Why Do We Continue With This Practice?

0:00 This is what should be done by one who is skilled 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 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, omitting none, the great or the mighty, medium, short or small, the seen and the unseen, those living near and far away, those born and to be born, may all beings be happy. Report an error in the passage at 0:00 Highlight the passage at 0:00

1:20 Let none deceive another. Report an error in the passage at 1:20 Highlight the passage at 1:20

1:50 over the entire world. Spreading upwards to the skies and downwards to the depths, Outwards and unbounded, free from hatred and ill-will, Whether standing or walking, seated or lying down, Free from drowsiness, one should sustain this recollection, This is said to be the sublime abiding, By not holding to fixed views, the pure-hearted one, having clarity of vision, being freed from all sense desires, is not born again into this world. Report an error in the passage at 1:50 Highlight the passage at 1:50

2:43 So with this whole process of meditation, so Why do we go this way? Why do we even start? Why do we keep continuing 5, 10, 20, 30 odd years of meditation practice? And naturally, some of us may start to meditate on a daily basis because of stress and maybe emotional ups and downs. downs, you know, could It could be many, many, maybe insight possibly. It could be many, many different types of reasons. But from this simple practice, we develop a sense of peace and calm and also increasing awareness and insight. Report an error in the passage at 2:43 Highlight the passage at 2:43

3:40 Especially with meditation practice, focusing on breathing or loving kindness or a mantra. There could be 101 different meditation techniques techniques that might take your fancy but The two main parameters of the practice where you have peacefulness and calm on one side and then you have increasing awareness and insight on the other. Report an error in the passage at 3:40 Highlight the passage at 3:40

4:07 Naturally with the meditation practice you can easily get a dozen good qualities arising over time because you're looking at an increasing refinement of the mind. And, but in essence that, you know, there'll always be an increase in the underlying quality and goodness of a human being as the years go by. Report an error in the passage at 4:07 Highlight the passage at 4:07

4:35 So we sort of, you know, we like the, we like the pebble, like it may be right in the beginning, maybe a slightly rough pebble in the stream and over years and years with the water currents and, you know, the rubbing and rubbing. against other pebbles in the stream Report an error in the passage at 4:35 Highlight the passage at 4:35

4:58 good humane and spiritual qualities start to arise in the surface level of the mind so you know you usually find that half the human being half of human beings that you meet you know have a a reasonable range of Good qualities, but one thing you see with any kind of meditation practice to a degree, I mean the vast majority of meditation practice, you will see good results arise over time, but whatever kind of practice you do, you really need to look at the results. Report an error in the passage at 4:58 Highlight the passage at 4:58

5:38 And naturally, you just keep doing the same old thing over and over and again, 365 days a year. Report an error in the passage at 5:38 Highlight the passage at 5:38

6:13 With the Buddha's teaching, you're looking at several lifetimes, in reality, several lifetimes in order to break through to the Sotāpanna level. It's the life history of the vast majority of people, whether it's the monastics or the lay fraternity. That's the kind of effort that it takes to break through to realization of the path. Report an error in the passage at 6:13 Highlight the passage at 6:13

6:37 But once you do, then you move very, very quickly from that point. There's all sorts of little tricks and methods. Even this one I mentioned with people, and I do this when I'm really busy, if I'm at home. If I'm so busy I can't even get two hours in a day, I'll do this Anicca mantra, just focusing on changeability of phenomena. Report an error in the passage at 6:37 Highlight the passage at 6:37

7:03 And if you do that once every couple of minutes, you do it 16 hours a day. home you know if I don't Report an error in the passage at 7:03 Highlight the passage at 7:03

7:08 You'll definitely see a result from that. Even when I was home, I could do this once every five minutes, just one recitation once every five minutes, do it 16 hours a day, and I didn't essentially lose much ground with the meditation at all. First meditation coming back to the monastery after being at home maybe for several weeks or could be out of the monastery for days might be a touch busy but not phenomenal. Report an error in the passage at 7:08 Highlight the passage at 7:08

7:35 And in the second meditation, you're basically back to where you were originally. So some people might find it hard to comprehend, but I know for a fact, because I've been doing this for years, I've been doing several years, probably at least five years on a regular basis. So you're looking at a training effect. So any of you who are good with the meditation practice, One of the characteristics that you see is you actually reflect on what you're doing. You look at the quality of the peacefulness, the quality of the insight and what is obstructing you. Report an error in the passage at 7:35 Highlight the passage at 7:35

8:15 So if you didn't have very strong feelings or moods, you would be able to get peaceful very, very quickly. Some people can be highly cerebral, but your thought... processes will always be driven by an emotion or a mood. You know, that's like the energy which drives one's thinking process. So, you know, if you're able to get calm very, very quickly, it means that emotionally, you know, you're reasonably cool. You know, you're not necessarily as cool as a cucumber, but people who are very, very hot emotionally, they do find they tend to have to do a little bit more work. Report an error in the passage at 8:15 Highlight the passage at 8:15

9:03 In order to get the stability of mind. But in essence, it's that peacefulness, calm on one side, insight and investigation on the other. And they've both got to be kept in balance together over time. And you should never, ever, ever allow one's insight or wisdom into daily life to fall behind. You know, the wisdom component. Samādhi is very, very crucial. You cannot get enlightened without, essentially without the jhānas, without one pointedness of mind. Report an error in the passage at 9:03 Highlight the passage at 9:03

9:45 Even the forest masters, I asked multiple, you know, seen multiple times with different teachers. Something which came up was the absolute minimum, minimum basis for even realization of the enlightenment stages. Report an error in the passage at 9:45 Highlight the passage at 9:45

10:02 It's complete stillness of mind where the personality is suspended. There's no active thought and emotion. The mind has got to be one-pointed personality. You can't see it. You can't see the personality when it's suspended. And then from that point, when you withdraw from that point, that one-pointedness of mind, then you have a real potential to go very, very deep with one's insight practice. Report an error in the passage at 10:02 Highlight the passage at 10:02

10:30 So regardless of how peaceful or not peaceful you think you are, you have to, you always make sure one's insight, understanding into daily life, it's always present, it's always, you're always, it's reasonably firm, you're always developing it. You may feel that little things like, you know, maybe a little passing mood or... Report an error in the passage at 10:30 Highlight the passage at 10:30

10:56 You know, maybe the kids do something unusual or maybe the way you see little bees in the backyard, you know, around the flowers. You may think it's very, very small, trivial stuff, but when you investigate anything that you notice whatsoever, it doesn't matter what it is, it can be the most obscure, what would you call trivial, tiny, tiny little things. Report an error in the passage at 10:56 Highlight the passage at 10:56

11:18 As soon as you start investigating, you will see one's mental energy start to increase. And you will see the tranquility of the mind increase as well. And investigation and insight, it's a tool that you should be sharpening, should be developing over time because it makes you a bit sharper, faster. And when things, when moods and feelings and different experiences come up, Report an error in the passage at 11:18 Highlight the passage at 11:18

12:19 All the emotional stuff that we have, the emotional attachments, all the feelings that we have about a million and one different things in this world, that is essentially whatever thought process you can't stop, whatever feeling that you can't stop in meditation, that's got to be examined very, very thoroughly because if you don't, it's not going to go away. Report an error in the passage at 12:19 Highlight the passage at 12:19

12:49 It's going to persist. And you're looking at past karma as well. People's karma is incredibly complicated. You're looking at this life plus, say, the last life is going to be an absolute key principle, this life and the last life to a lesser degree. The current one is the significant one. But you're looking at lifetimes of karma. And some people think, oh, I've been meditating for 20 years. Report an error in the passage at 12:49 Highlight the passage at 12:49

13:11 I still can't get peaceful. If you can't get peaceful, it means the insight, it's not firmly established. All of you have enough focus, mental energy for deep samādhi, but all the regular feelings, thoughts and feelings we have as human beings is what is going to obstruct you. So you'll see it very, very clearly. Whatever is disturbing any underlying peace of mind, you've got to apply one's attention right there. Report an error in the passage at 13:11 Highlight the passage at 13:11

13:42 Say, for example, if you have a certain feeling. You know, the feeling is at the center of your awareness and then you need to have a 360 degree understanding of that one feeling at a time. You know, you do one mood, one feeling, one thought process at a time. And you need to understand absolutely everything, everything from every possible angle about that particular mind state. Report an error in the passage at 13:42 Highlight the passage at 13:42

14:09 And then, you know, you watch closely. You watch the way the mind responds, reacts and... Once you get reasonably good at this, reasonably sharp with this, it will be completely obvious. You'll see the mind relax and let go, and then you'll see the tranquility increase over time. And this is the test. If you've got decent insight, it doesn't necessarily have to be phenomenal, but if you've got decent insight, you should be able to get some peace, some reasonable peace. Report an error in the passage at 14:09 Highlight the passage at 14:09

14:42 in meditation almost every sit that you've got um if you've got insight established you should see some peace um some significant peace on some level may not be brilliant but it may be satisfactory and that means that your insight practice it's at it's at it's at it's at a So this will be the test. If you can't get peaceful, no matter how smart you think you are, If you can't get peaceful in meditation, it means that wisdom and insight, it's not firmly established. You haven't established those skills of investigation, the ability to analyze and understand things in different ways. Report an error in the passage at 14:42 Highlight the passage at 14:42

15:25 So that will be the test. Some people have different paramitas. I have real power in me when it comes to samādhi. Some people are very, very sharp with analysis and investigation. So wherever you are with your ability, when you look at the quality of the meditation, you've got to make sure that everything is in balance and nothing is left behind when it comes to calm and insight or peacefulness and wisdom. Report an error in the passage at 15:25 Highlight the passage at 15:25

15:58 They've got to be, in a nutshell, from a simple perspective, they've got to be in balance. But also things like physical pain in the body, things like too much sensory input, like sometimes young people get completely blown away on an education level, maybe on a personal level with just too much internet access, too much gaming, can be very, very essentially basically harmful, can really set young people back. Report an error in the passage at 15:58 Highlight the passage at 15:58

16:31 All adults, no disadvantages with having just too much input. It could be on any level whatsoever, but if you're not able to let it go, then that may be something each person has to look at and make adjustments. Report an error in the passage at 16:31 Highlight the passage at 16:31

16:53 So let me think. I think maybe what we'll do is maybe for the first... 15 minutes, we'll do the moving, like a moving meditation. The reason why I recommend this initially is when you put your attention on a moving object, you're able to track that moving object a little bit more easily than having it in one spot because you're giving the mind work to do, you have to apply a little bit more mental energy as the breath moves in and out. Report an error in the passage at 16:53 Highlight the passage at 16:53

17:30 From the nose to the tummy and then from the tummy to the nose, you follow, you know, you place your attention as you're breathing in and out, you place your attention on the breathing and you follow the breathing cycle both in and out of the physical body. And so it's just, it's another, you know, it's another sort of skill for me in a sense where you look at the results if it works for you. Report an error in the passage at 17:30 Highlight the passage at 17:30

18:23 because if you're enjoying the meditation you're bringing up you know through that perception looking at the breathing as one's friend as one's friend and companion and as one's support you bring up these these feelings of of this sort of like wholesome warm cozy friendly feelings with the breathing so it's a it's a matter of um it's a matter of attitude it's a matter of a way of looking at the breathing it's like you can look at a little puppy puppy dog dog A little kitten and you feel a sense of maybe softness and care and cuteness and whatnot. You get those kind of pleasant feelings and this is what we generate with the breathing meditation to help reinforce the quality of one's attention with the breath. Report an error in the passage at 18:23 Highlight the passage at 18:23

19:08 So first 15 minutes, just get oneself comfortable and make sure your back is upright. Make sure the posture of the body overall is comfortable. Make sure there's nothing tight around the throat, wrists or around the tummy. And breathe fully, just slowly, fully into the abdomen. And as you're breathing in, with your attention, follow the breathing in from one's nose to the throat, to the middle of the chest, then down to the tummy. Report an error in the passage at 19:08 Highlight the passage at 19:08

19:50 As you breathe out from the tummy, middle of the chest, the throat and the nose. So we're moving our attention, following the breathing in all the way in, all the way into the body and then all the way out. And then we'll do that for the first 15 minutes and then we'll do this friendliness meditation on the breath for the second half. So please make a start with that one. Report an error in the passage at 19:50 Highlight the passage at 19:50

· · · silence, 4 minutes

23:53 So as the meditation develops, try to slow... The breathing down because that will help you to track the breath much more closely. As Report an error in the passage at 23:53 Highlight the passage at 23:53

· · · silence, 5 minutes

29:06 you develop this meditation, you may see that a particular point in the body will capture you. It could be the middle of the chest, it could be at the throat level. If your attention naturally rests in one part of the body, that's where you should focus. Essentially it's indicating. indicating that your mind is is prepared to settle at one point and it could be any point could be at the tummy section middle of the chest could be at the nose so you'll see what's the most suitable point in the body for you to focus Okay, Report an error in the passage at 29:06 Highlight the passage at 29:06

· · · silence, 7 minutes

36:12 now we'll change the nature of the meditation and we'll move across to the friendly breath. So all of you can see A point in the body which is the most suitable could be at the nose, around the mouth, middle of the chest, the tummy. So you find the point which is most suitable for you and then I want you to look at, we're going to use an attitude or a way of looking, like a perception, a way of looking at the breath. Report an error in the passage at 36:12 Highlight the passage at 36:12

36:46 So the breath is quite a key principle for us. It helps to sustain and nourish us, oxygen to our physical body. It helps to essentially, without our breath, our life will come to an end very quickly. So the breath is your constant companion, almost like a friend in a way, because without your breath, your existence is basically very, very limited. Report an error in the passage at 36:46 Highlight the passage at 36:46

37:21 So I want you to look at the breath with a friendly feeling. The breath is your friend, your companion, your support, and essentially it protects you. Your whole life depends on this breath. So just little things like if the breathing stops, one out breath, your breathing stops, you're in trouble. One in breath, your breathing stops completely, you're in trouble. Report an error in the passage at 37:21 Highlight the passage at 37:21

37:48 Have this kind of attitude. You look at the breath in a sort of warm, friendly manner. And you generate these friendly feelings towards the breathing. As the minutes, you know, maybe you're very, very likely, probably after about five minutes you should see a change in one's emotional feeling towards the breath. Report an error in the passage at 37:48 Highlight the passage at 37:48

38:10 And then give this one a spin and see what you think. So make a start with that one and just feel it out. As the minutes go by, if Report an error in the passage at 38:10 Highlight the passage at 38:10

· · · silence, 9 minutes

47:51 you find that your mind is a little bit busy, you should go straight to investigation and understanding, because if thoughts and feelings persist, it means that something is not understood, it's not resolved, and it will continue to impinge on the mind. So anything which obstructs you in meditation needs to be looked at in... Report an error in the passage at 47:51 Highlight the passage at 47:51

48:18 Find detail in order for the mind to understand and release one's attachment because the mind in itself, you're not born with say wisdom so to speak, you have to teach yourself over time, over 10, 20, 30, 40 years. So Report an error in the passage at 48:18 Highlight the passage at 48:18

· · · silence, 2 minutes

50:27 we're coming towards the end of the meditation. So I want you to look back and then see what actually works for you because people are very, very different. They respond. Report an error in the passage at 50:27 Highlight the passage at 50:27

50:41 to different say applications and approaches keep Report an error in the passage at 50:41 Highlight the passage at 50:41

50:49 that in mind in the gong you can open your eyes when you're ready Report an error in the passage at 50:49 Highlight the passage at 50:49