Four Immeasurables Retreat with B. Alan Wallace - Sydney 2014 (part 14)

0:22 So since our time is totally running out, Report an error in the passage at 0:22 Highlight the passage at 0:22

0:27 I wanted to make just, I think it will actually be a brief comment before we go into our two assignment sessions. It pertains really just to the Shant, not really explicitly to the four measurables. Report an error in the passage at 0:27 Highlight the passage at 0:27

0:39 So far we've spent a bit of time looking into two methods, two matrices of methods, so that is different variations on mindfulness of breathing versus practice of settling the mind in this natural state. Overall, mindfulness of breathing is just classic. It's been known for literally for centuries. It's being a very effective way to calm, to soothe the body and mind. It helps to really gently subdue the obsessive compulsive flow of thinking. Report an error in the passage at 0:39 Highlight the passage at 0:39

1:06 So it's very good for relaxation and for stability, especially. Now when you come up here to the aperture of the nostrils, it can definitely start enhancing vividness as well. So it is a complete practice. If you're interested in achieving shamatha, you don't need to look outside of that practice. It is sufficient. Report an error in the passage at 1:06 Highlight the passage at 1:06

1:23 But having said that, it's also true that it's just really good for melancholy and relaxing. It's really good for settling the mind in its natural state. This is really good for clarity. It's sharp, it's clear. This is why if you have a very active mind, one of those people who find it hard to fall asleep, even if you go into the supine position and you seek to settle the mind in its natural state as you're falling asleep, you won't. Report an error in the passage at 1:23 Highlight the passage at 1:23

1:51 There's just too much brightness, too much light. And you're probably just, if you're like me, you probably won't fall asleep. Just remain awake. Just because there's so much clarity. It's not agitation. It's just so much clarity. And so, and moreover, it's interesting to settle in the mind. It's a natural state. You just never know what's coming up. Something fresh, novel, novel, novel. Report an error in the passage at 1:51 Highlight the passage at 1:51

2:12 And it keeps on arousing. A thought comes up. An emotion. A desire. A memory. An unexpected memory. A desire. Emotion. So it kind of keeps things lively. That's all very good for clarity, for vividness, for freshness, for vitality. It can also make you a little bit frazzled just by getting stimulated so much. Report an error in the passage at 2:12 Highlight the passage at 2:12

2:33 And so having taught both of these practices for a long time now, as kind of your Dharma chef for tonight, there's a combination plate that the chef strongly recommends. Report an error in the passage at 2:33 Highlight the passage at 2:33

2:45 And the short hand, because I like using short hand to say its words, is a balancing earth and wind. A balancing earth and wind. It occurs when even in one session you can balance earth and wind, or optimally you can do two sessions, earth and then wind. So what's the short end? It's no big deal. You can probably even guess it. If you're balancing earth and wind, this combination of two different methods, then when you're doing earth, for example, then you can go into the supine position, big emphasis on relaxation, mellowing out, loosening up, gently calming the mind. Report an error in the passage at 2:45 Highlight the passage at 2:45

3:20 So big emphasis on relaxation and stability. That's all you do to come out really mental. That's pretty okay. But if you do that in the first session, and then you're in the supine position, and then very gently roll out of the position, as I described several days ago now, and then come up more to an embodiment of vigilance. Report an error in the passage at 3:20 Highlight the passage at 3:20

3:40 If a person is sitting like this, you know they're not falling asleep. And I'm not straining or anything. I've got some little support for the base of my spine, so I'm sitting very erect with very little effort. And so if you're sitting like that, Then you're kind of embodying vigilance, like you're sitting at attention, so to speak. So especially in that posture, then if you, in your second session, if you settle the mind in a natural state, the first session, with that deep relaxation, that letting go, the mellowness and the grounding in the supine position, a lot of earth element there, that gets you so grounded, loose and mellow that when you go into the second session, you can bring a lot of that to it. Report an error in the passage at 3:40 Highlight the passage at 3:40

4:21 So there you are sitting very, very straight as a... That gives Report an error in the passage at 4:21 Highlight the passage at 4:21

4:29 a groundedness, a softness, just softness and relaxation to the settling in the mind. It gives it a lot more durability. It's much easier not to be carried away when you're really loose and grounded. So then you can be like that falcon and just be aware of what's coming up, but still so loose that you're not swept away or caught up in wandering thinking. Report an error in the passage at 4:29 Highlight the passage at 4:29

4:52 And then if you have three sessions right after that, if you've been doing that for 24 minutes, you know, if you're home, maybe you can take one day to do a retreat. If you've been doing that for 24 minutes, you may feel at the end, that was nice, but man, I'd really love to lie down again. And then you take all that freshness, the clarity, the vividness, the brightness that comes from settling the mind. Report an error in the passage at 4:52 Highlight the passage at 4:52

5:19 So alternating back and forth between the sitting, the supine, sitting and supine, between mindfulness of breathing, that's earth, and wind is like facing into the wind, like the kestrel is settling the mind in this actual state. Kind of get the best of both worlds. So I've practiced that a lot. I've taught it a lot. A lot of people really like it. And when you're alternating like that, alternating the techniques and the posture, it may turn out that you can meditate a lot more in a day than you otherwise could. Report an error in the passage at 5:19 Highlight the passage at 5:19

5:50 If you're sitting all the time or just doing one method, you kind of get tired, it gets heavy, you kind of want to change. Oh, I need to go for a walk, have some tea or whatever. But when you're alternating like that, you may find it really kind of self-perpetuating and you just can't get in. Report an error in the passage at 5:50 Highlight the passage at 5:50

6:08 So that's just for shamatha. You may, right now, it's entirely your choice. You may want to do one shamatha and then go into loving kindness and compassion. That would be really wonderful. Or if you'd like to do two shamatha, you might experiment now or later with balancing risen wind. The chef recommends. Report an error in the passage at 6:08 Highlight the passage at 6:08

6:27 Simply keep time. Report an error in the passage at 6:27 Highlight the passage at 6:27

· · · silence, 1 minute

7:21 Questions are coming. What I'm going to do this end is just go straight backwards to four. So we'll start with Chris and just try to be uniformly equanimity. So we'll start with Chris and then up and forth. Report an error in the passage at 7:21 Highlight the passage at 7:21

7:39 Yeah, as long as you articulate clearly. Can I make some comments and then I'll ask you to just, oh, can I make some oscillations and then just ask you to make some comments on my oscillations? That's fine, sure. Professor Rourke, this morning I did the O.S. first thing in my international state, Report an error in the passage at 7:39 Highlight the passage at 7:39

8:08 pan of our ship, I'm making it keep my eyes open in all of us, and I'm just taking a circuit. Report an error in the passage at 8:08 Highlight the passage at 8:08

8:20 Thank you. this gave good work and what I found... know that's just like doing some pastor without a sign you know normally I'm banging on for about 3 or 4 days and the pastor and 36 and 8 hours a day to even get a concentration to even look at mind without a sign without a measure without Report an error in the passage at 8:20 Highlight the passage at 8:20

8:53 Thank you. you lose your life so tell us 1, 2, 3, 4, 4, 6 and you're asleep Report an error in the passage at 8:53 Highlight the passage at 8:53

9:13 there a thing you said about keeping your eyes open? I really got that thing about the care story because if your mind starts to wander, all you've got to do is just open your eyes a little bit more like a care story. Just screw it open. And it brings you straight back to the present moment. That was my experience. Report an error in the passage at 9:13 Highlight the passage at 9:13

9:37 then I'm just saying much. Report an error in the passage at 9:37 Highlight the passage at 9:37

9:41 what started to happen that I started to actually steal this. as a syria, as a world, as The structure, the mental emotional structure of me started to come up into awareness. Report an error in the passage at 9:41 Highlight the passage at 9:41

10:00 Thank Report an error in the passage at 10:00 Highlight the passage at 10:00

10:06 you. after you do more, it starts to become like a signal Report an error in the passage at 10:06 Highlight the passage at 10:06

10:29 living day that you settle through the morning. That's should cause we to have a corresponding increase in violence. Report an error in the passage at 10:29 Highlight the passage at 10:29

10:40 that was what I experienced this morning. Report an error in the passage at 10:40 Highlight the passage at 10:40

10:45 yesterday, I actually made the awareness and awareness turning the words back on itself. And I had suddenly things started to happen with that dissolution of the structure of what sense of the Nama, doing the Nama, because that was sort of disintegrated. the corresponding release of energy as well. That was what I excused this morning. Report an error in the passage at 10:45 Highlight the passage at 10:45

11:08 So, I'm wondering if you just make a formal comment with that. Is that a sense of hitting the right direction or any comments that you would advise to do with this? Sure. You're doing just fine. You're doing just fine. Just keep doing it. Yeah. But one other comment, because you wrote me a note and now's a good time to respond to that. When bliss comes up, related to Kundalini or however it may come up, because it's bliss, we like it, otherwise we wouldn't call it bliss. Report an error in the passage at 11:08 Highlight the passage at 11:08

11:43 And we like it, then grasping just naturally comes up. We prefer it, and that is an expression of grasping. But to be able to, and of course it's not bad, it's not like good meditators don't have bliss. In fact, the Buddha stated, I quote him directly, samādhi arises from bliss. So it can't be a bad thing. And he also said, one should not fear the bliss of samādhi. Report an error in the passage at 11:43 Highlight the passage at 11:43

12:05 But to not only experience the bliss and then kind of pause and linger there in the bliss. If you'd like to keep on moving through and go... deeper, not necessarily transcending the bliss, but experiencing it in a different way where you're bringing in more of the insight into emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 12:05 Highlight the passage at 12:05

12:25 There are multiple techniques, of course, but one of the most straightforward ones is when you're experiencing it. Just like anything else, if I'm going to take a symbol, let's imagine I'm really getting a lot of bliss from this. I'm just using this as a symbol. On the cell phone, just a lot of bliss is arising. When bliss is arising, then I really want to be focusing on that bliss which is arousing the bliss. Report an error in the passage at 12:25 Highlight the passage at 12:25

12:48 And it keeps the cycle going, right? And then it can easily lead to attachment and grasping. Actually, it's already an expression of attachment and grasping, because I'm in this loop. Report an error in the passage at 12:48 Highlight the passage at 12:48

13:00 If you'd like to break the loop and go deeper, invert your awareness right in upon that which is experiencing the bliss. Report an error in the passage at 13:00 Highlight the passage at 13:00

13:19 Yes, right. C 'est vrai. Report an error in the passage at 13:19 Highlight the passage at 13:19

13:27 So, we're just going to go straight forward. You can just call yourself your turn. If you are the next one behind, yes, please. And your name, please. Ralph. Ralph? Ralph. Roman. Ralph. Right, thank you. Report an error in the passage at 13:27 Highlight the passage at 13:27

13:42 and the questions. Report an error in the passage at 13:42 Highlight the passage at 13:42

13:48 so thank you very Report an error in the passage at 13:48 Highlight the passage at 13:48

14:05 have made certain positions every day in my life. Report an error in the passage at 14:05 Highlight the passage at 14:05

14:14 I want Report an error in the passage at 14:14 Highlight the passage at 14:14

14:22 to understand every word you said, students and doctors that get stuck inside? Maybe students, junior doctors, and even the doctors who are training in our specialty can get stuck in the sadness of And trying to move them off, you know, all those things you're not acknowledging the fact that they've been so empathic. Report an error in the passage at 14:22 Highlight the passage at 14:22

14:50 And yet it's very frustrating because, you know, I mean, sometimes I'm almost, you know, well, I have said a couple of times, you're not dying, the patient is. I just missed that, I really want to understand. I'll say you're not dying to ration either, especially doctors who are going to do that. Yeah, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 14:50 Highlight the passage at 14:50

15:06 Indeed, I understood. So I think your, the Dalai explanation that you gave was just a wonderful way of writing through that. Report an error in the passage at 15:06 Highlight the passage at 15:06

15:19 Oh, I'm so glad. Thank you for telling me. The second question was, well, the question that I had is related to, when you talked about mind fighting its natural state, or you talked yesterday a bit about, Report an error in the passage at 15:19 Highlight the passage at 15:19

15:37 examples, whatever. In my own practice, I guess I'm interested to know whether there is any research actually going on in this, but many of our patients probably were over 60%. Sure. Report an error in the passage at 15:37 Highlight the passage at 15:37

15:57 Sure. months of life will suffer from recurrent hallucinations in various causes during the library. Report an error in the passage at 15:57 Highlight the passage at 15:57

16:07 I can approach you and what we've found is that... By letting them know very early on that this is likely to happen, women saying, it's the stage of your life where you realise that there's your body and there's your brain, and then there's Report an error in the passage at 16:07 Highlight the passage at 16:07

16:28 times you're going to find that very frustrating. And it's interesting the number of patients who will report pleasant and unpleasant hallucinations. They'll report those. Report an error in the passage at 16:28 Highlight the passage at 16:28

16:44 It's interesting whether there is research, because I think this whole area will be extremely valuable for trying to get people not to get caught after all of those. Report an error in the passage at 16:44 Highlight the passage at 16:44

16:58 Hashim, Hashim, Hashim. interested in various research time and methods. It's Report an error in the passage at 16:58 Highlight the passage at 16:58

17:10 not my field. I agree wholeheartedly with everything you've said. I think it would be very worthy of research. I've been learning, just as you were speaking there, I didn't know that hallucinations were so frequent during the kind of end-of-life experiences. Report an error in the passage at 17:10 Highlight the passage at 17:10

17:25 I wasn't aware of that. The ability to recognize a delusion as a delusion is an enormous stride in the right direction. One of the scariest, I think maybe, well, one of the scariest drugs I've heard about is Datura. Datura, or it's also called, I think, chimps and weed. A friend of mine took it deliberately. I don't know if you know about this plant. It's a natural substance. But if you take it, you become psychotic. Report an error in the passage at 17:25 Highlight the passage at 17:25

17:53 You start hallucinating, but you have no idea you're hallucinating. And it is transient, happily. But while it's active... You're psychotic, and you don't know you're psychotic. You're totally trapped in it, unlike the groovy LSD and masculine, all the trips we were into 40 years ago, and some people apparently still. Report an error in the passage at 17:53 Highlight the passage at 17:53

18:12 But you're hallucinating, and you know it, so it's kind of fun. It's recreational. Whereas that one, there's no recreation about it at all. You're actually completely psychotic while it's taking place. So that's just a parallel point, but it is kind of interesting. Go ahead. It's just like, I guess, for us, we use drugs sometimes with that, but they're not always successful, but they're often sedative. Report an error in the passage at 18:12 Highlight the passage at 18:12

18:35 They're often sedative. Yes, right, I understood. ...because we're sedating them and they're wanting to stay awake and learn to spend time with family. That's meaningful. So this would, I mean, if this actually was able to be done, it would actually... We've written about production and this change with able to be Report an error in the passage at 18:35 Highlight the passage at 18:35

19:00 be as disturbed by these things that we'll often refer to as all things I can't get at all. And we won't find that, for instance... Report an error in the passage at 19:00 Highlight the passage at 19:00

19:15 She said, I want to know my anxious is fine, so if you grab it, come down the saw, and it's really great, and they have no mind at all. Report an error in the passage at 19:15 Highlight the passage at 19:15

19:24 cool. Report an error in the passage at 19:24 Highlight the passage at 19:24

19:29 I Report an error in the passage at 19:29 Highlight the passage at 19:29

19:34 was taught this practice by in 1975, so it's quite a long time ago, the settling in the mind is natural. That's when I first was I just find it has enormous applications for mental health, for people having problems with mental health, but also for accentuating mental health. I mean, here's your baseline, you're okay. Report an error in the passage at 19:34 Highlight the passage at 19:34

20:00 So it can really help people with post-traumatic stress disorder. I think there could be a lot of research to be done there, a lot of practical benefit. But also when you're kind of like, maybe you don't need any therapy anymore, you're as healthy as most people around, continuing the practice and just keep on going and developing exceptional levels of mental health and balance. Report an error in the passage at 20:00 Highlight the passage at 20:00

20:21 So my short answer to your question is that no, I don't know research in that area, but I think there's enormous potential. And you can see the parallel with the lucid dreaming. I love going there because the parallels are very, very strong and multifaceted. But when you're dreaming, you're hallucinating, right? Report an error in the passage at 20:21 Highlight the passage at 20:21

20:41 Every time you're dreaming, you're hallucinating. You're seeing people where there aren't any people. And rocks where there aren't rocks and everything else is one great big hallucination. And when you're non-lucid, then as Freud said, you're hallucinating and you're psychotic. Because you're actually taking everything to be real, and so you're fundamentally wrong about everything you're experiencing. That is temporary psychosis. And then, of course, we're very vulnerable. Report an error in the passage at 20:41 Highlight the passage at 20:41

21:01 So I think studies have been done for, just statistically speaking, something like 80 % of dreams are unpleasant. Just cross the boards. But as soon as you become lucid, I mean, I've been, I think generally, I mean, the lucid dreams I've had, they always have a quality of euphoria to them. They're pleasant, there's kind of some joy, the joy of knowing the nature of reality you're experiencing. But the point there being that when you're in the midst of a lucid dream, you're still hallucinating. Report an error in the passage at 21:01 Highlight the passage at 21:01

21:31 You're still seeing people and they're talking and having conversations and all kinds of things are happening. But you're recognizing the hallucination as a hallucination, which means you're not delusional. Report an error in the passage at 21:31 Highlight the passage at 21:31

21:41 Because you're seeing the reality as it is. It doesn't get better than that. And so taking that as a strong analogy, if you have people, as you were just describing, And they're hallucinating. But they recognize they're hallucinating. That's an enormous stride. I mean, that means they are sane. They are sane. Report an error in the passage at 21:41 Highlight the passage at 21:41

22:00 Dave, the other side to that, and your referral to your materialists, interesting aside is when materialists actually get into the state. Report an error in the passage at 22:00 Highlight the passage at 22:00

22:11 they have a bit of a sort of stash and that actually recognizes that they are very comfortable with the idea of their skin and their skin brain and their body and how well they say. Report an error in the passage at 22:11 Highlight the passage at 22:11

22:23 interesting phenomenon. I spoke to it with this song there at the end, and that's the end. Report an error in the passage at 22:23 Highlight the passage at 22:23

22:34 still believes quite a day. Report an error in the passage at 22:34 Highlight the passage at 22:34

22:42 Thank you. And I think there should be really a lot of research there. And there should be not only one Tuscany, there should be a lot of Tuscanys. Places that are dedicated to high quality meditation. There's a lot of, you know, like everything else. Like art. There's goofy art, new age art, garbage art. And then, you know. Report an error in the passage at 22:42 Highlight the passage at 22:42

23:01 So many levels. And likewise meditation. Anybody can say I can teach meditation. They start teaching whatever they like. Sometimes it's helpful, sometimes not. But there are very rigorous, deeply rooted systems of meditation that have proven themselves for a thousand or two thousand years. That's what I'm sharing here. I'm not sharing anything really fresh, but I do formulate. Yeah, formulate in sometimes fresh ways. But I have a lot of confidence in what I'm passing on here. Report an error in the passage at 23:01 Highlight the passage at 23:01

23:27 And so if we have multiple aces, there really should be one in Australia, where you have people who are teaching, they're very professional, they've trained for 10, 20 years, just like scientists. They've trained for 10 or 20 years rigorously in theory and in practice. They put in minimum 10,000 hours of training or so of meditation. And then you have comfortably trained scientists, and then you have very serious dedicated practitioners. Report an error in the passage at 23:27 Highlight the passage at 23:27

23:49 Then you have a pool there where you could be doing kind of longitudinal research that would be enormously beneficial and potentially for everybody. Potentially for everybody. I'll just throw this out. One study that really should be done, but it would be expensive and take a good deal of time, would be something really simple. Report an error in the passage at 23:49 Highlight the passage at 23:49

24:06 You may know of a study done by Sarah Lazar. I've met her. She's a neuroscientist, a very capable one. She did it at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. And she studied long-term meditators. I think they were by large, maybe even exclusively, they were Vipassanā meditators. So doing a lot of mindfulness practice. About 10, 20 years, maybe an hour a day, something like that. Report an error in the passage at 24:06 Highlight the passage at 24:06

24:27 So not trivial. And her famous study, I have it cited right there in Mind and the Balance, the study cited there in the paper. But she found that for these long-term meditators, that there was significantly less cortical thinning on the part of people who had meditated a lot, which bodes very well for cognitive deterioration, senile dementia and so forth. Report an error in the passage at 24:27 Highlight the passage at 24:27

24:49 So that's a nice little teaser. In the Samatha Project, one of the surprising findings that's now been published, And it was run by Elizabeth Blackburn, who since that study has got a Nobel Prize. It was on the effect of this three-month meditation. So I was teaching both, we had two or three-month periods, and one group was a control group for the other. People meditating, I think on the average, about only seven hours a day, so not terribly rare. Report an error in the passage at 24:49 Highlight the passage at 24:49

25:16 Some were doing like 10 or 11. That, as a result of that three-month training, there was some very specific effect in hours. I missed the term, whether it's telomerase, but telomeres. But a very positive effect on the telomeres, which indicated a slowing of the aging process is a result of meditation. Report an error in the passage at 25:16 Highlight the passage at 25:16

25:36 So there's two things, less cortical thinning and improvement in the telomeres. One would suggest this might be worthy of a lot more research. Well, the research I'd love to see, and it would be pretty straightforward, it would just have to be kind of expensive, would be if you could get meditators who are maybe no older than 40. Report an error in the passage at 25:36 Highlight the passage at 25:36

25:56 And start meditating. People 40, they could be younger. And have them meditate. Do some serious meditation. Something that has a track record to it that shows this really is helpful. Not something that somebody just dreamed up and maybe it worked, maybe it doesn't. And then take a group, as large as possible, who are really committed to meditating regularly. Report an error in the passage at 25:56 Highlight the passage at 25:56

26:17 Meditating by half an hour, one hour a day, but regularly. And then track them from age 40 to 60, do a longitudinal student study, and see senile dimension and Alzheimer's. Report an error in the passage at 26:17 Highlight the passage at 26:17

26:30 Statistically, any benefit? I wouldn't be surprised. And actually, my hypothesis would be, I think you're going to find it beneficial. But that's a hypothesis, not tested. But with my generation, a classic baby boomer generation, there are a lot of us getting old now. Report an error in the passage at 26:30 Highlight the passage at 26:30

26:50 And then especially if you have a parent or some other relative, you have sort of genetic proclivity for either female dementia or Alzheimer's. I don't have that, but I think if my parents had that, I would think I'd be kind of living in some dread, thinking when's the hammer going to strike? And then any kind of thing that would empower you to say, yes, there's genetic expression, but I've met some world-class geneticists, and they're emphatic. Report an error in the passage at 26:50 Highlight the passage at 26:50

27:14 Eric Landry at MIT, I know him utterly well. He's really emphatic. Genetics is not predetermination. Genetics is not predetermination. It has to do with epigenetics. You can't change your genes, but you can change the chemical environment of the genes, which means you can change the gene expression. And in so doing, even if you have a genetic proclivity for ADHD, for Alzheimer's, what have you, you may be able to train mentally and thereby alter the chemical, I'm looking for the right word, Report an error in the passage at 27:14 Highlight the passage at 27:14

27:50 But in any case, you can alter the gene firing, the firing of the gene, and then thereby very possibly not get that for which you have a genetic proclivity, Alzheimer's, ADHD and many others. So with this kind of large hump of the baby boomers coming in, and we'll be seeing them for the next 20, 30 years, I think it's enormously important research to be done. Report an error in the passage at 27:50 Highlight the passage at 27:50

28:14 And it's related to what you're talking about. And it would be easy to do. But it would take a pretty big grant to do a 20-year study. But we came out to be releasing it. Report an error in the passage at 28:14 Highlight the passage at 28:14

28:27 Yes, go for it. My question Report an error in the passage at 28:27 Highlight the passage at 28:27

28:39 is, my earth becomes a wing. Just say it again. My earth becomes a wing. Earth becomes a wing, yes. It's called a dust storm. don't hear you. Report an error in the passage at 28:39 Highlight the passage at 28:39

· · · silence, 1 minute

29:29 that. Report an error in the passage at 29:29 Highlight the passage at 29:29

29:43 question is, should I... I can tell Report an error in the passage at 29:43 Highlight the passage at 29:43

30:01 you what, it just leaps to mind. The infirmary. The infirmary. When I'm responding to questions, kind of, if in doubt, say the infirmary. It really is. Because there's kind of no downside. The downside, if you spend a lot of time in the infirmary, is you might become a little bit... Report an error in the passage at 30:01 Highlight the passage at 30:01

30:26 Infirmary what? Well, Report an error in the passage at 30:26 Highlight the passage at 30:26

30:35 practice make it perfect. But if you can really turn that into not nappy time, or just kind of fling, oh, I'm resting now, excuse me. Report an error in the passage at 30:35 Highlight the passage at 30:35

30:47 If you can adopt that posture with all of the kind of rigor that you would adopt, you know, a very, very formal meditative posture. for me what? Wasn't so good for me last night. Report an error in the passage at 30:47 Highlight the passage at 30:47

30:55 But this is my very formal meditative posture. Ten, hut, and you're in the supine position. And then really going to the practice with conscientiousness, with commitment, with real earnestness. And it's all about really deeply relaxing. And the key here, I'm going to say it again, because it really bears repeating again and again. Report an error in the passage at 30:55 Highlight the passage at 30:55

31:19 It's the breath. It's the respiration. Not just that you're breathing, but it's learning how to breathe effortlessly. I've led, now it's eight, eight, eight-week retreats in Phuket. And I've had people go for weeks and weeks. Sometimes it's the eighth week. And these are intelligent people, they're listening, they're earnest and so forth. But on more than one occasion there have been people who are practicing seven eight hours a day and it's only in the eighth week they learn how to breathe. Report an error in the passage at 31:19 Highlight the passage at 31:19

31:45 And not because they're stupid or not listening or anything like that. It's just that a lot of people are bringing so much tension, so much tension to the practice, so much tightness, so much desire. So much ambition, so much goals, setting standards for themselves, striving, and the feeling they're not striving enough, and they're trying to be out-clever themselves, and trying to fix it, fix it, fix it. Report an error in the passage at 31:45 Highlight the passage at 31:45

32:08 And all that, never really learning how to completely release the breath, that it flows as if you're deep asleep. That's the short way of phrasing it. The breath is just flowing unimpededly as if you're deep asleep. I have a hypothesis I imagine is true. But I've never actually heard it's true. And that is that, here we are, we go to bed at whenever night, often we go to bed, pretty tired, that's why we're going, tired, fatigued, maybe in body and mind. Report an error in the passage at 32:08 Highlight the passage at 32:08

32:39 Well, I can hardly keep my head up. I'm really wiped out, I'm drained, I'm pooped. And we go to bed. And then eight hours later, wake up fresh as a day. Happens often, right? It's called getting a good night's day. My hypothesis is... That part of the magic of that, because it's really quite wonderful, you wake up so fresh and revitalizing and all of that. I don't take so many things for granted. Report an error in the passage at 32:39 Highlight the passage at 32:39

33:02 That's one of the things I don't take for granted. My hypothesis is that a major aspect of that kind of revitalizing, balancing, rejuvenating, refreshing quality that we get from a good night's sleep occurs in non-REM sleep, in stage four non-REM sleep. And I strongly suspect that an element of that that is so refreshing, so soothing, is the type of breathing that takes place when we're anonymous. Report an error in the passage at 33:02 Highlight the passage at 33:02

33:33 That's my hypothesis. It's not a big deal, but that's my intuition. That the kind of breathing that takes place there when we're totally out of the way, and the body is saying, finally you fell asleep, thank goodness. And then it can start repairing all the damage system during the daytime. It doesn't... Report an error in the passage at 33:33 Highlight the passage at 33:33

33:52 It doesn't necessarily happen so much when we're dreaming. And dreaming has its own function, and that's still being studied a lot by scientists. What's it good for? Report an error in the passage at 33:52 Highlight the passage at 33:52

34:02 Again, from an evolutionary perspective, why are we dreaming? But when we're dreaming, of course, we can be having all kinds of emotions and restlessness and unhappiness and depression and anxiety and fear and so forth. So that's not going to be so restful, really. It can be useful in other ways. But when all of that is gone, and you just go into deep, deep sleep. Report an error in the passage at 34:02 Highlight the passage at 34:02

34:23 The type of breathing there, I have a strong predilection. It's the respiration in that deep sleep that is kind of the vehicle for this deep healing, rejuvenation and all of that. So that said, if that's true, maybe I'm clearly false. I thought I'm wildly false, but maybe it's not all that true. But my predilection right now is I've not heard any contrary evidence, so that's my working hypothesis. Report an error in the passage at 34:23 Highlight the passage at 34:23

34:47 But now what's it good for? If while we're awake, wide awake, bright-eyed, bushy-tailed, But we are so relinquishing control, regulation, control is the word, over the breathing, not holding it up, just nothing, no forcing, no impeding, nothing. If we can be fully conscious of the breath, but allowing the breathing to proceed, as if we're deep asleep, so we've almost fooled the body, the mind is being so quiet, and the body just does its own thing, that right when you're in the waking state, a lot of that, that revitalization Revitalization, rejuvenation, bouncing, refreshing and so forth can occur when you're not asleep. And that's been kind of my experience. When I'm meditating about, you need four hours of sleep. Report an error in the passage at 34:47 Highlight the passage at 34:47

35:37 So last night I went to bed at 10, I was at 2. By the time at 2, I knew there was no more sleep for me. But that was no problem. I didn't need any more. But I'm spending a lot of time here, as I do generally when I'm leading retreats, a lot of time meditating. So less wear and tear. But it kind of gives me that hunch. So for yourself, The infirmary, where you're just going into a deep, deep state of relaxation, and just very gently seeking to maintain the level of clarity you have right now, which is quite sufficient. Report an error in the passage at 35:37 Highlight the passage at 35:37

36:09 So just holding that, and then if this is the relaxation, just have this deep root system, which is going down and down and down, like you're going to melt right through the mattress. So deep, so everything is melting, soft, and the breathing is becoming luxuriously smooth. And working itself out, working the kinks out, that's what I would suggest. So I don't know if I've mentioned, maybe I have, the breathing in long, breathing short, I think I did mention that. Report an error in the passage at 36:09 Highlight the passage at 36:09

36:40 It's a sequence that's so simple that it should really catch our attention. The Buddha's four little statements, basically, about his instructions on mindfulness of breathing as a method for achieving shamatha. Because if you know the Pāli Canon, the Buddha actually gave the Ānāpānasati Sutta. The discourse on mindfulness of in and out breathing in sixteen phases. Sixteen phases. The last twelve of the pascha come to the culmination of those twelve and you become an arhat. Report an error in the passage at 36:40 Highlight the passage at 36:40

37:10 So you can use one method, mindfulness of breathing, it will take you from here to arhatship, if that's what you'd like to do. But the first four are simply shamatha. It's designed to go into jhāna. Report an error in the passage at 37:10 Highlight the passage at 37:10

37:22 And there he is. I mean, he could have, he spoke so much over 45 years, he could have spoken as much as he wanted about mindfulness of breathing. But this is the little tetra that keeps on coming up. I breathe in long. Breathing out long. I breathe out long. That's one. Breathing in short. I know I breathe in short. Breathing out short. I know I breathe in short. That's two. Attending to the whole breath. I breathe in. Report an error in the passage at 37:22 Highlight the passage at 37:22

37:47 Attending to the whole breath. I breathe out. That's three. And then calming, soothing the system of the body. I breathe in. Calming the system of the body. Report an error in the passage at 37:47 Highlight the passage at 37:47

37:56 That's all he did. He could have said so much more. Now commentaries, many, many commentaries. But that's all he said. He didn't give a commentary. And so that makes me come to be, I take a very minimalist approach to interpreting that. Because if he wanted to say more, he could have said more. You know, why not? He could have elaborated this exactly, and this is what I meant by all that. But he just said that. And so I look at that and say, okay, let's take that really seriously. Report an error in the passage at 37:56 Highlight the passage at 37:56

38:24 And then that breathing in long, breathing out long. In my experience, I'll reiterate just a little bit, that phase is where I sense some time. That's where the blockages, the kinks, the tightness, the constriction and so forth, it's working itself out by way of the respiration. The respiration related to the prāṇa, the prāṇa related to the mind. Report an error in the passage at 38:24 Highlight the passage at 38:24

38:48 And the mind related to prāṇa, prāṇa related to breath. And then when that's worked itself out, sometimes the breath is long, it's short, it's varied, it's long out-breath, pause and so forth. After it's worked out those kinks, then it goes into that sinusoidal, rather swift breathing. And that's when you're really in the kind of, that's when you've hit your stride. If you're a marathon runner, that's when you've hit your stride. Fairly rapid, and then the amplitude gradually subsiding, so less and less volume of air, until your just whole body, mind is so mellowed out, really soothed. Report an error in the passage at 38:48 Highlight the passage at 38:48

39:25 And then you slip right into John. So that's what I was just, really core. Report an error in the passage at 39:25 Highlight the passage at 39:25

39:37 Just the, we're just going, yeah, go ahead, and then we'll go back here. I'm just trying to, trying to be even here. Thank you. Oh yes, you were going to be first anyway, so I'm glad you have a chance. Here you are. We didn't miss you. We didn't miss you. My name is Sally. Sally. And I would like to ask a question about compassion meditation. In that, by its nature, my understanding is discursive meditation. Report an error in the passage at 39:37 Highlight the passage at 39:37

40:05 When you look at the sequence of moving from attention to cognition and then through... And the emotional states that may result from that, but also in the sequence described here includes being in motivation and behaviour. My question is around if the thoughts are arising within that discourse of meditation that relate to your own perhaps perceptions about motivation and changing behaviour in that is actually personally reflective. Report an error in the passage at 40:05 Highlight the passage at 40:05

40:41 Do you stay at the moment resulting in actions and responses to the aspiration? Do you stay with those thoughts or do you come through? Because they are actually an after effect of meditation rather than part of the process of that meditation. Report an error in the passage at 40:41 Highlight the passage at 40:41

41:06 I would say they actually are part of the process of meditation. I would say they are. If one is developing an aspiration to... Let's say you get a really good college education. One of the high school kids would like to get a really good college education. Again, it's inspiring. I'd like to get to this university or that university. Report an error in the passage at 41:06 Highlight the passage at 41:06

41:25 And this is the kind of education I'd like to get. I'd like to major in this or what have you. The aspiration is coming out. Well, in arousing that aspiration, there's no problem in thinking, and now how might I do that? How might I best prepare? Here in high school, I have a few courses to take. So how might I... Report an error in the passage at 41:25 Highlight the passage at 41:25

41:44 So now what might I do to realize that aspiration? And then with that education, what might I do with it? Because, of course, there's not an end in itself. You can use that education for something. How might that be beneficial? What kind of a career might I choose? How might that manifest? What would I love to see come out of that? Report an error in the passage at 41:44 Highlight the passage at 41:44

42:02 And so that can be all part of the same motivation. So you're seeing, okay, what's a preamble? How can I position my life so that I can get into the university I'd like to? So that's looking here. And then once I'm there, what kind of... Maybe I'd like to be able to do a major. Maybe that would be helpful. A major in this, minor in that. And so thinking about that, but then also thinking about what comes after that gives you the bigger picture, which I think would be very, very useful. Report an error in the passage at 42:02 Highlight the passage at 42:02

42:27 And that can be all in meditation on how to get a really good education. So likewise for compassion. Maybe on Saturday, Saturday morning, I'll slip into, we'll go into Mahāyāna mode. This is common ground. This is true for Theravata, it's good for Theravata, Mayana, everybody. Christians, Hindus, agnostics and atheists, this is really good Dharma. That's why I love starting here. Report an error in the passage at 42:27 Highlight the passage at 42:27

42:51 Because whatever your worldview is, this is really good. But I don't want to be shy about, well, okay, but if one is interested in Buddhism, maybe this is your path. And within Buddhism, maybe you've heard something about Mahāyāna, you'd like to know what's distinctive about the Mahāyāna path, the Bodhisattva path, which is distinctive from, it's different than. Report an error in the passage at 42:51 Highlight the passage at 42:51

43:10 The Theravāda Path, which is aimed at your own liberation, will go into what are called the four greats. And that is great compassion, great loving kindness, great empathetic joy, great equanimity. And they're qualitatively different. They're not going off in a different direction, but they're definitely going beyond the simple aspiration that characterizes the four immeasurables. Report an error in the passage at 43:10 Highlight the passage at 43:10

43:31 And how they do so is with intention. So I'll give you a sneak preview. I'm very moved by them myself. I have no appreciation for this. Everything I'm teaching here I love. Going to the Mayana, then my heart starts to sing. I'll take as an example great compassion. We've now just finished compassion and measurable. Pretty quite straightforward, nothing complicated or I think mysterious about it. Building on this, then the bodhisattva cultivating great compassion, or the one who's aspiring to become a bodhisattva, developing great compassion, begins that cultivation with a question. Report an error in the passage at 43:31 Highlight the passage at 43:31

44:13 And the question is, I like it in Tibet, in English, Report an error in the passage at 44:13 Highlight the passage at 44:13

44:23 why couldn't all sentient beings be free of suffering and the causes of suffering? It's a missing question. Why couldn't it? It's not rhetorical. It's inviting to reflect upon the question. Why couldn't we? Now, the underlying premise, a good working hypothesis, is absolutely my working hypothesis, is that we sentient beings, well, have a Buddha nature. Report an error in the passage at 44:23 Highlight the passage at 44:23

44:48 We have a capacity for awakening. Capacity for liberation, the capacity to be a Buddha. Working hypothesis. I can't prove it, but it's a really good working hypothesis. I'd prefer that one than the opposite. Report an error in the passage at 44:48 Highlight the passage at 44:48

45:01 And so if that's the case, if that's the case, let's take this as a working hypothesis and I'll do something to see whether we can test that. But if that's the case, if all sentient beings have a Buddha nature, then why couldn't they? Why couldn't each one, if you point to one person and another and another, like here? Report an error in the passage at 45:01 Highlight the passage at 45:01

45:21 Why couldn't you? What's your name? Julian. Why couldn't? Here's Julian, essentially. Why couldn't Julian be free of suffering and the causes of suffering? Why not? What's wrong with Julian? He may be suffering now, but does he have to suffer forever? Why couldn't Julian be free of suffering and the causes of suffering? Report an error in the passage at 45:21 Highlight the passage at 45:21

45:38 It's a good question. But then we say, well then, okay, but if that's the case, then why Julian or anybody else here? Why haven't we yet? Why haven't we yet? Because here we are, still floundering about going along in circles. And so it invites some really deep thinking. If we have the potential but it's not manifested, let's connect the dots. What do we need to do from here to there to manifest the potential we already have? Report an error in the passage at 45:38 Highlight the passage at 45:38

46:05 And so when one reflects upon that to all Sinjin beings, or just in nice English, why couldn't we all? Or why couldn't each of us? That's another way of phrasing, just ordinary English. Why couldn't each of us be free of suffering? Report an error in the passage at 46:05 Highlight the passage at 46:05

46:22 And then maybe kind of that light at the end of the tunnel, some inkling. You know, we actually could be. And when that comes up, it's not impossible. It's not impossible. Then arises the aspiration. Report an error in the passage at 46:22 Highlight the passage at 46:22

46:40 May it be so. May we be free. So that kind of that courage comes up, that aspiration comes up. If it's not impossible, then may it be so. That's the next one. Talbark your cheek. So the aspiration is coming up. Some juice is coming up. Some liveliness is coming up. Some vision is coming up. Report an error in the passage at 46:40 Highlight the passage at 46:40

47:02 We've done that already. So far, common ground. The next one is the distinctive one. Report an error in the passage at 47:02 Highlight the passage at 47:02

47:13 I shall make it so. I shall make it so. Where you take on personal responsibility. I had a lovely conversation with a woman just a couple of days ago. She visited me in Sydney. We were talking about the Tuscan property and she'd like to help out. And she said, you know what we need to do? We have to save the world. And I said, yeah, that's right. That's what we have to do. We have to save the world. You save the world, I'll save the world. Report an error in the passage at 47:13 Highlight the passage at 47:13

47:41 We can actually do it together. But each of us should have the kind of thought. Why not? Save the world. If there's something more important to do, well, then you won't do that. But if you can't think of anything more important to do, then save the world in a non-silly fashion. And so that's that commitment. May it be so. I shall make it so. And then, now this is in a religious context, so I am not embarrassed about that at all. Report an error in the passage at 47:41 Highlight the passage at 47:41

48:10 Then, Theracet Nubalama Le Chingilabjusur. Now, very religious. It's a supplication. It's a prayer that may be enlightened beings, that may be the guru. One spiritual mentor, may the enlightened beings bless me. May I receive a cascade of blessings, just blessings flowing in, to enable me to do so. In other words, I'll just rephrase that, but that's what it's stated. Report an error in the passage at 48:10 Highlight the passage at 48:10

48:33 I'll just rephrase that. May reality rise up to meet me. The fortunate circumstances rise up to meet me. The people I need to meet, the education I need to receive, the meditation I need to do, may reality rise up to meet me. Here's my supplication. It's a pretty good supplication. I'd like to do everything I possibly can to free each such a being from suffering in its cause. Now, there's my, I'm calling out to the universe, that's my inspiration. Report an error in the passage at 48:33 Highlight the passage at 48:33

49:00 So universe, and that's my commitment, that's what I'm going to do, I'm going to say, and then reality, it's now your turn, rise up to meet me, to enable me to carry through with that. So that's my, where it really becomes a commitment. And then, this is all a commentary on what you're saying, then to think, how could this happen? What could be done? Report an error in the passage at 49:00 Highlight the passage at 49:00

49:19 What are the practicalities? How can we bring about the cooperative, necessary cooperative causes and conditions to enable the potential of each sentient to manifest to their own fulfillment? Report an error in the passage at 49:19 Highlight the passage at 49:19

49:33 You're welcome. Maybe over here. Now we'll go back there. And this will be the last one for tonight, but we'll still have one more night to go. So we'll go to the back. I'm just trying to be so homogenous, trying to be even here. But we'll have more time for discussion tomorrow. Report an error in the passage at 49:33 Highlight the passage at 49:33

49:53 Renato? Renato, yes, thank you. In the practice of setting the one I'm say, I'm not sure whether I'm observing my thoughts or writing a commentary of my thoughts. Yeah. if you can speak that there's a difference. Report an error in the passage at 49:53 Highlight the passage at 49:53

50:12 Probably Report an error in the passage at 50:12 Highlight the passage at 50:12

50:17 both. You probably are observing some thoughts, but there's probably also commentary going on. And then you can observe the commentary. Report an error in the passage at 50:17 Highlight the passage at 50:17

50:31 The simple answer, which is maybe actually the best one, is in the midst of the thoughts arising and the commentary going on, as much as you can, To relax, to release, just loosen up. And again, it's establishing, call it whatever you like. It's said in Tibetan, awareness resting in its own place. It's one way phrasing it in English translation. The other one is awareness holding its own ground. When you are caught up in the commentary, when you're making this comment and that judgment and so forth and so on, your awareness is in motion. Report an error in the passage at 50:31 Highlight the passage at 50:31

51:06 It's thinking this thought, making that comment and so forth, evaluating and so forth. It's not a bad thing. It's just not this practice. Because in this practice, you're doing your very best to remain still. Report an error in the passage at 51:06 Highlight the passage at 51:06

51:18 Now, the stillness is discerning. The stillness is cognizant. It's clear, but it's maintaining this kind of primal, and I don't mean something transcendent, but just kind of a primal is the best word, a primal way of knowing. So when I gaze over at your T-shirt, Before I think anything, I'm seeing patterns. It looks to me like a hawk's head. When I'm making an interpreting, it might look a little bit dark, but it looks like a hawk's head? Report an error in the passage at 51:18 Highlight the passage at 51:18

51:44 Eagle. Eagle, there we go. But before I'm making sense of that, because it's not that clear from this distance, the light's not all that clear, but before I interpret, oh, okay, hawk's head, eagle's head, before that, I'm already knowing something, and that is just the colors themselves. And I don't need to say, that's white and that's green and that's brown and that's gray. Before I come out with any of the commentary, that's all redundant. Report an error in the passage at 51:44 Highlight the passage at 51:44

52:13 I already knew it before that came up. So when you're setting the mind as natural state, as much as you can, it's just kind of like, here would be the mudrā. In Report an error in the passage at 52:13 Highlight the passage at 52:13

52:26 that stillness, just be aware without commentary. And as soon as there's commentary coming up, then go again. And let the commentary, almost like a boy holding a kite in a strong wind. Report an error in the passage at 52:26 Highlight the passage at 52:26

52:42 And then just releasing the string. Release the string. Then another commentary comes up. Be aware of it. Release the string. So just keep on releasing, releasing, releasing. And the thoughts will still come out. That's okay. But release, release. And then as you release, then just come to rest. Like this. Not like this, but like this. Just come to rest in the present moment. Report an error in the passage at 52:42 Highlight the passage at 52:42

53:10 So it's just an ongoing process. And it gets subtler and subtler and subtler of releasing. And when you're released, what's left over when you're released is the stillness of your awareness. And Report an error in the passage at 53:10 Highlight the passage at 53:10

53:24 that's your home. That's your throne. That's your base camp. Keep on coming back. Report an error in the passage at 53:24 Highlight the passage at 53:24

53:41 So tomorrow we'll proceed on. Some of you, like Chris, are already aware of the practice of awareness of awareness. That's the crystal clear mountain spring, as far as I'm concerned. Quite tasty. Well, I can't say tasty, but quite delicious. So we'll venture into that tomorrow. Empathetic joy, equanimity. It should be a good day. Have a good night's sleep. See you tomorrow. Report an error in the passage at 53:41 Highlight the passage at 53:41