Stilling The Hindrances With Jhana Factors

0:01 This is what should be done by one who is killed in goodness. And who knows the path of peace Let them be able and upright Straightforward and gentle in speech Humble and not conceited Contented and easily satisfied Unburdened with duties And frugal in their ways Report an error in the passage at 0:01 Highlight the passage at 0:01

0:40 Peaceful and calm and wise and skillful, not proud and demanding in nature. Let them not do the slightest thing that the wise would later reprove. Wishing in gladness and in safety, may all beings be happy. whatever living beings there may be, whether they are weak or strong. The Great or the Mighty Medium, Short or Small The Seen and the Unseen Those Living Near and Far Away Report an error in the passage at 0:40 Highlight the passage at 0:40

1:31 Those born and to be born may all beings be happy. Let none deceive another or despise any being in any state. Let none through anger or ill will wish harm upon another, even as the mother protects with her life her child, her only child, so with a boundless heart. Should one cherish all living beings Radiating kindness over the entire world Spreading upwards to the skies And downwards to the depths Ours and unbounded Free from hatred and ill will Whether standing or walking Sitting or lying down Being free from drowsiness, one should sustain this recollection. This is said to be the sublime abiding by not holding to fixed wills. Report an error in the passage at 1:31 Highlight the passage at 1:31

2:49 The pure-hearted one, having clarity of vision, being free from all sense desires, is not born again into this world. Report an error in the passage at 2:49 Highlight the passage at 2:49

3:10 So the time will be passed to you, Dennis. Thank you very much. Report an error in the passage at 3:10 Highlight the passage at 3:10

3:20 You have to unmute yourself first. Unmute yourself. Is Report an error in the passage at 3:20 Highlight the passage at 3:20

3:31 that it? Yeah, I can hear you now. Very good. So hello, everybody. I'm very pleased to be here tonight to talk a little bit about Buddhism. And tonight, well, just before we start the meditation, it's probably a good process, really, just to start to talk about. Report an error in the passage at 3:31 Highlight the passage at 3:31

4:00 because what i wanted to sort of talk about tonight was really just what you were talking about before in terms of the hindrances the the hindrances and and i'd like to just introduce at the same time when we're kind of talking about the hindrances um just the factors of jhāna factors these are not just so that uh gloria is not too uh Report an error in the passage at 4:00 Highlight the passage at 4:00

4:25 I'm upset about all of that. I'm not really meaning to sort of do jhānas with her. I'll teach her to do jhānas tonight or anything like that. But just really to talk about the factors that are there in the way that they kind of align with the hindrances to bring our attention to access concentration. Report an error in the passage at 4:25 Highlight the passage at 4:25

4:51 And I'd like to just sort of talk about access concentration as a way of... ...of developing mindfulness, because it actually turns out to be a very, very important thing. Mindfulness is a really important part of Buddhist practice. Report an error in the passage at 4:51 Highlight the passage at 4:51

5:08 Over the years, there's four factors in the foundations of mindfulness. Report an error in the passage at 5:08 Highlight the passage at 5:08

5:21 Satipaṭṭhāna, as they're called. And it's really all about learning how to feel. mindfulness. Report an error in the passage at 5:21 Highlight the passage at 5:21

5:26 You know, in all of the Buddha's lists and things that he sort of set up to help us with our practice, feeling is really one of the most important things that he speaks to. Report an error in the passage at 5:26 Highlight the passage at 5:26

5:41 Because feeling really is all about sort of understanding stillness, stillness in the mind. And it's not really something you can approach so much with an intellect. You've really got to feel it. Feel stillness in your mind to really understand what stillness actually is. So the first satipaṭṭhāna or the first factor of the first foundation of mindfulness is feeling, just straight feeling and probably just getting some sort of an understanding about what feeling is compared to intellectual thinking. Report an error in the passage at 5:41 Highlight the passage at 5:41

6:18 So then when we do our meditation in a moment, I'll kind of go through the second factor of The second satipaṭṭhāna, which is understanding stillness or understanding the mindfulness of the body. So we're going to be sort of sweeping through the body a little bit. Most of us do this anyway, I think, when we sort of start our meditation. I know that Ajahn Brahm, I've noticed that over the years and certainly in the last few years, really most of the meditation that he does, if he does a half an hour meditation, most of that meditation time is taken up with. Report an error in the passage at 6:18 Highlight the passage at 6:18

6:57 With developing stillness inside the body. So he kind of sweeps the body and sort of points all the way while he's doing this to the feelings in the different parts of the body. And that's sort of a very important thing to do. And it is the second factor of, or the second satipaṭṭhāna, the second foundation of mindfulness. Report an error in the passage at 6:57 Highlight the passage at 6:57

7:21 And then the third foundation of mindfulness is just something we might be able to sort of... Point to a little bit tonight too, and that's really mindfulness of mind, developing this mindfulness of mind, the mind itself. And that again is sort of in a way felt. It's felt as a vibration in our bodies. And maybe we'll talk to that a little bit too when we sort of get to the meditation part. Report an error in the passage at 7:21 Highlight the passage at 7:21

7:50 And then the fourth satipaṭṭhāna is understanding the phenomena that arises out of that stillness, out of that mind, the still mind that we sort of see in the third factor. So in the fourth factor, we're looking at the creations of the mind. So really all of the worldly things that we know about and sort of see. Report an error in the passage at 7:50 Highlight the passage at 7:50

8:20 all of the understandings, the creations, the thoughts. Thoughts and the viewpoints and everything like that all sort of falls into this category of phenomena of mind. But being mindful of all that and just where mindfulness sits in relation to those four satipatthanas is sort of an important thing to understand and is very helpful when you're kind of sitting meditation. Report an error in the passage at 8:20 Highlight the passage at 8:20

8:47 But tonight I was going to just go through and talk a little bit about the hindrances. And I'm imagining you all well and truly know what the hindrances are. There's five of them. And the first four group themselves into two pairs. So the first two hindrances are just simply desire and aversion. So really just a duality, a duality of... Report an error in the passage at 8:47 Highlight the passage at 8:47

9:16 of the way that we... The duality of really what it is to have contentment in your mind. So desire is sort of grasping onto, sort of bringing things into yourself, wanting to grab, wanting to grasp things. And the aversion is really the exact opposite of that. It's kind of the pushing away, pushing away things, the aversion to. Report an error in the passage at 9:16 Highlight the passage at 9:16

9:44 things that come into our mind. So that desire and the aversion sort of sets up in us like when it's nicely balanced, when those two things are understood, which hopefully they will be when we do some meditation in a moment, you really do start to see and understand what contentment is in your mind. You can see and feel what contentment is. And then the third and the fourth hindrance. Report an error in the passage at 9:44 Highlight the passage at 9:44

10:15 is really more about energy not not not so much of an awareness of of how you're uh experiencing the whole thing but just the the way that you're experiencing the energy that's in your body so the third one is restlessness and the fourth one is sloth and torpor or tiredness so these two again are like a pair they're they're a duality you know and so Report an error in the passage at 10:15 Highlight the passage at 10:15

10:45 When we're looking at restlessness, you can feel in your body just the way that you sometimes find it very difficult just to sit still. Report an error in the passage at 10:45 Highlight the passage at 10:45

10:57 But then there's other times when you're kind of very, very slothful and tired, so not really wanting to get involved in things. You're just sort of wanting to drop off to sleep. Report an error in the passage at 10:57 Highlight the passage at 10:57

11:14 So those, they're the first four of the hindrances, as I say, the first, and as you'll see, as you've seen there, they're two pairs. And the fifth hindrance is doubt, is doubting yourself, you know, just what you know, what you're thinking about, everything that sort of, that comes up to sort of give you a blockage, you know, is really about a doubt. Report an error in the passage at 11:14 Highlight the passage at 11:14

11:41 But doubts in many ways, well, certainly from the Buddha's point of view, can be quite a skillful means. Doubts can be, skeptical doubt especially, really a form of protection in a way because you can always use doubt to try and understand what you're being told or how people might be introducing concepts in Buddhism to you. Report an error in the passage at 11:41 Highlight the passage at 11:41

12:06 Because if you use your skeptical doubt, you can kind of... See whether or not something that you're being told is right or not right. True or not true. And to that extent you can use it to just check it out in your own body. Use the investigation of mindfulness really to check the whole thing out and just make sure that what you're being told is correct. Report an error in the passage at 12:06 Highlight the passage at 12:06

12:34 And so they're the five hindrances. Report an error in the passage at 12:34 Highlight the passage at 12:34

12:50 about that rather than getting into the complications of just what these jhāna factors are. But they are basically just things that balance out the hindrances. Report an error in the passage at 12:50 Highlight the passage at 12:50

13:00 So there's five. There's five of those two. There's first of all initial application. So this is when you first sit to do meditation, which sometimes you don't really want to do meditation. So it's quite hard to sort of get that initial application up and running in your body. But once it starts, once you've got the initial application going, then you know that you're on the way with meditation. Report an error in the passage at 13:00 Highlight the passage at 13:00

13:30 And then the second one is sustained application. So you're then at a point where you're really starting to sustain the input of the meditation. The meditation is sort of well on the way of being established. And then once you have got your meditation established, then you sort of move into the way that you feel. Report an error in the passage at 13:30 Highlight the passage at 13:30

13:58 Usually the... There's a feelings of great joy and happiness, rapture. This is like the third factor of these jhāna factors. And then that even goes deeper. You hear Ajahn Ram talking about this all the time, but it goes deeper even than just rapture. This is when it starts to move into a more tranquil zone of your mind where you're starting to sort of feel bliss. Report an error in the passage at 13:58 Highlight the passage at 13:58

14:27 It's like a blissful sort of... Feeling when you really start feeling the energy of your body and all of both of those, the rapture and the bliss, the third and the fourth factor of jhāna factors here are really all about the energy in your body. And again, that sort of relates back to mindfulness and the way that we investigate using mindfulness to investigate our body and sort of feel it. Report an error in the passage at 14:27 Highlight the passage at 14:27

14:55 And again, I'm going to point a little bit. And then the fifth hindrance is really just access concentration, where you've got this concentration established. You're starting to really establish the concentration. And that, again, really fixes for you. It fixes the desire that's there in the hindrance. Report an error in the passage at 14:55 Highlight the passage at 14:55

15:27 That kind of just establishes the meditation properly. So that's just the way that all of that works. And hopefully we'll look at that a little bit when we're doing meditation in a moment. Report an error in the passage at 15:27 Highlight the passage at 15:27

15:41 I'll just keep an eye on the time just so that I'll stop in about half an hour, just so that I'll follow your program here. But I'd also just like to point to you and just point out for you just the... The importance, too, of understanding the present moment, because this present moment, I mean, we talk about that a lot, and it's sort of a bit of a no-brainer, really. Report an error in the passage at 15:41 Highlight the passage at 15:41

16:08 We all know that the present moment is really where meditation likes to go to. It's kind of when you're focused and you're not kind of, your mind's not dallying with the past and it's not sort of involved in the future. It means that you're, it means that you are. Report an error in the passage at 16:08 Highlight the passage at 16:08

16:26 Really starting to focus well, and you're coming into the present moment. I always like to think of the Buddha, you know, when he left the palace. I imagine that, and just in relation to this present moment, when he first left the palace, you know, as you all know, the Buddha was, you know, a prince. Report an error in the passage at 16:26 Highlight the passage at 16:26

16:50 So in his life as a young man, he would have probably had a life that was fairly, Report an error in the passage at 16:50 Highlight the passage at 16:50

16:58 Happy, fairly even, you know, he had the best that life had to offer. I would imagine anyway, when I'm sort of thinking about his life as a prince there in the kingdom with his father and his family, he would have had the best that life had to offer, you know, had the best of clothing that you could probably have, the best of food, the best of experience in the way of, you know, apparently he was a good horseman and he kind of knew. Report an error in the passage at 16:58 Highlight the passage at 16:58

17:26 good sportsman as well had lots of things lots of things going for him like that and he also had uh lots of friends apparently he was a very uh personable fellow so really he came out of that first part of uh of his life the young part of his life even though he was sort of had this discontent that was there in his um in his life this discontent tent where where he he was was kind kind of of Really worried about the mystery of life, which is something that I do too. I find exactly the same thing, just trying to understand just what this world is about, because to me it is a mystery. Report an error in the passage at 17:26 Highlight the passage at 17:26

18:06 It's just a total, when I sort of think about this life, it's kind of bizarre in a way, just the way that we're kind of living, the way we do on this planet, and we've got a moon going around. around us and we're traveling around the sun and we're going through space. We know all of that now, especially these days. We know just what physicists and science is telling us about all of that. Report an error in the passage at 18:06 Highlight the passage at 18:06

18:32 And to me, it's just a bizarre thing to be living on this earth in a solar system of planets and going around the sun and the sun and this whole kind of retinue of... Report an error in the passage at 18:32 Highlight the passage at 18:32

18:51 you know, what does all that mean? You know, and we know that as we look out into space and we kind of look at the stars and all that stuff that is a long, long way away, we know that we are looking back in time when we do that. We know that now. And the Buddha kind of realised all that rule about time two and a half thousand years ago. It's not something that... Report an error in the passage at 18:51 Highlight the passage at 18:51

19:14 That was unknown to him. He somehow sort of twigged that and understood it. So anyway, he was feeling that this mystery of life was something that he really needed to come to terms with. And that was really why he left the palace. And it must have been a big decision to do that, just to leave, you know, even his wife, leave his wife and his son to go out into the world. Report an error in the passage at 19:14 Highlight the passage at 19:14

19:44 Shave off his hair. He gave all his fine, probably his embroidered clothes, I imagine, to his attendant and gave his attendant the horse that he had and just put on these brown rag robes that he, that were, you know, and this was particularly prominent at that time. There was a lot of people that actually lived that kind of life. Report an error in the passage at 19:44 Highlight the passage at 19:44

20:14 Back then, two and a half thousand years ago in India, probably very different to the experience in Europe, I would think. But at any rate, he went into this life and probably spent quite a bit of time. And I imagine he would have been thinking about his past and just the opulence that he came from and the good stuff that he had. But he realised his meditation wasn't going well at all. Report an error in the passage at 20:14 Highlight the passage at 20:14

20:42 So, you know, he started to think about just what will I do to, you know, to try and sort of break through and understand this. So then, you know, then his mind went to asceticism. So he became an ascetic. And he was a good ascetic, you know, like he had quite a following apparently of people that used to come and watch to see how well he could sort of thrash himself, how he could maybe starve himself for that too. Report an error in the passage at 20:42 Highlight the passage at 20:42

21:10 And you do see people doing that. These days, you know, people that sort of flog themselves, flail themselves and wear hair shirts and that sort of thing, all with an attempt to try and sort of force truth out. But after, you know, a few years of doing this and when he was really quite emaciated, I don't know how many of you have actually been to Bangkok and in the Golden Palace there, there's a whole row of these emaciated Buddhas, just these statues where the Buddhas Report an error in the passage at 21:10 Highlight the passage at 21:10

21:46 basically he was he nearly got to a point where he nearly died he was just so emaciated And anyway, he, you know, he started to realise this is not the way to do it either. So, you know, he had the pathway of opulence and plenty and hedonism probably. And now he'd sort of been down this pathway of asceticism. Report an error in the passage at 21:46 Highlight the passage at 21:46

22:12 So then he thought, now, how will I go from here? What do I do? And then his mind just came upon the idea that he would go to the middle way. He said, what about the middle way between those extremes? So rather than sort of having the extreme of hedonism and so on, the extreme of asceticism, he went straight to the middle way. Report an error in the passage at 22:12 Highlight the passage at 22:12

22:39 And of course, that's really... The midpoint of the past and the future, you know, and it's sort of where we kind of all know these days that this is really where we're trying to look at and understand. And the Buddha kind of certainly, you know, was very good at deciphering what all that meant. And that was really where his meditation really did start to take off. You know, and eventually he found This way through right into the heart of the present moment, right into the heart of and feeling the energy that's there. Because the other important thing that I'd just like to tell everyone about or just speak about a bit is really the energy that is there. Report an error in the passage at 22:39 Highlight the passage at 22:39

23:28 Because in physics, when they talk about the energy of the universe, they talk about it as zero point energy. So this is energy that comes from the zero point, which is really the present moment. This present moment is just there, but it's there and it's everywhere. So it might seem a little bit strange to try and understand just what a zero point means. Report an error in the passage at 23:28 Highlight the passage at 23:28

23:55 But if you think about it, it's energy that is everywhere. It's everywhere in space. It's everywhere in the universe. It's everywhere in your body. Even inside your own body, there's a lot of space in there and all of the elements and the... Even the subatomic particles, all those little aggregations that make up the systems of your body, they all have this energy that's sort of flying through it. Report an error in the passage at 23:55 Highlight the passage at 23:55

24:22 And this energy is right there in the present moment because this present moment has got to feed all of the systems of our body. And it really does that beyond space and time. It's not something that happens inside space and time. It happens beyond what you can measure. And beyond what you can measure in what they call these days the quantum realm is really where all of this energy is. Report an error in the passage at 24:22 Highlight the passage at 24:22

24:52 It's where the energy of atomic bombs come from, come from out of the space. It's just there in an infinite way, all of this spatial energy. And so this... Energy again, you know, like, and I'll just sort of refer you back to what we were talking about just before, just the energy of rapture, the energy of bliss. This is really where all of that is coming from. Report an error in the passage at 24:52 Highlight the passage at 24:52

25:19 It's coming from, this energy is coming, it's inside your body. And when we get to it, we're just about ready, I'll stop in a minute and do some meditation and just try and incorporate a few of these ideas into the meditation. But when you're sitting there, when you're sitting and you're feeling, Especially with your hands, and if I just sort of, you know, just showing them here, just the right hand on the left with the thumbs just gently touching, but just to hold it light. Report an error in the passage at 25:19 Highlight the passage at 25:19

25:50 And you can actually feel the nerve endings of your fingers. You start to feel the little tingling sensation of the energy that's sort of flying through all of the nerves. But in actual fact, when you kind of... Report an error in the passage at 25:50 Highlight the passage at 25:50

26:04 Work with that and understand it more and more. You start to see how that energy is really all over your body. And this is really how this and why this bliss and this rapture comes about in the meditation. And it's because we're kind of, when that happens, when that's starting to happen, we're really relaxing. Our body is relaxing and it's really starting to settle into the present moment. Report an error in the passage at 26:04 Highlight the passage at 26:04

26:33 It's starting to become quite still and quite, well, it's certainly concentrated too, but before even the concentration goes there, there's this sort of calmness that sort of descends upon us. And once all of that works, then the concentration really starts to pick up and that's when you get to the access concentration, which is the fifth jhāna factor that I was talking about there. Report an error in the passage at 26:33 Highlight the passage at 26:33

27:01 You can really establish it well because you're kind of feeling into your body just with using those satipatthanas, using the foundations of mindfulness to really investigate into your body and feel all of this energy that's there, the energy that's right there in your body. And that, of course, is all very, very helpful to the meditation. So I'm happy to, if there's anyone got any questions up to there, that's fine, I can... Report an error in the passage at 27:01 Highlight the passage at 27:01

27:29 Do that, or we can just go straight on and do the meditation, if you like. What do you think, Gloria? Anybody have any questions? Report an error in the passage at 27:29 Highlight the passage at 27:29

27:42 No? Then I think we can go straight to meditation. All right, well, that's good. So what I'd like you to do is just to sit here. I presume you're all sitting on a seat or some sort of a chair or something, like myself. Always nice when you're starting to sit like this to have your feet on the ground, because if you ground yourself, Gloria? Report an error in the passage at 27:42 Highlight the passage at 27:42

28:03 That's important. And, you know, some people, when we're talking about that, we often say that we're going to earth ourselves, we're earthing ourselves. So we are kind of getting or developing this knowledge that this body is part of the earth, and it is part of the earth. It's sort of all of the materials in our body, and even all the food and everything we eat, it all comes from the earth. Report an error in the passage at 28:03 Highlight the passage at 28:03

28:33 And before I was talking about the stars and going out into space and so on. And it's also true that our body and all of the heavier elements, the complex elements, they all come from stars. They come from supernova explosions in stars. So our bodies are really part of this earth, but they're also dependent on the stars, on the universe. Report an error in the passage at 28:33 Highlight the passage at 28:33

29:02 universe has evolved. So we are very much part of the universe and we're part of this world. And that's always sort of an important realisation to make. Report an error in the passage at 29:02 Highlight the passage at 29:02

29:15 So just sitting there with your back nice and straight, I always kind of recommend that you sort of come off the back of the chair, don't sort of lounge too much into it. But, you know, that's really up to you. You can kind of... do this or have your like but i think just off the chair is kind of good so that your back is is unsupported and you're supporting yourself to be nice and straight and you've got that little curve that little curve that's there in your um in the base of your spine uh working nicely so that it just feels like you're very comfortable so now just closing your mouth and closing your eyes breathing through your nose and just letting your tongue come up against the palate of your mouth and then first of all just taking one or two breaths and then Report an error in the passage at 29:15 Highlight the passage at 29:15

30:09 what I'd like you to do is just move your attention right down to your toes and I'm just going to pick a random toe and I'm going to say just pick your little toe little toe is probably a toe that we don't really think about that much but I'll just ask you to maybe just think about it now just see if you can feel into your little toe Report an error in the passage at 30:09 Highlight the passage at 30:09

30:34 You can use the, if you've got socks on or if you've got your feet on a carpet or a floor, you can use the floor or the carpet or your socks, any clothing that you have on, just to use it as an aid to feel into that little toe. Report an error in the passage at 30:34 Highlight the passage at 30:34

30:53 And just feeling, feeling into that. And then moving across all of your toes and then across the ball of your foot. And then up over the arch of your foot. Report an error in the passage at 30:53 Highlight the passage at 30:53

31:11 and then into the heel and Report an error in the passage at 31:11 Highlight the passage at 31:11

31:16 from there just then moving up into the ankle and you can feel maybe with the ankle where the ankle is sort of articulated the way that it's the way that it's joined to the lower part of your leg and the way that it's got this universal jointing where the ankle can sort of move in all directions and Report an error in the passage at 31:16 Highlight the passage at 31:16

31:40 then moving through the ankle into the lower part of your legs and then just feeling into the hard part of the shins seeing if you can I feel that bony, the bony shins, hard. Report an error in the passage at 31:40 Highlight the passage at 31:40

32:04 And then just moving your attention to the back of your legs, to the calves, calf muscles, which are again much softer and much more loose, not hard like your shins. Report an error in the passage at 32:04 Highlight the passage at 32:04

32:23 Then moving your attention up through your knees, just the way that the knees bend, quite articulated, but not quite as... much as what your ankles are but nonetheless just letting your attention sort of go to that bending of your knees just feeling that what does it feel like and Report an error in the passage at 32:23 Highlight the passage at 32:23

32:53 just if there's any tension there at all just allow it all to relax letting all the tensions relax and moving up into the thighs just Report an error in the passage at 32:53 Highlight the passage at 32:53

33:08 feeling those big strong muscles you can feel the strength in your muscles just to sense of the density and the capacity of those big muscles and Report an error in the passage at 33:08 Highlight the passage at 33:08

33:25 then moving through to your bottom and the way that you're sitting on your seat you can feel the pressure on your seat just feeling that up into your bottom and Report an error in the passage at 33:25 Highlight the passage at 33:25

33:39 then just moving your attention up to your stomach and this is usually where there's lots of lots of movement and little rumbles and gurgles and so on Report an error in the passage at 33:39 Highlight the passage at 33:39

33:57 In your stomach, you've got all of your intestines and all the bowels, and there's always movement going on there. Report an error in the passage at 33:57 Highlight the passage at 33:57

34:10 And you can start to feel into that, just feeling what that's like, especially after you've eaten. And then around to the lower part of your back, just again where that little curvy part in the base of your spine is, and just checking to see that all of that feels comfortable, relaxed, and strong. Report an error in the passage at 34:10 Highlight the passage at 34:10

34:41 And then moving up to the chest. Report an error in the passage at 34:41 Highlight the passage at 34:41

34:46 Where you can feel all sorts of rhythms going on there, rhythms of the heart, the rhythms of all the blood that's flowing through the different vessels, especially as your heart is pumping it around. Report an error in the passage at 34:46 Highlight the passage at 34:46

35:05 Sometimes you can even notice there's like the little clitter clatter of just valves opening and closing and things going everywhere. Report an error in the passage at 35:05 Highlight the passage at 35:05

35:21 Often times around here I like to just sort of pause for a moment and just Reflect with gratitude on my body and just the way that the body just continues on. Report an error in the passage at 35:21 Highlight the passage at 35:21

35:36 All of these years, for me now it's 76 years, heart still beating, quite a wonderful thing, all the systems intact. And then moving through to the back and you can feel the shoulder blades there, those big kind of bones that articulate your arms onto your body, this Report an error in the passage at 35:36 Highlight the passage at 35:36

36:09 feeling. And you're back there just making sure everything is comfortable and just relaxing if there's any tensions. Report an error in the passage at 36:09 Highlight the passage at 36:09

36:19 And then moving down through your arms and your upper arms first. Probably Report an error in the passage at 36:19 Highlight the passage at 36:19

36:27 just hanging or dropping down from your shoulders and then into your elbows. Again, that articulated joint of your elbows and through into your forearms and then into your wrists. Again, articulated. Report an error in the passage at 36:27 Highlight the passage at 36:27

36:53 And then into your hands and your fingers. Report an error in the passage at 36:53 Highlight the passage at 36:53

36:59 And again around your fingers here now, I'd like you just to take notice around your fingers especially. Can you feel any tingling there? Just tingling around the nerve endings in your fingers where all of those nerves, a lot of nerves there that just finish in and around your fingertips. Report an error in the passage at 36:59 Highlight the passage at 36:59

37:25 And if you do feel that tingling going on there, you can actually, what I like to do sometimes is to just You know, in a way in my mind, take a snapshot or a photo of that feeling and that movement that's sort of happening there with that stillness and then maybe applying, just taking that photo and applying it onto your shoulder or onto your thigh and Report an error in the passage at 37:25 Highlight the passage at 37:25

37:56 just seeing how that sensation of the feeling is there in those places as well. And then gradually, bit by bit, you'll start to realize that that tingling is really all over your body, right down to your toes, up through your legs, through your whole body. Report an error in the passage at 37:56 Highlight the passage at 37:56

38:24 And it's quite lovely just to feel that tingling. It's like an effervescent feeling, a fizzing, fizzes. Report an error in the passage at 38:24 Highlight the passage at 38:24

38:32 Sometimes you can feel like you're just about floating off your seat. Report an error in the passage at 38:32 Highlight the passage at 38:32

38:41 But just working with that to really feel it, to really understand it. This is the second satipaṭṭhāna. We're looking at... Mindfulness of feelings in the body, a Report an error in the passage at 38:41 Highlight the passage at 38:41

38:58 very important part of mindfulness. And Report an error in the passage at 38:58 Highlight the passage at 38:58

39:04 then moving then up through the neck, up into your head, around Report an error in the passage at 39:04 Highlight the passage at 39:04

39:15 your eyes and around your mouth, feeling around your mouth and your tongue. Again, places where there's much energy sort of flowing there, sensitive parts of your body. And up to the top of the head, behind the eyes. Report an error in the passage at 39:15 Highlight the passage at 39:15

39:38 Again, just letting it all relax. Report an error in the passage at 39:38 Highlight the passage at 39:38

39:45 And then when you are feeling relaxed, what I'd like you to do is just to start to bring your attention to the breath. And Report an error in the passage at 39:45 Highlight the passage at 39:45

39:55 we'll do some Ānāpānasati meditation where we are now just in the process of watching the feeling of the breath, feeling of the breath as it goes in and out. So just establishing yourself at the tip of your nose and Report an error in the passage at 39:55 Highlight the passage at 39:55

40:15 then just as your breath flows in, what I'd really like you to do is to take or to follow that breath as it's flowing in. Follow it all the way down through your neck and through your lungs, right down into your stomach to feel it going all the way down, feeling your tummy expanding out as your diaphragm kind of drops to allow the air to come in, and Report an error in the passage at 40:15 Highlight the passage at 40:15

40:46 then feeling the diaphragm move back the other way to help expel the air, pushing the air out as it's coming back up your body. Report an error in the passage at 40:46 Highlight the passage at 40:46

40:57 Out through your lungs and emptying the lungs and out through your neck and through your nose just to be reborn again. A new breath. A new breath is being reborn. I feel it again coming in, going all the way down through your body to your tummy, feeling the way it pushes your tummy out and Report an error in the passage at 40:57 Highlight the passage at 40:57

41:30 then in the expulsion cycle just watching. As your diaphragm moves in and watching the breath being pushed out as your expiration of the breath. And Report an error in the passage at 41:30 Highlight the passage at 41:30

41:49 I'd like you just to keep that momentum going for just a little while, just to keep that mindfulness of the way the breath is affecting your body all the way down to your tummy and Report an error in the passage at 41:49 Highlight the passage at 41:49

42:06 back up through your nose and then feeling the way that the breath goes out through the nose, through the tip of the nose. Report an error in the passage at 42:06 Highlight the passage at 42:06

42:18 how the breath comes back in through the tip of the nose and down again your tummy. Report an error in the passage at 42:18 Highlight the passage at 42:18

42:39 As you know, if you move off thinking about other things or moving away from the breath, just to immediately cut through very gently and very firmly. Report an error in the passage at 42:39 Highlight the passage at 42:39

42:51 and bring your attention back to the breath. Report an error in the passage at 42:51 Highlight the passage at 42:51

43:15 as it's moving down through your body. Report an error in the passage at 43:15 Highlight the passage at 43:15

43:42 I think it helps a lot if you can stay with that full cycle of breath from the tip of your nose right down to your tummy and then back out again. Just stay with that for a little while until your breath is established. But Report an error in the passage at 43:42 Highlight the passage at 43:42

44:03 then as the breath does become more subtle, and it will become more subtle, you Report an error in the passage at 44:03 Highlight the passage at 44:03

44:12 can perhaps just then just stay on guard at the tip of the nose without the need necessarily to follow it all the way through. Report an error in the passage at 44:12 Highlight the passage at 44:12

44:25 Just watching the subtle breath flow in and then the subtle breath flow out just at the tip of your nose and Report an error in the passage at 44:25 Highlight the passage at 44:25

· · · silence, 1 minute

45:12 just feeling the energy of your breath. Report an error in the passage at 45:12 Highlight the passage at 45:12

· · · silence, 1 minute

46:01 Now as we're doing this, you'll probably notice that already your breath is starting to become a little bit more subtle. Report an error in the passage at 46:01 Highlight the passage at 46:01

46:14 You're starting to relax and Report an error in the passage at 46:14 Highlight the passage at 46:14

46:26 you might want to just notice that the mind isn't playing with any desires. Report an error in the passage at 46:26 Highlight the passage at 46:26

46:36 And equally, it's not trying to push anything away. Report an error in the passage at 46:36 Highlight the passage at 46:36

46:43 It's just flowing in and it's flowing out. Report an error in the passage at 46:43 Highlight the passage at 46:43

46:51 So the desires and the aversions, the first two hindrances are coming into check. They're balancing. Report an error in the passage at 46:51 Highlight the passage at 46:51

47:08 And you might notice that your mind is moving to contentment. Report an error in the passage at 47:08 Highlight the passage at 47:08

47:16 Hopefully you're feeling quite content. Just watching the breath flow in and watching the breath flow out. Report an error in the passage at 47:16 Highlight the passage at 47:16

47:35 No desires, no aversions. No distractions, just Report an error in the passage at 47:35 Highlight the passage at 47:35

47:52 And then as the breath is becoming more subtle, you may notice too that the energy in your body has become quite balanced. You'll notice that there isn't any restlessness. Report an error in the passage at 47:52 Highlight the passage at 47:52

48:07 You're not trying to jump around or move around, shuffle around on your seat. You're just content to sit. Report an error in the passage at 48:07 Highlight the passage at 48:07

48:22 And you're not feeling tired or slothful with any torpor in your body. Your body is quite awake and it's energized because this energy flowing in and flowing out is energizing your body and Report an error in the passage at 48:22 Highlight the passage at 48:22

48:50 your energy is quite balanced. Hopefully right now you Report an error in the passage at 48:50 Highlight the passage at 48:50

49:04 can just notice that your body is content and the energy is balanced. Report an error in the passage at 49:04 Highlight the passage at 49:04

49:16 You're working with the hindrances and Report an error in the passage at 49:16 Highlight the passage at 49:16

49:37 hopefully the instruction is good enough so that you're not doubting anything. Report an error in the passage at 49:37 Highlight the passage at 49:37

49:46 And practice is starting to become sustained, a sustained application. And that sustained application covers any doubts, holds Report an error in the passage at 49:46 Highlight the passage at 49:46

50:05 them at bay. Report an error in the passage at 50:05 Highlight the passage at 50:05

50:21 The initial application has taken care of the sloth and the torpor. Report an error in the passage at 50:21 Highlight the passage at 50:21

50:31 Then it's been followed up with a sustained application that's taken care of doubts. And Report an error in the passage at 50:31 Highlight the passage at 50:31

51:05 with any luck, the third and the fourth jhāna factors might also be there. Just the rapture of the... When you're moving into understanding and being with the energy as it's flowing in and flowing out and Report an error in the passage at 51:05 Highlight the passage at 51:05

51:28 then becoming more subtle to bring on bliss, purity, joy. Report an error in the passage at 51:28 Highlight the passage at 51:28

51:42 It Report an error in the passage at 51:42 Highlight the passage at 51:42

51:46 feels so lovely to be able to do this meditation, to be able to experience its peace as you're moving to tranquility. And Report an error in the passage at 51:46 Highlight the passage at 51:46

52:17 then hopefully you'll be able to start to recognize the concentration that's coming. Report an error in the passage at 52:17 Highlight the passage at 52:17

52:29 You'll be able to notice how your meditation is starting to really establish itself. Report an error in the passage at 52:29 Highlight the passage at 52:29

52:42 Hindrances are starting to be taken care of and Report an error in the passage at 52:42 Highlight the passage at 52:42

52:48 you're starting to notice those jhāna factors that are there that are also covering the hindrances and taking you towards this deeper access concentration. Report an error in the passage at 52:48 Highlight the passage at 52:48

53:20 Even if all of that is not there exactly for you, you can just... Reflect on your meditation too at the same time to just notice how far you are Report an error in the passage at 53:20 Highlight the passage at 53:20

53:39 kind of advancing or you're establishing a mindful breath. Report an error in the passage at 53:39 Highlight the passage at 53:39

53:51 This mindfulness of breath. Report an error in the passage at 53:51 Highlight the passage at 53:51

53:56 Second Satipaṭṭhāna. Of Report an error in the passage at 53:56 Highlight the passage at 53:56

54:22 course what we've been doing here is what we call Samatha. Practicing to concentrate the mind. But just in the last five minutes that we've got what I would like for us to do is to Report an error in the passage at 54:22 Highlight the passage at 54:22

54:38 Use this concentration that we have built up in the last 20-25 minutes or so. Report an error in the passage at 54:38 Highlight the passage at 54:38

54:47 Use that concentration just to see if we can see and notice the vipassanā or the insight that is arising as we become more concentrated and more still in the mind. So I would invite you now to let go of your breath. Keep your eyes closed. Report an error in the passage at 54:47 Highlight the passage at 54:47

55:16 Keep your meditation going, but just notice what's there in your mind. Report an error in the passage at 55:16 Highlight the passage at 55:16

55:30 Notice if there's no thoughts in your mind. What does that feel like, to have no thoughts in your mind? Report an error in the passage at 55:30 Highlight the passage at 55:30

55:44 Is your mind still? Report an error in the passage at 55:44 Highlight the passage at 55:44

55:48 What does that feel like? Report an error in the passage at 55:48 Highlight the passage at 55:48

56:06 If you feel that you're getting lost with this, you can always just go back to the breath and sharpen the whole process up again. Report an error in the passage at 56:06 Highlight the passage at 56:06

56:20 But if you can hold the attention... Report an error in the passage at 56:20 Highlight the passage at 56:20

56:24 There, just notice, just notice what's there and what it feels like to have no thoughts. Report an error in the passage at 56:24 Highlight the passage at 56:24

56:32 Notice what it feels like to not be thinking, to be still. Can Report an error in the passage at 56:32 Highlight the passage at 56:32

56:51 you feel or see the energy that's flowing into your body? Can Report an error in the passage at 56:51 Highlight the passage at 56:51

57:05 you see or feel that tingling? And Report an error in the passage at 57:05 Highlight the passage at 57:05

· · · silence, 1 minute

57:50 just now that we're coming up to eight o 'clock, call Report an error in the passage at 57:50 Highlight the passage at 57:50

57:56 a halt to the meditation in a few minutes. What I'd like you just to keep your eyes closed and to keep your focus. And just reflect on what's happened. Report an error in the passage at 57:56 Highlight the passage at 57:56

58:12 what it feels like for you compared to when we started. Report an error in the passage at 58:12 Highlight the passage at 58:12

58:28 and you notice more energy in your body. Report an error in the passage at 58:28 Highlight the passage at 58:28

58:36 any relaxation that's there in your body compared to when you started. Now, Report an error in the passage at 58:36 Highlight the passage at 58:36

· · · silence, 1 minute

59:27 just as we're finishing off, I'd just like you to take three or four more breaths and then just gently open your eyes and come back to wherever you are. Back to the meeting. Report an error in the passage at 59:27 Highlight the passage at 59:27

1:00:00 Hopefully to see Gloria's wonderful face again on the screen. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:00 Highlight the passage at 1:00:00

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:00:34 Is everybody back? Report an error in the passage at 1:00:34 Highlight the passage at 1:00:34

1:01:04 How did all that work for everybody? How did it feel? Report an error in the passage at 1:01:04 Highlight the passage at 1:01:04

1:01:11 Did everybody feel the stillness? Anybody know the stillness? It was Report an error in the passage at 1:01:11 Highlight the passage at 1:01:11

1:01:25 relaxing. That's good. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:25 Highlight the passage at 1:01:25

1:01:33 You've got such a wonderful relaxing scene there behind you. It's probably very easy there. That was last Tuesday's sunrise. Yeah. Last Tuesday's sunrise. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:33 Highlight the passage at 1:01:33

1:01:52 Very good. I live on a man-made lake. Very pretty, relaxing. Yeah. I get hyperactive, so relaxing is good. It is good. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:52 Highlight the passage at 1:01:52

1:02:12 So I'm happy to take any questions, but if you would like me to sort of talk a little bit more about... The present moment, I'm happy to do that too, just to, because the present moment is very, it's really very important to understand. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:12 Highlight the passage at 1:02:12

1:02:31 Because the present moment is like a constant. It's a constant in nature, you know, like just there's several constants in nature, like the constancy of gravity. Gravity has, you know, it doesn't matter where you are in the universe, you know, gravity has the same constancy. And so does this present moment, probably more so than any other constant in nature, because it is always there. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:31 Highlight the passage at 1:02:31

1:03:03 It's what the Buddha called akaliko. Akaliko means timeless. And timelessness is really best understood, really, not only just through this life, from the time that we're born to the time that we die, but also... Report an error in the passage at 1:03:03 Highlight the passage at 1:03:03

1:03:28 doesn't only just mean this the timelessness of this life it's the timelessness of all of our lives And in that way we start to understand and recognize the mind stream, that stream of consciousness that is always there. It's there, no matter what. and it's always going to be there, well, it is always there when you, you know, once you become aware look at it it's so it has this this function of being a calico but but also sanditico the other this other word that's close to that that really means right here and now everything is right here and now so this is right here and now as it was in your past life right here and now and the time before that life right here and now Really going right back over, you know, how many lives there might be. Countless. Countless lives. Always right here and now. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:28 Highlight the passage at 1:03:28

1:04:31 Right here and now present. This is a Kaliko. The timelessness of what we're working with to understand here that the Buddha was teaching and talking to us about. So this present moment is really very important to sort of start seeing it that way. And to start seeing the idea that Well, because the Buddha, when he was teaching, he said that everything that I have seen, everything that I've taught or understood has been seen and understood in this fathom-long-length body. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:31 Highlight the passage at 1:04:31

1:05:11 So he wasn't looking out into the world. He wasn't looking out into space to try and understand the universe. He was looking inside his body. This is where he... This is where he sees it. This is what I'm trying to communicate a little bit here tonight, just by talking about the earth in our body, but also the stars. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:11 Highlight the passage at 1:05:11

1:05:32 We are children of the stars. That's kind of the truth of how it is. This universe is inside us. This world is inside us. And it's only really when we start to see it that way that we start to develop what... The Buddha called right view. You know, this is the first factor of the Noble Eightfold Path. The first two factors of the wisdom part of the Eightfold Path. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:32 Highlight the passage at 1:05:32

1:06:03 Right view and right intention. And once you start to see that way, the way that the Buddha was seeing it, then you're starting to really understand what he was talking about. Because this whole process is a Kalaka and it is Sanditika. It's all... It is right here and now and always has been right here and now, always will be. So again, this present moment is really just so important for us to contemplate and understand, contemplating this. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:03 Highlight the passage at 1:06:03

1:06:41 And we do this really by using the Satipatthanas again, just coming back to the foundations of mindfulness. Because when you're looking at the seven factors of enlightenment, the first factor is mindfulness itself, to be mindful. And even when I'm sort of talking about this energy in the body, when we're feeling this energy in the body, to be able to practice in a way that we can make that energy there all of the time. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:41 Highlight the passage at 1:06:41

1:07:17 It's a 24-hour cycle. So we're actually trying to make the mind. Clear and bright and it's very focused over a 24-hour cycle so that we're always present, always right here and now. And then gradually, bit by bit, as you start to kind of live your life in that way and start to see the world that way, we're not so caught up in the past or the future, not so caught up in the trials and tribulations that come with the... Report an error in the passage at 1:07:17 Highlight the passage at 1:07:17

1:07:55 with the anxieties that might come about in contemplating and thinking about the future, what's going to happen tomorrow, or worried about what happened in the past, just the depressions and the traumas that we can sort of bring on ourselves by thinking about, oh, I shouldn't have said that or what. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:55 Highlight the passage at 1:07:55

1:08:15 So we understand the past and the future. are really not there. There's no reality there in the past and the future. Certainly they're good to remember. You know, the past is sort of, it's always good to remember in the past so that you don't make the same mistakes over and over. But at the same time, to understand that the past is really finished. It's gone. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:15 Highlight the passage at 1:08:15

1:08:42 It's dead. And Jan Brown talks about, he often sort of says, don't, don't. Bring all these corpses around. Don't tie all these corpses on your back and sort of cart them around like with stuff from the past. But the same with the future. Just sort of keep the future and all its anxieties. Just try and make sure that you're thinking more in the way that reality is, what we call veridical reality. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:42 Highlight the passage at 1:08:42

1:09:20 A reality that is kind of truthful, not clouded with the past and the future. So this present moment is really very important. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:20 Highlight the passage at 1:09:20