Discovering Buddhism - How To Meditate (27 October 2011)

0:00 Or you can put the right on top of the left with your thumbs touching just a little ways below your navel. Report an error in the passage at 0:00 Highlight the passage at 0:00

0:10 So having your shoulders back and your head tipped forward slightly, your chin tucked in, your eyes either closed or gazing at the floor about three feet in front of you. Report an error in the passage at 0:10 Highlight the passage at 0:10

0:25 Place your tongue behind your upper teeth and Report an error in the passage at 0:25 Highlight the passage at 0:25

0:40 now just bring your concentration to your body for a moment and just mentally think relax so you're letting go of all the tension. The attention that you're holding from the day, from many days. So just thinking to relax. But to let the mind stay alert. So we're not relaxing in a sleepy sort of way. Report an error in the passage at 0:40 Highlight the passage at 0:40

1:17 And then just breathing at a comfortable pace. Not too deeply, not too lightly. If you can, breathe in and out through your nose. Report an error in the passage at 1:17 Highlight the passage at 1:17

· · · silence, 1 minute

2:03 As you're settling in, just focus your attention on the breath. Report an error in the passage at 2:03 Highlight the passage at 2:03

2:11 Just breathing in and breathing out. Report an error in the passage at 2:11 Highlight the passage at 2:11

· · · silence, 1 minute

2:46 If your mind gets distracted, just gently bring the attention back to the breath. Report an error in the passage at 2:46 Highlight the passage at 2:46

· · · silence, 1 minute

3:29 With a small part of your awareness, you're watching your concentration, watching your mind, watching the breath. Report an error in the passage at 3:29 Highlight the passage at 3:29

· · · silence, 5 minutes

8:56 So having quieted our minds, focused our concentration for this little time, turn your thoughts to motivation. Report an error in the passage at 8:56 Highlight the passage at 8:56

9:09 Remembering from the last class, we talked about this altruistic view of cherishing others. And remembering how this benefits all beings including ourselves. Just mentally create Report an error in the passage at 9:09 Highlight the passage at 9:09

9:30 the wish to generate this kind of motivation. Report an error in the passage at 9:30 Highlight the passage at 9:30

9:36 That all our efforts here may be done with this wish to benefit others. Report an error in the passage at 9:36 Highlight the passage at 9:36

10:02 So, session two. Although before we can begin session two, we have, I didn't get through all of the notes last time. But first I wanted to ask, thank you Jessica. Great. Did anybody try meditating or do anything this week? I kind of finished without a lot of extra time last week and I didn't really assign any homework. Report an error in the passage at 10:02 Highlight the passage at 10:02

10:29 So anybody meditate this week or attempt to? How'd it go? It's okay? Yeah. Okay, we'll talk. I mean, if anybody wants to... If you're around to any major problems, we'll be getting to those. But a lot of what we'll do tonight is talk about the stabilizing meditation and how to create this kind of mindfulness that helps us maintain that. Report an error in the passage at 10:29 Highlight the passage at 10:29

10:55 But before we get to that, last time we talked about the three kinds of preparation. The preparation of place, which was having in your... Home or wherever you're going to meditate, having that place dedicated to your meditation practice. And then the preparation of person where we talked about the posture and how the seven point posture and also the, I think we mentioned a slightly different view on the posture from a text by Lama Tsongkhapa, a great teacher. Report an error in the passage at 10:55 Highlight the passage at 10:55

11:37 But they're both basically of the same mind in terms of, again, having the back straight, maybe a little bit of a different placement of hands. Like I said, one talks about the palms on top of each other. The other really doesn't talk about, you know, where the palms have to be. Mainly we would like to keep, you know, just be comfortable. And if you need... Report an error in the passage at 11:37 Highlight the passage at 11:37

12:01 It's perfectly fine also to meditate in a chair. I think we talked about different types of meditation. And as the weeks go on, we'll even talk about other types of walking meditation, different things you can do. A lot of this will come out of this view of mindfulness that we'll talk more about tonight. So the third portion or the third aspect of that preparation is preparation of mind. Report an error in the passage at 12:01 Highlight the passage at 12:01

12:28 And when I just... Report an error in the passage at 12:28 Highlight the passage at 12:28

12:34 The finish of our meditation here when we're talking about motivation, I mentioned having the thought to generate this wish of altruism or this altruistic view. And that may bring up the question, why motivate? And I think you're probably all familiar with the term karma. From a Buddhist perspective, karma is just the result of action. Report an error in the passage at 12:34 Highlight the passage at 12:34

13:01 Positive actions bring a positive result and negative actions bring a negative result. So when we talk about karma, it can be positive or negative. And the thing about karma or the karmic result is that it is a combination of the action itself and the motivation behind the action. So it's important for us to think about what our motivation is and to be aware of it. Report an error in the passage at 13:01 Highlight the passage at 13:01

13:28 And the first step in this, I mean, we, you think of having lived. If you have a view from a Buddhist perspective of these countless lifetimes and having lived without really thinking about our actions or about our motivation, then there are a lot of negative imprints we've accumulated over many lifetimes. Report an error in the passage at 13:28 Highlight the passage at 13:28

13:54 These imprints are sort of where our habits arise from. We'll talk more tonight about how the nature of the mind is clarity. So it isn't the sense of your mind being changed by these things. It's more like having your mind be obscured. This clarity is obscured. It's kind of like dust on a mirror or clouds moving against a blue sky. Report an error in the passage at 13:54 Highlight the passage at 13:54

14:20 So to kind of reacquaint ourselves and nurture this clarity of mind. We need to pay attention to our motivation, to what we're actually, you know, the kinds of results we're creating with our actions. Report an error in the passage at 14:20 Highlight the passage at 14:20

14:45 And let's see, I don't know if I want to go into too much of this. Basically, when we talk about our efforts toward, you know, toward living a positive life, we can talk about the three scopes of the path. Sometimes it's, you know, you hear this. Path to enlightenment. And there's a small scope, which is for beings of small capacity. And that's when you figure, you know, you sort of realize that every day this cyclic existence is suffering. Report an error in the passage at 14:45 Highlight the passage at 14:45

15:16 When the Buddha taught about the Four Noble Truths, the first truth being the truth of suffering. So the being, you know, or someone, the being of small capacity begins with a view that I'd like to be free from suffering and the cyclic existence is just full of suffering. So the way out of that to stop suffering is to seek a higher rebirth. Report an error in the passage at 15:16 Highlight the passage at 15:16

15:42 So there are various realms of suffering in this cyclic existence from the Buddhist teachings tell us there are like six realms. And the human rebirth is one of the higher realms. And there's another realm above that, a couple of realms above that. So the small scope. Being says, okay, I'm going to do what I need to to make sure I get at least this perfect human rebirth. And part of that is meditating on death, on the aspects of karma, impermanence, various points of the Buddhist path. Report an error in the passage at 15:42 Highlight the passage at 15:42

16:22 And then the being or the person who's like of middling or medium capacity. Might practice what's called the medium scope. And this is a view where it's like you've recognized that this existence is suffering. You want to be free from suffering, but you also take the next step to say, even if I take a higher rebirth, I'm still in this cyclic existence. Report an error in the passage at 16:22 Highlight the passage at 16:22

16:51 Ultimately, I'm still going around and I'm subject to... A lot of karma in the past and until I purify this or do something, I'm kind of stuck with whatever causes and conditions may ripen for this particular karma. Report an error in the passage at 16:51 Highlight the passage at 16:51

17:13 The middle scope path involves making a determination to free oneself from this cyclic existence and to really seek liberation. We call this liberation and it's just wanting to... and a being. Report an error in the passage at 17:13 Highlight the passage at 17:13

17:28 To end this cycle of rebirth. And then finally there's the, oh I should say that, and then part of this path, part of the method here is meditating on the Four Noble Truths and practicing what we call the Three Higher Trainings which are higher morality, higher concentration and that's where our mindfulness and meditation come in and then higher wisdom. Report an error in the passage at 17:28 Highlight the passage at 17:28

17:54 And that higher wisdom, it's like mastering The practice of the higher concentration enables us to generate this higher wisdom that cuts through our mistaken view. Last week I talked about how our suffering really arises from this mistaken view we have of our existence and from this mistaken view we project our expectations, our desires, all of these things. Report an error in the passage at 17:54 Highlight the passage at 17:54

18:23 We look at things around us. As being permanent, as being sort of existing in a way that they don't actually exist. It's about our projection of qualities upon these things. So this medium scope involves ending the cyclic existence. And then there's also the great scope. Which is practiced by beings of superior capacity. And at that point, we now, having recognized that this cyclic existence is suffering and having made the determination to free oneself from it, that person takes another kind of a broader look and realizes that all beings are suffering in the same way that I am. Report an error in the passage at 18:23 Highlight the passage at 18:23

19:21 And that person makes the wish to... To really benefit others and to make this goal to not only free oneself from the cyclic existence through liberation, but to seek the goal of enlightenment, which is like full Buddha nature. It's like realizing all of our enlightened potential and to do that so that we can benefit others. Because if we look at the teachings of the Buddha, we see that There's really not, each of us has to walk this path, each of us has to free ourselves, we all have that potential. So the best way we can help someone else is to actually attain enlightenment ourselves, because enlightened beings, they work only for the benefit of others. Report an error in the passage at 19:21 Highlight the passage at 19:21

20:11 So we may feel like, gosh, I'm working toward helping others right now, and that can be very true, but as long as we're still... Report an error in the passage at 20:11 Highlight the passage at 20:11

20:23 Kind of imprisoned in this cyclic existence. What we can do for others is pretty limited. We can meditate. We can do giving and taking meditation. We can do positive actions. But effectively, there's not a lot we can do to really enable them to take the steps toward freeing themselves. Report an error in the passage at 20:23 Highlight the passage at 20:23

20:49 So the being of superior capacity. Really has this goal of enlightenment. And the practice there is generating this altruistic view, this mind that cherishes others. And then practicing what are called the six perfections. And those include morality, generosity and patience. And then what's called joyous effort. Sometimes it's called enthusiastic perseverance. Concentration, which again that brings in Our meditation practice and our mindfulness and wisdom, which is sometimes also referred to as special insight. Report an error in the passage at 20:49 Highlight the passage at 20:49

21:31 And again, this is as we talked about the three higher trainings, we've added a little more now to that practice. And so when you motivate as part of the preparation of your practice or the start of your day or just whenever you think about motivating. You know, in whatever you're doing, you can motivate according to this, you know, the scope of your practice. So just you can have a wish to benefit others. Report an error in the passage at 21:31 Highlight the passage at 21:31

22:04 You can have a wish, you know, to benefit others so that I can have a higher rebirth, you know, to live a good life and not harm others. You can motivate in the middling scope to be free from... Saṃsāra to essentially gain liberation and doing that by, again, not harming and helping if you can. And then taking, you know, if you're inclined, by doing these, practicing the small scope and then the middling scope, these build and they enable us to take the step to this greater scope, which requires more. Report an error in the passage at 22:04 Highlight the passage at 22:04

22:44 It requires more of a commitment. And it's... It's like leaving more of the self-cherishing mind behind. But with that comes a lot of benefit and a lot more merit. Report an error in the passage at 22:44 Highlight the passage at 22:44

23:03 So motivating really helps create this positive result because we're bringing our awareness to the action we're going to perform. And then the other side of... The sort of couching the action. We've got the preparation, which is your motivation, and then the action. And then when the action's completed, we can dedicate. Report an error in the passage at 23:03 Highlight the passage at 23:03

23:29 So if we dedicate, it's said to preserve the positive results of our action. So when you do something, if you attend a teaching here or something, there's usually some sort of dedication prayer at the end. And the dedication prayer is on the order of, you know, may my efforts in this, may any merit I created be dedicated to the cause of attaining enlightenment for the benefit of all beings. Report an error in the passage at 23:29 Highlight the passage at 23:29

23:59 So it's sort of like taking this merit, which is potentially, you know, if we've, considering we've got all these imprints from countless lifetimes. And a lot of the time we're not really in control of our minds, so things come up, anger arises, frustration, where when we create, when we react in sort of bad ways or create negative actions and end up harming someone potentially, then that's said to kind of destroy our merit because it's sort of like everything you've done in terms of training your mind can... Report an error in the passage at 23:59 Highlight the passage at 23:59

24:40 Go out the window with a burst of anger, especially if we're accustomed to doing that. So it said that when we dedicate, I mean essentially it's like already giving this merit, dedicating it, essentially applying it toward this goal of enlightenment. So it's sort of the best way to finish the practice that we're doing. Report an error in the passage at 24:40 Highlight the passage at 24:40

25:15 Anybody have any questions or anything at this point? Report an error in the passage at 25:15 Highlight the passage at 25:15

25:22 Merit is really, it's the result, like the karmic result of our actions. If we performed, if we have a positive motivation and we perform a positive action, that results in a positive result which is called merit. Report an error in the passage at 25:22 Highlight the passage at 25:22

25:43 Okay, now we can go to slides. Maybe that will help liven up the, let's see where we are. Yeah, we'll see. That's part of it. It'll be a little experiment. Report an error in the passage at 25:43 Highlight the passage at 25:43

25:57 yeah do you want to wait for a second because I can I think it's actually Report an error in the passage at 25:57 Highlight the passage at 25:57

26:18 good. Report an error in the passage at 26:18 Highlight the passage at 26:18

26:42 okay. Let me go into the slideshow. That would be a good idea. Report an error in the passage at 26:42 Highlight the passage at 26:42

26:52 been a while since I did this. Okay. Tonight we're mainly going to focus on mindfulness. And I thought I'd start with what mindfulness isn't. All these things that, you know, we spend a lot of time getting lost in thought, lost in activity, you know, things, just situations where, you know, you're busy at work and you end up, you look up at the clock, it was 8 o 'clock and the next thing you know it's lunchtime. Report an error in the passage at 26:52 Highlight the passage at 26:52

27:23 Or you're doing a project at home and you've missed lunch, it's 3 o 'clock and you don't even know time has passed. Tending to live in the past or the future. We are often, it's Thursday, how many times have you thought about what you're doing on the weekend today or tomorrow? Thinking about what's on the agenda. And the tendency to think, okay, it's Thursday, what did I do with this week? Report an error in the passage at 27:23 Highlight the passage at 27:23

27:53 Also thinking about what I've committed to have done. So it's just kind of involved in being somewhere else. Sometimes being on autopilot, you get up in the morning, somehow you end up at work, you don't know how you did all the things, you know, they just happen. You had your coffee, you got dressed, you brushed your teeth, all those things, but you drove to work, but somehow you're just suddenly there. And then this whole thing of multitasking, you know, doing your emails while you're listening to music or watching TV or, you know, just kind of piling on the activities. Report an error in the passage at 27:53 Highlight the passage at 27:53

28:33 And being more productive because that's, you know, in the world we live in, it's all about productivity and making the most of this time, the limited time we have. Report an error in the passage at 28:33 Highlight the passage at 28:33

28:45 So mindfulness is kind of counter to this idea. And it's literally, it means just to be inclined, to be aware. And being present means actually just being, you know, we don't spend much time being. And in this respect, Report an error in the passage at 28:45 Highlight the passage at 28:45

29:06 I don't know if you guys remember the whole, I think back in the 70s, the catchphrase was, be here now. It was like, focus, just be. And mindfulness is important because it's part of our meditation session and it's also important outside of our meditation sessions. Report an error in the passage at 29:06 Highlight the passage at 29:06

29:34 So in the meditation session, mindfulness holds the object of meditation. And it's said to be non-forgetfulness with respect to that object. We'll come back to this a little bit later. Report an error in the passage at 29:34 Highlight the passage at 29:34

29:54 Outside the session, it's really about kind of protecting our efforts in the session. So if we only practice mindfulness in the session, then it's very hard to progress. Report an error in the passage at 29:54 Highlight the passage at 29:54

30:09 As I was talking before about this... The negativity, this negative karma we've accumulated. And if we're not even aware of our motivation a lot of the time, we're prone to this action, this habit of negative action, of responding when something is frustrating to respond with anger or when you're faced with just everyday situations. Report an error in the passage at 30:09 Highlight the passage at 30:09

30:40 There isn't... Without mindfulness there isn't the time to sort of process the action before we respond. There's kind of this automatic response. So this is one of the aspects and benefits of mindfulness. Report an error in the passage at 30:40 Highlight the passage at 30:40

31:03 The other thing is that with regard to our sessions and having them become successful. It really does take this practice. And if we think about even ordinary tasks, you know, learning to play a musical instrument, learning some new software, it takes time. It takes practice. It takes effort. And I don't know if you guys are familiar with Malcolm Gladwell. I picked up the tipping point. Report an error in the passage at 31:03 Highlight the passage at 31:03

31:44 Oh, no, it was Outliers. I actually read a few of his books because they were... Kind of fascinating. But in Outliers, he talks about how people who are well known in their fields, and it's all, you know, it's sort of fields across the board from professional musicians to, you know, sports figures to lawyers. Report an error in the passage at 31:44 Highlight the passage at 31:44

32:05 And he kind of looks back at various, you know, case studies or, you know, interviews people and finds out about their history. but it comes it's sort of everything falls into this idea or this What he calls the 10,000 hour rule. And it seems to be across the board that when you have someone who's become really well known and kind of an expert in their field, they've been practicing about 10,000 hours over their lifetime. Report an error in the passage at 32:05 Highlight the passage at 32:05

32:35 So if you think about that and sort of mundane things, we get an idea of how much we need to practice for our meditation. If we're practicing 5 or 10 minutes a day, it's going to take a long time to accumulate those hours. Yet if we can use all of our time outside the meditation session to cultivate this mindfulness practice, it's a great asset, great potential there. Report an error in the passage at 32:35 Highlight the passage at 32:35

33:03 So that's another reason to really focus on mindfulness both inside and outside the practice. And then the . This last line about mindfulness, with mindfulness everything becomes the cause for success. And what's behind that is talking about karma and karmic results. So that we've said that positive actions bring positive results and negative actions bring a negative result. Report an error in the passage at 33:03 Highlight the passage at 33:03

33:36 So if we're observing, if we're able to mindfully act, Then we're much more likely to be able to control our actions, to create positive karma by, you know, refraining from negative actions, abandoning negative actions. And if you, you know, if this becomes a way of life, then essentially everything that you do becomes a cause for happiness. Becomes, in effect, the negative actions, when I say negative, negative intent. Report an error in the passage at 33:36 Highlight the passage at 33:36

34:15 That brings negative actions. The result of that is basically suffering. So we're kind of equating here the result, the karmic result of that negative action as bringing suffering. And the karmic result of a positive action is happiness. And that's basically the only way to experience happiness is through a positive result. Report an error in the passage at 34:15 Highlight the passage at 34:15

34:46 great... Vietnamese monk and teacher Thich Nhat Hanh talks about something called right mindfulness. And in his tradition, which is kind of in the same category as Tibetan Buddhism, it's a Mahāyāna tradition. A Mahāyāna tradition is this tradition that has this great scope, this altruistic view. And it's a tradition... Report an error in the passage at 34:46 Highlight the passage at 34:46

35:19 Whose goal is enlightenment. When we talk about some other traditions like the Hinayana view, we say it's a smaller or the lesser vehicle because the focus there is on a smaller scope, namely liberation, like self-liberation, which is still important. But it's just looking at the individual goal, the individual path versus this Report an error in the passage at 35:19 Highlight the passage at 35:19

35:48 This view, this goal to liberate all beings, to basically bring all beings to enlightenment. So this method is called the Eightfold Path, and it's divided into three divisions. The ethics, which has right speech, right action and right livelihood, and then concentration. So again... If you remember before we were talking about like the three higher trainings of ethics, concentration and wisdom and here they are showing up again. And with concentration we have right effort, right mindfulness and right meditation. Report an error in the passage at 35:48 Highlight the passage at 35:48

36:28 And then with wisdom it's right understanding and right thought. So it's through this constant the cultivation of concentration and The application of right effort and right mindfulness and right meditation that we're able to generate this right understanding and this right thought that helps us cut through this ignorant or mistaken perception of the world around us. Report an error in the passage at 36:28 Highlight the passage at 36:28

37:07 So right mindfulness just comes down to being aware of our actions, our speech and our thought. And the mind is really the forerunner of all our deeds. We were talking about motivation before. That mindset is what determines whether our action is going to be positive or negative. So the Buddha said, if one speaks or acts with an impure mind, then suffering follows. And likewise, if one speaks or acts with a pure mind, happiness follows. Report an error in the passage at 37:07 Highlight the passage at 37:07

37:43 So when we act with a lack of mindfulness, we can basically... We end up doing unskillful things, unkind things, things that may end up harming others. And not often, I mean as a result, they bring problems for ourselves, ultimately suffering for ourselves as well. So everything is quite connected in this view. Report an error in the passage at 37:43 Highlight the passage at 37:43

38:17 So if we turn to mindfulness in meditation, the first, just this basic... Right mindfulness that Thich Nhat Hanh is talking about. It's just breathing in and breathing out. And he mentions that the first result of this conscious breathing, he calls it conscious breathing, it's returning to ourselves. Report an error in the passage at 38:17 Highlight the passage at 38:17

38:41 So if we think about how our minds are constantly chasing after things, thoughts, plans, emotions, feelings, whatever, it brings us... We see the contrast with just having this breathing in, breathing out, and keeping the mind present. And we don't, this sense of returning to ourselves, if you think about what I said previously, it's sort of like losing ourselves in thought. Report an error in the passage at 38:41 Highlight the passage at 38:41

39:16 You know, we're losing this awareness of ourselves. So here we're, this concentration, this conscious breathing. Is bringing us back to ourselves. Report an error in the passage at 39:16 Highlight the passage at 39:16

39:32 And again, practice enters into this as we were talking about the need to practice, the need to train. And even though the nature of the mind is clear, it's clear in knowing. But because we've had so much, quote, practice at letting the mind... Just sort of following wherever the mind has gone. We talked about the monkey mind last time. Because of that, we need to generate this conscious practice and practice this conscious breathing. Report an error in the passage at 39:32 Highlight the passage at 39:32

40:22 The second result of conscious breathing is that we come in contact with the present moment. So if we think about this, in spite of how we're... You know, we like to make plans and we like to think about what's happening in the future. The only thing we ever know is right now. It's just this moment. And at some point when we die, the last thing we'll know is now. Report an error in the passage at 40:22 Highlight the passage at 40:22

40:57 So this simple breathing in and out keeps the mind present and aware. So when we were counting breaths, Thich Nhat Hanh says, first we strive for maintaining that awareness for ten breaths. Then we strive for 10 minutes. We build up. It's like bodybuilding. It's like your fitness plan. If you're going to run a marathon, you can't go out and run 26 miles the first day. You've got to work at it. So you start small. Report an error in the passage at 40:57 Highlight the passage at 40:57

41:30 You experience by assessing what fitness level you're at, where your body is at, how much you've been running. You determine, gee, can I start out with a mile a day? Can I start out with five miles a day? And you go accordingly. So we're going to do the same thing, looking at our minds. Report an error in the passage at 41:30 Highlight the passage at 41:30

41:59 So what we've been talking about mainly is the stabilizing meditation. No, I just, I Report an error in the passage at 41:59 Highlight the passage at 41:59

42:15 think we will, we want to make sure we have some time to do some meditation. So we're going to talk this term, calm abiding. It's, I don't know if you've heard that before, you may have. It's called Shimata. In Sanskrit, Sine and Tibetan. And it's really about this, you know, having a quiet, undisturbed, tranquil, untroubled mind. Report an error in the passage at 42:15 Highlight the passage at 42:15

42:42 And to abide is just to remain stable, to stay in that fixed state. Report an error in the passage at 42:42 Highlight the passage at 42:42

42:53 One of our great teachers has said, calm abiding is a mental state that's able to focus upon a virtuous object without distraction. And is sustained by physical and mental ecstasy or pliancy and blissful flexibility that can be maintained as long as one wishes. So that's pretty amazing. I don't know if you've heard about calm abiding, but it essentially talks about in this tradition of meditation that great meditators, through practice, Through effort, through mindfulness, both in and out of the meditation session, are able to enter this meditative state and basically focus on their object of concentration for as long as they wish. Report an error in the passage at 42:53 Highlight the passage at 42:53

43:45 Without the body giving out on them or without pain, we'll see as we try to sit down and meditate that we'll find all sorts of aches and pains that arise. Report an error in the passage at 43:45 Highlight the passage at 43:45

44:01 Itches in places that you didn't even realize you had and the need to move your head and the back getting tired. With practice, all of these things are transcendent, both in the body and with the mind, the mind's ability to focus clearly and without distraction. Report an error in the passage at 44:01 Highlight the passage at 44:01

44:28 He also says, he goes on to say it's calm because there's no outer distraction during meditation and it's abiding because one can remain in this concentration for a long time without a problem. Report an error in the passage at 44:28 Highlight the passage at 44:28

44:52 So why don't we take this time now, let's do a little meditation on, I was talking about the clarity of mind. Is this, yeah, let's turn this off if you don't mind Jessica, thanks. Report an error in the passage at 44:52 Highlight the passage at 44:52

45:11 So we were talking about the nature of the mind being clear. Actually, it's clear in knowing. But having this clarity of mind, we can meditate on that and just attempt to discover it. So I will sort of guide you through this visualization practice. And this is out of How to Meditate by Kathleen McDonald. Report an error in the passage at 45:11 Highlight the passage at 45:11

45:17 and the, it's Report an error in the passage at 45:17 Highlight the passage at 45:17

45:48 But you can also, they're different, you can do many different similar meditations. It's just, it's a convenient guide here. Report an error in the passage at 45:48 Highlight the passage at 45:48

46:01 So whenever we start a meditation, it's good to spend just a few minutes of that with your, just watching your breath. And when you watch your breath, one way to maintain your attention or your concentration is to count your breaths just so mentally. Report an error in the passage at 46:01 Highlight the passage at 46:01

46:19 Counting them, maybe to a count of 10. And if you're doing a breathing exercise, you can do that until you feel, you know, you can keep counting, you reach 10 and then you start over again. And you can continue to do that until you feel the intention is really stable there with the breath. And here what we'll do is we'll focus on the breath, kind of get the mind quiet, and then we'll go on to do this visualizing. Report an error in the passage at 46:19 Highlight the passage at 46:19

46:51 So begin by breathing in deeply through both nostrils, bringing the air down to the stomach and holding it for a moment. Report an error in the passage at 46:51 Highlight the passage at 46:51

47:03 Then exhale slowly and gently. Report an error in the passage at 47:03 Highlight the passage at 47:03

47:14 Then take one more breath like this. Report an error in the passage at 47:14 Highlight the passage at 47:14

47:29 And now just focus the attention on the breath. Again, letting go of everything, everything around us, everything in the room, the sounds, the sensations. Report an error in the passage at 47:29 Highlight the passage at 47:29

· · · silence, 2 minutes

49:52 So your consciousness, your mind. Report an error in the passage at 49:52 Highlight the passage at 49:52

49:59 It's whatever you're experiencing at the moment, this Report an error in the passage at 49:59 Highlight the passage at 49:59

50:06 concentration on the breath, the Report an error in the passage at 50:06 Highlight the passage at 50:06

50:15 thoughts that arise, the feelings. Each of these experiences is clear, without form or color, space-like, a kind of pure awareness. Report an error in the passage at 50:15 Highlight the passage at 50:15

50:39 Try to focus your attention on this clear, pure nature of the mind. Report an error in the passage at 50:39 Highlight the passage at 50:39

50:59 To help you experience this sense of clarity, Report an error in the passage at 50:59 Highlight the passage at 50:59

51:06 just imagine that you're lying on a hilltop, staring up at a sky. The sky is completely clear and free of clouds. Report an error in the passage at 51:06 Highlight the passage at 51:06

51:18 Concentrate on this vast, unobstructed emptiness. It's this infinite sky above. Report an error in the passage at 51:18 Highlight the passage at 51:18

51:31 And imagine that this unobstructed emptiness flows down and embraces you and your surroundings. That everything becomes empty like space. Just try to hold on to this experience and feel that the nature of your mind is like this clear, empty space. Report an error in the passage at 51:31 Highlight the passage at 51:31

· · · silence, 2 minutes

53:54 Just keep visualizing this clear, empty space. And if thoughts arise or distractions, just let them go. Report an error in the passage at 53:54 Highlight the passage at 53:54

54:12 Just see them as part of this clarity, part of this clear, empty nature. If Report an error in the passage at 54:12 Highlight the passage at 54:12

· · · silence, 1 minute

55:17 you lose the visualization, just take yourself back to that hilltop. Again, lying on your back, looking up at the sky, this vast, empty space. Report an error in the passage at 55:17 Highlight the passage at 55:17

55:31 And again, imagine it all flowing down, encompassing you. Your mind is clear. Report an error in the passage at 55:31 Highlight the passage at 55:31

· · · silence, 3 minutes

58:46 So let's take a five minute break this time, see if we can do something kind of quick and then we'll come back. Report an error in the passage at 58:46 Highlight the passage at 58:46

· · · silence, 5 minutes

1:03:36 that electronic only? Okay. And then the rest. Okay. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:36 Highlight the passage at 1:03:36

1:04:05 to ask for a project topic? Yeah, but I actually... It doesn't matter. You've got an email. Email for the topic. think I have one of those. How are you doing? Yeah, I do have one. You've got one of those? Or was this the same one that says the Discovered Buddhism course? Well, they're all different. They have that same... Report an error in the passage at 1:04:05 Highlight the passage at 1:04:05

1:04:31 Thank you. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:31 Highlight the passage at 1:04:31

1:04:41 get it through. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:41 Highlight the passage at 1:04:41

1:04:50 Okay, Report an error in the passage at 1:04:50 Highlight the passage at 1:04:50

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:05:31 so just in terms of the text, whether you've got it by email or the hard copy, and by the way, if you're new to the class tonight, make sure you sign up for emails just so that you can get some of the things that we, or notices if for some reason a class has changed. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:31 Highlight the passage at 1:05:31

1:05:53 Right now, everything's going as planned. And with the handout, if you want a printed handout, it's fine. It looks like we have several copies here. And if you just have it on email, that's fine. It would be good for this next session if you would read the first portion, which is, I think, The Importance of Meditation by Lama Zopa Rinpoche. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:53 Highlight the passage at 1:05:53

1:06:22 And then also there's a section, a teaching, I think a short teaching on calm abiding. It's on page 17. Actually some of it is by the Dalai Lama, some of it's by Venerable Renee. And of course if you can go a little further in that, that's great. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:22 Highlight the passage at 1:06:22

1:06:46 But those will cover most of what we're doing tonight. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:46 Highlight the passage at 1:06:46

1:07:17 Save a little paper, but I know sometimes it's hard to read on the computer, so if you prefer, it's fine. It's actually a really nice combination of teachings and a good little text to have. Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:17 Highlight the passage at 1:07:17

1:07:37 Wish Fulfilling Golden Sun. No, that's actually, that's sort of within FPMT, and it's a booklet that was printed many years ago, I think at Copan Monastery. Or it was teachings from Copan Monastery. And I think what I'm not sure, okay, I was going to say some of the readings from How to Meditate are in this book, but I'm not sure that that one is. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:37 Highlight the passage at 1:07:37

1:08:11 And what I can do is we'll get that printed for you, the excerpts from that book, because I don't know. It was like spiral bound and it's basically teachings by Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche. So I'll find out. Janet, do you know if we have any in the bookstore? Report an error in the passage at 1:08:11 Highlight the passage at 1:08:11

1:08:38 I have a copy at home. I'll bring it. Well, yeah, but yeah, I'm not sure if they, so they didn't really specify parts of it. You know what? I'll look at it. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:38 Highlight the passage at 1:08:38

1:08:54 Okay. Okay. Well, we'll figure it out and we'll get to that. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:54 Highlight the passage at 1:08:54

1:09:04 So one of the things that you'll read about in teaching by Venerable Renee Fusey, that to generate calm abiding, we have to gather supportive conditions. And the first point is to really develop this wish to achieve calm abiding meditation by thinking of its advantages. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:04 Highlight the passage at 1:09:04

1:09:29 And Venerable Renee... Explains some of this in his teaching. But it goes back to the crazy mind we were talking about, sort of the monkey mind. And, you know, just the advantages of calming our minds is that, you know, we don't have to deal with these crazy ups and downs. And, you know, it kind of helps us. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:29 Highlight the passage at 1:09:29

1:09:56 With our own expectations and disappointments and coping with things that come our way. It sort of enables us to react in the best way to whatever is thrown at us in this cyclic existence. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:56 Highlight the passage at 1:09:56

1:10:14 The second point of these supportive conditions is making a determination to meditate. So setting aside a regular time, establishing a place. Making it a priority. So just as you would with any activity. You want to learn a language. You want to learn how to golf. If you don't go through these practices where you decide how often you're going to do this activity, where you're going to do it, and make it a priority in your schedule, you won't achieve anything. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:14 Highlight the passage at 1:10:14

1:10:47 So same with calm abiding. The third point is to gradually develop the force of your mindfulness, so learning to hold on to your object. This holding on is really a mental exercise. If you recall when we were doing the meditation on watching the breath, I said, you know, we're going to watch the breath, and with a little corner of our minds, we're going to watch the mind watching the breath. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:47 Highlight the passage at 1:10:47

1:11:18 So that part is called that... Actually, I'm getting ahead of myself because I'm talking about introspection. But in terms of developing the force of your mindfulness, this is where the practice comes in. The idea of building up from focusing, developing your concentration to focus on breathing for 10 breaths to expanding that to 10 minutes to 30 minutes and so on. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:18 Highlight the passage at 1:11:18

1:11:45 So this is how we develop the force. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:45 Highlight the passage at 1:11:45

1:11:52 No. No, in fact, we're going to talk about that because that's one of the faults would be, you know, when the mind gets grasped too tightly onto the object, then it becomes very difficult to maintain that. If you recall with, I guess you talked about calm abiding as being, you know, sort of a pliancy of body and mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:52 Highlight the passage at 1:11:52

1:12:17 So pliancy indicates that we're very relaxed. We're alert, but flexible. We're present. So it's, again, this idea of kind of, I think, sort of being between the extremes of too tight and too loose. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:17 Highlight the passage at 1:12:17

1:12:41 And then this fourth point is using introspection to check up on the quality. So, you know, you can do a lot of meditation and get a lot of rest. You know? So this is that introspection where we are watching the mind, watch the breath, is where we are able to assess the quality of our concentration, the quality of the meditation. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:41 Highlight the passage at 1:12:41

1:13:09 And you will know the quality of your meditation because when you arise from your meditation center or your meditation session, if you've had a good meditation, you will know it. I mean, the mind will be light and refreshed and clear. The body will feel refreshed as well. It's not a heaviness that comes through sleeping or just not being present. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:09 Highlight the passage at 1:13:09

1:13:36 It's a clear-minded alertness and awareness. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:36 Highlight the passage at 1:13:36

1:13:46 This is where this idea of antidotes comes in. The fifth point is applying the antidotes. It's a very... Report an error in the passage at 1:13:46 Highlight the passage at 1:13:46

1:13:53 If we suffer from dullness, that heaviness, sleep coming in, then it's time to grasp the object more intensely, more tightly. So we're meditating on an object and we begin to start nodding off, the head gets heavy. That's where we need to put a little more effort in. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:53 Highlight the passage at 1:13:53

1:14:21 By the same token, the other side of that is excitement. Too much excitement is where we're holding on too tightly to the object. And if we think about just in all of Buddhism, there's this view. Sometimes the Buddhist path is called the middle way because it's the way between the extremes. It's in every aspect. It's just finding that center. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:21 Highlight the passage at 1:14:21

1:14:49 Center between the extremes. The Buddha likened the practice to, or the quality of our attention to, you know, how you would tune a stringed instrument. You know, if the strings are too tight, they break. If they're too loose, you can't play it. So, somewhere between those two extremes. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:49 Highlight the passage at 1:14:49

1:15:15 And then... The sixth point is not over-applying the antidotes. So if we're in meditation and we're checking with that introspection and there isn't a problem, we don't need to act. We don't need to do anything. So just let things be. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:15 Highlight the passage at 1:15:15

1:15:42 So what I've been telling you or explaining here and what you'll read about this calm abiding practice, especially when you hear that it's a practice of... These very accomplished meditators and we're talking about basically meditating almost indefinitely for just very long periods of time. Clearly it's an advanced practice. But the principles of that practice, they're an excellent basis or foundation for any meditation practice. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:42 Highlight the passage at 1:15:42

1:16:13 So it's a good way for us to cover this stuff and to really think about it and use it in whatever practice we're doing. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:13 Highlight the passage at 1:16:13

1:16:28 So concentration is bringing the mind to a common center or objective, focusing the mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:28 Highlight the passage at 1:16:28

1:16:37 And Webster says it's the direction of attention to a single object. So again, when we're meditating, we're focusing on this object of attention, this object. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:37 Highlight the passage at 1:16:37

1:16:56 And we can talk about what are suitable objects for mindfulness meditation. Practically speaking, you can meditate on just about anything. But it's said that it's best to choose an object that helps to pacify or calm the mind. What we're trying to do is calm the mind, so we really don't want to choose something that excites the mind or that generates a lot of discursive thought. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:56 Highlight the passage at 1:16:56

1:17:26 That's one of the largest, I think, obstacles to this kind of... Breathing or conscious breathing meditation or beginning a calm abiding practice. It's to be able to turn off that discursive thought. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:26 Highlight the passage at 1:17:26

1:17:49 And then it said that it's advantageous to meditate on a familiar object. So if you recall when we were talking about our meditation, the... The preparation of body in terms of our posture and all that was involved. And there was a little section about the eyes and whether you should have your eyes closed or open. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:49 Highlight the passage at 1:17:49

1:18:14 And, you know, in beginning meditation you can pretty much do either. Sometimes it's actually easier to meditate with your eyes closed because it sort of cuts out, eliminates that visual distraction. But when you want to go on to something... A more advanced practice like calm abiding or even gaining stability in your mindfulness meditation, that having your eyes closed can become an obstacle to that. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:14 Highlight the passage at 1:18:14

1:18:45 Because when we talk about holding our object in our meditation, we're not looking at that object. We don't have our eyes gazing at an object. What we're doing is we are focusing... On a mental image of that object. So that's where familiarity is helpful because if it's a Buddha statue, if it's someone, a visualization, maybe it's even just some sort of higher image of white light or love or an abstract image, you're visualizing that, some sort of image of that. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:45 Highlight the passage at 1:18:45

1:19:26 And so it's said that As you progress in your calm abiding meditation, the quality of your concentration is evident in how you visualize that object. If it's a Buddha statue but all you see is the outline, then your mind at that point isn't capable of really putting in the details. We want something that ultimately we can see all the details. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:26 Highlight the passage at 1:19:26

1:20:01 Essentially looks very real and just identical to the object as we've seen it. But as I mentioned, sometimes I think I've seen in some texts where they'll talk about, you know, meditating on a candle flame or something. But the intent, again, it really is misguided to say that, you know, you want to have a candle and be looking at the candle. What we're trying to do is eliminate the eye consciousness. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:01 Highlight the passage at 1:20:01

1:20:32 What we're trying to do is turn the mind inward and really develop that inward directed concentration. So then also finally choosing an object of virtue. And this goes back to what we were talking about with karma, with having, you know, taking the mind to this mindfulness, to this away from. The habit of negative actions and focusing the mind on positive actions. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:32 Highlight the passage at 1:20:32

1:21:08 So an object of virtue would be a Buddha statue or if you're a Christian, maybe a statue of a saint or something or just something that sort of... That epitomizes a positive action like loving kindness or compassion, you know, kind of bringing those things also in familiarity with our minds. Okay, Report an error in the passage at 1:21:08 Highlight the passage at 1:21:08

1:21:45 that's about all I have for tonight. This is great. We actually got through things. So if you don't have any questions, let's do a little more breathing meditation. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:45 Highlight the passage at 1:21:45

1:21:59 So everybody's clear on the readings. Oh, I did want to say too, so for this week, If you can, if you want to take this class seriously, make a plan to try to meditate every day and kind of determine, you'll determine by your own practice whether, you know, like I was saying before, if you're getting ready to train for a marathon, you assess where you are. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:59 Highlight the passage at 1:21:59

1:22:27 So that may mean that you're going to try to meditate five minutes a day. Maybe it's ten minutes a day. Ideally, you want to practice, you want to have your meditation the same place and preferably the same time every day. If that's impossible, then at least have the same amount of time in your practice each day. When you sit down to practice, go through the, check your posture. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:27 Highlight the passage at 1:22:27

1:22:59 We talked before about preparing the place, how sometimes just... Having a neat and clean place, that helps calm the mind and it's also good preparation for the mind. You visualize as you neaten things up, you're eliminating all the obstacles and the obscurations from your mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:59 Highlight the passage at 1:22:59

1:23:23 You begin the practice, good to think about motivation. Again, generating that positive motivation. Thinking about what your goal is ultimately, whether it's to... Ensure a higher rebirth, whether it's to liberate yourself from the cyclic existence, whether it's to pursue a goal of enlightenment. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:23 Highlight the passage at 1:23:23

1:23:49 And then sitting down to do your practice, focusing, deciding on your object. And at this point, it might be simplest just to stay with the breath, because the breath, again, is a very effective object for overcoming discursive mind. So sort of training the mind to focus quietly and to be calm. And when meditation is going really well, you know, about that time when you've been sitting for a little while and you're discovering that, gosh, you know, after doing this a few days, it's actually, it feels better. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:49 Highlight the passage at 1:23:49

1:24:28 You want to finish your meditation. You want to finish your meditation when it, basically when it's feeling really good, if you can. This won't be the case all the time. But finishing when you're really enjoying your meditation makes the mind really want to come back to that meditation session. And it ensures that we're repeating it. Now there will be days when it's tough all around. It's tough to even get yourself to that cushion. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:28 Highlight the passage at 1:24:28

1:24:58 But by the same token, you want to make sure that you can get yourself there. And it's good if you can... If you can have some way of at least monitoring the time that you spend, it's better to try to meditate for at least whatever you consider your minimum time. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:58 Highlight the passage at 1:24:58

1:25:21 If you have a goal this week of 10 minutes of meditation per session. So sometimes as you go on in your practice, you'll be able to basically know when it's been about 10 minutes. In the beginning, If you can have sort of a gentle timer, something that's not going to make you jump off the cushion, that's good. You know, if not, you can just kind of, it's good if you have some idea of when you started so that when you finish, you know whether it was two minutes or ten minutes. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:21 Highlight the passage at 1:25:21

1:25:56 What you'd like to do is, as I said, maintain that effort. There will be days when you don't want to. And that's why we don't want to be in a situation where you just sort of sit down to meditate however you feel that day. Because then it's like you're losing that practice element and that discipline element that helps sort of develop the force of your meditation, the strength of your mindfulness. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:56 Highlight the passage at 1:25:56

1:26:29 You know, if it's a bad day and you just decide, oh, okay. You know, it's hard for me to even sit here. All I'm going to do is meditate for two minutes today. Then you sort of create the causes to, you know, have that come up any old time. And you're not going to be able to achieve the kind of progression. Just like, again, if you were training for a marathon, you know, if you're tired today, but it's a practice, you know, but it's a training day, you have to go out and do what you've set out in your program. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:29 Highlight the passage at 1:26:29

1:27:00 So, again. It's not set in stone. I mean, this is, it's a gentle process. You can't really force the mind. We're sort of gently bringing on, cultivating this mindfulness. So we have to be careful how we approach it because this, you know, it's sort of like when you tell the mind, I can't do this or I, you know, I won't do this. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:00 Highlight the passage at 1:27:00

1:27:25 That's exactly what the mind wants to do. We sort of create just the opposite within ourselves. Again, it's an organic process, and these are guidelines in terms of how to make it more successful and how to apply these methods. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:25 Highlight the passage at 1:27:25

1:27:47 We don't have a lot of time, but we'll just take the time we have. So again, maybe Report an error in the passage at 1:27:47 Highlight the passage at 1:27:47

1:27:56 this time if you've been meditating with your eyes closed, you can try meditating with them open and just looking down in front of you this time. Take a couple of breaths. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:56 Highlight the passage at 1:27:56

1:28:10 Plant yourself, just again letting go of any tension in your body and Report an error in the passage at 1:28:10 Highlight the passage at 1:28:10

1:28:21 now turning the attention to the breath just as you inhale and exhale. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:21 Highlight the passage at 1:28:21

· · · silence, 8 minutes

1:36:03 So with the mind focused, Report an error in the passage at 1:36:03 Highlight the passage at 1:36:03

1:36:07 just turn your thoughts to dedicating all the benefits, the merits, all of the positive results created from being here tonight, from this effort at taming the mind and dedicate these merits that we might attain enlightenment. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:07 Highlight the passage at 1:36:07

1:36:31 For the benefit of all beings. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:31 Highlight the passage at 1:36:31

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:37:11 So if anybody wants a hard copy and didn't get one, please come up and take one. If Report an error in the passage at 1:37:11 Highlight the passage at 1:37:11

1:37:42 anybody tripping. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:42 Highlight the passage at 1:37:42

· · · silence, 3 minutes

1:40:40 yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:40 Highlight the passage at 1:40:40

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:42:06 both, so we have to get that. Right. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:06 Highlight the passage at 1:42:06

1:42:20 yeah, here, yeah, he encouraged me to take this word. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:20 Highlight the passage at 1:42:20

1:42:30 That's right, that's right. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:30 Highlight the passage at 1:42:30

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:43:11 Thank Report an error in the passage at 1:43:11 Highlight the passage at 1:43:11

1:43:23 you. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:23 Highlight the passage at 1:43:23

1:43:29 looks really good. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:29 Highlight the passage at 1:43:29

1:43:39 Oh, really? Uh-huh. There's always a good kid. I think Report an error in the passage at 1:43:39 Highlight the passage at 1:43:39

1:43:47 There's also one that's called I Ordered. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:47 Highlight the passage at 1:43:47

1:44:02 registered me before, so... Report an error in the passage at 1:44:02 Highlight the passage at 1:44:02

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:45:26 Thank Report an error in the passage at 1:45:26 Highlight the passage at 1:45:26

1:45:34 you. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:34 Highlight the passage at 1:45:34

1:46:02 We could do that. I'd rather do that. I don't want to do that. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:02 Highlight the passage at 1:46:02

1:46:12 Thank you for offering it for me. No, no, no. You're right, I've been here in half because there's only so much right now that are fully Yeah, go ahead. Anyway, so my question is to you. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:12 Highlight the passage at 1:46:12

1:46:35 So we had plenty companies, that's good. I'm sorry, we had what? Report an error in the passage at 1:46:35 Highlight the passage at 1:46:35

1:46:44 Oh no, that's true. I know Jemaine had said she can't come, and uh... Thank you so much for this. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:44 Highlight the passage at 1:46:44

1:46:56 I'm going to put this back. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:56 Highlight the passage at 1:46:56

1:47:02 you found it in the drawer of that box? Report an error in the passage at 1:47:02 Highlight the passage at 1:47:02

1:47:14 I bought this one. I set it up. Yeah. It's in the glass. Yeah. Because the little Charles is going Report an error in the passage at 1:47:14 Highlight the passage at 1:47:14

1:47:25 you still have a skin. So, I there's a number of things. I'm not Report an error in the passage at 1:47:25 Highlight the passage at 1:47:25

1:47:36 We do have a cat flight. It's right here. Yeah. Sorry. Let me know if not. I'm not even going to try to do this one because... Report an error in the passage at 1:47:36 Highlight the passage at 1:47:36

1:47:51 Janet, do you want these copies back then? Yes, your copies, or do you want to give them to Jessica? Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:51 Highlight the passage at 1:47:51

1:48:11 I'll be right back. Can you do it? All right. you want to see your new car? It's in your car. just drooling. Right in the driveway. I know it is. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:11 Highlight the passage at 1:48:11

1:48:28 I'll be right back. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:28 Highlight the passage at 1:48:28

1:48:37 says, you know, we have nothing. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:37 Highlight the passage at 1:48:37

· · · silence, 2 minutes

1:51:08 I know the tricks of this rickety thing Report an error in the passage at 1:51:08 Highlight the passage at 1:51:08

1:51:21 yeah, I'll do that. Don't worry about it. Yeah, I'm fine. I didn't mean for you to take down the projector and everything, sorry. Oh, no, that was no problem. Easy. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:21 Highlight the passage at 1:51:21

1:51:33 Did you want hot water again? I just kind of assumed. No, that was fine. Okay. Perfectly fine. You know, sometimes it... Report an error in the passage at 1:51:33 Highlight the passage at 1:51:33

1:51:43 I looked at it. It's a guy from Australia. It's a funny sort of letter. I don't know if you wrote it because he's basically writing to say that his best friend was in Oxnard. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:43 Highlight the passage at 1:51:43

1:52:04 breakdown, and you can't touch it or somebody go look in on her. Oh, me? Oh, I'm sorry. Yeah. I don't think so. I mean, yeah. Let's go out there, right in the face. Report an error in the passage at 1:52:04 Highlight the passage at 1:52:04

1:52:20 Thank you. Report an error in the passage at 1:52:20 Highlight the passage at 1:52:20

1:52:25 don't even know where Oxnard is. It dumps out on the way to L.A., but it's pretty far. Report an error in the passage at 1:52:25 Highlight the passage at 1:52:25

1:52:33 it. Yeah, just a little bit. No, it was a little. Yeah, okay. I think it'll be smooth. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Is Jenna coming back next week? Yeah. Yeah, she's coming back next week, but actually we have a little tricky problem because I attended I did talk Thank you. Report an error in the passage at 1:52:33 Highlight the passage at 1:52:33

1:52:53 here only on Wednesday. He covered for me this Tuesday when I was out of town. But I have to be awake for a work day. So I asked him if he'd be willing to come early and set up with Gemma. And you're... Oh, that's right. Yeah. 6.30, yeah. Yeah, I mean, that's the other tricky part. A, you know, I hadn't used this projector in a long time. Report an error in the passage at 1:52:53 Highlight the passage at 1:52:53

1:53:17 We used to set up for Emily every week or Robin. So I just wasn't sure where it had to be located and all that tricky stuff. But then also the meditation is totally fine, but... You know, if I can get into an office at 6.30, and then people start coming, like, 10 till, so it's like, I'm always like, hey, okay, back on, you know? Report an error in the passage at 1:53:17 Highlight the passage at 1:53:17

1:53:38 Yeah, no, that's why. Yeah, no, I'm so glad you're at the desk. I will let you know, I'm not sure what I'm going to do for next week, whether I will continue or whether I'll go back to notes. Okay. Just email me and I'll email David and Jenna. I'll tell them, you know, because I have their... Report an error in the passage at 1:53:38 Highlight the passage at 1:53:38

1:54:04 doubt. Well, these women must just stay away. So one of the first examples you can tell. Report an error in the passage at 1:54:04 Highlight the passage at 1:54:04

1:54:14 of the people asked, Report an error in the passage at 1:54:14 Highlight the passage at 1:54:14

1:54:25 Thank you. Report an error in the passage at 1:54:25 Highlight the passage at 1:54:25

1:54:31 good. Report an error in the passage at 1:54:31 Highlight the passage at 1:54:31

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1:55:24 She would put it out when people were here or whatever. Report an error in the passage at 1:55:24 Highlight the passage at 1:55:24

1:55:47 way they'll just, you know, it doesn't hurt. Report an error in the passage at 1:55:47 Highlight the passage at 1:55:47

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1:56:23 I Report an error in the passage at 1:56:23 Highlight the passage at 1:56:23

1:56:44 just realized it the other day. Report an error in the passage at 1:56:44 Highlight the passage at 1:56:44

1:56:53 I've shown her, but if David comes, he'll be fine. Report an error in the passage at 1:56:53 Highlight the passage at 1:56:53