uplifted your mind becomes the

more alert you are when your mind starts

to get heavy and starts to be pulled

down and you can notice that recognize

it really quickly you know the the

Buddha talked a lot or the way I was

taught Buddhism is that the Buddha

talked a lot about suffering all life is

suffering oh this is suffering that

suffering dukka dukka everywhere you

look is deep that wasn't what his

teaching was his teaching was yeah it's

there welcome to real life

but there's a cause of it and there's a

way to let go of it so you can be happy

the main thrust of the four efforts

recognizing unwholesome state let it go

bring up the wholesome state and keep

the wholesome state going

what does smiling do see

and it sharpens your alertness more than

a little bit

you really become aware of what your

mind is doing in the present moment it's

real easy to see when your mind grabs on

to something's that oh I don't like that

person whoa what's that what kind of

state have you just developed isn't that

a kind of hindrance the whole point is

being able to recognize these things so

we don't get caught by them and I

haven't even started

okay this is the way the suit goes and

I'll get it more into this in just a

minute

thus if I heard on one occasion the

blessed one was living in Swati and

jeta's grove anathapindika's park barry

addressed the monks thus monks venerable

sir they replayed the Blessed One said

this mumps when a monk is pursuing the

higher mind from time to time he should

give attention to some science what are

they here monks when a monk is giving

attention to some sign and owing to that

sign there arising in evil unwholesome

thoughts connected with desire with ate

with delusion question you can't answer

this time

you know the answer already what is

delusion

it's a common word everybody knows what

is it it's almost like a three you might

things that aren't there

picturing

and not quite don't say the truth and

what is the truth what is the ultimate

reality do you think I think that's

close that's deluded is a mind that's

taking things personally this is me this

is mine this is who I am

that's a deluded mind why because you

get caught up in your thinking about an

identifying with and that is a cause of

suffering

my personality

yes I am or vasila dancer in order to

make it really believable this dilution

you have to right first of all the I

capitalize done yes makes the statement

yes never goes away and you see the

ghost I know it's right young you'd be

putting the processor a papaya attack to

this on top of already we are first

thinkable personality now eyes think

that and I in my opinion and so on then

you put another oppaya on top of that

whole process of illusion round it is

nice it was you know that way yeah when

you get right down to it we only think

in concepts this is a big one

we only think in concepts and we always

take concepts personally just a

different way of saying yeah you're in

there that is really good to understand

we always talk in concept yeah yeah

everything we had any chocolate concepts

no because that's the only way we know

how to communicate but now Jason Lee

happy who then yes talked of this

concept but there is faculty which is

quite knowing we'll get to that in just

a minute

yeah okay so the whole thing is a

deluded mind is a mind that's taking

what ever is thinking about personally

and that causes your awareness to

contract and that causes tension to

arise in your body that's how you

recognize creepy

every time you see tension and tightness

in your mind and in your body especially

in your head because that's where it's

subtle and that's where it really does

start to grab on you have a headache

what do you think is actually happening

with that headache there's this

contraction I don't like it this feeling

of unpleasant they don't like it and it

keeps getting worse and worse and worse

if you recognize that that's happening

you reckon you relax all of the muscles

in your neck relax that tension and

tightness in your head it's amazing how

fast a headache will go away and you

don't even need an aspirin

and that's not hundred-percent there are

other physical causes for a headache it

depends on toxins in the body and that

sort of thing we won't go into but it's

just okay so we have a rising in him

evil unwholesome thoughts connected with

desire with a twith delusion then he

should give attention to some other sign

connected with what is also sounds like

the sixers to me well letting go of the

distraction relaxing and smiling means

putting your attention on another object

this wholes

when he gives attention to some other

side God with what is wholesome than any

evil unwholesome thoughts connected with

desire with ate with delusion are

abandoned in him and subside

how can they be abandon and subside

every time you let go of the craving

that tension and tightness you'll notice

right after that your mind is very

bright your mind is very alert and your

mind is pure bring that mind back to

your object of meditation

that's how you build that awesome

faculty

and there's there's pure knowing when

you don't have any craving in it and

surprise surprise this is the third

noble truth the cessation of suffering

so every time you practice the six arts

every time you let go of that craving

experiencing a tiny moment of relief and

that relief has no heat in it and that

lack of heat is nepata it's mundane to

be short and you have to experience it

Oh hundreds of well maybe millions maybe

a few hundred millions of times before

it becomes habit and your mind just goes

oh let's just let go of this craving all

the way can happen does happen

not can does so the whole thing about

what we're talking about here is

learning how to gently let go of the

cause of suffering not suppress it not

taking a stick and beating it down they

use some words like abandon and in a way

this is a very good word to use no I'll

give you why that is right now when you

have a hindrance and you get involved

with the hindrance you're trying to

control it around and you're all caught

up in it by keeping your attention on

the hindrance you're feeding it you're

giving it you're giving it neutral

nutrition when you allow the space for

that hindrance to be there without

trying to change it without trying to

make it any different than it is you let

it be and you relax and you come back to

a wholesome object you're taking that

food away you're not feeding the

hindrance so the hindrance doesn't get

stronger and stronger and stronger it

starts to get weaker and weaker until

finally that hindrance gets so weak it

can't even arise again when that happens

you feel a very strong sense of reason

right after that relief you feel joyful

strong joy uplifting joy feel very light

in your mind light in your body really a

happy feeling that will last for a

little while and right after that you'll

feel very tranquil peaceful home

and

mind will stay on the object of

meditation without moving without much

problem at all that is what the Buddha

called happiness

now what I just described to you is how

you experience the first jhana it's not

mystical it's not magical it takes a lot

of work to get there

by recognizing the hindrance letting go

of the hindrance relaxing into that

smiling coming back to your object of

meditation and staying with your object

annotation

now the hindrances they are they're

absolutely brilliant for some people

they come up so much and there are so

troublesome that they get to find out

where their attachment truly is how the

difference between the different kind of

meditation practices that are happening

today is that this one extra step of

relaxing and letting go of that craving

is not practiced very much and when it's

not practiced your mind tends towards

the one pointed concentration or

absorption concentration now this in

itself is not necessarily bad but what

happens is let me explain how how you do

the one point is concentration your

mother is under object of meditation it

gets distracted you let go of the

distraction and immediately come back

you do that for a period of time you go

through a lot of changes and eventually

your mind becomes absorbs and stays on

this one object of meditation at your

point another mind

now when that happens what happens is

the force of the concentration

suppresses and stops the hindrance from

arising so when you lose your

concentration guess who comes for dinner

you get you getting these entrances

coming at you from all different ways

you don't know what it is and you go oh

geez I gotta run back and sit in

meditation because that's the only

relief I can find now when you're

practicing what I'm showing you right

now your mind is on your object of

meditation if it's distracted you let go

of the distraction relax

smile

that one extra step of relaxed changes

the destination and the way the

meditation works

so it's real important to remember that

that relax step is the one that lets go

of the grieving now you can be going

along and all of a sudden the hindrance

comes up and you're distracted by it and

then you recognize it it doesn't matter

whether its luster or hatred or aversion

or sleepiness and dullness or

restlessness or doubt it doesn't matter

what the content of that hindrance is

your job as the meditator is not to

wonder why did this have to have to

happen to me right now I wish it would

stop and go away your job is to allow

the space for that hindrance to be there

without trying to change it or make it

any different than it is then relax into

that smile and come back to your object

of meditation now the next time that

hindrance arises which it will how'd

that happen how'd your mind go from

being on your object of meditation over

here to whatever this entrance was how

is the question

as you become familiar with this as a

process instead of a personal thing to

fight with you start to see that right

before your mind really got taken away

for a period of time there's something

else that was there so you let it go and

you come back and you go I'm gonna watch

for this see what happens before that

and right before your mind gets taken

away you see it again and you go oh

there is something there and then you

let it go and relax and come back and

you get distracted as soon as that

something else I'm not going to tell you

what it did arises you'll see it and

you'll let it go right then then you're

not distracted anymore for long periods

of time what happens is as you become

more familiar with this as a process the

hindrance is teaching you exactly

precisely how dependent origination

actually works

you remember what I was saying before

there's a feeling that arises and in the

craving and the clinging and the ritual

Damon see yes a lot that's dependent

origination that's not all of it

but you're not going to see all of it at

first you're just going to see different

parties and the hindrances are the thing

that's teaching you that so it's really

as as much of a pain in the neck as it

is sometimes it's really a necessary

thing to have the hindrances to have the

distractions because they help you go

deeper now after you let go of one then

you go through all of this great stuff

all of a sudden your mindfulness slips

entrance comes again now you get to work

with this entrance and finally you let

go of this entrance and you'll go deeper

into your meditation the hindrances help

you to go from one level of

understanding to another because you're

starting to look more and more closely

at how the process works

this is what meditation is about it's

not about sitting on some rock blissing

out it's about learning how we act and

react all the time

learning how to recognize the entrances

when they come up and not take them

personally and like I said I had to do

that very consciously and sometimes we

have to do it that way we have to just

we're gonna say ok I'm going to take a

day or I'm going to take a week and I'm

not gonna let anyone upset my mind they

can say anything to me they can do

anything they want and I'm not going to

have this old habitual tendency rearing

its head and grabbing on and getting

into all kinds of emotional turmoil so

the more we can make that conscious

decision to be happy and not take things

personally the clearer our mind becomes

the more balanced we have in our life

and life actually starts to become fun

novel idea

so the more we can practice this way the

easier life becomes the more contentment

we have with what's happening in the

present moment now as as I was I had to

go into stores and do things as last

month or so and what I started noticing

as my mind didn't have any buttons to

push I was looking around at other

people and they were smiling they'd look

at me and start smiling I wasn't smiling

at them first they were smiling at me

because they felt a release that I had

in myself we affect the world around us

whether we like to admit it or not

and the more we let go of our

attachments our anger our

dissatisfaction the louder we affect the

world around us positively

I know what's happening in the economy

right now it's all frightening there's

nothing to be afraid of the Buddha was

magnificent at showing how you manifest

things he manifested food for all of the

mumps every day he didn't magic he did

it with uplift in mind he taught the

most to have an uplifted mine to be

happy and everybody else around them

what I want some of that and I'm willing

to support you to keep doing that

there's three parts of meditation and

almost nobody talks about the first two

the first part of meditation is

practicing your generosity what are you

doing right now you're sitting wishing

somebody else will

oh you're practicing your generosity

with your mind or each other practice it

with your speech practice it with your

actions it doesn't mean that you have to

always give something to somebody else

outside of sometimes it just takes a pat

on the back my one brother was at the at

the sink doing something in the morning

and I went up to him and I patted his

fat stomach

he's looked at me tanning said if you do

that advance I'm gonna have to kiss you

sometimes I could do that with my

brother than sometimes I couldn't

sometimes we have great fun laughs and

other times it wasn't and that's well

it's part of life too but mine stays

balanced

when you make the conscious decision I

want to change I don't want to stay the

way I'm I've always been

then it takes the practice of doing the

smiling the wishing other people well

the happiness with yourself the laughing

and I know bumps aren't supposed to

laugh well there's a roll that says

monks can't laugh out loud on them in

monastery bunk

that's not a curse I've been to a lot of

monasteries monks are giggling and

laughing all the time they don't show it

to laymen very much and that's a mistake

if you want to teach somebody a lesson

then don't talk to them about what you

want to teach show

teach by example

if you wanted to show somebody else how

to be happy and be happy

and be happy not only when you're with

somebody else be happy when you're by

yourself one of the things that monks

learn straight up pretty quick after

they become monks is how to be alone

without being lonely I prefer being

alone I hide away as much as I can

because I like being with myself

how many other people do you know can

say that

if I had the time and opportunity I

would hide away for weeks without ever

seeing anybody else

and that's fine don't get depressed

don't get sad don't get upset

takes practice

that's what you're doing here right now

and you say well that's being selfish

going out and hiding for two weeks I

spend a lot of time practicing my

generosity even though there's nobody

around to practice but practicing with

everybody

the second part of the meditation is

keeping your precepts this is all

interconnected so meditation is

generosity morality and then mental

development in that order if you don't

have your your sila you don't have your

morality high then doing your meditation

you're gonna have a lot of time walking

through the mud trying to clear out all

of this other stuff that you've caused

problems for yourself by breaking the

precept

another part of the meditation is that

you cannot blame anything out there for

your suffering

I had somebody tell me that they oh we

got to get away from this place because

they gossip and I don't want to be

around gossip you could be around gossip

or not you can pay attention to it or

not you can get up and walk away you

don't have to leave a place because

somebody else is breaking a precept

and you have to there was another

another monk in who's from Korea in

Burma while I was there and he was

another one of these guys that could

really meditate a lot it was really good

he'd come in I saw him sit for six hours

without moving I mean though that's

impressive

and he decided that he didn't like the

rule of not eating after the noonday

meal and he started eating and before

long he couldn't sit more than 5-10

minutes and he caused that for himself

and it caught a lot of monks and caused

them they have a lot of entrances

because they saw him doing it and then

they were judging him as being a bad

monk and I finally looked at that and

went well I care whether he eats or not

doesn't have anything to do with me let

him go let him do let him learn his own

lessons I don't have to get caught up in

the things that are happening around me

and get into this critical judging mind

what is a critical judging mine

unwholesome

so the whole thing comes down to

learning how to have this uplifted happy

mind all the time

and because we have old habits that we

might be doing for a lot of lifetimes

looking at ways into particular things

in a particular way liking this

disliking that it takes work to let go

of old habits

but it's just another hindrance as more

grist for the mill it's nothing

I had to see what time it was because

they still get a lot everyone let's say

okay I wanted to go to this this section

here that talks about the what you do

when you're practicing one pointed

concentration and I want to show you

where this is taken word for word from

another symptom that says don't do this

but this is saying do it when a monk is

giving attention to some sign oh into

that sign there arise in him evil

unwholesome thoughts connected with

desire eight of delusion then when he

gives attention to some other sign

connected with what is wholesome any

evil unwholesome thoughts are abandoned

in him subside with the abandon

oops there's another moment if while

giving attention to stilling the thought

formations of those thoughts they're

still in our eyes in him evil

unwholesome thoughts connected with

desire ain't and delusion then with his

teeth clutched his tongue pressed

against the roof of his mouth he should

beat down constrain CREF mind

- when with his teeth clutched and his

tongue pressed against the roof of his

mouth he beats down constrains and

crushes mine was mine than any evil

unwholesome thoughts connected with

desire a toward illusion are abandoning

them can you imagine how could they be

abandoned okay now this is souped at

number 20 I'm going to suit to number 36

yeah

and this is called the greater discourse

of sachika and this is a discourse about

all of the aesthetic factor a lot of the

ascetic practices that the Buddha did

and it's like holding his breath or not

taking food and it goes through all of

these different things he went as far as

he could with each one of these

practices to see whether it was the

right way or not okay so I thought

suppose with my teeth clutched my tongue

pressed against the roof of my mouth I

beat down constrain and crush mine with

mine so with my teeth pledged my tongue

pressed against the roof of my mouth I

beat down and constrained and crushed

mine was mine while I did so sweat ran

from my armpits just as a strong man

might seize a weaker by it by the head

or shoulders and beating down

constraining and crush him so - with my

teeth clutched my tongue pressed against

the roof of my mouth I beat down

constrained and fresh mind with mine

sweat ran from my armpits

but although tireless energy was aroused

in me unremitting mindfulness was

established my body was overrun calm

because I was exhausted by the painful

striving now what is that telling you is

this a good thing to do or not what he's

saying is this is a practice that really

is not a good practice to do it does

not lead to nirvana it does not lead to

pets I've read many many books short

books long books on the hindrances and

almost everybody that writes about the

hindrances writes about them being some

kind of a problem to push away to stop

but the hindrances are where our

attachments are if you're pushing away

your attachments you're not seeing your

attachment if you're not seeing it

you're not letting it go you're not

practicing what the Buddha taught it's a

major part of domestic yeah

it's very very important not to fight

with these kind of disturbances when

they come up and the more clearly you

can recognize them while you're sitting

in practice the easier it is to

recognize them with your daily

activities

and this brings us to the realization

that meditation is not about sitting

meditation is about living and that's

one of the things that people that

practice absorption concentration a lot

of your your Zen people they talk about

sitting and in real life oh just go on

the cushion that'll take care of

everything for a little while

and then real light comes up and bites

them and they have all of these

emotional outbursts these unwholesome

states arising because they're

identifying with these unwholesome

states so so much of the time

so it's real easy to

want to fight something that's as

unpleasant as restlessness it's not a

pleasant feeling anchor is not a

pleasant feeling but the problem with

the hindrances is that they don't come

up one at a time one of them will come

up and then another one right behind it

and they start ganging up on you beating

up on you

well I have this feeling of restlessness

I don't like this feeling I wanted to

stop who has a version in their mind

they say you got restlessness and

aversion it's like that old saying of

kick em while they're down that's what

the hindrances do especially when you

take it personally as you keep allowing

the space for these things to be there

without trying to make them different

than they are a painful feeling when it

comes up the truth is it's painful and

it's okay that it's painful it has to be

okay that's the truth

allow the truth to be there by itself

release it relax

come back to your object of meditation

smile

if you can get in the habit of doing

this you are naturally going to have

personality development and that's a

positive thing

the things that used to get you unhappy

now never mind not that big a deal

takes a lot of effort to do that

and it takes

a lot of courage to do it because once

we get into a habit we like the habit to

stay even if it's an unwholesome habit

we don't want it really to change change

is frightening well what happens if I

don't have this response anymore well

I'll tell you what's gonna happen you're

gonna be happier but you have to prove

that for yourself I wish I could give

everybody all the happiness in the world

but I can't we gotta do it for ourselves

and what's the first step in doing

it's fine

wishing somebody else would

there's another thing I want you to do

with your meditation and I forgot to say

it last night and that is when you're

going to sleep you make a determination

that you're going to wake up at a

particular time don't make it the same

time every every every morning 459 for

501 like that and that you're going to

wake up smiling and happy it's a nice

way to start

once you have the smile going keep it

going

make it sincere

not just painted on smile halloa painted

on smile is good even if you don't feel

like smiling smile anyway it has its

positive effects

okay

does anybody have any questions the

questions about the practice or what

you've heard tonight earlier about three

aspects of meditation two of which most

teachers don't teach generosity and

morality and morality okay it's not that

they don't teach it they don't teach it

as these are part of meditation they

teach them separately but meditation has

one meaning that means sitting like a

rock

and it's not that meditation is life

life is meditation

and that's how we have to

practice

you know it's not my practice is over

here and I'm going to do anything I want

over here they have to be interconnected

and that's why when the Buddha was

teaching so many farmers they were very

simple folks he taught them very simply

you smile you be happy you practice your

generosity you'd be a good person and

keep your morality going that's all over

all of your meditation and that's why he

was so successful

um he said once I thought it was really

nice that the generosity part of the

training was the preparation of opening

the heart and that if you're not

understanding the generosity of

development of a generous mind a

generous Beach and generous actions then

you're not taking all the steps to open

the heart to prepare the heart for the

next part of the training which is one

way to look at it in the suit is that

you read the word sight

a concept you know your object

meditation that's the sign but it's also

the site there's a negative sign so

that's the hindrance yeah

I think for some people here might be

worth to commemorate it within

categories of the traditional diseases I

did there's lust or greedy mind my

there's hatred for a version mind I

don't want same coin different sites one

of them is trying to do this the other

one is trying to do that sleepiness

dullness and tired and bored order this

by by one of one of the science that

you're actually doing the meditation

correctly just go through it

restlessness anxiety

it causes your mind well the in in need

study batana suit it says that

contracted mite is sloth and torpor and

the distracted mind his restlessness

and then there's doubt and that's not

doubt of whether I should go into town

today or wear pink or wear blues it's am

I doing this right it doesn't seem right

it's questioning what you're doing the

only way to overcome doubt the I don't

know mine has come to the teacher

now the fastest way that I know to let

go of a hindrance is by

laughing and how crazy your mind is for

getting cut again that I'm not saying

laugh out loud I'm just saying it when

you laugh you go from I am - oh it's

only that it goes from I'm personally

this is me - no it's it's just this

stuff it's okay so the more fun you have

with your meditation the lighter your

meditation is the faster your progress

becomes

somewhere along the line after all of us

were two years old somebody got a hold

of us and said life is suffering and

before that it was always fun I want to

be reading talk about distractions and

evil I'm not sure but the word evil came

up yes evil unwholesome curious how that

word is evil evil unwholesome means

you're taking it personally okay that's

and that's why it is evil because it's

causing your mind to do this it's

causing your mind to really grab on try

to control and force things to be the

way you want this to be some people

spend their whole lives doing that

they're quite successful but they're not

necessarily happy

yeah then I have a destruction is that

always anything that pulls your mind

away from radiating the feeling of

loving-kindness making a wish for

happiness and sending that happiness to

your friend anything other than that is

a distraction now something you have to

really understand is there can be

distractions like the sound of a door

whatever but it doesn't really pull your

mind to it if it doesn't pull your mind

to it just let it go it's nothing but if

your mind like a fly lands on you your

mind really goes to where that fly is

now you treat it like it

like a distraction should I you know

this China going on yeah it's not

pulling your mind to it just don't even

pay attention to it okay

makes life easier

okay

let's America 173 and the fierce

fearless be needed a grieving shadow

break them now being spied relief may

all beings share this merit that we are

thus acquired for the acquisition of all

kinds of that begins in having space

under it as long as a mighty power

okay

you

I wanted to talk a little bit before I

begin the actual talk about the

importance of keeping the precepts and

keeping them all the time not just while

they're here

if you break a preset here it will very

negatively affect your meditation

practice so if you do something new an

aunt comes around you didn't really like

him didn't think about it and you kill

the app that will affect your your

practice negatively if that happens

please come and tell me there's there's

remedies for this I want your meditation

to be as good as possible

all of the time in in Burma there was a

man that he had a habit of saying things

that weren't true and his meditation

went from when he first got there

sitting three hours at a time great

posture no problems to at the end of the

retreat he could sit no more than 15

minutes and that's because he broke the

precepts knowingly and you didn't do

anything to correct it so I can correct

it for you it's not a big deal and

there's no

you're pointing or anything like that if

you break a precept please come and tell

me so that your meditation can be

settled as much as possible

now the precepts are real important to

keep in your daily life if you want your

meditation to really progress you have

to keep your precepts not killing on

purpose not taking anything that's not

given I'll give you an example of

somebody that just did this at the

center

they went into a computer and took

information that wasn't theirs to have

and even something as simple as that can

cause your mind to have a lot of remorse

and guilt in it and that will affect

your meditation very negatively so not

taking what is or taking what is not

given is real important make sure that

what you're taking is freely given or

offered

not having any wrong sexual activity

everybody's pretty well clear on that

one I think then we get into the speech

patterns not saying something that's not

true not causing different groups to

clash with each other this is called

slander I don't go to this group and say

do you hear what they're doing and they

get upset and then I go back to that

group and I say well they're upset at

you because they think you're doing this

and now you're dividing people instead

of bringing them together now the next

part of the speech is cursing harsh

speech

it's a habit that an awful lot of people

have gotten into and when I got back to

this country from Asia I was shocked at

how much cursing there was on television

on the radio and how everybody thought

it was okay to use all of these foul

words and it's not it because your mind

to have one hatred in it to causes

remorse even though you don't notice it

if you can't save words that are

pleasing and pleasant don't say anything

if you get angry and you have curse

words you have broken the precept if you

tell a joke and you use curse words you

have broken the precept and a little

thing like

I don't want to use any of those words

you know what the words are now one of

the reasons that you do this is because

it helps your mindfulness it helps your

clarity of knowing what you're going to

do before you do it and this is really

important and the last part of the

speech is gossip now what is gossip

gossip is sitting around and talking

about somebody else and then making up

stories about it that's what gossip

actually is it's just using your

imagination to say negative things about

other people so taking drugs and alcohol

as is the last precept now why don't you

take drugs and alcohol because you have

a tendency to break one of the other

precepts and it tells your mind

so taking these precepts that I have you

do every morning I really would like you

to continue taking the precepts every

morning not as a write-in ritual but as

a reminder to keep the precepts all day

and when you break one of the precepts

you don't beat yourself up and criticize

yourself and come down on yourself you

forgive yourself for making a mistake

take the precepts again with the

determination that you're not going to

break up yeah in the preceptor about

singing and dancing

the precept about singing and dancing is

during retreat but that will you'll go

back to five precepts that there's also

the precept of not eating solid food

after the noonday meal but okay now I

have actually changed the eight precepts

the last precept in in the suit does it

says that you're you don't sleep on high

and luxurious beds well we don't have

any high-end luxurious beds here I

changed that precept to be loving and

kind to yourself and all beings

that's another reminder now the

importance of keeping the precepts is

that the longer you can keep the

precepts without breaking them the

easier your meditation becomes and the

less you have trouble with hindrances

you're still going to have entrances

because how many lifetimes that we lived

and how many bad things have we done

those hindrances eventually come back

but it won't be near as troublesome when

you keep the precepts now the suta that

i was going to work with tonight is

called removing distracting fuss and

this has to do with what do you do and

precepts arise or what do you do when

hindrances arise excuse me

now almost everybody that has has had

any previous practice they've been

taught that when a hindrance arises it's

a bad thing and you need to suppress it

or you need to stop it you need to force

it away that is the opposite of the

Buddha's teaching the Buddha never

wanted anything to be suppressed

why because who's suppressing who

doesn't like it who doesn't want it I

don't it's me

these are my problems and I'm gonna stop

up and who wants to control well I do so

what we're doing is we're reinforcing

the hindrances and we're causing them to

come up more and more as we try to

control as we try to push away and stop

this particular suta is kind of

interesting because the first part of

the suta is from the Buddhist teaching

and the second part of the second third

fourth fifth part of the suit death is

not this suit has been it's it's come

later after an awful lot of people have

had practice in one pointed

concentration and absorption kinds of

concentration and I've talked to a lot

of monks that have done this practice

and the last part of this practice it

says if none of this other stuff works

then you're supposed to sit

mashing your tongue against the roof of

your mouth and crushing mind with mine

and I go there laughing telling other

monks you know I've never seen anybody

that had to do that and they go they're

going oh yeah we have to do that all the

time

well who's doing what here who doesn't

like the hindrance who wants it to be

different who's trying to control it and

that's what comes from the absorption

kinds of concentration that kind of

thinking because the hindrances really

are hard to get rid of

and they're real pesky because

hindrances don't only arise while you're

sitting in meditation hindrances are

rise all through life and if you don't

know how to handle it while you're being

quiet then how are you going to handle

it while you're being active see the

whole point of the Buddha's teaching is

learning how to recognize what mind is

doing in the present moment how to

recognize and then you practice this

exerts you recognize that your mind is

distracted release the distraction relax

the tightness caused by that distraction

in your mind and body BRE smile bring up

that wholesome object come back to your

object of meditation repeat this whole

process

the six R's are not a club to stop

anything or beat anything away or change

anything

the six R's are a way of recognizing how

your mind is acting in the present

moment this is right effort in in the

full path right effort there's four

parts that says you notice when you have

an unwholesome state you let go of that

unwholesome state and relax you bring up

a wholesome state smile come back to

your object of meditation stay with that

object of meditation stay with that

smile

so it's it's a real important aspect of

the teaching to learn how the entrance

arises to be quite honest your hindrance

is your teacher and it is the best

teacher that you could possibly ever ask

for why because it's showing you where

your attachments are what's your

attachment I am that I am this emotion I

am this thought I am this feeling the

hindrance when it arises does it in the

same way every time

I don't care what hindrance it is the

hindrance arises in exactly the same way

you can call it a distraction whatever

you want to call it just don't curse

that it

a feeling arises and that feeling can be

pleasant or it can be painful or it can

be neither one it can be neither PES

Pleasant nor painting for as soon as

that feeling arises there is a tension

and tightness that arises in your mind

and in your body this is how you're able

to recognize when craving horizons

craving always manifest as tension and

tightness in your mind and in your body

it's subtle

it happens fast as soon as that feeling

arises right behind it there's this

tightness right after that there's the

clinging the clinging is all of your

concepts your opinions your ideas your

story about your eye your preferences

and that's where the verbalization

starts and right after that then you

have your habitual tendencies every time

this series of things happen I always

act that way somebody says this I always

get angry and yell back somebody cuts me

off

I always pound my steering wheel and

yell back at them so your habitual

tendency is where the action for the

emotion really lies

it's I just went through a major change

in my life my mother just died

my family they don't get along very well

I had to make a conscious decision

to let go of all of my old habitual

tendencies of not liking this and

fighting with this person or that person

and it's a conscious decision that you

make if you don't make a conscious

decision to let go of all of your

emotional garbage then you're gonna

continually be caught by it over and

over and over and over and over again

though and this was a pretty heavy-duty

learning experience some of my relatives

would come up to me and they would say

incredibly nasty things which in the

past would have made me very angry now I

look at what they were saying and at one

point a poor person you're really

suffering compassion came up I didn't

take things personally

when you don't take what arises

personally then you have a balanced

perspective you have a balanced mind and

with that balanced mind there's nothing

that will knock you off balance and in

two scoops these relatives were always

they were bad and I've got a lot of

relatives they were always coming up to

me in one white one form or another

trying to make some kind of negative

reaction happen and what I had to do was

to be able to recognize that that's what

was happening release it relax into it

and smile

drove them crazy they didn't know what

to think of it and after a while they

stopped trying

so hindrances can come up at any time

for any reason they can be little they

can be big a lot of them are real sneaky

they'll just creep up and all of a

sudden they're there now where is your

mindfulness

what does mindfulness mean give me a

definition somebody thank you what is

mindfulness what what's the definition

of it

part of it

seeing how Minds attention moved from

one thing to another

it's that observation mind it's the mind

that's really clear and bright and alert

so

what is the fastest easiest way to

develop your mindfulness

meta communication months six hours

smile

and all of you were directed

the more you can smile during the day

the more uplifted your mind becomes

the more uplifted your mind becomes the

more alert you are when your mind starts

to get heavy and starts to be pulled

down and you can notice that recognize

it really quickly you know the the

Buddha talked a lot or the way I was

taught Buddhism is that the Buddha

talked a lot about suffering all life is

suffering oh this is suffering that

suffering dukka dukka everywhere you

look is deep that wasn't what his

teaching was his teaching was yeah it's

there welcome to real life

but there's a cause of it and there's a

way to let go of it so you can be happy

the main thrust of the four efforts

recognizing unwholesome state let it go

bring up the wholesome state and keep

the wholesome state going

what does smiling do see

and it sharpens your alertness more than

a little bit

you really become aware of what your

mind is doing in the present moment it's

real easy to see when your mind grabs on

to something's that oh I don't like that

person whoa what's that what kind of

state have you just developed isn't that

a kind of hindrance the whole point is

being able to recognize these things so

we don't get caught by them and I

haven't even started

okay this is the way the suit goes and

I'll get it more into this in just a

minute

thus if I heard on one occasion the

blessed one was living in Swati and

jeta's grove anathapindika's park barry

addressed the monks thus monks venerable

sir they replayed the Blessed One said

this mumps when a monk is pursuing the

higher mind from time to time he should

give attention to some science what are

they here monks when a monk is giving

attention to some sign and owing to that

sign there arising in evil unwholesome

thoughts connected with desire with ate

with delusion question you can't answer

this time

you know the answer already what is

delusion

it's a common word everybody knows what

is it it's almost like a three you might

things that aren't there

picturing

and not quite don't say the truth and

what is the truth what is the ultimate

reality do you think I think that's

close that's deluded is a mind that's

taking things personally this is me this

is mine this is who I am

that's a deluded mind why because you

get caught up in your thinking about an

identifying with and that is a cause of

suffering

my personality

yes I am or vasila dancer in order to

make it really believable this dilution

you have to right first of all the I

capitalize done yes makes the statement

yes never goes away and you see the

ghost I know it's right young you'd be

putting the processor a papaya attack to

this on top of already we are first

thinkable personality now eyes think

that and I in my opinion and so on then

you put another oppaya on top of that

whole process of illusion round it is

nice it was you know that way yeah when

you get right down to it we only think

in concepts this is a big one

we only think in concepts and we always

take concepts personally just a

different way of saying yeah you're in

there that is really good to understand

we always talk in concept yeah yeah

everything we had any chocolate concepts

no because that's the only way we know

how to communicate but now Jason Lee

happy who then yes talked of this

concept but there is faculty which is

quite knowing we'll get to that in just

a minute

yeah okay so the whole thing is a

deluded mind is a mind that's taking

what ever is thinking about personally

and that causes your awareness to

contract and that causes tension to

arise in your body that's how you

recognize creepy

every time you see tension and tightness

in your mind and in your body especially

in your head because that's where it's

subtle and that's where it really does

start to grab on you have a headache

what do you think is actually happening

with that headache there's this

contraction I don't like it this feeling

of unpleasant they don't like it and it

keeps getting worse and worse and worse

if you recognize that that's happening

you reckon you relax all of the muscles

in your neck relax that tension and

tightness in your head it's amazing how

fast a headache will go away and you

don't even need an aspirin

and that's not hundred-percent there are

other physical causes for a headache it

depends on toxins in the body and that

sort of thing we won't go into but it's

just okay so we have a rising in him

evil unwholesome thoughts connected with

desire with a twith delusion then he

should give attention to some other sign

connected with what is also sounds like

the sixers to me well letting go of the

distraction relaxing and smiling means

putting your attention on another object

this wholes

when he gives attention to some other

side God with what is wholesome than any

evil unwholesome thoughts connected with

desire with ate with delusion are

abandoned in him and subside

how can they be abandon and subside

every time you let go of the craving

that tension and tightness you'll notice

right after that your mind is very

bright your mind is very alert and your

mind is pure bring that mind back to

your object of meditation

that's how you build that awesome

faculty

and there's there's pure knowing when

you don't have any craving in it and

surprise surprise this is the third

noble truth the cessation of suffering

so every time you practice the six arts

every time you let go of that craving

experiencing a tiny moment of relief and

that relief has no heat in it and that

lack of heat is nepata it's mundane to

be short and you have to experience it

Oh hundreds of well maybe millions maybe

a few hundred millions of times before

it becomes habit and your mind just goes

oh let's just let go of this craving all

the way can happen does happen

not can does so the whole thing about

what we're talking about here is

learning how to gently let go of the

cause of suffering not suppress it not

taking a stick and beating it down they

use some words like abandon and in a way

this is a very good word to use no I'll

give you why that is right now when you

have a hindrance and you get involved

with the hindrance you're trying to

control it around and you're all caught

up in it by keeping your attention on

the hindrance you're feeding it you're

giving it you're giving it neutral

nutrition when you allow the space for

that hindrance to be there without

trying to change it without trying to

make it any different than it is you let

it be and you relax and you come back to

a wholesome object you're taking that

food away you're not feeding the

hindrance so the hindrance doesn't get

stronger and stronger and stronger it

starts to get weaker and weaker until

finally that hindrance gets so weak it

can't even arise again when that happens

you feel a very strong sense of reason

right after that relief you feel joyful

strong joy uplifting joy feel very light

in your mind light in your body really a

happy feeling that will last for a

little while and right after that you'll

feel very tranquil peaceful home

and

mind will stay on the object of

meditation without moving without much

problem at all that is what the Buddha

called happiness

now what I just described to you is how

you experience the first jhana it's not

mystical it's not magical it takes a lot

of work to get there

by recognizing the hindrance letting go

of the hindrance relaxing into that

smiling coming back to your object of

meditation and staying with your object

annotation

now the hindrances they are they're

absolutely brilliant for some people

they come up so much and there are so

troublesome that they get to find out

where their attachment truly is how the

difference between the different kind of

meditation practices that are happening

today is that this one extra step of

relaxing and letting go of that craving

is not practiced very much and when it's

not practiced your mind tends towards

the one pointed concentration or

absorption concentration now this in

itself is not necessarily bad but what

happens is let me explain how how you do

the one point is concentration your

mother is under object of meditation it

gets distracted you let go of the

distraction and immediately come back

you do that for a period of time you go

through a lot of changes and eventually

your mind becomes absorbs and stays on

this one object of meditation at your

point another mind

now when that happens what happens is

the force of the concentration

suppresses and stops the hindrance from

arising so when you lose your

concentration guess who comes for dinner

you get you getting these entrances

coming at you from all different ways

you don't know what it is and you go oh

geez I gotta run back and sit in

meditation because that's the only

relief I can find now when you're

practicing what I'm showing you right

now your mind is on your object of

meditation if it's distracted you let go

of the distraction relax

smile

that one extra step of relaxed changes

the destination and the way the

meditation works

so it's real important to remember that

that relax step is the one that lets go

of the grieving now you can be going

along and all of a sudden the hindrance

comes up and you're distracted by it and

then you recognize it it doesn't matter

whether its luster or hatred or aversion

or sleepiness and dullness or

restlessness or doubt it doesn't matter

what the content of that hindrance is

your job as the meditator is not to

wonder why did this have to have to

happen to me right now I wish it would

stop and go away your job is to allow

the space for that hindrance to be there

without trying to change it or make it

any different than it is then relax into

that smile and come back to your object

of meditation now the next time that

hindrance arises which it will how'd

that happen how'd your mind go from

being on your object of meditation over

here to whatever this entrance was how

is the question

as you become familiar with this as a

process instead of a personal thing to

fight with you start to see that right

before your mind really got taken away

for a period of time there's something

else that was there so you let it go and

you come back and you go I'm gonna watch

for this see what happens before that

and right before your mind gets taken

away you see it again and you go oh

there is something there and then you

let it go and relax and come back and

you get distracted as soon as that

something else I'm not going to tell you

what it did arises you'll see it and

you'll let it go right then then you're

not distracted anymore for long periods

of time what happens is as you become

more familiar with this as a process the

hindrance is teaching you exactly

precisely how dependent origination

actually works

you remember what I was saying before

there's a feeling that arises and in the

craving and the clinging and the ritual

Damon see yes a lot that's dependent

origination that's not all of it

but you're not going to see all of it at

first you're just going to see different

parties and the hindrances are the thing

that's teaching you that so it's really

as as much of a pain in the neck as it

is sometimes it's really a necessary

thing to have the hindrances to have the

distractions because they help you go

deeper now after you let go of one then

you go through all of this great stuff

all of a sudden your mindfulness slips

entrance comes again now you get to work

with this entrance and finally you let

go of this entrance and you'll go deeper

into your meditation the hindrances help

you to go from one level of

understanding to another because you're

starting to look more and more closely

at how the process works

this is what meditation is about it's

not about sitting on some rock blissing

out it's about learning how we act and

react all the time

learning how to recognize the entrances

when they come up and not take them

personally and like I said I had to do

that very consciously and sometimes we

have to do it that way we have to just

we're gonna say ok I'm going to take a

day or I'm going to take a week and I'm

not gonna let anyone upset my mind they

can say anything to me they can do

anything they want and I'm not going to

have this old habitual tendency rearing

its head and grabbing on and getting

into all kinds of emotional turmoil so

the more we can make that conscious

decision to be happy and not take things

personally the clearer our mind becomes

the more balanced we have in our life

and life actually starts to become fun

novel idea

so the more we can practice this way the

easier life becomes the more contentment

we have with what's happening in the

present moment now as as I was I had to

go into stores and do things as last

month or so and what I started noticing

as my mind didn't have any buttons to

push I was looking around at other

people and they were smiling they'd look

at me and start smiling I wasn't smiling

at them first they were smiling at me

because they felt a release that I had

in myself we affect the world around us

whether we like to admit it or not

and the more we let go of our

attachments our anger our

dissatisfaction the louder we affect the

world around us positively

I know what's happening in the economy

right now it's all frightening there's

nothing to be afraid of the Buddha was

magnificent at showing how you manifest

things he manifested food for all of the

mumps every day he didn't magic he did

it with uplift in mind he taught the

most to have an uplifted mine to be

happy and everybody else around them

what I want some of that and I'm willing

to support you to keep doing that

there's three parts of meditation and

almost nobody talks about the first two

the first part of meditation is

practicing your generosity what are you

doing right now you're sitting wishing

somebody else will

oh you're practicing your generosity

with your mind or each other practice it

with your speech practice it with your

actions it doesn't mean that you have to

always give something to somebody else

outside of sometimes it just takes a pat

on the back my one brother was at the at

the sink doing something in the morning

and I went up to him and I patted his

fat stomach

he's looked at me tanning said if you do

that advance I'm gonna have to kiss you

sometimes I could do that with my

brother than sometimes I couldn't

sometimes we have great fun laughs and

other times it wasn't and that's well

it's part of life too but mine stays

balanced

when you make the conscious decision I

want to change I don't want to stay the

way I'm I've always been

then it takes the practice of doing the

smiling the wishing other people well

the happiness with yourself the laughing

and I know bumps aren't supposed to

laugh well there's a roll that says

monks can't laugh out loud on them in

monastery bunk

that's not a curse I've been to a lot of

monasteries monks are giggling and

laughing all the time they don't show it

to laymen very much and that's a mistake

if you want to teach somebody a lesson

then don't talk to them about what you

want to teach show

teach by example

if you wanted to show somebody else how

to be happy and be happy

and be happy not only when you're with

somebody else be happy when you're by

yourself one of the things that monks

learn straight up pretty quick after

they become monks is how to be alone

without being lonely I prefer being

alone I hide away as much as I can

because I like being with myself

how many other people do you know can

say that

if I had the time and opportunity I

would hide away for weeks without ever

seeing anybody else

and that's fine don't get depressed

don't get sad don't get upset

takes practice

that's what you're doing here right now

and you say well that's being selfish

going out and hiding for two weeks I

spend a lot of time practicing my

generosity even though there's nobody

around to practice but practicing with

everybody

the second part of the meditation is

keeping your precepts this is all

interconnected so meditation is

generosity morality and then mental

development in that order if you don't

have your your sila you don't have your

morality high then doing your meditation

you're gonna have a lot of time walking

through the mud trying to clear out all

of this other stuff that you've caused

problems for yourself by breaking the

precept

another part of the meditation is that

you cannot blame anything out there for

your suffering

I had somebody tell me that they oh we

got to get away from this place because

they gossip and I don't want to be

around gossip you could be around gossip

or not you can pay attention to it or

not you can get up and walk away you

don't have to leave a place because

somebody else is breaking a precept

and you have to there was another

another monk in who's from Korea in

Burma while I was there and he was

another one of these guys that could

really meditate a lot it was really good

he'd come in I saw him sit for six hours

without moving I mean though that's

impressive

and he decided that he didn't like the

rule of not eating after the noonday

meal and he started eating and before

long he couldn't sit more than 5-10

minutes and he caused that for himself

and it caught a lot of monks and caused

them they have a lot of entrances

because they saw him doing it and then

they were judging him as being a bad

monk and I finally looked at that and

went well I care whether he eats or not

doesn't have anything to do with me let

him go let him do let him learn his own

lessons I don't have to get caught up in

the things that are happening around me

and get into this critical judging mind

what is a critical judging mine

unwholesome

so the whole thing comes down to

learning how to have this uplifted happy

mind all the time

and because we have old habits that we

might be doing for a lot of lifetimes

looking at ways into particular things

in a particular way liking this

disliking that it takes work to let go

of old habits

but it's just another hindrance as more

grist for the mill it's nothing

I had to see what time it was because

they still get a lot everyone let's say

okay I wanted to go to this this section

here that talks about the what you do

when you're practicing one pointed

concentration and I want to show you

where this is taken word for word from

another symptom that says don't do this

but this is saying do it when a monk is

giving attention to some sign oh into

that sign there arise in him evil

unwholesome thoughts connected with

desire eight of delusion then when he

gives attention to some other sign

connected with what is wholesome any

evil unwholesome thoughts are abandoned

in him subside with the abandon

oops there's another moment if while

giving attention to stilling the thought

formations of those thoughts they're

still in our eyes in him evil

unwholesome thoughts connected with

desire ain't and delusion then with his

teeth clutched his tongue pressed

against the roof of his mouth he should

beat down constrain CREF mind

- when with his teeth clutched and his

tongue pressed against the roof of his

mouth he beats down constrains and

crushes mine was mine than any evil

unwholesome thoughts connected with

desire a toward illusion are abandoning

them can you imagine how could they be

abandoned okay now this is souped at

number 20 I'm going to suit to number 36

yeah

and this is called the greater discourse

of sachika and this is a discourse about

all of the aesthetic factor a lot of the

ascetic practices that the Buddha did

and it's like holding his breath or not

taking food and it goes through all of

these different things he went as far as

he could with each one of these

practices to see whether it was the

right way or not okay so I thought

suppose with my teeth clutched my tongue

pressed against the roof of my mouth I

beat down constrain and crush mine with

mine so with my teeth pledged my tongue

pressed against the roof of my mouth I

beat down and constrained and crushed

mine was mine while I did so sweat ran

from my armpits just as a strong man

might seize a weaker by it by the head

or shoulders and beating down

constraining and crush him so - with my

teeth clutched my tongue pressed against

the roof of my mouth I beat down

constrained and fresh mind with mine

sweat ran from my armpits

but although tireless energy was aroused

in me unremitting mindfulness was

established my body was overrun calm

because I was exhausted by the painful

striving now what is that telling you is

this a good thing to do or not what he's

saying is this is a practice that really

is not a good practice to do it does

not lead to nirvana it does not lead to

pets I've read many many books short

books long books on the hindrances and

almost everybody that writes about the

hindrances writes about them being some

kind of a problem to push away to stop

but the hindrances are where our

attachments are if you're pushing away

your attachments you're not seeing your

attachment if you're not seeing it

you're not letting it go you're not

practicing what the Buddha taught it's a

major part of domestic yeah

it's very very important not to fight

with these kind of disturbances when

they come up and the more clearly you

can recognize them while you're sitting

in practice the easier it is to

recognize them with your daily

activities

and this brings us to the realization

that meditation is not about sitting

meditation is about living and that's

one of the things that people that

practice absorption concentration a lot

of your your Zen people they talk about

sitting and in real life oh just go on

the cushion that'll take care of

everything for a little while

and then real light comes up and bites

them and they have all of these

emotional outbursts these unwholesome

states arising because they're

identifying with these unwholesome

states so so much of the time

so it's real easy to

want to fight something that's as

unpleasant as restlessness it's not a

pleasant feeling anchor is not a

pleasant feeling but the problem with

the hindrances is that they don't come

up one at a time one of them will come

up and then another one right behind it

and they start ganging up on you beating

up on you

well I have this feeling of restlessness

I don't like this feeling I wanted to

stop who has a version in their mind

they say you got restlessness and

aversion it's like that old saying of

kick em while they're down that's what

the hindrances do especially when you

take it personally as you keep allowing

the space for these things to be there

without trying to make them different

than they are a painful feeling when it

comes up the truth is it's painful and

it's okay that it's painful it has to be

okay that's the truth

allow the truth to be there by itself

release it relax

come back to your object of meditation

smile

if you can get in the habit of doing

this you are naturally going to have

personality development and that's a

positive thing

the things that used to get you unhappy

now never mind not that big a deal

takes a lot of effort to do that

and it takes

a lot of courage to do it because once

we get into a habit we like the habit to

stay even if it's an unwholesome habit

we don't want it really to change change

is frightening well what happens if I

don't have this response anymore well

I'll tell you what's gonna happen you're

gonna be happier but you have to prove

that for yourself I wish I could give

everybody all the happiness in the world

but I can't we gotta do it for ourselves

and what's the first step in doing

it's fine

wishing somebody else would

there's another thing I want you to do

with your meditation and I forgot to say

it last night and that is when you're

going to sleep you make a determination

that you're going to wake up at a

particular time don't make it the same

time every every every morning 459 for

501 like that and that you're going to

wake up smiling and happy it's a nice

way to start

once you have the smile going keep it

going

make it sincere

not just painted on smile halloa painted

on smile is good even if you don't feel

like smiling smile anyway it has its

positive effects

okay

does anybody have any questions the

questions about the practice or what

you've heard tonight earlier about three

aspects of meditation two of which most

teachers don't teach generosity and

morality and morality okay it's not that

they don't teach it they don't teach it

as these are part of meditation they

teach them separately but meditation has

one meaning that means sitting like a

rock

and it's not that meditation is life

life is meditation

and that's how we have to

practice

you know it's not my practice is over

here and I'm going to do anything I want

over here they have to be interconnected

and that's why when the Buddha was

teaching so many farmers they were very

simple folks he taught them very simply

you smile you be happy you practice your

generosity you'd be a good person and

keep your morality going that's all over

all of your meditation and that's why he

was so successful

um he said once I thought it was really

nice that the generosity part of the

training was the preparation of opening

the heart and that if you're not

understanding the generosity of

development of a generous mind a

generous Beach and generous actions then

you're not taking all the steps to open

the heart to prepare the heart for the

next part of the training which is one

way to look at it in the suit is that

you read the word sight

a concept you know your object

meditation that's the sign but it's also

the site there's a negative sign so

that's the hindrance yeah

I think for some people here might be

worth to commemorate it within

categories of the traditional diseases I

did there's lust or greedy mind my

there's hatred for a version mind I

don't want same coin different sites one

of them is trying to do this the other

one is trying to do that sleepiness

dullness and tired and bored order this

by by one of one of the science that

you're actually doing the meditation

correctly just go through it

restlessness anxiety

it causes your mind well the in in need

study batana suit it says that

contracted mite is sloth and torpor and

the distracted mind his restlessness

and then there's doubt and that's not

doubt of whether I should go into town

today or wear pink or wear blues it's am

I doing this right it doesn't seem right

it's questioning what you're doing the

only way to overcome doubt the I don't

know mine has come to the teacher

now the fastest way that I know to let

go of a hindrance is by

laughing and how crazy your mind is for

getting cut again that I'm not saying

laugh out loud I'm just saying it when

you laugh you go from I am - oh it's

only that it goes from I'm personally

this is me - no it's it's just this

stuff it's okay so the more fun you have

with your meditation the lighter your

meditation is the faster your progress

becomes

somewhere along the line after all of us

were two years old somebody got a hold

of us and said life is suffering and

before that it was always fun I want to

be reading talk about distractions and

evil I'm not sure but the word evil came

up yes evil unwholesome curious how that

word is evil evil unwholesome means

you're taking it personally okay that's

and that's why it is evil because it's

causing your mind to do this it's

causing your mind to really grab on try

to control and force things to be the

way you want this to be some people

spend their whole lives doing that

they're quite successful but they're not

necessarily happy

yeah then I have a destruction is that

always anything that pulls your mind

away from radiating the feeling of

loving-kindness making a wish for

happiness and sending that happiness to

your friend anything other than that is

a distraction now something you have to

really understand is there can be

distractions like the sound of a door

whatever but it doesn't really pull your

mind to it if it doesn't pull your mind

to it just let it go it's nothing but if

your mind like a fly lands on you your

mind really goes to where that fly is

now you treat it like it

like a distraction should I you know

this China going on yeah it's not

pulling your mind to it just don't even

pay attention to it okay

makes life easier

okay

let's America 173 and the fierce

fearless be needed a grieving shadow

break them now being spied relief may

all beings share this merit that we are

thus acquired for the acquisition of all

kinds of that begins in having space

under it as long as a mighty power

okay

you