Monkey Mind

0:03 Okay, get into a comfortable position here. We are going to chant it once again. Report an error in the passage at 0:03 Highlight the passage at 0:03

0:21 Just Report an error in the passage at 0:21 Highlight the passage at 0:21

0:27 check Report an error in the passage at 0:27 Highlight the passage at 0:27

1:08 that the body is relaxed. Namo tassa kapavattu varah tu samasambodhasana Report an error in the passage at 1:08 Highlight the passage at 1:08

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:12 Relax the toes and feet, the ankles, the lower legs, the knees, the thighs, the waist, the weight of the body into the sitting posture. The rise and fall of the abdomen. Rising Report an error in the passage at 1:12 Highlight the passage at 1:12

1:36 with knee wing, falling with now wing. The Report an error in the passage at 1:36 Highlight the passage at 1:36

· · · silence, 1 minute

2:32 back and sides, the middle back and sides, the upper back, the shoulder blades. Relax the solar plexus region, and Report an error in the passage at 2:32 Highlight the passage at 2:32

2:47 the chest, the lungs. The heart, pumping all the blood around the body. And just become aware of the lungs as they fill up and empty. Filling up with an inwind, empty with an outwind. Report an error in the passage at 2:47 Highlight the passage at 2:47

· · · silence, 1 minute

3:53 Relax the shoulders, maybe they drip a little. The upper arms, the elbows, the lower arms, the wrists, the hands, the fingertips. Report an error in the passage at 3:53 Highlight the passage at 3:53

4:06 Just checking our posture. It's upright but relaxed. Totally comfortable. Report an error in the passage at 4:06 Highlight the passage at 4:06

4:21 Relax the chin, the neck, the collarbone and neck and throat. Relax the chin, the cheeks, the lips, the tongue, the teeth, the gums, the cheeks and cheekbones, around the nostrils, the ridge of the nostrils, around the eyes, the temples, the forehead, the bags under the eyes, the scalp. The ears, the inner ears, the back of the head, the skull, the brain. Relax Report an error in the passage at 4:21 Highlight the passage at 4:21

· · · silence, 1 minute

5:44 the whole physical body with kaya pasadi. Tranquility to all the formations of the physical body. From the tip of the top of the head down to the toes, tip of the top of the head to the fingernails. Just this tranquility, suffusing, trenching, filling. Report an error in the passage at 5:44 Highlight the passage at 5:44

6:12 Covering profound, deep, still tranquility. Report an error in the passage at 6:12 Highlight the passage at 6:12

· · · silence, 1 minute

7:26 Any tension in the body, any tightness is being unwind and relaxed. And there's just this pure tranquility, acceptance of what is, not fighting, not pushing away, welcoming and allowing, being with. And Report an error in the passage at 7:26 Highlight the passage at 7:26

8:03 we're free from any tension in the physical hours. The front of the eyes, the back of the eyes, the middle of the eyes, the top of the eyes, below the eyes. Quality Report an error in the passage at 8:03 Highlight the passage at 8:03

· · · silence, 1 minute

9:19 in the body, the eyes, different tension. We bring up the mind. We Report an error in the passage at 9:19 Highlight the passage at 9:19

9:29 have the hindrances that the mind falls into. Sense desire, desiring for special sights and sounds and smells and tastes and touch and thoughts about them. Heal well what we don't want. sights and sounds and smells and tastes and touch. Report an error in the passage at 9:29 Highlight the passage at 9:29

9:49 where we fall into restlessness and worry. or we fall into sloth and torpor, laziness and doubtness of the mind. Lack of energy. Report an error in the passage at 9:49 Highlight the passage at 9:49

10:04 We're not sure of what we're doing. All these things we put down Just let the mind do with the mind. It doesn't have to go out into the past or the future or imagination or anything at all. Just content to be here right now. It's this goodness and virtue and generosity, developing a noble and silent heart. Report an error in the passage at 10:04 Highlight the passage at 10:04

10:42 Factors of the Buddha's Eightfold Path. So the mind just gathers. Into this peace and stillness, aware Report an error in the passage at 10:42 Highlight the passage at 10:42

10:56 of the breath, just an in-wind, just an out-wind. You Report an error in the passage at 10:56 Highlight the passage at 10:56

· · · silence, 1 minute

11:37 just know and let go. Come back to the in-wind and the out-wind, eyes Report an error in the passage at 11:37 Highlight the passage at 11:37

11:49 and peaceful heart. Report an error in the passage at 11:49 Highlight the passage at 11:49

· · · silence, 3 minutes

14:42 Signs of a soft Report an error in the passage at 14:42 Highlight the passage at 14:42

14:47 ease, this lightness of feather, softness of cloud, softness of cotton wool, this feeling of ease with the in-breath. This feeling of ease with the outbreak, meditation, Report an error in the passage at 14:47 Highlight the passage at 14:47

· · · silence, 17 minutes

31:39 qualities Report an error in the passage at 31:39 Highlight the passage at 31:39

31:59 of the Buddha, Report an error in the passage at 31:59 Highlight the passage at 31:59

32:05 the sealer of our virtue, velocity, and cultivating the heart of a heavenly being. Any Report an error in the passage at 32:05 Highlight the passage at 32:05

32:18 moment in the day, we can just stop, tune into the breath, tune into peace. Yes, we can have that formal practice, but these are moments of concentration, moments of effort. If we gather them, each one is of use. Coming back to developing noble qualities, to developing a peaceful heart and samatha is like the ground for the mind. Report an error in the passage at 32:18 Highlight the passage at 32:18

32:54 We need to have calm. Report an error in the passage at 32:54 Highlight the passage at 32:54

33:19 Namottassa bhagavattu arahantussammā sambuddhassā namottassā bhagavattu arahantussammā sambuddhassā namottassā bhagavattu arahantussammā Do you have any questions Report an error in the passage at 33:19 Highlight the passage at 33:19

34:10 today? Any difficulties with situations? The mind is great. Monkey mind. Monkey mind, yes. Report an error in the passage at 34:10 Highlight the passage at 34:10

34:30 Learning to overcome the monkey mind. I usually say meditation is like learning to study. Of course, first we start as Buddhists. We learn all the basics so that we're a good Buddhist with our generosity and our precepts. And then we learn to reflect on these and it brings happiness and peace to the mind. And the qualities of the Buddha brighten the heart. Report an error in the passage at 34:30 Highlight the passage at 34:30

34:57 But then how do we develop a mind that goes beyond this monkey mind state? And usually, by the time we get to developing the mind, we have to see the danger in having an untrained mind. The Buddha said that an untrained mind is like a fish thrashing in shallow water. So we can imagine a little puddle, and there's a fish thrashing in that puddle. Report an error in the passage at 34:57 Highlight the passage at 34:57

35:29 This is like the mind that is untrained. This is like the monkey mind. Or when we see the simile of the six animals in the Samyutta Nikaya, for the mind, so you have the eye, eye is a Report an error in the passage at 35:29 Highlight the passage at 35:29

35:49 snake, snake goes to the anthill, there's eye inside. Here is a crocodile, here goes to the water. That's ear and sound. Nose is a bird. Bird goes to the sky. That's nose and smell. Report an error in the passage at 35:49 Highlight the passage at 35:49

36:12 Tongue is a hound. Hound goes to the village. That's tongue and taste. Body is a jackal. Jackal goes to the charnel ground, to the cemetery. That is body and touch. Then the mind is a monkey. A monkey goes to the forest. So that's like dharma and manna. So what happens is these six animals are tied together by a rope. Report an error in the passage at 36:12 Highlight the passage at 36:12

36:45 And so whenever the bird wants to fly to the sky, it drags all the other animals with it. When the crocodile wants to go to the water, Then it drags all the other animals with it. There's like a knot with six ropes going to the six animals. And so we're in this constant tug of war of the senses. Report an error in the passage at 36:45 Highlight the passage at 36:45

37:09 We see a side and we like it. We hear a sound and we dislike it. We smell a smell and we like it. We have a thought and we dislike it. And then whatever the sense contact is, then on top of that, then we think about it. Then we ruminate about it. We worry about it, we plan about it, we imagine about it. And so on top of sense object, then we have this kind of mental proliferation and agitation. Report an error in the passage at 37:09 Highlight the passage at 37:09

37:35 And so this is what we call the untrained mind. So explicitly, the first foundation of dharma, not the other foundations, the first foundation of dharma is what we call the post in which we tie Those six animals too. So then, when these animals, they want to go off into their feeding grounds, they can either stand and look, they can sit and look, or they can lie down and look. Report an error in the passage at 37:35 Highlight the passage at 37:35

38:07 And so we can go to the greater discourse on mindfulness in the Dīgha Nikāya, or we can go to the greater discourse on the first foundation of mindfulness. And this gives us the Buddha's exact words on how he describes to develop these things. And yes, ultimately we're keeping our mind in the four foundations of mindfulness. So that's what we're trying to do. Report an error in the passage at 38:07 Highlight the passage at 38:07

38:40 So however we can do that is good. But it's interesting that this simile, this way of looking at mindfulness, is explicitly about time. tie the senses to this post of first foundation of mind. So this is like our breath meditation. This is awareness of our body parts. This is the awareness of our bodily postures, like coming and going and lifting and placing and excreting and urinating and drinking and eating and opening our mouths and talking and keeping our mouths shut. Report an error in the passage at 38:40 Highlight the passage at 38:40

39:19 And not talking, all the various activities, being mindful of that, or developing the first four stages of the 16 stages of Ānāpānasati, of in-breath, out-breath mindfulness, or developing any of those objects. And other things, like development of the elements would fall into that. Report an error in the passage at 39:19 Highlight the passage at 39:19

39:47 Contemplating earth and water and fire and wind and breaking the body down. So we can see it's made up of these things. So we find one of these foundations of mindfulness, first foundation of mindfulness, and a teacher who we have faith in to help guide us. It can be in the books of the recent great beings or even better, a living teacher. And then we apply ourselves to what's being taught. Report an error in the passage at 39:47 Highlight the passage at 39:47

40:17 And then by, you know, let's say that we have muddled mindfulness, that our mind is not mindful and it's not clear and it's agitated often, while the opposite of agitation and restlessness is serenity. So we have to start by taking time to develop moments of serenity throughout the day. Report an error in the passage at 40:17 Highlight the passage at 40:17

40:44 Or if we're developing breath, well the mind's not going to want to be with the breath. So maybe we start with the longing breath and the long out breath. And, you know, when we've just even with a few breaths, you know, when we can be with our breath, and for three breaths, well done. Ten breaths, well done. One minute, well done. Five minutes, well done. And so every day we try to increase. Report an error in the passage at 40:44 Highlight the passage at 40:44

41:13 We don't expect our practice to be like other people. We emulate those wise great beings, but we have to look and see where we ourselves are at and what we ourselves are capable of doing. And so this process of tying the post to the first foundation of mindfulness. Why the first foundation of mindfulness? Report an error in the passage at 41:13 Highlight the passage at 41:13

41:41 It's very coarse. It's very easy to see. The elements are right here. The breath is right here. The body parts are right here. These are the things we only pass through when we become an anagami, when we end greed and hatred in the heart. Before then, we have not gone beyond the body. So everybody has to start with this first foundation. Report an error in the passage at 41:41 Highlight the passage at 41:41

42:10 Everybody has to develop it. And even the very great beings who are reputed to be at the end of the path, they talk about the beauty of the first foundation of mindfulness. Maybe you can see the elements just as a wisp of air or a wisp of sand or so on. As the mind refines and we develop the breath, it can become very subtle. Report an error in the passage at 42:10 Highlight the passage at 42:10

42:38 You know, the first... The first four stages of breath meditation are the first four foundations of mindfulness. And in there is the four jhānas. So just developing the first four stages of breath meditation, one can develop the jhānas. So these are not small things. But the process of training the mind, like I often say, is like learning to be a student. Report an error in the passage at 42:38 Highlight the passage at 42:38

43:08 We have to see what are we capable of. We think of a baby. A baby, first it has its bottle, it just cries and doesn't want to do anything. It's just dependent on its parents. And so we have to wean it off the bottle. We have to train it to walk one step at a time and congratulate it. And then as it learns to walk, It can get stronger and it grows up and it starts to learn to speak and so on. And so it is with our meditation. Or anybody who's let their meditation go cold. Report an error in the passage at 43:08 Highlight the passage at 43:08

43:46 So we have to come back. Come back to the beginning. Come back to where the practice of this first foundation of mindfulness is. And take it up. And train ourselves. We have times in our day. For lay people, maybe you don't have as much time for formal practice, but you always have time when you walk to the toilet. Report an error in the passage at 43:46 Highlight the passage at 43:46

44:12 You always have time when you get in the car. You always have time when you're doing the gardening, when you're washing the dishes. So we can make, when you're making a hot drink or a cold drink, or going to the toilet. Report an error in the passage at 44:12 Highlight the passage at 44:12

44:31 and going for a walk in nature or visiting a monastery. So we start to notice the time that we do have and we start to direct those things to this first foundation of mindfulness. How can I increase my seclusion? How can I increase my peace? How can I develop one of these four foundations of mindfulness that is suitable for my temperament? Report an error in the passage at 44:31 Highlight the passage at 44:31

44:59 And usually we say that breath meditation is good for everyone. So it was used by the Buddha to become enlightened. It was his vehicle. And we have other objects, like awareness of body posture, and these things often combine well together, like seen in the Mahāsi Sayadaw tradition, a bit of a Mahāsi Sayadaw. Report an error in the passage at 44:59 Highlight the passage at 44:59

45:25 But what we do is we just... Stake out, you know, five minutes, then ten minutes, then twenty minutes, and so on. We start small. We start with quality. You know, like, I'm sure everybody can find fifteen minutes a day if they put their mind to it. And then we have to give it importance. We have to see why we're not practicing, why we're not making that time. Because have you ever heard of a student who does well, If they just study a little bit every now and then whenever they feel like it. So practice is very difficult. Report an error in the passage at 45:25 Highlight the passage at 45:25

46:08 Mindfulness is very difficult. So if we want to be serious about mindfulness, if we want to be serious about overcoming our untrained mind, this monkey mind, then we have to actually decide how are we going to train ourselves. What method are we going to do? Because we can't go into battle if we don't have any training. We'll just be killed. Report an error in the passage at 46:08 Highlight the passage at 46:08

46:35 And so if one day we want to stand up to the battles of Māra, now yes, we've gone a very long way by developing our dharma, our generosity and our giving and our renunciation. Report an error in the passage at 46:35 Highlight the passage at 46:35

46:54 And our sīla, our five precepts, our good actions of body, speech and mind, abstaining from bad actions of body, speech and mind, developing good mental states. This goes into the ten wholesome and unwholesome courses of action. And developing our mettā, making sure we don't have anger in our heart. Developing our renunciation, so we're not always following after greed or sense desire or lust. Report an error in the passage at 46:54 Highlight the passage at 46:54

47:23 We know how to bring the mind to peace so it's not distorted. And then as these things come together, this in itself develops samādhi, but to actually get the mind so it doesn't just think aimlessly all the time, so it's not just overcome by Māra. We have to understand how to train the mind. And we can go to the books like the Vasudhimagga or the Vimutimagga. We can visit great monks living in the areas that we are or we can find their teachings online or we can get the books of those living in past who teach about these things. Report an error in the passage at 47:23 Highlight the passage at 47:23

48:06 And then as we gain in our efforts, as our practice becomes stronger, then we can be in connection with some of the great beings. Report an error in the passage at 48:06 Highlight the passage at 48:06

48:20 bhajans, you know, these great beings with living with this spiritual pāramī, impeccable beings. And then we can ask them when we can't solve our own problems, when we get to a point where our practice is deep, or we come to a crossroad that we can't find an answer to. And so this process of actually bringing... bringing the mind So that it is trained. It's not easy. And no tree, no city has been built in a day. Report an error in the passage at 48:20 Highlight the passage at 48:20

48:59 No tree in nature that we find normally will grow. You don't find an acorn that suddenly grows into an oak tree. And so it is with training our mind that we have. We've done so much goodness. And so we have the, you know, we have the sīla pāramī and the dana pāramī. But now, you know, we need to go further and develop the nekama pāramī and the mettā pāramī and the upekkhā pāramī. Report an error in the passage at 48:59 Highlight the passage at 48:59

49:38 And so as we develop, you know, these states, we're learning to renounce. The Eight Worldly Winds. So as a thought comes into our mind, there is liking and disliking. We make up stories about it. We say that it's mine. We say that it's theirs. But like Ajahn Chah said, the spittoon is just a spittoon. Report an error in the passage at 49:38 Highlight the passage at 49:38

50:05 You can call it a saucepan. You can call it anything you want. So ultimately, these are just labels that we recognize. So that we can function. But we're breathing. We're breathing every moment. We're eating and drinking every day. Our mind is changing faster than we can even be aware of it. So we're not what we think we are. Report an error in the passage at 50:05 Highlight the passage at 50:05

50:32 So if we're not what we think we are, then how much less the stories of the mind. And so the process of meditation is giving ourselves The power to start to break belief in thoughts, belief in all of these sense objects that we have to follow after them, that we have to make something out of them. And so, for example, as a part of meditation, we can learn to have a still body, a good posture, and then put up with painful feelings. Report an error in the passage at 50:32 Highlight the passage at 50:32

51:09 We're comfortable and relaxed. But, you know, if a fly lands on us, if a thought comes into the mind, if there's a smell or a sound or an army that's going by or whatever it is, the moment we start to meditate, we're meditating. So we learn not to always want things exactly as we think they should be, to accept other people as they are, to accept our own mistakes, you know, with forgiveness. Report an error in the passage at 51:09 Highlight the passage at 51:09

51:42 With care, so that we can grow. And then this process of learning to meditate. When I was a junior monk, I had this idea that it's better to have ten thousand wholesome thoughts than it is to have one unwholesome thought. And that meant to me that we have to watch over our minds in order to develop the Eightfold Path. Report an error in the passage at 51:42 Highlight the passage at 51:42

52:10 We have to actually see that thinking in line with dharma, living in line with dharma, taking care of ourself is what's important. And we can't act for other people. There's going to be many upsets in life. Even the Buddha got blamed many times by beings. So we can't trust the world. We can't trust other beings. And we have the Buddha. Report an error in the passage at 52:10 Highlight the passage at 52:10

52:40 We have the great disciples of the Buddha. How many other beings in this world system are really going to realize nibbāna? And so we have to look inside of ourselves to see how do we develop these qualities? And what we do is just this process of seeing where we are on the path. How much stillness can we develop? Report an error in the passage at 52:40 Highlight the passage at 52:40

53:09 Can we contemplate the qualities of the Buddha? Can we contemplate death? Can we be aware of our body posture? So we learn what are our tools in the toolbox and we have a main meditation object. But sometimes, every week or two, maybe we have a little bit different that we do in a different way. So our practice is always developing us, that we're aware that we know, oh, okay, I do my chanting in the morning, I do my meditation at this time, before and after work. Report an error in the passage at 53:09 Highlight the passage at 53:09

53:46 I spend five minutes just for letting go of anything that arises in the mind so I don't have ill will with those that I work with. And when I get home from work, I let go of all of those. And then slowly we learn to crawl and then we learn to stumble and fall. And then we learn to walk. And if we ever stopped, if we even stopped for a month, then we would regress again and we would have to go through all of that work again. Report an error in the passage at 53:46 Highlight the passage at 53:46

54:41 But it would be easier because we remember it from before. And so we see that this is just the process of training the mind. If it was easy to be an arahat, then there would be many arahats in the world. If it was easy to be a sodapanna, Then there would be many Sotapannas in the world. And so we just have to see how can we ourselves develop mindfulness. Report an error in the passage at 54:41 Highlight the passage at 54:41

55:09 And there's even a Jataka of when the Buddha was a great monkey and he made himself a bridge for his tribe of monkeys to climb across so they could go to safety. And he died in the process. So there is such thing as a wise monkey. There is such thing as a well-trained monkey but it's only by us associating with the Buddha's teachings, with right view, with the ten wholesome qualities, with noble beings and noble actions and this willingness to train ourselves, this love for the Dharma and this forgiveness, forgiving our own faults, forgiving the faults of others. Report an error in the passage at 55:09 Highlight the passage at 55:09

55:54 And just seeing that we ourselves have to do the practice, that we're willing to make mistakes, that we're willing to be corrected. And however difficult it is to develop meditation, to develop mindfulness, to develop delight in the dharma, to restrain our minds, that's just our current karma. It's just like that poor student. After years, of being a student and they still can't learn anything. They just haven't yet learned the proper means. And so we have to find the proper means. Report an error in the passage at 55:54 Highlight the passage at 55:54

56:33 And then we have to, like that baby, if we just tell the baby off all the time, the baby's never going to learn anything. We have to encourage the baby, help the baby, and then it will grow. And eventually it will grow into a well-developed human. And so it is with our minds that we just have to accept this is our life, this is our current karma and result, but we are like all those beings in the past, like the Buddha himself and his great disciples. Report an error in the passage at 56:33 Highlight the passage at 56:33

57:11 They all started with an untrained mind. Each of them themselves were defiled and had all kinds of problems if you go back into the distant past. Yet they were willing to train themselves. They were willing to develop. And then in this Theravāda tradition we have this lineage of the noble ones coming down to the present. Report an error in the passage at 57:11 Highlight the passage at 57:11

57:34 So we can remember that we ourselves have access to develop these things. That the gates of the death are open to us. That we can and are totally able to train this monkey mind. Report an error in the passage at 57:34 Highlight the passage at 57:34

58:02 Now let us chant the verses of sharing and aspiration through the goodness that arises from my practice. May my spiritual teachers and guides of great virtue, my mother, my father, and my relatives, the sun and the moon, and all virtuous leaders of the world, may the highest parts and evil forces Celestial beings, body and spirits of the earth and the Lord of death, may those who are friendly, indifferent or hostile, may all beings receive the blessings of my life. Report an error in the passage at 58:02 Highlight the passage at 58:02

58:49 May they soon attain the threefold bliss and realize the deathless through the goodness that arises from my practice. And through this activity... May all desires and attachments quickly cease and all harmful states of mind until I realize Nibbāna in every kind of birth. May I have an upright mind with mindfulness and wisdom, austerity and vigor. Report an error in the passage at 58:49 Highlight the passage at 58:49

59:27 May the forces of delusion not take hold, nor weaken my resolve. The Buddha is my excellent refuge, and surpasses the protection of the Dhamma. The solitary Buddha is my noble Lord. The Saṅgha is my supreme support. Through the supreme power of all these, may darkness and delusion be dispelled. Report an error in the passage at 59:27 Highlight the passage at 59:27

59:59 Keep that passing. Yeta vareva hapurapare paranti sagarangi vangi vayetodinam petanam opaka patichitam paticham tongtang kipameva samijitu sape parantu sangapa chandopanarasoyata manijodirasoyata Report an error in the passage at 59:59 Highlight the passage at 59:59

1:01:42 Satsang with Mooji Satsang with Mooji Report an error in the passage at 1:01:42 Highlight the passage at 1:01:42