Guided Meditation

0:00 So first of all, somebody wanted me to make an announcement. And I tried my hardest to forget, but I couldn't forget. Report an error in the passage at 0:00 Highlight the passage at 0:00

0:14 What's the book called again? See, I forgot the title of the book. No Self, No Problem. So it's a book club by Venerable Akinchana at 4.30. So if you're not there, no problem. the problem. Report an error in the passage at 0:14 Highlight the passage at 0:14

0:33 Okay, so, and also beginner classes is next door if you showed up for the wrong one. This class is for the advanced meditators. Report an error in the passage at 0:33 Highlight the passage at 0:33

0:46 No, no, no something, no problem. No self, no problem. Yes, no self, no problem. Yes, yes. Very deep, very deep. ha, ha, ha. Report an error in the passage at 0:46 Highlight the passage at 0:46

1:02 Okay, so another afternoon meditation session and it's time for us to let go of everything in a sense. The idea of meditation sometimes put simply is to do nothing, which is actually a very nice concept and it's kind of easy to understand. If you can just close your eyes and just think of just an idea of doing nothing. In meditation we don't have to do anything. Report an error in the passage at 1:02 Highlight the passage at 1:02

1:42 We don't have to think. We don't have to crave for an ability to watch the breath. We don't need to crave for our sleepy mind to go away. Report an error in the passage at 1:42 Highlight the passage at 1:42

1:56 We don't need to crave for the deep meditations. And there's something. There's something freeing about that. We don't have to, in a sense, you don't have to put pressure on your own mind. Because this craving, this craving of wanting something, you're actually putting pressure on yourself. The pressure of not having the ability to watch the breath. Report an error in the passage at 1:56 Highlight the passage at 1:56

2:25 How many times do you hit yourself over the head because you can't watch the breath? Yeah, and it's like, oh, you're falling asleep. You're falling asleep in your meditation. And then you get upset because you don't want to be falling asleep. And all you're doing is you're just adding unnecessary suffering to your meditation practice. Report an error in the passage at 2:25 Highlight the passage at 2:25

2:53 I mean, one of the monks, Ajahn Chitamalo, he's not here anymore, but he would say, dukkha, dukkha. dukkha dukkha so like in your mind you already have the dukkha that's already presented there as in terms of like the five hindrances the craving the ill will the restlessness the doubts you know things of that nature and that's dukkha and then as human beings because we want things to be different or we want we are not happy With what is happening now, we're just adding that dukkha on top of it. So when we think about it, when we're meditating, dukkha is okay. Report an error in the passage at 2:53 Highlight the passage at 2:53

3:44 The five hindrances are okay. Sleepiness is okay. We really cannot do much about it. That's just the nature of the body. We have a mind, we have a body, and obviously it's going to get tired. And it's the same with having a mind. Our mind is made to think. So every once in a while, our minds are going to be restless. Report an error in the passage at 3:44 Highlight the passage at 3:44

4:11 It's going to be planning about the next renovation project. Are we going to pull down the ceilings or add insulation to the wall? Report an error in the passage at 4:11 Highlight the passage at 4:11

4:21 The mind will just go off on tangents like that. And that is normal. And as meditators, we kind of see that. a problem in a sense it is is the problem because it is blocking our way to peace our way to stillness yeah it's like so yes we do understand that So what do we do? What do we do? Report an error in the passage at 4:21 Highlight the passage at 4:21

5:00 So, you know, sometimes you live a life at Bodhinyana Monastery and you have a great teacher like Ajahn Brahm and then you're meditating a lot and you're getting somewhere and things start to happen and you want to get answers from the Master to be able to move on with your meditation practice. And you go, you write emails to him. Report an error in the passage at 5:00 Highlight the passage at 5:00

5:30 You write emails, and he never answers the emails. Report an error in the passage at 5:30 Highlight the passage at 5:30

5:37 No, he does. If it's important, he does answer the emails. And then you go see him, and then you kind of tell him your experiences. I'm doing well, blah, blah, blah. Ajahn, how can you help me out? And then you expect a special answer directed at your problem. knows. Report an error in the passage at 5:37 Highlight the passage at 5:37

5:59 Sometimes you think, oh, okay, I'm meditating, well, this is going on. Maybe there's a particular answer that I'm after that would help me move forward in my meditation practice. Report an error in the passage at 5:59 Highlight the passage at 5:59

6:13 But the funny thing is, he will always give you the same answer. And what is the answer? Do nothing. Do nothing. So just... my answer. Report an error in the passage at 6:13 Highlight the passage at 6:13

6:29 Do you know what it means to do nothing? Report an error in the passage at 6:29 Highlight the passage at 6:29

6:37 As meditators, that's probably one of our inquiries that we can ask ourselves. What is the meaning of doing nothing? And for each and every one of us, that meaning is different, and the experience that comes from it is different as well. And I think what I find... When it comes to using that kind of idea in my meditation practice, is when you come in with the attitude of doing nothing, you can sort of feel like there's a release in the mind. Report an error in the passage at 6:37 Highlight the passage at 6:37

7:11 There's a release, there is a letting go. You are kind of, in a sense, you are lessening the sense of self, like you are disappearing. There is nothing happening in the mind. mind you know What are the pointers? What do you see? What does nothing mean? I think nothing means is the mind is silent. The mind is silent. There's a quality of quietness there. Report an error in the passage at 7:11 Highlight the passage at 7:11

7:50 There's a quality of nothingness there. You can just sit down with your eyes closed and you're not thinking. You're not thinking. There's almost like a blankness, a nothingness that is happening. And when you get to that stage of meditation, it's almost like an effortless something going on there. It's almost effortless. You just sit down, you close your eyes, and nothing happens. Report an error in the passage at 7:50 Highlight the passage at 7:50

8:30 It sounds kind of simple, but nothing happens. You don't need to... So that's the kind of attitude that one can take when they're approaching their meditation, is when you're sitting down, you're not trying to do anything. Because when you're trying, that's not doing nothing. When you're doing nothing, it's just like sitting there, closing your eyes, and just being. Report an error in the passage at 8:30 Highlight the passage at 8:30

8:55 Just being with whatever's happening with your mind. And I think that the beautiful thing about meditation, we know the goal of meditation is to have a sense of silence, a bit of peace in the mind. And the nice thing about meditation is that the process of getting there happens naturally. And that's the beautiful thing about it. Report an error in the passage at 8:55 Highlight the passage at 8:55

9:22 It just happens naturally. It's like the weather. It was kind of dry a couple of months ago. We're kind of begging for the rain. We didn't ask for the rain. It just happened. Report an error in the passage at 9:22 Highlight the passage at 9:22

9:38 And I think in the same way, just bringing yourself into a place like this and putting yourself in a posture of meditation and closing your eyes, you've done like 90 % of the work. happened? Report an error in the passage at 9:38 Highlight the passage at 9:38

9:58 And the only thing you're going to do next is just close your eyes and just do nothing and wait in the moment. And just waiting in the moment and just to allow things to settle down. Report an error in the passage at 9:58 Highlight the passage at 9:58

10:12 And that's probably, I think, that's probably the hardest, one of the hardest things to do because I think as human beings we have a fault-finding mind. Fault-finding mind. So we sit for five minutes. minutes you know and it's not becoming peaceful and we start to fault find oh this is terrible oh this is doesn't work oh and then after a while you know you quit you quit yet you haven't given yourself Have you ever been through phases of that in your meditation journey? Report an error in the passage at 10:12 Highlight the passage at 10:12

10:53 Where you kind of meditate for a little while, you start to fault find and you end up quitting. You end up quitting and then you don't see a meditation cushion for like six months and then you start again. And then you end up with the same problem, fault finding of what is going on and yada, yada, yada. And you can kind of see that that fault finding mind kind of stops the progress from happening. Report an error in the passage at 10:53 Highlight the passage at 10:53

11:18 So in a sense, one of the hurdles that One can kind of look at is the fault finding mind and try to take that away and have more kind of trust or a bit of faith in the natural process of the mind calming down all by itself. And I guess I can kind of say that kind of thing because monastics have that kind of luxury. We have that luxury, you know. Report an error in the passage at 11:18 Highlight the passage at 11:18

11:54 We don't work. We don't work. Yay, we don't work! We have all afternoon, all evening, all morning to meditate. We find time to close our eyes. And because we have all this time in the world, we can approach it in a way where we can just be relaxed about it. Report an error in the passage at 11:54 Highlight the passage at 11:54

12:24 Just allow things to just progress naturally. So in a sense, we have the luxury of time to do those kinds of things. And maybe for lay people, because they only have half an hour a week, or half an hour every month, they kind of want to speed up the process. Speed up the process. And then when you rush things, you get frustrated, you fault find, and things don't really work out. Report an error in the passage at 12:24 Highlight the passage at 12:24

12:53 So instead, just come into the meditation practice with a mind where you are very, very patient. Just have the mind of a person who is very patient. It doesn't matter what appears in your mind, whether it's sleepiness, whether you're restless, whether you're angry, or whatever. Just don't worry about it. And understand that That these things are impermanent. They're impermanent. The sleepiness will be there, but it won't be there forever. Report an error in the passage at 12:53 Highlight the passage at 12:53

13:34 The thoughts will be there, but they won't be there forever. If you sit long enough, I guarantee you, your sleepiness will disappear. And that's a nice personal insight that you can have. You're sitting there and your head's just... Rocking all over the place, but because you're not complaining, you're not wasting energy, you're just sitting there peacefully, and then eventually the sleepiness will disappear. Report an error in the passage at 13:34 Highlight the passage at 13:34

14:06 It will disappear and then the mind will wake up. And when the mind wakes up, there's always like this sense of peacefulness there. Report an error in the passage at 14:06 Highlight the passage at 14:06

14:17 And the peacefulness, what is the peacefulness? The peacefulness is just the quietness of the mind, the silence of the mind. Like the silence that we can hear right now. That's peacefulness. And it's the same with the other hindrances that you may have. Like one of them is the thinking mind. Oh, it's like, it's like, you know. Report an error in the passage at 14:17 Highlight the passage at 14:17

14:43 I'm sort of like a project master and sort of the monk next to me is a project master and the young man over there, he's working on renovations and we have the operations manager who's running the show. Report an error in the passage at 14:43 Highlight the passage at 14:43

14:58 Our minds can be all over the place. Just thinking about the next step. Really, you know, if you're a manager, a project manager, you're always thinking about the next step or the bigger picture or... You know, how to get things done. And it's just human nature that you carry that into your meditation practice. Report an error in the passage at 14:58 Highlight the passage at 14:58

15:22 So what do you do? You do nothing. You do nothing. And you just allow the energy of that thought to just wear itself out. Report an error in the passage at 15:22 Highlight the passage at 15:22

15:36 Wear itself out. And once the energy wears out, what you're left with is a peacefulness. It's the calmness. Because sometimes we have this idea in meditation, you do things which is counter-intuitive or counter-productive. And one of the things that they like to talk about is trying to use thinking to overcome thinking, or trying to use force or willpower to overcome thinking, or trying to wake yourself up when you're sleepy, or trying to make your mind To be peaceful when it's just thinking too much. In this way of meditation, that trying is actually adding more fuel to the fire. Report an error in the passage at 15:36 Highlight the passage at 15:36

16:25 And it's like a very simple visualization is you have this big bonfire. It would be nice to have a big bonfire in this room, actually. It would keep us nice and warm and toasty. And we would be all cozy and we all have nice meditations. Wouldn't that be nice? Temptations. Report an error in the passage at 16:25 Highlight the passage at 16:25

16:45 We've got some wood somewhere. Yeah, we're going to light a big fire. And they have like a big bonfire. And that big bonfire could be our restless mind or our angry mind. Fire is kind of a good match for an angry mind. And whatever else it is. Report an error in the passage at 16:45 Highlight the passage at 16:45

17:15 And what we do sometimes, which is counterproductive, when we're trying to use force to make the mind peaceful, or we're trying to will the mind to wake up, or what that is actually doing is actually taking more fuel and putting more fuel onto the fire. And that just makes, we think we're helping the problem, but that's actually making the problem worse. Report an error in the passage at 17:15 Highlight the passage at 17:15

17:45 Because that's how we've been taught. That's what we've been taught. Oh, we have to go to work. We've got to work 9 to 5, 7 days a week. And it's Thursday and it's 3pm and you're getting really tired. And what do you do? You have to push through. Or you're studying for exams and it's 10 o 'clock at night and you've got two more chapters to go. Report an error in the passage at 17:45 Highlight the passage at 17:45

18:06 And your parents are standing behind your back. If you don't do your homework, you get scolded. And what do you have to do? You have to push through. And that's how we've been taught. This is how we overcome our problems. But in meditation, we do the opposite. We take away the fuel. We take away the fuel that keeps the fire burning. And what is that fuel? Do nothing. Just do nothing. Report an error in the passage at 18:06 Highlight the passage at 18:06

18:38 Sit down, do nothing. No craving. No craving. No expectation. No craving. Even to watch the breath or no craving to, you know, even to be in the present moment or no craving to even have these higher states of insights. None of that. You just go in with a mind which is basically free. You're meditating with a kind of a mindset which is free because you're not worried. Report an error in the passage at 18:38 Highlight the passage at 18:38

19:11 You're not worried if you're going to If you're not going to fall asleep or you're not going to worry if you're going to get deep meditations, that's not why you meditate. You just meditate because it's peaceful. You just meditate because it just gives yourself time to separate yourself from the world of busyness. Report an error in the passage at 19:11 Highlight the passage at 19:11

19:35 You meditate to relax, to not do anything for like 45 minutes. And I think that's also like a part of life or as human beings, you know. We're always trying to find ways to relax or just to chill out or to take a break. You know, we always talk about that. You need to take a break. You talk to people. I'm burnt out. I need to relax. And you can also always look at meditation as just another way. Report an error in the passage at 19:35 Highlight the passage at 19:35

20:14 To have something relaxing to do. And this is how you do it. You just sit down, you just sit down and just experience the freedom of doing nothing, what that gives you. We just sit down, we're just closing our eyes and we're just being here. We're not chasing anything. And that in itself is a peaceful experience. And I think if that's all you meditate for, then you're going to get a lot of benefits from the meditation. Report an error in the passage at 20:14 Highlight the passage at 20:14

20:59 Just having a peaceful experience, which I think is unique to anything else that we can do in the world. You can go on a cruise. It's not going to be as peaceful as meditation. What is the most peaceful thing you can do? Anybody can tell me? I don't live out in the world. Report an error in the passage at 20:59 Highlight the passage at 20:59

21:19 What do they do these days? They float in water. What is it? They put you in the water and they turn off the sound and you float in water. Report an error in the passage at 21:19 Highlight the passage at 21:19

21:34 Some sort of sense deprivation to relax. So what do you do? it? What is it? Report an error in the passage at 21:34 Highlight the passage at 21:34

21:40 you know. Report an error in the passage at 21:40 Highlight the passage at 21:40

21:46 Sit down and have a look at the sunset. Yeah, those things are kind of nice. But when you look at the sunset, it's not really peaceful, is it? It's nice, it's nice. It's like, oh yeah, it's kind of nice, that sunset, it was beautiful. But it's not, it's not peaceful. So that's the thing, you know, when you look at the, when you think about the things that you can do in life and you think about, you know, what just a simple act of meditation can offer you in life. Report an error in the passage at 21:46 Highlight the passage at 21:46

22:15 It's completely different from what you can get. Meditation tastes better than a hamburger. Report an error in the passage at 22:15 Highlight the passage at 22:15

22:24 Stop just being silly. But you know what I mean. Meditation can offer you something that nothing else can. I think just being able to separate yourself from the world for half an hour, having no worries, nothing much going on in your mind. it's like, it's something that... Report an error in the passage at 22:24 Highlight the passage at 22:24

22:45 One of the freeing experiences that you can ever have. Yeah. Okay. That's enough. So, yeah, that's enough. That's enough. Okay. Alright. Report an error in the passage at 22:45 Highlight the passage at 22:45

23:01 Nothing. Who said that? We're doing nothing now. We're doing nothing. See, we don't need a book club. Alright. We're doing nothing now. Anyways. Report an error in the passage at 23:01 Highlight the passage at 23:01

23:31 Okay, so we meditate for 45 minutes. I'll just guide you for a little bit and then I'll just keep quiet. So Report an error in the passage at 23:31 Highlight the passage at 23:31

· · · silence, 1 minute

24:50 just allow our minds to settle down. Report an error in the passage at 24:50 Highlight the passage at 24:50

25:09 And in a sense, we're just taking our hands off the steering wheel of our own lives. And we can step back. We can step back and be a non-participant in our lives. Report an error in the passage at 25:09 Highlight the passage at 25:09

· · · silence, 1 minute

26:33 We don't have any responsibilities. Report an error in the passage at 26:33 Highlight the passage at 26:33

26:46 We're just having an experience, an Report an error in the passage at 26:46 Highlight the passage at 26:46

26:58 experience of just knowing what is happening now. We're Report an error in the passage at 26:58 Highlight the passage at 26:58

· · · silence, 1 minute

28:07 not trying to meditate. We're not trying to figure things out. Report an error in the passage at 28:07 Highlight the passage at 28:07

28:22 It's a time to actually do nothing. When Report an error in the passage at 28:22 Highlight the passage at 28:22

28:29 you do nothing, there's no judgment. You can't judge yourself as a good or bad meditator because you're not doing anything. It's only when you start doing stuff that you can start judging. Report an error in the passage at 28:29 Highlight the passage at 28:29

· · · silence, 1 minute

29:28 So we're just learning how to be patient and we just wait for the peace and stillness to arise if it's not already there. Report an error in the passage at 29:28 Highlight the passage at 29:28

29:47 Sometimes we have to brave through the restlessness, the sleepiness. The doubt, the anger, that's just echoes that we bring into our meditations. Report an error in the passage at 29:47 Highlight the passage at 29:47

30:05 But if we learn how to leave them alone, not judge them, not wanting them to change, leave them by doing nothing, these things will change in their nature and you're left with a peaceful experience. Report an error in the passage at 30:05 Highlight the passage at 30:05

· · · silence, 2 minutes

32:10 So I'm just going to say a few more words and then I'll keep quiet and we can meditate on our own. Report an error in the passage at 32:10 Highlight the passage at 32:10

32:25 So I think it's always nice to just try not to get flustered or cranky or lose your cool when you're meditating. And it doesn't really matter what... ...hinderances or troubles or blockages you may have in front of you. Report an error in the passage at 32:25 Highlight the passage at 32:25

32:51 I think the main thing is to try to keep calm, keep cool, be relaxed and patient, just like in your journey with your meditation practice, just for the fact that it helps not to just develop negativity. Report an error in the passage at 32:51 Highlight the passage at 32:51

33:18 towards this this meditation practice so so yeah just just keep your cool keep your cool don't Report an error in the passage at 33:18 Highlight the passage at 33:18

33:35 crave for too much and just learn how to do nothing and just watch the mind take you to places that you haven't been to before three Report an error in the passage at 33:35 Highlight the passage at 33:35

· · · silence, 34 minutes

1:07:30 times After the third gong, you can start taking yourself out of the meditation. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:30 Highlight the passage at 1:07:30

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:08:26 Any questions? Complaints? Why doesn't anybody complain? Report an error in the passage at 1:08:26 Highlight the passage at 1:08:26

1:08:40 Okay, didn't get a good response. Any questions? Comments? Report an error in the passage at 1:08:40 Highlight the passage at 1:08:40

1:08:55 Okay, so we'll just take questions from the iPad. So, how can I meditate if I have constant... Irritation of pain due to operations and shortness of breath due to a tumor. Can I still find stillness? I guess you can. Yeah, I mean, there's plenty of stories. Ajahn Brahm talks about the story when he was having like a near-death fever in Thailand and he was able to get some nice meditation. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:55 Highlight the passage at 1:08:55

1:09:38 So I think that the point that it's trying to make is the mind is separated from the body and yes, sometimes the body can be quite irritating when you have severe pain like chronic pain or something like that and that does affect the mind but it doesn't stop you from meditating. You can still meditate, I think, with pain in the body. It's just a different type of meditation. You can still close your eyes. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:38 Highlight the passage at 1:09:38

1:10:07 You can still make peace, be kind, be gentle. So yes, I think just give it a go. And yeah, give it a go. Okay. Hello Ajahn. With so many meditation methods and concepts, it feels like a lot to think about. Indeed, yes. Please advise on how to simplify this term of being here. Mindfulness and letting go in meditation, how do they work? I think I just had a thought when I was meditating and sometimes when you've meditated enough and tried so many different techniques and aim for so many goals in your meditation practice after a while you kind of give up on the type of methods that you can do and you just just go back to the just the simple fact of just just giving yourself some quiet time like half an hour a day you know a few times a day and just sitting quietly and just allowing the meditation to progress Report an error in the passage at 1:10:07 Highlight the passage at 1:10:07

1:11:22 By itself. And I think slowly through time, because we are always getting input from our teachers, you could say the conditioning is there. And these instructions may not pop up in your mind straight away, but through time, they will just come up in your mind and help you out. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:22 Highlight the passage at 1:11:22

1:11:50 It just reminds me of when someone was asking Ajahn Chah about just trying to remember the dhamma in terms of how can I use the dhamma to help me with my practice, my daily life and my meditation. Do I have to really try hard to remember it so it can help me? And Ajahn Chah would answer, all you need to do is just listen, listen mindfully and wholeheartedly. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:50 Highlight the passage at 1:11:50

1:12:19 And that's all you need to do. You don't need to try to retain the information. And then you just go on with your practice and you may have some sort of difficulty or whatever. And these teachings, they appear in your mind and help you out. So, yes, in a sense, it's okay to have all these kinds of methods. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:19 Highlight the passage at 1:12:19

1:12:39 It's just a part of the smorgasbord of information that we have out there. In our lives but I think like for me is like I think like once you kind of get into your groove of your meditation practice you find you kind of find a teacher that you like and that that teaches teaching it helps you become peaceful it it alleviates a lot of doubts and when that starts to happen you don't really look elsewhere. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:39 Highlight the passage at 1:12:39

1:13:12 I was like, I'm sitting here with Ajahn Jayako and all you people, and you know there's so many monks out there. There's monks in Thailand, monks in Vietnam, monks in America, monks everywhere. But somehow we've just settled on one, because that one teacher can give you enough dharma to help you with your practice. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:12 Highlight the passage at 1:13:12

1:13:37 So in a sense, I think over time, Once your meditation does get better, then things start to simplify. It is true. If you talk to meditators who have meditated a long time, I think their meditation practice is quite simple. They don't try too many techniques. It's just one or two that they try. Sometimes they're a little bit more mindful, or sometimes a little bit of mettā, but usually it's the same. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:37 Highlight the passage at 1:13:37

1:14:07 And what did I say before? You sit down and do nothing. Yeah. Yes. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:07 Highlight the passage at 1:14:07

1:14:19 Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:19 Highlight the passage at 1:14:19

1:14:32 I think it just really depends on your motivation as well. If you want to kind of get the benefits from meditation, or what's the reason you're doing it, and if there's a good reason behind it, then you meditate more. And also at the same time, if it's bringing you, Some peace. You kind of automatically lean towards the meditation practice. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:32 Highlight the passage at 1:14:32

1:15:03 I think just one thing I heard, we teach meditation, and it's a surprise to me, we're teaching meditation in the Rolling Stone class, and there was these young people going there, and they were just telling me, oh, I can sit meditation for an hour, and I really enjoy it, and I don't really need to try. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:03 Highlight the passage at 1:15:03

1:15:24 So, yeah, I think sometimes like, When your mind gets to that point where you enjoy the meditation, you just do more of it. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:24 Highlight the passage at 1:15:24

1:15:37 Different strokes for different folks, yeah, for sure. Because some of us are more kind of like our schedules. We like to have 45 minutes and we'll sit for that 45 minutes without complaining and we'll do it. And some of us, we just don't like to be... Put on the time and stuff like that. So I think it's just, yeah, like I said, different strokes with different folks. And we have something, we have our own difficulties to work through. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:37 Highlight the passage at 1:15:37

1:16:09 And it's kind of like just seeing what our weaknesses are in the meditation practice and trying to improve that. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Anything else? No? Sure? No? Okay, last question. question. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:09 Highlight the passage at 1:16:09

1:16:30 How do I help a wandering mind during meditation? I can't stop thinking about my life and past events or problems. So I have stopped. So I have stopped meditating. Thank you. Yes. Okay. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:30 Highlight the passage at 1:16:30

1:16:53 Yeah, I mean, sometimes it's just difficult, the meditation practice. And yeah, people do it. They give it a go and they stop. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:53 Highlight the passage at 1:16:53

1:17:08 And it doesn't mean that you have failed. And sometimes I think it's not what we're doing in our meditation practice that determines how well our meditation is going. It's also what we're doing outside of the meditation practice. Are we doing things in our lives that lead to peace? Yeah, like a peaceful mind kind of thing. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:08 Highlight the passage at 1:17:08

1:17:33 you know. Take for example, you know, like the wars that are happening in the world. You think the leaders have a peaceful mind? If they were to sit meditation, it wouldn't be peaceful. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:33 Highlight the passage at 1:17:33

1:17:48 They'll be thinking about unwholesome things. You know what I mean? And then if you live a life where your life is pretty good, you have a good family, you have a good job, your co-workers are kind to you, you're kind to other people, And what you're actually doing is you're putting the causes for the mind to become peaceful. So when you sit down you don't have so many issues or problems to think about and the mind can naturally go into a state of peace quickly. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:48 Highlight the passage at 1:17:48

1:18:25 And a good example is uh, is, Ajahn Brahm. I always talk about Ajahn Brahm, so I'm kind of laughing at myself because this is who I talk about all the time. It's kind of embarrassing, but he's a really good example. I mean, he's such a busy person. He travels the world. He's got monks like me. I complain, Ajahn, Ajahn. No, I don't do that to him. I'm a good monk. I don't complain to Ajahn. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:25 Highlight the passage at 1:18:25

1:18:57 And one person in his ear and then another one and someone sending him email and then he got to deal with this issue and deal with that issue. He's got a whole bunch of problems or a whole bunch of things that he has to hold in his own mind. But he knows how to take it. His own is like, what does the teacher say? It's like a rubbish bin with a hole in the bottom. Whatever you put in, it just comes out. So he does all these things. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:57 Highlight the passage at 1:18:57

1:19:27 But it's just the way, the quality of life that he lives. He's a kind, gentle, is he kind and gentle? Kind, gentle? Yeah, kind and gentle? Report an error in the passage at 1:19:27 Highlight the passage at 1:19:27

1:19:39 Kind and gentle, knows how to let go, practices meditation for a long time, and because of the way he has lived his life, when he puts his bum on the meditation cushion, He can become peaceful very quickly. So in the same way, if you're dealing with kind of a wandering mind and things of that nature, sometimes the work that you have to do is not in the meditation, but it's in the way you live your life. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:39 Highlight the passage at 1:19:39

1:20:19 And I think, yeah, so just reflect. How are you living your life? And what kind of improvements you can make to it? To kind of ease the wandering mind that you have. Okay. Yeah. Anything else? No? Okay. Thank you. Pay respects. We've all done the saṅgha. gonna go. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:19 Highlight the passage at 1:20:19