A Frog Pond, Some Clay and A Wheelbarrow

0:00 Okay, so we're back again. Back again to meditate. Okay. Report an error in the passage at 0:00 Highlight the passage at 0:00

0:11 So yeah, I was, so we're just back again to just do a repetitive thing. And that's what meditation is all about, pretty much. Because, just to give you a little, just like a back story of my life as a monk, you know, we ordain as a monk, we give up the world. Mmm. Report an error in the passage at 0:11 Highlight the passage at 0:11

1:04 We kind of believe that through our meditation we can understand the reason why we became monks. And that is to understand the teachings of the Buddha. But that aside, the teachings put aside, the main reason, the main focus, the main reason What our lives are based around is the meditation practice. Because we understand that without the meditation practice, there is no understanding, no wisdom, no peace that we can attain within our own minds. Report an error in the passage at 1:04 Highlight the passage at 1:04

1:51 So I can say from experience that meditation is very repetitive. A very repetitive exercise. But the beautiful thing about the meditation practice is that we can experience peace. Report an error in the passage at 1:51 Highlight the passage at 1:51

2:18 And peace is probably one of the most wonderful things that you can experience. In life, we can experience happiness. We can experience joy, we can experience wonder, but what the meditation offers us is this experience of peace. And what is this experience of peace? Basically, the experience of peace is for us to be able to be in this present moment. Report an error in the passage at 2:18 Highlight the passage at 2:18

2:59 And over the time of a repetitive practice, we have developed a niceness, almost like a niceness towards this present moment, a comfortableness towards this present moment. So when we're sitting here, we feel okay. We feel content. We feel content. and and Report an error in the passage at 2:59 Highlight the passage at 2:59

3:29 I just think that's one of the nice things that we can do for ourselves. It's one of these little things that we can add into our lives. Report an error in the passage at 3:29 Highlight the passage at 3:29

3:49 We're busy people. We have to do things. We have to talk to people. and and you know you know we Report an error in the passage at 3:49 Highlight the passage at 3:49

3:54 people and And our minds are never settled because we are out in that kind of world. If you ask yourself throughout the day, how peaceful do you feel? Or how often can you go to that place of peace in your mind from a day-to-day experience? Report an error in the passage at 3:54 Highlight the passage at 3:54

4:20 And the answer is probably I don't do that too often. I don't experience that much at all. So, one of the things that I've been reflecting on, and it's one of the practices that we do as monks, is to try to develop this motion of peace. This motion of peace, yes. And do you know what peace feels like? Do you know what peace feels like? Report an error in the passage at 4:20 Highlight the passage at 4:20

5:00 Do you know what peace feels like? Yes? Yeah? Yeah, you know what peace feels like. So that's just like a part of living. That's like a part of what we do as human living this life is to be able to find those moments where we can just send our minds to a peaceful place. Report an error in the passage at 5:00 Highlight the passage at 5:00

5:26 And that is like adding something positive and good into your day. As monks, we're busy as well. The other day, we were doing some work in the monastery and we had Daniel on the wheelbarrow and he was pushing wheelbarrows of clay. We were building a frog pond. So we're building a frog pond where the front gate is. And it's actually... Report an error in the passage at 5:26 Highlight the passage at 5:26

6:06 It's actually getting quite big. It's actually getting quite big. When we first started doing it, we had the tour man that was here. His name is Radek. So he dug the hole with the tractor. And then he dug it. He spent like two or three days to do that. And then he had to go back to Poland. And I was left with the project to finish it off. Report an error in the passage at 6:06 Highlight the passage at 6:06

6:33 So what we did was we carried a lot of dirt from the top of the hill all the way down. But we had the tractor to do that, which made it a lot easier. And Daniel was there in the wheelbarrow and he would push wheelbarrow loads of dirt to an area just to dump it, just to be able to raise up the wall of the frog pond. Report an error in the passage at 6:33 Highlight the passage at 6:33

7:00 It was actually a very large one. It's a very large frog pond. And we were doing this. We were doing this for two days. Two days. And it's like two days. So we were busy and we had something to do. And then when you're doing something like that, your mind states or what you're thinking can go in either way. Report an error in the passage at 7:00 Highlight the passage at 7:00

7:28 It's time where you can start to complain. About the work. You know, who likes to drive dirt up and down the hill? And Daniel there, he's the one that's doing all the work. He's pushing the wheelbarrow. Pushing the wheelbarrow and just dumping it. And dumping it. And then if you're doing something like that, it could be a little bit boring. You know, sometimes you might start to complain. Report an error in the passage at 7:28 Highlight the passage at 7:28

7:51 You start to whinge. Oh, you think about, you start thinking about the, it was pretty windy. Think about the cyclone and, you know. You can see where your mind goes. Sometimes it goes to a place where it starts to whinge and whine because it doesn't want to do the task at hand. Report an error in the passage at 7:51 Highlight the passage at 7:51

8:18 And in life, sometimes when we see ourselves doing that, we're whinging about life, we're complaining about things. goes you can either go it Report an error in the passage at 8:18 Highlight the passage at 8:18

8:30 And in a sense, that's a choice that we have in that moment. So Daniel, he could have complained about pushing the wheelbarrow and dumping the dirt. Or I could have complained about loading up the tractor with over 20 loads of clay and bringing it down the hill. But, you know, I didn't. Report an error in the passage at 8:30 Highlight the passage at 8:30

8:52 And I remember there were moments where I had to just stop. And in those moments, there were the times when I can send my mind off to a peaceful state. Report an error in the passage at 8:52 Highlight the passage at 8:52

9:10 And that's the nice thing about the mind. There are areas that you can send it. You can send it to negativity, to like a darkness, or to complaining. Or you can send it to a place where it's calm, it's peaceful, it's nice. So when I was just sitting in the tractor, just waiting for Daniel to dump the dirt, I would just look off into the forest, look off into the sky, and just be at peace with what I was surrounded by. Report an error in the passage at 9:10 Highlight the passage at 9:10

9:50 And in the same way, I'm pretty sure Daniel probably did the same thing, because after he dumped the wheelbarrow load, I have to go fetch the clay. So he had time. He had time to allow his mind to run off to do whatever. And I didn't ask him where his mind ran to. He could have ran to, oh my gosh, I have to unload another load of clay, blah, blah, blah. Report an error in the passage at 9:50 Highlight the passage at 9:50

10:20 But I don't think he mined. He just carried on and he did the job. To jive that point a little bit further, we were still going until about, I think, 6.20 into the evening. And then he was getting tired. He went and dumped a couple of loads and he kind of missed. But he saved the wheelbarrow. He saved the wheelbarrow. Report an error in the passage at 10:20 Highlight the passage at 10:20

10:49 And I go, oh, he must be tired. And then he's like, oh, I might need another couple of loads of wheelbarrows so I can finish the job. And I said to him, I said to him, do you have one more load in you? And he said yes. So I drove up to the thing, drove all the way down and he did a good job. I filled up his wheelbarrow, he took it over. It's really like, really narrow. And then he dumped it. And then when he dumped it, I clapped. Report an error in the passage at 10:49 Highlight the passage at 10:49

11:24 I clapped because he didn't lose the load of clay. And you know what he did? He smiled back. So we had like a little nice exchange of like goodness there, you know. And sometimes that's kind of all we need is just a little bit of goodness. You know, sometimes I look at people's faces. There's something going on and it's understandable, you know. Human minds are... Report an error in the passage at 11:24 Highlight the passage at 11:24

12:26 And what the meditation practice allows us to do is to put our minds into a peaceful place. Put our minds into a peaceful place. And if you think about it, if you think about having tools, having certain tools in your life to be able to deal with things that come up, hardship or whatever, You know, we get taught different things. Like, one of the fads that's going on is the breathing technique. Report an error in the passage at 12:26 Highlight the passage at 12:26

13:05 Breathing technique is like really, really popular. You sit down, you breathe in, you breathe out, you breathe in, you breathe out, and you do like deliberate breathing. And apparently, people say that it does work. And it's probably true. You do calm down. And that's something, a tool that you have in your toolbox. Report an error in the passage at 13:05 Highlight the passage at 13:05

13:25 And say for a mother who's looking after a child and the child is uneasy or upset or whatever, in the mother's toolbox she has like kindness, kindness, love and care. And she uses that to kind of soothe the child or to make the child feel better. And as a meditator, people who want to learn how to meditate, The thing that you put into your toolbox is the peace. The thing that you put into your toolbox is this thing we call contentment. Report an error in the passage at 13:25 Highlight the passage at 13:25

14:06 When I talk about contentment, I'm talking about this knowing that you are really comfortable with yourself. You're really comfortable with yourself. You can go anywhere and not be anxious, or nervous or you know you just feel comfortable wherever you go and that's something Report an error in the passage at 14:06 Highlight the passage at 14:06

14:35 that the meditation can kind of reveal to us, or it's something the meditation. There are various and many things that we can access. access in our minds. With the meditation practice, we can access the good stuff. We can use these good stuff in our daily lives. A good example is when I live my life, I have to lead a community. Report an error in the passage at 14:35 Highlight the passage at 14:35

15:22 I have to talk to people. I know some people don't like me. I know some people don't like me. I do a lot of building work, so I have to manage projects, lead a team of people living there, those four or five of us. I have to give out the work. Report an error in the passage at 15:22 Highlight the passage at 15:22

15:47 I've been through quite a bit. work and, and, and, um, you Report an error in the passage at 15:47 Highlight the passage at 15:47

15:51 Over the last six, seven years, just building this place in Rolling Stone. I think one of the reasons why I managed to do it and keep a smile on my face is because I've developed the peace in my mind and in my heart. I've developed a certain level of contentment. Because when everything is going on, like you've got a deadline to reach, you've got people to talk to, your life is stressful, when all that is not there, it's not there, you can go back to the place where you have developed over the years through your meditation practice. Report an error in the passage at 15:51 Highlight the passage at 15:51

16:42 You can go back to that peace, you can go back to that contentment. And that is the gem. That you can find through this meditation practice. And with that, I will stop. And we can do a guided meditation. We Report an error in the passage at 16:42 Highlight the passage at 16:42

· · · silence, 1 minute

18:11 just close our eyes. Report an error in the passage at 18:11 Highlight the passage at 18:11

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18:48 And if you know what peace is, then Report an error in the passage at 18:48 Highlight the passage at 18:48

18:55 you just hang out there. Report an error in the passage at 18:55 Highlight the passage at 18:55

· · · silence, 1 minute

19:34 And when meditating, we don't really need to do anything special. You don't really have to follow a technique. technique, I mean. Report an error in the passage at 19:34 Highlight the passage at 19:34

19:55 Yeah. And when you're sitting with your eyes closed, if you sit long enough, if you are mindful enough, then you kind of, in a sense, learn how to meditate by yourself. Report an error in the passage at 19:55 Highlight the passage at 19:55

20:17 Because your mind will tell you whether you're having a good time or not. Report an error in the passage at 20:17 Highlight the passage at 20:17

· · · silence, 1 minute

20:59 We may be in a certain mood, you know, some of us are in an okay mood, some of us are in a bad mood, and some of us don't even know what type of mood we're in. Report an error in the passage at 20:59 Highlight the passage at 20:59

21:16 We're kind of in our own headspace. Report an error in the passage at 21:16 Highlight the passage at 21:16

21:23 And the beautiful thing about the meditation practice is the learning, the understanding of your own mind. It's almost like a slow, a slow reveal and an untying or unfolding of how our mind works. Report an error in the passage at 21:23 Highlight the passage at 21:23

21:55 This understanding comes through time, through many hours of sitting with your eyes closed and just being with this moment. Report an error in the passage at 21:55 Highlight the passage at 21:55

22:24 Being with the present moment and Report an error in the passage at 22:24 Highlight the passage at 22:24

22:31 not asking for anything else and Report an error in the passage at 22:31 Highlight the passage at 22:31

22:40 then after a while your mind your mind it kind of starts to untangle or it kind of starts to just detoxify even without you needing or without you wanting it to happen so Report an error in the passage at 22:40 Highlight the passage at 22:40

23:21 you're just sitting Report an error in the passage at 23:21 Highlight the passage at 23:21

23:24 Being accepting and just allow the process or the magic or the detoxification to happen. And Report an error in the passage at 23:24 Highlight the passage at 23:24

23:52 that's the wonderful thing about the meditation is the learning or the understanding of one's mind. It happens as a natural course or as a by-product of Report an error in the passage at 23:52 Highlight the passage at 23:52

24:11 Sitting down with your eyes closed and just being aware of your moment. And Report an error in the passage at 24:11 Highlight the passage at 24:11

· · · silence, 4 minutes

27:54 even though I said the meditation is a repetitive practice, we're basically sitting down doing the same thing. We're just looking at this moment, accepting it, not judging. Report an error in the passage at 27:54 Highlight the passage at 27:54

28:23 And we're doing this time and time again. And sometimes we think, how can I just do one thing and get some sort of result from it? But what I've understood from my own experience is that Report an error in the passage at 28:23 Highlight the passage at 28:23

29:01 You will start to see the growth in your own mind. You will start to see the benefits because you've been meditating. And sometimes this understanding that you're getting better or this understanding that you are growing in your meditation is something that reveals itself. Report an error in the passage at 29:01 Highlight the passage at 29:01

29:45 In time, it Report an error in the passage at 29:45 Highlight the passage at 29:45

29:51 may be one year, two or three or even more, but when we look into our minds and we see it, we can see that it has grown. Report an error in the passage at 29:51 Highlight the passage at 29:51

30:14 We can actually feel the improvements and feel the peace and actually feel the growth. we can We do see change happening right in front of us. So Report an error in the passage at 30:14 Highlight the passage at 30:14

· · · silence, 9 minutes

39:59 remember meditation for the most part is to do one basic thing through Report an error in the passage at 39:59 Highlight the passage at 39:59

40:18 time. The changes happen. Report an error in the passage at 40:18 Highlight the passage at 40:18

40:25 What I mean is basically Report an error in the passage at 40:25 Highlight the passage at 40:25

40:31 all I was taught was to be in the present moment to make Peace, be kind, be gentle. To let go, so the mind doesn't think too much. Report an error in the passage at 40:31 Highlight the passage at 40:31

40:56 And just by doing that, the mind changes over time. In Report an error in the passage at 40:56 Highlight the passage at 40:56

· · · silence, 12 minutes

53:02 this meditation session, what I do is I'll ring the gong three times. Afterwards, if you want to have some questions, you can ask away. Who's Report an error in the passage at 53:02 Highlight the passage at 53:02

· · · silence, 1 minute

54:26 winning the game? I Report an error in the passage at 54:26 Highlight the passage at 54:26

54:36 think they're training or something. Report an error in the passage at 54:36 Highlight the passage at 54:36

54:40 don't know how often it's on, but I feel like I'm always hearing it when I'm sitting outside. Does it draw a large crowd locally when they play the games? Okay. Okay. Report an error in the passage at 54:40 Highlight the passage at 54:40

54:59 So anybody got any comments, questions or complaints before we finish up? games Report an error in the passage at 54:59 Highlight the passage at 54:59

55:15 myself and then I just try and listen to my breath to draw myself back in, is that what you Report an error in the passage at 55:15 Highlight the passage at 55:15

55:25 Because before I was, and I also acknowledge that and I say, okay, thanks. Report an error in the passage at 55:25 Highlight the passage at 55:25

55:36 constantly i realize i'm thinking about something i do a lot of meditation but it's a Yeah, okay, yeah. a lot of this kind of meditation which i'm trying to learn which is right here okay yeah yeah yeah so i'm not used to when it's like this i hear my own thoughts yeah okay yeah Yeah, because I guess with the guided meditation, they're always saying something or guiding you so your mind is focused on their voice so it doesn't think too much. Report an error in the passage at 55:36 Highlight the passage at 55:36

56:05 Yeah, I think that's the beauty of not having a guided meditation. So you can actually look into your own mind and see how wrong it is. Report an error in the passage at 56:05 Highlight the passage at 56:05

56:17 See how uncontrollable it is or how dissatisfied you are with your own mind. And a part of the meditation is to be able to find your way away from that dissatisfaction or just away from the distraction or away from the things that you don't like in the mind. So that's what this type of meditation kind of offers you. Report an error in the passage at 56:17 Highlight the passage at 56:17

57:17 If you find yourself thinking too much, you can bring it back onto an object. Say, like the breath. Or some people use the body. Report an error in the passage at 57:17 Highlight the passage at 57:17

57:27 And that's good. That's good. And I think it's a valid practice. But what I've noticed with people... Report an error in the passage at 57:27 Highlight the passage at 57:27

58:13 We all do this. We see our minds just thinking about something and we bring it back to an object, say a sensation in the body or the breath or even being in the present moment. So you bring it back and then afterwards you're just mindful of what's happening. And usually when you bring your mind back or you're trying to center itself, there's always that that that That experience of the present moment. Like you're here, you're right here, you're right now. And that's where peace lives. Report an error in the passage at 58:13 Highlight the passage at 58:13

58:51 Yeah. So you just like, you go back there, you familiarize yourself with it. You do it little by little by little and then it kind of grows. Yeah. That's the thing. Little by little and it grows. Yeah. I know it's going to take a lot of practice in my mind to, well I don't expect for it to. Report an error in the passage at 58:51 Highlight the passage at 58:51

59:14 Yeah. that's the right approach, I mean, yeah, that's a wise approach. okay any more comments questions time to go home time Report an error in the passage at 59:14 Highlight the passage at 59:14