Shamatha Retreat with Alan Wallace 2012 (part 16)

0:12 We will return to this practice focusing on the sensations of the breath with the nostrils. And this is kind of the full package, because when you're focusing there, you can indeed continue to become more and more relaxed. The mind does get more and more stable. And then as the sensations of the breath get subtler, that also then enhances the vividness. So it's very synergistic. Report an error in the passage at 0:12 Highlight the passage at 0:12

0:34 And my very strong hunch is that you can go a lot further with this, the sensations there at the nostrils, than you can focusing on the rise and fall of the abdomen. Because this is simply a coarser object. These sensations, there's a lot of nerve endings down there. These sensations don't get that subtle. And it's a different type because it's expansion of muscles and contraction of muscles. Report an error in the passage at 0:34 Highlight the passage at 0:34

0:55 Whereas this is actually the sensation of the passage of the air itself over the skin. And so this will bring about, focusing up here at the nostrils, will bring about a much finer, much subtler state of consciousness than simply focusing on the rise and fall of the abdomen. That said, this is easier down at the abdomen, so it gives you more traction, it's easier to engage with it, so that's very good for stability, just getting in the whole system to calm down. Report an error in the passage at 0:55 Highlight the passage at 0:55

1:20 But insofar as it is sufficiently calmed down, then you'll get more mileage, so to speak, more benefit by focusing up here at the nostrils, because then you'll get all three synergistically, Reinforcing each other. So let's have one more session, focusing on this phase three, this third gear. I'll give a bit of instruction, not quite so detailed as the last session. Report an error in the passage at 1:20 Highlight the passage at 1:20

· · · silence, 2 minutes

3:28 So we have just about 15 minutes before the noon hour. So maybe we just open this up for discussion and start, if the question lingers from last night. Start over here. Yes, indeed. Oh, you're right on the spot, Claudio. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Alan. My name's Sandy. Sandy? Yep. I was just wondering, I have, as you mentioned yesterday, about visualization. Yes. I do have difficulty in visualization. Report an error in the passage at 3:28 Highlight the passage at 3:28

3:59 Yeah. And I know it's a very big part of practice. Yeah. Do you have any instructions, tips on how to develop that more? Uh-huh. Sure. Well, part of it is kind of the common sense answer that is try, try again until you succeed. That kind of thing. Just keep on working at it, but that's kind of mundane. Why is it so difficult? Well, let's be a bit practical too. Report an error in the passage at 3:59 Highlight the passage at 3:59

4:25 And that is, if we just go classic, classic Tibetan route, how do Tibetans do it? They're not all naturally gifted. And even if they're living at 15,000 feet, still that doesn't mean they're going to have a really easy time. And what they will do, in terms of sheer practical strategy, is, for example, if you want to visualize a glass of water, or it could be a Buddha image, anything you like, but this is here now. Report an error in the passage at 4:25 Highlight the passage at 4:25

4:46 If you'd like to visualize, you'd like to develop shamatha on the mental image of a glass of water. That's possible. Then what you do is you place a glass of water in front of you and you'd really gaze at it and become extremely familiar with it. You know, look at it again and then having really looked at it, the colors of it, the shape and so forth, just all the visual impressions and then close your eyes and try to generate a replica and then go back to it again. Report an error in the passage at 4:46 Highlight the passage at 4:46

5:14 Oh, I hadn't noticed that before. Okay, a bit more. Okay, got it. Report an error in the passage at 5:14 Highlight the passage at 5:14

5:20 It fades out. Okay, there it is. And so you can go back and forth, back and forth. Padmasambhava, when he teaches shamatha, he actually has people start with focusing on a stone, a stick or a flower. Just something purely visual. And will you achieve shamatha just doing that? The answer is no. But it does get you at least to calm down and focus on something that's just right there in your visual field. Report an error in the passage at 5:20 Highlight the passage at 5:20

5:44 It could be, for that matter, a pair of eyeglasses. Okay, can you just focus on that? And so... Just getting to be able to focus at all is a good step in the right direction. And then if you want to develop a mental image, then have a proxy. That is the visual. Keep on coming back to it again and again. If it's a lovely image, like a Tata image, then it would be kind of enjoyable to come back. And so it just makes a deeper and deeper impression of just sheer familiarity. Report an error in the passage at 5:44 Highlight the passage at 5:44

6:10 And that's a practical strategy. So that's kind of coming from the sheer developmental approach. Which, again, I never want anybody to have the impression, oh, that's the... You know, a poor approach. No, for some people it's the better approach, or it's certainly in any case a very viable approach. But now there's the kind of the insight from the inside out, and that is the calmer your mind is, the easier, just in principle, the calmer, the more serene, the less cluttered your mind is, with a whole bunch of junk images, you know. Report an error in the passage at 6:10 Highlight the passage at 6:10

6:39 Then it will be easier, just by sheer lack of competition, to be able to generate an image. Okay? So there's a truism. And for that, mindfulness of breathing. Mindfulness of breathing is just really one of the most effective techniques for just health cleaning. Getting the space of the mind to be uncluttered. Report an error in the passage at 6:39 Highlight the passage at 6:39

6:57 And you do it not by clamping down, but by releasing with every out-breath. It's almost like a broom. Okay, out with the old. Out with the old. Out with the old. Until you just have more of a conceptual vacuum. And there's a very skillful means here with this mindfulness of breathing. If we consider the space of the mind to be like a volume. Report an error in the passage at 6:57 Highlight the passage at 6:57

7:16 And when we're attending to the tactile sensations, for example, here at the nostrils, it's as if we're filling that volume of mental awareness, just filling it with sensations of the breath. That's what's on our mind. That's what fills the mind. So it's almost like having a vial or just a glass jar and then filling it with that. Report an error in the passage at 7:16 Highlight the passage at 7:16

7:40 And the fuller it is, the denser, the more... The more compact, the denser it is filled, then the less space there is for other images and thoughts and memories and so forth to poke in. Because I'm sorry, this is like a latrine. Report an error in the passage at 7:40 Highlight the passage at 7:40

7:55 Occupied. There's not room for two people here. This is occupied. And so the space of your mind is occupied by the sensations of the breath, which are non-conceptual. Non-conceptual. Which means you've just edged out. There's just no space. If it's really a full-time job, you've edged out. For all those concepts and mental thoughts, mental images coming in. So that can be helpful. Just to first out clean out the room and so it's empty and then if you've done that, and this is why so many Tibetans do a bit of mindfulness of breathing before they do the visualization. Report an error in the passage at 7:55 Highlight the passage at 7:55

8:26 They'll do 21 breaths. That's the most common practice of mindfulness of breathing in the Tibetan tradition. 21 breaths. And then they'll get on to what they really want to do. To clean out like that. To give a final indicator of this. Report an error in the passage at 8:26 Highlight the passage at 8:26

8:41 To suggest also that visualization is not an ability you don't have, that you have to develop from scratch. There's something you may be very familiar with, it's called hypnagogic imagery. And this is the images that arise when you're almost asleep, you're not quite awake anymore, but you're not really dreaming. Right there on the cusp, a lot of people have experienced this, and it's often very visual, very strong visual images, but it could be hearing a symphony, or hearing Paul McCartney sing yesterday. Report an error in the passage at 8:41 Highlight the passage at 8:41

9:11 But really, a really clear soundtrack. And it's like sitting in the room, being in a room, hearing his voice. Or you may be hearing the sound of a brook. Report an error in the passage at 9:11 Highlight the passage at 9:11

9:21 But boy, this is like just sitting next to a brook. So whether it's auditory, whether it's visual, for that matter, it could be other sensory domains as well. But they come in so clearly. And it's not a dream, but it's so clear. Like, wow, I can really visualize. But it's just happening spontaneously. Report an error in the passage at 9:21 Highlight the passage at 9:21

9:41 Well, why is it so clear? I mean, really clear, kind of like 3D technicolor. You're right there. And I would suggest, number one, it's happening naturally. You're not trying to do it, but it is visualization. What else is it? It's mental imagery. But it's because there's so little competition. Your senses are largely withdrawn. Report an error in the passage at 9:41 Highlight the passage at 9:41

10:01 You're lying in a totally boring environment. Your bedroom with the lights out. Hopefully it's quiet. And so very little competition from the five physical senses. And you're almost asleep. So all the chit-chat of the mind has gradually pretty well subsided, but you haven't zoned out yet. You haven't lost clarity. Report an error in the passage at 10:01 Highlight the passage at 10:01

10:20 So in that little interlude, where the chit-chat of the mind, the rumination, and the implosion, the pressing in, the impressions of all of the sense fields, that's gone dormant. And you haven't yet lost clarity. In that little interlude, that's when mental imagery comes up real bright and clear, super bright. And then, of course, the obvious. Report an error in the passage at 10:20 Highlight the passage at 10:20

10:42 Dreams. And dreams can be so vivid, so detailed that you are really completely persuaded you're awake. And what's that? That's just one long visualization exercise. But once again with no competition. And that is your five physical senses are shut down. And so all of your awareness is in the mental domain. And then something is catalyzed, mental images start to come up and they can be incredibly clear and vivid. Report an error in the passage at 10:42 Highlight the passage at 10:42

11:06 Same thing though. No competition. So you can either work kind of the muscular way from outside in, which has its merits, and that is, do it with visual, and just kind of muscle your way through, develop the ability, and of course these are complementary. Do that and develop a greater spaciousness, quiet, develop, cultivate that interlude where the mind is really quiet but has not lost its clarity. Report an error in the passage at 11:06 Highlight the passage at 11:06

11:29 And then it will be easier. Are you by any chance friends of Jen? Because there's at least one Sandra here. Okay, so anything else coming up? We have a couple of minutes. Yes, please. Brian. I'm finding with this more subtle object that it is very easy to find myself clamping down. Report an error in the passage at 11:29 Highlight the passage at 11:29

11:56 Calming down or clamping down? Clamping down. Oh yeah, very easy. Yeah, I can feel my forehead getting tight. So what I've been experimenting with doing is, as soon as I notice that, is just to go back to the whole body. And to relax that and sort of almost create the conditions within which the breath will arise. Is that a good way to do it? Report an error in the passage at 11:56 Highlight the passage at 11:56

12:20 And also when you were talking about relaxing the eyes and not being aware of your image by a visual awareness, what did you mean by that? Is that like visualizing in your mind the object? No, it's not that so much. Because even when you visualize in your mind, you're doing that with your mental awareness, not visual. Visual is talking about photons, optic nerve, you know, that kind of thing, retina, optic nerve, visual cortex. Report an error in the passage at 12:20 Highlight the passage at 12:20

12:49 But it's clearly, these are images arising independent upon photons striking the retina, right? So that's visual. But if you're focusing on, if you're looking at a glass of water and then you generate that image in your mind, that image that's generated, that's not happening directly catalyzed by photons. Report an error in the passage at 12:49 Highlight the passage at 12:49

13:06 That's a mental image inspired by, based upon memories of visual impressions. But it's purely mental. And the same thing in dreams. There are no photons coming in. There are no sound waves hitting your ears when you're hearing sounds in the dream. But these are based upon memories that were catalyzed by sensory stimuli. Report an error in the passage at 13:06 Highlight the passage at 13:06

13:26 So, I would suggest two approaches, rather like with Sundra. And that is, one is when you find that heaviness coming in, the clenching, the contraction, see if you can just... Loosen it up. And this kind of really soft baby face, kind of like, just loose, soft, open like that. See if you can just kind of nudge it back and replace any kind of contraction with a total spaciousness. You absolutely do not want to make a habit of getting that clamped down and then holding it. Report an error in the passage at 13:26 Highlight the passage at 13:26

13:58 That just gives rise to tension. So there's one approach. And the other approach is quite good. It's quite good. That's exactly why we're teaching, or I've been teaching, mindfulness of breathing in three phases. A lot of people teach it just one phase. In Shavasana, so I learned Shavasana, the corpse position, from Iyengar. Report an error in the passage at 13:58 Highlight the passage at 13:58

14:16 I trained with him very intensely for about two and a half months. Boy, when he taught the Shavasana, he taught that with all the precision and the intensity of any other asana. And it's not just a physical posture, it is also a mental state and you are very present in your body. Very relaxed, very clear, very calm, and your body is totally flaked out in the Shavasana. So that was a nice segue. And he said, master the Shavasana before you even think about meditation. Report an error in the passage at 14:16 Highlight the passage at 14:16

14:41 That's what he did. I think there's some merit in that. So I kind of drew that from him. It's completely compatible with the Buddhist teachings. And the Buddha did see, in the Satipaṭṭhāna Sūtra, he speaks of lying down in meditation. You know, you can do that too. So I'm not trying to make some blend of Hinduism and Buddhism, but it's a nice entry. Report an error in the passage at 14:41 Highlight the passage at 14:41

14:59 And also on those occasions when we're really stressed out, a tough day at work or we've had an argument or whatever, going to the supine position, full body awareness can be the best medicine. Gets out all that tight, contracted energy, diffuse, calm, soothes out, really healthy, psychologically and physiologically. So that's why I taught that. Report an error in the passage at 14:59 Highlight the passage at 14:59

15:20 Some people teach just the rise and fall of the abdomen, Mahāsi Sayadaw, that was pretty much the technique he taught. Very good for stability, not that great for vividness. But, very good restability. And then in the classic Theravāda tradition, I mean going back to Buddhagosa, they'll just teach here. They won't mess around here. This is new. This is a new technique, relatively speaking. Report an error in the passage at 15:20 Highlight the passage at 15:20

15:39 But I'm teaching all three because they all have their value. And so let's take an analogy and that is, imagine you're in a car with a standard transmission and you're zipping along at 40 miles an hour and then you come to an incline and then it gets steeper and steeper and then you start finding there's some potholes and some pretty Pretty heavy doing, it's now a dirt road and it's a really grotty dirt road. And you are in third gear. And then suddenly, sooner or later you find your engine is lugging. Report an error in the passage at 15:39 Highlight the passage at 15:39

16:09 So you know exactly what that means. You're in the wrong gear. You say, okay, I can't handle this incline with these kind of potholes. I can't handle this in third gear. The car's going to just stall or it's just not working. So you downshift and you say, okay, how about second gear? And you say, no, it's still lugging. Report an error in the passage at 16:09 Highlight the passage at 16:09

16:26 Okay, well then first gear. And now you're in first gear, you know, full traction, all-wheel drive, and then you, you know, go right on up. And so the first gear is this full body awareness. Okay? No matter how stressed out you are, you probably can just be aware of your body and the breath. Not that hard. You can get some traction there, and it does help to gradually really calm the mind, soothe the whole body-mind system. Report an error in the passage at 16:26 Highlight the passage at 16:26

16:48 If that's going well, then you might bring in a little bit of discipline to enhance stability. Here's second gear. And if that's going well, then you're loose, you're relaxed, you're not contracted as the mind does become calmer and more stable. If that's going well, then you can come up here and see what third gear is like. Report an error in the passage at 16:48 Highlight the passage at 16:48

17:03 If you start lugging and that contraction coming in, getting tight and so forth, then downshift to second gear or first gear. One final one. Yes. Report an error in the passage at 17:03 Highlight the passage at 17:03

17:19 Is it Carolyn? Cassandra. Cassandra. Cassandra. Thank you. I'll remember this one. The one nobody ever believes. Yes. did I remember? Cassandra. Cassandra. Cassandra. Report an error in the passage at 17:19 Highlight the passage at 17:19

17:29 And this is something that's been puzzling me for a couple of days. I'm fairly new to this. I've read your book, The Attention Revolution. I've been listening carefully to what you say. And I'm very puzzled about Vipassanā because you see it everywhere. Yes, all over the place. And I told people I was coming here, they said, oh, Vipassanā. Report an error in the passage at 17:29 Highlight the passage at 17:29

17:48 And I said, no. And, you know, I hear very clearly that I have to get, well, one needs to be able to achieve access to the first yana, right? Now that sounds to me like a heavy duty, long commitment. That's professional training. In order to attempt Vipassanā. So therefore I'm puzzled about the proliferation of Vipassanā and the fact that, for example, this institute offers Vipassanā. Report an error in the passage at 17:48 Highlight the passage at 17:48

18:19 A Vipassanā weekend, I think, which I kind of ticked. I thought, yeah, I could do that. But now I realize that I couldn't do it or that I've got a long haul. And I'm the same age as you. I wonder how much time I've got in order to have any insight at all. And so I know partly your rant before, as you described it, may have partly answered this for me, but it is something that is really puzzling me. Report an error in the passage at 18:19 Highlight the passage at 18:19

18:47 Right. Very good. Very clearly articulated. I'll try to give an answer worthy of your question. Report an error in the passage at 18:47 Highlight the passage at 18:47

18:55 Over the last 50 years, 40 years more specifically, there's been a lot of popularization of Vipassanā. And it's helped tens of thousands of people. Going to these popular weekend Vipassanā retreats, Goenka, the Indian meditation teacher, has taught thousands upon thousands of people. All over India, and then he doesn't let other people teach much, so it's his recordings. But they're done all over the world now, people taking his 10-day retreat. I've done it. It's very cathartic. Report an error in the passage at 18:55 Highlight the passage at 18:55

19:22 A lot of people found it helpful. I found it helpful. And then there's the Mahasisaya Tao tradition. There's Buddha Dasa. There's Achancha. I've been hanging around for a long time. So there's a lot of popularization of Vipassanā. But if you're going to popularize something... You can't give people the heavy-duty monastic approach, which is demanding, really requiring really strong renunciation and full commitment in ten hours a day, is a professional training that Buddhist monks have been doing and continue to do, the really good ones, monks and nuns. Report an error in the passage at 19:22 Highlight the passage at 19:22

19:56 It's a professional training. I mean, they are professional contemplatives, and I've known a number of them, and they're not astronomers, they're not anything else, they're not even scholars that much. They're putting in 10, 12, 14, 16 hours a day of meditation, and that's professional level. Well, you teach it at that level, nobody will come, or they'll come once and say, man, forget about it, right? Report an error in the passage at 19:56 Highlight the passage at 19:56

20:15 And so for very good reason, and I know most of the teachers, I've been around for a long time, they have simplified the Vipassanā teachings of the Buddha's classic discourse in the Mahasadipatthana Sutta. Put his discourse on the four foundations of mindfulness or four close applications of mindfulness. My book deals with that. But they've simplified it. Report an error in the passage at 20:15 Highlight the passage at 20:15

20:37 They've popularized it. They've taken a lot of the theory. And then they've taken mindfulness itself and reduced that to bare attention. And then taken vipassanā and equated that with bare attention. At this point we're getting homeopathic doses of vipassanā. You know, it's extremely watered down. And having said that, even in homeopathic doses it's really helpful. Report an error in the passage at 20:37 Highlight the passage at 20:37

20:57 So what Jon Kabat-Zinn teaches, and he's a very dear man, and I think a very compassionate man. I know him well. I've known him for 22 years now. He's a friend. And he's helped so many people in a very diluted form of vipassanā, basically just moment by moment, be here now, kind of non-judgmental awareness. Report an error in the passage at 20:57 Highlight the passage at 20:57

21:13 Very well, but it's not vipassanā. And as we'll see, here I have classic definitions of mindfulness. They're not even close. They're not even close. That is not a Buddhist definition of mindfulness. But he's not a Buddhist. He doesn't claim to be a Buddhist and he doesn't claim that he's teaching Buddhist meditation. So it's all clear. Report an error in the passage at 21:13 Highlight the passage at 21:13

21:28 There's no problem. But people sometimes then, where the problem is, is saying, okay, here's a very, very simplified, popularized version that many people get a lot of benefits from. It has health benefits, psychological benefits. It's all good. And that's good. What's not good is, that's all there really is to Vipassanā. Report an error in the passage at 21:28 Highlight the passage at 21:28

21:48 Vipassamists just bear attention. That's really all it is. And now, you've just thrown away 2,500 years of treasure into a little thimble of something that's not even Buddhist. It's not even a Buddhist definition. It's not incompatible with Buddhism, but it's like taking a thimble and saying, this is the whole ocean. And I think that's a problem. So it's not just Jan Kabat-Zinn, who has, again, helped so many people. Report an error in the passage at 21:48 Highlight the passage at 21:48

22:12 So it's really wonderful work. But many other people who call themselves Vipassanā teachers, but they're saying, well, Vipassanā is just mindfulness, mindfulness is just bear attention. Now let's just be here now, eat mindfully, walk mindfully, scan your body up and down and we'll call that Vipassanā. Report an error in the passage at 22:12 Highlight the passage at 22:12

22:26 Well, okay, it's Vipassanā, thimble-sized Vipassanā. But all we have to do is go back to the classic teachings of the Buddha. And you find the Sattipatthana Sutta, which is our foundational core teaching, it's incredibly richer than that. To the point there's no comparison. It's incredibly rich. Report an error in the passage at 22:26 Highlight the passage at 22:26

22:44 To fully venture into the practice and derive full benefit, I'm choosing my words very carefully, derive the full benefit of bona fide, classic, Buddhist, vipassanā is Pāli, vipassanā is Sanskrit, that's it. To derive the full benefit from it, yes you need shamatha, you need access to the first jhāna, you need that. But now, shall we then, people of your age, my age, if we're just starting out now, shall we say, well then forget vipassanā, I'm not going to achieve that, I'll just stick with shamatha or... Report an error in the passage at 22:44 Highlight the passage at 22:44

23:13 Poor measurables or something I can actually do. That would be a mistake. To say that you cannot derive the full benefit of Vipassanā without having a shamatha is, I think, a factual statement. I think it's a very good reason to believe that. And we have the Buddha's own statement, pointing to the first jhāna, saying, could that be the way to liberation? The answer is yes, it is. I mean, that's pretty black and white. Report an error in the passage at 23:13 Highlight the passage at 23:13

23:33 A lot of people try to dodge that bullet and say, no, momentary attention is enough. But the Buddha never said that. So they're always trying to, there's this inexorable urge to dumb it down. I mean, really, it happens a lot in the last 50 years. Dumb it down, popularize it, make it easier, and give us a sense, oh, I've achieved this and I've achieved that, when really you haven't, but okay, you've modified the teachings to, you know, correspond to your own practice. Report an error in the passage at 23:33 Highlight the passage at 23:33

23:56 So the short answer is, it's never too early to venture into Vipassanā practice. Never too early. Never too late. Because we can derive benefit, gain insights that are transformative, liberating, helpful, practically helpful. So I would not postpone. It's very good to do. Just like, for example, relativity theory, special relativity theory. Report an error in the passage at 23:56 Highlight the passage at 23:56

24:22 It's not that difficult, actually. I mean, I have studied it. All you need is algebra to do the math. It's quite simple, unlike general relativity theory. But to really understand it, to do the math, to see the implications of it, you should really have mastered classical mechanics and electromagnetism. Report an error in the passage at 24:22 Highlight the passage at 24:22

24:37 And then you did that. And that's exactly what I did in physics. I took it from the ground up, studied the calculus, and so when I got to relativity theory, quantum mechanics, I had earned my way there so I could really navigate there. But does this mean we should never mention relativity theory to children in middle school or high school? They haven't mastered the math and they haven't done all the... Well, no. Why deprive them? Report an error in the passage at 24:37 Highlight the passage at 24:37

24:57 It's very cool physics. And it really kind of expands the mind. And this is what physicists do. Very skillful teachers, they say, look, you won't be able to fully comprehend this yet. But, you know, here's a Brian Greene special on string theory or cosmology or this or that. You're not going to have the level of understanding of Brian Greene, who's an outstanding theoretical physicist. Report an error in the passage at 24:57 Highlight the passage at 24:57

25:17 But, you know, he's a popularizer, but he makes it accessible. And so people get inspired and say, wow, cool, I got some understanding of that. Now, if you want to be a Brian Greene, good, now go for 15 years of formal education, and then you will really rise to his level, and then you'll be a professional astronomer or a cosmologist. Report an error in the passage at 25:17 Highlight the passage at 25:17

25:34 So it's something like that. To get introduction to Vajrayana fairly early on can be very helpful. And Vipassanā and Bodhicitta and so forth. And if you'd like to derive the full benefit, liberating, transformative power of these practices, then you go back and lay your foundation. But having said that, it's not like, okay, what are you, an amateur or are you a professional? Like we have to be absolutely one or the other. Not that case. Report an error in the passage at 25:34 Highlight the passage at 25:34

25:59 Not that case. And going right back to the time of the Buddha, there were monks who already ever meditated. There were laymen. Lay people who meditated full-time and became arhats. They met lay people who were householders who meditated very seriously and gained deep realization. And so there was a smooth spectrum, and there always has been. Report an error in the passage at 25:59 Highlight the passage at 25:59

26:17 There have always been outstanding lay practitioners during the time of the Buddha. And then recently, the late head of the Nyingma Order was a lay person, Dujram Rinpoche. The current head of the Sakyat tradition, Sakyatideva Rinpoche, is a lay person. My own teacher, Gyatron Rinpoche, very senior Nyingma Lama, is a lay person. Report an error in the passage at 26:17 Highlight the passage at 26:17

26:33 And then we have these incredible monks, like as well as Dalai Lama and many, many others. Chodin Ramuchi is a monk, outstanding monk. And so that's kind of the beauty of it, I think, is there's this whole spectrum. And so then we can just find where we fit in and then adopt the practice according to our ability. And if, not out of a sense of, oh, I should or I should or whatever, but if one is simply inspired to go much more... Report an error in the passage at 26:33 Highlight the passage at 26:33

26:59 Deeply into shamatha practice to develop really exceptional mental balance, stability and clarity, then good, you're going for a week-long retreat or a six-day retreat. That's a significant investment of time. And then if that whets the appetite, it seems beneficial, you go deeper, then you might, there are a number of people who teach, go for one month, go for two months. Report an error in the passage at 26:59 Highlight the passage at 26:59

27:21 And then especially when you get to our age, some of us may be approaching retirement. And if, it can be really the golden years. Because if we're financially secure, that we just don't have to think about money, and our health is still good, the mind is clear. It doesn't get much better than that. Report an error in the passage at 27:21 Highlight the passage at 27:21

27:37 And so this is the classic Hindu model. The classic Hindu model. That they have different dharmas, different responsibilities in different phases of life. And the classic Hindu model, unless you want to go off and become a swami or a sannyasi when you're young, but commonly they'll say, no, you're in your twenties. Report an error in the passage at 27:37 Highlight the passage at 27:37

27:53 Time to get married. Your parents have arranged it for you anyway. You know, chin up. Go in there, try to get along with your spouse, and then make a living and raise your children, be a good parent, be a good citizen, and get those grandchildren coming. And then when you get into your 60s or so and your children are all raised and they're adults and they're making their living and your grandchildren are fun for you but not your responsibility, and your health is still good. Report an error in the passage at 27:53 Highlight the passage at 27:53

28:18 A lot of people in their 60s health is still perfectly good. Maybe you can't run a marathon, but some do. But most importantly, the health is good enough, the mind is clear, then in the classic Hindu mode, say, congratulations, you've now earned your way into becoming a sannyasi, and now it's your kid's job to take care of you. Report an error in the passage at 28:18 Highlight the passage at 28:18

28:36 But you're low maintenance. You're not asking for a yacht or a new Mercedes-Benz. You're now willing to live very simply, and it's a kid's job. You took care of them, now they take care of you, you know, in the good old days. And then you can just devote the rest of your life to Dharma. And then quite a number of people then, you know, starting in 60, 65, maybe they live another 20, 30 years. That's a significant amount of time for Dharma practice. Report an error in the passage at 28:36 Highlight the passage at 28:36

29:00 And then also as we get older, I think you know this, I know this, a lot of our earlier sense of being enamored by hedonic pleasures and, oh, if I were only famous or I have this or this or this, well, you've either been there or done it, or whatever, you know, like, why would anybody, why would I care about that? Report an error in the passage at 29:00 Highlight the passage at 29:00

29:21 I've had my chance. I never got famous. Okay, big deal. Whatever. And you just carry on. So it can be a really prime time. And then however much you want to practice. And for some it will be really going into retreat. So I have a number of Dharma friends of mine, our generation, really going for it. But others going for it in a different way. Report an error in the passage at 29:21 Highlight the passage at 29:21

29:40 And at the same sincerity, same real dedication to practice, but same for the time being, I want to be more engaged with the world. That doesn't mean I'm wimpy. That I'm not sincere, that I'm not dedicated. It's just for the time being, I feel this is the ripest, the richest approach for me to immerse myself in Dharma, not in solitude, not 10 hours of shamatha a day, but trying to practice Dharma 18 hours a day as I engage with spouse, family, maybe still doing some work, grandchildren, being a very, how do you say, productive member of society, engaging with society, there's all kinds of philanthropic things to do and so forth. Report an error in the passage at 29:40 Highlight the passage at 29:40

30:17 Transforming all of your life by way of lojong or other practices to transform everything that comes up into Dharma. And that is really noble practice. So I'm teaching shamatha now and it's oriented towards retreat. Shamatha is. It's retreat. But it's not to say that's simply better than transforming your whole life richly and deeply with wisdom, with compassion and so forth without going into a lot of retreat. Report an error in the passage at 30:17 Highlight the passage at 30:17

30:42 They're both good. And they're both good. I keep on coming back to the central theme of complementarity. So which would you say, which is better, to inhale or to exhale? Because I only want to do one. It's silly. So which is better, to come out into the world, be a really dynamic service, engaged, really being part of society, the social fabric, is that better? Report an error in the passage at 30:42 Highlight the passage at 30:42

31:06 And to suffuse that with Dharma, is that better? Or is it better to go into total simplicity, into solitude, and to really fathom the depths of your own mind, to penetrate to the Bhavaṅga, to your Buddha nature? Which is better? Well, the solitude is breathing in and coming out until that's breathing out. There we are. Report an error in the passage at 31:06 Highlight the passage at 31:06

31:29 Good. Well, now it's 12.15. So, hopefully, lunch is just about ready now. So, let's come back. Again, the breaks are very important, a time to assimilate, to come back to practice, spend time in the supine position, walking, what have you. So, let's come back at 2.15 and we'll recommence. Enjoy your lunch. Report an error in the passage at 31:29 Highlight the passage at 31:29