Four Immeasurables Retreat with B. Alan Wallace - Sydney 2014 (part 17)

· · · silence, 1 minute

0:31 position just before you go one more chef's delight another balancing that can be really really sweet that is yesterday I think it was yesterday evening I suggested this the combo plate balancing earth and wind works very very well It's really good in the supine, a total mellowing down, so you know that one. Report an error in the passage at 0:31 Highlight the passage at 0:31

1:00 The sky... This shorthand is awareness of awareness. It's really sharp, it's really luminous, it's bright, because you're going right into the sheer luminosity of awareness itself. So if one spends a lot of time in that, it can make you really wired, really hyper, extremely vivid. That can be a bit tiring. Report an error in the passage at 1:00 Highlight the passage at 1:00

1:22 But when it's balanced, so it's the... I like this metaphor. I haven't used it this time. I'll bring it out of the drawer. Report an error in the passage at 1:22 Highlight the passage at 1:22

1:30 The synergy is the cultivation of relaxation, stability, vividness, very much like a tree. Take, for example, a redwood, you know, those great big trees we have in California. The seed is very small. Put it in the soil and now run time-lapse photography for a thousand years. That's how long it takes them to get big. And what you're going to see, of course, so bear with me, is a little taproot comes down, a little chute comes up, and then over a thousand years you find this fantastic root system going down, really deep and broad, because that's going to be a lot of weight. Report an error in the passage at 1:30 Highlight the passage at 1:30

1:59 They can be 30 feet in diameter. And so you're going to see that going down, a little sprout then, and the sprout comes up. And then in that time-lapse photography, you find that little sprout gets taller and taller, but it really takes on girth, it takes on strength, right? And then the branches are reaching to the sun, and they can go up 150 feet. It's quite a treat. But all of these three things are taking place simultaneously. Report an error in the passage at 1:59 Highlight the passage at 1:59

2:20 The root system going into the soil, drawing the nutrients from the soil, the moisture from the soil, which then feeds not only the roots, but of course the trunk and the... Report an error in the passage at 2:20 Highlight the passage at 2:20

2:30 The trunk is a great highway. And then the foliage up there, of course, is taking energy from the sun. And so it's a pretty nice analogy. The root system is relaxation. The trunk is stability. The foliage, the branches reaching to the sky, to the sun, are vividness. And they're all feeding each other. Report an error in the passage at 2:30 Highlight the passage at 2:30

2:48 The energy from the sun, feeding the whole system. The trunk, feeding the whole system. The root system, feeding the whole system. And it's all synergistic. Report an error in the passage at 2:48 Highlight the passage at 2:48

2:57 But now if you have a tree that's that high and with that much bulk, you know it can't be like a palm tree that just has a little tiny root system like that because you blow over. So the higher you go, the deeper you have to go. The higher you go into vividness, intensity, luminosity, you better have a correspondingly deep root system of relaxation. Report an error in the passage at 2:57 Highlight the passage at 2:57

3:17 If you don't, you know it's going to happen. You're going to be fried. You're going to be so hypersensitive, so jangled. You won't be able to handle it. And so, but of course you have only root system that can get a little bit muddy. So there it is, you know, just turgid and heavy. So the synergistic balancing of these three, it's the core of shamatha. Report an error in the passage at 3:17 Highlight the passage at 3:17

3:37 But now if we're taking the top of the tree that's gotten closest to the sun, that's awareness of awareness, applied into the nucleus of luminosity. But if you're going into the supine position, into the infirmary, total emphasis on relaxation, releasing, releasing, releasing, simply without losing clarity. Report an error in the passage at 3:37 Highlight the passage at 3:37

3:55 No other agenda. And that's your really deep root system. You bring those two together back to back, like for example supine position, infirmary, roll out of it, come into the sitting upright position, into awareness of awareness. Really sweet. And if you have three sessions, go right back down again. And all that clarity will assimilate right into the root system. And so your relaxation becomes more and more vivid and your clarity becomes more and more relaxed. Report an error in the passage at 3:55 Highlight the passage at 3:55

4:22 And it's free. On the house. Find a comfortable position. I'll just give you two sessions. Report an error in the passage at 4:22 Highlight the passage at 4:22

· · · silence, 1 minute

5:31 So questions or comments? I'll try to be again very equal, just coming forward, backward. Any questions or comments? Yes, we'll start. Report an error in the passage at 5:31 Highlight the passage at 5:31

5:45 Just remind me once again if your name is Julian. Julian, thank you, Julian. Report an error in the passage at 5:45 Highlight the passage at 5:45

5:56 Say again? I just want you to look at my name closely. I was also through a nice brief section called Eger Appointment. Yes, right. Yeah, and I was just wondering, you were talking today about that woman who, in the end of 1988, she Report an error in the passage at 5:56 Highlight the passage at 5:56

6:31 felt that again. Were you referring to an inability to let go of her ego? Was that part of what that was? Sure, it's certainly implicated. It's certainly implicated. Yeah, the short answer is yes. What her fear was, was annihilation of herself. Which means they're grasping to the cell. Report an error in the passage at 6:31 Highlight the passage at 6:31

7:00 So we have two approaches there, and they're both really good, and just like two hands are better than one, they really work very well in, how do you say, in meshing together, interrelated together. There's this, as we probe in, we're doing exactly the practice we're doing here. We're breathing egolessly. That's putting the ego out of work. Report an error in the passage at 7:00 Highlight the passage at 7:00

7:19 That is, we can control the breath in any number of ways, right? But we're not. We're just breathing egolessly. That's a good start. And then normally we think thoughts and we have desires and so forth. And now we're just letting thoughts, desires and so forth come up all by themselves, which we could control, we can manipulate, but we don't. Report an error in the passage at 7:19 Highlight the passage at 7:19

7:37 We're attending to them egolously. And then we cut right into the awareness of awareness and there's just no ego in there. It's not a man or a woman, it's not old or young, it's just an egoless awareness. And if we get comfortable there, then we're resting in awareness egolously. And that's all shamatha. Report an error in the passage at 7:37 Highlight the passage at 7:37

7:54 Vipassanā is designed to really cut the root of the delusional graspment of the self, right? But this is shamatha. Shamatha is supposed to be just about training attention. But you can see this particular selection of methods is leading right to being actually able to cut the root of the delusional identification of a reified substantial self. Report an error in the passage at 7:54 Highlight the passage at 7:54

8:16 So there's one way of really emptying out, gutting, so to speak, the clinging to. A reified autonomous self. So there's one route. But the other route, which is so sweet, this one's really sharp. This one's really sharp. It's like a sharp knife. But the other one is so sweet. And that is, we fill our awareness with others. And we fill them with a sense of, this is my family. Report an error in the passage at 8:16 Highlight the passage at 8:16

8:41 This is my family. In fact, they're all my family. That whole notion of all sentient beings being our kin, attending to each one. As a loved one, as a friend and so forth, then we fill the space of our awareness in terms of loving kindness, compassion and so forth, things that we normally keep to ourselves. Report an error in the passage at 8:41 Highlight the passage at 8:41

8:56 I want me to be happy, I want me to be free of suffering, I take delight in my joys and my successes and so forth. So we fill our awareness with actually all sentient beings. So then you see there's this wonderful convergence between the two, empty out of a separate, polarized, autonomous, substantial self. Report an error in the passage at 8:56 Highlight the passage at 8:56

9:15 Empty that out and then fill it with all the other sentient beings. And then when you're going deep into the nature of awareness and that constructed sense of identity, because that's what it is, constructed sense of identity is melting away, then you actually experience that as bliss, as bliss. Whereas if you're not well prepared, then you experience that as terror. Report an error in the passage at 9:15 Highlight the passage at 9:15

9:45 Yes, Dijamala, first row guy. Report an error in the passage at 9:45 Highlight the passage at 9:45

10:00 for something that occurred to me, is it expressed perhaps within the Dzogchen teachings of saying that the perspective of somebody who's attained to become a Buddha, and in a sense they'll look into their past, because they're creating their past and depends upon their observation, their present, they will basically literally say, That's true. What's that? That is unequivocally true. Report an error in the passage at 10:00 Highlight the passage at 10:00

10:32 There's no variation in view. That's the Dzogchen view. Report an error in the passage at 10:32 Highlight the passage at 10:32

10:41 And if you want to take one step backward, back to Nagarjuna, not down as in degraded, but just foundational. So we're up there on the top floor of Dzogchen. But the Dzogchen is the songiness makes it extremely clear. The Dzogchen is absolutely compatible with the Madhyamaka, the view of emptiness. And in fact, if you have not really understood emptiness, you'll never get the Dzogchen. Because your reification of the mind is going to block you like a concrete ceiling. Report an error in the passage at 10:41 Highlight the passage at 10:41

11:06 But if we step back to Nagarjuna, the Mula Majamaka Karika, his root text on the middle way, you'll see among the many things that he deconstructs is time. Report an error in the passage at 11:06 Highlight the passage at 11:06

11:21 Time also has no inherent nature. And if it doesn't, then the time did not absolutely occur. The past did not absolutely occur in one particular way, otherwise time would be an inherent existence. So the foundation is there. But this quantum cosmology is absolutely mind-blowing. And then when you see who wrote about it, who brought this forth, it gives it all the more grandeur, because these are absolutely top, top-notch, quite extraordinary. Report an error in the passage at 11:21 Highlight the passage at 11:21

11:49 So, we'll go back. Susan, there's the next one. Good. Report an error in the passage at 11:49 Highlight the passage at 11:49

12:00 Sure, please, absolutely. Good. Report an error in the passage at 12:00 Highlight the passage at 12:00

12:03 Well, I'm teeming breath. almost feel like I'm thinking rest. I can't be or It's almost like I'm really aware, but I also think that's a thought. Awareness itself is not a thought, but thought often gets entangled in awareness. But just being aware, so I'm going to do it right now, I'm going to gaze at your sweater for four or five seconds. Report an error in the passage at 12:03 Highlight the passage at 12:03

12:38 Not a thought passed through my mind. I was watching. There wasn't a thought. But I'm still picking up blue. So do you have any advices to how to think about something quite a bit? Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 12:38 Highlight the passage at 12:38

12:55 But we need a technique. I mean, that is the answer. Because that is the fundamental technique for releasing excitation. The core primary technique for releasing excitation is loosen up, relax, let go. The core primary method for alleviating, overcoming dullness, laxity, getting spaced out, arouse, focus. Report an error in the passage at 12:55 Highlight the passage at 12:55

13:18 But we need a technique, especially for the relaxation business. It's not enough for me to wag my finger at you and say, hey, relax more, chill, relax. You know, people get kind of tired of hearing that. Report an error in the passage at 13:18 Highlight the passage at 13:18

13:28 Then we need a method. And there is a method. A really natural time to relax, where it comes again very naturally, very easily, is when you're breathing out. Even a dead person can breathe out. If you breathe in and then you suddenly die, you can still breathe out. You will. Because it's effortless. If you just died, you won't be able to breathe in. But if you just died, you can breathe out. So that shows how relaxed you can be to breathe out. Report an error in the passage at 13:28 Highlight the passage at 13:28

13:55 My breath is very heavy, so it's a very shallow effect. Report an error in the passage at 13:55 Highlight the passage at 13:55

14:03 I'm trying to release to the end of the prayer, feel like if I... forgiven to that. so back to my office, it's kind Report an error in the passage at 14:03 Highlight the passage at 14:03

14:16 understand, that's the key. Yeah, and generally, let me ask you this. When the breath is hardly there, what's the feel of it? How would you describe it? How do you feel when the breath is really shallow like that? How do you feel? Report an error in the passage at 14:16 Highlight the passage at 14:16

14:35 And in fact, I'm aware when I'm not by just trying to do that. So I am very aware when I'm not doing that. And so I am releasing, but still that... And there's a final question. Is there any difference in terms of what you described? Really good. Spot on. Right on the path. Just a final question. Do you notice any difference? Report an error in the passage at 14:35 Highlight the passage at 14:35

15:08 In what you just described, when you're sitting upright in meditation versus flat out Shavasana. Report an error in the passage at 15:08 Highlight the passage at 15:08

15:20 A Report an error in the passage at 15:20 Highlight the passage at 15:20

15:23 little bit deeper when you're lying down? No, sorry, it's deeper when I'm sitting up. Aha, yeah, yeah, yeah. Deeper when you're sitting up. And in terms of between sitting up and lying down, any difference in terms of the chatter? Report an error in the passage at 15:23 Highlight the passage at 15:23

15:37 It varies, it really varies. It varies a lot, yeah. I think I've made my diagnosis. sis. Awareness of awareness. Awareness of awareness. When you're resting, here's my symbol for it, just the unflickering candle flame, but you're just right there, right? So you're not looking at anything. So when you're looking at something, then the kind of the rust or the erosion of thoughts can come in and they can kind of pepper it and filter it like barnacles gathering onto a ship that's going that way, right? Report an error in the passage at 15:37 Highlight the passage at 15:37

16:12 Whereas when you're just resting like that, right in the awareness itself, Then you are resting right where thoughts would emerge from if they emerge. Because thoughts emerge from the awareness. It can come from any place else. So if you're resting right there, and you're very attentive, if you're right there in the present moment, then if a thought comes up, you're going to be aware of it as soon as it comes up. Report an error in the passage at 16:12 Highlight the passage at 16:12

16:37 You're kind of like a cat staring at a mouse hole six inches away. If a mouse comes out, you're going to see it as soon as it comes. Because you're not looking someplace else. You're just resting right where it would come out. So if you can do that, and again, enormous emphasis on, if you're resting there, really relaxed. Report an error in the passage at 16:37 Highlight the passage at 16:37

16:56 It can't be like that. But it sounds like you're doing fine. So if you're resting right like that, but not attending to anything, not the breath or anything else, you're just resting there. Report an error in the passage at 16:56 Highlight the passage at 16:56

17:11 Then you might find it doesn't get still, it's already still and it stays still. Let's try it for 15 seconds, okay? I'll just more or less count. Just go ahead and put the mic down. And just rest. But 15 seconds. And just do that. Just rest right there at the aperture. Rest at the aperture of the mouth of the mind. Report an error in the passage at 17:11 Highlight the passage at 17:11

17:30 If it's going to talk, it's going to be talking right where you already are. So let's try that for 15 seconds. Report an error in the passage at 17:30 Highlight the passage at 17:30

18:05 Good. Report an error in the passage at 18:05 Highlight the passage at 18:05

18:12 Hit and miss. Then, that's what archers say when they're learning how to shoot the arrow. That's the reason to shoot the arrow many more times. And then it's hit, hit, hit. This, you know, the nature of this retreat. Now everybody knows it's almost over. There's a lot of talk, and a lot of the talk is rather stimulating, right? That's not good for calling me in the mind. To have me here is not that good for calling me in the mind. Report an error in the passage at 18:12 Highlight the passage at 18:12

18:38 Because I keep on giving you electric shocks. Like that. So when I'm gone, this is going to go a lot better. Report an error in the passage at 18:38 Highlight the passage at 18:38

19:08 You know, instead of saying a bummer, because that's just kind of like saying, that's like saying, like having a handful of soot and saying, oh, I just smeared my face. Who could do that? Who could do that? Report an error in the passage at 19:08 Highlight the passage at 19:08

· · · silence, 1 minute

19:17 Oh good, let's clean it up. Report an error in the passage at 19:17 Highlight the passage at 19:17

19:21 Because you just compounded black on black, you know. Like the bummer part. That was the addition. That was the second time. Swiping. But you know, the smile you have on your face right now, that's what you should bring to the meditation. It's really relaxed, it's cheerful, you're not frustrated, you're not angry, you're not impatient. You're smiling. That's what you want to bring. And so when it comes up, just smile and relax. Report an error in the passage at 19:21 Highlight the passage at 19:21

19:43 Because as soon as you do it's gone. And you're right there again. Whenever we're carried away, we're always aware of it retrospectively, so by the time we're aware of it, it's already finished, so why not just put on a happy smile? Report an error in the passage at 19:43 Highlight the passage at 19:43

19:58 Good, very good. Okay, well, last chance, last chance, Hamasri. Things Report an error in the passage at 19:58 Highlight the passage at 19:58

· · · silence, 1 minute

20:36 arising in your mind, and then I was fine meditating on awareness on awareness. What I could never seem to do just this week was meditate on things arising in your mind because nothing did arise. I would be in this really concentrated state of attention. Report an error in the passage at 20:36 Highlight the passage at 20:36

21:10 but didn't arrive and we were forever still a lot of time what I could do is get lost in my everybody I'll give you Report an error in the passage at 21:10 Highlight the passage at 21:10

21:34 an analogy. You're not this kind of dad, but there are dads like this. Stern. Really stern. Not mean necessarily, but really stern. So imagine the dad has some kids, and the kids know he's really stern, he's a tough nut, and the dad says, okay kids, just play spontaneously, go ahead, I'm going to watch. Report an error in the passage at 21:34 Highlight the passage at 21:34

21:57 Go ahead, go ahead, just be cheerful, just be playful, go ahead. Report an error in the passage at 21:57 Highlight the passage at 21:57

22:14 So relax. There's a lovely metaphor, it's about a thousand years old, and it's the player, and you'll remember it, everybody remembers it, it's the player, as in... Ladies man, a guy who really liked women. The player, because it's a modern term, but the old term is bashful maiden. It's the bashful maiden one. Report an error in the passage at 22:14 Highlight the passage at 22:14

22:34 You remember it? You ever heard of it? Yeah. Bashful maiden is really sweet. So everybody, not everybody, has anybody not heard about the bashful maiden? Okay, that's enough. So, yes, I will tell the bashful maiden. It's one of three classic... Parable metaphors pertaining to this practice, settling the mind as natural state. And the bashful maiden metaphor is classic times. There's a young, beautiful, bashful maiden, and she's crossing the village plaza, right? Report an error in the passage at 22:34 Highlight the passage at 22:34

23:02 And then hanging out as kind of a player. Is that okay? Looking like a player? Old geezer player? But imagine, they used to call them rakes. Remember they called them rakes, a young rake? So here's the young rake, and he's just kind of cruising for the babes. And he's seeing, oh, there's a babe, there she's coming. Report an error in the passage at 23:02 Highlight the passage at 23:02

23:22 And he ogles her. If it were a cartoon, his tongue would come out, and his eyes would go on. In a cartoon, that's what they do, right? But he's really giving her the laser look. But she's a bashful maiden. As soon as she feels his intensity, his interest and his gaze on her, she vanishes. She's a bashful maiden. And so your thoughts are the bashful maiden. And the intensity of your gaze is just making all the bashful maiden vanish on sight. Report an error in the passage at 23:22 Highlight the passage at 23:22

23:51 So it's more casual. So you're the player. You have to be a more casual, suave player. So I'm the player and you're the chick. You ready? Want me to show you how to do it? Report an error in the passage at 23:51 Highlight the passage at 23:51

24:14 Good. You've never been the chick before. Report an error in the passage at 24:14 Highlight the passage at 24:14

24:21 Everybody's clear. All good. All right. Okay, boy, we're really holding up here. Go ahead. You have a chance. Report an error in the passage at 24:21 Highlight the passage at 24:21

24:37 I'm getting a bit confused, but I feel like, you know, being in Shabata, yoga or yoga, what's the difference? Is it just the focus? Like, I'm wondering, is that the meditation? Report an error in the passage at 24:37 Highlight the passage at 24:37

25:03 I think so. Why don't I go ahead and answer and then you can tell me whether my arrow is hitting your target. I've had a number of yoga teachers over the years, but my primary one was BKS Iyengar. I spent about two and a half months quite intensively training with him. I'm spending five hours a day in his ashram in Pune. And so he taught me all the asanas I know. Report an error in the passage at 25:03 Highlight the passage at 25:03

25:25 And this was so 33 years ago. I was a Buddhist monk living in a Christian ashram going to Hindu yoga. Report an error in the passage at 25:25 Highlight the passage at 25:25

25:36 But he taught every single one of the asanas with the equal, utterly homogenous degree of precision and demanding. He was very demanding. And so when he taught Shavasana, he taught it again, just that precision, everything precise, palms up, everything, boom, boom, boom. And then he commented, he said, you have to master Shavasana before you learn how to meditate. You have to nail this one before you're ready to meditate. Report an error in the passage at 25:36 Highlight the passage at 25:36

26:01 I think I got what he was saying. That this is easy. A corpse can do that. A dope can do that. You can lie down and fall asleep. Or lie down and relax. Anybody can do that. So he was demanding. He wasn't suggesting something. This is so easy I don't even need to say it. It wasn't so easy. That's why he did say it. You need a master of the Shavasana. And so he was not a man of a lot of words. He was mostly action and pointing out to his teacher. Report an error in the passage at 26:01 Highlight the passage at 26:01

26:30 I'll tell you my interpretation of what he's getting at. And that is, number one, there is a posture, this particular way to position the body. But within that, it is maintaining a meditative stance of awareness. Presence of awareness where you're fully present throughout the whole field of the body. You remember, when you're doing the Trikonashana, for example, he'll tell you what it should feel like on the outside of your, let's say, your right foot. Report an error in the passage at 26:30 Highlight the passage at 26:30

26:54 He'll tell you what this should feel like. That's what, you know, like that. He'll be talking in that kind of degree of subtlety. And so that calls for a full body presence, a mindful presence through every nerve ending, kind of inside and outside, frankly, to be just totally there, full-time job. So in the Shavasana, full-time job, every single moment, you are present fully in the body as it is. And that would be Shavasana, total mind-body integration. Report an error in the passage at 26:54 Highlight the passage at 26:54

27:23 So I think that's my understanding of his interpretation of resting in Shavasana, that the mind is absolutely indicated. So a tiny variation on this, and I don't think this even diverges from what he was saying, tiny variation on that, is when you're in the Shavasana, Unless you're doing the infirmary, practicing the infirmary, then you're not visualizing the body because there's no need. That's just rubbish. Report an error in the passage at 27:23 Highlight the passage at 27:23

27:50 That's clutter. You're not thinking about a body. That's more clutter. So you're just resting, frankly, and from a first person perspective, you're just resting in space because your eyes are closed. So there's no images coming out of body, leg, torso, head. You don't need them. They're just, again, it's noise. So you're just resting in space, a somatic space. Report an error in the passage at 27:50 Highlight the passage at 27:50

28:11 And your awareness is permeating that space. And then what's happening in that space? Fluctuations corresponding in-breath, out-breath. That's it. And then if you'd really like to use this as a platform to go deeper, deeper into shamatha, then... Now, this is not Iyengar. This is a drawing actually from the Dzogchen tradition. Report an error in the passage at 28:11 Highlight the passage at 28:11

28:30 I like to mesh things. In the Dzogchen tradition, that's where I've seen the introduction multiple times by Patna Sambhara, a great Dzogchen teacher, the whole theme of the rhythm. The oscillation, the arousal release, arousal release. That's him. Really a good technique. And so if you're doing the infirmary there, then you are taking up that first challenge of from breath to breath, melting, relaxing, letting go. Report an error in the passage at 28:30 Highlight the passage at 28:30

28:55 And again, the obvious time to do it is out-breath. Just kind of after a while you feel like if you're on a mattress, maybe you'll just drip right through and there'll be a little puddle of you beneath the mattress. You know, that loose, that relaxed. And you're just releasing into that with every out-breath. Report an error in the passage at 28:55 Highlight the passage at 28:55

29:11 And then you may just gently be present, be totally present, accentuate just a little bit, just to get back to the norm, and then releasing again. So then Shavasana. Shavasana in the infirmary. Okay? Report an error in the passage at 29:11 Highlight the passage at 29:11

29:29 That's right. Shavasana is yoga and it's meditation. It's right on the cusp. It's got a foot in both worlds. Report an error in the passage at 29:29 Highlight the passage at 29:29

29:44 Generally that's true. But it doesn't have to be. We are a creature's habit and creatures of association. So if we first start using the Shavasana as a meditative posture when we're 30, that means we have 30 years of habituating to the contrary. Every time we lie down, it's to take a nap, to daybreak and watch television, whatever, flake out. And so that means that if we've been doing that for 30 years, then when we go into the supine position, that's what just comes to mind, the association. Report an error in the passage at 29:44 Highlight the passage at 29:44

30:16 Whereas, you know, people from our culture, we don't sit like this. Unless it's for meditation. We don't learn that also. So as soon as we start sitting like this, then there's immediately, it's kind of the Pavlovian response, I must be meditating, I'm sitting like this. And so then we're just creatures of habit. This is why when I teach Shavasana, I very strongly emphasize, pretty much everywhere, never use this posture for anything other than yoga and meditation. Report an error in the passage at 30:16 Highlight the passage at 30:16

30:42 Never fall asleep in it, don't daydream in it, don't do anything in it. Then by association, being really strict in it. Then by association, every time you slip into it, they think, I must be either practicing yoga or meditation or yoga meditation. In which case then, it can be, because I've done thousands of hours in the Shavasana, I can just tell you, it can be as crystal clear as sitting upright like this. Report an error in the passage at 30:42 Highlight the passage at 30:42

31:05 The crucial point is that your spine is straight, but it doesn't have to be erect. Now most of it, when you're sitting, we're going to be clearer this way, but also somewhat tenser, because you have to flex the muscles here, otherwise you'll fall over. Whereas in Shavasana, you're an emanating corpse. But in principle, this can be really, really relaxed. So there are Tibetan yogis. Report an error in the passage at 31:05 Highlight the passage at 31:05

31:27 They come up every several years. Just what just happened. I just got the news this morning. Anybody know Lothra Ramoche, Dama Lothra Ramoche? He just passed away. Gelig Ramoche from Michigan in the United States. Just got a message from him. Outstanding, really, really good. He died sitting up. So yogis do that sometimes. Report an error in the passage at 31:27 Highlight the passage at 31:27

31:51 So I don't know the aftermath. He just passed away recently. But there are quite a number of yogis. This happens, not infrequently. The yogi will call in his disciples. And some are yogi, not specific, not just a yogi. The yogi will call in his disciples and say, OK, now everything, we're all finished here. Report an error in the passage at 31:51 Highlight the passage at 31:51

32:12 I'm about to die. Any final questions? Like Buddha Shakyamuni, he did the same thing. Any final questions? About to wrap it up, close up shop here. Everybody happy? OK, good. They'll die. Report an error in the passage at 32:12 Highlight the passage at 32:12

32:26 Because he's finished. He's finished. He did everything he needed to do. It wasn't called Gomba Zopa. The intention has been fulfilled. What you wanted to do with this life? Finished. Okay. And then they'll sit like this, and they'll die. They'll die. But if they're really accomplished meditators, if they've already had some realization, not only of the substrate consciousness, but they've broken through the substrate consciousness to pristine awareness, if they've had that experience. Report an error in the passage at 32:26 Highlight the passage at 32:26

32:52 This happens about every year, at least once a year. Then you'll find these yogis, whether they're in a supine position, sitting up, heart will stop, respiration will stop, and then for days on end, a week, sometimes even a couple of weeks on end, they'll still remain sitting upright. Report an error in the passage at 32:52 Highlight the passage at 32:52

33:09 No heartbeat, no breath. That means there can't be any brain activity because, you know, what is it, 30, 40 seconds after the heartbeats and the brain shuts down. That's pretty fast. And there they are. And I've seen this myself. And there's no decomposition of the body while they're sitting like that. Report an error in the passage at 33:09 Highlight the passage at 33:09

33:26 And there's no smell at room temperature, like right here. They'll sit like that for a week, two weeks. There's no smell, no decomposition. The face looks like they're healthy. There's no power in all of that. On occasion what you'll find, a warmth of the heart, which is utterly inexplicable. The skin is nice and resilient, just like right now. Report an error in the passage at 33:26 Highlight the passage at 33:26

33:45 Skin, after a week of being dead, it's like that. And that's because, so they're abiding in what's called the clear light of death. Report an error in the passage at 33:45 Highlight the passage at 33:45

33:53 The pristine awareness is now arising spontaneously. You ascertain it and you sustain that ascertainment. And what's happened here is the subtlest energy, the subtlest prāṇa, is still there in the center of your heart, in the heart chakra. And as long as that connection is there, extremely subtle, very subtle energy, very subtle mind, innate mind of clear light, it's still there. That energy in mind, they're of the same, they're an alloy. Report an error in the passage at 33:53 Highlight the passage at 33:53

34:17 You can't separate them. It's an intrinsic alloy, primordial alloy. Very subtle energy, very subtle mind. And they're resting there. So there's this energy mind right in the center of the heart. And as long as that's there, the body won't decompose. Report an error in the passage at 34:17 Highlight the passage at 34:17

34:31 It doesn't. It would as many times, including my medical doctors, many other people. It's a fact. So it's quite interesting, because they're not dead. Because we all know what happens to dead bodies a week after death. You don't want to be anywhere near them. They stink. Disgusting. So they're not dead. Report an error in the passage at 34:31 Highlight the passage at 34:31

34:51 It's not a dead body, because that's not what dead bodies do. But they're not alive either, because alive bodies breathe, for example. They're neither dead nor alive. They don't fit into any of our category. And it happens every year. Report an error in the passage at 34:51 Highlight the passage at 34:51

35:10 So that means they're really relaxed. Report an error in the passage at 35:10 Highlight the passage at 35:10

35:15 So you can be really sharp in the supine. Many of them die in the supine. Or you can be really relaxed in the city. It's all a matter of practice. Report an error in the passage at 35:15 Highlight the passage at 35:15

35:30 It's not so well known. I translated it for him back in 1978. It's galuba, galubigation. about the Re-Push Academy that made the movie about American Re Report an error in the passage at 35:30 Highlight the passage at 35:30

35:35 Oh yeah, moving backwards, moving backwards. Yeah, okay, we'll go here first. Go over here. You told me your name, but you have to remind me once again, please. Elise. Elise, thank you, Elise. Yeah. Why don't you choose one now, because other people are waiting, so the most important one, and maybe we can come back, but for now one. Report an error in the passage at 35:35 Highlight the passage at 35:35

35:57 something that sparked my generosity a few days ago. He said there are physical correlates that are described for the mental states. As long as we're embodied, I'm choosing my words very carefully. Tibetan Buddhism, specifically Vajrayana Buddhism, Tantric Buddhism. And this is what I'm about to say. Report an error in the passage at 35:57 Highlight the passage at 35:57

36:16 It's been assumed as a working hypothesis for hundreds and hundreds of years, long before modern brain science or anything like that arose. And the assertion is as long as we're embodied. As long as we're embodied. For any mental state, any process, any mental process, any state of consciousness that you experience, there is always a correlated physical process taking place in the body. Report an error in the passage at 36:16 Highlight the passage at 36:16

36:40 Now what are they referring to? Do they know something about the frontal cortex or the brainstem? They don't. I mean, if they do, there's no record of it. Because that doesn't tend to be the kind of knowledge that comes up when you meditate. So what are they talking about? They're talking about the prāṇa system. Report an error in the passage at 36:40 Highlight the passage at 36:40

36:57 The prāṇa system, and that you do directly observe, and you can observe it with increasing clarity, sophistication and precision from a first-person perspective. And then once again, it's not something you can observe at all using the instruments of technology, any more than, if I ask you right now, please imagine the type of fruit, any kind of fruit you like. Report an error in the passage at 36:57 Highlight the passage at 36:57

37:16 There's no technology on the planet that can tell you what kind of fruit, that you know beyond a shadow of a doubt. But the fact that you can't measure it scientifically doesn't mean that you're not having it. Because you know actually exactly what fruit you are visualizing. So it's just like that. I mean, you know it unequivocally, but what you know is not something that can be measured with science thus far, maybe one day. Report an error in the passage at 37:16 Highlight the passage at 37:16

37:38 So, in the Hindu tradition, the Buddhist tradition, when they're speaking about these chakras, the channels, the nadis, and so forth, Report an error in the passage at 37:38 Highlight the passage at 37:38

37:48 I'm very, very confident you know what they're talking about. And it's on that level, the movements of prāṇa within the body. And there are five major types of prāṇa, five minor types of prāṇa. So this is very, very detailed. And it has a lot of play. It has a lot of practical application. So Indian Ayurvedic medicine, traditional Tibetan medicine, they are completely, how do you say, using that theory to make diagnoses of physical problems and then to treat them. Report an error in the passage at 37:48 Highlight the passage at 37:48

38:17 And both the diagnosis and the treatment are absolutely incorporating that theory of the different types of prāṇa into both the diagnosis and treatment. Report an error in the passage at 38:17 Highlight the passage at 38:17

38:27 So it's pretty sophisticated. And it's complementary to it. It's not in competition with any Western medicine at all. But it's coming in from another angle and reveals aspects about the body. Report an error in the passage at 38:27 Highlight the passage at 38:27

38:38 I know one doctor I got to know very well because I lived in his home for a year and a half or so. I was at that time the Dalai Lama's personal physician, Dr. Yishu Dundin. And he went grand rounds, I'm trying to remember where it was, grand rounds at one major hospital in the United States decades ago. And so the doctors had already, of course, made their diagnosis of every person who went. Report an error in the passage at 38:38 Highlight the passage at 38:38

39:01 So this Tibetan doctor in his robe, he's a Buddhist monk, and his diagnostic tools are his fingers. And so he was going with his, he was taking pulse from patient to patient and then giving his diagnosis of these patients. And the Western doctors, of course, had already diagnosed. And one case was water on the heart. Report an error in the passage at 39:01 Highlight the passage at 39:01

39:22 I'm sure it has a more technical name in English. Water on the heart? Does it ring a bell? What's that? Not heart failure. I hope you're not getting it wrong. It was a long, long time ago. I heard this like 35 years ago, so memories of it faint. I can just say it this way, that it was a very subtle diagnosis from the Western medical side, and they did understand what it was. Report an error in the passage at 39:22 Highlight the passage at 39:22

39:45 He comes in with his fingers, taking the pulse, and the two converged exactly. So I don't remember the exact name, but I do remember the principle of it. Report an error in the passage at 39:45 Highlight the passage at 39:45

40:03 I think that's it. Oh, you actually know the anecdote. Report an error in the passage at 40:03 Highlight the passage at 40:03

40:12 Yeah, it was a long time ago. But the simple point isn't just that. So that's what they're talking about. I don't want to belabor the point. But it's in that level, this prāṇa, that's what he's picking up with his fingers. It's incredibly subtle. And so that's what they're talking about. Good. that, I saw a few Report an error in the passage at 40:12 Highlight the passage at 40:12

40:36 Kathy, Report an error in the passage at 40:36 Highlight the passage at 40:36

40:39 not Carol? Kathy. Kathy, I'm sorry, please. Report an error in the passage at 40:39 Highlight the passage at 40:39

40:47 Yeah. I think three years ago I loved him and I seemed to die and he was a deep meditation for 18 days Report an error in the passage at 40:47 Highlight the passage at 40:47

40:52 there, and a different decomposition room without a signature, and we were all there over a few days. hit those circles to develop again, so he passed away with... When I was away, he was known as a documentary, a journalism documentary. Report an error in the passage at 40:52 Highlight the passage at 40:52

41:18 What was his name? Chokkiru. Oh, a teacher in Chokkiru. No, there's another one. That's a sakyalong. This is another one. Chokkiru. Chokkiru. not in a position of terror. Report an error in the passage at 41:18 Highlight the passage at 41:18

41:43 kind of a miracle thing. don't get it. That's the medical diagnosis. Report an error in the passage at 41:43 Highlight the passage at 41:43

42:02 And, yeah, so, sadly, arouse any interest. But the other one, I think I would report to, it's not that I can Report an error in the passage at 42:02 Highlight the passage at 42:02

42:16 Yeah, it's kind of like, there's just nothing to doubt anymore. It's been shown so many times. It's happened in Western hospitals. Medical doctors have confirmed it time and time again. And the big diagnosis is a great big question mark. Like, this shouldn't be able to happen by the time. Report an error in the passage at 42:16 Highlight the passage at 42:16

42:32 But again, the interesting point here is it's not a mystery at all. It's not a mystery at all. It's completely transparent from the Tibetan Buddhist side. They know how to do it. They know what happens. And they know what happens afterwards. So it's a mystery if you're a materialist. But if you're contemplative, it's like, what's a mystery? We know how to do it. So I think it goes right up here. Report an error in the passage at 42:32 Highlight the passage at 42:32

42:50 Yes, on to front. Report an error in the passage at 42:50 Highlight the passage at 42:50

43:09 trouble parties today because of soap, because of the movement. line of abuse. And has a particular aspiration when it comes to actually directing towards herself to Report an error in the passage at 43:09 Highlight the passage at 43:09

43:34 would be the access to writing on this? Report an error in the passage at 43:34 Highlight the passage at 43:34

43:43 I'm Report an error in the passage at 43:43 Highlight the passage at 43:43

43:48 sure there are many, so I can't answer the question in terms of what is best. I don't know what's best. Because I'm sure there are many different answers and what's best for one person will be not best for another person. I can't answer that. But I know what really comes to mind. Does she have devotion? Does she have faith, devotion in the Buddhists? Does she have a Lama? Do you have faith in a Lama? Report an error in the passage at 43:48 Highlight the passage at 43:48

44:12 Yes. That's good. Then she said. Then she said. All she needs to do is switch her perspective to her best imagination, her best approximation of the view. If it's a really good Lama, that is, a person who's loving, affectionate, good Lamas are, all she has to do is switch her perspective and imagine looking back on herself from her Lama's perspective, and that is perfectly clear. Report an error in the passage at 44:12 Highlight the passage at 44:12

44:42 Or if she has faith in Tara, a feminine embodiment of compassion, if she has faith in Tara, then just switch her perspective. How does Tara see you? Report an error in the passage at 44:42 Highlight the passage at 44:42

45:05 I decided to become 13, so... So, being a child in the 60s and 70s, I had a wonderful time and explored the world and studied and did everything I could. Report an error in the passage at 45:05 Highlight the passage at 45:05

45:20 And it came to a point where I realized that there's no more meaning in just indulging yourself. Report an error in the passage at 45:20 Highlight the passage at 45:20

45:29 So, it was the most meaningful thing that I could do at the time, to keep on to someone else. And I had two children. Report an error in the passage at 45:29 Highlight the passage at 45:29

45:43 30 years later, I heard that and found a much bigger purpose than that. So, I've been saying that it doesn't always turn our world. Report an error in the passage at 45:43 Highlight the passage at 45:43

45:57 I've got all the time, first days of training, but I've got to change it. And I would say that it's probably the first solidness of happiness and wellness conference that I've been here for those difficult times. So it's quite, it can be. quite transformative, very hard to accept. Report an error in the passage at 45:57 Highlight the passage at 45:57

46:25 being loved and then there's other people who are behind I have a question Report an error in the passage at 46:25 Highlight the passage at 46:25

47:01 about what my career I do. my Report an error in the passage at 47:01 Highlight the passage at 47:01

47:07 Career, yeah. Yeah, I'm a teacher. I find I have altruistic bloody crime side but sometimes the physical environment the sensory data, the distractions, the entities are the chance. And I find after Report an error in the passage at 47:07 Highlight the passage at 47:07

47:26 20 hours to live in that environment. I'm just missing. practices that I do, working in that environment, the energy, the trains, and what have you, I just find myself... Yeah. Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 47:26 Highlight the passage at 47:26

47:51 Yeah. Yeah. be better to get a job at Haymarket, so you can get more concentration and health? If you're really lucky, I just missed that. If you're really lucky. If I really care for these children, because I work at different centres, we go here and there. And from an alternate point of view, if I really care for these kids, would I be better just to get a job shelves for working at a gas station, so you can get more concentration? Report an error in the passage at 47:51 Highlight the passage at 47:51

48:20 Thank you. any sense. But I really enjoyed the life of your clients. I really enjoyed the things I'm leaving for life. I think that before I made good news, I was so inspired by all this reason. And I kind of wish I'd be like better. So I saw that Kavad Shibar saved the life of his holiness in 2006. Report an error in the passage at 48:20 Highlight the passage at 48:20

48:46 you mentioned that? So really, I saw that I thought I've got my the same time, what I do, said, working as a teacher, I'm hopeless. Report an error in the passage at 48:46 Highlight the passage at 48:46

48:59 complete, I thought have a comment on Report an error in the passage at 48:59 Highlight the passage at 48:59

49:08 Season Report an error in the passage at 49:08 Highlight the passage at 49:08

49:26 your day a lot. Report an error in the passage at 49:26 Highlight the passage at 49:26

49:31 Just take every opportunity. I used to teach, I'm just going to be really short, but I used to teach in the university for four years. Four years. And I had a double teaching of what full professors taught. I was a visiting lecturer. That's the lowest person on the totem pole. Full professors. I taught twice as much as they did. So I had a big, heavy teaching load. Report an error in the passage at 49:31 Highlight the passage at 49:31

49:53 And then in addition, because I have office hours. And then I had to go to board meetings as well. As soon as I wasn't on call, I'd close the door, lock the door, put a yoga mat on the floor of my office, and I'd go into Shavasana and I'd be breathing. As soon as I wasn't needed, bam, out to lunch. And I'd be out, you know. And I'd be there until I was next on call. And it was just refreshing. It was so good, you know. And it wasn't just one minute, two minutes. Report an error in the passage at 49:53 Highlight the passage at 49:53

50:25 It would be like 20 minutes, half minutes. As much as I could, I'd just fill it with that. And then I'd come out and then the next student interview or whatever, I'd be fresh. I do the same thing here. I'm basically meditating almost all the time. It's email and meditation. That's all I do when I'm not here. So every time I come here, I'm really fresh and happy to be here. Report an error in the passage at 50:25 Highlight the passage at 50:25

50:44 I'm not getting distracted. It's not stressing at all. So the seasoning of the day, as much as you possibly can, just keep on coming back to the place you'd like to be. The heart is open, awareness is clear, it's still relaxed. That's one point. The other point is that there are many different methods of shamatha, a wide variety. Report an error in the passage at 50:44 Highlight the passage at 50:44

51:09 The Buddha taught 40 different techniques in the Pāli Canon. That's not even counting the other methods in the Mahāyāna, Vajrayana, Dzogchen and all of that. So that's a lot. And there was very interesting... how do you say, personality typology that he brought He did the same thing. It's quite sophisticated actually. Report an error in the passage at 51:09 Highlight the passage at 51:09

51:33 And one of the methods for shamatha is loving kindness. That's actually a shamatha method. You can achieve shamatha through the cultivation of loving kindness. Instead of mindfulness of breathing, settling language, that's another one. So that's a possibility. Report an error in the passage at 51:33 Highlight the passage at 51:33

51:50 It wasn't here. Yes, it was here. Sure, it was right up there at the beginning. One of the benefits of cultivating a loving kindness is the mind is easily concentrated. Remember that one? It's one of 11 qualities. So, in the midst of a life, that is, in addition to seasoning, where you're just taking out a little bit of time here and there to not do anything other than meditate, in addition to that, when you're with the students, especially when you're engaging on them one-on-one, when there's like 20 or 30, 35 of them, it can be a little bit of overload. Report an error in the passage at 51:50 Highlight the passage at 51:50

52:25 But even when they're 35, like right now, I'm not explicitly directly talking to everybody in the room. You're the center of my attention, right? Report an error in the passage at 52:25 Highlight the passage at 52:25

52:38 And that's fine, because we all know what's going on. But right now you're the center of my attention. And so if you're engaging with a child in a classroom, with 35 other children there, in that moment, if you give your full attention to that child, the child will know it. And if you're giving that full attention and your heart's open and you're attending with affection, the child will know it. Report an error in the passage at 52:38 Highlight the passage at 52:38

53:04 But there's a nice perk to that. All the other children will know it. To one extent or another, they will know it. And that means when they raise their hand, they're going to be the center. Report an error in the passage at 53:04 Highlight the passage at 53:04

53:19 A lot of people never feel they're the center of anything. Report an error in the passage at 53:19 Highlight the passage at 53:19

53:27 And everybody around them is so busy. So to be the center of somebody's attention, somebody you respect, because they probably respect you. Report an error in the passage at 53:27 Highlight the passage at 53:27

53:42 Yeah, right. What colors and shades you can see, if you love that, and anyone watching anything, so I just want to say, what bubbles can you see in the water, just to prefer. Sure. I found, it's an epic missionary in my son, in 2006, and it's Sure. Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 53:42 Highlight the passage at 53:42

54:04 Good. I think that's better than putting boxes on shelves. I've been thinking about it, you know, but I've come to my decision. And you're welcome. And just one final point, do you know the book The Mindful Child? station TV was. Yeah. So I feel like I can't be able to do what try. Report an error in the passage at 54:04 Highlight the passage at 54:04

54:19 Then you should. I know the author. She's really good. Her name is Susan Kaiser Greenland. She's really good. She knows Buddhism quite well. Well enough. More than she needs for this. She's spent something like the last 10 to 15 years having Disengaged from a very successful, lucrative career as an attorney, I think a trial lawyer, a lot of money. Report an error in the passage at 54:19 Highlight the passage at 54:19

54:57 But her husband's very well off, so she didn't really need to have two salaries. And she was doing this, she was a crackerjack, like an award-winning attorney. And she just found it was so barren, so sterile, so devoid of meaning, she couldn't stand it anymore. And so she quit, at age like 45 or something like that. And happily, a loving husband said, okay. Report an error in the passage at 54:57 Highlight the passage at 54:57

55:18 We don't need that extra income. And then she just took on a whole new career. She was a meditator already, a Buddhist meditator. And she just thought, I'd like to help kids. And so her book is Mindful Child, innerkids.org, it's an organization. And she's very smart, of course, trial lawyer, can't be stupid. And she's developed a lot of techniques for the little kids, for mindfulness, for compassion, empathy, attention skills. Report an error in the passage at 55:18 Highlight the passage at 55:18

55:45 She's good. Report an error in the passage at 55:45 Highlight the passage at 55:45

55:53 That could be used. I think she may be developing methods for older children, like 10, 11, 12, but her fort, where she started was little kids, little kids, like five-year-olds, kindergarten. And she nailed it. She really is effective. And she lives in Los Angeles, and that's a tough neighborhood. Parts of L.A. are really tough. But she's very skillful, very bright, and wonderfully motivated. Report an error in the passage at 55:53 Highlight the passage at 55:53

56:17 And so she's done good work there. That's a good start. Yes, Chris? Report an error in the passage at 56:17 Highlight the passage at 56:17

56:31 time, you know, you're talking a little bit about people's box, people's box. What kind of bias? Negative, oh sure. Report an error in the passage at 56:31 Highlight the passage at 56:31

56:45 Ah, three times. Report an error in the passage at 56:45 Highlight the passage at 56:45

56:50 Okay, got it. Balance it out, yeah. And so often I would have been quite a very consistent wayshelves of that day. Report an error in the passage at 56:50 Highlight the passage at 56:50

56:49 times. Report an error in the passage at 56:49 Highlight the passage at 56:49

56:56 My question goes back to the conversation you had on the first day, which was around how the world might change to be in a better place. And so I think about this quite a lot, and I feel quite scared about it. You feel what? Despairing about it? That's not going to help. Report an error in the passage at 56:56 Highlight the passage at 56:56

57:31 Yeah, Report an error in the passage at 57:31 Highlight the passage at 57:31

57:39 it's getting very blurry there, so if you can say that sentence again. Yeah, right, that's true. No, you're saying that you've been making a question to me Report an error in the passage at 57:39 Highlight the passage at 57:39

57:42 It's a fairly bleak prognosis. I'm wondering if you could toss them up the method, I just can't see people giving up what they have, I can't see the wish giving up what they have, I can't see of these groups you have, I can't see the nation, I just can't see the single locked in and the spillway. Yep, Report an error in the passage at 57:42 Highlight the passage at 57:42

58:05 yep. I think your diagnosis is correct. I mean, I just don't see any other way around it. I like to be upbeat and positive and all of that kind of business. But when we see the perfect storm coming, and coming from multiple directions, global warming is just one aspect. she will interpret a woman in the right and wrong way. It's hard to push. Report an error in the passage at 58:05 Highlight the passage at 58:05

58:20 But we see all the other aspects coming in to say, this is going to turn out well, think positively. My answer to that? Bullshit. Think positively has to be, you know, it's got to have some reality basis to it. Because I can't pretend. So on the macro level, I mean this was a conclusion I drew a long time ago, on the macro level, big bulky level, prognosis is not good. Report an error in the passage at 58:20 Highlight the passage at 58:20

58:47 I just don't see any way to spin it. That we'll kind of maintain the same kind of momentum and we're going to be so smart in the technology, of course, let's take ultimate refuge in technology, that that's going to solve all our problems. There are people who basically idolize technology and say, you know, just give us more money, more technology. But that's never proven to be the case in the past. So why that should suddenly solve humanity's problem in the future is kind of like idiotic. Report an error in the passage at 58:47 Highlight the passage at 58:47

59:12 So given that, then what? And I've drawn my conclusion a long time ago. Report an error in the passage at 59:12 Highlight the passage at 59:12

59:21 Address the big issues. Highlight them. But by and large, when it's a person like me talking and preaching to the choir, people who are gouging the environment, sucking up all the wealth and so forth, they're not coming to my meditation session. And they're not listening to the podcast either. They're much too busy for that, doing more of what they're doing. And if they heard me, they wouldn't care anyway. Report an error in the passage at 59:21 Highlight the passage at 59:21

59:46 I don't have much money, so I'm not a person of worth. So then what? Report an error in the passage at 59:46 Highlight the passage at 59:46

1:00:00 Metaphorically, when the waters are rising everywhere and a lot of people are drowning, then what you need are islands. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:00 Highlight the passage at 1:00:00

1:00:14 And so when people are drowning in confusion, when there's poverty, when there's a lot of strife and warfare of a lot of people wanting diminishing resources, that's not going to turn out well. Freud saw that coming in 1927, The Future of an Illusion. And when he's critiquing religion, but he also said, you know, without religion we're just going to rip each other's throats out. Because that's what we do. And religion, even though he was very dubious about religion, but he felt it was salvageable. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:14 Highlight the passage at 1:00:14

1:00:45 That if we could just clean out the rubbish, we could still keep the good, and that actually might save humanity. But he was very, very pessimistic about the future of humanity if we just go the pure materialistic route. Because he said there would be nothing to inhibit our raw, primal, Grisly, bloodthirsty Ames. And he's an atheist. So the islands, if Report an error in the passage at 1:00:45 Highlight the passage at 1:00:45

1:01:17 we can be islands, if we can be islands of clarity, of compassion, of wisdom, of ethics, of non-violence, then those people will be refugees. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:17 Highlight the passage at 1:01:17

1:01:29 They'll be refugees. This happened in Tibet. They've already had it. What we are dreading that might happen to Australia, might happen to America, has already happened. They already happened. They had their civilization wiped out. I mean, it was really quite thorough. They used to have 6,000 monasteries. Then they had six. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:29 Highlight the passage at 1:01:29

1:01:51 Flattened. Creamed. So everything we're dreading. They kind of had it already. They got a sneak preview. And they're still there. You know, they're still there. But when things were so bleak, so utterly hopeless, as so many Tibetans said, we have now hell on earth. Hell on earth. It was a cultural revolution. That was really prime time for hell. 1966. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:51 Highlight the passage at 1:01:51

1:02:17 But those years, boy. And it wasn't just for the death, it was Han Chinese, just suffering. So they already had it. But then what was it like? What was it like? Well, just hell. But in the midst of that awful, awful time, there were islands. And there were people who really had their dharma act together, really held it together. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:17 Highlight the passage at 1:02:17

1:02:42 And they preserved the culture. Just like in the medieval period, the dark ages of our culture, it was the monks, it was the nuns. They held together a civilization when everything was hell. Going down to the garbage, you know, everything. Civilization basically was history. It was a monastery. They held together Western civilization. The Greco-Roman, the Judeo-Christian, they held it. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:42 Highlight the passage at 1:02:42

1:03:01 They're copying out the text by candlelight and so forth and so on. And so whatever's coming up, I come to the same answer. If somehow miraculously, you know, the politicians and the big business and all of that and the scientific community, they're so clever. They do something I don't think they can do, but they'll just outsmart me. If they find a way to maintain the status quo and massage it here and massage it there, and it turns out, well, you know, that actually you and I are just being too pessimistic, well, what I want to do is the best thing anyway. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:01 Highlight the passage at 1:03:01

1:03:36 And if I'm right, if you're right, that we're heading for very bleak times, this is the best thing anyway. Practice Dharma, wholeheartedly, single-pointedly, all day, all night. And as much as you can, collaborate, network with other people. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:36 Highlight the passage at 1:03:36

1:03:52 Who share, and they can be Christian, they can be atheist, they can be whatever. But people really who are focusing on the deeper issues. You know, money is a nice, nobody hates it. And those will be the refugees. People who have profound levels of sanity, profound levels of wisdom, have really tapped the depths. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:52 Highlight the passage at 1:03:52

1:04:22 So my vision, just because everybody has a unique background, so I do too. My vision. That's the best I can contribute to. I can't do it, but I can certainly contribute. I call it ARCS, A-R-C-S. The association got a really elegant name. The Association for Research and Contemplative Science. And the vision there is simply a network of contemplative observatories, retreat centers around the world that are bringing everything together, that are ecumenical, they're not just Buddhist, but they do have a core, they have real central themes of... Report an error in the passage at 1:04:22 Highlight the passage at 1:04:22

1:05:01 Balancing the mind, probing the nature of consciousness, tapping into our deepest resources. So that's the core theme. But there are Christians who do that. There are Sufis who do that. There are all kinds of people who do that. And bringing the science to it. So it's a unification. Rather than people of different religions coming in and beating each other up, coming to the same place and collaborating. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:01 Highlight the passage at 1:05:01

1:05:20 Rather than science versus religion, beating each other. We've been doing that for 400 years. Instead of that, scientists coming together with, collaborating. And creating a network of people all over the world. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:20 Highlight the passage at 1:05:20

1:05:32 Shared vision, but again diversity of vision coming from multiple perspectives. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:32 Highlight the passage at 1:05:32

1:05:47 So there's still some movement here. The candle has not flickered out to do something like this in Australia. It would be wonderful. It's a large continent. A lot of people here don't necessarily want to go to Tuscany. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:47 Highlight the passage at 1:05:47

1:05:59 And then I got news this morning. We actually made the candle look like it was all burned out and then suddenly it flickered back into light again. Some land in Santa Barbara, which our group there has been looking at for a year and a half. This morning it came on site. They decided to sell it. We've been waiting for that for a year and a half. And this morning we just learned that they want to sell it and they'd like to sell it to us. And so in Report an error in the passage at 1:05:59 Highlight the passage at 1:05:59

1:06:33 Australia, just beacons of light, beacons of light, nature-friendly, do everything right, organic, be friendly to the environment, do everything right, set a little standard of gold. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:33 Highlight the passage at 1:06:33

1:06:49 And then when everything is going down the trash, those are the ones that will still stand. And they'll be inspiring to people. And that might actually save civilization. We can't ward off all the suffering. Don't have the power, we're not supermen. But we can do our best to provide some refuges when the suffering is strong. That would be good. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:49 Highlight the passage at 1:06:49

1:07:11 Say again? Report an error in the passage at 1:07:11 Highlight the passage at 1:07:11

1:07:18 Carry on. No, I don't know it. What you do in the mountain is coming from the west to crush you to a knowledge. When you come from the south, what do you do when it's going to crush your knowledge? What you do is you practice the Dharma. That's a Buddhist. Yeah, no matter what. It's one of those kind of like, no matter what happens, it's the best thing. So if everything turns out rosy and we're just being way too grim and pessimistic, gloom and doom, that's the best thing to do. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:18 Highlight the passage at 1:07:18

1:07:52 And if we're totally right, maybe we're not even right enough. Maybe it's going to be much worse than we imagined. That's the one thing to do. So it's kind of simple. However it plays out, there's always one thing to do, practice Dharma. Then life gets so simple. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:52 Highlight the passage at 1:07:52

1:08:12 It's nine o 'clock. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:12 Highlight the passage at 1:08:12

1:08:20 One more way to fall asleep. One more way to fall asleep. Do you have a question? Do you have an urgent one? No, I think I would do this, Jenny. Jenny, do you have an urgent one? Yeah, okay. Okay, last one. Last call. Last call. Last call. And the four measurables express. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:20 Highlight the passage at 1:08:20

1:08:39 an extension of what Basically, develop a bit of a skill. So I didn't meditate on it. I mean, I do, for 24 minutes. I've already increased that timeline a bit, but in the of that, I was in my position. I just missed that. What happened? Your body disappeared quickly. Good, that's good. So, I guess it's very hard to focus on the double breathing, because it's gone. And I'm thinking, well, should I be a little bit spaced out if I don't want to think, where should I be? Report an error in the passage at 1:08:39 Highlight the passage at 1:08:39

1:09:23 Because I've got to be chased out of the muscles. And at this point I'm thinking, that's going to be pretty good at this, that possibility of the team. There are multiple options there. One very nice one is... Just a variation on the theme. I have taught it here, but I've found a lot of things that can get lost in the wash, so to speak. Supine position, mindfulness of breathing, but the emphasis here is a little bit different. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:23 Highlight the passage at 1:09:23

1:09:51 I'll teach it, I'll articulate it a bit more clearly than I did before. So there you are, supine position, flat out, very, very relaxed. And the breathing probably getting very subtle. Yeah? Yeah. So here it is. There's a symbol. Rest your awareness. Just like Shantideva without a sign, awareness of awareness. Just rest there, okay? That's your baseline. That's your base camp. Rest your awareness in stillness, just being totally present in the present. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:51 Highlight the passage at 1:09:51

1:10:23 But now like a candle flame within one of those little, like for a kerosene lamp, just a little, whatever they call that, the glass container. Let the light of your awareness illuminate the space of your body, like the flame inside a kerosene lamp, you know, the glass. Let your light of your awareness illuminate the space of the body without visualizing. You don't need to. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:23 Highlight the passage at 1:10:23

1:10:45 It's superfluous. So be totally present. But let something like 80 % of your awareness be just right there, just awareness of awareness. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:45 Highlight the passage at 1:10:45

1:10:56 But 20%, the leftover, kind of like the overflow, let that be aware. Fluctuations of the field, I can't find a better way to say it than that. There's the field, you're aware of it, it's kind of embracing the somatic field of your body. And even if the breath is very subtle, you're going to experience some fluctuation in that field. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:56 Highlight the passage at 1:10:56

1:11:18 If your mind is clear, it's... it's subtle if there's a good way of vividness qualitative vividness and even if the breath is very subtle you're going to find some ripple some ripple some fluctuation fluctuation of the field throughout the body and you'll know when the breath is coming and what's Report an error in the passage at 1:11:18 Highlight the passage at 1:11:18

1:11:35 primarily stay here. Primarily stay there. Because that's all clear. That's all light. that doesn't fade out. In fact, the deeper you go there, the brighter it goes. The awareness of awareness. Maintain that peripheral awareness of the fluctuations of the field. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:35 Highlight the passage at 1:11:35

1:11:53 Well, that keeps you clear. 80 % there, 20 % Report an error in the passage at 1:11:53 Highlight the passage at 1:11:53

1:12:00 good. That's a good segue for the final comment. So thank you for including me. So, in terms of falling asleep, how was it last night? Report an error in the passage at 1:12:00 Highlight the passage at 1:12:00

1:12:11 Good. Practice makes perfect. So, for insomnia, mindfulness of breathing is really good. The infirmary is really good. Bringing your wellness down, low in the body, really good. That whole release with every elbow, really good. Get a good night's sleep. For people who fall asleep easier, you can really have quite an interesting ride. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:11 Highlight the passage at 1:12:11

1:12:30 Settling the mind in its natural state and feeling your body go to sleep and watching your mind go to sleep and keeping the light on. That light, not the outside light. And actually falling asleep elusively, it's possible. If you're really relaxed, if you're one of those people that falls asleep easily, that's a possibility. And you'll also pass through that little phase of hypnagogic imagery and it's really a kink. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:30 Highlight the passage at 1:12:30

1:12:51 It's this incredibly vivid imagery when you're not quite awake and not quite asleep. That's kind of a transition state. But then there's a third option and tonight's the night work. This is our last night together. And that is, so you're in a supine position. Day is finished. You're finished with everything you wanted to do. And then just rest in awareness. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:51 Highlight the passage at 1:12:51

1:13:15 So you're not attending to the mind. Whatever's coming to the mind is not interested. I'm finished for the day. I'm just packing it in. I'm going into a deep retreat. Retreating from my environment, from my body. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:15 Highlight the passage at 1:13:15

1:13:30 I'll catch you later. And I'm just here. And you might step right into, just have a direct express route, express train. Right from the waking state, right into... Stage four moments left lucid in a gathering. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:30 Highlight the passage at 1:13:30