Four Applications Of Mindfulness Retreat 2013 with B. Alan Wallace (part 16)

0:07 So this method is an interpretation, but I think a very close interpretation, to one aspect of the Buddha's rather elaborate and diverse instructions on the close application of mindfulness to the body, where he says attend to the different constituent elements of the body that comprise the body. Report an error in the passage at 0:07 Highlight the passage at 0:07

0:26 And I'll cite now a refrain that comes for each of the four applications of mindfulness, and here in this case of course with reference to the body. And the Buddha gives a teaching, one dwells observing the body as the body internally, or one dwells observing the body as the body externally, or one dwells observing the body as the body both internally and externally. Report an error in the passage at 0:26 Highlight the passage at 0:26

0:54 So, very short statement, and again loaded with meaning. One dwells. So that kind of resting flow, which you can sustain, that is, be not scattered all over the place with wandering thought and kind of pecking as a meditation, But actually dwelling in the meditation, you have that because of the prelude to all of the Vipassanā practices. And that is the cultivation of stability and clarity by way of shamatha. Report an error in the passage at 0:54 Highlight the passage at 0:54

1:21 Observing, attending closely, examining the body as the body. Now you'll see this translated in different ways. This is my translation. And even though I don't read Pāli, I do read some Sanskrit and I read Tibetan quite well. And the preposition here is quite similar. And so it can be, it's often translated as in the body. One observes the body in the body and then feelings in the feelings and mind in the mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:21 Highlight the passage at 1:21

1:47 And frankly, I just have to say that doesn't make any sense to me. And it's not the only way to read it. But how many bodies do you have? I mean, a body inside the body? Well, you have Russian dolls here, you know, or feelings in feelings. I mean, I really think it makes no sense at all. Whereas it's legitimate, grammatically speaking, to say it, to read it as the body as the body. Report an error in the passage at 1:47 Highlight the passage at 1:47

2:05 And I think that makes actually, that is actually very insightful, it's very suggestive. And that is when we observe our, for example, the reflection of our bodies in a mirror. It's very easy to feel, oh, I look terrible, or I look good, or I'm too fat, or I'm too skinny, or whatever. And simply view the body as a person, right? Report an error in the passage at 2:05 Highlight the passage at 2:05

2:25 As a person. Or brain scientists are looking at a brain and thinking that's a person. Well, that's a mistake. I mean, that's just a complete projection and a delusional projection. The skin isn't a person, the nose, the bones, the brain, the flesh. There's just nothing here that is a person. It's all matter. And you take it down and give what part of the brain is the body. Report an error in the passage at 2:25 Highlight the passage at 2:25

2:46 And then you don't find any part. And no other part of the body is a person. And the whole compilation is not a person. It really is simply a body. And so recognizing that's not you. Nominally, of course, it's your body. But then what does that mean? Well, that should be investigated. Report an error in the passage at 2:46 Highlight the passage at 2:46

3:02 But simply to observe the body as a body, see it for what it is. Now this is not trivial. We're going to get in a couple of days to the close application of mindfulness to the mind. And the same refrain is going to come up. Observe the mind as the mind, feelings as feelings. And the preceding one, phenomena as phenomena. Report an error in the passage at 3:02 Highlight the passage at 3:02

3:23 Well, one could say, but how else would we view them? Well, view them as your own, as yourself. But a very interesting application of this is when you're dreaming. Report an error in the passage at 3:23 Highlight the passage at 3:23

3:34 And in a normal, delusional dream, a non-lucid dream, you're not viewing the dream as a dream. You're viewing all the people in the dream as people, but they're not. There's nobody else there. There are no sentient beings there. You're viewing mountains as mountains, but they're not. No, it's just an image of a mountain, but it's not a mountain, and so forth. Report an error in the passage at 3:34 Highlight the passage at 3:34

3:55 In other words, we are misapprehending everything that takes place in the dream. If we apprehended it as it was, we would see the dream as a dream. And the dream image of a person is a dream image of a person and so forth. And that likewise goes for ourselves, the persona in the dream that we're identifying with, recognizing this is just a concoction, a figment of imagination, a dream appearance, and that's all it is. Report an error in the passage at 3:55 Highlight the passage at 3:55

4:20 And if you're recognizing the dream as a dream, of course you're lucid. So that's kind of a big deal. And in that lucidity, like this fellow who had his body devoured, there's number one, something quite remarkable about it, and that is just generally speaking, When you become lucid in a dream, there's a sense of euphoria that comes from that. And it's not contingent on having a pleasant dream. It's contingent only on recognizing the dream as a dream. Report an error in the passage at 4:20 Highlight the passage at 4:20

4:46 And that's where the joy comes from, the bliss, the euphoria. And so that's the first element, is, whoa, kind of a thrill. I've had many people report the lucid dream experiences to me, and I've had some myself. And that's a very common denominator. When people are novices in lucid dreaming, The first thing they find is, I had this really short lucidity, I became aware of the dream and I got so excited I woke up. I can't remember how many times I've heard that one. Report an error in the passage at 4:46 Highlight the passage at 4:46

5:15 And you wake up because you're so excited and it's so pleasant and whoa, bummer. And so there it is, recognizing, realizing reality as it is in that little microcosm of a dream. Give rise to bliss. A symptom of a mind that is no longer delusional in that little micro context. Well, what's it like for an Arya Bodhisattva or any Arya, anybody who comes to realize the emptiness of all phenomena in the waking state? Blissful, big time bliss. Report an error in the passage at 5:15 Highlight the passage at 5:15

5:50 And it's not stimulus driven, it's not something, oh I see something really nice, it's that you're no longer being deluded and in that very apprehension of reality as it is, there's a bliss that comes with it and it's unavoidable, it's part of the territory. But it comes from recognizing reality as it is. In the case of a dream, recognizing the dream as a dream, And here we come back to our waking experience, recognizing the body as the body, recognizing earth element as earth element, fire, water, air, as the elements they are, and that's just, that's it. Report an error in the passage at 5:50 Highlight the passage at 5:50

6:23 They are simply what they appear to be and nothing more. And so one observes, one dwells, again suggesting a continuity, observing the body as the body, Internally. Now as we'll see in the commentary just below, this phrase internally is referring to attending to your own body. First person perspective, the inside scoop. And the body is very remarkable in this regard, and that is take any other object like a glass of water. And there it is, I think I'm getting it, I'm clearly apprehending the water, the glass of water. Report an error in the passage at 6:23 Highlight the passage at 6:23

7:01 And there's the water, I got that too. But I'm getting only on the surface. I don't know what it, I don't really think the glass has any internal feelings of what it's like to be a glass, but I get only the surfaces, the contour, right? Report an error in the passage at 7:01 Highlight the passage at 7:01

7:17 And that goes for everything else, including other people's bodies. So, what's your name? Yogitsa? Yoliska. Swedish? Dutch. So, Yoliska, not that close. Yoliska. So I turned over to Yoliska's body and Of course, I'm seeing it only from the outside. I see the visual appearance, which you can see and anybody else can see looking in direction. But tactile sensations, invisible. Report an error in the passage at 7:17 Highlight the passage at 7:17

7:47 I just have no idea. You could be in bliss right now or in mild discomfort. How would I know if you're maintaining a good stoic expression? I have no idea. Really none at all. And so what's it like to be inside? To have the inside perspective in a body of matter? Well, I don't know what it's like to be inside an iPhone, don't really want to know, or a glass of water. Here's the one physical phenomenon, mass energy conglomerate, where we actually know it from the inside. Report an error in the passage at 7:47 Highlight the passage at 7:47

8:18 It's quite remarkable, so we might want to take full advantage of that. This is the one body that we can know, not only on the surface, I can touch Yoliska's foot, that will feel a lot like my foot, no surprise there, but what's it like inside the foot, inside the torso, inside the whole system? Experiencing the pranas, which you can't detect using... Report an error in the passage at 8:18 Highlight the passage at 8:18

8:35 Measurements of technology, technological measuring devices, you can't get it from outside unless you have some really kind of exosensory perception. So we have a privileged access here. This is the one physical body in the universe that we can see from the outside. Anybody can look at the body, touch the body from outside, smell the body, taste the body like we could taste, smell and touch other people's bodies. Report an error in the passage at 8:35 Highlight the passage at 8:35

8:58 But the inside feel, the inside perspective, here it is unique. So that's worth checking out. What is a physical phenomenon from the inside? Here it is. We're attending to or closely observing the body as the body internally. So really getting up close and personal, or impersonal as the case may be, but attending to it very closely to getting a very clear sense, vivid, as unmediated as possible, really getting the taste. Report an error in the passage at 8:58 Highlight the passage at 8:58

9:24 What is it to be embodied? And so there it is. And then we will investigate more closely. But there it is, observing the body as the body internally. Report an error in the passage at 9:24 Highlight the passage at 9:24

9:37 And kind of getting a good database there, to use kind of like sterile vocabulary, getting a real clear sense of it. So these sensations of solidity, moisture, warmth, coldness and motion and so forth, what's it like? What's it really feel like? What's the first person experience of that? And now knowing that all of us here are human and with similar parents, and if we had progeny they'll be quite similar in many respects, Report an error in the passage at 9:37 Highlight the passage at 9:37

10:06 We can start drawing inferences. What we're really doing here is laying a cognitive ground for empathy. Cognitive ground for empathy. This is symbolized in the Buddhist iconography and so forth with the left hand symbolizing wisdom, understanding, knowing. The right hand symbolizing skillful means but especially compassion, empathy, loving kindness. So the mudrā of meditative equipoise is with the left hand resting in the lap, palm up. Report an error in the passage at 10:06 Highlight the passage at 10:06

10:37 The right hand resting upon it, suggesting, and it's a very clear implication, that your wisdom, your understanding, your insight is acting as your basis, your cognitive basis for your skillful means, for loving kindness, for empathy, for compassion, for empathetic joy. And so one is resting upon the other, wisdom being the relief, the support. And then the two thumbs touch, and that symbolizes the union of wisdom and skillful means, or very explicitly wisdom and compassion. Report an error in the passage at 10:37 Highlight the passage at 10:37

11:08 And so with the body, Report an error in the passage at 11:08 Highlight the passage at 11:08

11:12 not just having a body and yes I'm a body, but actually attending to it very closely, much more than we can do in 24 minutes. Coming back to it again and just observing it very closely, coming to understand it. See, it's kind of like becoming lucid with respect to your body in the first person. And not simply identifying with it. And I'm reaching out my hand and I'm doing this and I'm doing that. Report an error in the passage at 11:12 Highlight the passage at 11:12

11:34 And attending to everything around, but not really aware of one's own body. Except for it's mine, my feelings, my, my, my, my, my. I'm attending to everything outside my body, which is outside me, which I'm seeing as objects. Even if there is a subject looking back, what we just see in terms of sheer data is objects. Visual object, tactile object and so forth. Report an error in the passage at 11:34 Highlight the passage at 11:34

11:59 And so we're getting kind of a rich database, a rich texture, a fullness of an understanding, an experience, a realization. Of what it's like to be embodied from this first person perspective. And we do this by observing the body as the body internally. And then one observes the body as the body externally. And as the commentary says, this is when we attend to others' bodies, the bodies of the sentient beings. Report an error in the passage at 11:59 Highlight the passage at 11:59

12:29 So we have a lot of engagement with human beings. That's a good start. But then observing, it's so easy when observing another person's body, to do so. From this utterly egocentric perspective, and this one's attractive, unattractive, etc. Pleasant, unpleasant, and basically like we're looking at a, I don't know, a fruit in a fruit stand. Report an error in the passage at 12:29 Highlight the passage at 12:29

12:54 Oh, that one looks ripe, that one's a bit stale, I don't like that kind of fruit, that one's tasty, I don't like that one. So just one object after another and just all evaluating in terms of what can you do for me? Are you a source of pleasure, pain or whatever? Don't count. Never mind. Step aside. Step aside. Because I'm interested in those guarding myself from those who can inflict harm and then kind of hastening after those who might give me some pleasure. Report an error in the passage at 12:54 Highlight the passage at 12:54

13:18 And so that's not seeing the body as the body. That's seeing the body as an object of pleasure or an object of pain or an object that is irrelevant to one's own desires. And so this is getting this rich basis, cognitive basis, understanding basis of what it's like to be embodied. From the first person perspective and then attending to the bodies of others and letting it kind of dawn on you. Wow! Report an error in the passage at 13:18 Highlight the passage at 13:18

13:46 There's more going on than meets the eye. What meets the eye is visual impression. And then if we touch, okay, tactile impression. But the tactile impression is pretty much like touching a cell phone. If I touched your arm it would feel something like that, kind of smooth, but you're a bit softer, but very similar. Report an error in the passage at 13:46 Highlight the passage at 13:46

14:05 Cell phone, arm. But the big deal is there's nothing coming back from the cell phone side. That's it. Nothing more. But if I touch Angelina's arm, she's experiencing something. Report an error in the passage at 14:05 Highlight the passage at 14:05

14:18 Pardon me for saying the utterly obvious, but it's easy to overlook. And so if I touch her, touch her arm, then somebody's experiencing that. And I remember what that's like. I was looking at her earth element. So there's going to be earth element, there's going to be some fire element, some warmth there. There may be some movement. Report an error in the passage at 14:18 Highlight the passage at 14:18

14:34 Okay, got it. Air element. And so forth. Maybe even a little bit of sweat, so it got some moisture coming in as well. But having that sense, we're laying in the grounds for empathy. We're laying in the grounds for empathy. Report an error in the passage at 14:34 Highlight the passage at 14:34

14:49 And so that's a very innocuous little touch. If I shake your hand, for example, okay, that's fine. Shake, shake. That's often our physical engagement with other people is not just that. It may be an abrasive affection. Or if we're acting out of hostility, it may be something more unpleasant. But having just... Report an error in the passage at 14:49 Highlight the passage at 14:49

15:08 Cultivating in that ongoing sense that suddenly the world is much richer, three-dimensional in a kind of four-dimensional sense. It's not only spatially three-dimensional, it's four-dimensional. It's that you have all these subjects looking back, subjects with their own center of their universe, their own place in the universe, which is full of sensation, full of experience, that's poised to become painful, poised to become pleasurable, often in a neutral state. Report an error in the passage at 15:08 Highlight the passage at 15:08

15:38 And we've laid the ground for empathy. So when we see someone, for example, who's grimacing with pain, we don't see it as simply a visual impression. We don't see it as simply, that's a disagreeable facial expression. You don't look very attractive when you're looking that way. I'm being rather coarse here, crass. Report an error in the passage at 15:38 Highlight the passage at 15:38

16:02 But we see that. Again, the words here are very obvious, but we often skip right over them in day-to-day experience. But we see the expression of pain or we see the expression of joy. And because we know what that feels like in the body, then we sense a reality that is not obvious but is nevertheless very much there. Report an error in the passage at 16:02 Highlight the passage at 16:02

16:23 And we've laid a cognitive basis for empathy. As soon as there's empathy, if we're attending closely to others, observing others' bodies as bodies and not just as impressions to our own senses, as soon as there's empathy, then we're very close to compassion, very close to loving kindness. Without empathy, compassion and love and kindness don't happen. Without delusion, you can't feel empathy for a cell phone or a pair of glasses, but only for sentient beings. Report an error in the passage at 16:23 Highlight the passage at 16:23

16:56 And of course, the big emphasis in Buddhism is not simply all human beings, but all sentient beings. And so then I heard just a couple of days ago people pointing, I didn't see it because I was in my room, but a bird, a little bird that was injured or ill, but it was there and not fluttering away. A couple of people saw it. Report an error in the passage at 16:56 Highlight the passage at 16:56

17:13 And so what did they see? They saw a body that was somewhat like their own, right? Not like a pebble. And they saw that this creature must be injured or ill or sick, something. Because one would expect it to fly away and it's not. So I heard the voices and I knew they're speaking with empathy. Ah, what can we do? What can we do? Report an error in the passage at 17:13 Highlight the passage at 17:13

17:34 This bird is now very vulnerable. Any better than it comes along, the bird's gone. And so that's what we're doing here. It's a very simple practice. But this observing internally to really understand what is it like to be embodied. And here we have the first person perspective, unique. And then attending to others and recognizing they too have a first person perspective. That there's somebody experiencing it from their own side, which means tread with care. Report an error in the passage at 17:34 Highlight the passage at 17:34

18:00 Because they're experiencing the same kind of sensations that we are as well. So empathy. So he says observe the body as the body externally. So once again, another person's body is not a person. Filled with sensation, filled with experience, but a person's body is not a person. So if a person has a visually unpleasant body, not an attractive body, that doesn't mean the person is an unattractive person. Report an error in the passage at 18:00 Highlight the passage at 18:00

18:26 It means, okay, looking at the body doesn't give you pleasure, okay, but that's not a person, that's a body. And so it's rather cruel to equate a person with a body. Report an error in the passage at 18:26 Highlight the passage at 18:26

18:40 And that's why I'm so vehement about really slashing and burning materialism at any opportunity I get. Because it's so dehumanizing. So dehumanizing. And that's its central message. You are a body. That's it. I've heard it many times. I'm not making that up. And so, no, you're not a body. You're someone who has a body, experiences the world by way of your body. But you may be a magnificent person with a body that's diseased or crippled or physically unpleasant in some way or another. Report an error in the passage at 18:40 Highlight the passage at 18:40

19:09 And to distinguish, there's a person and the person has a body and they're not the same thing. It's just part of being human. Report an error in the passage at 19:09 Highlight the passage at 19:09

19:16 And I think materialism makes us less than human. It's dehumanizing. And the final point in this immensely rich and very short statement, one dwells observing the body as the body both internally and externally. And here, as I mentioned briefly before, we're looking now at a system. And that is, as we're engaging, for example, in a conversation, let's say I'm speaking as I am right now, but as a person listening to me is responding. Report an error in the passage at 19:16 Highlight the passage at 19:16

19:46 Even if very quietly, there's bound to be some kind of response. A head gesture, a nodding, something like that. Maybe see the eyes kind of glaze over, getting bored. Or maybe if I'm speaking in a certain way, I see them getting anxious. Maybe they feel me threatening. Or maybe they feel I'm, you know, whatever. But we sense that. So now we're aware of our own body. Report an error in the passage at 19:46 Highlight the passage at 19:46

20:06 And that includes the movement of hands, for example. Hand gestures. Tone of voice. What am I sending out? What are the contents of my voice? Because these are all bodily actions. But then we are tending closely not only to what am I bringing to the situation, my speech, body language, facial expression and all of that, contents of what I'm saying, but now what's the response? Report an error in the passage at 20:06 Highlight the passage at 20:06

20:28 What's the behavioral response? What am I sensing here? And then as I'm experiencing their response, how is that influencing me? This is an ongoing dynamic here. If people look like they're getting really bored, I'll probably stop talking or try to liven it up or something, or just stop meditating. But that's that whole dynamic. Report an error in the passage at 20:28 Highlight the passage at 20:28

20:46 When observed the body as the body internally and externally, you're looking at the whole dynamic. How I'm influencing the other, how the other is influencing me in this ongoing dance. Not two independent entities coming together like billiard balls, just kind of bouncing into the edge and going off. But rather right now, and this is very temporary, right now I'm in the mode of a Dharma teacher. Report an error in the passage at 20:46 Highlight the passage at 20:46

21:08 That's going to end soon. As soon as I get off this cushion, I'm not a Dharma teacher, I'm a walker. And then I'm going to be drinking some water, I'm a water drinker. And then I'll come back and I'll be a Dharma teacher for a little while again. But then I'll stop as soon as I stop teaching. As far as I'm concerned, I'm not a Dharma teacher anymore. I'm just walking along. I try to practice Dharma all the time, but not as a Dharma teacher. Report an error in the passage at 21:08 Highlight the passage at 21:08

21:28 And so there is, we're always rising from moment to moment, relationally. Here's grandpa, here's spouse, here's friend, here's customer and so forth and so on. Always in a state of flux as we're engaging with others, they being in the flux. We see this just an ongoing dance, this whole... An array of phenomena arising, independence upon each other. And that, in short, as we're attending to our corporeality, our physical presence in the world, this is laying a foundation for empathy, especially in terms of our physical experiences. Report an error in the passage at 21:28 Highlight the passage at 21:28

22:02 People say, I have a headache, I'm injured, I feel really good, I've just worked out, the body feels so good. It's not all bad, but having that sense of empathy, that sense of kinship, common ground. Report an error in the passage at 22:02 Highlight the passage at 22:02

22:13 So we begin to see some of the richness of this practice. So the Vidbanga, one of the great commentaries, explains internally, externally, as entailing an understanding of the contemplated object as such, without considering it as part of one's own subjective experience or that of others. And that is again, viewing the body as the body and not simply as a person, not as something that inherently belongs to a person. Report an error in the passage at 22:13 Highlight the passage at 22:13

22:43 I'll give a powerful example. I'm jumping the gun a little bit, but going to the close application of mindfulness to feelings. And that is Shantideva, the great 8th century Indian Bodhisattva. He raises, he's raising in his 8th chapter, the chapter on meditation, the chapter on bodhicitta, he raises the very daunting prospect of attending closely to the suffering of the world. Report an error in the passage at 22:43 Highlight the passage at 22:43

23:09 And even though there were fewer human beings back then, he had a very large perspective, human beings, animals and other myriad sentient beings. And here's the Bodhisattva's challenge, is to attend closely to the suffering of others without boundaries. In other words, no, well I'll attend to these people but not those. But like a sunflower opening to the sun, your awareness opening to the suffering of all beings. Report an error in the passage at 23:09 Highlight the passage at 23:09

23:34 In a spirit of empathy, a spirit of compassion, attending closely, letting the suffering of others become real and then transforming that awareness, that empathetic awareness, that compassionate awareness into a motivation for one's own practice. Out of compassion then one is impelled to seek liberation and enlightenment. But he, like a number of people that I know and on occasion myself too, have sometimes found That prospect quite daunting, quite overwhelming. Just the sheer magnitude of it. Just how much suffering. If we really allow our hearts and minds to be open to that, might it not become so oppressive that we become almost catatonic. Report an error in the passage at 23:34 Highlight the passage at 23:34

24:22 Just can't move. And then we consider, how capable am I? What capacity do I have to alleviate the suffering of the world? And we're seeing like a little snowflake when the sun is about to engulf the planet with a supernova. And I got my snowflake, I'm going to try to put out the light, the heat of the sun with my snowflake. And it just, it can be incredibly overwhelming. And I sense that when Shantideva was writing these verses, he was having some sense of that sort, of just the sheer magnitude of the suffering of others being overwhelming. Report an error in the passage at 24:22 Highlight the passage at 24:22

24:56 And he poses to himself, this is an utterly majestic piece of poetry, this guide to the Bodhisattva way of life. He poses to himself the question, Do I really need to take into account? Do I really need to focus on this to make myself open to that magnitude of the suffering of the world? Do I really need to? Is that really necessary? Or couldn't I maybe just kind of hunker down and say, well, look, everybody on your own, you know, good luck. I'll help you if I can. Report an error in the passage at 24:56 Highlight the passage at 24:56

25:25 But I kind of got my hands full here. You know, my suffering. I'm vulnerable to all kinds of suffering. I have my mental affliction. I've got a full basket already. So here's a really good Dharma book. Try that one out. Good luck. And I'm going to now focus on the one person I can really influence and try to liberate. And everybody else, good luck, see you later, hope to see you at Nirvāṇa. Or not. Report an error in the passage at 25:25 Highlight the passage at 25:25

25:45 Couldn't I do that? That would be a lot more manageable. My own suffering is pretty big as it is. And so he's kind of weighing this. Do I really need to tend to all of that? Or couldn't I maybe just going to go here? And so to his question, is this really necessary? Is this called for? And the answer comes back very simply. Report an error in the passage at 25:45 Highlight the passage at 25:45

26:06 Yes, it is. It is called for. Yes, you do need to do this. And why? Because suffering has no owner. Because suffering has no owner. It doesn't come in independent, isolated little packets. Your suffering then comes within your skin, packaged, sealed, just totally yours and nobody else's. It doesn't work that way. It never has. It's an illusion to think that suffering is packaged and isolated and is bound up, all gravitating around one. Report an error in the passage at 26:06 Highlight the passage at 26:06

26:38 Ego magnet that holds one's own suffering. It's not true. And so if suffering in fact has no owner, then one needs to be attending to suffering, the reality of suffering in its wholeness, and then respond accordingly. So that's what is meant here, not regarding it as part of one's own subjective experience, as isolated, as independent, but seeing that suffering is arising in interdependence. Report an error in the passage at 26:38 Highlight the passage at 26:38

27:05 It's in a flow and not inherent, existent, real and separate. Now, here's a very important part of our practice for today, for the rest of these very few days we have together, very strongly highlighted and very well highlighted in the modern Vipassanā movement, where there's a very strong emphasis, a very healthy, very helpful emphasis throughout the course of the day when you're in a Vipassanā retreat, and hopefully in between retreats, of maintaining an ongoing flow of just very mindful, clear, discerning presence of mind, mindfulness as one is walking. Report an error in the passage at 27:05 Highlight the passage at 27:05

27:42 For example, as one is standing, as one is eating, drinking, answering the calls of nature and so forth, just doing whatever you need to do to bring just an elevated degree of mindful presence to what everyone is engaging in. So the Buddha states here, again monks, he reviews this same body. So there you are in, let's say, the supine position or sitting position and really drinking in the body, just taking it in, observing it closely, the various elements and so forth. Report an error in the passage at 27:42 Highlight the passage at 27:42

28:13 And then your session comes to an end. And maybe you're going to go off and get a drink of water or something, go for a walk. As you're standing up and then setting out on your walk, he reviews the same body, the same one you were attending to and you had nothing else to do besides really observing the body. Report an error in the passage at 28:13 Highlight the passage at 28:13

28:28 Well, now you have something else to do. You're walking, but maintain that flow of very discerning, attentive mindfulness as you're walking. Be totally present, mindfully present, mindfully walking. And so... He says, review the same body however displaced, however disposed, as consisting of elements thus. So he's giving this first. That is, at all times, as you're sitting, you're walking, standing and so forth, view this body as consisting of elements. Report an error in the passage at 28:28 Highlight the passage at 28:28

28:59 In this body there are the earth element, water element, fire element, the air element. So continue to maintain that flow of awareness, discerning mindfulness. As you're moving, you'll feel the wind on your skin, air element, got it. Maybe it's a bit cool, okay, low fire element. And then all the way through, and then you come to eating, eating. Report an error in the passage at 28:59 Highlight the passage at 28:59

29:21 Now, overall, we're applying this mindfulness not, of course, just to the four elements, five elements. We're applying it to the visual field, seeing the visual field as the visual field, sounds as sounds, smells as smells, tastes as tastes. And so eating is quite an extraordinary sensory bombardment, actually. Report an error in the passage at 29:21 Highlight the passage at 29:21

29:40 And this is why chefs can be very multifaceted in trying to present an extravaganza to all of the five senses and not just to the gustatory sense. And that is when eating, when we're looking at a menu, and sometimes they have, of course, images of the food. What are we looking at? We're not looking at the taste. We're looking at the image and say, does that look tasty? Report an error in the passage at 29:40 Highlight the passage at 29:40

30:02 Does that look good to you? Right? And so, yeah, that looks good. That looks tasty. It was nicely laid out. Nice arrangement and so forth. I'm sure you've been to really good restaurants. I've been to one really good one in Sydney. A friend of mine took. It was that Japanese-French fusion one. That was very deluxe. And you could see the chef there. A major part of his brilliance was the visual display. It was a big plate. Report an error in the passage at 30:02 Highlight the passage at 30:02

30:27 It was almost like a framed picture. And the servings were very small within a big plate. And the plate was the frame. And voila, feast your eyes first. Report an error in the passage at 30:27 Highlight the passage at 30:27

30:40 And then maybe you've got the fragrance coming in when it's brought in. Okay, feast your nose. And then, of course, when you're biting into it, do you sense the texture? Is it just not the perfect texture? And then, of course, the taste of it, of course. But then also, I have to tell you about it because I've never had an experience like this before and probably will never have it again. Report an error in the passage at 30:40 Highlight the passage at 30:40

31:01 Somebody else paid for it. I have 11 courses and each time the server brought in the next course. He would introduce it like a relative. And he'd say, these mushrooms come from this part of France. And they were plucked just yesterday. And they were served in this way. We prepared them in this way. And he would really kind of get you really interested. Like, whoa, that sounds very special. And so we're also hearing about it. Report an error in the passage at 31:01 Highlight the passage at 31:01

31:31 And then you get to eat it. So when I first heard that there were 11 courses, I thought, I told my friend, I don't have a very large appetite. I can't eat 11 courses. I'll just take the shorter version, abbreviate. And then I saw the sizes of courses and I said, I'll take all of them. They're about as big as your thumb. This was about quality over quantity. So I've elaborated on this because that was such a memorable dinner that it was clearly a presentation to all of the senses. Report an error in the passage at 31:31 Highlight the passage at 31:31

31:58 They talked about it, so you hear it. You see it. Oh, that's impressive. You smell it. Oh, very delicate. You taste it, of course. But then also in your mouth, the texture of it. Did you get the texture exactly right? Not too mushy, not too cold, not too hot. And so there it is. There are very few things that we do in life where we're getting all five senses being presented in a very deliberate fashion. Report an error in the passage at 31:58 Highlight the passage at 31:58

32:20 And we're intended, with a very good meal, to enjoy all of them. Or we don't. We just go to some hash house and we follow. And so as we're eating, there is a major challenge for mindfulness. Because normally with food, it's kind of like, I like it, don't like it. You know, that's all that really matters. You like the food or not? Nope, good grub. And the mindfulness is not exactly to treat it as a gourmet meal, but it is to bring that full attentiveness to tasting the taste as tastes, the smells as smells, and to really drink them in as they are, in themselves, just what's being presented, and see them distinctly. Report an error in the passage at 32:20 Highlight the passage at 32:20

32:59 So I've been on Vipassanā retreats. I lived in a Vipassanā retreat center for five months. And living there as a monk, meditating a lot. And what is done in a Vipassanā center or many Vipassanā retreats is you really learn how to do everything slowly, deliberately. You walk more slowly. You eat more slowly. You don't talk at all. And the idea is not that there's something more virtuous or wise about walking slowly or even eating slowly particularly, but it's rather by doing something a bit contrived. Report an error in the passage at 32:59 Highlight the passage at 32:59

33:28 Walking slower than normal. Eating slower than normal. And that slowing down. Then from step to step, bite to bite, we're encouraged to slow down and take in what's arising from moment to moment, rather than just gobbling through or just getting from here to there and wanting to be there already, but we're not. Report an error in the passage at 33:28 Highlight the passage at 33:28

33:47 And so trying to make quick work of it, to just get there. Wherever you are, be there. And as you're walking, be very present, very mindfully present. Earth element, the foot is coming down, earth element getting heavier and heavier, stronger, stronger. Oh, earth element getting lighter. As the foot is raised and so forth. So bring your awareness fully to bear in walking, in eating, in lying down, in sitting, in whatever mundane task you do. Report an error in the passage at 33:47 Highlight the passage at 33:47

34:15 This is a good challenge for this retreat. There's no reason we should postpone this. And that is in between sessions. This is why we have these nice long sessions, not simply as breaks, but time to kind of let your practice blossom and come off the cushion. And bring this strong mindfulness, this attending quality to everything that's happening. Now this is in terms of just eating food and walking on the soil, maybe picking up a leaf and so forth. Report an error in the passage at 34:15 Highlight the passage at 34:15

34:43 Our tactile sensations with inanimate objects. But then it takes on this immensely greater richness. It's really like we're taking a hundred watt bulb and just cranking it up to a thousand watt bulb. Same reality, but with much greater brilliance, much greater brightness. Report an error in the passage at 34:43 Highlight the passage at 34:43

35:00 Resolution, attentiveness, what we're bringing to it shifts and therefore what's being presented shifts correspondingly as we're simply attending more closely. So if this is very valuable as we're simply walking, eating, standing and so forth, then all the more so. This is so relevant and it's not arid, it's not dry, it's not something that's a cognitive exercise. Report an error in the passage at 35:00 Highlight the passage at 35:00

35:23 But here, or especially when we're heading home, And we're not maintaining silence very rapidly, not maintaining silence. And we're engaging with loved ones, children, spouses, people in the workplace and so on. Bringing that quality of mindfulness to people's embodied presence and attending closely, it's a radically different experience. Report an error in the passage at 35:23 Highlight the passage at 35:23

35:49 It's summarized in this nice set of aphorisms from Martin Buber, the Jewish existentialist philosopher. Where he points out, I think a universal truth, it's all too often true. And that is as we engage with others, all too often we can slip into, rather mindlessly or non-lucidly, slip into what he called an I-it relationship. Report an error in the passage at 35:49 Highlight the passage at 35:49

36:13 So the I here, I know I'm a subject. I know what I want. I know what pleases me and doesn't please me. That I know pretty well. I'm in touch with my feelings. I know what I like and I don't like. But when it comes to another person, seeing this person is basically, what can you do for me? Because I know what I want. I want pleasure. I don't want pain. And so what are you going to do for me? Watching. But really seeing the other person as an it, like a piece of fruit or a vegetable or a tractor. Report an error in the passage at 36:13 Highlight the passage at 36:13

36:39 What can you do for me? How can I use you? How can I persuade you to do what I want you to do? How can I prevent you from doing what I don't want you to do? Because you have the capacity to catalyze pleasure or pain in me, and I don't want you to catalyze this pleasure. I want you to do something nice, or at least be neutral. Report an error in the passage at 36:39 Highlight the passage at 36:39

36:57 Be non-threatening. Don't bug me. And so it's very, very easy. It happens a lot. I think more often than we'd like to think that we engage with others as it's, even loved ones, on occasion. And certainly people, when you're waiting in line at the grocery market, it's kind of a long line. And you're seeing maybe the person, the cashier, chatting with somebody. Report an error in the passage at 36:57 Highlight the passage at 36:57

37:20 Does that please you? There are two people talking with each other. Maybe a friendly conversation. Maybe they know each other. And you're waiting and... Excuse Report an error in the passage at 37:20 Highlight the passage at 37:20

37:35 me. And then you want to butt in because they're just its and they're getting in your way. I mean, break it up already. You're supposed to serve us and you're giving more than necessary. I'm being really harsh here, but this kind of feeling can come up where we're treating both of them as its. You're in the way of what I want. Would you please move along? Be efficient. Report an error in the passage at 37:35 Highlight the passage at 37:35

37:53 Give them the change. Make it snappy. I'm here. And I count. And you don't really. You're getting paid for what you're doing. So just do it. I'm a busy person. I'm a busy person. So we can see that's very dehumanizing. It's very common, but that doesn't make it any less dehumanizing. And so whether it's the person, the cashier, or the person in front of you, when you're driving in heavy traffic, and whatever the case may be, to have that cognitive basis of empathy, and to attend to other people as people, and bodies as bodies, and establish this basis for empathy. Report an error in the passage at 37:53 Highlight the passage at 37:53

38:28 Very important. Report an error in the passage at 38:28 Highlight the passage at 38:28

38:34 It's only three o 'clock, that's good. But we're going to take a break pretty soon. The inclusion of the four elements, internal and externally, okay, pretty straightforward. Then the Buddha gives quite, in his presentation of the close application of mindfulness to the body, he gives a fairly elaborate, relatively speaking, fairly elaborate instructions on practicing introspection throughout the course of the day. Report an error in the passage at 38:34 Highlight the passage at 38:34

39:00 And in this context, focusing especially on one's own body and one's own physical activities, and bearing in mind introspection is always reflexive, and in this context, It reflects it with respect to one's physical behavior and noting it with discerning intelligence. Number one, what is happening? How is one behaving physically? And that would include speech. Speech, after all, is a physical activity. Monitoring the speech. Report an error in the passage at 39:00 Highlight the passage at 39:00

39:29 This is where the clear comprehension comes in. If one is speaking and one is aware of one speaking, that's in the close application of mindfulness to the body and introspection of one's own speech. And monitoring that with clear comprehension. And it's highlighting the discerning quality and the ethical quality of it as well. And that is, is one speaking too much, too loudly, too softly? Report an error in the passage at 39:29 Highlight the passage at 39:29

39:50 Is one's speech meaningful or not? How is it influencing, as one attends to the body internally and externally, internally and externally, how is one's speech influencing the other person and attending closely? So one sees this overall practice, it's just like turning the lights on. In a life that can otherwise often be on autopilot and a semi-conscious going through sheer habit, just giving just enough attention to get by while the mind is mostly caught up in rumination. Report an error in the passage at 39:50 Highlight the passage at 39:50

40:18 And we're turning that right on its head that thought is not the enemy but rumination is really junk and trying to sift out the rumination, just the obsessive compulsive flow of thought and pick up thought like you would pick up a kitchen utensil. You want to cut some bread. Good, there's the knife. There's the bread. Okay, cut it. Now you finish with the knife. Good. Put it down. Don't walk around with a knife all the time. And likewise with thinking. Report an error in the passage at 40:18 Highlight the passage at 40:18

40:44 Pick it up when it's useful. It's very, very useful. But not all the time. And not when you're kind of walking around with a knife going, you might hurt somebody. Right? And like walking around, your mind going blabber, blabber, blabber, blabber all along, like just wielding a knife, you might actually hurt somebody, probably yourself. Report an error in the passage at 40:44 Highlight the passage at 40:44

41:04 Because thoughts matter. They have influence. And then when they come out the mouth, when there's no editing process between the blabber and the mind, and the blabber coming up the mind, then that can be a bit damaging. And so it is this introspective, mindful, discerning, clear comprehension. How's that for definition? Discerning, introspective, clear comprehension. Report an error in the passage at 41:04 Highlight the passage at 41:04

41:26 Except it just gets too big, so I just say introspection. But that's where the clear comprehension comes in. Seeing what's the nature of my behavior, my physical, my verbal behavior. Is it suitable to the circumstances? Is it wholesome? Is it meaningful? Is it harmful? And then when we recognize that it's not meaningful or it actually is harmful, then saying, well, maybe I could stop. Report an error in the passage at 41:26 Highlight the passage at 41:26

41:48 I could stop that. So the introspection, the mindful presence throughout the course of the day, very strongly emphasized. And one of, I think, the great appeals of so-called mindfulness meditation. In the modern world, because it's very helpful, very, very helpful. And it's integral to this close application of mindfulness to the body. So let's stop there. Report an error in the passage at 41:48 Highlight the passage at 41:48

42:10 Before we take a break, because it's only 3.10, any comments or questions thus far? Anything in terms of theory or practice? And if not, we can go right for the break. Yes, please, we'll start there, please. Thank you. Report an error in the passage at 42:10 Highlight the passage at 42:10

42:47 You betcha. I enjoy walking quickly. This is your personal preference, almost irrelevant to anybody. Except for myself, and it's not even relevant to myself and all that much. But I enjoy walking quickly. When I'm in airports and so forth, I'm generally not in a rush. But this is my exercise for the day, because I travel a lot. Report an error in the passage at 42:47 Highlight the passage at 42:47

43:06 And I like to get some aerobics there. And people look at me and say, oh, he must be in a rush. I'm not. I just like walking. I enjoy walking quickly. And I like going for a brisk walk, especially in some beautiful surroundings like this. But I enjoy going a bit faster, because I just, I like it. It feels good, and I'm getting the body a bit of exercise. And there's no reason in the world that can't be mindful. Report an error in the passage at 43:06 Highlight the passage at 43:06

43:25 It may not look mindful to people who associate mindfulness always with walking slowly or behaving slowly, moving slowly. The answer is emphatically, yes. But it doesn't just stop with walking. There in Phuket, where we have this mind center, well, it's right next door to a $70 million sports center. And so we have people, I think two-thirds of the people in the retreat we just finished, paid a fairly modest fee and then they had full access to that state-of-the-art sports facility, including a 50-meter pool. Report an error in the passage at 43:25 Highlight the passage at 43:25

43:54 And so we had quite a number of people swimming mindfully, you know, between their formal shamatha sessions, and we were practicing seven-point mind training, jogging mindfully. Quite a number of them liked to jog. Why not? Some were going to the gym and weightlifting mindfully. Why not? Why on earth not, you know? And it's just that. Report an error in the passage at 43:54 Highlight the passage at 43:54

44:13 It is bringing your full attention, your full mindfulness to the task at hand, being fully present in it. Releasing the rumination, just the junk thoughts, like we have junk food, rumination is junk thoughts. And so it can go for all of those. And then a friend of mine, a former student of mine when I was a professor, she and her husband are both very, very accomplished yoga teachers. Report an error in the passage at 44:13 Highlight the passage at 44:13

44:35 And he's a Hindu, so he teaches Hindu yoga. And she's a Buddhist, but she teaches yoga as well, largely drawn from the Hindu tradition. But she teaches mindful yoga. In fact, both of them do. I think really yoga was always intended, Hindu yoga was always intended to be mindful and not just ruminate your way through, put your body on autopilot. And so yoga and then qigong, tai chi, you're not doing them correctly if you're not very, very present in these very slow and not very aerobic movements. Report an error in the passage at 44:35 Highlight the passage at 44:35

45:06 And so the point is all of these activities. They can be just filled with mindfulness and that's to our advantage. And then again from that platform of a simple mindful presence, a sense of ease, of stillness in the present moment, that is the mind in stillness, then when there's some reason to venture into mental activity, remembering something, sure, absolutely. Report an error in the passage at 45:06 Highlight the passage at 45:06

45:28 Imagining something in the future, why not? Creatively thinking about something in the present or working on a problem and analyzing a problem or investigating something, sure, absolutely. All of these are very useful. So it's learning how to use thoughts. Rather than being abused by one's thoughts, when they're just going obsessively and compulsively and giving rise to so much wear and tear, stress, anxiety, fatigue and restlessness and so forth and so on. Report an error in the passage at 45:28 Highlight the passage at 45:28

45:54 So it's occurred to me that when we're born, we didn't get an owner's manual for the body or the mind, but we learn how to use the body, so we navigate. But nobody really ever teaches us how to use the mind. We're going to figure it out somehow. And hedonically, In a utilitarian fashion, most of us do. We get by, we make a living. But how do you use the mind so that you can actually enjoy it? Report an error in the passage at 45:54 Highlight the passage at 45:54

46:21 Use it productively. And I don't mean in a utilitarian fashion, but you're not used by it. You're taking your mind for a walk rather than the mind taking you for a walk. And so that's really what this meditation is about. It's very pragmatic. And we'll use all of these, these faculties of creativity, imagination, analysis, memory and so forth. Report an error in the passage at 46:21 Highlight the passage at 46:21

46:43 But we have that option, which many people do not. They never heard what I'm saying right now, which is so, in a way, ordinary. But they never heard it. Report an error in the passage at 46:43 Highlight the passage at 46:43

46:53 And that is, in terms of thinking, think when it's useful. And when you finish the task at hand, like you've cut your bread, put the knife down. And now enjoy your bread. Oh, you want to eat some vegetables with your fork? Good. Here's the fork. When you finish, put the fork down. But don't always have the fork and knife in your hand. Report an error in the passage at 46:53 Highlight the passage at 46:53

47:12 And having them always moving about. And so that's it with thoughts. But we have a default mode. And that's what we're cultivating in shamatha. Default mode. When there's nothing to think about, why don't you just be present? It's very restful. It's pleasant. And you're not spacing out, going blank-minded, going into a trance or into torpor. Report an error in the passage at 47:12 Highlight the passage at 47:12

47:32 You can. But then that's just, you know, drowsiness. But when there's nothing to think about, then rest and just be there, mindful, attentive, clear, cognizant. No wear and tear. In fact, when we're doing that, especially with practice like mindfulness or breathing, we find, whoa, the body likes this. Because the body is again restoring its balance. Report an error in the passage at 47:32 Highlight the passage at 47:32

47:51 All the little gremlins in the body are fixing the parts and all of that kind of thing. Just sitting quietly for that one minute at the stoplight. Instead of being fretful and I wish it would change and how many seconds is it still and all like that kind of business. Okay, it's going to be 59 seconds. Good, that's 59 seconds of me practicing. Ooh, nice. Report an error in the passage at 47:51 Highlight the passage at 47:51

48:11 Green? Okay, if you insist. In you go. So it's learning how to use the mind. It's a very simple thing. Shantideva enables us to do that and then the Vipassanā enables us to do it in very, very meaningful and transformative ways. Beyond the hedonic. Because there are many meaningful and transformative things to do hedonically. It could be good. But you mnemonically? Well, that's what Dharma is for. Good. Report an error in the passage at 48:11 Highlight the passage at 48:11

48:35 Anything else? Yes, please. Report an error in the passage at 48:35 Highlight the passage at 48:35

49:05 That's right. Report an error in the passage at 49:05 Highlight the passage at 49:05

· · · silence, 1 minute

49:38 Yep. These all have a place. These are all interpretations. We can see the Buddha in these instructions tend to be a bit minimalist. You saw just four phrases or just four themes for his whole teaching on mindfulness of breathing as a shamatha method. That was very concise and that was all there was to it. Breathing in, out, long and so forth. Likewise, when the Buddha comes to the close application of mindfulness, he does cover a range of topics that we will not have time to here, but you can read it. Report an error in the passage at 49:38 Highlight the passage at 49:38

50:07 And being a monk, you might want to avail yourself of all of them. People who are not monks might want to kind of gloss over some, just not finding it so relevant to their practice. But these are interpretations. And so that's what I like to do. That's why we keep on having direct quotes. So you can say, okay, that's what the Buddha actually said. Good translation. And this is what I'm making of it. This is an interpretation of it. Report an error in the passage at 50:07 Highlight the passage at 50:07

50:29 So when we simply look at the different elements, then that was just pretty much a straight reading. The Buddha said, attend to the elements. Well, that's what we did. That's how we attend to the elements of the body, by not imagining earth and imagining fire and so forth, but closely applying mindfulness to them as they're directly experienced. Report an error in the passage at 50:29 Highlight the passage at 50:29

50:47 So we did that. And we did this in this kind of global fashion, first of all, within the field, then noting those areas where earth rises prominently, warmth, motion and so forth, arise prominently, attending to that. The very next session, we're going to spend 24 minutes doing the scanning. Now that's also an interpretation. It's one that is very central, as I'm sure you know, to Goenka. The late Goenka, he just passed away very recently. Report an error in the passage at 50:47 Highlight the passage at 50:47

51:15 Very lovely man, very benevolent, did a great deal of good in the world with his method. And this is pretty much his method. He had mindfulness of breathing, which is generic. And then he really focused in on this practice of body scanning, scanning through. Report an error in the passage at 51:15 Highlight the passage at 51:15

51:33 It's nowhere to be found in the Buddhist teachings. I mean, scan this and attend it like that. It's nowhere to be found. I've checked and I've asked people. It's nowhere to be found. It's an interpretation. Interpretation. I have no idea how ancient it is, but I see no evidence that it's very ancient. I imagine it was probably devised in the 20th century. Report an error in the passage at 51:33 Highlight the passage at 51:33

51:54 And it's not any more pure or less pure than any other interpretation. It's a very useful technique. So there's one method where we're quite methodically scanning. through the body, and you may simply detect sensations and sensations, or you may bring a bit more richness and texture to it as we're scanning through, note, aha, earth element there, and here's water element, here's a lot of element or fire element coming up, here's a lot of motion, and so forth, and one can just enrich that and enrich that scanning, or you can minimize it and just have it scan through, which means pretty If all one is doing... Report an error in the passage at 51:54 Highlight the passage at 51:54

52:31 It's simply scanning through and simply noting the sensations. For myself, I'd have to say, as a Buddhist scholar and having some understanding of what Vipassanā is, I don't see any reason, I don't see any grounds or rationale for calling that Vipassanā. If there's no questions, you're simply observing sensations. Well, so am I observing sensations? I saw a ridiculous statement by one Theravāda teacher. He was explaining to a princess or a queen of Thailand, I think. Report an error in the passage at 52:31 Highlight the passage at 52:31

52:57 She said she didn't understand Vipassanā. And he said, well, can you feel the sensations in your hand? She said, yes. And she said, well, that's Vipassanā. I'm sorry, that's silly. I mean, he was making it, he was dumbing it down. I think she deserved more respect than that. Because, come on, if you're sensing sensations in your hand that makes it Vipassanā, then chimpanzees and rodents and rabbits, you know, they are practicing Vipassanā. Report an error in the passage at 52:57 Highlight the passage at 52:57

53:19 They all experience sensations in their paws. So, come on, we don't need to dumb it down that low that rodents are practicing Vipassanā. Report an error in the passage at 53:19 Highlight the passage at 53:19

53:28 I don't see them getting liberated. So it's more than that. And likewise, it's nice to scan through the body, but to say that in and of itself with nothing else to it, you're scanning through the body, that's Vipassanā, I don't see any reason to call it that. But if one scans through the body with discernment, with some element of question, and that is what is arising here? How about earth, water, fire, air? Are they arising? Are they distinct? Report an error in the passage at 53:28 Highlight the passage at 53:28

53:51 Are they separate? Are they merged? Are they permanent, impermanent? So we start... Going through these really core existential questions posed to them, then yes, the same practice, scanning through the body, is a Vipassanā practice. And it's an interpretation of what the Buddha taught. And it can be a very useful interpretation. And likewise the way, as you commented, once you've got to get the lay of the land, you become familiar with it, you know what it is to focus on the space of the body, you know what it is to identify earth, water, fire, air, maybe you've scanned a few times, now that you see the lay of the land, And you know the borders. This means you're not slipping off into rumination, you're not going to the past, you're not going to the future. Very present-centered. Once you have gotten familiar with that, then would you like to roam? Report an error in the passage at 53:51 Highlight the passage at 53:51

54:39 Because you know you're not going to just roam off into anywhere. I'm thinking about going to this place for vacation and I remember meeting that person. Well, that's roaming, but that's just called mind-wandering, right? So you're roaming, but within a corral. And the corral is this field of somatic experience. And within that, you can let your attention alight here like a flower, like a honeybee, going from flower to flower, alighting upon one flower and then going to another. Report an error in the passage at 54:39 Highlight the passage at 54:39

55:05 You can let the attention go here and there, roving about, but within the container. And that too is a close application of mindfulness to the body, attending to the elements as elements, and so forth. So one more legitimate interpretation. Report an error in the passage at 55:05 Highlight the passage at 55:05

55:22 We can do that too. But in the next session, now we're going to take a break, we will do the scanning, and it will be a quickie, and we're going to go through the whole body in 24 minutes. So let's come back at 3.40, and we'll go right into body scanning. Report an error in the passage at 55:22 Highlight the passage at 55:22