Guided Meditation

0:04 Just a couple of minutes before we start. As Report an error in the passage at 0:04 Highlight the passage at 0:04

0:13 you know, this is the first Saturday afternoon class I'm teaching after our rains retreat. So I just finished a three months meditation retreat over at Jhana Grove. Very happy to see how many people come here still. So after all these teachings I've given you, you're still not enlightened yet. Report an error in the passage at 0:13 Highlight the passage at 0:13

0:40 Come back again. It's nice to see you all. And of course, Bianca, she's teaching the retreat, they call it beginner's class, but it's just for those who want to get the basic understandings of the foundation of meditation, to begin that class. And that's next door. She's an excellent teacher. She was one of the ones You know, who helped the designing of Jhana Grove in those early days many years ago. It's wonderful to see how much she would have done Report an error in the passage at 0:40 Highlight the passage at 0:40

1:35 other minutes ago. The reason I try to keep on time is that because many people tune in from overseas, which is wonderful to see every now and again. When I travel overseas, then you meet these people. And even a little anecdote which has got nothing much to do about meditation. It's a beautiful anecdote that when Leihar, our ops manager, she was over in Singapore looking after her mother who was getting very old and sick. Report an error in the passage at 1:35 Highlight the passage at 1:35

2:22 And one morning she went to the market to get some food for her mum. This was in Singapore. And she saw a couple of monks over in Singapore going on alms round. Report an error in the passage at 2:22 Highlight the passage at 2:22

2:38 And so she took the opportunity, because that was a quite rare sight, she took the opportunity to buy some food from the market, it was the correct time, so she could put food in the monks' bowls. And when she did, Report an error in the passage at 2:38 Highlight the passage at 2:38

2:54 She asked her attendant, it's okay, I just want to put some food in the monk's bowls. And the attendant, this was in Singapore, said, oh yeah, sure, Leihar. You know my name? Yes, because I also tune in to the Saturday afternoon meditation classes and also the Friday evening classes. And she was surprised that she was so well known. But not as well known. He's not here, that's good. Report an error in the passage at 2:54 Highlight the passage at 2:54

3:25 There's Eddie. You know Eddie, don't you? Eddie Koo. He always asks a question at the end of every class. It's amazing just how many people overseas know us. They tune in. It's a beautiful arrangement. Everything is for free. And they can just go and listen in. If they like it, they can stay. If they don't like it, they can go somewhere else. And they're all parts of the world, which is amazing. Report an error in the passage at 3:25 Highlight the passage at 3:25

3:33 class. Report an error in the passage at 3:33 Highlight the passage at 3:33

3:57 So it's now three o 'clock. So what I usually do, used to do, still doing, at the beginning of these classes on Saturday afternoon, is to do a little bit of teaching about what meditation is and how it works. But if I haven't explained this to you before, one of the reasons I do this now is I'm speaking to you, gathering your attention. Report an error in the passage at 3:57 Highlight the passage at 3:57

4:26 I'm not quite sure what you were doing before this class, but sometimes we come here and go there, we do many, many things, and it can be quite busy. So the first 15 minutes, it doesn't really matter if I say anything profound. The point is I keep on talking in order for you to calm down. So when we start the meditation, you are kind of relaxed already. Report an error in the passage at 4:26 Highlight the passage at 4:26

4:54 It's like an introduction. It's just getting your body and your mind into the right mood. And that is important. I know that at the same time as teaching here, just on Friday and Saturday, I'm also teaching a meditation retreat, or at least I'm supposed to be teaching a meditation retreat for the Singaporeans over in Jhanagraha, in Serpentine. Report an error in the passage at 4:54 Highlight the passage at 4:54

5:21 At the end of that retreat, which I finished on Friday afternoon before coming here, that I got the other monks to take the Friday evening talk as well as this morning's talk, because tomorrow we're starting our Katina ceremony, the celebration which finishes the period of seclusion for the monks. So they're doing that, and I am sure that everybody is very happy. Report an error in the passage at 5:21 Highlight the passage at 5:21

5:51 With this arrangement, sometimes getting the same old teacher to give the same old talks with the same old jokes. Report an error in the passage at 5:51 Highlight the passage at 5:51

6:03 None of you are laughing. Report an error in the passage at 6:03 Highlight the passage at 6:03

6:11 Sometimes people think that can be boring. But you know what sometimes I've also been told? Even some of those old stories, even the monks like hearing them again and again. Because every time you hear whatever's being said, you always hear, A different angle on the story or you're ready to listen and see something more relevant for you. Report an error in the passage at 6:11 Highlight the passage at 6:11

6:39 And I say stories because I learned a long time ago that what people recognize and understand and remember more easily than anything else, more easily than any theory, is like a story, a tale. which relates to our lives. And when we tell the dhamma, teachings of meditation or the teachings of Buddha, in the format of little tales and stories, number one, you can remember those stories, and number two, that you can always see a different angle on them every time you tell them. Report an error in the passage at 6:39 Highlight the passage at 6:39

7:20 And even I see those different angles as well, different interpretations or different... It's like jewels in that beautiful story. And because of that, even I learn from my own stories, which I've told hundreds of times, just how to be able to let go and be at peace. Report an error in the passage at 7:20 Highlight the passage at 7:20

7:40 And once you start to develop that experience of peace, you get appreciation of peace. The fact that it goes up your list of what's the most important. What would you like? to focus on in the next 45 minutes. Report an error in the passage at 7:40 Highlight the passage at 7:40

8:03 After a while, the thing which hardly anyone else focuses on in this world is that peace. It doesn't matter about anything else. So often in the world, you think, oh, I should be doing something else. Oh, it's important I do this other thing. Oh, it's important I bring my family or something. I remember an old story that I don't know about you, but what you're afraid of, the one thing which I was afraid of was the dentist, especially when I was only about seven or eight years of age. Report an error in the passage at 8:03 Highlight the passage at 8:03

8:43 And I remember one evening, just before I went to bed, my mother told me I had an appointment at the dentist the following day. Report an error in the passage at 8:43 Highlight the passage at 8:43

8:54 That really scared me. And my mind started thinking, how can I get out of this? What strategy can I invent so I don't need to go to the dentist tomorrow morning? So I remember this. And so when I went into the bed that evening, I started thinking and planning and planning and thinking. I didn't sleep well that night, even though I was only six or seven or something. And in the morning, I woke up early and still thinking, how can I get out of this? Report an error in the passage at 8:54 Highlight the passage at 8:54

9:27 And everything I thought of, you know, I couldn't sort of make work. I was only six or seven years of age. My mother knew all my tricks. And so I thought, oh no, this is terrible. I've lost all that sleep. I'm going to go to the dentist in the morning. It's going to be terrible. It's going to be painful. And then I said, well, no choice now. Report an error in the passage at 9:27 Highlight the passage at 9:27

9:52 So she dragged me to the dentist. You know what happened? That morning, honestly, when I got to the dentist's surgery, the receptionist told me, that my appointment had been cancelled. The dentist had got sick. That's one thing which I never really imagined could happen. So much so that all the worries and concern which we make, how much of it is really useful? Report an error in the passage at 9:52 Highlight the passage at 9:52

10:23 That day, if I hadn't worried, I could have had a good night's sleep and not worried at all, and it would have been cancelled. These were the days when the dentist never They never sort of had a means of telling you an appointment was cancelled. Especially if they were sick, they didn't have any email or anything. Report an error in the passage at 10:23 Highlight the passage at 10:23

10:45 So it was much more uncertain, everything. But that was good for me. So you learn things from that, not to predict, not to make strategies for something you think is going to be terrible. Instead just to live more in the moment as a little kid. Why shouldn't you? Why can't you? You know, you're enjoying your upbringing, your life, learning as you go along, learning without planning. And that's exactly what I do in meditation. Report an error in the passage at 10:45 Highlight the passage at 10:45

11:17 All those years, every time I planned something, imagined something would happen. Every time. It's always something worse happens. Report an error in the passage at 11:17 Highlight the passage at 11:17

11:30 It's not always worse. Sometimes I have unexpected meetings, things which I didn't anticipate happen. It makes life enjoyable, especially all the people I meet. This is something, I'm not quite sure why, but just three months I haven't seen many of you, now I see you, and a lot of time it's weird that you're, I know most of you, I don't know why many of you are coming to the meditation this afternoon. Report an error in the passage at 11:30 Highlight the passage at 11:30

12:03 I've been teaching about the last week of the Singaporean retreat. It's still coming along again. I call you meditation junkies. Report an error in the passage at 12:03 Highlight the passage at 12:03

12:17 But I don't mind. It's nice to see you. But seeing so many old friends after so many years, another old friend just walked in. And these are all people I've known for such a long time. Sometimes, am I supposed to be your teacher? Or what am I supposed to be? They're just like friends, colleagues, people I know and have a lot of joy with. Report an error in the passage at 12:17 Highlight the passage at 12:17

12:42 Hi. Report an error in the passage at 12:42 Highlight the passage at 12:42

12:46 So, this is how I kind of enjoy my life. And all of those anecdotes I could tell, but I won't. They're secret. Report an error in the passage at 12:46 Highlight the passage at 12:46

12:58 People survive and they do well, not how they expect life to be. Much better than that, really. This is where we learn how to enjoy the surprises of life. And that's also, believe it or not, what you learn in meditation. Report an error in the passage at 12:58 Highlight the passage at 12:58

13:18 The surprises of meditation. Things which you don't expect. This meditation works such and such deep ways. And things which kind of, there's no other word for it, like blow your mind. See things you've never seen before. Experience things you thought were impossible. And it gets totally interesting. And one thing about the meditation, this is your own personal experience. Report an error in the passage at 13:18 Highlight the passage at 13:18

13:51 You're not deluding yourself. Hi, please come in. Report an error in the passage at 13:51 Highlight the passage at 13:51

13:57 Okay, he's doing something. Please come in. And you're not deluding yourself. This is real. It's not somebody else's experience. It's what you experience when you get calm and peaceful. I'm not sure about you, the old question, why you're here. I remember so early on in my life, I used to love solitude. Report an error in the passage at 13:57 Highlight the passage at 13:57

14:23 Maybe it's because I was born in UK, in London, very busy city. And the times when you could, you know, wander off and find some beautiful places of nature, even in a city. I remember one place, it just comes to mind, just outside of, in the north of England, outside the town of Durham. Report an error in the passage at 14:23 Highlight the passage at 14:23

14:48 I should actually, I'll pause there because... Dharam is the way that most people pronounce that town or city over in UK. But that's not the right way to pronounce it. I was asking directions to get to Dharam and the local person said, where? Dharam. There's no Dharam around here. There's a Dharam. And I pronounced it properly. Dharam. Oh, Dharam. Yeah, it's just over there. Report an error in the passage at 14:48 Highlight the passage at 14:48

15:23 I kind of love that sort of almost like an interesting way of pronouncing different words and after a while you got used to those different words and kept some fun. Report an error in the passage at 15:23 Highlight the passage at 15:23

15:37 Just finding a little place in the middle of the moors or in the middle of some farmland and just go there. There was an isolated lake and there was so many... ... ducks, birds and other wildlife on that lake because it was remote. People couldn't disturb them. So when I went there I was very careful to sit peacefully and try and make no noise. I just sit with my eyes open and watch. Report an error in the passage at 15:37 Highlight the passage at 15:37

16:14 Watch the wildlife which was there. They weren't afraid of me. So you could watch them with so much joy and happiness. Report an error in the passage at 16:14 Highlight the passage at 16:14

16:26 One of those stories on my recent retreat over in Serpentine, that one evening, getting very peaceful, very still, I was doing some walking meditation outside my hut, and you saw just, it was in the evening time, at sunset, so the light was getting dull, but nevertheless I saw this blob. That's how I felt it was, a blob, a dark blob. Report an error in the passage at 16:26 Highlight the passage at 16:26

16:56 by this pig, just coming next to me. You know what that dark blob was? An echidna. Beautiful animals. There's not that many around, but there's enough. And he just came kind of close to me. He was just kind of saying hello. That's what I think anyway. And of course, they're not afraid of a monk at all. They can feel your pacifism. Report an error in the passage at 16:56 Highlight the passage at 16:56

17:26 But it was a beautiful experience. To be in a part of nature where wild animals can roam and feel free and feel at ease. So those joyful things which are out there in the world to spot, but only if you know how to be still. Report an error in the passage at 17:26 Highlight the passage at 17:26

17:47 Does that make sense to you? Great. Anyway, that's just a little bit of introduction. The introduction is not giving you new information, but trying to calm every one of you down. You've left the world outside, come into this brick building and now closing your eyes and going even deeper into peace. Report an error in the passage at 17:47 Highlight the passage at 17:47

18:14 And again, I know a few people came in late. If those of you who have come for the introduction to meditation class, that's supposed to be in the room to my right. But anyway, you're here now, so just enjoy here instead. Okay, so please close your eyes. I'm going Report an error in the passage at 18:14 Highlight the passage at 18:14

18:36 to rehydrate. Report an error in the passage at 18:36 Highlight the passage at 18:36

18:58 You know, there's a couple of people who have got their heads bowed down, even though they are experiencing sleepiness. I never want to disturb them, honestly, because whatever reason why they're tired, if they need to sleep, I welcome them. Report an error in the passage at 18:58 Highlight the passage at 18:58

19:24 And if you are sleepy, please don't ever fight it. If you're at peace with it, I really mean it. Deeply at peace with any tiredness. You will find that after a short while, usually, your energies will come back. It's like your body is always creating energy inside of yourself. And after a while, when you don't waste that energy with fighting, trying to get something or change something, you'll find that The energy builds and builds. You kind of wake up naturally. Your body straightens up and becomes comfortable. Report an error in the passage at 19:24 Highlight the passage at 19:24

20:14 I remember one of the first times that happened to me. I was clear enough to know I never did that. The body straightened up itself. I was fortunate enough to watch it. And then when the body became comfortable and awake, Report an error in the passage at 20:14 Highlight the passage at 20:14

20:36 It wasn't restless, it was a very comfortable and pleasant wakefulness. And since that time I realized that's how you get the body to have energy and the mind also to have energy. Even your mind as you meditate, my mind anyway, gets brighter and brighter the longer I meditate. The energy of the body is there. Report an error in the passage at 20:36 Highlight the passage at 20:36

21:06 But the energy is that tranquil energy to calm everything down so everything looks peaceful without falling asleep. And the mind, the mind instead of thinking so many different things can be beautifully poised in this moment. Report an error in the passage at 21:06 Highlight the passage at 21:06

21:26 Just like that mind, I would say, the beginning part of that mind where you can sit by a lake and just watch so many beautiful animals play. Report an error in the passage at 21:26 Highlight the passage at 21:26

21:40 In the afternoon sunshine on that lake, the mind wakes up, the body wakes up. Report an error in the passage at 21:40 Highlight the passage at 21:40

21:52 So to start with, how does your body feel? We start with our body. I look at my body. I was very tired this morning, I don't know why, but my body feels good now. Awake, poised, rested. Report an error in the passage at 21:52 Highlight the passage at 21:52

22:16 So first of all, I do a general awareness of my body. Report an error in the passage at 22:16 Highlight the passage at 22:16

22:29 Parts of my body, any aches, any bruises or problems, the Report an error in the passage at 22:29 Highlight the passage at 22:29

22:39 general thing I do first. And I notice. This is just me, but it's an example. I notice I do suffer from hay fever. This is the beginning of the hay fever season for me. So I feel my nose all stuffed up. Even though I've taken some medicine, it's not working yet. I can feel it. Report an error in the passage at 22:39 Highlight the passage at 22:39

23:06 It's not uncomfortable, it's just unusual for me. First thing, I make sure I don't worry about anything. That just makes things worse. And the next, I see what I can do to calm it. I don't try to breathe in forcefully. I've noticed if there's any ache or pain or bruise or anything, and I use force when I try. Report an error in the passage at 23:06 Highlight the passage at 23:06

23:43 It always gets worse. Instead, I learn how to let it be, to relax it, rest it. When Report an error in the passage at 23:43 Highlight the passage at 23:43

24:01 you're meditating, you're not running a race, so you don't need much air, so Report an error in the passage at 24:01 Highlight the passage at 24:01

24:13 your breath can be very, a small amount of oxygen going into your lungs. When I don't worry about my breath, it gets really comfortable. Now Report an error in the passage at 24:13 Highlight the passage at 24:13

24:30 I go to the normal. Now the breath has calmed down. It really has. I start to go to what I usually do, which is from my feet, relaxing my body, sweeping my attention upwards. And I love starting with my toes. I never thought you could be aware of your toes, unless they were in pain. But now anytime I wish, I can put my attention on my toes. Report an error in the passage at 24:30 Highlight the passage at 24:30

25:06 Ask, how are you? Just like I can ask you, how are you? Now I ask my toes, how are you? Those toes, as Report an error in the passage at 25:06 Highlight the passage at 25:06

25:24 I get more aware of them, it always happens, they relax, they get peaceful. And the experience of feeling my own toes with my mind is more and more pleasant. Report an error in the passage at 25:24 Highlight the passage at 25:24

25:44 This is where I start... Building up the strength of relaxation, starting with toes. Once I get good at relaxing my toes, then I start relaxing the whole body, going upwards, going up to the rest of my feet. Report an error in the passage at 25:44 Highlight the passage at 25:44

26:08 As a monk, former scientist, I love experimenting, so sometimes I just stay with my toes. It feels so pleasant. Let's see if I need to go anywhere else. My whole meditation takes off from the toes. It goes no further upwards, but it gets really peaceful and blissful. I never thought that was possible. You do it anyway, and it works. Report an error in the passage at 26:08 Highlight the passage at 26:08

26:42 Now I feel my whole feet. I Report an error in the passage at 26:42 Highlight the passage at 26:42

26:48 try not to miss anything out of my feet. I feel the heels, the uppers, soles, ankles. Report an error in the passage at 26:48 Highlight the passage at 26:48

27:01 And as I begin to have more awareness of my feet, relax it all. How do you relax it? When we are aware of things, we tend to interfere with them. We tend to tighten them without realizing it. Now my job is to see if there's any place in my feet I'm causing tension. And take that cause away. And all my feet relax to the max. Every toe, every little... Report an error in the passage at 27:01 Highlight the passage at 27:01

27:36 square millimeter of skin every bone feels really nice i Report an error in the passage at 27:36 Highlight the passage at 27:36

27:50 kind of like lingering but anyway i now feel that my feet are fully relaxed so i go up to the legs usually split the legs into three the lower part around the knees and the thighs start with the lower legs i include not just the skin But the muscles underneath the skin, the bones and the ligaments, blood vessels, a whole lot. That's my blood vessels all running smoothly. Report an error in the passage at 27:50 Highlight the passage at 27:50

28:29 If there is any blockage, you can feel an ache. My legs, the blood is running smoothly, the lymph is running smoothly. Can't feel any blockages. It's just a nice little system of sending energy. Taking away waste products, which is working perfectly. There's a special feeling of feet happiness, which is different than any other part of the body, or leg happiness. Report an error in the passage at 28:29 Highlight the passage at 28:29

29:10 It's happening. My legs are comfortable, at ease. They get to a certain point, I know they're going to get easier. I'm not doing anything, I'm just sitting there. I go to my knees, it's the same. Report an error in the passage at 29:10 Highlight the passage at 29:10

29:31 They're not tired, they're not bruised, they're not having to heal because of some injury. Even my knees, they feel so comfortable. And I kind of let them relax as much as they want. It also means being a meditator who spends so much time on the floor sitting meditation. I'm grateful. This Report an error in the passage at 29:31 Highlight the passage at 29:31

30:08 is my 75th year on this planet. And my legs... My knees, they're doing really well. They don't cause me pain or irritation. They go up to my thighs and Report an error in the passage at 30:08 Highlight the passage at 30:08

30:28 just focus that area. And I ask my thighs, how are you? Is there anything I can do for you to make you more at ease? And those thighs, it's like you can experience them. There's no pain there at all for me right now. If there ever was a pain, I would just focus on it. I wouldn't run away. If necessary, I'd move my body for more comfortable posture or sometimes if the meditation was deep enough, focus on that area, I'd imagine it expanding, diluting the feeling of pain or distress until it kind of vanished. But right now, it's just the normal feelings. Report an error in the passage at 30:28 Highlight the passage at 30:28

31:27 So the blood and other bodily things running through the passageways in my legs, happily, slowly, peacefully, always calm. Report an error in the passage at 31:27 Highlight the passage at 31:27

31:42 And I feel my butt, my bottom. It's always a feeling there. That feeling is because of the pressure of my body, my torso, being passed through that interface between the butt. onto the cushion. Report an error in the passage at 31:42 Highlight the passage at 31:42

32:02 But I know as long as that's not too strong a feeling. and it's pretty even. Report an error in the passage at 32:02 Highlight the passage at 32:02

32:13 After a while, you can't feel it anymore. You don't have to do anything. Just to do the best you can. And that's more than enough. Report an error in the passage at 32:13 Highlight the passage at 32:13

32:25 Then I realized, I have relaxed my whole lower part of the body. Relaxed it carefully. And I know it can sit there for quite a long time now without any problem. So then I go up my back first. A time in my life I really injured my back laying concrete and I couldn't stand straight for about three months. Report an error in the passage at 32:25 Highlight the passage at 32:25

32:57 It got better of course. But now I feel. I feel the muscles in my back and I make sure they're curved in a Sensible way. And once I get that curvature in my spine, it feels good. And I know that it can be sustained so easily over the course of the meditation. Then I go on the inside of my body. I can feel generally there's no problems there this afternoon. But sometimes you may have an ache in the tummy. Report an error in the passage at 32:57 Highlight the passage at 32:57

33:47 in the tummy and irritation in one of the intestines. Today everything is nicely relaxed. Nevertheless, I do... Report an error in the passage at 33:47 Highlight the passage at 33:47

34:20 These things disappear when you're given kindness, just like many of you. When you're carrying the weight of the world by yourself, it's almost impossible. Someone comes and cares for you, even volunteers to give you a hand. It's not the hand you need, it's the kindness. Report an error in the passage at 34:20 Highlight the passage at 34:20

34:42 And that kindness waves away a lot of the pain. It vanishes. So Report an error in the passage at 34:42 Highlight the passage at 34:42

34:54 I sweep up my body with kindness. Go to all those big organs, stomach, the lungs, the heart. Sometimes I don't know whether I really am watching my heart, just that area. Anything I see there, I give it kindness. It relaxes. It doesn't cause me any problem. Report an error in the passage at 34:54 Highlight the passage at 34:54

35:23 And then, at the top of my body, I get to my shoulders. My goodness, I don't know why. But my shoulders are always more tense than they should be. So one of the ways which I abandon that tension is actually going the opposite direction, scrunching them up as tight as I can squeeze my shoulders together and then I let go. Report an error in the passage at 35:23 Highlight the passage at 35:23

35:58 And it always gets more relaxed than when I started. It's a simple way of relaxation. Go Report an error in the passage at 35:58 Highlight the passage at 35:58

36:09 down my arms. As I go down my arms, plus my elbows, forearms, wrists, hands, and fingers, all the time the same method, relaxing everything as I go along, giving them peace, kindness. If ever you need any help, fingers, of course I will help you. Just that amount of confidence makes even every finger. Report an error in the passage at 36:09 Highlight the passage at 36:09

36:46 Be at ease. I feel my fingers kind of sinking, sinking into softness, into safety, into kindness. They don't need to feel tense. They really do relax to the max. They go up to the neck and on top of the shoulders. Report an error in the passage at 36:46 Highlight the passage at 36:46

37:15 You notice the reason why the neck can get tense is because your head is not properly positioned on top. So in order to find out the best position, I've got my eyes closed. I lean to the left and the right, push the head forward and back, wiggle it around until I can find the best position, the optimum position for my neck today. Report an error in the passage at 37:15 Highlight the passage at 37:15

37:40 When you find that position, you feel so much more comfortable. And lastly, lastly I go to my feelings around, sensations around the eyes. The nose and the mouth. I don't close my eyes tightly. Don't squeeze them shut. I let the top lid fall on the lower lid softly. So it's closed, but not shut tight. Report an error in the passage at 37:40 Highlight the passage at 37:40

38:20 That's all I need. And around the nose, especially today, I've got an irritation from hay fever. I can feel sort of that muscles. In the nose or sinuses, kind of reacting fearfully with what I perceive as irritation. Report an error in the passage at 38:20 Highlight the passage at 38:20

38:47 I let it be. It's trying to heal itself. And then around the mouth, closed but not shut tight. I'm relaxed as I can possibly be, using the feedback given by mindfulness. See how it's improving or getting worse. Report an error in the passage at 38:47 Highlight the passage at 38:47

39:10 And noticing it's the kindness which is doing most of the work. To relax, reassure, and make all the parts of my body feel at ease. Report an error in the passage at 39:10 Highlight the passage at 39:10

39:29 Pause, aware of my whole body, not separating it into parts anymore, but feeling as a unit, cared for, relaxed, and Report an error in the passage at 39:29 Highlight the passage at 39:29

39:46 I'm happy. And Report an error in the passage at 39:46 Highlight the passage at 39:46

39:53 I can't avoid just indulging in that happiness of bodily peace. Report an error in the passage at 39:53 Highlight the passage at 39:53

40:02 You give about a minute or two. Then Report an error in the passage at 40:02 Highlight the passage at 40:02

40:09 from the body awareness, I go to the mind. The body's been looked after. It seems to be okay now for me to go to see and calm my mind down. Report an error in the passage at 40:09 Highlight the passage at 40:09

40:30 I try and continue on almost seamlessly. My body's at peace. Now I lead my mind. mind into being at peace. Report an error in the passage at 40:30 Highlight the passage at 40:30

40:50 First of all, I kind of lost my mind. I'm not looking Report an error in the passage at 40:50 Highlight the passage at 40:50

41:00 at the comfort of my body now. I'm looking at the peace of my mind. And as soon as that's what is important for you, it starts to get peaceful. Report an error in the passage at 41:00 Highlight the passage at 41:00

41:16 Like I know the causes of peace. Report an error in the passage at 41:16 Highlight the passage at 41:16

41:22 Through those causes, I give up concern for the future. I don't care about what's happened in the past. That can't be changed now. Now I'm just aware of this present moment. Just now. It's more than good enough. With no worries or concerns at all about even the next moment. Report an error in the passage at 41:22 Highlight the passage at 41:22

41:50 I don't worry what's going to come up next. Just like an interesting, an interesting unknown sequence of events called my life already. Report an error in the passage at 41:50 Highlight the passage at 41:50

42:13 And Report an error in the passage at 42:13 Highlight the passage at 42:13

42:17 the present moment causes me to be peaceful and Report an error in the passage at 42:17 Highlight the passage at 42:17

42:26 encourages me to go even more into the present moment, into what I call silence. Can't Report an error in the passage at 42:26 Highlight the passage at 42:26

42:42 describe now what happened last moment. No point in trying to think about what's happening next. Just here now, peaceful, silent, and Report an error in the passage at 42:42 Highlight the passage at 42:42

43:02 notice how it feels. If it's real peace and silence, it's joyful. So much of the cause is worry, fear, disappointment, depression about the past. So much of that is gone. Report an error in the passage at 43:02 Highlight the passage at 43:02

43:28 That lives in a place and I'm not there in this moment. Report an error in the passage at 43:28 Highlight the passage at 43:28

43:44 It's usually at this point I just can't keep speaking. I become quiet and let my mind, your mind too. Carry on in silence. I'll ring the gong when it gets close to the end of the meditation period. Right now, I'm going quiet. Report an error in the passage at 43:44 Highlight the passage at 43:44

· · · silence, 16 minutes

59:59 Getting close to the end of the meditation. Not ended yet. Now's Report an error in the passage at 59:59 Highlight the passage at 59:59

1:00:11 the opportunity to see how you feel. To see what this meditation has induced in your mind. How peaceful you are. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:11 Highlight the passage at 1:00:11

1:00:32 All meditation creates peace. Sometimes we don't pause to notice it, to notice its result on us. Peace of mind leads to health of body. How Report an error in the passage at 1:00:32 Highlight the passage at 1:00:32

1:00:58 do you feel and what worked for you today? Are you Report an error in the passage at 1:00:58 Highlight the passage at 1:00:58

1:01:12 ready? Come out of the meditation slowly. Ring Report an error in the passage at 1:01:12 Highlight the passage at 1:01:12

1:01:21 the gong, kind of just to confirm this. A Report an error in the passage at 1:01:21 Highlight the passage at 1:01:21

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:02:06 little smile at the end is always great. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:06 Highlight the passage at 1:02:06

1:02:17 As usual, it's an opportunity for any questions. Before asking the audience in front of me, it's from the computer. The reason I do this is if you get quiet and peaceful in meditation, basically you just can't ask a question. Mind is too still. Here Report an error in the passage at 1:02:17 Highlight the passage at 1:02:17

1:02:46 we go. And after these questions... Open it up for the ones who want to ask a question from the floor. Question one. Dear Ajahn, question from Indonesia. Please kindly remind us about what mindfulness is and how it plays a role in working with meditation. Mindfulness is another word for awareness. You can feel. For example, I may have no feelings at all in my finger. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:46 Highlight the passage at 1:02:46

1:03:22 I have, it's fine. But the more feelings I have in my finger, the more I can be aware of and see just how life actually happens just in the finger. And the mindfulness offers me the opportunity to get feedback. I can see how things change. And sometimes I can feel that just focusing on just one finger and relaxing it to the max, I feel so much more. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:22 Highlight the passage at 1:03:22

1:03:52 Peaceful and happy. So mindfulness is being aware. Aware of your body. But it's not just the body. Afterwards, you're mindful of really interesting stuff. Just your mind. I should just pause, though, because I do a lot of teaching over many years of people with cancer. It's going to be a very nasty disease. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:52 Highlight the passage at 1:03:52

1:04:22 But then with mindfulness, it's amazing what you can do. It's kind of boggling. And so sometimes we get people with cancer and the cancer's just no longer there. A bit of mindfulness can do amazing stuff. Not for everybody, but for many people. Then the mindfulness of the mind. Why do thoughts come in your mind? Why do they affect us? One beautiful way of learning how Not to allow them to disturb us. And that's just a simple teaching I read many, many, many years ago. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:22 Highlight the passage at 1:04:22

1:05:04 It comes from the Chinese Lao Tzu. And he was the one, I've mentioned this many times before, but it's such a beautiful teaching. He was the one who was walking with a disciple. They were in noble silence. They weren't allowed to say anything. And after a while, they saw this beautiful sunset. And the disciple forgot the rule and said, wow, what a beautiful sunset. And the master said, you can't go and walk with me anymore. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:04 Highlight the passage at 1:05:04

1:05:37 You broke the important rule of silence. And then his friends would say, why are you so strict? What's wrong when you're walking quietly, see a beautiful sunset? What's wrong with saying what a beautiful sunset? And that's when. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:37 Highlight the passage at 1:05:37

1:05:58 That's when the master said, when he said, what a beautiful sunset, he was not watching the sunset anymore. He was watching the words. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:58 Highlight the passage at 1:05:58

1:06:11 When you think, you're not watching the event, you're describing it, trying to capture it in words, which always fail. It's much nicer to see much more of the sunset when you're quiet. That's why, when I was a scientist, I was not sort of an atheist, but... Once you start meditating, you can see so much beauty in the world. And even actually so much beauty in sounds. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:11 Highlight the passage at 1:06:11

1:06:43 And even, as many of you know, that sometimes in my eyes, this carpet in here, I don't know how long this carpet has been here, the same, but every time I look at it after meditation, it looks so beautiful. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:43 Highlight the passage at 1:06:43

1:07:04 I appreciate it more. At first I thought I was going crazy. Why is it so beautiful? That's what happens with the mind. When it gets still, you see so much joy in whatever you perceive. So that's when you see more deeply, when you see it quietly. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:04 Highlight the passage at 1:07:04

1:07:29 Next one from Germany. How do I calm pain when it is too strong and breath is short after a tumor operation? Hard to relax then. What can I do? It seems like I stand still and pain gets worse. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:29 Highlight the passage at 1:07:29

1:07:48 With your mindfulness, you can find out, experiment what makes the pain less, what makes it less hurtful, what position, how long do you have to be still for. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:48 Highlight the passage at 1:07:48

1:08:04 So you soon learn. That's what mindfulness is supposed to do for you. You learn when I sit like this, it's not comfortable. When I sit like that, it's not comfortable. After a while, you can find the best posture where you are really comfortable. And sometimes it's amazing. One of the things which I remember, it's an old story again. When I was a young monk in Thailand, bad toothache, middle of the night, these things always happen in the middle of the night, there's no telephone anywhere close to those old monasteries. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:04 Highlight the passage at 1:08:04

1:08:42 But I did once notice there was a box there with a cross on it. It was like the medicine cabinet. I went in there, I went to open it up, You know what was inside of it? Nothing. Totally empty. It looked impressive, but there was nothing inside of it. Oh my goodness. There's no way I could get rid of that pain. And it was really bad. And so I tried everything, but eventually what worked? Report an error in the passage at 1:08:42 Highlight the passage at 1:08:42

1:09:14 And what worked in? Ah, totally unexpected. I always heard the word let go. Have you heard that word before? What does it mean? I found out what it meant. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:14 Highlight the passage at 1:09:14

1:09:31 I let go. Really let go. And honestly, all the pain went immediately, which was, I couldn't understand. One moment, I didn't know what to do. No way I could sleep. Because when you're in great pain, you always have to move. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:31 Highlight the passage at 1:09:31

1:09:55 But now, let go. There's no more pain in my mouth. It's weird. Eventually, I went to bed. When I woke up in the morning, I had an ache in my jaw. It wasn't that bad. But the way that I could just let it go so easily. You can if you do the letting go properly. So that is weird. Give it a try. Let go. And let go means letting go of all of your expectations and hopes. Letting go is not making a deal and you take... Report an error in the passage at 1:09:55 Highlight the passage at 1:09:55

1:10:37 Your pains are caught afterwards. You're supposed to be able to disappear. You didn't. You had to be so gentle and calm. Now a talk from India. My boyfriend suffers from multiple sclerosis, which means he has pains randomly happening in his body the entire day. He also suffers from depression, not able to work. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:37 Highlight the passage at 1:10:37

1:11:00 You can understand how you can suffer from depression if you have multiple pains all the day. But... You know people with multiple sclerosis, and sometimes it's amazing. They learn to live with it. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:00 Highlight the passage at 1:11:00

1:11:19 It can be done. That's why people who have multiple sclerosis, sometimes, you know, you see the great examples, and they still live a life. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:19 Highlight the passage at 1:11:19

1:11:32 And you ask how you do that. There's some sort of motivation, some sort of beauty, some sort of happiness in the life. Where they can counter the pain and disappointment with joy. I'm Report an error in the passage at 1:11:32 Highlight the passage at 1:11:32

1:11:58 just reading it out. I'm not making it up. Suzanne from Germany. I'm so happy you are back. Are the formless attainments within the realm of the mind? Or is only Nibbāna beyond the mind? Yes. Well done. That's a technical question. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:58 Highlight the passage at 1:11:58

1:12:25 So it's probably not worthwhile. Keep on explaining it, but it's true. The mind... I was telling this to the... Okay, it's the last question. And I was telling this to the Singaporeans who were meditating at the retreat over in Jhana Grove, finished this morning. And for those retreatants, some of them were really good meditators. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:25 Highlight the passage at 1:12:25

1:12:57 And one of the last interviews, I was kind of surprised and I was impressed with them. And so when they asked a question similar to this, I thought, why not, let's just give the full answer. If you can't understand now, it doesn't matter because the teaching is true and you kind of remember it. And later on in your life, it really helps. So this is where... Report an error in the passage at 1:12:57 Highlight the passage at 1:12:57

1:13:29 The way of meditation, the deep meditations which we do, the reason for them is that, I think you already noticed from some of the talks, you may not have experienced it totally, but when you meditate your body vanishes. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:29 Highlight the passage at 1:13:29

1:13:45 You can't feel your hands, your body disappears. I know sometimes people say that once the body has vanished you can't see, your eyes close, if you open your eyes you won't be able to see anything. You can't hear anything, and you can't smell, taste, or touch. You can't feel the body anymore. It's just, you can't, but you're perfectly aware. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:45 Highlight the passage at 1:13:45

1:14:10 In the sixth of the six senses, the mind, you know. And imagine just, you're so free of the five senses, my goodness, you go back again later. But that time is very, very beautiful and peaceful. And then, what happens next? You get into these jhānas, which I love talking about, and then those jhānas, even the first of those jhānas, you're free from the five sense world. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:10 Highlight the passage at 1:14:10

1:14:40 And there are all these mad stories, crazy stories. I say mad, crazy, you understand what they are, they're beautiful. Even like, to make it clear, this is even you, one of the people who used to come here to meditate years ago. He just told his wife he's going to go into the bedroom to meditate for half an hour, 40 minutes. Not a monk, not a great meditator yet, but he soon will be. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:40 Highlight the passage at 1:14:40

1:15:09 And when he went into his bedroom to meditate, usually for 30 minutes, 40 minutes, after an hour he hadn't come out of the bedroom, so his wife went in there to check how he was. And this guy, sitting perfectly still. I mean, really perfectly still. She looked at him closely. She couldn't even see him breathing. She freaked out. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:09 Highlight the passage at 1:15:09

1:15:36 She called the ambulance. It was a Sunday afternoon. An ambulance came for Charlie Gardner. And when it came, with everything making a loud noise, da-da-da-da-da-da, and the ambulance, the medics, rushing into the house, feeling his pulse. No pulse. Feeling his breathing, no breathing. They got the machines out just to check for sure. And he was not breathing, not metabolizing. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:36 Highlight the passage at 1:15:36

1:16:11 It seemed he was dead. They rushed him to the hospital not that far away. And when the doctor on duty, wonderful good fortune, the doctor on duty was, his parents had migrated to Australia from India. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:11 Highlight the passage at 1:16:11

1:16:29 And so he hadn't really known too much about Indian culture, but he'd heard his parents and family talk about people who go in such deep meditation, they can stop breathing, stop their pulse, everything, like they're dead. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:29 Highlight the passage at 1:16:29

1:16:47 And the doctor had heard from his wife that what caused this, caused it, was meditation. He'd been meditating. And for those of you who have read some suttas, more scholastic about meditation, you may have read that the difference between being dead and being in deep meditation, in deep meditation the body remains warm. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:47 Highlight the passage at 1:16:47

1:17:19 When you're dead, you go cold. That's what it says in the suttas, and this is a great example of that. His body was still warm. It didn't go cold. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:19 Highlight the passage at 1:17:19

1:17:32 So the doctor, that was enough of a hint to not send him to the morgue immediately, but in those days put defibrillators on his body, little like shocks, so he moved above the, what was it, the stretch of the table or whatever. And I've seen sort of... Not photos, but videos of someone having a defibrillator shock to try and get the heart going again. It's really violent. He never felt any of that. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:32 Highlight the passage at 1:17:32

1:18:10 How do I know this, what he felt? He told me about it afterwards. He wasn't dead. He was in a beautiful, peaceful, blissful state. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:10 Highlight the passage at 1:18:10

1:18:24 And eventually, many defibrillators on him. He just decided, time to come out of the meditation. That simple. And I talked to him. I kind of asked him all the relevant questions. Could you hear anything? No. Were you aware? Oh yeah. Fully aware, but not of my body. Fully aware of my mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:24 Highlight the passage at 1:18:24

1:18:52 And then I just decided to come out. And then beep, beep, beep. You know those machines where they show the heartbeats. Other stuff, it's always working normally. And the funny stuff about this, which I love saying, I've said it many times before here, I asked him afterwards, I said, what was the worst part of that experience? Report an error in the passage at 1:18:52 Highlight the passage at 1:18:52

1:19:20 And he said, the worst part, there's only one worst part, I was so healthy afterwards, the doctor let me walk home. Walk home. Didn't you stay overnight? No, nothing wrong with me. So what was the bad part of the experience? She said, the scolding I had to endure from my wife. Don't you ever do that again. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:20 Highlight the passage at 1:19:20

1:19:44 It was actually an experience. And because of experience like that, that's the deepest part of the meditation. What happens? Everything stops. Become really peaceful. Please don't be scared. Best happiness you've ever had. And the afterglow afterwards. Especially if you just avoid your partner. So you can focus on what I call the afterglow meditation. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:44 Highlight the passage at 1:19:44

1:20:21 Beautiful. And you feel so healthy afterwards. Now that might not be what many of you expect, but you've got it anyway. So that's the answer to those four questions. Because I've gone over time, especially with that last question. Is there any other questions from the floor? Going. Going. Gone. Great. If anyone has a question afterwards, you can come and ask personally. But now, again, I'm trying to keep to the time scales. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:21 Highlight the passage at 1:20:21

1:20:53 So I'm now going to bow three times to Buddha, Dhamma, and Saṅgha, and then the formal part of the meeting will be finished. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:53 Highlight the passage at 1:20:53