Discovering Buddhism - How To Meditate (19 March 2015)

0:00 The preliminary practices that we use when we set up a meditation. Report an error in the passage at 0:00 Highlight the passage at 0:00

0:19 Welcome. Would you like a cushion or a chair? Report an error in the passage at 0:19 Highlight the passage at 0:19

0:26 Okay. Report an error in the passage at 0:26 Highlight the passage at 0:26

0:36 Okay. So this class is how to meditate. And tonight's just going to be kind of just very basic. And for you that have been in the other class, I've heard this probably a dozen times already. So it's specifically basically on meditation and beginning a traditional or just a meditation practice. Report an error in the passage at 0:36 Highlight the passage at 0:36

1:13 And so what I want to do is kind of begin the class the way you would do a meditation at home. So we need three things when we're going to do a meditation practice. We need to arrange the place, we need to arrange our body and then we need to arrange our mind and then we're ready to start. So there's a lot of arranging. So the place is already arranged very nicely, much more elaborately than we would need at home. Report an error in the passage at 1:13 Highlight the passage at 1:13

1:51 So... When you sit, you just sit comfortably on the cushion. If you need different cushions, if one is too high, too low, find the cushion that's comfortable so that you can sit for at least 15 minutes without a lot of discomfort. I build myself a nest now. I've tried a lot of different things and my body's gone through a lot of different changes. So I've changed the way that I sat a lot. Report an error in the passage at 1:51 Highlight the passage at 1:51

2:21 So just make yourself comfortable. If you're in a chair, make sure that your feet are flat on the floor. And we'll talk about the posture and everything later, but just make sure your back is straight and, you know, your hands in your lap. Report an error in the passage at 2:21 Highlight the passage at 2:21

2:39 And so then once we arrange our bodies and kind of relax those, then we want to arrange our minds. Okay. And so to arrange our minds. It takes a few things. You do three prostrations and then you sit down and then you want to motivate. Report an error in the passage at 2:39 Highlight the passage at 2:39

3:05 And so right now just take a few, not even a few minutes, but a minute and kind of think about your motivation for being here in the class and for wanting to learn this meditation practice. Report an error in the passage at 3:05 Highlight the passage at 3:05

3:41 See if you can take the motivation that you have for yourself and extend it beyond yourself and see if you can extend it to also include benefiting others. Report an error in the passage at 3:41 Highlight the passage at 3:41

4:11 You can think just even by your action of sitting here tonight, engaging in this class and making efforts to... Meditate to learn to calm your mind, to gain control over your mind, Report an error in the passage at 4:11 Highlight the passage at 4:11

4:34 that that itself will benefit all other beings. Report an error in the passage at 4:34 Highlight the passage at 4:34

4:49 You can create a wish that in the practices that you do, that it creates the causes for you to be able to benefit all other beings, not only in ordinary ways, but in extraordinary ways. Report an error in the passage at 4:49 Highlight the passage at 4:49

5:07 Helping them to stabilize their minds and become who they really truly can be, which is a totally enlightened being. And that also will be the aim for yourself. Report an error in the passage at 5:07 Highlight the passage at 5:07

5:31 So then after you motivate, you think, okay, because I'm doing this, I'm going to do it for all beings. I'm suffering just like me. Everybody else is suffering. If I learn to control my mind and calm my mind, I could... End my suffering. And then I can show others. I can help others end their suffering. So for that reason, I'm going to do these meditations. Report an error in the passage at 5:31 Highlight the passage at 5:31

5:58 So then you start with preliminary prayers. So we can look at the book. Oh wait, not the book. Sorry. Report an error in the passage at 5:58 Highlight the passage at 5:58

6:13 Yeah. Well, I think we have them here. Oh wait, we don't have the... Do we have the seven of them? Oh, we don't have the seven limbs in here. We do have to go to the gold book. Report an error in the passage at 6:13 Highlight the passage at 6:13

6:37 Oh, let's see. Is it the short seven limbs? Oh, okay. I didn't read far enough down the page. Okay, so we'll skip the four immeasurables, although those are really, really nice too. But basically, we would start with a refuge in bodhicitta. Report an error in the passage at 6:37 Highlight the passage at 6:37

7:01 And the seven in prayer. Report an error in the passage at 7:01 Highlight the passage at 7:01

7:07 And we can do a short four immeasurables. We just would be the first line of each one. So maybe we do that. We'll do a short four immeasurables. So I go for refuge until I'm enlightened to the Buddha, the Dharma and the Supreme Assembly. By the merits I create through listening to the Dharma, may I become a Buddha in order to benefit all sentient beings. Report an error in the passage at 7:07 Highlight the passage at 7:07

7:30 I go for refuge until I'm enlightened to the Buddha, the Dharma and the Supreme Assembly. By the merits I create, by listening to the Dharma, may I become a Buddha and benefit all sentient beings. I go for refuge until I'm enlightened to the Buddha, the Dharma and the Supreme Assembly. By my merits I create through listening to the Dharma, may I become a Buddha in order to benefit all sentient beings. Report an error in the passage at 7:30 Highlight the passage at 7:30

7:54 How wonderful it would be if all sentient beings were to abide in equanimity. Free from hatred and attachment. How wonderful it would be if all sentient beings were free from suffering and its cause. How wonderful it would be if all sentient beings were never separated from the happiness of higher rebirth and liberation. Reverently I prostrate with my body speech and mind. Report an error in the passage at 7:54 Highlight the passage at 7:54

8:29 I present clouds of every type of offering, actual and imagined. I declare all my negative actions accumulated since beginning this time and rejoice in the merit of all holy and ordinary beings. Please remain until the end of cyclic existence and turn the wheel of Dharma for the living beings. I dedicate my own merits and those of all others to the great enlightenment. Report an error in the passage at 8:29 Highlight the passage at 8:29

8:58 Homework this week, I didn't put in the prayers and we'll talk a little bit more about them next week. So now you've kind of prepared yourself and actually by going through all of these little steps, it kind of brings you into a space where you're more ready to start meditating rather than just running in from work. Report an error in the passage at 8:58 Highlight the passage at 8:58

9:25 Jumping out of bed, having a coffee or whatever you do and then jump right in. It's like your mind is still real busy. But by doing these activities, it's like not only creates merit, but it kind of prepares you, prepares your mind for meditation. Report an error in the passage at 9:25 Highlight the passage at 9:25

9:45 So we'll start with breathing meditation and that will be the homework. It's going to be a really easy one. But so I want everybody just to. When you're doing it, sit, you have your palms, left hand, the bottom, right hand on top, and thumbs touching kind of in your lap. Report an error in the passage at 9:45 Highlight the passage at 9:45

10:09 And then you want your eyes, preferably if you can leave them open just like a slit, but if not closed. Sometimes at the beginning it's easier to start with the eyes closed. Report an error in the passage at 10:09 Highlight the passage at 10:09

10:27 If you have a tendency to get really tired and sleepy and fall asleep during meditations like I do, it's good to try to leave them open a little bit so you get a little bit of light in. But you don't want to look at anything. You want to kind of let everything just kind of blur and just have little slits. Report an error in the passage at 10:27 Highlight the passage at 10:27

10:49 Anyway, and then back straight and body relaxed. Okay, and so... The breathing is simply just watching the breath and you can watch it at the point of your abdomen or you can feel the sensation of the air moving in and out of your nostrils right at the tip of your nose or you can just watch your breath as it moves in and out of your body and just breathe normally. Report an error in the passage at 10:49 Highlight the passage at 10:49

11:26 Don't try to force it. If you're focusing on the abdomen and your breath gets shallow, just stay there and just notice that the breath is shallow. Report an error in the passage at 11:26 Highlight the passage at 11:26

11:38 And if your mind starts to wander, the minute you notice it wandering, don't put any judgment on it, if it's a thought or a sound or anything. Don't judge yourself, oh shoot, I did it again, I'm off the thing. Just bring your mind back to the breath. And we just practice. We do that over and over and over and over and over through the whole meditation. And so it helps us to develop concentration and focus. Report an error in the passage at 11:38 Highlight the passage at 11:38

12:15 And so we'll just, I'm going to set the timer so we can do it for 10 minutes. The homework's going to be for 15, but I want to have time to share. So we do 10 minutes. Report an error in the passage at 12:15 Highlight the passage at 12:15

12:31 Take a few deep breaths to kind of make sure that you're centered and here, and then just start watching the breath. When Report an error in the passage at 12:31 Highlight the passage at 12:31

· · · silence, 10 minutes

22:57 you do your meditations, it's really nice to have some kind of a timer, even if you just use the clock on the phone, if you have it. Because this way you don't have to, before I had a timer, before I had one of these phones with a clock, you know, I'd have my little clock, but then I'd be like, oh my gosh. Report an error in the passage at 22:57 Highlight the passage at 22:57

23:19 I wonder if it's time yet. You know, and you distract yourself. So if you have a timer, you can actually just set it and you know that it's going to ring or do something to let you know that your 15 minutes is finished. So it's going to be, the homework is actually five minutes longer. So you'll have to make sure that you find chairs or cushions that are really comfortable because when you're doing it, you should try not to move around too much. Report an error in the passage at 23:19 Highlight the passage at 23:19

23:49 You want to really... Focus your mind. So that's just a little sample. So I think I'd like to start with introductions and basically what I'd like for each person to just say their name and why you felt like you wanted to take the class. Make sure we can at least address everybody's wishes. Report an error in the passage at 23:49 Highlight the passage at 23:49

24:22 And also, if you have a regular meditation practice now, and if you have, how long have you been doing it? Roughly. I mean, it doesn't have to be exact. And then just try to keep the sharing down to just a couple of minutes. I always seem like I go over, so we don't want to go over too much. But I could start. Report an error in the passage at 24:22 Highlight the passage at 24:22

24:50 I have a regular practice and it does and does not at different times include just a plain simple meditation. So I have to confess. But I'm going to do all of these with you. Report an error in the passage at 24:50 Highlight the passage at 24:50

25:09 But I do have a regular practice that I do that involves different sadhanas and commitments that I have that I do every day. Report an error in the passage at 25:09 Highlight the passage at 25:09

25:19 um... On and off, I've done extended periods of meditation, but what happens, and it happens to me, is if you don't keep practicing, it's not like learning to ride a bike. They say, oh, once you learn how to ride a bike, you can always ride a bike. Well, with meditation, you can practice for a while and you can get fairly, you know, you can start to move up through the stages, which we'll talk about in a later class. Report an error in the passage at 25:19 Highlight the passage at 25:19

25:48 But if you don't keep doing it every day, it diminishes and it begins to drop off. And that's true. So I've taken a number of meditation retreats, Kama Biding and Vipassanā, and probably one every year for the last four years. And then one actually that's happening right after this class finishes. So it would have been really better to switch classes around. But I think this is a good order. Report an error in the passage at 25:48 Highlight the passage at 25:48

26:24 So we'll stay with this. But anyway, so I started Buddhism in 2000. That's when I was doing my first meditations. It was mostly lamrim and that kind of thing. And that I did really regularly. And that was really helpful. Anyway, just to keep it brief, that's enough. So who wants to start? You want to start? Okay. My name is Lisa. I'm actually the center director. I've taken this course already and I'm taking it again. Report an error in the passage at 26:24 Highlight the passage at 26:24

26:56 Always can learn something. I do have a regular practice. I have a series of commitments that I do every day. I try to meditate every day. I will be honest and say some days I don't. It depends on how busy I am and what's going on. Yeah, any questions, anything about the center, anything you need, I'm always available. Report an error in the passage at 26:56 Highlight the passage at 26:56

27:16 and you can help you out with anything you need. Report an error in the passage at 27:16 Highlight the passage at 27:16

27:22 how long have you been doing? They're like a regular practice. Report an error in the passage at 27:22 Highlight the passage at 27:22

27:33 I'm Alexis and I started taking Discovering Buddhism out of curiosity and then specifically the meditation because I think it would benefit from a little bit more focus in my life. I don't have a formal meditation practice but I do practice yoga which is kind of... It's centered around the breath and kind of eliminating thinking. And then lately I found a guided meditation on compassion and I've been trying to do that before I go to bed, but I don't actually succeed in doing it every night. Report an error in the passage at 27:33 Highlight the passage at 27:33

28:08 Yeah. Thank you. My name is Mary Ellen. I'm taking this class because I lack a couple for the whole series and a couple more to do. I miss them at the beginning and I have a daily practice I've had for quite a while and I don't often focus on my breath I usually use a different object Report an error in the passage at 28:08 Highlight the passage at 28:08

28:39 Hi, I'm Eric. I am just resuming a meditation practice. I used to have one for several years, but my life changed dramatically and brought me back here to the West Coast. I had studied a couple of years with Shambhala. I did not find it was a good fit for me in the long run, and then I found FPMT on the East Coast and began to take the Discovering Buddhism course, but then moved here and found you guys. Report an error in the passage at 28:39 Highlight the passage at 28:39

29:04 Great. Thanks. I'm Lionel, and I have been practicing meditation maybe for about a couple months, maybe since October, on and off. More frequently now, I'm actually in training to become a yoga instructor. So it's kind of helping me become more deeper spiritually and kind of seek out other avenues in terms of how I can deepen my meditation practice. Report an error in the passage at 29:04 Highlight the passage at 29:04

29:32 And I come to here almost every Saturday at Lisa for the guided meditation. And so it's been really nice. And I want to take this class to sort of deepen my meditation practice and learn new techniques of how I can, you know. delve deeper into my mind and just kind of quiet the chatter because I notice when I don't practice often that the chatter is louder and louder, so. Report an error in the passage at 29:32 Highlight the passage at 29:32

29:55 My name is Eileen. I used to take classes here with Chiki a long couple of years ago and I'm going through a really hard time in my life with a medical condition and I figured... Taking this class could help quiet my mind. Report an error in the passage at 29:55 Highlight the passage at 29:55

30:21 Thank you. Hi, my name is Rosanna. I took the Discovering Buddhism in the last course and I really enjoyed it. I want to practice more meditation. I used to do it but I didn't really have a focus and now I think I really want to get... You know, a meditation practice going every day and I want to learn new ways. Great, great. Report an error in the passage at 30:21 Highlight the passage at 30:21

30:56 That's the homework. Report an error in the passage at 30:56 Highlight the passage at 30:56

31:01 Hi everyone, my name is Aylara. I was here for the last module, the first module of Mind and its Potential with Venerable Palmo and I really loved it and couldn't wait to come back. work. Report an error in the passage at 31:01 Highlight the passage at 31:01

31:15 I look forward to everything we have to learn in this class and to continuing my practice that I start. Report an error in the passage at 31:15 Highlight the passage at 31:15

31:27 I'm Steven. I was here for the previous module as well. I started meditating very recently actually, last December, when I stumbled upon these classes and found it to be very beneficial for me. I'm here because I want to also quiet my mind. I want to become less judgmental. I want to become just a better person for the people around me and to myself. Report an error in the passage at 31:27 Highlight the passage at 31:27

31:53 I think it's a good start. I have a regular practice, actually. I practice on BART because I'm on BART every day. And so I quiet my mind and focus on my breathing. And it's great because I have that 15 minutes every day in two directions. So it gives me a chance to really kind of calm myself. Report an error in the passage at 31:53 Highlight the passage at 31:53

32:17 Theo, and it's my second time through DB classes. I started with . The practice is sporadic, more often than not, but when I do sit, I'm more at ease and more calm. The reason I do sit is because the same reason for our motivation is to become enlightened and benefit all sentient beings. So that's about it. Report an error in the passage at 32:17 Highlight the passage at 32:17

32:53 Thank you. Good motivation. So I'll just go over basically like the class logistics. And this time it's much easier because we don't have to change any days. So we're going to have six consecutive Thursdays. So mark your calendar for six Thursdays. And then the practice day will be on April 25th. Report an error in the passage at 32:53 Highlight the passage at 32:53

33:24 And so... The practice day, that's a Saturday, and it usually runs from about 10.30 to usually 2.30, 3 o 'clock, something like that. But we have the morning is kind of retreat style, then we have a potluck lunch, we have a little film that we watch, and then people will do little sharing, little things like that. Report an error in the passage at 33:24 Highlight the passage at 33:24

33:48 It's kind of a nice way to end the class. For anybody that's gone to those, I think it's one of the things that's kind of most fun of all of what we do. Report an error in the passage at 33:48 Highlight the passage at 33:48

34:04 Kind of get a chance to get together in a Dharma way, but a little more casually because we're doing a number of things and we get to chit-chat while we have lunch. Report an error in the passage at 34:04 Highlight the passage at 34:04

34:18 Anyway, so... So basically what we'll be covering is we'll be kind of defining what meditation is and its function, you know, how to prepare for meditation. There's preparatory practices and like I said, basically room, body and mind. So we'll go into that in a little more detail. Then there's various types of meditation and various objects of meditation. Report an error in the passage at 34:18 Highlight the passage at 34:18

34:54 And, you know, so we'll talk about those things. There's also basically what they say, there's five main problems or obstacles that come up during meditation practice. And there's eight antidotes to those, eight ways to correct them. So we'll go through all that. And some of these may come up when you're... Report an error in the passage at 34:54 Highlight the passage at 34:54

35:21 Doing your practice at home when you're doing your homeworks. And then there's actually there's nine resulting states of meditation. We'll talk about that in more detail. There's like levels that you can. And when we talk about them, you can kind of begin to kind of chart your own progress along the way. Report an error in the passage at 35:21 Highlight the passage at 35:21

35:49 And the end result of that progress at the end of those nine steps is what we call calm abiding, which is an amazing meditative state, which is like where we all want to try to get to. But then when we get to it, we go, yay, now I can start. Report an error in the passage at 35:49 Highlight the passage at 35:49

36:17 So calm abiding, achieving calm abiding isn't an end, it's a beginning. And what it begins, it begins our ability to be able to cut through really efficiently all of the delusions, all of our mistaken views, all of the problems. We can develop compassion and love. You know, expand our minds easily. Right now we have to work on it. It comes a little bit and it goes away and it comes a little bit, you know, and we're building up. Report an error in the passage at 36:17 Highlight the passage at 36:17

36:56 It's not, that's not a bad thing, but with calm abiding, it's like, you know, I use the example in the last class of like shining a flashlight at a piece of steel to cut it. You know, you're just going to get a little light. It's really not going to do too much, but if you focus that light. Into a beam where it's really focused, it becomes a laser. When you shine that at the steel, it'll cut it. Report an error in the passage at 36:56 Highlight the passage at 36:56

37:26 And that's kind of what calm abiding does. It kind of brings your awareness, your concentration to like a laser sharpness where you can begin to really cut through things very easily. So that's pretty exciting to look at. Report an error in the passage at 37:26 Highlight the passage at 37:26

37:44 Now, all that said, it's not easy and it's not going to happen overnight. It takes lots and lots of work, but we'll talk about the conditions that come later in the classes. The conditions and maybe something to aspire to in the future, something like that. In any case, we'll talk about all these different... Report an error in the passage at 37:44 Highlight the passage at 37:44

38:10 Different kinds of meditations. And then we'll also, the conditions that are necessary to meditate and especially the conditions to developing this single pointed concentration and calm abiding. Because there are specific conditions that are recommended which are kind of hard to find in this world today. Report an error in the passage at 38:10 Highlight the passage at 38:10

38:36 But in any case, we're just starting on breath so no need to worry. So anyway, basically for an overview, why meditate? So just to start with a quote from Lama Yeshi, and this is from a book called Essence of Tibetan Buddhism. But he just says, meditation is not on the level of the object, but that of the subject. Report an error in the passage at 38:36 Highlight the passage at 38:36

39:08 You are the business of your meditation. And so that's what we're going to look at. So even though we talk about having objects, it's going to be really about you. You're going to be using the objects as a tool. Report an error in the passage at 39:08 Highlight the passage at 39:08

39:29 So why me? Why am I the business of my meditation? So the basic idea in Buddhism is that we want to be happy and that everybody wants to be happy. But basically we want to be happy. I want to be happy. And there's nothing wrong with that at all. And meditation has been a proven method to be able to gain that happiness. Report an error in the passage at 39:29 Highlight the passage at 39:29

40:02 Now that sounds kind of funny sometimes. I think for most of you that were in the last class, it doesn't sound funny at all because you already heard all of these things. But why? Why would that be a proven method? Because... True happiness doesn't come from anything outside of us. True happiness comes from transforming our mind and so a regular formal meditation practice is one of the most powerful ways that we have to begin to be able to transform our mind. Report an error in the passage at 40:02 Highlight the passage at 40:02

40:44 So we know, I mean, all our lives we've been taking things from outside to be happy. And we're still not really happy all the time. Sometimes we get like little bits of happiness, but then it kind of goes away and a little more and it goes away and we keep grabbing at more and more things. That's what the grasping mind does. And that's our habit. We've been doing it for lifetimes and lifetimes and all of this life. Report an error in the passage at 40:44 Highlight the passage at 40:44

41:11 And we'll probably keep doing it even after we hear this because it's such a habit. It doesn't break right away. We're still going to do it, but we can at least know what we're doing and watch ourselves when we do it. Report an error in the passage at 41:11 Highlight the passage at 41:11

41:29 Like over in India, I was sitting there, you know, I was trying not to have food after the noontime meal and they'd always have the best food because they would cook either this great soup or they'd have momos. And I love momos. And I love the soup. Those are my two favorite foods. And I always had them for dinner when I wasn't able to, when I wasn't going to eat it. And I'd sit there. Report an error in the passage at 41:29 Highlight the passage at 41:29

41:56 So I was sitting next to Gejila one night. And it's like they had brought momos. And I turned around to Gejila. I said, Gejila, my attachment won tonight. I'm eating momos. And he just said, oh, oh. Report an error in the passage at 41:56 Highlight the passage at 41:56

42:16 So you can watch these things coming up. It's okay to indulge in some of these things as long as it's not harmful. I didn't have a vow not to eat. It was just something that I decided I wanted to do. So I ate the momos one night and then stopped eating again in the evening. Report an error in the passage at 42:16 Highlight the passage at 42:16

42:44 Like that. It's just like, sometimes it's like, ooh, ooh. And it gets like so strong. Report an error in the passage at 42:44 Highlight the passage at 42:44

42:55 Oh, I know, I know. Well, not eating in the evening, you know, and watching everybody eat this delicious soup that I love, you know, it was really good practice for trying to just let my mind be happy and not... on. Report an error in the passage at 42:55 Highlight the passage at 42:55

43:10 Really attach myself to that whole thought process that comes up. Anyway, so happiness comes from the mind. It doesn't come from the things. So true meditation involves actually transforming our mind and that's really the purpose of it. Report an error in the passage at 43:10 Highlight the passage at 43:10

43:41 So part of the process... Meditation is to isolate the mental consciousness from the sense consciousnesses. We talked about it in the last class. We have our five sense consciousnesses. Report an error in the passage at 43:41 Highlight the passage at 43:41

44:01 So those are grosser consciousnesses. And then we have a mental consciousness. And the mental consciousness can be gross but then we have... A subtle mental consciousness too and what we want to do is we want to try to access the subtle one through meditation because that brings us this much closer to our true nature, to the clear light nature of our mind. Report an error in the passage at 44:01 Highlight the passage at 44:01

44:28 So we have this pure, clear consciousness, awareness. That right now is kind of clouded by lots of things and so we're not in touch with it. So we want to use the meditation to get in touch with that pure awareness that we have. And we all have it in there. It's not something that we're going to acquire. We just have to, you know, begin to touch it. Report an error in the passage at 44:28 Highlight the passage at 44:28

44:58 And like, you know, it's kind of like sometimes they say it's like peeling an onion. Take off the peels until you finally get to it. Or it's like picking a little hole and then you're like a little bitty, little bitty. Whatever. You can use whatever visual you like, but that's the idea. So we all know how to focus and concentrate, right? Report an error in the passage at 44:58 Highlight the passage at 44:58

45:23 It's like, are you reading a good book? A really good book. And the phone rings and there's noises out on the streets. Maybe the TV's on or people are in the other room or you smell somebody cooking stuff in the kitchen. All kinds of things happen. But you can't really stop all those things from happening, but you can decide whether or not you're going to be distracted by them. Report an error in the passage at 45:23 Highlight the passage at 45:23

45:53 So you know when you've been really focused on something that you really like, whether it's a... Watching a particular TV show, reading a good book, all these other things could be going on and it's just like kind of just you don't really pay attention to it. You don't put your attention to it. So that's what we do with meditation is we choose what we're going to put our attention on and we know how to do it because we do it. Report an error in the passage at 45:53 Highlight the passage at 45:53

46:25 So learning to meditate isn't a hard thing. We just have to shift. Our attention. And if we really like doing what we're doing, it's going to be easy. And if we're not too interested or it's like, oh, this is a lot of work, then it may be harder. Report an error in the passage at 46:25 Highlight the passage at 46:25

46:47 My mind's really busy, so it's hard. But anyway, so another part of the meditation is realizing that we do have that choice of whether we're going to put attention on to. One theme or another, whether we're going to give it energy or not. And so this is the way we can also use after we get up from the meditations, when we're going around in our daily life, we can use this when we notice the kind of feelings beginning to come up that would generally end up in us being angry. Report an error in the passage at 46:47 Highlight the passage at 46:47

47:26 We can decide at that minute, if it's not too strong and doesn't move too quickly. Whether we want to give it our attention or not, or whether we just want to stay calm. So we can extend the benefits of learning to concentrate and learning to calm our mind and all of those into our walking around life. Report an error in the passage at 47:26 Highlight the passage at 47:26

47:55 It's kind of like we can decide to pick up the phone or not. So then, nope, this book's too good. I'm not going to bother with the phone. Report an error in the passage at 47:55 Highlight the passage at 47:55

48:05 Let them leave a message if they want. Report an error in the passage at 48:05 Highlight the passage at 48:05

48:09 But anyway, so developing a meditation practice is kind of like learning a skill. It's like learning how to do basketball. Maybe the first time you throw the ball, you might not even hit the board. You might just, you know. And then after a while with practice, and it takes a lot of practice, you can get really good. And if you want to get really good, it takes lots and lots of practice. Report an error in the passage at 48:09 Highlight the passage at 48:09

48:39 Piano or practicing, practicing, practicing. It doesn't... They were better than last year. But anything that we want to try to learn, it takes practice. And so if we're willing to put in the practice, we can learn to be really good at it. Report an error in the passage at 48:39 Highlight the passage at 48:39

49:04 And so with practice, what we do is we can... Gradually eliminate distractions. So right now, most of us will sit down and, you know, it'll be like a few breaths and pretty soon, and then you've got to come back. Report an error in the passage at 49:04 Highlight the passage at 49:04

49:24 But it's good. If you notice it and you come back. Oh, I'm so familiar with it. Report an error in the passage at 49:24 Highlight the passage at 49:24

49:38 That one I can empathize with everyone. Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 49:38 Highlight the passage at 49:38

49:41 Anyway, but gradually you can kind of have that all kind of calm down. And sometimes at the beginning of really doing a meditation practice, it'll seem like your mind is getting worse. You go, oh my God, oh, it's horrible. I never had this many thoughts in my life. Well, you just never noticed that many thoughts in your life. And now you're focusing on your mind and you're beginning to notice. Report an error in the passage at 49:41 Highlight the passage at 49:41

50:14 So don't think you're getting worse. Just know that you're becoming more aware if that happens. And so you can absorb deeper and deeper into your own mind. Report an error in the passage at 50:14 Highlight the passage at 50:14

50:33 Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 50:33 Highlight the passage at 50:33

· · · silence, 1 minute

51:07 Yeah, we'll talk about that because this is part of arranging. Report an error in the passage at 51:07 Highlight the passage at 51:07

51:15 This will come under like the arranging the place, the body and the mind. So we're going to go in detail about that. So we're hoping to get to at least some of that tonight. Report an error in the passage at 51:15 Highlight the passage at 51:15

51:35 But anyway, so... What we do is developing this meditation practice and learning this skill, we develop this profound concentration. Report an error in the passage at 51:35 Highlight the passage at 51:35

51:48 And so then when we mix, and this is what I was talking about before, when we mix concentration with analysis, then we can experience really meaningful, profound insights and realizations. Report an error in the passage at 51:48 Highlight the passage at 51:48

52:06 And what it allows us to do is like, you know, for when you've done an analytical meditation, maybe on compassion. So you do it and you do it and you do it and all of a sudden you feel your heart open and this compassion floods. Okay, at that point, that's when you use the concentration and you hold that feeling. Report an error in the passage at 52:06 Highlight the passage at 52:06

52:32 Because the longer you can hold the feeling. The more real that becomes. It's like kind of letting your body soak in it. See, so if we have a quick flash and it's gone, then it's like we have to go through all again. So the stronger our concentration, the easier it is for us to hold those feelings that we generate through the practices. Report an error in the passage at 52:32 Highlight the passage at 52:32

53:06 And so analysis and concentration go hand in hand. Report an error in the passage at 53:06 Highlight the passage at 53:06

53:16 And it's good to actually start with concentration. But it's good also to do both. You can do both at the same time. We're going to start the classes with maybe a few weeks of... Kind of more of a concentration meditation and then we'll move on to other types. We'll use different objects and analysis and deity practice and different things like mantras and things like that too. Report an error in the passage at 53:16 Highlight the passage at 53:16

53:50 So we're going to do, it's going to be a little bit of a lots of things. But anyway, so why did the Buddha teach meditation? Okay, first of all, let's say when he didn't teach it, he didn't teach it. Report an error in the passage at 53:50 Highlight the passage at 53:50

54:08 As a way to relax. Buddhism isn't just another way to de-stress. Report an error in the passage at 54:08 Highlight the passage at 54:08

54:21 For some Buddhists, they can get really stressed. Report an error in the passage at 54:21 Highlight the passage at 54:21

54:28 Anyway, Buddha didn't teach us. His observations and these are his observations is what all of his teachings are from his own meditation practice and his own observations and conclusions, realizations that he had. He didn't teach the observations of reality and the mind so that we can be calm while we continue to suffer and die and watch other people suffer and die. Report an error in the passage at 54:28 Highlight the passage at 54:28

55:04 So calmness and so the idea is that he taught it so that we can change our minds. Report an error in the passage at 55:04 Highlight the passage at 55:04

55:16 So he observed through his own meditations that there's limitless happiness and that it's possible and it's possible that everybody can accomplish it because everybody has the potential to experience it. And this is what we're talking about, limitless happiness. For now, we'll work on a little bit of happiness in our life, a little more calmness and relaxation. Report an error in the passage at 55:16 Highlight the passage at 55:16

55:45 But the end goal should be to really take total control of our minds. Report an error in the passage at 55:45 Highlight the passage at 55:45

55:57 So you remember we started the class saying that we all wanted happiness. Well, the cause of happiness is within our own mind. And so these methods are proven. There's lots of others who have shown that it's possible to achieve this happiness through meditation and through a variety of meditations. And there's lots of different objects and meditations because there's lots of different people. And some things will work best for one person and they'll just be horrible for somebody else. Report an error in the passage at 55:57 Highlight the passage at 55:57

56:37 So not always the same approaches is going to work for everyone. Report an error in the passage at 56:37 Highlight the passage at 56:37

56:47 But so using these methods, we get gradual transformation. And the key thing here is just to be patient with ourselves. Because we heard that we should be patient, we understand there's an antidote, doesn't mean that we're not going to get angry anymore. We're going to be able to instantly control it or because it's good. Report an error in the passage at 56:47 Highlight the passage at 56:47

57:17 If we sit and breathe and we watch this, the breath, the mind will calm down. Well, it doesn't calm down overnight. Report an error in the passage at 57:17 Highlight the passage at 57:17

57:28 So patience and not being hard on ourselves is really key here too. It's actually kind of a long, slow process. Don't get discouraged because it does improve. But it is something, it's not something that just happens overnight because the... The things that we've been doing that cause the suffering, the upsets, all of the chattering and all that, we've been doing for a really long time. Report an error in the passage at 57:28 Highlight the passage at 57:28

57:58 We have really strong habits. And so now we're just trying to begin to develop a new habit. So it's going to take time before that new habit becomes strong enough to even influence those old habits. But I think during the course of this class, we'll have some influence. Report an error in the passage at 57:58 Highlight the passage at 57:58

58:21 I think everybody, if you do the homework, you'll experience some shift, some change. But I can't guarantee it. Report an error in the passage at 58:21 Highlight the passage at 58:21

58:39 So let's see, where was I? This is why I always go older. Oh, well, so basically we can be happy. We can be happy in every situation. But even more important than that is... Thank you. Thank you. Report an error in the passage at 58:39 Highlight the passage at 58:39

58:58 You know, when we're able to calm our minds, be more happy, we're more able to help others to be able to find the more stable, peaceful happiness also. Report an error in the passage at 58:58 Highlight the passage at 58:58

59:12 And, you know, all of those things starts with meditation. Meditation is just a tool. It's a tool. Dharma teachings are the teachings of the Buddha. And it says we're not really practicing the Dharma until we start working on changing our minds. So if you want to practice Dharma, we need to change our minds. Report an error in the passage at 59:12 Highlight the passage at 59:12

59:40 And meditation is the way to do it. The first line in the book that we read last class, the very first line in Becoming Your Own Therapist is when we study Buddhism, we are studying ourselves. The nature of our own minds. That's Lamyashi. And that's what it is. So if you want a Dharma practice, a Dharma practice is changing your mind, improving your mind. Report an error in the passage at 59:40 Highlight the passage at 59:40

1:00:15 It's not doing frustrations. It's not sitting on a cruci and going, hmm. And not even breathing. You can sit through and do all the breathing meditations, but if it doesn't work to change your mind, then something's missing. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:15 Highlight the passage at 1:00:15

1:00:40 So the transformation of our mind is the spiritual path. And that's what the Buddha was telling us. He said, hey, look, you know, you eliminate these negative. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:40 Highlight the passage at 1:00:40

1:00:59 Aspects of your mind and you develop the positive ones and you realize how things actually exist because right now we're kind of like blind. We think we see but we really don't see how things actually exist. And so through all these practices we clean up all that, we develop our mind fully, we become enlightened just like the Buddha. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:59 Highlight the passage at 1:00:59

1:01:29 being chill. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:29 Highlight the passage at 1:01:29

1:01:33 We got to have, this is like Renee last night was going, you got to have the long view, the long view. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:33 Highlight the passage at 1:01:33

1:01:45 But anyway, so the purpose, two main purposes of meditation is to become a master of your own mind. And to know your own mind, to understand its nature. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:45 Highlight the passage at 1:01:45

1:02:03 So those are the two main purposes for meditation. So what's meditation? So in Tibetan, gom, what they say, gom is meditation. It just means to habituate or to familiarize yourself. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:03 Highlight the passage at 1:02:03

1:02:26 G-O-M, gom. It means to habituate. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:26 Highlight the passage at 1:02:26

1:02:33 And so that just, you know, we all know how to create habits. You just keep repeating and you keep bringing your mind to an object and you keep bringing your mind back to an object until you get used to it. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:33 Highlight the passage at 1:02:33

1:02:50 So what are we becoming familiar with in meditation? So what we're doing is we're uncovering what's true, positive and accurate. So what we want to do is we want to get in touch with our own natural awareness and wisdom. So we have this incredible wisdom. It's not something that we have to acquire from outside. It's there already. And we have this incredible awareness or potential for this awareness, which is kind of obscured right now. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:50 Highlight the passage at 1:02:50

1:03:29 But it's there. what What meditation does is helps us to uncover that. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:29 Highlight the passage at 1:03:29

1:03:47 Well, there's lots of wisdoms. Basically, what I would be talking about is the wisdom that realizes the true nature of phenomena, of all phenomena, which just means how we actually exist as opposed to how we appear to exist right now or how we think we exist right now, which is mistaken. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:47 Highlight the passage at 1:03:47

1:04:17 But there's lots of different types of wisdom. I don't want to go into all of that, but basically it's the wisdom, it's like accomplishing the wisdom realizing emptiness, the wisdom realizing emptiness. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:17 Highlight the passage at 1:04:17

1:04:38 And that just means that things don't inherently exist. The way they appear to us now, they appear as though they inherently exist, separate from us, outside. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:38 Highlight the passage at 1:04:38

1:04:53 And things don't appear in that way. They're not as solid as they appear. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:53 Highlight the passage at 1:04:53

1:05:01 And so when we get this realization, then we actually see how things do exist, how everything is interdependent, how things are fluid and moving and all of those kinds of things. I don't want to go too much into it because there's a whole class on that. But anyway. So, with So why meditate? So we become familiar with this awareness and wisdom. Then it helps us to undermine unhelpful habits, the kind of habits that are unskillful or harmful. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:01 Highlight the passage at 1:05:01

1:05:42 And that could be harmful to ourselves and or others. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:42 Highlight the passage at 1:05:42

1:05:50 It brings us closer to the understanding of reality. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:50 Highlight the passage at 1:05:50

1:06:01 It helps us when we get off the cushion to be able to remember that things aren't always as they appear. It gives us a little more calmness, a little more centeredness. Maybe we don't react quite as quickly. I think that's one we could all look for. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:01 Highlight the passage at 1:06:01

1:06:33 So and our meditation, like I said before, our meditation should affect our life and our life should support our meditation. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:33 Highlight the passage at 1:06:33

1:06:44 So if if our meditation isn't having some effect on our life, then something isn't working right. And like I said, it's a slow process. So you may not see it affecting it immediately. Like I sit down tomorrow morning. And I get up and I figure, okay, now everything should be different. Well, no, it's not going to work like that. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:44 Highlight the passage at 1:06:44

1:07:15 We need to have lots of patience. And the more patient you are and the less you push yourself, the faster you'll go. Isn't that funny? But that's how it works. So meditation, we need to have an object. So the object could be neutral, like the breath or a candle or a rock. Or it could be a positive object like the Buddha or some of the teachings, compassion, love, those kinds of things. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:15 Highlight the passage at 1:07:15

1:07:49 We already know how to focus. Right now we call it obsessing. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:49 Highlight the passage at 1:07:49

1:07:56 So that's focus. It's just focusing on an object of attachment as opposed to on a virtuous object or a neutral object. And so we're familiar with it. So, you know, it's good to be able to focus on a neutral or virtuous object as opposed to an object of one of our delusions, which just brings more negativity. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:56 Highlight the passage at 1:07:56

1:08:30 You're here. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:30 Highlight the passage at 1:08:30

1:08:34 And so when we're meditating experiences like pain, sounds, thoughts, all the physical sensations, distractions that you're experiencing, they're not an object of meditation. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:34 Highlight the passage at 1:08:34

1:08:50 So you have to keep bringing your mind back from those. So if you get that sore leg or whatever, sometimes it's almost impossible. We were sitting last night and after we sat and sat and sat for a really long time, then we sat some more and sat some more and pretty soon my leg was screaming. And it's like we're doing meditation and I can feel my, I can feel, sometimes I feel myself like it begins to like get really sore and then if I get really into it, it goes away. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:50 Highlight the passage at 1:08:50

1:09:19 And then if I, something comes up, it comes back and you can, you can see how, how your mind. It really has control over so much of what goes on in your body. Anyway, so physical, those are not objects of meditation, although sometimes they almost dominate your meditation. They're not objects. And so even virtuous objects that arise during meditation, like, you know, you're thinking about bodhicitta or the Buddha. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:19 Highlight the passage at 1:09:19

1:09:53 A lot of times what happens for me is all of a sudden I'll start hearing like... like talks or, you know, doing like a, oh, this is wisdom. I'll start discussing wisdom. You have to stop those too. When you have an object, you have an object. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:53 Highlight the passage at 1:09:53

1:10:16 Even virtuous distractions are distractions. A lot of times I'll end up doing them. I'll hear a mantra. them but that's Report an error in the passage at 1:10:16 Highlight the passage at 1:10:16

1:10:24 to start going on I was like. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:24 Highlight the passage at 1:10:24

1:10:30 So, you know, it's, you know, all the virtuous aspirations and inspirations that arise during meditation will be a distraction. Unless you're meditating on compassion and a compassion arises, then it's not a distraction. But otherwise, okay. So, emptying your head of thoughts isn't meditation either, at least not in this tradition. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:30 Highlight the passage at 1:10:30

1:11:03 The goal that we're going to do is to try to learn to stop following the thoughts. We don't want to just zone out. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:03 Highlight the passage at 1:11:03

1:11:17 They say, although I haven't really experienced it much, well maybe not at all actually, I should say, that after you watch and you just let these thoughts come and go, eventually you'll get to a place where you'll have this really calm, open, Report an error in the passage at 1:11:17 Highlight the passage at 1:11:17

1:11:39 Awareness and concentration and the thoughts won't be there. They won't just keep coming up. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:39 Highlight the passage at 1:11:39

1:11:53 That takes a while. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:53 Highlight the passage at 1:11:53

1:11:57 But we don't have to try to force it too much, but we don't want to be distracted by the thoughts either. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:57 Highlight the passage at 1:11:57

1:12:09 So, you know, and meditation is just not sitting on a cushion in a particular way spaced out. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:09 Highlight the passage at 1:12:09

1:12:18 Meditation really is a concentrated and really aware state of mind. So if you're not feeling sharp and aware, then you're spaced out. And that's not meditation. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:18 Highlight the passage at 1:12:18

1:12:36 So we learn to concentrate. And meditation goes hand in hand with studying, contemplation. In fact, what the galupa say, first you study, you hear the teachings, then you... Contemplate them, and then you meditate. And I think for us, it's okay to do all of them together, a little bit of all of those things. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:36 Highlight the passage at 1:12:36

1:13:05 And when you reach deeper states of meditation, your mind's able to reach deeper states while you're up walking around and working and engaging in your daily activities. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:05 Highlight the passage at 1:13:05

1:13:21 So, any questions? This is taking longer than I thought. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:21 Highlight the passage at 1:13:21

1:13:29 We'll keep going. Anybody need to feel like they need to take a break? Report an error in the passage at 1:13:29 Highlight the passage at 1:13:29

1:13:36 Okay. You need a break? No? Okay. Good. We'll just keep going. It's just general stuff now, but I think it's important just to kind of have it out. And I know most everybody that's in the classroom before has heard it anyway. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:36 Highlight the passage at 1:13:36

1:14:17 Well, there's different objects. You can... In calm abiding practice, one of the things you can use is an image of the Buddha. And they are very specific, it's this size and it's this far in front and it's like this. So you can use objects to develop the concentration. The goal here to start is to develop that laser-like concentration and then use that concentration. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:17 Highlight the passage at 1:14:17

1:14:53 But then there's also other objects. You can use the mind. You can use the breath. There's different, you know, like the breath is a gross object. So eventually after you learn a certain amount of concentration, you would have to change to a more subtle object because in order to advance in the higher stages. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:53 Highlight the passage at 1:14:53

1:15:22 of meditation where you're accessing more subtle parts of your mind you can't use a gross object anymore so it has to become a more subtle object because when you if you can get into certain states of meditation where you're not aware of your breath anymore you're not aware of your body you're you know Report an error in the passage at 1:15:22 Highlight the passage at 1:15:22

1:15:51 Yeah, yeah. There's lots of objects and lots of ways. That's what I said because so many different people. Sometimes looking at the mind works better, some object here, some kind of light here. Yeah, yeah. We're going to start with breathing this week. Oh, in fact, you better heat up the machine. Okay. Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:51 Highlight the passage at 1:15:51

1:16:08 lots of, Report an error in the passage at 1:16:08 Highlight the passage at 1:16:08

1:16:23 But anyway, so there's different types of meditation. Basically, there's two. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:23 Highlight the passage at 1:16:23

1:16:35 Let's see, how many do we have? We've got one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven. Okay. Basically, two types of meditation, concentration and analytical. So concentration, we talked about, that's just learning to focus your mind. Single pointedly on any object you pick and when you accomplish calm abiding, you not only can focus on any object for as long as you want, they say like four hours, but your body and your mind feel terrific. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:35 Highlight the passage at 1:16:35

1:17:18 You have what they call this bliss of pliancy, which means your mind and your body become completely serviceable. You know, right now it's like after half an hour, 40 minutes, an hour, pretty soon your body's screaming at you, your mind's going wacko, you know. When you have this comma biting, none of that is happening. And that's part of the conditions of comma biting, those we'll talk about later. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:18 Highlight the passage at 1:17:18

1:17:52 Accomplishing this really incredibly blissful state. In fact, it feels, they say, I have no idea yet, I'm not even close, but they say that it feels so good that it's better than the best sex you ever had. You don't feel like eating. You don't care if you ever do anything else. All you can't wait to just get back and sit down and do more meditation again because it's so incredible. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:52 Highlight the passage at 1:17:52

1:18:20 Your body feels so good and your mind is so peaceful. I can hardly imagine that, but that's what they say. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:20 Highlight the passage at 1:18:20

1:18:38 You can become really happy and by then you can use that and once you get the direct realizations of emptiness and you get control over your body and your mind, pains. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:38 Highlight the passage at 1:18:38

1:19:01 Not there, they say they, you know, take care of that. You know, you get, you get, the skills that we get, you know, the ability to control things in our life will radically change. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:01 Highlight the passage at 1:19:01

1:19:18 So that means, yeah, you get up and you can still, you wouldn't, maybe, you know, you would have. Like a focused concentration, not only that but along the way to calm abiding you get certain amounts of clairvoyance so you're able to better help people, others. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:18 Highlight the passage at 1:19:18

1:19:38 It makes huge differences and so that means that you have skills and you have the mind that's focused that can be there and really understand what people need more. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:38 Highlight the passage at 1:19:38

1:19:55 Yeah, when you get up, it kind of goes with you. It may not be the same as when you're sitting doing your meditation because there's what they call meditative ego poise versus just the after meditation. But you still have certain qualities and your mind is still at a certain level that you can, you know, it's not all the chatter like we have and the distractions all the time like we have. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:55 Highlight the passage at 1:19:55

1:20:26 Anyway, so then analytical meditation is just when the mind analyzes a subject. And so we use logic or we use even creative thinking to just penetrate a particular object and try to understand it. And then, like I said before, once we get an insight on whatever, like if we're doing death and impermanence and you get an insight. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:26 Highlight the passage at 1:20:26

1:20:57 Then you can use your concentration to hold that insight. Not only that, but the concentration also helps so that when you're doing the analysis, your mind stays on the analysis and doesn't start wandering off to lunch or someplace. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:57 Highlight the passage at 1:20:57

1:21:16 So both of these meditations, both types of meditation, we need to develop in order to... Achieve enlightenment. Concentration. Concentration and analytical. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:16 Highlight the passage at 1:21:16

1:21:52 I think it's best to be sitting because it's just too much sometimes if you're moving around. You can contemplate while you're moving. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:52 Highlight the passage at 1:21:52

1:22:12 yeah, we can contemplate like that. Like I used to do practices when I was driving my car to work and I'd go drive down to visit their own back. Some days I would look at everybody, every stoplight, I'd look at the truck driver and the key down the street and the old person in this one, you know, and I'd think, oh, they just want to be happy, just like me. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:12 Highlight the passage at 1:22:12

1:22:36 They just want to be happy. They just want to be happy. Wishing them happiness, you know. I'd ride my bicycle through Golden Gate Park and I'd say the... The Chenrezig Mantra and pretend like rays of light were coming out of me and blessing everybody that I passed and all the animals and all that kind of thing. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:36 Highlight the passage at 1:22:36

1:22:56 So you could do, you know, but that's not really a meditation. It's kind of like a moving contemplation, but it's useful. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:56 Highlight the passage at 1:22:56

1:23:07 So I mentioned at the beginning, getting ready for meditation, we want to arrange the place, we want to arrange the body and we want to arrange the mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:07 Highlight the passage at 1:23:07

1:23:20 So, to start with, we'll talk about arranging the place. And this is something that if you can do it, if you don't already have a place where you do a regular meditation practice, to try to see if you can set one up. And if you don't set one up right away, don't use that as an excuse not to do your homework. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:20 Highlight the passage at 1:23:20

1:23:53 know If it just doesn't work out that you can't set one up right away, then skip that. But basically, you want to try to find one place where you can do your meditation every day. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:53 Highlight the passage at 1:23:53

1:24:08 And you want to try to meditate at the same time every day if you can. But so the place, if you have a place, try to pick one that's a quiet place. Like in my house, there's not too many quiet places. But, you know, you pick as quiet as you can. It could be the corner of a room or a closet or a little section of your living room that you kind of say, okay, that's where I'm going to do my meditation, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:08 Highlight the passage at 1:24:08

1:24:40 And, you know, it's harder sometimes if you have a family or roommates to find a place. But, you know, sometimes you can talk to them. and, know, work out the same. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:40 Highlight the passage at 1:24:40

1:24:53 If you don't have a particular place try to find maybe even at the end of your bed looking at the wall. You can put a little shelf and put a couple of little objects on there like a little Buddha picture. and kind of thing. So, but what you want to do is you want to, if you can make a space, and it doesn't have to be a big space, just big enough for you to sit and have maybe a little table. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:53 Highlight the passage at 1:24:53

1:25:24 If possible, make it quiet. Then you want it to be a special place. You want it to be kind of sacred. So you can create a little altar. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:24 Highlight the passage at 1:25:24

1:25:37 And it doesn't have to be really elaborate. It could be very simple. And usually what people have, you know, on the altars is usually some kind of a representation of the Buddha's body, which would be, it could be a picture or sometimes, like I have one that I have a traveling Buddha that I take when I go traveling. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:37 Highlight the passage at 1:25:37

1:26:01 It's about this big. It's a little Buddha, a little gold Buddha about this tall. It could be a picture. And then you want something that represents the Buddha's speech, which is a text. So, you know, usually I take one of my books, a Dharma book, if I'm traveling, I put it, you know, at home I have a sutras, some sutras that we read sometimes, so I put all the sutras there for the text. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:01 Highlight the passage at 1:26:01

1:26:32 But when I'm traveling, I just take one of the Dharma books that I bring and I set it over on one side. Usually you put that on the Buddha's right side. It would be on your left side, but on the Buddha's right side. So if you have a picture of the Buddha, it would be on the Buddha's right side. Yeah, yeah, the text. The picture in the center, and then you put a text on the right-hand side. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:32 Highlight the passage at 1:26:32

1:27:05 Yeah, a text on the right-hand side. And then something to represent the Buddha's mind and the stupa is the representation of the Buddha's mind. And so if you, you know, if you have, they have little stupas, sometimes you see, you can buy little stupas. But if you don't have a stupa, just use a picture. When I travel, I have like, it's a card, you know, and it kind of, it stands up like this and it has the picture of a stupa on it. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:05 Highlight the passage at 1:27:05

1:27:33 So I just stick that over on, you know, on the left side. Or you can go on the internet and find a picture of a stupa and print it and stick it on over there. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:33 Highlight the passage at 1:27:33

1:27:50 Oh, let's see. Yeah, the big one is right there. There's all different kinds. There's ones with moons on the tops. There's square ones. There's round ones. There's big moons like this kind. You know, but that's, yeah. that's, there's some of, where did it go? Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:50 Highlight the passage at 1:27:50

1:28:19 well, yeah. Some of them are filled, some of them you get, like I have some wooden ones and things that are just kind of carved solid, but they're nice. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:19 Highlight the passage at 1:28:19

1:28:32 No, no, uh-uh. My one that I travel with is just a card, it's like a greeting card. A stupa greeting card, but I don't think it has anything written inside. I don't look inside. I just take it out and I just stand it up. It's like one of those little A-frame things. It just stands up. That's my stupa. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:32 Highlight the passage at 1:28:32

1:29:00 It's a representation of the enlightened mind of the Buddha. Then there's lots of details that I don't know. There's lots of different kinds of stupas. Usually they'll show a series of eight stupas all together and each one represents something different. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:00 Highlight the passage at 1:29:00

1:29:24 Anyway, so just those things and just a picture and if you don't have it, don't stress about it. And if you don't have it, don't let that stop you from trying to do the meditations because you've got to remember it's not all of those things. so. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:24 Highlight the passage at 1:29:24

1:29:47 Okay, that we're working on. We're working on our mind. Now those things, some they say will help our mind and they do help our mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:47 Highlight the passage at 1:29:47

1:29:58 But, you know, it's us that we're working on. So if you don't have the things, you know, still work. But anyway, but if you can, it's nice to put a little altar. Anyway, you don't want to stress. They're just tools to help practice. And then if you have a little place, you know, with the little pictures and a couple little pictures and maybe a little candle and a flower. You can put one flower on a little vase and make it really pretty, you know, for offerings. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:58 Highlight the passage at 1:29:58

1:30:33 And then you can invite all the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas to your little place and they'll be happy and they all come and meditate with you. Anyway, so that kind of thing. And so wherever you're going to sit, make it really enjoyable. Make it a nice place, some place where you would like to be. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:33 Highlight the passage at 1:30:33

1:30:56 Something that's attractive to your own eyes, even though you're only going to look at it for a short time because you're going to be focusing on your breath and not on your place. But still, you want it to be attractive, something that's inspiring that you like. And then, you know, add things to it that are meaningful to you. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:56 Highlight the passage at 1:30:56

1:31:22 Like, you know, if... If you want, like sometimes people will make offerings. There's a whole, like what they have here, water bowls and all these bowls. It all mean everything. Well, you know, you don't need to do that. You can have a nice candle and you can offer a flower. And if you want, you can offer a candy bar, you know, something that you like. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:22 Highlight the passage at 1:31:22

1:31:47 I had a friend that was doing a practice and he'd walk by and you'd look in the room and she had her altar on top of her dresser and then she just sat facing her dresser and you'd see a jar of pasta sauce and the next day it would be a potato as she'd offer. You know. All of these things. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:47 Highlight the passage at 1:31:47

1:32:24 Oh, we just, you know, you just arrange these little figures and all of the altars and it kind of gives a nice little space and then you can invite all the Buddhas and everybody to that place to support you with your practice and your meditation and request their blessings and that kind of thing. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:24 Highlight the passage at 1:32:24

1:32:46 Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:46 Highlight the passage at 1:32:46

1:32:55 Well, yeah, yeah, you can take it off. You can... You can request to the, you know, to the Buddha's, you know, request where to be all right, you know, if I remove it. There's actually a mantra that you repeat seven times, but I think that's a little much for right now. But I think, you know, just, you know, don't think that you're stealing it. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:55 Highlight the passage at 1:32:55

1:33:22 And when you put it up there, don't think, oh, good, this is for me. You know, you want to offer it, you know. And then say, you know, you can request it to remove it. But, you know, if you're interested, I can give you the mantra next week. And then, Report an error in the passage at 1:33:22 Highlight the passage at 1:33:22

1:33:47 yeah, yeah, well, that comes up in the series, too, on setting up a daily practice. Well, we have a whole, we have another series of DB that's, you Report an error in the passage at 1:33:47 Highlight the passage at 1:33:47

1:34:04 can, but, yeah, I mean, there's, you know, whatever you want. I mean, you know, you can do water bowls. You know, we'll probably either cover it now or we can cover, we do have a class on setting up a daily practice, but, you know, if you don't want to wait, which is great, we can do it sooner. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:04 Highlight the passage at 1:34:04

1:34:32 But anyway, so that kind of thing, just adding things that are meaningful and thinking that you're offering, it's not your offering, but your offering, it's like... You think about how many people it took to get that one flower. How many, the person who drove it, the person who made the seeds, the person who worked in the garden, all of this. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:32 Highlight the passage at 1:34:32

1:34:58 So it's like all of these people have invested in this flower and so you're just kind of representing everybody and you're making this offering to the Buddhas. It's a really nice way to think about things and if you kind of contemplate just even when you're putting a flower on the altar or some kind of like you think about like the candy, you're offering it but you're offering it not only from yourself but from all of the people involved in the production of it. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:58 Highlight the passage at 1:34:58

1:35:36 Cocoa or something like that. If it happens to be chocolate comes from like away around all over and they, you know, probably people all over around the world. Anyway, but if you think about it, it's everybody is involved in it. So you can offer like that. The time is really good. If you do it, the best they say is early in the morning. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:36 Highlight the passage at 1:35:36

1:35:59 For me, I found that's true. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:59 Highlight the passage at 1:35:59

1:36:05 You know, usually when you wake up, your mind is more fresh and it's a little more relaxed because you haven't gotten into the busyness of the day or the work. And so you might find it easier to focus at that time. Plus, if you get up early enough, it's usually more quiet outside. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:05 Highlight the passage at 1:36:05

1:36:36 So it's good to try to do the meditation at the same time every day. It's a good, it creates a habit. And, you know, you can, if you miss doing it one morning, you can do it before you go to bed. But I notice my problem if I wait. First I get distracted and then I try to think up a lot of excuses why not to do it. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:36 Highlight the passage at 1:36:36

1:37:02 And then when I sit down to do it, I'm sitting there and pretty soon I'm like... I'm ready to go to sleep and I'm like nodding out. It doesn't help a lot. In fact, we're developing habits, right? So if you sit down to do your meditation and all the time you keep falling asleep, what are you doing? You're developing a habit to sit down and fall asleep. You're not developing a habit to sit down and become sharp and awake. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:02 Highlight the passage at 1:37:02

1:37:42 So, you know, the time is really important. And then, you know, what you all need to do is just make a decision to do it and just, you know, kind of mentally make a determination. I'm going to do this no matter what, one way or another. If I don't do it in the morning, I'll do it in the middle of the day or night. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:42 Highlight the passage at 1:37:42

1:38:12 But so and then so for the next it's the class is about a month and a half. So for the next month and a half decide that you you'll do a 15 minute meditation every day. And so the meditations are going to change. We're not going to stay on one for a long time, which makes it a little bit harder to really make progress. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:12 Highlight the passage at 1:38:12

1:38:36 But this way you get a little taste of lots of different things and then you can. See what you like. But, you know, decide to do 15 minutes every day. And so this means maybe getting up just a little bit earlier in the morning, going to bed a little earlier, which is sometimes I have a hard time with that, but I try. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:36 Highlight the passage at 1:38:36

1:38:59 And, you know, a lot of times I'll just wake up and I'll hit the snooze button and start doing prayers in bed, you know. which, which, Report an error in the passage at 1:38:59 Highlight the passage at 1:38:59

1:39:11 Which doesn't always work well. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:11 Highlight the passage at 1:39:11

1:39:19 Oh, no, no. I have a memorized. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:19 Highlight the passage at 1:39:19

1:39:26 Oh, no, no, no. Well, eventually I get up and go over to my place. But, I mean, I start. I start. out of the way to get nice and get switch over. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:26 Highlight the passage at 1:39:26

1:39:23 summarized. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:23 Highlight the passage at 1:39:23

1:39:40 It's not a great practice. So try not to follow that example. Wait, get up. Get up. Well, no, I get up too. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:40 Highlight the passage at 1:39:40

1:39:55 But anyway. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:55 Highlight the passage at 1:39:55

1:40:01 My body wakes up. My mind is still snoozing. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:01 Highlight the passage at 1:40:01

1:40:11 Anyway. I, I... Report an error in the passage at 1:40:11 Highlight the passage at 1:40:11

1:40:13 And so, you know, discipline is important. But we have to be gentle with ourselves and patient with ourselves. And we have to practice a lot of kindness. And we need to push enough to keep us going, but not roughly. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:13 Highlight the passage at 1:40:13

1:40:40 And so it's kind of like if you think of like a cat. this Report an error in the passage at 1:40:40 Highlight the passage at 1:40:40

1:40:47 Think of your mind as like a cat. If you stroke a cat really kindly and gently, it'll just be very calm and sweet. But if you get impatient and tight and bossy, that cat's never going to cooperate. So that's what your mind does. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:47 Highlight the passage at 1:40:47

1:41:15 Keep going. Keep going. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:15 Highlight the passage at 1:41:15

1:41:24 Okay, so basically this is what we're going to do. So arranging your body, there's a seven point posture and I took out the word Vajra because the Vajra posture we can talk about, that's basically, but there's a seven point posture and that's the legs are crossed. So the Vajra posture is where You know, you have your legs are crossed and your heels are on top of the thighs and, you know, like that. Well, there's a few people that can do it, but not too many. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:24 Highlight the passage at 1:41:24

1:42:04 Then there's like a half Vajra where one leg is up and the other leg's down. And then there's just a cross leg. And then you have like a kind of a Tara pose where you have one leg in and then one leg out. Where's Tara? There she is. The green one back there. So you can have that leg out. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:04 Highlight the passage at 1:42:04

1:42:26 Sometimes mistakenly when you have your legs and the feet up on the thighs, that's called a vajra posture. And sometimes you'll hear somebody call it a lotus posture. But Geshe-la explained very clearly. This is called vajra posture when your legs, like all of these tankas, like that. That's a vajra posture. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:26 Highlight the passage at 1:42:26

1:42:54 The lotus posture is when you're sitting and you have your feet, and this is another one, but you have your soles of your feet together with your knees out and it's kind of like, oh, we don't, well, anyway, we can't have them. But that's the posture of generally when you see tantric things, you see that posture. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:54 Highlight the passage at 1:42:54

1:43:23 Usually we don't use it for meditation. That's called the lotus posture. So sometimes if you hear lotus posture and they say that, it's really vajra posture. And Geshe-la made it really clear that we were calling it by the wrong name. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:23 Highlight the passage at 1:43:23

1:43:41 Anyway, so what you want to do is you want to find whatever's comfortable, you know, sitting. And so your hands and arms, your arms are loose. They're not tied against your body just so that kind of air can pass through. Your palms are with the left and the bottom, right on top, thumbs touching. And it should be just below the navel. You should sit kind of on your left, just below the navel. The left hand on the bottom and then the right on top. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:41 Highlight the passage at 1:43:41

1:44:20 and, and, you know, sometimes... Like now with these robes, it's like it's easier. They stay up a little more, but sometimes if your hands seem to go too far down, you can put a little blanket or a cushion so that your hands are just below the navel. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:20 Highlight the passage at 1:44:20

1:44:43 So your back should be straight. You don't have to like completely straighten your back, but I mean it should be straight up and down in a natural way with the shoulders relaxed. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:43 Highlight the passage at 1:44:43

1:44:59 The eyes, like I said, slightly open is good. But, you know, when we're beginning, sometimes it's easier to concentrate. We don't get as distracted with our eyes closed. The jaw should be relaxed and the teeth, you know, we don't want to clench the teeth. The lips just slightly open, you know, so they're not tight. And then your tongue. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:59 Highlight the passage at 1:44:59

1:45:31 It should be on the roof of your mouth, kind of like behind your front teeth. And basically that kind of helps, it's supposed to help to keep your, excuse me, keep your saliva in check, keep it from drooling. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:31 Highlight the passage at 1:45:31

1:45:52 Kind of helps. And it eliminates the need to swallow quite as much. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:52 Highlight the passage at 1:45:52

1:46:03 So the head should be bent. Slightly forward. Now sometimes they say, which to me is almost impossible, you look down your nose. Well that just doesn't work for me at all. But basically your head should be slightly forward and your gaze should be down toward the ground, maybe about a body length in front. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:03 Highlight the passage at 1:46:03

1:46:39 Anyway, so what happens if your head is too high, you'll have more... Mental wandering. If your head sometimes is too low, you'll have sinking. And that just means you'll begin to get tired and nod off. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:39 Highlight the passage at 1:46:39

1:47:13 And I've noticed that sometimes when I'm doing my meditation, I'll start with my head down and my eyes partway open. You just kind of let the focus blur. You don't look at anything specifically. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:13 Highlight the passage at 1:47:13

1:47:27 And pretty soon I'll either notice my head going down and I'm ready to nod off or sometimes my head will automatically start going up. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:27 Highlight the passage at 1:47:27

1:47:39 And usually when that happens, you do notice more mental wandering, more thoughts and stuff. So you can watch. So that's basically the posture. Be nice and straight. Now to help... To help to sit with the back straight, it's good to have a kind of a cushion that slopes and to tilt your pelvis back like this and sit on the cushion so that you're not sitting with the tailbone bent. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:39 Highlight the passage at 1:47:39

1:48:25 For people that do yoga, it's like you sit on your sit bones. They're called your sit bones. So you can kind of adjust. So even sitting, if you do your meditation in a chair, you can put a little pillow or a little fold or something, a towel or something behind so that you can get a little bit of an angle if that helps. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:25 Highlight the passage at 1:48:25

1:48:52 But for the floor, that's good. The other thing to consider when we're doing the meditations is clothing. You want something that's not going to be too tight. Like you come in from work, you go, I'm going to do my meditation. You got your tight jeans on, you sit down, it's not going to work. Because then it's going to be cutting into your stomach and pretty soon your knees are going to go to sleep because the thing is too tight and it doesn't bend enough. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:52 Highlight the passage at 1:48:52

1:49:22 stuff, and so, so. You don't want to dress too warm or too light. So if you have a place where you can actually leave your meditation space set up, you can keep a little sweater or a blanket or a shawl near this place. I personally like to use a shawl because I put it on and if I start to get warm, it doesn't take a lot to let it open. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:22 Highlight the passage at 1:49:22

1:49:54 And I can kind of go like this and if one side falls down and I get my arm cooled off and balance the temperature a little bit without having to go, you know, like this. But, you know, whatever works, whatever you have, you know, sometimes there's little fleecy blankets that work or something like that. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:54 Highlight the passage at 1:49:54

1:50:18 So, and then the cushion. So just experiment and find what's comfortable. And, you know, after a while of doing it, you might want to invest in your own, the big bottom cushion called Zabaton, you know, or the little smaller cushion and there's lots of different kinds. There's hard ones and soft ones and moon-shaped ones and, you know, there's all kinds of different cushions. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:18 Highlight the passage at 1:50:18

1:50:50 So, you know, it's good not to just jump right in and go, oh, I'm going to get that cushion, you know, and then find out that it's the worst cushion in the world for you. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:50 Highlight the passage at 1:50:50

1:51:00 But, you know, you can experiment and see what works. Maybe, you know, try out a few things. You know, if you have injuries or chronic problems, then try to find a way to work with them so that you're not aggravating it. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:00 Highlight the passage at 1:51:00

1:51:21 Like for a long time. I used to sit, I changed a lot, I used to sit with my legs were really folded up under me, a real wide sit but really folded up really tight. Well then pretty soon I kind of strained my knee. So then I had the keys. Then I had to sit with one leg in and kind of like more like the Tara pose, one leg kind of out so that I didn't put so much pressure on my knee. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:21 Highlight the passage at 1:51:21

1:51:46 Then that knee got better and the other knee got a little crazy. And so then I kind of adjusted that. Now they're both a little crazy, so I make a nest. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:46 Highlight the passage at 1:51:46

1:51:59 But, you know, so whatever works, you know. Plus, like, you know, for a lot of you, you're much younger than me. It's probably easier to get your body into shape and get kind of, as you do the practices and as you sit longer. Your body gets more accustomed to it, so it becomes easier. At first, I could sit five minutes. When I first started going to Buddhist classes, it was like five minutes, ten minutes. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:59 Highlight the passage at 1:51:59

1:52:30 Okay, ten minutes is good. I've got to do this. I've got to move. Report an error in the passage at 1:52:30 Highlight the passage at 1:52:30

1:52:40 Oh, wow. Jeez. Six hours. Woo. Okay. Yeah, but whatever kind of works. So there's alternate ways to sit. That's the basic posture. And like I say, if we call it a Vajra posture, then your legs are up like on Manjushri, like that. Report an error in the passage at 1:52:40 Highlight the passage at 1:52:40

1:53:06 Yeah. Have you tried it? Have you tried? No, no. I know. But yeah, yeah. So most of you see the Buddha's all sitting like that. It's supposed to be like really stable. There's reasons for all of these things too, but it's already practically time up. So alternate ways to arrange your body, okay, would be sitting in a chair, just like here. Report an error in the passage at 1:53:06 Highlight the passage at 1:53:06

1:53:41 You have a comfortable, not too comfortable, but a chair. No. Report an error in the passage at 1:53:41 Highlight the passage at 1:53:41

1:53:53 Although, although, although, although a chair, you know, so you're going to, the arms, the hand, the body, the back, the head, the eyes, everything's the same except for the legs. The legs will be like, where's Maitreya? Do you have Maitreya? We don't have Maitreya. Oh, my gosh. Well, anyway, Maitreya sits. Report an error in the passage at 1:53:53 Highlight the passage at 1:53:53

1:53:52 Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:53:52 Highlight the passage at 1:53:52

1:54:19 a tall so his knees come out and his legs go straight down to the floor and his feet are close like this together like this. Report an error in the passage at 1:54:19 Highlight the passage at 1:54:19

1:54:31 know, and so you sit in a chair like that, so you, you know, it's flat. The other thing that you can do is you can do it lying down, which is really dangerous. Report an error in the passage at 1:54:31 Highlight the passage at 1:54:31

1:54:49 If you're not inclined to fall asleep and you want to try meditating lying down, that's okay. If you think you'll fall asleep, don't do it. It helps to learn to meditate when you're lying down because you may be really sick and that would be the only way that you would be able to meditate. Report an error in the passage at 1:54:49 Highlight the passage at 1:54:49

1:55:12 I went to a meditation retreat, gosh, I can't even remember, maybe last year. With Alan Wallace and and he said he recommends people do it laying down because the more relaxed your body is, the more relaxed your mind is. Report an error in the passage at 1:55:12 Highlight the passage at 1:55:12

1:55:31 But see, my problem is when my body gets relaxed, I go to sleep, you know, and I kind of trained myself to do that. What a mistake because now it's really hard to meditate. I have to untrain myself. Report an error in the passage at 1:55:31 Highlight the passage at 1:55:31

1:55:51 Yeah, you can just have them facing up. A little bit out, not like this, not right against, but just a little bit out. And you can do it kind of on your knees because you had asked about that too. Report an error in the passage at 1:55:51 Highlight the passage at 1:55:51

1:56:14 To be able to stack a couple of cushions and sit with your knees in the front. And they have benches. didn't you? Report an error in the passage at 1:56:14 Highlight the passage at 1:56:14

1:56:25 Yeah, you can do a couple cushions, you can do a bench. Well, they have, they have, there's T benches, there's some that are longer where you put your feet through and there's the, you know, but, you know, you can, you can sit like that too. Report an error in the passage at 1:56:25 Highlight the passage at 1:56:25

1:56:42 Yeah. Yeah. But so those are alternate ways to sit. For me, I find, that's why I try to prop pillows and make it so I can sit like this because. For meditation or for practices, I find it harder to do it in a chair than sitting on a cushion. Somehow the energy seems, for me, different. And that's not true. That may not be true for everyone. In fact, I'm sure it's not true for everyone. Report an error in the passage at 1:56:42 Highlight the passage at 1:56:42

1:57:16 So we all have to find what's best for our bodies at any particular time because also things change and what works. This year may not work next year, and we'll have to modify things. If we expect anything to stay the same, we're really making a big mistake. Report an error in the passage at 1:57:16 Highlight the passage at 1:57:16

1:57:40 It's going to miss it all. Okay, so we're about at the end of our time, but I want to just go over preliminaries. We'll do it really quick. Steak. Report an error in the passage at 1:57:40 Highlight the passage at 1:57:40

1:57:53 Clean your little meditation area. And I keep one of those little fluffy dusters and I just go, you know, and then that's it. Report an error in the passage at 1:57:53 Highlight the passage at 1:57:53

1:58:03 And try to keep it uncluttered, but don't use, you know, not cleaning or clutter as an excuse not to do the homework and not to do your practice or to procrastinate. Like if you don't have time to get together everything for tomorrow morning, just do it anyway. Just do your homework and then you can gather things and then you can do your homework and eventually things will be gathered and if you need pictures or something like that we can find them for you and all kinds of things. Report an error in the passage at 1:58:03 Highlight the passage at 1:58:03

1:58:41 Anyway, so then you can put out a little offering. You don't have to but you could. You can light a candle. You can have a nice little candle holder with a candle. Report an error in the passage at 1:58:41 Highlight the passage at 1:58:41

1:58:54 Sometimes like... When you light the candle, I like to light the candle. When I light the candles, I like to think, may this light light the darkness of ignorance for myself and all other sentient beings. Report an error in the passage at 1:58:54 Highlight the passage at 1:58:54

1:59:08 The light floods everywhere. Beautiful. That's an offering. Report an error in the passage at 1:59:08 Highlight the passage at 1:59:08

1:59:17 May this light light the darkness of ignorance for myself and all other sentient beings. And so that's the greatest motivation. So when you practice with that motivation, the amount of merit and virtue that you create is multiplied by the number of sentient beings, which is gazillions or more. Report an error in the passage at 1:59:17 Highlight the passage at 1:59:17

1:59:47 Anyway, Report an error in the passage at 1:59:47 Highlight the passage at 1:59:47

1:59:52 and the same thing with any offering. And you can imagine that that light is like all the beautiful lights in the whole world, all the beautiful chandeliers and the sun and all of the... Whatever kind of lights there are, candles, all the beautiful candles and fancy lights in everywhere. Report an error in the passage at 1:59:52 Highlight the passage at 1:59:52

2:00:16 There's offerings that are just a magic. You can imagine all these wonderful offerings if you want to. So you don't have to have everything. Report an error in the passage at 2:00:16 Highlight the passage at 2:00:16

2:00:26 Anyway, so then you just sit down. You motivate. you know, you, you, you, Report an error in the passage at 2:00:26 Highlight the passage at 2:00:26

2:00:31 You want to do your little prayers like we did and we'll go over those next week. You calm your mind and then begin your meditation. Report an error in the passage at 2:00:31 Highlight the passage at 2:00:31

2:00:45 So usually if you kind of dust a little bit and you make an offering and light your candle or even if you have one bowl that you want to offer a water. Report an error in the passage at 2:00:45 Highlight the passage at 2:00:45

2:01:00 You know, rather than doing all of them. If you have a small space, maybe you can't fit everything. You know, so you modify. But what you want to do is you want to keep a big mind and a big heart, even if you have a small space and small coffees. Report an error in the passage at 2:01:00 Highlight the passage at 2:01:00

2:01:21 So the last thing is that during the class, I want to have everybody keep a meditation journal. I put it. I've included kind of the details of this on the homework so you don't need to write it all down. In fact, it's copied pretty much. But basically what it's for is so that we can kind of check our progress. And since I knew we were going to do this, I already picked out my, well it's just a pad of paper, but I picked out which pad I was going to use. Report an error in the passage at 2:01:21 Highlight the passage at 2:01:21

2:02:02 And put it by my place. But it doesn't have to be a fancy journal. It could be just like I used one old notebook that we tore the cover off and tore out a few pages, but it's still together. And it's a nice paper. You can just use a piece of paper like this from your printer or, you know, just anything to be able to jot down a few notes on. Report an error in the passage at 2:02:02 Highlight the passage at 2:02:02

2:02:31 So what you're going to put on each one for each day is, and you don't have to write these because they're all on your homework. You're just going to put the date, the time of the day, how long you meditated, which should be at least 15 minutes. But if you'd like to do longer, by all means, do it. What object you're using. Report an error in the passage at 2:02:31 Highlight the passage at 2:02:31

2:03:02 Okay, any challenges or breakthroughs that you got. So maybe it was like my mind was totally whacked out. I couldn't get it under control. My body started aching or wow, I just felt like I was in heaven. And you know, from one day to the next, it's going to be different. One day you'll feel like you're in heaven. The next day you'll feel like you're in hell. But it doesn't matter because as long as you're there, Doing your practice, you're meditating. Meditating doesn't mean, you know, feeling great. It means you're working on your mind. Report an error in the passage at 2:03:02 Highlight the passage at 2:03:02

2:03:44 And so what we're doing this week is we're working to develop our concentration. Anyway, so some breakthroughs, you know, if you actually have something like a pain come up and you're able to release it. And you begin to learn how to release those things in your mind so that they don't become problems that are so big that it totally distracts you. Report an error in the passage at 2:03:44 Highlight the passage at 2:03:44

2:04:10 That would be a big breakthrough. You know, you may not get it. I can't always do it. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn't work. Then you can put notes like, you know, did you have your coffee first? How did that affect your meditation? Report an error in the passage at 2:04:10 Highlight the passage at 2:04:10

2:04:32 You get up, if you get up and then you, you know, you kind of wash up a little bit to freshen up and sit down first, that'll be a whole different thing than maybe if your habit was to go down and get your coffee and then you have your coffee, then you go back and your mind's going. Report an error in the passage at 2:04:32 Highlight the passage at 2:04:32

2:04:54 And that'll change your meditation. So you're just making, you know, whether there's light, more light, less light, noise, anything that might affect your meditation, you can make little notes. Today, you know, it was like light, there was this really loud kid yelling outside, crying, Report an error in the passage at 2:04:54 Highlight the passage at 2:04:54

2:05:20 you know, whatever it is. You're just eating little notes. If you eat. Maybe if you don't do it first thing in the morning, you go and eat something, how does that affect it? Report an error in the passage at 2:05:20 Highlight the passage at 2:05:20

2:05:35 And then any other little note, anything you want to add or not add, just whatever you want to add. So that'll be like, if we can, we'll do the journal. And this way, what happens is by the time we get through the week, If there's any, if you're watching and you're having like really distractions and you don't know how to get your mind under control, that'd be something to share and we can look at maybe some antidotes or how, you know, how, how can we maybe begin to change that? Report an error in the passage at 2:05:35 Highlight the passage at 2:05:35

2:06:12 You know, in this way we have, we have a guide and you can, and you can track your progress and some days will, will be better than other days and they don't go consecutively. They go like this. Report an error in the passage at 2:06:12 Highlight the passage at 2:06:12

2:06:25 But if we keep doing it, it's like it goes like this, but it keeps going kind of like this. They just keep going up and down, but they keep getting better. But they still keep going up and down. Report an error in the passage at 2:06:25 Highlight the passage at 2:06:25

2:06:42 But so anyway, so the meditation is really simple. It's just on the breath. So I put some notes about just kind of setting up, you know, doing a little bit of a... Report an error in the passage at 2:06:42 Highlight the passage at 2:06:42

2:07:02 Practice in the morning and setting up an altar. I put the notes for the journal. And then the meditation is only this big. Of course, we're going to be working on the breath. And so what you want to do is you just want to watch your breath. And I put down three choices that you can, three places you can watch, kind of watch, you know, the breath in the abdomen. Report an error in the passage at 2:07:02 Highlight the passage at 2:07:02

2:07:30 You can feel the sensation of the breath going in and out of the nostrils at the tip of your nose. Or you can just watch your breath going in and out of your, you know, just watch your breath without having it be in a specific place. You can try any one of those. If you want, you can try one of them one day, the next one the next day, the third one the third day. Report an error in the passage at 2:07:30 Highlight the passage at 2:07:30

2:08:02 And then after that, pick one that you like the best and stay with it for the rest of the week. Because it's good if you stay with one object, you get a better sense of what's happening. If you keep changing objects, it doesn't end up with the same result. I don't think it does. Report an error in the passage at 2:08:02 Highlight the passage at 2:08:02

2:08:26 So you can experiment. But so when your mind starts to wander, You just bring it back. If you start losing track or you start getting involved in a lot of thoughts, you just bring it back to the breath, if it's in the abdomen or wherever it is. Just breathe naturally. Don't force it. If you're watching the breath in the abdomen and your breath becomes shallow, just watch your abdomen just sitting there without too much breath in it. Report an error in the passage at 2:08:26 Highlight the passage at 2:08:26

2:09:05 But just keep breathing. Just keep your focus on one spot or one thing or just on the breath itself. Report an error in the passage at 2:09:05 Highlight the passage at 2:09:05

2:09:19 But anyway, so what you want to do is you want to, you know, hold the object. You don't want to hold it too tight. You don't want to hold it too loose. So you're basically it's like learning how to drive a car and staying in the lane. You know, when you start to veer over, you don't want to turn so hard that you go off the other side. Report an error in the passage at 2:09:19 Highlight the passage at 2:09:19

2:09:38 So you're learning how to keep everything kind of just moving right through the center. You know, when you start to go off on one side, you just come back and do this. So that's the whole job. And then afterwards, there's a little part, and you can read it. Basically, it would be the wish to cultivate, you know, your mind and the meditations in order to benefit others. Report an error in the passage at 2:09:38 Highlight the passage at 2:09:38

2:10:05 And then the dedication. And the motivation, excuse me, motivation, I just said, motivate. So you can just kind of create your own motivation. Report an error in the passage at 2:10:05 Highlight the passage at 2:10:05

2:10:20 So you want to pass those out? Report an error in the passage at 2:10:20 Highlight the passage at 2:10:20

2:10:26 Let's see. Report an error in the passage at 2:10:26 Highlight the passage at 2:10:26

2:10:30 Which one's the original one? Oh, it doesn't matter. They're all the same? Yeah. Oh, okay. But anyway, so, so. Well, Mary Ellen is doing that. So, you know, seriously, I want everybody to make a really strong determination to, at least for this week, and we'll do one week at a time, do the breathing meditation. Report an error in the passage at 2:10:30 Highlight the passage at 2:10:30

2:11:10 And then we can all kind of share how it went, if there's any difficulties. Report an error in the passage at 2:11:10 Highlight the passage at 2:11:10

2:11:20 And we'll talk more about the preliminaries setting, you know, arranging your mind next week. So you don't have to worry about doing prayers unless you already have prayers that you're doing. You can just in general think that, you know, may I become enlightened to benefit all beings, something like that. Report an error in the passage at 2:11:20 Highlight the passage at 2:11:20

2:11:49 And the refuge, you know, when we do refuge, we go for refuge to the Buddha. Dharma and Saṅgha, I mean the real refuge, I mean they're the teachers, you know, the teacher, they say it's the teacher of the medicine and the nurses, but the real refuge is our own practice and what we put into our heart. Report an error in the passage at 2:11:49 Highlight the passage at 2:11:49

2:12:15 That's going to be what really is the refuge. So when we do refuge you think of, you know, the gifts that were... Given, which are the teachings and the support and help, but the real refuge is what's in our own heart. Report an error in the passage at 2:12:15 Highlight the passage at 2:12:15

2:12:36 So you can say I go for refuge to the Buddha Dharma and Saṅgha. And that's the external Buddha Dharma and Saṅgha. There's also an internal one, what we put in our heart. So you can just do just two lines like that. Report an error in the passage at 2:12:36 Highlight the passage at 2:12:36

2:12:57 But if you don't remember, that's okay too. We'll talk about it next week and I'll try to have something to hand you so that you have it. Report an error in the passage at 2:12:57 Highlight the passage at 2:12:57

2:13:13 So we'll do on page six, dedication prayers, just the top two. Report an error in the passage at 2:13:13 Highlight the passage at 2:13:13

2:13:22 Through these merits, may the virtuous activities, virtuous actions, wait, wait, through the merits of these, sorry, I'm not even reading right. Through the merits of these virtuous actions, may I quickly attain the state of a Guru Buddha. And lead all living beings without exception into that enlightened state. May the supreme jewel bodhicitta that has not yet arisen arise and grow. Report an error in the passage at 2:13:22 Highlight the passage at 2:13:22

2:13:46 And may that which has arisen not diminish but increase more and more. Thank you. So just, you know, don't get crazy. Just have fun. You know, have fun with it. Report an error in the passage at 2:13:46 Highlight the passage at 2:13:46