Getting a Fresh Perspective

0:00 It's amazing you were in in an instant. That was kind of amazing. Report an error in the passage at 0:00 Highlight the passage at 0:00

0:11 So many people, brilliant. Maybe one less than yesterday. Report an error in the passage at 0:11 Highlight the passage at 0:11

0:29 It's not recording live yet, is it? Oh, is it? Okay. So for those who are tuning in live on YouTube, very warm welcome to you as well. This is the second day. Amazing. Report an error in the passage at 0:29 Highlight the passage at 0:29

· · · silence, 1 minute

0:43 of our online retreat so hopefully you're also able to quieten your life and join the retreat at least as much as possible and everything will be recorded and posted afterwards as well so if you miss anything don't worry about that and morning to everybody here in the actual zoom retreat it's wonderful to see you all show up a little bit happier probably a bit fresher Myself included with that and yeah we're going to continue today in the same sort of schedule we had yesterday with the first session led by Ajahn Brahm. Report an error in the passage at 0:43 Highlight the passage at 0:43

1:22 So you're going to give a dharma talk for about 45 minutes followed by a little break and some guided meditation. So I will hand over to Ajahn Brahm. Thank you and welcome everybody. This is the full day of the retreat. Yesterday was almost like A trial run, you get to know how it works. It's always nice to remember that one is always at the beginning of something. Report an error in the passage at 1:22 Highlight the passage at 1:22

1:51 And as one begins, it's nice to be able to let those old ideas disappear. Be free and have an empty mind. And in that empty mind, you can see further. A good example of that, and as I keep saying, A lot of my talks, actually most of them, I make them up as I go along. And the simile which came up just a moment ago was the time when I was, actually before university, when I managed to get over to the US, got very bored in the US, and so went down to Central America. Report an error in the passage at 1:51 Highlight the passage at 1:51

2:32 I always wanted to see those great pyramids in the Yucatan Peninsula of Guatemala. And it was quite an adventure getting there in 1969. You had to travel on anything and go through the jungles of the Yucatan Peninsula, very thick jungles, on the back of trucks, on fishing boats, whatever you could get on. Report an error in the passage at 2:32 Highlight the passage at 2:32

2:57 When I got to this beautiful site of the Mayan civilization centuries ago, There were these great pyramids. When I got to those pyramids, there was no security at all. In fact, the only other person I saw there was just one old geologist or whatever, not geologist, archaeologist, who looked after those big pyramids. Report an error in the passage at 2:57 Highlight the passage at 2:57

3:30 And he was just busy doing his job. So I just decided, because I was a boy, To go and climb up one of those pyramids. I don't know why. I remember that. Got some tissue there. Where is she? Don't worry, I'm not dying. It's just a bit of hay fever. I think I must be allergic to Zoom. No, it's the English grasses and stuff. English grasses, okay. Do you want your anti-allergic? No, no, no. I know it takes too long to work. Report an error in the passage at 3:30 Highlight the passage at 3:30

4:03 I just get, wait a moment. This is called patience. And anyway, I'm looking for just a tissue. It's coming from the shop. Tissue shop. Report an error in the passage at 4:03 Highlight the passage at 4:03

4:18 Muchas gracias. Report an error in the passage at 4:18 Highlight the passage at 4:18

4:23 Please excuse me, I'm going to sneeze. This is called the tissue talk. Okay. Report an error in the passage at 4:23 Highlight the passage at 4:23

4:34 So when I got to that site, there was basically no one around. So I walked up one of those pyramids and big stone pyramids. It's a long way up. Okay. Report an error in the passage at 4:34 Highlight the passage at 4:34

4:46 And when you got to the top, that's when it was kind of strange. I had no idea what these meant. I had no understanding of why they were built. Even the Mayan civilization suddenly kind of disappeared, leaving very little record of who they were and what they did. And as soon as I got to the top, it was quite obvious. Report an error in the passage at 4:46 Highlight the passage at 4:46

5:12 Why they had these big pyramids in the middle of the jungle. If I'd have been taught anything about those pyramids, about that culture, I probably wouldn't have seen what they meant. I'd have been filled with knowledge rather than understanding. And so when I got to the top, it was the first time in days that I could see the horizon. Report an error in the passage at 5:12 Highlight the passage at 5:12

5:38 In a jungle, going through these different tracks. You never see long distances. Up on the top of that pyramid, the top was just above the tree line. So you're seeing over the trees rather than between the trees. And number two, there was actually a breeze up there. The air was so much cooler, more fresh. And so up on the top of those pyramids, it was pleasant and it was clear. Report an error in the passage at 5:38 Highlight the passage at 5:38

6:13 You can see long distances. And I kind of just fantasize what it must be like if you're a young woman or a young man taking up that top of that pyramid for the first time in your life and be able to see long distances for the first time, be able to feel the fresh air at the top, to be out of your world and see beyond your world. Report an error in the passage at 6:13 Highlight the passage at 6:13

6:42 And it was like, you know, There was no Google Maps in those days. So it was like you could see where you'd come from the last couple of days, long distances winding through the jungle. And you could see all above that, over that, and get some perspective of where you lived and what was beyond where you lived. Report an error in the passage at 6:42 Highlight the passage at 6:42

7:02 It was such an obvious example of insight. But instead of insight, it was like oversight. You were outside of the jungle. outside of your world and you could thereby see over it understand it and so when you went back inside of that jungle you understood much more about where you were in I always thought that was a wonderful symbol of insight, understanding, to be able to get outside of your world, first of all. Report an error in the passage at 7:02 Highlight the passage at 7:02

7:35 And when you're outside, you can see much further and get greater understanding. And that is A wonderful simile for what meditation does. I was only 18 at the time. Nevertheless, the simile was very resounding for me. Other things which I remember from that simile was when I was standing on top of that pyramid and no one else was around or asked me to go anywhere. Report an error in the passage at 7:35 Highlight the passage at 7:35

8:01 You could stand as long as you liked and just gaze in the distance. And the image I got was there was nothing. Nothing between me and infinity in all directions. There was no advice, nothing I had to believe, nothing I had to do, no instructions. It was kind of just obvious. Just open your eyes and you can see so far, get so many great understandings about the world and about life and infinity. Report an error in the passage at 8:01 Highlight the passage at 8:01

8:33 That idea about infinity always really inspired me. It goes on forever. And it's so clear and so empty and nothing there. In one of those other understandings about infinity or nothing, I often advise people when you start a meditation retreat, even in your room, I'm not sure how big your room is. In this room in Anukampa Grove, there are two, four, six, seven people. Yep, seven people. Report an error in the passage at 8:33 Highlight the passage at 8:33

9:11 And sometimes when you first come in this room, that's all you see, people. And I love deliberately not looking at the things in the room or the people in the room, but looking at the space between the people, looking at the emptiness in this room, this vast volume of air in this room, which embraces us all, which joins us all, which nourishes us all, and which is always much larger. Report an error in the passage at 9:11 Highlight the passage at 9:11

9:40 And the things in the room. It's looking at what's between things rather than what's actually, the things actually in the room. And then when I start to do that, I want to encourage you to do that. Look for the emptiness in your room, which is far greater than any things in your room. When you do that, you're looking at emptiness, space, stillness. Report an error in the passage at 9:40 Highlight the passage at 9:40

10:08 Just the same as those of you who have difficulty with thinking in the meditation. So many thoughts and plans and comments and memories and stuff. Isn't it wonderful to see that those thoughts are not continuous? You may believe they are, but if you look more closely, you'll always find there's spaces between the thoughts. Report an error in the passage at 10:08 Highlight the passage at 10:08

10:36 There is spaces between the events. of thinking, the events in your life. And it's much more wonderful to notice the spaces between the thoughts, the spaces between the aches and pains in the body, of the noise outside. There are times when things stop, they pause, and then later on they begin again. But in those spaces, there's a state of freedom there, a sense of freedom, a sense you don't need. Report an error in the passage at 10:36 Highlight the passage at 10:36

11:10 To actually fill those spaces, those spaces are beautiful and perfect and inspiring in themselves. And it's wonderful to say you're not letting go of the world in those spaces, but you're actually joining everything in the world, embracing everything. It's what's between us, what's between everything. And in those kind of spaces, there's a great sense of appreciation. Report an error in the passage at 11:10 Highlight the passage at 11:10

11:38 of the stillness in emptiness. It's wonderful with emptiness, with stillness, when things aren't there, that you can't paint them. You can't put something in there. You know, it's empty. It's beautiful as it is. Leave it open. You know, clutter-free, thought-free. You don't have to do things. And that realization, you don't have to do things. Report an error in the passage at 11:38 Highlight the passage at 11:38

12:06 It gives you the opportunity of being peaceful, being free. There's so much freedom in the world. We tend to put a motorway in that freedom, or we tend to put a big high-rise building or a shopping center or something in the emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 12:06 Highlight the passage at 12:06

12:26 A good example of that, Report an error in the passage at 12:26 Highlight the passage at 12:26

12:33 once I asked a person, why not do this little exercise? Go and sit in your garden. Take an hour's break, an hour's free time. So they went and sat in that garden and they took a book and an iPhone. Report an error in the passage at 12:33 Highlight the passage at 12:33

12:57 That's not relaxing. If you've got an iPhone and it's ringing or you're checking out news or checking out mail, that's not relaxing. If you take a book and read in the garden, just go into your garden and sit down comfortably. And do nothing. And they said, well, they tried that. And then what they did was sit down and they started thinking about doing things. Report an error in the passage at 12:57 Highlight the passage at 12:57

13:25 A nice little tree in the corner would look nice. That bit of garden is weeding. Or, you know, maybe they need some more water on those plants. Report an error in the passage at 13:25 Highlight the passage at 13:25

13:37 That's not doing anything. That's still stressing out. So the idea of a meditator is like you go and sit on a chair in your garden and you don't have an iPhone, you don't take any photos, you don't have any books, not even dharma books. You've got a dharma book all around you, which is called nature. And what one does is just sits there and a thought comes up, yeah, a tree would look very nice in that corner. Report an error in the passage at 13:37 Highlight the passage at 13:37

14:10 The thought comes up, but not now. Hey, the Gauras does need watering, but not now. And you let go of things. You don't react, you don't do, because you're enjoying the peace of the garden. What do you have a garden there for anyway? Is a garden there to work? Another place to work, like an office at home in the backyard? Or is it a place where you can relax? What is the most important? Report an error in the passage at 14:10 Highlight the passage at 14:10

14:43 I think you'll all agree that the most important thing, the most important purpose for a garden is a place where you can relax and find some peace, even though the lawn does need mowing, even though the tree does need pruning, even though the path does need sweeping. Not now. This is for the sake of peace. So you can sit there. Report an error in the passage at 14:43 Highlight the passage at 14:43

15:11 and you are not demanding in nature. You don't expect things to be perfect. You'll never find peace having perfected everything. Report an error in the passage at 15:11 Highlight the passage at 15:11

15:22 One of those stories I remember as a young man, it was a Zen story. I don't remember the last time I told this story. There was one of these monasteries in Japan, or actually not a monastery, more like a hermitage. And the head monk of that hermitage was an incredible gardener. And when he had finished cleaning up his Zen garden in the back of his monastery, people would come from all over Japan, all over many other countries. Report an error in the passage at 15:22 Highlight the passage at 15:22

16:04 They'd come and see this incredible garden. It was spiritually sublime. And one day, one day, this forest monk came to see that garden. But he came too early. But nevertheless, he climbed over the fence and he hid behind a bush to actually to see the secrets of this gardening monk. And so the forest monk was hiding behind the bush. And then he saw the gardening monk come out. And the gardening monk... Report an error in the passage at 16:04 Highlight the passage at 16:04

16:40 had these two big baskets and he went around the garden which had a big plum tree in the middle of the garden and some lawn and some stones and he collected every leaf which had fallen the night before he didn't just put it in a basket he just looked at it first of all examined it and if it had artistic merit he would put it in one basket If it was a bit sort of ugly, torn, dry, degraded, he put it in the rubbish basket. And that way he picked up every leaf, every twig, everything which fell on that garden the night before, examined it and divided it amongst the really beautiful pieces of nature and the ugly ones. Report an error in the passage at 16:40 Highlight the passage at 16:40

17:35 That took him a couple of hours. And so after a couple of hours, he threw all the ugly leaves around the back on the compost pile and then paused for a cup of tea. And after having the cup of tea, he took the basket with the beautiful leaves and then he walked around the garden, placing them one by one on the garden. Report an error in the passage at 17:35 Highlight the passage at 17:35

18:00 One by one, he placed them. He'd stand back, look upon them. Is that the right place? Sometimes you just turn it around a little bit and then he would nod his head. Yes, that was good. And that's how he made his garden. And after four hours, not including the tea time, he looked at his garden and it was absolutely incredible. Report an error in the passage at 18:00 Highlight the passage at 18:00

18:25 He had such a great artistic ability. And that's when he would open the gates to let visitors come in. But at this point, The monk hiding behind the bush jumped out and said, I've been watching you ever since early this morning for four hours, and I compliment you on your garden. You work so hard, and I must admit, your garden is almost beautiful. Now that word, almost, it was like the old Zen monk almost Had a shock. Almost, almost. I want it to be perfect. And at that, the Zen monk got down on his knees and said, you've been sent to me by the Buddha himself, I'm sure, to show me how the garden could be absolutely perfect. Report an error in the passage at 18:25 Highlight the passage at 18:25

19:26 Please, great teacher, let me know your wisdom. How can this garden be perfectly beautiful? And the visiting monk said, Are you really wise enough and compassionate enough to know? Have you done all of the proper training to be able to receive such incredible wisdom? And the monk said, Oh, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, please. Please don't withhold your wisdom from me. Oh, compassionate one, please let me know how to make the garden perfect. Report an error in the passage at 19:26 Highlight the passage at 19:26

20:02 Okay, said the forest monk. And the forest monk strode into the middle of the garden. Put his still strong hands around the old plum tree and shook the hell out of it. And twigs and leaves went all over the place. They messed up the garden so much that the Zen monk, which he never had asked, and at that, and at that, the old, the forest monk said, looking at the mess on that garden, four hours it took to clean up. Report an error in the passage at 20:02 Highlight the passage at 20:02

20:42 And that was all messed up. And then the Zen monk, the old monk said, sorry, not the old monk, the forest monk said, now that's perfect. Report an error in the passage at 20:42 Highlight the passage at 20:42

20:52 When I first heard that story, I recognized that that's the same as our meditation. You really want it to be perfect? If you really want it to be perfect, let me shake you. So it all goes all over the place again. It's actually to see the perfection. In this moment, to be at peace, however it looks, however it feels, to not want anything. Report an error in the passage at 20:52 Highlight the passage at 20:52

21:26 A lot of the times in meditation we fight with nature. And that's one of the reasons we've already said, I've heard Ajahn say this, and I often say this, if you have something like sloth and torpor, for goodness sake, don't fight it. That sloth and tog is perfect for you in this moment. It's a result of causes and effects. So what are you going to do with it? Report an error in the passage at 21:26 Highlight the passage at 21:26

21:55 Are you going to fight nature? For years I tried that. And for the years I got so frustrated and tired. Even, I haven't got it here, I'll use the old tissue paper. Even what we used to do in Thailand as young monks, I don't know if you've seen this before. That we take a box of matches and we take off the cover of the matches. So we just had the tray with the matchsticks in it. Report an error in the passage at 21:55 Highlight the passage at 21:55

22:26 We put it on our head. And so if, oops, I didn't nod yet. We put it on top of our head. And then when you get sleepy, your head tends to go down. And the tray of matches will fall on the ground. And when they fell on the ground, you'd hear the noise and the matches would go everywhere. And that was telling you, yes, you were sleeping. Because remember, when you get sloth and torpor, your mindfulness is very low. Report an error in the passage at 22:26 Highlight the passage at 22:26

22:57 So it's very hard to see that you're getting sloth and torpor coming up in your meditation. So I used the tray of matches technique. And it was incredible just how powerful that technique wasn't. Report an error in the passage at 22:57 Highlight the passage at 22:57

23:20 Even after just one or two days, I can sit there for hours and the matchbox would never fall. I thought I beat Sloth and Torpor. And then one of the other bugs came up to me and said, Ajahn Brahm, I know why the matchbox is not falling from your head. You're still nodding, but you're not nodding the usual way up and down. Report an error in the passage at 23:20 Highlight the passage at 23:20

23:47 You're nodding like this. Report an error in the passage at 23:47 Highlight the passage at 23:47

23:54 That was true. I saw other monks do that as well. So even that never worked for me. So in the end, I found the main reason why I was getting sloth and torpor. Finding the antidote to sloth and torpor. The reason I was getting sloth and torpor was because I was tired. In that monastery in the northeast of Thailand, you'd only eat once a day disgusting food. Report an error in the passage at 23:54 Highlight the passage at 23:54

24:32 It was not nutritious at all. I used to be a vegetarian before I was a monk. Now you had to eat frogs and snails and anything which crawled on the ground. That's what the villagers ate. It was a subsistence economy. And so he didn't eat much of that. And I was only asked to sleep at most four hours a day. That's total. Any naps after lunch, total only four hours. Report an error in the passage at 24:32 Highlight the passage at 24:32

24:58 I could only get it down to four and a half, but that was not enough for a young man. And number three, I was meditating in the jungle and it was so hot and so oppressive. There was no fans, no air con or anything like that. I was not used to that. It made me sleepy. So there was causes. You could identify the causes for sloth and torpor. Report an error in the passage at 24:58 Highlight the passage at 24:58

25:23 Then one day, I had to go to Bangkok to do my visa to renew it. And when I went to Bangkok, I was invited. You could stay in one of the monasteries which had a new guest accommodation. And that guest accommodation had mosquito screens. I could get a good night's sleep. And there was no bed in the morning where you had to get up. And so I could catch up on some sleep. And we found a room in that complex which had an air con. Report an error in the passage at 25:23 Highlight the passage at 25:23

25:54 This was in 1974 or something. And so it was really comfortable and had decent food and not arms around. And because it had a decent food, had an air con, you slept well at night. Remember, just going into that room in the early morning at 3.30 or 3.15 a.m., and you could just meditate so easily because the surrounding conditions were conducive. Report an error in the passage at 25:54 Highlight the passage at 25:54

26:27 Please, a lot of sloth and torpor can be fixed by understanding its causes. Why? And just ameliorating those causes. Don't just use willpower. If any of you ever use willpower to overcome sloth and torpor, what happened to me as a young man, a young monk, yeah, I'd really put some willpower up and then really sort of sit up straight and determine not to nod. Report an error in the passage at 26:27 Highlight the passage at 26:27

26:58 And sometimes it would work. Sloth and torpor would disappear, be replaced by restlessness. So I'd be thinking about all sorts of things. That never worked. So instead, okay? Okay. So instead. I decided to let sloth and torpor be. I had enough mindfulness just to know I was sleepy, but I wouldn't do anything with it. Report an error in the passage at 26:58 Highlight the passage at 26:58

27:28 I'd leave it. So you start off and really slump down and let it happen. And then amazing things happen. I would ask you to try this experiment. And my posture was hopeless, terrible, and I was not that aware, but aware enough just to leave things alone. Then after a little while, it wasn't that long, 10 minutes, 15 minutes, my body straightened up by itself. And I never did that. Report an error in the passage at 27:28 Highlight the passage at 27:28

28:00 It was a natural reaction. And that was kind of surprised me. Once it straightened up and the sloth and torpor disappeared, what I experienced next was clarity of mindfulness, not super mindfulness. But clarity, you never got into the restlessness. If you put energy or force into overcoming sloth and torpor, that's what happens next, restlessness. Report an error in the passage at 28:00 Highlight the passage at 28:00

28:34 And it reminds me of one of the suttas or part of a sutta which fits in here. That was where the Buddha was walking with Ananda, his attendant, and he saw a monk on the edge of the forest sitting in a perfect posture, straight back, no sleepiness at all. And the Buddha turned to his attendant Ananda saying, I'm worried about that monk. That monk soon disrobed. Then he went further into the forest and there he saw a monk in the middle of the forest, again meditating but nodding and nodding and nodding. Report an error in the passage at 28:34 Highlight the passage at 28:34

29:12 And that's when the Buddha turned to his attendant Ananda and said, I'm not worried about him. In a few days or weeks, I don't know how long, but not long, that monk became an arahat, fully enlightened. And I love that story because it's not what I expected. It's what I saw later on in my life as a monk. There were some monks who they would never look as if they were having sloth and torpor. Report an error in the passage at 29:12 Highlight the passage at 29:12

29:41 Everyone has to have a perfect posture, even when we did these all-night sittings. This monk would never, ever nod. We all thought he was very close to enlightenment. Report an error in the passage at 29:41 Highlight the passage at 29:41

29:53 But I went to another monastery for one range retreat, and when I returned, he disrobed. He'd been a good friend. He gave me his alms bowl afterwards, which I still have, out of friendship, out of respect for him. And then he told what was happening. He said sometimes on his all-night sits, you know, he'd force himself not to nod, to be perfectly awake. Report an error in the passage at 29:53 Highlight the passage at 29:53

30:25 And that was so tense for him. He said often he'd open his eyes during the middle of a meditation sit and he'd see me with my head almost touching the floor. Report an error in the passage at 30:25 Highlight the passage at 30:25

30:38 And he said he was so jealous. He wished he could do that. It opened up to me how some people meditate and why it's always unsuccessful. They're forcing, using their willpower. It just makes their willpower more and more frustrated, more and more tired. They never get to the blissful states of meditation, the peaceful ones. Report an error in the passage at 30:38 Highlight the passage at 30:38

31:05 So ask yourself, inquire, why are you restless? It's not because of lack of energy. It's because of too much energy. Why are you sleepy? It's not because of a lack of energy. It's just because you need to rest. And if you do have sloth and torpor, don't waste the energy you have. Be wise and let it disappear by itself. A lot of time during meditation, I always remember this. This is the natural causes. Report an error in the passage at 31:05 Highlight the passage at 31:05

31:41 And to think that you are smart enough, powerful enough to overcome those causes. Just by your willpower, you're missing the point. You're supposed to be letting go. Letting go and allowing peace to come in. If you have sloth and torpor, you've got a cause for it. It is here. Here it is. Sloth and torpor. Be still and let the energy just come in. Report an error in the passage at 31:41 Highlight the passage at 31:41

32:12 If you have restlessness, why? I often ask this. You can say doing a breath meditation. What's easier to do than just be with your breath? It's not like you have to, again, run a marathon. It's not like you have to climb Mount Everest. It's just watching your breath. Surely that can be done. What's the problem? You know, one of the problems is, okay, it's going to be another simile, because I love these similes. Report an error in the passage at 32:12 Highlight the passage at 32:12

32:47 You can remember the teachings much better. So suppose just after this Zoom retreat is finished, a friend gives you a call and says, are you free this afternoon? Would you like to come to this coffee shop which is just opened? It's one of my favourites. And you reply, oh, well, you know, I prefer tea rather than coffee. Report an error in the passage at 32:47 Highlight the passage at 32:47

33:11 And they say, no, but it only serves coffee. And you say, oh, okay, I'll try it. And then your friend tells you, but... We have to have, I'm not a coffee man myself, so I'm just making this up. We have to have latte. Report an error in the passage at 33:11 Highlight the passage at 33:11

33:30 And he said, I don't like latte. I said, no, but I'm having latte, so you have latte. It's really delicious. Give it a try. And we have some biscuits, not muffins, which you like, just biscuits. And he said, do I have to? He said, yeah, you come with me. I'm paying for it. So we're going to have biscuits. Report an error in the passage at 33:30 Highlight the passage at 33:30

33:26 Naté. Report an error in the passage at 33:26 Highlight the passage at 33:26

33:47 I'm going to sit in the corner of the shop, not outside on the veranda, because I like sitting in the corner. And most importantly, I need to ask you some questions, because you're supposed to be a wise person. You've just been on these retreats. You're supposed to have some insight. I want to ask you about politics. Politics is really important, because this is what runs our world. Report an error in the passage at 33:47 Highlight the passage at 33:47

34:09 I'm not really interested in your mambo-jambo spiritual stuff. We talk about politics, okay? And I've only got 50 minutes, so we're going to spend 50 minutes in that cafe. No longer, no shorter. Okay? I'll see you there soon. Report an error in the passage at 34:09 Highlight the passage at 34:09

34:28 Now, if you get a call from someone who calls themselves a friend and tells you where you're going to go, where you're going to drink, where you're going to eat, how long, where you're going to sit, what you're going to talk about, how are you going to react? Report an error in the passage at 34:28 Highlight the passage at 34:28

34:40 What you usually say is... I'm very sorry, but I just remembered I have a dentist appointment at that time. So I'm sorry I have to cancel. So your friends are, oh, okay, never mind. But because you're a Buddhist and because you have to keep your precepts, then you ring up your dentist to make an emergency appointment for that time. Report an error in the passage at 34:40 Highlight the passage at 34:40

35:04 So it's true, you're having an appointment at that time. And then they make that appointment. Then you get a call from another friend. Report an error in the passage at 35:04 Highlight the passage at 35:04

35:39 -shirt yeah and then I'm not quite sure what you like to eat, but I'll eat what you like to eat because you always look so healthy and so happy. So we'll have what you like to eat. Where do you like to sit? Do you like to sit on the ground? Okay, I'll sit in there too. And the reason I really want to have you come out for a cup of tea was because you seem so happy with this meditation thing. Report an error in the passage at 35:39 Highlight the passage at 35:39

36:12 So, you know, I've never done meditation before in my life. So can you tell me why meditation is so helpful for you and why you give so much time to meditate? And I'd be really interested. And what's your reaction now? You actually say, I'm coming. And you quickly ring up the dentist to cancel the emergency appointments. Report an error in the passage at 36:12 Highlight the passage at 36:12

36:34 And you go to have a cup of tea with a friend. Who wants to eat what you like eating, drink what you like drinking, sit where you like sitting, and to discuss things which you're interested in. Report an error in the passage at 36:34 Highlight the passage at 36:34

36:53 What happens next? You sit there, hours go past. Not just 15 minutes or half an hour, two or three hours. Then you look at your clock later on and say, that time already? Report an error in the passage at 36:53 Highlight the passage at 36:53

37:08 Time just is almost meaningless when you're enjoying what you're doing. So those two invitations should give you a lot of understanding of why people get restless, why you want to leave, why you can't stay in one place. It is because you're not enjoying it. Report an error in the passage at 37:08 Highlight the passage at 37:08

37:38 When you're enjoying what you're doing, having a conversation with a good friend who's interested in what you want to talk about, sitting in the place you like, with no pressure on you, you can stay there for hours, feeling more and more peaceful, more tired than you'd ever meditated before. Report an error in the passage at 37:38 Highlight the passage at 37:38

37:59 Now, to apply that similarly to meditation, of course, who is that person telling you where to sit? How long to sit, what posture to sit, what to contemplate, what to be observant of all of that time. That's your willpower. You spoil the meditation for yourself by giving yourself too many instructions, too much force. Report an error in the passage at 37:59 Highlight the passage at 37:59

38:28 If you can just say, watch the breath, see what happens, without forcing it, being kind, being gentle. And then if the mind wanders off, okay, off it goes, it will come back again. Then the restlessness just kind of disappears. Report an error in the passage at 38:28 Highlight the passage at 38:28

38:51 Do you ever get restless when you're with a good friend, someone who's interesting, someone who's kind of entertaining, who's nice? Report an error in the passage at 38:51 Highlight the passage at 38:51

39:06 Sometimes it's just amazing just how long you can stay there without any force at all. You're not wasting energy. You're actually creating energy. So to me, that was always the answer to my sloth and torpor and restlessness, which always go together, is that I was trying to force my mind onto the breathing. Report an error in the passage at 39:06 Highlight the passage at 39:06

39:30 That made me tired. Eventually, my mind rebelled. It just did not want to watch the breath, simply because I asked it to, forced it to. After a while, I just let it be. Report an error in the passage at 39:30 Highlight the passage at 39:30

39:47 When you let it be, then you're in the mind, like it is now with me. I've been meditating about 60 years now. 60 years? 55. My breath and I are really good friends. And that's an accurate description. So when I have the opportunity to meditate, I just close my eyes and I'm with my breath. It's like we have this conversation. Report an error in the passage at 39:47 Highlight the passage at 39:47

40:18 Hi, how are you? I haven't seen you for a while. How have you been doing? I've been traveling. I've been talking. I've been helping others. Oh, you're very good. But what about now? I said, I've got nothing to do. Let's hang out together. And that's kind of the attitude, the closest attitude to how I meditate. Report an error in the passage at 40:18 Highlight the passage at 40:18

40:37 I hang out with my breath. We chill out together. It's a good friend. I don't go off anywhere. I don't go wandering. I don't get sloth and torpor. You're just with your breath and having a great time together. It's not forced. It's a sense of mutual appreciation. Report an error in the passage at 40:37 Highlight the passage at 40:37

41:01 And that means the breath stays with you. When it stays with you, because you have this great attitude towards the breathing, then you can see it very clearly. And it's not just seeing the breath clearly. We get to know each other. So I get to know... Strange things which happen when you do meditation that you get to know each other so well that almost every breath I've ever breathed in or breathed out are different. Report an error in the passage at 41:01 Highlight the passage at 41:01

41:36 There's no two breaths ever in my life have been the same. It's a weird thing to say, but that's so true. You see much more of it. Have you ever looked in the garden, looked at the blades of grass on the lawn and... Every blade of grass is unique. They're never the same. It's only because we don't look carefully enough. When you're with a friend, you're not distracted. Report an error in the passage at 41:36 Highlight the passage at 41:36

42:01 Of course, you see things in your friend which no one else can know. And that means your mindfulness is really increasing. When your mindfulness increases like that, wow, you have a wonderful time. Because that's part of the meditation experience. You know, we use our breath as a very easy focus, hang out together. It's always there for you. And after a while, you can see so much of your breathing from the beginning to the end. Report an error in the passage at 42:01 Highlight the passage at 42:01

42:38 To me, that's always the idea of the meditation. Your mindfulness increases when you have a simple object to watch. And it's easy to be with it. It's easy to have friendship towards something like a breath. I have a lot of gratitude towards it. It's kept me alive all these years. Report an error in the passage at 42:38 Highlight the passage at 42:38

43:00 And even though you get short of breath because you're walking up a hill or you have a hay fever, still the breath manages to come in and go out. Never failed me yet after all these years. So that gratitude is also a way I have... Report an error in the passage at 43:00 Highlight the passage at 43:00

43:20 Compassion towards the breath. I respect it. I value it. And what you value stays with you really easily. So I did all these techniques which really helped me. For example, when I teach a meditation retreat where people are watching the breath, can you see which is longer, which is shorter? The gap between the in-breath and the out-breath. Report an error in the passage at 43:20 Highlight the passage at 43:20

43:48 By the out-breath and the in-breath. It's totally unimportant which is shorter, which is longer, but the fact that you can find out means you're much more aware. Your awareness starts to really grow. And in the meditation practice, that is so important. I'll just have a look at the time. Report an error in the passage at 43:48 Highlight the passage at 43:48

44:13 We've gone 45 minutes. Oh my goodness. Report an error in the passage at 44:13 Highlight the passage at 44:13

44:21 Honestly, I just enjoy whatever I'm doing. So I couldn't believe 45 minutes has gone past. Nevertheless, when the meditation gets very beautiful like that, then you have the joy which comes with the mindfulness after the meditation. So often it's happened that when people walk out of the meditation hall, you get so aware, so mindful. Report an error in the passage at 44:21 Highlight the passage at 44:21

44:46 You can pick up more of whatever you're experiencing. Experiencing now as Really well looked after in Anukampa Grove. I really recommend it. And this morning, I got a big plate of baked beans. And baked beans becomes one of those favorite foods. One of the reasons why is because after a couple of weeks retreat, a personal retreat, that's what I had for my first meal after the retreat. Report an error in the passage at 44:46 Highlight the passage at 44:46

45:16 And I just put one, a single baked bean in my mouth. Just one. Wow. It was like an explosion of sense flavors in my mouth. It was not like an ordinary bean. It must have been baked or cooked by Jamie Oliver or something. And it was just the flavor was so intense. And I could just, I had to leave it in my mouth for a long time until the last flavor of that tomato sauce on the outside could fade away. Report an error in the passage at 45:16 Highlight the passage at 45:16

45:53 And that took a long time. I never tasted a baked bean like that ever in my life before. And then when you had the bean itself, the bean was soft. It had, and it was, it wasn't hard. It wasn't mushy. It was just exactly the right feeling. So when I put it between my teeth and closed my teeth and crushed it, I mean, that was an amazing experience. Report an error in the passage at 45:53 Highlight the passage at 45:53

46:19 And I wasn't going crazy or bad. I was just getting mindful and experiencing the amazing flavours and textures and the feelings when a mind is really awake. You can see so much and it's so joyful, so amazing. And there's many other stories like that, which I'll tell later on, I'm sure. Report an error in the passage at 46:19 Highlight the passage at 46:19

46:45 Some are disgusting stories, but they're beautiful stories. No, it's not disgusting. The baked bean? Yeah. no that was If you want to hear a disgusting one. No, no, no. Report an error in the passage at 46:45 Highlight the passage at 46:45

47:00 It's all kinds of meditation. It's amazing. You understand what beauty is. Sometimes people feel that monks and nuns have a very difficult life. No way. This is so much fun on the way to enlightenment. I don't mean that. More, more beauty, more, more happiness. That is the time. Report an error in the passage at 47:00 Highlight the passage at 47:00

47:19 Okay, now I want to do that story now. no. Report an error in the passage at 47:19 Highlight the passage at 47:19

47:23 Anyone who wants to ask a question this evening, you can ask Ajahn Brahm. What is that story you didn't tell us this morning? I think they know it, Ajahn. You do? I think it's infamous. It's infamous. It's not infamous. It's very instructive. Okay. It's the other side of the beeping. Report an error in the passage at 47:23 Highlight the passage at 47:23

47:42 What happens to the beep afterwards? It's all absolutely true. And it kind of shocks you. That could happen. It could actually look like that. Yeah. afterwards. Report an error in the passage at 47:42 Highlight the passage at 47:42

47:53 And all these, you have so much joy and happiness. And anyway, I don't know, I've just lost story. How many people, how many people, when they go on a retreat, they come afterwards and they say, and I ask you, how was it? And they always say, they know the cooking was amazing. The lunches, wow. Report an error in the passage at 47:53 Highlight the passage at 47:53

48:15 And these are ordinary people cooking. Of course, with exception over here, we have great cooks cooking here because they're sitting in front of me. I better say that. Report an error in the passage at 48:15 Highlight the passage at 48:15

48:27 But it's amazing just how the best food in the world you'll taste when you're on a retreat and you're becoming mindful. That first retreat I did, what we had was just ordinary food. Cooked by boarding house cooks for poor students. And I thought, this is going to be terrible food. But it's really delicious. Report an error in the passage at 48:27 Highlight the passage at 48:27

48:56 Of course, they boiled and steamed everything out of every vegetable. But then what was left? You were mindful enough to pick up everything. I thought, wow, this is delicious. I never, ever thought that boarding house cooks could be such great chefs. I would have given them five stars, at least four stars. Report an error in the passage at 48:56 Highlight the passage at 48:56

49:16 If I was Mr. Michelin, I always wondered why Mr. Michelin looked so fat, why they chose Michelin to give these stars for cooks. Have you ever seen the advert for Michelin tires? Really fat guy. So that guy understands food. Report an error in the passage at 49:16 Highlight the passage at 49:16

49:39 Anyway, the marvelous guest has enjoyed everything. So honestly, Ajahn Brahm. When I got up this morning, was I happy and silly? Yes, very silly. Let's go and have a good meditation this morning. I hope you have many good meditations. And through that joy, through that happiness, penetrate the dharma. And also have a good time doing it. Thank you for listening. Awesome. Report an error in the passage at 49:39 Highlight the passage at 49:39

50:08 Sadhu to dharma talks and baked beans. Are you going to title that talk this morning? Baked bean talk? The explosion of a fish. Okay. Yeah. Getting a fresh perspective on baked beans. Okay. Very good. So we'll now have a little break and we'll come back. What do you think? In about 15 minutes? You get 15 minutes break. Say 20, 25 to something like that. And we'll have about 40 minutes. Report an error in the passage at 50:08 Highlight the passage at 50:08

50:42 Actually, you get longer. You get about 50 minutes meditation. That's really cool. So enjoy whatever it is you're enjoying and see if you can taste the flavours of your tea. Please don't add baked beans to it. That would be really horrible. Someone made you a baked bean cake, didn't they? Oh, yeah. They're experimenting. It's nice to experiment. One of the Anangarikas, I'll never forget him, he knew I liked baked beans, so he made baked bean cake. Report an error in the passage at 50:42 Highlight the passage at 50:42

51:08 With condensed milk? No, no, they didn't have the condensed milk. But he'd bake it. Baked baked beans. Anyway, you see, we're innovative when you're on a retreat. We break new ground. We go to places where no chef has ever been before. Report an error in the passage at 51:08 Highlight the passage at 51:08

51:31 Okay. So for the people tuning in online, we're just going to pause it, I guess. Is that right, Mathis? And then we'll be back in 15 minutes. Report an error in the passage at 51:31 Highlight the passage at 51:31

51:41 10, 15. You're still going to live stream? There'll be a new live stream. Okay, so basically it's just going to keep happening, but you too can have a 10 or 15 minute break. All right, we'll see. Report an error in the passage at 51:41 Highlight the passage at 51:41