Four Applications Of Mindfulness Retreat 2013 with B. Alan Wallace (part 24)

0:04 So this afternoon we shift platforms in terms of our Samatha practice. The mindfulness of breathing is very much grounded in our immediate experience of the body, which is a very good place to start. As I think I've mentioned, there is a progression from coarse to subtle, which is very, very common throughout the Buddhist tradition. Report an error in the passage at 0:04 Highlight the passage at 0:04

0:26 That we start from kind of the shallow end of the pool where it's most accessible, develop our skills and then go to the next level. Very much like learning piano and taking on more difficult pieces as you go. And so in the four applications of mindfulness we start with something that pretty much everybody can do. And that is we can observe the sensations within the body even though we very often simply identify with them. Report an error in the passage at 0:26 Highlight the passage at 0:26

0:47 Not observing them at all but just say, oh my knee hurts or I feel bad. Very easy to do but it's not that difficult. To simply observe sensations in the knee or the stomach and so forth and actually observe the feelings arising as well. It's a skill that we can develop, although it doesn't entirely come naturally. Report an error in the passage at 0:47 Highlight the passage at 0:47

1:05 So we start there. Again, where are we located, where the body is? But then as we're attending to the body, we note also that we are immediately experiencing not only sensory impressions, but we are immediately... Report an error in the passage at 1:05 Highlight the passage at 1:05

1:20 Experiencing, observing, one can say in the broadest sense of the term, like, I see what you mean. We use this word, the ocular vocabulary, very commonly, because we are largely ocular beings, but, oh yes, I see what you mean, or I, and so forth. We often use the word observing when it's very broad, like perhaps just information or what have you. And so, just as we can observe sensations arising in the body, as we can observe sounds arising in the auditory field, although we may identify with these in various extents, Then there's this other whole domain of experience that we can observe, but frankly we usually simply identify with, such as thoughts. Report an error in the passage at 1:20 Highlight the passage at 1:20

1:57 When thoughts arise, the natural tendency, sheer habit, great momentum is. When thoughts arise, we have the sense that we're thinking them. We have the sense that we're thinking them, and the attention, when the thoughts are arising, is focusing on the referent of the thought. So I'm thinking about my mom. Report an error in the passage at 1:57 Highlight the passage at 1:57

2:12 So there's a thought and images came to mind and my attention is leaping off like a carrier pigeon heading off to my mom in California who's still alive. But the attention goes to the referent of the thought, the referent of the mental image and I'm thinking about somebody, some place, past, present, future, real or imaginary. Report an error in the passage at 2:12 Highlight the passage at 2:12

2:30 But it doesn't come so naturally when thoughts are arising to actually take the thoughts themselves as the object. And some people, again, like everything else, music, math, gardening, child-rearing, some people are more gifted than others. And so I've met a number of people, especially among philosophers and some scientists, who I think really are ungifted in this regard. Report an error in the passage at 2:30 Highlight the passage at 2:30

2:53 I heard one very, I keep it anonymous, because it's not a point of picking on people, but attitudes, but one very distinguished philosopher emeritus that I met some years ago, and he told me almost like in the voice of a prophet, it's not possible to observe thoughts. It was cut and dry for him. It was just not possible. And that's not an uncommon view in modern philosophy of mind. You cannot observe thoughts. And you cannot when you're really metacognitively impaired. Report an error in the passage at 2:53 Highlight the passage at 2:53

3:21 But people who are more gifted, they say, what do you mean? And it's kind of like, of course you can observe thoughts. I observe my thoughts all the time. I observe images, thoughts and so forth. So some people are more naturally gifted, some less. But like playing chess or many, many other things, it is a skill that can be trained. Report an error in the passage at 3:21 Highlight the passage at 3:21

3:37 And some people have a head start, some people slower, but it's not hardwired unless one has severe brain damage, which I wouldn't know about. And so that's where we're venturing now, is to hone this skill of being able to observe thoughts arising, chit-chat arising in the mind and not simply be carried away by each one, not simply become aware of rumination only after it's carried us away. Report an error in the passage at 3:37 Highlight the passage at 3:37

4:02 That's very, very common, but it's not inevitable. And that's what we're here for the next couple of days. We're going to be taking this as a baseline for today and tomorrow especially. Really developing this skill. So it's going to be a taste of the town. Not likely we'll master it in two days. But if you find it valuable, I think you'll find this is meaningful to be cultivating for the rest of your life. Not just to become a Buddhist meditator or gain insight into some profound truth, but for daily living. Report an error in the passage at 4:02 Highlight the passage at 4:02

4:28 As I'll unpack this over the next couple of days, the ability to be aware of or the honed ability. To become aware of thoughts, desires, emotions, feelings. And not simply identify with them. So that we have, as my friend and very respected colleague Paul Ekman, an outstanding affective psychologist, refers to this as bringing in that metacognitive awareness between the spark and the flame. Report an error in the passage at 4:28 Highlight the passage at 4:28

4:55 It's a very nice image. And that is a spark of some thought comes up. And rather than simply identifying with it, I'm thinking this and I'm thinking about that. Okay, same old, same old. Instead of doing that, it's a thought, it's a desire, it's an emotion. And instead of simply focusing on the object of desire or that which is triggering the emotion, I'm feeling upset about that person. Instead of that, we're aware of the spark of that mental impulse, a thought, a memory, a desire, an emotion, an intention, whatever it is. Report an error in the passage at 4:55 Highlight the passage at 4:55

5:27 We're aware of it. Before it bursts into full flame, and the full flame is manifesting behavior. Manifesting behavior. In other words, there's some monitor there, there's some intelligence. That's what introspection is. It's a type of intelligence, by definition, as is understood in the Buddhist context. Report an error in the passage at 5:27 Highlight the passage at 5:27

5:48 Some degree of intelligence. So between the time that the thought arises and something's coming out our mouths, or we're typing an email, or on the phone, or we're... Behaving in one way or another before the irretrievable manifestation in the world. Because by the time we've said something, there's no sucking it back. Report an error in the passage at 5:48 Highlight the passage at 5:48

6:08 We can apologize, but it's not the same thing as never having said it. And so between the spark and the flame, to have intelligence, some monitoring, some good sense, some wisdom, some sound judgment, maybe that's not something worth sharing with the rest of the world. Maybe I can just keep that little piece of poison to myself. Report an error in the passage at 6:08 Highlight the passage at 6:08

6:28 Swallow it down. It tasted bitter, but at least nobody else got toxified by the little bit of poison that came up in my mind. So there is an issue of restraint here. Not every thought that manifests is worth sharing with others. Not every desire is worth manifesting in the world. Not every emotion is worth disgorging onto the world. Report an error in the passage at 6:28 Highlight the passage at 6:28

6:48 Some things are just better kept to oneself, like the swine flu. That is, it's miserable. I think I had it once. I went to England and was sick for two months afterwards. Imagine it was swine flu because it was a real keeper. But when you have something like that and you know how miserable it is, any decent person, any decent person, you want to be really selfish with your swine flu. Report an error in the passage at 6:48 Highlight the passage at 6:48

7:10 You don't want to share. So you take every precaution you can. Quarantine yourself. Don't share it because this is not something you want to share with anybody at all. Keep it to yourself. It will pass. But let only one person suffer. You like to snap your fingers, click your heels and make it a go away. But swine flu doesn't work that way and often mental afflictions don't either. You like to click your heels three times together and say, poof, no more resentment. Report an error in the passage at 7:10 Highlight the passage at 7:10

7:37 Well, that may not work out so well. You may have to suffer a little bit because the mind is prone to that affliction. But at least we don't have to share it. But we have that choice. We have the possibility of making a wise choice between the spark and the flame, if and only if wisdom is there in the interlude between the spark and the flame, and we have the opportunity to make a choice. Report an error in the passage at 7:37 Highlight the passage at 7:37

8:03 And then we make a good choice or a bad choice, but at least we had an opportunity to make a choice. And whatever comes out in neuroscience, whatever further discoveries there are, and I welcome Lama, I think it's a great field of science, and likewise cognitive psychology, whatever further discoveries they make, to my mind it's all very well, I'll listen, I'll be interested, but I'm still going to try to make wise choices. Report an error in the passage at 8:03 Highlight the passage at 8:03

8:26 Whatever they discover. Because we do have that option. And we all know it's like not to make wise choices. We all know it's like to blurt out something so we're first hearing about it when we hear it with our ears. And we didn't pick it up when it was still a spark. And then I love some of Paul Ekman's terminology. The spark and the flame is a real keeper. I think you'll remember that one. Report an error in the passage at 8:26 Highlight the passage at 8:26

8:46 And here's another one. It's just so delicious. And it's so beautifully secular. Is that when we have that monitoring, that some degree of censorship, some degree of reserve, some degree of making wise choices between the spark and the flame, then we are in the position to avoid regrettable episodes. Report an error in the passage at 8:46 Highlight the passage at 8:46

9:04 I really like that one. Because it's so non-moralistic. But we all know what it's like. I wish I hadn't said that. I wish I hadn't done that if I'd only... Oh, if I only... Now how do I do damage control? Report an error in the passage at 9:04 Highlight the passage at 9:04

9:17 And not to be in that situation. See, the damage? Well, the damage was already controlled. I felt uncomfortable. I was feeling resentful. My mind was bent out of shape. But I was the only one who suffered. Okay? Good. It passed. But at least I didn't make it contagious. So this is a skill, I cannot overemphasize this, and there's complete confluence. Paul Ekman and I, we disagree on various points, as of course two people really should, unless they're the same person, philosophically and so forth and so on, and we're very comfortable with that. Report an error in the passage at 9:17 Highlight the passage at 9:17

9:48 But here's one point where I think he really represents his noble lineage of affective psychology, and I'm doing my best to represent Buddhism in this regard. We're just joining hands in complete brotherhood. This is something good. Whether you come in from psychology and all of the wisdom, the insights, the discoveries made by affective psychology and related fields, clinical psychology and so forth, of how to help people, help us all develop this kind of metacognitive awareness so that we can make wise decisions about what we manifest in the world, wise decisions about what type of attitude and so forth that we give energy to and which ones we'd like to just basically pull the plug on and say, no, thank you, I think that's really toxic. Report an error in the passage at 9:48 Highlight the passage at 9:48

10:30 And so whether it's cognitive, affective psychology, Buddhism, a complete, really total common ground here. No question in my mind, we have a lot to learn from each other. And we are. He and I have worked together now for 13 years together. And a real warm friendship. He's one of my dearest friends. So on that note, let's jump right in. Report an error in the passage at 10:30 Highlight the passage at 10:30

10:48 We'll start with the shamatha practice. It's called settling the mind in its natural state. I'll try to leave it incrementally. Because this is a practice where it's very easy to get frustrated and feel, I can't do it. I will do all I can to show you you can do it and have that manifest. So please find a comfortable position. As always, either position is just fine. Report an error in the passage at 10:48 Highlight the passage at 10:48

· · · silence, 1 minute

11:44 This practice of settling the body, speech and mind in the natural state is very important, very helpful as an entry into the practice of mindfulness or breathing. Report an error in the passage at 11:44 Highlight the passage at 11:44

11:55 But it's all the more important for this next practice, this shamatha practice, that we call settling the mind in its natural state. And what I emphasize here is the sense of being at ease. Loose, relaxed, comfortable. In your body, Report an error in the passage at 11:55 Highlight the passage at 11:55

12:14 the breath flowing unimpededly, effortlessly, smoothly, naturally, without regulation or effort. Report an error in the passage at 12:14 Highlight the passage at 12:14

12:24 And mentally, the sense of ease, being carefree, loose, relaxed. Not dull, but simply at ease. Report an error in the passage at 12:24 Highlight the passage at 12:24

· · · silence, 1 minute

13:08 And now when it comes to settling the mind in its natural state, I invite you now to do something very simple, but it's also a bit subtle. Report an error in the passage at 13:08 Highlight the passage at 13:08

13:25 And that is simply let your awareness come to rest without deliberately focusing it on any object. Report an error in the passage at 13:25 Highlight the passage at 13:25

13:36 Just rest. In the present moment, where else would you rest? Report an error in the passage at 13:36 Highlight the passage at 13:36

13:46 And just as your body is sitting or lying quietly, doing nothing, let your awareness simply come to rest. You Report an error in the passage at 13:46 Highlight the passage at 13:46

14:05 may keep your eyes open and evenly rest your awareness in the space in front of you, but without deliberately looking at anything, without focusing your attention on anything. Report an error in the passage at 14:05 Highlight the passage at 14:05

14:19 Just be present, without Report an error in the passage at 14:19 Highlight the passage at 14:19

14:32 slipping off to and being carried away by thoughts about the future or memories of the past, without cogitating about the present. Report an error in the passage at 14:32 Highlight the passage at 14:32

14:42 Just be present, just for a short time, and Report an error in the passage at 14:42 Highlight the passage at 14:42

14:54 sustain this flow of mindful presence, simple attentiveness, without distraction, without being carried away by any sensory impression, or more likely, without being carried away by any thought or rumination. Report an error in the passage at 14:54 Highlight the passage at 14:54

15:14 Sustain the flow of mindful presence without distraction, Report an error in the passage at 15:14 Highlight the passage at 15:14

15:19 Without grasping, without latching onto any object, sensory or mental, keep it simple. Very loose and relaxed. Report an error in the passage at 15:19 Highlight the passage at 15:19

· · · silence, 1 minute

16:17 And now rather swiftly we shall cover some common ground or some previous ground. And that is let your eyes be open now. And bring your mindfulness, your awareness, your attentiveness to this elliptical field. If you have two eyes that function, this elliptical field, the visual field, in which colors and shapes arise. Report an error in the passage at 16:17 Highlight the passage at 16:17

16:42 Simply observe them. Quietly, non-reactively, Report an error in the passage at 16:42 Highlight the passage at 16:42

· · · silence, 1 minute

17:16 then close your eyes and single-pointedly focus your attention on the auditory field, that domain of experience in which sounds arise, Report an error in the passage at 17:16 Highlight the passage at 17:16

17:29 and observe the sounds as sounds, in the herd let to be just the herd, Report an error in the passage at 17:29 Highlight the passage at 17:29

17:48 as much as possible without the additives of superimposing mental images, conceptual associations, memories and so on, Report an error in the passage at 17:48 Highlight the passage at 17:48

17:59 like distilled water with no additives, let to be distilled sounds, just sounds. Report an error in the passage at 17:59 Highlight the passage at 17:59

· · · silence, 1 minute

18:59 And now deliberately turn your attention away from both the visual and the auditory, as much as you can, and focus it single-pointedly on the olfactory domain. There may be some scents, whether of incense or something else, some fragrances or aromas in the air. See if you can detect any. Now Report an error in the passage at 18:59 Highlight the passage at 18:59

19:47 let's take a brief look at the gustatory taste. Probably not much there, but if you run the tip of your tongue over the palate, the roof of your mouth, you may get a taste of your mouth itself. Check it out. Then Report an error in the passage at 19:47 Highlight the passage at 19:47

20:27 withdraw your attention from the gustatory, from any taste you might have subtly detected there, and turn it now to this richly populated field, the tactile domain. Report an error in the passage at 20:27 Highlight the passage at 20:27

20:39 As you ran your tongue over the roof of the mouth, you may have detected some taste, but you certainly detected tactile sensations, moisture, the water element, the fire element, the earth element, as well as the air element. You've got all four of them at once. It was solid, it was moist, it was warm, and you felt the motion. Now expand the field of your attention to illuminate the entire tactile field and observe the range of tactile sensations but also somatic feelings. Report an error in the passage at 20:39 Highlight the passage at 20:39

21:17 Discomfort, neutral feeling, perhaps pleasure. Report an error in the passage at 21:17 Highlight the passage at 21:17

21:41 In each of these five domains, see if you can discern what is unique to each domain that you cannot pick up with the other senses. You can't see, taste. You can't taste. Solidity and so on. Note what is distinctively tactile. Report an error in the passage at 21:41 Highlight the passage at 21:41

· · · silence, 1 minute

22:45 Now having briefly checked out each of these five sensory domains, which are in the Buddhist understanding said to be non-overlapping, that which you see you cannot hear, that which you hear you cannot taste, and so on. Five non-overlapping fields of experience. That's the hypothesis. Now, to the best of our ability, let's turn the attention away. Report an error in the passage at 22:45 Highlight the passage at 22:45

23:12 From each of those five, we're already somewhat familiar with them. Report an error in the passage at 23:12 Highlight the passage at 23:12

23:21 And now look very carefully. Is there anything else, any other appearances, anything at all, that is directly appearing to your awareness, that you know immediately, not by inference, that you perceive, Report an error in the passage at 23:21 Highlight the passage at 23:21

23:39 that is not visual, auditory, olfactory, gustatory or tactile? Are you immediately aware of anything else that does not appear to any of your five physical senses? Report an error in the passage at 23:39 Highlight the passage at 23:39

· · · silence, 1 minute

24:32 So, for example, are you immediately aware? Do you perceive the occurrence of thoughts? Are you aware when rumination is present and when it's absent? If so, I would suggest it's not by way of any of your five physical senses. It is by way of another sense, another mode of perception. And, of course, we'll call it mental perception. Report an error in the passage at 24:32 Highlight the passage at 24:32

24:59 The mental perception of mental chit-chat. Are Report an error in the passage at 24:59 Highlight the passage at 24:59

25:13 you immediately aware of any mental images that come to mind? If so, you're detecting them with mental perception. Report an error in the passage at 25:13 Highlight the passage at 25:13

25:32 Images corresponding to memories. Report an error in the passage at 25:32 Highlight the passage at 25:32

26:01 course, we can be aware of emotions, not only feel them, we can be aware of them, we can perceive them. Report an error in the passage at 26:01 Highlight the passage at 26:01

26:19 also be aware of desires coming Report an error in the passage at 26:19 Highlight the passage at 26:19

26:33 key to this practice is that stillness of awareness with which we began. initially had no object, was not directed outwards or inwards the sensory or to Rest Report an error in the passage at 26:33 Highlight the passage at 26:33

26:50 in the stillness of your mental awareness and turn the light of awareness now to this sixth domain of experience. That which is invisible to all systems of measurement, of scientific measurement or technological measurement, but is observable, not even by way of the five physical senses, but by way of mental perception. Report an error in the passage at 26:50 Highlight the passage at 26:50

27:20 Rest in your own mental awareness, illuminating the domain of the mind and whatever arises within it. Report an error in the passage at 27:20 Highlight the passage at 27:20

· · · silence, 1 minute

28:22 The key here is to distinguish experientially between the stillness of your own awareness, just resting. Report an error in the passage at 28:22 Highlight the passage at 28:22

28:34 And the movements of thoughts, of images, of other impulses in the mind, to see for yourself that they are not the same, that your awareness does not need to be kidnapped, absconded, taken away by every impulse, thought, memory, emotion that arises. But in fact, you can hold your own ground, not by clinging or grasping, but by releasing a kind of Teflon awareness that is so loose and relaxed that even as thoughts, images, emotions come and go, Report an error in the passage at 28:34 Highlight the passage at 28:34

29:09 They do not carry you along in their wake. They move. You remain still. Report an error in the passage at 29:09 Highlight the passage at 29:09

· · · silence, 1 minute

30:00 Of course, out of sheer habit, when thoughts, when rumination arises, on many occasions it's bound to carry you away. There's so much habit. It's bound to happen again and again. But each time you see that you've lost your mind, that it's carried you away into a non-lucid chain of thought, as soon as you recognize that, Let your first response be to loosen up, relax, let go. Report an error in the passage at 30:00 Highlight the passage at 30:00

30:36 First of all, relax. Secondly, release whatever captivated your attention and carried it away. Report an error in the passage at 30:36 Highlight the passage at 30:36

30:45 And then return. Return to the present moment. Return. Letting your awareness illuminate once again the space of the mind and whatever is arising right now. Report an error in the passage at 30:45 Highlight the passage at 30:45

· · · silence, 2 minutes

32:29 Once again, a sense of releasing, of relaxing, of being utterly at ease. Resting your awareness in stillness because you've released grasping. Report an error in the passage at 32:29 Highlight the passage at 32:29

32:42 Released craving and aversion, letting your awareness be like space as you keep your body as still as a mountain. You Report an error in the passage at 32:42 Highlight the passage at 32:42

32:56 may be surprised at how much you can observe arising in the space of the mind, events with which you previously simply identified as your attention was riveted through the outside world. Report an error in the passage at 32:56 Highlight the passage at 32:56

33:14 Now you open a sixth mode of perception and one that is more refinable, more trainable than any of the other five. Report an error in the passage at 33:14 Highlight the passage at 33:14