Four Immeasurables Retreat with B. Alan Wallace - Sydney 2014 (part 1)

0:11 Welcome Report an error in the passage at 0:11 Highlight the passage at 0:11

0:32 to our six-day retreat on the Four Measurables. It's a topic that I really take great delight in sharing for many reasons, but one of them is it's such a universal Dharma. So some of you, I'm sure, come from a Buddhist background, some may be simply seeking a path or a more meaningful life or a greater sense of serenity and well-being in your life. Report an error in the passage at 0:32 Highlight the passage at 0:32

1:01 These four measurables are good medicine for everyone. nothing controversial about them. There's nothing to debate about, you It's really the dharma of the heart. so it's a good dharma, very grounded. have a fair number of people here, but that we're going to be spending the next six days together. And so... Report an error in the passage at 1:01 Highlight the passage at 1:01

1:23 I'd like to do something I've not done here in the past, but I think it's probably time well spent. I'd like to get to know you a little bit anyway, right? And I'll try to memorize as many names as I can for six days. My memory's not that great, especially for names, because they're just kind of sounds, right? But if you will, I'd like to just know your first name, and if you can just say a sentence or two, just what your background is, maybe what brought you here, anything you'd like to share. Report an error in the passage at 1:23 Highlight the passage at 1:23

1:50 Is that okay? All right. What I'd like to do is we'll just kind of maybe zigzag back and forth across like that, just go right on back to the back. This will take maybe half an hour or so, but I would like it just a little bit of one-on-one like this, okay? So we can maybe start right here and we'll just back and forth, back and forth. Good morning, or good afternoon. And your Report an error in the passage at 1:50 Highlight the passage at 1:50

2:25 name, your first name? Jason. Good, thank you. Thank you. Welcome back, Jason. Report an error in the passage at 2:25 Highlight the passage at 2:25

2:37 to turn it on? It's very good. Vorher war es ziemlich gut, aber jetzt nicht mehr. Report an error in the passage at 2:37 Highlight the passage at 2:37

2:46 I used Report an error in the passage at 2:46 Highlight the passage at 2:46

2:57 to live in Australia. I came across your work actually through the Google Tech talk you did. Oh, yes, yes, yes. I remember it vividly. And I'm very inspired, very interested. And I have been picking up just recently your book again and saw that you did a treat in Denmark. Yes, right, right. A lot next year. Report an error in the passage at 2:57 Highlight the passage at 2:57

3:33 A lot next year. So you just popped across the opposite side of the world. Welcome. Report an error in the passage at 3:33 Highlight the passage at 3:33

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4:17 Wonderful. Well, this will be complimentary to everything else you learn in India. Welcome. That's good. And then we just zigzag back. Go ahead. Report an error in the passage at 4:17 Highlight the passage at 4:17

4:32 Himadri. name is . Report an error in the passage at 4:32 Highlight the passage at 4:32

4:44 and me very recently. Report an error in the passage at 4:44 Highlight the passage at 4:44

5:09 I'm Report an error in the passage at 5:09 Highlight the passage at 5:09

5:17 delighted, yeah. So we're looking at common dharma here because these four measurables by different names, Brahmavihāra, four measurables and so forth, you find them in Hinduism, very explicitly, very foundational to Buddhism. But then, of course, if you look to Christianity, you look to Islam, you're going to find them one way or another. They'll be there. So this is really something, this theme for these six days, it's really a unifier. Report an error in the passage at 5:17 Highlight the passage at 5:17

5:40 It's not going to divide anybody. Oh, you do Mayana. There's just nothing going to divide us here. So it's a good start. It's Report an error in the passage at 5:40 Highlight the passage at 5:40

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6:27 exactly what it is. Report an error in the passage at 6:27 Highlight the passage at 6:27

6:33 was here in August, the first time I was here. You did, yeah. I had a bad run on team yoga, but I'm just here for myself. I think it's a game I'm playing, and I've had to retreat a lot of times. You've got everything, all the little things I've been learning from the time I was 16, 17, the last 50 years. Report an error in the passage at 6:33 Highlight the passage at 6:33

6:53 You know, different people teaching things about you. You have one teacher who put it all in into a framework, into context, and made it so easy. But I did go back and got one month for a couple of months, so I'm about to take it again. Report an error in the passage at 6:53 Highlight the passage at 6:53

7:16 Christy, hi Christy. Report an error in the passage at 7:16 Highlight the passage at 7:16

7:37 Yes, yes, yes, I know that, yeah. Yeah, very good. Report an error in the passage at 7:37 Highlight the passage at 7:37

7:47 I'm Cathy from Zealand. I was in Tarantula in the late 70s. Report an error in the passage at 7:47 Highlight the passage at 7:47

7:57 just lately, I think it means I came to New York two years ago, since then I've been following the podcast. you for the instruction. Report an error in the passage at 7:57 Highlight the passage at 7:57

8:10 I'm delighted, Report an error in the passage at 8:10 Highlight the passage at 8:10

8:23 good. take it in on the position Report an error in the passage at 8:23 Highlight the passage at 8:23

8:25 name is Sally. I've been coming to your retreats for 40 years now. work background, I find your teachings, one, they're all very accessible and inspiring, but also very stimulating and extending. Report an error in the passage at 8:25 Highlight the passage at 8:25

8:50 My name is Daniel. I came into neuroscience and I wanted to understand the nature of consciousness. consciousness through a scientific background and study, I think it was Khrushchev's call and I'm telling you the answers. Yes, yes. Report an error in the passage at 8:50 Highlight the passage at 8:50

9:12 Right, right. second one, I think. Yes, yes. Report an error in the passage at 9:12 Highlight the passage at 9:12

9:13 Right, right. Report an error in the passage at 9:13 Highlight the passage at 9:13

9:37 I'll pause just a moment before Randa. There are many types of retreats, as I'm sure all of you know. And some of them, for example, the Samatha retreat that we had here just a few months ago, may provide, may give some inspiration. Oh, I'd really like to spend more time in retreat. Maybe I could take off a week. Maybe one day I could go for a longer retreat. Report an error in the passage at 9:37 Highlight the passage at 9:37

9:57 It tends to arouse a yearning for solitude, for simplicity, for really going deep in the nature of the mind, yeah? And I teach that often, and I'm very happy to do The retreat here is going to include Samatha. Shantideva, His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Lama Zopa Rinpoche So that we transform the lives that we're already leading, rather than being inspired to disengage from this one and hop into another one. Report an error in the passage at 9:57 Highlight the passage at 9:57

10:48 They both have their advantages, but this one's going to be very integrative. Report an error in the passage at 10:48 Highlight the passage at 10:48

11:14 We always like to joke each other, but I'm always going to say it. I Report an error in the passage at 11:14 Highlight the passage at 11:14

11:28 think if you came to a first retreat, this would be a good one. Report an error in the passage at 11:28 Highlight the passage at 11:28

11:42 I remember you, yes. we're going to be able to learn more of them. to my feelings, to be able to confront with myself, to be able to get close. Report an error in the passage at 11:42 Highlight the passage at 11:42

12:01 So that's why I'm here. Thank Report an error in the passage at 12:01 Highlight the passage at 12:01

12:07 you. Report an error in the passage at 12:07 Highlight the passage at 12:07

12:11 I am well, thank you. My name is Mark from Western City, and I'm a preschool teacher. I feel very inspired by all of this. I've been to a few college halls, and my favourite pastime is going to the library and doing a little podcast. It's a bit of an consciousness. I get to stand with my guru, who is a fellow in the university. I also get inspired by other traditions, such as... Report an error in the passage at 12:11 Highlight the passage at 12:11

12:39 very good. Report an error in the passage at 12:39 Highlight the passage at 12:39

12:50 -huh. yeah, yeah, Report an error in the passage at 12:50 Highlight the passage at 12:50

13:02 me keep you busy for a while. Report an error in the passage at 13:02 Highlight the passage at 13:02

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14:34 it, and that is professional, of course. Report an error in the passage at 14:34 Highlight the passage at 14:34

14:38 Sincere, fully dedicated, wholehearted, devoted. One can do that as a monk, as a recluse, as a yogi, as a father, a husband. So I don't see, as you can see, I'm not a monk anymore. I was for many years. But I know, and I look into my heart and it's totally clear, my dedication to practice, to study, practice, serving Dharma, is no different than when I was wearing the maroon robes. Report an error in the passage at 14:38 Highlight the passage at 14:38

15:06 And so I think that's a matter of the heart, not a matter of lifestyle. Report an error in the passage at 15:06 Highlight the passage at 15:06

15:28 It does happen. Dharma in the, what should we say, the West or in modernity, I think is really the word, because the West is now all the way around. It's still in its infancy. Dharma, that is, in Tibet, it's been around a long time, Thailand and so on. But now it's this global phenomenon that we used to call West, but now it's all the way around. Report an error in the passage at 15:28 Highlight the passage at 15:28

15:47 It's no longer West. In its infancy, a lot of kinks to be worked out, a lot of lessons, really like just growing up. But in terms of the time to take stock, to reevaluate, to reassess, I think you can't come back to a better foundation, certainly the Four Noble Truths, that's for sure. But in terms of practice, actual total hands-on practice, I like in my own practice, like is too weak a term, I'm committed to having a foundation which I have no second guesses. Report an error in the passage at 15:47 Highlight the passage at 15:47

16:20 That is where I feel just totally confident. I don't believe literally everything that's ever taught in Tibetan Buddhism. I'm not just a blind believer, but for the foundation of my practice, which is the foundation of my life, I want to have confidence. I don't want to be guessing, second-guessing, not for me. Report an error in the passage at 16:20 Highlight the passage at 16:20

16:38 And so the four measures, they're golden. They're golden. I see nothing to doubt. It's just totally good. So that's a good place to come back to. Report an error in the passage at 16:38 Highlight the passage at 16:38

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17:31 You're welcome. It's again a very important point. That is, for these six days, We're not here really, I'm not here, to primarily talk about the Buddhist worldview with reincarnation, karma and so forth versus a materialistic one with all of its beliefs. Report an error in the passage at 17:31 Highlight the passage at 17:31

17:49 That's not the central theme, otherwise it would have been false advertising. At the same time, it's indisputably true in my mind that there are a wide variety of worldviews, there's Jewish, there's Islam, there's Islam, Taoist, Buddhist, Theravāda Buddhist, Mayan and so forth and so on, materialist, agnostic and so on. Report an error in the passage at 17:49 Highlight the passage at 17:49

18:08 And to my mind it's quite clear that there are worldviews that are more nurturing to the kind of practices we're following here. The talk I gave last night at the Vajrayana Institute, we looked into some views there that I'd have to say, that's not nurturing at all. I'll give one example. In 1989, I was with Antonio de Macio and some other very, very eminent... Report an error in the passage at 18:08 Highlight the passage at 18:08

18:35 Neuroscientist, psychiatrist, philosopher that was world-renowned and with His Holiness Dalai Lama. It was consciousness at the crossroads. It was just a two-day meeting. And every single one of the scientists and the philosopher, they all said, did you hear the chorus? Did you hear the choir singing? See how they're all singing the same note? They were singing the same song. A human being is a brain. As Antonio de Macio said, a human being is a brain carrying a body on its back. Report an error in the passage at 18:35 Highlight the passage at 18:35

19:03 A little bit of poetry there. But in any case, they're all saying this, that a human being is a brain. And so they're just like, this is a done deal. I mean, here we are. We're world class. I won't give you all the lists of names, but they were world class. And then the Dalai Lama, in his inimitable way, he turned to all of these scientists and the philosopher and he asked them ever so simply, do you love brains? Report an error in the passage at 19:03 Highlight the passage at 19:03

19:29 Now, you all have people you love, right? Family members, spouse, children, relatives, dear friends. And you know what it's like. To look into the eyes of someone you love. We all know that, right? Nobody needs to be taught. You feel this heartfelt connection, this affinity, the warmth, this sense of caring. Report an error in the passage at 19:29 Highlight the passage at 19:29

19:46 And generally it happens when you look into a person's eyes or into the face, right? Not in the kneecap or the shoulder or what have you. Into the face, right? But that's where we see that eye to eye, you know, person to person. And then that arouses, if it's a warm relationship, a loving relationship, that sense of affection, of caring, of warmth and loving kindness, right? Report an error in the passage at 19:46 Highlight the passage at 19:46

20:05 So we all know that. And the scientists all knew that. I'm sure there was not any of them who were so hard-hearted. They didn't know what this was about. So then the Dalai Lama asked them, Do you love brains? Do you love brains in the same way that you love people, the ones who are very dear to you? And at first they all said yes, because they knew that would be the logical implication of the position they'd taken. Report an error in the passage at 20:05 Highlight the passage at 20:05

20:28 Human being equals brain. But then he pressed. I was interpreting for him, and he pressed a bit. But then they all said yes, yes, yes. And he said, No, but I actually meant my question. I'm not quoting him verbatim, but quite closely. He said, when you look at a brain, when you look at a brain, do you feel that same sense? And then one by one, all of the scientists said, well, I find them fascinating, intriguing, incredible, complex. Report an error in the passage at 20:28 Highlight the passage at 20:28

21:00 But no, when I look at the frontal cortex, my heart doesn't go pitter-patter. And the only person who did stick by her guns was the philosopher. Report an error in the passage at 21:00 Highlight the passage at 21:00

21:11 And the philosopher, she was the only one that actually didn't deal with brains. They just think about them. But she also knows, as a philosopher, you have to maintain a consistency of argument. And so she felt compelled to say, but I don't think anybody in the room believed her. And I don't think she believed herself. So, as Claudio suggested, I think the stakes are high here. This reduction of a human being with all the richness, the multidimensionality of it, the texture of it, the richness of subjective experience that we all know about, the sense of... Report an error in the passage at 21:11 Highlight the passage at 21:11

21:44 of empathy that comes as we engage with a full human being who has a body, who has a mind, a personality, a personal history, hopes, fears, aspirations, ideals, ethical and unethical and so forth. To equate that with the brain, one may do so, and I know many people say they do, but I don't feel they really live according to the implications of their view, in which case that would be a worldview that I would suggest, if one takes it to heart, is not really conducive. Report an error in the passage at 21:44 Highlight the passage at 21:44

22:15 Does not nurture and support the qualities of the heart that we'll be cultivating here. Christianity? Yeah, to a very large extent. Very conducive. Very conducive. And then we can list others as well. But then, in this regard, worldview does matter. What we believe does matter about the nature of our own identity and so on. Report an error in the passage at 22:15 Highlight the passage at 22:15

22:35 That won't be the emphasis of this retreat, but it's bound to come up now and again. Because what we believe about human nature, what we believe about each other, our own nature, who we are, that's going to have an impact. And whether that opens a heart or closes a Report an error in the passage at 22:35 Highlight the passage at 22:35

22:59 heart. Report an error in the passage at 22:59 Highlight the passage at 22:59

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23:50 of the things with spiritual missions, we avoid, and that's our mind. Very And I think we measure that as the of the patients can quite brutal. Report an error in the passage at 23:50 Highlight the passage at 23:50

24:05 So I'm not convinced that that's the way of providing that. Report an error in the passage at 24:05 Highlight the passage at 24:05

24:12 don't know what you mean by that. Report an error in the passage at 24:12 Highlight the passage at 24:12

24:20 Thank you. -O-P P-L-O-P P-L-O-P P-O-W-P Oh, Report an error in the passage at 24:20 Highlight the passage at 24:20

24:31 Gotcha. That one I understood. And you spelled it correctly too. Report an error in the passage at 24:31 Highlight the passage at 24:31

25:00 So what I really enjoyed about this is I just noticed a different world. Report an error in the passage at 25:00 Highlight the passage at 25:00

25:28 then I was like, I'm going to call myself a partner and tell myself these stories about how these other people are, and I'm going to do them, and I'm going to do them, and I'm going to do them, so that's been the latest thing that's inspired me. So I just consider this a week and a time to refresh and get a balance from, mad stuff that goes on everywhere else. Report an error in the passage at 25:28 Highlight the passage at 25:28

25:48 And, know, depending on how the day goes, I'm going to say, well, this is going to be a good Or at least I've sat for 24 minutes. Report an error in the passage at 25:48 Highlight the passage at 25:48

25:56 Spiritual hygiene. Report an error in the passage at 25:56 Highlight the passage at 25:56

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26:40 You never go astray on that one. Report an error in the passage at 26:40 Highlight the passage at 26:40

26:46 allow them to do what they want Report an error in the passage at 26:46 Highlight the passage at 26:46

27:04 Hi, my name is Joyce. Yes, yes, the one I can never remember. it, but I remember it. Report an error in the passage at 27:04 Highlight the passage at 27:04

27:35 I've been coming, I think from the word dot, I mean from, you I'm the very first person to create something, I'm a plodder, a bit of a slobber, and a reaper in this town, actually, because they're alive. Report an error in the passage at 27:35 Highlight the passage at 27:35

27:55 Thank you. Report an error in the passage at 27:55 Highlight the passage at 27:55

28:01 I'm Susan, and I'm a secondary drama teacher, so I work with teenagers all the time. been introduced to your audio by the last time, and I'm here because to be the best human being that I can be, and yeah, I'd really like to become the best teacher I can be as terms of really naming young people and, you know, know, boundaries. Report an error in the passage at 28:01 Highlight the passage at 28:01

28:28 boundless compassion. Right. they're working for us. Mm-hmm. It's a wonderful motivation. motivation. Yeah, well, he was here, he was here, he was here, that too. My name is Brenda and I did the Shaman Fruit Treat a couple of years ago. I think I was trying to forget what it was. But I really got a bit of it and I thought, yeah, I'm just an improved person after all that. So, yeah, I'm looking forward to this. Report an error in the passage at 28:28 Highlight the passage at 28:28

28:57 DeLays. I've been coming to your retreats for about 30 minutes. I just want to say thank you for your generosity, because the podcast is a daily resource. I'm so glad. My background is in training as a doctor in psychiatry, because I was fascinated by the human mind, but then I got a new disillusion, because I wasn't really that much of a mind, so I discovered meditation since then, and then also Report an error in the passage at 28:57 Highlight the passage at 28:57

29:28 into the heart, away from the mind, into the heart. And now in the full time I'm doing an online meditation campaign for beginners about bringing clean water to the developing world. So it's sort of integrating mindfulness and compassion to serve people in the morning. Fantastic work, fantastic work. I'm already very happy we're doing this. First time I think we've done it, at least I'm first time in a very long time. Yes, hi. Singapore, Report an error in the passage at 29:28 Highlight the passage at 29:28

30:06 yes. Singapore, yes. Report an error in the passage at 30:06 Highlight the passage at 30:06

30:10 the first, uh, thing that's taken to a group Art of Living, I've heard of it, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 30:10 Highlight the passage at 30:10

30:33 is going to be a new episode of the music. Report an error in the passage at 30:33 Highlight the passage at 30:33

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31:42 and her. Report an error in the passage at 31:42 Highlight the passage at 31:42

31:48 very Report an error in the passage at 31:48 Highlight the passage at 31:48

31:54 and I'm fortunate enough to be in the room where... I consider it needless to speak. how to publicly order life. And I think it's nice to turn it back. I have been greatly concerned with the degradation of our world, which is coming through intention, not through accident. So that's my primary purpose at the moment. And I want to become as creative and as wise and as intelligent as that is. Report an error in the passage at 31:54 Highlight the passage at 31:54

32:35 And I think it's essential to that. I'm also a film class practitioner and quite a lot of us in that world are trying to integrate mindfulness into our world of practice and confidence them. And film class is a civic background because I was also into Judaism a couple of years ago. It's a great interest for me because there's again much confidence. Report an error in the passage at 32:35 Highlight the passage at 32:35

33:03 thank you in a tender case. Delighted to be here. Report an error in the passage at 33:03 Highlight the passage at 33:03

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35:26 you won't have trouble figuring it out. We both have grey hair, glasses, I think. Report an error in the passage at 35:26 Highlight the passage at 35:26

35:33 a fan of science and physics so I really appreciate your approach to your when this very very very scientific enlightenment of rationalism Report an error in the passage at 35:33 Highlight the passage at 35:33

35:51 that. I've been, when I was growing up I used to be shuffling, or actually scrolling and sometimes shuffling a dharma path for the last six years so. A lot of it through the Bedwell Institute. Report an error in the passage at 35:51 Highlight the passage at 35:51

36:11 Okay. Report an error in the passage at 36:11 Highlight the passage at 36:11

36:16 Very good. Most welcome. So I'm going to leave it to you for a keep along. Okay. Report an error in the passage at 36:16 Highlight the passage at 36:16

36:31 you in 2012 and I did two retreats that year with you. Shall I try and answer the Report an error in the passage at 36:31 Highlight the passage at 36:31

36:39 background is in psychology, so I work with a lot of suffering, and all the rituals have always drawn me. I realized when you sat down, Alan, that my heart just went to the pattern, wasn't here for me. The change from within, as they say. Report an error in the passage at 36:39 Highlight the passage at 36:39

37:08 this time because my practice is Report an error in the passage at 37:08 Highlight the passage at 37:08

37:30 Judy, and it's my first retreat, and I don't really know what to expect, but I think what I'm hoping to get out of it a way to have... Report an error in the passage at 37:30 Highlight the passage at 37:30

38:06 guess my soul mate and partner died 18 months ago and I had the incredible privilege of nursing him at home. And I found that... Report an error in the passage at 38:06 Highlight the passage at 38:06

38:21 normal things that I would turn to, I actually started to turn to more vegetables, having heard you before, and it just gave me the most incredible inner peace a lot more. There's never too much of this. Report an error in the passage at 38:21 Highlight the passage at 38:21

38:41 I'm Patricia. I'm from Sydney. I'm the age to kick-start my meditation and my involved practice. In fact, lately, I find that when I practice, I'm a much nicer and calmer person. And I was encouraged to come here by my daughter, who went to the Thailand retreat. Report an error in the passage at 38:41 Highlight the passage at 38:41

39:12 and engineering, and now retired. side of the community. Report an error in the passage at 39:12 Highlight the passage at 39:12

39:24 quite few years, we've had a huge change of the world. Report an error in the passage at 39:24 Highlight the passage at 39:24

39:44 if it was to chat with you last year, you called us ahead. Report an error in the passage at 39:44 Highlight the passage at 39:44

40:07 I was talking about studying architecture, and the distribution of it, especially science, which seemed a bit more meaningful, but that seemed to lack some core of meaningfulness. Report an error in the passage at 40:07 Highlight the passage at 40:07

40:23 I've been able to discover some of the cultural masterpieces seem to be more promising. Report an error in the passage at 40:23 Highlight the passage at 40:23

40:32 So good to Report an error in the passage at 40:32 Highlight the passage at 40:32

· · · silence, 1 minute

41:39 see you again. I know we've encountered each other many times as well. Very nice to do so again. Report an error in the passage at 41:39 Highlight the passage at 41:39

41:49 Lovely. Report an error in the passage at 41:49 Highlight the passage at 41:49

42:05 Oh yeah, I remember that one. can. Report an error in the passage at 42:05 Highlight the passage at 42:05

42:08 actually did a workshop with the today, and I guess I'll follow that if you're watching now. Report an error in the passage at 42:08 Highlight the passage at 42:08

42:22 like a way of re-engaging very much in both professional and personal life. Mm Report an error in the passage at 42:22 Highlight the passage at 42:22

42:32 able to do that. Report an error in the passage at 42:32 Highlight the passage at 42:32

43:15 been quite awful for the last few years, so I'm going to find myself again. Report an error in the passage at 43:15 Highlight the passage at 43:15

43:23 really looking forward to the, on different levels, to integrate it. Report an error in the passage at 43:23 Highlight the passage at 43:23

43:35 This is my second retreat with you. I did your four applications of mindfulness retreat last year and I absolutely loved it. I stumbled across that by accident. I had recently lost my mother. Report an error in the passage at 43:35 Highlight the passage at 43:35

44:11 it if you hang out and I'll talk to you in a month. Report an error in the passage at 44:11 Highlight the passage at 44:11

44:19 I'm going to be in the mountains, and you're going to be right in the middle of the bushfires on the city. Report an error in the passage at 44:19 Highlight the passage at 44:19

44:28 But I ended up going and it was the most historic week of my life. I Report an error in the passage at 44:28 Highlight the passage at 44:28

44:40 felt great, it was beautiful and emotional and spiritual. I Report an error in the passage at 44:40 Highlight the passage at 44:40

44:48 thought I was ready for the end because my life like everybody else's is incredibly hectic and I often don't make good decisions in the midst of busyness. I'm not very patient with my family. Report an error in the passage at 44:48 Highlight the passage at 44:48

45:10 The stuff that comes up will be just rushing from one thing to another. And I found out after the retreat last year that I could actually take stock of what was going on and respond from a more caring and more compassionate place. And I don't think I can cultivate too much compassion. Report an error in the passage at 45:10 Highlight the passage at 45:10

45:34 Anyone can cultivate too much of it. So I'm here to get more of what I got last year. Thank you very much for being here. Report an error in the passage at 45:34 Highlight the passage at 45:34

45:52 I'm so Report an error in the passage at 45:52 Highlight the passage at 45:52

46:10 glad Report an error in the passage at 46:10 Highlight the passage at 46:10

46:25 we did that, really. I found this very, very meaningful, so thank you all for sharing this little glimpse of your lives and what has brought you here. Report an error in the passage at 46:25 Highlight the passage at 46:25

46:38 This won't really be a Tibetan Buddhist retreat. It's really focusing on the themes that you know about, these four measurables. A lot of the teachings, as you look through the notes, a lot of the content is coming from the Buddha himself, from the very rich and I think very wise tradition of Theravāda Buddhism, in which I've been trained from teachers from Burma, from Thailand, from Sri Lanka. Report an error in the passage at 46:38 Highlight the passage at 46:38

47:05 I was a monk for some time in Sri Lanka, living the training and of course Theravāda teachers there. But of course, since my primary grounding in Dharma is Tibetan Buddhism, then there will be certainly laced with themes from the Mayana tradition and from Tibetan Buddhism. But this will all play out and of course, just my style of understanding is really, I'm just now speaking just myself, not as a teacher but as a person following a path. Report an error in the passage at 47:05 Highlight the passage at 47:05

47:34 It's been for a very long time now, very crucial to me personally. That my Dharma practice be thoroughly integrated with every aspect of my life. And that's my scientific background, my religious background. My father's a theologian, Christian theologian. I can't just cut that one off. Like, well, that was rubbish because it wasn't simply rubbish. It's not my path. But it has to be integrated. I spent years in academia, 10 years in academia, graduate school and teaching. Report an error in the passage at 47:34 Highlight the passage at 47:34

48:00 It has to be integrated. I've done a lot of collaborative research with scientists, really first-rate ones, primarily neuroscientists. And that has to be integrated. Report an error in the passage at 48:00 Highlight the passage at 48:00

48:10 And I've been very blessed by having, I think, quite a rich education from the Tibetan side, but also a whole bunch of free education from the West. I could never have afforded it, but Amherst called it Stanford, it was all free. And so, in that regard, I feel tremendously grateful, because I got first-rate education, and they just gave it to me, you know. Report an error in the passage at 48:10 Highlight the passage at 48:10

48:29 So I feel very rich in that way. So that will be the style of the teaching here. You'll never know whether I'm going to Socrates or to Buddhaghosa or to... Stephen Hawking or William James. William James is definitely coming up. You can count on that one. But we have a bit of time. What I'd like to do now, being very happy that we began in this way, a theme that's going to come up repeatedly over these six days is that for each of these four immeasurables, and you'll see that it turns out to be a very meaningful sequence. Report an error in the passage at 48:29 Highlight the passage at 48:29

49:00 It's not just four virtues, like, you know, just four thrown into a pot. But starting with love and kindness. And then equanimity as in even-heartedness, not simply a feeling of calm, but even-heartedness. Report an error in the passage at 49:00 Highlight the passage at 49:00

49:18 In these, as we seek to cultivate them, broadly speaking, and this is very important for all of us here, broadly speaking, there are two ways that these can be cultivated, nurtured, grown in our own being. Report an error in the passage at 49:18 Highlight the passage at 49:18

49:34 And one is primarily what we'll be doing here for these six days, learning about it, reflecting upon it and then meditatively cultivating these qualities through sitting quietly in meditation. So that's why you came here. But there's another way that is utterly complementary to this very meditative approach. If we take just one example and then you can apply the example to the other three, loving kindness. Report an error in the passage at 49:34 Highlight the passage at 49:34

49:59 We can sit quietly as we will today. This evening we'll go into meditation on loving kindness. That's what we're here for, right? That's one way of doing it. And I embrace it wholeheartedly. But another way of cultivating loving kindness is to act in a loving and kind way. And so it's kind of outside in. Report an error in the passage at 49:59 Highlight the passage at 49:59

50:19 As we're attending closely, you're going to learn that's one of my favorite words. In fact, I'll tell you right now why. Not all of you know. But in the English language, this word attend. ...has really captured my heart. It's a wonderful word. And it means etymologically, because I like to use words carefully. A word is something like a fine wine, if you're a good wine connoisseur. Report an error in the passage at 50:19 Highlight the passage at 50:19

50:42 To attend means to tend to, to tend to. So here's my old friend, Randa. If I attend to her, this means I'm tending to her. But now let's bring in the rephrasing of that. Tending to, watching over, caring for. And looking after, right? Parents tend to their children, which means they look after, watch over and care for their children. So this word attention, for those of you who have been on a shamatha retreat with me, and all of you have if you've been on any retreat with me, shamatha is there, then you know it's all about developing attention skills, right? Report an error in the passage at 50:42 Highlight the passage at 50:42

51:19 Very central. But we take that same verb, to tend, to attend, and we see that if you're going to be cultivating love and kindness, that's all about attending. It's all about tending to. In a very particular way, not just noting, oh, this monk has a very bald head and he has failed skin and so forth. Yeah, that's attending to his body. But when we're attending not to a head or to a brain, but we're attending to a human being, well, that's more than just picking up appearances, right? Report an error in the passage at 51:19 Highlight the passage at 51:19

51:49 Because someone's looking back. Someone's looking back. That's not true of a brain. You look at a brain, it's not looking back at you. Look at a computer, it's not looking back at you. But any sentient being, animals, of course, included. To attend to as we're attending to, and this is all going to come out, but Martin Buber calls the I-U relationship. We're attending to, but we know we're also, someone's looking back, someone's there. Report an error in the passage at 51:49 Highlight the passage at 51:49

52:18 So this is going to be central. So as we cultivate, for example, loving kindness, through actively engaging with others, attending to them, as someone who's looking back, and what that means is, I have a pretty good sense of who I am as a sentient being. I've been looking a lot. I know my hopes and fears, my desires, my joys and sorrows. I know them quite well. I'm an old guy. I've been around for a while. Report an error in the passage at 52:18 Highlight the passage at 52:18

52:45 And so when I attend to somebody else with comparably gray hair, I said, well, we have something in common here. Or people who are younger, we have something in common here. Because I know you must have joys and sorrows, hopes and fears. You have a personal history. You have a vision of where you'd like to go in your life. So attend to, to tend to someone. Report an error in the passage at 52:45 Highlight the passage at 52:45

53:07 is to take all of that into account. And as we attend closely, there's this phrase, I may as well get it out now because I will say it, for the moment what we attend to is reality, William James. Report an error in the passage at 53:07 Highlight the passage at 53:07

53:22 And so when we're really attending to another person, the person becomes the center of our attention, like Alistair. See, our visual field is very large. See, we can see way out here, right? I can see my fingers on both sides. But when I'm focusing on Alasdair's face, everything else is kind of blurry. So attention is very selective. That's true for visual attention. It's just generally true for attention. Report an error in the passage at 53:22 Highlight the passage at 53:22

53:49 It's very well known. Psychologists have studied attention a lot. So when we give somebody else our attention, that person has become the center of our universe for a moment. Report an error in the passage at 53:49 Highlight the passage at 53:49

54:01 When we give somebody else our attention, that person becomes real. And Report an error in the passage at 54:01 Highlight the passage at 54:01

54:07 if another person becomes real, we have to care. Report an error in the passage at 54:07 Highlight the passage at 54:07

54:16 If we look at them merely as an object, we don't have to. If we don't pay attention, we don't have to. But if we attend to another person, As a human being, as a sentient being, if we make ourselves that vulnerable, that we're opening up our world outside of our skin, something outside of our skin is becoming real, makes it vulnerable. Report an error in the passage at 54:16 Highlight the passage at 54:16

54:40 It also makes our lives meaningful. So that's going to be pretty central for this week, that we attend to ourselves also. We know in this modern world, and now it's all over the place, the West is all the way around, right? This very pernicious, very harmful tendency. But I see, because I travel a lot, all over the world, and it seems to be not quite smoothly distributed, but it's very prevalent all over the place. This intensity of self-judgment, you know, having the sense we're not living up to our own expectations, a bit of a disappointment to ourselves, being harshly critical of ourselves, you know, then easily coming out of that a sense of low self-esteem, being all of that, you know. Report an error in the passage at 54:40 Highlight the passage at 54:40

55:26 That's attending to ourselves, but in not a benevolent way, not a helpful way, not a kind-hearted way. So that's quite sad, isn't it? If we can't even attend to ourselves in a spirit of kindness, then we don't have a very good platform for attending to anybody else in a way that we're not capable of attending to ourselves. Report an error in the passage at 55:26 Highlight the passage at 55:26

55:48 So as we'll see as we venture into the teachings, the loving-kindness practice begins with ourselves. So I'd like to have one meditation before we take a break. This is a three-hour session. Just in terms of logistics, I think pretty much you know the logistics of this. We have a three-hour session in the morning, one in the afternoon. Report an error in the passage at 55:48 Highlight the passage at 55:48

56:06 Two hours in the evening. Tonight I'll do a bit more talking just because we're all getting to know each other, kind of want to launch into the material. But from tomorrow onwards, the morning and the afternoon will be pretty much the same format. And that is some dharma talk, so to speak, a lecture, guided meditations, two of them. And then there may or may not be time for discussion, sometimes a bit short, maybe sometimes there won't be. Report an error in the passage at 56:06 Highlight the passage at 56:06

56:30 But after tonight, tonight will be anomalous. But from tomorrow evening on. When we get to evening session, seven to nine session, there'll be no Dharma talk. I know when enough is enough. And after we've been together for six hours, then you don't need more information flowing in. Time to more assimilate. So in the evening we'll start out with two meditation sessions and then it'll be simply discussion. Time to assimilate, time to clarify, time to integrate. Report an error in the passage at 56:30 Highlight the passage at 56:30

56:58 So that's how we'll proceed. But also, now as we... I have to say, we'll have one session now. The sessions will all be 24 minutes. There's nothing magical about that number, but it tends to be not too long, not too short, even for fairly novice meditators. I would like you to be comfortable, so I see there are a lot of mats here. If you'd like to be in the supine position, ho ho, there they go, excellent. You're going to find from these six days that I very strongly emphasize the importance of feeling a sense of physical comfort while you're meditating. Report an error in the passage at 56:58 Highlight the passage at 56:58

57:30 If your body is in pain, For some particular types of meditation that may be useful, but frankly not for any of the meditations I'm teaching in these six days. If your body's uncomfortable, it's just uncomfortable, which means it's going to be a distraction and therefore not conducive to your practice. Report an error in the passage at 57:30 Highlight the passage at 57:30

57:47 So happily we have plenty of floor space. If anybody would like to later on find a yoga mat someplace, you're always welcome. So I'll just say this right now, for any session at any time, if you'd like to be in the supine position. You're very welcome to do so. And so what I'd like to do now is a practice that I very commonly teach at the very beginning of a retreat. It's a good foundation, like rich, fertile soil for everything else we'll be doing for these six days. Report an error in the passage at 57:47 Highlight the passage at 57:47

58:16 And it's a very simple practice, but not at all trivial. And it's called Sattling the Body, Speech and Mind in the Natural State. So please do find a comfortable position. And this will be indeed a 24-minute session. Let Report an error in the passage at 58:16 Highlight the passage at 58:16

58:59 us venture into this practice. In a spirit of loving kindness for ourselves, this means something very simple. This is an act of kindness. This is an act engaging in this practice to gradually bring about a greater sense of well-being in the body and mind and to do so by cultivating the underlying causes of well-being. Report an error in the passage at 58:59 Highlight the passage at 58:59

59:30 So we're doing something good for ourselves. That's the intention. Now Report an error in the passage at 59:30 Highlight the passage at 59:30

59:39 in daily life we very often feel that our thoughts, our minds, our awareness is caught up in the head. As we get caught up in thoughts, plans, calculations, ruminations, I'd like to invite you now to bring your awareness down into the body. Let Report an error in the passage at 59:39 Highlight the passage at 59:39

59:59 the focus of your awareness come down through the torso. If you're sitting upright, down to the waist and down below, right down to the feet where your feet are in touch with the ground. Report an error in the passage at 59:59 Highlight the passage at 59:59

1:00:12 If you're in the supine position, that's a very good position for this practice. It gets a lot of your body in contact with the ground. So let your awareness come and rest there, from the soles of your feet through the back of your legs up to the back, to the back of your head. Let Report an error in the passage at 1:00:12 Highlight the passage at 1:00:12

1:00:34 your awareness become grounded in these sensations of firmness and solidity where your body is in contact with the ground, with the floor, the cushion, the chair. There's Report an error in the passage at 1:00:34 Highlight the passage at 1:00:34

1:01:03 nothing to think about right now. We're not obliged to be caught up in thoughts. Let your awareness slip into more of a witnessing mode, simply being quietly mindful. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:03 Highlight the passage at 1:01:03

1:01:16 Of the sensations arising throughout this somatic field of the body, and Report an error in the passage at 1:01:16 Highlight the passage at 1:01:16

1:01:25 particularly those sensations of the earth element, and those sensations of solidity and firmness, rest there for just a moment, nakedly aware of the raw sensations rather than imagining them, visualizing them, or thinking about them. Just be present with the sensations that rise up to meet you. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:25 Highlight the passage at 1:01:25

1:02:14 And then like a fragrance filling a room, let your awareness fill the entire space of your body from the soles of your feet right up to the top of the head. There's no need to visualize the body, let alone think about it. Simply be aware of the sensations arising throughout this entire three-dimensional somatic field. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:14 Highlight the passage at 1:02:14

1:02:35 As Report an error in the passage at 1:02:35 Highlight the passage at 1:02:35

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:03:18 you become more explicitly aware of the sensations arising within the body, you may note certain areas of the body that feel tight or constricted. For many people, this is in the shoulders. That's why we ask for a shoulder rub. It gets tight. As you breathe out, just allowing the rhythm of the breath to flow gently, naturally. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:18 Highlight the passage at 1:03:18

1:03:44 With each out-breath, Report an error in the passage at 1:03:44 Highlight the passage at 1:03:44

1:03:50 release. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:50 Highlight the passage at 1:03:50

1:03:54 Surrender your muscles to ground. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:54 Highlight the passage at 1:03:54

1:04:16 The muscles of the face tend to be a veritable magnet for tension. We see it in people's furrowed brow, the clenched jaws, the tightness around the mouth, the tightness around the eyes, and the eyes themselves feeling hard. Sometimes protruding a bit. A lot of tension comes to the face. Sometimes habitually. Bring your awareness down to the face. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:16 Highlight the passage at 1:04:16

1:04:41 Bring Report an error in the passage at 1:04:41 Highlight the passage at 1:04:41

1:04:45 a softness in the muscles around the mouth. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:45 Highlight the passage at 1:04:45

1:05:05 Let your forehead feel spacious. Be Report an error in the passage at 1:05:05 Highlight the passage at 1:05:05

1:05:18 a spaciousness between the eyebrows. Run Report an error in the passage at 1:05:18 Highlight the passage at 1:05:18

1:05:27 all the muscles around the eyes. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:27 Highlight the passage at 1:05:27

1:05:35 Soften the eyes themselves. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:35 Highlight the passage at 1:05:35

1:05:56 Let your whole face rest in an expression of repose. Like that of a sleeping baby. Carefree. In Report an error in the passage at 1:05:56 Highlight the passage at 1:05:56

1:06:11 this way we set the body. In a posture of ease, comfort and relaxation, insofar Report an error in the passage at 1:06:11 Highlight the passage at 1:06:11

1:06:47 as your body is indeed comfortable, you should find it quite easy during the duration of this session to remain very still with no unnecessary fidgeting or moving about. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:47 Highlight the passage at 1:06:47

1:06:57 This will help to bring coherence, calm, composure to your mind, letting your body be still. Sitting Report an error in the passage at 1:06:57 Highlight the passage at 1:06:57

1:07:13 upright, let your spine be straight, your sternum slightly lifted. Keep your abdominal muscles loose and relaxed, so Report an error in the passage at 1:07:13 Highlight the passage at 1:07:13

1:07:28 you're sitting at attention. And as the breath flows in, let the sensations of the breath flow down to the belly, which naturally expands as you breathe in and falls back as you breathe out. In Report an error in the passage at 1:07:28 Highlight the passage at 1:07:28

1:08:05 this way, we settle the body in its natural state, which is a state of equipoise, of dynamic equipoise, in which the body is imbued with three qualities of relaxation, stillness and vigilance. Even in the supine position, although the body is utterly relaxed psychologically, you adopt a stance of vigilance. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:05 Highlight the passage at 1:08:05

1:08:28 That this posture is for meditation, not for taking a nap or spacing out. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:28 Highlight the passage at 1:08:28

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:09:27 And we settle the speech in its natural state, which is one of effortless silence. I think you've achieved that already, in terms of the outer speech, but in terms of the inner speech of the mind, the commentary, the chit-chat, the rumination. Not so easy to rest effortlessly in silence. In terms of the mental voice, to facilitate such inner calm and quiet, we settle the respiration in its natural rhythm. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:27 Highlight the passage at 1:09:27

1:09:58 Very simply put, this means to allow the breath to flow unimpededly, breathe Report an error in the passage at 1:09:58 Highlight the passage at 1:09:58

1:10:06 as effortlessly as if you were deep asleep. Here Report an error in the passage at 1:10:06 Highlight the passage at 1:10:06

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:10:41 is the out-breath. Take advantage of every opportunity of the exhalation, taking this as an occasion to relax more and more deeply in the body, the quality of melting, of unraveling, of loosening up. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:41 Highlight the passage at 1:10:41

1:11:05 With every out-breath, release the breath fully all the way to the end, holding nothing in reserve. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:05 Highlight the passage at 1:11:05

1:11:12 Without expelling the air, simply let it flow out and continue flowing out until there's nothing more to give away. For Report an error in the passage at 1:11:12 Highlight the passage at 1:11:12

1:11:25 the next breath to flow in effortlessly, without impeding it, without pulling it in, the breath will flow in. So it's more like the body being breathed rather than the body breathing and you are simply passively witnessing the in and out flow of the breath. These Report an error in the passage at 1:11:25 Highlight the passage at 1:11:25

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:12:20 thoughts, whatever thoughts, memories, images come up, as you breathe out, Let the breath be like a gentle gust of breeze blowing away dry autumn leaves. Simply allow the thoughts to vanish into the space of the mind. In Report an error in the passage at 1:12:20 Highlight the passage at 1:12:20

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:13:20 this way, settle the respiration in its natural rhythm. It Report an error in the passage at 1:13:20 Highlight the passage at 1:13:20

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:14:16 ends by setting the mind at ease, and in order to do so, we need to take advantage of the opportunity to release, deliberately release any thoughts of the past, any hopes and fears about the future, and allow ourselves the freedom and the luxury. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:16 Highlight the passage at 1:14:16

1:14:38 To let our awareness come to rest in stillness in the present moment. To know what that's like. Many Report an error in the passage at 1:14:38 Highlight the passage at 1:14:38

1:14:52 concerns, many activities and responsibilities. But we don't need to tend to them at all times. We can give ourselves a break, certainly for another ten minutes. So allow yourself that freedom. Learn how to sustain that. Your Report an error in the passage at 1:14:52 Highlight the passage at 1:14:52

1:15:13 awareness becomes still, resting in the present moment. The Report an error in the passage at 1:15:13 Highlight the passage at 1:15:13

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:16:39 light of your awareness directs the light of your attention to the space of the body. Not single-pointedly, not focusing here or there with high concentration, but rather let your awareness illuminate the whole field of the body, a more diffuse but nevertheless very present awareness, so that you are aware of the sensations corresponding to the respiration throughout the entire field. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:39 Highlight the passage at 1:16:39

1:17:08 Be mindfully present of the sensations throughout the body, corresponding to the in and out breath. And when the in-breath is long, note that it is long. When the out-breath is long, note that it is long. Out Report an error in the passage at 1:17:08 Highlight the passage at 1:17:08

· · · silence, 2 minutes

1:19:03 -intervention. You Report an error in the passage at 1:19:03 Highlight the passage at 1:19:03

1:19:08 may let the rhythm of the body, let the pace or rhythm of your attention as the breath flows in, you may gently arouse your attention, focus clearly, right there in the present moment. And Report an error in the passage at 1:19:08 Highlight the passage at 1:19:08

1:19:26 as the breath flows out, you may deeply relax, without spacing out, still maintaining the focus, this mindful awareness of the sensations of the breath throughout the entire body, but arousing, relaxing. Arousing and relaxing. Be very effective. Try it out. See how it works. We're Report an error in the passage at 1:19:26 Highlight the passage at 1:19:26

· · · silence, 4 minutes

1:23:26 about to take a break, but I'd just like to show you something before we do so. The Report an error in the passage at 1:23:26 Highlight the passage at 1:23:26

1:23:50 practice we've done is quite commonly taught in some schools of Tibetan Buddhism that I find enormously useful. It's called settling body, speech and mind in a natural state. But what that means is not simply deeply relaxed. It's rather, in each case, it's a matter of balance. So the body, the body very relaxed and yet poised. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:50 Highlight the passage at 1:23:50

1:24:10 Clear, I mean, you're not just, even if you're in the supine position, it's not time to just space out, you know, become dreamy. But rather, if you're using the supine position in this retreat, every time you go into that, that's for the sake of practice, never for napping, daydreaming, anything like that. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:10 Highlight the passage at 1:24:10

1:24:29 So normally, and I know this is new for some people, normally when we lie down, it's always for the sake of resting, relaxing, watching TV, whatever, right? But now when we formally adopt the Shavasana, This formal yoga posture. And I really encourage you to develop an association, basic Pavlovian psychology, that whenever you go into that posture, you do so, you'll quickly get the message, oh, I must be meditating, I'm in this posture. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:29 Highlight the passage at 1:24:29

1:24:54 If you want to sleep, take a nap, anything's fine, but not in that posture. Find something different. So every time you're there. And then you'll find, I've just finished leading an eight-week retreat and there were people who were resistant, resistant, resistant, and they caved in. Like one young man. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:54 Highlight the passage at 1:24:54

1:25:10 Very dedicated, very sincere. He had a physical problem and he was laid up right in the middle of the retreat. It was an old injury or something like that. And he could not sit up, so he was forced, right, for some days to be supine position. And he looks like strapping young lad, you know, so strong, healthy and so forth. But then he was hobbling around on a cane, you know, and he didn't damage himself in the retreat. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:10 Highlight the passage at 1:25:10

1:25:32 It was something that came before. But I think I finally, I think I persuaded everybody, this is a skill to be developed. It's not flaking out. It's really useful. And so the Shavasana, the corpse position, we're emulating a corpse by the posture. And I'd simply like to emphasize here that it's always a case of balance. You're deeply relaxed, but you're alert. The breathing is deeply relaxed, unforced, unimpeded. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:32 Highlight the passage at 1:25:32

1:26:00 The mind is deeply relaxed, but it's clear. Those themes are going to run through everything. A sense of deep relaxation and yet sharp, clear. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:00 Highlight the passage at 1:26:00

1:26:10 That's a powerful combination. And it's not something we learn in school. We learn how to pay attention in many skills, in many professions. You must pay attention. A surgeon, for example, an air traffic controller, many, many, many. You really must be paying very close attention. And the studies have shown that by and large, very, very broadly, even musicians, that when people are very concentrated, they start to contract. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:10 Highlight the passage at 1:26:10

1:26:36 And the longer they're concentrated, the more depleted and stressed out they get. Not yogis. Authentic yogis. Because they've learned that balance of how to relax more and more deeply and even as you're relaxing more deeply the mind gets brighter, sharper, clearer. Now that's very useful. That's useful for everything. So the point of balance, the point of balance will run through this retreat like all of the other retreats that I lead and I'd like to just give one point and then we'll take a 15 minute break. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:36 Highlight the passage at 1:26:36

1:27:07 And that is for those who are going into the supine position. I would imagine your body has probably got pretty relaxed. relaxed, pretty mellow, pretty buttery, nice, good. Now, it would be good as much as possible to maintain that sense of ease, that looseness, that kind of mellow quality in the body. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:07 Highlight the passage at 1:27:07

1:27:25 So my primary yoga teacher, and it's now quite a long time ago, but I trained quite intensively with him for two and a half months, like five hours a day, I was at his yoga ashram, and that was B. K. S. Iyengar, who recently passed away. He's outstanding and he's really quite brilliant. And when he was teaching, I think he could do all asanas. He was amazing. But that includes the Shavasana. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:25 Highlight the passage at 1:27:25

1:27:50 And I found, having trained with him intensively for these two and a half months, that when he taught the Shavasana, he taught it with all the precision, the skill that he taught any other posture. It wasn't just, okay, now everybody lie down and rest. No, no, this is a very specific asana. Now, it's not only asana, and I'll show it, it's not complicated, but it's also the coming out of the asana. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:50 Highlight the passage at 1:27:50

1:28:11 And to learn it. It's not hard, but if you come out of that asana in the way that Iyengar teaches, then I think to a considerable extent you'll be able to maintain that looseness, that sense of ease and comfort in the body, even when you're sitting upright, which would be good. So I'll show it right now. You don't need the microphone. It's going to be show and not so much tell. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:11 Highlight the passage at 1:28:11

1:28:49 chest, your nose, you want it all to be a nice straight line. The feet, as he taught it, are pretty close together. They can be touching, but they're pretty close together. The feet drop to the side. If you have enough space, and we should have enough space here, the arms are about 30 degrees up from the torso. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:49 Highlight the passage at 1:28:49

1:29:05 The palms are up. This opens up this area here on the shoulders. So the palms up. You want a pillow under your head. I don't need one now. And you want to gently extend the back of your neck. So you don't want it like this, chin facing to the sky, but a gentle extension. And then lay your head down on the pillow. It's very gentle. Put some extension there in the back of the neck. And then you may even take your buttocks and hand and just very gently pull them down towards your feet. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:05 Highlight the passage at 1:29:05

1:29:35 So now you're getting a gentle extension here in the lower spine as well. Emphasis on gentle. Then the eyes are closed. Begin the practice. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:35 Highlight the passage at 1:29:35

1:29:46 Now when you come to the end of the session, again you'll probably feel quite mellow in the body. So to sustain that as much as possible. You come out step by step. And so, okay, the session has just ended. And so then you bring up one leg, foot flat on the ground. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:46 Highlight the passage at 1:29:46

1:30:07 I'm still very relaxed. Bring up another one. I see a bit more extension to the lower spine. That feels nice. I feel very relaxed still. And then in a fluid motion, whether you drop to the right or the left makes no difference. In a fluid motion, you drop your knees to the side. side and you roll over on your shoulder. So like this. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:07 Highlight the passage at 1:30:07

1:30:42 then finally, rather than jerking yourself up, Shantideva, His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Lama Zopa Rinpoche. You'll see what I mean by this. But the idea is to come up in a fluid motion so that at no point are you kind of seizing up the muscles that have gotten so relaxed. So something like this. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:42 Highlight the passage at 1:30:42

1:31:39 So for Report an error in the passage at 1:31:39 Highlight the passage at 1:31:39

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:32:24 any type of meditation that we engage in, we're always working with something that is very core, utterly essential to our very presence here in the universe, and that is consciousness. You can't get around it. It's there, one and one. exactly 3.30, more or less, 3.31. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:24 Highlight the passage at 1:32:24

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:32:39 And in the Buddhist tradition it's said very phenomenologically, that is not as a matter of belief or metaphysics but simply straight immediate experience, that consciousness has two salient features, two defining characteristics. I think it's true, but I'll share them with you and then you can know for yourself because you know about your own consciousness, you can explore it like no one else can. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:39 Highlight the passage at 1:32:39

1:33:04 And that is consciousness has one defining characteristic, the simple Quality of cognizance, knowing, very simple. I tend to, and I just immediately know. If somebody asks me, what's the color of, my name again? Cameron, thank you. What's the color of Cameron's shirt? I know a certainty. And how? Because I direct my visual attention to it, my mental awareness, and then there it is. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:04 Highlight the passage at 1:33:04

1:33:31 So there's a knowing. We all know that. So there's one aspect of it. We know things in the sensory field, we know things in our own minds, whether right now we're feeling calm or agitated and so on. The second defining characteristic is called luminosity, and that is it is consciousness that makes for appearances, as any neuroscientist will tell you and any physicist will tell you. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:31 Highlight the passage at 1:33:31

1:33:54 Images, appearances, colors and so forth do not travel through space, right? The sounds that we hear do not travel through space. Sound waves travel through space, but they strike the eardrum. Catalyze the complex electrochemical sequence of events culminating in the auditory cortex and we hear what we hear to be sounds. What is it that's manifesting or making evident these appearances, visual appearances, auditory, olfactory, gustatory, somatic, but also the experiences, the appearances of the mind, the images that come up, the dreams that come up. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:54 Highlight the passage at 1:33:54

1:34:28 What's the illuminator? What's causing them or enabling them to manifest? And the experiential response from Buddhism. Not rooted in some dogma or doctrine or simply the authority, it's consciousness that makes for appearances. So it illuminates, consciousness illuminates our thoughts, our emotions and desires. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:28 Highlight the passage at 1:34:28

1:34:47 It illuminates visual impressions and so on. But this quality of luminosity also has to do with imagination. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:47 Highlight the passage at 1:34:47

1:34:58 So core, so distinctive, so extraordinary, the capacity of the human mind, the human consciousness for imagination. To be able to imagine the complexities of our scientific worldview, the complexities of visual art, of music, of poetry, literature and so forth, extraordinary imagination of architecture, the vision of building cities, the vision of building empires, imagination going awry, imagination working for the benefit of our planet. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:58 Highlight the passage at 1:34:58

1:35:31 But imagination is crucial. We're not only attending to what is already real, but we're imagining what could be. And that's been happening throughout all of history, to our advantage and to our disadvantage. It goes either way. So as we're venturing into these four immeasurables, we're always using cognizance. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:31 Highlight the passage at 1:35:31

1:35:51 If you're not cognizant, then you're absent-minded, you're spaced out. But in these four, we're also really tapping into a drawing, nurturing, cultivating a capacity of imagination. To imagine that which is not yet real, but which might become real, but only if we envision it. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:51 Highlight the passage at 1:35:51

1:36:12 So I would say that reality consists of two aspects, two domains. I think it's kind of obvious really. There's the domain of that which is already true, actual. This beautiful retreat center, this convent, the people in it and so forth. Attend and you see it, you cognize, you become aware of, you know what's taking place here because it's already there. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:12 Highlight the passage at 1:36:12

1:36:35 But reality does not consist solely of that which is already actual, otherwise reality would be frozen. There'd be no give, there'd be no malleability. And so possibilities are also real. There's a real possibility, a very real possibility that I'm going to drink some of that water the next minute. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:35 Highlight the passage at 1:36:35

1:36:57 Not certain. I haven't decided yet. It's a possibility. The possibility does exist, doesn't it? I mean, there it is. It was for me. And it's within reach. I know how to drink. So it's a definite possibility. It just hasn't become actual yet. May or may not. For that to become actual, I'd have to be able to imagine that I could drink. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:57 Highlight the passage at 1:36:57

1:37:19 That's trivial, of course. But I have to imagine that. If I didn't know how to drink, I would say, wow, that looks so tasty, I wish I knew how to drink. I could really use some of that. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:19 Highlight the passage at 1:37:19

1:37:36 But I could have. We know that. So that possibility didn't manifest. It will later. I'm going to drink something later on, I imagine. But when we come to loving-kindness, because that's where we'll start, it starts with a challenge to use our imagination, to envision means of experience to means of reality that are not yet actual but could be. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:36 Highlight the passage at 1:37:36

1:38:00 If we put our hearts and minds to them, if we see that something is worthwhile, meaningful, worth actualizing, a quality of well-being we may not have experienced thus far, but perhaps we could. But we could only if we envision it. It probably won't just bump into us. So Claudio raises a very important point, that some worldviews, and I know I'm quite critical of materialism, critical for many reasons. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:00 Highlight the passage at 1:38:00

1:38:32 Number one, I think it's false, but number two, so limiting. So limiting in our vision of what the good life is, what human flourishing is about. Not to say that all materialists have limited imagination, but the view itself doesn't tend to open our horizons as much as it could. So again, I'm not here for these six days to be critiquing that. It will come up once in a while. But what I'd like to do, going right to the meditation right now, we're about to have another one, where the body is still fresh. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:32 Highlight the passage at 1:38:32

1:39:02 So generally speaking, we'll start each session quite quickly with a meditation. We'll have a break more or less halfway through and then we'll come right back to meditation. So, in other words, when your body is afresh as you've had time to stretch, walk around a bit, because I don't want to experience any unnecessary discomfort in the body through the meditation. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:02 Highlight the passage at 1:39:02

1:39:20 I'd like to go to a meditation I very much enjoy teaching and practicing. It's not a particular format or sequence of meditation that I've been taught, but it's thoroughly inspired by meditations I have been taught and is completely congruent with. I teach quite a number of things where the format is a bit novel, but the content is utterly traditional. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:20 Highlight the passage at 1:39:20

1:39:46 And it's the content that gives me the deep confidence. Of course, I don't teach anything I don't practice. The content, when I know it traces back to some of the great adepts, contemplatives and so forth in the Buddhist tradition, tracing right back to the Buddha, that gives me a lot of confidence. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:46 Highlight the passage at 1:39:46

1:40:04 I do have a lot of confidence. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:04 Highlight the passage at 1:40:04

1:40:18 people in the room, there will be 50 unique meditations in the room. So I will be posing questions. Some of you are aware of this meditation already. The fourfold vision quest, so to speak. There's nothing corny or new agey about it at all. It actually can be very, very profound. It depends on us. So please go to gravitate to your places of comfort, your comfort zones. And in the course of this meditation, we'll be using imagination, we'll be arousing, activating the luminous aspect of our minds, consciousness. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:18 Highlight the passage at 1:40:18

1:40:51 I'll pose four questions. So that will provide some format. It will be the same questions for everyone here. But how you respond to the questions, well, I have no format. That's entirely yours. And I'm sure. That each person's meditation will be unique. And it may be interesting to see, as we return to this during the course of these six days, how your own responses to the questions may evolve, may shift somewhat in the coming days, but also weeks and months. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:51 Highlight the passage at 1:40:51

1:41:22 So, I think you've already found a comfortable position. Let's go into the practice. It will be a 24-minute session. Unless I say otherwise, it will always be 24 minutes. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:22 Highlight the passage at 1:41:22

1:41:35 The hope is that you don't find it too long, that it drags on. And not so short that you can't really enter into them. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:35 Highlight the passage at 1:41:35

1:42:03 But the same preparation that we enacted in the last 24-minute session. Bring your awareness into the body. Drop down into the body, right down to the ground. And settle your body in a posture of relaxation, stillness and vigilance. And Report an error in the passage at 1:42:03 Highlight the passage at 1:42:03

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:43:09 settle your respiration in its natural rhythm. If you've not tried this before, you may find it subtler than you imagined. To attend closely to the... Report an error in the passage at 1:43:09 Highlight the passage at 1:43:09

1:43:34 Preference without interference. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:34 Highlight the passage at 1:43:34

1:43:44 relaxing all the way through the end of our breath. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:44 Highlight the passage at 1:43:44

1:43:53 allowing the flow in as effortlessly as a wave washing up on shore. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:53 Highlight the passage at 1:43:53

1:44:23 at ease, releasing all hopes and fears, all concerns about the past. Allowing yourself the leisure and freedom to rest in stillness in the present moment. Now Report an error in the passage at 1:44:23 Highlight the passage at 1:44:23

1:44:54 I pose the first question, and Report an error in the passage at 1:44:54 Highlight the passage at 1:44:54

1:45:03 that is what do you imagine would bring you happiness? Happiness that brings with it a sense of fulfillment, of meaning. What Report an error in the passage at 1:45:03 Highlight the passage at 1:45:03

1:45:22 might that happiness, that true flourishing, what might that be like? What is your vision being Report an error in the passage at 1:45:22 Highlight the passage at 1:45:22

1:45:31 truly and deeply such Report an error in the passage at 1:45:31 Highlight the passage at 1:45:31

· · · silence, 2 minutes

1:47:04 well-being? This is loving kindness, the aspiration that we ourselves and those around us may find happiness in its causes. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:04 Highlight the passage at 1:47:04

1:47:22 So with every out-breath, as if you're breathing life into this vision that exists now in the realm of possibility, but could be invited into the realm of actuality. With each out-breath, you may simply arouse a thought or generate the thought, may Report an error in the passage at 1:47:22 Highlight the passage at 1:47:22

1:47:45 I experience the happiness that is my heart's desire, my deepest desire, and cultivate the causes that yield such a sense of well-being. Wish Report an error in the passage at 1:47:45 Highlight the passage at 1:47:45

1:48:00 yourself well with every Report an error in the passage at 1:48:00 Highlight the passage at 1:48:00

1:48:07 breath of this vision. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:07 Highlight the passage at 1:48:07

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:48:49 Imagination play. Knowing full well that you're venturing into the realm of possibility, imagine with each outbreath experiencing here and now the fulfillment, the happiness, the satisfaction to which you aspire. The Report an error in the passage at 1:48:49 Highlight the passage at 1:48:49

· · · silence, 2 minutes

1:51:30 people, near and far, in the short term and the long term, to Report an error in the passage at 1:51:30 Highlight the passage at 1:51:30

1:51:39 happiness that you seek. What would you love to receive from the world? Report an error in the passage at 1:51:39 Highlight the passage at 1:51:39

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:52:30 That you may in fact receive all that you truly need in Report an error in the passage at 1:52:30 Highlight the passage at 1:52:30

1:52:38 order to realize a life of meaning, of fulfillment. To tap into and realize your deepest potential. Arouse the aspiration. With each in-breath, may I receive all that I need from moment to moment, day to day. May reality rise up to me. Enter Report an error in the passage at 1:52:38 Highlight the passage at 1:52:38

· · · silence, 2 minutes

1:55:10 a third question. In order to realize the happiness and fulfillment that you seek, how would you love to transform, to evolve and mature as an individual, psychologically, spiritually? Report an error in the passage at 1:55:10 Highlight the passage at 1:55:10

1:55:24 From what qualities of the mind and of behavior would you love to be free? And with what qualities would you love to be more richly imbued? Report an error in the passage at 1:55:24 Highlight the passage at 1:55:24

1:55:34 In short, how would you love to transform inwardly in order to realize your heart's desire, imagine it, feel Report an error in the passage at 1:55:34 Highlight the passage at 1:55:34

· · · silence, 2 minutes

1:57:33 you should do it, with every out-breath arouse the yearning, may I so transform, realize the happiness that I seek, begin Report an error in the passage at 1:57:33 Highlight the passage at 1:57:33

1:57:55 to breathe life into the Report an error in the passage at 1:57:55 Highlight the passage at 1:57:55

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:58:48 imagination play, imagine here and now, into the person you'd love to become, in Report an error in the passage at 1:58:48 Highlight the passage at 1:58:48

· · · silence, 1 minute

2:00:09 order to imbue your own life with as much meaning as possible. To provide yourself with the greatest possible sense of fulfillment, what would you love to offer to the world around you? Drawing on your own unique background, your skills, your gifts, your interests, what Report an error in the passage at 2:00:09 Highlight the passage at 2:00:09

2:00:32 would you love to offer so that when your life does come to an end and you look back at life that is now finished, you will do so with a sense of satisfaction, confidence that this was a life well led? Report an error in the passage at 2:00:32 Highlight the passage at 2:00:32

2:00:47 What would you love to offer to the world, to those who are near and far, in the short term and the long term? Report an error in the passage at 2:00:47 Highlight the passage at 2:00:47

· · · silence, 1 minute

2:01:54 out-breath around aspiration, may be so. Report an error in the passage at 2:01:54 Highlight the passage at 2:01:54

· · · silence, 5 minutes

2:07:23 to venture now into the body of the teaching, the theory and practice for the six weeks. I want to start with the topic that I think actually may be the most important. And I'll unpack that. I'll unpack that. Clearly there are different... Different interpretations, different definitions, there's no one that is correct. Unless you speak of the Socratic, for example, the Socratic view, then there is something that's correct or incorrect. Report an error in the passage at 2:07:23 Highlight the passage at 2:07:23

2:07:57 What did he say? You don't say something else. But Socrates, I've been reading a long article on his teachings on eudaimonia, quite breathtaking, very, very deep. Aristotle had a lot to say about that, eudaimonia. Human flourishing, genuine happiness. Report an error in the passage at 2:07:57 Highlight the passage at 2:07:57

2:08:15 One could say, just in good old-fashioned ordinary English, I think the word well-being pretty well wraps it up. Well-being. Well-being. And as for hedonia, it simply means pleasure. Pleasure. So it's well-being and pleasure. I think, I'm going to be really dramatic here, but I don't think melodramatic. Report an error in the passage at 2:08:15 Highlight the passage at 2:08:15

2:08:36 I think the fate of humanity depends on it. Very simple reason. We have 7 billion people on the planet right now. Right after the Black Plague, remember, 14th century? Right after the Black Plague swept through, wiped out one third of the European population, as well as a lot of population elsewhere, the population on the planet was 375 million. Report an error in the passage at 2:08:36 Highlight the passage at 2:08:36

2:08:58 Now it's 7 billion. And the experts calculate or estimate that by the end of the century it's going to be 11 billion. That's assuming everything goes well. If Report an error in the passage at 2:08:58 Highlight the passage at 2:08:58

2:09:13 you're following the news recently, it was only about a week ago, the World Wildlife Federation gave an estimate that over the last... 40 years, we've lost one half of the wildlife on the planet. Global warming, it seems like we've passed the tipping point. 10 years ago, 15 years ago, we might, if we'd been really smart, we might have been able to really make some severe cutbacks, tighten the belt, really make some dramatic changes. Report an error in the passage at 2:09:13 Highlight the passage at 2:09:13

2:09:44 But we didn't. It looks like we've passed the tipping point, so now the dice will continue rolling. And nobody knows, you know, like a roulette wheel. Nobody knows. But that it's going to turn out well is... Report an error in the passage at 2:09:44 Highlight the passage at 2:09:44

2:10:02 resources, we're facing a lot of challenges here. it really, one could say, the bottom line boils down to we have diminishing resources and an increasing population. Report an error in the passage at 2:10:02 Highlight the passage at 2:10:02

2:10:14 we have, to my mind, now here's an opinion, I think globally, in communist countries where they've been so really starved to death any, and of the whole spiritual dimension of existence, and I say that only with compassion, I mean, nothing whatsoever whatsoever against against any any communist communist country. Report an error in the passage at 2:10:14 Highlight the passage at 2:10:14

2:10:30 country in the world, not even against its leaders, but And in the most important way, it limits our notion of what the good life is. Communism does that, but so does capitalism. That the good life is all about acquisition and consumption. And the more the better. So here's one statistic that came up in the eight-week retreat. Report an error in the passage at 2:10:30 Highlight the passage at 2:10:30

2:10:57 Boy, did it grab my attention. It has to do with the inequality of distribution of wealth globally. In America, it's drastic, it's grotesque. Other countries too, but, oh, America takes really the cake. My homeland, you know. Globally, though, the top 85 wealthiest people in the world, 85 people, as the poorest of 3.5 billion people. Report an error in the passage at 2:10:57 Highlight the passage at 2:10:57

2:11:28 This doesn't bode well. And in the rapidly developing countries like China, 9%, 10%, 11%, year after year after year, growing, growing, growing. And countries like America, just... Frothing of the bed. Oh, it's only 4.4. Oh, it's 5. Boy, let's see if we can get up to 6, you know. More is better. More consumption. Report an error in the passage at 2:11:28 Highlight the passage at 2:11:28

2:11:48 More acquisition. More consumption. That's the good life. This is going to kill us. It's going to kill us. I don't think that's gloom and doom, I mean. What scenario, in what scenario does this work out well? With diminishing resources, global warming taking place, increasing, increasing population, and Report an error in the passage at 2:11:48 Highlight the passage at 2:11:48

2:12:13 This stems in large part because of an imagination deficit order. Not envisioning, having no idea what is the good life that's not contingent upon greater acquisition and consumption, greater and greater wealth. And so hedonia, I have nothing against it at all. I enjoy good food, I enjoy beauties of nature, I enjoy music, I enjoy many things. I enjoy good health too. Report an error in the passage at 2:12:13 Highlight the passage at 2:12:13

2:12:39 That's hedonia. So hedonia, pleasure, just call it that. Hedonic pleasure, but it's redundant because hedonia means pleasure, is any type of pleasure, that word doesn't need to be defined, any kind of pleasure that arises in response to or independence upon some pleasant stimulation. Report an error in the passage at 2:12:39 Highlight the passage at 2:12:39

2:12:58 So it can be pleasant conversation. So when I'm using hedonia or pleasure, hedonic pleasure, I'm not referring to something coarse, crude, degraded, you know, for crude, primitive people. Not at all. Not at all. No, it covers a very, very broad bandwidth. The pleasure of a good conversation. That's hedonic. You enjoy being with the other person. You have a very meaningful, pleasant conversation. You get some pleasure out of it. Report an error in the passage at 2:12:58 Highlight the passage at 2:12:58

2:13:22 Then you part ways and that particular pleasure then vanishes away. Pleasure of the senses. What's wrong with that? This is quite a beautiful, attractive room. It's nice. They tried to make it pleasant. They did. That's nice. This is a very beautiful day today, isn't it? It's still going on. I enjoy weather like that. Report an error in the passage at 2:13:22 Highlight the passage at 2:13:22

2:13:41 I'm from California. I thought, Sonny's gone, he's clear. That's Hedonia. There's nothing wrong with any of this. There's nothing wrong with having sufficient financial resources. You don't have to worry about paying your bills, taking care of your children. So, nothing wrong with any of that. But the common denominator is that Hedonia always arises because something pleasant happens. Report an error in the passage at 2:13:41 Highlight the passage at 2:13:41

2:14:09 And for many people, that's where their imagination stops when they think of becoming happy. When they envision what would be the good life, the good life, they're thinking of all the good things that could happen to them. I'd like to have this kind of a house and I'd like to look like this and I'd like to have this kind of partner and these friends and this location and this work and this kind of vacation and that would make me really happy. Report an error in the passage at 2:14:09 Highlight the passage at 2:14:09

2:14:31 That's a hedonic vision. There's a problem built into the pursuit of hedonia and that is by nature, not every single time, but the vast majority of cases. As we pursue the good life, and all of us are, that's why we're here. That's why we're here. Nobody had to come here. We're here in the pursuit of a good life, a happy life, a meaningful. Report an error in the passage at 2:14:31 Highlight the passage at 2:14:31

2:14:52 I listen to you. And that was a common denominator. Nobody came here because you're so totally satisfied with the life you're already living that you're just, you know, let's check that out. Why not? Nobody did that. We're in the pursuit of a good life, and there's nothing wrong with that at all. Report an error in the passage at 2:14:52 Highlight the passage at 2:14:52

2:15:10 The pursuit of hedonia, generally speaking, with some exceptions, is by nature competitive. That if it has to do with wealth, acquisition of anything, car, money, house, anything, cell phone, if you got it, somebody else didn't. Natural resources, if you got it, somebody else didn't. Report an error in the passage at 2:15:10 Highlight the passage at 2:15:10

2:15:32 And it's not only for tangible things, like material goods. It's also, if you're famous, somebody else is a little bit less so. I publish a lot of books. So on Amazon.com, I think they go up to, I don't know, maybe 7 million. They have a lot of books, and they're all rated. And the ratings change, you know, depending on how many books are sold. But you can see where you fit in. See where you fit in. And if you're occupying, if a book that occupies a certain number, like 30,325, you just bumped out the 30,326 person. Report an error in the passage at 2:15:32 Highlight the passage at 2:15:32

2:16:06 You just got bumped back by them. Because only one book can occupy 30,325. So even for intangibles like that, reputation, status, prestige, celebrity status. If one star rises to A, somebody else just drops a little bit. And so that's it. Well, growing population, decreasing natural resources, and by nature competitive. Report an error in the passage at 2:16:06 Highlight the passage at 2:16:06

2:16:33 How's that going to work out? I don't think we have to be pessimistic to say, well, this could be a problem. It already has proved to be a problem. The first Iraq war, does anybody really think that wasn't about oil? Any seriously? We were just protecting the weak, right? Oh wait, I remember, Iraq. The weak? No, they were the aggressive. Okay. Report an error in the passage at 2:16:33 Highlight the passage at 2:16:33

2:16:58 So, the wisdom traditions of the world, and I'm speaking very broadly but very meaningfully, this is not a vague statement. Socrates was a wise person. Aristotle, for all his flamboyant mistakes, had a lot of wisdom too. The Christian tradition, both Socrates and Aristotle, Plato, they all had very clear-cut, very meaningful visions of eudaimonia. Report an error in the passage at 2:16:58 Highlight the passage at 2:16:58

2:17:19 Now, eudaimonia is called happiness, genuine happiness, authentic happiness, human flourishing. I checked out the etymology just recently. I knew it, but I wanted to check it out in more detail. Going back to Socrates, eudaimonia, so-called genuine happiness, if you like, is a type of happiness that is in accordance with the gods. Report an error in the passage at 2:17:19 Highlight the passage at 2:17:19

2:17:40 The gods will support you for this one. Whereas hedonia, well, it's just pleasure. You like sex? Well, have some sex. But that's not pleasing to the gods. It's whatever. It is what it is. So Socrates, Aristotle, there's differences, of course, but some commonality, and that is... that the cultivation of eudaimonia, of genuine happiness, cannot be understood, cannot be conceived or enacted independently of a sense of virtue. Report an error in the passage at 2:17:40 Highlight the passage at 2:17:40

2:18:10 Aristotle says the eudaimonia is a being at work of the soul in accordance with virtue, and should there be more than one virtue in accordance with the highest virtue. For him that was reason, many people would say wisdom. But the point here is something quite marvelous, really, because I said this retreat would be about unifying and not creating. Report an error in the passage at 2:18:10 Highlight the passage at 2:18:10

2:18:29 barriers, divisions, inside, outside, my side, your side. Well, it's very true. This is a good one. Socrates, Aristotle, Plato. Report an error in the passage at 2:18:29 Highlight the passage at 2:18:29

2:18:39 St. Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, the Christian tradition has a tremendously rich heritage of real wisdom eudaimonia. They picked it up from Plato, but they ran with it. They brought it into their own worldview, Christian worldview, of course. And if you read the writing, it's very, very rich. Very, very rich. Report an error in the passage at 2:18:39 Highlight the passage at 2:18:39

2:18:55 Well, that's true for the Jews, too. The Jewish tradition has very rich. So does Islam. So does Islam. Very rich. Taoism is very rich. Very clear. Very, very clear. Of course they don't call it a Greek term. They have a long term for it. But a quality of flourishing that is not simply Hedonia, that the sages, the wise men and women of the past, have conceived. Report an error in the passage at 2:18:55 Highlight the passage at 2:18:55

2:19:18 There's something more than Hedonia. The Indian tradition, the Hindu tradition, the yoga tradition, Satchitananda, the ideal of being of reality. Ananda, genuine happiness. Chit. Chit is, of course, consciousness, mind. And Ananda, genuine happiness. So we see this, we find this in philosophy, not confined to Socrates, Plato and Aristotle. We see that continuum flows through Western philosophical tradition. Report an error in the passage at 2:19:18 Highlight the passage at 2:19:18

2:19:47 It comes up again and again. It's found in all of the major religions. I know religious studies go on. It does. You can check it out. But it's there. But it's not just religion and philosophy and then the scientists on the other side, especially over the last 15 years or so, with the growth of positive psychology. Report an error in the passage at 2:19:47 Highlight the passage at 2:19:47

2:20:04 Martin Seligman, Barbara Fredrickson, Jonathan Haidt, I know a number of these people personally. They're raising the question, you know, all right, psychology, clinical psychology, psychiatry, overwhelmingly for the last, oh, at least the last 60 years since Second World War, has been overwhelmingly oriented to diagnosing and treating mental... Report an error in the passage at 2:20:04 Highlight the passage at 2:20:04

2:20:26 Disease. Good. But then the imagination kind of tends to run out. Okay, you can get to work now. You're very depressed, but now we've got you. We've got you some drugs and we have some talk therapy and we have some behavioral therapy here. You're ready to go back to work? You're ready to be a good, productive member of society? You're okay now? Report an error in the passage at 2:20:26 Highlight the passage at 2:20:26

2:20:44 You're okay? Okay, then off you go. Next. As if that's as good as it gets. That's when the imagination stops. Well, I can get to work. I'm not, you know, how are you? Could be worse. No, but how are you? I'm doing okay. Why are you pushing? No vision. No vision. I'd like to have a Porsche. There's the imagination. Report an error in the passage at 2:20:44 Highlight the passage at 2:20:44

2:21:09 Oh, Porsche. Report an error in the passage at 2:21:09 Highlight the passage at 2:21:09

2:21:14 Very limited imagination. Well, thanks to the turn of the millennium, some very bright people in psychology of great stature, intelligence, creativity, I think goodwill as well, started envisioning positive psychology. And that is once you're kind of normal, once you're a productive citizen, you're not calling attention to yourself because you're so mentally whacked out. Report an error in the passage at 2:21:14 Highlight the passage at 2:21:14

2:21:34 What then might psychology actually have something to say about developing exceptional, above average mental health and well-being and what would that entail? Well, some of the very smart ones in this field, now in psychology, we're now dealing with science, are recognizing, well, maybe somebody else has thought of this before us. Report an error in the passage at 2:21:34 Highlight the passage at 2:21:34

2:21:54 Maybe not scientists, but in fact they did back in the 1930s. There was much more talk about this, but it kind of got flattened during the Second World War. We had all these soldiers coming back, damaged by the war. And so big emphasis came on healing those psychologically wounded. That's good. But something got lost. Report an error in the passage at 2:21:54 Highlight the passage at 2:21:54

2:22:13 Something got lost. So in this field of science now, psychology, positive psychology, I've read some articles by various psychologists going back to the ancient Greeks and so forth. Some are taking an interest in Buddhism and so forth and saying, well, why don't we expand our imagination here? Beyond simply being normal, beyond getting by, beyond being okay, to exceptional mental health. And of course we have a great template for this, a great parallel. Report an error in the passage at 2:22:13 Highlight the passage at 2:22:13

2:22:42 And that is, in our modern materialistic society, professional athletics, the Olympics. You want to see people who have not been satisfied to be just nearly normally healthy, normally strong, not sick? Okay, well just look at any Olympic athlete. And you say, wow, that's what a human body could be like. The gymnasts especially, the swimmers, but also so many other fields. Report an error in the passage at 2:22:42 Highlight the passage at 2:22:42

2:23:13 Man, they knew how to cultivate that body. Strength, resilience, skill, precision, endurance. Quite impressive. Quite impressive. So we're a materialistic society, so we have gyms everywhere. How many do you think there are in Sydney? Places we're working at. How many? How many mental centers are there for developing exceptional mental health? Report an error in the passage at 2:23:13 Highlight the passage at 2:23:13

2:23:40 Mental resilience, mental strength, mental endurance, emotional resilience, where people are coming every day to work out. That's interesting, isn't it? Because if we ask a very simple question, a non-religious question, it's a flat-out straight question. You know what's coming? If you had your choice, you had your choice, here's your choice. Report an error in the passage at 2:23:40 Highlight the passage at 2:23:40

2:24:02 You can either be in really, really good health, I mean really, and beautiful, attractive, physically, cool, strong, resilient, vital. But depressed as hell. Or you could be kind of old, not so good health, flabby, unattractive, but really content, full of warmth, good cheer. Report an error in the passage at 2:24:02 Highlight the passage at 2:24:02

2:24:31 What's it going to be? You had to choose. Kind of a no-brainer. Now that's not because you're religious. I don't think it's because you're here for this retreat. I think if you went out there on the street just and did a poll and asked that question, people will smile and chuckle and say, well, I'd like to have them both. Report an error in the passage at 2:24:31 Highlight the passage at 2:24:31

2:24:52 But if I can't, this is hypothetical, well, I'd rather be happy. I mean, when you're really depressed or you're full of anxiety or post-traumatic stress disorder and so forth, you feel just ill at ease, out of sorts, out of balance, just not comfortable in your own skin, how long do you really want to look into the mirror and say, wow, I look good? Report an error in the passage at 2:24:52 Highlight the passage at 2:24:52

2:25:15 And what satisfaction does that really give? So it's quite clear, isn't it? That without being indoctrinated in some religion or philosophy and so forth, we already care more about mental than we do physical. And yet we have gymnasiums in Sydney, Melbourne, New York City, Berlin and so forth. Gymnasiums everywhere. But a place to cultivate, cultivate the mind in a similar fashion so that it's fit, it's balanced, it's strong, it's healthy. Report an error in the passage at 2:25:15 Highlight the passage at 2:25:15

2:25:40 Exceptional mental health. Not so common. So maybe we have a bit of homework to do there. Eudaimonia can be defined in different ways. Even Aristotle and Socrates differed on some points. And of course, why not? People can differ. So I'm going to simply give a definition drawn very much from the Buddhist tradition, which of course is not the right answer. Report an error in the passage at 2:25:40 Highlight the passage at 2:25:40

2:26:00 But I would say what I'm about to share is certainly, I would say this with confidence, and I'm willing to debate it if anybody wants to, that this is completely congruent with the Buddhist worldview. So I've never seen this written, but... I've been studying Buddhism for more than 40 years, so I'll say what I'm about to share. I think this would be definitely a Buddhist definition, not the only one. Report an error in the passage at 2:26:00 Highlight the passage at 2:26:00

2:26:21 So try this on for a second. Eudaimonia. It's called satsuka, checked. Satsuka in Sanskrit or devadamba. Devadamba. Do you know some Tibetan? A little bit. Deva? Suka? Happens. Damba means sublime. Yeah, sublime. Ki wudampa. Ki wudampa. This is a blind hand being like. Ki wudampa. So sublime, something noble, something exalted, something special, extraordinary. So that term does show up. So that's eudaimonia. Report an error in the passage at 2:26:21 Highlight the passage at 2:26:21

2:26:52 So how to define it now? If hedonia, or pleasure, is simply this kind of happiness, joy, pleasure that arises in response to some pleasant stimulation, then eudaimonia, or genuine happiness, is a quality of well-being that is not contingent. Upon something nice happening to you, getting something, being praised, having a good reputation, high status, living in a beautiful place, enjoying really good health, etc. Report an error in the passage at 2:26:52 Highlight the passage at 2:26:52

2:27:20 It's a quality of well-being, now to put it in a thumbnail, a quality of well-being that comes not from what you get from the world, but from what you bring to the world. Report an error in the passage at 2:27:20 Highlight the passage at 2:27:20

2:27:34 Now, if it's a quality of well-being that you get from what you bring to the world, exactly how would somebody else take it away from you? Report an error in the passage at 2:27:34 Highlight the passage at 2:27:34

2:27:43 something that comes from this rather than from that. From this, hedonia, pleasure, is what you get from the world. From the world, from other people, from places, from objects, from entertainment, from things, possessions, from your body and soul. And if you've gotten it, somebody can take it away. Somebody can take away your reputation. As intangible as it is, it's possible. Somebody can certainly take away your stuff. Report an error in the passage at 2:27:43 Highlight the passage at 2:27:43

2:28:06 It's called thieves. They can take away your power. You can get demoted. You can be in charge of something and then no longer. Whereas eudaimonia, genuine happiness, that comes from what we bring to the world. Report an error in the passage at 2:28:06 Highlight the passage at 2:28:06

2:28:23 Now, we see by the very nature of that, that if this is real, if it's not an abstraction, if this is something we've all experienced, that it is real, it can be cultivated, then we see this by nature is not competitive. Report an error in the passage at 2:28:23 Highlight the passage at 2:28:23

2:28:35 So take a release. That's hedonic. That's hedonic well-being. Report an error in the passage at 2:28:35 Highlight the passage at 2:28:35

2:28:42 tautological, we enjoy gifts that we enjoy, receiving. Report an error in the passage at 2:28:42 Highlight the passage at 2:28:42

2:28:49 meal, take it out to a nice meal, give us a present, what have you. That's hedonic. That's hedonic well-being. And then they stop giving or the thing gets old or the food is digested and, okay, the pleasure that arose independently from that, it's gone. It's history. It doesn't exist anywhere. Whereas there's also something we've all experienced and little kids have experienced this too. Report an error in the passage at 2:28:49 Highlight the passage at 2:28:49

2:29:10 This is not difficult to understand. And that, with an open heart, really with a sense of gladness, making a gift to another person. Not because you have to, but you'd really like to. And it could be something tangible, but it could also be just warm companionship. It could be a friendly, A friendly word. A comment. That he thought, I'd like to share this. Something pleasant, something kind. Report an error in the passage at 2:29:10 Highlight the passage at 2:29:10

2:29:36 Be tangible and tangible. But motivation's everything. It's not strings attached. I'm not saying this to you because I want something back. Even your gratitude. I'm not on a fishing expedition trying to get somebody's gratitude or their respect or their thing. Oh, Alan's a really nice person. Let me tell you what he just did. Report an error in the passage at 2:29:36 Highlight the passage at 2:29:36

2:29:54 If that's it, then that's hedonic. That's hedonic. Because it's still the same thing. we've all experienced that. Children have experienced that. Little kids give gifts to each other. Little kids do nice things for each other on occasion. the sense of well-being they get when they go out of their way to serve some act of kindness. Report an error in the passage at 2:29:54 Highlight the passage at 2:29:54

2:30:13 My little grandson. have an adorable little nine-year-old grandson. I guess probably all nine-year-old grandsons are adorable. And sometimes, Report an error in the passage at 2:30:13 Highlight the passage at 2:30:13

2:30:25 you know, he's a very sweet boy. Very sweet boy. And I'll see him. have a large database, but I know them. Report an error in the passage at 2:30:25 Highlight the passage at 2:30:25

2:30:31 And I think we've all seen children do this. He'll just come and say, Grandpa, I'd like you to have this. Something nice, some extra dessert or something. I'd like you to have this. And he's not a scheming boy. He's actually completely not a scheming boy. If he gives something, it's just because he'd like to do something. And you see a smile. Report an error in the passage at 2:30:31 Highlight the passage at 2:30:31

2:30:50 Now we've all seen that, right? That's Yudhamani. This is not something abstract for great philosophers or highly accomplished meditators and so forth. Kids know this. Teach this in preschool. Kids will get it. Report an error in the passage at 2:30:50 Highlight the passage at 2:30:50

2:31:03 They all get it. They do something nice for the teacher. They do something nice. Maybe it's a classic giving mom and dad breakfast in bed. I think that occurs more in television than elsewhere. But still, the thought is nice. Or I know the grandson. He says very often to his grandma, to me, to his mom, Grandpa, I really love you. Report an error in the passage at 2:31:03 Highlight the passage at 2:31:03

2:31:27 Kids do that. He's a very passionate boy. And I know there's some glow when he says that because he enjoys saying it. And then he sees me light up. I like to be. This is simple. Report an error in the passage at 2:31:27 Highlight the passage at 2:31:27

2:31:56 It's not competitive. That's important to me. We have 7 billion people on the planet, diminishing resources. To find a sense of well-being that is not competitive, that does not deprive somebody else, the more you have, nobody else has any less. kindness. I'm a loving granddaughter. Nothing special. Report an error in the passage at 2:31:56 Highlight the passage at 2:31:56

2:32:14 I remember experiencing this really vividly back in 1979, an extraordinary opportunity. It was really just one of the most happiest memories of my life. I was asked to serve as the Dalai Lama's interpreter on his first teaching trip to Europe. He'd been in 1973 to Europe, but not to teach, to meet the wise people of the West, that's what he said, in 1973. Report an error in the passage at 2:32:14 Highlight the passage at 2:32:14

2:32:37 In 1979, he was asked to come and teach, and I was asked to be his interpreter. Report an error in the passage at 2:32:37 Highlight the passage at 2:32:37

2:32:44 Went down to Greece. But I was in Switzerland and Greece. It was a short tour. We did a much bigger tour in the United States and Geoffrey Hopkins was his interpreter, a superb interpreter, for that whole lot, much larger trip. But I remember, especially in Greece, staying in Athens, a very small entourage. The Dalai Lama, maybe two or three people. And then I'm part of the entourage. I'm the interpreter. Report an error in the passage at 2:32:44 Highlight the passage at 2:32:44

2:33:04 And we're staying at a private home. No big five-star hotel. Nothing. Somebody saw him and said, oh, Dalai Lama, we have a spare room, would you like to stay at our house? So yeah, they had a big enough house. It wasn't a mansion, it was just a kind of nice house. But I remember I was with him, kind of like, I Report an error in the passage at 2:33:04 Highlight the passage at 2:33:04

2:33:28 thought I was always happy being in his presence. I was always happy. Like he created a field around him. And I just couldn't stop smiling. Report an error in the passage at 2:33:28 Highlight the passage at 2:33:28

2:33:41 I think you've all seen him, either in person or by way of the media. He simply radiates a sense of well-being. He really does. And it's not an act. Nobody can keep an act up that long. He's almost 80 years old. It has to be genuine, and it is. But he creates a field around him, a sense of well-being rooted in very deep compassion. Report an error in the passage at 2:33:41 Highlight the passage at 2:33:41

2:34:03 And Report an error in the passage at 2:34:03 Highlight the passage at 2:34:03

2:34:07 you get into his field and you start feeling the same thing. In other words, he having more eudaimonia not only doesn't deprive anybody else, like he's sucking up their eudaimonia out of the air or something, but actually he is realizing such a deep sense, an ongoing sense, robust sense, resilient sense of eudaimonia. Report an error in the passage at 2:34:07 Highlight the passage at 2:34:07

2:34:28 That in fact the people around him find their lives are enhanced as well. It's quite special. So if there's some way for us as a human species, not only to survive, to make it through this century, I think this one is a century, if we make it through this one without massive catastrophe, speculation Report an error in the passage at 2:34:28 Highlight the passage at 2:34:28

2:34:51 is maybe okay, but this is a big one. The Report an error in the passage at 2:34:51 Highlight the passage at 2:34:51

2:35:02 old standard was set by Western Europe and America, Australia. China desperately wants to emulate us. So does India. So does Brazil. So does Indonesia. So do the have and have-nots. We're the haves. They don't have as much. They want to have as much as we do. That's not going to work out well. Report an error in the passage at 2:35:02 Highlight the passage at 2:35:02

2:35:20 So I think here we are for our four initials retreat. We're immediately plunged into deep waters. If we are here to be cultivating a sense of may we all find happiness and positive happiness, we have to recognize what planet we're living in and what century we're living in and the amount of momentum that we built up over the 20th century that is not compatible with... Report an error in the passage at 2:35:20 Highlight the passage at 2:35:20

2:35:42 Finding happiness in the causes of happiness. So I think, quite literally, the key is to Report an error in the passage at 2:35:42 Highlight the passage at 2:35:42

2:35:51 spread the word. The Dalai Lama has often said, my religion is kindness. That's wonderful. Bumper stickers everywhere. I would say, I would chime in and say, my religion is eudaimonia. Report an error in the passage at 2:35:51 Highlight the passage at 2:35:51

2:36:07 Just as kindness doesn't make any barriers. Oh, you're an atheist? Well, then you can't be kind. No, no, no, wait a minute. You're a materialist? No, no, no, you can be kind. You're a polytheist, monotheist, atheist, agnostic, whatever. Yes, you can be kind. That unites us. And likewise. It's good. But likewise, the cultivation, the pursuit, the ideal of eudaimonia, it cuts across all the barriers. You'll find it in all religions, you'll find it in multiple philosophies, and you'll find it in science. Report an error in the passage at 2:36:07 Highlight the passage at 2:36:07

2:36:32 Take any door you like. Come in through the scientific door, the philosophical or religion, choose your religion. You'll find, if you look for it, a wealth of wisdom for eudaimonia. And therein, I think, lies the salvation of humanity. If we don't wake up, if we don't expand our imagination, If we don't make this a priority in our education system, that children, little children, they don't have to call it eudaimonia, call it whatever you like in multiple languages, but a vision of the good life that's not all oriented around consumption and acquisition. Report an error in the passage at 2:36:32 Highlight the passage at 2:36:32

2:37:04 If we don't get that message across, I don't see any way this century plays out where there will be happy smiles at the end. So the stakes are high here, aren't they? This is part of loving kindness. When we arouse the aspiration... Again, loving-kindness in Buddhism is not a feeling or an emotion. It comes with a feeling and emotion, but it's not a feeling or an emotion. Loving-kindness in this context is an aspiration. Report an error in the passage at 2:37:04 Highlight the passage at 2:37:04

2:37:27 It's a wish, a desire, a yearning. May we, may I, may we find happiness and the causes of happiness. And then we can ask, well, what kind of happiness? Hedonic or eudaimonic? And the answer is both, in right measure. Because if you're sick, if you're hungry, if you don't have enough clothing or shelter, Unimony is not impossible, but it's hard. It's really hard. If your belly's empty. I've been, I've not really ever starved and I've been poor for decades, never starving, but I've been injured like all of us have. Report an error in the passage at 2:37:27 Highlight the passage at 2:37:27

2:38:02 It catches, it really catches the attention, doesn't it? When you've been really significantly injured or you're really, really sick. Boy, does it catch the attention. Kind of like nothing else. And that's hedonic. You'd really like to feel better. Catches the attention. I can only imagine. I've never been really, really poor. I was voluntarily poor. That's so different. So, so different. I'm Report an error in the passage at 2:38:02 Highlight the passage at 2:38:02

2:38:32 sure that really captures the attention. If you don't have enough to eat, you can't feed your children. The thing Report an error in the passage at 2:38:32 Highlight the passage at 2:38:32

2:38:41 to look down upon is hedonia. But those 85 people, they don't need to be that wealthy. This vast inequity. Report an error in the passage at 2:38:41 Highlight the passage at 2:38:41

2:38:56 So, genuine happiness. It comes in different modalities, different dimensions, and each one's very practical. And we find this again, it crops up in tradition after tradition. So I'm going to be drawing explicitly from the Buddhist tradition. That's where my background is primarily. But it's nothing unique. Report an error in the passage at 2:38:56 Highlight the passage at 2:38:56

2:39:15 So first of all, there is a sense of well-being. It's just a nice word, yudamoniya, well-being. A quality of well-being, the sense of being well, of flourishing. And it's not an emotion. There's a good deal of agreement on that. Well-being, yudamoniya, is not simply a feeling of being happy. That has to do with dopamine and serotonin levels, I believe. Report an error in the passage at 2:39:15 Highlight the passage at 2:39:15

2:39:37 Okay, how's your brain chemistry? Jack it up, put in a bit more, you know, put in some cocaine. I've never tried it, but I think it makes you happy. Heroin, I've heard, is really quite a trick. I have no curiosity to take it. I never have. But I think it really raises the sense of, you know, something very, otherwise why would anybody take it? So there's chemistry. Report an error in the passage at 2:39:37 Highlight the passage at 2:39:37

2:39:55 By the way, Hedonia can be chemically induced as well as sensory. You can come in the back door by way of chemicals, legal and illegal, or you can come in the front door by way of your senses and so on. And that includes intellectual stimulation. But Report an error in the passage at 2:39:55 Highlight the passage at 2:39:55

2:40:15 a sense of eudaimonia, of well-being, that stems from the quality of life that we are leading. So ethics, Buddhist ethics, is so simple. I mean, it's immensely complex if you want it to be, if you want to look into all the details. There's an enormous amount of material there. But it really stems down to something very simple. An ethical way of life is leading a non-injurious way of life. Report an error in the passage at 2:40:15 Highlight the passage at 2:40:15

2:40:36 We're not inflicting injury on the planet, the natural habitat, other species or fellow human beings unnecessarily. Parents may feel sometimes they have to give a spanking to a child. I have nothing to say. If you've decided, that's your choice. But clearly not out of malice, not out of retaliation, right? Report an error in the passage at 2:40:36 Highlight the passage at 2:40:36

2:40:54 Or even scolding if one thinks, no, no, corporeal punishment, spanking, no good. But sometimes, I mean, I know as a grandfather, once in a while with my grandson, they say, Troy, no, no, no, Troy, now stop. I'm not being ferocious, but you know, he didn't want to hear that. So, oh, I ruined his moment. Report an error in the passage at 2:40:54 Highlight the passage at 2:40:54

2:41:15 I guess that little bit of violence, right? Not for me to spank him. I never spank him. That's grandpa, not his parent. Report an error in the passage at 2:41:15 Highlight the passage at 2:41:15

2:41:25 Unnecessary harm. It is not motivated by compassion. A surgeon will do major damage. They rip open the flesh, right? Cut it right open. Why? Because they really like knives? Of course, they're doing that in order to bring about a greater good. So damage, yeah, they might actually do some serious damage to get in there. Report an error in the passage at 2:41:25 Highlight the passage at 2:41:25

2:41:44 But all coming out of compassion, wanting to heal. So that's fine. That's good. But simply knifing somebody, that's rather different. So nonviolence on the one hand, that's half the equation for ethics in the Buddhist sense. Body, speech and mind, that has to do also with our thoughts, our intentions. Report an error in the passage at 2:41:44 Highlight the passage at 2:41:44

2:42:00 Non-injurious. Speech, non-injurious. Physical behavior, non-injurious. Bottom line, do no harm. No unnecessary harm. But then the positive, the upside of the letter is when you can be of service, do it. Report an error in the passage at 2:42:00 Highlight the passage at 2:42:00

2:42:18 When you can alleviate somebody else's distress, their physical suffering, their mental suffering, and you can be a benefit, bring somebody some joy, some happiness, go for it. That's ethics. That's all there is to it. Everything else is details, working out the derivations of that. The Buddha spoke of this as this kind of sukha, this well-being. Report an error in the passage at 2:42:18 Highlight the passage at 2:42:18

2:42:40 He spoke of the sukha of blamelessness. In modern English we say the sukha, the sense of well-being, of having a clear conscience. Report an error in the passage at 2:42:40 Highlight the passage at 2:42:40

2:42:51 Knowing that your life has been non-injurious, knowing that you've gone out of your way here and there, time and again, to be of service, helping out here, your family, your neighbors, your country, the natural habitat, other species, and so on. You've done your bit, you've helped out as much as you could, and you really have not been injurious unnecessarily. There's a satisfaction in that. And the Buddha, in a fascinating discourse, it's a brief discourse, where he speaks of the happiness, mundane happiness, ownership, ownership, specifically to lay people, not so much monks, ownership, and that is you have enough. You can take care of your family. Report an error in the passage at 2:42:51 Highlight the passage at 2:42:51

2:43:30 You're not worrying about financial concerns. You're okay. Ownership. And there's some happiness in part of that, some financial security. then he said there's the happiness of wealth. This is when you have some excess, than you need. But what's the happiness of wealth? You have something to give away. Report an error in the passage at 2:43:30 Highlight the passage at 2:43:30

2:43:48 Now you have more than enough. Oh, now you get... A second type of happiness, well this will actually be your domain, because now you get the happiness of being able to write a check here, a donation there, maybe give your time here and there. So he spoke of that. He spoke of a third type, which I think our world has largely forgotten about entirely, and that's the happiness of being free of debt. Report an error in the passage at 2:43:48 Highlight the passage at 2:43:48

2:44:10 Free of debt. Like Socrates, just before he died, remember he owed a cock to somebody, a rooster. And he had to pay off that debt, and then he could die. Okay, now I'm okay. I paid off all my debts. Chagalab. So the Buddha spoke of that. So these three modes of ownership, wealth, freedom of debt. And then he said there's the freedom of blamelessness, of clear conscience, directly related to it. It's all about ethics, the way we lead our lives. And he said now the happiness from this, now we're back to yidamonia, in the sense of well-being, from clear conscience. Report an error in the passage at 2:44:10 Highlight the passage at 2:44:10

2:44:47 And he said this is 16 times 16, 16 times 16 times greater than. The happiness. Report an error in the passage at 2:44:47 Highlight the passage at 2:44:47

2:45:02 And you can't buy it. You can't buy it. The richest people in the world can't buy it. It's beyond, you can't afford it. So that's one. That has to do with our engagement with our fellow sentient beings, human and non-human, and very much so, so prevalent, so dominant, so explicit in our modern world, how we engage with our natural environment. Report an error in the passage at 2:45:02 Highlight the passage at 2:45:02

2:45:26 It's not just other species, it's natural resources, it's the air, the water, the soil. There's a well-being there. So that's a sense of well-being of Yudha Munir related to ethics. And now moving quickly, it's almost five o 'clock. In the Buddhist framework, there's ethics and there's samādhi. Now when you think of samādhi, it's in the English dictionary, the Oxford English Dictionary by now. Report an error in the passage at 2:45:26 Highlight the passage at 2:45:26

2:45:48 It means highly focused attention, right? But it's a higher training, it's a whole domain of spiritual training, much more than single-pointed attention. It's really the cultivation of exceptional mental balance. It's where renunciation comes, bodhicitta comes, the four immeasurable sky. Report an error in the passage at 2:45:48 Highlight the passage at 2:45:48

2:46:04 Where renunciation comes, and where samatha comes, where developing attention skills, mindfulness comes. So there's that whole domain of developing exceptional mental balance, psychological balance, psychological health, cultivating quality heart and mind, to use the Western division, such that we can be very content, have a sense of well-being, even when we're not doing anything, when we're sitting quietly. We go for a weekend retreat by ourselves. Report an error in the passage at 2:46:04 Highlight the passage at 2:46:04

2:46:34 And it's just our minds, our company. No entertainment, nothing to keep us aroused, stimulated, nothing hedonic. So how does that work out? Report an error in the passage at 2:46:34 Highlight the passage at 2:46:34

2:46:45 Ask somebody who's in penitentiary, a really terrible crime, coming from a pretty terrible mental state. Ask them what it's like to go into solitary confinement for a month because they've done something wrong in prison. Report an error in the passage at 2:46:45 Highlight the passage at 2:46:45

2:46:57 They don't like it. That's why it's called severe punishment. Solitary confinement. In a cell, not being tortured, not too cold, not too hot, having enough to eat. And they find it very unpleasant. Why? Because they have no buffer zone between their minds and themselves. Very Report an error in the passage at 2:46:57 Highlight the passage at 2:46:57

2:47:23 unpleasant. Now, as a yogi, he's been well trained. Ethics, samādhi, cultivating virtue. And the yogi gets to go out for one month's solitary. That's a yogi what that was like. As in the words of one yogi, coming out of nine months solitary, he said, it was like a river of gold. Report an error in the passage at 2:47:23 Highlight the passage at 2:47:23

2:47:48 So what's the difference? The cell may be virtually identical. A lot of meditators are very primitive. I've lived in them. So what's the difference? Of course, you've cultivated the mind. The mind is your own self-source of well-being. It's not contingent upon things going, having the tasty food, companions, and so on and so on. And finally, now that it's five o 'clock, plus a minute or two, the sense of well-being, the sukha, the sense of well-being, the eudaimonia, they come from knowing reality as it is. Report an error in the passage at 2:47:48 Highlight the passage at 2:47:48

2:48:18 That's an idea that seems to be almost... Absent from the modern landscape, scientists know an awful lot, an incredible amount. The growth of knowledge in the 20th century was simply staggering. Growth of knowledge and power, science and technology. Probably a greater acquisition of knowledge and power in the 20th century than all the preceding centuries combined. Report an error in the passage at 2:48:18 Highlight the passage at 2:48:18

2:48:42 How many incredibly knowledgeable scientists, brilliant ones, Nobel laureates and so forth, in the 20th and now to the 21st century. Vast knowledge, great insights, great discoveries. How happy are they? They learned a lot. But have they learned anything that actually gave rise to a sense of eudaimonia? Maybe so. Not generally so. So what kinds of knowledge? Report an error in the passage at 2:48:42 Highlight the passage at 2:48:42

2:49:10 Transform the one who knows and brings forth the deepest sense. That's what the great contemplative tradition is all about. Science knows almost nothing. That's not where they're looking. They're looking outside. And the great contemplative tradition is east and west. Looking inside. Report an error in the passage at 2:49:10 Highlight the passage at 2:49:10

2:49:31 Know thyself. Know thyself. Right down to the ground. Report an error in the passage at 2:49:31 Highlight the passage at 2:49:31

2:49:39 There's a sense of well-being. That's rooted. That's deep. Report an error in the passage at 2:49:39 Highlight the passage at 2:49:39

2:49:57 That's the meaning of life. Not hedonia. It comes and goes. When it's gone, it's totally gone. But the cultivation of hedonia. I was just reading Socrates just a couple of days ago. He said, that's it. That's what we're here for. That's our purpose. That's what we're here for. Not to survive and procreate. Cockroaches do that. Okay, big deal. Report an error in the passage at 2:49:57 Highlight the passage at 2:49:57

2:50:14 Almost Report an error in the passage at 2:50:14 Highlight the passage at 2:50:14

2:50:20 at the same time. That's what we're here for. It will bring wisdom to these four measurables. We're not here just to cultivate happy feelings. So enjoy your break. Have a beautiful afternoon to enjoy. We're not shunning the hedonia. All right, let's enjoy. See you at seven o 'clock. Report an error in the passage at 2:50:20 Highlight the passage at 2:50:20

2:50:52 Show me and I can turn it on. Report an error in the passage at 2:50:52 Highlight the passage at 2:50:52