Strategies for loosening attachments – Q and A

0:12 So, opportunity for questions, dialogue, sharing, anything? Yes? I can only describe this as that round and round thing, and I just want to share it because I'm quite new to all of this. When you do what you were describing and trying to get through the difficulty, one of the interesting things I've noticed is that I have... Report an error in the passage at 0:12 Highlight the passage at 0:12

0:44 sometimes stumbled across something coming right back from when I was a little boy. That's been my third trigger. And I thought, oh gosh, that's why I am chasing it so much. Report an error in the passage at 0:44 Highlight the passage at 0:44

0:56 I've been able to somehow come to terms or deal with it better. so far so good but then I start to think hang on this isn't some kind of Jungian cyclone, this is a trip this is not Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. knowledge and intellectual things to learning. What I've done now, I've got an attachment to finding out and things like that, and it's a kind of round and round thing. Report an error in the passage at 0:56 Highlight the passage at 0:56

1:25 being fascinated by something that comes up. It is. because then I think, oh, now I'm going to think about this thing because this annoys me, and it's going to be fun to have that as well. How can you sort of another attraction? Report an error in the passage at 1:25 Highlight the passage at 1:25

1:42 It is... Yeah, let me just, did everybody hear the question? No, okay, I'll just repeat, I'll try. And just a question about how, when, in terms of practicing in this way, and then sometimes someone will notice something coming up, which seems to be, which is linked to something in the past, as an example, so something from childhood, and it becomes very interesting to see, oh, you know, I see, I'm doing that. Report an error in the passage at 1:42 Highlight the passage at 1:42

2:10 because of this time when I was two years old and such and such happened. Report an error in the passage at 2:10 Highlight the passage at 2:10

2:27 intellectual pursuit and something you're not necessarily trying to use analysis, but simple observation. The crux of the question really is how do those come together? I mean, it is true that the crux of the practice is this simple quality of awareness in the present moment and then the relationship that one has to what is arising now. Report an error in the passage at 2:27 Highlight the passage at 2:27

3:04 While that's the case, it doesn't necessarily mean we can't use other tools as well. So, for instance, we can use intellectual analysis to good effect in some ways. It's not necessarily the heart of the practice which will lead to freedom, but it's something which we can help ourselves with. So, you know, I can think to myself, even though maybe I say, this is a different kind of example, but just as an example, if I... Report an error in the passage at 3:04 Highlight the passage at 3:04

3:32 I said something harsh to somebody the other day and I was left with feelings of sort of remorse and so on. So then there's just the simple observation of the feelings of remorse and all that I, you know, kind of coming into self-forgiveness and all this kinds of stuff. And I was able to pretty much, you know, drop it pretty quickly. But that doesn't necessarily teach me much about the pattern, about what had happened. And so it was also useful to think back to myself and see, okay, how did that happen? Report an error in the passage at 3:32 Highlight the passage at 3:32

4:12 What is the path to enlightenment? And so reflection in an analytical way can be complementary to the practice, but it's not essentially necessary. My understanding and experience of the path is that you really don't have to do that. You can use analysis, as I say, to complement, but one needs to be careful because, as you point out, it's like an endless, it's sort of an endless realm realm of of fascination. Report an error in the passage at 4:12 Highlight the passage at 4:12

4:43 And it tends to be an endless realm of fascination with the world of the personality, the world of the person, which is, again, something which is not to be Report an error in the passage at 4:43 Highlight the passage at 4:43

4:59 But it is something which is sort of endlessly involving and it doesn't come to an end. It's not like, at least from my observation of others who've engaged in that way and my own little experience with it, one doesn't get to that last childhood memory and finally you've kind of got it all out and now you're free and can be simple and aware. Report an error in the passage at 4:59 Highlight the passage at 4:59

5:21 It just goes on and on and on. Report an error in the passage at 5:21 Highlight the passage at 5:21

5:25 For me, when I've used that kind of thing, I've sometimes done some similar kind of reflection using dreams and thinking back to times in my life and, as I say, analyzing events that have happened. But those are usually for me just to supplement, just to kind of, if I'm having a particular stumbling block or problem, it's another angle one can bring to it. Report an error in the passage at 5:25 Highlight the passage at 5:25

5:50 But generally, you don't need to do that. It's kind of the beauty. of the practice, because one is just simply, there's only one thing one needs to do, essentially, which is to be here now, as they say. Report an error in the passage at 5:50 Highlight the passage at 5:50

6:08 moment basis, totally free to experience what's happening, and yet not needing to condone it or go along with it in any way, just being present and not attaching to things as they arise. And so for me, I think... I did go through a phase where I felt that I wanted to pursue kind of emotional analysis a bit more because it seemed like patterns just kept repeating. Report an error in the passage at 6:08 Highlight the passage at 6:08

6:35 And so I know a little bit about that kind of stuff, not much. But in the end I've kind of dropped it all because what's really helped so much is just developing this habit, for me at least, is developing this habit of being fully present and dropping everything else on a moment-to-moment basis. And somehow the patterns seem to... Report an error in the passage at 6:35 Highlight the passage at 6:35

7:04 change through that. It's almost like the touch of awareness has its own transformative power even to these old patterns. And one doesn't necessarily, at least in my experience, need to know what it was about or be that conscious of the causes. It just, things can resolve through awareness. Report an error in the passage at 7:04 Highlight the passage at 7:04

7:34 feel if you feel the fear? How do you deal with the feeling of fear? yeah, how do you deal with the feeling of fear and And Report an error in the passage at 7:34 Highlight the passage at 7:34

7:48 essentially, yeah, it'll be the same approach, but there are different things we can do. So the main thing with fear, I mean, the essential approach, of course, is awareness, is mindfulness in a way where we're not caught up, but then how to deal with it, how to actually do that, right? So with fear, for me, I've noticed that there's a lot of... Report an error in the passage at 7:48 Highlight the passage at 7:48

8:16 Well, I don't even want to analyze it too much, but I have noticed that it's very helpful for me to focus on loving kindness for myself when I'm afraid. And that might sound strange or, you know, kind of like it doesn't have, it's two things that don't have anything to do with each other. But at least for me, I've noticed that if I'm feeling threatened by something, or afraid of somebody else, or some situation, or even afraid of myself, That making a real, really trying to bring into my experience a care. Report an error in the passage at 8:16 Highlight the passage at 8:16

8:55 Just try to touch that place in myself where I do care for myself very deeply and bring that out and allow it to be. And so that sometimes for me, then there's things like Forgiving myself. I see things that I didn't realize I was blaming myself for. Sometimes I see that I'm blaming somebody else for something and that's hurting it. Report an error in the passage at 8:55 Highlight the passage at 8:55

9:22 So the loving kindness, I try to extend it outwards. And if I'm really afraid of someone, maybe it's impossible to feel loving kindness for the person because I'm afraid in that moment. So then it's just allowing myself to feel what I feel. Report an error in the passage at 9:22 Highlight the passage at 9:22

9:38 And bringing to mind the goodness of my own intentions, trying to make sure that I'm not, if I feel unskillful feelings, like I want to hurt that person because that person is hurting me, then I can see, you know, that's something that I can stop doing, you know, and that will help as well. Because personally, if I have that kind of thing, then there's going, like I want to... Report an error in the passage at 9:38 Highlight the passage at 9:38

10:05 I want to do harm to somebody else, then I also don't like myself something. So that's sometimes just practicing the loving kindness for myself and extending it to others, it starts to show these things up. Report an error in the passage at 10:05 Highlight the passage at 10:05

10:20 But just trying to remember the intention that I've had to be good, intention that I've had not to hurt others, and remembering that I can get a strength from it, so we can get stronger. stronger, just bringing to mind the good actions we've done. Often when people are dying, one of the kind of classical suggestions that they're given is to just bring to mind the good things that you have done in your life, different things that have brought joy to yourself, to others, gifts and so on. Report an error in the passage at 10:20 Highlight the passage at 10:20

10:57 Even if you've done many bad things, but just as we all, we've all done things which are good and bad and painful. painful and wholesome and unwholesome. Satsang with Mooji Satsang with Mooji Report an error in the passage at 10:57 Highlight the passage at 10:57

11:05 So choosing the good things and the wholesome, whatever we can remember, and just making a point of remembering these things, that can help to bring the heart into a more peaceful state if we happen to feel fear and afraid. Report an error in the passage at 11:05 Highlight the passage at 11:05

11:22 So loving-kindness, for me personally, has been the place that I've gone, the antidote to fear, because there's some sort of strength that it gives, very powerful. Report an error in the passage at 11:22 Highlight the passage at 11:22

11:36 And remembering those good things that I have done. And then if we can be mindful, you know, to just find a way in meditation, but just to see my own mind, to see it deeply, then it can become more clear that it's not me who's afraid. And saying it like that just becomes, you know, it can be like a statement that sounds good. Report an error in the passage at 11:36 Highlight the passage at 11:36

12:05 And it's something else when we feel afraid. But it's possible, you know, to really be aware of your life, moment to moment, and cultivate this. You start to see, my feelings are not me. You know, they're feelings. They arise because of causes. And I don't need to blame myself for feeling this. It's natural that I'm feeling afraid if there's, you know, obviously fear is a natural condition that we have as a protective mechanism. Report an error in the passage at 12:05 Highlight the passage at 12:05

12:33 So most of us are not confronted with tigers, you know, and dinosaurs and things that we have to, the human beings had to be afraid of a long time ago. But we have emotional fears. We're threatened. We feel very threatened by things that happen in our lives that concern other people. And that these days, you know, it's always the case. Report an error in the passage at 12:33 Highlight the passage at 12:33

12:54 We have this great technological modern culture, but things are just as uncertain. Satsang with Mooji Satsang with Mooji stable. We don't know what's going to happen. It's just as much like that as ever was. We don't know what's going to happen. None of us do. Individually or as a culture, a country, especially these days. Report an error in the passage at 12:54 Highlight the passage at 12:54

13:16 It's just, everything is unsure. that's frightening. So the way that the traditional sort of practice, you... You deal with this is to take refuge in the Buddha, the Dhamma, the Saṅgha. And this can mean different things. It can mean taking refuge in the Buddha, the historical figure of the Buddha as an idea, and in the teachings that he gave, and the Saṅgha of supportive, the people who have practiced those teachings and realized the truth of them. Report an error in the passage at 13:16 Highlight the passage at 13:16

13:56 And that can bring a great sense of peace to many people if they have those strong beliefs in that kind of history. But as I said earlier at the beginning, on a more profound level, the Buddha is inside each of us. So refuge in the Buddha. is refuge in this pure awareness, pure knowing. It's not different between you and me or anybody else. There's not my Buddha and your Buddha and her Buddha and his Buddha. Report an error in the passage at 13:56 Highlight the passage at 13:56

14:27 And this is something we can... It's a way of using language. And often in Theravāda Buddhism they don't even speak in this way because it gets into this dangerous realm of positing, of suggesting that there's some sort of great big self. But it's not saying that. This is a way of using language to point to something we can experience. So just also practicing meditation when we don't feel so, you know, when we can do it, it's very valuable because we get to know this place, which is not dependent on our feelings and our thoughts. Report an error in the passage at 14:27 Highlight the passage at 14:27

15:02 It's not dependent even on the body surviving. It's not dependent on the physical life of the body. It's something which we can touch and which has a reality. And it's hard to put into words, but it's something we can experience and take refuge in this. So then, once we touch this, it becomes even more powerful, for me at least, this taking refuge. So I actually, personally, I do it. If I get even a little fear sometimes, I might, just like a superstitious old sort of, you know, granny and traditional country stuff, And that we have these ideas. But I will. I won't actually do this. But I'll close my eyes and I'll say, Because I've done it so many times now. Report an error in the passage at 15:02 Highlight the passage at 15:02

15:50 Those aren't just words, but they're a way for me to remember. Refuge in Buddha. Awake, aware. Ground that doesn't change of consciousness. Report an error in the passage at 15:50 Highlight the passage at 15:50

16:03 And refuge in Dhamma, the truth. The truth of that. Refuge in Saṅgha, the ability to realize it, the community of all of us who can realize it and who have realized it. So that becomes something which you can use as a way, if you develop the habit, it can be. And I'm hesitant to even say this because it sounds so superstitious. But anyway, for what it's worth, And in Thailand they have this great belief in ghosts and spirits and so on. And so a lot of the people in the monasteries won't want to go out into the forest because of the fear of ghosts who live in the forest. Report an error in the passage at 16:03 Highlight the passage at 16:03

16:49 The Thais traditionally, not these days with modern education and so on, it's different. It's like it is here, but there's been this emphasis on having this idea that the... Report an error in the passage at 16:49 Highlight the passage at 16:49

17:02 People who have died and haven't had a peaceful death and they'll remain as ghosts around, they'll live in the forest. So the forest is this... I mean, it's actually good when people believe this because then they didn't cut down the trees. Report an error in the passage at 17:02 Highlight the passage at 17:02

17:18 But now, there's not so much of a belief in it anymore. But those who do, including some of the monks, surprisingly, it's really a big practice. I remember Than Ponyo who was here. Some of you may know him. He's in Thailand now, but he is based here. An English monk, he said he lives in this kuti in the forest in Thailand, Wat Mapchand. Report an error in the passage at 17:18 Highlight the passage at 17:18

17:41 It's Ajahn Anand's monastery. And they don't have that much forest. It's not that huge. But they've got some good forest. And most of the kutis are all together, kind of clustered together towards the center of the monastery. But the Westerners like to be in this one kuti, which is sort of out, off on its own, peaceful. Report an error in the passage at 17:41 Highlight the passage at 17:41

17:59 In the forest. And some of the practice monks also, the forest practice monks don't have a problem with ghosts and so on. But sometimes they have temporary ordinations there. So people come in just for a few weeks from Bangkok to become a monk and experience it and so on. And then they go back. So they don't have the same sort of experience with the mind and fear and so on. And he said it was the... Report an error in the passage at 17:59 Highlight the passage at 17:59

18:26 One who stayed there for three months, he said it was the biggest, the scariest thing he'd done in his life, was one night, just one night, to walk from the sala like this that they had in the monastery on a full moon night, to walk from there on the path all the way to this kuti where Tanpunya was living, and then back again. Report an error in the passage at 18:26 Highlight the passage at 18:26

18:46 And he was shivering and shaking in white with fear. So it's very real. Anyway, the story that I was going to tell is that they say that the best way when a ghost attacks you is to because it's been done by so many people who practice in such deep ways for so long that it has a kind of a, now this is me speculating, a kind of universal resonance to that which is good and true and safe. Report an error in the passage at 18:46 Highlight the passage at 18:46

19:17 And so if you do have something like that, then you can skillfully use these things as well as a way, I would say, to get in touch with that part of myself, that part of oneself, which is safe, which is unshakable. And again, it's the value of this seemingly dry practice. You know, just be aware. It doesn't sound like much, does it? Report an error in the passage at 19:17 Highlight the passage at 19:17

19:44 You know, you're not trying to be happy, you're not trying to bring anything in, you just be aware. But it can really bring fantastic sense of freedom, because you become deeper than your own thinking, mind. So then when my thinking gets upset, I'm not identified with it anymore. So I get it, okay, one part of me gets afraid, but the main part of me is like sitting back, and just aware, just there. Report an error in the passage at 19:44 Highlight the passage at 19:44

20:15 And we can start to develop that as the place where we sit. And then the mind doesn't get as disturbed as it used to get. And when it does, it's not a threat, because it's just stuff happening. It's like getting indigestion after eating chili. You know, you eat chili and then you... At least if you're me. And then... Report an error in the passage at 20:15 Highlight the passage at 20:15

20:36 That's not a hint or anything to anyone. But the... With the mind, if we have certain experiences in life and certain ideas of ourself, and then some things happen, and then we're going to get upset, we're going to get afraid. There's nothing wrong with us. It's natural. It's like getting indigestion when you eat chili. It's like the mind is just going to do that. But the option we have is we can be... Report an error in the passage at 20:36 Highlight the passage at 20:36

21:05 In the midst of all the indigestion, the mind getting afraid with the mind, or the mind gets afraid and we're also holding it. It's like we're holding it in this sense of calm awareness. So we can't just do that if we haven't developed it, and that's why it's so important to develop the habit and just deepen it. Report an error in the passage at 21:05 Highlight the passage at 21:05

21:30 But we can do these other things. You find ways of making, for me, it's finding my confidence again, ways to love myself. And then, if I can truly love myself, then it's easier to bring that out, to love others, even as with the traditional practice to love enemies, that is, people who are not kind to us and who are doing bad things. Report an error in the passage at 21:30 Highlight the passage at 21:30

21:55 We even include them. Because you can see, At least for me, it becomes more and more I see how actually somebody who's hurting somebody else is actually hurting themselves. Because I've seen it so many times in myself. If I say something which is painful to somebody else, especially if I do it consciously, which thankfully doesn't happen very much anymore, but it really hurts me. Report an error in the passage at 21:55 Highlight the passage at 21:55

22:18 I don't know what it does to the other person, but it certainly does a lot of damage here. And so one can see that when other people in the world are just caught in their They're justifications, they're rationalizations, and they cause great damage to other people. They're actually causing great damage to themselves. And so it has the effect of kind of engendering compassion. Report an error in the passage at 22:18 Highlight the passage at 22:18

22:42 The whole teaching of kamma. Sometimes people don't like the teaching of kamma because they think it's not compassionate because it's saying, you know, if you're in a wheelchair then it's something that you've done in a past life and you should blame the person. But it's nothing about that. It's just cause and effect. Report an error in the passage at 22:42 Highlight the passage at 22:42

22:58 And realizing that all of us are in the same boat. And if you really want to take the philosophical teachings of Buddhism to heart, which does include this idea that experience does not necessarily end with this one physical life, that just in the same way that we go from one moment to the next right now, Copyright © 2020 Mooji Media Ltd. All Rights Reserved. Report an error in the passage at 22:58 Highlight the passage at 22:58

23:41 Now that's something we don't have to believe on faith in order to practice Buddhism, but it is there in the Buddhist teaching philosophically. And it can help actually to make it to, for me it really helps to help me be more compassionate, because I see it not just in the causes and effects, the cause and effect that's happening in my life, it's not just in this one little window here. Report an error in the passage at 23:41 Highlight the passage at 23:41

24:10 So the proverbial mafia boss who gets away with it, dies in his mansion at age 97 or something, he's finally kind of got away with a lot. If one wants to take this as a philosophy, then you can see that there's nothing, it's just simply a matter of cause and effect. The Buddha said that, at least in the scriptures, we have this record of the Buddha having given this reflection. Report an error in the passage at 24:10 Highlight the passage at 24:10

24:37 Taking that into account, all of us have done all kinds of terrible things and all of us have done all kinds of wonderful things. We're not different in that way. We're just at sort of different places in this scheme of things going up and down and up and down and up and down. So I'm not different necessarily than Dick Cheney, for instance. Report an error in the passage at 24:37 Highlight the passage at 24:37

24:57 My apologies to anybody who's a Dick Cheney supporter in the room. He's my personal bugbear at the moment. And I'm no different. Report an error in the passage at 24:57 Highlight the passage at 24:57

25:16 know, sometimes when I don't like something, I want to just destroy it. And I can create some deluded rationalization about how that would be better for the world. And so on. And so can Dick Cheney. Report an error in the passage at 25:16 Highlight the passage at 25:16

25:30 He's caught in this thing, and in terms of kamma, if one takes this as true, which I do, then he's digging a terrible hole for himself. And just as I have in smaller ways in this lifetime, and I've observed it myself in the past. So it's a way of becoming compassionate for everyone, really. Report an error in the passage at 25:30 Highlight the passage at 25:30

25:57 So I don't know if that's helpful. with fear. Report an error in the passage at 25:57 Highlight the passage at 25:57

26:11 about ten more minutes if anyone has another or question. Can we get so attached to our attachments that we are afraid to let go of everything? Can you? Report an error in the passage at 26:11 Highlight the passage at 26:11

26:26 No. Let me see if I got you right. So attached to our attachments. Attachments work by ourselves by the things that we are attached to. To let go of that means that we have to break new ground. Yes. Yes. And you're asking, is that possible? Report an error in the passage at 26:26 Highlight the passage at 26:26

26:52 Yes, at least for me. Yes. Yeah, I mean, that's sort of the whole story from my experience. It's almost the whole story is seeing how attached I am to my attachments. And it's not using attachment in a negative way, but just observing this. The idea I have of myself, that's one of the things that I am attached to. You know, I want to see myself as being good, intelligent, you know, all the kinds of things. Report an error in the passage at 26:52 Highlight the passage at 26:52

27:23 And I'm attached to that. It's hard to, you know, if somebody says something to me which seems to threaten that view of myself, they point out that I was just very greedy, for instance. Say, oh, that was a very big piece of cheese you just took. Report an error in the passage at 27:23 Highlight the passage at 27:23

27:41 And I have to be honest, yes it was. But I don't like it, you know, if that happens. And so there's an attachment right there. I suffer because I'm attached to this view of myself as not being greedy. But if I'm not attached to that view of myself, then I can actually laugh along with them. Like you see, the Dalai Lama is very good at sort of showing this sort of quality, at least from what I've seen. Report an error in the passage at 27:41 Highlight the passage at 27:41

28:06 Somebody shows him he's just been silly and he'll just burst into laughter like a three-year-old and say, oh, you're right. And so it's that kind of sense of not even being attached to our own, you know, who we want to be. Who we think we are and so on, as well as the desire, more sort of rough desires. But I don't know if that, does that help address what you were trying to ask? Report an error in the passage at 28:06 Highlight the passage at 28:06

28:38 Right, Report an error in the passage at 28:38 Highlight the passage at 28:38

28:43 all because I'm attached to this idea of wanting to be seen by myself as not greedy and so on. Yes, exactly. just to make you think about that, you don't want to be perceived as might actually get a small piece of cheese and you actually eat it with knife. Report an error in the passage at 28:43 Highlight the passage at 28:43

28:51 That's right. So I'll see. It's good, yes. It'll be an attainment for me next time when I go in and take all the cheese off the plate and just eat it. One has to be careful with it. See, this is what the mind can do. It just creates all these scenarios and you get yourself into trouble if you're not careful. You tend to go with the feeling in the heart more than thinking. Report an error in the passage at 28:51 Highlight the passage at 28:51

29:21 Yeah. In the Tibetan tradition, the Yuga-Dharma tradition, there's a belief that you can't be attached to virtuous objects. Is that the same view here? That you cannot be attached to virtuous objects, for example. Well, Report an error in the passage at 29:21 Highlight the passage at 29:21

29:42 I think I know what that is referring to. Of course, there's no idea of okay or not okay. There's just this suffering or not suffering and then observing what is the case. So it is true that you can be attached to the teachings, attached to the path of Buddhism. But sometimes they say that it's a very skillful means to allow yourself to be attached to that, until you've done with all the other ones, then you can finally ditch the raft. Report an error in the passage at 29:42 Highlight the passage at 29:42

30:11 It's a raft that you take across for a purpose, and then you don't even need to carry it on the other side. There are teachers I've heard in Thailand also saying that that's the one attachment you should keep, because it's really helpful. you know, be attached to the teachings. Because we can't, of course, we can't just suddenly start out by, you know, okay, deciding I'm not going to be attached to anything anymore and just be not attached. Report an error in the passage at 30:11 Highlight the passage at 30:11

30:38 It doesn't work that way. So yeah, it's a matter of skillful means. Ajahn Sumedho always says, don't be attached to a teacher. They will always let you down. Yes. Yes. If you're attached, they'll let you down. And I mean, we use these words. Report an error in the passage at 30:38 Highlight the passage at 30:38

30:56 It's idealism, isn't it? It's idealizing. Yes. Absolutely. That's right. yeah, yeah, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 30:56 Highlight the passage at 30:56

31:11 is a great temptation to be attached to the idea we can know. I've seen this in the development of science only in my lifetime, there is an attachment to ideas. I'm always thinking... Yes, now we know, time and time again, I've found out that that's not quite the way it is. It's just an impression. It's a way of looking at it. And it's so easy to forget that our senses and our minds are only something which has developed over the years, over the centuries, over the millennia, for survival purposes. Report an error in the passage at 31:11 Highlight the passage at 31:11

31:57 It isn't reality, but a reflection of reality, which is useful, but has limited usefulness. So there is that possibility of attachment, and I quite often find myself falling into that trap. I hope less and less, but yes, I know that. You don't really. Right, yes, it's really like, it comes back to that famous teaching by Socrates, isn't it? That all I know is that I don't know. And it's really true. Report an error in the passage at 31:57 Highlight the passage at 31:57

32:29 And I mean, there's one thing I didn't talk about, even though it is a good strategy for loosening attachment, which is getting to know on an experiential level the five, what we call in Buddhism, the five khandhas. And that, once you start to... really investigate that. We have incoming input through our senses and what's coming through the eyes is light. Report an error in the passage at 32:29 Highlight the passage at 32:29

33:10 light. Light in different shapes. Report an error in the passage at 33:10 Highlight the passage at 33:10

33:25 cushion, that's a person, that's a person with a shirt on, that's a wall, that's an image, and so on. And so, sannyā is what pieces the world together, and that's why sometimes if you fall down and... People who fall down and hit their heads, things can go funny. Anybody who's read these great Oliver Sacks books, one of which is called The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, you can have these very strange anomalies happening to perfectly sane, intelligent, sensible people. Report an error in the passage at 33:25 Highlight the passage at 33:25

33:53 Because it's kind of a function of the brain and it's a function of consciousness, perception, but it's not reality. Physicists would say there's sort of energy in this room and our senses make sense of it. And if a bee... were to fly into this room, it would not see what we see, although ostensibly the same objects are here. Report an error in the passage at 33:53 Highlight the passage at 33:53

34:20 And recently I read, I can't remember if it was a philosopher or a scientist, but just in terms of studying how the human kind of works in the eyes of science, I think, they were seeing how we actually first Learn what reality is. We first make assumptions about reality and then we sort of perceive it. So it's like we tend to think that we see reality and then we interpret it. Report an error in the passage at 34:20 Highlight the passage at 34:20

34:45 But it's more true to say we interpret reality and then we see what we're expecting to see. We see what we interpret. That's getting a bit abstract and philosophical, but it's interesting when one does actually bring it into the meditation, just starting to watch one's mind very closely. You can do it with the eyes, you do it with the senses, the five normal senses, and then in Buddhism we have the sixth sense, which is everything that's happening in the mind, the mental activity. Report an error in the passage at 34:45 Highlight the passage at 34:45

35:15 So it includes all of that perceiving and proliferating. Because of course it's not only I see a human being in front of me, I see a human being with a red shirt and I recognize that one and that one told me something nice the other day and here I am, this is not just a room, it's Amaravati and all that that means to me and so on. Report an error in the passage at 35:15 Highlight the passage at 35:15

35:34 So that's what we call saṅkhāra or mental formation, proliferation. And rather than using that as just some neat ideas to think about, you can use it in your meditation. Start to notice sounds coming through the ears. They're just sounds, actually. And then it's perception that says, that's a bird, that's a car, that's a plane. Report an error in the passage at 35:34 Highlight the passage at 35:34

36:01 So anyway, I think I'll finish here. A few words for today. Thank you very much. Report an error in the passage at 36:01 Highlight the passage at 36:01