The Benefits of Meditation

0:00 Charles? Do you need to be here? What's the... No. I just... He's good. He's good. He's good. He's Report an error in the passage at 0:00 Highlight the passage at 0:00

0:16 Are you sitting where you're standing? Report an error in the passage at 0:16 Highlight the passage at 0:16

0:20 Where was your seat? Or did you give it up? Report an error in the passage at 0:20 Highlight the passage at 0:20

0:28 Welcome Report an error in the passage at 0:28 Highlight the passage at 0:28

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1:47 to Sachinling, those of you who know how to spend a Friday night. It's great to see you. Is anybody here for the very first time? Report an error in the passage at 1:47 Highlight the passage at 1:47

1:58 Welcome, sir. Anybody else? Welcome to our center. We're very sorry it's not wheelchair accessible. I know there were a couple of people who wanted to be here tonight, but there's no way that we can carry them up the stairs yet. Hopefully someday we'll have a center that's accessible to everyone. Report an error in the passage at 1:58 Highlight the passage at 1:58

2:21 So you're all here to hear Venerable Rene. Has anyone never heard him before? Oh, quite a few. Congratulations. I'm excited for you because I just love hearing his meditations and his teachings. Report an error in the passage at 2:21 Highlight the passage at 2:21

2:39 Venerable Rene started his life in Switzerland, the French part of Switzerland. He's multilingual and somewhere in his young age he decided to be a monk. And he's been a monk for a long time now, a quarter of a century. That sounds like a lot. And he brings to us a lot of experience. We're all very, very fortunate to learn from. And he's done retreat in France, in Spain, in the U.S., in many locations. Report an error in the passage at 2:39 Highlight the passage at 2:39

3:16 And he's helped many students with a diverse background and with a diverse set of problems with meditation and their lives. Report an error in the passage at 3:16 Highlight the passage at 3:16

3:29 So I consider him a great resource as well as a wonderful, wonderful teacher. I hope you enjoy him tonight. Also, here at Sechenling, we have a lot of new activities happening. We have Venerable Chucky, who's sitting over here to my left, who just started a Discovering Buddhism class. Was it just yesterday, the first class? Report an error in the passage at 3:29 Highlight the passage at 3:29

3:56 So people can join next Thursday at 6.30? 7 o 'clock. Introduction to Tantra. Now how many people know everything about Tantra? Please. You can come to her class. We also have Emily Sue who teaches on Tuesday nights. That's oftentimes a more advanced class, but some of you may feel qualified to come to that. Report an error in the passage at 3:56 Highlight the passage at 3:56

4:25 And our very own spiritual teacher here, Geshe Dagpa, who teaches on Wednesday nights. Now teaching a chapter of Shantideva's book on emptiness. That's the chapter that we're on now and he's taking his time to explain it thoroughly and it's a very, very precious teaching. So if you can come on Wednesdays and sit through a lot of words that you might not understand, you'll still go away with some imprints that may help you understand the next time. Report an error in the passage at 4:25 Highlight the passage at 4:25

4:59 And we have a long life puja this Sunday at 10 a.m. for... Rinpoche, Chodan Rinpoche, those of you who know Chodan Rinpoche, a great, great, I say supreme master who comes to us from the Himalayas. I think now he's about 80 years old or something like that, mid-70s, late 70s. So you're all welcome to that as well. Report an error in the passage at 4:59 Highlight the passage at 4:59

5:24 It'll be a wonderful ceremony here at our very small center. Thank you for being patient with us. And now I'll call Venerable Rene to join us. Report an error in the passage at 5:24 Highlight the passage at 5:24

6:05 You have a small cushion? Yeah, Report an error in the passage at 6:05 Highlight the passage at 6:05

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7:25 that's better. Report an error in the passage at 7:25 Highlight the passage at 7:25

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10:20 So welcome everybody. So I was asked to say a few words about meditation in general, you know, the benefit and meditate Report an error in the passage at 10:20 Highlight the passage at 10:20

10:33 when one is stressed, when it's busy life, a bit like that. So we'll do that maybe for 20 minutes, half hour. And then we do a little meditation. much. Report an error in the passage at 10:33 Highlight the passage at 10:33

10:48 And then we have a few questions. And then we have another topic, how Report an error in the passage at 10:48 Highlight the passage at 10:48

10:59 to Report an error in the passage at 10:59 Highlight the passage at 10:59

11:09 practice each moment in your daily life, how to transform everything into the past enlightenment. But first, a little bit of an introduction to meditation for the newer people. Report an error in the passage at 11:09 Highlight the passage at 11:09

11:25 Can everybody hear me? Yeah? Okay, fantastic. I don't need to raise my voice. So Report an error in the passage at 11:25 Highlight the passage at 11:25

12:01 I think in the West we also have meditation. It's not something Asian. Probably we call meditation going for a walk in a park. That's our way of meditating. Report an error in the passage at 12:01 Highlight the passage at 12:01

12:15 Probably going in a bathtub is also meditating. Report an error in the passage at 12:15 Highlight the passage at 12:15

12:23 Taking a nap is also meditating. Listening to music is also meditating. So we have our own ways, you know, that we meditate in everyday life. So what does it mean meditating basically in this context? It's basically to slow down one's interaction with the world and go a little bit inside, you know. Normally we're so much extroverted, taken in the sense we have to think about this and that and, you know, we have all so much sensory input all the time. Report an error in the passage at 12:23 Highlight the passage at 12:23

12:48 you know Report an error in the passage at 12:48 Highlight the passage at 12:48

13:05 To go a little bit in a more contemplative mood, to have a little bit of time to reflect about what one is doing, to reflect a little bit how does my daily activity fit in the big picture of my life. So we take a little bit of a step back and relax a bit and look a little bit how one's activity fits in the bigger picture of one's life. Report an error in the passage at 13:05 Highlight the passage at 13:05

13:33 So I think this is a form of meditation, right? Report an error in the passage at 13:33 Highlight the passage at 13:33

13:39 So in our society, we are so extroverted, so busy and always thinking ahead or remembering the past. And then not only that, but then we speak about with our friend what we did and what we're going to do. So not only that, it also takes time to speak with other people. Report an error in the passage at 13:39 Highlight the passage at 13:39

14:06 So we have actually little time to contemplate and reflect on life. And why is it so important? It's because if Report an error in the passage at 14:06 Highlight the passage at 14:06

14:23 one doesn't go in touch deeply with who we are, then in life we have a lot of anxiety. When sickness arises, when we lose a friend, things like that. So everything arises as a shock. know Report an error in the passage at 14:23 Highlight the passage at 14:23

14:44 Even though it's the nature evolution of life, it's natural that people get sick and die. It's natural that disaster happens. But because we are not prepared, because we are not in touch with life, with reality, we live so superficially. So when these things happen, we just don't know how to handle it. And it becomes a huge emotional outburst. Report an error in the passage at 14:44 Highlight the passage at 14:44

15:18 So if one meditates, this kind of thing doesn't happen because basically you're prepared. You're in touch with your deeper self, let's call it, deeper self. And when a problem arises, well, you say, oh, that's life. We always hear that people get sick and die, but somehow we never reflect that, oh, that can happen to me. Report an error in the passage at 15:18 Highlight the passage at 15:18

15:42 We always see other people in the newspaper things and when it happens to us it's a huge shock. Report an error in the passage at 15:42 Highlight the passage at 15:42

15:50 And another thing is that our self-image is very much made up of our memories, of the image other people reflect back on us, what they think of us, whether it's our boss, our partner, our children, our parents. So the self-image we have. It's very much dependent on what other people think of us. Why? Because we are not in touch with who we really are. Report an error in the passage at 15:50 Highlight the passage at 15:50

16:24 We're completely involved in the sense, so what people think of us is very, very important. It affects us deeply. And what they think we are, actually we start believing that's who we really are. Report an error in the passage at 16:24 Highlight the passage at 16:24

16:45 So we identify ourselves with our thoughts, with our memory. With our emotions, we think we are our emotions. And with our body, our physical appearance, we look at ourselves in the mirror and think, oh, that's who I am. Report an error in the passage at 16:45 Highlight the passage at 16:45

17:08 And that, if you start meditating, the meditative mind calms down, slows down the thoughts, slows down the emotion. It doesn't slow down what we see in the mirror, sadly. but... We don't take it so seriously anymore. And you start identifying with something else. You see, in the silent mind, you have another sense of self. Report an error in the passage at 17:08 Highlight the passage at 17:08

17:37 You see, you identify yourself with what we would call in the West, the soul, you know, or your spirit or your, how to say, consciousness, you know, the clear light nature of your mind. So you touch in meditation. Report an error in the passage at 17:37 Highlight the passage at 17:37

17:54 You stop identifying with thoughts, with emotions, you know, with the way you look, with the way other people see you. So you close down those images, you know, and you go deeper into your heart. And you start feeling, oh, you know, there's another way to know oneself. You see, in the silent mind, inside your heart, there's peace, there's light there, and there's... Report an error in the passage at 17:54 Highlight the passage at 17:54

18:21 Loving kindness, you know, there's a warmth there. So you go in there and somehow it's really like going in a hot tub, you know. It's nice, cozy, warm, relaxed, you know. You feel so well there, you know. And there in that piece, somehow it heals all the conflict we have with people, you know. There, when you're there, you say, oh, it's not so important what such and such think about me, you know. Report an error in the passage at 18:21 Highlight the passage at 18:21

18:53 Okay, you know, life has its ups and downs, but I'm okay. You see, you touch something in you that is, that's wholesome, you know, that's nice, you know, and you feel that's who you really are and that's independent of the ups and downs of life, you know. You touch something in you, that's really precious and nobody can take you away, you know, that's yours, that's your most precious thing, you know, and that's... Report an error in the passage at 18:53 Highlight the passage at 18:53

19:25 That peace, that inner joy, that contentment, that inner light, that inner loving kindness, that's your most precious treasure. And you can cultivate by going there often. You go back to your little inner home and from there life looks good. Even if you're sick, even if you don't have any money, even if you lose your job, inside there there is peace and you're happy. Report an error in the passage at 19:25 Highlight the passage at 19:25

19:58 And if you cultivate that, even the fear of death disappears because you have that thing in you that you feel is eternal, that inner goodness, that inner joy, that inner peace, that inner loving kindness. That's who I am, who I am in reality. I'm not this... Superficial, confused, being stressed, person which has to run around all the time and being busy and please everybody. Report an error in the passage at 19:58 Highlight the passage at 19:58

20:28 No, there's another level of my being and it's there and everything is okay there. So to touch that is very important in life. If one doesn't have that, and one is only this superficial stressed person that everybody has wants on, and you cannot satisfy all the contradictory want people have on you. So if you feel that's the only person you are, then how to say? One ends up very confused and unsatisfied. Report an error in the passage at 20:28 Highlight the passage at 20:28

21:04 So meditation, the purpose of meditation is to go inside, to slow down. You know, all these thoughts, all these emotions, you know, all these images that people project on us and touch something deeper. So to have a little period of silence in a day is so important, you know, to touch that. Report an error in the passage at 21:04 Highlight the passage at 21:04

21:30 So that's the purpose of meditation, you see, is to discover in you whatever your religious belief. It doesn't matter. You know, it's to touch something in you that is genuinely you, you know. Report an error in the passage at 21:30 Highlight the passage at 21:30

21:49 That nobody knows except yourself. Report an error in the passage at 21:49 Highlight the passage at 21:49

21:57 From there you make peace with yourself. How to say, every one of us we make mistakes. Every one we have regrets. Life doesn't always turn the way we want, right? But these experiences you have to integrate. How to say, you cannot flee one part of yourself. So you have to integrate what they experience. Report an error in the passage at 21:57 Highlight the passage at 21:57

22:06 You know, everyone, you Report an error in the passage at 22:06 Highlight the passage at 22:06

22:22 You made in life the good, the bad one, and in that, and find peace with it in your heart, you know, and then you have no regret, you know, when the time of death comes, okay, I tried my best, you know, and Report an error in the passage at 22:22 Highlight the passage at 22:22

22:42 I don't hold grudge, you know, for whatever people did to me, you know, and, you know, I regret whatever mistake I did, you know, and then finally, so you have peace with yourself. So this is very important to do as often as possible. Because otherwise, if you don't find this inner peace in your heart, it's very easy to get discouraged in life, to get depressed, to be unhappy, even though materially life is quite good. Report an error in the passage at 22:42 Highlight the passage at 22:42

23:14 But if you don't have this inner peace, there's no inner joy. And then no matter... How many movies you see, how many things you do out in the world, there's no peace inside, there's no inner joy. Report an error in the passage at 23:14 Highlight the passage at 23:14

23:32 There's nothing that radiates from you outside in the world. It's almost like we are half a dead tree. But if you have this joy inside, this inner light... And that radiates out to all the pores of your body. And people like to come to see you, people like to have you around, because there's peace radiating from you. Report an error in the passage at 23:32 Highlight the passage at 23:32

23:59 So you don't need to say much, but just your presence makes people happy. Whereas if you don't have that, even though you talk a lot, you do a lot of things, but the energy that radiates from you is sad, sad energy. Report an error in the passage at 23:59 Highlight the passage at 23:59

24:23 So as children, I don't know, children often, you know, the parents try to raise their children well, you know, to give them good advice and things like that. But actually, what the children first pick up is whether the parents are happy or not, right? So we give them all these advice to do this and that, but then they say, well, you don't look so happy, Papa, you know? Report an error in the passage at 24:23 Highlight the passage at 24:23

24:46 So I don't want to become like you, you know? So you can keep your advice for you, because, you know, it didn't seem to have worked so well for you. Report an error in the passage at 24:46 Highlight the passage at 24:46

24:59 It's true, you know, it's sad, but it's not said in words like that, but that's the feeling behind, you know. How to say, has life made you wiser, more compassionate? Are you happy? Are you at peace with what you have done in your life? So if you radiate that, well, your children, even if they cannot follow your example, at least they respect you. Report an error in the passage at 24:59 Highlight the passage at 24:59

25:24 They say, well, you did your life and you succeed. Congratulations. I try my best and you're a good role model because you're happy, you're at peace. Report an error in the passage at 25:24 Highlight the passage at 25:24

25:47 So nowadays we speak a lot about peace in the world and respecting the environment and this like that. Report an error in the passage at 25:47 Highlight the passage at 25:47

25:57 It's no point of speaking about peace if we are not peace. You see, you have to be peace. And then that peace radiates around you in your life. It's no point of speaking about peace and going in the street and being angry. That's not how peace will grow. Report an error in the passage at 25:57 Highlight the passage at 25:57

26:20 So if you want to bring peace in the world, we have to start with oneself and being peace. And if you want people to love each other, then you have to be loving kindness, you have to embody that, those qualities. And then that you radiate in your environment, in the people around you, and that's your contribution to the peace of the world. And that's the best way, because that's genuine, that's a real thing. Report an error in the passage at 26:20 Highlight the passage at 26:20

26:58 So where do we start that? In order to start, one has to slow down. Slow down, slow down. Report an error in the passage at 26:58 Highlight the passage at 26:58

27:13 If you're not mindful or aware of what's going on in us, in our thinking, you know, in our emotions, the way we act with other people, if we don't see that, Report an error in the passage at 27:13 Highlight the passage at 27:13

27:33 how to say, it's almost like we're half crazy, you know. We don't even know who we are oneself, you know. So how can you know somebody else? Report an error in the passage at 27:33 Highlight the passage at 27:33

27:49 So the basic practice of being mindful of the way we move our body, the way we close the door, the way we arrange our home, because it has an impact on others. We all know you go to visit somebody for the first time, the way their flat is arranged tells you a lot about that person. Report an error in the passage at 27:49 Highlight the passage at 27:49

28:18 Because that's a reflection of who they are. So our body language tells a lot about ourselves. Report an error in the passage at 28:18 Highlight the passage at 28:18

28:32 So to be mindful whether our behavior, our peaceful, our kind, the way we move our body, the way we move furniture, the way we close the door, the way we drop the papers on the floor. So all this shows our mind, shows whether we are respectful or not, whether we care for others or not. Report an error in the passage at 28:32 Highlight the passage at 28:32

28:59 And then the way we talk, this is also a great expression of our inner being, whether we choose our world carefully, whether our language is peaceful and respectful of others. Report an error in the passage at 28:59 Highlight the passage at 28:59

29:22 And then our thinking, you know, whether we completely self-absorb all the time or whether our thinking is caring for others and being Report an error in the passage at 29:22 Highlight the passage at 29:22

29:40 in the present moment. So all this to become aware of that, one has to slow down a bit. And the best way, usually at the beginning, is to observe one's breath. You see, the breath... It's halfway between the outer world and your inner world. Report an error in the passage at 29:40 Highlight the passage at 29:40

30:04 So breathing is something physical. So you breathe with your lungs and you can look out in the world yet being aware of your breath. And as you look to breath, the mind goes inside. Gradually the mind goes inside and becomes aware of the thoughts, the emotions, the way one is. Report an error in the passage at 30:04 Highlight the passage at 30:04

30:32 Going through the thoughts, going through the emotion, you come to something deeper, which is your basic awareness or your basic consciousness or your soul, your inner being. So there, you see, if you can have the patience to work, to go through the thoughts, through the emotion, through the superficial agitation of the mind. Report an error in the passage at 30:32 Highlight the passage at 30:32

30:58 How to say it's natural to have thoughts and emotion in the mind? That's not the problem, you see? Like how to say at the surface of the ocean it's natural to have waves, right? Report an error in the passage at 30:58 Highlight the passage at 30:58

31:12 So meditating, going inside, means that you go a little bit below the surface of the waves. You see, you dive in. And the deeper you dive, the more silent the water is, you know, the stillness. So same thing when you go in the mind. If you can pass the superficial agitation of the thought and emotion, you dive deeper in your mind and you get to that deep silence, right? Report an error in the passage at 31:12 Highlight the passage at 31:12

31:42 Where everything seems okay. You see, you touch something in you. I don't know whether you notice that we count time to the number of thoughts and emotions we have. Report an error in the passage at 31:42 Highlight the passage at 31:42

31:57 You see, our psychological time is made of events, thoughts, emotions, memories, things like that. But as you dive deeper in your mind, there is no more thought, no more emotion. So there you reach a stage of consciousness which seems eternal, which seems timeless. You go into a timeless silence. Report an error in the passage at 31:57 Highlight the passage at 31:57

32:22 So I think it's a little bit similar. People which dive in the ocean, you know, these people with apnea, you know, so they go very deep and they go very high, you know, they get exhilarated, you know, they get a kind of height being down there and they don't want to go up again, you know, because it's so nice, right? Report an error in the passage at 32:22 Highlight the passage at 32:22

32:43 So in meditation it's a bit the same thing. You see, the deeper you can go in your mind, the deeper the silence, the more blissful it is, the more exhilarating. So you realize that the deeper you go in your mind, the more peace and joy and bliss there is, the more well-being. There's an incredible well-being to be found inside. No outer event can you give so much well-being than there is in your mind. Report an error in the passage at 32:43 Highlight the passage at 32:43

33:14 Not only is there well-being, but that well-being resolves all your anxiety, all your fear of sickness, old age, death, what's going to happen after death. It seems all these questions, anxiety that the ego has at the surface, the deeper you go in your mind, all these questions become irrelevant. Report an error in the passage at 33:14 Highlight the passage at 33:14

33:37 Down in your heart, everything seems okay. Because how to say, That light in your heart, that presence you feel there, that space, it's not something material. So you experience something in you that is timeless. And Report an error in the passage at 33:37 Highlight the passage at 33:37

34:10 that nobody can take you away, not even death. There's something really genuine in each one of us. And I think all the spiritual traditions, that's what they aim at, for us to discover this deep peace inside, this connection with whether we call it God or Buddha nature or with universal consciousness or whatever one's belief system makes us label it. Report an error in the passage at 34:10 Highlight the passage at 34:10

34:37 It doesn't matter what label one gives to it. You see, what's important is to have the experience and then to find peace in it. Report an error in the passage at 34:37 Highlight the passage at 34:37

34:59 So to observe, why is the breath the easiest way? It's first because we breathe all the time. So it's easy to find the breath. You don't need to search the breath somewhere. You just need to observe it. It's there. We breathe all the time. And the breath is a little bit hard. It has a smoothing effect. You inhale, you exhale, you inhale, you exhale. Report an error in the passage at 34:59 Highlight the passage at 34:59

35:26 It's like when you go to the beach. Wave that dies on the shore and goes back. You know, we all love to sit on the beach and watch, you know, the movement of the way. It's calming, you know. So the same thing, to observe the movement of your breath is calming. Report an error in the passage at 35:26 Highlight the passage at 35:26

35:48 So it calms your thoughts, you know, your emotions. And that calming of the mind makes you go look behind the thoughts and emotions. And then you find this inner peace. You find your deeper nature. And interestingly, as you calm down the thoughts and the emotions, you also calm down the ego, because the ego is just another thought. Report an error in the passage at 35:48 Highlight the passage at 35:48

36:17 So by calming down your thoughts and your emotions, you discover something that is not from the ego, something deeper. Report an error in the passage at 36:17 Highlight the passage at 36:17

36:39 So in daily life, Report an error in the passage at 36:39 Highlight the passage at 36:39

36:45 First one has to understand that it's precious to discover this inner peace, this inner joy. Often, how to say, in our society nobody speaks about it, so one doesn't even know that it exists, this inner peace, that you can find something there. Report an error in the passage at 36:45 Highlight the passage at 36:45

37:18 And then to take every opportunity one can. To connect to this inner being. So there are many places in daily life where one can do that. The bathtub is a good place. Sitting in a park alone, sitting on a bench and just observing and observing the breath at the same time. You look at the countryside, you look what's around. Another good is while walking you can be meditating, walking down the street. Report an error in the passage at 37:18 Highlight the passage at 37:18

37:55 Half of you can be attentive to what's going on and half can observe the breath. The Report an error in the passage at 37:55 Highlight the passage at 37:55

38:09 toilet is also another nice place to meditate while you sit there, Report an error in the passage at 38:09 Highlight the passage at 38:09

38:19 lying in bed before going to sleep. You go a bit early. You put some cushion behind you. You sit up a bit and you take a few breaths. You observe your breath. Report an error in the passage at 38:19 Highlight the passage at 38:19

38:42 What's important is not to do just a meditation in the morning and night. It's to take every opportunity throughout the day. It's more important to make many two, three minutes throughout the day than a long session in the morning and nothing the rest of the day. Report an error in the passage at 38:42 Highlight the passage at 38:42

39:09 So we are going to do a small meditation, five minutes, and then we have questions and answers about that. Report an error in the passage at 39:09 Highlight the passage at 39:09

39:25 So some of you, simply by observing the breath, It will calm down your mind, simply by observing the breath. You imagine that you are by the side of the ocean and you watch the wave coming and going. So you inhale, it fills the lung, you hold it a little while and you exhale. You inhale, you hold it a little while and you exhale. Report an error in the passage at 39:25 Highlight the passage at 39:25

39:56 And you try to feel that breathing is precious. You see? You stop breathing. If we stop breathing, we're dead. So the mere fact of we are able to breathe, you know, it's life. It's to be alive, to be able to breathe. So it's something beautiful and so precious to be able to breathe in. And you can even imagine that you breathe in light and joy and peace. You see? Report an error in the passage at 39:56 Highlight the passage at 39:56

40:31 And as you exhale, you exhale all your agitation, your stress, your conflict, you know, and you inhale light, bringing peace, you know, opening your heart, you know, like that. Report an error in the passage at 40:31 Highlight the passage at 40:31

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41:50 And for those which have a strong wandering mind, they cannot keep their mind on the breath, they can chase away their thoughts by thinking, as I breathe in, I'm aware that I breathe in. As I breathe out, I'm aware that I breathe out. So that thought brings your mind on the breath and helps you to stay there because that thought chases away the other distracting thoughts. Report an error in the passage at 41:50 Highlight the passage at 41:50

42:21 And after a while, once you've settled on the breath, you can let go of the thinking. And Report an error in the passage at 42:21 Highlight the passage at 42:21

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44:58 as you focus on the movement of the breath, at the same time focus on that what is aware of the breath. See what is awareness, what is consciousness. Report an error in the passage at 44:58 Highlight the passage at 44:58

45:19 Consciousness is your deeper nature and Report an error in the passage at 45:19 Highlight the passage at 45:19

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46:20 consciousness is like space, Report an error in the passage at 46:20 Highlight the passage at 46:20

46:26 something immaterial that Report an error in the passage at 46:26 Highlight the passage at 46:26

46:31 doesn't abide anywhere, that has no form, no color, Report an error in the passage at 46:31 Highlight the passage at 46:31

46:40 yet it is clear and aware. Report an error in the passage at 46:40 Highlight the passage at 46:40

47:13 That inner space allows any thought, any emotion, any mental image to arise within it and being known. Yet the space itself is not the thought, not the emotion, not the mental image. The Report an error in the passage at 47:13 Highlight the passage at 47:13

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48:35 more you can focus on this inner space, Report an error in the passage at 48:35 Highlight the passage at 48:35

48:41 the space between thoughts, Report an error in the passage at 48:41 Highlight the passage at 48:41

48:50 the deeper the silence. Report an error in the passage at 48:50 Highlight the passage at 48:50

49:21 And the deeper the silence, that silence reveals itself to you. It turns into light, it turns into loving kindness, it turns into joy. Report an error in the passage at 49:21 Highlight the passage at 49:21

49:52 So within your heart is a spring of joy, of light, of incredible well-being. Report an error in the passage at 49:52 Highlight the passage at 49:52

50:17 And that light is moist with loving kindness for all living beings, for everyone. May everyone be well. It radiates from your heart. Report an error in the passage at 50:17 Highlight the passage at 50:17

50:55 And as you exhale, imagine exhaling this loving kindness towards everyone, healing what needs to be healed, bringing joy. To beings around you. Report an error in the passage at 50:55 Highlight the passage at 50:55

51:09 And as you inhale, you imagine with empathy being able to reveal, to relieve the pain and problems of the world. Generate sympathy. Report an error in the passage at 51:09 Highlight the passage at 51:09

51:30 But you are this light in your heart, this loving kindness, this joy. And when it stabilizes, it even turns into bliss in your heart. And that's who you are. Report an error in the passage at 51:30 Highlight the passage at 51:30

· · · silence, 2 minutes

53:26 By focusing on awareness itself, you Report an error in the passage at 53:26 Highlight the passage at 53:26

53:32 don't get distracted by the thoughts. They are there, but you don't pay attention to them because you focus more on the space in which the thoughts take place. That Report an error in the passage at 53:32 Highlight the passage at 53:32

53:57 space is in need of clear light. That's Report an error in the passage at 53:57 Highlight the passage at 53:57

· · · silence, 1 minute

55:15 the first part. Any questions about this meditation? Report an error in the passage at 55:15 Highlight the passage at 55:15

55:40 Okay. So if there's no question... Ah, there's one on the back. Report an error in the passage at 55:40 Highlight the passage at 55:40

56:07 Yes. Yes, I get most of it, I think. So she was asking, you know, when one focuses on the breath, it's not necessarily always that it slows down. The breath changes and does different things, right, and one becomes aware of that. So at the beginning, when one focuses on the breath, there's a habitual tendency to want to control the breath, to change the breath, to make it... Report an error in the passage at 56:07 Highlight the passage at 56:07

56:39 Slower or to breathe deeper or, you know, one kind of, you know, tries to manipulate the breath and not necessarily consciously, it's completely, it can also be completely unconscious, you know, we're aware of what's happening in the breath. So that's natural, you know, this passes by itself, you know, as when it gets acquainted, you know, then it slows down. Report an error in the passage at 56:39 Highlight the passage at 56:39

57:07 Because most of the time, actually, breathing is a thing that we don't do consciously. It can happen unconsciously. But when one preys attention to it, so the conscious self wants to, hey, I'm breathing, so he wants to control, you know, kind of like that. So this happens, yeah. But it passes, kind of like that. Report an error in the passage at 57:07 Highlight the passage at 57:07

57:36 All right. So if there's no question, I want to go to the next part. Report an error in the passage at 57:36 Highlight the passage at 57:36

57:48 This is a bit difficult for newer people but I Report an error in the passage at 57:48 Highlight the passage at 57:48

57:58 want to say something which I found very important and based on my own experience of my own practice. Report an error in the passage at 57:58 Highlight the passage at 57:58

58:28 We cannot live in the past. The past is gone. So all the thoughts that we have about the past are useless. Report an error in the passage at 58:28 Highlight the passage at 58:28

58:41 The past is finished. It's gone. You don't live in the past. You don't live in your thoughts. The souls are the past, right? So you cannot Report an error in the passage at 58:41 Highlight the passage at 58:41

58:59 have a spiritual life in the past. You Report an error in the passage at 58:59 Highlight the passage at 58:59

59:07 cannot act in the past. You cannot speak in the past. You cannot think about the present in the past. The past is gone. Report an error in the passage at 59:07 Highlight the passage at 59:07

59:25 You cannot act in the future. You cannot speak in the future. You cannot practice in the future. The future has not yet come. The future is not alive. You can do nothing in the future. Report an error in the passage at 59:25 Highlight the passage at 59:25

59:49 So the only place you exist is right now, is the present moment, is the ever-present moment that comes and goes. You see, the only place where you are alive is the present. The only place that exists really is the present moment. And that present moment is always the moment that is right there. Report an error in the passage at 59:49 Highlight the passage at 59:49

1:00:21 You see, you cannot be peace in the past, you cannot be peace in the future, you can only be peace right now. You cannot have a warm loving heart in the past, you cannot have a warm loving heart in the future, you can have it only right now. You Report an error in the passage at 1:00:21 Highlight the passage at 1:00:21

1:00:46 cannot have an ethical life in the past, it's gone. You cannot have it in the future, you can have it only right now. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:46 Highlight the passage at 1:00:46

1:01:00 You cannot have... Be aware of ultimate reality in the past. You cannot be aware of it in the future. You can only be aware of it right now. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:00 Highlight the passage at 1:01:00

1:01:15 The only place where you exist is right now. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:15 Highlight the passage at 1:01:15

1:01:21 The only place where you have to be mindful of what you think, what you say and how you behave is right now. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:21 Highlight the passage at 1:01:21

1:01:39 We think our thoughts are so important, but our thinking... It's mostly old stuff, useless. There's no creativity in the thoughts. Thoughts, what are they? They are memories. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:39 Highlight the passage at 1:01:39

1:02:03 All our thinking about ourselves, the language we use, all this is just a result of memory. And then we have to say, move these thoughts around and we try to create a future out of the past. You know, we shuffle the past around and we project that on the future. But that doesn't exist. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:03 Highlight the passage at 1:02:03

1:02:35 And often we're with someone and instead of enjoying the present, we already plan what we're going to do next. Right? Oh, we're going to have dinner. That will be fun. So we go to dinner and then we say, oh, after we go to a movie, that will be fun. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:35 Highlight the passage at 1:02:35

1:02:58 And then we go to the movie, oh let's have a drink. So instead of enjoying the present moment, we don't enjoy the present moment, we're unsatisfied and we long for the next moment that will be fun. But when the next moment comes, again we don't enjoy it, we think about the next one that's going to be fun. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:58 Highlight the passage at 1:02:58

1:03:40 For us, if you have a lot of thoughts about the past and the future, the present is very narrow. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:40 Highlight the passage at 1:03:40

1:03:50 You live mostly in the past and mostly you anticipate about the future and you very little in the present. And the present is very scattered, very agitated. So there's not much fun in the present moment. So you always think about what's happening in the past or you speak about, you know, you meet your friend, you tell them what you did in the day, what you did before, you know, things like that. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:50 Highlight the passage at 1:03:50

1:04:18 And then you make plans for what's going to happen after. But you don't enjoy the present moment. Your present moment is speaking about the past or anticipating the future. You're not there in the present moment. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:18 Highlight the passage at 1:04:18

1:04:42 If you change that and try to see the preciousness of the present moment, that's the only place where you are alive. You Report an error in the passage at 1:04:42 Highlight the passage at 1:04:42

1:04:56 try to enjoy the present moment and not... Reflecting so much about the past or anticipating the future, this present moment becomes gradually bigger and bigger and bigger. And you come to a point where you mostly live in the present moment and the present moment is so rich that it feels like a waste of time to speak about the past or anticipating the future because you miss the precious... Report an error in the passage at 1:04:56 Highlight the passage at 1:04:56

1:05:26 The present moment that exists right now and you want to be fully awake and fully aware in it. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:26 Highlight the passage at 1:05:26

1:05:47 When you're in the present moment, it's so precious. You see, how to say, each moment is unique and will never repeat itself. So to miss it, you know, you miss something that will never exist again. You know, you have missed it and it will never come back. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:47 Highlight the passage at 1:05:47

1:06:09 So if you fully awake in the present moment and see its beauty, its depthness, it's amazing. You see, we take life for granted, but you exhale and you don't inhale again, you're gone. Life is finished, right? We think, oh, I don't have cancer, you know, I don't have this and that, so I'm going to live a long time. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:09 Highlight the passage at 1:06:09

1:06:39 Yeah, we know we're going to die somewhere in the future, but not this year. Or not this month, not today. Yet, you breathe out, you don't breathe in again, you're gone. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:39 Highlight the passage at 1:06:39

1:06:56 You see, death is not far, it's just one breath away. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:56 Highlight the passage at 1:06:56

1:07:04 And if you're aware of that, life becomes so rich. You see, thinking about that is not to make you depressed, it's to make you aware of the preciousness, the sacredness of being alive, of being able to exist. Each moment is to be able to be conscious, to be able to feel, to be able to enjoy the people around us. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:04 Highlight the passage at 1:07:04

1:07:34 It's fantastic. And Report an error in the passage at 1:07:34 Highlight the passage at 1:07:34

1:07:43 this you become aware when you live in the present moment. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:43 Highlight the passage at 1:07:43

1:07:51 We lose touch of it because we always walk in our head. We think about the past, anticipate the future, but we are not there in the present moment with the people we are with. If you're really aware that you can breathe out and not breathing again, suddenly you look differently at the people you live with. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:51 Highlight the passage at 1:07:51

1:08:15 You say, oh, maybe it's the last time I see them. So you see them with different light and you appreciate them more. Maybe I'm not, you know, maybe it's the last time. So you don't take things for granted. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:15 Highlight the passage at 1:08:15

1:08:38 Now spiritually seeking, speaking now from a Buddhist path point of view, there's only three realizations basically. You know, Buddhist seems very vast and very complicated, but actually it's very simple. There's only three things you need to realize. In the present moment, the present moment is the only place where you exist. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:38 Highlight the passage at 1:08:38

1:09:06 And there's only three states of mind that you need to cultivate. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:06 Highlight the passage at 1:09:06

1:09:15 One is the thought of non-attachment. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:15 Highlight the passage at 1:09:15

1:09:20 You can love things, you can enjoy them, but you cannot own them. We all pass through life, we're just pilgrims. We pass through life. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:20 Highlight the passage at 1:09:20

1:09:41 Things are constantly changing. Our body is changing, our friends, our environment is changing, the world is changing. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:41 Highlight the passage at 1:09:41

1:09:56 The suffering, the anxiety... Doesn't come from the change. It comes from us not accepting change. It's the nature of things to change. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:56 Highlight the passage at 1:09:56

1:10:12 If you accept it, you have peace. If you fight it, you will suffer. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:12 Highlight the passage at 1:10:12

1:10:22 So we think that attachment brings us happiness. It's not true. It just brings us pain. Because it goes against life. Life is change. And you cannot do anything about it. You see, how to say, you look yourself in the mirror, you know, and you see your face aging, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:22 Highlight the passage at 1:10:22

1:10:49 You cannot accept it and it makes you miserable. No matter how much you attach to your young appearance, you cannot prevent your face from aging. Yes, you can make some facelift, you know, a few times. And people do that because they don't accept that aging is part of life. And all what we make, we make ourselves miserable, make us suffer because we don't accept change. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:49 Highlight the passage at 1:10:49

1:11:22 But if you accept it, it's part of life, you have peace. You say, well, that's life. Let's face it with grace, with peace of heart. And each age has its own beauty. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:22 Highlight the passage at 1:11:22

1:11:38 And that same thing if you accept change in the people around you, in their life, there is peace. If you don't accept it, you fight it, you suffer. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:38 Highlight the passage at 1:11:38

1:11:53 So non-attachment is very important to have peace. It's not, how to say, non-attachment doesn't mean indifference, doesn't mean you don't care. It simply means that you accept that life is change. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:53 Highlight the passage at 1:11:53

1:12:20 That's very important to understand that the suffering doesn't come from the change. The suffering comes from not accepting change. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:20 Highlight the passage at 1:12:20

1:12:39 So to cultivate the thought, or I wouldn't say the thought, but the mindfulness of non-attachment in your daily life. And to realize if I'm very attached to my car, my car will make me suffer. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:39 Highlight the passage at 1:12:39

1:12:56 For example, I had a new car. Actually, two years ago. And, you know, for me, the biggest disaster is go to visit my friends. You know, I live up in Washington. So I went to visit some friends. And they have new dogs, new shepherd dog, you know. And they see me coming with their tail, you know. So they come on the car and rinch, rinch, rinch. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:56 Highlight the passage at 1:12:56

1:13:31 Of course, then it scratches, you know. And then I say, OK, why is it painful? Well, because I'm attached to my, you know, my appearance of my car as new, you know, I'm attached. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:31 Highlight the passage at 1:13:31

1:13:47 Then I go to visit another friend and I parked here maybe a bit close from his truck, you know, so I didn't notice that he has things to take out of his truck, so he opens, you know. He takes stuff out of stuff. And I think he had a bunch of key or tools hanging there, you know. And he goes against my new car, you know, and some deep scratch, you know, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:47 Highlight the passage at 1:13:47

1:14:19 So again, my heart, you know, my new car, my new car. crink, crink, crink. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:19 Highlight the passage at 1:14:19

1:14:25 Again, the problem wasn't the scratch. The scratch are not painful. They just look a bit ugly, but it's no big deal. It's my attachment to the appearance of my new car of having no scratch that creates the problem. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:25 Highlight the passage at 1:14:25

1:14:43 So if you analyze, that's exactly what happened. We all have examples like that. It's our attachment. So you have a new cup, a nice cup, and it breaks. So it's not the breaking of the cup. The problem is our attachment to that cup. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:43 Highlight the passage at 1:14:43

1:15:06 So one of the deepest joy in life and peace comes from non-attachment. You see? If you're not, you enjoy things much more. You know, I still have my nice car, right? With the scratches and with the, you know how you call that? Scratches. Yeah, also scratches. So I have two types of scratches. I have that one and that one. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:06 Highlight the passage at 1:15:06

1:15:32 The vertical and the horizontal ones. So, and actually I like it even more with the scratches, you know, because, how to say, he has gone through life, you know, and life, you know, you have scratches in life, right? Kind of like that. So new, you know, completely polished, clean, you know, it's kind of, it's not natural, it's not alive, you know. It seems like coming out of a shore, you know, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:32 Highlight the passage at 1:15:32

1:16:10 And each time I look at the scratches, I think, oh, I think about the dogs and I think about the friend, you know, and I sense some thought of loving kindness. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:10 Highlight the passage at 1:16:10

1:16:21 Like that. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:21 Highlight the passage at 1:16:21

1:16:31 How to say, so in life we face unpleasant circumstances, right? But the way you look at it, it completely depends on your mind, you know? This life brings you situation, you know, we all face. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:31 Highlight the passage at 1:16:31

1:16:48 Difficulties, but difficulties by itself shouldn't agitate your mind, take you out of your peaceful inner space, your loving kindness, you see. They are challenging, they are tests to show you how deep your spiritual progress has gone. So if this experience agitates your mind, it just shows, oh, I have some more work to do. I actually have some attachment there. Kind of like that. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:48 Highlight the passage at 1:16:48

1:17:26 Whereas an advanced practitioner, for him, it doesn't affect his mind at all. He says, oh, that's life. It's impermanence. It's natural. And it doesn't agitate his mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:26 Highlight the passage at 1:17:26

1:17:43 So in daily life, as one goes about, One's everyday things. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:43 Highlight the passage at 1:17:43

1:17:53 It's good to check one's attachment and to reduce them, to see that attachment will bring suffering. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:53 Highlight the passage at 1:17:53

1:18:09 You see, you have a nice relationship with somebody. Instead of enjoying it, you fear of losing it. You're anxious. What can happen is going to end. It will end. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:09 Highlight the passage at 1:18:09

1:18:25 So if the partner goes out with somebody, some friend, you're afraid that he's not going to come back or find somebody else or things like that. Or even if you trust that person, say, oh, he might get sick, he might get old, he might die, and then I'm left alone. So all this anxiety comes up if you don't accept change. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:25 Highlight the passage at 1:18:25

1:18:47 You cannot even enjoy the relationship properly because you feel that something might happen to spoil it. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:47 Highlight the passage at 1:18:47

1:19:02 And same thing, you know, with my new car, you know, as a good example, you know, you like it so much to be new that you don't use it, you leave it in the garage all the time, you know, because you're afraid something's going to happen if you take it out of the garage, you know. So I think we all know people, you know, which have these extremes, you know, phobia with, you know, it can be a collection of something, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:02 Highlight the passage at 1:19:02

1:19:26 So it's so precious to them that they cannot even enjoy it because... They're afraid something's going to happen to it. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:26 Highlight the passage at 1:19:26

1:19:39 So this awareness of impermanence and of attachment, you see again, you cannot have that awareness in the past, you cannot have that awareness in the future, you can just have it right now. And if you have non-attachment to the nice meal you eat, to the nice house you live in, to the nice car you have, to the nice relationship you have, to the nice kids you have, Report an error in the passage at 1:19:39 Highlight the passage at 1:19:39

1:20:10 You can enjoy it much more. You see, you have no fear of losing. You just enjoy the present moment with non-attachment. The non-attachment takes away the craving, the grasping, the anxiety around it. You see? There's peace of mind. So non-attachment brings peace in one's daily life. And non-attachment you can have only right now, moment by moment. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:10 Highlight the passage at 1:20:10

1:20:52 The second... The thing one has to be aware if one wants to live a happy life in the present moment is loving kindness. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:52 Highlight the passage at 1:20:52

1:21:07 You see, you walk down the street, whoever you come across, may that person be happy. So like myself, I wish to be happy and I have the right to be happy. So you send to yourself all the things you want in life. May I have a long life, may I be in good health. May I have good friends? May I have peace of mind? May I have loving kindness? Whatever you wish for yourself, you offer to you. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:07 Highlight the passage at 1:21:07

1:21:38 And then you offer the same thing mentally to the people around you in your life. So you wish peace of mind to your partner, to your children, to your parents. You wish them to have a loving heart. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:38 Highlight the passage at 1:21:38

1:22:00 And you wish them to have success. And whatever problems they have and you have, may they be able to face it with grace, with patience and with wisdom. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:00 Highlight the passage at 1:22:00

1:22:15 So as you go about your daily life, again you cannot have loving kindness in the past, you cannot have loving kindness in the future, you can only have it right now. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:15 Highlight the passage at 1:22:15

1:22:30 So whoever you see, that person you wish... That person peace, you wish that person happiness, you wish that person whatever spiritual realization that you believe in, you offer it to them. You wish them well, you wish them success. So you start by cultivating that thought. At the beginning it might not even be genuine. It's just a thought. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:30 Highlight the passage at 1:22:30

1:23:03 And the thought is not an emotion. It's not felt. It's just a thought. Oh, I cultivated a thought. And you walk down the street, you see beggars, you see other people walking. You just generate the thought. Oh, may they be well. May they be happy. May life be kind to them. May they meet success. Kind like that. And as you cultivate that thought, it becomes more and more sincere, more genuinely felt. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:03 Highlight the passage at 1:23:03

1:23:33 You start actually feeling the things that you say. And whoever you come across, you go to some friends, you're invited for dinner, or you go to a party, and before entering the door, you wish well to all the people inside the room, inside the place. You say, oh, may they be happy, may they have peace, may they meet success in whatever they undertake. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:33 Highlight the passage at 1:23:33

1:24:00 So as you go around your daily life, You cultivate this thought of loving kindness for everyone. And again, you cannot do that in the past. You cannot do it in the future. You can only do that right now, moment by moment. And if you cultivate those thoughts, after a while they become automatic. It becomes effortless. And the person which benefits from it... Report an error in the passage at 1:24:00 Highlight the passage at 1:24:00

1:24:35 The most is not the other, it's yourself. You realize that to have a loving, kind heart is the most precious gift that you have. That there's no more joyous, happy mind than to have a loving heart, to be kind. You see, if you live with that state of mind, you're happy. You feel you have an inner richness, this softness in the heart, this kind heart. It's so cozy, so comfortable. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:35 Highlight the passage at 1:24:35

1:25:07 And in that state of mind, you have no depression, you don't have low self-esteem. Whether you meet success or not, it doesn't matter. You have this inner richness in you. And on top of that, your attitude doesn't change with friend, enemy and stranger. You're the same person for everyone. So you have canned thoughts. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:07 Highlight the passage at 1:25:07

1:25:32 Towards your friend, towards the people you don't know and even towards your enemy, to people you have problems with. You wish them well, you know. May they have peace, you know. May they find happiness, you know. May they meet success, you know. Because after all, we're all the same, you know. We are thrown into this life. We don't know what we do here, you know. And we have to pass, you know, our 50 or 100 years maximum here and we all go away, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:32 Highlight the passage at 1:25:32

1:26:01 So we're all the same, we all have feelings and we all wish to be happy and not have problems. So we wish that for ourselves and we wish that to all living beings. May everyone be happy. And that state of mind is so incredible. If you can live in that state of mind, moment by moment, you have this inner richness, this inner joy, this inner peace, this inner light. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:01 Highlight the passage at 1:26:01

1:26:32 And no worldly pleasure, no sense pleasure can give you what that state of mind brings to you. So this is the most precious gift, to have a loving, kind heart. And if you cultivate it, it becomes easier and easier. It's just training, constantly thinking about making other people happy, wishing them well. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:32 Highlight the passage at 1:26:32

1:27:01 It doesn't mean that you go out of your way to make people actually physically happy. It's a state of mind that you cultivate. And that state of mind will give you the wisdom to do the right thing at the right time. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:01 Highlight the passage at 1:27:01

1:27:28 And there, again, you see, so you have the base of non-attachment, to accept that things are impermanent, that you cannot hold on to it. And that brings you peace. And in that peace, You put on the movement of the breath, loving kindness. As you exhale, you send loving light to all beings that you come across, to the dog, to the bird, to the cat, to the insect, to the people in the other cars, to the people in the street, to the people in your home, to the people in your city. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:28 Highlight the passage at 1:27:28

1:28:09 You know, to everyone, it's a state of mind. It doesn't matter towards whom it's addressed. What's important is your inner state of being, that you wish well to everyone. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:09 Highlight the passage at 1:28:09

1:28:24 And as you inhale, you imagine that you generate empathy, sympathy for them, for their problem. You care. You're not indifferent. You care. They are your brothers and sisters. They are like you. They walk through life with its ups and downs, and you care for their happiness. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:24 Highlight the passage at 1:28:24

1:28:48 know? Report an error in the passage at 1:28:48 Highlight the passage at 1:28:48

1:28:54 So this you cannot do in the past, you can do it not in the future, only right now. And as you develop at the beginning, it takes a lot of effort, then it becomes easier and easier, till it becomes spontaneous and it becomes your nature. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:54 Highlight the passage at 1:28:54

1:29:19 And that's your most precious richness. Once you develop that habit, if it slips out of your mind for a while because you have been distracted, you say, oh! I lost something so precious and you want to get it back. This loving heart is so cozy. You feel so well to have this loving heart. It's incredible. It makes you much more happy than the happiness you produce to others. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:19 Highlight the passage at 1:29:19

1:29:48 You see, for example, the Dalai Lama works with universal education, tries to make a Western way. it's so Report an error in the passage at 1:29:48 Highlight the passage at 1:29:48

1:29:59 To generate loving kindness in people that can be taught in college and universities and things like that. So to take some Buddhist techniques but without calling it religion or things, just to develop these states of mind. And there was a conference and there was a teacher which had taught loving kindness in school, you know, to children and teenagers. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:59 Highlight the passage at 1:29:59

1:30:28 And then she... He reported what had happened during that test and how things improved in the school and things like that. So loving kindness brings benefit to the school because the children behave better and things like that. So loving kindness makes people behave less badly with others and make other people happy. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:28 Highlight the passage at 1:30:28

1:30:53 And the Dalai Lama says, no, that's not the point of loving kindness. The main beneficiary of loving kindness is not because you're kind to others. The main beneficiary of loving kindness is yourself that has a loving, kind mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:53 Highlight the passage at 1:30:53

1:31:10 So it just happens that if you have a loving, kind mind, you make people happy around you. But the greatest beneficiary is yourself. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:10 Highlight the passage at 1:31:10

1:31:20 So you don't develop loving kindness to make other people happy. You develop loving kindness because it makes you happy. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:20 Highlight the passage at 1:31:20

1:31:33 So this is very important because often people say, oh, you know, I have sacrificed my life so much for other people. You know, I have to think about me now. You know, I have sacrificed for my children, for my work, things like that. But you see, this is not love. This is not loving kindness. This is not what I'm speaking about. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:33 Highlight the passage at 1:31:33

1:32:03 You see... The selfish mind thinks, you know, if I give that to others, what will I have left to enjoy? You know, the loving mind thinks, you see, if I use this, what do I have left to give? Report an error in the passage at 1:32:03 Highlight the passage at 1:32:03

1:32:34 But the loving mind doesn't think like that at all, neither way. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:34 Highlight the passage at 1:32:34

1:32:41 It doesn't come from the intellect, it doesn't come from the ego, you know, it comes from here. And here it doesn't calculate, it doesn't... It doesn't hold numbers. The numbers are here in the head. I did this to them, they didn't give me back. Oh yes, I give them something, but I have also to use time for me. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:41 Highlight the passage at 1:32:41

1:33:04 That's all head. The heart, completely different space. The heart has something timeless about it. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:04 Highlight the passage at 1:33:04

1:33:30 It's simply a different space. and One can start with the lovingness that one has naturally towards a partner, towards children and things like that. But one has to take away the attachment part of it and just keep the love, that feeling that comes from the heart, that loves, that cares. So you keep that, but you take away the attachment. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:30 Highlight the passage at 1:33:30

1:33:57 And then on top of that, you use that emotion of care, of love you have for that person and you universalize it. This is just a springboard for that state of mind to grow for all beings. So you use it, that love you have for that person and then you say, now I want to have that same love. Why do I take that person as more precious? You see, if it's a child. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:57 Highlight the passage at 1:33:57

1:34:27 Oh, and there's many other children. Why do I love only this one? And then all beings have once been this baby. Why I love this baby only when he's like that? But that's a baby like that. And we're all babies. We have all been babies. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:27 Highlight the passage at 1:34:27

1:34:50 So, you see... The important thing is if you love somebody, you universalize that feeling, that emotion, and that you wish well, as you wish well for your partner that you love or to your child. You try to, you see, don't keep it there. You must expand it. You must be able to generate the same emotion, the same care for all living beings. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:50 Highlight the passage at 1:34:50

1:35:17 And only then it will transform your heart. Only then you will find a deep peace, a deep joy. It's when it's universalized. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:17 Highlight the passage at 1:35:17

1:35:36 And that again, you cannot generate thought in five minutes. You cannot generate love in five minutes. You cannot do five minutes before. You can only do it right now, moment by moment. You can either be in loving kindness or you are not. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:36 Highlight the passage at 1:35:36

1:35:56 See? That's why once you see that, you feel that Thinking about the past is such a waste of time because you're not living now. Anticipating the future is such a waste of time because you're not living now. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:56 Highlight the passage at 1:35:56

1:36:20 And then the third direction where the mind finds peace is try to feel in each moment the ultimate nature of things. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:20 Highlight the passage at 1:36:20

1:36:48 The ultimate nature of things, you don't need to build it up. It's always there. We just don't recognize, we just don't Report an error in the passage at 1:36:48 Highlight the passage at 1:36:48

1:37:02 adjust the wavelength of our mind to that perception. So, how to say, from a Western point of view, you can say there's a superficial way the world exists, and then there's the Newtonian way, or the molecular way. Then you have quantum physics way. So you have the superficial way how things exist, and then there's the deep mode of existing. And Report an error in the passage at 1:37:02 Highlight the passage at 1:37:02

1:37:42 in Buddhist philosophy, you have exactly the same thing. You have the superficial way things exist, the conventional reality, and then you have the deep mode of existing or the ultimate reality. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:42 Highlight the passage at 1:37:42

1:37:58 And as long as we don't see the ultimate reality, What we do, we reify the objective world, the superficial world. We make it more concrete, more solid than it is. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:58 Highlight the passage at 1:37:58

1:38:14 And that doesn't only happen with physical form, it also happens with the mind itself and with the sense of I. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:14 Highlight the passage at 1:38:14

1:38:27 So we reify our mind, we reify our thoughts, our emotions and we reify our sense of I. And we believe that that reification is how things really exist. And Report an error in the passage at 1:38:27 Highlight the passage at 1:38:27

1:38:54 that's how we are stuck in cyclic existence, under the control of mental affliction and karma. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:54 Highlight the passage at 1:38:54

1:39:06 Again, you cannot cultivate ultimate reality in the past, you cannot do it in the future, you can only do it right now. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:06 Highlight the passage at 1:39:06

1:39:25 Each time the ego comes up, the sense of I, each time the sense of I comes. I want this, I don't want that, I like this, I don't like that, I'm upset, I have fear, I'm lonely. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:25 Highlight the passage at 1:39:25

1:39:46 Look where is this I. Instead of listening to what the I says, look inside where is the I which has these ideas. Does it exist in the head, in the heart, in the body, outside the body? The more you inquire, The more fuzzy it becomes. Not only will you not find this I, but you find something else. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:46 Highlight the passage at 1:39:46

1:40:22 You found that you exist in another way, that you are not the thought, the I. That when you don't find it, that there is something, there is someone not finding the I. And that's who you really are. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:22 Highlight the passage at 1:40:22

1:40:43 And how to say, the I that has fear, that has longing, That is upset, that has all these emotions. You don't find. The I that exists doesn't find the I that has all these emotions. And that I that exists doesn't have any one of those emotions. They can only arise when you identify yourself with the ego, with the wrong I. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:43 Highlight the passage at 1:40:43

1:41:15 And that one, if you look for, you don't find. It's a complete hallucination. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:15 Highlight the passage at 1:41:15

1:41:24 And the experiencer of that... The awareness that doesn't find the I, that awareness, that's who you really are. And that awareness cannot have fear, can have no attachment, no desire, no anger. It's a completely different way to know yourself. And that real I doesn't have any one of those emotions. That real I has deep peace and bliss. Report an error in the passage at 1:41:24 Highlight the passage at 1:41:24

1:42:05 It doesn't experience the way the ego experiences it. And you can only find it when you inquire the thinker. If you look for the thinker and you don't find it, that thing that doesn't find the thinker, Report an error in the passage at 1:42:05 Highlight the passage at 1:42:05

1:42:26 that awareness, Report an error in the passage at 1:42:26 Highlight the passage at 1:42:26

1:42:34 if you are able to stay in that state, in that awareness, that awareness experiences the world totally different. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:34 Highlight the passage at 1:42:34

1:42:58 Again, you cannot see that in the past, you cannot see in the future, you can only see it right now. Each time you believe in the ego, each time you agree with what the ego says about your partner, about your children, about your parents, about society, about your car, each time you believe, you create more saṃsāra, you create more cyclic existence. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:58 Highlight the passage at 1:42:58

1:43:31 Each time you make the prison of karma and mental affliction stronger. Each time you look back and you don't find the ego, you don't find the thinker in the body, in the mind, outside. Each time you don't find the thinker, Report an error in the passage at 1:43:31 Highlight the passage at 1:43:31

1:43:54 you step closer for ultimate freedom. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:54 Highlight the passage at 1:43:54

1:44:02 Each time you step closer to liberation from cyclic existence, from the control of karma and mental affliction. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:02 Highlight the passage at 1:44:02

1:44:15 And only then... You cannot look at your ego in the past. You can look at him in the future. You can only do it right now. Right now is either you reinforce cyclic existence or you free yourself from it. Only right now. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:15 Highlight the passage at 1:44:15

1:44:42 You see, you cannot attain liberation in the future. You cannot do it in the past. The only place where you can reach liberation is right now. And the only way to do it... It's to realize that the ego you cannot find. It's a hallucination. And the only way you cannot find it is by looking into it. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:42 Highlight the passage at 1:44:42

1:45:08 Because he, from his side, he appears to be really there in our head, having all these countless thoughts and opinions about everything. And unless you look for where this guy is in your head, Report an error in the passage at 1:45:08 Highlight the passage at 1:45:08

1:45:30 Automatically believe that it exists and what he says is true. But if you inquire, you see if it exists, you should be able to find it. But the more you look for it, it's like water holding in your hand, it slips through your finger. So all these Madhyak Mika reasoning are there to show you, look, where is it? Report an error in the passage at 1:45:30 Highlight the passage at 1:45:30

1:45:55 In the body, where? In the mind, where? Outside, where? And the more you look, the less you find. And that non-finding makes you experience something. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:55 Highlight the passage at 1:45:55

1:46:11 That non-finding makes you think, ha, I thought that guy was existent and I believe all what he says. Yet it's a complete hallucination. It's like a ghost. You know, it's like a ghost. You know, when you don't look for it, it's there. But when you look, it disappears. So the more you look and you don't find, you stop taking him as seriously as before. You say, okay, you make your story, you tell me about this and that, but I don't really believe you. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:11 Highlight the passage at 1:46:11

1:46:46 know You see, it's not that one day you believe 100 % and the next day you believe 0 % in it. It's not like that. It's the beginning you believe 100 % in what he says, then 99%, 98%. Gradually you take him less and less seriously. And when it reaches 40%, 30%, you laugh when he tells his story. You don't exist. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:46 Highlight the passage at 1:46:46

1:47:10 Tell me whatever you want. Great joke. Kind of like that. It comes to the point that he doesn't even try to convince anymore because he tries but you laugh so much that he sulks, he goes to hide in the car, he doesn't even try anymore. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:10 Highlight the passage at 1:47:10

1:47:35 So Report an error in the passage at 1:47:35 Highlight the passage at 1:47:35

1:47:41 all the mental affliction, all the troubled state of mind like greed, attachment, anger, pride, jealousy, fear, loneliness, Report an error in the passage at 1:47:41 Highlight the passage at 1:47:41

1:47:55 depression, all these states of mind. Depend on the ego. The ego is the creator of these states of mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:55 Highlight the passage at 1:47:55

1:48:10 So the less you believe in it, the less strong these emotions are. Till the point you are able to see that this ego is completely non-existent. And then these emotions cannot arise anymore. And then you're free. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:10 Highlight the passage at 1:48:10

1:48:30 Then psychologically you're completely free. You will never have fear again, anxiety again. Loneliness, pride, jealousy, all these disturbed states will never arise again because the root cause that produced them has been disappeared from your mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:30 Highlight the passage at 1:48:30

1:48:53 And that experience doesn't stop with death. It carries with you over in the next life, you know, in the afterlife. Again, you still have that realization of, you know, you don't find the thinker. There's thoughts, but you don't find a thinker. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:53 Highlight the passage at 1:48:53

1:49:12 So that's... One level. Then the next level is even the phenomena that you see in the world. They're transparent. They have no essence. You see, from quantum physics, you know, how to say, in the West, in the Newtonian time, you know, Newton felt that there's a basic particle that is the building block of reality. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:12 Highlight the passage at 1:49:12

1:49:39 You know, you have the... Neutrons, protons, electrons, and depending on their combination, it produces different elements. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:39 Highlight the passage at 1:49:39

1:49:49 But nowadays with quantum physics, you can destroy this, split it further, further, further, and you come to the point where you start thinking, well, there's no basic particle that is the building block of reality. Maybe reality comes through the interaction of the consciousness and a base out there, you know, and this interaction produces different... Report an error in the passage at 1:49:49 Highlight the passage at 1:49:49

1:50:12 Appearances. So in Buddhist philosophy it's the same thing. There's some philosophy that believe there's a building block of reality out there and some higher philosophy say no, you cannot find because you can split matter infinitely. Split it further, further, further and you don't find any building block of the outer world. So this outer world arises due to the interdependence of the consciousness and something. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:12 Highlight the passage at 1:50:12

1:50:56 You see, for example, my beautiful car that I'm attached to. So there's a car-ness that I'm attached to. But if I find, looking for the car, none of the tires is the car. I take away each piece of the car and pile it up on the side. None of the piece is the car that I'm attached to. None of the piece. And apart from those pieces, there's no car left to be attached to. So none of the individual pieces is the car I'm attached to, nor is there something left that is the car that I'm attached to. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:56 Highlight the passage at 1:50:56

1:51:42 Now all the pieces of the car put together are just pieces put together. They are not the car that I'm attached to. The car I'm attached to is something that I gloss over it, you know, like the glossing over a cake, you know, and I'm attached to that thing that doesn't exist objectively there. It's just my projection onto it that solidifies it and that's what I'm attached to, is to that projection. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:42 Highlight the passage at 1:51:42

1:52:25 And any object is like that, any person you're attached to doesn't exist. The way your mind sees it. Report an error in the passage at 1:52:25 Highlight the passage at 1:52:25

1:52:40 For us, everything seems to exist objectively out there, independent from our mind. But when you inquire, you don't find it. Report an error in the passage at 1:52:40 Highlight the passage at 1:52:40

1:52:51 The way things exist is a mere imputation on the mind, on a collection of parts. You see, the car, the way it exists, car is a mere designation on the collection of the parts of the car. Report an error in the passage at 1:52:51 Highlight the passage at 1:52:51

1:53:06 There's no car independent from its parts. None of the parts of the car is the car. And even the collections of parts are merely the base on which we label car. The car doesn't know I'm a car. You have to impute it. The car doesn't drive by itself. Although in some movies, how do you call that? The bug? So he has a personality and character and things like that. Report an error in the passage at 1:53:06 Highlight the passage at 1:53:06

1:53:40 But that's the, you know, how to say, it's the human mind that creates that. Although my first car had a nice personality. Report an error in the passage at 1:53:40 Highlight the passage at 1:53:40

1:53:52 Actually, it was a bug. Report an error in the passage at 1:53:52 Highlight the passage at 1:53:52

1:53:58 Because it was very temperamental, you know. When I turned the key, it was never sure whether it would start or not, you know. So I had to be very kind and say sweet words. Report an error in the passage at 1:53:58 Highlight the passage at 1:53:58

1:54:23 So if one cultivates non-attachment, loving kindness, And try to perceive the ultimate reality how things deeply exist. The result is that you experience a deep peace in your life. Report an error in the passage at 1:54:23 Highlight the passage at 1:54:23

1:54:44 A peace where there is no anger, no attachment, no fear. Report an error in the passage at 1:54:44 Highlight the passage at 1:54:44

1:54:52 Not only that, you reach a level of consciousness where you feel you are one with everyone and with all that exists. Not in a conceptual, intellectual way, but... In a felt where from your heart you feel that your heart touches the heart of all living beings from within them. Report an error in the passage at 1:54:52 Highlight the passage at 1:54:52

1:55:16 You see, the gross material objects are just a crystallization of the mind. It's like water exists in a form of vapor, liquid and ice. So it's almost like matter is a crystallization of mind and that you can feel the objects from inside. Report an error in the passage at 1:55:16 Highlight the passage at 1:55:16

1:55:41 Once you desolidify things, it's because we see them so solidly that they appear so dualistically, so separated from us. But once you see their ultimate nature, how they don't exist so solidly, then that non-solidliness of people and objects and your non-solidness becomes one, you see, in a completely... Report an error in the passage at 1:55:41 Highlight the passage at 1:55:41

1:56:10 How to say, inexpressible way. It's not that you become one, but you're not two either. It's something we cannot express with words. It's something that can be experienced. Report an error in the passage at 1:56:10 Highlight the passage at 1:56:10

1:56:27 And in that inner space where you feel one with life, with things, you're also one with all the enlightened beings, with all the Buddhas, with all the bodhisattvas, with all the angels, with all the saints. You live in this ocean of light where you are one with life, with all the goodness that is in life. And that goodness pervades all that exists. Report an error in the passage at 1:56:27 Highlight the passage at 1:56:27

1:56:53 And that's who you really are. Report an error in the passage at 1:56:53 Highlight the passage at 1:56:53

1:57:11 And that's the fruit of a spiritual life well lived. You see, you experience that oneness that you are with all that exists. And that oneness is so beautiful. Report an error in the passage at 1:57:11 Highlight the passage at 1:57:11

1:57:32 And that oneness you cannot experience it through the senses. The senses, they are cheating. The senses make you believe that there is a world out there and that there is a subject here that perceives the world out there, that you are separated from the world. Report an error in the passage at 1:57:32 Highlight the passage at 1:57:32

1:57:50 But when you experience loving-kindness or when you experience non-duality, that's not how the world appears to you. The world appears to you as being one and as you're in touch with everything. You're not in touch through the senses but with your consciousness and with your heart, your oneness with everything that exists. Report an error in the passage at 1:57:50 Highlight the passage at 1:57:50

1:58:19 And Report an error in the passage at 1:58:19 Highlight the passage at 1:58:19

1:58:27 you can have that experience while working, While walking in the street, while living with your family, you can still have an ordinary life, but your inner experience is completely otherworldly. Report an error in the passage at 1:58:27 Highlight the passage at 1:58:27

1:58:45 And the people around you don't even have to be aware of it. It's completely your own inner thing, how you perceive your world. Report an error in the passage at 1:58:45 Highlight the passage at 1:58:45

1:59:01 And that state is what we call enlightenment or close to enlightenment. And this you cannot experience in the past, you cannot experience in the future, you can only experience it right now. Report an error in the passage at 1:59:01 Highlight the passage at 1:59:01

1:59:20 There is no Buddha that became Buddha in the past, that became Buddha in the future, he became Buddha just right now. Report an error in the passage at 1:59:20 Highlight the passage at 1:59:20

1:59:31 So the only place where you really exist is right now. And if each moment you become closer to non-attachment, you become closer to loving kindness, You become closer to see things as transparent, as senseless. Report an error in the passage at 1:59:31 Highlight the passage at 1:59:31

1:59:56 Each time you do that, you become closer to your own enlightenment. Report an error in the passage at 1:59:56 Highlight the passage at 1:59:56

2:00:10 And it's not difficult. Report an error in the passage at 2:00:10 Highlight the passage at 2:00:10

2:00:16 It's actually quite easy. Why is it easy? Because that's how things really exist. So you don't have to build up something that is not there. Report an error in the passage at 2:00:16 Highlight the passage at 2:00:16

2:00:31 You don't have to build non-attachment. It's the way things are really experienced in reality. It's the ego that craves, that grasps, that holds onto something impermanent as permanent. It's the ego that creates a false reality. So if you let go of that ego grasping, the natural state of your mind is to have non-attachment. Report an error in the passage at 2:00:31 Highlight the passage at 2:00:31

2:01:03 If you leave your mind in its natural state, it naturally has loving-kindness. It's the nature of your own mind to have loving-kindness, to wish well to all beings. Report an error in the passage at 2:01:03 Highlight the passage at 2:01:03

2:01:18 We didn't come in this world to create troubles for others. Report an error in the passage at 2:01:18 Highlight the passage at 2:01:18

2:01:24 We came into this life to enjoy it and to share it with others, to make it a better place and Report an error in the passage at 2:01:24 Highlight the passage at 2:01:24

2:01:35 to realize its preciousness, its uniqueness. That's the natural state of our heart, of our being. Report an error in the passage at 2:01:35 Highlight the passage at 2:01:35

2:01:47 Same thing, emptiness is not something that we have to create. Ultimate reality, that's the way things exist. You don't need to make it up. You don't need to see something that is not there. You simply need to see what is there, actually the way it is. So actually becoming enlightenment is very easy. Report an error in the passage at 2:01:47 Highlight the passage at 2:01:47

2:02:09 It's to stay in saṃsāra that is difficult. And we get so much work, you know, to keep it there. And that's why we're so tired and so stressed, because it's hard to stay, you know. Report an error in the passage at 2:02:09 Highlight the passage at 2:02:09

2:02:35 If only you could get a glimpse, you know, from time to time. It's so precious, so beautiful. And we make our life so miserable by living in the past and future. Report an error in the passage at 2:02:35 Highlight the passage at 2:02:35

2:02:52 And the present is so beautiful. Report an error in the passage at 2:02:52 Highlight the passage at 2:02:52

2:03:06 And it's not difficult, you see. It's just... How to say, we're passionate about so many things in life that are unimportant, but what is really important, we are not really passionate about it. You see, if you're passionate about living in the present, it's easy. If you're passionate about developing non-attachment, loving-kindness, emptiness, it's not difficult. Report an error in the passage at 2:03:06 Highlight the passage at 2:03:06

2:03:34 It's just we're not passionate about it. That's all. Our human mind is such, whatever we put our attention to, we can do it. There's nothing that you cannot do with your life if you want. It's just that we don't want enlightenment enough, you know. We're quite satisfied with our little life, that's all. That's all. Report an error in the passage at 2:03:34 Highlight the passage at 2:03:34

2:03:59 It's not difficult, it's just we are not passionate about it. Report an error in the passage at 2:03:59 Highlight the passage at 2:03:59

2:04:11 And there's two ways to become passionate. It's either... The carrot, you know, to move a donkey is either you put a carrot on the stick, you know, like, what was this guy? The Spanish, Dante Jote. So, you know, to move the donkey, you know, either you take a stick with a string and you put a carrot in front of the donkey, right? And the donkey wants to take the carrot and therefore he moves, right? Report an error in the passage at 2:04:11 Highlight the passage at 2:04:11

2:04:42 So, yeah, either the carrot or the stick, you know. So for us, spiritually, the masters of the past have found two ways to make us progress. Because we have a spiritual inertia. So either they dingle paradise in front, or they have the stick of hell. That's how they make us move, because psychologically we're so inert. Report an error in the passage at 2:04:42 Highlight the passage at 2:04:42

2:05:10 earth, you know, in earth, you know. So to make us move, either you dangle paradise or chick, chick, chick, hell, you're going to burn down there. And it works for some people. For most people it works, right? Report an error in the passage at 2:05:10 Highlight the passage at 2:05:10

2:05:35 So in Buddhism you have the stick and the carrot. They exist also, like in many religions, you find the stick and the carrot. If that works for you, that's fine. Report an error in the passage at 2:05:35 Highlight the passage at 2:05:35

2:05:54 But there's another way. Report an error in the passage at 2:05:54 Highlight the passage at 2:05:54

2:06:04 If you use your intelligence, you don't need the carrot and the stick. Report an error in the passage at 2:06:04 Highlight the passage at 2:06:04

2:06:11 If you look deeply into your mind and your heart, Report an error in the passage at 2:06:11 Highlight the passage at 2:06:11

2:06:18 you can see things how your own happiness cannot be found in the past, cannot be found in the future, can only be found right now. Report an error in the passage at 2:06:18 Highlight the passage at 2:06:18

2:06:35 And non-attachment takes away a lot of suffering in your life because attachment is unrealistic. It reifies, solidifies experiences. It adds something on reality which is not there and just produces suffering. Non-attachment brings you peace. Report an error in the passage at 2:06:35 Highlight the passage at 2:06:35

2:07:04 Loving kindness brings you connectness. You never feel lonely. It feels that you're connected with all living beings. It Report an error in the passage at 2:07:04 Highlight the passage at 2:07:04

2:07:19 brings you self-esteem. It brings you inner joy, inner light. You feel your consciousness is like a hot tub. You like to go inside. You feel your heart like that. And not only is it a pleasant hot tub, but it bubbles with little bubbles of joy. There's a lot of little flowers in there. It's bubbling with life and joke and joy. There's a lot of creativity in there. Report an error in the passage at 2:07:19 Highlight the passage at 2:07:19

2:07:55 It's not boring. People think, why are you meditating? It must be so boring to look at your mind. No, not at all. The mind is like, how to say, it's almost like a crystal ball. You look in your mind and you look in a crystal. Whatever question you have, you have the answer in there. You stare in that space and the mind is, how to say, it's like clear. Report an error in the passage at 2:07:55 Highlight the passage at 2:07:55

2:08:23 Any thought, any emotion, whatever exists in the universe can take shape and form and color within your mind. You just need to stare in there. You look like in a crystal ball and reality reveals itself to you, you know, within your mind. So it's fascinating, you know, you can watch in your mind, wow, you don't need to watch TV, just watch your heart, you know. Report an error in the passage at 2:08:23 Highlight the passage at 2:08:23

2:08:50 Much nicer TV. Report an error in the passage at 2:08:50 Highlight the passage at 2:08:50

2:08:56 And there's no distance. You can see wherever you want in the universe. You Report an error in the passage at 2:08:56 Highlight the passage at 2:08:56

2:09:04 can see everything in your heart. And Report an error in the passage at 2:09:04 Highlight the passage at 2:09:04

2:09:17 then you can see the superficial reality and at the same time the deep nature. You know how things ultimately exist as transparent, as senseless. Yes, they are senseless, yet they exist. So how do they exist? Simply in dependence on cause and condition, parts and mental label. So things exist. But they don't exist in this solid way like we see it with our senses. And so life becomes really magical. Report an error in the passage at 2:09:17 Highlight the passage at 2:09:17

2:09:49 You see, life is incredibly beautiful, but we are not aware of it. Report an error in the passage at 2:09:49 Highlight the passage at 2:09:49

2:09:59 And that beauty can be revealed to you. You see, if you look in the right direction, you have the passion. It Report an error in the passage at 2:09:59 Highlight the passage at 2:09:59

2:10:13 can happen. Report an error in the passage at 2:10:13 Highlight the passage at 2:10:13

2:10:19 So in daily life, Report an error in the passage at 2:10:19 Highlight the passage at 2:10:19

2:10:26 it's either you are in it, Or you are not. Moment by moment. Moment by moment is either you are aware of non-attachment, either you are aware of loving-kindness, of ultimate reality, or you are not. Report an error in the passage at 2:10:26 Highlight the passage at 2:10:26

2:10:47 You see, spiritual practice is not one hour in the morning on your cushion, is not half hour at night before going to bed. Report an error in the passage at 2:10:47 Highlight the passage at 2:10:47

2:11:03 Spiritual awakening is moment by moment. Report an error in the passage at 2:11:03 Highlight the passage at 2:11:03

2:11:09 Each moment you're aware, you're either in it or you're not. That's all. Report an error in the passage at 2:11:09 Highlight the passage at 2:11:09

2:11:39 And we think that agitation is fun, but agitation is like when you look at a lake and is agitated by the wind, all the reflections are fragmented. Report an error in the passage at 2:11:39 Highlight the passage at 2:11:39

2:11:55 There's no clear image. Yet, when the wind stops and the water is still, it reflects clearly. The trees around, the sun, everything is beautifully reflected in the water. Or at night, the moon, the stars, it seems that they are in the lake, so clear. Report an error in the passage at 2:11:55 Highlight the passage at 2:11:55

2:12:31 Same thing with the mind. If you still your mind, if you live in the present, the beauty of life reveals itself to us. It's because our mind is so fragmented, so agitated with all these thoughts and emotions about the past, the future. We cannot experience the beauty and yet it's there. Report an error in the passage at 2:12:31 Highlight the passage at 2:12:31

2:12:58 It's there all the time. Report an error in the passage at 2:12:58 Highlight the passage at 2:12:58

2:13:02 So maybe we can sit with that for five minutes. Report an error in the passage at 2:13:02 Highlight the passage at 2:13:02

· · · silence, 7 minutes

2:20:07 So whatever positive energy we've generated by coming here tonight and by listening to these things and trying to reflect on it. Report an error in the passage at 2:20:07 Highlight the passage at 2:20:07

2:20:18 May our spiritual aspiration be nourished and grow within one's heart, that we find deep inner peace and joy, and may that radiate out throughout the universe and bring peace and well-being to all living beings. Thank Report an error in the passage at 2:20:18 Highlight the passage at 2:20:18

2:20:48 you very much. Now, those which have to leave, please go, and those which have some questions, they can stay behind. I know some people have to travel far, so please, if you need to go, it's time to go. Report an error in the passage at 2:20:48 Highlight the passage at 2:20:48

2:21:02 And those which like to discuss, you know, they're welcome to stay. We can discuss for 10-15 minutes if you have questions. Okay, good night. Report an error in the passage at 2:21:02 Highlight the passage at 2:21:02

2:21:22 I have Report an error in the passage at 2:21:22 Highlight the passage at 2:21:22

2:21:36 a question, but I hesitate to ask the question because the Dharma talk was so deep for me in what she said. But this question has been bothering me from the time you made the comment. And the comment about there's no past, present and future, my mind kind of screamed when you said that. Because I thought, oh hell no, there is a past because I can only understand you because in the past I learned English and you learn English. Report an error in the passage at 2:21:36 Highlight the passage at 2:21:36

2:22:23 Because if there were a Tibetan person speaking Tibetan tonight, since I did not have that language in the past, I could not understand it today. I could not understand the Dharma talk tonight. And also I thought to myself, oh, well there's also a future. Because in my mind, when I say, may I be happy, may... Report an error in the passage at 2:22:23 Highlight the passage at 2:22:23

2:22:53 May I be free from suffering. That to me is a wish for the future. It never feels as a wish for the present. And even the word wish to me is couched in concepts of future. Because I never wish for something that I already have. Report an error in the passage at 2:22:53 Highlight the passage at 2:22:53

2:23:19 That's correct. Report an error in the passage at 2:23:19 Highlight the passage at 2:23:19

2:23:25 So... When I speak about no past, no future, I don't mean that there's no past and no future at all. So whatever we experience right now is a result of the past, right? So this body, you know, we weren't born with that age, right? So of course there was past, right? And we did things in the past, right? And we learned language and many things. Report an error in the passage at 2:23:25 Highlight the passage at 2:23:25

2:23:56 Who we are now is a result of that past, right? So, yeah, and definitely we're going to hopefully grow old and very old, you know, we all hope that, you know, and so consciousness is going to move on, right? So there is a future, there is a past, there is a future in that sense. But what I'm speaking is a psychological past and a psychological future. Report an error in the passage at 2:23:56 Highlight the passage at 2:23:56

2:24:28 You see, if you observe... How you identify yourself. We identify ourselves with the memories of the past, with what we have lived, what we have experienced and all these conditions, the way we see ourselves now and the way we react to others. Report an error in the passage at 2:24:28 Highlight the passage at 2:24:28

2:24:52 How to say you have our relationship with others. We are not fresh, we are not new. We react to others. Dependent on the memory of how our experience was with others in the past. So in our experience, we see things through the filter of our memory, of our habit, our conditioning, right? Report an error in the passage at 2:24:52 Highlight the passage at 2:24:52

2:25:23 So we don't experience the present in a fresh way, in a new way. That's why, how to say, when one is a child... A young adult, life seems beautiful and exciting, everything is new, right? And as life goes on, you see, because we have more and more memory, more and more stuff that we add on things, we don't experience life anymore in any new way, in any fresh way. Report an error in the passage at 2:25:23 Highlight the passage at 2:25:23

2:25:51 We see it through the filter of what we... You see, a flower is as beautiful at age 100 as age 10, but at age 10, the flower, we look it with fresh eye. And as we grow older, you know, we filter that direct experience with all what we add on top and we don't appreciate it anymore. Same thing with people, same thing with, you know, with life in general. We lose the freshness, the curiosity, the, you know, the awakeness, right? Report an error in the passage at 2:25:51 Highlight the passage at 2:25:51

2:26:25 And that can only happen if you take away the filter of all what we project on top. So of course in life you have to make some preparation for future, you know, old age pension and health insurance and where I'm going to live. Of course there is a future that we prepare, right? I'm not speaking about that. I speak about, you see, there is a certain level of preparation that we can do, but... Report an error in the passage at 2:26:25 Highlight the passage at 2:26:25

2:26:58 That level of anxiety that thinks about it all the time and always prepares for the future to the point that you don't live in the present. You always prepare for the future. So you're not here right now. So that's what I'm speaking about. So it's not the general movement of life. It's the fact that psychologically we're not here. Report an error in the passage at 2:26:58 Highlight the passage at 2:26:58

2:27:22 That's what I meant. Good point. Report an error in the passage at 2:27:22 Highlight the passage at 2:27:22

2:27:31 Yes. I Report an error in the passage at 2:27:31 Highlight the passage at 2:27:31

2:27:39 wonder if you could talk a little bit about The idea of caring, caring about things, caring for things and being attached. Report an error in the passage at 2:27:39 Highlight the passage at 2:27:39

2:27:54 I do environmental education with children and one of the things that we strive to do there is to introduce children and have them feel a connection. Report an error in the passage at 2:27:54 Highlight the passage at 2:27:54

2:28:11 the environment and a popular word these days is ownership of the environment with a mind towards the idea that when they it and feel connected to it they will I wonder if you could just comment a little bit about that and the concept of attachment. Report an error in the passage at 2:28:11 Highlight the passage at 2:28:11

2:28:50 It's funny, the last two years I lived in Washington State near the Canadian border and there's a lot of American Indians out there, right? Reserves and people which live up there. So I have a few friends which are quite close with the American Indians. Native American, you call them nowadays? So Native American, okay. So in their culture... Report an error in the passage at 2:28:50 Highlight the passage at 2:28:50

2:29:24 They don't have any concept of ownership, right? So things belong to everybody, you know? So they don't say, this is mine, so I need to take care because it's mine, you know? So yet they appreciate all this natural and they cherish it and they protect it because it's life and because it belongs to everybody. Report an error in the passage at 2:29:24 Highlight the passage at 2:29:24

2:29:52 So they shouldn't... There's a lot of hunter. And there's beautiful animals. But the way the hunters see it, Report an error in the passage at 2:29:52 Highlight the passage at 2:29:52

2:30:08 I don't know, it's almost like they see a toy with wings that run, you know. They don't see that it's alive and that it has feelings, that it has... Report an error in the passage at 2:30:08 Highlight the passage at 2:30:08

2:30:24 That it cherishes his own life and doesn't, you know, that it is afraid to be killed and that it has babies, you know, baby turkeys running, you know, and that it likes its partner and, you know, that they have feelings and they want to be happy and they don't want, you know, anything wrong going for them. Report an error in the passage at 2:30:24 Highlight the passage at 2:30:24

2:30:45 So a person, they don't, the hunters don't see the animals to that eyes. They see it as, how do they call that, wild games? What's the expression? Wild games, you know, it's fun, you know, to go hunting and it's a thrill, you get high, you know, shooting and things like that. So it just shows the disconnectness, you know, with life, you know, you don't feel life, you know, I don't know. Report an error in the passage at 2:30:45 Highlight the passage at 2:30:45

2:31:19 I think we are not able to... I appreciate beauty, the beauty of a tree, the beauty of a nice beach, of unspoiled environment. We think about it, oh here I could build a million dollar house, here I could put a road through. We see it from our western technological point of view. We don't see the pristine beauty of nature in itself. And I wonder why we become so disconnected. Report an error in the passage at 2:31:19 Highlight the passage at 2:31:19

2:31:57 You know, not to see the beauty. Actually, it's nicer to be unspoiled than made something out of. Report an error in the passage at 2:31:57 Highlight the passage at 2:31:57

2:32:11 So I think, for me, the key is to show children the beauty, the beauty of nature and how it's fragile, you know, how fragile it is, the ecosystem, how that depends on this animal, which depends on that one, that one, and then on the weather. Report an error in the passage at 2:32:11 Highlight the passage at 2:32:11

2:32:34 If you destroy this, well, it will affect also the land next door, next door, next door. So it sees the interdependence of nature and the interdependence of nature with the animal realm and with the human realm, how everything is interconnected. So Report an error in the passage at 2:32:34 Highlight the passage at 2:32:34

2:32:55 it's sad to see the environment as something to be used by humans. You know, that's just something, you know, that it's money, you know, or it can produce money. Report an error in the passage at 2:32:55 Highlight the passage at 2:32:55

2:33:09 What money I can do out of nature instead of seeing the connectness, the interconnectness with. And I think most primitive culture experience naturally this interconnectness, like the Native Americans, like, you know, any so-called primitive culture, you know, like the Aborigines in Australia. So they were in connection with nature. Even nowadays in Amazonas, you see this primitive. Report an error in the passage at 2:33:09 Highlight the passage at 2:33:09

2:33:39 They are very much in touch with the environment and they would use whatever is necessary for their survival, but they would not go on a killing rampage or destroy the environment more than what is just needed for their survival. Report an error in the passage at 2:33:39 Highlight the passage at 2:33:39

2:33:58 And they would make prayers before killing an animal, respecting its spirit and wishing them well and saying, sorry, I need it for my survival. Wish you any harm is just, you know, I need it for my survival. Report an error in the passage at 2:33:58 Highlight the passage at 2:33:58

2:34:17 So when you spoke, the word which made me feel a bit uneasy was the word ownership, you know, so meaning, oh, this is mine, you know, so I need to respect it because it's mine. So that's the word which I found a bit, you know, in that. But I understand in the Western world, you know, if it's mine, then I need to take care of it. Report an error in the passage at 2:34:17 Highlight the passage at 2:34:17

2:34:41 So it's a way of, you know, kind of like that. But that was the word I found, you know. But I understand, you know, where it comes from. So I think for me, how I would try to, education is to see, look how beautiful it is. How precious, you know, and how fragile it is and that we depend on it and not only us but other forms of life like all the animals, you know, the birds, the insects, the butterfly, they all depend on that, you know. Report an error in the passage at 2:34:41 Highlight the passage at 2:34:41

2:35:12 If we take, if we cut down a tree, there's hundreds of birds and insects and animals that will die or will have to live somewhere else. It's almost like taking away their home, right? So I think... I think children can respond to that, maybe. Report an error in the passage at 2:35:12 Highlight the passage at 2:35:12

2:35:33 But Report an error in the passage at 2:35:33 Highlight the passage at 2:35:33

2:35:44 I'm sure you have many better arguments for children. I have no experience with that. Let's just share what you, since you asked the question. Report an error in the passage at 2:35:44 Highlight the passage at 2:35:44

2:35:56 I want to thank you infinitely for the teaching that you gave this evening. It was truly an inspiration. Earlier, before I came here, I went to... A fundraiser event for folks that live, well they're homeless people with HIV and they've got this beautiful house now where they're able to live. So they had a little fundraiser and while I was there, well I had a nice time. I drank, I ate, listened to beautiful music. It was in a beautiful garden. Report an error in the passage at 2:35:56 Highlight the passage at 2:35:56

2:36:28 I was pretty much in bliss. I bought these little things from their live auction and it's two little candles. Actually, they're beer caps. I just got them spontaneously, but I want to give them to you because you enlightened me this evening. Thank you. And also, they made these bars of soap, and you've purified and cleansed so many things that were in my mind. Report an error in the passage at 2:36:28 Highlight the passage at 2:36:28

2:37:03 The only thing I thought that was missing is... Could you just mention maybe the four immeasurable joys? It sounds like that was the one thing that, the dessert part that I kind of missed. Report an error in the passage at 2:37:03 Highlight the passage at 2:37:03

2:37:24 What do you mean the immeasurable joy? Report an error in the passage at 2:37:24 Highlight the passage at 2:37:24

2:37:48 You see, what I try to do is to take it a little bit out of the religious context, you know, the Buddhist language. You know, I try to... I did what you mean. Report an error in the passage at 2:37:48 Highlight the passage at 2:37:48

· · · silence, 1 minute

2:38:00 Show that you can practice a deep spiritual path without necessarily taking a form, words and prayers and practices from the tradition, that you can experience what is said without using those traditional methods, that you can leave that without necessarily taking the form. Whatever form is useful for oneself, one can use, but it's not indispensable. Report an error in the passage at 2:38:00 Highlight the passage at 2:38:00

2:38:38 So in traditional Mahāyāna Buddhists, it's the four immerse, right? So there's immerse equanimity. So that I touched a little bit. You know, your loving kindness is not just for your friend or your family. It's also for people which are neither your friend or... Your enemies and they're also there for your enemies. So loving kindness is developed towards all beings and that generates, if one has that equanimity, what happens in the heart is that you don't constantly change. Report an error in the passage at 2:38:38 Highlight the passage at 2:38:38

2:39:17 I remember when I was a child at school, I started the year and we were maybe 20. In the classroom and I put the name on a piece of paper and every day I would give a note to the people in the class, you know, those which were friends, those who were kind to me, you know, we had a good time, so I would give a good note. Report an error in the passage at 2:39:17 Highlight the passage at 2:39:17

2:39:37 And people which, you know, bully me or did something nasty, I would put a zero, you know, and give notes like that. And I did that every day once, you know, for periods of months. And what I noticed to my surprise, At the beginning, it was very uneven, the notes, you know, but after a few months, actually they were all the same, you know, that actually I had no real friends, no real enemies, no strangers, that everybody, you know, you had good days with Wuzan and good days with Datan, so after a few months, you know, I was quite shocked, because at the beginning I was quite extreme, you know, oh, these are really my bodies, and this one, oh, you know, kind of like that, and after a while. Report an error in the passage at 2:39:37 Highlight the passage at 2:39:37

2:40:22 You know, it all equalizes. So equanimity seems that, yeah, you know, and the advantage is then you, how to say, normally when we meet a friend we make a nice smile and you know, people we don't know we just walk in front and people we don't like, you know, we look away. So basically... In life we have three attitudes towards people we like, these which we are indifferent, and those we don't like. So we constantly change our face, change our expression, the way we talk, depending on who we speak to. Report an error in the passage at 2:40:22 Highlight the passage at 2:40:22

2:40:56 It's very tiring. So if you're the same with everyone, it's much easier, it's much more genuine, and you're just the way you are, who you are, and you're like that with everyone. And that brings peace, you know, instead of constantly like, dislike, you know, kind of like that, changing. And Report an error in the passage at 2:40:56 Highlight the passage at 2:40:56

2:41:26 then immeasurable loving kindness. So basically it's the thought to wish well to all living beings, may they be happy. So one cultivates that. So there's a very nice text by Abante. A Theravadan monk from Sri Lanka that wrote a book called Beyond Mindfulness in Plain English. And that is a beautiful meditation that he said, you know, may I be well, happy, you know, this like that. Report an error in the passage at 2:41:26 Highlight the passage at 2:41:26

2:41:57 May I face difficulty with grace. You know, things like that. Yeah, so this beauty. And then he wishes that to his parents, then to his teacher, then to his friends, then to the people which are neither his friend nor his enemy, then to his enemy and then to all living beings. So, and to read that, it naturally brings that state of mind where you wish well to everyone, you know, including yourself. You know, everyone, you're one, you know, so you're included in everyone, right? Report an error in the passage at 2:41:57 Highlight the passage at 2:41:57

2:42:26 So this... It's immeasurable loving kindness to cultivate that state of mind. And then immeasurable compassion is the wish, you know, may all beings be free of their troubles, you know, starting again with oneself and then with one's parents and with one's friends, strangers and enemies and then to all living beings. Report an error in the passage at 2:42:26 Highlight the passage at 2:42:26

2:42:51 Then immeasurable joy is the wish that, you know, Report an error in the passage at 2:42:51 Highlight the passage at 2:42:51

2:42:59 May myself and all beings go from happiness to happiness. You see, it's to understand that happiness is produced by cause. So if I create the cause of happiness now, it's definitely that happiness will be my future. By creating the cause, so one wishes for once and for all beings to go from better rebirth to better rebirth to liberation and enlightenment. Report an error in the passage at 2:42:59 Highlight the passage at 2:42:59

2:43:23 Starting again with oneself and creating the cause for that. But again, you see, there you enter into a Buddhist worldview, which is not necessarily to adopt. You can develop this emotion genuinely in your heart without adhering to a philosophical system. One Report an error in the passage at 2:43:23 Highlight the passage at 2:43:23

2:43:53 more question. One of the gifts that the Bay Area gives to the world is a community of activists. It's a community of a lot of people who care. It's very concentrated here. We also give the world a lot of Dharma centers. But it's also a community of a lot of burnout. Report an error in the passage at 2:43:53 Highlight the passage at 2:43:53

2:44:19 And you talked about non-attachment. And I find a lot of people not understanding non-attachment very well in that it seems to mean to a lot of people, and I know it's incorrect, but it's hard for people to grasp that it doesn't mean passivity. Report an error in the passage at 2:44:19 Highlight the passage at 2:44:19

2:44:39 And that it doesn't mean indifference or apathy or going in a cave and forgetting about it all. And so I just am asking for a few more words for all those wonderful people who are in this area who, like this gentleman, you know, care so much. And then I was thinking about your car. Report an error in the passage at 2:44:39 Highlight the passage at 2:44:39

2:45:05 Also, how do we keep the loving kindness and the non-attachment when the car isn't just scratched, it's totaled. And you have to go through, because this is happening to a lot of lives. It's not just practicing non-attachment to the paint falling on your house. It's people losing the entire house and having to live in a two-bedroom Toyota, you know. Report an error in the passage at 2:45:05 Highlight the passage at 2:45:05

2:45:33 And there's a lot of suffering right now. So developing non-attachment under those conditions. When you have to sue somebody so that you can buy a new car now that they totaled your car. And going through that process without getting negative or dragged down by a legal process that you might have to get involved in. Report an error in the passage at 2:45:33 Highlight the passage at 2:45:33

2:45:59 That kind of thing. And apart from that, I'm so grateful you're here. Report an error in the passage at 2:45:59 Highlight the passage at 2:45:59

2:46:15 The first part of the question, I think I didn't touch that topic tonight. I intended, but the time went, you know, was a bit short. So there's another aspect that I didn't touch, but I think is important, is the motivation, why we do something, the intention. Why do I care about this and that? And then is the action, what you do about it. And then at the end is the completion, the rejoicing or regretting having engaged in the thing. Report an error in the passage at 2:46:15 Highlight the passage at 2:46:15

2:46:58 You see, so spiritually the action is not so important. What is important is your motivation, your intention. Why do you do something? So how far-reaching your action becomes, Depends on why you do it. Report an error in the passage at 2:46:58 Highlight the passage at 2:46:58

2:47:31 So usually in the morning, normally in Buddhist practice you always start with the motivation and at the end you end with the dedication to make an action very powerful. So if your motivation is very far-reaching, the action will be more beneficial. And if you dedicate, then for a certain purpose, again it becomes more powerful. So you see, the action might be just reciting a prayer, but that prayer, how far-reaching it becomes, depends on your motivation and on the dedication at the end. Report an error in the passage at 2:47:31 Highlight the passage at 2:47:31

2:48:06 So this is true too for activists, you know, when you help, you want to bring, let's say you want to save the, how do you call those animals? The whales. You know, so you, you know, you work for Greenpeace and you want to save the whales. Report an error in the passage at 2:48:06 Highlight the passage at 2:48:06

2:48:39 So if you just want to save the whales, you know, from extinction, it's nice, but it's very limited. Report an error in the passage at 2:48:39 Highlight the passage at 2:48:39

2:48:53 Because, how to say, in the background what is not said, but what is implied is actually you care for all lives. You care for all the fishes and for all the birds and for all the animal realm. And you also care for the humans, but you don't want the humans to destroy the environment like that. Report an error in the passage at 2:48:53 Highlight the passage at 2:48:53

2:49:26 But death is unavoidable, so Report an error in the passage at 2:49:26 Highlight the passage at 2:49:26

2:49:36 you have to take care of something deeper than just life itself, of the animals. Report an error in the passage at 2:49:36 Highlight the passage at 2:49:36

2:49:57 And then in the process, if you get angry and develop hatred for the fishermen, which just make a living, not only, you see, so you don't achieve happiness yourself. Your whole life you develop this anger and you cultivate anger and the fighting spirit and things like that. So your own mind, instead of becoming better, just becomes worse. Report an error in the passage at 2:49:57 Highlight the passage at 2:49:57

2:50:31 And you might achieve your goal of saving the animals or you might not. Report an error in the passage at 2:50:31 Highlight the passage at 2:50:31

2:50:43 But whether you achieve your goal or not doesn't matter. You see, if your motivation was good and you did the best you could, you have no regret. Report an error in the passage at 2:50:43 Highlight the passage at 2:50:43

2:51:02 You see, Report an error in the passage at 2:51:02 Highlight the passage at 2:51:02

2:51:06 the intention is more important than the action and the intention actually is more important than the result. So you might succeed or you might not succeed. It doesn't matter. Report an error in the passage at 2:51:06 Highlight the passage at 2:51:06

2:51:30 Because you had this motivation, you felt it was a worthwhile project to save life, to respect the environment. So you dedicate your life for that and that's achieving the goal by itself. You might succeed in some project, you might not in others. That's fine. It doesn't matter. Report an error in the passage at 2:51:30 Highlight the passage at 2:51:30

2:52:01 Now if one is not peace, one cannot bring peace, you see, it's by one's example. So I feel sometimes the activists, they use means which are a little bit border, you know, that the edge of, they use almost sometimes means, Report an error in the passage at 2:52:01 Highlight the passage at 2:52:01

2:52:24 sometimes we say that ends justify means, and I think in Buddhism we wouldn't accept that. You see, the means are very important. Report an error in the passage at 2:52:24 Highlight the passage at 2:52:24

2:52:37 You cannot justify. Violence in any way. Violence only breeds more violence. Report an error in the passage at 2:52:37 Highlight the passage at 2:52:37

2:52:51 And if one is not in peace oneself, one cannot bring peace out there. Report an error in the passage at 2:52:51 Highlight the passage at 2:52:51

2:53:11 Yet, one should never give up. One's project, even if one faces obstacles, one should never give up. Because once one's motivation is clear, Report an error in the passage at 2:53:11 Highlight the passage at 2:53:11

2:53:26 I think to make the world a better place is... To have beings like that is indispensable. We need them. Report an error in the passage at 2:53:26 Highlight the passage at 2:53:26

2:53:36 But if it's completely separate from spirituality, from the essence of life, Report an error in the passage at 2:53:36 Highlight the passage at 2:53:36

2:53:44 if it's just based on technology and on science, without heart, then again it's divorced from life. Report an error in the passage at 2:53:44 Highlight the passage at 2:53:44

2:54:01 And the second part you said? Report an error in the passage at 2:54:01 Highlight the passage at 2:54:01

2:54:09 Yeah, practicing the non-attachment and also being really patient when the car's not just scratched, it's totaled. And then you're involved in lawsuits and all that. Yeah, I got you. Thank you. There, again, it's for peace of mind. You know, what you do for peace of mind. So there's a mind training technique which is very important. Each time you face a problem, you say, good, that's nice. Report an error in the passage at 2:54:09 Highlight the passage at 2:54:09

2:54:43 You see, the normal reaction, you have a problem, you say, oh, pshh, again, not me. Why not on somebody else? It fails on me. I don't deserve it. Oh, la la, I would rather not have this problem. Report an error in the passage at 2:54:43 Highlight the passage at 2:54:43

2:55:02 Oh, you become depressed. You get cancer, you get depressed. Your car gets smudged, you get depressed. You lose your job, you get depressed. You lose your friend, you get depressed. Report an error in the passage at 2:55:02 Highlight the passage at 2:55:02

2:55:19 There's so many obstacles we face in life, you know, so many things don't go the way we would love them to go. Actually, one of the suffering of life is not to encounter the happiness you want, right? That's one of the universal suffering of life, okay? The other one is to meet problems you don't want, you know? And therefore, like rain, you know, every day we face things we would rather not have, right? Report an error in the passage at 2:55:19 Highlight the passage at 2:55:19

2:55:46 Small things. In everyday life and big things. So now if each time you face a difficulty, each time you face a problem, you say, oh no, oh no, oh no. And you do that ten times in a day. And then you complain about it to your friends. You call up your friend, your mom and your dad. Report an error in the passage at 2:55:46 Highlight the passage at 2:55:46

2:56:17 Not only you face the problem, but you think about it a lot. And you infect other people with your problem. So it spreads. Not only are you unhappy, but you make other people unhappy with it. Report an error in the passage at 2:56:17 Highlight the passage at 2:56:17

2:56:36 So you take it a habit and then slowly it becomes your ordinary state of mind. So like the Dalai Lama said, at the beginning you have a thought and then you cultivate it, it becomes a habit and then it becomes a tendency, then it becomes your ordinary state of mind. So each time you face a problem and you are unhappy, you reinforce this unhappy state of mind and then it becomes your ordinary state. Report an error in the passage at 2:56:36 Highlight the passage at 2:56:36

2:57:06 And you're slightly depressed all the time. Report an error in the passage at 2:57:06 Highlight the passage at 2:57:06

2:57:13 So that's the consequence. Each time you face a problem, you say, oh no, I don't like, I'm unhappy. So each time you reinforce this unhappy mind, then it becomes a habit, it becomes your ordinary mind. So that's one consequence of not liking problems. Report an error in the passage at 2:57:13 Highlight the passage at 2:57:13

2:57:36 Now another mantra that for me is the most important Buddhist mantra. you face a problem, if there's a solution, why be unhappy? If there's a solution to the problem, you just solve it. To be unhappy doesn't add anything. Report an error in the passage at 2:57:36 Highlight the passage at 2:57:36

2:57:58 To be unhappy about it doesn't change, you just need to do what needs to be done. To be upset doesn't add anything. To be upset doesn't add anything. And if nothing can be done, again, why get upset? The person ran away, you didn't write down his number, you don't know who it was. Well, to be upset doesn't make the car number appear on a piece of paper, right? So to be upset about it doesn't help, right? Report an error in the passage at 2:57:58 Highlight the passage at 2:57:58

2:58:33 So if there's a solution, why get upset? And if there's no solution, why get upset? In both cases, you just add another problem to the problem, right? You just add your upset, unhappy mind to the problem, but your unhappy mind doesn't help to solve the problem, right? And that one has really to meditate a long time. Report an error in the passage at 2:58:33 Highlight the passage at 2:58:33

2:58:55 It seems a simple statement, but I spend hours meditating on that, you know, that it really sinks in. That unhappy doesn't help anything when you face a problem. It just adds to the problem. It doesn't help you to solve the problem. To be unhappy, no use. So better be happy. When you have a problem, you say, great, fantastic. Report an error in the passage at 2:58:55 Highlight the passage at 2:58:55

2:59:22 Oh, great, a problem. Good, good. You say, good, problem, good. And then... You have to have reason why. So problems are good for many reasons. If we wouldn't have problems, we would have no wish to grow spiritually. If life would be a paradise, we would just relax and enjoy. It's because we have problems that we seek for something more. Report an error in the passage at 2:59:22 Highlight the passage at 2:59:22

2:59:53 We think, but there must be more to life than to face these everyday problems. Why? Why do we have this thought wishing to reach liberation and enlightenment? It's because we have problems. If we didn't have problems, we wouldn't look for something better. We would just enjoy, you know, party all the time, great. Report an error in the passage at 2:59:53 Highlight the passage at 2:59:53

3:00:16 So problems are helpful, you see, that because we have problems, we seek liberation and enlightenment. Report an error in the passage at 3:00:16 Highlight the passage at 3:00:16

3:00:28 Also, if we didn't have problems, we couldn't generate compassion, right? It's only when you face a problem and you see how it feels that you can feel how other people feel which have problems and difficulty. When you have pain, you really feel how it is to have pain and you have genuine compassion. Otherwise, often it's just intellectual compassion. Report an error in the passage at 3:00:28 Highlight the passage at 3:00:28

3:00:55 But it's only when you feel it that you know how it feels and then you can have genuine compassion. Report an error in the passage at 3:00:55 Highlight the passage at 3:00:55

3:01:04 If you're a Buddhist, you say, well, the problems are not sent to me by God, they don't happen at random, it's a ripening of karma, right? So I face this problem because I create the cause for it. So, you know, it's not something I don't deserve, right? Okay. So if I don't want it to happen again, I should correct my behavior, be careful not creating the cause for it, right? So problem is, reawakens our... Report an error in the passage at 3:01:04 Highlight the passage at 3:01:04

3:01:34 Understanding of karma. Oh, I should be careful. And then problems are good. My house destroyed is not a big deal. Cancer is much worse. So there's much worse problems. So if I can clean my karma by my house being destroyed, I would rather have that than being paralyzed from the head down, laying in bed for 20 years. Report an error in the passage at 3:01:34 Highlight the passage at 3:01:34

3:01:54 You know, that's nothing the house destroyed. So you say, okay, purified in a simple way, just my car being smudged. Smashed. No big deal. Could have been much worse. Report an error in the passage at 3:01:54 Highlight the passage at 3:01:54

3:02:17 And then, there's many other ways you can think about facing problems. And like that, actually, you start seeing that problems are indispensable for your spiritual progress. So you like your problems. Without genuine, real problems... How to say... We see people which have faced very little problems, they're a little bit like a butterfly in life. And then people which have faced problems, somehow you see there's a much deeper soul there. Report an error in the passage at 3:02:17 Highlight the passage at 3:02:17

3:02:53 Wow, these beings have faced life and they faced it with grace and somehow they mature spiritually, they learned from it and they grew. That's beautiful human beings, you can see. So often, you know, people which were in concentration camp or in prison or in, you know, yeah, like Nelson Mandela, you know, these people, they faced incredible adversity, yet they faced it with grace and courage and they became these beautiful human beings. Report an error in the passage at 3:02:53 Highlight the passage at 3:02:53

3:03:26 So as a conclusion, problems are good, you know, so one should, you know, and it completely depends on your training. Report an error in the passage at 3:03:26 Highlight the passage at 3:03:26

3:03:43 So, in the example that Raman said, you know, there was a person which went to see the Dalai Lama and he was in prison in Tibet and being tortured. And when he escaped, he went to, like many Tibetans, they go to see His Holiness. And he told his story to the Dalai Lama, how he was tortured in prison and, you know, and that he was so scared, you know, he was so scared. Report an error in the passage at 3:03:43 Highlight the passage at 3:03:43

3:04:11 And the Dalai Lama thought, oh, he must be, yeah. Oh yeah, I would be scared too, you know, scared of being killed, right? And the monk said, oh no, no, no, no, it's not that. I was scared of losing my love and compassion towards the person that were torturing me, you know. Because he had taken the bodhisattva vows, you know, generate loving kindness to all living beings, and he was scared to lose his bodhisattva, you know, his loving kindness towards the person. Report an error in the passage at 3:04:11 Highlight the passage at 3:04:11

3:04:39 So that's, you know, amazing. So that shows an incredible strong mind training. So for us, you see, we don't face torture, imprison, you know, like that. So if we develop this loving kindness and to face whatever problem we have with grace and patience, I think it's incredible. Because at the end of the road, when we die, the only thing we take with us is our heart, you know, is our mind, is the quality of our inner being. Report an error in the passage at 3:04:39 Highlight the passage at 3:04:39

3:05:12 So if you have loving kindness, patience, when you die, wherever you end up, you have this loving kindness and care. So wherever you're born, it's okay, because you have a good mind. So for example, these stories of the Buddha, once he was reborn in the Lower Rim, in the Hells, because of having, I don't remember, I think he stopped. Report an error in the passage at 3:05:12 Highlight the passage at 3:05:12

3:05:41 He escaped and stepped over his mom's head or something like that and was reborn in the hell. But in the hell, he had so much compassion for his fellow beings in the hell that in that instant he was born in the god realms. You see, the mind of loving kindness is such a pure mind, even if you end up in a worse place, you know, that loving mind makes you impossible to stay there. Report an error in the passage at 3:05:41 Highlight the passage at 3:05:41

3:06:09 It instantly purified the negative karma when he was born in the God realms. So it just shows the mind of Lama is such a pure state of mind. So usually when one dies, one is born with other people of the same quality of mind. So here in the human realm is the one which is most diverse, but other realms, beings are more equal. Report an error in the passage at 3:06:09 Highlight the passage at 3:06:09

3:06:35 So we are attracted by when we... die, you know, after the clear light of death, basically we are attracted by the same level of vibration of the mind and we all end up in a similar place. Report an error in the passage at 3:06:35 Highlight the passage at 3:06:35

3:06:50 if one's mind is with loving kindness, we are born in the upper realm, in the God realms, or the Bodhisattva realms, the Pure Lands and things like that. So loving kindness takes care of us in this life, makes us happy, takes us... care of us when we die and takes care of us in the future life so there's nothing more important than having loving kindness ok you very much Report an error in the passage at 3:06:50 Highlight the passage at 3:06:50

3:07:25 Venerable, I think I speak for at least most of us here when I say thank you so very much for taking time from your busy schedule and to escape from Washington and down to Vajrapani Institute and then take a day to come here. Very, very grateful. And I would like to beg you to come back. Beg you to come back and lead us at the very least on a weekend retreat. Report an error in the passage at 3:07:25 Highlight the passage at 3:07:25

3:07:53 Without attachment. Without attachment. Without attachment, yeah. And that's a future request in the present. Okay, thank you very much. Good night. This is for the center. Yes, yes, yes, yes. Report an error in the passage at 3:07:53 Highlight the passage at 3:07:53

3:08:16 Okay, good night. Report an error in the passage at 3:08:16 Highlight the passage at 3:08:16

3:08:22 You know, spoil it or destroy it because it, you know, Report an error in the passage at 3:08:22 Highlight the passage at 3:08:22