Meditation and Fruit Trees

0:00 Okay, so welcome to another episode of Thursday Night Meditation in Rolling Stone. So we try to keep it as simple as possible and as non-religious as possible. Sometimes it's hard to do, but you know, that's how it is sometimes. Report an error in the passage at 0:00 Highlight the passage at 0:00

0:24 But it's just to give you a little bit of background of what this... Report an error in the passage at 0:24 Highlight the passage at 0:24

0:56 To basically bring peace into our lives. So the lives that we live are very different to how you live. And one of the things that our lives give us is a lot of time to meditate. Because what we think is through meditation, there is a lot of benefits. Report an error in the passage at 0:56 Highlight the passage at 0:56

1:55 We think that all we need to do is meditate for half an hour and we become peaceful. It's almost like doing something to get the result quickly. But meditation isn't like that. It's almost like growing a garden. Who grows gardens here? Report an error in the passage at 1:55 Highlight the passage at 1:55

2:16 Yeah, many people. It takes a long time, doesn't it? It takes a long time. You grow fruit trees? Yeah, fruit trees... Huh? Trees die. Oh yeah, trees die and then you've got to deal with pests and parrots and goodness knows what else you deal with. There's a lot of challenges but the point is that the fruits of your labour, say you're growing a fruit tree or something like that, you don't get the fruit until three or four years. Report an error in the passage at 2:16 Highlight the passage at 2:16

2:51 But you know, if you put in the effort, if you take time to take care of that tree, to water it, to feed it, eventually, eventually you'll get the apple or the orange. I know a lot of people like to grow mango. You get mango as well. But the thing is, you can see that the point I'm making is you understand what you get when you're planting a fruit tree. Report an error in the passage at 2:51 Highlight the passage at 2:51

3:20 You're going to get fruits. So with the meditation practice, you've got to understand what you're going to get. So what you're going to get from the meditation practice is peace. Report an error in the passage at 3:20 Highlight the passage at 3:20

3:31 Peace, just peace. This simple thing we call peace, contentment, just being able to flow with life and not being too burdened by the external situations. I think what you're doing is you're... You're kind of developing something within. So that's what you do when you meditate. When you close your eyes, when you close your eyes and there's nothing else in this world to kind of distract you. Report an error in the passage at 3:31 Highlight the passage at 3:31

4:06 When you close your eyes, you're not doing anything. So what you have right in front of you is yourself. And it's sort of like how do you want to deal with yourself in this moment. Report an error in the passage at 4:06 Highlight the passage at 4:06

4:20 So we all have this moment. Report an error in the passage at 4:20 Highlight the passage at 4:20

4:53 www .ajahnantutthi.com This kind of exercise of meditation is something that creates peace. Report an error in the passage at 4:53 Highlight the passage at 4:53

5:33 It's almost like a training in sitting still and doing nothing. This is what creates peace in our lives. Report an error in the passage at 5:33 Highlight the passage at 5:33

5:44 Another way of looking at it is, I remember one of the monks that I used to live with, His name is Ajahn Kamavaro and when he would teach meditation, he would compare it to going to the gym. We go to the gym, if we want to get big biceps or if we want to get fit, we have to go to the gym and do the exercises to do the weights. Report an error in the passage at 5:44 Highlight the passage at 5:44

6:14 And then after a while, you're going to become strong and you're going to become fit. And in the same way, As meditators, we're looking for peace. And what do we have to do in order for us to kind of attain that peace is to sit quietly often. You know, the muscles don't grow if you just meditate once a year. The muscles don't grow if you meditate once a month. How often do you have to go to the gym so you can be strong? Report an error in the passage at 6:14 Highlight the passage at 6:14

6:48 Like three times a week? Four, five times a week? So in the same way, you can relate to your mind like that. If you want to develop that peaceful states of mind, you have to put time into it. It's not like just coming here once a week. That's not enough. It's almost like trying to add that kind of practice into your daily life. Report an error in the passage at 6:48 Highlight the passage at 6:48

7:13 And like the fruits on the tree, you don't see the results straight away. But in years... Report an error in the passage at 7:13 Highlight the passage at 7:13

7:32 It's almost like an exercise, an activity. You're not sitting down to solve any problems. You're just giving your life a different experience. And these experiences make your life more peaceful. That kind of makes sense, right? It's pretty easy, right? Report an error in the passage at 7:32 Highlight the passage at 7:32

7:53 It's easy, it's easy. So you're from BSWA? You know Ajahn Brahm? You know Ajahn Brahm, yeah. So Ajahn Brahm, you know what Ajahn Brahm says? He says meditation is the easiest thing in the world. Easiest thing in the world, yeah. So what do we do when we meditate? So if you haven't meditated before, Report an error in the passage at 7:53 Highlight the passage at 7:53

8:22 So with the meditation practice, we're just trying to sit comfortably, you know, cross-legged, in a chair. Some of us lie down. Some of us sit on our heads. Some of us sit backwards. You can sit whichever way you want. But the main thing is to sit without any discomfort. So the mind doesn't... So basically the mind doesn't disturb us when we're meditating. Sometimes when we're meditating we might get a little bit of pain in our legs or in our shoulder and that kind of like distracts the mind. Report an error in the passage at 8:22 Highlight the passage at 8:22

9:04 So one of the important things is to get your body into a position where it doesn't feel too much pain. And if you are feeling pain or a bit of irritation with your posture, you can always move. You can always move. Sometimes people get this wrong idea that when we meditate we've got to sit still. We can't move. We've got to be stiff. Report an error in the passage at 9:04 Highlight the passage at 9:04

9:31 Like a rock. No, no, no. That's not the case. One of the reasons why we're here is through meditation we're trying to find comfort in our lives. So in the same way, in order to get that comfort, we have to try to find comfort in our bodies when we're sitting. So what we do is we sit, we close our eyes, we get into a comfortable position. Report an error in the passage at 9:31 Highlight the passage at 9:31

10:04 And then meditation is just being able to be in the moment. Be in the moment and for beginners is to just accept whatever your mind is showing you. A lot of us, you know, the day just replays in our minds or we may have some sort of conflict that we're dealing with in our lives and sometimes that gets replayed in our minds as well. Report an error in the passage at 10:04 Highlight the passage at 10:04

10:37 And we all know that human minds, when it comes to thinking, I always like to compare it to the volume of the thought. Like, the more agitated you are because of work or having a fight with somebody, the louder the voice is. And when the voice is loud, the voice is hard to kind of let go of. But if the voice is in your head, if the volume is kind of like normal, is not that loud, as meditators we try to just forget about the thoughts. Report an error in the passage at 10:37 Highlight the passage at 10:37

11:21 Yeah, you can tell yourself, you can tell yourself, oh, these are moments that I give myself where I don't have to worry about things. Report an error in the passage at 11:21 Highlight the passage at 11:21

11:33 It's kind of nice. It's kind of nice, isn't it? Just being able to just, have you ever had that? Like, oh, I'm not going to worry about this. Have you ever had that thought? And then you don't worry about it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. The mind can do that. I'm not going to worry about it. So that's what we do when we're meditating. Report an error in the passage at 11:33 Highlight the passage at 11:33

11:51 meditating sometimes we have like thoughts which are distracting us So meditation is like that. We're not meditating to get anything immediately. We're just meditating for the sake of meditating. And it's about putting yourself, doing these exercises. Report an error in the passage at 11:51 Highlight the passage at 11:51

12:23 in day out and after a while Report an error in the passage at 12:23 Highlight the passage at 12:23

12:53 So sometimes it's like that. You know, we don't really know. Like you go to the doctors, you go to doctors and they know everything, right? And you don't know what they know. So you put trust in them because they know how to fix you and stuff like that. So there's always a little bit of trust there. But the beautiful thing I think about this kind of where we come from as teachers is that we don't make people believe in like, www.Ajahn Santutthi .com This is like a calm environment. We're trying to be calm with whatever we're seeing in our minds. Report an error in the passage at 12:53 Highlight the passage at 12:53

14:02 And we're just sitting with this meditation. And we're just allowing the quietness, the nothingness that happens in meditation to kind of slowly bring peace into our lives. Report an error in the passage at 14:02 Highlight the passage at 14:02

14:23 Yeah. And it's like that, you know? It's like, it's sort of like, you know, yeah. We have this idea of like, what you expose yourself to is what you basically become. And say, say, you know, if someone exposes them to, I don't know, say, say, oh yeah, say you get exposed to like Eagles fans, you know, the footy Eagles fans. Report an error in the passage at 14:23 Highlight the passage at 14:23

14:54 And then you hang out with the Eagles fans for like, you know, two or three months and then after you become an Eagles fan yourself. Report an error in the passage at 14:54 Highlight the passage at 14:54

15:04 So whatever you kind of expose yourself to, that's where your mind kind of lends itself to. And just think about it, what you're doing here is you're exposing yourself to just this activity of doing nothing, of not worrying. www .ajahnantutthi.com When you meditate, once you discover it, you can always go back to it. That's the nice thing about it. You don't have to always be searching for it. Report an error in the passage at 15:04 Highlight the passage at 15:04

16:01 So, yeah, that's all I've got for today. Just a few simple words. But the outcome is a peaceful one, and that's really all we need as humans, is a bit of peace in life. Report an error in the passage at 16:01 Highlight the passage at 16:01

16:20 Okay. So what I'll do now is guide Report an error in the passage at 16:20 Highlight the passage at 16:20

16:29 you through a meditation for about half an hour. But usually I'll just guide you for maybe 10 minutes. And then after that you'll just sit quietly by yourself. You want to sit on a chair? On a chair? No? Report an error in the passage at 16:29 Highlight the passage at 16:29

16:48 Okay. So Report an error in the passage at 16:48 Highlight the passage at 16:48

17:17 this is all meditation is. It's just having your eyes closed and Report an error in the passage at 17:17 Highlight the passage at 17:17

17:31 just being here. Report an error in the passage at 17:31 Highlight the passage at 17:31

17:39 It's not glamorous. It's not fun. Report an error in the passage at 17:39 Highlight the passage at 17:39

17:47 This is what Report an error in the passage at 17:47 Highlight the passage at 17:47

17:54 you're adding to your life. And Report an error in the passage at 17:54 Highlight the passage at 17:54

18:28 it doesn't really matter what is happening in your meditation. You can just see that you're experiencing your life right now in a calm way. In a calm way. How often do you get the chance to experience your life in a calm way? You don't really get that opportunity. Report an error in the passage at 18:28 Highlight the passage at 18:28

18:57 Any times you get that opportunity is when you meditate or when you go to sleep. But usually, yeah, so that's what you're doing. You're just being calm. Report an error in the passage at 18:57 Highlight the passage at 18:57

19:16 And being calm has a lot of benefits outside of the meditation practice. Report an error in the passage at 19:16 Highlight the passage at 19:16

· · · silence, 1 minute

20:06 Just know that meditation will eventually lead to peace. The Report an error in the passage at 20:06 Highlight the passage at 20:06

20:23 more you meditate, the more it's easier to just sit by yourself. I've been around for a long time and sometimes when you listen to people and they kind of give up on their meditation practice, they would say stuff like, Report an error in the passage at 20:23 Highlight the passage at 20:23

21:26 And then when we're comfortable being by ourselves, then... We experience almost a content, easy experience. And Report an error in the passage at 21:26 Highlight the passage at 21:26

21:53 that content and easy experience is way better than any depression, any anxiety, any worry, any agitation of the mind. And Report an error in the passage at 21:53 Highlight the passage at 21:53

22:13 this is how we do it. To learn how to be with ourselves and be accepting and being, you know, not really accepting but just being calm to be with ourselves. Report an error in the passage at 22:13 Highlight the passage at 22:13

· · · silence, 2 minutes

24:36 Meditation is about just being in the moment and just repeatedly doing the same thing. It's simple like that. Report an error in the passage at 24:36 Highlight the passage at 24:36

· · · silence, 1 minute

25:45 Sometimes it's just nice to... Just go into the world of nothingness. Report an error in the passage at 25:45 Highlight the passage at 25:45

25:57 There's really nothing here. Report an error in the passage at 25:57 Highlight the passage at 25:57

26:03 You're not at work. You're not at home with your family. You're just giving yourself some nothingness time. Report an error in the passage at 26:03 Highlight the passage at 26:03

26:22 Nothing to worry about. Nothing to think of. Report an error in the passage at 26:22 Highlight the passage at 26:22

26:34 It's almost really giving your mind a break from everything. Report an error in the passage at 26:34 Highlight the passage at 26:34

26:46 Sometimes, you know, we turn on the TV because we want a break from work or a break from whatever. We go on our phones because we want a break from something. And really, are we taking a break? Report an error in the passage at 26:46 Highlight the passage at 26:46

27:09 Or is this way of taking a break where you close your eyes, where you have nothing to think about, nothing to worry about? Report an error in the passage at 27:09 Highlight the passage at 27:09

27:23 Doesn't that sound like a genuine way to take a break? And Report an error in the passage at 27:23 Highlight the passage at 27:23

27:40 that's why, like, just doing nothing leads Report an error in the passage at 27:40 Highlight the passage at 27:40

27:51 to, you know, the tree of meditation, growing the fruits of peace. And it just takes a while. It just takes a while for the mind to kind of get used to it. So remember, Report an error in the passage at 27:51 Highlight the passage at 27:51

· · · silence, 2 minutes

30:02 you're not meditating to become peaceful. You're not meditating to shut your thoughts down. You're not meditating to fix anything. You meditate to be. To be in this moment with whatever your mind shows you. Whether your mind is Showing you sleepiness, showing you peace, or whether your mind is worried. It doesn't matter. Report an error in the passage at 30:02 Highlight the passage at 30:02

30:48 That's not the problem. What's in front of you. And we're not here to fix them. We're just here to be. Just Report an error in the passage at 30:48 Highlight the passage at 30:48

31:06 to be with what we have now. And Report an error in the passage at 31:06 Highlight the passage at 31:06

31:15 just to be okay with it. So Report an error in the passage at 31:15 Highlight the passage at 31:15

· · · silence, 1 minute

32:13 now I'm just going to keep quiet. And we'll just sit for another 15 minutes. And yeah, just Report an error in the passage at 32:13 Highlight the passage at 32:13

32:27 be calm. Just be calm. The Report an error in the passage at 32:27 Highlight the passage at 32:27

· · · silence, 15 minutes

47:04 third gong, open your eyes. Open Report an error in the passage at 47:04 Highlight the passage at 47:04

· · · silence, 1 minute

48:04 up for Q &A, questions and answers. Report an error in the passage at 48:04 Highlight the passage at 48:04

48:09 Any questions in the box? Is there any questions? No. Any questions? Report an error in the passage at 48:09 Highlight the passage at 48:09

48:19 You want to go home? Oh, we've got one question. Oh, another question. No. No. Report an error in the passage at 48:19 Highlight the passage at 48:19

48:31 I was thinking about inspiration and I come to see. Report an error in the passage at 48:31 Highlight the passage at 48:31

48:58 It doesn't Report an error in the passage at 48:58 Highlight the passage at 48:58

49:07 have a place at all in your opinion. And I'm also inspired by chanting. Even though I don't understand. Yeah, yeah. So my teacher inspires me, Ajahn Brahm. Even up until this day, he still inspires me. I think after a while you find a teacher and then you find a connection with them. And I think it's sort of like their words, the words that they speak kind of matches up with the experience you have in your life. Report an error in the passage at 49:07 Highlight the passage at 49:07

49:58 And then for that reason, that's why you can have a connection with them. And I think that inspiration, it just lasts for a long time. It hasn't really disappeared. I've been inspired by him for, I think, about 22 years now. And it's still there. And I think it will always still be there until I die. Report an error in the passage at 49:58 Highlight the passage at 49:58

50:25 Any other questions, comments? No? Okay, we can finish. Can you finish? Report an error in the passage at 50:25 Highlight the passage at 50:25