From: https://youtube.com/watch?v=nQ47GA-4BMI

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

so I wanted to talk a little bit about

what's gonna happen when you get off

retreat the peace and calm you feel now

is going to disappear the level of

meditation is going to diminish a little

bit and the reason is you're meditating

a lot right now when you get off of

retreat you're going to go home and

you're going to get busy and you're not

going to meditate as much so you are

going to have a dip expected you're not

going to have so much culture shock

going into back into your life because

you're going to be smiling right and

you're going to be using the Sixers

right so it's a pretty easy transition

I've done a lot of different kinds of

meditation and always after a retreat

going back into daily life and all of

the activity that happens with that is

hard especially with Vipassana because

I was moving so slowly all that time and

then start moving fast again

disorienting a little bit I saved a

pasta but I don't mean the kind Ruth

teaches because she has movement in her

Vipassana so it's not so much that's

just when you try to slow down so much

and then you go back to regular speed

it's a little disorienting so what do

you need to do and how do you need to

keep your practice going with your daily

life the more you can remember to smile

the more you can remember to laugh the

more you can remember to use the 6 RS

then when you start sitting in your

daily daily practice right you're going

to have a daily practice everybody's

going to sit every day without a break

ok so your your practice is going to go

down a little bit and as you keep

practicing with your daily activities

and keep sitting then your practice will

get better and better

and it'll come up to this level and as

you continue doing the sitting and

keeping practice with your daily

activities you'll actually be able to go

beyond this so the whole thing of this

retreat is trying to teach you that the

practice is not only sitting the

practice is all the time and it's

important to realize that it's all the

time it's important to keep your

mindfulness as sharp as possible your

observation power how do you cause

yourself pain how do you get caught by

anger frustration dislike fear anxiety

but what do you do with that now what I

hope you've learned is that you use the

six R's and you start laughing with it

instead of taking it personally now

somebody was talking to me about

depression today depression is real it

is a painful feeling and when that

painful feeling comes up I don't like it

there's your craving right after that

all of your opinions and ideas and story

about why you don't like that feeling

come up and then your old habitual

emotional tendency is either to try to

shut down that feeling by sheer force of

mind or you try to think the feeling

away which makes the feeling bigger and

more intense so what do you do with

depression how do you overcome

depression first you have to notice that

it is a painful feeling and that's real

and it's right there in front of you and

then that tension and tightness that

arises in your

in your mind if you can see it you relax

if you can't see it then you're going to

get into your verbalization and story

and then your emotional dissatisfaction

with it and then that desire to stuff it

to push it away to make it not happen

and that only makes the suffering bigger

and more intense so you start 6re

Hobbiton won't go away when I 6r you're

not sick sorry to make anything go away

okay you're using the six RS to allow it

to be there but you don't keep your

attention on it so you release it you

relax a tightness I don't feel like

smiling then laughs then the old

emotional habit of trying to control

your mind with your thoughts doesn't

arise and the pain and suffering don't

arise as much now when I first started

talking about practicing loving-kindness

meditation I said there's three parts to

the practice first part is practicing

your generosity people that are

depressed they go into their mind so

heavily that they're not real observant

of anything else around them and they're

identifying with that so strong

this is me this is mine this is Who I am

that it turns this painful feeling and

this craving and this story into a huge

mountain that you can't get over you

can't get around you can't go underneath

it's there and it's real for you so what

what is the habit of somebody that gets

has depression well let's go in the room

and shut the drapes and lay down in bed

and try to sleep it away but it doesn't

work when you practice your generosity

one of the main things about generosity

is that you are going outside of

yourself you're recognizing other people

around you and you're giving them gifts

what kind of gift can somebody that's

depressed give a smile kind words words

that make other people smile okay the

more you practice your generosity the

less you get caught by this painful

feeling and you start to have joy arise

because you're practicing your

generosity it's fun so that changes your

whole mindset and with that then you

start noticing your thoughts and you

start wishing other people happiness the

more you can smile

and give that smile away the less the

depression will bother you the less that

painful feeling will bother you why

because you're not keeping your

attention on the painful feeling you're

keeping your attention on the wholesome

thing of smiling and give it away of

saying things that make other people

feel good and do other things that help

people everybody's got some problems

sometimes carrying stuff or whatever

give them a hand I remember one time

oh this was years ago somebody gave me

some flowers and I was walking I was a

layman at the time I was walking out out

a door and I thought you know I

appreciate the flowers but maybe I can

find somebody else to give it to so I

gave it to this lady and she she was

very touched she said her husband had

just died and that's the first time

anybody gave her flowers it's real fun

to give

and the more you can give with your mind

with your speech

with your body the less you are

self-centered okay

so this is really an important part of

the meditation realizing that the smile

is something that helps not only you but

it helps everybody else around you the

next part of meditation is taking your

precepts and keeping them without

breaking them and you know when you

break a precept other people don't stand

around and point at you because you

broke a precept but it affects your mind

in a negative way it affects your mind

in a way that causes guilty feeling to

arise having wrong sexual activity

having taking somebody from something

from somebody else stealing it harming

other beings killing fish killing ants

killing cockroaches don't need to kill

them you can make it unpleasant so they

don't come around just like that truck I

was talking about the other day

it didn't kill the ants but they sure

didn't cross that trout that trap line

so keeping your precepts as closely as

you can it does a variety of things for

you

you become generally more mindful of

what you're going to do before you do it

so you don't get knocked off balance so

easily

keeping your precept your mind naturally

starts to become more tranquil so then

you sit in your meditation you can go

deep really quickly when you keep your

precepts

so it's a real good thing to take the

precepts home with you and take them

every day not as some kind of writing

ritual but as a reminder that's what I

need to do today I want to keep my

precepts I don't want to break the

precepts and of course the speech

precept is easy as one to break so when

you keep your precepts without breaking

them for a period of time you will

become more mindful of what you're going

to say before you say it now all of

these things that I'm talking about

they help overcome that depression

feeling they help overcome that painful

feeling that we call depression so what

is that all about it is about having a

more uplifted mind having a mind that's

not so self-centered it's not mean

everything it's not everything belonging

to me so when you're practicing your

generosity and your giving things your

mind becomes happy and with a happy mind

depression disappears you don't have to

take drugs to overcome it you have to

take smiles to overcome piles of smiles

and you need to practice developing your

mind when the six RS are actually very

big brilliant and I can't lay claim to

them a student many years ago I was

showing him this and he wrote down what

eventually became five ours this is what

you're teaching recognize release relax

free smile return so over the over the

years and using that and then noticing

that okay there's six instead of five

it's just a reminder to practice your

right effort and it's a very necessary

part of having a happy uplifted mind you

get caught in things you can't use the

six hours as a stick to beat things away

okay and if it can sneak up on you and

you say well I six arted and it didn't

go away six hours don't make anything go

away six hours allow things to be

without keeping your attention on so

somebody in your family dies you're not

going to six are and not be sad sadness

is going to be there and it's okay for

the sadness to be there because that's

the truth so you allow

but you let go of that tension and

tightness caused by that feeling

let it be that over a period of time

helps to overcome the pain you still

have the sadness but it's not as painful

so you don't get caught up as much so

you can let go more easily so this

practice

please remember to do it all the time

when you're walking from here to your

car what is your mind doing thinking

this thinking that Honda well that's a

perfect opportunity to practice

radiating loving-kindness to all beings

to getting in that bubble of

loving-kindness and just radiating it to

everyone use little keys as reminder

okay you get up and you wash your face

in the morning and you brush your teeth

might as well smile your teeth are there

any later but put the smile here put the

smile here

so many people don't believe me when I

tell you have more fun I can remember in

Thailand when I first went there I went

on this bus ride from Bangkok to Chiang

Mai okay oh they only drive their buses

at night and they race each other okay

so I get in the bus and the only seat

available is this one so I sit down and

the guy in front leans in in the back of

it and it comes right down into my lap

and wouldn't go back up now I'm sitting

there and this guy's working trying to

get it back up and it won't go and the

bus took up

so after a little while like if I

founded that decent position that I

could be in and I take a look at what

what's happening with the bus driver and

I'm seeing this truck coming right at us

you know the feeling now they're playing

chicken with each other who's gonna

flinch first not my bus driver he's gone

he had really got guts

he made that that truck pull over and

I'm thinking wow I wonder if it's better

that I go to sleep then watch this kind

of thing so I start nodding off and a

friend that I'm riding with he wakes up

and we're passing another

truck for another bus as another truck

is coming right at us

how these roads in Thailand are barely

two-lane roads I mean barely and we have

a bus taking up a space a bus taking up

the space and a truck coming right at us

and my friend starts giving me one of

these we're gonna die and I said wow I

really appreciate you waking me up now I

can be scared to death but we made it we

made it around that truck or that bus

bye oh good two three feet before you

swerve and just miss the truck I mean

just missed it so what happens in your

mind when you're in that kind of

situation

how much do you appreciate that kind of

experience

after about four hours he stopped and we

got some something to drink and

stretched and go to the bathroom and

what it what all and we got back on the

bus and I said now we go for part two

and everybody started laughing and the

guy in front of me says why are you

laughing I said I can laugh I can cry

it's my choice I like to laugh more than

I like to cry okay that's the kind of

attitude you need with everything you

can laugh you can cry it's your choice

what Carlos Castaneda and a lot of his

books his teacher Don Juan was

continually having these belly laps and

sometimes he had Carlos had no idea why

his teacher was laughing like it was why

are you doing that why are you laughing

so much makes my body feel good it's

true so the more you can laugh the more

healthy you become remember laughter is

really an amazing tool when you laugh at

being caught excuse me when you laugh at

being caught you're not caught anymore

so when you start tamed taking and

changing life and making it a game to be

played instead of something to be

serious with life becomes easier and

it's your choice

you can do it or not I don't care but

your perspective changes when you laugh

I'm mad and I don't like it you laugh

it's only this anger now I have a choice

do I want to keep this anger or not I

know that anger doesn't make me feel

good so I might as well just let it go

it's pretty amazing stuff

don't forget but you will and then laugh

at you're forgetting okay this is real

basic stuff but what all of this leads

to is a mind that's more clear a mind

that's more uplifted a mind that has joy

in it and when you have joy in your mind

your mind is really alert and it's real

easy to recognize when your mind gets

heavy with I don't like this so you can

use your six hours and let it go let it

be then the joy can come back it's real

interesting that the corners of your

mouth dictates what's happening in your

mind it's been proven

a lot of times when the corners of your

mouth go down so does your mind state

and you start identifying with

everything that comes up this is me this

is mine I don't like this I like that I

want that to stay around when the

corners of your mouth go up even when

you don't feel like smiling there is

advantage this is a proven somebody sent

me the scientific paper on smiling and

they said even if you're depressed and

you start smiling what happens is your

mind starts looking at your mouth and

going well it's smiling maybe I should

be happy and it happens that way isn't

that odd I had a student in Australia

they wrote wrote to me by email he said

I've been practicing one pointed

concentration with this teacher in

Australia for seven years and always I

get into this blissful state it's

wonderful I come out and I don't have

any personality change I still have the

same problems that I always have and I

think they're supposed to be something

more to meditation than that what do you

think and I said you know there is if

you want to practice with me for a

little while all you have to do is he

was doing mindfulness of breathing on

the in-breath you relax on the

out-breath you relax there's a

distraction you let it be you're relaxed

you smile you come back

give it a go well his concentration was

such that he would forget to do the

relax step so he wasn't seeing any

benefit at all so I after a few days I

said well this doesn't seem to be

working because of your habit of doing

this with the mindfulness of breathing

so I'm going to change her meditation

and I'm going to have you practice

loving-kindness meditation so I gave him

the instructions for the mindfulness of

loving-kindness and it is a mindfulness

of now he wasn't getting his deep

concentrations that suppress the

hindrances so all of a sudden he has

these entrances just attacking him I

don't have any peace and calm I don't

have any bliss I'm going to go back to

mindfulness of breathing he said nope

don't do that just use the six RS he'll

start to understand and smile more after

another day I'm going back to the breath

I can't stand this my mind is so active

nope don't do that started complaining

more and finally I got tired of his

complaining and I told him that he needs

to stop doing his sitting meditation for

one week try this experiment I want you

to smile from the time you wake up till

the time you go to sleep and when you

have trouble smiling I want you to laugh

that's all I want you to do for the

whole week

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

starting to think well he tried somebody

else's technique and then he wrote to me

and he said you know I really took what

you said seriously and I tried this and

this is what if my experience was always

when I was walking around I walked

around in a mental funk looking down not

paying attention just thinking this and

thinking that most of it was nonsense

stuff when I started smiling it changed

my posture a little bit and I started

looking around and smiling and I didn't

have that mental function other--the

Inge that happened and it's really

strange something that's never happened

to me in my adult life people started

smiling at me and then they actually

started coming up and talking to me

complete strangers and while they were

talking I was smiling and they were

smiling it was kind of fun I wrote back

to him did you notice any change in your

mindfulness he said I didn't even know

what mindfulness was he said this filing

has has helped me be so much more aware

of what my mind is doing in the present

moment and then then he said and now the

doctor is cutting my medicine

and I said medicine

well yeah I'm in a mental institution

and the doctors have been giving me this

heavy-duty medicine but they're seeing a

change in me just in one week and

they're cutting the dose so it's not so

strong so I don't get so spaced out now

when he went in the mental institute

they told him he was going to have to

stay there for the rest of his life he

was so unstable

he kept practicing now he's really an

advocate of loving-kindness okay ah now

I got it now I know what I need to do I

just need to smile more and laugh and

that sort of thing after about six

months he went through such personality

change and he was doing so well

that after they gave him a review they

said you can you can go out and live on

your own now and he's still out on his

own now because he practice smiling now

I've had a lot of people especially the

scholar types tell me that the Buddha

never told you to smile oh look at all

the Buddha images they're smiling

yeah but the Buddha never told you to

smile no he told you to be happy

what's an expression of happiness

smiling

so it's a real important thing to

practice and that takes practice to

remember to smile when you see you're

not you can't criticize yourself you

just start over again and you turn it

into a game

keep your mind light mind that's light

is very alert you get heavy with

dissatisfaction dislike fear frustration

whatever the catch of the day happens to

be your identifying with that so heavily

and your mind gets just like a rock so

what do you do with rocks they're the

right size you skip them on the water

you need to relax

smile bring that happy mind back to your

object of meditation what's your object

of meditation but can be the smile with

your daily activities I don't care if

you're at work or not you can smile and

have fun while you're at work right

right

and the thing is when you smile and you

have fun at work you become more

efficient with what you're doing while

you're doing it I think back when you

were in school you had certain classes

you were really good at why were you

good at it because it was fun to you and

you took more interest in it and it was

easy because you were having fun

learning that class whatever it was and

then you started thinking I'm pretty

good at this this is good so it even

causes more fun too right so it's a

necessary skill to have fun with what

you're doing while you're doing it it's

a necessary skill and it needs to be

practiced falling into your old habit of

I got to do this I had a friend that he

and I were building a patio cover for

somebody and we ordered a lot of wood

and the lumber truck came and now this

was was up in the San Francisco area but

it was like 95 degrees where we were so

I'm going and then picking the wood up

off the truck and I'm carrying it around

back and putting it down and going doing

it again truck driver said boy you're

really working hard and I didn't even

know I was working

I wasn't working I was just picking this

up and I was putting it over there

that's all when you think of things as

work now you've had this label on it and

it causes your mind to get more serious

but I was having fun doing it yeah I was

sweating so what only sweat got to

exercise you know but when you think of

things in terms of this concept of work

now there can be drudgery in it I don't

like to work doing this I don't like

that but when you're in the present

moment and you're happy nothing is work

everything is just doing this that's all

well I get bored doing the same thing

over and over again who gets bored who

doesn't like it

who's not having fun who's causing

themselves suffering I

when you have that happy uplifted mind

and you use the six R's your mind

becomes much more at ease your awareness

becomes much quicker so it's real easy

to see when you start having a feeling

arise that gets grabbed on to so you can

let it go when I was living in them in

Malaysia I was living at a sri lankan

temple biggest temple tera vaada temple

in kuala lumpur called the Brickfields

temple the head monk there when I got

there he had been there for 40 years he

was absolutely brilliant and giving

Dhamma talks absolutely brilliant

his real fun to listen to and he asked

me to come and stay at his temple and he

said I am getting old and every Friday

night I give these Dhamma talks and

there's three or four hundred people

that come every Friday night to listen

to the Dhamma talk and he said what I

want to do is I want you to give every

other Friday I want you to give the

Dhamma to they're not sure I'll do that

no problem

every morning we get up and have a cup

of coffee and a little bit of breakfast

and he would go into his room and I

would kind of follow him into his room

and we would do things to make each

other laugh one of the things that just

at every time I heard it it just made me

laugh I mean it was such an amazing

thing

he had this tape of some people singing

Oh monie padmi home and every time I

heard that I heard Oh mommy take me home

vamping laughs every time and once we

started laughing we were like little

kids playing we were just giggling and

we did that for about a half an hour

every day what a great way to start the

day

is to make the other one laugh it was it

was really a fun fun time is really good

it was the start of the range retreat

and I would I've just gotten into the

temple in the start of the range retreat

all the monks get together and there's a

special ceremony and things like that

and there's about a thousand people that

watch us do this and chief reverend is

talking alone and he's saying and we

have something real special for this

range retreat we have this very famous

monk so i'm thinking and he said i'm

going to have him give a talk of an hour

and a half or so and he hands me i

really did think he was talking about

another monk i didn't know he was

talking about famous I'm not famous I'm

just lucky so for two years we really

had a lot of fun together and then it

got time to come back here and that's

what I do if you can start your day with

chuckles and laughs and smiles the whole

day seems to be easy but if you start

your day grumpy and I've got to go to

work I've got to do this I've got to do

that

then I really don't want to then you can

look forward to having a difficult day

remember that tip I sent you in laughter

yes I played that so much that it got

worn out and I tried to get another one

I couldn't find it and I gave it to

people when they were on retreat and

they were being real serious with their

practice they want some headphones I

didn't tell them what it was I said just

listen to this you'll like turned it on

and before long they're chuckling right

the more you make life into a game the

less heaviness you experience and the

more efficient you become at doing what

you do see that the trick with having

your intuition come up is when your mind

is light and happy it's not overactive

you don't have a lot of thoughts coming

in knocking you around all over the

place

the intuition mind is a quiet voice and

if you don't pay attention to it or your

mind is so active with emotional stuff

and whatever you miss that intuition you

miss an opportunity for happiness to a

because your intuition always point you

towards the easiest the best end and the

most fun things now the the suta that I

read last night suit to number 21 right

at the end of it it says something

that's real important you should keep

this advice constantly in your mind

radiating loving-kindness that will lead

to your welfare and happiness for a long

time what's meditation about is it about

suffering or letting go of suffering oh

good

after only a week figure out so it's to

your benefit for a long time it causes

your happiness and contentment I looked

it up in the dictionary means being

happy when you're content you're at ease

life is easy you don't have to go

mountain climbing all you see is these

little bumps then that's okay got to

take care of some stuff got to take care

of it good what was that song a few

years back what me worried but good does

worry do makes you miserable in the

present moment makes you project all

kinds of negative things that could have

but but it definitely doesn't lead to

your happiness or to the happiness of

other people around you that's what part

of the Kalamazoo tub is about it goes

through don't believe these things

because they're tradition and because

somebody else says a merc don't believe

things because it's in a book

now the advice of the Columbo suit is if

you say or do things that make you or

somebody else around you unhappy don't

do that anymore but when you say and do

things that make you and everyone around

you happy do that over and over again

how reasonable

remember this about the speech it's real

important to remember this 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 with harm spoken with a mind of

loving-kindness or with inner hate we

should train this way our minds will

remain unaffected by what somebody else

says and we shall utter no evil words we

don't have to get into verbal daggers

and stab each other we shall abide

compassionate for their welfare with a

mind of loving kindness without inner

hate 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 the mind

that is abundant exalted immeasurable

without hostility and without ill-will

that is how you should drink and it does

take practice you have to remember every

person you talk to you need to be

radiating loving-kindness to them and

then their speech isn't so bad okay

because you're not you're hearing what

they say kind of but you're not judging

what they say you're not saying

what you're saying is a lie I don't

believe it well there's no sense in

saying something like that whether it's

true or untrue it doesn't really matter

what matters is what's happening in your

own mind as you start radiating and

wishing that person happiness their

speech starts changing too and then they

walk away and that's the reminder okay

let's get in our little bubble of

loving-kindness and send it to all

beings in all the directions without any

boundaries without any limits watch what

kind of changes your personality goes

through when you do this watch how your

mind becomes very light and alert and

how your mindfulness is really old very

sharp now that's what the retreat is all

about the retreat is to give you the

opportunity to experience these things

so you can take them home and develop

them into your daily habits

is it white yeah I think it wants to

listen to the Dhamma you know I had this

one dog when we first moved to the place

we're at now he was a black cross

between a pitbull and a Labrador

Retriever and when I first met him I

touched him and I had it really touched

my heart so I started radiating

loving-kindness he got this big smile

and so we called him smiley and every

time I gave a Dhamma talk he would come

in and listen the other dog we had she

liked chanting

so she was doing the chanting the silkie

come in and listen to the chanting

smiley didn't care about Jim

I like the dhamma talk is pretty

remarkable dog he was the protector

anybody that came that was his job to be

the protector so the cabins that we have

up kind of a long way from the house

that we had so what he did was he would

go up with you at night he would spend

the whole night on the porch when you

got up he had to go to the bathroom he'd

get up and go to them and wait outside

for you and come back and then he wanted

to go back down early in the morning to

do the morning service he'd come right

down with you make sure nothing would

bother it is really a remarkable animal

good fun and that's way beside the point

I forgot what I was it was called smiley

after he was smiley and he did he smiled

and he would do things he'd get a gleam

in his eye right now we were cutting

down some trees and starting fires and

that sort of thing and it was kind of a

hot day and we have a pond so he liked

to go and jump in the pond so he goes

and jumps in the pond and he comes out

and he looks at me and I'm sitting down

taking a rest and he gets his gleam in

his eye and he starts running straight

at me

and as he's getting closer I'm going no

don't do that don't do that he ran right

over the top and got me all wet and I

turned around I said you dirty rat and

he was laughing remarkable animal he was

so big yeah but he was some gentle

tongue oh that's great he really got off

on chasing butterflies and butterfly

shadows he's chasing the shadows and he

jumped up and he caught a butterfly in

his mouth and he got this real quizzical

look like I don't know what to do with

this so I opened up his mouth and the

butterfly full of like where's the

camera when you needed it was good fun

you had here quick loving kind of story

yes this was related by wronged us a

number of years back and it's a great

story

he was Guru of giving them loving

kindness to do and so he was on the west

coast and somebody also had given him a

car that they wanted very back to the

East Coast that happened to be a classic

Cadillac convertible hi

so he said yeah I've got time I'd love

to do it so he put the two together

he loved driving he loved Cadillacs and

he was doing loving kindness I drove

across the country I decided the

freeways were just too fast for

loving-kindness I better take the side

room she was taking the side roads and

he's radiating loving kindness to the

cows to the sky the clouds and it goes

to a little town after he gets out of

the town here comes the local cop and

I'm speeding up behind it with the

lights go ahead and pull them over on

this little side road and ours is just a

uniform starched and pressed and he

walks over he looks at when you're

driving pretty slow Rob bass is talking

to sort of answering these questions and

yes it is leather seats you know you can

just touch the steep good part of the

hour

finally they get to a point where there

was kind of nothing to say they're just

kind of looking at each other

kind of looking at each other well it's

summer and why oh how is he doing

radiating loving-kindness just walk I

went up to him to say a few things I had

met him many years ago and also get

friends in common and so I started to

talk to him I realize he loved ya as I

evident I'm ready and so he is he is

that very thing and he has so many

friends and so many people that love him

that he could almost not go anywhere

people just bringing his stuff and

trying to help him and you know much

like is he able to speak good story but

it takes a while for him to speak and he

still have those of his speech okay so

you have kind of an idea what's going to

be happening when you get are free free

and you have a couple more things I

wanted to tell you the best time to do

your meditation is in the morning

because you go to bed so late when you

when you have a job you if you can

practice your loving-kindness before you

go off to work it's a nice way to start

the day

and

you

and then it's real late and you say well

I'm not going to met a date today call

metadata tomorrow and then when you get

ready to meditate something else comes

up and before long you're out of the

habit and you stop thinking about it so

when you do it in the morning then if

you want to sit in the evening then

that's your bonus city but get in the

habit of sitting in the morning because

that's a nice way to start the day it

really is and you can develop the habit

of that actually funny funny thing

there's this website where you can go to

where you can make these commitments and

you and if you don't hold up to them you

have to give the nation either for

charity and you really like or a charity

that you really don't like for example I

got a friend signed up to run the half

marathon if he doesn't it's going to

support it and already something he

really doesn't believe it yeah you know

I experimented with that very thing for

years and what I found work the best and

because I live with somebody and they

wanted to be included in meditation

sometimes so it's very difficult but I

figured out how to do it now let's get

up

get showered and dressed for everything

at the door and then start the

meditation with your partner brick and

and set the times so that you can walk

out the door in time ready to go so you

don't have a sense of being late right

and also you can share the experience of

here with a partner at the time Frank

but it means that people have to get up

a little bit earlier yeah but if you're

going to do something with somebody and

that's a heck of a great date to have is

to be sitting and practicing the six

hours together at 7:15 or 7:30 in the

morning even I would I would usually sit

an hour and they would come in and sit

for half an hour and then that was a

true and to have it at that part of the

day and walk into the office is just

remarkable and after doing that all the

whole kind of dynamics at the office

changed because I change yeah I'm loving

and kind of attitude in meetings rather

than this business hat on you know and

so all the sudden things started to

shift and the tempers kind of quiet got

softer and then when I would meditate on

my lunch hour a part of it the meetings

even better so it is if it develops a

culture that is it can catch on and they

don't have nobody has to know but the

energy yeah it's true if I'm not getting

everything ready prior let's get it all

ready to go all you have to do

WAP to the dark it's all your already

then you don't have the I'm late thing

good oh I got a shower and you know ya

know you just get up here we're yeah get

up earlier and get showered and dressed

get back good job get up earlier said

get that shirt either way it's great

whatever whatever let's take a bow well

the thing is all life is an experiment

try see what works best for you

there's no set rules to life right

except everything is going to change so

be ready and remember that

you

used to do some of the weirdest things

to make each other smile and laugh to

start the day so I went to visit my

mother right before she died and my

brother was there so in the morning I

walked up to him and I grabbed his belly

and I shook it a little bit and he

turned around and looked at me with a

very serious face and said if you do

that again I'm gonna kiss you now you

have to understand my brother is quite a

bit bigger than I am so so try to

practice at least a half an hour a day

if you do that your practice will stay

and it will slowly go up and get better

the longer you can sit the faster your

progress gets back to where you are now

okay

so it's up to you you want to do a

weekend retreat you have the the the

precepts and that sort of thing and you

want to take eight precepts you can do

that now tomorrow morning when we take

the precepts I'm going to give you five

precepts or six precepts as the case may

be so that you'll be able to eat after

noon and that sort of thing and listen

to music and singing that we're makeup

yeah

oh the object of meditation you know

you've been giving us this our spiritual

friend but not should use that through

the week do you have any suggestions

about that yeah I do

then the suggestion is get on our yahoo

group and if it's if it starts to change

you right and we will give you more

instruction if I if I won't do it or

don't do it she'll do it she's real good

at going to the internet I'm kind of not

but I've got some major projects that I

have to get done so

we need you focus so anyway don't be

afraid to write to us or call us if you

have a problem that you don't understand

we're here for you

and that's for real okay

so

I can't think of anything else for you

you wanna talk about method water I

haven't I haven't lost best I don't have

on you when you're practicing

loving-kindness meditation if you have a

glass with the lid on it that has water

in it the the loving-kindness goes into

the water water is a really amazing

substance because it holds memory so you

use this every day and hold it and then

if you start to feel a cold coming on

take a few sips or somebody is being

grumpy give him some of that into their

in their water now one of the things

that I did when I was in Malaysia and

this is years ago was that women that

were pregnant were coming to me and I

would radiate loving-kindness in a

bottle of water and give it to them and

these babies when they were born were

quite unusual because they would do

weird things like sleep all night and

they would when right after they were

born they were smiling like you couldn't

believe and whenever I would come to see

the baby for the first time it was like

they recognized me

so this this stuff really does work and

now 14 years later I go back and these

kids that are supposed to be eight or

nine years old in my mind they're just

getting out of college what is that that

that really hits home and all of these

kids these younger kids like some of

them were two and three years old when I

left they found out that I'd come back

they want I want to go see you because I

I have kind of a memory of you I want to

see if it's right or not because they

were drinking and having the water

rubbed on them and they got that feeling

of loving-kindness and it made them

happy so when you hold a glass of water

in your hand and you radiate loving

kindness you can take the water and you

can serve it around different things you

can put it on your plants it's up to you

what you do with it but when you get

down to about that much then you fill it

up with water again and you shake it at

least 15 times and that loving kindness

that was in the water to start off with

gets mixed into the other water and you

don't lose in any potency so you can

keep it going that way what we have a

grandson who's not sleeping through the

night and

there could be something good for you oh

yeah oh yeah and just put it on a

washcloth and wash his face with it

things like that it does remarkable

things does also when you do it to

yourself

oh yes appreciating your skin parts of

you which is which we function and Noah

sense8 senses the ability to to digest

or the ability to to drink the water yes

very very insignificant things can come

up and call you to a softness for

yourself

yes and that in a way almost an

automatic not automatically but

naturally ready aids but also you see

cloud sometimes in the morning we are

doing it from here from the heart into

all directions

is also expressing something maybe not

harmed themselves in this directions of

the Norse God or of this house and it

expired expanding a little bit yeah and

while you're while you're doing that if

you hold that water that feeling goes

into that water

yeah yes maybe no maybe they actually

occasionally warm up

yeah it is also an appreciation then of

the water or quarterly then this

feedback yes sometimes also very easy

can be can get into the concept itself

without meaning that that we are

relating to it you know speak the words

fastly fast and to realize or miss a few

aspects offer of this some energy called

meta ma and head so then it is this cat

over you get your info and enveloped

methods getting more as you drink for

example you just sense that gratitude

and the sensitivity of me be also being

more careful with it then many many

beautiful qualities can can rise up and

to reward us and in that atmosphere of

hold us in the atmosphere now in

this was a Christian monk I think I

don't know who it was he was speaking

when he washed the dishes to the plates

I find myself sometimes going from the

plane oh that was I happened in my hand

to appreciate the mind which created

that to birth it is expanding though

somehow makes it more mix in an

atmosphere not just concept there's a

comes also into that when I hear what

they talk about it with how it was the

actually the Faculty of knowing that it

has happened in you the appreciation

then I find myself doing this to myself

yeah you bet there needs to be humor

there's a website that's called heart

math and what they do is they measure

the feeling of loving kindness with

sensitive equipment and they're saying

that if you carry that feeling of loving

kindness and their radiation that it

does affect other people around you and

it affects basically the whole world so

the more we can remember to keep that

loving-kindness going the the better

things will become that's what Thursday

night's yeah that's okay

also invites eventually or maybe earlier

- action - action it's not so much

distance you know they're big distances

between I asked sometimes where are the

big the greatest distance in your life

also in law I don't know how to say it

now and then I can you come find out

that it is between the word and the

action yeah there's another aspect from

loving-kindness

absolutely so it's kind of a wonderful

entertainment think of it like a

typewriter like a real fancy typewriter

yeah think about it as being just a

different kind of typewriter yeah that's

all it really is it's shiny and it's

much easier to deal with when you think

in those terms okay

yeah I just had them just something I'd

like to show listen to I had was having

a difficult time at work doing anything

wrong and I listen to or the YouTube

things in which you spoke about your

outside San Francisco you said were very

good things to do is to mention example

of going in and getting fish in

Chinatown and setting the fish free yeah

so what I said in the car we broke into

Chinatown and we had a wonderful

actually very funny interface trying to

find the fish and I try to keep buying

them and for trying to keep them from

killing the fish and the whole thing and

bring them to San Francisco Bay instead

even Freddy it was it works absolutely

giving life is one of the most precious

things you can do in listen as a story

now what happens is very funny

excellent excellent budget hotels lives

about the crystals because ice crystals

hold energy to they hold memory during

meditation well they hold memory so you

have a good meditation if you're holding

a crystal that the vibration of that

good meditation will be remembered in

the crystal so you hold it again and

your mind calms down real fat faster you

can do that or not I tend to like to sit

holding crystals it feels good in my

hands then if you give them away to

somebody that sensitive they can get it

really fast I think you had it to

dominate

they can feel it sometimes really maybe

I avoided on your table 90% water aren't

you doing a nice thing for yourself when

you radiate loving-kindness and that's

why this is healing yes I didn't read it

myself so I can't psych anything but

they're talking about taking two jars of

water labeling one love and one he would

see the microscope how different the

molecules would look only the source was

the same yeah

and they even did it with different

languages not just English different

languages love hate and I just have any

frozen any frozen and took pictures of

the crystal the ice crystals and then he

made a deck of cards into everything

with it with all the different feelings

for the different crystals for like love

and just this kind of love that kind of

love a Japanese author I can't remember

his name was mentioned two three art has

been on the internet for ten years

before that yeah Monta I was going to

mention that while cooking I practiced

it and I've never had a guest who

complained about the taste or anything

like that and they weren't afraid of my

size or anything but I never checked

them you know I never agreed I just do

it whatever my intuition says and I just

talk with the ingredients you know the

vegetables or whatever I'm cooking and

I'm done and the photography there's

nothing left

well I'll tell you when I was in Asia I

went on home from every day that went on

Hamra

not some people they truly loved getting

up really early in the morning and

fixing the elms food for the monks

so I got used to eating a lot of food

that had lovin

okay now I went to Bangkok or I went to

Kuala Lumpur and that is a Muslim

country and they don't really appreciate

monks walking around with an alms Bowl

so I had but I was being fed and every

day somebody would come and they would

fix the food and and offer it for that

day and this one particular day they had

a very expensive food but they didn't

really like cooking it if I ate it I got

sick but all the rest of the week I

could eat it digest no problem but she

would fix steak

you know and that's really expensive in

Asia and I couldn't eat it because she

fixed it with dislike dissatisfaction

she didn't really want to do it that she

okay you told me I had to do it I didn't

tell her the Board of Directors did so I

started asking that I was basically

fasting on that day that she was doing

the cooking because I couldn't eat it so

I started asking the Board of Directors

if we could have another person come in

and do some supplemental so I got some

food that day anyway but it it is real

and if you take that loving-kindness

water and you put it on a plant you

watch how fast that then how healthy

that plant gets and talk to it a little

bit

give it some verbal love when I was at

this one place they had these pot plants

that they were inside and they were

sickly I mean they really were not good

when they got there so every day I touch

him and I tell him how beautiful they

were and how much I appreciated them and

how I loved them and I was holding the

water for loving-kindness and I'd give

him a drink and all of a sudden they're

just growing like you can't believe and

really healthy then I left for two

months and I came back and they were all

sickly it yet because whoever was quote

taking care of

didn't really give them any love he

didn't give them appreciation so it

really does make a difference when I was

in Malaysia with chief Reverend at the

time there was a fence around the

monastery and I was up in a room that

was very close to that fence and on the

other side of the fence was a mango tree

now this my room is where he did a lot

of radiating loving-kindness and I

started noticing this mango tree

it had mangoes coming over the fence but

on the other side of the tree there is

no mangoes and those mangoes were sweet

like you can't believe and it was really

remarkable fruit because the mango tree

was responding to the loving kindness

and you can give loving kindness in all

different kinds of ways experiment with

it have fun with it okay yeah sure story

content okay well before my mother

passed away I bought her a pot of

gardenias because that's what she loved

and while she went through the ordeal of

just suffering aware in the caster's so

doctors sent her back home so she was

with hospice care and from my depression

and sadness I neglected the gardenia I

mean I watered it

one and when she died I noticed all of a

sudden that the garden yet completely

dried out so but the leftover you know

dried out branches were still hanging so

I decided I wanted to throw it away and

I said you know what I'm going to do

something so I just cooked away most of

the gardenia the dried branches and

there was a lump of dry portion of the

main stem and every day I would go and

sit by it sometimes I would cry

sometimes I will talk to it and just put

my hands around it and just at the time

just pour my heart out and just love it

and pretend my mom's sitting right there

and about they think three-and-a-half

weeks I was passing by and just watering

the other plants and I had looked in

glass and all the sudden I saw green

leaflets on the steps and they wanted

druid cave flowers so it was dead

basically hmm surprise me at all I see

miracles happen all the time a miracle

ray need somebody that's unhappy read

them loving kindness and watched them

smile that's a miracle it's not a little

one either it's major it's big I used to

go to the hospital when I was at that

Brickfields temple I went to the

hospital at least five times a week

because the people who were there they

would ask me personally a family

member would come up and say my father

is sick my brother is sick they're dying

and whatever so I would go visit them

this one lady had had stomach cancer and

when I was there she had just gotten out

of the operating room she was in the

recovery room so the family member came

and said please come in and help my

mother she had a mask on but it was a

clear mask you could see right through

it you could see her nose and mouth but

she was under anesthetic and she was

really knocked out so I started

radiating loving kindness and I just

gently closed my eyes and I almost

always had a student that was coming

with me because they wanted to send 11

kindness too so I closed my eyes and the

student tapped me on it on the arm and

said look at this lady so I looked at

her and she was smiling now she was

under anesthetic she couldn't she didn't

know how could she know but she was

smiling I think that was pretty

remarkable

I've seen a lot of those kind of things

occur as a result I have unshakeable

confidence and loving magnets okay why

don't we

suffering

so I wanted to talk a little bit about

what's gonna happen when you get off

retreat the peace and calm you feel now

is going to disappear the level of

meditation is going to diminish a little

bit and the reason is you're meditating

a lot right now when you get off of

retreat you're going to go home and

you're going to get busy and you're not

going to meditate as much so you are

going to have a dip expected you're not

going to have so much culture shock

going into back into your life because

you're going to be smiling right and

you're going to be using the Sixers

right so it's a pretty easy transition

I've done a lot of different kinds of

meditation and always after a retreat

going back into daily life and all of

the activity that happens with that is

hard especially with Vipassana because

I was moving so slowly all that time and

then start moving fast again

disorienting a little bit I saved a

pasta but I don't mean the kind Ruth

teaches because she has movement in her

Vipassana so it's not so much that's

just when you try to slow down so much

and then you go back to regular speed

it's a little disorienting so what do

you need to do and how do you need to

keep your practice going with your daily

life the more you can remember to smile

the more you can remember to laugh the

more you can remember to use the 6 RS

then when you start sitting in your

daily daily practice right you're going

to have a daily practice everybody's

going to sit every day without a break

ok so your your practice is going to go

down a little bit and as you keep

practicing with your daily activities

and keep sitting then your practice will

get better and better

and it'll come up to this level and as

you continue doing the sitting and

keeping practice with your daily

activities you'll actually be able to go

beyond this so the whole thing of this

retreat is trying to teach you that the

practice is not only sitting the

practice is all the time and it's

important to realize that it's all the

time it's important to keep your

mindfulness as sharp as possible your

observation power how do you cause

yourself pain how do you get caught by

anger frustration dislike fear anxiety

but what do you do with that now what I

hope you've learned is that you use the

six R's and you start laughing with it

instead of taking it personally now

somebody was talking to me about

depression today depression is real it

is a painful feeling and when that

painful feeling comes up I don't like it

there's your craving right after that

all of your opinions and ideas and story

about why you don't like that feeling

come up and then your old habitual

emotional tendency is either to try to

shut down that feeling by sheer force of

mind or you try to think the feeling

away which makes the feeling bigger and

more intense so what do you do with

depression how do you overcome

depression first you have to notice that

it is a painful feeling and that's real

and it's right there in front of you and

then that tension and tightness that

arises in your

in your mind if you can see it you relax

if you can't see it then you're going to

get into your verbalization and story

and then your emotional dissatisfaction

with it and then that desire to stuff it

to push it away to make it not happen

and that only makes the suffering bigger

and more intense so you start 6re

Hobbiton won't go away when I 6r you're

not sick sorry to make anything go away

okay you're using the six RS to allow it

to be there but you don't keep your

attention on it so you release it you

relax a tightness I don't feel like

smiling then laughs then the old

emotional habit of trying to control

your mind with your thoughts doesn't

arise and the pain and suffering don't

arise as much now when I first started

talking about practicing loving-kindness

meditation I said there's three parts to

the practice first part is practicing

your generosity people that are

depressed they go into their mind so

heavily that they're not real observant

of anything else around them and they're

identifying with that so strong

this is me this is mine this is Who I am

that it turns this painful feeling and

this craving and this story into a huge

mountain that you can't get over you

can't get around you can't go underneath

it's there and it's real for you so what

what is the habit of somebody that gets

has depression well let's go in the room

and shut the drapes and lay down in bed

and try to sleep it away but it doesn't

work when you practice your generosity

one of the main things about generosity

is that you are going outside of

yourself you're recognizing other people

around you and you're giving them gifts

what kind of gift can somebody that's

depressed give a smile kind words words

that make other people smile okay the

more you practice your generosity the

less you get caught by this painful

feeling and you start to have joy arise

because you're practicing your

generosity it's fun so that changes your

whole mindset and with that then you

start noticing your thoughts and you

start wishing other people happiness the

more you can smile

and give that smile away the less the

depression will bother you the less that

painful feeling will bother you why

because you're not keeping your

attention on the painful feeling you're

keeping your attention on the wholesome

thing of smiling and give it away of

saying things that make other people

feel good and do other things that help

people everybody's got some problems

sometimes carrying stuff or whatever

give them a hand I remember one time

oh this was years ago somebody gave me

some flowers and I was walking I was a

layman at the time I was walking out out

a door and I thought you know I

appreciate the flowers but maybe I can

find somebody else to give it to so I

gave it to this lady and she she was

very touched she said her husband had

just died and that's the first time

anybody gave her flowers it's real fun

to give

and the more you can give with your mind

with your speech

with your body the less you are

self-centered okay

so this is really an important part of

the meditation realizing that the smile

is something that helps not only you but

it helps everybody else around you the

next part of meditation is taking your

precepts and keeping them without

breaking them and you know when you

break a precept other people don't stand

around and point at you because you

broke a precept but it affects your mind

in a negative way it affects your mind

in a way that causes guilty feeling to

arise having wrong sexual activity

having taking somebody from something

from somebody else stealing it harming

other beings killing fish killing ants

killing cockroaches don't need to kill

them you can make it unpleasant so they

don't come around just like that truck I

was talking about the other day

it didn't kill the ants but they sure

didn't cross that trout that trap line

so keeping your precepts as closely as

you can it does a variety of things for

you

you become generally more mindful of

what you're going to do before you do it

so you don't get knocked off balance so

easily

keeping your precept your mind naturally

starts to become more tranquil so then

you sit in your meditation you can go

deep really quickly when you keep your

precepts

so it's a real good thing to take the

precepts home with you and take them

every day not as some kind of writing

ritual but as a reminder that's what I

need to do today I want to keep my

precepts I don't want to break the

precepts and of course the speech

precept is easy as one to break so when

you keep your precepts without breaking

them for a period of time you will

become more mindful of what you're going

to say before you say it now all of

these things that I'm talking about

they help overcome that depression

feeling they help overcome that painful

feeling that we call depression so what

is that all about it is about having a

more uplifted mind having a mind that's

not so self-centered it's not mean

everything it's not everything belonging

to me so when you're practicing your

generosity and your giving things your

mind becomes happy and with a happy mind

depression disappears you don't have to

take drugs to overcome it you have to

take smiles to overcome piles of smiles

and you need to practice developing your

mind when the six RS are actually very

big brilliant and I can't lay claim to

them a student many years ago I was

showing him this and he wrote down what

eventually became five ours this is what

you're teaching recognize release relax

free smile return so over the over the

years and using that and then noticing

that okay there's six instead of five

it's just a reminder to practice your

right effort and it's a very necessary

part of having a happy uplifted mind you

get caught in things you can't use the

six hours as a stick to beat things away

okay and if it can sneak up on you and

you say well I six arted and it didn't

go away six hours don't make anything go

away six hours allow things to be

without keeping your attention on so

somebody in your family dies you're not

going to six are and not be sad sadness

is going to be there and it's okay for

the sadness to be there because that's

the truth so you allow

but you let go of that tension and

tightness caused by that feeling

let it be that over a period of time

helps to overcome the pain you still

have the sadness but it's not as painful

so you don't get caught up as much so

you can let go more easily so this

practice

please remember to do it all the time

when you're walking from here to your

car what is your mind doing thinking

this thinking that Honda well that's a

perfect opportunity to practice

radiating loving-kindness to all beings

to getting in that bubble of

loving-kindness and just radiating it to

everyone use little keys as reminder

okay you get up and you wash your face

in the morning and you brush your teeth

might as well smile your teeth are there

any later but put the smile here put the

smile here

so many people don't believe me when I

tell you have more fun I can remember in

Thailand when I first went there I went

on this bus ride from Bangkok to Chiang

Mai okay oh they only drive their buses

at night and they race each other okay

so I get in the bus and the only seat

available is this one so I sit down and

the guy in front leans in in the back of

it and it comes right down into my lap

and wouldn't go back up now I'm sitting

there and this guy's working trying to

get it back up and it won't go and the

bus took up

so after a little while like if I

founded that decent position that I

could be in and I take a look at what

what's happening with the bus driver and

I'm seeing this truck coming right at us

you know the feeling now they're playing

chicken with each other who's gonna

flinch first not my bus driver he's gone

he had really got guts

he made that that truck pull over and

I'm thinking wow I wonder if it's better

that I go to sleep then watch this kind

of thing so I start nodding off and a

friend that I'm riding with he wakes up

and we're passing another

truck for another bus as another truck

is coming right at us

how these roads in Thailand are barely

two-lane roads I mean barely and we have

a bus taking up a space a bus taking up

the space and a truck coming right at us

and my friend starts giving me one of

these we're gonna die and I said wow I

really appreciate you waking me up now I

can be scared to death but we made it we

made it around that truck or that bus

bye oh good two three feet before you

swerve and just miss the truck I mean

just missed it so what happens in your

mind when you're in that kind of

situation

how much do you appreciate that kind of

experience

after about four hours he stopped and we

got some something to drink and

stretched and go to the bathroom and

what it what all and we got back on the

bus and I said now we go for part two

and everybody started laughing and the

guy in front of me says why are you

laughing I said I can laugh I can cry

it's my choice I like to laugh more than

I like to cry okay that's the kind of

attitude you need with everything you

can laugh you can cry it's your choice

what Carlos Castaneda and a lot of his

books his teacher Don Juan was

continually having these belly laps and

sometimes he had Carlos had no idea why

his teacher was laughing like it was why

are you doing that why are you laughing

so much makes my body feel good it's

true so the more you can laugh the more

healthy you become remember laughter is

really an amazing tool when you laugh at

being caught excuse me when you laugh at

being caught you're not caught anymore

so when you start tamed taking and

changing life and making it a game to be

played instead of something to be

serious with life becomes easier and

it's your choice

you can do it or not I don't care but

your perspective changes when you laugh

I'm mad and I don't like it you laugh

it's only this anger now I have a choice

do I want to keep this anger or not I

know that anger doesn't make me feel

good so I might as well just let it go

it's pretty amazing stuff

don't forget but you will and then laugh

at you're forgetting okay this is real

basic stuff but what all of this leads

to is a mind that's more clear a mind

that's more uplifted a mind that has joy

in it and when you have joy in your mind

your mind is really alert and it's real

easy to recognize when your mind gets

heavy with I don't like this so you can

use your six hours and let it go let it

be then the joy can come back it's real

interesting that the corners of your

mouth dictates what's happening in your

mind it's been proven

a lot of times when the corners of your

mouth go down so does your mind state

and you start identifying with

everything that comes up this is me this

is mine I don't like this I like that I

want that to stay around when the

corners of your mouth go up even when

you don't feel like smiling there is

advantage this is a proven somebody sent

me the scientific paper on smiling and

they said even if you're depressed and

you start smiling what happens is your

mind starts looking at your mouth and

going well it's smiling maybe I should

be happy and it happens that way isn't

that odd I had a student in Australia

they wrote wrote to me by email he said

I've been practicing one pointed

concentration with this teacher in

Australia for seven years and always I

get into this blissful state it's

wonderful I come out and I don't have

any personality change I still have the

same problems that I always have and I

think they're supposed to be something

more to meditation than that what do you

think and I said you know there is if

you want to practice with me for a

little while all you have to do is he

was doing mindfulness of breathing on

the in-breath you relax on the

out-breath you relax there's a

distraction you let it be you're relaxed

you smile you come back

give it a go well his concentration was

such that he would forget to do the

relax step so he wasn't seeing any

benefit at all so I after a few days I

said well this doesn't seem to be

working because of your habit of doing

this with the mindfulness of breathing

so I'm going to change her meditation

and I'm going to have you practice

loving-kindness meditation so I gave him

the instructions for the mindfulness of

loving-kindness and it is a mindfulness

of now he wasn't getting his deep

concentrations that suppress the

hindrances so all of a sudden he has

these entrances just attacking him I

don't have any peace and calm I don't

have any bliss I'm going to go back to

mindfulness of breathing he said nope

don't do that just use the six RS he'll

start to understand and smile more after

another day I'm going back to the breath

I can't stand this my mind is so active

nope don't do that started complaining

more and finally I got tired of his

complaining and I told him that he needs

to stop doing his sitting meditation for

one week try this experiment I want you

to smile from the time you wake up till

the time you go to sleep and when you

have trouble smiling I want you to laugh

that's all I want you to do for the

whole week

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

starting to think well he tried somebody

else's technique and then he wrote to me

and he said you know I really took what

you said seriously and I tried this and

this is what if my experience was always

when I was walking around I walked

around in a mental funk looking down not

paying attention just thinking this and

thinking that most of it was nonsense

stuff when I started smiling it changed

my posture a little bit and I started

looking around and smiling and I didn't

have that mental function other--the

Inge that happened and it's really

strange something that's never happened

to me in my adult life people started

smiling at me and then they actually

started coming up and talking to me

complete strangers and while they were

talking I was smiling and they were

smiling it was kind of fun I wrote back

to him did you notice any change in your

mindfulness he said I didn't even know

what mindfulness was he said this filing

has has helped me be so much more aware

of what my mind is doing in the present

moment and then then he said and now the

doctor is cutting my medicine

and I said medicine

well yeah I'm in a mental institution

and the doctors have been giving me this

heavy-duty medicine but they're seeing a

change in me just in one week and

they're cutting the dose so it's not so

strong so I don't get so spaced out now

when he went in the mental institute

they told him he was going to have to

stay there for the rest of his life he

was so unstable

he kept practicing now he's really an

advocate of loving-kindness okay ah now

I got it now I know what I need to do I

just need to smile more and laugh and

that sort of thing after about six

months he went through such personality

change and he was doing so well

that after they gave him a review they

said you can you can go out and live on

your own now and he's still out on his

own now because he practice smiling now

I've had a lot of people especially the

scholar types tell me that the Buddha

never told you to smile oh look at all

the Buddha images they're smiling

yeah but the Buddha never told you to

smile no he told you to be happy

what's an expression of happiness

smiling

so it's a real important thing to

practice and that takes practice to

remember to smile when you see you're

not you can't criticize yourself you

just start over again and you turn it

into a game

keep your mind light mind that's light

is very alert you get heavy with

dissatisfaction dislike fear frustration

whatever the catch of the day happens to

be your identifying with that so heavily

and your mind gets just like a rock so

what do you do with rocks they're the

right size you skip them on the water

you need to relax

smile bring that happy mind back to your

object of meditation what's your object

of meditation but can be the smile with

your daily activities I don't care if

you're at work or not you can smile and

have fun while you're at work right

right

and the thing is when you smile and you

have fun at work you become more

efficient with what you're doing while

you're doing it I think back when you

were in school you had certain classes

you were really good at why were you

good at it because it was fun to you and

you took more interest in it and it was

easy because you were having fun

learning that class whatever it was and

then you started thinking I'm pretty

good at this this is good so it even

causes more fun too right so it's a

necessary skill to have fun with what

you're doing while you're doing it it's

a necessary skill and it needs to be

practiced falling into your old habit of

I got to do this I had a friend that he

and I were building a patio cover for

somebody and we ordered a lot of wood

and the lumber truck came and now this

was was up in the San Francisco area but

it was like 95 degrees where we were so

I'm going and then picking the wood up

off the truck and I'm carrying it around

back and putting it down and going doing

it again truck driver said boy you're

really working hard and I didn't even

know I was working

I wasn't working I was just picking this

up and I was putting it over there

that's all when you think of things as

work now you've had this label on it and

it causes your mind to get more serious

but I was having fun doing it yeah I was

sweating so what only sweat got to

exercise you know but when you think of

things in terms of this concept of work

now there can be drudgery in it I don't

like to work doing this I don't like

that but when you're in the present

moment and you're happy nothing is work

everything is just doing this that's all

well I get bored doing the same thing

over and over again who gets bored who

doesn't like it

who's not having fun who's causing

themselves suffering I

when you have that happy uplifted mind

and you use the six R's your mind

becomes much more at ease your awareness

becomes much quicker so it's real easy

to see when you start having a feeling

arise that gets grabbed on to so you can

let it go when I was living in them in

Malaysia I was living at a sri lankan

temple biggest temple tera vaada temple

in kuala lumpur called the Brickfields

temple the head monk there when I got

there he had been there for 40 years he

was absolutely brilliant and giving

Dhamma talks absolutely brilliant

his real fun to listen to and he asked

me to come and stay at his temple and he

said I am getting old and every Friday

night I give these Dhamma talks and

there's three or four hundred people

that come every Friday night to listen

to the Dhamma talk and he said what I

want to do is I want you to give every

other Friday I want you to give the

Dhamma to they're not sure I'll do that

no problem

every morning we get up and have a cup

of coffee and a little bit of breakfast

and he would go into his room and I

would kind of follow him into his room

and we would do things to make each

other laugh one of the things that just

at every time I heard it it just made me

laugh I mean it was such an amazing

thing

he had this tape of some people singing

Oh monie padmi home and every time I

heard that I heard Oh mommy take me home

vamping laughs every time and once we

started laughing we were like little

kids playing we were just giggling and

we did that for about a half an hour

every day what a great way to start the

day

is to make the other one laugh it was it

was really a fun fun time is really good

it was the start of the range retreat

and I would I've just gotten into the

temple in the start of the range retreat

all the monks get together and there's a

special ceremony and things like that

and there's about a thousand people that

watch us do this and chief reverend is

talking alone and he's saying and we

have something real special for this

range retreat we have this very famous

monk so i'm thinking and he said i'm

going to have him give a talk of an hour

and a half or so and he hands me i

really did think he was talking about

another monk i didn't know he was

talking about famous I'm not famous I'm

just lucky so for two years we really

had a lot of fun together and then it

got time to come back here and that's

what I do if you can start your day with

chuckles and laughs and smiles the whole

day seems to be easy but if you start

your day grumpy and I've got to go to

work I've got to do this I've got to do

that

then I really don't want to then you can

look forward to having a difficult day

remember that tip I sent you in laughter

yes I played that so much that it got

worn out and I tried to get another one

I couldn't find it and I gave it to

people when they were on retreat and

they were being real serious with their

practice they want some headphones I

didn't tell them what it was I said just

listen to this you'll like turned it on

and before long they're chuckling right

the more you make life into a game the

less heaviness you experience and the

more efficient you become at doing what

you do see that the trick with having

your intuition come up is when your mind

is light and happy it's not overactive

you don't have a lot of thoughts coming

in knocking you around all over the

place

the intuition mind is a quiet voice and

if you don't pay attention to it or your

mind is so active with emotional stuff

and whatever you miss that intuition you

miss an opportunity for happiness to a

because your intuition always point you

towards the easiest the best end and the

most fun things now the the suta that I

read last night suit to number 21 right

at the end of it it says something

that's real important you should keep

this advice constantly in your mind

radiating loving-kindness that will lead

to your welfare and happiness for a long

time what's meditation about is it about

suffering or letting go of suffering oh

good

after only a week figure out so it's to

your benefit for a long time it causes

your happiness and contentment I looked

it up in the dictionary means being

happy when you're content you're at ease

life is easy you don't have to go

mountain climbing all you see is these

little bumps then that's okay got to

take care of some stuff got to take care

of it good what was that song a few

years back what me worried but good does

worry do makes you miserable in the

present moment makes you project all

kinds of negative things that could have

but but it definitely doesn't lead to

your happiness or to the happiness of

other people around you that's what part

of the Kalamazoo tub is about it goes

through don't believe these things

because they're tradition and because

somebody else says a merc don't believe

things because it's in a book

now the advice of the Columbo suit is if

you say or do things that make you or

somebody else around you unhappy don't

do that anymore but when you say and do

things that make you and everyone around

you happy do that over and over again

how reasonable

remember this about the speech it's real

important to remember this 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 with harm spoken with a mind of

loving-kindness or with inner hate we

should train this way our minds will

remain unaffected by what somebody else

says and we shall utter no evil words we

don't have to get into verbal daggers

and stab each other we shall abide

compassionate for their welfare with a

mind of loving kindness without inner

hate 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 the mind

that is abundant exalted immeasurable

without hostility and without ill-will

that is how you should drink and it does

take practice you have to remember every

person you talk to you need to be

radiating loving-kindness to them and

then their speech isn't so bad okay

because you're not you're hearing what

they say kind of but you're not judging

what they say you're not saying

what you're saying is a lie I don't

believe it well there's no sense in

saying something like that whether it's

true or untrue it doesn't really matter

what matters is what's happening in your

own mind as you start radiating and

wishing that person happiness their

speech starts changing too and then they

walk away and that's the reminder okay

let's get in our little bubble of

loving-kindness and send it to all

beings in all the directions without any

boundaries without any limits watch what

kind of changes your personality goes

through when you do this watch how your

mind becomes very light and alert and

how your mindfulness is really old very

sharp now that's what the retreat is all

about the retreat is to give you the

opportunity to experience these things

so you can take them home and develop

them into your daily habits

is it white yeah I think it wants to

listen to the Dhamma you know I had this

one dog when we first moved to the place

we're at now he was a black cross

between a pitbull and a Labrador

Retriever and when I first met him I

touched him and I had it really touched

my heart so I started radiating

loving-kindness he got this big smile

and so we called him smiley and every

time I gave a Dhamma talk he would come

in and listen the other dog we had she

liked chanting

so she was doing the chanting the silkie

come in and listen to the chanting

smiley didn't care about Jim

I like the dhamma talk is pretty

remarkable dog he was the protector

anybody that came that was his job to be

the protector so the cabins that we have

up kind of a long way from the house

that we had so what he did was he would

go up with you at night he would spend

the whole night on the porch when you

got up he had to go to the bathroom he'd

get up and go to them and wait outside

for you and come back and then he wanted

to go back down early in the morning to

do the morning service he'd come right

down with you make sure nothing would

bother it is really a remarkable animal

good fun and that's way beside the point

I forgot what I was it was called smiley

after he was smiley and he did he smiled

and he would do things he'd get a gleam

in his eye right now we were cutting

down some trees and starting fires and

that sort of thing and it was kind of a

hot day and we have a pond so he liked

to go and jump in the pond so he goes

and jumps in the pond and he comes out

and he looks at me and I'm sitting down

taking a rest and he gets his gleam in

his eye and he starts running straight

at me

and as he's getting closer I'm going no

don't do that don't do that he ran right

over the top and got me all wet and I

turned around I said you dirty rat and

he was laughing remarkable animal he was

so big yeah but he was some gentle

tongue oh that's great he really got off

on chasing butterflies and butterfly

shadows he's chasing the shadows and he

jumped up and he caught a butterfly in

his mouth and he got this real quizzical

look like I don't know what to do with

this so I opened up his mouth and the

butterfly full of like where's the

camera when you needed it was good fun

you had here quick loving kind of story

yes this was related by wronged us a

number of years back and it's a great

story

he was Guru of giving them loving

kindness to do and so he was on the west

coast and somebody also had given him a

car that they wanted very back to the

East Coast that happened to be a classic

Cadillac convertible hi

so he said yeah I've got time I'd love

to do it so he put the two together

he loved driving he loved Cadillacs and

he was doing loving kindness I drove

across the country I decided the

freeways were just too fast for

loving-kindness I better take the side

room she was taking the side roads and

he's radiating loving kindness to the

cows to the sky the clouds and it goes

to a little town after he gets out of

the town here comes the local cop and

I'm speeding up behind it with the

lights go ahead and pull them over on

this little side road and ours is just a

uniform starched and pressed and he

walks over he looks at when you're

driving pretty slow Rob bass is talking

to sort of answering these questions and

yes it is leather seats you know you can

just touch the steep good part of the

hour

finally they get to a point where there

was kind of nothing to say they're just

kind of looking at each other

kind of looking at each other well it's

summer and why oh how is he doing

radiating loving-kindness just walk I

went up to him to say a few things I had

met him many years ago and also get

friends in common and so I started to

talk to him I realize he loved ya as I

evident I'm ready and so he is he is

that very thing and he has so many

friends and so many people that love him

that he could almost not go anywhere

people just bringing his stuff and

trying to help him and you know much

like is he able to speak good story but

it takes a while for him to speak and he

still have those of his speech okay so

you have kind of an idea what's going to

be happening when you get are free free

and you have a couple more things I

wanted to tell you the best time to do

your meditation is in the morning

because you go to bed so late when you

when you have a job you if you can

practice your loving-kindness before you

go off to work it's a nice way to start

the day

and

you

and then it's real late and you say well

I'm not going to met a date today call

metadata tomorrow and then when you get

ready to meditate something else comes

up and before long you're out of the

habit and you stop thinking about it so

when you do it in the morning then if

you want to sit in the evening then

that's your bonus city but get in the

habit of sitting in the morning because

that's a nice way to start the day it

really is and you can develop the habit

of that actually funny funny thing

there's this website where you can go to

where you can make these commitments and

you and if you don't hold up to them you

have to give the nation either for

charity and you really like or a charity

that you really don't like for example I

got a friend signed up to run the half

marathon if he doesn't it's going to

support it and already something he

really doesn't believe it yeah you know

I experimented with that very thing for

years and what I found work the best and

because I live with somebody and they

wanted to be included in meditation

sometimes so it's very difficult but I

figured out how to do it now let's get

up

get showered and dressed for everything

at the door and then start the

meditation with your partner brick and

and set the times so that you can walk

out the door in time ready to go so you

don't have a sense of being late right

and also you can share the experience of

here with a partner at the time Frank

but it means that people have to get up

a little bit earlier yeah but if you're

going to do something with somebody and

that's a heck of a great date to have is

to be sitting and practicing the six

hours together at 7:15 or 7:30 in the

morning even I would I would usually sit

an hour and they would come in and sit

for half an hour and then that was a

true and to have it at that part of the

day and walk into the office is just

remarkable and after doing that all the

whole kind of dynamics at the office

changed because I change yeah I'm loving

and kind of attitude in meetings rather

than this business hat on you know and

so all the sudden things started to

shift and the tempers kind of quiet got

softer and then when I would meditate on

my lunch hour a part of it the meetings

even better so it is if it develops a

culture that is it can catch on and they

don't have nobody has to know but the

energy yeah it's true if I'm not getting

everything ready prior let's get it all

ready to go all you have to do

WAP to the dark it's all your already

then you don't have the I'm late thing

good oh I got a shower and you know ya

know you just get up here we're yeah get

up earlier and get showered and dressed

get back good job get up earlier said

get that shirt either way it's great

whatever whatever let's take a bow well

the thing is all life is an experiment

try see what works best for you

there's no set rules to life right

except everything is going to change so

be ready and remember that

you

used to do some of the weirdest things

to make each other smile and laugh to

start the day so I went to visit my

mother right before she died and my

brother was there so in the morning I

walked up to him and I grabbed his belly

and I shook it a little bit and he

turned around and looked at me with a

very serious face and said if you do

that again I'm gonna kiss you now you

have to understand my brother is quite a

bit bigger than I am so so try to

practice at least a half an hour a day

if you do that your practice will stay

and it will slowly go up and get better

the longer you can sit the faster your

progress gets back to where you are now

okay

so it's up to you you want to do a

weekend retreat you have the the the

precepts and that sort of thing and you

want to take eight precepts you can do

that now tomorrow morning when we take

the precepts I'm going to give you five

precepts or six precepts as the case may

be so that you'll be able to eat after

noon and that sort of thing and listen

to music and singing that we're makeup

yeah

oh the object of meditation you know

you've been giving us this our spiritual

friend but not should use that through

the week do you have any suggestions

about that yeah I do

then the suggestion is get on our yahoo

group and if it's if it starts to change

you right and we will give you more

instruction if I if I won't do it or

don't do it she'll do it she's real good

at going to the internet I'm kind of not

but I've got some major projects that I

have to get done so

we need you focus so anyway don't be

afraid to write to us or call us if you

have a problem that you don't understand

we're here for you

and that's for real okay

so

I can't think of anything else for you

you wanna talk about method water I

haven't I haven't lost best I don't have

on you when you're practicing

loving-kindness meditation if you have a

glass with the lid on it that has water

in it the the loving-kindness goes into

the water water is a really amazing

substance because it holds memory so you

use this every day and hold it and then

if you start to feel a cold coming on

take a few sips or somebody is being

grumpy give him some of that into their

in their water now one of the things

that I did when I was in Malaysia and

this is years ago was that women that

were pregnant were coming to me and I

would radiate loving-kindness in a

bottle of water and give it to them and

these babies when they were born were

quite unusual because they would do

weird things like sleep all night and

they would when right after they were

born they were smiling like you couldn't

believe and whenever I would come to see

the baby for the first time it was like

they recognized me

so this this stuff really does work and

now 14 years later I go back and these

kids that are supposed to be eight or

nine years old in my mind they're just

getting out of college what is that that

that really hits home and all of these

kids these younger kids like some of

them were two and three years old when I

left they found out that I'd come back

they want I want to go see you because I

I have kind of a memory of you I want to

see if it's right or not because they

were drinking and having the water

rubbed on them and they got that feeling

of loving-kindness and it made them

happy so when you hold a glass of water

in your hand and you radiate loving

kindness you can take the water and you

can serve it around different things you

can put it on your plants it's up to you

what you do with it but when you get

down to about that much then you fill it

up with water again and you shake it at

least 15 times and that loving kindness

that was in the water to start off with

gets mixed into the other water and you

don't lose in any potency so you can

keep it going that way what we have a

grandson who's not sleeping through the

night and

there could be something good for you oh

yeah oh yeah and just put it on a

washcloth and wash his face with it

things like that it does remarkable

things does also when you do it to

yourself

oh yes appreciating your skin parts of

you which is which we function and Noah

sense8 senses the ability to to digest

or the ability to to drink the water yes

very very insignificant things can come

up and call you to a softness for

yourself

yes and that in a way almost an

automatic not automatically but

naturally ready aids but also you see

cloud sometimes in the morning we are

doing it from here from the heart into

all directions

is also expressing something maybe not

harmed themselves in this directions of

the Norse God or of this house and it

expired expanding a little bit yeah and

while you're while you're doing that if

you hold that water that feeling goes

into that water

yeah yes maybe no maybe they actually

occasionally warm up

yeah it is also an appreciation then of

the water or quarterly then this

feedback yes sometimes also very easy

can be can get into the concept itself

without meaning that that we are

relating to it you know speak the words

fastly fast and to realize or miss a few

aspects offer of this some energy called

meta ma and head so then it is this cat

over you get your info and enveloped

methods getting more as you drink for

example you just sense that gratitude

and the sensitivity of me be also being

more careful with it then many many

beautiful qualities can can rise up and

to reward us and in that atmosphere of

hold us in the atmosphere now in

this was a Christian monk I think I

don't know who it was he was speaking

when he washed the dishes to the plates

I find myself sometimes going from the

plane oh that was I happened in my hand

to appreciate the mind which created

that to birth it is expanding though

somehow makes it more mix in an

atmosphere not just concept there's a

comes also into that when I hear what

they talk about it with how it was the

actually the Faculty of knowing that it

has happened in you the appreciation

then I find myself doing this to myself

yeah you bet there needs to be humor

there's a website that's called heart

math and what they do is they measure

the feeling of loving kindness with

sensitive equipment and they're saying

that if you carry that feeling of loving

kindness and their radiation that it

does affect other people around you and

it affects basically the whole world so

the more we can remember to keep that

loving-kindness going the the better

things will become that's what Thursday

night's yeah that's okay

also invites eventually or maybe earlier

- action - action it's not so much

distance you know they're big distances

between I asked sometimes where are the

big the greatest distance in your life

also in law I don't know how to say it

now and then I can you come find out

that it is between the word and the

action yeah there's another aspect from

loving-kindness

absolutely so it's kind of a wonderful

entertainment think of it like a

typewriter like a real fancy typewriter

yeah think about it as being just a

different kind of typewriter yeah that's

all it really is it's shiny and it's

much easier to deal with when you think

in those terms okay

yeah I just had them just something I'd

like to show listen to I had was having

a difficult time at work doing anything

wrong and I listen to or the YouTube

things in which you spoke about your

outside San Francisco you said were very

good things to do is to mention example

of going in and getting fish in

Chinatown and setting the fish free yeah

so what I said in the car we broke into

Chinatown and we had a wonderful

actually very funny interface trying to

find the fish and I try to keep buying

them and for trying to keep them from

killing the fish and the whole thing and

bring them to San Francisco Bay instead

even Freddy it was it works absolutely

giving life is one of the most precious

things you can do in listen as a story

now what happens is very funny

excellent excellent budget hotels lives

about the crystals because ice crystals

hold energy to they hold memory during

meditation well they hold memory so you

have a good meditation if you're holding

a crystal that the vibration of that

good meditation will be remembered in

the crystal so you hold it again and

your mind calms down real fat faster you

can do that or not I tend to like to sit

holding crystals it feels good in my

hands then if you give them away to

somebody that sensitive they can get it

really fast I think you had it to

dominate

they can feel it sometimes really maybe

I avoided on your table 90% water aren't

you doing a nice thing for yourself when

you radiate loving-kindness and that's

why this is healing yes I didn't read it

myself so I can't psych anything but

they're talking about taking two jars of

water labeling one love and one he would

see the microscope how different the

molecules would look only the source was

the same yeah

and they even did it with different

languages not just English different

languages love hate and I just have any

frozen any frozen and took pictures of

the crystal the ice crystals and then he

made a deck of cards into everything

with it with all the different feelings

for the different crystals for like love

and just this kind of love that kind of

love a Japanese author I can't remember

his name was mentioned two three art has

been on the internet for ten years

before that yeah Monta I was going to

mention that while cooking I practiced

it and I've never had a guest who

complained about the taste or anything

like that and they weren't afraid of my

size or anything but I never checked

them you know I never agreed I just do

it whatever my intuition says and I just

talk with the ingredients you know the

vegetables or whatever I'm cooking and

I'm done and the photography there's

nothing left

well I'll tell you when I was in Asia I

went on home from every day that went on

Hamra

not some people they truly loved getting

up really early in the morning and

fixing the elms food for the monks

so I got used to eating a lot of food

that had lovin

okay now I went to Bangkok or I went to

Kuala Lumpur and that is a Muslim

country and they don't really appreciate

monks walking around with an alms Bowl

so I had but I was being fed and every

day somebody would come and they would

fix the food and and offer it for that

day and this one particular day they had

a very expensive food but they didn't

really like cooking it if I ate it I got

sick but all the rest of the week I

could eat it digest no problem but she

would fix steak

you know and that's really expensive in

Asia and I couldn't eat it because she

fixed it with dislike dissatisfaction

she didn't really want to do it that she

okay you told me I had to do it I didn't

tell her the Board of Directors did so I

started asking that I was basically

fasting on that day that she was doing

the cooking because I couldn't eat it so

I started asking the Board of Directors

if we could have another person come in

and do some supplemental so I got some

food that day anyway but it it is real

and if you take that loving-kindness

water and you put it on a plant you

watch how fast that then how healthy

that plant gets and talk to it a little

bit

give it some verbal love when I was at

this one place they had these pot plants

that they were inside and they were

sickly I mean they really were not good

when they got there so every day I touch

him and I tell him how beautiful they

were and how much I appreciated them and

how I loved them and I was holding the

water for loving-kindness and I'd give

him a drink and all of a sudden they're

just growing like you can't believe and

really healthy then I left for two

months and I came back and they were all

sickly it yet because whoever was quote

taking care of

didn't really give them any love he

didn't give them appreciation so it

really does make a difference when I was

in Malaysia with chief Reverend at the

time there was a fence around the

monastery and I was up in a room that

was very close to that fence and on the

other side of the fence was a mango tree

now this my room is where he did a lot

of radiating loving-kindness and I

started noticing this mango tree

it had mangoes coming over the fence but

on the other side of the tree there is

no mangoes and those mangoes were sweet

like you can't believe and it was really

remarkable fruit because the mango tree

was responding to the loving kindness

and you can give loving kindness in all

different kinds of ways experiment with

it have fun with it okay yeah sure story

content okay well before my mother

passed away I bought her a pot of

gardenias because that's what she loved

and while she went through the ordeal of

just suffering aware in the caster's so

doctors sent her back home so she was

with hospice care and from my depression

and sadness I neglected the gardenia I

mean I watered it

one and when she died I noticed all of a

sudden that the garden yet completely

dried out so but the leftover you know

dried out branches were still hanging so

I decided I wanted to throw it away and

I said you know what I'm going to do

something so I just cooked away most of

the gardenia the dried branches and

there was a lump of dry portion of the

main stem and every day I would go and

sit by it sometimes I would cry

sometimes I will talk to it and just put

my hands around it and just at the time

just pour my heart out and just love it

and pretend my mom's sitting right there

and about they think three-and-a-half

weeks I was passing by and just watering

the other plants and I had looked in

glass and all the sudden I saw green

leaflets on the steps and they wanted

druid cave flowers so it was dead

basically hmm surprise me at all I see

miracles happen all the time a miracle

ray need somebody that's unhappy read

them loving kindness and watched them

smile that's a miracle it's not a little

one either it's major it's big I used to

go to the hospital when I was at that

Brickfields temple I went to the

hospital at least five times a week

because the people who were there they

would ask me personally a family

member would come up and say my father

is sick my brother is sick they're dying

and whatever so I would go visit them

this one lady had had stomach cancer and

when I was there she had just gotten out

of the operating room she was in the

recovery room so the family member came

and said please come in and help my

mother she had a mask on but it was a

clear mask you could see right through

it you could see her nose and mouth but

she was under anesthetic and she was

really knocked out so I started

radiating loving kindness and I just

gently closed my eyes and I almost

always had a student that was coming

with me because they wanted to send 11

kindness too so I closed my eyes and the

student tapped me on it on the arm and

said look at this lady so I looked at

her and she was smiling now she was

under anesthetic she couldn't she didn't

know how could she know but she was

smiling I think that was pretty

remarkable

I've seen a lot of those kind of things

occur as a result I have unshakeable

confidence and loving magnets okay why

don't we

suffering