From: https://youtube.com/watch?v=lfFZIvAwwJM
Context: Throughout this transcript, Bhante Vimalaramsi is the speaker unless otherwise indicated.
like that finally and today
first of all I would like to come in
fancy I know that you know it very well
because we have tons of course people
and
absorb countless several time mentioned
you up children through pathways program
but unfortunately few of you I am in
here today however even one person is
there it is good i think after observing
quite reset run timer handsome yo give
me the toy and first of all day
so divided
buttons are on guitar
sometimes and litter duty young people
tons on that the army damansara TM
shanghang araneta at the young people
done turnin tiempito hands are on deck
tatiana sanguine zahran da ba da da da
vida money si Capitan Tommy Athena da
vida man easy kappa dance ami ami to
meet dr. ravi de monica
the money Zeke up a dance ahmadiyya ha
ha ha my neezy competence ahmadiyya
today no one to talk to you a little bit
about generosity and what it really
means
everybody will tell you generosity means
giving money we're giving the food the
generosity is bigger than
the more you give of your happy move to
other people that is the way you want to
practice your generosity you give by
saying kind things to other people
saying things that are nice not hurtful
you give by doing things that help other
people especially your parents and you
think kindly thoughts happy thoughts and
give that to other people that means
that you're practicing your generosity
it doesn't necessarily have to be
material gifts that you're giving the
more you can give of your smiles and
your happiness the more you affect the
world around you in a positive way okay
so you have to practice smile
I smile all the time why because the
corners of your mouth are real important
by the corners of your mouth go down
with them what kind of mental state view
that when the corners of your mouth go
up how do you feel happy your mind is
happened then that means that you're
starting to practice giving your smile
away that's the kind of generosity isn't
so the more times you can have a happy
mind and give that that happy feeling to
everybody else around you the more you
affect the world in a positive way not
quite often I have people that are not
happy with each other and they come and
they talk to me and when they're talking
they're talking to each other and
they're very unhappy in their saying
things that
at the same time in the hallway I don't
try to stop them from fighting I don't
even say anything but in my mind what I
do is I send them loving and kind
thoughts and before long they're not
arguing with each other and they're just
starting to talk with each other a
little bit and before long they become
very friendly again and then they say
thank you very much by date and they go
out and do whatever they're going to do
and I haven't said a word now how do i
set the world around me when i'm sending
loving and kind thoughts to them the
more you can remember to save things
that are very kind to other people that
make them smile the more you can smile
and get other people to smile the more
you bring happiness into the world and
the more happiness in there is in the
world the easier everything becomes so
it's a real important practice to learn
how to send
and kind thoughts to other people this
is what the Buddha called meditation
meditation is a lot different than what
you think when you hear people talk
about meditation they have this idea
that you have to sit very still and
don't move and close your eyes that's
only a small part of what meditation is
meditation means learning how to develop
your mind so that you can be happy all
of the time and that means that while
you're sending loving and kind thoughts
to someone else you have to feel loving
and kind before you can give it away
right if you don't have something how
can you give it away if you don't feel
happy how can you help other able to
feel happy now this is really true with
your parents they come in and they're
tired from work or doing
whatever they knew and they don't look
particularly happy what's your job to
think and send them a lot of loving and
kind thoughts that's how you help them
now one of the things that I want to
teach you today is how to meditate okay
and this is not just city now before you
go to sleep at night when your parents
come in and wish you good night what I
want you to do is tell them that you
want to start practicing some loving and
kind thoughts so you start out by saying
to them mom I really look and I wish you
happiness and then I really love you and
I wish
happiness and then any brothers you or
sisters you wish them happiness I love
you I wish you happiness okay and then
any aunts and uncles and then any
friends that you have you just do this
one time for each person I love you and
I wish you happiness but you have to do
this every night and what happens when
you start developing this habit of
wishing everybody in your family
happiness is that you start thinking
about them in very nice positive ways
and you start feeling that loving kind
feeling growing in your test now when
you can do that for a little
and you have to do it every night but
you do that for a little while few weeks
or a month or six weeks however long
then you'll start noticing that your
mind starts thinking about other people
during the day that you see and in your
mind you don't have to say it out loud
but in your mind you can say I wish you
happiness but the trick is you have to
be smiling when you do it okay so at
night when you say this to your mom your
head and all about all your brothers and
sisters and aunts and uncles and
everybody in your family and your
friends you want to practice having a
smile on your face now when you go and
look at a buddha image you see that he
has a little smile on his face not a big
smile just a little that's good
so the more you can practice smiling and
having that smile in your mind in your
heart now you're learning how to
practice loving kindness and every time
you think very kind thoughts about
someone else and you have that smile in
your heart you're practicing your
generosity why why am I making that
could be thinking about practicing
generosity because if you can't give
your kind thoughts and kind feelings
away then you become very selfish and
you think only of yourself and the more
you think only of yourself the less
happiness comes up in your life Buddha
taught a very plain lesson and that is
the more we help other people the
happier we become so it's a real
important practice to practice thinking
kind and loving thoughts to all of your
friends at school wishing them a happy
mind and if you see two of your friends
are not happy with
each other and you want to help them
then you don't say anything to them you
don't get in the way of their carpooling
you stand beside 10 and just start
wishing both of them happiness and that
will change their mind and before long
they will become friends again
especially now because there are so many
peculiar things happening in the world
there's an awful lot of fear there's a
lot of anxiety there's a lot of
unhappiness and if you want to help
overcome those problems especially in
your own family then it takes practice
and you need to start sending loving and
kind lots to everybody in your family
now this is not only when you're in bed
at night whenever you see one of your
family members that is sad and you want
to help them then you start putting that
little smile on your face and you start
sending them loving and kind thoughts I
wish you happy
now there's a warm kind of glowing
feeling and center of your chest have
you ever had a little animal like a
little puppy or a little kitten and you
pick them up and you hold them and you
really feel you love that little animal
a lot that's the kind of feeling that
loving kindness is it's that warm happy
feeling energetic so you have that
feeling when you're wishing happiness
for someone else
probably one of the biggest well it is
one of the biggest problems is that when
things are difficult the effort and we
want to help but we don't know what to
do so when you start sending happy
thoughts to someone that is unhappy you
start seeing that yeah I can help so you
don't have this feeling of helplessness
there are going to be times in your life
where there is going to be some
suffering that's one of the things that
what is that there's times in your life
when you're not going to feel so happy
when things are painful that's part of
life isn't it but when you can remember
to send loving and kind thoughts to
yourself and wish yourself well instead
of thinking about the problem you just
let that thought be by itself you don't
keep your attention
the problem you relax your mind and then
start wishing yourself happiness when
you do that the problem starts to fade
away but it takes practice and that's
why every night what I want you to do is
wish your mom happiness and wish for
death happiness and wish your brothers
and sisters happiness and whole family
your hands and uncles and cousins anyone
that you can think of and if you have
some friends that you want to send some
loving and kind of thought to use those
that keep them in your mind when you're
sending loading and kind of thoughts as
you practice this every day every day
every day you'll start to notice that
things become easier for you you don't
have the high emotions and get angry so
easily it so quickly what happens is
your mind starts to have more balance
and then but it takes a bit takes
practice to be able to do this and the
more you can practice especially during
the day you see one of your friends is
unhappy
whatever reason and you want to help
them you wish them happiness in your
mind you don't have to tell them what
you're doing they will feel that and
their mind will start to get a sense of
balance in here's some something else I
would like you to do I want you to stand
in front of a mirror and for one minute
smile and then when you see you're not
smiling smile again and in your mind
which yourself happiness do this every
day for one minute before you go to
school and you'll find out that you feel
good when you get to school you feel
happy when you get to school and school
becomes more interesting and when you
have our interest
when you have more interest in being in
school your grades get better because
you're having fun so this practice of
meditation that I'm showing you right
now is not just about sitting like a
bullet in it it's about watching what
your mind is doing and if it's not happy
then let go of those thoughts and help
someone else to be happy but you have to
remember you can't give something away
unless you have it yourself isn't that
right you can even download away unless
you have a dollar in your pocket right
you can't give happy feelings away
unless you feel happy so the more you
practice being happy the more you can
give away and it's kind of fun to watch
how everything happens after you start
sending loving and kind thoughts to
other people and another advantage of
doing this is other people will start to
like you a lot they feel very
comfortable around you you'll have a lot
of friends
I'm not saying you don't have friends
now I'm sure you all do but you'll have
more when you start sending loving and
kind thoughts to them and even strangers
will feel comfortable around you this is
one of the things that the Buddha talked
one of the advantages of practicing
loving and kind thoughts and animals
like you that's another advantage one
time I was in Malaysia and I went to
visit this monastery and they have a dog
and I like dogs so I saw this little dog
and I reached down to touch it and
scratching and the dog was very shocked
and turned around and started snapping
at me and I thought whoa I thought was
trying to bite me so I radiated loving
kindness to the dog and then I went on
and did my whatever I was going to do
and I walked through this one area where
there was a big rock and this dog ran up
in front of me and dropped up on the
rock and as I walked by the dog licked
my hand now why would that happen
because the dog knew I wasn't afraid of
it and the dog felt that loving and kind
feeling that I
to the doc and they were saying thank
you see the thing is all beings want the
same thing we all want to say that we
all want to be loved so if your love
away that's how you get more whatever
you give you get you give your anger to
someone you get angry they get it your
anger back you give love to someone the
love comes back to you that's the way
caramel ones in it so the more you can
practice being happy the more you can
practice having that little smile on
your face no matter what you're doing
then your mind is uplifted and you start
to feel joy coming through and it's
really a nice happy feeling it's a
feeling that will make you smile
sometimes it can last all day that it
takes practice to keep it there so you
don't forget when you go to bed at night
you get your mom or dad to help you and
remind you of all the different people
that you need to say I wish you
happiness and you do this every night
then your mind will naturally begin to
be happy all the time and when you see
there is stress or anger or anxiety
doesn't matter where it is you can send
loving and kind thoughts to those people
that are having so much pain and you're
helping you're not helpless you're
helping them more than you ever suspect
so it's a real important thing to learn
what meditation is meditation these
developing your mind so that you can be
happy all the time the poly word bhavana
means mental development it doesn't mean
sitting in one place and being lack of
reimage it means being able to watch
what your mind is doing and try to help
other people be happy okay you're going
to do this morning try it tonight
the more you can give your happiness to
the world the happier the world will
become sometimes I go into a store and
there's a little baby that's crying so
what I do is I help the mother by just
standing by the baby and wishing that
baby happiness and before long they stop
crying and they start smiling so I help
the mother but I didn't I didn't touch
anybody except with my mind that's most
wrong your mind can become but it does
take practice we need to do it every
night and if your mom or dad says well I
don't have time you say no no no no no
no no you have to have time for this I
need your help okay so you get your
parents to help you so that you can
develop this skill of being happy and
being able to help other people so
they'll become happy that's the whole of
the Buddha's teaching he wanted people
to want recognize when you're
happy let go of the unhappiness bring up
happy feelings and keep those happy
feelings going this is part of the full
path this is called right effort so the
more you practice it the better you
become one of the things that the Buddha
said was what you think and ponder on
that's the inclination of your mind now
what does that mean you hold a certain
kind of thought in your mind and you
keep coming back to that thought over
and over again then your mind will
naturally start to have that thought
rice and what we want to do is we want
to let go of our old habits of being
unhappy of getting angry we want to let
go of those kind of habits and we want
to develop good habits the kind of
habits that naturally
I feel good so it's real important to do
this every night so you can start
changing your old habits that are bad
into good habits that are fun okay now
I've been talking for a while I don't
know how long I was supposed to talk
what then
so what I want you to do right now is
just gently close your eyes for a moment
and in their minds I see your mom and
think about science when your mom was
really really nice and which heard that
happy feeling now do that for your dad
now you have to have a little smile on
your face see how I make sure my field
thanks
so the more you can do something like
this you wish your mom and dad happiness
the happier they will be done with you
and that means you're going to have a
lot more fun okay you can open your eyes
top
that think you might feel good thing
it's a real important thing that you do
this often now in one of the suit does
it says that it doesn't matter when
somebody comes at you and they tell you
something that's not true it doesn't
matter it doesn't matter if they come at
you if they're angry that doesn't matter
what you're supposed to do is you see
that other person and you wish them
happiness and then you wish all beings
in the world happiness that's what it
says in a suit up
it doesn't matter what somebody else
says to you or about you that's just
someone else's opinion you know what the
truth is you know that you're a good
person even though somebody says you're
not you don't have to pay attention to
them you see that other person suffer
then you wish them happiness so they're
suffering will become less well what
they said was alive so doesn't matter
what they say the more you practice this
kind of meditation the less that will
happen the less people will come into
saying things that aren't true or saying
things with anger you start to develop
this feeling around you for people feel
comfortable and they feel like smiling
but you have to remember to give that
feeling away often as much as you can
remember to do it okay that means
everybody in school oh I don't like that
that person they're nasty to me so what
are they suffering are they unhappy so
you give them your loving and
thoughts so that they can let go of
their unhappiness okay does anybody have
any questions
so I gave you do things to do now one is
everything you have to stand in front of
a mirror for one minute and smile and
every time you see you're not smiling
that smile again and while you're doing
that wish yourself happiness one of the
things that the Buddha said was anybody
that truly loves themselves will never
harm another person or another be so you
have to practice liking yourself wishing
yourself happiness and that way you can
give it all the way okay so the first
thing is to stand in front of the mirror
and smile and the second thing is when
you go to bed at night you have your mom
or dad back and you have them help you
with everybody in her family happiness
okay easy
don't let a night go by without doing
that I'm sure the parents are loving
saying this but all of the parents will
benefit from this too you'll see okay
nobody has any questions you all
understand what I'm talking about okay
you