From: https://youtube.com/watch?v=HjTq_of2qsA
Context: Throughout this transcript, Bhante Vimalaramsi is the speaker unless otherwise indicated.
one of the more important aspects of
doing the meditation is being able to
recognize differences if you can't
recognize a hindrance and then you're
going to keep getting caught by the
hindrances and that affects the wings in
the world around me in a negative way
one of the reasons that the hindrances
personal important is because hindrance
is where your
belief of I am that is stored that's
where your false idea of a belief in
itself story every time you take any
thought or feeling personally that is
hindrance
generally speaking we would have talked
about five different kinds of hindrances
and said you have lust greed I wanted a
could a virgin I don't want sleepiness
dullness
restlessness anxiety and doubt
now when eat any of these varieties the
reason they're called hindrances is
because it takes her whole attention and
you don't even know where you are
anymore because this entrance grab you
and start pushing you around what
happens when a hindrance arises is there
is a feeling that are right and the
feeling is unpleasant and right after
the feeling arises then you have
thoughts about why you don't like that
good first you have craving you have the
I like it where I don't bite it money
right after that you have the thoughts
about why you like four disinfect it and
then you have your habitual tendency of
every time that's feeling arises then I
always act that
now all of this is a big problem when
you're trying to do any kind of
then for have a happy life because
things don't happen the way we want them
to we have things that happen that are
very hard to endure difficult and the
more we identify with those thoughts in
those feelings the more pain because
it's so what we need to do is learn how
to recognize the hindrance when it
arises and we have to know what to do
when that hindrance or right now this
happens for everybody and it doesn't
matter whether you're sitting in that
or your doing your daily activities
you're going to have hindrances
complication somebody comes up and says
something you don't like then your mind
goes to that dislike and now you get in
a war with that other person start
fighting but what we have to do is
recognize that when another person comes
up and they say something that's not
particularly nice is that it's that's
their opinion and they can have their
opinion all we want that doesn't mean
that you have to take it and try to
change therapy
you don't have to fight with you don't
have to take their anger and make it
your anger and throw it back it what you
have to learn
do is recognize how your car
yourself
so this particular suit deals with it a
little bit this suit is kind of peculiar
in some ways because as you go to the
different ways that it talks about
letting go of the hindrances it goes
further and further away from the luniz
actual teaching one of the things that
has happened with some of the suit this
is that it has been influenced by
commentaries and it's been influenced by
other people that are practicing a
different kind of meditation than what
we would the Buddha taught the tranquil
Insight Meditation
an awful lot of people right now are
practicing an absorption kind of anyway
what happened right after the wood had
died about two hundred years after he
died was there was a lot of Brahmins
that started taking on robes and
claiming they were Buddhist monks but
they were teaching they're brown and
religion and at the time came ahsoka
found out about this and he started he
set up a council so that they can go
over what the Buddha's teaching back to
me was but he would ask anyone who had
robes what the Buddha's teachings was
and if they didn't know what he would
disrobe but some of those teachings
stuck
and even to this day after six or 12
some countries they have had up to 14
buddhist councils to try to get out the
mistakes there's still some mistakes and
this particular suit that is one the
first part is great so we'll go through
that that's what I heard on one occasion
the blessed one was living at sawatdee
and it is probe anything done because
park there he addressed the monks thus
month venerable sir they replied the
Blessed ones that this month when a monk
is pursuing the higher mind from time to
time he should give attention to some
style what are they care monks when a
monk is giving attention to some sign
owing to that sign there arise in him
evil unwholesome thoughts connected with
desire with hate and with delusional
thoughts of desire we all know what that
is and lots of hate we all know what
that is what are thoughts of delusion
another people cancer for a little while
ok I'll give you a hard question
delusion is always the idea that this is
mine person this is who I am when you
let go of delusion you change your
perspective from I am I I want or I
don't want to it's only this one for its
only that's not one so you say I am
angry or I really want this when you say
I really want this you're taking that
desire and that feeling of desire
personally and anytime you take anything
personally they're seeing it in the
wrong way everything that arises in your
mind any feeling there
in your body is part of an impersonal
it's not yours when you're sitting and
you have a pain horizon your knee did
you say well I have met a pain arising
my knee for a while might as well have
it arise now no it arose because the
conditions are regular to the right as
you start to see that this is an
impersonal process then you let go of
that tightness in mind and what you're
doing is letting go of the craving the
craving is the start of the I am back
every time you let go over creamy you
relax the tension and tightness in your
head and in your body every time you
relax you'll feel your mind kind of
expand open
and become a call at that moment your
mind is very sure your mind is very
alert the mind your mindfulness is very
quick and you bring your attent that
attention you bring that kind of mind
back to your object of meditation so
what you're doing is you're letting go
of the craving and every time you let go
of cream in your pure vitamin Lewbert
craving is not particularly being strong
but it is particularly persistent it
keeps rising over and over and over
so we have a lot of opportunities to see
how when anything arises an opposer
attention to it there is tension and
tight and you need to recognize that the
lacs smile come back to your object on
vacation that's practicing at six are
this eventually leads to a mind that has
very sharp awareness in it when you can
recognize when your mind starts to grab
onto things then you can start relaxing
and letting go that this helps to
develop your personality so that they're
not bad ones that you don't have the
high highs you don't get into the low
levels you have a mind that's more in
balance all the time you're still going
to have some emotional highs and lows
but they're going to be the little ones
are not going to be the kind that are
going to affect you for a week or ten
days or two weeks or a month it's going
to affect you for a shorter and shorter
period of time because you get familiar
with how these kind of hindrances the
ride the biggest hindrance that we have
restlessness is all of our distracting
but the thing with the hindrances is
that they don't come just one of the
time they like the game they like to
kick you when you're down so you can
have restlessness arise and then you can
life of that dealer so now you have two
hindrances for the price of one so you
have to be able to recognize first that
you're thinking and you're thinking
about feeling and that feeling has this
like wrapped around it it's the aversion
now when a feeling arises truth is it's
there
what do you do with what arises in the
present moment dictates what happens as
you start to lovingly accept that that
feeling is there and it's okay for that
feeling to be there then you relax the
tension and tightness caused by the
aversion to that now you smile out and
come back here
even you have learned a great lesson in
how mines attention works and you've let
go of that identification with that
feeling and those thoughts now in the
instructions I always tell you about
what to do when the sensation arises on
your body and that is let go of the
thinking really see that tight mental
this wrapped around the feeling better
be angry that a mistake that people make
and it's quite often is that they trying
to use this as a club to make the
sensation roll away kind of beat that
and kind of control the sensation and
it's not for that doesn't work guarantee
what you need to do is allow the sand
it's alright for that sensation to be
there it has to be already because it's
the truth it's there so any time you try
to control the truth or make the truth
be the way you want it to be you're
fighting with the truth anytime you
fight with the truth you can look
forward is suffering happen so when you
let go of wanting this sensation to be
anything other than a kiss and you allow
it to be there by itself one of two
things will happen either that
sensational go away by itself or it
won't but if it doesn't your mind has a
balance that it doesn't pull your mind
to that integral you just recognize
now with that said we have to start
talking a little bit about the
difference between real pain and
meditation while you're sitting in
meditation and a sensation arises it can
seem like it's a real pain but when you
get up and you start walking and stretch
out a little bit in 10 or 15 seconds you
forget that you even have to do then
that is meditation for real pain is you
have that pain you get up and you start
walking and the pain doesn't go away now
do you have that kind of pain don't sit
like that again you don't need to sit to
make pain arrive sit in a comfortable
with
you can actually hurt yourself if you
start forcing yourself to sit in the
particular with a lot of people that
have done that sorry
so when a hindrance arises it always has
that false idea of I am that attached to
it every time you recognize that your
mind has been distracted at first when
you're sitting your mind might be
distracted for two or three or four
minutes before you actually even notice
that your mind is on the way and that's
fine as soon as you recognize that your
mind has been away then you practice
your six arts you recognize you release
your left breathe smile we turn your
object meditate
pika
the maker of hindrances is they don't go
away right away this is a good
because they convinces showing you where
your attachment is it is teaching you
how to recognize this and how to let her
go so every time your mind bounces away
from your object to meditation and comes
to the hindrance your job as a meditator
is to see how that happened that
happened first what happened
as you become more familiar with the
process you won't be caught so long with
the hindrance that you'll start to
notice something that happened right
before your mind gettin pulled away
let's say you have slop and torpor and
you you start noticing how the slop and
tour for words but what you start seeing
as you're doing this oh and then try to
straighten up and try to push your
energy to make it go and then use so
what happened right before you got into
that sleeping once you're back slumped a
little bit so you take that as your sign
okay whenever using your back slump now
it's time to straighten up and come back
your object to meditation and then right
before you're black and you're back
slump there's something else that
happens and you'll be able to recognize
it and then as you become more than they
with how the process works you'll be
able to see it more and more quickly
annual in progress so the slot and
Harper even though it's a hain and it's
not a fun thing it is a teacher for you
it's showing you how this endurance work
and as you become more into more
familiar with how the hindrances work
you start to regard them as being
friends they are your best friends
because they're teaching you how your
mind
now if you're practicing any form of one
pointed concentration that will suppress
the entrances and
your mind and stay very happy and very
on periods of time that you're not
about how mines it and that's how you
truly pure by your mind not by
suppressing for a period of time because
eventually there's going to be something
happens that your concentration is not
going to suppress it and there's going
to be an immense amount of suffering
that happens because you're not able to
recognize how that process works and you
start identifying very heavily with all
the thoughts than all the feeling so
there's no purity of mind that happens
when you're practicing the one point in
concentration as far as recognizing how
dependent origination actually works and
dependent origination the Buddha spent
45 years talking about the four noble
truths and
thousands and thousands of hours
explaining how
and the reason that you explained this
is because it really does it's not for
maybe that's really really does work and
I don't want you to believe me at all
isn't that see it for yourself become
more familiar with how mines attention
move one of the important aspects of the
meditation is this file
when you have a smile in your mind smile
in your eye smile
your heart
is exceptionally sharp
it's real easy to see when a hindrance
comes and starts grabbing up and pulling
your mind down it's really easy to
recognize and it's also very easy
let it go anytime you see your mind
serious about that means that there is
an attachment to this false idea by an
account this feeling I am these thoughts
and this is the way I am is full of
concepts and ideas and projections and
all kinds of things and don't have
anything to do with the reality of the
present anytime you get product and
analyzing in thinking about in
conceptualising that is a sources
and the hole during the tighter you hold
on two concepts and ideas the more pain
new cultures
so what to do don't be serious with this
stuff and I'd say this stuff meaning
every different aspect of your life any
time you get over serious about
something that means you got an attack
anytime you have
repeat thoughts that means you've got an
attachment and that attachment is always
I countdown what is the cause of i-10 it
starts at three
as you learn to relax but it's not only
real eft its relaxed let's let go relax
smile return to love
as you learn to do that not only with
your sitting practice but with your
daily activity then changes or tab and
as the changes start to happen people
will start coming up to you and say well
what are you doing different than you
used to do you seem to be a lot happier
than you used to be and that is because
you're learning how this process works
and you're not getting cut here as much
as you used to
okay I got almost three sentences and
sudafed of value on them ah ok here
amongst when a monk is giving attention
to some sign up and going to that side
they're rising him evil and wholesome
thoughts connected with desire imitate
and with division then you should give
attention to some other side connected
with what is wholesome
harmonious practice in the fold path is
recognizing when there's an unwholesome
stata right what is in that wholesome
state is in
that has I am that adapter it is letting
go of that unwholesome state and
relaxing it is bringing up a wholesome
state silent and staying with that
I just called it harmonious practice a
lot of people know this by right after
it's not indulging in the pain it's not
fighting with the unwholesome thing that
our
I simply recognizing
letting it be relaxed
coming back to your wholesome
with a wholesome object always starts
with smile
but it's also your object identity
and continuing
as you learn how to do this with your
sitting practice then you start carrying
it with you in your daily life and there
are going to be hindrances that arise
welcome to the real world but what you
do with what arises in the present
moment dictates what happens if you take
the hem prints and you run with it and
you fight with it and you try to control
it you can look forward to more
suffering arising or you can see that
entrance arise if you didn't let
relax and spinal into it and come back
and which somebody happiness and you can
look forward to having a more and more
balance right that's the choice that we
have to make either we can act the way
we always act that causes of pain we're
not the trick is the mindfulness
remembering to observe what your mind is
doing in every room as you practice
having more and more joy and
and more smiles in their mind and in
your activities it's much easier to
remember your mindfulness and see the
pain that you're causing yourself when
we get caught and as much faster let it
go I've known people that have taken the
feeling of depression and become
depression depressed for weeks
what is the cause of different painful
feeling arises I don't like that the
story about why that depression is there
and your habitual tendency it keeps
coming back and coming back and as you
don't like that feeling and you don't
like the story and you try to control
the feeling with your thoughts the
feeling is bigger and more intent and as
the feeling is bigger and more intense
your thoughts your mind trying to
control it even more
with this thinking and the villain gets
it gets even bigger until you can't
stand it and then there's some kind of
action I'm going into a room and losing
all the windows and telling everybody to
leave you alone but when you start to
recognize how mines attention actually
work then you see the futility of trying
to think your feelings and you start
letting go of the thought and you start
relaxing and you see that feeling for
what it is it's only an unpleasant
feeling okay so what so that it be
as you bounce back and forth between
being on your object of meditation and
being with that feeling as you let go
more and more that feeling becomes
weaker because now it doesn't have any
pushing against it and if there is
nothing pushing against it it just
weakens naturally by itself and until
eventually what will happen did that
feeling will become so weak that it will
just fade away by itself and at that
time you will have a major sense of
relief why because you've let go
you've let go
type grab grabbing on to and identifying
with that feeling trying to control it
with your thoughts you've let that go
you've let go of this whole paddock as
soon as that feeling of relief happens
right after that you have a lot of joy
or after the joyful feeling is an
uplifted feeling in your mind
very light but there's a lot of
excitement
what do you do when joy arises you allow
that feeling to be there this is a
pleasant feeling okay painful feeling
wasn't feeling same coin different sized
treated in the same way about to be
there relax the feeling of joy will get
away you will feel very very thankful
very much at ease your mind and your
body your mind will be very collected
your mind
very composed and it will stay on the
object of meditation would have it
tetras it but because this is your first
experience of it you still will have a
distracting thought happen occasional
very often but it will happen but as
soon as you notice that immediately and
relax sometimes it's only half a thought
comes out before you recognize it let it
be and relax come back here
now what I've just described to you is
the experience of the first level of
understanding
this is called a gun Jonna is a word
that quite often is used and the
definition that's given is that Jonna
means concentration and the best it's a
level of your understanding why is that
level why did it happen because you
learn what a entrance was and how to let
go
you've become more intelligent because
now you understand this is the process
and you mean the hindrances becomes
when your mindfulness slips
you will have another hindrance or not
and then you get to work with this
every time a hindrance arises it helps
and through
it helps helps you become much more
covert finds attention whoo
and then you let that go
another level of your understanding is
being so the hindrances are very
necessary part of the practice now
there's there's some aspects in this
particular suit them that when they're
talking about the the hindrances and how
unruly they even seem to be and how
tough they are it says that you clench
your teeth that push your tongue up
against the roof of your mouth and crush
my goodnight and that's what it actually
says but in another suit though it says
that the Buddha tried that and it didn't
work so this was just taken this part
that's word for word from the other suit
does it's taken and just added in there
but when i was in Burma that was the
most famous thing that the bur means
teachers were showing students how to
prep my with mine there was a kind of
practice that that they they take joy
and having painful feeling arrives and
it doesn't
it doesn't lead to be some home to my
way of thinking the most important
aspect of the Buddha's teaching of that
evil time of one of the important
aspects i guess you could say is that
the Buddha was always teaching us how to
open up and accept not how to close down
and control the Buddha was always trying
to explain to us how to do this and
become more calm now when he's talking
about the Four Noble Truths there is
suffering there's no getting around it
we don't get the things we want to get
we get what we don't want we have all
kinds of painful things that arise there
is suffering in life does you have
human body there is suffering you step
on up you go in the kitchen and somebody
dropped one kernel of popcorn on the
floor doesn't feel like we know that
what that's painful but there is the
cause of the suffering and the cause of
the suffering is always craving arises
at each one of the links of dependent
origination just like all of the Four
Noble Truths do that the Buddha said
that we don't focus on the suffering he
said there's a right way to teach and a
wrong way to teach the wrong way to
teach is to focus on supper and the
right way to teach is focus on the
cessation of suffering which is what
I've been showing as you recognize that
then tightness and let it be and relax
smile come back to your object of
meditation you are practicing the phone
path at that moment and you are letting
go of slippery and when you do that
enough will start to go deeper and
deeper
and your understanding becomes sharper
and more clear you start to see more and
more how this process actually does work
and how this is an impersonal process
everything that happens to us in life is
part of an impersonal process but we
always take it to be visit me this is
mine and you start developing the smile
more than one sitting or walking
tivities it helps to improve your
mindfulness your awareness of how
everything works and with that knowledge
you start to unfold the problems of life
you start to see that everything is part
of the pot because if you have high
color and form the I hitting the color
and form causes I consciousness to Iraq
the meeting of these three things is
called eye contact with eye contact
that's condition I feeling horizon I
feeling as pleasant it's a beautiful
sight unpleasant it's an ugly sight or
neither painful North doesn't it's a
neutral zone with I feeling as condition
hi craving arises if it's a pleasant
feeling I like it if it's an unpleasant
feeling I don't like
with I craving as condition clinging
arises swinging is all of your thoughts
all of your opinion all of your concepts
all of your ideas all of the stories
about why do you like or dislike that
killing and with clinging as condition
your habitual tendency arise virtual
tendency is always the way you always
act when this feeling arises and the way
you always act is by trying to control
you're dealing with your thumb so the
more you do that or pain you caused
yourself now this the process of
practicing
meditation is learning how to recognize
this not only what you say but all the
time
meditation is life I is meditation and
this means taking it with you wherever
you're going as you learn to develop
more enjoy more and we're happiness in
your mind your mind gets more and more
clear and with that clarity you start
seeing how these entrances when they
arise how they cause us to have so much
pain and suffering and as we become
familiar with the process we start
letting go that pain and suffering more
easily and that is the cessation of
suffering that's what this meditation is
all about it's not to fight with the
hindrances when they arrived it's to
welcome them to think i'm gay guys and
if these friends are coming to help you
ages it was got some jewels in disguise
good one they are and you say well why
does this one have to keep coming up
I've already let it go you have it it's
going to keep coming up until you really
this is the lesson there's no
okay so what you're doing when you when
you let go of one sign that has
unwholesome this in it and bring up
another when he gives attention to some
sign connected with what is wholesome
then any evil unwholesome thoughts
connected with desire with eight and
with delusion are abandoning you and
society that the abandoning of them is
mine become steady internal we quieted
brought to stillness and collected just
as a skilled carpenter or as a penance
might knock out remove and extract a
course page by means of a buying one so
too when a monk gives attention to some
other side connected with what is
wholesome his mind becomes steady to
internally quieted and brought to
stillness and
now
very have any questions
yeah so eNOS asked a question earlier
about is this meditation reading us to
in daily life can we be free can we can
it how'd you say it can we be happy
without reaching nirvana or in the next
life yeah everything is nothing you can
but it's a matter of teaching your mind
how to be alert so that you can see how
you cause yourself pain and then you
start letting go of that your mind
starts to become very uplifted and when
that happens then it's so much easier to
notice when these things start to come
and start going you down you have no
real thing to do that will let that one
go to but being a human being means that
there is going to be suffering that
happens sometime along the way there is
going to be pain that arise as it
doesn't necessarily happen suffering
somebody in your family dies you're not
going to be walking around smiling and
happy because of the attachment to that
person and the dislike of the situation
but as you start to recognize
I is very much disliking this situation
aversion and you have a lot of thoughts
about why you don't like that that goes
with us remax allow that feeling to be
there and relax
now you send love and kind thoughts to
yourself to the other family members but
the person that I doesn't matter but one
of the things that happens with grief is
that people they get frustrated they
become very sad and bulging agreed
because they don't know what to do they
become lost and what you do always to
overcome suffering is learned how to
give and what do you get you give your
kind and loving clothes because you're
kind of looking but as much as you can
to get and the more you give the less
you apart knock off balance by this big
pain now that doesn't mean that it's
you're never going to remember the pain
you will but you won't suffer because of
it that you're not identifying with it
it wasn't that thing that happened
that's true and welcome to life there
are going to be things that are said
that happened but as you learn how the
process works you're suffering becomes
less and less and you start to be more
of a balance point and with that
balanced mind comes a relief that you
can't find any other way that I don't
and with that relief there is a kind of
contentment even in very difficult
situation
yeah so this is demonstrating a living
practice and engaged dama that's why i
said meditation in life life is
have to be able to recognize
what you're mine is doing
and how
and stop being so serious with it start
flapping with it we're smiling into it
and that was balancing how to have that
learning how to recognize what your mind
is doing so it's not always flying
around doing whatever it wants to do the
more you practice letting go relaxing
the more you start to see the importance
of keeping your practice going all the
time
and when you're practicing the six ours
it
starts to become more and more a
habitual tendency so you trade your old
habits for a new habit your old habits
that bring your mind down for new habits
that release and that's what the
meditate
so the more you can do this the easier
life becomes even though we're going to
have those high as and love this is very
much a living process I used to become
very frustrated after 20 years of
practice and doing the meditation really
where I was moving very very very slow
and I was ok now we're done with the
retreat and the teachers is now you're
off retreat be mindful never explained
what nine colleges not really and how
does moving super slow relate to working
with your daily life this practice what
it does is it keeps you in your daily
life but
where
but you know something you brought up
there's that thread going but the people
are all well we can't be happy people I
can't I can't enjoy because then this is
some kind of attachment to joy and then
people are all concerns i can't play
music because it's mr. joyful remember
but isn't really the you become a lot
more creative when you start getting
into this pasta and the attachment to
droid is the very thing that will need
to join disappear anyway I've been doing
is not understanding that all this isn't
permanent isn't that what what keeps it
from the italic that thinking like when
you you have a joyful feeling the claim
is wanting this this feeling to stay and
not recognizing its it's in her me so so
the idea that presenting here is we can
be extremely joyful in the moment that's
happening while clearly understanding
this is impermanent this is going to
pass a big way about that real
attachment enjoy is I am back right it
is the gravy you can have joy and it can
for a lot longer when you let go of time
to hold on to it trying to make it stay
but the kind of contentment that arises
when this droid fades away is very
strong and it's okay because you're
developing your equanimity and that is
the highest feeling that we make
suffering ones be suffering free and the
pier stroke fearless be intervening
shall greet the mail being something
they all being shared this mirror that
because the client they get patted
acquisition
you
one of the more important aspects of
doing the meditation is being able to
recognize differences if you can't
recognize a hindrance and then you're
going to keep getting caught by the
hindrances and that affects the wings in
the world around me in a negative way
one of the reasons that the hindrances
personal important is because hindrance
is where your
belief of I am that is stored that's
where your false idea of a belief in
itself story every time you take any
thought or feeling personally that is
hindrance
generally speaking we would have talked
about five different kinds of hindrances
and said you have lust greed I wanted a
could a virgin I don't want sleepiness
dullness
restlessness anxiety and doubt
now when eat any of these varieties the
reason they're called hindrances is
because it takes her whole attention and
you don't even know where you are
anymore because this entrance grab you
and start pushing you around what
happens when a hindrance arises is there
is a feeling that are right and the
feeling is unpleasant and right after
the feeling arises then you have
thoughts about why you don't like that
good first you have craving you have the
I like it where I don't bite it money
right after that you have the thoughts
about why you like four disinfect it and
then you have your habitual tendency of
every time that's feeling arises then I
always act that
now all of this is a big problem when
you're trying to do any kind of
then for have a happy life because
things don't happen the way we want them
to we have things that happen that are
very hard to endure difficult and the
more we identify with those thoughts in
those feelings the more pain because
it's so what we need to do is learn how
to recognize the hindrance when it
arises and we have to know what to do
when that hindrance or right now this
happens for everybody and it doesn't
matter whether you're sitting in that
or your doing your daily activities
you're going to have hindrances
complication somebody comes up and says
something you don't like then your mind
goes to that dislike and now you get in
a war with that other person start
fighting but what we have to do is
recognize that when another person comes
up and they say something that's not
particularly nice is that it's that's
their opinion and they can have their
opinion all we want that doesn't mean
that you have to take it and try to
change therapy
you don't have to fight with you don't
have to take their anger and make it
your anger and throw it back it what you
have to learn
do is recognize how your car
yourself
so this particular suit deals with it a
little bit this suit is kind of peculiar
in some ways because as you go to the
different ways that it talks about
letting go of the hindrances it goes
further and further away from the luniz
actual teaching one of the things that
has happened with some of the suit this
is that it has been influenced by
commentaries and it's been influenced by
other people that are practicing a
different kind of meditation than what
we would the Buddha taught the tranquil
Insight Meditation
an awful lot of people right now are
practicing an absorption kind of anyway
what happened right after the wood had
died about two hundred years after he
died was there was a lot of Brahmins
that started taking on robes and
claiming they were Buddhist monks but
they were teaching they're brown and
religion and at the time came ahsoka
found out about this and he started he
set up a council so that they can go
over what the Buddha's teaching back to
me was but he would ask anyone who had
robes what the Buddha's teachings was
and if they didn't know what he would
disrobe but some of those teachings
stuck
and even to this day after six or 12
some countries they have had up to 14
buddhist councils to try to get out the
mistakes there's still some mistakes and
this particular suit that is one the
first part is great so we'll go through
that that's what I heard on one occasion
the blessed one was living at sawatdee
and it is probe anything done because
park there he addressed the monks thus
month venerable sir they replied the
Blessed ones that this month when a monk
is pursuing the higher mind from time to
time he should give attention to some
style what are they care monks when a
monk is giving attention to some sign
owing to that sign there arise in him
evil unwholesome thoughts connected with
desire with hate and with delusional
thoughts of desire we all know what that
is and lots of hate we all know what
that is what are thoughts of delusion
another people cancer for a little while
ok I'll give you a hard question
delusion is always the idea that this is
mine person this is who I am when you
let go of delusion you change your
perspective from I am I I want or I
don't want to it's only this one for its
only that's not one so you say I am
angry or I really want this when you say
I really want this you're taking that
desire and that feeling of desire
personally and anytime you take anything
personally they're seeing it in the
wrong way everything that arises in your
mind any feeling there
in your body is part of an impersonal
it's not yours when you're sitting and
you have a pain horizon your knee did
you say well I have met a pain arising
my knee for a while might as well have
it arise now no it arose because the
conditions are regular to the right as
you start to see that this is an
impersonal process then you let go of
that tightness in mind and what you're
doing is letting go of the craving the
craving is the start of the I am back
every time you let go over creamy you
relax the tension and tightness in your
head and in your body every time you
relax you'll feel your mind kind of
expand open
and become a call at that moment your
mind is very sure your mind is very
alert the mind your mindfulness is very
quick and you bring your attent that
attention you bring that kind of mind
back to your object of meditation so
what you're doing is you're letting go
of the craving and every time you let go
of cream in your pure vitamin Lewbert
craving is not particularly being strong
but it is particularly persistent it
keeps rising over and over and over
so we have a lot of opportunities to see
how when anything arises an opposer
attention to it there is tension and
tight and you need to recognize that the
lacs smile come back to your object on
vacation that's practicing at six are
this eventually leads to a mind that has
very sharp awareness in it when you can
recognize when your mind starts to grab
onto things then you can start relaxing
and letting go that this helps to
develop your personality so that they're
not bad ones that you don't have the
high highs you don't get into the low
levels you have a mind that's more in
balance all the time you're still going
to have some emotional highs and lows
but they're going to be the little ones
are not going to be the kind that are
going to affect you for a week or ten
days or two weeks or a month it's going
to affect you for a shorter and shorter
period of time because you get familiar
with how these kind of hindrances the
ride the biggest hindrance that we have
restlessness is all of our distracting
but the thing with the hindrances is
that they don't come just one of the
time they like the game they like to
kick you when you're down so you can
have restlessness arise and then you can
life of that dealer so now you have two
hindrances for the price of one so you
have to be able to recognize first that
you're thinking and you're thinking
about feeling and that feeling has this
like wrapped around it it's the aversion
now when a feeling arises truth is it's
there
what do you do with what arises in the
present moment dictates what happens as
you start to lovingly accept that that
feeling is there and it's okay for that
feeling to be there then you relax the
tension and tightness caused by the
aversion to that now you smile out and
come back here
even you have learned a great lesson in
how mines attention works and you've let
go of that identification with that
feeling and those thoughts now in the
instructions I always tell you about
what to do when the sensation arises on
your body and that is let go of the
thinking really see that tight mental
this wrapped around the feeling better
be angry that a mistake that people make
and it's quite often is that they trying
to use this as a club to make the
sensation roll away kind of beat that
and kind of control the sensation and
it's not for that doesn't work guarantee
what you need to do is allow the sand
it's alright for that sensation to be
there it has to be already because it's
the truth it's there so any time you try
to control the truth or make the truth
be the way you want it to be you're
fighting with the truth anytime you
fight with the truth you can look
forward is suffering happen so when you
let go of wanting this sensation to be
anything other than a kiss and you allow
it to be there by itself one of two
things will happen either that
sensational go away by itself or it
won't but if it doesn't your mind has a
balance that it doesn't pull your mind
to that integral you just recognize
now with that said we have to start
talking a little bit about the
difference between real pain and
meditation while you're sitting in
meditation and a sensation arises it can
seem like it's a real pain but when you
get up and you start walking and stretch
out a little bit in 10 or 15 seconds you
forget that you even have to do then
that is meditation for real pain is you
have that pain you get up and you start
walking and the pain doesn't go away now
do you have that kind of pain don't sit
like that again you don't need to sit to
make pain arrive sit in a comfortable
with
you can actually hurt yourself if you
start forcing yourself to sit in the
particular with a lot of people that
have done that sorry
so when a hindrance arises it always has
that false idea of I am that attached to
it every time you recognize that your
mind has been distracted at first when
you're sitting your mind might be
distracted for two or three or four
minutes before you actually even notice
that your mind is on the way and that's
fine as soon as you recognize that your
mind has been away then you practice
your six arts you recognize you release
your left breathe smile we turn your
object meditate
pika
the maker of hindrances is they don't go
away right away this is a good
because they convinces showing you where
your attachment is it is teaching you
how to recognize this and how to let her
go so every time your mind bounces away
from your object to meditation and comes
to the hindrance your job as a meditator
is to see how that happened that
happened first what happened
as you become more familiar with the
process you won't be caught so long with
the hindrance that you'll start to
notice something that happened right
before your mind gettin pulled away
let's say you have slop and torpor and
you you start noticing how the slop and
tour for words but what you start seeing
as you're doing this oh and then try to
straighten up and try to push your
energy to make it go and then use so
what happened right before you got into
that sleeping once you're back slumped a
little bit so you take that as your sign
okay whenever using your back slump now
it's time to straighten up and come back
your object to meditation and then right
before you're black and you're back
slump there's something else that
happens and you'll be able to recognize
it and then as you become more than they
with how the process works you'll be
able to see it more and more quickly
annual in progress so the slot and
Harper even though it's a hain and it's
not a fun thing it is a teacher for you
it's showing you how this endurance work
and as you become more into more
familiar with how the hindrances work
you start to regard them as being
friends they are your best friends
because they're teaching you how your
mind
now if you're practicing any form of one
pointed concentration that will suppress
the entrances and
your mind and stay very happy and very
on periods of time that you're not
about how mines it and that's how you
truly pure by your mind not by
suppressing for a period of time because
eventually there's going to be something
happens that your concentration is not
going to suppress it and there's going
to be an immense amount of suffering
that happens because you're not able to
recognize how that process works and you
start identifying very heavily with all
the thoughts than all the feeling so
there's no purity of mind that happens
when you're practicing the one point in
concentration as far as recognizing how
dependent origination actually works and
dependent origination the Buddha spent
45 years talking about the four noble
truths and
thousands and thousands of hours
explaining how
and the reason that you explained this
is because it really does it's not for
maybe that's really really does work and
I don't want you to believe me at all
isn't that see it for yourself become
more familiar with how mines attention
move one of the important aspects of the
meditation is this file
when you have a smile in your mind smile
in your eye smile
your heart
is exceptionally sharp
it's real easy to see when a hindrance
comes and starts grabbing up and pulling
your mind down it's really easy to
recognize and it's also very easy
let it go anytime you see your mind
serious about that means that there is
an attachment to this false idea by an
account this feeling I am these thoughts
and this is the way I am is full of
concepts and ideas and projections and
all kinds of things and don't have
anything to do with the reality of the
present anytime you get product and
analyzing in thinking about in
conceptualising that is a sources
and the hole during the tighter you hold
on two concepts and ideas the more pain
new cultures
so what to do don't be serious with this
stuff and I'd say this stuff meaning
every different aspect of your life any
time you get over serious about
something that means you got an attack
anytime you have
repeat thoughts that means you've got an
attachment and that attachment is always
I countdown what is the cause of i-10 it
starts at three
as you learn to relax but it's not only
real eft its relaxed let's let go relax
smile return to love
as you learn to do that not only with
your sitting practice but with your
daily activity then changes or tab and
as the changes start to happen people
will start coming up to you and say well
what are you doing different than you
used to do you seem to be a lot happier
than you used to be and that is because
you're learning how this process works
and you're not getting cut here as much
as you used to
okay I got almost three sentences and
sudafed of value on them ah ok here
amongst when a monk is giving attention
to some sign up and going to that side
they're rising him evil and wholesome
thoughts connected with desire imitate
and with division then you should give
attention to some other side connected
with what is wholesome
harmonious practice in the fold path is
recognizing when there's an unwholesome
stata right what is in that wholesome
state is in
that has I am that adapter it is letting
go of that unwholesome state and
relaxing it is bringing up a wholesome
state silent and staying with that
I just called it harmonious practice a
lot of people know this by right after
it's not indulging in the pain it's not
fighting with the unwholesome thing that
our
I simply recognizing
letting it be relaxed
coming back to your wholesome
with a wholesome object always starts
with smile
but it's also your object identity
and continuing
as you learn how to do this with your
sitting practice then you start carrying
it with you in your daily life and there
are going to be hindrances that arise
welcome to the real world but what you
do with what arises in the present
moment dictates what happens if you take
the hem prints and you run with it and
you fight with it and you try to control
it you can look forward to more
suffering arising or you can see that
entrance arise if you didn't let
relax and spinal into it and come back
and which somebody happiness and you can
look forward to having a more and more
balance right that's the choice that we
have to make either we can act the way
we always act that causes of pain we're
not the trick is the mindfulness
remembering to observe what your mind is
doing in every room as you practice
having more and more joy and
and more smiles in their mind and in
your activities it's much easier to
remember your mindfulness and see the
pain that you're causing yourself when
we get caught and as much faster let it
go I've known people that have taken the
feeling of depression and become
depression depressed for weeks
what is the cause of different painful
feeling arises I don't like that the
story about why that depression is there
and your habitual tendency it keeps
coming back and coming back and as you
don't like that feeling and you don't
like the story and you try to control
the feeling with your thoughts the
feeling is bigger and more intent and as
the feeling is bigger and more intense
your thoughts your mind trying to
control it even more
with this thinking and the villain gets
it gets even bigger until you can't
stand it and then there's some kind of
action I'm going into a room and losing
all the windows and telling everybody to
leave you alone but when you start to
recognize how mines attention actually
work then you see the futility of trying
to think your feelings and you start
letting go of the thought and you start
relaxing and you see that feeling for
what it is it's only an unpleasant
feeling okay so what so that it be
as you bounce back and forth between
being on your object of meditation and
being with that feeling as you let go
more and more that feeling becomes
weaker because now it doesn't have any
pushing against it and if there is
nothing pushing against it it just
weakens naturally by itself and until
eventually what will happen did that
feeling will become so weak that it will
just fade away by itself and at that
time you will have a major sense of
relief why because you've let go
you've let go
type grab grabbing on to and identifying
with that feeling trying to control it
with your thoughts you've let that go
you've let go of this whole paddock as
soon as that feeling of relief happens
right after that you have a lot of joy
or after the joyful feeling is an
uplifted feeling in your mind
very light but there's a lot of
excitement
what do you do when joy arises you allow
that feeling to be there this is a
pleasant feeling okay painful feeling
wasn't feeling same coin different sized
treated in the same way about to be
there relax the feeling of joy will get
away you will feel very very thankful
very much at ease your mind and your
body your mind will be very collected
your mind
very composed and it will stay on the
object of meditation would have it
tetras it but because this is your first
experience of it you still will have a
distracting thought happen occasional
very often but it will happen but as
soon as you notice that immediately and
relax sometimes it's only half a thought
comes out before you recognize it let it
be and relax come back here
now what I've just described to you is
the experience of the first level of
understanding
this is called a gun Jonna is a word
that quite often is used and the
definition that's given is that Jonna
means concentration and the best it's a
level of your understanding why is that
level why did it happen because you
learn what a entrance was and how to let
go
you've become more intelligent because
now you understand this is the process
and you mean the hindrances becomes
when your mindfulness slips
you will have another hindrance or not
and then you get to work with this
every time a hindrance arises it helps
and through
it helps helps you become much more
covert finds attention whoo
and then you let that go
another level of your understanding is
being so the hindrances are very
necessary part of the practice now
there's there's some aspects in this
particular suit them that when they're
talking about the the hindrances and how
unruly they even seem to be and how
tough they are it says that you clench
your teeth that push your tongue up
against the roof of your mouth and crush
my goodnight and that's what it actually
says but in another suit though it says
that the Buddha tried that and it didn't
work so this was just taken this part
that's word for word from the other suit
does it's taken and just added in there
but when i was in Burma that was the
most famous thing that the bur means
teachers were showing students how to
prep my with mine there was a kind of
practice that that they they take joy
and having painful feeling arrives and
it doesn't
it doesn't lead to be some home to my
way of thinking the most important
aspect of the Buddha's teaching of that
evil time of one of the important
aspects i guess you could say is that
the Buddha was always teaching us how to
open up and accept not how to close down
and control the Buddha was always trying
to explain to us how to do this and
become more calm now when he's talking
about the Four Noble Truths there is
suffering there's no getting around it
we don't get the things we want to get
we get what we don't want we have all
kinds of painful things that arise there
is suffering in life does you have
human body there is suffering you step
on up you go in the kitchen and somebody
dropped one kernel of popcorn on the
floor doesn't feel like we know that
what that's painful but there is the
cause of the suffering and the cause of
the suffering is always craving arises
at each one of the links of dependent
origination just like all of the Four
Noble Truths do that the Buddha said
that we don't focus on the suffering he
said there's a right way to teach and a
wrong way to teach the wrong way to
teach is to focus on supper and the
right way to teach is focus on the
cessation of suffering which is what
I've been showing as you recognize that
then tightness and let it be and relax
smile come back to your object of
meditation you are practicing the phone
path at that moment and you are letting
go of slippery and when you do that
enough will start to go deeper and
deeper
and your understanding becomes sharper
and more clear you start to see more and
more how this process actually does work
and how this is an impersonal process
everything that happens to us in life is
part of an impersonal process but we
always take it to be visit me this is
mine and you start developing the smile
more than one sitting or walking
tivities it helps to improve your
mindfulness your awareness of how
everything works and with that knowledge
you start to unfold the problems of life
you start to see that everything is part
of the pot because if you have high
color and form the I hitting the color
and form causes I consciousness to Iraq
the meeting of these three things is
called eye contact with eye contact
that's condition I feeling horizon I
feeling as pleasant it's a beautiful
sight unpleasant it's an ugly sight or
neither painful North doesn't it's a
neutral zone with I feeling as condition
hi craving arises if it's a pleasant
feeling I like it if it's an unpleasant
feeling I don't like
with I craving as condition clinging
arises swinging is all of your thoughts
all of your opinion all of your concepts
all of your ideas all of the stories
about why do you like or dislike that
killing and with clinging as condition
your habitual tendency arise virtual
tendency is always the way you always
act when this feeling arises and the way
you always act is by trying to control
you're dealing with your thumb so the
more you do that or pain you caused
yourself now this the process of
practicing
meditation is learning how to recognize
this not only what you say but all the
time
meditation is life I is meditation and
this means taking it with you wherever
you're going as you learn to develop
more enjoy more and we're happiness in
your mind your mind gets more and more
clear and with that clarity you start
seeing how these entrances when they
arise how they cause us to have so much
pain and suffering and as we become
familiar with the process we start
letting go that pain and suffering more
easily and that is the cessation of
suffering that's what this meditation is
all about it's not to fight with the
hindrances when they arrived it's to
welcome them to think i'm gay guys and
if these friends are coming to help you
ages it was got some jewels in disguise
good one they are and you say well why
does this one have to keep coming up
I've already let it go you have it it's
going to keep coming up until you really
this is the lesson there's no
okay so what you're doing when you when
you let go of one sign that has
unwholesome this in it and bring up
another when he gives attention to some
sign connected with what is wholesome
then any evil unwholesome thoughts
connected with desire with eight and
with delusion are abandoning you and
society that the abandoning of them is
mine become steady internal we quieted
brought to stillness and collected just
as a skilled carpenter or as a penance
might knock out remove and extract a
course page by means of a buying one so
too when a monk gives attention to some
other side connected with what is
wholesome his mind becomes steady to
internally quieted and brought to
stillness and
now
very have any questions
yeah so eNOS asked a question earlier
about is this meditation reading us to
in daily life can we be free can we can
it how'd you say it can we be happy
without reaching nirvana or in the next
life yeah everything is nothing you can
but it's a matter of teaching your mind
how to be alert so that you can see how
you cause yourself pain and then you
start letting go of that your mind
starts to become very uplifted and when
that happens then it's so much easier to
notice when these things start to come
and start going you down you have no
real thing to do that will let that one
go to but being a human being means that
there is going to be suffering that
happens sometime along the way there is
going to be pain that arise as it
doesn't necessarily happen suffering
somebody in your family dies you're not
going to be walking around smiling and
happy because of the attachment to that
person and the dislike of the situation
but as you start to recognize
I is very much disliking this situation
aversion and you have a lot of thoughts
about why you don't like that that goes
with us remax allow that feeling to be
there and relax
now you send love and kind thoughts to
yourself to the other family members but
the person that I doesn't matter but one
of the things that happens with grief is
that people they get frustrated they
become very sad and bulging agreed
because they don't know what to do they
become lost and what you do always to
overcome suffering is learned how to
give and what do you get you give your
kind and loving clothes because you're
kind of looking but as much as you can
to get and the more you give the less
you apart knock off balance by this big
pain now that doesn't mean that it's
you're never going to remember the pain
you will but you won't suffer because of
it that you're not identifying with it
it wasn't that thing that happened
that's true and welcome to life there
are going to be things that are said
that happened but as you learn how the
process works you're suffering becomes
less and less and you start to be more
of a balance point and with that
balanced mind comes a relief that you
can't find any other way that I don't
and with that relief there is a kind of
contentment even in very difficult
situation
yeah so this is demonstrating a living
practice and engaged dama that's why i
said meditation in life life is
have to be able to recognize
what you're mine is doing
and how
and stop being so serious with it start
flapping with it we're smiling into it
and that was balancing how to have that
learning how to recognize what your mind
is doing so it's not always flying
around doing whatever it wants to do the
more you practice letting go relaxing
the more you start to see the importance
of keeping your practice going all the
time
and when you're practicing the six ours
it
starts to become more and more a
habitual tendency so you trade your old
habits for a new habit your old habits
that bring your mind down for new habits
that release and that's what the
meditate
so the more you can do this the easier
life becomes even though we're going to
have those high as and love this is very
much a living process I used to become
very frustrated after 20 years of
practice and doing the meditation really
where I was moving very very very slow
and I was ok now we're done with the
retreat and the teachers is now you're
off retreat be mindful never explained
what nine colleges not really and how
does moving super slow relate to working
with your daily life this practice what
it does is it keeps you in your daily
life but
where
but you know something you brought up
there's that thread going but the people
are all well we can't be happy people I
can't I can't enjoy because then this is
some kind of attachment to joy and then
people are all concerns i can't play
music because it's mr. joyful remember
but isn't really the you become a lot
more creative when you start getting
into this pasta and the attachment to
droid is the very thing that will need
to join disappear anyway I've been doing
is not understanding that all this isn't
permanent isn't that what what keeps it
from the italic that thinking like when
you you have a joyful feeling the claim
is wanting this this feeling to stay and
not recognizing its it's in her me so so
the idea that presenting here is we can
be extremely joyful in the moment that's
happening while clearly understanding
this is impermanent this is going to
pass a big way about that real
attachment enjoy is I am back right it
is the gravy you can have joy and it can
for a lot longer when you let go of time
to hold on to it trying to make it stay
but the kind of contentment that arises
when this droid fades away is very
strong and it's okay because you're
developing your equanimity and that is
the highest feeling that we make
suffering ones be suffering free and the
pier stroke fearless be intervening
shall greet the mail being something
they all being shared this mirror that
because the client they get patted
acquisition
you