Four Applications Of Mindfulness Retreat 2013 with B. Alan Wallace (part 2)

0:10 So are there any questions, comments, insights or observations or points of debate with regards to the talk this afternoon, but also we've entered into the practice. Any points of clarification about this entry-level practice? Anything coming up yet? Otherwise, if not, we can have a short session tonight. Yes, Peter. Report an error in the passage at 0:10 Highlight the passage at 0:10

0:32 Do we have a rolling microphone? That would be nice to use. The one that I was holding? That would be very nice. Report an error in the passage at 0:32 Highlight the passage at 0:32

0:46 So it's either him or me? Report an error in the passage at 0:46 Highlight the passage at 0:46

0:50 Okay, then we'll all listen and fire away. What's on your mind, Peter? Report an error in the passage at 0:50 Highlight the passage at 0:50

1:02 Yes, indeed. Report an error in the passage at 1:02 Highlight the passage at 1:02

1:06 That's right. Report an error in the passage at 1:06 Highlight the passage at 1:06

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:40 In 1900, when Max Planck, the great German physicist, initiated the second great revolution in physics with quantum mechanics. Report an error in the passage at 1:40 Highlight the passage at 1:40

1:51 It opened up quite a large can of worms. And that is, everything you said is correct. I have studied quantum mechanics. That was my one area of real professional or serious training in Western science. Report an error in the passage at 1:51 Highlight the passage at 1:51

2:02 And it raises the issue, it's called the measurement problem, and that is that the very active measurement of anything in the quantum system, whether an elementary particle, a wave or what have you, what you're measuring always rises relative to your system of measurement. So there are some points where there's really little of any dissension or disagreement, and this is one of them, that as Werner Heisenberg himself said, I quote, One of the great pioneers of quantum mechanics, he said, what we observe is not nature in itself, but nature in response to our method of questioning. Report an error in the passage at 2:02 Highlight the passage at 2:02

2:39 So you're not observing some pre-existent, absolutely real objective reality out there existing independently of your system measurement when you're doing a quantum mechanical measurement, but rather you're measuring something abstractly called a probability function, a probability wave which collapses with the act of measurement. Report an error in the passage at 2:39 Highlight the passage at 2:39

3:01 But then how does that occur and what's needed for a measurement to take place? Again, this could very easily turn into a long Dharma talk, but I'll try to make it concise. But here's a pair of glasses and here's a glass case. So just drop the glasses onto the glass case, the glasses case. I think we would all agree that the glasses are not measuring the density of this little broken eyeglass case. They're not measuring anything at all. Report an error in the passage at 3:01 Highlight the passage at 3:01

3:32 It's resting on it. But to say the eyeglasses are measuring something, I think we all agree with it. That's silly. It doesn't mean anything. It's just sitting there. Anymore than the rug is measuring the dimensions of the platform here, and so on. So it seems kind of transparently obvious that for a measurement to take place, there must be somebody who's measuring some conscious being. Report an error in the passage at 3:32 Highlight the passage at 3:32

3:52 Because if there's no consciousness, if there's no knowing, then the word measurement doesn't really mean anything. But then how does consciousness fit in? And does it fit in? In this whole observer participancy that is intrinsic to making a quantum mechanical measurement. And that was raised, oh, about a century ago, and it's never been solved. Report an error in the passage at 3:52 Highlight the passage at 3:52

4:17 I'm not even persuaded that they've made any progress. And I think there are good reasons for that. It's a fascinating area. I could go on along, but I'm going to bring this short. But they don't know. There's agreement on that point. The measurement problem, which arose roughly a century ago, It has not been solved. They don't know what it is about the active measurement that causes the probability wave to collapse. They don't know really whether there is a probability wave or whether maybe Everett, a disciple or student of John Wheeler was right. Report an error in the passage at 4:17 Highlight the passage at 4:17

4:52 Maybe there are multiple worlds out there and there is no probability wave that collapses. So the whole active quantum measurement remains quite a mystery. Report an error in the passage at 4:52 Highlight the passage at 4:52

5:03 I believe the fact that, number one, I believe two things that I think are facts, and one of these is that there has been no progress on solving this so-called measurement problem that I think is a fact. And the second one is the reason for it is that physicists trained as physicists are never exposed to any type of training to understand the nature of the mind or consciousness. Report an error in the passage at 5:03 Highlight the passage at 5:03

5:30 It's just not there at all. So that's problematic because now consciousness somehow must It would seem to be implicated. Otherwise, why do you call it a measurement? But then, to say consciousness is implicated, if you have no idea what consciousness is, except for the fact that you're conscious, then you're not in a very good position to tackle the question. Report an error in the passage at 5:30 Highlight the passage at 5:30

5:51 But the problem is compounded by a corollary problem that, once again, I believe, is closely related. And that is David Chalmers. He's an American, quite a prominent American philosopher of mind. He's been now in Australia for quite a few years. Report an error in the passage at 5:51 Highlight the passage at 5:51

6:09 He's made the distinction years ago between the soft problem and the hard problem. And the soft problem in terms of mind-body relationship is simply identifying correlations between specific mental processes and brain processes. And there's very good science there. But then we ask, what is the nature of the correlation? Because if two things are correlated, they obviously don't have to be the same thing. Report an error in the passage at 6:09 Highlight the passage at 6:09

6:33 It could be a causal relationship, it could be various types of relationships. Correlation is correlation. That's all. If this happens, then this happens. This happens, that happens. But there are many ways of interpreting mind-brain correlations. Report an error in the passage at 6:33 Highlight the passage at 6:33

6:47 And the hard problem is, what's the nature of the mind-brain correlation? And how is it that the mind influences the brain and the brain influences the mind? Because clearly they do. Get drunk, change the brain chemistry with alcohol, and you're... Subjective experience shifts. Everybody knows that. They've known that for millennia. How does that occur? Why? Why do these chemicals give rise to a sense of dizziness, silliness, lack of coherence, irrationality, maybe anger, belligerence and so on? Report an error in the passage at 6:47 Highlight the passage at 6:47

7:16 Why? What does alcohol have to do with belligerence or making stupid jokes? What's the connection? That's the hard problem. And once again, that hard problem has been around for more than a century. And once again, I would say there is no progress at all. And once again, it's because mind scientists don't really have any way of probing the very nature of consciousness itself. All they're good at is studying the correlates, behavioral expressions and neural correlates. Report an error in the passage at 7:16 Highlight the passage at 7:16

7:42 And another problem to compound this is that neuroscientists and quantum physicists almost never talk to each other for very good reason. Quantum physicists have no training about the mind and mind scientists, with very few exceptions, have no training whatsoever in 20th century physics. Report an error in the passage at 7:42 Highlight the passage at 7:42

8:01 They'll learn 19th century physics, good old-fashioned Newtonian world where causality means things bumping into each other, which has been antiquated for more than a century. And so their notion of physics is completely dinosaur-style, and they can't even talk quantum mechanics or raise those issues because they have no training in it at all, any more than a poet or an artist has training in quantum mechanics. Report an error in the passage at 8:01 Highlight the passage at 8:01

8:22 So I think we're really at kind of a dead end. Not a dead end, I mean that would suggest something final, but kind of a loggerheads and a quagmire. That's a good word. A quagmire in quantum mechanics because they don't have a clue how to move ahead because they don't know what consciousness is. And in the neurosciences they don't have a clue how to move ahead because they're still stuck in 19th century causality. Report an error in the passage at 8:22 Highlight the passage at 8:22

8:43 And they can't imagine how anything non-physical could possibly influence the brain. And they think that if something is real it must be imaginable. Well quantum physicists grew out of that one more than a century ago. The realm of quantum mechanics in so many aspects is simply unimaginable. And the most brilliant one, people like Richard Feynman have recognized this a long time ago and they said, stop trying to imagine what's going on. You can't do it. It is unimaginable, but it's nevertheless taking place. Report an error in the passage at 8:43 Highlight the passage at 8:43

9:12 And so we have these two areas. But where I thought you were going to go is when we're observing mental states, observing our emotions, observing thoughts coming up, observing the degree of agitation or dullness arising in the mind. Report an error in the passage at 9:12 Highlight the passage at 9:12

9:29 Doesn't the very act of observation Introspective observation, doesn't that influence what we're observing? After all, it's an integrated system. Not two things coming together independently, one observing the other, but within the integrated system of our minds, one aspect of the mind is observing other aspects of the mind. Report an error in the passage at 9:29 Highlight the passage at 9:29

9:48 And so is there not, as in quantum mechanics, an observer participancy that is inevitably part of the process when making introspective observations and mental processes? And the answer is yes. There's an observer participancy there. But that has not disabled quantum mechanics, which many people regard as the most successful branch of physics altogether. Report an error in the passage at 9:48 Highlight the passage at 9:48

10:11 And so as it did not disable or disqualify quantum mechanics, there's no reason in the world to say, oh, in introspection you're modifying that which you're observing, therefore you're disqualified. That's silly. Then you'd have to say that quantum mechanics didn't work either, but it did. But what this opens up is just a plethora of very interesting, Fascinating and very important topics for inquiry for which we can get really some traction, make some progress when we actually start a science of consciousness. Report an error in the passage at 10:11 Highlight the passage at 10:11

10:43 And I would say there is no such thing as a science of consciousness nowadays in the modern world. It's hard to say you have a science of consciousness of something, science of consciousness, or science of anything. I think it's hard to say that you have a science of anything if you can't define that anything and you can't measure it and you don't know what causes it and you don't know what it does. Report an error in the passage at 10:43 Highlight the passage at 10:43

11:02 But say, well, never mind that. We can't define it, we can't measure it, we don't know what causes it, we don't know what it does, but nevertheless we have a science of it. I think that's a really tough sell. And that is the situation with consciousness right now. For a very simple reason, they don't know how to observe it. But Buddhists, Hindus, Taoists, Christians and so forth, there you go. Report an error in the passage at 11:02 Highlight the passage at 11:02

11:21 It's been going on a long time. Anything else coming up? Report an error in the passage at 11:21 Highlight the passage at 11:21

11:28 Yes, please. I will probably forget the name at least the first time, but if you would humor me and tell me your first name, I would be grateful. Chris. Craig? Chris. Chris. Report an error in the passage at 11:28 Highlight the passage at 11:28

11:40 Chris, my hearing is not incredibly good. You'll find that. Thank you, Chris. What's on your mind? Report an error in the passage at 11:40 Highlight the passage at 11:40

11:51 I'm delighted. So, very good. Report an error in the passage at 11:51 Highlight the passage at 11:51

· · · silence, 1 minute

12:30 Very practical question. One that I think is on probably many people's minds. So the first piece of advice I would give would be don't go away for the next six days. Because we'll be attending this very closely. yeah. Report an error in the passage at 12:30 Highlight the passage at 12:30

12:45 I'll give you a little sneak preview of what we can anticipate for the next six days. From day to day, I'll be introducing first one, two, three and then four different methods of shamatha. Shamatha is a whole genre of meditation in Buddhism, you probably know this already, which is all about developing one's attention skills and metacognitive skills. The two are related but they're not the same. Report an error in the passage at 12:45 Highlight the passage at 12:45

13:08 And that's the technology, that's the telescope for the mind, is learning really how to maintain What William James, the great William James, called sustained voluntary attention. But to do so in such a way that it doesn't drain us, fatigue us, stress us out. So if you're like many other people, sometimes you have a deadline or you're in very heavy traffic or you really have to concentrate for a while on some very demanding job. Report an error in the passage at 13:08 Highlight the passage at 13:08

13:32 You find it exhausting. When you're finished, you're really feeling quite spent. And so people know how to concentrate, but the way normal people concentrate is with a lot of wear and tear. Whereas yogis, Highly trained Hindu yogis, Buddhists and so forth. They may be going deeply into samādhi, highly focused attention for three or four hours and come out fresh as a daisy. Report an error in the passage at 13:32 Highlight the passage at 13:32

13:56 So how do you do that? So really the training of attention is the foundation. So every day we'll be doing some shamatha. But this is not a shamatha retreat. This is a vipassanā retreat focusing on really entry-level foundational vipassanā within the Buddhist tradition. So we're going to be going back and forth between the shamatha And then the Vipassanā, as we take whatever mindfulness skills we develop through the practice of shamatha, which is very centrally about refining mindfulness, and then applying that to the careful examination of the body, feelings, mental states and so on. Report an error in the passage at 13:56 Highlight the passage at 13:56

14:32 But both of these, both the shamatha practices and the Vipassanā, where we're utilizing whatever mindfulness skills we have, there's going to be a synergy there. And that is your insight practice or Vipassanā practice. is in all likelihood going to augment your shamatha practice, which means going to help develop your attention skills. And your attention skills are certainly going to augment, support and give more robust quality to your Vipassanā practice. Report an error in the passage at 14:32 Highlight the passage at 14:32

14:58 So there's your short answer. And now a second short answer is the shamatha methods, above all, are really designed to respond to that question, which contemplated is for at least, probably the last 4,000 years. Primarily in India, they started it. This whole development of samādhi, but then it's percolated out all over the place. Contemplates have been struggling with these issues for millennia, and in many cases really very effective methods have been devised, which have proven themselves evidence-based to effectively deal with these attentional imbalances. Report an error in the passage at 14:58 Highlight the passage at 14:58

15:35 In modern parlance they're called attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder. It's clinically a diagnosed mental problem, but it's a smooth gradient. And the way they diagnose this person has it and this person doesn't, it's something like, I'm not precise here, but it's something like, okay, there are 11 characteristics of ADHD. Report an error in the passage at 15:35 Highlight the passage at 15:35

15:53 If you have 6 of them, then you have ADHD. But if 5, then you abide by the skin of your teeth. So it's a bit arbitrary. But what I think is obvious is that apart from highly accomplished yogis, we all have ADHD to some extent. And that is our minds are prone to falling into laxity, dullness. Sleepiness, torpor on the one hand, or falling into excitation, hyperactivity, agitation, distraction on the other. So that's a fundamental challenge and it's a necessary challenge to meet if our contemplative inquiry by way of apachana is going to be yielding robust results, replicable discoveries. Report an error in the passage at 15:53 Highlight the passage at 15:53

16:34 So on the one hand, now to be a bit more specific, maintaining a regular practice, Optimally, if one is living a very socially engaged way of life with responsibilities throughout the course of the day, then it's really optimal to have some time in the morning, some time in the evening, a sandwich. So you're starting your day with accentuated sanity and ending the day with decreasing the insanity. And the insanity is just a mind where we can continually, not continually, but frequently losing our minds, you know, spinning off into rumination, becoming... Report an error in the passage at 16:34 Highlight the passage at 16:34

17:08 Absent-minded here and dull there and agitated there and so forth and so on. So having the bookends for the beginning of the day, the end of the day, it's a very effective approach. But now what will make that all the more effective and doesn't take a lot more time, because if you have many responsibilities like family, job and so forth, there's only so much time you can carve away from your life and leave everybody around you okay. Report an error in the passage at 17:08 Highlight the passage at 17:08

17:34 You're turning your back on them, especially family. But what you can do through the course of the day, between your two bookends, is, I like the phrase a lot, season the day. Season the day. And so we all know what seasoning food means. That is, if you have a plate full of lentils and rice, you season it with, you know, whatever spices you like. Report an error in the passage at 17:34 Highlight the passage at 17:34

17:57 But you don't have a cup of seasoning on the side, and then kind of just chowing down on that and then back and forth. And so likewise, just a little bit of a sprinkling here, a sprinkling of that, of this and that. Then flavors all the food, of course, we all know that. And likewise, throughout the course of the day, whether three or four times, how about 10 or 15 times, for 15 seconds, for half a minute, for one minute while waiting at a stoplight, for 30 seconds after you put down the phone, etc. Report an error in the passage at 17:57 Highlight the passage at 17:57

18:26 There are many occasions, far more than we might imagine when we think we're very busy, when in fact we could take off 30 seconds and no one will reprimand us for it. Think we're slacker. And during these brief interludes, it could be a minute or two, it could be 15 seconds, just come right back to the practice. Report an error in the passage at 18:26 Highlight the passage at 18:26

18:46 Whatever practice you really favor, you find most helpful, mindfulness of breathing, whatever it may be. And re-center. Just establish that sense of ease, of stillness, of clarity. Savor it for a little while and then launch again. So you're getting a whole bunch of fresh starts throughout the course of the day so that we don't waver for too long. Report an error in the passage at 18:46 Highlight the passage at 18:46

19:08 In the mind that is just wandering off into rumination and so forth. Having said that, it's also very helpful. The Jews and the Christians had a very good idea with Sabbath, which in America for many people now is football and barbecue. But in the old days, once a week was designed to really focus on one's Dharma, one's spiritual practice. And set aside all mundane concerns and really one day a week, this is for Dharma. Report an error in the passage at 19:08 Highlight the passage at 19:08

19:36 It's not a Buddhist tradition. Buddhism doesn't have a Sabbath, so to speak, but it's a pretty good idea. So if once a week, one full day per week, if that's too much, you can't afford it, one day a month, where you say, okay, here's a Saturday, I'm going to keep that one free, I'm not going to go on vacation, not going to be just filling it with all kinds of forgettable activities, but that's one day a month, and maybe I'll even have a few friends over, we'll gather someplace, give a bit of group energy. Report an error in the passage at 19:36 Highlight the passage at 19:36

20:03 And having some times of just kind of going for total immersion, even for 12 hours. That could be very helpful. Meditating? As much as you can, sure. You don't want to go pedal to the meadow, you don't want to exhaust yourself, push too hard. But basically have nothing else for the whole day than to practice Dharma. That could be some reading, it could be some meditation, it could be mindful walking, it could be a bit of chanting, it could be listening to a Dharma talk. Report an error in the passage at 20:03 Highlight the passage at 20:03

20:31 We have so much now on the internet or other kind of recordings. But one day that's simply devoted for your spiritual practice. And then you can see whether it's once a month, is that too much? How about once every two months? Or whatever. But having something regular, so we're never straying too far from that which, to my mind, is the most meaningful aspect of our lives. Report an error in the passage at 20:31 Highlight the passage at 20:31

20:53 You're welcome. There's a nice, I'll be right with you, but in India, classical India, and it's still true to some extent, for those people who are quite committed to activities in the socially engaged world, of job, of family, children, grandchildren, Report an error in the passage at 20:53 Highlight the passage at 20:53

21:13 one's Performing one's dharma, that is one's social responsibilities, taking care of one's family, education with one's children and so on. Then there is a tradition you may very well know of, it's called the sannyasi tradition. And that is when your children are all grown up, they have their own children, they're on their own, they're quite independent, they own lives. Then there's still people of that generation in India. Report an error in the passage at 21:13 Highlight the passage at 21:13

21:36 They said, okay, I think I've done everything I needed to do in terms of serving the community, taking care of my family and so forth. They don't really need me all that much now. They're launched, they're out of the nest. And therefore, now I'm going to become sannyas. And that means the rest of my life now, whether I become a monk or nun or not, either way, now it's just Dharma. Report an error in the passage at 21:36 Highlight the passage at 21:36

21:59 Now I'm going to make my senior years as meaningful as possible and prepare to die well. So that's a nice option too. Other people who are saying, why should I wait until I'm old? People who have taken robes when they're not old already. Saying, well, why should I wait until I get old and then make a major step in that direction? A question right here, I believe. Yes, please. Report an error in the passage at 21:59 Highlight the passage at 21:59

22:28 What kind of yoga? Physical yoga, yes. Report an error in the passage at 22:28 Highlight the passage at 22:28

22:58 It's a very sound observation, I believe, but it's not only Tibetan. I've lived in Sri Lanka and I've lived in Thailand quite a bit now. And in the Theravāda tradition, Burma, Thailand, Sri Lanka, there's no yoga. Report an error in the passage at 22:58 Highlight the passage at 22:58

23:12 The monks don't do yoga. Number one, the kind of robes they're wearing for any of the inverted postures get really ugly. Report an error in the passage at 23:12 Highlight the passage at 23:12

23:22 The robes are very good for sitting, walking, lying down and standing, but they're really not good for exercise. I lived when I was in Sri Lanka many years ago as a monk. I was wearing their robes. You really can't do much in them. You can sit and walk, that's about it. But running or any kind of heavy physical, they're just not designed for that. So this is true not only for Tibetan Buddhism, and it is true to a large extent, it's true for Theravāda. Report an error in the passage at 23:22 Highlight the passage at 23:22

23:47 The Zen tradition, There's qigong, there's tai chi in Chinese Buddhism and Japanese Buddhism. That's very helpful. It can be quite marvelous. Tibetan Buddhism does have yoga, but it tends to be at a very advanced level. They don't have beginner's yoga. It's really not there. Now, Tatantuku, one Tibetan Lama who's based in California, he's developed something called kumye, but that's more massage. Report an error in the passage at 23:47 Highlight the passage at 23:47

24:12 But you're quite right. So that was a long-winded way of saying, on the whole, your observation is quite right. And having said that, for many generations there have been highly accomplished adepts in the Theravāda world, Sri Lanka, Burma, Thailand, without having done yoga, just following a way of life that's very ethical, very non-violent, trained in their minds. Report an error in the passage at 24:12 Highlight the passage at 24:12

24:34 And then they're doing some type of exercise in terms of just walking, you know, walking in their alms round, the various tasks around the monastery that need attending to and so forth. So they're not just sitting all the time. And likewise, monasteries in Tibet, or nowadays in Tibetan diaspora, there's a lot of work to be done. Some of them, you know, well, there's a lot of work to be done. Report an error in the passage at 24:34 Highlight the passage at 24:34

24:55 But again, yoga as such is not at all common in terms of more beginning stages of practice. At the same time, there certainly have been many, many, many highly accomplished yogis in the Tibetan tradition for 1,200 years now. They worked it out. Now, speaking a bit personally, I never went until I was I had been trained for quite a few years. I never received any teaching in yoga with my Tibetan teachers. Later on I did, fairly extensive, but not for the first 10-15 years. Report an error in the passage at 24:55 Highlight the passage at 24:55

25:27 And so I found it was very helpful to go and study yoga. So I trained quite intensively for two and a half months at BKS Iyengar Center in the south of India in Pune. I found it very helpful. It was good. And so it's something that, it's a foreign import. And I asked my teacher at that time, Gisharaptan, who was my... Report an error in the passage at 25:27 Highlight the passage at 25:27

25:46 I trained with him quite intensely through the 70s. I saw him shortly after that when I went back to India. And I asked him, well, I'm a Buddhist monk. I'm totally committed to this is my path. This is why I live in Buddhism. I take refuge. But I really find the yoga quite helpful. And is there some, do you think, any problem here? Report an error in the passage at 25:46 Highlight the passage at 25:46

26:06 Myself as a Buddhist monk practicing Hindu yoga. And he kind of smiled at me and said, Alan, if you practice it, it's Buddhist yoga. So, you know, no worries. No worries at all. And so I think we take a very pragmatic approach here. That is when one understands the nature of Buddhist practice, it's really all about ethics, cultivating the mind and developing wisdom together with compassion. Report an error in the passage at 26:06 Highlight the passage at 26:06

26:29 If there are practices such as the kind of diet you choose, the type of exercise you engage in, that is conducive to your core practice, that's good. Good idea. If we try to explain it, I mean, I think it's complex, I'll wrap it up. One thing about Tibet, their diet wasn't all that good either. The Indians are much more conscientious. That is, Hindus, much more conscientious about diet. Report an error in the passage at 26:29 Highlight the passage at 26:29

26:57 And it's quite a sophisticated discipline. Tibetan diet is not sophisticated. For a lot of the yogis, it's parched barley meal, rancid yak butter, maybe a bit of dry cheese, and a turnip if you're lucky. But it wasn't because they were all by nature ascetic. But rather they were all by nature living at maybe 15,000 feet. And there doesn't, not much it grows up there. You'll have dairy products, you'll have samba, then a parched barley meal. Report an error in the passage at 26:57 Highlight the passage at 26:57

27:29 That's pretty much it. Hardly any fruit and very little in the way of vegetables. So they ate what they had. And up there at, you know, 3,000, 4,000 meters, 5,000 meters, with the coldness and the nature of the environment, many of them were reasonably healthy. Take that same diet and bring it down to India. Not so healthy. So Buddhism needs to evolve, and it has evolved and assimilated in multiple cultures over the last 2,500 years. Report an error in the passage at 27:29 Highlight the passage at 27:29

27:59 And it continues to evolve and assimilate now in modern culture. And its challenge, as I mentioned this afternoon, is maintaining its integrity and not kind of just disintegrating into a bunch of fragments that you can no longer see Buddhism. It's just a little technique in here, technique there. But I think this is part of the evolution of Buddhism. And I'm very happy to say something that's totally unrelated to your question. But Buddhism, like all other traditions throughout the world, and I think with no exceptions, it's a big statement, has over the centuries been very patriarchal. Report an error in the passage at 27:59 Highlight the passage at 27:59

28:31 It's really male-dominated. Then show me an exception, anywhere on the planet, of a society and traditions that are not male-dominated. Report an error in the passage at 28:31 Highlight the passage at 28:31

28:41 It's not a good thing, but it was also global, so we can hardly pick out Buddhism as the bad guy. But what I've been delighted to see, because I feel quite strongly about it, is that especially over the last 50 years or so, when Buddhism has really been interfacing with global culture and modernity, there's been a lot of shift. Report an error in the passage at 28:41 Highlight the passage at 28:41

28:59 There needs to be a lot more. But within the Tibetan tradition, that's what I know best, there's been a lot of shift and it's been all for the good of women having greater opportunity, whether as nuns or as lay women and so forth, and just generally women. Tibetan society, they have a much, much better situation now, much more opportunity for education, leadership and so on than they had just 30 or 40 years ago. Report an error in the passage at 28:59 Highlight the passage at 28:59

29:21 So I'm very happy to see that. It shows that there's not that much rigidity. But when they see, oh, this makes sense. Now, I've just recently said the first woman, Western woman Geshe, right? First Western woman Geshe. That's quite an accomplishment. It's not an easy title to earn or degree to earn. And there are quite a number of Western and Tibetan nuns getting that training. They never had it 50 years ago. So that was unrelated to your question, but it was simply highlighting the point of assimilation and adaptation to changing environment. Report an error in the passage at 29:21 Highlight the passage at 29:21

29:50 Buddhism is in fact evolving, and in some ways it's evolving in very healthy directions, and I think that's one of them. And maybe it will start assimilating yoga more actively too. Report an error in the passage at 29:50 Highlight the passage at 29:50

30:03 Yes, please. Report an error in the passage at 30:03 Highlight the passage at 30:03

30:11 Yes, I know him. Report an error in the passage at 30:11 Highlight the passage at 30:11

30:24 Right. It's a good thing. It's a bit debatable, but he really is Bumbo. Bumbo tradition. So some people think Bumbo is Buddhist, and that's just a debatable point, and a debate I'm not interested in. But it's Bumbo. But I know him. I think he's a very good man. He's a very knowledgeable teacher. And he's been living in Virginia, in the United States, for some years now. Report an error in the passage at 30:24 Highlight the passage at 30:24

30:45 He's very savvy. I think he's gotten to know Western civilization rather well, because he's been there for, again, 20 years or so, something like that. And so I think it's a very positive thing. Very positive. And then he's written at least one very good book on the subtle physiology of the energies, the elements and so forth in the body. Report an error in the passage at 30:45 Highlight the passage at 30:45

31:03 I think he's given a lot of attention to the body, more so than many Bombo and Buddhist teachers from Tibet. So I think it's very constructive. Good move in the right direction. So thank you for mentioning it. What's your name? Stan. Stan, yeah. Sorry. Samuel, yeah, thank you. Also he Report an error in the passage at 31:03 Highlight the passage at 31:03

31:24 knows Shavasana, you know, likes to deal with dullness. I guess being the problem I think Report an error in the passage at 31:24 Highlight the passage at 31:24

31:57 it's very important to experiment with different postures. That is, in classical India where they had almost no furniture, then you're either sitting on the ground cross-legged. They didn't have chairs. Tibetans by and large don't have chairs in traditional Tibet. So you're sitting cross-legged or you're lying down standing or walking. It was kind of poor posture. Report an error in the passage at 31:57 Highlight the passage at 31:57

32:18 Whereas in our Eurocentric civilization, we've been using chairs for a long time. And over the last decades or what have you, a lot of high textures have been developed that more evenly distribute the mass of the body, the weight of the body. And so what is important is that your spine is straight, but it doesn't have to be erect. But it's straight, that's important. It lets the prāṇa flow more unimpededly. Report an error in the passage at 32:18 Highlight the passage at 32:18

32:47 But I would experiment if you find that being flat out makes you flat out. I would experiment with something in between, like a comfortable chair, where you feel very relaxed but you're not horizontal, you have some elevation. Report an error in the passage at 32:47 Highlight the passage at 32:47

33:03 So there's quite a variety of chairs that we have to select from in that regard. But above all, it's really a matter of training. And you can bring in other factors like, how about exercise, just before you go into your Shavasana or some other very relaxed posture. It's not simply sitting in a very erect cross-legged position. What kind of exercise might you do? Of course, when I trained with Iyengar, I was practicing five hours a day quite intensively and had a lot of personal guidance from him. Report an error in the passage at 33:03 Highlight the passage at 33:03

33:35 And he taught the Shavasana with all the precision and care that he taught every other asana. And he brings an enormous amount of precision to everyone. And he emphasized that the Shavasana is not simply a way of placing the body, but it's also a way of placing the mind. If you fall asleep in Shavasana, you're not practicing Shavasana. Or if you just let yourself space out or fall into rumination, you're not practicing Shavasana. Report an error in the passage at 33:35 Highlight the passage at 33:35

33:58 It's an outer facsimile of Shavasana. But it's really a body-mind posture. And that means that you're very clearly, mindfully present in the body as you rest in that posture. Report an error in the passage at 33:58 Highlight the passage at 33:58

34:10 And he quite emphasized that you should really master Shavasana before you start meditation. And that he had a very sequential approach to yoga. Asana is the pranayama and then meditation and mastering each one before you proceed on to the next. So, but things like diet, eating light food, maybe some nice cool refreshing liquid, just a cool glass of water, juice, just before you go into the Shavasana. Report an error in the passage at 34:10 Highlight the passage at 34:10

34:38 Meditating in a room that's well lit, not any bright harsh light in your field of vision, but well lit room. Be relatively cool without being cold, so not overdressing. So I wind up really not needing the sweater at all. I'm very comfortable without it. And I prefer to be a bit cool rather than overly warm. Report an error in the passage at 34:38 Highlight the passage at 34:38

34:58 And the rest of it is just really by practicing it and developing new association. And that is prior to learning Shavasana, prior to learning to meditate in the supine position. Most likely, if you're like most people, when you lie down, You know, for decades. You've been around for a few decades. That's decades of habituation, of having this pattern of when you lie down, it's to rest. Report an error in the passage at 34:58 Highlight the passage at 34:58

35:26 It's either to take a nap or to sleep or watch television with your eyes half open or whatever, or listen to music. But it's time to flake out. I'm pooped. I'm going to lie down. And so we have a strong association. That posture is for kind of flaking out, totally resting. If you fall asleep, cool. Report an error in the passage at 35:26 Highlight the passage at 35:26

35:44 And this is why I emphasize, if you go into the Shavasana, make a real point of adopting a posture. You don't just lie on your back. And so the posture is keeping your body very straight. Your feet are fairly close together. The feet drop out to the side. Your arms are out to the side, about 30 degrees out from the torso. Your palms are facing up. Report an error in the passage at 35:44 Highlight the passage at 35:44

36:04 Your head should be on a little bit of a pillow, but still maintaining some curvature of the neck. and so point Point by point, you adopt the posture. And as you do so, you're really maintaining the mental attitude. This is my posture for meditation. And if I start to get drowsy, I'm going to stop. Because this is not a drowsy posture, this is not a sleeping posture or a rumination posture, this is a meditation posture. Report an error in the passage at 36:04 Highlight the passage at 36:04

36:31 And so stopping it, if you just find you're just being flaky, and then come back, maybe do a bit of walking meditation, mindful walking, and then come back to it. Keeping the session short, you know, maybe only ten minutes. And so just, it's habituating yourself so that whenever you go into that posture, it's always for the sake of meditation. Report an error in the passage at 36:31 Highlight the passage at 36:31

36:53 And as soon as you start getting drowsy, then you stop meditating and you get out of that posture. So tonight, for example, you have a bit of homework, why not? We don't have that many days together. What I would suggest is when your day is finished, you brush your teeth, you've done everything during the day that you wanted to do, you're ready for bed. Report an error in the passage at 36:53 Highlight the passage at 36:53

37:13 Get into bed, but rather than getting into bed with the immediate intention to fall asleep, get into bed and go right into the Shavasana, formally, under the covers. Report an error in the passage at 37:13 Highlight the passage at 37:13

37:24 And then do the practice we've done here in the supine position, mindfully breathing in, mindfully breathing out, resting with the stillness of awareness, clear, observing the sensations of the in and out flow of the breath or the movements of prāṇa throughout the body as you breathe. And do that until you start feeling a bit woozy. Report an error in the passage at 37:24 Highlight the passage at 37:24

37:44 Or groggy, losing the clarity of mind. And as soon as you detect that, you monitor that with introspection. As soon as you detect that, then you mentally snap your fingers. In the sense that you bring up, you introduce a discontinuity, a little halt. Say, okay, I'm getting drowsy. Now I stop my meditation. Report an error in the passage at 37:44 Highlight the passage at 37:44

38:06 I was meditating. Maybe it was for five minutes. Maybe it was for 20 minutes or half an hour. Until you stop getting drowsy. And then when you feel drowsy, because you need some sleep, and that's why you're feeling drowsy, then you stop meditating, you roll out of that posture into some other posture, your posture of sleeping, and then you allow yourself to drift off into sleep. Report an error in the passage at 38:06 Highlight the passage at 38:06

38:28 It's a very nice way to get to sleep. I do it a lot. Well, I do it pretty much every night. And I do it in airplanes, because I do travel a lot. And I'm just really very happy to see that usually I have only one day of jet lag. Even if it's, you know, many hours. I'm doing this a lot and it does tend to help the body rebalance rather quickly. That's very helpful. Report an error in the passage at 38:28 Highlight the passage at 38:28

38:57 Lin? Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 38:57 Highlight the passage at 38:57

39:05 Oh, were you at that conference? Oh, lovely. Yeah. Yeah, and one person from our retreat, Valentin. He was there. Yeah, yeah, lovely. Report an error in the passage at 39:05 Highlight the passage at 39:05

39:43 Sure. In Report an error in the passage at 39:43 Highlight the passage at 39:43

40:08 1990, we held a Mind and Life conference for which I was serving as co-interpreter with Tutankhima, with His Holiness. And it was on healing emotions. Healing Emotions. Daniel Goleman, renowned for emotional intelligence, he organized the conference. And among the participants, a very small group, only five speakers for five days, very sweet. Report an error in the passage at 40:08 Highlight the passage at 40:08

40:29 Among the speakers was John Kabat-Zinn. I met him for the first time. That's 23 years ago now. And he presented his methods of mindfulness-based stress reduction. Very simple, very basic, simplified. Mindfulness of breathing, body scanning, a bit of yoga stretches. Pretty much that. But he showed how beneficial this was in very practical ways for alleviating stress and stress-related disorders. And there are many, many stress-related disorders. Report an error in the passage at 40:29 Highlight the passage at 40:29

40:58 And when he'd given his presentation, it's very, very articulate, very good, solid science, then someone asked His Holiness, what do you think about what John has done here? Because he's drawn from the Buddhist tradition, but he's teaching Christians and atheists and agnostics and all kinds of people who have no interest in Buddhism at all. They just have interest in alleviating their stress. Report an error in the passage at 40:58 Highlight the passage at 40:58

41:18 That's why they come to a stress reduction clinic. You're not coming there to learn Buddhadharma. And so the question posed to His Holiness was, well, what do you think about what John's doing here? Because he's drawing from the Buddhist tradition but not giving Buddhism any credit, decontextualizing the practices completely. Report an error in the passage at 41:18 Highlight the passage at 41:18

41:32 There's no reference to any Buddhist worldview or anything like that at all. And moreover, he's teaching these not as methods for achieving liberation or enlightenment, but methods for alleviating stress and maybe enhancing performance in one way or another. So what do you think about that? Isn't this plagiarism? Report an error in the passage at 41:32 Highlight the passage at 41:32

41:48 And His Holiness, quintessentially His Holiness, His response was, the whole point of the Buddha Dharma, all of the Buddhist teachings, it's all designed to alleviate suffering. It's Nying Je Tsava Chien, as said in Tibetan. It has as its root, compassion. That's why. That's why any authentic Buddhist teacher is teaching out of compassion. Report an error in the passage at 41:48 Highlight the passage at 41:48

42:11 There can be multiple motivations, but if that's not the primary motivation, one shouldn't teach? And so, So as Honest in that regard, what John, and then more broadly MBSR, and then more broadly introducing mindfulness into the school system, mindfulness into business, into athletics and so forth, if this is helping to alleviate suffering and helping people to achieve meaningful goals within the world, doing well if you're going to get an education, it's better to get a good education than a bad one. Report an error in the passage at 42:11 Highlight the passage at 42:11

42:44 If you're going to business, it's good to have emotional balance. And be decent and productive in the business place rather than having emotional imbalance and being unproductive. These are just common sense, right? So if Buddhists can help people be more productive in the workplace, treat each other better, do better in school, better behavior and so forth, okay, it's not about liberation or enlightenment, but it's in the right direction. Report an error in the passage at 42:44 Highlight the passage at 42:44

43:06 So there's only said it's a good thing. It's a good thing that's being done. But he added, don't mistake that for Dharma, for Buddhadharma, right? So I think there are really two issues here. And that is, as His Holiness has now written two books on secular ethics, reaching out to people who are not Buddhist, who may have no interest in Buddhism, but do have an interest in being more ethical. Report an error in the passage at 43:06 Highlight the passage at 43:06

43:29 His Holiness reaches out to such people many, many times, not only in this book, but it's in public teaching. And with no intention whatsoever of converting them to Buddhism, but simply helping them in their own lives, to find greater happiness and less suffering. And so, of course, to say I have no objection is an understatement. I think it's a wonderful contribution. Report an error in the passage at 43:29 Highlight the passage at 43:29

43:48 And it should be simplified. So to have the notion of introducing mindfulness into education but not losing any depth, well, you have to lose depth. These children are not wishing to achieve stream entry in one lifetime or become arhats in this lifetime. They have no such notion. They, their parents, would probably like to do better in school, be able to get a good job, live a prosperous and happy life. Report an error in the passage at 43:48 Highlight the passage at 43:48

44:16 So we will lose a lot of depth. But the same is true, you know, on television. In America we have the program NOVA, you probably show it here. But, you know, very nice science programs. You know, NOVA is one of them, Discovery Channel has some good things on it. Nobody in his right mind thinks that that's what's being presented there as entertainment, informative entertainment. Nobody in his right mind thinks it's not simplified. Because the scientists said, well, okay, come to my class and now on public television I will give you hardball, you know, and crack the books. Report an error in the passage at 44:16 Highlight the passage at 44:16

44:45 I want you to sell, you know, it's not going to happen, you know, it has to be simplified. Which means you're losing a lot of depth, but it can be helpful to inform people, and so likewise with mindfulness. But now how to pitch it. We're not really selling something, but we are trying to be a benefit, in which case, then how can we apply skillful means? How do we pitch it? And the word mindfulness has a very nice quality to it. Report an error in the passage at 44:45 Highlight the passage at 44:45

45:10 I mean, we know the opposite, as John Cabot Zinmot mentioned, if you're not practicing mindfulness, you're practicing mindlessness. And that's a kind of easy choice. But in terms of introducing into school system education, I think another word is actually a bit more appropriate and has no aura around it as being something esoteric or Asian or anything like that. Report an error in the passage at 45:10 Highlight the passage at 45:10

45:33 It's a totally ordinary word and it's attention. Years ago when I was at Stanford University, 20 years ago, I met with a very senior professor of education at an outstanding school of education at Stanford. It's really quite good. And he was a researcher, spent a lot of time in middle schools, so children 13, 14 years old, and studying just how children performed, how they were doing in the classroom. Report an error in the passage at 45:33 Highlight the passage at 45:33

45:58 So he was hands-on research. And he commented, I don't know whether he was exaggerating a little bit of hyperbole or whether he meant it literally, but he said 90 % of the teacher's time spent in the classroom was just trying to get the kids to pay attention. So whether it's a bit of exaggeration, I don't know. It's him speaking. But it's certainly an issue. Report an error in the passage at 45:58 Highlight the passage at 45:58

46:16 And if that was an issue 20 years ago, what do you think now? Maybe more so? I've heard American kids send something like 65 text messages per day. Report an error in the passage at 46:16 Highlight the passage at 46:16

46:27 That's just texting, right? That's not speaking. And that's not video games. And that's not playing on the computer. And it's not surfing the internet or watching television. Or what other uses do we have for becoming LCD screen zombies? And then just the nature of entertainment today. I've been watching entertainment for the last 50 years or so, and it's just, it seems like it's designed to completely fracture and disintegrate any kind of coherence of attention. Report an error in the passage at 46:27 Highlight the passage at 46:27

46:55 We're living in an ADHD world, and the children are getting this right in the teeth. I have an 8-year-old grandson, and I've known him well since he was born, and they're developing a lot of habits that have to break sooner or later. The fixation on the video games is unbelievable. And watching television, you know. Report an error in the passage at 46:55 Highlight the passage at 46:55

47:16 When his mom lets him for hours on end, it really scrambles the mind. So attention is a really easy sell. Mindfulness, they say, well, what's that? What do you mean by mindfulness? Then you have multiple dimensions, multiple definitions. John Kabat-Stinn's definition is not a Buddhist definition. It's useful, but it's not a Buddhist definition. Report an error in the passage at 47:16 Highlight the passage at 47:16

47:33 There's no basis for that in any school of Buddhism. The Buddhist definition, as we'll see, is much richer, but attention. And so if you come to teachers or school administrators, And say, you know, we have some methods here that are completely secular. Nothing religious about them. But there have been studies shown that these are effective. Report an error in the passage at 47:33 Highlight the passage at 47:33

47:55 There's evidence-based scientific studies showing these techniques are effective in developing intention skills. I've been involved in a number of those studies myself. And many others I've not been. But the science is in. They work. Report an error in the passage at 47:55 Highlight the passage at 47:55

48:11 And one of my students, when I was a professor at the University of California in Santa Barbara, a very bright young woman, finished her degree there, took some courses with me, and then her passion was to go off, because she was from an underprivileged family, the first person in her family ever to have a college education, and her desire was to go back to her same neighborhood, that lower middle class, and to be a school teacher. Report an error in the passage at 48:11 Highlight the passage at 48:11

48:33 She could have become anything. She was so bright. She was my A-plus student. Could accomplish anything, and that's what she wanted to do. Go back and be a teacher. And so, but she was, I think, a dedicated meditator, meditating regularly. And she told me, this is an anecdote, not a scientific study, but she taught in one of her classes, she taught her students just before taking an exam, 20 minutes before taking an exam, taught them some basic practice, probably mindfulness of breathing. Report an error in the passage at 48:33 Highlight the passage at 48:33

49:02 And then she watched their exam scores. They were better. So that's what school administrators, teachers care about two things. One is how your exam scores. It's quantitative. Number two, how often are the children getting into trouble behaviorally, that they need to be disciplined. Those two things really count. Report an error in the passage at 49:02 Highlight the passage at 49:02

49:22 Everything else is qualitative, but those you can calculate. And if you introduce some basic attention training, call it mindfulness if you like, but it really is attention. Because what children need is not moment-to-moment awareness of whatever comes up. Try that when you're in the classroom and your teacher is teaching you something. Report an error in the passage at 49:22 Highlight the passage at 49:22

49:40 And you're equally attentive to the birds chirping in the trees and the kneecap and the breathing and so forth and say, what? I'm just hanging out here being aware of whatever is coming up. That's not useful. When the teacher is teaching, you might want to listen to her. And when you're doing a schoolwork, you want to do that. And when you finish that, you might want to go out and play football for a while. But you really want to learn how to focus your attention and not just have it be wide open like a sunflower or taking in whatever comes in. Report an error in the passage at 49:40 Highlight the passage at 49:40

50:05 And so that's not, I mean, that is mindfulness, but that's not mindfulness as John Kambazin defines it, what I'm talking about. This is attention. And so presenting this as a trainable skill, and for most of the 20th century it was widely assumed that it was not a trainable skill. It was one of those ridiculously overlooked questions. But now it's not overlooked over the last decade or so. There have been multiple studies by top-notch psychologists and neuroscientists. Report an error in the passage at 50:05 Highlight the passage at 50:05

50:30 The evidence is in, is unequivocal, that attention can be trained. And if you train it, it's good for you and you'll be more productive and effective. In a myriad of activities, and moreover the really good news, also scientifically validated, Report an error in the passage at 50:30 Highlight the passage at 50:30

50:46 is that if you develop your attention skills, and that is primarily stability, that is maintaining continuity of attention, and clarity, so you're not doping out, if you develop that in some activity that is by nature useless, like watching you in and out breath, that's not a marketable skill. I'm breathing in, breathing out, and I'm mindfully doing so. Report an error in the passage at 50:46 Highlight the passage at 50:46

51:08 It's not very useful in and of itself as a skill to be marketed. Put yourself on your CV, I can watch my breath really well. I'm not going to draw much attention except for what's wrong with you. Report an error in the passage at 51:08 Highlight the passage at 51:08

51:21 So there is a skill that has no practical applications in the modern world. But the really good news is if you develop your attention skills in that way, like working out in a gym and developing your biceps, you can now use that same bicep for a myriad of other tasks. And likewise develop your attention skills with respect to the breath. And you can apply that to studying, to creativity, to athletics and so forth. Report an error in the passage at 51:21 Highlight the passage at 51:21

51:45 Which that's really good news. Has been validated. So raising these kind of issues, I really cannot imagine any reasonable resistance to that. But of course people are not always reasonable. And when they're not, then you relax and say, okay, you're not interested, that's okay. And then you find somebody else who is. Report an error in the passage at 51:45 Highlight the passage at 51:45

52:07 People who are more open-minded. I know that among very conservative Christians, they may be concerned that you're leading them astray, away from the Christian path into some Buddhist or Eastern occultism. Report an error in the passage at 52:07 Highlight the passage at 52:07

52:22 And if they insist on holding to that belief, then there's nothing to be done. But one might want to be very skillful even in terms of use of terminology. Never use the word meditation. For some people, scientists, some scientists, some religious, very conservative religious people, It raises defenses. I don't want my child meditating for whatever reason. No, no, I don't like that. Report an error in the passage at 52:22 Highlight the passage at 52:22

52:46 I don't want that. But it's hard for me to imagine a parent saying, but I don't want my child to have good attention skills. Report an error in the passage at 52:46 Highlight the passage at 52:46

52:56 Why? There's no good answer. So that's a very innocent way to come in. And we're coming in innocently. We're not coming in with an agenda. I'm going to try to convert your children to Buddhism. We're trying to be helpful here. And especially in a world that is so multitasked. So frenzied, so chaotic, so ADHD, that as my generation has created, I mean taken a very instrumental role in creating this rather chaotic society that we now take to be normal. Report an error in the passage at 52:56 Highlight the passage at 52:56

53:25 And I feel my generation, the next generation down, we have a very big responsibility. As we've created a mess, we also have to help young people deal with the mess we've created for them. And not say we've created a mess, now you figure it out. Report an error in the passage at 53:25 Highlight the passage at 53:25

53:46 I might be young to that as a myself. Report an error in the passage at 53:46 Highlight the passage at 53:46

54:15 An enormously important point, and that is if the person teaching mindfulness or attention skills to children isn't practicing it him or herself, that's a bit tough. Because we're above all, I mean parents know this, grandparents know this, I'm a grandparent. We're teaching first of all by example. That's what our children and grandchildren pick up first, is how are you? Report an error in the passage at 54:15 Highlight the passage at 54:15

54:37 Before you talk, how are you? And so when we did the scientific study, Of cultivating emotional balance, we did this in about the year 2003, after Paul Ekman and I had developed the program, 42-hour program. All of the participants in the study, first a pilot study, and then two clinical trials, and then two control groups, all of them. A lot of people, about 20 people per group. Report an error in the passage at 54:37 Highlight the passage at 54:37

55:05 They were all women, and they were all school teachers, and they all had live-in significant other. So whether a husband, wife, or partner. Report an error in the passage at 55:05 Highlight the passage at 55:05

55:16 But we had some discussion about which profession we choose because we wanted to choose people of the same profession. And for data analysis they needed to be of the same gender so that it didn't become another variable. And so we considered, what was it? Teachers, policemen and a third group. I think it was medical professionals. And I lobbied strongly and effectively. Report an error in the passage at 55:16 Highlight the passage at 55:16

55:49 To see that it was teachers that were chosen. And we did. And I'm very glad we did. Because I got to know about 60 teachers rather well in 42 hours. That's a lot of dialogue. And I came away with a much heightened sense of appreciation and respect for people in the profession. Because in America, I don't know what it's like here, but in America, they're underpaid, under-respected, and under something else too. Report an error in the passage at 55:49 Highlight the passage at 55:49

56:16 I can't remember. Under a rock? It's enormous. Oh, they're overworked. They're overworked, underpaid and underrespected. And so if anybody's going in there for anything other than altruism, I don't know why one would do it. And so we taught them first. And then there was a big scientific study. All the data was crunched and analyzed and published in a very good journal and showed this really was effective for them. Report an error in the passage at 56:16 Highlight the passage at 56:16

56:44 But that's it. I absolutely agree that the training to be really effective. Get the teachers, and if you can, the administrators involved. Get them so that they taste it. They know from themselves. Not just because you're given a really good pitch and you're very articulate and persuasive. They taste it. It's like selling chocolate or eating chocolate versus selling chocolate. Let them taste it. Say, whoa, this is good. I'd like for my kids to have it, my own children to have it, as well as my students. Report an error in the passage at 56:44 Highlight the passage at 56:44

57:12 And so if you get them on board, because they know it's helpful, then there's going to be a trickle-down effect. Which is going to be much more effective. Because I know in the school there in Phuket, I've been going there for four years now. The teachers there, even though they have a very good student-to-teacher ratio, the students are all working really hard. Report an error in the passage at 57:12 Highlight the passage at 57:12

57:34 And when you say, well, we'd like to introduce something else into your curriculum, they go, I'm barely keeping my head above water. I've got to prepare my students to pass this exam and that exam and for them to get into this school and that school. And you want me to do something more, this means I'm going to have to cut back on something else. I'm already maxed out here, what am I going to do? So there tends to be a lot of resistance. Report an error in the passage at 57:34 Highlight the passage at 57:34

57:57 A lot of resistance from teachers. Not that they're bad people, but they're always stressed out. And they're already maxed out in terms of their workload. A lot of them are working right through the weekends. When other people get a vacation, they don't. They're taking home piles of homework or other stuff relating to administration and so forth. So it's really a very demanding job. Report an error in the passage at 57:57 Highlight the passage at 57:57

58:16 So the first thing is to get the teachers and the administration saying, can we help you? So that you can see that this is worth the time and it doesn't have to be a lot. One scientific study that was done in Japan with a very leading cognitive psychologist from America and a team of, no, I'm mistaken, not Japan, China. Report an error in the passage at 58:16 Highlight the passage at 58:16

58:36 China. A team of Chinese psychologists and a top-notch American psychologist teamed up, collaborated, and they taught some very simple attention training kind of meditation. And it was people who had never meditated before and they were practicing only 20 minutes a day. So not a major investment. And they saw in a matter of, I think, six weeks, very clear benefit. Report an error in the passage at 58:36 Highlight the passage at 58:36

58:58 Their attention skills were better. So this is a trainable skill and you don't need to be a yogi meditating 10 hours a day to see the benefits of it. So there's a lot here of just thinking, what is skillful means to help people and do everything we can not to raise defensiveness for any reason. They say, you know, this is a small investment of time, the dividends are big, so let's be sensible here. Go ahead. Yes, please. Report an error in the passage at 58:58 Highlight the passage at 58:58

59:42 Sure. We'll certainly get into that in the coming days. So I could just say, well, be patient, tomorrow we'll get to it. But I would, you know, I'd like to give a short answer, and we'll have more elaborate tomorrow. Report an error in the passage at 59:42 Highlight the passage at 59:42

59:54 Within the Buddhist tradition, and this is known throughout all of inter-Dibetan tradition, Tsongkhapa, for example, specifically fights this, and so do many of the other great scholars and contemplatives of Tibet. Report an error in the passage at 59:54 Highlight the passage at 59:54

1:00:06 Acknowledge that among the different shamatha methods taught by the Buddha, different techniques are actually recommended for people of different type of disposition. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:06 Highlight the passage at 1:00:06

1:00:19 And what has been known for 2500 years, because the Buddha made this very explicit, that among different types of disposition, there are those, back in India so many years ago, who have a certain proclivity or tendency towards rumination. Their minds are just chatterboxes. If I'm mentally talking, talking, chatter, chatter, chatter, called Vikalpa in Sanskrit. And the Buddha said, for those who are especially prone to rumination, obsessive compulsive thinking, he said, the one method that's good for you is mindfulness of breathing. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:19 Highlight the passage at 1:00:19

1:00:56 I specifically select this one. This is the one that's recommended. For people who have other types of disposition, then he had quite a rayad, actually 40 different methods for developing shamatha. But he said among them, the one that's most effective for people strong in ruminations is mindfulness of breathing. Tsongkhapa cites that, so do many, many other great sages of India and of Tibet. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:56 Highlight the passage at 1:00:56

1:01:18 And so if there were people in rural, pastoral, low population density India 2,500 years ago who were strongly prone to rumination, need I finish that sentence? Report an error in the passage at 1:01:18 Highlight the passage at 1:01:18

1:01:35 So it's a very practical issue. I practice a wide variety of methods within Tibetan Buddhism myself, including sadhana practice, mantra practice, visualization practice. I do it every day, and I have for decades. So it's part of my repertoire. But especially when teaching people who are relatively new to Buddhism, then I don't go directly to Vajrayana. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:35 Highlight the passage at 1:01:35

1:02:00 I don't go directly to Vajrayana. I teach Vajrayana. When there's interest, people are prepared, they're suitable vessels, they're happy to teach it. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:00 Highlight the passage at 1:02:00

1:02:09 Mantra as such, in the Buddhist tradition, is not really designed so much as a concentration method. Its mantra, of which there are many, these are designed to bring about certain shifts in the energy within the body and to invoke certain blessings, whether from Padmasambhava or Maitreya, Buddhist Shakyamuni, Tara and so forth. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:09 Highlight the passage at 1:02:09

1:02:33 So they're not primarily concentration techniques. Now, my first exposure to meditation was TM, 44 years ago. Their mantra is clearly, and there's very little worldview about it, so it's not invoking the blessings of Vishnu or Indra or what have you. It's a very simple technique to help calm the mind, a bit of attention, mindfulness. And I think hundreds of thousands, maybe millions of people by now have found it helpful. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:33 Highlight the passage at 1:02:33

1:03:03 But in the Buddhist tradition, it's not primarily... is not, primarily A mindfulness technique, in fact His Holiness has trained me in this, the Dalai Lama. And so this, I'll give a little bit of, because you have a background obviously in Tibetan Buddhism, so you know what the word stage regeneration refers to, yes? Report an error in the passage at 1:03:03 Highlight the passage at 1:03:03

1:03:22 Stage regeneration, does that ring a bell? Okay, then I don't go technical here, but in Buddhist Vajrayana practice or Buddhist Tantra, there are practices entailing quite detailed visualization and mantra practice. That's a good generalization. But now within such a sadhana or such a meditative practice with various types of visualization and mantras, then the time for really developing deep samādhi or deep concentration is when you finish reciting mantras. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:22 Highlight the passage at 1:03:22

1:03:57 You stop and then you go into samādhi. But as long as you're still reciting a mantra, it's going to keep your mind at a relatively coarse level because you're still in motion, still in motion, motion, motion. Samādhi means going into deep stillness with clarity, with cognizance. So mantra, I practice it, I believe in it, I've taught it on occasion, but usually not in introductory meditation retreats. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:57 Highlight the passage at 1:03:57

1:04:26 And this is actually an introductory one, there were no prerequisites for this retreat. And also, I mean, I chose here four applications of mindfulness, so there we are. Mantra has no role in that at all. And visualization really doesn't much either. Now, in terms of visualization practices, these are classic and they've been taught for millennia, at least 2,000 years in the Buddhist tradition. They can be very useful. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:26 Highlight the passage at 1:04:26

1:04:50 A visualization of an image in front of you, and it can be like an image of the Buddha, but it can be other images as well. Or you may visualize yourself in a certain form. You may visualize something at your heart, chakra, at your chest. So visualization can be very useful. It's proven itself to be so for developing. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:50 Highlight the passage at 1:04:50

1:05:08 Attention skills, concentration can be very helpful. I have been teaching Westerners primarily for 37 years, I think it is, and taught a wide variety of techniques and methods for a long time. And I found that for many Westerners, we're bringing so much with our whole nervous system, conditioned by modernity. You know, just the pace of life, driving 60 miles an hour. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:08 Highlight the passage at 1:05:08

1:05:33 People haven't done that for most of human evolution. That's a really new experiment. Driving 60 miles an hour. And so many other things, let alone the gauntlet that our youth run through these days with their cell phones and video games and computers and just the rapidity, the multitasking, the sensory bombardment that they get in so many ways, including entertainment, that our nervous systems are conditioned in a way that is really anomalous in the history of Buddhism. It's very recent. It's very odd. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:33 Highlight the passage at 1:05:33

1:06:07 And it's also quite dysfunctional. So Tibetan Lamas coming to the West have noticed that, you know, it's really hard for Westerners to sit still, let alone for the mind to be still. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:07 Highlight the passage at 1:06:07

1:06:18 We just have to be on the move. It seems like always doing something. So they give it, okay, then do a mantra. Okay, do visualization. Now you want to do something. But how about calming down? If you imagine, I'll give you a little thought experiment, but imagine that you're 30 years old and you've spent your whole life At 5,000 meters as a nomad. And your primary task throughout the course of the day for all of your, ever since you were a child, was to watch the yaks and the sheep. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:18 Highlight the passage at 1:06:18

1:06:51 That's your job. And besides that, you have a lot of sky to look at and a lot of grass and hills, maybe some beautiful snow-clad peaks. And you're doing that all day, most days, except for in the winter when it gets a bit more boring. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:51 Highlight the passage at 1:06:51

1:07:09 It's too cold out there. So you sit inside by the fire. You tell stories. Because you have no cell phones, nothing. You've got no technology at all. So you tell stories or you read. You read. But the only thing to read in Tibet, with hardly any exceptions, was Dharma. So nothing else. So that's how you spent the last 30 years. Now, while you're there at 5,000 meters, I'd like you to visualize Tata. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:09 Highlight the passage at 1:07:09

1:07:41 Now, that was a thought experiment. Now try visualizing Tara with a very, I'm assuming you didn't live the life I just described. You consider how you spent the last 30 years and how that hypothetical person did. And you can imagine your body and mind must be very different. So that's what I found. The people coming from that kind of background is one heck of a lot easier, much less wear and tear visualizing than a person whose mind, I was just staying at a very nice apartment flat in downtown the CBD, Central Business District of Sydney. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:41 Highlight the passage at 1:07:41

1:08:16 Right, it couldn't be more downtown than that. It was right on Pitt Street on the 26th floor, 27th floor. And you step outside of the building. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:16 Highlight the passage at 1:08:16

1:08:30 That's not Tibet. And that's normal. I mean, people live there. There are a lot of people living in that apartment block where I was just there for a couple of nights. But that's where you're stepping out into. It's just sheer chaos. You know, it's just this constant flow of people and traffic noise. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:30 Highlight the passage at 1:08:30

1:08:46 Flashing lights. I mean, I don't need to describe Sydney to you. But boy, how can that be quite different? More different than living a nomad. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:46 Highlight the passage at 1:08:46

1:08:56 So when we're accustomed to that, we just step right out and we go with the flow and consider this is normal. We see, you know, a certain percentage of people all on their cell phones while they're walking along obliviously to the environment, just not getting hit by trucks. And then they're off here and off here and then gulping down their coffee and getting more stimulated and more stimulated. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:56 Highlight the passage at 1:08:56

1:09:17 And then at the end of the day, flaking out and watching television. Very different way to have a body and mind. And much more difficult to visualize. And people with that kind of conditioning, when trying to visualize and simply hold an image, many people, and not all, find it very stressful. People who don't tend to be artists, architects, people whose profession entails a lot of mental imagery. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:17 Highlight the passage at 1:09:17

1:09:45 And they may have gravitated to that profession because they were good at it. Or they're in the profession and so they become good at it. So such people, because they have developed the skill, they can visualize with much less wear and tear. But most people cannot. And I know some people, including very bright ones, they cannot visualize at all. Nothing. And it's said of John Watson, who started behavioral psychology in the United States in 1910, where he basically just said, subjective experience doesn't matter, we're not interested, don't talk about it. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:45 Highlight the passage at 1:09:45

1:10:23 And introspection has no role whatsoever in psychology. So he said the exact opposite of William James. And he won. That orientation really dominated academic psychology for most of the 20th century. Maybe all of it. But it was said of him by B.F. Skinner, a radical behaviorist who was very dominant in the 50s and 60s. B.F. Skinner said of John Watson that John Watson had very, very limited... Report an error in the passage at 1:10:23 Highlight the passage at 1:10:23

1:10:54 Ability for mental imagery. So if you're no good at it, and John Watson evidently wasn't, then it's quite easy to dismiss something you can't see anyway. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:54 Highlight the passage at 1:10:54

1:11:07 So I do believe that that particular school of psychology was actually founded and perpetuated by people who were in fact, and with no sarcasm intended, metacognitively impaired. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:07 Highlight the passage at 1:11:07

1:11:19 And this is like starting a whole school of art by people who are colorblind. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:19 Highlight the passage at 1:11:19

1:11:26 What do you mean the Mona Lisa is colored? No, I know she's not colored. I've seen her. She's black and white. I've seen it. And Michelangelo, the Sistine Chapel, nice shades of gray. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:26 Highlight the passage at 1:11:26

1:11:37 Oh, yeah. Anything else up? Yes, please. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:37 Highlight the passage at 1:11:37

· · · silence, 1 minute

1:12:15 Yes, I can and yes, I will over the next two days. We're starting. But again, I don't want to just put off people and say, but I will. But that's going to come up very prominently over the next two days. And so hopefully that will, I'll do my best to satisfy your interest in that regard. ha ha Report an error in the passage at 1:12:15 Highlight the passage at 1:12:15

1:12:34 The entry level, and by that I don't even actually mean, well I mean just that, entry level, foundational, I don't mean dumbed down, I mean foundational, is developing this or arousing and sustaining a type of diffuse awareness in the sense that it's not sharply pointed, not really concentrated, but not diffuse in the sense of spacing out. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:34 Highlight the passage at 1:12:34

1:13:01 Diffuse in the sense of being a field awareness rather than a point awareness. Now what do I mean by that? When we are, for example, in the supine position, but you can be sitting, of course, but the supine position, Report an error in the passage at 1:13:01 Highlight the passage at 1:13:01

1:13:16 and letting your awareness permeate, just be mindfully present throughout the entire field of the body, soles of the feet to the top of the head, and within that discrete field, right, because you're not sensing somebody else's body, for example, the field of your own body, within that field, Noting any sensations throughout the entire field that you can identify as being correlated with the respiration. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:16 Highlight the passage at 1:13:16

1:13:42 Now, anybody who knows even the rudiments of the actual respiration, you know the air goes from your nose just down to the lungs. It feels like if somebody punches you in the belly, you say, we say, knock the wind out of me, like that. In fact, we don't breathe into the belly. The air comes down to the lungs, not here. It feels like it. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:42 Highlight the passage at 1:13:42

1:14:02 It just breathes into my belly. But that's muscles. It's not full of air. It's muscles. And so the air is just going down to the lungs and then comes back out through the nostrils. But the prāṇa, now we start taking, and Buddhism has always taken first-person experience very seriously, and sought to refine it, which is what the West really hasn't done. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:02 Highlight the passage at 1:14:02

1:14:24 In this first-person physiology, evidence-based, your own evidence of your own body. you know. Then there is this assertion, universally accepted, and I know it's true because I'm experiencing in my own body, the whole theory of prāṇa, of chi, of ki, of subtle energies within the body. They're not scientifically measurable. So what? Neither are your emotions. If I'm a scientist, I really seriously doubt that you have any emotions because I can't measure them. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:24 Highlight the passage at 1:14:24

1:15:00 There's no compelling evidence. That you have any emotions at all. You behave as if you do, but I can program a robot to do that as well. And so there's no evidence that you have emotions. And you say, well, I'm, and you would say, you're absurd. Quite rightly. I'm acting like an idiot. If I can't measure it, that doesn't mean it doesn't exist, because you know I have your emotions, and I think nothing could persuade you otherwise. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:00 Highlight the passage at 1:15:00

1:15:24 But your emotions are scientifically undetectable. Behavioral expressions? Sure. Neurocorrelates? Sure. Emotions? No. And so as with emotions, so with prāṇa. Experienced yogis, and even people who are not very experienced yogis, they experience, we experience the pranas within the body. And there's nothing esoteric or amazing, mystical about it. But there are the flow of prāṇa, which is not the same as breath. It's a flow of subtle energies within the body. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:24 Highlight the passage at 1:15:24

1:15:53 These are strongly associated with respiration. So this entry-level mindfulness of breathing, as I'm teaching it here, by the way, anybody who wants a source, it's a saṅgha. And I've translated his definitive presentation of mindfulness of breathing. Anybody's welcome to have it. He talks about maintaining this full body awareness and having as the object of your mindfulness the sensations of the prāṇa coursing through the body and specifically those movements associated with the in and out breath. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:53 Highlight the passage at 1:15:53

1:16:24 So you may experience in your abdomen, your chest, even in your limbs, even though clearly there's no air going down there. But you may experience currents of energy flowing through the legs, through the arms, through multiple parts of the body, that you can see clearly this is associated with, it's going with the rhythm of the respiration. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:24 Highlight the passage at 1:16:24

1:16:42 And you attend to those sensations, mindfully present, and then simply in a very simple fashion, noting whether the in-breath is long, and when the in-breath is long, noting it as such. When the out-breath is long, noting it as such. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:42 Highlight the passage at 1:16:42

1:16:59 And as the whole system, your body-mind system calms down, becomes more balanced, settles into a deeper state of equipoise, then quite naturally you need less oxygen, which means the volume of the breath is bound to subside, to decrease. As it does so, it's in all likelihood the duration of your breath will also become shorter. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:59 Highlight the passage at 1:16:59

1:17:28 So then when the in-breath is short, you know that it is short. And when the out-breath is short, you know that it is short. But you keep it really simple. And so, to give an example, I'm going to hold up a short finger and a long finger. See if you can figure out which is which. See, that takes no cogitation at all. You just look and before you even think, this is the long one and this is the short one, you already know it. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:28 Highlight the passage at 1:17:28

1:17:56 The thinking, this is short, this is long, that's exhaust. That's, right? That's coming after the knowledge. And you didn't need to think, that one's the long one, that's the short one. Just, there you are. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:56 Highlight the passage at 1:17:56

1:18:13 You know it. Before you think about it, you already know it. Right? And so, this is a type of immediacy of knowing that we already have. And we know it in many ways. I mean, that's visual. But likewise for sounds. Likewise for smells. Is that a sweet smell or a sour smell? Before you label, you already know it. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:13 Highlight the passage at 1:18:13

1:18:32 You don't have to cogitate. You're not inferring it. It's really immediate. And so what we're doing in this simple practice, Is that we are slipping into this type of immediate knowing that, I will not say it's totally non-conceptual, because it has a conceptual element, but it's very simple, very raw, very immediate. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:32 Highlight the passage at 1:18:32

1:18:53 And rather than then piling concepts on top of that, with labeling, conceptualization, discursive thinking, rumination, keep it simple. Maintain that flow of very direct, immediate knowing, and that would turn out to be very helpful. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:53 Highlight the passage at 1:18:53

1:19:09 So that's what one is doing here, attending the sensations of the prāṇa flowing through the body and simply noting from breath to breath, whether it's short or long, without thinking about it, just know it like you know short or long. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:09 Highlight the passage at 1:19:09

1:19:23 And there will be commentary over the next two days. Is that clear? Very good. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:23 Highlight the passage at 1:19:23

1:19:32 I'm surprised. The retreat we just finished in Phuket, an eight-week retreat, it's quite remarkable. It was just a wonderful retreat. I'm so content with it. And there were very few questions in eight weeks. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:32 Highlight the passage at 1:19:32

1:19:44 And this evening we've actually almost filled the time. Wonderful retreat. Wonderful group of people. Quite a few Aussies. Australia was well represented. Yeah. Anything more for tonight? Report an error in the passage at 1:19:44 Highlight the passage at 1:19:44

1:20:04 So, I would recommend, as you're falling asleep, try it. For those of you especially, in only a week we'll be heading off to wherever we're going. We'll very likely be a much more active, socially engaged way of life than we'll have for the next six days. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:04 Highlight the passage at 1:20:04

1:20:19 But you may encounter days, it's certainly a possibility, where the day is rather turbulent, a lot of emotion coming up, a lot of activity, the mind getting very active, obsessively active, such that at the end of the day you're quite fatigued but you find it hard to fall asleep. Rather than drug yourself into a stupor with its various side effects, you might try this technique that I mentioned a few minutes ago. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:19 Highlight the passage at 1:20:19

1:20:47 Even if the mind is very agitated, slip into bed. Into the supine position, the Shavasana. And practice just like I described. Just do that practice. And especially the emphasis on releasing out. Just releasing totally with every out-breath. And there's also in the supine position, there's a lot of what we call in Buddhism the earth element. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:47 Highlight the passage at 1:20:47

1:21:10 And the earth element simply corresponds to the sensations of firmness and solidity. Earth. And what I'm referring to is your body lying there in the supine position, there's a lot of contact with the mattress. The back of your head down to your heels. And so in that posture, really let your awareness descend down to the earth element. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:10 Highlight the passage at 1:21:10

1:21:32 Just be very mindful, very in touch with the sensations of firmness on the back of your body in contact with the bed. And then with every out-breath, just continue releasing thoughts very patiently, very steadily, every out-breath, releasing thoughts as you breathe out, releasing, releasing the breath fully. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:32 Highlight the passage at 1:21:32

1:21:54 As if each out-breath were like a sigh of relief, just releasing, releasing all that energy that's percolating up and manifesting as all the rumination and so forth. And as if you were soothing a child, like a mother soothing a child that's just been kind of upset by something, quite jittery, freaking out a little bit. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:54 Highlight the passage at 1:21:54

1:22:14 And the mother, if it's a small child, maybe just take the child on the arms and say, there, there, it'll be okay. There, there, it's okay, everything's okay. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:14 Highlight the passage at 1:22:14

1:22:24 Very gently. Just soothing the child until the child is calm and starts to unwind. And then you say, okay, now you're okay. Yeah, okay, good. So like that, treating your own minds like a mother treats your child. Gently soothing it, releasing all that pent-up, turbulent energy in the mind, in the body, until you feel finally and very happily quite drowsy. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:24 Highlight the passage at 1:22:24

1:22:48 Then you say, okay, you're okay now. Now you can fall asleep. And then roll out of that position and get yourself a good night, sleep. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:48 Highlight the passage at 1:22:48

1:22:57 Sleep is like food and it's like air. We can go for only a couple of minutes without air. Food and drink, a bit longer. But sleep also is nourishment. We really need sleep. And most people, about 80 % of people, are chronically sleep-deprived, according at least to one study that I read. And so getting caught up in sleep, getting enough sleep, and having the sleep be very restful and rejuvenating, very helpful. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:57 Highlight the passage at 1:22:57

1:23:26 And this simple technique, It can be quite helpful on any occasion. And that was at least one good yawn and slowly slipping you into a sopravic state. So I wish you a good night, sleep well and I'll see you tomorrow morning. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:26 Highlight the passage at 1:23:26