Andy Weber's Talk on Path Of Tranquil Abiding 2013

0:05 Is it working? Can you hear me? Sorry? It's on. You make it a bit louder then. I don't Report an error in the passage at 0:05 Highlight the passage at 0:05

0:27 know, how is it from your side? Is that better? Report an error in the passage at 0:27 Highlight the passage at 0:27

0:36 Good evening. That was the delightful voice of my daughter, because when I sing it, everybody laughs. That's the tune from Sarah Monastery, Sarah J. And the monks sing it with a very deep voice. But when I do it, everybody goes, hey. Report an error in the passage at 0:36 Highlight the passage at 0:36

0:58 I did ask her to do it for me. Is it better now? Can you hear me? Or is it completely useless? I can't hear the difference. Report an error in the passage at 0:58 Highlight the passage at 0:58

1:11 Move it, move it, yeah. We don't need it. Report an error in the passage at 1:11 Highlight the passage at 1:11

1:16 How's that? Report an error in the passage at 1:16 Highlight the passage at 1:16

1:20 Okay. Report an error in the passage at 1:20 Highlight the passage at 1:20

1:42 Thank you for coming. I know for city people it's incredibly difficult to find time to meditate and to go to teachings or get lectures. So thank you so much. Sydney is a very busy city, so I really appreciate every one of you. The subject of my weekend art course is shamatha, which means single-pointed concentration. Report an error in the passage at 1:42 Highlight the passage at 1:42

2:11 It's quite an easy painting because it belongs to the Tibetan folklore. Now to explain it in detail, I need to go through a few basics. Report an error in the passage at 2:11 Highlight the passage at 2:11

2:26 Because in itself, the painting actually shows the path. The path to realizations. Report an error in the passage at 2:26 Highlight the passage at 2:26

2:44 So I put together these slides, and this is good for newcomers a little bit, just to give you sort of a spiritual, emotional understanding. Report an error in the passage at 2:44 Highlight the passage at 2:44

2:58 Just to explain shamatha, it's like, what the heck is he talking about? One has to do it in stages. Report an error in the passage at 2:58 Highlight the passage at 2:58

3:15 So I put these slides together. Realizations. Report an error in the passage at 3:15 Highlight the passage at 3:15

3:07 stages. Report an error in the passage at 3:07 Highlight the passage at 3:07

3:21 This is the first time I'm teaching this subject, so there will be obstacles. But I thought about it deeply and it should be quite clear. Report an error in the passage at 3:21 Highlight the passage at 3:21

3:36 For sure, I'm not able to explain everything. That's why we have four days of art course where the whole thing will be explained in much more depth. I'm just explaining the surface. But the surface is interesting enough. You see? Report an error in the passage at 3:36 Highlight the passage at 3:36

3:55 All the images you see here in this place, the paintings, the statues, everything. The Tibetans call it ten pa. And ten means support and pa means object. They're all objects of support. To support their spirituality. And everything in these paintings and in the statues has a meaning. It's not just fantasy stuff. Report an error in the passage at 3:55 Highlight the passage at 3:55

4:28 Honestly, everything has a meaning. And I'm still, amazingly, after 35, I've been doing it 39 years now, and I'm still discovering new things. It's like, whoa, now I got it. And last year I went to see my teacher. This is Tage when he was young. Okay? And then you know how life is, and that's our problem. Life flashes by and boom, you got gray hair. Report an error in the passage at 4:28 Highlight the passage at 4:28

5:03 Teeth are falling off. Things don't work anymore the same they used to be. Hello mister, you still there? Come in. And it goes like this. So I used to go nearly every couple of years to visit him. Report an error in the passage at 5:03 Highlight the passage at 5:03

5:19 And every time I come with a whole list of questions. And I ask him, you know. And slowly, slowly I discovered the myth and the mystic power of these images. To the kindness of him. And I went last year and he said, I asked questions, he said, bugger off. Report an error in the passage at 5:19 Highlight the passage at 5:19

5:41 He literally said, bugger off, I have retired now. I'm 83, I stopped painting two years ago, no more questions. That was amazing. And I wanted to ask about this and this and this. Okay, I understand. You see, Report an error in the passage at 5:41 Highlight the passage at 5:41

6:07 this is our human problem. This is depicted here in the Wheel of Life, the image of the Wheel of Existence above every gompa door. See, the Wheel of Life and the shamatha meditation image go together. They're not separate. If you go to a monastery, you have on one side or above the door this image, the Wheel of Life, just to make the visitor aware why he's going in there. Report an error in the passage at 6:07 Highlight the passage at 6:07

6:43 Why are you entering the gompa? Why are you entering the space of meditation? Why do you undergo the rituals and give offerings to the monks or whatever? Why are you going in there? Report an error in the passage at 6:43 Highlight the passage at 6:43

6:55 In these big frescoes, this is one targeted, you find them on the gamba walls, huge, and the fantasy of the Tibetan mind really sort of has a great, like Spielberg, great fantasy world of the, especially the lower realms. If you read the texts about, the explanations about the human realm. and the god realm, and then with the hell realms, you know? I mean, the human realm is like this, pages, Life is shit, you're born alone. Report an error in the passage at 6:55 Highlight the passage at 6:55

7:35 This is the description of the human realm. You read the description of the hell realms on the pages. Every imaginable horror story is written down. Ten cold realms, hells, ten hot hells. What's happening is the human mind. Report an error in the passage at 7:35 Highlight the passage at 7:35

8:17 And this is depicted in these paintings like this, where you have all sorts of gory fantasy. Report an error in the passage at 8:17 Highlight the passage at 8:17

8:28 How the human body is or the beings reconnecting in that realm are cut up and boiled and stewed and eaten and then reborn in other cold climate or hot climate. Incredible. So you think you even go to the most remote area in Tibet, which is probably very peaceful, you know, and it's beautiful landscape and quiet, little population. Report an error in the passage at 8:28 Highlight the passage at 8:28

8:57 But the human mind invents all these cruelties. It's incredible. Your arm being sewn off and then sewn back together and again sewn off. Why? Where does that come from? I understand it here in the Western world, but why there? What does it do with our human mind? Report an error in the passage at 8:57 Highlight the passage at 8:57

9:25 I'll show you some old examples. In this Wheel of Life, Report an error in the passage at 9:25 Highlight the passage at 9:25

9:31 Its original existence came from Buddha Shakyamuni himself. The King Bimisara, whose kingdom the Buddha was residing, was given a jewel, a present by a neighboring king. Report an error in the passage at 9:31 Highlight the passage at 9:31

9:49 And he asked the Buddha for advice. And to the Buddha, Shakyamuni's clairvoyance, he saw that this neighboring king is ready for the teachings. Report an error in the passage at 9:49 Highlight the passage at 9:49

10:00 But at that time, no tape recorder, no dictaphone, no email. Report an error in the passage at 10:00 Highlight the passage at 10:00

10:06 He got an artist and he ordered the artist to describe the diagram as you see it here. Report an error in the passage at 10:06 Highlight the passage at 10:06

10:15 It's written the extensive enjoyment sūtra, but going around the wheel of life is no enjoyment. This is my version after studying the text. Report an error in the passage at 10:15 Highlight the passage at 10:15

10:28 You see, it has to do with all kinds of levels of life, of our personal experience. Our main problem. It's not just our human existence, but it's the continuous change of experience. This is portrayed in this death, this vessel figure holding the wheel in its claws. Report an error in the passage at 10:28 Highlight the passage at 10:28

10:56 Yama, Lord Yama, Lord of Death. It means everything in this cycle has to undergo this process of continuously changing. And the question was just asked, why? changing. Report an error in the passage at 10:56 Highlight the passage at 10:56

11:16 The Buddha asked himself, why should that stop when the body stops functioning? If you already during the lifetime experience different realms, different levels of existence, why should it stop when the body decays? Report an error in the passage at 11:16 Highlight the passage at 11:16

11:38 So there is this sort of, you know, the state in between, in between the different realms, which we experience on a daily basis. Some of us... A bit shorter, some of us a bit longer. Report an error in the passage at 11:38 Highlight the passage at 11:38

11:57 In our mind, if we have finished, we have to come to one conclusion in our life, but we still don't know where we're going, this state in between, this is what they call the bardo, the intermediate state. Report an error in the passage at 11:57 Highlight the passage at 11:57

12:19 Instead of this neurotic anxiety mind, I have it every time I go for a flight, every time. That's why I love flying, because it scares the hell out of me. It's the only time I pray. Really. It's the only time I really meditate on death and impermanence. Report an error in the passage at 12:19 Highlight the passage at 12:19

12:41 And I always experience these Bardo states, which is the mind which is totally on its own. And it has said goodbye to the past, but not good morning to the future yet. It hasn't woken up yet. And this is how I see how we... Experience our existence. We may have all human bodies, but our mind continuously changes. This is what's portrayed in these six realms. Report an error in the passage at 12:41 Highlight the passage at 12:41

13:16 For a moment we might experience the bliss of the gods, for the next moment we might experience the suffering or the dissatisfaction of being in an animal realm. Report an error in the passage at 13:16 Highlight the passage at 13:16

13:28 The experience of an animal realm, being domesticated and being... Report an error in the passage at 13:28 Highlight the passage at 13:28

13:40 animals is the anxiety of being eaten up by the larger one, constant fear of that. experience that our 95 jobs. There's always a boss. Report an error in the passage at 13:40 Highlight the passage at 13:40

14:09 you know, sometimes when I look at our civilization, the way our lifestyle, you know, there's nothing, Report an error in the passage at 14:09 Highlight the passage at 14:09

14:25 Some of us. I'm talking about the mind, the mental experience. It is continuously changing. When we are in our workplace and for some of us... I have Report an error in the passage at 14:25 Highlight the passage at 14:25

15:05 human body. You look at me as a human. I look at you as a human. My mind might be French poodle. what? Report an error in the passage at 15:05 Highlight the passage at 15:05

15:21 I remember very clearly, this is my early childhood nightmares, and I've been to drinks about it. When I came, I looked into my mother's face and was in a tit. I remember saying, who are you? I didn't want to be here. What is this? What is this thing? Report an error in the passage at 15:21 Highlight the passage at 15:21

15:43 I remember that. My fantasy is, yeah, anyway. We all, we all, we all are in the same boat. We experience our neuroses, our ups and downs in life, no choice about it. We experience Report an error in the passage at 15:43 Highlight the passage at 15:43

16:10 the god realm, endless bliss. Some of us are short, a few seconds when we make love, some of us a bit longer when we cuddle, listen to opera. We experience the bliss of the gods, but it doesn't last, it's not permanent. We experience the angry gods, the aggressions. Report an error in the passage at 16:10 Highlight the passage at 16:10

16:44 experience the animal realm, the animal mind, when we lust after things or are scared or afraid of our superiors or being in servitude to others. Report an error in the passage at 16:44 Highlight the passage at 16:44

16:56 experience also what they described as the hungry ghost realm. Report an error in the passage at 16:56 Highlight the passage at 16:56

17:05 look at the pictures of Africa, the famines. Swollen valleys, thin... And when they are fed or watered, they can't even digest it. They're beyond saving. Report an error in the passage at 17:05 Highlight the passage at 17:05

17:19 And there is one of my favorite hungry ghosts. The image is described. He sits in a warehouse, naked. He looks into the distance. And underneath his butt is everything. The candy, the sandwiches, the blanket, the nice things. And he looks there. And this is... Such a human mind, because we always think that the grass is greener over there. Life is better over there, or that wife or that husband, or I should move to Katoomba or the Luma. Report an error in the passage at 17:19 Highlight the passage at 17:19

18:03 It's better, better, better, better. We're never really satisfied with what we've got right now. We're sitting on a treasure, aren't we? And the treasure the Lamas teach us is called the perfect human rebirth. You've got it now, you're not sure what you're going to get next time around. You might be a French poodle. So Report an error in the passage at 18:03 Highlight the passage at 18:03

18:28 that's the continuation. And the Buddha taught the path out of it. Report an error in the passage at 18:28 Highlight the passage at 18:28

18:39 He points with his finger towards the moon. The moon is a symbol for bodhicitta. And bodhicitta is like when it grows from a crescent moon to a full moon. The crescent moon is loving kindness. Loving kindness to oneself and loving kindness to others. And then with practice and understanding it slowly grows into full-blown bodhicitta. And he points the finger towards this. Report an error in the passage at 18:39 Highlight the passage at 18:39

19:14 From his finger comes a small sun. Can you see that there? It indicates, look, that's the way. That's the method. The moon is the method. But the moon needs the finger pointing at it with wisdom because the sun is a symbol for wisdom. In many cultures, yeah, the sun comes up. The wisdom of the enlightened ones come up and banish our ignorance. Report an error in the passage at 19:14 Highlight the passage at 19:14

19:48 And what makes this wheel go around and around and around and around? It's like a car. Center hub. The center hub are these three animals. Report an error in the passage at 19:48 Highlight the passage at 19:48

20:00 The white boar. So he's saying, look, what makes us moving continuously to different realms, even with the human body? The center hub. The center is depicted with three root forces or delusions. The first one is the white ball which represents ignorance. Report an error in the passage at 20:00 Highlight the passage at 20:00

20:26 The first force is ignorance. He states clearly, the reason why you're moving is because you're ignorant about two things, the external world and your internal world. Report an error in the passage at 20:26 Highlight the passage at 20:26

20:46 How are we ignorant about the external world? Report an error in the passage at 20:46 Highlight the passage at 20:46

20:52 It's not saying you can't see, you cannot experience, but the teachings say you have a limited view of reality. You don't see its totality. And that's why you move around and around. Report an error in the passage at 20:52 Highlight the passage at 20:52

21:13 It's difficult to understand. I always use a wooden table as an example. Or maybe you can use the wooden floor. Put your feet on the floor right now. Just get a feeling. Report an error in the passage at 21:13 Highlight the passage at 21:13

21:31 See this is... This is the wooden floor, okay? And you label it wooden floor because you can walk in it and it's polished and there's some stripes in it. It's a usable object, okay? So that's called conventional reality, okay? But what's the ultimate reality? Report an error in the passage at 21:31 Highlight the passage at 21:31

21:53 So the Zen master asks his students, can you see the cloud in the table? So I'm asking you now, can you feel? Report an error in the passage at 21:53 Highlight the passage at 21:53

22:05 Experience the rain and the cloud in the floor. Report an error in the passage at 22:05 Highlight the passage at 22:05

22:21 Takes a while. Just think about it. The floor comes from somewhere, right? It's a wooden floor. This wooden floor comes from the shop. The shop gets it from the factory. The factory makes it from the carpenter. The carpenter got the wood from the woodyard. The woodyard got the wood from there. Report an error in the passage at 22:21 Highlight the passage at 22:21

22:41 A woodcutter and he cut the tree down. The tree was 30 years old and a long time ago it was a sapling like this and was fed by the rain and water and the sun rays. And for 30, 40 years it had its own ecosystem. It was a home to bugs and bees and some lovers. Report an error in the passage at 22:41 Highlight the passage at 22:41

23:06 Without that whole process, this floor would not exist, would it? It wouldn't be there. It's logic. It's logic. It's just logical. Okay? Report an error in the passage at 23:06 Highlight the passage at 23:06

23:16 But we don't experience that, do we? We don't see it. We just go floor, table, a chair. Do you know what I mean? We don't perceive its totality. So there's one view of reality we don't really experience. We experience only 5%, not the whole 100. Report an error in the passage at 23:16 Highlight the passage at 23:16

23:39 If, example, we would experience the 100 % of matter, of the object, and that's what the Buddhists describe as a... Realization of the emptiness of phenomena. There would be no greed because everything you touch, you feel and see is absolute blissful. Even Report an error in the passage at 23:39 Highlight the passage at 23:39

24:16 the table becomes Star Wars movie. Report an error in the passage at 24:16 Highlight the passage at 24:16

24:28 You see these wooden cupboards in the back there, they don't come from here, they come from, this one from Indonesia maybe and this one from China or something. Report an error in the passage at 24:28 Highlight the passage at 24:28

24:42 It's not just wood. It's a very specific tree who pissed down on that little sapling 30 years ago. It's not just any tree made in America or made in China. We don't see it. We don't feel it. We don't touch it. It's the one where we have a limited experience of reality. Report an error in the passage at 24:42 Highlight the passage at 24:42

25:08 And then it's also the emptiness of self. We have a wrong idea of ourselves. We continue. We come into this world, our parents raise us, they give us a name, they label us with a certain name and we completely identify with this, I am this. And then this goes to this thing called life. Some short, some long. But this identity you carry with you, isn't it? Report an error in the passage at 25:08 Highlight the passage at 25:08

25:40 And this idea of what and who you are gets stronger and stronger and stronger and stronger. And the stronger it gets. I am Report an error in the passage at 25:40 Highlight the passage at 25:40

25:59 this and this and this. Because in the moment this ego or self is threatened, you start to wobble. Instead of spending money on ice cream, you have to spend money on a shrink. Report an error in the passage at 25:59 Highlight the passage at 25:59

26:17 And through meditation and through sometimes listening to the teachings of the Lamas, you can sort of get a clearer picture of actually what you are. Report an error in the passage at 26:17 Highlight the passage at 26:17

26:31 We are many things, not just one thing. Report an error in the passage at 26:31 Highlight the passage at 26:31

26:38 That's ignorance. One can discuss and talk about it. It's the basic source of Buddha's teachings. The reason why you suffer, the reason why you're dissatisfied or experience frustration, the reason why you experience all this suffering in life is because, A, number one, you're ignorant. Report an error in the passage at 26:38 Highlight the passage at 26:38

27:01 And out of the ignorance comes the snake and the bird, the pigeon. The pigeon represents desire. Report an error in the passage at 27:01 Highlight the passage at 27:01

27:16 If you observe pigeons or someone's pen as a cock roll, continuously picking up grain from the floor, as we do, humans, we jump from desire to desire to desire. Report an error in the passage at 27:16 Highlight the passage at 27:16

27:28 It can be even very subtle, even a cup of tea and a biki or bigger things. We continuously occupy our mind with expressing our desires. Report an error in the passage at 27:28 Highlight the passage at 27:28

27:43 And sometimes we have these imprints with us, not from our childhood, but even the Buddhists say from previous examples. Report an error in the passage at 27:43 Highlight the passage at 27:43

27:55 Continuously picking, picking, picking, picking, picking, picking, picking, picking, picking, picking. And everything which stops that expression of our desire we treat with anger and hatred. Hiss like a snake. Piss off! And that creates karma. This hissing sound you're creating again reinforces your ignorance. Report an error in the passage at 27:55 Highlight the passage at 27:55

28:22 You believe in self-identity and you believe that the world is as it is in front of you. And it's a continuous cycle. And that makes it go around and around and around. Here are some different depictions of the center. The pigeon is a cockerel. On the white side, these are the happier migrations. On the dark side, it's the lower migrations. Here's even three snakes coming from a phoenix. Report an error in the passage at 28:22 Highlight the passage at 28:22

29:02 Continuous experience, and here it's all melted together. Report an error in the passage at 29:02 Highlight the passage at 29:02

29:07 And the idea is, this is the driving force. And the Buddha said the only way you can escape that driving force is to practice Dharma. He showed the path, which is shown in this image. Remember, tenpa, this is tenpa. It would take me now an hour to explain, because everything in this image has a meaning. Report an error in the passage at 29:07 Highlight the passage at 29:07

29:46 It shows you the path to enlightenment. The Buddha's teachings and the Buddha himself had three purposes. The first purpose was to guide those who want to liberate themselves from suffering. This is in this painting. Report an error in the passage at 29:46 Highlight the passage at 29:46

30:10 The method how to do that. The second purpose was to liberate beings from their self-imposed limitation. Let's call that limitation, breaking free from one's own personal boundaries. And the third one is to point out and guide those for the real human potential, which is bodhicitta, bodhicitta consciousness. Report an error in the passage at 30:10 Highlight the passage at 30:10

30:41 That's all in this painting. Report an error in the passage at 30:41 Highlight the passage at 30:41

30:45 Every step of the throne is a ladder of meditation. In front of it you have the five sense offerings and I'll come back to them later. I'll mention them now. In the front you have the five offerings, the five enjoyments. This is our entrance ticket into the spiritual world of Buddha Shakyamuni. The mirror represents visual consciousness. Report an error in the passage at 30:45 Highlight the passage at 30:45

31:13 The lute, audible consciousness. Behind it, the scarf, tactile consciousness. The flower smell consciousness and the food taste consciousness. It's an offering to the Buddha which is portrayed as a path. Report an error in the passage at 31:13 Highlight the passage at 31:13

31:38 The idea is it's a daily offering one performs to become clear in one's mind. Listen, the image you have of existence comes to those five doors, the image we have. Report an error in the passage at 31:38 Highlight the passage at 31:38

31:57 So if we're careful... See, when we do offerings, we say, oh, we visualize the most beautiful object offered to the Buddha, the most beautiful sound, the most beautiful smell, the most beautiful taste, the most beautiful touch you offer. Report an error in the passage at 31:57 Highlight the passage at 31:57

32:16 But you become aware, look, everything you experience comes to those five doors. Listen, it's very simple. When you're grumpy, everything becomes grumpy. When you're grumpy, you see the dog shed in the street. Report an error in the passage at 32:16 Highlight the passage at 32:16

32:36 Everything next to you, you see, everything becomes tainted. If you're positive or have a happy attitude, like mind training, a happy mind training, then everything looks okay, even the doctrine, even the person dying. It's karma, it's the cycle of death, there's nothing you can do about it. Report an error in the passage at 32:36 Highlight the passage at 32:36

33:08 So that's the entrance ticket into the Buddha and all the teachings. In this figure and the throne, there's Report an error in the passage at 33:08 Highlight the passage at 33:08

33:25 many different paths, many different levels of intelligence, so therefore many different paths. But the essence of the throne, an example, I have to throw this in maybe, it's helpful. You have four platforms. Can you see that? One, two, three, four. The base platform is the largest one, which represents my... Report an error in the passage at 33:25 Highlight the passage at 33:25

33:53 There's two interpretations of it. It means mindfulness of body. It's the first meditation the Buddha taught. Mindfulness of body. This is what you are. Look at it. When you walk, walk. When you sleep, sleep. When you talk, talk. When you eat, eat. Don't multitask. Just get back down to the basics. Mindfulness of body. Report an error in the passage at 33:53 Highlight the passage at 33:53

34:22 Physical existence. existence. Platform mindfulness of feeling your emotions. It's a deeper level. It's happy emotions, it's unhappy emotions, it's indifferent emotions. Report an error in the passage at 34:22 Highlight the passage at 34:22

34:37 Where do they come from and where do they go? Report an error in the passage at 34:37 Highlight the passage at 34:37

34:45 What influences them? What creates them? Why am I always bloody miserable in the morning before the coffee and ten fags? Report an error in the passage at 34:45 Highlight the passage at 34:45

34:58 Why is that? Where do these imprints come from? Report an error in the passage at 34:58 Highlight the passage at 34:58

35:04 Second level. Third level is mindfulness of mental objects. This continuous thought process, where is it coming from? How come that my mind is continuously thinking? Thoughts arise, they stay, they go away. One moment I'm in Ibiza, looking at Italian movies, and the next moment I'm in an ice cream shop, and I'm somewhere in a problem at the university. Report an error in the passage at 35:04 Highlight the passage at 35:04

35:34 What's the driving force? Where does it come from? Report an error in the passage at 35:34 Highlight the passage at 35:34

35:42 Mindfulness of mental objects. And the fourth level is mindfulness of phenomena. Report an error in the passage at 35:42 Highlight the passage at 35:42

35:52 I was trying to explain to you before. What is this table? Report an error in the passage at 35:52 Highlight the passage at 35:52

36:01 What is this chair? Report an error in the passage at 36:01 Highlight the passage at 36:01

36:06 When we see an object, we label it. Really? Report an error in the passage at 36:06 Highlight the passage at 36:06

36:19 would label this, yeah, table. Report an error in the passage at 36:19 Highlight the passage at 36:19

36:26 My table is just a label, isn't it? It's a very specific table because certain clouds pissed on it and some lovers carved a heart in the tree and then it was chopped down and chipped all the way to China and they put it, glued it together with some glue and then they shipped it over here and I paid a fortune for it. Report an error in the passage at 36:26 Highlight the passage at 36:26

36:44 Table. But other things we label too. Anything we can put on use as a table, we label table. It can be metal, plastic, whatever. Table, table, table, table, table. It's just a description. Report an error in the passage at 36:44 Highlight the passage at 36:44

36:59 We never perceive his real existence in the first place. We just label. Report an error in the passage at 36:59 Highlight the passage at 36:59

37:09 That's mindfulness of phenomena. How come the mind does it like this? Young woman, old woman, middle-aged, grumpy bastard, gorgeous woman. And the way we treat each other as human beings, we're doing the same. Thin person, fat person, ugly person, beautiful person. Report an error in the passage at 37:09 Highlight the passage at 37:09

37:36 Fashion changes every year because it generates money. The hairstyle changes, the clothes change, everything changes. What was beautiful today will be ugly tomorrow. Report an error in the passage at 37:36 Highlight the passage at 37:36

37:51 Phenomenal. Until it changes. From the Mahāyāna Buddhist point of view, these four platforms also represent the four immeasurables. It's the prayer we do in the morning. The first level is, the first big level is... Lama Yeshe used to call it big love, means the prayer or the wish we try to develop is may all beings have happiness and the cause of happiness, even the ex-wife. Report an error in the passage at 37:51 Highlight the passage at 37:51

38:22 Hard thing to learn. The second one is may all beings be free from suffering and the cause of suffering. It touches the heart a bit. Report an error in the passage at 38:22 Highlight the passage at 38:22

38:39 And then the third prayer, the third level means may all beings never be separated from that happiness beyond misery, beyond sorrow. May they always be free. And the fourth one is may all beings stay in equanimity, not moved by attachment or aversion to the far. Report an error in the passage at 38:39 Highlight the passage at 38:39

39:01 So these are four levels of aspiration done through prayer and meditation upon it. And then comes the snow line which represents fearlessness. Report an error in the passage at 39:01 Highlight the passage at 39:01

39:15 Fearlessness. There are eight external fears and eight internal fears and they all represent our anxieties. We all have a fear of doubt. Report an error in the passage at 39:15 Highlight the passage at 39:15

39:27 We all have a fear of drowning. Report an error in the passage at 39:27 Highlight the passage at 39:27

39:34 Some people even go near water. Report an error in the passage at 39:34 Highlight the passage at 39:34

39:41 This is external fear. The same internally means we have a fear of doubt. We start doubting our mind, our decision-making process. Should I do this or should I do that? Report an error in the passage at 39:41 Highlight the passage at 39:41

39:53 Eight of them all together. And then these eight prop up the next platform, which is the small lotus. Can you see that? The blue lotus petals, which represent renunciation. Report an error in the passage at 39:53 Highlight the passage at 39:53

40:08 Renunciation of saṃsāra. The lotus was always a symbol for spirituality. A lotus flower grows in muddy water. Right in muddy water. What grows out is this beautiful flower. Existence or life is seen as muddy water. By both Hindus and Buddhists, it's a suffering experience. But if you adopt a religious spiritual lifestyle, something beautiful can grow out of it. Report an error in the passage at 40:08 Highlight the passage at 40:08

40:38 So this fearlessness is propping that up. And then comes this big platform, which represents the path of meditation. That's the throne. And the throne can be attained through prayer and contemplation. Everything above it needs to be realized in meditation. Report an error in the passage at 40:38 Highlight the passage at 40:38

41:02 First comes the big lotus. Can you see that? The multicolored lotus which represents morality. Like the small lotus represents first renunciation based on morality. Report an error in the passage at 41:02 Highlight the passage at 41:02

41:18 Each vow, each petal represents a vow. A vow is not seen as a restriction but an achievement, like a badge of honor. And all the deities sit on that, on lotuses, representing moral conduct and virtue which act like a... Honored garden friends, as a protective ring around oneself, even in your meditation. One creates, the meditator creates a lotus, a metaphysical lotus to be protected. Report an error in the passage at 41:18 Highlight the passage at 41:18

41:52 And inside that lotus, there's a gold ring there you can see, sits the sun disk. I know, it's eotic. How can you take the sun from up there and put it into a lotus? The sun is just a symbol for wisdom, banishing the darkness of our ignorance, the sun. You see it on his left side, left shoulder, the sun in the sky. Report an error in the passage at 41:52 Highlight the passage at 41:52

42:21 And on top of that comes the moon cushion. And the moon cushion represents loving kindness going into bodhicitta. And bodhicitta is this ultimate altruistic motivation to achieve enlightenment for the sake of everybody. It means devoting your existence, your thoughts, your feelings, your body to the service of others. That's real bodhicitta. Report an error in the passage at 42:21 Highlight the passage at 42:21

42:49 And then comes this figure of the Buddha, which looks human but is not human, because the first image was made from a reflection in the water, which we Tibetan artists call Chu Len Ma, water shining image. Report an error in the passage at 42:49 Highlight the passage at 42:49

43:05 This is how, you know, the myth goes that... Again, the same king, as with the Wheel of Life, the Bimisara was given a jewel by a neighboring king and he had to call his council, what shall we give in return? And Brahms, one of his ministers, had the idea, look, the most precious object we have is the teachings of the Buddha and his teachings. Report an error in the passage at 43:05 Highlight the passage at 43:05

43:28 Why don't we send an image? So the king sent his artist down to make a portrait of the Buddha, but they were unable to do because the personality or... There's too much light shining coming from his body. That's how it's described. So the Buddha placed himself next to a pond and there he copied the reflection in the water. Report an error in the passage at 43:28 Highlight the passage at 43:28

43:57 So it looks human but it doesn't have human proportions. Completely different proportions. It has to be learned by the artists. So it means this is how the Buddha wanted to be remembered or seen in future generations. Report an error in the passage at 43:57 Highlight the passage at 43:57

44:15 And actually what it is, with 32 major signs and 80 minor marks, it's a map. You practice this and this will be the result. Report an error in the passage at 44:15 Highlight the passage at 44:15

44:28 So, it Report an error in the passage at 44:28 Highlight the passage at 44:28

44:35 all Report an error in the passage at 44:35 Highlight the passage at 44:35

44:47 has to do with shamatha. I have not gone off the subject yet. Report an error in the passage at 44:47 Highlight the passage at 44:47

44:53 So the Buddha wants to guide, is the guide to escape the wheel of suffering. The wheel of our continuous change in our mind through meditation and the spiritual path. That's the map. The Report an error in the passage at 44:53 Highlight the passage at 44:53

45:17 shamatha is actually the way how to do it. But Report an error in the passage at 45:17 Highlight the passage at 45:17

45:24 the importance to explain this now, you see this little sign on top of the blue hair knot, that's called the ushnisha, which is shaped like a standing up mustard seed or sesame seed, ushnisha. And all the Buddhist figures and images in all different cultures have something similar. Vishnesha is the highest state of consciousness. Report an error in the passage at 45:24 Highlight the passage at 45:24

45:52 It's described in the text as a flame-like substance. And if you look at the different statues from all the different Buddhist cultures, they have some, the Japanese, they all have a hair, a bump on the head. And the Japanese, they just have a circle here. Report an error in the passage at 45:52 Highlight the passage at 45:52

46:14 The Thai Buddhists, they have incredible huge fire, like a dome, like a stupa, a dome raised up. Some is even taller than the whole face. The Burmese have something interesting, they have a flame carved here in the front of the hair. Report an error in the passage at 46:14 Highlight the passage at 46:14

46:34 And that the Indian Tibetan, Mongolian tradition is to have this sort of egg shape, like an Easter egg. Stuck on top of the head. This is the hard drive Report an error in the passage at 46:34 Highlight the passage at 46:34

47:12 of a being, a human being, a meditator. And now please just listen because it's difficult to explain this. Try to be open. Don't see it as a scientist. See it as an old culture, as an old tradition. Report an error in the passage at 47:12 Highlight the passage at 47:12

47:37 And just if you would cut off the body and you wouldn't see those things, they're not visible there, it doesn't mean they don't exist. But just try to be open to this idea. So in the center of a human being there's a central channel. traditional Report an error in the passage at 47:37 Highlight the passage at 47:37

47:56 Which starts at the forehead, bends upwards like an umbrella handle and goes down in front of the spine to four fingers below. In the Hindu system it goes all the way to the tip of the sexual organ. Report an error in the passage at 47:56 Highlight the passage at 47:56

48:15 Left and right are two smaller channels, tubes, which are called nadis. Start here, follow the central channel, and they join in the Buddhist system, four fingers below the belly button. Report an error in the passage at 48:15 Highlight the passage at 48:15

48:32 One is the solar nadi, one is the lunar nadi. In one way, the lunar one is the papa, the male, the solar one is the mama. Report an error in the passage at 48:32 Highlight the passage at 48:32

48:47 That's what I say. Look, the left side of the brain, that is the linear thoughts. On the left side of the brain, it's like you think continuously what you have to do next minute or next day. It's like linear thinking. Report an error in the passage at 48:47 Highlight the passage at 48:47

49:08 The wisdom of destroying this ignorance, the ego identity that you have to buy that sandwich in when you come out of here. You want to buy those bunch of flowers for the wife or something. This has to do with the future or the past. Nothing to do with what's happening right now. Report an error in the passage at 49:08 Highlight the passage at 49:08

49:28 Right now you're stuck here with me and you have to listen to my blah blah blah blah blah. It's a direct experience. Report an error in the passage at 49:28 Highlight the passage at 49:28

49:40 The direct experience is on the right side of the brain. Report an error in the passage at 49:40 Highlight the passage at 49:40

49:45 This is the method aspect. Every part of that bright side is permitted with compassion. Report an error in the passage at 49:45 Highlight the passage at 49:45

49:55 That's why it's the moon creating, generating compassion, bodhicitta. It's on the right hand side. In five places, there are five, we call them energy centers or chakras. Each one has a different function. Each one represents represents a different mental character, a mental attitude, in the Tibetan system it's a whole universal cosmos, microcosm, all mixed together. Report an error in the passage at 49:55 Highlight the passage at 49:55

50:30 East chakra has a certain energy, therefore a certain color, relates to a certain character. What's happening in these channels, in these chakras is that in the chakras, The outer two nadis go around the central one. In most cases of us, it's the block and create a knot. Report an error in the passage at 50:30 Highlight the passage at 50:30

51:00 And the whole spiritual path, this is the concept, is to unblock those knots. You know the experience, we all have it. We think and suddenly it goes bing bing. You think, wow, now I got it. It's like untying a knot. And suddenly you got it. You understand it. It becomes so clear in your mind. Report an error in the passage at 51:00 Highlight the passage at 51:00

51:33 What's that? It's really happening in your head, isn't it? It's even a physical experience. I became clever. I realized something. And this is happening. Why are we humans so different? Human beings. We all have the same body, more or less, biologically. But we're all different. Because... In our internal system, in our hard drive, we store different energies, which most of us, we believe, has brought with them from previous existences. Report an error in the passage at 51:33 Highlight the passage at 51:33

52:11 Some people suffer from pride, therefore they love the color gold and yellow. Some people suffer from jealousy. They hate green. I hate green. Green is the worst color. Whenever I see something green, it's like, oh, it makes me puke. Bloody nature, bugs, bees, mussels, snakes, oh, fuck. Report an error in the passage at 52:11 Highlight the passage at 52:11

52:39 Give me a cement jungle anytime. Report an error in the passage at 52:39 Highlight the passage at 52:39

52:45 Yeah? A green sweater, a green shirt, oh my God, how can you wear that? Oh, gee. Because green represents jealousy and envy. Okay? Why do we have different... This is the lower one in the stomach. Report an error in the passage at 52:45 Highlight the passage at 52:45

53:28 And here's a western image to show you a little bit how they're supposed to look. And this is what's used when they practice highest yoga tantra, the higher practices of yoga tantra. Can you see? This is an illustration how, according to these instructions given to a friend of mine, an artist, by Chi-Sheng Do-Shi Chang. Report an error in the passage at 53:28 Highlight the passage at 53:28

53:54 He made a sketch. And he did it with the computer graphics afterwards, 20 years later. So the female and male energy of the smaller tube strangle a certain aspect, be it the throat, the crown, the heart. And the aim is to unblock it through Report an error in the passage at 53:54 Highlight the passage at 53:54

54:22 spiritual exercises. See, these three are representative of those three animals. Report an error in the passage at 54:22 Highlight the passage at 54:22

54:35 It's not just here in the head. This has to do with our body and our mind. Okay? And remember, on the left-hand side we have the solar, ignorance, the pig, the wild boar. And it's through the wisdom of meditating on those Buddhist doctrines of emptiness of self and phenomena, we gain some insight. Okay? Report an error in the passage at 54:35 Highlight the passage at 54:35

55:06 On the right hand side we have the male force, which is in Tibetan medicine it's bile. This is where the snake sits. Report an error in the passage at 55:06 Highlight the passage at 55:06

55:23 And in the center we carry the pigeon or the chicken. Because in there we have stored up the endless chain of imprints of desires. I need this to be happy. I need this and this and this. The happiness of an Aussie It's different than the happiness of a South American Indian living in a jungle. Report an error in the passage at 55:23 Highlight the passage at 55:23

55:52 You play Australian football, which is difficult to understand for me, and you're loving, you're argumental, you're pissed and drunk, and some European things, where are the rules? Report an error in the passage at 55:52 Highlight the passage at 55:52

56:06 But it's your happiness. Where does influence come from? Where does it sit? So in the central channel, in those chakras, we carry those hidden desires. Report an error in the passage at 56:06 Highlight the passage at 56:06

56:18 Store them up. And that's why we're all so different. What makes you happy doesn't make me really happy. We have different levels of experience in bliss and happiness, don't we? Report an error in the passage at 56:18 Highlight the passage at 56:18

56:33 Which is also expressed in this painting of the Chakra Man. You Report an error in the passage at 56:33 Highlight the passage at 56:33

56:43 see, we come to this world alone. We have to leave it alone. And even if you get married 10 times or 20 times, you're still alone. Even your kids, the kids just want your pocket money. Report an error in the passage at 56:43 Highlight the passage at 56:43

56:57 You think you're one with the kids? Nah. Report an error in the passage at 56:57 Highlight the passage at 56:57

57:02 know think you're with your wife can try and try and try Do I really Report an error in the passage at 57:02 Highlight the passage at 57:02

57:17 know you after 30 years? Not a bit. It's how it is. Why? It's because we have such individual creatures. And we can achieve only everlasting happiness through our own personal development. Report an error in the passage at 57:17 Highlight the passage at 57:17

57:37 And this is the thing, you know, is, well, once you start this path, you can't stop. You can't stop it. And then once you start this path, also things happen a lot quicker. You know, karma ripens a lot faster. So things go boom, boom. Report an error in the passage at 57:37 Highlight the passage at 57:37

58:05 So what's happening, the difference between the chakra man and the Buddha is this. See? The chakra man, the central channel is here. The two nadis start here, start here. But for enlightened being, the central channel goes straight through. Report an error in the passage at 58:05 Highlight the passage at 58:05

58:28 And what we always perceive as a hair knot is not a hair knot, but it's a protrusion of the skull. Report an error in the passage at 58:28 Highlight the passage at 58:28

58:37 When we are born, in order to squeeze the vagina of our mother, our skull is in three plates. Every baby has a soft spot. And only after three months, the skull goes into something solid. You know? Report an error in the passage at 58:37 Highlight the passage at 58:37

58:52 And spiritually you see, the central channel doesn't come out here at the front anymore, but with enlightened beings like the Buddha, goes up through the protrusion of the skull, goes straight through. What comes out is the symbol of this flame-like substance, which is pure pranya. Pranya means translated life energy. Report an error in the passage at 58:52 Highlight the passage at 58:52

59:17 We breathe in life energy in order to sustain our body. To move, to function. An enlightened being like the Buddha, the image is beyond that. Report an error in the passage at 59:17 Highlight the passage at 59:17

59:34 He breathes in prāṇa in order to shine light for the rest of the world. Permanent gas flame up here. Report an error in the passage at 59:34 Highlight the passage at 59:34

59:49 So in order now to attain such meditations, because when you work with such subtle energies like the chakras, Report an error in the passage at 59:49 Highlight the passage at 59:49

1:00:06 One cannot have a mind which is continuously wondrous. One needs single-pointed concentration, shamatha, which is portrayed here in the next image. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:06 Highlight the passage at 1:00:06

1:00:18 And it's a beautiful story, but it has incredible, incredible deep meaning. I have to remind myself in which order the pictures are. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:18 Highlight the passage at 1:00:18

1:00:30 First thing, we go back to the five senses. in to All the information from reality comes to those five senses. We see, we judge. We hear, we judge. We feel, we listen, we smell, we judge. Now to gain single-point concentration, one has to shut off the external world. This can only be realized in meditation. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:30 Highlight the passage at 1:00:30

1:01:06 Not through thinking, but through actually concentrating on an object, holding an object in the mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:06 Highlight the passage at 1:01:06

1:01:16 See, our level, for example, if we would do a breathing meditation, we have three, maximum three, four, maybe, breathing in and out, and then a thought occurs. The mind goes off, a thought comes, and you have to come back to the breathing. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:16 Highlight the passage at 1:01:16

1:01:38 This is the first stage of concentration. If you can hold... An object for five breaths. You visualize like a Buddha in front of you for five breaths. It's the first stage of samādhi. It's nine stages, the first stage. But our mind can't do it. You think you hold an object and then a thought comes, arises and carries you away again. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:38 Highlight the passage at 1:01:38

1:02:08 And you have to focus. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:08 Highlight the passage at 1:02:08

1:02:13 That's why these shamatha meditations have to be done in retreat. focus. Okay. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:13 Highlight the passage at 1:02:13

1:02:19 Far away from the bustle of life, like in a hermitage like this in Bhutan, Tiger's Nest. And what is portrayed here is actually the path from, as I said, concentrating on an object, breathing, all the way to experience enlightenment. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:19 Highlight the passage at 1:02:19

1:02:39 One can be a very clever student of the Dharma, knowing the philosophy and knowing all the meditation, if one cannot concentrate and focus. It's useless. All this knowledge is useless. It's the combination. Remember the Buddha was sitting on sun and moon. It's the combination of the left and the right part of the brain. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:39 Highlight the passage at 1:02:39

1:03:02 The harmony between both which creates the enlightenment. The Buddhists call it the union of method and bliss, of wisdom and compassion. That creates enlightenment. So you need the concentration. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:02 Highlight the passage at 1:03:02

1:03:25 Yes, I'll show you some different images. He has described this exactly. We have six powers, the six powers. We have first the power of hearing, then there's the power of reflection, power of thinking and the third one is the power of recollection, mindfulness and we have the power of awareness, the power of joyous effort and the power of familiarity. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:25 Highlight the passage at 1:03:25

1:03:56 And these five, six powers guide one through those nine stages, also called the nine mental abidings. And it always starts with the monk chasing an elephant, either as an illustration or a painting. So this would be the first image. So how to achieve this single point of concentration? We'll guide you quickly through those nine stages. So the monk portrays, this is you, and he's using two tools. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:56 Highlight the passage at 1:03:56

1:04:43 One is a rope, like a lasso, can you see that? This is a hook and a circle, a ring. That creates the lasso. And the second object is here, the hook or goat, which the elephant keepers guide the elephants with. These are these two tools. Where am I? Sorry, there. Can you see that? And this right hand here holds the hook. The hook represents the power of alertness. Be attention. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:43 Highlight the passage at 1:04:43

1:05:23 The moment a thought runs off, you pay attention. You try to hook your mind back to the object, back to the breathing, back to the object of the Buddha, whatever you visualize. visualize. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:23 Highlight the passage at 1:05:23

1:05:37 The rope is mindfulness. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:37 Highlight the passage at 1:05:37

1:05:42 So the monk is chasing the elephant. The elephant represents your mind. And it's painted black in the beginning because it represents laxity. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:42 Highlight the passage at 1:05:42

1:05:56 Laxity. Sluggishness. Laxity. We have an incredible mind but we hardly use it. As I said, look at the floor. Look at the wooden table. We don't use it. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:56 Highlight the passage at 1:05:56

1:06:13 [music]

1:06:13 We're denying ourselves our real human potential. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:13 Highlight the passage at 1:06:13

1:06:20 And the monkey represents, well, I think it represents consciousness. Because consciousness completely jumps from object to object to object. Distraction, it's distracted. We're distracted by external phenomena, aren't we? By sight, by smell. Oh, it stinks. Oh, it's ugly. Oh, it's green. You know what I mean? Report an error in the passage at 1:06:20 Highlight the passage at 1:06:20

1:06:45 Oh, this is beautiful. Always distracted, you know. Our world is so mad now. You go to a supermarket and the music is so loud, you can't bloody concentrate. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:45 Highlight the passage at 1:06:45

1:06:58 And I'm asking, what the bloody hell is the music to do with shopping? Or you go to a sports, one of the bars now, there's TV in every corner. What's going on? A bar is for drinking and getting pissed and have a chat with your mates, not watching TV. Our world is so mad. Our world demands that we be distracted non-stop. Isn't this how the mind works now? Distraction, distraction, distraction, distraction. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:58 Highlight the passage at 1:06:58

1:07:26 In this image, this is quite nice, those five objects of distraction are here in a very specific order. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:26 Highlight the passage at 1:07:26

1:07:44 Can you see here on the bottom? The first is the fruit, then comes the touch, then comes the... like a conch shell with nectar and some perfume inside then comes the sound Report an error in the passage at 1:07:44 Highlight the passage at 1:07:44

1:08:00 the mirror, which is sight. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:00 Highlight the passage at 1:08:00

1:08:27 food. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:27 Highlight the passage at 1:08:27

1:08:30 Sometimes meditation is so boring, you look forward to lunch. You have visual images of fried eggs on toast, but you know it's going to be bloody rice and dal for week after week after week after week. This is how you also realize your own negativities, you project it on the food. This is so bad. And this is distraction. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:30 Highlight the passage at 1:08:30

1:08:57 This is how the mind labels it. First hurdle overcome. The next hurdle is the cloth there, which means touch. If you go into a serious retreat, the next complaint after the food is the cushion. It hurts my ass, my legs. You shift around, you get new meditation because it's the chair. You blame everything else. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:57 Highlight the passage at 1:08:57

1:09:24 Right? It's true, isn't it? It's true. It's true. And then the clothes are too tight or too itchy. You go into your sense powers. Then the next thing is the smell, which irritates you. It's a Tibetan incense, or it's the smell from your neighbor. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:24 Highlight the passage at 1:09:24

1:09:52 Unwashed for three weeks. Oh, God, and his feet. I'm supposed to meditate with this smell. I remember it. I remember. And then a sound. Even a beautiful bird song. Bloody birds. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:52 Highlight the passage at 1:09:52

1:10:14 You sit there and you want to be completely blissful. And then your neighbor goes with a clicking. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:14 Highlight the passage at 1:10:14

1:10:30 I'm happy to strangle you any moment. And then the last distraction is the sight. But in meditation, usually we have eyes closed, so the sight is not so important. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:30 Highlight the passage at 1:10:30

1:10:41 But this is sort of the last distraction. But it goes in that order. It's very reversed to when you give offerings. When you give offerings, you have first the sight, then the sound, then the touch, then the smell, then the taste. This, in meditation, in retreat, it goes the other way. First obstacle, taste. Second obstacle, touch. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:41 Highlight the passage at 1:10:41

1:11:04 Third obstacle, smell. Fourth obstacle, sound. The fifth one is the mirror, sight. So, first image is clear. So, look, the monk is chasing this. And it's only through single-pointed concentration you will have any success in meditation. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:04 Highlight the passage at 1:11:04

1:11:30 You can analytically meditate and contemplate on death or impermanence or whatever for decades, for life and lifetimes. Okay, you get realization of death and impermanence. But if you want to achieve a blissful experience and have insight into the nature of reality, let that bleeding bloody floor there, this real existence and true source, you need single-pointed concentration. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:30 Highlight the passage at 1:11:30

1:11:59 So the monk is chasing the elephant. The monkey represents distraction, a consciousness jumping from object to object. The flame there represents effort, strength of effort, strength Report an error in the passage at 1:11:59 Highlight the passage at 1:11:59

1:12:26 of effort of mindfulness and introspection. This is like the second stage where you use the power of thinking. The first one was placing of the mind, the first stage. The first of the mental abidings. Placing of the mind. The second one is power of thinking. You can see that the elephant changes color. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:26 Highlight the passage at 1:12:26

1:12:55 The mind is still guided by distraction by the monkey. The monkey has the elephant's trunk by a rope. But you have a glimpse. It means you can hold the concentration for five breaths. Not a lot, but it's a hell of a lot. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:55 Highlight the passage at 1:12:55

1:13:13 It lasts five breaths. What is that? Five, six seconds. It's very short, but it's an incredible amount of space and time to be concentrated. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:13 Highlight the passage at 1:13:13

1:13:32 And then comes the third one. Even the distractions have a white scalp. The third one is now the monk is using the force of recollection. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:32 Highlight the passage at 1:13:32

1:13:42 He has used his lasso. Can you see it? And he swung it around the elephant's neck. Concentrated. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:42 Highlight the passage at 1:13:42

1:13:50 Okay? And the elephant looks, the mind looks back at the monk. It means, look, I've caught you. I can hold you. You can hold the object of concentration. Right? But now when this happens, there comes the factor of, the mental factor of laxity, which is resembled in the hair. You know the hair? You cut your baby toe, you can cut it in your lap and go... It's mental laxity. You think you've achieved something, but it's... Report an error in the passage at 1:13:50 Highlight the passage at 1:13:50

1:14:26 Just part of the path. So this experience of mental laxity has to be eradicated. See, the elephant's head is becoming wide, the monkey's head is becoming wide. And the next stage, Report an error in the passage at 1:14:26 Highlight the passage at 1:14:26

1:14:46 the fourth one, one, two, three, four, is the monk. Can you see that the elephant gets wider and wider and the monkey's chest is now wide? It means you can hold the concentration longer. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:46 Highlight the passage at 1:14:46

1:15:01 By the force, they call it the force of recollection. And Report an error in the passage at 1:15:01 Highlight the passage at 1:15:01

1:15:10 now look, the monkey and the elephant are looking back, not looking forward, they're looking back towards the meditator. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:10 Highlight the passage at 1:15:10

1:15:19 And Report an error in the passage at 1:15:19 Highlight the passage at 1:15:19

1:15:28 then comes the next image where suddenly, look, the meditator is in front of the elephant. But before that comes a picture of a white monkey in the tree. And the symbol of that is... One of the distractions at that point is that positive thoughts creep in. See, even positive thoughts, how to experience or increase the Dharma and be more virtuous or be more this or be more that are a distraction. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:28 Highlight the passage at 1:15:28

1:16:04 The thoughts of building stupas and monasteries and all these good things and saving the world is a distraction. You know? Mr. or Mrs. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:04 Highlight the passage at 1:16:04

1:16:17 goody two-shoes is a distraction. Because you think, oh, how nice it would be, I could do this and this for the time, and this and this and this. a distraction. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:17 Highlight the passage at 1:16:17

1:16:29 Okay, at that stage, yeah. See, this is the force of clear comprehension by the power of introspection. Afterwards the monk is in front of the elephant, he holds them by the lasso and now guides him with his hook. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:29 Highlight the passage at 1:16:29

1:16:53 effort see the monk is clearly in front even up the goat front the elephant and the elephant was coming wide to the monkeys suddenly it's in the back the lexity mental actually the hair has disappeared Report an error in the passage at 1:16:53 Highlight the passage at 1:16:53

1:17:15 the 7th and 8th stage through the power of effort. Suddenly, look, the monkeys in... In the back and bows down to the meditator. That means there's no more distractions. There's control over distractions. The elephant is becoming totally white. And afterwards the meditator is in front of the elephant again to the last picture which is the monk sitting sometimes in a cave or sitting at the end of the path with the mind, the elephant resting next to him. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:15 Highlight the passage at 1:17:15

1:17:53 That means you have control over your mind, not your mind over you, not the consciousness or distractions of the wandering mind over you. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:53 Highlight the passage at 1:17:53

1:18:11 This is a mental process which you only experience in meditation. If you start to meditate, you soon realize how distracting the thoughts are. And sometimes you think, you know, you have one thought on top of the other. If you really check, there's even subtle thoughts on top of each other. And so long as we don't have control over them, we cannot reach ultimate happiness and freedom from suffering. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:11 Highlight the passage at 1:18:11

1:18:45 Because we're continuously caught up in the wheel of existence. Then at the end, with the power of that, then we experience what is portrayed here. Number one is the flying monk. I'm not saying that we're going to be flying around here. It's just the freedom of the mind. How Report an error in the passage at 1:18:45 Highlight the passage at 1:18:45

1:19:16 to say that? We did ask our teacher many, many years ago in Damsara, like 40 years ago. We had Geshe Nawandage as our teacher at the library. The library was just opened up. And we asked him, you know, how do you practice Dharma in the West? Report an error in the passage at 1:19:16 Highlight the passage at 1:19:16

1:19:36 In the West we have jobs and money and salaries. How can we practice Dharma, you know? If we don't have material security, we don't have supporters, benefactors, how can we meditate? Report an error in the passage at 1:19:36 Highlight the passage at 1:19:36

1:19:51 And he said something which took me also years to understand. Years and years and years and years. He said, if you practice pure Dharma, then the chapati, you know, the flat round bread, will roll up the hill into your mouth. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:51 Highlight the passage at 1:19:51

1:20:17 And for me, this is a little bit the image of this flying meditator. Because there's no more material worry. Okay? Things come and go anyway. Everything is impermanent. Especially your bank account. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:17 Highlight the passage at 1:20:17

1:20:39 Things always go. In one way, if you have realization of emptiness or phenomena, you own everything already. Because whatever you touch, whatever you see, feel, smell, It becomes blissful. You don't need to own that cow, that house or that and that and that because it's already there. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:39 Highlight the passage at 1:20:39

1:21:07 That means the bread will roll up the hill and feed you. That's experience in this blissful monk. And at the end here, the monk flying is the physical bliss. Meditation becomes blissful. And I tell you from my own personal experience. Having an insight into phenomena is bloody blissful. It's not bliss like when you smoke a doobie or you take some pills or something. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:07 Highlight the passage at 1:21:07

1:21:44 It's a physical bliss which washes through your body. And subject and object merge. There's no more subject, there's no more object. And everything becomes so clear. You look at these paintings. The background is painted as clear as the foreground. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:44 Highlight the passage at 1:21:44

1:22:05 The clouds in the sky in the paintings, they are as detailed as the toenails of Tara. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:05 Highlight the passage at 1:22:05

1:22:16 And why is that? It is because in this experience of seeing the totality of reality, it is like that. It is like that. Because your senses become so sharp, you can look into a bird's eye which is a mile up in the sky and look into his eye. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:16 Highlight the passage at 1:22:16

1:22:38 And everything becomes so, everything is just joined up. Everything makes sense. This is experience hymn. And riding the white elephant represents mental ecstasy. Even so, when thoughts occur, they're not like what we experience on top of each other. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:38 Highlight the passage at 1:22:38

1:23:04 And it's clear thought and that creates ecstasy, bliss, blissful experience, blissful thoughts. Like in tantras, when I say that every sound becomes the mantra of the deity, every sight you see becomes the malala. Here it means that every thought which arises in your mind becomes the thought of the Buddha or the deity. It becomes a blissful experience. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:04 Highlight the passage at 1:23:04

1:23:34 And lastly, here, this is the monk riding, holding the sword of wisdom, the flaming sword of wisdom. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:34 Highlight the passage at 1:23:34

1:23:45 You need the single concentration to target, to have an insight into the ultimate nature of reality, of phenomena and of self. And Report an error in the passage at 1:23:45 Highlight the passage at 1:23:45

1:24:03 not just as a fleeting moment or idea, but as a deep penetrating insight. So the shamatha and the wheel of life, that's why they are painted when you come to a monastery at the entrance of the building, because they go together. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:03 Highlight the passage at 1:24:03

1:24:21 The wheel represents the path of method. Everything has to be permitted by compassion. The shamatha is the path of wisdom. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:21 Highlight the passage at 1:24:21

1:24:32 If you really want to understand or hold wisdom or increase wisdom in your mind, it's only through single-pointed concentration. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:32 Highlight the passage at 1:24:32

1:24:44 The Report an error in the passage at 1:24:44 Highlight the passage at 1:24:44

1:24:50 rainbow color experience represents also... blissful nature of the experience and it represents also like when those llamas and cave people into rainbow light. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:50 Highlight the passage at 1:24:50

1:25:07 this concludes my talk on shamatha meditation. Thank you for your patience. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:07 Highlight the passage at 1:25:07

1:25:22 In the back outside there are some of my cards. I brought with me some A3 prints and I'm starting this art course here on Friday. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:22 Highlight the passage at 1:25:22

1:25:30 If you want to know more about the symbolism and mysticism of the paintings, then we're going to paint this image and we will go through each stage. It's quite easy to paint, not that difficult. You're welcome. Start Friday morning, 9.30 to 5 every day, isn't it? Huh? At 10? Oh, it's Sydney, I forgot. It's the only place in the world where they start at 10. Okay, Report an error in the passage at 1:25:30 Highlight the passage at 1:25:30

1:25:59 thank you so much. There's some art prints out there and I will have some more during the course. Thank you. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:59 Highlight the passage at 1:25:59

1:26:26 Thank you so much for your patience and smiles. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:26 Highlight the passage at 1:26:26