From: https://youtube.com/watch?v=WuP1tUZYPaY

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

one of the important questions that

never really gets answered when you go

to monk's that are teaching meditation

is I asked them very directly what is

craving and I got a bunch of assorted

answers and then it was like oh its

desire and things like that but I asked

them a follow-up question how do you

recognize when craving arises what are

you supposed to do with craving when it

arises how do you let go of craving this

is very important questions and it's a

necessary thing to really understand

that craving is the source of suffering

so

when you're sitting and meditation and

your mind gets distracted you'll notice

that there's a kind of tension or

tightness that happens in your head

around your brain there's a membrane

goes around your brain and I forgot the

whole trip I've been without my little

brain which drives me crazy anyway that

membrane is called the meninges and that

tension and tightness is how you

recognize that craving is present in

your mind there was some paperwork there

on the on the seat I don't know if

anybody picked any of that up that

should yeah yeah

craving always arises as tension and

tightness in your mind and in your body

and the way to let go of the craving is

by recognizing that there is tension and

tightness in your head and relax now a

lot of people when they practice

meditation they get caught up in

thinking and analyzing and trying to

control the thoughts and that is not how

you let go of craving

and there's there should be some little

yeah those have to be soon out and about

and in the afternoon and in the evening

now this being able to recognize craving

is an important part of this meditation

and this little piece of paper that you

have here it taught it's something you

can carry with you to remind you what

this process is this little piece of

paper is Right effort it's part of the

Eightfold Path i just added a couple

extra things and turn them all into ours

so it's easy to talk about i call it the

six ours the way you practice the six

artists is by recognizing that your mind

is distracted your mind is pulled away

from your object to meditation and i'll

talk about the object of meditation and

the bit then you let that distraction be

you don't get involved in the story

about the distraction you simply let go

of that distraction it doesn't matter

what it is it doesn't matter if it's

anger or dissatisfaction or just

thinking ho-hum thoughts whatever it is

you let go of that craving or you let go

of that distraction and you let go of

the distraction by not keeping your

attention on it if you keep your

attention on the distraction you're

feeding the distraction and it will last

longer and cause a lot of suffering

so you don't keep your attention on the

distraction I don't care what the

distraction is anything that pulls her

attention to it let it be don't get

involved with the story of it now you'll

notice that there's a tension and

tightness in your head in your brain and

you relax now that's the first part of

the six hours you recognize when your

mind is distracted you release the

distraction and you relax the next part

of the six ours is Yuri smile now this

meditation is a smiling meditation and

smiling although it doesn't seem like

it's very important is very important

because the more you smile while you're

doing your meditation the easier

mindfulness becomes what is mindfulness

mindfulness is remembering to observe

how minds attention moves from one thing

to another that's all mindfulness is so

you remember to observe that your mind

is distracted you let go of the

distraction don't keep your attention on

it even if you're in mid-sentence in

your mind just let it be don't pay

attention to it relax that tightness in

your head now you want to put a smile on

your lips a smile in your eyes a smile

in your mind and the smile in your heart

now you come back to your object of

meditation for this retreat for most of

you I want you to be practicing

loving-kindness meditation and I'll

explain more in just a moment but you

come back to the loving-kindness and

stay with the loving-kindness for as

long as you can it doesn't matter how

many times your mind gets distracted it

doesn't matter what the distraction is

you let it be you relax you smile you

come back to your object to meditation

and stay with your object to meditation

for as long as you can most people that

have practiced meditation before with

other people they hear that you have to

put in more energy and more effort and

actually you have to stop putting so

much energy and effort into doing this

if the thought doesn't go away it

doesn't matter if the tightness doesn't

go away never mind you just do it one

time smile come back to your object of

meditation if it's still there your mind

will go back to it then you do the same

thing again now some people when i was

in indonesia they were trying to use the

six RS on everything that arose in their

mind and you don't have to six are

everything that arises in your mind only

if it pulls your attention to it there

can be some background chitter-chatter

don't pay attention to it if it doesn't

pull your attention away don't six art

just stay with your object of meditation

eventually that will

fade away by itself one of the things

that the Buddha said was your attention

is nutriment their words if you keep

your attention on that distracting

thought you're feeding it and when you

feed it it gets bigger and stronger so

when you let go of it and don't keep

your attention on it you start to starve

that and eventually your mind will start

to settle down if you start your

meditation and your mind gets distracted

20 or 30 times in a sitting and you use

the six hours and practice that and come

back to your object to meditation that

is not a bad meditation it's an active

meditation but it's not a bad meditation

every time you let go of a distraction

and relax and smile and come back to

your object to meditation it improves

your mindfulness so you're able to

observe more quickly over a period of

time when your mind starts to get

distracted so I know that there's a lot

of meditation teachers that tell you

don't think and that's not an easy thing

and it takes many years to develop that

kind of practice but the Buddha said

that when you're on the path and you're

practicing Dhamma which is the teaching

of the Buddha that it is immediately

effective every time you let that

thought be

and relax and come back to your object

to meditation after smiling then you'll

notice that you don't have any thoughts

in your mind at that time your mind is

clear your mind is bright your mind is

very alert that is a pure mind why is it

pure because you have let go of the

craving so you bring this pure mind back

to your smile back to your object to

meditation and that means that this is

immediately effective because you have

let go of the craving when you're

practicing loving-kindness meditation

you first start by sending loving and

kind thoughts to yourself now if you've

already been practicing this for a while

this is not for you this is for people

that haven't haven't done this before

you think of a time when you were happy

when you held a little baby in your arms

or an animal or whatever it happened to

be and you felt that warm heart

connection with that being that is the

feeling of loving kindness so you bring

up that feeling and then you make a wish

for your own happiness you know what I

feels like to be happy you know what it

feels like to be peaceful and calm you

know what it feels like to be joyful

whatever wish you make for yourself you

need to feel that wish

and then take that wish and put it in

your heart and surround yourself with

that feeling and radiate that feeling to

yourself again it doesn't matter how

many times your mind gets distracted

every time your mind gets pulled away

it's not a bad thing it's just what's

happening in the present moment and it's

okay it has to be okay because that's

the truth when your mind is distracted

you have a distraction you don't need to

fight with the distraction you don't

need to try to make the distraction stop

putting in too much energy and that

causes a distraction to last longer so

all you do is simply use the six ours

you recognize your mind is distracted

you let the distraction be you relax the

tightness caused by that distraction re

smile come back to your object to

meditation stay with your object of

meditation as long as you can so the

first ten minutes of every sitting

please send loving and kind thoughts to

yourself after 10 minutes then you start

sending loving and kind thoughts to a

spiritual friend a spiritual friend is

someone of the same sex and they are

alive okay

so you need to stay with the same

spiritual friend until I tell you to

change so it's a person of the same sex

and they are alive a spiritual friend is

someone with that when you think of them

and their good qualities you really like

that person you sincerely do wish them

well so you stay with that spiritual

friend all the way through the city you

sit no less than 30 minutes to start off

with when you're sitting you want to sit

with your back nice legs straight not

leaning heavily into the chair but

nicely straight and don't move don't

wiggle your toes don't wiggle your

fingers don't scratch don't rub don't

change your posture don't rock back and

forth this is something that I've run

across lately if you want to see someone

that sits like that very well he does

you can move as much as he does so when

you're sitting in meditation you sit

very very still while you're sitting

like this there can be some sensations

that arise in your body you feel a

little stiff and feel some heat arising

you can feel an itch or want to cough

whatever it happens to be when that

pulls your attention to it then you use

the six ours you recognize that your

minds not on your object of meditation

you let it be by itself you relax Yuri

smile you come back to your object to

meditation your spiritual friend

and you stay with the same spiritual

friend all the time then you get up and

it's time to do some walking you stay

with the spiritual friend while you're

walking and wish them well when you're

doing your walking you don't walk slowly

you walk at a normal pace and your mind

isn't going to be used to it at first

and the walking as somewhat difficult

because you're used to walking around

thinking about this thinking about that

not paying attention to what you're

doing okay as soon as you notice that

then you six are and come back to your

spiritual friend you might stay with

them for three or four seconds before

your mind gets distracted again okay do

it again the six ours are the most

important part of this practice they

will carry you through to nibhana I

promise so anything that distracts your

mind that you want to let it be relax

smile come back to your spiritual friend

walk no less than 15 minutes if you're

walking is good walk longer when you're

walking keep your eyes down if you're

looking around at this or that and I

know there's a lot of stuff to look at

around here then that's where your mind

goes and all of a sudden you're thinking

about this or that so you have to six

are so keep your eyes nicely comfortably

down six or eight feet in front of you

while you're sitting if some kind of a

disturbance happens in your body you get

a pain in your knee you get an itch

someplace you feel like you need to

cough the first thing you need to do is

let it be don't keep your attention on

it and

now the nature of these kind of

sensations is they don't go away right

away so it's going to come back it's

going to be like it doesn't disappear it

just keeps on coming doesn't matter

every time you notice your attention has

gotten pulled to it then you let it be

and relax and smile and come back to

your object to meditation eventually one

of two things will happen either that

sensation will go away or it won't it

doesn't matter either way if it goes

away then it's easier to stay with your

object of meditation if it doesn't go

away your mind will start to get into a

sense of balance and it doesn't even

pull your attention to it anymore now

when you're sitting the sensation that

arises is there that's the truth any

time you try to fight with the truth any

time you try to control the truth any

time you try to make the truth be the

way you want it to be that is a cause of

suffering so you want to just allow that

sensation to be there without reacting

to it like you always act when an itch

comes up you always scratch it right

well now you just let it be it's not so

important

so sit comfortably if you are sitting

and you have a pain that arises and you

sit with it for a little while and it

doesn't go away and you know that you're

hurting your body in one way or another

and you know that by when you get up and

start to walk the pain doesn't go away

don't sit like that anymore we don't

want you to hurt yourself there is

something called a meditation pain and

that meditation pain when it arises and

is there and it can be real intense for

a period of time and then you get up and

start walking within five or ten seconds

it goes away that pain goes away that

means it's a meditation pain so if you

have a meditation pain and you start

recognizing that as a meditation pain

then just six are and let it be and

relax when your meditation is good sit

longer as long as you're comfortable but

if a meditation pain comes up that means

you have to roll up your sleeves a

little bit now it's time to go to work

and use your six hours look at how

tricky your mind becomes you'll start

thinking about boy I hate this feeling

when it comes up i really want to

scratch that itch every thought about

that sensation makes the sensation

bigger and more intense so the first

thing you want to do is notice that

you're thinking let go of the thinking

and relax

now you'll notice there's a tight mental

fist wrapped around that sensation that

tight mental fist is a version they

don't like that feeling don't want it

there so you allow it to be there and

you relax and let it be by itself smile

and come back to your object to

meditation your mind goes back to it

again you start having thoughts about it

again let go of the thoughts relax let

goals that tight mental fist Rep Tyrone

that and relax smile come back to your

object to meditation this is a process

of do it again okay always come back to

the six hours with anything that

distracts your mind any kind of movement

any kind of vibration any kind of

thought anything that pulls your

attention away is a distraction take

interest in sending your spiritual

friend kind and loving thoughts the more

interested you are in sincerely wishing

your friend well the easier it is to

stay with that friend when you start to

feel a little bit of sleepiness arise

this is called sloth and torpor the

reason that it arises is because you've

been with your spiritual friend for a

while and your mind starts thinking

these little tiny thoughts bite itself

and before long you start to get dreamy

and before long your posture start

slumping and before long you start

nodding and when you get

when you notice that quite often you

forget to use the six ours and you sit

up real straight I'm not going to let

that happen again and it happens again

the more interest you take in how that

arose the easier it is to let go of that

sleepiness all distractions happen in

exactly the same way a feeling arises

now feeling is not emotion feeling is

either a pleasant feeling or painful

feeling right after that feeling arises

there's tension and tightness that

happens in your head in your mind that

is craving right after that arises then

all of your thoughts all of your

opinions all of your ideas all of your

concepts all of your story about why you

like or dislike that feeling arises

right after that you get into your

habitual tendency of every time this

kind of thing arises I always do that

now this is where the emotional

attachment is stored and right after

that you have a birth of action and

sorrow lamentation pain grief and

despair and other words suffering arises

and you're taking that suffering

personally this is me this is mine this

is who I am this is my thoughts these

are my feelings that means that craving

is present in your mind at that time

you use the six ours you recognize when

your mind is distracted you release the

distraction you relax now you've let go

of that craving even if it's for a brief

moment you've let it go smile come back

to your object to meditation continue

with it as long as you can sometimes

it's only half of a wish for your

happiness before your mind gets

distracted again doesn't matter this is

a practice of patience

it's there yes it's real yes I don't

like it true but it's not yours you

didn't sit there and say well you know I

haven't had an itch for a long time it's

time to get some itches it arises

because the conditions are right for it

to arrive what you do with what arises

in the present moment dictates what

happens in the future now every

hindrance that arises has I am that

attached to it the hindrances are

exceptionally important hindrances are

not your enemy to fight with they're

just simply a distraction that pulls

your attention away you use the six

hours and you come back you don't need

to note it until it goes away thinking

thinking thinking thinking thinking and

then come back to your object of

meditation you don't need to note it all

you have to do is recognize that your

mind is distracted let the distraction

be there by itself don't keep your

attention on it don't feed the

distraction relax smile come back to

your object of meditation stay with your

object of meditation as long as you can

it's real simple now you can be sitting

in meditation and you're staying with

your object of meditation very nicely

and there's a distraction every now and

then that's fine you six are it and let

it be in

come back and then it's time to get up

and do your walking meditation you stay

with your spiritual friend while you're

getting up while you're going outside

while you're doing your walking and then

you come back and sit some more always

coming back to yourself for the first

ten minutes sending loving and kind

thoughts to yourself feel the wish that

you make for yourself i just gave you

some examples of a wish there are

sometimes people will come and get in

touch with me and they say i have a

friend that's really going through a

rough time right now and they're

thinking all the time can you help them

so i can give it a try so I start

sending loving and kind thoughts to that

person and the wish that I make for that

person is having an open accepting mind

but I have to feel that wish and put

that wish in my heart and surround that

person in my heart with this feeling of

having an open accepting mind and after

I do that for a little while I get in

touch with this person say well how are

they doing now oh they're much better

now meditation is not just sitting

meditation is life all different aspects

of your life you can use the six ours no

matter what you're doing with your daily

activities did you give them jobs to do

okay when you're doing whatever task she

is giving you that's the time to

practice your six hours I don't feel

like washing these dishes who doesn't

to who doesn't like it who wants it to

be different than it is you get caught

in those thoughts and those feelings now

you you're not practicing than six hours

you're not doing the meditation you have

to let go of your opinions and your

ideas and your thoughts about because

that's what the Buddha called clinging

and that leads to your emotional

reaction to it and that leads to me

putting in too much energy into much

effort and now you really get caught in

a cycle my mind is so active I can't do

anything with it it just keeps on going

and going and going okay fine stop

trying so hard you don't have to control

anything let it be there and relax and

smile and wish happiness to a friend

feel that feeling of your wish

the thing with a hindrance is that's

where you store your attachments and

attachments are always I am that so

every time you use the six hours you're

letting go of the attachment a little

bit at a time it's like putting a coin

in the bank putting it in a piggy bank

over a period of time you'll fill it up

but it takes a while and it takes some

work it's kind of funny people come to

me for the interview which I give every

day and they'll say I had a great

meditation my mind was so calm I could

stay with the object of meditation and I

kind of gone and go okay fine continue

everything's going fine but when you

come in and you start complaining about

your mind doing this or doing that ah

good meditation isn't it why is it good

because now you have to work now you're

really doing the meditation now you're

allowing this to be and relaxing and

smiling and coming back and whoops there

it goes again it doesn't matter how many

times your mind is distracted sometimes

there is an attachment that's real big

and real strong and it doesn't go away

very quickly great it's helping you to

improve your mindfulness how did your

mind go from being on your object of

meditation over to this distraction how

did it happen we don't care about why

that's for the psychologists they can

work with that only one we're trying to

see how this process of mine arising

actually

works what happens first what happens

right after that what happens after that

what happens after that the more you use

the six ours the faster your progress

and the meditation becomes promise and

I'm used to people progressing very

quickly now the thing with this

meditation is I don't want you to

experiment with well I learned this on

that retreat maybe I'll throw some of

this in now don't do that I've given you

a perfect recipe you start throwing

other things in it that recipe isn't

going to come out in the same way so you

need to just follow the directions that

I've given you as closely as you can

without adding anything without

subtracting anything using the six ours

often is the key now some of you are

practicing mindfulness of breathing and

because you've done this in the past and

you've been practicing with one pointed

concentration it's very easy to forget

about the relax step can't do that you

have to continue on the in breath relax

tension and tightness in your head in

your mind on the out-breath you relax

the tension and tightness in your head

in your mind on the in breath relax on

the out breath relax there's a

distraction let it be relax smile bring

that smiling pure mind back to your

object of meditation on the in breath

relax on the out breath relax

if you forget the relaxed step you are

going to tend towards one pointed

concentration and that means that the

end result of the retreat will not be

what you're really looking for the

relaxed step is by far the most

important part of the cigs ours and the

more you can use the six ours and

develop the habit of using the six hours

after a period of time it will start to

become automatic something starts to

arise in your mind and it'll just fade

away by itself so you stay with your

object omitted to keep using the relaxed

step now if you're doing mindfulness of

breathing you want to continue that

while you are walking keep your eyes

down don't let other things distract you

and I know the wind can be distracting

so it's just the wind so what doesn't

matter and I know that sometimes it gets

cold here well okay it gets cold so what

it's only a feeling I don't like being

cold who doesn't like it who has an

attachment in their mind at that time

this practice is much easier than most

people realize it's simple

all you have to do is every time your

mind goes anywhere I don't care what it

is I don't care how interesting it is

need to six are simply smile come back

to your object to meditation I want you

to smile from the time you get up in the

morning until you go to bed at night I

had some people they said well I don't I

don't want to meditate they're thinking

that meditation is just about sitting I

can't sit still okay don't smile all the

time and when you see you're not use the

six ours and start again now there's

three parts to meditation the first part

of meditation is practicing your

generosity how do you practice

generosity when you're in a retreat when

you are sending loving and kind thoughts

to your spiritual friend you are sending

that loving kind feeling to them you're

giving them your attention and you're

giving him the good feeling that you

have in your heart and wishing them

sincerely to be happy so you're

practicing your generosity track

practice your generosity with your

actions practice generosity with your

speech say things that make other people

smile although I don't want you talking

on this retreat and think kind loving

thoughts to your spiritual friend so

you're practicing generosity when you

are doing this

practice that softens your mind that

makes it easier to smile all the time

and I've had students that got to

exceptionally deep states of meditation

and I told them that they had to smile

and they came back with Wonder on their

face going it really does help so I

don't care what level of meditation

you're at smile the more you smile the

easier it is to notice how your minds

attention moves from one thing to

another and the faster you'll catch that

and you will start to get progress in

your meditation if you sit and have a

good sitting and then you get up and you

do your walking and as you're coming

back to where you're going to sit again

you have this thought oh that was such a

good sitting I think I'll do that again

and it doesn't happen and your mind is

getting restless so the natural thing to

do is say well I gotta try harder and

the harder you try the more Restless you

become and the more Restless you become

the harder it is to sit and the more

you'll come to me and complain that this

meditation doesn't work but honestly it

does and this works very well not just

regular well this works very well but if

you go into the end of your sitting

thinking I want something to happen the

way I want it to happen

now you're already caught in your

thinking and your emotional response to

that and want to do something to make it

better and the suffering arises right

after that and it's hard when there's a

lot of restlessness in your mind so what

do you do when you have a really tough

sitting and your mind is jumping all

over the place in and just this every

mind just decides I'm not going to be

anywhere near the object of meditation

what do you do how do you overcome that

problem the fastest and easiest way to

overcome restlessness is to laugh with

yourself for trying so hard chuckle just

to yourself oh there I go again as soon

as you laugh it changes your perspective

from i'm restless and i don't like it

too well it's only this Restless feeling

do I want to hang on to that or not now

let's let it go a lot of people when

they first start out on a retreat they

wind up putting in too much energy so

they come to me and now all my mind's

running all over the place so what do I

tell them you've got a smile more you

got to have fun with this meditation

stop being serious with the meditation

I've done I've done this meditation for

a lot of years ok it's a well over 35

and the first 20 years of the practice I

was extremely attached to putting in

more energy putting in more effort

because that's what I was told

it doesn't work instead of putting in

more energy you need to back off and not

put so much energy into it not try to

control it not try to make it be the way

you want it to be that's not your job

your job is to observe how mines

attention moves and use the six ours and

chuckle with yourself for trying so hard

I know this is really unusual I gave a

talk in Burma to monks that were working

on their masters and PhDs and some that

had their masters and PhDs and I told

them I'm gonna say a sentence that

you've never heard before in a

meditation retreat I want you to smile I

want you to have fun and I want you to

laugh and their dread their jaws dropped

open I said you've never heard that

before have you no not even close

because their teachers were always

telling them you gotta try harder you

got to put more energy into it more

effort into it and they caused

themselves problems because they were

putting in too much energy too much

effort so this is the opposite this is

step back and six are have fun with this

this is a fun meditation when I was in

South Korea this lady came up to me

after all five or six days of doing the

retreat she said I've been practicing

meditation for 10 years I've never had

any fun at a retreat and I'm

having fun with this it's really

interesting so the more you can have fun

and relax into these things and smile

the faster your progress in the

meditation becomes now when you're

picking a spiritual friend it does have

to be somebody of the same sex if you

pick somebody of the opposite sex you

have a tendency to have infatuation

coming up in your mind and you start

thinking about them more and more now

you're not meditating anymore so you

pick a friend that you really you admire

them real respect for them and you

sincerely do wish them well and you stay

with that spiritual friend until I tell

you to change this is a progressive kind

of meditation where you will go through

different stages and at different stages

I'll tell you to do different things now

the reason that I wanted most everybody

here to be doing the loving-kindness is

because with loving-kindness meditation

your progress is faster with this

meditation than it is with any other

meditation not a little bit a lot

so please just follow the directions

that I'm giving you so that you can see

what I'm talking about I don't want you

to believe anything that I say I want

you to experience what I'm talking about

and I sincerely wish you well so that

you can do this practice without getting

caught by too many distractions but

you're trying to develop the six hours

so that they can become automatic and

when that happens you really start

progressing very quickly now the

precepts are very very very important

don't break a precept on purpose if you

accidentally do break a precept come and

tell me and we'll take the precepts

again if you don't tell me your mind is

going to have a lot of restlessness in

and that can be a problem

the precepts and the hindrances are

intimately intertwined you break a

precept you're going to have hindrances

and the precepts are fairly easy to to

follow don't kill anything on purpose

now you might step on an ant or

accidentally step on something and it

might die but your intention wasn't to

do that your intention was just put your

foot down now that's not breaking the

preset but in Asia they love to

mosquitoes well that's intentionally

causing harm to other beings mind that

can happen with flies around here and

there's other other beasties there's i

saw i had a be in my room today and i

let him go free of course but don't

squash him just because don't take

anything that's not given no sexual

activity at all don't tell anything

let's say anything that's not true now

one of the problems that I had at one of

the retreats was people at getting close

to the end of the retreat they like to

sit around and talk about what their

different experiences was and somebody

that didn't have any clue what they were

talking about was listening and all of a

sudden they're coming and telling me

that's where they are well they're lying

that's breaking a precept you have to be

honest with me you have to be honest

and not taking any drugs or alcohol that

doesn't mean we can't take medicine you

can don't use any perfumes or

decorations for your body while for this

ten-day period okay so I wish you all

the highest and best success

one of the important questions that

never really gets answered when you go

to monk's that are teaching meditation

is I asked them very directly what is

craving and I got a bunch of assorted

answers and then it was like oh its

desire and things like that but I asked

them a follow-up question how do you

recognize when craving arises what are

you supposed to do with craving when it

arises how do you let go of craving this

is very important questions and it's a

necessary thing to really understand

that craving is the source of suffering

so

when you're sitting and meditation and

your mind gets distracted you'll notice

that there's a kind of tension or

tightness that happens in your head

around your brain there's a membrane

goes around your brain and I forgot the

whole trip I've been without my little

brain which drives me crazy anyway that

membrane is called the meninges and that

tension and tightness is how you

recognize that craving is present in

your mind there was some paperwork there

on the on the seat I don't know if

anybody picked any of that up that

should yeah yeah

craving always arises as tension and

tightness in your mind and in your body

and the way to let go of the craving is

by recognizing that there is tension and

tightness in your head and relax now a

lot of people when they practice

meditation they get caught up in

thinking and analyzing and trying to

control the thoughts and that is not how

you let go of craving

and there's there should be some little

yeah those have to be soon out and about

and in the afternoon and in the evening

now this being able to recognize craving

is an important part of this meditation

and this little piece of paper that you

have here it taught it's something you

can carry with you to remind you what

this process is this little piece of

paper is Right effort it's part of the

Eightfold Path i just added a couple

extra things and turn them all into ours

so it's easy to talk about i call it the

six ours the way you practice the six

artists is by recognizing that your mind

is distracted your mind is pulled away

from your object to meditation and i'll

talk about the object of meditation and

the bit then you let that distraction be

you don't get involved in the story

about the distraction you simply let go

of that distraction it doesn't matter

what it is it doesn't matter if it's

anger or dissatisfaction or just

thinking ho-hum thoughts whatever it is

you let go of that craving or you let go

of that distraction and you let go of

the distraction by not keeping your

attention on it if you keep your

attention on the distraction you're

feeding the distraction and it will last

longer and cause a lot of suffering

so you don't keep your attention on the

distraction I don't care what the

distraction is anything that pulls her

attention to it let it be don't get

involved with the story of it now you'll

notice that there's a tension and

tightness in your head in your brain and

you relax now that's the first part of

the six hours you recognize when your

mind is distracted you release the

distraction and you relax the next part

of the six ours is Yuri smile now this

meditation is a smiling meditation and

smiling although it doesn't seem like

it's very important is very important

because the more you smile while you're

doing your meditation the easier

mindfulness becomes what is mindfulness

mindfulness is remembering to observe

how minds attention moves from one thing

to another that's all mindfulness is so

you remember to observe that your mind

is distracted you let go of the

distraction don't keep your attention on

it even if you're in mid-sentence in

your mind just let it be don't pay

attention to it relax that tightness in

your head now you want to put a smile on

your lips a smile in your eyes a smile

in your mind and the smile in your heart

now you come back to your object of

meditation for this retreat for most of

you I want you to be practicing

loving-kindness meditation and I'll

explain more in just a moment but you

come back to the loving-kindness and

stay with the loving-kindness for as

long as you can it doesn't matter how

many times your mind gets distracted it

doesn't matter what the distraction is

you let it be you relax you smile you

come back to your object to meditation

and stay with your object to meditation

for as long as you can most people that

have practiced meditation before with

other people they hear that you have to

put in more energy and more effort and

actually you have to stop putting so

much energy and effort into doing this

if the thought doesn't go away it

doesn't matter if the tightness doesn't

go away never mind you just do it one

time smile come back to your object of

meditation if it's still there your mind

will go back to it then you do the same

thing again now some people when i was

in indonesia they were trying to use the

six RS on everything that arose in their

mind and you don't have to six are

everything that arises in your mind only

if it pulls your attention to it there

can be some background chitter-chatter

don't pay attention to it if it doesn't

pull your attention away don't six art

just stay with your object of meditation

eventually that will

fade away by itself one of the things

that the Buddha said was your attention

is nutriment their words if you keep

your attention on that distracting

thought you're feeding it and when you

feed it it gets bigger and stronger so

when you let go of it and don't keep

your attention on it you start to starve

that and eventually your mind will start

to settle down if you start your

meditation and your mind gets distracted

20 or 30 times in a sitting and you use

the six hours and practice that and come

back to your object to meditation that

is not a bad meditation it's an active

meditation but it's not a bad meditation

every time you let go of a distraction

and relax and smile and come back to

your object to meditation it improves

your mindfulness so you're able to

observe more quickly over a period of

time when your mind starts to get

distracted so I know that there's a lot

of meditation teachers that tell you

don't think and that's not an easy thing

and it takes many years to develop that

kind of practice but the Buddha said

that when you're on the path and you're

practicing Dhamma which is the teaching

of the Buddha that it is immediately

effective every time you let that

thought be

and relax and come back to your object

to meditation after smiling then you'll

notice that you don't have any thoughts

in your mind at that time your mind is

clear your mind is bright your mind is

very alert that is a pure mind why is it

pure because you have let go of the

craving so you bring this pure mind back

to your smile back to your object to

meditation and that means that this is

immediately effective because you have

let go of the craving when you're

practicing loving-kindness meditation

you first start by sending loving and

kind thoughts to yourself now if you've

already been practicing this for a while

this is not for you this is for people

that haven't haven't done this before

you think of a time when you were happy

when you held a little baby in your arms

or an animal or whatever it happened to

be and you felt that warm heart

connection with that being that is the

feeling of loving kindness so you bring

up that feeling and then you make a wish

for your own happiness you know what I

feels like to be happy you know what it

feels like to be peaceful and calm you

know what it feels like to be joyful

whatever wish you make for yourself you

need to feel that wish

and then take that wish and put it in

your heart and surround yourself with

that feeling and radiate that feeling to

yourself again it doesn't matter how

many times your mind gets distracted

every time your mind gets pulled away

it's not a bad thing it's just what's

happening in the present moment and it's

okay it has to be okay because that's

the truth when your mind is distracted

you have a distraction you don't need to

fight with the distraction you don't

need to try to make the distraction stop

putting in too much energy and that

causes a distraction to last longer so

all you do is simply use the six ours

you recognize your mind is distracted

you let the distraction be you relax the

tightness caused by that distraction re

smile come back to your object to

meditation stay with your object of

meditation as long as you can so the

first ten minutes of every sitting

please send loving and kind thoughts to

yourself after 10 minutes then you start

sending loving and kind thoughts to a

spiritual friend a spiritual friend is

someone of the same sex and they are

alive okay

so you need to stay with the same

spiritual friend until I tell you to

change so it's a person of the same sex

and they are alive a spiritual friend is

someone with that when you think of them

and their good qualities you really like

that person you sincerely do wish them

well so you stay with that spiritual

friend all the way through the city you

sit no less than 30 minutes to start off

with when you're sitting you want to sit

with your back nice legs straight not

leaning heavily into the chair but

nicely straight and don't move don't

wiggle your toes don't wiggle your

fingers don't scratch don't rub don't

change your posture don't rock back and

forth this is something that I've run

across lately if you want to see someone

that sits like that very well he does

you can move as much as he does so when

you're sitting in meditation you sit

very very still while you're sitting

like this there can be some sensations

that arise in your body you feel a

little stiff and feel some heat arising

you can feel an itch or want to cough

whatever it happens to be when that

pulls your attention to it then you use

the six ours you recognize that your

minds not on your object of meditation

you let it be by itself you relax Yuri

smile you come back to your object to

meditation your spiritual friend

and you stay with the same spiritual

friend all the time then you get up and

it's time to do some walking you stay

with the spiritual friend while you're

walking and wish them well when you're

doing your walking you don't walk slowly

you walk at a normal pace and your mind

isn't going to be used to it at first

and the walking as somewhat difficult

because you're used to walking around

thinking about this thinking about that

not paying attention to what you're

doing okay as soon as you notice that

then you six are and come back to your

spiritual friend you might stay with

them for three or four seconds before

your mind gets distracted again okay do

it again the six ours are the most

important part of this practice they

will carry you through to nibhana I

promise so anything that distracts your

mind that you want to let it be relax

smile come back to your spiritual friend

walk no less than 15 minutes if you're

walking is good walk longer when you're

walking keep your eyes down if you're

looking around at this or that and I

know there's a lot of stuff to look at

around here then that's where your mind

goes and all of a sudden you're thinking

about this or that so you have to six

are so keep your eyes nicely comfortably

down six or eight feet in front of you

while you're sitting if some kind of a

disturbance happens in your body you get

a pain in your knee you get an itch

someplace you feel like you need to

cough the first thing you need to do is

let it be don't keep your attention on

it and

now the nature of these kind of

sensations is they don't go away right

away so it's going to come back it's

going to be like it doesn't disappear it

just keeps on coming doesn't matter

every time you notice your attention has

gotten pulled to it then you let it be

and relax and smile and come back to

your object to meditation eventually one

of two things will happen either that

sensation will go away or it won't it

doesn't matter either way if it goes

away then it's easier to stay with your

object of meditation if it doesn't go

away your mind will start to get into a

sense of balance and it doesn't even

pull your attention to it anymore now

when you're sitting the sensation that

arises is there that's the truth any

time you try to fight with the truth any

time you try to control the truth any

time you try to make the truth be the

way you want it to be that is a cause of

suffering so you want to just allow that

sensation to be there without reacting

to it like you always act when an itch

comes up you always scratch it right

well now you just let it be it's not so

important

so sit comfortably if you are sitting

and you have a pain that arises and you

sit with it for a little while and it

doesn't go away and you know that you're

hurting your body in one way or another

and you know that by when you get up and

start to walk the pain doesn't go away

don't sit like that anymore we don't

want you to hurt yourself there is

something called a meditation pain and

that meditation pain when it arises and

is there and it can be real intense for

a period of time and then you get up and

start walking within five or ten seconds

it goes away that pain goes away that

means it's a meditation pain so if you

have a meditation pain and you start

recognizing that as a meditation pain

then just six are and let it be and

relax when your meditation is good sit

longer as long as you're comfortable but

if a meditation pain comes up that means

you have to roll up your sleeves a

little bit now it's time to go to work

and use your six hours look at how

tricky your mind becomes you'll start

thinking about boy I hate this feeling

when it comes up i really want to

scratch that itch every thought about

that sensation makes the sensation

bigger and more intense so the first

thing you want to do is notice that

you're thinking let go of the thinking

and relax

now you'll notice there's a tight mental

fist wrapped around that sensation that

tight mental fist is a version they

don't like that feeling don't want it

there so you allow it to be there and

you relax and let it be by itself smile

and come back to your object to

meditation your mind goes back to it

again you start having thoughts about it

again let go of the thoughts relax let

goals that tight mental fist Rep Tyrone

that and relax smile come back to your

object to meditation this is a process

of do it again okay always come back to

the six hours with anything that

distracts your mind any kind of movement

any kind of vibration any kind of

thought anything that pulls your

attention away is a distraction take

interest in sending your spiritual

friend kind and loving thoughts the more

interested you are in sincerely wishing

your friend well the easier it is to

stay with that friend when you start to

feel a little bit of sleepiness arise

this is called sloth and torpor the

reason that it arises is because you've

been with your spiritual friend for a

while and your mind starts thinking

these little tiny thoughts bite itself

and before long you start to get dreamy

and before long your posture start

slumping and before long you start

nodding and when you get

when you notice that quite often you

forget to use the six ours and you sit

up real straight I'm not going to let

that happen again and it happens again

the more interest you take in how that

arose the easier it is to let go of that

sleepiness all distractions happen in

exactly the same way a feeling arises

now feeling is not emotion feeling is

either a pleasant feeling or painful

feeling right after that feeling arises

there's tension and tightness that

happens in your head in your mind that

is craving right after that arises then

all of your thoughts all of your

opinions all of your ideas all of your

concepts all of your story about why you

like or dislike that feeling arises

right after that you get into your

habitual tendency of every time this

kind of thing arises I always do that

now this is where the emotional

attachment is stored and right after

that you have a birth of action and

sorrow lamentation pain grief and

despair and other words suffering arises

and you're taking that suffering

personally this is me this is mine this

is who I am this is my thoughts these

are my feelings that means that craving

is present in your mind at that time

you use the six ours you recognize when

your mind is distracted you release the

distraction you relax now you've let go

of that craving even if it's for a brief

moment you've let it go smile come back

to your object to meditation continue

with it as long as you can sometimes

it's only half of a wish for your

happiness before your mind gets

distracted again doesn't matter this is

a practice of patience

it's there yes it's real yes I don't

like it true but it's not yours you

didn't sit there and say well you know I

haven't had an itch for a long time it's

time to get some itches it arises

because the conditions are right for it

to arrive what you do with what arises

in the present moment dictates what

happens in the future now every

hindrance that arises has I am that

attached to it the hindrances are

exceptionally important hindrances are

not your enemy to fight with they're

just simply a distraction that pulls

your attention away you use the six

hours and you come back you don't need

to note it until it goes away thinking

thinking thinking thinking thinking and

then come back to your object of

meditation you don't need to note it all

you have to do is recognize that your

mind is distracted let the distraction

be there by itself don't keep your

attention on it don't feed the

distraction relax smile come back to

your object of meditation stay with your

object of meditation as long as you can

it's real simple now you can be sitting

in meditation and you're staying with

your object of meditation very nicely

and there's a distraction every now and

then that's fine you six are it and let

it be in

come back and then it's time to get up

and do your walking meditation you stay

with your spiritual friend while you're

getting up while you're going outside

while you're doing your walking and then

you come back and sit some more always

coming back to yourself for the first

ten minutes sending loving and kind

thoughts to yourself feel the wish that

you make for yourself i just gave you

some examples of a wish there are

sometimes people will come and get in

touch with me and they say i have a

friend that's really going through a

rough time right now and they're

thinking all the time can you help them

so i can give it a try so I start

sending loving and kind thoughts to that

person and the wish that I make for that

person is having an open accepting mind

but I have to feel that wish and put

that wish in my heart and surround that

person in my heart with this feeling of

having an open accepting mind and after

I do that for a little while I get in

touch with this person say well how are

they doing now oh they're much better

now meditation is not just sitting

meditation is life all different aspects

of your life you can use the six ours no

matter what you're doing with your daily

activities did you give them jobs to do

okay when you're doing whatever task she

is giving you that's the time to

practice your six hours I don't feel

like washing these dishes who doesn't

to who doesn't like it who wants it to

be different than it is you get caught

in those thoughts and those feelings now

you you're not practicing than six hours

you're not doing the meditation you have

to let go of your opinions and your

ideas and your thoughts about because

that's what the Buddha called clinging

and that leads to your emotional

reaction to it and that leads to me

putting in too much energy into much

effort and now you really get caught in

a cycle my mind is so active I can't do

anything with it it just keeps on going

and going and going okay fine stop

trying so hard you don't have to control

anything let it be there and relax and

smile and wish happiness to a friend

feel that feeling of your wish

the thing with a hindrance is that's

where you store your attachments and

attachments are always I am that so

every time you use the six hours you're

letting go of the attachment a little

bit at a time it's like putting a coin

in the bank putting it in a piggy bank

over a period of time you'll fill it up

but it takes a while and it takes some

work it's kind of funny people come to

me for the interview which I give every

day and they'll say I had a great

meditation my mind was so calm I could

stay with the object of meditation and I

kind of gone and go okay fine continue

everything's going fine but when you

come in and you start complaining about

your mind doing this or doing that ah

good meditation isn't it why is it good

because now you have to work now you're

really doing the meditation now you're

allowing this to be and relaxing and

smiling and coming back and whoops there

it goes again it doesn't matter how many

times your mind is distracted sometimes

there is an attachment that's real big

and real strong and it doesn't go away

very quickly great it's helping you to

improve your mindfulness how did your

mind go from being on your object of

meditation over to this distraction how

did it happen we don't care about why

that's for the psychologists they can

work with that only one we're trying to

see how this process of mine arising

actually

works what happens first what happens

right after that what happens after that

what happens after that the more you use

the six ours the faster your progress

and the meditation becomes promise and

I'm used to people progressing very

quickly now the thing with this

meditation is I don't want you to

experiment with well I learned this on

that retreat maybe I'll throw some of

this in now don't do that I've given you

a perfect recipe you start throwing

other things in it that recipe isn't

going to come out in the same way so you

need to just follow the directions that

I've given you as closely as you can

without adding anything without

subtracting anything using the six ours

often is the key now some of you are

practicing mindfulness of breathing and

because you've done this in the past and

you've been practicing with one pointed

concentration it's very easy to forget

about the relax step can't do that you

have to continue on the in breath relax

tension and tightness in your head in

your mind on the out-breath you relax

the tension and tightness in your head

in your mind on the in breath relax on

the out breath relax there's a

distraction let it be relax smile bring

that smiling pure mind back to your

object of meditation on the in breath

relax on the out breath relax

if you forget the relaxed step you are

going to tend towards one pointed

concentration and that means that the

end result of the retreat will not be

what you're really looking for the

relaxed step is by far the most

important part of the cigs ours and the

more you can use the six ours and

develop the habit of using the six hours

after a period of time it will start to

become automatic something starts to

arise in your mind and it'll just fade

away by itself so you stay with your

object omitted to keep using the relaxed

step now if you're doing mindfulness of

breathing you want to continue that

while you are walking keep your eyes

down don't let other things distract you

and I know the wind can be distracting

so it's just the wind so what doesn't

matter and I know that sometimes it gets

cold here well okay it gets cold so what

it's only a feeling I don't like being

cold who doesn't like it who has an

attachment in their mind at that time

this practice is much easier than most

people realize it's simple

all you have to do is every time your

mind goes anywhere I don't care what it

is I don't care how interesting it is

need to six are simply smile come back

to your object to meditation I want you

to smile from the time you get up in the

morning until you go to bed at night I

had some people they said well I don't I

don't want to meditate they're thinking

that meditation is just about sitting I

can't sit still okay don't smile all the

time and when you see you're not use the

six ours and start again now there's

three parts to meditation the first part

of meditation is practicing your

generosity how do you practice

generosity when you're in a retreat when

you are sending loving and kind thoughts

to your spiritual friend you are sending

that loving kind feeling to them you're

giving them your attention and you're

giving him the good feeling that you

have in your heart and wishing them

sincerely to be happy so you're

practicing your generosity track

practice your generosity with your

actions practice generosity with your

speech say things that make other people

smile although I don't want you talking

on this retreat and think kind loving

thoughts to your spiritual friend so

you're practicing generosity when you

are doing this

practice that softens your mind that

makes it easier to smile all the time

and I've had students that got to

exceptionally deep states of meditation

and I told them that they had to smile

and they came back with Wonder on their

face going it really does help so I

don't care what level of meditation

you're at smile the more you smile the

easier it is to notice how your minds

attention moves from one thing to

another and the faster you'll catch that

and you will start to get progress in

your meditation if you sit and have a

good sitting and then you get up and you

do your walking and as you're coming

back to where you're going to sit again

you have this thought oh that was such a

good sitting I think I'll do that again

and it doesn't happen and your mind is

getting restless so the natural thing to

do is say well I gotta try harder and

the harder you try the more Restless you

become and the more Restless you become

the harder it is to sit and the more

you'll come to me and complain that this

meditation doesn't work but honestly it

does and this works very well not just

regular well this works very well but if

you go into the end of your sitting

thinking I want something to happen the

way I want it to happen

now you're already caught in your

thinking and your emotional response to

that and want to do something to make it

better and the suffering arises right

after that and it's hard when there's a

lot of restlessness in your mind so what

do you do when you have a really tough

sitting and your mind is jumping all

over the place in and just this every

mind just decides I'm not going to be

anywhere near the object of meditation

what do you do how do you overcome that

problem the fastest and easiest way to

overcome restlessness is to laugh with

yourself for trying so hard chuckle just

to yourself oh there I go again as soon

as you laugh it changes your perspective

from i'm restless and i don't like it

too well it's only this Restless feeling

do I want to hang on to that or not now

let's let it go a lot of people when

they first start out on a retreat they

wind up putting in too much energy so

they come to me and now all my mind's

running all over the place so what do I

tell them you've got a smile more you

got to have fun with this meditation

stop being serious with the meditation

I've done I've done this meditation for

a lot of years ok it's a well over 35

and the first 20 years of the practice I

was extremely attached to putting in

more energy putting in more effort

because that's what I was told

it doesn't work instead of putting in

more energy you need to back off and not

put so much energy into it not try to

control it not try to make it be the way

you want it to be that's not your job

your job is to observe how mines

attention moves and use the six ours and

chuckle with yourself for trying so hard

I know this is really unusual I gave a

talk in Burma to monks that were working

on their masters and PhDs and some that

had their masters and PhDs and I told

them I'm gonna say a sentence that

you've never heard before in a

meditation retreat I want you to smile I

want you to have fun and I want you to

laugh and their dread their jaws dropped

open I said you've never heard that

before have you no not even close

because their teachers were always

telling them you gotta try harder you

got to put more energy into it more

effort into it and they caused

themselves problems because they were

putting in too much energy too much

effort so this is the opposite this is

step back and six are have fun with this

this is a fun meditation when I was in

South Korea this lady came up to me

after all five or six days of doing the

retreat she said I've been practicing

meditation for 10 years I've never had

any fun at a retreat and I'm

having fun with this it's really

interesting so the more you can have fun

and relax into these things and smile

the faster your progress in the

meditation becomes now when you're

picking a spiritual friend it does have

to be somebody of the same sex if you

pick somebody of the opposite sex you

have a tendency to have infatuation

coming up in your mind and you start

thinking about them more and more now

you're not meditating anymore so you

pick a friend that you really you admire

them real respect for them and you

sincerely do wish them well and you stay

with that spiritual friend until I tell

you to change this is a progressive kind

of meditation where you will go through

different stages and at different stages

I'll tell you to do different things now

the reason that I wanted most everybody

here to be doing the loving-kindness is

because with loving-kindness meditation

your progress is faster with this

meditation than it is with any other

meditation not a little bit a lot

so please just follow the directions

that I'm giving you so that you can see

what I'm talking about I don't want you

to believe anything that I say I want

you to experience what I'm talking about

and I sincerely wish you well so that

you can do this practice without getting

caught by too many distractions but

you're trying to develop the six hours

so that they can become automatic and

when that happens you really start

progressing very quickly now the

precepts are very very very important

don't break a precept on purpose if you

accidentally do break a precept come and

tell me and we'll take the precepts

again if you don't tell me your mind is

going to have a lot of restlessness in

and that can be a problem

the precepts and the hindrances are

intimately intertwined you break a

precept you're going to have hindrances

and the precepts are fairly easy to to

follow don't kill anything on purpose

now you might step on an ant or

accidentally step on something and it

might die but your intention wasn't to

do that your intention was just put your

foot down now that's not breaking the

preset but in Asia they love to

mosquitoes well that's intentionally

causing harm to other beings mind that

can happen with flies around here and

there's other other beasties there's i

saw i had a be in my room today and i

let him go free of course but don't

squash him just because don't take

anything that's not given no sexual

activity at all don't tell anything

let's say anything that's not true now

one of the problems that I had at one of

the retreats was people at getting close

to the end of the retreat they like to

sit around and talk about what their

different experiences was and somebody

that didn't have any clue what they were

talking about was listening and all of a

sudden they're coming and telling me

that's where they are well they're lying

that's breaking a precept you have to be

honest with me you have to be honest

and not taking any drugs or alcohol that

doesn't mean we can't take medicine you

can don't use any perfumes or

decorations for your body while for this

ten-day period okay so I wish you all

the highest and best success