The History of Sitting: Morning Talk Reflection (Poor quality)

0:00 So this awakening, being awake, attentive, doesn't mean trying to be awake. It means being awake in this itself. Report an error in the passage at 0:00 Highlight the passage at 0:00

0:15 Pure awareness. Report an error in the passage at 0:15 Highlight the passage at 0:15

0:21 So in the chanting we have, Santidhiko, Akaliko, Ehipasko, Panaiko, Bhajitang, Laitida, Pohini, we chant this every morning and evening. It's at least apparent here and now. Report an error in the passage at 0:21 Highlight the passage at 0:21

0:38 So this word dhamma, you don't define it, you're not trying to find out what it means by definitions, but now, this is dhamma now. Report an error in the passage at 0:38 Highlight the passage at 0:38

0:54 So it's pointed, it's awakened attentiveness, pure consciousness. You Report an error in the passage at 0:54 Highlight the passage at 0:54

1:12 need to finally say the truth or the law or... Then we start thinking about it in terms of the meanings of those words, truth and law. Report an error in the passage at 1:12 Highlight the passage at 1:12

1:30 not a matter of definition. Report an error in the passage at 1:30 Highlight the passage at 1:30

1:35 trying to figure out it's esoteric meaning or anything like that. That's again. Trusting in the awareness Report an error in the passage at 1:35 Highlight the passage at 1:35

1:49 Santilika, Dhamma. Report an error in the passage at 1:49 Highlight the passage at 1:49

1:58 this, then I'm listening, I'm paying attention. Satsang with Report an error in the passage at 1:58 Highlight the passage at 1:58

· · · silence, 1 minute

2:37 Mooji It's like this. The things that are happening now become causes like breathing or sensation to the body, sound of silence. These Report an error in the passage at 2:37 Highlight the passage at 2:37

3:18 I consider, you know, just ways of centering, what you might call centering. Report an error in the passage at 3:18 Highlight the passage at 3:18

3:27 Because breathing, Ānāpānasati or breathing, we usually don't have a personal view about it. It's not like a... Our personality is usually not dependent on the breathing of the body or the sensations. The sitting posture, the heat or cold or relaxed or stiff or feeling good, feeling pleasurable, painful, neutral sensations. Report an error in the passage at 3:27 Highlight the passage at 3:27

4:08 So the posture, the breathing, these are kind of like gamatana or foundations. Report an error in the passage at 4:08 Highlight the passage at 4:08

4:19 Because they don't, they don't tend to, we don't tend to proliferate much about it's like this, you know, the body's sitting like this, nothing to that. And to, you know, think about sitting and analyze sitting and create a, you know, a whole tome of opinions and views about sitting seems rather pointless. Report an error in the passage at 4:19 Highlight the passage at 4:19

4:41 Because we're doing it. Report an error in the passage at 4:41 Highlight the passage at 4:41

4:46 Sitting through the ages. Report an error in the passage at 4:46 Highlight the passage at 4:46

4:50 How the Romans sat in the Colosseum and so forth. Like the history of sitting, but we know that's just being absurd. So we're not interested in how the Romans sat or anyone else, but sitting is like this, breathing is like this. Report an error in the passage at 4:50 Highlight the passage at 4:50

5:20 An attitude of receiving, you know, not trying to figure it out or do anything. It's like this retreat, this notice, any, you know, I want to, you know, any feeling of I am, this is my retreat or I must or I should. Any way that, you know, your personality, the sense of your self-importance is activated through just the perception of two-week retreat, which is retreats. Report an error in the passage at 5:20 Highlight the passage at 5:20

6:05 Because on the conventional level, it's always these things that kind of prod us, that stimulate, that excite, or we react to, that, you know, make us do things. Feel we should or shouldn't. And developing awareness around us. This way we're so intimidated or stimulated or reactive to other conditions or ideas, conventions. Report an error in the passage at 6:05 Highlight the passage at 6:05

6:46 When Report an error in the passage at 6:46 Highlight the passage at 6:46

7:03 I say relax and open, don't make this a kind of thing you should be doing. If you're stiff and tense and... And so, of course, be aware of it like this. I should be relaxed is another sakya-ditti problem, isn't it? Ajahn Sumedho says relax, open, I should, you know, I'm trying to open up and relax and do what Ajahn Sumedho says is conceptual proliferation, papancha, sakya-ditti. Report an error in the passage at 7:03 Highlight the passage at 7:03

7:40 You know, these words are, I'm somebody that's got to, that should, Relax. Follow the instructions of the teacher. So Report an error in the passage at 7:40 Highlight the passage at 7:40

7:59 it's alright to be tense and uptight or whatever state you're in. It's no longer my time to convince you to be otherwise. Just encouraging you to open to it. Receive it. Let it be the way it is. Nothing to do. You don't have to change anything. Just pay attention. Now, Report an error in the passage at 7:59 Highlight the passage at 7:59

· · · silence, 1 minute

9:00 awakeness itself is enlightened. It's not... We talk about enlightenment. That's a word that, you know, what does that mean? Report an error in the passage at 9:00 Highlight the passage at 9:00

9:14 You think of it in terms of, you know, scriptural references, the Buddha's enlightenment when all the realms of the universe shook and things like this. So it sounds like a big experience, you know, like a, you know, because it's built up into some very Special, very extraordinary experience according to the way one might think of it or translate it into modern terms. Report an error in the passage at 9:14 Highlight the passage at 9:14

9:50 But I don't find that very helpful, you know, to think of enlightenment in terms of scriptural descriptions of the Buddha. Report an error in the passage at 9:50 Highlight the passage at 9:50

10:02 Because it seems, you know, it seems it's too extreme. It's, can't do it. In other words, and if one is waiting for that to happen, you know, you can be completely lost in the sense of yourself waiting for enlightenment to happen, expecting some kind of fantastic, overwhelming experience. And it's still Sakyaditi. I'm waiting for the enlightenment moment. Maybe it'll happen during this retreat. Report an error in the passage at 10:02 Highlight the passage at 10:02

10:43 Maybe it'll never happen to me. So practically Report an error in the passage at 10:43 Highlight the passage at 10:43

11:03 speaking, in terms of here and now, sitting in this shrine room, there's not very light in here, a little candle light, so forth. Report an error in the passage at 11:03 Highlight the passage at 11:03

11:20 We could turn on all the lights and we could bring in floodlights. Would that be enlightening? Bring in strong floodlights, you know, on both ends of the room and switch them on until we're blinded by intense light. Report an error in the passage at 11:20 Highlight the passage at 11:20

11:38 Or, practically speaking, at this very moment, mindfulness. Report an error in the passage at 11:38 Highlight the passage at 11:38

11:52 Sati Sampatanya. I'm Report an error in the passage at 11:52 Highlight the passage at 11:52

12:01 not saying I'm enlightened, because then that gets the wrong impression. Ajahn Sumedho is now enlightened because he's aware. Report an error in the passage at 12:01 Highlight the passage at 12:01

12:14 conceptual proliferation again. There's no self, there's no Ajahn Sumedho. Nobody be getting light. There is awareness. Report an error in the passage at 12:14 Highlight the passage at 12:14

12:43 Consciousness. Consciousness is light. It's not conscious moment, aware. Then Report an error in the passage at 12:43 Highlight the passage at 12:43

13:00 I could create gloomy perceptions in the consciousness. I could start worrying about the future, resenting the past. I'm creating darkness. Gloomy. Report an error in the passage at 13:00 Highlight the passage at 13:00

13:15 What people did to me in the past or what's going to happen in the future. George Bush, Report an error in the passage at 13:15 Highlight the passage at 13:15

13:26 Americans, Al Report an error in the passage at 13:26 Highlight the passage at 13:26

13:31 -Qaeda, my health, so forth. Creating, you know, gloomy perceptions, what we call negativity or darkness. Or we can create positive perceptions, which, you know, we can create visions of Light and paradise, angelic chorus, angels with white wings playing harps, imagining spring flowers and bubbling streams and green grass in the English winter. Report an error in the passage at 13:31 Highlight the passage at 13:31

14:13 You can create a whole fantasy of beautiful, pretty perception. Report an error in the passage at 14:13 Highlight the passage at 14:13

14:22 But none of these can be sustained. You know, they're not sustainable. You can't create a... Report an error in the passage at 14:22 Highlight the passage at 14:22

14:30 a pretty picture in your mind and keep it it's not has no self-sustaining ability you have to keep kind of recreating it all the time hanging on to it so what at this moment is you don't have to do anything you don't have to recreate it or force or control anything at Report an error in the passage at 14:30 Highlight the passage at 14:30

15:03 this very moment here and now and this is this is awareness Report an error in the passage at 15:03 Highlight the passage at 15:03

15:20 This is listening, you know, attentiveness, nothing. You know, this is not difficult or beyond anyone's ability. You don't have to be an experienced meditator or even a monk or a nun or anything like that. It's just natural state. Report an error in the passage at 15:20 Highlight the passage at 15:20

15:39 Whether you're feeling, you know, you've got terminal cancer on your deathbed or you're... Robust and healthy, young, old, male, female. This is not, nothing to do with limitation of conditions. It's totally natural. Report an error in the passage at 15:39 Highlight the passage at 15:39

16:02 And so this is why we're referring to this. Here and now, oh wait. Santiti Kodama, apparent here and now. Report an error in the passage at 16:02 Highlight the passage at 16:02

16:13 I'm not creating a mental term, I'm just recognizing this. When I do this, then I'm pretty much aware of sound of silence. Report an error in the passage at 16:13 Highlight the passage at 16:13

16:34 sound or whatever it is, it's there. I don't have to, I don't create, it's not my creation or my invention. Now Report an error in the passage at 16:34 Highlight the passage at 16:34

· · · silence, 1 minute

17:16 when you recognize, recognize it, it awakens like this, and then this I, if you're going to use words, conceptually, can I go back to the, there is the unborn, uncreated, unformed. Report an error in the passage at 17:16 Highlight the passage at 17:16

17:40 I'm not interested in the words themselves, but using words that convey the sense of not bounded by limits, not arising ceasing. It isn't like a thought or a memory, perception. Report an error in the passage at 17:40 Highlight the passage at 17:40

18:10 It's not a physical thing, but Report an error in the passage at 18:10 Highlight the passage at 18:10

18:23 it's real. It's not a fantasy. Now, Report an error in the passage at 18:23 Highlight the passage at 18:23

18:32 when I do this, then I can sustain this awareness. It doesn't kind of hypnotize me or put me in a trance or in a special state where I just lose awareness and go into some kind of blissful realm. Report an error in the passage at 18:32 Highlight the passage at 18:32

18:53 you know that is out of touch with this with the realities of this moment centers me grounds me here the body belongs here the body's like this this old heavy body like Report an error in the passage at 18:53 Highlight the passage at 18:53

19:19 this sitting here breathing also awareness it gives me perspective on emotions you know like how i feel right now just emotionally the kind of mental quality emotional quality Report an error in the passage at 19:19 Highlight the passage at 19:19

19:47 But I'm not interested in the emotional quality, but just recognizing it, you know, it is to be aware of feeling, emotion, the way it is in the present, because it's changing. Try to sustain. Try to create a permanent emotion, permanent happiness, permanent depression. Report an error in the passage at 19:47 Highlight the passage at 19:47

20:15 They change and move. They're conditioned. They're not unconditioned phenomena. phenomena and the unconditioned Report an error in the passage at 20:15 Highlight the passage at 20:15

20:30 which is aware, now put in yourself sense Buddha knowing the Dhamma. Report an error in the passage at 20:30 Highlight the passage at 20:30

20:39 Buddha is the knowingness of conscious awareness. This is refuge in Buddha. Buddha knowing Dhamma. So this is a paradigm, a Buddhist terminology that we use, because Report an error in the passage at 20:39 Highlight the passage at 20:39

21:03 they are not personal identities. You know, we don't identify, I'm Buddha or I'm Dhamma or anything like that. And if you do, you'd recognize that, you know, it's ridiculous. Don't want to, you know, build an ego around being Buddha or Dhamma or Saṅgha. People nowadays in Vipassanā circles, we're Saṅgha too. Report an error in the passage at 21:03 Highlight the passage at 21:03

21:30 Our lay people Saṅgha, Vipassanā Saṅgha, our Saṅgha. Then they got the hard line, it's only Bhikkhu Saṅgha. Is this real Saṅgha? Report an error in the passage at 21:30 Highlight the passage at 21:30

21:45 Everybody's got their own take, their own precious view about Saṅgha. That's not the point. Saṅgha has nothing to do, not to be defined in personal ways, but it's refuge of awareness. Report an error in the passage at 21:45 Highlight the passage at 21:45

22:02 Human individual awakened, aware, Buddha, Dhamma, Saṅgha. hold on like that and it goes on. Report an error in the passage at 22:02 Highlight the passage at 22:02

· · · silence, 1 minute

22:15 Buddha or the Buddha knowing the Dhamma. That's not Ajahn Sumedho knowing all about Dhamma. That's different, isn't it? That's conventional reality. Report an error in the passage at 22:15 Highlight the passage at 22:15

22:39 But if I follow that as my record, Ajahn Sumedho knowing all about Dhamma, I don't find that helpful. That's not... That perception of myself as somebody who knows Dhamma and my name is Ajahn Sumedho and I know all about the Dhamma. I don't find that a liberating perception to attach to or to come from. But I think I'm Ajahn Sumedho knowing all about that. Report an error in the passage at 22:39 Highlight the passage at 22:39

23:07 I have to be the expert, the meditation master, the authority. It brings up all my, the sense of my self-importance, my special position. Report an error in the passage at 23:07 Highlight the passage at 23:07

23:19 Me. Bhikkhu. Report an error in the passage at 23:19 Highlight the passage at 23:19

23:27 Thanjavakun. Report an error in the passage at 23:27 Highlight the passage at 23:27

23:31 Forty years, forty vasas. Bhikkhu. First Western disciple of Ajahn Chah. All that kind of stuff. And that is, that's not liberating to operate in that way. To, you know, it's just misery because then you're creating these illusions which have no ability to liberate. They just bind you to limitation, to sakya ditti. So refuge in Report an error in the passage at 23:31 Highlight the passage at 23:31

24:11 Buddha, then, is his here and now, his antithetical dharma, the knowing, the awakened consciousness, knowing dharma, is this. Now Report an error in the passage at 24:11 Highlight the passage at 24:11

24:37 this knowing isn't knowing about, it's not based on concepts or anything, it's direct knowing. It's Report an error in the passage at 24:37 Highlight the passage at 24:37

24:51 not what you should know according to Theravāda and Buddhist authorities, it's direct knowing. Report an error in the passage at 24:51 Highlight the passage at 24:51

25:00 Because this is a natural state, isn't it? Being a conscious being, being a human being, a human body that's sitting and breathing here. And they're conscious, so there's this experience now of knowing. Consciousness itself is a minyana. Jitta is this. So Report an error in the passage at 25:00 Highlight the passage at 25:00

25:37 it's not knowing all about Dhamma and Mahāyāna and Hinayana and all the rest. It's not... knowing all about everything that's Buddhist. Report an error in the passage at 25:37 Highlight the passage at 25:37

25:49 This Report an error in the passage at 25:49 Highlight the passage at 25:49

25:57 is the experience of knowing, being this human situation that we're all in, having a human body, experiencing consciousness from this point, from this body, from this place here, sitting here. Report an error in the passage at 25:57 Highlight the passage at 25:57

26:21 So this is like this reflection is to just, just to... Report an error in the passage at 26:21 Highlight the passage at 26:21

26:31 Encourage this, observing the way it is. Now, the Pāli suttas are very helpful in this because it's kind of like an agreed vocabulary that takes out the personal, strong personal identities. Report an error in the passage at 26:31 Highlight the passage at 26:31

26:51 You know, like Ajahn Sumedho gets too personal. The name Ajahn Sumedho or whatever. Or even our Pāli names, isn't it? We get... So strong identified with our Pāli names. So then, and with our other names before we were given Pāli names. My name is Sumedho. My name, not your name. Report an error in the passage at 26:51 Highlight the passage at 26:51

27:25 But awareness is nameless. It doesn't belong to anybody. Report an error in the passage at 27:25 Highlight the passage at 27:25

27:36 Natural. Here and now, santitiko dhamma. Report an error in the passage at 27:36 Highlight the passage at 27:36

27:48 Now coming from this bhutto tamo position, Awareness is knowing of the way it is. So Report an error in the passage at 27:48 Highlight the passage at 27:48

28:09 this knowing is consciousness. Report an error in the passage at 28:09 Highlight the passage at 28:09

28:16 And because we have a form, we have a human body, then we're experiencing consciousness from this point, from this position that we're sitting in at this moment. Report an error in the passage at 28:16 Highlight the passage at 28:16

28:30 So let's think titiko, apparent here and now. Like this. Report an error in the passage at 28:30 Highlight the passage at 28:30

28:39 Breathing like this. Feelings like this. Report an error in the passage at 28:39 Highlight the passage at 28:39

28:45 The sense of oneself, me and mine, is like this. Report an error in the passage at 28:45 Highlight the passage at 28:45

28:57 Things come up, our own cultural prejudices or views or opinions or identities and thinking. Thinking is an obsession of modern life. In Report an error in the passage at 28:57 Highlight the passage at 28:57

29:14 this puto tamo, sound of silence, resting in this awareness, thought can come and go, but we're not trying to think anymore, not trying to figure it out. Report an error in the passage at 29:14 Highlight the passage at 29:14

29:30 analyze it, or name it, or define it. I am that. Report an error in the passage at 29:30 Highlight the passage at 29:30

29:48 Well, Report an error in the passage at 29:48 Highlight the passage at 29:48

29:59 that's just a way of kind of acknowledging this, this awareness. Report an error in the passage at 29:59 Highlight the passage at 29:59

30:07 When we put it into I am this awareness, I am pure consciousness, then, you know, this... You know, a lot of you have read the Nisargadatta, I Am That. Remember when I first read that book I thought, in the heck does that mean? Report an error in the passage at 30:07 Highlight the passage at 30:07

29:51 am what, back? Report an error in the passage at 29:51 Highlight the passage at 29:51

30:14 Fair enough to reflect in that way, but then it easily tends to get into, you know, the I am is so strongly identified with the person, with being I am the body, I am Ajahn Sumedho. Report an error in the passage at 30:14 Highlight the passage at 30:14

30:30 But this awareness, this consciousness, if Report an error in the passage at 30:30 Highlight the passage at 30:30

30:38 you don't think about it, there's no I am, doesn't arise. Report an error in the passage at 30:38 Highlight the passage at 30:38

30:45 But if you still need to say something, say I am that, this consciousness, this awareness. But Report an error in the passage at 30:45 Highlight the passage at 30:45

30:56 in enlightenment, This is enlightening. When I trust this, just this simple, imminent recognition of awareness like this, all my sense of myself kind of drops away if you're patient enough. You've got to sustain that. Be patient, allowing your feelings to be what they are, your thoughts or whatever. It's not a matter of controlling or... Report an error in the passage at 30:56 Highlight the passage at 30:56

31:32 Getting rid of, but just letting things take their natural course. Emotions, emotional feeling like this, thinking, habits, tenseness, whatever. It's not a matter of trying to control or change, but just embrace, allow it to be the way it is, however pleasant or unpleasant or boring or whatever it might be. Report an error in the passage at 31:32 Highlight the passage at 31:32

32:02 Resting in this, being this. Report an error in the passage at 32:02 Highlight the passage at 32:02

32:09 The sense of an individual self drops away. And that's the dukkha, the suffering. To feel this sense of separateness. This separation. I'm this body. I'm this person. I belong to this group. I belong to this nationality. I am a good person or a bad person. All this kind of... It's always defining ourselves in terms of qualities and conditions. Report an error in the passage at 32:09 Highlight the passage at 32:09

32:50 And it's always a separate, that's why the Buddha pointed to it as dukkha, because there's no identity you can think of or create that will ever be satisfactory. Report an error in the passage at 32:50 Highlight the passage at 32:50

33:02 It's just impossible. Because any of these conditions, the self, the sakyaditi, It comes out of ignorance, of conditioning, habit. It can't sustain itself. It has no ultimate reality. It merely kind of creates, we can build a whole world of illusions around the sense of I am this body, I am this person, which Report an error in the passage at 33:02 Highlight the passage at 33:02

33:39 we do, you know, the whole world's doing and everybody seems to be enmeshed in this. of each other but Report an error in the passage at 33:39 Highlight the passage at 33:39

33:51 you don't have to do it you've got a choice there's a retreat then see as you know this is this retreat is the opportunity to keep gently you know it's not i don't want to kind of push you and compel you because we're easily easily triggered you know we're easily intimidated by that i Report an error in the passage at 33:51 Highlight the passage at 33:51

34:18 should go practice get into the old uh compulsive mode because We're from compulsive societies, all about progress in the future and achieving. Report an error in the passage at 34:18 Highlight the passage at 34:18

34:34 That's our culture. That's the cultural conditioning. Report an error in the passage at 34:34 Highlight the passage at 34:34

34:41 I'm not trying to feed that or, you know, try to reinforce ignorance, but this retreat, in terms of my attitude, is more a kind of encouragement, a pointing. Report an error in the passage at 34:41 Highlight the passage at 34:41

34:58 I'm not here to kind of push or pressure you or intimidate you. If that's how I seem, that's not my intention. Now, of course, we do suffer from getting bored when everything's peaceful. Peace is boring for the conditioned personality. We all kind of whinge, say, peace, peace. But you notice when there's any long period of peace, usually we find something to create a problem with. Report an error in the passage at 34:58 Highlight the passage at 34:58

35:38 mean, the face that we like, it's like men. Report an error in the passage at 35:38 Highlight the passage at 35:38

35:45 of people go to matches or football matches for peace. You go to a football game to be peaceful. Report an error in the passage at 35:45 Highlight the passage at 35:45

36:01 beaten badly by the Australians in cricket. see if that brings peace to them. Report an error in the passage at 36:01 Highlight the passage at 36:01

36:11 exciting isn't it, you know, emotional when side wins, I mean, you know, Report an error in the passage at 36:11 Highlight the passage at 36:11

36:24 you know over you know these guys kicking a ball around the field because Report an error in the passage at 36:24 Highlight the passage at 36:24

36:34 it's exciting or or war and sex and all these things because they kind of they're all so exciting they're not peaceful so Report an error in the passage at 36:34 Highlight the passage at 36:34

36:51 the society we live in gives us a whole plethora of uh of uh exciting distractions i Report an error in the passage at 36:51 Highlight the passage at 36:51

37:02 think that Well, now we're taking refuge in Buddha Dhamma Saṅgha, so it's not, this is not for excitement. It's not exciting. It's enlightening. Awakenness is like this. It's not excitement. It's not being blasted with light and you're kind of floating up into the heavenly realm. Report an error in the passage at 37:02 Highlight the passage at 37:02

37:25 Boring. Emotionally we can feel, we may not emotionally even like it. We Report an error in the passage at 37:25 Highlight the passage at 37:25

37:35 like the idea of becoming enlightened. The ego loves to think of, You know, being enlightened, coming into Arahant, it's like an achievement, a personal achievement. You know, how many English people have ever achieved Arahantship? Report an error in the passage at 37:35 Highlight the passage at 37:35

37:54 You know, it's to be, you know, to really be a proclaimed, acknowledged Arahant here in the UK. Report an error in the passage at 37:54 Highlight the passage at 37:54

38:06 And even in the Theravāda system, it's all, you know, a sense of Sakyaditi, isn't it? Trying to I don't regret such a people want that anymore. I mean putting it into terms of ultimate worldly achievements. Is Arahantship a worldly achievement? Is it an achievement, an attainment, in the way that becoming prime minister might be considered, or a famous film star? Report an error in the passage at 38:06 Highlight the passage at 38:06

39:13 So recognizing it is the total opposite of all worldly values and attitudes. Report an error in the passage at 39:13 Highlight the passage at 39:13

39:23 And so this is where this recognition of the reality, of unconditioned reality, is this, Report an error in the passage at 39:23 Highlight the passage at 39:23

39:35 santirikodamma. Report an error in the passage at 39:35 Highlight the passage at 39:35

39:40 Now, recognizing this, realizing this, and then cultivating it. You know, over the years of my monastic life, I've cultivated this. You Report an error in the passage at 39:40 Highlight the passage at 39:40

39:59 know, more and more, just recognizing it, valuing this. Report an error in the passage at 39:59 Highlight the passage at 39:59

40:09 It's like nothing, really. It doesn't have any quality, you know, that excites. Or you could, you know, if you say, you know... Even worldly people ask for, you know, they want to know what kind of great attainments I've achieved in 40 years as a Buddhist monk. Report an error in the passage at 40:09 Highlight the passage at 40:09

40:37 If I said I've attained all the jhānas and I've attained all these stream entry and that would impress worldly people, wouldn't it? Report an error in the passage at 40:37 Highlight the passage at 40:37

40:52 I haven't wasted my life. I've gone through all these different... all these different female practices. I can do all kinds of, you know, psychic powers. I can read minds, walk on water. Report an error in the passage at 40:52 Highlight the passage at 40:52

41:10 You can bury me under the ground and dig me up in the week and I'm still breathing. I have a PhD in Buddhism. I don't know, like that. The world would be impressed, you know. Monastics, they won't give you a cold, you know. Monks go around in little business cards and have lists, you know, Chairman of this conference and PhD from this university and on and on. Report an error in the passage at 41:10 Highlight the passage at 41:10

41:45 You have a whole, you know, some monks like to collect titles and letters after their names. It's on a worldly level. Now this doesn't impress me, I feel sickened by it actually, but some people are actually impressed by that worldly, you know, this monk is a really important monk. He's got the titles and all these qualifications. But what is this? This is no, doesn't sound like anything. Report an error in the passage at 41:45 Highlight the passage at 41:45

42:21 Awareness here and now. So what? Report an error in the passage at 42:21 Highlight the passage at 42:21

42:30 You mean you've spent 40 years just doing that? Report an error in the passage at 42:30 Highlight the passage at 42:30

42:36 I don't think a worldly mind might react in such a way. What do monks and nuns do there, Amar Bhante? You know, we have to work hard for a living, and nitty-gritty of life, you know, paying taxes and supporting a family, and you're just sitting up there, you know, expect people to bring you food, and a nice place, you know, Hertfordshire countryside, and Report an error in the passage at 42:36 Highlight the passage at 42:36

43:03 what we chop, polish, that sounds pretty... Report an error in the passage at 43:03 Highlight the passage at 43:03

43:11 Pretty weak, doesn't it, in terms of impressing the lay community. Report an error in the passage at 43:11 Highlight the passage at 43:11

43:19 But it is, you know, this is cultivation. Living in a community like this, living in this place. Some people are never content here. They're always thinking they want to go somewhere else. You know, living here, is it that easy? You know, is it... Report an error in the passage at 43:19 Highlight the passage at 43:19

43:47 The state of permanent bliss or, you know, living in community, we create, we affect each other. We react to each other personally and there's all kinds of monks and nuns living in the same monastery and on and on. There's problems endless around gender, around seniority, around tradition, around Vinaya, around all kinds of things we can create. Report an error in the passage at 43:47 Highlight the passage at 43:47

44:16 Endless. Endless. problem on the conventional level of Amrabhati with Report an error in the passage at 44:16 Highlight the passage at 44:16

44:30 all the shoulds and shouldn'ts and what's right what's wrong and so in this this way it doesn't matter not observing this you know how we do you know emotionally how we react affect each other like this not saying yeah I'm trying to judge it but just recognize it like this Report an error in the passage at 44:30 Highlight the passage at 44:30

45:00 wanting to live in a big community like this. Report an error in the passage at 45:00 Highlight the passage at 45:00

45:05 a little peace and quiet away from all the pressure of Report an error in the passage at 45:05 Highlight the passage at 45:05

45:11 life is like this. Report an error in the passage at 45:11 Highlight the passage at 45:11

45:31 I have is like this. Report an error in the passage at 45:31 Highlight the passage at 45:31

45:36 Puto knowing it in terms of dhamma is like this. Non Report an error in the passage at 45:36 Highlight the passage at 45:36

45:42 -judging, it's not saying I shouldn't feel discontented, I should be content, that's another, you know, not saying that, but recognize not wanting. Report an error in the passage at 45:42 Highlight the passage at 45:42

45:56 Wanting to be somewhere else is like this. Report an error in the passage at 45:56 Highlight the passage at 45:56

46:08 Wanting this community to be something else is like this. Report an error in the passage at 46:08 Highlight the passage at 46:08

46:17 Not wanting the community to be the way it is is like this. Report an error in the passage at 46:17 Highlight the passage at 46:17

46:24 Now when I do this, then the problems dissolve. Report an error in the passage at 46:24 Highlight the passage at 46:24

46:31 Nothing, no problem. There's no self, no problem, nothing. You Report an error in the passage at 46:31 Highlight the passage at 46:31

46:39 can have a roof over your head, food in your arms bowl. Thank you. You begin to appreciate, find contentment, not through trying to become someone content, but just by recognizing, awakening. Report an error in the passage at 46:39 Highlight the passage at 46:39

46:56 Today, what has to do? Report an error in the passage at 46:56 Highlight the passage at 46:56

47:12 It's not really doing anything, is it? the monastic form, the formal retreat, it's just... to it just do it you know don't think about it is don't make a problem about this you know the form or the conventional form it's good enough it's okay this is for two weeks no you know don't spend your time on it Report an error in the passage at 47:12 Highlight the passage at 47:12

47:39 changing or any, any views. It's just this way. Report an error in the passage at 47:39 Highlight the passage at 47:39

47:50 You know, just following the form, the schedule and so forth. But being aware, you know, of emotional reactions, resistances, or obsessions, or compulsions that arise during this time, like this. This attitude of relaxed attention, of having, you know, just letting things flow through you, letting conditions, emotions, thoughts. Report an error in the passage at 47:50 Highlight the passage at 47:50

48:23 Whatever they might be, just flow so that you don't have to do anything with them. Report an error in the passage at 48:23 Highlight the passage at 48:23