A Peaceful Place

0:00 Okay, welcome. Welcome to another class. Thursday night meditation. Who's here for the first time? Okay. Alright. Have you meditated before? Okay. You know what to do? Report an error in the passage at 0:00 Highlight the passage at 0:00

0:23 Okay, so we all come here to... I think basically one of the main reasons why we get together... Every Thursday is to have the opportunity to sit meditation together and also to listen to a few instructions on where to place the mind when we are meditating. So meditation is in a sense it's kind of like almost therapeutic or nourishing for the mind. Report an error in the passage at 0:23 Highlight the passage at 0:23

1:02 mind it it gives us like a sense of a sense of a peace and a sense of well-being too Report an error in the passage at 1:02 Highlight the passage at 1:02

1:18 A mustang. yeah sometimes we we want to search for happiness and they're like happiness happiness in like a beautiful house or Report an error in the passage at 1:18 Highlight the passage at 1:18

1:33 Oh yeah, happiness in a Mustang or just, we just want like a happy day or a lot of money or something like that. And there's this natural search for happiness. But at times, you know, as human beings, sometimes our minds, we kind of start thinking in a different way. Report an error in the passage at 1:33 Highlight the passage at 1:33

2:59 The Less We Have In Our Minds, The More Happier We Become and and it's kind of like bizarre and weird is because as human beings we associate our happiness with like the way maybe the way we think or or how clever we are or what we know or how we see the world you know sometimes we kind kind of hinge our happiness on that the on the thinking mind and if you ask yourself you know how much having is Have you ever been ever possible to think yourself to happiness? Report an error in the passage at 2:59 Highlight the passage at 2:59

3:57 We might crack a few jokes here and there, have a bit of a laugh, but have you ever managed to use your thinking to find happiness? I know I've been thinking for a long time, and I'm pretty sure that you people have been thinking for a long time as well. Have you ever been able to think yourself to happiness? Report an error in the passage at 3:57 Highlight the passage at 3:57

4:25 And the answer is probably no. Report an error in the passage at 4:25 Highlight the passage at 4:25

4:32 This kind of practice of meditation is interesting because it goes against the way of how we were taught how to find happiness. Report an error in the passage at 4:32 Highlight the passage at 4:32

4:47 And the bizarre thing is that it's such a simple path or a simple practice for us to reach that inner happiness. And it's very basic. It's very basic. So basically, it comes from... Well, a part of this is inner happiness. A place that it lives is within our own minds. And the way to kind of access it, a way to kind of nourish it, a way to kind of make it grow, is to meditate. Report an error in the passage at 4:47 Highlight the passage at 4:47

5:26 Yeah, to meditate. And what does meditation mean? Or what do you do when you meditate? And put simply, when we're meditating, we're just meditating to let go. Report an error in the passage at 5:26 Highlight the passage at 5:26

5:41 To let go. And meditation, you can see meditation as a time that you put aside for like half an hour. And you can tell yourself, this is the half an hour where I do not need to think about anything. I do not need to think about my work. I do not need to think if I'm getting old and I have a sore leg or I've got this problem or that problem. There's not a time to think about your future. Report an error in the passage at 5:41 Highlight the passage at 5:41

6:12 Where am I going to be in 20 years? Can I afford a house these days? It's kind of hard with how expensive these things are. But that's not the point. That's not the point when we're meditating is to think about these things. The point of meditation is to not think about these things. Report an error in the passage at 6:12 Highlight the passage at 6:12

6:38 So meditation is basically giving yourself that time to have an empty mind. Isn't that nice? Just to have an empty mind for five minutes, for ten minutes. Report an error in the passage at 6:38 Highlight the passage at 6:38

7:31 You know, peace to arise. And you can kind of like compare the mind to, like just take for example, like you can compare the mind to, say you go to like the shopping mall. You go to a shopping mall and everything that's looking at you just wants you to buy it. Like everything. Report an error in the passage at 7:31 Highlight the passage at 7:31

7:58 Screwdriver, screws, I don't know what else when you go to the shop. Lollies, thongs, everything. They try to sell you everything. They have signs on the wall, you know. And you can just see like going to places like this, going to such activated areas where whatever you see just wants to grab your attention. Report an error in the passage at 7:58 Highlight the passage at 7:58

8:27 Whatever you see just wants to stimulate you or whatever you see just wants to make you think. Like, really, does that bring peace to the mind? Report an error in the passage at 8:27 Highlight the passage at 8:27

8:37 Or you come to a place like, you know, Rolling Stone. You go for a walk in the bush. You surround yourself by nature. You know, the trees, the eucalypts, the grevilleas, or whatever you have out there. When you put yourself into a peaceful situation, what kind of effect does that have on your mind? It has like a calming effect on the mind. Report an error in the passage at 8:37 Highlight the passage at 8:37

9:06 And in the same way, when we're thinking too much, when we're thinking too much, when we're trying to analyze life or whatever, all we're doing is just agitating the mind. Just like going into the shopping centers. It's just there to... Agitate the mind so you buy stuff. If all shopping centers was like the Rolly Stone Bush, then they wouldn't be able to sell anything. Report an error in the passage at 9:06 Highlight the passage at 9:06

9:36 Because we're so peaceful, we don't want anything. And then on the other hand, if you have a developer mind which is quiet, which doesn't think too much, it's just like putting yourself in a forest where the forest can calm you down. And then I think after a while, the more you experience a quiet, peaceful mind, the more you understand that this is what peace actually feels like. Report an error in the passage at 9:36 Highlight the passage at 9:36

10:10 This is what it actually feels like to be content. So that's how we meditate. When we're meditating, you know Report an error in the passage at 10:10 Highlight the passage at 10:10

10:27 We want to be able to feel that peace. That peace that is right here, right now, in every moment. We want to be able to feel that peace that each and every one of us has felt before. And probably one of the reasons why we don't feel that peace within our lives is because we don't put ourselves in situations where that peace arises. Report an error in the passage at 10:27 Highlight the passage at 10:27

10:58 We put ourselves in situations where that peace doesn't arise. We have to go to work. We have to look after our kids. We don't have that time to develop that peace. And a place for that peace to arise is through the meditation practice. It gives you that opportunity not to be distracted by your world of responsibility jobs and things like that. Report an error in the passage at 10:58 Highlight the passage at 10:58

11:24 It gives you that opportunity to shut your eyes. And just to be or just to be nothing for the period of time that you're meditating. So when we're meditating, it's not about achieving something. Report an error in the passage at 11:24 Highlight the passage at 11:24

11:44 It's about being peaceful. Because sometimes when we think of the idea of meditation, it's thinking about, oh, we're going to shut the mind down. We're going to stop the thinking. thinking like we It's something that we achieve and it's something that's in the future. But meditation is not like that. If you think like that, you're trying to think your way towards the peace. But instead of trying to figure it out, trying to think it through, we be peaceful. Report an error in the passage at 11:44 Highlight the passage at 11:44

12:21 We are peaceful when we meditate. and just to And I'll just try to end off to explain what it is like to feel peaceful or how do we get there. Report an error in the passage at 12:21 Highlight the passage at 12:21

12:49 And we can understand it by knowing that this peace or this stillness is something that happens in the present moment. and Report an error in the passage at 12:49 Highlight the passage at 12:49

13:01 It isn't something that we have to chase or wait to come to us or arise. It's something that is already there. This ability of our minds to just be here, like be in this moment, be in the present moment and just knowing that in this present moment nothing is really happening. Report an error in the passage at 13:01 Highlight the passage at 13:01

13:28 We know that our minds thinking we know and all we know that is that we're just being here and just being here carries that essence of silence of quiet Report an error in the passage at 13:28 Highlight the passage at 13:28

14:03 And it may not seem like it has any benefit for you, because you may think that nothing's happening, you're not getting anywhere. But I think through time, through experience, you can start to understand how beneficial quiet time is. Report an error in the passage at 14:03 Highlight the passage at 14:03

14:29 How less of a burden it is. How less of a burden it is on yourself when you spend time being quiet. Because after a while, as humans, we understand. Report an error in the passage at 14:29 Highlight the passage at 14:29

14:46 One of the reasons why our minds aren't peaceful is because we create our own turbulence within our own minds. It's our own thinking, our own restlessness that makes us feel agitated. Report an error in the passage at 14:46 Highlight the passage at 14:46

15:04 So that's what we learn. We learn that this kind of simple meditation, being able to just be here, putting our minds into that silent space is one of the beneficial things that we can do for ourselves. And that is something that I can talk about. Report an error in the passage at 15:04 Highlight the passage at 15:04

15:35 It's something that as meditators we will learn through time. We will learn how to value quiet time and we learn how actually special it can become in our lives. Report an error in the passage at 15:35 Highlight the passage at 15:35

15:48 So I will stop the talk there and then we usually meditate for half an hour. Half an hour and after that we can open up the floor for questions and answers. Report an error in the passage at 15:48 Highlight the passage at 15:48

16:06 So what I'll do is I will try to guide you for about half an hour. If you feel uncomfortable sitting on the ground, sit on the chair. Because we don't want pain to kind of annoy us when we're meditating. So Report an error in the passage at 16:06 Highlight the passage at 16:06

16:42 you want to just get as comfortable as you can. Report an error in the passage at 16:42 Highlight the passage at 16:42

17:07 Close your eyes. Report an error in the passage at 17:07 Highlight the passage at 17:07

· · · silence, 1 minute

17:52 When we're meditating, we're not trying to achieve anything. Report an error in the passage at 17:52 Highlight the passage at 17:52

18:03 We're meditating as a way to relax the mind. We're giving ourselves that opportunity to be away from things. We're Report an error in the passage at 18:03 Highlight the passage at 18:03

18:29 giving ourselves a time to rest. We're Report an error in the passage at 18:29 Highlight the passage at 18:29

18:46 just learning how beneficial quiet time can be. And Report an error in the passage at 18:46 Highlight the passage at 18:46

19:02 we're just being with the moment. We're Report an error in the passage at 19:02 Highlight the passage at 19:02

19:16 not adding any commentary to the experience. Report an error in the passage at 19:16 Highlight the passage at 19:16

19:34 We're not getting annoyed. Because we have to sit down with our eyes closed, nor Report an error in the passage at 19:34 Highlight the passage at 19:34

19:46 are we thinking about when our minds will become peaceful. So Report an error in the passage at 19:46 Highlight the passage at 19:46

20:00 in a sense, we're just trying to not think about things, but instead we are just experiencing this moment for what it is. The Report an error in the passage at 20:00 Highlight the passage at 20:00

20:30 human mind is restless. It's hardly ever peaceful. It's agitated in one way or another. It Report an error in the passage at 20:30 Highlight the passage at 20:30

20:44 may be a little bit annoyed or it may be a little bit restless. It may be a little bit off. Report an error in the passage at 20:44 Highlight the passage at 20:44

20:56 It's hardly ever peaceful. Report an error in the passage at 20:56 Highlight the passage at 20:56

21:06 So this is what we learn. We're learning to do peace. We're learning to experience our meditation. in a peaceful way so Report an error in the passage at 21:06 Highlight the passage at 21:06

· · · silence, 1 minute

22:01 we're just being here and we're just making the use of this opportunity of meditation it's wonderful because meditation it doesn't require us to attend to anything we're not attending to a customer at work we're not attending To a screen. We're not attending to a phone call to somebody that we have to answer. Report an error in the passage at 22:01 Highlight the passage at 22:01

22:43 Our minds are away from that. We're putting ourselves in a meditation where our minds don't have to engage in anything trivial or anything stimulating. assimilating, or anything that can cause us agitation. What Report an error in the passage at 22:43 Highlight the passage at 22:43

23:18 are we engaging in? We're engaging in the nothingness. We're engaging in the silence. We're engaging in the freedom from just worldly stuff. Report an error in the passage at 23:18 Highlight the passage at 23:18

23:54 Isn't that... We can start to see that it's a lovely place to be. It's a lovely place to hang out. Report an error in the passage at 23:54 Highlight the passage at 23:54

24:06 And it's just a lovely way to give your minds a break from this thing we call core life. You Report an error in the passage at 24:06 Highlight the passage at 24:06

· · · silence, 2 minutes

26:40 can start to experience how peaceful your mind is with Report an error in the passage at 26:40 Highlight the passage at 26:40

· · · silence, 4 minutes

30:24 the present moment. This Report an error in the passage at 30:24 Highlight the passage at 30:24

30:30 present moment in the here and now. Report an error in the passage at 30:30 Highlight the passage at 30:30

30:38 have the qualities of a mind which isn't thinking but just experiencing in this moment being in the present moment is just knowing what is going on now and Report an error in the passage at 30:38 Highlight the passage at 30:38

31:06 if you know the present moment for what it is it comes with a quality of a silent mind you're Report an error in the passage at 31:06 Highlight the passage at 31:06

31:22 just observing what is going on silently Report an error in the passage at 31:22 Highlight the passage at 31:22

31:34 And as meditators, this is a place where we try to hang out. And Report an error in the passage at 31:34 Highlight the passage at 31:34

31:48 this is how peace gets built. By Report an error in the passage at 31:48 Highlight the passage at 31:48

31:58 brick, as you build a house, eventually the house gets built. In the same way, being present, experiencing this moment, one moment after another, eventually you will start to experience peace. Report an error in the passage at 31:58 Highlight the passage at 31:58

32:36 Moment by moment, you're building the peace. Report an error in the passage at 32:36 Highlight the passage at 32:36

· · · silence, 17 minutes

49:11 Challenging. Anybody Report an error in the passage at 49:11 Highlight the passage at 49:11

· · · silence, 1 minute

50:21 have any questions? Report an error in the passage at 50:21 Highlight the passage at 50:21

50:26 How was the meditation? I'll ask a question then. How was the meditation? I fell asleep. You fell asleep? And I woke back. Report an error in the passage at 50:26 Highlight the passage at 50:26

50:41 How come you always come back to meditation? Oh, even coming here? Yeah, just in general, like over the years. Yeah, just for a bit of peace because I do have a question actually. Yeah. Do you have any advice? Okay, you talked about the supermarket reaching out. Yeah. I have a bit of a problem with my phone. Report an error in the passage at 50:41 Highlight the passage at 50:41

51:04 Okay. I'll be sitting there at night and I'll just start scrolling. Yeah. And there's a lot of like short form videos. Yeah. And you just easily just keep scrolling and it goes from one subject to another to another. So easy to get drawn into it. Any thoughts on that? Put the phone down. that. Report an error in the passage at 51:04 Highlight the passage at 51:04

51:30 What is it? Just pretend you're under 16. Yeah, just pretend you're under 16. You know how they crack that? They put on a pair of glasses. I think it's just the nature of the mind. Human beings are kind of always trying to reach out for... For just different things to find happiness in. And yeah, it's just the nature of the mind. Report an error in the passage at 51:30 Highlight the passage at 51:30

52:08 And just understanding that and understanding the limitations. So we are like, you know, in life I think some people don't even get... The opportunity to understand the limitations of these things or even question, do these things bring us happiness? But for people that kind of turn away from that world and trying to find happiness in somewhere else like meditation, then I think one is making steps to step away from that type of mindset. Report an error in the passage at 52:08 Highlight the passage at 52:08

53:22 I'm an aged care support. One funny thing, a slightly different slant, is I notice a lot of elderly people feel weary about life. Report an error in the passage at 53:22 Highlight the passage at 53:22

53:35 It's like everything they've experienced. I was watching a comedian a couple of nights ago, and he said elderly people, quite often, they're thinking, oh no, not this again, just in life. And I think that expands to life in general anyway. In a sense, like even these sensory things that we think make us feel good, eventually they suck our energy away. Report an error in the passage at 53:35 Highlight the passage at 53:35

54:01 I think with the training of the mind, you can train the mind to the point where you don't need these things, you know what I mean? It's like because you've found a different type of happiness, a happiness that comes from within the mind. When these things are taken away from you, you can still live life peacefully. Take, for example, the type of lifestyle that monastics live. Report an error in the passage at 54:01 Highlight the passage at 54:01

54:35 We live a life where we've basically given up the world. Friends, family, the enjoyments of the world, we've given that up. But we've also managed to find other ways to be happy. Yeah, and we find that through the mind and the meditation. You don't miss it? Huh? You don't miss it? No, not really, no. You don't, like, you miss it, but you don't need to do anything about it. Yeah, I think when you start missing things and you need to do something about it, then there's a lack of that kind of... Report an error in the passage at 54:35 Highlight the passage at 54:35

55:48 And then what happens if they're not there? What happens if government kind of runs the country in an ill-mannered way? That would really upset you. Or what happens if your internet cuts out? Or what happens if you don't get that chocolate bar? And it's like sometimes when we go through these things in life, we can kind of see... Report an error in the passage at 55:48 Highlight the passage at 55:48

56:14 See ya. See how much we rely on them for our contentment and inner happiness. So whereas as being a monastic, we kind of learn how to live life without having things. And then what you find out, there's always something that you can replace something with. As one of the things as a monk, You give up the world, but you create another world within the monastery. Report an error in the passage at 56:14 Highlight the passage at 56:14

56:54 It's almost like when you have this idea of the Amish people. Basically, they move away from the world, and they create their own little world. And they're fulfilled, and they're happy. They have no... Yeah, very simple. They have certain beliefs that they live by. They bring that kind of fulfillment and happiness. And whereas where we come from and how we practice is we're trying to look for that fulfillment within ourselves, within that meditation practice. Report an error in the passage at 56:54 Highlight the passage at 56:54

57:29 So what we do here on a regular basis, that is how we live our life. We're basically like full-time meditators and we spend a lot of time. Just sitting down with the eyes closed and just looking within and seeing how we can find that happiness within. And we can actually start to, I think we can actually start to feel and you could feel that as well when you were meditating that there were like moments of peace that arise within the mind and just when you're meditating you have that understanding that just being away from your life for like 30 minutes. Report an error in the passage at 57:29 Highlight the passage at 57:29

58:12 It's quite a relief. Report an error in the passage at 58:12 Highlight the passage at 58:12

58:18 It's a relief, you know. So that's what, like short term, that's what meditation can give you. And give you that rest from your world. But then at the same time, there's so many other benefits. benefits that come from it and then one of the things is like We talk about this happiness and one of the things that brings happiness into our lives is having clarity of mind. Report an error in the passage at 58:18 Highlight the passage at 58:18

58:56 When we think about clarity of mind, we think about living more in the present moment. Our minds are more in the present. like this idea of clarity your mind yeah Report an error in the passage at 58:56 Highlight the passage at 58:56

59:34 I think that when you can live like that, your mind can pick up on the happinesses that arise within your day. You can go for a walk down the street and you can enjoy the nice weather. Or you meet lovely people because you're mindful and you're living in the moment. You can have a lovely exchange with them. Report an error in the passage at 59:34 Highlight the passage at 59:34

1:00:17 overcooked, it's not too runny, there's a bit of cheese in there, a bit of butter, and because you're not burdened with your own thinking, you can enjoy these things. And this is not like an enjoyment that you're indulging or paying a lot of money for it, it's like the enjoyment of life that comes with clarity of mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:17 Highlight the passage at 1:00:17

1:00:42 So, this... this this you know is like yeah so you know some of the happiness is that that we can get as human beings is just to be able to have a clearer mind and what I was just trying to point out is like Report an error in the passage at 1:00:42 Highlight the passage at 1:00:42

1:01:00 The mind is just a burden with thoughts. So the reason why we go see a psychiatrist or a psychology is not because our mind is clear. It's because our minds are clouded. And that cloudiness of the mind kind of brings it down. And when the mind is down, we can't pick up on the happiness that this world has to offer us. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:00 Highlight the passage at 1:01:00

1:01:26 Just a simple interaction with people. Or having a good night's sleep. Or simple stuff like that. Just enjoying the nice weather. Or if it's too hot, just going into an air-conditioned room. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:26 Highlight the passage at 1:01:26

1:01:42 Something like that. Things like that. And over time we can start to understand with this practice of meditation. The less you have in your mind, the better. It's just that simple. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:42 Highlight the passage at 1:01:42

1:02:03 You had a... When I was meditating, I did notice the birds. Yeah. And I zoned into that and I found it really... Yeah. I was imagining them feeding the babies. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And that's also one of the... We call it skillful means or techniques that we can use when we're meditating is we're just using... Report an error in the passage at 1:02:03 Highlight the passage at 1:02:03

1:02:31 Whatever we have in this present moment to kind of put our minds on, like the sounds of the birds or even the quietness of the room or just the sensations of your body and things like that. So what we're learning is we're just learning how to just live more presently really and receiving all the benefits that come from it. And the benefits that come from it is something that we just experience from our... Report an error in the passage at 1:02:31 Highlight the passage at 1:02:31

1:03:00 for ourselves. Through the journey that we take, we learn these new experiences and we can see why they're beneficial for us. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:00 Highlight the passage at 1:03:00

1:03:15 That's all I've got. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:15 Highlight the passage at 1:03:15

1:03:19 Okay, bye-bye. Thank you very much. Bye-bye. Take care. We'll see you next week. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:19 Highlight the passage at 1:03:19