From: https://youtube.com/watch?v=GfWP3NWnkh0

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

you

okay suta we're going to look at tonight

is called the removal of distracting

thoughts this suit is very interesting

in that a lot of the information that it

gives has been put in as a later time

than when the Buddha was giving a

discourse like this and I'll show you

the proof in just a little while you'll

see thus if I heard on one occasion the

blessed one was living at sawatdee and

Jettas grow venoth in pendejas park

there he addressed the monks the smocks

venerable sir they replied the Blessed

ones at this monks when a monk is

pursuing the higher mind from time to

time you should give attention to some

signs what are they here monks when a

monk is giving attention to some sign I

went to that sign there are rising him

evil unwholesome states connected with

desire with hate and with delusion what

is delusion

any clues if one takes it the what is

untrue for true leaves into it that

would be a dictionary definition but not

the Buddha's definition the Buddha's

definition of delusion is taking

everything that occurs personally now

last night I was talking about craving

craving is the I like it I don't like it

mind okay now what are we just what did

i just read here desire I like it hate I

don't like it and delusion I list it as

being person so what what desire hate

and delusion are saying is craving this

is craving it's another way of

describing what craving is huh it's more

food well yeah it only took me 30 years

to figure it out or so then it should

give attention to some other sign

connected with what is wholesome in

other words you have five hindrances

basically greed

hatred sloth and torpor restlessness and

anxiety and doubt now these five

hindrances any time they come up they

will stop you from meditating and you'll

get all involved in whatever hindrance

it happens to be the biggest of these

are the biggest two of these are torpor

and restlessness they will stay around

until you're in our hot so torpor means

dullness of might restlessness he means

distracted now all of these different

kinds of hindrances I put into one word

distraction okay your mind gets

distracted for whatever reason now why

does your mind get distracted how does

it get distracted your mindfulness

becomes weak and then these hindrances

arrives now I've read I don't know how

many books and booklets and pamphlets on

you have to fight the hindrances you

have to push them away you have to stop

them but actually you don't want to be

doing that you want to recognize that

the hindrance arose because of a lack of

mindfulness now every time you recognize

that the hindrances there and you use

the six ours

you release it you relax and you smile

and you come back to your object of

meditation every time you do that it's

improving your mindfulness so when a

hindrance arises it's there to show you

a couple of very valuable lessons one

lesson is guess where your attachment is

I want I don't want i'm sleepy i'm

restless i don't know what is that

attachment that is taking all of these

thoughts and feelings personally now the

beauty of the six ours is that when you

use that relaxed step that letting go of

that tightness in your head read that

meninges that contracts whenever you do

that you'll notice right after that your

mind is clear your mind is alert there's

no thoughts in your mind and your mind

is pure why is it pure because you've

let go of craving so the hindrance comes

up it's actually helping you so that you

improve your mindfulness what is

mindfulness mindfulness is a remembering

to observe how Minds attention moved

from one thing to another it's your

observation power now you remember

yesterday I was talking about your mind

is on your object of meditation all of a

sudden you're thinking this or that how

did that happen when you have good

mindfulness you start to see how this

this works how do you think I can tell

you exactly how sloth and torpor works I

have watched it plenty I've seen how it

works

you need to be able to see how all of

the distractions pull your attention

away and when you start seeing that what

will happen is your mind is on your

object of meditation and the thought of

dislike arises okay now you six are and

then you come back and it goes back and

does it again and use Excel and you come

back and as you as you keep coming back

you start to become more familiar with

how this process works now what's going

to happen is your mind gets distracted

and right before your mind really gets

carried away you'll notice there was

something else there it happened right

before your mind got really caught up in

the distraction so you six are and you

come back and the next time you start

six ah ring with that little thing

whatever had happened to be it actually

is a feeling but you'll get to see that

later but you're going to be able to see

as you become familiar with that then

you'll notice there's something else

right before that and then you start six

arting then and the time that you're

distracted becomes less and less the

time that you stay on your object the

meditation becomes more and more so the

hindrances are not your enemy to fight

with they are your

and teacher they're helping you to learn

how minds attention gets distracted

they're teaching you that this is part

of a process it's not something let you

take personally it's not something that

you get involved with this is something

that when your mind gets distracted you

use as an opportunity to see how minds

attention moves from one thing to

another real important so the more you

can notice how the hindrances arise the

more balanced in mind you become why

every time I ham rinse arises it turns

whatever that hindrance is into a major

emergency

whose emergency is it it's mine who

doesn't like it I don't like it who

wants it to be different i do then you

see how you're taking everything

personally when you start seeing how the

process works you start getting more

balance in your mind and you start going

oh it's only this now one of the things

that i talked about last night was the

importance of laughing with yourself i

know this is not something that you hear

very often in a meditation retreat

you're supposed to laugh you're supposed

to have fun you're supposed to be light

it's very necessary to develop a sense

of humor about how Syria's you get okay

it's necessary why because when you can

laugh at yourself for being upset about

this or that all of a sudden you go from

I don't like this this is no good too

it's only this it's only this

dissatisfaction it's only this fear it's

only this anxiety whatever it happens to

be well do I have a choice right now do

I want to continue on with this or not

what anybody is crazy they want to

continue on with it so you'd let it go

and when you let it go your minds clear

your minds bright this is how you purify

your mind simple unless you get caught

by it

and then it's hard I've had some people

that have gone through major emotional

problems and they come and they started

yelling oh all kinds of problems and I

say okay why don't you laugh at it I

can't laugh at that as not funny and

what does that make me do when they

start saying things like that I start

laughing and because I laugh they laugh

and when they laugh what happens in your

mind all of that suffering that they've

been building up all of a sudden don't

dissipate now there are different kinds

of meditation one kind of meditation

that almost everybody practices is

called absorption concentration or

sometimes we call it one pointed

concentration one pointed concentration

what happens is you stay on one thing

and your mind gets glued to it now when

your mind gets glued to it what happens

is the force of the concentration stops

the hindrances from arising temporarily

and a lot of people think well you're

purifying your mind because you don't

have any hindrances in your mind at that

time but when they lose their

concentration guess who comes to dinner

and guess who's not able to recognize

the hindrance for what it actually is

so one of the things that happens with a

lot of people that are practicing this

one pointed kind of concentration is

while they're sitting in concentration

they're real happy when they come out

life hasn't changed any and there's no

personality development what is

personality development mean it means

gaining equanimity in your everyday life

so you don't get caught so hard for long

periods of time when the hindrance

arises so when you're practicing the

kind of meditation I'm teaching you I'm

teaching you that the hindrances are not

the problem the attachment is the

problem what is the attachment I like it

or don't like it the attachment is

craving craving can always be recognized

as tension and tightness in your mind

and in your body so the tension and

tightness that I'd keep describing to

you that membrane it goes around your

brain every time you have a thought

there's little tightness now that little

tightness is the start of craving

so when you let go of that and relax you

feel an expansion happen in your head

your mind is clear bright alert very

agile you're able to see things very

quickly and you bring that mine back to

your object of meditation this is why

you progress faster with the kind of

meditation that I teach much faster than

any other kind of meditation is being

taught today and it's not that I'm

teaching it I'm talking about it it's

taught by the Buddha he's the teacher

I'm not the teacher so your mind is on

your object of meditation and it gets

distracted now why is this called an

unwholesome state because i am that

distraction it's unwholesome because you

have the delusion you have the

attachment to those thoughts those

feelings those sensations those ideas

those concepts those stories about why

you like or dislike it so when you start

seeing this for what it is this

hindrance this thing that keeps pulling

you away and you start seeing it as an

opportunity to improve your mindfulness

all of a sudden it's not a bad thing

this is an important insight because

like I said I've read I don't know how

many books about how you're supposed to

fight the hindrances how you're supposed

to control the hindrances and make them

be the way you want them to be which

means that you're still having craving

in your mind now one point if

concentration works like this it doesn't

matter what your object of meditation is

your mind is on your object to

meditation and there's a distraction

you're supposed to let go of the

distraction and immediately come back to

your object to meditation and when you

do that over a period of time everybody

that does that they wind up with a

headache that doesn't happen when you

add one extra step and this is what the

Buddha teaches this one extra step

changes the entire meditation your mind

is on your object of meditation it gets

distracted that's the same you let go of

the distraction that's the same now you

relax now you don't have that craving in

your mind anymore now you have this pure

of mind and you bring this pyramind back

to your object to meditation

the force of the concentration when you

add that extra step of relaxing does not

ever suppress anything it doesn't force

anything away it doesn't stop anything

from happening you learned how to let go

of craving when you let go craving

you're letting go of I am you're letting

go of taking things personally major

stuff so the hindrances whenever they

arise are there to help you they're not

there as a problem for you there to help

you improve your mindfulness so the more

times you can let go and relax and smile

and come back to your object to

meditation the sharper your mindfulness

becomes the sooner you catch the

hindrances and you're teaching yourself

one of the major lessons that the Buddha

always talked about that is learning how

the links of dependent origination

actually work now let's say you're

sitting and all of a sudden you get

depressed just take that as one of the

things how does depression work not why

we don't care why you're depressed how

did it come up

the first thing that happens is a

painful feeling arises I don't like that

painful feeling craving I have a story

every time this kind of painful feeling

arises the story kicks in and i start

talking about it in my mind and then you

have this habitual emotional tendency to

want to control a feeling which is

either pleasant unpleasant or neutral

with your thoughts now you're made up of

five different things you have a

physical body you have feeling you have

perception perception is the part of the

mind that names things this is a bottle

perception was what told you it that

that was it names things it names colors

it names everything you have thoughts

and you have consciousness when a

painful feeling arises the first thing

we try to do is think the feeling away

and the more you think the feeling the

bigger and more intense that feeling

becomes and because you're trying to

think the feeling you see that it

doesn't work so you try a little bit

harder and then you see it really

doesn't work so you try a little bit

harder and then you run to the doctor

and say I'm depressed give me some drugs

or you go out and have some alcohol or

whatever anything to get relief

but it's real easy to be able to

recognize how this arises and your

habitual tendency is always the

emotional part that says I have to

control and I have to be better at this

I gotta knock this feeling away one of

the beauties about the six horse is

smile okay that's such an easy thing you

don't really think much of it is most of

the time people think so little of it

they don't do it I had a student in

Australia that he'd been practicing

absorption concentration for six years

with another teacher and he said I don't

see any personality development I want

to try something new I want to practice

with you and I said fine he was doing

mindfulness of breathing so I told him

put in the extra step of relaxing but

his habit was such that he forget and

after a few weeks I saw that he wasn't

doing very well he was just going back

and doing the same thing he was so I

said okay this doesn't seem to be

working very well why don't you try

doing loving kindness so I gave him the

instructions and loving kindness you

should have heard him complain oh this

is so hard my mind is not peaceful and

calm there's all these distractions that

are coming in I just can't do this I'm

going to go back to the breath no

continue on with the loving

I just can't do it and we went around

like this for a week or so and we're

doing it on the Internet so finally I

said okay this is what we're going to do

now I don't want you to sit in

meditation for one solid week seven days

don't do any meditation all I want you

to do is smile all the time smile into

everything smile with everybody and when

you can't smile that I want you to laugh

so I didn't hear from him for a week so

I thought well he's tried something else

and after a week he came on me back on

the internet and he said you know I took

what you said very seriously and I

started smiling and it's real odd some

of the changes that were happening to me

whenever I was walking from one place to

another I was always in a mental age and

when I started smiling I noticed that my

posture started changing and I started

looking around a little bit more and i

wasn't in this mental age so much and

the darkness thing people when they saw

me smile they would smile back and they

actually started coming up and started

talking to me that never happened before

he said another thing is when even when

I didn't feel like smiling i smiled

anyway and it helped the situation

and i asked him of have you noticed

anything different about your

mindfulness he said I didn't even know

what mindfulness was before I started

smiling this is somebody had been

practicing for six years they'd heard

the word mindfulness didn't have a clue

what it was and he said and the doctors

are so impressed with me that I don't

have to take so many drugs now you

didn't wet drugs you're taking drugs you

didn't tell me this well yeah I'm in a

mental institute oh great but the thing

is as soon as he started smiling and he

saw the benefit of it people would write

in and ask questions and he would say

you know I don't know what the actual

answer is but this is what my experience

is with smiling and he was giving

brilliant answers to people how

important is smiling all the time

whether you feel like it or not when you

smile it helps your mind me uplifted

when their mind is uplifted you're very

alert especially when your mind starts

to get heavy you start noticing that you

know what's let's that one go let's

start smiling some more now we have

right effort this is what the Buddha

said right effort you have recognizing

when an unwholesome state arises letting

go that unwholesome stay

and relaxing bringing up a wholesome

state what do you think spying is and

coming back to your object of meditation

stay with your object of meditation as

long as you can that's right effort

that's the six ours

a lot of times people will come to me

when they're first starting out in

meditation and they say I don't feel

anything in my heart I don't had there's

no warm feeling their smile more just

simply smile and I'm not talking about

just while you're sitting I'm talking

about all the time the more you can

develop the smile with your daily

activities better you're sitting

practice becomes the better sitting

you're the better sitting practice

becomes the easier it is to do your

walking meditation when it's easy to do

the walking meditation it's easy to

carry that smile with you with all the

things you do during the day and that

improves your mindfulness it's not a

maybe this stuff works so it doesn't

matter what the distraction is anything

that pulls your attention away from the

feeling of loving kindness and making a

way for your friends happiness for

yourself anything that pulls you away

from that is and roots of one form or

another it is a distraction so you

recognize it you release it you relax

you smile you come back and stay with

your dear friend as long as you can it

doesn't matter if your mind keeps

running away one of the problems with

meditation is you sit and you have a

reasonably decent meditate

shinu you get up and you do you're

walking and you come back and you think

well I'm going to do that again that was

really good that little tiny desire

makes you cry too hard and restlessness

comes up and the natural thing for

people to do when restlessness comes up

is to try harder and the restlessness

get stronger and your mind wobbles all

over the place and it runs here and runs

there you start thinking ah this is no

good and you wind up fighting the whole

time you're sitting because you're

putting in too much effort I want the

meditation that I had last time I want

it to be like that you can want it all

you want that doesn't mean that's what

you're going to get what you have to do

is back off on your energy back off on

your effort don't try to do it just do

it when there's try in there then I am

there when I'm there there is craving

and right after craving clinging arises

clinging is all of your thoughts

opinions ideas concepts and stories and

then your habitual emotional tendency

whenever this kind of thing arises I

always do that well if you always do

that and it doesn't work time to change

right

now that's an insight when you recognize

that what you're doing doesn't seem to

be working then it's time to change and

back off don't try so hard things are

rise by themselves okay you don't sit

and all of a sudden say you know I

haven't had any pain in my back for a

while or a pain in my knee or I haven't

been sad for awhile so I might as well

do it now it doesn't work like that it

just comes up by itself it's not yours

it only becomes yours when you try to

control it when i was talking yesterday

and giving you the instructions in the

meditation i said a pain arises in your

body the first thing you do is think

about it and the more you think about it

the bigger and more intense that pain

becomes so the first thing you have to

do is let go of the thoughts relax now

you have that aversion to that paint a

tight mental fist that grabs on and

squeezes it's like if I if I have had a

charcoal fire and I took one of the

coals and I put it in my hand and I'd

say boy that hurts so what I would do

start to squeeze and squeeze and I go

wow that really really hurts that's what

you're doing when you're trying to

control your thoughts and feelings

instead of allow them to be what the

Buddha teaches us to do open up and let

that hot coal go what is the hot coal

craving

now attachment is kind of a strange

thing because you can let it go and

relax and come back to your object of

meditation and it'll come back again to

the same thing over and over again

that's okay it can do that it's alright

if it does it has to be all right

because that's a truth you can't fight

with a truth you can't control the truth

you can't make the truth be the way you

want it to be the truth is the truth

whatever arises it's there your job as a

meditator is to lovingly accept whatever

arises it's there it can be there don't

keep your attention on it relax into it

smile come back to your object to

meditation simple not easy sometimes

because the attachment is real strong it

doesn't matter how strong the attachment

is it just means you get to learn more

and more from it and how it arises and

what to do when it does arise and this

is what you do while you're sitting but

meditation is in all 24 hours a day job

it's not just about sitting it's about

being able to recognize these kind of

things when they arise

so learning how to recognize when your

mind is distracted when your mind is

pulled away from your object of

meditation what do you do when that

happens turn it into a game you know

life is supposed to be fun I know that a

lot of people don't take it that way but

it's supposed to be fun little three and

four year old kids the understand life

is supposed to be fun and then they'll

fall down and they'll cry for a minute

get up and forget about it and go do

something else and have fun well where

did we get where did we figure out we

weren't supposed to do the same thing

isn't that odd

the more we can recognize the themes

that our mind plays with ourselves the

easier it is to let go of those

attachments what are the attachments

always the attachment is i am that i am

that feeling i am that thought it's my

opinion it's my concepts it's my ideas

and I'm right you're wrong that sound

like things happening in the world today

an awful lot of that I'm right you're

wrong there's no right and wrong its

opinion the more you practice this

meditation the more balance of mind you

get now what is balance of mine it's a

mind that sees things as they really are

what does that mean that means you're

seeing how the process works and it's

not your process when I was in Asia I

was there for 12 years the Asians always

said that the Asian mind is different

than the Western mind and I'm here to

tell you that they're exactly the same

everybody's mind works in exactly the

same way exactly

it is all part of the process of

dependent origination it really does

work that way you'll be hearing a lot

more about this as we go on but every

time you recognize that a feeling arises

and you relax right then then craving

wanna rise if the craving want to rise

then they're clinging one arrives at the

clinging on ur eyes or emotional

habitual tendency you want to rise if

that doesn't arise your birth of action

doesn't arise when that doesn't arise

the sorrow pain lamentation brief and

water rides it won't arise the pain the

suffering will subside that's really a

remarkable thing

okay getting back to what it says here

in the suit tub you have evil

unwholesome thoughts connected with

desire hate and delusion in other words

it's connected with i am that i like

that i don't like that craving how do

you bring up something wholesome by

letting go of the craving see there's

not too many teachers that even will be

able to give you a clear definition of

what craving is they don't give you a

clear definition of how it manifests but

they'll talk a lot about it but they

won't give you the definitions the more

we can give you the definitions of these

concepts these words that we use over

and over again in Buddhism the clearer

things become

now in this particular suit goes through

four or five different other ways of

overcoming hindrances and was the last

way that it talks about if while giving

attention to Stelling the thought

formation of those unwholesome thoughts

there still arise in him evil

unwholesome thoughts connected with

desire hate and delusion then with his

teeth clutched his tongue pressed

against the roof of his mouth he should

beat down constrain and crush mind with

mind does that sound like something that

the Buddha would actually say false

thank you why now I've been through a

lot of different teachers and I've asked

them I tell them you know this is the

most ridiculous part of this whole suit

I can't believe it people in Burma they

love this part you can get the crash

mind with mine and my question is always

who's doing that who doesn't like that

who wants to control that that's why it

doesn't work now we go to another suta

this is number 36

oops one more page or

the Buddha's describing all the

different things he did before he became

a Buddha while I was still a bodhisattva

when he was striving very hard he said I

thought suppose with my teeth clutched

and my tongue pressed against the roof

of my mouth I beat down constrain and

crush mine with mind so with my teeth

clutched my tongue pressed against the

roof of my mouth I beat down constrained

and crush mine with mind well I did it

well I did so sweat ran from my armpits

just as a strong man might seize a

weaker man by the head or shoulders and

beating down constraining crush him so

to my teeth clutched my tongue pressed

against the roof of my mouth I beat down

constrained and crush mine with mine and

sweat ran from my armpits but although I

had tireless energy my body was

overwrought a nun komm he did that in

his body got weak and agitated and his

mind wasn't settled his mind and he got

exhausted by putting in so much effort

to crush things and stop them from

coming up so this is one of the things

that doesn't work but it's mentioned in

this suitor that it does so we don't

take this part of this who death as

being for real

now one of the things that people have

the tendency to do when they first start

out is try to use the six ours too much

every time a thought comes up they

direct their mind to it 6r and come back

and they'll say you know there's that

there's too many thoughts I can't six or

before another thought arises remember

this part of the instruction only when

your mind gets pulled away from your

object of meditation diaz at six ours if

you stay on your object of meditation

and the thought gets up in the

background ignored don't pay any

attention to it it will fade away by

itself

now we have seven enlightenment factors

actually I don't like to call

enlightenment factors I'd like to call

them awakening factors and these are

things that should practice from the

very start of your meditation first is

the awakening factor of mindfulness I

gave you the definition of mindfulness

mindfulness is remembering to observe

how minds attention moves from one thing

to another the awakening factor goes a

little bit deeper and you're able to see

the individual parts of the dependent

origination you'll be able to see the

feeling and the craving and the clinging

in the habitual tendency and so on the

next part of the awakening factor is the

examination of your experience how does

it work how does dependent origination

rides what happens what happens first

what happens after that what happens

after that now the next awakening factor

is energy now if you put too much energy

into staying with your object to

meditation or trying to control what's

happening with your mind you will get

restless and the more energy and more

effort you put into it the more Restless

you will become now the whole thing with

energy is learning how to balance it if

you have restlessness you have to back

off a little bit if you have sloth and

torpor you have to use a little bit

but the whole of the meditation process

is learning to keep the energy in bounce

when the energy is balanced very nicely

the awakening factor of joy arises joy

is an important part of being weak when

you have strong joy or you have joy

arise your mind is alert your mind is

bright and your awareness is very quick

so you can see when these changes start

to happen now you use all of these

awakening factors and you start to learn

how to keep them in balance that's what

meditation teaches you the next

awakening factor is tranquility always

after joy arises and invades away your

mind becomes very peaceful very calm

very tranquil the next awakening factor

is your mind becomes very collective and

still

a lot of the meditation teachers will

tell you that if this means it's one

point it is not one point it is still an

alert if something if your mind is one

point and it just sees one thing this

this kind of meditation is very limited

where you just keep your mind on one

thing what I'm teaching you to do is how

to see things coming the last of the

awakening factors is equanimity that

means having balance all the time when

these seven factors are in perfect

harmony that's when you attain the

bottom when you have a lot of

restlessness you can bring up the

tranquility the stillness of mine or the

equanimity and that will help overcome

the restlessness if you have sloth and

torpor investigate how it arises

a mind that has sloth and torpor in it

is a mind that is contracted pulls in on

itself and then gets involved with not

having enough energy so you have to

adjust your energy how do you adjust

your energy by taking more interest in

your object of meditation more interest

it really works and it works good so the

seven awakening factors are something

that even from the start of your

meditation you're starting to learn how

to put them in balance a little bit

you're starting to learn that the

hindrances are actually your best friend

because they're showing you where your

attachment is so you can let it be now

what happens is your object of

meditation the distraction let it be

relax smile and come back and then you

do it again and then you do it again

you do it again and before long you're

staying on your object of meditation for

longer you're not distracted as for

Islam and then eventually one time

you'll let it be and come back and you

let go of that distraction you let go of

that hindrance it doesn't come up

anymore you will feel a very strong

relief in your mind and right after that

you have a lot of joy arising joy is a

happy feeling and it's got excitement

and it's really nice and when that

happens you start thinking ah this is

why I meditate this is good stuff how

the joy will be there for a little while

and then it'll fade away and right after

that you will feel more comfortable than

you've ever felt before you'll feel

comfortable in your mind you'll feel

comfortable in your body and your mind

will stay on your object of meditation

with almost no effort at all now i just

described to you what it's like to be in

the first job it's a natural process one

of the mistakes that's happening with

people that are teaching meditation

right now when they talk about drama

they're talking about quote

concentration but actually Jonah is a

level of understanding what are you

understanding your understanding how

mind works every time you keep letting

go of the head rinsing letting it be and

smiling and come back to your object to

meditate

and after relaxing your teaching

yourself this is a process you're

teaching yourself oh this is the way it

works so every time you hear anybody

mentioned John on in your mind if your

understanding of that should be this is

a level of my understanding when I get

into this Jonna this is what I'm

starting to understand as you go deeper

in the dramas you start understanding

more and more subtle little things about

how mind works and that's what the

insights are

so

the lighter you can keep your mind the

more you can smile the more you stop

fighting with what arises in the present

moment the faster your progress becomes

that's the way it works easy quite often

I have to tell people and sometimes they

even hear it get out of the way get out

of the way you're up your your whole

purpose is to observe how mines

attention works not control how mines

attention works if there's the need to

control who's controlling I am if I am

there who has gravy I do who's stopping

their own progress I am see it's all

pretty easy really and sometimes you

only have to hear it a few thousand

times before it sinks in but you need to

remember get out of the way this isn't

me it's not mine I didn't ask the stuff

to come up it came up by itself okay let

it be relax relax that tightness relax

attention smile turn the meditation into

a fun game play with this every time you

get serious who's serious

I am you need to have your mind really

light and the lighter your mind becomes

the easier it is to see when a

disturbance first starts to arise that's

the way to develop your mind so you can

get what the Buddha called real

liberation every time you use the six

ours and you let go of that craving you

are experiencing the third noble truth

the cessation of suffering how can I say

that what's the first noble truth there

is suffering we don't have to be told

that we know that that's true what's the

cause of the suffering craving when you

let go of the craving what happens the

cessation of suffering occurs and the

way to the cessation of suffering is

what practice your six hours and be

happy

how reasonable huh sounds good to me ah

now there's another another thing

where is it out there okay this is in

another suit to this a suit to number 21

now this particular supe shows you that

you need to have your mindfulness with

you all of the time there are these five

courses of speech that others may use

when they address you their speech may

be timely or untimely true or untrue

gentle or harsh connected with good or

connected with armed spoken with a mind

of loving kindness or with inner hate

when others address you their speech may

be timely or emmett untimely when others

address you their speech may be true or

untrue when others address you their

speech may be gentle or harsh when

others address you their speech may be

connected with good or connected with

harm when others address you their

speech may be spoken with a mind of

loving kindness or with inner hatred you

should train thus our minds will remain

unaffected and we shall utter no evil

words we shall abide compassionate for

their welfare with a mind of loving

kindness without inner hatred we shall

abide pervading that person with a mind

and viewed with loving kindness and

starting with him we shall abide

pervading the all-encompassing world

with a mind and viewed with loving

kindness abundant exalted immeasurable

without hostility and without ill will

that is how you should train easier said

than done does take practice there's

another part to this and it says even if

bandits were to sever you savagely limb

by limb with a two-handed saw he who

gave rise to a mind of hatred towards

them would not be carrying out my

teaching now that's pretty radical you

should train thus our minds will remain

unaffected and we shall utter no evil

words we shall abide compassionate for

their welfare with a mind of

loving-kindness without internet we

shall abide pervading them with a mind

and beautiful loving kindness and

starting with them we shall abide

pervading the all-encompassing world

with a mind filled with loving kindness

abundant exalted immeasurable without

hostility and without ill will if you

keep this advice on Miss Emily of the

saw constantly in mind do you see any

course of speech trivial or gross that

you could not endure no I don't think so

therefore you should keep this advice on

the simile of the saw constantly in mind

do you see the kind of mindfulness that

the Buddha is really trying to recommend

for everybody this is important stuff

it doesn't matter what somebody else

says it doesn't matter at all your job

is to send love that's what your job is

that's what you're learning right here

right now

the more you can keep your mind uplifted

happy and wishing others well the softer

your mind becomes the softer your

personality becomes the more you have

real personality development the more

uplifted your mind becomes the more

you're following what the Buddha teaches

us that's the name of the game

so what's your job and be happy

reasonably easy right except when it's

not I had one student come to me when

diamonique said you know this meditation

is great when it's easy it's really easy

but when it's hard boy is it hard but

it's simple this is one of the problems

that the Buddha is run across in his

lifetime as well as all of the most run

across the same thing it's too simple

it's too easy to understand we want to

make things complicated we want to make

things really so you have to work and

grind and Newton and Jesus what kind of

fun is that keep your mind light laughs

with yourself for being serious about

something anytime you have repeat

thoughts guess who has an attachment

guess who has craving and clinging and

suffering

guess who's mindfulness isn't so sharp

at that time how do you sharpen your

mindfulness take more interest in

staying with your object of meditation

that way you can see things coming more

easily and you can success

so what's your job smile and be happy

too many times especially in Buddhism

there's an over stress on suffering you

know I had 20 years of that every Bell

that was it was horrible you know is

everything is suffering duka duka duka

duka Duke everything is dukkha well

that's not the Buddhist teaching there's

a specific way that the Buddha said were

supposed to teach as monks and it wasn't

distressed duka I was with this guy that

was actually as in a teacher and after

we got through meditating he had a stick

and he slapped it down on the ground and

he said life is suffering well that

really encourage everybody to

another check everything and somebody

said what do you think of that and I

said well I'm more interested in letting

go suffering than I am suffering itself

and that's what the Buddha taught he

taught that monks are supposed to tell

you about how to cease the suffering how

to let go of it so you don't have so

much of it anymore now this morning we

practiced are we read aloud the five or

this eight precepts and I didn't talk

about them yesterday and I should have

the precepts are incredibly important to

keep don't break a precept if you break

up precept it will negatively affect

your meditation immediately I've had

retreats where people were so afraid

that they were going to have to go

hungry because they they're used to

taking an evening meal they take extra

food and try to store it in the evening

so they could heat it and their

meditation just didn't happen they

suffered a lot keeping the precepts is

very important because it leads directly

to a calm mind if for whatever reason

you have to happen to break one of the

precepts come and talk to me and we'll

take the precepts again there's no

finger-pointing I just want you to have

a pure mind yes people who have medical

since that what they have to tell me

about it right well i have i have

remedies for them but they have to tell

me about it okay so please do more of

your sitting meditation together in the

hall that one o'clock i want everybody

here not just some people with other

people off doing something else watch

here does anybody have any questions I

know I'm such a brilliant orator

and we sit outside also yes you can but

I want you to sit around here now the

wind seems to be coming up don't sit in

the wind it really affects your

meditation negatively so if the wind is

coming this way you want to sit outside

sit on the side of the building if it's

coming this way again on the other side

of the building just so it doesn't blow

on you is that not just another

distraction yes it is a distraction but

it's one that you don't necessarily have

to put up with okay I there is one

meditation that the Buddha recommended

that monks go out to cemeteries and sit

by a corpse that's rotting okay you

don't do that sitting down win just do

that sitting mm that's a distraction i

want to tell you that's a real

distraction but you don't have to make

those distractions you can do it you can

solve some of them that way a lot of

times people do meditation retreats and

they get the idea that they have to

suffer or else they're not doing it

right well I went through 20 years of

trying that it doesn't work so good you

don't have to make pain arise it comes

up by itself

only took me five to figured out Wow

fast learner yeah I have a slow learner

what can I say it takes me a long time

anybody else have any questions

okay please stay in the meditation Hall

til ten o'clock okay i will share some

merit made suffering one sweet suffering

and free and there struck fear is being

be the grieving [ __ ] I'll brief and may

all beings find relief may all being

shared as merit than we have just

acquired for the acquisition of all

kinds of happiness may be inhabiting

space in here Davis and valleys of

mighty powershares fan of ours may they

long protect the Buddhist dispensation

you