Four Immeasurables Retreat with B. Alan Wallace - Sydney 2014 (part 10)

· · · silence, 1 minute

0:31 Make sure that you're within arm's reach of somebody, something totally necessary. Report an error in the passage at 0:31 Highlight the passage at 0:31

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7:42 Explicitly aware of Report an error in the passage at 7:42 Highlight the passage at 7:42

8:02 Lama's shoulder, not the feel of the sensation correlated with the in-breath. Report an error in the passage at 8:02 Highlight the passage at 8:02

8:16 Your primary ability Report an error in the passage at 8:16 Highlight the passage at 8:16

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11:21 to monitor what's going on in the mind, thoughts arising, whether your mind is becoming distracted or whether the quality control of the flow of mindfulness. Report an error in the passage at 11:21 Highlight the passage at 11:21

11:35 So with one part, one facet, Report an error in the passage at 11:35 Highlight the passage at 11:35

· · · silence, 6 minutes

17:49 focus on the space of the mind and whatever mental event, Report an error in the passage at 17:49 Highlight the passage at 17:49

17:58 without editing, modifying, getting sucked into Report an error in the passage at 17:58 Highlight the passage at 17:58

18:11 it, stay in touch with the sensations of the breath. Something to hold on to. The security. There's Report an error in the passage at 18:11 Highlight the passage at 18:11

· · · silence, 9 minutes

27:08 a nice image. Report an error in the passage at 27:08 Highlight the passage at 27:08

27:23 Kestrel or any kind of falcon, we've all seen it probably live, at least on a nature documentary, where the kestrel or other falcons will face into the wind. It's called kiting. Kiting into the wind. So the wind is flying into the face over their wings, but they remain stationary with respect to the ground. Report an error in the passage at 27:23 Highlight the passage at 27:23

27:41 So slight movements of the pin feathers, a little bit of movement of the tail, and their heads down looking for their lunch. Report an error in the passage at 27:41 Highlight the passage at 27:41

27:50 It's a nice image, because it really quite captures the spirit of this practice, that the Kestrel, let's say, the Sparrowhawk, or Kestrel, is stationary with respect to the ground, but of course in motion with respect to the air. And in a similar way, you sustain the stillness of your rest, hovering in the present moment, so not being swept back into the past, which actually doesn't exist anymore, but we can be swept back into memories, and not be drawn into the future, which also doesn't exist yet, We can certainly be drawn into fantasies, expectations, hopes and fears about the future. But remaining there with a lot of sensitivity, if you were kestrel, you'd have to be very sensitive because the wind is not homogenous, right? Report an error in the passage at 27:50 Highlight the passage at 27:50

28:33 It comes in gusts from the left to the right and so forth. So there'd be that ongoing sensitivity of the freshness, the unprecedented freshness of every moment as the fluctuating wind is passing over your wing. But because you're so sensitive, so very much in the present, not daydreaming and being swept away, then you maintain stillness with respect to the ground. Report an error in the passage at 28:33 Highlight the passage at 28:33

28:57 And so if you can sustain your awareness in the present moment, and the catch, the real trick here, the method, is free of grasping. As soon as we get caught in grasping, that's when awareness gets on the move. A memory comes up, and then instead of simply observing the image, the appearances of the memory, the memory snags us, and the attention The attention goes to the referent of the appearances. It goes to some event that took place in the past. So that's a critical difference, crucial difference. Report an error in the passage at 28:57 Highlight the passage at 28:57

29:27 You don't do this practice correctly unless you understand it and implement it. There's appearance happening right now in the space of the mind. It doesn't exist anywhere else. And it refers to or it's about something that, let's say, took place in the past. As long as you're hovering right there in the immediacy of the present, you're aware of us arising in the present, in the space of your mind. Report an error in the passage at 29:27 Highlight the passage at 29:27

29:46 Now it's a constant. Ebb and flow, fluctuating and so forth. But it's right there. It's present reality. Very ephemeral, insubstantial, non-physical. But if you get sucked up into it, then it will take your head, so to speak, and then direct your attention to the referent, to the event in the past. And that's when you get to relive it. Maybe it's pleasant. Maybe you're going down memory lane and just re-experiencing some pleasant experience of the past. That can happen. Maybe it's just weird, neutral. Report an error in the passage at 29:46 Highlight the passage at 29:46

30:17 And likewise for images, appearances. that pertain to the future, you can be sucked into it and then be attending to a future, which just attending to a few of the possibilities. So that's one question. But might it be helpful for eudaimonia? Might it be helpful for our flourishing, for mental balance to find it? Report an error in the passage at 30:17 Highlight the passage at 30:17

30:49 The answer is yes. The results are in. This has been practiced for more than a thousand years. So we have a large database. This has been practiced a lot and it can be very hard. So the entrance to this practice, it's known by various names. I'll just call it settling the mind in its natural state. And I think I'll explain it later. But that's just a holder, settling the mind in its natural state. You know that you're venturing into the practice. Report an error in the passage at 30:49 Highlight the passage at 30:49

31:19 You're getting the hang of it, so to speak. You've cracked the door open. You're getting it. When you can experientially distinguish between the stillness of your awareness, you know what it's like. You know what it's like when your awareness is still, just resting, clear, cognizant, but not on the move. Report an error in the passage at 31:19 Highlight the passage at 31:19

31:36 And again, let's do it for five seconds right now to see what it's like, just to get really familiar with it. Report an error in the passage at 31:36 Highlight the passage at 31:36

31:47 And the thing about doing that is you can do it instantly. You don't need a warm-up. You don't need, well, give me three breaths first. Just, boom, you're in, right? It's very instantaneous now, a bit difficult to sustain. But nevertheless, entry is easy, isn't it? So that's the stillness of awareness. So there's a stillness, and then, as you're doing the practice, then be aware of the movements of thoughts, images, memories, desires, emotions, and so forth. Report an error in the passage at 31:47 Highlight the passage at 31:47

32:13 So clearly distinguish the movements of the mind from stillness of awareness. When you can do that, okay, then you have, in your own experience, refuted the notion that you can never observe thoughts, you can only think them. Because when you're thinking a thought, Your attention is going to the referent of the thought and you're thinking about this referent, that referent, do I want strawberry ice cream or do I chocolate? No, I'd really like pistachio, it's much tastier, it's lighter, it's quite so gooey. Report an error in the passage at 32:13 Highlight the passage at 32:13

32:41 Lime sorbet, that'd be a really nice touch. And so, you know, you're daydreaming about dessert or you're going to an ice cream parlor and you're already thinking, what kind do I want? Well, your attention's going from this referent to that referent to that referent. You're not attending to the images, you're thinking about ice cream by way of images. So that's thinking thoughts. Report an error in the passage at 32:41 Highlight the passage at 32:41

33:00 But you could be sitting here and images of pistachio ice cream and lemon sorbet and chocolate and strawberry ice cream could be all coming up. And you're not attending to ice cream. You're attending to the appearances. So there's no ice cream in your mind, but there certainly can be appearances of ice cream. And not only the visual. Ice cream smells like it. Report an error in the passage at 33:00 Highlight the passage at 33:00

33:19 Of course, the taste and the coolness of it. It's so refreshing. I feel like ice cream. Report an error in the passage at 33:19 Highlight the passage at 33:19

33:27 It's really crucial. You're aware of the thoughts. You're not thinking. You're not thinking. And then the old aphorism, you know. I think, therefore I am. And that was where Descartes started when he wanted to start on an indubitable basis, something that cannot be doubted. I think, therefore I am. Do this practice a little bit and you say, well, wait a minute, Descartes, I think we have to talk. Because if by that, now that famous phrase does lend itself to multiple interpretations, I'm aware of that. Report an error in the passage at 33:27 Highlight the passage at 33:27

33:55 But one of them is just straightforward. I think, I'm the agent doing the thinking and therefore I exist because I'm the agent of thinking. If that's the interpretation, then what about, those occasions, and I think you've all experienced them. thoughts just happen to you, you're sitting there minding your own business, not thinking anything, and then a thought comes up. Report an error in the passage at 33:55 Highlight the passage at 33:55

34:18 thought just comes up, like a cloud appearing in the sky or a rainbow. Report an error in the passage at 34:18 Highlight the passage at 34:18

34:27 If you're the agent, then what I suggest is stop it. Don't have any more wandering thoughts. You have my permission now. When I say follow your breath, just follow the breath. No more thinking for 24 minutes. Just do it. Of course, that's not so easy. But if it's not so easy, it probably implies you weren't thinking of them in the first place. Report an error in the passage at 34:27 Highlight the passage at 34:27

34:52 Any more than you deliberately get a cold. It just comes on you and then you have it. But you didn't coldify yourself. It just came on you. Emotions arise like that. Most people don't think, okay, one, two, three, I'm about to get angry. Yep, here we go. It just happens. They happen to us. Thoughts happen to us. To say that you thought that thought is a little bit maybe taking too much credit. Report an error in the passage at 34:52 Highlight the passage at 34:52

35:21 Sometimes we do. So when I suggest, please think, if you will, Mary have a little lamb whose fleece was white as snow. You can do that if you choose, and it is your choice, and then, lo and behold, you're reciting that in your mind. But so many other thoughts come unbidden, and they can be quite stochastic. It's a nice term from physics. Report an error in the passage at 35:21 Highlight the passage at 35:21

35:40 You may have experienced that already, where just a thought will come here, and then something totally unrelated comes over there. So Report an error in the passage at 35:40 Highlight the passage at 35:40

35:50 I don't see any reason to say you're thinking them, they're just kind of happening where you are, and you witness them. So there's an interesting conversation here, I won't pursue it right now, but there's a lot to it. Report an error in the passage at 35:50 Highlight the passage at 35:50

36:04 But thoughts happen even when there's no thinker. Thoughts happen when there is a thinker. I'm deciding, Mary have a little, I'm thinking it. Okay, I thought that, and I take credit for that. I planned it, I did it, it was mine while I was doing it. And I'm going to stop. I'm not going to continue that poem. Report an error in the passage at 36:04 Highlight the passage at 36:04

36:25 That's thinking a thought. But so often thoughts don't occur that way. In which case I think therefore I am. René, what about those thoughts that you didn't think? Are you still M? What about that? So it's an interesting area to look into. What exactly it means to say these are my thoughts and what I'm thinking. Report an error in the passage at 36:25 Highlight the passage at 36:25

36:48 And what's the dividing line? How do we demarcate between thoughts that we think, which we clearly do on many occasions, very constructive. Sometimes daydreaming, critical thoughts, creative thoughts coming up. You say, yeah, I'll ride with this one. Let's see where it takes us. And then you say, yeah, go for it. Report an error in the passage at 36:48 Highlight the passage at 36:48

37:04 Let's see where this takes. And then maybe something really creative and useful comes up. And sometimes we're just being, how do you say, mugged by our thoughts. People are sometimes tormented by their thoughts. They wish they could stop. People say, I wish I could stop thinking about that, but I can't get it off my mind. The thoughts are happening to them. Report an error in the passage at 37:04 Highlight the passage at 37:04

37:24 They get caught on the grip, and it can be like a nightmare. Report an error in the passage at 37:24 Highlight the passage at 37:24

37:30 So the first step, again, to kind of look ahead a little bit, is just that, the ability to distinguish between the stillness of your awareness, which means the stillness of your awareness, and the movements of the thoughts. And then when you really get into gear, that's like turning on the engine, but you really get into gear, you're getting into the first gear, you're starting to move. When you move into the first of four types of mindfulness, and I won't give them all right now, just the first one. Report an error in the passage at 37:30 Highlight the passage at 37:30

37:51 And the first one's called single-pointed mindfulness. This is from a classic 19th century text. It's quite brilliant, actually, discussing this practice. And you're experiencing the single point of mindfulness, that's what it's called. And you may have already experienced it, but then only you can know, you'll have to check if you wish. And that is simultaneously, you're experiencing the stillness of your awareness and simultaneously the movement of thoughts. Report an error in the passage at 37:51 Highlight the passage at 37:51

38:18 Maybe it's a little video clip, some sequence of images arising in the mind. And you're still, in other words, you're not being dragged by them, you're not being sucked into them, your attention is not being drawn off to the reference of the thought or image. You're holding your own ground, and then the thoughtful images are coming up, but you're simultaneously aware of the stillness of awareness and the movement of whatever is occurring. Report an error in the passage at 38:18 Highlight the passage at 38:18

38:43 Rather like sitting in a theater, and you know you're sitting perfectly still in the theater, and then there are all these moving images and sounds coming from the movement. Report an error in the passage at 38:43 Highlight the passage at 38:43

38:53 So you're not getting drawn into a carrier way, you're not getting off your seat, you're stable, you're still. Report an error in the passage at 38:53 Highlight the passage at 38:53

39:01 So this is a very simple practice, and it turns out to be very profound. But again, I'd have to choose my words carefully here because the method isn't really profound. It's simple. There's nothing complex about it. I'll talk more about it, but it doesn't get more complex. But I would simply say, I know from my own experience and many other people's experience, it actually can be very, very profound, very deeply transformative. But what's profound here? Report an error in the passage at 39:01 Highlight the passage at 39:01

39:28 It's not the technique. Profundity does come up, but once again, it's a profundity of your own mind. That's where the profundity comes from. Not an incredible technique that is so high-tech, so brilliant, that you just, wow, what a technique. This technique is profound. It is transformative. It can give rise to a lot of insights. But that's because of what you bring to the practice, the mind you bring to the practice. So I'll emphasize one more point before we finish off this discussion of loving kindness this afternoon. Report an error in the passage at 39:28 Highlight the passage at 39:28

39:58 And that is, it's widely actually universally recommended for this practice, settling the mind in its natural state, to have the eyes open. Report an error in the passage at 39:58 Highlight the passage at 39:58

40:08 Eyes open. Yeah, yeah. It doesn't have to be wide open like that, but it's better to have like a lump of somebody telling you the information. And then I'll tell you why. Report an error in the passage at 40:08 Highlight the passage at 40:08

40:22 The eyes should be open at least partially, even if they're hooded, some light coming in so you're aware of the space in front of you. Now for people who've meditated for a while, especially if they've been meditating a long while, and they've always meditated with eyes closed, this is so irritating. Report an error in the passage at 40:22 Highlight the passage at 40:22

40:38 It's so distracting. And people say, almost like kids, do I have to? I don't like it. My eyes get dry. I don't know when to blink. And it's distracting. I don't like it. Do I really have to? Yes, of course. Yes, you have to. If you don't keep your eyes open, I'm going to get too cold and ram up. You see, that's not going to happen. Report an error in the passage at 40:38 Highlight the passage at 40:38

41:06 So no, you don't have to. But the real question is, why are they saying this? Because it is distracting. And I can give you three reasons. And then you can see because I can't control your eyelids when I'm here. And let alone, you know, when you leave, I don't really have my eyelid spies tracing, tracking you home, watching you in your meditation chamber. Report an error in the passage at 41:06 Highlight the passage at 41:06

41:25 So it's your call. So why have they done this? Why do many people do this? And why do many find it actually turns out to be helpful and turns out to be a skill that's worth cultivating? Like so many things, new things. A skill worth cultivating because it has benefits. Here's one of them. And that is you close your eyes. Okay, right now. Report an error in the passage at 41:25 Highlight the passage at 41:25

41:47 And you're sitting there, so you're kind of basically in the dark. It's like you're in a theater, and they've turned off all the lights. And now you're waiting for the movie to be. Okay, just saw Bugs Bunny. Report an error in the passage at 41:47 Highlight the passage at 41:47

41:59 There's Yosemite Sam, I guess. Report an error in the passage at 41:59 Highlight the passage at 41:59

42:05 Or there's Half Dome in Yosemite National Park. So I'm watching the images coming up. You see they're quite unrelated. The two from cartoons and then Half Dome came up. It's a beautiful peak carved in Half Dome. So we can sit here and we can watch what comes up. And if you're single-pointedly focusing there in this darkened cinema of your mind, if the image is coming up, you may also get a soundtrack. Report an error in the passage at 42:05 Highlight the passage at 42:05

42:30 You're going to even have smells coming out and so forth. But when the eyes are closed, frankly, it's quite easy to be carried away. Because you're kind of sitting there in the dark and then some image comes up and off you are. And your awareness is in motion. And it's gone off to, I remember when I was 20, I had a little EW bug on Yosemite and there was Hafton and that, whatever. Report an error in the passage at 42:30 Highlight the passage at 42:30

42:52 And I used to have it down memory lane, you know, what it was like when I was 20 visiting Yosemite National Park. But now I'm still talking daydreaming. I'm no longer doing the practice. Because I'm thinking about something that occurred a long time ago and not the images right now. It's very easy to happen. So the images, thoughts and so forth come up and then they drag us right off to there and then rather than hovering here and now. Report an error in the passage at 42:52 Highlight the passage at 42:52

43:13 So many people have found that by having eyes about as open as this, kind of just eyes down, just gently, not trying to focus down, just kind of like the natural fall or the descent of the gaze, kind of down. Report an error in the passage at 43:13 Highlight the passage at 43:13

43:31 And then again, Report an error in the passage at 43:31 Highlight the passage at 43:31

43:36 just resting, just resting in the space in front of you. It's less to let your visual gaze rest there. So everything's out of focus. If there was something right here, that might be in focus. But there's nothing right there. So I'm resting in awareness and everything's out of focus. I'm just resting in the space. By so doing, many people find that it actually anchors you a little bit more in the present moment. You don't tend to drift off, be carried away to the past or the future as easily. Report an error in the passage at 43:36 Highlight the passage at 43:36

44:06 Because your awareness is in the present moment. So that's one. Many people have found that to be the case. Not so prone to just being carried away. Because in the dark it's easier. You're gone. That's one. Second one, that's practical. Actually there's third. There are four of them. Second one is many people find that when their eyes are open and they are attending to a different domain. Report an error in the passage at 44:06 Highlight the passage at 44:06

44:32 So here's the visual domain. But mentally, so the visual has only contact with the visual. Visual perception only sees the visual. But the mental is kind of bypassing the visual and attending to that mental domain. A lot of people find when they do that, that actually there's more brightness, more clarity, more vividness in their awareness because of this light coming in. Report an error in the passage at 44:32 Highlight the passage at 44:32

44:53 I mean, it's coming into the visual perception, but also your mental awareness. So Buddhist view here, right or wrong, here's an empirical statement. Maybe it can be disproven, in which case we'll learn something. But the Buddhist view here is that, for example, when I attend to that blue cushion, that blue zafu, I'm now focusing my visual awareness on it, seeing, of course, the colors and so forth, the shape. Report an error in the passage at 44:53 Highlight the passage at 44:53

45:14 But I'm also taking an interest in it. So what's happening here is visual perception is arising, and mental awareness piggybacks on that. So I'm not only visually getting the visual images, but I also know that's a Zafu, I can see it's an EMP, that must be its brand name, it looks rather firm, I've seen Zafus like that before, and so mentally I'm engaged with it. Report an error in the passage at 45:14 Highlight the passage at 45:14

45:38 So the mental awareness is piggybacking on it, getting a ride on the visual, so I'm both visually aware as well as mentally aware. And then the mental can scoot from one domain to another. I can start listening to sound. What's that sound over there? It took out auditorially, but I'm also doing mentally, well, what's that sound? Report an error in the passage at 45:38 Highlight the passage at 45:38

45:57 What's that sound? Smells, taste, touch. But then it can come back to the mental and I can be mentally aware of what's happening in the mental domain. So there's the piggyback, the piggyback element. But what's appearing to the visual can also percolate into your mental awareness that gives greater clarity and that can bring... Report an error in the passage at 45:57 Highlight the passage at 45:57

46:17 The third one is ontologically interesting. Report an error in the passage at 46:17 Highlight the passage at 46:17

46:29 I think it's actually significant, too. It's not just a head trick. And that is if you develop the habit, thinking, well, I like that practice of settling the mind in its natural state, so I don't want to be out here in the visual domain of the auditory. I want to focus just on the mental. So I'm ready to go. Here we go. Bye-bye. Report an error in the passage at 46:29 Highlight the passage at 46:29

46:48 And I just close the doors of visual, maybe I can even put in earplugs and close the doors of the auditory and really try to focus now on this one domain, one out of six domains, domain of the mind, and I'm kind of waiting for the images to come up. It really has a feeling like, okay, the domain of the mind is inside my head. I Report an error in the passage at 46:48 Highlight the passage at 46:48

47:12 guess that's where the screen is. Inside of my mind, that's where the screen, yep, there are some images coming, yep, pine trees, there's a lake, granite, those are all associated. And so it kind of seems like you're in a small cinema inside your head. And we hear this all the time, not only before materialism became so dominant, but it's not real, it's only in your head. Report an error in the passage at 47:12 Highlight the passage at 47:12

47:37 Or it's not real, it's only in your mind. Or my head is just full of ideas. And I'm thinking, I'm really thinking now really hard. So we've been doing this a long time, even before materialism came along and said your mind is your brain. A strong sense that thoughts are actually occurring inside the head, and that would mean every other mental event too, inside the head, inside the head. And that's become such a commonplace that it's frankly never challenged. Report an error in the passage at 47:37 Highlight the passage at 47:37

48:01 I don't see anybody challenging that, at least in the popular press, where they're talking about the mind all the time, all the time. But except for the, they don't use the word mind so much anymore. There's an article right now in, I think it's Scientific American or Time magazine. How your brain does something and how your brain makes sense of physical space or something. But it's just ubiquitously now. Report an error in the passage at 48:01 Highlight the passage at 48:01

48:25 It's the brain that is agent. Not you and not your mind. The brain is doing everything. You're alone for the ride, I guess, if you exist at all. So that's commonplace now. It's everywhere. There was never any evidence for that. It just kind of started to become a way of speaking and now it's accepted as true just because a lot of dogs are barking in the same way. Report an error in the passage at 48:25 Highlight the passage at 48:25

48:45 People talking the same talk. So I don't have much respect for it because it's not scientific. All that we know scientifically is that the mind and brain are strongly correlated. But if two things are correlated, they don't have to be located in the same place. I mean, that should be obvious. It happens in physics and all over the place. Report an error in the passage at 48:45 Highlight the passage at 48:45

49:02 Two things are correlated. They're not in the same place. So the mere fact that there are neuronal events taking place inside the brain, correlated with mental imagery and so forth, doesn't mean the imagery is in there. And if you look, you won't find it. Nobody's ever looked into the brain and said, oh, there's an image of Bud Bunny. Fancy seeing you there. Did you see neurons? Really, neurons, glial cells, whatever else is in there. Report an error in the passage at 49:02 Highlight the passage at 49:02

49:23 So every time we do the practice, if we close the eyes, we're reinforcing an untested hypothesis. We're doing it unconsciously and perhaps rather gullibly. I'm going to watch my mind now, and then we close the eyes and have a sense, I'm seeing this all inside my head. Well, I like to empirically demonstrate that that's not true. Report an error in the passage at 49:23 Highlight the passage at 49:23

49:45 Ready? Famous signature piece. Traveled all over the world and I've not yet met a person who doesn't know what Mickey Mouse looks like. Maybe they're not Jesus or Buddha, but Mickey Mouse, Walt Disney, really got the word out. Mickey Mouse, everybody knows, and I'm sure everybody here does, so I'm not going to ask. Report an error in the passage at 49:45 Highlight the passage at 49:45

50:04 So, everybody ready? You know what Mickey Mouse looks like. And I'd like you to imagine Mickey Mouse, visualize Mickey Mouse iconically. The big ears, the big happy smile, hi kids, you know, the wave like that. You ready? And maybe about four or five inches high. I like you to visualize Mickey Mouse right on top of my head. So I'll stay still so you don't have a moving platform. But imagine Mickey Mouse standing in a little leg like that. Report an error in the passage at 50:04 Highlight the passage at 50:04

50:27 Big, happy smile with big, goofy eyes of his. And he can even say, if you like, and give it a soundtrack. Hi, kids! Okay, so you ready? Now go for it. Visualize Mickey Mouse right on top of my head. I am too. I'm seeing him. Report an error in the passage at 50:27 Highlight the passage at 50:27

50:49 Something came up, yeah? And some people visualize very well, some not so well. But nevertheless, I didn't give you a ridiculous... Invitation or suggestion, like, are you crazy, you can't visualize Mickey Mouse on top of your head? Not possible. I don't think anybody thought that, because you can do it. So here's my question. Report an error in the passage at 50:49 Highlight the passage at 50:49

51:06 The Mickey Mouse you saw in your mind's eye, you mentally perceived it, right? Mentally perceived it. Good. Where was it? The image that you saw, the image of Mickey Mouse that you saw, that I invited you to depict right here, where is it located? Report an error in the passage at 51:06 Highlight the passage at 51:06

51:23 In your mind, where's that? Report an error in the passage at 51:23 Highlight the passage at 51:23

51:27 You're right, I don't disagree, but exactly where is that? Report an error in the passage at 51:27 Highlight the passage at 51:27

51:36 Is it a good question? Thank you, I appreciate it. Report an error in the passage at 51:36 Highlight the passage at 51:36

51:42 Wherever you put it, is your mind right above my head? In that moment. So you have a mind outside of your head? Definitely. Report an error in the passage at 51:42 Highlight the passage at 51:42

51:53 Say again? Say maybe there was no Mickey Mouse. Well, what I can say is that when 50 people were visualizing Mickey Mouse on my head, I didn't groan saying, oh, please, not so many. Report an error in the passage at 51:53 Highlight the passage at 51:53

52:09 Nothing physical happened above my head. I think we're pretty agreed on that. Even though 50 people are all converging on this kind of multi-layered Mickey Mouse from their own perspectives. So nothing physical happened there. I think we'd all agree on that. At the same time, you did see something and you saw it someplace. You weren't visualizing Mickey Mouse inside your head. Report an error in the passage at 52:09 Highlight the passage at 52:09

52:27 You were visualizing it right here. And that's where you saw it. As you can visualize it, you want to put a mustache on me? A Groucho Marx mustache? You can do that too if you like. So it's in your mind. Your mind is wherever you replace it. So how big is your mind? Report an error in the passage at 52:27 Highlight the passage at 52:27

52:47 Limitless? What's that? There was another comment. As big as the universe. When Tibetans look at the moon, when the moon is full, nice clear night, they see a rabbit. Report an error in the passage at 52:47 Highlight the passage at 52:47

53:04 They see a rabbit. In terms of, you know, just the craters and so forth, the shadings of the moon. They look up there and they see a rabbit. And so one of the epithets, one of the synonyms of the moon is the rabbit bearer. Report an error in the passage at 53:04 Highlight the passage at 53:04

53:17 Because that's the gestalt that they see there. Look at little Dinsen, look, you see the rabbit on the moon? Huh, yeah, I do now. So the moon is, what, 237,000 miles away. And the rabbit you see on the face of the moon is where the moon is, right? So your awareness extends 237,000 miles away? Report an error in the passage at 53:17 Highlight the passage at 53:17

53:40 And it seems to happen instantaneously, doesn't it? How about the Orion's belt, or the Southern Krauss, or the Big Dipper? Report an error in the passage at 53:40 Highlight the passage at 53:40

53:50 The design's up there that we see because we connect the dots, of course. And we're seeing not just dots, but we're seeing patterns, right? Well, now we're talking about millions if not billions of light years. So as big as the universe, it looks like we're getting pretty close here. But all of which is to say the space of the mind is one heck of a lot bigger than the head. Report an error in the passage at 53:50 Highlight the passage at 53:50

54:16 And the notion that thoughts are occurring inside the head, that that Mickey Mouse is inside your head. Is an assertion that many people would make, and there's absolutely no empirical basis for us at all. Zip. Are there neurocorrelates to generating an image of Mickey Mouse? Of course they are. Where are they? Inside the head. But if you look where those neurocorrelates are, whatever they may be, I'm sure they're there. But if you look at the neurocorrelates, those chemicals and electricity, there's nothing even remotely Mickey Mouse-ish about them. Report an error in the passage at 54:16 Highlight the passage at 54:16

54:46 There's no image of Mickey Mouse in there at all. It's an absurd idea. Whereas the Mickey Mouse is right here. But what else is right here? So this is where that occurs, right? Space of your mind right above my head. How about when you see my face and you see the gray hair and the skin pigmentation and so forth, the colors are seen as you look at my face. Report an error in the passage at 54:46 Highlight the passage at 54:46

55:09 Where are those colors? The qualia, the colors that you're seeing when you look at my face, where are they located? In your mind? Yeah, well, sort of. As opposed to? When you say sort of, you're hedging your bets. That's true, but for what you see. Here we are, mano a mano. I'm seeing your face, you're seeing the coloration of my face, and so forth. So where do you expect the colors you're seeing? The greenness of my hair, the pinkness of cheek, I have greenish-brown eyes. Report an error in the passage at 55:09 Highlight the passage at 55:09

55:43 Where are those images that you're seeing? Where do you think they are? They're on you. They are uninterpreting them, so they are there. Yup. Yeah, let's deal with the interpretation later. This is an interesting question, but right now I'm asking really simple questions. Where do you think the image, when you're looking at my face, the images that you see, where do you think they are? Report an error in the passage at 55:43 Highlight the passage at 55:43

56:01 On my face. Report an error in the passage at 56:01 Highlight the passage at 56:01

56:07 How did they get there? Because molecules, if you check out the molecules on my face, none of them are pink. There's no such thing as pink molecules. But even if there were, you wouldn't know about it because your eyeballs don't touch my skin. So what we're really getting here is my skin is absorbing and emitting photons of different frequencies. Report an error in the passage at 56:07 Highlight the passage at 56:07

56:25 And so the frequencies you're getting correspond to the coloration of my skin that you see. And I've studied quantum optics, and my professor at Amherst was his big specialty, quantum optics. And I can say with total certainty, there's no such thing as a pink photon. There's nothing pink traveling from my skin, hitting an eyeball. Report an error in the passage at 56:25 Highlight the passage at 56:25

56:44 That doesn't happen. Where's the pink again? Report an error in the passage at 56:44 Highlight the passage at 56:44

56:54 But how can you say, I mean, I have a nice pink impression. Don't you like the color of my hair? Isn't that kind of classic? Report an error in the passage at 56:54 Highlight the passage at 56:54

57:03 So we're very distinguished, I'm told. Yeah, that's right. For sure. And it's located where? Well, I just said it on your face, but you said it isn't. Well, no, I didn't. I'm just kind of wondering, how did it get there on my face? Because my face is over here with molecules in it. This is physical. And so is it kind of projected onto the skin? Report an error in the passage at 57:03 Highlight the passage at 57:03

57:33 you just said also the molecules in your face are getting off. Foot. Photons, yeah. But they're giving off colorless photons. The molecules don't have any color. Just all by themselves, they don't have any color. The photons don't have any color. And I'm certain there's no part of your brain that turns pink, because I'm sure it's dark in there. Report an error in the passage at 57:33 Highlight the passage at 57:33

57:50 So they speak of the brain lighting up, but of course that's poetry. That's the computer-generated image from MRI. So no part of your brain turns pink. I assume it's really very dark inside your head. Report an error in the passage at 57:50 Highlight the passage at 57:50

58:02 There's no question about that, sure. But the question is, where is it located, the quality you're seeing? On my face? Report an error in the passage at 58:02 Highlight the passage at 58:02

58:14 Maybe I can leave him behind. What would you say? I suppose I was just grappling with the stuff in Buddhism about what arises from the senses, the object of the senses and the consciousness. Let's set aside Buddhism. Let's set aside Buddhism, because this is our immediate experience here, trying to make sense of it. Well, let's take this one. Report an error in the passage at 58:14 Highlight the passage at 58:14

58:37 How about the sounds you're giving right now? I'm making noise. I'm making noise. Sounds. about something in between and something. Report an error in the passage at 58:37 Highlight the passage at 58:37

58:43 Now what's being emitted from my mouth are just ripples in the atmosphere, just a frequency atmosphere. The sounds you're hearing don't exist independently of an auditory cortex, generally speaking, right? Because they arise independently. So if you have a damaged eardrum or all the mechanism from the eardrum on into the auditory cortices, if any part of that is seriously injured, you're not going to hear anything anymore. Report an error in the passage at 58:43 Highlight the passage at 58:43

59:05 And it's not like there's sounds out of there trying to knock on your head, please let me in. There aren't any sounds out there. Right? They're arising for us independent upon the auditory cortices. In which case, where do the sounds exist? The sound waves are out there. They smack into your ear. But where are the sounds? And we can continue. Where are the smells and where are the tastes? They're not out there. There's no taste in food. There's no smells in the molecules suspended in the air. Report an error in the passage at 59:05 Highlight the passage at 59:05

59:29 There's a molecule. They don't have a scent. The scent arises independent upon the olfactory lobes. So we're getting into something quite simple here. Report an error in the passage at 59:29 Highlight the passage at 59:29

59:39 And that is as with the Mickey Mouse on top of my head, so with the colors of my face that you see. None of these actually exist in physical space. Not here on my skin. That would be kind of magical. That would imply, if the coloration, the color of my skin is actually on my skin, objectively, really here, this would imply that your visual awareness works like a spray gun. Report an error in the passage at 59:39 Highlight the passage at 59:39

1:00:05 Because the image that you see is arising independent upon your visual cortex. That's where the culminating in the final act takes place, neurophysiologically, I'm assuming. And so it's arising independent upon your brain way over there. But somehow the image gets over here. So you have spray gun eyes that sprays pink and red. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:05 Highlight the passage at 1:00:05

1:00:24 And you do so instantly because you get to the moon as fast as you do to me. Now that's magical. Because the moon's not white all by itself, you know. So now can anybody really believe that? You know, this spray gun, squirt, squirt, squirt. They were squirting images all over and then they get stuck. So, oh, I got my color back. Somebody looked at me. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:24 Highlight the passage at 1:00:24

1:00:44 Hallelujah. So it's a simple point. This is why people like Daniel Dennett and Kaku and Gratiano and so forth, why they're so keen on getting rid of qualia. I mean, it's totally crazy. It's maybe the craziest idea in the history of humanity that we have no experiences. I mean, really, what is more ridiculous than that? Report an error in the passage at 1:00:44 Highlight the passage at 1:00:44

1:01:07 But why are these intelligent people making such an incredibly, mind-bogglingly, idiotic claim? Because they're so committed to materialism and qualia just don't fit. They don't exist in physical space. And that's the qualia of Mickey Mouse on top of my head. It's also the qualia of the colors of my face and the smells and the tastes. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:07 Highlight the passage at 1:01:07

1:01:25 In fact, all our sensory impressions arise independent upon brain activity, right? But they're not out there and they're not in between and they're not inside. There are no smells inside your brain. At least not the smells you're smelling. When you smell a rose, do you really think there's a smell of a rose inside your brain? It's crazy. But all this is to say that all these qualia that we're experiencing constantly actually are not located anywhere in physical space. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:25 Highlight the passage at 1:01:25

1:01:50 And if that's the case, they can't possibly have any physical qualities. Because if something has no location in physical space, there's no possibility of it having physical qualities. Add to that, you can't physically measure it. Add to that, it displays no physical qualities. So this is the great irony for the materialist. It's in fact everything the materialist is immediately experiencing at all times consists of non-physical events. That's quite ironic. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:50 Highlight the passage at 1:01:50

1:02:17 And then they call themselves empirists, which is really quite wonderfully ironic. No wonder then they see this as annoying and say, well, okay, either I have to give up materialism or I have to deny that I have any experience at all. Okay, no experience. That's what philosophers do. Hold your position at all costs, even if it's mind-bogglingly stupid. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:17 Highlight the passage at 1:02:17

1:02:39 So that's the third reason, is to expand the notion, get out of the blinkers of thinking that everything that happens in your mind is somehow happening in this dark cavern inside the skull. It's a completely crazy idea. And as Himati said, your mind is wherever you put it. So you can see the rabbit on the moon, you can see designs up in the stars, you can see all kinds of things. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:39 Highlight the passage at 1:02:39

1:03:09 And those appearances are exactly where they are. But are they actually the appearances when you look at the moon and you see the man in the moon or a rabbit in the moon? Is that appearance actually 237,000 miles away? The answer is no, of course not. The moon is. It looks like it. But that's illusory. That's illusory. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:09 Highlight the passage at 1:03:09

1:03:31 So when your eyes are open, appearances arising, mental appearances arising. You're sitting there quietly in stillness. And an image here, a memory there, a fantasy there arises. Then you see, whoa. I'm now attending the space of my mind and it's open. In fact, I can't even see my head. I'm just seeing an expanse of experience, a domain of experience, has no borders and it's about center or periphery. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:31 Highlight the passage at 1:03:31

1:04:03 So I remember just a little one little quick when I was studying cosmology at Amos College. I had some wonderful professors and one of them was a very fine cosmologist. He knew I was a Buddhist monk so I guess he thought it would be kind of cool. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:03 Highlight the passage at 1:04:03

1:04:18 He said, Alan, I've recently discovered that the whole universe that he's been thinking about. a profession for decades. the whole universe existed inside my head. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:18 Highlight the passage at 1:04:18

1:04:31 know, you're thinking of the Big Bang, and you can see something like, what is it, 45 billion light years. you look out, astronomers can actually see about 45 In other words, it's vast. In space, in time, there's a vastness with 100 billion galaxies and each one having 100 billion to a trillion stars. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:31 Highlight the passage at 1:04:31

1:04:55 And there's a vastness of the universe, and it's all inside my head. And it wasn't being silly, and I'm not going to respond. I'm really, he's a very fine astronomer, but speaking as a Buddhist monk, I really wanted to say, but you know, your head's not that big. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:55 Highlight the passage at 1:04:55

1:05:17 So that's the third reason. Third reason. Get over the, you know, the mind-numbing notion that all your thoughts are inside your head, because there's no evidence for it. Brain correlation, yes. Gator in the same place. Certainly don't have to be the same size. So that's the third point. And the fourth one is totally pragmatic. We go non-philosophical, really totally pragmatic. And I heard this one just recently from Galupa Lama. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:17 Highlight the passage at 1:05:17

1:05:45 He was asked to know, because he teaches this. People ask, why do I have to keep the eyes open? And then his answer was this one. Well, throughout the course of the day, when you're just out and about doing whatever you do during the course of the day, generally speaking, are your eyes open or closed? Report an error in the passage at 1:05:45 Highlight the passage at 1:05:45

1:06:04 We all know the answer to that one. So if you habituate yourself every time you want to watch your mind, Say, okay, wait, hold it, hold it. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:04 Highlight the passage at 1:06:04

1:06:14 That means you can never watch your mind when you're driving, which means you can never be aware of what thoughts are arising, emotions are arising, desires are arising when you're driving because you've got to keep your eyes open. Or when you're walking, you might bump into somebody. Or you're talking to somebody. Hello. Hello. Are you still there, Jason? I just wanted to watch my mind while I'm in the conversation with you. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:14 Highlight the passage at 1:06:14

1:06:37 You are there, aren't you? So to cultivate something that's uncomfortable, that takes a bit of getting used to. So whether you're walking, you're speaking, you're lying down, you're at work, you're driving, you've cultivated the ability to be able to give all the attention necessary to, for example, driving. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:37 Highlight the passage at 1:06:37

1:06:59 We all be very safe drivers, so give all the attention necessary. But especially if you're on an open road, it doesn't really require one percent of your attention. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:59 Highlight the passage at 1:06:59

1:07:09 Heavy traffic? Maybe so. But open road? And so while you're driving, then you may also, while driving, giving all the attention necessary, wherever your thoughts are rising, thoughts are rising. Likewise, when you speak, you walk. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:09 Highlight the passage at 1:07:09

1:07:26 Okay, now let's finish off the discussion of loving kindness. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:26 Highlight the passage at 1:07:26

1:07:32 These are all interrelated, all of a piece. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:32 Highlight the passage at 1:07:32

1:07:38 So the next one is very meaningful, if it's meaningful to you. So there's a tautology for you. And that is when you get quite resentful, really bent out of shape about someone, that resistance. Then Buddha Gosin says, well, recall the forbearance of Buddhas or Bodhisattvas, if you're a Buddhist. But just think of the forbearance of people who have... Report an error in the passage at 1:07:38 Highlight the passage at 1:07:38

1:08:03 Shown great fortitude, great patience, great inner strength, imperturbability, who really show to humanity this is how inwardly strong you can be, this is how patient, forbearing you can be, even in the face of adversity, even when people treat you badly, that expand your imagination of what you might become. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:03 Highlight the passage at 1:08:03

1:08:25 This is what's so inspiring about the really noble people, really great people, not just the brilliant ones. Whatever I do, I'm not going to be as brilliant as Richard Feynman in terms of sheer cleverness of analytical ability. I can try so hard. It's not going to happen. I'm sure no matter what I do, it's not going to happen. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:25 Highlight the passage at 1:08:25

1:08:42 But when we think of these more fundamental virtues that are not simply related to IQ and things like that, when we see very patient people, people who are just so solid, so just that, great forebearance, great fortitude, then we say, well, okay. That person may have been born with it, may be naturally gifted, but if I work on it, I can definitely become more and more patient. When you have examples, whether it's patience, it's kindness, it's generosity, it's compassion, it's loving and kindness, and so forth and so on. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:42 Highlight the passage at 1:08:42

1:09:17 So when we reflect upon those who really stand like towering peaks of really showing an absence of hatred, I mean, I was so blown away. I mean, and I think many millions of people were when apartheid finished in South Africa. Nelson Mandela comes, and the first thing he says is, all right, it's time for forgiveness. After he spent how many years in prison? For kind of nothing, right? Nothing wrong. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:17 Highlight the passage at 1:09:17

1:09:41 He's the first one that says, now it's time for reconciliation. If he wanted a bloodbath, I think he could have gotten it pretty like that. Now let's hatch at all these people. They're sons of bitches, and look what they've done. Think about all the rotten things they've done to us. Okay, bring out. Bring out the gods. We're going to now get even, and then we'll create our spirit. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:41 Highlight the passage at 1:09:41

1:10:00 I think he could have done that. Probably a lot of people. It was just magical, it was astonishing what he did. And of course it wasn't one man alone, but it does take a leader sometimes. So I stand in awe of that really. Such, it was just amazing. And he'd been in prison, he wasn't kind of happily in exile living someplace. So people like that, and they do the, I was about to say the word litter, but not the word, they adorn human history. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:00 Highlight the passage at 1:10:00

1:10:28 People arise with a certain majesty, forgiveness, forbearance, kindness and understanding. So reflecting upon that. It may also kind of gravitate us upwards to thinking, well, that's definitely the direction I could go. And not simply, like in all the movies, vengeance this, vengeance that, get back, get back, get back. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:28 Highlight the passage at 1:10:28

1:10:46 All right, been there, done that. And so there's an area that can be very helpful. But yeah, now we're definitely into Mahana territory. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:46 Highlight the passage at 1:10:46

1:10:55 Recall the kindness of the enemy as your mother. It's not so easy, unless you have a really mean mother. That's another discussion. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:55 Highlight the passage at 1:10:55

1:11:07 But here's stated, this is from Shantideva, I think, because I've sprinkled in a few things from outside the text. Shantideva, the 8th century bodhisattva, composed this classic text, a guided bodhisattva. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:07 Highlight the passage at 1:11:07

1:11:20 He has a long chapter on patience, really long, full of wisdom, very, very practical. He makes this comment, and that is, if you'd really, let's imagine you have a certain amount of wealth. You have not only ownership, remember, but you also have some wealth, excess wealth you'd like to give away. So imagine you're sitting here with kind of a pile of money, saying, this is my excess wealth. It will make me no happier if I spend it on myself, because I've got enough. It's going to make me happier, euromodically happier, if I find some really meaningful way to give this money away. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:20 Highlight the passage at 1:11:20

1:11:55 And philanthropists do this. They get a pile of money, and they say, okay, any proposals? Can you make some proposals? I'd like to give away money in a non-haphazard way. Please submit proposals. Make me happy, because I'd like to do this. And that does happen a lot. And so if a person comes, let's say a philanthropist, they have to make this very modern. A philanthropist has X amount of money, really wants to give it away, wants to develop this perfection of generosity, do some good in the world, and then somebody submits a really good proposal. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:55 Highlight the passage at 1:11:55

1:12:27 And the philanthropist will look at it and say, wow, never thought of that. That is definitely worth funding. And so the philanthropist, I think, would feel, wow, thank you. I was hoping to get a proposal that good. This surpasses my expectations. Thank you. How much do you need? How much do you need? This is very cool. I want to see how this turns out. And so the person who needed money is actually helping the philanthropist develop this wonderful virtue of generosity and, of course, getting the eudaimonic well-being of being able to do something skillful, wise, generous and benevolent. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:27 Highlight the passage at 1:12:27

1:13:01 And so the person in need of money is actually helping him or her. Well, now let's imagine that you recognize that... If you just have a soft and cushy life, surrounded by sweet people who love you and respect you and cuddle with you and say all nice things to you all the time, like a little Lord Fauntleroy, you know, what are you today? Report an error in the passage at 1:13:01 Highlight the passage at 1:13:01

1:13:24 You're looking so handsome today. What can we do for you today? If you lived your life like a little Lord Fauntleroy, everybody around you just mushing up to you like that, you'd wind up a real toad, a toad that is so soft, so vulnerable. As soon as somebody comes along and says, you know, you're a spoiled little brat. How could you say that? Report an error in the passage at 1:13:24 Highlight the passage at 1:13:24

1:13:51 How could you say something like that? And you'd be quite rattled, frazzled, like total Report an error in the passage at 1:13:51 Highlight the passage at 1:13:51

1:13:59 wimp. If you'd never had any rough edges to meet with, you'd be weak. You'd be flaccid. And so for a person who would really, as part of not hedonic pleasure, they're not going to help your hedonic pleasure much at all, but for a person who would really like to be calling eudaimonia, greater meaning, greater strength. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:59 Highlight the passage at 1:13:59

1:14:17 Qualities, virtues and so forth. You might recognize that one of the virtues, which is enormously important to maintain emotional balance and so forth and so on, is patience. Patience. And if you get up in the morning and say, today I'd really like to cultivate patience, inner forbearance, inner fortitude, inner strength, so that when I encounter adversity, I don't just flip over like in a bamboo hut, blown away. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:17 Highlight the passage at 1:14:17

1:14:44 I really like to develop that. Today, I really like some opportunity to develop. Patience. And you step out the door. Shouts at you. Hey, you asshole, you left your car lights on. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:44 Highlight the passage at 1:14:44

1:15:04 You might, if you're really on your toes. Thank you. Thank you. That was really helpful. I wish you a good day, too. Shantideva is actually quite serious. If you want to develop patience, you have to meet people who are abrasive. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:04 Highlight the passage at 1:15:04

1:15:20 That's what arouses the impatience, the indignation, the arrogance, what have you. And then you learn through experience of encountering adversity, how you overcome adversity, but you don't learn that by just encountering one felicity after another after another and a bunch of swell people. And so encountering difficult situations and difficult people and responding not knee-jerk, but responding with wisdom. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:20 Highlight the passage at 1:15:20

1:15:45 So it's not enough to have them. You have to bring something to the table, and that is some wisdom, some skillful means, and some aspiration, some motivation, to really transform these circumstances into your own psychological and spiritual growth. In that regard, then, difficult people can be very helpful, in which case you have to thank them, as you thank your mother for being so kind. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:45 Highlight the passage at 1:15:45

1:16:06 And so that's the second one. And then if one is still struggling with the resentment and so forth, the next one's pretty self-explanatory. You can say, well, resentment, hostility, enmity, and diametrically opposed to loving-kindness. And rather than falling into the old ruts, the old routine, the habituation of responding negatively when people treat me negatively, I'm thinking about the benefits of loving-kindness, and I'd really like to go there. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:06 Highlight the passage at 1:16:06

1:16:30 And one of the things, I'd really like to develop shamatha. And when one really develops loving-kindness, one's mind is easily concentrated, one lives happily alone, happily with others. I'd really like to linger there. I'd like to cultivate that so I can handle these difficult people. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:30 Highlight the passage at 1:16:30

1:16:46 The next one is very deep. You could spend the whole afternoon on this one easily, but I'll just keep it a bit simple. But it's very deep and it's subtle. Consider the identitiveness of the enemy. You can say non-self if you like. The non-self of the enemy and the dependent origination of the resented event or behavior or speech or attempt. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:46 Highlight the passage at 1:16:46

1:17:07 This does need some clarification because I've seen a lot of people who are amateurs but who can be very popular and then they've taken as authority. Because they're popular. This happens a lot. People who think that in Buddhism there's no self at all. In other words, Jason doesn't exist. Because he's a person. Is that you, Jason? Yeah, he said yes. No, he didn't. Nobody nodded. Because Jason isn't there. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:07 Highlight the passage at 1:17:07

1:17:35 And nobody's speaking, by the way. There's just sound coming out. There aren't any people, in fact. Because people don't exist. Because if you ask any person, are you you? And they say, yes, I am. Oh, well, no, you're not. Because there's no I. There's no reference to the word I. This is stupid. And it happens a lot. And it is not Buddhism at all. The Buddha never said that. He used the first person pronoun. He said, just before he passed away, the Buddha said, be an island unto yourself. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:35 Highlight the passage at 1:17:35

1:17:59 What is that? Be an island unto nothing? That was a direct quote. Be an island unto yourself. Take no external refuge. Stripes of a family. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:59 Highlight the passage at 1:17:59

1:18:10 But he uses frequently. Bhikkhu Bodhi and I had a good conversation by email over this. Many times the Buddha would use personal pronouns. Seriously. You must take responsibility for your own conduct. Well, who? Nobody? To conduct that doesn't belong to anybody? So it's foolishness. But unfortunately, people who haven't studied very well, then they say superficial things. It would be very misleading. The whole notion of there being thoughts with no thinker. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:10 Highlight the passage at 1:18:10

1:18:36 Well, then that completely demolishes the notion of you being an agent at all. But that doesn't make any sense. Because we are responsible in the Buddhist worldview. We are responsible for our behavior. Somebody did it. You're responsible. You made a choice. Live with your choices. There are consequences of our deeds. That's basic Buddhism. It's never, ever negated. So the question is not whether I exist. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:36 Highlight the passage at 1:18:36

1:18:59 There's somebody speaking here. His name's Lama. That's what they call him. There's a person here. He has a body and mind. It's true. The question is not whether I exist. The question is how I exist. Any of this exists. And so the question comes up then. All right, let's just do it really quickly. Okay, I exist. But now, exactly where am I? Report an error in the passage at 1:18:59 Highlight the passage at 1:18:59

1:19:17 This person. Where am I? Exactly. The I. The referent of the word me. I. Alan Wallace. Where? Start from my toenails. It's definitely not down there. Okay, and then we scan up, right? We just scan right through the body, from the toenails, right through the legs, the torso, and a good physiologist will give you a very detailed map of all the stuff that's in there, right up to the head, right up to the brain. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:17 Highlight the passage at 1:19:17

1:19:39 And then if you're looking, okay, where's the neural correlate of me inside my brain? What do you say, doc? There's a massive quote of the feeling of what happens, so the body is represented in the brain, and then the way that's experienced is brass. subjectively Like there were some studies done. Sure. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:39 Highlight the passage at 1:19:39

1:19:58 Sure, I've read that book. I've read that book, but I can also have the feeling of being Napoleon Bonaparte. It's called psychosis, right? I love to go there. And I could really, I mean, you know, people do that. I could be walking around having a delusional, psychotic fit and do this. And then to prove that I'm Napoleon, I will speak with a French accent. Now you will salute me when I come. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:58 Highlight the passage at 1:19:58

1:20:25 And I'm a bit dull, but I'm having a hot holiday. It sounds totally ridiculous, but I can have a sense of being Napoleon Bonaparte without there being any Napoleon Bonaparte here. It's called psychosis. And so similarly, I may have a sense, if somebody said, Alan, I'm sorry, but other people respect you, but I just think you're a total jerk. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:25 Highlight the passage at 1:20:25

1:20:46 And I don't mean your mind. I don't think your mind's jerky. It's actually pretty intelligent. Your body's not jerky. It's kind of ordinary, but it's okay. And I'm not talking about your body or your mind, Alan. You know what I'm talking about. You, you're just a jerk. And you point your finger. You're a jerk. You know, the one that has the body and the mind. You know that one? You're a real jerk. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:46 Highlight the passage at 1:20:46

1:21:06 Or another person, Alan, I think you're just fabulous. I've heard many Nama teachers, but you are just over the top. You're just a marvelous person. I just feel so privileged to know you. You're just fantastic. Not your body or mind. I can't see your mind. I don't know what it's like when your body owns the body. But you know, you are just fantastic. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:06 Highlight the passage at 1:21:06

1:21:27 So what's the referent? You know, when we really lay it on like that. What's the referent? So you find it anywhere in the body? No, it's a whole bunch of molecules, cells, electricity. I mean, it's basically a chemistry set. And the same thing for the brain. The brain is a very complex chemistry set, but it's still chemicals and electricity. There's nobody in there. And then if you look in your mind, and we've started to do that, and we can. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:27 Highlight the passage at 1:21:27

1:21:54 Whatever the philosophers and neuroscientists say, we can observe the mind, we can observe events and so forth. I'll just take an example. If I look at... Your name once again? Pam, thank you. If I look at Pam's foot, both feet, am I seeing her body or not? Report an error in the passage at 1:21:54 Highlight the passage at 1:21:54

1:22:11 I've seen her feet. I don't see much of her, most of her body's clothes, but the feet I can see. So am I seeing her body when I see her feet? Yeah. I don't need to see all her body, do I? Veridically, to say I'm seeing Pam's body, do I need to see all the body? The whole of it? Nobody ever does, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:11 Highlight the passage at 1:22:11

1:22:31 I bet you've never seen her liver. And that's part of your body. Nobody's ever seen the whole of your body. You've not even seen the back of your back. And so, no, you can't say, I have to see all your body to see your body. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:31 Highlight the passage at 1:22:31

1:22:47 But I'm seeing your feet. Can I say, I'm seeing Pam's body because I'm seeing her feet? Yeah. How much do I need to see? I don't need to see her face. That's about as big as her feet. Those are both parts of the body. And so this is good language. I'm not messing around here. To see Pam's feet, I can say, well, I can see her body. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:47 Highlight the passage at 1:22:47

1:23:06 I don't have to see all of it, but that's enough. By way of seeing her body, and by way of seeing her, Our feet. I'm seeing a body, even though our feet are not equivalent to our body. Like when you see somebody's face. Oh, there's Cameron. I see him like this. Unmistakably, that's Cameron. I'm seeing a face. A face is not a body. A face is just a face. It's a small fraction of the body. But that's enough. Cameron can't say, you don't see me. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:06 Highlight the passage at 1:23:06

1:23:29 No, you don't see my face. No. So in a similar fashion, this is my response to John Searle. You don't have to see all the mind to see the mind. You can see a thought. You can see an image, a memory. And that's sufficient for saying I'm seeing on the mind. Not all of it, but that's enough. I'm observing my mind. There's a thought, there's an image, a memory, there's a desire. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:29 Highlight the passage at 1:23:29

1:23:51 That's enough. And so when you observe your mind in this way, especially if you do so in a sustained fashion, you see a broad bandwidth of types of mental events, memories and so forth taking place. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:51 Highlight the passage at 1:23:51

1:24:04 You can look in there and you see, okay, in the whole of this society of mind, as Marvin Minsky calls it, This widely populated, richly, diversely populated array of experiences that come up as mind. Within all of that, you see a person, you see anybody owns and operates, the CEO of the mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:04 Highlight the passage at 1:24:04

1:24:24 And so when one does this in Buddhist meditation, scanning as very carefully as one can, one doesn't find a person in the body, a person, I, doesn't find a person in the mind. And then if you say, well, but of course I have a body in mind. I'm not a body. Materialists think that. It's crazy. They don't really believe it. They just say it. They still have bodies. And so I'm not a body. I've got a body. And I have a mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:24 Highlight the passage at 1:24:24

1:24:48 I'm not a mind. I observe my mind. How could I be it when I'm observing it? There's not two of me here. That's mine. I'm observing it. So I have a body and mind. Good. Okay. I got you now. Okay. You have a body and mind. So I should be looking for you outside the system of the body and mind. Where are you? Where am I? Self. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:48 Highlight the passage at 1:24:48

1:25:05 You. Hello. You were just talking. Where are you located? You that have a body and mind. Please, show up. I want to see your face. Don't find it there either. So this is why one can easily come to the conclusion, if you don't find it in the body or mind, the whole system, body-mind system, you don't find it anywhere else, then you can say, look, I looked in all the right places and it was nowhere to be found. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:05 Highlight the passage at 1:25:05

1:25:31 And therefore, I don't exist. But there's a real problem with that kind of thinking. I'll tell you what it is. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:31 Highlight the passage at 1:25:31

1:25:42 A pair of my glasses. Nobody doubts that I'm holding a pair of my glasses in my hand. There it is. Pretty classic, ordinary. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:42 Highlight the passage at 1:25:42

1:25:49 Okay? Eyeglasses. Where are you? A pair of eyeglasses. Are you this stem? Nope. That's a piece of wire. This stem? Nope. Because the eyeglasses have two stems. They have. It doesn't have two unbroken stems. Okay, lens. Are you an eyeglass? Nope. How about you? Nope. How about the little bridge? Nope. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:49 Highlight the passage at 1:25:49

1:26:07 You're not a pair of eyeglasses either. The eyeglasses have a bridge. They have two lenses. They have the wire frames and they have these two stems. But it's nowhere to be found among the parts. And simply having those parts together... It doesn't bring something that wasn't existence into existence. It's just the same parts now that are assembled in a certain way. And the eyeglass has all those parts. But it's not to be found among any of them. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:07 Highlight the passage at 1:26:07

1:26:29 And you set all the parts away and you say, OK, where are the eyeglasses? Or why don't we just say there's eyeglasses here and I'll just take away the parts and there will be only the eyeglasses left when they've taken away all the parts that the eyeglasses have. And there's just pure eyeglasses. Nowhere to be found. So one sees if one follows this kind of ontological analysis. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:29 Highlight the passage at 1:26:29

1:26:46 But by the same reasoning that you say, I don't exist, it winds up nothing else does either. Because it's not found in individual components, nor in simply the collection, and nor is the part have-er to be found anywhere else. So what this is to say is not that I don't exist any more than I'm not carrying a pair of eyeglasses in my hand. It's saying that we don't exist in the fashion of grasp as. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:46 Highlight the passage at 1:26:46

1:27:11 And that is we exist by interrelationship and the whole process of conceptual designation. This congealing of parts into wholes, that we exist in a matter of dependent origination, big term, big hot term. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:11 Highlight the passage at 1:27:11

1:27:30 So who am I? I'm just taking this, I'm nothing special, be pointing anywhere, speak about the person I know best. Who am I? I'll tell you why. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:30 Highlight the passage at 1:27:30

1:27:40 With respect to my nine-year-old grandson, I rise in respect of him, I'm a grandfather. But only one child. So that's the only unit with which I'm a grandfather. My stepfather, I go to my stepdaughter, and I'm... The only stepfather she has. She's only stepfather. And then husband here. And I'm a teacher from students, but I'm a student for other teachers. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:40 Highlight the passage at 1:27:40

1:28:04 And so we're arising in all these multiple networks. And we strip it down and say, I don't want to know about yourself as your grandfather, teacher, father, parent, and so forth. Now, stripped out of that, just what's the nuclear you? The essential you? And that's exactly what you find and not finding. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:04 Highlight the passage at 1:28:04

1:28:24 But meanwhile, relationally, I'm all the above. But it's arising from situation to situation. So I'm not a grandfather here at all. Only for one little boy in California. And often I'm not a teacher at all. I'm just a customer or a student or somebody coming in to get his teeth fixed. And so we do exist, but exist relationally. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:24 Highlight the passage at 1:28:24

1:28:46 And when you try to find the nuclear self here or the nuclear self there, you don't find that. But that doesn't mean you don't exist at all. It exists by relationship, which means you're not found here nor there, but you do exist relationally. So how does this relate to loving kindness? When somebody does something bad, as we perceive to be bad, and we identify them with their behavior, this person did this and this, and that person is so dishonest, so whatever the attitude, Report an error in the passage at 1:28:46 Highlight the passage at 1:28:46

1:29:15 diffuse the disagreeable behavior, attitude, whatever, with the person, goes into lockdown, as if that person is homogenously, whatever negative quality we've seen, which is not very intelligent, because that's not how things happen. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:15 Highlight the passage at 1:29:15

1:29:33 A person, what does happen, Is a person maybe sitting quietly with none of the mental afflictions particularly virulent or, you know, bursting out. And then something happens and it catalyzes a mental affliction, like hatred. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:33 Highlight the passage at 1:29:33

1:29:54 So a man comes into his bedroom and finds his wife in bed with another person. He is filled with rage and looks for his gun and pops them both. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:54 Highlight the passage at 1:29:54

1:30:05 Just couldn't help it. So a thing of passion, a crime of passion, not Report an error in the passage at 1:30:05 Highlight the passage at 1:30:05

1:30:20 premeditated so you don't get first degree. Still there's something terrible. What happened there, though, the person didn't come home thinking, I think I'd really like to go into a mindless rage and do some maybe major damage. Oh, there's my wife. I have the opportunity. Never happens that way. The mental affliction comes up and it dominates you, gets you in its grip. You become stupefied, whether it's anger, whether it's lust, whether it's whatever it may be. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:20 Highlight the passage at 1:30:20

1:30:46 You get caught in the grip of mental affliction and then it wields you like a terrier wielding a rat. You ever seen that? Get it in his teeth and then shake it until the rat is basically smithereens. That's what it feels like. When you get caught in a group of mental affliction, it really abuses you. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:46 Highlight the passage at 1:30:46

1:31:04 You're the first one to get it. Now in that case, in that hypothetical, two people died and now you get to go to prison. But what happened is you were the first victim of your mental affliction and it took over. You're like possessed. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:04 Highlight the passage at 1:31:04

1:31:21 Well, when anybody engages in any negative action across the board, something really awful. There's always a mental affliction behind it. Every single time. It never comes out of loving kindness, compassion and so forth. It always comes from mental. It could be greed, it could be hatred, a wide variety of others. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:21 Highlight the passage at 1:31:21

1:31:38 And they happen to us. They happen to us. We never wake up in the morning and think, boy, I'd like to be angry today and say, oh, I can start. Or even today, I don't really like to have a lot of craving and attachment and greed. It just happens. And so the compassion comes in when we see that when people do really awful things. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:38 Highlight the passage at 1:31:38

1:31:57 The first awful thing that happened was their minds came under the domination of mental afflictions. They were the first victim. They didn't recognize the affliction as affliction. They didn't put any brake on it. They got caught like the rat in the terrorist's mouth. And then they acted out of that and acted in a regrettable way. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:57 Highlight the passage at 1:31:57

1:32:18 When we see that, that whole tightness, that sharp target of the person who's just such a terrible person, it kind of loosens up. You say, well, it wasn't always. I mean, when that person was 10 years old, probably not a terrible 10-year-old. And 15, whatever. And then something happened. And then terrible behavior manifested. But it happened because of mental afflictions. And he didn't choose to have mental afflictions. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:18 Highlight the passage at 1:32:18

1:32:42 So things soften up a little bit. And then we see dependent origination. Every time some terrible date is done, causes and conditions are coming together. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:42 Highlight the passage at 1:32:42

1:32:53 We're still, in the Buddhist view, we're still responsible for our behavior. There's no way around that. We're responsible for our behavior. But our behavior does arise independent upon causes and conditions that are beyond our control. So taking that into account softens, softens this hardening of the mind around somebody that we just grasp onto is intrinsically unforgivable. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:53 Highlight the passage at 1:32:53

1:33:15 So that's rather deep. And then we end on a nice light note. And that is if you've been struggling, struggling, trying to meditate, trying to cultivate love and kindness for somebody you really don't like, then, well, okay. Give or receive a gift. Send us some chocolate. Or receive chocolate. It softens things up a little bit. It's strange, but it actually does. It might try. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:15 Highlight the passage at 1:33:15

1:33:37 We'll end on the analysis and then we'll take our break. Here's the analysis. As I said, for each of the four immeasurables, there's an analysis which I find highly intelligent. A lot of this can be familiar, so we'll go through the first part quickly. We're still in loving kindness. The near enemy, the false facsimile of loving kindness, that which appears to be loving kindness but really isn't at all, is self-centered detachment. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:37 Highlight the passage at 1:33:37

1:34:01 So it may be manifesting in very friendly ways, warm, loving, generous ways. But it's got an agenda. It's got a... Got just that kind of agenda. I'm doing this because I want something from you. So it looks like it, but it's not. So don't be fooled. Don't fool yourself. Don't be fooled by other people. And then it's like an enemy that masquerades as a friend. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:01 Highlight the passage at 1:34:01

1:34:27 So that's a near enemy. And then malice. Malice, ill will, the wish, may you not be happy or find the causes of happiness. That's its far enemy. It's diametric opposite. So those are clear. The next one's interesting. It's worth a couple of minutes. What is the trigger? That's a word they use a lot in effective psychology. What's the trigger for anger, the trigger for jealousy and so forth? What's the trigger, what's the proximate cause of experiencing loving kindness for... Report an error in the passage at 1:34:27 Highlight the passage at 1:34:27

1:34:56 The words you are carefully chosen, Buddha Gosa says, this is his analysis, it's seeing the lovableness, the lovable quality in the person you're attending to. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:56 Highlight the passage at 1:34:56

1:35:10 So what he clearly does not mean is the attractive quality. Some people are very physically attractive, some people not so much. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:10 Highlight the passage at 1:35:10

1:35:19 Some people's behavior is very appealing, but it's not that. It's a lovable quality. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:19 Highlight the passage at 1:35:19

1:35:28 It has to have a subjective element to it. If we're looking at appearances, and you say it's attractive, unattractive, I mean, that's it. Your hairline, your skin color, your figure, and so forth and so on. That's the appearances. That's hedonic. But when it speaks of a lovable quality, there has to be something subjective there. It has to be looking through the veneer, the out-appearances. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:28 Highlight the passage at 1:35:28

1:35:48 Looking with the heart, I could say. Looking with the eyes of wisdom to see, is there someone there? Is there some quality there that's endearing, that's lovable? And that catalyzes, triggers the sense of affectionate caring for another being. Well, a good place to start is to look into the mirror and gaze at the reflection, gazing back, and just ask yourself, do you see anything lovable here? Report an error in the passage at 1:35:48 Highlight the passage at 1:35:48

1:36:19 Not only reflection, but the person who's appearing by way of the reflection. Can you see anything lovable? So that's actually an exercise in wisdom. Attractiveness, anybody can see that. But loveless, somebody else. I think it won't linger there. It's a good meditation to see what does that mean. And again, not to abstract about it, not going to conceptual conjecture. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:19 Highlight the passage at 1:36:19

1:36:49 For example, I remember my mother's mother. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:49 Highlight the passage at 1:36:49

1:36:55 Her mother is old. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:55 Highlight the passage at 1:36:55

1:36:59 So she had gray hair, white hair. And old, she wasn't really attractive, attractive, like a woman being attractive. I think pretty much everybody who knew her just found her incredibly lovable. Had nothing to do with attractiveness. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:59 Highlight the passage at 1:36:59

1:37:22 So something like that. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:22 Highlight the passage at 1:37:22

1:37:29 It's useful. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:29 Highlight the passage at 1:37:29

1:37:33 And then this loving kindness, the cultivation, it succeeds when it makes animosity or malice subside. So cultivation, when loving kindness arises, that which is diametrically opposed to it has to give way, like holding a bright light up and the darkness retreats. In the light of loving kindness, animosity, hostility, resentment, they fade out, they can't stand the light. But when you're cultivating loving kindness, if it goes astray, it goes awry. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:33 Highlight the passage at 1:37:33

1:38:02 Then it just gives rise to the self-centered attachment or selfish affection. You may be telling the other person, I love you so much. I love you so much. Please have this. Please, oh, I love being with you. I love you, so I want to hug you. And after a while you say, boy, I said, I am awful. Please don't leave. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:02 Highlight the passage at 1:38:02

1:38:20 I love you way too much. Please don't leave. I can't bear to be apart from you. I love you too much. Please don't. Please don't change. I love you just the way you are. Please actually do change. You've put on a bit of weight. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:20 Highlight the passage at 1:38:20

1:38:34 In fact, could you do the facelift because you looked prettier 10 years ago? A facelift would be, I'll pay for it. Because I love you so much, I really want you to be really... Well, this is getting suspicious here. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:34 Highlight the passage at 1:38:34

1:38:47 So it started out okay, maybe, but it's got to slip into this selfless affection. I want you to make me happy. There's nothing awful about that, but it's not loving back. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:47 Highlight the passage at 1:38:47

1:38:57 Olasul. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:57 Highlight the passage at 1:38:57

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:39:47 Olasul. Habit, I don't see any reason to break it. It's Tibetan. And Tibetan Lamas, other speakers, often when they're about to start a talk or whatever, they'll just say, Olasul. Olasul. And then at the end sometimes they say, here, we're all finished here. So you must be incredibly interested to know what it means. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:47 Highlight the passage at 1:39:47

1:40:10 And I will tell you, it doesn't mean anything at all. It's more like well done. It's basically just a conversion of attention and then a release of attention. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:10 Highlight the passage at 1:40:10

1:40:23 But it sounds nice. I don't see any reason to break the hat. It rolls off the top. So, with no further ado, what I'd like to do is we go in directly into one quiet session and I'd like to give you, of course you can do anything you like, but two major options would be to return to this practice, this more cognitive practice, the shamatha practice of settling the mind into natural state. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:23 Highlight the passage at 1:40:23

1:40:47 There are depths and depths to be explored there. And the other one is you may go into that, the way we did the love and kindness practice in the last session. And that will start with just settling down and calming the mind with the breath. And then opening your awareness. So it's similar to settling the mind, but it's definitely not the same. So I'll describe it very briefly now as a repetition of the earlier. So you sit quietly, and then kind of just leaving your awareness wide open, wide open. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:47 Highlight the passage at 1:40:47

1:41:13 And then in that spirit of all sentient beings, all sentient beings, you're definitely not going to have 7 billion people piling in in a 24-minute period, but you might have a nice sampling. And rather than seeking them out, okay, I'm going to choose a difficult person and this and this and this, just leave your awareness wide open. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:13 Highlight the passage at 1:41:13

1:41:30 And just see who comes through the door. The appearance of what person, memory of what person comes to mind. And especially if that person is still alive. It's a bit more dynamic, a bit more engaged if the person is still alive. It's recommended in the Buddhist tradition. Then instead of, and here's a crucial point, it's a nice clear distinction, in settling the mind in this natural state when appearances come up, including appearances of people. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:30 Highlight the passage at 1:41:30

1:41:54 You simply view appearances as appearances, as an appearance of a human being. It's not a human being. And so you're just seeing what's arising here and now in the space of the mind. You attend to it, and that's the shaman part. Whereas loving-kindness practice is ever so important that we're not developing loving-kindness towards images or mental appearances. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:54 Highlight the passage at 1:41:54

1:42:13 They're not sentient beings. They're not looking back any more than when you're dreaming. When you're dreaming, you may be surrounded by a bunch of people, but nobody's looking back. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:13 Highlight the passage at 1:42:13

1:42:25 They're not a whole bunch of people in your dreams. They look like it, and they behave like it. And that's one of the great, to my mind, very interesting things. Where you're having your own dream, everything coming from the dream, let's say coming from your subconscious or whatever, it's coming from your own mind anyway. And there you are, you may be in a lucid dream, and you know that there's no one else there, right? Report an error in the passage at 1:42:25 Highlight the passage at 1:42:25

1:42:44 I mean, you're not encountering multiple people, because they are pure creations of your own mind, drawn from your memory and so forth. And you're having this lucid dream, you know you're dreaming, and yet still, this was one of the big surprises for me when I had my first ones, still the behavior is unpredictable. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:44 Highlight the passage at 1:42:44

1:43:00 And that's weird. You ask them a question, like my famous second dream, second lucid dream. I've said it so many times that it was just really weird. I'll just cut right to the chase to the end scene of my lucid dream. I'm in this diner, an old-fashioned hamburger and french fries kind of diner. It's filled with a lot of people hunched over their french fries and hamburgers and so forth. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:00 Highlight the passage at 1:43:00

1:43:22 And I'm so excited, I'm really quite thrilled that this is a dream, this is a dream. And my temperament is such that when I find something really good, I want to share it. It's Dharma, so I find something really good in Dharma, so I like to share Dharma because I really enjoy it, because it's really good. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:22 Highlight the passage at 1:43:22

1:43:41 I like to let other people benefit. So I'm in this diner, so thrilled that this is a dream, this is a dream. So I'm going from one person to another in the dream, saying, do you know this is a dream? Report an error in the passage at 1:43:41 Highlight the passage at 1:43:41

1:43:53 And they so disappointed me, because they didn't even want to hear the question. And they're snarking down their hamburgers and they wouldn't even answer. Like, my question was so boring that it wasn't even worthy of a comment. Like, you're stupid or, yeah, I know, why are you asking me? I'm already lucid. They didn't say anything like that. They just ignored the question entirely and chomped down on their hamburger. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:53 Highlight the passage at 1:43:53

1:44:20 I didn't see that coming. You know, like, I got good news, everybody. This is a dream. And they just wanted their hamburgers. So it was surprising. So obviously I had no control. Over the people in my own dream. That was weird. So, distinction then. My initial state was simply attending to appearances. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:20 Highlight the passage at 1:44:20

1:44:41 And that's all we see in the dream. Appearances, not people. And we're seeing appearances as appearances. But when you venture into loving-kindness practice, then of course, by way of appearances, we're attending to people. But now we do that all the time anyway. When I'm gazing over a pen, do I see a lot of clothing? I see some hair and some skin. That's what I see. Clothing, hair and skin. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:41 Highlight the passage at 1:44:41

1:45:04 Her clothing's not a person, her skin's not a person, her hair's not a person, her body's not a person. But by way of these appearances, and as I tend, as I gaze into your eyes, I know somebody's looking back. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:04 Highlight the passage at 1:45:04

1:45:18 By way of appearances, and I'm not conflating the person with the appearances. By way of appearances, Report an error in the passage at 1:45:18 Highlight the passage at 1:45:18

1:45:29 tend to others with loving kindness at all. So that's what we do in meditation. In the waking state, all these appearances are rising where? All these visual appearances? Space of your mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:29 Highlight the passage at 1:45:29

1:45:41 They're not out there in the physical space, they're not inside the physical space inside your head, and they're not in between. So all these appearances we're having right now, all of those for each of us, because each of us has our own space of mind, it's not a communal space of mind, all these appearances are rising in the space of your mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:41 Highlight the passage at 1:45:41

1:45:56 But by way of those appearances, I am here, I'm looking back, everybody's looking back. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:56 Highlight the passage at 1:45:56

1:46:07 So the space of your mind, purely generated, even though there's nobody there right now, but nevertheless, if the person is alive, like right now my father is alive. And I can attend to my father right now. I'm not Report an error in the passage at 1:46:07 Highlight the passage at 1:46:07

1:46:35 focusing on appearances. I'm attending. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:35 Highlight the passage at 1:46:35

1:46:41 So that's your choice. If you like, those are two options. Settled mind and a natural state, go deeper into that. Or open your awareness, see what appearances come to mind. And when it settles, like a bee pollinating flower, going from one flower to another, an appearance comes up. And by way of the appearance, if you wish, then attend to the person by way of the appearances. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:41 Highlight the passage at 1:46:41

1:47:04 Comfortable position. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:04 Highlight the passage at 1:47:04

· · · silence, 26 minutes

2:13:26 At the end of the break, I made a decision. And the decision is, some of you know that every year. I lead an eight-week retreat. For the last five years it's been in Phuket. For three years we had two, two times a year. And then I cut back to just one. So the last two years we've just had one retreat in summer, fall in Phuket, Thailand. We just finished one a few days ago. But I thought maybe it was a time for a change of venue for next year. Report an error in the passage at 2:13:26 Highlight the passage at 2:13:26

2:13:57 So in addition to holding a five-week cultivating emotional balance teacher training about 90 kilometres north of here, is that right? About 90 kilometres. We'll be holding that in July or so. And then August, September, just made a decision to hold the next year's eight-week retreat on the Sunshine Coast. Report an error in the passage at 2:13:57 Highlight the passage at 2:13:57

2:14:17 It looked quite lovely. It's a place you can check it. It's Araluen. I don't know how to pronounce it, but Araluen. Pretty close to the Araluen Retreat Center. It looked quite lovely. You have a swimming pool. Report an error in the passage at 2:14:17 Highlight the passage at 2:14:17

2:14:28 But I believe that far north in August, September should be a pretty moderate climate, I think. That's what I understand. It should be quite nice. And after a while, I just started feeling moldy in all that hotness and humidity. don't know. Report an error in the passage at 2:14:28 Highlight the passage at 2:14:28

2:14:41 It's just never anything other than hot and incredibly humid. It's beautiful, and it was a really good run for five years. Report an error in the passage at 2:14:41 Highlight the passage at 2:14:41

2:14:57 Aussies and Kiwis galore. So, that's the decision. I'm very happy with it. We've spent a lot of time very carefully checking out. And the topic for the eight-week retreat will be somewhat advanced, but I think not out of reach. I've made these references to Dzogchen. Well, we'll be going into Mahamodra Dzogchamata, some Vipassanā, and then to Madra Dzogchen. Report an error in the passage at 2:14:57 Highlight the passage at 2:14:57

2:15:19 The text is spectacular, and I've received the oral transmission from it, authorization to teach it by my primary Dzogchen Lama. From what I just received a message also, which is very encouraging. Report an error in the passage at 2:15:19 Highlight the passage at 2:15:19

2:15:32 He's also 90 years old. So that's a little bit of news to pass on. So if you'd like to apply. Report an error in the passage at 2:15:32 Highlight the passage at 2:15:32

2:15:43 Yeah, that'll be on schedule. So we'll be doing the five-week Kodavani Emotional Bama teacher training. We'll get a certificate that teaches it. It's a secular training. Up to Singapore for Report an error in the passage at 2:15:43 Highlight the passage at 2:15:43

2:15:59 eight weeks, and then down here. to Sydney this text. It's really an amazing text. The Foolish Dharma of an Idiot Clothed in Mud and Feathers. That's the title. Report an error in the passage at 2:15:59 Highlight the passage at 2:15:59

2:16:15 deceived by that title. It's actually very, very profound. So this is the first day we've had, for some of you, it may be your first exposure. To this practice of settling the mind in this natural state. So, any observations or questions? As much as possible when we all part. What is that on Sunday, is it? Report an error in the passage at 2:16:15 Highlight the passage at 2:16:15

2:16:38 Sunday? Is it Saturday? Sunday, I think. Saturday. Okay, Saturday. Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 2:16:38 Highlight the passage at 2:16:38

2:16:49 So, Saturday noon. That's right, because I have something to do in Sydney on Sunday. So, but as much as possible when you leave here, if for all of the main practices we've explored, if you have somebody of confidence, I'd really like that. So, for this practice, any problems coming up? We'll start right here, please. Report an error in the passage at 2:16:49 Highlight the passage at 2:16:49

2:17:16 Rosa? Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 2:17:16 Highlight the passage at 2:17:16

2:17:21 as to exactly what to do with those thoughts that kept coming up, whether to read them as trade, wallpaper, just let it pass. Report an error in the passage at 2:17:21 Highlight the passage at 2:17:21

2:17:39 they took me hand that they were supposed to really look back there. Report an error in the passage at 2:17:39 Highlight the passage at 2:17:39

2:17:46 I just used the thoughts as a wallpaper and came back to the breathing. It's a nice metaphor, but what exactly do you mean you use them as wallpaper? Oh, I didn't say, oh, gee, that's interesting. Where did that come from? Oh, shoot, look at that. Because I thought that's what you were saying in your book, that this was the way to know yourself. Report an error in the passage at 2:17:46 Highlight the passage at 2:17:46

2:18:14 Yeah, various kind of ideas in terms of what you've just said, kind of ideas are kind of converging and getting a bit fused together, which is confused. In this practice, Report an error in the passage at 2:18:14 Highlight the passage at 2:18:14

2:18:25 In this practice, here's how it's stated, a classic instruction. And that is, you're simply resting there at ease, body, space and mind very much. Report an error in the passage at 2:18:25 Highlight the passage at 2:18:25

2:18:37 Pay attention to that one domain out of six domains, so you're not equally interested in visual, auditory and so forth. Only one. That's clear. Yes? Yeah, good. So that's where you're single-pointed. So you're not focusing on one particular object, like an image or a thought or a thing, but really more a domain. Report an error in the passage at 2:18:37 Highlight the passage at 2:18:37

2:18:55 Just kind of look what they look in this area of the room. What am I supposed to see there? An area, right? Excuse me, a domain. And so in that domain, a wide variety of things. So discursive thoughts will come up. Images will come up. The instruction is, whatever comes up, observe its nature. That's the actual instruction. Report an error in the passage at 2:18:55 Highlight the passage at 2:18:55

2:19:18 Observe its nature. Classic instruction. What does that mean? It means, for example, let's go back to Pam's banana, and that is, if an image of a banana comes up, or anything else, what's arising is an image of a banana. So simply observe. What's arising? Don't go to bananas. Don't think about bananas. Baby bananas, banana, banana, cake, banana, ice cream, banana, bread, and so forth. Report an error in the passage at 2:19:18 Highlight the passage at 2:19:18

2:19:45 Don't go there. Just whatever. Just look at what's presenting itself to you. Like, I show you the palms on my hands. Just take a look. Don't use it as well. Don't use it at all. Just attend until they fizzle out. So, the practice then, in all shamatha practices, there's a wide variety. A wide variety. And all of them have in common, they are designed to help you develop your attention skills. And how to do that? By developing relaxation, stability and vividness. Report an error in the passage at 2:19:45 Highlight the passage at 2:19:45

2:20:14 That's the core right there. But that's what all shamatha practices have in common. So in this particular shamatha practice, you can say, first of all, what's the object of mindfulness? That's the first thing you need to ask. What am I supposed to look at? Space of the mind, that one out of six domains of experience, and whatever arises within that. Report an error in the passage at 2:20:14 Highlight the passage at 2:20:14

2:20:32 Other stuff comes up, sounds, tactile sensations, but you don't deliberately give any attention to them. You impinge upon your awareness, but don't give them any attention. But here's where you're focused. Just like right now, I'm really focused on your face. I can't even see any faces around you in focus. And they're really quite near, but none of them are in focus. And I can't even see your chest in focus. Report an error in the passage at 2:20:32 Highlight the passage at 2:20:32

2:20:50 I mean, it's just your face. That's how pinpointed attention is. I mean, it's just normal. Your face is crystal clear, and nothing else is. And so in a similar fashion, you're single-pointedly focused on the space of the mind. And whatever comes up, you just come up. But now where's the relaxation, stability and vividness? Now relaxation is you're not beady-eyed. You're not stressing out. Report an error in the passage at 2:20:50 Highlight the passage at 2:20:50

2:21:13 You're not really intense. Here's the analogy given. I'll put it in the female gender. It's like an old woman sitting on a park bench gazing at other people's children playing. Report an error in the passage at 2:21:13 Highlight the passage at 2:21:13

2:21:28 So there's a playground down below you. You're in a park. There's a playground where the parents are there. They've got their cell phones if they need to find 911. The children are playing together. They're just having a good time. But there's an old lady. She just likes watching children. She's one of those people who likes children. Report an error in the passage at 2:21:28 Highlight the passage at 2:21:28

2:21:48 But she likes watching children. It's fun to watch, especially when you don't own them. You don't have to discipline them, spank them, and so forth and so on. But now what's the nature of her gaze as she's attending to the children playing? Report an error in the passage at 2:21:48 Highlight the passage at 2:21:48

2:22:02 She's interested. She likes watching kids play. But not like that. Whenever they're doing it, she just watches, watches, and then the parents put them in the car and they drive off. She's not disappointed. I think I'll be on my way now. That softness, that soft touch. Attending with interest, but no notion, not even a thought in the mind of intervening. Report an error in the passage at 2:22:02 Highlight the passage at 2:22:02

2:22:25 I'm going to take over and I'm going to take control here. I'm going to scold this child and reward this child. Nothing of that. No notion in any way of changing, modifying the children's behavior whatsoever. But attending with interest. So that's the ambience of it. It's a classic analogy. So you're simply observing whatever comes up. And so here's that relaxation, that sense of ease, like the little woman sitting on the bench. Report an error in the passage at 2:22:25 Highlight the passage at 2:22:25

2:22:46 She's totally relaxed. Not a care in the world of, if any child should be injured, the parents are right there. They're going to take care of it. There's just nothing for her to do. She's totally relaxed. But she's interested. She's maintaining an ongoing, with kids playing over there. There's an ongoing flow of attention. And she is interested. Report an error in the passage at 2:22:46 Highlight the passage at 2:22:46

2:23:03 She really likes watching kids play. Doesn't need any commentary. So that's one thing we're not doing. Even a commentary, like a sports commentator. Not like that. Just observing quietly, discerningly, intelligently, but non-reactively. Report an error in the passage at 2:23:03 Highlight the passage at 2:23:03

2:23:24 Yeah, and this is a very good point. It's an excellent point. There are bound to be lapses or hiatuses between this event and that event, this thought, that image and the next one. And so when that happens, as you're attending... With clarity, with interest, really focusing on the space of the mind. And as much as you look, you're just not seeing any activity, any images, appearances and so forth. Report an error in the passage at 2:23:24 Highlight the passage at 2:23:24

2:23:53 It's just good. That's fine. You don't need to generate activity. It'll come in due course. It'll come. But don't really wait as in expecting something later to happen and hoping it will happen. But during that hiatus between this thought and that thought, now's the time really to deeply relax but attend very closely. Report an error in the passage at 2:23:53 Highlight the passage at 2:23:53

2:24:14 Two is space, the space of the mind. Report an error in the passage at 2:24:14 Highlight the passage at 2:24:14

2:24:21 You can examine it and see, is that space nothing or is it something? And if it's something, what qualities does it have? So you can take an equal interest in the space as you can in the events arising out of that space. If you get really sharp, and this is where the vividness starts to become enhanced, if you get really sharp, you can be attending really, they're very focused, really with a lot of interest. Report an error in the passage at 2:24:21 Highlight the passage at 2:24:21

2:24:44 Because this is interesting, because you never know what's coming up from moment to moment. You never know what's going to come up or when it's going to come up or how it's going to come up. So there you are, not waiting, but just poised right there like a kestrel facing into the wind. And you're attending very closely to the space. And then as you do so, right there where you're attending, if you're on target, you've not wandered off to the visual or something, some thought, there you are attending right to the space of the mind. Report an error in the passage at 2:24:44 Highlight the passage at 2:24:44

2:25:13 And as soon as something comes up, you'll be there right at its birth. You'll see an image come up, and you'll actually see that image come right out of the space of the mind. You can watch that happen. And then you see the image play out. Maybe it's a slide. Maybe it's kind of frozen. Or maybe it has just a motion picture. Maybe it has a sequence to it. Report an error in the passage at 2:25:13 Highlight the passage at 2:25:13

2:25:29 And then before long, probably, it's going to go. And you'll see it dissolve right back into the space of the mind. And then you can know for yourself, where are these coming from? The space of the mind. I watched. That's where they came from. It didn't come from neurons. It didn't come from anywhere else. Neurons don't spit out images. Report an error in the passage at 2:25:29 Highlight the passage at 2:25:29

2:25:48 They're chemicals. But the space of the mind is pregnant. It's fertile. It's full of potential. And so images and thoughts and all kinds of things come out of it. And then they just dissolve right back into it. That's all phenomenology. There's no belief system there. Now we can interpret it in different ways. But that's what you actually see. Report an error in the passage at 2:25:48 Highlight the passage at 2:25:48

2:26:08 Your name was Carol? No, no, Carol's right here. Your name was, once again, just remind me if you may please. Oh, Brenda. I didn't hear it the first time. Okay, Brenda. I heard something different. I heard Rosa. Brenda, now I got it. Jolly good. Go ahead, Chris. Microphone's coming. Report an error in the passage at 2:26:08 Highlight the passage at 2:26:08

2:26:30 I can hear you. Report an error in the passage at 2:26:30 Highlight the passage at 2:26:30

2:26:38 Kind of going to sleep. Report an error in the passage at 2:26:38 Highlight the passage at 2:26:38

2:26:55 Yeah. Okay. What is the difference between what you described and the dissociation? Report an error in the passage at 2:26:55 Highlight the passage at 2:26:55

2:26:50 Well, not in the place of speaking, because in the place that's opposed to what you say, it is not what you say. I have a very clear sense of what I'm saying, and I've done it for thousands of hours, and I've found no downside at all. So I can expound on that in quite some detail, probably as much detail as anybody wants. Report an error in the passage at 2:26:50 Highlight the passage at 2:26:50

2:27:07 But somebody who's professionally trained, maybe it's you, Chris, but can somebody, a psychologist with professional training, because I know generically as a layperson, but when a psychologist said, this is a case of dissociation, can somebody tell me exactly what that means? so basically the association means you're sitting there watching a movie. Report an error in the passage at 2:27:07 Highlight the passage at 2:27:07

2:27:30 it's most in my shape in front of you are sitting in a A sense of? Detachment from it, yeah. I miss that. ...attentioned by the occult and tolerance. Report an error in the passage at 2:27:30 Highlight the passage at 2:27:30

2:28:04 I think that they, and I speak to myself, I speak to some of this, that I'm going to stay back serious what we want to talk about. It very much is, but I'd like something a little bit more medical, if that's the word, or just psychological, and that is... Let alone anything in meditation, because I think a lot of people psychologically become dissociated without ever meditating at all. I mean, it certainly has to be true, right? So any, are you a psychologist yourself? Report an error in the passage at 2:28:04 Highlight the passage at 2:28:04

2:28:39 Yes, I am. Well, you may be as good as anybody here. But just clinically, there's a word I was working on, just clinically speaking, with no reference to meditation, when a person has a mental problem, it's really a mental problem, mental disease, mental problem, and we call it dissociation. What are the symptoms of dissociation? Report an error in the passage at 2:28:39 Highlight the passage at 2:28:39

2:29:01 They're not grounded in their body. Report an error in the passage at 2:29:01 Highlight the passage at 2:29:01

2:29:17 Good. I've heard every point, and I really remember that, I think. Can any of you psychologists, can you fill in a little bit more, anything we could add about that, about dissociation as a diagnosable mental problem that needs treatment? Anybody else add something? I'm really acting on all sincerity, I think you know that, so I can have a richer understanding, so I've listened to everything. Yes, please. Because when I think of dissociation as a layperson, I mean, I have no psychological training, clinical psychology. Report an error in the passage at 2:29:17 Highlight the passage at 2:29:17

2:29:46 It sounds to me like something quite aloof and dead and disengaged from life, almost like with a sense of aversion, or maybe even fear or anxiety, like I can't handle it anymore. I'm going to go into dissociation. That's the impression I have as a layperson. Can you help me out a bit? Alison? Yes. Report an error in the passage at 2:29:46 Highlight the passage at 2:29:46

2:30:12 Please, I'm all ears. Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 2:30:12 Highlight the passage at 2:30:12

2:30:17 Stress or trauma related. Ah. Right. this reality. Right. It's everything that triggers this trauma. Aha. we are so overwhelmed that we stay in prison. That's really helpful. Thank you. I really learned something here. I thank you both. This is definitely not that. Definitely not that. I've done this practice a lot. I haven't seen any downside to it from my own experience. I've taught it a lot. I've not seen anybody that I've taught enter into a state like that. Report an error in the passage at 2:30:17 Highlight the passage at 2:30:17

2:30:54 And of course... It's not starting out with stress or trauma. It's coming out of an eagerness, an enthusiasm, a wish to cultivate greater eudaimonia and to understand the nature of the mind and to be freed from the trauma the mind can inflict upon us, but in a healthy and very vigilant, mindful, attentive and loving and warm way. Report an error in the passage at 2:30:54 Highlight the passage at 2:30:54

2:31:12 So that sounds very different. But again, on the surface, there clearly are some similarities. So maybe we can highlight that a little bit, having no expertise at all in diagnosing or treating anyone with dissociation. I have just zero expertise. But I have been doing this for... Report an error in the passage at 2:31:12 Highlight the passage at 2:31:12

2:31:36 This doesn't come from stress or trauma. It comes from a keen spirit of inquiry to really understand the nature of the mind, a keen aspiration to develop greater and greater mental balance as an equilibrium, poise, composure. There's one classic text of this that a number of you have heard me teach, one page summarizing this whole practice, and the author of a great 19th century contemplative. Report an error in the passage at 2:31:36 Highlight the passage at 2:31:36

2:32:03 Tibetan contemplative. He says when you become very adept in this, then in all situations you will just unwaveringly maintain a sense of mental composure. Composure. Now what that doesn't mean is deadness, aloofness, an absence of fluctuation of emotion. I think composure is really nailed. And that is you may have fluctuations when you get really excited, you may become very sad or very elated. You may become upset on occasion. Why not? Report an error in the passage at 2:32:03 Highlight the passage at 2:32:03

2:32:31 Something's worth being upset about, right? But you don't lose it. You don't fly off the handle. You don't go wacko. Nor do you go into aloofness, a kind of a deadness, a cold dead zone. Neither that. It's kind of a healthy, rich, full emotional stance where the emotions arise, but you're not caught in their grip. Report an error in the passage at 2:32:31 Highlight the passage at 2:32:31

2:32:51 You're not carried away by them. You don't lose your mind, so to speak. So in the midst of this, there is this symbol here. And I just started using this symbol. It's not a big deal. It's shorthand is what symbols are. That presence of mind. It's a presence of mind. But it is absolutely in the present moment. Report an error in the passage at 2:32:51 Highlight the passage at 2:32:51

2:33:10 And it's not a disengagement. It's not a withdrawal from reality. It's something right in between. When I, as a layperson, when it comes to dissociation, clinical psychology, when I think of dissociation, and if I'm wrong, just jump right in and correct me, please. But I have a sense of kind of a withdrawal. Like, this is just more than I can handle. Report an error in the passage at 2:33:10 Highlight the passage at 2:33:10

2:33:28 I just don't want to deal with this. My mind is no thank you. It's just too much. Maybe I've been traumatized already. I've been so stressed out. It's almost like this. Like, no thank you. And it's not that. That's called grasping. Grasping, yeah. It's grasping to be away from that. Report an error in the passage at 2:33:28 Highlight the passage at 2:33:28

2:33:49 Grasping for silence. Grasping for dissociation. Grasping for separation. Grasping is, I don't really think I want to be alive, but this is my Bexah proclamation for the time being. Report an error in the passage at 2:33:49 Highlight the passage at 2:33:49

2:33:59 It's one kind of grasping. It's a grasping of aversion. If I can't stand somebody, that's a kind of grasping. And if I'm totally infatuated with somebody, that's another kind of grasping. And so what commonly happens is that when emotions, thoughts and so forth arise, they arise and there's immediately this term, I love it from modern psychology, it's called cognitive fusion. Report an error in the passage at 2:33:59 Highlight the passage at 2:33:59

2:34:20 That's what I've heard. Cognitive fusion, if the thought arises, it's something I'm in the thought. I'm just, my whole awareness, my identity is fused in this thought and my attention is focused on the referent of the thought. And it was involuntary. And then a desire comes up and there's a cognitive fusion and I so passionately want this. I'm totally fused. Report an error in the passage at 2:34:20 Highlight the passage at 2:34:20

2:34:40 My identity is fused with the desire and my attention is riveted on the object of desire. And likewise for anger and likewise for fear and likewise for depression, especially when it has a reference. I'm so depressed about that. And so this practice is to free us of the shackles of cognitive fusion. But it's not going, and that's one extreme, where we're helpless. We're the dog dragged behind the station wagon. You don't have a mind, the mind has you and it's tormenting you. Report an error in the passage at 2:34:40 Highlight the passage at 2:34:40

2:35:10 We've all experienced that, right? Sometimes it torments people to death. They cannot stand having their own minds. Dissociation isn't working well enough. So they say, I know a full dissociation called a bullet to the head. And then that's their way of dissociating. So there's a cognitive fusion where we fall victim to the mind. Report an error in the passage at 2:35:10 Highlight the passage at 2:35:10

2:35:29 Exactly as in the case of a non-lucid dream. In a non-lucid dream, you're a victim of the dream. You don't know what's going on. You're completely confused. So whatever comes up, you're helpless. Report an error in the passage at 2:35:29 Highlight the passage at 2:35:29

2:35:40 You're the dog behind the station wagon. So there's one extreme, and the other extreme is backing up into this dissociation. So there's this extreme, and there's this extreme, and then there's this in-between. And the in-between is that sheer presence, a total, clear, discerning, intelligent, Open-hearted, benevolently motivated, and that's really crucial. You can forget that part, but it's really important not to forget it. Why are you practicing? Report an error in the passage at 2:35:40 Highlight the passage at 2:35:40

2:36:09 To say this should be an act of love and kindness, explicitly for yourself. But if you know as a father, I'm going to take you as our paradigmatic father here, you know if you've had a really good session in the morning, you've started early in the morning before your kids are up, and you've had a half an hour, 40 minutes to meditate, and you really bring about a really wholesome state of mind, and then it's time to get the kids up, you're going to be a better dad. Report an error in the passage at 2:36:09 Highlight the passage at 2:36:09

2:36:33 That's just the way it is. You're going to be a better dad, a better spouse, a better employer, employee and so forth, a better neighbor. You're bringing to the table something better because you've just been cultivating it. And the first people, you're the first recipient and the next recipient is the next person you meet. Like that woman selling pencils. I don't know whether she'd met it in, but she brought something very good to her. Report an error in the passage at 2:36:33 Highlight the passage at 2:36:33

2:36:55 Store there every day it seems. And so it's right in the middle, but it's that presence of mind. And here we are focused, we are attending to this particular domain of the mind. So it's not entangled, it's not caught up, it's not cognitively fused with anything coming up, but nor is it withdrawing from it. Report an error in the passage at 2:36:55 Highlight the passage at 2:36:55

2:37:12 It's right there in the middle, free of grasping, totally attentive, very interested, benevolently motivated. What plays out over the long term is... That is not only an image here and a thought here and there are more images there and more thoughts there and emotions and so forth. But when one does this, especially if you do it a lot, like you go into even a weekend retreat and practice six, eight, nine hours a day. Report an error in the passage at 2:37:12 Highlight the passage at 2:37:12

2:37:38 We start doing this a lot. Something happens. Report an error in the passage at 2:37:38 Highlight the passage at 2:37:38

2:37:46 I call it dredging the psyche. Dredging the psyche. And there you are. You're not stimulating yourself in any way. You're not trying to bring forth interesting thoughts. You're not really trying to bring forth anything. You're being very attentive but passive. Because you're not trying to reconstruct, fix, adept, or you're not trying to squash either. Oh, I don't like that one. There's no editing. You don't cut and throw out. Totally present with whatever's coming up. Report an error in the passage at 2:37:46 Highlight the passage at 2:37:46

2:38:09 Well, when that happens, something very interesting happens. When you do it in a sustained fashion and you start getting better at it, so you're more focused. And that is start dredging the psyche. And that is old memories start coming up. And old desires start coming up. Desires you might have thought you didn't have. Memories you had not thought about for decades start coming up. Report an error in the passage at 2:38:09 Highlight the passage at 2:38:09

2:38:29 And it's not all traumatic, it's not all good, not all bad, it's kind of helter-skelter. But what's there does gradually get a good sampling of what's there, so-called in the subconscious. And then you see it, and some of it's just imagery, but some of it's emotions coming up. And as the emotions come up, as you go deeper into the practice, the point here is you're loose. Report an error in the passage at 2:38:29 Highlight the passage at 2:38:29

2:38:49 You don't go freaking out like that, that's dissociation. Nor do you go and just get sucked right into them and be carried away by them, caught in the grip of the emotion. Neither here nor there, right in the middle. And you're seeing the emotion coming up, totally pressing with it. And then the phrase is arounder and the emotion releases. Report an error in the passage at 2:38:49 Highlight the passage at 2:38:49

2:39:12 And even if it's a traumatic emotion, insofar as you can do this practice, even if it's a traumatic memory and emotion, you come up and it has all the space it needs. You don't clamp it down, you don't run from it. All the space it needs. We've spoken about the space of the mind. It's a lot of space. So the emotion comes up and you're totally pressing with it. Report an error in the passage at 2:39:12 Highlight the passage at 2:39:12

2:39:31 Aware of it, experiencing it. You're not absorbing it. But nor are you dissociated from it. It's right there in between. It's that middle way. And when you are able to do that, you find something quite extraordinary happens. This wrong drill business. They release themselves. And you begin to discover through your own experience. So you don't have to believe anything I'm saying. Through your own experience, you start to see the capacity of your own mind to heal itself. Report an error in the passage at 2:39:31 Highlight the passage at 2:39:31

2:39:56 Without having to bring in one remedy, one therapy, one meditation practice for every doggone thing that comes up. Which will keep you awfully busy for a long time. So there's a lot of value in that. Bringing up Shantideva's chapter on patience. There's a whole bunch of ways of viewing reality and methods and so forth that you can bring to really be able to manage your anger or make it subside. Report an error in the passage at 2:39:56 Highlight the passage at 2:39:56

2:40:18 But here you're not being clever. You're not drawing on a big memory bank of one method after another after another for every mental addiction that comes up. But rather simply resting there in that simple stillness, the clarity. Actually it's a purity if you want to wear it. And simply witnessing, then you actually observe how these knots, the contractions, the tightness of the mind, whether it's around craving, whether it's around anger, how when they're given, allowed to come to full blossoming, even as a very toxic blossoming, because you're not identifying with it, you don't get toxified by it. Report an error in the passage at 2:40:18 Highlight the passage at 2:40:18

2:40:52 It doesn't poison you, so then it's not poisoning anyone, in which case it's not a poison. It just arises, and then releases, and you watch the mind heal. So that's not a substitute for all the wonderful types of therapies there are in the world. It's not a substitute for all the wonderful types of meditation there are in the world. But it's a really good complement to those. Report an error in the passage at 2:40:52 Highlight the passage at 2:40:52

2:41:14 To see for yourself, just as if you cut yourself, the wound will heal if you give it a chance. You break a bone, you get it well set. It will heal of its own if you give it a chance. The mind gets injured. Our experiences, encounters with life. But this is enormously promising. You find if you learn how to give your mind a chance and don't infect it, grasping and so forth, that's an extraordinary capacity to heal. Report an error in the passage at 2:41:14 Highlight the passage at 2:41:14

2:41:41 That's what you find in this. So it's not only a wonderful practice for developing relaxation, stability and clarity. Simultaneously and with the same method, it turns out to be wonderfully therapeutic. Report an error in the passage at 2:41:41 Highlight the passage at 2:41:41

2:41:56 Yes, please. Right there. Report an error in the passage at 2:41:56 Highlight the passage at 2:41:56

2:42:03 And this will be quick because it's five o 'clock right now. Go ahead. And your name? Renato. Yes. Yes. and say we're very strong niche. Report an error in the passage at 2:42:03 Highlight the passage at 2:42:03

2:42:22 It's a great age, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 2:42:22 Highlight the passage at 2:42:22

2:42:33 Yeah. Yeah, Report an error in the passage at 2:42:33 Highlight the passage at 2:42:33

2:42:42 I do. Report an error in the passage at 2:42:42 Highlight the passage at 2:42:42

2:42:56 You've already seen through me. Some advice from the Zen tradition. a great hit, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 2:42:56 Highlight the passage at 2:42:56

2:42:45 to scratch the edge or whether to use that opportunity. Report an error in the passage at 2:42:45 Highlight the passage at 2:42:45

2:43:02 When you itch, shh. Report an error in the passage at 2:43:02 Highlight the passage at 2:43:02

2:43:08 Enjoy your afternoon. See you at 7 o 'clock. Report an error in the passage at 2:43:08 Highlight the passage at 2:43:08